Mac News Review

Apple Services Status Monitor, Macs Users the Most Charitable, and More Mac News

This Week's Apple and Desktop Mac News

Compiled by Charles Moore and edited by Dan Knight - 2012.12.22

News & Opinion

Apple Updates

Software

Desktop Mac Deals

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. Older Macs are covered in Vintage Mac News. All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.

Purchases made through links to Amazon.com and Apple's iTunes/iBook/App/Mac App Store support Low End Mac.

News & Opinion

Apple Services, Stores, and iCloud Status Monitor

Apple Services, Stores, and iCloud Status Monitor

Apple has posted a quick, comprehensive status monitor of the current status of its various online services. The new Apple Services, Stores, and iCloud Web page provides displays either a green square when a service is operating normally, or an orange triangle if it's currently offline or experiencing issues.

Donation Data Suggests Mac Users Are the Most Charitable

PR: Qgiv, an online and mobile donation solutions, has released "Technology's Impact on Charitable Giving Trends," its first annual report highlighting how a donor's technology choices impact charitable giving. Based on analysis of more than 320,000 donations across 165,000 users, Qgiv found that Gmail, Safari, and Mac OS users averaged more per donation than other technology platform counterparts.

The findings are based on sampling a year's worth of individual donations to more than 1,000 charitable organizations of all types. Qgiv analyzed the connection between donation amounts to all charities using the Qgiv platform and the donor's technology choices, highlighting related giving trends. Charities on the Qgiv donation platform include religious organizations, educational institutions, philanthropic organizations, and more. The findings include:

Charitable Giving Unique Domain Email Users Most Generous

Donors using a unique domain name - one for personal domains or corporate email addresses - gave 13% more per donation than the next highest per donation amount, generated by Gmail users. Average donation amount by email type from November 2011 November 2012:

  • Unique/Corporate/Other email: $165 per donation
  • Gmail: $143 per donation; (13% less than unique email donors)
  • AOL: $138 per donation; (16% less than unique email donors)
  • Hotmail: $128 per donation (22% less than unique email donors)
  • Yahoo: $120 per donation (27% less than unique email donors)

Mac-based Giving Outpaces Other Operating Systems

Donors using a Mac OS gave 25% more per donation than Windows OS users. Average donation amount by OS from November 2011 - November 2012:

  • Mac: $182 per donation
  • Windows: $137 per donation (25% less than Mac users)

Safari Users Win the Charity Browser War

Donors using the Safari browser gave 9% more per donation than the next highest per donation amount, generated by Chrome users. Average donation amount by Browser type from November 2011 November 2012:

  • Safari: $168 per donation*
  • Chrome: $153 per donation (9% less per donation than Safari users)
  • FireFox: $140 per donation (17% less per donation than Safari users)
  • Internet Explorer: $138 per donation (18% less per donation than Safari users)

Gmail Biggest Drop in Average Donation Year over Year from 2011 - 2012

Despite giving more per donation than donors using other branded email services, Gmail users have experienced the biggest drop in per donation totals from 2011 to 2012. The following data represents the average donation for the January through November time periods, measured year over year:

  • Unique/Corporate/Other email: 2011 - $155; 2012 - $156
  • Gmail: 2011 - $153; 2012 - $132
  • AOL: 2011 - $135; 2012 - $134
  • Hotmail: 2011 - $128; 2012 - $133
  • Yahoo: 2011 - $111; 2012 - $116

"The data on the giving trends by technology indicators can help organizations maximize value from their current marketing and outreach campaigns. Combining email, browser, and other key indicators with existing demographic data has the potential to help these organizations more accurately target the appropriate donors," says Todd Baylis, president of Qgiv. "It's not enough anymore for organizations to offer just one giving option. With today's diverse donor base and evolving technology, charitable organizations need to provide a broader cross section of options, like online, mobile, and on-site to maximize the value they're getting back.

* Publisher's note: Since Apple no longer supports Safari for Windows (development ended at version 5.1.7), which was never very popular (0.33% of visitors to Low End Mac are using Safari for Windows vs. 34.2% using Safari for Mac, 9.6% Safari for iOS, and 11.0% Chrome for Windows, the most popular Windows browser in our site logs), and since Safari is Apple's default browser, Safari's top spot here should be no surprise. dk

Yahoo Mail Benefits from Being 'Switzerland of Internet'

ZDNet's Liau Yun Qing reports that Yahoo's nonalignment with any mobile operating system makes is easier to cooperate with third parties such as telcos, OS players, and Internet service providers, which don't perceive it as a competitor. That's according to Vivek Sharma, general manager for Yahoo Mail and Messenger, who has designs on making Yahoo!'s email service the default choice for cross-platform email.

Ms. Qing cites Mr. Sharma commenting: "Yahoo is increasingly the Switzerland of the Internet. We are available across all platforms. We're also everybody's friend because we do not compete with the operating system providers or the original equipment manufacturers."

Yahoo Mail
Yahoo's revamped email interface.

Yahoo has revamped its Mail service for the Web and released apps for the Apple iPhone, Google Android and Microsoft Windows 8, with Mr. Sharma noting that that Yahoo is the only Webmail provider with branded apps for all the three most popular mobile OS platforms.

Apple Updates

EFI Update for Late 2012 iMacs

Late 2012 iMacsThe iMac EFI Update 2.0 update is recommended for all iMac (Late 2012) models. This update contains general performance fixes pertaining to sleep and Thunderbolt, and improves compatibility when using the 5 GHz band in Wi-Fi.

Boot ROM or SMC Version Information: After Update is complete:

  • Build version: 010A.05
  • ROM version: IM131.88Z.010A.B05.1211151146

System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.8.1 and greater, EFI version 010A

Wi-Fi Update for Late 2012 Macs

Mac Wi-Fi Update 1.0 is recommended for all late 2012 Mac systems. This update improves compatibility when using the 5 GHz band in Wi-Fi.

Boot ROM or SMC Version Information: To confirm the update has been applied, the CFBundleVersion string of the AirPortBrcm4311.kext will need to be checked.

New driver delivered in update:

  • AirPortBrcm4331.kext
  • CFBundleVersion = 612.20.15

System Requirements: OS X 10.8.2 (specifically build version 12C2034)

Software

Logos 5 Christmas Sale

Logos Christmas salePR: Explore the Bible with the world's leading Bible software. Save at least 15% on any base package with Logos' Christmas sale.

Better Bible Study This Christmas with Logos Bible Software

Do better Bible study on your Mac: Logos 5 is your way to get into the Word this Christmas season. Massive libraries, smart searches, in-depth datasets - you'll get new tools to study in new ways. Do better Bible study with Logos 5.

Find What You're Looking For

Logos 5 shows you everything the Bible says about Christmas. Just type what you're studying into the Topic Guide and hit Go.

You can afford the library you want with a budget-friendly, interest-free payment plan.

Year End Sale: 20% Off Photoshop Elements

PR: Adobe is celebrating the season with 20% off Adobe Photoshop Elements 11. The Offer Ends January 6, 2013.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 sale price: $79.99

Add easy Adobe Premiere Elements 11 video editing for $20 more. Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 & Adobe Premiere Elements 11: $99.99

Instant discount applies to the full version of Adobe Photoshop Elements 11, Adobe Premiere Elements 11, and Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 & Adobe Premiere Elements 11 software.

Pricing is available only through the online Adobe Store or through the Adobe Call Center at 800-585-0774. When purchasing through the Adobe Store, you must enter offer code DEC2012 in the shopping cart before checking

out when prompted to do so. To purchase through the Call Center, mention offer code DEC2012 when calling. OEM, education, and volume licensing customers are not eligible. This offer is valid in the U.S., Canada (excluding Quebec), and Mexico. Offer valid until 11:59 p.m. PST on January 6, 2013. Savings are limited to one discount per customer. Prices are listed in U.S. dollars and do not include applicable local taxes. This offer and prices are subject to change without notice. Void where prohibited by law.

Use promotional code: DEC2012

Pixelmator 2.1.4 Released

PR: Pixelmator has released a version 2.1.4 update for its image editor program, that features layer support, GPU-powered image processing, and many other features.

The version 2.1.4 release adds layer Auto Select for painting and retouching tools, improved responsiveness for effects with large images, improved support for Photoshop CS6 brush collections, improved Auto Save support, stability fixes, and other changes.

Pixelmator 2 is currently priced at $14.99 for Mac OS X 10.6.8 through 10.8, and is exclusively available for purchase on the Mac App Store.

You can also try Pixelmator for free for 30 days.

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.

We also track iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, iPod classic, iPod nano, and iPod shuffle deals.

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