mac-news

Syrinx 1.3.1 avaliable for free download

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:51:16 +0100

Now you guys that all know me is that i don't have a mac,but wait my freind has a mac and he has a twitter and he downloaded this just todayit is called Syrinx it is now a free twitter client for mac ,kinda like Twitterific and Twhirl(which i use)but i think it is a good application and i defintly recomned it to someone witha mac and a twittter account,and i also put the download link down at the bottom in case you want to download it,thnaks for reading it bye:)

MRR Software has updated its twitter customization application for Mac, Syrinx, to version 1.3.1 The new release fixes a couple of issues bugging users since the 1.3.0 launch.

More particularly, MRR Software has been able to resolve an issue where some international users could not retrieve their timelines. Keen on patching other user-reported holes, the team of developers also fixed a problem where showing the conversation on a reply to a user they didn't follow would lead to an invalid website.

With Syrinx, new tweets are colored according to the customizable bookmark coloring, upon their arrival. They are also accompanied by a sound (if one wishes), while the number of bookmarked tweets is badged on the dock icon. The searching capabilities of the utility allow the user to look for specific tweets, or to see if their names have come up in a certain context.

New tweets get pulled down (so they don't miss a thing), but they won't fly away until the users are ready to resume the read. Moreover, they can hit the spacebar to advance the bookmark one tweet at a time, use Enter / Return to reply to the currently selected tweet, while all the other popular actions are bound to the keyboard.

However, since customization is the focus with Syrinx, the tool offers several built-in themes, such as Apple, Dragobah, Hoth, Tatooine, Yavin, and, of course, a Custom theme, while letting individuals change their timeline background colors, their own status background, and the bookmark color. Users can choose a system sound to notify them when new tweets have arrived, and they can tell Syrinx how often to check for updates.

Note that Twitter lowers the rate limits when the servers become overwhelmed, or during heavy load periods. As such, Syrinx includes a useful option to dynamically adjust its request rate to stay under any request limit, while the application will automatically space out one's remaining requests.

Syrinx requires Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) to run, and is a Universal Binary. Download the software using the link below.

Download Syrinx (Free)

Google releases Picasa for Mac beta

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:31:27 +0100

Google on Monday afternoon released a public beta of its Picasa for Mac desktop software for organizing, editing, and uploading photos. The software, which runs on Intel Macs with OS X 10.4 or later, marks the first time that Picasa has been offered for the Mac (it joins the Windows and Linux versions already available).

The free Picasa software is designed to help you organize your photos, regardless of where they reside on your computer. It imports (without moving or copying) photos from your iPhoto library and other folders on your Mac, including external hard drives if so desired (it's designed not to affect your iPhoto library, duplicating files as needed). It also includes many editing tools, such as those for straightening, text generation, create collages, and removing red eye, as well as Photoshop-like effects and adjustments.

"We want to make it very easy for people to make their photos look better," said Jason Cook, product marketing manager for Picasa, in a phone briefing with Macworld.

Picasa includes a collage feature that lets you combine multiple images into one.

Picasa for Mac also integrates with Google's Picasa Web Albums online photo-sharing service, which Mac users have had access to previously using Google's iPhoto plug-in or the standalone uploader application. Using Picasa, you can keep local and online photos in sync and share photos easily with those in a Gmail address book. (Picasa Web Albums provides 1GB of free online storage, and you upgrade to more space, starting at $20 a year for 10GB, to share between a Gmail and Picasa Web Albums account).

"There are millions of Mac users using Picasa Web Albums," said Cook. "This makes their experience a whole lot better."

The Effects tab offers several Photoshop-like tweaks for your photos.

Picasa includes many other features, such as a slideshow movie maker with one-click YouTube uploading, and the ability to post to Blogger pages. For the initial beta, Google says it focused on matching the speed and most of the core features of the Windows version, and will refine the interface and improve the feature set in the future. Currently, the Mac beta lacks geotagging features and the ability to order prints from online services.

Picasa for Mac will be demoed at Google's booth at Macworld Expo this week.

Mac Most Reliable

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:06:07 +0100

Apple Inc.'s computers are the most reliable and its support the most dependable of the five top vendors, a national chain of computer service shops said today.

Macs beat machines built and sold by Lenovo Group Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Co., Gateway Inc. and Dell Inc., according to Rescuecom Corp.'s second annual reliability report. Apple, which took the second spot last year, blew away the competition this year by posting a score of 51% higher than next-best Lenovo.

To come up with its scores, Rescuecom compared the percentage of each company's support calls with its market share, said Rescuecom CEO David Milman. The greater the difference, the higher the score, and the better the hardware and follow-up OEM support. Apple, for example, received the highest score because Macsmade up only 1.4% of all calls to Rescuecom, even though its estimated market share was 5% for the year. Dell machines, on the other hand, accounted for 34.5% of all Rescuecom's incoming calls, which was higher than the company's 32.3% market share.

"It takes into account not just the quality and reliability of the equipment," said Milman, "but also the quality of service." The two are equally important, he said. "If a user is calling Rescuecom, that means they've abandoned the manufacturer's own support."

Apple led the five vendors with a score of 347, followed by Lenovo/IBM (236), HP (126), Gateway (103) and Dell (94).

"Apple's score tells me that it has both great quality control and great support in place," said Milman. "And that Apple is taking care of its customers though its internal support channel." Unlike the other four vendors, Apple has its own retail chain, whose stores are manned with customer support personnel, dubbed Apple Geniuses.

Dell, on the other hand, is now at the bottom of Rescuecom's scoring system, having slipped from last year's fourth place to fifth this year. "Dell faces some challenges to deliver quality products and quality services," said Milman. "The probability is certainly higher that a customer will have problems with a Dell than with an HP or a Lenovo [computer]."

Dell has had problems meeting customer demand for some laptops, and has seen its once high-flying service and support reputation drop. In August, for instance, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI), a barometer of customer satisfaction produced at the University of Michigan, pegged Dell's score as down four points from the previous year.

"Dell isn't going anywhere," said Milman. "They still have good machines. But over the long run, you're more likely to have a problem with Dell."

In the same ASCI of August, Apple scored 79, the highest among the seven makers and/or computer lines, but like Dell, also down four points from 2006.

Apple Releases Firmware Updates for Latest MacBooks

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 01:12:39 +0100

Apple has released firmware updates for the latest MacBooks via its Software Update utility and on the Web. This includes EFI and SMC firmware updates for the late 2008 MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. According to the company, the EFI firmware updates improve the overall stability of each model. The SMC firmware updates improve the sensing and accuracy of the MagSafe Power Adapter indicator light, and the battery charge indicator lights.

Microsoft Releases Office 2008 and 2004 for Mac Updates

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 01:11:51 +0100

Microsoft today released updates for Office 2008 and 2004 for Mac. According to the company, the Microsoft Office 2008 12.1.5 Update contains several improvements to enhance stability, compatibility and performance. In addition, this update includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code. More information about this update can be found here.

The Microsoft Office 2004 11.5.3 Update contains several improvements to enhance stability and performance. It also includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code. More information about this particular update can be found here.