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>> Postings for April 2007

Business calls

Thu, 26 Apr 2007

I'm old enough to remember the way it used to be in the 1990's when cozy black-and-white divisions between consumer and business users made sense when considering technology needs. Many then reflected that the division reflected the expectations of the jaded business leaders who ran things at that time – times change, read on...

In those days, some may recall, many highly succesful businesses were run by men and women who had come to computing late in their adult lives.

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Apple faces unfair criticism for its green ways

Wed, 25 Apr 2007

Judging by the beating it's taken lately, both from Greenpeace and some of its investors, you'd think Apple was more toxic than the one that knocked out Snow White. Meanwhile, the company counters that its wares are quite Granny Smith green, thank you -- and from my perspective, the company does have a pretty green track record.

That's not to say that Apple - or any other electronics company - is doing all that it can to be fully eco-friendly. But Apple seems to be unfairly getting a worse rap than anyone else.

Ted Samson | Read more...


iPod in Ethiopia

Tue, 24 Apr 2007

Our regular web crawling can turn up all kinds of tidbits. I came across a couple pictures. Neither really deserve their own post, but I was sure you’d get a kick out of both. First up, I’m not even sure I can make any kind of comments about this photo. iLounge tells us that this is a female member of Mursi tribe in Southern Ethiopia. It’s really quite a strange juxtaposition of an ancient culture and technology (both gun and iPod).

This blog first appeared on our sister site, MacUser (US)

Andy Ihnatko | Read more...


Odd news day

Tue, 24 Apr 2007

There's been some contentious announcements doing the rounds of late. While I'm the editor and have final say on all of Macworld's stories, I'm not some Mac-czar that vetoes anything he doesn't like, so I'll have my say here:

iPhone aimed at business users: Not quite sure what to make of this - because I've seen the iPhone up close, and Macworld's deputy editor Karen Haslam has held it. And we both know for a fact that it's clearly not aimed at business users. Not least of which because it doesn't handle Office documents, or hook up to corporate email, or do anything that business users want from a phone.

Mark Hattersley | Read more...


Retro crash

Mon, 23 Apr 2007

I had a visit from an old friend today. Microsoft's blue screen of death (BSOD). It was great, it was like Doctor Who going 'aww mind-control, I haven't seen that in years'.

For Mac-owners blissfully unaware of this: the blue screen of death is caused by kernal panics. A kernal panic marks the point where Windows throws all of its toys out of the pram and decides to restart - informing you via a blue screen with white text. Funnily enough this is the same colour scheme I use to write in Microsoft Word on a Mac - wonder if there's a subconscious connection with Microsoft in my mind?

Mark Hattersley | Read more...


Media wars

Fri, 20 Apr 2007

My friends over at PC Advisor reliably informed me this morning that Vista was undergoing its first upgrade. It’s barely been out for five minutes and Microsoft is already seeing fit to fix its faults.

While there would be some comedy milage in the 'Vista needs fixing already' joke, what Microsoft seems to have planned goes beyond the regular bug-fix and into the 'new addition to the operating system territory.' So I'll give Bill Gates a break for once and leave my editorial knives in the drawer.

Mark Hattersley | Read more...


Beatles on iTunes: new developments

Wed, 11 Apr 2007

Possibly bad news for you Beatles lovers: Neil Aspinall has stepped down from his role of CEO at The Beatles’ label, Apple Corps. Neil was also a close friend of the group and commonly referred to as “the fifth Beatle”.

A not-so-eloquent explanation of why Aspinall left was given: “He has decided to move on.” We do know, however, who will be taking his place at the reins of Apple Corps: Jeff Jones, a Sony BMG executive. Jones said that his new job was “a dream come true” and “incredibly challenging and exciting”.

Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen | Read more...


Elgato's Turbo 264 speeds up QuickTime

Tue, 03 Apr 2007

While rumors are abound that the next version of Final Cut Studio may include a hardware option, why wait for Apple’s solution? If the name of your game is encoding for the iPod, Apple TV, iTunes, or your still-to-be iPhone, then Elgato’s Turbo 264 may be the device for you.

The small USB stick is a hardware video encoder which will speed up your video encoding and give you back your precious system resources (something Dan was detailing just the other day). It works exclusively in the H.264 format at 2-4 times the speed (depending on system configuration) in any application which uses Quicktime for export. The device is projected to ship in April for a price of 99 Euros (about US $130).

Scott Silverman | Read more...


Is Adobe ripping off UK customers?

Mon, 02 Apr 2007

We really do live in Rip Off Britain. Buy a full copy of one of Adobe’s Creative Suite bundles in the UK and you could be paying more than a third more than your colleagues in the US. Or upgrade from your existing copy of Creative Suite and pay as much as 50% more than your American cousins for the privileged.

How can Adobe justify it?

Karen Haslam | Read more...


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