Today’s the day to buy some Mac or iPhone software in support of Haitian relief efforts. The Indie+Relief one-day charity sale includes well-known titles like Delicious Library 2, Instapaper Pro, MarsEdit, Moneydance, Things and Tweetie — as well as lesser-known but highly-rated apps such as Gas Cubby and Today. Hardware makers are also getting involved. Twelve South

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Don’t Forget: Buy Software Today To Support Haiti Relief

Santa may have been generous enough to bring you a new Mac for Christmas, but after firing it up and poking around a bit, you might be overwhelmed and not sure where to begin. Thankfully, MacLife.com is here with some ideas on how to spend Christmas Day (and beyond) with your new friend — just consider us one of Santa’s friendly elves! 5 Things To Do First With Your New Toy 1. Visit Software Update OK, so maybe checking to see if your operating system is up-to-date doesn’t sound like the most fun thing to do with your new computer, but you’d be surprised how many times small problems that crop up even with new systems can be solved by doing so. Under the Apple Menu, select “Software Update…” and install anything that pops up there. Some updates may require a reboot, so be sure you’re not in the middle of something else before you do so. 2. Fire up your own personal Time Machine If you’re a first-time computer owner, you haven’t experienced the horror of losing your valuable files due to a hardware failure or hard drive crash. But you will, someday! It’s better to be safe than sorry, which is why Apple introduced Time Machine with Mac OS X Leopard 10.5, and it’s gotten even better (and faster) with Snow Leopard 10.6

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Setting Up Your New Mac: The First 25 Things You Need To Do

The Apple TV makes its way back into the Apple news cycle with an OS update. The Apple TV also gets to ride the coat tails of the report that Apple is shopping a $30 a month TV subscription service to television networks. Finally, Adobe gets all passive aggressive on Apple with its latest jab at the iPhone’s lack of Flash. Got a question, but you’re afraid to leave a voice message because of Witness Relocation Dept. rules? Drop us a question via Twitter twitter.com/maclife . This week’s Battlestar Applactica picks:   Gowalla – Free Instapaper – Free   Don’t forget, the Mac | Life staff would love to hear your thoughts, comments and ideas for the new podcast. Just leave a message on the Mac | Live question/comment line: (877) 404-1337, extension 622. Please limit the length of your messages to 1 minute max. We’ll review these calls each week and feature our favorites, along with responses, on that week’s podcast. To subscribe to the Mac | Live podcast series through an RSS feed, click here ; if you want to subscribe through the iTunes Store, click here .  

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Podcast #114: Apple TV Gets an Update and Adobe Taunts Apple

Newspapers and magazines — the entire news print industry to be honest — have been suffering a long and torturous decline for much of the last decade as more of us turn to the Internet and electronic devices to get (increasingly personalized) news and other content. While publishers have generally been slow to adapt to shifting delivery platforms, change is — finally — afoot. Publishing supergiant Condé Nast is now taking its first tentative steps to embracing the digital realm with a series of iPhone apps designed to deliver its most popular titles electronically. Adage reports that the first title will be GQ magazine, released this December in the app store and priced at $2.99 (the regular print edition of the magazine costs as much as $4.99). Adage’s Nat Ives writes: The new app platform could help the company squeeze circulation and real ad revenue from digital. Because the apps will include all the editorial and ads that the print editions do, the Audit Bureau of Circulations will consider the apps to be paid circulation just like newsstand sales and subscriber copies. That’s important because advertisers only want to pay for ad space in issues that the audit bureau defines as paid. So the digital edition of GQ will be identical to its dead-tree counterpart, but cost appreciably less

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Condé Nast Brings Titles to iPhone, Keeps Eyes On the iTablet

Tap the remaining-characters countdown ticker to toggle between the keyboard and often-used tools.   Features spring out of Tweetie 2’s diminutive, clean interface like items from Felix the Cat’s bag of tricks. No matter how you use Twitter, Tweetie 2 lets you use it better.   Tweetie 2’s basic features never feel bogged down by its deep extras. The tool quickly downloads and uploads messages over Wi-Fi or a phone network, and navigation within the app equally feels snappy. You’ll begin composing messages with a tap or two, even bringing up a directory to add contact names and recent hash tags.   Pictures load previews within messages, but you can expand them with a tap. More advanced tools embed pictures and videos through your choice of host services, shorten URLs, and add a Google geotag. However you use Tweetie 2, your favorite options will always be nearby.   And Tweetie 2 excels at reading messages. You can see previews or full versions of embedded photos within the app. Great search tools show trending topics, specific queries, or even a map of local messages. You can follow web links, including YouTube videos, and return to Tweetie 2 without going to the Home Screen. Or suppose you want to read a link or see a video later, Tweetie 2 interfaces with Instapaper and Read It Later .

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Tweetie 2

The sequel to Tweetie, the Twitter client that earned itself the much-coveted Apple Design Award earlier this year, is on its way to the App Store as you read this. For the past few weeks I’ve been part of Loren Brichter ’s Tweetie 2 beta program, testing out new features as the former Apple engineer constructed his new Twitter client. Brichter has rebuilt Tweetie from the ground-up. The sequel incorporates features such as app persistence, offline mode, drafts, threaded conversations, landscape support and much more. Read on for an in-depth look at what to expect from Tweetie 2. Look & Feel While Tweetie 2 incorporates an updated aesthetic, it won’t be difficult for both new and veteran users to get to grips with the app. More so impressive is how the app incorporates a raft of new features without overwhelming the user. Even after playing with Tweetie 2 for a few weeks, I’m still discovering new functionality. For instance, when replying to a tweet you can now drag down with your finger to “peek” at the original message. It’s a small feature indeed but finding these kind of miniscule updates brings to mind that satisfied glow we all get when discovering new features in OS X. In essence, skimming through tweets, tapping out messages and finding new folk to follow looks and feels great with Tweetie 2. Writing & Replying Composing richer tweets is easier now. Tweetie 2 lays out the different options clearly so that you can quickly add content to your latest 140 character micro-opus. In a given tweet you’re able to access your Twitter address-book and @ messages, search current hashtags, geotag your tweet and add photos too. Plus, just like with Tweetie on OS X, you can now shrink URLs with the tap of a button. Obsessively attentive readers may have noticed me video tweeting from Big Bird over the past few weeks, that’s because Tweetie 2 also incorporates video tweeting from the 3GS.

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Tweetie 2: The Complete iPhone Preview

NewsGator released today NetNewsWire 3.2 for OS X. At the end of July, NewsGator announced the ending of its news feed subscription service and released a beta version of NetNewsWire 3.2 with Google Reader synchronization. The way NewsGator handled the ending of its service and migration to Google Reader left a lot to be desired. After sending out an email advising people to immediately switch to the beta, it received many complaints due to the numerous bugs and the large embedded ad in the bottom left of the window. The ad was removed for remaining betas — until today, when it was brought back at half the previous size. To remove the ad you must purchase a license for $10. I’m not sure if this is a special introductory price or not, but for me $10 is a great deal and buying a license was a no-brainer. As well as many bug fixes and speed optimizations, the official release restores the much-loved Clippings functionality that was missing from the initial beta

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NetNewsWire for OS X and iPhone Officially Released

Although much has been said about the death of RSS I, for one, still get most of my news via RSS feeds every day. I find Twitter to be filled with too much extraneous junk, and services like Friendfeed and Facebook still don’t offer the feature set I want from my daily news aggregator. My RSS service of choice is Google Reader, which should come as no surprise as it is by far the most popular RSS Reader out there. Getting your Google Reader fix is as simple as navigating to the website , but what I really want is a desktop solution that offers all of Google Reader’s features while giving me a Mac-like experience and offline access to downloaded articles. A year ago the choices in this space were almost nil, but thankfully we’ve seen several applications jump into the fray recently. Let’s take a look at each of the contenders. NetNewsWire Many Mac users will be familiar with NetNewsWire , which has long been one of the best RSS readers for the platform. I was thus thrilled to hear that the next version of NetNewsWire will be bringing Google Reader support. NetNewsWire's interface should be familiar to many Mac users. The current beta of NetNewsWire does support synchronization, starring and folders, but features such as sharing and liking items are still not available. Thankfully the developer has indicated that those features will be implemented. Unfortunately, there’s no word about future support for notes and tagging. NetNewsWire offers excellent keyboard support, a built-in web browser as well as integration with Delicious and Instapaper

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Get Your Google Reader Fix Natively

The Beatles may not have arrived in the iTunes Music Store just yet, but it’s not all disappointing news: the App Store has been updated with a new look and a stack of new iPhone apps have been released. As ever, here are my picks from the latest additions. My top pick for this week is Hitchcock, plus I’ve also checked out Newsstand, Blades of Fury and Rhapsody. Hitchcock ($19.99) There’s a fantastic range of apps on offer to budding iPhone-based photographers at the moment. Tools such as QuadCamera and ColorSplash make for fun and effective photo-enhancing toys, and, once you’re done touching up your latest masterpiece, you can share your photography on Flickr via their official app. For folk who want to take their photography a step further and start dabbling in film, Hitchcock has arrived. Don’t let the messy interface fool you, this is a powerful app that’s packed with seriously useful features. Essentially a storyboarding tool, the app allows you to drop in photos as panels, outline camera movement, set shot durations and even add audio notes. Once you’ve laid out your latest shoot, you can export as a PDF too. Possibly a tad pricey but potentially an indispensable tool for indie film directors. Newsstand ($4.99) Byline might have been the most useful RSS reader on the block, but there’s a new news-gathering app in town and it’s got a great feature-set and good looks too. Newsstand incorporates a gorgeous newspaper rack style interface, fusing traditional with modern, allowing you to skim the latest headlines in style.

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Weekly App Store Picks: September 12, 2009

I’m fickle, always switching allegiances to Twitter apps. I’ve been jumping between Tweetie and SimplyTweet for months. Between them, they meet all my tweeting needs. But, long before they existed, there was Twitterrific . It’s been installed on every one of my iPhones, but rarely used. That’s about to change. Made by Mac stalwart Iconfactory , Twitterrific is the grandfather of iPhone Twitter apps, launched in January 2007 when Twitter was still young, and winning plaudits for its beautiful UI. The latest update, version 2.1, is as gorgeous as ever. Preserving its beauty while squeezing in more features must’ve been painfully challenging, but somehow the dev team at Iconfactory managed to do it. 2.1 brings the usual stability and bug fixes you’d expect

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Twitterrific Update Brings Bags of New Stuff