Is the Intel iMac’s CPU upgradeable?
Posted by Helper Monkey
Macenstein reader F_Windows sent us a blurb on xlr8yourmac which claims the CPUs on the new Intel iMacs may in fact be upgradeable. An unconfirmed story in a Japanese magazine claims that one industrious fella not only successfully replaced the 1.8 GHz CPU his iMac shipped with with a 2GHz chip, but that the iMac’s CPU is not soldered on to the motherboard!
Now, we eye unconfirmed articles in Japanese Magazines with somewhat the same degree of suspicion as our friend’s “girlfriend in Canada no one has ever seen�. Still, this would be VERY cool if true, and it would imply the lifetime of the new batch of Intel Macs may be (somewhat) easily extended beyond their normal lifetime.
EDIT: It appears the new iMacs use the same simple socket connections as standard PCs, so while this report is likely true, it does not provide any overly exciting or new information.
OS X 10.4.4 for Intel on Torrent hacker site
Posted by Helper Monkey
A report on hackinthebox.com claims that someone has uploaded their Intel iMac’s restore disk to the hacking community on Piratebay. This is not an cracked version, however, so it is not as though anyone who downloads this will be able to run OS X on their generic PCs. However, it DOES put a working copy of OS X for Intel into the hands of a much wider circulation, so it could be only a matter of time before we start seeing some successful cracks.
The 4.2 GB disk images was uploaded this morning.
Review: Snapz Pro X 2.0.2
Posted by Lab Rat
One of the more rewarding aspects of reviewing software is the rare occurrence when you come across an application that you know will change the way you use your computer. I had of course heard of Ambrosia Software’s Snapz Pro X 2.0.2 screen capturing software, but I had never really thought of it as a “must-have� application. After all, OS X comes with its own screen capturing utility “Grab�, as well as the keyboard shortcuts of Command+Shift+3 and Command+Shift+4 for capturing the whole screen and region/window, respectively. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? Well, this cow can make cookie dough ice cream and low-fat chocolate yogurt in addition to milk, that’s why.
Snapz Pro takes screen capturing to a whole new level on the Mac, allowing for not only stills of your desktop, but full-motion video clips as well. This is an invaluable tool for creating software demos, capturing movie clips of QuickTime video, and creating hard-to-get footage for use in a video project, such as scrolling through a webpage. Snapz Pro also finally makes it possible to grab stills and movies from the DVD Player application, something Apple’s Grab prohibits.
Ironically, the only thing Snapz Pro can’t capture is images of its own interface. I had to use Apple’s Grab to get these.
Multiple file formats
Snapz Pro goes way beyond Apple’s built-in capture functionality, and allows for capturing stills in multiple file formats, not just PNGs. BMP, GIF, JPG, PDF, PNG, PICT, TIFF, and even Photoshop PSDs are supported. In addition, you can change the file creator, so if you want to save a TIFF of the screen, but want the computer to think Freehand created it, then you can. Likewise, QuickTime movies can be exported using any available codec on your system.
Capturing Stills
With Snapz Pro, you can grab an image of the entire screen, a window, or a region of the screen. What sets this apart from the basic capture functionality of OS X however, is the ability to define fixed regions for capture, to edit the selected regions by manipulating section handles, and to include the Mac cursor in the shots if desired. You can set up your preferences to decide what file type is created, where the files are saved, and what they are named.
Snapz Pro presents you with a wide array of options with which to tailor your capturing experience.
Capturing Movies
The ability to capture QuickTime movies of your desktop is what really makes Snapz Pro unique. As with capturing stills, you can opt for a full screen capture, or a fixed region. However with movies you are also given the option of a “moving camera� which follows your cursor around the screen. This is great for both minimizing the file size of your movie and for focusing the attention of the action to the area immediately surrounding the cursor. All action is recorded, such as dock animations and menus being navigated. Sound capture can either be done via a microphone (for narrations) or via the output of the Mac’s sound card. If you have an iSight, you can use it as your microphone by first selecting it as the sound input in your System Preferences.
The above movie is literally a “Snap” to make. This 15 fps version works great for the web, but full 30 fps video is also possible.
Support for dual monitors
I have a 21-inch CRT monitor and a 15-inch Apple display hooked up as an expanded desktop. Snapz Pro was able to easily capture a 2304×768 QuickTime movie of my cursor moving files across both monitors, opening menus and folders along the way. I thought this was very impressive. For best results, however, you should set both monitors to the same resolution, as Snapz Pro will take the height from the monitor with the shortest screen height (this caused my dock to be cut off in the previous example).
One side note on dual monitors; I found it odd that while Snapz Pro can capture a movie from both screens, if you simply want a full screen desktop still, you need to choose one monitor or the other, Snapz Pro does not see them as a continuous desktop for stills.
You can even grab stills and video from DVDs, something Apple’s built-in capture utilities cannot do. (image © Copyright Disney Enterprises Inc.)
Limitations:
The right hardware for the job
For your average still grabs and desktop movies, Snapz Pro will likely run fine on almost any hardware that supports OS X 10.4. But if you are attempting to capture a high framerate movie of, say, a DVD or QuickTime, the results depend largely on the power of your system. Attempting to capture a 2 minute clip at 30 fps of a 560×416 MPEG-4 video clip playing in QuickTime Player on a 1.2 GHz G4 PowerMac with 1.12 GB of RAM resulted in an extremely choppy movie full of stutters and unsynced sound. Attempting to capture the same movie again on a dual 2.0 GHz G5 with 1.5 GB of RAM produced an almost perfect copy.
Likewise, attempting to capture full motion (1024×768) video of Civilization 3 Complete resulted in fair amount of frame drop outs on a single processor system (and Civ 3 is far from Halo when it comes to taxing the system).
Still, on more robust systems the performance is excellent, and for even full screen (1280×960) movies showing Word or Safari usage Snapz Pro did very well on the older system.
Above: the movie capture dialogue box.
ALMOST perfect
Snapz Pro is incredibly robust, and can meet almost any screen capturing need. However there are a couple features I would like to see in the next version. First and foremost, when installed, Snapz pro defaults to taking over Apple’s “full screen grab� short cut key combo of “Command+Shift+3�. While Snapz Pro lets you change this key combination to any other available configuration, you cannot get back Apple’s “Command+Shift+3� functionality without first uninstalling Snapz Pro. The developers claim this is due to Snapz Pro’s tight integration with the Apple grabbing functionality, and to be honest, you don’t NEED to be able to do both, but when you just want to capture the whole screen, it takes an extra click on the mouse to use Snapz Pro, and my time is extremely valuable (sarcasm).
Secondly, a timed-screen capture feature would be nice. Apple’s Grab has had this forever, and I find it useful. Not so much for stills, as Snapz Pro “freezes the screen� when taking a still, so you can fairly easily capture the exact frame you want, but for capturing movies it would be nice. Snapz Pro begins capturing a QuickTime as soon as you hit go, not allowing you time to position your cursor on the screen where you want it. If you wanted to get a shot of an application launching, you cannot hit “capture in 5 seconds� and then go over the application’s icon in the dock, wait as time counts down, and then launch the application to capture the splash screen and such without capturing excess intro footage. Snapz Pro does not contain any editing software like Camtasia Studio does on the PC, so I found it necessary to trim off the beginnings and ends of my movies in either QuickTime Pro or Final Cut (Snapz Pro movies CAN be brought into final Cut with some effort. See the Snapz Pro forum for more on this).
Conclusion
As a software reviewer, capturing still images of my computer screen has become essential. After using Snapz Pro for a couple weeks, I now realize I was wasting time by over capturing areas using Apple’s solutions, then bringing those images into Photoshop to crop out portions of the screen I did not want. The flexibility of selection and output directly from Snapz Pro make it a great utility to have in your arsenal. The ability to capture QuickTimes is essential for anyone wishing to create video tutorials of software. Snap Pro X’s ability to capture areas of the screen that Apple’s built-in captures solutions just can’t (like DVDs) also sets it apart.
Price: $69 (full version) $29 (upgrade from previous versions)
Rating: 9.1 out of 10
Pros: Ability to capture QuickTime movies; much more control over the capture process than Apple’s built-in methods
Cons: No timed capture feature, performance a bit sluggish on single processor systems.
How much do you love you iPod? The Negligee Costume for iPod
Posted by Igor
It would not be an understatement to say that millions of people across the globe are having a love affair with the iPod. It would also not be an understatement to say that millions of people across the globe are insane. To that end, we present you with the Negligee Costume for iPod.
There is no denying that the iPod is the sexiest music player out there.
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, now is the perfect time to surprise your iPod with a romantic getaway somewhere secluded, and this spicy number is sure to get the sparks flying. And for those of you not into “fat chicks�, don’t worry, there is a Negligee for the iPod mini as well. And the ladies need not feel left out either, as there is also a range of sexy boxer shorts and briefs available as well.
These designs are the brainchild of California based iAttire, which specializes in creating unique iPod accessories for those people who consider their iPod to be not just a music player, but a friend as well (and presumably now, a GIRLfriend).
There have been a lot of reports lately implying that the iPod is isolating America’s youth by giving them a great way to “tune� out the world while tuning in to their favorite songs. Well, if you really want to be left alone, nothing says “Don’t make eye contact with this guy� better than a fella holding an iPod dressed in sexy underwear. Operators are standing by.
Norton AntiVirus now MacIntel compatible… but should we care?
Posted by Helper Monkey
Symantec, makers of the (formerly) popular Norton Systemworks suite have released an update to their Norton AntiVirus for Macintosh 10 software, making it compatible with the newly released Intel Macs.
From the release:
“If you have a new Intel-based Macintosh computer, install Norton AntiVirus for Macintosh 10.0 and run LiveUpdate to update to the latest version.�
This news comes just as a new eWeek article attempts to stir up the hornet’s nest of “Intel Mac� security, and calls into question just how safe users of the new Macs should feel. “The shift to Intel processors from the Motorola Power PC processors will make it easier to create software exploits for Macintosh systems, “ writes eWeek’s Paul F. Roberts, “and could result in a steady stream of Mac exploits in years to come.�
Apple responded to Intel security concerns in an e-mailed statement claiming that OS X for Intel is just as secure as OS X for PowerPC.
Even before Apple made the switch to the Unix-based OS X operating system, there were less than a handful of viruses which targeted Macs. Since switching to OS X there have been none, and some Mac enthusiasts have even offered monetary rewards seeking proof that a Mac virus exists.
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