News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
It seems that everyone is atwitter about Twitter. Yes, other microblog services with insufferably cute names, such as Pownce, Jaiku, and Plurk, are around. But Twitter has quickly become the de facto choice for creating really, really short blogs.
Dan Tynan | Oct 31, 2008
Queensland is home to both one of the "Elder Statesmen" of Australian Apple User Groups and, conversely, one of Australia's youngest MUGs. They are the Toowoomba Apple & Macintosh User Group and the Hervey Bay Macintosh User Group.
Nicholas Pyers | Oct 30, 2008
Many observers consider the iPhone, with its Exchange support and fledgling manageability features, to be Apple’s Trojan horse for the medium to large enterprise market. And with good reason. Figures just out show that Apple sold more than 10 million iPhones during its first 15 months. With or without IT approval, a whole lot of Apple smart phones are being used in business settings.
Scot Finnie | Oct 29, 2008
One year ago today, Mac OS X 10.5 (aka Leopard) hit the streets. One of the main sales pitches for Leopard concerned its 300-plus new features, and certainly, there are quite a few winners amongst that bunch. A year later, I can’t imagine using OS X without my always-present always-updated Time Machine backups, easy access to Wikipedia entries in Dictionary, and the oh-so-useful screen sharing.
Rob Griffiths | Oct 28, 2008
Apparently, people have bought more than 200 million apps through the App Store after just about 100 days – that's 2 million per day, or 23 per second. Last week, Apple also announced that it had passed the 200 million mark in terms of TV shows sold through its iTunes store (a milestone that took Apple 14 months to reach for its music business). This includes the sale of more than 1 million HD shows in the first month since they were launched.
You know, I think Apple might be onto something here.
David Braue | Oct 27, 2008
If your iPhone crashes more often than you would like, conventional wisdom typically attributes this to the proliferation of third-party apps on your phone, the ones you added via the App Store. However, this is likely a misconception, or at least an exaggeration.
Ted Landau | Oct 27, 2008
Bjango has released Jobs, a new iPod touch and iPhone app used to track time and time sheets. It’s available from the App Store for $5.99.
Peter Cohen | Oct 24, 2008
If you haven’t already, be sure to wrap your iPod in wool or copper foil—the substances that traditionally make up gifts given on the seventh wedding anniversary. (Today, y’see, marks exactly seven years since the iPod was first unveiled by Steve Jobs in Cupertino.) By way of tribute, I’d like to present a little history, pulled from my now out-of-print Secrets of the iPod (don’t worry, my just-as-jam-packed-with-iPod-goodness iPod and iTunes Pocket Guide is still alive and well).
Christopher Breen | Oct 24, 2008
It’s been a long while since I’ve owned a new Mac. In fact the last one I bought for myself was a 667MHz PowerBook G4, nearly seven years ago. I’ve used subsequent models (my job affords me the luxury to try before I buy) but haven’t been prepared to put down my money. Until now. It’s not that I haven’t thought the various PowerBooks and MacBooks were worth the money. It’s just that I, like everyone else in the technology-buying world, have been hesitant to part with my money for fear of something better around the corner. Yes, there is always something better around the corner – I know that as well as you. And I know it’s true now as well. It’s just that this time I don’t feel that a huge refresh is around the corner any time soon.
Matthew JC. Powell | Oct 24, 2008
Nvidia this week introduced a desktop variation of the same motherboard design that debuted as part of Apple’s new MacBook and MacBook Pro last week. Introduced Monday, the new GeForce 9-Series motherboards are coming from leading PC manufacturers this month.
Peter Cohen | Oct 23, 2008
Last week I thought I had lost my mojo. Or something. I was following Jason Snell and MJCP here on the AMW website as they detailed the Apple event live from Cupertino. Games? The only games I'm interested in are real ones. Like with some sort of ball in a real environment. Well, how about a new trackpad? Nup, always use a mouse. Will the nascent arrogance I am sensing morph into Microsoftian proportions? Get on with it.
Keith White | Oct 23, 2008
It’s not often that Steve Jobs appears on an Apple financial-results phone call. But there he was on Tuesday, appearing as a surprise “special guest” as Apple unveiled its fourth-quarter earnings. And he held court, making some scripted pronouncements, parrying with questioning analysts, and offering enough vague tidbits to whip Apple Kremlinologists into a frenzy.
Jason Snell | Oct 22, 2008
America’s presidential election is over, and we can all be grateful for that. But in politics, the race never really ends. I think that’s the metaphor at work in Freedom Run by Spiralstorm Games. The game’s imagery is ripe with symbolism: Republicans and Democrats are bound to each other, struggling to achieve a common good just out of reach. One cannot succeed without the other. And the run, just like the ever-expanding quest for freedom, is endless. There is no finish line. And if you fall down, you get up and try again.
