Pro Computer Geek

After years of anticipation, the Apple tablet device has finally been unveiled as the iPad.

Essentially, it’s an iPod Touch on steroids – here’s some key facts:

• 9.7-inch LED-backlit multi-touch display with IPS technology (high quality LCD panel)
• 1024×768 resolution (compared to 480×320 on the iPhone/iPod Touch)
• 9.56×7.47 inches, and just 0.5 of an inch thin (242.8×189.7mm, and 13.4mm thin)
• 1.5 pounds for the Wi-Fi only model, and 1.6 pounds for the Wi-Fi + 3G model (0.68 and 0.73kg respectively)
• 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB flash drive
• 1GHz Apple A4 processor
• H.264 video playback up to 720p @ 30FPS
• 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology
• 3G model featuring UMTS/HSDPA and GSM/EDGE
• Unlocked for all networks
• Digital compass
• Built-in 25Whr lithium-polymer battery
• Up to 10 hours of battery life during normal use, up to one month one standby
• Dock connector
• 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack
• Microphone
• GSM micro-SIM card slot

Head on over to Apple’s iPad web pages for further info. It’s very interesting to note that they’ve developer their own silicon to run the iPad in the form of Apple’s own custom-built “A4″ processor – I wonder where else we may see this make an appearance?

However, it’s also lacking a few things that the rumour mill had been hoping for such as:

• Built-in front-facing camera for video-conferencing
• Phone functionality as per the iPhone
• App multitasking, so that apps can be run in the background
• No support for Flash, although not necessarily a bad thing since Flash is on its way out

That said, it’s an interesting step for Apple to take as they seem to err more towards mobile devices. Whilst for many professionals the iPad will come across a casual toy or gadget, I can see people like my Mum happily using this given that it caters for all the use she currently gets out of her MacBook for instance, and in a really nice hardware package not to mention very straight-forward software too. It’ll be very interesting to see how this develops, and what Apple can do in the future for their desktop line of hardware. Check this video out as a starter for ten. I can possibly see a point, maybe even at the end of this decade, where we see convergence between the iPhone OS and the Mac OS…

They say a messy desk is a sign of productivity… and in the computer world, your desktop is your messy virtual equivalent. If, like me, you use your desktop to frequently store “temporary” (as in 6 months+!) files, text notes, images, etc. then you may appreciate the release of BumpTop for Mac.

BumpTop is a 3D desktop utility which replaces your existing OS desktop in favour of a slick 3D virtual room where you can treat files on your desktop as you would in a normal desktop environment. You can collate related files together and pile them in a stack, you can pin files or pictures against your virtual walls, you can even toss files across your desktop with satisfyingly realistic physics. Now out of Beta, and having previously been released for Windows almost a year ago, BumpTop finally makes its debut on Mac OS X.

The standard version of BumpTop is totally free, but there is a ‘Pro’ version available for keen desktop clutter enthusiasts for a nominal $29 which provides additional cool features such as Find-As-You-Type, multitouch gestures for Macbook owners with multitouch trackpads, ability to ‘flip’ through files using your mouse scroll wheel or trackpad, and no limit on the number of sticky notes you can have in your virtual desktop.

BumpTop is available to download for Mac now.

Bust out the party poppers and balloons, today is cause for celebration: it’s the youngest of the Mac family’s birthday today; the Mac mini.

Announced five years ago today, the Mac mini was the last entirely new computer product line that Apple introduced, making its debut at Macworld Expo San Francisco on January 11th, 2005.

“Starting at just $499, Mac mini is the most affordable way to enjoy Mac OS X and iLife,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Just plug in your display, keyboard and mouse and you’ve got an incredibly compact Mac for a price that almost anyone can afford.”

Initially introduced to compete with PCs in the ultra-competitive sub-$1,000 desktop market, the Mac mini has retained its form factor over the past five years, but gained in popularity and ways of use, possibly not even originally intended when Apple first released it. It’s $499 price point made it the cheapest Mac ever, but as time has gone on and its place in the market settled a little bit left of the field from its original intention, today’s current entry level Mac mini is the same price as the original Mac mini’s high end configuration.

Specs & Pricing – then & now

On launch, these were the specs & pricing of the PowerPC-based Mac mini’s:

• 1.25GHz or 1.42GHz PowerPC G4 processor;
• 512kB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed
• 167MHz frontside bus;
• 256MB of 333MHz DDR SDRAM, expandable to 1GB;
• 40 or 80GB Ultra ATA hard drive;
• Combo optical drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) or SuperDrive™ (DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• ATI Radeon 9200 graphics processor with 32MB video memory;
• One FireWire 400 and two USB 2.0 ports;
• 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet networking and 56K V.92 modem;
• Internal support for AirPort Extreme wireless networking and Bluetooth;
• DVI or VGA out (adapter included), composite/S-video out with optional adapter; and
• Built-in speaker and headphone/line out.
• Two models priced at $499 and $599.

And here are today’s Intel-based Mac mini specs, five years on:

• 2.26GHz, 2.53GHz, or 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
• 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed
• 1066MHz frontside bus;
• 2GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
• 160GB, 320GB or 500GB Serial ATA hard drive;
• SuperDrive™ (DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB video memory;
• One FireWire 800 and five USB 2.0 ports;
• 10/100/1000 BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet networking;
• AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR;
• DVI and Mini DisplayPort output;
• Built-in speaker;
• Combined optical digital audio input/audio line in (minijack); and
• Combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack).
• Two models priced at $599 and $799 plus a Server model at $999.

Whilst the Mac mini has barely changed cosmetically, its made the transition from the ill-fated PowerPC G4 to Intel’s Core 2 Duo, seen its memory capacity quadruple, had its 100 BASE-T upgraded to Gigabit, shed the 56K modem and gain a Mini DisplayPort (allowing dual-monitor capability), upgraded its analogue audio output to combined optical digital input and output, and much more.

Mac mini uses and applications

The Mac mini was originally designed to over Windows PC users and encourage them to switch – the idea behind shipping an affordable “headless” Mac without a keyboard, mouse or monitor is that a PC user could use their existing VGA/DVI monitor and USB input devices and peripherals.

However, the Mac mini’s tiny form factor and ultra-quiet running, coupled with Apple’s Front Row software has made it popular amongst home cinema enthusiasts. Apple acknowledged this by later introducing a bundled remote with built-in IR receiver in the units. There’s even a dedicated website about using the Mac mini as an HTPC. Whilst Apple has released the Apple TV with an HDMI output for streaming movies and music from iTunes libraries to home cinema setups, the Mac mini offers an equally useful DVI connection with an optical digital audio output and lets users not only play iTunes content without streaming, but also play DVDs, add additional hardware such as Elgato’s EyeTV, and pair up a Bluetooth keyboard & mouse for web surfing.

The Mac mini has also proved popular in the server market due to its very low power requirements and, again, its diminutive form factor. Apple has gone a step further to acknowledge this by releasing a Server edition of the Mac mini which ships with Mac OS X Server and loses the slot-loading DVD drive in favour of a 2nd internal hard drive, allowing a maximum capacity of 1TB.

Here’s hoping for another five years of exciting updates and uses of the Mac mini – oh and Steve, how’s about a case design update? Aluminium & gloss white is soooo last decade…

If, like me, you are a bit of an old school Mac head, or possibly you have an actual genuine need to launch your old Mac OS “Classic” applications, check out the oddly named “SheepShaver”.

Far from doing what it says on the tin, SheepShaver is a PowerPC emulator that lets you run Mac OS 7, 8 or 9 on your Snow Leopard machine. It’s also available for Linux and Windows users too.

Check out SheepShaver at E-Maculation for more info, and also stop by at TidBITS for an overview on how to get up and running.

The bright sparks over at Dreamfield (Swedish post-production powerhouse) have figured out how to get the iPhone/iPod OS running on a Mac Pro with a touch screen monitor. Check out the brief vid below!

As expected, Apple’s Phil Schiller announced the new iPhone 3G S at the WWDC keynote.

Here’s a quick summary of the key new features of the iPhone 3G S:

• 2x faster than the previous iPhone.
• Supports up to 7.2 Mbps HSDPA.
• 3 megapixel camera, up from 2 megapixels.
• Video recording.
• Hands free voice control.
• 32GB capacity, with 16GB and 8GB versions still available.
• Improved battery life.

So, are you going to upgrade? Is the updated feature set enough to get you dialling your mobile network provider for an upgrade?

With Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) taking place next week, the rumor mill has been rife with speculation of a new iPhone being announced by Apple to coincide with the launch of iPhone OS 3.0. Below we look at what we know so far based on rumors from the web and some calculated/educated guesses based on previous trends:

Release date
Apple’s WWDC is widely acknowledged as the likely event that the new iPhone will be announced, one year after the current iPhone 3G was announced. The keynote will be held on Monday, June 8 by Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller. More info about WWDC can be found here.

Design
The third generation iPhone is said to sport a matte black finish on the rear shell, marking yet another change in the design and feel when Apple changed from matte aluminium on the first generation iPhone to a gloss plastic finish on the current second generation.

The new iPhone is said to have the earpiece embedded in the actual bezel, thus appearing higher than it currently is on the existing model, according to this Chinese online wholesaler. See the embedded picture to the right for an artist’s (very good) rendition of what the new iPhone may look like.

It is also rumored that the Apple logo on the back will illuminate, just like on Apple’s range of portable computers ever since the PowerBook Lombard.

Capacity
It’s looking likely that the capacity of the iPhone will double again, with a 32GB version being available.

Data speed
Inline with AT&T’s recent announcement of supporting HSPA 7.2 technology, the new iPhone is widely expected to be capable of mobile data transfer speeds of up to 7.2Mbps. 

Other
It’s understood that Apple is now taking delivery of PCBs for the new iPhone as it gears up for mass production.

We’ll keep this article updated as and when more news pops up in the build up to the announcement of the new iPhone. Stay tuned!

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Desktops, Gaming, Hardware, iTS, Rumors, Software, iTunes, App Store I think the whole "Apple buying Twitter" rumor floating around is about as much of a crock as the "Apple buying EA" one. But I give slightly more credence to this conclusion: that, despite the painful experience of Pippin, Apple is once again putting together a game console. Why? Let the evidence from BNET convince you. First, Apple is picking up game execs and console chip makers left and right. Second is a whole slew of recent patents, for everything from mixing up media and game environments to management of games acquired from a media server. And third, though BNET doesn't actually connect the dots and say it, we will: Apple is sitting on what might be the best library of independent games anywhere, and it's sitting right in front of us in iTunes' App Store. For years, console makers have depended on the mercy of publishers to keep their hardware going -- they sell the hardware at a loss, and then rely on the software sales and licensing to make it all back up again. But think of what Apple could do here: improve the AppleTV or Mac Mini, throw in some kind of Wii-like interface, and then break the whole thing open in the same way they did with the App Store: let developers in with a really low cost of entry, give them the tools they need to create solid games, and just take a nice cut from all of the tiny transactions flowing back and forth. BNET claims that the iPhone's interface wouldn't work on a larger console, but why not? All Apple has to do is figure out a way to translate the iPhone's gestures and taps into a console system, and then they can practically run the games natively. Sure, the resolution would be a little low with a straight port, but that's a small problem to fix. Apple already has the makings of a game console with the iPod touch, and while the rumors may still just be rumors, there's never been a better time for them to leverage what they've already got. TUAWThe evidence for an Apple game console originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 08 May 2009 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, iPhone, iPod touch

The Iconfactory's Twitterrific was one of the first Twitter applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. Since its introduction, The Twitter App Wars have begun in earnest. If Twitter is the Belle of the Ball, there's a long line of suitors who want to be her beau.

The new Twitterrific makes a serious play for her affection. Long-absent features like multiple account support, search and "tweet actions" like re-tweeting are all included, plus new goodies like a gorgeous, color-coded tabbed UI and the Filter Bar. Quickly find your mentions via "@ replies," direct messages, starred favorites or tweets you've "marked," which are like private favorites.

There's so much more to this app and we'll have a full review for you soon. Until then, you can get familiar with Twitterrific 2 on the new "Tweetorials" page. Twitterrific 2 Premium is available now from the App Store [link] for $3.99US. An ad-supported free version is also available [link].

TUAWTwitterrific 2 for iPhone and iPod touch available originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 08 May 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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