Macintosh Blogs > The Mac Observer

Vern Seward tells a sad tale of flights lost and destinations found.

Article Posted on January 6, 2009 at 3:49 pm

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said that today’s announcements from Apple at Macworld were “underwhelming,” but noted that this had been “expected.” Mr. Munster said that the biggest announcement to come from the event was the new 17″ MacBook Pro, though the company’s software announcements (iLife 09 and iWork 09) continue to represent a, “competitive advantage for Macs over PCs.”
 

Article Posted on January 6, 2009 at 2:49 pm

In a brilliantly executed spoof, satirical news organization The Onion is showing the world Apple’s newest member of the MacBook family, the MacBook Wheel. According to The Onion, Apple replaced the keyboard on its newest MacBook with a giant iPod-like wheel one uses to choose each letter, allowing one fan on hand for the fake event to compose an e-mail to his friend in only 45 minutes.
 

Article Posted on January 6, 2009 at 1:54 pm

Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller gave his first complete Macworld keynote, replacing Steve Jobs in that traditional role. While Mr. Schiller is a superb presenter, articulate and charming, there was more missing than just Steve Jobs.
 

Article Posted on January 6, 2009 at 1:30 pm

Now we know the real reason that Steve Jobs skipped out of this year’s Macworld Expo keynote. He didn’t want to give a presentation where the major announcement was a non-removable battery. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Maybe, once he decided to pass on the keynote (for whatever reasons), he took all the major hardware announcements off the table, saving them for a future media “special event.” Either way, the result is the same: The most disappointing keynote in a decade.

Article Posted on January 6, 2009 at 1:13 pm

Logitech on Tuesday expanded its G-series gaming peripherals lineup with three new products announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas: the G19 gaming keyboard (US$199.99), the G35 surround sound headset ($129.99), and the G9x laser mouse ($99.99).
 

Article Posted on January 6, 2009 at 12:06 pm

Recognizing that iWork ‘09 and iLife ‘09 require Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard, but not all Mac owners have upgraded to the new operating system yet, Apple Vice-President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller on Tuesday introduced Mac Box Set, which includes the latest versions of the iWork ‘09 and iLife ‘09 software suites, along with the Leopard upgrade.
 

Article Posted on January 6, 2009 at 11:50 am

Apple Vice-President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller on Tuesday unveiled the company’s new 17-inch MacBook Pro, which, at 0.98 inches thick and 6.6 pounds, is the thinnest and lightest 17-inch notebook in the world, he said.
 

Article Posted on January 6, 2009 at 11:36 am

During his Macworld Expo keynote address, Apple Vice-President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller on Tuesday discussed iWork ‘09, the company’s productivity suite containing Keynote, Pages, and Numbers. Mr. Schiller also introduced the collaboration tool iWork.com, which will soon enter the Beta stage of development.
 

Article Posted on January 6, 2009 at 11:11 am

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Vice-President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller on Tuesday announced the release of iLife ‘09, the latest version of the company’s suite featuring iMovie, iPhoto, iWeb, iDVD, and GarageBand. It will be available at the end of this month for US$79, or $99 for a family pack of five licenses.
 

Article Posted on January 6, 2009 at 10:57 am

SAN FRANCISCO — TechSmith Corp. on Tuesday unveiled Jing and Jing Pro, applications that allow users to add screen-captured images and videos to instant messages, emails, forums, Twitter, social networking sites, and more. The software automatically encodes the capture to TechSmith’s Screencast.com service and places a link to it on the user’s clipboard
 

Article Posted on January 6, 2009 at 10:08 am

Boingo Wireless and Skype on Tuesday announced an agreement that will allow Skype users to make calls from over 100,000 Boingo Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide via a feature called Skype Access, which will be included in the Skype for Mac 2.8 Beta software released the same day.
 

Article Posted on January 6, 2009 at 8:55 am

Apple’s online store went offline Tuesday morning, presumably in preparation for new products to be unveiled during the Macworld keynote to be presented by Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior Vice-President of Worldwide Product Marketing. The Mac Observer will bring all the news from Mr. Schiller’s discussion live as it happens. This will be Apple’s final appearance at Macworld Expo, ending a run of more than two decades of affiliation with IDG’s trade show.
 
 

Article Posted on January 6, 2009 at 8:26 am

SAN FRANCISCO — IntelliScanner Corporation on Tuesday introduced mini cubed, which includes a rechargeable mini scanner, a USB cable, a neck lanyard, pre-printed asset tags, and software in a metallic cube. The mini scanner, which is approximately the size of an iPod nano, features built-in memory for storing information before being synced to the software as well as scan and delete buttons.
 

Article Posted on January 6, 2009 at 8:19 am

SAN FRANCISCO — TheBrain Technologies is exhibiting PersonalBrain 5.0, the latest iteration of its visualization and organization software, at this week’s Macworld Expo. The upgrade features an outline view with a broader view of information, visual tagging, a presentation mode with full-screen display, and the ability to save customized layouts created in expanded view, as well as to import outlines and mind maps created with other software.
 

Article Posted on January 6, 2009 at 7:52 am

Verbatim, Imation, and SanDisk on Tuesday announced a new ExpressCard SSD, new external hard drives, and a line of one-button backup USB flash drives, respectively. Verbatim is in attendance at this week’s Macworld Expo, while SanDisk is exhibiting at the Consumer Electronics Show, which kicks off in Las Vegas on Thursday, and Imation is at the 2009 Storage Visions Conference happening in Las Vegas on Tuesday and Wednesday.
 

Article Posted on January 6, 2009 at 7:34 am

SAN FRANCISCO — During this week’s Macworld Expo, Sling Media will demonstrate SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone as well as a prototype of SlingPlayer for Mac HD, which allows Slingbox PRO-HD users to stream content to a Mac.
 

Article Posted on January 6, 2009 at 6:50 am

Join us today for live coverage of Phil Schiller’s Macworld Expo Keynote Address.  It’s scheduled to begin today (Tuesday, January 6th, 2009) at 9 AM PST / 12 PM EST, but we’ll be in the conference hall early posting photos and up to the minute updates.

Article Posted on January 6, 2009 at 5:00 am

John and Dave have arrived in San Francisco for Macworld Expo and recorded today’s show from the hotel room. Everything’s shaping up to be a great show, and John and Dave talk through their experiences and thoughts about it. Then it’s on to some security certificate clarifications as well as some software featured as Cool Stuff Found. Subscribe today for free and enjoy!
 

Article Posted on January 5, 2009 at 8:05 pm

John F. Braun spent some time this weekend and Monday taking pictures in and around the Moscone.  We’ve published them here for your viewing pleasure.

Article Posted on January 5, 2009 at 5:41 pm

Google on Monday revealed that the Mac OS X version of its photo management software Picasa has reached the Beta stage and is available now as a free download.
 

Article Posted on January 5, 2009 at 4:34 pm

SAN FRANCISCO - EZQuest announced Monday the Cinema Pro rack-mountable RAID solution, a RAID solution that can hold up to 16 hard drives with up to 24 TB of storage.  The device is hot swappable, and conforms to the 3U rack mount form factor. It connects via an external PCIe bus.
 

Article Posted on January 5, 2009 at 3:06 pm

SAN FRANCISCO — O’Reilly Media and Book Passage started off their Macworld Expo activities a day ahead of the conference’s official opening day with a special panel and book signing filled with Photoshop CS4 experts. The panel included Photoshop luminaries Lesa Snider King, Deke McClelland, Derrick Story, and Lightroom pro Mikkel Aaland.
 

Article Posted on January 5, 2009 at 12:40 pm

Virtualization software company Parallels released build 3810 of its Parallels Desktop for Mac 4.0 software. The new build, a 171.9 megabyte download, adds a number of new features and other improvements
 

Article Posted on January 5, 2009 at 12:25 pm

Long-time Mac accessory maker Elgato announced the next generation of its EyeTV Hybrid television and FM adapter for the Mac on Momnday. The adapter, which is immediately available in the United States and Canada, receives both analog and digital TV, including HDTV, by cable and antenna signals and can record said media for later playback.
 

Article Posted on January 5, 2009 at 12:01 pm