Author Archives: aym4t

Apple Releases .1 update to Lion

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Yesterday, Apple released a point update to the new Lion Operating System. The new OS designation is 10.7.1 (this is an UPDATE, and therefore free to MacOS 10.7 owners), and it covers:

  • Address an issue that may cause the system to become unresponsive when playing a video in Safari
  • Resolve an issue that may cause system audio to stop working when using HDMI or optical audio out
  • Improve the reliability of Wi-Fi connections
  • Resolve an issue that prevents transfer of your data, settings, and compatible applications to a new Mac running OS X Lion

As many of you know, I’m an advocate of holding off on any new product until at least a .1 or .2 update. If you read some of the comments on http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/39487/apple-os-x-lion  – you’ll get an idea why that’s my position.

That being said – I visited the Apple Store to check out this new Operating System. Of course, as a long-time user of the Mac, I’m always skeptical of big changes to the way we work. I must say that, aside from the stupid layout of the Address Book, and some annoyances with iCal’s new layout, I didn’t hate Lion. Yeah, I don’t need better gestures on my MacPro with my favorite Might Mouse; I never used Exposé much, so the new Mission Control, while being cool, may not be something I use;  Launchpad makes me feel like using my iPhone, for which I have an…. iPhone!; and I may dislike Autosave and versioning, because even I probably don’t have enough hard drive space for that! Also, being a tech, I HATED the fact that we can’t get to our own User Library, without bending over backwards. The redeeming feature for lots of this is that we can un-set some of these options, and make them work as we expect. Of course, then the question arises – do we need an upgrade if we’re going to make it work like the old OS?

For me, the BIGGEST issue holding me back from upgrading is the lack of Rosetta – the program that allowed Leopard and Snow Leopard run old PowerPC based programs. Until there’s a consistent, viable resolution to this, I won’t be upgrading my main system. I need to use those apps (some of my students still USE those apps), and the idea of dual-booting, and maintaining 2 systems and 2 drives is annoying.

Otherwise, for new users, this will be really simple to use, it certainly looks pretty, and there are some  fun and cool features. And – now that there’s a .1 update, it’s something to consider!

GIF Files – Possible Photoshop CS5 Security Risk!

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Here’s something new… According to John Nack – official Adobe blogger – maliciously coded GIF files can cause crashes in Photoshop (I’m thinking other possible security risks as well).

There is a fix, however – so visit John Nack’s Blog to find the appropriate resolution to the problem:
http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2011/08/plug-in-security-fix-for-photoshop-cs5.html 

Designer’s Salary Survey Revealed

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A New Designer’s Salary survey indicates little to no salary growth in recent years, and a difficult time for graduating design students seeking regular employment. But then again, I’ve been saying all along that business is moving more and more towards contract and freelance workers (they have much less overhead). Disadvantage: less job stability (in an economy where stability is shaky at best anyway), no benefits, constant work search – Advantage: higher pay rates when you work, variety of jobs, you’re your own boss.

The article is referenced in a  CreativeCow.com article:

http://www.creativepro.com/article/design-salary-survey-reflects-steady-volume-narrow-margins

A Really Nice Article About the Recent Lo-Fi Trend for Photography

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An editor for CreativePro.com has written a great article about the much-debated lo-fi trend in today’s digital photography. I’ve always contested that, unless you’re shooting documentary photos, a lot of the artistry of good photography is to get an image that looks good, not necessarily that looks “real”. This article expands on that…

http://www.macworld.com/article/161514/2011/08/whywelovelofi.html 

Web Site Creation Tool for the Non-Technical – Discounted

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Website Painter for Mac – I haven’t tried this yet, but it looks like a good product for people who want a quick website without having to learn too much technical stuff. I’ve read some pretty good reviews on it, and it’s seriously discounted for the next couple of days! (They make a Windows version too, but it doesn’t look like it’s discounted at this time)

http://www.getdealy.com/mac/website-painter-deal/?utm_source=MadMimi&utm_medium=email&utm_content=65_
+off+Website+Painter+for+Mac&utm_campaign=65_+off+
Website+Painter+for+Mac&utm_term=header_mac_todaysdeal_png

I Love Lions – But Don’t Know if I Want One as a Pet

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Lions are beautiful animals – smart, strong, powerful. However, I’m not feeling that great about upgrading to the new Mac OSX 10.7 Lion. From what I read, it seems that some features on which I depend are going to be either completely deprecated, or won’t function at all in the way I want them.

However, I am NOT an early adopter – I don’t install version 1 of ANYTHING, especially an operating system. It’s my hope that by the time I do install it (probably around the .2 update), Apple will have addressed my needs for Address Book, and iCal, and will have maybe found a way to sell Rosetta as an addition to Lion – or at least for Parallels to devise a way for me to use my Snow Leopard installation in emulation, and have resolved some issues I already see as being against my personal interests to upgrade.

However, many of my clients ARE early adopters, and I get the phone calls to help bring them back, when they’re sorry for what they did. That’s great – thanks – I love the work! But, as I’ve mentioned to ALL my clients and students in the past, it’s IMPERATIVE to have a reliable “Cloned Backup” of their original startup disk.

This article addresses how one may go about resurrecting your Snow Leopard installation, if they don’t like Lion. It emphasizes the “Cloned Backup” idea quite strongly.  A good read:
http://gigaom.com/apple/how-to-downgrade-from-lion-to-snow-leopard/ 

About the New Mac-Mini

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Okay, I’ve actually been a fan of the Mac Mini, for a great many of my clients. It’s small, you can attach any monitor, it had good processor speed, and could handle a decent amount of RAM – and it was cheap for a Mac.

They’ve announced the new Mini – with NO OPTICAL DRIVE! Sounds like they may be touting it for an Apple TV replacement with more features? Bad idea, Apple…  🙁

Here’s a quick review:
http://dealmac.com/features/Dear-Steve-Jobs-The-Mac-mini-Is-Crap/482596.html