Flickr’d Formerly named Xbox Media Center, XBMC made the original Xbox useful long past its sell-by date, and it’s now been ported over to Mac OS X. Well, it’s been available for OS X for some time now, but yet another beta was released a few hours ago. That latest version, 0.5b8, can be found here. Now, you ask yourself, “Just why would I use XBMC on my Mac?” Because it’s great. Is that reason enough? Let’s say you have a Mac mini or MacBook tucked away somewhere—why not put it to good use? XBMC will transform your Mac into a dedicated home theater PC. And unlike the Xbox1 version, the Mac version isn’t running on underpowered hardware, meaning you can watch HD rips at your leisure. Imagine Front Row, but without the codec limitations. My advice would be to play around with it this weekend for a bit. What else are you doing? → Read More
Somewhat lost in the iPhone 3G hype/madness yesterday was Apple’s announcement of the next version of Mac OS X, to be called Snow Leopard. The big news: rather than promise wiz-bang new features along the lines of Spotlight or Time Machine, Apple says it will focus on “enhanc[ing] the performance” of the operating system. Says an Apple senior vice president: We have delivered more than a thousand new features to OS X in just seven years and Snow Leopard lays the foundation for thousands more. In our continued effort to deliver the best user experience, we hit the pause button on new features to focus on perfecting the world’s most advanced operating system. Still, there are a few new things to look forward to. Grand Central will supposedly make it easier to take advantage of today’s multi-core processors. There’s also native support for Microsoft Exchange 2007! If I were the IT guy of a Fortune 100 company, that’d probably excite me; MobileMe should take care of all my syncing issues. Look for it in about a year. → Read More
Could developers be getting a sneak peak at Mac OS X 10.6 at next week’s WWDC? Maybe! A little birdie told TUAW that Apple could well give developers an early build of 10.6 at the conference in San Francisco. It’s been suggested that 10.6 won’t bring much in the way of new features, but will instead focus on stability and security. That 10.6 could be the first Intel-only Mac OS has also been mentioned. How true any of that is, of course, no one knows for sure. Nor should it bother you, since the earliest it would be released is next January’s MacWorld. We also don’t know the name for the new operating system. If Apple were to keep going with its “big cat” theme, there’s but a few of those left: cougar, lion (my favorite), lynx, and so on. → Read More
I’m not sure exactly what the draw is to USB displays, but I guess for some people it’s pretty handy. If you can get daisy-chaining to work, it could be nice, but there are data bandwidth issues when you’ve got a lot of information going over that cable. In any case, they’ve released a beta driver set for Intel Macs and “even” MacBook Airs. Thing is, it doesn’t support any kind of acceleration, so any kind of hardware-based tracking, smoothing, filters, or hardware handling of codecs is inapplicable. Bad news, but chances are if you’re using USB as your primary display connection, you’re not using too much hardware acceleration. It looks like there are a lot of limitations, but it is beta after all. → Read More
Mac OS Xers can now get their jailbreak on. All the fun starts here. → Read More
Iomega’s newest MiniMax and UltraMax hard drives were designed with Leopard in mind. Both drives come preformated with HFS+, the file system used by Leopard (and previous version of OS X). So if you ever wanted to use the Time Machine system backup feature, literally all you’d have to do is plug the drive in and click “use drive for Time Machine,” no converting from Windows-friendly FAT32 or NTFS file systems required. Both drives should be available today barring a FedEx strike or something, with the MiniMax starting at $180 for 500GB and the UltraMax at $190 for 500GB. UltraMax [Iomega via Electronista] → Read More
Since Gateway announced the One, everyone and their cousin has known it’s a blatant copy of Apple’s iMac. Even Uncle Walt over at the Wall Street Journal knows damn well what Gateway and Dell are trying to do with their all-in-one computer systems. Unfortunately for Gateway, while imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the One doesn’t even come close to the iMac. In fact, the One is such a disappointment, Mossberg can’t even recommend purchasing it. For one, the iMac can run both Windows and OS X. The One can only do Windows of course. Other factors such as noise, no built-in webcam, lower resolutions and smaller screens are what drive Mossberg to loathe Gateway’s copycat. Not only that, but the One crashed twice on Walt during his testing. Damn that BSOD! Then there’s the price. The iMac starts at $1199 while the One is $100 higher for the base model. Plus, the iMac has different screen sizes to choose from while the One is bound to 19-inches across the board. So much for the “bang for the buck” angle Gateway could have taken. The final verdict? Don’t even bother messing with Gateway’s hellchild of a computer known as the One. Apple has the all-in-one desktop market done right and if any PC manufacturer is going to overtake them, it’ll need to spend some more time at the drawing board. New Gateway Desktop Takes on Look of iMac, But Can’t Match It [WSJ] → Read More
Apple has a hit on its hands and that’s always a good thing. With the release of Mac OS X Leopard this past Friday, over two million loyal Mac users flocked to stores or their computers to purchase a copy. AppleInsider notes that it took Apple six weeks to sell two millions copies of Mac OS X Tiger back in ’05. Says Sir Jobs on the surge of sales: “Early indications are that Leopard will be a huge hit with customers,” said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. “Leopard’s innovative features are getting great reviews and making more people than ever think about switching to the Mac.” Let’s say no one bought a copy for $40 at the UPenn computer store or used any kinds of discounts. In fact, let’s just say that two million people shelled out $129 for the single-user license version. That’s $258 million Apple has made back so far. Impressive? To say the least. Apple sells 2 million copies of Mac OS X Leopard in first weekend [AppleInsider] → Read More
Leopard hasn’t been out a week and already the Microsoft fanboys are starting to bash away. Take for instance, an article I found called “Why Leopard Isn’t Better Than Vista” written for eWeek and posted on Neowin. Now if the domain names aren’t biased enough, think about what this guy is saying. Vista is better than Leopard. That’s like saying your 1988 Hyundai is better than my 2004 Jaguar because you have AC and I have climate control. The article starts off with the following sentence: Apple’s newest operating system is at best an evolution from predecessor Tiger. It then launches into a rant regarding Cisco VPN, Apple Mail and a truckload of utter nonsense. The only valid point I’ll give this man is that Safari is seriously boinked and needs to be fixed immediately. If you Mac fans want to scream at your monitor, click ahead. If you Windows users want to have a good read and maybe get a little excited, well, click ahead. Why Leopard Isn’t Better than Vista [Microsoft Watch] → Read More
I’ve been using Apple’s new OS, Mac OS X Leopard since the 25th and I really am in love with it. Aside from the rendering issues surrounding Safari and Shiira (Flash animations won’t load) and problems with Stacks customization, I really don’t have much else to complain about. As I was stumbling around Apple’s website today, I came across a new function in Leopard that I have yet to read on the blog-circuit: Look Deeper. From the Finder or the menu bar, Spotlight in Leopard lets you search for more specific sets of things. Use Boolean logic to narrow search results by entering AND, OR, or NOT in a search request. Search for exact phrases using quotation marks, or search for items by dates or ranges using > and < symbols. And now you can even use Spotlight to perform simple calculations. Just enter numbers and operators, then hit Return. Very handy. You can use boolean logic in Spotlight now? That’s awesome stuff if you know how to use it right. For instance, say I’m looking for files pertaining to chicks and Ayn Rand. Just throw in an AND operator between your two strings and you’re good to go. You could also do something along the lines of “crunch OR gear” and find pictures of dudes with solid abs and the iPhone. Apple: Finder → Read More
Right at the entrance as the doors first opened at 6 p.m. It was me and some AP photographer there. CrunchGear is hardcore. Hey gang. I just got back from the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue here in New York where I snapped a few photos of the launch. It was absolutely dreadful outside, with the rain and wind and cold nearly bringing me to tears. (I called John while covering the launch. He can corroborate my sadness.) I took around 100 photos, so here’s some of the best. I may throw them all on my Facebook tomorrow, so if you’re that excited to see them, I’ll update this post with the appropriate links. Whooo! → Read More
Leopard has leaked. The Golden Master build of Mac OS X 10.5, better known as Leopard, can now be found online. It’s currently all over Usenet and at least one of the bigger BitTorrent trackers, with the accompanying NFO file reading “You know what this is….” Early reports are that it works perfectly. Apple did a fine job protecting this release. I remember back during the Tiger and Panther and Jaguar days the GM builds leaked several days before the release date. This time Apple cut the lead time to two days. At this point you might as well save yourself from being sued into oblivion and buy it Friday, if you plan on buying it at all. I’m thinking I’ll hold off until 10.5.1. Leopard [Apple] → Read More
Leopard has gone gold, with Apple declaring Build 9A581, which has not been leaked on the Internet yet, the winner. As such, Cupertino today posted a cute little “What’s Leopard?” video on its Web site. There’s no real heavy lifting in the video, especially for those of us who have been following its development like we’re the paparazzi, but it’s still worth having on in the background as you whittle away the day’s remaining hours. Apple apparently refused to seed the Golden Master build (that’s the final code ready for mass duplication) to its developers in order to prevent unauthorized leaks. I wonder if Apple is implementing any sort of serial number for Leopard. I don’t remember inputting any on the previous OS X releases, but maybe Apple has changed its tune. I guess we’ll see next week. Leopard Guided Tour [Apple via Mac Rumors] → Read More
Last night, I remembered something that you will no doubt thank me for later. When Mac OS X Tiger came out a few years ago, I was ready to buy it. I had my $130 in hand and was waiting in line. But as I approached the cash register, I ran into a coworker I knew and he told me that the University of Pennsylvania’s bookstore, which was right down the block, was selling copies to students for only $40.00. Being the cheapskate I am, I dropped the box I was holding and we headed out. Sure enough, upon arrival at the bookstore, OS X Tiger was only $40.00. Neither of us went to UPenn, so we grabbed some dorky kid walking past us and asked him to buy it for us. He did, my coworker and I split a copy and I get Mac OS X Tiger for $20. So, if you have a college bookstore near you, I suggest taking a peak in there. You may find incredible discounts when Leopard comes out, you may not. It’s up to you to seek out the hot deals near you! Apple Editor’s Note: It’s worth mentioning that it was only the UPenn bookstore that was offering the OS for $40. Everywhere else, it was regular academic price. This is no different than you getting a hookup from your buddy at Best Buy or any other retailer. If you had a friend at UPenn, were broke and could get OS X for $40, you’re telling me you wouldn’t ask him/her to pick up a copy for you? Puh-lease. → Read More
October has arrived, so where is Leopard? Rumblings inside Apple indicate that the company will make several big announcements between October 22 and 27. Even better, word on the street is that Apple will release Leopard on October 26. Mark your calendars. Even though Leopard hasn’t gone gold yet, all but one of the bugs have been worked out. Don’t worry, I’ll be cruising Usenet from here on out, checking the various groups for any leaks. Apple announcements brewing for late October [updated] [AppleInsider] → Read More
Want to get your hands on Photoshop-killer, Pixelmator? Of course you do, you Mac OS X fanboy. I hear there are a few torrents on public trackers somewhere. Don’t know where though. Absolutely no idea. Enjoy. Official Site → Read More
Something different than the standard Photoshop layout! Crazy! On one of the underground torrent sites I visit daily, I came across a new Mac App that had been downloaded a bunch of times. It’s called Pixelmator and it’s an upcoming competitor that’s going to blow Adobe Photoshop out of the water. Right now it’s in closed beta, so this leaked version is still experimental. → Read More
Ecamm Network has updated its iPhoneDrive software (which allows you to drag and drop files between your phone and your computer) to include support for moving files around on your iPhone as though it were truly a portable drive. You’ll also be able to drag multiple files off of your phone and an iTunes bug has been fixed as well. The software goes for $9.95 until Apple decides to just enable this feature like it should have done in the first place. iPhoneDrive via Macenstein → Read More
A new piece of software from Alloysoft now allows you to control iTunes, Winamp, or Windows Media Player via the iPhone. It’s called Signal and it works using WiFi to send, well, signals to your computer over the ‘net to control playback of your music and movies. Live updating is included so you know which song or video is currently playing if you’re not near your computer. Plus, the iPhone interface looks really slick. Sounds perfect for controlling the tunes during house parties. It costs $30, which is pretty expensive for such basic software. The PC version might be worth it to some, although I’m not too sure why anyone would buy the Mac OS X version. Doesn’t the included Apple remote do the trick already? Signal allows iPhone to control iTunes [iLounge] → Read More
Your iPhone is sweet! It takes pictures! It surfs the net! Wow! If only you could get your data off it with ease and throw music, pictures and other files on it with the same program. Lucky you, there’s iPhoneDrive. This small $9.95 application for OS X has a simple, easy-to-use UI that lets you copy files to and from the iPhone. Yes, it’s simple and looks like it took 10 minutes to make in XCode. But guess what? It’s 10 minutes of coding that you and I don’t know. So if you want to turn your $500 phone into a hard drive for $10, be my guest. iPhoneDrive Gives JesusPhone a Disk Mode, Sort of [Gizmodo] → Read More
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