Down Under is exporting more than just beer to the States these days and Nolobe is one such company that’s not being intoxicated when it says that Iris is, “The Ultimate Image Editor for Mac OS X,” in its press release. The Perth, Western Australia-based company tells SvenOnTech that it has designed, “A powerful, intuitive, and easy to use solution,” for all photo editing needs just for Leopard from the ground up. Working more along the lines of the Windows using a one-window interface, Nolobe claims that Iris, “Renders confusing multiple palettes obsolete.” Matthew Drayton, founder and CEO of Nolobe, explained, “Iris has been created for previously overlooked Mac owners who simply wanted an accessible and easy to use image program that provides professional results, without the professional price tag.”

Known for its “Sophistication Simplified” slogan, Nolobe’s award winning flagship application, Interarchy, a file transfer client with the look-and-feel of a Leopard Finder window, offers Iris at a suggested retail price of $79. Adventurous and curious types or those that just do not like Adobe and Apple imaging products can give Iris a try by downloading a trial from the Iris website. ]]> http://svenontech.com/2008/06/16/is-iris-the-adobe-alternative-to-image-editing-for-the-mac-thats-not-from-apple/feed/ 0 http://svenontech.com/2008/05/28/apple-releases-os-x-1053-update-fixing-70-issues/ http://svenontech.com/2008/05/28/apple-releases-os-x-1053-update-fixing-70-issues/#comments Wed, 28 May 2008 19:43:31 +0000 Sven Rafferty http://svenontech.com/?p=7512

Apple has just pushed the 420 MB update to OS X 10.5, Leopard, to 10.5.3. The update includes fixes for Time Machine, Time Capsule, Spaces, iChat, large attachments dragged to Mail.app, Airport, Automater, Address Book, Parental Controls and VoiceOver. Full disclosure of updates can be found on Apple’s Support site.

You can update your Macintosh either via the Software Updates in your Apple Menu or by downloading the 420 MB Standalone file directly from Apple’s site for network installs to multiple Macs.

You will finally be able to truly conquer Time Machine and Spaces with Apple’s latest update, 10.5.2. With the ability to turn off Space’s funky spring view of the folders, you’ll be able to go back to that great simply listing of Tiger. Also fixed is Time Machine’s inability to see some external hard drivers as well as automatically popping up the status window when running. Also noted by Apple is, ” Improved general stability when running third-party applications.” That would be nice since 10.5.1 seems to crash so many of my applications when I was on that awful rev. No specifics if Windows Network shares are fixed, but this comment, “Addresses a hanging issue that may occur when connecting to an AFP network volume,” on Apple’s release notes seems to indicate maybe you mixed network folk should have no more issues.

Leopard users can initiate download via there Software Update on their Mac.

For a complete list of fixes in the near 400 MB upgrade, take the leap below…

What’s included?

This update delivers several improvements for both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs (as well as improvements provided in the Mac OS X 10.5.1 update.)

Active Directory

* Addresses issues which could hinder or prevent binding Mac OS X 10.5.x clients to Active Directory domains.

AirPort

* Improves connection reliability and stability
* Includes 802.1X improvements.
* Resolves certain kernel panics.

Back to my Mac

* Adds support for more third-party routers, as detailed in this article.

Dashboard

* Improves performance of certain Apple Dashboard widgets (such as Dictionary).
* Addresses an issue in which Dashboard widgets may no longer be accessible after switching to or from an account that has Parental Controls enabled.

Dock

* Updates Stacks with a List view option, a Folder view option, and an updated background for Grid view.

Desktop

* Addresses legibility issues with the menu bar with an option to turn off transparency in Desktop & Screen Saver preferences.
* Adjusts menus to be slightly-less translucent overall.

iCal

* Improves iCal so that it accurately reflects responses to recurring meetings.
* Addresses an issue in which a meeting may remain on the calendar after being cancelled.
* Addresses stability issues related to .Mac syncing of iCal calendars.
* Resolves an intermittent issue in which editing an event with attendees would cause the event to shrink and not register that the event was updated.

iChat

* Addresses an issue with simultaneously-logged in accounts in which iChat sounds generated from one account might be heard in another account.
* Fixes an issue in which iChat idle time is affected by Time Machine backups.
* Improves connectivity when running iChat behind a router that doesn’t preserve ports.
* Enables logged chats from previous versions of iChat to open faster and more reliably.
* Addresses an issue with text chats in which users may be unable to receive messages from the sender.
* Addresses an issue that may prevent rejoining an AIM chat room without reopening iChat.
* Addresses video chat compatibility issues with AIM 6 and third-party routers.
* Fixes an issue with case-sensitivity of AIM handles.

iSync

* Adds support for Samsung D600E and D900i phones.

Finder

* Addresses an issue in which Finder could unexpectedly quit when displaying folder contents in Column view.
* Addresses an issue in which Finder could unexpectedly quit when accessing Users and Groups in a Get Info pane.
* Resolves an issue that prevented setting permissions on a folder alias.
* Resolves an issue in which the Eject command could write to a disc in the optical drive.
* Fixes an issue in which the scroll bar might disappear when deleting a file within a folder that includes files that are out of view.
* Fixes an issue in the Sharing & Permissions section of Get Info windows, in which the gear icon appears to be gray/disabled after authentication.
* Addresses an issue in which the Show Icon Preview preference might not be not saved when turning it off.
* Fixes an issue that could occur when trying to print an image from the Finder.

Mail

* Addresses an issue with Message menu’s Mark > As Read choice.
* Fixes an issue in which duplicate On My Mac folders may appear in the sidebar after upgrading to Leopard.
* Improves the accuracy of the Data Detectors feature.
* Resolves an issue with scrolling through a Note that is displayed using the split view in the message window.
* Fixes an issue with deleting messages located in the Drafts folder.
* Fixes an issue in which dragging the icon in the Safari URL field into a Mail message creates an attachment instead of a link.
* Addresses an issue found when opening a item in the Notes folder that is not a Note.
* Fixes an issue that may prevent RSS feeds from being delivered in Mail.
* Resolves an issue in which a selected message could “flash” from blue to gray when in Organize by Thread mode.
* Fixes an issue with scrolling between multiple To Dos in an email message.
* Fixes an issue in which the body of email messages with certain MIME structures may not be displayed.
* Improves performance with America Online (AOL) account-based messages in Mail.
* Addresses issues with some ISPs during automatic set-up in Mail.
* Addresses an issue in which Mail might not send mail on some networks to some SMTP servers.
* Mail now automatically disables the (unsupported) third-party plugin GrowlMail version 1.1.2 or earlier to avoid issues.
* Adds an option to view large icons in the Mailbox list.

Networking

* Addresses a hanging issue that may occur when connecting to an AFP network volume.

Parental Controls

* Improves stability when opening the Parental Controls System Preferences pane.
* Fixes an issue that may prevent changes to the email address for permission requests.
* Addresses an issue with printer administration for a guest account enabled with Parental Controls.
* Addresses an issue with setting printer administration privileges from another Mac on the local network.
* Fixes an issue that could prevent certain applications from being allowed.
* Addresses accuracy issues with the web content filter.

Preview

* Improves stability when scrolling through a PDF document.
* Fixes an issue that prevents tabbing within a PDF document after clicking on the PDF.
* Improves the Mail Document feature so that email attachments are more reliably created from Print Preview.

Printing

* Addresses an issue in which remote printers may be deleted when the computer is put to sleep.
* Improves printing performance when using some Microsoft Office applications.
* Resolves an issue with some printing options, such as landscape orientation, number of copies, two-sided printing, and so forth that may not have functioned with some printers shared by Microsoft Windows.
* Adds support for certain printers connected to the USB port of an AirPort Extreme or AirPort Express base station.
* Resolves a stalling issue that could occur when installing certain Canon printing software from a disc.

RAW Image

* Adds RAW image support for several cameras, as detailed in this article.

Safari

* Addresses issues with Safari reliably resolving certain domains.

Login and Setup Assistant

* Addresses an issue in which Setup Assistant could unexpectedly appear each time Mac OS X 10.5 starts up.
* Improves stability and performance during log in.

System

* Improves the accuracy of the grammar checker.
* The computer will now shut down if an automatic disk repair does not succeed during startup.

Time Machine

* Adds a menu bar option for accessing Time Machine features (the menu extra can be enabled in Time Machine preferences).
* Improves backup reliability when computer name contains slash or non-ASCII characters.
* Fixes an issue in which the backup disk displayed in the Finder may be out of sync with the disk chosen for Time Machine.
* Addresses issues in which some external drives are not recognized by Time Machine.
* The status menu now appears by default.

Other

* Improves general stability when running third-party applications.
* Addresses an issue in which the incorrect search results may be displayed for certain Automator Find/Filter actions.
* Addresses an issue with the Latvian and Russian keyboard layouts.
* Addresses an issue in which the backlight could turn off before Energy Saver’s backlight setting.

After a long hard journey through months of coding and testing, Shirt Pocket has finally mastered Leopard’s changes and added some sweet new features to make this $30 archive utility something worthy of a Must Have on any Macintosh HD. SuperDuper! 2.5 (Build 84) not only backs up your existing hard drive to a bootable archive, but it also lives side-by-side Apple’s archiving utility, Time Machine. The release notes also specify that, “You can now store a bootable backup side-by-side with a Time Machine backup on a single volume.” Further, you can now copy Time Machine backup volumes to other drives as well as being able to execute scheduled tasks immediately with the “Run Now” button. Other changes include Exposé, Time Machine, Spaces and Front Row are added to the Leopard Sandboxes as well as the ability to ignore Google Desktop Index files.

All in all, this is a long anticipated update and we here at SvenOnTech highly recommend it for those looking for a simple, easy, and robust archiving utility that will work in conjunction with Time Machine.

Import and search for product information

With the new Research Assistant, product descriptions can be easily taken from FileMaker databases and Delicious Library and then added to an auction per mouse click. Additional plug-ins allow you to research product information, as well as pictures, using Google, Amazon, the ISBN Database for books and any other website a user might wish to use. The Research Assistant saves all of the information it collects in folders, so it can easily be copied and pasted into your auctions.

“All iSale users will greatly benefit from the new version. iSale 5 not only gives you the possibility to manage and create your auctions, but it now also shortens the time it takes to look up information about the items you’re selling,” says equinux CEO Till Schadde. “iSale 5 is the most powerful and comprehensive online auction management software that equinux has ever released. iSale 5 includes an all-new Template Editor that allows users to edit every iSale template, we ever shipped and save them as your favorites.”

Manage and Archive Auctions

Anyone who wants to let his contacts know about any upcoming auctions, can post running auctions on his Facebook profile. And iSale 5 makes it possible to manage multiple libraries, allowing users to archive old auctions.

Full power with Mac OS X

iSale 5 takes full advantage of new functions and capabilities in Leopard. The user interface reflects the style and design of Leopard, as well as the other features from Leopard that seamlessly integrate into iSale. iSale 5 used the systemwide Calendar system so users can manage their deadlines. The QuickLook preview allows all users to find any auction with Finder. To benefit from all of the new features, iSale 5 requires Mac OS X 10.5.

Prices and Availability

Upgrades for iSale 5 are available starting today for $19.95. And all customers, that purchased their iSale license after December 15th, 2007 can upgrade for free at my.equinux.com. Full version of iSale 5 are available, starting at $39.95.

Totally redesigned and built for Leopard, MacJournal 5 allows users to add any kind of content, PDFs, QuickTime movies, images, and text. In addition, bloggers can now blog video to their blog on Blogger, WordPress, LiveJournal or .mac account. Even record video from your iSight and attach it to an entry. MacJournal 5 also introduces Smart Journals, which allow specific criteria to be searched upon. Assign each entry a rating, status, and priority, and sort any journal by those values. Also significant in the latest release:

-Open more than one MacJournal document at a time and save them to any location.

-Create aliases to entries that you can store in other journals.

-Performance enhancements for working with large amounts of entries.

-Resize images in any entry.

-Picasa integration.

-Quick Look integration.

“MacJournal 5 is our most significant update yet,” said Michael Wray, President of Mariner Software. “Not only did we improve the user interface, but, behind the scenes, we also recreated the architecture. Now users can have years, even decades, worth of photos, video, or graphics, and MacJournal will still be blazing fast.”

MacJournal 5 is the world’s most popular journaling software for the Macintosh. Users can easily create a personal journal with two level security (password protection and encryption), record daily ideas, manage lists, and idea and export them to multiple file formats, or generate blogs to any of the popular blogging services in two clicks of the mouse. MacJournal 5 even podcasts.

Availability
MacJournal 5 is now available for download and requires Mac OS 10.4 or higher (including Leopard). Pricing is set at $34.95 for the download version and $39.95 for the boxed version. Registered MacJournal 3 and 4 customers can upgrade for $19.95 on the Mariner web site with their serial number. MacJournal 5 is available for purchase at the Mariner eStore at http://www.marinersoftware.com/shopproduct.php or through various retailers such as: The Apple Store, Amazon, MicroCenter, MacMall, or Fry’s Electronics.MacJournal can also be purchased through numerous international distributors across the world.

For the last two weeks, I’ve been a unhappy participant of the wonderful volley of the finger pointing game. It all started when my Entourage events, which are put into my iCal calendar via Microsoft’s Sync Service, disappeared from iCal one day. Yes, that day was when I accepted the 10.5.1 patch update from Software Update. Since iCal broke with Apple’s patch, I called it up for help. After enjoying an hour conversation and being bumped up to level two, the final answer came to, “Call Microsoft.” Yes, it was Microsoft’s fault.

Okay, I was game. I had nothing better to do than waste another hour of my time with another computer software giant. Why not? SInce the writers strike had sapped all of my existing fun and joy out since Michael and his office staff were no longer around to make me giggle, what did I have to lose? So Microsoft I called and Microsoft I explained my problem and Microsoft actually laughed — I kid you not, the support guy laughed! — and asked me why I was calling it with an Apple application (iCal) problem. So for amusements sake, remember this is the only reason I was performing this exercise, I explained how the data was using Microsoft’s Sync Service and thus Apple believed it was a Microsoft problem. After confirming with me that everything worked prior to the 10.5.1 patch, I was told, “Call Apple.” Joy.

So, having little of my life left of any true value anymore, I once again called Apple. This time I was able to enjoy Spanish music for nearly two hours before someone picked up. But with a quick explanation of my little journey, I was told without a doubt this was a Microsoft issue. Umm-hmm.

Well, if you read my previous post, Is Leopard Apple’s Vista, then you’d know I ended up going back to the more stable 10.5.0. When I had let Microsoft’s Sync Service do it’s thing for a while, I opened iCal out of curiosity. Yup, there was all my events. Go figure. I knew it would be there and why it is, neither Microsoft nor Apple know. Sadly, I’ll probably lose it again when 10.5.2 comes out, unless, that is, Entourage 2008 is on my hard drive first and Microsoft improves Sync Service. We’ll see…

What’s with this cat? Apple had two years to make it happen as good as Tiger and yet, things all over the hard drive don’t spin like they should. While I’m not quite prepared to call this a Vista issue like some are, I am disappointed. Ironically, I’m more grieved with Apple’s update, 10.5.1, than the out-of-the-box version. As previously blogged, the update does more harm than good. Constant crashes, complaints of applications not responding to log outs, and permission issues, Apple’s update to fix its network copy bug is just horrible. I couldn’t believe that Apple’s very own iMovie 08 would not open for the life of me after installed last week. I never did get it to open under 10.5.1. Carbon Copy Cloner made a perfect copy of my not-so perfect install and I went back to 10.5.0. Things are better but still, minor issues are there.

Now Oliver Rist at PCMAG.COM has a whole different feeling on Leopard. He thinks Apple pulled a Vista. While his article has some valid points, I find it a bit comical to go that far. His first point is the “wait for the service pack” before you install it. Since I’ve already established the 10.5.1 is actually worse than 10.5.0, and since it only corrects the network copy bug with a few other minor fixes, this already is untrue. Granted, it kind of puts more credence into his statement, but only at face value. The truth is (and by the way, NEVER move files people, COPY and you’ll be just fine), Vista has been out just nearly a year now and there are still tons and tons of issues that the upcoming SP1 will supposedly to fix. The number one issue with Vista is hardware. No one can get even peripheral less than a year old to work in Vista. Ah, last I checked, this isn’t an issue in Leopard. Read the comments in Rist’s article and you’ll find one poster stating that he used his PowerBook (Apple stopped making these nearly three years ago) to upgrade to Leopard and then download drivers for his Vista machine!

Other complaints from Rist include “useless” visual effects. He thinks Apple’s translucent Finder menu bar is very much like Vista’s all-over-the-place translucent borders and title bars. I agree with Rist, Aero is horrible. I turn it off any Vista machine that I must work on. Apple’s single bar on the top is not that bad. Unlike Aero, it actually grows on you. Rist also poo-poos the Dock and I do agree, the dinky shinny star as a running application indicator is a poor choice for a company known for it’s expertise in user interfaces. The reflective Dock, though, ain’t that big of deal to complain about.

Other issues, such as networking (outside of my fluke first install, I’ve had zero issues with networking), and Rist’s whining of Time Machine as a poor bundled app, again, does not make this a Vista comparison.

In summary, I agree, Leopard has its issues and I am quite annoyed with Apple for allowing this to happen; however, Vista it ain’t. When a multi-billion corporation has nearly seven years to update it’s operating system, the mistakes should not be as great as it is with Vista. There is not a mass exodus of Mac users returning to Tiger as there are Vista users running back to eXPerience (remember that? ) With major PC manufacturers going back to Windows XP as a pre-install choice and Vista installs with a “Go Back to Previous Version” options, I really can’t see how anyone could honestly call Leopard Apple’s Vista. No, Microsoft has earned its smelly fish of an operating system all by itself. ]]> http://svenontech.com/2007/12/12/is-leopard-apples-vista/feed/ 3 http://svenontech.com/2007/11/25/why-do-i-feel-like-im-in-microsoft-world-with-leopard/ http://svenontech.com/2007/11/25/why-do-i-feel-like-im-in-microsoft-world-with-leopard/#comments Mon, 26 Nov 2007 06:35:03 +0000 Sven Rafferty http://svenontech.com/2007/11/25/why-do-i-feel-like-im-in-microsoft-world-with-leopard/

I don’t get it, but I’ve had more headaches with Leopard since installing it than I did with Tiger the entire time it lived on my Mac Pro. From permission issues that neither Disk Utility from the DVD, Onyx, or Mac Pilot could resolve to crashing programs left and right to my iTunes now telling me it can not sync my Contacts because it is unable to merge my data (which gets a zero hit on Apple’s support site,) I’m starting to feel like I’m running Windows again. Shesh, this is the kind of pain I expect from Microsoft, not Apple.

When I first installed Leopard shortly after its release via Archive and Install, my NAS (Network Attached Storage) drive would not come up in the Shared section. I could ping it, I could access it via Safari, I just couldn’t get to it via SMB. When I called Apple Support, not even Tier 2 could help. I was then told that it would be “sent up” and I would get a call back in a day or two. Thank God I didn’t bank on that. Three weeks later, still no call back. Ugh. A Format and Install fixed that issue.

After that, then I couldn’t upgrade programs, access files, and on and on and on because of permission issues. Even when I took ownership of all the files and Applications, I still would receive errors. It was maddening! So I did a Carbon Copy Cloner of the system, redid the Format and Install and then opted for the migrate procedure. That resolved the permission issues.

Now I’m left with crashing applications and this new iTunes issue. Why it will not sync my Entourage data, I don’t know. It worked fine in the last two messed up Leopard installs. What changed here? Oh ya, iCal no longer shows my Entourage events but mysteriously, all the Birthdays do (which come from Entourage.) Go figure. Ugh.

So, after blowing away backup folders in the Library and reseting sync logs in .Mac, nothing seems to work. I’m stuck trying to figure this out on my own until I break down and call Apple again and see if this time, maybe, they can help.

You know, I’ve heard a lot of people having no issues with Leopard and I think for the most part it is a fine upgrade; however, with all the issues I’ve had, I’m holding off on my MacBook Pro, PowerBook, and Mac mini upgrades. One headache is all I need right now.

Ever since I updated to OS X 10.5.1, Leopard’s first update, things just keep crashing. It’s not just one or two applications like Microsoft Office applications, but other well behaved programs such as MarsEdit and by beloved 1Password. Prior to install the update, all these applications worked flawlessly and never gave up a final breath until I closed it. Now, I’m getting crashes left and right. Some applications refuse to even stay open for any usable amount of time unless I reboot. Ugh, what’s going on, Apple? This update seems so horrible.

I haven’t seen or heard others complaining about this update, yet, so maybe it’s just me. Thinking this, I did a format and install of Leopard off the DVD and then migrated by Carbon Copy Cloner image of my previous 10.5.1 install. Since this only sucks up preferences and applications along with user documents, stability should be better if not return to normal. Nope, same old problem the minute Software Update informed me of 10.5.1 and I accepted its offer to destroy, er, upgrade my operating system.

So, buyer be ware.