Macgasm

If you haven’t heard of iFixit yet, then you’ve probably been living under a bridge for the last couple of years. These guys put together tear-down manuals for every piece of new hardware released only days after Apple releases it. If you’ve ever taken a second to look at the innards of an iMac or MacBook Pro online, there’s a pretty good chance that the pictures came from the iFixit team. They’re currently sitting on repair manuals for 91 Mac models and 34 iPod models, with approximately 154,556 images and over 1,000 step by step repair guides. These guides are now free for the public to use, and are being released under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.

This makes me happy. Really, really happy.

We can only go so longer buying new machines hand over fist because of small break downs, until we run out of places to store these busted machines. Putting them on boats to Africa and China just isn’t an answer. Fixing the machines and extending their lifecycle is the answer, and the iFixit team realizes this. Giving the general public the tools and the replacement parts that they’d need to fix their machines is something I can get behind. So the next time your Mac Mini of iPod craps out on you, take a step back from the problem and figure out if you just need a replacement part instead of a whole new iPod.

Back in the late 1980s when the original Macintosh was all the rage, and government agencies were using the machines in their daily workflows, my father would bring home the computer from time to time. Sometimes he had work to do, and other times it was solely because I had asked him to. I was eight or nine around that time, and I’d have to say that that was probably my first foray into computers. It was pretty exciting being able to draw digitally on the computer.

Anyway, the times I came down stairs to see the giant blue carrying case sitting in the hallway were pretty exciting times for me. I often wondered why more people haven’t gotten into making carrying cases for the Macintosh lineup these days, but it seems like I’ve been mislead. Case Cruzer seems to have an entire lineup of carrying cases for the Apple lineup. They’re heftily priced, but if you’re in the market for a case that’s durable and would protect your pride and joy in the most tumultuous of moments then you might want to start your search here. The CaseCruzer website tosses the term “indestructible” around quite a bit, so we’re willing to bet that these things are pretty hardy.

It’s amazing just how portable an iMac is. We’ve been spoiled with the portability of laptops, but if you need a full fledge computer to take around to meetings, the iMac isn’t exactly a pain to cart around.

VNC is here to stay so you might as well pull up a chair and familiarize yourself with some options. There’s an arsenal of server tools available for Mac OS X and it’s only logical that Apple ponied up and gave us the ability to manage other Macs and Mac Severs with a VNC client. It’s also only logical that each mac would have a built in VNC server and a VNC client package that lets you maintain both your Apple and Non-Apple computers on a network. It’s symbiotic and I love it.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with what VNC is… well, it’s a technology that lets you share one computer desktop from another desktop.  Essentially you can see the remote desktop as if you were sitting right in front of that machine.  It’s a really handy tool, and I’d recommend you check it out if you haven’t as of yet.

Screen Sharing

The first of the three options is Screen Sharing. It would only make sense that we top off the list with Apple’s product, we are a Mac blog after all. Screen Sharing is one of those applications that is buried deep in the filesystem, but it’s likely that you’ve used it before if you’ve tried to connect to other systems in Finder’s sidebar. You can find it by going to ‘/System/Library/CoreServices/‘ tracking down Screen Sharing then dragging it to your sidebar. If you’re on a Mac only network then this baby is the only tool you’ll be needing in your arsenal. It’s streamlined, and it lets you get the job done. But, if you’re planning on administering any Windows Servers then you might need to forgo the Screen Sharing utility for one of the following two options. One of the best things about this particular application is that it lets you copy the remote clipboard (where the data goes when you copy/paste files) to the local machine so that you can manage certain things easily. I really wish we had the ability to copy and paste files across the machines by dragging and dropping files into the screen viewer but we don’t seem to be there yet.

Chicken of the VNC

Long before Apple’s Screen Sharing application existed there was a lone gunman on the scene and its name was Chicken of the VNC. I have no Idea why the heck they decided to use a name like Chicken of the VNC, but it’s a good thing that names aren’t indicative of the quality of an application. It’s pretty light weight, much like the Screen Sharing app, but it offers up a valuable alternative for those trying to connect to Windows servers. In my experience Chicken of the VNC has always been a little bit snappier over WAN connections, and over LAN ScreenSharing seems to be the quicker of the two. It could be coincidence, and it certainly could be a fabrication of my mind, but if I’m on the road and need to dial home to a server then Chicken of the VNC gets launched. You’ll want to do your own test, and I’d really love to hear if you have the same results as I have. Feel free to debunk it as myth, you won’t hurt my ego.

Remote Desktop Connection

If you’re primarily a Windows network with only a couple Macs kicking around for your marketing departments or stubborn design group then you’ll want to make sure they have access to Remote Desktop Connection. The program is designed by Microsoft to ensure that Macs can connect to a Windows server without a hitch. I’m surprised that they’ve even ventured down this road, but I’m really thankful that they have. It means less time cursing ScreenSharing’s poor Windows Server support, and that’s something we can all get behind.

So, as you can see, once again it’s about having the right tools for the right job, and when it comes to VNC you might find yourself relying on a handful of tools to accomplish the same thing, but on different architectures. You might be able to get away with relying on only one of these applications, but I’d be sure to have the others readily available, you never know when you’ll need something that’s not supported by your favourite VNC viewer.

Have I missed anything, or do you have an application that works better than these three? Sound off in the comments, I’d love it if I could cut back on the applications I’m using, and instead only carry one VNC client in my arsenal.

I am a nut for special features. I listen to every commentary track, watch every featurette, and chuckle at every gag reel. When I purchase a movie, the special features mean a lot to me. Up until recently, buying and downloading movies online meant no special features. When Apple introduced iTunes Extras, the scenery of the online marketplace changed. Now, buying online doesn’t leave movie nerds out in the cold.

So, I decided to buy the same movie on DVD and on iTunes. In this post I’ll compare the Director’s Cut of Terminator Salvation on DVD from Target for $22.99 and the Director’s Cut of Terminator Salvation from iTunes for $14.99.

DVD Breakdown

Features:

• Director’s Cut of Terminator Salvation
• Reforging the Future Featurette
• Four Behind the Scenes “Mini-Featurettes”
• Digital Copy of the Movie for Windows Media or iTunes
• Subtitles in English, French, and Spanish

Pros:

• Works with more players
• Includes some exclusive special features

Cons:

• Only available from Target
• Costs more
• Content broken up over two discs

iTunes Breakdown

Features

• Director’s Cut of Terminator Salvation
• Reforging the Future Featurette
• Moto-Terminator Featurette
• Episode One of Terminator Salvation: The Machinima Series
• Episode One of the Terminator Salvation Digital Comic

Pros:

• Available Instantly
• Costs Less
• Includes some exclusive special features

Cons:

• Only works with iTunes, AppleTVs, iPods, and iPhones

Summary

I would argue that, if you only plan on using Apple-branded devices to playback your content, iTunes is the way to go. However, the DVD offers playback on many more devices. Take a look at what pros and cons affect you the most, and make your own decision. I’m just glad we now have the choice.

Photo Credit: markhillary

With only one more weekend to do shopping until the major holiday of the season I thought I would give readers a list of some last minute gift ideas.

Gift Cards. I know there a vocal percentage of users who believe as though gift cards are an ‘impersonal’ gift. However, it is easier to get a gift card and allow the recipient to choose what they want, versus having to deal with the hassle of returning an item.

There are three different gift cards available from Apple: The first is an iTunes Gift Card. The ranges for the iTunes gift card are anywhere from $10 to $100 with a range of designs.

The second is the Apple store gift card. You can purchase a gift card ranging from $25 to $2500. You can order yours directly from Apple.

The final, and newest gift card design, is the iPhone gift card. These cards are NOT just for the iPhone, but can be used on an iPhone or on any Apple store item. It carries the same range of the generic Apple Gift card, $25 to $2500. You can get yours directly from Apple as well.

If you would rather allow your Apple user to choose an item, of their own, but not necessarily from Apple you can always purchase an Amazon Gift Card and allow them to receive their item tax free and get what they might need.

Other Gift Ideas:

Headphones. Everybody seems to always end up needing some earbuds for using all day or just around the house. I seem to go through headphones every three months because I use them so much.

Memory Cards. All of Apple’s newest laptops have an SD card reader. These are useful for the shutterbugs who love to take photos and those who want a way to have a backup of their important files.

Digital Picture Frames. Again, for the shutterbugs who want to show off their pictures or for those who want to show their relatives a rotating group of pictures.

Remember, this is the last weekend for holiday shopping.

[Download This Episode]

In this episode, we talk about getting friends and family to use Macs.

[02.7 MB] [00:08:10] [Hosted by: Josh Schnell & Grant Brunner] [Subscribe]

I wrote a six-part series of tips about how to make your holidays more cheery by using your Apple products. Here are all of the tips in one post for your convenience.

Cali Lewis, Geoff Smith, Paul Colligan, and Neal Campbell put together a 30-minute video of a yule log burning to the sweet sounds of Christmas music. They sell it in editions for your iPod, iPhone, Mac, and AppleTV for prices as low as $5. If that wasn’t cool enough, they also donate a portion of the profit to three different charities. For a very small price, you can do something nice for you, your family, and society on the whole. You can make everyone’s season brighter.

he easiest way to use your Mac to brighten up your holiday season is to change your wallpaper. If you’re a photographer, you can certainly use your own images as your background. In fact, I’d love to see them. Feel free to share them with us in the comments. But what do you do if you don’t have any Christmas-type photos lying around your hard drive? Use the Internet, silly!

Below are search results from Flickr and Google Image Search for Christmas wallpapers in common resolutions. If your specific resolution isn’t listed, just swap out the numbers to best fit your monitor.

Flickr Christmas Wallpapers 1024×768
Google Christmas Wallpapers 1024×768

Flickr Christmas Wallpapers 1440×900
Google Christmas Wallpapers 1440×900

Flickr Christmas Wallpapers 1680×1050
Google Christmas Wallpapers 1680×1050

Flickr Christmas Wallpapers 1600×1200
Google Christmas Wallpapers 1600×1200

Flickr Christmas Wallpapers 1920×1080
Google Christmas Wallpapers 1920×1080

If you’re in the mood to check out some cheery photos, you can view Flickr’s Christmas Slideshow. This will cycle through every photo on Flickr.com that is tagged with “Christmas.”

If you want some Holiday cheer on the go, you can go to the iTunes Store, and look through the Christmas Apps. If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, these apps will brighten up your day for sure.

If you’re in the market for some Christmasy tunes, check out the Top Holiday Albums and Top Holiday Songs on the iTunes Store. iTunes also has holiday collections for 2006, 2007, and 2008.

One of my favorite features of the iTunes Store is the iMix. iTunes users can make their own playlists of music on the store, and then make them available for purchase. If you want to hear what other iTunes users listen to during the holiday season, you can browse the Christmas iMix search page.

Music isn’t the only medium that brings forth holiday cheer, though. Many people grew up watching Christmas movies on television and VHS. That is great, but this is the 21st century. Today we can buy and rent our Christmas movies online! You can view a selection of Christmas flicks right here on iTunes.

Are you cooking meals for the holiday season? Well, you can use the iTunes store for recipes, tips, and inspiration. You can check out some of the the available iPhone and iPod Touch applications, podcasts, and audiobooks about cooking.

Okay, you have a Christmasy wallpaper on your Mac now. That’s great, but what about the wallpaper on your iPhone or iPod Touch? You can use a great free app called Backgrounds to search for cheery wallpapers that fit the aspect ratio of the iPhone/iPod Touch screen perfectly.

Sure, you got some music from iTunes for the holiday season, but how about some free Christmas music? You can search Archive.org for free creative commons/public domain Christmas music that you can use in your audio and video productions. Also, there are a fair number of podcasts that release free Christmas music. Free is always nice.

Need some idea for what to cook this holiday season? You can take a look at the Christmas selection over at BigOven.com. There are over 1,900 recipes tagged for Christmas, so you’ll surely find something you’re interested in. The best part is that it is super easy to drill down on the site, and they even have a free iPhone and iPod Touch app.

As Christmas draws closer, I start looking for more ways to deck my halls with boughs of holly. As I spend a large portion of my day working on my Mac, it only makes sense that I would want to expand my decorations to my desktop too. Well, I looked around, and I found two really great apps that’ll spruce up my Mac.

The first app that I’d like to point out is called X-MasTree. As the name suggests, it offers up a very nice little Christmas tree that sits on your desktop. I dig this app a lot because it offers a surprising amount of customization. You can change everything from the size of the tree to what decorations are on the tree to how fast the lights blink. On top of providing 120% of your daily evergreen requirements, it also offers an optional countdown badge that sits next to your tree and reminds you how many days until Santa visits. All of this and so much more for the low, low price of free.

The other application that I’d like to showcase in this post is called MacLampsX. Not to be outdone, this great application puts Christmas lights all around the sides of your screen. Again, I was blown away at the customization capabilities in this rather small application. Layering, transparency, blinking rate, and style of lights/trimming are all user customizable. A fantastic application for fans of shiny blinking lights. If you like free, you’ll love this app.

Photo Credit: di_the_huntress

On Thursday, at the 2009 Intelligence Warfighting Summit, Raytheon announced that they are developing a series of mission software applications designed for the iPhone.  At the summit, Raytheon showcased their One Force Tracker. This app allows the military to pinpoint their targets’ exact position using the Iphone’s GPS system. In a New York Times blog post, it says that there will also be maps that will use augmented reality qualities to show battlefields. “Maps with an overlay of points of interest are familiar to every GPS user. The Raytheon app would use the same concept, but points of interest might be known sniper sites or safe fallback positions,” says the New York Times.

“Raytheon’s experience with mobile communications in the tactical environment and the government customers’ need for low-power, simple plug-and-play applications led to the development of a real-time situational awareness application using Apple‘s touch technologies,” said Dr. J Smart, chief technology officer of Raytheon’s Intelligence and Information Systems business.

Raytheon indicated that the iPhones would have to be altered to have increase security that the military would need. They will also address the battery issue that the iPhone has, so that the military will have a longer-lasting iPhone. In a press release, Raytheon stated that they are working with Apple on these military apps. In the past, Apple has been very strict with what apps they approve. Also, these military apps will cause the iPhones to be altered to address some of the extra features that the military will need. Will Apple actually do this?

If Apple wants to get into the government and business arenas, then they should definitely assist Raytheon in doing this. In business, companies usually only supply Blackberries. This could leverage the iPhone as a business phone, which really hasn’t been the case in the past.