Apple came roaring back to the Mac on Wednesday by announcing Lion (the next iteration of Mac OS X), two new MacBook Air laptops, FaceTime for Mac, new iLife software and a Mac App Store. Wednesday's announcement comes after nearly 15 months of neglect for Apple's traditional computer business. During its Mac hiatus the company has focused largely on developing iOS devices such as the iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone 4 and the new Apple TV.
The new MacBook Air is certainly a great improvement over previous models - namely the move towards exclusive solid-state storage in a laptop is a welcome paradigm shift. However, there were a few notable oversights in the new models that I'm sure a lot of people are disappointed about. Here are a few of them, and the reasons behind Apple's omissions.
With all the attention on the iPhone and iPad, you might have forgotten that Apple has a computer called the Mac. Today, Apple is previewing the new Mac OS X operating system, to be released in 2011, about two years after the release of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, a refinement of the previous version, Leopard. The company is also previewing new versions of some its Mac software, such as iLife.
In the world of Apple, 2010 has been the year of mobile. The iPad has become such a household name it's amazing that it was only first announced 10 months ago. It's hard to imagine using an iOS device now without multitasking. And let's not forget about a little something called iPhone 4. There was in fact so much activity on the Apple mobile front, you might have forgotten they were once a computer company. That's why Apple's special media event being held tomorrow is aptly titled "Back to the Mac"- to remind us that "Hey, we still make computers too!"
Rumors are flying that Apple is soon to release the new MacBook Air, a 13.3-inch laptop, in hopes that it will capitalize on iPad business sales and boost interest in a Mac laptop at Apple's "Back to the Mac" event Wednesday.
Ever since it unveiled the new mobile OS in February, Microsoft has been cagey on whether its new Windows Phone 7 would support direct synchronization with Apple's Macintosh computers. Now a spokeswoman confirms that Microsoft will offer a Mac OS X tool that syncs "selected content" between Macs and Windows Phone 7 devices.
After a UK exec spilled the beans, Microsoft officially announced that it will be releasing a tool to allow phones running its Windows Phone 7 software to sync some content with Apple Macintosh computers. The official announcement lacked the promise of a tweet made earlier by the exec that Microsoft was preparing a full-blown version of its Zune software for the Mac.
Most everyone who's had some experience with free open source software has learned about the OpenOffice.org suite of productivity programs: a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, database, and drawing tool that provide a good deal of the functionality of their commercial counterparts. For users who need powerful productivity tools but don't require a high degree of compatibility with Microsoft-formatted files, OpenOffice.org is almost a no-brainer.
Who needs an iPad when you have a broken MacBook? Matt at Enigma Penguin decided that he would recycle his old laptop and turn it into a tablet.
We’ve been hearing about Apple’s alleged plans for touchscreen-equipped iMacs for months now, and the rumors continue to swirl. The latest gossip arrives courtesy Digitimes, a Taiwanese trade publication that’s a bountiful source of Apple-related scuttlebutt. So what's new? Display manufacturer Sintek Photonics has reportedly shipped samples of capacitive touch panels to Apple, which plans to incorporate the technology into the next generation of its iMac all-in-one desktops, Digitimes reports.
Autodesk is bringing its AutoCAD architecture, design, and engineering software back to the Mac OS after an 18-year absence, the company announced this evening. But the company plans to do more than offer a Mac OS X version of AutoCAD: It says it will release a free version of the software, dubbed AutoCAD WS, for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch that lets users review, edit, and share AutoCAD files on those popular mobile devices.
11 million tablets, led by Apple's iPad, are expected to be sold by the end of 2010. This is three times the estimate ABI Research made just six months ago.
Fire up your Pascal compilers! The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California has the source code of two software components from the original Macintosh available for your download and study with Apple's blessing.
Apple ranks fourth in the latest UK Experian Hitwise Hot 100 E-Retailer list, ahead of PC makers such as Dell and HP and even UK retail giant Tesco.
Want a Mac for work? Sure you do. Macs are powerful, sleek and super easy to use. Even your company's top executives probably have them.