Are you a web designer needing to check how your perfectly XHTML and CSS tuned site looks breaks in Internet Explorer (IE)? Don’t really want to let your RAM and CPU cycles get bitten just to be only greeted with your dismay due to Parallels or VMWare’s overhead? Just want something fast to see what you have to fix, fix it, and then be done with it? Well, then you and other web designers can rejoice, ies4osx is here!
Using ies4linux by Sérgio Luís Lopes Júnior as the foundation for ies4osx, Kronenberg Informatik Lösungen (Mike’s the guy behind the big ‘ol German name) has brought to OS X for the first time Internet Explorer 5, 5.5, 6.0, and 7.0 beta without the need for a full blown virtual machine or a restart into Boot Camp. Nope, using just WINE and X11 windows, you’ve got a simple double click on the ies4osx icon of your choice (which poor standards version of IE will you open?) and up come Internet Explorer in a flash. Granted, I have a 3 GHz Mac Pro with 3 GB of RAM, but I know your whimpy Mac can open this nice and fast, too. 
Now “buyer” beware (this is donate-ware, by the way,) there is no support for Active X or Java. So, many people might be disappointed thinking that they will be able access certain sites such as QuickBooks Online which requires Active X. So know that this is mostly for testing sites and really for nothing little more.
All in all, this is a treat for those in need for a quick access to Internet Explorer without the fear of waiting for long start ups or large system resources overhead. Thanks, guys!
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.
Having worked on the Windows platform exclusively since Windows95 OSR2 (yes, I was an OS/2 hold out), I’ve seen a lot of software for all sorts of uses. Having heard through all those years that Windows dominated for software availability and diversity, one would be surprised to find a killer app on the Mac that wasn’t available for Windows. I first discovered such a killer app several years ago called LaunchBar when slowly migrating to the Mac platform. I soon found others (and by the way, QuickSilver has since replaced LaunchBar in my Utilities folder) and of late, I’ve officially discovered MarsEdit.
MarsEdit is a blog editor with gung-ho power. Supporting various popular blogging engines such as WordPress, Blogger, TypePad, Movable Type, LiveJournal, Drupal, and Vox, Red Sweater Software has pretty much covered the majority of you bloggers out there. I’ve seen MarsEdit before but was apprehensive to download and try it because my previous experience with blog editors, mainly on Windows, because they just couldn’t replicating my web interface experience of WordPress well enough. I found myself constantly having to log into my blog via Firefox to “touch” things up before posting. Why bother with an editor then? But I relented and gave MarsEdit a try and boy, am I glad I did. It immediately became one of my “Must Have” software installs!
One post is all it took, folks. With nearly full support of WordPress’ posting features, including the new keywords feature from the latest minor revision, and its seamless integration with flikr, I was hooked. I was greatly impressed with the simplicity of MarsEdit’s layout and the ability to easily customize it for my blog. I can add my site specific CSS tags and edit the preview template for exact representation of a post with SvenOnTech’s look-n-feel as I bang away on the keys of my thin metallic Apple keyboard. The former I had to hack WordPress to allow for custom tags and I would lose those tags after every upgrade. Now, no worries. If that’s not enough customization for you, then crank out some AppleScript and sky’s the limit, baby!
The cool feature list goes on with integration with your favorite editor (TextWrangler for me), macros to handle common repetitive tasks, support for more than one blog, integration with RSS readers such as NetNewsWire, and bookmarklet power. In short, you’ll be hard pressed finding something that sucks with MarsEdit. Look, like I said, I used a half of dozen Windows programs in the past and while they all promised a blogging experience that would lead be away from my web browser, I always found my self un-installing the disappointments days later. MarsEdit hasn’t led me to AppZapper. In fact, it has given me reassurance that there really is a good off-line blog editor out there worthy of $30. Heck, don’t tell Red Sweater, but I would have probably paid even more!
Apple releases its much awaited update to Tiger, OS X 10.5, or, Leopard, today. With over 300 new features and improvements, many are excited to slap the cat onto their Mac today. I know I am. But I’ll have to wait until Tuesday when it arrives from Amazon.
While Leopard isn’t Earth shattering, it also didn’t take six years to produce like Microsoft’s Vista, the Redmond-based computer software giants update to Windows XP. Again, unlike Vista, Leopard isn’t just eye candy with annoying security pop-ups with little else to offer than maybe five different version in which to chose from.
No, Leopard isn’t going to woo most like the iPhone, but it will do things better, more securely, and improve on other lack-lusting applications such as iCal. Interesting tid-bits is that there will be a new screen saver, “Word of the Day”, for all to watch when their Mac goes idle. A new font, Braille, is included and no, I don’t know if you put your finger onto your screen if you’ll be able to “read” it. The Danes will also get a built-in spell checker for their language. Wikipedia is now also fully integrated into Dictionary. Now you’ll be able to access the free online encyclopedia with the Apple look-and-feel.
One of my favorite and most missed feature of UNIX and Windows is X-Mouse. This lets the mouse constitute what is the active window. So you may have Mail.app open and in the foreground and Safari in the background to the left. If something is selected in Safari, say a word, in UNIX or Windows (with TweakUI installed) you could simply move the mouse to Safari, without clicking on it, and select Command+C, for copy, and then go back to your e-mail and paste the word into a message. Well, Leopard kinda has this with scrolling background windows. You’ll be able to scroll a window that is not the forefront with your mouse without clicking on the window. So maybe OSX 10.6 will have true X-Mouse in it.
If you’re interesting in seeing what else is this new cat, take a look at Apple’s Guided Tour of Leopard. You can also hone down on each of the 300+ features at Apple’s site as well.
Apple Stores to release the feline at 6:00 PM local time nationwide tonight.
Ergonis Software and TidBITS Publishing Inc. today announced the release of the free TidBITS AutoCorrect Dictionary for Typinator.
The latest update to Typinator from Ergonis Software gave the program the capability to correct typos and misspellings as soon as they’re entered. To help users get started immediately, Ergonis provided dictionaries of more than 800 common mistakes in each of English, German, and French. Now Typinator has become even more useful with the addition of the public domain TidBITS AutoCorrect Dictionary in English, which enables Typinator to correct over 2,300 additional mistakes on the fly.
TidBITS publisher Adam C. Engst said, “The original public domain list of mistakes and their corrections comes from Micah Alpern; we enhanced and formatted it for use with the unsupported auto-correction capability in Eudora, where I’ve become addicted to it.
When Typinator 2.0 added auto-correction, we worked with Ergonis to convert it appropriately and import it into Typinator, making
Typinator a fixture on all my Macs.”
Christoph Reichenberger, CEO of Ergonis Software, said, “With the new version 2.0, Typinator is no longer just a typing assistant that
speeds repetitive typing tasks, but also becomes a system-wide auto-correction tool that automatically corrects typing errors and
misspelled words. We’re pleased to distribute the TidBITS AutoCorrect Dictionary with Typinator because it quadruples the number of errors that Typinator can correct, making Typinator even more valuable to our users. Installation is as easy as downloading the package and double-clicking it, and best of all, it’s free!”
Visit Ergonis Software’s Web site at
We told you about DuelAdapter last month and we’re happy to now report that the PC Card to ExpressCard adapter is now shipping. You’ll now be able to use old legacy PC Card or even PCMCIA accessories on your MacBook Pro or ExpressCard equiped PC. All you’ll need is the drivers for that specific card and you’ll be up and running in no time. If you haven’t been able to find an ExpressCard accessory for your notebook and have become frustrated by that, worry no more with DuelAdapter!
Now that the MacBook Pro with its super narrow ExpressCard slot has been out for a year, you’d think there would be a flood of cards for it. Unfortunately, there isn’t. Even with the number one computer manufacturer, Dell, in the game for a few less months than Apple, the ExpressCard just hasn’t taken the expressway in new product offering.
Now PC Cards and PCMCIA cards, yup, they’re plenty abound. Anything you can think of is pretty much available in this legacy format that has been around for over a decade. Most mobile users probably have extra cards lying around in their junk drawer. Wasting away.
Fortunately, until the rest of the world wakes up to the advantages of the ExpressCard, Duel is helping bridge the gap of lack of product offering with its DuelAdapter. The DuelAdapter allows users with 34mm or 54mm ExpressCard ports to use existing PCMCIA and CardBus cards. Fully compatible with Windows XP and Mac OS X and Windows Vista soon, one will be able to use existing hardware such as 802.11x cards and flash card readers. With full support for ExpressCards 2.5Gbps transfer rate, no bottle neck will be found on the DuelAdapter.
The DuelAdapter is now available until March 31st at $99. After that, it’s back up to $119. You can purchase the card direct from Duel at this time while select re-sellers will start carrying this great product soon.
It’s time to use that little 34 mm slot on the left side of your MacBook Pro, mate! Stop playing around with flash card readers and stick something serious is in it! Like the Novatel V740 ExpressCard, for example. This new card is supported out-of-the-box on your MacBook Pro with Apple’s latest WWAN Support Update we told you about last week. The Novatel card will bring broadband speeds to your MacBook Pro as it, “…is capable of speed bursts of up to 2.0Mbps.” You’ll find average speeds about half that; however, even at 1.0Mbps, that’s still nearing DSL speeds of most households. With the multi-color LED and flip up antenna, the V740 will get you broadband access nearly anywhere…well, anywhere you have a cell signal.
Verizon is offering its VZAccess Manager for download for MacBook Pro users (MacBook users can use this as well if you use the USB Novatel Wireless Ovation U720 device.) With the VZAccess Manager, you can choose for it to manage both your WWAN (the V740) and Wi-Fi connections (built-in Wi-Fi.) If you’d rather let the Mac keep track of your Wi-Fi for you, then you can just have it manage the WWAN connections. Once configured, you’ll be able to easily connect to Verizon’s BroadbandAccess network with details of signal strength at a glance. With other built-in utilities, such as statistics and easy one click e-mail checking, the VZAccess Manager will make all your mobile Internet tasks easy to do.
Pricing for access ranges from $59 a month to $79 depending on contracts and if you are currently a Verizon customer. You may also see further price reduction if you have a business account with Verizon Wireless. The Novatel V740 will cost you $179.99 with a two year contract. MacBook Pro not included.
Update: Link for the v740 updates (3/15/07)
Elgato Systems makes hardware and software to bring television to your Mac and allows you to record and playback the way a Tivo does. We’re working on getting an actual unit for testing, but until we do, I thought I’d share something I learned from an Elgato rep at Macworld. I’ve been watching these products for a while, and I’ve had a hard time telling the difference between their two main products, the EyeTV 250 and the EyeTV Hybrid. Their feature sets are diverse, and I won’t go into complete detail here, but in case you were wondering, here’s the main difference: the 250 has a built-in (hardware) video encoder that does most of the processing, where the Hybrid relies on the Mac’s CPU to do the bulk of the crunching. How this difference plays out in operation and user experience remains to be seen, but we hope to find that out soon through our own tests.
Axiotron released the first real Mac-based tablet computer this week at Macworld. As the name suggests, it’s a modified MacBook, with a fixed tablet screen and advanced tablet capabilities. The new portable is being sold solely through Other World Computing. No word yet on shipping dates.
From my first impressions, it looks like they’ve done a very nice job. When I first heard of the product, I must admit I was skeptical, thinking they just slapped a tablet device onto a MacBook. But the finished product looks more like a ground-up design than a “mod.” From what I can tell, the 13.3 inch screen is a custom-built unit, not just something pulled off a line. It utilized Wacom’s Penabled hardware, which has become the tablet PC industry standard for interactive pen input. The screen has a wider viewing angle and higher contrast ratio than the MacBook’s screen, and is topped by a replaceable “chemically strengthened” glass cover. Axiotron claims this glass method to be far superior to the “non-glass” solutions found in most tablet PCs, offering better optical clarity and improved scratch resistance. The final writing surface is also etched (calibrated to the screen’s resolution) to achieve a “crisp, paper-like writing sensation.” It’s nice to see them put so much effort into creating a quality screen surface for the first Mac tablet.
The ModBook uses Apple’s Inkwell to provide handwriting recognition to any application. I didn’t get to try it myself, but I did watch others try it, and it was rather impressive. Most people that tested it said “wow, it really works!” It wasn’t flawless, a few unintended characters ended up in the mix, but overall it was fairly accurate and responsive. The pen itself has a home near the bottom of the device and features a replaceable tip.
Other features include buit-in iSight camera (retained from the MacBook), CD/DVD combo drive with optional Super drive, locking points that also attach to VESA mounts, and even an optional built-in GPS module.
I think the best part is that the price point (starting at $2,279) is very reasonable for what you get. I remember when the first “interactive pen displays” came out, they were very cool, but very expensive. The price points of those stand-alone units (only input devices) are still relatively high. Wacom’s Cintiq 21UX retails for an average $2500. Granted, its 21″ screen is much bigger than the ModBook’s 13.3″, but it’s JUST an input device for about the same price as the portable, all-inclusive ModBook. There are tablet PCs available for quite a bit less than the ModBook, but very few with a comparable set of features, and none that run OS X. One thing many other tablets do that the ModBook doesn’t yet do is include a keyboard and a swivel screen, which adds a lot of usability.
It will be interesting to see how well this sells and what more Axiotron can do with the platform. I’m working on getting answers to the following questions:
• can I use it as an independent input device with another computer? (like with my MacPro)
• will it someday include a swivel screen and keyboard?