Making you old mac run a little faster

Macs are fantastic machines, but sometimes they also have their performance problems. I have my Mac running well for years, day and night, and it has been pretty capable to handle the load.

There are times, however, when you want to improve the performance of you system. If that is the case, it is interesting to check possible areas where you could get extra performance of your old Mac box.

I have a handy list of things to look for in my Mac from time to time. I run through this list to make sure that I get the best performance of my machine, and that Mac OS X keeps running fine. Here are some of my tips:

• Take notice of the programs you are installing in the background. Mac OS X is highly reliable, but there are some programs that keep running in the background, and therefore take resources that should be made available to other programs. For example, I used to have small Java-based utilities installed. They can be very nice, but also take their toll from you processor. Nowadays, I prefer to remove any background program that is not doing anything used in my system.
• Install latest updates. This is hard not to do, but am lazy enough to dismiss the Mac OS X update screen when it pops up. Of course, it will be there the next day, so it is better to do updates the first time they come.
• Avoid multiple programs to do the same thing: I used to have multiple IM programs (now I mostly use Adium. Also, I used to have multiple browsers opened at the same time (Firefox, Safari, and Opera are my preferred). Now, I decided to use only Safari as my main browser. This both simplifies my life and uses less resources of my machine.

In summary, I am pretty happy with the speed and great performance of my Mac. However, I learned with time to make better use of the system resources, so I don't have to wait more than I really want to. This way, I can also spend more time with the programs that I like, such as iTunes, iDVD...

New details on the iPhone appear on Apple webpage

Amid the large excitement about the launch of the iPhone next week, Apple is delievering a few more pieces of information on its web site.
The new information shows additional images of the cell phone, along with improved videos showing its functionality.
As was publicized yesterday, the iPhone will have direct access to iTube videos, which will make it even more attractive for web surfers that are used to view the newest videos on their computers.
There are still very few confirmed facts about the launch of the iPhone, except the release date. The media is busy trying to get additional information from Apple, and it will be interesting to watch what is gonna happen in the next few days.

Youtube and iPhone: a great combination

The Youtube success has generated a lot of press in the last months. Nowadays, Youtube is a force in several areas of online collaboration, going from marketing campaigns to even politics.
Apple also wants to take part of the Youtube scene. First, they decided to integrate Youtube with the AppleTV, in a new try to conquer the living room.
The latest news on the attempt of integration with Youtube has been released this morning. Apple is saying that they will integrate Youtube with the iPhone.
This shows at least two things
Apple is in great relationship with Google. And this looks great for both companies, since they have offers that complement each other (despite the small areas in which they have overlapping strategies)
The Youtube phenomenon can probably move to the mobile phone, where it can get even more viral. The iPhone can well be the platform that will allow even more widespread distribution of small videos created by the Youtube users.
So this seems great for everyone involved, and probably users and investors will take notice.