School District Dropping Macs for More "Appropriate Technology"

The districtis new director of technology, Eric Willard, claims the move will help students because “most people use Microsoft programs in the real world.” He has developed a task force to help make a plan to implement the transition. “We will have a challenging time at the high school level taking away the Macs,” he…

Protecting Your Mac From its Best Friend: Electricity

Most people get over the first hurdle of electrical protection fairly easily by using a battery backup, or uninterrupted power supply, that offers some level of line conditioning and surge suppression. Iim partial to the Smart-UPS systems from APC. In addition to protecting your Mac from electrical incidents that come through wall outlets, you also…

Podcast - Mac Geek Gab #82: IR Remotes, Batteries, Freezing Macs, and More!

Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab For December 11th, 2006 Direct Links: MP3 Version or AAC Enhanced Version (courtesy of eval(unescape(‘%64%6f%63%75%6d%65%6e%74%2e%77%72%69%74%65%28%27%3c%61%20%68%72%65%66%3d%6d%61%69%6c%74%6f%3a%6d%6a%6f%68%6e%73%74%6f%6e%40%6d%61%63%6f%62%73%65%72%76%65%72%2e%63%6f%6d%3e%4d%69%63%68%61%65%6c%20%4a%6f%68%6e%73%74%6f%6e%3c%2f%61%3e%27%29’))Michael Johnston). After a week-long hiatus, Dave and John are back in full swing, answering your questions and playing your comments about remote controls, iChat nicknames, freezing Macs, and more! If you’re…

PC Publications and Macintosh Reviews

Weire always thirsty for new information about Apple and its products. We want insight and valuable information with which to make a purchase. Thatis why, when a PC oriented publication reviews a Mac, it gets a lot of scrutiny. I think the evolution of the Mac toward the Intel CPU and its ability to run…

How to Shoot Tethered with Aperture

The technique of using Appleis Aperture software in tethered mode was explained in an article at OiReillyis Digital Media Website on Tuesday. There are advantages to having a digital SLR camera connected (tethered) to a Macintosh during shooting. The images are stored on the hard disk immediately after each frame is shot, and if the…

Smarthouse: Mac Tablet Prototype Built, Manufacturers Bidding

“The Mac tablet has been designed to handle third party applications such as home automation software that will allow users to control lighting, audio, entertainment devices and security feeds,” wrote Mr. Richards. “It also acts as a full blown PC, and has wireless linking for a new generation of Wireless Hi Fi speakers that are…

The Macintosh iLife '06

Apple Computeris iLife application suite is easy enough to figure out that you donit really need a manual to get started. Once you get beyond the basics, however, a little help goes a long way in making you an iLife pro, and The Macintosh iLife i06 by Jim Heid is one of the best all-in-one…

Design Greeting Cards in iPhoto

Start by selecting a picture from your iPhoto library, and make any edits you need. The picture I chose had a building near the bottom, so I cropped that part out. When you are finished, click the Done button. Edit your image before using it in a card.

Track Temperatures Throughout Your House on Your Mac

"The new HOBO Temperature Logger Kit stems from the need of many homeowners who want to go beyond free home energy audits and really understand their energy usage," said Frank Deshaies, Onset product marketing manager, in a statement. "Itis all about giving homeowners greater control and allowing them to focus in on the real opportunities…

Apple's "Get a Mac" Commercials Turn Japanese

Apple’s "Get a Mac" campaign has been unleashed on Japan, with Japanese actors taking the place of John "I’m a PC" Hodgman and Justin "I’m a Mac" Long. Apple Japan has posted three commercials on its Web site, each "an almost exact translation" of the first three "Get a Mac" commercials launched in the U.S.,…

NewsMac Pro 1.2.5

Information overload is easy to come by, especially in this age of pipes and dump trucks full of internets. Focusing your information gathering technique is critical if you want to effectively gather news and other data through the Internet. Enter NewsMac Pro. NewsMac Pro is an RSS and Atom news reader application, meaning it recognizes…

Columnist: Mac Only More Secure Due to Obscurity

“Thereis only one thing that makes Macs substantially safer than PCs,” wrote Mr. Gray, “and itis called market share; a 3.8 percent market share, measured by net presence, to be precise. If Macs were the dominant operating system with, say, 80 percent of the market, there is no doubt all the clever malware writers would…

Parallels Desktop Update Removes 2GB RAM Limit

Other changes include a hard disk caching tool that improves Mac OS X performance while Parallels is running, and better sound and video quality in virtual machines. The full version of Parallels Desktop For Mac sells for US$79.99. It requires Mac OS X v10.4.6, an Intel processor, 512MB RAM (1GB recommended), and 30MB of available…

TMO Reports - MacAddict Rep Discusses New Magazine

Steve Aaron, publishing director at MacAddict parent company Future US, on Monday spoke with The Mac Observer about the magazine’s change to Mac|Life next spring. Last Friday, TMO reported the news after seeing a Craigslist job listing that sought an editor-in-chief for the rechristened publication. That information quickly circulated among the Web-based Mac media. “We…

Podcast - Mac Geek Gab #73: All the Strokes for All Mac Folks

Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab For October 8th, 2006 Direct Links: MP3 Version or AAC Enhanced Version (courtesy of Michael, aka Computernap!). The long-awaited keyboard shortcuts show is here. John and Dave go through so much it’ll make your head spin. Quit reading this and get to listening! Then when you’re…

4-Sight FAX 7 Adds Intel Mac Support

The Universal Binary version of the client application is still in beta, but should be available in its the final version in October. Pricing for five users starts at US$495, and upgrades from earlier versions starts at $222.75.

Renewing Your .Mac Account

Once you have your activation key, youill need to renew your account from Appleis Activation page instead of the account renewal page on the .Mac Web site. Just go to http://www.mac.com/activate, enter the activation key code from the front of the .Mac Quick Start guide, and follow the on-screen instructions. Your new code will automatically…