Skip to content
Thoughtful, detailed coverage of everything Apple for 33 years
and the TidBITS Content Network for Apple professionals

ExtraBITS for 12 September 2011

We’re back with some worthy extra bits, including the sad news of the passing of the founder of Project Gutenberg, a trick for capturing your signature with Preview (for signing PDFs), a guide for PR reps, an as-yet-unexplained security breach at iTunes, and news that the latest AirPort base stations feature improved performance.

Farewell to Michael S. Hart, Founder of Project Gutenberg — On Tuesday, September 6th, 2011, Michael S. Hart passed away at the age of 64. Hart was considered by many the inventor of the ebook, and was the founder of Project Gutenberg, the well-known and highly regarded online library of free ebooks. It’s no exaggeration to say that Hart’s work was a driving inspiration to many pioneers of electronic publishing. We all owe him an enormous debt.

Read/post comments

Capture Your Signature Using Preview — Did you know that the Preview app in Mac OS X — that seemingly simple PDF viewer — can scan and add your printed signature to a document? A new addition to the Annotations bar makes it possible to take a photo of your signature using your Mac’s built-in iSight or FaceTime camera. Chris Rawson at TUAW describes how.

Read/post comments

Chris Breen on PR Done Wrong — Like us, Macworld Senior Editor Chris Breen deals with a lot of correspondence from public relations folks, many of whom are clueless about how to engage journalists effectively. He has now written a handy guide for PR flacks to follow, with sensible but frequently abused advice such as: A few minutes of research is helpful; we don’t want to talk to your CEO; and pitching Windows-only products to a Mac publication will get you ignored.

Read/post comments

Tracking Down an iTunes Account Hack — Lex Friedman at Macworld tries to figure out why some iTunes account holders are seeing small charges made against gift-card and other credits in their accounts while their passwords remain secure. It’s a mystery, and Lex says there’s no answer to it yet.

Read/post comments

New AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule Feature Improved Throughput — Hardware site AnandTech has posted an extensive review of the fifth generation AirPort Extreme base station and the fourth generation Time Capsule, and while you may not want to read the entire 9-page review, it’s worth popping to the end, where author Brian Klug explains how an internal hardware change (from Marvell to Broadcom) gives these new models improved throughput and range.

Read/post comments

Subscribe today so you don’t miss any TidBITS articles!

Every week you’ll get tech tips, in-depth reviews, and insightful news analysis for discerning Apple users. For over 33 years, we’ve published professional, member-supported tech journalism that makes you smarter.

Registration confirmation will be emailed to you.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA. The Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.