Tag Archives: mac

iTunes: Over 3 Billion Served

Do you remember years ago when it was fun to watch the McDonald’s sign change to show how many burgers were sold. Somewhere along the line, they just couldn’t keep up any longer, and those signs changed to the line “billions and billions served. It is a very different world now, and success is measured in music downloads rather than patties with special sauce. Yesterday, Apple announced that more than three billion songs have been purchased and downloaded from the Apple iTunes store. “We’d like to thank all of our customers who have contributed to this incredible milestone,” said Eddy … Continue reading →

Wednesday Widgets: Wikipedia

Do you Wiki? Wikipedia has got to be one of the most popular spots on the Internet these days. It has been called the most complete encyclopedia and the free encyclopedia. In case you are unfamiliar with Wikipedia, it is completely user directed. That is, all of the content is created and edited by people like you. Because Wikipedia is so dynamic (it changes by the minute), it can be flexible enough to incorporate the latest information, from news to slang terminology. You can look up practically any word or subject that you can think of. Wikipedia can be especially … Continue reading →

The First iPhone Bug

Before the release of the iPhone, there were many questions about how to get one, what the interface and functionality would be like, etc. After the release there was a new question: What sort of bug might appear? This is nothing against Apple, which has one of the lowest rates of hardware or software bugs out there, or the iPhone itself. It is just that with technology, especially cutting edge technology, there are bound to be a few critters that sneak in here and there. Well, the first iPhone bug has been found and acknowledged. Yesterday, Apple officially declared that … Continue reading →

Wednesday Widgets: Radar in Motion

Summer can also mean thunderstorm season, when the heat and humidity come together in just the right way. It seems like we have been having quite our share of severe thunderstorms in the last few weeks, here in Pennsylvania. I have been finding myself watching the weather carefully because of this. We have to plan our summer family activities around the weather, and be prepared at home in case we lose power (and therefore water, too). There have been a number of weather-related widgets coming out, but I like Radar in motion. Rather than just giving me a forecast, as … Continue reading →

The iDay Frenzy

The Apple iPhone is due to be released and available for sale today, starting at 6 p.m. Starting Yesterday (Thursday), thousands lined up in anticipation of buying their iPhone, tolerating everything from sticky heat and humidity to torrential rains to make sure that they are among the first to get their hands on the coveted device. Apple and AT&T have not disclosed how many units will actually be available for sale, although some analysts predict that the demand will far exceed the availability. This news, combined with the hype surrounding the iPhone has led to a frenzied panic among consumers … Continue reading →

Wednesday Widgets: Answers

Want to know all about DNA? Or how about why we have daylight savings time? You can get the answers to these questions and more using the Answers Widget. I don’t know how it is in your household, but it seems that my kids always seem to have a million questions for me as soon as I sit down at the computer. They know that I use it “to look up stuff,” so I guess they figure they will give me something to do. Some of the questions are pretty easy to answer right away, while others need some forethought … Continue reading →

Wednesday Widgets: TV Forecast

Spending too much time at the computer and not enough time watching TV? Well this week’s handy little widget can help remedy that problem. There are very few shows that I watch on a regular basis, partly because I don’t want to get so involved in the story lines when I’m not sure if I will be able to catch the next episode that follows the cliffhanger. It used to be that television shows would follow in order, a new episode every week until the hiatus in the summer. Well, that hiatus is still there, but the shows are no … Continue reading →

Wednesday Widgets: Banana Warehouse

For today’s Wednesday Widgets, we are going to be a little playful. Game widgets are popping up faster than you can say Suduko. One cute little game is called Banana Warehouse. In this game, you are a forklift driver, and you need to sort crates of bananas into their proper bins. Crates of green bananas go on the left and crates of yellow bananas go on the right. You control your forklift using the arrow keys on the computer. You also have a limited amount of time to do your sorting. The concept is super easy to learn, although the … Continue reading →

New Monitors Will Eliminate Dangerous Chemicals

In an open letter to its customers, shareholders and general public, Apple shared its plans for being more environmentally responsible. One of the points in that letter was the announcement that the company will be transitioning all of its computer monitors to LCDs (light-emitting diodes). Currently, the monitors that Apple mainly produces are of the LCD (liquid crystal display) type, an industry standard. These types of monitors contain two major toxic chemicals, Arsenic and Mercury. Apple isn’t alone in manufacturing monitors with these chemicals, they are used as standard components for most computer monitors. Arsenic is added to the glass … Continue reading →

Wednesday Widgets: I Love Lamp

Want to bring the era of free love to your desktop? I Love Lamp says it will do just that. In the Widget world, it seems that everyone is out to build a better lava lamp. There are several versions of these things to be had. I Love Lamp is one of the latest releases, or at least in its current version that promises a new icon and some bug fixes. I have to admit that I don’t quite understand the current fascination with lava lamps on the desktop. Sure, they were really cool in college when every dorm floor … Continue reading →