Login & Keychain Update 1.0 is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Leopard. It addresses issues you may encounter when:
The folks up north at Primate Labs have some benchmarks of a PowerMac G5 and a Core 2 Duo iMac running under Tiger and Leopard. They used their cross-platform benchmark Geekbench for the tests.
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs is reportedly "very interested" in a world where people share their WiFi connections in return for free access to other wireless hotspots in their communities, and recently met with the founder of upstart provider FON, whose business aims might just dovetail with the iPhone maker. -- AppleInsider.
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard utilizes Kerberos to make it easier to share services with other Macs. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
Many digital cameras offer options to save pictures in digital camera RAW format. Digital camera RAW formats retain more image information than JPEGs and can produce better results when used with imaging applications such as Aperture and iPhoto. Mac OS X Leopard provides system-level support for digital camera RAW formats from the following cameras: -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
One of the Apple world's luminaries, Guy Kawasaki, has posted his top ten tips for upgrading to Mac OS X Leopard. He suggested we reconsider Leopard's implementation of Spotlight and take a closer look at Leopard's file sharing ins-and-outs. -- Digital Media Wire.
Researchers at Heise Security have noted that, even after an upgrade from Tiger to Leopard, if the Firewall was turned on in Tiger, it is turned off by default in Leopard, according to Robert Vamosi's c|net Blog on Tuesday. [I can verify this, since it happened on my install. -mam.]
As others have discovered, the dict:// URL syntax allows you to search for a word or phrase in the Dictionary program. Now that OS X includes Wikipedia search in the Dictionary program, a search using this method will show you any and all results from all four of Dictionary's sources (Dictionary, Thesaurus, Apple, and Wikipedia).
You can type a search into the URL bar directly, such as dict://Mac OS X Leopard, or you can take advantage of this ability in other ways (e.g. QuickSilver).
If you do this in 10.4.x it will bring up the dictionary but it will not lookup "Mac OS X Leopard" automatically as it will in 10.5.
Thomas Ptacek offers a helpful Roundup Of Leopard Security Features at Matasano Chargen, covering the pros, cons and implications of Sandboxing, Input Manager Restrictions, Guest Account, Address Space Randomization, Filevault Encryption, Application-Aware Firewall, Tagged Downloads and Digital Signatures.
Apple Tuesday announced that it sold (or delivered in the case of maintenance agreements) over two million copies of Mac OS® X Leopard since its release on Friday, far outpacing the first-weekend sales of Mac OS X Tiger, which was previously the most successful OS release in Apple's history. -- Apple PR.
Microsoft has posted another "sneak peek" at new functionality in the forthcoming Office 2008 for Mac OS X. The latest gallery details new themes, templates and styles. Mac BU officials said "Dozens of new Template designs help users make a statement and get their work noticed. Modern, suite-wide Themes and Styles also help users consistently apply a professional look and feel to their documents and presentations.
Apple Inc.'s computers are the most reliable and its support the most dependable of the five top vendors, a national chain of computer service shops said today. -- Computerworld.
Every time Apple rolls out a new big-cat-themed release of OS X, it manages to pack in a few interface features and useful apps that eventually make their way across the operating-system world. Now that Leopard is here, let's take a look through its key features and see how the built-in features in Windows Vista measure up. -- PC World.
Mac OS X is a different paradigm than Windows. Yes, many things act very similar, but there is a lot that is different as well. As a Windows user trying to learn OS X, some of it will be confusing. As I write this, I have not been using OS X very long. I am a long-time Windows user, so I understand the viewpoint of somebody who is confused by OS X. Below, I will lay out several random findings and tips that should clear up some things for Windows users experimenting with OS X. -- PC Mechanic.
The sky is NOT falling. -- The Mac Night Owl .
When I initially heard that Leopard was incorporating Cover Flow into Leopard, I was less than impressed since, like Ben, it's a feature I never use in iTunes. But it turns out that it's a great feature for Aperture users, especially combined with Quick Look. -- O'Reilly Digital Media.
We have another cool new CSS feature to talk about: animation specified in CSS. There is a lot of ground to cover here, so we'll start with the basics first. -- Surfin' Safari.
These are Xbench 1.3 results off a DP G4, DP G5 and an Intel MacBook. Your mileage may vary.
DP G4 |
DP G5 |
Intel MacBook |
||||
| 10.4.11 | 10.5 | 10.4.11 | 10.5 | 10.4.10 | 10.5 | |
| Over All | 45.22 | 38.68 | 111.69 | n/a | 79.78 | 86.43 |
| CPU Test | 52.44 | 53.35 | 145.36 | n/a | 72.57 | 82.01 |
| Thread Test | 65.31 | 52.96 | 120.59 | n/a | 191.84 | 180.82 |
| Memory Test | 33.62 | 34.31 | 101.74 | n/a | 108.47 | 114.51 |
| Quartz Graphics Test | 51.92 | 59.47 | 126.29 | n/a | 94.13 | 130.17 |
| OpenGL Graphics Test | 57.00 | 55.43 | 158.92 | n/a | 225.84 | 236.50 |
| User Interface Test | 32.60 | 20.33 | 122.81 | n/a | 199.12 | 180.99 |
| Disk Test | 43.13 | 33.15 | 65.27 | n/a | 25.35 | 26.96 |
DP G4 System Info: |
DP G5 System Info: |
Intel MacBook System Info: |
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard comes with a selection of entirely new or greatly improved applications. The new system is designed to be flexible to fit your needs, so you can import the data from existing apps you currently use into Leopard's, or alternatively continue to use your own preferred alternative apps on the new OS. It also exposes new functionality for developers to allow them to extend upon, replace, or collaborate with Apple's supplied applications. Here's a look at how the new versions of Mail and iCal work. -- AppleInsider.
SWsoft has decided to be extra thorough, as it has just released a new beta of Parallels that improves Leopard compatibility as well as Windows XP and Vista performance. -- Ars Technica.
I just had to do it--install Leopard the day it came out, that is. And now I'm typing this with both the caps and num lock LEDs on my keyboard turned on but the functions themselves turned off. I don't know who is in charge of new bugs in Mac OS X, but it's surely someone with a strange sense of humor. -- Ars Technica.
Maybe good ol' Adobe CEO Bruce "Our customer is not typically price sensitive" Chizen was making a needless fuss over CS3 and Leopard after all. Chizen stated back in September that CS3 might not work on the new OS, but most of Adobe's latest creativity apps run just fine. -- Ars Technica.
The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year is a Mac. Try that again: The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year--or for that matter, ever--is a Mac. Not a Dell, not a Toshiba, not even an Alienware. The $2419 (plus the price of a copy of Windows Vista, of course) MacBook Pro's PC WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 88 beats Gateway's E-265M by a single point, but the MacBook's score is far more impressive simply because Apple couldn't care less whether you run Windows. -- PC World.
How to slice up a menu design (step by step) and put them together with CSS. Most of you probably know how to code a horizontal or vertical CSS list menu. Now let's take it to the next level -- code an advanced (un-typical) list menu utilizing the CSSposition property. -- WebDesignerWall.
Let's say that your Mac doesn't have a dual-layer DVD burner - er, I mean DVD reader. This guide shows you how to install Leopard from a DMG without burning anything. -- g=WH!Z.
Mac OS X is designed to give you a safe and secure computing environment, often by the use of passwords. One of the best things you can do to keep your information and computer secure is to use good, hard-to-guess passwords. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
If you think Time Machine backs up too often (or not often enough) for your liking, navigate into /System » Library » LaunchDaemons. There you'll find a file named com.apple.backupd-auto.plist. Open it in your favorite text editor, and look for this section:
<key>StartInterval</key> <integer>3600</integer>
Change the 3600 number to some other time interval in seconds, and you'll have changed Time Machine's backup interval. -- Mac OS X Hints.
I know a lot of you are not a fan of the 3D dock, however I love it. One thing that was bugging me was that little curve that was in it. It seemed so unnecessary and I felt made the dock look a little too busy. In trying to see if I could remove it, I found out that whole background is one PNG image. -- Mac OS X Hints.
Extremely large or frequently updated files (or worse, files that fall into both categories) can cause Time Machine spike in processor usage, resulting in slowness for other applications or the system in general. The simple solution is to exclude these files from Time Machine's backup routine. You can do this by navigating to the "Time Machine" pane of System Preferences, then clicking the "Options" button. This will bring up a "Do not back up:' dialog box. You can then click the small "+" button and choose folders or files you don't want Time Machine Backup.
Common culprits include:
When we first tested Leopard, initial impressions of the new OS were very favorable, and many of these initial observations hold over after days of extended use. The OS continues to not just run quickly but also upgrades the performance of a few previously sluggish components, especially Spotlight. We've discovered a few pleasant upsides to Leopard since then; however, we've also found a few potential show stopping bugs that may have early adopters think twice. -- Electronista.
An Apple patent (number 7289127) for a multi-conic gradient generation has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It involves technology for beefing up frame rates on Macs. -- Macsimum News.
New Xeons for Mac Pro and new Core 2 Duos for MacBook Pro. -- Tech.co.uk.
In a now well-known gaffe, the translators of a Japanese game called "Zero Wing" mistranslated a line of dialog as "All your base are belong to us." And while scripters sometimes feel that the coders at Apple created a similar Frankensteinian grammar for Applescript, sometimes the gang at 1 Infinite Loop come up with something that makes us forget all about their bad grammar. Database Events is one of those dandy applications that got little to no fanfare when Tiger was released. But like System Events, Image Events, and the Speech Recognition Server, it can help you to write smarter, more capable scripts. -- MacScripter.
Reports abound regarding users suffering from a "blue screen" after upgrading to Leopard: they upgrade, reboot, and get stuck at a blank blue screen. But, as far as I can tell, there is no mystery involved. There is one and only one known cause for this problem: old versions of Unsanity's Application Enhancer, a.k.a. APE. -- Daring Fireball.
I've been testing Leopard for many months, but not until updating to the final version did I get bit by a strange side-effect of a new default behavior in 10.5, relating to Access Control Lists (ACLs). -- Red Sweater Blog.
My work on the new book has been slowed down considerably by having to take time out, on at least a dozen occasions in the last few days, to answer email messages about what I think of Time Machine, how well or poorly it accomplishes some task, whether it's appropriate for enterprise backups or a suitable replacement for Retrospect, and so on. -- TidBITS.
MacGuru Mike Stanley writes about his first impressions of Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5):
I've played around with the beta once or twice before as they've been posted to the ADC site, but was afraid I'd have to wait until next week at the earliest since the UT Computer Store wasn't going to have it for sale on Friday, but as luck would have it, Apple released the final version of Leopard on the ADC site Friday evening. So I went downloaded it to a machine at the office then went back there and burned a couple copies of the DVD (dual layer - yea) and have been playing with it this weekend.
I'll try to write up something more detailed later, but for now, I have installed it on three machines.
I installed 10.5 clean on the Mac Mini around 1:30 AM Saturday morning at the office and really just waited for it to finish so I could take the DVDs and go home. I did play around with the built-in screen sharing in Finder. Very nice. About time, too.
I installed 10.5 clean on the PowerBook on Saturday while making a clone of the MacBook to a firewire hard drive. At 120 gigs or so, that took a while, so I spent a lot of time playing with Safari (nice), Mail (pretty ok, may even switch back to it since I'm using Thunderbird instead of Entourage), and Spaces (very nice).
My backup and install process on the MacBook took a while for reasons I'll go into later. Suffice to say all the cloning and such I'm used to doing for my work with the labs saved my butt.
I did an upgrade of 10.5 on the MacBook and even had APE installed (although I was running the latest version and new about the problems folks were having but decided to risk it anyway since I had a known-good clone from earlier in the day) and aside from it taking a while longer, it worked fine too. I spent some time playing with iChat and while I'm sure the video features will rock, nobody I know is running 10.5 yet and honestly, I've had multi-account support and tabbed chats since the beginning with Adium, so I'm not sure there is much there to convince me to "switch" chat apps.
So far I'm fairly pleased. I'm not seeing much to truly excite me, but that might be because I already had a lot of the features in Leopard via other applications or utilities. What I am happy about is maybe being able to let some of those things go and just use the built-in version with Leopard.
Feel free to ask any questions you may have and if I can, I'll answer them.
MacGuru Chuck Melcher has a question about importing photos into iPhoto:
I often want to import just a few of the hundreds of photos on my camera's memory card. But so far I have found only two options in iPhoto, either import all photos or import all photos not already in the iPhoto library. Is there a way to import specific photos only? (I hesitate to mention it, but this operation is trivial in Windows.)
This AppleCare Knowledge Base article says you can:
If you want to import only some of your photos, select each photo you want to import by Command-clicking on each thumbnail, or click and drag to select a set of photos.
Other options:
Login & Keychain Update 1.0 -- This update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Leopard.
Aperture 1.5.6 Update -- Aperture 1.5.6 addresses issues related to performance, improves overall stability, and supports compatibility with Mac OS X v10.5.
Backup 3.1.2 -- This update includes reliability improvements and improves compatibility with Leopard and iWork '08.
Server Admin Tools 10.5 -- The Server Administration Software installer package contains tools for remote server administration. These applications require Mac OS X version 10.5 or later.
iLife Support 8.1.1 -- This update improves overall stability, addresses a number of other minor issues, and supports general compatibility issues.
iDVD 6.0.4 -- This update improves overall stability and supports compatibility with Mac OS X 10.5.
GarageBand 3.0.5 -- This update supports compatibility with Mac OS X 10.5.
iMac MXM Update 1.0 -- The iMac MXM Update improves video compatibility with Boot Camp on certain 24" iMac models.
Apple Remote Desktop 3.2 Client -- The 3.2 client update is recommended for all users and addresses numerous issues related to overall reliability, usability and compatibility.
Apple Remote Desktop 3.2 Admin -- The 3.2 update is recommended for all users and addresses numerous issues related to overall reliability, usability and compatibility.
After a two-and-a-half-year wait, Leopard is here. John Siracusa covers the latest version of Mac OS X from top to bottom. -- Ars Technica.
Leopard is pretty nice, there's a lot to like. But there are some really stupid things too, mostly visual and since I'm a visual kinda person I feel compelled to complain about them! There I've warned you, so if you feel like posting nasty comments feel free to go to hell. BTW, Apple please fix this stuff ne? -- ThinkMac Software.
You can chalk this one up to our bad in assuming best intentions, but when Apple said no cash for iPhones, they damn well meant it -- enough to extend the policy out to no cash for anything that could in turn purchase an iPhone. -- Engadget.
So you erased your hard drive to install Leopard, and now you've got to load your Mac up with all your essential software. I kept a detailed inventory of the downloads I hunted down all over the internet to load on my Mac this weekend, so I thought I'd save you a few clicks. Here's a list of 20 (mostly) free apps with direct links to their download pages. -- Lifehacker.
Simply replace this file:
/System/Library/CoreServices/DefaultDesktop.jpg
iPhones may exhibit abnormally short battery life for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to:
What's an abnormally short battery life-span? There's no easy answer. Apple's claims (8 hours of talk time, 6 hours of Internet use, 7 hours of video playback or 24 hours of audio playback, 250 hours more than 10 days of standby time) seem somewhat inflated based on in-house experience with iPhones that have (what we believe to be) healthy batteries. If your iPhone is getting significantly less -- say 3-4 hours of talk time when not performing other functions -- you may be experiencing battery issues. -- iPhone Atlas.
Google recently added IMAP support to its Gmail email service, a major boon for iPhone users since it allows changes made by the user to be reflected on the server, won't put both sent messages in your inbox and more. In addition to text-based step-by-step instructions, Google has now posted a video demonstrating how to setup IMAP Gmail on the iPhone. The process is pretty simple: Enable IMAP in your Gmail account settings through a Web browser, then create a new "Other" mail account in your iPhone's mail settings (the "Gmail" icon for creating new accounts doesn't yet work with IMAP).
You may not be able to log in with a user account that has a password of 8 or more characters and was originally created in Mac OS X 10.2.8 or earlier, after performing an upgrade installation of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard (the default installation type). This page provides solutions. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
Check out the Mac OS X Leopard Technical Specs website.
Time Machine backups are not bootable and require the Install DVD to serve as a restore. And you don't always have that disk handy. So just partition your Time Machine backup drive and copy the Install DVD to the first partition! This way, your data and the way to restore it stay together.
You can do this with Carbon Copy Cloner, SuperDuper!, or Disk Utility. Be sure to give the DVD's name to the destination partition.
Adobe has posted a Leopard Support PDF which outlines the compatibility between their line of products and Apple's Mac OS X Leopard. The information summarized:
Adobe Photoshop CS3, Flash CS3 Professional, Contribute CS3, Dreamweaver CS3, Fireworks CS3, Flash Player 9, GoLive 9, Illustrator CS3, InCopy CS3, InDesign CS3, Bridge CS3, Version Cue CS3, Device Central CS3 and Acrobat Connect (Start Meeting) are all compatible with Leopard.
Products that will require updates for full Leopard compatibility include Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional and the company's professional video applications, including Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, After Effects CS3 Professional, Encore CS3 and Soundbooth CS3.
The updates for "full compatibility" are not expected until December - January.
Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) requires Mac with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 processor running at 867MHz or faster, and will refuse to install on any systems running at a lower clock speed (even dual 800 MHz systems are excluded). However, there's an easy way to trick your lower-than-867 MHz Mac into running Leopard: install the operating system on an external FireWire hard drive using a computer that does meet the minimum clock speed requirements. You can then use that drive to boot a Mac running at less than 867 MHz (see the screenshot below for proof).
Better yet, you can hook a pre-867 MHz Mac up to a Mac that does meet official Leopard requirements and boot it in Target Disk Mode, then install Leopard directly. This should (we haven't yet tested this method) allow you to boot Leopard from the system's internal hard drive.
For more information on installing Leopard on a FireWire drive, see this article.
Obviously, performance for some features will be somewhat sluggish on older processors, but we've already received reports indicating normal operation. -- MacFixIt.
After completing an upgrade installation of Leopard and restarting the computer, a "blue screen" may appear for an extended period of time. You may have third-party "enhancement" software installed that does not work with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Use one of these solutions. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
MacFixIt's Leopard Reader Reports include another big batch of tips, compatibility information, hands-on experiences, questions and commentary.
Well its been only a day since the Mac OS X Leopard was released officially by Apple and the hackers have managed to create a patched DVD that everyone like you and me can use to install Leopard on PC's without having to buy a Mac. -- DAILYAPPS.
In what is being called the biggest education success story in Apple Canada history, St. Francis Xavier University announced that it is transitioning over to the Mac platform for administration, faculty and labs. Students, of course, will be free to make their own choice. -- News@StFX.
New Apple patents have appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. They're for a keystroke tactility arrangement on a smooth touch surface, semantic reconstruction and context-aware content conversion and interpretation-specific views. -- Macsimum News.
We're usually not alarmists here, but right now we need to be. Unless we're proven wrong (and we'll certainly admit it if we are), do not use Leopard's new "Back to My Mac" feature. It contains a serious security hole, which allows anyone who can access your .Mac account to easily take full remote control of your Mac, without having to enter your Mac's password. -- Internet Security for Your Macintosh.
John Gruber nails it:
Here's the gist: When you turn on Back to My Mac synching, all you need to control your Mac remotely is your .Mac password -- you don't need to authenticate with the password for your Mac itself.
I don't think it's right to characterize this as a security "hole", though -- clearly it's how the feature is designed to work. If you don't trust your .Mac account, don't use it. It'd be nice if there were an option to require your Mac's password, though -- and I question the decision to turn this setting on by default.
Today, Apple--once considered road kill on Microsoft's path to the pinnacle of the PC world--is adding thousands of computer customers whose system purchase decisions have been influenced by the iPod's success. -- EE Times.
Although I've been a fan of Mail since version 2, Mail 3 hits my sweet spot. We expect email programs to serve up email but Mail.app raises the bar. Here are my three favorites features. -- Creatives Corner.
As many of you are aware, I think Windows Vista is a blunder. And with its annoying UAC system, and horrifically slow operation, it won't take long before the majority of home users agree with me. And if the recent figures showing Mac OS X is already gaining market share is any indication of the future, look for Leopard to outsell Vista by a staggering margin. -- c|net.
Over the past few days I've had quite a bit of hands on time with Apple's latest OS - Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard." Rather than rush out a review of the OS I've decided to take my time and take a look at individual aspects of the OS. I'm going to begin with the feature that I'm most interested in - Time Machine. -- ZDNet.
I think the way to sum up the correct level of anticipation for Leopard is to compare it to a movie that stars Gene Hackman or Michael Caine. You know that it's going to be worthwhile... but the coin's in the air as to whether it's worth seeing right away. -- Andy Ihnatko.
I have a customer who was fed up with Comcast, feeling they were overpriced and were possibly blocking his VoIP connections (conjecture, not proof). So, in a fit of frustration, he called Verizon and requested to have FiOS installed in his home. -- O'Grady's Power Page.
A few years ago, I peeked over the shoulder of a very dear friend as he was using his computer. "R" is a computing guru through and through, spending his days between WebObjects applications, Aperture, countless browsers and utilities. He is the kind of user who cannot work with less than four partitions and three huge disks attached to his machine. And work he does, brilliantly. In fact, I have rarely seen anyone squeeze so much computing power out of his machine. Imagine my surprise when I noticed how close to the defaults R's installation was...
Mine, on the other hand, used to be customized to the brim: special icons, menus haxies, applications from all over the web. I did not spend hours applying changes, mind you, but they all came gradually from the moment I unpacked my Mac. Curious, I inquired. R's reply was pretty simple: "You've got to learn to live with the defaults." -- O'Reilly's MacDevCenter.
A former Apple engineer told me the iTunes team is adding features faster than they can be documented. Here's one I'll be using a lot: a way to re-download deleted podcasts. -- O'Reilly's MacDevCenter.
Apple Senior Product Manager, Joe Schorr, sits down with Derrick Story on the last day of the 2007 PhotoPlus Expo show in New York City. Joe discusses the growing interest in Aperture's custom books, integration with Keynote for DVD authoring, and the growing popularity of the application among big time photographers. -- O'Reilly's Digital Media.
The two and a half years between the debut of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and today's release of 10.5 Leopard feels long, not just because it's been the longest-ever stretch between major Mac OS X revisions, but also because it's been an eventful two and a half years. -- Daring Fireball.
OK, it is Friday and Leopard is here. If you don't have your copy already and our you haven't installed it yet then this is for you. If you have installed I hope it went well. So far I have installed only on a second HD.
All the reviews I have read about Leopard have all been almost 100% positive. It does boot faster even on my G4.
Leopard is a resource hog and I can not stress too much how important SDRAM is if you are running Leopard. You can NOT have too much SDRAM. It is the one thing you can do that WILL make your Mac run faster and Leopard happier. A clean install of Leopard on my G4 with just my settings and the stuff from my directory uses 24GB of space.
So what should you do to insure that your Leopard installation goes smoothly?
Apple has now confirmed this information with a AppleCare Knowledge Base article that states:
"Classic applications do not work on Intel processor-based Macs or with Mac OS X 10.5. Upgrade your Mac OS 9 applications to Mac OS X versions. Check with an application's manufacturer for more information."
The only option for running Mac OS 9 applications after updating to Leopard is to boot your system into Mac OS 9 (if it supports the OS) or booting into a Mac OS X 10.4.x or earlier volume.
The Aperture 1.5.6 Update addresses issues related to performance, improves overall stability, and supports compatibility with Mac OS X v10.5. This update is recommended for all Aperture users.
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard has two audiences: those who already own a Mac and are interested in upgrading their experience, and new buyers investigating a Mac purchase. This review series is designed primarily toward Mac users looking to upgrade but includes notes of interest to new Mac buyers as well. This segment provides a 2-page introduction to Leopard's overall features and an introduction of the desktop, with real world usage notes about its peculiarities so you can decide if Leopard (and the Mac) is right for you. -- AppleInsider.
To the dismay of what is sure to be many, Apple Inc. appears to have pulled one of the more compelling features of its Leopard operating system last minute: the ability to use its revolutionary Time Machine backup software with wireless. -- AppleInsider.
A new filing reveals that Apple has researched a method that would allow a touch-sensitive keyboard to generate physical feedback without interfering in gesture -- AppleInsider.
With less than 48 hours to go before Apple unleashes its next-generation Leopard operating system, the company is also putting the finishing touches on another update of significance: Mac OS X 10.4.11 -- a final once-over for its soon to be yesteryear Tiger OS. -- AppleInsider.
iDVD 6.0.4 improves overall stability and supports compatibility with Mac OS X 10.5.
iLife Support 8.1.1 improves overall stability, addresses a number of other minor issues, and supports general compatibility issues --
GarageBand 3.0.5 supports compatibility with Mac OS X 10.5. -- .
Apple announced financial results for its fiscal 2007 fourth quarter ended September 29, 2007. The Company posted revenue of $6.22 billion and net quarterly profit of $904 million, or $1.01 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $4.84 billion and net quarterly profit of $542 million, or $.62 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 33.6 percent, up from 29.2 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 40 percent of the quarter's revenue. -- Apple PR.
St. Olaf sophomore Peter Holt, a longtime PC user, has just made the Mac switch after working in the school Mac-support department and realizing how seamlessly Apple hardware and software work together. He also likes having the option to boot into Windows as needed. He uses a desktop iMac for schoolwork and software development, as well as to play Windows games with his brother over the Internet. Holt is not alone. As Julio Ojeda-Zapata (St. Paul Pioneer Press) points out, Mac use has surged "on campuses across Minnesota" and the rest of the US, as well, with some schools -- like Pennsylvania's Wilkes University -- going all Mac. -- St. Paul Pioneer Press.
It's Leopard Day ladies and gents, so we hope you aren't standing in too long of a line just yet. If you're planning on installing your copy right away though, you might want to take a moment to check and make sure your third-party applications can come along for the ride. -- Ars Technica.
The ever-entertaining David Pogue has supplemented his big Leopard review with a list of cool features that aren't obvious on first use:
Ladies and gentlemen, Flock, the Mozilla-based open-source Web browser trying to make the social aspects of the Internet central, is finally useful. And oh, is it, useful -- Cult of Mac.
Strategy Analytics has predicted that the Apple iPhone, which is outperforming the RAZR's launch, could become the best selling mobile phone in the U.S. in three to six months, according to Forbes on Thursday.
FileMaker has issued a special report detailing known issues with FileMaker Pro and Advanced 9 and Mac OS X 10.5. While both versions of the database applications will function when running on Leopard, there are issues the company plans to resolve with an update in November.
Apple has posted a new .Mac and Leopard page.
SWsoft, the developers of the Parallels Desktop virtualization software, say that the program has been tested with Mac OS X Leopard, and should be compatible. "We're confident that Parallels Desktop is compatible with Leopard. Performance is great, and core functionality works smoothly," says SWsoft director Ben Rudolph. "You'll be able to safely upgrade to Leopard when it goes live without worrying that Parallels will work." Despite this, the company cautions that it has not actually tried Parallels with the final build of Leopard, which might still generate unexpected errors. -- Macworld UK.
Ahead of Leopard's release, VMware announced a new release candidate of its software for running Windows and other operating systems on an Intel-based Mac. Fusion 1.1 Release Candidate, the company said, has been working well on pre-release version of Leopard, but has yet to be tested on the release version of Mac OS X 10.5 (expected to be available late Friday). VMware Fusion is available through the manufacturer's website, and in stores, for $80 and is a free upgrade for all users. -- VMware.
For years, Apple has really been two companies: a mature, slow-growing one paired with a new, dynamic one, with the upstart driving the company's renaissance.
Apple's vibrant business was, of course, its iPod unit, and its stodgy old business the Macintosh division. Indeed, the company in January dropped "Computer" from its name.
But since the name change, something funny has happened: The Mac business has been the star, as iPod sales have started to look a bit anemic. -- San Jose Mercury News.
You can't spend five minutes online these days without learning about the release of Apple's newest operating system upgrade. If you have Macs in your workplace, here's what you need to know so you're ready to run with OS X Leopard. -- Macworld.
Leopard also offers a veritable playground for developers, with Ruby on Rails, Mongrel and Capistrano all baked into the operating system. Developers also get DTrace, which is built into the operating system's core, allowing developers to observe, debug and tune applications in real time. - ComputerWorld.
Let's all do the Leopard Moan. Yes, Time Machine is cool, Spaces is neat, but oh (moan!), the interface! What were these people thinking? Yes, you've got a rant inside you, waiting to howl to the moon, and so do I; it's a full moon right now, so let's take this opportunity to get it out of our system (pun intended). Herewith, then, some things I just can't stand about Leopard. -- TidBITS.
Starting tomorrow I will out of the office until October 29th. News updates will be few and far between until then. -mam
Apple Inc.'s share of the U.S. personal computer market for the third calendar quarter of 2007 was 8.1 percent, up from 6.2 percent during the same period one year ago, according to preliminary results released from Gartner on Wednesday. -- AppleInsider.
Apple has made major changes to iCal in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, introducing integration with its own new WebDAV-based iCal Server included in Leopard Server. Here's a comprehensive history of software-based calendar applications and a look at what's new in iCal 3.0. -- AppleInsider.
Answering the calls of iPhone users who crave more out of the device, Steve Jobs announced today that an official iPhone SDK will arrive in February 2008. -- Ars Technica.
There are so many features listed on Apple's Leopard landing page that it might be easy to overlook this one: OpenDocument Format, or ODF, support in the new operating system. It's baked right into OS X, and TextEdit will also support both Microsoft Word 2007 and OpenDocument formats.
"Finally, a PC Unix that everyone can love. OS X Leopard is a triumph of customer-focused engineering" Tom Yager takes a look at what it is, under the skin, that makes OS X *that* great. -- InfoWorld.
Close to 33,000 web professionals answered the survey's 37 questions, providing the first data ever collected on the business of web design and development as practiced in the U.S. and worldwide. Working with statisticians, we crunched raw data into meaningful findings. -- A List Apart.
Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers' hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users. With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers.
It will take until February to release an SDK because we're trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once--provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc. This is no easy task. Some claim that viruses and malware are not a problem on mobile phones--this is simply not true. There have been serious viruses on other mobile phones already, including some that silently spread from phone to phone over the cell network. As our phones become more powerful, these malicious programs will become more dangerous. And since the iPhone is the most advanced phone ever, it will be a highly visible target.
Some companies are already taking action. Nokia, for example, is not allowing any applications to be loaded onto some of their newest phones unless they have a digital signature that can be traced back to a known developer. While this makes such a phone less than "totally open," we believe it is a step in the right direction. We are working on an advanced system which will offer developers broad access to natively program the iPhone's amazing software platform while at the same time protecting users from malicious programs.
We think a few months of patience now will be rewarded by many years of great third party applications running on safe and reliable iPhones.
Steve
P.S.: The SDK will also allow developers to create applications for iPod touch. [Oct 17, 2007]
In Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, iChat lets you audio conference with up to nine additional people and video conference with up to three additional people.
Here are the system requirements you need to initiate or participate in audio and video chats and conferences in iChat.
Please note that "any G5" references below mean any G5 processor-based Mac (either single- or dual-processor G5). -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
Apple has posted three new iPhone ads that aired on U.S. television tonight. The ads continue the theme of iPhone users talking about how they've used their iPhone:
Apple has apparently acknowledged an issue with some MacBook Pros where the first typed letter in a new text field is sometimes missing. For instance, when filling out a Web-based form, typing the word "dog" in an address field may result in only "og" being typed.
Some users have been able to mitigate this issue by adjusting their key repeat rate settings in the Keyboard and Mouse pane of System Preferences. In particular, setting the "Delay Until Repeat" to very short or off has resolved the issue for some. -- MacFixIt.
I know that Apple OS X is just around the corner, and for those so inclined, I don't actually mind if you pay for update. But what I do care about is how stuff is advertised. The Apple OS X Leopard feature page boldly claims:
Even Leopard innovations have innovations.
So, how true is that? Let's look at innovations from the category I happen to know best, web browsers. Let's go through the Safari 3.0 news one by one. -- Arve Bersvendsen.
Shawyan sent me an email listing his top 5 tips and tricks for an iPod. It's an excellent list, so I wanted to share it with everyone. Here are his tips, in order from last to first. -- The Chris Pirillo Show.
Apple has posted a brief description of all 11 Mac OS X Leopard's new security features.
Ryan Naraine over at ZDNet talks about "code-scrambling diversity." Apple has announced plans to add code-scrambling diversity to Mac OS X Leopard, a move aimed at making the operating system more resilient to virus and worm attacks.
The ATI Radeon X1900 GT Firmware Update will update the firmware on all of the ATI Radeon X1900 GT graphics cards in the Mac Pro.
Well it's official.Mac OS X Leopard will arrive October 26. Apple is taking pre-orders. In my opinion, if you don't have at least a G5 and 2GB of DRAM, you may want to wait until you get your new Intel Mac.
As part of its announcements on Tuesday, Apple released its official system requirements for Mac OS X Leopard and the software's associated applications. Meanwhile, upgrade options for recent Mac buyers and other discount details have been published. -- AppleInsider.
Apple claims Mac OS X Leopard includes "over 300 new features," but how many of them are significant reasons to upgrade? And how many of those 300 new features were revealed for the first time today? Here's a comprehensive list for those readers who don't have time to scour Apple's various Leopard pages on their own -- AppleInsider.
Apple Tuesday announced that Mac OS X Server version 10.5 Leopard will go on sale on Friday, October 26, at the same time as Mac OS X Leopard. -- Apple PR.
With 13 weeks to go until Macworld 2008, Microsoft's Mac Business Unit is definitely pacing itself when it comes to previews for the next iteration of Mac Office. While today's sneak peek finally shows Entourage, it doesn't exactly show Entourage. -- Ars Technica.
Steve Jobs has now confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that the company is reducing its iTunes Plus prices, to 99˘ across the board down from $1.29 per track. He said that all of the company's iTunes Plus tracks will reflect the new prices later today or tomorrow. -- Ars Technica.
MacGuru Doug Sofer replies to Bill Gurley's iMac noise problem yesterday:
I know this is a long shot but could someone be playing a trick on you? As a linux guy, do you know other linux guys (a family member, for instance) who might have set up a cron event of some kind to play a sound and freak you out? The crontab command in the Terminal, and even the utilities/Activity Monitor application might help diagnose that.
My first guess was that it was the optical drive, since mine occasionally 'hums' a bit, but if you're sure it's really coming from the speaker, and isn't a mechanical noise, then this is about the weirdest thing I've ever heard.
In either case, I'd be very interested in finding out what happened if/when you figure it out.
Read/WriteWeb's Alex Iskold takes a look at the past, present, and future of software development, concluding that we now have the programming languages, models, and infrastructure to build complex systems using just a few skilled people. "Craftsmanship has finally come to software engineering!" Anyone interested in agile dev should read this. -- Read/WriteWeb.
We talked to Brian Croll, senior director, Mac OS X Product Marketing at Apple this morning about, yep, Leopard. We had quite a few questions, and Brian had answers for many of them. Here's the information we managed to eke out, including Leopard's demands on MacBook Pro battery life, the possibility of Widgets on iPhone, and whether or not that cool R2D2 iChat hologram effect survived. -- Gizmodo.
Back in February 2005, I covered a nifty utility, Brightness Control, that provides a simple slider for dimming your Mac's screen. Such a program was needed by some, I explained, because many third-party displays have only basic brightness controls, and some of those displays are still far too bright even at their lowest settings. I've since discovered a couple Gems that provide better functionality than Brightness Control. -- Macworld.
An official software-development kit may finally be announced at January's Macworld. Why the wait? It may have something to do with Leopard. -- BusinessWeek.
Damien Debin writes "I'm a recent 'switcher.' For a long time I have been monitoring the refurb of the Apple France Store, trying to grab one of those new MacBooks. But these bargains are rare and difficult to catch. That's the reason why I built a new free-to-use tool to get notified when new products arrive on the refurb of various Apple Store (currently: US, UK, France, Belgium, Swiss, new stores will be added)... This tool located at http://debin.net/apple_refurb/ builds news feeds (RSS) on demand based on what the user wants to monitor: which store (US, UK, France, Belgium, Swiss), what kind of product (Mac, iPod, MacBook...) and the kind of feed: only new products currently available, all history of new products (even those not available any more), all history (all products (dis)apparition) - very useful to learn when is the right time to buy a specific product before it disappears.
The results of our last MacVolPol show that the iMac (32%) and iWork (27%) were the items that were most important to our readers. Though a group of you are waiting for something else (18%).
The new MacVolPol want so know if you are planning to upgrade your OS to Leopard and what you are going to put it on.
Matt Drance is what's known as a Sharing Technologies Evangelist at Apple. Staying true to that title, he spent an hour Tuesday afternoon hyping Apple's dashboard experience, the web technologies behind it, and dashcode -- a new tool for building widgets that will be inherent to Leopard -- here at the Widget Summit in San Francisco. -- Wired.
The Safari 3 public beta has been out for a while now, and will be included with leopard when it comes out. If you haven't tried it out yet, you can download it for free from the Apple site. The following tips include things that will be useful to the average user as well as some more interesting tricks for more experienced users. -- Mac OS X Tips.
Apple has finally locked down the ship date for Leopard, and posted its list of over 300 new features. Now, I'm still under a non-disclosure agreement that says I can't talk about anything Apple hasn't told you. But since Apple has told you about the 300 features, I can talk about them. I can't add any new information, of course; but I can tell you how I feel about them (Apple doesn't own my feelings, as far as I can tell). Here, then, are my favorite (and least favorite) new Leopard features. -- TidBITS.
On October 16, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's granted design patent titled handheld portable computing device . The iPod fashioned device first surfaced in Europe in January 2006 under application number 000465109-0007. This particular design was only one of several mysterious iPod-like designs which Apple had sought design patent protection for at the time. The iPod-like design is thought to be related to a video game controller, which was noted in the 2006 patent report. -- MacNN.
On October 16, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's newly granted patent titled System and method for ranking the relevance of documents retrieved by a query . Apple's patent generally relates to information retrieval, and more specifically, to ranking the relevance of documents retrieved in response to a query. -- MacNN.
18 ways to make your Mac more personalized, productive, or just plain fun. -- Macworld.
Remember when you first bought your shiny new Mac a couple years ago? It was snappy, speedy, and responsive -- so responsive that at times it actually seemed to know what you were thinking. These days, however, it seems to be anything but speedy. Indeed, your aging Mac is now the epitome of slow. And more and more you're finding that your Mac is unbearably sluggish and difficult to use.
But wait! Don't lose hope and give up on your "beater pile" just yet. There are plenty of ways to breathe new life into your aging Mac! That is, if you're not fishing for an excuse to score a new MacBook Pro. We'll show you how to do it. -- Macinstruct.
Then, I called Apple support today. I even suggested that maybe it was the Airport - I had heard from someplace (was it my daughter?) that Airports can wear out. -- TheNew30.
Elsewhere at Macworld, I've written a feature on customizing your Mac, with an assortment of tips and tricks for enhancing your system or boosting your productivity. I thought I'd use this Hints post to offer a few cautionary words about tweaking your computer. -- Macworld.
Apple posted a single web page that lists and describes Leopard's 300+ new features.
Presenting at the start of its developer forum in Taiwan on Monday, Intel Corp. demonstrated a working quad-core microprocessor design that will eventually find its way into notebook systems, as well as a new strategy for cooling notebooks derived from compressor technology. -- AppleInsider.
Mail in Mac OS X has progressively grown from the simple mail client Apple included with the first builds of Mac OS X into one of the best email solutions for the Mac, and certainly the most popular. As the default app for email on the Mac, Mail gets lots of feature requests and lots of complaints when things don't work as expected. For example, Mail 2.0 in Tiger drew gasps from its use of nonstandard toolbar icons that grouped functions together in bubbles. Apple has significantly updated Mail for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, introducing support for Notes, To Do reminders, RSS feeds, Data Detectors, and HTML Stationery. Here's a look at what's new. -- AppleInsider.
In addition to the ultra-thin aluminum keyboard Apple unveiled for the iMac last month, a similarly proportioned Bluetooth wireless version was also introduced. Here's a setup and unpacking tour, paired with a look at its features, an operational mystery, and a tantalizing future potential. -- AppleInsider.
David Zeiler of the Baltimore Sun asks himself Will Leopard make sense for older Macs? He then proceeds to answer his own question, leaning towards a "no." He observes that so far, every new version of Mac OS X has run faster on existing hardware than the previous versions. But based on earlier reports that the base system supported by Leopard will be a 867MHz G4 PowerPC system and his common sense telling him that Apple has spent the past two years concentrating on optimizing the system for Intel rather than PowerPC, Zeiler strongly suspects that "Leopard will run more slowly than Tiger on all PowerPC systems, even supported ones."
MacGuru Bill Gurley writes:
I subscribed to macguru just a few months ago, being primarily a linux kind of guy. However, I did purchase an iMac for my wife over the recent tax-free weekend (back in August). (--just a day or two before Apple announced the new ones, btw, but we love the little 17" model anyway.)
My question for you has to do with a mysterious sound that emanates periodically from the iMac. It's driving us crazy. I have not been able to figure out what it is.
The sound is three separate tones, all the same pitch, timed as if you might read this: "One, two, three." The pitch, by the way, is approximately an A above middle C, for the musically-inclined. (I grabbed my guitar the last time I heard it, to see what note it was.)
Another interesting thing is that it does this approximately every 20 minutes.
This evening I set out to try to figure out what it is, since my wife is not at home and I have a hard time getting her away from her iMac! ;-)
I closed all applications, and it still happens.
I cranked up the volume, just to make sure that this is indeed a digitized audio sound (and not something mechanical, such as a fan or the hard drive). Yes, it happened again, MUCH louder.
I went through all the stuff in System Preferences, including Sounds, and did not find anything unusual.
I checked system.log and found nothing unusual there.
When the iMac goes into standby mode and the screen is black, the sound no longer happens.
Any ideas?
"Adobe CLP Volume Licensing customers participating in the Student Licensing Option may now offer Student Licensing pricing for faculty and staff employees for a limited time. The offer will begin October 15, 2007 and end March 15,2008. . All other terms and conditions of the Student Licensing Enrollment apply. This offer is not valid in conjunction with any other Adobe offer. This offer is subject to change without notice."
The UT Computer Store will offer student pricing on Adobe software titles to UT Faculty and staff personal purchases for the period indicated above. This can result in savings of several hundred dollars per title. For information on student pricing see the computer store web page.
If you buy an iPhone and don't have AT&T service, it looks like Apple will be treating your iPhone as an iPod--with no 2 year service guarantee or even, for that matter, a 90-day service plan. -- TUAW.
We've all seen a countless number of OS X app compilations but what about the menu bar? It has loads of functionality that most users don't even take advantage of. Here's a great round-up of useful items to make your life a little easier. -- JeweledPlatypus.
Based on calculations from available sources and data, Ron Reisinger at c|net Blogs believes that it would maximize shareholder value and financially benefit Apple to unlock the iPhone.
I got my iPod Touch last week, and I realized that, even if it can sync my contacts and groups correctly from Address Book, it cannot sync smart groups. While it is possible to manually copy contacts from a smart group to a standard group, that is boring. So, I decided to get myself to AppleScript, and built a little script that will help. -- Mac OS X Hints.
A surprisingly high number of users are reporting significantly shorter battery life after applying the iPhone firmware/software 1.1.1. In addition to the dozens of reports we've received, Apple's Discussion boards are littered with similar complaints. There are a few effective fixes that have emerged for this issue. -- iPhone Atlas.
Wolfram, the publishers of Mathematica have introduced a new web service that makes it possible to deploy dynamic Mathematica documents that run freely on any compatible computer. Prior to the new service, most interactive Mathematica notebook files (.nb/.nbp) would only run in a fully licensed copy of Mathematica 6. The free Mathematica Player runtime application now makes it possible to view the files without any commercial software. Playable projects include animated 3D models, real-time data from the web, and other features. The free Mathematica Player software is available immediately for download. -- .
MAMP stands for Mac, Apache, PHP and MySQL, and installing it on your Mac creates a development environment for testing many of our favorite tools. You can do everything from browsing simple PHP files to testing complicated MySQL database driven applications right on your hard drive. -- Macinstruct.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs justified the iPhone's use of so-called 2.5G cell data technology - technology that fills the gap between the very slow second-generation (2G) and relatively fast third-generation (3G) specifications - by noting that 3G chips with the low power consumption and small form factor needed for the innovative phone were perhaps a year away. A year turned into months last week. -- TidBITS.
It's one thing to recommend safe computing habits. It's entirely another to implement those recommendations. We asked Senior Editor Rob Griffiths to spend a couple of days implementing some of the suggestions in our "Lock It Up" series. -- Macworld.
A new website provides an innovative tool that expands and contracts images while minimizing distortion. -- MIT .
Time Machine is one of the most visually prominent new features demonstrated in Mac OS X Leopard, even if the core idea of backups is as old -- or perhaps older -- than the concept of having any data worthy of being restored. Here's a look at what's new and different about Apple's approach with Time Machine, why backups are a problem to be solved, and how well Leopard's new Time Machine actually works in practice. -- AppleInsider.
Apple is secretly testing an update for its white 24-inch iMacs that should solve a year-long problem which has prevented many users from running Boot Camp on their systems, AppleInsider has learned.
A report from Hardmac notes that Apple has apparently included a water-damage sensor inside its iPhone and iPod touch at the base of their headphone jacks.
"Let's say you drop accidentally your iPhone in water (not sea water as salt will be easily spotted), you can always try to send it back to Apple Support for having it repair under warranty. To avoid such behavior, Apple has included a water sensor in the iPhone and in the iPod Touch:"
"At the bottom of the jack plug you can see a white disc that will irreversibly change color when entering in contact with water. So one would not need to open an iPhone or an iPod Touch to ensure it stopped working due to an unexpected bath."
At the Vestavia Hills Elementary School, an Apple Mobile Learning Lab and iLife '08 bring technology into the lives of every young student, offering them innovative ways to learn and express themselves. "Our children," explains Dr. Mark Richardson, principal of the trend setting K-3 school, "are empowered by the use of technology in the classroom, and their world is expanded with every weblog comment, podcast subscription, and website hit. Having all the right Apple tools has enabled us to use technology in ways we never dreamed of." -- Apple PR.
Can you guys keep a secret? This is the first post I've written in more than a month that I created on my Mac. Right at the end of August, I opened my faithful 12" Powerbook only to be greeted by the unwelcome sound of the Click of Death. -- Cult of Mac.
When connected to the optical digital audio input, 32 kilohertz and 88.2 kHz audio input sample rates may not work on Mac Pro, MacBook, iMac (24-inch) or MacBook Pro (15-inch 2.4/2.2GHz) computers. The audio may be corrupt or non-existent.
Products affected
Be sure to use sample rates of 41.1 kHz, 48 kHz or 96 kHz when connected to the optical digital audio input on these computers. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
iPod touch: Basic Troubleshooting -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
Apple is telling its customers, "You will use the network we tell you to use, and you will use the applications we tell you to use," according to analysis by TheStreet on Friday.
Apple has a great reputation, and its product base is growing. As a result, Apple is growing to meet the challenges of customer support. However, the broader awareness of the company and its products also means greater disappointment when something goes wrong, according to Business Week.
Using WireTap Studio, you can record the discrete audio output of any application, as well as all system audio, or record audio input from any microphone, line-in, or audio input hardware. If you can hear it, WireTap Studio can record it.
If you have duplicate applications listed in the "Open With" contextual menu -- an occurrence most likely to occur after a system update -- there are a few methods for eliminating them.
A Terminal-based fix involves use of the lsregister command, which can be invoked to perform general maintenance of Launch Services, working to eliminate duplicate applications and other system issues.
Launch the Terminal, located in /Applications/Utilities and enter the command all on one line:
Alternatively, this MacFixIt Forums thread harbors and AppleScript with the same effect.
Select the scrip text in the forum, then go to the Application menu (displayed in the menu bar as the name of the browser you are using), select Services, then Script Editor, then Make new AppleScript.
Also, note that if you actually do have multiple copies of applications, it can cause a range of problems. We have a tutorial called "Deleting old copies of applications (documents opening with the wrong version, program)" methods for dealing with the situation. -- MacFixIt.
This week Macsimum News looking at woodworking software for the Mac.
Why can't Apple Inc. stop ticking off those who love it? Some of the loyalists who have made Apple so successful lately have turned on the tech star. Even as Apple posts record financial results, they complain that the revolutionary company they supported has changed, showing signs of being wrong-headed, shortsighted, even greedy. -- Los Angeles Times.
While traveling without a laptop, our reviewer used the iPhone as his main computer and Internet device for almost three weeks. He came away with a greater appreciation of the iPhone -- and increased frustration at its limitations. -- InformationWeek.
As those of you who rush to buy it on November 9 will soon find out, you can do a lot with the Apple iPhone. Apple's gorgeous gadget lets you surf the internet, send and receive email, listen to music and watch videos with just a touch of a virtual button. And guess what? You can make phone calls too.
The iPhone is a great toy. But dig a little deeper, and you can do even more. Now that we've had some time to live with the Apple iPhone, we've found a few tricks that help us get the most out of it. -- PC Advisor.
It seems that Leopard is in our near future. If you can believe the rumors then on the 26th of this month. I have to say this surprises me. (I have no knowledge of when. Like you I am reading it on the web.) I have been running Leopard off and on for several months (mostly on for the last two weeks) on my 1GHz DP G4 with 1.5GB (the fastest G4 Apple every made.) I won't talk about the changes and new features, you can read about them almost every where. My concern is, and what I want to alert you too, the need for memory and/or processor speed.
For the first time in all my years of running an Apple operating system (since 1985) the operating system is stalling (the Finder) while it "pages," when I click on an application or file. During that time I can do nothing but wait... for up to 90 seconds. I get the "beachball of death." The application does not "crash" and neither does the OS. It just wont do anything else for a time. Then the OS comes back and I can go on with what I was doing.
I have reported this to Apple but they do not see it as a bug or a problem. I was told that I was "running too many applications."
Excuse me?!? Too many applications? I thought we were into multitasking and threaded memory? How does Apple know what I should be running? Now I know I don't have the newest or fastest but a 1GHz DP G4 with 1.5GB should be OK for "normal" stuff. I don't expect it to do film or high-end graphics. But web browsing, email, music and text editing I do expect.
I expect that there will be a minimum of memory and processor that will allow you to work without "paging." At this time I don't know what that is. My advice is as it has always been, "You can never have too much memory or too big of a hard disk." But if my experience is representative then you had better have a lot more than 1.5GB. I would guess 4GB with a G4. Though I don't know how since most G4's maxed out at 1.5GB. The G5's had higher limits and were faster so you may get better results with a given amount of DRAM. I am glad I had the good sense to put 4GB in my G5 at work. I don't know how Leopard will run there yet. I have only been testing it on my G4.
Other than this "one" issue Leopard works fine. Most of my software runs without problems, and I don't have many of the latest versions at home.
My recommendations for everyone are
Any way, that's one man's opinion.
When it comes to security, you may be your own worst enemy. Safer e-mailing requires not just spam filtering but greater care in sending, reading, and responding to messages. -- Macworld.
Pressing ahead with plans to release its long-awaited Leopard operating system by the end of the month, Mac maker Apple Inc. on Thursday expanded training of its technical support representatives to include all tiers both Stateside and abroad. -- AppleInsider.
Apple on Thursday afternoon launched as part of its website an official directory of iPhone and iPod touch Web applications, reinforcing its stance that third-party developers should focus their developmental efforts on Web 2.0 applications that function only under the embedded version of its Safari browser. -- AppleInsider.
Spaces is an entirely new feature in Mac OS X Leopard, but the idea of virtual desktops -- and multiple desktops -- has been around for a long time. Here's a look at what's new and different about Apple's approach with Spaces, why virtual desktops have run into problems before, and how well Leopard's Spaces actually works in practice. -- AppleInsider.
Like to get the latest news from your Facebook friends? Check the movie listings at Fandango? Browse the newest photos posted on SmugMug? Update your weblog with TypePad? Or play a great game of Big Bang Sudoku? It's all possible. Simply by visiting www.apple.com/webapps/ on your iphone or iPod touch, browsing the library, and bookmarking the web apps you enjoy. -- Apple.
For years now, conventional wisdom has held that Apple's halo strategy -- using iPod market share to pump up Mac shipments -- will take off any day now, and the company will leap from 3 percent market share to much, much more.
A post at Apple 2.0 suggests that this expected growth has already arrived and might be reaching its limits. For the first half of the 2007 fiscal year, Berstein Research reports, Apple carries nearly 30 percent of the high-end laptop market -- the 20 percent of laptop computers sold that fetched the highest prices. This is an increase from 7.8 percent only three years ago. The switch to Intel has obvious made the MacBook and MacBook Pro into runaway hits. When removing business sales from the equation, Apple has almost 50 percent of the high-end laptop market. Which is great, except that it means that Apple's gotten its boost.
Apple took home a total of six awards last night as UK-based gadget website T3 revealed its list of winners.
Apple has been granted a patent (number 20070236466) for a force and location sensitive display by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It concerns the touch technology in the iPhone, iPod touch and perhaps other upcoming products. -- Macsimum News.
An Apple patent (number 20070239878) for rendering user accounts portable has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It's designed with the goal of allowing your user account to be be portable across different multi-user computer systems. -- Macsimum News.
I can't always know when I can trust a Web site to guard my private data. So I will take steps to keep personal information personal. -- Macworld.
Using URLs in iCal, copying iCal event information, trimming Mail attachments, rotating individual PDF pages in Preview, and more. -- Macworld.
The current issue of Popular Mechanics is featuring their Breakthrough Awards program for inventors. Some of the winning inventions help improve the living conditions for people in third world countries using low-tech materials and assembly methods.
GarageBand Jam Pack Voices 1.0.1 removes duplicate files from some Software Instruments. It is recommended for all Voices users.
The Dock in Mac OS X is unique in comparison to the user interface of Windows, most Linux distros that emulate the Windows desktop, and previous versions of the Classic Mac OS. Apple has significantly updated the Dock in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Here's a look at what's new and different in our 3-page report. -- AppleInsider.
Apple as early as Wednesday is expected to launch as part of its website a directory of official Web 2.0-based iPhone applications, AppleInsider has been told.
Designed expressly for college students, the new FileMaker Campus Productivity Kit helps students get more organized and be more productive. A free, ready-to-use database solution, the Kit includes five modules, allowing students to manage contacts, organize research and lecture notes, track project assignments, coordinate events, and assemble to-do lists. Students will find complete instructions and an informative podcast on the FileMaker Campus Productivity Kit website.
Good contrast in your design goes hand-in-hand with your color selections. Contrast is the value difference between the colors on your design. Value is how bright or dark the color (ink) is. -- The GO Mediazine.
3D street artists are becoming ever more popular, but their sidewalk chalk art isn't the only 3D art of its kind. Inside a home, on the outside of a building or even in a swimming pool, the illusion of three-dimensionality can transform a space, giving the appearance of depth, texture and place in a mythical or fantastical fashion. -- Web Urbanist.
Apple has recognized the problems users are having with massive storage, managing hundreds of thousands of files, and backing it all up. The answer is Sun Microsystems' ZFS file system, according to Carl Howe at Blackfriars' Marketing on Wednesday.
Apple has recently discovered that some batteries used in its MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks may have battery performance issues. Apple is offering a software update that is designed to address these issues.
The battery update is available immediately via Software Update or downloadable here.
Note: The factors causing the performance issues do not present a safety risk. You may continue to use your current battery.
This battery update should be run on all MacBook and MacBook Pro computers and extra batteries that were purchased between February 2006 and April 2007.
If, after you have installed the battery update, your battery has any of the symptoms listed below, please make a reservation to bring your computer with its battery to your local Apple Retail Store, or contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP), or call your local Apple Support Contact Center. If Apple or an AASP determines that your battery is eligible for replacement, you will receive a new battery, free of charge, even if your MacBook or MacBook Pro is out of warranty.
For MacBook and MacBook Pro systems with Intel Core Duo processors, this program extends repair coverage on the battery for up to two years from the date of purchase of the computer. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
It is not certain if Battery Update 1.3 is intended to have the same effect, or if users now experiencing problems always had bad batteries and never applied Battery Update 1.2. In this case they would, presumably now be experiencing the testing related failures.
Before sending you battery in for service, however, you may want to try calibrating it, via the following steps adapted from AppleCare Knowledge Base article #86284.
If you're not pulling X Window apps down from Fink or DarwinPorts, you might never have noticed /Applications/Utilities/X11.app. Or perhaps you've noticed it, but consider it a throwback to the 90s, one evolutionary step beyond the green screen. Give it a fresh look, because it has many qualities that other remote GUI methods, like VNC and Apple Remote Desktop, lack. For some purposes, like software development, X11 can reduce your dependence on Parallels, VMware Fusion and Boot Camp. -- InfoWorld.
Professional and amateur photographers alike can take advantage of the advanced photo management tools in Aperture--from organization to editing to output. In Part 6 of our Aperture workflow series, "Aperture 1.5 Beyond the Basics," instructors Scott Bourne and Derrick Story teach users how to manipulate photos with the Color Adjustment tool, sharpen edges, and create preset adjustments and file settings for efficient editing and grouping. The training also details how to use the extensive metadata and organizational features in Aperture for smart photo sorting and presentation. -- Creative Mac.
Wireless networks are easily hacked, and public networks are the least secure. I won't take any chances; I'll always encrypt my wireless connection. -- Macworld.
Since the introduction of the iPhone, Apple has been the focus of criticism from many a member of the computing community: keeping the platform closed is an outrage, a Microsoftian move, living proof of the evil that lurks underneath the company's cheerful facade. Whether you agree with these points or not, one cannot deny Apple has pulled all the strings to indeed keep people out of the iPhone and send a firm message to those who had dared trespass - and I am not even talking about "bricked" iPhones here since knowing whether the side effect of the upgrade was intentional or coincidental is still everyone's guess. Surprisingly, however, keeping the iPhone closed may be a good thing. -- O'Reilly MacDevCenter.
Apple Inc. this week is believed to have wrapped up development of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard while simultaneously pushing out yet another pre-release copy of its final maintenance and security update for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger users. -- AppleInsider.
The Macintosh has frequently been called "the BMW of computers" or "the Porsche of computers", or by some "the Volvo of computers", but its consistent appearance at the top of PCMag's annual Service And Reliability Survey year after year makes the case for the Mac actually being the Lexus of computers. -- Applelinks.
Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.8 Update fixes a vulnerability in Word 2004 that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code.
Applies to: Office 2004 Standard Edition, Office 2004 Student and Teacher Edition, Office 2004 Professional Edition, Word 2004.
Before you install this update, make sure that the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.7 UpdateYou are leaving Microsoft Mactopia is installed on your computer. To verify that you have installed this update, select the Microsoft Component Plugin file in the Microsoft Office 2004/Office folder on your hard disk, and then on the File menu, click Get Info.
Additionally, your computer must meet the following minimum requirements: Operating system: Mac OS X 10.2.8 (Jaguar) or a later version of Mac OS X.
This update does not include an uninstall feature. To restore your application to its original state, delete it from your hard disk, reinstall it from your original installation disk, and then install the updates you want.
The third Cyber Security Summit will be co-hosted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), University of Tennessee (UT), Fountainhead College of Technology, and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and is an opportunity to bring together security professionals from academia, government, and private industry together to evaluate "The Human Aspect of Cyber Security." This conference will be held on October 16th and 17th at the Carolyn P. Brown Memorial University Center on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN.
The last day to register is Wednesday, October 10 so register now!
When I put together designs I usually do so in two phases - Layout and Polish. During the layout phase I place the main objects on the page usually finishing with something that looks relatively complete. In the second stage - the Polish - I go over the design and adjust colors, type treatments, shadows, layers, and generally clean it all up. In this first of a series of tutorials on web design, we'll be looking at the Polish. -- PSDTuts.
There's an interesting feature locked inside the code of Apple's 1.1.1 firmware/software update that, ironically (since this update has broken access to extant third-party native applications), may indicate that Apple plans to add sanctioned third-party development to the device. -- iPhone Atlas.
Apple Inc. has halted shipments of MagSafe power adapters for its MacBook Pro notebook line as a result of quality design issues and is presently working on a fix, AppleInsider has been told.
The iTunes Store has added extensive catalog of music from another Beatle, the late George Harrison. The individual works of all four Beatles are now available via iTunes, but not the body of work of the group itself.
What's more, Apple is also making an album featuring the music of John Lennon available at the iTunes Store. The album, Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur, features cover versions of tracks taken from Lennon's Instant Karma album and is a fundraising venture on behalf of Amnesty International's campaign to promote international action to protect the afflicted population of Darfur. -- Macworld UK.
I will make life difficult for anyone trying to break into my Mac or my online accounts by choosing excellent passwords and protecting them properly. -- Macworld.
OIT Password Best Practices: This document (pdf) describes guidelines for selecting strong passwords and protecting them from unauthorized disclosure.
The Finder in Mac OS X has long been reviled as the most glaring problem in the system, earning it the "Fix the F-ing Finder" meme. Apple has significantly updated the Finder for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, introducing some things old, some things new, some things borrowed, and, well, the icon is still blue. Here's a look at what's new. -- AppleInsider.
The 17" and high-end 15" aluminum PowerBooks, aside from the by today's standards modest 512 megabytes of standard RAM, are pretty sumptuously equipped in standard trim. However, that doesn't mean the 15" and 17" AluBooks are not candidates for hotrodding, especially now that we're nearly two years into the MacIntel era, and their performance and specification are well back of the cutting edge. -- Macopinion.
When viewing videos on iPod touch, the picture may appear with one or more of the following:
The Solution is to use iTunes to update iPod touch software to version 1.1.1 or later.
Jonathan Rentzsch has written up a nice "How-To" for migrating a non-Windows Parallels virtual machine to VMware.
The process can be summarized as follows:
This can be applied to any guest operating system.
Apple's CHUD Tools 4.5.0 is a set of applications and tools for measuring and optimizing software performance on Mac OS X as well as for hardware bring-up and system benchmarking. This release adds support for Leopard, improved x86 and EM64T disassembly, Processor Bandwidth configuration for Intel Core 2 systems, Saturn support for Intel systems, and other improvements. (An Apple Developer Connection membership is required for download.)
Analysts see Apple market capitalization exceeding that of IBM within a few months. -- Macworld UK.
Why can't Apple Inc. stop ticking off the people who love it? The conflict between Apple and its fan base is mostly over control of new products' uses and features. The iPhone, Apple's first entry in the mobile phone market, has sparked the biggest complaints. -- Los Angeles Times.
It's been three years in the offing, but the Universal version of Microsoft Office for Mac will soon be here. Has it been worth the wait? -- Macworld UK.
Despite Apple's attempts to thwart hackers, Denver woman is known as 'undercover leader.' But it's Denverite Erica Sadun - mother of three, software writer and gadget blogger - who could be the iPhone hacker extraordinaire. -- Rocky Mountain News.
I can't fathom why they would partner with particular carriers: an iPhone open to any network would surely just cream the market. But they have, for whatever market reasons.
There is a simple answer to this, Apple has a revenue sharing deal with AT&T. The estimates on the value of the deal vary greatly (and no one can know for sure), the result of this is fairly clear: Apple would not be able to get the same deal if they didn't give any carrier exclusivity. I even doubt they would be getting such a deal at all, if they didn't opt for allowing companies to monopolize the iPhone. -- Arve Bersvendsen.
When it comes to security, you may be your own worst enemy. What puts you at risk is not so much the firewall, antivirus, or other security software you do (or don't) use as much as the bad habits you may have picked up. Careless computing puts your data, and even your identity, at risk. Our "Lock It Up" series will offers tips aimed to make your computing life more secure, starting today with ways to prevent others from getting at your private data. -- Macworld.
Ed Prasek, founder and CEO of Spin Studio, has introduced SpinTips, a series of strategic and tactical business hints and tips created for Mac developers.
Spin Studio is a strategic marketing company in the Mac industry, and Prasek is a veteran of Apple's Worldwide Developer Relations team. He's also a former publisher and editor in chief of MacHome Journal magazine.
The new series of articles include Mac app development, distribution and retail, marketing and go-to-market initiatives and more. The first article is entitled "Creating a Successful Mac Product." Others will follow monthly.
A glut of DRAM (dynamic RAM) on the market and sluggish demand due to a holiday in China caused the price of the most widely used computer memory chip to fall 25 percent in a matter of weeks, DRAMeXchange Technology reported Tuesday. -- Macworld.
Robert Costain is a man seeking to tame his many email accounts. -- Macworld.
Since its standardization in 1991, MP3 has gone from being a little-known portion of a video file format to the kind of ubiquity that most brands can only dream of having. It's both widespread, with small players flying off the shelves, and controversial, dropping from the lips of politicians and advocates for all sides of the intellectual property debate. But what is MP3? -- Ars Technica.
Sun's high-performance ZFS file system has been hinted to be coming to Mac OS X Leopard for some time now. Even Sun's CEO said at one point that ZFS was on, but Apple quickly shot down that claim. Then ZFS was said to be available as a read-only option. Now a new episode in this ZFS soap opera reveals that the revolutionary file system could very well be coming for Leopard, even if it doesn't ship in time for the OS launch this month. -- Ars Technica.
It's remarkable how rapidly Apple is upping the sophistication of its marketing for the iPhone. The initial ads stressed the coolness of multitouch and whipping the phone around, appealing to the slavering Early Adopters who ran out to pay $600 on the first pressing. Now that the iPhone has dropped to $400, though, Apple has created a new ad campaign that focuses on the way people use it in the real world -- the crazy interface barely even shows up.
This guide shows how you can set up an OpenSUSE 10.3 desktop that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop, incl. Skype, Flash Player, Adobe Reader, multimedia codecs, and Google Earth. The benefits are: you get a secure system without DRM restrictions that works even on old hardware, and the best is: all software comes free of charge. -- Howto Forge.
VPN settings in Internet Connect VPN may not appear to be transferred when using Migration Assistant to transfer a user's Home from one computer to another.
The settings actually are transferred but just not accessed. You can either enter them manually again, or access your VPN settings with these steps. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
Mac OS X includes a "NetBoot" feature, whereby you can have any Mac boot from the system on any other Mac on your network. This is not an easy thing to set up, and requires installing software, setting up the root account on the host Mac, creating NetBoot share folders, fiddling with NetInfo Manager and much more. I've posted an illustrated tutorial for implementing NetBoot.
Some audio applications may change your computer's audio settings to a sample rate that is too high for other applications to use. In this situation, system alert sounds still work, and does iTunes, but other applications may have no sound (audio output). This document applies to Mac OS X 10.3 or later and applications that use QuickTime 6 or later for audio, such as Safari and Quicktime Player. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
Apple's iPod Classic and iPod Nano has been updated to 1.0.2 via iTunes. The new update comes without any description, but a couple of early reports:
Overall, it appears to address many of the performance concerns that many had when the Classic iPod first came out.
Daring Fireball delves into the the Ringtones Racket pointing out that:
So if you have the right to play a song, you have the right to use it as a ringtone on your phone. There's no reason to feel one iota of guilt about using tools like MakeiPhoneRingtone or iToner.
I watch Leopard get close to announcement, thoughts are going through my head as to whether or not I need this latest operating system. The last time I upgraded was to 10.4 in May 2005. -- Applepeels.
Apple are sweeping higher education again for the first time since 1995. And come this holiday season they stand alone. Yet they have no higher level manager in charge, no sales force to move their products to business and government, and at best fewer than 500 Apple and Best Buy retailers to compete with Hewlett-Packard's twenty three thousand. -- Rixstep.
It's a controversial product, this iMovie '08, largely because it's a brand-new product that is lacking many of the features of its predecessor, iMovie HD. However, leaving aside the controversy, iMovie '08 is very good at what it was designed to do: let users cut down their videos quickly and then share them. In this week's Macworld Video, Jason Snell addresses the new features in Apple's recent iMovie '08 7.1 update.
If you're interested in music production on the Macintosh, here's a trio of recent postings on the O'Reilly Digital Media Center web site which you may find worth a look.
Since 1999, the editors of Technology Review have honored the young innovators whose inventions and research we find most exciting; today that collection is the TR35, a list of technologists and scientists, all under the age of 35. Their work--spanning medicine, computing, communications, electronics, nanotechnology, and more--is changing our world.
Sun Microsystems' relatively new ZFS file system will see rudimentary support under the soon-to-be released Mac OS X Leopard, but will eventually play a much larger role in future versions of the Apple operating system, AppleInsider has been told.
Seeking to improve its portable devices, Apple has applied for a patent that could lead to touch-sensitive Macs or handhelds which react to the level of force, rather than just contact. -- AppleInsider.
Well that was quick. As news spread throughout the Mac web earlier this week about new aluminum iMacs freezing up, Apple took notice. In a statement issued to Macworld, an Apple spokesperson said that the company is aware of the problem: "A small number of iMac users have made us aware that a recent software update issued by Apple can sometimes cause their iMacs to freeze, requiring them to restart their iMac," the spokesperson said.
However, there is no fix available just yet. Apple believes it's a software issue--the spokesperson said that the company is working on tracking down the bug and will issue a fix later this month in a software update. "We apologize for the inconvenience."
There's nothing worse than randomly turning on Caps Lock in the middle of wriTING A DOCUMENT AND SUDDENLY YOU TYPE LIKE THIS.
To combat that problem, it would appear that Apple has made it hard to turn on Caps Lock on its new thin-line keyboards that shipped with the iMac. Wolf Rentzsch discovered the change:
I've discovered something shocking. An anti-Caps Lock conspiracy silently bubbling up from the darkest trenches inside Apple:
Apple's Caps Lock key has undocumented anti-jab protection.
Unique among the rest of the keys, Caps Lock doesn't activate immediately upon strike. There's a very small time window -- perhaps a quarter of a second -- where if you release the key inside the window, the keystroke is ignored.
He even shot a video to show how it works. Apple -- they think of everything.
In fact, we don't need screensavers any more, however we tend to use them as eye-candy for our coffee breaks. Particularly complex and colorful 3D-screensavers are extremely nice to look at. -- Smashing Magazine.
Ben Rudolph, the Director of Corporate Communications at Parallels, provided some guidance on Wednesday on how to handle the expiration of the Boot Camp beta license when Leopard ships this month.
The DailyPrincetonian reports reports that Princeton's Mac marketshare has been rising dramatically, with 40 percent of students and faculty currently using a Mac as their personal computer. This number is up from only 10% of Mac users on campus only 4 years ago. And this number could still be growing. This year, the University's Student Computer Initiative reportedly sold more Macs than PC's, with 60 percent of students choosing a Mac, up from 45 percent just last year. Students were offered a choice of Dell, IBM and Apple computers.
Apple patent involves interface connector between a media player, computer
An Apple patent (20070232098) for an interface connector between a media player and computer has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It's designed to improve the functionality of an iPod as a portable "hard drive."
Apple patent is for force imaging device, system
An Apple patent (20070229464) for a force imaging device and system has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Involving touchpads and touchscreens (and mentioning a "subnotebook" device) for a variety of devices, the force imaging touch pad includes first and second sets of conductive traces separated by a spring membrane.
Apple patent is for changing clock frequency of a memory system
An Apple patent (20070234100) for a method and apparatus for changing the clock frequency of a memory system has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It relates to power-saving techniques in computer systems.
Apple patent is for method, system for authenticating an accessory
An Apple patent (20070234420) for a method, system and interface for authenticating an accessory. The present invention relates generally to electrical devices and more particularly to electronic devices such as media players that communicate with accessory devices.
Apple patent involves digital content rights
An Apple patent (20070233602) for decoupling rights in a digital content unit from download has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Obviously concerning the iTunes Store and current/future rights of consumers, it involves systems and methods for enabling a user to obtain rights in a legitimate copy of a digital content unit without downloading the copy from a digital content store are provided.
Apple patent is for portable media delivery system
An Apple patent (20070230723) for a portable media delivery system has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It involves technology to improve interaction between media devices such as the iPod and accessory devices. The patent also relates to improved design of accessories that produce audible sounds.
Apple is not happy with its customers. Disobedient iPhone owners are unlocking their iPhones (modifying them to work with carriers other than AT&T) and installing "unauthorized" third-party apps. Last week the company struck back with a software update that acts much like a virus. It wrecks the operation of third-party applications and can turn unlocked iPhones into "bricks." Is Apple on the right side of this fight? Is it really wrong or illegal to unlock your iPhone? Well, I figured, there's only one way to find out. -- Slate.
Welcome to the first in a hopefully long and entertaining series with some of the wizards of the Macintosh programming world. Today's interview is with Tom Pittman. Tom has a long history in the microcomputer industry. He is the co-author of a well respected text on compiler design called, appropriately enough, The Art of Compiler Design. He has taught Computer Science at Kansas State and Southwest Baptist University. In the Mac world, he is best known as the author of "CompileIt", an amazing program that allowed compilation of HyperCard scripts into super-fast machine code. -- Low End Mac.
CSS is ten years old this year. Such an anniversary is an opportunity to revisit the past and chart the future. CSS has fundamentally changed web design by separating style from structure. It has provided designers with a set of properties that can be tweaked to make marked-up pages look right--and CSS3 proposes additional properties requested by designers. -- A List Apart.
Thursday, October 4 at 8:00 pm
Fall Choral Concert
James R. Cox Auditorium
Battery Update 1.3 updates battery firmware and addresses battery performance issues with the 15-inch MacBook Pro.
Security Update for QuickTime 7.2 for Windows is recommended for all users and improves the security of QuickTime 7.2.
New evidence suggests that a more significant software update for Apple's iPhone handset will arrive following the release of the company's Mac OS X Leopard operating system, adding features such as Note syncing, among others. -- AppleInsider.
Apple is reportedly working on solutions that will help developers gain more exposure for their Web-based iPhone apps, but presently holds no plans to issue a "true" software developers kit (SDK) that would allow for native third-party application development. -- AppleInsider.
A growing number of users have reported that Apple's aluminum all-in-one computers suffer from a flaw that locks up the interface, rendering the system all but inert until a reboot. -- AppleInsider.
It's the gift and the curse that keeps on giving. Though the iPhone Software/Firmware 1.1.1 update certainly isn't for everybody, more compelling reasons to update are being unfurled.
The iPhone can now playback H.264 video at throughput rates up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats. Previously the maximum encoding throughput rate for H.264 video was 1.5 Mbps.
The upgrade makes the iPhone's Safari browser more compatible with various videos on the Web and (presumably) will make more H.264-encoded content available through the YouTube application. -- iPhone Atlas.
If an iPhone or iPod touch is not recognized in iTunes on a Mac, the Apple Mobile Device Service may need to be removed and reinstalled.
If you haven't already, try these troubleshooting pages:
If the issue continues after using the troubleshooting assistant, follow these steps to remove and reinstall the Apple Mobile Device Service on Mac OS X. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
I've seen a lot of these hints on the Internet, but most of them didn't work for me. This is how I managed to print to a shared Windows printer. -- Mac OS X Hints.
We don't want to keep harping on this, but we don't want it to drop off the radar screen either: users continue daily to report that, recent Apple software updates notwithstanding, they are unable to get work done with iWeb.
Many users can't upload their Web sites to .Mac ("An error occurred while publishing file '/Web/Sites/Sites.rss'"), which may also include an inability to publish a Web gallery from iPhoto. Others report that iWeb is rendering pages incorrectly: they look one way in iWeb and quite another in a browser. Still others report that slideshows don't work. There is much more, in excruciating detail.
These may be different issues, but the result is a general frustration with iWeb (and with Apple's continued silence on the matter). One reader writes: "I'm glad I don't work on the iWeb development team!" One wonders, rather, whether anyone is working on the iWeb development team.
We repeat, as we have often done, that while complaining to us or to Apple's forums can be viscerally satisfying, and is certainly useful (we hope!) as a way of keeping the community informed, the way to catch Apple's ear is through its official feedback forms. A polite, clear, terse, factual, well-documented note is best. You don't need to communicate your anger and frustration; if enough people give feedback, Apple will get the message clearly through sheer numbers. -- MacFixIt.
All iPhone applications run with full root privileges and any application vulnerability means winner takes all. -- eWEEK.
Steve Jobs once said in an interview that 'the only problem with Microsoft is, they just have no taste.' That may be true. But the only problem with Apple is that it has no gratitude. Or humility. Or generosity. Or manners. -- IT Management.
Like most folks over 30 I have a large collection of videotapes I need to digitize. I would like to know the most affordable Mac to digitize VCR tapes into QuickTime movies and also burn to regular DVDs. -- Low End Mac.
A new nanowire-based memory device being developed by researchers at IBM could combine the best qualities of the various types of memory used today, driving down costs and improving performance. If the experimental memory pans out--and the work is still in the very early stages of development--it could serve as a universal memory, substituting for the different types now used. -- MIT Technology Review.
Even the casual user of Mac Office 2004 will be familiar with the Formatting Palette. The one-stop tool for sorting the myriad of options associated with altering text and objects in office documents was a great addition to the UI in Mac Office 2004. Those less familiar with Mac Office 2004 may never have even known about the other palette, also known as the Office Toolbox, which gave access to several utilities: Scrapbook, Compatibility Report, Project Palette, and Reference Tools. -- Ars Technica.
It's like that dream I'm always having. Only it's come true!
In the case of drive directory damage or problems with permissions, the solution is usually to use Apple's Disk Utility to repair the disk. Of course, you won't be able to perform this operation normally (simply launching the Disk Utility application, located in Applications/Utilities, and initiating a disk repair) if your system will not startup. So two options exist:
Just as Microsoft became entrenched with Windows XP, so too did Apple's popular Mac OS X version 10.4 develop a shelf life. Released in April 2005, Mac OS X version 10.4 (known as Tiger) introduced the Spotlight integrated desktop search feature, a new Dashboard that popularized widget use, an updated Safari web browser, and more. However, Mac OS X version 10.5 has experienced delays in its announced release. -- TechRepublic.
My iBrick Part 1: The Meltdown
A couple of days after I wrote an article on some iPhones being rendered inoperable after Apple updated the phones' software, that story hit home. My daughter's iPhone became "bricked." Here is the first of what I hope to be a short series of posts on what happened.
Forget bricked iPhones. For many iPhone users, the biggest disappointment with last week's software update wasn't that it rendered unlocked phones inoperable but that it disabled third-party apps that have sprung up for Apple's device. And that could lead to ongoing grief for the company, analysts say. -- Macworld.
Apple in a matter of weeks will roll out Preview 4.0 as part of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, a significant update to its homebred media viewer that will see the application expand from a simple PDF reader into the beginnings of a full-fledged image editor. Here's an extensive look at what's new in Preview. -- AppleInsider.
Apple Inc. on Monday provided its developer community with yet another small update to its upcoming Leopard operating system, this time adding a couple of bug fixes and proceeding with tests on the system's software update mechanism. -- AppleInsider.
Want the text you copy from one document to match the formatting of the document you're pasting that text into? SImply use the "Paste and Match Style" command. -- Apple Quick Tip of the Week.
Greg Seecof recently discovered:
"I can now play back audio attachments in email messages. I only tried one, an AAC voicemail file sent from my PhoneValet software but for the first time since I got my iPhone, it played! I was actually crafting a feedback message to Apple regarding this handicap when I discovered it worked now."
Sure enough, testing confirms that the iPhone's email client can now (after the 1.1.1 update) download and play audio files in all the QuickTime audio formats it supports, including MP3 AAC and WAV.
Other previously reported, undocumented new features include text message sound settings, international characters, and new options for video playback. -- iPhone Atlas.
Firmware updates will not install on an Intel-based Mac if the computer is using a non-standard partition scheme, such as an fdisk scheme. You may see an "unexpected error occurred (0); unable to upgrade firmware" error message, or your computer may start normally (after a single beep if the power button is held) when attempting to install the firmware update. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
iMovie 7.1 (the latest update to the version of iMovie in iLife '08) will only run on G5 Macs or later. Or so it seems. There's a way to hack it to work on G4s as well. Simply add a patch to the program's contents, as explained here.
Among more mundane patents for a power fixture and an iPod dock adapter, Apple has been granted a new image-editing patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office. Connected to iPhoto, the technology is intended to "better realize the great potential of amateur digital photography" through a new blemish removal technique. -- MacNN.
Probably the most common type of iPod/iPhone repair involves the replacement of their batteries. While some batteries may fail with a year or less of use, more typically batteries last anywhere from one to three years. Customers often ask me, "What causes my iPod's battery to die?". And that's a fair question. -- BigAppleiPods.
In Part 3 of our excerpt's of Lynda.com's Garageband series, trainer Scott Bourne walks us through Levels in GarageBand 3. -- Creative Mac.
So last week Apple Inc. released its expected iPhone re-locker, a bit of firmware that turned previously hacked open iPhones into expensive pocket-sized bricks. Take that, you anti-corporate scamps. It took the unauthorized Apple development community all of 48 hours to figure out how to re-un-lock their phones by downgrading the firmware to its original state. -- InfoWorld: Robert X. Cringely.
Apple says it won't allow independent programs on the iPhone to protect AT&T's network. But AT&T encourages third-party applications for all of its other phones. -- New York Times.
Late Monday, Netscape released the first candidate of their upcoming Netscape X 9.0 browser.
The release, a 16.9 megabyte download, functions as a browser-only download and does not contain the e-mail client, newsgroup reader or HTML composer that Netscape had been known for with its customary releases.
The Netscape browser is available for free. Netscape X 9.0 release candidate 1 requires Mac OS X 10.2 or later to run.
OpenOffice.org, the free, open source multilingual office suite project, has been updated to version 2.3.0. The software, based on free code and XML capabilities with support for the OASIS Standard OpenDocument format, features the following fixes and improvements.
A new line features advanced electronics that automatically tune the instrument. -- MIT Technology Review.
Diana Weynand, author of the Apple Pro Training Series book, FINAL CUT PRO 6, is bringing her renowned class to North Carolina at the invitation of the Asheville Film Festival.
Whether you're an aspiring filmmaker, a working video professional, use Final Cut in school or at home, this three-day course will get you using Final Cut like a Pro! Still appropriate for Final Cut 5 and Express HD users.
Diana's course is ideal for educators who will be teaching Final Cut and need to get certified or for those using it in their classroom.
NOVEMBER 6-8 TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY - 9AM-5PM
THE GALLERY AT PARK PLACE
2 Park Place Square
Asheville, NC 28801
PRICING:
Bring Your Own LapTop (loaded with FCP6) - $695.00
Early Bird Discount (available until October 25th) - $785.00
Regular Class - ($895.00)
Course Price includes an autographed copy of Diana's Final Cut Pro 6 book.
CALL (818) 995-1719 or online at: http://www.weynand.com/
BECOME AN APPLE CERTIFIED PRO!
And don't stop at just the training! Get listed on Apple's website as a Certified Level 101 END User. Take the test and become an Apple Certified Pro. The certified exam is offered right after the class.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Call Shirley at (818) 995-1719)
Weynand Training International
Apple Authorized Training Center
Wolfram Research is now the official math brain trust for the hit CBS series NUMB3RS. You can visit their website, "The Math behind NUMB3RS," for an in-depth look at each episode.
Intuit, which launched QuickBooks 2008 for Windows PCs this week, said a new version for Apple's Mac platform is currently under development with a released planned for sometime next year. Meanwhile, future development of Quicken on the Mac is also reportedly underway. -- AppleInsider.
We spend some quality time with Microsoft's new multitouch computer to get below the "Surface" and find out if there's more to this beast than sexy animations. We shot some impromptu video, too. -- Ars Technica.
It's "Your World. Delivered," unless your world has views that "tend to damage the reputation of AT&T." Then it's "Your World. Disconnected." -- Ars Technica.
The iPhone may be limited to running web apps and services instead of true native apps for now, but Apple can still give developers a nudge in the right direction when designing their UI and experience. A new iPhone Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) document from Apple is just such a nudge, offering developers in-depth documentation on the iPhone's UI, how to design for it, and how to handle content passed through various technologies.
AT first blush, the iPhone from Apple, the new microprocessor family from Intel and the ubiquitous Google search engine have nothing in common. One is a gadget, one is an electronic part and one is a service.
Yet all of these products -- much acclaimed for their creativity -- depend on obscure process innovations that, while highly complex and lacking glamour, are an essential part of establishing a winning edge in commercial electronics. Indeed, the success of Apple, Intel, Google and scores of other technology companies has as much or more to do with their process innovations as the products that inspire loyalty among fans and admiration from foes. -- New York Times.
As indicated in the license agreement for Boot Camp Beta, the Boot Camp Beta program expires when Mac OS 10.5 Leopard becomes available publicly in October, 2007.
Boot Camp Beta 1.2 or earlier expiration The license to use Boot Camp Beta 1.2 or earlier expires on September 30, 2007 (2007-09-30). Boot Camp Assistant Beta will no longer open after expiration.
To continue using Boot Camp Beta for Microsoft Windows on your Intel-based Mac, you'll need to update to Boot Camp Beta 1.4, until Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is available.
Boot Camp Beta 1.3, 1.4 expiration The license to use Boot Camp Beta expires when Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is available to the public. To continue using Boot Camp at that time, upgrade to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.
Important: Apple does not provide technical phone support for using Boot Camp Beta, burning the Macintosh Drivers CD, or installing Windows. Support is available on Apple's website. Fee-based support agreements are not available for Boot Camp Beta.
Warning: Boot Camp Beta is preview software licensed for use on a trial basis for a limited time. Do not use Boot Camp Beta in a commercial operating environment or with important data. You should back up all of your data before installing this software and regularly back up data while using the software. Your rights to use Boot Camp Beta are subject to acceptance of the terms of the software license agreement that accompanies the software. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
FileMaker has posted a new version of its Business Productivity Kit, the Services Edition. Unlike the standard edition updated earlier this month, which focuses on businesses that sell products and materials, the new one is oriented towards companies that provide ongoing interactions, such as law firms and doctor's offices. Included in the Services kit are several pre-made databases, covering client management, order processing, project tracking and other routine procedures. A how-to guide teaches users ways of customizing data. Services Edition is a free download, but requires FileMaker Pro 9; it can however be used with the latter's 30-day trial.
Apple's Macintosh once was an endangered species in U.S. higher education amid the brand's market doldrums and Microsoft's seemingly unassailable Windows dominance. Now, the Mac is back in a big way. -- St. Paul Pioneer Press.
You bought the iPhone, you paid for it, but now Apple is telling you how you have to use it, and if you don't do things they way they say, they're going to lock it. Turn it into a useless "brick." Is this any way to treat a customer? Apparently, it's the Steve Jobs way. But some iPhone users are mad as heck, and they're not going to take it anymore. -- InformationWeek.
New webcam software offers motion detection protection for the home. -- Macworld UK.
Steve Jobs undercut what was a promising business move for Mexens Technologies, a New York firm that introduced a navigation software program for the iPhone nine days ago." ["Now, customers who upgrade to the latest version of Apple's iPhone firmware find that Navizon, and other non-Apple applications, simply won't work any more, Mr. Houri said. -- New York Times.
For today's tip, I'm going to show you how to use Automator to write a very simple backup utility--you'll be able to compress and copy a given folder with a single mouse click. While not an ideal backup solution, it's a great way to make sure your most important folders can be easily backed up. The general idea of the hint isn't necessarily the specifics of this backup script, but rather to show how simple and yet powerful Automator workflows can be. -- Macworld.
The New York Times' David Pogue's latest video blog tells how to get third party applications on your iPhone.
With Sequel, Steinberg presents its take on beginner-friendly music production software. At first sight, Sequel has much in common with Apple's GarageBand. But there are notable differences: one of the most obvious is that Sequel is available for both Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. -- O'Reilly Digital Media.
Apple has come under fire for "bricking" unlocked iPhones - rendering them unusable - with the latest iPhone update. Is that reasonable behavior? Our editors universally think not, and they aren't wild about the way Apple has made it difficult to develop native applications for the iPhone either. -- TidBITS.
