In an amusing thought experiment, Robert X. Cringley opines at PBS on what it would be like if Steve Jobs applied the kind of thinking that revived Apple to one of the Big Three U.S. auto companies.
Objective Development has opened a public beta for version 5 of LaunchBar, one of our favorite Mac utilities of all time. New features include clipboard history tracking, clipboard merging, a radically enhanced calculator, iCal event creation, Quick Look support, many new actions, and lots more.
Occasionally, we get angry. Or, more often, we think we're being funny. Either way, we try to use our iPhone to employ a certain Anglo-Saxon expletive, and are thwarted by spelling correction. Tim Luoma figured out that by creating a fictitious contact with the air of barnyard epithet about it, he'd save a cancel strike in his exuberant style.
Yet another reason Firefox 2.0 users should update to version 3.0: At Google's request, Mozilla will remove anti-phishing protection from the forthcoming Firefox 2.0.0.19, the final update to that version, due later this month.
Mike Bombich of Bombich Software has announced that he is retiring the popular NetRestore deployment tool, instead recommending the freeware Deploy Studio for restoring public Macs to a predetermined state. His Carbon Copy Cloner disk duplication and backup tool remains in active development.
Macworld reports that Netflix has emailed its Mac customers informing them that anyone with an Intel-based Mac can now stream movies that are available for instant watching. Netflix has previously given beta access to only a limited group of Mac customers.
The Wall Street Journal reports that IBM is offering a system that delivers open-source business applications to thin clients - computers without hard drives or powerful innards. Like with Google applications, central servers at a company handle the heavy lifting. Cost savings could be $500 to $800 per year, plus a reduction in IT support costs. This has been tried before, but IBM says Microsoft Office alternatives are now good enough to compete.
Ars Technica is reporting that Apple has finally eliminated one of the top developer complaints about the iPhone App Store by making it possible for iPhone developers to give reviewers (or friends and family) a free copy of an app.
Macworld has made its annual editors' choice picks for the Eddy Awards. Apple picks up just one title, which is unusual. Several of our favorites are in the list, including BusySync, CSSEdit, and Airfoil.
It's still only the beginning of December, and already Apple is starting the flood of "top" lists, in this case the most popular music, movies, and applications of 2008. Most interesting are the lists of iPhone and iPod touch applications: the top-selling app was Koi Pond, a wonderful little simulation of a pond filled with koi fish. At just $0.99, it's well done and is fun to show people who want to see what an iPhone can do. (Koi Pond tip: Hold your finger on the screen and wait for a fish to nibble it. And yes, I can't believe I just shared a Koi Pond tip.) Apple breaks the apps down into many different categories, giving you a glimpse into what people are downloading (both paid and free apps). (Clicking the link to this article takes you directly to the iTunes Store.)
Apple is making a free license available for the Apple-developed Mini DisplayPort variant on the VESA DisplayPort standard. Hopefully this will make this latest in a long line of Apple proprietary video connectors commonly available from other manufacturers. But why didn't Apple didn't the connector available through VESA as part of DisplayPort?
Adam and Tonya once again join Chuck Joiner for a live video podcast, this time to the Northeast Ohio Apple Corps. They discuss their new MacBooks, troubleshooting a Mac with a dead clock battery, and the effect of switchers on the Mac community.
Adam and Tonya joined Chuck Joiner for a special MacNotables video podcast - produced live via iChat for the regular meeting of the Huntsville Macintosh Users Group.
I had to hold my iPhone an extra foot away from my face while reading David Pogue's New York Times review of the BlackBerry Storm, Research in Motion's entry into the touchscreen, iPhone-wannabe category: the carnage in words was too bloody to take close up. Pogue argues that RIM got it wrong in almost every respect, especially by excluding Wi-Fi. Put on your oven mitts before reading his review.
In the second of a three-part MacJury series, Joe Kissell joins Jeff Gamet, Jean MacDonald, Fraser Speirs, and Chuck Joiner to discuss holiday gift ideas. Joe contributes some suggestions for gifts that are nicely compact - great for reducing clutter or sending to a loved one in another country.