Michael E. Cohen
Michael E. Cohen has worked as a teacher, a programmer, a Web designer, a multimedia producer, and a certified usability analyst. One of the developers of the first commercial ebooks, Michael is the author of several such works, including the compendious Take Control of Pages.
Browser update offers many small and some rather obscure fixes and enhancements. (Free, 13.2 MB)
Apple makes iTunes ready for Verizon iPhone. (Free, 93.1 MB)
Disk utility now provides defragmentation capability without rebooting. ($99, free update, 18 MB)
Word processor gains sorting and change tracking, drops price, and adds free upgrades. ($39 new, $29 educational, free update, 39 MB)
It’s not really surprising anymore, but the Mac, iPhone, and iPad have produced Apple’s largest earnings report ever. Again.
A Bluetooth gadget from Gear4 turns your iOS device into an entertainment center universal remote, removes couch potato clutter.
Joe Kissell takes control of the changing backup landscape with the fifth edition of his comprehensive ebook that teaches readers how to create a reliable backup strategy.
The latest version of iBooks adds automatic hyphenation, more richly illustrated layouts, and user-specified collections among other improvements.
A new Welcome window and fixes for saving issues head the list. ($59.95/$99.95 new, free update, 41 MB)
To paraphrase Louis Armstrong, when compared to earlier versions is Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac fast, slow, or half-fast? MacTech has run about 1,000 tests to compare the performance of the suite’s applications to Office 2008 and 2004 across a variety of configurations, including MacBook Pro, MacBook, and iMac. The results are available online and will be published in a forthcoming issue of MacTech Magazine.
Joe Kissell’s latest Take Control ebook provides practical techniques and useful tips for how to cut back on paper clutter and chaos.
AirPlay implemented, Ping now optional, and the usual performance and stability enhancements. (Free, 90.63 MB)
Includes expert preference enhancements and various bug fixes. ($129 new, free update, 15.8 MB)
Those who feared that the days of Java on Mac OS X were over following Apple’s announcement that it was “deprecating” Java on Mac OS X will be heartened by the news that Oracle and Apple are creating the OpenJDK Project. Apple’s press release states that “Java SE 6 will continue to be available from Apple for Mac OS X Snow Leopard and the upcoming release of Mac OS X Lion. Java SE 7 and future versions of Java for Mac OS X will be available from Oracle.”
The new RootMetrics app tests local mobile coverage details and adds your results to their big picture of the mobile landscape.