Ever tried sticking one of those crazy Mini CD/DVD disks into your Mac's slot-loading drive? I know people who have and, uh, it ain't no fun. Especially the whole getting-it-out part. (Or maybe that was the fun part). With the slot-loading drives, you're limited to only using full sized disks -- mini CDs get jammed, and the drive can't read them. Which is kind of a bummer, really, because from time to time you will run into a mini disk you want to use, and the growing use of slot-loading drives is preventing companies from taking advantage of the tinier technology.
Apple may be a huge proponent of slot-loading drives, which eliminates their ability to use mini-media -- but, of course, they want it both ways. Via MacRumors:
Apple points out that the use of reduced-size media when possible would reduce shipping, manufacturing, and packaging costs. However, such media cannot be played in slot-loading drives that are designed to only accept standard-sized 12 cm media.
So what are they gonna do about it? The filed a patent for a "Mini CD/DVD-Rom Adapter," that will let users stick one of those tiny disks into a full-sized-CD-like adapter so it'll work in slot-loading drives.
Obviously, Apple patents a lot of stuff, and very little of it actually makes it to production. But with Apple constantly pushing small -- smaller iLife/iWork/OS X boxes, etc. -- it doesn't seem far-fetched for them to start pushing reduced-size disks for cheaper costs (and make a little extra selling the consumers the adapter in the process).
Check AppleInsider's analysis and the raw patent data (#20070271577) for more info.
Well, not so much Gollum as the man behind Gollum, British actor Andy Serkis. In an interview with the Guardian, Serkis describes his new iPod touch as his "favourite" piece of technology. He talks a bit about what he loves about it ("Because it's widescreen, it's perfect for filmmaking."), and a few improvements that could be made ("At the moment – and maybe this is because I've only just started using it – I'm struggling to download QuickTime movies onto it.").
But lest you think Andy's some kind of Johnny-come-lately to the Apple scene, think again:
Mac or PC? Mac. I'm a Mac user. I think it depends on how you were brought up and I was introduced to Apple quite early. They're certainly the best for visual stuff and film-directing.Apple, this is a gold mine: why pay both John Hodgman and Justin Long to be Mac and PC when you could simply have a Gollum vs. Smeagol spot? Come on. "We lovesss the Mac; we hatesss the PC." One iPod to rule them all, right? Right? This isn't the worst idea ever, right? Right? Guys?
Anyway, hit up the interview above to find out what Andy thinks of the touch's chances in the next decade, what piece of technology he'd most like, and whether or not robots rule the world.
Time Machine may be the biggest advancement in backups since sliced bread (you didn't know you could back up your data in carbohydrates? It works great—just don't toast them), but it has some shortcomings. For one thing, for a mechanism that purpots to allow you to control the very space/time continuum, you're pretty limited in how often you can tell it to backup your files. If you go by the usual schedule, Time Machine backs up once per hour; you can force a backup, as we've pointed out, but only if you want to keep Time Machine in your Dock.
If, however, you simply seek a longer interval between backups, Stefan Klieme's got you covered with his TimeMachineScheduler. Using TMS, as I'll call it, you can set an interval between 1 and 12 hours, and set it to run at startup and/or login. It works by installing its own launchd daemon and disabling Time Machine's built in scheduler, but you can always uninstall it if it's a problem. And it provides a handy button for backing up immediately, too. You don't have to run the app constantly, either; just launch it when you want to make an adjustment.
This might actually be handy for me; since I'm running off a MacBook, primarily, I don't spend most of my time plugged into my backup drive, so there's no point in it trying to backup every hour anyway.
[via Infinite Loop]
Synchronization is one of the great double-edged weapons in technology. When it works like it's supposed to, it's a godsend. But more often than not, getting synchronization to that point is like casting some sort of arcane mystical spell: expecto synchronicitum!
In Leopard, many users appear to be having issues getting their Palm OS devices to sync using iSync. Reader Kevin pointed us to one Apple discussion thread about the issues, but there are a number of other similar threads in the iSync forum.
The problem may be related to the fact that both Address Book and iCal had changes to their formats implemented in 10.5; Palm is supposedly working on a new version of Hot Sync, which may help fix the problem, but it's unknown if the problem resides in that or in the iSync conduit.
I haven't tried to sync a Palm device with OS X since I gave up using my old Handspring Visor Pro (whew, that was a while ago). Any of you other readers experiencing problems with syncing Palm OS devices via iSync? Sound off below.
Right now, my second passion is World of Warcraft. I justify it by telling myself that I’m really just supporting them for their simultaneous Mac and PC game releases. If only more companies were like them. I digress. As I’ve gotten into the latter stages of the game, I’ve become reliant upon add-ons. They help you play the game better with different interfaces and other assisting services.
Keeping on top of these, particularly around the time of a new patch release is hard. The APIs supplied change and a handy dandy software update isn’t provided. One patch repository centered around a special repackaging of Blizzard’s API is Ace. They’ve always supplied a Windows auto-updater, but not a Mac one. Then, one brave individual developed one. Unfortunately, it was never updated for Leopard and crashes upon updating add-ons. Then someone created another one. It doesn’t crash! Huzzah.
For all you WoW fanatics, this is now the way to install and maintain add-ons.
With John Dvorak finally throwing in the towel on Mac bashing and Jim Louderback moving on from PC Magazine, there’s a void. It’s been a few months now, enough for that void to turn into a full-on blackhole, sucking in and destroying all reason, leaving nothing but vapid criticism. Oliver Rist has filled that void, filling the hearts of PC Mag diehards.
I’m not sure what ticks me off more about Leoptard (I can’t take credit for that nickname—some Brit coined it): the fact that so many of the semi-important changes don’t work, the fact that Apple turned a stable OS into a crash-happy glitz fest, or that the annoying, scruffy Live Free or Die Hard actor infecting my TV (and our Web site, by the way) is pretending that Leopard is better than Vista.
Everyone can see where this is going. Before I knock down a few of his “points”, take a moment to read the quoted section. It’s one sentence. Think about that, and then let’s continue.
Continue reading "PC Magazine returns to its roots with inane Leopard bashing"
There's this weird obsession with running Windows apps on Macs. Virtualization, dual-booting, API-simulating, etc., etc., etc. Sure, some people need to run Windows apps and there are some apps for Windows that you just can't find for the Mac...but c'mon. It's just creepy. And, frankly, a little gross.
But hey, whatever floats your boat. Who am I to judge, right? And while this latest run-a-Windows-app-on-your-Mac thing gives me the shivers, I can understand how it may be useful for some -- especially web-devs looking for an easy way to test their sites on a variety of browsers.
ies4osx is a project that lets your run various versions of Internet Explorer for Windows (from 5.0 to 7.0 BETA) on your Mac, using X11 and the Darwine back-bone. Download Darwine, drag it to your Applications folder, then run ies4osx. Select which browsers you want installed and blammo...IE on your Mac.
Creepy. Yucky. And spooky. But it works.
[via LifeHacker]
Almost every major OS X app is now Universal -- meaning it can run natively on Intel Macs, without the use of Apple's Rosetta software. (Isn't it funny how it's been so long since Apple adopted Intel processors that I feel I have to explain what a Universal app is?)
Almost every app: Microsoft Office '04 is still very much Rosetta-y, built specifically for PowerPC-based Macs. That means it's slow, slow, slow, unless you've got a crap-load of RAM. And, c'mon -- Office 2004? It's 2007, man, get with it. Windows has Office 2007 with that contentious ribbon thing, and we're stuck in past.
Well, not for long. The folks at the Mac BU have been slowly disseminating info on Office for Mac '08 with their once-baren sneak-preview site, hoping to constantly remind us that yes, there is a new version coming, and yes, it will be worth the wait.
Some new details to come from the site, for PowerPoint:
There's also been some info on the new Word. From Infinite Loop:
The Word feature on display this week is the Notebook layout, which has received a number of additions in Office 2008. The background and look of the notebook page can be customized and tabs can be color-coded. Word will also let you sync audio notes to a Word notebook page, which should be handy for taped meetings with transcripts. Finally, flags can be added to notes for easy access later, and the flags can also be turned into Entourage to-dos.
Yummy. Check out the Office preview site for more details (preview videos, photo galleries, etc.) on the rest of the Office apps. And circle January 15th, 2008, on your calendar: Office '08's release date.
[via Infinite Loop and MacDailyNews]
