Apple News

среда, 2 апреля 2008 г.

Update: Time Machine and AirPort Updates

Time Machine and AirPort Updates v1.0 - 10.4MB

This update is recommended for all users and includes compatibility improvements for using Time Machine with Time Capsule, as well as AirPort driver fixes.

99Â¢ Rental of the Week: Escape from Alcatraz

Every Wednesday Apple allows a rental to be downloaded for the special price of 99Â¢, this offer lasts until the following Monday.

This week’s 99Â¢ rental is Escape from Alcatraz (iTunes Link).

Based on the true story of the only escape from Alcatrazâ€"a maximum-security prison built on an island located in shark-infested waters to contain the most dangerous, hardcore criminals and most gifted escape artists in the U.S.â€"ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ stars Clint Eastwood as inmate Frank Morris, the man who plans the escape. When he arrives at Alcatraz in 1960, Morris has an interview with the pompous warden (Patrick McGoohan), who assures him that the prison is escape-proof, well aware of his record of prison breaks. Upon entering the prison population, Morris makes friends with some of the more human inmates, including Doc (Roberts Blossom), an old lifer who paints in his cell; and English (Paul Benjamin), the prison librarian. Less engaging is Wolf (Bruce Fischer), a huge prisoner who tries to stab Morris during a knife fight in the exercise yard after the latter had refused the hulkâ€™s generous offer to become his punk. Morris emerges from his punishment in solit! ary to find that his old friends, the Anglin brothers Jack (Fred Ward) and Clarence (Jack Thibeau), have arrived. He knows that with them he can make a break. This meditative, deliberately paced film might be the only Zen prison movie on record. Eastwood, Siegel, and screenwriter Richard Tuggle brilliantly evoke the look and feel of prison life in this exhaustively researched project, eschewing excess violence and histrionics as they make clear how much patience, ingenuity, and careful planning are involved in an escape of this magnitude.

Appleâs Marketshare Hits 14% for February 2008

According to data from NPD, Apple has reportedly accounted for 14-percent of all US-based PC retail sales in February 2008.

This represents 60-percent unit growth and 67-percent revenue growth year-over-year. Mac notebook sales were up 64-percent year-over-year and Mac desktops up 55-percent.

Sales of MacBook Air units have also been strong.

Security Update 2008-002 for Tiger and Leopard

Security Update 2008-002

Security Update 2008-002 is recommended for all users and improves the security of Mac OS X. Previous security updates have been incorporated into this security update.

вторник, 1 апреля 2008 г.

Hands-On With iPhone 2.0 Firmware

Engadget has posted an extensive gallery of screenshots from the iPhone 2.0 firmware. Several shots and a video were also posted late last week.

The gadget site also offers some info on their experience.

No contact search
App Store doesn’t work yet
Mutli-select to move and delete in Mail
Calculator supports landscape mode
WiFi networks can be ordered by preference

Review: A Must-Have Mac Freebie - SoundSource

A slice of audio control heaven

Hello World of Apple readers, I am new to the staff and will be writing reviews on third-party software and hardware for the Macintosh platform. I switched to the Mac from Windows in May of 2007 and still remember quite vividly some of the initial things that I sorely missed from Windows as well as the solutions that I found. Of course, I am not suggesting that I missed Windows, simply a few features.

The first thing that really bothered me when I switched was having to go into preferences to make any changes to audio settings. Theoretically, that is the same concept as on Windows, but with Windows there is an audio icon in the task bar that provides a quick way to get there rather than having to take the extra steps to access the Control Panel. It baffled me (and still does) why OSX does not natively have this functionality. It also bothered me that my Mac seemed to ignore the fact that if I plugged in headphones, it was logical that I wanted to listen through said headphones. Additionally, I was slow to adopt a Macintosh keyboard, so that only added to my frustrations since I did not have volume controls on my keyboard. At that time I was using an Avant Stellar keyboard which is a modern duplicate of the legendary Northgate OmniKey “clicky” mechanical keyboard which I still believe is the best keyboard ever made; the IBM Model M coming in as a close! second. At my workplace, which uses Windows, I still use an IBM Model M. So at least on that point regarding my new Mac experience, I was not a happy camper.

Then I found this great free application from Rogue Amoeba called SoundSource which places an audio icon (pictured as a set of headphones) in the main menu bar which enables switching input and output audio sources (including settings for System sounds) without having to go into preferences, and glory of all glories, it had an option to “auto-switch to headphones” when they were plugged in. At that time, it had only one really obvious flaw (especially for someone who was not using an Apple keyboard); there were no volume sliders. So in order to change the system volume, I still had to go into preferences or add another icon to the menu bar to show audio output volume! . This too was not an ideal solution because the icon only provided quick access to audio output volume; not input or system sounds volume. Also, personally, I do not like extra icons on my menu bar when functionality should all be contained within one. It is a matter of principle!

However, the Apple gods have smiled upon us, and SoundSource has just been updated to version 2.0 which includes volume sliders! Happy, happy, joy, joy! I am not exaggerating in saying that this is number one on my list of must-have freebies and the first thing I recommend to new switchers. Do your switcher friend a favour: pass it forward.