Apple Review

OnyX 1.9

Filed under: Freeware, Software Update, Leopard

A new year, a new software update. The creators of OnyX and Maintenance, Titanium Software, updated OnyX today. As you probably know already, OnyX is the ultimate Mac customization / optimization utility. In addition to this new version being completely re-written, there are also some bug fixes which include:

Enable/disable Journaling

Enable/disable iChat Data Detectors

Hide the icon of Spotlight in the menu bar

Deleting the Conversations log of instant messaging

Resetting the Sidebar of Finder windows

Some bugs of the previous beta corrected

I am sure that to avid users of OnyX this update is welcomed with open arms. If you haven't checked out OnyX before, what a better time than now? You can get your system tweaked and running smoothly for 2008! OnyX is available as freeware from Titanium Software or Mac Update.

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Widget Watch: Showcase your TiVo's content on your Mac

Filed under: Multimedia, Software, Video, Cool tools, Freeware, Widget Watch

Unfortunately, an HD TiVo was too expensive for me in 2007, and none of my friends or relatives ponied up the cash to get me one as a gift this holiday season, so I'm forced to settle with the extremely inferior Comcast HD DVR box. But for you TiVo owners, here's an awesome plugin to easily and stylishly connect your TiVo with your Mac. Showcase is a dashboard widget that, given your TiVo's IP and MAK, will not only show you what your TiVo is up to, but also let you download and decode shows directly from there on to your Mac.

TiVoToGo was shipped almost exactly a year ago for Mac, but Showcase seemingly does almost everything TTG does, and is available in simple widget form for the low, low price of free. A few users say it's a little slow (not surprising, given that it's doing all of this stuff from a widget interface, not a full application), but if, unlike me, you did have people who loved you enough to get you a TiVo HD this year, it's definitely worth a download.

Thanks, Dave!

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Net Applications: Macs hit a record OS share in December, iPhone up 33%

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Internet Tools, Apple

Fortune has the latest market share figures for December (according to a survey by Net Applications), and it's good news all around for Apple-- Mac systems jumped from a 6.8 share to 7.3, a 7.35% increase. Which is actually nothing compared to the iPhone, which jumped 33%, or even the Playstation, which jumped 50%.

Wait a minute, the Playstation? Where are they getting these numbers from? Apparently Net Applications gets these figures by monitoring browser information from sites tracking their hits through their products (of which Hitslink is one). So a jump for "Mac" systems doesn't mean a jump in sales figures, or even ownership-- all it means is that more people whose browsers reported them as Macs visited Hitslink sites in December than in November. And more people whose browsers reported them as the iPhone did the same. Not quite the definitive numbers they first claim to be, but Net Apps says (of course they would) that these numbers do correspond to trends found by more objective studies.

And as long as they're firing up the flames on both the OS wars and the gaming platform wars, Net Apps goes ahead and swings for the triple play-- they also report that, according to their numbers, the map of people reporting as Mac owners corresponds extremely well to the blue sections of the red/blue maps of the last US elections. Um, yeah-- we're not touching that one. You guys can fight it out in the comments.

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Tracking the Keynote Index Fund

Filed under: Macworld, Analysis / Opinion, Humor, Apple Financial, Steve Jobs

Matt Haughey has worked up a little analysis/thought experiment of just how much money could be made by buying stocks before every Macworld Keynote of the past ten years-- he calls it the Keynote Index Fund, and has the stock prices before every keynote, directly after every 'note, and a day after every 'note.

And the fact is that buying the stock a day before and holding it for 48 hours (until the day after) would have made you money over the past ten years-- he calculates 1.2% growth over 24-hour period, and 2.2% growth over a 48 hour period. Of course, that doesn't hold a candle to what you would have earned if you just kept Apple stock the whole time (holding on to $10,000 of Apple stock since 1997 would have you holding shares worth $525,187 today).

But the fact is that Macworld keynotes can make wily stock traders money. The worst performing keynote so far was in 2005, when only the Mac mini and the shuffle were announced, and the best was last year, when the iPhone was first introduced. So just standard common sense just tells you that if the iUltraportable does appear, you could probably make money with a little day trading*, but if it doesn't show up (and there are no other major announcements), you could take the worst bath so far on the Keynote Index Fund.

*This advice is given by a nonprofessional and should not be listened to under any circumstances or by anyone-- past performance of a stock means nothing to future performance. Plus, I'm still hungover from New Year's Eve, and in no condition to give stock tips anyway.

[Via Waxy]

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Waiting for Pacemaker

Announced back in May, the Pacemaker sounds like an amazing gadget: a 120GB portable music player that functions like a portable DJ mixing table. Essentially, it plays two tracks at once and lets you crossfade between them, plus play with effects like looping and pitch bending. Check out the Flash demo here.

Coming in 2008?(Credit: Tonium)

There's also a software application, the Pacemaker Editor, that functions like a traditional music player and library manager (think iTunes, Windows Media Player, or WinAmp), only with support for creating mixes. It's coming out in December, according to the Web site.

Well, today's the last day of December, and the Pacemaker Editor page hasn't been updated since August 29. A message in the forums says it's available only to folks who registered on the site before December 16. The release date for the device itself has already been postponed from November to December to February. The only in-depth review I could find was of a prototype. But here's the really weird part: if you want to buy one, you can't just wait for a release date and go to a store or order it online. Instead, you have to pre-register. According to the auto-response I got, registrants can expect receive an e-mail some time in January asking for payment in full of 520 Euros (about $760). Then, they'll ship you one.

All this sets my phantom alert system a-tingling. But the demos look great, so if anybody's had a chance to test the software or a real device, I'd love to hear from you--e-mail me at mattrosoff (all one word) at hotmail dot com. And here's hoping Tonium follows through in 2008.

Gear Live answers iPhone 1.1.3 questions

Filed under: Software Update, Apple, iPhone

After last nights iPhone video post, Gear Live has answered the first batch of viewer questions regarding the iPhone firmware 1.1.3. In addition to posting the Q&A, they have included a picture of the "About" screen of the iPhone, which clearly shows "1.1.3" in the software version. When this story first broke, there were many skeptics (including myself). Either this is one of the biggest hoax's ever played on the internet public, or it's real.

Last night, I spoke with Andru Edwards of Gear Live to get a little more information. Andru reassured me again that the firmware is, in fact, real; however, he could not share any other information than what is already posted at Gear Live.

Thanks Andru!

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