Tagged: Apple
Apple announces Mac OS X Mountain Lion; to be released this summer
See how innovations from iPad inspire new features for the Mac. And find out what’s coming this summer with OS X Mountain Lion. Messages, Reminders, Notes, Notification Center, Twitter, Airplay Mirroring, Game Center, and more. You love them on iPad. Now you’ll love them on your Mac. And with iCloud, they all work better together.
[ilink url=”http://www.apple.com/macosx/mountain-lion/”]Read more about OS X Mountain Lion here.[/ilink]
Apple releases Messages app; will replace iChat in Mac OS X Mountain Lion
Download Messages Beta and get a taste of what’s coming in OS X Mountain Lion. When you install Messages, it replaces iChat. But iChat services will continue to work. And Messages brings iMessage to the Mac — just like on iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch running iOS 5.
Here are the features you can expect with Messages:
- Send unlimited iMessages to any Mac, iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.
- Start an iMessage conversation on your Mac and continue it on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.
- Send photos, videos, attachments, contacts, locations, and more.
- Launch a FaceTime video call and bring the conversation face-to-face.
- Messages supports iMessage, AIM, Yahoo!, Google Talk, and Jabber accounts.
We knew this was coming, and it’ll be great to have all our messages synced across desktop and laptop Macs and our iDevices!
Set the time interval of OS X’s Time Machine backups
When Apple introduced Time Machine in OS X 10.5 Leopard, it was a glorious day for everyone who struggled with overly complicated backup software. You simply turn it on and forget it, resting easy that your drive is constantly being backed up in case of drive failure. The key word that soon frustrated many users is constantly.
Time Machine backs up files every hour, and if you’re a power-user who updates and saves lots of files (particularly large ones), Time Machine could theoretically never stop working. The problem is that for many users, the Mac can get bogged-down while backing up, in some cases to the point of being unusable.
Thankfully, Stefan Klieme wrote a simple piece of software called TimeMachineScheduler that allows you to easily adjust the backup interval of Time Machine. With TimeMachineScheduler you can set the interval from one to 12 hours, limit backups to WiFi or hard-wired connection only, skip backups during specified hours, and more.
TimeMachineScheduler is free (donations welcome) and works with OS X 10.5 or later on Intel Macs. Because my particular workflow doesn’t require hourly backups, I love this little utility and the features it offers me.
Made in the U.S.A. is not viable Apple
The New York Times posted an article this past week titled How U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work that got a lot of attention. Pando Daily, Cult of Mac and 9-to-5 Mac chimed in on the subject, and the topic even made it into the Republican Presidential Debate.
The sad fact is that Apple is no different than any other electronics company. Heck, forget electronics; practically everything you can buy at Walmart appears to be made in China.
While Steve Jobs stated at a dinner with President Obama that there aren’t enough skilled workers in America to Apple products in America, and that the current tax situation prevents them from bringing their oil-tankers full of cash back to the U.S., I believe there’s another reason as well. (more…)
Ex-Genius: Apple no longer values retail store staffers
“What was once a truly enriching place to work has become a place that leeches and drains everything from their employees. Apple retail no longer values its people and when I say people, I am referring to both your customers and your retail employees serving you on the front-lines.”
Chad Ramey, former Apple store Genius, who resigned from the Arrowhead (Ariz.) store has sent an email to Apple CEO Tim Cook, thanking him for the job experience, but warning that the stores have shifted from life-enriching to life-draining for employees.
I linked to this article because the Arrowhead store is the one I (used to) visit quite often, and I actually met Chad a few times and found him to be quite helpful and polite. He also struck me as a fairly level-headed guy – so I believe everything he’s written in the letter to Tim Cook. And I think what he has to say about the situation is the cause of what I think is a major deterioration of the Apple Store experience over the last year or two.
Rant: The annoying year that was 2011
Like any other year, 2011 brought a lot of highs and lows in my tech life. Unlike any other year though, 2011 was filled with situations and trends that just wouldn’t change to my liking.
2011 was just too much sharing for my taste
There were lots of great things happening in tech this year, too many to talk about here. But I have put together a list of things that managed to annoy me to no end. (more…)
Angry Mac Bastards podcast
I listen to a bunch of podcasts throughout the day. Some are general tech, and some are Mac-specific. About a year ago I came across a Podcast who’s sole purpose is to bash the shockingly horrible articles (and their writers) across the web who consistently get the story wrong, or simply don’t “get” Apple, the Mac and iOS.
If you don't like foul-language, or enjoy reading the work of out-of-touch & biased writers, AMB ain't for you
Angry Mac Bastards (AMB) is a weekly Podcast featuring John C. Welch, Darby Lines and Peter Cohen. When I first saw Peter Cohen’s name on the Podcast, I knew I would love the show because I had followed his work as a writer at Macworld years ago.
AMB spends about an hour or so each week dissecting the Mac-related news from around the web from the previous week. And by dissecting I mean using heavy doses of foul-language to describe their thoughts about the writers who post the typical dribble you find on sites like CultofMac, Gizmodo, ZDNet, 9to5Mac, and more. It’s not that the trio just likes to bash other people’s work, they selectively choose articles that are generally off-base, uninformed, or just completely stupid.
If you don’t mind reading articles that are thrown together with little thought, rumors with no real sources, poorly written articles, or if foul-language bothers you; AMB is definitely NOT for you. But if you want to be entertained for an hour or so, and get the real scoop about all things Apple, AMB may be right up your alley.
You can download individual episodes on the AMB website, or subscribe to the AMB Podcast on iTunes.
Ever wonder just how big Apple is? You’d be amazed… (infographic)
Apple’s market cap is hovering around $376 Billion dollars, trading the top spot with Exxon Mobile for the last several months. Clearly, that’s a lot of money. But just how big is Apple? It’s a bit easier to show what’s smaller than Apple.
The entire US pharmaceutical market is jealous of Apple
Visual.ly, my favorite infographic site, posted the great infographic below to show you what’s smaller than Apple. (more…)
Sharing calendars with iCloud
The transition from MobileMe to iCloud couldn’t be easier, but the features and functions you have or don’t have couldn’t be more cloudy (pun intended). One of the common misconceptions I keep hearing about is that once you move to iCloud, you no longer can share a single calendar with other users. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
iCloud calendar sharing requires a visit to your iCloud web page
You can share an iCal calendar with any iCloud user – but you’ll have to visit the iCloud.com calendar page to do it. Just click the little icon next to the calendar or reminder list you wish to share, and enter the email address of the user you want to share with. That’s it.