This was a huge week for the Mac. Every Mac desktop machine, all three product lines, received significant updates. There are new iMacs, a new MacPro and a new Mac mini. All feature upgraded processors and video chips with the new Apple DisplayPort plug. You can watch episode 211 to find out more.
In addition, new versions of the Airport Extreme base station and the Time Capsule base station were released. The first supports multiple bands thanks to a second antenna. So now you can have 802.11g for your iPhone and 802.11n for your MacBook going at the same time. Time Capsule has the ability to share files through the MobileMe service, which could be very handy for a lot of people. It is now an Internet file server too.
Apple also introduced a new version of its standard USB keyboard that matches the smaller wireless keyboard without the numeric keypad. It will come standard with all the new desktops, though you can upgrade to the numeric keypad version.
Almost lost in the news this week was the release of a free iPhone app that will have a significant impact on the ebook world. Amazon released Kindle For iPhone. Now you can purchase ebooks on Amazon and get them delivered to your iPhone in a nice ebook reader. It will instantly become the dominant ebook reader on the iPhone, and open up Amazon’s ebook business to a whole new set of customers.
You can rip a music CD into your iTunes collection easily using iTunes. But why can’t you do the same for the videos on a DVD you own? That’s a question to ask a lawyer, if you have all afternoon to listen to the answer. But if you want just the technology to make it happen, then Handbrake is what you need. It imports and converts content from a DVD. It can even format it for your iPod or iPhone. You can hold the DVD in one hand and your iPod in the other if it makes you feel better.
Amazon.com’s electronic book reader comes to the iPhone, sort of. The Kindle For iPhone allows you to read books you purchase at Amazon’s Kindle store on your iPhone, but doesn’t really support other Kindle functions. But since those other functions include reading Web sited and blogs, which we already can do on our iPhones, it is a good option over carrying around two devices.
In iPhoto 09 if you drag events from one iPhoto library to another in iPhoto 09, all the pictures will be placed in a single new untitled event. But if you go to the iPhoto library in the Finder and drag and drop folders of pictures into your iPhoto library, then each folder will be placed into a new event using the name of the folder. You may have to select the iPhoto library and Ctrl+click it and select “Show Package Contents” to see the folders inside. Then look in “Originals.”
OmniFocus A personal task management that lets you keep track of things you need to do and prioritize them.
OmniPlan Keeps track of projects and assign tasks to people you work with.
Evernote Create notes and lists and access them on your Mac, iPhone or on the Web.
MindNode Mind mapping software for organizing and developing ideas.
PersonalBrain Manage information visually.
Curio zengobi.com Link and organize information visually.
Things Task management.
Process Outlining software.
Pluto Pro Manage notes and tasks in the toolbar.
Apple news was dominated this week by the release of a beta version of the next version of Safari. This new version features faster JavaScript, the programming language behind dynamic elements all over the Web. It also has a 3D view of favorite sites, cover flow view for history and bookmarks, and is integrated with Google’s smart search service. The later will show you suggestions as you type a search term.
The release wasn’t painless, however, as many people are complaining of problems with Mail after installing Safari 4. You can see some of these new features on this episode of MacMost Now.
Apple also started something new in the iTunes music store with iTunes Pass. It is similar to purchasing a season pass for a TV show on iTunes. But instead of TV episodes, you get new and sometimes exclusive content from a band over the course of several months. The first iTunes Pass features Depeche Mode.
Looks like there will be a Mac OS X 10.5.7 soon, as developers seem to have been given a copy of the new version of Leopard to test. No word still on a release for 10.6, or Snow Leopard.
Have some spare time while waiting for a bus or in line at the bank? Explore the entire planet with the iPhone version of Google Earth. This free app is a lighter version of the Mac application of the same name, but there is something very satisfying about knowing you have satellite images of the entire globe available in your pocket. Plus, its free.
Sick of having Time Machine backup every hour? Want to only have it backup when you want? Simply turn off Time Machine in the preferences. You’ll still be able to use the menu bar drop-down menu to “Back Up Now” whenever you want.
There are many Unix tools to re-encode and convert video and audio. But you have to really know what you are doing to use them. Fortunately, FFMpegX provides a great Mac interface to those tools. We use it here at MacMost to encode all of our video episodes into mp4 format. You can use it to convert video to work on your iPod or iPhone. It also compresses a lot better than QuickTime Pro or direct export from most video tools.
GraphicConverter — This is a tool may have had its roots in converting one file format to another, but has picked up a plethora of functions over the years to become a pretty comprehensive image editing tool.
Pixelmator — A powerhouse image editing tool at a reasonable price, this application strives to work well with every aspect of Mac OS X. You can use your iSight camera, integrate with iPhoto, and even automate tasks with Automator. It has Photoshop-like features and lots of control over every tool.
VectorDesigner — This program focuses more on drawing and the use of lines and shapes (vectors) that illustrators use to create art.
ArtRage — This drawing application concentrates on painting tools for artists.
Rainbow Painter — This is another painting tool with a full set of tools, effects and features.
Photoshop Elements Photoshop’s little brother is meant for casual users but still includes many of the powerful features found in the full version. It usually sells for under $100 in stores and online.
Looks like Apple is finally feeling an effect of the recession. One research firm says that Mac sales fell six percent in January, most likely due to the economy. But on the other hand, a traffic analysis of mobile phone Internet traffic shows that the iPhone now owns 51% of all smartphone traffic on the net. Part of that is probably due to the fact that iPhone users simply access the Internet much more through the full-featured Safari browser and other net-related apps.
The new 17-inch MacBook Pros started shipping this last week, slightly delayed from their original date, and lagging a good month behind the 15-inch MacBook Pros.
In rumors, the most interesting new rumor has Apple getting rid of the distinction between the QuickTime Player and QuickTime Pro. Currently, you need to pay $30 extra to upgrade from one to the other. The Pro version allows you to record, export and modify QuickTime movies.
While Pages, Word and even TextEdit are good for word processing, programmers and Web developers need to edit plain text files all the time. The granddaddy of all text editing programs is BBEdit. It’s expensive, but for serious coders it is the environment they live in every day. It has tons of features and customizes itself according to what type of text file you are editing: html, php, c, css, xml, and so on.
In iPhoto 09 you can select Faces, and then one of the faces you have already identified. You can then press Confirm Name to confirm that face in other photos. The trick is to do this over and over again, repeating until iPhoto runs out of pictures to confirm. Each time you do it, iPhoto will get smarter about identifying that face, which is why it will find new photos for you to confirm.
The genre of puzzle games where you build something to solve levels seems to be a mainstay of iPhone gaming. At the pinnacle of this genre is Fantastic Contraption, a game where you build mechanical devices to reach a goal. It is sure to bring out the engineer in all of us.
