Archive for February, 2009

A few thoughts on Safari 4 Beta.

Apple | Software/Freeware | Web 2.0.fuTurE 0 No Comments

I have been using Safari Beta 4 for close to 48 forty-eight hours now. While not blowing my mind wide open, it does offer a few useful features.

    • Cover Flow, while useful in iTunes, finds a way to be even more useful as a web browser feature. Cover Flow in Safari allows you to visually search your bookmarks and history, a welcomed feature for someone like me who tends to forget names much easierfeatures-technologies-webkit-20090217 then faces.
    • Top Sites. While not being incredibly useful, is in my opinion, much better then a static home page. The ability for it to inform you of which pages have changed since you lasted visited them is a nice RSS-esque feature.
    • Nitro Engine. While totally having a lame name, it’s always nice to be able to load the many pages of the www just that much faster.

    So, as LeVar Burton would say:  You don’t have to take my word for it. Check it out for yourself. Apple.com/Safari

    The Week In Review.

    Apple | Hacks/Mods | Rumor | Tips 0 No Comments

    newminiWhat did Apple do the week of Febuaray 15th – 21st? Read on to get the goods.

                    Keep your eyes open for my upcoming review of Linux Mint 6 (64bit) on the MacBook Pro as well more Apple tips, rumors, and news!

                      Interested in what I do when I’m not blogging? Follow me on Twitter to stay up to date. Twitter.com/lwestlie

                      Power Management Tips for your Portable Mac

                      Apple | Hardware | Tips 1 1 Comment

                      cycles-illustration20090106Quick tips for keeping your battery in tip-top shape:

                        • For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery, it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally. (This means not leaving it plugged in 100% of the time
                        • Fully charge and discharge your battery at least once a month.
                        • Have a spare battery you don’t use to often? Don’t store it with more then a %50 charge. (if you store it fully charged for an extended period of time, the battery may experience some loss of battery capacity)
                        • Be sure to store your notebook and battery at the proper temperature (Between 50 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit)

                        Looking for more info on battery management? Try Apple.com/Batteries

                          Retro Mac. Issue I -The Power Macintosh 8100

                          Apple | Hardware | Retro Mac 0 No Comments

                          In this issue of “Retro Mac” we will be looking at the first Mac to break the 100MHz barrier. The Power Macintosh 8100. Introduced retromacNov.3, 1994, the 8100 did not have the most inspired design. It was practical and powerful but Apple had yet to start it’s campaign for making computers that looked as good as they worked.

                            The 8100 sported a 1.44MB floppy drive as well as a 2x CD-ROM drive, clearly more the enough to handle all of your data needs.

                              Although it came standard with a mere 16MB of SIMM memory, the machine itself could handle a total of 264MB! This was made possible due the 8 RAM slots. I personally am very impressed to see a 15 year old computer flaunting 8 RAM slots.

                                The GPU sported 2 MBs of apple_powermac_8000VRAM which where more then enough at the current time, however, if you were looking for a little more power you could utilize the four empty SIMM slots on the graphics card to double your VRAM from 2 to 4MB.

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                                  Bang for your Buck. -The 20″ iMac

                                  Apple | Featured 0 No Comments

                                  imacWhich Apple computer truly offers you the most bang for your buck? We will break down and compare the cost and features to determine which one takes the cake. Every week we will go over a different Apple Model.

                                    Today we start with the 20″ iMac. All aspects will be given a rating from 1 – 10. 1 being poor and 10 being excellent in value.

                                      At $1499, It comes in at a very unique price point. It is a price that is attractive to both institution and individuals. Institutions love them because one computer is capable of replacing them all. The iMac is a computer that dad can work on and kid can play on.

                                        The biggest aspect of the computer is the display. A 20″ TFT LCD with a resolution of 1680×1050 is relatively high end. Apple has always used incredibly high quality monitors on all of it’s computers. The new generation of iMac is no different. The display makes this iMac the beautiful thing it is. 9 out of 10

                                          CPU. This computer is powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo clocked @2.66GHz. A price of $164.99 means the CPU isn’t really out of this world. However, 2.66GHz goes further on a mac, and soon, even further. I would expect better from the high end 20″ line though. 7 out of 10

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                                            4 ways to get top quality HD content

                                            Tips 0 No Comments

                                            More and more HD displays are making there way into our houses. Today the issue isn’t really the TV, its the source. You all know the TV can only look as good as the content passing through it. A high quality source is required to make any TV shine.

                                              Here are 4 sources for top quality video.image_ducati

                                                1. Physical Media. Nothing can really beat a Blu-ray player and a well mastered Blu-ray title. If you were to try and streaming Blu-ray quality media over the net, everyone would need at least a 27Mbps internet connection. Most of residential America is still limited to 10Mbps. Supposed HD web content usually has an HD resolution but bitrates top out at around 1-2Mbps. If you adverse to the prices of buying, why not give Netflix a try.
                                                2. OTA/Cable/Satellite. While the later two can get kid of pricey, if you live in a big city you can usually receive somewhere around 15-30 HD Channels for free. All you need is a digital HD antenna. OTA (Over The Air) quality is usually much great then that of cable and satellite due to the lack of bandwidth restrictions.
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                                                iPhone- “Flash will hold me back no more!”

                                                Apple | iPhone/iPod | OS 0 No Comments

                                                flashFace it, the lack of copy and paste is not the drawback of the iPhone. The only real drawback has been the lack of flash support in browsers. Apple remained mum for quite some time, but now, the news is out.

                                                  Apple and Adobe have teamed up to bring Flash to the iPhone. They will work together to implement a fully functioning version of flash that will installable on all current and new iPhone and iPod Touchs’. This is great news when it comes media junkies looking to watch them streaming vids online.

                                                    Another thing Apple is doing is advocating HTML 5 as a replacement and is collaborating with fellow browser developers Mozilla and Opera to perform many of the same functions of Flash but in a more universal and less resource-hungry standard.

                                                      Click the “via” link to learn more.
                                                      Via: Appleinsider

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