The home of Mac info for New Zealanders, mac-nz serves daily Mac, iPhone and related news from the world of Apple Inc.
Macworld conference
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Macworld conference registrations open: Macworld has announced via email that free registration for the 2011 conference is now open. For those who register by July 26 your ticket to the San Francisco convention will be free.
After the two-week period the cost becomes that of the standard ticket.
AppleJack updated for Snow Leopard: Version 1.6 of the command-line utility (pic) and scripts for running repair tasks in Single User Mode when a bootable startup disc is great for those times when all you get is a blue screen and no GUI startup.
To use it, after installation, bring up Single User Mode by holding down Command-S at startup and then, when the prompt is available, type 'applejack'. Use the menu provided or select 'auto pilot' to perform all of the basic tasks, such as filesystem and permission repair, cache clearing, and more. There is an 'Expert mode' available by typing 'x' at the AppleJack prompt to do more operations on the hardware and user accounts. Documentation is provided in a Man page; type man applejack for that.
This version supports 10.4 and up. Older versions of Applejack didn't function properly in 10.6. Here's Macworld's excellent review of Applejack.
For terminal tips to escaping freezes, read this TUAW article.
Toshiba launches drives for Macs: Toshiba has added some of its first Mac-oriented external drives to its lineup. Canvio for Mac drives come formatted for Apple's systems but also preloaded with Mac-specific backup software. NTI Shadow 5 can handle both typical backup as well as sync certain folders and apply 256-bit encryption on secure info.
No word on NZ availability yet.
Free video conversion software: iSkysoft Studio is offering it iPhone 4 Video Converter software for free to Mac and Windows users looking for a video conversion utility.
Convert videos, movies, and TV shows for your iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, or iPhone 4. Visit this page to get the software for nothing (until 26 July 2010, when it reverts to US$29). Expect similar offers from the developer in the coming months.
Greenpeace chastises Dell to be more like Apple: Greenpeace has chastised Dell for not matching Apple in its commitments to making eco-friendly devices. The environmental activists held up the iPhone 4 as proof that even a mainstream, widely sold piece of electronics could be toxin-free and thus that Dell had no excuses for continuing to sell toxic systems. A statement from the organization accused Dell of continuing to "walk back" on promises it made to clean up its computers, reports Electronista.
PC corps still using XP! Microsoft's Corporate VP of Windows, Tammi Reller, admitted at the Windows Partner Conference that nearly three quarters, (74%), of businesses are still using Windows XP. Despite both Windows Vista and 7 having been released as far back as three years ago, many have refused to upgrade and in some cases are keeping systems for longer than they would have before. The average age of a work PC is older than it has ever been, at 4.4 years, Reller said.
