Geekologist - Your Technology Forecast! » Apple

Snow Leopard Big Deal or Bust?

whoknew — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 02:20:13 +0000

What the hell is Snow Leopard? I keep hearing that it’s just a service pack or not worth the $29 dollars and more recently I have been hearing that Microsoft is laughing at it’s imperfections. Hey Microsoft take a quick look at Windows 7 because it is far from perfect.

However this does not answer the question. Is Snow Leopard a big deal for all the Mac fanboys and fangirls or is it just some elaborate scheme to exploit money from the population to gain revenue and profit. Let’s admit Apple has been down some bumpy roads lately. Just look at the app store’s developer relations and you can see just a few potholes at 1 infinite loop.

I see no reason why Snow Leopard could not have been a free upgrade. Some even say the feature enhancements could have been delivered via software updates and the processes simplified by spanning it over a few months. I am sure that some would argue and say “Well the core architecture has changed and thus well worth the twenty-nine dollar upgrade.

Lets get serious! We are still far from perfecting the 64-bit model and even further from utilizing it’s full potential. When would a consumer ever need to allocate 2 exabytes of memory. As I see it this is the only real upgrade to Snow Leopard as most other upgrades were already offered via hacking or cracking Leopard or using 3rd party software.

Overall I see this as a pathetic attempt to either 1) Represent that they are still ahead of Microsoft by releasing an incremental upgrade before the launch of Windows 7. 2) Add long wanted features to a seemingly identical Operating System to gain a fair amount of profit (Five Million Copies * $29.99 = $66 million in revenue). Regardless I am highly disappointed in Snow Leopard and expected more from Apple.

If you are still debating on getting the upgrade. I would hold off until the 3rd party developers make better use of the 64-bit model and unleash the full power of Grand Central Dispatch.

Agree? Disagree? Leave your comments.

Google Chrome OS

lockerhaxor — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:32:28 +0000

Today Google made a rather large, and ambitious, announcement. They announced a little thing called Google Chrome OS . All uncreative name choices aside, this seems to be the fabled Google OS. According to everything we know right now, Chrome OS will be targeted at the Netbook audience, an ever popular trend in the Personal Computer arena.

Here are a few facts you might want to know from the post.

A lightweight OS targeted at Netbooks.
Slated for product release in the second half of 2010.
Designed to work on x86 and ARM processors.
Built on a Linux Kernal. (Quoted from the blog, “Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel.”)
Open Source.

One thing I noticed is it did say Open Source, so I’m assuming it’ll be free. I mean most, if not all, of what Google does is free, however considering this is an entire operating system, you never know how it’ll go. Also, although they did say it was targeted to Netbooks, they did in fact mention full blown desktop setups and such. So, with that said, we have to wonder how capable this system is meant to be. Will it just be watered down for Netbooks, or will it be lightweight but capable for everything?

This also brings up the question of Microsoft’s, and to a lesser extent Apple’s, response to the whole situation. Linux was pretty much killed as an OS for the Netbooks when Microsoft announced it would extend the life of Windows XP. And with Windows 7 just around the corner, I’m sure Microsoft thought it had the Netbook market wrapped up. Of course they’ll probably just pull the “We have a very capable, well built, Operating System with loads of software already made for it.” but that may not be enough. Of course, Apple has denounced Netbook’s in general, so it’ll be no surprise if they don’t care in the least. If anything they may support it, as it would certainly hurt their competitor.

Of course, details are few and far between on this new OS, considering it was just announced hours ago. However as time progresses we should start seeing what the folks at Google have to offer in an operating system.

Thanks,
Oliver (lockerhaxor)

AT&T/MMS and iPhone OS 3.1

whoknew — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:12:01 +0000

Today when logging into my Apple Developer account I noticed a nice little surprise. A new iPhone OS beta was available for download via Apple Developer connection. I have yet to download the beta considering many people are having issues with the network connectivity and such however I did want to point out some interesting modifications in the new firmware.

After reading the Developer Forums it seems as if apple has re-enabled the MMS feature but currently MMS is not working. I still believe AT&T needs to enable the MMS feature on their end but it does seem that MMS will be enabled when the iPhone OS 3.1 is publicly released.

For all you iPhone 3GS users it seems you get a great new feature to go along with the your excellent video recorder (Can you tell I have not upgraded yet?) Apple has added the ability to copy video clips in the editor. I am still unsure where we can paste the clips but I think it will be used mainly to allow us to “splice” two video clips together.

Smaller changes include:

Modem firmware upgrade bringing the carrier software version from 4.0 to 4.2.
Adding feature to when the phone is put into “move mode” (when you can move apps) the device vibrates.
Fixed issue with Voice Command and Bluetooth.
Phone Keypad now allows you to copy and paste.

Most issues with the beta seem to be with the network connectivity and the iPod app. Some users are stating that the iPod app will not even open. As of now I am going to stay away from the 3.1 beta OS until said issues are resolved and I strongly suggest anyone considering updating to the beta do the same. I will keep you posted when I get more news.

Got questions or your own comments? Leave them below!

Enable Tethering on iPhone 3.0 OS 3G and 3GS

whoknew — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:38:16 +0000

Updated way to enable tethering:

Simple! Just go to this website on your phone. http://help.benm.at/help.php

Click on mobileconfigs.
Select your Country.
Select your carrier.
It will ask you if you want to install.
Click install.
Enjoy your tethering via Settings > General > Network > Internet Tethering

Old way to enable tethering:

iPhone 3.0 is live! So I am going to repost the tethering tutorial. Now there is no need to download anything (aside from the carrier file). Seems you can just run a little command in terminal (Make sure you are on OS 3.0 on a 3G iPhone and iTunes 8.2):

So open up terminal and type:

defaults write com.apple.iTunes carrier-testing -bool TRUE

After that, the steps become a lot more simple.

1. Download this file (for AT&T) and mount the disk image (thanks Gizmodo) for other carriers, try here.

2. Option-click on “restore” in your iTunes with your iPhone attached. Browse to the opened disk image file and hit OK. It will update phone settings for a few seconds.

3. You have tethering. Now go into your iPhone/settings/general/network/Internet Tethering and turn it on.

Boom – 3 steps to tethering…

As a side note is highly recommended that you not use this as your primary internet service. Please if anything try to stay under 5GB’s of transfer per month to avoid service termination.

Geekologist Radio – Episode #6 – The Other Internet?

David — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:22:13 +0000

Hosts:
David Ford
Keaton Taylor

Topics:

Apple previews iPhone OS 3.0, adds copy and paste, Spotlight search, plenty more
It’s Official, Tweetdeck Becomes SocialDeck With Facebook Integration
Corvette-like car gets 100 MPG, Ships Next Year
Hitachi 1TB Internal SATA Hard Drive $87.99 Free Shipping

Click to Listen

Rant: Mac vs PC and Operating System Wars!

Zetacon — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:01:02 +0000

One thing that will never change in any tech community is the never-ending operating system (OS) wars. I’ve seen a good number of them and a lot of them just don’t have the facts to back up their claims. However, on a constant basis, it is usually the prime two operating systems: Windows and the Mac OS, otherwise known as Mac vs PC.

I don’t normally like to get involved in those arguments or any other computer-related war, the main reason being that both parties are simply not satisfied with what the other product has to offer. It boils down to each party acquiring their favorite OS and dismissing another all together in a stubborn and ignorant manner. However, in this particular post, I’m taking the opportunity to display my observations, clear up a lot of the flaws presented in the arguments, and lay down a few technicalities on this on-going issue.

The word “Mac” is a term that Apple laid down to set themselves apart from the “PC” platform. While this is a creative marketing theme, we need to look at the whole picture here. A Mac, believe it or not, is a PC, taking note that PC stands for Personal Computer. That term also goes for any other brand of system outside the Apple spectrum: HP, Compaq, Dell, Toshiba; they are all PCs.

Those who have fallen prey to this little piece of propaganda tend to develop a nice superiority complex because of it. That is not a good thing, by the way. Due to this common complex, it also stems others to start OS wars. A lot of the common things that are said sound most likely similar to “Oh, Mac Sucks” or “Vista Sucks” or “I hate Ubuntu”. However, a good majority of the time, this is how a typical conversation within the OS war would be like:

“Mac is really better? Have you tried other operating systems?”
“Yeah, Vista sucks.”
…
“Okay, what about Linux?”
“Linux blows. I could never learn that.”
“Have you taken the time to learn Linux?”
(No response)

I’ll be honest with you. You can’t assess whether one operating system is better than another without actually trying them for yourself. It really isn’t that hard to go to your nearest Apple store or another electronic store and try out OS X. Testing it out also applies to Linux as well. Linux and its hundreds and hundreds of distributions are, for the most part, free. Ubuntu is a nice stepping stone for those that want to learn Linux and the Unix command line. Download Ubuntu Linux and run the Live CD to see if you like it. Don’t automatically dismiss an OS because of what you heard about it. While sometimes that can be reliable, for the majority of the time, however, it’s better if you experience it for yourself.

Don’t get me wrong, I do not hate Apple. I have used OS X before. If Apple’s EULA allows OS X to be installed on other computers, I would probably purchase just the OS and nothing else. Why? Apple’s computers are top notch machines but the price leaves it out of reach for a lot of people, like myself for instance. If they drop the Mac Pro to under $800, I would buy it in a heartbeat. But I really don’t see that happening for a while.

All I ask is that you try out a Mac, a Linux operating system, or any other operating system before you start completely dismissing it all together. Being better informed is better than being ignorant. The knowledge that you gain from experiencing it yourself will be more worthwhile.

Edge For iPhone and iPod Touch

whoknew — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 02:13:50 +0000

Hey guys, it’s The App Guru here and here’s an awesome game that is extremely addicting and hard to put down. This game consists of you controlling a very colorful block as you venture across the map through all the corners and traps. You have to reach the end of the level where your block will suddenly turn into a colorful batch of liquid soaring into the air. You control your block by simply moving your finger in the direction you want to the block to go. This is a very simple game that almost anyone can pick up. It also has tons of challenging levels to keep you entertained. Overall I highly recommend this app and you can purchase it in the App Store for $5.99.

iPhone and iPod Touch App Review- Brain Fart

whoknew — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 02:51:46 +0000

Today’s iPhone and iPod Touch App Review is going to be on an application that will challenge your brain! This is a fun game that has many mini-games inside that challenge different parts of your brain. You can play quick play and pick the section you want to try or you could simply pick brain test and it will give you a whole brain test that can be very challenging. Overall I like this game a lot, and it can save you from a base case of boredom. You can purchase this application in the App Store for only, $.99! If you want to watch a video preview of this application just look below.

Geekologist Radio – Episode #3 – Developers, Developers, Developers!

David — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 05:25:43 +0000

Hosts:
David Ford
Grady Joslin
Dan Peters
John Rush

Topics:

Buffalo’s Web Access hands-on: remote access from your iPhone
Skydrive
Windows 7

Click to Listen

Mac World 09′

whoknew — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 22:07:37 +0000

As some of you might already know this week was Mac World 09′. Most of you may know this because it was Apples last keynote at Mac World. In the video I will go into details about my thoughts on Philip Schillers keynote and the innovations apple brought to the table this year.

Topic:

iLife 09′ – Going into detail about some cool new features in iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and Garage Band. Including some amazing stuff that you can now do in iMovie.

iWork 09′ – Collaboration at it’s best. Some really cool features that make it even easier to manage and collaborate with others.

iTunes - Finally you can get every song on iTunes DRM free. Plus some new pricing points on music.

Mac Book Pro 17′ – This is the most revolutionary notebook on the market. The lightest thinest and longest battery life of any notebook of it’s class for sale today.

Enjoy the video and please leave any question or comments below!