New MacBook!

This is the post I have been putting off for a while now. The post about the purchase of a new MacBook that occurred a few weeks ago. I have not had the time to write on it. But, as I have been productive tonight, I write on it now.

The new MacBook was purchased in all its two-tone glory. I love the backlit keyboard that is now standard and the edge-to-edge glass screen. The gloss really is not that bad, and I think the ease of cleaning way overcomes any downside that presents.

Along with the new MacBook was purchased Parallels 4. However, just a couple weeks ago, VMWare was running a "CyberMonday" (how I hate the term) special on Fusion; it was marked down about $40USD. Because of the deal, I also purchased Fusion and have tried it out somewhat; I hooked it up to my Boot Camp partition on the MacPro and it worked as well as Parallels I would say, but still did not run games well...

At any rate, another Mac has been added to the family. Another hit from Apple.

Best Firefox Plugin!

I recently discovered AdBlock Plus Firefox plugin (found here). I rate this as the most useful plugin I have ever used in Firefox. I don't see ads on my pages anymore. Whenever there is something annoying or offensive, I can remove it permanantly. It improves your load speeds because you are not loading flash ads or other unnecessary images. I do not see advertisments when I browse the web anymore because I have blocked all of the major suppliers. It is truely wonderful. I cannot reccommend it enough.

Picasa for Mac?

I recently read at Ars Technica and Apple Insider (and tried to post at Slashdot) that Google looks like it may release Picasa for Mac! Possibly quite soon! I say it is about time we got a decent iPhoto alternative... But I've ranted enough about that in previous posts.

Hope* is on the horizon!

*Curse the American politician for destroying that word in my daily usage. Chope...

Locking Your System

Macintosh has no obvious solution to the problem of wanting to lock your system. Macworld had a neat article discussing the topic here, but I did not really find any of their suggestions particularly helpful or useful. However, the one that I now use and found most practical and helpful was from the comments.

If you activate Fast User Switching, you can bring up the login window without closing any applications or documents. To activate it, go to System Preferences -> Accounts and then to Login Options at the bottom of the left pane. Check the "Enable fast user switching" box and you are set to go! The Accounts icon will appear at your top menu bar (or user name, depending on the setting you choose). You can move it around to your liking as explained here.

Just click on that icon (or text) and choose "Login Window" and (assuming the account has a password assigned) your system is locked!

Customising Mac's Menu Bar

A simple trick I wish I had learned earlier: Command + Click any of the little menulets and you can drag them around and even drag them right off!

However, some of them seem to resist being put back through any settings tabs. But, if you navigate to your main hard disk (Usually "Macintosh HD"), System -> Library -> Core Services -> Menu Extras, you can double click on those and add them back. A neat little hack. There are many more developments that need to be blogged about, but I am indolent.

Thoughts on Apple's Market Share

Thanks to David Pogue's latest post that got me thinking about this. I actually believe it is a thought I got from him originally (Via Mackorisnik), but I thought I would expound a bit on my feelings toward this subject.

I am happy with Apple having a small market share. Sure, you don't get all of the products you'd like due to lack of demand (à la ADCSee), but along that same line of reasoning you don't get viruses, trojans, or spyware.

Steve Jobs never set out to make Apple a major computer dealer along the lines of Dell, he set out to make something beautiful. Owning an Apple (in my opinion) should be like owning a BMW: you get what you pay for, and it is something unique and beautiful.

The proliferation of iPods is really what started it all, and now the proliferation of Mac Notebooks (especially among university students) may be starting a future trend. I just hope I don't have to switch to Linux to avoid the hassle of viruses.

Apple's New Laptops

Well, yesterday afternoon I watched Steve Jobs give his keynote (online, not in person). I was audience to the revealing of the new hardware. New MacBook, new MacBook Pro (in the 15-inch variety, though I just read an Apple Insider article that says the new 17-inchers are due in a few months), new cinema display, and updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 17-inch have been introduced. I though I'd add my voice to the cacophany already out there.

The new cases I'm sure will grow on me, but they are a bit jarring at first. I kind of dislike that there is minimal difference between the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros (deprives you the pleasure of smugness). Another feature that will certainly make the cases grow on me is the strength and lightness of them.

Faster processers is good. Better graphics is good. Can't argue with those. The new connectors give me pause, though. I will have to see how standard these get, but the idea of being charged more to buy adapters to make them work with current technology irks me.

My favourite new feature: the solid state drives! You will remember from my MacBook Air post

The glossy screens I remain neutral upon. If they are truly glass, then I would be pleased (truly meaning that they can be cleaned like glass making for easy screen cleaning without damaging the delicate little pixels).

Backlit keyboards are always a plus, but from what (limited) experience I've had typing on the MacBooks and MacBook Airs it takes some getting used to until you can type rapidly on the widely-spaced keys.

All in all, new hardware updates from Apple are (most) always a cause for joy, and I look forward to playing with (and possibly purchasing) Apple's latest hardware.

that I was hoping for these to be introduced. I am pleasantly surprised that they made it into the next update of notebooks! And increased size too!