Parallels gives you the opportunity to run Windows & Mac OS X at the same time on your Mac. If you want to switch to a Mac, but have a couple Windows-only apps that are preventing you, now is the time. Parallels is nothing short of amazing. You can set it up where there is no distinct difference between Windows and Mac OS X applications. Everything runs in the OS X context and it's all seemless.
Using Safari could slow your system down by as much as 76%. Keep in mind that this is a processor-intesive program and if you're not rendering a huge image, you're not likely to notice or care. But I want you to know.
Here's a really good article about the realities of switching from a PC to a Mac, without emotion, arguments, hitting, biting, scratching or fighting. And I concur with all the author's points. It all comes down to what you want. I'm passionate about the Mac platform, and I am convinced that if you enter it with an open mind and the patience to learn, you'll never look back.
Ms. Pac-Man is now available as a game download for your iPod. I've heard that the gameplay for the original Pac-Man on the iPod is sketchy at best, so be warned.
Yep - the rumor is true; there was an iPhone commercial during the Oscars tonight. Pretty good montage of about 30 actors answering the phone ending with a shot of the iPhone. Very cool. Yes, I'm giddy.
Even though screensavers are no longer necessary, they're still fun and this one is no exception. It responds to sounds. Check it out. And it's free!
I had kinda forgotten about this little gem until Small Dog reminded me of it. You can very easily control a Windows PC from your Mac using the free (!) Microsoft Remote Desktop client. The program allows you to control the PC and shows you everything the PC is up to in a window. So if you need to keep a PC around for a program or two, you can control it through your Mac.
The Mac is not running Windows itself, it is simply controlling a PC remotely. If you're looking to run Windows on your Mac, you'll need an Intel-based Mac and Boot Camp or Parallels.
Keep track of the construction of the new Apple Store in Boston, due to be complete sometime this year via the contruction company's webcam/blog.
If you need a place to stay while visiting the Apple Store, be sure to check out the awesome InterContinental Boston.
If you're perturbed that Apple started charging for dotMac services a while back and pretty handy at programming and web services, you could win over $6500 in cash and prizes. All you have to do is come up with a viable alternative that looks, smells and tastes like dotMac but doesn't cost anything. The install, integration and transition from dotMac needs to be seemless.
I'm not really sure what they were thinking on this one, but I'll go along for the humor of it. Apparently someone spent time (too much) figuring out what modern technology some of our founding fathers would use today in 2007. I've always been a fan of Lincoln and Jefferson, and it looks like with good reason. Both would be using Macs - Lincoln with a MacBook Pro and Jefferson with a MacBook. Jefferson even uses an iPod.
Merry Presidents Day Y'all!
I guess it takes a lot of time and money to make all if IE's lazy proprietary coding required for web sites to make it work in open source-based browsers like Safari...
This is for all those out there that have an iPod case that prevents you from conveniently using all those iPod accessories out there - speaker systems, adapters, etc. The Dock Extender allows you to keep that iPod in your case AND use the accessories without having to take it out of the case. Handy.
Mactactic has an interesting new service which gives you an indication of when certain Mac products might be replaced. It's all about guessing & rumors, which I prefer to do on my own. But if you can't be bothered they do it for you.
Gizmodo gives you ALL the details (and then some) on the new Airport Extreme Base Station. They give you the ups, downs, pros, cons, good, bad and the ugly. Don't buy the Airport Extreme until you give this a read.
CEO of MacroVision Fred Amoroso responded to Steve Jobs' open letter about DRM by basically spewing a bunch of assinine remarks about how DRM "increases value" and that lack of DRM would doom consumers with a "one-size-fits-all" solution. You've got to read it to believe it.
*Update: Here's a great translation of the idiot's letter. Very funny.
No need to really say much here, other than you can get exclusive videos of the behind-the-scenes of the Sports Illustrated photo shoots at the iTunes Store.
Dave Goldberg of Yahoo! Music and Noel Lee of Monster Cable threw their hats into Jobs' side of the ring today to get rid of DRM. It took me a bit to find out why Monster Cable really cares - but then I found out they make SuperDisc which is hi-fidelity surround tracks which are DRM-free.
Checkout is a POS (point of sale) offering which enables you to run a store on a Mac. Inventory management, UPC scanning and all the necessary features you need.
Because you just can't have enough DRM, Microsoft launched a new DRM today for mobile devices. Read all about it. I don't care enough to comment.
The Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) is attempting to reinstate a levy of $5 - $75 CDN to MP3 players. This was attempted 2003-2004, but was overturned by the courts.
So innocent Canadians get to pay a surcharge to cover "piracy". A perfect example of majority doesn't rule and punishing the users instead of the abusers.
iTunes added Lionsgate Films to its ever growing music library. They added Paramount back in January. Who's next?
From the Duh department in Obvious, USA, listening to your MP3 player loudly can cause hearing loss. In this very unbiased survey from a company which makes hearing loss products, over 70% of former and current clients named their MP3 player as the source of their hearing loss.
AppleMatters.com has a good writeup of an alternative chat client to iChat, Adium. I'm not a huge user of iChat, but I do use Yahoo messenger quite a bit, but mostly at work.
The advantages over iChat are in the customization. Choose colors, fonts, themes, backgrounds and up to 16 different chat clients.
If you're a big chatter, you might want to check it out. You can chat with me via Adium at konfrstc (via Yahoo! Messenger).
*Update: I've been using Adium a couple of days now. Upside: Logging into my Yahoo, MSN, AIM and GoogleTalk messengers all at the same time. Downside: Contact information not showing for Yahoo (my primary chat client). There are some nice features to Adium and I like it better than the other multi-client chat, Fire or whatever.
It appears that with Intel Macs and only on some locales, the Mac Calculator is having trouble with figuring out 8211.22 + 19%. You'll get a different answer depending on what locale setting you have.
I'll admit that I've not really had a problem with DRM. After all, I listen to music in iTunes and my iPod and have little need or desire for anything else. So DRM hasn't really gotten in my way - except to share music. You heard me. My brother and I used to share good ol' fashioned mix tapes back in the day. And you know what the result of it was? Me buying (that's buying - not copying) more music. If I liked something on the mixtape, I wanted to get the whole album.
According to the Wall Street Journal, EMI is in negotiations to sell DRM-free music with its distributors.
Another reason to hate dislike Best Buy. Apparently they're scamming you by having a secret in-store only web site. If you see a price on the web and then try to get it at the store, they show you the secret web site with the price being different and usually higher. Real nice. Go to Circuit City instead.
Update: Best Buy has admitted this is true.
Ever just walk down the street and say, "man, I'd really like to lock my iPod up to this pole."? Well thanks to modern technology, you can. I'm serious. Really. No joke.
via Geekologie
Stephen Manes at Forbes really rakes Vista over the coals. He certainly doesn't recommend upgrading.
A cool little bar in Des Moines, Iowa called The Lift has been hosting iPod Monday for the past two years. Each Monday night, patrons bring in their iPods and everybody shares a few tunes for everybody else to hear. The creator of iPod Monday Clint Curtis just received a cease and desist from Apple. The problem is not the event itself, it's the name of the event and the related podcasts."I do this little thing called iPod Monday in a little bar in Des Moines, Iowa, that attracts 45 people at most," he said. "Why is this billion-dollar corporation worrying about iPod Monday?"
Well, they're worried about it because trademark dilution can be a serious problem and when mark holders don't protect their marks against any infringers, it becomes that much more difficult to protect them against the big ones. It's disappointing to say the least, but it is what it is. At least they're not trying to shut down the event entirely, yet that's exactly what's happened.
Man, that's a bummer all around.
Is the Zune phone on the way? Es posible.
The first real news is that we can expect to hear an announcement from Redmond about the it before March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, at which time we should learn the name of the device. At the same time, we should also learn other launch specifics, and here’s where it gets incredibly juicy; our source says that, pending FCC approval, the specter-like Zune Phone will hit the streets sometime in May, a full month before the iPhone.
After a 3 month trial with a MacBook and MacOS X Windoze expert Scot Finnie says so long to Windoze. Duh. It shouldn't have taken 3 months.
I'm not really sure if anyone will win the renewed Microsoft vs. Apple pissing match, and I don't really care. The only ones that suffer are the users. I don't think Windoze users will switch to Mac just because some piece of Apple software doesn't work on Windoze and vice-versa. It's just an inconvenience for we the users.
Here's the list of Apple software that doesn't work on Vista.
Download the famous Orson Welles War of the Worlds broadcast that had held the nation at bay. Awesome stuff.
The 2008 Scion lineup offers iPod integration. That's all. Just thought you might like to know. The TC is kinda nice looking. The others are a bit retarded. Sorry if you own one, no offense. By the way, Scion is a division of Toyota. I go now.
Now if there is something my niece and daughter needs, it definitely the Chat Diva Barbie. Just plug in your iPod (or other MP3 player) and Barbie lip syncs and bobs her head to the music. Yep. I'm running out right now to get a couple.
Despite what many analysts say:
"Clearly, DRM is not working," said Ted Schadler, an analyst at Forrester Research. "It sends a message to the customer that 'we don't trust you.'"Phil Leigh, senior analyst at Inside Digital Media, suggested that removing copy restraints would give the labels' music more exposure.
"Digital music has entered the mainstream," Leigh said. "The restrictions (the labels) require Apple and others to carry are preventing the market from developing to its full potential - it's retarding the growth."
the music industry has decided to place the DRM blame back on Jobs and Apple for their refusal to license FairPlay to enable non-iPods to play iTunes music. If the rumor is really true that iTunes may soon offer DRM-less Beatles tunes, this entire debate may be moot. It'll be fun to see what happens. Keep your fingers crossed.
TicketMaster announced today a partnership with iTunes that will give TicketMaster customers a free song and opportunity to purchase tickets in advance of others when pre-ordering from iTunes. You may recall the attempt to do this with the Red Hot Chili Peppers' last album and it not going very well. Apparently they've got the kinks worked out.
via TUAW
You know you might be a bit obsessed when....
You use your iPod for EVERYTHING. iLounge has an article that I quite honestly have not read but is probably a good read if you're obsessed with your iPod and have to use it to plan your wedding. Having been married 10 years and hardly even remembering my wedding, I really just can't relate enough to read it. And the fact that I'm a guy doesn't help things either.
New York Senator Carl Kruger wants to ban cellphones, MP3 players and any other electronic device from New York streets. Or at least when people cross the street. A perfectly asinine response to two recent pedestian deaths there. Because there are what, about a billion people crossing the streets of NYC every day, and two people die, the remaining billion suffer? Stupid over reaction. But then again, have you been through airport security lately? If that's not the definition of over reaction, I don't know what is.
Let Senator Kruger know how you feel about it.
There's a rumor out there that Apple is holding a special event on 20 February. The company hasn't confirmed it. But the rumor is juicy. Think DRM-free Beatles tunes, plus NEW Beatles tracks only available from iTunes. It's all a stretch I'm sure, but we can dream, right?
Think is an interesting piece of productivity software. There can be a lot of distractions on your computer - iChat, Mail, other applications and so on. Think lets you focus on just 1 app - and not let any others interfere. I think (pun intended) that this is a great idea. And it's my favorite price - FREE!
A man in London fixes broken iPods and then gives them to deserving people for free. Just out of the kindness of his heart. And this is a good thing. More people need to do things like this for the greater good of mankind.
It all started out via the London Freecycle. If you haven't heard of Freecycle, it's an awesome concept. If you have an item you no longer need and don't want to clog a local landfill with, you post it. Anyone who has a need for it will take it. All for free. It's a great concept and they're popping up all over.
Anyway, the guy gets broken iPods, fixes them and then gives them out.
Software that is. iPodDisk enables you to easily browse and copy music files right off your iPod. Of course the only reason you would legally do this is to backup files from your iPod or for iTunes. Of course. And it's all free! Free I tells ya! Ha-ha-ha-ha!
Steve Jobs shares his thoughts about music and DRM.
If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music.Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy. Though the big four music companies require that all their music sold online be protected with DRMs, these same music companies continue to sell billions of CDs a year which contain completely unprotected music. That’s right! No DRM system was ever developed for the CD, so all the music distributed on CDs can be easily uploaded to the Internet, then (illegally) downloaded and played on any computer or player.
Interesting! Thanks Boing Boing.
An employee of mine recently had me run over to the Apple Store (not that I need an excuse) to pick up a replacement iPod Shuffle dock. I was shocked that the dock was $29 - over 35% of the cost of the Shuffle itself. If you're looking for a slightly cheaper alternative, check out the PowerBug. It's fairly compact and would make a fine second charger for travel or an additional location. Of course, this just charges the Shuffle. You'll still need the dock if you want to sync your music.
Finally, Apple has settled with Apple. Apple reported paid Apple between 50 to 100 million dollars to use the Apple name. Unfortunately, the joint statement did not include Apple allowing Apple to sell the Beatles' catalog through Apple's iTunes Store. But I'm glad it is at least settled. It was hard watching my two favorite things at such odds with each other. Let's pray that the deal quietly includes licensing the Beatles' catalog on iTunes. Not that I need any of the songs - I have them all, but if they're remastered to the same sound quality as on "1", then I'll have to buy them all again.
Not only did my home town team not win (Grossman SUCKS!), there was no rumored announcement from Apple of a new iPod and Beatles on the iTS. Oh well. As a die-hard Cubs fan, losses just roll off my back...
If you're into the whole Valentine's day deal, and you want to give a cool gift like an iPod, you'll need to order by 06 February in order to guarantee that you'll get it in time.
Of course, you could write off this holiday as I do, head to the Apple Store, and buy an iPod for yourself. :-)
Magical adds a quick access calendar to your toolbar. I'm always wanting to quickly look at a date but hate having to open iCal or go to some web site. And the best part is it's free. Donation requested.
Apple advises Windows users to hold off on upgrading to Vista for "a few weeks" while they resolve some issues with iTunes on Vista. While many users will experience no problems, a few will including the inability to play music or video purchased from the iTunes store, difficulties synchronizing contacts and calendars and possible failures of iPods plugged into a Vista computer.
Update: The iTunes Repair Tool for Vista 1.0 will repair permissions for important files required by iTunes to play your iTunes Store purchases.
