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News & Opinion
Apple Updates
Products
Software
News & Opinion
Build a Hackintosh for Under $800
lifehacker
says:
"If the high price tag for Apple hardware has kept you from buying a
Mac but you're willing to roll up your sleeves and get adventurous, you
can build your own 'Hackintosh' - a PC that runs a patched version of
OS X Leopard. What?!, you say. Apple's move to Intel processors in 2006
meant that running OS X on non-Apple hardware is possible, and a
community hacking project called OSx86
launched with that goal in mind. Since then, OSx86 has covered major
ground, making it possible for civilians - like you and me! - to put
together their own Hackintosh running Mac OS 10.5. Today, I'll show you
how to build your own high end computer running Leopard from start to
finish for under $800."
Editor's note: Going Hackintosh has become increasingly popular
among Mac users who are tired of waiting for Apple to produce the
ultralight laptop, tablet computer, or expandable desktop computer
(less expensive than the US$2,200 Mac Pro). For many, it's the only way
to have the hardware and the OS they want. dk
Link:
Build a Hackintosh Mac for Under $800
Thinking of Switching to a Mac? Here's Why You
Might
USA Today's E.
Baig says:
"Most consumers seeking a new computer this holiday season will buy
a Windows PC. And yet judging by the questions I get, many would-be
buyers are considering a Macintosh for the first time, possibly because
they're smitten with the iPod, or because of Apple's clever Mac guy/PC
guy TV ads.
"I'm a Mac guy, too, though not one who believes bashing Windows is
a prerequisite. So consider this column a primer on switching to the
Mac....
"Why are Macs special?
"It's like explaining the difference between a Buick and a
BMW...."
Link:
Thinking of Switching to a Mac? Here's Why You Might
Apple's Leopard Launch Its Best Ever
PC Magazine
reports:
"The launch of Apple Inc's latest operating system, Leopard, was its
best ever, a research group said on Monday.
"When comparing the first full month of sales of Apple Mac OS 10.5
'Leopard' (November 2007) to the first full month of sales for Mac OS
10.4 'Tiger' (May 2005), dollar volume for Leopard was up 32.8 percent
and unit volume up 20.5 percent, NPD Group Inc said in a
statement."
Editor's note: Apple sold 14.77 million Macs during the 2-1/2 years
Tiger was on the market compared to 8.42 million in the 2-1/2 years
before Tiger shipped, so maybe the big surprise is that sales weren't
up 75%. dk
Link: Report: Apple's
Leopard Launch Its Best Ever
FireWire to Gain 3.2 Gb/s Bandwidth Boost
Register Hardware's
Tony Smith reports:
"Not to be outdone by rival peripheral interconnect technology USB,
FireWire is likewise having its data throughput increased, the
organisation behind the standard said today. But it's target speed of
3.2 Gb/s falls some way below that of USB 3.0....
"FireWire supporters maintain that their favoured technology is more
efficient than USB and is superior in that it's a peer-to-peer system,
allowing any FireWire device to connect to any other, and devices to be
chained. USB is defined as a host-slave technology, and while a
peer-to-peer version is available, it's not widely used....
"And FireWire - even FireWire 400 - is generally faster in operation
than 480 Mb/s USB 2.0...."
Link: FireWire
to Gain 3.2 Gb/s Bandwidth Boost
FireWire S3200 vs. USB 3
Ars Technica's
Joel Hruska says:
"The IEEE 1394 Trade Association has announced a new FireWire
specification that the group claims is capable of delivering up to 3.2
Gb per second of throughput. The new interface (officially known as
S3200) is directly based upon the 1394b/FireWire 800 standard and uses
the same physical connectors, arbitration, and protocols as its
predecessor. In theory, this should allow vendors to roll out
S3200-capable silicon in a very short amount of time....
"There's no word on when S3200 devices might hit the market, but the
1394 Trade Association expects the standard to be fully ratified by
early February. That's well ahead of USB 3.0, the closest competition
to the spec...."
"Of course, FireWire - up to and including S3200 - has always
offered certain advantages that USB lacks. Not only is it markedly less
CPU-intensive due to its peer-to-peer nature (USB is master/slave), but
FireWire is capable of delivering more power over a single cable."
Editor's note: The USB specification has always limited the
bandwidth used by any single device to 2/3 of maximum bandwidth. Thus a
USB 1.1 drive can only transfer data at up to 8 MB/sec., USB 2.0
at 320 Mb/sec., and the proposed USB 3.0 at 3200 Mb/sec. - the same as
the FireWire's S3200 proposal.
Further, the USB specification provides for up to 500 mA (or 15W) of
5V power per device (400 mA on a powered bus), while FireWire allows up
to 45W (or 1500 mA) of 30V power, although many notebooks provide less
power for the sake of battery life, and the desktop Mac mini limits
this to 8W. This is why an iPod charges faster from FireWire than from
USB. dk
Link:
Battle of the Next-gen: FireWire S3200 versus USB 3
Why It's Called the Apple Cult
ZenProBlog
says:
"Whether you are an Apple Inc. fan or not, you have to give them
some sugar. They are one of the leading figures in turning their
product into a company, their company into a brand, and finally their
brand into a cult with diehard followers willing to pay the premium
pricing.
"Have you ever seen a sale at an Apple Store?
"The answer is probably not.
"Yet still, they are growing more rapidly than any other computer
company on the market. Why?"
Link:
Why It's Called the Apple Cult
The Church of Mac and Apple Fundamentalism
ScienceBlogs'
Sheril R. Kirshenbaum says:
"I need a new computer.
"So readers, Mac or PC?
"The thing is Mac users sometimes scare me just a little
. . . Really. It's as if they've been converted to the Church
of Macintosh. Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon?"
"Mac users generally strike me akin to missionaries. I've recently
dubbed them the 'Cult of Apple'. Why? Well, it's not enough that they
love the camera, the screen, the bubbly icons at the bottom of their
desktop that pop up when scrolled over . . . but what
troubles me most is that after a glorified demonstration - they're
convinced I too must love-borderline-worship 'M-c'. And if I don't,
they'll make darn sure I'm converted before I leave. I've actually had
to fake it one or two times just so I could go."
Editor's note: It appears that the term "Church of Macintosh" was
first used online by Rodney O. Lain in
2001 when he wrote The 10 Commandments of
the Church of Macintosh, Part I and Part II.
Link:
The Church of Mac and Apple Fundamentalism
Intuit Fixes QuickBooks Flaw That Vaporizes Data
from Mac Desktop
Computerworld's Brian Fonseca reports:
"Users running Intuit Inc.'s Apple Macintosh version of QuickBooks
Pro 2006 and 2007 today were warned that an automatic software update
flaw can eradicate stored files, documents or folders from a desktop
and hard drive.
"Intuit late this morning said it had fixed the flaw by correcting
an internal server that had caused the problem. The company said the
message should no longer appear to users opening up the QuickBooks
application.
"Intuit said it has not been able to come up with a resolution to
allow end users to recover files that were lost as a result of the
problem...."
Link:
Intuit Fixes QuickBooks Flaw That Vaporizes Data from Mac
Desktop
Apple Updates
OS X Security Update 2007-009 (10.5.1)
Security Update 2007-009
(10.5.1) is recommended for all users and improves the security of the
following components:
- Core Foundation
- CUPS
- Flash Player Plugin
- Launch Services
- Perl
- python
- Quick Look
- ruby
- Safari
- Samba
- Shockwave Plugin
- Spin Tracer
Security Update 2007-009 (10.4.11 PPC) SHA1 Digest:
SecUpd2007-009.dmg = 9d1743b2cd15f3934d82cc6341c3142a3d16becf
35.6 MB
System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5.1 Client and Server
Link:
OS X Security Update 2007-009 (10.5.1)
Products
FastMac 4x Dual Layer Blu-ray for Mac Pro &
Power Mac G5
PR: FastMac has announced a 4x Dual Layer Blu-ray optical
drive upgrade for Apple's Mac Pro
& Power Mac G5 computers. The
new 5.25", tray loading drive uses one of the fastest Mac-compatible
Blu-ray mechanisms to provide up to 50 GB of storage on 1 dual or
double layer disc, without sacrificing compatibility with standard DVD
& CD recordable media. Using a SATA connection, the drive's 4x BD-R
DL mechanism allows professional Mac users to burn up to 50 GB of data
on 1 disc in less than 50 minutes.
FastMac's 4x Blu-ray optical drive upgrade is available now,
and can be ordered from fastmac.com for a special introductory price of
$579.95.
Each drive carries a 1-year warranty and a 30-day money back
guarantee.
FastMac's line of Blu-ray recordable drives give photographers,
videographers & musicians the ability to save large amounts of data
in a compact and portable form factor, ideal for separating production
files by clients and/ or project. System and database administrators
can archive and retrieve large amounts of data on 1 convenient
disc.
Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disk (BD), is the name of a next
generation optical disk format developed by a consortium of electronics
and computer manufacturers including Apple, Dell, HP, JVC, Mitsubishi,
Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony & TDK. The format
was designed to enable the recording and playback of High Definition
(HD) content and to allow storage of large amounts (up to 200 GB) of
data. While current optical drive technologies rely on a red laser to
read and write data, the new format uses a blue-violet laser (hence the
name, Blu-ray). The blue-violet laser has a 38% shorter wavelength
(405nm) than a red laser (650nm), allowing the drive's optical pickup
unit to focus more precisely than ever before. Data can then be packed
more densely on standard sized disks. Despite using a new type of
laser, Blu-ray drives are compatible with standard DVD and CD media
through the use of a combined red, blue & violet optical reader and
writer.
In addition to broad support from the electronics, music, computer
& video game industry, 6 out of 8 of the major Hollywood film
studios support Blu-ray media and 5 out of those 6 (Disney, Fox,
Lionsgate, MGM & Sony) have decided to release their movies
exclusively in the Blu-ray format. Recently released data (based on
unit sales of players & movie titles) shows Blu-ray movie titles
outselling HD-DVD titles by a ratio of 3:1. The Blu-ray format also
dominates the recorder market in Japan, where it holds a 97% market
share lead over HD-DVD. With its forward and backward integration with
new and old media, Blu-ray is destined to become the successor to
today's DVD format.
Specifications
FastMac's 4x Blu-ray optical drive upgrade supports reading &
writing to single and dual layer Blu-ray media at 4x speeds, and
rewriting to single and dual layer Blu-ray media at 2x speeds. The
drive is also compatible with standard DVD and CD media and can write
to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 12x speed in single layer and 8x speed in
dual/ double layer mode. It can rewrite to DVD+RW media at 8x speeds
and DVD-RW media at 6x speeds. The drive also supports CD-R reading and
writing at up to 40x speeds and CD-RW burning at up to 24x speeds.
System requirements:
FastMac's 4x Blu-ray optical drive upgrade requires Mac OS X 10.4.8
or higher and is compatible with the following Apple computers:
Mac Pro
Power Mac G5 (requires SATA to IDE/ATAPI converter cable)
Blu-ray burning requires Blu-ray media (sold separately) &
third-party software such as Adobe Premiere CS3 or Roxio's Toast 8
Titanium, which enables Blu-ray disk support in the Mac OS Finder.
Native support for Blu-ray burning within iLife & iTunes is
expected in the near future, but cannot be guaranteed at this time.
Link: FastMac 4x Dual
Layer Blu-ray for Mac Pro & Power Mac G5
Software
CrossOver Runs Windows Apps on Intel Macs
Without Windows Installed
PR: CrossOver Mac allows you to install many popular Windows
applications and games on your Intel OS X Mac. CrossOver includes
an easy to use, single click interface, which makes installing Windows
software simple and fast. Once installed, your application integrates
seamlessly in OS X. Just click and run your application directly
from the OS X Finder. Clicking a Windows file or document - including
email attachments - will launch the appropriate Windows program,
allowing you to work on the files. Best of all, you do it all easily
and affordably, without needing a Microsoft operating system
license.
Adding new Windows software is easy. Just place your install CD in
your Intel Mac, and CrossOver will recognize it and offer to begin the
installation process. CrossOver then completes the installation and
configures your application to run on your Mac. That's all there is to
it.
New in version 6.2.1:
- Repaired Input-Method behavior.
- Fixed a crash with certain non-US keyboards.
- Fixed a small GUI error which appeared when creating new bottles
for supported apps.
- Fixed a potential hang-on-exit problem.
- Made the preference setting "Enable keyboard modifiers for mouse
buttons" take effect
- Fixed transparent and incorrectly colored cursors.
- Application fixes:
- Extended the Team Fortress 2 font fix to Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and
Portal.
System requirements:
Mac OS X 10.4 Intel up
$59.95
Link: CrossOver
Mac
Desktop Mac
Deals
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