A real blast from the past this week - one story about a Mac IIci that finally died after 20 years of use, another
about Classilla, an adaptation of the Mozilla code
base to the classic Mac OS. And on the cutting edge, the revelation
that we just might see the new superspeed USB 3.0
protocol implemented on Macs before the end of the year. USB 3.0 is 10x
faster than 2.0, can handle incoming and outbound data simultaneously,
and provides up to 80% more power to USB 3.0 devices - that means
faster charging for your iPhone, iPod, etc.
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
Mac IIci Finally Dies After 20 Years
Cult of Mac's Leander Kahney reports:
"Apple rightly has a reputation for making quality gear. The company
doesn't make junk that breaks down in a few months, or even years. Or
even 20 years.
"MacMedics, a repair shop in Millersville, Maryland, recently
serviced a Macintosh IIci, which
was on the blink after two decades of faithful service."
Link:
After 20 Years, Mac IIci Finally Dies
Why Get a Mac Instead of a PC?
The New
Zealand Herald's Mark Webster comments:
"As TechRadar in Britain puts it, 'Macs are
beautifully designed and engineered, not simply from an aesthetic
perspective but, more importantly for many, in usability terms too. The
operating system is generally fast, elegant and - thanks to its Unix
pedigree - secure and incredibly powerful as well.'
"[Many] think they're paying too much for products with Apple badges
on them . . . But despite any real or perceived price
differentiation, Macs still
score very well on reliability....
"Once someone comes up with the money, they tend to keep sending it
Apple's way. Strangely, even a search on Microsoft's new search engine
Bing tells you to use a Mac if you type in 'should I use a Mac or a
PC?'...
"Apple also polled best in New Zealand for after sales service
. . . 99 per cent of NZ Apple desktop computer owners
reported 'satisfaction' with their Macs . . . 15.91 per cent
of the respondents in NZ owned (or used) Macs . . . And all
but 1 per cent of them would buy Macs again."
Link:
Why Bother Getting a Mac?
Macs Could Have USB 3.0 This Year
Macsimum
News's Dennis Sellers thinks Apple will be one of the early adopters of
USB 3.0 (also known as SuperSpeed USB), which will theoretically offer
transfer throughput up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0, but Sellers
suggests that FireWire (including the upcoming FireWire 3200) still has
several advantages over USB 3.0 citing a 2007
comparison of the two technologies by Tech-Blorge's Triston
McIntyre, and noting that there's no reason Macs can't have both
FireWire and USB 3.0 ports.
Link:
Macs Could Have USB 3.0 Connectivity Before Year's End
Can an SD Card Startup Disk Be Used with Any
Mac?
Macworld's
Roman Loyola says:
"Last week, I posted a
video on how-to create an SD card startup disk for the new MacBook
Pros, the ones with the built-in SD card slot. I got several e-mail
responses to that video, all of them asking . . . can an SD
card startup disk be used on any Mac?"
Loyola did some informal testing found that in some cases it can but
many others not.
Link: Can
an SD Card Startup Disk Be Used on Any Mac?
30" LCD Showdown: Apple vs. Dell
The
Apple Blog's James Dempsey says that in his quest to upgrade an aging
dual-monitor setup for his Mac Pro, the only real decision to make was
choosing between an Apple 30 Cinema Display and a Dell 30 UltraSharp
Widescreen. He ended up going with the $800 cheaper Dell and explains
why (not just because of the price).
Link: 30"
LCD Display Showdown: Apple vs. Dell
Products & Services
Take Control of Safari 4
PR: Close on the heels of Apple's release of the Safari 4 Web
browser, TidBITS Publishing Inc. has published Take Control of
Safari 4 ($10) by Sharon Zardetto.
The 92-page book helps beginning and intermediate Mac users learn
new Safari 4 features like Top Sites and searching the page content of
bookmarks and history, and it provides essential advice on smart ways
to manage bookmarks, load multiple Web pages at once, fill out forms
automatically, keep track of passwords, download files, keep up with
favorite Web sites via RSS, and manage Web-browsing history.
Readers will find answers to common questions like these:
How do I load six Web pages at once?- Now that I've loaded six pages, how do I best work with them?
- What are all the keyboard shortcuts for working with tabs?
- How do I bookmark a page I want to return to?
- How do I import Firefox bookmarks?
- I have 1,042 bookmarks. Is there a sensible way to search or
organize them?
- What are the default keyboard shortcuts for the bookmarks bar?
- Can I search for text on the currently active Web page?
- How do I erase my history to prevent someone snooping through
it?
- Where does Safari store Web site user names and passwords?
- Help! However Safari stored my password, it doesn't work any
more!
- How do I use Safari to read RSS headlines from different
sites?
- How do I "snip" a Web page to make it into a Dashboard widget?
Sharon Zardetto has been writing about the Macintosh professionally
since 1984, including nearly a thousand articles in Macintosh magazines
and over 20 books. She's best known for writing several editions of
The Macintosh Bible, along with The Mac Almanac.
-
Take Control of Safari 4
- Publisher: TidBITS
- Sharon Zardetto
- Take Control of Safari 4,
- PDF format,
- 92 pages,
- free 30-page
sample available
- PDF Price: $10
OWC Memory Upgrades for 2008 iMacs Offer up to 70%
Savings over Factory Upgrade
PR: Other World Computing (OWC) announces OWC DDR2 800MHz
Memory Upgrades are now available up to 6GB for iMac Core 2 Duo Aluminum (Early
2008/Penryn) models. OWC Memory Upgrades offer these iMac model
users the advantages of two upgrade options not available from the
factory and a cost savings up to 70% on the same size 4GB Kit upgrade,
plus a Lifetime Advance Replacement Warranty and Money Back
Guarantee.
OWC Memory Upgrades up to 6GB for Apple iMac Core 2 Duo (Early
2008/Penryn) models:
- OWC 1GB DDR2 800MHz Memory Module - $15.99
68% lower cost than factory 1GB upgrade.
- OWC 2GB DDR2 800MHz Memory Module - $29.99
70% lower cost than factory 2GB upgrade.
- OWC 4GB (2 x 2GB matched memory modules) DDR2 800MHz Memory Kit -
$59.97
70% lower cost than factory 4GB upgrade.
- OWC 4GB DDR2 800MHz Memory Module - $149.99
Add to existing 1GB or 2GB factory module for up to 6GB total
memory.
Available from OWC only - Not offered by factory.
- OWC 6GB (2GB + 4GB matched memory modules) DDR2 800MHz Memory Kit -
$167.99
Available from OWC only - Not offered by factory.
For more information on OWC Memory Upgrades for every iMac model
produced since 1998, visit <https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/iMac>
FireWire External Storage Solutions up to 4TB Starting at
$165.99
OWC also offers iMac Core 2 Duo (Early 2008) owners a wide choice of
Plug and Play, fully bootable, high performance FireWire 800 external
storage solutions up to 4TB for faster system performance and higher
capacity over the stock internal drive. Prices start at $165.99 for the
award-winning 1TB OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro™ "Quad Interface"
FireWire 800/FireWire 400/USB 2.0/eSATA storage solution.
For more information on OWC FireWire External Storage Solutions,
visit <https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/>
OWC memory upgrades are available from 16MB up to 32GB for nearly
every current and past Apple notebook and desktop computer manufactured
during the past twenty years, including Mac Pro Xeon, iMac, PowerMac,
Xserve, iBook, and PowerBook computers. By maintaining an active
state-of-the-art test lab, OWC can ensure its memory upgrades offer the
highest product quality and reliability and backs them with a Lifetime
Advance Replacement Warranty and Money Back Guarantee.
OWC's independent memory benchmarks testing on a wide variety of Mac
computers consistently demonstrates having more memory provides higher
real-world performance. OWC memory performance gains are even more
apparent when using memory intensive applications, such as audio/video,
photo, 3D modeling, gaming and other applications, where OWC memory
upgrades offer the best performance for the investment.
Link: Memory
Upgrade Options for 2008 iMac Models
Software
Classilla: A Modern Browser for Mac OS 9
PR: Classilla is a free, open source browser for Mac OS 9
(and where possible Mac OS 8.6), bringing back web browser support to
your classic Macintosh - built on WaMCoM, a port of Mozilla to classic
Macintosh systems, using the same technology underpinning the popular
Firefox browser. It's completely free, it's open source, and it's
standards-compliant. Use it without cost or restriction; or, if you've
got the skills, hack it and make it your own. Classilla brings your
wonderful old Power Macintoshes back to life and back online.
Classilla: The look of classic Netscape with Mozilla (adapted for OS 9)
under the hood.
It's worth repeating: Classilla isn't finished. WaMCom's last update
was in 2003, and that means six years of Mozilla patches and updates to
catch up on. While Classilla has a lot of critical patches applied
(which is why it's being released, even in unfinished form, since
WaMCoM is now not present on its mirrors), there are still security,
stability and compatibility issues yet to be fixed and many sites still
won't work, or worse. You will be using software that is still in
evolution. Exciting, right? Yes. And quite possibly unstable. Know what
you're getting into. Using Classilla is at your own risk. There are
still many bugs!
Remember: the Classilla maintainers and administrators are not
responsible for any damage to your computer, data or operating system
that Classilla may do. Again, you use Classilla at your OWN RISK. We
eat our own dog food, but that doesn't mean it always tastes good.
Classilla is exclusively for the classic MacOS
While Mozilla is a cross-platform environment, and Classilla is
based on its XPFE system, Classilla's highest priority is whether it
works on classic Macintosh, and any features that get added all have
the same requirement. If it'll work and it'll help, it'll be in
Classilla. If Mozilla's code won't work as is and Classilla needs that
feature, it'll be rewritten, even from scratch if possible. Classilla
isn't designed as an application where MacOS support is an
afterthought; it's built to be Mac first and always.
Classilla isn't a replacement for other browsers or iCab
Classilla doesn't replace, and isn't designed to replace, the
excellent iCab. While it will of course
replace Mozilla and WaMCoM, if that's what you're using, and has much
better support than Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator, there are
still many sites you may need to use a combination of browsers to view.
Classilla is much faster, and its JavaScript is much more robust, but
iCab still has the edge for CSS and layout. And at least for a while,
that's how it's going to be.
Support those who still support the classic Mac; if you're serious
about using the Web on an OS 9 system, let Alexander know by
registering iCab. Then use Classilla where you can, and iCab where you
must, and get all your bases covered.
Classilla is a browser with a future
Classilla has two purposes: first and foremost, to get a modern web
browser running again on classic Macs. But secondly, it's a seed: not
only does it get a process established for building itself, it
establishes a template for other free open-source projects to follow.
By putting the ability to maintain our own software in our own hands,
as users of classic Macs, we ensure that OS 9 will continue to
survive. Classilla has a path for maintenance and a means to improve
based on a solid foundation. It's not a dead end.
Classilla isn't going to get there without your help
Classilla sure needs users: Users appear in server logs and remind
site owners that the whole world isn't using Windows or Internet
Explorer. But to continue to advance, Classilla needs contributors -
and you can help out even if you don't know the first thing about
developing for OS 9.
Can't code in C or OS 9, but you know a lot about HTML and CSS?
Become a distiller and help turn malfunctions into test cases, so that
coders can devise specific, targetted fixes. Find out how on the
Classilla Wiki.
Know enough C/C++ to be dangerous? Become a coder and help integrate
Mozilla patches into Classilla, or even write completely new features.
You don't even have to know much about Mac programming to be helpful -
if you know CodeWarrior at all, come help out. Find out how on the
Classilla Wiki.
Link: Classilla
GrandReporter Automatically Searches the Web for
You
PR: GrandReporter lets you automate searches over the
Internet. Create your own queries in GrandReporter, and it will scan
for new web information periodically.
As soon as a new page on one of the subjects that you want to survey
is detected on the Internet, you will be warned, and you can view and
classify it and save interesting pages in bookmarks.
Handle
Searches on the Web
- Automate your searches on the web.
- Create your own queries.
- Surveys and detects any new page for the subjects that you are
looking for.
- Preview, save, mark, share, and classify the found pages.
- Bookmarks, smart lists, etc.
- And much more...
GrandReporter makes your life easier to search over the internet.
You can create your own queries in Grand Reporter for each of the
subjects you are interested in and want to be surveyed. You will be
informed as soon as a new page related to one of your queries is
detected on the Internet. New pages are added in the request
results.
GrandReporter displays and saves the pages found for each query. New
pages as added as not yet read items. You can view each page in the
internal browser, give a quote to interesting pages, delete or classify
pages. You can also exclude certain websites of your results.
Pages that you are interested in can be stored as bookmarks, so that
you can retrieve them easily later. You can create multiple lists and
group them by themes. Classify is independant of the request that found
the pages.
You can also
create smart lists. Smart lists contents are automatically updated,
based on the criterias you have set for each smart list.
Pages added in bookmarks are saved and can be viewed in
GrandReporter, even if the original page no longer exists on the
Web.
Pages in bookmarks can be shared with other persons, send by email,
etc.
GrandReporter vs. Search Engines
Google and other web search engines are fine to search over the web,
but you must restart the same request from ground again and again to
find new pages with the desired contents. Another annoying point is
that new pages are mixed with previously found pages, and you have to
go through all results to detect the new ones.
GrandReporter does the job for you, and does it automatically,
warning you when new pages are found.
GrandReporter vs. RSS Feeds
RSS Feeds are created and fed by persons about various subjects.
They are very interesting, but sometime RSS Feeds are not accurate
enough, or too specific for your own needs.
GrandReporter can bring to you all information about your specific
needs. It is like your personnal RSS Feed provider for subjects you are
looking for.
Examples of Use
- You start presenting a new product over the Web and want to detect
all the pages that are talking of your product on the Internet, day
after day. GrandReporter warns you and displays the new pages.
- You want to be automatically informed of the apparition of any new
page talking about a subject that interest you, regardless of where the
information comes from. GrandReporter detects the new pages and saves
the links.
- You survey a particular website, and want to know when an
information will be published. GrandReporter will warn you as soon as a
new information is available.
- You want to buy a product on line, and want to keep track of its
price and how it evolves. GrandReporter shows the changes, and saves
the links.
- You want to find again a person, and want to launch a wide search
on the web. GrandReporter saves the links of the pages related to this
person.
- You prepare a travel, and want to constitue documentation and
information about it. GrandReporter saves the links of the found
pages.
Main Features
- Create unlimited number of requests.
- Create search requests for all websites, or limited to certain
websites only.
- Search and survey is done in background (no need to have
GrandReporter launched permanently).
- Warn of new pages found, even if GrandReporter is not
launched.
- Web pages preview in integrated browser.
- Manage, classify, remove found pages.
- Bookmarks to store your prefered web pages.
- Smart lists.
A trial version is available for evaluation. The trial version is
fully functional and has these limitations:
- A maximum of 3 requests can be created.
- A maximum of 3 lists of bookmarks.
Final version available at the end of July 2009
Universal Binary
System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5 and later
€29/$29
Link: GrandReporter
BatchPhoto: Free Online Image Converter and
Editor
PR: Convert, resize, crop, and rotate images easily from any
computer connected to the Internet and without the need to install a
software program.
Bits&Coffee, the creators of batch image converter program
BatchPhoto, introduces today an online application designed to perform
common image processing operations on pictures.
BatchPhoto lets your edit images on the Net.
The online application can perform operations like: convert, resize,
crop, and rotate. The tool is designed to be easy to use and easily
accessible from any computer connected to the Internet without the need
to install a software program. This is a free, no-frills service
offered by Bits&Coffee as a complement to its commercial image
converter program, BatchPhoto.
The online image converter can read about a dozen graphic formats
and convert the uploaded images to almost 100 image formats, including
popular formats such as: JPEG, PDF, TIFF, GIF, PNG, TGA, and BMP. Users
can easily resize photos based on predefined profiles or custom
specified dimmensions in either pixels or percentages.
Users can also crop pictures with the crop feature of the online
application. The cropping rectangle can be visually adjusted and also
manual fine-tunings can be made to the coordinates. The rotate feature
allows the correction of portrait photos that were saved as landscape,
by rotating with 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise.
The online application can be accessed from any computer or device
connected to the Internet.
Bits&Coffee will continue the development of this tool with the
addition of new and useful features. Bits&Coffee SRL is a privately
held software company from Craiova, Romania (European Union).
For more information, contact Bits&Coffee, street Spania P6-3,
200726 Romania. Phone: +40(722)242-277 Fax: +40(351)430-046.
Link: BatchPhoto
XMenu 1.9 and EasyFind 4.5 - Snippets at Your
Fingertips
PR: DEVONtechnologies releases updates for the popular
freeware find utility EasyFind and the menu bar application and file
launcher XMenu. The updates add a number of useful features to the
freeware utilities EasyFind and XMenu and fix a few minor bugs.
EasyFind finds files, folders, or contents in any file without the need
for indexing. XMenu adds one or more global menus to the right side of
the menu bar.
DEVONtechnologies, LLC releases updates for the popular freeware
find-find utility EasyFind and the menu bar application and file
launcher XMenu. The updates add a number of useful features to the
freeware utilities EasyFind and XMenu and fix a few minor bugs.
EasyFind 4.5 now supports Quick Look, highlights occurrences in file
and folder names, and offers the same extended Boolean operators that
are used by DEVONthink and DEVONagent. EasyFind 4.5 can conduct
searches using fuzzy logic, ignores umlauted characters if desired, and
comes with a standard toolbar now.
XMenu 1.9 adds a new 'snippets' menu that lets the user insert the
contents of plain and rich text snippets, clippings, and Internet
location files with a single menu choice. By using folders (creating
sub-menus) users can store virtually unlimited numbers of text modules
and still access them quickly and conveniently. New menu icons make the
XMenu menus easier to distinguish.
"The new Snippets menu makes XMenu even more useful. All your
frequently used text bits, even web addresses, are now just one click
away. We are happy to support the great Mac user community by offering
XMenu and EasyFind free of charge", comments Eric Bohnisch-Volkmann,
President of DEVONtechnologies.
Background: Easyfind
EasyFind finds files, folders, or contents in any file without the
need for indexing. This is especially useful if you are tired of slow
or impossible indexing, outdated or corrupted indexes, or if you are
just looking for missing features like case sensitive or insensitive
search, Boolean operators, wildcards, or searching for phrases.
EasyFind previews files using QuickLook on Mac OS X 10.5 or later.
Highlights:
- Boolean operators, wildcards, phrases
- Extended Boolean operators, similar to DEVONthink and
DEVONagent
- Immediate searches, no indexing required
- Finds invisible files and files inside packages (something
Spotlight doesn't do)
- Displays the location of each file in a separate column
- Previews files using QuickLook (Mac OS X 10.5 or later)
- Provides contextual menus and services
- Supports drag-and-drop
- Very responsive, thanks to multithreading
- Uses very little memory
Background: Xmenu
XMenu adds one or more global menus to the right side of the menu
bar. They give you access to your preferred applications, folders,
documents, files, and snippets. Launch any application or insert text
snippets or URLs into your email messages or Pages documents with a
single menu choice.
Highlights:
- No need for configuration
- Six predefined folders: Applications, Developer Applications, Home,
Documents, User-Defined, and Snippets
- Keeps all your snippets and text modules handy
- Operates as a menu extra, requires no hacks or extensions
- Ideal replacement for Dock folders in Mac OS X 10.5
EasyFind 4.5 and XMenu can be used free of charge and are available
on the DEVONtechnologies website.
Link: Freeware from
DEVONtechnologies
Cornerstone Bible: 15 Bible Translations Plus
Bible Study Tools
PR: Cornerstone Bible has 15 translations and 3
commentaries
- KJV - NKJV - AMP - ASV - DBY - The Message - NKJV - LIV - RSV - CEV
- Webster's Bible - NCV - Young's Bible - Spanish - French
- One Year Bible, TNIV
- Matthew Henry's Commetary - Wesley's Notes - Scofield Reference
Notes -
- Strong's with Greek and Hebrew Lexicons
- Encyclopedia - Easton's and Fausset's Dictionary - The Treasury of
Scripture Knowledge
- Devotionals - Bible Toons - Bible Maps and Time Lines
Outline of Cornerstone Bible 7.1
Bibles
- King James Version
- The Amplified Bible
- American Standard Version
- Darby Bible Translation
- The Living Bible
- New King James Version
- The Message
- New Century Version
- Revised Standard Version
- Today's New International Version
- Webster's Bible Translation
- Contemporary English Version
- Young's Literal Translation
- Spanish - La Biblia Reina-Valera
- French - Louis Segond
- Commentaries
- Matthew Henry's Commentaries
- Wesley's Notes
- Scofield Reference Notes
- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
- Strong's Concordance
- Concordance
- KJV with Strong's Numbers and all versions
- Greek Lexicon
- Hebrew Lexicon
- Dictionaries
- Easton's Bible Dictionary
- Fausset's Bible Dictionary
- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
- Naves Topical Bible
- Names of God
- Bible History and Maps
- Bible Maps
- Time Lines
- Diagrams
- Bible History
- On This Day in Church History
- Cities - Mountains - Rivers
- Bible Toons
- Four Different Bible Toons Every Day
- Devotionals
- Today's Word
- Spurgeon's Devotional
- Every Day Light
- Living Water for Your Soul
- Daily Disciples
- One Year Bible - TNIV
System requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 or later.
System Support: Intel
Price:
- $25 Shareware - Download Price
- CD by Mail - $35
Link: Cornerstone Bible
Desktop Mac
Deals
Low End Mac updates the following price trackers monthly:
For deals on current and discontinued 'Books, see our 13" MacBook and MacBook Pro,
MacBook Air, 13" MacBook Pro, 15" MacBook Pro, 17" MacBook Pro, 12" PowerBook G4, 15" PowerBook G4, 17" PowerBook G4, titanium PowerBook G4,
iBook G4, PowerBook G3, and iBook G3 deals.
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iPhone, iPod touch, iPod classic, iPod nano, and iPod shuffle deals.
