Written by Benny Ling | 08 November 2011
Posted in Apple

There's a little controversy surrounding the upcoming sandboxing rule that will govern all Mac App Store apps in the near future. Sandboxing is a pretty big deal because it means that apps will have far less privileges on the system than they had before — being restricted even further, and in some cases, being denied access to peripherals altogether. Ars Technica has a breakdown on why Apple's Mac App Store sandboxing requirement isn't in the interests of developers and users alike — if only for the sole reason that apps won't be able to do as much.

Apple Design Awards aren't just handed out to any developer of any old app — fart app or otherwise. No, an app has to exhibit a certain quality, a certain something to be considered for an Apple Design Award, and that special something may just be a few special somethings, as revealed by UX Magazine.

Written by Benny Ling | 07 November 2011
Posted in Apple

It's been a while, but Winamp has reared its ugly head again — and this time, it's on the Mac. Preferred by many Windows for music playback, Winamp (now for the Mac) was released a few days ago, mostly to enable music syncing to Android phones using the Winamp for Android app, by allowing Winamp for Mac users to sync their iTunes library, something that some similar apps also do.

Apple may want to kill off the Mac Pro, and BareFeats have compared the Mac Pro (now a few revisions old) to the current iMac to see how the two machines stack up in terms of performance when using pro apps. The gap is definitely closer with the latest Intel CPUs, but it's probably worth noting that a big part of the Mac Pro appeal is its expandability — four hard drive bays goes a long way when thinking about upgrades.

Written by Benny Ling | 04 November 2011
Posted in Apple

It seems like 2012 is already shaping up to be a big year for Apple, as multiple product rumours start circling. We already know there's going to be new iOS products (the iPad 3, possibly with Retina Display, and of course an as yet un-rumoured iPhone 5 or 6) and now there's a rumour from Digitimes that says Apple will completely overhaul the iMac and MacBook Air lines, too. But that's the thing: with the exception of the MacBook Air, which is the most recent Mac to receive any kind of redesign, how much more different could the iMac really get?

If you're using Lion 10.7.2 and use iCloud, there's a hidden folder that, if used correctly, allows you to sync files with iCloud across Macs. The cool thing about this folder is that you can use it to invisibly sync any files across Macs, anything from common documents and photos to even whole folders. The system even supports conflict resolution, and is a pretty neat trick (that is, if you're not already using something like Dropbox to do the same).

Written by Benny Ling | 03 November 2011
Posted in Apple

Over at Anandtech there's a nice little article which reviews the Lacie Little Big Disk, which now comes in a super-speedy Thunderbolt configuration. Thunderbolt isn't quite as prevalent as Apple would like, and the current devices are either in the very early stages or just out of reach for the average consumer, even with the Apple Thunderbolt Cinema Display — so does the Little Big Disk fill the gap for more affordable Thunderbolt-based storage? Anandtech has the full review.

It's always exciting when apps that have been in beta or pre-release stages come out as 1.0s, and Alfred is no exception. Alfred, for those who haven't used or heard of the app before, is like a super-charged version of Spotlight — you can launch applications, perform all sort of "actions", do a variety of things on the web, and it's kind of like the Spotlight you always wanted, but didn't know you needed.

Written by Benny Ling | 02 November 2011
Posted in Apple

Apple Retail chief Ron Johnson has now officially left the company, after announcing his departure back in June. He was the one behind many great ideas in Apple Retail Stores worldwide, and he was the man behind concepts like the Genius Bar and the overall experience that is shopping at an Apple Retail Store.

AppleInsider reports on a new Mac trojan that is a little more malicious than previous trojans, this time taking control of your GPU to generate Bitcoins, a form of electronic currency. The "DevilRobber" trojan also has the much more concerning ability to steal usernames and passwords, and can also spy on users by taking screenshots and uploading them to a remote web server.

Written by Benny Ling | 01 November 2011
Posted in Apple

The MacBook Air already comes in 11 and 13-inch varieties, but what consumers really want is a 15 inch version of the MacBook Air with all the power of a 15-inch MacBook Pro (or perhaps just the larger screen real-estate. If the rumours from sites like MacRumors are true, we could very well see a much thinner 15" Mac laptop in the near future.

Apple has 30% more employees than it had this time last year, and it's still one of the most profitable companies on the planet. A report from Fortune says Apple has 60,400 employees — and with 6.62 billion dollars of profit over the past year, that's around $110,000 of profit per employee. What's even more impressive is that Apple has one seventh the number of employees as IBM, yet generates over 13 times more profit.

Written by Benny Ling | 31 October 2011
Posted in Apple

Forrester research is a leading market research group that many in enterprise listen to with a keen ear, and they've just told their IT departments of their vast enterprise market to support the Mac. Back in 2008 they were quoted as saying "Windows is the only desktop you need support", and now they're completely back-pedalling on that statement and saying that Mac users are the ones who are the most productive, people who use new technologies and find ways to be more productive.

Patently Apple analyse a new Apple patent relating to iCloud which points to iCloud storage with much more capacity which is currently available. The patent itself actually seems to describe some sort of "librarian service" which manages the data from multiple users and so on, but reveals how Apple could eventually push iCloud storage to 1TB.

Written by Benny Ling | 28 October 2011
Posted in Apple

Apple released a slew of software updates yesterday. First up was EFI updates for the iMac, Mac Mini, and MacBook Pro, all including fixes for Lion Internet Recovery, with the iMac version of the update actually adding support for Lion Internet Recovery on the 2011 iMac (with Thunderbolt). IPhoto 9.1.2 was also released in order to address an issue with a specific video codec, and finally, QuickTime 7.7.1 for Windows was also released in order to address some security issues.

Pixelmator, the very popular image editing app for the Mac, has been updated to version 2.0. The new version has heaps of cool new features, like a new look and feel, drawing tools and shapes, and, of course, complete support for Lion. Pixelmator 2.0 is available in the Mac App Store right now for $38.99, and is a free upgrade for any users who purchased the previous version through the Mac App Store.

Written by Benny Ling | 27 October 2011
Posted in Apple

There's a report over at MacRumors that says Apple are planning to build a solar farm right next to their gargantuan data centre in Nortah Carolina, which will probably be used to generate a large percentage of power for the facility when the solar farm is up and operational. Perhaps this has something to do with how Apple also hired the Yahoo data centre chief just a few days ago.

Mac accessory company Twelve South has released the second version of their USB speaker, the BassJump. There's also a new version of the software that aims to blend the music between the bass of the BassJump and the mostly-treble of your MacBook speakers. Most of all though, the BassJump just looks really, really cool.

Written by Benny Ling | 26 October 2011
Posted in Apple

There's some noise being made on the internet about the Apple HDTV set once again, and the latest news is a report from Bloomberg which says that iTunes creator Jeff Robbin is leading the team behind the rumoured Apple HDTV. There's also rumours flying that there's a prototype out, but the actual product is probably at least a year or more away, and will also include some sort of Siri and iCloud functionality.

The original iPod turned ten years old a few days ago, and Ars Technica has taken another look at the iconic device that started it all. From form factor and navigation to syncing with iTunes, plus if you've got one lying around, you can still use it as a glorified hard drive — provided you've got a Firewire cable, that is.