Category: Macintosh

Mac-related computer stuff. I also put iPod-related stuff here so I guess this should have been called Apple.

Aperture 1.1 out

Aperture 1.1 was released as a free update today. If you own Aperture, see Software Update. (My comments about it are here.)

In my original review of Aperture, the only real complaint I had was the price, which was too close to PhaseOne CaptureOne. I felt that Apple should undercut them like Final Cut Pro did to Avid. Well, if you own Aperture 1.0 like I do, you can get a $200 coupon good for future Apple Store purchases (Academic users get a $100 one).

By the way, this also means a $200 price drop to Aperture to $300 from $500.

Now how is that for service?Continue reading →

Posted on by tychay 2

The Origami hype-machine

Pity Microsoft sometimes.

What possess them to send out hype announcements just before a Steve Job’s keynote/event? I know Apple has a tiny marketshare, but in the geek world, their mind share is huge. This is why Apple’s announcements top Google News Sci/Tech section even after a mediocre product announcement.

More is the pity because Origami is actually a very interesting device.

(Be warned, the Origami website linked is pointless.)

Microsoft’s Origami

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Posted on by tychay 10

Mac Mini switches to Intel

It wasn’t more than a year ago when I wrote in my OSCON bio:

Terry Chay is the only Mac user at Plaxo, where he develops the web-based version of their product (they tolerate him because he stinks at CounterStrike).

A few weeks ago, IT purchased a couple of Mac Minis to ramp up Mac support now that Plaxo Mac Beta has been leaked. QA has decided to make support for Safari on peer with Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer 6+ for Windows in all future bug listings. Plaxo has gotten serious about the Mac and it looks like that part of the bio is now very, very false—well, at least the part about sucking at CounterStrike is still true.

Well when I heard they ordered it, I said, “Why not just wait until March, April at the latest, and get Intel Mac Minis? They’ll come out just after the MacBook (iBook replacement) gets announced at the end of February.”

Looks like I was wrong. Apple introduced the Mac mini replacement using the Core Solo and Core Duo.
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Posted on by tychay 11

Back to Palm…again

Palm Treo 650

Michael at work just got a Treo 650 and because I have a Palm T|X (review roundup), he was wondering how to get up using the Palm features.

In my opinion the two are not the same product, there are a lot of cool things that I could do with a PalmOS that are too inconvenient when spread across two devices. The fact is, I bought my Palm T|X as a stop-gap measure for the stuff that I used to keep on my Palm m505 years ago. These apps are probably outdated now, but I figure I can coast a while with it until the cell-phone and PDA integration wars end.

Instead, a much better source for him will this blog series I found of a Windows Mobile user who purchased a Treo 650. It’s a fresh perspective from someone whose primary interest is having a Treo for the things the Treo does well.

Continue reading →

Posted on by tychay 2

Rip Different

MacTheRipper icon

I saw on BoingBoing that Macrovision is threatening VersionTracker for listing MacTheRipper. I had forgotten what a wonderfully useful program MacTheRipper has always been mostly because I’ve taken it for granted.

Basically what it does is strip the CSS, Macrovision, region encoding and menu blocks from a DVD to allow you to create a usable VIDEO_TS file onto your hard drive suitable for burning or down sampling down to a single layer drive.

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Posted on by tychay 1

Opera 9 preview 2

Preview 2 of Opera 9 is out. The big thing is the integrated BitTorrent client.

I’m not planning on using Opera but because Microsoft Internet Explorer for the Mac is dead, it might be fun to have it lying around to learn some AJAX quirks it might have. Besides, Opera’s rendering engine might be used in a number of handheld devices.

Posted on by tychay 0

Moving to the Front Row

I’m always amazed that so many Mac users haven’t seen Front Row just because it is installed only on an iMac (G5 and Core Duo).

Now that the MacBook Pro is out with the Front Row installed, I recalled that there was some way to hack other Macs to run the software. I wondered what the status was and a quick web search shows that it is alive and well.

Following the instructions, I got it working on my Powerbook G4. As you can see from the video, it is a little sluggish when you are running it and SnapzPro to record it, and I think it may be related to some issues I might have with DVD Player crashing the first time I launch it. But other than that, the behavior is full of the usual Apple eye-candy goodness.

“Moving to the Front Row” by me
Front Row running on a Macintosh Powerbook G4 (sped up 2x).

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Posted on by tychay 5

MacRumors MacWorld roundup

MacRumors Logo

Arn posts a roundup of the Macworld 2006 rumors. I have always loved the work he has done there, even though MacRumors is an aggregator of rumors, not a news site itself, he seems to have a “taste” for what is good Mac news and what isn’t living up to his tag-line: “news and rumors you care about.” Truely.

One thing interesting in the report is the implication of 13″ widescreen Intel iBooks (“MacBooks”) and Intel-based Mac Minis in the spring. Caitlin notes that if true, it would leave a single non-Intel hole in the line up: pro desktops and servers (PowerMac G5 and XServes).Continue reading →

Posted on by tychay 7