News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
Back when Apple announced Pages and bundled it with Keynote, calling the resultant “suite” iWork, people immediately began referring to iWork as the successor to the long-abandoned AppleWorks productivity package. Apple, for its part, did not repudiate the description but was careful to say it was not a replacement for AppleWorks. And well it should. Even now that iWork includes a spreadsheet as well as word processing and presentation software, it is the successor to AppleWorks in much the same way George W. Bush is the successor to Abraham Lincoln. It may have a similar title, but it is in no way a replacement.
Matthew JC. Powell | Feb 22, 2008
FileMaker Pro has long been the go-to Mac database, but for casual users its interface can be intimidating and its feature set overkill for things like tracking your DVD or CD collection, managing a list of contacts, tracking inventory of a small business, or even recording the progress of personal and professional projects. A program like Delicious Monster’s Delicious Library takes aim at specific types of record keeping, but it’s limited to library-like catalog functions. Others turn to spreadsheet programs like Microsoft Excel and Apple’s Numbers, but those programs limit the way you manage your data.
Dan Moren | Feb 16, 2008
Mac OS X 10.5 Server is the sixth major update to Apple’s server operating system, and Apple’s strongest server OS to date. Updated across the board, with a slew of major new features, it could be almost everything a small- to medium-sized business needs in a server OS. If you asked Mac IT people what previous versions of Mac OS X Server have been missing, a calendar server would be at the top of most lists. Mac OS X 10.5 Server fills that gap. For the most part, iCal Server is easy to set up. The only big problem I had was trying to get delegation — which allows users to access and edit each other’s calendars — to work. Part of the problem could have been my particular setup (I have Mac OS X Server participating in a Windows Active Directory network).
John C. Welch | Feb 14, 2008
The Asus Eee PC might have a funny name but it's a great little computer. At a tick over 900g, it's small and light enough to pop into just about any bag. As an ultra-compact system it does plenty although it has some limitations. On the hardware side, the Eee PC is robust and ready to go at a moment's notice. By eschewing a spinning hard disk and using 4GB of flash memory it's able to save on power and deliver a lightning-fast start-up time. The installed applications, including the Open Office Suite, launched quickly and typical actions like launching and saving documents never kept us waiting. The 7-inch display runs at 800x480, which is adequate, and there's a VGA output for connecting a screen or projector. When a computer is shrunk to this size, one thing that does suffer is data input. The Eee PC's keyboard sports a full set of keys, although I found that the reduced size of the keys lead to numerous errors. Once I’d tapped in a couple of hundred words (the equivalent of a short letter), my error rate dropped. There's a touchpad for controlling the mouse pointer but no buttons — clicking involves tapping on the pad.
Anthony Caruana | Feb 14, 2008
When Panasonic launched its first DSLR it was priced at nearly $4000. Reason has now entered the picture as the follow-up model hits the shelves at a little more than half that figure. And a fascinating camera the L10 is too. Using the 4/3 system the camera can accept lenses made by Leica, Olympus and Sigma. The image sensor is approximately 4/3 of an inch in the diagonal with an actual imaging area of 17.3x13mm. The big bonus when you buy the L10 camera/lens kit is you get a Japanese-made, Leica-designed Vario-Elmar f3.8-5.6/14-50 mm, 3.6x zoom as your first lens. With Panasonic DSLRs each lens must be optically stabilised, differing from Olympus and Sony who rely on an internal body system to handle the image steadying.
Barrie Smith | Feb 12, 2008
It has been 24 years since Microsoft first released Word, and four years since the program’s last major upgrade. How much more can Microsoft do to tweak its venerable word processor? Surprisingly, Word gets several major enhancements in Office 2008, the first version of Microsoft’s productivity suite to run natively on both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs. Those changes include a new document format, a simplified toolbar, and a new toolbox that combines palettes for managing formatting, clip art, iPhoto images, research, and bibliographies. But the biggest improvement is the addition of a new view option called Publishing Layout.In this new view, arranging text and graphics on the page is far simpler than it was in previous versions of Word. Like Apple, Microsoft has apparently concluded that people use word processing programs for far more than just creating text-based documents. Creating complex, graphics-rich documents requires tools historically found in powerful page layout programs such as Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress. Like Apple’s Pages, Microsoft Word now allows you to select a distinct editing environment specifically for creating layout-intensive documents. That environment is Publishing Layout.
Jeffery Battersby | Feb 8, 2008
It’s been more than three years since the last update to Excel, the leading Mac spreadsheet. Despite the long wait for a new version, when you launch Excel 2008, you’ll see what appears to be a slightly re-skinned version of Excel 2004 — or even of Excel v.X. The menus and menu items are nearly identical, and the worksheet itself is the same as it’s always been. Appearances can be deceiving, however — Excel 2008 is a major rewrite, designed to run natively on Intel-powered Macs as well as PowerPC-based machines. This release of Excel also offers some new features, though it drops at least one major area of functionality. As a result, Excel 2008 may leave you feeling somewhat underwhelmed.
Rob Griffiths | Feb 8, 2008
Few products enjoy the market dominance that PowerPoint for Windows does — for most of the world, the words “PowerPoint” and “presentation” are interchangeable. But Mac presenters have had an alternative since January of 2003, when Apple unveiled Keynote. Although the initial release lagged in a few critical respects, three subsequent updates addressed most of Keynote’s shortcomings and established it as the clear presentation leader for the Mac. Sporting an improved interface and beefed-up graphics capabilities, PowerPoint 2008 catches up to Keynote in a few areas and even exceeds it in some. While it’s still not Keynote’s equal, PowerPoint is sometimes a better practical choice.
Franklin N. Tessler | Feb 8, 2008
In the four years since the last major version of Microsoft Office, Entourage has probably come under more attack from Apple’s applications than any other member of the Office suite. OS X’s Mail, Address Book, and iCal have all come to offer credible alternatives to Entourage’s core features. So how does Entourage 2008 stand up to Apple’s triumvirate?
Tom Negrino | Feb 8, 2008
Myvu has announced that its Crystal video goggles now work with the iPhone. The Crystal glasses require a new cable which costs $US24.95.
