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A fix for Logic crashing in Snow Leopard

Apple's audio-creativity software suites Logic Pro and Logic Express apparently have a bug in certain setups running Snow Leopard, which sometimes leads the programs to crash at launch or when attempting to perform some manipulations to projects. The crashes will happen even if the user has carried out general maintenance routines such as clearing caches and preference files, and even after reinstalling the Logic programs and updating to the latest versions again.

MacFixIt reader Kevin wrote in describing his issue with these programs:

Ever since I upgraded from Leopard (10.5.8) to Snow Leopard (10.6.8), Apple'… Read more

PhraseExpress AutoText completes

PhraseExpress AutoText combines autocomplete with macros in one versatile free tool that can type phrases, sentences, and other text automatically when the program detects certain keystrokes or manually via hot keys. Its AutoText feature lets you designate abbreviations for frequently used words and phrases such as your address. When you type the abbreviation, PhraseExpress automatically enters the expanded text.

The central access point for PhraseExpress is the program's system tray icon. Here we could open the settings page as well as enter new phrases, access the last used entry, and clear the clipboard cache. We opened the settings, which … Read more

Consumers Union: Beware when buying by cell phone

T-Mobile USA customers who purchase digital goods online and opt to have the charge show up on their phone bill are vulnerable to fraud, according to Consumers Union.

The consumer advocacy group said today that the carrier's mobile-payment plans aren't covered by standard protections that guard against fraud with credit or debit card charges.

"Mobile payment products promise a new, convenient way to pay but consumers could end up losing money if something goes wrong with their transaction," said Michelle Jun, senior attorney for Consumers Union, in a statement.

As the technology industry salivates over the … Read more

It doesn't do the job

If you're serious about applying for new jobs, the process can get overwhelming pretty quickly; all those resumes, cover letters, phone calls, e-mails, and interviews can be hard to keep track of. Job Opportunities Recordkeeping Express Edition promises to simplify this process by enabling you to create a database that tracks your job-seeking activity. Unfortunately, the program's limited functionality doesn't make it much more useful than a good old-fashioned spreadsheet.

The program is part of a suite of so-called data-tracking apps, and you get all of them whether you want them or not; there's a list … Read more

Headache-inducing

A successful project management program can help you pull together all of the pieces to ensure that a project runs smoothly from start to finish. PlanningForce Express Planner tries to be that program, but it suffers from a lack of direction and frequent error messages. It leaves a lot to be desired.

Red flags appeared right away when we started the program, or tried to: it wasn't readily apparent how to get started with PlanningForce. The program's Help feature only offered links to About and Welcome pages and a way to check for updates, and the Welcome Page … Read more

Adobe shows off Edge HTML5 tool

Vimeo launches a new Pro service for $199 a year that offers a large amount of video storage and streams, Logitech drops the price of its Google TV-powered Revue to $99, and Adobe releases a preview of a new HTML5 design tool called Edge.

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Verizon, American Express partner on mobile payments

Verizon Wireless and American Express said today that they're partnering to let customers order goods through their phone by typing in their phone number.

During the coming months, Verizon will start integrating American Express' Serve, a digital payment and commerce platform, into its phones and tablets. Unlike other initiatives, designed to let consumers pay by tapping their phone to a payment device at a store, Serve will let buyers make online purchases while on the phone.

It's just the latest step toward enabling phones to make payments, a white-hot field that's attracted a wide-ranging assortment of players … Read more

This Day in Tech: DOJ takes swipe at EFF; fake Apple store in China

Too busy to keep up with today's tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET (and elsewhere) for Friday, July 22.

Encrypt your data? Here's a scoop you'll want to read: The U.S. Department of Justice swipes at the online civil liberties group Electronic Frontier Foundation over encryption passwords. Here's the situation: A Colorado woman named Ramona Fricosu is being forced to decrypt her laptop for police. Phil Dubois, Fricosu's criminal defense attorney, told CNET's Declan McCullagh that "to force my client (assuming that she has the ability) … Read more

Moon Express sees money in moon rocks

What's a search engine geek doing in the space business? Barney Pell, CTO and co-founder of Powerset, a search technology company that was acquired by Microsoft, has for the last year been working on building a robotic spacecraft to land on the moon, as the co-founder of a new company called Moon Express. (Pell also co-founded StockMaster, which was acquired by Red Herring when I worked there.)

It turns out that Pell is an old space hack. He has a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence from the University of Cambridge and worked on the AI program for Deep Space 1, … Read more

Upload contacts to Google+ via your address book

New to Google+ and looking for more contacts? A feature launched yesterday lets you hunt for potential prospects by uploading your address book from Microsoft Outlook and other desktop e-mail clients.

As described in a Google+ post by Google technical staff member Paul Lindner, the feature works with several e-mail and address book programs beyond Outlook, including Outlook Express, Mozilla's Thunderbird, and Apple's Address Book. But it apparently also supports any e-mail address book or contact list that can be exported to a VCard/VCF or CSV (comma separated values) format.

I tested the feature using Microsoft Outlook … Read more