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Early Black Friday/Cyber Monday Deals From OWC!

Thursday, November 24th, 2011 | Author: OWC Grant

It’s that time of year again, where traditionalists head out into the freezing cold (or the blistering heat for those in the southern hemisphere) in search of the perfect gifts for loved ones.

Fortunately, with OWC, you don’t need to camp out in front of a store, waste time standing in snail slow checkout lines, or wait for tomorrow in an attempt to get a great deal on tech gear. We’ve got over 250 featured items on our Cyber Specials page – it’s like “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” both in one day…or a Turducken…except it starts today and runs through this entire weekend. And some specials will even run through the entire season!

Whether those on your good list have a legacy machine, a new 6G capable Mac, or any of the myriad of iDevices, we have something that will make it run faster, last longer, look sharp, in short, make it better than when it was new…and in some cases, better than the latest models from Apple.

While it would take forever to describe all the tasty deals, there are a few that we’d definitely like to highlight…and make sure to read to the end to see how we make these deals even better…as irresistible as that third helping of stuffing and gravy: Article Continues…

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Category: Special OWC Deals
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Updating to Lion? Make Sure Your Apps are Ready.

Thursday, July 7th, 2011 | Author: OWC Chris S.

Just a quick reminder: when OS X 10.7 is released later this month, there will be no support for PowerPC applications running under Rosetta. As we’ve known for several months now, Apple has pulled support for the PPC emulation in its latest OS, so users who are using older software reliant on this technology will find that it won’t work after upgrading.

For quite some time now, Apple has been telling developers that they’d better switch over to Intel code; Power PC support (Rosetta) wasn’t going to be around forever. Apple made Snow Leopard Intel-only, but Rosetta was available as a custom-install. By that point, devs should have converted to Intel if they hadn’t already. Now, Rosetta is gone and end users need to make the choice whether to stick with the OS version and computers they have so they can run the software, or upgrading their systems and switching to another program. Article Continues…

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Category: Tech Tips
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Keep your Mac up-to-date with AppFresh

Friday, March 11th, 2011 | Author: OWC Brian

If you’re anything like me, you like to try and keep all of your Mac’s software up-to-date. Until recently, your only options were Software Update and following software sites like MacUpdate. The newly created App Store has certainly made this easier but, like with Software Update, you’re limited to software available in the App Store or written by Apple.

About a year ago, I found an application called AppFresh that allows you to update any application installed on your Mac. After using AppFresh for the last year, I don’t know how I ever lived without it. AppFresh is still in development preview release, but don’t let that hold you back. I have yet to experience any bugs in my year of using the app.

AppFresh helps you to keep all applications, widgets, preference panes, and application plugins installed on your Mac up to date, all from one place, easy to use, and fully integrated into Mac OS X. AppFresh works by checking the excellent iusethis.com for new versions and lets you download and install available updates easily.

Setup is fairly simple. Once you have installed AppFresh, it will scan for available updates using iusethis.com. After the scan is complete, you will see a list of available updates. Highlight the ones you want and select “Install” from the drop down menu. Most updates are automatically installed, however, some require that you run the installer once it has downloaded.

A nice feature built into this application is the ability to customize what is updated. This includes options for always ignoring certain applications from updating, only free updates or to skip a version.

If you’re someone who likes to have all the latest updates and wants save time searching for them, then AppFresh is for you.

OWC has no affiliation with this software and receives no benefit related to this support (other than a benefit we all share in the continued support of these applications). If you appreciate the function or functionality this software offers, we encourage you to support the authors.
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Category: App Review, Tech Tips
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App Review: Mac App Store

Thursday, January 6th, 2011 | Author: OWC Chris S., OWC Michael, and OWC Mike H.

Apple’s Mac App Store went live today. Introduced in October as part of the upcoming OS X 10.7 Lion, it was also announced to be offered as part of 10.6 Snow Leopard. Effectively, the Mac App Store allows you to buy and install applications on your Mac much in the same way that you do for your iOS device(s).

In order to use it, you will need to make sure you’ve updated your computer to OS X 10.6.6. Select “Software Update…” from the Apple menu to both upgrade OS X and install the App Store. You will be prompted to restart.

Once your computer has restarted, Select “App Store…” from the Apple Menu. However, don’t buy anything yet; restart your computer first—there have been reports of a glitch in connecting to Apple that can be remedied by doing this.

Once your computer restarts, relaunch the App Store and log in using your Apple ID (or get one if you don’t have one). Now you can find a piece of software you’d like to purchase and install. Simply click the price and the App Store will deduct the price from your iTunes account (or ask for a credit card if there are insufficient funds), then download and install the software on your Mac.

Though we plan on covering this a little more intensely in the next episode of OWC Radio, here’s a quick preview of some of our first impressions… Article Continues…

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Category: App Review
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Mac App Store to open December 13th?

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010 | Author: OWC Chris S.

Last October, at their “Back to Mac” event, Apple announced the Mac App Store as being not only part of OS X 10.7 Lion, but also would be available in about “90 days,” which would have put it right around the end of January.

According to Apple news site, Appletell, an “inside source” has indicated that Steve Jobs is pushing for an early release, and we may see the Mac App Store as early as next Monday. This would bring it on line just in time for the Christmas holiday rush.

As of this morning, Apple has made no official announcement on any early release of the online store.

The Mac App Store, as described in October, is supposed to act much like the App Store for iTunes does – as a central place for Mac users to find and download apps and provide a place for independent developers to sell their software. They key difference from the iTunes App Store, though, is that applications that do NOT come from theApp Store can still be downloaded and installed manually.

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Category: Fresh from Apple
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New Software Updates Available

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 | Author: OWC Chris S.

Hot on the heels of the new hardware released yesterday, we’ve got some new software to go along with it.

Magic Trackpad and Multi-Touch Trackpad Update 1.0

I was surprised to see this update show up on my MacBook Pro, but it does add more functionality to your trackpad’s configuration options, including “intertial scrolling” which lets you set your trackpad to scroll through lists like an iPod Touch or iPhone.

10.6.4 update for 2010 iMac

If you’re one of the fortunate souls who managed to get one of the new iMacs released yesterday, this one’s just for you. It includes the normal 10.6.4 updates, as well as these 2010 iMac-specific fixes:

  • Resolves compatibility and performance-related graphics issues.
  • Improves compatibility with large-format SDXC memory cards.
  • Adds support for Magic Trackpad.

Safari 5.0.1

This update contains a bunch of small fixes you’d normally expect from a .0.1 release, but it also adds another, slightly more significant, option: the addition of “extensions.”

These extensions are in addition to the more broad-range “plug-ins” like Glims or ClickToFlash, and (from the few I tried) they don’t seem to conflict with each other.

Even if you don’t use extensions or plug-ins, though, it’s probably worth the download, just to fix the short laundry list of security, stability and usability bugs.

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Category: Fresh from Apple
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Two Troubleshooting Tools Finally Updated

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 | Author: OWC Chris S.

There’s nothing more aggravating than when your favorite utility or application gets broken by a System update, except when that same application stays broken for months—or even years—on end. You have a choice: either wait for the app to finally update or learn to live without it. Unfortunately, neither option is a particularly good one.

When those apps are finally updated, though, it’s sure nice. The last couple of days have been twice as nice with two updates of utilities that seemed to have fallen by the wayside.

AppleJack

AppleJack is a command-line tool designed to be run in Single User Mode when you first start up your mac. It’s great for clearing out cache files and repairing permissions, and the extended install even includes a version of [memtest], allowing you to check your memory for problems. It’s one of those great programs that you usually don’t have to think about until you need it.

Unfortunately, AppleJack had all sorts of problems with Snow Leopard, leaving Macs running the latest version of the OS in the dark until a new version appeared. That changed Monday, when the latest version was finally released with 10.6 compatibility.

You can pick up this great utility at: http://applejack.sourceforge.net/

DasBoot

In early 2007, I wrote a QuickTip about a nifty utility called DasBoot. It was a great little program that allowed you to create a simple, custom emergency repair disk containing your favorite repair and maintenence tools out of just about any bootable device.

When OS X 10.5 came out, support for DasBoot stopped, as did any apparent development. We found out differently on Tuesday, when a 10.5/10.6 version was released.

You can get the latest version of DasBoot from: http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=200&products_id=193

OWC has no affiliation with this software and receives no benefit related to this support (other than a benefit we all share in the continued support of these applications). If you appreciate the function or functionality this software offers, we encourage you to support the authors.
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Category: New @ OWC, Tech Tips
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iPod Touch/iPhone App Review: iOS 4

Thursday, July 1st, 2010 | Author: OWC Chris S. and OWC Michael

Most weeks, the OWC Blog Staff picks a particular free application to review. However, this week, we went with something else that’s free to install on your iPhone or iPod Touch – iOS 4, the Operating System that comes with the iPhone 4 is also available for previous model iPhones and iPod Touch.

Description

With its easy-to-use interface, amazing features, and rock-solid stability, iOS — Apple’s mobile operating system — is the foundation of iPhone. And even as other phones try to catch up, the technologies and features built into iOS 4 keep it years ahead of the competition.

Elegant and intuitive interface.

The first time you pick up an iPhone, you know how to use it. That’s because the revolutionary Multi-Touch interface in iOS was designed for the most natural pointing device ever: your finger. So whether you’re using one of the built-in apps or one of the over 200,000 apps and games available from the App Store, you control everything with a tap, drag, swipe, pinch, flick, or twist of your fingers. Even tasks that might seem complicated — such as starting a FaceTime call or editing a video with iMovie — are simple, easy, and fun.

Article Continues…

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Category: App Review
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