Lisa Hoover

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We all know the importance of backing up the data on our hard drive but, honestly, restoring all your stuff after a catastrophic hard drive failure can be a real pain. Clonezilla is a free, open-source app that burns a mirror image of your drive’s data […] Read more »

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Autoblog picked up on an interesting story about Ford Motor Company’s efforts to create middleware that will let future cars interact with mobile devices, including iPhones. Sync, developed in conjunction with Microsoft, aims to not only give you access to your phone book and playlists, but […] Read more »

Even though services like Skype, Gtalk, Yahoo, AOL, Twitter and Facebook make it possible to instant or direct message just about anyone online these days, some folks still swear by Internet Relay Chat (IRC). In fact, for many die-hard geeks and software development teams, IRC is […] Read more »

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Little more than a month after releasing the iPhone Application Sketch Book its creator, Dean Kaplan, has already sold the publishing rights to Apress Publishing House for an undisclosed amount. Kaplan says the move will allow the book to reach a broader market and free up […] Read more »

There’s a new tool available that’s designed to make life easier for iPhone developers, and its surprisingly low tech. It’s called the iPhone Application Sketch Book and it looks like just the thing to keep all those notes and inspirations about a new app idea all […] Read more »

The proliferation of handheld GPS units has resulted in a geocaching craze. If you’re not familiar with the sport, here’s the scoop. People venture out with GPS devices and look for containers hidden in the great outdoors by other geocachers. Once found, you jot your name […] Read more »

It’s hard to deny how handy it is to plug an iPod into a Mac, fire up iTunes, and watch your device sync with your computer automagically. Take the Mac or iTunes out of the equation, though, and syncing gets a little trickier. If you don’t […] Read more »

Over at OStatic yesterday, Sam Dean pointed to a study from Juniper Research that claims shipments of smartphones with open-source operating systems will double by 2014. According to Jupiter, operating systems and available applications are among the top concerns when customers shop for smartphones, and that […] Read more »

There’s a lot to love about the iPhone, but its ability to manage email is, well, lacking — especially when it comes to search. All My Mail is a new app from Attassa that lets you search across your web-based email accounts, including attachments and contact […] Read more »

If you’re a fan of the popular technology news and commentary web site All Things Digital (and you should be), then you’ll be glad to know there’s a new app available from the App Store today that optimizes the site for your iPhone. Use it to […] Read more »

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A Russian business newspaper is reporting today that venture capital firm Almaz Capital Partners acquired a 5 percent stake in popular virtualization software vendor Parallels. The stake was purchased from its previous owners, Insight Venture Partners, for $11 million. The fund used to finance Almaz’s purchase […] Read more »

Show of hands: How many of us would love to have access to quick and dirty downloads of super-cool Mac apps along the lines of what the current App Store offers iPhone and iPod touch users? Oh, heck yes. Fast Company’s Kit Eaton asks a great […] Read more »

With the iPhone OS 3.0 announcement that Apple’s new iPhone software update will include Google Maps integration, you can expect an explosion of location-based apps to start appearing in the App Store. There are already a few location-based apps available now, including ones we’ve written about […] Read more »

Where will you be this June? If you’re an Apple developer, you’ll want to be at San Francisco’s Moscone West for the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2009 slated for June 8-12. This is the premier event for Apple developers who create apps for Mac OS […] Read more »

If one of your New Years Resolutions (remember those?) was to learn a new language, there are quite a few ways you can use your Mac or iPhone that will have you speaking in a foreign tongue in no time flat. Keep Your Word Keep Your […] Read more »

Gaming on a mobile phone is a relatively new phenomenon when compared to the decades that games like Pacman and Tetris have been around. However, the mobile gaming industry is exploding, and developers who have spent years creating games for the Mac are now jumping ship […] Read more »

I’ve been a hardcore Gmail user since the early days, when beta really meant the email service was in its infancy. It’s perfect for managing my email but there are two big things Gmail can’t do that seriously hinder my daily workflow: There’s no easy way […] Read more »

Back in the day, you used to have to count the hours until your favorite sports team took the field or court, and there was precious little to do in between games. Fortunately, now there are a metric ton of apps in the App Store that […] Read more »

Securicy Ventures, the folks behind the employment search app Job Compass, have come up with two ways to kill time while you look for your dream job. They’ve created a pair of games — The Safe and The Bomb — that will drive you nuts and […] Read more »

Don Witters, Chairman for the FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health, gave a presentation at a healthcare IT conference last week during which he suggested that the FDA ought to have some regulatory jurisdiction over healthcare apps developed for the iPhone. His reasoning is that […] Read more »

Here’s a story that gives new meaning to the term Apple fanboy. A 9-year-old youngster from Singapore, prompted by his younger sisters’ love of drawing, created an application for the iPhone called Doodle Kids. Budding artists create pictures by dragging a finger across the screen and […] Read more »

Throughout the course of the workday, I open and close dozens of apps on my MacBook. There are five tools, however, that I keep running continuously in the background on my laptop. They’ve got small enough footprints that I don’t have to worry about using up […] Read more »

Admittedly, not everyone needs a Mac-based application to manage pictures taken by a microscope. If you’re a scientist, though, you probably won’t find an app that’s as useful and well-designed as Macnification. More than just an image organizer, this app lets users edit and analyze pictures […] Read more »

When French student Axel Peju wanted to use his Mac to track his finances and manage a budget, he couldn’t find an application to meet his needs, so he created his own. He developed Squirrel, a personal finance program for the Mac (and soon, the iPhone). […] Read more »

As you do your holiday decorating this year, don’t forget to trick out your Mac, too. Fortunately, it’s a lot easier than hauling out heavy decorations or hanging 40 miles of outdoor lights in sub-zero temperatures. I am always amazed at the creative widgets people devise […] Read more »

Many people use Quicksilver as a replacement for Spotlight, but if you’re happy with the native file search and app launcher in Mac OS X, then why change? You probably know that you can access Spotlight quickly with the Command-spacebar keyboard shortcut, but here are a […] Read more »

Most people know that when you want to remove an app from your dock, you simply need to right click it then drag it to the desktop. The first few times it disappeared in a puff of “smoke”  you probably thought it was cool but if […] Read more »

That mosaic screen saver of your iPhoto pictures may look groovy, but it’s really not doing anything to help your work flow. How about a screen saver that displays all your iCal appointments instead? PocketMac, the geniuses behind the app that lets you sync your BlackBerry […] Read more »