Posts tagged with "mac"

MacBook Air Supplies At Best Buy And Others Dwindle, Refresh Creeps Closer

It is pretty clear that a refreshed MacBook Air line is coming soon, based on the numerous rumors and reports that have come in over the past month or so. Further evidence of an imminent refresh came late yesterday night when 9to5 Mac discovered that Best Buy had stopped shipping all MacBook Airs from its website. Although they are still selling them from their retail stores, stock is reportedly low, with some “exceptionally low on MacBook Air stock”.

The UK Best Buy online store is also completely out of stock except for the 128GB version, which is low in stock and can only be collected from certain retail locations.  The story is similar with Canadian retailer Future Shop which is also low on stock as well as Amazon, which has low stock in a number of countries. 9to5 Mac also speculated in its post that July 4th could be a potential release date for the refreshed models, other rumors had suggested the launch would correlate with the launch of Lion.

The refreshed line of MacBook Airs is widely expected to include the new Sandy Bridge processors from Intel, as well as the new Thunderbolt I/O port which made its debut in this years refresh of the MacBook Pro models, and more recently in refreshed iMacs – both refreshes also brought new Sandy Bridge processors.

[Via 9to5 Mac]

Mac OS X 10.6.8 Now Available

Apple has just released a new version of Mac OS X Snow Leopard, reaching version 10.6.8. The update is available now in the Software Update control panel, or Apple’s website. Among various bug fixes including issues with Preview and the well-known Mac Defender malware, 10.6.8 “enhances” the Mac App Store to get it ready for Lion in July.

Changelog:

  • Enhance the Mac App Store to get your Mac ready to upgrade to Mac OS X Lion
  • Resolve an issue that may cause Preview to unexpectedly quit
  • Improve support for IPv6
  • Improve VPN reliability
  • Identify and remove known variants of Mac Defender

Below are the direct links for all the updates (including Security) Apple released today:

Review: Pogoplug Software Puts Your Mac In The Cloud

Yesterday, I scored a free Pogoplug Software Premium account thanks to the good folks over at The Next Web. I’m a big fan of well-done cloud services that allow me to access my stuff anywhere I go, and as I’m also always interested in desktop solutions aimed at securely mirroring your computers’ contents to the cloud, I was excited to install the new Pogoplug app on Lion and take it for a spin. The results are surprisingly good, but far from perfect.

Pogoplug became popular a few years ago thanks to a network-attached device that enables you to put media in it, and access it from a variety of devices and the web because it is actually connected to the Internet. Rather than forcing you to buy an additional piece of hardware to plug into your home router and waste space on your desk, though, the new Pogoplug Software product allows you to access your media in your personal cloud at $29 per year for unlimited computers and devices. That’s undoubtedly a great offer: once installed on your Mac, the Pogoplug app will scan your computer’s drive and default locations (like Music and Movies) for content, and make it available online. Once authenticated, you’ll be able to stream music, watch a movie, or read a PDF from an iPhone, iPad, or web browser. The concept is not too far away from what Jim Dalrymple at The Loop said Apple was working on to enable users to put files in the cloud. The solution turned out to be a little different as we know, yet Pogoplug Software holds up to this idea: it’s your Mac, mirrored to the cloud, and available anywhere. Read more

OS X Lion Concept: iMessage App

Ever since Apple unveiled iMessage for iOS 5, its new universal messaging protocol to send free text messages, videos and pictures to other iOS users, many have wondered whether the new app would be integrated with the Mac as well, perhaps in a new version of iChat. iMessage for iOS brings some new functionalities like delivery and read receipts in real-time, as well as sync and Messages.app integration, but it resembles the desktop iChat in the way it visualizes new messages, or lets you see when a person is typing. With the upcoming iCloud integration in OS X Lion, launching this Fall and available right now to developers for testing as a beta add-on, there is the possibility Apple will release a standalone iMessage app for Mac in the Mac App Store once iCloud is available for all. Just like they did with FaceTime, the app could be sold for $0.99 in the Store, and pre-installed by default on new systems.

Based on this kind of speculation, designer Jan-Michael Cart, creator of other iOS 5 concepts we posted ahead of WWDC, has come up with an interesting idea for iMessage on OS X Lion. The messaging protocol could have its own desktop app powered by real-time notifications, bounce on the Dock upon receiving new messages, and have a Mail-like toolbar for composing new messages and search among existing ones. We imagine having a desktop iMessage app could mean users would be able to rely on system-wide integration with Services to send any text to iMessage, as well as start a new FaceTime session from a contact in iMessage or the Address Book.

The concept video is interesting and we have embedded it after the break. iMessages are currently enabled in the iOS 5 betas for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, but some code strings found in the latest Lion developer preview suggest Apple might be working on a desktop counterpart to launch later this year.
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Macs Now Account For 11% Of Corporate Computers, Windows PCs Still Dominate With 87%

A new report out today shows that whilst Microsoft may still completely dominate the enterprise landscape in terms of desktop computers, Apple is still making steady progress in the market. According to market research by Forrester, the share of Mac OS X in corporate USA has climbed from 9.1% in April 2010 to 11% in March this year.

Ben Gray, co-author of the report, attributed the increase in Mac OS X’s share of the market because of a shift towards “BYO [bring your own] device programs” that workers were pushing for - workers are now expecting Mac and iOS support. Such “consumerization” of the enterprise has been driven by the popularity of the iPad which has shown some significant penetration in the enterprise market - driven by workers wanting to bringing their own iPad into work.

Nonetheless, as Macworld notes, “Microsoft remains a hegemony in the enterprise – 86.7% of all corporate computers run one of its operating system”.  Windows XP, over a decade old, remains the dominate OS in the enterprise with 59.9% of the market, Windows 7 is next with roughly 21% and then Vista with just 6.2%.

[Via Macworld]

Wren for Mac: Tweet Without Distraction

Many of us live in the Twitter world. We use it for breaking news, short conversations, giving input or sharing links with friends. It’s all about comradery one-hundred and forty characters at a time. Social networking is an important aspect of life these days but there are times that we need to detach our brains from the newest iPhone 5 rumors or who @CodyFink was seen with in South Beach last weekend. For those times we need only to tweet without distractions, there is Wren.

Wren is the hatchling of designer Andrew Ramos and developer Kevin Smith. This Mac app lets you tweet without losing focus on the task at hand. Like blinders for your workday and like a librarian for your Twitter experience, Wren lets you tweet without distraction. Wren isn’t a feature-filled Twitter client; it will let you tweet (of course), save drafts for later tweeting, let you use your favorite link shortening service, auto-complete usernames of people that you follow, show and hide app with customizable global keyboard shortcut, and quickly see what and when you last tweeted.

Wren has been beautifully designed with soft, subtle colors and great attention to detail; from the notebook styled composition area to the URL shortener glyph, one can tell that the team took their time to design a great app. The reason Andrew and Kevin made Wren was to avoid distraction and not lose productivity. Turning off Twitter for a few days is great for productivity, but there’s no way to tweet what’s being worked on or funny overheards (OH:) without opening a full-featured Twitter app. Wren is a great way to tweet without seeing your timeline, especially those of us who follow over 500 accounts (like me).

The app is available now in the Mac App Store for $4.99, and the guys even created a really nice video explaining why they created Wren, which you can check out after the break.
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