10.6: Install Canon printer drivers in Snow Leopard: “Because the Canon printer driver installation program will not recognize Mac OS X 10.6, you can’t install your printer drivers even though Snow Leopard is a minor update.

To install your Canon printer drivers…

1. Download the driver disk image.
2. Mount the disk image and copy the installer package to your desktop.
3. Control-click on the package and choose Show Package Contents from the pop-up menu.
4. Navigate to Contents » Resources and delete the file InstallationCheck.
5. Now double-click the package and install the drivers normally.

[robg adds: I'm not sure if future Canon updates in 10.6 will be included in Software Update or not -- that is one of the supposed features of Snow Leopard, but I'm not sure exactly how it will all work.]

(Via MacOSXHints.com.)

Wake on Demand lets Snow Leopard sleep with one eye open: “A new networking feature in OS X 10.6 lets you remotely wake up a slumbering Mac over Wi-Fi or Ethernet so you can access files and media stored there. But the feature won’t work with every setup. Here’s what you need to know.>

(Via MacCentral.)

A look at Snow Leopard’s tricks: “In this week’s video, Dan Frakes takes a look at a number of notable features new to Snow Leopard.

(Via MacCentral.)

Download

Turn Google Voice into a Growl-Friendly Mac App [Mac OS X]: “

Google Voice’s web site is handy, but keeping it open in a browser tab is a pain. Mac users, however, can get Growl notifications, complete with transcript previews, and app badge updates with the handy Fluid app.

For those not familiar with Fluid, it’s a tool for creating ‘Site Specific Browsers’ (SSBs), similar to the Mozilla-powered Prism app we’ve featured. Fluid is a Mac-only tool, but its support of user scripts makes it a lot more powerful for running Google Voice as its own little dock app. With two user scripts installed, you get both icon ‘badge’ notifications of new messages, and ambient alerts from Growl with partial transcripts.

How does one get this notify-friendly Google Voice App? First things first—install Fluid and Growl on your OS X system. Growl will require a system administrator password, so make sure you have it before charging ahead. Once you’ve set up and installed Fluid, run it and create a new SSB for Google Voice.

When asked for your SSB settings, enter google.com/voice as the URL, then give it a name and other parameters. Before hitting ‘OK,’ though, head over to this Iconspedia entry, download the crystal-clear Google Voice icon, and set it as your dock icon for your Voice SSB. Now hit OK.

Left as-is, the Google Voice app will open anything you click on in the app window with your default browser. The fix is to open the Voice app, click on its name in your screen-top menu bar, select Preferences, then the Advanced category. Under ‘Allowed URLs,’ hit the ‘+’ button and add *google.com/voice*, asterisks included. Now your Voice app should be running fine, but it doesn’t yet notify.

You get those by adding these two user scripts to your Voice app: Google Voice Notifications (for app badge numbers) and GoogleVoiceGrowl (for Growl alerts). How do you add them? A few ways will work. You can simply enter those scripts’ URLs in the Voice app’s address bar and confirm that you want to install them. Alternately, with the Voice app/SSB running, click on the scroll-looking icon in the menu bar, select ‘Browser UserScripts.org,’ which should open UserSrcipts.org in your SSB. Search for Google Voice, select the Notifications and Growl scripts, hit Install, and you’ll be prompted to add them to your SSB.

Edit: Mr. Dee writes in to tell us, as many commenters have noted, that the final trick to getting everything working is installing the experimental Growl/GNTP Firefox add-on, which grants Fluid the ability to send Growl notifications to your system.

I was able to get this working on a friend’s OS X Leopard laptop, but mangled the screenshots to prove so. The blog post below was reader Mr. Dee’s inspiration in setting up a perfected Google Voice Fluid app, and we thank both of them for their efforts, and sharing.

What’s more, you could set up your new Google Voice notification system to work with previously mentioned Prowl to get these transcripts pushed to your iPhone—not a bad workaround, especially considering that Apple ruined your chances of using a proper Google Voice app on the iPhone. Got your own Fluid tweaks for a useful Google Voice or other app? Tell us about them in the comments.

(Via Lifehacker.)

Fans of Google’s new web browser can now check for the newest version available much easier by using an updater tool, which tells them whether a new version is available. The software is not entirely reliable (it may or may not work), but it does the job of fetching new Chrome for Mac releases, with multiple snapshots being available each day.

Download Tool

Microsoft will replace Entourage with Outlook for Mac in its next version of Microsoft Office for Mac, reports eWeek.

As an intermediate step, Microsoft has released Microsoft Entourage 2008 for Mac, Web Services Edition, which provides new syncing capabilities while setting the stage for porting users to Outlook.

The new Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition will supplement the Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Editions.

A simple fix for a noisy headphone jack on a MacBook: “I was quite annoyed with the sound quality of my Santa Rosa MacBook, i.e. a MacBook3,1. I had upgraded to this machine via a hard drive swap from the first generation Macbook, and now there was much noise on the headphones.

Today I found out that I can get perfectly fine audio by starting Audio MIDI Setup (in Applications » Utilities) and selecting 2Ch-20bit (or 24bit) for the headphones, instead of the previous 16bit setting.

(Via MacOSXHints.com.)

Rogers may have inadvertently revealed its plans this morning with a splash page supporting recent leaks of an 8GB iPhone 3GS.

More Information

Next-Generation iMac to Offer Two ‘Compelling’ New Features?: “AppleInsider reports that the next-generation iMac will see the inclusion of two ‘compelling’ new features, although sources refuse to provide anything more than suggestions as to what those features might be.

One of those features is…”

(Via MacRumors.)

San Diego, CA–August 4, 2009–One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a non-
profit organization focused on providing educational tools to help
children in developing countries “learn learning,” today announced it
will partner with PocketMac software in a unique fundraising
promotion. This is the first time Macintosh software has been used as
the lynchpin of a fundraising campaign.

All fundraising efforts will be related to PocketMac’s
RingtoneStudio 2 for iPhone, their flagship software to create iPhone
ringtones. For every copy of RingtoneStudio 2 for iPhone sold,
PocketMac will donate $10.00 to OLPC.

“OLPC is happy to be working with PocketMac,” said Nicholas
Negroponte, founder and chairman of One Laptop per Child.
RingtoneStudio for iPhone is a creative way to raise resources that
will equip more of the world’s children with rugged, connected
laptops filled with dynamic educational content.”

PocketMac RingtoneStudio 2 for iPhone is an easy drag-and-drop
solution for iPhone users looking to create ringtones from almost any
music and movie file.

“I’m so excited to be working with OLPC,” said Tim Goggin,
PocketMac’s VP of Sales & Marketing. “OLPC is such a wonderful cause
and we’re glad to make our customers aware of the great work that
they do.”

RingtoneStudio 2 for iPhone is available now for $29.95. For
every copy sold during the months of August & September, $10.00 will
be donated to OLPC by PocketMac.

A YouTube video preview of PocketMac RingtoneStudio for iPhone
can be found at:

More information about both products can be found at:

and

With Apple recently hit with accusations that its new iPhone 3GS smartphone is susceptible to serious overheating, the Cupertino-based gadget giant is again in the spotlight of negativity after claims it tried to ‘hush-up’ a story surrounding an exploding iPod Touch.
According to a report in The Times, 47-year-old Ken Stanborough contacted Apple with a view to securing a monetary refund after his daughter’s iPod Touch allegedly overheated and exploded.

Read More

Vela Design Group releases VelaClock Deluxe 2.1.14 and VelaClock 2.1.14: “

Berkeley, California – Vela Design Group announces VelaClock Deluxe 2.1.14 and VelaClock 2.1.14, Dashboard widgets. VelaClock Deluxe 2.1.14 is currently ranked 18 in Apple’s Top 50 Dashboard Widgets list, out of 4107 widgets! For current customers, both versions are a free update. Users of the standard version of VelaClock may upgrade to the Deluxe version for $6.00.

VelaClock is a world clock widget with a highly configurable user interface. Users can quickly display the time of sunrise, sunset, or twilight, duration of daylight, moonrise, moonset, phase of moon, time zone information and more. VelaClock users include people that communicate locally and internationally (phone, email, iChat), photographers (seeking twilight times), outdoor enthusiasts and people interested in the moon and astronomy.

What’s new for version 2.1.14:
* Updated Daylight Saving Time rules for Bangladesh

VelaClock Deluxe has all the features of VelaClock, plus:

1. Add user-defined places: defining and adding places allows cities that are not already built into VelaClock to be included. Any latitude and longitude will work; a GPS can be used to enter your current location. This feature provides accurate times for sunrise, sunset, twilight, moonrise and moonset for any location one enters.

2. Change the current date: changing the current date provides the ability to view information for any day in the past or future (from 1932 to 2030). Daylight Saving Time rules are up-to-date and historically accurate. This feature allows one to determine sunrise, sunset and twilight times for days in the past or future. Additionally, one can determine moonrise and moonset times as well as phase for any day. This is great for photography and outdoor activities.

Description for VelaClock Deluxe and VelaClock:

The interface of VelaClock can easily be configured to use a minimum amount of screen space or if the user wishes, more detailed information about the currently selected city can be displayed. The top pane of VelaClock displays a list of cities and corresponding local times. Multiple lower panes can be opened to display more information and take up more screen space (each pane has a full and a minimized version):

1. A light level bar that gives the user a picture of the 24 hours of natural light (bright daylight, three kinds of twilight and night) for the current day. A thin white bar indicates when the moon is visible. Daylight duration and the change in minutes of daylight from the previous day are also displayed.

2. Specific times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset. Begin/end times for civil twilight, nautical twilight, and astronomical twilight can also be displayed.

3. An image of the moon as seen in the sky above the currently selected city. This image accurately depicts the angle of the moon’s crescent. Because this angle can change dramatically within the span of an hour, it is updated once a minute, as is the moon’s phase. This view also contains the name of the current phase, as well as local times for the next and previous phase events (new, quarter, full).

4. An analog clock and detailed time zone information, including full time zone name and the number of hours the selected city is ahead or behind the user’s current time zone (as set in System Preferences). The current season name (winter, etc.) is also displayed.

5. Deluxe version only: A Change Date pane that provides the ability to view information (sunrise time, etc.) for any day in the past or future (from 1932 to 2030).

VelaClock has been an Apple Staff Favorite many times in the past, and frequently appears in Apple’s Top 50 Dashboard Widgets list. In the February 2006 issue of Macworld, VelaClock 1.4 was reviewed in Dan Frakes’ Mac Gems column and received a four-mice rating. In issue 123 of DG magazine, VelaClock 1.4 received a favorable review in John Feld’s Graphics Report column. VelaClock 1.0 was released on the same day that Mac OS X 10.4 ‘Tiger’ was released, April 29, 2005. Since that day, VelaClock has progressively improved with more than ten updates.

No Internet connection is required. VelaClock is a unique widget in that it is completely self-contained. Many widgets are lightweight front-ends to web services; such widgets require an Internet connection. By contrast, VelaClock is designed to function without an Internet connection, and so is particularly useful for laptop users away from their home or office. Astronomical calculations are performed by an internal code module. VelaClock was designed specifically for Mac OS X users and was built using the Apple Xcode toolset.

Minimum Requirements:
VelaClock requires Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger or newer. It is fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

Pricing and Availability:
VelaClock Deluxe is priced at $15.95 (USD). VelaClock Deluxe Household, for up to 5 computers within a single household, is priced at $23.95. VelaClock (standard version) is priced at $9.95. Existing VelaClock users may upgrade to the Deluxe version for $6.00. These versions are available now directly from the Vela Design Group website.

Vela Design Group
VelaClock 2.1.14

Vela Design Group is based in Berkeley, California. Copyright 2005-2009 Vela Design Group. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, and Dashboard are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries.

(Via MacMegasite.)