There’s a lot to cover before our Thanksgiving hiatus. Jeff Carlson marvels at how much less his new MacBook Pro costs compared to his previous Apple laptops, and also runs into a dastardly Retrospect problem while upgrading. Matt Neuburg notes the release of PTHPasteboard 4.0 and looks at MindManager for the Mac. Glenn Fleishman ponders power and iPods on airplanes after a recent Apple announcement, and we also note the release of firmware updates for Intel-based Macs, Apple Remote Desktop 3.1, and an update of “Take Control of Digital TV.” Our next issue will be 04-Dec-06, but please send your holiday gift suggestions to TidBITS Talk in the meantime!
This coming Thursday is the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, so we're taking the week off to spend time with family and friends (and, of course, to Take Control of Thanksgiving Dinner with the help of Joe Kissell's ebook)
For those of us who publish holiday gift coverage, the approach of Thanksgiving is a warning sign - get started! So, for our traditional holiday gift issue of reader suggestions, scheduled for publication toward the end of the first week in December, please tell us what gifts you're planning to put on your holiday wish list or to present to your loved ones this year
Apple released firmware updates for its line of Intel-based Macs last week, addressing Boot Camp, start up, and wake-from-sleep issues. Be sure to follow the directions (worth printing out) when applying the updates; instructions for creating a Firmware Restoration CD are also available
Apple last week released Apple Remote Desktop 3.1, making the company's remote control and management application into a universal binary and fixing numerous bugs and limitations that you can read more about on Apple's Web site
As I predicted in "PTHPasteboard Returns, Better Late than Never" (2005-03-21), Paul Haddad's PTHPasteboard 4.0 is here, it's free, and it's better than ever
Up to six airlines will soon make it easier to use your iPod in flight by providing power connections at each seat along with an adapter to enable viewing video content on a seat-back screen
A mind map is a diagram of connected ideas. In the past, I've written about various mind-mappers, including the minimalist Pyramid ("Pyramid Therapy," 2004-09-13) and the full-featured NovaMind ("Draw What's On Your Mind With NovaMind," 2006-04-17)
After patiently waiting for Apple to give the MacBook Pro line a boost, I finally ordered a new Intel Core 2 Duo-based MacBook Pro to replace my three-year-old PowerBook G4
Here at TidBITS, we like to think that we face adversity so you don't have to. We use our Macs all day long, sometimes even in the evenings, looking for ways to shoulder your karmic burden of computer troubles.
In other words, when bad stuff happens, we write about it because we can, and sometimes that can help someone
"Take Control of Digital TV" Updated for Holiday Season -- We've released a new version of Clark Humphrey's "Take Control of Digital TV," updating information about HDTV programming in the United States, the next-generation DVD format war, and Internet-based video download sites
Disappearing laptop display -- The backlighting on a reader's iBook occasionally goes dark, prompting several suggestions from the TidBITS community. (10 messages)
Dreamweaver previews not opening in Internet Explorer -- A Web designer runs into trouble with Internet Explorer 5 for Mac, which leads to the question of whether it's worth it to test in an outdated and unsupported browser