So we can post our three news roundups (Mac News Review, The 'Book
Review, and iNews Review) earlier, we first do a quick proofread and
link check, leaving out images. We add images later when time permits.
dk
MacBook, PowerBook, iBook, and other portable computing is covered
in The 'Book Review. iPod, iPhone,
and Apple TV news is covered in The iOS News
Review.
All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.
News & Opinion
Apple Updates
Products & Services
Software
News & Opinion
Apple Most Satisfactory Computer Manufacturer
Again
InfoWorld's Christina Tynan-Wood reports that according to a recent
study, customer experiences with the big six PC manufacturers leave
plenty of room for improvement, noting that Forrester Research's
recently released "Customer Experience Index 2010: PC Manufacturers"
provides interesting insights into customers overall level of
satisfaction with service received from Acer, Apple, Compaq, Dell, HP,
and Toshiba in three categories: Meets Needs, Easy to Work With, and
Enjoyability.
Happily, Apple came out on top for the second year in a row, with
Dell also repeating at the bottom, but with none receiving an Excellent
overall rating, the threshold for that being a customer experience
index of 8% or above. Apple came closest at 78%.
Link:
Apple Tops Consumer Computer Manufacturer Ratings Again
Apple Admits to Yellow-tint iMac Issues
Macworld's Serenity Caldwell says:
"For all of you who bought a brand new iMac only to have something
sickly and yellow-tinted show up, it looks like you may finally get
some answers or at least, a public admission of the problem."
Link: Apple
Admits to Yellow-tint iMac Issues
Apple: 27" iMac Display Issues Have Been
Addressed
AppleInsider Staff report:
"After months of reported issues with flickering and yellowing on
new 27-inch iMac displays, Apple has publicly stated that the problems
have been fixed by its two software updates."
Link:
Apple Says 27-Inch iMac Display Issues Have Been Addressed
PC vs. Mac: The Straight Scoop
Technologizer's Harry McCracken takes a crack at comparing PCs and
Macs for non-geeks, observing that egged on by both Apple and Microsoft
advertising campaigns, Windows advocates accuse Mac users of belonging
to a fancy-pants cult, while Mac contend Windows users are undiscerning
owners of hunks of generic junk - a pretty undignified squabble in
which McCracken declares himself cheerfully agnostic, variously
recommending and using Windows PCs and Macs.
With PC vs. Mac debate having raged now for more than a
quarter-century, he says making sense of it requires particular moment
in time evaluation, and elaborates his take on things as of early
2010.
"Mac prices aren't out of whack with that of
similar Windows machines"
For example, in the cost and value element of the debate, McCracken
says that every time he does the math, he reaches the conclusion Mac
prices aren't out of whack with that of similar Windows machines, and
that in fact Windows laptops most directly comparable to Apple's
MacBook Pro line actually cost more than roughly equivalent Macs.
McCracken also determines that the Mac comes out on top in terms of
operating system (although less radically with Windows 7 than was the
case with Vista), and that Mac owners running no security software are
still vastly less likely malware attack victim than Windows users
protected up to their eyeballs.
Link: PC vs. Mac: The
Straight Scoop
Apple: Capitalism Done Right
Yaron Brook, president of the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights,
and Don Watkins, an analyst with the Ayn Rand Center for Individual
Rights, writing in the Christian Science Monitor, observe that
since the advent of capitalism, businessmen in general have have been
denounced for the corrupt actions of a few political profiteers. To
help understand that there is a distinction, they suggest we consider
two characters in Ayn Rand's 1957 novel Atlas
Shrugged, in which Rand describes two opposite kinds of
businessmen - those she calls the producers and those she dubs
looters. The authors contend that Apple acts like a producer
while GM acts like a looter.
Editor's note: I wonder how Rand would categorize Microsoft and
Dell? dk
Link:
Apple vs. GM: Ayn Rand Knew the Difference. Do You?
Mozilla Ditches Mac OS X 10.4 Support for Firefox
3.7
The Register's Kelly Fiveash reports:
"Mozilla has officially ditched Firefox support for Apple Mac OS X 10.4 for upcoming versions of
its browser, despite gripes from some web surfers.
"The open source group confirmed on Tuesday that, following heated
discussion from the Mozilla community, it would only support Mac OS X 10.5 or later when it
released the next iteration of its browser . . . even though
the Mozilla Foundation estimated that nearly 1.5 million Mac OS X
10.4 users are still surfing the web with Firefox 3.5."
Editor's note: For my perspective on this issue, see Firefox 3.7 Drops Tiger
Support: So What? Firefox 3.6, which works just fine with Tiger, is
an excellent browser - as are Opera
10 (the last version with PowerPC support, and it still supports
Mac OS X 10.3; Opera
10.5 will be Intel only) and Camino
2. dk
Link:
Mozilla Ditches Mac OS X 10.4 Support in Fresh Firefox
AppleInsider: Apple Prepping First Macs with
HDMI
AppleInsider's Kasper Jade and Prince McLean report:
"Apple plans to introduce HDMI connectivity on some of
its personal computers this year, embracing an emerging trend that has
seen the high-definition audio/video interface crop up on an increasing
number of systems from rival PC manufacturers, AppleInsider has
learned
"More specifically, prototypes of a new Mac mini - Apple's smallest and
most affordable system, commonly employed by tech savvy Mac users as an
ad-hoc living room media server, has been making the rounds with an
HDMI port in place of its legacy DVI connector, according to two people
familiar with the matter."
Editor's note: This would be the first time since Apple's ill-fated HDI-45 port and
AudioVision displays that Apple has supported both audio and video
output using a single connector. This would be a great move, Apple!
dk
Link:
Apple Prepping First Macs with HDMI - Sources
Sync Data with Macs, iPhones Using Google
Macworld's Joe Kissell says:
"If you have two or more Macs, or an iPhone or iPod touch, you ll
undoubtedly want to keep your contacts and calendars on all your
devices in sync. One way to do so is to use Apple's MobileMe service
($99 a year for individuals; $149 for the five-user Family
Pack)....
"But what if you don't want to pay for MobileMe, or if you simply
prefer using the free Google Contacts and Google Calendars (both
accessible from any Gmail account)? Google lets your iPhone or iPod
touch connect to your Gmail account (either with a gmail.com address,
or an address at your own domain via Google Apps) using Exchange
ActiveSync, which provides over-the-air push email, contact, and
calendar data, just as MobileMe does."
"...you can replicate most of what MobileMe offers for contact and
calendar syncing using Google's services and Snow Leopard."
Link:
Sync Data with Macs, iPhones Using Google
Things We Won't See Again from Apple
Apple Investor blogger Sang Tang says:
"Despite its fairly strong record over the last decade, Apple has
not been without its lapses and major changes. And, in the spirit of
Conan O'Brien's 'Guests We'll Never Have Back,' let's take a look at
'Some Things We'll Never Have Back' on the Apple front.
- G4 Cube
- iPod
HiFi
- Motorola ROKR
The
Fatboy iPod nano- Internet Explorer for the Mac
- Free stuff
- Apple at the Macworld Expo
- DRM
- IBM/PowerPC
- U2
- The Color White ("Sometimes, white is the new black, and sometimes
black is the new black. For Apple, aluminum is currently the new
black")
- The rainbow Apple logo"
Editor's note: Internet Explorer was never an Apple product, and
although Apple has eliminated DRM from iTunes music, it is still
present on videos. dk
Link:
Some Things We May Not See Again From Apple
Apple Updates
Startup Key Combinations for Intel-based Macs
A new Apple Knowledge Base article says:
Learn about the startup key combinations you can use with
Intel-based Macs.
- Press C during startup: Start up from a bootable CD or DVD,
such as the Mac OS X Install disc that came with the computer.
- Press D during startup: Start up in Apple Hardware Test
(AHT), if the Install DVD 1 is in the computer.
- Press Option-Command-P-R until you hear two beeps: Reset
NVRAM
- Press Option during startup: Starts into Startup Manager,
where you can select a Mac OS X volume to start from. Note: Press N to
make the the first bootable Network volume appear as well.
- Press Eject, F12, or hold the mouse/trackpad
button: Ejects any removable media, such as an optical disc.
- Press N during startup: Attempt to start up from a
compatible network server (NetBoot).
- Press T during startup: Start up in FireWire Target Disk
mode.
- Press Shift during startup: Start up in Safe Boot mode and
temporarily disable login items.
- Press Command-V during startup: Start up in Verbose
mode.
- Press Command-S during startup: Start up in Single-User
mode.
- Press Option-N during startup: Start from a NetBoot server
using the default boot image.
For the best experience with startup keys, press the keys
immediately after you hear the startup tone.
Link: Startup Key Combinations for
Intel-based Macs
Products & Services
Pentax Introduces 11th Generation Waterproof Optio
Digicam and New Megazoom
PR: Pentax Imaging Company has announced the eleventh
generation Pentax Optio waterproof digital camera built for rugged
adventure in every way.
w9030.jpg
The Pentax Optio W90 offers enhanced waterproof, shockproof,
dustproof, and coldproof performance and features an inventive Digital
Microscope mode with LED lighting to capture small but intriguing
subjects. Designed with the look of mountaineering equipment, the Optio
W90 kit includes a woven web fabric strap complete with a carabiner to
attach the camera to a backpack and other outdoor gear. The rugged 12.1
megapixel Optio W90 with a 5x optical zoom (28-140mm equivalent) offers
photographic performance, innovative features and style that surpass
other outdoor compact digital cameras now available on the market.
w90dirty.jpg
Features:
- Waterproof to 20 feet for reliable underwater photography
- Shockproof to 4 feet withstanding the rigors of extreme use
- Coldproof to subfreezing temperatures for use in wintery, snowy
activities
- Digital Microscope mode with LED lens lighting perfectly captures
the smallest and closest macro subjects as near as 1cm from the
camera
- Eye-Fi wireless SD memory card connectivity
- Large 2.7" LCD with 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio that is easy to
view in strong light or underwater
- Movie capture in widescreen 720p HD video at 30 frames per
second
- An HDMI port plays back beautiful high resolution images and video
on HDTVs
Priced at $329.95, the Pentax Optio W90 will ship in April 2010. A
waterproof infrared remote control (sold separately) for use with the
Pentax Optio W90 and other infrared compatible Optio models will be
available at the same time for $29.95.
Link: Pentax
Optio W90 (available for preorder from Amazon.com in black
and pistachio
green)
Pentax X90
Pentax also announced the latest model in the manufacturer's
megazoom digital camera line: the Pentax X90.
x90_3qleftview_flashup_sm.jpg
With an extra-wide zoom, longer battery life than its predecessor
and an electronic viewfinder, the X90 delivers effortless
picture-taking in a wide variety of situations to photographers of all
levels. The key feature of the Pentax X90 is the 26x megazoom,
super-telephoto lens (26-676mm equivalent) also designed with a Macro
mode that focuses to less than one inch away to capture images of
subjects that are near or far. Other important features of the Pentax
X90 include:
- 12.1 megapixel sensor, ideal for large prints or cropping
flexibility
- 2.7 inch LCD with antireflection coating or electronic viewfinder
with new diopter adjustment for composing and playback of images and
video
- Triple Shake Reduction technology includes a high quality
mechanical sensor-shift SR mechanism, Digital Pixel Track and high ISO
SR, and Movie SR
- High speed continuous shooting up to 11 frames per second
- Powerful, lightweight Lithium Ion battery and improved power
efficiency
- Like the Optio W90, the Pentax X90 features Eye-Fi connectivity and
an HDMI port.
x90_topview_sm.jpg
Priced at $399.95, the Pentax X90 will ship in April 2010.
Link: Pentax X90
(available for preorder from Amazon.com)
MacSpeech Calisto Headset Savings Continue
PR: <img src="{filedir_4}323th.jpg" border="0" alt="image"
name="image" width="98" height="81" align="left" hspace="10" /> Last
month, MacSpeech offered you $50 savings on the Plantronics Calisto
Headset with Bluetooth USB Adapter. This offer is just so darned
popular, they've decided to keep the it going. Through March 31,
MacSpeech will continue to deduct a Grant (as in President Ulysses S.
Grant, featured on the face of the 50-dollar bill) when you enter the
coupon code CALISTO30 at check-out.
3192.jpg
The Calisto headset is perfect for anyone who likes to walk and
talk: it lets you roam up to 33 feet away from your Mac and it weighs
less than an ounce. It also features up to eight hours of talk time and
240 hours of standby time. The Calisto even doubles as a multipoint
device so you can pair it with another Bluetooth device, such as a cell
phone, when you're not using it to dictate.
The MacSpeech Dictate family of products provides unparalleled
freedom; freedom from your mouse, freedom from your keyboard. And now
MacSpeech Dictate provides unmatched freedom of movement when used with
the Plantronics Calisto Bluetooth headset bundle that includes a
pre-paired USB adapter.
System Requirements: Plantronics Calisto Headset with Bluetooth USB
Adapter requires MacSpeech Dictate speech recognition solution 1.5.5 or
greater; Intel-based Mac with Mac OS X 10.5.6 Leopard through Mac OS X
10.6 Snow Leopard. The included Bluetooth USB Adapter is required for
using the headset with MacSpeech Dictate.
Certified for a Great Experience
MacSpeech exclusively certifies the Plantronics Calisto headset with
USB Bluetooth adapter for use with the entire MacSpeech Dictate family
of superior speech recognition products.
Fantasic Quality and Features
The Calisto headset provides these state-of-the-art features:
- Industry leading sound clarity thanks to its extended microphone
boom and noise canceling technology
- Range of up to 10 meters (up to 33 feet) from headset to
adapter
- Lightweight- only 0.67 ounces
- Exceptional battery life of up to 8 hours of talk time, and up to
240 hours of standby time
- Extremely comfortable ear interface
- Single button control for volume
- Easily adjustable for left and right ear
- Includes USB charging cable
What's more, the Calisto headset is a multipoint device. That means
you can pair it with the Plantronics Bluetooth USB Adapter and one
other Bluetooth device, such as your cell phone, smartphone or iPhone.
The Calisto headset even sports answer, end call, and redial
capabilities via its single button user interface.
Go Solo with the Calisto Headset
Already have a MacSpeech Dictate product, version 1.5.5 or later?
Add the Calisto headset to your setup.
$149
Calisto Headset bundled with MacSpeech dictate - $299
MacSpeech Dictate supports 13 different English dialects, provides
near perfect accuracy of up to 99%, works with the apps you already
have, and much more, and comes bundled with the Plantronics Calisto
Headset with Bluetooth USB Adapter.
Link:
MacSpeech
Software
Pure Vinyl Recorder Makes High Quality
Transcriptions of Vinyl Recordings
PR: Pure Vinyl is the first software of its kind to directly
link audiophile caliber analog vinyl playback and the advantages of
high-resolution (192 KHz / 24 bit) digital audio reproduction and
recording / archival.
making_t.jpeg
Used with a quality audio interface, Pure Vinyl is capable of
providing stunningly dynamic, detailed music reproduction, faithfully
preserving and conveying all of the music contained in the grooves of
your vinyl records.
And it's fun: Pure Vinyl uses the audio information in the sound
file to recreate a realistic-looking and -spinning replica of the vinyl
recording. The image assists in editing and provides a tonearm style
cueing controller and display during playback.
Pure Vinyl has a no-compromise 64-bit internal signal path. This
will, of course, transport unchanged native format (up to 192 KHz 24
bit) audio; or also upsample lower resolution audio to the best quality
(up to 192 KHz, 24 or 32 bit) available for your particular audio
interface / DAC, using our painstakingly developed high quality 64-bit
upsampling algorithm.
pv3pr2dT.jpg
Pure Vinyl provides a single point of integration for your analog
and your digitally sourced music.
Besides being specifically tailored to high quality vinyl playback,
Pure Vinyl 3 also functions as a music server, for automated, "jukebox"
style playback of tracks from your iTunes music library, including
high-resolution downloads, music from CDs, or purchased from
iTunes.
pv3pr2vT.jpeg
High - Quality Playback
Pure Vinyl applies an extremely accurate inverse - RIAA vinyl
correction curve in real-time during playback. Your music is reproduced
as accurately as possible, by eliminating the distortion and frequency
response errors of analog based hardware.
Does Using Software RIAA Correction 'Reduce Resolution?'
No - as can easily be determined via listening, and as proven in a
technical paper (available on our downloads page) that was presented at
the Audio Engineering Society (AES) Convention in 2007. (Also see the
Pure Vinyl FAQ for more information.)
- Recording Pure Vinyl was designed specifically for creating
high-resolution, archival quality transcriptions of your precious
vinyl, at sample rates up to 192 KHz (or higher). Pure Vinyl
automatically can downsample and mirror to CD or DVD-A formats during
recording, for digital jukebox use. Pure Vinyl uses standard audio file
formats: AIFF, Sound Designer II, m4a (losslessly compressed) and Apple
CoreAudio format (either uncompressed or losslessly compressed).
- "Revolutionary" Editing / Exporting Pure Vinyl uses the "scratch"
style, grab-and-spin metaphor employed by professional DJs, with
"needle drop" track cueing. It's an intuitive, fun way to assign track
markers - instead of being unnecessarily tedious, as with conventional,
linear-style waveform editors. After editing, individual tracks
automatically can be extracted and exported from the original
file.
- Peak Detection / Normalization / Pop and Click Removal Pure Vinyl
incorporates features to streamline this tedious (but ultimately
rewarding) task. The built-in peak finder and waveform inspector is
useful for setting proper normalization levels.
All editing, normalization, and click removal operations are
nondestructive to the original file.
playsys.jpeg
General:
- Supports 192 KHz 24 bit Sampling for State of the Art,
High-Resolution Digital Quality
- Painstakingly Designed to Preserve the Warmth, Clarity and Dynamics
of Vinyl Reproduction
- Precision Optimized 64-Bit RIAA Vinyl Correction Curve* (IIR
design, with phase response identical to analog RIAA correction)
- Pristine, 64-bit (Double Precision) Floating-Point Internal Signal
Path for No Added Distortion*
- Helps Optimize Turntable Setup by Providing a Repeatable Baseline:
Just Record and Compare
Features:
- Unique, "Scratch" Style, Grab & Spin "Vinyl Cueing"
Nondestructive Audio Editor: Cueing Trigger "Noise Gate" feature
Automates Recording Process; Just Lift Stylus and Flip the Record
- Integrated, High Quality 64-Bit Sample Rate Converter for Exporting
CD Format Tracks to Digital Players (iTunes, iPod, CD-R): ZEPHRR Zero
Phase Shift 64-Bit Rumble Filter for Resampling; Adjustable Frequency,
up to 96 dB / octave slope
- Adjustable Noise-Shaped Dithering for Word-Length Reduction:
Includes Dozens of Built-In Correction Curves for pre-1955 Vinyl /
Shellac
- Bonus: Upsampling (to 88.2, 96, 176.4 or 192 KHz, using 64-bit
math) Player for Highest Quality Playback of iTunes Tracks
- Another Bonus: Built-In Subwoofer Crossover (with 64-bit internal
resolution and Adjustable Time / Phase Alignment) for Multichannel
Audio Interfaces
*Perfect interchannel phase and amplitude match (zero interchannel
error); no capacitors needed in the signal chain! The residual
distortion with double precision (64-bit) processing is too small to
measure; far below the resolution threshold of 24 bit audio interfaces,
and superior to the 32 bit ("single precision") signal processing used
in most other audio applications.
New in version 3.0PR5g:
- improves usability and fixes a channel routing problem when using
the crossover feature (namely, if the multichannel routing were set so
that a higher-numbered pair of channels was configured to produce flat
output, that setting would be ignored, and the output of the crossover
filter applied to that pair of channels, as well).
- Corrects a problem causing a TASCAM US-144 USB audio interface to
not be properly initialized (the symptom being no input or
output).
- RME FireFace users only: this release also adds support for the DDS
sample rate feature of the RME audio interfaces. DDS permits plus or
minus 4 percent audio pitch control at any supported sample rate. This
is accomplished not by resampling the audio, but by changing the
frequency of the sample rate clock, using the DDS pane of the RME
Fireface settings application. If you choose to use this feature, be
certain the DDS frequency multiplier and base sample rate are correctly
set for the file's nominal sample rate - unless you want to play
something drastically speeded up or slowed down! Note that if Pure
Vinyl changes the hardware sample rate in response to encountering a
different audio file sample rate, the DDS Active check box will
automatically be turned off, and will have to manually be rechecked
again to continue with a modified sample rate.
System Requirements:
- Mac OS X 10.5 or later.
- G4, G5, or Intel processor.
Platform Support: PPC/Intel
$229 demoware
Link: Pure Vinyl
Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 for Mac: Achieve Photo
Perfection at a $20 Discount
PR: Make the most of your memories by upgrading to Adobe
Photoshop Elements 8 for Mac. Works great with iPhoto - Save $20 -
$79.99 after $20 mail-in rebate
51EXMQhXhqL._SL500_AA280__.jpg
- Fix flaws fast. Get just the photo fixes you're looking for
with the new one-step shortcuts that whiten teeth and make skies a
vibrant blue.
- Recompose. Change the size or orientation of a photo - even
go from landscape to portrait or vice versa - without distorting key
subjects like people or buildings.
- Get the best exposure. Snap one photo with the flash on and
one with the flash off and automatically combine the shots into a
perfectly lit photo.
- Clean the scene. Easily brush away any distracting elements
that changed positions between multiple photos - like cars or
pedestrians - and create a single composite with just the look you
want.
- Use a single stroke. Simultaneously select a specific photo
area and apply incredible effects with a single stroke. With over 50
sophisticated effects, you have endless options.
Terms and Conditions
$20 Mail-in Rebate Terms and Conditions: Mail-in Rebate offer valid
in the United States, Canada (excluding Quebec), and the territory of
Puerto Rico only. Offer void where prohibited or restricted by law.
Offer valid for purchases made from September 23, 2009 through October
31, 2010. All rebate claims must be postmarked no later than six weeks
from the date of purchase of Photoshop Elements 8, Photoshop Elements 8
for Mac, or Adobe Premiere Elements 8 software (the "Software").
Consumers who purchase the Software from any one of the following
retail establishments are not eligible for a
rebate: Best Buy, BestBuy.com, BJ's, Sam's Club, OfficeMax, and
Walmart. Submissions that include receipts from any one of the
above retail establishments will be rejected. The rebate is paid in US
currency only.
For complete redemption instructions for both Electronic
Software
For each email confirmation order number, only one rebate per
eligible product is allowed. Consumer is responsible for any applicable
taxes. Allow up to eight weeks from the date you mailed your rebate
submission to receive your rebate. Rebate will be mailed to the address
provided on the Rebate Claim Form. Lost, late, misdirected, torn,
mutilated, incomplete, invalid, damaged, postage due, or illegible
claims are not the responsibility of Adobe Systems Incorporated and
will not be eligible for the rebate. For questions regarding the status
of your rebate claim, visit www.web-rebates.com/adobe or call
866-599-3906. Adobe reserves the right to change the terms of this
offer or suspend this offer at any time. Offer not subject to terms or
claims of individual retailers. Offer not valid with any other Adobe
promotional offer. This rebate offer is not valid for licensees of
education or volume licensing versions of Photoshop Elements. All
obligations of Adobe will be discharged by issuing the rebate and
mailing it to the address you provide on the Rebate Claim Form. To
register your software, choose Help > Registration in the
product.
Link: Adobe Photoshop
Elements 8 for Mac
Desktop Mac
Deals
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