1 TB HD in a MacBook Pro

As we expected it as the 1 TB Western Digital Scorpio Blue is now available, a reader from XLR8Yourmac installed a unit in his MacBook Pro Unibody.

This allows us to remind some readers that:

1. Unlike previous models, one can install 12.5 mm thickness HD in a Unibody MacBook Pro. 
2. Despite using the new 4 KB block formatting technology, this new HD is working perfectly well in a Mac OS X-based computer and offer performance levels corresponding to its 5,400 rpm and 8 MB of cache.

Best integration could be the entry level SSD we were talking about and replace the optical drive by the 1 TB Scorpio Blue. 

New: Sonnet Tech D800P2 Fusion RAID

Sonnet Technologies' D800P2, a new addition to its line of Fusion RAID systems, features eight drive bays, dual eSATA port multipliers, capacities from 4TB to 16TB, and support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10, and JBOD.
Read more [MacInTouch]

Sonnet introduces Fusion D800P2 Eight-Drive RAID storage system

Posted by Dennis Sellers

Sonnet Technologies has introduced the latest addition to its Fusion line of RAID storage systems: the D800P2.

Product News: HP Announces New Officejet 4500 All-in-One Printer

SAN FRANCISCO - On Thursday, Hewlett Packard announced its new Officejet 4500 All-in-One series at Macworld with professional quality color printing, wired or wireless connectivity, and four-in-one functionality.



Read more [The Mac Observer]

Parallels enhances virtualisation for Apple servers

Completes bare metal hypervisor range

Parallels has enhanced its bare metal offerings by launching its bare metal hypervisor for Apple XServe.

Parallels goes bare-metal on Apple's Xserve

New version of Parallels Server for Mac is aimed at companies standardizizing on Mac hardware and at cloud services providers eyeing Mac OS X capabilities.
Read more [News.blog: Apple]

Parallels goes bare-metal on Apple's Xserve

New version of Parallels Server for Mac is aimed at companies standardizizing on Mac hardware and at cloud services providers eyeing Mac OS X capabilities.
Read more [CNET News.com]

Parallels announces Parallels Server for Mac Bare Metal Edition

Posted by Dennis Sellers

Parallels says it’s extending its server virtualization offerings for Apple environments with the introduction of the world’s first bare metal hypervisor solution for the Apple Xserve: Parallels Server for Mac Bare Metal Edition.

Parallels intros Parallels Server for Mac Bare Metal Edition

Extends Xserve virtualisation offerings capabilities for businesses and cloud services provider

Parallels, a provider of cloud services automation and virtualisation software, has announced Parallels Server for Mac Bare Metal Edition.

February 10 in LEM history

93: LC III - Color Classic - PowerBook 165c - Centris 610 and 650 - Quadra 800 - 99: iMac flaws - 00: Plain old email - 03: Xserve, 1.33 GHz - 1993: Apple rolls out 6 new models at once - Cheerleading, misinformation, and moving ahead - Wacom Graphire2 - 05: Ultimate spam email - 06: TopXNotes Classic - PPC emulator adds Classic to Macintel
Read more [Low End Mac]

Hexacore Xeon-based Mac Pro Soon: Part II

To confirm our previous information, other sources indicate that the new Mac Pro would come around March, 16. Apparently only the high-end Intel Xeon Core i7-980X will initially be available. Clocked at 3.33 GHz, its TurboBoost mode will allow it to reach 3.6 GH. The Core i7-970X will be clocked at 3.2 GHz, with a 3.46 GHz TurboBoost.

If Intel only releases initially a single hexacore Xeon, then Apple will not have much choice and most likely only the high-end model of Mac Pro will evolve. So, the offer should then evolve to faster quad core CPU and lower price for entry level models.

We also suspect that Apple will take the opportunity of this "refreshment of the offer" to release a new design for the Mac Pro. We would love to have at least one 2.5" enclosure for installing a SSD where the system you be installed as well as applications, this is already possible on the Xserve.

Apple: Mac Pro, Xserve EFI firmware updates

Apple issued firmware updates for the early 2009 Mac Pro (MacPro 4,1) and Xserve (Xserve 3,1) that improve compatibility with virtualization products utilizing VT-d and system reliability during the boot process.
Read more [MacInTouch]

Obsolete Mac Models by March 2010

Below are the new models added to the list of obsolete Mac models by March 2010, meaning there will be no more spare parts available from repair centers.

• PowerBook G4 (15"1.5/1.33Ghz)
• PowerBook G4 (17" 1.5Ghz)
• Power Mac G4 (Quicksilver 2002ED)
• Xserve
• Xserve G5

.

Apple: Mac Pro, Xserve EFI firmware updates

Apple issued firmware updates for the early 2009 Mac Pro (MacPro 4,1) and Xserve (Xserve 3,1) that improve compatibility with virtualization products utilizing VT-d and system reliability during the boot process.
Read more [MacInTouch]

Apple releases firmware updates for Mac Pros, Xserves

Posted by Dennis Sellers

Apple has released Mac Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.4 and Xserve EFI Firmware Update 1.2.

News: Apple Releases Firmware Restoration CD 1.8 for Intel-based Macs

Along with its firmware updates for the Mac Pro and Xserve, Apple released Firmware Restoration CD 1.8 for Intel-based Macs Monday evening. The restoration CD is designed to restore your Mac's firmware and restore the default settings for some preferences.



Read more [The Mac Observer]

News: Mac Pro, Xserve Firmware Improve Virtualization Support

Apple released Mac Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.4 and Xserve EFI Firmware Update 1.2 late on Monday. The updates improve compatibility with virtualization products and improve system reliability when booting.



Read more [The Mac Observer]

Other Updates from Apple

Together with the EFI update for Mac Pro and Xserve 2009, Apple also released 2 additional updates:

The Firmware Restoration CD can restore the firmware of an Intel-based Macintosh computer. Note: Restoring your firmware will reset some of your computer's preferences to defaults.

You can only use this to restore the firmware after an interrupted or unsuccessful update. If your computer is already in this state, you'll need to download the software and create the CD on another Macintosh computer, or you can take your computer to an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider to restore your firmware. This CD can be created on either a PowerPC- or Intel-based Mac, but only works with Intel-based Macs.

Download the correct Firmware Restoration CD image

Different computers use different versions of the Restoration CD. Please reference the table below to determine if this version of the Firmware Restoration CD is correct for your machine. If you do not see your computer in this table you may need to visit the pages at:

Firmware Restoration CD 1.4:
Firmware Restoration CD 1.5:
Firmware Restoration CD 1.6:
Firmware Restoration CD 1.7:

This update addresses isolated reliability issues, especially when using multiple Unitors.
The Unitor driver supports the following MIDI interfaces:

• Unitor8
• AMT8
• MT4

EFI Update for Mac Pro and Xserve 2009

Apple offers an EFI firmware update for Mac Pro and Xserve 2009:

• Improves compatibility with virtualization products utilizing VT-d
• Improves storage performance under Windows XP for Boot Camp users
• Improves system reliability during the boot process

To complete the firmware update process, please follow the instructions in the updater application (/Applications/Utilities/MacPro EFI Firmware Update.app). The updater will launch automatically when the installation is complete.

For more information about firmware updates for Intel-based Macs, please visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1557

January 8 in LEM history

02: Lament for a budget iMac - Macs get the job done - 03: Big 'Book, little 'Book - Things I really like about Jaguar - 07: One thing OS X should learn from Windows - Shiira 2.0b2 - 08: Mac Pro (2008) - Xserve (Quad Core) - This old Pismo - DRM in OS X anything to fear? - G3 iMac upgrade resources
Read more [Low End Mac]

January 6 in LEM history

00: The new Apple - 02: Way beyond AirPort - 03: Jaguar on a 400 MHz PowerBook - iApps go from free to fee? - 04: Xserve G5 - DEVONthink and Boswell - 06: iPod changes - Mac treasure trove on Craigslist - PowerBook 1400 still very usable - 15" PowerBook RAM slot failure
Read more [Low End Mac]

January 5 in LEM history

00: Keynote address - 01: Why choose a PowerBook Duo? - Macs by mistake - 05: Xserve G5 2.3 GHz - The ill-fated Apple III - 07: Mac and Windows: Different but equally productive - Mac sales up for 2006
Read more [Low End Mac]

December 19 in LEM history

00: Leaving Wintel behind - SuperMac hard drive woes - 01: Linux lies - Windows on your Mac - Bible software for Macs - 02: Xserve for the classroom - 03: Missing Virtual PC updates - 05: Linux users coming to OS X, - Simple, cheap Mac backup - WallStreet keyboard problems - 06: Save those old Macs - Goldtouch ergonomic keyboard - 07: Vintage Mac networking and file exchange - It started with an Apple IIc
Read more [Low End Mac]

EveryMac’ updates info on new Mac Pro, Xserves

Posted by Dennis Sellers

The EveryMac site now features complete specs (and several Q&As) on the new Mac Pro and Xserve custom configuration options.

New BTO options for Mac Pro, Xserve

Apple lists new options at its online store for its professional desktop and rackmount Macs.
Read more [Insanely Great Mac]

Apple upgrades build-to-order Mac Pros and Xserves

Not six days after we reported on a rumor that the next Mac Pro would run dual Intel Core i9 CPUs, Apple has gone and quietly updated their Mac Pro… with 3.33GHz Quad-core Xeon Processor. (A meaty smack of the palm on the expanse of forehead above the pineal gland, and then the hand trails [...]

Apple quietly introduces new Mac Pro configurations

As was widely expected, Apple has introduced new faster CPU options for the Mac Pro, after recent benchmarks showed that the i7 Quad Core iMacs outperform the older Mac Pros.

When you configure the Mac Pro on the Apple Online Store, a new option offers a 3.333 GHz Nehalem quad core processor, or for the quad core models two 2.93 GHz processors. A 2TB drive option is also available, both for the Mac Pro and Xserve.

Mac Pro and Xserve go bump in the night

Apple speed bumped its Mac Pro towers and Xserves under the cover of darkness. Should you care?


Read more [The Apple Core]

Apple quietly adds new Mac Pro and Xserve configurations

In order to bring a little more parity to the Mac lineup, Apple has added new CPU and storage configurations to the Mac Pro and memory and storage configurations to the Xserve.



Read more [MacUser]

Will the 2015 Mac be a Mac?

Unlike many tech companies, Apple has a long-range vision. Maybe you didn’t see how the iPod would develop, the ongoing improvements in the iPhone or the path from Mac OS X 10.0 to 10.6, but there’s little doubt Apple had broad concepts about the direction of these products from Day One. I wasn’t surprised when I [...]
Read more [The Mac Night Owl]

Reviewing Products They’ve Never Used

It’s nothing new. When the iPod first came out, bloggers and so-called tech pundits were busy complaining about the features it didn’t have, such as a built-in radio, or perhaps a working kitchen sink. None of that hurt actual sales of the product, of course, since it became a runaway best-seller and sales only began [...]
Read more [The Mac Night Owl]

March 16 in LEM history

00: Cascading Style Sheets - 01: Passing of a free OS - Buying a used Mac - 06: Capture stills from DVDs - Intel unleashes OS X - Rivals can't match iPod system - 07: Pismo Spotlight woes solved - Flash-based MacBook mini speculation - Mac Pro could go 8-core
Read more [Low End Mac]

Review: Picfree for iPhone

This app, which lets you send picture messages to friends, is very easy to use and can really save you some money on texting fees. It offers iPod touch and original iPhone users a way to mimic the MMS capabilities of other mobile devices.


Read more [Macworld]

Review: Picfree for iPhone

This app, which lets you send picture messages to friends, is very easy to use and can really save you some money on texting fees. It offers iPod touch and original iPhone users a way to mimic the MMS capabilities of other mobile devices.



Read more [Playlist]

iPhone/iPod/iPad apps for March 16

Posted by Dennis Sellers

Here are the latest iPhone/iPod touch/iPod/iPad apps announced. You can find ‘em at the Apple App Store.

Review: Flip MinoHD

Like an iPod for video recording, the MinoHD combines friendly simplicity with effective media processing in a remarkably tiny device at an attractive price. [Includes HD video sample.]
Read more [MacInTouch]

Review: iPod Shuffle 3G

The new Shuffle has just one button: off/play. Everything else is controlled by earbuds, proprietary Apple controller chips and synthesized voices....
Read more [MacInTouch]

Review: iPod Nano 2009

We review the newest Nano, which brings the surprising additions of a video camera and microphone, an FM Radio (complete with "Live Pause"), and a pedometer, among other nifty features in the tiny device, priced the same as before. We include video samples for comparison (Nano 5G, iPhone 3GS and Flip MinoHD).
Read more [MacInTouch]

iPod shuffle owner files class action lawsuit over alleged sweat damage

In a class-action lawsuit filed Thursday, a Manhattan Beach, California man claims that his iPod shuffle...
Read more [MacDailyNews]

What’s Next For the iPad? A Tabletop iPad, According to Xerox PARC Circa 1991

Way back in 1991, just as Apple was transitioning from 68k to PowerPC chips, the braniacs at Xerox PARC were predicting it’s entire iPod, iPhone and iPad strategy. And next up for the iPad is a blackboard-sized device. Nearly 20 years ago, just as personal desktop computers were taking off, researchers at Xerox started thinking about [...]

iPad Gaming Potential, Dan Bashur, Apple, Tech, and Gaming

Two years of developing games for the less powerful iPhone and iPod touch has prepared developers to unleash the iPad's potential.
Read more [Low End Mac]

iPad: A Diamond-Encrusted iPad Can Be Yours For $20K

Rap recording artist Sean “P. Diddy” Combs’ diamond-studded iPod (of the HP variety) may soon have a new companion: Mervis is offering on its web site a diamond-bordered iPad. The price is a cool US$19,999, and orders will ship on June 1.



Read more [The Mac Observer]

Review: Thought Out Ped3-U Universal Stand

We’re going to use this review to do a little something different with Ped3-U than with its predecessors, in hopes of communicating clearly both to readers and to Thought Out what’s gone right and wrong with the Ped product line over time. First, as a positive starting point, we’ll note that Ped3-U is a bona fide good idea: believe it or not, simplifying the now well-established iPod and iPhone holder design down to a comparatively…
Read more [iLounge]

News: Konami releases Frogger Inferno

Konami Digital Entertainment has released Frogger Inferno for the iPhone and iPod touch. In Frogger Inferno, players employ the familiar dodge-and-run tactics from the original game to guide Frogger across a busy highway to his home marsh. As an additional twist, however, Frogger Inferno now leaves a trail of fire behind him, requiring players to get Frogger home without the ability to double-back along their path. Additional features include Facebook…
Read more [iLounge]

News: Apple sued over failing iPod shuffle controls

A disgruntled iPod shuffle owner has filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple over failing iPod shuffle controls. The Wrap reports that Stephen Vale, of Manhattan Beach, CA, claims that when working out, perspiration would travel down his earphone cord and into the control module, causing the iPod to “fail.” Vale at first took his shuffle to a nearby Apple retail store, and was given a replacement cord, which subsequently failed in the…
Read more [iLounge]

Apple Warms to VoIP Apps, Approves Advanced Softphone For iPod Touch

Apple seems to be changing its tune on VoIP apps for the iPod touch. Less than a week after it was submitted, Toktumi’s Line2 VoIP app has been approved by Apple. The $14.95 a month app turns the iPod touch into a fully-featured telephone. “Interesting was how quickly it was approved -- less than a week [...]

Apple Consuming Lion’s Share of NAND Memory, Hesitant to Negotiate with Suppliers This Quarter

Even as time goes by, tech parts don’t always get cheaper.

Per DigiTimes, Apple, which already consumes the lion’s share of the global NAND flash memory supply, is apparently reluctant to negotiate with suppliers in 2010 due to high prices.

Although the demand for NAND memory in devices such as memory cards and flash drives has been soft, this hasn’t significantly pushed down chip prices. Major chip suppliers like Samsung have given priority to profitable partnerships over shipment volume, which doesn’t work to the advantage of major buyers like Apple.

In addition to the lower demand, the situation has become even more volatile given that tight foundry capacity is expected to disrupt shipments and have an effect on NAND flash pricing, industry sources reportedly said.

“Some NAND flash controller suppliers,” the report said, “have indicated that their supply may not be able to satisfy customer demand in the second quarter if their foundry partners continue to see tight capacity, the sources said. This supply disruption is likely to impact NAND flash prices for the quarter.”

Industry sources expect the situation to improve in the second quarter of 2010, when they believe Apple may start negotiating long-term supply contracts for NAND flash. The report noted that Apple’s consumption of flash memory will “continue to play a significant role” in the industry this year.

Earlier this month, a rumor came out that the possible success of Apple’s iPad could increase prices of solid state drives. Apple consumes nearly one-third of total NAND flash memory supplies, and its share is expected to grow even more with the launch of the iPad on April 3.

Apple was noted multiple times in 2009 as causing a flash memory shortage due to its iPod and iPhone products consuming the largest share of NAND flash. Industry sources expect the price of NAND flash to continue to rise in 2010.

In addition to most of the iPod lineup and the iPhone, in early 2008, Apple embraced the solid state drive by offering it as an option in its MacBook Air notebook.

Man sues over lack of sweat resistance in his iPod shuffle

Posted by Dennis Sellers

Another day, another lawsuit. A man named Stephen Vale is suing Apple because his iPod shuffle isn’t sweat resistant. Or make that wasn’t sweat resistant as it’s bitten the dust, it seems.

Google Developer takes on Apple

Tim Bray has lashed out on what he really thinks about Apple and the iPhone

Developer for Google, Tim Bray, has recently spoken out on his blog about what he truly thinks about Apple and the iPhone.

Daily Deals: iPhone, iPod Chargers, App Store Price Drops, 1TB Iomega HD

Today we have a bit of everything in the way of Mac deals. We start off with a kit everyone needs – a charger for your iPhone and iPod when on the road. The $4.99 collection includes a USB hot-syncing and charging cable along with a charger for your car or when you are traveling. [...]

News: Sophiestication releases Articles Wikipedia App

Sophiestication Software has released Articles, a new application for browsing and searching Wikipedia on the iPhone and iPod touch. Articles presents Wikipedia content in an iPhone optimized format and includes several advanced UI features such as the ability to quickly scroll through articles by chapter, adjust text size via pinch-and-zoom gestures and lock screen orientation using a pull-down gesture. Articles allows users to search by title or…
Read more [iLounge]

Mac and iPod sales on the up

January and February Mac sales increase by an average of 39 per cent

iPod Shuffle Owner Files Lawsuit Against Apple For Not Being Sweat-Resistant [Apple]

#apple Imagine being so angry at your $59 iPod Shuffle conking out, that you'd file a lawsuit against Apple. He must have a serious lack of shame too, as his reason for the Shuffle breaking? It wasn't immune to his sweat. More »

Read more [Gizmodo]

Product News: PayPal App Adds Bump to Pay Support

PayPal released a new version of its iPhone and iPod touch payment app on Tuesday that adds the ability to transfer payments by “bumping” the devices together. 



Read more [The Mac Observer]

Consumer Reports Rates Apple Tops, Macs Cost Less to Manage than PCs, 6 Core Mac Pro Soon?, and More, Mac News Review

Also dreaming of a Mac mini on steroids, focus on word processiong, Ubuntu ditches brown for more Mac-like appearance, and more.
Read more [Low End Mac]

Amazon Update

Save a bunch on MobileMe renewals at Amazon and get Aperture 3 updates at a discount. The iPod Touch is discounted, too, along with the Mac Mini, iMacs and MacBooks. (Save money on the MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and MacBook Air, too.) Check the great selection of DRM-free MP3 music at very competitive prices (including free downloads!). Digital cameras and HDTV's get outstanding discounts, plus helpful reviews as well. *And*, while you're saving yourself money, you're also providing critical MacInTouch support just by clicking through any of our links to purchase!
Read more [MacInTouch]

Mini Server Review

We've added an addendum to cover some tips and questions brought up by readers in response to our in-depth review, which examines the $999 Mini Server product product from Apple, which combines a dual-hard-drive Mac Mini with a full version of Snow Leopard Server (unlimited client license). We look at everything from web services to performance, along with security, installation, admin utilities and more.
Read more [MacInTouch]

Computerworld: Apple’s inexpensive Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server ‘ideal’ for small business

Apple's Mac mini server is a well-priced solution for small businesses...
Read more [MacDailyNews]

Amazon Update

Save a bunch on MobileMe renewals at Amazon and get Aperture 3 updates at a discount. The iPod Touch is discounted, too, along with the Mac Mini, iMacs and MacBooks. (Save money on the MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and MacBook Air, too.) Check the great selection of DRM-free MP3 music at very competitive prices (including free downloads!). Digital cameras and HDTV's get outstanding discounts, plus helpful reviews as well. *And*, while you're saving yourself money, you're also providing critical MacInTouch support just by clicking through any of our links to purchase!
Read more [MacInTouch]

Amazon Update

Save a bunch on MobileMe renewals at Amazon and get Aperture 3 updates at a discount. The iPod Touch is discounted, too, along with the Mac Mini, iMacs and MacBooks. (Save money on the MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and MacBook Air, too.) Check the great selection of DRM-free MP3 music at very competitive prices (including free downloads!). Digital cameras and HDTV's get outstanding discounts, plus helpful reviews as well. *And*, while you're saving yourself money, you're also providing critical MacInTouch support just by clicking through any of our links to purchase!
Read more [MacInTouch]

Amazon Update

Save a bunch on MobileMe renewals at Amazon and get Aperture 3 updates at a discount. The iPod Touch is discounted, too, along with the Mac Mini, iMacs and MacBooks. (Save money on the MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and MacBook Air, too.) Check the great selection of DRM-free MP3 music at very competitive prices (including free downloads!). Digital cameras and HDTV's get outstanding discounts, plus helpful reviews as well. *And*, while you're saving yourself money, you're also providing critical MacInTouch support just by clicking through any of our links to purchase!
Read more [MacInTouch]

Amazon Update

Save a bunch on MobileMe renewals at Amazon and get Aperture 3 updates at a discount. The iPod Touch is discounted, too, along with the Mac Mini, iMacs and MacBooks. (Save money on the MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and MacBook Air, too.) Check the great selection of DRM-free MP3 music at very competitive prices (including free downloads!). Digital cameras and HDTV's get outstanding discounts, plus helpful reviews as well. *And*, while you're saving yourself money, you're also providing critical MacInTouch support just by clicking through any of our links to purchase!
Read more [MacInTouch]

Amazon Update

Save a bunch on MobileMe renewals at Amazon and get Aperture 3 updates at a discount. The iPod Touch is discounted, too, along with the Mac Mini, iMacs and MacBooks. (Save money on the MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and MacBook Air, too.) Check the great selection of DRM-free MP3 music at very competitive prices (including free downloads!). Digital cameras and HDTV's get outstanding discounts, plus helpful reviews as well. *And*, while you're saving yourself money, you're also providing critical MacInTouch support just by clicking through any of our links to purchase!
Read more [MacInTouch]

Amazon Update

Get Aperture 3 (including upgrades) at a discount from Amazon. Amazon also discounts the new Mac Mini models plus the new iMacs and new MacBook, not to mention the iPod Touch. Save money on the MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and MacBook Air, too. Save a bunch on MobileMe renewals, or get TurboTax on sale (or the new version of TaxCut). Check the great selection of DRM-free MP3 music at very competitive prices (including free downloads!). Digital cameras and HDTV's get outstanding discounts, as well. *And*, while you're saving yourself money, you're also providing critical MacInTouch support just by clicking through any of our links to purchase!
Read more [MacInTouch]

Amazon Update

Get Aperture 3 (including upgrades) at a discount from Amazon. Amazon also discounts the new Mac Mini models plus the new iMacs and new MacBook, not to mention the iPod Touch. Save money on the MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and MacBook Air, too. Save a bunch on MobileMe renewals, or get TurboTax on sale (or the new version of TaxCut). Check the great selection of DRM-free MP3 music at very competitive prices (including free downloads!). Digital cameras and HDTV's get outstanding discounts, as well. *And*, while you're saving yourself money, you're also providing critical MacInTouch support just by clicking through any of our links to purchase!
Read more [MacInTouch]

Amazon Update

Get Aperture 3 (including upgrades) at a discount from Amazon. Amazon also discounts the new Mac Mini models plus the new iMacs and new MacBook, not to mention the iPod Touch. Save money on the MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and MacBook Air, too. Save a bunch on MobileMe renewals, or get TurboTax on sale (or the new version of TaxCut). Check the great selection of DRM-free MP3 music at very competitive prices (including free downloads!). Digital cameras and HDTV's get outstanding discounts, as well. *And*, while you're saving yourself money, you're also providing critical MacInTouch support just by clicking through any of our links to purchase!
Read more [MacInTouch]

A festival of Mac minis on the Refurb

It has been a long time sice there has been such a festival of Mac minis on the Refurb. 

There are 4 versions on offer. Attention, the model with 499 euros is less interesting than that to 469 (understand). Even the high-end server model equipped with two hard disks and Mac OS X server is on offer. Mac Pro are also very evident for some time. Apple seems to want to empty stocks of them. 

@ Le Refurb Store 

March 3 in LEM history

00: Who is self serving? - 03: Value and limitations of the beige G3 - Super capacity batteries for Lombard and Pismo - 04: Is iTunes best for artists? - 05: Search engines, page links, and the worldwide Web - 06: 12 months with a Mac mini - 08: OS 9 browsers
Read more [Low End Mac]

Amazon Update

Get Aperture 3 (including upgrades) at a discount from Amazon. Amazon also discounts the new Mac Mini models plus the new iMacs and new MacBook, not to mention the iPod Touch. Save money on the MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and MacBook Air, too. Save a bunch on MobileMe renewals, or get TurboTax on sale (or the new version of TaxCut). Check the great selection of DRM-free MP3 music at very competitive prices (including free downloads!). Digital cameras and HDTV's get outstanding discounts, as well. *And*, while you're saving yourself money, you're also providing critical MacInTouch support just by clicking through any of our links to purchase!
Read more [MacInTouch]

Some advantages of HDMI on the Mac

Posted by Dennis Sellers

There have been reports that Apple will include a HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) on some upcoming Macs, at least the Mac mini. With Apple’s increasing dominance in the areas of digital media, that’s a good idea.

Amazon Update

Get Aperture 3 (including upgrades) at a discount from Amazon. Amazon also discounts the new Mac Mini models plus the new iMacs and new MacBook, not to mention the iPod Touch. Save money on the MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and MacBook Air, too. Save a bunch on MobileMe renewals, or get TurboTax on sale (or the new version of TaxCut). Check the great selection of DRM-free MP3 music at very competitive prices (including free downloads!). Digital cameras and HDTV's get outstanding discounts, as well. *And*, while you're saving yourself money, you're also providing critical MacInTouch support just by clicking through any of our links to purchase!
Read more [MacInTouch]

HDMI in the next Mac Minis ?

According to AppleInsider, Apple would have among their prototypes of the Mac mini some where the DVI connector has been replaced by a HDMI connector in addition to Displayport. This product, never released, would have been manufactured on a basis identical to the current machines equipped with a 9400M.
It is probable that Apple would have proposed such a connector if they had succeeded in installing in this machine a Blu-ray reader (hardware and software). Such a Mac mini would then have had every right to be found under a television set, places already occupied per number of its "brothers".
Always according to AppleInsider, Apple would have prepared themselves for the day when they would have Blu-ray and to be ready to offer connectors to connect their Mac to the television sets with HDMI connectors that convey the image and also the sound.
We will try to find out where they are. Last reliable information that we had obtained on this subject goes back to December 2007.

Apple to introduce HMDI on some Macs?

Posted by Dennis Sellers

Apple plans to introduce HDMI connectivity on some of its personal computers this year, including the Mac mini, according to AppleInsider.

New Mini DisplayPort-to-HDMI dongle supports audio

Mac users wanting to output to an HDMI-equipped HDTV — whether to show a video or to take advantage of the large screen for a presentation — may want to take a look at TeleAdapt’s just-released Mini DisplayPort + USB Audio to HDMI Adapter.

Unlike many existing products, the TeleAdapt device incorporates a USB connector to handle the audio stream to the HDTV. The company said the adaptor’s firmware supports 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p resolutions.

Currently, only the Apple TV provides a fully-compliant HDMI port that can support both audio and video signals to the HDMI television. Most adapters require users to connect the audio with a separate cable.

For some reason, TeleAdapt sees this adapter being big in the hotel industry. But I have been swamped with messages from ordinary users who want to connect their MacBooks to their home HDTVs. And I see it as a good device for road warriors giving presentations to carry.

Meanwhile, Apple Insider offered an article today that speculates on HDMI arriving on some future Mac mini.

Rumor: Apple Finally Sees the HDMI Light [Rumor]

#rumor After years of Mini DVI and Mini DisplayPort, will Apple really give us HDMI? A bucketful of rumors from AppleInisider say HDMI is replacing DVI in the next Mac minis, and reveals a long lost audio/video Mini DisplayPort adapter. More »

Read more [Gizmodo]

Apple Preps Hi-Def Macs

Apple’s Mac mini could become the first line of general purpose computers to support high-definition video later this year, a report Monday suggests. A HDMI connector is located near a DisplayPort connector on prototype Mac mini units. The mini is often used to stream video to home theaters. The AppleInsider report cites two unnamed “people familiar [...]

Amazon Update

Get Aperture 3 (including upgrades) at a discount from Amazon. Amazon also discounts the new Mac Mini models plus the new iMacs and new MacBook, not to mention the iPod Touch. Save money on the MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and MacBook Air, too. Save a bunch on MobileMe renewals, or get TurboTax on sale (or the new version of TaxCut). Check the great selection of DRM-free MP3 music at very competitive prices (including free downloads!). Digital cameras and HDTV's get outstanding discounts, as well. *And*, while you're saving yourself money, you're also providing critical MacInTouch support just by clicking through any of our links to purchase!
Read more [MacInTouch]

February 28 in LEM history

00: Aquard - 01: Lean word processor specifics - Hot swap or not? - 03: Apple is a solutions company - Pros and cons of automatic updates - iceBook hard drive upgrade tutorial - 05: 'Creaky Operating Systems' good enough for millions - 06: Intel-based Mac mini - Extending range and reducing WiFi interference - 07: Run Windows apps on Intel Macs without Windows - 08: Best version of OS X for your Mac? - 2008 MacBook value equation
Read more [Low End Mac]

Amazon Update

Get Aperture 3 (including upgrades) at a discount from Amazon. Amazon also discounts the new Mac Mini models plus the new iMacs and new MacBook, not to mention the iPod Touch. Save money on the MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and MacBook Air, too. Save a bunch on MobileMe renewals, or get TurboTax on sale (or the new version of TaxCut). Check the great selection of DRM-free MP3 music at very competitive prices (including free downloads!). Digital cameras and HDTV's get outstanding discounts, as well. *And*, while you're saving yourself money, you're also providing critical MacInTouch support just by clicking through any of our links to purchase!
Read more [MacInTouch]

Consumer Reports Rates Apple Tops, Macs Cost Less to Manage than PCs, 6 Core Mac Pro Soon?, and More, Mac News Review

Also dreaming of a Mac mini on steroids, focus on word processiong, Ubuntu ditches brown for more Mac-like appearance, and more.
Read more [Low End Mac]

March 16 in LEM history

00: Cascading Style Sheets - 01: Passing of a free OS - Buying a used Mac - 06: Capture stills from DVDs - Intel unleashes OS X - Rivals can't match iPod system - 07: Pismo Spotlight woes solved - Flash-based MacBook mini speculation - Mac Pro could go 8-core
Read more [Low End Mac]

Apple: First Victim of its Amazing Growth?

Many of our readers also noticed it: Apple seems to have entered into a sleeping mode-like phase:

• We are waiting for the update of all MacBook and MacBook Pro models for now 2 months according to the usual schedule of updates.
• While it seems to be finished and validated by beta tester, the update 10.6.3 is still not released.
• We are still waiting for an update of the Airport firmware to fix remaining issues.
• Alors qu'Apple prenait un malin plaisir à lancer ses Mac Pro Xeon avant les annonces Intel, ces derniers sont arrivés, mais point de Mac Pro.

We could have added other examples to the list. They all have in common to require engineer and system supports. We are currently thinking that the iPad, as the iPhone few months ago, completely drained all engineer resources, and could delay all other products as they are mainly working on fixing the issue of the iPad OS.
You should know that Apple does not have endless engineer resources as Microsoft or other software companies. They are composed of restricted teams moving from one project to another one depending on needs and emergency. We know that Apple is working on strengthening those teams, but it is difficult to add need members in strongly unified teams, especially we also consider that there is no real IT course or training leading to Apple engineers, as it exists for Microsoft Windows...

So, we currently think that Apple has decided to have iPad becoming the main project for this year, not even thinking of an half success or failure, it has to be a blockbuster and Apple is dedicated to available resources to complete the work, even if all other products have to suffer delays. Of course if what you want is a new MacBook or a Mac Pro, you might not care at all about the iPad and its future success... Let's hope that this situation will quickly evolve.

Voyager Q Review

Robert Mohns examines the quad-port SATA hard drive dock, with detailed performance benchmarks across FireWire 400/800, USB 2 and eSATA on a Mac Pro, finding it fast and effective for backup, testing and many other storage tasks.
Read more [MacInTouch]

Specifications of New Intel Xeon

Here comes the new Intel Xeon moels available from the catalog of the founder. All CPU are engraved at 32 nm and feature 12 MB of cache instead of 8 MB for the unit powering current Mac Pro. Depending on models, they offer 4 or 6 cores: 

With such choice, Apple has plenty of choice to update its current Mac Pro, giving Cupertino the opportunity to offer a large range of Mac Pro, from 4 core unit (single Xeon) to 12 core unit (dual hexacore Xeon). So far, Apple only used CPU with a TDP of 95 W for Mac Pro featuring dual CPUs, so it would mean that the fastest Xeon (2xhexacore) to be found in future Mac Pro would be clocked at 2.93 GHz. However, if Apple can find a way to manage a TDP of 130 W, we would then get either dual hexacore at 3.33 GHz or dual quad core at 3.43 GHz. Despite the entry level model, all Xeon supports TurboBoost, giving access to on-the-fly overclocking for mono-threaded tasks

Pragmatic Bookshelf introduces ‘Beginning Mac Programming’

Posted by Dennis Sellers

Pragmatic Bookshelf has released Beginning Mac Programming by author Tim Isted. The US$34 book teaches non-programmers how to move from idea to application.

New Mac Pro may feature Intel's just-launched Xeon 5600 chips

Intel's new Xeon 5600 chips are up to 60 percent faster than the Xeon 5500 processors

Intel introduced a line of Xeon server chips that operate up to 60 percent faster than previous server processors, the company said on Tuesday. 

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 to Cost 450 €!?

According to Fudzilla, NVIDIA might price its future high-end model, aka GeForce GTX 480 around 450 €. If this is more expensive than the current high-end ATI Radeon HD 5870, it will be less expensive than some previous graphic card models launched at 600 € in the past.
Let's hope now that Apple will refresh its catalog of graphic cards to be installed in Mac Pro, as plenty of Mac Pro are currently offered on the Refurb Store, while waiting the new models to be released... one year later...

Updates that boost Mac searching and content discovery

Searching for data with Spotlight and the Finder provide Mac users with a capable base set of tools and features such as Spotlight’s Smart Folders (folders that show files from around your system without moving the files from their original saved locations) and the Finder’s Quick Look (that lets users view the contents of documents without actually opening them in their parent application). However, Mac users who really want to find data quickly may be interested in third-party tools that build on Spotlight’s technology, several of which were updated recently.

Managers who have content in prepress and other professional content-creation applications may be interested in Markzware’s PageZephyr 2.0 announced last week. The $199 Mac product searches a variety of “uncommon” file types (meaning something other than PDF, .DOC or text). PageZephyr 2.0 can index files from Adobe InDesign versions CS through CS4, Quark QuarkXPress versions 4.0 to 8.x and interestingly, Microsoft Publisher versions 2002 to 2007.

What is very useful about PageZephyr is that it doesn’t require you to have the original application to view documents and extract their content. Of course, Microsoft Publisher is a Windows-only app, so its use on the Mac desktop would require a Windows virtualization solution or BootCamp.

Here’s a bit from the company’s PR:

With PageZephyr 2.0, Markzware is essentially releasing 4 products in one: content searching, content viewing, content extraction and content distribution for these unique file formats. eDiscovery firms trying to find that ’smoking gun,’ or companies trying to manage risks while reducing the cost of maintaining content compliance will benefit from PageZephyr 2.0. Companies in various vertical markets having the need to recycle premium content contained in these document types to market their goods or services, especially through the internet, will find PageZephyr 2.0 invaluable.

PageZephyr relies on Mac OS X technology to work, in fact, current Leopard technology. While it will index both local and server volumes, they must be located on systems running Leopard or Snow Leopard; so, it can’t index volumes on Windows or Linux machines. This includes the .PUB files. All must be located on Spotlight-enabled Mac OS X 10.5.8 or higher volumes.

In addition, content is exported to text or RTF formats. And there are issues with font substitution when handling Publisher files.

Markzware said that until March 31, customers can use a web-coupon to purchase Version 2.0 for $149.

If you want to search for data stored on Windows volumes, then you should take a look at Group Logic’s ExtremeZ-IP AFP server solution. This is Windows-based software and for searching, it lets Network Spotlight connect to Windows Search (the technology formerly known as Windows Desktop Search). To the Mac user, Spotlight returns the search results as if it was from a Mac-based volume. (Of course, you should know what file formats are supported for that search. For example, not all info in PDFs are supported without special plugins.

For those focused on finding the right stuff on our local data, there’s Houdah Software’s HoudahSpot. Many of the company’s products are about search. When I spoke to the founder/programmer Pierre Bernard at Macworld Expo, he was pushing updates to his geotagging software HoudahGeo and a recently released iPhone search app called ACTRocket, which offers shortcuts to searching on various Web search engines such as Google and Yahoo.

HoudahSpot is really what Spotlight should be. It knows all the different criteria that are available to search for, or at times, not, since it lets you also restrict your searches as you drill down towards the right data. You can save your queries as a document, which not only remembers what you wanted to search and where as well as the layout of columns and sort order. And you can preview files with QuickLook.

Version 2.6.x offers Text Preview with highlighting, buttons for Boolean operators and support for Mac OS X services. A newer feature is that the program now remembers which inspectors were open and restores them on launch.

This software has such a spare interface that it’s hard to express all the things it can do. I suggest taking a look at the screencast videos that run down the elements of searching and HoudahSpot’s interface.

At the same time, most Mac users don’t know that Spotlight is extensible. There’s a download page that gathers together plugins for all kinds of special file formats, such as cataloging applications, image files and others.

Report: Mac Pro

multiple-monitor problems (cont'd.)
Read more [MacInTouch]

Report: Mac Pro

display problems
Read more [MacInTouch]

New turbo-powered Apple Mac Pro models coming Tuesday?

Apple's Mac Pro may receive a processor overhaul of colossal proportions extremely soon...
Read more [MacDailyNews]

Zeus: Universal GPU Flashing Tool!

Cindori who was already the author of ATI Flashing Tool, just announced the release of Zeus, a universal GPU flashing tool.

This application is a real swiss army knife for our graphic cards, as you can modify the firmware or easily adapt a PC card on your Mac Pro:

• Compatible with most ATI and NVIDIA graphic cards
• Able to recover from his server the right version of patched QuickTime extensions required for some exotic graphic cards (not supported by Apple).
• Safer flashing procedure.
• Bug with injector fixed.

For additional information: http://groths.org
To download: http://groths.org/zeus/zeus.zip

Report: Mac Pro

display problems
Read more [MacInTouch]

Apple Store: Yellow Sticker On

All Apple Stores seem down for maintenance or upgrade, but as we are Friday it would be surprising to get new models released.

So, it might be a technical test to prepare the introduction of new products next Tuesday, our the preparation for today's introduction of the Mac Pro with Hexa-core as the NDA on this CPU ended few hours ago, or it could just be maintenance...

Screaming Fast New MacBook Pros and Mac Pro Desktops Next Week? [UPDATE: Maybe No MacBooks]

UPDATE: Seth at 9to5Mac is now backtracking. While he says he’s received multiple tips that Mac Pros will be updated, he thinks the MacBook Pros tip might have been fake. “Shame on us,” he says. Our friend Seth Weintraub at 9to5Mac thinks MacBooks and Mac Pros will be updated within a week. Seth received a tip [...]

Rumor: Intel Core i7-980x Mac Pros to come next Tuesday?

It was as recently as December that Apple quietly bumped the specs of their Mac Pro line to use 3.33Ghz quad-core Xeon CPUs, but if ZDNet’s Adrian Kingsley-Hughes and his sources are to be believed, we could see the next Mac Pro as soon as next Tuesday, March 16th. According to Kingsley-Hughes, the next Mac Pro [...]

Rumor: “Gulftown” Processor Could Hit Mac Pro Line as Early as Tuesday

Intel this week previewed its 32 nanometer Core i7-980X processor, a six-core CPU known as “Gulftown” and fueled rumors that the CPU could make its way to Apple’s Mac Pro line as early as March 15th.

Per ZDnet, tips have been received from sources close to the store stating that the hexacore processor could be just around the corner.

“If you’re thinking of buying a Mac Pro, you might want to wait a few days,” wrote Adrian Kingsley-Hughes.

The new processor carries a speed of 3.33GHz, six cores capable of 12 threads, and 130W thermal design power. He also noted that he’s heard no reports of impending changes to the MacBook Pro line.

The new six-core Mac Pro with the Core i7-980X has been rumored for months, with the chip set to arrive on the open market sometime this month. The new 32 nanometer chips feature 12MB of L3 cache. Apple usually doubles the processors in its high-end professional workstations, so it’s possible the new Mac Pro system could have a total of 12 cores and 24 threads.

The “Gulftown” processor will be sold under the Intel Core i9 name, while the server version, which has been adopted by Apple in the past, will fall under the Xeon 5600 series.

The last major refresh to the Mac Pro equipped it with its Nehalem Xeon processors, with a high-end eight-core Mac Pro offering two 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500 chips. Last year, Apple quietly upgraded that to a potential maximum 2.93GHz eight-core system.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Intel Hexa Core CPU Core i7 Unveiled: Mac Pro Next Tuesday!?

After talking about those new hexa-core CPU over the last five months, they are finally unveiled as the NDA ended today. We are still waiting for the Xeon version of this hexa-core series to find its way in the future model of Mac Pro that should now be released soon. Several websites offer first benchmarking of those new CPU, including the flagship Core i7-980X, and as expected this high-end model is a real performer while remaining relatively sober on the energy consumption point of view. According to ZDNet the new Mac Pro to feature 6 to 12 physical cores should be available next Tuesday.

Rumor: Hexacore i7 Mac Pro Coming Next Tuesday [Apple]

ZDNet is receiving tips claiming Apple will upgrade its Mac Pro line with an Intel Core i7-980x chipset, which certainly isn't the first time we've heard Core i7-shaped gossip. Supposedly it'll all be unraveled next Tuesday, the 16th of March. [ZDNet via BGR] More »

Read more [Gizmodo]

Intel 'Gulftown' CPU announcement fuels rumors of new Mac Pro

Intel this week previewed its forthcoming 32nm Core i7-980X processor, a six-core CPU codenamed "Gulftown," and a new rumor has suggested the chip could find its way into Apple's Mac Pro line as early as next Tuesday.



Read more [AppleInsider]

RUMOR: Apple to release Mac Pro ‘hexacore’ Xeon Core i7-980x on Tuesday, March 16

Apple is set to revamp its high-end Mac Pro line, adding a ‘hexacore’ Core i7-980x model...
Read more [MacDailyNews]

Blu-ray Drives Never Been Cheaper

Digitimes announced that the price of Blu-ray drives dramatically dropped over the past weeks, reaching a price range of 70 to 80 USD. It remains more expensive than the DVD burner drive; however it could help computer companies to integrate such optical drive more often in their models, of course for Apple one would need a slot-in unit for all hardware models but the Mac Pro. This will take time as the website considers that the current price of BD movies is too high to efficiently compete with the DVD version. 

This is also true for BD burners, getting now cheaper as one can find some models below 150 €, however the main break to a real democratization of such drive is the price of media.

Oh the horror! Why is Microsoft pushing the hated Windows Ribbon for Office:Mac?

Last month, the Microsoft Macintosh Business Unit announced Office:Mac 2011 and posted some screen shots of its future user interface. I finally got around to looking at them. Sorry to say, the productivity-killing Ribbon introduced with Office 2007 on Windows will make its way to the Mac. Sigh. But the silver lining is that we will get to keep our menus.

Office:Mac, like a number of other recent Mac OS X programs and especially Web-based apps, are making trade-offs in their application interfaces that ding power users and kowtow to the entry-level part of the market.

On the Mac Mojo blog, Han-Yi Shaw, the Macintosh Business Unit’s lead program manager, put a good Mac face on the Office:Mac 2011 introduction of the Ribbon, differentiating the Mac version from its Windows counterparts.

It’s called the “Office for Mac ribbon”, or as we refer to it internally, “MacRibbon”. The “Mac” part tells you that it was designed specifically for the Mac, with all of the recognizable attributes that Mac users have come to love; the “Ribbon” part signifies the shared lineage with the ribbon seen in Office 2007 and now Office 2010 for Windows.

What? So, the concept is that you say, “potato” and I say, “nobody likes the Ribbon, nobody, unless they work at Microsoft or have taken a deep pull on the draught prepared in the halls of Redmond for the brave heroes, aka the enterprise customers who have no alternative to using Office because Office is the standard and we all use Office here.” What does it matter that it’s called a Mac Ribbon because it’s running on the Mac? It’s still the Ribbon.

However, it was the very same Mac user community who expected a first-class ribbon implementation, who were at the same time crystal clear in their message: deliver a ribbon interface that’s built upon, not at the expensive of, the Mac user interface and native Mac OS X platform technologies. And as we at MacBU are Mac users ourselves, we empathized with this unequivocal request coming from our user community. Hence, the MacRibbon was born.

It began from user feedback — and every step of the way — we listened, iterated, and listened some more. And after two years of development — and having worked closely with our customers — we think we’ve landed in a happy place with the Office for Mac ribbon. And with that, here comes the exciting part: What is the Office for Mac ribbon?

Now, it is difficult for this longtime Mac user to believe that any Mac user (not on the Microsoft payroll) requested a first-class or even a second-class ribbon interface. While I am loath to doubt the word of Han-Yi Shaw, with whom I have had no word about this matter, perhaps we may infer that Microsoft bean-counters suggested that since the company owns the Ribbon interface and spent so much time and effort on it, naturally, all of its customers should gain the benefit of it, even on the Macintosh platform. And we should be happy for it.

Then again, out of the millions of Mac users, the ones who love the Ribbon would gravitate to Redmond or San Jose where the next version of Office:Mac is under development. Some of them, for example, newcomers to the Mac with fresh experience of Windows Office, might want the rest of us to share their pain.

Nadyne Richmond, a user experience researcher at Microsoft, explained this further on her blog Go ahead, Mac my day.  She says it’s an evolution from the Elements Gallery in Mac:Office 2008. And she explained that Office will remain a “good” Mac program, letting users see its menubar.

As we began our work on Office:Mac 2011, we had to make decisions about what the next generation of the Elements Gallery should look like. We made some great strides forward in improving discoverability, but there were still some improvements to be made. As we looked at our colleagues on the Windows Office team and considered what they had learned through their Ribbon work, we decided that we could do the Ribbon in a Mac way that works for our users.

Our single most important decision for the MacRibbon is that we’re still going to be a good Mac citizen. Our menus, not to mention the standard toolbar, stay. We knew that one concern that our users have is the availability of vertical screen real estate. As such, we quickly made the decision that our MacRibbon should be collapsible. If you’re using the MacRibbon, then you’ve got easy access to our features; if you’re not, then you can collapse it to get it out of your way. If you’re feeling particularly minimalistic, you can collapse the standard toolbar too, leaving you with every pixel on your screen below the menu bar to dedicate to your document.

We can all be glad that Mac users will still familiar access to tools via the menubar. However, even now, years after the introduction of Office 2007, I meet users who can’t find the controls and tools that they need with the Ribbon.

How bad is it? There’s a game called Ribbon Hero that is supposed to teach the interface. Here’s a post this week from Microsoft’s own Partners in Learning Network resource site:

When you install Ribbon Hero, it appears as an add-in inside Word, PowerPoint and Excel, and you get an icon for it – where else? – on The Ribbon. When  you click on the icon, you’re offered your first set of challenges, which you can attempt to complete with or without the helpful hints.

“Don’t hate the Ribbon, be a Ribbon hero!” To a longtime Mac user, this describes perfectly all over the Microsoft and Windows mindset and user experience. It’s the interface that eventually you will love to hate.

Another “advantage” of the Ribbon, according to Shaw, is how it gets rid of those nasty tool palettes.

And given that the Office for Mac ribbon is nicely anchored inside the application window, adjacent to the standard toolbar, gone are the days when you had to position and reposition the Formatting Palette to prevent it from covering your document contents or falling off the screen as it grows and shrinks during normal usage. The Office for Mac ribbon solves the common user complaint about “I like the Formatting Palette, but it can really get in the way” — and users who tested the Office for Mac ribbon overwhelmingly favored it.

This is part of an annoying trend over the past couple of years in the Mac community: the use of mono-screen applications instead of the longstanding use on the Mac of a “single document interface” (SDI) and floating tools in palettes.

In the SDI, the menubar and tools are always available on the top of the screen or on palettes, respectively. Each document has its own window.

Microsoft instead chose a multiple document interface (MDI) for Windows that presents a parent window containing both tools and multiple documents. Depending on screen real estate, the MDI can be useful. This approach makes it easy to show and hide windows relating to an application. If applications take over the full screen, as they almost always do on Windows, MDI works fine.

With Apple’s SDI approach, users can have many documents open on the desktop, which can become confusing. Apple has addressed this issue with a variety of ways to hide applications and related documents and palettes (Option + Click); Expose, which with a move of the mouse can provide various views documents as large “thumbnails” for navigation; and Spaces, which lets users group applications into a more narrow workflow. Expose always amazes Windows users with its elegance and simplicity.

Power Mac users have long taken to using large displays and multiple screens to expand their view of their documents and Apple has supported easy setup and configuration of multiple displays. They can group tools and documents across workspaces and create a sophisticated and power workflow.

Yet at the same time, Apple has undermined this interface strategy with an increasing number of applications that can only open one document at a time, such as iMovie and iDVD. Some other applications only have one window, including iPhoto, iTunes, and even the professional Aperture product. They function much like an MDI.

An excellent critique of this “one-window” approach was offered in a post by Lukas Mathis several years ago on his Ignore the Code blog. He says MDIs are bad for the Mac and looked at how Adobe mitigated its use of MDI.

Some implementations of MDI make it hard to remove palettes from the main window. This is bad because in a multi-screen environment, a typical setup is to move all palettes to one screen, while keeping documents on the other screen. Again, the CS4 UI allows for this, so no complaints here.

MDI takes away space on larger screens. After your screen reaches a certain size, it doesn’t make much sense to maximize windows anymore. Having an MDI means you always waste space with a ton of application chrome around your documents - space which could be used by other applications running at the same time. Again, CS4 has a solution for this; hitting tab removes the application chrome (although I wasn’t able to get it back easily - hitting tab again did nothing at all). Unfortunately, the application chrome is not hidden if the application is put in the background while in MDI mode.

I blame the influence of the browser for this trend. And the MacBook and the iMacs with smaller displays. Everything in a browser and browser-based app is contained within a single window. Over time we’ve gotten used to the browser being more than a content container. It’s made users comfortable with the MDI approach. At the same time, MDI appeals to computers with smaller screens, there’s not the expanded real estate of very large displays or multiple monitors.

So, Microsoft is moving its professional Mac suite to an MDI. I get it but don’t have to like it. There are many of us who find that tool palettes don’t “really get in the way.”

Check Out. Leopard’s Finder Cover Flow: Yuck!

Apple admits iMac product issues, says they’ve been addressed

Posted by Dennis Sellers

The Gizmodo site says that Apple has released a statement to them, admitting the production issues with iMacs.

Newsletter Issue #535: When is a Story Not a Story?

Those of you who have been following the ongoing 27-inch iMac soap opera are aware of the reports about display defects. These include screen flickering and a yellowish tinge. Early on, some newly-minted owners, including Macworld magazine, got units with cracked screens. Worse, this hot-selling model was particularly difficult to get, unless you were ready [...]
Read more [The Mac Night Owl]

Newsletter Issue #536: The Silly Season Starts Early

Apple can’t stay out of the news, not that they’d want to. So in the past couple of weeks, you learned that all the known problems with the 27-inch iMac have been fixed, the iPad ships on April 3rd in the USA, and later that month in other countries and, by the way, Apple is [...]
Read more [The Mac Night Owl]

Apple keyboard clocks, cufflinks and jewelry

Of all the eccentric Mac-lover accessories out there, these clocks might be some of the most phoned-in I’ve ever seen: they’re basically just old Apple keyboards clawed out of an electronics dump with their keys shaken loose and stuffed with cheap horological guts. Even so, I’m sort of tempted by the iMac Bondi Blue Clock: [...]

Video: There’s Sexy Technology, Then There’s This…

You’re all going crazy with your iPad ordering. Meanwhile, over on Vimeo, BrewBeau has some craziness of his own going on. BrewBeau writes: “I’m a recent PC convert who waited patiently while Apple worked out the kinks with their latest iMac release of the 27″ Intel powered 2.8GHz quad core i7 iMac. It’s a thing of [...]

U-Board - USB Multiboard for your iMac

U-Board will give you a brand new experience. Whatever your job maybe, U-Board will simplify your working environment and help you to reduce the working time. Additionally, U-Board's simple and slim design will fit perfectly into your desktop.......Continue Reading

Filed under: Hardware |

iClooly Aluminum Stand for iPhone 3G & 3Gs

Enjoy using your iMac and iphone 3G & 3Gs at the same time.......Continue Reading

Filed under: iPhone | iPhone Hardware |

Oh the horror! Why is Microsoft pushing the hated Windows Ribbon for Office:Mac?

Last month, the Microsoft Macintosh Business Unit announced Office:Mac 2011 and posted some screen shots of its future user interface. I finally got around to looking at them. Sorry to say, the productivity-killing Ribbon introduced with Office 2007 on Windows will make its way to the Mac. Sigh. But the silver lining is that we will get to keep our menus.

Office:Mac, like a number of other recent Mac OS X programs and especially Web-based apps, are making trade-offs in their application interfaces that ding power users and kowtow to the entry-level part of the market.

On the Mac Mojo blog, Han-Yi Shaw, the Macintosh Business Unit’s lead program manager, put a good Mac face on the Office:Mac 2011 introduction of the Ribbon, differentiating the Mac version from its Windows counterparts.

It’s called the “Office for Mac ribbon”, or as we refer to it internally, “MacRibbon”. The “Mac” part tells you that it was designed specifically for the Mac, with all of the recognizable attributes that Mac users have come to love; the “Ribbon” part signifies the shared lineage with the ribbon seen in Office 2007 and now Office 2010 for Windows.

What? So, the concept is that you say, “potato” and I say, “nobody likes the Ribbon, nobody, unless they work at Microsoft or have taken a deep pull on the draught prepared in the halls of Redmond for the brave heroes, aka the enterprise customers who have no alternative to using Office because Office is the standard and we all use Office here.” What does it matter that it’s called a Mac Ribbon because it’s running on the Mac? It’s still the Ribbon.

However, it was the very same Mac user community who expected a first-class ribbon implementation, who were at the same time crystal clear in their message: deliver a ribbon interface that’s built upon, not at the expensive of, the Mac user interface and native Mac OS X platform technologies. And as we at MacBU are Mac users ourselves, we empathized with this unequivocal request coming from our user community. Hence, the MacRibbon was born.

It began from user feedback — and every step of the way — we listened, iterated, and listened some more. And after two years of development — and having worked closely with our customers — we think we’ve landed in a happy place with the Office for Mac ribbon. And with that, here comes the exciting part: What is the Office for Mac ribbon?

Now, it is difficult for this longtime Mac user to believe that any Mac user (not on the Microsoft payroll) requested a first-class or even a second-class ribbon interface. While I am loath to doubt the word of Han-Yi Shaw, with whom I have had no word about this matter, perhaps we may infer that Microsoft bean-counters suggested that since the company owns the Ribbon interface and spent so much time and effort on it, naturally, all of its customers should gain the benefit of it, even on the Macintosh platform. And we should be happy for it.

Then again, out of the millions of Mac users, the ones who love the Ribbon would gravitate to Redmond or San Jose where the next version of Office:Mac is under development. Some of them, for example, newcomers to the Mac with fresh experience of Windows Office, might want the rest of us to share their pain.

Nadyne Richmond, a user experience researcher at Microsoft, explained this further on her blog Go ahead, Mac my day.  She says it’s an evolution from the Elements Gallery in Mac:Office 2008. And she explained that Office will remain a “good” Mac program, letting users see its menubar.

As we began our work on Office:Mac 2011, we had to make decisions about what the next generation of the Elements Gallery should look like. We made some great strides forward in improving discoverability, but there were still some improvements to be made. As we looked at our colleagues on the Windows Office team and considered what they had learned through their Ribbon work, we decided that we could do the Ribbon in a Mac way that works for our users.

Our single most important decision for the MacRibbon is that we’re still going to be a good Mac citizen. Our menus, not to mention the standard toolbar, stay. We knew that one concern that our users have is the availability of vertical screen real estate. As such, we quickly made the decision that our MacRibbon should be collapsible. If you’re using the MacRibbon, then you’ve got easy access to our features; if you’re not, then you can collapse it to get it out of your way. If you’re feeling particularly minimalistic, you can collapse the standard toolbar too, leaving you with every pixel on your screen below the menu bar to dedicate to your document.

We can all be glad that Mac users will still familiar access to tools via the menubar. However, even now, years after the introduction of Office 2007, I meet users who can’t find the controls and tools that they need with the Ribbon.

How bad is it? There’s a game called Ribbon Hero that is supposed to teach the interface. Here’s a post this week from Microsoft’s own Partners in Learning Network resource site:

When you install Ribbon Hero, it appears as an add-in inside Word, PowerPoint and Excel, and you get an icon for it – where else? – on The Ribbon. When  you click on the icon, you’re offered your first set of challenges, which you can attempt to complete with or without the helpful hints.

“Don’t hate the Ribbon, be a Ribbon hero!” To a longtime Mac user, this describes perfectly all over the Microsoft and Windows mindset and user experience. It’s the interface that eventually you will love to hate.

Another “advantage” of the Ribbon, according to Shaw, is how it gets rid of those nasty tool palettes.

And given that the Office for Mac ribbon is nicely anchored inside the application window, adjacent to the standard toolbar, gone are the days when you had to position and reposition the Formatting Palette to prevent it from covering your document contents or falling off the screen as it grows and shrinks during normal usage. The Office for Mac ribbon solves the common user complaint about “I like the Formatting Palette, but it can really get in the way” — and users who tested the Office for Mac ribbon overwhelmingly favored it.

This is part of an annoying trend over the past couple of years in the Mac community: the use of mono-screen applications instead of the longstanding use on the Mac of a “single document interface” (SDI) and floating tools in palettes.

In the SDI, the menubar and tools are always available on the top of the screen or on palettes, respectively. Each document has its own window.

Microsoft instead chose a multiple document interface (MDI) for Windows that presents a parent window containing both tools and multiple documents. Depending on screen real estate, the MDI can be useful. This approach makes it easy to show and hide windows relating to an application. If applications take over the full screen, as they almost always do on Windows, MDI works fine.

With Apple’s SDI approach, users can have many documents open on the desktop, which can become confusing. Apple has addressed this issue with a variety of ways to hide applications and related documents and palettes (Option + Click); Expose, which with a move of the mouse can provide various views documents as large “thumbnails” for navigation; and Spaces, which lets users group applications into a more narrow workflow. Expose always amazes Windows users with its elegance and simplicity.

Power Mac users have long taken to using large displays and multiple screens to expand their view of their documents and Apple has supported easy setup and configuration of multiple displays. They can group tools and documents across workspaces and create a sophisticated and power workflow.

Yet at the same time, Apple has undermined this interface strategy with an increasing number of applications that can only open one document at a time, such as iMovie and iDVD. Some other applications only have one window, including iPhoto, iTunes, and even the professional Aperture product. They function much like an MDI.

An excellent critique of this “one-window” approach was offered in a post by Lukas Mathis several years ago on his Ignore the Code blog. He says MDIs are bad for the Mac and looked at how Adobe mitigated its use of MDI.

Some implementations of MDI make it hard to remove palettes from the main window. This is bad because in a multi-screen environment, a typical setup is to move all palettes to one screen, while keeping documents on the other screen. Again, the CS4 UI allows for this, so no complaints here.

MDI takes away space on larger screens. After your screen reaches a certain size, it doesn’t make much sense to maximize windows anymore. Having an MDI means you always waste space with a ton of application chrome around your documents - space which could be used by other applications running at the same time. Again, CS4 has a solution for this; hitting tab removes the application chrome (although I wasn’t able to get it back easily - hitting tab again did nothing at all). Unfortunately, the application chrome is not hidden if the application is put in the background while in MDI mode.

I blame the influence of the browser for this trend. And the MacBook and the iMacs with smaller displays. Everything in a browser and browser-based app is contained within a single window. Over time we’ve gotten used to the browser being more than a content container. It’s made users comfortable with the MDI approach. At the same time, MDI appeals to computers with smaller screens, there’s not the expanded real estate of very large displays or multiple monitors.

So, Microsoft is moving its professional Mac suite to an MDI. I get it but don’t have to like it. There are many of us who find that tool palettes don’t “really get in the way.”

Check Out. Leopard’s Finder Cover Flow: Yuck!

Newsletter Issue #536: The Silly Season Starts Early

Apple can’t stay out of the news, not that they’d want to. So in the past couple of weeks, you learned that all the known problems with the 27-inch iMac have been fixed, the iPad ships on April 3rd in the USA, and later that month in other countries and, by the way, Apple is [...]
Read more [The Mac Night Owl]

Newsletter Issue #535: When is a Story Not a Story?

Those of you who have been following the ongoing 27-inch iMac soap opera are aware of the reports about display defects. These include screen flickering and a yellowish tinge. Early on, some newly-minted owners, including Macworld magazine, got units with cracked screens. Worse, this hot-selling model was particularly difficult to get, unless you were ready [...]
Read more [The Mac Night Owl]

iOpus Reveals Swiss Army Knife for Google Chrome

As Google prepared to open its Chrome Extensions Gallery in early December, iOpus Software was working behind the scenes, creating a virtual Swiss Army Knife for the streamlined browser: iMacros for Chrome. Now absolutely anyone can use this powerful, free software to automate the most common tasks performed within the Chrome browser.......Continue Reading

Filed under: Software Updates | Software News | Internet |

Report: iMac

Finder problems; optical drives
Read more [MacInTouch]

IDC computer market predictions look good for the iMac, Apple portables

Posted by Dennis Sellers

Many of the trends that influenced the worldwide computer market in 2009 will continue to resonate in 2010, but their impact will change as new market forces come into play. The news is good for Apple laptops and the iMac and, well, not bad for the iPad.

March 7 in LEM history

89: Mac IIcx - 00: Website organization - 01: Outlook Express 101 - Apple: The green computer? - 03: Beyond multimedia and megahertz - Upgrading your G3 iMac - 05: Apple's leaky ship - UPS Canada brokerage fees - 06: The great PowerBook 100 - 08: Trading up a week-old MacBook - Apple outsells Dell in education
Read more [Low End Mac]

March 6 in LEM history

00: Rescued Fat Mac - 01: The only computer worth using - iMac underpowered for MP3s - 02: Bring back the Cube - The upgrade option - Is your Mac secure? - 03: Defending the Mac in 3 minutes - Why you want an AGP Power Mac - 07: The $900 notebook: Where is Apple? - 08: Black MacBook a gem of a notebook - The Mac vs. PC debate
Read more [Low End Mac]

Report: iMac

optical drive problems, PRAM reset, Finder issues
Read more [MacInTouch]

Report: iMac

optical drive problems, disk noises
Read more [MacInTouch]

Apple's stealth TV patent

Is an Apple coming to your television soon? Maybe so. According to the Patently Apple site, a patent published on Thursday “insists that the company’s Apple TV remote is to work with a clearly defined television – beyond what we know as Apple TV - the set top box style unit.”

In one of the illustrations in the application, everything appears “normal.” It shows a remote that can manage a notebook computer, a set-top box connected to a display (what we would assume is the Apple TV box), and another mobile device sitting in a stand, which I assume to be an iPad. Each item is numbered and that’s where things get interesting the article suggests.

Author Jack Purcher points out that Apple makes a distinction in its filings between Apple TVs and televisions. And what appears to be a monitor or an iMac in the illo is called a television.

I’m just going to point out that Apple mentions “television” separately from Apple TV noted as a “set top box,” eleven times. What threw me for a moment is that Apple’s patent Figure 2 shows a computer display-like device and of course my mind paid no attention to their visual that they presented. Well, until Apple insisted that it wasn’t a desktop computer nor a computer display – that is. In plain English, they’re calling it a “television.” See for yourself in the opening cover graphic – it’s patent point 208. Looks like a computer display to me - but that’s what they wanted us to think.

Sorry, but that wasn’t an accident. Engineers who design Apple’s products aren’t going to call something a television that is clearly an iMac, a desktop or simply a Cinema Display. Sometimes a television is just that, a television. So while Apple’s executive officers do the right thing by denying interest in a future product – we who read and report on their patents will continue to show you the facts occurring in Apple’s labs – no matter how minute they may seem to be at the moment or how contrary they appear to be from public statements.

The application says the remote can control a variety of electronic devices for example, a laptop computer, a set-top box, a television and “mobile phone/portable music player docking station 212 with mobile phone 214.”

In some embodiments, the remote controller may communicate with the electronic devices other via communications network 216 or via a different communications network (e.g., an IR network). For example, the laptop computer, set-top box, television 208 and docking station can respectively include wireless receiver windows 218, 220, 222 and 224 for receiving wireless communications from remote controller 100 using communications network 216. In addition, each of laptop computer, set-top box 206, television 208 and docking station 212 may be inter-connected via communications network 216 such that the devices of system 200 may communicate amongst themselves (e.g., using a protocol supported by communications network 216).

Purcher points out that the communication with the television is broken out from the set-top box.

Apple executives keep downplaying the company’s involvement in televisions. Yet at the same time, the company stocks the iTunes Store with episodes and there are reports of discussions with content companies such as Disney, CBS and Time Warner over increasing the sales of TV shows.

So, will Apple work its interface magic through your television? Maybe. Still, it’s a mixed message.

For example, when I ran through the latest transcript of Apple’s quarterly financial conference call the only mentions of Apple TV were about how the changes in how its accounting was being reported. And if I remember Steve Jobs correctly at the iPad rollout event, the big new platform for viewing shows will be its tablet. Still, one doesn’t rule out the other.

Just as we have iTunes support in our cars, it’s natural to suppose an Apple interface on televisions.

Check out: Apple results: First look

Apple Tops in Reliability and Customer Service, OWC's Speedy SSD, SanDisk SSD Shipping, and More, Mac News Review

Also 27" iMac shipping normally, washing your keyboard, Matias keyboard has stand for iPhone, Belkin USB 3.0 products, and more.
Read more [Low End Mac]

Report: iMac Aluminum

optical drive problems
Read more [MacInTouch]

MacHeist, The Mac Sale offer new software bundles

For a limited time, MacHeist is offering a bundle of seven apps for $20, and the Mac Sale has ten apps for $50.



Read more [MacUser]

Update: Mactracker 5.1

The Mac technical info database adds the iPad, iMac (20-inch, Mid 2009), a compare function to highlight differences between models, a new search engine that queries all specification entries from the main window, and more.
Read more [MacInTouch]

Report: iMac Aluminum

optical drive performance
Read more [MacInTouch]

March 2 in LEM history

87: Mac SE - Mac II - 99: Promising new browser - 00: Don Crabb, I truly never knew you - 01: The gaming challenge - That 70s iMac - 05: The eMac: Where do we go from here? - 06: Replacing your iPod's battery - Low End Mac Media Center - 07: The First Expandable Macs - $25 802.11g card for PCI Macs
Read more [Low End Mac]

Applelinks Tech Web Reader - Monday, March 1, 2010

• PC vs. Mac: The Straight Scoop
• Apple Tops Consumer Computer Manufacturer Ratings Again
• Apple Once Again Tops The List Of PC Manufacturers, But Declines From 2008
• 15 iPad Mysteries Remain
• Everything You Need To Know About The iPad
• Inside Apple’s iPad: iPhone OS vs Mac OS X
• OS X Share Up 29% In Past Year, Slowly Chipping Away At Microsoft
• A Mac User & Windows 7 On An Intel i7 Laptop
• Ubuntu 10.04 Keeping Pace, Or More, With Windows 7
• Laptops Galore Await Show Attendees in Hanover
• Acer To Launch Ultra-thin Calpella-based Notebook Series In Q2 2010
• More Workers Poisoned By Supplier For Apple, Nokia
• Silicon Sweatshops: Another Black Eye For Apple Supplier
• iPod Battery Life: a Simple Test
• Apple Says 27-Inch iMac Display Issues Have Been Addressed
• Apple Admits To Yellow-tint iMac Issues
• Apple Should Ban Freebees From The iPad App Store Says Wilcox
• Apple Anti-porn Crusade About Image, Not Money Or Offended Ladies
• Seven Steps To Netbook Marital Bliss With Windows 7
• Five Tips to Prevent iPad Eye Strain
• Apple Admits Using Child Labour
• Apple Admits Using Factories That Employ Chinese Children Child Labour PR Nightmare Looms .......Continue Reading

Filed under: News | Tech-Industry |

Deal Brothers: Refurbished iMac 21.5-inch 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo:  $1299

The Deal Brothers noted that Apple is offering a refurbished iMac 21.5-inch 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo for $1299. It ships for free and includes one year of AppleCare.



Read more [The Mac Observer]

It’s the Critics Versus the Users

Some of you may have read a report the other day that Apple was behind the curve because there were no recent updates to the MacBook Pro lineup. This despite the fact that Intel had recently upgraded its mobile processors. So what’s wrong with Apple? Don’t they want their customers to have the latest and [...]
Read more [The Mac Night Owl]

Apple: First Victim of its Amazing Growth?

Many of our readers also noticed it: Apple seems to have entered into a sleeping mode-like phase:

• We are waiting for the update of all MacBook and MacBook Pro models for now 2 months according to the usual schedule of updates.
• While it seems to be finished and validated by beta tester, the update 10.6.3 is still not released.
• We are still waiting for an update of the Airport firmware to fix remaining issues.
• Alors qu'Apple prenait un malin plaisir à lancer ses Mac Pro Xeon avant les annonces Intel, ces derniers sont arrivés, mais point de Mac Pro.

We could have added other examples to the list. They all have in common to require engineer and system supports. We are currently thinking that the iPad, as the iPhone few months ago, completely drained all engineer resources, and could delay all other products as they are mainly working on fixing the issue of the iPad OS.
You should know that Apple does not have endless engineer resources as Microsoft or other software companies. They are composed of restricted teams moving from one project to another one depending on needs and emergency. We know that Apple is working on strengthening those teams, but it is difficult to add need members in strongly unified teams, especially we also consider that there is no real IT course or training leading to Apple engineers, as it exists for Microsoft Windows...

So, we currently think that Apple has decided to have iPad becoming the main project for this year, not even thinking of an half success or failure, it has to be a blockbuster and Apple is dedicated to available resources to complete the work, even if all other products have to suffer delays. Of course if what you want is a new MacBook or a Mac Pro, you might not care at all about the iPad and its future success... Let's hope that this situation will quickly evolve.

Review: MacBook Pro 15" (LED)

We've added some benchmark results charts (with more to come later) in a thorough review of Apple's latest laptop from Robert Mohns, covering technical advances, the overall experience, and an audio quality issue.
Read more [MacInTouch]

UK broadband company ditching PCs for MacBook Pros

Posted by Dennis Sellers

UK broadband company TalkTalk is running a trial that will see staff in its London head office ditch PCs for MacBook Pros.

TalkTalk switch staff from PCs to Apple laptops

Largest enterprise rollout for Apple

Broadband provider TalkTalk is planning to scrap desktop PCs for all its office staff and bring in MacBook Pro laptops from Apple.

XstandPro and Xtand Pro XL Laptop Stands - Two Heights; One Sight

Just Mobile Xtand laptop stands are a stylish, sturdy choice made of solid aluminium matching the metal finish of the MacBook Pro........Continue Reading

Filed under: Hardware |

Applelinks Tech Web Reader - Friday, March 12, 2010

Apple's iPad Could Kill The Mac
• Why Apple Will (Eventually) Dump the Mac
• How To Survive Mobile Systems Stampede
• 4 Reasons Why Your Next Mac Could Be An iPad
• The Ultra-light Laptop Conundrum: Weak Processors
• OS X 10.4 Tiger Still Very Usable On 500 MHz G3 iBook
• OCZ Launches "Ultra-affordable" Solid State Drives
• Freescale Demos Prototype $200 Tablet That Runs Android, Chromium OS, Linux
• ClubMac Merging With MacMall
• Hard Drive Evolution Likely To Slow Windows XP Performance
• 'Law & Order's' Belzer: Choking Claim By Apple Employee Is Pure Fiction
• MacBook Pro: Display Issue Related To "Hot-plugging"
• Try Using Time Machine In Supported Programs
• iPad Gaming Potential
• Adobe Responds To Apple's Issues Regarding Flash On The iPhone and the iPad
• Intel Core i7-980X Extreme 6-Core Processor Review
• Banish Seven Bad Computer Housekeeping Habits
• Doritos iPad Ad Parody.......Continue Reading

Filed under: News | Tech-Industry |

Report: MacBook Pro

defects and replacemenst
Read more [MacInTouch]

Screaming Fast New MacBook Pros and Mac Pro Desktops Next Week? [UPDATE: Maybe No MacBooks]

UPDATE: Seth at 9to5Mac is now backtracking. While he says he’s received multiple tips that Mac Pros will be updated, he thinks the MacBook Pros tip might have been fake. “Shame on us,” he says. Our friend Seth Weintraub at 9to5Mac thinks MacBooks and Mac Pros will be updated within a week. Seth received a tip [...]

Rumor: “Gulftown” Processor Could Hit Mac Pro Line as Early as Tuesday

Intel this week previewed its 32 nanometer Core i7-980X processor, a six-core CPU known as “Gulftown” and fueled rumors that the CPU could make its way to Apple’s Mac Pro line as early as March 15th.

Per ZDnet, tips have been received from sources close to the store stating that the hexacore processor could be just around the corner.

“If you’re thinking of buying a Mac Pro, you might want to wait a few days,” wrote Adrian Kingsley-Hughes.

The new processor carries a speed of 3.33GHz, six cores capable of 12 threads, and 130W thermal design power. He also noted that he’s heard no reports of impending changes to the MacBook Pro line.

The new six-core Mac Pro with the Core i7-980X has been rumored for months, with the chip set to arrive on the open market sometime this month. The new 32 nanometer chips feature 12MB of L3 cache. Apple usually doubles the processors in its high-end professional workstations, so it’s possible the new Mac Pro system could have a total of 12 cores and 24 threads.

The “Gulftown” processor will be sold under the Intel Core i9 name, while the server version, which has been adopted by Apple in the past, will fall under the Xeon 5600 series.

The last major refresh to the Mac Pro equipped it with its Nehalem Xeon processors, with a high-end eight-core Mac Pro offering two 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500 chips. Last year, Apple quietly upgraded that to a potential maximum 2.93GHz eight-core system.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Report: MacBook Pro

"three strikes" policy
Read more [MacInTouch]

1 TB HD in a MacBook Pro

As we expected it as the 1 TB Western Digital Scorpio Blue is now available, a reader from XLR8Yourmac installed a unit in his MacBook Pro Unibody.

This allows us to remind some readers that:

1. Unlike previous models, one can install 12.5 mm thickness HD in a Unibody MacBook Pro. 
2. Despite using the new 4 KB block formatting technology, this new HD is working perfectly well in a Mac OS X-based computer and offer performance levels corresponding to its 5,400 rpm and 8 MB of cache.

Best integration could be the entry level SSD we were talking about and replace the optical drive by the 1 TB Scorpio Blue. 

Always no portable Core ix

It is now more than two months since Intel announced its new mobile platform and since that time Apple seems to have turned their noses up. Oddly enough, this is not the first time that Apple delays renewing its range of portables. But within our memory, this is the first time that they have taken so much time.
During one moment, and perhaps even still today, we thought that they had decided to await the arrival of the Optimus technology of Nvidia, but unless there are still problems with this technology, the Apple portables should have been released by now.
Some think that Apple is trying to empty its stocks of machines before releasing new models. If this excuse is true, it would mean that Apple did not plan enough in advance the arrived of new products or worse, than the sales slowed down so much these last weeks that it would be bad news even if it could just be an effect of people waiting for the release of new portables (the snake eats it own tail).
One is thus still in total limbo having no reference mark to generate hope for the arrival of new MacBook Pros.  However one always lives in hope for next Tuesday midday…

The Future Is SSD, Freeing MacBook Pro RAM, Crucial RealSSD Pushes Performance, and More, The 'Book Review

Also why isn't Apple using Intel's latest CPUs?, notebook stands compared, new WD drives use e-paper display, and more.
Read more [Low End Mac]

KRCS offers up to £100 off a Mac when recycling any computer

The deal, which runs until 11th April 2010, is one of several green campaigns currently available

Apple Premium Reseller KRCS is offering up to £100 off a Mac when they recycle any computer.The deal, which runs until 11th April 2010, is one of several green campaigns currently being run by  Apple Premium Resellers."Now’s the time to upgrade your PC to a new Mac at KRCS," the company insists in a promotional email."Bring your old computer, regardless of manufacturer, to one of our high street stores and we’ll give you up to £100 off a new Mac. We’ll even recycle your old computer responsibly, using European recycling centres, for free!"The following KRCS discount deals are offered:£50 off 21-inch iMacUp to £70 off MacBook Pro 13-inch£100 off MacBook Air & MacBook Pro 15-inch/17-inchMore details can be found at www.krcs.co.uk or by calling the company directly.

Incase announce new Neoprene Sleeve Plus for MacBooks.

Encase announced Tuesday an update to its Neoprene Sleeve Plus for Apple's MacBook and MacBook Pro. As one may suspect the sleeve case is primarily made of Neoprene material.
Read more [Insanely Great Mac]

Daily Deals: $1,573 MacBook Pro, App Store Price Drops, Lockngo HD Security

We start off with another deal on MacBook Pros. This one, from Expercom, features a 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo with 8GB RAM and a 500GB hard drive for $1,573. Next up is a new passle of App Store price drops, including “Screen Heater,” a collection of warming apps. Our top trio is rounded out with [...]

It’s the Critics Versus the Users

Some of you may have read a report the other day that Apple was behind the curve because there were no recent updates to the MacBook Pro lineup. This despite the fact that Intel had recently upgraded its mobile processors. So what’s wrong with Apple? Don’t they want their customers to have the latest and [...]
Read more [The Mac Night Owl]

Report: MacBook Pro

optical drive problems; Airtunes
Read more [MacInTouch]

Best Buy Posts, Removes Intel Core i7 Logo From MacBook Pro Page

This could be a mistake, but it is interesting fodder for the rumor mill.

According to The Unofficial Apple Weblog, a recently published Best Buy web site displayed a MacBook Pro page with an Intel Core i7 chip logo.

The site has since been updated and the logo removed, though such a notebook is highly anticipated by many users.

Rivals such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell are now offering laptops in various product lines with the Core i5 and i7 processors. These Dell Studio laptops, for example, all sport Core i7 processors. Dell Alienware mobile systems come with both 45-nanometer quad-core Core i7 processors and the newest dual-core 32-nanometer i7-620M chip.

Report: MacBook Pro

optical drive problems; Airtunes
Read more [MacInTouch]

MacBook Pro sports Core i7 chip label at Best Buy

MacBook Pro with an Intel Core i7 label: Though likely a mistake, it's probably enough to jump-start the rumor mill.
Read more [News.blog: Apple]

MacBook Pro sports Core i7 chip label at Best Buy

MacBook Pro with an Intel Core i7 label: Though likely a mistake, it's probably enough to jump-start the rumor mill.
Read more [CNET News.com]

Report: MacBook Pro

hardware failures and repairs
Read more [MacInTouch]

Report: MacBook Pro

battery issues
Read more [MacInTouch]

It’s the Critics Versus the Users

Some of you may have read a report the other day that Apple was behind the curve because there were no recent updates to the MacBook Pro lineup. This despite the fact that Intel had recently upgraded its mobile processors. So what’s wrong with Apple? Don’t they want their customers to have the latest and [...]
Read more [The Mac Night Owl]

March 16 in LEM history

00: Cascading Style Sheets - 01: Passing of a free OS - Buying a used Mac - 06: Capture stills from DVDs - Intel unleashes OS X - Rivals can't match iPod system - 07: Pismo Spotlight woes solved - Flash-based MacBook mini speculation - Mac Pro could go 8-core
Read more [Low End Mac]

Apple: First Victim of its Amazing Growth?

Many of our readers also noticed it: Apple seems to have entered into a sleeping mode-like phase:

• We are waiting for the update of all MacBook and MacBook Pro models for now 2 months according to the usual schedule of updates.
• While it seems to be finished and validated by beta tester, the update 10.6.3 is still not released.
• We are still waiting for an update of the Airport firmware to fix remaining issues.
• Alors qu'Apple prenait un malin plaisir à lancer ses Mac Pro Xeon avant les annonces Intel, ces derniers sont arrivés, mais point de Mac Pro.

We could have added other examples to the list. They all have in common to require engineer and system supports. We are currently thinking that the iPad, as the iPhone few months ago, completely drained all engineer resources, and could delay all other products as they are mainly working on fixing the issue of the iPad OS.
You should know that Apple does not have endless engineer resources as Microsoft or other software companies. They are composed of restricted teams moving from one project to another one depending on needs and emergency. We know that Apple is working on strengthening those teams, but it is difficult to add need members in strongly unified teams, especially we also consider that there is no real IT course or training leading to Apple engineers, as it exists for Microsoft Windows...

So, we currently think that Apple has decided to have iPad becoming the main project for this year, not even thinking of an half success or failure, it has to be a blockbuster and Apple is dedicated to available resources to complete the work, even if all other products have to suffer delays. Of course if what you want is a new MacBook or a Mac Pro, you might not care at all about the iPad and its future success... Let's hope that this situation will quickly evolve.

Report: Apple

Flash vs. HTML; Newton and MacBook Air; Jobs's stock
Read more [MacInTouch]

Review: MacBook Pro 15" (LED)

We've added some benchmark results charts (with more to come later) in a thorough review of Apple's latest laptop from Robert Mohns, covering technical advances, the overall experience, and an audio quality issue.
Read more [MacInTouch]

Review: MacBook Air

Our MacBook Air review digs into details of its design, features, performance, compatibility and suitability for various customers. Includes benchmark test results.
Read more [MacInTouch]

Review: Aluminum MacBook

We have added photos and discussion about a matte screen film to our detailed review of the new, aluminum MacBook, which covers design, features, issues, performance, pros and cons, with links for more info, and a gallery of photos.
Read more [MacInTouch]

Backstage: TeleAdapt’s Mini DisplayPort + USB Audio To HDMI Adapter: Another Mac Video Solution

At the end of February, we looked at Griffin’s Video Display Adapter, a generically named, seemingly simple $40 adapter that converted a MacBook’s Mini DisplayPort video connector into an HDMI video connector. Soon thereafter, TeleAdapt contacted us with its own alternative, the Mini DisplayPort + USB Audio to HDMI Adapter shown here, which also sells for $40—only $3 more than the virtually identical-looking version sold by Monoprice.…
Read more [iLounge]

Is There an iPad Cinema In Your Future? [Apple]

#apple Apple seems to have a projector fetish lately. They have been filing projector-related patents left, right and center. The latest one describes ways to incorporate micro-projectors in many Apple products, from iPhone to MacBook to an Airport Express wireless router. More »

Read more [Gizmodo]

Apple Consuming Lion’s Share of NAND Memory, Hesitant to Negotiate with Suppliers This Quarter

Even as time goes by, tech parts don’t always get cheaper.

Per DigiTimes, Apple, which already consumes the lion’s share of the global NAND flash memory supply, is apparently reluctant to negotiate with suppliers in 2010 due to high prices.

Although the demand for NAND memory in devices such as memory cards and flash drives has been soft, this hasn’t significantly pushed down chip prices. Major chip suppliers like Samsung have given priority to profitable partnerships over shipment volume, which doesn’t work to the advantage of major buyers like Apple.

In addition to the lower demand, the situation has become even more volatile given that tight foundry capacity is expected to disrupt shipments and have an effect on NAND flash pricing, industry sources reportedly said.

“Some NAND flash controller suppliers,” the report said, “have indicated that their supply may not be able to satisfy customer demand in the second quarter if their foundry partners continue to see tight capacity, the sources said. This supply disruption is likely to impact NAND flash prices for the quarter.”

Industry sources expect the situation to improve in the second quarter of 2010, when they believe Apple may start negotiating long-term supply contracts for NAND flash. The report noted that Apple’s consumption of flash memory will “continue to play a significant role” in the industry this year.

Earlier this month, a rumor came out that the possible success of Apple’s iPad could increase prices of solid state drives. Apple consumes nearly one-third of total NAND flash memory supplies, and its share is expected to grow even more with the launch of the iPad on April 3.

Apple was noted multiple times in 2009 as causing a flash memory shortage due to its iPod and iPhone products consuming the largest share of NAND flash. Industry sources expect the price of NAND flash to continue to rise in 2010.

In addition to most of the iPod lineup and the iPhone, in early 2008, Apple embraced the solid state drive by offering it as an option in its MacBook Air notebook.

UK broadband company ditching PCs for MacBook Pros

Posted by Dennis Sellers

UK broadband company TalkTalk is running a trial that will see staff in its London head office ditch PCs for MacBook Pros.

TalkTalk switch staff from PCs to Apple laptops

Largest enterprise rollout for Apple

Broadband provider TalkTalk is planning to scrap desktop PCs for all its office staff and bring in MacBook Pro laptops from Apple.

MacBook versus mini disc

Apple's quite serious when it says all but 120mm round discs are compatible with its slot-loading computers. Still, other discs find their way in.


Read more [Macworld]

XstandPro and Xtand Pro XL Laptop Stands - Two Heights; One Sight

Just Mobile Xtand laptop stands are a stylish, sturdy choice made of solid aluminium matching the metal finish of the MacBook Pro........Continue Reading

Filed under: Hardware |

March 14 in LEM history

01: Outlook Express 101 - 03: Fuel cells - Are older Macs lower than low end? - Pismo G3/800 upgrade - 05: Apple vs. PowerPage - 06: Play MP3s on 680x0 Macs - The solution to piracy - 08: Mac 'security' site serves malware - MacBook Air tossed out with newspapers
Read more [Low End Mac]

Applelinks Tech Web Reader - Friday, March 12, 2010

Apple's iPad Could Kill The Mac
• Why Apple Will (Eventually) Dump the Mac
• How To Survive Mobile Systems Stampede
• 4 Reasons Why Your Next Mac Could Be An iPad
• The Ultra-light Laptop Conundrum: Weak Processors
• OS X 10.4 Tiger Still Very Usable On 500 MHz G3 iBook
• OCZ Launches "Ultra-affordable" Solid State Drives
• Freescale Demos Prototype $200 Tablet That Runs Android, Chromium OS, Linux
• ClubMac Merging With MacMall
• Hard Drive Evolution Likely To Slow Windows XP Performance
• 'Law & Order's' Belzer: Choking Claim By Apple Employee Is Pure Fiction
• MacBook Pro: Display Issue Related To "Hot-plugging"
• Try Using Time Machine In Supported Programs
• iPad Gaming Potential
• Adobe Responds To Apple's Issues Regarding Flash On The iPhone and the iPad
• Intel Core i7-980X Extreme 6-Core Processor Review
• Banish Seven Bad Computer Housekeeping Habits
• Doritos iPad Ad Parody.......Continue Reading

Filed under: News | Tech-Industry |

MacBook vs. HackBook: You Get What You Pay For, Andrew J Fishkin, Best Tools for the Job

You can buy a used PowerBook or a hackable netbook, or you can buy a notebook with enough computing power to do real work.
Read more [Low End Mac]

Daily Deals: 3.06GHz 22″ iMac $1,399, $1,193 MacBook,$189 iPod Classic

We close out another week we three hardware deals. First up is a 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo iMac with a 22-inch screen and lots of extra goodies from ExperCom, including 8GB of RAM and three years of AppleCare – all for $1,399. Next up is a deal on a MacBook powered by a Core [...]

Report: MacBook Pro

defects and replacemenst
Read more [MacInTouch]

Screaming Fast New MacBook Pros and Mac Pro Desktops Next Week? [UPDATE: Maybe No MacBooks]

UPDATE: Seth at 9to5Mac is now backtracking. While he says he’s received multiple tips that Mac Pros will be updated, he thinks the MacBook Pros tip might have been fake. “Shame on us,” he says. Our friend Seth Weintraub at 9to5Mac thinks MacBooks and Mac Pros will be updated within a week. Seth received a tip [...]

Rumor: “Gulftown” Processor Could Hit Mac Pro Line as Early as Tuesday

Intel this week previewed its 32 nanometer Core i7-980X processor, a six-core CPU known as “Gulftown” and fueled rumors that the CPU could make its way to Apple’s Mac Pro line as early as March 15th.

Per ZDnet, tips have been received from sources close to the store stating that the hexacore processor could be just around the corner.

“If you’re thinking of buying a Mac Pro, you might want to wait a few days,” wrote Adrian Kingsley-Hughes.

The new processor carries a speed of 3.33GHz, six cores capable of 12 threads, and 130W thermal design power. He also noted that he’s heard no reports of impending changes to the MacBook Pro line.

The new six-core Mac Pro with the Core i7-980X has been rumored for months, with the chip set to arrive on the open market sometime this month. The new 32 nanometer chips feature 12MB of L3 cache. Apple usually doubles the processors in its high-end professional workstations, so it’s possible the new Mac Pro system could have a total of 12 cores and 24 threads.

The “Gulftown” processor will be sold under the Intel Core i9 name, while the server version, which has been adopted by Apple in the past, will fall under the Xeon 5600 series.

The last major refresh to the Mac Pro equipped it with its Nehalem Xeon processors, with a high-end eight-core Mac Pro offering two 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500 chips. Last year, Apple quietly upgraded that to a potential maximum 2.93GHz eight-core system.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Report: MacBook Pro

"three strikes" policy
Read more [MacInTouch]

Rumor: Hexacore i7 Mac Pro Coming Next Tuesday [Apple]

ZDNet is receiving tips claiming Apple will upgrade its Mac Pro line with an Intel Core i7-980x chipset, which certainly isn't the first time we've heard Core i7-shaped gossip. Supposedly it'll all be unraveled next Tuesday, the 16th of March. [ZDNet via BGR] More »

Read more [Gizmodo]

4 Reasons Why Your Next Mac Could Be An iPad

  How many ways do you use your Mac? If you're like me or like many Mac users, there are dozens of practical ways we use our Macs. Do a quick and mental inventory of your Mac's apps. Could many or most of those uses we take for granted be supplanted by apps on an iPad? It's already that way with my iPhone. My MacBook gathers dust. Are there legitimate reasons why your next Mac (or, the one after that) could be an iPad instead?  •  Sponsored by NoodleMac, the site for Certified Mac Software Reviews and mini-Reviews.   •  Follow Mac360 on Twitter.
Read more [Mac360]

1 TB HD in a MacBook Pro

As we expected it as the 1 TB Western Digital Scorpio Blue is now available, a reader from XLR8Yourmac installed a unit in his MacBook Pro Unibody.

This allows us to remind some readers that:

1. Unlike previous models, one can install 12.5 mm thickness HD in a Unibody MacBook Pro. 
2. Despite using the new 4 KB block formatting technology, this new HD is working perfectly well in a Mac OS X-based computer and offer performance levels corresponding to its 5,400 rpm and 8 MB of cache.

Best integration could be the entry level SSD we were talking about and replace the optical drive by the 1 TB Scorpio Blue.