When I read an article the other day that Macs were finally getting a better break in the June 2008 issue of Consumer Reports, in an article entitled “Best & worst computers,” I felt optimistic. Up till now, although Macs routinely get good marks in thei...

Frustrated by Firefox's hesitance to alphabetize your bookmarks? It's easy when you know the trick.

Although this conversation probably never took place, I can well believe the scene is playing out as if it did. One day, Steve Jobs and Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who sits on Apple’s Board of Directors, were having lunch and talking shop. In one of those fated eurek...

robipilot writes "Mac stolen, Mac comes online, owner connects using 'Back to My Mac,' owner takes picture of culprit, and voila, criminal caught. OK, it wasn't quite that simple, but here's an interesting story of using some built-in technology on the Mac to recover a ...

If items you’ve tried saving to your Desktop are disappearing without a trace, Ted Landau feels your pain. Here’s how he solves the problem.

Way back when, during the nasty 1990s, Apple had so many models, it was doubtful that any single company executive could identify all of them without a cheat sheet at hand. Even salespeople, who earned commissions on the hardware they could move, would have similar diff...

Ian Lamont writes "Terrence Russell has outlined an interesting theory about what industry Apple intends to break into next. He points to games. Forget Pippin II, or an iMac gaming rig — he thinks the mobile realm is where Apple will make a big product push. It's ...

UnknowingFool writes "Ten years ago, Apple announced the original iMac. In some ways it was Apple returning to its roots with an all-in-one design, but in other ways it was a departure from the normal. Certainly it didn't look like any other computer. Apple dropped SCSI...

Lots of pundits are content with putting the words “Apple Inc.” and “proprietary” in the same sentence. A lot of that is, of course, due to the tight vertical integration of all of their products, from the iPod to Macs and Mac OS X. However, ther...

Concerned that a spammer might learn of your whereabouts when you preview a message? Let's bring your concerns into perspective.

Just the other day, I had a pleasant conversation with Macworld’s Rob Griffiths about his “FrankenMac” project, his weekend warrior project to build a Mac from off-the-shelf PC parts. In a sense, I understand what he was attempting to do, and it wasn&#...

Whenever I consider possible future hardware and software from Apple, the well-worn phrase, “We do not discuss unreleased products” comes to mind. Indeed, getting a roadmap of any of their ongoing development programs seldom occurs, and when it does, there&#...

Of course you can send a single iCal invitation to many recipients. Here's how.

So I was hanging out chatting with David, a fellow New Yorker who owns the nearby UPS Store, about personal computers. He knows I use Macs, and I’m aware that he’s a Windows advocate. He started claiming, all over again, that his home PC cost a lot less than...

oDDmON oUT points us to a BusinessWeek story about the increasing use of Apple products in the corporate sector. Many companies are finding that their employees are pushing for the transition more than Apple itself. Quoting: "While thousands of other companies scratch a...

wchatam writes "After a long delay, Apple has finally released a version of Java 6 for OS X. 64-bit Intel Macs are starting to see this pushed out via Software Update, but there has not been an announcement for when 32-bit Intel and PowerPC Mac users will get their vers...

If you’re an AT&T/Yahoo DSL user having trouble sending e-mail, you’ll want to read Ted Landau’s advice on how to fix the problem.

Two years ago, I bought my first Intel-based Mac, a 17-inch MacBook Pro, to replace a similarly-outfitted PowerBook G4. Yes, I have an affinity for larger screens. In fact, I’d spring for a 20-inch model if I could afford it and it wasn’t too heavy — a...

Whenever an analyst wants to write something without thinking, it’s easy to pontificate on such silliness as the alleged resemblance of the iPod to the Sony Walkman. Both gained iconic status, but the latter was eventually largely supplanted by me-too products tha...

In the old days, it seemed a rather formidable task to upgrade from one Mac to another. For one thing, you had to figure out what files to keep and which to transfer to the new model. Even with easy networking, this was a complicated process of manual labor to which I d...

Back in the heady days of the Classic Mac OS, Apple had one lame-brained idea after another. Let’s not forget such schemes as QuickDraw GX, for example, which held out a lot of promise on paper but never realized its potential. But that was only one example of App...

A normal part of child psychology is that, if the parent asks for something, the response will often be the opposite of what they expect. This is part of the process of establishing the child’s own independent personality. Now I wouldn’t say that Apple’...

I recall writing several articles detailing my original expectations of Leopard, and my sincere hope that Apple, having extra time to finish it up, would grace us all with a more stable release. Depending on your point of view, they may or may not have succeeded. But it...

I’d like to say that there’s no truth to the rumor that the financial media and Wall Street analysts are out to get Apple. But they’ve had a long-term habit of creating negative spins about Apple’s ongoing sales picture that have, at times, knock...

Yes, everything old is new again. This week we hard the story about a certain Florida IT company that is evidently planning to sell home-built Intel-based computers that will supposedly run Mac OS X Leopard. Now before I tell you more about the alleged clone, let’...

At one time, whenever Apple released a new or upgraded product, it would get major coverage at a Macworld Expo and WWDC. Today, two annual events are simply not sufficient to cover the range of Apple’s development process. Indeed, every few weeks, something new ar...

On this all-star episode, Wired’s Leander Kahney discusses his new best-selling book about Steve Jobs and his management style, entitled “Inside Steve’s Brain.” You’ll also hear from InfoWorld Executive Editor Galen Gruman on the increasing...

How well I remember the claim, years ago, that Macs weren’t really business computers. The interface was simply too cute, and you had to use a genuine PC to get real business chores done. Of course, they forgot that Microsoft Excel actually premiered on the Mac pl...

Although couched in an expected and extremely positive spin about future earnings, Microsoft didn’t have an awful lot to crow about this past quarter. Income from Windows was rather lackluster, even though sales of new PCs are on the increase around the world. So ...

This week, Opera released a new beta of version 9.5 of its Mac browser. Now this isn’t necessarily a significant event, because Opera regularly releases updates for its products. However, like most other browsers — with one notable exception — Opera of...

The other day, I read an article in Daniel Knight’s usually excellent LowEndMac site, in which he interviews musician and artist Scott Hansen, a devoted Mac user who is willing to overlook alleged performance limitations with Mac OS X because he still thinks it...

You most likely know that the newest iteration of the MacBook Pro uses Intel’s powerful and energy-saving Penryn processors. You also know that some of the touchscreen tricks from the iPhone and MacBook AIr have been transplanted to the touchpads of the MacBook an...

Do you remember the good old days, when there was virtually no Mac software at any local computer shop? Well, you’d think, what with Mac sales going through the roof, you’d find a rich selection at such dealers these days. But expectations and realities are ...

In recent days, I’ve commented about some issues that have gotten a fair amount of press lately. Like some of the silly arguments in our presidential campaign these days about who is “elite” and who isn’t, I regard some of the most blatant spin t...

Sastira writes "Jordan Bunnell has successfully modded his Macbook Air to use an internal EVDO Broadband card. In order to make everything fit, he had to sacrifice the WiFi and bluetooth cards, but considering the portable nature of the laptop, it is a small price to pa...

TechRadar writes "A hacker has turned his OQO ultraportable into the world's smallest Mac running Leopard. 'I will warn you this project is not for the plug and play crowd but definitely do-able,' the hacker, 'TRF' says. Interesting, given the OQO was designed by ex-App...

Here are a couple of options for moving specific Mail accounts offline.

An anonymous reader writes "According to Gizmodo, Psystar has begun shipping its Macintosh clones, thus proving that the company is not a hoax. Initial impressions seem to be positive, though Software Update does not work."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

rev_media tips a short article up at InfoWorld giving some numbers on the increasing Mac presence in businesses. "We're seeing more requests outside of creative services to switch to Macs from PCs," notes the operations manager for a global advertising conglomerate. The...

Ted Landau finds two recent examples of Apple-recommended Terminal work-arounds.

Hugh Pickens writes "Companies like AOL have stagnated along with the products that made them successful as a mature market and downward pressure on prices led to a nasty death spiral, but Saul Hansell writes in the NY Times that Apple has used its amazing six-year run ...

Care to play both Region 1 and Region 2 DVDs in your new Mac? Here are your options.

An anonymous reader writes "Apple's just bought a chip company, P.A. Semi that could make chips for iPhones and maybe iPods. Apple wouldn't reveal the exact plans, but Dan Dobberpuhl, lead designer of Alpha's chips, is known for making super efficient processors, like a...

Ian Lamont writes "Apple has filed a patent for IM on portable devices, which could mean that it's getting ready to launch an IM client for the iPhone. The filing is titled 'Portable Electronic Device for Instant Messaging', and covers methods for sending, receiving, an...

Despite reports that PayPal may drop support for Apple's Safari browser because it lacks anti-phishing features, PayPal now says it ain't so. Though PayPal telegraphed displeasure with Safari last January, they're now unambiguous about their position: "We have absolutel...

You say you'd like to reverse Photo Booth's mirror images? It's easily done with a single command.

MaineCoasts writes "The Times Online reports that European sellers of the iPhone are braced for 'significant losses' on unsold inventories of first-generation iPhones which must be cleared away for the new 3G versions expected in June. The three European distributors of...

timholman writes "According to Gizmodo, an investigation has shown that the $399 OpenMac is almost certainly vaporware, as is Psystar itself. The company's address has actually changed twice this week, according to its web page, and Psystar is no longer accepting credit...

geoffrobinson writes "Roughly Drafted has obtained internal IBM documents detailing the results of a small pilot program for internal use of Macs. Positive and negative results were detailed, but overall most participants were happy with their Mac experience. The pilot ...