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…
John Martellaro
John Martellaro was born at an early age and began writing about computers soon after that. With degrees in astrophysics (B.S.) and physics (M.S.), he has worked for NASA, White Sands Missile Range, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Apple. At Apple he worked as a Senior Marketing Manager, a Federal Account Executive and a High Performance Computing manager. His interests include chess, science fiction and astronomy. John is the host of the TMO podcast Background Mode.
Articles by John Martellaro
Fear & Envy Drive iPad Competitors
If there were any questions about the importance of the Apple iPad in the future of, dare I use the term, personal computing, they’ve long since been put to rest. Apple figured out what the PC industry refused to admit because they were mired in Windows. Namely, no mere mortal needs 40 millions lines of…
I’m Not Liking Google Much These Days
I don’t know about you, but being a fan of Apple, I’ve grown accustomed to feeling good about companies I do business with. I like companies that earn my business with products I like, then treat me well as a customer. I’m not feeling that about Google these days.1. Google+ as National Identity Service. For…
A Breaking Fever: Apple, Lies and Videotape
It must be frustrating for Apple. Here’s a company that’s supremely good at dealing with the psychology of the customer, but it’s up against a brick wall when it comes to competing with cable and satellite. To be sure, it’s clear now that customers will drop their cable or satellite subscription at the drop of…
Convert Between File Types Without an App, Part II
Graphics Files Just as in Part I of this pair, all you need to do is open the Terminal app, found in /Applications/Utilities, and use a simple but handy command. The command is “sips” (scriptable image processing system), and it will convert back and forth between these file types: jpeg, tiff, png, gif, jp2, pict, bmp,…
Convert Between File Types Without an App, Part I
Text Files In this part I, I’ll discuss text files. All you need to do is open the Terminal app, found in /Applications/Utilities, and use a simple but handy command. The command is “textutil,” and it will convert back and forth between these file types: txt, rtf, rtfd, doc, docx, odt, html, wordml, webarchive Here’s…
OS X Lion: Apple Publishes Tech Note on Local Snapshots
When you enter the Time Machine browser, these snapshots will appear in the timeline along with regular backups, but they have a different color. According to Apple, “Gray tick marks represent local snapshots and pink tick marks represent backups stored on your external backup disk or Time Capsule. Note: Pink tick marks will be dimmed…
Play Hide ‘n Seek with Lion Preference Panes
In Lion, if you click and hold the “Show All” button, you’ll see a popup list of all the Preferences. You can select one from the list, just as if you’d clicked on the icon.System Preferences in Lion What’s interesting is the “Customize…” option at the botton of the list. Selecting that will show each Preference…
Particle Debris (wk. ending 8/19) High Tech Chess and Carnage
The net result of this is, I think, a big gain for Microsoft and HP’s webOS software and a handsome headache for Google. I fully expect that by next summer, Android will be found only on Motorola phones, and its market share will take a continued beating from iOS 5 and iPhone 5. At least,…
OS X Lion: Change the Dashboard Background Graphic
The default Dashboard, Lego patternIn a previous tip, I described how to change Lion’s login screen. This technique is similar — you’ll need admin privileges to replace a system file. 1. Select an image that you want to use for the Dashboard background. It needs to be the same size as your main display. Alternatively,…
OS X Lion: Is Auto Save a Savior or Nightmare?
From what I’m seeing on the Web, those people who are technical and who are getting published, either in blogs or the forums, are fairly upset about Auto Save. I think this is a normal reaction by experienced users who are accustomed to working a certain way. After all, from time to time, we all…
OS X Lion: Change Mission Control Desktop Graphic
1. This how-to assumes you have some favorite desktop pictures, sized for your display on hand. Or you can just use the Desktop pictures that come with Lion. 2. Launch Mission Control. There are several ways to do that. Three finger swipe upwards. (MacBook or Magic Trackpad required and three finger swipe enabled in Trackpad…
Calculating the Size of Apple’s Spaceship HQ
1. First, let’s look at the Pentagon in Arlington, VA. According to Wikipedia, each side of the Pentagon is 921 ft (281 m) long. A circle circumscribed on the outside of a pentagon whose sides are 921 ft long has a radius of 783 ft. So a circle that would circumscribe the Pentagon has a…
OS X Lion: Change Login Screen’s Dirty Linen
As of this writing, I haven’t found a utility that allows you to change the background of the Lion login screen, so you’ll have to do it manually. Here’s what you’ll need: Administrator privilege. A .png graphic the same screen size in pixels as your login display and at 72 dpi (or more properly ppi). 1.…
Particle Debris (wk. ending 8/12) Analyzing the Shifting Sands
If you missed this link when I wrote about restoring iLife after a Lion reinstall, here’s the link again to Apple’s rather extensive Knowledge Base article: “OS X Lion: About Lion Recovery.” You’ll want to bookmark that one. We all have plenty of experience with the consumerization of digital technologies that threaten a business model…
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…
OS X Lion: Recover iLife Suite After Reinstall
Previously, all Macs included an optical drive and a DVD that would allow you to boot from it and reinstall the OS X. The latest version of iLife was included on that DVD.Nowadays Apple is moving away from clunky, rotating plastic discs. In addition, Lion’s hidden recovery partition allows you to boot, examine the main…
OS X Lion for UNIX Geeks: Installing the C Compilers
The first thing to know is good news. You don’t have to pay US$99 and become a member of Apple’s Developer program to follow these instructions. You can download Apple’s Xcode 4.1 for free, and its installer will give you gcc, g++, and llvm-gcc nicely installed and ready for the command line. The bad news…
Particle Debris (wk. ending 8/5) Perils Lurking Everywhere
It’s always interesting to see the current browser share statistics. The second chart is of the most interest to me: there are two declining browsers and two advancing browsers. Here’s the ars technical summary for July, 2011. Personally, I was not happy with Chrome’s installer leaving unwanted remnants when I tested it awhile back, and…
Write a Novel on the Beach: Storyist for iPad
Storyist for the iPad has just been released. It’s based on the Mac version, has templates for both a novel and screenplay, and has file compatibility with the Mac version. Now you can write that novel under the cabana on the beach. Every writer has a different routine and a different set of tools. Some…
Alien Technology Required to Beat the iPad
Technology development is not just a matter of R&D, trial and error and learning curve. It’s also a function of how the current level of technology is able to implement cultural, technical norms. Here’s what I mean.When Apple was first developing the Lisa and the Macintosh, the Xerox Star (technically the Xerox 8010 Information System)…
Particle Debris (wk. ending 7/29) The Future Arrived Yesterday
This is just too funny. It’s a story about how McDonalds is rolling out Wi-Fi in its restaurants and has provided a nice quick tip sheet for its customers on how to connect. Compare Windows XP and Vista instructions on the left to the Mac version on the right. I can just see customers thinking…
Apple Deprecates CDSA & Smart Card Support in Lion
In a note to the Fed-Talk mailing list*, Apple Security Consulting Engineer Shawn Geddis explained: “With the release of OS X Lion, Smart Card Services are deprecated and will not ship as a customer functioning service. That does not mean that customers will be unable to continue to use their Smart Cards with OS X…
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,…