mac

Owners of Apple MacBook Pro notebooks with 7200rpm 500GB hard drives have been complaining for months of clicking sounds followed by temporary stalling. According to Apple, a fix is in the works.

"We are aware of the issue and are working on a software update," Apple representative Bill Evans, told CNET News on Monday. He gave no time frame for the release of the software update.

People have been reporting that they hear a beep from the computer shortly before the hard drive clicks and then the computer stops responding. The computer is unresponsive for 10 seconds or … Read more

As an integral part of the Mac OS X interface from the beginning, all Mac users know the Dock is where people can launch their most-used software and check to see which programs are currently running. I always find it interesting to see how people use the Dock on their Macs because its inherent flexibility makes it something personal for every user. Everyone has a specific way they work or play, and the Dock is easily customized to fit each person's style.

A program I discovered today makes the Dock in Leopard even more flexible and customizable for the … Read more

If a top-notch customer support program is high on your list of features when buying a new computer, you should be looking at a Mac, according to a new ranking.

Laptop magazine's Tech Support Showdown 2009 rates 10 computer companies' tech support, with Apple coming out the overall winner. Apple's overall grade for 2009 was an "A," scoring an "A" for both phone and Web support.

"Apple has consistently offered some of the best Web and phone support of any computer vendor, and this year was no different," the magazine said in … Read more

Need to run Windows on your Mac? Check out VirtualBox, a free virtualization software that lets you run Windows or just about any operating system without the need to reboot. Handy wizards help you through the setup process so you can set up multiple environments to suit your needs. Note: you'll need the full version of the operating system you want to install in order to run it in the virtual environment.

Also this week we have the latest version of Mactracker, the comprehensive searchable database for almost every Mac product ever made. Our game this week is Turret Wars Retro, … Read more

Apple on Wednesday issued a security update that fixes 18 vulnerabilities including several that put computers running Mac OS X at risk of remote code execution if a maliciously crafted image is viewed.

In addition to fixing a problem with how PNG images are handled, Security Update 2009-003 fixes issues related to ImageIO's handling of OpenEXR images, EXIF metadata, as well as Canon RAW images and images with an embedded ColorSync profile.

The update, which arrives as part of the release of Mac OS X v10.5.8, extends the list of content types the Mac OS X will … Read more

Apple released an update to its operating system Wednesday, version 10.5.8.

The update is said to fix issues related to compatibility and reliability when trying to connect a Mac to an AirPort network, as well as restore Display System Preferences, and Bluetooth reliability. The latter will likely bring a sigh of relief to users who have complained of their Bluetooth keyboard or mouse periodically disconnecting from their Macs.

Also included in the update: an upgrade to Safari 4.0.2, with improved accuracy of search history; a fix for importing large photo and movie files from cameras; better … Read more

Hardly a day goes by without some form of feverish speculation gripping the Web about the existence of a tablet computing device from Apple. While most of these echo-chamber blog posts are fact-free excursions into wild speculation, the general zeitgeist points to a possibly 10-inch device that may cost $699-$799, and be released either in September, November, or sometime next year--perhaps on the heels of the similar-sounding CrunchPad tablet.

According to Barrons , an anonymous analyst who claims to have had some hands-on time with a prototype would specifically say only, "It's better than the average movie experience, … Read more

Apple developer IDFusion on Monday is launching Bodega, an application that brings a Mac App Store to users' desktops.

Bodega is intended to do for Mac software applications what Apple's App Store did for the iPhone--give users a place to purchase and download applications. The store kicks off with 150 applications, and IDFusion said it will be quickly adding more apps.

In an interview with CNET, Phil Letourneau, the user interface designer for Bodega, said that IDFusion is trying to learn from the mistakes that Apple made with the iPhone App Store.

For instance, Apple has been heavily criticized … Read more

Can a product's value be measured by how much its developers improve it over time? If so, that metric would not have positive implications for the Apple TV.

Apple quietly updated its Time Capsule storage device Thursday. The high-end model will now retail for $499 and allow up to 2TB of storage. The low-end model with 1TB of storage will now retail for $299.

It's a nice upgrade. And it follows a list of several updates Apple has made in recent months to many of its products, including the iPhone, MacBook, and MacBook Pro. Apple is even preparing for its new operating system, Snow Leopard, which is slated for release in September.

But the company has yet to release a major upgrade to its Apple TV. Granted, Apple has updated the device's software on multiple occasions, but where's the new, major hardware update?

For almost a year now, we've been hearing about impending refreshes to the Apple TV.

In September, reports suggested that an Apple TV update featuring anything from a "Mac Mini/Apple TV" hybrid to something related to HDTVs was imminent. Nothing of the sort was ever announced.

In February, reporters found a survey that Apple conducted asking Apple TV owners how they were watching video on the device. It also asked them what they would change about the set-top box. That survey vanished from Apple's Web site. And once again, no major updates were released.… Read more