Archive for the 'Apple' Category

Fantasktick - Great Mac OS X taskbar

Published
by
Scott
on August 20, 2008
in MacOSX
. 0 Comments

Just came across Fantasktick, a new taskbar for Mac OS X Leopard. It adds a new task style bar below the Menu Bar (or in the Dock) listing all the applications and windows open. You can easily switch between apps or windows by clicking on them and with open windows you can preview the app screen.

I find this particular useful as I tend to have many windows open across two screens. With the hover-over preview you can see what is currently being displayed in the window, be it open or minimized. The preview is just large enough that I can hover over Lotus Notes to view my calendar without having to restore the window and take focus away from another application.

One enchancement I would like to see if the ability to preview multiple tabs within a browser. Currently it only shows the forefront tab, but I tend to have 5 or more open at any time.

At any rate, the taskswitching view is quicker than jumping into Exposé to find a window or scrolling through an Alt-Tab list.

Check it out at Dockland Software. Currently on offer for $9.99 through end of Sept’08 before returning to full retail price of $14.99. There’s a 15-day free trial.

Apps on the iPod touch

Published
by
Scott
on July 15, 2008
in Apple
. 0 Comments

Last Thursday saw the release of iPhone 2.0 software update, unfortunately, as an iPod touch user I had to wait until Sunday morning before the update for available to me. But, it was certainly worth the wait.

For the past few days I’ve been able to try out a number of the new apps and enjoy a whole new lease of life for my iPod touch. There are many great free apps and there appear to be many great paid apps.

My initial impression is that I just don’t have enough time to play with all the apps I’d like to, but that means I can take my time and continue to play with new and updated apps over time. But this will really only cover the free apps. With the average paid app under $5 they are cheap enough. Many are even worth $5, but there in lies the problem. How do I know an app is worth paying for ? The App Store offers no ‘preview’ or trail period, plus I doubt there’ll ever be a refund option. So because of this, I’m going to sit back and wait for others to try and review first.

Current favorite apps…

Apple’s Remote is a first class application and one I’ve been wait for since buying the AppleTV. I have it setup to control AirTunes over two Macbooks and our AppleTV. Am I using it, no, not really ;) but I fully intend to find a way to start doing so.

The Facebook application is much more usable than the web based app and I’m impressed just out on the front line Facebook have been at support the iPhone platform. If you’re a Facebook fanatic, it’s a must have app.

Twitterific. I depend on Twitterific on my Macs every days to serve up Twitter’s ‘too many connections’ errors. I don’t know what my day would be without those! Arghh.. Anyway, Twitterific is a beautiful application and they’ve carried that same experience and more over to the iPhone/touch. I’m not a Twitter power user so have opted for the free version.

Tap Tap Revenge is a lot of fun and I’m finding it slightly addictive. It’s a very simple game that takes advantage of the touch screen and accelerometer. If you like a good beat, you’ll enjoy this game.

Band. If you have a musical streak in you, then you’ll really enjoy this application. If has a very innovative UI and simple to use. You can either just mess around and play with the instruments or go as far as recording tracks. Having just spent 6.5hrs on a flight last night I was able to spend some quality time with Band and found myself striking up little beats and rythms.

What I’m really coming to realise is that I really want to do more with these apps and the iPod touch is only capable of so much because many of the quality apps require seemless internet access and the iPod touch just don’t provide that. I’m not prepared to buy an iPhone because I have a company issues crackberry, but if there was a data service only option I’d bite immediately.

Goodbye .Mac, hello Me!

Published
by
Scott
on July 9, 2008
in Apple and MacOSX
. 0 Comments

I’ve been a huge fan of .Mac - Apple’s suite of online services for syncing and accessing your address, calendar, email, files and many other types of data - for many years now.

Back in 2006 I first started using .Mac to backup key personal data and OS X settings. It also proved a great tool enabling the auto-configuration of most of your settings and reinstalling data when doing a clean install of Mac OS X. From Panther to Tiger to Leopard, all seamless clean installs.

But today is .Mac’s last day. Tonight Apple will take the service offline and lay it to rest forever. So, .Mac, I thank you and bid you farewell.

Tomorrow is all about Me, no not me, Me, as in Apple’s major revision of .Mac known as MobileMe. It will offer pretty much all the same capabilities as .Mac (minus bookmarking and iCards) but will now also enable real-time seamless syncing of data between devices via ‘the cloud’ without any need to wait for or manually run the sync services.

.Mac MobileMe is essential for keeping my work Mac and personal Mac insync as well as the few instances when I need access to the same data carried on my iPod touch. These days Apple’s online services offer so much more than just data syncing and backup. With services such as Back to my Mac and Gallery (both of which I use extensively), not to mention the new web-based access to iCal, Address Book and iDisk, Apple is offering a suite of tools that are essential to how I run my life and enable me to work and store/accesss data remotely.

And I get a cool @me.com email address, though, I never did use my @mac.com address. Oh well.

Mac Camp Boston, May 10th

Published
by
Scott
on April 29, 2008
in Apple
. 0 Comments

From the makers of BarCamp Boston comes Mac Camp Boston. Taking place on May 10th at the YMCA Theater located at 820 Mass Ave., Cambridge, MA.

I’m hoping to free up my Saturday to attend. If you’re interested, check out http://maccampbos.pbwiki.com/

MacBook Pro Battery Problems

Published
by
Scott
on March 24, 2008
in Apple
. 0 Comments

People grumble about the battery life of their laptops and various makes and models offer considerable difference in the mileage you’ll get. Living in a Mac only world, I’ve always thought that Apple has done a pretty good job of getting the most out of the battery on their laptop range.

I have two MacBook Pros. One for work, and one at home. They are pretty much identical in spec. On long flights, such as my regular trips to Seattle or Houston, I’d get 4+ hours out of the MacBook Pro by turning off Wi Fi and dimming the screen right down during the flight. Makes for a very productive journey.

Continue reading ‘MacBook Pro Battery Problems’

Airport Extreme Finally Supports Time Machine

Published
by
Scott
on March 19, 2008
in Apple and MacOSX
. 0 Comments

Hallelujah !! Apple today finally released 7.1.3 firmware upgrade for the Airport Extreme Base Station updating the base station with support for wireless Time Machine backup.

Since Leopards initial release last October there has been uncertainty as to why Apple pulled AEBS wireless Time Machine support from the release at the last minute. To add fuel to the speculation, Time Capsule’s announcement at MacWorld led many to consider the fact that Apple was going to pull a fast one over the faithful and force us to purchase a new device.

Now we know this is no longer the case. As of right now I’m wirelessly backing up my hard drive over to the 500GB USB drive attached to my AEBS. Hallelujah !!