Lovin' the Mac

SmoothBeats iPhone App

2011-01-20T13:48:00.004+10:00

"Back in October 1999, SmoothBeats was launched as a way for one man to listen to music at work, rather than lugging a case full of CDs back and forth. Since then, Smoothbeats has grown into a full-fledged Internet radio station with 2 channels - Hip Hop and NuJazz.

Now you can listen to Smoothbeats wherever you go. And of course, the Smoothbeats iPhone app comes with all the features you'd expect from a Code Army app such as Auto Play and Connection Robustness."

Click here to get it.

RinseFM iPhone App

2009-11-30T09:25:00.001+10:00

Version 1.2 is here -- now with Schedule page and Auto-Play feature.

KrankyDigital iPhone App

2009-11-05T09:38:00.000+10:00

The latest version of the KrankyDigital iPhone App is now available.

New 27" iMac - Unboxing

2009-10-30T09:17:00.009+10:00

This is an unboxing of the new 27 inch iMac 2009.

Macs in Education

2008-10-22T18:38:00.005+10:00

Last week was The University of Queensland's School of ITEE (Information Technology and Electrical Engineering) Innovation Expo 2008 where I came across this picture with an iMac being used to demostrate a virtual Smart House Simulation and doesn't it look great in this photo with student Chih Yu.

For a list of the other projects that were on display during the day, click here.

Apple Special Event - Macbooks

2008-10-15T10:54:00.004+10:00

Sikosis has written a short summary on the event that took place today with Steve Jobs revealing Apple's latest releases in the laptop / notebook space.

Click here for the full story or watch Apple's PR video below:-

24" iMac or Expensive Paper Weight ?

2008-07-23T14:07:00.006+10:00

Our good friend Oddbod, has had dilemma after dilemma with his shiny aluminium iMac. I thought I should definitely share his story with the world:-

"Well it's official my iMac is one very expensive paper weight!!!!! After having gone through the Mac Doctors (which were great by the way) with repairs complete, I returned home to find it only turned on for one day. I shut it down when going to bed, only to find the next morning it won't turn on at all.

There is some question around a faulty keyboard, mouse or any external connection that may be causing some form of short in the power system - however having eliminated this potential, because with nothing at all plugged in (apart from the power chord) it still won't turn on.

So you say what are Apple doing about it ? Well, I have just been on the phone with Apple Customer Relations and found a pretty good person there, who is certainly prepared to look at replacing the entire iMac, however is exploring all the known issues, reports with Apple's tech support to be sure that a new iMac won't result in the same problem. At least they are being thorough.

So there you go, even though I bought the iMac late last year, I have probably only had full use of it for about 3 months - the rest of the time it has either been in for repairs (totally cannibalised by Nextbyte - whom I will NEVER go to again, not even to buy an iPod shuffle) or sat on my desk doing nothing.

The phrase "it's a Mac and it just works" has certainly worn thin in this case and I am certainly wondering if I have made a mistake or did I just take it up too early and didn't allow for it to be tested on the market first. Certainly a principle I would apply before purchasing any Microsoft products but never thought I would be faced with that prospect when purchasing an Apple product. My faith in Apple has certainly lessened throughout this experience and I'm just wondering if anyone else feels like they are dropping the ball."

Wow that's just crazy. Here's a guy who *was* completely sold on the idea of Macs (after all we bought Mac minis at the same time) and after Nextbyte's very poor treatment with his iMac, this issue has just grown out of proportion. Had Nextbyte had done the right thing and replaced the machine like they were suppose to, instead of supplying Oddbod with a machine with 2nd hand faulty parts (including a rusted CMOS battery and missing screws), they would have retained him (and others) as customers.

Now all because of their cost-cutting or whatever, they've alienated someone who was vocal about how good Apple are. On a side note, I'm still using my iMac G5 which is 5 and half years old and has never had a problem. In the same time period, I've been through 3 PCs and about 6 power supplies.

iPhone 2.0 - In-Depth Review

2008-07-20T10:51:00.003+10:00

Now that I've been using the iPhone on a daily basis for a week, I thought it would be wise to put my review out, considering some of the misinformation I have read (and heard) elsewhere or other reviews that are written by people who don't even own one.

read more | digg story

The Mac Market Share Myth

2008-05-21T08:47:00.001+10:00

Macworld AU write "...if you exclude computers costing under $US1000, Apple’s share rises to a staggering 66 percent. Two-thirds of all computers sold at traditional retailers to customers with over a grand to spend are Macs."

That's rather interesting ... lots of cheap PCs out there, which makes up the lion's share of PC's market share

Mojo off to WWDC 2008 !

2008-04-26T15:12:00.002+10:00

Mojo writes on his blog "Thanks to the generous organisation that is AUC (Apple University Consortium) and an Allocated Staff Scholarship I will be attending this years WWDC 2008 Developer conference to be held in San Francisco, CA..

From June 9 - 13, WWDC will host the best of the Apple developer universe — with attendees representing all corners of the globe. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to experience a community atmosphere filled with your industry peers.

Stay tunned to apple.mojo3.net for all the low down on the 2008 WWDC conference."

Ben Heck does it again !

2008-04-21T10:09:00.001+10:00

Ben Heck has done it again, this time, making a Apple IIGS laptop.

"Based off an original IIGS motherboard, the one-of-a-kind laptop features a 15-inch color screen, custom acrylic keyboard, a CompactFlash-based hard drive, and -- most importantly -- a glowing blue IIGS logo that flashes yellow during disk access."

For more check out Engadget.

Free Your Media (Transcode DVDs)

2008-01-18T08:44:00.000+10:00

When looking for some Macworld 2008 videos last night, I came across this video from Steve Breen, Senior Editor at Macworld Magazine - all about using the tool Handbrake (which began it's life on BeOS) to convert your DVDs into files that you can play on your iPod, AppleTV or Computer.

Macworld 2008 - Steve Job's Keynote

2008-01-16T08:48:00.000+10:00

The great guys over at Inside Mac Radio, have condensed Steve Job's keynote from Macworld 2008. If you haven't seen the full thing, then this might just be what you were looking for.

Nokia 6233 Support on Leopard

2007-11-13T10:43:00.000+10:00

Piup sent me an email recently saying that he's managed to get Leopard's iSync working with his Nokia 6233 and he states "most importantly for free". How did he get it working ?

By downloading this plugin:-
http://jan.brejcha.name/opensource/PhonePlugins.zip

Instructions:
Remove the old 3rd party plugin and drop the new one into
/Applications/iSync.app/Contents/Plugins/

» ApplePhoneConduit.syncdevice/Contents/PlugIns/

Leopard drops October 26th

2007-10-17T09:25:00.000+10:00

For once the rumours sites were right. Well, it was actually a blunder on Apple's part when the store showed Tiger shipping on Oct 26th and it was then changed to 24 hours. This led many to believe that, this is the date Leopard would arrive and they were right.

Check out the Apple Hot News site for more info. Once again, I won't be rushing to get it, because I'll be after the Family Pack as I have 3 Macs at home. But I know Oddbod will be pleased, as he can now order his new iMac with Leopard preinstalled.

Apple Invasion

2007-10-03T19:17:00.000+10:00

A mate sent me this pic, he found on popurls, showing what appears to a Uni...errr College lecture room, with nothing but Mac love in the house.

Nice.

A Little Video for Everyone

2007-09-07T18:51:00.000+10:00

Here's the new iPod nano ad. I don't care much for the song, but the idea Apple is trying to get across is, everyone's gonna want one. I've got 3 iPods, I won't need a new one too soon :P

The iPhone has landed

2007-06-30T12:09:00.001+10:00

The Apple iPhone has been released in the US today, with people in the states lining up to get the most hyped item in history. Click here for a guided tour on Apple's site. In other news, an iPhone has also been reportedly sold on eBay for $1500.

Check out this amateur video entitled "Big Apple Madness", documenting the lineup for Apple's latest product.

The iPhone Cometh

2007-06-21T14:28:00.000+10:00

Only 8 days to go til the Apple iPhone is out for sales in the US. This will be when sites go crazy trying to get their hands on it to review it first. Engadget will no doubt have a good review, as will Leo Laporte and other podcasters such as DL.TV.

What's a blessing in disguise is that us Aussies who won't see one til 2008, and hopefully all the early bugs will be worked out by the time we get the chance to buy one.

Anyway, check out Apple's Phil Schiller showing CBS's John Blackstone many features of the iPhone.

Path Finder

2007-04-07T08:42:00.000+10:00

Some have called this "a must app", whilst when I tried a version of this a few years back, I found it to be nice but too slow to access, it was still worth putting up with Finder. If only there was OpenTracker for the Mac :) then I'd be in heaven, but I digris.

Check out Leo and Merlin as they salivate over Path Finder and tell us why they think it's the must app at $34.95 US ~ $42.65 AU.

Extra HDD storage for the Mac Mini

2007-03-12T10:24:00.000+10:00

As an Apple® Mac mini owner who was running low on HDD space, I needed a storage solution that was functional and fitted the Apple Mac Mini look.

This is what I found...

The LaCie mini Hard Drive & HUB, is specially designed to fit perfectly with the Apple® Mac mini. Now you can connect all of your hardware peripherals at once - like your iSight, mouse, keyboard, web cam, camera, video recorder, speakers and other USB hard drives. Its sturdy metal casing provides advanced heat dissipation and its unique four-corner crown is designed to provide cooling airflow between stacked drives to protect against overheating.

In the end I decided on the 500Gb model for around AUD$370.00, which will be more than enough to store my music & video collection.

What are your thoughts on home digital storage solutions?

Productivity - TextExpander

2007-03-11T18:05:00.000+10:00

Leo Laporte and Merlin Mann are back, this time showing off TextExpander, which saves you keystrokes with customized abbreviations for frequently used text.

TextExpander is not free, it comes with a $29.95 US ($38.35 AU) price tag.

iPhone Teaser Ad

2007-02-27T21:07:00.000+10:00

Check out this iPhone Teaser ad that was shown during the Oscars last weekend.

The Uncluttered Desktop

2007-02-23T10:08:00.000+10:00

Just to follow on from the previous post, here's Leo and Merlin again, showing you how to have the cleanest desktop in the world.

I certainly like some of these ideas and Spirited Away is a great application (and a good anime movie too).

Essential Apps - Quicksilver

2007-02-21T12:54:00.000+10:00

Kicking off my series on Essential Apps for the Mac, I thought I'd start with Quicksilver. Quicksilver is a very powerful application that once you get the hang on it, you'll wonder how you ever did without it.

Check out this video of Leo Laporte (TWiT) and Merlin Mann (43Folders) as they show you the ins and outs of Quicksilver.

High Quality Skype Video Calls on the Mac

2007-02-20T12:33:00.000+10:00

Thanks to Lifehacker for this tip, you can now enable high-quality video calls with Skype for the Mac.

First download the latest version of Skype for the Mac. You need version 2.5.0.85 or newer. Then edit an XML file as shown on the Skype Garage site and you'll have glorious 640 x 480 video calls. Of course, you'll need a high-quality camera as well, which is exactly what the iSight is.

New York Times' David Pogue on Vista

2007-02-19T18:53:00.000+10:00

Check out this little video as David Pogue from the New York Times takes us through his look at Vista and OS X.

Welcome to Lovin' the Mac !

2007-02-18T20:31:00.000+10:00

This site is dedicated to showing you various cool things that myself and others have done using their Macs.

Having all come from the darkside of the PC world, we find ourselves on a regular basis saying things like "It just works" and "Lovin' the Mac". Computing is once again enjoyable. But don't just take our word for it.

Here's a small video on why successful startup, 37signals, choose Macs.