Davao Mac User

Davao Mac User has moved again

2009-07-24T15:54:00.004+08:00

On July 21, I moved my blog to a new server.

So www.davaomacuser.com no longer points to davaomacuser.wordpress.com.

I've already got a few new posts over there so please, come over to www.davaomacuser.com.

I hope you'll join me there. Thanks!

I'm moving

2009-01-29T07:37:00.054+08:00

When the new year started (officially, my new year started Monday, January 26) I decided to give blogging another whirl. One of the reasons why I stopped blogging in the first place was I felt I didn't have enough original content for the two blogs that I was maintaining, Brain On Ink and Davao Mac User.

I vowed to try much harder to come up with original posts rather than just echoing news stories from the webosphere. I also decided that maintaining two blogs is way too easy. If I couldn't maintain two blogs, then maybe adding two more will prod me to do better.

Prod me with a cattle prod, that is. ZAP!

Anyhoo, I'm not sure if I have any readers out there but if there are any, I wish to sincerely thank you for taking the time to drop by and read my posts.

My renewed energy and vigor to blog also made me decide to move to a new playground. I will now use Wordpress as my blogging platform.

So, starting February 1st davaomacuser.blogspot.com will no longer be updated. Instead, davaomacuser.wordpress.com will be the new home of the Davao Mac User blog. I want to try something new and at the same time, Wordpress has a native app for the iPod touch; Blogger doesn't.

I do hope you'll join me there.

Ciao!

MacTracker helps identify your Mac

2009-01-29T07:35:00.004+08:00

Christopher Breen of Macworld magazine got a Mac 911 question from a reader who wanted to know what is the maximum amount of RAM his MacBook can hold.

"It depends on which MacBook you have," Breen replies, and recommends a free utility called MacTracker. He then briefly outlines who to use MacTracker to check for the maximum amount of RAM a given Mac can hold.

Aside from the above tip, MacTracker also lets you check your Macs general info, specs, and history. The catalogue is not restricted to just Macs; it also lets you check other Apple devices like iPods, iPhones, Apple TV, displays, etc...

MacTracker is one nifty app and a very good reference utility for those interested in knowing most, if not all, of the products that Apple has made.

Again, MacTracker is free and the author, Ian Page, is asking for donations to support future development.

[source: Macworld]

Apple's iLife '09 Hardware Up-to-Date Program

2009-01-28T04:50:00.003+08:00

The iLife '09 Hardware Up-to-Date Program lets you upgrade to iLife '09 for only $9.95 if you have purchased a qualifying computer on or after January 6, 2009, that does not include iLife ’09."

Program ends on March 28, 2009.

More at Apple's iLife '09 Hardware Up-to-Date Program site.

[Source: TUAW]

13-inch White MacBook updated; better processor and graphics chip

2009-01-28T04:44:00.002+08:00

Last week, Apple quietly updated their most affordable MacBook, the 13-inch white polycarbonate MacBook. It now sports the same processor and graphics chip with that of the $1,299 (Php71,990.00 at the Philippine Apple Online Store) 13-inch aluminium unibody MacBook. The white MacBook also had a RAM upgrade; default is now 2GB from what used to be 1GB.

The $999 (Php55,990.00) white MacBook is an excellent option for those who are looking to save $300.

Though the white MacBook now has the same 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo and NVIDIA GeFroce 9400M chips with that of the unibody MacBook, it doesn't mean the latter is not worth considering.

MacWorld's Peter Cohen in his article cites the differences between the white and aluminium MacBooks:

The more expensive aluminum-clad MacBook features faster memory—1,066MHz DDR3 SDRAM, compared to 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM. It also has a hard disk drive that’s one-third larger than the drive on the $999 model—160GB, versus 120GB. You also have the option of getting a Solid State Disk (SSD) drive on the aluminum MacBook, something you can’t buy for the $999 model. And that Mini DisplayPort interface is compatible with Apple’s new 24-inch LED Cinema Display, which won’t work with the white MacBook.

But the white MacBook does have its advantages:

...especially for Mac users who have already made an investment in some camcorders and external storage devices: It’s the only MacBook in Apple’s lineup that still has a FireWire port. The white MacBook features a FireWire 400 connector, making it compatible with myriad standard-definition camcorders, hard drives and other devices that have shipped since the late 1990s. The white MacBook also features a mini-DVI jack, meaning that connecting it to a DVI or VGA-equipped display is markedly less expensive than having to buy the Mini DisplayPort adapter required for the aluminum MacBook. Apple sells the mini-DVI adapters for $19 each, while its Mini DisplayPort equivalents are priced at $29.

If you are planning to get a Mac portable, the white MacBook is worthy of consideration. With the money you can save by foregoing the unibody MacBook, you can buy an external drive or buy a 2.5-inch drive to make up for the 40GB difference. The other differences, the faster memory, SSD, and MiniDisplayPort, are in my opinion, of lesser importance. The new graphics chip, as shown in previous benchmarks, will perhaps be more than up to the task when it comes to photo editing and some movie making using the new iMovie '09.

The updated $999 MacBook is a worthy buy.

[Source: Macworld]

Pirated Photoshop CS4 for the Mac also has trojan

2009-01-28T04:26:00.002+08:00

About four days ago, I posted a story about pirated copies of Apple's newly released iWork '09 were found to contain a trojan.

Intego, makers of Mac security software, reported that the trojan it calls "OSX.Trojan.iServices.A" were packaged into pirated copies of iWork '09. What the trojan does once installed into a Mac is to allow somebody else to gain access into the system to possibly download more components into the infected Mac.

Another trojan, a variant of the one found in illegal copies of iWork '09, has been found to be infecting pirated copies of Adobe Photoshop CS4. The trojan called "OSX.Trojan.iServices.B" also allows a malicious user to gain access to an infected Mac to perform various actions or downloads remotely.

How do you protect yourself against these trojans or malwares?

Simple.

Do not download and install software or applications from untrusted sources, especially from torrent sites or peer-to-peer networks. It doesn't pay to pirate.

[Source: AppleInsider]

iPhone Software update version 2.2.1

2009-01-28T03:57:00.002+08:00

It has been a busy week for updates from Apple.

Aside from the iDVD update today, Apple also released iPhone Software update 2.2.1.

The 246MB iPhone Software update improves stability of Safari and fixes an issue wherein images saved from mail do not display correctly in the Camera Roll.

An iPod touch update includes the fixes to Safari and Camera Roll as well as a fix to an issue that causes some Apple Lossless (ALAC) to skip during playback.

Version 2.2.1 for the iPhone and iPod touch can be downloaded via iTunes.

[Source: AppleInsider]

iDVD updated to 7.0.3

2009-01-27T18:29:00.000+08:00

Version 7.0.3 "improves overall stability and addresses a number of other minor issues".

Update through Software Update or by downloading direct from Apple.

[Source: Macworld]

Pirated iWork '09 contains trojan; fix released

2009-01-23T04:13:00.000+08:00

Soon after Apple released iWork '09 during Macworld San Francisco 09, copies of the updated office suite for the Mac started appearing in torrent and warez sites.

Now comes the bad news and not-so-good news.

Bad news: these copies of iWork '09 come with a trojan as reported by a security firm.

Not-so-good news: another security firm has released a free fix for the trojan.

Why did I say that the release of the removal tool is not-so-good news? That's because this provides a solution for people who opted to steal rather than buy the software.

I've pirated software in the past. I still do but not as much as before. I made a firm decision when I switched to the Mac that I was going to lessen my pirating ways, and hopefully, real soon, stop it altogether. I have my reasons which I will talk about soon.

In the meantime, please do not pirate. Almost every commercial application out there has an alternative that is free. May not be as snazzy as the paid app is but it does the job.

If you don't know where to get these free software, you can always ask other users.

MWSF 09: iWork '09

2009-01-22T03:58:00.005+08:00

Last January 6, 2009, Apple held its Macworld San Francisco keynote with Phil Schiller, Apple's senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing, taking the stage.

During Apple's final Macworld keynote, the company introduced new versions of their multimedia suite, iLife, and office suite, iWork. Apple also released the new 17-inch MacBook Pro, which completes the lineup of Apple's portable into the unibody design. Last but not the least, Apple announced DRM-free songs at the iTunes store.

This post will discuss new features in iWork '09.

Apple released their office suite for the Mac on 2005 with Keynote version 2 and the first release of Pages. In 2007, Apple announced the release of iWork '08 updating both Keynote and Pages as well as adding in the spreadsheet application, Numbers. This year, iWork '09 brings more improvements to the office suite as well as introduction of a new service, iWork.com.

Keynote
Keynote was first released on 2003, competing against Microsoft's own presentation software, Powerpoint. Version 2 of the software was sold together with Pages in iWork '05 office suite.

Keynote '09 shows these new features and improvements:

Magic Move lets you move an image from one part of a slide to another part of the next slide using a quick, easy to use process. The change in location, scale, rotation, and opacity are done automatically.

Enchanced theme chooser lets you view the included fonts, colors, and textures more clearly. Eight new themes have also been added

Text- and object-based transition morphs text from one slide to the next slide

New 3D charts and chart animations

Keynote Remote lets iPhone or iPod touch users control their presentation using Wi-Fi. The Keynote Remote app is a $0.99 download from the App Store

Pages
The first version of Pages was bundled together with Keynote version 2 on January 11, 2005 in what was known as iWork '05, Apple's own office suite for Mac OS X. Version 1 was more of a page layout application but later versions saw the word processing aspect of the software improved upon.

Pages '09 lays down the following:

Full-screen view lets the user to see the document full screen allowing the user to focus on what he's working on and hide the distractions from the desktop or from the rest of the opened applications

New Outline mode

Mail merge with Numbers or with Address Book

Enhanced Template Chooser lets previewing and choosing templates easier and more convenient

Ability to insert complex equations into documents via a third-party software, MathType

Numbers
Numbers came late into the game. It became part of iWork three years after the release of the office suite. Numbers is a spreadsheet application that's easy to use and breaks away from the conventional look and feel of other spreadsheet programs.

Numbers '09 new additions are:

Over 250 functions and new 2D chart options added

Formula List view lets you see every calculation in your spreadsheet at one time

With large sets of data, rows can now be grouped according to any data in a column

Linked Charts lets charts created in Numbers and then copied to either Pages or Keynote to stay linked to the original data. Any changes made to the data in Numbers, updating Pages or Keynote requires just one click.

Enhanced Template Chooser lets previewing and choosing templates easier and more convenient

iWork.com
iWork.com was launched as a free beta during Macworld San Franciso '09. It brings iWork documents to the web and allowing for multiple collaborators. The service can be accessed using any web browser running under Mac OS X or Windows. Collaborators can only add notes or comments, not directly edit the document. Apple will eventually shift to a fee-based model once iWork.com is out of beta.

Pricing and availability
iWork '09 is selling for $79 at the US Apple Online Store and Php4,590.00 at the Philippine Apple Online Store. iWork '09 is also available for only $49 with every purchase of a Mac from the Apple Store or from Authorized Apple Resellers.

If you want to save some money, you can get the combo pack of iWork '09, iLife '09, and Mac OS 10.5 Leopard for only $169. Called the Mac Box Set, it bundles all these three together and a very good option for those who haven't upgraded to the Leopard operating system yet. The Mac Box Set is available at the Philippine Apple Online Store for Php9880.

Product pages:

Quicktime 7.6 update

2009-01-22T03:39:00.000+08:00

Apple has released Quicktime 7.6 with video, audio, compatibility and security improvements.

From Apple's support page, the updates include:

Video:

Improves single-pass H.264 encoding quality

Increases the playback reliability of Motion JPEG media

Audio:

Improves AAC encoding fidelity

Audio tracks from MPEG video files now export consistently

Application Support:

Improves compatibility with iChat and Photo Booth

Security:

Addresses security issues from maliciously crafted media files

This update benefits both Mac OS X and Windows users.

Get the 7.6 update through Apple Software Update or get it from Apple's download section.

Apple updates white polycarbonate 13-inch MacBook

2009-01-22T01:32:00.001+08:00

Without fanfare, Apple upgraded its most affordable Mac portable this week.

The $999 white MacBook has been given a processor and graphics chip upgrade which is now similar to its aluminium unibody sibling.

The entry-level MacBook is now equipped with 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo processor and the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared memory, just like the 13-inch unibody MacBook.

Another improvement comes as doubling of the RAM to 2 GBs as default. Bluetooth has also been upgraded to 2.1 from 2.0. The rest of the specifications remains the same.

[source: AppleInsider]

MWSF 09: iTunes Store songs sans DRM

2009-01-21T10:56:00.003+08:00

Last January 6, 2009, Apple held its Macworld San Francisco keynote with Phil Schiller, Apple's senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing, taking the stage.

During Apple's last Macworld keynote, the company introduced new versions of their multimedia suite, iLife, and office suite, iWork. Apple also released the new 17-inch MacBook Pro, which completes the lineup of Apple's portable into the unibody design. Last but not the least, Apple announced DRM-free songs at the iTunes store.

This post will discuss Apple's shedding of DRM from songs sold in the iTunes Store, as well as variable pricing and over-the-air downloads.

when the iTunes Music Store launched on April 28, 2003, it had 200,000 songs in its selection and all of the songs were wrapped in digital rights management or DRM. This prevented the songs downloaded from the iTunes Music Store to be played in no other digital music player except the iPod and just on authorized personal computers.

Almost 6 years later, the iTunes Music Store has sold 6 billion songs and has more than 10,000,000 songs. It also dropped 'music' from its name to become the iTunes Store, as it expanded its slections to TV shows, movies, music videos and iPod and iPhone apps.

Yet another milestone was set last January 6, 2009 as Apple announced that their songs will be sold DRM-free. This means that any song downloaded from the iTunes Store can now be played without restrictions on any number of digital media players that can play the AAC format as well as on any number of PCs.

Songs will also be at a higher bit rate: higher-quality 256 kbps instead of 128 kbps as when the iTunes Store first started out.

Also new is the loss of the fixed $0.99 pricing scheme. The new pricing scheme is $0.69 for back catalog tracks, $0.99 for standard songs, and $1.29 for new or popular releases.

Last but not the least, iPhone owners can now download songs over-the-air using 3G. Before it was restricted to downloading from a Wi-Fi network.

This news is not that relevant to most here in the Philippines. As of moment, the iTunes Store only sells apps for the iPhone and iPods through the apps store. We cannot yet purchase songs, music videos, TV shows or movies.

[source: AppleInsider]

MWSF 09: the new 17-inch unibody MacBook Pro

2009-01-21T04:58:00.002+08:00

Apple unveiled the new aluminium unibody design last October, giving the 13-inch MacBook and the 15-inch MacBook Pro a more durable enclosure. The unibody design not only made the portables sturdier but also made it more lighter, thinner and more resistant to flexing.

On January 6, 2009, Apple introduced the unibody 17-inch MacBook Pro, thus completing the transition of the entire MacBook family to the new design.

Apple also revealed that the 17-inch MacBook Pro has a built-in battery which last longer and has more charging cycles compared to conventional notebook batteries.

Through advanced chemistry, intelligent monitoring of the system and battery, and what Apple calls Adaptive Charging technology, the new MacBook Pro has up to 8 hours of battery life and 1,000 charging cycles, lasting three times longer than the conventional. All this without adding to the thickness, weight or the cost of portable.

Apple's most powerful notebook has a thickness of 0.98 inches and weighs in at 6.6 pounds. Base unit costs $2,799 with options to upgrade to a faster processor, a bigger hard drive or to a solid state drive, more RAM, and an anti-glare screen ($50).

The new 17-inch MacBook Pro will be available at the end of January.

[source: AppleInsider]

VisualHub is back. Sort of.

2009-01-17T05:19:00.000+08:00

For those who are not familiar with VisualHub, it was a commercial Mac application that let you convert videos for the iPod, iPhone and Apple TV.

I said 'was'. That's because the developer, Techspansion, closed up shop last October and discontinued all of its products, including VisualHub.

When news of the the demise of VisualHub broke, some individuals were speculating that the media conversion software will be made open source.

Today, speculation has ended as it has been reported VisualHub will be resurrected as FilmRedux.

The initiative to bring back VisualHub, or something akin to VisualHub, is being lead by three individuals.

FilmRedux is still not yet ready for prime time though. Using the application at this point in time requires installing a bunch of other files or software.

Still, the three developers should be lauded for devoting their time and skills to bringing back one of the Macs community's favorite app.

[source: Macworld]

Apps Store: 500,000,000 served

2009-01-17T03:13:00.001+08:00

On Friday, Apple advertised that iPhone and iPod touch users have downloaded a total of 500 million apps.

The half a billion mark comes 42 days after Apple announced its 300 millionth download on December 5.

That means users have been downloading apps at an average rate of around 4.7 million per day.

Apple also announced that there are now 15,000 applications available for download at the Apps Store.

[source: AppleInsider]

Apple Keynote MacWorld San Francisco 2009

2009-01-09T10:13:00.000+08:00

2009 will be the day MacWorld San Francisco attendees and for Apple fans in general will always remember: this is the last year that Apple will have it's keynote address, as well as its last year of attending MacWorld.

On top of that, Apple's top honcho, Señor Steve Jobs, will not be the one to do the keynote. Instead, Paul Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, will be the one to take the stage.

This of course prompted speculations about Steve Jobs' health.

Jobs released an open letter to tell everyone that he's fine and his weight loss was due to 'hormone imbalance'.

As usual, weeks before the Apple's last year at MacWorld speculations ran wild as to what Apple will pull out of their hat: new Mac mini, iPhone nano, new 17" MacBook Pro, iLife 09, Mac tablet, Mac netbook, and of course, the Beatles on iTunes.

Some were spot on. Some were dead wrong. Though I suspect those who got it right were just shooting fish in the barrel.

I am still watching Phil Schiller's Macworld San Francisco 200 Keynote Address which I downloaded from iTunes but I will blog about what Apple had in store for Apple fans for the start of 2009.

Accessing grid view options in iTunes 8

2008-09-17T20:25:00.000+08:00

Macworld's Rob Griffiths gives you tips on how to access additional options when in grid view in iTunes 8.

An example is the ability to sort by title, artists, genre, year or rating when in album view. You also have the option to sort in ascending or descending order.

Visit the site for more.

Mac OS 10.5.5 is out

2008-09-16T07:32:00.000+08:00

Apple just released the latest update to their latest operating system, Leopard. Mac OS 10.5.5 includes hundreds of bug fixes and stability improvements.

Intel version is 321 MB big and I read on Twitter the Combo update is 500+MB.

For a detailed description of what's new under the hood go to AppleInsider.

Fire up Software Update to get the latest Mac OS X 10.5 version. Requires a restart.

11 things you didn't know about the new iPods

2008-09-16T07:25:00.000+08:00

iLounge's Jeremy Horwitz lists down 11 things that you should know about the new iPod line introduced during the September 9 event.

The article mentions stuff like the new Genius software, the accelerometer in the nano, the built-in Nike+ sensor, crossfading, radio, games, and audio recording.

Head on to iLounge to know more.

iTunes 8

2008-09-14T23:57:00.000+08:00

On the Let's Rock event held on September 9, 2008 at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, Apple unveiled their latest iPod line up and iTunes version 8. This latest version of iTunes can be downloaded from Apple's website or through the software update utility though Vista users have experienced issues after installing iTunes 8.

Version 8 introduces iTunes Genius and grid view. Genius basically is a feature that let's you pick a song and upon hitting the Genius button, iTunes will create a playlist that has the same attributes with the song that you chose. This can let you rediscover 'hidden' songs or songs you haven't listened to for awhile. Downside is if you have a small library the Genius playlist won't seem so smart.

iTunes 8 also has the Genius sidebar on the right side which recommends songs that you don't have in your library so that you can purchase them from the iTunes Store.

The other new major feature is the addition of the grid view. You can view your collection by their album art (if present) and let's you arrange them by album, artist, genre, and composers. You can adjust the size of the icon with a slider on the upper right corner. This is also a good way to find songs or podcasts that you may want to delete from your library.

The one added feature I am most thankful for is the ability to automatically download recent episodes of podcasts that I listen to most often. It used to be an all or nothing option. Now, each new episode is download automatically when before I had to manually click the 'Get' button each and every time a new episode is available.

For more on iTunes 8 you can read iLounge's Instant Expert: Secrets and Features of iTunes 8 and Macworld's iTunes 8 review.

Product transition and the September 9 event

2008-09-06T09:40:00.000+08:00

I think one of the 'product transition' Apple's CFO was referring to could be the shift away from hard drive-based iPods to solid state-based memory. That means the iPod classic will be remembered fondly as the iPod nano and iPod touch take center stage. Remember that when the iPods were first introduced they only came in 5 and 10 GB.

The 8GB iPod nano will cost much less to further penetrate the market worldwide. It will be priced at $99, 16GB at $149. The iPod touch will replace the iPod classic and will come in at $249 for the 16GB. $349 for the 32GB and $449 for the 64GB.

The click wheel won't be missed. It will live on with the iPod nano but Apple is shifting away from the less capable, small screen nano to the PDA-like iPod touch. I just hope that they'll add bluetooth this time. I wish Steve Jobs has the same aversion to wires as he has with buttons.

The iPod shuffle you say? 4GB at the same price. Same form factor. No sense in putting in a screen. But the bigger capacity will make it more challenging to 'browse' through your music selection. It's hell to use when listening to podcasts.

So on September 9, the classic will be out; the touch will rule.

Moving your iTunes Library? DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT! Not until you read this...

2008-08-08T05:04:00.000+08:00

Mike Schramm of The Unofficial Apple Weblog has one advice when it comes to moving your iTunes library from one iTunes installation to another: it's not as easy as you think.

(Please check out the comments. The readers offer alternative solutions to what was linked to. Actually, the author of the blog Schramm links to also chimed in. Worth the read.)

The iPod Touch v2.0 brouhaha

2008-08-08T04:32:00.000+08:00

July 11 was a momentous day.

It was the release of the iPhone 3G, launching of the App Store and MobileMe, and the release of the iPhone (as well as iPod touch) 2.0 firmware.

The 2.0 firmware will allow first generation iPhone and iPod touch users to install applications from the App Store. (See how everything tied in together?)

There was a downside to the upgrade: iPhone users get it for free; iPod touch users have to shell out $10. Why the upgrade fee? Apple said it was for accounting purposes.

Fine. We don't want anybody breaking the law now do we?

For those who were on the fence about whether to get the iPod touch or not, the ability to install apps probably pushed some over in deciding to get the less-capable cousin of the iPhone.

For me, I'm still torn on whether to get the iPhone, iPhone 3G or iPod touch. But I thought that if I were to get the iPod touch instead (because for some reason or another the iPhone just doesn't cut it), I was going to wait for the stock of iPod touches with the version 2.0 firmware installed. I'm not going to pay anymore than I ought to.

***********

It's been almost a month since the 2.0 firmware was made available. And I've been itching ever since. I just need to try out those apps.

Mind you, I'm still choosing from among the three (iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPod touch) but I thought the fastest and easiest way I can start using the apps was by getting the iPod touch.

By now, iPod touches on store shelves should have the 2.0 firmware, right?

Nope.

Macworld contributor, Jeffery Battersby, writes about the iPod touch he bought on July 31, more than two weeks after the 2.0 update, still had the 1.1.4 firmware, and how he tried (unsuccessfully) to have it upgraded without having to pay $10.

Apple has been tripping and stumbling ever since July 11.

It's like someone pulled Apple's pants down and pushed them onto the stage. With the spotlight trained on them and the audience watching intently, Apple still couldn't pull their pants back up because they still have their hands full with the MobileMe mess and iPhone releases.

Bad show, Apple. Bad show.

National Geographic Editor loves his Macbook Air

2008-08-08T04:03:00.000+08:00

On January 15, 2008, at the annual Macworld Expo in San Francisco, Steve Jobs unveiled the thinnest Macbook ever: the Macbook Air. People ohh-ed and ahh-ed on how thin it was. But thinnest had it's price; no optical drive and the battery can only be replaced by opening the portable itself. But there's no doubt that the Macbook Air is sexy.

That's how National Geographic's West Coast Editor, Steve Casimiro, feels.

Who am I kidding? The Macbook Air is the sexiest laptop ever. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it connects to the internet, processes words, “i”s your life, etc., etc. But those lines! That sleek, svelte silhouette…it’s like nothing you’ve ever laid your hands on. And yes, you have to lay your hands on it to get the full effect. You can YouTube the “manila envelope” ad like it’s a Victoria’s Secret fashion show, but there’s no substitute for touching. It’s true for Victoria (I’m guessing) and it’s true for the Air.

If you think he's absolutely enthralled, fallen head over heels with the Air, Casimiro cites some shortcomings of his sexy laptop.

The 1.6 GHz processor, in his opinion, is not the stumbling block when it comes to multitasking:

Intensive computer tasks, like heavy-duty video editing or photo processing, are more likely to be slowed by the lack of ports (just a single USB 2.0)

The lack of the DVD drive doesn't even bother him. Ripping out the drive to achieve the slender chasis was worth it. The problem lies in the internal hard drive:

The 80GB hard drive is another story... Far better would be for Apple to offer a 120GB drive or larger.

Last, he explains that the advertised 5-hour battery life is only possible if the user takes active measures to really cut down on energy consumption (lower screen brightness and just use a word processor. HA!) But that's not the real issue:

The bigger issue is that the battery isn’t replaceable. There’s no way you’ll make it from one coast to another with full computer time, unless you switch planes and outlet-jump between flights. To my mind, this is the Air’s biggest weakness.

He wraps up by saying:

The Macbook Air is the future, now... Of course the Air is sexy and of course the Air is imperfect--but it's far more versatile than most believe. The Air is designed to be a leading edge, attention-getting product. By that measure, it’s a smashing success. The surprise is that the deeper, more fundamental qualities— computing, usability, comfort—also make it a smashing success. You should give it a closer look. Make that "touch".

Another fine-looking widget from iSlayer

2008-07-03T07:02:00.002+08:00

From the maker of the awesome menubar app, iStat menu, and Dashboard widgets like iStat nano and iStat pro iSlayer, out comes Organized, a widget the features a calendar with events, notes and to do’s. The calendar and to do’s sync with iCal and Mail. It also has a world clock built-in.

I haven't used this widget yet since I'm too disorganized to use Organized but I'm willing to give it a whirl soon

Cocktail 4.1.3 released

2008-07-03T06:55:00.002+08:00

Macworld reports Maintain has released an update to the their Mac maintenance utility, Cocktail. New to the update is compatibility with the recently released Mac OS 10.5.4 and some bug fixes. Free to registered users. $14.95 for a license. Free trial version is available.

Real cool laptop sleeve and backpack from Koyono

2008-05-24T04:25:00.004+08:00

Got this off from iPodNN.

This is the first time I've heard of Koyono but I like their two new notebook cases. I like it enough that I'm thinking of getting one of them.

The BUILT Cargo Laptop Sleeve is a beautifully designed sleeve that comes as being modern and minimalist. It's made out of neoprene and stretches to accommodate your notebook. It has three external pockets that can fit in your charger, iPod, and notebook mouse. This sleeve is all about the bare essentials. It comes in four colors and costs $40 to $50, depending on the size of your laptop.

The BUILT Laptop Backpack looks very sexy. It's slim and streamlined and is made out of breathable mesh and neoprene. But don't let the slimness fool you. It still has enough space to fit a 17" laptop. It has two additional compartments: one located on the shoulder strap for your phone or iPod. This comes in two colors and cost $80. A bit pricey but me likey.

All images are linked from Koyono's website.

Macworld San Francisco 2008

2008-01-14T10:09:00.000+08:00

This week, Apple faithfuls are once again gathering at the Moscone Center for the annual Macworld San Francisco.

Tomorrow, at around 2AM, I will be wide awake to watch Steve Jobs' keynote. What does he have in store for us?

Pictures of the Moscone Center show banners from Apple the says "Something's in the Air."

Speculations on what those words mean range from streaming video to the iPhone to Wi-Max to Ultrawide Band. There also has been reference to the "Macbook Air".

What I'm wishing for is wireless for the iPod. No more wires to get tangled in.

I'll just have to wait and see.

FAQ when choosing a Mac

2007-11-18T21:57:00.001+08:00

Walt Mossberg has FAQ for those who are thinking of buying a Mac. Below are some questions that he answers in the FAQ:

Who should consider a Mac?
Who shouldn't consider The Mac?
Can I run Microsoft Office on a Mac?
Can I use all my Windows files on a Mac?
Can I mix Macs and Windows on the same home network?
Can Macs run standard peripheral hardware?
What minimum specs should I look for on a Mac?

This is a good read for those who are considering in getting a Mac. It's also for those who have friends or relatives who are asking about the Mac. Give them the link to Mossberg's FAQ to have some of their questions answered.

Tweak that Leopard Dock and Menu Bar

2007-11-18T21:32:00.000+08:00

Some Leopard users are really hung up about the look of the new Dock under Leopard. Some consider 'hate' as too mild a term to describe what they feel every time they see the 3D dock. Hacks into the terminal can turn that 3D Dock into the 2D strip seen in Tiger.

Others seem to like the 3D Dock but not in its current state. LeopardDocks.com has a tutorial on how to replace the 3D dock or how to make it 2D.

The site also has a gallery of 3D Dock mods users have submitted. There's Chain Link, Dark Cherry, Grass, Real Marble, and many more.

Another hack is for bringing back the hierarchal browsing in the Dock. With Stacks, Apple has removed the ability to right-click an item on the right side of the Dock to access the hierarchal menu. The Unofficial Apple Weblog suggests using the free to download Hierarchy as a solution to bring back the now missing feature.

TUAW has declared the problem of the translucent Menu bar as solved. This does require hacking into the innards of Mac OS. Not for the newbie, novice, amateur or the faint of heart.

Prince McLean's Road to Mac Office 2008

2007-11-18T18:41:00.000+08:00

AppleInsider's at it again. After bringing us the nuts and bolts of Leopard, they've brought Microsoft Office 2008 in focus.

Prince McLean is back again with his dissection of Office 2008: its history and a comparison with the competition: iWork 08.

The road to Office 2008 starts with an introduction then the installation experience and a discussion about the user interface.

The series continutes with an Office 2008 vs iWork 08 face off. Word vs Pages. Excel vs Number. Powerpoint vs Keynote.

Word vs Pages

In Word 2008, Page Layout View is renamed as Print Layout View. A new Publishing Layout View is added.
In editing Autoshapes in Word, you still have to click OK in the editing window every time you want to see the changes made in a shape. In Pages, changes are reflected as you make them.
There's no WordArt equivalent nor a bibliography feature in Pages.
Pages has strong graphics and composition tools.
Word 2008 now supports Automator while giving up VBA macros. However, Automator support will setback interested parties $300.

Excel vs Numbers

Excel 2008 supports 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns
Excel's formula bar is not integrated into the spreadsheet window but is instead it has its own window.
Numbers only has half the functions of Excel. Can't do pivot tables, has weak statistical and financial functions, and has no engineering or database functions.
Numbers' templates are consumer oriented. More professional templates are needed.
Excel has more charting options like radar, surface, X-Y scatter charts.
Numbers uses the same non-modal editing like in Pages, allowing you to see changes as you are making them.
Numbers' 3D charts can be tilted, rotated, given shadows and texture.
Though Excel has is more powerful and has more features than Numbers, Excel 2008 might turn off those who plan to use it for business. Numbers is for those with 'less technical needs'.

Powerpoint vs Keynote

Powerpoint 2008 cut the number of view modes from five down to three: Normal, Slide Sorter, and Slide Show.
You can now rearrange slides in the sidebar in Powerpoint 2008.
Unlike in Keynote where slide transitions is previewed in the Inspector, you have to switch to Slide Show to see what a transition looks like in Powerpoint.
Tables in Powerpoint are nothing to write home about. Formatting Palette is awkward to use like those in other Office apps.
You can't do charts in Powerpoint without Excel. They're tied together in this task. Keynote is independent of Numbers when it comes to making charts for presentations.
SmartArt Graphics in Powerpoint make it easy to "make it easy to lay out automated designs". Keynote doesn't have anything comparable.
Both presentation softwares can export to the same formats but Keynote has more options. Export QuickTime movies under Keynote preserves animations and interactive hyperlinks can be used.
Powerpoint has weak graphical presentation tools and the modal approach to editing makes it annoying to edit presentations.
Keynote has better templates, animation and transition sets. Added features like Instant Alpha for erasing backgrounds, Smart Builds, intelligent masking and image editing tools makes Keynote far superior than Powerpoint.

Microsoft Office 2008 starts at $150. iWork 08 costs $79. $69.99 in Amazon.com.

Old news: Mac OS 10.5.1 update out; freezing iMacs patch out, too

2007-11-18T18:30:00.000+08:00

Here's a bit of old news. Apple released an update to their latest operating system. That was fast. Less than a month of Leopard's release. Three weeks to be more precise.

Fire up your Software Update, Leopard owners or you can download it manually from Apple's website.

Also released last week was Apple's fix for freezing iMac displays. The iMac Graphics Firmware Update 1.0 (link to Apple's website) is "for 20-inch and 24-inch aluminum iMac computers with the ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO graphics processor." Not all aluminum iMacs need this update. If you don't have the required hardware, the update won't show up in your Software Update.

Twenty updates from Apple

2007-11-15T23:19:00.000+08:00

MacMerc.com lists 20 updates Apple released in the week or so.

Security Update 2007-008 (10.3.9 Client)
Security Update 2007-008 (10.3.9 Server)
Soundtrack Pro 2.0.2
Server Admin Tools 10.4.11
Final Cut Pro 6.0.2
DVD Studio Pro 4.2.1
Motion 3.0.2
Color 1.0.2
Cinema Tools 4.0.1
Compressor 3.0.2
Pro Applications Update 2007-02
iPhoto 7.1.1
Mac OS X 10.4.11 Combo Update (PPC)
Mac OS X 10.4.11 Update (Intel)
Mac OS X 10.4.11 Combo Update (Intel)
Mac OS X 10.4.11 Update (PPC)
Mac OS X Server 10.4.11 Update (Universal)
Mac OS X Server 10.4.11 Combo Update (Universal)
Mac OS X Server 10.4.11 Update (PPC)
Mac OS X Server 10.4.11 Combo Update (PPC)

Leopard's mosaic screen saver

2007-11-15T21:48:00.000+08:00

I didn't even know that this feature exists until I heard it from a podcast. I think it was the MacCast Loop or the Typical Mac User Podcast. There is a screensaver option creates a photo mosaic out of pictures in iPhoto. The effect is hypnotic, according to Michael Rose. From what I understand the effect goes something like A picture will first show up on the screen and it will slowly zoom out revealing more pictures in the process. Then the pictures will resolve into a mosaic of a picture from your iPhoto library and this will just go on and on and on.

I think this is a really cool feature. Unfortunately, I didn't know about this until after the Davao Mac Users Group meeting. I couldn't have demoed it anyway since I don't have iPhoto '08 yet.

Can't wait to try this out soon.

Mac ultra-portable at Macworld San Francisco 2008 - AppleInsider

2007-11-13T21:16:00.000+08:00

AppleInsider is reporting that their sources is telling them an ultra-compact, ultra-portable Mac is going to be introduced next year at Macworld San Francisco. The much rumored, much anticipated sub-Macbook will be 50 per cent lighter and much slimmer than the Macbook Pro. The ultra-portable is shedding off some flab by getting rid of the optical drive. A NAND-based drive will result into faster boot times and better power efficiency. Also contributing to power efficiency is the adoption of a 13-inch LED display. MWSF will be held on January 15 to 18, 2008. More from AppleInsider.

The good and the bad in the Leopard

2007-11-13T20:33:00.000+08:00

The Unofficial Apple Weblog asked its readers to vote for the little good things and the little bad things in Leopard. What topped the 'Good' list are Quick Look, an improved Finder, and iCal Dock icon showing the correct date. The top 'Bad' things are the changing Stacks icons, two step edit of iCal's info, and Spaces pulling you away from dialog sheets. That last bit's got me confused though. I don't know what that means. I'm surprised the translucent menu bar and 3D Dock didn't make the 'Bad' list. Then again, the topic's been talked about, discussed and argued ad nauseam.

Mac tip for newbies: Guest accounts part 2

2007-11-11T12:48:00.000+08:00

On a previous post, I talked about Jeff Gamut's tips on creating Guest accounts. Setting up a guest accounts lets your family and friends to use your Mac without having to deal with the worry they might accidentally close or delete a project you were working on. But does having a guest account also let's you dictate what a guest user can or cannot do or use? Yes, and this is where Parental Controls comes in.

Jeff Gamut returns to discuss the finer points of Parental Controls, a new feature under Leopard. Using Parental Controls you will be able to limit what applications your guests can open and what websites they can access. There's also a nifty feature for parents where they can limit the number of hours their child spends on the Mac on weekdays and weekends. A bedtime limit restricts access to the Mac in a specific time period when the child is supposed to be asleep.

Read more of Jeff Gamut's quick tip of Parental Controls here.

Finding Leopard's intro movie and music

2007-11-11T11:01:00.000+08:00

Victor Cajiao who does the The Typical Mac User podcast put up a tip on how to get the Leopard intro movie and music off Leopard.

It involves digging into the Core Services folder and after six folders down, you can find both the movie and audio. The movie doesn't have the music included in it so the mp3 file plays simultaneously with the movie on launching Leopard for the first time.

Apple Store turns 10

2007-11-10T17:20:00.000+08:00

On November 10, 1997, Apple opened its virtual doors to US customers. Within the first 12 hours, Apple had $500,000 in orders and 4.4 million hits.

10 years later, there are more than 20 online Apple Stores spread across Asia and Europe.

My Leopard install experience

2007-11-09T16:09:00.000+08:00

4:03 PM Powerbook restarting.

4:06 PM Welcome screen on.

4:39 PM I'm back. Got interrupted. I've now started the installation process. Chose the default drive. Doing an erase and install. Removed all printer drivers and excess languages.

Time Remaining: Calculating.

4:21 PM Time remaining. Calculating.

4:46 PM 28 minutes remaining.

4:54 PM 14 minutes remaining. Have to administer an exam.

5:09 PM: Installation done. Restarting now.

5:41 PM: More interruptions. Leopard's up and running on my 12" 1GHz Powerbook. No translucent menu bar as expected. All in all, installation without the interruptions took about 15 minutes. Time to play with this baby.

I'll be posting my own review of the features I've been meaning to play with like Quick Look, Cover Flow, and Spotlight. Stay tuned.

iPhone update 1.1.2 released

2007-11-09T15:26:00.000+08:00

Breaking news.

Apple has released iPhone update 1.1.2. which adds multilingual support.

That's it.

Seriously, for more details and pictures just click on the link.

Leopard bugs: don't move, just copy.

2007-11-09T12:19:00.000+08:00

MacDailyNews reports on a problem when moving data from a Mac to another hard drive in a network. Tom Kaprik identified the problem as the loss of data whenever a hard drive in a network a user is moving files to suddenly becomes disconnected.

When a Mac user drags a file to another hard drive the file gets copied and not moved. Only by pressing the command key while dragging the file to another location causes it to be moved.

This bug is a headache when you are into moving files a lot. A practical advice is to not press the command key. Instead of moving files, it's probably better to copy it, verify the copied file and then delete the original.

HTC's touch can't touch the iPhone

2007-11-09T11:51:00.000+08:00

When Apple announced the coming of the iPhone early this year, handset makers like HTC scrambled to bring out a competitor worthy of the yet to be released iPhone. In the case of HTC, what came out of that frenzied panic was the HTC touch.

Last September, HTC's CEO Peter Chou remarked that the iPhone is not up to par with HTC standards.

"The iPhone design is very beautiful. However, the phone design is quite weak; it's very, very basic."

Chou continued on to say that HTC, in contrast, understands the different needs of cellular operators and so can tweak its handsets as necessary. This, according to Chou, gives HTC 'a huge advantage'.

Unfortunately for Chou, reviews of the HTC touch disagree with his optimism.

Crunchgear called the HTC touch as "a valiant effort" but "it still falls short" of Apple’s iPhone.

Another review by Electronista cites the HTC touch as having a "tiny interface, poor web and media software" and "sub-par battery life and camera." The review wrapped up by saying:

"...it becomes apparent HTC's best intentions have resulted in a compromise. The Touch really does try to shoehorn an iPhone-like experience into an operating system and phone design that are largely unsuited to the job."

The videos below might help illustrate how a threat the HTC touch poses on the iPhone:

The Apple iPhone

The HTC touch

What Arik Hesseldahl loathes about Leopard

2007-11-09T11:36:00.000+08:00

Writing for Business Week, Arik Hesseldahl list's Leopard's Time Machine as his top Leopard peeve. Particularly, when it comes to using Time Machine with Mac portables. Having Macbooks or Macbook Pros as your main system requires you to either carry an external drive with you all the time or have one setup at work. The lack of support networked drives, which was promised before Leopard's release.

Another feature that has earned Hesseldahl's loathing is the lack of visual consistency of Stacks. It would seem that Apple has taken the name too literally in that every time a new item is placed into the Stacks folder, the icon changes to look like that document or file. Visually appealing but annoying in the long run.

Mac tip for newbies: guest accounts

2007-11-09T11:21:00.000+08:00

There are times when a family member or a friend asks us to let them use our Macs to check their emails or find something on Google. There's really nothing to worry about unless you're currently working on a project of some sort and they accidentally close the application or window you were using. Oops... Sorry?

A way to this avoid this potential nightmare is to setup a guest account for them to use. The Mac Observer's Jeff Gamet has a guide on how to set up a guest account on your Mac. The guest account has options that limit the apps and files a guest user can have access to. You can also turn on parenteral controls to limit the sites that can be accessed.

Using a guest account for your friends and family is one way to protect yourself from losing those valuable and important files that you have in your Mac. A must-do tip.

Mac tip for newbies: watch that open Wi-Fi

2007-11-09T09:46:00.000+08:00

We live in a city where 80 to 90% of wireless hotspots we find in cafes are open and free. Some would require a password to log in to but it is freely given if you ask nicely. This makes our city one of the most open wireless cities in the world.

But this openness is a security nightmare waiting to explode. One particular issue is when you are on an open hotspot and if you are not mindful about security on your Mac, you are inviting other people to browse, open and even copy your files.

Christopher Breen of Playlist magazine tells his story regarding this issue he encounters during his travels. According to Breen, his favorite past time when on the road is to look at other people's iTunes playlists when he is on a public network. He's found out that most people who use iTunes are probably not aware that they are sharing their playlists.

Another security hole most of us aren't aware of is other people can browse your files in your Public Folder through iDisk.

Turn off the iTunes sharing feature in the iTunes preferences menu if you don't want anyone seeing your playlists. Another tip is not to put any file in your Public folder that you don't want other people to see. I'll have more post about how to make your Mac more secure in the near future.

Jay-Z sez hiz new album iz like a movie.

2007-11-09T09:32:00.000+08:00

Jay-Z, or Shawn Carter in real life, is quoted as saying "As movies are not sold scene by scene, this collection will not be sold as individual singles." He's banned his latest album American Gangster from being sold on iTunes as individual tracks. According to Jay-Z, his "imaginary soundtrack" is "a work of art" and should be listened to in its "entirety."

I might get a copy of American Gangster the music-movie to see (or is it hear) whether this iTunes-hatin' playa can live up to his own hype.

Spate of Apple hardware issues

2007-11-09T00:10:00.000+08:00

Things are not looking good in the hardware front lately.

Seagate Technology is settling a lawsuit which said the compamy misled consumers by offering 7% more disk space than what was available or usable to the user. Seagate will offer a refund or a free backup or recovery software. Refund or the free backup or software is only valid in the US.

Some Macbooks with 2.5-inch SATA Seagate drives may lead to data loss when the read/write head detaches from the arm and plows into the platter. This is deemed as a design flaw. The drives are made in China and has the firmware version 7.0.1.

Reports of freezing iMacs have surfaced and Apple has recognized the problem exists. They already have sent out an iMac software update which was supposed to address the issue. For some it didn't. AppleInsider has reported that the problem may not be that easy to fix after all since it's not software that's having the issues; it's the hardware. According to some users, the problem of the freezing Mac went away as soon as Apple replaced the Radeon ATI chipset. It seems Leopard is the culprit here. The new OS is exerting a heavy toll on the graphics chip because of all the eye candy. Downgrading to Tiger resolves some freezing problems.

Application watch

2007-11-08T23:57:00.000+08:00

There are a lot of applications that I want to try out but I'm waiting to upgrade to Leopard before I start using them. Most if not all applications are Leopard compatible or optimized. I'll be making a list of these applications and perhaps write a mini-review for each. I'll be adding more in the future.

Baseline is a disk scanning utility that lets you take a 'baseline' of your hard drive and compare subsequent scans to that baseline. The application will let you view changes that have been made to a file or directory. You also are able to delete, compress or archive files within Baseline. Shareware. $10. 14-day trial period.

Tidy Up "you can search for duplicate files and packages; by the owner application, content, type, creator, extension, time modified, time created, name, label, visibility and delays. Tidy Up! allows you to search for duplicate folders; by name, date modified, date created, label visibility, empty folders, their contents and more." Shareware. $30. Trial duration unknown.

Youpi Optimizer "is an application which enables you to delete resources localized in unused languages, and then free disk space. You can gain more than 100 MB of free space with a standard Mac OS X installation." Freeware.

November 9, 2007
Maked Light: "Non-destructive image editing. Node-based compositing. Live filters. High-end tools. And infinite resolution. It's image editing, re-invented." Sounds interesting. Count me in. Beta release.

Using Back on your Mac without .Mac

2007-11-08T15:23:00.000+08:00

One of the 300+ features in Leopard is Back on my Mac with allows users to retrieve files in the Macs from a remote location. The caveat is that you must have a .Mac subscription in order for you to use this feature. A .Mac subscription cost $99 per year.

Melvin Rivera of All Forces has figured out a way to use Back on my Mac without .Mac. The hack uses iChat's screen sharing capability and instructions can be found on All Forces.

I'm not so keen in using Back on my Mac and this hack since our bandwidth here is generally sucky. That will sure to mess things up.

What's up, Dock? Ey, men...u.

2007-11-08T14:25:00.000+08:00

So many litanies have been made about the menu bar and Dock. I'm reserving my judgment for now. But for those who already have Leopard running in their Macs and you abhor the translucent menu bar you can hack it to be become solid . Eternal Storms Software also has released the freeware app, OpaqueMenuBar which makes the menu bar, well, opaque.

For those who are not into hacking the menu bar, they may choose to use Peter Krantz's method of just putting a 12 pixel high strip of white or black on top of each wallpaper.

The Dock also is getting a lot of ~~flack~~ flak because of the changes. If you're one of those who hates the boring new Dock with a passion, Yellatducks has some nifty ways to customize the look of your Dock.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm reserving judgment for now. I'll give myself a week before I can say whether I like the menu bar and Dock or not.

Time Machine advisory [UPDATE]

2007-11-08T14:14:00.000+08:00

People have been posting in Apple's discussion boards of having problems with using Leopard's backup utility, Time Machine. Some of the problems encountered, which includes stalled backups, may be due to the backup drive's partitioning, according to Apple.

If running Leopard on a PowerPC, the external drive must be partitioned in the Apple Partition Map scheme; those running Intel-based Macs should use GUID partition scheme. Use Disk Utility to reformat the drives and then select it again in Time Machine.

Another problem encountered is not being able to see the backup volume. The problem lies, according again to Apple, is in using non-alphanumeric characters in the computer's name. Others say even after renaming the computer the problem still persists.

Update:
The Mac Observer pointed out that Apple has support documents for the issues relating to stalled or interrupted backups and for the invisible backups.

The "Mac OS X 10.5: Time Machine stops backing up to external disk" document deals with the issue that "after about 10 GB or more of data is backed up to an external disk, Time Machine may stop backing up."

In the meantime, "Mac OS X 10.5: Time Machine backups are not visible" deals with a problem in Time Machine "time travel" window where "past backups may not appear if your computer name includes certain characters."

Mac touch soon?

2007-11-07T20:19:00.000+08:00

CNet reported that a source from Asus whispered into their ear and said that they were developing a Mac tablet for Apple. The device, dubbed as the 'Mac touch', will have will have a multi-touch interface like the iPhone and iPod touch and will run a version of Mac OS 10.5. No date has yet been set on when this fabled tablet device is coming.

Pre-Leopard installation: compatible third-party apps

2007-11-07T14:27:00.001+08:00

I'm expecting to get my copy of Leopard tomorrow and I'm going to install it into my 12" Powerbook as soon as I am able. I'll blog the entire process of upgrading to 10.5 and what happens after. I'm doing a clean install and so I don't expect to run into any problems. The difficult part would be putting back the files from my backup.

My excitement in using the new OS is matched by my apprehension on what will happen to some of the third-party apps that I am using. There has been reports of problems encountered when running a third-party app not compatible with Leopard.

So my first account into installing Leopard is to find out which of my most often used applications are or aren't compatible with Leopard.

Here's the list of the applications:

Adium: version 1.1.4 addresses almost all of the Leopard-related issues.

Twitterific: version 3.0 has an issue where changing Logins may cause it to hang under Leopard.

iStat menu: version 1.2 addresses some Leopard issues.

Microsoft Office: version 11.3.9 fixes the problem of Word quitting unexpectedly when printing a document.

Grand Perspective: No word yet. Last update was on July 24, 2007.

Onyx: Website only says compatible with Tiger.

WhatSize: Last update was on June 2007. No announcement yet regarding Leopard compatibility

Audacity: Still no word from the group on whether Audacity is stable under Leopard or not.

ImageWell: A free image editor. Now compatible with Leopard.

Aurora: An application that makes my iMac into a very expensive alarm clock and countdown timer. This lets me play a podcast while I go to bed and Aurora stops the podcast after a specific amount of time. It can also put your Mac to sleep.

Little Snitch: Firewalls keep things from coming in but what's keeping things from going out. Little Snitch monitors stuff your applications are sending out and warns you if an application is trying to connect to the net without your consent. A must have.

Tinkertool: version 3.8 now supports Leopard and has added the ability to disable Leoaprd 3D Dock appearance. Free download available.

I will update the list as needed. Little Snitch is ready for Leopard.

For a more comprehensive list of what's compatible and what's not, go to Dommy's World. Last update was on November 6.

UPDATE: Added ImageWell

Mail 3.0: the good and the bad

2007-11-06T20:14:00.000+08:00

Mitch Wagner of InformationWeek has his list of what's great and what stinks in the new version of Apple's Mail application. His greats are the ability to link to individual email messages, the built-in RSS reader better search capability, and the ability to pick out an address, email, contact number, events or any other information and quickly and easily bring it to iCal or Address Book.

What stinks in Mail are Notes, buggy To-Do, hard to figure out IMAP integration, and Stationary.

Personally, I've stopped using Mail quite some time ago. Using Google Mail is more than adequate for me.

MacNN's review series: Spotlight and Spaces

2007-11-06T19:05:00.000+08:00

Jon Fingas pens the fifth part of MacNN's series of reviews of Apple's latest operating system, Leopard. The first section covers Spaces which Fingas calls as a "hidden time-saver." He notes that unlike some of the new features in Leopard like Time Machine, Spaces is not by default present in either the Dock or menu bar. Spaces has to be enabled in the Systems Preferences.

Spaces allows users to have multiple desktops called virtual desktops. Usually, when I use my Mac I will have several applications and windows open; i'll have two to three Safari windows open, Adium, iPhoto, a Word document, and an Excel spreadsheet. Things are a little disorganized here. Using Spaces, I can assign an application or group of applications to their own virtual desktop. In this example, I can group Safari and Adium together in one virtual desktop or "space," then assign iPhoto, Word and Excel into their own respective spaces. Viewing the different spaces only requires a key press or a click on the Spaces Dock icon (if available). Seeing all your available spaces is like viewing applications using Exposé. This is a useful feature for those using Mac portables. According to Fingas, "the only real drawback of Spaces may be that many users will assume that they have no need for it."

I've used virtual desktop applications before and I pretty much got rid of them after about a week. More than anything, it made things more complicated than they were. But I am willing to try out Spaces since some Mac pundits I've heard saying that they didn't think Spaces would work for them instead did a 180-degrees and says that Spaces is really well implemented.

Another wow for Mac users is how much better and faster Spotlight is on Leopard. I've been using Tiger ever since it first came out and I hardly ever use Spotlight. It's slow. Really, really slow for me. I always get think to myself every time I use Spotlight in Tiger, "This is not supposed to be in my Mac. It's so un-Apple like." But I've heard and read a lot of reviews and reactions and the consensus is Spotlight is way much better under Leopard. One drawback, says Fingas, is the inability to narrow the search to a specific folder or location and the lack of prioritizing options.

Download 1Password 2.5.3 for free

2007-11-06T10:08:00.000+08:00

Agile Web is offering a free license to their password management app, 1Password. 1Password "keeps track of all web passwords, automates sign-in, guards from identity theft," according to the website. The limitations of the free license is that it isn't eligible for upgrading to newer versions and the user cannot access the online version of 1Password.

TUAW's "How I set up my Mac" series

2007-11-04T19:08:00.000+08:00

The reviews are over an done with. People already have Leopard purring inside their Macs. The Unofficial Apple Weblog team has done a tremendous job in covering all things Leopard; from retail to computers. Still continuing their watch over the new cat, the team will be putting up their own experiences during and after the installation of Mac OS 10.5. The series is called "How I set up my Mac" and first on the bat is Nik Fletcher.

Nik Fletcher's installation went rather quick. He first made a full system backup, which he confessed to rarely ever doing, and then did a clean install. It was completed in about 15 minutes (Hint: do not include localization or the language pack as well as all the printer drivers that comes with Leopard. Unless you plan to use your Mac in German or Swahili, don't bother with localizations.) He did Migration Assistant, copied back his iTunes library and Keychain and he was good to go.

He then proceeded to install his essentials applications (head on over the link for find out more) and twiddled with Stacks. He says his best new feature is Quick Look (Can't wait to try this out) but he dislikes the Dock's 3D effect.

More TUAWers to follow.

16 little known, but cool, Leopard features

2007-11-04T18:47:00.000+08:00

There have been so much talk about the shiny new features in Leopard like Time Machine, Quick Look, Mail, and iChat. However, there are some little improvements in Leopard that aren't getting any attention that they deserve. The Sitening blog has the 16 coolest features in 10.5 that you aren't aware of. Some of the ones I'm interested in are:

TextEdit now supports Word 2007 and OpenDocument formats. Most people don't know this but for basic word processing, you don't need to have MS Word installed in your Mac. TextEdit gets most of the job done less the bulk.
Scrolling non-active windows. This will probably leave some to go "Huh? What's that?" Imagine you have two Safari windows open and you have them side by side. You are researching something and you often need to switch from one window to another. Normally, in order for you to scroll up or down a page you have to select the window to make it active and then scroll. With this feature, you don't need to click, make active, scroll, click, make active, scroll, click, make active... Well, you get the idea. All you need to do is simply hover over the window and just use your scroll wheel to scroll up or down. Very nifty. Of course, you will need a scroll wheel mouse. If you don't have one, you can but one rather inexpensively.
Manipulate PDFs with Preview. You can now edit your PDF using preview. Move pages around, delete unnecessary pages and even add pages from another PDF.

Those are just three of the sixteen features that for me will give more value to Leopard. Check out the other 13 and see what else could make Leopard more worthwhile for you.

More raves for Leopard

2007-11-04T11:58:00.000+08:00

Eric Benderoff, Chicago Tribune: "Leopard upgrade helps polish any Apple"

So to me, and millions of other Mac users, the real question is whether upgrading to Leopard will make my humble little iBook better. The answer: Yes.

Joe Hutsko, MSNBC, "Feature-rich Leopard will wow Mac users"

The users who will be most impressed with Leopard are those new buyers saying goodbye to Windows and hello to Mac for the first time. For the rest of us, Leopard’s sum of parts adds up to an even better experience with an already excellent operating system.

Dwight Silverman, Houston Chronicle, New Mac OS is apple of my eye

As you use Leopard, you'll find which of those 300 features fit the way you work, communicate or play. As I've played with it, I'm constantly being surprised by smart, useful and convenient touches. It is a pleasure to use.

...Leopard's a winner. If you're a Mac user, you will want this on your computer.

If you're a Windows user who's been tempted by the Mac, I'm not sure there's much here to add to the siren song you're already hearing. But if you make the leap, there's a lot in Leopard to make you glad you did.

Chris Dannen, Fast Company, Apple's Leopard, First Take

Leopard's salient improvements will trickle down to the next version of Windows, as well as the next round of cell phones, public computing systems, and handhelds. As more companies look to Apple for copycat material, more of what makes the Mac OS great will improve computing on the whole. Apple may have only 6% market share, but it's safe to bet that whether or not you intend to, you'll eventually be loving something about Leopard. So save yourself some time, give in, and try it now.

Tom Yager, InfoWorld, Apple OS X Leopard: A beautiful upgrade

Leopard is a legitimately big deal. It's underhyped compared to iPhone, and yet unlike iPhone, Leopard is a genuine triumph of customer-focused engineering. It's a pleasure and a relief to see that Apple remembers how to deliver open, affordable, standards-based products. There probably won't be lines around the block at Apple retail stores for people who can't wait to get their hands on Leopard. If they had been using Leopard as long as developers have, Apple wouldn't be able to stamp Leopard DVDs fast enough.

Listen to MIT, Yale or Stanford lectures for free

2007-11-04T11:12:00.000+08:00

The Washington Post has an article on the rising popularity of lectures on podcasts particularly those found in iTunes U. iTunes U is a collaboration between Apple and various colleges and universities in the United States like Stanford, MIT, Yale and UC Berkley.

According to Jeffrey Selingo, materials from the different universities and colleges have been downloaded 4 million times since iTunes U was launched last spring. These lecture podcasts have also become a hit among professors since this is a way for them to reach a much bigger audience. Students benefit in being able to choose from a wide variety of courses. From psychology to architecture, from physics to information management. From art to the neurosciences.

For more information, go to Apple's iTunes U page or go on to iTunes to start downloading.

Leopard compatible applications

2007-11-04T10:03:00.000+08:00

As with any OS release, there are bound to be problems with third-party applications. Before upgrading one of the things you must first do if find out whether your application under Tiger or Panther will run on Leopard (too many cats in this sentence). You should go to the developer's website and see what they have to say about compatibility with Mac OS 10.5. That can be a little tiring especially if you use a apps. Luckily for us, there are some helpful souls on the net that has documented what software is or isn't compatible with Leopard.

Mac Rumors Guides listed the applications that have major or minor compatibility issues with Mac OS 10.5.

Another resource is at Dommy's World. I guess Dommy has taken the time to browse through forums and listed down what applications are compatible and not compatible with Leopard. His last update was on October 31.

Again, before you stick a new cat into your Mac, find out first whether your installed third-party applications will play well with Leopard. If most of your apps don't work, better wait for a few weeks and then decide. By the way, the other first thing you should do before you upgrade is to backup, backup, backup.

Twitterific 3.0

2007-11-03T11:19:00.000+08:00

Twitterific version 3.0 has been released and sports a lot of changes. From Iconfactory's website:

Twitterrific now handles multiple sources of tweets in the list. Normal timeline updates are gray while replies to you (@yourusername) are colored orange. Your direct messages are displayed in blue with a letter icon.
An AppleScript scripting dictionary was added thanks to a contribution from Grayson Hansard at From Concentrate Software. Please refer to the TwitterrificScriptDemo.scpt file for more information on how to access Twitterrific from your AppleScript.
The dialogs for connection errors have been replaced with a message in the tweet list that explains the last error (only one error is displayed.) To turn this feature off, uncheck "Show errors in tweet list" in the System panel of the configuration window.
If you are using the Dock instead of the menubar, the Dock icon now contains an unread message count. The count will be displayed in orange if any new tweets have arrived since the window was last opened. The menubar icon will also be removed if you are using the Dock to control Twitterrific.
The volume of the bird sounds used to alert you to new tweets is now adjustable using the Sound > Sound Effects panel in System Preferences.
Improved configuration interface for updating status with chat clients. There was some confusion about how this feature worked in the last release, so we tuned up the user interface. Also, some users were getting "Where is application?" errors, so you must now choose the chat application you want to use.
You can now select any tweet in the list and use ⌘C to copy its URL to the clipboard.
If you post something by accident, you can now delete the tweet: just select it in the list and press ⌘⌫. You cannot delete someone else's tweet.
The arrow keys can now be used to open URLs from the tweet list: the right arrow opens all links in the tweet and the left arrow opens the user's "with others" page.
Added a warning dialog when there are no tweets to download from Twitter. This will help new users who are just getting started.
Two new power user preferences were added: tweetScreenNameFilter and tweetTextFilter. These preferences allow you to filter out tweets based on either a tweet's screen name or the text in the message. See the Read Me file for more information on how to configure and use them.
Screen names in tweets (@name) are now linked to the user's page at Twitter.
A power user preference for Sonic Twoosh Technology™ was added to let you know when your tweet is "extra special."
Development of Twitterrific is now being funded in part by advertisements from The DECK. You can still use Twitterrific free of charge, but for every hour you run you'll be shown a single ad. Registering the software for $14.95 eliminates all advertising and helps support future development and improvements.

Admittedly these are big improvements to a fantastic program. However, I am annoyed by the fact that Iconfactory changed the way users toggle the window off. Whenever a Tweet comes in, the Twitterific window pops in. Previous version would require only one key press to toggle the window off. On version 3.0, for some inexplicable reason, they are forcing users to press the toggle keys TWICE! I find it inane and stupid. Why fix something that wasn't broken?

New Macbooks out!

2007-11-02T02:09:00.000+08:00

Mactactic had it right. Macbooks upgrades came right on time. Apple quietly released an upgrade to their Macbook line yesterday. Upgrades consisted of a change to the Santa Rosa chips, bigger frontside bus, and a new graphics processor. It's also 0.1 pounds lighter, too.

Time to grab me one of these. I'm disappointed that SuperDrive is still not available across the board. What's up with that?

iSlayer iStat menu updated

2007-11-02T02:08:00.000+08:00

I'm an information junkie. That's why I have 100+ RSS feeds to browse through and 600+ podcasts that I'm supposed to listen to. The RSS I can handle. The podcasts... Not so sure.

I also like knowing what's going on inside my computer. These include processor and memory usage, fans, temperature and network activity. The first application that I used in monitoring my computer was MenuMeter. At the same time I was also running another monitoring tool but it resided as a widget in Dashboard. iSlayer's iStat was graphically more appealing but it involved having to go into Dashboard to see what my Mac was doing at that time. MenuMeter finally got the boot when iSlayer released iStat menu which essentially is the iStat widget on the menu bar. iStat menu is more customizable and easier to configure.

iStat menus version 1.2 has improvements such as processes monitoring, enhanced Date & Time, enhanced bandwidth monitoring, better temperature and fan support, better support for temperature sensors in G4 PowerBooks, disk performance monitor and more.

This 2.6 MB download is a must have if you want to know what's going on inside your Mac.

Gentle poke or slap in the face?

2007-11-02T02:03:00.000+08:00

If a Mac running Leopard hooks up with a computer running Windows, this is the icon for that Windows PC:

Reality bites. For Windows users, that is.

Thanks, MDN.

LiveQuartz

2007-11-02T01:58:00.001+08:00

Adobe's Photoshop is considered to be the king when it comes to editing pictures or images. However, if I were to get a copy of Photoshop, it would set me a couple of hundreds of dollars. If I stop and think about it, the cost is not really justified since I only use less than 20% of the features in Photoshop. That's why I'm always in the look out for alternatives to Photoshop that has the basic functionalities but won't cost me an arm and a leg.

LiveQuartz is a free image editor that has the basic tools such as brush, eraser, drawing, gradient, text and lasso. LiveQuartz is based on layers and CoreImage filters. The application also has a Leopard compatible version ready for download. Other image editing programs that is worth looking at are Pixen, Pixelmator, and Seashore.

iPhone is Time Magazine's Invention of the Year

2007-11-02T01:57:00.000+08:00

Five reasons why the iPhone is invention of the year:

Apple takes design seriously. Most companies don't bother with aesthetically pleasing products. For Apple, it's not just about the ease of use and feature but also how a device looks. They make products that makes you proud to show it around.

Using the most usable pointing devices: your digits. Touchscreens are nothing new. They been in almost all devices: phones, cameras, computers. However, it was Apple who found out a way to make using a touchscreen the best method of using a device. Flick, pinch, tap. No other device in the market that came before the iPhone was closed to giving the user a sense of control and delight when using a device.

The iPhone challenges the status quo. Cellphone makers in the US were at the mercy of the the telecos. Apple challenged this convention by dictating the terms and what the iPhone should be like. AT&T is also said to be paying $18 per subscriber per month to Apple because of the iPhone.

Real OS under the hood. Even though the iPhone runs a stripped, slimmed down version of the Mac operating system, it's still is the Mac OS. Already a powerful platform, it's going to become better with the release of the iPhone SDK by February next year.

The future is bright. The iPhone with all its glory is still a 1.0 product. There is still a lot of room for improvement and Apple is not the kind to rest on its laurels.

5 reasons why you should upgrade to Leopard

2007-11-02T01:55:00.001+08:00

According to Rob Griffiths, the most common question about Leopard is not about Time Machine, Quick Look, or iChat. The most common question is when should Mac users upgrade to Leopard. Griffiths tries to convince readers to upgrade with his top 5 features that makes upgrading to Leopard worhwhile. He lists screen sharing, an improved Spotlight, Time Machine, Auto FS and an improved Finder as some of the best reasons to upgrade.

Leopard: a week later

2007-11-02T01:54:00.000+08:00

It has been a little more than a week since Leopard was released and Mac related websites have posted their first impressions and reviews. Some sites also did a mini-review of most of the touted features in Leopard such as Time Machine, Finder, Mail, iChat, etc. Below is a list of a few of the sites that have done a full review of Leopard as well as the review of features. If you are still undecided whether to upgrade to Leopard or not, maybe these articles can help you by looking at the features and see if they are enough to push you to get Mac OS 10.5.

Macworld has their own Leopard page when you can find their full review as well as their Inside Leopard series. There are also links to podcasts and video podcasts, and news about Leopard.

Another very good resource for all things Leopard is the review series by Prince McLean of AppleInsider. The series started with an overall introduction into the new features and what's new with the Desktop. McLean continues the series with discussions on Mail and iCal, Address Book and iChat, Core Graphics and the new UI, and Developer Tools. The final installment of the series looks at the value of the previous versions of Mac OS X and what lies ahead for the operating system.

While Macworld and AppleInsider seem to be wrapping things up, MacNN just got started. Jon Fingas started the review series with a look at Finder and Desktop. Somewhat expect, the major issued raised was the translucent menu bar. Some people can't seem to get over it. Overall, Fingas was positive about the Finder and Desktop. It wouldn't be much of a Leopard review without a discussion on Time Machine. The third installment was an iChat review. Galen Wood wrote the fourth installment about Dashboard, Dashcode, and Front Row.

Don Reisinger's The Digital Home blog also covered Leopard from first impressions after installing, to discussing Time Machine, Finder, Spaces, and Mail. Reisinger gives each feature high marks. You can also checked out his blog for more tech and gadgets for the home.

A couple more reviews will trickle in the next few days but the initial excitement will slowly fade to be replaced by more practical matters such as bugs and compatibility issues with third-party software and hardware. I'll try to stay on top of the matter since I, too, have an interest in knowing what things need to be fixed since I'm about to stick the new cat into my Macs.

Quicksilver for Leopard

2007-11-02T01:50:00.001+08:00

One of my favorite third-party applications just a new version out. TUAW reports that Quicksilver b53 is now available for download and this version is just a bugfix release.

Question still is: will Spotlight kill Quicksilver?

Adium ready to do video chat (soon)

2007-11-02T01:37:00.000+08:00

My all time favorite instant messaging client for the Mac will soon get an upgrade that will let users to video chat. I prefer Adium over Yahoo Messenger for the Mac since it feels like Yahoo isn't giving enough love to Mac users. Even though Adium may have some limitations, it's a feature-packed, multi-protocol IM client that can do most of the job and do it well. MacNN reports that the Adium team is hard at work in pushing version 2.0 out the door. Version 2.0 wil finally give the Adium users community the ability to do video chats. Other tweaks are also included in the impending 2.0 release.

iLounge's 2008 iPod and iPhone Buyer's Guide

2007-11-02T01:33:00.000+08:00

iLounge has released its annual buyer's guide to the iPod, and now they've added the iPhone into the mix. The iLounge Buyer's Guide first appeared in 2004 and covered everything that's iPod. Now, for the 2008 issue, the iPod family has grown bigger with the iPod classic, iPod nano, and iPod shuffle plus the iPhone and iPod touch. The guide is a catalog of accessories for the iPods and iPhone: from earphones to cases, from docks to cables. Everything you need or never knew you needed can be found right in the iLounge 2008 iPod and iPhone Buyer's Guide. Download the PDF either in the wide version or the iPod touch or iPhone version. Download and drool.

Together with the release of the buyer's guide, iLounge also announced their Best of the Year iPod and iPhone Accessory Awards. Awards include:

iPod Accessory Maker of the Year
Portable Speaker of the Year
Deluxe Speaker of the Year
iPod + iPhone Accessory of the Year
Accessory Innovation of the Year
and more.

The list of this year's winners and runner-ups is included 2008 iPod and iPhone Buyer's Guide.

TUAW rounds up Leopard reviews around the net

2007-10-31T11:46:00.000+08:00

The Unofficial Apple Weblog gathered some of the noteworthy reviews of Leopard found roaming the interweb; reviews from PC Mag, Laptop Magazine, CNet, and Macworld.

Fun with iChat: Star Wars Hologram effect part deux

2007-10-31T11:24:00.000+08:00

The Unofficial Apple Weblog has a different way in achieving the Star Wars Hologram effect I mentioned in an earlier blog post. This method uses Quartz Composer to pull off the effect.

Apple luminary gives his ten tips in upgrading to Leopard

2007-10-31T11:08:00.000+08:00

Guy Kawasaki, Mac evangelist extraordinaire, has ten tips for those thinking of upgrading to Leopard. First on the list, of course, is back up, back up, back up. If you don't have an external drive to back up your previous files to, you should go out and buy one. Backing up is not an obscure process that requires prayers and rituals. Backing up should always be foremost in the minds of any computer user no matter what the platform. Please learn to back up. It will be worth your time and effort. Losing files is not fun at all.

Other tips include upgrading your third-party apps, not installing the additional fonts included in the new OS, learn to appreciate and use Spotlight, and make your Mac more friendly to your friends. More tips from Guy Kawasaki in the link provided.

Apple sells two million copies of Leopard

2007-10-31T11:05:00.000+08:00

Apple has announced that the latest version of the Mac operating system, Mac OS 10.5 Leopard has sold more than 2 million copies during the weekend of its release.

Time to bury some of your third-party apps with Leopard [UPDATE]

2007-10-31T10:22:00.000+08:00

I mentioned in one of my posts that some reviews have the Spotlight so improved that it no longer does file or folder searches, it doubles as an application launcher and calculator. I was curious about the application launcher bit because I am using Quicksilver as my app launcher. An application launcher, by the way, is a program that lets you launch apps by evoking the app with a key combo and type out the name of the app and pressing enter to launch it. As far as I know, most Windows users are even unaware that you can do such a thing. Spotlight in Tiger already had this capability but, darn it, Spotlight was really slow and the application launcher bit was one key press too many.

With Leopard, I've Spotlight has vastly improved. So improved, that Dan Frakes of Macworld says Spotlight 2.0 has the potential to replace application launchers like Quicksilver and Launchbar. Though these application launchers do more than launching software, like run scripts and control iTunes, Spotlight may just replace these third-party software in launching applications. I guess it's bye-bye Quicksilver for me.

Dan Frakes cites some more examples of third-party applications that Leopard may partially or fully replace.

Update:
Part two of the Leopard's Gem replacements is up.

Fastest Windows Vista notebook

2007-10-31T10:12:00.000+08:00

What's PC World's fastest Windows Vista notebook?

Dude, it's the Macbook Pro.

Ah, I love the smell of sweet irony early in the morning.

Microsoft's having a swell time in Europe

2007-10-31T09:36:00.000+08:00

Last week, Microsoft decided they will no longer appeal the 497 million Euros fine levied against them by the European Commission back in 2004. The EC has found Microsoft guilty of anti-competitive practices and ordered the company to open up access to its server protocols and sell the Windows operating system without Windows Media Player.

However, there seems to be no end in sight for Microsoft's woes. Macworld reported that a UK government watchdog have urged schools to stop making licensing deals with Microsoft because of anti-competitive practices.

Across the pond, a Texas SMU-Cox School of Business have done away with Windows PCs and instead installed Macs in some of their classrooms and labs. "By installing Intel Macs, we're enhancing and diversifying our computer platforms by keeping Windows XP while adding OS X," said Allen Gwinn, senior director of technology for the Cox School.

Mail and iCal: AppleInsider and Macworld reviews

2007-10-30T20:22:00.000+08:00

I've been a Mac user for about 4 years now but I must say that i've probably used less than 50% of the features in Tiger. Some apps I've used sparingly. Two of these apps are Mail and iCal. I've used Mail before as my email client. I have several Google account and using POP mail I configured Mail to get my email from my different accounts. You can't do that with Yahoo Mail of course. But it took longer for me to get my email using Mail as compared to just going to GMail directly. So I abandoned Mail altogether.

Regarding iCal, I don't think I have the need to schedule anything though at the back of my mind I know I must. I guess it's an acquired habit. But I have tried using iCal before and I found it... unsettling. There seems to be something in iCal that's unMac-like. Everytime I use iCal I always say to myself, "Hey, this isn't right. This application doesn't belong here." I struggle every time I use iCal. Maybe it's just my brain refusing to be structured.

So these two applications, Mail and iCal, are the black sheep of my Mac apps.

I am a little lukewarm to these two apps. I mean, why bother with Mail when I have GMail. Sure, Mail has some new features such as new Smart mailboxes, an RSS reader, and Reminders as Prince McLean mentioned but what use do I have of Smart mailboxes when I can barely tolerate using Mail app itself. RSS Reader? Bah. I have Google Reader for that. Reminders? Well, perhaps To Dos and Notes are interesting but these are two features that are not blowing me away. Stationary and Photo Browser do not excite me at all. Mail is a no go for me at this point.

One of the things that makes the Leopard iCal different from Tiger iCal as Dan Miller of Macworld has pointed out is that the new iCal is complaint with the CalDAV standard.

Hrm.

Nothing mind blowing for me. This is a feature I really don't give a damn about.

What else is new? Oh, it has a new look and a few design tweaks. Also, according to McLean, iCal is now faster and quite usable. Okay.

So I don't care if Apple uses this version of iCal as their corporate calendar, I still don't see myself using this because the new features do not mean much to me. Maybe my brain also needs an upgrade so I can appreciate using this.

Mail and iCal: two apps that has underwhelmed me and still continue to undewhelm me. Maybe once I get Leopard running I'll change my mind. Maybe not. We'll see.

Another comprehensive Leopard review

2007-10-30T16:03:00.000+08:00

What I like most about ARS Technica is that when they do reviews, they do reviews. John Siracusa really took a lot of time and effort to give us one of the most comprehensive, if not THE most comprehensive, review of Leopard ever. I really cannot give a summary of each of the points he makes. Some parts had my eyes glazing over. I'll just get a snippet of his conclusion:

"Leopard is absolutely packed with improvements. It seems that not a corner of the OS has gone untouched. Perhaps that's not as clear to the casual user who just sees the surface changes and the major new features in Leopard. But even in that case, there's more than enough to recommend it. if you're wondering whether you should upgrade to Leopard, the answer, as it's been for every major revision of Mac OS X, is yes.

I'm most excited about Leopard's internals. They're the star of this release, even if they don't get top billing. There's a good reason we've already seen so many prominent Leopard-only software announcements. This is where developers want to be.

I'm hard pressed to think of a single Mac user I know who wouldn't benefit from Time Machine's hassle-free backup magic. If you're looking for one reason to upgrade, this is it. Yeah, backups are boring, which is why you're probably not doing them regularly right now. No more excuses.

In many ways, Leopard feels like a new beginning. Leopard charges bravely forward, choosing one particular new look and mandating it everywhere, redesigning all of the most prominent visual elements of the interface, and shedding old technologies like cat fur.

What's emerged is quite a strange beast: beautiful on the inside and, well, a bit unlovely on the outside.

It's the Mac development community's opportunity to shine. Whether it reigns for two and a half years, like Tiger, or even longer, I'm looking forward to my time aboard starship Leopard."

Siracusa's review of Leopard is a must read.

Unsanity cries foul in being blamed for BSODs

2007-10-30T15:30:00.000+08:00

In one of my posts I said that Apple has already acknowledged that some users were encountering problems with their upgrade and it's been attributed application enhancers. Though Apple didn't specify a single software, most agree that the software would most probably be APE or Application Enhancer from Unsanity. However, according to a Macworld UK article, Unsanity has denied that their application-enhancement framework were the ones behind the blue screens of death. Unsanity calls the fix by a user named of Chris Mcculloh as "bunk." Unsanity is seething to say the least. Rosyna Keller of Unsanity said:

"No one, not even the original poster from the Apple thread, bothered to check if the commands did anything. So I'm not really sure how anyone originally attached this problem to APE other than the standard 'blame APE for everything' mantra."

Aside from the blue screen of death issue, some other less severe issues were encountered by some users. These include problems with Wi-Fi connection and user logins, and password changes in FileVault.

It's not only the software or applications that are having issues. There are reports of iMacs freezing or the screen shutting down. These video problems seem to have been traced to the ATI Radeon graphics chips found in newer iMacs. Apple has acknowledged this problem.

Cat's out of the bag. Should you grab it?

2007-10-30T15:11:00.000+08:00

We've already have first looks, reviews, and testimonials from Mac users who like to be the first kid on the block to have Leopard. There were some problems but as a whole Leopard has been well received.

But does that mean you should upgrade now?

Erica Sadun of The Unofficial Apple Weblog has some advice for those who have yet taken the leap to Leopard:

If you use your only Mac as your means of livelihood, don't just yet. It's still too early and bugs may chew your files up.
You depend on Adobe to work well. That's another sign for you to get your hands off the cat.
Working with Windows computers on a network? Uh-uh. No 10.5 for you.
You got your Mac looking like Windows or did some other customization. Better think twice or do a clean install.

New Macbooks this Tuesday? [UPDATE]

2007-10-30T13:04:00.000+08:00

I've posted about drivers found in Leopard that hints at a refresh of the Macbook line. The drivers are said fo be for the integrated graphics chip in the Santa Rosa chipset from Intel. The Santa Rosa chip are the ones being used in the Macbook Pros.

Mac Rumors is now saying that the new Macbooks can hit stores as early as Tuesday. This is what I've been waiting for. If Wednesday (here in the Philippines) really is the day, I'm going to really flip out.

Update:
Switch To My Mac does an analysis of the releases dates of Macbooks and predicts that there will be a new Macbook by November 6.

Leopard first looks and quick reviews

2007-10-30T12:53:00.000+08:00

Tanner Godarzi of Apple Matters had this to say when he installed Leopard into his Mac mini 1.25 GHz:

While you may enjoy the newly overhauled interface, Leopard doesn’t sport many new features that will shock you, not in the way Spotlight did when Tiger launched. But you’ll appreciate Leopard’s swiftness; it’s very fast, faster than Tiger on my Mac Mini.

He promises a full review of Leopard on Friday.

BBC gives Leopard a thumbs up for the painless installation, speed improvements, Time Machine (of course), Quick Look, iChat and Cover Flow.

Speaking of Time Machine, ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes calls it "the best backup tool that I’ve ever used" and wishes "there was a tool that was as good for Windows (there isn’t, I know, because I’ve tested dozens)."

Software updates for Leopard

2007-10-30T11:55:00.000+08:00

Apple and third-party developers have released several software updates for Mac OS 10.5.

Macworld UK reports of updates for Backup, Server Admin Tools, Login & Keychain, and Aperture.

Third-party software developers also have updated their apps for Leopard. MacNN lists a few of them such as ConceptDraw Business Suite, PandoraJam, and Interarchty. Other apps that got an upgrade are Check Off, Chronos Apps, Speed Download, and PhoneAgent. Macworld includes VMWare Fusion, Phlink, Geophoto, iDive and PulpMotion to the list of updated apps.

I'd like to highlight an application that would bring glee to those who are hating their translucent menu bar. OpaqueMenuBar from Eternal Storms Software will render the menu bar non-translucent. It's donationware.

Fun with iChat: Invisible (Man) effect

2007-10-29T13:09:00.000+08:00

Mac Rumors has another cool iChat effect called the Invisible effect. Head to the Mac Rumors Forum and download the file. Have fun!

Update:
As I read the forum it would seem that this effect works only in Leopard.

New Macbooks soon?

2007-10-29T07:30:00.000+08:00

MacNN reports that drivers in Leopard maybe hinting new Macbooks in the horizon. According to MacNN:

The company [Apple] has included a full set of recent drivers for Intel's GMA X3100 integrated graphics chipset, which is only built into the semiconductor firm's mainboards for notebooks based on the Santa Rosa platform. Apple currently uses Santa Rosa for its most recent MacBook Pro line but equips these higher-end systems exclusively with dedicated graphics chipsets from non-Intel providers like NVIDIA, leaving the regular MacBooks with slower but lower-cost Intel offerings.

So when will we see new Macbooks?

According to Mactactic the Macbook line is going to see a refresh in less than two weeks. Mactactic, by the way, is a website that gives a possible time frame when new models of Macs, iPods, and iPhones coming. The website does not claim that the figures are exact or a guarantee. They are at best estimates and advices potential buyers to listen in to other websites for rumors of new releases.

Leopard's on the way

2007-10-28T21:59:00.000+08:00

My brother's just placed his order for a 20-inch iMac with Leopard, of course. The problem is, it's going to take approximately two weeks for it to get here. I think that's too long a wait for me. Maybe, I'll get my own copy of Leopard for my Macs rather than wait to have a go at using my brother's Mac. I'll be asking my source for info on getting the Leopard family pack. I should start looking for a hard drive for backing up my old data on my iMac and Powerbook.

Apple responds to blue screen issues

2007-10-28T20:07:00.000+08:00

MacMerc reports that Apple has released a support article that confirms that "application enhancement" softwares are to be blame for reports of "blue screens" during the process of upgrading to Leopard.

Mac OS X 10.5: "Blue screen" appears after installing Leopard and restarting

Issue or symptom
After completing an upgrade installation of Leopard and restarting the computer, a "blue screen" may appear for an extended period of time.

Products affected
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

Solution
You may have third-party "enhancement" software installed that does not work with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Use one of these solutions...

Reports of 'blue screens' came in as soon as Leopard was released last Friday. You can read the rest of the support article here.

Fun with iChat: Star Wars Hologram effect

2007-10-28T17:58:00.000+08:00

I can't wait to play with Photobooth and iChat when I get my hands on Leopard. Mac Rumors has posted an update on how to make the Star Wars Hologram effect work in Mac OS 10.5.

Mac OS 10.5 reviews

2007-10-28T17:10:00.000+08:00

IT Business (Jason Snell)

So are 300-plus new features worth $129? That answer will vary, because no single user will ever take advantage of all -- or maybe even half -- of those 300 features. But given the impressive value of Time Machine and improvements to existing programs such as iCal, iChat, Mail, and the Finder, most active Mac users will find more than enough reasons to consider that upgrade cost money well spent. Despite a few interface missteps, particularly when it comes the menu bar and the Dock, Leopard is an upgrade that roars.

Guardian Unlimited (Fraser Speirs)

Leopard is going to be a great release. In my opinion, Time Machine is going to be a great stealth hit. Milllions of users will turn it on, forget it and one day be very grateful that it has been sitting in the background keeping their files safe all the while.

I love the improvements to the Finder and predict that I'll be addicted to Quick Look within an hour of switching to Leopard.

As a Mac programmer, though, I can tell you that there are a ton of things built in to Leopard for programmers to play with; Core Animation is just the start. You won't notice these improvements today, but in the long run, you'll start to see great things happening on your Leopard-running Mac.

CNet (Elsa Wenzel)

Elegant backup via Time Machine; Finder offers powerful navigation tweaks; novel workspace customization through Spaces' virtual desktops; integration with Web data and applications; Cover Flow visualizes file browsing; iChat Theater offers green-screen backgrounds and lets users access each others' desktops; Bootcamp included.

The grace of Leopard's interface enhancements makes productivity more pleasurable with a Mac, as more than 300 functional and fun features top off this update.

USA Today (Edward C. Baig)

Automatic Time Machine backups (with optional hard drive), Cover Flow view in Finder. Dressed-up e-mail. Cool iChat effects and ability to share slide shows and presentations. Boot Camp. Spaces and Stacks keep desktop tidy. These and other features should satisfy new and old Mac fans. Leopard is one cool cat.

InfoWorld (Tom Yager)

Leopard is beautiful, not merely in appearance but in design, all the way down to its certified Unix core. Apple has reworked OS X to jump the many hurdles required to bear the Unix trademark.

Leopard is a legitimately big deal. Leopard is a genuine triumph of customer-focused engineering. It's a pleasure and a relief to see that Apple remembers how to deliver open, affordable, standards-based products.

Dallas News (Jim Rossman)

Leopard is a nice improvement on the Mac environment. It's got enough stuff to almost make you feel as though you have a new computer.

Wired installation of Leopard

2007-10-28T16:20:00.000+08:00

Wired magazine posted their Leopard installation experience. Two tips to take note:

If you are going to repartition your Mac's hard drive, you can only use Disk Utility on the first screen during the install.

You can whittle down the size of the installation by removing unnecessary printer drivers and fonts. Epson has 1.5GB worth of printer drivers.

The whole installation process took 35 minutes to complete. Screenshots during and after installing Leopard are available.

To note, Quicksilver's website, that nifty application launcher, was down last Friday according to Wired. It's still down when I checked it today.

iPhone is Stuff's Gadget of the Year

2007-10-28T11:34:00.000+08:00

The Earth's best-selling gadget magazine has named Apple's iPhone as the coolest gadget of the year.

Apple’s iPhone took top place in Stuff’s Cool List 2007. The mobile to end all mobiles pipped all the other top-name entries to earn the planet’s biggest gadget accolade.
The touchscreen device redefined how humans interact with their phones as well as offering almost every feature no self-respecting mobile should be without.

Apple's iPod nano was the 10th on the list.

New security features on Leopard

2007-10-28T11:22:00.000+08:00

Scott McNulty over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog listed what's new with security under Leopard.

What's new and improved?

Tagging downloaded Apps: This feature seems to be what Microsoft was trying to do with Vista. The first time you launch a downloaded app Leopard will ask you if you really want to run this app and display from whence this app came.

Application specific firewall: You can set the firewall to allow or refuse connections per app.

Library Randomization: Places system libraries in randomly assigned memory addresses.

Custom access privileges for shared folders: Leopard lets you share folders, which you can do now, but also makes it easy to assign differing levels of access per shared folder. You can also use your contacts in Address Book to control access.

Airport Menu: The Airport Menu now tells you if the WiFi networks you're connecting to is secured. The more you know, kids, the more you know.

Activity Logging: This feature is both a little creepy, and secure! The best kind, if you ask me. Part of the new set of Parental Controls, though I assume you can use this to track folks other than kids, Activity Logging will log what websites a user visits, who chats with them, what apps are used, and saves a transcript of any chats.

Guest Log-In Accounts: Right at this moment you can create a guest account with limited permissions, so any of your friends can use your Mac without having unfettered access to your documents. Leopard has a built in feature that allows you to create Guest Accounts which purge their contents when your guest logs out. The Desktop won't be cluttered with files, Mail won't have someone else's setting waiting, and people won't come to think of the Guest Account as 'their account.'

Leopard upgrade problems [SOLVED]

2007-10-28T10:29:00.000+08:00

Another report of a problem affecting users who have upgraded to Leopard. According to the MacRumors forum, a user had the beachball of death when he used Finder. He already knew about the Unsanity Application Enhancer issue so he uninstalled it beforehand. His Mac, however, ran into troubles. Luckily, he found a solution over at the Apple Discussions forum and it consisted off renaming the DivX folder. Problem solved.

At this very moment (10:40AM) I am witnessing an upgrade process that has gone wrong. I woke up this morning to iJustine's Twitter message, got curious and I went over to her Justin.tv page. What was happening when I started view the cam live was Justine ran into issues when she tried to upgrade to Leopard. Been watching for 1 hour now and as far as I can tell Justine tried to do a archive and install and things just went haywire. I'll try to watch this entire saga to its end.

[Update 10:45AM] She brought in Scott, who I think is a regular, and he's trying to have Justine remove her... Macbook's battery. She doesn't like the idea.

[Update 10:59AM] Just found out that the Leopard startup screen keeps looping.

[Update 11:30PM] Looks like everything is all right now. Wasn't there to witness it though. Man, that's 12 hours before resolution. I'd be pulling my hair out if that happened to me. Crossing my fingers that I won't have any problems with my upgrade to Leopard.

AppleInsider's introductory review of Leopard

2007-10-27T18:39:00.000+08:00

AppleInsider probably has the most Leopard related content than any other Mac-sites. Prince McLean's "An Introductory Mac OS X Leopard Review" is aimed primarily at those who are thinking of upgrading from Tiger. The first of the series is an introduction to the operating system's new features and an introduction to the desktop. Things to note are:

The Menu Bar has been a point of contention for some because of its translucency. The translucent effect is also seen in the drop down menus which, according to some, may affect readability of the the menu items.

Spotlight is more useful. Aside from finding files, it's easier to use as an application launcher and it can now do simple mathematical equations.

The Dock can be made to assume the old plain strip look rather than the 3D appearance.

Finder's sidebar has items grouped by category: Devices, Shared, Places, and Search For.

I still can't wait to use Cover Flow in Finder and Quick Look.

Coming up next from AppleInsider: a look at the Desktop applications.

Update:
Macmerc's got tips for those who don't like the translucent menu bar.

More Leopard screenshots and Apple's guided tour

2007-10-27T18:26:00.000+08:00

For those, who like me, are waiting to upgrade to Leopard, AppleInsider posted some screenshots of Leopard five pages long. For more Leopard eye candy, MacNN also has posted
their own screenshots of the latest cat from Apple's bag. My favorite is Finder's Cover Flow.

For something that has more drool factor, head on over to Apple's guided tour of Leopard. You can watch the video online or just download to your computer. You can download the iPod version (108 MB) or the Large version (379 MB).