Gestures based actions are becoming increasingly commonplace in the Digital Age in which we live, and although a trackpad here, or a touchscreen there tends to help the job move along seamlessly, hardware manufacturers are constantly looking at ways to test the boundaries. In light of the success of 3D gestures in products such as Microsoft's Xbox Kinect peripheral, a string of start-ups and established companies have looked to apply that same motif to computers, and Leap Motion's soon-to-be-released offering not only looks amazing, but at $80, is certainly priced at the kind of bracket most can agree with.
For years, PC users have figured out ways to modify OS X in order to run it on regular non-Apple-designed machines. According to a video published on YouTube, a Microsoft Surface Pro user has managed to install Apple’s newest operating system on the newly-released Microsoft PC device.
The long-awaited release of iTunes 11 ran fairly smoothly for Apple towards the close of last year, and although the completely overhauled UI does take a bit of getting used to, it would seem as though the vast majority of users have now managed to adapt. Following on from the hurried release of iTunes 11.0.1 to alleviate a bunch of teething issues back in December, Apple has just released iTunes 11.0.2 which, among a bunch of bug fixes, also adds a new Composer view, and improves playlist responses.
Apple produces some of the best keyboards on the market. It's something I have discussed at length with others whom spend much of their lives typing, and in terms of key spacing and layout, pressure of keys, adjustable backlight, and general efficiency, even hardcore PC evangelists have conceded that the keyboard is something the Cupertino company has worked down to a fine art. It would stand to reason, then, that we'd want to utilize this keyboard wherever possible, and software developer Eyal Weiner has clearly taken this on board with the development of 1Keyboard, which allows you to use your Mac's keyboard (and mouse / trackpad) with any Bluetooth device.
If you have been a loyal user of Skype, you have likely run into the hurdle of reaching a user when they are offline. While sending SMS messages often does the trick, sometimes a video message is just more convenient. The good news is that Skype has begun rolling out this feature in the form of an update for its Mac, iPhone and Android client, with support for other platforms such as Windows coming very soon.
If you've had an eye on the MacBook Pro with Retina display but have been waiting for Apple to lower its price points a little, then you'll be pleased to learn that today, the day has come. By means of a press release, the Cupertino has announced a few changes to its revered notebook lineup which also sees both the 13 and 15-inch models ship with faster processors, and the 256GB SSD variant of the 13-inch MacBook Air drop to just $1,499.
With the release of the iPhone 5, the iPad mini and a revamped iPad just in the last few months, some may think that Apple is slowly forgetting about the Mac. Despite all of the speculation, traffic from Macs running OS X 10.9, which has not yet been announced, has increased dramatically over the past few weeks, which strongly suggests that a Developer Preview might be just around the corner.
The news is perhaps about as predictable as when Call of Duty: Black Ops II swept past Halo 4 to take its usual position is market leader, but Windows 8 has - just three months after its initial release - surpassed Apple's OS X Mountain Lion in terms of market share. The Redmond company has seen a positive, if not overwhelming public response to its new operating system, and with many opting to upgrade online as opposed to purchasing a more expensive physical copy, the entire Windows process looks to be headed towards Apple's download-only direction.
If you are thinking of buying a laptop for a bargain price, you are likely not going to have much luck with Apple. Discounts on Apple products are scarce and often not too compelling, yet Best Buy is making an exception by selling MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros for up to $700 off, at least for the next 2 days.
We are almost into the end of the first month of the year, and if you are like me, every year you set out to be more productive than the year before, ending needless hours of watching useless online content. Apple is making it just a little bit easier to stick to the promise that you have made to yourself by offering some of the most popular productivity apps on the Mac App Store at a discounted rate in a promotional series known as Get Stuff Done.
