Apple: Classic, Older Macs, Hacks And Vista Vs Leopard

Eek! This is the most info I have ever posted in one month. Eek! This is the first time I have ever dedicated two whole posts to Apple. What's next? Dogs and cats living together .. mass hysteria?

Bye Bye Classic: If you were thinking about upgrading to Leopard and you are an older G4 866 MHz or lower well.. Welcome to Vista envy! Older applications below 10.0 are also out of luck as they can not be upconverted to Leopard. Yeah Steve. Tell me again how OSX is not like Vista.

http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/10/25/apple-quietly-disposes-of-classic-in-leopard

Faster, Faster Leopard, Kill, Kill: Just how fast will your experience be if you do upgrade to 10.5? Take a look at some early field tests in the link below.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/apple/how-fast-is-apple-os-x-leopard-on-old-macs-315288.php

Put A Leopard On Your PC Drive: What happens when your fave company who lived by the slogan "think different" becomes mainstream? Well for some people out there they woke up to a very chilly morning in some very hot places. Hackers have moved their attention from unlocking the iphone back to hacking OSX on a Windows based PC. Being popular has it's disadvantages I guess. Sure this has been done before but I don't think it was done this well this fast. See how to load the hacked copies below.

http://dailyapps.net/2007/10/hack-attack-install-leopard-on-your-pc-in-3-easy-steps/

Vista Vs Leopard: The title of this Engadget article is self explanatory except for one point. . Vista has sold over 88 million licenses and I don't think the copy-cat will do that any time soon.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/27/leopard-vs-vista-feature-chart-showdown/

The JAWS 9.0 Public Betas Keep On Coming..

One of the things I learned from all my time in working with AT Venders on private beta testing is that the info we testers submit is limited to the equipment we testers have at hand. When you go public then, and only then, do the training wheels come off and you find out that this code doesn't work with some piece of equipment from 2001 or what not. My hat is off to the gang at FS for responding and reposting to the public beta so much this go around. I hope the info they are getting continues to be valid!

http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws90fea_beta.asp#Update

Quick News: IE8, Vista DRM, Real Player, Web Fonts And Why The 21st Century Makes You Miserable

Today I start off with a theme "all about the web" then I tear that asunder with a purely non web humor story at the bottom of the post. In my days of being an aspiring radio personality they called that last story a "kicker" to end your newscast on a high note. When I start writing posts like the copy I had to create for morning radio I totally understand if you delete me from your RSS readers.

IE8: The Windows Super Site now has a blog and it gives us some idea of what changes come in the UI for the program in it's next whole number version update.

http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2007/10/23/internet-explorer-8-preview.aspx

Vista DRM: Another blog from Ed Bott at ZDnet has a really long but really neat series debunking the rumors about some of Vista's high def DRM functions affecting some of Vista's overall speed and quality. Well sort of.. check out the blog and then check out the next episode of TWIT's Windows Weekly as Ed is set to be on to discuss his 3 part series of articles on the subject.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/

Real Player: In many of the recent training sessions at work that I have conducted or assisted with in the last six months I have railed on about the fact that viruses are not unique to email and MS Word. Now a days the bad stuff can be found in MP3s, PDFs or even audio and video streams. After all everything on the computer is just 1s and 0s. And malware, spyware and virsuses are ... 1s and 0s. Back on topic, someone did a Day Zero attack on Real Player.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=599

Web Fonts In Vista: I thought this was an interesting Slashdot article that points out Vista's updated Web Fonts and how this carried over to Vista's new look.

http://slashdot.org/articles/07/10/19/1535203.shtml

7 Reasons Why The 21st Century Makes You Miserable: Remember MAD Magazine before it became MADTV on FOX? Now do you remember it's big competitor CRACKED? It is okay if you don't because it doesn't effect the funny article below about technology woes. I just haven't thought about CRACKED in years nor did I even think for one second it was around and on the web.

http://www.cracked.com/article_15231_7-reasons-21st-century-making-you-miserable.html

Apple: Leopard Security, Leopard Impressions And Leopard Universal Access

This post goes out to an offline friend named Chris. He is one of the few Apple fans out there that isn’t a full on zealot to the “Cult of Apple”. Yes Virginia there are normals out there. So I’ll throw him a bone and post some interesting Leopard news.

Security in Leopard: Ars Technica takes a closer look at the new security features found in OSX 10.5.

http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/10/24/examining-the-security-improvements-in-leopard

Leopard Impressions: This article from Mac Rumors has been sitting on the Digg Top 10 long enough for me to read it.. so you know it is a slow day for me then.

http://www.macrumors.com/2007/10/23/mac-os-x-10-5-leopard-first-impressions/

17 Universal Access Features And More: Neat blog on AT for the Mac. And this article outlines other features in the recent Apple announcement that would also aid those of us who use Magnifier or Voiceover.

http://atmac.org/2007/10/20/leopard-17-universal-access-features-or-more/

Quick Bits: Code Factory, JAWS, Humanware and OSX Leopard

So what happens when I make a sarcastic statement about the volume of available news? More news comes a rollin' on through of course.

Code Factory Mobile Magnifier Beta: The Desert Skies has posted two Code Factory press releases. The first about Mobile Magnifier for Smartphones. To me magnifying those incredibly small screens versus quickly hearing info with speech has me saying "Speech" every time, however, to each his or her own I guess.

http://thedesertskies.com/archive/2007/10/17/the-first-magnifier-for-windows-mobile-smartphones-is-now-available.aspx

Mobile Speak Public Beta 2.0: Since we are talking about speech the second press release covers the new public beta phase for Moble Speak. I am really excited by their new licensing method and I think I may finally break down and get a real phone.

http://thedesertskies.com/archive/2007/10/17/code-factory-releases-public-beta-of-mobile-speak-for-windows-mobile-smartphones-version-2-0.aspx

JFW 9: No one can say that Freedom Scientific isn't listening to feedback as they posted another update to the on going JAWS 9.0 public beta.

http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws90fea_beta.asp#Update

Classmate Reader: Humanware has announced a new device that will aid the Education market with reading and language comprehension skills. The link below takes you to the press release.

http://www.humanware.com/en-usa/about_us/press_releases/classmate_reader

Keysoft 7.5 Build 20: I guess I have been under a rock. I'm a little late on posting this but Build 20 is up and the link is below.

http://www.humanware.com/en-usa/support/braillenote/keysoft_7.5_upgrade

Leopard System Requirements: Apple has recently said that 10.5 will drop on 10/26. If you aren't running an older G4 at 866 MHz or lower.. rejoice. If you are running an older G4.. You will be taking a trip to the Apple Store for hardware rather than software. See more of the requirements and an overview of some of the features at the link below.

http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/10/16/leopard-system-requirements-and-new-features

Random "Microsoft" Goodness

More than 10 posts in a month. Wow, I either found a bunch of news or I found a little more time to post content. Hmm.. I am sure its not the latter. Oh well here is some random news that just so happens to be centered around Microsoft and it's many products. Minus the Zune 2, HALO 3 and Windows Home Server stuff. Ooo.. I may have another post in me this week yet!

OOXML: A month or so ago the Open XML standard was up for adoption in Europe. To say that there was some controversy around the voters and the voting process would be a very large understatement. It seems that the same endgame happens anytime money is involved with standards, format adoption and [here comes the nasty comments about me] Open Source initiatives. Check out the story below.

http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20071016092352827

Office 2007 Online Converts: No its not what you think. Mary Jo Foley's Microsoft Watch is a good blog that is worth a read on some of the inside moves with the company. In a recent post she gives some NPD numbers on retail sales of Office 2007 and how people buying it through Microsoft via the method of converting their trials is somewhat affecting retail sales. Looks like Office 2007 is a hit and everyone wants a piece of the pie. Even Mac owners are buying Office in droves and they don't even get the Ribbon until next year. See the article link below.

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/business_applications/office_trial_causes_channel_conflict.html

Vista Out Of Memory .. Again: Remember those posts from May, June and maybe even July about Vista and it's hotfixes on moving files? As usual in life you fix one thing and one other thing breaks. ZDNet is saying that memory gets eaten fast when moving files. C'mon SP1..

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=829

SP1 Spoofing: Speaking of SP1 for Vista.. Did you know that if you are really crazy and really desperate you could actually fool Windows Update into giving it to you.. right this second? Ars Technica links to another site that tells you in detail on how to do just that, however, just reading the Ars description gives me a headache. So those who live in their registries go forth and conquer.

http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2007/10/16/windows-update-spoof-allows-early-download-of-vista-sp1

Whew! All this posting. It has been soo long since I went mad with info. Shout out to one individual at a particular company who always reminds me when we talk that I don't post enough on my blog. Now the conversations will switch to what I *AM* posting right? I tell ya there is no pleasing the internet.

Talking Microwave On Clearance At Wal Mart?

I picked up the silver version of the Hamilton Beach Talking Microwave last week for $40. I found it in the Clearance Rows at my local Super WalMart. I asked the management if this was just a move to clear inventory or if there was a new model on the way to replace the sku. Take this as plain rumor but I heard that there is a new model on the way. So if you were looking to pick up this awesome microwave head out to your nearest big box retailer as it may be on the cheap right now.

Here is the print version of the manual by the way.

http://www.accessible-devices.com/hamiltonbeachmicrowavemanual.html

Find a few other manuals from the same site here.

http://www.accessible-devices.com/textmanuals.html

NewsGator and Bloglines Join APML Workgroup

I know a lot of people who use Bloglines. Take a look at some of the support that is coming to the service in the link below.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/newsgator_apml.php

Humanware Offers A Keysoft 7.5 Presentation

Here's the press release

*******

Please join us for an interactive on-line presentation highlighting the
new KeySoft version 7.5 for the BrailleNote family of products.
This interactive on-line presentation will take place on Tuesday,
October16 at 3:00 PM Pacific / 6:00 PM Eastern time in the HumanWare on-line
meeting room.

To participate in the event, visit the following link:
http://www.tcconference.com/humanware
After downloading the small conference software, simply enter your name
to enter the room. No password is required, so you can leave it blank
when entering the meeting room.

We will be available to answer your questions regarding KeySoft. So
please join us to hear all about the new features of KeySoft 7.5 that
will best benefit you!
During this presentation we will discuss the new visual display
software, "KeyView," the expanded support for SD cards and USB memory
drives, and the implementation of the Unified English Braille Code
(UEB). We will demonstrate the new audio file queuing capability within
the media player.

The BrailleNote and VoiceNote have gone multilingual with the
integration of foreign languages in to KeySoft. We will demonstrate the
ease of switching between languages and Braille codes on the fly. Many
internet service providers are moving to SSL encryption for user email
accounts as an added security measure, a step by step account setup
process will be shown.

If you are unable to attend, this presentation as well as other previous
presentations will be archived at www.humanware.com. Follow the link for
Products then Presentations.

HumanWare
175 Mason Circle
Concord CA 94520
800-722-3393

Windows XP: Vista Features In SP3, SP3 FAQ and Easter Eggs

You have your Vista in my XP. No.. You have your XP in my Vista!: Looks like a few more Vista features are being back ported to XP. This isn't anything new as some of XP SP2, IE7 and Media Player 11 were all stuff that at one time was said to be "Vista Only". Check out the link to learn more..

http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2007/10/10/details-on-xp-sp3-emerge-some-vista-features-back-ported

XP SP3 FAQ: Paul at the Super Site for Windows has updated his FAQ on XP Service Pack 3. You may want to bookmark this one for updates as we get closer and closer to it's full release.

http://www.winsupersite.com/faq/xp_sp3.asp

XP Easter Eggs: These are mostly visual in nature, however, I thought they were kind of cool to know about none the less.

http://www.bizzntech.com/?p=125