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Posts tagged with "mac"

Is The Mac Ready for Multitouch?→

Is The Mac Ready for Multitouch?

As good as I think Apple’s touch products are, I find it hard to believe they’d let the Mac grow stagnant, especially when sales continue to climb. The Mac may have taken a backseat to iOS products at WWDC, but it’s going to remain a core product for the foreseeable future. They’re not going to suggest you write iPhone apps on a Windows machine, if nothing else.

That’s why there’s some speculation—at least in the Gizmodo editor’s chat room—that the October 20th event could hold a big reveal for a new MacBook Air that includes some sort of new multitouch method, a flip-over touchscreen that turns the Air into a tablet. Instead of running iOS, however, the new Air would run OS X.

Something feels off to me about that idea. I have a hard time imagining that Apple would release a hybrid product that instantly makes current Macs feel outdated and makes iOS products like the iPad seem less powerful.

But at the same time, if Apple were going to experiment with bringing multitouch to the Mac, the Air would be the product with which to do it.

Joel Johnson over at Gizmodo argues that the Mac’s transition to multitouch technology is inevitable. I agree, but I think it’s in Apple’s best interest to keep product lines well separated and distinct. I frankly don’t see Apple releasing a “convertible computer” because the way I see it, Apple thinks compromises suck. They never liked “half & half” products. I may be mistaken (we’ll know on Wednesday), but I don’t see Apple ever shipping something like this.

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Zune could Befriend iPod in Possible Mac Matrimony (Update: Windows Phone Sync Confirmed)

Microsoft was never able to hang with the cool kids even after they released a rather sublime MP3 player you might now as the Zune. In its three iterations from a brown rubber brick to sexy brushed metal beast, wanting Mac owners could never tap into Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace (which offers a pretty good subscription service) through their Xbox inspired Zune software, or enjoy the startling good looks of the Zune’s eerily minimal (and sometimes purposefully illegible) interface.

Now with the release of Windows Phone 7, Microsoft may finally be willing to reach out to Macintosh owners interested in experiencing Redmond’s take on social media, communication, and of course music and video. Engadget reports this evening that the Zune software (and of course all the Zuney hardware that goes with it) may be ported to OS X thanks to a tip from a UK Microsoft Marketing guru (and Microsoft does have gurus you know) by the name of Oded Ran. In an exclusive #WP7 announcement on Twitter, the promise of being able to use “Zune” on our Macs to sync with all of the upcoming phones was made, though the announcement was deleted shortly after.

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Making Gmail Play Nice With Mac OS X Mail→

Making Gmail Play Nice With Mac OS X Mail

So, you want to use Mac OS X Mail with Gmail, which is an excellent, free webmail service from Google? While Snow Leopard makes the default setup is very easy, there are some rough edges of Google’s somewhat-wonky IMAP setup that need to be smoothed off for a better experience.

I’ve written out the steps to reach “Gmail IMAP in Mac OS X Mail” nirvana. While that doesn’t roll of the tongue, it does soothe the soul of the Gmail-using Mac lover.

Great guide. Some neat tricks I didn’t know about in there. [via Brooks Review]

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Notational Velocity with Fullscren Mode, Horizontal Layout, Menubar Icon

Notational Velocity is one of my favorites apps for the Mac: it’s a minimal and focused writing application that enables you to entirely navigate between notes using the keyboard, it integrates with Simplenote and can store its plain text files anywhere on your computer - Dropbox folder included. It autosaves notes so that you don’t have to worry about losing anything. Also, you just have to press Enter to create a new note. It’s simple and powerful at the same time. It’s free and open source.

Its open-source nature gave birth to a plethora of “forks”, alternative versions of the software with custom modifications and features. Maybe you remember Steven Frank’s excellent Markdown fork. Today’s mod comes from Elastic Threads: it’s the Notational Velocity you’re used to, only with horizontal layout and fullscreen mode enabled. Read more

.Mac HomePage Shutting Down on Nov. 8th, iLife ‘11 To Drop on Nov. 9th?

The Loop is reporting that earlier this morning Apple sent an email to MobileMe members announcing that web content published via the old .Mac service will no longer be available starting November 8th. The email:

Dear MobileMe member,

Over a year ago, we retired the .Mac HomePage application for publishing new pages, but allowed previously published pages to remain viewable on the web. On November 8, 2010, we will discontinue online viewing of photos, movies, and files shared using .Mac HomePage.Please note that your content will not be deleted. Any photos, movies, or files you have published using HomePage will continue to remain on your MobileMe iDisk in the Movies, Pictures, or Public folders.

We recommend MobileMe Gallery as a great way to share photos and movies on the web. Please read these instructions on how to move your HomePage photos and movies to MobileMe Gallery.MobileMe members who have published web pages using iWeb will not be affected by this change. If you have used other software to publish web content to MobileMe or .Mac, or have questions about this change, please read this FAQ.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Thank you for being a MobileMe member.

Sincerely,

The MobileMe Team

Now, Nov. 8th is a Monday. Web content is published through iWeb, which is part of the iLife suite. Shall we expect iLife ‘11 to drop on Nov. 9th, a Tuesday? That’d be likely (and definitely welcome). Previous rumors about iLife ‘11 included iDVD, iOS integration and 64-bit speculations.

HimmelBar Lets You Launch Apps From Your Mac Menubar

Mac users have been debating for years whether applications should be launched from the dock, from the appropriate Finder window, from an app launcher (Launchbar, Quicksilver, Alfred) or even via keyboard-triggered Applescripts. The truth is you can’t find a “better way” for everyone, as a user’s specific workflow is always to be considered and it’s impossible (and silly) to make people agree on a particular way of doing something with a computer.

Debates aside, here’s neat little app I didn’t about before and I’ve just discovered thanks to One Thing Well: HimmelBar lets you launch (and browse) installed applications directly from the menubar. Read more