Posts filed under 'Macintosh'
[Update 2] So I recently attempted to re-apply the Mac OS X 10.5.2 Combo update to my MacBook Pro in the hopes that it would fix an annoying little bug that is preventing the contents of my Desktop folder to get dynamically updated. To my surprise, when I went to select my boot volume to install on, the Installer wouldn’t let me continue stating:
“You cannot install Mac OS X Update Combined on this volume. This volume does not meet the requirements for this update.”
At first I thought my OS installation was corrupted, but before I reached for my Leopard install DVD to do a clean install I decided to investigate whether one of the recent Apple software updates may have caused the problem. Read on to see the results of my investigation.
Continue Reading March 25th, 2008
[Update 2] A lot has happened in the iPhone hacking world in the past week. On October 10, the iPhone Dev Team published detailed instructions for jailbreaking and activating iPhone firmware 1.1.1. Within 24 hours, the folks at iPhoneSimFree, confirmed that their unlock solution in conjunction with the iPhone Dev Team’s hack would enable unlocked phones to be fully operational running the latest firmware. They also released an update to their SimFree application which repaired iPhones that had previously been bricked due to corruption of the baseband radio firmware caused by some of the free unlock solutions.
Yesterday, an update to iNdependence for Mac OS X was released that makes the process of updating, activating and jailbreaking iPhones a whole lot easier. I tried both the old manual instructions as well as using iNdependence 1.2.3 to update mine and my wife’s unlocked iPhones to the latest firmware with a high degree of success. Read all about my experiences in the full article.
Continue Reading October 17th, 2007
I have been on a quest for the ‘perfect’ mobile phone for several years now, buying a new one every 6-9 months, but never being quite satisfied with any of them. I think the quest started back in 2003 when I bought a Sony Ericsson T68i, my first BlueTooth equipped phone, and was able to synchronize it wirelessly with my Mac using iSync. Every phone I bought since then could sync contact names and phone numbers with Mac OS X’s Address Book, and appointments with iCal but I have been forever plagued by a desire for a phone that can sync full addresses and contact notes with the same simplicity. In other words, I wanted something that could finally allow me to ditch my Palm PDA in the garbage forever.
Back in November of last year, a friend of mine IM’d me and told me about this new smartphone he had purchased. I told him what I was looking for in a phone, and he told me his phone would do all that, and synchronize contact photos to boot. I was skeptical, because I was starting to give up hope that any device could live up to my high expectations, short of Apple making a phone of their own*. But I was curious to see what benevolent creation my friend possessed. That phone was a Nokia E61, and after a short demonstration and a bit of a test drive, I was convinced. The next day I bought an unlocked Nokia E61 from a local reseller, and kissed my Motorola RAZR V3i and Palm TX goodbye.
The latest version of Mac OS X’s iSync at the time didn’t directly support the Nokia E61, but a free plugin available off the Internet quickly solved that problem. I just had to drag the plugin into a specific location on my hard drive, and iSync suddenly recognized and worked with my phone, like they were designed for each other from the beginning.
So last night, the Mac OS X 10.4.9 update dropped via Software Update, and I quickly went about downloading and installing it. The installation went without issue as expected and I was quickly back up and running with no muss or fuss. But this morning, when I went to launch iSync to sync up my phones with my MacBook Pro, I was greeted with this message:
My first thought was, “where the heck did I install that plugin?” My second was, “oh no, I might not be able to sync my E61 until an updated plugin gets released!” Well, looks like Apple’s iSync developers read my mind because they seem to have anticipated my concerns and dealt with them ahead of time. I proceeded to click on the little arrow to the right of the plugin name in the dialog box, and was pleasantly surprised to see a Finder window pop open with the offending plugin highlighted. All I had to do was drag the file to my Desktop to disable it. Then I relaunched iSync, re-added the Nokia E61 to the list and it was instantly recognized. Seconds later, I was syncing it without issue. I no longer need to use a third party plug-in because iSync now has built-in support for the Nokia E61.
Once again, Apple has exceeded my expectations by obsessing over the little details so I don’t have to waste my time. After this positive experience, I couldn’t help but wonder what it would have been like had I gone through the same ordeal on Windows or Linux. Having used and supported the former for years, and dabbled a bit with the latter, I think I’ve got a pretty good idea what that would have been like.
*Of course, we all know Apple has decided to make their own smartphone, the iPhone, which is slated for release in the US in June. No firm release date has been given for Canada, although Rogers Wireless has apparently said they would be the exclusive carrier in the Great White North. For the record, as much as I do like my Nokia E61, I do plan on replacing it with an iPhone as soon as they arrive north of the border. A mobile phone that is as well thought out as Apple’s other products is, will be utter mobile nirvana.
March 14th, 2007
If you’re like me, you spend a crazy amount of your waking hours in a web browser. For me, that browser is Apple’s Safari, and despite some enticing features of other browsers for Mac OS X (there are quite a few), I stick with Safari because I love it’s uncluttered interface, excellent support for web standards and Apple look/feel that the other browsers just seem to be lacking.
Well, a few weeks back a video showed up on YouTube purporting to show off new drag-able tabs in the upcoming version of Safari in Mac OS X Leopard, but there was much reason to be skeptical, given all the fake Leopard screenshots and movies that made the rounds leading up to WWDC’06. Well kids, it looks like drag-able tabs are coming to Safari 3.0, as well as a couple of other really cool features, according to an article on Musings From Mars blog. The article includes videos demonstrating the three features, so I highly recommend you check it out!
Drag-able tabs, much improved in-page search and resizable form text fields! Very nice. Now the one feature that I’d still like to see is true zooming in and out on a page. Not simply changing text size, I want all page components to scale proportionately. Opera is the only browser that I know of that does this. Very handy for people with lots of screen real estate who wants to enlarge a page to make it more easily read from further back, or those with notebooks who want to be able to see more of a web page on the screen at once. Give me that and site-specific settings, and I’ll be a really happy camper. Of course, drag-able tabs, improved in-page find and resizable form text fields go a long way to helping me forget about the other stuff.
October 5th, 2006
Most Mac enthusiasts were relieved when Apple launched it’s Get a Mac TV campaign a few months back, but we weren’t holding our breath that it would last, given Apple’s past Mac advertising efforts. The ads have been received quite well among the Mac faithful, and have certainly ruffled some feathers in the Windows world. Apple added more spots to the lineup, each one targeting one feature or benefit. A great way to communicate the Mac’s benefits without information overload. Let the masses learn about the Mac one feature or benefit at a time and eventually people will start to wake up.
The Get A Mac TV ads were actually phase 2 of their marketing campaign, phase 1 being the opening of Apple Stores across the United States and later expansion to other countries such as Japan, UK, and Canada. Now numbering 160 stores and growing, this strategy is geared towards giving people an excellent consumer experience and the opportunity to test drive Apple’s products in a relaxed no-pressure environment. The TV spots have played a strong role in boosting brand awareness and driving traffic into Apple Stores.
Well now it looks like Apple is following up on this successful strategy with some informative print advertising. A 14-page brochure has been spotted attached to a 3 full page ad in Entertainment Weekly magazine. In it, Apple hilights the most popular iLife applications (iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie, GarageBand), as well as a couple of Mac OS X features (iChat, Dashboard) and Microsoft Office. The brochure closes by showcasing the Macintosh consumer lineup (iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro and Mac mini). You can see scanned images of the entire brochure on Flickr.
This is an excellent follow-up to the TV ad campaign, because it is more product focused rather than branding/symbolic in nature, as the TV spots are. By making it a brochure that can be removed from the magazine, potential customers can pull it out and save it for later or pass it on to a friend. I think these brochures will get far more views than they would if they were simply full-page ads. Assuming Apple runs these print ads in a wide range of popular publications, I think they’ll go far to finally bridge the gap between the branding/imagery of the TV spots and the hand-on experience of the Apple Store. These brochures dangle a bit more of a carrot to pique the interest of consumers enough to get them to visit the apple website or stop in at their local Apple Store.
I am curious why Apple has chosen to avoid mentioning Windows compatibility in the 14-page brochure though. While I don’t think Apple should be focusing too much of it’s marketing message on luring people to the Mac platform with the intention of using it for Windows, they have mentioned it in their TV spot titled Touché. Following that up with a page on their brochure with a screenshot of Windows XP running in virtual machine window with Mac OS X apps wouldn’t be such a bad idea, would it?
Critique aside, Apple’s Mac marketing strategy is now coming into focus and seems to be close to firing on all cylinders for the upcoming holiday season. It will be interesting to see how much thunder Apple can steal from Microsoft Windows Vista before it launches. There has never been such a great opportunity to steal market share as there is now, especially given that Windows Vista will drive most Windows customers to buy new hardware in order to keep up with the latest version. Many of those customers may just decide to spend that money on a new Mac instead.
September 7th, 2006