Yearly Archives: 2012

Mac OS X 10.8 requirements omit more Intel Macs

Written by

CNET’s MacFixIt:

If you’ve taken a look at Apple’s sneak peek of its upcoming revision to OS X, you might wonder if your system will be able to run the operating system. In recent versions of OS X, some requirements have resulted in older hardware no longer working properly, including the drop of PowerPC support in Snow Leopard, and Lion not installing on some of the earliest Intel-based Mac systems.Unfortunately Apple has not yet officially released the system requirements for the new OS, but the developer release that is being issued to members of its Mac development community does contain a list of supported devices.

“I was a Mac user when Apple was doomed.” t-shirt

Written by

Diesel Sweeties:

You remember the dark times. Back when having to learn 90s Linux or Windows 95 was a very scary possibility. When it was possible to sit in a Starbucks for twenty whole minutes and not see an Apple logo. If you told me Apple would get this huge back in the beleaguered era, I’d ask if you were a time traveler from an alternate future.Image is about nine inches wide and professionally silk screened in white ink on 100% cotton black shirts.

You know you want one.

Feds propose ban on in-car dialing, texting, surfing

Written by

PC Mag:

The Department of Transportation has proposed guidelines that would block all in-vehicle communications by a driver, including texting, dialing, Internet browsing, and even entering a GPS address by hand.The regulations, if imposed and enforced, could dramatically alter the future of connected vehicles within the United States, as well as how U.S. drivers use devices like GPS navigation systems and cell phones.

As a motorcyclist, I’m all for anything that forces drivers to focus and pay attention to actually driving and eliminating as many distractions as possible.

“Insanely Simple” is a new insider book about Jobs and Apple

Written by

The Next Web:

Ken Segall served as Apple’s agency creative director under Steve Jobs from the NeXT years on through, including some years under John Sculley’s disastrous reign. Now he’s written a book, called Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple’s Success.If you’re unfamiliar with Segall, he runs an excellent personal blog Observatory, the parody site Scoopertino and was the guy who came up with the name iMac. He was also involved in the seminal Think Different ad campaign. So yeah, he knows a few things about Apple and the way that Steve Jobs worked.

“Insanely Simple” will be available April 26th and you can pre-order at iBooks, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others.

About Gatekeeper

Written by

Panic Software:

As Mac users, we’ve mostly enjoyed a life free of the worry that has followed Windows users for years. Mac OS X is pretty damn secure. But it could be more secure. As Macs enjoy increased popularity, they become a more attractive target to identity thieves and other criminals. Sooner or later, bad people ruin every nice thing. It’s an immutable law of humanity.

So, what to do about this? Code-signing, although it can’t single-handedly fix the problem forever, is a vital weapon in the fight against malware. But many folks are unclear on how it works, or how it helps. Let me try to explain in as close to plain English as I can.

You can read and get more details on Gatekeeper from security expert Rich Mogull on TidBITS and Securosis.

Tips for creating feminine designs

Written by

Tara Hornor:

So, what makes a design feminine? Can you really design something that is naturally attractive to the female eye? With the right fundamentals applied, anyone — even those of the more macho persuasion — can successfully design for a female audience.

no. No. NO!

Written by

Ina Fried:

Although they are doing it in different ways, Apple and Microsoft are aiming for a similar goal with their next desktop operating systems: To make the computer more like the phone.

This just isn’t what’s happening. Microsoft is trying to shoehorn one operating system into the desktop and mobile spaces, but that will ultimately fail. They are different platforms and should be treated differently. […]

iPad: 15.4M sold vs Kindle Fire: 3.9M

Written by

Philip Elmer-DeWitt at CNN Money: By the time Christmas sales were over, Apple had shipped more than 15.4 million iPads and Amazon nearly 3.9 million Kindle Fires, passing the Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and Barnes & Noble’s (BKS) Nook to take … Continued

First Look: OS X Mountain Lion

Written by

Apple on Thursday unveiled OS X Mountain Lion, the next generation desktop operating system. I’ve been using Mountain Lion for about a week now and it’s packed with new features that existing Mac users and iOS users will enjoy.

Mountain Lion will be released this summer. Pricing isn’t currently available, but it should come as no surprise that Mountain Lion will only be available via the Mac App Store when it’s released. […]

Apple confirms lower iAd pricing

Written by

Apple on Wednesday confirmed for The Loop that new pricing for developers and advertisers have been implemented on its iAd platform. The changes, according to one media agency executive, could help boost the platform into even more advertising budgets this year. […]

Horizontal Shower

Written by

Dornbracht:

At Swissbau 2012, kitchen and bathroom fittings manufacturer Dornbracht presented an expansion of the groundbreaking shower technology Ambiance Tuning Technique with the addition of a new application: the Horizontal Shower.With the Horizontal Shower, showering with the Ambiance Tuning Technique can be enjoyed lying down.

Wait, what? How lazy do you need to be that you have to shower lying down? It does look kind of cool though.

Objects come to life with photographer’s “Bent” sense of humor

Written by

Wired’s Raw File:

With some well-placed wire, creative lighting and a provocative sense of visual puns, sculptor and photographer Terry Border has given life to everything from peanuts to pill bottles. His cleverly cartoonish scenes are often viral hits on the internet and they’ve brought his blog, Bent Objects, a global audience.“I don’t mean for everything to be funny,” says Border, who lives in Indianapolis. “We all have different perspectives and my perspective happens to be kind of strange and twisted.”

“Strange and twisted” in a hilarious way. Be sure to read the article to get the link to his more NSFW stuff, “Really Bent”.

Adobe shows off Photoshop CS6’s content-aware move

Written by

Photoshop Content Aware Sneak Peak:

Adobe is previewing CS6 features prior to release. In a video posted to its YouTube channel, Adobe demonstrated an update to the CS5 content-aware fill tool but the cool comes with “content-aware move”. It adds the ability to move any piece of a photo with little disturbance to the pixels around it and replaces the background in a very natural way.

AT&T explains reasons for data throttling

Written by

Zach Epstein:

In an effort to justify its policies surrounding data service throttling for subscribers with unlimited smartphone data plans, AT&T on Tuesday issued a brief report regarding data usage on its nationwide wireless network. Senior EVP of AT&T technology and network operations John Donovan wrote on a company blog that data traffic on AT&T’s network has grown a staggering 20,000% over the past five years. Usage has doubled between 2010 and 2011 according to the executive, due in large part to the proliferation of smartphones.

Oh, so it’s our fault.

Unexpected downsides of the switch to ebooks

Written by

Cracked:

As e-book sales overtake paper-book sales, it seems like everybody is crying and wringing their hands about what it means — serious, society-changing ramifications like the end of ownership, or ease of piracy, or environmental impact, or whether it makes things easier or harder for publishers or aspiring authors.Like most important issues, those are boring. What are some effects of going to an all e-book world that haven’t been talked to death? I dug around and tried to find some e-book ramifications that would appeal to the type of people who spend more time preparing for a zombie apocalypse than like, unemployment, or retirement, or something. You know, realists.

Apple responds to contact data controversy

Written by

“Apps that collect or transmit a user’s contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines,” Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told AllThingsD. “We’re working to make this even better for our customers, and as we have done … Continued

Apple seeks to sue bankrupt Kodak for patent infringement

Written by

Joel Rosenblatt for Bloomberg Business: Apple Inc. asked a bankruptcy judge for permission to sue Eastman Kodak Co. over allegations it’s infringing patents that Apple says cover technologies used in printers, digital cameras and digital picture frames. Kodak is looking … Continued

MacTech Boot Camp

Written by

MacTech Boot Camp is specifically designed for those techs and consultants supporting home users, small office/home office, and small-to-medium sized businesses. This one-day, hotel-based, seminar is designed specifically to help you be the most successful consultant you can be. Learn. … Continued