mac
AppZapper Review (Mac OS X)
March 9, 2010
One of the great delights of Mac OS X on my MacBook Pro is how easy it is to install and uninstall applications and now AppZapper makes it even easier. For those of you who aren’t familiar with OS X, when installing an application, all you have to do (most of the time) is drag and drop in to your applications folder.
When uninstalling, you simply drag the application into the trash can. As with any program, however various leftovers remain on your hard drive which are hard to identify amongst the multitude of other files floating around. This is where AppZapper comes in!
Continue reading »Awaken Review (Alarm Clock for Mac OS X)
January 21, 2010
Awaken is an alarm clock application for Mac OS X, that comes with more features than you may expect from such an application, and certainly beats other alternatives on the market. Before I came across Awaken, I used Alarm Clock, a free and simple application that did what it said on the tin: played music through my speakers at whatever time I wanted! I found the application to be somewhat unintuitive, and at times buggy, so I went on the hunt for a replacement and came across Awaken.
In a market where there are many free applications that do a simple job, you may wonder why you’d pay $10(CAD) for an alarm clock application, but when using it I felt that the interface was significantly more polished than other similar applications, and offered more options as a whole.
Continue reading »Technology Of The Noughties: Apple’s iPod (MP3 Players)
December 31, 2009
Remember this? The incredibly thin, high capacity MP3 player from Apple, otherwise known as the iPod was most definitely one of the biggest impacts we saw this decade.
Taking the market for digital music players by storm, Apple revolutionised digital music and continue to innovate and update their line of iPod’s.
Before the iPod, the market was screaming out for someone to create an easy to use, functional device. The original iPod, released in October 2001, did just that with its huge capacity of 5GB or 10GB. Consumers went from being able to store maybe a few hundred songs to their entire CD collection on one device and take it with them wherever they went.
Continue reading »Technology Of The Noughties: The Modern Operating System (Windows & Mac OS X)
December 30, 2009
When you see how much technology has advanced in the past decade, it’s hard to see ourselves going back to old operating systems (OS) to carry out everyday tasks. Plagued by troublesome networking setups, kernel panics and third party hardware setup (plug and what?), I could never go back to using an OS prior to Windows XP or Mac OS X – could you?
How To Get Dolby Digital Sound From A Standard PC/Mac Mini Audio Output
December 29, 2009
I use my Mac Mini for everything… Surfing the net, managing my humongous iTunes library, watching HD video files? You name it, I do it. Sitting next to the Mac Mini is my Sony DAV-DZ260 Home Theatre System (amazing amp) which outputs to a 5.1 surround sound system.
Ever since getting the Mac Mini, I’ve connected it to the amplifier with a standard PC audio cable, but this meant that when I was watching my downloaded TV or movies from iTunes or other sources, I could only get 2.0 stereo sound which wasn’t as good an experience as the 5.1 I got from DVD’s played through the system.
Continue reading »How To Install Windows 7 On Apple Mac’s Boot Camp
October 28, 2009
When I woke this morning, I went through my usual schedule of reading various technology blogs around the web to see what’s new, and came across the most ridiculous article about installing Windows 7 on an Apple Mac via Boot Camp.
The article in question (I won’t name the blog…) basically warned Mac users that if they were excited about installing Windows 7 on their Mac’s anytime soon, they should hold off because Apple don’t officially support Windows 7 in Boot Camp yet. In fact, at the end of the article the writer himself said “I wouldn’t try it”. If it isn’t already clear, I completely disagree with the article and wish to set the record straight for anyone thinking of installing Windows 7 on their Mac.
Continue reading »Apple ‘Magic Mouse’ Re-Invents The Mouse?
October 25, 2009
Mice have come a long way since they were originally conceived as a box with wheels, and now Apple aims to extend the trend of improvement and push the mouse forward into the future by incorporating its multi-touch technology to make a mouse that’s more than just buttons.
And all things considered it makes a change Apple making a nice mouse, because for the last decade anyone wanting to use a Mac (or being forced to) has had to put up with the stupid one button excuse for a mouse that Apple have produced which sacrifices ergonomics for looks in a horrible ‘brand image’ pay-off…
But hopefully not only will the ‘Magic Mouse’ (previously known as the ‘Mighty Mouse’ but forced to change for legal reasons) mean a new era for Apple mice, but also for mice in general as the Magic Mouse incorporates technology not really seen on any other mice before – which we could soon see jumping across into everyday use.
Continue reading »Dropbox Review (File Sync Software)
October 20, 2009
My MobileMe subscription ran out last month, and I decided not to renew it, as I didn’t use the 20GB online capacity you’re given with the service. In fact I only ever used it as file sync software to transfer a few documents between home and wherever I happened to be, and for me that wasn’t worth £59 a year. Naturally, I needed a replacement, and decided to go with an application called Dropbox, a free application available for Windows, Mac OS X, the iPhone and Linux which allows you to share files between your computers or over the internet on a public computer.
The thing that attracted me to Dropbox was the fact that it isn’t just a web-based file hosting service, it’s an application that you can install on your computer whatever OS you’re running and just drag and drop files into your “Dropbox” folder on your hard drive. When you add or remove files from the folder, every other dropbox you have that’s linked to the same account will automatically sync and update the files in its own folder – so it’s also working as a form of online file backup.
Continue reading »iTunes 9: So What?!?! – Part Two: Steal, Innovate, Repeat!
October 4, 2009
It’s Bill time again! (it’s always Bill O’clock in my house). I think Bill’s expression here, is a combination of shame and lust. Anyway, on with the whinging about Apple…
I always take delight in posing this quesstion to Mac Monks: “Well if OSX is so reliable and fantastic, where are all the Apple servers then!?” Exactly. There’s only one word in networking, and that word is Windows.
In part one of my iTunes 9 review, I told you how rubbish media sharing was in iTunes 9 and I told you why, but you know what? It doesn’t even matter. iTunes is a great audio manager and a competent audio streamer, but it’s no media-hub. Windows, however, is.
Practical sharing in Windows is so simple, I can cover it a paragraph. Here we go then…
Continue reading »Operating System Fanboys – A Waste of Everyone’s Time?
October 3, 2009
Every day, I read countless blog posts all over the net about Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. On every single comments section of these posts you will find enthusiasts from every corner of the ring, fighting for their beloved operating system (fanboys). I can honestly say that there’s nothing more I hate than small minded idiots who have no idea what they, and most probably whoever’s writing the article, are talking about.
People need to realise that everybody on the planet is an individual, and individuality is all about decisions. Say, for example, I bought a pie for lunch and the guy sitting next to me got a burger. Are we going to sit there and argue endlessly the advantages and disadvantages of pies against burgers? No. Then why do we insist on arguing incessantly about the best OS?
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