back to the mac
FaceTime For Mac Out of Beta – Video Calling With iPhone 4, But At What Price?
February 24, 2011
Well, after four months of beta testing the Mac version of FaceTime is available to the masses through the Mac App Store. However, there’s a catch. A catch which has ignited the fires of fury amongst Mac owners around the web. Apple want your money for it.
On any iOS device, the application is free. As it will be on the new Mac models, and with OS X 10.7. However, you want it now? 59p, please.
Continue reading »Mac OS X App Store Set For Launch On 6th January – A Better Way To Buy Computer Software?
December 16, 2010
It’s been a couple of months now since we witnessed Apple’s ‘Back to the Mac’ event, and apart from the latest rendition of the MacBook Air, not a lot of the stuff announced has actually hit the market in any way, shape or form.
That was to be expected, though, as particularly when it comes to new software Apple traditionally enjoy keeping us all in suspense.
So, whilst we may be waiting a good while yet for the next version of Mac OS X, Lion, it won’t be long before all OS X 10.6 users can have access to the Mac App Store. January 6th is the official date, so with it sitting nicely alongside CES in my 2011 calendar already, I have to say I am almost looking forward to seeing the back of Christmas (Well, not really).
Continue reading »FaceTime Coming to Mac OS X, iPhone 4 Video Calling Now More Useful?
October 20, 2010
FaceTime has proven popular already since its implementation on iOS, and whilst video chat is nothing new in the slightest, it may be one of the best examples around at the moment.
However, for the Mac OS X desktop we have been almost forced to use Skype if we are after a decent experience, but Mac users are used to things more stylish in interface and simple in usability. Enter FaceTime.
Continue reading »Mac OS X App Store Details Announced
October 20, 2010
You may have already caught our news on the App Store coming in Mac OS X 10.7 ‘Lion’, but since the announcement Steve Jobs has brought us some more glorious details.
Firstly, there will be a 70/30 split on free and paid apps, meaning there is still something for those of us whose wallets are emptied by the initial purchase of the Mac, and also the apps will be licensed for use on all of your Macs. Although we may find out at a later date that this actually means up to 5, but really who has more than 5 macs?
Continue reading »New Apple MacBook Air Announced (‘Back to the Mac’ Event)
October 20, 2010
The all-important feature of the MacBook Air is its size. So, with a complete aluminium unibody construction, the 0.68 inch thick machine (at it’s thickets, 0.11 at its thinnest) is incredibly thin and extremely lightweight. So how do they do this?
Well, for a start there is no optical drive as per, and also they have gone for complete flash storage in the same way as the iPad, the iPhone etc. This means almost instant-boot, as well as almost 30 days standby time when it comes to the battery, in theory. Apple claims the new stringent tests on battery life have proven 7 hours of battery life when wirelessly web browsing.
Continue reading »Apple Mac OS X 10.7 ‘Lion’ Preview (‘Back to the Mac’ Event)
October 20, 2010
We all knew iOS would appear more in OS X at some point, but little did we know that the ‘Back to the Mac’ slogan would indicate features coming right back from iOS which took them all those years ago.
So what exactly is coming ‘Back to the Mac’? Steve Jobs out on stage at this point going over and over what the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad have taken from OS X, before elaborating on how they can play a big part in the next edition of OS X.
Firstly is the App Store. Over 7 billion have been downloaded from the App Store so why not bring it the Mac said Steve, and as part of OS X Lion the App Store will provide 1-click downloads and automatic installation on the Mac. Automatic app updates will be available from the app store and all of these apps will be available from a ‘Launchpad’, an iOS style app launcher for the Mac desktop.
Continue reading »Apple Garageband ’11 Announced (‘Back to the Mac’ Event)
October 20, 2010
So here is the musicians favourite, Garageband. What’s in store for us with this new edition then? Well first up is the new ability to control rhythm in your piece. It’s called group matching, and it allows you to almost synchronise each element of your track by analysing each instrument and individual tracks and altering the rhythm of each to match with the most rhythmic part of the track.
During the Keynote it was described as a spell-checker for bad rhythm, and of course that pretty much sums it up and it’s called ‘Groove Checker’.
Continue reading »Apple iPhoto ’11 Announced (‘Back to the Mac’ Event)
October 20, 2010
The first big feature to be announced in the new edition of iPhoto is the full-screen view, which may be pretty self-explanatory, but actually adds some pretty neat functionality. Whilst the general interface remains consistent with its predecessor, the full-screen alternative pretty much just expands the view so you can focus on any of the main views, including faces and albums. Projects is a great new view as well, allowing you to collect your current photography projects in an almost iBook style shelf view.
Second, and perhaps more interestingly, is the places feature. Places allows you to simply ‘push a pin’ on a location on the map where a photo was taken and instantly shares them with other users as you as they as well as you can browse a gallery of photos within iPhoto pinned to that area on the map. It’s pretty neat for photo collectors professional or beginner.
Continue reading »New Apple iLife Release Date Listed As 20th October On Amazon – To Be Announced At ‘Back To The Mac’ Event?
October 18, 2010
Like we needed to be convinced anymore about what will be introduced at the Apple “Back to the Mac” event this Wednesday alongside what I hope is a very detailed look at Mac OS X 10.7, Amazon Germany has listed a release date of October 20th for iLife on its website before the big event (which, yes, we will be covering)!
Although Amazon has been known to get ahead of itself a little when it comes to publishing the release dates of some upcoming products, the rumour mill has been working overtime lately, speculating over an overdue iLife update for the year alongside something a little bigger (Mac OS X + Macbook Air anyone?).
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