From the editors
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elcome to this, the fifth issue of Mac Action which is packed full of news, reviews and much more.
First things first, the Mac Action team has expanded so I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce our two newest team members. Brett Haggard has joined us as our consultant editor and whilst he will contribute from time to time, his role will be much more behind the scenes. Brett’s experience both in IT journalism and publishing will guarantee readers a much-improved magazine. Brett, like myself is an Apple Mac fanboy and is well known as such having written about all things Mac for several years. Kyle Stone has joined us as a junior writer, although you will have seen some of his writings in the last issue, he is now a full member of the team and I might add, a rather valuable one. The big news this month is ofcourse the introduction of Snow Leopard which we have covered in great detail. The entire iPod range has been updated with some really cool new features. You can read all about them as well. We hope you enjoy reading this issue as much as we enjoyed producing it. Steve
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6 News
editor’s corner
14 Editor’s Corner
features
contents
18 iTunes and iPod
Latest news on the much-anticipated Apple Tablet while the company airs it’s green credentials. U.K. network 02 loses its exclusivity on the iPhone and there’s a new version of Bento.
Steve is again skeptical about the imminent price reductions and bandwidth improvements for local Internet users.
16 The other side
This month Russell Bennett tries to define what makes Apple products so cool.
Itunes has been updated to work better with the new range of iPods but does it cut the mustard?
26 Adobe CS4
Is the Adobe Creative Suite really worth the money? We look at the return on investment to see if the price is justified.
32 Snow Leopard
Snow Leopard is here and is taking the Mac World by storm. We go in-depth.
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Products for all seasons as it were. We look at what you might like to spend your hard earned cash on.
41. iPhone 3GS 46 15” MacBook Pro 50 Snow Leopard 52 VM Ware Fusion 2 56 Logo Design Pro
Our monthly selection of detailed, and useful, HowTo content starts here. This month we Help you set up a New MacBook, create a Database and make Toast
how to
59 How To’s
product reviews
40 We’ve got some tasty gear
60 Seting up a MacBook 66 Create a Databse using Bento 72 Creating discs using Roxio Toast
Our new section dedicated to those smaller bits that help you get the most from your tech purchases, and lifestyle itself. We reckon if enough of you pester them they’ll bring them to our shores!
Fancy yourself as the next Eric Clapton? Kyle gets to grips with the fantastic Guitar Hero and sets off to join a rock band.
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games review
92 Gaming Macs
the little things
82 The Little Things
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O
n the 28th of September, there was a rather momentous announcement made by Apple, and it was the App Store at the centre of attention. The App Store passed the 2 billion downloads mark, a number which takes a while to comprehend. The App Store is however the largest application store in the world, so I guess it’s not that surprising that 2 billion downloads have been reached given the number of Apps downloaded by our editor. The App Store has over 85,000 apps available to the 50 million iPhone and iPod touch customers, combine those numbers with the 125,000 developers in Apple’s iPhone developer programme and it becomes clear just how Apple has achieved the huge figure of 2 billion downloads.
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If you’re still somehow unconvinced about the power of the App Store figures then consider this, Apple recently had several complaints laid against it with Britain’s advertising watchdog. Apple’s claim that: “there’s an app for just about anything... Only on the iPhone.” was the issue at hand. The basis of the complaint was that the rival G1 phone could also support a wide variety of apps. The prompt response however by the Advertising Standards Authority was that the range of downloads available for the iPhone was simply much bigger. Proof then that the App Store is indeed the the world’s most powerful app supplier.
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Apple Goes Green
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pple has jumped on the green bandwagon with their decision to release details on annual corporate carbon emissions. Apple has for a while actually had a bad reputation on the environmental front with Greenpeace criticising the company for the use of toxic chemicals in 2007. All this is rather ironic considering a certain Mr. Al Gore sits on Apple’s board. The release of corporate carbon emissions details by Apple follows in the footsteps of other rival companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell who have done so previously. The refusal by Apple to up until now not release emission details is one of the reasons that Apple has scored so poorly in several environmental rankings, but Apple does dispute the validity of many environmental rankings. Apple claims that some ranking systems include promises made by companies and not just their actual ‘green’ achievements, as well as only evaluating the environmental impact of a companies operations without considering the products produced by those operations.
stating: “A lot of companies publish how green their building is, but it doesn’t matter if you’re shipping millions of powerhungry products with toxic chemicals in them,” and reinforced his thinking with another little gem sure to annoy an entire industry: “It’s like asking a cigarette company how green their office is.”. The whole issue is a quagmire quite frankly because there is no standard on how to measure carbon emissions, Apple for instance disclosed 10.2 million tons of annual carbon emissions, a figure that dwarfs Dell’s 471 000 tons and HP’s 8.4 million tons annually. This despite both companies having a larger revenue stream than Apple. The quagmire you see is that 53% of Apple’s output is made up of consumers’ use of Apple products, a factor which neither Dell or HP include in their environmental impact results. So whilst there is no clarity on just who is the greener company between Apple, Dell and HP it is however safe to say that your favourite online magazine Mac Action beat them all by not printing the magazine. Too bad we don’t win a prize though.
Steve Jobs illustrated Apple’s point by Mac Action
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Apple Tablet for 2010?
hose of you eagerly awaiting the Apple Tablet will have to wait a little longer. According to www.macrumors.com and let’s be honest, they seem to have their ears to the ground, the new Tablet will be announced in January.
T
What is interesting is that the Tablet is rumoured to be running the iPhone operating system rather than the full-blown OS X, which shouldn’t be too much of a limitation and should provide enhanced battery life. The rumour also suggests that the unit will have the look and feel of a
Once the announcement has gone out, it should take five or six months before the device is available in stores. If the rumour is true, the unit should be available in South Africa very shortly after the worldwide launch. The Core Group does seem to be quite good at making product available locally very soon after international launches.
large iPhone with a 10.7-inch screen. Apparently it is not designed to compete with low cost netbooks, the Tablet is being designed to offer better book and magazine reading capability. Fantastic! You will be able to read Mac Action on the go so we are all in favour and eagerly awaiting the device. Let’s hope it does materialise, it hasn’t yet been confirmed by Apple.
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iPhone 3GS Shortages
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here are iPhone 3GS shortages across the globe from Australia to America. A quick Google search will reveal many individual countries without any stock, and whilst this has been going on for several months globally the effects on South Africa are slightly different due to our late launch of the iPhone 3GS, well that or possibly Vodacom not actively trying to promote the product. The reason for the shortages has not been definitively established but the huge demand is no doubt a big factor. That is to say that demand for the 3GS is simply greater than supply. The global shortage experienced globally could also be the reason for the delayed release in several of the ‘lower tier‘ countries such as South Africa. Taiwan as another example was originally scheduled to receive the iPhone 3GS on August 9, which was the anniversary of the nuclear attack on Nagasaki if you’re
interested, that didn’t however occur. So the theory goes that Apple could hardly roll out the 3GS to smaller countries when they couldn’t supply enough to the rest of the world, so stock that would have come to South Africa and the like was instead diverted to the primary countries. Whilst it is understandable that Apple can hardly be criticised for shortages when it is consumer desire for the product being a big factor in the shortages, the fact still remains similar shortages occurred when the iPhone 3G was released in 2008. Surely the 3G shortages should have served as a lesson to Apple? No matter how you look at it however the shortages if nothing else do show just how popular Apple’s iPhone 3GS is globally, so one can’t give Apple too hard a time for the shortages. There is the other theory that Apple is deliberately keeping supply low so as to maintain the high level of demand, but it really is anyone’s guess as to what exactly is happening. Mac Action
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iPhone at IT again
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e have already covered in previous Mac Action’s several instances of iPhone’s being used very effectively in a variety of business environments, and it appears that the IT industry is no different. The global IT consulting firm Logica, who has several huge clients including Ford and NATO, has embraced the iPhone as an essential tool for its mobile operations. Not only does Logica itself use the iPhone but has also found that the iPhone is a great platform to increase their clients productivity via 10
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custom iPhone apps built by Logica for clients. Whether or not that means the iPhone will be at a war-zone near you with NATO remains to be seen but for all the iPhone’s power I’m not sure that will be such a good idea. Anyway, back with Logica the iPhone now equips all of their constantly mobile consulting staff allowing them reliable connectivity with all their clients and the office. The iPhone has also been useful for its ability to integrate with Exchange, a feature that allowed Logica to quickly roll out hundreds of iPhone’s and get business flowing. Logica didn’t just stop there though, to further improve efficiency Logica consultants began requesting custom apps for themselves. Logica’s own internal development team was able to provide the requested apps using the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK), the result being truely streamlined operations with the iPhone. So for all you reading this that work in the IT industry, show your boss this story and lobby for an iPhone, it can’t hurt to try.
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iMac update imminent?
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t’s rumoured, in fact some places claim it’s confirmed, that Apple is preparing to make an announcement in the next couple of weeks on new iMacs soon to hit an Apple Store near you!
Although there aren’t any specification details as yet, it’s whispered that the range will now feature an even slimmer chassis design and perhaps most crucially of all should be cheaper to purchase. That makes us think there’s also likely to be some under-thehood adjustments too, the announcement coming as it does hot on the heels of details on Intel’s latest CPU options. The chip giant is launching new processors aimed at the mainstream market right now, essentially bringing the unassailable power of the Core i7 range down to more sensible price points, while introducing more options in the Core i5 family as well and new mobile offerings providing pulverising compute power with paltry power consumption.
news Adapting the iMac to this new platform would enable levels of performance superior to the existing Core 2 Duos with a drop in price, as well as a more energy-efficient machine which of course the company takes very seriously indeed. Despite money being tight, Apple’s market share has grown in the last six months on the back of new product releases, but the company knows that a more affordable range of desktops would help even more. Helping to cement this rumour, was the official announcement this week about “Nearterm shortages” of iMac and Mac mini. This would certainly suggest a run-out period on the older models, and a possible gap until stocks of the new machines start arriving in earnest. Watch macaction.co.za for details, we’ll cover that news as soon as it happens. And we’re pretty sure it will.
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Bento 3
Released
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ilemaker’s Bento has been a successful and very effective personal database tool for some time and now Bento 3 for Mac is on the way. Whilst Bento 2 could hardly be accused of being a features lightweight Bento 3 certainly packs quite a punch with a plethora of new features. One of Bento 3’s new features is the
is the new Grid view option. This view will create a grid of images or thumbnails and these images can in turn be customised with as many details as you need, so you can put email addresses or phone numbers conveniently positioned beneath the thumbnail. Now as time passes everyone’s database grows and this can sometimes lead to a very cluttered system, but Bento 3 now introduces library folders. Similar librar-
“...Bento 3 certainly packs quite a punch with a plethora of new features.” seamless integration with the iPhone, all your albums can be seen in Bento without actually actually importing the files into Bento. Your Bento library can then be linked with other Bento elements such as contacts, projects or events, any Bento data really. Being a database programme it is inevitable that your Bento will become populated with more than one library, and to keep track of just what is in each library there 12
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ies can be grouped into folders, which is not only useful for cleaning up your database but also allows you to easily export and share several libraries at once as one folder. Another new feature is the interesting image box, which allows you to select a static image for any of your forms. This image will then appear automatically on all related records in your library.
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The new multi-user sharing ability is also a hotly anticipated new feature of Bento 3, which really ties in well with Bento’s overall ethos. You see, almost everything in Bento can sync with other applications such as you Address Book. Taking that one step further is the ability to sync with other Mac’s on the network that also have Bento installed.
news The last new feature I will mention, which is by no means the last new feature, is Group emailing. All you have to do is select what email addresses you would like to bomb mail and then Bento will go through Apple’s Mail application and away you go. Bento 3 really does look like it has what it takes on paper but it will obviously take a full review to make an informed decision.
U.K. Operator O2 loses
iPhone exclusivity
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s many of you are aware, distribution of the incredibly popular iPhone has until now been awarded to only one cell phone operator in each country. The phones have been locked to that network and Apple has taken several steps to ensure the units cannot be easily unlocked. Ask our editor; he’s still trying to find a way to upgrade his cracked 3G to ver 3.1 of the operating system. In the U.K. both Vodafone and Orange have announced that they will be selling the iPhone 3G and the newer 3GS as of next year and are already taking orders from customers which was previously ex-
clusive to O2. This seems like a sensible move since the iPhone has become one of the most popular phones in the world and could have been even more popular were it not for the restriction of being locked to a specific network. What remains unclear is how this will affect the South African Market; it would be nice if we could choose our service provider when selecting the iPhone. It is also unclear as to weather the phones will remain locked to the original suppliers network or if you will be able to buy a network independent version from the iStore.
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Internet Debate
THE GREAT
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e are all sitting here with bated breath waiting for the new Internet revolution. This is when Seacom starts offering us Internet speeds and data caps which at best, will be half of what our European counterparts have had for years and for double the money as well. The problem is that up until now, nothing has happened. Clearly our local telecoms organisation is worried though and instead of trying to keep customers happy, they are trying to squeeze as much m o n e y out of us as possible. That way, they will have pushed us to the point where we will all defect to an alternative service provider. It would appear that, in common with so many South African companies, long-term growth and retaining customers is the very last item on their agenda. Far better it is, in their opinion, to take as much money from us as possible in the short term until there is a real competitor. Perhaps I am just too cynical and other staff
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members tend to disagree but I think that our local authorities will find a way to restrict the usefulness of Seacom in order to protect the state owned Monopoly. My colleagues believe that we are on the verge of a major break-
through finally being able to enjoy fast Internet without the ridiculously low data caps. My cynicism comes from the fact that Seacom has been available for a couple of months and neither the 3G nor the ADSL providers
have made any attempt to offer us more Internet for less money. Sure Telkom is now offering 5GB for the price of 3 but in real world use nothing has changed. We at this office appear to be hitting the cap earlier and earlier every month. Now I’m not claiming that Telkom are being dis-
column Having said that, it’s interesting talking to people of vastly different Internet habits all reporting that a 1GB top-up always gets capped after 2 days. I have myself had a situation where I switched off my Router because I was going away for the weekend and by the time I got back I had been capped. Popular thinking is that the situation will be rectified in time for the World Cup next year, as if that’s a good thing. I say if Seacom is up and running, give us cheaper, faster Internet with realistic cap or better still, unlimited and give it to us now. Or is it in fact a case of all the service providers trying to hang on to the obscene profit making model until they absolutely have to change?
honest in any way but what appears to happening is that they enforce the cap without any leeway. That way we have to pay for top up data several times through the month.
Steve
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Defining The Undefinable
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here really just is something about an Apple product, and it’s more than just the design, the usabil-
new “in”, but being “in” and being cool aren’t really the same. After all, Geek is “in” largely because of the uniqueness of its uncoolness. A celebration of the
has Gates-geeky Jobs become an international tech superstar, rather than merely ridiculously wealthy and mildly despised?
“It’s here that the physical attributes of the device converge with the software element.” ity, or the premium price of the thing, isn’t it? Perhaps broken down one could argue that it’s a perception based on the combination of these exact qualities, but the way it makes you feel when you use it is more than that. Now, firstly, it just isn’t really right for a lump of technology to be considered cool, is it? Yes all right so they say that Geek is the 16
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absence of cool, if you will. No, an Apple is both Geek and cool – which is to say that even (perhaps especially) non-Geeks love them, want them, and ultimately buy them. But what’s the magic formula then, for turning an inherently uncool lump of metal, plastic, and PCBs into a seemingly permanent fixture in the Temple of Global Coolness? How
Clearly, there has to be a link to aesthetics, but having said that form without function is pretty meaningless. At least, it’s art. But it’s not going to help you get your work done better, or easier, or faster. That’s a different kind of aesthetics, it’s called User Experience. It’s here that the physical attributes of the device converge with the soft-
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ware element. The bestdesigned hardware with an unfathomable user interface has no future at all, while a strong and easy to understand navigational structure on top of rubbish hardware is just down-
up for the most part by real-world experiences.
right frustrating. Apple has learnt the art of combining these elements beautifully, in their entire product range from iPod nano to MacBook Pro (although the Shuffle is a little dodgy).
First, do you think a Lamborghini would be any less awesome if it cost say R200-grand for the latest model?
But most of all, that inevitably intangible aura of coolness has more to it. A lot of it, is in the way people speak about, and react to, the products in question. So tell me, how often do you hear people (apart from PC technicians) speaking poorly of pretty much any Apple product? Not so often right? That’s one of the things that creates the premium impression of the brand, thankfully backed-
There is a last critical component here. Pricing. And this might be a sensitive one.
Of course in a direct sense, no it wouldn’t. Which is to say, if you were to grab a current model and just slash the price down to this level, the underlying engineering, technology, and exquisitely obvious passion would still be there, there’d just be fewer numbers on the price sticker. However, a R200K Lambo wouldn’t actually look, sound, or go like the current, largely unobtainable versions. The company
column simply couldn’t afford to stay in business this way and would have to design new vehicles to a restrictive, cost-optimised budget. So no flagrant use of carbon fibre, no monumentally monstrous V12s, no ultra-fast E-Gears. What’s more, you’d see 17 other cars on the roads every day, just like yours, at that price. That kills that exclusivity buzz stone dead, right there. What I’m getting to then, at last and in my longwinded way, is that the premium price you pay for Apple products actually reflects what people looking for the coolest computing available want to pay for it, for the reasons laid out above. They know the design and components are great, that’s the visible and tangible stuff. Hear only good things about the vaunted user experience. And have to pay a healthy price premium to obtain it. What more could you possibly need in a computer, really? Mac Action
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fter the apparently heartfelt appreciation shown for the personal appearance by Steve Jobs himself at the recent Apple keynote address, the man behind this definitive name in the 21st century quickly set about neatly summing-up the new releases from the rockstars of IT, and although more imaginative specula-
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tors didn’t get proven right with the unveiling of a whole new netbook-like product line (definitely coming, we
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feature: iTunes 9 and iPod update
all know), it did actually represent an interesting and powerful shift within Apple to new areas of specific focus. Of course here in SA the 100MB download sticks in the throat somewhat, so perhaps you’re still waiting to upgrade your installation to iTunes 9, looking to observers like Mac Action for more
details on what benefits the new version has to offer before actually going for it. Maybe you’ve already got the update but aren’t certain of all the key new features as yet, and just want to see if
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there’s anything more to it than you’ve already found yourself. Here’s the punchy rundown. iTunes LP - for the really nostalgic, but also really fanatic! Music in addition to just a cover CD image, now also comes with a host of added value, including artfully created “LP covers” now augmented with links to lyrics, for instance, clips of the main artists, iTunesexclusive background in20
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terviews and the like. Just like the extras on a DVD, for instance which iTunes 9 now also delivers when you purchase through the iTunes Store. The store itself features a classier redesign, it’s relatively subtle but it does make for a more cohesive overall browsing/buying experience. And that useful little Genius feature the company added to MP3 libraries with the previous
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version of iTunes now also applies its profile-matching intelligence to Apps as well, suggesting other Apps you might be interested in based on your existing App library. Speaking of which, the direct management of iPod touches and iPhones has now been added to 9, and you can manage the apps and homepage layout of your mobile directly on your computer now. There’s now a Wishlist fea-
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feature: iTunes 9 and iPod update
ture and a Ringtones section which is likely to do roaring business despite some poor international press coming Apples way based on the pricing structure. If you are using iTunes on a Mac, the Faces and Places features of iPhoto
ment for instance.
translate directly when you transfer content you’ve created into the iTunes library, and social media has now been integrated allowing you to tweet straight from within the iTunes environ-
tent on one machine on the network can be easily and automatically streamed to other iTunes instances on other machines across the LAN, which is welcome indeed for those running en-
Finally, there’s a new Home Sharing function which removes the problems of DRM-ed content as it exists on a modern, multiple-system home network. Now purchased con-
tirely on this Apple-based entertainment management infrastructures. Then again, considering the qualification Jobs made moving into the iTunes 9 section of the presentation, namely that the Store
recently passed 100-million created accounts all of whom have credit cards and are active participants in online shopping, the latest raft of improvements that make up iTunes 9 are Mac Action
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clearly targetted at focussing the platform even more directly and accessibly on these willingly-opened wallets. Sadly, of course, the lack of a fully-fledged local iTunes Store still means that SA accounts only have access to a very limited selection of the services and even content being delivered across the platform today. But that said, it’s a free download, a free albeit closed environment and it really is very slick and user-oriented, so be sure to upgrade straight away. You’ll quickly notice and come to appreciate the additions, they’re all designed at improving the way you interact with and use the iTunes Store but watch out, it’s easier than ever to generate some major purchases pretty quickly when you start browsing with the intent to buy!
about it being left behind as technology and particularly mobility continues to evolve, in fact it looks set to continue to be the market leader.
paid-for upgrade for iPod touch users while iPhones could install it for free and something of a sticky point for owners of the non-GSM enabled unit.
iPods next. Thirty million units shifted in two years! Well - just wow. And the latest range enhancements leave no lingering doubts
First there’s updated software, in the form of OS 3.1. Now Jobs makes a point of noting the upgrade is free to OS 3.0 users, a
OS 3.1 now adds Genius functionality to the mobile space, and features familiar from the iPhone upgrade to 3.0 such as cut-’n-paste,
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feature: iTunes 9 and iPod update the landscape keyboard, and Stereo Bluetooth are of course still in. There’s also now full peer-to-peer gaming support which is great news for the mobile gamers who are also iPhone addicts. New buyers will appreciate the massaged capacities
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nano (looking largely identical to the Gen 4 unit) has gained a slightly larger display and a built-in video camera, an FM tuner with Live pause feature (call it PVR for radio), and even a built-in Pedometer for extending the popular fitnessfocussed functions down into this even less bulky,
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for OS 3.1, highlighting the improved processing capacity and graphics rendered in the 3G S in particular to my eye. Although not mentioned in the same hour-anda-quarter public forum, days afterwards also saw Apple’s “other” dedicat-
“A wider colour choice completes the already newly-updated shuffle lineup.” at the same or even lower prices, 8GB nanos are currently R1 899, up to R2 499 for the 16GB. The classic continues to be available, now with another 40GB for a total of 160GB at the same price, while the new touch jumps to a mammoth 64GB model (unfortunately not yet available from ZA store), while locally even the 32 and 16GB models remain very costly toys indeed (R5 799 and R4 299 respectively). As well as capacity and pricing tweaks, the sleek 24
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more affordable package. A wider colour choice completes the already newlyupdated shuffle lineup. An interesting element of the whole presentation, was the strong focus on the touch and iPhone as gaming devices, Apple claiming that these platforms by far outstrip other, ostensibly more popular mobile gaming devices in title sales. To drive home the point major developers like Ubisoft took to the stage next to reveal their next generation of games
ed multimedia device the Apple TV come in for some adjustment. The old 40GB entry-level model is no more, while the more useful 160 GB unit has undergone a steep drop in price. In fact look for one of these on the ZA Store at the moment and you’ll be forgiven for being a little confused, the defunct older model is still listed at R3 499, with the 160GB version pegged at a nice round R3 000. These are really useful entertainment devices especially if you’re already a convert to the
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whole Apple Ap infrastructure (iTunes, primarily), and at this price we can easily recommend adding it to your overall entertainment mix. As we noted in our review of this unit, the dearness of broadband connectivity in SA does hamstring the Apple TV somewhat, these barriers are rapidly tumbling as we speak and soon should be a worry consigned to the past. And that was the Q4 round of Apple updates in a nutshell. Clearly the company is focusing on areas which generate good revenue –
feature: iTunes 9 and iPod update
sound business sense in any economic environment but particularly the current one. iTunes and iPods penetration and sales volumes are staggering, and with the latest enhancements and price-juggling will continue to dominate the space, while moving into “new” areas like mobile gaming. Updating the software platform to support all this new business was also a necessity. Not that iTunes 8 had too much wrong with it, but the new features, new design and useful new capabilities (like the improved synching, Home Sharing, and App Console) just elevate it to a new level of
user-friendliness to support a whole new level of transactions being made. Of course, we’re all still waiting for more on the rumoured Apple tablet, while the arrival of a new family of CPUs from chip-giant Intel has lead to additional whisperings surfacing regarding an updated iMac range coming soon as well! As usual, nothing is confirmed or denied, and we’re left to wait expectantly until the next official update announcements. Russell Bennett
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Q
uality creative tools such as Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4) are expensive. That is a fact, and the price is often enough to scare off many a potential user. When paying so much for a product, if there isn’t a significant advantage, the purchase really isn’t worth it. Whenever a sales person or marketer tries to justify the large outlay, the common phrase banded about is Return on Investment (ROI). It is sometimes difficult to read between the lines, through all the diversionary statistics, to see how a product will actually help you in real world use. CS4 is one of these expensive products that is trying to justify its price, and is a good example of a product making a plausible ROI case. To get the ball rolling I would like to start with an analogy to try and simplify this whole ROI issue. I am a gamer at heart, spend-
feature: adobe roi ing hours of my free time hunched over a PC screen (Yes, I use a PC and still write for Mac Action) toiling away trying to blow something up. I have been told that my hobby is very expensive by many a person. These same people however will happily pay R50 for a movie ticket and more for condiments, to possibly enjoy themselves for only two hours. If I had to make a list of my five favourite games of all time, I could easily say I have racked up over a hundred hours on each title; good games are just far more re-playable than a movie. So whilst the games and requisite hardware are more expensive than a movie ticket, I get so much more out of the experience than a movie. That is for me then a justified ROI, which brings me to CS4. It may be expensive, but if users can get that much more from it then the price is justified. Now just because I have somehow managed to convince myself that Mac Action
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feature: adobe roi gaming isn’t sinking my ship, doesn’t automatically mean that CS4 is a sensible purchase. To find that out will require far more work, starting with the demands of the modern media landscape. When digital media first stormed onto the stage, there was a very real concern that traditional print and analogue me-
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the creative requirements of all the different forms of media must evolve alongside. Many people will relax whilst checking on their Facebook profile and browse the local newspaper at the same time; media consumption has become complex with multiple media avenues being used. As I said, the tools needed
for various different mediums and devices, from websites and cell phones to age old newspapers. Updating your software regularly has therefore become critical to keep up with the fluid media market. That deals with the issue of why the creative professional needs to continue upgrading instead of just pushing
“CS4 is said to be a significant release for Adobe...” dia would end up in a deep grave dug by the Internet. That didn’t quite happen; sure, many newspapers (as an example) are struggling and have been forced to adapt but ultimately the new wave hasn’t completely replaced the old guard. The media market has however changed and is indeed in a state of constant movement, which has been difficult for the people working in the creative industry. As the face of the creative market evolves, so the tools needed to satisfy 28
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must be able to cope with these dynamic and divergent requirements of the modern media industry. Okay, that’s all fine and good except that Adobe is trying to sell the new CS4 now, when digital media has already been here for a while along with the changes brought with it. What the above analysis of the changing media market shows is that, the creative professional is faced with ever increasing pressure to produce great work quickly
on with CS3, but that notion only works if CS4 is actually any good. CS4 is said to be a significant release for Adobe, which goes to the ROI argument, if CS4 proves to be a very significant version then the cost could possibly be justified. For CS4, integration is the name of the game. Adobe has combined several of their tools into one package, including Flash Professional, Dreamweaver and Fireworks. The integration
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doesn’t stop there though; tools also work well with one another. As an example, the cross pollination between InDesign and Flash is now more advanced. Flash and After Effects have also been brought closer together, which is a useful feature given the abundance of Flashbased web content out there. Staying on Flash for a moment, the CS4 iteration has been redesigned to bring the application more in line with other Adobe applications. Flash CS4 now has a more approachable interface if a user is familiar with other Adobe applications. This has been done to aid designers who might be new to digital media, but also to give designers working with InDesign CS4 a more efficient platform. Interac-
tive Flash documents can now be exported directly from InDesign CS4 to Flash so as to create Flash documents straight from InDesign. That is just one of several examples of application integration in CS4. Adobe isn’t the only one going down the integration route though; operating system providers have also tried their hand at it. Apple and Microsoft both provide functionality for many common file management tasks such as video editing and managing large picture collections. That being said, operating systems may be powerful and versatile, but often still fall short because they simply weren’t developed for specialist creative professionals. CS4 has been
feature: adobe roi designed with this problem in mind. As an example CS4 can now create PDF contact sheets for photos or other document formats to help manage the varied data utilised by a creative professional. Its all sounding promising up until now, but application integration alone simply isn’t enough to give a suitable ROI. It’s nice, but not 12 grand nice. So the final verdict really is going to come down to the actual use of the suite. To make a decision on this lets first look at the user interface. Any creative professional knows that getting the job done often means having several documents and windows open simultaneously. Data from several different sources is needed on demand and switching between windows is not only laborious but also a Mac Action
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feature: adobe roi waste of time. Enter CS4’s so called ‘tabbed windows’, Adobe’s answer to the multi-tasking menace. If there are several operations being performed at once, they will all be displayed below the title bar as tabs. All that is required to switch between different documents is clicking the relevant tab; this feature is there to improve productivity. The ability to split the screen between multiple documents via a pop-up menu is also included to further streamline multitasking. The productivity boost of CS4 over previous suites can be illustrated by any number of benchmarks, which is a popular way of displaying ROI. I personally have an issue with a pure benchmarking approach to showing ROI when it comes to any creative authoring package. Lets say I was looking at a toothpaste production line, there would be a robot filling each tube with paste. If a new robot was purchased 30
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at vast expense that filled each tube in half the time, production time could be drastically cut allowing the factory to pump out more
units and make more money. Benchmarking the time saved would thus be a decent way to show the ROI because this particular business is dependent on unit output. That works for our toothpaste producer, but for me, showing where you will gain seconds using CS4 doesn’t translate as well to the actual worth of the product when compared to my example. Let me give some perspective of the increased speed of CS4 over its predecessors to illustrate my point.
Changing the brush size in Photoshop CS4 takes 1,54 seconds as opposed to 4,60 seconds in CS3. Time reductions such as this are evident in every action you could possibly imagine in CS4 from clicks on the menu bar to positioning design elements in Smart Guides. Now Adobe will tell you that if every action saves a few seconds, at the end of the year that amounts to a whole bunch of time and therefore money saved because the expensive designer saving all this time has done more work than the previous year for the same pay. I just don’t think he really has, because for every 2 seconds saved changing brush size, that same designer will spend a whopping minute staring out the window daydreaming or wondering what’s good on TV tonight. Humans are not robots, we
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waste time occasionally. Of course that’s not the fault of Adobe, but don’t try and tell me that CS4 will save so much money because of two seconds here and there. I do however still think time saving is a good thing. A faster and more streamlined suite is simply less frustrating and easier to use. The less frustrated a designer, the more room there is for creativity to flow. The less stress there is in doing something, the hap-
pier a worker may be doing it. So improved productivity may actually help improve the quality of work, but getting the same work done fractionally quicker does not factor into ROI significantly in my opinion. So when all is said and done, what CS4 brings to the table is improved application integration and improved productivity. I think that given the changing nature of media, keep-
feature: adobe roi ing your tools up to date is imperative. For this reason, CS4 does prove an attractive option because of the streamlined nature of the suite. With Adobe’s offering the creative professional is well positioned to deal with the dynamic media environment both quickly and easily, and that is a significant Return on Investment. Kyle Stone
Microsoft Office Competition Winners! We asked
Question 1 How does the 2008 Office suite ensure backwards compatibility with the 2007 PC version of Office? Question 2 Name two new features found specifically in the 2008 version of Word? Question 3 What is the name of the new feature found in Office 2008 that displays your upcoming appointments and tasks?
The answers were
Question 1 Office 2008 uses Open XML, to ensure all documents are compatible with the 2007 PC version of Office. Question 2 The 2 new features in Word are Document Elements and Publishing Layout View. Question 3 The new feature in Office 2008 that displays upcoming appointments and tasks is called, “My Day”.
THE WINNERS WERE
Andre Prinsloo And Vicki van Schalkwyk Congratulations! Your prize will be on it’s way to you. Mac Action
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feature: snow leopard
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S
now Leopard isn’t a revolution in OS design but rather a fine tuning of what Apple already has, so we are looking at the evolution of OS X from Leopard to Snow Leopard. Possibly that is why this new operating system has been called Snow Leop-
feature: snow leopard
er, more stable and easier to use platform than Leopard. So there really isn’t much to report on that front, after all Leopard was a fast, stable and easy to use UNIX based operating system. It is going to be faster and more reliable for all your general tasks ranging all the way from installation to using Finder,
in Wi-FI is there for this exact reason, if you are mobile then chances are you are in a hurry. Messing about setting up a wireless network that takes ages is not something you want to do or even have time for. Snow Leopard is shaping up to be a much slimmer system with every one of
“Your Mac will wake up and shut down faster.” ard. It isn’t another type of cat, just a different type of Leopard. I suppose that the decision by Apple to refine the existing structures is a compliment to the companies existing systems rather than a lack of innovation. At least that’s what Apple is saying. So what is Snow Leopard, why do you need it and what’s new about it? Snow Leopard is a UNIX based operating system which has been tweaked internally to create a fast-
even Time Machine will be up to 50% faster. Still on the speed front, several common tasks have been given a boost. Your Mac will wake up and shut down faster. That’s not to say Leopard was slow in that department but faster is almost always better. Notably, joining of wireless networks will be up to 55% faster which is very welcome. Wireless networks are so often created with mobility in mind, and mobility and speed go hand in hand. Your MacBook’s built
Apple’s own applications shrinking. Mail is looking to be under 100 MB in Snow Leopard compared to over 280 MB in its predecessor Leopard. Trims such as these seem to be across the board, which is essential for Apple’s overall strategy regarding the slew of mobile devices relying on lower capacity solid-state drives. Snow Leopard’s fitness regime hasn’t just been limited to applications. Snow Leopard promises to free up 6GB of space from installation, and as Apple Mac Action
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feature: snow leopard
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puts it; thats 1,500 more songs. After all, if you’re going to clog up your hard drive it may as well be with rubbish music you’ll never get around to listening to. When we updated our office machines in one case we actually freed up far more than 6GB’s of space so we can definitely say that Snow Leopard is indeed substantially trimmed. Snow Leopard claims to be the fastest and easiest upgrade for your Mac yet. This statement by Apple reminded me of something which has always annoyed me about the service mentality of many a business. A company will develop a product or service and then proceed to hassle you constantly to part with your hard earned cash for it. Finally you cave after buying into all the marketing and sales speak, only to be told you can’t have it because of some ridiculous and totally avoidable reason such as the staple: “We’re out of stock.” Essentially what bugs me is 34
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that after telling you how great a product is; when you try and hand over your money, they won’t take it. If Apple keeps their word about Snow Leopard being a quick and easy upgrade then I commend them absolutely. Apple says they have a great product and
then proceed to do the unthinkable; actually take your money and give you said product in an efficient manner. To achieve this wonder of business; Snow Leopard is up to 45% quicker to upgrade, and has also been made a more reliable upgrade;
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shockingly, for your convenience. During the upgrade process, all existing applications on your Mac will be checked for compatibility and any incompatible applications set aside. This reliability conscious install even extends to power outages, data won’t
feature: snow leopard
be lost when you restart the install. That may be an inconsequential feature to Americans or Europeans but will no doubt save several South Africans a whole bucket of tears. You know the equation: You + OS install + Eskom + Murphy’s Law = Trouble. In reality
this refined upgrade process has actually been a bit of a hit and miss affair for us, firstly it is quick taking roughly between 45 and 60 minutes which is great. Unfortunately the compatibility check as it is called can be a nuisance, applications that worked fine in Mac Action
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feature: snow leopard Leopard now require substantial (for us bandwidth challenged South Africans) updates to work. We also had problems with a printer that worked in Leopard but lost the will to work with Snow Leopard despite non of these being set aside. In terms of new features, that is where Apple’s approach of refining rather than redesigning from scratch is evident. This however does depend on
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how one looks at the features list. I could easily give a long list of so called new features such as the new Safari 4 which is faster as well as offering several new options. These options include full history search and faster JavaScript performance due to 64-bit support. Safari 4 also offers the useful feature of separating browser
Safari 4
plug-ins from Safari itself, so when the plug-in crashes on the web page Safari won’t crash alongside it. All this sounds good but the issue for me with calling Safari 4 a new feature is that it isn’t really new, many Mac users are already using Safari 4. The same goes for many of the new features in Snow Leopard. Every application seems to have been made faster and possibly received a new option. There are a lot of new refinements which is great, but I have a hard time calling them new features. I can pull a few in-
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iChat
Snow Leopard’s 64-bit computing is set to be an important step, with Apple’s
move to Intel CPU’s, Snow Leopard’s 64-bit ability will really unlock the power of the processors. Nearly all system applications have been rewritten as 64-bit to take advantage of the 64bit support. The 64-bit en-
the RAM and multi-core CPUs are let loose properly. Combine this with the Grand Central Dispatch technology for developers to fully optimise applications for 64-bit computing and the future could be very quick indeed.
teresting examples; iChat has upped the resolution to 640 by 480 which is a four fold improvement over Leopard. Finder has been boosted by a technology called Grand Central Dispatch which enables your Mac to fully utilise multi-core systems, in conjunction with improved 64bit computing Apple is sure to improve even further the multi-tasking capacity of Macs. Even the trusty Dock has been reworked in this regard. Mail is also said to load messages up to twice as fast but honestly you’ll be fortunate to actually notice this in real world operation.
feature: snow leopard
hancements will also have a huge impact on the use of RAM, whilst a 32-bit application can only use 4GB of RAM at a time, that figure is through the roof at 16 billion GB of RAM for a 64-bit application. Snow Leopard really could transform the performance of your Mac hardware when
Still on the hardware technology front, Snow Leopard introduces OpenCL which is a technology I have been interested in for a while now. Essentially OpenCL is another tool for developers to take full advantage of the processing power in modern graphics cards. Currently, unless you are performing a graphically intensive task your GPU sits there twiddling its thumbs and when you consider the huge processing power of modern GPUs this really is a waste. OpenCL will allow the huge power of your GPU to be used beyond graphical tasks. One of the biggest new features in Snow Leopard Mac Action
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feature: snow leopard is the full support for Microsoft Exchange, a move that not even Microsoft operating systems have matched. Snow Leopard and Exchange work seamlessly together, you can now use Mac OS X Mail, Address Book and iCal without worrying about any compatibility issues. Even Spotlight, the best OS X feature ever, now works with Exchange.
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shot settings. Previously snapshots would show up on your desktop labelled pic1 and so forth, now however the pictures are labelled according to the date and time they were taken. This eliminates for me the laborious task of renaming pictures constantly for different articles. As I said, there are plenty of new features for what seems like every appli-
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extra tweaks. To put that into perspective, during Snow Leopards formation there were more than 1,000 projects ongoing, but for the life of me I can’t see 1,000 changes. I view Snow Leopard’s new features as a different way of using the same features. Bottom line is that Snow Leopard keeps everything you praised Leopard for, and improves upon it. If
“Everything is the same, just better and easier to use with a few extra tweaks.” The last feature which may seem insignificant to most but for me is actually very useful is the refined snap-
cation, they’re just not that new. Everything is the same, just better and easier to use with a few
you use and enjoy Leopard, Snow Leopard will be a worthwhile upgrade, just don’t expect the world to change. The dark horse is the theoretical performance boost of true 64-bit computing; if it actually comes through, that could be the most pertinent reason to get Snow Leopard. Kyle Stone
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41 iPhone 3G S It may be the latest and greatest, but that isn’t necessarily enough to impress our resident skeptic Russell Bennett. Is the new 3G S really a must-have upgrade, or can it be dismissed as just another fashion accessory?
46 15” MacBook Pro Just as we were getting into our review MBP, Apple went and release a whole new lineup! But as we know, in the world of Mac, that doesn’t necessarily instantly render the previous generation meaningless, so we got under the skin of this older-generation 15” anyway to give you our detailed and considered thoughts.
50 Snow Leopard Yes, we’ve also run a feature on this software this month, but give us all a break and admit that it’s huge news. More of our actual user experience of the latest OS X release here.
52 VMWare Fusion 2 Sometimes, regardless of how hard you try not to, you just have to run something that only works on Windows, on your Mac. Enter VMWare, long-time virtualisation champions, with this latest Fusion 2 edition to cater for this unfortunate eventuality.
56 Logo Design Studio Pro A great, eye-catching and distinctive logo can mean the difference between making and breaking a brand. Now you could spend thousands of Rands getting professionals to do it, or you could get yourself a copy of this software for your Mac. Would it rather be worth paying the pros the money though?
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review: iPhone 3G S
Available from: www.vodacom.co.za
PRICING R5 199 cash pay-in, R249/month Weekender S contract (32GB) R2 999 cash pay-in, R925/month 500S contract (32GB) Financed offers, R649 – R1 074/month (32GB) Mac Action
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review: iPhone 3G S
W
h e n Steve w a s gushi n g over his iPhone 3G which he picked up on a trip over to the UK earlier this year, I listened politely, looked interested about some of the more interesting features, and largely dismissed it as the ravings of a hardcore Apple lover. I knew the thing was an almost inexplicable runaway success story which has to say something, but it is basically a phone after all, right!?
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box and its contents for the duration of the test period. First it ought to be noted, I’m notoriously cynical when it comes to cell phones. My favourite tech tends to be that stuff which has dozens of RJ-45 ports sprouting from its tough, industrial shell, or something which pumps photoreal graphics at me at 90fps. Technology as a lifestyle accessory is never really a consideration for me, surely the perfect person to get an objective view on the new S? But it didn’t quite work out
the Multitouch handheld. She’s been with me for most of my 12 years as a tech journalist... Usually giving review hardware back when asked isn’t so heart-rending after so many years on the job. Newer, better models are always just around the corner after all. But I did not want to return the 3G S when Vodacom made the dreaded call, oh no. That final act of browsing to the Settings menu and selecting the Erase User Data option to reset the iPhone to its default state, quite a
“The touchscreen is just the best out there, every surface and curve feels like the most beautiful nature-crafted pebble in your hand, ...” Fortunately for me this acquisition meant that when Vodacom kindly loaned us our very own brand-new 3G S mere days after they launched locally, I could without reservation grab the little rectangular white 42
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that way. The iPhone, and especially the 3G S, is more than just a belt-matching accessory, and within three days my wife was exclaiming that she’d “never seen me as absorbed by test equipment” as I became in
convenient addition I might add, was like attending the funeral of a favoured pet. Just sad, with a deep sense of loss and a gaping hole left in your life. And that’s because it’s a
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really good phone. The touchscreen is just the best out there, every surface and curve feels like the most beautiful naturecrafted pebble in your hand, and with the newer OS 3.0 finally completing the slick environment with addenda like Copy and Paste - lacks for absolutely nothing. And the improved 3.2-MP autofocussing camera and its click-tofocus functionality rocked to use and could take some seriously interesting shots. The uprated processors both CPU and GPU and enlarged system RAM make a tangible difference over a 3G in overall performance that even a non3G-user like me could tell straight away with the two phones back to back. The
interface is just that slight bit slicker, loading times for apps noticeably shorter. You just never have to wait for your phone to respond.
The built-in accelerometer, crisp beautiful display and sheer simplicity of operation were familiar from more extended exposure
review: iPhone 3G S to an iPod touch of course, but it’s the totally seamless combination of connectivity and communications in the iPhone which really hauls you in. You’re just never not connected, to everything. Without interrupting you to ask your permission the device just automatically swaps its data connection over to your Wireless-LAN for instance when in signal range, and back to 3G as you drive off. Never do you need to authenticate or allow it to do so, it just does. And the App Store is just such a little treasure trove of awesome stuff, some of it even available for free! Games, books, custom magazines, slow-mo movies of babes working out at the gym, a self-contained Wordpress app for blogging on the move, the Mac Action
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review: iPhone 3G S
awesome ReQall, there’s more available than you ever thought you wanted or could use on a phone - and I can only say that Google’s Android platform 44
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has a lot of catching up to do in the sheer volume of apps available if it means to compete seriously. And problems?
Well, the battery life is appalling. Leave everything enabled as it comes by default and use it moderately during the course of an average day, and you’ll just make it home that same night before having to hook it up to your PC via the USB cable and let it sync and charge simultaneously. That’s abysmal for a phone. Sure this can be extended to two days by disabling the WiFi and Bluetooth and making the screen less bright and just being less obsessed with the thing and using fewer of its awesome features, which seems pretty pointless really. Also, it’s a shame that the Google-powered “Assisted GPS” functionality
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still doesn’t work in SA, although with Google Street View getting to work in SA at the moment that can only be a matter of time. Apart from that, although we complained rather vocally about the initial pricing suggestions, the company has made good and released the S at a far
review: iPhone 3G S
more reasonable rate more or less in-line with international pricing trends, so kudos to Vodacom on that. Sure it’s still quite a lot of money for a phone, but it really is worth it. Not only will you soon find ways to use it to boost your daily lifestyle, you’ll thoroughly enjoy implementing these as regularly as you can!
Conclusion: The way we’ll communicate tomorrow, today. The most fashionable, versatile, and best cellphone available.
Verdict 5/5
SPECS AND FEATURES: 3.2MP touch to focus camera Photo and video geotagging 30fps video recording 480X320 video resolution 3.5-inch widescreen Multi-Touch display 135g UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR Digital Compass Accelerometer Proximity sensor Ambient light sensor
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review: MacBook Pro
I
f you have read the 13” review in this issue then you already know my opinion on laptop sizes, if not then i’ll quickly recap. Laptops are supposed to be mobile and therefore the bigger the unit the more of a hassle it is to transport. So it really is necessary in my mind for any “15 laptop to be significantly better than 46
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its 13” counterpart to justify the extra capital outlay and travel hassle. So if we accept my premise of a 15” needing to be substantially superior to the 13” we reviewed then we need to establish what the similarities and differences are between the two. In terms of performance hardware there is
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a significant difference, which is critical to justify this machine, I felt the 13” wasn’t a true ‘Pro’ on the hardware front but the 15” most certainly is. There is a slightly faster CPU coming in at 2.4Ghz as compared to the 2.26Ghz of the 13”. I tried my hand at editing some photos in iPhoto and also played a little with the new editing features in
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Quicktime X, the performance was without fault but then again doing the same tasks on the 13” was also a breeze. The performance really did indicate that on CPU and RAM intensive tasks there is very little if not nothing to choose between the 13” and 15 inch MacBook Pro’s. Truth be told the clockspeed boost on the 15” is largely incon-
review: MacBookPro
sequential for most tasks but the 15” trump card is not the CPU anyway. It must be said however that this particular unit is clearance stock, which is still available through ZA Store and there are newer models with more raw power out there. Its the much needed dedicated graphics which is the
only tangible reason to get the 15” Pro, for this there is an Nvidia 9600M GT over and above the weak 9400M. There’s still only 256MB of VRAM but it is a dedicated graphics chip and the difference is really evident in any graphical task. For the sake of uniformity I tested the 15” with the same Sim City 4 I used on the 13” and the game Mac Action
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review: MacBook Pro runs faster at much higher resolution with ease. MacBook Pro’s are supposed to be powerful machines that can serve as a replacement for a desktop but still maintain mobility, and in this regard the 15” is impressive but I still think it’s not quite there. For instance when playing Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock at high detail and resolutions the frame rates were occasionally quite erratic, slowing down and then speeding up during several songs. When I tested PC games like Fallout 3 performance was actually very impressive, the framerates were eminently playable. The other real hardware differences are the bigger 250GB hard drive and obviously a bigger screen. The hard drive is a nice size but considering how cheap external drives are now (you’ll need one for Time Machine anyway) the 160 GB in the 13” means its not a huge selling point for the “15. Then again the 48
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same applies to the 15”, you’ll up storage with an external drive so you are sure to always have more space than your 13” counterparts. Then there is the wonderful screen, exceptional picture quality aside I can’t see the point. It goes back to the portability issue and the in-
creased size really does hamper how easy it is to lug your laptop across town. There are however advantages to a bigger screen like watching movies and playing games. This is particularly relevant when combined with the more powerful speakers flanking the side of the keyboard. The most pertinent example I found of a bigger screen
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being better was reading some excellent online magazines, cough (www. drivemagazine.co.za and this very magazine) where the text could be difficult to read on the 13”. I have it on good authority however that certain
online magazines have upped font size to solve this problem anyway, so if that’s out the window I can’t see the justification in the extra cost of the bigger screen. So that’s hardware done,
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as far software goes our test unit came with Snow Leopard already installed and waiting. By the time you read this Snow Leopard is sure to be the default OS on all new units, and for a 15” goes this is quite important. As far as I can tell the most significant enhancements in Snow Leopard fall into the technology department such as Open CL and improved 64-bit support, essentially this has to do with how ad-
vanced hardware can be better utilised within Snow Leopard. So when considering that this proper MacBook Pro is all about the hardware boost, Snow Leopard might just be a critical feature for the whole package. It may sound like I am giv-
review: MacBookPro
ing the 15” a bit of a hard time but really I’m not, its just my personal take on laptops specifically that makes a big laptop redundant. The 15 inch MacBook Pro is actually a fantastic piece of equipment, I just wouldn’t have one given the choice. Let me us one of my confusing analogies to illustrate this. If someone is in the market for a Porsche and could afford a full blooded 911 there is no way on this planet anyone’s going to go for a cheaper Boxter. A 911 is just better in every way, end of story. That’s the way it should be. However if someone is in the market for a MacBook Pro and can afford a 15” there is actually a good chance they would opt for the cheaper 13”. The 15” is just not definitively better than the 13”, yes the 15” is brilliant but so is the 13” and it’s cheaper. The only time this doesn’t apply is for the niche market of someone that needs powerful computing on
the move, most of us don’t need that much power for our mobile needs. So in summary, the only significant enhancement is the 9600M GT, the rest is really just shiny lights to distract you. When considering then that the 9600M GT will get trounced by most desktop GPU’s this really is a niche product. The new “15 range does have faster CPU’s and 4GB of RAM but I still don’t see the cost benefit. That conclusion however is from a mobility point of view where a 13” does have an advantage, for someone looking at the 15” as a desktop replacement, portability isn’t an issue and the 15” is then the superior option to the 13”. Kyle Stone Price: R17 999 Supplier: Core Group
Verdict 7/10
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review: snow leopard
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Snow Leopard: The platform of the future, too bad we’re in the present
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ac Action has already covered Snow Leopard both in this issue and our blog so this review is just a quick take on just how good I think Snow Leopard actually is. Snow Leopard is a very good operating system, but unfortunately it isn’t the complete package yet. Now when I say yet, I don’t mean that it won’t get there, quite the contrary in fact. If you’ve read the Snow Leopard feature list then you will know a little bit about the advanced technology employed in Snow Leopard, that is the improved 64-bit architecture and Open CL as well as Grand Central Dispatch. For me these three gems are Snow Leopard’s trump cards and when 3rd-party developers start developing software specifically designed to take advantage of these under-the-hood features, Snow Leopard will come into it’s own. That is what I mean with my earlier statement about Snow Leopard not being a complete package yet, taken as it is there really isn’t that much that Snow Leopard does better than say Leopard. However if you take it as what it could be and what it will become with some time with developers Snow Leopard really has the potential to blow us all away. If you’re not convinced about this let me add some meat to my argument, the 64-bit part
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is a no brainer. Snow Leopard’s 64-bit technology means more RAM and removing the caps on CPU development, and that’s 2/3rd’s of your computers performance potential to put it in very simple terms. The other performance factor comes of course from your graphics card, and this segment of the market is increasingly moving towards greater integration of ridiculously powerful modern graphics chips into your system as a whole. AMD’s Fusion principle for instance aims to in part to bring the work done by it’s GPU’s and CPU’s closer together. Modern GPU’s are powerful, that is a fact, and the whole world and their dog can see that tapping said power needs to happen for everything not just graphical tasks. That is where Open CL rides in, it helps your GPU do more, a GPU that you did pay for after all so you may as well use it. Snow Leopard you see is potentially the vanguard of an amazing time for computer technology and performance, and for that alone I applaud Snow Leopard as a piece of technology engineering brilliance. Then consider that Snow Leopard is a super fast and stable operating system bundled with many excellent features such as Quicktime X as well for only R329 and I can see why it has received so many rave reviews.
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Let us also not forget that Snow Leopard frees up substantial tracts of space on your hard drive when upgrading from Leopard whilst still offering more features, a testimony to the streamlined and efficient coding of the OS X development team. Snow Leopard is the future, or at least a prototype for the future. And when the future arrive as it inevitably will you will need Snow Leopard, but right now in the present Leopard will do the job at hand just as well
Second opinion
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hist I agree with Kyle that Snow Leopard doesn’t look and feel much different from Leopard after the initial install, there are none the less, some really cool features. In particular the Finder is much easier to use with improvements to Quickview which now allows you to turn pages within a document - how cool is that. The fact that you can now resize icons within Finder is particularly impressive and useful. I wonder how long it will be before we can dispense with applications altogether and do all of our work within Finder. Add to that the improvements made to the dock which has some very clever ways of minimizing open windows as well as offering many more menu items when you [CTRL] click. You can open recent docu-
review: snow leopard without the update problems of Snow Leopard. So maybe my slightly negative view of Snow Leopard is unfair but I maintain it nonetheless. Snow Leopard is not critical for the consumer today, but it will be some day soon. Kyle Stone Price R329 Supplier: Core Group
Verdict 7/10
ments and force quit applications for example, right from the dock. Expose can now be invoked directly from the dock and Expose itself has some new additions. You can for example tile windows alphabetically as well as grouping them by application. Quicktime X is a significant upgrade and probably worth the price of the Snow Leopard upgrade on it’s own. Under the Bonnet of course is where the real changes have been made and although you don’t actually see them, the changes are definitely there to make your computer work better. As Kyle said in his review, things will just get better and better as developers start to exploit Open CL and 64 bit. Given the price, the upgrade to Snow Leopard is really a no-brainer. Steve
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review: vmware fusion 2
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S X is the most advanced operating system in the world, that is a fact. Now if the world was the way it should be then all cars would be manual super cars, the internet in South Africa would be uncapped and most importantly Windows wouldn’t be the de facto standard in operating systems. Much to my dismay I have discovered over the years that this most certainly is not the way the world works and thus despite OS X be-
review: vmware fusion 2
impressed with this latest attempt at virtual machines by VMWARE, whilst it most certainly is not perfect it will allow you to do whatever it is you needed to do in Windows. I keep referring to Windows because whilst it is possible to use many operating systems as your virtual machine, I can’t understand why. Mac users don’t want to use any other OS but sometimes there just isn’t Mac software available for certain tasks. Accountants for instance won’t be able to get Pastel for Mac. Gamers too, largely receive the short
I installed Windows XP Service Pack 2 for this test and achieved something I have wanted to do ever since I got my Mac. I played Fallout 2 on my laptop, the greatest single player game of all time bar none. This is the perfect illustration of the above point, without a virtual machine I would have been unable to play an old game on my Mac without a Boot Camp partition despite the hardware in my Mac being well over the minimum requirements. Besides the obvious fea-
“I have actually been rather impressed with this latest attempt at virtual machines by VMWARE,...” ing streets ahead of any equivalent Microsoft offering, occasionally we need Windows. This is where Fusion 2 steps in, allowing us Mac users to begrudgingly get to Windows when we need it. I have actually been rather
end of the stick in terms of Mac games. So the only time a virtual machine is needed is when there isn’t specific software available for the task at hand - installing Linux as your virtual machine doesn’t really solve this problem.
ture of eliminating certain compatibility issues Fusion 2 does have other aspects which deserve mention. The much loved OS X Expose function still works within your virtual machine. So it is possible to work in Windows and then quickly switch back out to an open Mac Action
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review: vmware fusion 2
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OS X.
application within OS X. You can also use OS X’s snapshot function to take pictures within your virtual machine. The picture still pops up on your OS X desktop which is a useful feature. Taking snapshots using the tools in Windows is just ridiculous by comparison. Another pleasing aspect of Fusion 2 is that when setting up a virtual machine it is possible to use an exist54
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ing Boot Camp partition as your virtual machine. Boot Camp for those of you that don’t know is Apple’s built in ability to dual boot a Mac to another operating system, virtual machine software on the cheap in other words. Of course the problem with this is that you do actually have to boot into anther operating system and the shut it down to get back to OS X. Fusion 2 lets you access your Boot Camp partition from within
Arguably the best ability of Fusion 2 is that it is now possible to use an NTFS external hard drive with your Mac. When in your virtual machine you can copy to and from an NTFS drive, and that’s not just within the virtual machine. Files can be transferred straight onto your OS X drive from the external drive within the virtual machine. Now as I mentioned earlier, Fusion 2 is not perfect. During testing we were unable to get Links 2003 as well as several other games to work. The problem is that 3D acceleration is handled by VMWARE’s own software acceleration, not your graphics chip. This is a bad idea because
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software acceleration is rubbish, and the result was severe graphical problems in games. When I just went the boot camp route 3D acceleration was done by the graphics chip itself and the problems disappeared. I also found performance within the virtual machine a bit sluggish. This may be because of the need to actually decide on the hardware of your virtual machine. You need to set the amount RAM that will be used so you won’t be using all the RAM you have
review: vmware fusion 2
in OS X. Thankfully when you shut down Fusion 2 all the system resources do revert back to OS X, but whilst multitasking between the two operating systems performance wasn’t ideal. Fusion 2 is a solid platform for solving your compatibility issues, but then again so is Boot Camp. Fusion 2 does however set itself apart from Boot Camp by being a far more convenient option and makes working together with Windows far more practi-
cal than Boot Camp. The graphics issues however, are a severe limitation. Kyle Stone Price: R999 Supplier: Phoenix Software
Verdict 7/10
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review: logo design pro
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review: logo design pro
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ogo Design Studio claims to cater for the needs of all logo creators, from complete novices such as myself all the way to professionals. Whilst the programme does have some potential the end result of trying to serve both ends of the market is a rather uneasy compromise. Beginners will struggle to get the most out of it and professionals will surely already be using more powerful software. To start off with Logo Design Pro is just too frustrating to use, trying to create even a simple logo using one of the many templates available left me completely confused and with a logo that looked more like a mildly in-
telligent monkey had given it a bash than a mildly intelligent human being. Of course my intelligence is debatable but still, surely I should have a monkey beaten. It should also be noted that you need to save regularly because Logo Design does enjoy crashing at random, Mac users are often lazy about this because OS X doesn’t crash like the competition does. This tendency to be mind numbingly frustrating may not be all the fault of Logo Design however, you see I’m not only a beginner at creating logo’s but also new to the world of Macs. Let me give an example to illustrate my previous point, when I zoomed in using the zoom button I was unable to zoom out again. Eventually I noticed at the bottom left corner a percentage number, clicking on it revealed more options. I selected 100% and the logo zoomed out to the original size. Now, that just wasn’t self explanatory to a Mac Action
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review: logo design pro beginner, nor very intuitive. When I pointed this out to Steve, our seasoned Mac user he immediately tried holding ‘alt‘ whilst clicking
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a difficult programme to get to grips with, but that doesn’t mean it’s all bad. If you spend some time with Logo Design you will
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make that possible but I unfortunately think that most won’t get that far. If you put in the time however Logo Design Studio Pro is
“If you want to create a relatively unique logo you are sure to find something here to suit your needs,...” the zoom button and presto the document zoomed out. My point is that whilst this programme may be easy for an experienced Mac user to navigate, Logo Design Studio should be generally simpler to use. Instances of a difficult user interface are rife throughout Logo Design - it’s just
find that there are several nice features embedded within it. There are hordes of graphics, templates and fonts available. If you want to create a relatively unique logo you are sure to find something here to suit your needs, along with the option to put in graphics from somewhere other than Logo Design’s included selection. Logo Design Studio Pro could have been a decent beginners option for people or small businesses on a budget that wanted to create unique logos. There certainly is enough meat on this bone to
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actually quite useful. A far as professionals go, that’s not going to happen. Even if they are more adept at using Logo Design there is simply more powerful stuff out there. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to go and beat a monkey at Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Kyle Stone Price: R599 Supplier: Phoenix Software
Verdict 5/10
60 Set up a new MacBook Just bought a MacBook? Wondering how to get the best out of it? We are here to help. Kyle runs through the process of setting y our new computer.
66 Bento Filemaker Pro is too complicated for several Mac users Bento offers the solution for the average user. We create a sample database to get you on your way.
72 Toast it Resident Maccie Kyle Stone reveals the tips and tricks behind the product whose name has become the de-facto standard when referring to “burning� removable media on a Mac. Read this HowTo for the difference between making your discs blackened and smoky and golden-brown.
how to? set up a mac
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S
etting up a new Mac such as my shiny new 13 inch MacBook Pro is a relatively simple process. It is a largely straightforward task and certainly less laborious than setting up a new PC. That being said there are a few instances that could cause
how to? set up a mac
you to ask yourself ‘what now?’, but there is no need to panic because we will walk you through step by step. The first step of setting up a Mac is selecting the language you wish to use. Now this is obviously self explanatory but of note at this step is the track pad. Many of you are used to just tapping the pad instead of clicking the buttons at the bottom if you are a seasoned laptop user. Tapping the track pad needs to be set specifically once you
have actually finished setting up the OS. Just click at the bottom for now. Next is selecting your country, which can be confusing because there are only six options. I guess Americans think there are only six countries in the world. What us South Africans need to do is hit the Show All box because RSA isn’t displayed initially. There should now be a complete list for you to navigate. Once you have selected South Africa the same goes for the next screen, that is selecting your keyboard layout. That’s only if you are using something other than the standard U.S. keyboard layout, if not then just stick with the U.S layout and move on to the next step. Mac Action
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how to? set up a mac If you already own a Mac and have any data that you want to transfer, this next step is the time to do it. This How To is for setting up a brand new Mac however and if you already have a Mac you probably don’t need this tutorial. The various transfer options are quite clear anyway, if you’ve got a Time Machine backup drive for instance just select from a Time Machine backup
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The next screen is to do with connecting to a network. All you have to do is fill in your network password for this part of the setup, if this applies to you then fill it in and move on. You will now be asked to fill in registration information, this information is standard and not too important. The information is safeguarded by Apple so there is no need to worry here if you are paranoid about getting
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word, verifying it and if you want you can also insert a hint for when you inevitably forget the password. You can even take a picture for your account with the builtin iSight camera but if you aren’t very photogenic fear not because a picture can be selected from the picture library. Now we get to the time zone selection, Here in South Africa we are in the
“Creating an account is as a simple as filling in a password, verifying it and if you want you can also insert a hint for when you inevitably forget the password.” and away you go. If this is a brand new machine for you and you don’t want to do a transfer, be careful because that isn’t the default option so be sure to change the selected option to Do not transfer my information now. It is possible to do a transfer at a later time if you do have data to transfer, so it isn’t a train smash if you don’t do a transfer yet. 62
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spammed, or anything else along those lines. Once all the registration details are in you must now create your personal user account. More accounts can be added at a later time if there will be multiple users of your system but for now we will just set up the primary account. Creating an account is as simple as filling in a pass-
GMT +2 time zone. This does seem to be a bit of an issue though, I live in Johannesburg but couldn’t find any option to actually select Johannesburg as the nearest city. All you have to do is click somewhere in South Africa and then select the nearest city according to Apple, but as I said this can be a problem so all I did was select Cape Town in the SAST zone.
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I’m sure selecting the CAT time zone and Harare as the nearest city will be fine as well, but do you really want to put Harare as your home? No matter what you do there don’t seem to be any consequences either way so just choose one and move on. After this you need to set the date and time. It should already be set. How, I don’t know but then I don’t think I actually care. That’s actually the end of
how to? set up a mac
the compulsory setup, the next screen just reminds you to send all the previous registration information you filled in once you have an internet connection. That’s not even critical, it isn’t like Windows activation that gives you a timeline before Windows loses the will to live (does that whether you register or not anyway). So just click done and then you’re in. The next thing you should see is the desktop, simple as that.
Now that you are actually in the OS, it is worth making some changes to the default setup to suit your preferences. Obviously, what to change is entirely your choice but I will mention how to make a few common changes. Click the Apple symbol on the left-hand side of menu bar and Navigate to System Preferences, there should also be a shortcut to System Preferences in the Dock if you would prefer. Once in the System Preferences window go to the Hardware section and select Trackpad, changing the Tracking Sensitivity scroll bar adjusts the sensitivity of the trackpad to your liking. I think the default sensitivity is way too sluggish so this was Mac Action
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the first thing I changed. I would also recommend changing the One Finger options, tick the Tap to Click box below the scroll bars, this allows you to tap the trackpad itself for
the Apple Menu bar. Go to the Apple logo and then click on Dock, it is the option below System Preferences. Now tick the Magnification box and drag the slider to the desired size.
the Dock, then Magnification is actually necessary. To fit in more applications your Dock icons will be very small and magnification allows you to easily view them.
clicking instead of the actual buttons at the bottom, which is just quicker quite frankly.
From now on whenever you slide your cursor over the Dock the icons will jump out towards you with the name of the application displayed above the icon. This is little more than an aesthetic option but does look really attractive, particularly if you are showing off your new machine to a PC user. If you are going to put all your applications in
The last change I would recommend making is with regards to Expose, if you are only going to use your trackpad then Expose can be a hassle to use. To make it easier to use go back to System Preferences and select Expose & Spaces and then choose the Expose tab. Here you can choose of of your four screen corners to act like
Another little change that I like is Dock magnification. If you are already in System Preferences then just select Dock from the Personal section. If not then the Dock options are also available directly from 64
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a side mouse button. Pick a corner and then tick All Windows, now whenever you navigate your cursor to that corner all open windows will be displayed making multi tasking a breeze. Of course none of these
how to? set up a mac
settings are permanent so you should really just play around without our help step by step, simply because it is a good way of learning the ins and outs of your system if you are a first time Mac user. The few tweaks I have shown you are by no means the
only ones you will end up making, other than that all I can say is, “Enjoy your new Mac!� Kyle Stone
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how to? bento database
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s a Mac user, you would surely have noticed that database applications are fairly thin on the ground. Your only choice, until quite recently, was to use the expensive and complicated FileMaker Pro but there was no simple application for creating databases or lists. FileMaker realised they needed a simple, easy to use application for all us home users who don’t have advanced database skills.
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ate simple databases and lists with ease. The first time you use Bento, you will be presented with four options. You can watch a video introducing Bento, or you could use the program to display your address book data. The third option, labelled Create a library to store data allows you to choose a pre-made database template. Click on this icon and the New Library window will appear. Templates are an easy way to get started but in
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The fourth icon on the list labelled Start using Bento is the one to choose when you have already created your database. Now that we have a blank database in front of us, we can begin creating our own project. Due to the rising cost of petrol, it will certainly help if we monitor the fuel consumption of the family car so that’s what we are going to do in this example. Field is the name used for
“It really is easy to use, enabling you to create simple databases and lists with ease.” They introduced Bento a couple of years ago and it is now on its second version. It really is easy to use, enabling you to cre66
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order to learn a little more about Bento, we are going to create a database from scratch, so we are going to select the Blank template.
the boxes that store pieces of information in a database. On the right hand side of the Bento Window, you will see the fields avail-
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able to us and at the moment, there aren’t many so we’ll need to create some. Click on the + at the bottom of the fields window and the Create a field window will pop up. There are 19 different types of data fields that you can create. The first field we want is simply the date that we refuelled. Select Date from the field types list. We will name the field “Refuelling date” and
how to? bento database
you can set the options to display the date in the format that you like best. Now click on the “Create” button and the field will be stored in the fields list. In order to use the field, drag and drop it into the database blank page. The next field we might want is the name of the gas station we got the fuel from. This is easy, choose
text as the field type and then give the field a name. Click on the create button as before and drag the field onto the project. Recording how far we have driven since the last time we refuelled is quite important so we will create a field called Odometer. This time choose Number as the field type and select the options you want, Mac Action
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how to? bento database for example we will need 2 decimal places. It is possible to store numeric data in a text field but make sure you choose number as we are going to use this data for a calculation. The next field we need is the amount of fuel used since we last filled the tank. Create another field using Number as the field type and select
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2 decimal places. Most cars are less fuel-efficient sitting in traffic than on a long run. In order for our data to have some meaning, we will create a Type of Driving field. This time, we will select Choice as our field type. Name the field and then click on the + button under “Set Options�,
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you can add as many options as you like. Once you have created this field, you will have a drop-down list on your data entry form. Now we need some fields where we store the actual fuel consumption of the car, as this was the aim of our database to start with. Fuel consumption is meas-
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ured in different ways so we’ll start with the most common, litres per 100 kilometres. Select Calculation as the field type and then click on the next button. After you have given the field a name, you need to specify the calculation. Click on the Odometer field on the left and then the insert button to add that field to the calculation. Click on the / which is the division operator. Type 100 after the / and then click on the
how to? bento database
brackets button. Now move the cursor to the beginning of the formula and click on the “Fuel Used” field and then the insert button. In between the “Fuel Used” field and the bracket, insert another /. Your formula will look like this: “Fuel Used”/(“Odometer”/100). There may be an easier way to calculate litres per 100 but I’m no mathematician. Now that we have the formula, click on the create button and then drop the
field onto the database. You might like to create a field that calculates the fuel consumption in Km per litre. Create a calculation field again but this time, the formula is much simpler. The formula is “Odometer”/”Fuel Used” and for the old school among us, the formula for miles per gallon is Kilometres per litre *2.83, you’ll just have to take my word for that. Mac Action
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how to? bento database
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for example, the sum of the column and the average, among other information types.
Give yourself a pat on the back for creating your first database and then we can add some finishing touches. You will have noticed that your database is called Blank. Click on the word blank, pause for a second and then click again. You can now type in a more meaningful name. Double click on the words Untitled Form and a window will pop up allowing you to rename the form. All 70
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you need to do now is enter some data and check that all your calculations are working correctly. Once you have entered some data, click on the Table tab above the form and you will see all your data in list view. The row along the bottom of the table is able to perform basic calculations as well. Click on each section and you can select options. You can display
This was just a basic introduction to creating your own database forms in Bento. Bento is, however, capable of a lot more. Open some of the templates that have been provided so that you can see what else is possible. Experiment and have fun. Steve Allison
how to? toast
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oxio’s Toast software has become the de facto standard disc burning application for Mac users. As with so many powerful pieces of software, the user is not starved for choice when it comes to options and tools. Whilst this is great if you know how to use Toast, the process can be a little daunting for a newcomer. This article should simplify the matter at hand and hopefully make it as painless as possible.
put in a used re-writable disc ) and go the the Erase option, it should be second from the top. Toast will ask if you want to erase using the quick or standard method. Quick erase is fine but only if the disc will then be burnt using Toast, if not then just click Erase. It can take a while but once done you can move onto the actual task of this article, that is burning a disc.
Before you get to burn a disc, you will need a blank disc. If you don’t have a blank disc you will need to make one. Head over to the Recorder menu on Toast’s menu bar ( once you have
The first item on the agenda for any task is deciding what you want to do. For the purpose of Toasting a disc, there are only five possible options for project types. The five
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how to? toast
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how to? toast project categories for what type of disc you would like to make are: Data, Audio, Video, Copy, or convert a disc. Within each of these categories there are several sub-options, but for this article we will explain just a few disc types and leave the rest for a later date. Lets us begin with a simple data dvd. A straight copy of a disc is self explanatory anyway, just select Copy and then Disc Copy, pop
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in a disc and click the big red Record button. Data discs however need you to manually add the disc content which can be any file or folder, the files stay the same as they are on your hard drive so if you fill up a disc with mp3’s for example, don’t expect the disc to play on a non-mp3 CD player. Make sure before going any further that DVD is selected for the disc type, these options can be found in the bottom
right-hand corner just next to the big red circle button (left of the red button), select DVD. The Data tab needed to start a data project is in the top-far-left of the Toast GUI, the other four previously mentioned options reside next to the Data option. Once you have selected Data you must then select what type of data disc you want; namely Mac only, Mac & PC, DVD-
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ROM (UDF), ISO 9660, and Photo Disc. I have selected Mac & PC because even if you only have Mac’s at home you never know when you might have to use a PC, they are after all everywhere. Now that you know what type of disc you will make you need to fill the disc up. A Media Browser should have appeared next to the main Toast window which is a useful tool for finding the files you want to burn. The top two drop down menus of the Media Browser allow you to narrow your search for the particular items you want, the first menu tab selects what type of file you want and the second specifies where you want to look for it. So if you want to make a backup of some photos then select Photos, if you have separated pictures on your hard drive by folders then simply click on the second drop down menu in the Media Browser and navigate to the relevant folder. After finding the files that you want just drag and drop them into
the Toast content window. If you want your burnt disc to also have folders separating certain items then just click New Folder at the bottom left of the content window, a new folder will appear on your currently hypothetical disc into which items can be dragged. There is also a Remove function with these tools
how to? toast
to remove files accidently placed in the content window. If you are having trouble finding certain files there are a few ways round this. Firstly the Media Browser does have a little search function at the bottom which will search the selected area for the speciMac Action
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how to? toast fied file type. Alternatively If you select files in the first drop menu this will open a mini Finder. Navigate the specified location just as you would in Finder to locate the file you want. There is also a Spotlight function in the first drop down menu which works the same as the normal Spotlight. It is possible to narrow the search by specifying where Spotlight should search and for what type of file. If you still can’t find something, you are also welcome to abandon the Media Browser all together. Simply find the file you want by any means and drag the file from there, so if you’ve taken screenshots which sit on your Desktop just drag into Toast from the Desktop. There should now be a list of all the items dragged into Toast displayed in the content window waiting to be burnt to disc. From here you must ensure that the files selected don’t exceed the DVD capacity. The bar running along the bottom 76
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tells you how much space the selected items will occupy on the disc. The Options box in the bottom left corner will also tell you if the files selected fit onto one DVD. If there is a capacity problem just use the afore mentioned Remove option above the capacity bar to keep your disc in the green. The last checks needed before the actual burning are the Options in the bottom left corner. Select the More button at the bot-
tom of the box and a new window with additional options will appear, these options are largely aesthetic and not critical. The only option really needed is labeling the disc. There are options deciding how you will view the disc and what the background look like, if you want to change all that then go ahead but its fine to just leave them as is. Once that is done you can go ahead and hit the big red button you have no doubt been wanting to press since you first saw it.
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how to? toast thing alone and clicked Record. This starts the actual burning of the inserted disc and when done the disc will be verified ( If you left the box checked ) to check that the job has gone off smoothly. Thats a data disc done, but creating Audio and Video discs need be clarified separate from a standard data disc.
Now you will be presented with the Basic recording options where you can select which recorder to use if you have multiple writers, if you only have a single writer then it should be automatically selected. Se-
the Verify Data box, the same goes for the rest of the options. I just left every-
I mentioned earlier that if you wanted to make an audio disc to play in any CD player that would require making something other
lect Best for the Write Speed option and then punch in the number of copies you want to make. You can now hit record to burn the disc if you want to but there are Advanced options to tweak the process if you like. If you are in a hurry you can uncheck Mac Action
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how to? toast than a data disc full of mp3’s. If you go to the Audio tab ( next to the Data tab ), there are four different types of audio discs to choose. The process of creating discs other than Data discs is the same as the Data disc so you can just refer to the previous steps, just drag and drop the required files then record. The only dif-
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ference with Audio discs is that Toast will automatically convert the files so they can be played in the specified type of player. So if you choose Audio CD and then drag in mp3’s, the files will be converted so that the final product will play in any CD player. Clicking More in the bottom-left options box will allow you to edit
the disc label and you can even edit the details of the individual tracks. The same goes for Video discs. If you want to play a movie in a DVD player but all you have is an AVI, Toast has got you covered. Start a Video project and then select the DVD-Video option, drag in your AVI just like any other file and Toast will convert it. Once again there are additional options by clicking More at the bottom left; here you can label the disc, set up menus for the movie and even adjust the video quality. Once done hit the red button and you’re off. There are more tools offered by Toast but by using these options you should be able to fulfill most of your disc burning needs. The more advanced conversion options we will leave for a later issue. Kyle Stone
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This month we’re all about the looks. Fortunately if you share our weakness for pretty colours while also wanting to protect your prescious Mac (and who doesn’t?), the site www.shopandship.co.za has a complete range of Speck products for you to choose from. These babies not only brighten-up and personalise your machine, they’re also easy to install and very strong, making them a worthwhile investment from a practical as well as wholly impractical view...
Speck See-Thru Cover for MacBook Available for MacBook and MacBook Pro families, these tough cases are available in a variety of colours and, more importantly, shine like freshly-buffed naked carbon fibre! They’re just made from plastic (at least, polycarbonate), and are available for all MacBook and MBP sizes from 13” right up to 17” models. Unfortunately, however, not the latest models with black keys, so only apply if you have a last-generation model (with the silver keys). Cut-outs ensure that you still have access to all the ports on the machine and that the CPU still has the cooling airflow it needs. Pricing: - 13” R399 - 15” R399 - 17” R449
Speck Satin Cover for aluminium MBP Yes, this one fits the newer Unibody MBPs with black keyboards, and although quite pricey the lovely soft feel of the strong protective casing is downright luxurious to run your fingers over. Unfortunately unlike the See-Thru versions these come in only two colours for the moment, but both are rather classy (red and black). The soft rubberised coating gives it that softness of touch as well as great grip, while the polycarbonate shell underneath is claimed to be shatterproof. Pricing: - 15” R799 82
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Speck See-Thru cover for 20” iMac In the same mould as the one for the mobile unit, this iMac See-Thru product is quick and easy to install and leaves all the salient openings you or your machine could need. It’s available in four colours, but is again somewhat limited in application, supporting only a new 20” iMac and nothing else. Still, they shine like crazy and leave your iMac undamaged upon removal thanks to the rubber buffers which fit between the casing and the system itself to prevent unsightly scratching. Pricing: R759
Moshi SoftFrame cover for iPhone 3G/3G S Shopandship.co.za has a huge and varied range of iPhone covers available, and you’re sure to find one to your taste here. Everything from pricey leather pockets to full hard cases, but we liked the Soft Frame the best, largely due to its budget pricing. And the fact that the covering for the screen is called “Magic Glass”. Cheesy, but good. Pricing: R169
Gelaskins Red Metal If you’re quite confident of being able to protect your phone, you just want something to stand out from the crowd with, the range of Gelaskin covers are what you need. We particularly liked this Red Metal theme, which even comes with its own matching wallpapers! The vinyl layer is “scratch-resistant” but really isn’t going to help if you drop the thing on bricks, but it certainly spices up the look nicely! Pricing: R 189
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hen this particular 15” MacBook Pro arrived at our offices courtesy of the Core Group, we were under the impression that it was one of the latest, newly-revised models just launched by Apple. But then when we were re-
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viewing it some things appeared a little off... Like the specs, for starters. Our review unit had the CPU from the previous generation 15” MBP, as well as the RAM capacity which has been doubled in the latest version, among other peculiarities. It was also vaguely shabby, and
features a “Y” key which occasionally leaps from its moorings and needs a firm shove to reseat as well as a lightly scuffed Unibody chassis. So as it turns out, this is in fact a slightly older model, which has been in the hands of the country’s leading IT press for some months already, so we immediately got on the horn to the friendly PR team at Core for the latest incarnation, which to date still hasn’t been delivered. But then, nor has this MBP been taken back as yet, so I took the extended reviewing opportunity to get to know the machine bet-
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ter, and although stopping short of migrating all of my email accounts and the like to the Apple notebook, thought I’d try out life with a MBP as opposed to my severely bashed, battered, and mildly dysfunctional Toshiba Satellite. The MBP is just immediately appealing though. The coolness of the ally on every surface you touch, the tangible strength of its construction allowing liberties you wouldn’t normally take with a traditional plastic-based notebook, and the slim and undeniably elegant design all draw you in before you’ve even booted her up. Then the OS starts, Snow Leopard of course, and the seduction continues. I didn’t find it a case of “Oh my God this is just so supe-
rior to a PC” ripped through my brain in seconds. More a slow and steady sort of “Hmmm how about when I do this? Oh, that is rather nice isn’t it?”. And by this point, a month or so down the line, I can’t imagine being without the MBP any more... It really is the tiny things. I adore, for instance, being able to wipe all the clutter off the desktop when I’m writing by switching to the full-screen typing mode in Pages – a feature which anybody but another writer would no doubt scoff at and dismiss as meaningless fluff. I’m thrilled that shutting the lid actually invokes a hibernation mode, which is quick to wake from and doesn’t drain the battery excessively. Try that on a Windows PC, and you either end up with a machine which tries to but won’t restart from the dreaded Sleep state, or something which continues to operate and is soon radiating dangerous levels of heat from your laptop bag. Un-
long term mac til the battery gives in just a couple of hours later of course. Speaking of batteries, this machine doesn’t get the quoted, and insanely optimistic, 8 hours of battery life when you’re using it lightly, but probably could do more than the four and a half hours I consistently get from a full charge with intelligent, judiscious energy-saving tweaks (AirPort off, screen brightness down). It is however still streets ahead of PC-based notebooks, which may claim similar figures but will in reality go dead shortly after 2 hours have gone by, unless you invest in a bulky extended battery for your model. It’s enough to head out for a day of interviews without worrying about where you’re going to plug-in to constantly keep topping up your power source. I think, though, that what impressed me most of all, is the fact that we didn’t pick up on the fact that this Mac Action
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long term mac was an older model right out the box. Take a generation-old PC notebook and boot it, and you’ll immediately notice that the performance isn’t quite up to scratch. The MBP runs all of its software flawlessly, and commendably quickly, despite the modestly lesspotent CPU and limited RAM. Gripes and foibles? Yes, I have a few of course. But they’re so insignificant, well you decide. My properly hardcore techie group of friends think I’ve gone soft in the head, for starters. Hardly the machine’s fault that one. Second, when the Mac has an issue with something (in my example, copying files from its desktop to my shared Windows 7 machine over the LAN), its decision is absolute. No begging, pleading, or cajoling will get you around the problem. No alternative solutions are offered. It merely persists in in86
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forming you that it can’t or won’t perform the operation, for some unspecified but clearly very serious – and in fact inescapable reason. A PC will let you try to fiddle about and fix things. Sometimes these alternatives won’t work, so then you just download some other piece of software and try that route. Or you hack the registry to temporarily circumvent the issue. Or something. Sometimes the solutions won’t work, but as a PC power user you can almost always find ways around roadblocks like these. Perhaps with a bit more time beneath my belt with a Mac, I’d reach the same level of course – I have been a PC user for 25 years after all! And finally, some DivX-encoded video files just won’t render properly in the QuickTime player, even with the right codec packages installed. Nor have I found an option to manually load a separate subs
file in this player – something of a problem if you’re watching obscure foreign films. So the short of it is, I still stick with my PC for general entertainment, gaming, and emailing (but only because one day soon, Core is going to call up and demand this MBP back!). My notebook is largely inert these days though, and even when I’m sitting in front of my PC I pop the MBP on my lap and use it when it’s time to actually write some copy. Oh one more thing. Like driving around in a nice car, you do appreciate the comments from colleagues, clients, and swanky corporate bosses about how you have “Such a lovely machine” with “So bright and crisp a display”... The feel good factor is, in fact, quite immense. So, no Core, you can’t have my baby back! How will I work?!
Staff Macs Steve’s Macbook
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h dear. This month the little white MacBook died. Well not the MacBook per se but OS X. You see I’ve become so used to the reliability of OS X that I’ve become a bit cavalier when it comes to review software. I asked Kyle to install a beta version of an anti virus application for a review. I know
What was so ironic about the whole affair is that the application we installed is an application specifically designed to protect the computer. Anyway, Kyle installed the software and immediately noticed that the performance of the computer became incredibly sluggish to the point that it was virtually unusable. It was a Beta version
alarm bells should have been ringing just hearing the word “beta” but as I said, I am just too used to the reliability of the Mac, I mean you can’t crash OS X can you? Well, it would appear that you can.
after all so I set about uninstalling the offending application and that’s when it all went wrong. The little MacBook simply stopped responding and ignored all inputs from the trackpad and keyboard, even plug-
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ging in an external mouse helped not a jot. After about an hour I did exactly what any normal computer user would do, I switched it off and then back on again. That as they say, was that, OS X refused to start up and so I repeated the process several times. I should point out that I am a reasonably patient person and I did wait about half an hour each time before trying again. So, the next step was to insert the OS X DVD and boot from that which worked no problem and oh how I appreciate Time Machine.
Of course, the other interesting thing was the release of Snow Leopard, which has been a mixed blessing all in all. The minute I got home from the launch, I put the DVD in and started the upgrade process, which went without a hitch. At first you don’t really notice much difference but that there are several new features that I am still discovering, all fairly small but nevertheless very useful. What was interesting was the huge amount of extra space available on the hard drive after the installation. Apple did say that
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the upgrade would recover some extra gigs but on my Mackbook, I got back almost double the amount of space than Apple had predicted. The mixed blessing comes from the fact that some applications didn’t work after the upgrade, some requiring a re-install and others needing an update to be downloaded. All in all, now that I’ve sorted out all of the problems, I’m well chuffed with Snow Leopard.
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Kyle’s MacBook Pro
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y MacBook arrived on a Friday in a plain brown box, quite underwhelming considering the sophisticated product inside. Once you get past the rather questionable outer packaging however, the box inside is much more impressive. The inner box is almost nice enough to use as your laptop case, I said almost. At the end of the day it’s still just a cardboard box. Better still, the unibody inside the box is fabulously good looking, so much so I have no choice but to refer to the unibody in the feminine from now on. Despite both Russell and Steve attempting to liberate my unibody in one way or another, I was able to get my paws on her eventually. I say eventually because unfortunately there was a two week wait between order payment and delivery. A certain Apple importer was out of stock. Anyway, water under the bridge be-
cause I can certainly say it was worth the wait. Setting up a Mac is a fairly quick and easy process which is a very good thing because I’m sure we all agree that when getting a new toy, sitting around endlessly setting time zones and passwords isn’t what you paid for. Once the set up was done there were still the obligatory few downloads needed. Quicktime doesn’t natively play AVI’s so I needed Flip4Mac as a plugin, fortunately Steve already had it downloaded. I also installed iWork and Toast just to get me started. After I had everything that I needed (for now) installed, I could get to actually using my new MacBook.
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One of the first things I have come to appreciate in the new MacBook is the trackpad, up until now my only exposure to a MacBook has been Steve’s. With tracking speed set the same (7/10 on the scroll bar) on each my trackpad just seems so
much more fluid. I really couldn’t go back to using the older trackpad after using this one. Then there is the picture quality, it’s just stunning. That’s not to say that this is a new trend, any Mac product has excellent picture quality but maybe its just that this is my Mac-
Book that makes it all the more amazing. I watched a few AVI movies, purely for the purposes of testing the picture quality of course, and quickly confirmed my initial take on the screen. Excellent. I spend a lot of my free time at home g a m ing on a desktop PC, so it was inevitable that I would try to get some gaming done on the MacBook. The graphics chip is an Nvidia 9400M with 256 MB of RAM shared with system RAM. Now I am an AMD supporter but will admit that Nvidia at the moment is making the best single-core high end GPU’s. Thats exactly why I am wary of the low end
long term mac 9400 M, why bother with the low end when Nvidia are dominating the highend market and making buckets of cash as a result. I tried out Sim City 4 and Colin Mcrae Rally for Mac to test my theory, surprisingly Sim City was a bit jerky but Colin Mcrae was smooth. I would have expected Sim City to be the smoother but was wrong. So the little 9400M seems to be handling itself well so far but could definitely do with some dedicated RAM. I couldn’t be more happy with the performance and look of the unibody so far, but that’s after a few days. It remains to be seen if the shiny unibody will be able to stay so clean and good looking with extended use in dusty South Africa. On the graphics front I am hoping to get Parallels running to get some more intensive games running to really test the 9400 M, or I could relent and go the Boot Camp route. Mac Action
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gaming: guitar hero 3
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have never been a big fan of rhythm games, the reason for this is twofold. Firstly, I have no rhythm which makes any game of this nature more like a button mashing fighting game than a fast flowing and smooth experience. Secondly there is the entire concept, this genre really is the party genre, you and some friends get drunk and spend the evening trying in vain to nail the right combination of buttons whilst making absolute fools of yourselves. Now don’t get me wrong, that can be a whole lot of fun but when a game’s entire system is based on hand 92
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eye coordination, seeing double during play presents some obvious problems. That said, despite these hurdles Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock is fun sober or not. Legends of Rock can be quite a frustrating game, to get the most out of it does require quite a deft touch and copious amounts of practice, which probably won’t be a problem for seasoned veterans, but I struggled. Remember that games are supposed to be fun. Yes challenge is a good thing but if the challenge becomes
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gaming: guitar hero 3 frustrating then the fun stops. If you do keep trying you will however improve and have more fun which I think is a good and bad thing. Games should be fun if you are brilliant or terrible, some songs I just couldn’t handle and therefore got no enjoyment out of. On the other hand if you do get to grips with a song that you love, Legends of Rock is genuinely awesome.
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gaming: guitar hero 3
Difficulty aside, Legends of Rock has a decent selection of music with over seventy tracks, there are additional tracks available for download if you are a real fanatic but the standard selection is strong enough for most purposes. The game itself is also fairly well trimmed with career and quick-play modes for online and offline play. In the career mode the more you play the more money you earn, this cash can in turn be used to outfit your character with new wardrobe and equipment. Entirely pointless because when actually playing the game 94
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your time will be completely devoted to staring at the sequence of coloured keys, not admiring the new look of your character. There are however songs and videos to purchase which is a nice feature. The core gameplay then is what is important, and on this front nothing has changed from previous Guitar Hero titles. It still looks and feels the same as all previous rhythm games out there, so if you have and enjoy them you will like Legends of Rock. The only difference is the new selection of songs that you will be completely unable to play
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gaming: guitar hero 3
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gaming: guitar hero 3
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without hours of practice. I did have a few gripes with the game, most notably the controller itself. I am a southpaw, and whilst there is the option to use the guitar left-handed, it was clearly designed for right-handers. The guitar just doesn’t sit comfortably on my lap, its fine standing up but I don’t play games to spend my time standing up for hours. Then there is the strumming bar, which squeaks and clunks every time you strum a key,
gaming: guitar hero 3
its annoying. If you’ve got surround sound pumping at full volume at a party the plastic squeaking isn’t an issue but I first played on my 13 inch MacBook Pro in the office and was rather disappointed with this.
amounts of liquor in your system. Either way it is fun, not legendary but still excellent. Kyle Stone
Price: R999 Supplier: Phoenix At the end of the day Guitar Software Hero III Legends of Rock is a good way to waste time honing useless skills, the very essence of gaming. Verdict Does it make you feel like 7/10 like a rock legend, it can but that might have something to do with the vast
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