Bitcartel Blog

50% Discount - Happy Holidays!

2011-12-24T00:50:00.002Z

Here's a crazy holiday offer to go with the eggnog and mince pies!

Use coupon MADSANTA in the Bitcartel Online Store for 50% OFF everything! (Valid 24-26 Dec)

To give a gift, simply use the web store as normal, entering your payment details, but under 'License Options' enter the recipients name. You can then print out and glue the registration code into their Christmas card!

PandoraJam - latest info on Twitter feed

2011-12-02T19:51:00.001Z

Before sending emails to PandoraJam support, please check the following resources.

To get the latest official news about PandoraJam, check the Twitter feed.
http://www.twitter.com/pandorajam

Looking at what others are saying about PandoraJam on Twitter is a useful way to find out about potential problems and solutions.
http://twitter.com/#!/search/%40pandorajam

More answers, tips and helpful information can be found here:
http://support.bitcartel.com/pandorajam

Thank you!

Dear PandoraJam Fans...

2011-09-22T07:45:00.003+01:00

Update 3 (2 Dec 11) PandoraJam 2 works with Pandora.com's HTML5 player, so this post can be disregarded. If you are using PandoraJam 1.x please upgrade for free to PandoraJam 2.

Update 2 (24 Sep 11) Good news. We've been able to restore most features and continue to make progress. Please keep your PandoraJam updated via the menu option 'Check for Updates...' or download from this link: http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/pandorajam.zip

Update 1 (22 Sep 11) Some cheerful news! We have released a test version of PandoraJam 2 which has basic support for Pandora.com's new HTML5 player. Please update the app via the menu option 'Check for Updates...'

Dear PandoraJam Fans…

It's probably been coming ever since Pandora announced their new HTML5 player... bad news.

Over the last few weeks we've been working hard at keeping PandoraJam working with Pandora.com's classic Flash player. In fact, a few more bugs had been fixed and issues resolved this week, and like car enthusiasts, there was some satisfaction in keeping the motor running and tuned up. In the end though, it never rains, it pours.

This Wednesday evening, PandoraJam was chugging along as usual. Sweet. However as of around midnight EST, it seems Pandora.com turned off the classic Flash version and are now pushing all listeners to use their new HTML5 based player. A hint of that was detected when earlier in the day it was noticed that a link titled 'Old Site' had been removed from Pandora.com's HTML5 player (they have a minimum browser specification where all browsers support the new player).

Overall, this is great news for Pandora fans as the classic Flash player was resource intensive, but bad news for PandoraJam. The classic Flash player no longer loads. With the classic Flash player turned off, PandoraJam no longer functions. Kaput! We must admit, we're somewhat surprised at how quickly Flash has been removed, as we felt Pandora.com would let listeners who use older operating systems and browsers stick around for say 12 to 18 months (there's little development cost in keeping the old Flash player around), but alas, no.

Thus, sadly, with immediate effect we are temporarily suspending sales of PandoraJam. Our refund policy is normally 30 days but we're extending it out to Aug 1st (just under two months). If you need a refund, email support@bitcartel.com (purchases and refunds are processed through FastSpring, our payment processor). For long-time users, we hope you've had fun and enjoyed zillions of hours of music pleasure, and all for less than the cost of a beer and pizza ;-)
Update: Sales are back online now

Will there be a PandoraJam 2 with HTML5 support? We don't have an answer at this point but we're working on it. We think it should be possible, we might lose some features, but that will still be better than looking at a blank screen. If there is a PandoraJam 2, it will be a free upgrade for all users. We'll keep you posted as to progress (more frequent updates on our twitter feed).

Update: For clarification, we are attempting to restore all features. Note that PandoraJam 2 requires OS X 10.5 or later.

Since the summer of 2007, we've been receiving emails from music fans who found PandoraJam, fell in love with Pandora, and ended up becoming Pandora One subscribers. It's been quite a journey to watch Pandora, a little startup in Oakland, grow into a publicly listed company on the NASDAQ , and quite remarkable that the Flash based player lasted so long at all. Now they're all grown up and HTML5... yet with Google Music, iCloud, Spotify, Rdio, Turntable, and others hitting the scene, it's like the internet music party is only just getting started.

Stay wired. Namaste.

PandoraJam - Updated for Lion & Classic Pandora

2011-09-15T19:26:00.001+01:00

Update: This is a full release, and no longer a beta, so the post has been modified slightly.

There is a new version of PandoraJam (1.7 build 476) available for download:

http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/pandorajam.zip

What's new:

supports Classic Flash version of Pandora website (and not the new HTML5 version) and will try to load the Classic Flash version
support for Mac OS X 10.7 Lion (requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later)
now streams music to AppleTV
fixes a problem streaming music to some Airport Express units
auto reloads if the app does not launch properly and thus cannot enhance the Pandora website (this means you no longer have to 'Empty Cache', quit and relaunch the app)
auto fixing of windowing position (when sometimes Pandora website message banners caused the entire display to be shifted down)

Some help:

You shouldn't need to do anything special... but if PandoraJam does not load the Classic Flash website properly, try the following:

Launch Safari and visit Pandora.com
If you are taken to the new HTML 5 website, click the 'Old Site' link in the top right hand corner
Once the Classic Flash website player loads, close the browser window.
Launch PandoraJam

Bonus:

It seems possible (for now) to run the new HTML 5 player in a browser window logged into one account, while the PandoraJam application uses another account.

Known issue:

On Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, Adobe Flash Player version 10,3 repeats letter keystrokes. This affects the Flash Player when running in 32 bit mode (which is what PandoraJam runs in), but not in 64 bit mode. Downgrading to Flash Player version 10,2 eliminates the keystroke problem. This is an Adobe Flash (possibly WebKit) bug and needs to be fixed by Adobe (possibly Apple).

PandoraJam - Beta with 10.7 support

2011-08-04T21:52:00.003+01:00

There is a new beta of PandoraJam available for download and testing.

http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/pandorajam_beta6.zip

Changes include:

support for Mac OS X 10.7 Lion (requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later)
now streams music to AppleTV
fixes a problem streaming music to some Airport Express units
auto reloads if the app does not launch properly and thus cannot enhance the Pandora website (this means you no longer have to 'Empty Cache', quit and relaunch the app)
auto fixing of windowing position (when sometimes Pandora website message banners caused the entire display to be shifted down)

Known issues:

On Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, Adobe Flash Player version 10,3 repeats letter keystrokes. This affects the Flash Player when running in 32 bit mode (which is what PandoraJam runs in), but not in 64 bit mode. Downgrading to Flash Player version 10,2 eliminates the keystroke problem.

Update (6 Aug)

Link updated
Fixed a problem where CPU usage in previous betas would hit 100%

Spare some Bitcoin, sir?

2011-06-03T16:51:00.006+01:00

Looking to play around with Bitcoin so get in touch if you want to swap 1 Bitcoin for 1 registration code to any software from Bitcartel!

Here's the bitcoin address:

1EggFpzZUj3wDevgkqVBvPGFu6ocJarQd

Also send an email to support@bitcartel.com with your desired registration name for the software.

Useful Debugging Macros

2011-06-02T18:21:00.003+01:00

Marcus Zarra posted some debugging macros, which are now being used by all Bitcartel projects. If you're a Mac or iOS programmer, check them out:
http://www.cimgf.com/2010/05/02/my-current-prefix-pch-file/

For example, the macro DLog() will help you save time by not having to type NSLog(@"%s", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__) over and over again. There are similar macros defined in GTMDefines.h (Google Toolbox for Mac) but with harder to type names: _GTMDevLog, _GTMDevAssert. Perhaps they're meant for internal GTM usage only.

PandoraJam updated to 1.6 build 384

2011-04-13T22:46:00.003+01:00

So after a bit of digging around, a bug was discovered where PandoraJam would be trying sometimes to connect to an incorrect port number on an Airport Express. This has now been fixed... and work is underway on adding streaming to the AppleTV 2 device.

If you haven't updated in a while, please download the lastest version from the PandoraJam website. Recent improvements include a Stations menu so you can select stations from the menu bar or Dock menu, as well as several bug fixes.

ComicBookLover (Mac) updated to 1.4 (build 1013)

2011-04-11T23:32:00.003+01:00

ComicBookLover for Mac has been updated. The app will auto-update upon launch or you can use the menu item 'Check for Updates...'.

Added option to convert CBR comics to CBZ via contextual menu item 'Convert to CBZ'
Fixed an issue so that x-… tags found in ComicBookInfo metadata are preserved
Upgraded zip code
Other internal updates

If you transfer CBR comics to the iPhone/iPad app via iTunes File Sharing, please convert your CBR comics to CBZ before transferring to ensure comic tags e.g. series info, get transferred over.

Comic book link shortener - CMX.BZ

2011-02-13T03:12:00.005Z

ComicBookLover is now offering a URL shortener for you to use. Simply visit the link below to start shortening!

http://cmx.bz/

If you have a digital comic you want to promote to fans, using a short link helps when sending out tweets. Cmx.bz stands for Comix and CBZ. If you come across a cool shortened domain name which is available and you think we should use it, let us know!

CameraSafe not affected by iPhone's Keychain security vulnerability

2011-02-12T00:29:00.006Z

CameraSafe is not affected by the recently demonstrated security problem in iPhones, where if your iPhone is lost or stolen, passwords can be retrieved in under 6 minutes.

When CameraSafe was designed, it was always assumed that phones could be jailbroken and that the Keychain (a part of the system where user passwords are stored) would be under attack, so we never store the password in the keychain or anywhere else for that matter.

The Keychain vulnerability is quite complex. You can find out more here:

So what can you do? As a user you can take some simple precautions.

Use CameraSafe for private and sensitive photos!
Set up Find My iPhone (which is now free for everyone so no need to be a member of MobileMe)
If you lose your phone, remote wipe the device as soon as you discover that it's missing (of course, the thief can remove the SIM card rendering a remote wipe useless)

Also, CameraSafe was recently updated to 1.4. It now supports the open .aes file format so you can use standard tools on Win, Mac, Linux to decrypt any encrypted photos that you email or download from CameraSafe. The full press release is here: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/8cm4ki

Happy snapping!

Back To School sale - Great discounts on cool software!

2010-08-22T03:56:00.004+01:00

Want to get your hands on some uber-cool Mac & iPhone apps? Well, you're in luck, as a whole bunch of devs have put together some great offers for the iAppsForStudents Back To School sale. Hurry, sale ends Sept 1st!

PandoraJam & the Pandora profile pop-up

2010-08-04T22:55:00.006+01:00

Are you seeing a pop-up window about setting up a Pandora Profile page? Well, it blocks the PandoraJam window, and as the PandoraJam window cannot be resized (this is by design), this can be an issue. Thankfully, the fix is simple.

To get rid of the pesky pop-up:

Quit PandoraJam
Use Safari to visit www.pandora.com.
Choose to make your profile either private or public.
Quit Safari.
Open PandoraJam.

Please blog/tweet and spread the word on this fix! Thanks.

PandoraJam 1.4 and Flash 10.1 (in)compatibility

2010-06-11T00:45:00.003+01:00

Flash 10.1 is not compatible with PandoraJam which results in strange behaviour.

For now, stick with Flash 10.0 which you can get here:

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/142/tn_14266.html

To uninstall Flash, use the Flash Uninstaller:

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/141/tn_14157.html

As soon as things are resolved, I will let you know via twitter/blog.

UPDATE: This should be resolved with the latest release PandoraJam 1.4 (build 312).

ComicBookLover for iPhone joins Weight Watchers

2010-06-10T21:40:00.005+01:00

One of the fun aspects of iPhone programming is that it challenges and encourages programmers to think about multi-threading and resource constraints. Thus you might notice that apart from improved performance, ComicBookLover 0.4 for iPhone downloads and installs much faster than before. This is because it's been on a diet!

The original Alpha release made use of FaceBook's Three20 framework, which was useful to bootstrap rapid development of an app, but eventually I would have to write my own code especially as I was only using some of Three20's image viewing classes, which were rather generic, and trying to subclass unfamiliar code can be a painful exercise. If you look around, you might notice that one or two other iPhone comic readers make use of Three20...

It was also easy to reduce the overall app bundle size by simply removing two free comics from the distribution. Instead, the app now includes one free comic at a decent resolution, which looks great on both iPhone and iPad.

The result is an app which no longer weighs in at over 20MB (the limit for installing apps over 3G), but instead at around 10MB, meaning the app can be installed over 3G as well as WiFi. This limit is worth remembering as AT&T and O2 have announced that they will be removing unlimited downloads from their iPhone data plans once the iPhone 4 ships.

PandoraJam Update: 1.4 (build 303)

2010-06-07T19:55:00.001+01:00

PandoraJam 1.3 (build 303) is now available for download.

[Direct Link]
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/pandorajam.zip

Summary of changes:

Updated Last.fm scrobbling client name to avoid potential conflicts
Modified behaviour of adding recordings to iTunes so that the playlist is not selected, thereby not interrupting current usage of iTunes
Fixed a problem of a missing Apple Remote image in Preferences
Fixed a bug where songs which had been thumbed down were still recorded
Fixed a bug where if the genre was unknown, all other tags might be ignored

ComicBookLover Updated for Mac & iPhone

2010-02-18T09:01:00.004Z

ComicBookLover has been updated for both Mac OS X and iPhone.

Mac OS X update to 1.4 (build 999) - Direct Download

Improved performance of locating comics which have changed location
Fixed an issue where after locating a comic the displayed file location in the Info window was not updated
Fixed a user interface bug where updating the title, volume, issue and comment of multiple comics would do nothing unless the user selected another field first
Removed use of some deprecated methods which caused error messages to be logged by the system
Fixed an issue where an error related to NSMenu was logged by the system
Fixed a memory leak when opening CBZ archives

iPhone update to 0.3 - iTunes App Store Page

Enhanced user interface
User can now drill-down by series, publisher or genre
User can sort through reading and transfers by date
Fixed memory leaks and other internal fixes

Happy reading!

iPad, I'm down for one

2010-01-28T10:06:00.005Z

The evolution continues with the iPad. I can't wait for the apps to come. Check out the iPad presentation if you haven't already. I loved that last slide, Apple is Technology & Liberal Arts: http://twitpic.com/104exr. Indeed. In the internet consumer electronics space, there are few companies who can match Apple's passion for design, where form and function are equally important.

ComicBookLover on iPhone and iPod Touch

2010-01-26T07:30:00.004Z

ComicBookLover is now on the iTunes App Store, so you can download and start transferring comics over to your iPhone or iPod Touch!

This is an Alpha release, so lots of eye-candy and updates to come, and of course, we'll be keeping a close eye on the iPad, iSlate, iTablet thingy that Steve Jobs will be revealing on Wednesday.

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2010/01/25/where-will-you-be-on-january-27th/

Don't forget to update ComicBookLover to the lastest build which supports drag and dropping comics to the iPhone sync tool. More download info here.

Namaste!

My Software - FileStorm

2010-01-21T03:30:00.006Z

I recently received an email from the makers of Filestorm about an update. Filestorm is a tool I purchased a few years ago to help automate the creation of disk images.

You remember, when it was in vogue to have a disk image open with a fancy background, preferably with a big arrow telling users to drag the icon to the Applications folder. Bonus points if you had it show a licence agreement too.

I certainly remember the support issues due to users running applications off the disk image, only to have the application mysteriously 'disappear' when they rebooted (the disk image gets ejected).

Thankfully, for the past year or two, ZIP has been the preferred way to distribute apps amonst many Mac developers. Most browsers will simply unzip the download and users are left with a shiny new app on their desktop. Easy. Obvious.

Filestorm is a great tool if you need to make DMGs with precision, but I'll be retiring the old disk image artwork. Sayonara!

iRecordMusic update: 1.6 build 470

2010-01-11T10:13:00.005Z

Please update to the latest version, 1.6 (build 470), which fixes an AppleScript issue which can cause the application to freeze. Thanks.

p.s. With short updates, is it better to blog or tweet?!

EDIT: Build 477 is out which has better scheduling on 10.4 - 10.6.

Bitcartel One

2010-01-10T08:25:00.007Z

It's the end of the road for Bitcartel One, where I started to learn how to write software on a Mac, and grappled with Carbon and Cocoa. Thanks for the memories - Motorola Inside anybody?!

ComicBookLover 1.4 updated

2010-01-06T08:40:00.002Z

ComicBookLover 1.4 has been updated to solve a few teething issues since its release a few weeks ago. It's undergone testing on some extremely large comic libraries and it's running pretty smoothly. Go grab the update now!

Changes in build 963:

Fixed memory related crash when upgrading very large comic libraries to 1.4
Fixed bug where some cbz files were not opening if foreign characters were in filename or path
Added metadata support to comic book folders (folders of images)

ComicBookLover 1.4 - Upgrade Issues?

2009-12-18T12:32:00.002Z

No problems during the Beta, but a few people are having issues updating. If so, get in touch at to support@comicbooklover.com, and please check the following notes:

If ComicBookLover 1.4 is having problems migrating data files (from V4-->V5) you can choose to continue using the 1.3 version of ComicBookLover: http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/comicbooklover_907.zip
To help us diagnose and solve any issues, please zip up and email the following data file: HOME/Library/Application Support/ComicBookLover/comicbooklover.sqlstore
If ComicBookLover has been crashing, please attach the crash report found in your HOME directory: HOME/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/ComicBookLover.crash.log
If there were no problems, and ComicBookLover 1.4 is running fine, please back up the following 1.3 data file and keep it safe: HOME/Library/Application Support/ComicBookLover/comicbooklover.sqlstore.old

ComicBookLover update 1.4 (build 959)

2009-12-17T17:14:00.002Z

ComicBookLover 1.4 (build 959) is now available for you to download. This update brings comic file tagging, so when you edit information about a comic, the information is also tagged in the comic file, like MP3 tags. This is possible via the introduction of an open standard for comic file tagging, ComicBookInfo. When tagging CBZ comics, the tags are cross-platform, so Linux/Windows based comic readers can also read/edit the tags.

[Direct Link]
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/comicbooklover.zip

Changes:

Introduction of ComicBookInfo, an open standard for tagging comic files with metadata
Spotlight importer for integrated desktop searching of comic metadata
Browser pane launches if it was left open on last exit
Fixed bug where default smart groups were not respecting date range
Updated status label to show number of selected comics
Fixed table and artwork behaviour selection behaviour
Fixed bug with publication date and timezone issues
Improved network volume support to reduce blocking
Improved UI for setting publication date
Fixed bug where crash could occur if archive had bad name
Fixed bug where crash could occur if image data bad
Info panel behaviour updated to more closely mimic iTunes info panel when comics not present.

CameraSafe 1.2 (free copies!)

2009-12-13T11:46:00.003Z

Good news for you happy snappers... CameraSafe (iTunes Link), our iPhone photo security app, has been updated to 1.2 to cover some of the many features requested:

photo albums
emailing of photos
copying of photos back to the Camera Roll
paste photos from the clipboard

Check out the CameraSafe twitter feed to stay on top of updates and see news/tidbits on why you should encrypt your personal data!
http://www.twitter.com/camerasafe

There are 20 free copies up for grabs, first come first served. Simply email: support@bitcartel.com. You can also try out the free edition of the software, CameraSafe LITE (iTunes Link).

p.s. The App Store submission process only took 4 days, which is a great improvement on the 2 weeks the last update took!

ComicBookLover Beta Testers

2009-10-25T02:11:00.004Z

The next update to ComicBookLover will involve an update to the comic library's data model and the introduction of metadata. What this means is that information about a comic (e.g. title, series, authors) will be stored with the file and not just in ComicBookLover's internal database.

If you would like to help (stress) test this out, get in touch by sending an email to support[at]comicbooklover.com. Please fill in the following details:

Mac OS X version(s) :
Hardware :
How long have you been a ComicBookLover user? :
Approximately how many comics are in your ComicBookLover library? :

Do you also use Windows or Linux to read comics? :

Beta testing will require that you are comfortable backing up and restoring CBL data files. Ideally you will have some experience with using the Terminal.

ComicBookLover is the Pick of the Week!

2009-10-23T06:07:00.002+01:00

First it was PandoraJam, now it's the turn of ComicBookLover to be MacBreak Weekly's Pick of the Week, hurrah!

"ComicBookLover truly is the iTunes of comic book reader apps..."

"Gives you all the tools you really want for reading the stuff on your screen..."

"A superior experience to actually holding the real comic book..."

Check out their podcast online, or click below to download and listen to Andy Ihnatko discuss ComicBookLover and digital comics.

Digital Comics - MacBreak Weekly 163 (MP3 format)

Andy has also written an article for the Chicago Sun-Times about digital comics and a possible Apple tablet. Go check it out!

Migrating ComicBookLover to Snow Leopard

2009-10-11T10:50:00.006+01:00

A few people have asked how to migrate ComicBookLover from their existing computer to a brand new Mac running Snow Leopard. Well, the answer is that it's easy!

Simply copy the following file and folder to your new computer.

HOME/Library/Preferences/com.bitcartel.comicbooklover.plist
HOME/Library/Application Support/ComicBookLover

Note that your username should be the same on both machines so that any comics stored on your computer will have the same file path on the new Mac. Otherwise, you will have to try to open a comic and when the app asks you to locate the comic, do so, and select the option to update all the files paths stored in ComicBookLover.

Remote Control access broken on Snow Leopard

2009-09-14T16:15:00.004+01:00

Snow Leopard has broken apps which need to take full control of the Remote Control. A bug report has already been filed with Apple by other developers, so let's hope they fix things soon. For the moment, both ComicBookLover and PandoraJam are affected :(

Snow Leopard Compatibility

2009-08-29T09:47:00.005+01:00

I'm pleased to let you know that nearly all our software is compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 'Snow Leopard'. If you come across any issues, let us know.

ComicBookLover
iRecordMusic
PandoraJam
RadioLover

Radiotastic, our dashboard radio player, is not yet compatible... hold on, thanks!

UPDATE: There is an issue with the Remote Control in both ComicBookLover and PandoraJam where the applications no longer hog the remote, so events are being sent to iTunes etc. Investigating.

PandoraJam & ClickToFlash

2009-08-15T01:28:00.002+01:00

The compatibility issues with ClickToFlash are now resolved and will appear in the next release barring any gremlins.

We are now tweeting experimentally, so follow us: http://www.twitter.com/pandorajam

Quick question: what's your preferred form of communication? Mailing list, blog, forum or twitter? Thanks.

iPhone 3GS security problems

2009-07-25T18:31:00.004+01:00

With the iPhone 3GS, I was quite impressed with the hardware based AES-256 engine, encrypting and decrypting data on the fly, with negligible performance impact for end-users. Call it tech lust.

However, the devil is in the detail, and as Jonathan Zdziarski demonstrates to Wired, the new iPhone 3GS suffers from serious security problems. Watch the videos! In a nutshell, if a thief or attacker has physical access to your iPhone and they have rudimentary knowledge of many hacking tools floating around on the Internet:

The passcode lock can be removed
All user data can be extracted and decrypted in about 45 mins

If you have important data or sensitive photos on your iPhone, encrypt them with an app like CameraSafe. Even if you lose your phone and the attacker decrypts the user data partition and gets their hands on your encrypted photos, they won't be able to decrypt the photos unless they know the secret password(s) you use with CameraSafe.

PandoraJam Update: 1.3 (build 256)

2009-07-04T01:38:00.002+01:00

PandoraJam 1.3 (build 256) is now available for download.

[Direct Link]
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/pandorajam.zip

Summary of changes:

Pandora One support. If user is a subscriber to Pandora One, recordings are high quality 192kbps MP3 , exactly as broadcast.
Genre tag is now set on recordings.
Recordings are added to the correct playlist if user changes radio station at end of track

iPhone 3Gs Hardware Encryption

2009-06-12T20:31:00.003+01:00

It's been a busy week at the Apple Developer's Conference in San Francisco, with lots of announcements at the Keynote, and lots of new toys for developers to play with.

One feature of the new iPhone 3Gs is hardware encryption. It's great that Apple have now addressed the issue of data security on iPhones and it underlines how important applications like CameraSafe are for existing users of the original iPhone and iPhone 3G which don't have hardware encryption.

I had a decent chat with one of the iPhoneOS security folk, and I think when the details are made public, you'll be impressed with the encryption on the new iPhone 3Gs. However, it's no silver bullet, so depending on your needs and level of paranoia, you should keep using CameraSafe and other security apps on your mobile devices.

If you are involved in security or have particular needs for protecting your photos, contact us at support@camerasafeapp.com with your ideas and comments.

p.s. The food's been pretty bad at the conference!

Hello Pandora One

2009-05-22T15:55:00.004+01:00

Exciting news! Pandora is now offering Pandora One, an upgrade to their free service. For $36 you get high quality streaming at 192kbps, no pesky adverts, and the timeout is extended from 1 hr to 5 hrs.

This is great news for PandoraJam users as PandoraJam fully supports the new high quality streaming, and your recordings will be in MP3 at 192kbps. If you use the basic free Pandora.com service, music will be broadcast (and thus recorded) as HE-AAC at 64kbps (as mentioned before). Unfortunately, as a few users have noted, some iPod shuffles seem to struggle with playing back the HE-AAC files, so there's another reason to upgrade to Pandora One.

If you like Pandora.com, please upgrade to support them as they grow their start-up, and send them an email to let them know that you love using PandoraJam. I know from user feedback that PandoraJam, this teeny weeny Indie Mac app, has helped them retain a few listeners over the last two years :) Namaste...

CameraSafe (Get a free copy!)

2009-05-07T08:27:00.003+01:00

Yesterday, I introduced CameraSafe (iTunes Link), a new iPhone photo security app, a useful tool to help you maintain your right to privacy.

If you would like a free copy, simply email support@bitcartel.com, and I will send you a redemption code you can use in iTunes.

There are 20 free copies up for grabs, first come first served. You can also try out the free edition of the software, CameraSafe LITE (iTunes Link).

Introducing CameraSafe 1.0

2009-05-06T16:55:00.003+01:00

Today, Bitcartel introduces its first iPhone app, CameraSafe, a photo security tool. CameraSafe helps you keep your valuable photos safe from data thieves by encrypting photos with AES-256 encryption (as used by the US government to protect Top Secret material).

Whether you want to keep personal photos private, or business photos safe from competitors, using encryption is the only way to safeguard your photos in the event your iPhone is lost or stolen. Encrypted photos cannot be viewed and resemble random junk data. Only when the correct password is provided, can this random data be decrypted (i.e. transformed) back to the original photo.

CameraSafe is available from the App Store, and there is also a free edition, CameraSafe LITE. Look forward to your feedback. More details on the website.

Sounds Like Teen Spirit

2009-05-06T10:30:00.005+01:00

For music fans, check out a new indie film Sounds Like Teen Spirit. I saw an early screener a month or two ago (a benefit of knowing the peeps at the film company) and it really is a fantastic pop-umentary. No shameless plugging here. If you love music, check this film out.

For those in the UK, the film is coming out on May 8th, and there is a special Q&A with the film-makers at the Apple Store on Regent Street... today, May 6th, 5 p.m.

Slow Burning Lacie

2009-03-14T16:19:00.006Z

I have been using a pair of Lacie Little Disk 500 GB USB 2.0 drives for a few months now, no news there. Recently, one of them has been behaving strangely, sometimes the mounted drive would disconnect itself if the cable wasn't fully extended. Today, I received a message I've never seen in OS X before.
I unplugged the Lacie and noticed a burning smell coming from it... nice. For now, it still seems to be functioning okay, but I guess it's time to get a new external drive. Has anybody ripped a Little Disk apart? The shell looks quite impenetrable, and I might need to rescue the hard drive if the controller board is slowly shorting itself out.

PandoraJam and ClickToFlash Temporary Fix

2009-03-13T11:36:00.003Z

Good news for ClickToFlash users. PandoraJam user Jeff Porten has come up with a temporary fix (or kludge as I like to call it) by creating an AppleScript called PandoraJam Launcher. It temporarily moves the ClickToFlash plugin out of the way when launching PandoraJam, before restoring it again to its original location.

PandoraJam and ClickToFlash incompatibility

2009-02-09T10:05:00.004Z

Users have brought to my attention that if you have installed 'ClickToFlash', a WebKit plug-in to muzzle Flash on your web pages, it causes PandoraJam to not load Pandora.com's web page. Instead you are left with the standard error image for a missing web plug-in - a question mark in a blue box. The issue can be tracked here while I get in touch with the ClickToFlash folk(s)..

Adios MacWorld... change is good!

2008-12-17T08:16:00.007Z

Every year indie Mac developers ask themselves whether they should spend a few thousand dollars to exhibit at Macworld Expo. Now that Apple has indicated they are pulling out of future shows, the expo's raison d'etre is firmly in the spotlight, and thus the death spiral begins. I expect WWDC will now cement itself as the place for developers and Mac heads to network, along with indie efforts like the Business of Software, C4, and even simple meetups such Macs in Prague.

I've never been entirely convinced with the merits of exhibition shows in the Internet age (although the networking aspect is tops) so I'm not at all surprised with Apple's decision. They can announce products as and when they like, without the pressure of having something amazing up their sleeve every January. Not so good for Wall Street 'analysts' but hey, we know they just leech off sites like AppleInsider and MacRumors.

The next shoe to drop will be the selling of boxed software in retail stores. It surely has to change. Firstly, it's so passé and environmentally unfriendly. Secondly, there isn't enough shelf space to show off the growing OS X software library. Thirdly, the success of the iPhone App Store and general willingness of consumers to download everything in sight makes it highly likely that a Mac App Store would be a winner. Watch this space!

AppJacked 2

2008-08-18T15:17:00.003+01:00

Once again, we've been AppJacked (where a software program injects itself into other applications to change behaviour, often resulting in problems). Recently, a few users reported PandoraJam and iRecordMusic mysteriously crashing. Having examined the crash reports, it seems the culprit is an audio plug-in called Hear, which has also caused problems with other applications such as Skype and EyeTV.

If you have been suffering from mysterious crashes, and you have Hear installed, check your crash logs (use Console.app in your Utilities folder), and look for tell-tale signs such as:

Thread 3 Crashed:
0 com.joesoft.hal 0x0d7a373d AudioDeviceIOProcOverride...

0xd781000 - 0xd7a9ff2 +com.joesoft.hal ??? (1.0.2.294) /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/Hear.plugin/Contents/MacOS/Hear

The solution in such a case is to uninstall Hear, or if possible, tell it not affect the application which is crashing.

iRecordMusic Update: 1.6 (build 464)

2008-08-14T13:48:00.004+01:00

A new version of iRecordMusic is now available for download. It is recommended all users upgrade.

iRecordMusic 1.6 (build 464)

Link:
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/irecordmusic.zip

Changes:

Improved silence detection and added options to suspend and split recording after detecting silence for a period of time.

The new options are found in Preferences, as shown above. By adjusting the settings you can tailor recording to various Flash based web music players, making it easier for you to auto-split long recordings, where silence is padded between different audio tracks or segments.

PandoraJam Update: 1.3 (build 250)

2008-08-06T12:33:00.000+01:00

PandoraJam 1.3 (build 250) is now available for download.

[Direct Link]
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/pandorajam.zip

Summary of changes:
- Fixed a bug where a recording would fail based upon certain characters in the artist or song name, resulting in thousands of small files being generated.

iRecordMusic Update: 1.6 (build 462)

2008-07-28T13:33:00.003+01:00

A new version of iRecordMusic is now available for download. It is recommended all users upgrade.

iRecordMusic 1.6 (build 462)

Link:
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/irecordmusic.zip

Changes:

Fixed issue where RealPlayer 11 had no sound in Leopard.
Fixed issue where BBC iPlayer was not operating correctly.
Fixed issue with QuickTime movie plug-in not working in Leopard.

Mac Mix Promo Launched!

2008-07-14T21:52:00.002+01:00

The Mac Mix Promo is now live! You can purchase a wide variety of software applications, including ComicBookLover, at a discount. Simply pick'n'mix. More info in this TUAW post. Happy shopping (while paper money is still worth something! :-)

The iLiad says hello to book loving Blighty

2008-07-06T09:27:00.007+01:00

The iRex iLiad ebook reader seems to be on general sale here in the UK, as pictured here in Borders (the Angel / Islington branch).

It's quite expensive though, at a penny short of £400, but could be suitable for viewing comics, especially black and white manga. It has a resolution of 768 x 1024, and 160 DPI, and can display Jpeg images.

Regarding external device support for ComicBookLover, the priority is the iPhone, but other devices which have a reasonable user base and have a good form factor for viewing comics would also be considered.

Firewire audio + Leopard = ?

2008-06-05T20:05:00.007+01:00

A few users have contacted me over the past few months regarding issues when using their Firewire based audio devices with iRecordMusic and PandoraJam, ranging from glitches when listening to audio, or a regular beeping noise.

Well it seems that there have been ongoing issues with device manufacturers ensuring their drivers are compatible with Leopard, or perhaps with Apple breaking things.

So today I borrowed some equipment (M-Audio 410 Firewire) from London's finest alt-funk band (ok, a band my friend helped manage a while back) called Bussetti*.

With OS X 10.5.3 and the latest M-Audio drivers, things worked well, apart from the 176,400Hz and 192,000Hz 8ch-24bit output settings - thankfully, this was also the case with RealPlayer, which makes me feel slightly better. I will of course investigate further... in the meantime, update your drivers!

*Yes, that's superglue, a tin of baked beans, and an empty bottle of alcohol...

Last.fm - growing too...

2008-05-28T09:33:00.004+01:00

Must be something in the air with Last.fm also being mentioned in the financial press on the same day as Pandora.com. Interesting to note how Pandora.com supposedly makes more money from advertising than selling tracks via affiliates, whereas the FT reports that Last.fm's position is the other way round.

Last.fm, the London-based music Web site, is to increase its efforts to generate advertising revenues from its 26 million users. CBS acquired Last.fm for 280 million dollars a year ago. Quincy Smith, president of CBS Interactive, said: "One of the main reasons Last.fm agreed to be acquired by CBS had everything to do with the fact that we have great relationships with agencies and advertisers." Last.fm currently receives more revenues from selling tracks via affiliates such as Amazon and Apple's iTunes than it does from advertising, so last week it began testing a redesign with 150 percent more advertising inventory.

Quite a few folk have asked if it would be possible to develop an application like PandoraJam but for Last.fm. If anybody has experience using Windows based Last.fm applications, or has features they would want for a souped-up Last.fm experience, post your comments below...

Pandora.com - growing quietly...

2008-05-27T13:02:00.005+01:00

If you like Pandora.com and want to know more about its roots, it's worth checking out a MarketWatch article about the start-up. Interesting to note that CEO Tim Westergren identifies Clear Channel Communications as their main competitor, whereas most listeners would have been thinking about the web 2.0 music services such as last.fm and slacker.com.

I tend to agree that Clear Channel are "the owner and operator of many bland, mainstream radio stations" and would also add that regardless of listening tastes, their web-sites are abysmal and Mac / Safari unfriendly, with pop-up windows and plug-ins galore. If you want to time-shift these stations, use iRecordMusic... and of course, if you want a souped-up Pandora.com experience, check out PandoraJam :-)

Radiotastic update: 0.93

2008-05-23T14:12:00.001+01:00

A new version of Radiotastic is now available for download. Note that some of the Leopard issues mentioned previously still apply.

Download link:
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/radiotastic.wdgt.zip

Summary of changes:

Fixed an issue where recent Apple updates caused loading of streams to fail.

PandoraJam News : Loss of functionality

2008-05-08T08:07:00.004+01:00

UPDATE: 22 May 2008 - Good news... things seem to be working fine for the majority of users, but we will keep on monitoring the situation. Contact support@pandorajam.com if you have any issues.

Dear PandoraJam users,

Recent changes to the Pandora.com web-site (whom as you know are not affiliated or in anyway connected to PandoraJam) are causing problems for PandoraJam. In light of these issues, we felt it best to provide you with an update:

Airtunes playback is working (AppleTV airtunes support is being looked at),
Recording, Growl, and online status integration (last.fm, twitter, etc) are currently broken. If in your case things are still working, we recommend you do not create any new stations, or login or logout of the Pandora.com service, but otherwise continue to use as normal.

PandoraJam was released last year, and we have had very good compatibility since day one. Many changes to Pandora.com are behind the scenes, unknown to the user, and we have handled those, including the recent switch from MP3 streaming to AAC+ streaming. Unfortunately, recent changes in the first week of May 2008, over at Pandora.com, are making it increasingly hard to maintain full compatibility.

If we are unable to resolve the issues, regarding your purchase, if you purchased on or after March 1st 2008, you may request a refund. Our normal refund policy is 30 days since date of purchase, but we wanted to extend this period given the circumstances. Folks who purchased before this period, we hope you enjoyed using the software (we think at $15 it's been great value and a lot of fun!) and we will be offering you a discount coupon on our other software. Thanks for your understanding.

We will of course try our best to investigate and restore service... we may update and change the way the application works, perhaps with slightly different functionality, as it is not yet currently known whether existing application functionality can be fully restored. Please stay tuned.

If you have any questions, please email support@pandorajam.com. Thank you.

Introducing Comics.ning.com

2008-05-01T12:38:00.003+01:00

A site has been setup for ComicBookLover users and other digital comic fans to chat, so please head on over!

[Invite Link]
http://comics.ning.com/?xgi=5b4rhBk

[Site]
http://comics.ning.com

Ning is a service that lets people build social networks, and while I imagine some of you don't want to have to remember yet another username and password combination, there are quite a few comic related networks on Ning, so you can join all of them :)

It's over to y'all now...

Pandora - Tale of two codecs

2008-04-18T17:50:00.009+01:00

About two weeks ago, Pandora.com started switching their audio streams from 128kbps MP3 to 64kpbs AAC. It may be a permanent change, or a behind the scenes experiment. I have yet to find anything about this on the official Pandora blog.

Since quite a few PandoraJam users have enquired about this, I thought I would mention that:

I haven't noticed any drop in audio quality, although I'm not an audiophile and I have a rather unimpressive audio set-up.
Due to the change in audio compression technology, a higher bitrate does not necessarily mean higher quality audio. As an old Apple document points out, "AAC-encoded files sound as good as or better than MP3 files encoded at the same or even a higher bit rate".
If you like a song, buy the high quality 256kps AAC version of the song from the iTunes Plus store. It's not quite lossless, but plenty good.

Pandora.com is a great web-site... don't worry about the technology and just enjoy the tunes :-)

UPDATE: Pandora.com is streaming in HE-AAC (aka aacPlus) and the recordings are also in this format. iTunes does not fully support playback of HE-AAC resulting in 44.1k Hz HE-AAC/aacPlus recordings being played back as 22 kHz AAC tunes. The recordings sound better when listened to in applications which support HE-AAC such as VLC.

UPDATE 2: According to a user who contacted Pandora.com, downgrade your flash version to 47 or before, and you'll continue hearing 128 kbps mp3s.

PandoraJam Update: 1.3 (build 247)

2008-04-15T12:58:00.003+01:00

PandoraJam 1.3 (build 247) is now available for download.

This release will make you happy. Enjoy.

[Direct Link]
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/pandorajam.zip

Summary of changes:
- Faster recordings
- Resolved issues with ffmpeg install

Pandora - All Around The World

2008-04-10T17:10:00.003+01:00

If you want to listen to Pandora.com and use PandoraJam, but you're located outside the USA, I can recommend using a VPN service from Witopia.net.

It's cheap, it works (for the past few months of testing), and having access to a VPN is useful when you are using your laptop, iPhone or iPod Touch on an unknown wi-fi network. It also means you can access other music services which are only meant for US based folk.

It normally costs $39.99, but you can get a 15% discount by using a special coupon code.

BITCARTELVPN

This isn't an affiliate deal. I genuinely enjoy using their service, and Witopia understand the needs of PandoraJam users. Just tell them Bitcartel sent you!

PandoraJam Update: 1.3 (build 242)

2008-04-10T17:05:00.004+01:00

PandoraJam 1.3 (build 242) is now available for download.

Summary of changes:
- Fixed an issue causing some recordings to be missed

Note:
Recording requires installing a free tool called ffmpeg, and instructions for this are here: Technote - Installing ffmpeg for PandoraJam

Update
If recordings playback at a strange speed (very slow) it is probably because you are using an old version of ffmpeg which is not a Universal Binary, on your Intel based Mac. The solution is to remove the file located at HOME/Library/Application Support/PandoraJam/ffmpeg and upgrade to the latest issue of ffmpegX (delete any old versions, and empty the trash).

AppJacked

2008-04-04T17:24:00.008+01:00

Recently I've been receiving quite a few support questions related to:

iRecordMusic crashing upon launch
PandoraJam's AirTunes feature not working

Working with users, it was soon apparent what was the cause. Some audio applications have a feature where they hijack the audio from other applications. It's quite funky, but since I'm already doing funky stuff within in my own application, problems can occur.

Applications like AirFoil and Audio Hijack install a program called 'Instant Hijack' which injects itself into other applications (pretty much everything on your system!). Unfortunately this can cause problems, even with Apple's own software (more). So you need to configure it to not affect iRecordMusic or PandoraJam.

Update: Please read Technote - Instant Hijack Compatibility Issues

You can do this by uninstalling 'Instant Hijack' via the software which was used to install it, or by configuring it to ignore certain applications such as PandoraJam. The first method fixes the issue, but of course you may have a need for the software and want to keep it. The second method should fix the issue too, but from user feedback it may have no effect:

"As soon as I open irecordmusic, it immediately crashes every time... Yep, the 'ignore certain apps' of audio hijack did not work, so just uninstalled, now everything works fine."

"I was able to get it working by uninstalling Airfoil's Instant Hijack. So, 802.11n Airport Express works fine with PandoraJam, which is great! =)"

"I uninstalled instant hijack and added irecordmusic to APE's exclude list then restarted and it seems to work."

Things like Unsanity APE are pretty cool, but as many developers will tell you, there is a real issue with hacks and extensions that load themselves into other programs, especially when the default policy seems to be inclusive. It might be better to have an opt-in policy, where users specifically allow certain applications to be affected, resulting in fewer compatibility issues which can be hard for end-users to diagnose.

PandoraJam Update: 1.3 (build 238)

2008-04-04T15:36:00.003+01:00

PandoraJam 1.3 (build 238) is now available for download, and
includes some important fixes.

Update: Please read Technote - Installing ffmpeg for PandoraJam

One important change is that you will need ffmpeg, a free utility, to create recording files. Due to licensing issues, ffmpeg cannot be included in the PandoraJam distribution. However, to keep things easy for you, PandoraJam has been set up to look for a copy of ffmpeg, often used by software like ffmpegX and VisualHub, so after installing and launching either of these tools, press the PandoraJam record button and PandoraJam will try to locate the relevant file. You can then uninstall the software if you don't intend on using it, although both are quite handy for converting video for your iPod touch or iPhone.

[Direct Link]
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/pandorajam.zip

Summary of changes:
- Twitter support
- Tracks rated with a Thumbs Up can now be added to Last.fm love list
- Use of ffmpeg for creating recordings
- Duplicate recording check is now case insensitive
- Fixed bug where Apple Remote preferences were ignored sometimes
- Improved compatibility with Pandora.com

ComicBookLover meet iPhone

2008-03-11T14:36:00.003Z

The MacWorld folks have compiled a list of some of the applications they really want to see on the iPhone. Coming in at #10 is a comic book viewer... with a nice screenshot of ComicBookLover next to it :-) Thanks to Greg over at SmileOnMyMac for spotting this.

So what would you like to see in the iPhone version of ComicBookLover? This is your chance to shape the design and future of the application, so send in your thoughts, while I lock myself away in the lab!

ComicBookLover update 1.3 (build 821)

2008-02-25T14:46:00.002Z

ComicBookLover 1.3 (build 821) is now available for you to download.

[Direct Link]
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/comicbooklover.zip

Changes:

Fixed a memory leak when viewing PDF comics.
Implemented a workaround for a known CoreImage bug which leaks memory on Leopard.
Fixed an issue where the title column of a group could be missing.
When editing info for multiple comics, the checkbox for the field is automatically enabled

Microsoft Comic Superhero

2008-02-01T17:41:00.000Z

A former DC Comics editor is creating a comic strip for techies, entitled 'Heroes Happen Here', and it's sponsored by Microsoft itself. The interesting thing is Microsoft's implementation of a comic strip viewer. It's not too bad but it does require installing their Silverlight browser plug-in, which seems a tad heavy for the job in hand.

Silverlight is Microsoft's competitor to Flash, which is just what we all need... something else to bog down our browsers. Any guesses as to how long before the Mac OS X version of Silverlight falls behind the Windows version in terms of features and bug fixes?

Could the last listener in Britain please turn out the lights?

2008-01-15T23:28:00.000Z

Pandora.com will be turning off their service to folks in the UK today, although at the time of writing, the service is still up and running. I suspect when the clock chimes at midnight, the lights will go off...

I you really love Pandora and PandoraJam, and reside outside the USA (or happen to be on holiday or a lucky ex-pat posted in some exotic location), there are a few options to get you rocking again.

The first is to pony up for a VPN service, based in the USA, which will give you a USA based IP address. Google is your friend here, with some providers costing only a few bucks a month. Translation - for the cost of a few pints a month, you can enjoy Pandora and other US only sites, and a decent VPN service is useful in itself, especially if you're a laptop roadwarrior.

The second option is to hop on over to GlobalPandora - it only works in your browser, but it really works! A few folks contacted me to give me the heads up. I'll be taking a closer look at GlobalPandora to see if its something that can be mashed-up with PandoraJam. In the meantime, you should hop over to the site, and give it a spin. I'm not affiliated with the people responsible for GlobalPandora so you're flying solo - caveat emptor and all that.

As mentioned in my previous post, get in touch if you're in the UK and you purchased the software recently (from Dec 1st, 2007) and I can issue you a refund if you want. If you purchased before this time, get in touch and I'll sort out a discount coupon for some of my other software.

Finally, the third option is to listen to another audio service. What's hot and what's not? Let me know!

UPDATE: It's definitely over for the Brits. The official Pandora blog now mentions it too. If you visit the Pandora web-site from the UK you get this message:
"We are deeply, deeply sorry to say that due to licensing constraints, we can no longer allow access to Pandora for listeners located outside of the U.S. We will continue to work diligently to realize the vision of a truly global Pandora, but for the time being we are required to restrict its use. We are very sad to have to do this, but there is no other alternative."

Achtung! Unhappy New Year for UK Pandora Listeners

2008-01-07T23:34:00.000Z

Pandora.com will cease to broadcast to UK listeners as of January 15th, 2008. The reason for this bad news? Royalty rates demanded by recording bodies would put Pandora.com, one of the most popular and innovative internet radio services, out of business.

Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, sadly says in an e-mail to UK listeners:

"Both the PPL (which represents the record labels) and the MCPS/PRS Alliance (which represents music publishers) have demanded per track performance minima rates which are far too high to allow ad supported radio to operate and so, hugely disappointing and depressing to us as it is, we have to block the last territory outside of the US."

I'll write more on this later, but I want to address the impact on PandoraJam users first.

What effect will this have on PandoraJam USA users?

None. PandoraJam will continue to provide an enhanced experience for Pandora.com listeners based in the USA, and provide compatibility with the Pandora.com site for as long as possible.

What effect will this have on PandoraJam UK users?

You have one more week of usage, so start listening, scrobbling, etc. Take no prisoners!
If you have access to a USA based proxy, or are willing to use Tor, check out this blog post. That way, even after Pandora.com switches off the UK, you can keep listening.
If you purchased PandoraJam from 1st December 2007, you can ask for a refund and get your $15 back. E-mail me at support@pandorajam.com. This is going to be a logistical nightmare to sort out... sigh... Of course you don't have to ask for a refund, if you feel you got your £7.50 worth of fun and want to support an indie developer with beer money :-)
If you purchased PandoraJam before the 1st December 2007, e-mail me and I will issue you a discount coupon for some of our other software. There are plenty of other sites which you can listen to audio from, and record from, but of course, Pandora is one of the best. If you really need the few quid back, then get in touch.

Thanks for reading on what is a bad day for Internet radio.

Radiotastic update: 0.92

2008-01-05T15:05:00.000Z

A new version of Radiotastic is now available for download, with initial support for Leopard! I say 'initial' as running multiple instances of the widget only works in Tiger and is not yet supported in Leopard, but everything else such as listening and recording should work fine.

Download link:
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/radiotastic.wdgt.zip

Summary of changes:

Support for OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

p.s. Happy New Year!

UPDATE: Unfortunately it appears having other audio widgets playing audio in Dashboard will affect the operation of Radiotastic, so it's best to run it as your only audio widget. Of course, this is less than ideal. Sorry folks. I'll be working to fix this, no ETA, but thanks in advance for your patience.

Last day of MacSanta

2007-12-31T15:04:00.001Z

It's the last day of 2007 and it's also the final day of the MacSanta promotion. Visit our web store and use the coupon code MACSANTATEN to get 10% off our software, featuring delights such as ComicBookLover and PandoraJam (for Pandora.com fans!). Wishing you a Happy New Year!

ComicBookLover update 1.3 (build 810)

2007-12-31T14:53:00.000Z

ComicBookLover 1.3 (build 810) is now available for you to download.

[Direct Link]
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/comicbooklover.zip

Changes:

Fixed a bug where sometimes certain months were not selectable in the date picker widget when trying to set the publication date.
Improved handling of CBZ archives by supporting old PKZip archives.
KRM updated to 1.0.7.

The last few updates have seen problems with the selecting of a publication date. Thanks to everybody who contacted me about it. It seems the standard Cocoa widget NSDatePicker is a bit buggy. If you set a timezone on it, say UTC, certain combinations of months and years can't be selected, such as October 2007 (which flips to November 2007 immediately). Strange, but true!

PandoraJam Update: 1.2 (build 217)

2007-12-20T17:51:00.000Z

PandoraJam 1.2 (build 217) is now available for you to download.

[Direct Link]
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/pandorajam.zip

Changes:

Changed Preference options and user interface related to duplicate recordings so it is easier to use.
Fixed a bug where placeholder artwork was being used to tag recordings even when artwork tagging option turned off.
Fixed a bug where duplicate checking in a station's playlist in iTunes was not working properly.
Fixed an issue where iTunes would pop to the front of the desktop after a recording was added to a playlist.

Folks, keep your feedback coming!

ComicBookLover update 1.3 (build 806)

2007-12-19T14:19:00.000Z

ComicBookLover 1.3 (build 806) is now available for you to download.

[Direct Link]
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/comicbooklover.zip

Changes:

Improved multiple comic editing by displaying existing common data with checkboxes to toggle whether fields are to be changed.
Added option to tweak laptop rotation due to hardware differences found in the laptop accelerometers.
Added option to keep the last modified date of comic files when setting the Finder icon.
Added higher quality cover artwork and Finder icons, of size 512x512 (visible in Leopard).
Added large application icon (visible in Leopard).
Fixed a bug in displaying the publication date of comics after editing multiple comics.

The large icons for comics will be visible in Leopard, however you need to open or import the comics again for the icons to be set. In the future, I will add batch operations so you can update cover artwork, icons, convert between comic formats, etc. for many comics at once.

MacSanta 2007 - One Day Special

2007-12-10T16:23:00.000Z

Today, aka the 10th December, Bitcartel is featured on the MacSanta home page, so you can get 20% off all our products!

Head on over to the Bitcartel Web Store and use the coupon code MACSANTA07 to snag copies of ComicBookLover, iRecordMusic, PandoraJam and RadioLover at bargain prices.

If you're late to the party, don't worry as MacSanta is a month long promotion, where you can purchase software from many Mac developers with 10% off everything.

MacSanta - Christmas is here, again!

2007-12-06T16:04:00.000Z

Want cheaper software? There's no need to wait for Mr Bernanke to further debase the US Dollar, as things are going to get crazy, right now... yes, it's MacSanta!

Simply use the coupon code MACSANTA07TEN and get 10% off any order. Not just from Bitcartel, but from many other indie Mac developers too, and this offer runs for the entire month of December!

Cheaper software for folks in the USA and the rest of the world, and not a printing press in sight. Sweet!

The Duke Is Listening!

2007-12-04T18:34:00.001Z

Paul Lamere over at Sun recently discovered PandoraJam, and he likes it :-) Positive feedback from users is always appreciated, especially from fellow engineers.

It turns out that Paul heard about PandoraJam from a recent podcast: This Week In Media #75. Check out the thoughts of the TWIM team, approx. 1hr 8mins into the episode. It's heart-warming to know that PandoraJam changed the way they think about Pandora.

Now, Paul pondered the role that PandoraJam might play - if any - in the future of Pandora. In my opinion, PandoraJam plays a positive role by introducing new listeners to the Pandora music service and more importantly, encouraging existing listeners to stay tuned in for longer (as the TWIM team say, it keeps them rockin').

The future of Pandora and other net radio stations is all to do with the rise in royalty rates which the music industry is demanding, rather than innovative third party software and mash-ups, giving music lovers what they want. The real question to ask is, when will the music industry start listening to their own customers?

ComicBookLover update: 1.3 (build 790)

2007-11-22T17:27:00.000Z

ComicBookLover 1.3 (build 790) is now available for you to download.

[Direct Link]
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/comicbooklover.zip

Changes:

Fixed a bug where crashing could occur in full screen mode if laptop rotation was disabled in Prefs.
Fixed bug where Apple Remote code was not handling plus and minus keys being held down.

To all digital comic readers in the USA... Happy Holidays!

PandoraJam Update: 1.2

2007-11-20T12:43:00.000Z

PandoraJam 1.2 (build 206) is now available for you to download.

[Direct Link]
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/pandorajam.zip

Changes:

Apple Remote support
User decides when Last.fm scrobbling occurs
Improved recording
Check for duplicate recordings
Rate songs given the thumbs up, while ignore songs given the thumbs down
Bug fixes

For all the folks in the USA, enjoy retail therapy on Black Friday... Happy Thanksgiving!

Pandora - Tor Around The World

2007-11-19T11:08:00.000Z

Want to listen to Pandora.com but you live outside the USA and UK?

One well-known solution is to sling your web traffic around the world, so that it looks as though your computer is in the USA. You can do this using the Tor network.

In a nutshell, you install Tor, set it to use end-points located in the USA, and configure Privoxy to only route web traffic through Tor if it's for Pandora.com.

However, it can be a bit tricky to set-up on your Mac so I've written a short guide which should you help along.
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dcs4kx8q_33hf3jt5

This might work for you, it might not. I suspect that the Loonies across the border will find this a good solution as network slow-down by using Tor shouldn't be too bad.

As we're talking about all things around the world, here's a blast from the past... enjoy!

PS: there's a new version of PandoraJam (a fun way to enhance your Pandora listening pleasure) coming out just in time for Thanksgiving. Stay tuned!

ComicBookLover update: 1.3 (build 787)

2007-11-13T11:44:00.000Z

ComicBookLover 1.3 (build 787) is now available for you to download

[Direct Link]
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/comicbooklover.zip

Changes:

Fixed Leopard issue where artwork pane and table were not scrolling to newly selected comics.
Fixed Leopard issue where setting information for multiple comics was not working correctly for certain fields.
Fixed Leopard issue so that auto-completion no longer completes text when the space bar is pressed.

iRecordMusic Update: 1.6 (build 450)

2007-11-05T13:00:00.000Z

A new version of iRecordMusic is now available for download, which now supports Leopard. It is recommended all users upgrade.

iRecordMusic 1.6 (build 450)

Link:
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/irecordmusic.zip

Changes:

Support for Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Fixed a compatibility issue with QuickTime 7.2 so real-time Apple Lossless recordings can now be made

iRecordMusic : Upgrading to Leopard

2007-11-05T11:40:00.000Z

If you are upgrading your computer from Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) to 10.5 (Leopard), the upgrade should be seamless, but you should still back up your existing iCal schedules.

If you are doing a clean install of Leopard (i.e. wiping the hard drive first) or you want to back-up your iRecordMusic data before upgrading, you should also back up the following folders and files:

/Applications/iRecordMusic.app
HOME/Library/Application Support/iRecordMusic
HOME/Library/Preferences/com.bitcartel.irecordmusic.plist

To back-up your iCal schedule, launch iCal and select the iRecordMusic calendar so it is highlighted, and then select the menu item File-->Export, and save the calendar somewhere safe. By default the file should be called iRecordMusic.ics.

Once Leopard has been installed, perform the following steps:

Copy the files to their original location.
Launch iCal and then in the Finder, launch the saved calendar file iRecordMusic.ics. This will import the calendar into iCal. When prompted, name the calendar iRecordMusic, and when asked whether you want to keep or remove the alarms associated with the calendar, choose the option to remove the alarms.
Launch iRecordMusic and select the menu option Refresh iRecordMusic calendar to check the events in the iRecordMusic calendar, and recreate the alarm files associated with each recording event.

As always, if you have any questions, e-mail support@irecordmusic.com.

PandoraJam : Upgrading to Leopard

2007-10-29T13:58:00.000Z

If you are upgrading your computer from Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) to 10.5 (Leopard), the upgrade should be seamless.

If you are doing a clean install of Leopard (i.e. wiping the hard drive first) or you want to back-up your PandoraJam prefs before upgrading, you should back up the following folders and files:

/Applications/PandoraJam.app
HOME/Library/Preferences/com.bitcartel.pandorajam.plist

Once Leopard has been installed, simply copy the files to their original location. Security information such as your Pandora and Last.fm login details will have to be entered again.

As always, if you have any questions, e-mail support@pandorajam.com.

PandoraJam Update: 1.1 (build 165)

2007-10-29T13:56:00.000Z

PandoraJam 1.1 (build 165) is now available for you to download

[Direct Link]
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/pandorajam.zip

Changes:

Support for OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

Radiotastic update: 0.91

2007-10-26T14:54:00.000+01:00

A new version of Radiotastic is now available for download. It is recommended all users upgrade. Radiotastic requires Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger). It is not yet compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard).

Download link:
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/radiotastic.wdgt.zip

Summary of changes:

AAC recordings are now tagged with basic information.
Fixed AAC recordings so they are now suitable for streaming to other Macs.
Fixed encoding to Apple Lossless so it works with QuickTime 7.2 or later.
Internal fixes.

RadioLover : Upgrading to Leopard

2007-10-23T00:46:00.000+01:00

If you are upgrading your computer from Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) to 10.5 (Leopard), the upgrade should be seamless.

If you are doing a clean install of Leopard (i.e. wiping the hard drive first) or you want to back-up your RadioLover data before upgrading, you should back up the following folders and files:

/Applications/RadioLover.app
HOME/Library/Application Support/RadioLover
HOME/Library/Preferences/com.bitcartel.radiolover.plist

Once Leopard has been installed, simply copy the files to their original location.

As always, if you have any questions, e-mail support@radiolover.com.

ComicBookLover : Upgrading to Leopard

2007-10-23T00:45:00.000+01:00

If you are upgrading your computer from Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) to 10.5 (Leopard), the upgrade should be seamless.

If you are doing a clean install of Leopard (i.e. wiping the hard drive first) or you want to back-up your ComicBookLover data before upgrading, you should back up the following folders and files:

/Applications/ComicBookLover.app
HOME/Library/Application Support/ComicBookLover
HOME/Library/Preferences/com.bitcartel.comicbooklover.plist

Once Leopard has been installed, simply copy the files to their original location.

As always, if you have any questions, e-mail support@comicbooklover.com.

Support for Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

2007-10-23T00:41:00.000+01:00

Today sees the official release of Mac OS X, 10.5 (Leopard). For many weeks now, I like many others, have been testing with a Beta version of Leopard, which should be very close to the retail version released today. So here is the current status of Leopard compatibility:

Support for Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

ComicBookLover
RadioLover

Support coming soon...

iRecordMusic*
PandoraJam*
Radiotastic

Thanks for your patience.

*UPDATE: PandoraJam now supports Leopard (29 Oct 2007)
*UPDATE: iRecordMusic now supports Leopard (5 Nov 2007)

20 greatest big-screen comic book heroes

2007-09-21T12:39:00.000+01:00

The Times is pure entertainment today. Not content with upsetting the Apple Fanboys, it seems the Editor's choice piece "Who is the best big-screen comic book hero?" is not going down too well. These kind of lists are always highly subjective (the writer admits the rankings are completely arbitrary) and the mob are correct in pointing out that the list favours box office revenue rather than good film-making and adaptation of comic book characters. Still, nice to see comics and digital music getting coverage, after all, it's what we do :-)

Apple Haters II - Rotten To The Core

2007-09-21T01:00:00.000+01:00

With the growing popularity of Apple, it's inevitable that people come out and take pot-shots at Herr Jobs, as we've seen before. Rather than considering how the iPod & iTunes have kick-started the legitimate market in digital music, it seems easier to peddle the same lies over and over again.

Today's piece in The Times "Apple is at the core of a music rip-off, despite what Jobs says" is no different. There's no need to pick apart the article, as we've seen and heard it all before. However, as evidence of rather sloppy journalism, it's worth noting that our esteemed hack moans about the pricing of iTunes songs in the UK, before adding:

"Apple’s control over proprietary technology means that potentially cheaper rivals, such as HMV, cannot sell songs for download on to the market-leading Apple iPod."

This is complete garbage! There is nothing stopping HMV (a retail chain which sells music, movies, games) from selling digital music in MP3 format which can be played on an iPod.

In fact, this is exactly what HMV are going to start doing, after two years of proprietary WindowsMedia DRM nastiness. How can you blame Apple for HMVs business decisions?

Is it also Apple's fault that due to the HMV digital music store using ActiveX (proprietary Microsoft technology), their web-site only runs on Windows, meaning they cannot sell songs for download to millions of users running Macs, Linux, BSD, or Solaris?

"This site relies on ActiveX technology to download music to your machine; at this time you need Internet Explorer version 6 or greater running on Windows XP or Windows 2000 to purchase and download music."

Yeah, keep on hating... the rest of us will just enjoy the music!

UPDATE: Looks like FakeSteve wasn't too impressed either!

PandoraJam Update: 1.1 (build 149)

2007-09-18T17:12:00.000+01:00

PandoraJam 1.1 (build 149) is now available for you to download.

[Direct Link]
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/pandorajam.zip

Changes:

Added support for password protected AirTunes networks.
Scrobbling updated to use Last.fm AudioScrobbler protocol 1.2.
Scrobbling now makes use of HTTP proxy defined in System Preferences.
Improved compatibility with USB audio devices.
Improved handling of AirportExpress so that when paused, the AirportExpress is free for other applications to make use of.
Added preference option and menu item to quickly toggle scrobbling on or off.
Main window now remembers position between launches.
Fixed issue where volume of AirportExpress was not always in sync with volume slider if it was changed when paused.
Fixed a bug where if switching between computer and AirportExpress speakers, sometimes there would be a few seconds of old audio played.
Fixed a bug where updating last.fm scrobbling user details would not always take effect.

iRecordMusic update: 1.6 (build 347)

2007-09-17T17:10:00.000+01:00

A new version of iRecordMusic is now available for download. It is recommended all users upgrade.

iRecordMusic 1.6 (build 347)

Link:
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/irecordmusic.zip

Changes:

Fixed a problem where with QuickTime 7.2, bookmarkable AAC files were no longer listed in the Audio Books section of iTunes.

Known issues:

Users with QuickTime 7.2 or later installed on their system will find that real-time encoding to Apple Lossless is currently broken with all versions of iRecordMusic. Please choose another encoding format while this is being looked at.

UPDATE (21 Sep 07) - Just released 1.6 (build 434) which has two bug fixes:

Fixed a bug where encoding to bookmarkable AAC files via iTunes would fail during the tagging phase.
Fixed a problem where iTunes encoded AAC files were getting tagged, even if user did not request this.

ComicBookLover update: 1.3 (build 696)

2007-09-13T15:42:00.000+01:00

ComicBookLover 1.3 (build 696) is now available for you to download

[Direct Link]
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/comicbooklover.zip

Changes:

Added support for viewing comics with an Apple Remote
Added support for rotating screen based on laptop motion sensor
Manual lists now retain their order making it easy to create cross-over reading lists
Added support for Windows Bitmap images (.bmp) in comic archives.
Added use of Sparkle for version updates.
Info panel improved so that OK button is selected by default, and first responder is set for each tabview.
Comics in table are now re-sorted after editing comic info.
Fixed bug where the contextual menu when viewing comics would do nothing when page and scale mode were selected.
Other internal fixes.
Preliminary support for Leopard (Beta 9A527).

Thanks to all those who tried the beta and sent in feedback - happy reading!

Update: Today's earlier release 1.3 (build 690) had a bug which caused a crash when exiting full screen mode on PowerPC Macs. This has now been fixed.

PandoraJam Update: 1.0 (build 35)

2007-08-21T16:07:00.000+01:00

PandoraJam 1.0 (build 35) is now available for you to download

[Direct Link]
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/pandorajam.zip

Changes:

Improved handling of AirportExpress so that when paused, the AirportExpress is free for other applications to make use of.
Fixed issue where volume of AirportExpress was not always in sync with volume slider if it was changed when paused.
Fixed a bug where if switching between computer and AirportExpress speakers, sometimes there would be a few seconds of old audio played.

ComicBookLover is a MacGem

2007-07-16T16:15:00.002+01:00

My friend Philip over at SmileOnMyMac pointed me in the direction of the latest issue of MacWorld (August 2007) where ComicBookLover is a recommended MacGem. Thanks Philip! Now, to get to work on improving the star rating :-) I guess Jason Snell hasn't seen what's on the drawing board for ComicBookLover... but then nobody has, except myself and ??? (ssshh....)

PandoraJam Update: 1.0 (build 30)

2007-07-13T16:10:00.000+01:00

PandoraJam 1.0 (build 30) is now available for you to download

[Direct Link]
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/pandorajam.zip

Changes:

Fixed a bug where iTunes could not edit the tags of the recording
Fixed an issue where setting the status of IM software would try to look for any missing IM applications

iRecordMusic Update: 1.6 (build 345)

2007-07-13T16:08:00.000+01:00

A new version of iRecordMusic is now available for download. It is recommended all users upgrade.

iRecordMusic 1.6 (build 345)

Link:
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/irecordmusic.zip

Changes:

Fixed a bug where iTunes could not edit the tags of the recording
Fixed a bug where the bookmarkable flag for AAC recordings was not being set in the previous release

Changes made in previous release 1.6 (build 339) but not noted in blog or mailing list:

Added wireless streaming of audio to Airport Express
Added the displaying of the 'Record for a while' menu options in the main menu.
Added Safari 3 Beta compatibility, so installing Safari 3 Beta will not cause iRecordMusic problems
Fixed a bug so that AAC and Apple Lossless recordings can be streamed via iTunes Sharing to other Macs and the AppleTV
Other internal fixes

Save Net Radio - Action Required!

2007-07-13T12:46:00.000+01:00

Please visit SaveNetRadio - you can make a difference!

Macalope loves PandoraJam

2007-07-05T20:46:00.000+01:00

Last month, PandoraJam featured on the popular Mac podcast MacBreak Weekly as the mysterious Macalope's Pick Of The Week. I have no idea who Macalope is, but he sure does have a distinctive voice! Be sure to check out the podcast - PandoraJam is mentioned 52 mins and 45 seconds into the show...

RadioLover update: 1.6 (build 337)

2007-07-05T20:40:00.000+01:00

RadioLover 1.6 (build 337) is now available for download.

Download link:
http://www.bitcartel.com/downloads/radiolover.zip

Summary of changes:
- Previewing of radio streams with iTunes has been restored
- Added use of Sparkle for update checking
- Internal bug fixes

Day of Silence

2007-06-26T10:25:00.000+01:00

The Internet Radio “Day of Silence” is today.

Pandora, Yahoo, Live365, MTV, SomaFM, Bagel Radio, Rhapsody, and dozens of small webcasters are off the air to protest at the oppressive royalty rates recently set by the Copyright Royalty Board.

If unchanged, many webcasters will be taken off the airwaves permanently. You can help stop this from happening. Find out more at SaveNetRadio.org.

Save Net Radio Benefit Gig

2007-06-23T18:15:00.000+01:00

Many of you already know that US net radio is under attack. New legislation will force many indie broadcasters to shut down unless they cough up exorbitant fees to the recording industry. A crucial legal hearing takes place on July 15th, so if you live in San Francisco, or are passing through, show your support for net radio at a benefit gig on July 1st.

Raffle w/ prizes from SonicLiving (Chromeo tickets!), Griffin Technology, Peter Ellenby (Exclusive photos of the Shins & Death Cab for Cutie), Live365, Willotoons, Show Posters by Jason Munn and many others....
food (chili!)
bake sale
Live Music from Ted of The Heavenly States, Matt of The Herms, HIJK, Miyako Ueki of Peloton, and more...
DJs (Elise Nordling from Soma FM & Ted Leibowitz from BAGeL Radio)
$3-$5 suggested donation to SaveNetRadio.org at door
Free SomaFM Indie Pop Rocks CDs to the first 100 people.