http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/features/user_friendly_blog/ en webmaster@macobserver.com Copyright 2009 Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:33:14 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/the_multiple_personalities_of_tweetmymac/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/the_multiple_personalities_of_tweetmymac/ Imagine sending a Twitter message from wherever you happen to be, containing a command such as "open Safari," and having the requested command carried out on your Mac back home. That's the way TweetMyMac works. After playing with TweetMyMac over the past few weeks, I find myself vacillating among three different reactions: "Wow, this is truly amazing," "Technologically impressive but, really, who needs it?" and "Gak, the implications are a bit scary." Columns and Opinions, Ted Landau's User Friendly View, Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:08:05 -0500 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/setup_secrets_for_canon_printers/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/setup_secrets_for_canon_printers/ The Canon MP990 is a great AIO printer-scanner-copier. However, if you have Snow Leopard installed on your Mac or if you want to use the device over a network, you may run into some unexpected trouble. This article provides the solutions, which may apply to other recent Canon printers as well. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:09:48 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/iphone_jailbreaking_the_landscape_shifts_again/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/iphone_jailbreaking_the_landscape_shifts_again/ I didn't expect to be writing another column about iPhone jailbreaking so soon after my previous one. I figured it would be at least six months before the status of jailbreaking had changed enough to warrant another look. I was wrong. In the past few weeks, there have been several significant shifts in the jailbreaking landscape. Some of the news is good. Some is bad. To see what's going on, read on... Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:45:34 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/confused_about_itunes_home_sharing/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/confused_about_itunes_home_sharing/ I keep discovering new sources of irritation with iTunes 9. Having previously lamented about the confusion with ringtones and the iTunes Store Wish List, I've now tripped over another perplexing new feature: Home Sharing. Exactly how is it perplexing? Read on... Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:13:27 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/which_path_will_apples_tablet_take/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/which_path_will_apples_tablet_take/ For the moment, we remain standing at a fork in the road, waiting for Apple to announce and ship its long-rumored tablet computer. Will Apple's tablet follow the path begun by laptop computers, working much like a variation of the MacBook Air, at least in terms of its software? Or it will it follow the ground broken by the iPhone instead? Apple's decision here may well make "all the difference." Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:58:21 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/bring_back_the_itunes_shopping_cart/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/bring_back_the_itunes_shopping_cart/ Before iTunes 9, if you wanted to defer a purchase in the iTunes Store, you could save an item to your Shopping Cart. Not willing to let well enough alone, Apple dumped the entire Shopping Cart concept in iTunes 9, replacing it with a vastly inferior Wish List. How exactly is it inferior? In every possible way. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:10:43 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/jailbreaking_iphones_going_going_gone/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/jailbreaking_iphones_going_going_gone/ It's time for my latest update on the status of jailbreaking iPhones. In a previous column, posted before iPhone OS 3.0 was released, I explained why I was reluctantly ready to give up on jailbreaking. The situation is now worse. Much worse. Barring some unlikely breakthrough, all iPhone users may be forced to give up on jailbreaking — and rather soon. Many iPhone users already find themselves in this boat. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:59:32 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/apple_adds_confusion_to_ringtone_purchases/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/apple_adds_confusion_to_ringtone_purchases/ With iTunes 9 and iPhone OS 3.1, Apple made major changes in how you purchase and create ringtones from the iTunes Store. Apple also went out of its way to obscure how some of these rules have changed. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:11:36 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/changes_in_how_snow_leopard_updates_reinstalls_and_relaunches/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/changes_in_how_snow_leopard_updates_reinstalls_and_relaunches/ A look at several troubleshooting-related changes to how Snow Leopard updates, reinstalls and relaunches software — from using Software Update to the demise of the Safe Relaunch. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:18:33 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/garmins_nuevi_vs._navigons_mobilenavigator_for_iphone_the_ultimate_showdown/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/garmins_nuevi_vs._navigons_mobilenavigator_for_iphone_the_ultimate_showdown/ In a recent article, I asked the question: How well does the iPhone's Maps app stand up to separate stand-alone GPS devices (such as a Garmin nüvi 760)? That is, if you already have an iPhone, would it be also worth your money to buy a separate GPS device? I concluded that, while Maps is a superb piece of software and even offers a few features not present in stand-alone GPS devices, a separate device is still worth getting. However, with the release of iPhone OS 3.0, the iPhone's navigation options go beyond Maps. There are several third-party apps that much more closely mimic the features of stand-alone GPS devices. For this article, I am asking: Is MobileNavigator, as an example of the current crop of iPhone navigation apps, good enough that there is no longer a reason for iPhone owners to consider the purchase of a separate GPS device? Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:54:40 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/when_it_comes_to_apple_and_the_fcc_the_status_quo_is_king/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/when_it_comes_to_apple_and_the_fcc_the_status_quo_is_king/ Last week, Apple replied to the FCC's request for information about the iPhone App Store approval process and specifically Apple's supposed rejection of the Google Voice app. Readers' opinions are divided regarding what they hope will happen. This got me thinking about these internal divisions within the Apple community and what it all may mean. I offer some speculation... Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:55:19 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/auto-join_wi-fi_hotspots_with_iphone_os_3.0/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/auto-join_wi-fi_hotspots_with_iphone_os_3.0/ If you've ever connected to the Internet at the myriad of popular Wi-Fi spots, such as in hotels, coffee shops, and airports, you know the drill. I'm talking about the irritating two-step dance you need to do before you can access the Internet: first join the Wi-Fi network; then log in via a Web site. Happily, iPhone OS 3.0's new Auto-login and AutoFill features mostly eliminate this hassle. However, to take full advantage of these features, it pays to understand exactly how they work (and sometimes don't work). Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:58:03 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/garmins_nuvi_vs._iphones_maps_the_ultimate_showdown/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/garmins_nuvi_vs._iphones_maps_the_ultimate_showdown/ You may be asking yourself: "Rather than purchase a dedicated GPS device or an iPhone navigation app, would it be sufficient to just go with the Maps app that comes free with the iPhone?" To answer this question, I did a comparison of Maps vs. a Garmin nüvi 760. What follows is the round-by-round results of the match-up. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Fri, 07 Aug 2009 02:00:29 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/bikinis_and_the_app_store_approval_process/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/bikinis_and_the_app_store_approval_process/ Search for the word "bikini" in the iTunes App Store and you'll come up with a collection of apps that feature photographs of scantily-clad females. One of these games is Audio Match: Bikini Babes. As a result of a Twitter-exchange, I linked up with Chris Pavlou, the developer of the game. I was intrigued at the possibility of getting an insider's look at the iPhone App approval process, especially for an app as "on-the-edge" as Bikini Babes. So I asked if I could interview him for this column. He agreed. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:22:37 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/the_iphone_a_puzzle_box/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/the_iphone_a_puzzle_box/ When I was in Japan last year, I bought one of those puzzle boxes popular with tourists. Without the instructions that came with the box, I might still be trying to figure out how to open it up. And so it is with the iPhone. Only worse. Apple supplies no instructions. Apple doesn't want you to know how to access the iPhone's "insides." It prefers to keep the iPhone as snapped shut as a freshly caught mussel. Yes, with the right tools and know-how, you can take apart an iPhone and check out its internals. Similarly, if you jailbreak an iPhone, you can examine and edit its root level OS software. But Apple deliberately makes all of this hard to do — in every possible way. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:39:42 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/untangle_calendar_syncing_on_your_iPhone/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/untangle_calendar_syncing_on_your_iPhone/ Once you set it up, syncing events between your Mac and the Calendar app on your iPhone is a breeze. It pretty much happens automatically. It's the setup part that can take some effort. In this regard, iPhone OS 3.0 is a mixed bag. On the upside, you have several new choices regarding exactly how and what to sync. On the downside, the wealth of options can make it even more difficult to figure things out. With that in mind, here is a brief guide to untangling Calendar syncing confusion in iPhone OS 3.0. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:45:01 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/user_interface_blues/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/user_interface_blues/ I have no patience with poor user interface design. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop manufacturers from making such products. As proof, here are three examples of poorly designed "technology" items, all of which I have had the misfortune of using in the last year. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:50:26 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/iphone_os_3.0_and_3gs_so_close...now_even_closer/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/iphone_os_3.0_and_3gs_so_close...now_even_closer/ Last March, when the details of iPhone OS 3.0 were first revealed, I wrote a column titled "So Close and Yet..." — where I both lauded several of the new features of the OS and lamented what was still missing. With OS 3.0 now out, and the new iPhone 3GS shipping, the time seems right to take a look back at the list and compare it to how things now stand.  Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog, Reports, iPhone Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:08:51 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/iphone_os_3.0_spotlight_voice_memos_notes/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/iphone_os_3.0_spotlight_voice_memos_notes/ There are dozens of new features in iPhone OS 3.0. Some major. Some trivial. Some are featured at Apple's iPhone page. Others are not even mentioned. Today's column focuses on a trio of new features: Spotlight Search, Voice Memos, and Syncing Notes. I look both at how they work and how they sometimes don't work. News, Product News, Tips, How-To, Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog, Reports, iPhone Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:40:34 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/off-road_wwdc_day_five/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/off-road_wwdc_day_five/ It's the last day of the WWDC. I look back at yesterday's big Bash as well as some of the topics getting the most buzz at the event. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:14:14 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/off-road_wwdc_day_four/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/off-road_wwdc_day_four/ Today's installment of my WWDC "off-road" coverage looks at food, both at the WWDC and outside the building. Plus a look at parties and other social events. And, oh yes, a couple of sessions. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog, Reports, Conferences, WWDC Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:59:42 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/off-road_wwdc_day_3/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/off-road_wwdc_day_3/ Continuing from previous days' entries, here's Day 3 of my "off-road" observations of WWDC events and related topics. Get the scoop on two of the best events of the conference: Apple Design Awards and Stump the Experts. You won't want to miss this! Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog, Reports, Conferences, WWDC Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:28:20 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/off-road_wwdc_day_two/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/off-road_wwdc_day_two/ Following up on yesterday's Day 1 blog, here's Day 2 of my "off-road" observations of WWDC events and related topics. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog, Reports, Conferences, WWDC Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:53:13 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/off-road_wwdc_day_one/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/off-road_wwdc_day_one/ For this week's WWDC, I'll be trying something a bit different from my usual blogging. Instead of a single article for the week, I'll be regularly updating this blog throughout the week. I'll be keeping my comments to Twitter-like short bursts. I'll be in and out of sessions, covering whatever strikes my fancy, focusing on aspects of the WWDC that are not getting primary attention (hence the "off-road" title). Of course, I'll have to be careful not to violate Apple's NDA. But I believe I can manage that. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog, Reports, Conferences, WWDC Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:21:42 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/are_movies_from_itunes_store_worth_the_price/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/are_movies_from_itunes_store_worth_the_price/ Last March, Apple began selling HD versions of movies in the iTunes Store. Previously, such films were available from iTunes only via Apple TV. This change led me to take a fresh look at purchasing movies, standard and HD, from the iTunes Store. My conclusion: Given the current pricing, the benefits of buying from Apple are minimal at best. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:01:29 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/solving_the_white_macbook_upgrade_mystery/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/solving_the_white_macbook_upgrade_mystery/ There's a minor mystery to be found in this week's Apple news. On Wednesday, Apple upgraded the specs for its white MacBook model. The mystery is: Why? To understand why this is even considered mysterious, we need to back up a bit... Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Thu, 28 May 2009 13:24:37 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/the_java_exploit_how_dangerous_is_it/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/the_java_exploit_how_dangerous_is_it/ The world of Mac Web sites lit up this week with news of a potentially dangerous Java exploit. What is the risk? How can you best protect yourself from this potential danger? You may also reasonably ask: "Just how real a threat is this? If I don't do anything to protect myself, how likely is it that something bad will happen to me?" The answers are contained within... Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Fri, 22 May 2009 15:10:16 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/whats_neat_about_neatdesk/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/whats_neat_about_neatdesk/ The Neat Company recently released NeatDesk for Mac. Neat's main competition comes from Fujitsu, which makes the popular ScanSnap document scanners. Given a choice between NeatDesk vs. ScanSnap, which one should you get? I'll tell you...  Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Tue, 12 May 2009 12:37:06 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/watching_hulu_and_much_more_on_your_apple_tv/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/watching_hulu_and_much_more_on_your_apple_tv/ With all of the attention I've given to the iPhone in recent months, I'd almost forgotten about Apple TV. What is perhaps the most tantalizing and yet frustrating feature of Apple TV is its USB port. Apple's official position is that you should ignore the port. It does nothing. Apple tech support may get to play with it, but it's off-limits for you. Don't believe it. These days, there is a surprisingly simple-to-implement and quite practical use of Apple TV's USB port: Install Boxee and use it to stream Hulu (and more) to your TV. Columns and Opinions, Ted Landau's User Friendly View, Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Tue, 05 May 2009 15:36:35 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/on_spudgers_dust_and_iphone_repairs/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/on_spudgers_dust_and_iphone_repairs/ Do you know what a spudger is? I'm guessing no. Why should you care what a spudger is? Glad you asked. Turns out that, if you want to do any hardware repairs or maintenance on an iPhone (such as replacing a cracked front panel or a dead battery), you'll want this tool. Even if you never do any such repairs yourself, it's still worth knowing how all of this works. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Mon, 04 May 2009 11:15:32 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/looking_back_at_an_error_from_an_earlier_era/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/looking_back_at_an_error_from_an_earlier_era/ It was 16 years ago, June 1993, that the first edition of my first book,Sad Macs, Bombs, and Other Disasters, was published. Okay, it's not June yet and sixteen is not an especially noteworthy number. So why am I mentioning this? Because it is also the anniversary of what is probably the biggest miscalculation I ever made.  Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:29:39 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/backblaze_to_the_rescue/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/backblaze_to_the_rescue/ It's 3:00 AM. I awaken from a nightmare. After an earthquake, I discover that all my computer equipment has been destroyed, beyond any hope of repair. My hard drives, my backup hard drives, my backup DVDs and flash drives — all gone. Forever. With no other backups, the data on all of these drives are gone forever as well. Now fully awake, I write a brief note to myself: "Do something so that this nightmare can never become a reality." The question is: What exactly should I do? One good answer: Backblaze. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:52:34 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/its_all_about_speed_mac_pros_comcast_and_turbo.264_hd/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/its_all_about_speed_mac_pros_comcast_and_turbo.264_hd/ Today's topic is speed. Speed is the lifeline of any computer system. When your Mac slows to a crawl, everything you do becomes a problem. When your machine zips along, the sun is almost always shining. This article looks at the speed benefits (or lack thereof) of a new Mac Pro, Comcast's Blast! Internet service, and Elgato's Turbo.264 HD. The results may surprise you. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:52:47 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/memo_to_apple_re_jailbreaking_you_win_i_give_up/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/memo_to_apple_re_jailbreaking_you_win_i_give_up/ It's official. I give up. I am no longer jailbreaking my iPhone. I have long been an advocate of jailbreaking. I have emphasized that the risks of jailbreaking are small and recoverable. And I have lamented Apple's position, arguing that my iPhone should be just as open as is my Mac. Given all this, I figure that if I am ready to give up on jailbreaking, there are probably many others that will soon be making (or have already made) the same decision. That's why, barring an unexpected shift in the equilibrium, I expect jailbreaking to play a declining role in the future of the iPhone. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:02:03 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/blog_bits_from_gps_to_conficker/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/blog_bits_from_gps_to_conficker/ It's time for another edition of Blog Bits, where I gather a bunch of items too small to deserve solo entries. This time, topics range from Garmin GPS devices to the Conficker virus. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:31:09 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/tomtom_ready_to_jump_back_into_iphone_pool/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/tomtom_ready_to_jump_back_into_iphone_pool/ I've received unofficial confirmation that TomTom is preparing a version of its GPS turn-by-tun navigation app — for release soon after iPhone 3.0 OS is out. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:51:45 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/attending_the_igames_summit/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/attending_the_igames_summit/ Last week, I attended the iGames Summit 2009, a half-day event devoted to iPhone gaming. With over 200 attendees, the conference's prime target audience was iPhone game developers. The conference was not at all what I anticipated. I expected something with a more hardcore developer emphasis, with sessions focusing on coding and debugging — much like Apple's WWDC or the old MacHack. Instead, the sessions focused almost entirely on marketing: how to increase your game's popularity and make the most amount of money. Still, I did get an interesting peek at how developers view the iPhone platform. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:24:26 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/iphone_os_3.0_so_close_and_yet/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/iphone_os_3.0_so_close_and_yet/ On one level, it's hard for me to write anything critical about iPhone OS 3.0. After all, Apple has taken a device that is already perhaps the most essential piece of technology I own —and made it better, much better. And yet...my excitement over the iPhone OS 3.0 announcement was tinged with more than a bit of disappointment. What seemed especially perplexing was how close Apple came to hitting bulls-eyes, while managing to veer slightly off target at the last second. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:31:04 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/iphones_and_macs_breaking_the_tether/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/iphones_and_macs_breaking_the_tether/ More and more, I pick up my iPhone in preference to any Mac, even when my laptop or desktop machines are just a few feet away. I prefer the iPhone to a Mac for looking up movie times, getting directions, using Twitter, checking the weather, finding a restaurant recommendation and on and on and on.This led me to think about the next step in this transition: Could a person who doesn't even own a Mac (or PC) use an iPhone as their only computer? Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Thu, 12 Mar 2009 13:07:32 -0400 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/february_blog_bits_from_safari_4_to_iphone_headsets/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/february_blog_bits_from_safari_4_to_iphone_headsets/ It's time for another edition of Blog Bits. This is where I gather several items, each one too brief to merit an entry of its own, and combine them into a single blog posting. Today's topics range from a first look at Safari 4, to Apple's stance on jailbreaking, to the value of high-end headsets for the iPhone. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:56:01 -0500 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/newspapers_and_itunes/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/newspapers_and_itunes/ Does a recent Time magazine article have the solution to the crisis in the newspaper industry? Can newspapers afford to continue to offer their content online for free? Can an iTunes-like model be the key to a successful transition from print to digital? Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:28:30 -0500 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/the_past_and_future_of_the_iphones_app_store/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/the_past_and_future_of_the_iphones_app_store/ The App Store may rank as the biggest unintended success in the history of Apple. This article takes a brief look at the App Store's origins and considers its future. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:57:54 -0500 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/wanted_the_demise_of_several_iphone_irritations/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/wanted_the_demise_of_several_iphone_irritations/ I woke up in a cranky mood this morning. For some odd reason, the source of my mood appears to be minor iPhone annoyances. The irritable mood is nothing serious. I'm sure it will pass by the end of the day. But before it does, in the spirit of "crankiness seeks company," I thought I'd share my list of annoyances with you. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:08:21 -0500 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/iphone_app_piracy/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/iphone_app_piracy/ Today's topic is iPhone software piracy. No, I'm not talking about jailbreaking (although jailbreaking is typically a required element). And I'm not talking about unlocking an iPhone to work with unauthorized carriers. Rather, I'm talking about stealing software, the same software that you would otherwise purchase from Apple's App Store. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:55:27 -0500 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/who_needs_an_8_hour_battery_anyway/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/who_needs_an_8_hour_battery_anyway/ Apple's new 17" MacBook Pro features the "longest-lasting Mac notebook battery ever," lasting up to 8 hours. To which I say: Who cares? Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:04:03 -0500 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/macworld_expo_blog_bits_part_3/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/macworld_expo_blog_bits_part_3/ Here's the final installment in my series of columns about last week's Macworld Expo. It looks at products that amount to less than they first appear to be and a major update to a troubleshooting utility. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:58:46 -0500 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/macworld_expo_blog_bits_part_2/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/macworld_expo_blog_bits_part_2/ Here is the second installment of my notes and observations gathered over the course of the 5 days of Macworld Expo. This entry digs deeper, looking at unreleased software from Intuit, Apple's reply on why only they can display the iPhone screen via a projector, and a dilemma involving otherwise great products for the iPhone. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:51:23 -0500 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/macworld_expo_blog_bits_part_1/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/macworld_expo_blog_bits_part_1/ Macworld Expo may be over, but I am still sitting with a collection of notes and observations gathered over the course of the 5 days. Too many for one blog posting. Here's the first installment. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:09:39 -0500 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/keynote_predictions_scorecard/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/keynote_predictions_scorecard/ The Macworld Expo keynote is over. How well did I do with my last minute predictions? Not very well. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:11:00 -0500 http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/my_macworld_expo_keynote_predictions/ http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/my_macworld_expo_keynote_predictions/ I am about to do something I generally criticize when I see others doing it: Make last minute predictions as to what Apple will announce at next week's Macworld Expo. Blogs, Ted Landau's User Friendly Blog Fri, 02 Jan 2009 13:13:40 -0500