TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/feedlogobig.gif TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Which screen to choose: glossy or matte?]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/05/which-screen-to-choose-glossy-or-matte/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/05/which-screen-to-choose-glossy-or-matte/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/05/which-screen-to-choose-glossy-or-matte/#commentsLong time TUAW commenter Arkowi, tracked down my personal blog, shot me an email and said: "I see you are picking up a Macbook for your wife. I am ordering a 15" MBP either today or tomorrow. Still not sure about which way to lean on the glossy screen. At first it seemed like a no brainer...but some of these reviews seem pretty high on the gloss. . . . It seems the glossy screen might give more a TV appearance which I find appealing (I will be using my MBP as a portable HDTV). However, I will be primarily using it for design work (mostly web based, a few print situations). Just wondered what your take on the gloss was?? Feel free to answer on TUAW if you so desire."

Well, Arkowi (and all the others amongst you wrestling with this decision), having both a matte-finish MacBook Pro and a glossy-screened MacBook in the house, I can sum up my observations of the glossy screen in one short sentence: It ain't too shabby.

The glossy finish is not that horrible super-shine that I've seen on oh so many HP laptops in the local Comp USA or Best Buy. My good friend Randall has a glossy-screened HP laptop that I've been forced to use from time to time, and although he loves it, I've gotten a nasty headache any time I've sat down and used it for any length of time. I've used my wife's MacBook quite a bit so far, especially when I was setting it up, and I've enjoyed it. the screen is slightly brighter than the matte screen on my MacBook Pro and bright enough that the reflections are not distracting in consistent lighting.

However, I'd still pick matte for myself. It's all a matter of taste. Try both out in an Apple Store before you buy, if you can, and make sure you read through Scott's take on this topic.

Which screen to choose: glossy or matte? originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 05 Jun 2006 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>glossy screensGlossyScreensmacbookmacbook proMon, 05 Jun 2006 10:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Shiny screens give me headaches]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/16/shiny-screens-give-me-headaches/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/16/shiny-screens-give-me-headaches/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/16/shiny-screens-give-me-headaches/#comments

Someone in the comments to my morning post about the Apple Store being down noted this, and I agree: What's with the shiny screens on the new MacBooks? My friend Randall has a really shiny-screened HP laptop that he loves, but every time I use it I get a headache. I mean, they sell antiglare filters for desktops. Why do we want this on our laptops? Granted it makes the screen more visible outdoors with sunlight blaring on your screen, but ... I'm not sold on it. I guess I'll have to see one in person to make the call on whether to get my wife one of these or to go for an iBook.

What do you think? Should there be an option for glossy or not on the MacBook (like there is on the Pro model)?

Shiny screens give me headaches originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 16 May 2006 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>macbookscreenshiny screenTue, 16 May 2006 14:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Apple Store Down]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/16/apple-store-down/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/16/apple-store-down/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/16/apple-store-down/#comments
First the UK Apple Store and now the U.S. Apple Store is down.

Place your bets: MacBooks or just another promotional advert in the side column?

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Apple Store Down originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 16 May 2006 07:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Tue, 16 May 2006 07:52:00 EST<![CDATA[Download your Flickr pictures to your Mac with FlickrBackup]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/01/download-your-flickr-pictures-to-your-mac-with-flickrbackup/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/01/download-your-flickr-pictures-to-your-mac-with-flickrbackup/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/01/download-your-flickr-pictures-to-your-mac-with-flickrbackup/#commentsflickrbackupFile this under: cool application you'll only use once every blue moon.

Yesterday, after rooting around the web for a solution and then chatting with Fabienne a bit about porting a version of the app to OS X, I tripped across FlickrBackup. Sure, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles that Fabienne wanted, like preserving tags, groups, comments, notes, etc. from Flickr, but it does one thing and does it well: it downloads all the pics you've previously uploaded to Flickr to a central location on your computer, to a zipped archive, or to a CD or DVD backup. Of the over 1600 pictures I just downloaded from Flickr, only about 12 of them didn't come down the pipeline properly, instead resulting in a blank image with a Flickr logo and a note reading "This image temporarily unavailable." This would seem to be a Flickr issue, rather than a problem with FlickrBackup.

All in all, not too shabby. It's especially good if you've just got a new MacBook Pro and you wanted to grab just your favorite pictures for carrying around rather than sifting through all the pictures archived in iPhoto and other photo-management applications on all your other Macs. ;-)

For other cool things Flickr related, make sure you check out this page.

Update: Use this tool at your own risk! So it did a great job of downloading all those pictures, but it also somehow managed to delete several of my recent pictures. Not cool.

Download your Flickr pictures to your Mac with FlickrBackup originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 01 May 2006 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>backupdownload flickrflickrflickr backupflickrbackupmac flickr download toolMon, 01 May 2006 06:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Tips for Boot Campers]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/12/tips-for-boot-campers/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/12/tips-for-boot-campers/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/12/tips-for-boot-campers/#commentsVictor has a post over at DownloadSquad with some handy tips for those of you running Windows on your Mac via Boot Camp. I like the idea of using the Windows .Mac tool to actually get some value out of my .Mac account for a change. One observation that I'd like to make: whoever spends money on Microsoft Office for Windows is a fool. Open Office on XP runs like a charm; it's much better than the OS X version.

The seasoned Windows users amongst you will most likely find Victor's introductory post on this topic a bit too basic, but he's sure to crank out more in the future, and as always feel free to weigh in with your own ideas in the comments to either this post or Victor's.

Tips for Boot Campers originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 12 Apr 2006 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>boot campBootCampwindows on a macWindowsOnAMacWed, 12 Apr 2006 14:30:00 EST<![CDATA[A Weekend with an XP iMac]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/10/a-weekend-with-an-xp-imac/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/10/a-weekend-with-an-xp-imac/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/10/a-weekend-with-an-xp-imac/#commentsThis weekend, I conducted a little experiment. I used Boot Camp to boot my 17-inch 1.83GHz iMac Core Duo with 2GBs of RAM and an external 24-inch monitor in Windows XP and then I forced myself to remain in XP. I didn't reboot into OS X. Instead, I explored the Windows performance on the machine. Overall, I have to admit, it was a positive experience. I still prefer OS X, but I can now see the advantages to booting into XP from time to time.

One odd thing that I wasn't expecting was that I didn't find myself loathing Windows quite as much. Something about running it quickly on my nice iMac made it more pleasant than all of my previous experiences running XP on various PC boxes. It's still the fastest I've ever seen Windows perform. Half of this is probably that I didn't load it down with lots of crap programs, and I had it properly protected immediately after install with virus, firewall, and spyware protection.

There were negative aspects to the experience. It hard crashed at least 5 times on me this weekend. This mostly happened when I was installing something...
More after the jump...

Continue reading A Weekend with an XP iMac

A Weekend with an XP iMac originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 10 Apr 2006 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>boot campBootCampimacimacrunningxpwindowswindows on macWindowsOnMacxpxp on macXpOnMacMon, 10 Apr 2006 14:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Hello, Mac Gaming Machine]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/06/hello-mac-gaming-machine/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/06/hello-mac-gaming-machine/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/06/hello-mac-gaming-machine/#comments
After my initial tinkering with Windows XP on my 17" iMac Core Duo, I reinstalled XP on my Mac, using Boot Camp to eliminate the original partition and build a new one, this time 20GBs in size, so I'd have plenty of room for games. I then installed  World of Warcraft, since I already had a copy installed on my OS X partition that I was very familiar with and which would serve as a nice comparison. The results: WoW on Windows XP on my iMac, running fullscreen on my external 24-inch Dell monitor with all the graphics settings ramped up clocks in at about 6fps faster than my OS X installation of WoW, running fullscreen on the same display with the graphic settings pulled back to their default settings. Nice!

Let the PC gaming on sleek Mac hardware begin!

ps--sorry the picture above taken with my cameraphone isn't better.

Hello, Mac Gaming Machine originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 06 Apr 2006 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>boot campBootCampwindows games on macWindowsGamesOnMacworld of warcraftWorldOfWarcraftxp on macXpOnMacThu, 06 Apr 2006 14:00:00 EST<![CDATA[TUAW in Firefox in XP Home on an iMac Core Duo on TUAW]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/06/tuaw-in-internet-explorer-in-xp-home-on-an-imac-core-duo-on-tuaw/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/06/tuaw-in-internet-explorer-in-xp-home-on-an-imac-core-duo-on-tuaw/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/06/tuaw-in-internet-explorer-in-xp-home-on-an-imac-core-duo-on-tuaw/#comments
Subtitle: First Impressions of XP on a Mac.
BAM! How's that circularity for you? Yes, folks. Last night, I bravely installed Windows XP Home on my iMac Core Duo and here's a Flickr set of my installation pictures (taken with my camera phone).

What are my first impressions? It's pretty darn fast. Easily the fastest "Windows machine" I've ever worked on (and keep in mind, I used to run labs full of them). The installation was relatively painless, although I did have a few errors on my internal hard drive and had to boot off of the installation disk and run Disk Utility to repair the disk before Boot Camp would let me create the Windows partition. Unfortunately, you cannot resize this partition on the fly, so make sure you give yourself enough room. I thought I had done so, but once World of Warcraft started updating, it quickly ate up all the free space on that drive with its temporary files. So, I have to uninstall and then reinstall. I already activated this copy of XP though... how does that whole business work?

Also, I chatted with Jason Clarke over at our sibling blog, The Unofficial Microsoft Weblog, via email last night, and I think they may be posting some helpful tips for any Windows virgins who use Boot Camp to install XP on their Macs. In the past, TUMW has been the sibling weblog that we've been in a fight with, but since yesterday's release of Boot Camp means that all things Apple will eventually overtake all thinks Microsoft (as if Apple were the Borg), I don't have any problem linking to any such posts which they will produce. *grin*

My two cents: Run all the Windows Updates immediately upon installation and Download Google Pack so you have some spyware and virus protection. Keep in mind: some of those nasty Windows' viruses and worms are geared toward attacking Intel chipsets, and without OS X running interference, there's definite risk to your Intel-based Mac.

Update: Title corrected. I took another pic of TUAW in IE too, but posted the wrong one. *sorry*

TUAW in Firefox in XP Home on an iMac Core Duo on TUAW originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 06 Apr 2006 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>core duoCoreDuoimacimaccoreduoxp homexphomeThu, 06 Apr 2006 07:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Why Boot Camp doesn't mean the end of software for Macs]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/05/why-boot-camp-doesnt-mean-the-end-of-software-for-macs/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/05/why-boot-camp-doesnt-mean-the-end-of-software-for-macs/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/05/why-boot-camp-doesnt-mean-the-end-of-software-for-macs/#comments


Several readers in the comments to my earlier post are already proclaiming that the sky is indeed falling, predicting that Boot Camp means that Adobe and every other Software manufacturer out there will stop "porting" their products to OS X. This will not happen for two very easy to see reasons:

  1. Not everyone will install XP on their Macs, and therefore there is still money to be made selling software for OS X.
  2. Software companies like making money.

Also, a dual-booting environment is not the ideal work place. There's a lot of lost productivity in shutting down OS X to switch over to Windows XP to run Photoshop. As is, software manufacturers have the chance to make *more* money selling to both platforms. I mean, there is an entire Macintosh division at Microsoft creating Office for the Mac (which is not a port but a fully native OS X build of their software). Why? Because they make money off of it.

People made these same dire predictions when RealPC and VirtualPC and all those other emulators came out. They made the same predictions during that odd time in the 90s when you could purchase a PC computer on a card that you shoved into your Mac to dual boot. It hasn't happened yet (in fact there is more Mac software than ever before today because of Apple's growing marketshare) and it isn't about to happen. As long as Apple is in a state of growth, there is more money to be made selling to Apple and software companies will continue to do so.

Why Boot Camp doesn't mean the end of software for Macs originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 05 Apr 2006 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>boot campBootCampos x portsOsXPortsthe sky is fallingTheSkyIsFallingwindows softwareWindowsSoftwareWed, 05 Apr 2006 14:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Apple to PC Manufacturers and Windows: It's on!]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/05/apple-to-pc-manufacturers-and-windows-its-on/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/05/apple-to-pc-manufacturers-and-windows-its-on/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/05/apple-to-pc-manufacturers-and-windows-its-on/#commentsOMG I cannot stop giggling with glee over Scott's Boot Camp post. Apple has just thrown down a pretty major gauntlet to all the current PC manufacturers. I mean, now, thousands of cubicle workers around the globe can say, "Yes, I can run Windows on my MacBook Pro. I won't be needing that Dell machine you ordered for me to run the one bit of proprietary Windows-based software that has shackled our company to an expensive spyware and virus-riddled platform for far too long."

If it works nicely, that means in the short term that Dell is in big trouble, as are all other PC manufacturers. It also means that Windows may be making some more money starting out, as a decent number of Apple users *may* go out and buy a copy to install on their Macs. However, over time, if Apple plays its cards right and doesn't screw things up, people will see that booting into OS X runs more smoothly and is nicer than booting into Windows, and we may see more switchers than ever before.

Of course, the real key to this would be if Apple would just go ahead and release a version of OS X for PCs. I think with Boot Camp, Apple just threw down the gauntlet and within a year, they'll take the fight to the desktop PC. I cannot wait.

Apple to PC Manufacturers and Windows: It's on! originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 05 Apr 2006 09:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>boot campboot windowsBootCampBootWindowsdeath to the pcdeath to windowsDeathToThePcDeathToWindowsintel macIntelMacwindows on macWindowsOnMacWed, 05 Apr 2006 09:35:00 EST<![CDATA[iPod Updater 2006-03-23]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/29/ipod-updater-2006-03-23/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/29/ipod-updater-2006-03-23/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/29/ipod-updater-2006-03-23/#comments
If you launch Software Update, you should see iPod Updater 2006-03-23 pop up. Weighing in at 27.6MBs this update contains both New iPod Software 1.1.1 for iPod and New iPod Software 1.1.1 for iPod nano. Besides the normal group of bug fixes, the main feature being added is Volume Limit, which Apple claims will be mentioned here, although the link currently doesn't work.

Cool. I wonder if it will limit the volume from blaring every time my cellphone rings, or if that bug still works around this fix.

iPod Updater 2006-03-23 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 29 Mar 2006 10:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ipodipod software updateIpodSoftwareUpdatesoftware updateSoftwareUpdatevolume limiterVolumeLimiterWed, 29 Mar 2006 10:35:00 EST<![CDATA[Fixscreen: AppleScript to fix Fast User Switching Color Bug]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/29/fixscreen-applescript-to-fix-fast-user-switching-color-bug/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/29/fixscreen-applescript-to-fix-fast-user-switching-color-bug/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/29/fixscreen-applescript-to-fix-fast-user-switching-color-bug/#comments
Well over a month ago, I reported on the color profile problems I was experiencing on my new iMac. Basically, whenever I enabled fast user switching and actually switched between accounts, my color profile would change off of the nicely calibrated settings to some odd profile that wasn't even in the color profile list with no way of switching back short of restarting the machine. Several readers pointed to a makeshift solution posted over at Mac OS X Hints, which involved launching the Terminal and running DMProxy, a file located along this long path:

/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/\ Versions/A/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/Versions/A/Resources/DMProxy

This solution works, as I finally bothered to try it today (bonus question: over a month later divided by C.K.'s laziness equals how many days of lost productivity rebooting the machine?), and I even went the extra mile and made it into a nice little AppleScript Application called, simply, fixscreen (ctrl click this link and save to disk). All this script does is launch DMProxy, which fixes the color shift bug that occurs when fast user switching, and then it displays a dialog that reads: "Done!" I have it sitting in my Dock ready to run whenever I need it. I hope you find it useful.

ps-Why hasn't Apple fixed this annoying little bug yet? From all reports it's been lurking around since at least 10.4.1 and anyone who tries to submit a bug report about it receives a "Known Issue" notification.

Fixscreen: AppleScript to fix Fast User Switching Color Bug originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 29 Mar 2006 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>applescriptcolor shiftingfast user bugWed, 29 Mar 2006 09:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Mac mini Core Solo: The good stuff and a peek inside]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/08/mac-mini-core-solo-the-good-stuff/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/08/mac-mini-core-solo-the-good-stuff/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/08/mac-mini-core-solo-the-good-stuff/#commentsDespite my previous two posts on the topic, there are things to like about the Mac mini, and so I've decided not to return the machine. I still think it is overpriced and I also maintain that the Front Row performance over Bonjour is shoddy at best. However, if you keep all your media on the Mac mini, it works nicely as a little media server offering the local media up to my TV. My only complaint about that is that Front Row doesn't recognize my iPod and the content on it when it is mounted on the Mac mini, even though I can navigate and play all that content via iTunes itself.

I also discovered that the 512MB chip that I ripped out of my iMac when I upgraded it to 2GBs of RAM fits quite nicely and works well inside my Mac mini, which is now running 768MBs of RAM after an easy bit of tinkering (Photos of said tinkering after the jump). The added RAM has doubled the frame rate at which I can run World of Warcraft on my 32-inch HDTV. It's still a bit sluggish at 16-20fps in crowded areas, but it is playable and overall a cool experience while lounging on my couch with wireless bluetooth keyboard in lap and mouse to my side. Additionally, using this wonderful little program called iRecord, I can hook up my digital cable box to the mini via a FireWire cable and record shows in HDTV. Unfortunately, playing back these HDTV shows with their large 7.35GB size footprint (for an hour of video) via VLC seems a little beyond the capabilities of the mini as the video shows up as an animated series of stills during fast-moving sections. However, I can easily bring these large files over to my iMac where I can watch them and compress them to a smaller, more mini friendly format. Also, as a dev box, I am liking the mini. I can jump into it easily enough using Chicken of the VNC on my iMac and OSXvnc on the mini. I can also ssh in via the command line. Compiling code, while not blazingly fast, isn't snail-crawl slow either. So, I'm enjoying the box for what I bought it for, I just wish it had a Core Duo, came with more RAM, Bonjour video worked better, and it hadn't cost so much.

Continue reading Mac mini Core Solo: The good stuff and a peek inside

Mac mini Core Solo: The good stuff and a peek inside originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 08 Mar 2006 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>good thingsinsideinstalling memorymac miniMacMinireviewWed, 08 Mar 2006 17:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Mac mini Core Solo: Not a good switcher machine]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/06/mac-mini-core-solo-not-a-good-switcher-machine/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/06/mac-mini-core-solo-not-a-good-switcher-machine/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/06/mac-mini-core-solo-not-a-good-switcher-machine/#commentsI'm getting a lot of comments on last night's review of the Mac mini Core Solo, and a lot of Mac faithful are saying that the review is too harsh, that I'm being too negative, and that the majority of the problems would appear to be software glitches, not hardware. They wonder why I am currently panning the device in my review.

Allow me to offer a very simple rebuttal that I think justifies my negative review. The Mac mini, since its introduction, has been the machine most clearly aimed at switchers. It's a small, supposedly inexpensive computer, sans keyboard, mouse, and screen, that any Windows user can buy as their starter Mac. Now, let's overlook for a moment that in Windows land, $600 for a 1.5Ghz processor and a 80GB hard drive is by no means a steal. If you were a first time Mac user, who had long heard the marvels of Mac, the stability of OS X, and had finally gone to purchase one, hearing from all your friends that it would be a paradise of no crashes, no bugs, that it would just work compared to your crashtastic Windows machine, wouldn't you be inclined to return it if you encountered all the little glitches I've encountered over the past 24 hours?

I honestly think that if a substantial number of other Mac mini users are encountering the same problems that I have been encountering, that releasing the machine at this price point and with these problems could in the long run prove to be a huge marketing mistake on Apple's part.

Mac mini Core Solo: Not a good switcher machine originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Mar 2006 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Mon, 06 Mar 2006 08:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Mac mini Core Solo: First Impressions]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/05/mac-mini-core-solo-first-impressions/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/05/mac-mini-core-solo-first-impressions/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/05/mac-mini-core-solo-first-impressions/#commentsIt may surprise you, based on my initial and following response to the news of the new Mac mini, that I acquired one for myself.

My initial reactions were largely in response to the elevated price of the entry level model in comparison to the new features offered. Nevertheless, I like the mini as a development box to run odd experiments on, so I placed my hands on a Mac mini Core Solo this weekend. This initial post will be my first impressions of the device after having toyed with it for the better half of a day. I can sum up the experience in one easy to understand sentence: I'm considering taking it back before the Apple Store's 14 day return period expires.

There are several little oddities and one big problem that are making me think that either I got a dud, or Apple let this little Mac out into the wild a bit too soon. If you look at the picture accompanying this post, you'll see the Mac mini doesn't fully comprehend what it is. It thinks it is an 1.5Ghz Core Duo in the About this Mac panel, but the System Profiler, pictured to with this paragraph, knows the secret truth. This could be a very minimal glitch, and not something over which to return the machine, but if you read on after the break, you'll see more reason, including Front Row performance that is much below what any of us, I think, expected.

More after the break...

Continue reading Mac mini Core Solo: First Impressions

Mac mini Core Solo: First Impressions originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 05 Mar 2006 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Sun, 05 Mar 2006 22:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Front Row and iPhoto Updates too...]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/01/front-row-and-iphoto-updates-too/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/01/front-row-and-iphoto-updates-too/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/01/front-row-and-iphoto-updates-too/#comments
I saw Dave's post about the updates, and so I launched Software Update and found a few that he didn't mention: Front Row Update 1.2.1 and iPhoto update 6.0.2.

All I have to say is: bonjour!

Update: looks like Dave got the iPhoto update in there in an update to his post while I was writing this one...

Front Row and iPhoto Updates too... originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 01 Mar 2006 17:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>bonjourfront rowFrontRowiphotosoftware updateupdateWed, 01 Mar 2006 17:58:00 EST<![CDATA[This week's Diggnation on Macs]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/01/this-weeks-diggnation-on-macs/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/01/this-weeks-diggnation-on-macs/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/01/this-weeks-diggnation-on-macs/#comments*sigh* That was a funny episode. I just finished watching the latest episode of Diggnation, the video podcast associated with Digg. Usually the show is amusing, but this week cohosts Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht hosted the video podcast in a bar in front of a live audience and the ending became very funny and Apple related. They'd been doing shots alongside their beers and Alex accidently put his PC laptop into standby mode, and Kevin made a comment about how that wouldn't happen with a Mac. Alex retorted something like "Yeah a Mac just goes to sleep and you lose battery power" and the crowd started booing him.

Kevin: Yeah, Mac fans!
Alex: Wait a minute. Are there really that many Mac fans?
*CROWD GOES NUTS; Kevin gives Alex the bird*
Kevin: YES!
Alex: Wait a minute... That's why we only have 150,000 viewers!

Wrong, so wrong, but that's funny stuff.

This week's Diggnation on Macs originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 01 Mar 2006 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>alex albrechtapplediggnationkevin roseWed, 01 Mar 2006 17:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Who knew that the new movies in the iTMS would *really* be yesterday's big news?]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/01/who-knew-that-the-new-movies-in-the-itms-would-really-be-yeste/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/01/who-knew-that-the-new-movies-in-the-itms-would-really-be-yeste/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/01/who-knew-that-the-new-movies-in-the-itms-would-really-be-yeste/#comments
Yesterday morning, I posted a prediction that proved incorrect. Apple didn't announce movies in the iTMS to be the big announcement of the day. Nevertheless, I feel that the Academy Award Nominated Short Films appearing in the iTMS yesterday actually ended up being the biggest news of the day. As I noted yesterday, it's the first appearance of non-Pixar/Disney shorts in the music store, so it paves the way for more great content (although all of the films are presented by the Sundance Channel, so it is kind of like another TV network releasing shows on the iTMS).

As for all the other announcements from yesterday, I can sum them all up-explain why they are all dud announcements-in one simple word: overpriced. $1.99 for the new short films in the iTMS is a bargain. Everything else was overpriced. Overpriced like the $99 leather iPod cases that don't actually provide the user with any access to the controls of the iPod. Overpriced like the $349 boombox that still needs the addition of a $300 iPod to make it as cool as it can be (and even then it is not that cool; I mean "Hi-Fi" is a 70s term, and the boombox is an 80s device; how is this expensive iPod peripheral indicative of Apple's innovation?). Overpriced like the $599 and $799 Mac minis. One of the great things about Apple's Mac mini line should be its affordability, and yesterday, we saw little value added to the Mac mini line and yet the most expensive one of them runs just fourfive hundred less than the faster iMac line that lacks the need to provide your own screen, keyboard, and mouse. I mean, what was added? The expected shift from PowerPC to Intel processors? The fastest they offer in the mini is still only 1.67Ghz. The Apple Remote? If it's so much simpler than all the other remotes I own, then how come it alone is priced at more than any of those full-featured remotes? The new Bonjour-savvy Front Row? Well, that is cool, but all Macs with Front Row will be getting this feature, so I don't think it warrants the attention, especially when nothing really innovative has been done with the new mini to make it an effective media center. Sure it can work with an HDTV, but where's the built-in PVR? I mean, if you want to pipe your HDTV digital cable connection into the mini you are still going to need to spend a couple of hundred dollars on something like an EyeTV. I don't see any HDMI / DVI in on that new expensive mini.

I, like Jan, am under-whelmed by yesterday's announcements, and I agree with Damien that Apple clearly dropped the ball and our disappointment is not the creation of our fanaticism, but rather Apple's failure to live up to the innovation we've come to expect from them.

Who knew that the new movies in the iTMS would *really* be yesterday's big news? originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 01 Mar 2006 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>apple special eventipod casemac minimac special eventMacSpecialEventshort filmsWed, 01 Mar 2006 10:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Apple Special Event Chatcast Extavaganza]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/28/apple-special-event-chatcast-extavaganza/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/28/apple-special-event-chatcast-extavaganza/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/28/apple-special-event-chatcast-extavaganza/#commentsScott'll be posting any news we glean from today's event, nicely and neatly in a separate post for those of you who detest our chatcasts, and Engadget has Ryan Block on the scene, but for those of you who love reading us ramble on, drooling over the day's announcements and being as snarky as snark can be, here's the place where you'll find all our babblings. Enjoy.

Begin chatcast:

Pregame chatter...
12:30 PM
Damien Barrett: The Apple Store is still up...
David Chartier: I don't think it usually goes down this far outside game time though
Damien Barrett: don't know
C.K. Sample, III: yeah
C.K. Sample, III: usually it goes down 15 mninutes before
David Chartier: do they hold events like this on the Apple Campus often?
C.K. Sample, III: not that I'm aware of
Damien Barrett: not usually on Apple Campus...no
C.K. Sample, III: it's a bit out of the ordinary
C.K. Sample, III: which makes me think it is going to be movie related announcements
Damien Barrett: I agree with C.K.
David Chartier: as in: it isn't a big enough deal to do it elsewhere?
12:35 PM
Damien Barrett: but why would Engadget be invited if Apple's not releasing or pimping a gadget?
C.K. Sample, III: there's the rub...
Damien Barrett: but it could also be they've finally finished the product that was supposed to be the "one more thing" product at MWSF but got bumped
David Chartier: Kevin Rose said something in the TWiT podcast that made me optimistic that it's at least something important: he's been able to peg it in the past when events are off campus because he has some kind of insider
David Chartier: but since it's on the campus, it's a lot harder to leak this stuff
Damien Barrett: I'm not the only one who felt that this year's MWSF Keynote felt less solid than those in the past, as if things were changed at the last minute
David Chartier: I felt like the software portion got bumped and squished in order to squeeze in the MacBooks
David Chartier: He might as well have said "eh, and iWork... yea that's neat too."

Check out the rest after the break...

Continue reading Apple Special Event Chatcast Extavaganza

Apple Special Event Chatcast Extavaganza originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 28 Feb 2006 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>apple special eventAppleSpecialEventmac minimac mini intelTue, 28 Feb 2006 13:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Academy Award Nominated Short Films point to movies to be the announcement of the day]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/28/academy-award-nominated-short-films-point-to-movies-to-be-the-an/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/28/academy-award-nominated-short-films-point-to-movies-to-be-the-an/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/28/academy-award-nominated-short-films-point-to-movies-to-be-the-an/#comments
Here's my thinking:
  1. This morning in the iTMS, along with some Bravo shows, we received some Academy Award Nominated Short Films. Short films? So what? We already have Pixar shorts! you retort. Ah-ha! See! These are non-Pixar films in the iTMS. The first.
  2. Kevin Rose of Digg fame didn't post "Hey, I got the scoop from my super secret source last night on all the hardware Apple is announcing tomorrow!" as he has for the last several Apple events.
  3. This CNNMoney.com article makes sense. The announcement is going to be all about movies coming to the iTMS.
After connecting the dots between these bits, I honestly don't think we'll see any new hardware announced once 9am 10am PST rolls around. I *hope* I'm wrong, but I now really think it is going to be all about movies. Also, I will be very disappointed if I am right.

The only thing that kind of weighs in favor of there being some hardware announcement is that Ryan Block from Engadget received an invitation to the event and will be there today. Check over at Engadget for the nice orderly news of the announcements. If you prefer fan-driven speculation and frothing-at-the-mouth craziness, check back later today as we have a live chatcast of the event and we try to get Ryan to leak info to us simultaneously with his feeding the info to Engadget, i.e. signal to noise issues; you've been warned ;-)

Academy Award Nominated Short Films point to movies to be the announcement of the day originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 28 Feb 2006 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>announcementitmsmedia eventmoviesTue, 28 Feb 2006 09:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Safari Vulnerability]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/21/safari-vulnerability/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/21/safari-vulnerability/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/21/safari-vulnerability/#commentsDidn't we learn this lesson already? Disable the "Open 'safe' files after downloading" and this won't affect you.

In any case, according to Ars Technica a German security firm discovered a Safari vulnerability by which a shell script could be run after clicking on a link. Set "Panic button" to Mildly cautious; Ars Technica advises: "Currently, the exploit is not out in the wild. Until Apple issues an update to Mac OS X and/or Safari, however, Safari users should change their user preferences to remove the possibility of malicious scripts causing damage. Or they could switch browsers. I would expect a patch to come Real Soon Now, as this should be easy to fix."

I'd guess we'll see a security update later today or tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Safari Vulnerability originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Feb 2006 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>open safe filesOpenSafeFilespossible security issue with os xsafari vulnerabilityTue, 21 Feb 2006 13:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Free Pilot of NBC's Conviction on iTMS]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/21/free-pilot-of-nbcs-conviction-on-itms/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/21/free-pilot-of-nbcs-conviction-on-itms/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/21/free-pilot-of-nbcs-conviction-on-itms/#commentsTo promote their new show about the cases and lives of NY Assistant District Attorneys, NBC is offering the pilot episode of Conviction as a free download from the iTMS [direct iTMS link]. There's also a free music video by The Gabe Dixon Band and a free behind-the-scenes infomercial forlook at the new drama. It's cranked out by the creator of Law & Order, so if you like those type of shows, make sure you check it out.

I wish there were a show called Anarchy & Chaos.... that's a show I'd watch.

Free Pilot of NBC's Conviction on iTMS originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Feb 2006 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>convictionfree pilot episodefree tv showitmsnbcTue, 21 Feb 2006 12:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Microsoft giving away $10K in Mac stuff]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/21/microsoft-giving-away-10k-in-mac-stuff/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/21/microsoft-giving-away-10k-in-mac-stuff/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/21/microsoft-giving-away-10k-in-mac-stuff/#commentsCheck out the Microsoft Office for Mac Spring Cleaning Sweepstakes. You could win a prize package including a tricked out MacBook Pro, a Apple Cinema display, a Herman Miller Aeron Chair and a whole slew of other bits.

Who says Microsoft doesn't like Mac and Mac users?

Still no Universal Binary version of Office, though...

[via Digg]

Microsoft giving away $10K in Mac stuff originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Feb 2006 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>giveawaymactopiaofficesweepstakeswin a macbook proTue, 21 Feb 2006 11:00:00 EST<![CDATA[iMovie HD Update]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/19/imovie-hd-update/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/19/imovie-hd-update/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/19/imovie-hd-update/#comments
Sometimes, when you've just blogged about iLife updates and then Apple releases a new update to iMovie HD, but it is the weekend, and you're a big Apple blog that gets tons of tips, often tips on news that you've already covered, you overlook the update and think, "Hey, we already blogged that." Well, we didn't blog it new, but Dave did add an update to his post. I decided to post it again separately so that everyone will stop sending in tips about it. Sorry this is late, but if you run Software Update, you should have iMovie HD Update 6.0.1 which weighs in at 52.6MBs on my iMac Core Duo. Supposedly, this update fixes some problems with Ken Burns effect. Unfortunately, it doesn't completely remove this effect, nor does it turn it off by default.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

iMovie HD Update originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 19 Feb 2006 11:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>imoviesoftware updateSun, 19 Feb 2006 11:05:00 EST<![CDATA[Emulate Windows with Q]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/17/emulate-windows-with-q/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/17/emulate-windows-with-q/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/17/emulate-windows-with-q/#commentsI just downloaded and installed Q on my iMac Core Duo. I tried importing my Windows 2000 Virtual PC 7 image from an old backup disk, and it imported, but keeps crashing at startup. However, this discussion over at Accelerate Your Macintosh has me hopeful that Q just may be the future of free Windows emulation on the Mac. According to the Q site, "Run Windows, Linux and a lot more Systems on your Mac. Q is a feature packed cocoa port of QEMU: Switch fast between guest PCs. Save and restart guest PCs at any stage. Easily exchange Files between Host and Guest. Q makes use of OS X most advanced technologies like openGL and coreaudio to accelerate your experience with your guest PC."

This program is still in development, but they have a Universal Binary. Later on today, when I have some free hours (ha!), I think I'll try to build an image from scratch and install XP. I'll report back after the weekend with my findings.

Emulate Windows with Q originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 17 Feb 2006 11:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>emulatorQuniversal binarywindowsFri, 17 Feb 2006 11:47:00 EST<![CDATA[TUAW on the news]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/16/tuaw-on-the-news/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/16/tuaw-on-the-news/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/16/tuaw-on-the-news/#commentsIt was only for a second or two, but this morning I appeared on WABC (the NYC ABC affiliate) morning news as an "iPod expert." They show my harrowing visage with my name underneath and a quick mention of The Unofficial Apple Weblog / TUAW.com beneath my name. We're famous! We've made it to TV! w00t!

Here's a link to the accompanying story and if you are curious to see exactly how badly my diet has been going, make sure you check out the video podcast of the interview.

TUAW on the news originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 16 Feb 2006 08:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>interviewipod expertIpodExperttuaw on tvThu, 16 Feb 2006 08:04:00 EST<![CDATA[6G iPod pics (aka Photoshop is fun!)]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/14/6g-ipod-pics-aka-photoshop-is-fun/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/14/6g-ipod-pics-aka-photoshop-is-fun/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/14/6g-ipod-pics-aka-photoshop-is-fun/#comments
Reader, bl8ant writes in with this email: "6gen ipod images? hi, dont know if they are real or where they came from (other than on a server connected to a computer at a desk at a certain company that i'm freelancing at), but i can't find this version anywhere on the web, so who knows? anyway, it's a cool idea, real or not. where can i email or upload them to you at? they're 2 jpegs, low res. -bl8ant" So, I emailed him with our address and he sent in the pic here and the second one that can be found after the jump in this post.

They look real to me. Real fake that is. Still cool look and concept, but imagine the lawsuits and scratching complaints that would arise if Apple really did go this route... I'd still probably buy one, but as you know by now, I'll buy anything.

Continue reading 6G iPod pics (aka Photoshop is fun!)

6G iPod pics (aka Photoshop is fun!) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 14 Feb 2006 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>6g ipod mocksfakeipodphotoshopTue, 14 Feb 2006 19:00:00 EST<![CDATA[10.4.5 Available via Software Update (for both PPC and Intel-based Macs)]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/14/10-4-5-available-via-software-update-for-both-ppc-and-intel-bas/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/14/10-4-5-available-via-software-update-for-both-ppc-and-intel-bas/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/14/10-4-5-available-via-software-update-for-both-ppc-and-intel-bas/#comments
As a Valentine's day present to us all, Apple has released Mac OS X Update version 10.4.5. Run Software Update now to download and install the System Update, but be warned: a restart is required. My Intel-flavored version of the update weighs in at 40.6MBs (Scott reports that his PPC version is only 6.4MBs in size) and "is recommended for all users and includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes for the following applications and technologies: iChat video conferencing, Safari rendering of web pages, usability of Dashboard and widgets, viewing of QuickTime streaming media behind a firewall, printing to some Epson printer models, iDisk and Portable Home Directory syncing, time zone and daylight savings for 2006 and 2007, VPN connections to Cisco servers when using NAT, compatibility with third party applications and devices" and a slew of other "previous standalone security updates."

You can find more info about the update via this KBarticle. Lock and load.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

10.4.5 Available via Software Update (for both PPC and Intel-based Macs) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 14 Feb 2006 16:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>10.4.5intelos xppcsoftware updateSoftwareUpdateTue, 14 Feb 2006 16:35:00 EST<![CDATA[I just splurge bought the entire Schoolhouse Rock collection]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/14/i-just-splurge-bought-the-entire-schoolhouse-rock-collection/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/14/i-just-splurge-bought-the-entire-schoolhouse-rock-collection/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/14/i-just-splurge-bought-the-entire-schoolhouse-rock-collection/#comments
I know Dave already mentioned this, but I just wanted to underscore how cool this is. Nothing sells like nostalgia. I just bought the entire Schoolhouse Rock collection from the iTunes Music Store. And now, I am sitting here at my desk listening / watching each video while I work on this post. Never has an iTMS purchase given me such instant joy. I'm singing along. This was my childhood! And now it will be on my iPod! OMG!

I just splurge bought the entire Schoolhouse Rock collection originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 14 Feb 2006 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Tue, 14 Feb 2006 09:15:00 EST<![CDATA[My iMac Core Duo's odd behavior]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/13/imac-core-duo-odd-behavior/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/13/imac-core-duo-odd-behavior/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/13/imac-core-duo-odd-behavior/#comments
There are a few odd behaviors on my new iMac Core Duo that keep reappearing. One of the most noticeable has been a switch of the ColorSync profile of the machine to a non-native profile, followed by a complete inability to change the profile back or to create a new profile. I don't know if everyone with iMac Core Duos are experiencing this issue, if it is an odd bug brought on by my use of an external 24-inch Dell monitor as my main display and monitor spanning turned on, or if it's something brought on by the numerous Rosetta and Universal Binary programs I'm running. For all I know, it could be a side effect of playing World of Warcraft for hours on the machine.

In any case, the fix for the problem would seem to be to run OnyX or Cocktail, repair all permissions and flush all the caches on the machine. This returns the ColorSync profiles to their defaults and allows me the ability to switch between the different profiles. Anyone else seeing this problem with their Intel-based Macs? It seems to recur about once a week for me. Any other peculiar bits of recurring odd behavior that you have noticed?

My iMac Core Duo's odd behavior originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 Feb 2006 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>bugscolorsynccore duoimacodd behaviorpermissionsMon, 13 Feb 2006 10:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Reviewing the Reviewers: iMac Core Duo]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/08/reviewing-the-reviewers-imac-core-duo/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/08/reviewing-the-reviewers-imac-core-duo/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/08/reviewing-the-reviewers-imac-core-duo/#comments
I did a review for Cinematical once, where I reviewed other people's reviews of a particular movie, comparing and contrasting with my own impressions; since the folks over at MacInTouch did some great groundwork on testing and reviewing the new iMac Core Duo, I thought I'd review their review, providing you with a slightly less polished, real world set of impressions on the different bits they cover without rehashing too much of what I've said before. So consider this post a companion post to theirs, a Mac-Internet group hug with the new iMac Core Duo in the middle, if you will. You'll find all the nitty gritty bits after the jump...

Continue reading Reviewing the Reviewers: iMac Core Duo

Reviewing the Reviewers: iMac Core Duo originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 08 Feb 2006 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>core duoimacperformancereviewWed, 08 Feb 2006 12:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Road to WINE travel-able, but filled with potholes...]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/08/road-to-wine-travel-able-but-filled-with-potholes/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/08/road-to-wine-travel-able-but-filled-with-potholes/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/08/road-to-wine-travel-able-but-filled-with-potholes/#comments
Don't get overly excited by this Digg post , announcing WINE arrives for Intel Macs. If you actually follow the links through to the discussion thread where this story originates, you'll find that WINE is compiled and working, but not that well: "I warn you. There is nothing to get excited about.... What I mean by this is, while this does in fact run windows apps, it *doesn't* seem to be running things that I *know* worked with the stuff that was floating around last summer. Its perplexing as to why this is. "

To keep your eye on the situation, you should keep reading those boards and check regularly with the Darwine project.

Road to WINE travel-able, but filled with potholes... originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 08 Feb 2006 09:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>core duodarwineintelwindows on macwineWed, 08 Feb 2006 09:20:00 EST<![CDATA[WoW Universal Binary FAST on iMac Core Duo]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/08/wow-universal-binary-fast-on-imac-core-duo/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/08/wow-universal-binary-fast-on-imac-core-duo/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/08/wow-universal-binary-fast-on-imac-core-duo/#commentsIn case you didn't see my post yesterday over at WoW Insider, I just wanted to point out over here that, yes, indeed: yesterday's Universal Binary patch for World of Warcraft means the game runs nice and fast on my iMac Core Duo.

On a 1.83Ghz Core Duo with 2GBs of RAM and 128MB of VRAM, I'm seeing 50-60 frames per second in unpopulated areas with the graphics set to the defaults. If I ramp all the graphics up, I'm still seeing 40-45 frames per second in these areas. If I enter something like a battleground where there's lots of action going on, I'm seeing about 30-40 frames per second with the graphics set to the defaults and 18-28 frames per second with the graphics pushed to their limit. Keep in mind that 24 frames per second is a stop-motion animated film, and regular full motion video is normally 29.97 frames per second.

Overall, I'm ecstatic. Finally! A Mac gaming machine that actually plays games!

Dear Game Developers: the time to code for Mac is now!

WoW Universal Binary FAST on iMac Core Duo originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 08 Feb 2006 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>fastframes per seconduniversal binaryworld of warcraftWorldOfWarcraftWed, 08 Feb 2006 08:00:00 EST<![CDATA[1GB iPod nano for $149]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/07/1gb-ipod-nano-for-149/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/07/1gb-ipod-nano-for-149/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/07/1gb-ipod-nano-for-149/#comments
I don't know yet if this is the only reason the Apple Store was down earlier today, but in any case, they've just announced a new 1GB iPod nano for $149 and the iPod shuffle now starts at $69 for the 512MB model and $99 for the 1GB model. I would have preferred a $99 1GB iPod nano and that they just trash the 1GB shuffle, but, whatever...

1GB iPod nano for $149 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 07 Feb 2006 08:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>1GBipod nanoipod shuffleIpodNanonew ipodTue, 07 Feb 2006 08:55:00 EST<![CDATA[Showtime on iTMS]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/07/showtime-on-itms/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/07/showtime-on-itms/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/07/showtime-on-itms/#comments
Well, it's Tuesday again. Or as I like to call it: "As a network, we finally figured out that we could make money by selling our shows individually for a $1.99 each on the iTMS, but we're still a little frightened of throwing all of our content up there" day.

Showtime is offering Sleeper Cell [direct iTMS link], Weeds, and Fat Actress for $1.99 per episode. Although Showtime isn't the first cable network to offer content via the iTMS, it is the first of the big subscription only channels to do so, so hopefully they will sell well and we will soon see The Sopranos and Curb Your Enthusiasm up on the iTMS. It also gives hope to die hard Arrested Development fans, like yours truly; should rumors prove true that Showtime is in talks to acquire the show, I'll be able to buy episodes at $1.99 a pop rather than fork out the dough for the Showtime subscription (more likely that I would wait for DVD release or convince a friend with Showtime to tape them for me). Sure, at $1.99 per episode, I'd quickly catch up with the subscription fee, but those cable taxes they slap on every subscription are a little tricky, I tells ya!

Thanks for the tip, Jake!

Showtime on iTMS originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 07 Feb 2006 07:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Tue, 07 Feb 2006 07:45:00 EST<![CDATA[iChat for .Mac members currently down]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/03/ichat-for-mac-members-currently-down/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/03/ichat-for-mac-members-currently-down/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/03/ichat-for-mac-members-currently-down/#commentsIf you go to .Mac right now and login to your account, you will discover this little notice in the sidebar about half way down: "iChat with .Mac accounts is currently unavailable. All other .Mac services are unaffected. Last Updated: 2/3/2006."

Gee, thanks, Apple! How about an ETA on when this will be fixed or an explanation of why this is happening, or, Jobs forbid, a little warning that this was going to happen? I don't know about everybody else out there in Internet land, but chat is pretty mission critical to my day to day, and this is the second time in the past few months when this has happened.

Time to migrate all my buddies over to the generic AIM account I registered a while back. Add "unreliable iChat performance" to the long list of cons that is going to have me seriously consider canceling my .Mac account next time it is up for renewal.

Update: It's back up at 1:05pm EST with a note stating that it was down for 50 minutes (yet still with no info as to why).

iChat for .Mac members currently down originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 03 Feb 2006 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>.macchatdot macichatFri, 03 Feb 2006 12:45:00 EST<![CDATA[Another Rosetta Compatibility List]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/01/another-rosetta-compatibility-list/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/01/another-rosetta-compatibility-list/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/01/another-rosetta-compatibility-list/#commentsFollowing up on yesterday's post about a Macintouch Rosetta compatibility list, I found that MacFixIt has a much more comprehensive list.

This hopefully will help assuage the lamentations of readers such as EatingPie, who found the Macintouch list much too tiny.

Actually, let us know if you spot any other Rosetta compatibility lists out there. Perhaps, if we find enough of these lists spattered around the Internets, we can gather them together into a TUAW uber-list.

Another Rosetta Compatibility List originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 01 Feb 2006 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>compatibilitylistrosettaWed, 01 Feb 2006 14:00:00 EST<![CDATA[How do you make Windows more Mac-like?]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/01/how-do-you-make-windows-more-mac-like/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/01/how-do-you-make-windows-more-mac-like/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/01/how-do-you-make-windows-more-mac-like/#comments
Alright. I confess. I might as well, since someone in the comments noticed it sitting there under my iMac in this post.

I got a Dell.

Actually, I didn't get the machine so much as have it temporarily assigned to me while I await my MacBook Pro.

In any case, I've been tinkering with it (and, yes, I feel somewhat soiled by the experience), but I've also been trying to make it more like OS X. I realized that a large number of our readers, though Mac-lovers, are forced to toil away all day on company machines running Windows. So, I ask you, dear TUAW readers: how do you make Windows more Mac-like? I'm all ears.

How do you make Windows more Mac-like? originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 01 Feb 2006 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>dellos xOsXwindowsWed, 01 Feb 2006 13:30:00 EST<![CDATA[X11 on Intel Macs]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/01/x11-on-intel-macs/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/01/x11-on-intel-macs/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/01/x11-on-intel-macs/#commentsDespite my initial inability to find a proper X11 installer the other day, it is included on the disk with my new iMac (although nowhere that I could find on Apple's website, which I think is a mistake on Apple's part). So, I installed X11 and OOo and the Gimp. The X11 launcher app is installed in your Utilities folder and, after the initial launch of the program, launches quite speedily (just one bounce in the Dock!). Launching the Gimp takes a bit longer with 9 bounces in the Dock and then a very speedy splash screen load. OpenOffice.org 2.0 takes even longer with one bounce and about 14 seconds total loading time.

Great. So what? Well, here's the interesting bit: both the Gimp and OOo (which is really only an alpha release) launch and run faster than Microsoft Office and Photoshop running in Rosetta. So, if you have a new Intel-based Mac and you are lamenting Photoshop and Word sluggishness, why not give these open source softwares a try? There's an initial learning curve, but, hey... they're free. Free is good.

X11 on Intel Macs originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 01 Feb 2006 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>gimpOOoopen office orgrosettax11Wed, 01 Feb 2006 13:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Rosetta compatibility list]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/01/31/rosetta-compatibility-list/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/01/31/rosetta-compatibility-list/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/01/31/rosetta-compatibility-list/#commentsTo supplement creativebits' list of what you cannot run on a Mactel, the Mac Internets now has a Rosetta Compatibility list courtesy of Macintouch.

Does anyone else find it completely laughable that the company with the most incompatible programs under its name is Apple?

Of course, at this point, the list isn't too exhaustive, so some other company could edge Apple out of that spot, but still... why the delay? Are they waiting for the pro machines before they release the pro apps in Universal Binary?

Rosetta compatibility list originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 31 Jan 2006 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>compatibilityintelrosettaTue, 31 Jan 2006 12:30:00 EST