Posts Tagged ‘Apple’

Newer Entries »

Facetime for Mac

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

Looking not too dissimilar to Skype and iChat before it, Facetime for Mac is a video calling / conferencing application from Apple.  The aim is clearly to get some of the iPhone halo effect to rub off on video calling as Facetime brings nothing new to the party that was first made big, afordable (ie free) and workable by Skype back in 2003.  The Facetime for Mac seems to duplicate the functionality of iChat but brings the obvious advantage of being able to connect with those on an iPhone rather than just a Mac (as is the case with iChat).  Facetime on an iPhone 4 works only over the Wi-Fi connection and not 3G and the picture quality compared with Skype and iChat seems to be little different.

Currently in Beta for Mac only (requires 10.6 Snow Leopard) you can download Facetime for Mac from Apple.

Email

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Tech | No Comments »

iPhone 4 with gyro and iOS

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Apple iPhone 4

The new Apple iPhone 4 has been unveiled by Steve Jobs at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.  The phone is available in black or whie cases and will contain a gyroscope in addition to the digital compass and accelerometer allowing for waves or “gestures” with the device to control it.  The iPhone 4 has 2 cameras, one front facing for video chat (FaceTime – to those in the know) and the other for still photography and HD video (720p, 30fps).  The screen resolution has also jumped up to 960 x 640.

A new version of the iPhone OS, now re-badged iOS4 was also demonstrated.  The key feature is the addition of multitasking to the iPhone and iPad.  The Apple iPhone 4 goes on sale in the UK on 24 June 2010.

Email

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Tech | No Comments »

Macbook Pro new CPU and GPU

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

Apple have released upgraded Macbook Pro range with Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors. In addition the GPU has been updated to the nVidia GT 330M.

Email

Tags: ,
Posted in Tech | No Comments »

Apple iPad

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

Apple iPad

After being probably the most talked about hardware for years and the most hyped since the iPhone, Apple had launched the iPad.

Like a large form factor iPhone ot iPod Touch the iPad is based heavily around the App Store and a new (if clumsy sounding)  iBookStore for getting eBooks in the ePub format.

The screen is 1024 x 768 resolution and multi-touch support is the same as the iPhone.  There will be 16, 32 and 64GB models to choose from in two lines, one Wi-Fi only and the other Wi-Fi and 3G (data).  It remains to be seen whether VoIP applications will work in the absence of a phone capability.  Presumably omitted so not to cannibalise sales of the iPhone.  Prices start at $499 with UK prices yet to be confirmed.

The picture shows the first of a wave of accessories with a docking keyboard for when you tire of the virtual on-screen affair.  Battery life is claimed to be 10 hours which should make for a good film playback device but a poorer ebook reader.

Email

Tags: ,
Posted in Tech | No Comments »

Death of a Time Capsule

Saturday, October 24th, 2009
Time Capsule Memorial image

Time Capsule Memorial

Apple’s Time Capsule backup device is a wi-fi router and single hard drive in one box. Although rather expensive compared to the cost of a stand alone external hard drive they do have the advantage of the slick Apple styling.

Unfortunately it appears that the, as advertised “server grade” hard drives don’t last as long as some might expect. The Time Capsule Memorial site currently lists over 500 devices that have died, with an average lifespan of 17 months.

Many people have previously stated that a backup solution based on a single hard drive was flawed from the outset.

Email

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Tech | No Comments »

Details of Snow Leopard Released

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

Apple have released details on Snow Leopard, the latest version of Mac OS X.  Key features inlude better support multi-core processors with Grand Central Dispatch and OpenCL to use the powerful graphics chips (GPU) for more than just graphics.  It also boasts a 6GB reduction in hard disc footprint by removing legacy code.

Email

Tags: , ,
Posted in Tech | No Comments »

New iPhone 3G S Released Friday

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

The new Apple iPhone 3G S retains the external form factor of the old iPhone 3G but is up to twice as fast.

Email

Tags: ,
Posted in Tech | No Comments »

Mac Hardware Updated

Monday, March 9th, 2009

March 2009 has seen updates to the remainder of the Macintosh range following the much publicised Macbook updates earlier in the year.  The Mac Mini looking very long in the tooth has been tweeked externally with a Display Port (and mini-DVI) and extra USB (bringing the total to 5).  The biggest internal changes are the addition of Core 2 Duo and the upgrade of the graphics to an Nvidia 9400M. This uses shared system memory but is still a marked improvement and sets the way for Open CL functionality coming in the Snow Leopard version on OS X (10.6).

The iMac and Mac Pro have seen updates beefing up the internals with no change to the externals.

Apple Mac Mini

Apple Mac Mini

Email

Tags: , ,
Posted in Tech | No Comments »

Google Earth Plug-in – OS X

Friday, December 5th, 2008

The Google Earth plug-in is now available for Apple Macintosh OS X.  This allows Google Earth to appear in a browser window much the same as a YouTube video appears without downloading the full application of Google Earth.

Google Earth Plugin

Google Earth Plugin

Email

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Tech | No Comments »

Newer Entries »