Mac News: Software

Stolen MacBook Owner Logs On, Takes a Photo, Busts Thieves

Monday - May 12, 2008

When Apple created the Back to My Mac feature on its .Mac service, it probably never envisioned it as a crime-solving tool. Yet that's just what it became last week, when the service helped the owner of a stolen MacBook recover her lost computer. Kait Duplaga, a young Apple store employee from White Plains, N.Y., lost her MacBook to thieves in late April, when her apartment was robbed. Police were unable to find the thieves until Duplaga managed to access her stolen computer remotely using the Back to My Mac feature, photograph a man using it, and turn the photos over to police. [More...]

Yahtzee for iPod: No Fun Without Friends

Saturday - May 10, 2008

There are some games that play well when you are alone, and there are some that beg for another player before any fun can be had. EA Mobile's "Scrabble" nicely falls into the former category, while its version of "Yahtzee" for the iPod is smack in the middle of the latter. In "Yahtzee," you roll five dice up to three times and attempt to match one of 13 scoring categories. [More...]

A Tale of Two Steves

Monday - May 5, 2008

I'm writing this from the Microsoft Management Summit at Interop with 5,000 of my closest friends in Las Vegas, and I'm still thinking about the book I brought up recently, titled Inside Steve's Brain. The result is, I think I've had an epiphany -- and no, I didn't call a doctor. [More...]

Psystar Launches First Sally in Mac Clone War

Friday - May 2, 2008

Despite myriad indications to the contrary, Psystar does appear to be an actual company offering a real -- but perhaps not entirely legal -- product. Psystar, of course, is the company that burst onto the national scene with news that it was offering a Mac clone, dubbed the "Open Computer," capable of running the Macintosh OS X Leopard operating system. [More...]

MozyHome Opens the Door for Online Mac Backups

Thursday - May 1, 2008

While Apple's Time Machine and Time Capsule present a made-for-Mac backup solution designed and built by the company itself, it lacks one critical feature -- offsite backups. If a home is robbed, flooded or, worse yet, burned, some of a computer's most precious data can be lost with it. While the family budget is important enough, the real gold is family photos and movies that can never be recreated. [More...]

MS Messenger for Mac 7 Says Bonjour

Wednesday - April 30, 2008

The Microsoft Mac Business Unit announced on Tuesday that it has released Microsoft Messenger for Mac 7 for both personal and corporate use. The corporate version includes multi-party audio and video use. The personal edition features new support for Mac OS X Bonjour instant networking technology, a new contact list search tool and the ability to give contacts a nickname for easy recognition, even when their screen name changes. [More...]

Safari vs. .Gov

Monday - April 28, 2008

There's a scenario that most every Apple aficionado has run into: A Web site that, when visited via Apple's Safari Web browser, just doesn't work. If it's just a handy site, failure is irritating. When it's an important site, perhaps even a critical federally managed site, a Safari failure can incite real anger. [More...]

Built-In Leopard Controls Offer Some Protection for Kids

Tuesday - April 22, 2008

The Internet is a mirror of society -- both the good and bad. Children taking their first steps on the World Wide Web need protection from its ugliest side -- elements like violence, racism, and con games. Yet before you head to the store looking for software to help them in this quest, you should check out the computer's own integrated controls first. [More...]

Is Psystar Onto Something?

Sunday - April 20, 2008

Macolytes around the world were buzzing this week with news that an online hardware vendor called "Psystar.com" is selling a US$555 PC called the "Open Computer" that runs the Macintosh OS X Leopard operating system. In fact, for about the same price, you can buy the machine with Windows or Leopard installed -- or buy it for $400 with the open source Linux operating system. [More...]

The PC of Doctor Moreau

Thursday - April 17, 2008

Here's why I can't have nice things: Sometimes I like to tinker, and when I do, I can't stop swimming out of my depth. Nothing in my home is safe from a screwdriver, or worse. Not my car, not the thermostat, not the guitar amp, nothing. My "nice" PC has seen its fair share of registry edits to the operating system -- don't even ask about the test mule. [More...]

Leaving Eudora for Apple Mail: A Difficult Switch to Make

Tuesday - April 15, 2008

Tonya Engst at Tidbits.com decided it was finally time to make the switch from Eudora to Apple Mail. She told the story of what happened and what she learned along the way on Sunday. "After months of hemming and hawing, I recently took the plunge and switched from Eudora to Apple Mail," Engst wrote. [More...]

See More Articles in Software Section >>

Shortcuts