The GigaOM Network: Cleantech | Tech Insider | Gadget Gurus | Online Video | Open Source | Web Life | Research | Live Events | About | Contact

Apple’s Atomic War

Written on November 11, 2009 by Mark Crump and 21 people have commented

With the release of 10.6.2, Apple killed unsupported support for the Atom processor — the processor used in low-cost netbooks. Certain models of netbooks could run OS X quite easily, and people used them to make the Little Netbook Apple Refuses to Make. While it’s a stretch to say Apple has killed the hackintosh market, [...]

Snow Leopard Bug Deletes All Data, Apple Enters Data Loss Competition With Microsoft

Written on October 13, 2009 by Liam Cassidy and 13 people have commented

The intertubes are ablaze today with reports of a serious bug in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard that, under certain conditions, can destroy all of a user’s personal data.
The problem lies with Mac OS X’s Guest Account functionality, and was first reported at the beginning of September on Apple’s Support Discussions forum. Specifically, some [...]

Snow Leopard Sales Seen Doubling Leopard

Written on September 17, 2009 by Charles Jade and 8 people have commented

Just two weeks after being released, Snow Leopard is already setting records. According to NPD, sales are more than twice that of plain-old Leopard in its first two weeks, and nearly four times that of Tiger.
“Even though some considered Snow Leopard to be less feature-focused than the releases of Leopard or Tiger, the ease of [...]

Snow Leopard: The Installation Process

Written on August 27, 2009 by Chris Ryan and 21 people have commented

In addition to the numerous refinements that Snow Leopard brings, among the first you’ll notice is an easier installation experience. Some options that experienced Apple users have come to know and love have been changed or relocated, resulting in an experience that is far less intimidating than installing Microsoft Windows.
Traditional OS X users may be [...]

Apple Releases OS X 10.5.8 Update

Written on August 05, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 13 people have commented

I was just installing the Garage Band update on my Mac mini, when lo and behold, upon checking again at completion for updates, the 10.5.8 cumulative update appeared.
I’ve yet to update my mini to 10.5.7, because of reported issues with outputting to 720p resolution, which is the resolution of the TV I have it connected [...]

A Closer Look At Apple’s Icons: Secret Messages & Easter Eggs

Written on July 27, 2009 by Chris Ryan and 18 people have commented

Last week, we discussed the evolution, rhyme and reason behind some of Apple’s icons since the public release of OS X in 2001. This week, we’re going to take a closer look at some of the “Easter eggs” that are hidden in these icons.
Hidden Detail
An easy way to one up the competition when you release [...]

Simplify Your Workflow With Dropzone

Written on July 17, 2009 by Chris Ryan and 6 people have commented

The real power of OS X lies in all of the hidden gems beneath what you see at first glance. Technologies like Expose, Spaces, Stacks, Spotlight and others help users tap the power of their Mac, while keeping the experience sleek and elegant. Aptonic’s Dropzone, a third-party application designed to further simplify your Mac experience, [...]

Apple Releases Mac OS X Update 10.5.7

Written on May 12, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 61 people have commented

There was a lot of buzz that it might come today, and it has. Apple just released Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.7 for download via Software Update. As one, let us install and restart our computers. Maybe the Internet will pause for a second in our absence.
Here are some highlights from the new release:

Includes additional [...]

Getting the Most Out of Leopard’s Quick Look Feature

Written on January 02, 2009 by Charles Moore and 15 people have commented

I imagine most people using OS 10.5 have become acquainted with Quick Look, which is one of my favorite Leopard features. Quick Look’s basic function, as its name suggests, is as a quick and convenient way to take a peek at what’s in a file without actually opening the file, switching Finder views or opening [...]

Mac OS X 10.5.6 Released

Written on December 15, 2008 by David Appleyard and 19 people have commented

Apple today released the next major update to OS X Leopard in the form of Mac OS X 10.5.6 and is now available via Software Update, or the Apple downloads page. It is a 377MB download, recommended for all users running Mac OS X Leopard.
Some of the notable changes and updates included in the release [...]

Customizing Your Mac: The Sacred Dock

Written on December 02, 2008 by David Appleyard and 11 people have commented

The Dock has become an iconic feature on the OS X operating system, present from the very earliest versions. It provides a unique way to open applications and monitor what is running on your system, while also offering a space to minimize application windows to.
While I’m sure many of you are quite happy with the [...]

Using Preview’s Enhanced Photo Editing Tools

Written on November 24, 2008 by Charles Moore and 4 people have commented

For basic photo editing, if you’re running OS X 10.5 Leopard you don’t need Photoshop Elements or Pixelmator. Leopard’s Preview graphics viewer application is much more than a viewer; it now incorporates some very handy image correction tools that are not only user-friendly and intuitive to use, but also work really well.
Consequently, if you take [...]

Upgrades, Darn Upgrades and Statistics

Written on November 21, 2008 by Bob Rudis and 1 person has commented

Hopefully Benjamin Disraeli will posthumously forgive me for the major abuse of his quote (made famous by Mark Twain), but the fine folks over at the Omni Group gave us all a sneak peek into some very interesting data they’ve been allowed by users to collect on various details of the operating system their applications [...]

Microsoft Posts Patches on the Heels of Apple’s Security & Firmware Updates

Written on October 16, 2008 by Josh Pigford and 5 people have commented

Microsoft released three updates yesterday which fix bugs and address security concerns in their Office family of products and utilities.
The first is for the Open XML File Format Converter, which bumps the version to 1.0.1 and fixes a remote code execution (rated by Microsoft as “important”) associated with security bulleting MS08-057. The Open XML Converter [...]

Windows XP Lives On…Again

Written on October 08, 2008 by Nick Santilli and 5 people have commented

Several websites have reported in recent days that Microsoft are once again extending their period of official support for vendors offering Windows XP on new machines. The proposed deadline had already been extended to the end of January 2009, but appears now to have been prolonged to July 31, 2009.
For Microsoft, it is usual practice [...]

Corsaire Publishes Security Mac OS X Leopard Whitepaper

Written on August 21, 2008 by Bob Rudis and No one has commented

The UK security consulting firm Corsaire has just published a new whitepaper on securing Mac OS X Leopard (you may remember them from their similar Tiger whitepaper). Written by Corsaire’s head of training – Daniel Cuthbert (whom you may remember as being in a fairly public and silly court case a few years back and [...]

Words that Leopard’s spellchecker chokes on

Written on July 10, 2008 by Nick Mediati and 24 people have commented

We trust spellcheckers to be right, right? We expect that the spellchecker will yield an accurate correction, or at the least, real words. Oddly enough, though, I’ve stumbled upon a few misspellings that cause Leopard’s built-in spellchecker to throw up some amusing–though incorrect–results (a friend shared one with me; I discovered two of them). Mind [...]

It’s good to see Apple’s focus on quality in 10.6

Written on June 10, 2008 by Todd Baur and 14 people have commented

I find it sad that in the time past since the keynote very few bloggers or news have really understood what 10.6 promises. From what I know inside of Apple, they’re not kidding about improving OS X. Let’s take a quick inventory of the IT industry and what is about to happen in the next [...]

Apple unveils Leopard security guide

Written on June 05, 2008 by Opal Tribble and 1 person has commented

Apple releases a security guide for Mac OS X 10.5

10.5.3 Drops!

Written on May 28, 2008 by Stephanie Guertin and 11 people have commented

While puttering about this morning, I noticed in the notes for Delicious Library 2 – yes, I use it, and yes, I know I don’t really need it – that it prefers 10.5.3.  ‘10.5.3?’ I asked myself.  ‘But that’s not out yet….’
Ah, but Software Update says it is!  Bringing a host of fixes, including the [...]