A week before its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) begins, Apple on Monday released the official companion app for this year’s event. Available now free in the iOS App Store, the universal app appears to foreshadow the long-rumored changes coming to the iOS 7 design. After former iOS chief Scott Forstall was fired last October, longtime industrial hardware design guru Sir Jonathan Ive was put in charge of software design as well. Rumors immediately began circulating that Mr. Ive was
Apple “Eager” to Launch iRadio at WWDC, Sony Lone Holdout
Apple’s long-awaited “iRadio” service may launch next week at WWDC, according to separate reports this weekend from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. The tough negotiations that have plagued the company’s efforts to roll out its Pandora-like streaming music service continue, however, and sources say that only two of the three major record labels have signed on. From The New York Times: After months of stalled negotiations over its planned Internet radio service, Apple is pushing to
Editorial: What the Heck is Wrong With Tech Marketing These Days?
While at the movies last week, my wife and I were treated to a pre-film advertisement for the Microsoft Surface tablet. With a “behind the scenes” style, the mini feature showed the making of the company’s latest TV ad: the nonsensical dancing one set in an office. As I sat dumbfounded by the pride the creators of this ad attempted to project, I asked myself an important question: what the heck has happened to tech marketing? While Microsoft’s latest marketing
How to Hide Cells in Excel for Mac OS X
Apple’s Numbers spreadsheet app, part of the company’s iWork productivity suite, makes it easy for users to create beautiful tables, but lacks the power and compatibility of Microsoft Excel. For those stuck with Excel on Mac OS X, however, manual formatting can still be used to improve the look of your tables. One of the most useful steps is to hide unused cells, mimicking the look of Numbers. To hide cells in Excel for Mac, first create your table, making
Automatically Eject Drives at Boot in Mac OS X with Automator
The popularity of FireWire, Thunderbolt, and USB devices mean that most Mac owners have at least one external hard drive connected to their computer. Depending on the purpose of each drive, however, not all users want to have every drive mounted. In our case, we have a backup drive that holds an exact clone of our system drive. We only use it once per week to perform a clone operation and, to protect the drive from inadvertent changes while we
The Complete Guide to Mac OS X Screenshots
OS X features powerful built-in tools for taking screenshots, but the default format and location of the captured images may not be suitable for every user. Thankfully, nearly every aspect of OS X screenshots can be customized using the Terminal app. Here’s how. The Basics Before we get in to the customizable settings for screenshots, let’s go over a few basics on exactly how to take screenshots (experienced users can skip this section). There are three primary screenshot types in OS X:
Apple Sells 100M iPods touch, Releases Updated 5th Gen for $229
Apple had a pair of iPod touch announcements Thursday, first releasing a modified fifth-generation iPod touch at a lower price point and then announcing, by way of The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple, that the company has sold 100 million of the devices to date. The new iPod touch was released early Thursday morning without fanfare. The model brings many of the high-end features and design to a lower price point of $229 (current fifth-generation models start at $299). Featuring the same
NVIDIA Sets New Price Tiers With GTX 770 at $400
Following last week’s launch of the GTX 780 GPU, many were confused by NVIDIA’s pricing. At $650, the card was situated in an odd price category between the “ultra-end” GTX Titan and GTX 690 at $1,000 and the “high-end” GTX 680 at $450. The 780 performed better than the 680, but not by a consistently high margin, and NVIDIA’s mindset in terms of pricing was called into question. Today, NVIDIA hopes to address those concerns with the launch of the
Microsoft’s Office 365 Home Premium Hits 1 Million Subscribers
Microsoft announced Wednesday that its consumer-targeted Office 365 Home Premium subscription service has reached a user base of 1 million just 3.5 months after its launch. Microsoft lauded the number as proof that its grand vision of subscription-based software is taking hold. Although first launched in June 2011, Office 365 was initially targeted to business customers who sought a way to license up-to-date versions of Office alongside syncing and Exchange capabilities. Late last year, the company announced its plans to
Major Gmail Update Brings Tabbed Categories to Email
Following the trend of innovative Email interfaces, Google on Wednesday announced a major redesign to its Gmail web interface. The Gmail update brings a new look that significantly cleans up and modernizes the user interface, and adds tabbed browsing of incoming messages to help users process email based on category. We get a lot of different types of email: messages from friends, social notifications, deals and offers, confirmations and receipts, and more. All of these emails can compete for our
Jim Tanous Talks Hard Drives, WWDC on ‘Not Another Mac Podcast’
TekRevue founder Jim Tanous joined University of Winnipeg Professor David Duval, The Mac Observer’s Managing Editor Jeff Gamet, and host Mark Greentree on this week’s episode of Not Another Mac Podcast. Topics include tips for staying motivated while working from home, an overview of handy writing apps, “JIF vs. GIF,” dealing with old hard drives, digital content vs. physical media, and predictions for WWDC. Episode 106 of Not Another Mac Podcast is available now directly from Mark’s website or via
Tim Cook Hints at Apple’s Stance on TV, Wearable Devices at D11
Apple CEO Tim Cook made his expected appearance at the D11 Conference last night, with a revealing interview that touched on several important subjects, including Apple’s positions on TVs, wearable computers, and the future of iOS and OS X. The longstanding rumor that Apple would revolutionize television was one of the first areas that hosts Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher focused on. Mr. Cook refused to give details, but reiterated that the company finds the television space an “area of