New Software updates from Apple and they are huge
Apple released an update to OS X 10.6 and the iPhone & iPod Touch this week. How big are they?
They are almost half a gigabyte. This is going to be one very long, slow download and update process.
Looks like Mac owners with iPhones are going to have their computers tied up for a number of hours sometime this week.
Remember the old days when the operating system just occupied a few tracks on a 113 kilobyte floppy disk?
On the other hand, the state of the art for OS X technology has advanced another notch this week.
Labels: apple, iphone, macintosh, macosx, software
grammar checker in Mac OS X 10.6 could use some work
I have the latest version of
Mac OS X, Snow Leopard (10.6). Its system-wide grammar checker is a nice touch.
However, I find it not nearly as good yet as the one that has been in Microsoft Word for over a decade. I am puzzled that the one in OS X does not recognize very common, simple sentence structures. I am not complaining too much, though. It pointed out a mistake I made in this short post.
The system-wide spelling checker on the Mac, on the other hand, is extremely nice. I hope the grammar checker catches up soon. It is a harder thing to do, but not that hard. Parsers and dictionaries have been around for ages.
Speaking of which, if you ever want an extremely complete and extremely intelligent dictionary for some program, take a look at
WordNet - it is amazing.
Labels: macintosh, macosx
Apple released very serious OS X updates this week
SERIOUS MAC OS UPDATE JUST RELEASED
TIFF image file rendering bug is in Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6. Apple just released a patch for that, outdated/dangerous Adobe Flash (some people might have updated but many probably have not).
Everyone needs that TIFF bug fixed pronto because there is a possibility of code execution from it. Image files do get served up in ads a lot. TIFFS can be displayed by double-clicking them on desktop, opening them in an image editor,viewing a web page, viewing an applet, viewing a web page of a totally safe company that has been hacked or merely displays an ad which is infected unbeknown to them.
So exit all of your applications, pull down your apple icon menu, and choose Software Update pronto!!
Here is an article and the details -
ARTICLE:
http://www.krebsonsecurity.com/2010/01/security-updates-for-mac-os-x-available/
DETAILS OF FLAWS FIXED WITH UPDATE:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4004Labels: apple, macintosh, macosx, security, snafus
Windows 7 and Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard Compete - but not on price
Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system and Apple's new Snow Leopard (Mac OS 10.6) will compete head to head this Fall for school children's dormroom/classroom "purchasing power".
Due to the timing of the release parents' pocketbooks and kids' piggy banks will be asked to pony up the cost of upgrading the Windows Vista and Mac OS X 10.5 operating systems to the latest version.
In a shocker to Windows and Mac users alike, Microsoft is asking Windows users to pay almost seven times more, have a really tricky upgrade path, and - oh, yeah - wait.
By contrast, Apple today shipped the boxed Snow Leopard (Mac OS 10.6) upgrade for Leopard (10.5) users and they are
selling it for only $29.99. That is right, $29.99. I read that in an article last night, thought it a misprint, and verified it at lunchtime today by
checking on Apple's web site. That is the price.
Windows 7 has a
tentative price but is not shipping Microsoft product yet. The company has released a prospective master image of the OS to manufacturing and it is expected to find its way to willing consumers' hands this fall.
Windows 7 Pro, the normal version of Windows will sell for $199. In the old days, not so much. Today, however, there is a recession going on, IT budget and consumer belts have been tightened and - oh, look - Apple is selling its OS upgrade for $29.
Windows 7 Home is to be not much cheaper than the so-called Pro version. Windows 7 Home will cost $119 which is %60 percent of the real version. It is a discount but in the past networking features that home users needed had been whittled out of the Home version and support was cut within a few years after introduction. Pretty bad, if you are a home user and need to connect your computer to the Internet and have vendor support. One could argue that Windows users who connect up to the Internet need vendor support more than anyone. So, I guess that means that Windows Pro is the only viable choice for them.
Windows 7 Starter is kind of a joke compared to the normal operating systems that have been around for over two decades. It will only allow running three programs at once. That means even a grade school child might have difficulty using it as they researched on the web for a composition that they were writing. One can just imagine the plaintive juvenile "notifications" to parents: "Mom, my operating system can only run THREE programs - I need an UPGRADE".
It is probably a viable option for people who cannot stand multi-tasking and do not care if vendor support gets chopped off almost right away.
In fact, it might be a really good option for them. Or they might want to weight against other possible choices like a Linux Live CD, a copy of MS-DOS from their attic, or a low-cost Mac Mini system that is energy efficient and comes with Snow Leopard ($29 Mac OS) free.
Also, they could chose not to upgrade, wait until next year, and buy a liquidated or second-hand Windows 7 PC at fire sale prices. While that is not so attractive to business users who want their computers as identical as possible, home users typically just buy one or two at a time and so the computers hardly need to have much in common with each other.
Windows 7 is coming but it looks like it is going to be a really expensive, difficult upgrade by today's standards. Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Panther) is here now and looks like an inexpensive, easy upgrade.
Apple users will get to do their upgrading at the beginning of this semester and Windows users will get to do their upgrade at the end of this semester. Long before Christmas shopping season, everyone will know which have been most pleased by their upgrades.
Labels: apple, macintosh, macosx, microsoft, mswin, win7
I noticed that
Camino version 1.5.4 has been released. So, if you are still running 1.5.3 or something older then it is probably going to suggest you update it the next time you launch.
Camino is a neat sort of hybrid. It has the Firefox web page rendering engine inside of it, and a very Safari-like look-and-feel on the outside. It has extra good Mac OS X integration too, much like Safari does.
Labels: macintosh, macosx, software, web
A lot of times people are left with a problem when a new operating system is released.
They have to guess what the new features are. Or read a dozen different articles, each of which portrays different things - and fit the pieces together. Or trawl through many pages on the manufacturer's web site.
To alleviate the effort required to find how much new stuff you will like in Leopard,
Apple put the
whole list of new Mac OS X features on one web page.
That way you can find out for yourself what interest you. No need to go on a big scavenger hunt for the information this time.
Labels: apple, macintosh, macosx
In the first week or few weeks after Apple or Microsoft has released a new operating system, a couple things happen.
One, the company releases a software update right after releasing the brand new OS. Two, people find some significant new bugs and affecianados figure out just how to prevent or deal with the problems they can cause. Third, more patches come out.
It seems like the most intense flurry of this activity takes place during the first week the new OS is released. The highly elevated bug finding/fixing seems to go on for about three weeks or so after that.
Then things seem to settle down quickly.
If you are risk-aversive, do not have as much data or software backed up as you should, or your computer is used for vital activities every single day - then I think you should wait until Leopard version of
Mac OS X has been out about
three weeks (mid-November 2007) before actually installing it.
That way the initial "breaking in" of the released version of the OS will have been done for you. The combined efforts of the most active members of the Macintosh user community and Apple employees do a good job of knocking down some possible big surprises in the brand new OS.
The same pattern has been evident in releases of Linux and MS-Windows.
The phenomenon is not new. MS-DOS 6.0 - which was actually updated on a seemingly continual basis until MS-DOS 6.22 was released.
The situation does not seem to be getting worse. If anything, things have gotten much better in this regard since MS-DOS 6 came out in the 1990s. However, new OS releases are still not perfect.
No harm done if you buy your OS and do not install it that same day. You should be
aware of the return policy for your purchase.
If you buy it 10 days, 14 days, or 90 days before you unwrap it and try to install the OS, you miight run afoul of limits on how long return limits and warranty periods cover. So find out what those are, and plan your purchase and "install day" accordingly.
And when you do install, enjoy the new goodies! Waiting can make them all the sweeter.
Labels: apple, macosx, safety
You can download the
new version of Elgato EyeTV 2 (version 2.5) if you have purchased EyeTV 2 or it came with your EyeTV device.
Thanks to
Elgato's innovations, you do not have to use your TV to watch television, you don't have to buy a TiVo to have a great DVR, and you don't have to spend a lot of money to have both!
Labels: digital, hdtv, macintosh, macosx, software, television
