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Saturday, November 26, 2011
How to Reset Software Update | Mac|Life
My Software Update (in the Apple menu) is no longer finding software updates. When I start up an iLife or iWork application, it tells me updates are available. If I try to manually download the updates from Apple’s website, it won’t install them because it says I don’t have the current version on my system. Is there a way to reset or fix this problem?
Resetting Software Update will display any updates you’ve ignored in the past.
With the iLife and iWork applications, Apple often advertises new upgrades to the suite of applications when you launch an older version of those iLife and iWork apps. These messages can be confusing, because they understandably lead you to believe there’s a free update. However, Apple is only advertising their new paid upgrades.
These messages are advertising Apple’s new, paid versions of iLife.
If this is not the case, you may have accidentally ignored an iWork or iLife update from within the Software Update application. To reset ignored updates, launch Software Update from the Apple menu, and then select Software Update > Reset Ignored Updates. After doing this, check for new updates again. Any updates you may have ignored in the past will show up as available for installation.
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Friday, November 18, 2011
How to Prepare Your Hand-Me-Down iPhone 4 via lifehacker.com
Congratulations on your upgrade to an iPhone 4S! What are you going to do with your old iPhone 4? If you're like me, you want to give it to a spouse, partner, child or friend, because they've got an older, lousier phone. But is it possible? Doesn't the iPhone 4 have a weird micro-SIM? Here's how.
First, let's wipe your old phone. We're going to assume that you've already backed up your phone and transferred the data to your new iPhone 4S. If not, do that first in iTunes by right clicking on your iPhone icon in the left column and hitting Back Up.
The easiest way to erase the phone of all your data and personal info is to go to the Settings app on the phone itself. Then go to General -> Reset (all the way at the bottom) -> Erase All Content and Settings. Then tap Erase iPhone to confirm. This takes a few minutes to a few hours, depending on the state of your phone.
If your recipient is upgrading from an old iPhone, make sure to back up that phone as well, so you can restore it later. You can do this while you're waiting for your iPhone 4 to wipe. Multitask!
Verizon Users
Luckily for you, Verizon users have it extremely easy, because they don't have any SIM cards to deal with. All you need to do is activate the phone on thew recipient's account, and you can do it either on the phone or online. Here's what Verizon recommends.
When you are ready, please dial *228 and SEND from the iPhone and press option 1 to activate. Then follow the prompts to complete the activation.
You can also make this change online. Below I have provided you with the steps:
- Sign in to My Verizon Express at http://www.vzw.com.
- Under the Device column, select Activate a Device.
- Select which device to change, if a multi-line account.
- Enter the ESN/MEID of the new device in the appropriate field.
- Select Next. The Review Your Changes screen displays.
- Select Next. The Plan Feature Changes Required screen displays if any current features are incompatible with the new device.
- Select Continue.
- Select the features for the new device by selecting the drop down arrows to view the options.
- Select Next. The Review Your Changes screen displays.
- Select Submit.
Note: The customer must dial *228/option 1 to complete the activation.AT&T Users
Because the iPhone 4 is the only phone on AT&T to use a micro-SIM, your recipient is almost certainly using a phone with a regular SIM. What you need to do is to shrink down a regular SIM to a micro-SIM.
I used this micro SIM cutter, which worked fantastic on the first try. (Good, because you only get one try.)
To eject the micro-SIM tray, just use a very thin paper clip, or a sewing needle, and push down into the micro-SIM ejector hole. You'll need to use a little bit of force, but not so much that you're trying to punish your phone.
Now, take your regular-sized SIM and slot it into the cutter, then take the original micro-SIM from your iPhone 4 and visually line the two up. You want to adjust the SIM in the cutter so that there is enough margin on all four sides so the metal contact area doesn't push up against the edge. A good guideline is to make it look as similar to your old micro-SIM as possible.
Line the SIM up and clamp the cutter down hard enough so the SIM remains in place and doesn't slide around, but not too hard so you actually start punching out the SIM. Practice what carpenters and mohels preach: Measure twice, cut once. Ensure your SIM is lined up, then push down HARD and FAST to get a clean punch.
All that's left is putting the newly-cut SIM into the micro-SIM slot and inserting it back into the iPhone 4. If you're confused which end is which, the ejection hole faces toward the bottom of the phone (the speaker or Home button).
Then, connect your phone to iTunes to activate, and you're done. If the lucky new owner of your iPhone 4 had an iTunes backup of their own phone, you can restore it by right clicking on the iPhone in the left hand side of iTunes, and clicking Restore From Backup.
That's it! Now both of you have iPhones, and you can iMessage and FaceTime each other until one of you gets bored or annoyed.
Turning a micro-SIM back into a SIM
If you ever want to use that micro-SIM in a normal phone (like an Android phone, for example) that takes a regular SIM, you'll need to use an adapter. The micro-SIM cutter we recommended above comes with two micro-SIM adapters in order to use that micro-SIM in a normal, non-iPhone 4 phone. They're "good enough" but not great. You can get this adapter for $1, which has better reviews.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
How to Locate What's Sucking up Your Hard Drive Space | Mac|Life
How to Locate What's Sucking up Your Hard Drive Space
Posted 11/17/2011 at 8:01am | by Ben Harvell
It’s all too easy to say “oh, I’ll just delete some stuff” and then never do it. Take action today and cut the flab from your file system by locating the major space-sucking culprits.
1. Balancing the Blocks
The first step isn’t always the easiest, but this time it is: determine just how much space you have remaining on your Mac’s main disk. If you’ve read this far, chances are it’s not much. To get the complete picture, click on the Macintosh HD icon (or whatever you call your main drive) in the Finder, then type Command-I to bring up its Info window. From here, you can see the capacity of your drive as well as the amount of space available.
Aim to have a third of your drive free.
If the available storage is less than one-third of the total capacity of the drive, it’s worth freeing up more. The benefits of a healthy hard drive are far greater than just having more room to play with. With around one-third of your drive’s capacity available, you should see slight improvements in drive access as well as application speed. Mac OS X will also be able to use some of that storage as virtual memory to help it perform tasks without using your RAM, a great help to those using older Macs.
2. Find and Delete Huge Unwanted Files
Next, with the Finder selected, press Command-F to bring up a search window. Click on the first drop-down menu and select Other and then Size. From the second drop-down menu, select “is greater than” and then enter an amount in the field to the right of it. A good place to start is 50MB.
Next up: find those big files.
The files and folders that now appear in the Finder window all fit the criteria you entered—if you looked for files bigger than 50MB, these are all the files of that size or larger on your Mac. But wait! Before you start blindly erasing some of them, check out what they actually do on your system. Mac OS X includes some rather hefty system files that are necessary to keep things running smoothly. If you’re absolutely certain that you know what a file is, then chuck it, but it’s worth checking if in doubt. An easy way to find out more is to select a file, right-click on it, and select Open Enclosing Folder for more details on its origin.
3. Printer Pruning
It’s unlikely—unless you’re some kind of ink-on-paper connoisseur—that you have a printer for each of the hundreds of printer drivers stored on your Mac. If you head to Library > Printers, you’ll find a host of folders named after popular printer brands that weigh in at around 2GB in total. Wipe out all brands you don’t use, and don’t worry—if you buy a new printer, the Mac drivers will be included on the disc that comes with it or will be available online.
Drivers for printers you don’t own can take up surprising amounts of space.
4. Trash Apps
It doesn’t take long for your Applications folder to fill up with all sorts of junk you don’t need. All those 30-day trials, any apps you’ve replaced for alternative options, and outdated software you don’t use anymore can all take their toll. Fortunately, uninstalling begins with simply dragging an application’s icon to the Trash. Next, perform a quick Spotlight search for the app’s name to track down any related files, then also check your Documents folder. Better yet, if an app has an uninstall option, use that. The same applies to iOS apps—if there are any you don’t use anymore, delete them from within iTunes. You can always reinstall them at a later date using the same iTunes account you purchased them with.
5. Compress or Burn
If you’re an avid iLife user, you probably have a bunch of iMovie, GarageBand, and even iDVD projects that you’ve either published or shared already. They’re not doing any good just sitting on your drive—and the same’s true for projects and documents from other apps. So gather them all together, label them up into folders, and then compress them by right-clicking on them and selecting Compress from the menu. That reduces the file size a bit, but for even more space reduction, consider shifting these compressed folders to an external drive or burn them to a DVD, then delete the originals.
Friday, November 11, 2011
iOS 5.0.1 upgrade may not fix your battery woes | TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog
iOS 5.0.1 seems a bit of a mixed bag for users, and that's probably a charitable description. Apple support boards are filling up with page after page of reports from users that their iPhone battery life is worse than it was before. Some users say their battery life was fine until the upgrade. Others say it is far worse, and a few are seeing some improvement. Since one of the main features of the update was to fix battery life bugs, it's hard to call this update anything but a failure. Even if the reports are hallucinatory, the PR is very, very bad. Think 'antennagate'.
Here's a sample of some of the comments:
"Was running iOS 5.0 yesterday and had great battery life on my iPhone 4.... Update with OTA last night to iOS 5.0.1 and now just sitting at work and not surfing it is down to 55%. It has only been off the charger for 2 1/2 hours.... I haven't even talked on it today. Wow Apple... what a fix!"
"After installing iOS 5 in my iPhone 4s I noticed that my battery was drying 1% for every 1Min 36Sec. I believe every 1hr 20 Min i will hzave to charge my mobile. And there is no option to downgrade to 5.0. Irritating."
"Yes have the same problem. Was looking forward to having normal battery life on my new phone, but the new 5.0.1 update actually made it worse. I'm about to throw away my iPhone and go back to a blackberry... At least the blackberry held its charge for 2 full days."
In my own experience my battery life dropped dramatically when I installed iOS 5 on an iPhone 4 last month. When I upgraded to the iPhone 4S there wasn't any improvement, and the battery life was certainly behind the performance I had experienced before iOS 5 appeared. One bright spot was when I applied the 5.0.1 update from an airport via their WiFi. What an improvement over tethering to a computer -- the whole process took about 12 minutes.
Of course all the battery life experiences are anecdotal, and it may be that we're all using the new features so heavily that we're driving battery performance down. Of course, that won't explain why phones just sitting by themselves overnight are draining faster the before iOS 5 or iOS 5.0.1 appeared. It's pretty obvious there is some fire under all this smoke.
Apple hasn't commented on any of this new furor so far, but I wouldn't be surprised to see iOS 5.0.2 coming to an iPhone near you soon.
[Editor's note: I'm seeing improved battery life, but it's clear there is something at work here and it'll probably take Apple a bit longer to figure out why some iPhones (mine is an iPhone 4) are draining faster and some are not. - Victor Agreda, Jr.]
Upgraded mine last night and so far I have't experienced battery depletion. I even have push notifications and wi-fi on. Will see how it performs by the end of this day.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Apple’s App store security breached via geeksaresexy.net
A man who created a bogus stock price tracker app for the iPhone that was in fact malware has been thrown out of Apple’s developer program. That would seem uncontroversial until you discover the app was designed to highlight a security flaw rather than cause damage or steal data.
Charlie Miller was told his right to create and upload apps had been terminated “effective immediately.”
If Miller’s name seems familiar, that may be because he’s a perennial winner at the PWN2OWN competition, held at the CanSecWest security event in Vancouver each year. Contestants can ask judges to visit a URL using various combinations of hardware, operating system and browser, with the latest publicly available security updates applied. Last year was a particularly bad day for Apple with a MacBook Pro running Safari the first computer to fall (Miller being the successful attacker) and the iPhone the first smartphone hacked.
According to Miller, his latest “attack” came after he spotted a security flaw in iOS. The flaw, unwittingly introduced in a recent iOS update, appeared to allow code to be added to an app after it had already been vetted by Apple and installed on devices.
To prove this was a genuine threat, Miller released an app named InstaStock in September. Using a post-approval update, he says he was in a position where he could have remotely downloaded contacts and pictures from phones running the app.
Miller says he reported the flaw to Apple in mid-October. He went public yesterday and was barred from the program a few hours later. He’s scheduled to unveil more details of the flaw at a security conference next week.
The BBC quotes one possible overenthusiastic analyst who calls the revelation the “the most significant threat yet to Apple’s app store economy.”
Meanwhile The Register has more details on the flaw, making the important point that it merely allows would-be attackers the same opportunities they’ve had on Android devices for some time.
(Image credit: Garret Gee)
Monday, October 31, 2011
New MacBook Pros (Late 2011) feature updates that boost performance and value Review | Macworld
by James Galbraith, Macworld.com Oct 31, 2011 3:00 pm
Complete Coverage
Last week’s announcement of updates to the MacBook Pro was so low-key you might have missed it. And truth be told, it wasn't the flashiest update Apple has ever made to its portable lineup, with new processors and graphics highlighting the changes. While the improvements in the new MacBook Pros are modest when compared to the models they replace, there's plenty to like about the upgrades—especially if you’re the owner of an older laptop and you’re mulling an upgrade.
What’s new
While MacBook Pro prices stayed the same as the models introduced earlier this year, the components inside received subtle—yet welcome—updates. The $1199 entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro upgrades its 2.3GHz dual-core Core i5 processor to a faster 2.4GHz dual-core Core i5 chip; its 320GB hard drive has been swapped out for a 500GB model. The $1499 13-inch MacBook Pro now has a 2.8GHz dual-core Core i7 processor and a 750GB hard drive; it previously had a 2.7GHz dual-core Core i7 processor and a 500GB hard drive. The 13-inch models continue to use the same Intel HD Graphics 3000 integrated graphics as the previous MacBook Pros.
The 15-inch models were updated with 2.2GHz ($1799) and 2.4GHz ($2199) quad-core Core i7 processors, up from 2.0GHz and 2.2GHz, respectively. Graphics in the 15-inch systems also saw an upgrade: The $1799 model now has a 512MB AMD Radeon HD 6750M, while the $2199 model has a 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6770M. The storage capacity hasn’t changed on the 15-inch models, with a 500GB hard drive in the $1799 model, and a 750GB hard drive in the $2199 model.
As with the previous generation of MacBook Pros, the 17-inch $2499 model matches the $2199 15-inch model in all specifications, aside from screen size and the addition of a ExpressCard/34 slot.
What hasn’t changed
Externally, the new MacBook Pros are identical to the early 2011 models. The glossy LED backlit screens each measure 13.3-, 15.4-, and 17-inches diagonally, with 1280-by-800, 1440-by-900, and 1920-by-1200 pixel resolutions, respectively. All systems have a full-sized, backlit keyboard, as well as glass multi-touch trackpads with gesture support.
The FaceTime HD webcam, stereo speakers and built-in microphone remain the same, as do the number of ports on every model: one FireWire 800, one Gigabit Ethernet, a MagSafe power connector, and one audio in and one audio out port. The 13- and 15-inch models have two USB 2.0 ports and a SDXC card slot. The 17-inch model has three USB 2.0 ports and an ExpressCard/34 slot. All of the new MacBook Pros have a Thunderbolt port, which was introduced in the early 2011 models
Benchmarks: 13-inch MacBook Pros
In terms of performance, the differences between the latest MacBook Pros and their immediate predecessors are, for the most part, as subtle as the upgrade announcement. The new $1199 13-inch 2.4GHz Core i5 MacBook Pro is just a little over 4 percent faster than the 2.3GHz system it replaces. The $1499 13-inch 2.8GHz Core i7 model is about 9 percent faster than the system it replaces.
The most interesting results were in our Photoshop and Aperture tests, which are both faster on the older systems. According to Apple's website, the MacBook Pro may adjust processor speed to avoid running into thermal issues. That could be happening in these tests. It's also possible that the hard drives may be affecting the results.
Benchmarks: 13-inch MacBook Pros (Late 2011)
Speedmark 7 Duplicate 2GB Folder Zip 4GB Folder Unzip 4GB File Pages '09 Open Word Doc 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i5 (Late 2011) 146 68.6 249.1 146.4 83.7 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.8GHz Core i7, (Late 2011) 164 54.1 208.0 114.8 84.3 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.3GHz Core i5 (Early 2011) 140 69.7 271.1 180.3 89.8 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.7GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 151 66.4 224.9 149.8 103.0 Speedmark 7 results are scores; higher scores are better. All other results above are in seconds; lower is better. References models in italics. Best result in bold.
Benchmarks: 13-inch MacBook Pros (Late 2011)
Import iMovie '11 Archive iMovie '11 Share to iTunes: Mobile iTunes 10 AAC to MP3 Encode HandBrake 0.9.5 Encode 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i5 (Late 2011) 109.3 88.2 88.8 203.8 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.8GHz Core i7, (Late 2011) 95.8 79.0 79.0 174.0 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.3GHz Core i5 (Early 2011) 116.0 87.5 99.7 210.0 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.7GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 107.0 90.8 78.7 186.0 Results above are in seconds; lower is better. References models in italics. Best result in bold.
Benchmarks: 13-inch MacBook Pros (Late 2011)
Cinebench OpenGL Cinebench CPU Parallels WorldBench 6 Multitasking Test on Windows 7 Photoshop CS5 Action Script 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i5 (Late 2011) 12.9 155.2 318.0 145.8 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.8GHz Core i7, (Late 2011) 13.4 132.3 269.7 138.1 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.3GHz Core i5 (Early 2011) 12.5 161.0 328.0 128.0 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.7GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 12.7 140.7 274.0 122.4 Cinebench OpenGL results are scores; higher is better. All other results above are in seconds; lower is better. References models in italics. Best result in bold.
Benchmarks: 13-inch MacBook Pros (Late 2011)
Aperture 3 Import and Process 207 Photos iPhoto '11 Import 500 Photos Mathematica 8 Portal 2 (1280x800) 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i5 (Late 2011) 118.6 178.4 1.09 61.5 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.8GHz Core i7, (Late 2011) 113.7 151.5 1.11 67.1 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.3GHz Core i5 (Early 2011) 121.3 171.7 0.95 61.8 13-inch MacBook Pro/2.7GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 105.4 162.2 1.02 59.5 Mathematica 8 results are scores; higher is better. Portal 2 results are framerates; higher is better. All other results above are in seconds; lower is better. References models in italics. Best result in bold.
Benchmarks: 15-inch MacBook Pros
The $1799 15-inch 2.2GHz Core i7 MacBook Pro is a little more than 12 percent faster than the 2GHz model it replaces, with graphics performance being the biggest change. With its Radeon HD 6750M graphics, the $1799 model displays 85 percent more frames per second in Cinebench’s Open GL test than last year’s comparable model and its 256MB AMD Radeon HD 6490M graphics processor. Our Portal 2 tests also shows great improvement, with the new $1799 model displaying 160 frames per second, as compared to the 68.6 frames that last year’s $1799 model was able to display. The graphics in the new $1799 model are identical to that found in last year’s $2199 model, and the Portal and Cinebench OpenGL test results of those two models are also practically identical.
The new graphics in the $2199 15-inch 2.4GHz Core i7 MacBook Pro perform a little faster than the graphics in the previous $2199 model, a 15-inch 2.2GHz Core i7 MacBook Pro. Overall, the new $2199 model’s graphics run about 7 percent faster overall than its predecessor. The new $2199 model displayed nearly 12 percent more frames per second in the Cinebench OpenGL test, and 8 percent more frames per second in our Portal 2 tests.
The new 17-inch model is a little more than 4 percent faster overall than the early 2011 17-inch MacBook Pro.
Benchmarks: 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros (Late 2011)
Speedmark 7 Duplicate 2GB Folder Zip 4GB Folder Unzip 4GB File Pages '09 Open Word Doc 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 190 74.4 245.5 168.9 88.6 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 219 52.7 217.4 131.6 76.0 17-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 216 55.8 223.4 123.5 79.0 15-inch MacBook Pro/2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 169 73.7 261.1 153.3 89.4 15-inch Macbook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 205 59.6 234.3 125.5 83.3 17-inch MacBook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 207 54.2 219.3 119.9 76.1 Speedmark 7 results are scores; higher scores are faster. All other results above are in seconds; lower is better. References models in italics. Best result in bold.
Benchmarks: 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros (Late 2011)
Import iMovie '11 Archive iMovie '11 Share to iTunes: Mobile iTunes 10 AAC to MP3 Encode HandBrake 0.9.5 Encode 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 82.2 60.8 80.6 108.2 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 70.2 52.6 71.5 100.5 17-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 68.3 54.9 72.0 99.1 15-inch MacBook Pro/2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 81.0 85.3 84.9 115.6 15-inch Macbook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 73.7 65.0 75.2 106.9 17-inch MacBook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 74.2 66.8 81.9 103.2 Results above are in seconds; lower is better. References models in italics. Best result in bold.
Benchmarks: 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros (Late 2011)
Cinebench OpenGL Cinebench CPU Parallels WorldBench 6 Multitasking Test on Windows 7 Photoshop CS5 Action Script 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 38.7 81.9 288.3 147.9 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 43.3 76.0 234.0 149.8 17-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 42.6 76.2 261.3 149.5 15-inch MacBook Pro/2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 20.9 86.9 280.7 144.5 15-inch Macbook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 38.8 81.9 267.7 148.9 17-inch MacBook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 38.8 82.0 265.3 147.5 Cinebench OpenGL results are scores; higher is better. All other results above are in seconds; lower is better. References models in italics. Best result in bold.
Benchmarks: 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros (Late 2011)
Aperture 3 Import and Process 207 Photos iPhoto '11 Import 500 Photos Mathematica 8 Portal 2 (1280x800) 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 117.2 186.2 1.55 160.0 15-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 103.9 141.2 1.64 174.3 17-inch MacBook Pro/2.4GHz Core i7 (Late 2011) 103.0 142.5 1.64 169.6 15-inch MacBook Pro/2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 115.5 170.4 1.46 68.6 15-inch Macbook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 101.5 141.2 1.52 160.9 17-inch MacBook Pro/2.2GHz Core i7 (Early 2011) 106.5 139.7 1.57 156.0 Mathematica 8 results are scores; higher is better. Portal 2 results are framerates; higher is better. All other results above are in seconds; lower is better. References models in italics. Best result in bold.
How we tested. We duplicated a 2GB file, created a Zip archive in the Finder from the two 2GB files and then unzipped it. In iMovie ’11, we imported a camera archive and exported it to iTunes using the Mobile Devices setting. We converted 135 minutes of AAC audio files to MP3 using iTunes’ High Quality setting. We used HandBrake 0.9.5 to encode a single chapter from a DVD previously ripped to the hard drive to H.264 using the application's Normal settings. We recorded how long it took to render a scene with multiprocessors in Cinebench and ran that application's OpenGL, frames per second test. We ran a timedemo in Call of Duty 4 at a resolution of 1024-by-768 with 4X anti-aliasing turned on. We installed Parallels 6 and ran WorldBench 6's Multitask test.—Macworld Lab testing by James Galbraith, Mauricio Grijalva and William Wang
Battery life also seems to be similar to the last set of MacBook Pros, getting between 5.5 and 6 hours of battery life in our fullscreen video playback test at full brightness.
Macworld’s buying advice
The new MacBook Pro lineup won’t cause any buyer’s remorse for those who purchased a member of the early 2011 family, or perhaps even for buyers of a 2010 MacBook Pro. If you have a laptop that's older, however, the late 2011 MacBook Pros feature faster processors, larger capacity hard drives in the 13-inch models, and improved graphics in the 15- and 17-inch models that combine to make already attractive systems an even greater value.
[James Galbraith is Macworld’s lab director.]
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Monday, October 17, 2011
Configure iCloud for Multiple Apple IDs via lifehacker.com
If your family uses one Apple ID to purchase music and apps and have more than one iPhone or iPod Touch you probably won't want to share the same Apple ID account for iCloud on each phone. Doing so would sync the same contacts, inbox, bookmarks and other personal settings. Instead, create a new Apple ID for each person using iCloud and specify in your settings which Apple ID is to be used for purchases and which to use for iCloud.
MacWorld magazine reports that Apple approves of using multiple Apple ID accounts for this purpose and also recommends configuring iMessage to use your new unique Apple ID created for iCloud.
This way you, your spouse, and your teen can all share the same account for purchasing music and apps yet you each have a free 5GB iCloud account for your personal data. As long as you specify which application should use the proper Apple ID there should be no sharing of iCloud data between family users.
If your family uses one Apple ID to purchase music and apps and have more than one iPhone or iPod Touch you probably won't want to share the same Apple ID account for iCloud on each phone. Doing so would sync the same contacts, inbox, bookmarks and other personal settings. Instead, create a new Apple ID for each person using iCloud and specify in your settings which Apple ID is to be used for purchases and which to use for iCloud. Adobe Reader for iOS Now Available via lifehacker.com
iOS: Adobe has released an iOS version of its popular PDF reader for iOS as a universal app for both iPad and iPhone.
Like the desktop version, you can't edit files, but you can access encrypted ones, as well as search, bookmark and copy text to the clipboard. It also lets you share PDF files with other applications, email, and print via AirPrint. It's a free download.
Adobe Reader | iTunes App Store
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Logitech's HD Pro Webcam C910 now ready for Photo Booth, iChat and FaceTime
Filed under: Accessories, Software, Mac
Logitech's HD Pro Webcam C910 now ready for Photo Booth, iChat and FaceTime
by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Jan 4th 2011 at 3:10PM
Although Apple includes an iSight or FaceTime webcam in almost every Mac, the low resolution (640 x 480 pixels for most machines, 1280 x 960 resampled to 640 x 480 for new MacBook Pros) of the cameras has lagged behind the webcams available from other computer manufacturers. Logitech markets a large number of HD webcams, but few of them have been compatible with Mac OS X. Until now, that is.
Logitech has announced a software update for the HD Pro Webcam C910, which is a 1080p-capable HD camera. Although the APIs used for Mac apps such as Photo Booth, iChat and FaceTime currently support only 640 x 480 streaming regardless of the camera used, the new Logitech software provides video capture in both 720p and 1080p. The software is also capable of capturing still photos at 10-megapixel resolution, and includes Logitech's proprietary Vid HD video calling capability.
The software allows integration with iPhoto and iMovie, and enables the C910 webcam to be used with Skype, Yahoo! Messenger and Gmail Voice and Video Chat. The HD Pro Webcam C910 has a suggested retail price of US$100 and is available at online retailers for around $20 less. If you already own one of these webcams and just need the software, it's available for download from Logitech. The release notes for the Mac software say that it will be updated to support other Logitech webcams in the near future.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
New MacBook Pro could arrive in April 2011 with SSD, Light Peak, no DVD
Update Put your checkbooks away, folks. Electronista has all but debunked this rumor. By crunching the numbers, they confirmed that (at today's prices at least), such a MacBook Pro could easily be priced out of the market. Read on and dream, but don't expect this machine to appear on your desk any time soon.-----
Three Guys and a Podcast are reporting that the next-generation MacBook Pro will likely arrive in April 2011 with a new design inspired by the latest slim-line MacBook Air. That means that the high-end laptops will probably dispense with spinning drives altogether and come equipped only with solid-state drives of up to 512GB capacity. If you haven't yet finished ripping all of your CDs and DVDs, you'll want to complete that task before migrating to a new MBP because the internal optical drive will probably follow the floppy into the annals of history.With the internal speed bottlenecks reduced by the flash memory drives and new Sandy Bridge CPUs, Apple will also work on speeding up the external communication interfaces. Light Peak may finally debut on the MBP, two years after it was originally announced by Intel. Whether or not Light Peak makes it to the party, we expect that USB 3.0 probably will arrive in an Apple product on these new machines. The fate of Firewire is unknown at this time, but it seems unlikely to make the cut, especially if Light Peak is included. The one exception may be if Apple keeps one of the current generation 15-inch machines in the lineup as an entry model. If the 13-inch MBP also remains in the lineup, the new interfaces, CPUs and perhaps a higher resolution display will be what set it apart from the similarly sized Air.
Users are expected to be able to put this speedy new hardware to work with a new version of Final Cut Pro that should debut around the same time. Not much is known about FCP at this time except that it should be faster.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Find My iPhone: 5 Real-Use Cases - Thieves Beware - iSmashPhone iPhone Blog
189diggsdiggNow that Find my iPhone is free for users with iOS 4.2, why there is little reason not to sign up. The service allows you to locate your device, send it messages, lock it or totally wipe the memory if it happens to get lost or stolen. It's much like HTC's HTCSense.com service.
There have been quite a few stories in the past of people finding their devices by using Find my iPad or Find my iPhone. Let's have a look at some of those fortunate individuals who have been able to track down their devices and been spared the hassle of having to buy a new handset or iPad:
1) Justice Served
About a year ago 15-year-old Dustin Simantob of Colorado was able to recover his and his father's iPhones using the service. On top of that, the police were able to capture the criminals that did it. Apparently, they had been trying for some time, but until then didn't have enough on them to make an arrest.
“so, my dad and I went on a 3 day father and son river trip and parked the car where we get out of the river to leave, so we get up to the cars and all 4 cars had one window broken and all the valuables taken from the car, so we ended up submitting our case to the near by cop and started on our 5 hour journey home, when we got back i remembered that i had set up the “track my iphone” on the mobileme site and immediately got on and tracked it.
it ended up being at a house near by where it was stolen, so i called up the cop that had taken our case and told him where it was located. as soon as i told him the address, he started to laugh, apparently the family had done a few things like this before and the local police had been trying to catch and arrest them but could never get proof that they had been the culprits.
now they had proof. so 4 police showed up at the door of this house and ended up getting mine and my dads iphones back along with my wallet and the Garmen GPS, they also were able to recover the two phones and wallet that was taken from the other car that was broken into. so thanks to mobileme we will all be getting our belongings back and a family of criminals will be put in jail.”
2) Stop my if you've heard this one: someone loses an iPhone in a bar...
A fellow named Kevin and two of his buddies went to a Lego convention. At the end of the day, they hit up a dive bar to grab a bite to eat. Then it happened, he left his iPhone on the table and had forgotten about it when he left. On his way out, he remembered that he had left the handset on the table and returned to the bar to pick it up. Unfortunately, it was nowhere to be found.
Luckily, he had recently activated his MobileMe account along with Find My iPhone. They began the search, and at first it seemed hopeless. The next day, they were led around town by the tracking service and they eventually found it at a bus stop. One of the bar's employees had found it and said he was planning to return it. Of course that's what he said when caught with it.
Image Credit: She Knows.com
3) Mom busts the bad guys
This one happened when a Mom was at the store. She placed the phone down while being attending to her kids, and totally forgot about it, leaving the handset on a store counter.
She and her husband decided to track their iPhone using the service. The were able to pinpoint it down to an apartment complex and called the police. They found the culprit and said that if the thief agreed to give up the handset within five minutes, no charges would be pressed. Needless to say, she got her phone back.
Furthermore, the officer said that he had already found five phones in the exact same manner. In fact, he said that Apple works closely with law enforcement to improve the GPS abilities on the device.
4) Getting even
In Shadyside, a man was attacked by two robbers. They stole his phone and his wallet, asking for his pin number. After a game of cat and mouse, he and the authorities were able to track the thieves, three men with all the stolen property. They were all charged for the crimes, with the two assailants receiving additional charges for the robbery.
5) Amusement Park Idiot
A mom and her daughter were vacationing at a Busch Gardens amusement park. Before boarding one of the roller coasters, they put their belongings in a storage bin meant to safely store items while attendees ride. Unfortunately, someone decided he would run for the woman's purse while no one was watching.
The daughter bumped herself cutting her lip open on the ride. The injury was nothing serious, but in the confusion, someone swooped in and grabbed Mom's purse. The purse was found in the men's restroom, but their phones were gone.
Then, the daughter remembered her MobileMe account. She had the Find My iPhone service activated. Authorities were able to locate the phone, and the culprit and the dirtbag was put in jail.
Thieves Watch Out
Now that everyone on iOS 4.2 can use the Find My iPhone service (even with an older iOS device, if you use a workaround) everyone can locate their lost iOS device. We suggest signing up. After all, it's free.
Isn't technology wonderful?
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Google Voice and FaceTime – Why the Carriers Are Losing Their Voice
Lately it seems like there is endless news around messaging, VoIP and video calling. Apple recently announced they’d added FaceTime support for the Mac, and had shipped 19 million FaceTime-enabled iOS devices since June. Google Voice also made headlines last week for an outage, but I think the bigger news associated with that downtime is how fast they’ve been growing. And there’s been a flurry of startup activity around messaging and communication as well, such as the super innovative GroupMe releasing an Android App.
The resounding theme from all these seemingly disparate announcements is that messaging, voice, video, and chatting applications are on fire. Sure, we all use social media, but it sure hasn’t dampened people’s affinity for texting or making a call.
More revealing, all of this innovation seems to be happening at the application layer, far from the AT&Ts of the world, who are missing another wave of innovation which is happening on top of their networks. It’s very evident that Google and Apple are making overtures to become your de facto voice and messaging provider, and the carriers are sitting with their pants down, struggling to plan how they stay relevant.
Why the Carriers Will Become Irrelevant in Voice and Messaging
It’s easy to bash carriers. I recently wrote about the technical reasons why AT&T’s network is so awful which got their higher ups to contact me and whine about what I’d written. Truth is, there are long-standing reasons behind AT&T’s failures—network decisions take many years to unfold, especially since the telco monopolies are, by their very nature, slow to respond to change and innovation.
But forget the past, let’s look at why the carriers are poised to become more and more irrelevant beyond being pipe providers in the future. And let’s do so specifically around voice and messaging, the bread and butter services that they evolved to provide.
Imagine the future of communication on your smartphone: you’re on a video call with your significant other across the world on different networks, you tap your screen, and instantly their phone screen mimics yours as you flip through photos of your trip while continuing your call. Or imagine sending out an MMS to a group, and when each of your friends open it they immediately tap into a live HD audio/video stream which you’re broadcasting to everyone. No delays, no dialing, and no going in and out of different apps—it just works.
All of these amazing use-cases, and more, will be enabled by 4G wireless standards. This is because 4G is 100% IP-based, which is what the internet was founded upon. Today, voice is routed separately from data on mobile networks due to legacy “circuit-switched” architecture. With LTE, the first phase of 4G, voice and video sessions will be packetized and sent over the network from your smartphone just like any other application layer data, which will open a range of new capabilities.
LTE Now; Voice in 2013 – Are You Kidding Me?
But there’s a roadblock to realizing this vision of ubiquity. Right now the carriers can’t agree on what’s happening with respect to voice. In classic fashion, they are stuck in endless consortium meetings arguing about standards instead of moving forward, picking one, testing, and deploying.
Some carriers are behind a voice technology called IPMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), which is 100% IP-based, and others are clinging to VoLGA (voice over LTE via generic access), which splits mobile voice and messaging apart from the IP-based LTE network in a technique called “circuit-switched fallback”.
Guess when they plan to resolve all this? 2013! Per this AT&T slide from a few weeks ago. And it’s easy to envision any resolution extending years past this date, which is crazy considering what’s at stake for the carriers as they struggle so stay relevant in voice communication.
FaceTime best foreshadowed their dwindling relevance, since video calls over WiFi bypass the carrier network entirely. And though FaceTime doesn’t yet work on 3G you can see the writing on the wall. Meanwhile Google Voice still requires you to dial out using your carrier’s network, but Google’s acquisition of Gizmo5 last year foretells this will go away in favor of full VoIP too. Then of course there’s Skype, which now works over 3G, bypassing the voice network of your carrier too.
The Bureaucracy Behind Why The Carriers are Missing Out
Carriers are in the process of transitioning from a telco model, which is closed, to the internet model, which is open. In the old days it was deemed acceptable for them to stew over standards for multiyear periods, but innovation on the internet doesn’t work this way.
Recently at CTIA, Verizon declined to discuss the VoLTE situation because they simply don’t have anything cohesive to communicate. This is embarrassing, considering their LTE network is supposed to be ready by the end of the year. What this means is that voice will be routed over their old network for years to come—fabulous.
This is absurd, and is symbolic of how consortiums and standards bodies work in telecom—anyone who has ever sold to or interacted with a carrier understands the glacial pace at which they move. What the carriers really need to do is get out of bed and resolve how voice will be packetized, then move forward and deploy it. It’s simply embarrassing that they can’t do this, but it’s not surprising, since they still receive so much revenue from voice plans.
The Internet Wins Again – Go Back to Sleep Carriers
The future in mobile communication is being written at the application layer—both by innovative giants like Apple and Google, and smaller startups such as GroupMe and Twilio—not at the infrastructure layer by the AT&Ts and Verizons of the world. The carriers had a chance to provide a better voice and messaging experience with 4G, and to charge a toll for that experience, but they are missing that window.
Apple and Google are closing it fast. Back in June, when iPhone 4 was released, people wondered why Apple made FaceTime an open standard. Here is one important reason why: A closed standard may have caused an overly fragmented market for video-calling, which would definitely benefit the carriers. This is likely, at least in part, why Steve Jobs decided to open up FaceTime, as any open standards success in video/telephony limits the power of the carriers.
The funny thing is, they seem to be screwing it all up without Steve’s help. There is simply no doubt that the future of voice and messaging is with companies innovating at the application layer, and my guess is there is going to be a ton of investment activity and M&A in this space as new realtime communication tools are developed over the next few years.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Skype 5.0 Beta now available for Mac, with group video calling and Address Book support
Filed under: Utilities, Macintosh, VoIP
Skype 5.0 Beta now available for Mac, with group video calling and Address Book support
by Jay Hathaway (RSS feed) Nov 4th 2010 at 11:45AM
Skype 5.0 Beta has finally hit the Mac, bringing with it the group video calling feature that Skype for WIndows users have been enjoying for a couple of months now. The OS X version also gets some Mac-only perks, though, including a nice new single-window UI and Address Book integration.
The contact list (now attached as a sidebar to the main calling window) will grab all the Address Book contacts for whom you've added phone numbers, and let you call, IM or SMS them, even when they're offline. Meanwhile, a new call control bar floats above your other windows, so you can quickly pause, mute or hang up a call, even while you're in another app. Of course, the most-hyped new feature is group video calling, which will work with up to 10 people, but all participants must be running Skype 5 (on Mac or Windows).One caveat about upgrading to 5.0, though: it breaks some Skype plug-ins, so you might have to downgrade again if you're running any hacks or add-ons you can't live without.
Tags: address book, AddressBook, group video chat, GroupVideoChat, mac, os x, OsX, skype, skype 5.0, Skype5.0, voip
Monday, November 1, 2010
MacBook Air Benchmarks: Fast Enough For Everyday Use, But The Slow Processor Does Hurt Performance
You know, it’s one thing to use subjective and entirely unscientific terms like “feels” or “seems” when it comes to reviewing computers, but there’s something to be said about actually running benchmarks and comparing the numbers to other comparable computers. Numbers don’t lie. So kudos to MacWorld for actually taking the time to see just how impressive, or not, the new MacBook Air is.
Compared to the previous edition of the MacBook Air, the new version performs better in every way, most of which can be attributed to the elimination of tractional hard disk drives (HDD) and the transition to solid state drives (SSD). SSDs don’t need to spin up to a useable state, and their access and write times run circles around HDDs.
Not surprising, however, is that the MacBook Air doesn’t really compare to MacBook Pros featuring Intel Core i5 processors. You may think your MacBook Air is “faster” than your MacBook Pro if all you’re doing is reading Facebook messages, typing in Microsoft Word, or even doing some basic Photoshop editing. The SSDs will make your browser launch faster, for example, so you could simply say, “Oh, it’s faster.”
Well yeah: you’re comparing two different types of storage, one of which is demonstrably faster than the other.
But, try to render a high-resolution video using the MacBook Air, with its Core 2 Duo, then you’ll see how “fast” it is.
We actually had this argument with John. The MacBook Air is great, and probably will be “faster” for your day-to-day use thanks to the SSD, but to have purchased the computer with the express intention of editing video on it may have been a misstep on his part.
Bottom line: the MacBook Air is a state-of-the-art computer in a lot of ways, particularly when it comes to design. And for your average use, the SSDs will be a huge benefit. But don’t think that you’ll be churning out video in Premiere or Final Cut Pro as effectively as you would using a computer with a modern processor.
Then again, how often are you rendering video in the first place?
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Updates From Apple's Mac-Focussed Event by Miguel Helft, New York Times
Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, took the stage at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., today to talk about upgrades to the company’s iLife and Mac OS products, and to unveil two new MacBook Air models. Our live updates from the press event, including color commentary from Sam Grobart, our personal tech editor, are below.
And that’s the end. Check back for our article with more news and analysis from the event. Mr. Jobs says the new MacBook Air has battery life of 7 hours when using Wi-Fi, and 30 days of standby time. “We are really happy with the improvement in battery life,” he says. Sam says: Nice to see that Apple is moving toward more reality-based battery tests. The older standards were basically worthless. In addition to the Air with a 13.3-inch screen, Mr. Jobs shows off one with an 11.6-inch screen, weighing 2.3 pounds. This one has a 5-hour battery life when using Wi-Fi and the same 30 days of standby time. Pricing: $999 for the 11.6-inch screen with 64 gigabytes of memory, $1,199 for 128 gigabytes. For the model with the 13-inch screen: $1,299 for 128 gigabytes, $1,599 for 256 gigabytes. Mr. Jobs says this pricing is aggressive. “We see these as the next generation of MacBooks,” he said. Both models available today. Sam notes: The old MacBook Air was $1,499 or $1,799, depending on the processor. I can’t travel with an iPad. But these? These’ll work. Mr. Jobs says there’s “one more thing” and comes back to the theme for the day, “Back to the Mac.” “We asked ourselves what would happen if a MacBook and an iPad hooked up.” It’s a new MacBook Air. “It is like nothing we’ve ever created before,” Mr. Jobs says. It is 0.68 inches at the thickest point and tapers down to 0.11 inches. Weighs 2.9 pounds. It has a full-size keyboard and trackpad, with a 13.3-inch L.E.D. back-lit high-res display. Inside there’s a Core 2 Duo processor, Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics card — but no optical drive and no hard drive. All the storage is flash. Why? “We know the benefit from the iPad.” It allows for “instant on,” is faster, smaller and lighter, and is completely silent. There is no touchscreen component to Lion. Mr. Jobs says touch-screen technology on a laptop is ergonomically wrong. Instead, the multitouch technology will be built into the trackpad and the mouse. Lion comes with a new feature called Mission Control that allows you to find all of the windows, widgets and apps running on your Mac in one place. Before that, windows and widgets were handled in different ways. A new “launch pad” allows you to see all of your apps, and with a flick of the finger on the trackpad scroll through various screens of them. It looks a lot like the iPad interface. You’ll have to wait a bit for Lion. The plan is to release it next summer. The App Store, however, will come sooner, in 90 days, and will be available on Snow Leopard. Apple will begin accepting app submissions in November. Sam says: It appears that Apple will encourage Mac software developers to sell through the App Store. But will that apply to heavy hitters like Microsoft and Adobe? Will they surrender 30 percent of the sales price to Apple for that privilege? It’s the same sales split as exists for iOS apps. Mr. Jobs moves on to what he calls the “entree” for the day, a new release of Mac OS X, called Lion, that brings features that exist on the iPhone and iPad “back to the Mac.” Lion comes with multitouch gestures, an app store and app home screens that play in full-screen mode on your computer. Sam says: The integration begins. Lion is OS X with a dash of iOS. (But is it me, or does “Lion” ring flat? Doesn’t have quite the punch of “Tiger” or “Panther.”) We are moving on to FaceTime, the video calling feature on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Mr. Jobs says Apple has shipped 19 million FaceTime-ready devices. Now FaceTime comes to the Mac. You can initiate a FaceTime call from the Mac and use it in full-screen mode. A beta release is available today. ILife 11 is free with every new Mac, Mr. Jobs says, and is $49 for people who want to upgrade just the iLife product. It is available today. “We think people are going to have tons of fun” with iMovie 11, Mr. Jobs says. Now on to a demo of GarageBand. Xander Soren, product marketing manager, comes on stage. A new “groove matching” feature allows you to sync tracks in a band that are out of sync. ” It is like an automatic spell checker for bad rhythm,” Mr. Soren says. Sam notes: “We don’t want our songs sounding robotic,” says Mr. Soren. Someone’s not a Kraftwerk fan, apparently. The software has interactive piano and guitar lessons for various levels of players. Sam again: GarageBand as music instructor is intriguing. The program always seemed too specialized to me — what if you don’t play an instrument? This makes it more relevant. A new interactive feature shows you in real time when you make mistakes playing a piece. It shows wrong notes or problems with your timing as you play the piano or the guitar. Garage Band will keep track of your performances and track your improvements, or lack thereof, in a chart. Back to Steve, who says there are more than 5 million people using GarageBand. Back to Mr. Jobs for a look at iMovie 11. “This is a great release,” he says, adding that the No. 1 request Apple got was for better audio editing. So the new version has new audio editing features and a mode that can create “movie trailers” with virtually no effort. Sam says: So much fun with the audio effects in real time. You can slow voices down, add robot sound effects, speed up, change pitch, add other echo and reverb effects, just by hovering over different buttons. Lots of time will be wasted playing with this feature. The automatic trailer feature allows you to create mock trailers with rolling credits naming your “cast,” and fake movie music, including some recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra. Sam says: Now if they had hired the “In a world” guy, that would be something. But the make-your-own-trailers feature is pretty darn cool. We are now all movie stars… or B-list actors, at least. All of the title sequences ape production company logos at the beginning: Columbia, Paramount, etc. You can automatically share your movies on YouTube, Facebook and Vimeo. A new panel in iPhoto lets you know what’s happened with a photograph, for instance telling you who you e-mailed it to, whether or not you posted it on Facebook (and comments that your friends have made) and where it was taken. The software now also automates the creation of photo books and makes them easy to customize. Sam Grobart says: Integration with Facebook and Flickr is a little bit of the mountain moving to Mohammed — bringing the cloud into Apple’s ecosystem. “Let’s move on to some new products,” Mr. Jobs says. He introduces a new version of iLife, iLife 11. The iPhoto application has new ways to e-mail photos and to post them on Facebook. Phil Schiller, a senior vice president, comes up to do a demo. Sam notes: Attention Anthropologie shoppers: Letterpress cards now in iPhoto 11. Mr. Schiller demonstrates a slicker, full-screen version of iPhoto, which has a new map view where photos that are geotagged can be surfaced quickly on the map. With a single click, iPhoto can do a slide show of all your pictures from, say, London. It can also automatically create multimedia slide shows for any album or place you select. The software can find your Facebook or Flickr photos so you can look at them in iPhoto. Also there’s a slicker interface to e-mail photos within iPhoto, without having to go over to your e-mail client. Sam again: Who are the people in Apple photo demonstrations? Are they the 21st-century equivalent of people in drugstore photo frames? Showing a picture of a koala. “Everyone loves koalas,” Mr. Schiller says. Mr. Cook opens with an overview of the Macintosh business. It accounted for 33 percent of Apple’s revenue, or $22 billion, in the fiscal year that just closed. “The Mac company, if it were a standalone company, and we have no plans to do that, would be 110 on the Fortune 100 list,” he said. Mr. Cook says Apple sold 13.7 million Macs in the past year, or three times more than it had three years earlier. And in the most recent quarter, Mac sales surged 27 percent, or 2.5 times faster than the 11 percent growth rate of the overall market for personal computers. Mr. Cook said the Mac growth has outpaced the overall market for the past 18 quarters. It now makes up 20.7 of the United States consumer market, according to NPD. “The tent with the Mac is getting larger and larger,” he said. Back to Steve. Sam Grobart, our personal tech editor, notes: Mr. Cook refers to Consumer Reports as far as customer satisfaction rankings for Macs. Remember that this is the same Consumer Reports that arguably fomented one of the last big Apple events — the iPhone 4 “antennagate” event, when it said it could not recommend the phone. Mr. Jobs thanks everyone for coming. “State of the Mac” is on the big screen, and Tim Cook, chief operating officer, is on stage.2:29 P.M. Wrapping Up
2:18 P.M. More on the MacBook Air Upgrade
2:12 P.M. New MacBook Air
1:58 P.M. Details on the New OS
1:54 P.M. Release the Lions
1:49 P.M. FaceTime on the Mac
1:48 P.M. Rounding Up iLife 11
1:39 P.M. New GarageBand
1:24 P.M. iMovie Update
1:19 P.M. iPhoto 11 Details
1:09 P.M. New Products: iLife 11
1:04 P.M. The Mac Business
1:00 P.M. Kicking Off With the Mac
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