Apple Trots Out More MacBook Reruns

5 Comments »February 26th, 2008

Let me say straight off that I am imbibed with as much Mac fetish as the next fanboy. When it comes to notebooks, the MacBook Pro still remains the standard by which all contemporary laptops are judged, in my feigned humble opinion. But today’s “new” MacBook rollout left me feeling as though I’m watching reruns of early 1950s sitcoms. Did Apple’s hardware design team go on a writer’s strike? Was Johnny Ives shipped away in a crate to some Chinese manufacturing plant? Why is Apple prolonging the life of these tired designs? (more…)

Bento: iWork’s Missing Database App?

2 Comments »February 21st, 2008

When it comes to business applications, nothing is more banal and boring than database software. My gastrointestinal tract contorts into many painful geometric shapes when I recall the times I was forced (usually at gunpoint) to use Microsoft Access at work. Sitting in front of my PC with eyes glazed over, staring at a sea of grey dialog boxes and blank fields. Much Pepto-Bismol was consumed during working hours, I can tell you.

Needless to say it’s no fun. And outside of a niche market for data crunching geeks and masochists, the average home user has little interest in spending their Sunday afternoon learning the fundamentals of fields, forms, and recorded lists. Wouldn’t it be great if some daring company were to forge a rich database application so easy to use and visually intuitive that even common peasants could learn?

Well someone did, and the shocking part is it wasn’t Apple! Well, not directly anyway (FileMaker is a subsidiary of Apple). (more…)

How I Became a Mac Snob: The Journey of A “Switcher”

6 Comments »February 18th, 2008

To look at my blog and read my rapturous Apple exalting posts, you might assume that I am a long time Mac fanboy who gets teary eyed in the presence of an Apple IIc, or screams like a giddy teenage girl at the mere mention of SCSI drives. Nope. That was all long before my time. The truth is that I am a “Switcher”; A Windows user who converted to Mac. And even then only recently. My affinity for Apple grew over a number of years, culminating in the final decision to move to OSX as my primary platform, supplanting Windows. It didn’t happen overnight, and it almost didn’t happen at all.

How did I arrive at this point, you ask? Read about my long journey after the jump. (more…)

[Update] Harmony Restored to My Ivory Tower

No Comments »February 16th, 2008

As a follow up post to my earlier Leopard lament, the lovely and luscious Christina Warren of TUAW fame refered me to a thread in the Apple Support forums regarding a similar problem stemming from a corrupted input plugin found in App4Mac’s RapidoWrite. As it so happens, I did have RapidoWrite installed once upon a time, but later banished it from my system (thank you AppZapper), never to be seen or heard from again… or so I thought.

It seems RapidoWrite left me with an unwanted parting gift that was the cause of my despair. Heeding the advice in that aforementioned Apple forum thread, I reinstalled RapidoWrite - rebooted my Mac - then relaunched all previously afflicted applications, such as Journler and Address Book, and voila! No more gibberish text. Thank you, Apple Support forum, and thank you Christina.

Leopard “Repeating Text” Glitch Has Me Pulling Hair and Running Over Pedestrians

3 Comments »February 14th, 2008

For the past two weeks I have been struggling with a problem in Leopard that has slowly become a cancer eating away at my nerves, as well as my operating system. It all started, oddly enough, when I installed an update to Journler, a popular life management tool for entering personal information and daily tasks.

Soon after installing this update, I noticed a bizarre text input error occur in various applications throughout my system; as I type, previously entered characters and words are repeated wherever I’m currently typing (see screenshot). So, for example, if I am attempting to enter the word “Hello” in a blank field, what I get is “HeHeHeHeHeHeHelHelHelHelHelHellHellHellHellHelloHelloHelloHello”. Even hitting the backspace key (Delete) produces text rather than backspacing as it should.

The problem occurs mostly in Address Book, rendering it useless. So much to the point that I can no longer use it for managing my contacts and must rely instead on web-based entry in .Mac or entering them manually on my iPhone. It turns out I’m not alone. I came across this thread in Apple’s support forum outlining the same problem, and under the same mitigating circumstances.

I’ve communicated with Journler’s developer, Phil Dow, who assures me that in no way is it technically possible for his product to have been a catalyst to this problem, which leaves only one other possible culprit; Leopard. I’ve searched high and low but have yet to find some semblance of a solution.

If anyone knows of a possible fix or workaround, I would love to hear it.

[UPDATE] Problem solved.

Apple Finally Nails Leopard’s UI, Removing the Ugly Bits

14 Comments »February 12th, 2008

With the latest software update for Leopard (10.5.2) released yesterday came a few hidden surprises. Not the least of which was an option to disable Leopard’s most controversial, and in my opinion ugliest, feature; the translucent menubar. Apple has now included a check box in System Preferences, under Desktop & Screen saver, allowing the user to turn off menubar transparency altogether. This seemingly small change is far more significant than it looks.

Scads of third party tools that perform the same task have been available since the OS first shipped last year, but this is the first time that I can recall Apple having retrograded a feature at the request of users. The fact that Apple actually listened to the outcry of disgruntled Leopard users is staggering. Why Apple chose this path from the beginning is a mystery to me. It’s a visual effect one would expect to see in Vista, and that isn’t meant as a compliment.

Translucent menus are a usability nightmare. The effect makes text options less visible and muted. And aesthetically its charm quickly wears off once that semi-translucent menu bar turns into a blurry mess at the top of your screen. Needless to say I and legions of other users are happy to see the transparency effect go.

Thank you, Apple. You’ve made the right choice. Now, if you would kindly replace the homely looking Dock and kitschy space wallpaper with something more tasteful?