Mac

The end of the year inevitably brings with it scores of “Best of” lists from a variety of sources. Such lists from this year frequently have Apple’s iPod at or near the top, but Apple also made another kind of list this year: PC Magazine’s “Worst Products of the Year” list, where the eMac was…

War Driving just got easier: MacWireless has released a keychain-sized WiFi finder called MacWireless WiFinder. WiFi finders can detect open WiFi networks, and MacWireless says that its unit can "distinguish between a wireless network and other devices that produce the same frequency, such as a cordless phone or a microwave oven." In addition, the device’s…

Local Austin Filmmaker and Canadian National Craig Knapp just recently finished post-production on a DV film he directed titled; "The Sum of Jobe". I took a few moments to ask Craig a few questions about the project, and how the Mac was instrumental in the film’s production. TMO: So tell us about the story and…

The open-source Web browser Firefox 1.0 for Mac was downloaded over 170,000 times in the first two days, The Mozilla Foundation told The Mac Observer Thursday, making it one of the most successful launches of a shareware product in recent memory. Of the over two million total downloads of Firefox 1.0, 8.2% were downloads of…

Merrill Lynch analyst Steven Milunovich raised many of his unit estimates Tuesday on a handfull of Apple Computer products, pointing to better than expected demand and supplier component availability. In a research comment to clients, Mr. Milunovich said demand for Mac laptops is strong. “We are raising our December laptop numbers from 500,000 to 600,000,”…

Did he say it or did he not? He did not, according to a Google spokesman. We’re talking about comments reportedly made by Google, Inc. Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt last Friday in which a Reuters reporter claims he said the search engine company would definitely release a Mac version of its Google Desktop indexing…

Worms and viruses have been featured a lot in the news of late. Of course, that’s nothing new, but what is new is the types of virus-related stories that are appearing: The Bagel virus — this one a variation of the original theme — is spreading, stories from IT security experts warning of a new…

Preface: I work in a place where mentioning Macs makes people crinkle their noses as if someone had just out-gassed after eating egg salad. The arguments for their Mac aversion are as tired as their expressions; most opinions are hold-overs from the days of Apple’s single digit OSes. When I set about explaining that OS…

Jef Raskin is as rascally today as he was more than 20 years ago when he fought to get his idea for a new computer through Apple’s management. That computer was the Macintosh, if not the Macintosh that was eventually brought to market, for Steve Jobs took over Mr. Raskin’s project, and effectively pushed him…

My other column, Dr. Mac, runs every Tuesday in the Houston Chronicle. Writing for the newspaper is a lot different from writing for The Mac Observer (TMO). The newspaper column is the same length-roughly 500 words-every week; TMO columns can be as long or as short as the subject requires. Newspaper columns don’t have screen…

I recently started working for a new client in the publishing industry. My job is to help the IT manager, who is versed in the ways of Windows, keep about ten Macs running smoothly in the company’s production area. Now, the IT manager is a good guy, and to protect his identity I will refer…

Fortune magazine’s Peter Lewis is the latest to talk up Apple’s new iMac G5. In a review titled “Apple All-In-One Is One For Almost All,” Mr. Lewis offers the now-familiar praise for the iMac G5’s design, looks, display, speed, etc. He also criticizes the 64 MB video card Apple included in the unit as “paltry,”…

Microsoft has issued a critical security warning, as well as accompanying updates, for Mac Office v.X and Mac Office 2001. The most recent version of Mac Office (Office 2004) is not affected. The security flaw is specifically found in Excel, and could allow someone to execute code that would allow them to gain complete control…

Apple Computer has agreed with the Government of Thailand to sell Macs below market price in an initiative to get more personal computers in the hands of the nation’s people, the English language newspaper The Nation reported Wednesday. The offer will reportedly begin later this month for an undetermined period as part of a government…

Chad Dickerson, the CTO of Inforworld, has been spent the last year managing his magazine’s IT infrastructure from a PowerBook. In an article for his magazine, he says that he has embraced his PowerBook, though he can’t quite ditch his IBM ThinkPad. While he has been able to use Mac OS X to work in…

On Thursday morning, we covered Walt Mossberg’s latest column for the Wall Street Journal, which included positive comments about the Mac platform, and the iMac G5 in particular. In the TMO Spin for that piece, I made a joke about Mr. Mossberg being a Macaholic. Mr. Mossberg wrote to me last night to explain that…

Sweet Pea Communications is shipping the VTR Link-Mac cable for Macintosh users. The VTR Link-Mac provides the control of a professional VTR deck via USB serial ports. The cables support RS-422 deck control applications and the Sony BVW-22 Betacam deck. According to Sweet Pea Communications: VTR Control Cables for PC and Macintosh: PC to VTR:…