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We know what you’re thinking. You’ve heard about AppleScript. You’ve heard that it can do amazing things. You’ve heard that it can automate away the tiring, redundant, repetitive tasks you do with the computer.

All true. But you’re not sure about what’s involved with using it. Is it difficult? Is it programming? After all, you’re just a better-than average computer user. You know what you know, and your expertise serves you pretty well. But recently you’ve reached the point of asking yourself “Is there a better way?” The answer is “Yes.”

And relax, you just got lucky. This book is for you.

Apple may be famously secretive, but there’s one guy the company has been confiding in for more than three decades now. That would be its Uncle Sam, in the form of the U.S. Patent Office. The company’s patent filings are a remarkable record of Apple’s brainstorms, from its biggest blockbusters to its most humbling flops to concepts that never got off the drawing board. The thirty-eight images that follow include multiple examples of all of the above.

This coming Saturday, November 1, marks the first day of National Novel Writing Month. It’s a fantastic event where regular people are encouraged to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days.

In order to encourage Macworld readers to unlock their creativity, we’re published several articles on topics related to NaNoWriMo. Today you’ll find articles from three Macworld contributors who have participated in the event and met the 50,000-word goal several times. In “Write a novel in 30 days”, Nathan Alderman gives you a tour of some of the best Mac tools for helping you organize and write your novel, as well as track your progress. Alderman also contributes a blog entry, “Advice from a noveling veteran,” with some sensible tips about how to make it to 50,000 words. (One of his suggestions—blogging your novel—seems pretty crazy. But the fact is, reading Nathan’s progress was an inspiration to me, and knowing that a few people were reading mine as I wrote it was a great spur to keep me writing.)

Our own Dan Moren contributes “Surviving 30 days of noveling,” his own pep talk about how he’s managed to write several novels during Novembers past, including his admission that he’s written entire novels using an old copy of AppleWorks.

As for me, I’ve completed NaNoWrimo the past two years, the result of which is a single 160,000-word manuscript that I hope to publish one day. But in many ways, the prospective publishing of that novel is beside the point. The personal accomplishment, the thing that I can cross off my life list as if I had climbed a tall mountain, was writing the thing. And I would never have done that without the spur that National Novel Writing Month gave to me.

In July, CodeWeavers – whose software lets Mac OS X and Linux users run Windows programs without having to Microsoft for a Windows OS license – launched the Great American Lame Duck Presidential Challenge to encourage President Bush to make the most of his remaining days in office by accomplishing a major economic or political goal by January 20, 2009.

The goals focused on President Bush making specific positive accomplishments in areas such as the economy, home values, the stock market, the war on terror and other key issues. Specifically, one goal called for President Bush to help down bring average gasoline prices in the Twin Cities to $2.79 a gallon.

"That morning, I was filling my tank at Big Steve's Gas Palace in St. Paul," said Jeremy White, president and CEO of CodeWeavers. "I had just finished my morning corn dog and 64-ounce Dr. Pepper when I looked at the pump and noticed gas was at $2.79. I screamed ‘Woohoo,' then I yelled ‘Oh, crap!' as I realized every American can now have my software for free. Kind of upsets my fourth quarter revenue projections..."

On Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008, any one visiting the CodeWeavers' Web site (www.codeweavers.com) will be given a deal code that will entitle them to one free copy of CodeWeavers' award-winning CrossOver software. Each copy comes complete with support.

"I realize that by giving away all my software, I've caused horrific damage to my company's bottom line," White said. "In fact, our vice president of sales wretched Starbucks all over his shirt when he learned the news. But, I figure, the way the economy is going, in a few months everyone might be out on the streets, wearing potato sacks and standing in line for squirrel soup, so why not?"

Photoshop is the world's most widely used photo-editing and graphics program. But with all its fantastic new features and options, the CS4 version can bewilder even the most seasoned professional. Packed with tips, tricks, and lots of practical advice, Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual teaches you everything you need to know to edit photos and create beautiful documents in Photoshop -- whether you're a beginner or a power user ready to try some advanced techniques.

Author and graphics pro Lesa Snider King offers crystal-clear, jargon-free instructions to help you take advantage of these powerful tools -- not only how they work, but when you should use them.

Out strolling with your camera, you find a great shot and nail the composition. But the scene looks really flat onscreen. Before reaching for the reject button, however, watch Richard Harrington’s “Aperture 2: Quick Tip” podcast on the powerful Levels tool in Aperture 2. With it, you can turn that lackluster shot into a great image. Harrington takes you step-by-step through the process. And makes it easy.

From Apple

WHEN: Monday, July 21, 2008, 2:00 p.m. PDT/5:00 p.m. EDT

Apple will provide live audio streaming of its FY 08 Third Quarter Results Conference Call utilizing Apple’s industry-leading QuickTime® multimedia software. The live audio webcast will be accessible through Apple’s website at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq308/. Viewers simply need a copy of QuickTime 6 or QuickTime 7 to listen to the conference call. QuickTime 7 is available from www.apple.com/quicktime.

Click here to read more "FY 08 Third Quarter Results Conference Call"

From iLounge

Apple has posted two guided video tours of the iPhone 3G.

As with the company’s previous guided video tours, the iPhone 3G guided tours walk users through the various features of the new iPhone. The main Guided Tour video covers the phone’s features from the standpoint of a new iPhone user, including basic features and functions that will be familiar to current iPhone users.

In addition, Apple has posted a “What’s New” Guided Tour, meant for those already familiar with the iPhone’s functionality. It covers 3G, a-GPS, and the iPhone 2.0 software.

Click here to read more "Apple posts iPhone 3G Guided Tours"

From SecureMac
SecureMac has discovered multiple variants of a new Trojan horse in the wild that affects Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5. The Trojan horse is currently being distributed from a hacker website, where discussion has taken place on distributing the Trojan horse through iChat and Limewire.

The Trojan horse runs hidden on the system, and allows a malicious user complete remote access to the system, can transmit system and user passwords, and can avoid detection by opening ports in the firewall and turning off system logging. Additionally, the AppleScript.THT Trojan horse can log keystrokes, take pictures with the built-in Apple iSight camera, take screenshots, and turn on file sharing. The Trojan horse exploits a recently discovered vulnerability with the Apple Remote Desktop Agent, which allows it to run as root.

The Trojan is distributed as either a compiled AppleScript, called ASthtv05 (60 KB in size), or as an application bundle called AStht_v06 (3.1 MB in size). The user must download and open the Trojan horse in order to become infected. Once the Trojan horse is running, it will move itself into the /Library/Caches/ folder, and add itself to the System Login Items.

Click here to read more "AppleScript.THT Trojan Horse"

In early July, your .Mac account will automatically be upgraded to MobileMe—Apple’s new Internet service for your Mac, iPhone, iPod touch, and PC. For the most seamless experience on your computer, devices, and the Internet, there are a few things we recommend you do in advance to prepare for MobileMe.

1. Set up your Mac to sync contacts and calendar.
2. Upgrade your browser to the latest version of Safari, Firefox, or Internet Explorer.
3. Watch the MobileMe Guided Tour.
Due to its use of new technologies, MobileMe will only work correctly with Mac OS X version 10.4.11 or later.

Click here to read more "How to Prepare for MobileMe"

From 99Rental.com
Every week iTunes offers a special rental price of 99 cents on a movie selection. This special price is available through the following Monday. This site keeps you updated on what that movie is every week. You can also Grab their RSS Feed or Subscribe by Email.

This week's movie is director David Cronenberg's adaptation of a Stephen King story - "The Dead Zone".

Click here to read more "$0.99 Movie of the Week on iTunes"

From Macworld
In about two hours on Thursday, Apple rolled out a massive amount of information about allowing independent software developers to create programs for the iPhone. SDK, SQLite, core data, App Stores — who can make sense of it all?

Well, we're going to give it a go.

Click here to read more "The iPhone Software FAQ"

Beginning in March, Apple takes Aperture 2 on tour around the world. With its simplified user interface, Aperture 2 is easy enough for any photographer to pick up and use. Presenters will demonstrate how Aperture integrates with the rest of the Mac platform, showing you how you can publish photos to a .Mac Web Gallery, use third-party plug-ins to export photos to service bureaus, photo-sharing sites, and commercial sites, access projects, albums, and Smart Albums from iLife, iWork, and Leopard Mail and sync photos to iPhone, iPod, and Apple TV.

Space in the Aperture Tour fills quickly, so you’ll want to sign up right away and reserve your seat.

Click here to read more "Aperture World Tour"

Seems like a pretty good deal (Amazon has the same drive for $132.00) and shipping is free. It has a "Triple Interface" - USB 2.0, eSATA & FireWire 400 and installation is a snap because you don't really install this drive, you just plug it in and it's ready to use. For those of you looking for automatic backup - either with Time Machine or some other system - this would be a great drive to have. It also has a "Capacity Gauge" so you can see at a glance how much space is available on your drive.

It's smart and energy efficient - it turns itself on and off with your computer and Safe Shutdown prevents the drive from being powered down until all your data has been written and environmentally friendly - saves power by going into standby mode after 10 minutes of inactivity.

Click here to read more "Western Digital 500GB My Book Home Edition"

From Macworld

Here’s another one to file away under iPhone durability. We’ve seen how well the iPhone handles a direct shot from a golf ball (hint: not great). But how will it deal with being run over by a semi truck? Mike Beauchamp accidentally left his iPhone on the back of his car while pulling onto the freeway. This is what we calll, in technical terms, an “oopsie.”

Thus followed a succession of miracles.

Click here to read more "iPhone vs. Semi-Trailer"

(Shawn's Comment: I hate "unboxing" pics/videos but these guys did a *great* job)

Click here to see more "Sly's MWSF '08 Pics!"

From Apple

Click here to watch the "Macworld Expo 2008 Steve Jobs Keynote"

From Tripinator
If you are going to San Francisco for Macworld this week and actually get weather that does not include rain, try and get out and see that beautiful city.

Click here to read more "Self-Guided Walking Tour of San Francisco (for Macworld Attendees)"

From Macworld
Mac OS X has long included a basic firewall, but with the release of Mac OS X 10.5—also known as Leopard—this fundamental security technology is moving in a new and innovative direction. As with any major change in a popular operating system this transition comes with a learning curve, but thanks to the recent OS X 10.5.1 update from Apple, Leopard’s firewall is fairly straightforward and recommended for the average Mac user.

As a security professional I’m often asked by Mac users if they need a firewall. It’s a surprisingly difficult question to answer.

Click here to read more "Understanding and using Leopard's Firewall"

Select video files from last year's Macworld Expo Sessions.

Click here to see more "Macworld Encore"

From Macworld

Every iPod owner passes through seven distinct phases, this illustrated guide depicts the journey all iPod owners must undertake.

Click here to read more "The 7 Phases of Owning an iPod - An Illustrated Journey"

I *love* Black & White photos - and my current assignment (gonna break it into 2 parts, so this is part 1) was to take photos in both colour and black & white, using my EVOLT-510 (oh ok, Olympus' EVOLT-510; it's a loaner, I know I KNOW!). ;-)

To me, black & white photos tell a much more "organic" story (how "shee shee poo poo" of me). While colour photos capture your attention leaving nothing hidden and weave a more obvious story, black & white photos capture your imagination.

Click here to read more "Black & White vs Colour Assignment - Part 1"