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QuickTime 7.6.6 is recommended for all QuickTime 7 users and includes changes that increase reliability, improve compatibility and address security.
iPhoto 8.1.2 addresses minor issues in the area of import and syncing to iPhone, iPod or Apple TV.
iTunes 9.1 comes with several new features and improvements.
iPhone Configuration Utility lets you easily create, maintain, encrypt, and install configuration profiles, track and install provisioning profiles and authorized applications, and capture device information including console logs.
Several details have leaked about the upcoming "A+ update" to the iPhone hardware and OS this summer. Whether Apple follows up with a CDMA iPhone model for Verizon or other carriers is a matter of debate, but might be the best chance for growth in the US market in the near term. -- Ars Technica.
Apple initially named five of the top six major publishers as launch partners for its iBookstore for the iPad. More recently, we heard that two independent publishers had signed deals to provide e-books and that Apple plans to offer free public domain titles from Project Gutenberg. Now, self-published authors will also get a crack at the iBookstore via deals Apple has struck with e-book publishing services Smashwords and Lulu. -- Ars Technica.
Computer-security researchers say new "smart" meters that are designed to help deliver electricity more efficiently also have flaws that could let hackers tamper with the power grid in previously impossible ways. -- Knoxville News Sentinel.
AT&T executives visited Apple repeatedly to instruct Apple handset designers on wireless networking and assure Steve Jobs that they were working to resolve poor network coverage, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
Even though Apple's iPad has yet to hit store shelves, the small Seton Hill University plans to give all full-time students an iPad starting in the fall. -- c|net.
Apple would like your help improving the quality and performance of its products and services. With Mac OS X v10.6.3 and later, Mac OS X can automatically collect diagnostic and usage information from your Mac and send it to Apple for analysis. The information is sent only with your explicit consent, and is submitted anonymously to Apple. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
Regardless of how you have decided to install OS X (Software Update, Delta, or Combo installers), you may run into a problem where the system might hang on installation. Though the occurrence of this with the 10.6.3 update seems to be rare, when it happens you may see it sit forever with the spinning color wheel, or go blank to a blue, black, or gray screen and require a forced restart. Even if the system appears to be healthy after the forced restart, there is the possibility that some files could be corrupt. As a precaution we recommend reapplying the combo updater.
Most hangs at installation usually happen when the system is running more maintenance-based routines or performing commands like restarting, so the system will not necessarily be hurt; however, there is always the chance that files can get corrupted by interrupting the installation process. -- MacFixIt.
Sun's VirtualBox 3.1.6 is an open source virtualization package with support for guest OSes that include Windows (NT to Vista), Linux (Ubuntu, Red Hat, Mandrake, SUSE, and others), OpenBSD, Solaris, OS/2, and others. This maintenance release adds a fix for a VBoxSVC crash on Mac OS X hosts, improvements for guest SMP stability, several fixes for 3D support, and other changes. VirtualBox is free for Mac OS X (Intel only), Windows, Linux, and Solaris.
Cisco completely overhauled its router lineup on Wednesday with seven new models, including its first purely Cisco-branded routers for the home. The 100Mbps Ethernet and 802.11n-equipped Valet and the gigabit-toting Valet Plus both avoid the network setup process entirely through their namesake valet key: a small USB adapter plugs into a Mac or PC and cuts the setup process down to three steps. They keep the connection data intact and can port over to other computers. -- MacNN.
With its market cap at $213.9 billion, only two U.S. companies are bigger than Apple. -- Fortune.
What should a news aggregator look like on the iPad? Brett and Mark dig into migrating apps from the iPhone to the iPad. -- O'Reilly Radar.
Security Update 2010-002 is recommended for all users and improves the security of Mac OS X. Previous security updates have been incorporated into this security update.
Mac OS X Server v10.6.3 Update (Combo) - The 10.6.3 update is recommended for all servers currently running Snow Leopard Server version 10.6 and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your server.
Mac OS X Server v10.6.3 Update - The 10.6.3 update is recommended for all servers currently running Snow Leopard Server version 10.6 and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your server.
Mac OS X v10.6.3 Update (Combo) - The 10.6.3 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac.
Mac OS X v10.6.3 Update - The 10.6.3 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard v10.6.2 and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac.
Bonjour Print Services for Windows lets you discover and configure Bonjour-enabled printers from your Windows computer using the Bonjour Printer Wizard.
Just Xbench 1.3 benchmarking my 2.8 GHz Intel iMac (2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 6GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM) against the previous versions of OS X. I am running this version and have not had any problems. Your mileage may vary.
2.8 GHz Intel iMac |
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| 10.5.5 | 10.5.6 | 10.5.7 | 10.5.8 | 10.6.0 | 10.6.2 | 10.6.3 | |
| Over All | 155.48 | 131.45 | 149.78 | 120.06 | 124.68 | 124.18 | 148.34 |
| CPU Test | 186.57 | 180.37 | 184.13 | 167.28 | 196.23 | 196.45 | 200.62 |
| Thread Test | 338.27 | 363.52 | 347.48 | 324.99 | 368.96 | 348.48 | 301.75 |
| Memory Test | 199.48 | 196.98 | 205.74 | 208.79 | 203.56 | 207.32 | 189.23 |
| Quartz Graphics Test | 225.80 | 220.95 | 231.05 | 225.70 | 202.75 | 222.53 | 219.30 |
| OpenGL Graphics Test | 189.03 | 190.14 | 181.09 | 170.48 | 88.92 | 93.99 | 172.53 |
| User Interface Test | 359.08 | 347.91 | 338.82 | 306.80 | 369.72 | 308.49 | 313.74 |
| Disk Test | 52.11 | 36.74 | 48.16 | 32.36 | 40.65 | 39.66 | 49.84 |
Apple Inc. plans to begin producing this year a new iPhone that could allow U.S. phone carriers other than AT&T Inc. to sell the iconic gadget, said people briefed by the company. -- Wall Street Journal.
Screenshots of Microsoft's 2011 version of its productivity suite for Mac have appeared, highlighting a more serious user interface appearance and the Vista Ribbon. -- AppleInsider.
In-depth video demonstrations of the iPad software including Safari browser, iBooks, Keynote, Pages and Numbers have been posted on Apple's Web site days before the hardware will be available for consumers to purchase.
Tony Fadell, one of the fathers of the iPod and iPhone, is formally severing ties with Apple after nine years at the company, according to a New York Times report.
Keep in mind that although your Mac may display similar symptoms that prevent it from turning on, this article discusses what to do if the Mac won't display video. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
External USB drives connected to your AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule may become inaccessible after a short period of time. If you try to access your USB drive after it has become inaccesible. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
After installing the Mac OS X v10.6.3 Update, the default display profile may be selected instead of a custom one. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
In Mac OS X v10.6 and later, the search order of DNS servers specified in Network preferences is dynamic, so that servers that don't respond are moved to the end of the search order. This provides performance and reliability improvements over previous Mac OS X versions, but it can lead to unexpected results where a strict search order is required in Mac OS X v10.6. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
In July 2008, NVIDIA publicly acknowledged a higher than normal failure rate for some of their graphics processors due to a packaging defect. At that same time, NVIDIA assured Apple that Mac computers with these graphics processors were not affected. However, after an Apple-led investigation, Apple has determined that some MacBook Pro computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor may be affected. If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within three years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
NeoOffice 3.0.2 Patch 3 is a free Mac OS X-native version of the OpenOffice.org office suite, with Mac-like features that include Services support, floating tool windows, trackpad gestures, and Mac OS X grammar checking support. This patch release fixes a problem where a network printer could cause NeoOffice to hang for several minutes before sending output to the printer and addresses other issues. NeoOffice is free for Mac OS X 10.4.11 and up (Intel and PowerPC) including Snow Leopard.
What Apple's release notes don't tell you about the latest Snow Leopard update. -- Macworld.
The core idea behind HTML 5, the latest proposed version of the Web's foundation markup language, is to make all resources, not just text and links, widely and uniformly usable across all platforms. Well, that was the theory. In practice, things aren't going to change that much from today's Web, with its reliance on proprietary media formats and methods. -- Computerworld.
Dale Dougherty says that for the iPad to be something different, it must not be just a delivery platform but a creative one. It needs to offer professionals and amateurs an opportunity to create a unique experience with interactive media. -- O'Reilly Radar.
Most of the talk about future fourth-generation (4G) mobile broadband networks appears to focus on speed--and 4G will definitely be fast. But the real reason that carriers are scrambling to upgrade is for capacity. Existing networks are too overcrowded. -- Ars Technica.
Your iPhone and its apps can support typing in many different languages after changing a few simple settings. -- iPhone Atlas.
To help you make the proper decision, we've put together a set of printer buying guides. These guides will help you be better informed when you're shopping. -- Macworld.
Though the weather around you may belie your calendar's claim, it is indeed Spring. And because it is, it's the time of year to do something about the accumulated cruft you've packed on your Mac over the past year. In this video, Chris Breen offers a few tips exactly along those lines. -- Macworld.
New data from Nielsen shows consumers are multitasking on their own terms. -- O'Reilly Radar.
iMovie 8.0.6 improves reliability when working with videos from Aperture.
Aperture 3.0.2 improves overall stability and addresses a number of issues in Aperture 3. This update is recommended for all users of Aperture 3.
Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard includes software for many printer and scanner models. This software can be installed from the Snow Leopard Install DVD, and installed or updated by using Software Update (some models have software available through Software Update only). This article lists software provided for printers and scanners as of 24 March, 2010. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
Learn how to locate, download, and apply a firmware update to an Intel-based Macintosh computer. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
There's a certain group of Internet users who are still opening spam, and nearly half of them are doing it intentionally. They're responding to it, clicking links, and even forwarding it around, too. Is it any wonder IT admins think that we are our own worst enemies? -- Ars Technica.
Who needs line-sharing rules? Not the US, whose National Broadband Plan picks other battles instead. Meanwhile, the UK points and laughs as it announces its own plan to mandate shared fiber lines and duct access. -- Ars Technica.
The iPhone is the highest-risk smartphone to carry into the workplace, a study of security professionals found on Thursday. "The general consensus is that Apple continues to do only the absolute minimum to address enterprise security and supportability requirements." -- Electronista.
Setting up an AirPort base station (ABS) is something Apple customers do every day. However, adding an AirPort Express (AE) as a relay, to extend the range of a local Wi-Fi network, is a bit trickier and is not extremely well documented. Here's how to do it. -- The Mac Observer.
iPad buyers face a difficult decision: to 3G or not to 3G? After all, the entry-level 3G iPad costs $629, plus $14.99/month for a 250MB data plan or $29.99/month for unlimited. You don't have to sign up for a contract, which is great, but the fact remains you're paying yet another wireless bill for service on a single device. There is another option. -- c|net.
This week we offer part one of our networking utilities for the Mac. -- Macsimum News.
Future versions of Mac OS X may sport an interface with elements that offer an even more intuitive appearance to reflect the operation being performed. Patent number 20010077336 involves dynamically changing appearances for user interface elements during drag and drop operations. -- Macsimum News.
Fourteen Apple patents have appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Here's a summary of each. -- Macsimum News.
But he had strong feelings about the way Mr. Jobs handled disclosures about his leave of absence for health reasons in January 2009. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal last year, Mr. York said he almost resigned when told of the seriousness of Mr. Jobs's illness. Mr. York felt Mr. Jobs should have publicly disclosed his health problem three weeks earlier in a news release that announced his decision not to appear at the Macworld trade conference. -- Wall Street Journal,.
Regular Playlist readers will know that I am a fan of classical music. Over the years, I've struggled with efficiently organizing what is now a 50,000-track iTunes library. Here are a few tips that may come in handy for dealing with classical music--and, in some cases, other types of music as well. -- Macworld.
I actually feel a bit sad that I have to write this post, but when big companies do the right thing these days, such acts are praiseworthy. -- Swann's Thoughts.
Former Apple executive Jean-Louis Gasse, now a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, suggests in this blog post that we won't see the iPhone on Verizon Wireless's network any time soon because Verizon wants to run its own mobile app store and not give up control to Apple. He goes on to postulate that Apple will make deals with Sprint and T-Mobile once AT&T's exclusivity expires, as a way of pressuring Verizon into accepting the iPhone and App Store. -- Monday Note.
A new test of touchscreen smartphones with a precise laboratory robot has confirmed what a human test already concluded: Apple's iPhone touchscreen is far and away the most accurate touch panel on the market. -- AppleInsider.
Less than a week after a report leaked that Google is deeply involved in creating a TV service, a prominent Apple analyst now says Apple could revamp the HDTV market in the next two to four years. -- Cult of Mac.
A femtocell is a device whose sole purpose is to help fill gaps in wireless networks. Instead of using it as a way to turn unhappy customers into happy customers, AT&T is treating the femtocell as another way to squeeze their already victimized customer for even more $$$. -- Tested.
A British computer hacker equipped with a "Dummies" guide recently tapped into the Pentagon. As hackers get smarter, computers get more powerful and national security is put at risk. The same goes for your own personal and financial information transmitted by phone, on the Internet or through bank machines. -- Science Daily.
With the imminent arrival of the Apple iPad, it seems at least one major television network is updating their website to provide video playback support for new tablet device -- without Flash. CBS.com's website began displaying a couple of strange "iPad - test" video links, first noted by The Other Mac Blog. -- Mac Rumors.
Apple is continuing its rapid-fire seeding of Mac OS X 10.6.3 builds today, pushing out Build 10D573 to developers. The new build is only a single increment over the previous build issued last Thursday. World of Apple details the seed notes, which reveal that Apple has asked developers to continue focusing on GraphicsDrivers, Images & Photos, Mail, QuickTime, and Security Certificates for testing. -- Mac Rumors.
When you set up print sharing in OS X, you have the option to limit which user accounts have access to specific printers. This is convenient for preventing network users from using a specific printer; however, it does not apply these limitations when users are logged in locally. By default, as long as users can log on, they can use any printer that is listed in the system preferences, but despite this it is possible to enable restrictions. -- MacFixIt.
Apple has released two software updates today. One is for the pro application suite that includes Final Cut Pro, Motion, Color, Compressor, and Cinema Tools, and the other is for the latest printer drivers from Canon. These updates are relatively large at several hundred MB each.
Advertisers Gather Around as Publishers Tout Tablet Device's Bells and Whistles. A laundry list of open questions about Apple's iPad isn't keeping magazine publishers and advertisers from lining up for the launch of the tablet computer next week. -- Wall Street Journal.
Business demand for the iPad may be greater than expected. Companies and workers are buying the tablet to use it for communications and mobile productivity. -- BusinessWeek.
Peter Bohlin is the genius architect behind Apple's most famous stores around the world. His work includes the cube store on 59th street and Fifth Avenue in New York City, as well as the new all glass store on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He also designed a new Apple Store which will be in Philadelphia in July, prompting the Philadelphia Inquirer to write a wonderful profile of Peter.
Whether your hard drive has failed or your OS has become corrupt, you may occasionally have to reinstall the Mac OS. Fortunately, Apple does a beautiful job of making installing or reinstalling your operating system relatively painless compared to our Windows brethren. Unfortunately, it's still a painfully slow process running off a DVD. Not to mention, optical media can get scratched easily (one of the reasons for the long install times is Apple's optical media verification). To solve this problem, I recommend backing up your Mac OS installation DVD to a hard drive. Doing so protects it and allows you to install the OS quickly, as well as run Disk Utility on your main drive or reset a password. -- The Apple Blog.
Steve Jobs, the secretive head of Apple, has been busy sending replies to e-mail messages from customers. -- New York Times.
For a little $1 iPhone app, Line2 sure has the potential to shake up an entire industry. It can save you money. It can make calls where AT&T's signal is weak, like indoors. It can turn an iPod Touch into a full-blown cellphone. And it can ruin the sleep of cellphone executives everywhere. -- New York Times.
Who amongst us knew that Apple had a secret retardation solution for their media players? Surely not I. But there it is in black and white, a granted patent for one of Apple's super secrets of how their display stays so crisp under the most demanding of circumstances. -- Patently Apple.
Adobe on Tuesday revealed that its forthcoming Creative Suite 5 package for graphic, video and Web design professionals, including the debut of Photoshop for Mac as a 64-bit application, will be unveiled on April 12, and will ship about a month later.
What happens when you give about 2,000 college students and their teachers Apple iPhones and iPod Touches and tell them "Go mobile, go digital?" No one knows. But that's what Abilene Christian University is trying to find out with its Mobile Learning project. -- Network World.
On Monday, Apple announced the availability of free iPhone Tech Talks 2009 videos for iPhone Developer Program members. The presentations are given by Apple's Technology Evangelists and take a deep dive into app design and coding techniques. Presentation topics in the videos include: audio development, using video effectively, user interface design, Core Data, OpenGL ES, using Web content, testing and debugging apps, using location and maps, and push notification. The free videos are available to iPhone developers via iTunes>.
Apple patent looks for improved ways to cool Macs by air
A new Apple patent (number 7,684,192) at the US Patent & Trademark Office shows that the company is investigating improved ways to cool Mac Pros and other computers.
Could Apple patent hint at monitor for the iPad?
An Apple patent (number 7,684,185) that first appeared in 2006 has re-appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It's for an integrated monitor and docking station. And you have to wonder if it hints at a future iteration of the iPad.
Apple patents range from display technologies to text flow
Four new Apple patents have popped up at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Here's a summary of each.
Earlier this month, Major General Nick Justice and several members of his staff traveled to Apple's Cupertino campus to discuss soldiers using Apple's products and technology in the field. -- U.S. Army.
Dave Phipps is like the Ben Heck of automobiles, only instead of putting the parts of old game consoles into newer, smaller boxes, Dave takes sweet-looking old cars and fills them with hi-tech electronics. This time he has wired his 1969 Pontiac GTO to be remote-controlled by his iPod Touch. -- Wired.
Joining the ranks of other famous colleges on iTunes, Harvard has just uploaded a series of lectures, preview clips, podcasts and performances on Apple's own iTunes U. -- Macworld.
Like it did in March of last year, Apple this week at its retail stores began selling the iPhone at an unsubsidized price without the standard two-year AT&T contract agreement. Also as before, the phone, which costs as much as $700, remains locked to the exclusive U.S. wireless provider. -- AppleInsider.
With iPhone and a visionary in-house app, Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital is defining the future of health care. -- Apple PR.
Keeping bankers at Milwaukee's Securant Bank & Trust in constant contact, and helping them win clients and close deals, is iPhone. -- Apple PR.
Whether you're an aspiring filmmaker or you just want to shoot better home movies, there are a number of relatively inexpensive ways to drastically elevate the quality of your video. Here's how to do what the pros do, but on a budget. -- Ars Technica.
In the 1960s, my uncle made a good living buying up slightly imperfect Levis and reselling them at a steep discount in poor countries. That business model is being followed today by iPodMeister. The company, based in New York, takes your used CDs and DVDs, sends them off to poorer countries where people can't afford MP3 players, and gives you a new iPod, iPhone and now iPad in return. What you get depends on what you give. -- New York Times.
With the recent release of Displaymate Multimedia Edition for Mobile Displays, a battery of tests to measure the quality of portable screens--and apparently because I'm a glutton for punishment--I thought now would be the perfect time to bring five popular smartphones back to CNET Labs for a down-and-dirty comparison of their screen performance. -- iPhone Atlas.
If your Macintosh computer won't turn on, here's how to troubleshoot it. Please keep in mind that although your computer may display similar symptoms that prevent it from showing video, this article discusses what to do if the computer won't turn on, meaning that when you press the power button:
Apple's iPad will be available on April 3, and one of the features the company has been highlighting is its ebook reader capabilities. Today TMO readers are talking about what that could mean for the education market.
The New York Times reports that Apple has struck a deal with Perseus Books Group, an independent publisher and the largest distributor of works from other independent publishers, to bring its content to the iBookstore.
This morning, the Internet was abuzz with the news that Apple would begin selling unlocked iPhones. The only problem? It's not true. In fact, it's no different from what Apple did last year at this time: sell contract-free iPhones at unsubsidized prices. -- TechCrunch.
For some time, Apple has viewed its Apple TV product as a 'hobby.' While the device has been updated occasionally, the streaming video gadget has not been seen as a weapon in Cupertino's battle with Google for media supremacy. However, that may change as word leaks that Google, Intel and Sony have teamed-up for GoogleTV. -- Cult of Mac.
Your existing iPhone (yeah, even the original) can surf the information superhighway at 4G speeds. Today. Who knew, right? Sprint's Overdrive -- which creates a WiFi hotspot that enables nearby devices to cruise on Clear's 4G (or 3G, if you're not in a 4G locale) network -- can theoretically enable any WiFi-capable phone to surf on WiMAX, but Sprint's taking a pretty bold approach by actually touting the feature in a new spot. -- Engadget.
You just can't swap out your iPhone battery whenever you feel like it, so it is important to know how to prolong its life. This week's tip will show you how. -- iPhone Atlas.
Given the number of recent developer releases for the upcoming 10.6.3 update, it appears a public release is imminent. We may see it released today or early next week, but before you decide to install it be sure you have your system prepared and consider options for installing. Apple designs OS updates to be installed over practically every setup, so do not worry yourself too much with being prepared; however, there are steps you can take to ensure things go as smooth as possible.
Apple has begun offering 10-pack iPad bundles for educational institutions, with a modest discount for quantity purchases. Each package includes ten iPads paired with USB-to-Dock Connector cables and power adapters, while a single set of documentation is shipped with each order. -- Mac Rumors.
An iPhone game developer has learned that hard way that one of the following will get your app banned: Publicly slamming the iPhone App Store, or gradually increasing prices until someone pays hundreds of dollars for a simple time waster. -- PCWorld.
iTunes is the only officially sanctioned app to manage and maintain your plethora of Apple i-devices -- iPods, iPhones, and soon the iPad. Yet, for such a crucial app it really is behind the times and needs crucial fixes to keep pace with the needs of its users. -- iTWire.
This interview of Guy Kawasaki, a co-founder of Alltop, a news aggregation site, and managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, was conducted, edited and condensed by Adam Bryant. -- New York Times.
Wired is leading the magazine-to-iPad charge with a great looking app, but it's also reverting to some back lock-in habits. Instead of trapping content and readers within a space -- a true exercise in futility -- Wired and other publishers should go the other way with their iPad offerings: create more web hooks, not less. -- O'Reilly Radar.
Can HTML rival print for quality? I took a fresh look at hyphenation, body text fonts, sidebars, and dynamic layout. -- O'Reilly Broadcast.
Logic Pro 9.1.1 delivers improved compatibility and numerous fixes.
Logic Express 9.1.1 improves overall stability and provides numerous fixes and enhancements.
Apple on Thursday provided its developer community with a second private beta of its forthcoming Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard update in as many days, suggesting the software is rapidly approaching a release candidate. -- AppleInsider.
Apple is putting the finishing touches on a pair of new products targeted at its professional customers, namely a larger version of its LED Cinema Display and a major update to its Mac Pro workstations, AppleInsider has been told.
Apple has been brainstorming a new capability that could allow iPhone users to transmit data -- such as simple text messages -- to each other over voice channels, forgoing a reliance wireless carriers' backend servers, in a manner similar to Nextel's walkie-talkie feature. -- AppleInsider.
A couple of weeks ago I canceled my MobileMe account. Why? Because it didn't do the one thing I wanted it to do: share my calendar with my wife so we could coordinate our busy lives. That's all. I love MobileMe's email, calendar, contact syncing (especially on the iPhone) and even iDisk. I gave Apple a year to improve it, but nothing happened, so I switched. Here's how to recreate all of MobileMe's features for FREE (except one) and how I use it to sync my iMac, MacBook and two iPhones. -- Cult of Mac.
Apple has devs to the grindstone for a new social networking app called iGroups. -- Patently Apple.
One of these people said Apple could sell more iPads in its first three months than it sold iPhones in the three months after the smart phone's debut. Yet the company is still negotiating with media companies for a price cut on TV shows that people can download onto the device, said people familiar with the matter. Apple also hoped to work closely with newspaper, magazines and textbook publishers on new ways to digitally present print content on the iPad, but has for now put the effort on backburner in favor of focusing on other content, said one of those people. -- Wall Street Journal.
An all-digital, luxury lifestyle magazine called VIVmag offers a glimpse of how magazine publishers could take advantage of the iPad's large, interactive color display. -- New York Times.
Gizmodo, the technology blog, has a fascinating series this week about memory. Titled Memory [Forever], the blog takes a look at the topic from multiple angles, including memory and our brains, how the Internet remembers and the memory inside computers.
Guys, last night I did that thing where I dropped my phone in the toilet, and it wouldn't even turn on afterwards. I was at Video Isle whining about how I was going to have to buy a completely new iPhone, and there was a man there who just happened to work for AT&T. I asked him if I should try to blow-dry my phone, and he said... -- Seattle Weekly.
Consumers seeking a protective film for the screen on their iPhone, iPod, iPad or Mac will soon have to look outside of Apple's retail stores, which will soon halt sales of the accessories indefinitely.
In usual Apple fashion, the company is remaining mum on the motives behind its decision. Left to speculate, one film vendor suggested the ban may be an attempt by electronics maker to better promote the durability of its display screens, this despite widespread reports of scratches appearing quite easily on its handheld offerings for years. -- AppleInsider.
Apple this week quietly announced a handful of enhancements to its fledgeling iWork.com beta service, including the availability of new sharing features and improvements to the online service's user interface tailored for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. -- AppleInsider.
After roughly two years of declines, growth in worldwide market for desktop PC sales is poised to rebound into the black during the 2010 calendar year, thanks largely to Apple's latest iMac offerings, according to a published report. -- AppleInsider.
The ugly truth about your iPhone battery? It's got a lifespan of less than two years, but may not even last that long if you're careless. Here are expert tips to help you take better care of it - and then know when to send it to that recycling bin in the sky. -- CIO.
You should perform regular backups of your system and keep multiple backups of important, irreplaceable files. Without multiple backup copies of your files, your files do not exist anywhere except on your Mac.
Tip: You should also keep at least one backup copy of your important files in a different physical location (that is, an "offsite" location). An easy backup method is to copy important files to a MobileMe iDisk, or via iWork.com for iWork '09 documents. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard includes software for many printer and scanner models. This software can be installed from the Snow Leopard Install DVD, and installed or updated by using Software Update (some models have software available through Software Update only).
This article lists software provided for printers and scanners as of 15 March, 2010.
To view the complete list of printers and scanners that are supplied with Snow Leopard Install DVD and by Software Update, see below or use your browser's Find feature to look for a specific name or model number. If you cannot find a driver for your specific model, check the list to see if a driver is available for a series of printers that may include your model. For example, a printer with the model number 5070 might use the driver for the "5000 Series."
For more information about setting up and using printers in Snow Leopard, see this article.
For information about troubleshooting printer setup issues, see this article. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
Learn how to use Mac OS X Server's Software Update service with clients running a variety of OS versions. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
c|net this week released a list of 20 mobile phones with the highest radiation levels, and Apple's iPhone was not among them. Topping the list was Motorola's V195 flip phone, which emits 1.6 SAR (Specific Absorption Rate), followed by the company's Zine ZN5, at 1.59 SAR.
At the other end, there was a four-way tie between T-Mobile's Dash 3G, Palm's Pixi Plus, Nokia's 2320 GoPhone, and LG's Chocolate Touch, all at 1.47 SAR. Prominent phones that made the list included: the Motorola Droid in sixth place (in order from safest to least safe) at 1.49 SAR, the BlackBerry Bold eighth at 1.51, and three BlackBerry Curve models 13th,14th, and 15th at 1.54.
Elsewhere on its web site, CNET lists the iPhone's SAR ratings, which are: 0.974 for the original iPhone, 1.38 for the 3G model, and 0.79 for the 3G S version.
SAR is measured in watts per kilogram and must be under 1.6 in the United States and Canada and less than 2 in Europe. CNET explained: "The SAR level listed in our charts represents the highest SAR level measured with the phone next to the ear as tested by the FCC. It's possible for the SAR level to vary between different transmission bands (the same phone can use multiple bands during a call), and different testing bodies can obtain different results." CNET also noted that the effects of cell phone radiation on the user's health is unknown, with much contradictory research to be found.
When the iPad became available for "pre-order" last week, Apple updated and expanded its Web pages that cover the forthcoming product. Included in the new information was a page describing Apple's iPad Battery Replacement Program. It contained what was probably the biggest surprise revealed that day:
"If your iPad requires service due to the battery's diminished ability to hold an electrical charge, Apple will replace your iPad for a service fee. The service costs $99, plus $6.95 shipping."
In other words, when your iPad needs a new battery, Apple will replace the entire iPad for about $100 rather than install a new battery in the original device!
While the bare essentials of the program are clearly stated, a number of questions remain unanswered. Ted Landau contacted Apple for clarifications but have so far received no reply. As is often the case in such situations, He was left to sift through Apple's tea-leaves in an attempt to fill in the gaps. -- The Mac Observer.
Satmetrix, which specializes in customer experience programs, has released its 2010 Net Promoter Industry Benchmarks for the technology, insurance, financial services, airlines, telecommunications, retail and online services industries. Leaders included well-known brands such as Apple, USAA, Charles Schwab, JetBlue, Verizon Wireless, Trader Joe's, Costco and Amazon.com. -- Macsimum News.
MacInTouch reader Ritch Bluhm reports:
My G5 Mac was going into sleep mode and sometimes even shut down completely, especially when printing something. I vacuumed the incoming air intake on the back (it's about the size of a half-dollar on the back) and since it had collected dust over the past four years, and caused the computer to kick the fan up to keep it cool, it was causing my problem. Problem solved!

Apple on Tuesday afternoon pushed out another private beta of Mac OS X 10.6.3, asking its developer community to test font compatibility and stability alongside a handful of other components that have been in need of evaluation for the past several weeks. -- AppleInsider.
Originally scheduled to ship soon after the iPad launch in April, both the keyboard dock and 10W USB power adapter for Apple's tablet computer now have estimated ship dates sometime in the month of May. -- AppleInsider.
IT admins that manage mixed-platform environments agree that Macs cost less to support than Windows PCs. In fact, 66 percent plan to increase the number of Macs in the coming year. -- Ars Technica.
Apple seems to be changing its tune on VoIP apps for the iPod touch. Less than a week after it was submitted, Toktumi's Line2 VoIP app has been approved by Apple. The $14.95 a month app turns the iPod touch into a fully-featured telephone. -- Cult of Mac.
My relationship with Google News has always run hot and cold. No make that cold and tepid. From the very beginning of Google News as an experiment back in 2001, they refused to index my work, which they said was my fault, not theirs ("they" being an algorithm attached to an e-mail box, of course). But new evidence has recently come to light suggesting to me that Google News has an actual blacklist. -- I, Cringely.
Apple has discontinued support for certain technologically obsolete and vintage products. Vintage products are those that were discontinued more than five and less than seven years ago. Obsolete products are those that were discontinued more than seven years ago. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
When downloading purchases from the iTunes Store or authorizing those purchases on your machine, you may encounter either Error 42408 or Error 42404, stating that the action could not be completed. The following are some troubleshooting steps you can use to help resolve these error messages. -- MacFixIt.
Apple has won patents from the US Patent & Trademark Office for the Aperture tool for straightening digital images and for a computer housing design that displays the illuminated Apple logo. Aperture is the company's software for pro and semi-pro photographers. -- Macsimum News.
Retail sales of Apple's Mac computers jumped 43% last month compared with the same month in 2009, and increased 36% year over year in January, research company NPD Group said today. -- Computerworld.
VMware has released a new beta of Fusion software, telling people to ditch their PC. -- Macworld UK.
We've had a few concerned readers contact us, worried that Apple has deleted or otherwise discontinued the "Downloads" section of its Web site. Fear not, gentle reader, they are still available in the same place as always: http://www.apple.com/downloads/. What caused the confusion was the redesign of Apple.com that took effect at the end of last week. -- The Unofficial Apple Weblog.
Some pundits have said that Apple is in danger of becoming the next Microsoft--as in 'evil empire' Microsoft. I personally don't think that's going to happen, but find the possibility fascinating. -- Macsimum News.
In recent years, cyber gangs have been careful to spread their operations across multiple Internet service providers, a tactic that makes it much harder for law enforcement and security administrators to track organized crime activity. -- MIT Technology Review.
So here was my problem:
It proved harder than it sounds and took me about three weeks to figure out and setup. I am providing this information because the online information is either wrong or does not exist.
Making Movies
Making movies of PowerPoint/Keynote presentations with audio on a Mac is easy because the capability is built into QuickTime Player.
Streaming the Movies
Creating a Hinted Movie
Creating a Reference Movie
In order for people you play your movie you must provide a another file which calls or references your hinted movie. This is called a reference movie.
When this movie it called it will play your hinted movie on the DSS.
Adding Chapter Marks to your Movie
I must add one more item to my reference movie, chapter marks. That was a requirement. QuickTime Pro will allow you to put chapter marks in your hinted movie but when you stream that movie they will not show up. Here is how to get around that problem.

Creating a Web Page So People can Play your Movie
So you will need a web page (html) that lets users click a link and play the movie.
Samsung Printer Drivers for Mac OS X v10.6 includes Samsung printing software that shipped with Mac OS X v10.6 (Snow Leopard).
Aperture SlideShow Support Update 1.1 addresses an issue affecting the playback of video clips used in Aperture 3 slideshows on Snow Leopard. The update is recommended for all users of Aperture 3.
Brother Printer Drivers for Mac OS X v10.6 includes the latest Brother printing and scanning software for Snow Leopard.
Apple recently nabbed a former Google product manager for a secretive "pretty neat role" with the company, while a new Google employee has shared harsh words about Apple's "Disney-fied" approach to the mobile Internet. -- AppleInsider.
This week's tip will make you a faster typist on your iPhone. Rapidly select symbols from the iPhone virtual keyboard and return to typing letters in mere seconds. -- iPhone Atlas.
USB based peripherals come in a wide variety; many have unique power requirements. Learn more about the power available via USB on Apple computers and how to use peripherals that may require more power than is available through the USB port. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
Here's a simple workaround that will let you modify your own iWeb website from multiple locations and machines: Carry the original files on a USB stick, and trick the local machines into using the USB stick instead of the local file by using an alias. Important to make this workaround work is that the alias file is set with its 'Open With' set to 'iWeb.' Detailed steps are below. -- Mac OS X Hints.
After burning a DVD with iDVD 7, you may find that the image quality is very poor, typically exhibiting pixelation or interlacing problems, when played on your high-definition television or Apple monitor.
Even if the image quality looks fine in the iDVD window, this issue can occur. This happens because iDVD has burned your disc at a standard definition and your HDTV or monitor has expanded it. The standard DVD definition used by iDVD is 720 X 480--smaller than most HDTVs and monitors. If you choose to view the video at full screen, the image will appear distorted.
To help with this issue, change the resolution of your HDTV or monitor to match the resolution of the DVD being played or choose to watch the DVD at its native resolution (do not stretch to fill the screen). -- MacFixIt.
MacInTouch's comprehensive iPad FAQ gets a number of additions and updates today, including notes on international availability, pricing and wireless support; lack of education or military discounts; AT&T hotspots; mice; video formats; ePub documents; iWork video output, iWork Mac and MS Office compatibility; Motion-JPEG video support; alternative input notes; screen sharing; data exchange; AppleCare and more.
iPhone and iPod Touch owners could breathe a sigh of relief when Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad. ... But the iPad means bigger changes for the people who create these apps. Though the iPad has been dismissed by some as an oversized iPod Touch, it's definitely not, as those who attempt to make iPad apps or re-create iPhone apps for it will find out fast. -- c|net.
Ever wonder what graphics really looks like side-by-side comparing VMware Fusion 3 to Parallels Desktop 5? This video will show you a wide variety of graphics tests, running on side-by-side machines so that you can see for yourself. -- MacTech.
When Steve Jobs declared at the iPad's launch that the device would not support Flash because it was a "CPU Hog," one boffin set out to test the truth of the statement, and found it to be subjective at best. -- TG Daily.
New retail sales data shows Apple has continued to have strong Mac and iPod sales at the start of 2010, with February's numbers showing significant year-over-year growth. -- AppleInsider.
Want to make a copy of your wedding DVD for family, or protect your store-bought movies from sticky fingers? Here's how to make exact backups of your DVDs. -- Macworld.
HTML5 vs. Flash debates are engaging. No doubt about that. But if you strip away the bombast, you'll find that HTML5 also offers an interesting feature set that's worth investigating. In this Q&A, HTML/CSS expert and author Eric A. Meyer explains why HTML5, CSS and JavaScript are the "classic three" skills developers and designers need to acquire. -- O'Reilly Radar.
Recently, I became interested in maximizing lookup performance in R. Many problems require looking up values in tables. I decided to perform some tests to show how different lookup mechanisms performed in R. If you're not familiar with R, here's a short description. R is a very popular language (and environment) for working with data. You can download a current version from The R Project web site. R was designed to make it easy to define and manipulate vectors and matrices. -- O'Reilly Broadcast.
For more on R you can check OIT's Bob Muenchen's website r4stats or check out his new book, R for SAS and SPSS Users .
Dr. Markus Jakobsson, Principal Scientist at PARC, explains how it is possible to guarantee the detection of malware, including zero-day attacks and rootkits and even malware that infected a device before the detection program was installed. The solution comes down to this, says Jakobsson: 'Any program -- good or bad -- that wants to be active in RAM has no choice but to take up some space in RAM. At least one byte. -- ITworld.
XML co-founder Tim Bray has taken the job of 'Developer Advocate' at Google. Don't other companies call that position 'Evangelist?' Because he sure doesn't mince words against the iPhone in his first sermon: "It's a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord's pleasure and fear his anger." -- c|net.
Daring Fireball's John Gruber had a hard drive develop mechanical issues that prevented it from booting his laptop. Between Super Duper, Dropbox, and Disk Warrior, he didn't lose a single thing. He details his strategy, and advice for achieving the same results.
So you have a collection of LPs and you wish you could listen to them in iTunes or on your iPod? Or you'd just like to preserve the music in digital format so you can listen without a needle touching the vinyl? Here's one user's inexpensive, speedy approach. -- TidBITS.
As of Friday March 12, the UT Bookstore Technology Center can take orders from Departments for all versions of the IPAD -- both wifi and wi+3G. The wifi versions should arrive early April. They are starting a waiting list for personal orders. Email them at uccs@tennessee.edu to be added to the list. Please specify which one you want. You will be emailed when personal preorders commence. There is no educational discount on this product.
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs feels that Google "violated the alliance" it had with Apple when the search giant began producing cellphones that resemble the iPhone, according to a The New York Times piece that details the bitter rivalry between the two technology giants.
Apple said this week that it will offer a Battery Replacement Service for its new iPad tablet that is similar to the one offered for iPhones and iPods, only this time the company plans to replace the entire device rather than swap out its depleted battery.
The introduction of the iPad Friday morning sold an estimated 50,000 units in two hours, and also bumped Apple's "hobby," the Apple TV, from the front page of its online store. Also, a mysterious icon included in iPad promotional pictures gains attention, and Apple has expanded its site to explain features of the coming hardware in greater detail. -- Fortune Brainstorm Tech.
If you're in the market for an iPad -- and you know you are, because it's killer -- you're probably wondering which model to buy.
Naturally, you're looking at the cheapest $499 iPad, which has Wi-Fi only, but you're thinking you might also want 3G. After all, you can pay-as-you-go for data, and who knows when you might need it? And what about storage?
I've though it through, and concluded that most people should buy the 32GB iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G, including the wireless keyboard. Here's why... -- Cult of Mac.
If you're having trouble with your wireless mouse or keyboard, clicking the mouse may wake it or the keyboard up. If you're still having issues, choose the link below that most accurately describes the symptom you are experiencing. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
At Macworld 2010, a well-known Apple writer presented a list of ten problems Apple faces. I didn't agree with most of the issues cited in that list. Some seemed irrelevant, and some seemed padded, just to round out the list to a perfect 10.
I've spent the last month pondering, from my own experience at Apple, the real problems that Apple faces. These are the ones that percolate throughout the Apple culture and continue to crop up. If Apple deals with these problems, it's just one less thing to get in the way of Apple's completed transformation from a niche player to a major consumer electronics corporation. -- The Mac Observer.
How to keep files safe and what to do when the worst happens. -- TechRadar.
Key improvements include compatibility, collaboration and user interface. -- Macworld UK.
MenuMeters is a superb tool for those who use their computers heavily. Without instant visual feedback, your computer will bog down on a broken Internet connection or a runaway process, slowing one down more than the milliseconds to see where the issues are. -- Foliovision.
I played with my friend's Droid today for about 5 minutes, and I kid you not, the thing crashed on me in the first 5 minutes. I asked my friend how often that happens, and he said, "Regularly." Unbelievable. My iPhone has never crashed on me even once. (Not to mention my Mac, which hasn't crashed on me in 7 years.)
And the Droid was probably the most difficult-to-use device I have ever used in my life. All I wanted to do was create a blank note and start taking notes, and it was literally impossible to figure out on my own. I had to get a training from my friend on how to do it, and even after the training, the process was about as easy as driving blindfolded down the highway.
They aren't kidding when they say the Droid does more than the iPhone. Here are just a few of the things that the Droid does that the iPhone doesn't do... -- ScottWorld Blog.
German publishers are worrying that Apple's desire to limit offensive material on its iPhone applications is spilling over into censorship. -- New York Times.
When a Flip video camera won't connect with a Mac laptop, a new father inadvertently embarks on a customer-service adventure. -- New York Times.
Apple may be known for making easy-to-use products, but when it comes to the iPhone, it doesn't make products that are easy to repair. -- New York Times.
On March 11, 2010, the US Patent & Trademark Office published two very interesting patents that illustrate Apple's R&D teams are rapidly advancing the notion of an audio user interface for Apple's media players and iPhone. -- Patently Apple.
There is an entertaining and telling article in the Wall Street Journal about iPhone use by Microsoft employees. Apparently, despite it being frowned upon by senior management, iPhone use is rampant among the Redmond rank and file. The head of Microsoft's mobile division tried to explain it away as employees wanting 'to better understand the competition,' although few believe this. Nowhere does the article mention attempts by the company to understand why the iPhone is more attractive to much of Microsoft's tech-savvy workforce than the company's own products.
It's been rumored for some time now that Apple will include RFID technology in a future iPhone. An RFID-packing iPhone could interact with various objects including opening doors and it could even be used in shops to register items at the checkout. Beating Apple to the RFID punch, last year a company called Wireless Dynamics announced an iPhone RFID accessory called the iCarte, but if you'd rather make your own reader then you'll be interested to know how a research assistant at University College London has managed to build his own RFID iPhone accessory. -- Recombu.
You can pre-order an Apple iPad starting today, Mar. 12 -- but do you really want to? I get why you'd want an iPad. I'd like one, too. But when I consider that there are soon going to be literally dozens of cheaper, Linux-powered iPad-like devices on the market, I find it easier to resist putting $499 on my credit card. -- Computerworld.
Safari 4.0.5 is recommended for all Safari users and includes improvements to performance, stability, and security.
Mac OS X platform and Windows:
Windows platform:
Apple this summer will go a long way towards silencing critics and catering to one of the most prevalent demands of its iPhone user base, when it introduces a multitasking solution through the handset's 4.0 software update that will finally allow several third party apps to run concurrently and in the background. -- AppleInsider.
Filmmakers Josh Rizzo and Rob Baca trace the evolution of Apple computers from the Apple-1 to the iPhone in this documentary.
You can use the keyboard shortcuts outlined in this article to shut down or restart Macs that have a keyboard with an Eject key. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
The titles iPhoto chooses for just-added photos is the annoying "IMG_nnnn" serial number from the camera. This AppleScript simply takes the date of the photo (EXIF info that iPhoto knows very well) and uses it as the photo title. The format is: yyyy-mm-dd-hh.mm.ss, so it's a bit easier to read than the ISO version, but also easily sortable. -- Mac OS X Hints.

As reported, Apple has begun accepting pre-orders for the Apple iPad in the U.S. Apple Store. While U.S. customers can pre-order any of Apple's six iPad models (three Wi-Fi and three Wi-Fi + 3G) beginning today, only the Wi-Fi models will be available on the launch date of Saturday, April 3rd. Customers purchasing Wi-Fi + 3G iPad models will need to wait until late April to receive their orders. Wi-Fi devices are being promised for April 3rd delivery.
Apple's "Time Machine" backup system can be used in a variety of ways, though people seem to stick to only one method of using the system. Previously, we have covered Time Machine's use in restoring the system to a previous state either to revert back to a prior version of OS X, or to undo an application installation; however, you can also use Time Machine from within programs that support it. -- MacFixIt.
When you get information on a file or folder in OS X, you will see a "Permissions" section where a few user and group names are listed, followed by read or write permissions for those names. This method of granting access to files can be relatively straightforward, but many times there will be odd names listed in the permissions field, and people have wondered about them and what they mean. -- MacFixIt.
A plethora of Apple patents have appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Here's a summary of each. -- Macsimum News.
If you are not interested in Apple's coming iPad and have no intention of buying one, then you may want to skip this post. But if you're already readying your tent and fold-up chairs to wait outside an Apple store for the company's latest offering, then please read on. -- New York Times.
Before my friend left, we were able to confirm that the laptop was able to boot from the original system CD now that the hard drive had been physically removed from the machine.
In other words, it was the very presence of the defective hard drive inside the machine that was preventing the MacBook from booting from any CD. And this, to me, does not make any sense. -- Betalogue.
A report purporting to vindicate the performance of Adobe's Flash plugin in comparison to open standards broke through the weak editorial barriers of the tech community yesterday. It's wrong, here's why. -- RoughlyDrafted Magazine.
Vlingo is a speech-to-text app that can send what you speak as a social network update, allow you to dictate a search engine query, work as a voice dialer, compose and send full emails complete with subject lines, and put a search term into maps. It has a richer set of features than Dragon, but how does it stand up where it counts -- in understanding exactly what you're saying? -- MacNewsWorld.
I came across this article today on Forbes.com, and it brought up a point that I've been pondering for the past few weeks: is it better to get a data plan for the iPad from AT&T or a data device from Sprint or Verizon for close to the same price? -- Apple Gazette.
Eugene Kaspersky has claimed Apple is blocking attempts to bring third-party security software to the iPhone. Speaking exclusively to PC Pro, Eugene Kaspersky has claimed Apple has repeatedly refused to deliver the software development kit necessary to design security software for the phone. -- .
If you have ever had the urge to make a custom iPod remote, it just became a whole lot easier. One enterprising hacker has put together a code repository for communicating with Apple's portable audio players. -- Ars Technica.
The city plans to submit a proposal to Google Inc. in hope of becoming a test site for its ultra-fast Internet system. Cities across the country are hotly competing to be one of Google's preferred towns, and the Internet company is encouraging them to make bold, creative statements as to why they are deserving. -- Knoxville News Sentinel.

The App Store censorship horse may have been beaten to dead, but the German media -- now under Apple's fire -- isn't surrendering. Hopefully, their blitzkrieg will be successful, and the European Union will open an investigation that the US would follow. -- Gizmodo.
Intel has released a 6-core processor that will fit into existing X58 motherboards and really pushes the boundaries of computing performance. There are many cases where the CPU actually is 50% faster than the measly quad-core processors currently for sale! Time to open up the pocket book or steal your neighbors. -- PC Perspective.
To most consumers, Apple's App Store may seem like sunshine and rainbows. But to a developer, getting an application on it presents a number of legal challenges. No, it's not Apple's historically notorious approval process. Instead, as attorney and Joystiq contributor Mark Methenitis explained to a group of developers during a talk at the Game Developer's Conference here Wednesday, it's the contracts developers have to sign that can get them into some serious trouble if they're not careful. -- iPhone Atlas.
If network access is interrupted, a Mac OS X v10.6 client may not be able to reconnect to an Active Directory domain whose name ends in ".local". -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
ZDNet reports that it has received information from tipsters claiming that Apple will release new Mac Pro models next Tuesday, adding a hexacore Core i7-based model to its lineup.
Mac OS X has a few useful built-in correction and substitution functions that you can use when composing documents in various applications. One of these is the option to check spelling as you type, which has been around for a while, but more recently Apple has introduced system-wide character substitution and word suggestion options. While these options are available to applications, they will only work for those coded to take advantage of them. These include Apple's iWork and iLife programs, as well as TextEdit and Safari, but other third-party programs also support these services. -- MacFixIt.
If you are experiencing issues with any of the iLife applications included with your Mac (iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand, or iWeb), you can take these basic steps to begin troubleshooting your problem. -- MacFixIt.
Consumer Reports today gave Apple a major lead in its rankings for both desktop and notebook technical support. Among more than 7,000 readers, Apple's help scored 87 and 86 points in each category and was much higher-rated than any other computer manufacturer. Lenovo came closest in notebooks with just 63 points, while Dell fell far behind in desktops with a 55-point score. -- Electronista.
Chipmaker Nvidia is helping invent a slew of cool technologies that hold the potential to change the way we work and play. The company, which makes processors that enhance images and boost the brawn of computers and phones, is pushing 3-D entertainment into homes and high-def video onto handsets. But the gadget Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang is most excited about? Touchscreen tablets such as Apple's forthcoming iPad. -- Fortune.
Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac beat the competition and Parallels Desktop 4 in a recent independent comparison test. -- Wikipedia.
In Rob Glaser's first public appearance since stepping down as CEO of RealNetworks, he implored that it is incumbent upon companies to work together in order for the wireless sector to continue its break-neck pace of innovation. -- Yahoo! Finance.
Last month, the humor site Cracked.com posted a semiserious article listing five reasons to be scared of Apple. The top reason, entertainingly referred to as "The Masterplan," refers to an Oct. 22, 2009, patent in which Apple describes a method for forcing users to pay attention to ads. -- The Motley Fool.
Smartphone and laptop batteries may seem like cruel masters when they threaten to lose power, but you have more control than you may think. -- New York Times.
Mozilla is building a fast new JavaScript engine called JägerMonkey. It will use a combination of tracing optimization and the native code generator from WebKit's JavaScript engine. -- Ars Technica.
Apple broke App Store accounts for many users with multiple accounts recently. On checking for updates and clicking the helpful 'Download All Free Updates' button, iTunes rather unhelpfully states: 'You can not update this software since you have not owned the major version of this software.' -- Cult of Mac.
Free, open source operating system Ubuntu will take on a new look in its forthcoming 10.04 release. Gone is the brown, in comes the auberginey-purple. It's actually quite appealing and obviously takes a lot of cues from OS X (the file manager windows) and iPhone (the menu bar and its plain white icons). -- Cult of Mac.
Cisco Systems has announced the launch of a super-fast and efficiency-focused technology which will be at the heart of "the next generation of internet." A key impetus for its development is keeping pace with the growing demand for video, which Cisco calls today's "killer app."
To put the power of this router (which will be used by service providers as part of the internet backbone) in perspective, it delivers 333 Tbps. This speed translates into the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress being downloaded in a second. It enables every single person in China to make a simultaneous video call and can deliver every movie ever made in 4 minutes (storage is another matter).
The CRS-3 is at the heart of this technology. This is the newest version of what is known as Carrier Routing System 1- which is one of the largest production routers.
Although you can't buy one for your home; this router will be used by service providers to bring you faster and hopefully, more fault-tolerant mobile broadband, video and cloud-based services. Cisco expects this to be available in final release in Q3 of this year.
The day the iPhone 3GS launched, I wrote a column entitled "364 days and counting to iPhone 4G." Since then, thanks to Google, I've gotten a lot of e-mails from folks wondering just when the fourth-generation iPhone will come out, whether other carriers besides AT&T will offer it, whether it will actually work on 4G networks, and just what features it might have. Until I hear otherwise, I'm sticking to my guns and saying the iPhone 4G--or whatever Apple chooses to call its next iPhone--will arrive almost a year to the day from when the iPhone 3GS was released. -- iPhone Atlas.
If you really need to change your user account short name and home directory name (which should match), use the advanced procedure described below. Although you can change your Home name in Mac OS X 10.3 or later, you usually shouldn't. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
Microsoft has released a few updates to its Office 2004 and Office 2008 suites for OS X. These updates address security bugs in the programs, and for the 2008 version they also improve application stability.
In addition to the Office updates, Microsoft released an update for Entourage 2008 Web Services Edition, which improves calendaring and diagnostic logging, as well as synchronization of notes, tasks, and categories with Exchange servers.
These updates should be available via Microsoft's auto-update utility that is included with Office, but can also be downloaded from Microsoft's Mac downloads site at the following links:
Easy access to diacritical marks is often required when typing, especially when composing content in European languages and others that use them. On the Mac, the default method for accessing these marks with the US keyboard layout is to hold the "Option" key, followed by pressing a vowel that represents a specific accent character and then pressing the target letter's key; however, this may take time to get accustomed to. Therefore, for many US users the easiest way to use accents is to open the keyboard viewer pallet, and then press and hold the "Option" key to see available accent marks. -- MacFixIt.
Apple has won three design patents from the US Patent & Trademark Office. They involve a power supply, the iPod shuffle and the MacBook Air. -- Macsimum News.
Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac Build 9344 is available. They also have a Knowledge Base doc about it. Changes/improvements are too long to list here, but include support for Google Chrome OS and a long list of Performance, Integration, Graphics and Network improvements. [As I write this my copy of Parallels can not see the update. I can only assume that it is not on their update server yet. This is the way it was for this last update as well.]
Does "I'm a Mac" mean "I'm less expensive to manage?" An Enterprise Desktop Alliance survey says Macs cost a lot less than PCs to manage -- yet Macs come with special challenges for enterprise IT admins. -- CIO.
The Washington Post reports that professors have banned laptops from their classrooms at George Washington University, American University, the College of William and Mary, and the University of Virginia, among many others, compelling students to take notes the way their parents did: on paper.
Valve officially revealed Monday that its Steam online gaming service, along with the Source engine that powers titles such as Half-Life 2 and Left 4 Dead 2, is coming to the Mac in April.
The entire family of devices built on the iPhone OS (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) have been designed to run only software that is approved by Apple..Software developers who want Apple's approval must first agree to the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement. -- Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Here's a feature you'll like for capturing screenshots on your iPhone. You can use it to capture displayed error messages, images, or practically anything you see on your iPhone's screen. -- iPhone Atlas.
If you use "Restore System From Backup..." to restore a Time Machine backup to a different Mac than the original Mac used for the backup, issues such as these may occur:
You can use Migration Assistant to transfer your files and important settings from an older Mac to a new one. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
FileMaker announced the immediate availability of FileMaker Pro 11 today. The new version of the relational database application added a long list of features such as new chart styles and new dynamic reports.
Version 11 added a new database template interface designed to make it easier to build databases, dynamic charts and reports with calculations, a layout and report design assistant, built-in invoice designs, and the ability to organize layouts into folders. It also includes a new Quick Find feature that searches multiple fields at the same time, a tool inspector palette, and the ability to dynamically modify how information is displayed in Table mode.
Users that share databases now have a Snapshot feature that lets a database owner distribute a file to other FileMaker Pro users that updates itself with the most current information from the master database. External data sources, such as Excel spreadsheets, can be dynamically linked to a database so that when the external source file is updated, the matching content in the database is replaced, too.
Version 11 also offers better Web layout rendering, and Web sharing supports on the fly chart rendering.
Along with FileMaker Pro 11, FileMaker also released FileMaker Pro 11 Advanced, FileMaker Server 11 and FileMaker Server 11 Advanced. The Server Advanced product offers unlimited user connections, removing the artificial user cap found in older versions.
FileMaker Pro 11 is priced at US$299, or $179 for upgrades. FileMaker Pro 11 Advanced costs $499 or $299 for upgrades, FileMaker Server 11 is priced at $999 or $599 for upgrades, and FileMaker Server 11 Advanced costs $2,999 or $1,799 for upgrades.
Most of us know that Quicktime X, included with Snow Leopard, can trim movie and audio files. However, this trim is less than precise, as you cannot specify an exact trim start and stop point. Worse yet, if you want to make 10 minute segments for YouTube, you have to write down the last trim end time, undo the previous trim after uploading, and hope the trim slider will let you select the same trim point to start your next clip. What a pain. Enter AppleScript -- trim is a scriptable function. -- Mac OS X Hints.
NeoOffice 3.0.2 Patch 2 is a free Mac OS X-native version of the OpenOffice.org office suite, with Mac-like features that include Services support, floating tool windows, trackpad gestures, and Mac OS X grammar checking support. This patch release fixes a bug where cycling through open documents only cycled through two documents on Mac OS X 10.6 and addresses other issues. NeoOffice is free for Mac OS X 10.4.11 and up (Intel and PowerPC) including Snow Leopard.
Gary Hamel if the Wall Street Journal ponders how in the world could one company have accomplished all this? How do you build an organization that is capable of reinventing not just one industry but four--computing, music, electronics retailing and mobile phones. How do you do the unprecedented repeatedly?
While Aperture's new features make it more attractive than ever to professional photographers, its main selling point appears to be its superior ability to automate a photographer's workflow. "For me, the most important thing about Aperture -- always has been and remains -- is that it is simply the most powerful archiving tool available," said photographer Bill Frakes. -- MacNewsWorld.
A lot of Mac users take the Dock for granted. They click on it to launch programs, dump files in its Trash can, and never give it a second thought. But you can customize the Dock's appearance as well as its contents. Here are a handful of tips that will give you total control. -- Macworld.
Everyone seems to have an opinion about the Mac's Dock. It's the mostly used, often maligned utility that launches apps, holds files and folders, and gives Mac users a heads up about what's running. The Dock has many users, many detractors, and many features and capabilities seldom used by the Mac masses. Is there a way to make the Dock do what it does even better? Thankfully, yes. Customize your Dock. -- Mac360.
The original Macintosh took the the world by storm with its small form factor, and above standard speeds. This project aims to show you how to upgrade your original 1984 macintosh to the specification of a modern day machine. The original Macintosh had an 8mhz processor, my upgrades will boost it to a speed 200x faster than that. Giving us enough speed to install Mac OS X Snow Leopard. -- Instructables.
Even with a fast computer, fast Internet connection and a good browser app, Web pages can still load slower than they should if you aren't using good Domain Name Servers. Figuring out which DNS servers will point you to the pages you want to view most efficiently doesn't have to be a trial and error process thanks to a clever Google Code project called namebench. -- The Mac Observer.
This year, everyone's talking about who will be the new Foursquare or Twitter at South by Southwest (SxSW) 2010. But it will also be interesting to see who will be this year's big screw up. AT&T is working hard to make sure it won't be them again. -- Econsultancy.
During the Oscars, Apple debuted its first iPad commercial. Steve Jobs was even at the awards ceremony and reportedly walked the Red Carpet. The iPad is due out the first of next month and many folks have already announced plans to run out and buy one the second it's available, but is that really a smart move? The fact is this is Apple's first whack at a larger platform touch device and there are probably a lot of kinks left to be worked out. I'm not saying you shouldn't ever buy one, I'm just suggesting it might be a good idea to wait for the first refresh. -- DaniWeb.
Where's the best place to store video? iPhoto? iMovie? iTunes? It depends. -- Macworld.
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 6 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today which includes a patent for their Universal Dock along with 3 industrial designs covering the MacBook Air, iPod Shuffle and USB Power Adapter. Additionally, two documents confirm that Apple has abandoned their Time Tunnel trademark - which shouldn't have any material effect on their product Time Machine. -- Patently Apple.
The USPTO was down for most of last Thursday, which made it very difficult to access Apple's latest patent applications. One of the reports that we were able to post was in regards to Apple TV's remote controller. Yet hidden within the patents that we weren't able to access - was a little gold mine. After careful scrutiny of this patent over the weekend, let me tell you, Apple has some great ideas in mind for their Remote iApp. Better yet - Apple's patent presents us with a unique overview of a future version of Apple TV that we perhaps hoped for from the very beginning and disappointingly never received. -- Patently Apple.
Support for the next generation of HTML is already appearing in today's browsers and Web pages. Are you ready to take advantage? -- Infoworld.
Over the past couple of years, cyber criminals have increasingly focused on finding ways to inject malicious code into legitimate websites. Typically they've done this by embedding code in an editable part of a page and using this code to serve up harmful content from another part of the Web. But this activity can be difficult to spot because websites also increasingly pull in legitimate content, such as ads, videos, or snippets of code, from outside sites. Now a researcher at Websense, a security firm based in San Diego, has developed a way to monitor such malicious activity automatically. -- MIT Technology Review.
Physicists have come up with a way to process information faster than the speed of light. But what could they do with such a hypercomputer? -- MIT Technology Review.
A fraud warning call about a $1.00 charge from MobileMe sends Adam on an investigation that reveals just how Apple checks to make sure credit cards are still good before charging automatic MobileMe renewal fees. -- TidBITS.
Apple has announced that its magical and revolutionary iPad will be available in the US on Saturday, April 3, for Wi-Fi models and in late April for Wi-Fi + 3G models. In addition, all models of iPad will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in late April.
When Public Radio Exchange (PRX) developed the free Public Radio Player for the iPhone, the nonprofit hoped for 500,000 downloads. It now has 2.5 million. "I'm very happy with that number," says PRX executive director Jake Shapiro. -- Ars Technica.
Apple finally gave us the date the first iPads will hit store shelves: April 3. We've been closely following the touch-screen tablet since Apple first announced it in late January, but here's a quick guide for your most essential questions about the device. -- c|net.
In the wake of Apple's sudden decision to remove nearly all "sexy" applications from the App Store, we've been hearing that the company is also clamping down on so-called "cookie-cutter" applications -- iPhone apps that are built from templates using one of the many app-building services available. -- TechCrunch.
I bought a new iMac and went crazy with Faces in iPhoto. Two days later I had a lot of tagged photos in Faces. Then I noticed that since I synced my Address Book with Google Contacts, Address Book entries were appearing as suggestions in Faces.
I didn't want to re-tag all my existing Faces photos, but there didn't seem to be an obvious way to link a new Address Book contact to an existing Face. So I took the only honorable course of action and starting messing around.
I discovered that you can transfer a Faces collection to an Address Book contact very quickly. -- Mac OS X Hints.
Apple Friday seeded yet another version of Mac OS X 10.6.3, termed Build 10D567, to developers. iPhone in Canada offers some details on the new version, which has seen only minor refinements as development appears to be wrapping up. Developers are reportedly asked to focus their testing on Graphics Drivers, iChat, QuickTime, Printing and Rosetta.
As a Mac user, you're uniquely positioned because an Intel Mac is the only computer in the world that can legally run all three major operating systems, OS X, Windows and Linux. Indeed, you can, if you like, load all three on the same computer and pick which one you want to load when you switch your Mac on. -- TechRadar UK.
Security, file sharing between operating systems, backup and data recovery of Mac files are just some of the big integration issues plaguing IT staffs. -- CIO.
As you might know, we have an insider source following the discussion between Apple and the AA CS LA regarding royalties for adding support for Blu-ray playback in Mac OS X. While discussion started in 2007, this source just let us know that there is currently not even the beginning of an agreement between both parties, and Apple might even have decided to drop the idea of bringing support for BD in Mac OS X. If we should summarize the last information provide by this source, the current question is not when this support will be implemented, but will this support be implemented at all.
In retrospect, this is maybe not a huge issue, as most computers do NOT feature a BD drive, and current and future online video services/stores will deliver a file that every customers would be able to store on a HD. All those points might have push Apple to think twice about BD playback on Mac OS X. -- HardMac.
The Telegraph reports that Apple is developing technology, already being nicknamed the 'iKey,' which will allow users to gain access to their office and unlock their car or front door with a single electronic device like an iPhone. Users would simply have to enter a PIN and wave the device over an electronic pad fitted beside a door to open it.
Apple this week continued its crackdown against what it feels are substandard applications in its App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch, this time removing Wi-Fi scanners and software it said has "minimum user functionality." -- AppleInsider.
Applications on iPhone or iPod touch may close unexpectedly because the device has begun to run low on application memory. This does not mean there is too much data stored on the device, but simply means that it is running too many memory-intensive tasks. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
If you have issues with your iPhone, try these tips first. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
Enabling VoiceOver for iPod allows you to hear the names of songs, artists, and playlists spoken when listening to content on your iPod. If you have the Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic or the In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic, you can also use VoiceOver to navigate playlists. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
If you have a Downloads folder full of junk like I do, it can be useful to know where some files have come from. Luckily this information is displayed in the Get Info window. Just right-click on the file and choose "Get Info" or press Command-I. -- Mac OS X Tips.
After a brief outage on Thursday, Apple's developer site returned with a dramatically restructured developer program for the Mac that is modeled after the $99/year iPhone developer program.
Many people using the Mac these day are recent converts from Windows, and may have developed an affinity for some of the interface features in Windows. One of these is the capability to maximize windows to full screen using the windows' maximize button; however, the analogous button in OS X performs a slightly different default function. -- MacFixIt.
Four Apple patents have appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office that show Apple is working make sure future Macs and other devices run even cooler. -- Macsimum News.
By putting good design at consumers' fingertips, the firm has raised the bar for other industries. Once viewed by many as a frill or afterthought, design is now being enthusiastically embraced as a key ingredient in how products and services are developed and, as important, how people use and interact with them. -- The Globe and Mail.
I love Time Machine for its simplicity and the fact that it's free. Apple did the right thing in creating a backup utility that was integrated into the OS and was actually useful. Anyone who has fought with Windows Backup can tell you, this has been needed for a long time. Apple created a beautiful backup utility and then made money on hardware that seamlessly works with it. For the home user, nothing could be more simple. -- The Apple Blog.
You're not crazy, and neither are we: The touchscreen on the Apple iPhone really is more responsive than the screens on the BlackBerry Storm, the Motorola Droid, the Nexus One and many other phones, even though all of these devices use essentially the same touch-sensing hardware. -- Wired.
Yes, Apple continues to invest in the area of TV and our TV patent section is trying to document what we can on this very important future product. And while Apple continues to deny that they're working on a next generation television, you'd have to be an idiot reporter for even expecting Apple to say: "Oh, yes, we're about to reinvent television and here are the juicy details." -- Patently Apple.
Backing up your iDisk with Time Machine is easier than you might imagine. -- Macworld.
A lot of time -- and money -- has gone into building your iTunes library. Christopher Breen helps you keep your investment safe with these tips and techniques. -- Macworld.
Ever since I ran across this example of HTML5 video, I've wanted to tinker with my own variation. This recently released project and tutorial made that possible. -- O'Reilly Answers.
Surprising field studies suggest cell phones could be effective learning tools. Guest blogger Marie Bjerede examines field projects that are studying the educational use of cell phones. In one limited example, 50 percent of students doing lessons by cell phone had higher math proficiency than classmates who learned the same material from the same teacher. -- O'Reilly Radar.
Apple's legendary secrecy around the iPad continues even though the company formally introduced the hardware over a month ago, as media mogul Rupert Murdoch revealed The Wall Street Journal, in developing an iPad edition, has a pre-release model that is checked in on nightly by the Cupertino, Calif., company. -- AppleInsider.
Apple's recent lawsuit against handset maker HTC could be the beginning as the company marks its turf in the smartphone market. -- c|net.
Just a shade over nine years ago, Apple launched iTunes, a fairly late, fairly average MP3 player with CD burning built in. And though it lacked many of the features of Audion, then the best music player for Mac, it not only became the market leader, but it set the stage for the iPod, widespread legal music downloads, legal TV, the iPhone, and soon the iPad. It would be no exaggeration to say that iTunes saved Apple. It would be no exaggeration to say that iTunes is now Apple's most successful piece of software ever in terms of users.
But it would also be no exaggeration to call it the worst piece of software Apple makes and the one thing that could disrupt Apple's current march to mobile device dominance. It has bloated into a crashy kludge that the rest of the Apple universe depends upon. Despite a lot of good intentions from amazing software developers, iTunes has become Apple's Internet Explorer 6 -- an unmitigated disaster. -- Cult of Mac.
According to Doctor Who lore, inside the dimpled chassis of the genocidal Dalek is a cycloptic squidling, but Steve over at BotBuilder knows the real truth: in actuality, the warbling, murderous cyborgs are remote controlled via iPhone using the accelerometer. -- Cult of Mac.
Ethernet is a common solution for connecting computers to the Internet and for sharing data between computers. You can use Ethernet to connect dozens of computers in an office, or simply to connect the cable modem in your home to your computer.
Ethernet networks vary greatly in design and complexity. You can easily integrate wireless computers, such as those using AirPort or third-party 802.11 cards, with your wired Ethernet network. Read about three simple types of Ethernet network you can create in your home or office below. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
One of the reasons we are fans of Apple is that an implicit proposition of being a customer is that our computing life will be simpler, less vexing, and more productive. With iTunes, however, that promise is broken in part. -- The Mac Observer.
I'm a mere journalist, not a lofty writer, but there's more to words than processing. Still, forget about the nomenclature for now - there is a more pressing matter to think about: Which word processor should I use? -- Low End Mac.
There are two aspects surrounding Apple's patent litigation against HTC that demand further consideration. First, the severe problems with the U.S. patent system as a whole, particularly with regard to software patents. Second, the strategic implications of Apple's decision to file suit. -- Daring Fireball.
Apple's patent suit against HTC will not cause major problems for the Taiwan technology company in the short term, analysts said. But it could strain its relations with partners in the U.S. market. -- New York Times.
The Bluetooth 4.0 wireless specification could start to appear in devices such as headsets, smartphones and PCs by the fourth quarter, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group. The new specification will be able to be used in lower-power devices than previous versions of the technology, including watches, pedometers, smart meters and other gadgets that run on coin-cell batteries. -- Good Gear Guide.
Ever wonder how Jimi Hendrix would cover Lady Gaga? Whether you do or not, you may be about to find out. Wired's, Eliot Van Buskirk describes North Carolina's Zenph Sound Innovations, which takes existing recordings of musicians (deceased, for now) and models their 'musical personalities' to create new recordings.
This ProKit Update fixes issues with user interface software resources that are shared by Apple's professional applications.
The former security chief for the Mozilla Corporation and security lead for Microsoft's Windows XP Service Pack 2 has moved on to Apple, where she will serve as the senior security product manager, according to a new report. -- AppleInsider.

Film critic Roger Ebert is premiering his new computer voice on Oprah this afternoon. Below is a sneak peek. His new voice -- spoken by his MacBook -- actually sounds like him. He looks really delighted with it. -- Cult of Mac.
Animated by US design company Transparent House, the animation was rendered in just ten days by using various 3D visualization tools. Overall, it's an attractive little love letter to Apple's three decade history of excellent product design.
Over the weekend, I was installing a demo of some web-based help desk software, and this particular package used encrypted PHP files. With my hosting company, I have to place a php.ini file in every directory that contains encrypted files, or the site won't work. This particular package had hundreds of directories, buried in folders and subfolders, and I was dreading the task of copying this one file into each of them. -- Mac OS X Hints.
Menu extras are the little icon menus that live over on the right-hand side of your menu bar. Most people will probably have the Volume and Airport menus, but there are loads more that you can enable. -- Mac OS X Tips.
The Question:
I was wondering if there was a way for the Mac to automatically clear the desktop and put all the items into the documents folder when shutting down. I'm setting up a computer which has a lot of users and clutter on the desktop is an issue. Thanks.
This is a great example of when AppleScript is really useful for automating simple tasks like moving files around -- Mac OS X Tips.
Ten things that can help keep your Mac safe. -- Mac OS X Tips.
Every time Apple brings out a new version of OS X, we compile a list of our favorite Terminal commands for enabling hidden features and changing hidden settings (here are the lists for Tiger and Leopard.) For those who are new to Terminal Commands, here's a quick run down of how to use them. Don't worry, it's really easy. Start by opening up Terminal, located in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder. In the window that appears, paste in one of the lines provided below, and then hit return. For the changes to take effect, you need to restart the application concerned. For applications like the Dock or Finder, it is easiest to just type killall Dock or killall Finder into the Terminal to restart them. To reverse the changes, you just need to change the last word of the command and run it again. If the last word is YES, change it to NO, change 1 to 0, and change TRUE to FALSE and vice versa for all. -- Mac OS X Tips.
The Wall Street Journal reports on comments made Tuesday by AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson at an investor conference in which he noted that he expects Apple's iPhone to be an important part of the carrier's offerings for "quite some time". Stephenson did not address, however, whether the company is expecting to lose its exclusivity for the iPhone in the U.S. in the near future.
Apple patents range from electronic portable devices to battery charging systems
Apple patents ranging from portable electronic devices to battery charging systems have appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Following is a summary of each.
Apple wins patents for MacBook Pro, MacBook Air designs, more
Apple has won patents from the US Patent & Trademark Office for the design of the MacBook Pro with a glass trackpad and the MacBook Air.
A review of some of the hidden iPhone features is in order. -- CIO.
The cellphone industry has started to change because of a recent policy switch from T-Mobile. And as it does, a shopper will increasingly have to consider the total price of the wireless service plan as well as the price of the phone itself. -- New York Times.
The director of technology for Apple's MobileMe service has departed to become the chief technology officer at Thumbplay, a U.S. media subscription service, the company revealed Monday. -- AppleInsider.
Apple plans to introduce HDMI connectivity on some of its personal computers this year, embracing an emerging trend that has seen the high-definition audio/video interface crop up on an increasing number of systems from rival PC manufacturers, AppleInsider has learned.
Alfred is a new keyboard launcher in the spirit of Quicksilver, Butler and LaunchBar. A (free) beta was released last weekend by the UK-based team who've developed it. -- Cult of Mac.
Learn how to troubleshoot printer issues in Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard, and learn about IP alternatives for AppleTalk printers. For information about adding a printer and other topics, see Mac OS X v10.6: Mac 101 - Printing. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
We recently wrote about Mac OS X's various security options. After we published those articles, a few readers asked if we could tell them what settings they should routinely use for OS X's firewall. While the firewall in OS X is supposed to be straightforward and simple to use, the idea of selecting preferred settings can be confusing. -- MacFixIt.
Are you bringing Macs to your corporate environment? Many folks in corner offices want them. Other staffers envy creative co-workers' Macs and want them too. Each year, more Macs make their way into organizations and industries. Bringing Macs to the enterprise, though, isn't easy. -- Computerworld.
Perhaps one of the most misunderstood things about Apple's portable devices is the way some of the features affect battery life. Two new pages on Apple's Web site may help users with that. Apple posted two pages -- one dedicated to the iPod and one to the iPhone -- to help users get the most from their battery. Many of the tips may seem like simple solutions for those that closely follow Apple, but for new users, there are some great tips in there.
Apple's new iPad is facing criticism for using the streamlined iPhone OS rather than the full Mac OS X, but Apple has a number of reasons for aligning the iPad with the iPhone rather than its desktop Mac platform. -- AppleInsider.
After months of reported issues with flickering and yellowing on new 27-inch iMac displays, Apple has publicly stated that the problems have been fixed by its two software updates. -- AppleInsider.
The exact makeup of the A4 chip that powers the iPad is a closely guarded secret, and for good reason: if Apple had revealed that the A4 is a stripped-down smartphone chip, then analysts and pundits would have focused on this aspect and not on the device's software and user experience. -- Ars Technica.
Based on requests from faculty and students, The Office of Information Technology (OIT) is pleased to announce the expansion of the Telephone HelpDesk (974-9900) to 24 X 7 support, without incurring additional expense. While every problem might not be solved at 3:00am, operators will be able to reset passwords, respond to system outages, and submit tickets for you regarding other issues. If you prefer face-to-face attention, the OIT also has Walk-in support at the Commons South (2nd floor, Hodges Library) during the following times:
OIT recently invited all faculty, staff and students to complete a brief survey to better understand the information technology needs on campus and 3,287 surveys were completed. The feedback was very positive. Two consistent areas for improvement were "email" and "search engine on utk.edu." IT will fix these as quickly as possible. This year we will upgrade email for faculty/staff to 1-2GB inboxes. Student email will be outsourced to both Microsoft and Google. We will also immediately begin a project to replace the search engine on the home page with Google.
Your feedback is incredibly important to us. The comments were enlightening for IT. We plan to do this again next year. OIT has posted a summary of the results and all comments.
Some think license terms for the popular video encoding technology mean Apple's Final Cut Pro should be called Final Cut Hobbyist. Not so fast. -- c|net.
Apple could unveil a lower-cost iPhone in June, a handset designed to address the two major barriers to adoption: cost of hardware and cost of the service plan, one analyst said Friday. The cost of iPhone hardware stops 85 percent of people, while the service plan is a barrier for 66 percent. -- Cult of Mac.
Parallels has expanded support for running virtual machines on an Xserve with a bare metal hypervisor, which cuts the overhead of a host OS and boosts performance. -- Ars Technica.
The iPhone accelerometer is, for all practical purposes, a good addition to a handheld device. However, sometimes it can be annoying, especially when trying to show off your favorite picture. The picture can flip between portrait and landscape modes over and over again as you move the phone or hand it off to a friend. The orientation change is enough to make you dizzy, but not if you use this tip. -- iPhone Atlas.
iChat lets you easily chat via text, audio, or video with other iChat, MobileMe, Google Talk, and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) users over the Internet, or on your local network via Bonjour. You can also send and receive files with iChat. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
The Associated Press has announced plans to create a new business unit known as "AP Gateway" that will focus on mobile platforms, with an application for Apple's iPad tablet device set to serve as the launch product from the division. AP Gateway will also seek to leverage the technology behind its iPad application to assist its local news affiliates with creating packages of their own content.
Microsoft is considering including support for Mac OS within future Windows Phone 7 series of devices. Speaking to Engadget this weekend, Microsoft's Aaron Woodman, (director of consumer experiences for Microsoft's mobile division) would neither confirm nor deny the plan -- all he seemed prepared to commit to was to concede that there are "internal discussions" as his team is considering the plan. -- Distorted-Loop.
Mac weighed down by files and apps? Put it on a diet. -- TechRadar UK.
Let's face it: unless you're just casually surfing the Internet or playing a game, chances are pretty good that your hands are on the keyboard most of the time when you're at the computer. Sure, the mouse is only a few inches away, but wouldn't it just be easier if you didn't have to keep going back and forth from the mouse to the keyboard? -- The Unofficial Apple Weblog.
If your iPod battery is not performing up to snuff, you can perform a simple test before heading to your local Apple Store for a replacement. The results could save you plenty of time, better spent listening to all your killer tunes. -- c|net.
Apple's Mighty Mouse (now also called an Apple Mouse) has a dirty little secret. While the scroll ball performs its duties as intended when the mouse is new, it can become clogged with dirt and grime over time. Its performance then deteriorates dramatically, with the ball sticking and failing to scroll. There are a number of things you can do to try and free the ball, and return it to its full 360-degree scrolling glory. -- TechRadar UK.
Suspicions confirmed: The iPhone is habit-forming. A survey of about 200 Stanford University undergraduates revealed that almost a third worry about becoming addicted to their iPhones, think they may be using them too much and dread becoming "one of those iPhone people." -- San Jose Mercury News.
Rob Griffiths shares a collection of older Mac OS X Hints tips that he finds useful and/or interesting. All still work in 10.5 and 10.6, too! -- Macworld.
Vast quantities of data are freely available on the Web, and it can be a potential treasure trove for many businesses--providing they can figure out how to use it effectively. A new tool can be used to collect, analyze, and visualize large quantities of data. -- MIT Technology Review.
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