The following is a list of all entries tagged with mac.
84 CommentsIt’s been a while since I happily flamed and subsequently ditched iTunes in favor of Floola for adding stuff to my otherwise beloved iPod Shuffle 2G. Alas, Floola — while able to add stuff to the iPod — is neither able to update it nor not crash intermittently. So I decided to try iTunes one last time. I shouldn’t have, because I was reminded how much iTunes on Windows absolutely fucking sucks.
4 CommentsEnso is now free. Enso is a “type-to-launch” meta application; a type of software that has had a renaissance these past few years, possibly starting with Quicksilver. The idea is that you invoke the software, type in a keyword, and an action is launched based on what you typed. The action could be to launch an app or invoke a spellcheck (( Actually, looking at the demo might explain this a bit better. )). Most recently, a type-to-launch feature was integrated in Windows Vista, Mac OSX Leopard and it’s scheduled to be a part of Firefox 3.
3 CommentsIt’s made the rounds by now, but it’s still a good collection of stupid interface decisions in Mac OSX Leopard. My props to Apple for allowing users to choose a simpler dock design than the “wet desktop” one. Now if only they’d allow you to turn off the dock altogether. Also, the folder icon designs seem like a step back from the OSX Tiger style.
CommentInteraction designer Alex Faaborg has emerging details on the visual refresh that’s being worked on for Firefox 3:
Visual integration with Windows and OS X is our primary objective for the Firefox 3 refresh.
Fitting in to the visual appearance of the native operating system may seem like a reasonably obvious decision, but it certainly isn?t one that every cross-platform application or windowing toolkit makes.
On one hand I think it’s great that there’s a serious focus on making Firefox look truly native. On the other hand I think it’s a pity that it’s only going to look native, and not be native, but I suppose that’s one of the biggest challenges of crossplatform development. In any case, things certainly look more promising than the Firefox 2 visual refresh.
10 CommentsReviews are spoilerfree but beware of comments.
I got myself an iPod Shuffle for christmas. My previous mp3 player was an aging FrontierLabs NexIA, so the gift was a welcome surprise.
The iPod Shuffle is a tiny 1GB mp3 player. It has shuffle and sequential modes, no screen, and options for play, pause, forward, backward and volume up/down. To add mp3 files to the player, one can only use iTunes.
The player does exactly what it says on the package, and does it so well that I’ll have to declare it the best dedicated mp3 player of its size. If it wasn’t for the fact that it was iTunes only, it would get six hearts.
iTunes is Apple’s main music application. It plays music, creates playlists, subscribes to podcasts and of course it gives you access to the iTunes Music Store, which sells both music, videos and iPod games.
I have learned, that one either loves or hates iTunes. Both feelings, I believe, are grounded in the fact that iTunes does things differently than most other media players. This goes for handling music, managing playlists, syncing players and subscribing to podcasts. The latter, podcast subscriptions, it does particularly well. The former, not so much.
It may be that iTunes doesn’t work as well on Windows as it does on a Mac, but for me, playing music in iTunes is slow and bulky - the forced-upon chrome skin feels like it’s simply slowing down things. Playlist creation feels like an exact science in iTunes. Syncing the iPod works well, once one gets the hang of it, but I really believe this feature would be more worthwhile had I used iTunes as my primary player and hence gotten the benefit of statistically created playlists I could sync to. Basically, iTunes does most of what I would want from such an application, but does none of it as simply, quickly or easily as alternatives such as Winamp or Foobar2000. For me, the podcast area is where iTunes really shines. For that, I give 2 hearts. For the lack of global hotkeys, the annoying background services and general bulkiness, I’m keeping the remaining 4 hearts, at least until version 8 comes out.
21 CommentsDespite what I’ve said in the past, I do not despise the Mac. I like many things about the Mac — the look of the hardware, the clean and crispness of the operating system, the modern feel it exudes.
But it’s not all strawberries and sunshine. Criticizing means caring.
29 CommentsSo, late to the game as usual, I have discovered podcasts. They’re great. It’s radio, on demand. As an avid Mac critic, I’ve tried holding off installing iTunes, but finally succumbed. So far, iTunes is just the best solution out there for subscribing to, downloading and playing podcasts. I’ve tried TWiT’s webplayer, Digg Podcasts webplayer. They’re both okay, but iTunes is just more comfortable. Fine.
I’m currently subscribing to:
Now I just need more good podcasts. That’s where you come into the picture. Tell me: what I should be subscribing to?
10 CommentsOne of my long time Mac annoyances — the lack of proper fullscreen — is now fixable using a new app, Megazoomer. I’m not on a Mac myself, but should I ever want to switch I’d want something like this to work. Now if only someone would test it and post a larger screenshot…
10 CommentsAfter having recently struggled with setting up Wi-Fi, here’s a short list of info that might be useful to those of you starting out. Knowing is half the battle.
$ before the WEP Key. For example, if you’re WEP Key is 00000000000000000000000000, try typing in $00000000000000000000000000 as the WEP Key on your Mac.Thanks to Mr. Cabanillas and Mr. Heilemann for tips.
Update: See comments for insights.
42 Comments
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re also subscribing to a feed that has recently informed you about the new Apple iPhone. You might have even heard that the next Mac OS X will probably get a new UI.
Keeping this in mind and looking at the video depicting the phone aspect of the iPhone, I’m wondering if we aren’t being dropped hints at the new OSX look. I spy some iTunes 7 like chrome and some new fancy semi transparent (* cough * Vista) black glass. Your thoughts?
4 CommentsI’m just now surfacing after 7 days of the flu, trying to catch up on the feed-reader. Being interested in interface design, one thing sprung out; if you’re a mac fan, you might have already read it: rumor has it that the next mac operating system, OSX, will get a new interface. The rumor elaborates that this new interface will feature black gloss, lights, and be codenamed “Illuminous”.
Now whether this rather baseless rumor is true or not is less important; some time in the future, OSX will get a new interface, if nothing else because the OS will become vectorized and resolution independant. As such, speculating on the look is less important than what this’ll mean for the interaction between man/machine.
As the attentive reader will know, I’m personally hoping for a true fullscreen option and close buttons that actually closes their applications. Why do I care, when I use Windows, you ask? Well because I might one day switch, should Apple choose to fix these nuisances.
What would you want changed/fixed/added in a future OSX?
[Update]: ThinkSecret has posted possible screenshots.
40 CommentsI criticize because I love.
Yesterday, I discussed functional design with my better half (read: girlfriend) while driving home from IKEA. She uses Mac at work and mentioned how a new colleague who was used to The PC Way had trouble ejecting a disc on her new Intel Mac Pro Quad Xeon.
42 Comments
So, being an interface designer, interface developments in the operating systems interest me; differences between the operating systems especially. One such difference is the maximize window behaviour.
19 CommentsWhat I would like to see as the roadmap is not adding more features to Firefox, because it’s a good browser, but if you had a development cycle for a Firefox OS, and you had 10 percent of the computers in the world going out with Fire OS on it, then we would see some improvements in this corporation in Redmond.
[...] people would trust Firefox and Mozilla far more than they trust the Microsoft Corp. with the integrity of their computers.
While I would like to see a real alternative to Windows and OSX, part of me thinks we’ve already got enough Linux distributions. On the other hand, none of them have achieved any kind of critical mass. If the Firefox developers could do it well, then it might be really interesting. What do you think?
6 CommentsMore and more people are buying and loving Macs. To make this choice simply irresistible, Apple will include technology in the next major release of Mac OS X, Leopard, that lets you install and run the Windows XP operating system on your Mac. Called Boot Camp (for now), you can download a public beta today.
- Apple Bootcamp (Thanks for the tip, Chris)