Apple Thoughts - News & Reviews on all things Apple

"It may not be a love-fest between Google and Apple these days, but internally at least, the search giant is showing Cupertino some love by phasing out Windows-based systems and replacing them with Macs."

This was based on a Financial Times story, that gained info from a Google memo outlining the reason for the change was for security reasons. As a side note, they also mentioned that Google is working towards running everything on their own software and that it might be the first step in going full scale into their Chrome OS.

"If you've been eyeing Memeo Connect, Memeo's desktop software for syncing your documents and files with Google Docs, the company's new bundle may be of interest."

Memeo is bundling their Memeo Connect along with Google Apps Premier Edition for $39.00 USD, but only through the month of May. After May, the bundle will go up to $59.00 USD. Normally just the Memeo Connect runs $9.00 USD per year, so coupling it with the normally $50.00 USD per year Google Premier Apps saves you $20.00. The other advantages are not having to own a domain before signing up (you can use your @memeo.com address if you get the bundle), and that it works with either Windows or OS X.

"You've caught the buzz. You've been watching the weather, seeing how the wind blows. You've moved or you're moving to the Mac, because Windows blows. Where can you get the advice you need to help you with this transition?"

Several good choices, the best one being "Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual" by David Pogue in my opinion, mainly because it has the most up-to-date information and covers pretty much all you need to know when switching. Well, if you are switching to Snow Leopard. If you are switching to an older version of OS X, then try one of the other books listed.

"Parallels announced Wednesday that Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac is now available. The latest release of the virtualization solution allows users to run Windows, Linux, and other operating systems on their Intel-based Macs. Parallels Desktop 5 works in both Leopard and Snow Leopard."

They have added 70 new features to this version of Parallels, one of which is the Crystal view mode as seen above in the screen shot. This gives it a more "Mac-like" appearance when working with Windows. It also supports "pinch" and "swipe" for many of the applications. Upgrading will cost you $50.00 USD while new purchases will set you back $80.00 USD. If you purchased your current version of Parallels after October 1st, you qualify for a free upgrade so if you didn't purchase online from Parallels (they will send you a key if you did), head on over to the Parallels upgrade site to get your upgrade key.

"The next version of VMware Fusion has been announced, and it comes with numerous new features that users will undoubtedly love. Snow Leopard support, the latest gaming support, and support for Windows 7 features all top the list, as well as a new Migration Assistant to help those moving their PCs over to a virtual machine."

This will be available on October 27th this year, in retail stores or download, for $79.95 USD. If you have a previous version of VMware, the price is $39.95 USD for the upgrade. More information can be found at the VMware site.

"A free seminar from Apple extols the virtues of using Macs for business needs. Titled "Your business on a Mac. A better bottom line," the seminars are being held around the US starting this week."

The seminars are geared to show you how to integrate a Mac into your business, and add to your productivity. The seminars also discuss how to integrate Macs with existing Windows applications and networks. The seminars area about an hour long, and highlight iWork '09 and iLife '09. Currently the seminars are scheduled for only 11 states (Alabama, Arizona, California, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin), but you can request a seminar for your area at the Apple site. Apple also has a variety of white papers on the subject that you can download.

"It's a browser. It's a platform. It's an open invitation to innovate. Whether on a Mac, PC, iPhone, or iPod touch, Safari continuously redefines the browser, providing the most enjoyable way to experience the Internet."

It's hard to describe something as visceral as a web browser to someone, but Safari 4.0 is a great browser. In many ways it reminds me of chrome. Take a look at the screenshot above. If that doesn't remind you of Chrome's home screen, nothing will. Immediately noticeable is the overall speed and snappiness of Safari. For a beta it's pretty stable (except for us Thoughts Media writers; it doesn't really like our publishing system) and I haven't come across any major hiccups so far. If you want to go over the "150 new features" Apple added, you can check them out here.

"Apple has released version 1.3 of the MobileMe Control Panel for Windows. The panel is a required tool for users wanting to sync and manage MobileMe and iDisk in Windows."

The update is required if you want to manage your MobileMe and iDisk in Windows. This also adds a nifty icon in the system tray to signal a sync in progress. You can get more info at the Apple site.

"The Obama team has long been known for using Apple equipment. President Obama himself uses a Mac laptop, as does his media team, which according to the Washington Post is now facing the daunting prospect of updating the West Wing to modern equipment and doing so while complying with government regulations. The Post article quipped that "if the Obama campaign represented a sleek, new iPhone kind of future, the first day of the Obama administration looked more like the rotary-dial past.""

Ya gotta feel for the Obama guys, but at the same time, did they expect to just walk into the White House, plug in their MacBooks and get to work? I imagine this administration will be great for getting the ancient tech used in the White House up to 2008 standards (think about it; Windows 2000 and Windows XP? And if they're still running 2000, do you really think they're running it on new machines anyway? I doubt it). It's tough being a Mac user in the Windows world sometimes.