Posts Tagged Apple
Posted by Stuart on August 27, 2009 at 23:59 pm
So, by now you should know that Apple released Snow Leopard today. Here’s my review.
Enhancements
First off, I’ll start with enhancements. Like it says on Apple’s website, “Refined, not Reinvented”. Snow Leopard’s major purpose was to boost speed, performance, and set a some-what standard structure for future OS’s. Snow Leopard really pulled through with this well, in my opinion. Finder, especially, has had an amazing upgrade. Finder is now faster, smoother, and nicer to use. Quick Look also helped make finder much much better. Quick Look got a big speed increase for pretty much everything, and it’s quite noticeable. Time Machine backups where also noticeably faster, and when going into Time Machine for restoring a file, it seemed a lot more smooth and responsive. Wake & Shut Down times varied; I have to say that my MacBook didn’t always shut down faster than 10.5 Leopard. But the wake up times where faster, which I like. Apple also mentioned how Mail doesn’t use as much processor or RAM when you don’t have it active. Let me tell you that this is very nice, and it also makes Mail more responsive & fast.
Quicktime X
With Snow Leopard, Apple introduced the next version of Quicktime, Quicktime X. In my point of view, Apple pretty much re-designed Quicktime with this release. Everything has a new fell and look; even when you view media files in a web browser. A couple cool features that Apple added where the ability to send it to iTunes, YouTube, or MobileMe. You can also now “trim” your video, just like on the iPhone 3GS. I also like how when you move your mouse off of the video, the top bar will disappear. It makes the video nicer to view.
New Technologies
Snow Leopard has really come through with some great new technologies, including the new, Grand Central Dispatch. Grand Central really lets you take full potential of those quad- or eight-core processors in the Mac Pro by spreading the tasks to all the processors. This means you could have a lower speed 8 core but still run the final speed of a higher dual-core. Mac OS X 10.6 also is fully 64-bit. A 64-bit OS means applications can handle more Memory (RAM) at a time; 16GB. This also means the system is even more secure against attacks. OpenCL also unleashes the power of the graphics processor. It makes the system capable of using bits of the GPU to make it run better; and believe me, it’s nice. The new technologies in Snow Leopard also have set a building block for future Mac Operating Systems.
Universal Access & Exchange Suppport
Universal Access in Snow Leopard has made Accessibility even better. A couple new refinements/features include faster keyboard navigation, more braile support, custom labels, the rotator, and more. Universal Access now has a brand new VoiceOver quick-start tutorial that will help you get set up with everything. Apple has also put Microsoft Exchange support into their applications. You can now use Mail, Address Book, and iCal with Exchange.
Overall
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard has really come through to be a great upgrade. Apple has really worked on the speed side of things, along with some great fixes & additions. If you’re thinking of getting it, I would go ahead and do it. Snow Leopard makes the “Mac Experience”, and your life, a lot better, smoother, and responsive.
Snow Leopard is $29 (single license) or $59 (family pack). The Mac Box Set, which comes with Snow Leopard, iWork, and iLife, is $169 (single) or $229 (family).
I also posted some screenshots HERE & some short video clips HERE.
Posted by AppleMitch2008 on August 24, 2009 at 17:37 pm
Hi guys, it’s Mitch. I know i haven’t wrote anything on here for a LONG time, but I’m hoping to change that starting with this post. So today Apple announced that their newest operating system - Snow Leopard - will be available to purchase starting this Friday, 28th August. The announcement was made around 7pm GMT on Apple.com, much to the praise from fans, that have been waiting for this operating system for over 2 years. The newest OS will be priced at a very reasonable $29 (£36) and will include features that are dubbed ‘Next-gen technologies’ and will be Faster, better, and easier to use.
For more information on Snow Leopard, head on over to http://www.apple.com
Posted by Admin on July 15, 2009 at 17:30 pm
Apple released an iTunes update (8.2.1) which it’s main goal was to prevent/not allow Sprints Palm Pre to sync with iTunes. This was expected from the beginning when Palm announced that the Pre can sync with iTunes. Of course Apple wouldn’t allow that to happen, the Pre is a “rival” of the iPhone so it wouldn’t make sense for Apple to allow the Pre to sync with their Media Player/Organizer.
Apple states in the Software update information that:
“iTunes 8.2.1 provides a number of important bug fixes and addresses an issue with verification of Apple devices.”
This is bad news to all the Pre owners out there who don’t want to get away from iTunes, however I’ve heard people using “Media Monkey” to sync their Pre with their computer, I don’t know how good it is, but like I said I’ve heard good things about it. Or you can just stay with your current version of iTunes, which in my opinion is your best option.
Also here is Palms response:
“Palm’s media sync works with iTunes 8.2. If Apple chooses to disable media sync in iTunes, it will be a direct blow to their users who will be deprived of a seamless synchronization experience. However, people will have options. They can stay with the iTunes version that works to sync their music on their Pre, they can transfer the music via USB, and there are other third-party applications we can consider.”
Posted by Stuart on May 6, 2009 at 14:55 pm
Today I am here to review an app from the App store. This app is called “myHomework”. It is quite a simple yet useful app for anyone who needs a better way to write down their homework (or unless you don’t even write it down!). myHomework allows you to create classes, set the start and end time, set the days of the week, and more. Everything is put into a simple layout that makes it look like your typing on a notepad! Also, on the icon in your iPod/iPhone’s home screen, it will show any upcoming or late assignments. You can change the icon shows in and more in the preferences. On the bottom of the screen, there are three sticky notes. One for the homework list, one for classes, and one for preferences. Each has simple interface and is easy to read.
myHomework is a GREAT app. Especially if you are a person who writes down homework but doesn’t read it. The best part is, it’s FREE!
myHomework is avalable on the app store, free, here
Posted by Stuart on April 20, 2009 at 15:31 pm
If you haven’t heard of Tweetie, it is a Twitter app for the iPhone/iPod touch. Today, April 20th, Atebits released the Mac version.
Just like all good Mac apps, Tweetie is easy to use. There is a sidebar on the left. On the top of the sidebar there is your account picture. When you have that account selected, it will show four buttons under it. One for the timeline, one for mentions (replies), one for direct messages, and one for search. On the top there is a navigation bar that tells you where you are in the application (for instance, if your looking at a reply from someone, it would say “Mentions > Conversation”. A cool feature about Tweetie is the direct messages. When you go to the DM’s section, it will show all the people you have sent/received messages from. When you click on that person, it will come up in an iChat-like chat. There is also a “Reply…” button up at the top if you want to send a message to that person. Another cool feature is the user info. When you click on a person’s profile picture, it will show their name, username, & their tweets. There are also four buttons under their name: tweets, people replying to that person, starred, and their profile info. You can also add the bookmarklet to your bookmarks bar which will pull up a tweet message with that page’s URL.
Tweetie for Mac costs $19.95 or $14.95 if you buy it before May 4th. There is a free version with ads, also.
Posted by Admin on March 17, 2009 at 13:13 pm
This has got to be the best iPhone update ever, so many features were added. Not only the ones requested by customers but many more. If you did not follow the event on Gizmodo or Engadget don’t worry, the video of the event will be up soon on Apples website.
So, what were the major features? I have listed below some of them, so take a look!
1) Copy/Cut/Paste
2) MMS
3) Landscape keyboard in All apps
4) Voice Memos
5) Peer to Peer sharing
6) Push Notifications
7) Spotlight Search
Those are not all the features that were announced but are the major ones that got people very exited. The update is now available for developers and will be available to everyone this summer. The update will be free for iPhone users but will cost $9.95 for iPod Touch users.
Overall it was a great event, and I can’t wait until I get my hands on the new iPhone OS 3.0. I am not a developer so I can’t get it now, but when I do in the summer I will go in depth of the new features in this release!
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