News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
Back in August 2007, I reviewed version 1.0.3 of Shimo, at the time an alternative to Cisco’s official Mac client for Cisco VPN (virtual private network) access. Shimo was a welcome solution that offered the benefits of Cisco’s own client (reliable connections, specialised connection settings) along with the ease of use of Mac OS X’s built-in VPN client (easier configuration, menu-bar access, no need to launch a separate application). However, version 1.0.3 of Shimo supported only Cisco VPN connections, and it still required you to install Cisco’s client.
Dan Frakes | Feb 26, 2009
Apple released a public beta of Safari 4 for both OS X and Windows on Tuesday, declaring that this new version is loaded with more than 150 features, many of them new. Safari 4 represents quite a technical leap over the previous version of the browser. So which of those new features are you most likely to find interesting, useful, or possibly even a bit disruptive? (If you’re curious as to why some of these features were added, Jason Snell shares his thoughts on that subject.)
Rob Griffiths | Feb 25, 2009
Ever wanted to play God? Smite non-believers, cast miracles, and all that? In the Black and White game series, that’s just the first level. In this god simulator from designers Peter Molyneux and Ron Millar, your power and supernatural prowess is determined by how much worshippers fear and love you. With two guiding “consciences,” you can build a beautiful city and have the people adore you and your peaceful ways; or build a large army, conquer the land and have the people tremble before your wrath.
Chris Holt | Feb 25, 2009
Suitcase Fusion, a professional font-management utility designed for individual users, has seen a giant upgrade with the release of version 2. The program has been entirely rewritten using code borrowed from Extensis’ Universal Type Server product. The result is increased speed and responsiveness—especially for adding and auto-activating fonts—and several clever new features that encourage typographical experimentation.
Jay Nelson | Feb 18, 2009
There are many ways programs can try to get your attention in Mac OS X. They can place a small badge on their Dock icon; (annoyingly) bounce that Dock icon; make noise in the background; or even do all of those things at once. But I'm not a fan of any of these approaches. Instead, I prefer Growl, a free (and open source) third-party notification manager for OS X. That description is a mouthful, but basically, Growl watches other programs so you don’t have to. I briefly covered Growl’s features in this Macworld video and Derik DeLong wrote about an older version of Growl back in 2005, but this is our first official review.
Rob Griffiths | Feb 17, 2009
Version Cue, Adobe's server-based version control and file-sharing management tool became quite easy to use with the CS3 version, so it was safe to assume that the CS4 upgrade would remain essentially unchanged. In many ways it’s true: Version Cue CS4 is largely unchanged. But in a few key ways, it has changed dramatically. The result is that Version Cue is now less complicated to use overall, but it requires more steps for users to take advantage of its file-sharing features. The updated project manager no longer complicates suite apps, and leaves what already worked well alone.
Galen Gruman | Feb 17, 2009
When you think of monster trucks, you think of car crushing, high-adrenaline action. You think of destruction, big engines, and trucks with malevolent names like Grave Digger. But monster truck drivers will also tell you that the activity requires a great deal of finesse, and a wrong move during a stunt can spell disaster. Monster Truck Nitro emphasises this nuanced nature of Monster Truck rallies by tasking the player with guiding a truck through a series of elaborate off-road obstacle courses.
Chris Holt | Feb 17, 2009
While Apple’s MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops have been re-engineered to include an all-aluminium unibody design, one lone plastic—err, I mean polycarbonate—model remains. With its recent internal updates, the $1649 white MacBook 2GHz is a better all around system than the white MacBook it replaces.
James Galbraith | Feb 13, 2009
Western Digital’s My Passport For Mac is a solid, compact, comparatively speedy little USB-only portable hard drive that also happens to be Time Machine–ready and designed for the Mac. With a 500GB capacity, a three-year warranty, and a shock-resistant shell that can withstand your average wear and tear, the My Passport is one of the best portable drives we’ve seen for the Mac.
Chris Holt | Feb 11, 2009
Unless you have an active interest in producing podcasts or creating a musical score, it’s likely you’ve opened GarageBand once and then never bothered with it again. Of all the programs that make up the iLife suite, none is more overlooked than this application. And, given its original focus, that’s not too surprising. Making music requires a skill not common in the general population of computer users.
Christopher Breen | Feb 10, 2009
Let’s get this out of the way up front: iMovie ’09 is the version Apple should have shipped when it decided a year and a half ago to start from scratch and build a new video editor for iLife.
Jeff Carlson | Feb 9, 2009
While testing the TechRestore-modified MacBook Pro, I thought it’d be interesting to compare that machine’s matte screen with a stock (glossy-screen) MacBook Pro equipped with an anti-glare film. While there are many such films in development, I could find only one shipping right now: Power Support's $59.95 MacBook Pro Anti-Glare Film . (Power Support also makes the film in a 13-inch version, for the same price, to fit the new unibody MacBooks.)
Rob Griffiths | Feb 9, 2009
As I type these words, I am waiting for Apple's Developer Connection web site to ease up sufficiently for me to download the long-awaited Software Developer Kit for the iPhone (and iPod touch, just by the by). In a way, I hate developer-oriented announcements — "here's a really cool thing we're working on, and it's available now, and hoi polloi can have it in about six months". Actually, it's the six months I hate.
