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Posts tagged with "mac"

FaceTime for Mac Now Available in the Mac App Store, 720p Video Calling

Ahead of the new MacBook Pros, Apple launched the final version of FaceTime for Mac in the Mac App Store today. It’s priced at $0.99. The new version of FaceTime for Mac will allow 720p video calling Mac-to-Mac with supported Intel models that have a FaceTime HD camera – the new MacBook Pros. New MacBook Pro owners will get the app pre-installed, other users will have to buy it from the Mac App Store.

Video calls require a built-in FaceTime camera, an iSight camera (built-in or external), a USB video class (UVC) camera, or a FireWire DV camcorder; and a 128-Kbps upstream and downstream Internet connection. Making HD video calls requires a built-in FaceTime HD camera and a 1-Mbps upstream and downstream Internet connection. Receiving HD video calls requires a supported Intel-based Mac (for a complete list, visit http://support.apple.com/bk/HT4534).

Full description below. Read more

Bodega Update Adds Background Updating

Bodega, the alternative Mac App ‘store’, has been updated to version 1.4 and has a new feature that allows Bodega to update apps in the background. The app has also received extensive feature and performance improvements.

The background updater works as a background daemon that will check once a week for any applications that can be updated. It utilizes the Sparkle update framework, so whilst it may not work for every app, it should work for most. Bodega does not have to be running for the daemon to check and users have the option of ignoring pending updates if they wish.

[Via MacNN]

SyncMate 3 Syncs Androids To Mac Over WiFi, Bluetooth, & USB

Why are we talking about Androids? Let’s just say our little green friends need some love too, and there’s nothing like a quick trip down syncing lane to remind us that manually inserting tunes onto your SDCard is definitely a lot more painful than iTunes. Without bloated music software, how can you manage your Droid or Nexus One? Eltima Software has the answer with their launch of SyncMate 3, which is a well rounded information manager I reviewed not too long ago. If you sport the latest in Google technology, SyncMate’s latest update can mount your Android phone wirelessly or by cable, and sync contact information like music, images, and video straight to the device.

One of my complaints was SyncMate was its interface, but the latest rendition is much improved to fit our sometimes picky standards. Plus, I quite like having a portrait of Andy giving me a quick link to my Motorola Droid when it’s time to load a podcast or two. If you’re still syncing with those Windows PCs, SyncMate also gives you more control over which accounts you want to pull information from.

If you have Android phone and use a Mac (don’t forget SyncMate is on the PC too), you’ll want to check out the latest update at Eltima Software. SyncMate Expert includes all the features described above (including the ability to manage SMS which is neat), and costs only $39.95 for a personal license (good for two Macs).

Lion To Feature “UI Overhaul”, Developer Beta Soon?

OS X 10.7 Lion was first shown off in October last year at the ‘Back to the Mac’ event with an expected launch of summer 2011. As we near the beginning of spring, TechCrunch has reported that it has seen a significant spike in traffic from computers running Lion. This, along with what TechCrunch has heard, suggests that Lion is being widely tested internally at Apple, perhaps in anticipation of a beta soon, they also note that:

And while we already know some of the new features thanks to Apple’s preview, there are still a few surprises, apparently. One of these is a much-anticipated UI overhaul. But that means that developers are going to need to be ready when it rolls out. And along those lines, we’re hearing that a developer beta should begin soon. There’s no firm timetable for this yet, but again, we’re only 4 months away from the summer.

This makes some sense to us here at MacStories; Apple would likely want to release a beta before WWDC so that some of the training sessions at WWDC can be about Lion, particularly if there are any significant changes to UI and then launch Lion at WWDC or soon after.

[Via TechCrunch]

Sixth Beta of 10.6.7 Now Available in Mac Dev Center

A sixth beta of Mac OS X 10.6.7 has been seeded to developers, and it’s available now for download in the Mac Dev Center. Build number is 10J860. No known issues have been reported in the build’s seed notes, and like the previous beta focus areas include Safari, Bonjour, Mac App Store, AirPort, SMB and Graphic Drivers.

The fifth beta of OS X 10.6.7 was seeded 5 days ago to developers. Apple is clearly accelerating the development of the new version of the OS, which should come out soon.

NPD: US Mac Sales Up 20%, Apple Set To Sell 3.6 Million Macs This Quarter

New US sales data from the NPD Group show that Apple’s Mac sales have increased 20 percent year over year, which is inline with what is required to meet analyst expectations of 3.6 million Mac sales in the March quarter.

The growth is slightly below the 22 percent growth that was predicted but analyst Gene Munster did note that Apple had seen increased international growth of the Mac platform. Furthermore the now near inevitable launch of updated MacBook’s this week will likely give the Mac sales a boost for the final month in the March quarter.

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#MacStoriesDeals - Tuesday

So, an unofficial iPad 2 announcement for Wednesday, March 2. Do you believe? Here are today’s deals on iOS, Mac, and Mac App Store apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get ‘em while they’re hot!

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Increase Your Mac’s Volume with Boom

You’ve been there before: you’ve reached the maximum volume level on your Mac, but that Youtube audio is just too low. Or, you’ve bought a pair of fancy new speakers for your MacBook Air but the default volume output doesn’t satisfy you. The annoyances of low volume in situations when you’d like to rock out your room are terrible, if you ask me. But luckily, a Mac app properly named Boom by Global Delight will allow you to dramatically increase the volume of your OS X machine with a simple slider in the menubar. Read more