We're posting our weekly news roundups a day early this week,
because we taking a long weekend to attend my son's wedding.
Congratulations, Brian and Michelle! dk
MacBook, PowerBook, iBook, and other portable computing is covered
in The 'Book Review. iPod, iPhone,
and Apple TV news is covered in The iNews
Review.
All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.
News & Opinion
Products & Services
Software
News & Opinion
12% of US Households Have Macs
PR: NPD's second annual Household Penetration Study focuses
on online household ownership of CE products and consumer demographics.
Then it goes deeper, reporting on the number of devices owned by
category and exploring consumers' cross-category ownership. And it
includes year-over-year comparisons based on the data from the 2008
study.
Combine all of that with the expert perspective of NPD industry
analysts Stephen Baker, Liz Cutting, and Ross Rubin, and you've got the
technology industry's latest must-have report.
Get the insight you need to understand consumer ownership and
cross-ownership of electronics products. If you put last year's
Household Penetration Study to work for your business, then you know
how it can help you develop more targeted advertising campaigns,
promotional messages, and marketing partnerships.
Link: Household Penetration Study
2009
5 of 6 Mac Households Also Have Windows
Computers
PR: Nearly 85% of all Apple households also own a Windows PC.
While Apple owners tend to own more computers and more electronics
devices, there is also a high correlation among Apple owners and more
affluent consumer households. Thirty-six percent of Apple computer
owners reported household incomes greater than $100,000, compared to
21% of all consumers.
According to leading market research company The NPD Group's 2009
Household Penetration Study, approximately 12% of all U.S. computer
owning households own an Apple computer, up from 9% in 2008. While
Apple ownership is growing, those households are decidedly in favor of
mixed system environments. Of those 12%, nearly 85% also own a
Windows-based PC.
Multiple computer ownership is a common thread in Apple computer
households, with 66% of households owning three or more computers,
compared to just 29% of Windows PC households. Apple owning households
are decidedly more mobile as well, with 72% of them owning a notebook,
whereas only 50% of households that have a Windows PC own a
notebook.
Not only do Apple computer owners own more computers (and more
mobile computers) than the norm they also tend to own more types of
electronics, and more of them, than typical computer owning households.
For example, while 36% of total computer owning households have an
iPod, 63% of Apple households have one. And while almost 50% of Apple
owners own some type of navigation system, only about 30% of all
computer households own one.
"While Apple owners tend to own more computers and more electronics
devices, there is also a high correlation among Apple owners and more
affluent consumer households," said Stephen Baker, vice president of
industry analysis. "Thirty-six percent of Apple computer owners
reported household incomes greater than $100,000, compared to 21% of
all consumers. "With a higher household income, though, it's not a
surprise that those consumers are making more electronics purchases,"
Baker said. "The average Apple household owns 48 CE devices whereas the
average computer household owns about 24. Apple household owners'
actions and purchases can be used by the industry as leading indicators
for hot new products and adoption."
Methodology
A total of more than 2,300 of NPD's online panelists completed this
survey.
The NPD Group is the leading provider of reliable and comprehensive
consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries. Today,
more than 1,700 manufacturers, retailers, and service companies rely on
NPD to help them drive critical business decisions at the global,
national, and local market levels. NPD helps our clients to identify
new business opportunities and guide product development, marketing,
sales, merchandising, and other functions. Information is available for
the following industry sectors: automotive, beauty, commercial
technology, consumer technology, entertainment, fashion, food and
beverage, foodservice, home, office supplies, software, sports, toys,
and wireless.
Link: Apple and Windows
Computers Living Together under One Roof, According to New NPD
Report
Two-thirds of Mac Users Would Try Windows 7 - If It
Were Free
ZD Net's Andrew Nusca says:
"Memo to Microsoft: if you want to take Mac users back into the
fold, channel your inner AOL.
"Buried among the many facts and figures of a new study on Windows 7
adoption habits comes this little tidbit: a clear majority of users of
Apple Mac OS X computers would give Windows 7 a go if it were offered
to them for free."
Link: Study: 67% of Mac Users Would
Install, Try Windows 7 If It Was Free
35 Apps to Improve Your Browsing Experience
AppStorm's David Appleyard says:
"Now that widespread connectivity means you're rarely without a web
connection, the Internet has become a huge part of the way in which we
use our computers. Out of the box, your Mac is a powerful machine for
making the most of everything the Internet has to offer, but there are
a few tweaks, plugins and applications that can make it go a little bit
further.
"Today I'll be taking a look at 35 different plugins and
applications that will help improve your web browsing experience. Both
Safari and Firefox will be covered, along with a few tools relating to
networking, search, bookmarking, and - of course - taking a break from
the Internet!"
Link:
35 Mac Apps to Improve Your Web Browsing Experience
Apple Seeds Mac OS X 10.6.2
AppleInsider Staff reports:
"A pre-release build of the next update to Mac OS X 10.6 was seeded
to developers Monday, bringing a long list of changes, fixes and
tweaks."
Link:
Apple Seeds Mac OS X 10.6.2 to Developers with Dozens of Fixes
Snow Leopard Tip: Manually Setup New Mail
Accounts
MacFixIt's Joe Aimonetti says:
"Setting up an email account is not always straight forward. Apple,
with each Mac OS X release, has attempted to streamline the process
offering automatic account setups. For some users, however, this poses
an issue with control."
Editor's note: Tell me about it. The extra baggage of meddling setup
"wizards" and the hassle of manual control is one of the reasons I
dislike Mail and don't use it. cm
Link: Snow Leopard
Tip: Manually Setup New Mail Accounts
Can Your Mac Really Have Too Many Utilities?
Mac 360's Alexis Kayhill says:
"My next door neighbor was visiting yesterday afternoon. Amid all
the talk of neighbors, kids, husbands, and Sunday football widowhood,
she asked me how to do something on her Mac. I'm like the neighborhood
big sister who persuaded her to toss out her Windows PC and get a
Mac.
"She was wary at first, but like many PC switchers, came to love her
Mac and look up to me as some kind of Techno Goddess™. Then I
showed her my Mac and she went into shock. Why? What's on my Mac tends
to scare neighbors, children, and pets.
"It's no secret that I collect utilities, tools, applications,
Dashboard Widgets, and anything else to make my Mac life a little
better. It also makes me appear technologically supernatural to my
neighbors....
"My neighbor gasped and stood in shock for moment. 'What are all
those things? You use all those? There must be hundreds.' Even in
shock, she could count. I felt guilty....
"...is there such a thing as having too many utilities,
applications, or Widgets on a Mac?"
Link:
Can Your Mac Really Have Too Many Utilities?
The Best Free Open Source Mac Apps
mac.elated.com says:
A while back I came across InfoWorld's list of the best open source
Windows software. I thought I'd redress the balance by listing the best
open source apps for the Mac!
These are apps that I've used myself and consider to be among the
best....
- Firefox
- Thunderbird
- Cyberduck
- KompoZer
- Adium
- NatsuLion
- OpenOffice.org
- GnuCash
- GIMP
- Seashore
- Hugin
- VLC
- Miro
- Perian
- HandBrake
- Blender
- Audacity
- Gawker
- Celestia
- Stellarium
- Electric Sheep
- VirtualBox
- BitNami Stacks
Also see The Best Free Mac Software (below).
Link: The
Best Free Open Source Mac Apps
Apple's Eco-Sanctimony
Conservative pundit Michelle Malkin says:
"Uggghh. I love my iPhone, iMac, and MacBook Pro, but I can't stand
the enviro-nitwittery of Apple management.
"WaPo reports that Apple has withdrawn from the US Chamber of
Commerce over its opposition to cap-and-tax:
"Steve Milloy's Green Hell blog points out that if Apple were really
concerned about environmental health, it would leave China, not the US
Chamber of Commerce:
"Be sure to click
on the link and see the compare and contrast photos of air quality
at Apple's Cupertino CA office vs. Shenzhen, China, where iPhones are
manufactured."
Link: Apple's
Eco-Sanctimony
Products & Services
Aviator 312 Line of SuperSpeed USB 3.0 External
SSDs
PR: Ultra-Small 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB SSDs Support up to 240
MB/sec Read Speeds and up to 160 MB/sec Write Speeds
Active Media Products, manufacturer of SSDs and innovative USB
drives, today announced the Aviator 312 line of SuperSpeed USB 3.0
external SSDs.
SuperSpeed USB 3.0 supports transfer speeds up to 4.8 Gbits/sec -
ten times faster than USB 2.0. A312 SuperSpeed USB 3.0 external SSDs
take advantage of USB 3.0's massive bandwidth, delivering unprecedented
transfer speeds in an extremely compact mobile flash storage device.
Measuring less than 3 inches long and only 0.2 inches thin, the A312 is
smaller than a credit card and is designed to fit in a pocket. A312
SSDs can save a 25GB full-length HD movie in about two minutes. What
used to take an hour to save will take only seconds with the A312
thanks to its scorching write speeds of up to 160 MB/s and read speeds
up to 240 MB/s.
Aviator 312 SSDs are designed for external use, and include a
carrying pouch and a USB 3.0 Micro-B cable for connection to any USB
port. The 312 is fully backward compatible; it works in any USB 2.0 or
1.1 port, but requires a SuperSpeed port to reach its full performance
capabilities. Unlike many other high speed external storage devices,
the A312 does not require a separate power source. It draws all the
power it needs directly from the USB bus. The A312 will be offered in
16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB capacities.
Expected Street Prices
- N16G-A312 16 GB Aviator 312 SuperSpeed USB 3.0 External SSD -
$89
- N32G-A312 32 GB Aviator 312 SuperSpeed USB 3.0 External SSD -
$119
- N64G-A312 64 GB Aviator 312 SuperSpeed USB 3.0 External SSD -
$209
Jerry Thomson, vice president of sales at Active Media Products
comments, "Aviator 312 SSDs are a groundbreaking product with
performance that is eight to ten times faster than today's fastest USB
2.0 flash drives. For anyone who doesn't have hours to waste copying
large files there's nothing that comes close to the Aviator 312's
speed". Aviator 312 SSDs will begin shipping this quarter through
Amazon at expected retail prices of $89, $119 and $209 for the 16 GB,
32 GB and 64 GB models respectively.
Link: Aviator
312 Line of SuperSpeed USB 3.0 External SSDs
Software
RIM Launches BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac
Users
PR: Research In Motion has exciting news for Mac users who
want an easy and reliable solution that synchs their contacts, calendar
appointments, tasks, and notes with their BlackBerry smartphones. A new
version of the BlackBerry Desktop Manager software has been developed
specifically for Mac users. The new desktop software is scheduled to be
available for free download.
The new BlackBerry Desktop Manager software allows Mac users to
smoothly and seamlessly sync data from Mac applications like iCal,
Address Book, Microsoft Entourage and others, as well as add and remove
applications, schedule automatic backups, encrypt backup files and
install software updates for their BlackBerry smartphone.
BlackBerry Desktop Manager Software also integrates BlackBerry Media
Sync, enabling Mac users to sync their iTunes music collections with
their BlackBerry smartphone*. From within the BlackBerry Desktop
Manager software, users simply select the desired iTunes playlists and
the music, including song information and album art, is quickly
transferred onto their BlackBerry smartphone.
Whether it's a specific iTunes playlist or a random mix of tunes,
it's easy to sync the music from your Mac computer to your BlackBerry
smartphone.
Your contacts, calendar appointments, tasks and notes can be
synchronized with popular Mac applications.
Transfer data between BlackBerry smartphones, back up and restore
information manually or automatically, and add or remove
applications.
System requirements: BlackBerry Desktop Manager software is designed
to run on Mac computers with Mac OS X 10.5.5 and higher and
supports BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry OS 4.2 and
higher.
* Certain music files may not be supported, including files that
contain digital rights management technologies
Link: BlackBerry Desktop Manager for
Mac
DrawIt 3.10 for OS X - Powerful
Vector-Drawing
PR: Bohemian Coding has announced DrawIt 3.10, the latest
version of their easy-to-use, powerful vector-drawing application for
Mac OS X. DrawIt is unique in that it presents the user with a simple
and clean interface, yet packs an impressive assortment of useful,
professional features. In version 3.10, the interface has been further
simplified and powerful features have been added.
DrawIt 3.10 has become a lot faster than its predecessor when
working on a large canvas or when having a large number of layers.
Memory usage has gone down significantly in some cases even consuming
less than a tenth compared to its predecessor.
Often requested in DrawIt was support for multi-stop gradients.
DrawIt 3.10 finally delivers this feature and also adds a gradient
stroke effect to the mix. One of the strengths of DrawIt has always
been its ability to add multiple effects of the same kind to a single
layer and with the improved gradient filters this is even easier.
New in DrawIt 3.10:
- Adds flexible multi-stop gradient and gradient stroke effects
- Significant performance increase
- Updated UI
Minimum Requirements: Mac OS X Version 10.6 or higher
DrawIt 3.10 is available for free as a full-featured demo for 30
days. A single user license is 29.00 Euros ($40.00 USD). Registered 3.x
customers may upgrade for free.
Link: DrawIt
Golden Records Converts Vinyl/Tapes to
CD/WAV/MP3
PR: Golden Records is software that helps you to convert your
vinyl LP records, tapes or cassettes onto CD or to wav or MP3 files on
Mac OS X. It is designed specifically with records and cassettes in
mind and has been developed to make the conversion process as easy and
intuitive as possible. Just install the software and follow the
step-by-step wizard.
Golden Records Analog to MP3/CD Converter
Convert vinyl records and cassette tapes to digital audio
Golden Records is software that helps you to convert your vinyl LP
records, analog audio tapes or cassettes to CD or to wav or MP3 files
using your computer.
- Protect your rare vinyl LP albums or cassette tapes
- Step-by-step wizard guides you through the process
- Audio restoration tools to remove clicks and hiss
- Save to MP3 or burn directly to CD in pure digital
After the tracks have been converted you can burn them straight to
CD with Golden Records' own CD Burner, edit your favorite tracks with
WavePad Audio Editing Software or make your own audio mix with MixPad
Audio Mixing Software.
Features
- Easy to use wizard takes you through the conversion process.
- Restoration tools automatically clean up damaged audio.
- Remove hiss, clicks and pops from old tapes or scratched
records.
- Automatically detects silence to split audio into tracks.
- Built in CD burner to record CDs after the cassette, LP ripper or
vinyl to CD wizard runs.
- Encodes into MP3 or wave file formats.
- Normalizes the volume of the recordings when converting to CD.
- Applies dc offset correction when converting analog to MP3.
- Phono RIAA eq can be applied in the software so no preamplifier is
required. Connect a record player directly to the computer.
- Can convert 78 RPM records playing on a 45 RPM player
Recommended Hardware
- USB Turntables
- Audio Devices and Cables
- How Golden Records Connects
- For a cassette deck connect the deck to the audio line input of
your computer. You probably have a lead with your cassette deck but if
not they are available at local electronics stores.
For a record player, If your turntable has an external or built-in
preamplifier connect its output to the line input of the computer. If
you do not have a preamplifier connect to the microphone input instead
and check the phono RIAA eq option. Alternatively use a USB turntable
which connects directly to a USB port.
System Requirements
- Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008/7
- For earlier Windows versions (98, ME) click here
- Works on Mac OS X 10.2 and above
- About 600 MB free hard drive space
- CD burner drive if you want to burn the audio to CD
- Record player (for converting from LP)
- Cassette deck (for converting from cassette tapes) Recommended
Hardware
System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.2 or later.
Platform Support: PPC/Intel
$52 Shareware (30% discount through October 15, 2009)
Link: Golden Records
MacSpeech Dictate Gains Snow Leopard
Compatibility
PR: MacSpeech, Inc. has announced the release of MacSpeech
Dictate 1.5.5, an update to the premier speech recognition solution on
the Macintosh.
The MacSpeech Dictate 1.5.5 update addresses several minor
functional and cosmetic issues when used with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow
Leopard. All MacSpeech Dictate products, including MacSpeech Dictate
Legal, MacSpeech Dictate Medical, MacSpeech Dictate International and
MacSpeech Dictate localized in German, French and Italian can update to
version 1.5.5 today. MacSpeech Dictate 1.5.5 adds a contextual menu for
the Available Commands window, providing options to Edit, Execute, and
Copy Description to Clipboard, and is also a maintenance release that
fixes other reported issues.
New in version 1.5.5:
Additions:
- Context menu for Available Commands window: Edit, Execute, and Copy
Description to Clipboard.
- Message to crash emails about the email not going to Technical
Support directly.
Changes:
- Font in Available Commands Window to Helvetica Oblique to remedy
minimal font installations.
- Address Books with more than 900 (approx.) entries will have the
Email Commands generation turned off to avoid resource issues.
- Selection Commands now show under Status window in the Recognized
Text area.
Fixed:
- Menu mapping for apps bundled with Snow Leopard updated for the new
versions
- Commands with different context from Leopard to Snow Leopard
- Issues with documents crashing while Caching or Closing
- Versioning of Commands sets
- Crash when pasting text into documents that have been cached
- Empty dialog when exporting "nothing" from the Vocabulary
Editor
- Some Engine words not displaying properly in Training dialog
- Retain cursor location in document after Cache Document is
used
- License key not always copied to proper location after License Key
Validation
- Crash when highlighting and moving text in a cached area
- Turned off Spoken Alerts except for VoiceOver users
- Crashing when users edited or navigated with mouse in some
situations (not perfected just better)
- Better handling of upper level Excel documents. Working within
cells still requires use of Purge Cache while navigating
System Requirements: Intel-based Mac with Mac OS X 10.5.6 (Leopard)
through Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). Internet connection required for
product registration. MacSpeech-certified noise-canceling microphone
(included with new purchase).
The MacSpeech Dictate 1.5.5 update is available free of charge to
registered MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 customers using the "Check for
Updates" feature. Detailed information on all of the changes and
enhancements can be found at:
http://www.macspeech.com/releasenotes/
MacSpeech Dictate is the only desktop speech recognition solution
for the Macintosh. MacSpeech Dictate provides unprecedented speech
recognition accuracy with minimal training and works with existing Mac
applications. MacSpeech Dictate delivers a true Mac user experience,
and conforms to behaviors already familiar to Macintosh fans worldwide.
Beyond dictation, MacSpeech Dictate lets people perform basic
navigation of their Mac and control it with their voice to launch
applications, open new windows, execute menu commands, etc.
System Requirements:
MacSpeech Dictate requires Intel-based Macintosh hardware and requires
Mac OS X 10.5.6 Leopard through Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
New MacSpeech Dictate solutions, with a choice of headsets, are
available today starting at US$199. Registered customers of MacSpeech
Dictate are eligible to purchase MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 at special
upgrade price of US$54.95. People interested in an upgrade should note
that MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 does not run on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. Anyone
who registered MacSpeech Dictate on or after April 1, 2009 is eligible
to receive a free upgrade directly from MacSpeech, Inc.
MacSpeech Dictate Legal, MacSpeech Dictate Medical, MacSpeech
Dictate International and an assortment of headset and microphone
upgrades certified for use with MacSpeech Dictate are also available
directly from MacSpeech, Inc.
MacSpeech Dictate is currently available at
http://www.macspeech.com/ in the U.S., at http://www.macspeech.co.uk in
the U.K., and in other countries through International resellers and
distributors.
Link:
MacSpeech Dictate
The Best Free Mac Software
Free and open-source software is good for you and good for the
world. This is the best free Mac software that we know of.
Mozilla Firefox
The premier free, open-source browser. Tabs, popup blocking, themes,
and extensions. Considered by many to be the world's best browser.
Miro
Beautiful interface. Plays any video type (much more than
QuickTime). Subscribe to video RSS, download, and watch all in one.
Torrent support. Search and download from YouTube and others.
Adium
Connect to multiple IM accounts simultaneously in a single app,
including: AOL IM, MSN, and Jabber. Beautiful, themable interface.
Quicksilver
Quicksilver lets you start applications (and do just about
everything) with a few quick taps of your fingers. Warning: start using
Quicksilver and you won't be able to imagine using a Mac without
it.
Mozilla Thunderbird
Powerful spam filtering, solid interface, and all the features you
need.
The Unarchiver
Uncompress RAR, 7zip, tar, and bz2 files on your Mac. Many new Mac
users will be puzzled the first time they download a RAR file. Do them
a favor and download UnRarX for them!
Handbrake
DVD ripper and MPEG-4 / H.264 encoding. Very simple to use.
Vienna
Very nice, native RSS client.
RSSOwl
Solid cross-platform RSS client.
Cabos
A simple, easy to use file sharing program. Gnutella network.
SolarSeek
Soulseek file sharing for Mac, in a simple, solid client.
Transmission
Very nice torrent downloader.
Q Emulator
Run Windows programs on your Intel Mac at near native speed. Works
on G4 / G5 Macs too, but much slower.
Juice
Solid podcasting client.
VLC
Plays more video files than most players: Quicktime, AVI, DIVX, OGG,
and more. Pretty good interface.
MPlayer
The interface and buttons are not as nice or as Mac-like in feel,
but it may play even more video files than VLC.
Perian
A plugin that allows QuickTime to play additional video formats.
(Included in Democracy Player.)
iPodDisk
Copy music off your iPod in the finder, like a regular disk
drive.
Burn
CD and DVD Burner. Burn any video to a disc that plays in your DVD
player!
Vidalia
This TOR frontend keeps you anonymous on the web using
military-grade techniques. For use with Firefox see:
Bean
Very fast and easy to use word processor. Live word count,
autosaving, more.
OpenOffice
OpenOffice is a full-featured, office suite compatible with
Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Friends don't let friends pay
for Microsoft Office.
AbiWord
A word processor. Leaner and quicker than OpenOffice. Compatible
with Microsoft Word documents and OpenDocument Format.
KisMac
The best wireless scanner for Mac. Find wireless access when you're
on the go.
Audacity
Simple sound recording tool.
Seashore
Based on Gimp, but doesn't require X11.
Formulate Pro
An easy way to fill-out (or sign) PDFs that Preview can't edit.
Xee
Fast image viewer and image browser.
Gimp.app
Photo editing application that rivals Photoshop in features
(requires X11).
Inkscape
Vector graphics application (requires X11).
Scribus
Desktop publishing. Complicated install, but a nice app.
Cyberduck
Very good all-around ftp program.
OneButton FTP
Simple, fast FTP, with a focus on "advanced queuing".
Fugu
Not as polished as Cyberduck (and only for SFTP) but has a side by
side interface showing your files and the remote files.
Smultron
Text/html editor. Integrates with Cyberduck for editing
websites.
Nvu
Visual tool for making websites (WYSIWYG html editor), comparable to
Dreamweaver.
Colloquy
Great IRC client.
Link: Open
Source Mac
Desktop Mac
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