mac

Forget the iTunes Remote. The newly released Air Mouse 1.5 ($5.99) makes a mean universal remote out of the iPhone and iPod Touch. With it, you'll be able to control almost any program on your Mac or Windows computer.

I was always a big fan of this app, which works with the help of a Windows and Mac servers to establish a local network between the computer and the iPhone. It then gives you two modes for controlling the keyboard and mouse: a touch pad, and a slightly less effective (read: higher learning curve) and more traditional air mouse that you activate by pressing a button and arcing your arm. Version 1.5 completely blows away every competitor we've seen by adding an incredible array of new features without bumping up the price.… Read more

Listening to Apple fanboys face off against Microsofties is a little like listening to the Crips take on the Bloods. Both sides claim rational superiority in a tone imbued with the severest of emotions.

Today, I stumbled upon (literally) a piece of research that seemed to make sense of it all.

Our brains, according to researchers from the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University, are neurologically desperate to conform. Apparently, when we see our views differ from those of our peers and friends, our brain sets off an alarm, one that begs us to reconsider.

Not conforming brings with … Read more

Anyone who reads The Digital Home knows that I have issues with Windows Vista. I think it's a sub-par operating system with too many quirks and far too many flaws to make it worth using. I only use Vista when I have to.

So I entered into the world of Windows 7 with some trepidation. Would it be the bloated mess that Vista is? Or would it bring me back to the golden days of Windows and whisk me away from the clutches of Apple? I didn't know.

But after using the beta (a term I use lightly, since this so-called beta is better than anything Microsoft ever shipped as Vista "Gold"), I can say with the utmost certainty that Windows 7 isn't only the best operating system I've used in the past decade, it might be my favorite of all time. And as a person with four Macs staring me in the face as I write this, that's something I never thought I'd say.

But I should note that so far, all we've seen from Microsoft is this beta. The company has a proven track record of promising, and even offering, features in betas that never seem to make their way to the finished product. Yes, I'm looking at you, Vista.

Regardless, the Windows 7 beta provided me with an unparalleled experience. From install to surfing the Web, it's fantastic.… Read more

Barack Obama has promised change. In his first day in office, however, he discovered that change is easier said than done.

Take his team's operating-system preference. Obama's team was dismayed to discover that the White House runs Windows, not Macs, according to The Washington Post. I'm a Mac fan, but I'm somewhat surprised by the naivete of this response:

The team members, accustomed to working on Macintoshes, found computers outfitted with 6-year-old versions of Microsoft software. Laptops were scarce, assigned to only a few people in the West Wing...Senior advisers chafed at the new arrangements, … Read more

As the Mac celebrates its 25th birthday, we asked CNET readers to send us stories of their most vivid memories of the groundbreaking computer. Here are some of the stories we received.

Mac as typesetter I was working at an ad agency and had just left a client who was complaining bitterly about the high cost of typesetting changes on his catalog. The agency's typesetter was a $100,000 state-of-the-art unit that was an art director's dream but could not manage a simple change from page 23 to page 34.

On the way back to the agency, I … Read more

January 24 marks the the 25th anniversary of the release of the original Macintosh, a computer that--with its whimsical design, innovative graphical user interface and all-in-one form factor--permanently changed personal computing.

Any student of the history of PCs should know that the Mac project was first championed by the late Jef Raskin and then brought to fruition by Steve Jobs. But the team that built the first Mac was, of course, much larger than those two. In fact, the team had a wide range of personalities and skill sets and seems universally to have been regarded as a singular experience … Read more

Twenty-five years after the debut of the Macintosh, the product that is the soul of Apple is not necessarily its vehicle to the future.

It was a quarter-century ago that Super Bowl XVIII viewers saw the now-famous introductory ad for Apple's Macintosh, formally released two days later. Apple had announced back in 1983 that the Macintosh was coming, but for many, that Sunday was their first look at the product that would drive Apple to new heights in the personal computer industry and usher in the graphical user interface as the standard way for regular people to interact with … Read more

With all the economic doom and gloom in the world these days, Apple executives must be wondering what all the fuss is about.

Apple's Tim Cook and Peter Oppenheimer acknowledged Wednesday that these are uncertain times to be in the retail consumer electronics business. But put aside any doubts about Apple's ability to sustain the first wave of recession. Posting record revenue and profit during its fiscal first quarter, the company shattered analyst predictions on the strength of solid Mac sales and stronger-than-expected iPod sales.

Can it last? Tough to say, given that few can predict how quickly … Read more

Updated throughout at 3:30 p.m. PST with details from conference call.

Apple reported on Wednesday first-quarter earnings significantly higher than analysts had expected coming off a disappointing holiday season for most tech companies, but provided its usual conservative guidance.

For the three-month period ended December 27, Apple recorded $10.2 billion in revenue, as compared with $9.6 billion a year ago, and net income of $1.6 billion, as compared with $1.58 billion a year ago. That translates into earnings per share of $1.78, far more than the $1.39 in earnings per share that … Read more