More stories from Mark Crump

Over the years, I’ve been forced to redefine my definition of “native” game clients for OS X. At first, I was a die-hard, nothing but true native code for me, thanks. Then, as the harsh reality of understanding that true native code is about as likely […] Read more »

Installing a new operating system on Day One is often a foolish undertaking. Yet, there I was, installing Snow Leopard the night of the 28th. I took the plunge day one for two reasons: as a tech journalist specializing in the Mac, I felt I owed […] Read more »

The punditry were divided on whether Jobs would even show for today’s press event. Those opining he wouldn’t show claimed it was a nothing announcement — just a product refresh; no iTablet, why bother? He was done being the public face of Apple and was turning […] Read more »

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Originally introduced in OS X Tiger, Automator is a drag-and-drop form of scripting. You can create workflows to easily speed up many tasks. With each version of OS X, Automator has seen some improvements, but with Snow Leopard, it finally realizes its full potential. It realizes […] Read more »

For a while the blogosphere has been running its mouth off about how “Snow Leopard is just a service pack Apple has the gall to charge for.” TechRadar.com reports, “Despite all of the necessary ‘under the hood’ improvements in Snow Leopard, this release has the inescapable […] Read more »

Friday the 21st was the day Apple, Google, and AT&T had to hand in their long form essay responses to a series of questions from the FCC. Surprisingly, Apple published its entire response here, and Engadget has both AT&T’s and Google’s. I found the answers to […] Read more »

On August 6th, 1997, Steve Jobs stood on a stage in Boston and announced that Microsoft had purchased $150 million in non-voting stock and promised to continue to develop Office for five years. While the crowd reacted as if had he announced his love of Pabst […] Read more »

The London Times has a rather interesting profile of Steve Jobs on its site. According to MacNN, Apple tried to kill the article. That’s not surprising. Apple always strives to stay “on message” and nothing is more “off message” than any discussion of Jobs’ health. Well, […] Read more »

Much like a migratory bird is genetically driven to fly south for the winter, I am driven to bloviate online. And so over the years I’ve accumulated my fair share of blogging accounts. I’m very active on Twitter, have a WordPress blog, a Flickr account, Facebook, […] Read more »

With the academic year about to begin, and having already tackled the important issues of iWork vs. Office, it’s time to turn our attentions to the iPhone. With over 65,000 apps on the App Store, even subtracting all the iFart and iTip applications there are five […] Read more »

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I’m a huge fan of Cultured Code’s Things (both on the desktop and iPhone). A few weeks ago, I sent them what I thought to be a simple question: “Can I sync Things on the iPhone with two different desktops?” I’m giving some thought to getting […] Read more »

When it came out that Google Voice had been refused entry into the hallowed halls of Apple’s App store, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. While I don’t have a horse in this race, or was driven to riot, I’ll admit to a certain […] Read more »

David Wantanabe has announced that a preview of his torrenting program, Xtorrent 2, is now available. If you purchased Xtorrent Pro with lifetime upgrades, it will be a free upgrade when it’s released. While it says preview, it’s still a beta for all intents and purposes. […] Read more »

If you’re like me, your iPhone does double duty as your average, everyday camera. While I have a dedicated point-and-shoot camera, since my iPhone is always with me, it’s great for quick shots. Sure, the camera isn’t the best, but the convenience is worth the tradeoff. […] Read more »

This time of year, it seems almost inevitable. There’s a forum post somewhere, a plea for help in the middle of the night, asking a time-honored question. No, it’s not “the answer to Life, the Universe, Everything!” It’s more profound than that: “I’m starting school this […] Read more »

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has resigned from Apple’s Board of Directors. Given the conflicts of interest, this is not unexpected — Schmidt had already recused himself from any iPhone discussion, and now that Google is getting into the OS business, I guess that would leave Schmidt […] Read more »

According to the Wall Street Journal, the FCC is opening an inquiry into the Google Voice app rejection debacle. In a statement Friday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said the FCC “has a mission to foster a competitive wireless marketplace, protect and empower consumers, and promote innovation […] Read more »

When the Palm Pre/iTunes Syncing fiasco started, especially when Apple blocked the hack Palm was using and people started screaming about Apple’s monopolistic practices, I pretty much shrugged the whole thing off. In Apple’s eyes, iTunes exists for one reason, and one reason only: to sync […] Read more »

A few weeks ago my dad had some pretty hefty surgery. All told, the surgery itself was seven hours long, and by the time I left the hospital it was almost a 14-hour day. He was in the hospital for almost a week and by the […] Read more »

In my article Macs in the Enterprise: A Firsthand Tale, I mentioned the hardship I was having dealing with editing documents directly from a SharePoint site. As a result, I can only perform the most basic of tasks. I can upload and approve documents, but I […] Read more »

When push notification finally made its way to the iPhone, a lot of people were anticipating IMs pushed to their iPhone. At first, I scoffed at this idea. I’d always figured IMs were based around the “instant” part of the phrase, and someone pushing an IM […] Read more »

While I live and play in the land of Apple, where rainbow-farting unicorns frolic in the meadows, I work in a Windows world. While being a card-carrying member of the International Brotherhood of Apple Pundits dictates otherwise, I don’t view Microsoft as the Great Satan; a […] Read more »

One of the great things about gaming on the iPhone is the mindless entertainment it provides on my long commute. When that mindless entertainment actually forces me to use my brain, it’s a bonus. At its core, Bookworm is a simple game. You have a grid […] Read more »

Boy, there have been a lot of these introductions going around, eh? You’d think there was a hiring surge or something. My name is Mark, and I’m the latest in the continuing series. I got my freelance start writing about Massively Multiplayer Time Sinks for PC […] Read more »

I’ve spent most of my career working in IT Operations, a good part of which I’ve spent thinking, “Really, what’s the worst that could happen?” A year or so ago, I asked myself, “What’s the worst that could happen if my MacBook died?” It was a […] Read more »

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