ℹ️ This is an archived legacy site for link purposes only.
9to5mac doing what an Apple blog should, listing everything Apple released in 2015 year by year.
[…] 2015 has been one where Apple has truly released new products all across the year. So many, in fact, that it’s probably difficult to recall every single new hardware and software product without referencing the history books. Starting with the X released in X to the X released in X, we’ll take a retrospective look at everything new that came out of Apple this year and what to expect in 2016.
Not to sound like an Apple blogger or anything, but the recent IDC numbers show that the Mac’s doing well.
Apple kept the number 5 position on a worldwide basis, maintaining its lead over ASUS. The company’s steady growth, along with recent price cuts and improved demand in mature markets, has helped it to consistently outgrow the market.
Mac growth is the highest among the top 5, at 18.9% worldwide. The leaderboard stands with Lenovo on top, then HP, Dell, Acer, and Apple.
Malware target Macs and iOS devices, delivered through a Chinese Mac app store:
Palo Alto Network explains that the malware has so far infected 467 applications designed for Apple’s Mac OS X operating system. It’s done that via a third-party Chinese Mac application store called the Maiyadi App Store. Over the last six months, those applications have been downloaded over 356,104 times—possibly infecting the Macs of hundreds of thousands of users.
But the malware also appears to infect iOS devices when they’re plugged into a Mac via USB.“WireLurker monitors any iOS device connected via USB with an infected OS X computer and installs downloaded third-party applications or automatically generated malicious applications onto the device, regardless of whether it is jailbroken,” explains Palo Alto Networks. “This is the reason we call it ‘wire lurker.’”
This is the price of being the industry leader, being targeted by these sorts of things. The Mac has been more or less malware and virus free for so long, it was bound to change. As for iOS, it’s obviously less sensitive for malware and viruses since they’d have to get into the App Store first, but it both can and will happen. Then there’s workarounds such as the one mentioned above, and if you jailbreak you need to take additional measures.
Macminicolo is something as odd as a web host, or datacenter rather, that only uses Mac mini computers. That actually makes a lot of sense, because these things are affordable, durable, and has a small energy footprint. It’s always nice to see what these guys has to say about new Mac mini models, and the bump Apple did on the October event is no different. They list ten things about the new Mac mini here, and if you’re even the slightest interested in this computer, then at least glance through this one.
Not everyone’s happy about this update. Much like most of Apple’s computers, the new Mac mini isn’t easy to upgrade yourself. The RAMs not accessible at all, and it you want to swap out the harddrive you’ll void the warranty. The baseplate on the previous model, where you easily could open up your Mac mini, now features nasty screws. This is not a computer you’re supposed to open up and upgrade.
The Mac turned 30 years old a little while back, sparking not only articles and blog posts of nostalgia, but also this awesome Apple site celebrating the Mac. Among all the pieces, Stephen Fry’s post is the one I like the most. I especially like this part:
What cannot be denied is that the first Macintosh changed my life completely. It made me want to write, I couldn’t wait to get to it every morning. If you compare computers to offices, the Mac was the equivalent of the most beautifully designed colourful space, with jazzy carpets on shiny oak floors, a pool table, wooden beams, a cappuccino machine, posters and great music playing. The rest of the world trudged into Microsoft’s operating system: a grey, soulless partitioned office, with nylon carpets, flickering fluorescent lamps and a faintly damp smell.
Whatever tool you choose, the one that you’re happy with is the one that’ll let you perform best. I Stephen Fry’s case, back in the day, the Macintosh was empowering him, making him want to write. Today lots of writers dream of MacBook Airs because it just seems like a sexier way to churn out words than the black fat plastic Windows laptops they’re stuck with. It’s nothing special really, we all want better tools.
There’s a lot of talk about how the iPad is almost the PC replacement that we all seem to crave, but not quite there yet. Famous tech writer MG Siegler broached the subject recently, stating that although he would like to not buy any more computers, he didn’t think the iPad (his primary tablet of choice as far as I can tell) was ready yet. In fact, he thinks the iPad’s years away from replacing the computer for all tasks, obviously painting i very broad strokes.
In some cases he’s right. I don’t see myself developing high end websites on my iPad anytime soon, although it is theoretically possible already. Siegler’s example, what a nuisance it is to publish (primarily) text content online using the iPad, compared to using the web browser, is a moot one. The comparison with the web browser workflow is also moot, because the tablet offers a different view altogether.
It should come as no surprise that I’m a big fan of the iPad. There are so many reasons for this, but the most obvious one is that it’s a unitasking device. Yes, it multitasks, much like a bunch of other tablets and smartphones do, but although you have a fairly large screen at your disposal, most apps let you do just one (1) thing at a time.
Compared to the 27″ Thunderbolt Display I hook up my retina MacBook Pro to every day at the Odd Alice office, that might not sound so great. The 27″ screen gives so much screen real estate it’s almost silly, I can stack windows all over the place, and tend to do so. There’s the Mail app, Reminders, HipChat, Tweetbot, Skype, Simplenote and/or Notes, and more often than not a few Finder windows on top of that, and it’s still just the first screen of four…
Sometimes it’s great to be able to monitor everything, but it’s not the way to stay productive. I tend to produce more code when I’m sitting by my 13″ MacBook Pro, without the Thunderbolt Display. That’s because I have my relevant apps in fullscreen, something I’ve written about previously.
The iPad offers me the same unitasking experience. I can jump between apps easily enough, but I’m not tempted to open Mail or Tweetbot when I’m writing, because they’re not there, at the edge of my vision, begging for attention, as they would be on my 27″ screen. I just see the app I’m working in (this is written in Simplenote on my iPad mini, by the way), and the only thing that can possibly disturb me are notifications, so I tend to limit those severly. It’s the same as running fullscreen apps on the Mac, which I do regularly on the MacBook Pro, but never when connected to a 27″ screen because it looks like shit.
Unitasking is about doing one thing at a time. Finish what you’re doing, which could be a part of a task or the whole thing itself, and then you can go procrastinate on Twitter.
Compare that to taking a sneak peak at whatever’s your procrastination poision while working, and you’ll soon realize that’s not the perfect work environment.
This is why I love the iPad as a writing tool (which sparked me to write The Writer’s iPad in the first place), and this is why I think fullscreen apps are awesome.
Now if you’d excuse me, my Twitter feed needs my attention. So, you know, THE END and all.
I’m not much for making public predictions about events, but the past few weeks have been littered with conversations about what Apple will and will not show and/or release on WWDC this year. So here you are, my predictions, pulled out of the blue, just like every other analyst out there.
I’m looking forward to see what WWDC will bring. The tech press will no doubt be disappointed, but that’s how the song goes these days. Luckily you can still make up your own mind based on hard facts and your own experience, and I urge you all to do just that.
The latest operating system for Mac from Apple is called Lion. Apple talks less and less about “OS X” when they mention Lion, and the version number is usually missing (10.7 if you wanted to know) from any information. It just works, as Apple and their cohorts tend to say.
Is it perfect, this Lion-thingy?
No, Google tells me there are a ton of bugs. Nothing too crucial although it might depend on what you’re doing with your computer, so I urge you to research that before updating your OS. (more…)
Usually when I write a blog post on a computer I do so in a text editor. I prefer software like OmmWriter, WriteRoom and Scrivener, rather than full-fledged word processors like Pages, OpenOffice or Word. In fact, I could go on about why that last one is a trojan from Hell, but that’s a completely different matter.
OmmWriter (my most recent favorite when it comes to text composing) shares one thing with WriteRoom and Scrivener: It has a fullscreen mode. It also does one thing better than the other two, and that’s automatically shutting off Growl, the notification service most diehard Mac users find indispensable for interruptions during the day. Smart thinking there. (more…)
Great news for Mac users in love with MarsEdit! The blog editor is getting support for custom post types, as well as Post Formats and custom taxonomies, all according to Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater fame.
The image above is depressing for several reasons.
Time to wrap up the last chapter of my “new” secret book which I’ll tell you all about next week, and forget about Word for a while.
The last couple of months have been hard on me, mostly in a good way. I’ll get to why later, for now I’m just thrilled. Why? Well, because there are some new applications I’ve been meaning to try out, and will finally be able to now.
Like
You know, the list goes on. Very cool. I am, in fact, writing this post in MarsEdit 3.something which feels nice. This used to be my blog post home back in the day. I doubt it will be again, unfortunately (and I’ll get to why later on) but still, feels nice.
So, good times ahead!
Läser att Google inte vill att sina anställda ska köra Windows längre, säkerheten påstås vara anledningen – detta trots att det stup i kvarten dyker upp rapporter om att Microsofts operativsystem står sig utmärkt i relation till OS X och Linux trots allt. Må så vara hur det vill med det, men vad som förvånar mig mer är att ingen reagerar på det här draget, och varför det är dåligt för merparten av datoranvändarna världen över?
Hur kan det vara dåligt att Google sparkar ut Windows?
Jag är ingen Microsoft-kramare, faktum är att jag kör Apples OS X på mina Macar av nödvärn och speldatorn rullar Vista bara för att det är där spelen finns. Helst av allt skulle jag köra open source hela vägen, det finns utmärkta Linux-distributioner idag, men tyvärr är den världen för långt efter i min bransch. (more…)
MacWorld gör en nybörjarblaska, Allt om Mac, och ett dummyomslag kan beskådas på redaktionens blogg. Klarar den sig i längden tro?