Hello all, this is going to be a different variation from the regular Triple T. Today I just wanted to summarize the announcements at Apple’s Back to the Mac event today.
iLife ’11
Today Apple released iLife ’11 which has some enhanced new features for iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand.
iPhoto gives you the ability to really work in full screen mode in a whole new way than before for Events, Faces, and Places. It also allows you to now email photos from within iPhoto instead of opening up Apple Mail. Also enhancements to Facebook sharing, you can now read comments to your photos from right within iPhoto and it has a robust slideshow theme for instant photo viewing.
iMovie gives you the ability to select a certain area of audio and edit it say like low audio. It also offers one step effects and people finder so you can search for people in video on your Mac similar I guess to Faces in iPhoto. Another cool feature is you can take your home movies and create a movie trailer video out of them which is really cool and it has some news and sports themes as well.
Garageband has 2 notable features, one is Groove Matching which basically will sync up say your drums and guitars so they are in beat with each other and Flex Time which can take a certain instrument and extend it out a bit. Also has new piano and guitar lessons and a feature to track your progress on learning it called, “How did I play?”
Biggest thing for me is probably iPhoto. I do like the ability to run it in full screen while I go through my Events so that is nice to have. I also like that I no longer have to open up Mail to send photos. I use Gmail so really using Mail is a pain in the butt with iPhoto ’09 so I will probably get iLife just on iPhoto alone and for $49 for the upgrade, that is not a bad price. The other 2 I really don’t use much but I will probably dabble with iMovie with its new features.
FaceTime for Mac
Apple also announced a beta version of FaceTime for Mac where you can video chat with users of the iPhone 4 and new iPod touch and now with other Mac users also using FaceTime. I haven’t used it yet to see how it compares to say regular iChat video, which I am sure once FaceTime comes out of beta, it will be integrated with iChat.
Mac OS X 10.7 Lion
Apple also demoed a few features of the next OS for the Mac that will be coming out next Summer. The biggest thing will be a MacApp store similar to the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad store. This will be an alternative method of course for distributing software to Mac users and does NOT replace the traditional method of buying boxed software or downloading directly from the software company itself. But, it will notify you of any software updates which is nice. Also they are bringing 2 new features, Mission Control and Launch Pad. Mission Control allows you to view what all is open in one easy to view screen. Launch Pad makes it easier to launch apps, very similar to how you browse and launch apps on an iPhone/iPod touch or iPad.
MacBook Air
Finally the “One More Thing” announcement was the new MacBook Air. It now comes with flash based storage instead of a traditional hard drive allowing it for “instant on” like the iPad. It comes in 2 varieties, a 11.6” screen 1.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2 GB of RAM and 64 GB of flash storage for $999 or $1199 for one with 128 GB. The other model is a 13.3” one with 1.86 GHz with 2 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage for $1299.
To me the MacBook Air is on the pricey side compared to what you get. I would probably opt for a MacBook model which has more of a traditional hard drive but is heavier if I were laptop shopping in the sub-$1000 market.
Well that is going to do it for this edition of Tuesday Tech Talk and see you all next week for a regular edition of Triple T.
Showing posts with label iLife. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iLife. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Tuesday Tech Talk #64
Greetings everyone and welcome to another edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. Please excuse the late edition this week, I had some lower back pain that made it difficult to sit in a writing position for an extended period of time. The good news is I am much better now and Phillip Rivers I am not apparently when throwing around a football on a beach. So with that in mind, we have a lot of tech news to catch up on.
iPhone to Verizon...No, Seriously This Time
So I have tried to stay away from the whole “when is the iPhone coming to Verizon” chatter in this space because quite frankly it was a whole lot of rumor and speculation from less than credible sources. But now we have the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times saying that in fact, Apple is preparing a CDMA based iPhone for Verizon in the early part of next year. To add further credibility, Verizon brick-and-mortar stores will start selling the iPad on October 28th in conjunction with MiFi mobile hot spots.
So what does this mean for me personally? Well, my contract with AT&T expires in June which is right around the time of the 5th gen iPhone which no doubt will sport a GSM and CDMA-based models. I will let my contract run out and then decide at that time who to sign up with. Verizon no doubt has better coverage but the drawback of CDMA is you are not able to access data and voice at the same time...that is a major issue for me. If they can work out that issue, then it is a no brainer, I will sign up with Verizon whom I had when I lived in L.A. and Nashville before moving to Tupelo where at the time Verizon didn’t have coverage until they bought Alltel in 2008. Not to mention that as of right now, Verizon still offers an unlimited data plan to new customers where AT&T does not (I am grandfathered in with them on that right now). So that is my take on the Verizon iPhone talk, what do you think?
Apple “Back to the Mac” event
Next Wednesday, Apple will be hosting a Mac based event on its campus. Speculation is we will see iLife ’11 and iWork ’11 make their debut along with possible upgrades for the MacBook Air and a sneak peak at OS X 10.7 (Lion). I will either delay Triple T next week or have a special blog about the event on Wednesday.
Steve Ballmer Speaks Idiot Again
Every time Baldo Ballmer says something stupidity comes out. Yes, Steve it is true the Microsoft brand does mean something to users...CRAP! Even fertilizer can have a brand Steve, doesn’t mean I want to smell it just the same as a lot of people don’t want to use Windows but have to because of a backwards thinking business culture.
iPad All time fastest selling gadget
Speaking of fat Dr. Evil, this will not make him a happy camper. Yeah, how many Kin’s did you sell again Steve?
Facebook introduces Group Chat
Facebook has announced a new feature called Groups. It allows you to create a group of friends to share posts of common interest. For example, I can create a group called Football to basically post all my NFL and College football updates in and it would only be viewable to people that also like football. I really like this new feature and can’t wait to use it.
This Week’s iPhone/iPod touch/iPad apps
GetGlue (FREE) - This new social media app allows you to share just what your watching, reading, playing, listening to, wine your drinking, or topic you are thinking about. Also has an iPad version.
Tango (FREE) - So you don’t have an iPhone 4 or the newest iPod touch for FaceTime? Well no problem Tango is here. It even allows you to use a 3G connection too. Course if you have an iPhone 3GS or earlier it does make it hard to chat without the front facing camera, but I am willing to try it.
Angry Birds HD($4.99)- I have heard Fr. Roderick and others talk about this game for the longest time but never tried it...until now. Boy is this game both fun and a major time suck. No I mean it really is, I was playing it until 4am last night and only stopped because my iPad battery drained and had to recharge it. This is crack on an iPad. Oh yeah, there is an iPhone/iPod touch version for 99 cents too. No, I am not buying that version cause then I would really have no life.
PlainText (FREE) - This is great for making quick notes while on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. It also syncs with your DropBox account too. I use it to make notes for my blog without using my BlogPress app.
Justin.tv (FREE) - If you want to live video stream right from your iPhone, then you should check this out. I have tried uStream’s app and found it to crash or not work, but Justin.tv works like a snap and it is easy to find anyone that is streaming live on Justin.tv, on your iPhone as well. With uStream it only list the “popular” streams. In addition, my live chat room stream is now Justin.tv based.
Well, that is going to do it for this edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. See you all next week for news from the Apple event.
iPhone to Verizon...No, Seriously This Time
So I have tried to stay away from the whole “when is the iPhone coming to Verizon” chatter in this space because quite frankly it was a whole lot of rumor and speculation from less than credible sources. But now we have the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times saying that in fact, Apple is preparing a CDMA based iPhone for Verizon in the early part of next year. To add further credibility, Verizon brick-and-mortar stores will start selling the iPad on October 28th in conjunction with MiFi mobile hot spots.
So what does this mean for me personally? Well, my contract with AT&T expires in June which is right around the time of the 5th gen iPhone which no doubt will sport a GSM and CDMA-based models. I will let my contract run out and then decide at that time who to sign up with. Verizon no doubt has better coverage but the drawback of CDMA is you are not able to access data and voice at the same time...that is a major issue for me. If they can work out that issue, then it is a no brainer, I will sign up with Verizon whom I had when I lived in L.A. and Nashville before moving to Tupelo where at the time Verizon didn’t have coverage until they bought Alltel in 2008. Not to mention that as of right now, Verizon still offers an unlimited data plan to new customers where AT&T does not (I am grandfathered in with them on that right now). So that is my take on the Verizon iPhone talk, what do you think?
Apple “Back to the Mac” event
Next Wednesday, Apple will be hosting a Mac based event on its campus. Speculation is we will see iLife ’11 and iWork ’11 make their debut along with possible upgrades for the MacBook Air and a sneak peak at OS X 10.7 (Lion). I will either delay Triple T next week or have a special blog about the event on Wednesday.
Steve Ballmer Speaks Idiot Again
Every time Baldo Ballmer says something stupidity comes out. Yes, Steve it is true the Microsoft brand does mean something to users...CRAP! Even fertilizer can have a brand Steve, doesn’t mean I want to smell it just the same as a lot of people don’t want to use Windows but have to because of a backwards thinking business culture.
iPad All time fastest selling gadget
Speaking of fat Dr. Evil, this will not make him a happy camper. Yeah, how many Kin’s did you sell again Steve?
Facebook introduces Group Chat
Facebook has announced a new feature called Groups. It allows you to create a group of friends to share posts of common interest. For example, I can create a group called Football to basically post all my NFL and College football updates in and it would only be viewable to people that also like football. I really like this new feature and can’t wait to use it.
This Week’s iPhone/iPod touch/iPad apps
GetGlue (FREE) - This new social media app allows you to share just what your watching, reading, playing, listening to, wine your drinking, or topic you are thinking about. Also has an iPad version.
Tango (FREE) - So you don’t have an iPhone 4 or the newest iPod touch for FaceTime? Well no problem Tango is here. It even allows you to use a 3G connection too. Course if you have an iPhone 3GS or earlier it does make it hard to chat without the front facing camera, but I am willing to try it.
Angry Birds HD($4.99)- I have heard Fr. Roderick and others talk about this game for the longest time but never tried it...until now. Boy is this game both fun and a major time suck. No I mean it really is, I was playing it until 4am last night and only stopped because my iPad battery drained and had to recharge it. This is crack on an iPad. Oh yeah, there is an iPhone/iPod touch version for 99 cents too. No, I am not buying that version cause then I would really have no life.
PlainText (FREE) - This is great for making quick notes while on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. It also syncs with your DropBox account too. I use it to make notes for my blog without using my BlogPress app.
Justin.tv (FREE) - If you want to live video stream right from your iPhone, then you should check this out. I have tried uStream’s app and found it to crash or not work, but Justin.tv works like a snap and it is easy to find anyone that is streaming live on Justin.tv, on your iPhone as well. With uStream it only list the “popular” streams. In addition, my live chat room stream is now Justin.tv based.
Well, that is going to do it for this edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. See you all next week for news from the Apple event.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Tuesday Tech Talk #54
Hello folks and welcome to another edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. Lets see what has been going on over the past week.
New Mac hardware
You do remember that Apple also makes these great computers call Mac’s right? Well we could be seeing some updated Mac Pro’s, iMac’s, and Cinema Display’s later today according to John Gruber of Daring Fireball. I’m pretty much set on the Mac hardware front for a while myself but I always love to see the new stuff come out and what it is sporting under the hood.
iLife ’10 with mysterious new application
We could also be seeing a new version of iLife next month and according to a site called Mac 4 Ever from France, it may be adding a new application and doing away with iDVD. Also iLife will be written in 64-bit and the iDVD will be available as a download if needed. It will also have improved integration with social networks. It also states an August 7th release date (Saturday), it is unlikely for Apple to release a software application on a weekend as it usually a Tuesday release or sometime during the work week. Stay tuned!
Microsoft to give employees free Windows Phone 7 devices
Call it a perk, I call it Microsoft’s attempt inflate its mobile phone market. Course we all know how well the Kin did.
Google Image Search now with Ads
Google announced last week a new way for advertisers to push their products via Google’s Image search. Like it does with link searches, photos of similar things you search for will pop up at the top. For example if you typed in “Converse” then a link for Converse Shoes will be below a picture of their latest shoes. I haven’t tried to search for “lower intestines” yet to see what that will pull up though.
Verizon going to limited data plans
Boy these cell phone companies remind me of the airline industry, when one company makes a change in their data plans, the other follows. Course with AT&T and Verizon being the 2 biggest out there, look for them to set the industry standard on data plans. Yes, the all you can eat data plan is going the way of airlines not charging you for bags unless you fly on Southwest of course.
Joss Whedon to Direct The Avengers
The biggest announcements to come out of Comic-Con in San Diego this week was that Joss Whedon of Firefly fame will indeed direct The Avengers movie and that Mark Ruffalo will be playing the Hulk in it and not Edward Norton.
Sorry but no app reviews this week. Just haven’t really played with anything new in the past week. Thanks for coming by and see you all next Tuesday!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Tuesday Tech Talk #30
Hello folks well we are one day away from the Apple Special Event and anticipation is building for the Mac Tablet/iSlate/iPad or whatever they are going to call it. So let’s dive right into things.
Tupelo Public Schools goes Mac
Very happy to read this about Tupelo Public Schools goes 1-1 on MacBooks. Basically it will start this year for Seniors at Tupelo High School and expand next year to all students in 6th-12th grade. Also teachers will be getting MacBook Pro’s as well as administrators. Tupelo is the first school district in Mississippi to go 1-1 which once again proves Tupelo is leading Mississippi into the 21st Century of technology.
Mac Tablet roundup
Ok so lets get all the last minute speculation wrapped up here. According to an article in the L.A. Times, a team from the NY Times has been at Cupertino to work with Apple on a NY Times app for a large screen version of it’s iPhone app. In addition to the New York Times, HarperCollins is apparently in negotiations with Apple on providing eBook content on the tablet.
What else at the Event
Rumors of a new iLife 2010 and maybe iPhone OS 4.0 are also in the mix for Wednesday too.
What would you like in the iPhone OS 4.0?
The folks at The Unofficial Apple Weblog had a third installment of what people would like to see in the iPhone 4.0 OS.
Apple and AT&T to end exclusivity?
Another interesting read is this about how Apple may announce the exclusive deal with AT&T is ending with the iPhone. This would allow Apple to make deals with Verizon, T-Mobile, etc. on an iPhone deal in addition to maintaining a deal with AT&T to offer it as well.
Well that is it for this weeks Triple T. Look for a post Wednesday evening on reaction to the Apple Latest Creation event. It is going to be an exciting week!
Tupelo Public Schools goes Mac
Very happy to read this about Tupelo Public Schools goes 1-1 on MacBooks. Basically it will start this year for Seniors at Tupelo High School and expand next year to all students in 6th-12th grade. Also teachers will be getting MacBook Pro’s as well as administrators. Tupelo is the first school district in Mississippi to go 1-1 which once again proves Tupelo is leading Mississippi into the 21st Century of technology.
Mac Tablet roundup
Ok so lets get all the last minute speculation wrapped up here. According to an article in the L.A. Times, a team from the NY Times has been at Cupertino to work with Apple on a NY Times app for a large screen version of it’s iPhone app. In addition to the New York Times, HarperCollins is apparently in negotiations with Apple on providing eBook content on the tablet.
What else at the Event
Rumors of a new iLife 2010 and maybe iPhone OS 4.0 are also in the mix for Wednesday too.
What would you like in the iPhone OS 4.0?
The folks at The Unofficial Apple Weblog had a third installment of what people would like to see in the iPhone 4.0 OS.
Apple and AT&T to end exclusivity?
Another interesting read is this about how Apple may announce the exclusive deal with AT&T is ending with the iPhone. This would allow Apple to make deals with Verizon, T-Mobile, etc. on an iPhone deal in addition to maintaining a deal with AT&T to offer it as well.
Well that is it for this weeks Triple T. Look for a post Wednesday evening on reaction to the Apple Latest Creation event. It is going to be an exciting week!
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