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Apple Universe

Top-level category for all Apple, Mac, and OS X related topics.

Review: Numbers

Macworld logoSlowly, but surely, Apple's iWork is turning into a full-fledged office suite, as iWork '08 gains Numbers, Apple's latest foray into the world of spreadsheet programs. So what is Numbers? Is it at long last a replacement for the spreadsheet component of AppleWorks? Is it a direct competitor to Excel? Will it enable users looking for alternatives to finally move from either AppleWorks or Microsoft Office to iWork?

The answer to these questions is any of yes, no, and maybe, depending on your specific spreadsheet needs. Those with basic needs will be impressed with Numbers' ability to make short work of their projects. People with more complex requirements, and those hoping to migrate from Excel or AppleWorks, will find the transition more difficult. And some people—scientific users, students, and advanced Excel users in particular—may find that certain details in Numbers make it impossible to use the product in its current form.

Read my Macworld article, Review: Numbers, for the rest of the story...



First Look: Numbers

Macworld logoIn January 2003, Apple introduced Keynote, a fairly groundbreaking presentation application. Two years later, along came Pages, a mixed page layout/word processing tool.

Together, Keynote and Pages were sold as the $79 iWork'05 "suite." Compared to the venerable AppleWorks, though, iWork was missing both spreadsheet and database applications. With the release of the still-$79 iWork '08 (Best Current Price: $67.41), Apple has plugged the spreadsheet hole with Numbers.

Read my Macworld article, First Look: Numbers, for the rest of the story...



Three things I don’t understand about Apple’s moves

Macworld logoAfter Tuesday's announcements from Apple, I walked away both impressed and confused. The new iMac, with the possible exception of the glossy screen—more on that below—seems to be a solid design, and, at up to 2.8GHz, it should be screaming fast as well. iLife and iWork both look like solid upgrades, and I’m anxious to spend some time with Numbers, Keynote, iPhoto, the remade iMovie, and the rest of the collection. So much for the “impressed” side.

The "confused" side is curious about three decisions Apple has made regarding the following items...

Read my Macworld blog entry, Three things I don't understand about Apple's moves, for the rest of the story...



My Apple event wishlist

Macworld logoBy now, you've probably read that Apple's holding a "Mac-related" presentation on Tuesday at 10 a.m. Pacific. You may have also read the predictions that we'll see a new iMac introduced at that meeting.

The prediction makes sense—the iMac is currently the "gray beard" of the Apple lineup, an aging-if-dependable workhorse that's made its way into many homes as the first Mac in the household. So predicting that Apple has chosen to upgrade this machine, and swath it in aluminum to match the mini, MacBook Pro, and Mac Pro, is about as risky as predicting that Paris Hilton will make tabloid headlines or that George Steinbrenner will rant about his Yankees' poor performance at some point during the season.

Read my Macworld blog entry, My Apple event wishlist, for the rest of the story...



Ten of my favorite iPhone things

Macworld logoEver since the first time I saw (but couldn't touch) the iPhone, I've sort of become Macworld's resident iPhone curmudgeon. Long before it was ever released, I came up with a list of shortcomings. Then, at the Worldwide Developers Conference last month, I was unhappy with the announced support for third-party web pages, er, apps. And finally, once the iPhone was out and I'd had the chance to use it, I put together a list of 10 iPhone apps—real apps—that I would find most useful on my iPhone.

If you were to simply look at my body of iPhone work, you might conclude I hate the iPhone, and would rather be dropped in the midst of a swarm of Africanized honey bees than be forced to use the thing. Surprisingly, perhaps as much to me as to you, that's not the case. For all the things it's lacking, the iPhone really does get quite a few things right—and it's the things it does oh so well that keep me coming back to it, despite its shortcomings.

Read my Macworld blog entry, Ten of my favorite iPhone things, for the rest of the story...



This enhancement is not so transparent

Macworld logoWhen Steve Jobs demoed Leopard at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, one of the new features included in the revised Desktop is a semi-transparent menu bar. It's clearly visible in the streaming video of the keynote, and in many of the screenshots on Apple's Leopard pages.

Now, I'm all for fancy effects, at least where it makes sense and might actually help the user. But in this case, I don't think it makes sense—look at many of Apple's own screenshots, and you'll see that certain entries in the menu bar are quite hard to read, owing to the bad mix of black text, a semi-transparent background, and a dark background image. Instead of being useful, it seems to me that—based on what's been shown, at least—the semi-transparent menu bar will do nothing but annoy me when I try to find a menu item against a non-cooperative background image. Of course, I won't know for sure until October when Leopard ships and I can test (and discuss) how well it does or doesn't work.

Read my Macworld blog entry, This enhancement is not so transparent, for the rest of the story...



What computer should I buy?

Macworld logoJoe: I'm in the market for a new computer. Any suggestions?

Jane: Buy a Mac.

Joe: But wait; I haven't told you anything about my requirements!

Jane: Ah, yes, you're right. Sorry about that. Are you a hard-core gamer who needs the absolute latest in system and video card hardware?

Joe: No, not at all.

Jane: OK. Do you enjoy building your own computers, taking them apart, putting them together, replacing parts, and that kind of thing?

Joe: No, not at all.

Jane: OK, do you use any software or hardware has any sort of strange hardware requirements, like an ancient serial port security dongle, for instance?

Joe: No, not at all.

Jane: OK. Buy a Mac.

Read my Macworld blog entry, What computer should I buy?, for the rest of the story...



How to upgrade the Apple TV’s hard drive

Back in March, I purchased one of the original 40GB Apple TV units, and put it to use in our living room on the big screen TV. It worked fine, but 40GB was just too confining--between music and photos, I had over 40GB of data, not even counting movies or other video stuff. As a result, if I wanted access to everything from the Apple TV, I had to make sure the Mac Pro was awake to stream more content to the Apple TV. This got old fast, so I finally forced myself to upgrade the hard drive in the Apple TV today.

Overall, the process was relatively simple. I'm going to document the steps here, just in case the article I relied upon vanishes in the future. If you're going to undertake this project yourself, you'll need the following:

  • Towel: to place the top side of the Apple TV onto after you've opened it.
  • Torx screwdrivers: sizes 8 and 10, needed to open the case and release the hard drive.
  • 2.5" ATA laptop hard drive: Make sure it's not a SATA drive; I went with this 120GB Fujitsu, though I bought mine at Fry's.
  • 2.5" external drive enclosure: I bought this unit at the local PC Club store. I wanted a FireWire case, not just USB2, as I've never been impressed with USB2 speeds on OS X. Now that I'm done with the project, the Apple TV's old 40GB drive is living in the enclosure.

The rest of the process is documented below; read on and modify at your own risk!
[continue reading…]



iPhone, therefore iTap and tap and…

Macworld logoAh, morning—time to check the overnight e-mail that came in over the iPhone. Let's get to work!

Press the iPhone's power button. Tap the screen (that's screen tap #1) and drag the unlock slider. Press the Home button to get back to the main screen from whatever app I was using last on the iPhone. Tap (#2) the Mail icon. Oops, I left the iPhone reading a message the last time I was in Mail. Tap three times (#3, #4, #5) to get back to the list of accounts.

It's on this screen where you'll notice a big change from OS X's Mail program. In OS X's Mail application, the top-level folder is the global Inbox, and then within that folder, each of your accounts is listed separately, letting you easily view all of your new e-mail at once by just selecting the top level Inbox folder. On the iPhone, however, there is no global Inbox. Instead, the main Mail screen just shows a list of your accounts. You have to open each account to see the Inbox (and Trash and any other folders associated with that account).

Read my Macworld blog entry, iPhone, therefore iTap and tap and..., for the rest of the story...



Ten future iPhone apps

Macworld logoI've lamented on the lack of third-party access to the iPhone, and now, with quite a few actual usage hours on my belt, my lament has become a plea: please, Apple, if you're not going to do some of these things yourself, let third parties provide real solutions! Exactly what am I talking about? Well, here's a list I've been building of the Top 10 Missing iPhone Apps. I think third parties could do a great job at providing some or all of these solutions. (If Apple wants to do it, that'd be great, too, but I'd really like someone to make them available, and sooner rather than later.)

So here, in increasing order of importance, are the 10 applications that I think would be a perfect fit with the iPhone and its current application suite.

Read my Macworld blog entry, Ten future iPhone apps, for the rest of the story...