The Apple Core: USB Port Power Levels Differ on Apple Laptops
12 May 2008 02:30 EST
Chris Barylick
Jason's been slightly paranoid about Mac OS X 10.5.2 for a while and hankering for the 10.5.3 update, but he's made an interesting point about something new: the amount of power flowing to specific USB ports on current Apple laptops.
In this case, one USB port will work fine, the other will have an insufficient amount of power running to it.
For the full details, take a gander at the Apple Core and if you've seen this on your end, let us know what you think over in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: Verizon UM150 USB EV-DO Modem Review
08 May 2008 09:00 EST
Chris Barylick
I'll say this for Jason: he spends a fair amount of time on the road and loves the portable technology.
How this love compares to the love for his iPhone or the fact that I'll have to craft a small wedding dress for an update iPhone when Apple releases its 3G variant, I'm not sure, but he has an affinity for keeping in touch on the road and that can't be ignored.
Over on the Apple Core, the PowerPage head honcho has penned a full review of Verizon Wireless' UM150 USB Modem, a re-badged unit from manufacturer Pantech. The piece runs the full gamut of what to expect, what's being charged and how the unit fares in day to day testing.
Take a gander and if you've found a USB modem of choice, let us know over in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: Handwriting Recognition En Route for iPhone
06 May 2008 02:02 EST
Chris Barylick
A recent look inside the private beta of Apple's upcoming iPhone Software 2.0 software has yielded something interesting: a handwriting recognition interface that may be en route as a feature.
Jason's got the details over at the Apple Core, so take a gander and let us know what you think over in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: AT&T May Have Disabled Complimentary iPhone Wi-Fi Access
05 May 2008 08:31 EST
Chris Barylick
Remember last week when we mentioned how AT&T was providing complimentary Wi-Fi access for iPhone users in assorted locations and users commented how they liked and appreciated this?
That may have already gone the way of the dodo as assorted users are reporting that AT&T has disabled the free service.
Jason's got the full details over at the Apple Core and the cause for the removal seems entirely open to debate and discussion.
Of course, a launch like this wherein something useful is given away for free without press releases, self-congratulatory accolades and perky-as-ferrets PR people spitting out sound bites galore, what would they be thinking?
If you've seen this on your end, let us know over in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: Apple Releases Updated iMacs, Bumps Processor to 3.06 GHz
28 April 2008 10:33 EST
Chris Barylick
The bad news: The gremlins played hell with the system today and thus news couldn't be posted.
The really good news: Apple, which generally announces new products on Tuesday, released a new series of speed-bumped iMacs featuring processors up to 3.06 GHz as well as all-around beefed up hardware for the units.
Jason's got all the details over at the Apple Core, so take a gander and if you've gotten a chance to play with one at a retail outlet, let us know over in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: Jobs Back for Questioning in Backdated Stock Options Scandal
25 April 2008 08:05 EST
Chris Barylick
Despite a US$1.05 billion second quarter profit, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is back under fire for his receipt of backdated stock options.
The issue, which raised a number of legal and accounting issues regarding improper disclosures, has drawn the attention of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission with additional criticism emanating from the Boston Retirement Board.
Head over to the Apple Core where Jason's building further details on the story.
If you've heard anything on your end or would just like to throw your two cents in on this, hit us up via the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: The Gold MacBook Pro/Air's Creator Speaks Out
22 April 2008 04:26 EST
Chris Barylick
It's not the coolest things ever, but it's pretty close.
Last year, tech outfit Computer Choppers put forth a 24-karat gold-plated MacBook Pro, complete with a diamond-studded Apple logo. The company has since introduced an equivalent MacBook Air notebook.
PowerPage head honcho Jason O'Grady recently sat down with Alex Wiley, owner of Computer Choppers to discuss his unique service.
For the full story, head on over to the Apple Core and if you've applied some cool (albeit less expensive) modifications of your own to your Apple laptop, let us know over in the comments or forums or send photos of your masterpieces along to chris [at] powerpage [dot] org and we'll post the best ones.
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The Apple Core: First Impressions of the Starbucks/iTunes UI
21 April 2008 08:07 EST
Chris Barylick
Apple has begun to incorporate its iTunes WiFi service into assorted Stabucks locations, following up on an announcement made back in February to pair the efforts of Apple and AT&T to bring the service to more than 7,000 locations.
PowerPage head honcho Jason O'Grady, who keeps Starbucks (and the Christmas spirit) in his heart the year round, has the first impressions of the user experience, complete with two videos showing the Starbucks iTunes user interface, submitted by Alan Weinkrantz.
For full details, head over to the Apple Core and if you've tried iTunes in a Starbucks near you, let us know over in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: PayPal May Ban Safari
18 April 2008 11:38 EST
Chris Barylick
On Thursday, online transaction service PayPal stated that the company would block web browsers they deemed unsafe from accessing their web sites. First on the chopping block may be Apple's Safari web browser, which currently lacks strong anti-phishing protection.
I've been relatively happy with Safari, so this comes as a bit of a surprise.
Jason's got the full details over at the Apple Core.
If you have an alternate, secure browser of choice, let us know over in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: Psystar and its Fine Selection of Snake Oils
17 April 2008 02:58 EST
Chris Barylick
Unlicensed Mac clone maker Psystar has apparently sprung up overnight and drawn a certain amount of attention.
With that in mind, the journalists went snooping and discovered recent address changes, the offices perhaps being located in a residential address and other unsavory information.
For full details, head over to The Apple Core and if these people ask you to sign something, tell them you need to go find a pen...
If you've had any encounters with Psystar or have two cents to throw in on this, let us know over in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: Minimizing TDMA Interference on Your iPhone
16 April 2008 08:35 EST
Chris Barylick
As cool as the iPhone is, there are some inherent design elements that need to be worked around.
One of these is called "TDMA Interference", which is an unavoidable side effect of how GSM-based phones work (place your iPhone near a pair of speakers and you'll notice it). Although this doesn't happen with CDMA phones (i.e., Verizon), nearly all GSM phones, including those made by AT&T and T-Mobile, are susceptible to it.
TDMA Interference occurs any time the phone communicates with the cellular tower, and is part of why the iPhone doesn’t work with all the dock-connector speakers that standard iPods use.
Over on The Apple Core, PowerPage head honcho Jason O'Grady has discovered a good workaround to this problem via the RadTech extender cable, which has helped to eliminate TDMA interference inherent in his iPhone (a.k.a., his first born).
Head over, take a gander and if you've found a good means of helping to offset the TDMA interference for your iPhone, please let us know over in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: FirmTek Releases FireWire, eSATA Hub for MacBook Air and Other Models
15 April 2008 09:11 EST
Chris Barylick
It's not the be-all and end-all, but it could be interesting.
Late Monday at the NAB expo, FirmTek announced the release of its SeriTek/SpyderHUB, a four ounce storage hub for FireWire and eSATA drives. Per its spec sheet, the device will allow for features such as booting and hardware striping and can connect to a Mac via either a USB 2.0 or FireWire 800 connection.
Kind of a neat thing for MacBook Air owners and writer David Morgenstern has the full details over at The Apple Core...
If you've found an ideal breakout box for your MacBook Air, let us know over in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: Great Mac Training Available for Free
14 April 2008 08:51 EST
Chris Barylick
It's an inevitable truth: somewhere along the line, you're going to need more Mac training. Instead of asking friends to show you tricks or signing up for expensive courses, PowerPage head honcho Jason O'Grady has found a slew of great online training tutorials.
For more details, head over to The Apple Core and if you've found some good cheap or free Mac training resources of your own, let us know over in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: Apple May Have Unsupported the AirDisk
08 April 2008 11:00 EST
Chris Barylick
It's odd and comes out of nowhere, but it may be where things stand right now.
Apple representatives have reportedly confirmed that the company won't support AirDisks as well as Time Machine backups to a hard drive connected to an Apple AirPort Extreme router.
Head over to the Apple Core for full details on the story and if you've seen this on your end, let us know in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: Adobe Revises Photoshop Express TOS Terms
07 April 2008 09:34 EST
Chris Barylick
If you ever thought raising a flap had no effect, then you never worked for Adobe.
Per last week's announced Adobe Photoshop Express beta, a free Web-based tool that allows users to crop, rotate, adjust, twirl, correct and show off photos hosted on Photoshop Express Express or Facebook, Adobe has come under heavy fire for its Terms Of service terms, which, among other things, included the following:
“Adobe does not claim ownership of Your Content. However, with respect to Your Content that you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Services, you grant Adobe a worldwide, royalty-free, nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable license to use, distribute, derive revenue or other remuneration from, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display such Content (in whole or in part) and to incorporate such Content into other Materials or works in any format or medium now known or later developed.”
Since the backlash, Adobe has revised its terms regarding the Photoshop Express beta. For full details, take a gander at head honcho Jason O'Grady's blog on the subject over at The Apple Core.
If you have an opinion on this or have had similar issues with Adobe's terms of service, let us know in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: 64-Bit Photoshop CS4 to be Windows-Only at First
04 April 2008 08:55 EST
Chris Barylick
Across the Internet and on John Nack's blog, Adobe has divulged that it will shift its standard development plan and that a 64-bit version of Photoshop (CS4) will be available in a 64-bit version for Windows only for a period of time.
PowerPage head honcho Jason O'Grady isn't amused by this, but he's got a fair number of details over at The Apple Core.
Head on over, take a gander and let us know what you think of the situation over in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: The MacBook Air Has No Clothes
27 March 2008 08:30 EST
Chris Barylick
PowerPage head honcho Jason O'Grady has loved his MacBook Air since the moment he received it and has used it continuously since (I would know, since he was at the other end of the phone, anticipating its arrival like a new to-be father pacing outside a maternity ward's waiting area, losing count of how many cigarettes he'd smoked and the stubble on his face).
Now he's telling you exactly how he feels about the light, stylish yet pokey notebook over at The Apple Core.
It's not the news you'd quite expect to hear, especially with other journalists shifting their opinions and snuggling up to the MacBook Air, but it's worth reading, especially if your daily notebook workload gets a bit more involved as time goes on.
Take a gander and let us know what you think over in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: MacBook's Wireless Dropouts Remain Unsolved
21 March 2008 09:17 EST
Chris Barylick
In spite of the recent slew of AirPort updates, discussions boards are full of complaints regarding Apple's long-standing problems with MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops holding their WiFi connections.
To this extent, Apple is taking a quality assurance beating on the issue and has raised eyebrows as to what the underlying problems, which may have emerged with the release of Mac OS X 10.5.2, may be.
Over on The Apple Core, the mighty David Morgenstern has taken complaints, put them in a reasonable order.
Take a gander and if you've been having trouble holding a wireless connection on an Apple laptop running Mac OS X 10.5 ("Leopard"), let us know over in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: Apple Releases 802.11n-Compatible AirPort Express
18 March 2008 09:01 EST
Chris Barylick
On Monday, Apple released an upgraded version of the AirPort Express wireless base station router, complete with support for 802.11n draft networking. The new unit boasts up to five times the performance and twice the range of the previous AirPort Express and makes it the "world's smallest" 802.11n-based mobile base station on the market.
For the full details, head over to The Apple Core and take a gander at PowerPage head honcho Jason O'Grady's write up of the unit.
If you've gotten your hands on the new AirPort Express and can offer any feedback about it, let us know in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: New iPhone DoS Attack Discovered
18 March 2008 09:00 EST
Chris Barylick
This is the reason security updates were invented. A new denial of service attack for the iPhone nand iPod touch, as outlined by Jason over on the Apple Core, describes how an iPhone can be crashed simply by visiting a maliciously coded web page.
The exploit isn't new, but the development doesn't require user intervention to activate the crash.
Jason's got the full details, so head over there and let us know what you make of this over in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: iPhone SDK Rollout
07 March 2008 09:03 EST
Chris Barylick
In the wake of Apple's announced support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync services on the iPhone as well as the software development kit announcement, a lot's changed in a short period of time.
So, as the geeks download the mighty 2.1 gigabytes of software developer kit (thank you, VersionTracker), the mighty David Morgenstern has a play-by-play recap and analysis of yesterday's media event over at The Apple Core with the mighty David Morgenstern breaking it down.
Take a gander and if there's anything you want to vent about what Apple's doing right, wrong or seems to be ignoring with the upcoming iPhone applications and functions, let us know over in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: Jason Woos the F8 Key
25 February 2008 08:40 EST
Chris Barylick
In spite of the (massive) amount of grief I give him, I'll give Jason this: if he ever freaks out, he tends to have a fairly good reason for doing so.
When Apple discontinued its previously de-facto standard 109 key USB keyboard last July with the new, lower, flatter design, he voiced his opinion for a fair amount of time over the phone.
According to the new Apple Core, the PowerPage's head honcho appears to have warmed up to the new design, especially where the function keys and quick access to features such as Eject, Help, Dashboard, Expose and volume controls are concerned.
Take a gander and if you have any thoughts on the revised keyboard design, let us know over in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: Battling the MacBook Air's Recessed Headphone Jack
22 February 2008 08:30 EST
Chris Barylick
Every relationship has its struggles and for Jason, this is most apparent with the recessed headphone jack on his MacBook Air.
Though not nearly as recessed as the headphone jack found on the iPhone, the jack prevents a good number of headphones from using the port, thereby requiring an extender.
The rest of the details, as well as a few good solutions can be found over at the Apple Core.
If you've seen this with your own MacBook Air or have a solution or workaround for it, let us know in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: Penryn-Based MacBook Pro Laptops Due for Imminent Release
21 February 2008 08:30 EST
Chris Barylick
Jason's been reading the Apple tea leaves again and, with the input of a source close to the story, has come to the opinion that a Penryn-based MacBook Pro is due for immediate release.
His logic factors in the following hints:
-Apple last updated the MacBook Pro to Santa Rosa on 05 June 2007 (261 days or roughly 8 and a half months ago). So, it’s due for a refresh.
-Intel’s new “Penryn” processor was announced in September 2007 and began shipping in January.
-Penryn-based PC notebooks are now available from a bunch of manufacturers including Alienware.
-Intel chief executive Paul Otellini says that 45nm Penryn is up to a 20 percent performance increase over 65nm chips, more energy efficient, and uses halogen-free packaging which is better for the environment. Penryn chips are identified by the following model numbers: T9500 (2.6GHz), T9300 (2.5GHz), T8300 (2.4GHz) and T8100 (2.1GHz). Penryn uses the same 800MHz front-side bus found in the current MacBook Pro line.
For the full prediction, click over to the Apple Core. And, as always, if you have any insights, opinions or predictions of your own, let us know over in the comments or forums.
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The Apple Core: Untethering the MacBook Air
19 February 2008 11:11 EST
Chris Barylick
Jason's honeymoon with the MacBook Air is almost in its third week and the PowerPage head honcho has decided to take the next step in traveling light: weening himself off wired network connections.
For this, he's looked into the thousands of Starbucks locations that are currently switching to AT&T for WiFi Internet access across the United States and a recently-announced deal allowing AT&T DSL customers free access to Starbucks WiFi locations.
For the full details, take a gander at The Apple Core.
And if you have two cents to throw in on this, let us know over in the comments and forums.
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The Apple Core: Jason Goes Naked with the MacBook Air
18 February 2008 09:30 EST