Aluminum MacBooks, LED Cinema Display

Well, the day arrived! Sure enough, Apple has released new aluminum MacBooks and MacBook Pros. As is obvious from the pictures, these are beautiful machines with a stunning design. The MacBook Air has also been ramped up a bit. Here are the highlights:

• The new MacBooks and MacBook Pros are now equipped with glass Multi-Touch trackpads, and as a unique design change, the entire trackpad is clickable with no separate buttons.
• The graphics chip is upgraded to a 256 MB GeForce 9400M on the new MacBook and Air and a 256 MB 9400M or a 256 or 512 MB 9600M GT on the Pro.
• The displays are now all LED-backlit glossy displays.
• The processors have been ramped to 1066 MHz frontside buses, with a 3MB shared L2 cache on the MacBook, 3 or 6 on the Pro, and 6 on the Air. Also, the new MacBook Pro is upgradeable to 2.8 GHz.
• The MacBook Pro 17″ (still the old design) comes standard with 4GB of memory.
• Battery life is improved to 5 hours for the MacBook line
• Pricing: $999 for an old-style white MacBook, $1299 for a 2 GHz MacBook, $1599 for a 2.4 GHz. $1999 for a 2.4 GHz Pro, $2499 for a 2.53 GHz.

Another announcement I don’t think anyone was expecting was the 24″ LED Cinema Display for the MacBook. At the moment, it appears that it is ONLY compatible with the MacBook, but hopefully Apple will release additional models and this will change. The display is beautiful, with the same design as the current iMac but with no “chin” and white Apple logo. The back is solid aluminum instead of black plastic, and the stand is has a taper so the front edge of it is almost like a wedge. It includes 3 USB ports.

Go check them out on the Apple site!

MacBook

LED Cinema Display

MacBook Pro

Aluminum Macbook: Tuesday, October 14?

BIG NEWS APPLE FANS!

Just earlier today, I was at the Apple store checking out some stuff, and I was talking to one of the employees there. We got to the topic of MacBooks, and one of the things he mentioned was – you guessed it – Aluminum MacBooks this Tuesday. I don’t know if this is common knowledge (although I haven’t seen much on it) or if it was a slip by the employee, but it certainly fits with the rumors.

So check back here on Tuesday night to see if the “inside information” was correct! If it is in fact Tuesday, this will certainly be a huge announcement. Stay tuned!

“The Mojave Experiment” – Fact or Fiction?

WARNING: HIGHLY OPINIONATED RANT FOLLOWS! PLEASE USE EXTREME CAUTION WHEN READING!

I just saw this thing on TV the other day about the “Mojave Experiment.” (website) Basically Microsoft took a bunch of people who knew almost nothing about Vista and showed them a bunch of demos of “Windows Mojave.” Of course, Mojave was really Vista. So what were the results? Most people liked Mojave when they hated Vista.

So what’s the truth? Was this a valid experiment? Are people really that prejudiced against Vista?

Well, here’s my analysis:

1. Microsoft likely mostly picked people who really didn’t know much about Vista. At least those are the ones who mostly get shown on the videos.
2. Most users (again, at least the ones shown) hadn’t actually used Vista, even casually (as can probably be deduced from #1) so they had nothing to really compare “Mojave” to.
3. The ones doing the experiment “showed off” most of the “ooh, ahh” features like Media Center, Flip3d, desktop search, and gadgets. (experienced Mac users note these all appeared in OSX long before “Mojave”…) They really didn’t get into the actual robustness, security (besides mentioning the “60%” improvement over XP – which still leaves hundreds of thousands of viruses in that “40%”, but conveniently failed to mention that last fact) or speed of the OS. They just showed the “best,” most “showy” aspects.
4. They didn’t actually let the users USE the machines before giving their verdict. It’s one thing when a professional is showing you all the things a system can do, but then try doing it yourself. I myself can make Vista work nearly as well as OSX for most things, but it takes far more effort. The average user can’t do what the MS guys did in this “experiment,” but most people can on a Mac. The difference is apparent when you use the systems.

Personally I think this campaign will unfortunately be successful. Most people will think “Ooh, look at how people really liked it when they didn’t know what it is. All the hostility must be all hype.” There is one ray of hope, though. When you visit the website, the HORRIBLE video navigation system is likely to scare most people away!

Freeware Product Review: MindNode

 

Summary

• Clean, simple interface
• Outstanding keyboard support
• Free version is sufficient for almost all users
• Requires OS 10.5 Leopard
• Rating: 5/5

Few tools have the potential to be as useful as mind mapping software.  MindNode is one of the cleanest and simplest mind mappers I’ve ever seen.  Try it once – I guarantee you’ll like it.

The most important thing that makes a good mind mapper is ease of use.  Mind mapping is designed to help you put your thoughts down on paper (or the hard drive) so there should be as little distraction as possible.  MindNode excels here.  Its simple interface includes add and remove buttons, a font and color palette, and an inspector that allows you to set optional document metadata, background color, and line styles.  Creating a map is easy.  Just click and drag from the (+) button that appears when you hover your mouse over a node to create a new “child” node.  Double-click on the canvas to create a new “root” node.  If you’re familiar with flowcharts, you’ll love MindNode.

The reason MindNode stands out among mind mappers is its outstanding implementation of keyboard shortcuts.  Enter creates a new “sibling” node, so making lists of items is as fast as possible.  Command-Enter creates a “child” node, and Shift-Enter creates a new “root” node.  Option-Enter begins to edit the current node, and simply starting to type replaces the node’s text.  Delete deletes the node and its “children,” and the arrow keys navigate the mind map.  After only a few minutes, it is easy to master the commands and quickly map out ideas and notes.

MindNode is completely free, and includes all the functionality most people need, including OPML/FreeMind import/export and export to TIFF, PDF, HTML, and RTF.  It is also offered in a commercial version for €11,99 (~$17.00) called MindNode Pro, which adds features like drag-and-drop reconnecting of nodes, collapsible nodes, hyperlinks, easy reorganization, and more customization of node styles.

MindNode

iPhone Firmware 2.1 brings bugfixes, Genius playlists

The recently released iPhone 2.1 firmware is meant to address many of the problems found in the current firmware, including slow response, crashes, and overall… bugginess. The new update also brings the Genius playlist functionality to the iPhone. Following is a full list of fixes, or visit Apple’s website for more details.

• Decrease in call set-up failures and dropped calls
• Significantly better battery life for most users
• Dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes
• Improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
• Faster installation of 3rd party applications
• Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes for users with lots of third party applications
• Improved performance in text messaging
• Faster loading and searching of contacts
• Improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display
• Repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages
• Option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts
• Genius playlist creation

Apple releases new iPods, iTunes 8

iTunes 8

4th Gen iPod Nano

2nd Gen iPod Touch

Apple yesterday released a group of new products related to the keynote theme: Music. The first announcement was the new iTunes 8, which has several major new features.

Here are the new iTunes 8 features:

• HD TV shows ($1 more than SD)
• Accessibility improvements
• New Browsing (Album Grid view – very similar to iPhoto 08’s Events)
• Genius (automatic playlists and smart music suggestion)

The major part of the keynote consisted of iPod news.

The first in the three announcements was a price drop and consolidation in the iPod Classic lineup, which now offers a single 120 GB model, the same size as the old 80 GB, for $249.

The next announcement concerned the new iPod Nano. As some of you may have seen from the rumors and leaked photos, it is similar in size to the 1st and 2nd gen Nanos, but has a portrait-orientation screen and a very smooth, clean look. Here are the key features:

• New curved aluminum design
• Thinnest iPod ever
• Enhanced user interface
• Accelerometer
• Genius playlist creation
• Lower Price: 8 GB for $149 and 16 GB for $199

Finally, a new version of the iPod Touch was released along with a price drop. Here are the new iPod Touch’s features:

• Even thinner than the previous model
• Integrated volume controls
• Genius playlists
• App Store
• Nike+ Receiver Built In
• Lower Price: 8 GB for $229, 16 GB for $299, and 32 GB for $399

These new products are amazing, so go check them out on Apple’s website. Here are three direct links to the pages:

iTunes 8

iPod Nano

iPod Touch

Hello

Hello, and welcome to the site! I’ve created this site to begin what I hope will become a great resource for learning about new tips, tricks, and software for the Mac, keeping up with Mac news, and anything else I may put up here. So be on the lookout for some content in the near future!