Update to iTunes Coming Soon
Probably not completely unexpected, but here are some clues. This recent AppleCare article on Windows Vista and iTunes compatibility: "iTunes 7.0.2 may work with Windows Vista on many typical PCs. Apple recommends, however, that customers wait to upgrade Windows until after the next release of iTunes which will be available in the next few weeks." This time frame jibes with the AppleTV specs page that had at one time listed iTunes 7.1 as a requirement (it now just lists "iTunes 7"), and AppleTV is due to start shipping this month.
Who Will Accept Gates' Challenge?
Bill Gates from his interview with Newsweek: "Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine."
UPDATED: Copy To Lyrics (Service) v1.1
A quick update to Copy To Lyrics (Service) adds display alerts to appear when appropriate. This Service menu service copies selected text from any application to a selected iTunes track's Lyrics tab. It was created from an AppleScript using ThisService. And BTW, I want to thank ThisService developer Jasper for helping me out with a few questions on how ThisService works.
NEW: Copy To Lyrics (Service)
I have been hearing some buzz about Waffle Software's ThisService application which will create and install services based on virtually any command-line script or AppleScript. So I thought I'd give it a shot. Copy To Lyrics (Service) is a service that will copy the selected text from an application to a single selected iTunes track's Lyrics tab. I just did it for fun, really, but it might save some lyric-gathering obsessives a few keystrokes.
Apple's Web Traffic Up...And Periphery Sites?
According to this MacNN article, "Traffic to Apple's website and the popularity of iTunes continues to surge at a rate greater than many of other top internet companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo!" Now, not for nothin', but this site also has experienced a surge of usage over the past six months; I've recently had to purchase more bandwidth to accommodate more traffic, which I have never had to do in five years or so of web presence. So I'm wondering: does this mean there really are more Mac users? And are they hitting other Mac-centric sites in the same proportion?
Why We Love Mac OS X Hints
Rob Griffiths, Mac OS X Hints' progenitor, recently posted a neat weblog entry at Macworld about downloading some cool free Apple fonts from the Apple iTunes AppleScripts download page. (Fonts from an AppleScripts download page?! Read Rob's article to grok.) In the course of the article, Rob casually mentions This Little Site Of Mine, and I'm much obliged.
Then, today, he's posted a hint about the usability of the new format of Google's image search results page. For those of you who may use Find Album Artwork with Google and are frustrated with the results, the hint is worth a look. Spoiler alert: get yourself SafariStand; I love that thing!
UPDATED: Tracks Without Artwork To Playlist v2.0
My friends at The Unofficial Apple Weblog posted a hint about Album Artwork that quickly caused a gushing of downloads for Tracks Without Artwork To Playlist. Unfortunately, the earlier version of that script did not account for artwork downloads from the iTunes Store, and thus would generate many false positives. I have corrected this in the latest version. Let me know how this new one runs at your place.
NEW: Google Video Search
Now that Google has finally incorporated YouTube videos in their Google Video search index, Google Video Search may come in handy. It uses your choice of the Song Name, Artist, Album, or Composer of the playing or selected track as the basis for a search of Google Video using your default web browser.
NEW: Search for Pandora Stations
My Good Friend, Best Man, and Ever-Faithful Correspondent Greg reminded me about the Pandora website: it creates streams of like-sounding songs based on a "seed" track you supply.You create "stations" which stream through your web browser. I've been having a ball with it. Search for Pandora Stations will use the Artist, Album, or Composer of the selected or playing iTunes track as the basis for a search of Pandora stations. If you like what you find, you can add a station to your Pandora account.
Shubert|it PDF Browser Plugin
In response to yesterday's query, three people suggested using the Shubert|it PDF Browser Plugin. I tried it out and it works great with Firefox. It's free for educational or non-commercial personal use, otherwise you can purchase a site-license.