I’m trying to find the best app(s) for iPhone and iPod Touch to control my Mac. Would like to be able to control mouse, type using keyboard, and bonus would be to use as a remote for certain apps, either pre-built or build-your-own.
Does anyone out there have any thoughts, opinions or suggestions on what to check out?
More than a year after Google released its Web browser for Windows, a Mac version is still under development. But a beta version may see the light of day as early as next month.
Deeper is a personalization utility that allows you to enable and disable the hidden functions of Finder, Dock, Dashboard, Exposé, Safari, Login window and many Apple’s applications…
UNO derives from the Latin word for one and stands for “as one”.
*UNO is the root of Unity.
*UNO is a theme that brings the sunken unified toolbar/titlebar look&feel to every single window on your system (cocoa or carbon, metal or aqua and already unified windows as well).
*On an higher level, UNO’s main goal is to enhance aqua interface consistence, by making all elements look&feel “as one”.
*UNO is aimed to those who want a clean and un-osbstructive interface while keeping the best of Aqua.
*The unity level proposed by UNO does not compromises overall GUI contrast: UNO and UNO shade can be mixed up in order to achieve that usability goal.
*UNO also fixes some Blue/Graphite appearance inconsistencies.
iStumbler is the leading wireless discovery tool for Mac OS X, providing plugins for finding AirPort networks, Bluetooth devices and Bonjour services with your Mac.
The Unarchiver is a much more capable replacement for “BOMArchiveHelper.app”, the built-in archive unpacker program in Mac OS X. The Unarchiver is designed to handle many more formats than BOMArchiveHelper, and to better fit in with the design of the Finder. It can also handle filenames in foreign character sets, created with non-English versions of other operating systems. I personally find it useful for opening Japanese archives, but it should handle many other languages just as well.
*Supported file formats include Zip, Tar-GZip, Tar-BZip2, Rar, 7-zip, LhA, StuffIt and many other more or less obscure formats. Support for so many formats is achieved by using the libxad unarchiving library.
STUFFIT EXPANDER expands all your compressed and encoded files!
** Access any file, download, or attachment!
** Scan your compressed or encoded files for viruses!
** NEW! StuffIt now allows you to open Zip archives encrypted using the 256bit AES method!
UnPlugged is an application to notify when the power cord of the Mac is unplugged or plugged in. Notifications are done using Growl, or with a Alertwindow, when Growl is not installed.
LiteIcon is an application to change System icons. It also includes a function to restore icons.
Growl is a notification system for Mac OS X: it allows applications that support Growl to send you notifications.
*Why use Growl?
**Control
***Growl offers you complete control over which notifications are shown and how they are displayed. You will not receive any notifications that you do not want, because you can easily turn notifications (specific ones or all of them) off.
**Consistency
***Growl centralizes all your notification preferences into its preference pane – you can control them all from one place, and you know exactly how they are going to behave.
**Ease of use
***When you start up a Growl-enabled application, it will “just work.” Your apps can start displaying notifications right away.
**Powerful
***Growl is very flexible. Notifications can be emailed to you or spoken instead of displayed on the screen.
coconutBattery isn’t just a tool which shows you only the current charge of your battery – it also shows you the current maximum capacity of it in relation to the original capacity your battery had as it left the factory.
*You also get information about the battery-loadcycles (how often did you fully load your battery), the current charger (coconutBattery even warns you if you plugged in a wrong charger for your Notebook) and last but not least information about the age of your Mac.
FanControl : Do you think your MacBook (Pro) is running too hot? Give Fan Control a try then.
*Some MacBook (Pro) are just too hot for daylong use. Fan Control adjusts the minimum fan speed depending on the current CPU temperature. For safety, it leaves the original automatic fan speed control intact.
OnyX is a multifunction utility (maintenance, optimization, and personalization).
It allows you to run misc tasks of system maintenance, to configure some hidden parameters of the Finder, Dock, Dashboard, Exposé, Safari, Login window and of some of Apple’s own applications, to delete caches, to remove a certain number of files and folders that may become cumbersome, to see the detailed info of your configuration, to preview various logs and CrashReporter-reports, to check the Preferences files and more.
AppFresh helps you to keep all applications (third-party and Apple), widgets, preference panes and application plugins on your Mac up to date, from one place. It works by checking the excellent iusethis.com for new versions and lets you download and install available updates easily.
Maintenance is a System Maintenance and Cleaning utility.
**It allows you to run misc tasks of system maintenance: repair permissions, run periodic scripts, reset Spotlight’s Index, rebuild the LaunchServices database, delete Application, Font and System cache, check the status of the Hard disk.
BackityMac
Easiest Backup Solution for all your important Files
NOW WITH SCHEDULED BACKUP GOODNESS!!!
Currently registered users will receive the scheduler for no extra charge. ( $10.00 Registration )
Have you ever wanted an easy way to backup the important files in your home directory? Are you tired of sifting through the Library folder to find where your mail, address book, ical calendars are kept? BackityMac gives you an easy way to backup your Apple Mail files, MS Entourage Files, Address Book database, iCal calendars, iPhoto, iTunes, iWeb libraries, Safari, Firefox, Camino bookmarks, documents folder and your entire home folder.
NOTE: Though this software does have an option to pay, which grants you additional features, this FREE portion of this software is very robust and useful.
Carbon Copy Cloner
*In its simplest form, CCC will clone one hard drive to another, copying every single block or file to create an exact replica of your source hard drive. This is very useful if, for example, your laptop is damaged and you must send it in for repair.
*CCC can also be used to perform regular backups of your data. When you select a source disk in CCC, you are presented with the contents of that disk (hidden items too). Simply uncheck the items that you do not want to backup, and CCC will provide ample indication what will and will not be copied. Select a target disk to which you would like to backup, then press the clone button.
Netrestore
Whether you’re deploying five, five thousand, or 32,000 systems, NetRestore is the software deployment solution for you. Built on Apple’s Apple Software Restore technology, NetRestore can be used to quickly and accurately restore a master disk image to a computer’s hard disk while that disk image is hosted locally, on a network via AFP, NFS or multicast, or on the internet via HTTP. NetRestore can also be used in conjunction with NetBoot to fully automate the deployment of a lab full of machines. NetRestore was designed to be very easy to use, yet flexible, powerful, and extensible. NetRestore supports the deployment of Mac OS X and Windows XP.
VacuumMail is an AppleScript application that performs an SQLite “vacuum” job on Apple Mail’s database, thereby optimizing it and boosting the performance of Mail as it fetches and stores your email. VacuumMail is designed to be incorporated into an automated maintenance routine and run at regular intervals, although you can also launch the software interactively if you need to do a manual run.
AppleJack is a user friendly troubleshooting assistant for Mac OS X. With AppleJack you can troubleshoot a computer even if you can’t load the GUI, or don’t have a startup CD handy. AppleJack runs in Single User Mode and is menu-based for ease of use.
HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded DVD to MPEG-4 converter, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.
VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, …) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.
Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems.
Aurora is a free Alarm Clock for your Mac that lets you wake up to your favorite iTunes or iPod playlist or any TV or radio channel from EyeTV.
Take your photos further with Picasa from Google. Learn more
*Post photos and videos online in seconds
**One-click web upload directly from Picasa, or add photos using a web browser or your Mac.
*Share photos with friends and family
**Share albums exclusively with friends and family, or make your albums public and share with the Picasa community.
*View and save your friends’ photos
**Keep track of your favorite people and see when they add something new. Download friends’ albums too.
*Enjoy photos at their best
**See big photos, scroll through them quickly, rotate and zoom. Have fun with captions and comments.
*BookMaker for Mac
**Now Mac users can create beautifully designed books using our BookMaker software. In addition to our Classic Hardcover book, we offer a Deluxe Hardcover book along with a dozen cover colors and a picture window or book jacket cover option!
*iPhoto Plug-in
**Order your iPhoto books directly from MyPublisher! Get the best quality, the fastest service and special discounts! All iPhoto hardcover books feature cover label treatments.
Flip4Mac With Windows Media® Components for QuickTime, by Flip4Mac™, you can play Windows Media files (.wma and .wmv) directly in QuickTime Player and view Windows Media content on the Internet using a Web browser.
Joost is a new way of watching TV on the internet. With Joost, you get all the things you love about TV, including a high-quality full-screen picture, hundreds of full-length shows and easy channel-flipping.
SlimBatteryMonitor is a replacement power gauge for Apple’s Mac OS X that tracks laptop batteries. Takes up to 70% less space than Apple’s gauge. Monitors laptop batteries and many UPS batteries as well. Select different views for when powered, charging or on battery. Monitor can hide itself automatically when desired.
MagiCal is a FREE menu-based clock and calendar. It features a huge range of configuration options for how the time and date are displayed, and can operate either in conjunction with, or as a replacement for the built in system menu clock. In addition to this, MagiCal features a handy drop-down calendar that can be torn off and placed anywhere on screen.
MenuMeters is a set of CPU, memory, disk, and network monitoring tools for MacOS X. Although there are numerous other programs which do the same thing, none had quite the feature set I was looking for. Most were windows that sat in a corner or on the desktop, which are inevitably obscured by document windows on a PowerBook’s small screen. Those monitors which used the menubar mostly used the NSStatusItem API, which has the annoying tendency to totally reorder my menubar on every login.
*The MenuMeters monitors are true SystemUIServer plugins (also known as Menu Extras). This means they can be reordered using command-drag and remember their positions in the menubar across logins and restarts.
**The CPU Meter can display system load both as a total percentage, or broken out as user and system time. It can also graph user and system load and display the load as a “thermometer”. The menu for the CPU Meter contains several pieces of information I like to have a single click away (uptime, load average, open Process Viewer, open Console).
**The Disk Activity Meter displays disk activity to local disks on the system (anything that is a IOKit BlockStorage driver). It is hotplug aware, and will show activity on FireWire and USB disks as they are mounted. The Disk Meter menu shows volume space details for local drives (it does not display mounted network volumes for speed reasons).
**The Memory Meter can display current memory usage as either a pie chart, thermometer, history graph, or as used/free totals. The Memory Meter menu shows a breakdown of current memory usage and VM statistics. The Memory Meter can optionally display a paging indicator light.
**The Net Meter can display network throughput as arrows, bytes per second, and/or as a graph. Both the arrows and the graph are scaled using a user-selected scaling factor and calculation. Scaling can be done on the basis of actual link speed reported by the network interface or peak traffic and can use one of several scaling calculations. The Net Meter menu shows current interfaces and their status. Interface information is gathered from the SystemConfiguraton framework and thus is MacOS X network location aware (to prevent interfaces from appearing in this menu see the FAQ).
VirtueDesktops is a virtual desktop manager for Apple’s Mac OS. It offers features, eye candy and configurable options that no other desktop manager on the mac has added yet. Sadly, VirtueDesktops is no longer under active development. It is based upon the work done by Rich Wareham on DesktopManager (specifically the CGSPrivate headers), which is an alternate open-source virtual desktop application. VirtueDesktops includes a small amount of Rich’s code from DesktopManager, which means that presently it is licensed under the GPL.
MarcoPolo brings location-aware computing to your portable Mac computer. It allows your computer to determine its location through gathering evidence from your environment (evidence sources), using fuzzy-logic and rule-based matching to make an educated guess (rules), and then performing arbitrary actions upon changing location (actions).
At first glance, Quicksilver is a launcher. When opened, it will create a catalog of applications and some frequently used folders and documents. Activate it, and you can search for and open anything in its catalog instantly. The search is adaptive, so Quicksilver will recognize which items you are searching for based on previous experience. It also supports abbreviations, so you can type entire words, or just fragments of each. When not in use, Quicksilver vanishes, waiting for the next time you summon it.
This is flashback to an Apple Keynote from 1983. Honestly, not much has changed in the way Steve Jobs presents a Keynote address. After attending Macworld 2007 this year and being present for the Keynote address, the main difference from his present way of presenting, is that he is much more polished and doesn’t have notes in front of him.
This was pretty cool to see.
So I have been pretty busy over the last few months. Doing many different things and I have honestly had little time to devote to blogging. This saddens me as I enjoyed it and enjoyed hearing your comments. I will attempt to make more frequent posts to this blog and hopefully keep current content on it.
My next post will probably be a “Best Of…” post showing the best Free Mac software solutions. I tend to be a cheap bastard and don’t pay for software. That said, I don’t use illegal copies of software, I simply opt to use Open Source/ Freeware/ Shareware versions, even if only in their limited use forms. While I have found several pieces of software I would really like to get full functionality out of, none have had functionality that was a necessity for me.
I really like finding cool Open Source software that allows me to create a customized build of the application for my machine and Operating System. If you know of any let me know!!!
Well… stay tuned for my “Best Of…” posting!
Well, will it? There have already been several pseudo competitors hitting the market or at least announced to hit the market later this year. But will they stack up to the iPhone? Will the iPhone turn out to be a flop like the Apple Newton? We will only know the answer to that question sometime during the month of July this year, but for now, check out these articles on why these guys think that the iPhone will make an impact on technology.
Macworld: News: Opinion: Why the iPhone will change the (PC) world
The new smcFanControl software allows you to change the Apple standard minimum speed for your system fans. So if you are really using your system intensively you can cool the sytem much quicker. And with the new version 2 of the software you can put it in your MenuBar and monitor it.
It also allows you to set presets so you can easily change the fans to different speeds with just a couple clicks. It will also detect whether you have a power supply plugged in or if you are on battery power and will adjust the speeds based on pre-defined settings you have made for each.
Really handy and it will keep your MacBook Pro from frying if you are using some high-end software that is CPU intensive. I have been using this for a few weeks and I love it.
It works wonders to keep my system temps low and out of the danger zone.
So if the iPhone only costs $300, are you going to get one? There are new reports running around the web concerning a lower price point for Apple’s new iPhone, which is yet-t0-be-released, but is scheduled to appear for sale sometime in June.
The lower price, does however require a contract committment, which is no surprise. This is the standard procedure for the major cellular companies, at least in the US. If you agree to a term/ contract you can get a significant price reduction on your phone, and they typically offer one or more rebates to make the price of your new phone more attractive, as well.
I guess we will soon see if this move will be a profitable one for Apple, Inc and Cingular.
iPhone to cost only $300-400 with contract? – The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
Mac Rumors has posted that Apple apparently has a patent for a wireless charging station. The images indicate that the new iPhone will be able to be charged in a dock in any orientation. There are no visible contacts that can be seen, the whole process of charging is done by induction without straight connection with metal contacts. These metal contacts on most devices can corrode and get damaged.
So this is yet another revolutionary part of the highly touted iPhone.
TUAW has posted some screenshots from an unreleased version of iChat. The images indicate there will be a new feature built-in to the Apple iChat software. Unfortunately there are not details but could it be possible that Voicemail will be coming standard with iChat 4.0??iChat 4.0 Voicemail – The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
This software is made by the same guy that makes Home Zone.
This cool bit of software allows you to use your computer and iTunes to wake you up in the AM. Or for any such alert or notice you need to be reminded of and don’t want to be annoyed by a loud and obnoxious buzzer.
You can even set it to go off and get progressively louder over a user specified amount of time. Or perhaps you want it to automatically start the Visualizer. It will even start and play a specific Playlist in iTunes.
Lots of cool stuff and ways to make your alarm. You can even have several different ones. OH and another really cool thing… You can have slowly fade out, like if you want to listen to music while you fall asleep but dont want the music running all night long.
Cool Beans. Check it out.
Home Zone is really cool software that simply lets you “program” your computer to perform certain functions based on the presence, or lack thereof, a particular wireless network or Bluetooth device.
He has made significant changes to the software already, even in its infancy. You can do certain things such as Enable/ Disable Screensaver password on entering or leaving of a device or Wireless Access Point (WAP). You can also now have the system enable your screensaver as well.
A pretty cool piece of software. And still in Beta, pretty nifty stuff. Kudos to the creator. Keep up the good work.
If haven’t heard of it or haven’t downloaded it yet get it. And if currently use or have used Handbrake (the open source project that allows you to rip a DVD to your computer) you will want this.
This software is young and still developing but it is based on the source code from Handbrake, with some added functionality. Here is what the site says about the software:
MediaFork is a GPL’d multiplatform, multithreaded DVD to MPEG-4 ripper/converter originally based on HandBrake, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.
The following are the details on the software from the site:
Supported sources:
- Any DVD-like source: VIDEO_TS folder, DVD image or real DVD (even encrypted)
- PAL or NTSC
- AC-3, LPCM or MPEG audio tracks
Outputs:
- File format: MP4, AVI or OGM
- Video: MPEG-4 or H.264 (1 or 2 passes or constant quantizer encoding)
- Audio: AAC, MP3, Vorbis or AC-3 pass-through (supports encoding of several audio tracks)
Misc features
- Chapter selection
- Basic subtitle support (burned into the picture)
- Integrated bitrate calculator
- Picture deinterlacing, cropping and scaling
- Grayscale encoding
Mr Gates has so graciously added to the fodder the Mac community can use to taunt him with. In a recent interview Gates was questioned on his new operating system, Windows Vista, as well his biggest rival Apple, Inc’s current operating system, Tiger, and the to-be -released version of Mac OS X, Leopard (10.5), which is due in late March.
He apparently got flustered in the interview and just fed up with it all and started spouting information wasn’t entirely accurate. Many are now speculating that these claims were part of what prompted the latest string of Apple ads, jabbing at the new version of Windows and its “features”.
Check it out here.
Well its about darned time. Flash media has dropped dramatically in cost over the last couple of years. I honestly had expected this to be in existence already. But it would appear it has been cost prohibitive until now. My guess is that manufacturing reasons are mostly to blame, along with technical difficulties.
But at long last, large capacity flash based iPod’s are on the horizon. So are you going to get one?
AppleInsider | Apple may ax next-gen HDD iPod in favor of all-flash models
Below is the Press Release of Steve Jobs’ comments on the current state of digital music. A very interesting read and bold statement made by the Apple, Inc CEO. So far it has some reputable supporters, but until the music studios decide to let all that DRM junk go, it could be a long road to haul.
Personally, I understand why the music industries want it on. So that they can control distribution and get more revenues. BUT, all they are doing is frustrating the consumers by forcing portable media player manufactuers to put such tight restrictions on their Music that the files are platform specific.
It seems like the industry is beginning to bite the hand(s) that feed them… which historically is dangerous, daring at best.
Steve Jobs
February 6, 2007With the stunning global success of Apple’s iPod music player and iTunes online music store, some have called for Apple to “open” the digital rights management (DRM) system that Apple uses to protect its music against theft, so that music purchased from iTunes can be played on digital devices purchased from other companies, and protected music purchased from other online music stores can play on iPods. Let’s examine the current situation and how we got here, then look at three possible alternatives for the future.
To begin, it is useful to remember that all iPods play music that is free of any DRM and encoded in “open” licensable formats such as MP3 and AAC. iPod users can and do acquire their music from many sources, including CDs they own. Music on CDs can be easily imported into the freely-downloadable iTunes jukebox software which runs on both Macs and Windows PCs, and is automatically encoded into the open AAC or MP3 formats without any DRM. This music can be played on iPods or any other music players that play these open formats.
The rub comes from the music Apple sells on its online iTunes Store. Since Apple does not own or control any music itself, it must license the rights to distribute music from others, primarily the “big four” music companies: Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI. These four companies control the distribution of over 70% of the world’s music. When Apple approached these companies to license their music to distribute legally over the Internet, they were extremely cautious and required Apple to protect their music from being illegally copied. The solution was to create a DRM system, which envelopes each song purchased from the iTunes store in special and secret software so that it cannot be played on unauthorized devices.
Apple was able to negotiate landmark usage rights at the time, which include allowing users to play their DRM protected music on up to 5 computers and on an unlimited number of iPods. Obtaining such rights from the music companies was unprecedented at the time, and even today is unmatched by most other digital music services. However, a key provision of our agreements with the music companies is that if our DRM system is compromised and their music becomes playable on unauthorized devices, we have only a small number of weeks to fix the problem or they can withdraw their entire music catalog from our iTunes store.
To prevent illegal copies, DRM systems must allow only authorized devices to play the protected music. If a copy of a DRM protected song is posted on the Internet, it should not be able to play on a downloader’s computer or portable music device. To achieve this, a DRM system employs secrets. There is no theory of protecting content other than keeping secrets. In other words, even if one uses the most sophisticated cryptographic locks to protect the actual music, one must still “hide” the keys which unlock the music on the user’s computer or portable music player. No one has ever implemented a DRM system that does not depend on such secrets for its operation.
The problem, of course, is that there are many smart people in the world, some with a lot of time on their hands, who love to discover such secrets and publish a way for everyone to get free (and stolen) music. They are often successful in doing just that, so any company trying to protect content using a DRM must frequently update it with new and harder to discover secrets. It is a cat-and-mouse game. Apple’s DRM system is called FairPlay. While we have had a few breaches in FairPlay, we have been able to successfully repair them through updating the iTunes store software, the iTunes jukebox software and software in the iPods themselves. So far we have met our commitments to the music companies to protect their music, and we have given users the most liberal usage rights available in the industry for legally downloaded music.
With this background, let’s now explore three different alternatives for the future.
The first alternative is to continue on the current course, with each manufacturer competing freely with their own “top to bottom” proprietary systems for selling, playing and protecting music. It is a very competitive market, with major global companies making large investments to develop new music players and online music stores. Apple, Microsoft and Sony all compete with proprietary systems. Music purchased from Microsoft’s Zune store will only play on Zune players; music purchased from Sony’s Connect store will only play on Sony’s players; and music purchased from Apple’s iTunes store will only play on iPods. This is the current state of affairs in the industry, and customers are being well served with a continuing stream of innovative products and a wide variety of choices.
Some have argued that once a consumer purchases a body of music from one of the proprietary music stores, they are forever locked into only using music players from that one company. Or, if they buy a specific player, they are locked into buying music only from that company’s music store. Is this true? Let’s look at the data for iPods and the iTunes store – they are the industry’s most popular products and we have accurate data for them. Through the end of 2006, customers purchased a total of 90 million iPods and 2 billion songs from the iTunes store. On average, that’s 22 songs purchased from the iTunes store for each iPod ever sold.
Today’s most popular iPod holds 1000 songs, and research tells us that the average iPod is nearly full. This means that only 22 out of 1000 songs, or under 3% of the music on the average iPod, is purchased from the iTunes store and protected with a DRM. The remaining 97% of the music is unprotected and playable on any player that can play the open formats. Its hard to believe that just 3% of the music on the average iPod is enough to lock users into buying only iPods in the future. And since 97% of the music on the average iPod was not purchased from the iTunes store, iPod users are clearly not locked into the iTunes store to acquire their music.
The second alternative is for Apple to license its FairPlay DRM technology to current and future competitors with the goal of achieving interoperability between different company’s players and music stores. On the surface, this seems like a good idea since it might offer customers increased choice now and in the future. And Apple might benefit by charging a small licensing fee for its FairPlay DRM. However, when we look a bit deeper, problems begin to emerge. The most serious problem is that licensing a DRM involves disclosing some of its secrets to many people in many companies, and history tells us that inevitably these secrets will leak. The Internet has made such leaks far more damaging, since a single leak can be spread worldwide in less than a minute. Such leaks can rapidly result in software programs available as free downloads on the Internet which will disable the DRM protection so that formerly protected songs can be played on unauthorized players.
An equally serious problem is how to quickly repair the damage caused by such a leak. A successful repair will likely involve enhancing the music store software, the music jukebox software, and the software in the players with new secrets, then transferring this updated software into the tens (or hundreds) of millions of Macs, Windows PCs and players already in use. This must all be done quickly and in a very coordinated way. Such an undertaking is very difficult when just one company controls all of the pieces. It is near impossible if multiple companies control separate pieces of the puzzle, and all of them must quickly act in concert to repair the damage from a leak.
Apple has concluded that if it licenses FairPlay to others, it can no longer guarantee to protect the music it licenses from the big four music companies. Perhaps this same conclusion contributed to Microsoft’s recent decision to switch their emphasis from an “open” model of licensing their DRM to others to a “closed” model of offering a proprietary music store, proprietary jukebox software and proprietary players.
The third alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely. Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. 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.
In 2006, under 2 billion DRM-protected songs were sold worldwide by online stores, while over 20 billion songs were sold completely DRM-free and unprotected on CDs by the music companies themselves. The music companies sell the vast majority of their music DRM-free, and show no signs of changing this behavior, since the overwhelming majority of their revenues depend on selling CDs which must play in CD players that support no DRM system.
So if the music companies are selling over 90 percent of their music DRM-free, what benefits do they get from selling the remaining small percentage of their music encumbered with a DRM system? There appear to be none. If anything, the technical expertise and overhead required to create, operate and update a DRM system has limited the number of participants selling DRM protected music. If such requirements were removed, the music industry might experience an influx of new companies willing to invest in innovative new stores and players. This can only be seen as a positive by the music companies.
Much of the concern over DRM systems has arisen in European countries. Perhaps those unhappy with the current situation should redirect their energies towards persuading the music companies to sell their music DRM-free. For Europeans, two and a half of the big four music companies are located right in their backyard. The largest, Universal, is 100% owned by Vivendi, a French company. EMI is a British company, and Sony BMG is 50% owned by Bertelsmann, a German company. Convincing them to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace. Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly.
So Microsoft has put yet another thorn in their side with the release of Vista. Their new and shiny is appearing to get a lot of hype in the media. But in reality the whole hullaballoo is turning into a circus.
Microsoft chose to release a total of 10 versions of Windows Vista at launch, confusing customers and experts alike about the differences between the various editions. Upgrade versions of Vista are “poison,” according to Digit, because the requirements for each edition vary and demand an existing installation of Windows 2000 or Windows XP. Users hoping to reinstall Windows Vista on a freshly-formatted hard drive are forced to install Windows twice, and future hardware configurations may fail to support Windows XP to render the Vista upgrade versions useless.
So once you have spent weeks trying to figure out which version of Vista you need to purchase, then you will have to purchase another computer to run it. Then you will have to upgrade that NEW computer with more RAM and a better Video Card, just to be able to run the OS and get all the “new and shiny” features to run properly. Tell me how this is a viable model for a software company?
Analyst: Vista to Have Short-term Negative Impact on Apple || The Mac Observer
Even analysts are saying that Vista really isn’t much competition for Apple. The copycat isn’t going to hold too much over on the Big Cat.
So are you still confused about Vista? Here is your simply answer. Wait until April… and buy a brand new and shiny from Apple that will be sporting a new Leopard print OS.
Then all your cares will just float away…
SAN FRANCISCO — Jan. 9, 2007 — Microsoft Corp.’s Macintosh Business Unit (Mac BU) today revealed at Macworld Conference & Expo 2007 the news Mac fans have been waiting to hear: A new version of Office for Mac is on its way. The Mac BU announced its intent to deliver the first Universal version of Office for Mac for PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs — Microsoft® Office 2008 for Mac. Scheduled to be available in the second half of 2007, Office 2008 for Mac will allow Mac users to work smarter and more efficiently with new and enhanced tools that are simple, intuitive and easily discovered.
The new version of Microsoft Office for Mac could prove to be more revolutionary than anyone anticipates. It appears that Microsoft is beginning to understand and accept their Mac clients as viable customers. So much so, that Office 2008 supposedly will have new enhancements and functionality that Office 2007 won’t have.
New Mac-First, Mac-Only Features
Microsoft continues to deliver new Mac-first, Mac-only features aimed at providing customers with a unique, engaging and definitively Mac experience. Office 2008 for Mac will carry on the tradition of Mac BU’s productivity software, helping users get organized and work smarter through these features:
• Publishing Layout View lets users create incredibly layout-rich documents such as newsletters, fliers and brochures by uncovering desktop publishing layout tools and providing text box entry. • Ledger Sheets enable anyone to use Excel to handle common financial management tasks. Home and small-business users can balance checkbooks, track accounts or manage investment portfolios more easily than ever. • My Day allows users to track priorities and stay on top of daily activities no matter what application they’re currently working in. My Day is a stand-alone application that doesn’t take up much screen space, offers at-a-glance schedule and task viewing without launching Entourage, and lets users color-code everything for visualizing daily priorities.
You can read more of the press release from Microsoft here.
If this turns out to be true, it begs the question as to the future of Apple’s iWork suite. There have been rumors regarding the future of iWork and new additions to the software suite. But it could be possible that Microsoft might kill it off.
What do you think? Does Microsoft have what it takes to outdo Apple? Is Office good enough and flashy enough to beat out the possible future of iWork?
Weigh in and we’ll all wait and see what Microsoft is holding in the wings come the second half of this year.
A big move in Virtualization software that flies counter to the momentum of the big Apple, Inc. But it also lines up with what many in the tech community would love to see happen. Running Mac OS X on any PC. The use of technologies such as Parallels and VMWare are able to make that possible.
So far they have had to add in blocks to keep it from working so far, since the Apple Intel shift. They had to do this to say in nice with Apple. But that tide may be about to change.
Take a look at these articles to see what’s going on.
Mac Rumors: Running Mac OS X on Generic PCs with Parallels/VMWare? [Update]
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
That is pretty much the entire audio track of this video composite that was created. It catalogs several of the “BOOM” exclamations made by the Steve himself. I never noticed it before but he really does say that alot.
Enjoy
Interested in running Windows inside your Mac, but not ready to leave the comfort of your Mac OS? Give the new version of Parallels a shot. There are many new features in this new version, not the least of which is the amazing Coherence mode. Coherence mode allows you to get rid of the ugly Windows desktop inside an application window and run your Windows applications LIVE next to your Mac OS applications.
So if you should so choose you can run Microsoft Word 2004 right next to Microsoft Word 2007. Pretty cool, huh?
The performance that Parallels provides in rather incredible. They are also looking to do integrate 3-D graphics acceleration support in the near future. Check out the new beta today and give Windows half-a-chance to experience the world of running on a Mac.
NOTE: To install Windows even in a Parallels virtuallized envrionment, you will have to have a valid Microsoft Windows license key.Parallels Provides More Details on Desktop 2.5 || The Mac Observer
This article from The Apple Blog has an interesting perspective on the iPhone name. He is basically pointing out the fact that the name “iPhone” is NOT emblazoned on the back of the phone product, as it is on other Apple products, such as the iPod and the iMac.
He also surmizes that the iPhone product name has become a generic identifier and therefore is open game for use on the product market.
A worthwhile read if you are not completely disgusted with all the Apple phone rumors and rumblings.
