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SolutionBase: Inside Apple's System Preferences
The Most Heated Seminary Debate - Mac vs. PC
Murder on Macintosh Row: Happy Mac, 1984-2002
The Life and Death of Aqua in Apple Software and Mac OS X
Real and MTV in joint bid to be crushed by iTunes
Broadband Over Power Turns On Both Sides Of The Atlantic
Seagate To Start Selling Solid State Flash Drives
Does Apple Have A Moral Obligation To Serve The Enterprise Market?
iWork Works, but It's Wimpy
iWork '08 Review: NUMBERS - Spreadsheet Layout App
Google Patent Points to Marriage Between Search and E-mail
Apple Notebook Market Share Making Gains Over Summer
Apple iMac Desktop Review
How Much Extra Junk Do You Have On Your Mac?
How to Add Email Accounts to Apple's Mail
Big Screen iPod Nano Rumors "Confirmed" by Apple Legal
eWEEK: Toshiba Unveils First 32GB High-Density Flash Card
SolutionBase: Inside Apple's System Preferences
TechRepublic's Erik Eckel reports:
Apple's System Preferences console serves as the Macintosh's counterpart to Windows' Control Panel. Erik Eckel shows us how multiple common desktop and system settings are configured on a Mac.
One of the biggest challenges that must be overcome when deploying, supporting, or administering Apple computers is locating common configuration settings. Fortunately, Apple PCs feature a single application from within which most desktop and system settings are configured.
Most Windows administrators, of course, are already familiar with Windows' Control Panel. From within Control Panel, Windows administrators configure everything from hardware device drivers to fonts, display options, network connections, and more.
Apple's System Preferences console serves as the Macintosh's counterpart to Windows' Control Panel. Just as multiple common desktop and system settings are configured within Windows' Control Panel, so too are the same settings adjusted on Macintosh computers. In this article, we'll take a look at Apple's System Preferences.
You can check it out at:
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/2415-10877_11-160110.html
The Most Heated Seminary Debate - Mac vs. PC
Accordance Bible Software developer David Lang says:
Yesterday I wrote about the challenge I had picking up all the theological lingo at the beginning of my seminary studies. That reminded me of a funny experience I had that first semester. In between classes, I was walking through the courtyard of the seminary when I heard two students engaged in a heated debate. What, I wondered, could be the subject of this controversy? What theological difficulty could have inspired such passion and fervor? Were they debating Calvinism versus Arminianism? Infant versus Believers' Baptism? Biblical inerrancy? The nature of justification? Curious, I came within earshot and eavesdropped on the conversation.
This is what I heard:
"The Mac is the wave of the future."
"How can you say that?!"
This was my rather humorous introduction to the passion with which Mac and PC users debate the merits of their respective computer platforms. Since I did not yet own a computer at that time, it all struck me as rather strange. But it wasn't long after that I chose a side and began defending that choice with almost as much fervor as I had seen that day.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://www.accordancebible.com/blog/2007/08/most-heated-seminary-debate.html
Murder on Macintosh Row: Happy Mac, 1984-2002
Low End Mac's Tommy Thomas reports:
Bong! . . .. . . Welcome to Macintosh!
Around these parts, folks don't want to talk about it. The memories of that tragic day stick in the minds of everyone.
Those who are willing to talk about it say they never saw it coming. As kind, warm, inviting and smiley as he was, they wonder how he could be murdered in cold blood after 18 years . . . cut down in the prime of his life.
He was special, and how he gave people a feeling of peace and comfort seems to be the most fitting description of the bludgeoned victim.
Who am I talking about? He's otherwise known as the Happy Mac that graced Macintosh screens from 1984 until 2002, when "Jaguar" (Mac OS X 10.2) was released.
For 18 years, the Happy Mac - with it's infectious smile and simple, yet classy look - invited Mac users to a new day of work or play during startup. He was easy to spot because of his smile, unlike his twin brother, the Sad Mac, who always frowned and was accompanied by a row of seemingly random letters and numbers, depending on mood, below that frown.
For the full report visit here:
http://lowendmac.com/thomas/tt07/0823.html
The Life and Death of Aqua in Apple Software and Mac OS X
Low End Mac's Ben Barsh says:
I mourn the death of Aqua. It's become fairly obvious that the life of Mac OS X will continue without it - Aqua is slowly dwindling out of Apple's programs and OS X.
Aqua was born when iMovie 2 came out. This was still in the Platinum era of Mac OS 8 and 9. The next trace of Aqua showed up with iMovie's music-playing brother, iTunes. This was in the late days of OS 9, and it was becoming fairly obvious this was going to be the user interface of Mac OS X.
Then Steve Jobs made it official at Macworld 2000. With its pinstripes and smooth curves, Aqua complemented the iMacs, Power Macs, and iBooks of the time. And as Mac OS X evolved, Aqua evolved with it.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://lowendmac.com/barsh/bb07/0823.html
Real and MTV in joint bid to be crushed by iTunes
The Register's Cade Metz reports:
After struggling to keep pace with iTunes on their own, MTV and RealNetworks have decided they'd rather struggle as a team.
Today, during a conference call with reporters, the two companies announced plans to merge their online music services - Rhapsody and Urge - forming one big market also-ran under the Rhapsody name. They've also joined forces with Verizon Wireless, whose V Cast Music service will transmogrify into Rhapsody's new mobile arm......
The new Rhapsody service will continue to use a subscription model - where users have access to its entire music catalog for a monthly fee - but as with the current service, users will also have the power to purchase songs outright - iTunes-style.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/22/real_and_mtv_merge_music_services/
Broadband Over Power Turns On Both Sides Of The Atlantic
The Register's Faultline reports:
Sending broadband signals over electricity cable has always confused people.
The Home Plug Alliance, began life offering a way of sending broadband signals around a home, and then started working on ways to bring broadband to the home with a related technology, while the Universal Powerline Association sort of did the opposite, developing strategies and components that could transmit 200 Mbps broadband signals in the low and mid voltage segments of power networks, but just as easily sending those signals around a home with the same or similar components.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/23/broadband_over_power/
Seagate To Start Selling Solid State Flash Drives
The Register's Kelly Fiveash reports:
The CEO of hard disk drive (HDD) maker Seagate Technology has declared the firm's intention to enter the Flash memory market. Bill Watkins said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that Seagate will begin shifting solid-state drives (SSD) based on Flash memory chip technology from next year.
It's a marked move away from the world's leading storage vendor's heavy reliance on making and selling magnetic HDDs, the type favoured by the PC, server, and laptop manufacturing industry for many years.
Although Flash data capacity is lower than magnetic HDDs as well as carrying a higher per gigabyte cost overhead some claim the advantages of SSDs include less power consumption and faster data retrieval.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/23/seagate_ssd_flash_memory_chips/
Does Apple Have A Moral Obligation To Serve The Enterprise Market?
InformationWeek's Mitch Wagner reports:
Blogger Anil Dash very nearly declares that Apple does. His essay is part of a blog conversation in which IT managers take a beating for deploying technology that's downright painful to use, as opposed the tools that delight the user, like the Mac and iPhone.
The conversation starts back in June, with a report in the Wall Street Journal about how big companies and government agencies will be reluctant to adopt the iPhone because it doesn't have native support for Microsoft Exchange. The Journal writes that Apple might find it easier to sell to enterprise customers by licensing software from either Microsoft or Research In Motion that gives the iPhone native support for Exchange.
But John Gruber, author of the blog Daring Fireball thinks that's rubbish: "This suggestion isn't about making it easier for corporate _users; this is about making it easier for corporate IT departments that have chained themselves to Exchange."
For the full report click here.
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/08/does_apple_have.html
iWork Works, but It's Wimpy
The Wall Street Journal's Walter S. Mossberg says:
There's one big omission in iWork: It has no integrated e-mail, contacts and calendar module comparable with Outlook in Windows or to Entourage, the Outlook equivalent that's a part of the Mac version of Microsoft Office. Apple decided to rely on the very good e-mail, calendar and address book programs that it builds into every Mac.
When you hear that Apple has released a new product, you think of a sleek Macintosh laptop, or perhaps a beautiful program for editing videos. But a spreadsheet? Not a spreadsheet. After all, expertise with spreadsheets is the sort of computing skill about which the "Mac guy" in Apple's TV ads mocks the "PC guy."
Yet, Apple has brought out a new spreadsheet program called Numbers, thus completing one of its least-known products: a productivity suite called iWork. The iWork '08 suite, which competes with the Macintosh version of Microsoft Office, also includes a word-processing program called Pages and a presentation program called Keynote. The two have been upgraded....
My verdict: iWork '08 is a nice product, capable of turning out sophisticated and attractive word-processing, presentation and spreadsheet documents, but it simply isn't as powerful or versatile as Microsoft Office.
For the full review visit here:
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/58961.html
iWork '08 Review: NUMBERS - Spreadsheet Layout App
TWO A DAY reports:
One of the three apps included with Apple's iWork '08 is NUMBERS.
Numbers appears to be a spreadsheet app and it is that but like PAGES, it's really a page layout & presentation app disguised as a spreadsheet app.
Of course, most people will compare it to MSFT Excel.
Excel is all powerful and the foundation of many departments in corporations that rely on numbers. There is no question on its usefulness and options available. Excel is everything from a blank spreadsheet with a million empty cells ready for your input to a macro laden automated sheet that look and acts like the front end of a massive database.
While Excel tries to be all things to all people, it's massive overkill for most people and its weakest function is its graphics, charting design and of course, as with all Microsoft products - the end results of presenting it to people is not pretty - it's so not pretty, it's downright ugly but people just live with it. And sure, you can argue it's frivolous.....
Of course Apple's choices are just a little nicer looking …
For the full review visit here:
http://2aday.wordpress.com/2007/08/23/iwork-08-review-numbers-spreadsheet-layout-app/
Google Patent Points to Marriage Between Search and E-mail
InformationWeek's Thomas Claburn reports:
Google may be arranging a marriage between search and e-mail.
A Google patent application published on Thursday describes, "[a] universal distributed search system allows users to find and distribute search results (possibly including advertisements) to those with whom they communicate."
Google describes this union of search and communication as "user distributed search" or UDS.
Google's rationale for integrating search queries with e-mail communication is that copying and pasting links in messages doesn't work well. As the patent application puts it," This process for annotating user created content can be tedious, difficult to perform for average users, and often results in textual links in the final content that can be difficult to read."
The patent application shows Google thinking of search in a broader context than it has in the past. Previously, the company has treated search as a way to find content. This patent application describes search queries themselves as content.
For the full report click here.
Apple Notebook Market Share Making Gains Over Summer
Ars Technica's Justin Berka reports:
During the second quarter of 2007, Apple nearly beat out Gateway to become the number three PC maker. More Mac sales are expected this quarter, perhaps due to a halo effect from the iPhone. Up until now, though, it's been unclear what the sales volume will mean to Apple's market share. Macworld is reporting on NPD and IDC data that show Apple moving into third place among PC makers, and increasing its notebook market share to 17.6 percent.
For the full report visit here:
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/08/23/apple-notebook-market-share-making-gains-over-summer
Apple iMac Desktop Review
computershopper.com's Wendy Sheehan reports:
On paper, Apple's latest iMac isn't all that radical—a processor bump, heartier graphics, better software, and a lower price compared with the previous model—but one glimpse of this slim, silver-and-black beauty, and it jumps right off the page. Apple's most elegantly designed all-in-one yet, this iMac iteration also has a solid configuration, excellent features, and good performance, making it a viable choice for anyone looking for a space-saving, eye-pleasing, highly capable desktop.
For the full review visit here:
http://computershopper.com/reviews/apple_imac
How Much Extra Junk Do You Have On Your Mac?
Mac 360's Alexis Kayhill says:
I’m a gadget and junkaholic. My Mac carries more utilities, tools, accessories than exist in some nations of the European Union.
Housecleaning? Why bother? Organize cables? I don’t think so. Add a new gadget to my Mac? Yes, I jump at the opportunity to make myself more productive.
At least, that’s the excuse I use. I’m more productive when I have more stuff attached to my Mac. I’m more secure, more comfortable, and, usually, more poor.
After awhile, I’m time poor, too, because all those extra gadgets I added to my Mac(s) have to be maintained, updated, upgraded, cared for, right? Not only am I out the money, I’m out the time, as well.
The problem is that we live in an age of instant gratification, and nothing is more gratifying than buying something that will enhance our lives and make us more productive and efficient- all at the same time.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://mac360.com/index.php/mac360/comments/how_much_extra_junk_do_you_have_on_your_mac/
How to Add Email Accounts to Apple's Mail
MacInstruct's Matthew Cone says:
Every Mac comes with Apple's very own killer email client. It's called Mail, and in our opinion, it's one of the greatest applications ever. Thanks to Mail, you don't have to check each of your separate email accounts online anymore. Just pop them all into Apple's Mail and you can read all of your messages in one simple application.
But how do you get your email accounts into Mail? Or, if you're already using Mail, how do you add other email accounts? We'll show you how to do it!
You can check it out at:
http://www.macinstruct.com/node/206
Big Screen iPod Nano Rumors "Confirmed" by Apple Legal
Wired's Charlie Sorrel reports:
Ironically, the only sure way to know the truth in an Apple rumor is to receive a takedown notice from Apple Legal. That's what happened to both Gizmodo and Apple news site 9to5Mac, who posted leaked images of a new, big screen iPod Nano....
For the full report visit here:
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/08/big-screen-ipod.html
eWEEK: Toshiba Unveils First 32GB High-Density Flash Card
New flash cards meet specs to run new-generation mobile phones and other handhelds.
To read more, go to:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2174311,00.asp
Charles W. Moore
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