News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
OS X’s Front Row interface is a fine choice for watching movies or TV episodes you’ve purchased at the iTunes Store. But if you want to play media from sources other than the iTunes Store, Front Row isn’t much use. There’s an alternative solution: a free, open-source media center application called Plex. Though still in beta as of this writing (and suffering from some prerelease instability), Plex is extremely flexible and customisable—a great media player for geeks.
Gina Trapani | Oct 31, 2008
The original Canon EOS 300D was the first digital SLR (DSLR) to break the $1,000 price barrier. Since then, Canon has released several other models with smaller bodies and larger feature lists, with the latest being the EOS 450D.
Ben Long | Oct 29, 2008
When we get products for review, journalists are usually very careful to be as gentle as possible so as to not damage them. But when the promotional literature features said product being run over with a car and chewed by a dog, well, we can't help but take that as license to get a little rough. Oh, yeah.
David Braue | Oct 28, 2008
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare draws its influence not only from landmarks of the genre, but also from Tom Clancy novels, international politics, and the realism of modern warfare. From its visually stunning beginning to its emotionally wrenching ending, this is a surprisingly deep, rich, and unique approach to the first-person shooter.
Chris Holt | Oct 27, 2008
At casual glance it appears nearly identical to its predecessor, but it’s not. Inside and out, the new MacBook Pro 15-inch models—with speeds of 2.4GHz and 2.53GHz—have been remodeled, redesigned, and reengineered for a completely new laptop experience.
Jackie Dove | Oct 24, 2008
Adobe made some pretty serious changes in Photoshop CS4, especially in the workspace. And while some of them, like the new Application Frame, will take some getting used to (and are optional), they’re changes that are long overdue.
Lesa Snider King | Oct 23, 2008
Battery life is a key aspect of a laptop, especially to travelers who don’t have easy access to a power outlet. To test the new MacBook and MacBook Pro for battery life, we performed a battery-drain test by watching a movie clip ripped from a DVD to the laptop’s hard drive.
Chris Holt | Oct 23, 2008
The verdict is in: The Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics chip makes the MacBook a capable and affordable action gaming laptop—finally. And the new Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT graphics chip in the MacBook Pro provides a substantial boost over the graphics chip in the previous MacBook Pro.
Roman Loyola | Oct 22, 2008
Our test results for the new MacBooks made this point, but it bears repeating as we turn our attention to the revamped MacBook Pro models released by Apple a week ago: the performance gap between the consumer and professional offerings in Apple’s laptop line is narrowing.
James Galbraith | Oct 22, 2008
I've owned a dock / FM transmitter for 3 years that I was happy with, but it doesn't support the iPhone so I needed to upgrade. I did some research and decided to test drive the Belkin TuneBase FM.
David Holloway | Oct 21, 2008
If you spend a lot of time working on the road—for example, in hotel rooms or at a remote office—bringing along a portable keyboard, a mouse, and a laptop stand lets you position your screen, keyboard, and mouse at proper heights, making for a more ergonomic workspace. Matias’s Folding Keyboard may work as part of your on-the-go setup, but a couple of quirks keep it from being all that it can be.
Dan Frakes | Oct 21, 2008
Apple’s newest MacBooks perform markedly better than their predecessors, particularly when it comes to 3-D games. But perhaps the most interesting discovery in the first of a series of tests involving Apple’s revamped laptop line is how well the new MacBooks perform when compared to the updated MacBook Pro offerings.
James Galbraith | Oct 20, 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.
