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Anachronistic Twitter Client Released for Classic Macs

Written on November 18, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and No one has commented

If you’re still running an old Mac PowerBook 550c or something similar, it must be really annoying to not be able to use Twitter via a native client. That’s probably your No. 1 concern, in fact, on your OS 8.1-running machine. You could always use the web interface, but that’s not really a fair solution, [...]

VMware Fusion 3 for Mac Now Available

Written on October 27, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 5 people have commented

VMware Fusion 3 for Mac is now available. That’s right, new virtualization software for your Mac, conveniently timed for the release of Windows 7. Actually, it’s very likely the release of VMware’s latest iteration of its OS virtualization software, Fusion 3, got its release date precisely because of Microsoft’s street date for its latest operating system, [...]

A Patent Nightmares are Made Of: OS X With Ads

Written on October 22, 2009 by Liam Cassidy and 25 people have commented

Halloween has come early this year, and I’m not talking about today’s release of Windows 7. Engadget reports (and I find it difficult to share this with you, dear readers, because I know it will cause you discomfort), in April last year, Apple filed a patent application for (shudder) an ad-supported operating system. That’s right. [...]

Sorry Redmond: Too Little, Too Late

Written on September 10, 2009 by Liam Cassidy and 23 people have commented

I was recently asked in a tweet, “Have you completely abandoned Windows now?” I realized, with some genuine surprise, that not only had I stopped using Windows in any meaningful way, but actually stopped using it the moment I got my hands on my first (modern) Mac in 2008. So, in the aftermath of last [...]

iPhone OS 3.1 Brings More Ways to Give Apple Your Money

Written on September 09, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 7 people have commented

Sometimes I think to myself, “How can I get more of my money into Apple’s coffers?” Apparently Apple knows this is a concern of mine, so it introduced direct ringtone purchasing in iPhone OS 3.1. That’s not all that’s there, but it is one of the major changes in this incremental update.
Also new in 3.1 [...]

Does Intuitive + Easy = Dumb and Dumber?

Written on August 28, 2009 by Liam Cassidy and 27 people have commented

There is a problem with making technology – particularly computers – easy to use. The simpler and more foolproof they become, the less technically-proficient users tend to be. There’s that line from Rick Cook’s 1989 book The Wizardy Compiled; “Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, [...]

Rumor Has It: Apple Tablet Video Surfaces, Impresses, Not Likely Real

Written on August 13, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 11 people have commented

Even though I will warn you, as I was warned, that these videos are almost certainly clever fakes, the Mac addict portion of your brain will likely still experience a pleasurable thrill when you see them. I first saw these over at Cult of Mac, but they’ve been making the rounds, with TechCrunch and Gizmodo [...]

Google Brings Local Web Search to iPhone via Safari

Written on July 16, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 5 people have commented

As you may already know, one of the improvements that came along with iPhone 3.0 was mobile Safari’s ability to access the iPhone and iPod touch’s geolocation services. Geolocation is quickly becoming a feature that more and more web developers are looking at implementing, especially given that the recently released Firefox 3.5 and Chrome 2.0 [...]

The Pursuit of Perfection: Hidden Gems in Apple Design

Written on July 15, 2009 by Chris Ryan and 63 people have commented

If you ask any of the Apple “fanboys” in the world why they are so devoted to Apple, at least one of the reasons you will hear is that Apple “sweats the small stuff” that really proves their dedication to user experience and attention to detail. Here’s a few of my favorites, covering Apple’s attention not just to their hardware and software, but even the product packaging. See how many you may have noticed before, and feel free to add your own that I might have missed in the comments below.

Google OS Announced: How Will it Affect Apple?

Written on July 08, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 22 people have commented

Late yesterday evening, the folks at Google made official what many have suspected for months, or even years: They’re working on an operating system. The new OS, dubbed Chrome OS after Google’s recent entry into the ongoing browser wars, will have speed and Internet connectivity as its two top priorities, and be based on a [...]

Apple Insists New Apps Must Be iPhone 3.0-Compatible

Written on May 08, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and No one has commented

It’s getting down to the wire, and Apple clearly means business. Yesterday they sent out an email to those enrolled in the iPhone development program notifying members that all apps submitted will now be reviewed for approval using iPhone OS 3.0. That means that even if you were designing your app using the iPhone 2.0 [...]

iPhone OS Beta 5 Now Available, Kills Carrier File Switching

Written on May 07, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 6 people have commented

This week, Apple deviated from their usual biweekly update schedule and released yet another installment of the iPhone OS 3.0 beta. As of last week, the beta has been accompanied by an iTunes 8.2 pre-release build, and an updated version of that accompanies the beta firmware and the SDK. Aside from the single-week interval, the [...]

New iPhone 3.0 OS Beta 4 Comes With iTunes 8.2 Pre-Release

Written on April 29, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 17 people have commented

In keeping with the release schedule they’ve established, Apple yesterday let loose new versions of its iPhone 3.0 OS and accompanying SDK. This time around, developers got another goody, in the form of an early pre-release of iTunes 8.2. The new version of iTunes is apparently required for activating the new iPhone OS beta, build [...]

Leading iPhone eBook Reader Stanza Acquired by Amazon

Written on April 28, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 11 people have commented

People who like to read books on their iPhones (including myself) will be pleased to hear that Amazon has grown tired of playing catch-up with Stanza on the platform and instead bought out the much smaller company behind the app, Lexcycle. The Stanza makers are reportedly “very excited” by the development, which is understandable considering [...]

Apple Introduces New Features in iPhone OS 3.0 Beta 3

Written on April 27, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 8 people have commented

Running a new beta on the iPhone is a little like being a kid with very loving but forgetful parents during Easter. You can bet that there are lots of eggs hidden around, but you’ll probably still be finding some long after the actual hunt is over. Since Apple doesn’t come right out and tell [...]

Apple Releases iPhone 3.0 Beta 2 for Developers

Written on March 31, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 15 people have commented

Apple released the second version of the iPhone 3.0 OS and SDK Beta today, bringing developers a number of feature improvements and stability fixes.
It’s good news for people like me who are using the beta on their primary phones — against their own good judgment and the advice of Apple and everyone else. The official [...]

First Look: iPhone OS 3.0 Beta

Written on March 19, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 23 people have commented

Being enrolled in the iPhone Developer Program, I was lucky enough to have access to the iPhone 3.0 pre-release beta, which I installed on my iPod touch as soon as Apple’s servers recovered from the initial shock. I was a little hesitant to put it on my iPhone 3G right away, since it is my [...]

Apple and Microsoft: The Difference in OS Sales Models

Written on December 26, 2008 by Tom Reestman and 14 people have commented

In a previous article I discussed Apple’s approach to cloning and how far they should go in shutting down that business. This led to the question “why can’t I just buy Mac OS X and install it on any hardware I want?”, which led to a pretty typical answer that the boxed OS X is sold [...]