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Bugs & Fixes: When MobileMe contacts will not delete

Tuesday, 18 November 2008

When I first gave MobileMe a spin months ago, I synced my Address Book contacts to the cloud. Recently, I wanted to clear those contacts from MobileMe. You might think this would be easy to do. You'd be wrong.

After trying several dead-ends, I ultimately tripped over what is almost certainly a bug in Apple's MobileMe software. I did come up with a work-around for the bug, but it's a bit ugly.

Macworld Team | Ted Landau | Read more...


The book of MacBook

Friday, 14 November 2008

People keep asking me about my new MacBook. The machines came out about a month ago, but that clearly hasn’t been enough time for people to get their fill of Apple’s latest portable lineup. I have to remind myself that these are, for the most part, civilians: people who don’t eat, drink, breathe, and immerse themselves in all things Apple.

Still, I’ve fended off envious looks and an assortment of questions, ranging from whether the performance is a huge improvement to whether the screen is too reflective.

Macworld Team | Dan Moren | Read more...


Biggest threat Windows 7: Journalists

Thursday, 13 November 2008

CNET blogger Don Reisinger has an interesting take on the biggest threat to the success of Windows 7: Journalists. His reason?

Regardless of whether you believe in the greatness of Steve Jobs or you choose to use only Velocity Micro machines out of your hatred for Apple, one thing remains: the vast majority of journalists use Macs to write their stories and have a deep-seeded [sic] love for Apple products.

Macworld Team | Robet X Cringely | Read more...


Remembering Michael Crichton

Monday, 10 November 2008

I was deeply saddened to read of the passing of Michael Crichton, at the way-too-young age of 66. Michael was an amazingly talented individual, as evidenced by his background—a Harvard-educated medical doctor who wrote The Andromeda Strain while still in medical school, and then wrote (and directed the movie version of) The Great Train Robbery.

From there, his writing career really took off, and he had me hooked at a relatively early age—I remember reading my dad’s copy of The Andromeda Strain in my teen years. While I may not have agreed with all of his recent writing, his books were consistently entertaining, and mixed just enough reality in with some out-there science fiction to get me thinking about the possibilities.

Macworld Team | Rob Griffiths | Read more...


Is Yahoo dead?

Monday, 10 November 2008

The problem with writing about the endless Microsoft-Yahoo-Google mini-series is eventually you run out of metaphors. So I'll quote Michael Corleone: "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."

Google has bailed on its bailout of Yahoo. After 7.5 years of near total stasis, the Department of Justice's anti-trust division emerged from a persistent vegetative state to declare that a Google-Yahoo partnership will not stand. Why this particular battle roused U.S. anti-trusters from their dirt nap is a mystery. But it was enough to scare off the Googlers.

Macworld Team | Robert X. Cringely | Read more...


Loving the MacBook Air

Thursday, 06 November 2008

Will the MacBook kill the MacBook Air? Screamed a headline I read recently. "Er, no" was the rather sheepish answer. But the MacBook Pro is in serious danger of killing my back, and I've developed a newfound love of my Air as a result.

It started with a test MacBook Pro sent in by Apple. The one that's been in the office for the last week or two, and yesterday escaped from the test lab and ended up back on my desk.

Mark Hattersley | Mark Hattersley | Read more...


Microsoft haters, Mac daddies and Linux lovers

Thursday, 06 November 2008

Now that the elections are finally over, let's focus on something even more contentious -- the holy war over operating systems. I've gotten a lot of responses regarding my Halloween post on Microsoft's "I'm a PC" marketing campaign and Windows 7. Some good, some bad, and some plug-ugly.

Lady Geek took mild umbrage at my joke about Windows 7 being "Vista in garters and a tight sweater."

Macworld Team | Robert X. Cringely | Read more...


Glass trackpads: faulty or just different?

Tuesday, 04 November 2008

Apple's discussion forum is filling up with comments that the MacBook Glass trackpads are often unresponsive, sometimes not working for several clicks at a time.

As with other Mac problems, we have been keeping an eye on the situations and investigating the problem. But one reader has asked us why we aren't reporting this, so I thought I'd jump ahead with a blog.

Mark Hattersley | Mark Hattersley | Read more...


Stop the page-flicking madness - give us iPhone folders

Monday, 03 November 2008

I've been using my iPhone with the 2.x software since it came out a few months back. At first, I wasn't too thrilled with this "upgrade" to my iPhone - my previously speedy and stable device (despite being jailbroken for most of its life) had been converted into a very slow, unstable, and ultimately unreliable product. Then the iPhone 2.1 software came out, and an amazing thing happened...all my iPhone's issues vanished, and it was back to being the device I'd grown to enjoy using over the last year.

For that, I thanked Apple, because this version of the software fixed all of the major stability and usability issues I had with my iPhone.

Macworld Team | Rob Griffiths | Read more...


The Microsoft comedy continues

Monday, 03 November 2008

Only one company could spend $300 million to promote a product while at the same time quietly trying to shove it under the carpet. A corporation that posted more than $4 billion in profits in its most recent quarter. A company with more money than God, but far less taste.

Still. Why should Bill Gates, Jerry Seinfeld, and Deepak Chopra have all the fun? Microsoft's I'm a PC site now lets any Tom, Dick, or Mary share the spotlight -- for five seconds at least. The 'softies want you to upload a blink-or-you'll-miss-it video stating exactly why and how you're a PC. "Winning" entries will get to have their five seconds of fame on a TV commercial. (But, sadly, not a US$10 million paycheck.)

Macworld Team | Robet X Cringely | Read more...


So long and thanks for the fish

Friday, 31 October 2008

I just wanted to write a short note to let my dear readers know that today's my last day looking after Macworld UK's online news.

What's happened is that over the near ten years I've been running things I've managed to develop RSI (very silly of me, I know). Now this means I just can't maintain the frequency of stories or the associated workload without causing permanent damage. I've had to reduce my commitment.

Jonny Evans | Jonny Evans | Read more...


Kirilling time

Thursday, 30 October 2008

I'll admit it: I'm a bit of a sci-fi geek. It started with The Tripods, took hold during Star Wars, and I grew up with Asimov. I know my Space Opera from my Soft Sci-Fi, and my Cyberpunk, from my Steampunk – I know the vaguely pornographic sounding Hard Sci-Fi is anything but.

I've given up on watching Star Trek repeats because there's not a single episode left that I haven't seen, although that doesn't stop me when I trundle home from the pub.

Mark Hattersley | Mark Hattersley | Read more...


Bugs & Fixes: The iPhone app crash champion

Monday, 27 October 2008

If your iPhone crashes more often than you would like, conventional wisdom typically attributes this to the proliferation of third-party apps on your phone, the ones you added via the App Store. However, this is likely a misconception, or at least an exaggeration.

Recently, I launched Console on my Mac and navigated to MobileDevice -> Ted's iPhone 3G (the name here will obviously be different for your iPhone). This is where you'll find a list of every recent iPhone crash, sorted by the name of each process that crashed (the list is updated each time your sync your iPhone).

Macworld Team | Ted Landau, Macworld US | Read more...


The iPod: Seven years on

Friday, 24 October 2008

If you haven't already, be sure to wrap your iPod in wool or copper foil – the substances that traditionally make up gifts given on the seventh wedding anniversary. (Today, y'see, marks exactly seven years since the iPod was first unveiled by Steve Jobs in Cupertino.) By way of tribute, I'd like to present a little history, pulled from my now out-of-print Secrets of the iPod (don't worry, my just-as-jam-packed-with-iPod-goodness iPod and iTunes Pocket Guide is still alive and well).

This standard uses perceptual coding techniques to eliminate audio data that the human ear is unlikely to discern. So efficient is MP3 encoding that you can use it to reduce an audio file's size by a factor of 12 yet maintain most of the sound quality of the original file. Thanks to MP3, a four-minute song that normally would devour 40MB of hard drive space now weighs in at less than 4MB.

Macworld Team | Christopher Breen | Read more...


The case for an Apple netbook

Thursday, 23 October 2008

One of Steve Jobs' sound bites from his appearance on the quarterly conference call with financial analysts Tuesday has been repeated several times since then: "We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk."

Maybe Apple needs to take more of a look around at the rest of the industry, then, because there certainly are computers in the $500 and less category that aren't pieces of junk. And Apple could do better than the competition, I'm sure.

Macworld Team | Peter Cohen, Macworld.com | Read more...


Our dangerous email addiction

Wednesday, 22 October 2008

With the economy in trouble, job security has become a major fear for many people. As a result, the need to be in contact with your workplace 24/7 has led to a growing trend of email addiction, according to a report issued on Tuesday by Neverfail.

Though there are ways to help kick your e-mail habits, the problem is much worse and dangerous than we had originally thought, Neverfail says, describing some worrisome trends in how people manage their email off of work hours.

Macworld Team | Scott Nichols, PC World US | Read more...


Five reasons to try Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

Tuesday, 21 October 2008

I've been using programs like Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, and Corel Paint Shop Pro for so many years that I sometimes have trouble remembering what photography was like before the digital age. But none of those programs have ever felt like a truly natural part of the photo process to me. When I see something I want to tweak, adjust, composite, or fix, I'll open a program like Photoshop, load the image, and do my work. When I'm done, I close Photoshop and move on. In that sense, my photo editor is sort of like an auto repair shop that I pull my car into; it gets the job done, but I don't leave my car there all the time.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom – particularly the new Lightroom 2 – feels more like my living room. I am happy to stay there all the time, viewing and organize my photos from within its comfortable and logical interface.

Macworld Team | Dave Johnson, PC World (US) | Read more...


Apple's MacBook – The case of the new machine

Monday, 20 October 2008

Whenever Apple Inc. releases newly designed products – meaning hardware offering more than just a speed bump – the greater question is, "What does it mean?" That is, are the new features mere anomalies, or are they something truly new that will set the shape, material and design of the future?

The most obvious negative example remains the loved-by-some, hated-by-more Cube, a compact desktop Mac with a sexy Lucite skin that, unfortunately, cracked and scratched easily. That plus expandability issues, a vertical optical drive and problematic ports pushed this undeniably unique design onto the scrap heap of history.

Macworld Team | Dan Turner, Computerworld US | Read more...


FireWire's MacBook absence a fatal flaw?

Monday, 20 October 2008

As our first look at Apple's new laptops suggests, there's plenty to talk about with the new laptops introduced this week. But it's what's not there in the revamped MacBook product line that has people talking – yelling in some cases. And that's Apple's as-of-yet unexplained decision to drop FireWire connectivity from its consumer-focused laptops. Some users are saying point-blank that they're not going to order the new hardware without FireWire.

The absence of FireWire ports is certainly an inconvenience for some users. But it shouldn't be considered a deal-breaker for most of us, anyway.

FireWire – IEEE 1394, as it's known in techie circles – is the peripheral interface that Apple has made a part of almost each and every Mac since the Blue & White Power Mac G3 debuted in 1999. It was originally developed to give computers a way to talk quickly and reliably to storage devices – FireWire has long been the preferred interface for some Mac users who want to hook up an external hard disk drive. It also caught on with camcorder makers, and that's really why most people are upset. A lot of standard-definition (SD) video cameras have relied on FireWire for the past few years.

Macworld Team | Peter Cohen, Macworld.com | Read more...


New MacBooks: What Apple got right & what we want

Monday, 20 October 2008

Apple's new MacBooks are finally here, and the upgrades they feature are more than modest. The new Apple laptops sport slimmer designs, brighter and more power-efficient LED-backlit screens, new graphics systems, buttonless trackpads, and more. The updates have led some people to wonder whether now is the time to switch from a PC to a Mac.

But as cool as the updates are, Apple has not achieved MacBook perfection. Here's a look at what Apple got right and what I would have liked to see.

Macworld Team | Nick Mediati, PC World.com | Read more...