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Macworld Team

>> Postings for May 2008

Revisiting the 10.5.3 update

Fri, 30 May 2008

As you’re all aware, Apple released OS X 10.5.3 Wednesday, and I wrote an analysis piece on the update. However, after looking at my blog post late Wednesday, I realized that I had made a fundamental mistake in writing about what’s changed in 10.5.3: I wrote about the wrong update file. How did this happen, you might wonder?

I have a few machines here in the house, and whenever Apple releases an update, I update most machines using the built-in Software Update. However, I also like to download the Combo Update, and use that on at least one machine—in the past, people have experienced different results when using the Combo Update instead of Software Update, so I like to try both and compare the results.

Rob Griffiths | Read more...


.Mac's new name

Fri, 30 May 2008

A while ago I blogged about a rumoured upgrade to Apple's .Mac service. Well the rumour is back with a vengeance after some coders sniffed through Apple's OS X 1.5.3 update.

Russian website Deep Apple is reporting on changes to the source code for OS X 10.5.3 and found this gem:

Mark Hattersley | Read more...


In-car audio

Fri, 30 May 2008

We've just put a series of reviews for in-car adaptors online, but before you all rush out and buy one I thought I'd quickly let you know about a new system that's been delivered to the Macworld office.

Called the iO PLAY, it's an innovative bluetooth streaming kit for your car. The box contains a bluetooth transmitter dongle that plugs into an iPod (or iPhone), a bluetooth receiver, control panel and microphone.

Mark Hattersley | Read more...


Sorting through the Mac OS X 10.5.3 update

Thu, 29 May 2008

Eight months into the Leopard era, Apple unleashed the third update to Leopard, with Wednesday's release of OS X 10.5.3. By way of comparison, the 10.3.3 and 10.4.3 updates both came within five months of the release dates for Panther and Tiger, respectively.

As with most of Apple's recent OS X updates, the 10.5.3 version just screams for a broadband connection, weighing in at more than 400MB, depending on which Mac you have and which version your machine deems you to require. So what do you get in exchange for your download time investment? Apple details many--but not all--of the changes in this Knowledge Base document. I won't bother repeating everything listed there, but here are a few of the more important highlights:

Rob Griffiths | Read more...


Whose Tube is it, anyway?

Thu, 29 May 2008

Frankly, I thought Viacom's US$1 billion law suit against YouTube was dead. YouTube has been kicking people off its site left and right for posting copyrighted material, even if they didn't always deserve it. And Viacom had started allowing its best material -- like South Park and The Daily Show -- to be shown on the Web for free. It sure sounded like Peace in Our Time.

Apparently not. Earlier this week, Google filed its response to Viacom in court, raising the specter that a loss could put the very nature of the Net at risk -- "threatening the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information."

Robert X. Cringely | Read more...


Multi-Touch comes to Windows

Wed, 28 May 2008

Microsoft's had another idea all by itself… It's called Multi-Touch and will be coming to PCs in the next version of Windows. You can watch a video of it in action on the Windows Vista Team Blog.

I must admit, it looks a bit familiar. I get the feeling I've seen it somewhere before.

Mark Hattersley | Read more...


The Apple of the future

Tue, 27 May 2008

During the last several weeks, I've been rewatching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine from start to finish. While the TV show has held up well for the most part in the 15 years since it premiered, I was struck by a peculiar thought when I recently watched a time travel episode that saw several characters transported to Earth in the year 2024. Technology that was--from the perspective of TV show writers in 1995--futuristic ended up looking, well, primitive compared to what we take for granted today. That's how much things have changed in just over a decade.

It's not that surprising, either. Our vision of the future is constantly in flux, informed by our perception of the present. In the 1950s, the future was full of jet packs and flying cars. In the 1990s, we thought everything in 2024 would be LEDs and CRT monitors.

Dan Moren | Read more...


WiMAX option for MacBook and MacBook Pros

Fri, 23 May 2008

Oh, glorious FCC! Bringer of news on upcoming products. Thank you for the gift we've just received....Even though Intel tried to keep it quiet from us (PDF).

Over the weekend, the FCC leaked out a bit of exciting news. Intel is soon releasing the 5350 WiFi/WiMAX combo card that fits into Mini PCI Express card slots (pictured below).

Seth Weintraub | Read more...


With partners like these...

Tue, 20 May 2008

About this time last year, just about every conversation I had with someone started to sound like this once they found out where I worked for a living and what I did there. Them: So you write about Apple products? Me: That’s right. Them: That’s cool… so what do you think about this iPhone that’s coming out? How’s that going to do?

And that would be the point in the conversation where I’d stroke my chin wisely and furrow my brown and say in even, measured tones that the iPhone looked like a fine product, but I wasn’t sure how it would measure up to the successes Apple enjoyed with the iMac or the iPod.

Philip Michales | Read more...


Is the iMac right for gamers?

Mon, 19 May 2008

Since Apple introduced a refreshed iMac line last week, I’ve been repeatedly asked the question, “Is this iMac right for gamers?”

The answer is: Well, sure. As much as any iMac is. But is it going to appeal specifically to gamers? Probably not.

Peter Cohen | Read more...


Metro's stupid anti-iPod helicopter accident report

Fri, 16 May 2008

London’s Metro newspaper has today published the most twisted anti-iPod story I’ve ever seen - alleging a student was killed by a crashing helicopter partially because he was wearing an iPod.

Naturally, the report is fair throughout (not), beginning with the immortal words: “Loud iPod headphones have been partly blamed after an oblivious student was hit and killed by a helicopter.”

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Behind the botnet

Thu, 15 May 2008

Being part of Botnet (where your computer is infected and put to nefarious use behind your back) isn't something Mac users usually think about. But researcher David Vorel has mapped interconnected bot-infected IP address and created this annotated Google Map-style interface. The result is a strangely fascinating visual representation of an infected network.

CSO contributor Scott Berinato has added some annotations that help to explain how the whole thing works. It's fascinating stuff that's well worth exploring. Click here to take a look.

Mark Hattersley | Read more...


Keep taking the tablets…

Thu, 15 May 2008

It’s time to talk about Macs and tablets. And the first thing we need to address in any conversation is, of course, the likelihood of this ever happening. Let’s face it, if the average human is required to maintain the fantasy that a Mac tablet is an imminent product, we’re talking Keith Moon quantities of hallucinogens and a pill the size of the mouse from the original iMac.

All I know is that I’ve been trying to picture such a beast as an Apple product and coming up blank. And folks, just to help my powers of creative visualization, I’ve uncapped a whole box of those ultra-stinky black markers here in the office and closed all the windows.

Andy Ihnatko | Read more...


Don't push me

Wed, 14 May 2008

Today's hot rumour is that Apple is looking to boost its .Mac service with push email, Windows support and improved syncing.

It's no secret that .Mac has been long overdue an overhaul. Last year's boost saw .Mac's storage limit upgraded to 10GB and syncing enhancements; but it's still standing so far away from an essential purchase that it would need a loudspeaker to communicate.

Mark Hattersley | Read more...


Made for a Mac

Tue, 13 May 2008

Microsoft has revealed a novel new approach to Mac support on its website for WorldWide Telescope.

So, the system requirements for the Mac version of WorldWide Telescope are Boot Camp and a copy of Windows XP or Vista…

Mark Hattersley | Read more...


iMac makes me mad

Mon, 12 May 2008

Apple can be infuriating at times. Take the new iMac. It is, without doubt, the most stylish desktop computer you can buy. It's no slouch either, starting at 2.4GHz and powering up to 3.06GHz with up to 4GB of RAM it's the next Mac on my personal shopping list.

It's hard to imagine just how Apple has packed all that power into a space just an inch thick. The iMac is thinner than most monitors, but alongside the screen sits the CPU, memory, optical drive and all the other gubbins that make up a Mac; plus an all-new NVIDIA 8800 GS graphics card with 512MB of RAM.

Mark Hattersley | Read more...


First Look: Google App Engine

Mon, 12 May 2008

One of the joys of being a Web programmer is heading to a dinner party, a haircut, or a reunion and fielding the pitches for everyone's dream for a brilliant Web application. Everyone is always happy to cut you in for 5, 10, maybe even 15 percent of the equity if you just build out the Web site that's sort of like a combination of Twitter, AltaVista, Eliza, TurboTax, and the corner pharmacy, but cooler.

Google App Engine is meant for dreams like these. You write a bit of code in Python, customize some HTML, and bingo, you've got your database-backed dynamic Web site up and running in a few short minutes. The magic comes when the world starts flocking to your Web application, and Google's cloud of computers quickly adapts to the load, handling everything the public demands. There's no need for you to buy servers, load balancers, or special DNS tables. Google's application cloud handles all of the grungy deployment headaches.

Peter Wayner | Read more...


Zune: Epic Fail

Mon, 12 May 2008

Microsoft revealed that it has sold two million of their funny little Zune players since their launch in November ‘06. This shows a relatively flat growth, and a small gain in their overall US marketshare from three, to a whopping four percent. Great job, boys. Have a coffee break.

Apple, in the meantime, has sold 10.6 million iPods in its latest quarter. If one does the math, that means that Apple has moved more than five times the amount of MP3 players in the last quarter than Microsoft has moved in the last year and a half. Coffee break’s over, boys; time to learn how to innovate.

David Dahlquist | Read more...


Barack Obama: the iPhone of politicians

Mon, 12 May 2008

I don't know why it took me so long to make the connection. Even for a political figure, Barack Obama generates an extraordinary level of attention, and probably hundreds of news articles a day.

He represents (for many people, at least), hope for an enormous change, almost a transformative revolution. And, like Apple's most famous product, you won't find him in Canada.

Shane Schick | Read more...


Leopard at six months: Does it live up to the early hype?

Fri, 09 May 2008

It has been just over six months since Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard first shipped, bringing with it a slew of new features, a tweaked user interface, revamped underpinnings and - as is often the case - a healthy batch of complaints from users about problems. At the time, some in the Macintosh community even argued that Apple Inc.'s new operating system was released before it was ready for prime time.

Given that this was the first major update of the Mac operating system since early 2005 and that it had already been delayed once - from April to late October - Apple clearly didn't want to announce another delay. But did the company do a rush job in an effort to push its crown jewel out the door?
Apple has taken steps in recent months to iron out any wrinkles that users have found. With two major updates now under its belt (a third update is due out soon) as well as the release of numerous code tweaks and security fixes, Leopard has gained ground and maturity and has grown into a solid computing platform.

Michael DeAgonia | Read more...


Will Sony play nice with Apple, or turn the screws?

Thu, 08 May 2008

Every time you glance down at your Apple iPod to scroll through your music collection, much of the data you are presented with comes from Gracenote's massive database of artists, song titles, and other text and metadata. When you search for music in Apple's iTunes client, the results are largely based on data from Gracenote. And, if you still buy or own CDs, when you slot a disc into a 'Net-connected computer and fire up iTunes, Gracenote is the service that presents you with the names and titles of the tracks.

Clearly, Gracenote's service is central to Apple's sprawling ecosystem of entertainment software, hardware, and services. So when I read the news that Sony is buying Gracenote for $260 million, I wondered how this will change the relationship between the two companies. Sony is itself a major player in the entertainment industry, and the two companies have several points of friction involving iTunes. They include pricing for iTunes music and competition for TV and movie downloads.

Ian Lamont | Read more...


Apple's games strategy looks beyond consoles

Thu, 08 May 2008

It's no secret that Apple Inc. has been on a hardware tear. In the last year alone, there has been a flurry of developments: The company branched into the mobile phone arena with the iPhone. It reinvented the MP3 player with the introduction of the iPod touch. It worked its way into living rooms with an updated Apple TV.

But Apple is now exploring another hardware technology that has the potential to realign a multibillion dollar industry.

Terrence Russell, The Industry Standard | Read more...


Don't ignore the power of the iPhone

Wed, 07 May 2008

Apple’s iPhone is a game-changing device, and its use of a mobile version of OS X offers a spectacular future for application development.

I recall in a previous blog posting in March 2007 I came in for some stick for claiming the iPhone to be a “thin client Mac”.

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Three companies Microsoft could buy instead of Yahoo

Wed, 07 May 2008

Assuming that Saturday's public walkaway by Microsoft Corp. doesn't prove just to be a high-risk negotiation tactic against Yahoo Inc. -- after all, the companies are rumored to have been talking about some sort of merger or acquisition for almost three years -- then what we have is a software vendor suddenly awash in tens of billions of unspent dollars that it can now lavish on other Internet firms.

But who to choose? Keeping in mind Microsoft's relative weaknesses -- search, Web advertising and Web 2.0 services -- we've come up with a short list of potential targets that would provide at least some of the same bang as buying Yahoo would have given.

Eric Lai | Read more...


Apple: brand of the giants

Fri, 02 May 2008

Apple has won another bunch of awards for being the western world’s number-one brand. This isn’t at all surprising as Apple has spent years finessing its cuddly but cool brand – so much so that it has an almost messianic image in the eyes of its army of cult-like followers (aka customers).

In the 1980s former Pepsi marketing exec John Sculley transformed Apple into the biggest computer company in the world, boosting its advertising budget from $15 million to $100 million. In 1997 Sculley told The Guardian: “Apple was the marketing company of the decade.”

Simon Jary | Read more...


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