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All posts tagged "mac"


Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Is Apple Planning on Kicking the Mac to the Curb?

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Apple Laptops" @ 02:00 AM

http://www.appleinsider.com/article...that_niche.html

"After meeting with Apple chief executive Tim Cook and chief financial officer Peter Openheimer, Citi analysts noted a strong iPad outlook leaving little likelihood of an ARM-based MacBook Air, vast growth potential in China, an indistinct future role for Apple TV, and the strength and importance of iCloud."

The Citi analyst feels that Apple is going to focus on iPads and that the Macs will be left to higher end purchases so that they don't overlap in usage. I'm not so sure about this, as I find distinct uses for both my iPad and my Macbook Air. But that being said, I am using my iPad more and more as the apps that are coming out are really taking advantage of the iPad and it's capabilities. What are your thoughts on this analyst's opinion?

Tags: hardware, mac, ipad

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Apple Edges HP by Almost 5% in Shipping Numbers

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Apple iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad" @ 05:00 AM

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-5...subj=News-Apple

"Apple is out-shipping traditional PC vendors by a wide margin on the back of strong iPad sales, a marketing research firm has found."

And the margin over number 2 HP was almost 5%, as Apple shipped 15 million iPads along with 5 million Macs, which made up 17% of the 120 million total shipped globally in the 4th quarter. HP total was 12.7% in comparison. Overall, if you take the iPad and other tablets out of the picture, PC sales are down 0.4%. Sounds to me like if you aren't in the tablet business, you might have cause for concern.


Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Amazon.com One Day Sale on Mac Games

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Apple Software (OS X)" @ 04:39 PM

"Today only, save up to 75% on some of our best-selling games of 2011. Enjoy stellar deals on titles like Crysis 2, Sid Meier's Civilization V (and IV: Complete Edition), Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, and many more."

Today only, you can get great deals on Mac Clearance Games at Amazon, so click on the link to the left and start shopping!


Monday, January 16, 2012

Set Up iCloud on Your PC

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Apple Software (OS X)" @ 11:46 AM

http://www.apple.com/icloud/setup/pc.html

"Get iCloud up and running on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC. And learn how to set up Find My iPhone. All it takes is a few easy steps."

Three easy steps, according to this page from Apple on how to set up your PC for iCloud. And they said it was just for Macs. Silly critics.


Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Iomega Drive, A Slick Looking Backup Solution

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Other Apple Hardware" @ 02:00 AM

http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/02/...age-and-a-fill/

"How to get a hefty new hard drive for your Mac without making your other gadgets jealous? Iomega is offering up a solution with the fairly elegant Mac Companion Hard Drive, a two or three terabyte external drive designed with Apple computers in mind that adds a high-powered charging port for your peripherals."

Nice looking and it fits perfectly doesn't it? You get some USB and FireWire ports as well as LED indicators for a visual of how full the hard drive is getting. It would be nice to have Thunderbolt connectors. Oh well, they are available for $295.00 for 3TB size, or $195.00 USD for the 2TB size.


Monday, June 13, 2011

Reeder for Mac

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Apple Software (OS X)" @ 01:00 AM

http://www.macintouch.com/index.sht....2011.06.10.rdr

"Silvio Rizzi's Reeder 1.0 is a desktop Google Reader client for RSS newsfeeds. It offers synchronization with Google Reader accounts, integration with Readability, support for gestures, "send to" services (for Instapaper, ReaditLater, and Readability), support for saving to Pinboard, Delicious, and Zootool, posting to Twitter, and other features."

I've read lots of reports on this, and everyone that uses it seems to really like it. I guess they better since it's priced at $9.99 USD in the App Store for Mac [affiliate link]. I used to use NetNewsWire on my Mac, then I pretty much switched to staying in the Google screen for reading links. That isn't a very smooth way to do it so I'm glad there is a great choice for a reader for Mac. On the iPad I've primarily used Reeder [affiliate link], so it seems logical that they designed a version for the Mac. What do you use for a news reader on your Mac, or your iPad?


Monday, May 16, 2011

iMovie and Importing Video Files: Someone Explain This to Me

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Apple Talk" @ 08:30 AM

Hi there! Jason Dunn, OS X n00b, here again scratching my head about why I'm having such a hard time doing something that should be pretty simple. I'm hoping there's an iMovie '11 expert reading this site that can give me some insight, because I'm at the end of my wits with this particular program.

Here's the deal: I have a massive 48 GB AVI file that I digitized several years back; it's about five hours of footage captured from a VHS tape. Yes, in hindsight I probably should have captured it in smaller pieces, but when you're talking about real-time capture from a physical medium, it's easiest to just press record and walk away. I'm finally getting around to chopping the file up into a series of smaller clips, and I wanted to use iMovie '11 to do it.

I've grown fairly comfortable using iMovie '11 for editing videos and while it's slower than hell at the video encode (export) step - lacking GPU encode acceleration and only having a meagre 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo - the quality of the output is excellent and I find the application stable and fast...though it did crash on me last week (take that fanboys!). The problem I'm having, however, is getting this video file imported into the program. Read more...


Friday, April 15, 2011

So What Did Save Apple in the 80's? Guy Knows...

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Classic Apple" @ 02:00 AM

http://www.cultofmac.com/apple-surv...s-guy-kawasaki/

"The survival of Apple beyond the 1980s is thanks to one piece of software, says Guy Kawasaki, best-selling author and Apple's former chief evangelist."

And that one piece of software was Aldus PageMaker, which made the Mac the go-to computer for desktop publishing. Without it, according to Kawasaki, Apple would have been dead in the water. I remember when the owner of the limousine company I was working for came in with his Macintosh, and that is exactly what he used it for...well that and some bookkeeping whenever we could pry the keyboard out of his hands. There really wasn't much out there for the Mac in those days, especially on the business end of things but it certainly was embraced by the ad-centric and publishing software companies. I used to hear it all the time, business work needs a Windows machine and artists need a Mac. My how times have changed, or have they?


Friday, March 25, 2011

Microsoft Adds Apple Lossless Support to Windows Phone 7 Connector

Posted by Darius Wey in "Apple Software (OS X)" @ 08:30 PM

http://itunes.apple.com/app/windows...415571499?mt=12

Have a Mac and a Windows Phone 7? There's a new version of Windows Phone 7 Connector waiting for you in the Mac App Store. Among v1.1's changes, you'll find support for Apple Lossless, so now you can experience your tunes in all their glory.


Monday, March 14, 2011

Not So Fast With Your GarageBand Project

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Apple Software (iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad)" @ 05:00 AM

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/arti...nterchangeable/

"Apple posted a KnowledgeBase article Thursday clarifying that GarageBand projects created with the Mac version of the software and the iPad version are not interchangeable. this means that users won't be able to start something on their iPad and finish it on their Mac, or take something on the road with them on the iPad that was started on a Mac."

The Knowledge Base article is here, and it does note that in future releases you will be able to interchange the different projects between your Mac and your iPad. GarageBand is available now in the iTunes store for $4.99 USD [affiliate link].


Monday, February 28, 2011

Can Your Mac Send and Received HD Calls Via FaceTime?

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Apple Software (OS X)" @ 09:19 AM

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/arti...ng_facetime_hd/

"Apple has published a list of Macs that support sending and receiving HD calls through its new FaceTime for Mac software, clarifying who can do what."

Bottom line on all of this is that if you don't have one of the new MacBook Pros introduced last week then you cannot send AND receive an HD FaceTime call. Many Macs can receive them, and most can send and receive the normal SD FaceTime calls. Apple has an article with more on this topic here.


Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Microsoft Releases Windows Phone 7 Connector on the Mac App Store

Posted by Darius Wey in "Apple Software (OS X)" @ 08:48 PM

http://www.microsoft.com/windowspho...-connector.aspx

"Windows Phone 7 Connector is a simple, easy-to-use application designed to sync your favorite media files from your Mac, with your Windows Phone 7 or Zune HD. You can also sync photos and videos you captured on your phone with your Mac, and when needed, update your Windows Phone 7 software."

Microsoft has released v1.0 of Windows Phone 7 Connector to the masses, while exploring new territory by releasing it on the Mac App Store. It's a free app that lets you connect your Windows Phone 7 device or Zune HD to your Mac, sync your music, videos, and podcasts from iTunes and your photos to and from iPhoto, and even download and install the latest Windows Phone 7 updates as they're made available. Alas, there's no option to browse the Marketplace, but at least this is better than nothing, right? Scoot off to the App Store and grab it today.


Monday, January 24, 2011

Happy 27th Birthday Mac

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Classic Apple" @ 07:13 AM

http://osxdaily.com/2011/01/24/happ...ly+(OS+X+Daily)

"Happy Birthday to the Mac! Apple introduced the very first Macintosh on January 24, 1984, beginning an era that is still going strong 27 years later."

Check out these specs folks:

  • 8 MHz processor;
  • 128kb of RAM;
  • 9″ black and white display with a 512×342 resolution;
  • 3.5″ disk drive

And for the paltry sum of $2,495.00 USD it could all have been yours. Wow. Pretty incredible how far we have come isn't it?


Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Switching from a PC to a Mac?

Posted by Michael Knutson in "Apple Talk" @ 09:00 PM

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,281...,2375426,00.asp

"You've decided to "think different" and become a Mac user. Here are the things to consider and steps to take as you make a big change to your computing lifestyle."

What is promoted as being a no-brainer actually does take some doing. Simply moving files is not quite as simple as moving files between Windows systems (Where did Explorer go?); Applications must be re-purchased for OS X, or equivalent apps found (and Windows apps are still generally cheaper); So how do I get all my Windows iTunes media files to the new system? This article provides a lot of tips, but is a tad simplistic when it comes (for example) to uninstalling files on the Mac. It's not always just dragging files from Applications to Trash. Anyway, if you're thinking of switching, give this a read.


Wednesday, November 17, 2010

A Switcher's Tale: PC to Mac: Back and Forth

Posted by Michael Knutson in "Apple Talk" @ 01:00 AM

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/im-s...d-why/2620?pg=1

"It's true. I'm switching to a Mac. Of course, I'll be switching back to a PC shortly after, and then switching back to the Mac sometime later, and then back and forth - switching from Mac to PC and vice versa - for the foreseeable future."

Confirmation of the "use the right tool for the job" mantra. A longtime Microsoft blogger is switching to a Mac, but not abandoning Windows. He claims that "... the goal is to be comfortable enough to move between machines and use the best tools on each one with as little friction as possible." Makes sense to me. This article generated lots and lots of comments, predictably flaming the author from both the Microsoft and Apple camps, interspersed with some discussions on running this type of setup using a shared keyboard and mouse (Synergy software on the PC and on the Mac). An interesting read.


Friday, October 22, 2010

Security Flaw in FaceTime for Mac Found

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Apple Software (OS X)" @ 02:00 AM

http://www.tipb.com/2010/10/21/face...ne,+iPad,+iPod)

"FaceTime for Mac beta was announced at Apple's Back to the Mac event yesterday Wednesday and released shortly after. It didn't take long before a security flaw was found."

Apparently once you have logged into FaceTime, you can see all of the security settings of the Apple ID used for FaceTime. So the safety tip here is not to use it on any Mac that isn't your own. Beta is beta folks. I'm sure an update will be forthcoming soon.


Thursday, October 21, 2010

FaceTime for the Mac

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Apple Software (iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad)" @ 04:00 AM

http://thenextweb.com/apple/2010/10...ous+(TNW+Apple)

"As we guessed, Apple is bringing FaceTime to your Mac, complementing its rollout to Apple's mobile handhelds, the new iPhones and iPod Touches."

Well this is certainly a great update, being able to use FaceTime between your iPhone or iPod Touch and your Mac. If you want to test it out, Apple has posted the beta version here.


Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Rumor Mill is Very Active for This Event

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Apple Events" @ 03:00 AM

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-2...subj=News-Apple

"There is a ritual before Apple unveils something new. It's the ritual of rumor, leakage, and misdirection.The rumors about Monday's Apple event suggest that the company is to reveal a new MacBook Air, perhaps a smaller MacBook Air, one that would fit into at least one of the pockets of a Gucci jacket. Well, perhaps."

As is typical as we approach these Apple events, the rumor mill is churning furiously, with pictures posted of possible upgrades as well as predictions on what will be announced. We have two new MacBook Air versions predicted, 13 and 11-inch in size, as well as an upgrade of the 13-inch MacBook Pro to the i5 processor. I think the only "sure thing" is an upgrade to OS X since they have that Lion peeking around from behind the Apple logo, but what are your thoughts on what will be announced tomorrow?


Wednesday, October 13, 2010

"Back To The Mac" Set For October 20th

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Apple Events" @ 12:00 PM

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2010/10/...t-october-20th/

"Exciting news folks! Apple is currently sending out press invites for another one of their special events. Called "Back To The Mac," it's scheduled to take place next Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at 10am PT."

I guess I better wait on that new MacBook Pro I've been thinking about buying eh? I see the lion peeking out from behind the Apple so odds are it will be something about OS X as well. We will post the sites that will be doing live blogging of the event as usual as it gets closer.


Monday, October 4, 2010

Mac Museum of Franklin Park Puts Inventory on eBay

Posted by Jeff Campbell in "Classic Apple" @ 03:00 AM

http://www.cultofmac.com/for-sale-o...w+(Cult+of+Mac)

"Vintage Macs come and go, Vintage Mac Museums typically tend to Grow. One particularly impressive Museum is Moving On. The Mac Museum of Franklin Park, NJ has been put up for sale on eBay."

The Mac Museum of New Jersey has put their collection up for sale, but you can only buy it whole. It ends on October 7th so head on over to eBay if you have a need for some vintage stuff, including a Lisa. So far the auction is just over $2,000.00 USD.


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