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News & Opinion
Products
Software
News & Opinion
Former Mac-Hater Says 'I Can Admit It: I Love
Macs'
Computerworld's David Ramel says:
"I once wrote about how much I hated Macs - but now I see the error
of my ways....
"I once wrote they could take my PC away when they pried it from my
cold, stiff fingers in a blog titled 'I hate Macs.'"
"But . . . I'm typing this on a . . . um, a . . . wait, I can say it
. . . on a . . . give me a second . . .
yes, on a . . . Mac.
"I've been assimilated. Resistance was futile...."
Link: I Can Admit
It: I Love Macs
What If Apple Never Updates the iMac?
Macworld
UK's Mark Hattersley says:
"I'm serious. What if Apple has decided that the iMac that is currently
on sale is the final update to the range. That's yer lot kids
. . . buy them until there's no more left.
"There was a lot of chatter recently regarding an impending update
to the iMac, but it still hasn't happened. Where is it? As the chatter
dies down I'm strangely reminded of the Mac mini. This hasn't been
updated since August 2007 and for a long time there were rumours of an
impending update; in retrospect based upon nothing other than the fact
that people believed that there was an update coming. Simply because it
hadn't happened yet.
"Apple is clearly simply selling off a back catalogue stock of Mac
minis. It can't really be making them any more, the Intel GMA 950
graphics processor isn't being produced, which is why the MacBook was
updated to the X3100, then when that wasn't available any more it was
upgraded to the new Nvidia 9400m."
Link: What
If Apple Never Updates the iMac?
Apple Slows Down Mac Upgrades in Sync with
Economy
Wired's Brian X. Chen
reports:
"Apple isn't going to roll out a revamped Mac desktop anytime soon,
because you wouldn't buy one anyway, analysts say.
"Tough economic times, a shrinking desktop market and strong
notebook sales make the idea of a sexy, aluminum Mac Mini an unwise
investment for Apple, said Trip Chowdhry, a Global Equities Research
analyst.
"'In this environment where nobody is buying anything and you come
out with a kick-ass product, you might get a lot of wows and woos, but
that does not convert into sales,' Chowdhry said. 'So that's a wasted
effort.'"
"'iMac sales went to hell in December,' said Charlie Wolf, a Needham
& Company analyst."
Link: Apple
Slows Down Mac Upgrades, in Sync with Economy
January Figures Suggests a Recession-resistant
Quarter for Apple
AppleInsider's
Prince McLean reports:
"Despite the red ink flowing from retailers and PC makers, Apple is
expected to ride out its second fiscal quarter ending in March with
respectable numbers nearly in line with its performance last year.
"Citing its own market research and numbers from NPD, research
analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray has released a report estimating
Mac shipments at 2 to 2.2 million units for the three-month period
ending March, in line with the Street consensus of 2.2 million
units.
"That's -6% growth compared to the nearly 2.3 million Macs Apple
sold in its year-ago quarter...."
Link:
January Figures Suggests a Recession-resistant Q2 for Apple
Opera Turbo Promises 'Game Changing' Browser
Speed
The Register's
Cade Metz reports:
"Opera will soon equip its desktop and mobile browsers with a
mystery data compressor designed to significantly improve download
speeds.
"'I really believe this will be a game changer when it comes to
browsing on mobile broadband as well as fixed broadband in the emerging
markets,' Chief Strategy Officer Rolf Assev tells The Reg....
"Predictably, Assev and company refer to this browser booster as
Opera Turbo . . . [which] compresses network traffic by as
much as 80 per cent. On laptops, speeds rise 71 per cent...."
Link: Opera Mystery
Code Promises 'Game Changing' Browser Speed
Opera Unveils Compression Service for Speedier
Browsing
IDG News
Service's Elizabeth Montalbano reports:
"Opera Thursday unveiled a compression service it said speeds up
browsing the Web on its mobile and desktop browsers.
"Opera Turbo compresses the bandwidth of text and data files on Web
sites by 80 percent, the company said. It is now available to business
customers, such as mobile handset providers and network operators,
through the Opera Desktop, Opera Mobile and Opera Devices software
development kits, so they can build the service into browsers on PCs
and mobile devices.
"Delivered via Opera's servers, Opera Turbo is best suited to
improve browsing on mobile devices and on the desktop when using
low-bandwidth connections to the Internet, said Julie Sajnani, a
communications manager for Opera...."
Link:
Opera Unveils Compression Service for Speedier Browsing
Products
SwiftStore RAID Storage Systems Connects via
Gigabit Ethernet
PR: SwiftStore hard drives connect using Gigabit Ethernet
ports to operate at faster speeds than hard drives that connect using
USB or FireWire, making them a superior alternative to adding yet
another USB hard drive to your computer. Enjoy phenomenal speeds that
are at least twice as fast as any USB hard drive, even those with
so-called "High-Speed" ports. How is this possible?
Because SwiftStore uses much faster Gigabit
Ethernet connections that provide 1,000 Mbit performance while the
fastest USB hard drives are limited to 480 Mbit speeds and FireWire
400/800 to their nominal speeds respectively. Also, SwiftStore includes
the best available disk drives to ensure peak performance, while USB
hard drives usually include the cheapest drives possible. They also use
multiple hard drives to provide huge storage capacities. Plus, they
offer other unique advantages over USB or FireWire hard drives.
With SwiftStore, you can choose whether to dedicate all storage
capacity to a single computer by connecting to it directly or divide
the storage capacity among multiple computers by connecting to them via
a network router. With USB or FireWire, you need a separate hard drive
for each computer that needs storage capacity resulting is wasted
capacity.
SwiftStore combines the capacity of four hard drives into a single
drive letter for massive storage space beyond what is possible from
single-disk USB hard drives. All of this storage capacity can appear as
a single drive letter for convenience instead of multiple drive letters
from too many USB hard drives.
Enjoy the flexibility of SwiftStore networking by connecting it to
your computer, an internet router, or a wireless router. With
SwiftStore, you choose how to connect so you can place SwiftStore
wherever you want - even if it's far from your computer. With USB hard
drives, your hard drive is never more than a few feet away.
Have multiple computers? No problem. SwiftStore divides into
multiple drive letters that can be individually assigned to different
computers. You can even assign multiple drive letters to the same
computer. This allows you to use one SwiftStore for multiple computers.
With USB hard drives, it's always one unit per computer.
SwiftStore features include:
- Faster speeds than USB 2.0 or FireWire 800 hard drives
- Large capacities of 2 TB, 3 TB, 4 TB, or 6 TB that are
expandable
- Automatic LAN and WiFi support when connected to a router
Specifications
- External P/S
- Voltage:
- Input: 110-220 VAC
- Output: +12.0 VDC
- Input Current: 2.0 A
- Output Current: 8.33 A
- Power: 100W
- Input Freq: 50 - 60 Hz
- Disk Drives: 4 x 7200 RPM SATA-2
- Network Connector: 1 x 1000 Base-T (RJ-45)
- RAID: 0, 1, 0+1
- Physical:
- Height: 6.9" (175 mm)
- Width: 5.6" (142 mm)
- Depth: 10.2" (259 mm)
- Operating Temp: 40 - 95 deg F (5 - 35 deg C)
System Requirements
- Mac System
- Mac with Intel or PPC CPU
- Mac OS X 10.4 or later
- 512 MB of memory or more
- Gigabit Ethernet port
- PC System
- PC with Intel or AMD CPU
- Windows XP SP2 (32-bit), Vista, or Windows 2003.
- 512 MB of memory or more
- Gigabit Ethernet port
The Newt Data SwiftStore high-speed hard drives are now available in
2 TB, 3 TB, 4 TB, or 6 TB capacities from the Newt
Data online store. Suggested retail prices range from $649 to $1,799
and limited quantities of refurbished systems are available at a
discount.
Link: Newt Data
SwiftStore
Software
Postbox Launches Public Beta of New Desktop Email
Application
PR: A new
desktop email application, Postbox lets people spend less time managing
email and more time using email to get things done. Powered by the
Mozilla platform, Postbox automatically detects, analyzes, and catalogs
all types of content, including text, documents, images, and URLs. As a
result, it's easier to find, organize, and take action on content
typically hiding deep within email applications.
San Francisco-based startup Postbox has announced the general
availability of its public beta. Based on Mozilla technology, this new
desktop email application helps users make the most of email, offering
powerful new ways to find, use, and view email messages and content,
organize work life, and simply get stuff done. Postbox was selected
from more than 1,000 entries to launch at September's industry-leading
TechCrunch50 2008 event. Since that preview the company has been
operating a private beta. Beginning today anyone can visit
www.getpostbox.com to start using the Postbox beta.
"Today's email
applications no longer fit the realities of how we use them, neither
personally nor professionally," said Sherman Dickman, cofounder of
Postbox. "We developed Postbox to act as a communications-enabled
command center, combining easy-to-use content search and organizing
tools with the power and efficiency of the web. After the
overwhelmingly positive feedback from our private beta, we are opening
our public beta today, so a larger audience can wrest back control of
their inboxes."
Find anything and everything regardless of where it's filed
Postbox works behind the scenes to catalog everything in your email:
every bit of text, every contact, address or link, every picture,
document or attachment. It's all in the catalog and it's all
searchable. Users simply click the Images tab to see a thumbnail
gallery of every picture from every message, or the Attachments tab to
browse through documents, files and more. And since Postbox does all of
its cataloging on the computer, the privacy and confidentiality of
email information is preserved.
Focus on what's important, not what's new
Overloaded inboxes contain hundreds, if not thousands, of messages -
and pull users in different directions. Postbox lets users organize
messages by topic, so they can focus on one thing at a time while
minimizing interruptions from unrelated messages. A topic can be
anything - a project, important client, event, or a custom tag. Within
a topic, users can send and receive messages, create to-dos, annotate
messages, and search for relevant content regardless of file type or
location.
Postbox also provides a simple and lightweight way to use email
messages to manage and track To-Dos, perfect for people who live out of
their inbox. Mark messages "To-Do," and they will appear at the top of
the message list, so important items won't get pushed out of view.
Create new To-Dos directly within the inbox, without having to email
yourself reminders.
"After a decade of developing the Mozilla Thunderbird and now
Postbox email platforms I've come to understand that the data trapped
inside our email is the closest thing many of us have to a personal
database," said Scott MacGregor, cofounder of Postbox. "We've designed
Postbox to make it easier for users to find, prioritize and use their
information in a personally relevant way."
Find
Postbox works behind the scenes to catalog everything in your email.
We mean everything: every bit of text in the body of your messages,
every contact, address or web link. Every picture, document or
attachment. It's all in the catalog and it's all searchable. To make
what you've found easier to use, search results are delivered in
context. Text is displayed in multi-sentence abstracts, messages in
threads, and images and documents as thumbnails with associated
information.
Free Your Mail
Once you've found it, you can really start doing things. Postbox is
designed to break down barriers. Any mail content can be annotated or
combined with information from the web to create new mail messages.
Want to get the information out of Postbox? No problem. You can post
content to online communities and sharing sites right from the Postbox
window. Want to get web content into Postbox? Just as easy. A handy
sidebar lets you pull in information directly from Internet search
engines, reference sites and photo-sharing or other online
communities.
Breaks down
barriers to promote effective communication
Postbox's integrated web functionality puts the power of third-party
web services and search directly within email. Instead of cutting and
pasting or dragging and dropping between applications, found data is
displayed in context and can be easily repurposed in new messages or
web searches, or even shared online - all from within Postbox. Postbox
is service neutral and can connect content from multiple email accounts
(including secure work accounts) to third-party services, including
search, photo sharing, bookmarking, and social networking services.
Postbox beta for both Mac and PC is available now for free download
via any web browser.
Postbox will support all popular email protocols including IMAP,
POP3, SMTP, Mobile Me, Gmail, RSS and Newsgroups, as well as
integration with web services like Google, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter,
and Delicious
System requirements::
- Mac OS X 10.4 and later
- Macintosh computer with a G4 or G5 processor
- At least 512 MB of RAM
- At least 200 MB of available space on your hard drive
- iPhoto 5 strongly recommended
System support: PPC/Intel
Link: Postbox
PictureItPostage Create USPS Postage from Any Photo
on Your Mac
PR:
PictureItPostage lets you create real US Postage with your own photo,
artwork, or business logo. It's perfect for holiday cards, birth
announcements, wedding invitations, or business mailings that you want
to get noticed and opened.
PictureItPostage seamlessly integrates with iPhoto or your iSight,
giving you easy way to create postage from any photo on your Mac. Zoom,
rotate, crop and apply filters to make your postage perfect.
Turn your letters into personalized works of art!
News for Business Users.
PictureItPostage isn't just for babies and puppies, anymore. Updated
postal rules now allow the printing of your company logo or advertising
message.
Imagine a wedding invitation with a color picture of the happy
couple! When you send out invitations for your child's birthday why not
have his or her color picture on the postage stamp! How about making
your faithful family dog famous, or showing off this year's
championship Little League team?
Your new stamps will feature:
- 46% more area for your photograph than other services.
- An elegant serration design on all four sides of the stamp.
- The option to print your photograph in either portrait or landscape
orientation.
- Your photograph, logo or design on real US Postage.
Called "a joy to use" by MacHome Magazine, PictureItPostage is
versatile, intuitive and simple to use on a Mac. That's because it's
fully integrated with iPhoto, including smart albums and
photocasts.
To make your own postage, just select a picture or graphic from your
iPhoto library, or any other folder on your Macintosh, and then adjust
it to create the perfect design. We give more...
New in version 2.2.2:
- Version 2.2.2 features iSight integration, cool rotation animation,
multiple sheet discounts and fine-image control. The best application
for making customized postage just got better.
- Endicia's PictureItPostage makes all of this possible....
- You provide the image and select the denomination of stamp you
want, and Endicia will ship you sheets of beautiful color stamps in a
matter of days. Each sheet contains 20 stamps in a convenient peel and
stick format.
System requirements: PictureItPostage requires Mac OS X 10.4
"Tiger", an Internet connection, and a Mac that supports Quartz
Extreme. iPhoto 5 is not required, but is recommended.
$17.95 demoware
Link: PictureItPostage
Desktop Mac
Deals
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