Archives for August 2008

August, 31st August 2008

• Happy Labor Day!

  In observance of Labor Day, a U.S. holiday, The Mac Observer will be taking the day off. We will resume…

August, 29th August 2008

• Mac Geek Gab #166: Dot-Underscore Files, Cool Stuff Found, Kernel_task, and Listener Tips!

  Wrapping up the week with a rare Friday afternoon show, John and Dave discuss listener tips regarding Apple Double resource…

• My iPhone goes on vacation

  I work at home. I have no daily commute (unless you count the stroll along the hallway from my bedroom…

August, 28th August 2008

• My iPhone Goes on Vacation

  While I use my iPhone every day, I don't usually get to test what it is like to depend on…

• ChangeWave: Apple Leads Competition in Consumer Buying Plans

  A ChangeWave Research Report says that amongst those planning to purchase a PC in the next 90 days, Apple leads…

• Solver is Back for MS Excel 2008

  Frontline Systems, the original Solver developers, announced along with Microsoft on Friday that Solver for Excel 2008 is back, free…

• CW: SSDs in Laptops Won’t Make Real Sense until 2010

  Despite their appeal, Solid State Drives (SSD) won't make real sense for laptops for several more years, according to Computerworld.…

• TinyBooks 6 Improves Custom Invoices, Tax Support

  Space-Time Associates announced the immediate availability of TinyBooks 6.0 on Friday. The update for the family and small business accounting…

• Comcast to Cap Broadband Use Starting in October

  Cable and broadband Internet provider Comcast is prepping to start limiting the amount of data its subscribers can send and…

• Final Cut Express 4.0.1 Improves AVCHD Support

  Apple released Final Cut Express 4.0.1 on Friday. The update for the video editing application addressed issues with AVCHD camcorders,…

• Apple Intros ProRes QuickTime Decoder

  Apple introduced a new QuickTime codec for Apple ProRes files on Friday. According to Apple, ProRes offers uncompressed HD quality…

• Psystar’s Official Response: Apple Abusing Copyright, Tying OS X to Hardware

  Late on Thursday, Psystar filed its official response to Apple in a 54 page document with the U.S. Northern District…

August, 27th August 2008

• Ars: IE8, Beta 2, Shows MS is Serious About Catch-Up

  Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8, beta 2, is much easier to use, has a host of security, stability, and privacy features,…

• The Complete Text of Steve Jobs’ Obit, Accidentally Posted by Bloomberg

  On Wednesday, Bloomberg updated its canned obituary for Steve Jobs but accidentally published it in the process, according to Gawker.com.…

• BBEdit 9 Beefs Up Searches, Adds Text Completion, More

  Bare Bones Software announced the immediate availability of BBEdit 9 on Thursday. The new version of the code and text…

• BW: Students Will Save Apple’s Fourth Quarter

  A prominent economist wrote that Apple is about to finally take a hit from the slowing economy. However, that's not…

• OmniPlan 1.6 Adds Project 2007 Support, More

  The Omni Group released OmniPlan 1.6 on Thursday. The update for the project management application added the ability to import…

• Apple Stores Generally Mirror U.S. Population Density

  The locations of Apple's U.S. retail stores closely track the U.S. Census Bureau for the highest density population centers, according…

• Apple Patent Shows Off Tablet Technology

  Apple is looking to protect technology that could be used in a multi-touch interface Mac, and the application diagrams show…

August, 26th August 2008

• NYT: Ideal of Apple Perfection Doesn’t Fit the Facts

  Lately, Apple has been very successful, stealing market share from the PC business. Along the way, however, Apple's image of…

• Study: iPhone Continues Momentum in Enterprise

  Despite an expected decrease in IT spending, a recent study by ChangeWave research shows that more and more companies are…

• After The Core 2 Duo - Unraveling the Zoo of Intel Code Names

  In order to gain some perspective about what Apple may be planning for future MacBooks, Dan Turner at Computerworkd tried…

• MacUpdate Springs Back-to-school App Bundle

  MacUpdate announced its latest application promotion bundle on Wednesday geared towards students and educators. The Back-to-school bundle includes seven applications…

• Adium 1.3 Sports New Interface, Facebook Support

  Adium 1.3 slipped out of beta to become an official release on Wednesday. The updated multi-service instant messaging client includes…

• M Cubed Intros Lighthouse Keeper

  M Cubed announced the immediate availability of Lighthouse Keeper 1.0 on Thursday. Lighthouse Keeper is a desktop client application for…

August, 25th August 2008

• Psystar Responds to Apple’s Lawsuit

  Psystar, sued by Apple for trademark and copyright infringement, has prepared its response to Apple's complaint. Psystar will claim that…

• PC Makers, Stymied by Vista, Enhance Their PCs

  PC makers, confronted by the complexity and slow boot time of Vista, are offering their own unique add-ons to make…

• Mississippi, Vegas Apple Stores Opening Aug 30

  Apple is planning to open its first store in Mississippi and fifth store in Nevada on Saturday, August 30. The…

• FmPro Migrator Adds Bento Unicode CSV/Tab Export

  .com Solutuions announced the immediate availability of FmPro Migrator 4.38 on Tuesday. The update for the database migration utility added…

• TMO Appearances - Jeff Gamet Talks NME on MacJury

  The Mac Observer's Jeff Gamet joined MacJury host Chuck Joiner on the Mac Roundtable episode 819 to discuss podcasting and…

• Apple’s Seasonal Sales Fluctuations Can Confuse Observers

  Apple has been the happy or unhappy victim, depending on one's perspective, of seasonal fluctuations in its Macintosh sales for…

August, 24th August 2008

• Want to Start Tweeting with Twitter?  Check out twhirl!

  Becoming a recent Twitter junkie, John F. Braun decides to check out twhirl, a client for the popular micro-blogging platform.

• What a Touchscreen Would do for the Mac

  It's time for Apple to introduce a full-fledged touchscreen Mac to the market, according to Don Reisinger at CNET on…

• MathMagic 5.8 Adds Support for QuarkXPress, LaTex

  InfoLogic announced version 5.8 of MathMagic on Monday. The new version adds support for QuarkXPress 8 and can read and…

• Laptop Locks: Not Quite So Secure

  Laptop locks have been a required piece of gear in the road warrior's bag for years, but apparently the traditional…

• Ambric Rolls Out Am2045 GT Encoding Platform for Leopard

  Ambric announced the immediate availability of its Juiced Accelerator video encoding card and Am2045 GT Video Reference platform with support…

• Jumsoft Adds New Stationery Templates to Mail

  Jumsoft announced the immediate availability of Stationery Pack for Mac OS X 10.5 Mail on Monday. The add-on for Apple's…

August, 22nd August 2008

• MacBook Air Update Addresses Processor Issue

  Apple quietly rolled out MacBook Air Software Update 1.0 late on Friday. The update addressed problems users were experiencing with…

• Apple Weekly Report #131: App Store Sales, Open XML, iPhone Kill Switch

  Sales at Apple's App Store have topped $30 million, Microsoft managed to get Open XML approved as an ISO standard,…

August, 21st August 2008

• Steve Jobs’ E-mail to Jerry Seinfeld (Cartoon)

  The Mac community is buzzing with the word that Jerry Seinfeld is accepting $10M from Microsoft to do Vista ads.…

• MobileMe Security Battle Rages On

  On Wednesday, Computerworld's Nancy Gohring saw a comment in the MacRumors forum about how MobileMe doesn't encrypt all traffic with…

• RapidWeaver 4.1 Adds Quick Look Support

  Realmac Software announced the immediate availability of RapidWeaver 4.1 on Friday. The update for the Web site design application added…

• Mac Geek Gab #165: Shortcuts Revisited, Painting Apps, Sync Cleaning, and More!

  Back in the TMO Towers East, Dave and John answer your questions, solve your problems, and share your tips with…

August, 20th August 2008

• Woz’s Advice to Engineers: Follow Your Heart

  In at interview at the Intel Developer forum, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak urged future engineers to follow their heart. It…

• Axamblis Releases Imprint Studio for Making Posters

  Axamblis Software has announced the immediate availability of Imprint Studio 1.0 on Thursday. The software allows the user to print…

• Microsoft Picks Jerry Seinfeld to Spruce up Windows Stale Brand

  As part of Microsoft's US$300 million advertising campaign, Jerry Seinfeld will be paid $10 million to help the company sprice…

• RBC Points to Unprecedented Mac Purchase Intentions

  RBC Capital Markets conducted a survey of 4,400 IT buyers and found unprecedented intentions for Mac purchase in the next…

• MobileMe Lacks SSL E-mail Encryption - Only Half the Story

  Apple's MobileME service lacks Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption for e-mail, and that could allow others to see the data…

• Apple Rolls Out Off The Air Get a Mac Ad

  Apple added yet another Get a Mac commercial to its Web site on Thursday. Off The Air continues the popular…

• Ohanaware Intros Funtastic Photos

  Ohanaware announced the immediate availability of Funtastic Photos on Thursday. Funtastic Photos is a non-destructive image editing application with Spotlight…