Google releases new SketchUp: a new second life?

A few weeks ago, Google announced it was buying a small company called @Last Software. The main product of this company, a 3D modeler system called SketchUp, is now being released to the public by Google.

SketchUp allow users to create powerful 3D models for designing or just recreative purposes. It allows the composition of 3D models from simple primitives. And the more interesting feature is: you can upload 3D models to Google earth, and allow others to visualize your creation.

In a sense, Google earth is getting a little closer to what games such as second life already do: creating virtual worlds, and allowing people to visit your creations instantaneously.

To get a better picture of what is going on, download SketchUp, it is freely available. If you're more adventurous, get a license for the Pro Version and start building a commercial world!

Link from Google Blog

Technorati Tags: computers, Google, web 2.0

A preview of Leopard

Microsoft cannot release its operating system on time, but Apple is always beating the clock in this area: Leopard is now close to completion, and early views of the systems are starting to be schedule.

If you want to see personally the new features of the new incarnation of Mac OS X, you should consider to be part of the next Worldwide Developers Conference 2006, promoted by Apple. According to the company:

With more than 120 sessions planned across five technology tracks, WWDC 2006 will cover the full spectrum of Mac technology. In each track you'll find practical sessions, delivered by Apple engineers, that show how to take advantage of current technologies in Tiger, and how to get ready for what's coming in Leopard. The five session tracks are:

Application Technologies
Graphics and Media
Development Tools
OS Foundations
Information Technologies


It looks a great opportunity to see the future of the Mac operating system.

Link

Technorati Tags: Apple, Mac, computers

Buy an iMac G5 for only $999

The Apple Store has a special deal on refurbished iMac G5's for a limited time. You can get a Apple Certified Refurbished 17-Inch iMac G5 with 1.9 GHz processor with the built-in iSight Camera, now only $999!! Check it here.


Link

Technorati Tags: Apple, Mac, computers

Apple releases Intel based 17" macBook

The new Intel based laptops have become a huge success, by incorporating the latest technological advances of the Intel based duo core processors, along with the well known Apple design. The result is a powerful laptop with excellent usability features.

Apple is now giving more reasons for laptop users to stay happy: the new Intel based 17 inches macBook has been just released from the Apple store. As in the previous version, the new laptops come with a 2.16GHz core duo Intel processor, the new power cord designed by Apple, and iLife 2006.

Link

Technorati Tags: Apple, Laptop, Mac

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Apple in the News for Friday April 21 15:59 PM

NEWS From digg.com;

EA will be at E3 this year

Cause we all know if Leopard is big news for the August Mac Dev conference, then this is just as big.
Link

Parallels Beta 4 for the Mac OS ... FULL SCREEN SUPPORT

Lots of fixes, the best of which being full screen support. If you need to play games on a macbook, use bootcamp .... otherwise parallels kicks.
Link

OS X First Aid

With this guide to OS X first aid by your side, you'll be able to quickly resolve the most-common Mac problems: freezes, crashes, startup woes, and kernel panics.
Link

Apple's Safari showing major growth amongst browsers

The popularity of Apple Computer's Safari Web browser continues grow at a noticeable pace this year, with recent market share figures pointing to an over 75 percent increase in usage over the past twelve months.
Link

Technorati Tags:
Apple, Mac, iPod

Apple in the News for Friday April 21 14:59 PM

NEWS From digg.com;

Mac OS X wallpapers for other operating systems

Here some Mac OS X wallpapers that you can use on other operating systems.
Link

Burst.com countersues Apple

Burst.com, seemingly content to sue larger companies over patents from the glory days, has filed suit against Apple. Ars dives in deep as usual and gives a lowdown on the whole Burst story so far.
Link

Apple Send's Bloggers to the "Asteroids"

It turns out the folks at Apple Corp are not very happy with certain anonymous bloggers because they published details of a new product called "Asteroids".
Link

Mac Open Source Tracking Now at 35,000+ projects

MacTech announced that the MacForge open source index site has surpassed 35,000 projects that run on the Mac, or are likely to run on the Mac.
Link

Technorati Tags:
Apple, Mac, iPod

Apple in the News for Friday April 21 13:59 PM

NEWS From digg.com;

Burst.com Sues Apple

The company alleges that Apple infringed on four patents for its iTunes jukebox application, QuickTime products, and the iPod. Burst.com is seeking an injunction to prevent further infringement and royalties from Apple's use of the technology.
Link

iPorn ad, get it while it's hot.

I thought it was semi-funny...an iPod-esque "porn" ad.
Link

Product Placement

One of the best product placements I have seen
Link

Apple Removes (apple) Logo From iTunes

Because the Beatles are claiming that iTunes is violating a 1991 contract that prohibited Apple from using the name "apple" or an apple logo in connection with any music distribution.
Link

Technorati Tags:
Apple, Mac, iPod

Apple in the News for Friday April 21 12:59 PM

NEWS From digg.com;

First part of huge iPod speaker test released.

As iPod speaker systems become as ubiquitous as the iPod itself, we thought it would be a good time to take a closer look at a few of the systems that have been flooding the market recently. In this first installation of our two-part guide, we included smaller, portable systems that are perfect for the office, the beach, or general globe-trotting.
Link

DIY: Grab music from another computer with your iPod

Your iPod is a hard drive as well as an MP3 player. If you need to, say, move your music from one computer to another, simply use your iPod. Here's how.
Link

iPod's growth is waning, but Mac computer shares are improving

A survey conducted by Cowen & Co. indicates that iPod sales, while expected to remain dominant, are approaching their peak, whereas Mac computer sales are on the rise, with potential Apple laptop purchases seeing a particularly strong showing among prospective buyers looking for a new computer.
Link

Apple Sends Bloggers to the Asteroids

It turns out the folks at Apple Computer Inc. are not very happy with certain anonymous bloggers because they published details of a new product called "Asteroids".
Link

Technorati Tags:
Apple, Mac, iPod

Apple in the News for Wednesday April 19 00:38 AM

NEWS From digg.com;

Apple releases Bonjour for Windows 1.0.3

Apple has released Bonjour for Windows 1.0.3. Bonjour, also known as zero-configuration networking, enables automatic discovery of computers, devices, and services on IP networks. Bonjour uses industry standard IP protocols to allow devices to automatically discover each other without the need to enter IP addresses or configure DNS servers.
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Why Mac Blows

Video of a guy who seems really pissed at apple.
Link

Mac Store in Abu Dhabi

Apparently it opened today so it's really brand new. They had Windows XP running on a MacBook Pro.
Link

The Top 10 Mac Apps ???

Om Malik rcently published a list of the Top 10 Mac Applications. First off ... none of them were essential. Second, none of them were revolutionary. In fact, two of them may cause severe problems on your Mac. Here is a list of truly indispensable mac applications ... there's no way you can disagree.
Link

Technorati Tags:
Apple, Mac, iPod

Multiple boot option in an Apple MacIntosh

If you have a new Intel Mac, you probably think that installing other operating systems is a great possibility. Using the x86 architecture has allowed Apple Macs to run other operating systems that where not possible with PowerPC processors. Among them are Linux and Windows, but since Linux was available anyway by the use of specialized distributions, installing windows is one of the main attraction of the Intel based Macs.

With the introduction of BootCamp, Apple is trying to make easier the life of the people that really want to run Windows software. Bootcamp is a simple software, but it takes important steps during the boot process. It need to determine what types of operating systems you have available, where they are installed, and how to perform the initialization sequence for each OS.

Learning the options available for BootCamp may be overwhelming if you don't have any previous knowledge in multi-boot systems (such as the ones available for Linux). To make user's life a little easier, some guys have created a nice wiki web page. There you can find detailed information, along with some tips that are not available in the official documentation from Apple.

Running Windows in a Mac may not be the thing to do, but it is fun anyway, and it just shows how much many things are possible with the new macs. It is time to give a try to book camp, and see for yourself if it fits your needs or not.

Link

Technorati Tags: Apple, Mac, photography

Apple news for April 17

Latest news:

EvolutionTV DVR for OSX Video Review: A new USB TV Tuner/DVR for OS X.

Apple Lawsuit Could Define Cyber 'Journalists' : Apple case may define this new category of Internet workers.

What Apple's Boot Camp Means to Gamers: Predictions of the new gaming scenario for Mac OS X.

cedega for OS X: A petition for porting cedega (wine gaming) for Mac OS X.

Triple Boot via BootCamp: A tutorial of booting with BootCamp

Technorati Tags: Apple, Computers, Entertainment, News, Mac, software

Aperture: New photography software from Apple

If you work with photography and wants to achieve professional results with a normal equipment, you should consider Aperture. Aperture is a new software from Apple that allows photographers (professional or not) to take full control of their creations.

By allowing access to the original formats of the pictures (instead of working only with jpeg or related formats), Aperture gives full control of features such as color, luminescence, focus, and other features that can be modified by software.

Aperture offers everything that professional photography packages provide, but it is very easy to use, in the full tradition of Apple Macintosh software. It also sell for much less than normal packages for photography, so I think that Aperture is a gift from Apple to the photography community. It is an essential part of the "tools of the trade".



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Technorati Tags: Apple, photography, software

Color picker application for Mac OS X

Color picking is a function frequently needed by web designers and people working with graphical software in general.

Instead of spending money and time installing any additional software to do this, consider using the color picker embedded in the Mac OS X. It is flexible and allow you to use a full range of features, that would otherwise only be available in especialised software.

A good way to use the color picker as a separate application is described by Mac OS X hints:

Simply fire up AppleScript (Applications -> AppleScript Editor) and enter this text:
choose color
Now, save it as an application (File -> Save As, and set the File Format pop-up to Application), and you're done! I copied the icon from the Digital Color Meter onto it to pretty it up. Add in the free HEXColorPicker from Lucky Software, and you've got everything a web developer might need to pick colors in any app.

Link

Technorati Tags: Apple, software

A comparison of browsers for Mac OS X

A recent article by Apple links provides a nice review of the major web browsers available for the Apple Mac OS X platform. The browsers reviewed, in order of their rating, are:

• Opera 8.0.2
• Shiira: a new web browser based on webkit
• Firefox
• Safari 2.0
• Mozilla 1.7.11
• Omniweb
• Camino
• iCab
• IE 5.2

I agree that Opera is really a good browser, but don't think it is as good as Firefox and Safari. On the other hand, I look the look and feel of Safari, and in my opinion it is the best browser, with the only caveat that a few web 2.0 do not work very well with it.

What do you think of this classification? Leave your thoughts bellow!

Link from Apple links

Technorati Tags: Apple, software