Gadzooki

Intel-based Macs can now run Windows XP

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Apple StartupHoly smokes! This is groundbreaking news. And it isn’t even April 1st anymore (otherwise, no one would take it seriously). Apple will now let you install Windows XP on your Intel-based Mac.

You can thank an app called Boot Camp (the reason of which we don’t know why) for that. This great software is included in OS X Leopard, but Apple has announced a public alpha release.

Once you’ve completed Boot Camp, simply hold down the option key at startup to choose between Mac OS X and Windows. (That’s the “alt�? key for you longtime Windows users.) After starting up, your Mac runs Windows completely natively. Simply restart to come back to Mac.

You’ll need your own standalone copy of Win XP SP 2, though. And of course, your Mac should be Intel-based!

Apple software chief quits

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First, Apple’s founder and CEO Steve Jobs sells almost $300 million worth of personal Apple shares (or returned them to the company, for tax purposes). Then, Avie Tevanian, the company’s chief software and technology officer calls it quits!

Tevanian is said to have been the “prime inspiration for the highly successful OS X operating system.” Woe to Apple then! So what would happen to Mac OS X? I’m hoping the Mac OS X Leopard is every bit as great as Tiger was.

iPod engineering head Jon Rubinstein in also leaving the company. Their products seemed so successful in the market and among Apple fans, especially given recent developments (new Intel-based Macs, rumours of wireless-connected iPods). Perhaps they’re quitting while they’re ahead. Does this signal they’re expecting some impending doom for Apple?

iPod Nano knockoffs

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Pinoytechblog reports sightings of iPod Nano knockoffs in Manila.

I took a closer look and the device was really close to the real thing. They’re in 256MB capacity, plays mp3 and videos and has an FM player — both in black and pearl white models.

The media player is officially called an MP4 but the face plate has a lettering of iPod 650 in it. The video is aweful though — looks like 64 colors only and the boot-up screen says “Bye Bye�?. Funny.

iPod nano knockoffsAnd the tag price? PhP 3,500 or an equivalent of US$ 68.60. We’ve seen a deluge of Nano knockoffs lately, but this is the lowest-priced so far! But if I were you, I’d go for the real thing. For only $130 more, you’d be glad to have something stamped with that cool apple logo.

Old Apple ads by Simpsons creator

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Check out this old Apple brochure apparently authored by the Simpsons creator Matt Groenig. The brochure, entitled “Who needs a computer anyway?” is basically targeted at students.

So who does need a computer?

  • The stressed
  • The clueless
  • The schizoid
  • The procrastinator
  • The imperfectionist
  • The overwhelmed
  • The unemployed
  • The starving student
  • The technoid

That means all of us, eh? At any rate, there seems to be a deluge of old Apple ads and brochures over at Digg, and we get along some pretty interesting ones every so often.

[via DIGG]

RIAA says it’s illegal to sell your iPod preloaded

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The RIAA gets weirder by the minute. Now the Recording Industry Association of America, the umbrella organization representing music record labels in the US, will sue you if you sell your iPod (or any other media player, I guess) pre-loaded with music.

Selling an iPod preloaded with music is no different than selling a DVD onto which you have burned your entire music collection.

Yes, this is straight from the people who had sued 83-year old grandmas and twelve-year olds for alleged music piracy.

My take on this issue can be summarized by one word: greed.

Switch to a MacBookPro

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I have been considering switching to a MacBookPro from my current PC seems like a good idea now that they have Intel Inside. I have used a mac on many occassions but it seems like a good time to switch over. For one the applications have exceeded the quality of PC Applications for the tasks that do.

A few weks ago Keith Robinson over at Lifehacker posted his favorite Mac Applications. I picked through them and kept the once I’m most excited about.

  • Adium X. A really nice chat
    application. I don’t chat too much, but I love the fact that I can
    really customize my chat experience. There are all kinds of add ons and
    extension for Adium that make it a bit better than the other options.
  • Transmit. The best FTP application I’ve ever used.
  • Omnioutliner. A writer’s best friend. I use it to brainstorm, organize my thoughts, outline articles, make lists and more.
  • NetNewsWire. A great RSS news reader. I love the interface and the features really work for me. The free version is great as well.
  • Audio Hijack Pro. I use this to record my podcast and make good old fashioned music mixes. Works great for that and more.
  • Pages. This one is
    pretty new to me, but I’m loving it. It’s kind of like Word but better,
    with features that remind me a bit of Adobe’s creative products. It’s
    kind of like InDesign lite. If you’re looking for an alternative to
    Word on the Mac, this could be it.

These products will replace what I currently use on a PC. The only downside I can see at this point is losing FireFox. I haven’t been that impressed with the Mac Version of Firefox. It just doesn’t seem as spiffy. But I like the functionality of Safari. And am looking forward to replacing Copernic with Sherlock.

Microsoft has an Urge.

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Microsoft 3 years out of the gate unveils Urge, its new online music service

Using an appearance with Justin Timberlake, the Microsoft chairman debuted a new music service, Urge, to directly compete with the iTunes music store and interface. Urge launches with over 2 million tracks for purchase or as part of an all-you-can eat subscription, an option the iTunes music store doesn’t have. The offering will include exclusive material from MTV, though it will not be compatible with iPods, which are currently the most popular MP3 player.

Clearly this is a sign that Microsoft is moving more towards entertainment and gaming and away from chartered/update software such as Office or Outlook. And while I think its always good for cusomters to have a choice. I will be interested to see Urge and how it works. So far Itunes has changed the entire entertainment industry. Microsoft has a big competitor to catch up to. Let the fun begin.

Source Tags: CNN
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Apple Software Essentials 2006

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There has been much discussion around the blogosphere this new year about software essentials for Apple computers. Here’s my list:

1. Text Editing: BBEdit. While it’s not cross platform, I’ve not found anything that worked as well for me as BBEdit – runs on top of Mac OS X. Handles PHP, HTML, and CSS flawlessly, has remote capabilities, and does alot of other things like slice my bread and make fresh cheese for me.

2. Browsing: Mozilla Firefox. The first change of the list. Eighteen months ago, I was using Apple’s Safari and was about to test Mozilla Firefox for the first time. It didn’t take me long to switch. My biggest frustration with Safari was the regular lockups I would run into with the spinning disk of death. No more. I use several extensions with Firefox as well.

3. E-Mail: Mail.app. Another change. I use it along with SpamSieve for spam filtering. No complaints.

4. Remote Connections: SSH. It’s always been the tool to use. I also tunnel my POP and SMTP connections through SSH along with some others.

5. PDA: Palm Treo 650 from Sprint. Eighteen months ago, I was using a Compaq iPaq 3850. That soon gave way to a new HP iPaq, which in January of this year, I ran over with my car (it’s a long story). Earlier this year, we switched our team over to the Treo. Although we’ve had some issues with reliability, it’s had the single largest impact on my productivity of any technological device this year.

6. Backup and Mirroring: ChronoSync and Infrant ReadyNAS X6. I was previously using rsync to a Dell NAS. Based on reading Phil Greenspun’s experience with an Infrant ReadyNAS device for a home music system, I looked into their solutions and purchased a 1TB ReadyNAS x6. This has been a great backup solution for the network here in the house. It grabs changes from the three macs (two laptops and a desktop) and the windows boxes as well. ChronoSync handles the backup process for the Macs.

7. Web Server: Apache. Haven’t changed in years and still nothing better.

8. Server Operating System: Debian Linux. Still the only linux system I’d use for personal or business server use.

9. Desktop Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4.3. The two laptops in the house are running the latest version. The desktop still is on 10.3 – not sure that I can justify an upgrade yet.

10. Instant Messenging: Proteus from Defaultware. I’ve played with some other solutions and still like this one.

11. IRC: I can’t remember the last time I used IRC.

12. Weblog Publishing Tools: Movable Type v3.2 and ecto. Really no change here. Just upgraded to MT v3.2 a few days ago. Ecto remains my main remote publishing and weblog management tool. Much of this blog network now runs on WordPress as well.

13. News Aggregator: NetNewsWire. Still the best Mac OS X newsreader. Outstanding scripting support as well.

14. Scripting Language: PHP. Nothing new here. Some of our server applications use Perl as well.

15. Database: MySQL. Generally, I use MySQL for databases. I stay as far away from Postgre and Microsoft SQL as I can.

16. Office Suite: Microsoft Office for Mac OS X is my main office suite. It is completely compatible with what I use at work. With the new powerbook, I did get Apple Keynote and Pages and have begun fiddling with them as well.

17. Music: iTunes. That one should be obvious. I have about 5500 songs in my iTunes library.

18. VOIP: Skype. I don’t use Skype often and rarely have it open, but it’s a great and cheap way to make international phone calls using SkypeOut. No complaints.

19. Widgets and the like: I use Dashboard on the Powerbook since it has OS X 10.4 along with several widgets. I use Konfabulator on the PowerMac G4 desktop since it’s running OS X 10.3. I like both equally.
What do you use on your mac?

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