Fresh Apple: The Apple Blog (12 сообщений)

На что подписаться? | Управление подпиской

The Apple Blog
The Apple Blog, published by and for the day-to-day Apple user, is a prominent source for news, reviews, walkthroughs, and real life application of all Apple products.
http://theappleblog.com
рекомендовать друзьям >>

Last Minute Rumor Roundup

It wouldn’t be an Apple event day without a final attempt to corral all the crazy rumors floating about in the last few heady hours before Jobs dons his turtleneck and proceeds to amaze (or underwhelm) us. The sheer number of predictions, leaked images, price points, and technical specifications means it’s unlikely that you’ll find them all below, but you should find the juicier ones.

Macbooks and Macbook Pros are getting aluminum casing, with a frame built from a single piece without plastic trim. Keyboards have black buttons, like the Air, and there will be no more physical latches on any of the casings. Displays feature a black frame like the most recent iMac, which, combined with the new aluminum construction, will bring a heightened design unity to all of Apple’s computer offerings. Port changes include the discontinuation of Firewire 400 (expect videographers to be displeased) and a mini-DVI replacement that supposedly saves even more space while rendering your existing adapters useless.

Trackpads are the latest rumored major change, with Daring Fireball claiming that we’ll see Apple do away with discrete buttons altogether, favoring instead a design that resembles that of the BlackBerry Storm’s screen. The new design would see the trackpad itself mounted on a physical spring, so that pressing the trackpad would act as a button press. The trackpad is said to be made of glass and offers support for yet more multitouch gestures. While there are no further suggestions of in-trackpad display, optical glass would improve durability and touch sensitivity.

Displays will be LED-backlit, which will greatly improve contrast ratios. In what is sure to be an unpopular move among print designers and photographers, however, matte screen options on Macbook Pros will no longer be available.

Macbooks will continue to be available in a 13-inch form factor, but Macbook Pros will reportedly see the 17-inch option phased out, with existing 17-inch models being offered without updates until existing stock is depleted.

Graphics across the board will be handled by Nvidia GPUs, the 9400M for regular Macbooks and the Air, and a dual SLI set-up in Pros featuring the 9400M and a 9600M GT, making the upscale laptop a true graphics powerhouse, since the 9600M GT is a dedicated card.

Aluminum Macbooks (the 2.1GHz white macbook will stick around unchanged at $999) will be priced at $1,299 and $1,499 respectively. The $1,299 option will get you a 2.0GHz processor, 2 gigs of RAM and a 160GB disk, while $1,499 will nab you a 2.4GHz with 2 gigs and a 250GB disk. The Air will get a 120GB disk on the base model, while the pricier version will get a 128GB SSD.

Sadly, no $800-899 laptop appears to be forthcoming, at least according to recent sources. Instead, a new 24-inch Cinema Display with Display Port at that price point is said to have caused the confusion.

And there you have it. You’ve now had your last-minute rumor appetizer…but I’m sure you still have plenty of room for the main course. Enjoy.

Переслать
Mac of All Trades: 4 Ways to Extend Your Mac
Aside from being a fantastic computer and girlfriend/boyfriend substitute, your Mac is capable of some pretty amazing things. In fact, whenever I have a problem that needs solving or a gap that needs filling, I turn first to…well, first to buying things, but once I realize (yet again) that I have no money, I turn to my MacBook. Here are a few of the more unexpected and useful ways you can put your Mac to work.

Stereo Receiver

I have multimedia speakers, one of the many Logitech 5.1 sets that seem to be deeply discounted at Best Buy at least once or twice every few weeks. They produce great sound considering how cheap they were, but they don’t have a remote and my TV clicker doesn’t control external speakers. Having to stand up and walk to the rear right speaker constantly to adjust the volume makes me feel like I’m trapped in the 1950s, and not in the good, “Those were the days” kind of way.

Light bulb: I can control the volume on my MacBook via remote, and it has both line-in and line-out ports (mini-TOSLINK compatible ones). The problem, however, is that OS X doesn’t natively channel sound directly from input source to output.

With the help of some Google prospecting, I found LineIn, a simple freeware application that enables playthrough and does so very well. Setup was a breeze, and with the help of a couple cables (RCA to mini-stereo for TV to Mac, mini-stereo to mini-stereo for Mac to speakers) I was once again in full control sitting comfortably on the couch.
(more…)

Переслать
Logitech V550 Nano Cordless Laser Mouse
The Logitech V550 Nano wireless mouse is marketed as a notebook mouse, but the real story is that this is just a really superb mouse, whatever sort of computer you use it with — notebook or desktop.

I never thought I would say that about a wireless mouse, having not been a fan of wireless input devices. There’s the hassle with batteries, the pairing tedium with Bluetooth, batteries make wireless mice heavier. Then there’s the latency that has plagued wireless mice — that microsecond of hesitation before the cursor responds. Drives me nuts.
(more…)

Переслать
The "Real" $899 MacBook is Actually a New Display?

New rumors keep cropping up about Apple’s event tomorrow.

First, some new pictures have surfaced on Engadget of a supposed new 15″ MacBook Pro. A few other sites have picked these up, but AppleInsider has taken it further with information about a possible new display that resemlbes an aluminum iMac but without the “chin”. They go on:

A second source adds that the display is about 24-inches and features a “super thin” base stand. The new 24-inch display may be the mysteriously-priced $899 Apple product that recently turned up in Apple’s systems, not a $899 MacBook.

The $899 product is codenamed K29, while all other products on the price list begin with an “M” such as “M96.” Apple has traditionally used different codename trackers for its accessory products. For instance, several years ago, its Mac codenames began with a “Q” and its MightyMouse codename started with an “M.”

OK, that’s a new twist. So all the talk of a $900 MacBook may not be true, and instead we get a $900 display. That’s the same price as Apple’s current 23″ Cinema Display. You’d think after all these years Apple could have lowered the price when they introduced a new display. If not a lower price, then at least add some functionality.

And why announce it now? They’ve waited so long, why use the event tomorrow for that purpose? I mean, what kind of functionality could be so special about this display that they would potentially announce it at a laptop event? Well, maybe… this?

Admittedly, this would be very cool, but I think Apple’s going to break a lot of hearts tomorrow (especially on Wall Street) if there’s no sub-$1K MacBook.

Переслать
TAB Welcomes: Olly Farshi
Hello all, very pleased to be hopping aboard the TAB train and riding it all the way to Apple central.

Being based over in Europe — London and Helsinki — I have the distinct pleasure of bringing you lots of Apple-related news from various awkward time-zones. My specialist subject areas are: iPhone and touch news and reviews, Apple How-to’s, as well as games and audio software (though you’ll find me chipping in with everything else too).

Just to bring a little bit of joy to the gear-fetishists — my Apple set-up consists of a Macbook (soon to be brand new Macbook Pro), Mac mini, iPhone 3G, iPod touch and Airport Extreme. Not so over the top, I realise, but I’m constantly on the move so I tend to travel as light as possible.

Other facts of note include: I make music (album out next year), I was incredibly disappointed with Spider-Man 3 yet derived much joy from The Dark Knight, I adore Stephen Fry’s Apple-centric musings, I dig a good Belgian beer and I spend my Sundays curled-up in bed watching BBC re-runs.

Comments, rants and impassioned discussion welcome on all of my posts here at TAB, and make sure to come follow me on Twitter and say howdy!

Переслать
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

It’s here. It took awhile, but it’s here: Nearly eleven months after its lauded debut, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is on the Mac. The game is intense, immersive, fun and rewarding. From the moment I saw a trailer for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare I couldn’t wait to fire it up and play it. I loved the idea of taking a break from the period epics and diving into some modern battles with the latest weaponry and modern bad guys. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare delivers in spades.

So, I couldn’t wait. I took my Christmas money from last year and bought an Xbox and Call of Duty 4. Heresy, I know, but in fact, at the time I had no idea that much later in the year Aspyr would be putting it on my computer as well. After a week of testing it on my Mac I can say the experience is excellent. I enjoy the higher resolution of having it on my 30″ monitor, and the controls, while a bit disorienting at first, are great.

Installing the game couldn’t be easier. Just a good old-fashioned “drag to your hard disk”. That’s just what I did and it worked like a charm. Note: You do need the actual DVD mounted on your hard drive to run the game, unless you purchase the downloadable version.

With Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare the experience is top notch. The graphics are just astonishing. Even if you’ve played a bunch of video games and think you might not be impressed when something good comes along, trust me, you’ll be impressed. Whether it’s sunlight catching on the dust particles in an abandoned building, or walking through the smoke from someone’s smoke grenade, you’ll feel like you’re there.
(more…)

Переслать
TAB Welcomes: Matthew Bookspan
Hello everyone! I am one of the new writers here at The Apple Blog. The team here is great and they have been very welcoming. Most of my history with Apple dates back to the late 80’s when I purchased my first Mac — an SE with 1MB of RAM and a 20MB hard disk — it was quite a machine for the time. I have had many Macs since then, including a IIci, one of the first PowerPCs — a PowerMac 6160av and a MacBook Core Duo (recently sold).

Currently, the Bookspan household runs on many Apple products including a Penryn iMac 24″ 3.06Ghz (mine), an original MacBook Core Duo (wife’s) an AppleTV (shared) and two iPhones — original (wife’s) and 3G (mine). We also have a Time Capsule for WiFi and Time Machine backups.

I have been writing on and off for a few years and enjoy authoring commentaries or reviews. I look forward to a fun engagement here on The Apple Blog. Please don’t hesitate to write comments and/or send feedback my way!

Переслать
Grocery IQ: Grocery Shopping Just Got Easier

Grocery IQ by Free State Labs was recently Apple’s App Store Pick of the Week, and for good reason.

While there are other grocery list apps, and plenty of generic task list apps, that can help you remember to bring home milk and eggs, Grocery IQ has a unique method of helping you select from an internal database of over 130,000 items including brand names that you can find in US grocery stores. The program is smart enough to filter the list as you type, and it will take partial words (think “cheer honey” for Cheerios Honey Nut Cereal) to help you find items even faster. You can add items to your shopping list and Grocery IQ will present you with the appropriate “size” options. It knows my favorite ice cream comes in pint containers, and that the dog food comes in 20lb or 40lb bags so I can be specific when planning my purchases.

Using the app while shopping is easy too. Grocery IQ includes the aisle information in its database to help you organize your circuit through the store. If an item is located somewhere else in your particular store, you can customize the aisle (and even the aisle names) to help you stay focused on your intended prey while you are traversing the linoleum-tiled halls of the store. When you finish, the app will save your items to its history. You can then use the history and the favorites to quickly build a shopping list for your next trip.
(more…)

Переслать
Apple Developing Networked LCD HDTV/Apple TV Hybrid?

Perhaps tired of notebooks hogging the spotlight lately, Apple TV is the subject of new rumors that surfaced this past weekend.

Jason Calacanis is making claims that Cupertino is developing a line of network-ready HDTV’s with built-in Apple TV functionality. The TV’s would offer the same feature-set as the current Apple TV peripheral, but would cut out the extra hardware, offering the ability to stream your content directly from any Mac or PC on your local network.
(more…)

Переслать
What About iWork and iLife '09 Tomorrow?

OK, I’m just going to throw this out there: I understand all the talk regarding Apple’s event tomorrow is about hardware (rightfully so, Apple has said the spotlight is on notebooks), but there’s a lot more to Apple’s value equation than just high-quality hardware.

Think back to when Apple introduced the aluminum iMac models in August 2007; they held a special event then, too. The Mac world by that time “knew” the focus was going to be on re-designed iMacs, and it seemed pretty conclusive that they would be aluminum. That’s exactly what they ended up being, and they were so compelling that I bought the 24″ Extreme model for myself.

But at the time of that event the Mac world had also been waiting for refreshed iLife and iWork suites for quite some time. Apple had been in the habit of updating them at Macworld in January, but did not do so in 2007. Rumors predicted they would do so in February, then in Spring, then for back-to-school in early Summer, but none of these were true.
(more…)

Переслать
OpenOffice 3.0 Released
The latest version of Open Office, released today, has been in development for the past three years. As one of the most popular open source competitors to Microsoft Office, the release has been anticipated for some time (the launch even warranted a party!).

Open Office comprises of several applications: a word processor (Writer), spreadsheet (Calc), presentation package (Impress), drawing app (Draw), and database tools (Base).

Some of the features heralded in the new release include:
- A new splash screen upon launch (see above)
- The ability to import Microsoft Office (.doc, .ppt, .xls) and Office 2007/Office 2008 for Mac (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) files (though it still isn’t possible to save to these formats)
- Support for sharing Excel workbooks
- Support for Excel sheets with up to 1024 columns
- A solver component for solving optimization problems
- Better polished crop and drawing tools
- The display of multiple Writer pages while editing
- Inclusion of Office commenting / change tracking in the document margin
- Some support for Visual Basic macros (a feature dropped by the Microsoft Office team)
- Enhanced support for PDF exporting, including password protection
- Support for Open Office extensions, allowing further features to be created by developers (similar to Firefox)
- No more reliance on X11
Open Office 3.0 is completely free to download and try out. If you are struggling with the Open Office site being overwhelmed with requests for the new software, it’s worth trying this mirror. Installation is far simpler than in previous versions and you can be up and running in a few minutes.

Let us know whether you’ll be switching from Microsoft Office!

Переслать
How-To: One iTunes Library With Multiple Computers

I recently set up a Mac mini in my living room to act as a media server. Instead of trying to update separate music libraries every time I added songs to my collection, I was just adding the music to the Mac mini’s iTunes library and streaming it my laptop. That worked fine until I tried to sync my iPhone. For obvious (copyright) reasons you cannot sync an iPhone to a shared library.

I wanted access to my music on both machines, but I did not want to share my Macbook Air’s library because the laptop would have to be on with iTunes running for the Mac mini to have the music. At this point, I had to choose between running separate libraries and updating them independently or figure out a way to run one library that updated whenever I added music from either machine. I chose the latter of the two options.
(more…)

Переслать