News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
Eight months into the Leopard era, Apple unleashed the third update to Leopard, with OS X 10.5.3. By way of comparison, the 10.3.3 and 10.4.3 updates both came within five months of the release dates for Panther and Tiger, respectively. This update just screams for a broadband connection, weighing in at more than 400MB, depending on which Mac you have and which version your machine deems you to require. So what do you get in exchange for your download time investment? Apple details many — but not all — of the changes in this Knowledge Base document. I won’t bother repeating everything listed there, but here are a few of the more important highlights:
Rob Griffiths | May 29, 2008
This coming Tuesday marks the tenth anniversary of the official end of the clone era in Mac history, when the last of the licensed Mac cloners finally threw in the towel. Psystar's recent activity with unlicensed clones has reminded people of those heady days, and this article by US Macworld's Rik Myslewski has taken a nostalgic look at the era when Apple almost ate itself in an attempt to survive. It's a good article, strong on historical fact and analysis that's hard to fault. The conclusion, however, is questionable.
Matthew JC. Powell | May 24, 2008
A decade has passed since the last of the official Mac cloners threw in the towel, with Apple’s recent run of success blurring memories of its mid-90s turmoil. Still, last month’s emergence of Psystar — a company offering to sell PCs capable of running Mac OS X — has rekindled memories of the days when Apple’s own machines weren’t the only hardware capable of running the Mac operating system. Because of that, we thought we’d take a look back at the Mac clone era, examining their rise and fall — and why we’re unlikely to see the re-emergence of any sanctioned clones any time soon.
Rik Myslewski | May 24, 2008
The next five years are going to be very interesting for Apple if a new report from market research firm Forrester is correct. The company predicts that Apple will rule the digital home by 2013. Using Apple’s history over the past eight years when the company remade itself from a computer maker to a leader in consumer devices and the digital music market, Forrester said the precedent has been set for radical change over the next five years. Forrester analysts predict that Apple will offer key products and services to connect PCs and digital content to the TV-stereo infrastructure in consumers’ homes.
Jim Dalrymple | May 23, 2008
I’ve often said, quite unashamedly, that Apple’s oft-discussed market share was not an accurate representation of its position in the market. The figures are skewed, I contend, by the inclusion of markets in which Apple does not compete. A recent analysis by market-research firm NPD bears this out. According to NPD, Apple’s overall share of PC sales at traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers during the first quarter of this year languished at about 14 percent. However, if you exclude computers costing under $US1000, Apple’s share rises to a staggering 66 percent. Two-thirds of all computers sold at traditional retailers to customers with over a grand to spend are Macs. These are iPod numbers.
Matthew JC. Powell | May 20, 2008
This month's MUG Shot covers two of Australia's largest Mac User Groups: AMUG Sydney, based obviously in Sydney; and AUSOM Incorporated, which is Melbourne-based. In recent weeks both groups have totally revamped their web sites, making it easier to find out about the extensive range of services and benefits they both offer their members. Services range from meetings to libraries, online stores to printed magazines — and a whole lot more.
Nicholas Pyers | May 19, 2008
Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit overshadowed the release of an Office 2008 update this week by announcing a feature that won’t even be available until the next major overhaul of its productivity suite — the return of VBA functionality. (Note: return. Entourage, never having had VBA functionality is highly unlikely to have that functionality returned.) AMW had previously foreshadowed that announcement in our interview with Geoff Price from Microsoft's MacBU in January.
John C. Welch | May 17, 2008
The Academy Store has been in turmoil with the departure of high flying Ben Morgan. Channel commentators have been a-rumble in recent weeks with news that one of the most colourful characters on the scene may have ejected. News recently hit the presses that the axe had fallen on Academy Store — as well as owner Ben Morgan's once-seemingly haloed head. Morgan was in the vein of brash young entrepreneurs perhaps more familiar to Silicon Valley than Australia, with its persistent tall poppy syndrome. He was managing director and owner of AppleCentre Taylor Square from the year 2000 when he was just 21, taking the retailer on as a less than stellar business while and turning it into something of a bellwether for the channel's fin de siecle successes.
Fleur Doidge | May 15, 2008
Ever looked over your shoulder at what the other feller in the next town, the next country is doing? I did. And it’s a lesson. I did a swift swoop around the globe to see what the other fellers and damsels are up to. Straight out of the starting gate I am enthralled at the current activity in camera companies as they decide what to do about the internal tussles between compact cameras and dSLRs. Some fixed lens compacts — from the same company — seem to be fighting with dSLRs in terms of features. Take a look at Olympus’s 20x digicam versus Nikon’s 18x job. They both make dSLRs too!
Barrie Smith | May 13, 2008
Ever since its first baby words in 1984, the Mac has been a garrulous creature. Vintage users will remember with varying degrees of hilarity or annoyance the Talking Moose (b.1986) who would pop up randomly and add a pithy comment to lighten up a dreary work session. And he's still available. But be warned — he's an absolute time waster. If this piece has some weird grammar, blame the Moose! In fact I've just had to turn him off. In 1993 I invested in a Centris 660AV which also talked back. More importantly, I could talk to it In a rudimentary sort of way. "Open Claris Works." "Quit Word." And sometimes it would. Since then we've had to wait a long time for good voice recognition on the Mac. IBM's ViaVoice around 2003 did a lot of heavy lifting for me but strangely stopped working across a number of machines as Tiger progressed through its maturations. iListen, which used a different technology, showed a lot of promise but didn't particularly like my voice. Maybe it's because, even after 50-odd years in Oz, I still can't settle my vowels between the local nasal twang and the flattened sounds of my native Yorkshire. Ee 'oop, lad!
Keith White | May 8, 2008
Ever since its first baby words in 1984 the Mac has been a garrulous creature. Vintage users will remember with varying degrees of hilarity or annoyance the Talking Moose b. 1986 who would pop up randomly and add a pithy comment to lighten up a dreary work session. And he's still available. But be warned - he's an absolute time waster. If this piece has some weird grammar - blame the Moose! In fact I've just had to turn him off. In 1993 I invested in a Centris 660AV which also talked back. More importantly, I could talk to IT. In a rudimentary sort of way. " Open Claris Works." "Quit Word." And sometimes it would.
Keith White | May 8, 2008
Ever since its first baby words in 1984 the Mac has been a garrulous creature. Vintage users will remember with varying degrees of hilarity or annoyance the Talking Moose b. 1986 who would pop up randomly and add a pithy comment to lighten up a dreary work session. And he's still available. But be warned - he's an absolute time waster. If this piece has some weird grammar - blame the Moose! In fact I've just had to turn him off. In 1993 I invested in a Centris 660AV which also talked back. More importantly, I could talk to IT. In a rudimentary sort of way. " Open Claris Works." "Quit Word." And sometimes it would.
Keith White | May 8, 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.
