Mac notebook and other portable computing is covered in The 'Book Review. iPad, iPod, iPhone, and
Apple TV news is covered in iOS News
Review. All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.
News & Opinion
Tech Trends
Software
News & Opinion
Mac Sales Grow 51% in Business Sector
SlashGear's Mark Raby reports that Mac sales at year-end 2011 were
up substantially from the previous year, and that a closer look from
analyst group Needham & Company reveals where the bulk of that
growth came from - business customers. Specifically, Mac sales that
were sent to businesses were up by 50.9%, according to analyst Charlie
Wolf, and enterprise sales are also soaring.
Link: Apple's Mac Sales
Grow 51% in Business Sector
Has Apple Lost Its Rebel Reputation?
AppStorm's Adam Williams notes that despite Apple's operating within
the profit-driven world of consumer technology, the company has often
cultivated a distinctly rebellious public persona, forging its own path
by ignoring the status quo and offering such innovations as the first
widespread GUI and desktop publishing software that was easy for anyone
to use.
Images from the 1984 ad, where
Apple stood up to Big Brother.
However, Williams observes that as the late Steve Jobs guided Apple
back from it's mid/late '90s brink to renewed success, a perception has
gelled that perhaps the company lost something of its freethinking
spirit along the way, with Apple having become part of the
establishment that it once so gleefully ignored.
A couple of years ago, I noted that while Steve Jobs had once
declared that it's better to be a pirate than to join the navy, he had
ironically become one of the navy's biggest admirals.
Williams cites the almost maniacal control Apple insists on wielding
over designers, developers, and even users in its iOS App Store, so
clearly Apple has either had a change of heart, or perhaps the rebel
act was just that, an act.
He concludes that Apple computers and devices have become steadily
more closed, and whether the tradeoff is worth it is subjective
evaluation, although he's inclined to think it is, at least so long as
OS X doesn't go the way of iOS and become a completely closed
platform.
Link: Has Apple Lost Its
Outsider Status?
Dual Booting Your Mac
The EggFreckles blog says that maybe you want to try a new developer
preview OS X, or maybe you still need an older version of OS X for
running legacy applications that haven't been updated for the latest
version of OS X. Perhaps you want to try Linux without resorting
to the performance hit of a virtual machine, or you need to boot into
Windows with full hardware compatibility, but without disturbing your
main install of OS X. The solution is to install more than one OS
on your Mac to facilitate dual (or even triple) booting, and that can
include different versions of Mac OS X.
While there are an range of options for doing this, the neatest and
most convenient is to partition your hard drive, which no longer
requires backing up, wiping, reinitializing, and restoring the hard
drive as it once did (although doing a global backup beforehand is
always a good idea).
Your editor and publisher have very seldom had fewer than two Mac OS
versions installed on their Macs since the 1990s, and each can vouch
for how well this can work.
Link: Dual Booting Mac
OS X
Rush Limbaugh's First PC Was an Apple, but Not a
Mac
Rush Limbaugh's Website has posted a transcript of a February 24,
2012 on air conversation thread after a caller asked longtime
high-profile Apple computer fan Rush what his first home computer
was.
Rush replies that his first home computer was an Apple IIc, noting that one
thing he remembers about the IIc is that Roy Scheider used one in the
2010, the 2001: A Space Odyssey sequel.
He further recalls that the Apple llc used the ProDOS system as
opposed to MS-DOS, and he was like a kid in a candy store. Then a year
later he went to the Mac, and since then he's had every top-of-the-line
Mac desktop.
Link: What Was Your
First Home Computer?
Tech Trends
$35 Raspberry Pi Computer
PR: The Model B Raspberry Pi is the basic credit card sized
computer board with a Broadcom BCM2835 System-On Chip running Linux,
that plugs into a TV and a keyboard to create a miniature ARM-based PC
that can be used for many of the things a desktop PC does, like
spreadsheets, word-processing and games. It also plays High-Definition
video.
The
Raspberry Pi will initially be sold in one, uncased configuration - the
Model B which has two USB slots, 256 MB of RAM, an HDMI connector, an
SD memory card slot, and an ethernet port. It costs $35 (£22).
This will be followed later in 2012 by the $25 (£16) Model A,
which has a single USB port.
element14.com says that following the launch of Raspberry Pi Board B
this week, they've seen incredible levels of interest, and that initial
stock quickly sold out, but that they will be one of the first sites to
have more Raspberry Pi's in stock for those who haven't ordered yet. If
you haven't pre-ordered yet you can register your interest on their
Website so they can let you know as new units become available.
Features
- Broadcom BCM2835 700 MHz ARM1176JZFS processor with FPU and
Videocore 4 GPU
- GPU provides Open GL ES 2.0, hardware-accelerated OpenVG, and
1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode
- GPU is capable of 1 Gpixel/s, 1.5 Gtexel/s or 24 GFLOPs with
texture filtering and DMA infrastructure
- 256 MB RAM
- Boots from SD card, running the Fedora version of Linux
- 10/100 Base-T Ethernet socket
- HDMI socket
- USB 2.0 socket
- RCA video socket
- SD card socket
- Powered from microUSB socket
- 3.5mm audio out jack
- Header footprint for camera connection
- Size: 85.6 x 53.98 x 17mm
Price: £21.60 (about $35)
Link: Raspberry
Pi
Purchase link: Element
14
Purchase link: RS
Online
$199 Linux PC as Small as a USB Flash Drive
PR: Cotton Candy from Norway's FXI Technologies, Inc. is a
USB stick-sized computing device that allows users a single, secure
point of access to all personal cloud services and apps through their
favorite operating system, while delivering a consistent experience on
any screen. On display at this week's Mobile World Congress 2012 trade
show in in Barcelona, Spain at the Innovation Norway Booth, Cotton
Candy is claimed to be the world's first "any screen" cloud computer,
weighing only 21 grams. Its unique architecture will allow the device
to serve as a companion to smartphones, tablets, and notebook PCs and
Macs, as well add smart capabilities to existing displays, TVs, set top
boxes, and other media that supports USB mass storage.
FXI Technologies, Inc. also announced at the
Mobile World Congress the launch of cstick.com, a community website and
technical forum where Cotton Candy development units are immediately
available for preorder.
"The world is anxiously awaiting Cotton Candy's release," says
Borgar Ljosland, CEO and founder of FXI. "We've had interest in the any
screen computer for everything from portable set top box gaming and
entertainment to mobile any screen computing, in addition to a host of
specialized medical, automotive and other applications. The size, raw
horsepower and combined HDMI, USB and MicroUSB connectivity bring
unprecedented flexibility to the portable market."
Cotton Candy specifications include an ARM
Cortex-A9 (1 GHz) CPU from Samsung, an ARM Mali-400 MP (Quad-core,
1.2 GHz) GPU, WiFi and Bluetooth, HDMI output, and the Android
operating system. It decodes MPEG-4, H.264, and other video formats and
display HD graphics on any HDMI equipped screen. Operating systems
supported to date include Android Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich,
as well as Ubuntu. Onscreen content can be controlled a wide variety of
ways - wirelessly using smartphones with an app, Bluetooth peripherals
like mice and RF remote controls, or by leveraging a notebook's
integrated keyboard and touchpad.
Make Any Monitor Smart
Dust off that display and turn it into a PC. Just connect an HDMI
monitor to Cotton Candy. Plug a USB power cord into an electrical
source, then navigate your media with a Bluetooth or WiFi mouse and
keyboard. Access Cloud apps and documents, play games, surf the Web,
and view photos and HD video. For work or play.
Make Any TV Smart
New or old, any TV can become smart. Connect
Cotton Candy with an HDMI TV, plug in a USB power cord to an electrical
source, then manage your onscreen media with a smartphone,
Bluetooth/WiFi mouse and keyboard, or a remote control. Access Cloud
apps and documents, play games, surf the web, view photos and HD video
on the big screen with friends, colleagues and family. our personal
media can be shared and enjoyed on whatever screen is convenient.
Extend Your smartphone
New or old, any TV, projector, or screen can display your
smartphone's media. Connect Cotton Candy to an HDMI connected screen,
plug in a USB power cord, then access and enjoy onscreen HD media right
from your phone via WiFi. Access Cloud apps and documents, play games,
surf the web, enjoy photos and HD video on the big screen with friends,
colleagues, and family. Your personal media can be shared wherever you
go.
Make Your Mac Even More Friendly
Enjoy a Mac, but use an Android smartphone?
Plug Cotton Candy into the USB port, and instantly access the Android
or Ubuntu operating system and navigate your media with the keyboard.
Use the Cotton Candy as a USB stick and drag your local pictures and
movies over to it for later enjoyment on the TV screen. The Cotton
Candy is your private computer within your - or anybody's - computer.
Experience the freedom of mixing.
Make Your Laptop Multi-OS Capable
Blend the best of two OSes on a single laptop. Plug Cotton Candy
into the USB port of a Windows laptop and instantly access the Android
or Ubuntu Operating System. Use the notebook's keypad to navigate your
favorite apps. Retrieve and use Cloud apps and documents, play games,
surf the web, view photos and HD videos on the screen of the laptop.
Mix and match the benefits of Windows PCs and smart mobile devices with
one simple companion device.
Features
- World's smallest computer serves as a companion to CE devices
- Displays personal content on any screen
- Interfaces with any USB/Bluetooth peripheral
- Connects to Internet via WiFi
- User Upgradeable memory
Benefits
- Great for gaming, video, photos, Cloud apps, and more
- Provide consumer-friendly access to the cloud Accelerate the
adoption of smart screens Extend the life of consumer hardware like
laptops, monitors, TVs, STBs, tablets and more by accessing the latest
O/S, software and apps
- Enjoy a consistent experience across all screens
- Create a single point of content storage
- Consolidate and organize personal digital content
- Share media from mobile devices on large screens, projectors,
displays
- Drive down the cost of the secure personal computer
Cotton Candy can be pre-ordered for $199.
Link: Cotton
Candy
Software
Free CCleaner Drive Cleaning Utility Ported to OS
X
PR: CCleaner, a popular PC optimization and cleaning tool
with millions of users, is now available for your Apple computer for
protecting your privacy online, reclaiming disk space, and making your
computer faster and more secure.
Publisher's note: I just ran this on my Mac mini with System 10.6
Snow Leopard and cleared over 1 GB of space while leaving browser
caches and cookies intact. Under Options, you can tell it which cookies
to keep and which to delete. CCleaner also includes an uninstaller that
lists all of your apps - you may find several listed that you no longer
use.
System requirements: Mac OS X 10.5 or later, Intel only
Freeware
Link:
CCleaner
iMissal for OS X
PR: iMissal is already the top selling Catholic App for
iPhone & iPad, and is now also available for your Mac.
A Complete Missal
Liturgical Calendar: Full calendar displaying all of the liturgical
seasons. The calendar is color coded based on liturgical season and
shows Holy Days of Obligation, Solemnities, Major Feasts, Saints, etc.
Calendar is currently available for years 1990 - 2050.
Mass Readings: All the Mass Readings for every liturgical cycle
(A,B,C,I,II) are included! This includes First Reading, Psalm, Second
Reading, Alleluia, and Gospel for all Sunday and Weekday Masses.
Reading text is always available for every day, no WiFi connection
necessary. Uses translations officially approved for Mass in the U.S.
Great resource for Lectors.
Note: The liturgical texts provided in iMissal are used with the
permission of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine and the
International Committee on English in the Liturgy. They are the
official texts approved for use in the dioceses of the United States by
the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Other applications may use
other translations and cost more.
iMissal now includes New Mass 3rd Edition and Facebook integration
that allows you to share your favorite verses and prayers on your
Facebook Wall.
Audio of the Mass Readings - Audio is only available for more recent
dates (sliding window of appr. 30 days).
Order of Mass - Ever wish you could follow along in Mass and have
all the prayers, responses, etc. available. Now you can. Great for RCIA
candidates that are new to the faith.
Mass Videos - Cantcha, Inc. has teamed up with CatholicTV.com and
now provides videos of the Mass for you to watch.
My Daily Bread
Get a
unique Bible verse for every day of the year displayed on 20 plus
beautiful backgrounds.
These verses have been hand selected from some of the most popular.
Also included are some obscure verses you may have not seen before.
Choose from three different Bible translations:
- NAB Bible - New American Bible
- NIV Bible - New International Version
- KJV Bible - King James Version
Bible translations can be easily switched to compare differences
between translations.
Features:
- Save your favorite verses for later reference.
- Search on any word across all verses to quickly find your
favorites.
- If you miss a day you can easily go back to view previous
verses.
- Mix it up by pushing the random button to get new verse each
time.
- Email any verse (w/o background) to your friends and family with a
push of a button.
Prayers
Over 80 of the most popular Catholic prayers are included.
You can email your favorite prayers to your friends.
Thousands of pages of scripture. Buying the equivalent text in your
book store could cost a lot more than the price of this
application.
New in Version 1.20
- New Mass 3rd Edition - change Mass editions but going to
Preferences in iMissal.
- Few Bug Fixes (Lion, etc.)
iMissal sells for $4.99 on the App Store
System requirements: Mac OS X 10.6 or later
Link:
iMissal for OS X
Tex-Edit Plus 4.9.12 (beta 3) Released
PR: Trans-Tex Software's Tex-Edit Plus X 4.9.12 is a
scriptable, styled text editor ASCII text editor that fills the gap
between a Apple's bare-bones TextEdit and a full-featured word
processor. It's fast, efficient, and has a clean, uncluttered
interface, and is also great for cleaning up text transmitted over the
Internet. Tex-Edit Plus can read and write RTF documents and support
pictures in common formats (TIFF, JPEG, GIF, PICT, PSD)
Another Tex-Edit Plus specialty is its integrated support for
AppleScript, Apple's wonderful, Mac-only technology that allows
ordinary people to create automated shortcuts with minimal effort. Doug
Adams maintains the official AppleScripts for Tex-Edit Archives, filled
with scripts for download, hints, tips, examples, and step-by-step
instructions for those of you interested in saving time, impressing the
boss, and avoiding repetitive stress injuries.
Tex-Edit Plus also supports Apple's new Automator, which has been
drastically enhanced for OS X 10.7 Lion. With 36 custom Automator
actions and unrivaled AppleScript recordability, Tex-Edit allows you to
create custom scripts and workflows with the push of a button. Of
course, if your time is of little or no value, please feel free to
ignore AppleScript and Automator.
Natural-sounding OS X voices are now available. If you use
Tex-Edit's speech facilities to proofread documents (or if you want to
find out what Eliza really thinks about you), check out the high
quality voices produced by Cepstral. The Version 5.2 voices, including
the new Callie voice, are extremely cool.
New in version Version 4.9.12 (beta 3):
- Added Check Spelling of Selection contextual menu command.
- Justification buttons in the Tools panel actively display the
justification of the current selection.
- Fixed bug that prevented closure of Tools panel in non-English
localizations.
Tex-Edit Plus is $15 shareware, and is not locked, crippled,
time-limited, or ad-infested.
Publisher's note: See Charles W. Moore's review, Tex-Edit Plus: Powerful Styled Text Editing for OS
X and the Classic Mac OS. dk
Link: Tex-Edit
Plus
Desktop Mac
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