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News & Opinion
Reviews
Products & Services
News & Opinion
10 Truisms of the Apple Universe
The New
Zealand Herald's Mark Webster says:
"Ruminating on what makes Apple different to other PC companies, a
few truisms spring to mind....
- There's no such thing as a cheap Mac:
- If your Mac develops a fault, you'll take it much more personally
than if it was a PC.
- If your Mac fails, no PC user will hear you scream.
- Macs are deceptively simple. (But Apple CEO Steve Jobs is
deceptively complex.)
- You new Mac probably won't feel that much faster than your old Mac.
But if you go back to your old Mac, you will be shocked at just how
slow it is.
- There are at least two other ways to do things than the way you do
them.
- There are applications in your Applications folder and utilities in
your Utilities folder you have never used.
- Windows runs great on Macs. Or so I hear.
- You don't know what Apple's bringing out next, and nor do I. It's
possible Apple fosters off-beat rumours to create smoke and mirrors to
conceal real plans.
- Some people just don't get it."
Link: Ten Truisms of the Apple Universe
Microsoft Finally Bringing Outlook to Mac
Users
ZD Net's Sam Diaz says:
"I should have been excited to hear that Microsoft is finally
replacing its stale excuse for an e-mail program for the Mac -
Entourage - with a shiny new Mac version of Outlook, due out late next
year.
"But I wasn't - excited about it, that is. You see, I'm already
looking forward to my update to Snow Leopard, the new version of Mac
OS X, next month. One of the upgrades to that OS is support for
Microsoft Exchange in Apple Mail."
Link: Microsoft to Replace Entourage with Outlook. Nice Idea but
Kind of Too Late
Apple Slips Slightly, Still Leads Customer
Satisfaction Survey
Macworld's
Peter Cohen reports:
"The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) has released
customer satisfaction scores for a number of consumer product sectors
including personal computers. While Apple still ranks well above its
competitors, its rating slipped a point compared to a year ago."
Link: Apple Leads in Customer Satisfaction Survey, Despite Slip
Apple Still Satisfaction King, Budget PC Makers
Improving
Silicon.com's Erica Ogg reports that despite gains by Compaq and
Gateway, the 2009 ACSI consumer satisfaction scores show that Apple
continues to lead the pack by a mile, with a score of 84 (a slight
decrease from 85 last year). Its next closest competitor, Dell scored a
distant 75 - the average score for all PC makers - while HP moved from
73 to 74.
Link: Apple Still Satisfaction King Despite Budget PC Makers'
Gains
Mac or PC: Which Comes Out Tops for Business and
Home Use?
Canada's Canoe portal site says:
"There will never be a clear winner in the age-old debate of whether
a Mac beats the PC, or the PC trumps the Mac, but it is infinitely
clear that each enjoys a staunch following of devoted fans.
"The confusion between which is the better of the two, really comes
to light if you are a unbiased consumer looking for the machine that
best suits your needs, or a business owner fielding requests from
individual employees, arguing the necessity for their preferred
platform.
"In this article, we will take a look at the following:
- What's the difference?
- Frequently asked questions about Macs and PCs
- Choosing the right platform for your home/schooling
requirements
- Choosing the right platform for your office environment"
Editor's note: This is a very fair and balanced treatment of the
topic. cm
Link: Mac or PC: Which Comes Out Tops for Business and Home
Use?
Adobe to Cut PowerPC Users Adrift
An updated FAQ posted by Adobe this week serves notice to PowerPC
Mac users that future versions of its Creative Suite software will
support only Intel-based Macs.
Adobe explains:
"With Apple's future development focused on Intel
Macs, Adobe is aligning its resources accordingly. Customers are being
notified to provide fair notice of any changes regarding the operating
systems and hardware supported by Adobe solutions. By announcing these
changes now, Adobe customers will have time to plan their migration
strategy accordingly.
"Adobe intends for future versions of the Creative
Suite range of products to run on Intel based Macs with no support for
their installation on PowerPC systems."
Creative Suite 3 and Creative Suite 4 products are currently
Universal Binary applications, meaning they can be installed on either
a PowerPC Mac or an Intel Mac that meets the minimum system
requirements of the Creative Suite application being installed.
Adobe also says it will discontinue releasing patches for PowerPC
systems running Creative Suite, based on the rational evaluation that
the majority of erstwhile Mac PowerPC platform users have transitioned
to more current configurations, prompting Adobe to suspend support for
the PowerPC platform. However, Adobe also says it recognizes the
investment customers have in its software and believes in giving fair
notice of any changes regarding the operating systems and hardware that
their solutions support, and hopes that by announcing its roadmap
intentions early, customers will have time to plan their migration
strategies accordingly.
There is no mention of how this will affect related consumer
applications such as Adobe Photoshop Elements, but my deduction would
be that PPC Elements is likely to be discontinued as well when the
current (and getting a bit long in the tooth) PSE 6 is superseded.
Link: Adobe
Creative Suite FAQ
Reviews
MacSpeech Dictate: Voice Recognition for OS X
AppStorm's
David Appleyard says:
"MacSpeech
Dictate is undoubtedly the leading speech recognition application
for the Mac, designed for the platform from the ground up. At $200 it
certainly doesn't come cheap, but offers an incredibly powerful feature
set and arrives bundled with a high-quality, noise canceling microphone
headset.
"This review will assess the quality of speech recognition in
MacSpeech Dictate, take a look at the features on offer, and outline
how it is capable of controlling your Mac."
Link: MacSpeech Dictate: Voice Recognition for OS X
Products & Services
Verbatim 500 GB InSight USB Portable Hard Drive
with LCD Display
PR: For a portable hard drive that continuously displays
available free space, take a peek at the Verbatim InSight hard drive
with an Always On LCD that shows the drives available free space and
personalized name.
The Always On LCD display automatically updates when the drive is
connected and/or safely dismounted and is easily renamed right from
your PC or Mac.
Compatible with all USB connections, the InSight drive includes a
USB 2.0 cable, a Quick Start guide and Nero BackItUp software that
offer full system backup/restore functions and optional password
security. Compact but big on storage capacity, the InSight drive is
available in a sleek piano-black finish with capacities of 320 GB and
500 GB and carries a 5-year limited warranty.
With an Always On display, the Verbatim InSight hard drive is a
plug-and-play external drive that keeps you in the know even when its
disconnected.
Features & Benefits
- Features an Always On LCD that displays a personalized drive name
and available free space.
- View the Always On LCD display without power
- Identify drive and free space without connecting to a PC
- Windows and Mac compatible
- 5-year limited warranty
Package Includes: InSight Hard Drive, USB 2.0 cable, Quick Start
Guide
System Requirements:
- USB 1.1 or 2.0 Port
- Windows 2000, XP, Vista or
- Mac OS X 10.1 or higher
Specifications
- Rotational Speed - 5400 RPM
- Display - 32 x 128 pixels always on cholesteric display
- External Power - USB bus-powered
- Interface - One USB mini-B port
- Data Transfer Rate - USB 2.0 High-Speed: 480 Mb/s (max), USB 1.1
Full Speed: 12 Mb/s (max)
- Unit Dimensions - 5.99 in. X 3.37 in. X 0.63 in. (151.12 mm x 85.51
mm x 16.0 mm)
- Unit Weight - 0.36 lb. (161.59 g)
- Capacity/Speed: 500 GB/5400 RPM
Verbatim InSight drives are currently available from Amazon.com at
$126.99
for 320 GB, $138.58
for 500 GB. These prices include free ground shipping.
Link: 500 GB InSight USB Portable Hard Drive with Display
SanDisk Enhances Cruzer Enterprise Secure USB
Drives to Meet the Needs of Federal Government Employees
PR: SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory
cards, has announced that its SanDisk Cruzer Enterprise secure USB
flash drives are now enhanced to meet the unique requirements of
government employees.
The Cruzer Enterprise design was independently
tested and certified under Military Standard 810-F environmental
standards in addition to being suitable for use by the
visually-impaired under Section 508 requirements. Cruzer Enterprise
drives feature industry-leading cryptographic modules and encryption
algorithms, durable waterproof design, and are fully compliant with
Trade Agreements Act (TAA) requirements for purposes of US Government
procurements. In addition, the Cruzer Enterprise line of flash drives
is listed for Common Criteria certification, which it is expected to
receive next month.
Military Standard 810-F Design and Waterproof:
The federal government requires that IT devices meet certain design
standards in order to prevent the loss of critical information if the
host drive is ever exposed to liquid. This feature is particularly
important for military and health care settings, which often involve
sensitive information as well as an increased risk of exposure for the
storage drive. SanDisk's line of Cruzer Enterprise flash drives passed
an environmental test conducted by an independent laboratory, and was
certified as meeting Military Standard 810-F 506.4 and 512.4 when
submitted to immersion and rainy conditions using fresh water.
Section 508 Compliance:
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires federal
agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible
to people with disabilities. The law was enacted to eliminate barriers
in information technology, to provide new opportunities for people with
disabilities as well as to encourage the development of technologies
that will help achieve these goals.
SanDisk reconfigured the Cruzer Enterprises graphical user interface
(GUI) to increase accessibility for visually-impaired users. The
encrypted USB drives are now compatible with certain assistive
technologies such as screen reader software that recreates the Cruzer
Enterprises GUI through text-to-speech representation or via a Braille
output device.
SanDisk has upgraded the Cruzer Enterprise product line to meet the
needs of a much broader range of users, said Yariv Fishman, director of
product marketing, enterprise solutions, SanDisk. By reconfiguring the
USB drives GUI, we increased the accessibility of important information
technology to the visually-impaired. Additionally, the drives
waterproof design is a perfect fit for health care professionals,
soldiers and anyone else who needs to safeguard their critical data
from harmful contact with liquid.
To further meet the federal governments need for secure storage,
SanDisk intends to implement Common Access Card (CAC) and Personal
Identity Verification (PIV) functionality on its Cruzer Enterprise
flash drives in accordance with Department of Defense and FIPS 201
standards. Smart cards are issued as a standard form of identification
for active-duty military personnel, National Guard members, government
employees and contractors.
SanDisk Cruzer Enterprise secure USB drives feature FIPS (Federal
Information Processing Standard) 140-2 Level 2 certification for
encryption, a standard set by the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST). FIPS certification confirms that a drive has met
NIST standards for design of the cryptographic module, for the strength
of encryption algorithms and resistance to physical intrusion. Cruzer
Enterprise drives are also listed for Common Criteria certification, an
internationally recognized ISO standard (ISO/IEC 15408) used by
governments and other organizations to assess the security and
assurance of technology products. Common Criteria is an important
worldwide evaluation standard for security products as its
certifications are recognized in 26 countries around the world.
SanDisk Cruzer Enterprise can be centrally managed by SanDisk's
Central Management and Control software (CMC), which has been used by
government agencies, healthcare organizations and enterprises for
years. The CMC device agent resides on a company-issued Cruzer
Enterprise drive, giving corporate IT departments and government
agencies greater control and flexibility over the lifecycle management
of the device including deployment throughout the organization,
password recovery and renewal through the network, central back-up and
restore of data, central usage tracking with detailed audit reports,
and remote termination of lost drives.
Link: SanDisk Enterprise
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