These columns appear in the Times Record each Friday in the Technology section.
Current Year 2008
2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002

Date

Title
05-16-08 "Ooohs and Ahhhs” At Next Week’s MMOOS Meeting... t monthly meetings of MMOOS, our local Apple User Group, where I’m privileged to lead discussions and/or teach the wonders of some new application, I often hear “ooohs and ahhhs” from the assembled MMOOSers when performing a feat of daring-do with the Mac that few have seen before.  I love the feeling.  It makes me smile.
05-09-08 Another Year, Another Apple Tech Support Accolade... Anyway, where Apple really shines each year is in tech support.  I know, I know.  Just reading the words “tech support” brings beads of cold sweat to some of your foreheads and others simply break out in hives.
05-02-08 When Is An “Upgrade” Really A “Downgrade”?... Their “new” operating system, Windows Vista, has been on sale for fifteen months.  Vista, six years and a couple of billion dollars in the making, has, for all the hoopla surrounding its release, been pretty much a flop.
04-25-08 Apple Sales “Clean Up” in the Spring Quarter... While a company’s balance sheet shouldn’t be a deciding factor in choosing your computer platform (after all, Microsoft has made gazillions of dollars foisting Windoze on the majority of the world), Apple’s continued health and growth is a good sign for both stockholders and end users like you and me.
04-11-08 MMOOS Meeting Focuses on Spring Cleaning... Next week, after we get caught up on the latest hardware and software updates and rumors of upcoming goodies, we’re going to discuss Spring Cleaning.  Yes, it’s finally Springtime in Maine.  By the way, in the event of a blizzard or ice storm, be sure to check our web site for updates or postponements.  Just kidding.  Maybe.
04-04-08 Photoshop Express Brings Photo Editing to Web Browsers... Last week Adobe brought Photoshop, their industry-standard photo editing application, to the web, calling it “Photoshop Express”.  It’s a beta version, and here’s how it works.
03-28-08 MacBook Air Owners Face Travel Adversities... In the last few weeks a couple of happy MacBook Air users experienced frustration and actual physical injury while traveling with their luscious little laptops.  If you’re not familiar with the MacBook Air, it’s Apple’s new ultra-light, ultra-thin, ultra-cool, “world’s thinnest” notebook computer.
03-21-08 New Airport Express – Small, But Wicked Fast... While small in stature, Airport Express is capable of performing many feats of wireless daring.  For small spaces, it can serve as a primary wireless base station.  It doesn’t have the range and power of Apple’s Airport Extreme (it can only serve 10 users), but it is quite sufficient for, say, an apartment.
03-14-08 Look Out Blackberry! Here Comes the iPhone SDK... Last week Apple detailed their plans to open their revolutionary iPhone and iPod touch devices to third-party developers.  They released what’s called a Software Developer’s Kit (SDK) to software engineers chomping at the bit to get their applications onto the dynamic duo.  In the first four days of the SDK’s availability, over 100,000 SDKs were downloaded from Apple’s web site.
03-07-08 Which Mac Notebook Is Right For You?... The dust has settled, and all of Apple’s notebook offerings have been upgraded until most likely the end of 2008.  I’ve gotten quite a few emails lately from folks pondering an Apple notebook purchase, so I thought I’d address them en masse in this week’s foray into journalistic excellence.
02-29-08 Who Sells The Most Music? It’s About to Change... We begin this week with a quick quiz.  Ready?  Which store sells the most music in the U.S. of A.?  Gotta be a big-name record store (that’s what we used to call them – record stores), some place like Virgin Records or Fye, right?  Wrong.
02-22-08 Who Won the High Definition DVD Format War? ... The brown-striped cases contain HD movies in the HD DVD format, and the blue-striped cases contain HD movies in the Blu-Ray format.  Very shortly there will be but one color adorning the HD movie sales/rentals shelves.
02-15-08 Take Control of Internet Media at MMOOS Next Week ... If you’re new to the Mac a user group meeting is the perfect place to ask questions, get tips to make your transition easier, expand your horizons, and mingle and make friends with others who’ve most likely got the answers to questions you haven’t even thought of yet.
02-08-08 All Computers – Even iPhones – Need More Memory ... Here’s the deal (as I see it).  The iPhone is not just a phone.  The iPod touch is not just an iPod.  Both these products were designed to be much bigger than they are today.  Not bigger in physical stature, but bigger in function and capability.
02-01-08 MacBook Air Designed For a Future Without Wires ... To see why Apple omitted certain features in their new MacBook Air (MBA) notebook (optical drive, Ethernet, FireWire), we need to look at the world that Apple envisions the MBA (and therefore its human user) will inhabit.  Some of the pieces of Apple’s world vision are already in place, and some are just around the corner.
01-25-08 Ninety Days With HDTV ... As you know, I took the HDTV leap back in late October, wanting to watch a certain local team playing in a certain fall classic in the majesty of HD (no, I’m not bitter).  Here’s some random things I’ve learned in the first 90 days of HDTV ownership.
01-18-08 Executive Summary of Apple’s Macworld Announcements ... This Tuesday Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the stage at the Moscone Center in San Francisco to deliver the keynote address at Macworld, a trade show for Apple products and the third-party hardware and software manufacturers and developers that support them.
01-11-08 Apple Prepares for “The Real” Consumer Electronics Show ... By this time next week all the gadgets and doo-hickeys introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show will be but fleeting memories, but tech journalists and aficionados will still be talking about Steve Jobs’ Macworld Expo keynote address announcements.
01-04-08 Help Yourself to Some Apple Support ... First, check out the “Support” section of Apple’s website, accessible through the Support tab at the top of Apple’s home page (a broadband internet connection will make the process faster and more productive).  Support information is provided in a number of ways:  Articles, Discussions, Manuals, and Video Tutorials.  Information is organized by product, so you can quickly click through to your particular Apple gizmo.