Apple gives pointers for finding which Mac is right for you
This is nice.
Apple is realizing that figuring out which Mac to buy is difficult, so they made it simple.
I have noticed a lot of kids hanging around Apple stores the past few months. I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of students in the US with shiny, new iMacs and MacBooks on their desks next week.
This Christmas, I gave my mom a digital/analog Hybrid personal video recorder (PVR) for her iMac Macintosh computer.
After decades of the family reading in Popular Science and elsewhere how families would soon have flat-screen television sets, she now finally has one of her own.
The device was very inexpensive, quite small, and state of the art. It is made/sold by a company called Elgato.
Elgato also provides very nice custom software for these devices, which are basically virtual television sets.
You plug one into the USB 2.0 port in the back of your recent model Apple Macintosh computer, and then plug a TV antenna or cable TV cable into it.
It works with both the new digital/HDTV format that everyone is converting to, and the traditional analog TV format that everyone used back in the 1900s.
An iMac like hers has: a 20-nch color flat panel display, MPEG video support, digital audio support, a DVD-burner, and a really big hard disk. So there is really not too much of the hardware you find in a TiVo that is missing from her Macintosh.
Just the TV tuner!
Which is exactly what this Elgato EyeTV Hybrid device provides. It can receive either analog or digital TV signals, just like the new TiVo Series 3 systems.
However, unlike TiVo Series 3 - it does not carry a $799 price tag (nothing anywhere near that) and it does not require spending a dime on the electronic programming guide. I just received an email from Elgato this week and they are keeping the same program guide service free until the end of 2008.
In addition, this device comes with a very nice free remote control, and it works with the sleek, minimalist Apple Remote that comes with all new iMacs introduced this year.
Mom and my stepdad are opening their Christmas presents tonight. So I got to blog about it one day sooner. Tomorrow, I guess the whole family will be able to see digital HDTV.
The future is here!
And it does not cost anywhere close to a thousand bucks!!
Currently playing in iTunes: A Kind Of Magic by Queen.
Apple has put up a terrific page that tells you what the best free applications that came with your Mac are, and how to use them all.
Very highly recommended for those new Mac owners who have bought a Mac, know basics of how to use it, but still have a lot of dark, fuzzy corners they have not peered into yet.
Do not get overwhelmed - get a little mini-tutorial instead!!
...the great goodies that came with your computer. Each lesson introduces you to a different application or Tiger feature, and gives you a quick run-through on how to use it effectively.
OS X FOSS portable applications are packaged so you can carry around on any portable device, USB thumb drive, iPod, portable hard drive, memory card, other portable device (or also on your internal hard disk), taking your preferences with you.
Thunderbird 2 is n beta now - and it was one feature that is very interesting: tags.
Tagging has become quite the hot thing on the social web and Web 2.0 scene.
Tagging is a powerful tool for associating keywords with items stored in a data set.
Combined with other features like smart folders (dynamically updated saved searches) it makes for a really powerful yet simple way to organize email.
Another neat thing about this is that Gmail also allows tagging, with a limited number of different tags, alas. Thunderbird should have no problem accommodating all the ones a Gmail user has, though.
It will probably require writing a Thunderbird addon to read the tags, though.
Here is part of an announcement today of the new tagging feature in Thunderbird.
Message Tags: Create your own tags for organizing email. Messages can be assigned any number of tags. Tags can be combined with saved searches and mail views to make it easier to organize email.
I wonder how this can be used with RSS items in Thunderbird?
By the way, the notice I saw was for the Mac version, which is why I posted here. I assume the PC version is out too and that it has the same feature set.
If you have been thinking about buying World of WarCraft for yourself, or as a Christmas present for someone this month - check these videos out. I really think this will push you over the edge.
World Of WarCraft has run on the Macintosh and the Windows PC computer since its first release 2 years ago. Really old Macs might not be able to keep up with the steep rendering demands of the game.
However, for the kind of Macs Apple is putting out today, running World of WarCraft is a piece of cake.
I like writing software, listening to music (mostly country and rock but a little of everything), walking around outside, reading (when I have the time), relaxing in front of my TV watching my TiVo, playing with my cat, and riding around in my hybrid gas/electric car.
