News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
In the 24 hours since Apple announced the iPad, a number of veteran vendors of laptop bags and sleeves have announced new products specifically for protecting Apple's new tablet; others have confirmed compatibility with existing bags.
Dan Frakes | Jan 29, 2010
Over the past few days, Macworld editors have walked the vast expanse of the show floor at the International Consumer Electronics Show. We’ve already profiled some of the gear that’s caught our eye at the show. But after a full day of exploring CES on Thursday, we found a few more items for Mac and iPhone users that are worth talking about.
Dan Frakes | Jan 11, 2010
Back in March, when I reviewed the previous Mac mini models—officially called the Mac mini (Early 2009)—Apple’s smallest desktop computer had just received a long-overdue refresh: it had been 19 months since the company had touched the Mac mini line. But that update was the most significant in the history of the line; nearly every aspect of each was upgraded.
Dan Frakes | Nov 5, 2009
When Apple announced the latest iPod touch models at last week’s Rock & Roll music event, the company’s touchscreen iPod received two significant spec bumps. The first was higher capacities: you can now get an iPod touch with up to 64GB of flash memory. But for gamers, the more exciting improvement is that the 32GB and 64GB models are allegedly 50 percent faster than the second-generation models and include support for OpenGL ES 2.0, which provides advanced graphics capabilities to mobile devices.
Dan Frakes | Sep 16, 2009
Last September, Apple debuted iTunes 8, which brought some major new features (Genius playlists, a new visualiser), a number of refinements for browsing and managing your media (Grid view, better podcast controls), and new iTunes Store offerings (HD TV shows, a new store design). Only a year later, we’re already at iTunes 9. (Old man voice: Why, I remember when Jeff Robbin was still working on Conflict Catcher.) But if you’re wondering if the 9 just means “another year gone by,” rest assured that the latest iteration of the company’s do-everything media program offers a number of significant improvements, including several that have been on wish lists for years.
Dan Frakes | Sep 15, 2009
As flexible as Mac OS X’s Dock can be, one feature request that’s been around as long as OS X itself is the capability to have multiple Dock configurations and to easily switch between them. For example, as a tech writer, I often need to take screenshots, and I want those screenshots to include OS X’s stock Dock—my Dock looks nothing like the stock version. Or you may want different Dock configurations for different groups of tasks.
Dan Frakes | Aug 20, 2009
A comment question from Mac users is, “Can I toggle Bluetooth on and off using the keyboard?” The Bluetooth menu extra lets you quickly toggle Bluetooth status, but some people would rather use that menu-bar space for other items—and some just prefer keyboard shortcuts. The answer to the question is, “With a little help.”
Dan Frakes | Aug 17, 2009
One of my favourite OS X add-ons is FinderPop, in part because of its menu-bar menu that provides quick access to my favourite files and folders. But if this is the only one of FinderPop’s many features you need, a suitable alternative is Devon Technologies’ XMenu. I wrote a one-paragraph review of XMenu back in 2005, but the program is worth revisiting: since that time, it’s been updated for Intel Macs, gained some impressive speed boosts, and added some useful features.
Dan Frakes | Aug 10, 2009
Leopard’s Screen Sharing feature, which lets you view and control the screen of another Mac, can be quite handy, especially for performing remote tech support for family and friends. But my experience is that many people use it mainly with computers on the same local network—in the same house or office. For example, I frequently use it to peek in on my desktop Mac from my laptop.
Dan Frakes | Jul 27, 2009
Last October, I reviewed What’s Keeping Me, a utility that helps you figure out what, exactly, is keeping a drive or disk image from being ejected. In the comments for that article, a Macworld reader recommended a similar utility, WhatsOpen. At the time, WhatsOpen didn’t stand out compared to What’s Keeping Me, but several updates since then have improved the program considerably—WhatsOpen 2.5 is now a good alternative that offers several unique features.
Dan Frakes | Jul 22, 2009
Many Mac users track their events and tasks using iCal, but I don't know many who like having to keep iCal running all the time just to see upcoming events and pending to-dos. HashBang Industries’ iDeskCal is a nifty solution that puts your events and tasks right on your Desktop, so a quick glance—aided by Exposé if windows and apps are blocking your view—shows you what’s coming up and what’s due to be done.
Dan Frakes | Jul 15, 2009
As I type these words, I am waiting for Apple's Developer Connection web site to ease up sufficiently for me to download the long-awaited Software Developer Kit for the iPhone (and iPod touch, just by the by). In a way, I hate developer-oriented announcements — "here's a really cool thing we're working on, and it's available now, and hoi polloi can have it in about six months". Actually, it's the six months I hate.
