Apple | Appleaddiction

New Mac apps of 2011

By Luke On Apr 7, 2011 Apple | Software/Freeware 0 No Comments

This is the future now, right? Okay, I thought so. Here are some of the coolest new apps of 2011!

Boxcar -Instant push notifications for your social networks, email accounts, RSS feeds and more.
AlterVideo Safari Extension – Force flash/embedded videos to use the HTML5 video player when possible.
Moso -Moso is a new app that makes editing and sharing videos fast, easy and fun.
CalendarBar -CalendarBar is a unique way to keep track of your events. It shows a list of upcoming events in your menubar where it’s easy to access from any application.

Install Firefox 4.0 on a PowerPC Mac with TenFourFox

By Luke On Mar 24, 2011 Apple 0 No Comments

I sit here, at my desk in front of my Faithful MDD PowerMac G4 writing a blog post on the new Firefox 4.0. To most of you this means nothing, as there are only a handful of people still using PowerPC based Apple computers. But those who sunk over $2k into a new mac five years ago deserve to be able to run the best browser around. Thanks to a project called TenFourFox PowerPC users now have access to a fully optimized version of Mozilla’s newest browser. They have builds optimized for PowerPC G3, G4, and G5 CPUs.

The build is very solid and javascript speeds beat out Safari 5 in TenFourFox.

Download TenFourFox Here

MacBook Pros show 50% performance gain with 16GB RAM

By Luke On Mar 9, 2011 Apple 0 No Comments Tags: 16GB, MacBook Pro, OWC

From the OWC Blog. -”“A wide range of testing – by both internal and leading external performance sites – is in progress on our first to market 12GB and 16GB OWC ‘MaxRAM’ memory options for the 2011 MacBook Pro,” said Larry O’Connor, Founder and CEO, Other World Computing. “Our initial confirmed results, using the same ‘diglloydMedium’ CS5 testing parameters employed by macperformanceguide.com, reveals a nearly 50% performance improvement with 16GB of RAM installed vs. the factory maximum of 8GB.”

High performance PC3-10600 DDR3 1333MHz 8GB memory modules are still very expensive. $1599 is required if you are looking to get the most from your new quad-core MacBook Pro.

iPad 2: 720p recording and Dual-Core A5 CPU. Black or White

By Luke On Mar 2, 2011 Apple 0 No Comments

Apple iPad 2 Official Specs: (Launching on Verizon and ATT Wireless) (March 11th Ship Date)

Dual-Core A5 CPU
9x Faster Graphics
Rear and Front Facing Cameras
33% thinner than 1st Gen iPad (8.8mm thin)
$499 base model pricing
HDMI mirrored video output

OS X Lion Sneak Peak. New “About This Mac” interface

By Luke On Feb 26, 2011 Apple 0 No Comments Tags: OS X 10.7, OS X Lion

Have a sneak peak at the newly redesigned “About This Mac” interface for OS X Lion (10.7).

Quad-core MacBook Pro arrives, Thunderbolt in tow

By Luke On Feb 24, 2011 Apple 0 No Comments

With quad-core Core i7′s across the board, and the new 10Gbps Thunderbolt interface onboard, this a well received refresh. The entry level 15″ MacBook Pro retains it $1799 price tag, good news there. Still standard is 4GBs of RAM and 500GBs hard drives. The integrated FaceTime cameras got bumped from VGA to HD. Graphics get bumped to new GDDR5 GPUs(256MB/1GB VRAM) from ~~ATI~~ AMD, up from GDDR3 in previous models. My favorite upgrade however, is the new sound system. Stereo speakers with subwoofer!

Get all the details here

Making Sparrow beautiful. A blend of minimalism and usability

By Luke On Feb 20, 2011 Apple 1 1 Comment Tags: Sparrow

Jean-Marc Denis joined Sparrow on Beta 1 and is in charge of Sparrow design. From the application icon to the ‘Send’ button, it’s all him.

We recently had the chance to ask Jean-Marc a few questions regarding his work on the fantastic Sparrow mail app. Below are a summary of the questions and answers.

When first tasked with developing the interface for Sparrow, how did you begin to visualize or plan what you wanted the final project to look like.

“When I joined Sparrow, the team already had a solid interface. I first worked on the design, making all the icons pixel perfect, finding good blendings, etc. I pointed out some elements that was bothering me as a user of the application and what I would love to see in it. For new and basic ideas we sketch with the old pen and paper. After this step, if we want to see it more real, I mockup the idea directly in Photoshop to have a better final feeling.”

iPhone 5: Dual-Core A5 Chip, 8MP cam, 1080p video

By Luke On Feb 16, 2011 Apple | Gadgets | iPhone/iPod 0 No Comments Tags: A5, Apple, iPhone, iPhone5

Apple’s A4 chip is starting to show its age as it moves even closer to it’s 2nd birthday. Apple has something new in the works and we will likely see it in the iPhone 5. The new processor, dubbed “A5″ Will essentially be a multi-core version of the existing A4. The A4 processor is actually a re branded ARM Cortex-A8. The upcoming A5 processor is said to be based on the ARM Cortex -A9 CPU, which is a dual 1GHz CPU.

New Grahics Processing Unit as well for iPhone 5. The SGX543 is a GPU upgrade from the existing SGX535, which can can be found in the iPhone3Gs, iPhone4, and the previous and current gen iPod Touch. This next gen GPU will purportedly also allow for OS X’s OpenCL tech to be introduced into the iOS. This means even better gaming and system performance for all upcoming iOS devices (Think awesome Apple TV and iPad Gaming.)

Also, news has come forth sitting a 8MP OmniVision sensor could power the iPhone 5 camera. The new sensor includes improved hardware that would bump video resolution up to 1080p and offer digital image stabilization and decreased rolling shutter effects as well as 20 percent improvement in peak quantum efficiency in all color channels, a 35 percent improvement in low-light.

I’m impressed overall, is it silly to want a micro-sd card slot too?

Source: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/02/new-8mp-omnivision-sensor-could-power-iphone-5-camera.ars

How to backup your entire Mac online for $5/month

By Luke On Feb 1, 2011 Apple | Software/Freeware 0 No Comments Tags: backblaze, backup, online

It’s not a matter of if your hard drive will fail, It’s a matter of when! Don’t wait until it’s to late. Leave no app behind, back them all up, now!

Let me highlight the key points first so you can decide if you wanna read on. Secure. Offsite. $5 a month. Unlimited backup space. Interested?

So, How exactly does BackBlaze work?

You download a tiny application that installs in three clicks and doesn’t require a credit card or any information to start using it. This internet backup application automatically finds all your photos, music, documents, and other irreplaceable files—no matter where they are on your hard drive—and compresses and securely encrypts them.

You can get the free trail here. backblaze.com (Intel Only, OS 10.5+)

How to make OS X run faster!

By Luke On Jan 12, 2011 Apple | Hacks/Mods 0 No Comments Tags: OS X, overclocking

For the most part OS X is very fast and nimble. However, with just a little bit of time and effort, you may find that you can get even more performance out of your mac. Try starting with these apps.

1. ATIccelerator II is an overclocking app for ATI based video cards. This app allows you to increase the clock speed, and thus increase performance of ATI based video cards on your Mac.

I recommend atMonitor to monitor GPU temps to insure your card doesn’t overheat after overclocking. If you see increased temps after overclocking, try installing smcFanControl to increase system fan speeds.

2. Xslimmer works by removing unnecessary bits of code from apps you have already installed on your mac. The slimming of the apps can often speed up launch time as well as recover gigabytes of hard drive space. (I saved 3.8GBs over the span of 28 apps)

3. Repair your permissions. Repairing permissions allows OS X to automatically fix errors which may have cropped up while installing various software on your system. Open Disk Utility and select the drive which houses your OS X installation. Click “Repair Disk Permissions”.

If your Mac is a bit on the older side, you may be able to eek a bit more performance if your not attached to the “Dashboard’. OS X’s Dashboard feature can consume upwards of 100MBs of RAM in addition to stealing some CPU performance. If your not using it everyday, try disabling it until you find you need it. Just paste this string of code into a terminal window. defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES Press enter, then this killall Dock

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