Trigger Finger

I am in the middle of writing a Snow Leopard preview piece, but with rumours of the latest build being the gold master, I have to say Apple’s ‘just works’ slogan can be thrown out of the window if this really is release code.

Two particular apps I can’t live without Xmarks for Safari and iStats Menu Meters are just two of a slew of applications that are broken, broken broken.

Xmarks for safari in particular is a troublesome one as it seems there is no fix is in sight. This post on the official support sight seems to suggest they have not yet even got a concept of how to make this essential Safari plugin work under Snow Leopard.

Input Managers are no longer supported on Snow Leopard – so most Safari plugins need to be re-written in some other way.
So guys – you will need to wait a while for XMarks to figure out an alternative way of doing the plugin

Among other apps to be causing me trouble this far are Cyberduck which crashes on startup, Mail which is refusing to send/receive mail on demand and iMovie which has crashed 3 times in 4 attempts to encode a project. Boot up times in 64bit mode are some 250% slower (30 seconds as opposed to 12 seconds for 32 bit mode) and a lot of niggly glitches have hit my Mac Pro 2009 Nehalem since Snow Leopard was clean installed onto the box.

Let us know of any apps you find that don’t work in Snow Leopard. The verdict so far, could this be Apple’s Vista?

Update: Here is a good post where many users are listing the apps that they find work or not work, very useful if you are thinking of taking the plunge.

The Mac Pro is ‘Out for Delivery’ according to the TNT tracking page so that means, with luck, it should be in my sweaty anticipatory palms by this evening. In between refreshing the tracking status every five minutes I will start off this article which will cover many things. continue reading »

It’s been a very long time coming but finally I have the time (thanks to a sleeping baby!) to finalise my words on these headphones with the thought they deserve.

As previously mentioned on the site, the goal is to finally find a pair of headphones that are top quality in terms of build and sound, whilst also being fully compatible with the iPhone. By fully compatible I mean that they fit into the recessed jack without the need for an adapter, they have a microphone for taking voice calls, and the little rocker switch for the same basic control of the phone that the standard Apple headphones have.

Additionally, from a personal point of view, I need headphones that solve an old problem for me. In over 25 years of looking, I have never found a pair of ‘bud’ style headphones that stay in my ears. I must have tried somewhere in the region of 50-100 models in that time and not one is capable of staying in my ears for more than a few minutes, even when I am stationary! The record for when walking is somewhere in the region of 45 seconds, let alone jogging! Believe me when I say that if a pair of headphones stay in my ears, I guarantee they will stay in anyones!

So how did these headphones stand up to the test? Read on to find out!

continue reading »

Everyone knew it was coming, and though I still struggle to fill 8gb very often, double capacity iphones and touches have finally been announced by apple.

Full Story Here

So the recent Apple press release on iPhone unlocking is stating that unlocked iPhones could well be bricked by the new firmware update released in the next few days.

There are a few things I find obsurd about this statement.

1. Since when has a firmware flash been irreversable damage? The is no software on earth that can’t be changed.

2. The is no hardware on earth that can be ‘damaged’ by software unless it is written in a malicous way, and even then extremely difficult to do

3. Why are Apple the only company on the planet to be exempted from laws that state that all phones should be unlockable so they can be used for the purpose for which they were bought on any carrier?

4. Why are Apple warning users in advance of the upcoming firmware changes? Normally they break stuff without any advanced warning. The answer seems obvious. Their exclusive deals with AT&T, O2, T-Mobile etc are in jeopardy if they don’t at least ‘appear’ to be doing everything they can to keep user on those networks.

To the average user FUD like this is a great way of scaring them into keeping the phone locked, whilst technical users will see this as a subtle warning not to update your firmware as AT&T et al have requested code that breaks the current unlocks. This is currently being very senstionally reported when the truth is a little more subtle. Headlines should really read ‘Apple warns users not to update to the new firmware if they want to keep their phones unlocked’

So I was correct in my hopes/predictions of the launch of the iTouch.

But again I was dissapointed on several issues which seem to be needless limitations.

Why no email application? Sure you can use webmail in various forms but its nowhere near as convenient or slick as an intergrated application. Why no maps? Again web versions are available, but that slick implementation on the iPhone is far better.

Why no Weather gadgets etc??

There is no reason for not including these applications. None whatsoever. Its the same hardware, same binaries and same platform as the iPhone. The one saving grace is that these are software problems and thus can be either added by apple themselves, or more likely ported over by some clever hackers. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great product that met most of my expectations, but seriously crippled in it’s all round functionality as a all-in-one mobile device.

And while I am at it…. when are the damn Euro iPhones coming? I sure as hell aint buying the ipod touch till I can compare prices with the iPhone.

Ipod speculation is running rife with the upcoming 5th September press conference and for once I am excited about what they will announce. I have made no secret in the past of my absolute hatred of all Apple products (and don’t get me started on their magnetic attraction to the most obnoxious fanboys on the planet)… except the ipod.

Generally speaking their products are overpriced, overhyped dismally restricted affairs that would be panned universally if they were released by Microsoft. However, the ipod was truly revolutionary and still is the number one personal music (perhaps also Video) player on the market. I have had Rockbox running on it for the best part of two years (so I can play any format and not just those that Apple deem worthy) and has been the most used gadget purchase of my life.

So what is speculated at the moment?

• Touchscreen Interface – Bringing an iPhone-esque touch screen interface would open up incredible opportunities for this gadget
• MacOS-esque Operating System – Perhaps required in order to enable a touch screen interface. Also opens up lots of possibilities such as…
• A browser… which would be able to make use of the speculated….
• Wireless support.
• Rumoured to be called the ‘Touch’ or ‘iTouch’

There are other rumours but these four seem to fit together so nicely that we could really be seeing an iPhone without the ‘Phone’ being announced. A music-playing, widescreen-video-playing, wireless, web-browsing, portable device controlled by a touchscreen. It could be really-truly awesome, and the OS could open up all kinds of other applications and uses too. No doubt they will spoil it somewhat with some terrible restrictions and lack of open support, but still we could be seeing a true successor to the iPod announced tomorrow and I am sure I will be dissapointed