Macworld Prognosis: Going with What Works

For example, today there was an article at Online Media Daily that reaffirmed that the mobile Internet isn’t going to be dominant in 2009. Or 2010. A study, “Future of the Internet III,” surveyed 600 Internet experts who assessed the change over to Internet access via mobile phones. Mobile phones won’t be the dominant device…

Thunderbird 3 Becomes Viable Alternative to Apple Mail - Almost

On Tuesday, Mozilla released Thunderbird 3, Beta 1 for testing. It includes the long-waited integration with the Mac OS X Address Book. This Quick Look review briefly introduces the Thunderbird e-mail application and compares it to Apple’s Mail App. People generally have strong feelings about their e-mail program. One can get very attached to a…

Opening Up OpenOffice

Still, just like I believe there’s somebody for everyone, I believe there is a place in this world for Office apps. Big business, for instance, would come to a screeching halt if the Redmond Gang decided to quit making Office and start making ketchup instead. It’s an unfortunate state of affairs that nearly every industry…

Addonics Intros USB NAS Network Adapter

Addonics Technologies announced the immediate availability of its Addonics NAS adapter for USB storage devices on Thursday. The adapter attaches USB-based hard drives to their local network so multiple users can access the device. The NAS adapter supports SMB and Samba network protocols, USB 2.0 and 1.1, 10/100 Ethernet networks, remote FTP access, and can…

How to Succeed in Apple's App Store

One of the curses and blessings of the Apple iPhone SDK is that anyone who has the experience and skill to build a small application for the iPhone can do it. The curse part is that developers who believe that developing the app, submitting it to Apple, and sitting back to wait for the checks…

Should Apple Disable GPS in Egypt?

As someone who views myself as a defender of civil liberties, I asked myself: “How should I react to this news?” My initial gut reaction was easy enough: “Stand up to the Egyptian government. Stand up for freedom. Refuse to sell a GPS-disabled iPhone in Egypt. It’s time to draw a line in the sand.”…

Return to the Moon, JPL, Stranger Things And More

Apollo 11 Lunar Lander You have to understand that up until that time everything NASA and the astronauts were doing had existed only in the realm of science fiction. Spacecraft were sleek, spacious things, like a small passenger jet, not this spidery-looking thing covered with foil and looking more like something dreamt up by kids…

Review: Secrets of the Lost Cavern

Secrets of the Lost Cavern has been around for a few years on the PC side, but it only recently made its way to the Mac, courtesy of Coladia Games. If you’re a fan of point-and-click style puzzle games of the sort popularized by Myst over a decade ago, you’ll likely enjoy this one. The…

Seeker from Software Bisque

Seeker is a graphical, 3D simulation of the solar system from Software Bisque. Using high resolution graphics, animation, and astronomical data and photos, the program allows the user to build tours of the Sun’s solar system, visit planets, asteroids, and other objects. Pre-programmed tours showcase the possibilities. Think of having a spaceship that you can…

Apple Believes Deep Pockets Behind Psystar

Section 18 of the amended complaint says:   18. On information and belief, persons other than Psystar are involved in Psystar’s unlawful and improper activities described in this Amended Complaint. The true names or capacities, whether individual, corporate, or otherwise, of these persons are unknown to Apple. Consequently they are referred to herein as John…

Adobe to Skip Macworld Expo 2009

Adobe’s traditional spot on the Macworld Expo floor is up for grabs because the company won’t be exhibiting at the January 2009 event in San Francisco. The company won’t, however, be missing from the event because it will still be involved in several conference training events. Adobe representatives stated “While we will not be exhibiting at…

The Future of Image and Video Searching

Among the many fascinating ideas raised in this article was an analogy between how we create and search for text vs. how we create and search for graphics or video. When writing any text (from this brief column to the great American novel), we start with the same alphabet and the same collection of words.…

Apple and Microsoft War Now Dictated by Mathematics

The most recent data from Net Applications shows that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has dropped to less than 70 percent on the Internet. The decline is a steady, monotonic decline, which begs the question of what market and mathematical forces can lead to that kind of decline. A monotonic function is one that steadily decreases or…

Podcast - Mac Geek Gab #178: Batch Permission Changes, Encrypting Follow-up, Re-Enabling AirPort, and GigE speeds

Listen Now: Download: or (AAC coming shortly courtesy of Michael Johnston of iPhoneAlley) Show notes for Mac Geek Gab Podcast For November 28th, 2008 John and Dave are local in New Hampshire, no bandwidth issues to get in the way today! Just a straight-ahead podcast answering your questions, helping you change permissions, re-enable Airport, suss…

Bento 2 Holiday Pack

  FileMaker, the publisher of the newly released Bento 2 individualized database application, has just released a Holiday Pack with special templates and new views that let you easily create a database for your holiday card list and/or your gift and donation list. The company is offering the Contacts & Cards and Gifts & Donations…

FaceBook Wins $873 Million Judgement Against Spammer

FaceBook has won a US$873 million judgement against a Canadian spammer who used a phishing techniques and other methods to gain control of FaceBook user accounts that then spammed other members. Max Kelly, FaceBook’s Director of Security, made the announcement on the FaceBook blog, saying his company had successfully sued the spammer under the Controlling…

Psystar Lawsuit Filings Reveal Potential Document Policy Problems at Apple

The Industry-Standard first noticed the issue in Filing 28 of the court case, which included a statement from Apple concerning evidence preservation: “At Apple, individual employees are tasked with maintenance of their own files including hard copy documents, emails, voicemails and other electronically recorded materials. Apple has not implemented any programs that result in the…

Times Are Tough Apple, How About Feeding Some Kids

In times like these, it wouldnit be a bad idea for Apple to lend a helping hand to the less fortunate. While some major companies are staggering from the effects of the recession or out of business completely, Apple is wealthy beyond imagination. It has been a long tradition for companies or individuals that do…