posts

Pierre Lorenzi has built something wonderful:

HyperCardPreview is an Mac OS X application that can display HyperCard stacks, with an look very faithful to the original. It makes the stack files alive again in the Finder with their real icons, so they don’t appear as “binaries”, and provides a QuickLook plug-in.

It can only visualize the stacks: it can’t modify them, and it can’t execute them. But it lets the user inspect the stacks, backgrounds, cards, buttons and fields, see theirs scripts and get their text contents.

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BRB, selling a kidney.

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Keep in mind this isn’t law yet, but Loren Grush has the details:

Some notable missions are canceled under the request, including NASA’s contentious Asteroid Redirect Mission — an initiative to robotically retrieve a piece of an asteroid and bring it into the vicinity of the Moon. A mission to land on Jupiter’s moon Europa is also canceled, though a mission to fly by the icy world, known as the Europa Clipper mission, made the cut. Meanwhile, the proposal doesn’t call for any major changes in focus for NASA’s human exploration program. There’s no language about a return to the Moon, so the agency is still ostensibly on a “Journey to Mars” for now.

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This week on Ungeniused:

“Go big or go home” certainly describes the home of The People’s House, a 3.9 million square foot mammoth of a building in Romania.

It’s complete with a special guest!

My thanks to our sponsor:

• Freshbooks: Online invoicing made easy.

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Apple Support:

Backdrop Effects is a Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard iChat feature that “removes” the background of your video chat and replaces it with a picture of your choosing, leaving you in the foreground. It works much like a “green screen” used by actors in a Hollywood studio.

This works by taking a snapshot of the background when you are not chatting. Since the computer knows what the background is, parts of it can be replaced with images or movies. Since you were not part of the background when the snapshot happened, you will not be ignored, hence you or any other object will be able to move “on top of” the background.

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This fortnight, Jason and I catch up the news coming out of Washington D.C. and Blue Origin, and then consider what the Europa Clipper mission could mean.

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This week’s episode is up:

Apple has a new ad, Casey has an iMac, Ticci watches TV and everyone has workflows.

My thanks to our sponsors:

• Pingdom: Start monitoring your websites and servers today. Use offer CONNECTED to get 20% off.
• Incapsula: Secure and accelerate your website. Connected listeners get one month free.
• Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code WORLD at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.

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This month at MacStories, I wrote up the first-generation iBook G3:

Close your eyes and picture a Mac laptop. It has a small screen in a case unique among a sea of PC notebooks. It runs without a fan, and has impressive battery life. The trackpad is smooth and the keyboard is responsive.

Now open your eyes. Is this what you had in mind?

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If you want a 512 Pixels t-shirt this year, time is almost up. Links to the two campaigns are below. Once they are gone, they’re gone.

• US: https://teespring.com/512-pixels-imac
• EU: https://teespring.com/512-pixels-imac-EU

To everyone who has ordered already, thank you. T-shirt money is a big part of the site’s income each year, and I’m always humbled by your support. Enjoy!

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Thomas Kaplan at The New York Times:

The House Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act would raise the number of people without health insurance by 24 million within a decade, but would trim $337 billion from the federal deficit over that time, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Monday.

Republicans had been bracing for what was almost certain to be a bleak accounting of the legislation’s projected effects. The American Health Care Act, as Republicans call their bill, was already facing widespread criticism from providers of health care, some conservatives, and a united Democratic Party. The numbers released Monday will make only it more difficult for Republicans to explain why their legislation would bring positive change to the country’s health care system.

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Apple’s full-sized iPod had a good run: from 2001 to 2014, when the iPod classic was discontinued. Over its lifespan, it saw many changes improvements, including the ability to show photos and play video.

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Jessie and Kathy have launched a Kickstarter that deserves to be funded:

Our purpose with Chasing Rainbow Tales is to help open up a dialogue about these tough subjects between children and their trusted allies.

We’re hoping to help lighten the burden for these children by sharing these books with the world that are based on real life instances and letting some light shine on these subjects. We are hoping that it will help give more children the confidence to come forward & begin the healing process.

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