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Mac Mini With OS X Server Will Serve You Well
What To Look For In An External Hard Drive
Apple Apologizes For iMac delays
Continued Problems For New iMacs
Apple cancels Christmas... if you want a 27 inch iMac
Apple iMac (Fall 2009) Issues: How to Check Your iMac
Seagate Release Of World's Thinnest Laptop Drive Could Usher In A New Class Of Laptops And Netbooks
Treat USB Flash Drives With Care
Windows 7 Licensing or How Microsoft Lost Our Business
Securing Your Mac With Airlock
Fall Mac Shipments Up 21%, Sales Of 3M Projected For Quarter
Stream Radio Stations To Your Mac For Free
Fix your Mac with Combo Updates
FreeBSD Shines While Apple Fails
Mac Mini With OS X Server Will Serve You Well
Macworld's John C. Welch says:
First, let's clear something up about the Mac mini introduced by Apple in October that's configured to be a server. This $999 Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server is not an enterprise-grade server, or even a big business server. It's not going to manage thousands of users, or massive data needs, or be the only email server for GE....
Instead, the Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server really is - besides a really awkward name -- a fantastic little server for a little more than $1,000 (once you add in tax and a few options) that can be surprisingly useful to those who set their expectations realistically......
For the full review visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/yaetgyb
What To Look For In An External Hard Drive
Macworld has posted another excerpt from Joe Kissell's ebook (available for $15 from TidBits Publishing): "Take Control of Mac OS X Backups, Fourth Edition" as a concise tutorial on backing up to a local, external drive along with Joe's overall recommendations for backup media.
Your editor is a longtime advocate of using hard drive media for backups, and it's become a no-brainer with the introduction of Time Machine to OS X with version 10.5 Leopard.
Joe Kissell provides an excellent overview of the advantages and virtues of using an external hard drive in this piece.
You can check it out at:
http://tinyurl.com/yb8ta2l
Apple Apologizes For iMac delays
CNET's Jim Dalrymple reports:
Apple on Sunday apologized to customers amid reports of shipping delays of its recently introduced iMac computer.
"The new iMac has been a huge hit and we are working hard to fulfill orders as quickly as possible," an Apple spokesperson told CNET. "We apologize for any inconvenience or delay this may cause our customers."
For the full report visit here:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10414512-37.html?tag=mncol;title
Continued Problems For New iMacs
MacFixIt's Joe Aimonetti reports:
Delays in the new 27-inch iMac are a result of display issues. AppleInsider is reporting that delays in shipments of Apple's iMac to third party resellers are a direct result of the display issues that left many customers with cracked or malfunctioning screens when receiving their orders.
To read more, click here.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10404407-263.html?tag=mncol;title
Apple cancels Christmas... if you want a 27 inch iMac
The Register's Joe Fay reports:
Apple has slammed the brakes on shipments of its much coveted 27 inch iMac after users were driven cross eyed by flickering screens and other problems with the machines.
The problems with the machines have been detailed on imac.squeaked.com, where Mac apostles have been forced to openly question their faith.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/14/imac_delay/
Apple iMac (Fall 2009) Issues: How to Check Your iMac
Consumer advocate site imac.squeaked.com says:
If you buy a new iMac and are wondering if it might have one of the common problems here are some things you can use to check things over.
Dead Pixels / Yellow Screen
Flickering Screen
Stuck iSight Pixels
Offset Screen Display
You can check it out at:
http://imac.squeaked.com/test.php
Seagate Release Of World's Thinnest Laptop Drive Could Usher In A New Class Of Laptops And Netbooks
Computerworld's Lucas Mearian reports:
Seagate Technology today announced what it's calling the world's thinnest laptop and netbook hard drive, the Momentus Thin drive, which at 7mm, is just over a quarter of an inch thick and is 25% slimmer than a traditional .37-in. (9.5mm), 2.5-in. hard drive.
The 5,400 rpm Momentus Thin comes in 250GB and 160GB capacities, features 8MB cache, and uses the SATA 2.0 3Gbit/sec. interface. The drive is scheduled to ship to Seagate's resellers next month.
For the full report visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/y9zxf7w
Treat USB Flash Drives With Care
stuff.co.nz says:
Many of us remember the old days when the only storage options we had were a floppy disk or, for the very rich, a two-speed CD writer.
Floppy disks were convenient and in their day stored quite a lot of data [but] were notorious for simply not working after sitting in the drawer for a while.....
Unfortunately, we are regularly seeing dead or dying pen drives and, more often than not, they contain vital backups of very important data.
Pen drives were the natural progression when we moved away from floppies. They did pretty much the same thing but their larger capacity and ease of use made them ideal replacements.
I am not suggesting that pen drives are anywhere near as unreliable as floppies; I am just issuing a gentle warning that perhaps we should not put all our faith in one particular basket.
[Good advice. Ed.]
For the full report visit here:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/gadgets/3161445/Treat-USB-Flash-drives-with-care
Windows 7 Licensing or How Microsoft Lost Our Business
Foliovision's Alec says:
We are moving half the office to Mac computers this month.
Originally I was in the market for a couple of quads with Microsoft Windows. But to be able to buy those two computers, I had to figure out all the troublesome licensing of Microsoft. Originally we just wanted to say with XP, as that's what we know and like. On the way, here's what I discovered about Microsoft Licensing:
• licenses are extremely confusing (8 license levels? come on)
• licenses are not portable
• licenses are restricted to a single language
• licenses have to be activated
• hardware changes require reactivation
• you need antivirus software for every Microsoft computer...
In contrast, with Macs you just install the software. Of course you need the computer, but once you have that you can just copy a working OS from one computer to another.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://foliovision.com/2009/12/13/windows-7-licensing
Securing Your Mac With Airlock
AppStorm's David Appleyard says:
Out of the box, your Mac is a relatively secure piece of equipment. It comes with a firewall, is more-or-less immune to viruses, and can be locked in a number of different ways. Airlock is a new piece of software that aims to add an extra level of security, in conjunction with an iPhone or iPod touch.
Whenever your phone moves a certain distance away from your computer, Airlock can automatically lock the screen. When you return, your Mac unlocks automatically. It's a very simple idea, but one that could prove useful in many different circumstances.
For the full review visit here:
http://mac.appstorm.net/reviews/securing-your-mac-with-airlock/
Fall Mac Shipments Up 21%, Sales Of 3M Projected For Quarter
Appleinsider's Neil Hughes reports:
New retail sales data shows that Mac sales were up 21 percent year-over-year in the months of October and November, positioning Apple for a potentially strong December to close out 2009.
For the full report visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/y89yfnp
Stream Radio Stations To Your Mac For Free
Mac360's Jeffrey Mincey says:
Listening to radio used to be an exercise in patience, in give and take. We could listen to music, news, sports, and talk for free, but had to listen to commercials, too.
The internet has sucked up a lot of advertising dollars that used to go to mainstream media, radio included.
So, where does that leave radio in the age of the information super highway? For some, it's a golden age. Internet streaming radio is all the rage....
There must be a dozen or more streaming radio applications for your Mac.... Take FStream, for example. It's free. It plays internet radio station audio. It records audio for playback in iTunes, your iPod, and your iPhone.....What I like about FStream is the simplicity. It uses very little of your Mac's CPU. It's unobtrusive and uses little screen real estate.
To read more, click here.
http://tinyurl.com/ydern9r
Fix your Mac with Combo Updates
Maintain, developers of the Cocktail general purpose utility for Mac OS X say:
Did you know that many of the problems we are asked to solve can be traced back to a faulty system update or corrupt system files? While it may sound pretty serious there is usually a very simple way to fix it, reinstall the latest Combo update from Apple.
[Your editor enthusiastically agrees with this prescription. Ed]
For an explanation of why Apple Combo updates are great, see:
http://blog.maintain.se/2009/12/fix-your-mac-with-combo-updates.html
FreeBSD Shines While Apple Fails
ServerWatch's Paul Rubens says:
Apple is making a lot of money these days. The more money it makes, the greater the contempt for its customers it seems to display. A critical bug recently discovered in FreeBSD, and the speed with which this bug was resolved, illustrates this rather well. If you use Apple's products in your business, be afraid; be very afraid.
Here's how the sorry story unfolds.....
You can check it out at:
http://tinyurl.com/yl5wc2j
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