The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) http://www.tuaw.com The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/feedlogo.gif The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) http://www.tuaw.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[WWDC Predictions from TUAW]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/08/01/wwdc-predictions-from-tuaw/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/08/01/wwdc-predictions-from-tuaw/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/08/01/wwdc-predictions-from-tuaw/#commentsFiled under: , ,

It's prognostication time again. Before every major Apple Event, TUAW bloggers offer their predictions on what, if anything, Apple will release or announce. Sometimes we're right; sometimes we're wrong. With WWDC less than one week away, it's time to dust off our psychic hats and offer up what we see coming from Apple:

Conrad Quilty-Harper
Pretty certain
- Mac minis move to 1.66 Core Solo/1.86 Core Duo (with lower price points?)
- New Intel Xserves
- New Cinema Displays
- Mac Pro
- 10.5 demo, beta disks to developers, new naming scheme (big cats are old)

Not so certain
- Core 2 Duo iMacs
- 6G iPods? Smaller, cheaper shuffles? Bigger capacity nanos? OLED displays
- New hardware all feature Nvidia cards/Intel integrated, no more ATI

Damien Barrett
The safe money is on the Mac Pro as a replacement for the G5 PowerMacs, utilizing the new Intel Core 2 Duo processors. Probably a new case design with a smaller footprint.

A longer shot, but still likely, is the release or announcment of Apple's iPhone. The new iPod software appears to include references to phone-related functions and other industry people have been talking openly about Apple's foray into this market.

Unlikely, but I just can't let a prediction cycle pass without wishing for it: an iTablet. Work bought me a Dell Axim X51 and it's nice, but using it is just as clunky as using Windows. I want the elegance of OS X but in a largish PDA or tablet form factor. If anyone can do it, Apple can.

Dave Caolo
I'm keeping it simple. Mac Pro, 10.5 ship date (and demo, of course).

Dan Lurie
I'm sticking with Dave in that I'm only predicting 10.5 ship date and Mac Pro's as a certainty. Less certain but still possible is the iPhone, which analysts are expecting. They know a lot more than we do.

David Chartier
- Mac Pro with Core 2 Duo - those chips will be reserved for these machines, not the consumer line
- Shiny new Cinemas to go with said Mac Pro
- iPod nano bump (they haven't been touched since their introduction, hey? Besides the 1 GB of course. But going down in size doesn't count)
- 10.5 preview with a really close launch date of Oct/Nov at latest. Probably Sept. Just in time for the holidays!
- Jobs will be wearing Nikes again. All hail Nike. Also: finally a public apology for letting the Finder suck so bad for so long (hah).

Scott McNulty
As for predictions, I'm just going with a Leopard ship date and that's it.

Victor Agreda, Jr.
Quad Core Xserves, Brainwave-controlled 6G iPods, Leopard will ditch Finder for an OpenDoc-esque system based on Spotlight, and Nanos in Tiger fur...Oh, and clearly the Cinema displays with built-in iSights are a lock.

TUAWWWDC Predictions from TUAW originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 01 Aug 2006 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>predictionsrumorsWWDCTue, 01 Aug 2006 13:30:00 EST<![CDATA[So You Want to be a Mac Tech]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/21/so-you-want-to-be-a-mac-tech/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/21/so-you-want-to-be-a-mac-tech/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/21/so-you-want-to-be-a-mac-tech/#commentsFiled under: ,

When I was about thirteen, my older brother, Craig, was really into cars and fixing them. I'd follow him around and watch him work on his Camaro in the garage. Like a doting little brother, I wanted to be like him and was awestruck at how much he knew about cars and engines. I can remember asking him how he knew so much about them and how I could learn what he knew. Craig handed me a huge stack of car magazines and told me to start reading. I was flabbergasted. Where do I start reading? Which do I read first? Is Car&Driver more important than SuperChevy? I can remember flipping through a few of his magazines and quickly being overwhelmed at the amount of information I'd have to know to be like Craig. I soon went back to my Garbage Pail Kids cards and DOS manuals. I gave up on being a car mechanic but learned an important lesson...the best way to start learning something is to just start learning it. It doesn't matter where you start as long as you start somewhere and keep at it long enough until the knowledge begins to gel in your mind.

Being a good Mac tech starts with knowing the Macintosh and its operating system--namely, Mac OS X. Good car mechanics are often filled with arcane knowledge about the vehicles they work on. They tend to know which parts break down first and can diagnose a problem from an extensive knowledgebase of vehicles and engines and parts. I've discovered that good Mac techs are the same way--they tend to know pretty well the insides of many different Macintosh models and the peculiarities of each. They know, for instance, that the Rev. A iMac G5 often suffers from logic board failures and "exploding capacitors". They can often diagnose a problem--or if one is happening--just by using the computer in question.

Continue reading So You Want to be a Mac Tech

TUAWSo You Want to be a Mac Tech originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 Jul 2006 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>techniciantrainingFri, 21 Jul 2006 17:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Creating a Bootable Restore DVD]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/21/creating-a-bootable-restore-dvd/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/21/creating-a-bootable-restore-dvd/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/21/creating-a-bootable-restore-dvd/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Hacking the Mac OS X Installer DVD

I work at a university and we regularly get lots of new computers in that need to be imaged. Normally, people use a NetBoot server with NetRestore to do this, but our network is too clunky and poorly-designed to able to handle network-based imaging. So I have to resort to different methods of distributing our customized ASR images. For instance, we have one image for people in the Illustration Dept, but a very different one for workers who do not work in our design departments.

Last year, I was able to use Charles Sruska's excellent BootCD to build a bootable DVD that could then be used to image the workstations as needed. The ASR image is simply stored on the extra space on the root of the DVD, and NetRestore would let techs image from the ASR image to the internal HD of the Mac. It was fairly close to a "double-click" install for my techs: Boot from DVD, run NetRestore, restart the computer.

BootCD works well with Panther but has not been updated to work in Tiger. I'm sure Charles is working on it, but it's not done yet and I had to create a different solution, so I started hacking the Mac OS X Installer DVD. For the PPC machines, I used a copy of the recent Mac OS X 10.4.6 Retail DVD that was shipped to ACN members. It is a universal DVD that will boot any Tiger-compatible PPC-based Mac. Quite simply, this is how I did it:

Continue reading Creating a Bootable Restore DVD

TUAWCreating a Bootable Restore DVD originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 Jul 2006 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>imagingos x deploymentOsXDeploymentFri, 21 Jul 2006 13:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Next iPod to Have Text-to-Speech?]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/09/next-ipod-to-have-text-to-speech/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/09/next-ipod-to-have-text-to-speech/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/09/next-ipod-to-have-text-to-speech/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

An article in the Scotsman speculates that the next version of Apple's icon iPod will have text-to-speech capabilities that allows it to read the text of music tracks to the listener. The article says,

"Apple has flatly refused to comment on the design, but a patent lodged by the company in the United States makes clear the sixth generation of iPods will be able to convert those famous text menus into speech.

The ingenious system will rely on home PC processing power and clever software. The computer being used to download tracks will analyse each album title, song name and artist and convert them into sound files. These will be loaded into the iPod, along with the song files."

This is being driven by safety concerns. When you use an iPod in an "eyes-busy" activity like driving or using exercise equipment, having the music tracks read to the listener is preferable to having them only displayed on the screen.

This certainly makes sense to me. Apple has long been at the forefront of text-to-speech technology. It only seems a natural move to integrate it into their iPod music players.

TUAWNext iPod to Have Text-to-Speech? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 09 Jul 2006 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ipodtext-to-speechSun, 09 Jul 2006 14:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Useful Contextual Menu Plug-ins]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/05/useful-contextual-menu-plug-ins/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/05/useful-contextual-menu-plug-ins/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/05/useful-contextual-menu-plug-ins/#commentsFiled under: , ,

One of the least-used but quite powerful tools in Mac OS X is the ability to run contextual menu plug-ins. Contextual menu items are those little programs or accessories that can be installed in /Library/Contextual Menu Items or ~/Library/Contextual Menu Items to extend the capabilities of your operating system by providing a quick way to launch a tool based on some selected text for a selected item in the Finder.

Here are some of my favorite Contextual Menu items/applications:

FinderPop gives you the ability to have quickly-accessible links to applications or folders at the top of your contextual menu. So, for instance, if you want to open a JPEG file with Photoshop instead of Preview (often the OS's default), you can put a link to Photoshop in your FinderPop contextual menu list and then right-clicking on the file in question will give you a quick list of applications at the top-most menu. This is faster than having to wait for the "Open With" application list to generate, which is useful if you have a lot of applications installed on your system.

OnMyCommand lets you execute a string of selected text in the Terminal.

SymbolicLinker is a contextual menu item that lets you build symlink to an item in the Finder. I've found this very useful in building lab and classroom images where my workstations have much of their shared data as symlinks to other locations in the filesystem. For instance, Microsoft Office 2004 likes to install 80MB of fonts for each user but I don't want dozens of user profiles each with 80MB of fonts on my workstations, so I've used symlinks to "trick" the program into thinking that each profile has the fonts installed but the actual fonts are located in a shared folder space. But because the symlink exists (but points to a different location), the software just follows the link. I've used the same trick for the excessive support files installed by the Macromedia suite.

FileCutter brings a much-desired Windows feature to Mac OS X--cut and paste. I know a lot of Windows guys who are pissed that Mac OS X doesn't use the same "cut and paste" paradigm they are used to from years of Windows use. One of them actually jumped in the air and clicked his heels together when I showed him FileCutter. (Okay, he didn't click his heels together, but he jumped out of his chair).

There are more CM plug-ins out there. Some applications install their own,  like Toast or StickyBrain. Which ones do you use and why? Are there any "must-haves" that I've missed?

TUAWUseful Contextual Menu Plug-ins originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 05 Jul 2006 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>contextual menu itemsContextualMenuItemsusefulWed, 05 Jul 2006 17:30:00 EST<![CDATA[VoodooPad 3.0 - Serious Mojo]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/05/voodoopad-3-0-serious-mojo/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/05/voodoopad-3-0-serious-mojo/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/05/voodoopad-3-0-serious-mojo/#commentsFiled under: ,

Oh so sweet. My favorite catch-all notepad and organizer, VoodooPad, has been updated to version 3.0 today. I fell in love with VoodooPad about two years ago when I started a new job and needed to start keeping track of a huge variety of different kinds of information. I started dumping everything I could into the program--scraps of technical support information, dates and details of computer repairs, website URL's, coworkers' phone extensions, serial numbers. I didn't really know right away if VoodooPad was going to help keep all this stuff organized, but after awhile I noticed that I started to rely on the software to track down that information that otherwise would have been misplaced. I also started to notice connections between information that I might not have otherwise made.

VoodooPad sports a number of new features including tabs, searching improvements, support for big documents, and new filetype embedding. There's also support for Mac OS X's PDF framework so you can print a PDF straight into VoodooPad.

VoodooPad Pro is a new edition to the family that has several advanced options for power-users such as encryption, triggers, metadata inclusion, and a built-in web server to facilitate collaboration between VoodooPad users.

Other programs, like Yojimbo, have popped up recently to serve as the same kind of catch-all, but I remain faithful to VoodooPad, my first love. It saved me from the growing rat's nest that was StickyBrain. Mojo, indeed.

TUAWVoodooPad 3.0 - Serious Mojo originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 05 Jul 2006 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>flying meatFlyingMeatorganizervoodoopadWed, 05 Jul 2006 16:00:00 EST<![CDATA[BBC Story - Switch to Macs For Better Online Security]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/05/bbc-story-switch-to-macs-for-better-online-security/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/05/bbc-story-switch-to-macs-for-better-online-security/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/05/bbc-story-switch-to-macs-for-better-online-security/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Most of our readers know that Mac OS X is a much more secure environment than any flavor of Windows. Microsoft apologists like to say that the lack of viruses and malware targeted towards Mac OS X is because its much smaller marketshare. I believe there's a kernel of truth in this argument, but it's also an oversimplification. It's true that Windows is a larger target, but it's also true that Windows is just not very secure. Study after study after study shows that plugging a Windows computer into a broadband connection without any protection is a surefire way for that computer to become infected with a virus or worm. Yes, there are ways to harden your Windows computer so that it doesn't become a spam-sending zombie and these anti-virus and anti-spyware tools are getting better all the time, but it's still a lot to ask a new computer user to do just to get online.

So it's nice to see the BBC and Sophos (a leading maker of anti-virus and security software) recognize Mac OS X for its better security. I'll be the first person to tell you that Mac OS X isn't totally secure; in fact there is no such thing as a completely secure operating system. But there can be no question that Mac OS X and its underlying Unix permissions model is more secure than any flavor of Windows.

I can hear the comments already. "But, but...just you wait for Vista. It will solve all the security problems." Well, if you remember, that's what people were saying about WinXP. And Win2K before that. And even Win98 before that. Yes, Vista will probably be a more secure environment than its predecessors, but that's not saying much.
[Thank you to everyone who sent us this tip.]

TUAWBBC Story - Switch to Macs For Better Online Security originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 05 Jul 2006 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Mac OS XsecurityspywarevirusesWindowsWed, 05 Jul 2006 12:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Adium 1.0b1 Released]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/05/adium-1-0b1-released/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/05/adium-1-0b1-released/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/05/adium-1-0b1-released/#commentsFiled under: ,

After months of work, the excellent multiple network instant messenging program, Adium, has reached version 1.0b1, and this release is a great one. It sports major improvements to interactions with AIM, ICQ, and .Mac IM networks, iTunes integration, the default look and feel and privacy options. It now requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 and is a universal binary.

Please note that this is still in beta, though I was using it last night without any significant problems presenting themselves.

[Thanks to those who sent us this tip.]

TUAWAdium 1.0b1 Released originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 05 Jul 2006 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>adiumAIMbetaiChatWed, 05 Jul 2006 09:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Top Ten Most Beautiful Mac OS X Applications]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/05/top-ten-most-beautiful-mac-os-x-applications/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/05/top-ten-most-beautiful-mac-os-x-applications/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/05/top-ten-most-beautiful-mac-os-x-applications/#commentsFiled under:

Top ten lists are all the rage recently and Phillip Ryu gives us a unique one--the top ten most beautiful applications for Mac OS X. He's got a nice write-up and I agree with most of his choices.

10. Transmission
9. Voice Candy
8. Podcast Maker
7. Transmit
6. Quinn
5. AppZapper
4. Acquisition
3. Coverflow
2. Newsfire
1. Delicious Library

I would add to his list RapidWeaver and Comic Life, both programs that have impressed me with their ease-of-use and well-designed user interfaces. What apps would you add in your own top ten list of most beautiful Mac OS X applications?

TUAWTop Ten Most Beautiful Mac OS X Applications originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 05 Jul 2006 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>beautifulGUI goodiesliststop tenTopTenWed, 05 Jul 2006 08:00:00 EST<![CDATA[PodTropolis May Shut Down]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/04/podtropolis-may-shut-down/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/04/podtropolis-may-shut-down/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/04/podtropolis-may-shut-down/#commentsPodtropolis.com, the leading podcast and iPod-ready video bittorrent tracker may soon shut down. A notice posted to their front page yesterday and udpated today explains:

"It's looking like we are going to have to close our doors in the next week unless we can come up with enough money to pay our server bill for this month. Our host has put us on notice. We have been unable to pay it due to the fact that we lost an advertiser and donations have become practically non-existant. If you want to see Podtropolis keep rolling please donate via the sidebar, otherwise we have no choice but to close our doors."

TUAWPodTropolis May Shut Down originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 04 Jul 2006 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ipod videopodcastsTue, 04 Jul 2006 20:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Mac OS X 10.4.7 Phones Home]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/04/mac-os-x-10-4-7-phones-home/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/04/mac-os-x-10-4-7-phones-home/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/04/mac-os-x-10-4-7-phones-home/#commentsFiled under:

Daniel Jalkut has discovered that the Mac OS X 10.4.7 update released last week is causing his computer to phone home to Apple. Every eight hours, a process called "dashboardadvisoryd" is contacting two different servers hosted by Apple, ostensibly to verify that the Dashboard plug-ins you have installed are the same versions as the ones provided by Apple.

While this certainly isn't as insidious as Microsoft's much-maligned Windows Genuine Advantage program phoning home to verify the authenticity of your operating system's license code, I find myself agreeing with Daniel that Apple should provide us a way to turn this feature off. For my few computers at home, I doubt that I'll care much whether each is talking to Apple's servers, but in my work environment where I manage many hundreds of computers, I now need to evaluate whether this change is going to have a negative effect on my network. I've already got network administrators mistaking Bonjour traffic as PC viruses, the last thing I need is to have another discussion with our firewall administrator to explain why our lab computers are all hitting an Apple server at scheduled periods.

I've been debating all summer whether or not our computers in the Fall would have Dashboard enabled. I have no choice now but to disable Dashboard on our lab and classroom computers until there's an easier way (other than using Little Snitch) to turn off this phoning home feature.

TUAWMac OS X 10.4.7 Phones Home originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 04 Jul 2006 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>applephoning homesecurityWGATue, 04 Jul 2006 19:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Found Footage: Blowing up a PowerMac G4]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/02/found-footage-blowing-up-a-powermac-g4/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/02/found-footage-blowing-up-a-powermac-g4/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/02/found-footage-blowing-up-a-powermac-g4/#commentsFiled under: ,

Some guy asked for donations to buy a G5. As a reward to his donors, he said he would blow up his aging PowerMac G4.

TUAWFound Footage: Blowing up a PowerMac G4 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 02 Jul 2006 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>blow up g4explodeyoutubeSun, 02 Jul 2006 21:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Worst Scratched iPod Contest]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/02/worst-scratched-ipod-contest/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/02/worst-scratched-ipod-contest/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/02/worst-scratched-ipod-contest/#commentsFiled under:

ColorEnvy.com is a company that provides scratch repair and custom paintjobs for your iPod(s), so it's only natural for them to have launched a contest to find the "worst scratched iPod." The winner of the contest will have their iPod's scratches fixed by ColorEnvy and painted the color of his/her choosing. He/she will also receive an do-it-yourself scratch repair kit to keep the iPod looking new and scratch-free.

If you think you've got the world's worst-scratched iPod, send them a picture. The contest ends August 1st. My bet is that an iPod nano wins the contest. Heh.

TUAWWorst Scratched iPod Contest originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 02 Jul 2006 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>contestscratched ipodScratchedIpodSun, 02 Jul 2006 18:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Inkscape - Open Source Vector Graphics Editor]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/02/inkscape-open-source-vector-graphics-editor/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/02/inkscape-open-source-vector-graphics-editor/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/02/inkscape-open-source-vector-graphics-editor/#commentsFiled under: ,

Everyone knows about GIMP, the open source graphics editor that competes with Photoshop for editing bitmap images, or images with "pixels in a bitmap." But what if you need a free program that can work with vector-based images, such as those that Adobe Illustrator builds?  Inkscape is an open source vector graphics editor that runs in the X11 environment compatible with Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

Inkscape can import many and work with many of the common graphics formats, such as JPEG, PNG and TIFF, and can export as PNG and many of the common vector-based graphics formats.

GIMP and Inkscape combined can offer many of the same capabilities of their much more expensive cousins Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. If you're looking to build a graphic design machine on the cheap, you should at least check out these open source programs. They may just suit your needs.

TUAWInkscape - Open Source Vector Graphics Editor originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 02 Jul 2006 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>illustratorinkscapeopen sourcevector graphicsVectorGraphicsSun, 02 Jul 2006 13:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Fireworks Screensaver for 4th of July]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/02/fireworks-screensaver-for-4th-of-july/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/02/fireworks-screensaver-for-4th-of-july/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/07/02/fireworks-screensaver-for-4th-of-july/#commentsFiled under: ,

I've always liked screensavers. Flying toasters will always hold a special place in my heart, but I continue to be impressed by Skyrocket, a free screensaver that renders fireworks on your display. Perfect for your 4th of July party, not only is Skyrocket free, it's also a universal binary which runs fantastically on my Intel iMac. Be sure to turn on the smoke option and play around with the zoom level, Moon glow, and sound options.

TUAWFireworks Screensaver for 4th of July originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 02 Jul 2006 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>4th of JulyfireworksscreensaverSun, 02 Jul 2006 12:00:00 EST<![CDATA[UB Replacements for Non-Intel Mac Apps]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/30/ub-replacements-for-non-intel-mac-apps/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/30/ub-replacements-for-non-intel-mac-apps/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/30/ub-replacements-for-non-intel-mac-apps/#commentsFiled under: ,

In this post about Roxio Toast, TUAW asked which applications you were still waiting for to be ported to universal binary. I thought I'd compile a list of universal binary applications that can fill the roles of those that people are still waiting for:

For Screen Capture
Display Eater is still a work-in-progress and offers a much less refined user interface than Snapz Pro, but it's UB and it works. I've used it several times to capture my screen into a video file.

For Office Suites
Again, the user interface isn't as refined as the mainstay, but you can't beat the price of NeoOffice. The NeoOffice Alpha 2 for Intel Macs is available right now by paying for an "Early Access" program. Or you can wait a few days, as an Intel beta of NeoOffice should be released very soon (next week, if I'm hearing correctly).

For Video Conversion
I use ffmpegX for a lot of video conversion and the Intel version just screams on my Intel iMac. I haven't matched it up against the new Toast's DivX conversion yet, but I bet it's faster. The learning curve is a bit higher with ffmpegX, but it supports way more video formats.

And a few notes. Stuffit Expander is a universal binary beta. Filemaker is likely getting close to a release of version 8.5 which will be run natively on Intel Macs.

I'm also still waiting for Extensis to update Suitcase so it's UB. As much as I'd love to dump it for a different product, I don't know of any professional font managers that are updated for Intel. Both FontAgent Pro and MasterJuggler are still wallowing in PPC-land. Linotype FontExplorer X was just updated to UB, but I have zero experience with it, and Apple's own FontBook has on too many occasions eaten my font collections (always have backups!).

TUAWUB Replacements for Non-Intel Mac Apps originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Jun 2006 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>alternativesuniversal binaryUniversalBinaryFri, 30 Jun 2006 15:00:00 EST<![CDATA[iClip is Free Today]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/30/iclip-is-free-today/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/30/iclip-is-free-today/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/30/iclip-is-free-today/#commentsMacZot is offering Inventive's iClip as a free download today. It's version 3.7 and isn't a universal binary but version 4.0 is about to ship and the company has long offered free upgrades, so grab it now and watch for version 4.0 to ship. I'm not personally a user of multiple clipboards, but I suppose it couldn't hurt to give this a whirl. Who doesn't like free stuff.

Thanks Jonathan for the tip.

TUAWiClip is Free Today originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Jun 2006 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>freeiclipFri, 30 Jun 2006 10:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Toast Titanium 7.1]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/30/toast-titanium-7-1/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/30/toast-titanium-7-1/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/30/toast-titanium-7-1/#commentsFiled under: ,

Roxio released an update to their flagship CD and DVD-burning software for Macintosh this morning. Version 7.1 is now a universal binary and provides fixes with issues related to Quicktime 7.1, AppleScript, the Toast Setup Assistant, and encoding Apple Lossless files.

There aren't too many more applications on my Intel iMac that are not universal binary. The Adobe CS2 suite and Microsoft Office, of course, are the two outstanding holdouts. Virtually everything else has been updated to work natively on an Intel iMac. What other applications are you waiting for?

TUAWToast Titanium 7.1 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Jun 2006 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ToastUniversal BinaryUpdateFri, 30 Jun 2006 09:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Adobe Releases Flash Player 9 beta for Intel Macs]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/29/adobe-releases-flash-player-9-beta-for-intel-macs/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/29/adobe-releases-flash-player-9-beta-for-intel-macs/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/29/adobe-releases-flash-player-9-beta-for-intel-macs/#commentsFiled under: ,

When Adobe released only the PPC version of Flash Player 9 the other day, some people criticized Adobe for not simultaneously releasing an Intel-enabled version as well. Richard Brownell points us today to a post by Emmy Huang, the product manager for Adobe Flash Player telling us that the public beta release of Adobe Flash Player 9 for Intel Macs is ready. As always, be sure to read the readme and watch for bugs. This is still in beta.

TUAWAdobe Releases Flash Player 9 beta for Intel Macs originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Jun 2006 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>AdobeFlashIntelUniversal BinaryThu, 29 Jun 2006 16:00:00 EST<![CDATA[PopChar X 3.0]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/29/popchar-x-3-0/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/29/popchar-x-3-0/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/29/popchar-x-3-0/#commentsFiled under: , ,

There are a few applications that increase my productivity to the point where, after awhile, I can't work without them. Quicksilver is one. Another is FinderPop. But when it comes to working on a desktop publishing project for days on end, nothing increases my productivity more than Ergonis' PopChar X. This amazing little application places a tiny letter "P" in the top left corner of your screen next to your Apple menu that gives you quick and easy access to the character sets in your fonts. So if you can't remember the keyboard shortcut for making an umlaut or the copyright symbol, PopChar can quickly help you find these characters and insert them into your document.

Version 3.0 of PopChar X sports a completely redesigned and streamlined interface for browsing your installed fonts and their character sets. It has full support for Unicode character sets and can even do HTML character insertion into your code. PopChar is a universal binary and costs $30.00. You can download PopChar and use it in demo mode with some characters being disabled until you register for the full version. If you haven't ever tried PopChar, I encourage to do so now. For me, it's truly one of the great applications for Mac users.

TUAWPopChar X 3.0 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Jun 2006 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>character setspopcharproductivityThu, 29 Jun 2006 12:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Things I'd Like to See in Leopard]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/28/things-id-like-to-see-in-leopard/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/28/things-id-like-to-see-in-leopard/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/28/things-id-like-to-see-in-leopard/#commentsFiled under: ,

WWDC is rapidly approaching and along with it we'll get our first preview of the features in Leopard. And so I've started to think seriously about the things that I'd like to see in Leopard. In no particular order:

A New Finder
I've disliked Mac OS X's Finder since Mac OS X first shipped. It's not nearly as streamlined or versatile as it should be. It wasn't until Tiger that the Finder began to handle gracefully a disconnected server volume. I certainly don't miss the days when a disconnected server volume often meant restarting the computer. The Finder has gotten better by degrees, but it's still got a long way to go. For instance, why can't we have the Finder columns autosize itself to filenames so the full filename(s) is visible instead of having the user have to manually resize the column width? And if the Finder can remember window placement, why can't it remember a custom column width that I've manually set on a window? Also, why can't the green plus button be either a zoom/shrink button (as it is now) or a maximize button (a la Windows)? While I personally don't like full-screen window usage, I know that having such a UI element as an optional preference would greatly ease the switching process for Windows users. And why must we resize our windows only from the bottom right corner? Writing about the Finder just makes me angry, so I'll move on now.

Continue reading Things I'd Like to See in Leopard

TUAWThings I'd Like to See in Leopard originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 28 Jun 2006 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>FeaturesLeopardWishlistWed, 28 Jun 2006 23:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Yahoo Messenger 3.0b1]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/28/yahoo-messenger-3-0b1/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/28/yahoo-messenger-3-0b1/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/28/yahoo-messenger-3-0b1/#commentsFiled under: ,

Apparently, a lot of our readers are Yahoo Messenger users. A good dozen of you or so sent us this tip that Yahoo Messenger 3.0b1 has been released. I've just taken it for a spin and my early impression is that Yahoo seems to have hired some great developers. This is a really nice application with a great Tiger/Leopard iChat-like interface, cross-platform webcam support, integration with other Yahoo services, chat conferencing, and file transfers. The website says that the ability to chat with MSN Messenger/Microsoft Live users will be coming soon as well. Oh, and it's a universal binary.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

TUAWYahoo Messenger 3.0b1 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 28 Jun 2006 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>AIMIMMSNYahooWed, 28 Jun 2006 22:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Software Update: Quicktime 7.1.2]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/28/software-update-quicktime-7-1-2/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/28/software-update-quicktime-7-1-2/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/28/software-update-quicktime-7-1-2/#commentsFiled under:


The software elves at Apple have been busy this week. Quicktime 7.1.2 was released this afternoon. It addresses an issue previewing iDVD projects.

TUAWSoftware Update: Quicktime 7.1.2 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 28 Jun 2006 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>QuicktimeWed, 28 Jun 2006 16:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Adobe Releases Flash Player 9 (PPC)]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/28/adobe-releases-flash-player-9-ppc/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/28/adobe-releases-flash-player-9-ppc/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/28/adobe-releases-flash-player-9-ppc/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Adobe released Flash Player version 9 today but it's only for PPC Macs. There's no version for Intel Macs yet. Anyone with an Intel Mac who wants native Flash components should use the preview version of version 8.x available here.

You might want to take a look at the emerging issues being identified with Flash Player 9 before installing on your system(s).

TUAWAdobe Releases Flash Player 9 (PPC) originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 28 Jun 2006 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>AdobeFlashPPCWed, 28 Jun 2006 13:30:00 EST<![CDATA[How to Clean Your Mighty Mouse]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/28/how-to-clean-your-might-mouse/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/28/how-to-clean-your-might-mouse/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/28/how-to-clean-your-might-mouse/#commentsFiled under: ,

Apple has released an updated technical support document on the proper way to clean your Mighty Mouse. As much as I like my Mighty Mouse, I do have to clean it way more often than I ever had to clean my other mice like the basic two-button/scrollwheel Logictech one that I've been using for years. The most annoying problem with the Mighty Mouse is that it seems to very rapidly pick up dirt, grease, and other undesirable crud from my mousing surface. I clean my desk at least once a week with alcohol wipes and elbow grease, so it's not overly dirty.

I agree with Apple's document that the lint-free cloth is a good way to get fingerprints off your mouse. Sometimes I'll just use paper towels and some iKlear display cleaner which seems to do a pretty good job of cutting through the crud. I've also, on many occasions, had to "vigorously rub" the scrollwheel nub while holding the mouse upside down to dislodge something that's causing the scrolling to not work properly.

Apple's even posted a video tutorial on how to clean your Mighty Mouse.

TUAWHow to Clean Your Mighty Mouse originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 28 Jun 2006 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>cleaningmighty mouseMightyMouseWed, 28 Jun 2006 13:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Drosera - A JavaScript Debugger for WebKit]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/28/drosera-a-javascript-debugger-for-webkit/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/28/drosera-a-javascript-debugger-for-webkit/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/28/drosera-a-javascript-debugger-for-webkit/#commentsFiled under: , ,

The WebKit group released a new tool called Drosera last night. It's a JavaScript debugger that will work alongside any WebKit application, including Safari. This is welcome news for the web design community -- any tool that can help JavaScript to work more fluidly in Safari is a good thing.

TUAWDrosera - A JavaScript Debugger for WebKit originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 28 Jun 2006 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>droserajavascriptSafariWebKitWed, 28 Jun 2006 10:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Rumor: Apple Enterprise Products to use ZFS]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/27/rumor-apple-enterprise-products-to-use-zfs/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/27/rumor-apple-enterprise-products-to-use-zfs/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/27/rumor-apple-enterprise-products-to-use-zfs/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

In the last 12 months, the storage demand at my workplace (a university of 10,000 students) has risen exponentially. The 2.4TB NAS purchased last summer was outstripped by the end of our second semester just a few weeks ago. We'll recover a lot of that space by deep-sixing unused and stale accounts--which we can do every semester--but this does not address the growing problem of long-term storage and archival of data generated by our students, faculty, and staff. Eventually, we'll need to figure out a way to keep some--if not most--of this data indefinitely. The good news is that storage costs continue to decline--one terabyte of data storage is about $1500-$2000 right now. The bad news is that managing these massive amounts of data only continues to get more and more complex.

Microsoft's answer to this problem is WinFS, a new filesystem and storage manager that was to be included in Vista. WinFS would be the solution to some of these storage problems by providing a scalable filesystem built on top of a relational database. WinFS would have allowed for metadata tagging, datastore consolidation and sophisticated backup/restore, notifications, and access rules (ACL's). It's exactly what the Enterprise market needs right now, a sophisticated and stable solution for this growing problem. The problem is that Microsoft has yanked WinFS from Vista and will only be using pieces of it in Vista's Server version. Vista will run on the increasing old and creaky NTFS.

Some industry experts are suggesting that Apple may include the open source ZFS file system/content manager in their upcoming Leopard Server. ZFS was produced at Sun Microsystems about two years ago and was recently integrated into the most recent version of Solaris 10. An employee at Sun has posted to the Mac OS X Server mailing list that Apple may be interested in porting Mac OS X to run on ZFS.

If it's true that Apple may build Leopard Server to run on top of ZFS (instead of HFS+), it would place them in a strong position in the Enterprise market. Apple's X-Serve, X-RAID, and X-SAN are already some of the most affordable enterprise-level storage products on the market. Having a new, fast, scalable, reliable file system and content management system combined with Apple's traditionally easy-to-use admin tools might give Apple a powerful push into the coveted Enterprise storage market.

TUAWRumor: Apple Enterprise Products to use ZFS originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 27 Jun 2006 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Apple EnterpriseLeopardRumorsZFSTue, 27 Jun 2006 17:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Apple Posts Mac OS X 10.4.7 Update]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/27/apple-posts-mac-os-x-10-4-7-update/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/27/apple-posts-mac-os-x-10-4-7-update/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/27/apple-posts-mac-os-x-10-4-7-update/#commentsFiled under:


Apple pushed out the expected Mac OS X 10.4.7 update this afternoon. Software Update shows the following brief description of what this update changes and/or fixes:

The 10.4.7 Update is recommended for all users and includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes for the following applications and technologies. It includes fixes for:

- preventing AFP deadlocks and dropped connections
- saving Adobe and Quark documents to AFP mounted volumes
- Bluetooth file transfers, pairing and connecting to a Bluetooth mouse, and syncing to mobile phones
- audio playback in QuickTime, iTunes, Final Cut Pro, and Soundtrack applications
- ensuring icons are spaced correctly when viewed on desktop
- determining the space required to burn folders
- iChat audio and video connectivity, creating chat rooms when using AIM
- importing files into Keynote 3
- PDF workflows when using iCal and iPhoto
- reliable use of Automator actions within workflows
- importing and removing fonts in Font Book
- syncing addresses, bookmarks, calendar events and files to .Mac
- compatibility with third party applications and devices
- previous standalone security updates

More detailed information can be found in the associated technical support document.

TUAWApple Posts Mac OS X 10.4.7 Update originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 27 Jun 2006 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>10.4.7software updateupdateTue, 27 Jun 2006 16:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Michael Bartosh MacIT Scholarship Fund]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/19/michael-bartosh-macit-scholarship-fund/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/19/michael-bartosh-macit-scholarship-fund/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/19/michael-bartosh-macit-scholarship-fund/#commentsFiled under:

The organizers of the MacWorld Conference and Expo are setting up a memorial scholarship in honor of Mac author, Michael Bartosh, who recently passed away from a tragic accident in Tokyo. The Michael Bartosh MacIT Scholarship will pay the travel expenses and MacIT conference fees for one or more University/College-age Network Engineering students. Knowing Michael and his work, I can't think of a better way to honor him. Bravo.

TUAWMichael Bartosh MacIT Scholarship Fund originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 19 Jun 2006 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>BartoshMacITMacWorldMWSFScholarshipMon, 19 Jun 2006 19:00:00 EST<![CDATA[White MacBooks Turning Yellow]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/13/white-macbooks-turning-yellow/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/13/white-macbooks-turning-yellow/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/13/white-macbooks-turning-yellow/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

When TUAW reader Rich sent us this link pointing to an Apple Discussions page discussing the tendency for some of the plastics on the new white MacBooks to turn yellowish after just a few weeks, I initially dismissed it as one or two overly-sensitive Mac users complaining about the inevitable hand grease, dirt, and muck that all of our laptops experience during their average use. At least that's what I thought until I saw the pictures [2] [3] [4] [slideshow] and started reading the many posts from many users experiencing the same problem.

This discoloration is not dirt and cannot be cleaned by anything that people have tried, and the list is extensive: iKlear and similar cleaners, hot water, Windex, diluted bleach, a Magic Eraser...the list is long.

There definitely appears to be a problem here with the plastic that Apple has used for the palm rests on the first-generation white MacBooks. I have not seen this yet personally (I've yet to even see a MacBook in person), but the numbers and anecdotal evidence is looking pretty convincing. Now, I wonder if Apple will acknowledge the problem and replace the plastics, or whether they'll pass this off as "cosmetic damage" as they've done in the past (cracking lines on the G4 Cube, anyone?).

TUAWWhite MacBooks Turning Yellow originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 13 Jun 2006 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>discolorationmacbookyellowTue, 13 Jun 2006 10:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Michael Bartosh Passes]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/11/michael-bartosh-passes/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/11/michael-bartosh-passes/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/11/michael-bartosh-passes/#commentsFiled under: , ,

I truly wish that I didn't have such sad news. I've learned today that Michael Bartosh has suddenly passed away. Michael was the co-author of the best Mac OS X Server book on the market, O'Reilly's "Essential Mac OS X Panther Server Administration" and was a tireless advocate for Mac OS X. Many, myself included, held him in awe for the amazing breadth of knowledge he possessed about Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server and his countless posts to the mailing lists that us Mac admins frequent.

I had the privilege of meeting Michael at an O'Reilly Mac OS X conference a few years ago and learned that he was also great fun to hang out with.

We're going to miss you Michael. Our deepest condolences to your family.

Note:  John C. Welch has some nice commentary about Bartosh and his effect on our community.

TUAWMichael Bartosh Passes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 11 Jun 2006 20:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Sun, 11 Jun 2006 20:45:00 EST<![CDATA[Software Update: Quicktime 7.1.1]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/31/software-update-quicktime-7-1-1/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/31/software-update-quicktime-7-1-1/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/31/software-update-quicktime-7-1-1/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Apple released an update to Quicktime this afternoon, version 7.1.1. According to the support page, it "addresses an issue with 3rd party start-up items on Intel Macs. This release also fixes an issue exporting to Keynote presentations to iDVD. Also delivers numerous bug fixes, support for iLife06, and H.264 performance improvements."

Does anyone know specifically what 3rd-party startup items this is talking about?

TUAWSoftware Update: Quicktime 7.1.1 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 31 May 2006 14:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>AppleQuicktimeSoftware UpdateWed, 31 May 2006 14:55:00 EST<![CDATA[Digidesign Pro Tools For Intel Macs]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/31/digidesign-pro-tools-for-intel-macs/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/31/digidesign-pro-tools-for-intel-macs/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/31/digidesign-pro-tools-for-intel-macs/#commentsFiled under: ,

Good news for the audio mavens among us, Digidesign has released an Intel-capable version of their flagship audio editing software, Pro Tools. What's interesting is the note on the download page stating that the Intel-capable version of Pro Tools will not work on PPC-based Macs, which technically means that it's not a universal binary build.
[Thanks Jamie!]

TUAWDigidesign Pro Tools For Intel Macs originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 31 May 2006 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>AudioIntelPro ToolsWed, 31 May 2006 10:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Apple's New "Pro" Site]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/27/apples-new-pro-site/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/27/apples-new-pro-site/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/27/apples-new-pro-site/#commentsFiled under:

Before I became a wage slave, I supported many hundreds of Macs used by a wide variety of professionals in New York City. There's simply no question that most artistic professionals use the Macintosh platform for their creative endeavors--film makers, musicians, graphic designers, newspapers, magazine publishers, schools, photographers, art studios. The list is long and varied. So it's no surprise to me that Apple continues to sell Macs to the "professional" marketspace. These are the people buying the towers and the Powerbooks, (and I was one of the people installing and configuring them).

Apple is, of course, aware of who their userbase is. Any company as large as Apple regularly analyzes who is buying their product(s) and ways to increase sales to new customers or even to simply keep the customers they have. Yesterday, Apple released an updated "Apple Pro" page, dedicated to information about interesting, innovative, and successful professionals using Apple hardware and software to create.

TUAWApple's New "Pro" Site originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 27 May 2006 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>AppleProwebsiteSat, 27 May 2006 09:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Nike + iPodGlobal]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/23/nike-ipodglobal/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/23/nike-ipodglobal/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/23/nike-ipodglobal/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Apple Computer and Nike announced today a partnership called Nike + iPodGlobal. The first product from the collaboration is the Nike + iPod Sport Kit, which will allow your Nike shoes to talk directly to your iPod, on which will presumably be loaded some personal training software.

From the Yahoo News article: "The new Nike+ Air Zoom Moire is the first footwear designed to talk to iPod. Nike plans to make many of its leading footwear styles Nike+ ready, connecting millions of consumers to the Nike+iPod experience. With the Nike+ footwear connected to iPod nano through the Nike+iPod Sport Kit, information on time, distance, calories burned and pace is stored on iPod and displayed on the screen; real-time audible feedback also is provided through headphones. The kit includes an in-shoe sensor and a receiver that attaches to iPod. A new Nike Sport Music section on the iTunes(R) Music Store and a new nikeplus.com personal service site help maximize the Nike+iPod experience."

The Nike + iPod Sport Kit is expected to be available within 60 days and will cost approximately $30.

I've also been hearing some rumor buzz about a new iPod (perhaps as early as tomorrow) that will include built-in Bluetooth, used to connect to accessories such as earphones. This Nike+ development only lends veracity to the idea that a Bluetooth-enabled iPod is inevitable.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

TUAWNike + iPodGlobal originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 23 May 2006 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>AppleBluetoothiPodNikeRumorsTue, 23 May 2006 13:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Dell to Open Two Full-Sized Stores]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/23/dell-to-open-two-full-sized-stores/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/23/dell-to-open-two-full-sized-stores/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/23/dell-to-open-two-full-sized-stores/#commentsFiled under: ,

In what is surely a response to Apple's success with its retail stores, Dell announced that they would be opening two full-sized stores later this year. One will be located in Dallas, and the other in New York.

According to the Austin-Statesman, Dell will not be changing its tried-and-trusted policy of building every machine to order. Customers at the Dell stores will be able to touch and use the computers on display but not buy and carry them away.

Hey, stop laughing. C'mon, who wants to actually carry home the computer they just purchased? I know I like waiting a week for my purchases, don't you?

Not to be left out, eMachines has announced that they will be opening an island sales kiosk in the Cherryland Mall in Traverse City, MI. There won't actually be any computers on display, but there will be lots of glossy pictures.

[Via Digg]

TUAWDell to Open Two Full-Sized Stores originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 23 May 2006 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Apple StoresAppleStoresDellretailTue, 23 May 2006 12:00:00 EST<![CDATA[A Requiem for Soulblighter]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/15/a-requiem-for-soulblighter/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/15/a-requiem-for-soulblighter/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/15/a-requiem-for-soulblighter/#commentsFiled under:

Oh, the times we had together, my Soulblighter CD and me back in the halcyon days of 1998 and 1999, he with his shiny silvery surface and colorful Bungie label. Soulblighter's parents hadn't yet been purchased by the evil monopolistic overlords, and the future looked bright and shiny. After one exhausting evening of gameplay, Soulblighter even let slip some advanced information about a new edition coming to our Bungie family, an offspring so gloriously magnificent that it would change the world of Mac gaming. Of course, we know the rest of the sad story of Halo; I don't have to recite it here. As these things often go, Soulblighter and I drifted apart after that sad day in June of 2000.

So imagine my surprise when Soulblighter resurfaced into my life last weekend from a dusty CD spindle, and his news was spectacular. As much as I loved Soulblighter and his younger siblings, there has been a group of people toiling away for several years whom possess an even greater love of the Bungie children of Myth. This group of people is called Project Magma, and they have made it possible for all of us to re-unite with Soulbighter and his siblings natively in Mac OS X!

Oh, how I danced with joy and tears came to my eyes as Soulblighter once again entered my life. Oh 'Blight, how I've missed thee. Rejoice, rejoice, for thee runneth joyously on my MacBookPro.

TUAWA Requiem for Soulblighter originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 May 2006 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>gamingmythmyth iisoulblighterMon, 15 May 2006 19:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Software Update: iLife 06 Applications]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/15/software-update-ilife-06-applications/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/15/software-update-ilife-06-applications/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/15/software-update-ilife-06-applications/#comments
Apple pushed out some updates to iLife 06 this afternoon via Software Update. iMovie, iWeb, iPhoto, and iDVD all recieved updates; the most significant appearing to be iWeb, which is bumped to version 1.1 and "adds comment and search support for blogs and podcasts published to .Mac," and also "addresses a variety of usability and performance issues for all users, including image management fixes to improve site load performance."

TUAWSoftware Update: iLife 06 Applications originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 May 2006 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>iLife 06iMovieiPhotoiWebsoftware updateSoftwareUpdateMon, 15 May 2006 17:15:00 EST<![CDATA[Found Footage: We Are Apple, a 1984 Musical Montage]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/12/found-footage-we-are-apple-a-1984-musical-montage/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/12/found-footage-we-are-apple-a-1984-musical-montage/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/12/found-footage-we-are-apple-a-1984-musical-montage/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

This video was ripped from a videotape (which explains the lack of video quality) of the 1984 Apple Shareholders' meeting, where the original Macintosh was unveiled (this is unconfirmed; some are saying it was shown at the Moscone Center during the launch of the Apple IIc). Like a train wreck, I just can't look away. I've watched it about a dozen times now. I think there might be something wrong with me.

TUAWFound Footage: We Are Apple, a 1984 Musical Montage originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 May 2006 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>1984Applefound footagekeynoteFri, 12 May 2006 18:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Universal Binary Shake 4.1 to be Released in May]]>http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/25/universal-binary-shake-4-1-to-be-released-in-may/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/25/universal-binary-shake-4-1-to-be-released-in-may/http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/25/universal-binary-shake-4-1-to-be-released-in-may/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Macworld UK is reporting today that a universal binary of Shake 4.1--Apple's professional compositing and rendering software--will be released in May. This is another sign that we'll likely see Intel-powered towers sooner rather than later, perhaps even as early as June.

TUAWUniversal Binary Shake 4.1 to be Released in May originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 25 Apr 2006 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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