News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
It's often hard to tell the difference between work and play on a Mac. And as Apple keeps piling on the goodies and making the whole experience more silky smooth and seamless — whatever that means — it gets harder. Or easier, if you're a glass-half-full person. I mean, give me a couple of interesting old photos to retouch for a friend and I'm definitely at play. Give me a hundred to do by day's end and it's work. Anyhow, what follows is a brief description of how I relax with my Macs.
Keith White | Jul 31, 2008
There’s been a bit of a ruckus lately on the Australian MacEd listserve about upgrading software. Essentially, the complainant’s beef was that, due to some new iMacs arriving in the school, there was now a mixture of iPhoto 6 and 8 in his labs, and one could not open the others’ photo library. There was also an implication that this wouldn’t happen with Microsoft products, as they can be updated. Apple offers educational institutions two options to stay current: one is the Apple Maintenance Program (AMP), and the other is a purchase of new software at discounted rates.
Martin Levins | Jul 28, 2008
By any reasonable measure the transition from .Mac to MobileMe was a debacle — a slapstick shambles of vaudevillian proportions. The only upside is that if Apple's claims that only one percent of users were affected are true, there's about 100 times as many MobileMe users as I thought. But there is another benefit: if users had been able to use the service, they'd have seen just how limited it actually is. Hardly anyone's noticed that even on a good day the default e-mail client on iPhone kinda sucks. There just haven't been enough good days.
Matthew JC. Powell | Jul 25, 2008
Rather subtly, in the middle of a crowded week and a somewhat overhyped launch, Apple managed to sneak a few other products out the door. One of them marks the company's first successful foray into the portable gaming market. Heck, I'll go further than that. It marks the company's first push with a computing device capable of playing cutting-edge games since the Apple II. I'm referring, of course, to the iPhone 3G. As I write this, seven of the top ten Apps available from the App Store are all games.
Alex Kidman | Jul 23, 2008
The transition from .Mac to MobileMe could have gone a little smoother. OK, a lot smoother. Let's face it, it was a debacle. When a company like Apple — notoriously reluctant to admit anything is wrong — is forced into two apologies in a week, something is definitely up. What's more, the time may well be ripe for a third. Apple has apparently decided the right way to win friends and influence people is to install software they don't want on their machines — software that advertises MobileMe.
Matthew JC. Powell | Jul 23, 2008
It’s a shame, but most people tend to know Cyndi Lauper and her work via a few very successful songs from the mid-1980s: "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "She Bop", "Money Changes Everything" and "Time After Time". They’re all classic songs now, but are by no means all of Lauper’s best work. Since the multi-million selling She’s So Unusual, there have been eight albums. Throughout that regular output are a not insignificant number of gems, all illustrating Lauper’s musical progression and growing songwriting maturity.
David Holloway | Jul 22, 2008
When Intel unveils new processors, it usually rattles off the names of PC makers who’ve signed on to use the latest chips. There is one exception, however — Apple’s name usually comes up only in passing at these events, if it’s even mentioned at all. But make no mistake: Apple may have been a no-show at Monday night’s launch event for Intel’s new Centrino 2 processor technology while demo laptops from HP, Lenovo, Sony and Toshiba showed off the new chips. But Intel’s announcements should be of interest to Mac users, as many of the Centrino 2’s improvements will likely make their way into Mac systems in the near future.
James Galbraith | Jul 18, 2008
Brand, you know, is an inexact science but a powerful phenomenon nonetheless. Manufacturers of the electronic gadgets we know and love, often for years or even decades, have put a lot of thought into the way their toys and tools are perceived by the public, by thee and me. Most of us know that the majority of household consumer electronics as well as business technology these days is made in China and a few other Asian nations. Few of us are aware, though, that actually just about all computers — and in fact most information and communications hardware — is not only made in China but actually made by the same half a dozen or so factory facilities in China.
Fleur Doidge | Jul 12, 2008
The Mac isn't just a computer, it's a lifestyle. Whether working or playing, Mac solutions embrace creativity and inspire "different" thinking when it comes to solving problems. What follows is my studio diary from last week. A glowing endorsement of Apple technology. A wide variety of tasks all completed without a single hiccup, thanks to four great Mac setups and some great software from Apple and others. As you'll see reading through, some tricky and potentially very expensive work became easy (and affordable) thanks to the Mac.
Keith White | Jul 5, 2008
Judging from initial accounts, the next version of the Mac OS X, named Snow Leopard, will be aimed squarely at business and enterprise users, signaling a formal push by Apple to take Windows head on outside the consumer and education markets. "Apple is taking the Mac OS one step closer to the enterprise," says Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupiter Research. The disappointment over the disruptive transition from Windows XP to Windows Vista may make it even easier for businesses to consider adopting Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
Galen Gruman | Jul 2, 2008
Ian Jukes session begins with seemingly random "cute" images of animals and bloopers entertaining the crowd before his 12.30 timeslot. Lots of "Oohs" and "Aahs" as only US audiences can do. Good technique though: let images from the web warm up the crowd. (He provides them on his website) "Literacy isn't enough" handout available from his website. Turns out this is more about those wacky kids (as Mark Pesce would refer to them)
Martin Levins | Jul 1, 2008
Howard teaches at The Urban School, San Francisco, a 1:1 school for 6-7 years, for year 9 and up. (Howard is no relation, even though he has a cool surname ;-) This session is essentially the same as his presentation last year, entitled "Making the laptop disappear" He maintains that the essential ingredient for any 1:1 laptop program is a supportive Head of school (although a 1:10 staff:student ratio with average class size of 10 may help ;-)
Martin Levins | Jul 1, 2008
App Store developers will now be able to reach customers in 13 new countries, according to an announcement on the iPhone Developer Program news page.
