These columns appear in the Times Record each Friday in the Technology section.

2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002

Date

Title
12-29-06 Apple’s “iPhone” Could Turn Industry Upside Down ... If internet news was printed on paper, literal forests would have been sacrificed in point-counterpoint discussions of the iPhone’s features, price, visage, etc.
12-22-06 One Step Closer: Windows on a Mac Without Windows ... The really exciting new Parallels feature is called “Coherence”. Coherence makes the Windows desktop image and icons transparent, places the Windows Task Bar at the bottom of the Mac’s desktop where it’s always in view, and displays open Windows program and file system windows right alongside open Mac program windows.
12-15-06 I’m Ready for My Close-up, Mr. MMOOS ... With iMovie, just about anyone (with a Mac) can make a movie. But, making a good movie, now “there’s the rub”. So not only is Ralph going to take us through the mechanics of iMovie, he’s also going to share some techniques (filming and editing) to improve the quality of your epic masterpiece.
12-08-06 Zune’s Wireless Connectivity: Close, But No Cigar ... For all their stumbling around trying to mimic the iPod’s appeal, Microsoft actually came very close to giving the Zune a wireless capability that would have Apple’s iPod division quaking in their collective Doc Martens. Wireless connectivity is certainly a killer feature needed in any prospective “iPod killer”, but Microsoft only got it one-third right.
12-01-06 Making Your Christmas Card Mailing Easier ... I expect the HTML-based email message and link-to-web-page Christmas cards to be big this year. There are some advantages to these cyber-cards. Text I can read. Photos I can see. No trees falling in forests, not even recycled trees.
11-24-06 All Sweetness and Light for the Holidays ... I must confess that my descriptions of the shuffle’s size (“about the size of a matchbook”) have been somewhat misleading. I put it up against a real matchbook this week, and it’s at least 20% SMALLER than a matchbook. My daughter dubbed the new shuffle “Gidget”
11-17-06 iPod’s Future Is Up In The Air ... This week Delta, United, Continental, Emirates (and possibly Air France and KLM) airlines announced plans to provide iPod connectivity with their in-flight entertainment systems, starting in mid-2007.
11-10-06 MMOOS MMeeting Offers Web Browser Tips and Tricks ... Does your web browser sometimes refuse to display media and other goodies you think it should? Are you web surfing more and enjoying it less? Has your browser slowed to the speed of molasses in November? Are you scared of cookies? Molasses cookies? In November?
11-03-06 The Incredible Shrinking iPod Shuffles Into Stores ... Apple’s market research showed that many people enjoyed the random playing of their music (called shuffling), and the lack of a screen dramatically decreases the size of the iPod shuffle and increases the battery life.
10-27-06 The Scariest Email Attachment Ever ... It was a dark and stormy night. I received an attachment in the form of a PowerPoint presentation. It was one of those .pps self-playing PowerPoint shows that starts right up without giving you the opportunity to view the individual slides first. That should’ve been my first clue.
10-20-06 Market Share – What’s In A Number? ... Apple sold 1.6 million Macs during the period, the highest number of quarterly Mac sales in the company’s history. Doing the math, that’s one Mac every 5 seconds. iPod sales reached 8.7 million for the quarter. I did the math again, and that’s more than one iPod sold every second for the last three months.
10-13-06 Google CEO Joins Apple Board, Pledges Software Support ... Google, which started as an internet search engine and has now grown into a full-fledged software giant, has been, in the past, “lukewarm” to the Mac platform. The breathtaking Google Earth mapping and Google SketchUp 3D modeling programs were missing-in-action on the Mac for many months after debuting on Windows.
10-06-06 New Apple “Store-Within-A-Store” Comes to Portland ... With the exception of the MacPro towers, all Mac models, even MacBook and MacBook Pro portables, are on display and fully explorable, as well as peripherals like displays, keyboards, mice, iPods, etc. Plus, there’s an Apple-trained specialist on hand to answer questions, a welcome relief from the Orcs usually patrolling the computer section.
09-29-06 Drop By the MMOOS Mail List for Online Community ... If you’re unfamiliar with mail lists, here’s how they work. You subscribe to the mail list by filling out a simple form – all you need is an email address. When you send an email to the list email address, all other subscribers to the list receive the email automatically.
09-22-06 The “Big Picture” on Apple’s Movie Foray ... So, how do you bypass the iPod and get the movies from iTunes onto your TV? Last week Apple did something really unusual – they previewed a product that won’t be available until after the first of the year.
09-15-06 Being Right All The Time Is A Burden ... So, last week I suggested you refrain from buying an iPod over the weekend. You know, being right all the time is a burden. This Tuesday Apple introduced major revisions of all three models of the iPod. Let’s start small and work our way up.
09-08-06 Wait! Don’t Buy an iPod This Weekend! ... It is, however, a great time to buy an iMac. This week Apple introduced four new models of their sleek, stylish, space-saving, gorgeous, powerful, computer-built-into-the-monitor desktop computers. Each model gets Intel’s new 64-bit Core 2 Duo dual-core processor.
09-01-06 Windows “Longwait” Ends January 30th, 2007 ... Home Basic may be the only Vista version that’ll run well on your older PC, or even a new PC with integrated graphics rather than a dedicated graphics processing unit. Without Aero, Vista is reduced to Windows XP Service Pack 3. Yawn.
08-25-06 Google and YouTube: Videos Coming Out Your Ears ... Both services are browser-based, and offer enormous catalogs of video, running the gamut from TV shows to home movies. In order to save on server space and bandwidth, submitted videos are converted to Flash Video format, which doesn’t have near the quality of QuickTime or Windows Media.
08-18-06 The Role of Rolls in Your iPhoto Library ... When you edit an image within iPhoto, iPhoto makes a copy of the image, leaving the original alone. When iPhoto saves your edits, it places that image in a folder it creates in the iPhoto Library called “Modified”, which has the same year/Roll Name hierarchy structure as the “Originals” folder.
08-11-06 End of an Era - R.I.P. Power PC: 1994 - 2006 ... Last year Apple announced its intention to transition the entire Mac line to Intel processors. Now, just 210 days later, Apple has completed the transition by introducing the Intel-based replacement for the PowerMac. They call it the “Mac Pro”.
08-04-06 What’s in YOUR Laptop Bag? ... Laptop bags come in all shapes and sizes, from minimalist neoprene sleeves to backpacks with more nooks and crannies than Mammoth Cave. Laptops, though built to be mobile and sturdy, still need the protection of a good bag.
07-28-06 Mighty Mouse Loses Tail, Gains Laser Vision ... This week, Apple released a wireless version of the Mighty Mouse. Cosmetically and functionally, it’s just like its “tailed” sibling. However, under the hood, the wireless Mighty Mouse gets a laser tracking system instead of an optical system.
07-21-06 You Can Tell A Lot from a Conference Call ... 1,327,000 Macintosh computers sold (12% growth), with as many as 50% sold to users new to the Mac platform. I did the math – that’s almost 6 new Mac users every second of every minute of every day of the quarter. Cool.
07-14-06 A MMOOS Meeting for Windows Users Who “Get the Picture” ... Maybe you’ve recently (or not so recently) purchased a digital camera, and maybe a better-than-average photo-quality printer to go along with it, but you can’t seem to get a picture to print with the same detail and gorgeous color you see on your computer screen.
07-07-06 Windows Without Windows – I’ll Drink to That! ... Wine (which actually stands for “Wine Is Not an Emulator”) is a free, open source implementation of the Windows API that runs on top of UNIX-based operating systems like Linux running on Intel and AMD x86 processors.
06-30-06 Windows Vista: Deja Vu All Over Again ... While Microsoft’s initial goals for Vista were more “revolutionary”, over time (and it’s been a long time) Vista has become more like XP Service Pack 3 with a prettier face. Seems to me there’s an old saying involving a porcine creature and lipstick. But, I digress.
06-23-06 For a Healthy Mac, Try an Occasional Cocktail ... The maintenance scripts that Cocktail can run for you clean and delete files that are stored deep inside the bowels of Mac OS X. Again, without getting too geeky, these files are created and modified during everyday use and help the operating system keep track of what’s on it, where it is, and how to get to it.
06-16-06 Will Chinese iPod Assembler Cry Over Spilled Beans? ... This week, Terry Gou, Chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Taiwan’s largest electronics company and an assembler of iPods, may have taken the first step to provoking Jobs’ wrath again while speaking at the company’s annual meeting.
06-09-06 Apple Goes Green, and Hands-On with Apple’s New MacBook ... Pack the computer and monitor in separate boxes (not more than 70 pounds apiece), and take them to a FedEx location with a printed copy of the instructions. They are then whisked away to, well, wherever they’re whisked away to. Soylent Green is PEOPLE!!!
06-02-06 More Deep Thoughts on Digital Music ... With the arrival of the Microsoft/MTV Urge Music Store, it’s quite possible that in a short while “natural selection” will result in but two online music ecosystems: iTMS from Apple, and Urge from Microsoft.
05-26-06 Apple and Nike Team Up to “Run” Your Runs ... While you run, your iPod talks to you, giving you time/mileage progress reports along the way, as well as “Hey, the Rottweiler’s gaining on you”.
05-19-06 Are You a Pro or a Con? ‘Sumer, That Is ... By day, Joan is a successful professional accountant. However, as the sun begins to drop lower in the sky and “golden hour” approaches, Joan’s thoughts go from depreciating assets over time to appreciating this evening’s sunset on Popham Beach, and capturing said sunset with her digital camera.
05-12-06 Keeping Your iDisk in the Public Eye ... One of the many folders on your iDisk is the “Public” folder. Anything in your Public folder can now be accessed with any web browser by other computer users (even PC users) that know the “directions” to get there.
05-05-06 HD Videos on Your Computer? Better Have Some Horsepower ... You can get a taste of high-definition video today on your computer. Both Apple and Microsoft have sections of their web sites devoted to showcasing HD content. However, don’t bother testing the HD waters unless you have “the gear” to do it....
04-28-06 Apple’s Flagship Notebook Gets the Intel Treatment ... Last summer, notebook (or laptop, if you prefer) computer sales exceeded sales of desktop computers for the first time in history. Obviously, people like the idea of carrying their digital lives around with them. And there’s a laptop computer for every use.
04-21-06 Git ‘Em Up, Move ‘Em Out ... One interesting number “behind the numbers” is Apple’s estimation that 50% of the Macs sold in their retail stores this last quarter were to customers “new to the Mac”. In other words, folks who were switching to the Mac from that other operating system.
04-14-06 Running Windows In a Parallel Universe ... After a week of everyone and their sister installing “the Dark Side” on their MacBook Pros, iMacs, and Mac minis, reports are that, as usual with any Apple product, “it just works”. Not surprisingly, Intel Macs run Windows just as fast as PCs. Duh.
04-07-06 A “Virtualized” Perspective of Windows on a Mac ... Is Boot Camp a good thing? Yes. Will it help sell more Macs? I think so. There are certainly some people contemplating a Mac purchase that rightly fear losing the ability to use certain Windows applications not available on the Mac platform.
03-31-06 When Good Laptops Go Bad (Temporarily) ... An unwritten (well, at least, till now, right here) law of computing is that the level of catastrophic failure is directly proportional to the urgent need for the computing device.
03-24-06 Vista’s Dawning Slips Past Christmas ... The folks at Apple don’t have to worry too much about Vista’s feature set, as more than one tech pundit who’s used the Vista beta builds has remarked how much Vista resembles the current Mac operating system, called “Tiger”.
03-17-06 “On” Before “In”, Except After THREE ... Here’s another. “I’m on the computer”. No, you’re not. Perhaps you’re “at” the computer, but you’re not “on” it, any more than you’re “on” the phone (or “on” a layover, for that matter). Same goes with “I’m on the internet”.
03-10-06 I Can’t Believe They Eight The Whole Thing ... Windows Vista Home Basic N. Ships without Windows Media Player to keep the European Union’s antitrust police happy. You won’t need it unless you want to live like a European. Which, of course, you can, but you’ll have to pay five bucks for a gallon of gas, park on the sidewalks, and take fewer showers.
03-03-06 A Worm in the Hand Is Worth Two in the Bush... I can confirm that the Update works because I, as a service to you, the reader, purposefully downloaded and installed the exploit to be there “first hand” to see what it did. OK, so I’m not Anderson Cooper in New Orleans. We did have a pipe that froze this week, and I am a little miffed at the lack of Federal response. But, I digress again.
02-24-06 Keeping Up With Billions of Joneses... Social engineering is a set of tactics and psychological tricks that prey on people that are, well, just being people. It’s using our humanity against us.
02-17-06 A Short Glossary of Email and Chat Shorthand... Some acronyms are pretty obvious, like FYI (for your information) or ASAP (as soon as possible). Others are a little harder to figure out. So this week I’ve collected some common email and chat shorthand, and, as a public service, I’ll share it with you.
02-03-06 Google Video Store: Ugly, Clunky, and Weird... The Google Video Store offers a ton of this stuff for free (and even downloadable to iPod format), but also charges you for some of it. Like $1.49 for 17 minutes of “traffic, beggars and vendors on the streets of New Delhi, India”. Riveting.
01-27-06 Nineteen Days of Mac on Intel... David Pogue of the New York Times describes the iMac as “deliciously fast”. Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal calls the iMac “the best consumer desktop on the market”. Sounds good to me.
01-20-06 iWeb Brings “Ease of Mac” to Web Design... As with other iLife applications, you can populate your pages with photos, movies, or music through the Media Browser window. You can tweak images once they’re on the page with the same Adjust Image floating palette found in iPhoto.
01-13-06 So You Wanna Be An “Early Adopter”? ... We all know that with computers it takes two to tango – hardware and software. Now that the intel hardware is here, what about the software to run on it? Here’s an “intel inside a Mac” primer.
01-06-06 Last-Minute MacWorld Rumor Wrap-Up ... One rumor feeds on another, and the next thing you know we’re all expecting an iPod that holds 5 million songs, the entire Turner Classic Movies library, every photograph ever taken, can fit on the head of a pin, and floats in the air if dropped