All Blogs > Macworld Team

Macworld Team

>> Postings for July 2007

Can iPlayer with madness

Tue, 31 Jul 2007

You know, it’s got be something pretty special to get me to fire up Parallels on my Mac. After playing with Windows XP for a while I soon tired of every PC program.

But I was pleasantly surprised to find a beta password for the BBC iPlayer account in my inbox this morning. Regular Macworld readers will know that the BBC’s iPlayer is infamous in the Mac community for being a Windows-only product (something that the BBC is hastily changing following accusations of system bias).

Mark Hattersley | Read more...


Vodafone, O2 and Orange must carry iPhone

Tue, 31 Jul 2007

It amuses me that some analysts in the States still seem to be under the impression that Apple will be seeking just one mobile phone network provider to support the iPhone in the UK.

Even more amusing is that some even think that one provider will provide the iPhone to the whole of Europe – I imagine that they hold the mistaken view that Europe is one big market like the United States.

Read more...


iTunes sales to hit five billion in '08

Tue, 31 Jul 2007

Sales through iTunes are accelerating, with over three billion songs sold through the store, Apple confirmed today. The company now sells approximately one billion songs every six months through iTunes, which has come a long way since its launch on 28 April, 2003.

It took almost a year for Apple to sell its first 50 million tracks. The company confirmed 50 million sales by 15 March, 2004, and hit the 70 million songs sold target on 28 April, 2004, the first birthday of the service.

Read more...


Petty Hate Machine

Fri, 27 Jul 2007

Apple's success continues to generate a steady flow of knock-backs, as Microsoft and its partners seek to regain some of the patina of innovation. Now it seems Vista already has more users than Mac OS X. Big deal.

Apple's Mac sales are growing at a rate faster than the industry average; Mac marketshare continues to increase; there's no sign yet of a decline in iPod sales; the iPhone is already the fastest-selling mobile phone ever shipped...

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Apple iPhones in the network

Thu, 26 Jul 2007

The first Apple iPhones are showing up in our US network. They seem to find the wireless network and acquire a DHCP address pretty easily. Some people are already using them with our email system. It is only a matter of time before questions start coming to us in the IT support group. What do we need to watch out for and is there any way to filter iPhones by their DHCP requests and block them from the network?

When joining the wireless network, iPhones can cause broadcast problems in networks that forward unicast ARP packets back into the wireless network, since an iPhone may send such a network request to see if it can still find the last network gateway that it was connected to.

Steve Blass, Network World (US) | Read more...


Webjimbo makes Yojimbo even more useful

Wed, 25 Jul 2007

If you ask me to compile of my favourite or most essential software, Bare Bones Yojimbo is likely to top that list. It’s the one stop shop for notetaking, password saving, and receipt managing. You can sync it using Apple’s .Mac, which makes it infinitely more useful to me. However, that’s not a complete solution because I’m not always at one of my computers.

Adrian Ross’s Webjimbo gives you access to your Yojimbo data anywhere by making your Mac into a special purpose website. While that by itself sounded great to me, I didn’t realize how good it was until I actually tried it. It doesn’t look or feel like a website though. You’d almost think that you’re really using Yojimbo. All your data is there in the interface you’ve gotten to know and love. If you give scripts access to your encrypted data, you can even view that.

Derik DeLong | Read more...


Black is the new Green

Wed, 25 Jul 2007

With energy consumption and the environment becoming central concerns, Google has stepped into the frame to create a search engine front window that's a little bit greener - because it goes back to black.

Why black?

Jonny Evans | Read more...


The truth about Fake Steve Jobs

Wed, 25 Jul 2007

Well, I'm glad to say that the Things Have Officially Gotten Out Of Hand light I bought on clearance from Radio Shack last year is working flawlessly. It started blinking a few months ago, just before the phone rang and I found myself speaking to The Wall Street Journal and being asked point-blank if I am The Fake Steve Jobs.

The reporter got my phone number from a pal of mine at the paper. Under the circumstances, I felt that I had to answer his question truthfully and unambiguously, regardless of the consequences.

Andy Ihnatko, Macworld.com | Read more...


Spotlight is too slow

Tue, 24 Jul 2007

There, I've said it. We've all known it for a while but I feel much better now that it's out in the open. Spotlight on my Mac is too slow.

When Spotlight came out I was on a G4 eMac so could survive it being a bit sluggish on the basis that it was 'future-tech' and would work better as I upgraded. I sat with it through the G5 and kept thinking: 'one day'. Now I'm using pretty much a brand new 15-inch MacBook Pro with 2GB of memory. It's got an 80GB hard drive partition (I've foolishly handed over 40GB to Vista, but it won't last) and there's 33.97 GB free.

Mark Hattersley | Read more...


70% of Zune owners will switch to iPod, iPhone

Mon, 23 Jul 2007

Microsoft recently confirmed it has sold just over a million Zunes - but recent research says most Zune owners rue the day they ever dipped into their pocket to pick one up, with 70 per cent of Zune owners planning to ditch the device in favour of an iPod or iPhone just as soon as they can.

Survey research from the Eagle Research Group shows most Zune owners are displeased, meaning the player has acquired little brand loyalty.

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Format bore wars

Mon, 23 Jul 2007

I was reading Digital World and saw this entry about HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray. The title is appropriately “Blu-ray Beats HD DVD in… Oh, Who Cares?” It’s starting to get to that point for me. Apple is officially behind Blu-ray, but since hearing that announcement, what has happened as a result? No Mac ships with the associated drive.

It may be a personal motivation, but since I’ve gotten an HD TV, I’ve been looking to choose one format or the other. It seems silly to me that I’m using a DVD player with my fancy new TV. In fact, I’m using a Playstation 2, so I’m not even getting the video upscaled. Every time I think about buying an upscaling DVD player, I look at the low end HD-DVD players. Then I begin to think about the fact that I’ll be committing to a format that chances are won’t be supported by Apple or playable on any of my Macs.

Derik DeLong | Read more...


Why I'm not buying an iPhone - yet

Thu, 19 Jul 2007

I bought a new phone from AT&T the week before last. I'm pretty happy with it. And the weird thing is, it isn't an iPhone, it's an AT&T 8525, a Windows Mobile-based model that's been around since the middle of last year.

I picked it up after a week of living with an iPhone, during which I learned that for all the cool things about it - and it is the coolest mobile phone ever made - it's not a practical everyday phone for me, or at least not as practical a choice as the 8525 is. Here's why:

Harry McCracken, PC World (US) | Read more...


Fake Steve Jobs... Macworld's back page?

Mon, 16 Jul 2007

Even Steve Jobs himself has mentioned him in a keynote, and now the identity of the blogger known as ‘Fake Steve Jobs’ may soon be known.

According to Business Week, the blogger may be Macworld’s very own columnist, Andy Ihnatko.

Read more...


iPod shocker

Mon, 16 Jul 2007

Just a month or so ago the web was awash with stories of how a soldier claimed his life was saved when a bullet became embedded in his iPod rather than his chest.

Today everyone is talking about a Canadian jogger was injured when their iPod was struck by lightening.

Read more...


Red Dwarf in Parallels Universe

Fri, 13 Jul 2007

Red Dwarf star Robert Llewellyn is an inveterate Mac user, so it's no suprise he's decided to act as the talking head for a short series of video clips explaining some of the features of Parallels for Mac.

A pair of clips published on YouTube by Computer Warehouse see Llewellyn explain the machinations of the virtualisation software, which lets Intel Mac users run Windows side-by-side with Mac OS X.

Jonny Evans | Read more...


iStorm in a teacup

Thu, 12 Jul 2007

Lightning never strikes twice, apparently. It's an almost random cosmic force, worshipped as a god at one time by some of our ancestors before we moved from the worship of nature to the nature of divinity. But to gain lightning a little respect these days all anybody seems to need to do is stick an iPod in its story.

iPod users, we're warned today, should never listen to their music player when out and about during an electrical storm.

Jonny Evans | Read more...


iPhone spurs mobile development renaissance

Wed, 11 Jul 2007

I wish I could have peppered my iPhone review with phrases like "at present," "initially," or "for the time being." But Apple doesn't work that way.

If I could be confident that Apple would address the major shortcomings that I saw in iPhone, like the absence of programmability and the lack of access to even a sandboxed portion of the device's file system, I'd have given the device a thumbs-up for its platform potential alone.

Tom Yager, InfoWorld (US) | Read more...


Apple heads to product intro overdrive

Tue, 10 Jul 2007

Apple's release of the iPhone means it's time for Mac and Apple watchers to sit back and enjoy the ride, as the floodgates are now open for a swathe of releases from the firm.

It's clear now that Apple has been focusing all its activity on getting iPhone out into the wild - even to the extent of delaying the release of Mac OS X 10.5 to prioritise development of the device.

Jonny Evans | Read more...


The iPhone project

Mon, 09 Jul 2007

The iPhone has finally arrived. Apple sold more than 500,000 of the little darlings the first weekend, and you can be sure that some of the people who bought them are at your company. They'll want to use their iPhones for work. And no matter what Gartner says, if one of them is your CEO, you've got no choice.

Do users want these gadgets because they're useful business tools or because they're yuppie bling? Doesn't matter. They're here. We know that saying no won't work. Either we support iPhones on our own terms, or we'll waste endless energy in cat-and-mouse games with users, all the while generating bad feelings that will sabotage everything else we do.

Frank Hayes, Computerworld (US) | Read more...


Introducing: the Cult of Anti-Mac

Fri, 06 Jul 2007

Over the years, Apple fans have developed a reputation for being almost fanatical in their devotion to the company and its products. The company's growing marketshare and iPod dominance has changed the landscape - and whelped a new breed of hysterical Apple-hater.

These Apple haters have at their base several arguments they will ruthlessly exploit in their attempt to cling onto their understanding of the technology industry.

Jonny Evans | Read more...


After the iPhoria

Thu, 05 Jul 2007

It's official. Steve Jobs hit another one out of the park Friday with the super successful launch of the iPhone. There were glitches and problems, but far fewer than anticipated.

Out of an initial batch of approximately three million units released into the US market, Apple sold 525,000 to 700,000 iPhones the first weekend the device went on sale, exceeding most predictions and more than doubling Apple's own published goal of 200,000. Anecdotal observation shows overwhelming preference for the 8GB model over the 4GB unit.

Mike Elgan, Computerworld (US online) | Read more...


iPhone's Eurovision

Wed, 04 Jul 2007

When it comes to choosing a mobile phone network to ship iPhone in Europe, the question on most people's lips (given the tech industry seems to be generating no news that doesn't link to the device) is which way will Apple go? Well, I'm no rocket scientist, but I reckon first weekend sales of over half a million handsets may have raised the game.

We've been reporting the little nuggets as they emerge:

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Mac v PC debate goes to Glastonbury

Tue, 03 Jul 2007

Perhaps the most shocking attempt at a humorous take on the Mac versus PC debate has surfaced as a spoof clip online - and it even has a Glastonbury Festival connection: 'Napalm Glastonbury.

This quirky little Art-Kieda satire has as its prognosis that Microsoft founder Bill Gates has grown sick of Apple's continued advance in market share, and has decided to take direct action.

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Reality Distortion distorted

Tue, 03 Jul 2007

I was having a look at the Joy of Tech cartoons created by our lovely friends Nitrozac and Snaggy.

I particularly love this one because it's not about the iPhone - unlike everything else right now!

Read more...