Piezo Interface Examples “Almost any app’s audio can be captured in Piezo, just by selecting it as the source,” the company said in a statement. “Piezo will grab web streams in Safari or music from services like Spotify and Rdio. If you need to capture sound bites from DVDs or even from movies in iTunes,…
Mac
The Motion of Nature As Your Mac Desktop
My Living Desktop for OS X intelligently displays full screen videos, with sound, as your desktop, but does so without consuming vasts amounts of memory or hogging the CPU. The app comes with twenty-six different videos, mostly gorgeous nature scenes, that bring life and perhaps serenity to your Mac’s display. Most of us who are…
VMWare Fusion 4.1 Allows Virtualization of OS X Clients
The new feature was first uncovered by Macworld, which also noted that VMware 4.1 simply reminds user to respect Apple’s licensing terms.Image courtesy of Macworld. VMware Fusion 4.1 installing Leopard Client. As the VMware tech note for the software explains: VMware Fusion 4.1 changes the behavior of the new virtual machine assistant when creating a…
Book Review: My New Mac - Lion Edition
Title: My New Mac – Lion Edition Author: Wallace Wang Date of Publication: October 2011 Publisher: No Starch Press Soft Cover Print: US$29.99, includes free ebook when ordered from company website Ebook US$23.95 when ordered singly from company website Soft Cover Print US$18.70, Kindle edition US$9.99 at Amazon 472 pages This past June, I reviewed…
TMO’s Ultimate Guide to Creating a Mac Triage Drive
One could, of course, purchase an external SuperDrive from Apple for US$79 (or a third-party external optical drive), but there’s a more convenient and useful way, a method that Apple Store Genii have known and used for years: a triage drive. We’ll show you how to plan and build your very own. A triage drive…
Apple Releases MacBook Pro “Black Screen” Fix
Apple acknowledged the problem on October 13th in a KnowledgeBase article that described the problem and said Apple was working on a fix. that KBase article has been updated with links to the software update linked above. The article also has information for Snow Leopard users: For computers with OS X Snow Leopard, v10.6 Select…
Apple Boosts Laptop Speed with MacBook Pro Refresh
Apple’s MacBook Pro lineupThe 13-inch MacBook Pro now includes a 2.4GHz or 2.8GHz Core i5 processor and a 500GB 5400 RPM hard drive. Apple also offers a 2.8GHz Core i7 version with a 750GB hard drive.The 15-inch MacBook Pro ships with a 2.2GHz Core i7 or 2.4GHz Core i7 processor. The 2.2GHz model includes an…
Apple Patent Shows MacBook Lid that Pivots
Apple Patent FigureSource: PatentlyApple However, having secured this patent Apple could be positioned to be a player in 2013 when Intel’s 3rd generation Ultrabooks are expected on the market. These are said to include a pivoting notebook lid that would form a tablet computer. Potentially this patent could interfere with those plans.Other patents published today dealt…
Use Both 10.6 and 10.7 on the Same Mac
We’ll divide this article into two sections. The first focuses on reverting to Snow Leopard from Lion and removing Lion completely. The second demonstrates how to install Snow Leopard on a second drive or partition so that both operating systems can coexist peacefully. Reverting to Snow Leopard These methods get rid of Lion altogether and…
MagSafe Power Adapters Are Safe with All Mac Laptops
As discussed on Mac Geek Gab 355, while it may be “safe” to do so, it’s worth noting that it may not always be effective. A higher wattage adapter will charge a lower-wattage computer just fine (for example, an 85-watt 15-inch MacBook Pro adapter used on a 45-watt MacBook Air) but a lower wattage adapter…
Step by Step: Mac Pro Processor Upgrade
I’d like to take the time to mention here that everything discussed in this article, except for the RAM upgrade, most definitely voids your warranty. In my case, the warranty had expired so I had nothing to lose in that department. But if you choose to follow my lead and upgrade your own Mac Pro,…
Parallels Desktop 7 Roars with Lion
Each successive version of Parallels Desktop pushes the technology to the limit, speeds up the virtual machines, and adds new features. Version 7 continues that tradition and also exploits some of Lion’s new features. It’s a must-have upgrade. Parallels Desktop is an application that exploits the ability of the Intel CPUs to simultaneously run additional…
Moshi’s Zefýr 2 Cooler for MacBooks Is Simply Super
Anyone with a MacBook Pro knows how hot they can get. Up to now, the best solution has been a high end laptop stand that promotes good airflow. Moshi has raised the bar on solutions with the introduction of the Zefýr 2. MacBook Pro attached to a Zefýr 2The Zefýr 2 works with the 13, 15, and…
Report Claims Apple Working On “Clearly Different” Mac
Using an English nickname, “danbo” wrote (via Google Translate) that, “Though this source does not told in detail, this new Mac line seems to be clearly different products from current ones, so new product name could be given.” In other words, even the source doesn’t know how the alleged new device will be different, and…
Analyst: Lion Helps Push Mac Sales Up 26% in July
In the research note obtained by The Mac Observer, the analyst wrote, “We believe that Mac sales in the month of July benefited from new Mac products,” including the above-mentioned Lion, new MacBook Air models, and new Mac minis. He added, “The tailwind from these releases will likely fade in the last two months of…
Would You Believe? A VT220 Connected to a Mac Pro
“Jstn” explained: “…in the early days of office computers, it was rare that you would actually have one on your desk. Instead there might be a central mainframe (running Unix) and everyone would have a terminal that connected to it over a long serial cable or modem connection. One computer, many users.” Inspired by the…
G-Form’s Extreme Sleeve for Laptops Provides Extreme Protection
G-Form has added to its line of Extreme Sleeve™ products with the new Extreme Sleeve for Laptops. There are versions available for 11, 13, and 15-in laptops. The 11-in version will hold an iPad complete with case. The sleeve is soft, flexible, lightweight, water-resistant and comes in black or yellow. Extreme Sleeve for Laptop in…
Set Up Your New Macintosh Out of The Box
Of course, no article or even book chapter can be all inclusive and exhaustive. This howto covers just the basics to get you started. In time, you’ll learn additional procedures and come to have additional preferences for both settings and useful applications.Default Tasks When you first boot up a new Mac with OS X Lion,…
Mozilla Releases Firefox 5.0 for Mac, Windows, Linux, Android
“The latest version of Firefox includes more than 1,000 improvements and performance enhancements that make it easier to discover and use all of the innovative features in Firefox,” the group said in its announcement. “This release adds support for more modern Web technologies that make it easier for developers to build amazing Firefox Add-ons, Web…
Barclay’s Capital Expects 22.5% Y/Y Mac Growth for Q2
Citing data from IDC, the analyst said that Apple saw 21% year-over-year Mac unit growth in May, up from the 9% growth the company saw in April. That compares to just 9.5% growth in May and 5% growth in April for the PC industry as a whole, meaning that Apple continues to make large gains…
iWork ’09: Setting Default Templates (and Creating Your Own!)
To change this, go to Pages > Preferences. Under the “General” tab, you’ll see “For New Documents.” Toggle the “Use template” radio button (or, in Keynote, the “Use theme” one), and then select “Choose.” This will allow you to pick whichever template you use most often, including one of the blank ones. After making your…
Sever a Mac’s Ethernet Access for Nighttime Security
Normal SettingOnce various settings are created and named, there’s a shortcut to access each one under the Apple menu: Locations. Here’s a list of locations that I have defined and can easily select:Location PopupWhat I do to ensure additional security while I’m sleeping is to create a new location that completely severs my Internet connection.…
Apple Reportedly Experimenting with A5 Processor in MacBook Air
As rumors go, this is a weak one, and on many levels. We’re only bothering to mention it in order to squash the idea that Apple is planning on shipping such a MacBook Air. There is little doubt that Apple has long been experimenting with running Mac OS X on ARM and its own ARM-derivative…
Amazon’s Mac Download Store is Welcome
The more ways Apple’s Mac customers can buy software the better. It creates more awareness of Apple, creates a new place for developers to make money, and it fuels demand for Apple’s products. In fact, downloading software directly from Amazon isn’t a new thing. Amazon has apparently offered direct downloads of Intuit’s TurboTax in the…