FireWire’s new specifications have prompted the releases of two new standards. S1600(1.6GB/s) and S3200(3.2GB/s). These two new specs are claiming backwards compatibility with both FW400 and FW800. FireWire last saw a performance bump when FW800 was introduced in 2002 pushing speed up to 800MB/s. The standard plug however is still unknown. This is also seen as the answer to USB 3.0(4.8GB/s burst). You can expect the new technology to hit the market this October.

A brief background of FireWire-

FireWire (initially developed by Apple Computer) was introduced into the computer market in 1995. It was developed as a replacement of the high bandwidth scsi cable. FireWire, although sporting lower top speeds then USB, can sustain it’s high speed where as USB does its best with smaller files. The ability to sustain high speeds makes it a common connector for high bandwidth items such as DV Camcorders and professional audio and visual equipment.

Really busy. I’m in the process of starting up two new websites, not to mention working on this as well as my real job and getting everything ready for college. It takes it’s toll but this website is my pride and joy and I promise that as long as you guys keep on coming, I will keep the content flowing. I’m always looking for good ideas and feedback. So if you have anything you would like to see here at AppleAddiction.net, please let me know.

I often find my legs starting to burn before the fans on my MacBook Pro finally start to kick in. I know that most laptops tend to run a little bit toasty, but this is just ridiculous. In addition to being a nuisance, it can also impair the performance of your computer. If your Mac is running to hot, The CPU will often down clock its self in order to keep it safe and running. Doing so, however, can effect the performance of your computer.

All hope is not lost though. Enters smc FanControl. The smcFanControl app allows you to manually set the speed of your fans. It is a simple and lightweight program that allows you to change to speed of your fans on the fly. Not only that but you can pre-program default profiles for different situations. Eg. I have three profiles set for different work loads. low,medium, and high. The computer should be able to do this automatically, but I find that keeping the fans at a slightly higher speed make for a much better experience.

If your interested in smcFanControl you can find it Here.

(Supports only Macbooks and MacbBook Pro’s)

I have always been a big fan of UPS’s (Uniteruptible Power Supplies). I have however been less then excitied by the lack of software support that manufacturers offer for the OS X operating system. It’s not crucial for a sucessful backup system but it is appreciated. There are however some companies that strive to please everyone. The first company I am going to go over has been an Apple supporter for some time now.

• Belkin’s UPSs are reasonably priced and do offer software management options for OS X. The higher end of their UPS line also sports AVR. AVR is an acronym for automatic voltage regulation. What AVR does is it essentially clean the power going to your computer so you a get a much more stable and constant supply which can extend the life of th PSU(Power Supply Unit) inside of your computer and protect valuable attached hardware.
  

  APC UPS

• APC is the industry leader when it comes to home UPSs. While they haven’t always supported the Apple OS. Almost all of thier recent products do come with power managing software. AVR again is available on the higher end models.

You can nab yourself a decent (and by descent I mean powering your Mac Pro and it’s 20″ LCD for at least 15mins) UPS for under $100 from any of the following sites: eCost, Newegg, TigerDirect, Etc.

I also recomend you check out TrippLite’s line as well.

Play, pause, skip, and shuffle. View your songs, playlists, and album art all from your iPod touch/iPhone!

Once you have paired your iPhone/iPod touch to your Mac/AppleTV you gain access to all the multimedia controls. This free app from Apple is a must for all. It makes perfect sense, especially if your really lazy but keep your iPod/iPhone on you at all times. Just imagine your sitting outside on your patio sipping on a cold on and listening to your music that is playing inside on your mac. And then, all of a sudden, a song your girlfriend downloaded comes on! What do you do! Well hopefully you have this app installed so instead of panicking and getting up and knocking over your drink. You can just slide out your iPod/iPhone and take of the matter at hand.

I can also see this same technology making it’s way into other applications, such as remote file management. I know you can kinda do it now, but I’m expecting an official release from Apple soon announcing a mobile desktop management program.

Shovebox catches all those little scraps of information that you can’t act on now but would rather not forget. It sits up in your menubar, waiting for you to drag in text, images, urls, and more. It makes it incredibly easy to get data in. Just drag it in from near any program, or use QuickJot to type it out before you have a chance to forget. When you come up for air, ShoveBox also provides a sensible interface to sort everything you shoved during the day. And by setting up powerful importing rules, you can drastically reduce the thinking you’ll have to do later.

You can get more info and download the app HERE

Automator can do much then most people give it credit for. Here are the top five Automator actions:

Dashboard Disabler 1.1-
A two-part program that turns of your dashboard reclaiming memory that you use running widgets in dashboard. If you run the second part your dashboard will be as good as new ready to use in a flash!!!
Maintenance 3.8-
A simple Automator Action fused with AppleScript aimed at keeping your Mac running healthy. -
Quick ZipNFO 1.2-
With this small tool, you can quickly see – without unpacking ZIP – what is inside of archive file. Information about ZIP file contains also many other detailed stuff! Use it after downloading ZIPs from unknown and untrusted locations!!! Have fun
Flickr upload automator action 1.1-
As easy to use as Automator itself this action uploads your favourite images and photos to Flickr by simply adding it to the workflow.
Download URLs as PDFs 0.3.1-
This action for Apple’s Automator allows the user to archive a web page as a PDF document in a given workflow.

I personally have just started fully utilizing the program and it’s crazy what it can really do. It’s really impressive and very powerful.

Back when Resexcellence.com was the ultimate Mac site I spent all kinds of time modding every aspect of my Mac. They had all kinds of how-tos and mods to make your Mac a little different. Sadly the site has been down for quite some time. However if your interested in modding your Mac, you may want to check out Loginox 1.0. Loginox is a small little app that allows for drag and drop customization of your login screen. Simply drag and drop a  jpg onto the open app window to instantly change your login screen background. Free and under 10MB makes it a nice addition to your arsenal of UI customization.

Download: Loginox 1.0

Yes ZFS will finally be making it’s debut in OS X Snow Leopard. Multiple source and Apple themselves have confirmed that OS X 10.6 will finally have support for the high performance file system. As of now it has only been confirmed for the server client but I would expect to see it in both releases.

I bet you didn’t know VHS could do 720p and 1080i. Yep, HD VHS tapes are actually real. Although the tapes were introduced in 1998 they didn’t really take off until, Ok wait, they never took off. But anyways in 2002 prerecorded D-VHS cassettes were sold under the brand name D-Theater. While D-Theater is a D-VHS tape, it is incompatible with D-VHS decks without the D-Theater logo. They provide content in both 720p and 1080i as well as at least one Dolby Digital audio track. Supported movies studios include 20th Century Fox, Artisan Entertainment, DreamWorks, and Universal Pictures. D-Theater provides much better audio and video quality than previous formats (VHS and DVD), but has since been displaced by newer formats such as Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD. I honestly think it was a pretty cool idea. If your looking for more info on HD VHS tapes you can find it Here.