Happy New Year 2007!

Posted on Dec. 31, ’06, 9:00 PM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | MacUser

Happy New Year everyone. It’s now 2007 on the east coast. If you’re on the left coast, or one of those timezones in between (apparently Mac fans actually do exist in that land mass in between the two oceans), then pretend you read this one, two, three, or possibly more hours from now. This is a message from the future.

2006 was our first full year and we hope we’ve managed to make you one of the addicted loyal readers we hope to amass. Was 2006 as good to you as it was to us? 2007 is full of promise and hopefully we can put this silly iPhone/iPod Phone business to rest. What do you expect to see in this year? Will Apple finally crush Microsoft? Will the 12” laptop return? Will Leopard be the last OS we’ll ever need to buy? Will I stop asking stupid questions? Only time will tell, but you need to lay your rep on the line and tell us what will happen so we can start writing it up now.

Macintendo family values

Posted on Dec. 31, ’06, 7:15 PM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple » Humor

Ah, satire, I may have to write you a letter to let you know that now that the Internet is here, your day is done (apparently taking David Pogue seriously wasn’t enough of a signal). Daniel Jalkut’s very funny Macintendo Family Values is now prefaced by a very long disclaimer. It makes me sad that it’s necessary, but I suppose it’s a fault of the text medium. Some people still take A Modest Proposal seriously.

We at Red Sweater Software were lucky enough to be among the first to learn of this unbelievable development, when the popular Nintendo character Yoshi bounced into the office and delivered the news, along with a complete copy of the previously confidential family values document. We are pleased to be able to reproduce this document publicly, in its entirety. As an indie developer, I’m not sure I agree completely with the “Product Then Platform” family value, but I can sort of see the logic.

It’s worth a chuckle, particularly if you’re all alone, hunched over your computer tonight.

Service slow downs are the new way to advertise

Posted on Dec. 31, ’06, 4:28 PM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple » Advertising

Forget viral videos on Youtube. That’s not how you create product buzz. Instead, you capitalize on service slowdowns and spin it as “a positive”.

It’s actually created more positive buzz among analysts — traffic was so great it blew up the site. If anything it could be a positive — demand was better than they were expecting.

Indeed, whether it was dissatisfied users trying to cash in their iTunes gift cards or analysts discussing unprecedented sales, it all adds up to free publicity for Apple. It also reinforces the idea that iTunes is still the destination for online music. It’s so popular that Christmas morning overloaded it. I don’t need to name the competition because the news outlets haven’t mentioned them either. This is a feel good failure on Apple’s part.

Steve Jobs continues the $1 salary tradition

Posted on Dec. 31, ’06, 4:17 PM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple » People

In 2005, Apple paid Steve Jobs $1. In 2006, Apple paid Steve Jobs $1. Of course, it’s really still all about the stock options.

As an Apple fan, maybe I shouldn’t mention stock options. Instead, let’s all focus on how he got paid. Was it 12 easy payments of 8.3 cents? After taxes, was that 5.5 cents per payment? What about weekly at 1.3 cents? Don’t go spending that all in one place Steve.

iPod vending machines are big business

Posted on Dec. 31, ’06, 4:00 PM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | iPod

When I first heard about iPod vending machines, I was skeptical. I understand that the iPod shuffle is inexpensive and even makes the perfect stocking stuffer or so I hear, I got coal, I don’t know what that’s about. On the other hand, I still don’t see it as an impulse buy item. To me, it’s still one of those items you put just a little thought into before putting your hard earned dollars onto the counter. That said, they seem to be making money hand over fist.

“We’ve done about $55,000 in a month in gross sales just for the one on Concourse A,” said Leopold, executive vice-president and owner Business Traveler Services. “This is becoming the future for some high-end products in places like airports where space is at a premium.”

That’s more than a couple iPods. Here’s the thing though. You swipe a credit card through the slot and the iPod of your choice gets delivered gently to your hands. Doesn’t it seem like an obvious target for abuse? With that stolen credit card in your hand, you can quickly get at least one iPod, no questions asked. I’m just glad I don’t have to walk by one ever day or else I’d feel compelled to give the machine the obligatory shake, hoping for a free prize.

[via Infinite Loop]

Parallels Beta 3 now ready for download

Posted on Dec. 31, ’06, 9:01 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Windows

I must applaud Parallels for not resting during this holiday break. They’ve released another beta. It’s a bug fix release that doesn’t seem to add any new features.

• Coherence now handles “round” windows like Windows Media Player or Winamp correctly.
• Fullscreen and Coherence mode on secondary monitor fixed.
• Guest pixel size calculation was fixed – applications like MS Access or MS PowerPoint should handle graphs correctly.
• Guest Linux screen resolutions in 24 bit mode fixed.
• Possiblity to switch off Command+ZXCV mapping or swap Control and Command keys introduced (the feature was requested by a number of beta-testers)
• Several USB 2.0 fixes – more bulk devices to work since now. The work on web cameras and other isochronous devices is still in progress.

Unfortunately, it didn’t fix my problems and I still can’t use my Boot Camp partition/disk. I would really hate to see this problem continue into full release versions. Until Parallels is full Boot Camp speed, being able to use a single partition in both environments is a must for anyone not interested in maintaining two separate installations.

Steve Jobs’ best year ever

Posted on Dec. 31, ’06, 7:47 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple » People

Leander Kahney wrote Steve Jobs’ Best Year Ever a while back, but it seems more appropriate to share it with you now that the year is just about over. After all, what are the chances of Steve announcing something as the ball drops?

I think the underlying theme for the year was the Intel switch, which I think it’s safe to say, was an overwhelming success. I personally underestimated how well it would go. I thought Rosetta would have far more limitations and performance issues, so I’m glad to see my fears were unfounded. I’ve since replaced my Power Mac with a Mac Pro and I have no regrets. Bravo Steve.

Leander breaks it down month by month, but breaking it up that way comes off a little dry, missing the overall big picture.

For some, one button is enough

Posted on Dec. 30, ’06, 9:08 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Hardware

The one-button mouse: its legacy has haunted Apple in many ways since the first two-button mouse hit the market. Apple was constantly seen as behind the times; even the introduction of the Mighty Mouse and its wireless successor did little to salve this open wound. Even though the Apple faithful knew that two-button mouse support had been in the OS since System 8 or so, critics regularly hit Apple at its “simplistic” one button mouse.

Andru at GearLive has put together the quintessential rationale for the one-button mouse:

I kid you not, ten times a day I would talk to someone who has never right clicked in their life. After they first do it, they will ASK YOU EVERY TIME if they should right click or left click. Now, though we may not be the typical computer user, Apple is always concerned with creating a user experience that is as intuitive as possible. Giving the average person a right mouse button is like giving a bald man a comb.

[…]

Apple has gone through great pains and great expense to study human-computer interaction. Because of these studies, one thing Apple insists on is that every feature of an application should be accessible through menu items. It’s great and even encouraged to create additional ways of accessing features, but at a bare minimum, you should be able to reach it from the menu.

This is a great idea, but it’s unfortunately not true any more, even for Apple-designed applications. iTunes is particularly egregious in this regard: go into the Podcasts section and right click on an episode, you’ll see a whole host of options that you can’t get to from any menu.

Some argue that by this point, everybody understands the difference between right- and left-clicking—people who argue that have not, in my experience, worked in tech support. In ten or twenty years, that might be the case, but there are still some people who have a hard time getting the idea of clicking and dragging, much less two button clicking.

Inconsistency breeds contempt

Posted on Dec. 30, ’06, 8:03 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Software

Around the time of the “15 Things Apple Should Change in OS X” piece, one user offered a counter-argument titled “The Genius of Apple’s User Interface Themes.” His rebuttal, unfortunately, struck me as not-quite-on-the-mark and I intended to write a response that was both incisive and insightful, along with a splash of flair.

Then I got distracted, apparently—probably by something shiny. This morning, I found the wind taken out of my sails by none other than my close friend and frequent collaborator Jason over at Doombot. As usual, Jason touches on most of the points that I myself was planning to make. Isn’t he smart:

Tim (of the “Genius” article) argues that the violations described in the “15 Things” article must be both intentional and brilliant. He offers an analogy: if all your remote controls looked exactly the same, wouldn’t it be hard to figure out which remote control to use? But hey, I can make up weird analogies too: if your TV came with six remote controls and they all looked different, could you tell it apart from the remote for your VCR? Or: if your TV remote had buttons in the shape of a bear, a wombat, and a cherry, which would you use to change the volume? (Hint: second analogy may be less useful.)

To his analysis I add this: Tim’s argument is that variation makes it more useful to tell applications with different functions apart. That’s true: I don’t want my music player or my mail app to look like my web browser. But that’s no excuse for using different scrollbars and button styles in places where using consistent widgets would work perfectly fine. That is, variation for the sake of variation seems to me both pointless and misguided.

Jobs at Heli-speed

Posted on Dec. 29, ’06, 2:53 PM PT by Scott Silverman

Category | Apple » Steve Jobs

Here’s a little bit of Steve trivia to brighten your day. It’s exactly nine years ago, on December 29th, 1997, that Steve Jobs received permission from the Richmond city council to build a heliport on top of the Pixar building in Richmond. His commute from Apple to Pixar took about an hour by car, but only 25 minutes by air. Since for good ol’ Stevey time equals money, a helicopter pad it would be. This was a strong hint that Mr. Jobs would be staying as the CEO of Apple Computer.

[via Apple Matters]

Who really uses Dashboard?

Posted on Dec. 29, ’06, 2:12 PM PT by Scott Silverman

Category | Software

I have a question: Do people really use Mac OS X’s Dashboard? Sometimes it appears that the interface is more there for looks and bragging rights than anything else. I often don’t find myself using Dashboard at all, but rather just the normal interface of OS X to perform the same tasks. A while ago there was some talk about 10.5 Leopard doing away with Dashboard, and so now I bring the question to you. Do you use Dashboard, or would you rather sees its demise/replacement in Leopard?

Come see MacUser Live at Macworld Expo

Posted on Dec. 29, ’06, 9:12 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | MacUser

Not that you need me to remind you, but Macworld is right around the corner—waiting, lurking. Will Steve Jobs announce an iPhone? A transition to chips built on the elusive “Frito Lay” platform? Will he lead the keynote crowd in song? Anything can happen.

I thought I’d take this opportunity to mention that not only will Derik, Scott, and myself be attending the show, we’ll be recording a live episode of the MacUser Podcast on stage at the Macworld Live booth (that’s S408 to those in the know). It’s open to all attendees, so mark your calendars for Thursday January 11th at 3:15PM (Pacific, natch).

Besides our appearance at the booth, us three Macateers (man, I just came up with that off the top of my head! Crazy!) will be roaming the show floors, combing the industrial-strength carpeting for any elusive trace of the show’s highlights. Feel free to stop us, say hi, give us candy, or punch us in the stomach—please, please, please let it be candy this year.

A convenient truth: Jobs and board cleared of wrongdoing

Posted on Dec. 29, ’06, 8:03 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Business

And now, the news you’ve all been waiting to hear: Apple has filed its 10-Q and 10-K forms with the Securities and Exchange Commission (as we reported earlier this month, Apple delayed filing the reports because of the options backdating irregularities). I know, I know—you’re foaming at the mouth for more details.

…the Company has recognized total additional non-cash stock-based compensation expense of $84 million after tax, including $4 million and $7 million in fiscal years 2006 and 2005, respectively. The restatement arises solely from certain stock option grants made between 1997 and 2002; the investigation found no grants after December 31, 2002 that required accounting adjustments.

Clear as mud. More importantly, the internal investigation lead by former Vice President Al Gore found that Apple’s executive board and His Excellence Steven Paul Jobs in the clear—despite the somewhat glossed over fact that Jobs was apparently aware of the grants, though he didn’t benefit from them.

With the close of 2006 upon us, can Apple put its stock woes behind itself and plow ahead to a year of exciting products? As Apple’s stock was up on trading, to $85.32, we’re going to go with “Yes.”

[via Macworld]

The year’s not all about Apple

Posted on Dec. 28, ’06, 2:43 PM PT by Scott Silverman

Category | Apple

Looking back upon this past year it’s rather easy to get distracted by the big white giant that is Apple. We may forget that there have been many other significant Mac achievements from companies other than Apple. Thankfully, we have Macworld to help us recall other top stories of 2006. Let’s have a look:

• Parallels Desktop, VMWare, and Boot Camp
• Microsoft promises five more years of Mac development (and stopped) Windows Media Player for Mac development
• PC sales level off, while Apple’s grow
• Blu-ray and HD DVD advancements
• Adobe releases public betas Lightroom, Soundbooth, and Photoshop CS3

Be sure to check out the Macworld article to read about each of these significant events in greater depth. Which other events to you deem significant that Macworld may have missed?

iTunes Store experiences holiday woes

Posted on Dec. 28, ’06, 2:03 PM PT by Scott Silverman

Category | iTunes » iTunes Store

I’m pretty sure the iTunes Store was designed with work in mind. What do I mean by this? Well I think Apple took into account the fact that many potential users will be at work during the day, thus rendering themselves unable to browse the iTunes Store as use up server bandwidth. How do I reach this conclusion? Well I’ll tell you.

When people have time off from work (ie: during the holidays), they spend much more time in the iTunes Store, thus creating high amounts of traffic. I don’t know about you, but many many times throughout these past few days I received an error from the iTunes Store stating it could not be accessed because the server was busy (or something of the like).

Of course, the high traffic could certainly be due to hundreds of thousands of iTunes gift certificate recipients all trying to redeem their holiday cash for songs, but the bottom line is: iTunes seems to have done well this holiday season. Maybe Apple should look into a few new servers?

Top ten Apple Rumors

Posted on Dec. 28, ’06, 10:05 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple » Speculation

You know, a list of the top ten rumors from Apple’s history kind of reads like one of those compilation albums you’ll see advertised on TV: “You’ll get such favorites as ‘The iPhone Medley’ and ‘I wish upon an Apple PDA’…” CNet’s Crave has run down the list of old chestnuts, from “porting the Mac OS to generic PC hardware” to “a true video iPod.”

I have to wonder if this is really a comprehensive list of the last 30 years, since most of them date from the ’90s at the earliest. Then again, I don’t think I was cogent enough during the eighties to be aware of Apple rumors. Unless they involved He-Man or Transformers.

Of the list, only one of the rumors has panned out: the transition of the Mac OS to the Intel platform (okay, we’ll give them half credit on the “Apple purchasing BeOS” rumor by substituting Be for NeXT). Some may still have their day in the sun (the true video iPod), while others are probably only a matter of wishful thinking (a Nintendo-Apple partnership, sigh), and, of course, the iPhone, which I refuse to believe in until I’m making a call on it while not surrounded by a gaggle of supermodels (that’s how I’ll know I’m awake). But here, on the eve of Macworld Expo, the rumor mills are churning away. I myself plan to start a good four or five rumors per month in 2007. Call it my New Year’s resolution.

[via Slashdot]

OS X’s Finder perhaps not a keeper

Posted on Dec. 28, ’06, 9:31 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Software

I’m second to none in admitting that OS X’s Finder needs a bit of an overhaul. But I haven’t quite convinced myself to replace the Finder with something else—specifically, in this case, Path Finder. Productivity guru extraordinaire (and my personal hero) Merlin Mann is a huge proponent of Cocoatech’s app, but I guess I just haven’t figured out how to integrate it into my workflow, which relies more on things like Exposé.

Derik commented in one of our recent podcasts that he doesn’t use the Finder that much anymore, and after thinking about it for a while, I realized that I don’t either. Sure, I move files around in it from time to time, but I don’t do any heavy lifting there. This had me wondering: are we exceptions to the rule? Or is the Finder, as a metaphor, kind of dying out? What say you, readers? Finder, Finder replacement, or Finder foregoing?

Dvorak’s new keyboard symphony

Posted on Dec. 28, ’06, 8:44 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Geekery

If you have some time on your hands, and access to a friend or loved one’s MacBook, then it’s time to start planning that April Fool’s Day prank that would make Woz proud. Now, admittedly, this process was originally intended to help, not hurt people, but I think we all know in what direction it’s going.

Flickr user sjwalsh384 decided that he’d rather use the Dvorak keyboard layout (don’t worry—no relationship to Mac troll John of the same name). While in OS X, that’s as easy as popping open the “International” preference pane, clicking over to the Input Menu section and checking off “Dvorak,” it doesn’t fix the fact that your physical keyboard is still laid out in QWERTY format. But I suppose there’s nothing to be done about that short of repainting the keys, or popping each one off and putting it in the correct place. And come on, who’s going to spend their…time…doing…tha—okay, now that’s dedication.

Wow, think of the possibilities. My dream scenario is spelling out messages on a friend’s keyboard, though I’m unfortunately restricted to sentences that contain only one instance of each letter. Maybe I’ll hold myself back to a couple of words. “WATCH OUT!” for example.

The font of all knowledge

Posted on Dec. 28, ’06, 8:11 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Software

Unless terms like “serif” and “kerning” tend to get your salivary glands working overtime, you probably have little need for a font manager beyond OS X’s included Font Book (right). But for those who do get all hot and bothered by fontography and need a way to separate their Garamond Pro from their Mona Lisa Solid ITC TT, there are a number of options. Ars Technica’s Dave Girard has delved—in frightening depth—into the world of font managers.

The contestants? Insider FontAgent Pro 3.3.0, Linotype FontExplorer 1.1, and Extensis Suitcase Fusion 12.1.3. Three enter, but only one will leave. Alright, all of them will probably leave. Though FontAgent Pro comes out with an 8, narrowly beating Suitcase and FontExplorer, which both ended up with 7’s, all three offerings have different strengths and weaknesses to present your average fontophile. If you’re in the market for a font manager, you’ll want to check out the full review, or at least the comparison chart at the bottom of the final page.

For me, though, fonts have been useless since Apple stopped including San Francisco in the MacOS. How am I supposed to make ransom notes now?

Public shaming: How NOT to upgrade your MacBook Pro

Posted on Dec. 28, ’06, 5:26 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple » Humor

We all get that itch to improve our Macs, as spectacular as they may already be. For example, I’ve got my Mac Pro crammed full of SATA drives including an 80GB Raptor drive (yes, they do exist) that makes it noticeably louder, despite the fact that I love how quiet the Mac Pro is. sam-i-am on MacRumors forums takes the cake though.

So, to recap: Upgraded hard drive from 80 to 160 gigs. Downgraded latch to non-opening, top case to non-fitting, and screen to permanent smudge. I also realize that I probably hosed my warranty. I sprung for the 3 year and am in my first year. I assume I can’t get a refund on the last two years so I’m pretty much screwed. A refund would be nice because it would at least pay for a new top case (~$250).

Moral of the story: don’t be a dumbass.

Seriously, with a summary like that, how can you not read his tale of dumbassery? If you’re shaking your head at the end as much as I was, you’ll need a neck brace.

[via Digg]

Apple’s stock-option documents under review by Feds

Posted on Dec. 27, ’06, 7:58 PM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Business

That stock option post-dating scandal hasn’t fully disappeared into the background. In fact, documents involved are undergoing further scrutiny.

U.S. federal investigators are “looking closely” at stock-option documents that former Apple officials allegedly falsified to boost their own profits, The Recorder legal newspaper reported late Tuesday in its online edition. Revelations regarding past stock-options practices are expected in Apple’s delayed annual report due out Friday.

Further, word is that Big Daddy Jobs has hired a lawyer to help protect himself though he appears to be clear of any wrong doing. According to the original source of the investigation story, the government’s lawyers will be focusing on the falsified documents as the proof that Apple’s executives knew they were doing something wrong.

We’re still expecting the company’s delayed financial report this Friday, which should hopefully be enough to keep them listed in the NASDAQ.

“Who’s served by the delisting of Apple?” asked Jahan Raissi, a partner at Shartsis Friese who represents companies in SEC matters. “If it was Joe’s Shlock and Poultry Farm, then sure, get them out of there. But not Apple.”

Hopefully, the events of years past will be made more clear soon, and not behind closed doors.

Designed in CA

Posted on Dec. 27, ’06, 1:51 PM PT by Scott Silverman

Category | Internet

I’ve recently stumbled upon a little site cleverly called Designed in California. This site contains the model history of every (relatively recent) model of Apple hardware ever made. The history includes the date of release along with the basic spec information such as processor speed and iSights. If you ever need to know the most recent update to hardware, then just check out the site. It may help you predict when the next revision will appear.

Xslimmer saves space, speeds up apps

Posted on Dec. 27, ’06, 11:58 AM PT by Scott Silverman

Category | Software

Nick Santilli over at The Apple Blog has been testing a little app called Xslimmer. This application will slim down Universal applications, pulling out the PowerPC code on an Intel machine and vice versa. Now, the space-saving benefits are somewhat insignificant, as what’s a few hundred megs in light of a 100 GB hard drive? But apparently Xslimmer has other benefits as well: it will actually speed up your applications.

Nick observed that after slimming down Firefox it launched and loaded several browser tabs much quicker than before. Similarly, Photoshop CS3 (a Universal application with PowerPC code) launched in roughly 5 seconds as compared to the 6-8 second launch time before its code-liposuction. To me, this sounds wonderful: I can speed up my apps (especially the big ones like CS3) and save a little hard disk space. Now the only question that lies before me is if its worth the $10 dent Xslimmer will put in my wallet?

Cocoa for all (even those other guys)

Posted on Dec. 27, ’06, 7:32 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Geekery

Cocotron is an open-source Cocoa clone for Windows. Basically, it allows developers to deploy their Cocoa apps with less effort than a total rewrite. The Cocotron developer tools include a plugin for compiling to a variety of target platforms including Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, and Solaris. You read that right, you can develop Windows apps with Xcode.

In related news, GNUstep has a new maintainer. Basically, he oversees the continued life of the software project. GNUstep has a somewhat similar aim as Cocotron in that it implements OpenStep as Cocoa does as well. It helps provide a set of APIs that can be used on multiple platforms.

This might be a higher performance solution for things that Java is typically used for.

Change nearly any toolbar with command-click

Posted on Dec. 27, ’06, 6:13 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Tips

This one is pretty new to me. I like customizing the toolbars in my Cocoa applications. On my Powerbook 12”, I really like small icons (no text) while I like regular sized icons on my Mac Pro. The thing is, you can’t always right-click or use a customize toolbar command to set your preferences.

Hold down command and click the little pill looking button at the right end of the title bar. With each click, you get to see a new combination of options (whether it’s icon, text, icon+text, small, or big, it’s all there). This is particularly useful for those preference windows. Amaze your friends with your toolbar manipulation skill.

Virtualization beta woes

Posted on Dec. 26, ’06, 10:41 PM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Windows

Now that both Parallels and VMware are competing in the Mac market with their virtualization products, we can do some honest comparisons. Up until now, people have been comparing Parallels to Virtual PC (VPC). They may have the same goal in some respects, that is to run Windows inside a Mac/Mac OS X. Really though, they’re not the same class of software as VPC completely emulates a CPU. Parallels basically takes the copy of Windows/other x86 OS and gives it essentially direct access to the CPU. No emulation.

That’s why I cringe when people exclaim that “Parallels is so much faster than VPC!” or ask “Can I run Parallels on my PPC Mac?” It’s missing the point of Parallels, which is basically just giving an OS direct access to the hardware while still inside another OS. On the other hand, VMware is a direct, real competitor to Parallels. They aim to do the same thing using the same techniques and technology.

That said, both are fairly new to the Mac market and it shows. Allow me to run down my problems.

Computer purchasing trends: 2007 looks good

Posted on Dec. 26, ’06, 7:00 PM PT by Scott Silverman

Category | Business

We all know about the number wars that rage between the major computer manufactures—mostly Dell, HP, and Apple. Percent of market share, as well as likely brand to purchase are major figures in the point-war between these three companies, and the numbers are looking good for Apple.

According to an Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) report, which uses a 0-100 scoring system to measure computer buying intent, consumers are 17% more likely to purchase a computer when comparing current December poll results to past November’s. 27% of Americans are planning to buy a new home computer in the next six months, and 53% of those are looking to buy a notebook. This is good news for Apple, which has reached a three-year peak in IBD’s Home Computer Purchase Outlook index.

Dell currently sits at 43%, HP at 13%, and Apple right on their tail at 12% of consumers likely to purchase a computer from each company. When examining notebook computers only, those numbers jump to 47%, 15%, and 15%, respectively. With Macworld just around the corner, Leopard coming soon, and Vista shipping in just under a month, sales certainly ought to be interesting. Some analysts are even projecting a staggering 9 million Macs will be sold in 2007. It looks like this is going to be a good year for Apple.

[via Applelinks]

Latest Aperture update boosts performance

Posted on Dec. 26, ’06, 5:00 PM PT by Scott Silverman

Category | Software

Over the past few days I’ve spent much time taking photos of holiday family events. I’ve processed these hundreds of images with my MacBook Pro and Aperture. In the past I found Aperture unbearably slow, bringing frustration and anger in place of what should have been speed and ease of use. However, with the 1.5 update, and most recent 1.5.2 patch, it seems that Apple has greatly improved the speed of Aperture.

Imports are speedy, using the loupe provides almost instant magnification, switching between projects or albums is very responsive, and application launch time seems improved. Image adjustments and previews are not nearly as fast as they could/should be, but even they have come a long way as well.

If you’ve been thinking about Aperture as a post-production solution, or have a camera which shoots RAW images (pretty much any DSLR or high-end point and shoot), then I would strongly recommend giving Aperture a try. It’s come a long way.

Ihnatko: Windows Vista… doesn’t suck

Posted on Dec. 26, ’06, 10:31 AM PT by Andy Ihnatko

Category | Windows

With an eye on the calendar and the knowledge that in just a few days, otherwise peaceful men and women were going to be lacing up their golf shoes and preparing to step on the knees and necks of anybody who stands between them and the purchase of the new Tickle Me Elmo, I sat down with every intention of writing a nice, holiday-themed column for you folks.

I swear to God. A column filled with cozy yuletide carols and the scent of cinnamon and apples and the sights of Victorian-era people - not the scabby, greasy, smoky actual Victorians, mind you, but the way-better American version of Victorian England. The overall effect that I wanted to evoke could only be exceeded by ranks of gingerbread men organized into ruthlessly-efficient militas, fanning out through the city from street to street and house to house, peppering the baffled and terrified citizenry with chestnuts and holly leaves and mistletoe until they all beg for the sweet, sweet escape that only death can provide.

But how could my head and my heart have filled with such cheery things under these circumstances? Instead of visions of sugar plums, I’ve had thoughts of miserable stinking rat-bastards dancing through my head all month.

Folks, last month Microsoft has sent me the final (for now) release candidate of Windows Vista, due to be released to general users in January. And they couldn’t have deposited a more offensive thing into my stocking:

It doesn’t suck.

How could Microsoft have betrayed me like this?

“Get a Mac” ads claimed best of ‘06

Posted on Dec. 26, ’06, 9:13 AM PT by Scott Silverman

Category | Apple » Advertising

As 2006 is beginning to wind down, it’s a great time to have a look at the last 12 months we call a year. And what better way to do that then look at some of the best advertisements of 2006? Well that’s exactly what The Wall Street Journal has done with their list of the Best (and Worst) Ads of ‘06 (warning: article requires subscription). Not surprisingly, Apple’s “Get A Mac” are some of the best of 2006:

The Mac-man — played by actor Justin Long, star of the film ‘Accepted,’ is clever, fun and handy — he can communicate with all sorts of different people, and knows how to come up with pictures and music. The PC, played by another actor known to the youth crowd, “Daily Show” commentator John Hodgman, is decidedly less hip, and is always amazed, humbled or befuddled by Mac’s never-ending range of abilities.

Other companies with top ads were CareerBuilder.com, KFC, Philips Norelco, and Sprint-Nextel. Some of the worst were Walmart, Head On, and Outback Steakhouse.

[via MacNN]

Happy holidays from MacUser!

Posted on Dec. 25, ’06, 7:00 AM PT by Scott Silverman

Category | MacUser

Well, if you’ve noticed, things have been a bit slow here at MacUser the past couple days. Many of our dedicated bloggers are enjoying time with their families or are off somewhere exotic on vacation. Hopefully all of you are doing the same, but just in case you decided to stop by MacUser.com (it’s tough to avoid, we know) we wanted to wish you a very happy holiday season! Hopefully all your Mac and iPod dreams came true! (If you’d like to post a list of your loot in the comments, feel free!) Without further ado, Happy Holidays, and we’ll see you back here on Tuesday!

Wait, ZFS actually means something?

Posted on Dec. 22, ’06, 1:56 PM PT by Aaron Freedman

Category | Geekery

We’ve posted a few times here on MacUser about ZFS, but now it’s really getting into the spotlight in the Mac world, as the latest version of Leopard supports it. But wait, what exactly is ZFS? Well, it stands for…uh…Zettabyte File System? Actually, now it’s just a pseudo-acronym, but at core ZFS is a 128-bit file system — which means absolutely nothing to most Mac users.

But, apparently, ZFS does mean something for your average Mac user. This article explains some of the clear advantages of ZFS for laptop and desktop users. Mainly, as mentioned before, ZFS is built from the ground-up for working well with drive snapshots, which is exactly what Time Machine does. But ZFS has other advantages too, such as the ability to be read and written to in a compressed state. And, ZFS works well for Mac Pro and server users, with features like automatically growing when new storage is attached, and an easy command line interface. So hey, maybe this crazy acronym does mean something.

[via digg]

Instant clutter solution: Camouflage 1.8

Posted on Dec. 22, ’06, 11:34 AM PT by Scott Silverman

Category | Software

There have been a couple of times in the past when I’ve been giving presentations, showing movies, or giving demonstrations of a projector or large TV. Often times I would make a special wallpaper in Photoshop with a title and icon specific to the event. It looked great, except for the fact that all my shortcuts and files on the desktop cluttered my beautiful title. It’s times like those I would have killed for Camouflage 1.8.

This nifty (and free) little app clears off your desktop of icons, leaving only your desktop background exposed and perfectly clean. Not even your hard drive will show up. Check out the Brik Software page to learn more of the many little features of Camouflage.

[via Applelinks]

VMware’s Fusion goes into public beta

Posted on Dec. 22, ’06, 10:46 AM PT by Scott Silverman

Category | Software

At the beginning of November Aaron covered VMware’s Fusion, a virtualization program similar to Parallels Desktop. By the very nature of the term virtualization it obviously allows you to run Windows, Linux, or other x86 operating systems with Mac OSX. A few key features from VMware’s website:

• Run 32- and 64-bit operating systems with x86 applications next to your OSX apps.
• Assign multiple CPUs to your virtual machine to allocate performance
• Access all USB 2.0 devices at full speed
• Drag and drop files/folders between OS X and your virtual machine

Perhaps one of the best things about Fusion, however, is that the public beta (build 36932) was released to the public yesterday. That means that you’re only a free download away from running Windows applications within OS X. Now if only Windows came in a free public beta…

Wheel…of…icons!

Posted on Dec. 22, ’06, 9:08 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Software

Aaron mentioned Photoshop’s new icon in his first glance, as well as Adobe Bridge’s icon’s resemblance to a periodic table element. Now, Adobe’s John Nack has released the icons for the rest of Adobe’s Creative Suite 3, all of which are patterned on the same idea.

Opinion over the new design appears to be split. Some consider them ugly icons that will stick out like a sore thumb; others (myself included) applaud their clean lines and simplicity. However, it’s easy to agree about one thing: taking the icons out of context makes it hard to understand which is for what. Fortunately, there’s an annotated version of the wheel on Flickr, which has identified most if not all of the applications.

To me, they’re more linked with the application than the current white box with feather, butterfly, etc. But at the same time, I wish they were a little more consistent: some of the icons still use pictures (the Acrobat apps) instead of text. But how do you sum up “Photoshop” in a picture? There’s not necessarily an easily recognizable, iconic image the way there is for Mail, Safari, iTunes, etc. What do you think of the new icon, folks? Love it? Hate it? Don’t really care at all?

[via Daring Fireball]

The IndieHIG looks to replace Apple’s HIG

Posted on Dec. 22, ’06, 8:14 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Geekery

Apple’s HIG (aka Human Interface Guidelines) is what tells developers how to make their software look and feel. It’s the guiding principle that should be kept in mind. It’s not the law, as you can break it as Apple has been doing on a regular basis in recent history.

However, according to one Brandon Walkin, it’s dead and needs replacing. While it may be neglected or need some major revision, it was last updated in October and is far from dead. He wants to address this with a Wiki named the IndieHIG. The project aims to supply a new set of guidelines, MIT licensed images for use, and MIT licensed code. I really like the latter two, but couldn’t the guidelines simply supplement Apple’s? Perhaps it could serve as more of a discussion center that allows developers to hash out the pros and cons of particular decisions.

I hate to say it, but design by committee results in interfaces like those used in Linux. I’m not trying to hate on Linux, but it’s interface by attrition. Interface is one of those situations that are best served by having a pseudo dictatorship. A more democratic approach lends itself to overly complicated interfaces that try to be everything to everyone.

[via Digg]

Dashcode beta available to ADC members

Posted on Dec. 22, ’06, 8:01 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple » News

As we discussed on the most recent podcast Apple ventured into the beta arena recently with Aperture; now it’s released a beta version of the forthcoming Dashcode developer environment for Dashboard widgets. It’s available to Apple Developer Connection members (including those with free accounts). Here’s what it says:

This is a developer beta release of Dashcode, a new application for creating powerful Dashboard widgets coming in Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). This beta release has been scaled back to be compatible with Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) in order to get feedback from a broad range of users. Dashcode will only be released officially as part of Mac OS X 10.5. This beta release will cease to function on July 15, 2007.

I was hoping the beta termination date would give us some clue as to Leopard’s release, but I’d say July falls out of the “spring” window. This version seems to incorporate a number of different templates, more than the previous accidentally released version. I’m also wondering at the “scaled back” comment—seems like there might be some new Dashboard features that we haven’t seen yet. Could they be…top secret?

[via Uneasy Silence]

The best seat in Cupertino

Posted on Dec. 22, ’06, 7:39 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple » Humor

Valleywag has broken what will clearly be the story of 2006: Steve Jobs Secret Stool. It’s what makes him so successful as we can clearly rule out the turtleneck of yesteryear. Their source:

With annual Mac Nuremberg rally just around the corner I thought I’d drop a line on an interesting tid-bid I just heard about His Steveness. We all know about his size 14 feet and shifting allegiances to bottled water…….

We can now also confirm that The Dear Mac Leader has a special stool. It’s three-legged, designer (natch) and is his special friend on long business trips in the company jet: he requires the stool be present at all worldwide company events that he attends as well as outbound speaking engagements that are designated “stool-appropriate”. Let’s hear it for the hardest working stool in Silicon Valley!

I hadn’t thought about it until now, but this got me thinking. Maybe that stool that always rests in front of his demo machine of choice really is what compels me to watch each keynote over and over again. It looks so comfortable. Allow me to share with you in a moment of private humility that I totally misread Valleywag’s piece the first time through. Use Mac OS X’s built-in dictionary to figure out how I misinterpreted the object in question. I was tired when I read it. Forgive me.

Hess Memorial Macworld Expo SF 2007 Events List released

Posted on Dec. 22, ’06, 6:35 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple » Events

I’ll be attending Macworld Expo for the first time next month, so I’m trying to do all my research to be prepared to participate as best I can. I’ll readily admit that even though it’s in its twelfth year, this is the first I’ve heard of the Hess Memorial Macworld Expo SF 2007 Events List (compiled by Ilene Hoffman and dedicated to Robert Hess, associate editor at MacWEEK).

It’s a big list of what’s going at and around the Expo, when, where, and even tells you if you can attend. I’m definitely going to keep my eye on it and print out a fresh copy at the beginning of every day. Now is my big moment to call upon all you experienced, savvy, smart, and let’s not forget handsome (or beautiful) readers to tell me what events are a must (besides the obvious keynote)?

[via Macworld]

Safari can stroke

Posted on Dec. 22, ’06, 5:27 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Internet

Web guru Dave Hyatt has announced a new addition to Safari, text-stroke. But what is that? Well, the term that seemed to resonate with me most was outline. Basically, you can define a color to surround the edges of text. With a transparent fill, it’s hollow letters. An easier way to understand, look to the right. Not the black surrounding the purple.

This isn’t part of a set standard, so the CSS attribute for it begins with a dash (indicating vendor specific). Now, clearly, it’s nice to have extra stuff to make Safari even better. However, the vendor specific part makes me a bit queasy. I’d rather it was pushed into a standard.

What’s the motivation for allocating development resources to a non-standard attribute? Well, it’s probably to support something intrinsic to a new Apple product. We an expect this to show up somewhere in Leopard I’m guessing. We won’t know until it’s released, or some bad little boy releases screenshots from a pre-release version.

No snow outside? Try it inside.

Posted on Dec. 21, ’06, 2:43 PM PT by Scott Silverman

Category | Software

Upon reading Dan’s post on Tuesday about Snowfall, A Quartz-based screensaver full of snowflakes, I downloaded it immediately. We don’t have much any snow here in Massachusetts, and home (California) hardly sees a single flake all year long. I love Snowfall, but thought you can never have too much snow (as long as it’s not on your driveway) and thus discovered seven other Mac Snow applications.

My favorite is Snow 1.1, which causes snow to fall across your entire Desktop. The experience is complete with a polar bear, santa and reindeer, and even snow piling up on top of your windows and at the bottom of your screen. I love sneaking these little applications onto the computers of my friends, only for them to return to their computer to find that it’s snowing!

The Griffin Elevator replaces the iCurve

Posted on Dec. 21, ’06, 2:00 PM PT by Scott Silverman

Category | Hardware » Accessories

One of my all-time favorite accessories for my laptop is the iCurve (I wrote up a little piece on how I use my iCurve a couple months ago). Griffin today updated the iCurve, renaming it the Elevator. It is now brushed aluminum to complement your MacBook Pro and/or Apple Cinema Display. Small news? Sure, but the Elevator would make a great little last-minute holiday gift for any laptop user. (It probably wouldn’t make it here by the 25th, but you can always use my favorite gift-giving method, the wrap-up-a-picture-and-tell-them-its-coming.)

Apple has 90% of paid video downloads

Posted on Dec. 21, ’06, 1:49 PM PT by Scott Silverman

Category | Video

Despite all the competition from various video download services (which seem to be popping up faster than a field of daisies) Apple still manages to hold its own. According to a recent research study, Apple currently holds about about 90% of all video downloads. 62% of that is TV content, 24% music videos, and 6% mainstream movies.

Sounds strong right? Now realize that for about the 1.2 million households that purchased a video from an online store, about five times as many households downloaded a video illegally—and most of that was porn. Hmm, maybe Apple should reconsider its target market?

Parallels Beta2 out with updates to new features

Posted on Dec. 21, ’06, 10:57 AM PT by Aaron Freedman

Category | Software

The latest beta of Parallels Desktop brought forth tons of new features, including Boot Camp support and a Coherence mode that runs your Windows apps alongside your OS X ones. But now, an update to that new version, Beta2, has emerged. Beta2 includes several updates to Parallels, including USB 2.0 support at native speeds, easier Boot Camp set-up (now fully supported on NTFS and FAT32-formatted Boot Camp drives), and the ability to put Windows apps n your Mac dock via Coherence (which is now supported on Windows XP, 2003, 2000, and Vista). The new beta is available, along with a full list of features, at the Parallels site. While this new beta brings some great new features to Parallels, if it could just get accelerated-graphics support, I’d never touch a PC again.

Apple Story of the Year, 2006 edition

Posted on Dec. 21, ’06, 10:01 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple

As the year draws to a close, it’s human nature to look back over the past twelve months and consider what 2006 has meant to us. For example, there was January where…er…oh, January. Alright, so I can’t actually remember what happened this year. It’s kind of a blur of blogging and, um, scotch.

That’s where you guys come in. On the heel of Pat’s tremendously successful best app and worst app posts, I’d like to throw open the gates for the Apple Story of the Year. What was the biggest development of the year in the Apple world? Remember, there’s no wrong answer—unless you mention something having to do with this summer’s alleged AirPort hack. That answer is oh-so-wrong. It has embarked from Wrongsville, USA on a plane designed by the Wrong Brothers.

Ahem. Anyway, I’ll get the snowball rolling with my suggestion for the Apple Story of the year: Boot Camp. I know everybody loves Parallels—it’s like the Raymond of the software world—but to me, Apple facilitating the installation of Windows on its hardware was the bigger story. But hey, your answer is just as good as mine—oh, let’s face it: your completely hypothetical answer is far better than mine. Fire away.

Printing firm gives employees iPod shuffles with best case ever

Posted on Dec. 21, ’06, 9:32 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | iPod

What’s better than getting an iPod shuffle from your work for Christmas? If you guessed “getting an iPod shuffle in an origami box made from two Ben Franklins” then…crap…you must be fricking psychic—listen, you and me are going to take this show on the road; we’re going to make some serious money here.

BIG Images, a large-format printing and technology company, decided to reward their employees this holiday season by wrapping their shuffles in a pair of hundred dollar bills. Their goal was to outdo Steve Jobs, who has supposedly ordered iPod shuffles for all Apple employees. They posted images of the origami box along with complete instructions on their website (I’m assured that $100 bills are not necessary to make the box).

In related news, for my holiday bonus I got a rock.

[via Digg]

Any SMTP port in an email-blocking storm

Posted on Dec. 21, ’06, 8:40 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Tips

I have travelled with my Mac quite a bit over the years, including dragging it all the way to Ireland and the UK for a month-long backpacking sojourn (by the way, don’t ever do that—it’s way too heavy and not nearly useful enough). Various problems arise when you’re trying to use your Mac out of its element, such as occasionally running into situations where you can’t send mail via a Mail client.

Outgoing mail is sent via an SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) server, which usually operates via port 25. It’s quite easy to login to an SMTP server and spoof (use a fake) email address, though, so many hotspots and ISPs block that port to prevent spam and other malicious emails, meaning that you won’t be able to send mail via Mail.app, Thunderbird, or other clients (web-based email is not affected).

The solution? You can also often send mail via an alternate port, commonly 587. .Mac, for example, uses this port. In Mail.app, you can change the port by going to Preferences -> Accounts -> Account Information and then click on the “Server Settings” button. Often times, the SMTP server on port 587 requires authentication, so you may have to enter your username and password.

Other services sometimes uses different ports (GMail apparently uses 465), so it’s best to check with your mail provider.

[via Hawk Wings]

Great software taste, less controversially filling!

Posted on Dec. 21, ’06, 8:02 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple » People

‘Twas the day before the night before the night before the night before Christmas and all through the tubes…what rhymes with tubes? Rubes? n00bs? Oh, forget it. Anyway, here’s an update on holiday Mac happenings.

If you haven’t checked out MacSanta since Derik’s initial post, you may be interested to know that it’s up to 98 participating companies as of this writing. I’ve got my fingers crossed that they’ll break the 100 mark today. Remember, it’s 20% off everything on the list with the coupon code MACSANTA. We’ve decided to join the fun by giving you 20% off our blog content. Let’s see, 20% of nothing…carry the five…

Also, the Cocoa Holiday Duel at Ten Paces is officially under way with a handful of apps from the likes of Daniel Jalkut, Gus Mueller, and Austin Sarner. I downloaded a bunch of them this morning, and they’re pretty amusing, but—as to be expected—a bit buggy. I really like John Casasanta’s SantaSnaps, but it kept saving corrupt image files, so I had to take that creepy screenshot above. The duel runs until midnight MST of Tuesday, December 26th; you can support your favorite app by making a donation to that developer’s charity.

Soundbooth Beta 2 released

Posted on Dec. 21, ’06, 7:34 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Software » Updates

Oh sure, it used to be a big deal when Soundbooth was first released. It was hot, new, and Intel only. It caused quite a stir. Life was good for the new software. Then big bad Photoshop CS3, the beta, came to town.

Suddenly Soundbooth was neglected and feeling lonely. Luckily, Adobe has taken pity and released the second beta version. Look at it this way: you don’t need a valid serial number to download it.

Origins of the command key

Posted on Dec. 21, ’06, 6:57 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple

Today’s popular entry from Andy Hertzfeld’s excellent Folklore is about the origin of what is now know as either the “apple” or “command” key.

One day, late in the afternoon, Steve Jobs burst into the software fishbowl area in Bandley III, upset about something. This was not unusual. I think he had just seen MacDraw for the first time, which had longer menus than our other applications.

“There are too many Apples on the screen! It’s ridiculous! We’re taking the Apple logo in vain! We’ve got to stop doing that!”

Of course, the chosen solution was to find a new symbol. The bitmap artist Susan Kare flipped through some symbol books until she happened upon the Swedish symbol for campground. The cloverleaf we now know as the command symbol was born.

Help. The Swedes put their hands all over my Mac.

[via Digg]

[Edit: Jason Snell spotted the symbol in Estonia last year; his picture now appears up top.]

Robbing an Apple Store is dangerous

Posted on Dec. 21, ’06, 6:03 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple » Stores

A man was caught in Weymouth, Massachusetts (3 out of 7 MacUser bloggers are currently choosing the state for residence) after robbing an Apple Store. The perp used a typical smash and grab technique, which ultimately became his biggest mistake. He smashed the storefront, grabbed a bunch of iPods and ran away.

Because he broke the glass, he sustained several serious cuts.

Just minutes before at about 1:30 a.m., Dillon allegedly used a monkey wrench to smash the glass in the front door of the Apple Store. The trail of blood led to the iPod display where police think Dillon used his arm to swipe the iPods off the counter and into the pink laundry tub that he was carrying. When he left the store he cut himself again on the broken glass as he tried to get the tub out the door.

“Police saw the trail of blood to the iPod case and saw that is was heavier as he exited,” Hingham Lt. Michael Peraino said.

Tis the season to steal the hot gifts, but clearly this wasn’t the most brilliantly executed job.

[via ifoAppleStore]

Macs declared not “appropriate technology” for schools

Posted on Dec. 21, ’06, 5:24 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple » Huh?

I remember when Apple computers were actually considered a positive thing to include in a school curriculum. You know, before schools thought having an IT staff was a good idea. Since then, it seems like schools have been making decisions based upon hardware purchase price alone. District 300 in Carpentersville, IL has hired a di