Tomorrow, Oct. 20, Apple will host its much anticipated “Back to the Mac” media event. Many industry observers expect Apple CEO Steve Jobs to announce a new MacBook Air ultra-portable computer, among other things. But what do those who make a living calculating odds think?…
Read MoreCharles Moore
Opera 10.63: An Old Workhorse Gets an Update
Opera Software released version 10.63 of their flagship browser on Tuesday, with another round of tweaks, enhancements and bug fixes. Being a consummate Opera fan, I wasted no time checking it out Opera in both Snow Leopard and on my old G4 PowerBook running Tiger.…
Read MoreFake: A Programmable Browser for OS X
Does the Mac community need another Web browser? Probably not if we're talking conventional browsers, as there's a luxury of choices already available: Safari, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and a gaggle of others. But Fake is different, and it could just be the time-saver you're looking for.…
Read MoreThe Case for a Modular MacBook
My main computer for the past 19 months has been a Core 2 Duo unibody MacBook. It's fast, has an excellent LED backlit display, is quiet and reliable. Nevertheless I still log some three to four hours per day on average with my 10-year-old Pismo PowerBooks.…
Read MoreBrowser Choice Thins For Power PC Mac Users
It's looking like Firefox version 3.6 may well be the end of the road for Power PC holdout fans of Mozilla.org's flagship web browser. In a posting on Tuesday, Mozilla affirmed: "the likely outcome is that we will not be supporting PPC [PowerPC] for Firefox 4."…
Read MoreApple Buys Exclusive Rights Metal Alloy Technology
Apple has closed a deal to access all the intellectual property of LiquidMetal Technologies regarding an amorphous, non-crystalline, metal alloy with unique atomic structures that can be used to create products that are stronger, lighter, and harder than is possible with alloys of titanium or aluminum.…
Read MoreSnow Leopard: This Cat Has Fleas
After nearly a year in release, Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard still seems to still be a work in progress. I keep trying to upgrade to Snow Leopard, but always end up back with Leopard for a number of reasons including bugs and hardware stress.…
Read MoreIs Apple a Cult, a Religion or a Brand?
A university professor friend and recent platform-switcher jestingly refers to "the Church of the Mac." He's become an enthusiastic Mac evangelist and is perceiving some loose parallels. My learned friend is far from unique in drawing analogies between computer platform affinities and religion.…
Read MoreSmaller MacBook Air Would Reassure Us of Apple’s Commitment to Laptops
Rumor mills churned after Digitimes reported last week that Apple is readying to launch a new generation MacBook Air. This as-yet vaporous machine will allegedly sport an even more svelte form factor facilitated by an 11.6-inch display and an Intel Core i-series ultra-low voltage processor.…
Read MoreWill the MacBook Air Survive?
The biggest speculative conundrum for Mac laptop watchers is, "Whither the MacBook Air?" It's been over a year since the Air received its last refresh, and the puzzler is whether it will be getting another or just be allowed to fade away from relevance through neglect.…
Read MoreThe Potential Health Risks of Multitouch Devices
Multitouch user input is the current "latest big thing" in mobile computing. However, little is yet known about long-term stresses that using multitouch input systems may inflict on our muscles, nerves, and tendons.…
Read MoreShould There Be iOS Support for the Mac?
My daughter loves her iPhone, and recently observed that the iPhone OS reminds her a lot of Mac OS Classic System 6 -- the operating system on which we both cut our computing teeth some 18 years ago. I think she has a valid point.…
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