Whether you are already an iOS developer or you’re looking to get started, you’re in luck. Apple is offering six free iOS development books to download through their iBooks app. The free development books are:

• iOS Human Interface Guidelines
• iOS Technology Overview
• Object Oriented Programming With Objective-C
• iOS Application Programming Guide
• Cocoa Fundamentals Guide
• The Objective-C Programming Language

To download your own copies, launch iBooks, tap on “Store” and search for “Apple Developer Publications” where they’ll all be listed.

Apple recommends grabbing the latest iBooks 1.2 update before downloading the free books. Due to the iBooks requirement, you’ll need either an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to download them for now, although I wouldn’t be too surprised to see iBooks come to the Mac when the Mac App Store is released next month.

Considering the high cost of iPhone app development, grabbing a few free books and learning on your own may be the best way to have an app idea come to fruition.

The ability to set iTunes allowances is a great way to manage a kids spending habits on the iTunes Store. An allowance on the iTunes Store encompasses music, video, and app purchases. If you plan on gifting an iPad, iPod touch, or iPhone to a child, this is a helpful service to implement beforehand.

Setting up an iTunes Store Allowance

You can adjust the allowance amount and even have it recurring. Here’s how to set it up:

• Launch iTunes
• Click on ‘iTunes Store’ on the left
• Select “Buy iTunes Gifts” from the Quick Links section on the right
• Scroll down to the bottom and look for the piggybank graphic in the Allowances section
• Click on “Set up an allowance now”
• This next screen is where you set the allowance information:

• You can set a monthly iTunes allowance from $10 to $50, and you can set the allowance to become active immediately and to renew on the first of each month
• Fill out the recipients Apple ID and a personal message, and click ‘Continue’

The other nice thing about the iTunes allowance program is that any unused funds roll over into the next month. If the money continues to go unspent, you can close the account and withdraw the funds that are left in it.

Combining this with disabling in-App purchases is a good way to control spending habits and avoid excessive bills. If it comes down to it, you can also request a refund from the iTunes App Store.

If you want to set your Mac to always have the same IP address (also known as a static IP address), you can easily configure this to be set in the Network settings of OS X. This can be valid for both wi-fi networks and wired ethernet networks, and it can also be set under a specific network location if desired.

We’ll walk through how to set a manual IP address in Mac OS X, this is the same in all versions of OS X system software so it will not matter what version is on your Mac.

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If you want to take a screenshot of an iPhone that has a Home button, then you’ll find the process to be super simple. In fact, taking a screenshot using an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad is really easy, and the process is the same on all devices regardless of which model it is as long as they have a physical Home button to press.

Let’s jump right in and learn how get a picture of the devices screen captured:

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If you’re looking for an iPad stand that actually looks like it belongs to an Apple product, this just might be it. The Elago P2 stand is made out of aluminum and looks like it came right out of Apple to go perfectly with the iPad, in fact it makes the iPad look a lot like a miniature iMac.

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You can save phone numbers that automatically dial extensions with your iPhone. Essentially this allows you to add the extension number to a contact number, and when that contact is dialed, the extension will automatically dial after the call is answered by the automated phone system. There are so many uses for this as you can imagine, and it can really help to navigate through phone menu systems. Let’s learn how to set this up on any iPhone.

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Update: The Mac App Store and Mac OS X 10.6.6are now available through System Update. You can also Download Mac OS X 10.6.6 Directly and the updaters include the Mac App Store.

Apple has announced that the Mac App Store will be released on January 6, 2011. The Mac App Store will be available in 90 countries at launch date, and both free and paid apps will be available through the store. Steve Jobs is looking to replicate the iTunes App Store success on the Mac platform:

“The App Store revolutionized mobile apps,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We hope to do the same for PC apps with the Mac App Store by making finding and buying PC apps easy and fun. We can’t wait to get started on January 6.”

The Mac App Store will feature the same one click purchase and install process that has been widely popularized on the iOS App Store. Apple goes on to say that purchased apps will be able to run on all of your personal Macs, and updates to these apps will be delivered through the Mac App Store.

The Mac App Store will run on Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (and beyond) and will be available to users as a free download through Software Update.

You can read the full press release from Apple.

Two interesting reports came out yesterday, the first from DigiTimes who, citing component manufacturers, claims “that Apple plans to launch at least four upgraded MacBook Pros” in the first half of 2011. These new MacBook Pro’s are also said to feature a slight modification to the chassis, and they will reportedly include the new Mac OS X 10.7 Lion operating system.

Now this rumor sounds pretty realistic, of course Apple is going to release new MacBook Pro’s next year right? My guess is the chassis change will be a general slimming of the case to accommodate for a lighter and more MacBook Air type of enclosure in the Pro lineup. Of course I could be wrong but based on Steve Jobs words, it sounds like the natural progression of the portable line. So that is interesting right? Well I think this next report might be more interesting, and also may end up relating to the MacBook Pro.

CNET is reporting that Intels new Sandy Bridge Quad-Core chips will be making their way into 15″ and 17″ laptops as early as January 2011 at the Consumer Electronic Show expo. See what could be going on here? Judging by the current MacBook Pro 15″ and 17″ models, I think there is a good chance that we’ll see these new Intel Sandy Bridge chips in the next revision of the MacBook Pro lineup. Also interesting to note is that dual-core versions of the Sandy Bridge CPU’s will be available a few months after the quad-core release, so maybe we’ll see the MacBook Pro 13″ finally abandon the Core 2 Duo and make a jump to the new Intel Sandy Bridge CPU as well.

Intel’s new Sandy Bridge processors are expected to bring significantly better performance as well as better power management. Assuming the architecture is adopted by Apple, this should mean more powerful portable Macs with even longer battery life. CNET also expects that NVidia GPU’s will be bundled alongside the Sandy Bridge CPU:

Nvidia’s graphics chips are expected to be used in a number of Sandy Bridge laptops. Most of those systems will use Nvidia’s Optimus technology, which switches between Intel’s integrated graphics and Nvidia’s processor, based on power-saving and performance requirements, respectively.

This would be similar to how MacBook Pro Core i5 and Core i7 models currently operate, switching between the onboard Intel and NVidia GPU’s when needed.

Until there’s anything concrete, treat all of this as rumor and speculation, but it looks like 2011 could be an exciting year for the MacBook Pro line.

The Sudden Motion Sensor is designed to protect your Macs hard drive in the event of a computer being dropped or an unusually strong vibration. Essentially what it does is park the hard drive head when movement is detected, which prevents it from potentially scooting across the disk surface and scratching or otherwise damaging the drive or drive head.

Generally speaking, you will want to always have the SMS sensor enabled, but Apple mentions that certain environments are susceptible to unnecessary drive head parking due to the SMS. Basically the SMS detects a strong vibration and then the hard drive parks which can cause video and music playback issues, amongst other annoyances. This is particularly true with concert halls with strong acoustics, recording studios, dance and night clubs, and even walking workstations (the ones with a treadmill under a standing desk). Also, some owners of SSD drives may want to disable the feature.

Disable Sudden Motion Sensor on a Mac Laptop

This works to disable the Sudden Motion Sensor on the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, MacBook, PowerBook, and iBook running Mac OS X 10.6 and lower:

• Launch Terminal
• Type the following at the command line: sudo pmset -a sms 0
• Hit return and enter your password

The SMS sensor is now disabled, it’s just as easy to reenable again by changing the zero to a one when you need the protection back:
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Apple may have blown out their stock during the refurb iPad sale but Buy.com still has a few in stock with free shipping.

• Refurbished iPad 16 GB Wi-Fi for $459 with free shipping

I’ll maintain my past advice, getting a refurbished Apple product is a good bargain since Apple products are rarely discounted. That said, you should also buy the AppleCare Extended Warranty which adds an additional 2 years of warranty protection to the iPad. If something ever goes wrong, you’ll really appreciate the coverage.

Apple has released a minor update to iTunes that covers various bug fixes. Here are the release notes from Apple regarding the fixes:

What’s new in iTunes 10.1.1

This release provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

• Addresses an issue where some music videos may not play on Macs equipped with NVIDIA GeForce 9400 or 9600 graphics.

• Resolves an issue where iTunes may unexpectedly quit when deleting a playlist that has the iTunes Sidebar showing.

• Fixes a problem where iTunes may unexpectedly quit when connecting an iPod to a Mac equipped with a PowerPC processor.

• Addresses an issue where some music videos may not sync to an iPod, iPhone, or iPad.

Download iTunes 10.1.1 Update

You can grab the iTunes 10.1.1 update directly from Software Update under the Apple menu, or by going to Apple’s iTunes site.

One of the underused and certainly under appreciated features of Mac OS X are Smart Folders. If you aren’t familiar with Smart Folders, they essentially let you create a virtual folder that uses search operators from Spotlight to let that virtual folder contain any and all files that match the search requirements. Sound confusing? It’s really not, here’s a practical example:

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If you have an SSD on your Mac, listen up. You can replicate TRIM SSD functionality in Mac OS X by using this great tip from one of our readers, here’s Curt explaining: “I just got a MacBook Air and like many others I was surprised to learn Mac OS X doesn’t support TRIM. I found a workaround, here it is:”

Update 2: You can use a third party TRIM enabler tool for Mac OS X 10.6.7 or later, that actually enables TRIM rather than trying to replicate it.

Update / Warning: There have been reports that using this method slows down the SSD’s speed. Excessive writes to an SSD can also limit its lifespan. Until Mac OS X natively supports TRIM, your best bet may be to backup your files, reformat the drive, and then copy the files back to the drive (frustrating, I know). You may wish to read the comments below before trying this out on your own SSD drive. Proceed at your own risk and always have a complete file system backup handy!

• Launch Disk Utility, located in /Applications/Utilities/
• Select your SSD from the left side drive list
• Click on the “Erase” tab (don’t worry it won’t start formatting things)
• Look for and click on the “Erase Free Space” button near the bottom as seen in the screenshot

• Let the “Erase Free Space” function run
• Close Disk Utility when it’s finished

Curt describes how this work as follows: “What this does is write 0’s over previously deleted files, which makes it easier to later write to that block again, this is similar to the TRIM function. Here’s a simplification of how TRIM works for comparison; it clears deleted blocks on the SSD so that they are understood as empty when it’s time to write back to that block. I would recommend using this tip about once a month as a regular system maintenance plan, or after deleting a large amount of files from your SSD.”
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The original Apple logo featuring Isaac Newton and a poem was quite different than the minimalist Apple logo of today. The words around the border read “Newton – a mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought…alone.” which is quoted from a William Wordsworth poem.

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AirPlay is one of the cooler features of iOS 4.2 that lets you stream video and music from your Mac or iOS hardware to an Apple TV or AirPlay speakers. But wouldn’t it be nice if you could stream AirPlay video from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac? Now you can, thanks to a really cool hack from Erica Sadun of TUAW.

Getting it to work is very easy, you simply download and launch AirPlayer onto the Mac you want to stream video to, and then when you go to AirPlay from your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, you’ll find your Mac on the list of screens to export it to. It does this by setting up a Bonjour service on the Mac that pretends to be an AppleTV so that your iOS hardware can see it. This would be particularly fun to use on a Mac Mini media center if you have one.

No jailbreak is required but you will need iOS 4.2 and a Mac with Bonjour enabled, it’s free to download so if you want to try this out, you can download it from EricaSadun.com (current version 0.28).

Check out the video below to see AirPlayer in action with an iPhone streaming YouTube to a Mac:
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Amazon is on a roll lately with deals for Apple hardware, and the latest sale item is a $86 discount on the newest unibody Mac Mini for $612.52 with free shipping. Here are the specs: 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, 320GB hard drive, 8x SuperDrive, NVIDIA GeForce 320M Graphics. Again, this is the newest unibody Mac Mini, model MC270LL/A.

• Newest Mac Mini Unibody for $612 with free shipping from Amazon

This Mac Mini retails for $699 from Apple, Amazon’s discount is a full 12% off the price.

If you want more memory, the Crucial 8GB upgrade deal for $98 is still live and works with the new Mac Mini. Installing RAM on the Mac Mini unibody model is about as easy as it gets, you don’t even need to use a screw driver, the bottom twists off and gives access to the RAM directly.

Combining the 8GB upgrade and the discounted Mac Mini costs a total $717, the exact same setup from the Apple Store is $1199! This is definitely a killer deal.

It’s safe to assume that iPad 2 will have dual cameras, shed some weight, and likely even have a higher resolution screen, but that’s not enough for the rumor mill. The latest claim surrounding the popular tablet is that an unspecified smaller iPad will soon be offered alongside the regular 10″ version. This rumor comes from Reuters, who cites several hardware manufacturers in Asia as their source.

The idea of a 7-inch iPad isn’t particularly new, the rumor circulated earlier in the year and then was publicly shot down by Steve Jobs. This doesn’t mean much, as Reuters notes; “Jobs has a history of throwing Apple watchers off the scent of a good rumor — most famously when he derided the idea of iPods that play videos.”

The Reuters article also cites dual cameras coming to the iPad, which isn’t a surprise when recently leaked iPad 2 case designs clearly show a rear port for a camera.

Does a smaller iPad make sense? In many ways you could argue that the iPod touch is already a mini-iPad, and this feels even more true when you use the iPhone or iPod touch in landscape mode thanks to a jailbreak hack that realigns the iOS GUI to function horizontally. Will Apple create a device that fits between the two devices in screen dimensions? Why not just increase the screen size of the iPod touch and iPhone to 4″ instead? Several Android phones have proven it’s possible to maintain a slim design while achieving a 4″ screen, and just looking at an iPhone and iPod touch you can see where there is room to expand the display. Just a thought.

I generally trust Reuters as a reporting agency, and they certainly have better sources than your average rabbit-in-a-hat Apple rumor fabricator. Nonetheless I am skeptical of this claim, I think it is more likely that the 10″ iPad model will be reborn in a slimmer and lighter enclosure, rich with the features that everyone is now expecting, and some that we aren’t. With an expected early 2011 release for iPad 2, we’ll find out soon enough.

If you want to explore Android OS but you don’t have an Android phone, you can install Android OS directly into a virtual machine on your PC running either Mac OS X, Windows, or Linux. This process is pretty easy and it’s completely free, so if you’re interested in seeing what the biggest iPhone and iOS competitor is like, have a go.

Oh and before you ask, this tutorial is designed for Mac users but the process is identical in Windows and Linux too, so if you’re at work or you don’t have a Mac handy, you can follow along just the same. All of the download links are cross-platform compatible too.
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