1Password Screenshot courtesy of Agile Web Solutions

That being said, Agile Web Solutions, the maker of 1Password recently launched the much awaited version 3 of 1Password. The new versions brings us a fancy new interface as well as some great features such as 1Password Anywhere.

1Password Anywhere allows you to view your information via web browser from Linux, Windows and of course the Mac. All you need is Safari or Firefox as well as access to your agile keychain. You can do this via USB stick or save your agile keychain in your DropBox account and your good to go.

Other great features of 1Password 3 are the ability to attach files to your item, editing your information via web browser, using tags to organize your items, the ability to organize software license and others. A total of over 50 new features that will make using 1Password all the better.

Syncing 1Password to the iPhone or iPod Touch also got better. You can now select the items that you want synced to your mobile device.

1Password is definitely a must have. I’m saying that from experience. So check out the new 1Password 3.0 here. Grab your copy if you don’t have one yet. It’s worth the money. Trust me. If you’re on 2.0, upgrade now!

Post from: EveryJoe

1Password: It Just Keeps Getting Better

There are times that I feel my MacBook Pro is a bit slow. The main culprit really is the hard drive. I’ve got a decent processor (2.53 Ghz), adequate memory (4GB) but my hard drive is just 5400 rpm. That’s where the bottleneck is. When I’m multi-tasking and the Mac needs to write to the hard drive because the RAM is full it takes quite awhile and that plainly sucks. Especially if you’re trying to beat a deadline and your computer can’t keep up with you.

You can get a Patriot 128GB SSD at Fry’s for around $399.99. That’s still quite a big difference from a regular laptop hard drive. You can get a 250GB 7200 rpm laptop drive for less than a $100. That’s quite a disparity both in size and price. But you’re paying for speed. Is that price difference worth it.

A friend of mine recently purchased a SSD for his MacBook Pro and posted a video on YouTube showing of the performance. In the video he proceeds to launch all the apps he has on his dock. The MacBook Pro performs quite nicely. In my experience usually when I launch Photoshop and Parallels, my MacBook Pro almost grinds to a halt. His barely breaks a sweat.

Other videos around the net also show comparisons between SSD and ordinary drives. The difference is very noticeable. You get quicker boot times, you’re able to multitask better because apps run faster.

Is the huge price difference worth it? In my honest opinion, as of now regular consumers should hold off. Sure, you get the performance but it’s still quite expensive for the storage it offers. If you’re not using your Mac for work that requires a lot of multitasking then the SSD isn’t worth it yet. You’ll be paying a hefty price for storage.

Plus with most people’s data growing larger and larger because of all the digital photos, music and data they save, apart from your SSD you’re really need an external drive to offload data too and that will be added expense.

If you’re using your Mac for work and you multitask a lot then it might be beneficial. The amount of performance you’ll get from the drive might be well worth the premium.

As for me, as much as I would love the performance increase. I don’t need speed that much that will justify spending that much money. Maybe next year when prices drop further.

*Thanks to mindless for allowing to me to post his video.

Post from: EveryJoe

SSDs On Your Mac, Is It Time To Upgrade?

I was never really a big fan of Apple’s mice. From the hockey puck one and all the mice in between up to the Mighty Mouse, I felt it was ok but there were far superior mice at a fraction of the cost.

Apple Magic Mouse - Image courtesy of Apple Inc.

The Magic Mouse is different… oh it’s so different. It looks sleek and it seems like it’s right out of a sci-fi movie. It’s in heart it’s still a mouse but it’s so much more. It’s like combining a mouse and a trackpad in one pointing device. You can click and drag but you can also scroll and swipe without using a button or the irritating trackball that the Mighty Mouse had. You use the whole surface of the mouse to navigate pages and scroll through your iTunes collection.

It as no moving parts so it’s going to be durable. Apple says it can last up to 4 months on a single set of batteries so you know it’s energy efficient. It’s so well thought of and constructed for a device that’s supposedly simple.

True to Apple’s identity when they went to redesign their mouse, they really put a lot of thought and work into it. The result is a device that is so simple at the surface but so magical underneath it.

So much so that I patiently waited till a friend of mine went online just so I can ask him to try and bring me home one. It happens that he’s in the U.S. for a trip and I’m here in Manila. We won’t be seeing the Magic Mouse for maybe a month so I wanted to see if he could get me one sooner. Oh God please, I hope he does.

Apple Magic Mouse press release

Post from: EveryJoe

Apple’s Magic Mouse is Simply… Magic!

All New iMac - Image courtesy of Apple Inc.

Headlining the updates are the new iMacs. Now available in two sizes. A 21.5″ version as well as a massive 27″ model. Both models feature a 16:9 aspect ratio LED-backlit display that gives it stunning images. The new displays also feature a technology called in-plane switching or IPS that makes for great viewing at a wider angle. So even if you’re looking at the screen skewed it’s still manages to give a superb image.

The iMac isn’t just for show. While it’s sleek outside it also gained more muscle. The basic model now sports a 3.06 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processors while the top end models feature quad-core Intel Core i5 or Core i7 “Nehalem” processors.

Another surprising but great thing that Apple did is to do away with the wired keyboard and mouse. Now every iMac comes with a wireless keyboard and the new Magic Mouse (more about the mouse in another article). It’s surprising because those two peripherals aren’t exactly cheap.

All in all the new iMac is a stunning evolution to a great line of computers.

Apple MacBook Unibody - Image courtesy of Apple Inc.

Apple also introduced a completely redesigned MacBook. The Macbook now is clad with a unibody plastic casing that looks similar to the MacBook Pro 13″ only it’s in white plastic. Still it looks really sexy. It’s now only 1.08 inches thin and lighter at 4.7 pounds.

Apple took out the rubber feet found in the old MacBook and replaced the lower surface of the MacBook with a durable non-slip material that ensures that your computer stays put.

Same as the previous MacBook, it only now comes in one variant. A 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo model with 2GB DDR3 RAM. It has a 250GB hard drive and an 8x Super drive. Apple also applied its new battery technology to the MacBook giving it a reported 7 hour batter life.

Mac Mini - Image courtesy of Apple Inc.

Rounding up the computer updates is the new line of Mac Minis. Apple is touting it as a “Mightier Mini” with processors running of up to 2.53Ghz and RAM now upgradeable to 4GB it’s certainly a more powerful machine. It’s also still very energy efficient.

Apple added another variant to the Mini. Now there’s a Mac Mini Snow Leopard Server. It’s basically a Mac Mini without the optical drive and now packed with twin hard drives. It also comes with the Snow Leopard Server software that makes it easy for small groups/businesses to run a server in-house. Apple says it’s amazingly easy to setup and manage.

For more information regarding Apple’s new line of Mac computers. It’s best to checkout the links below.

iMac Page
MacBook Page
Mac Mini Page

Apple iMac Press release
Apple MacBook Press release

Post from: EveryJoe

All New iMacs, MacBooks and Mac Minis

Image courtesy of Rowmote.com

The first one is Rowmote Pro from Evan Schoenberg. It’s a remote for the Mac and Apple TV. What I really like about this is that it adds a wireless mouse and keyboard functionality. You can press a button that toggles it from a simple application remote to a wirless mouse and keyboard. There’s a virtual trackpad that you can use as mouse and when you want to start typing, shake the iPhone/iPod Touch and the keyboard pops out. You can start typing away.

In remote mode, the Rowmote functions the same way as the Apple remote (hardware) in apps such as iTunes, DVD Player, Finder, VLC, etc.

There’s the non-pro version which is basically just the remote sans the wireless mouse and keyboard. That’s only $.99.

You’ll need to download the companion remote software for your Mac. This runs in the background and it’s unobtrusive.

Cost: $4.99

Image courtesy of Hobbyist Software

My next favorite remote app is the VLC remote from Hobbyist Software. I watch a lot of videos on my computer. Most of the time I do this while eating lunch or dinner. Since I don’t want to eat very near my laptop this remote app comes in really handy. I could live with Rowmote but the VLC remote is such a great app that I find that I use this a lot more for watching videos on VLC.

I like the fact that I can browse through my folders and look for the file I want to view using this app. Adjust the volume, scrub the timeline of the video, toggle full-screen on and off and other features. This is truly an essential app for someone who uses VLC a lot.

Cost $2.99

Image courtesy of On One Software

The third remote on my list is OnOne Software’s DSLR Camera Remote Professional Edition. I’ve been looking for a good wireless remote setup for my DSLR. Due to certain restrictions, I find it hard to handle an SLR and I want to learn studio photography so this is a good solution.

You hook up your DSLR to your laptop and the Camera Remote uses WiFi to control your camera’s shutter. Depending on your camera model it can be as simple as a remote shutter which lets you preview the image on your iPhone or iPod Touch or as much as getting a live preview of your shots as well as the ability to adjust settings on your camera. It’s truly a great piece of software. There are some bugs and kinks but I trust that it will be remedied in the coming versions.

It is quite expensive and probably not for everyone. There’s a lite version that’s a lot cheaper but as the saying goes “Go for broke!”. That’s what I did.

Cost $12.99

Turning your iPhone or iPod Touch to a remote of sorts is definitely fun. It’s great to have this much power over your gadgets on the palm of your hand.

Post from: EveryJoe

Remote, Remote, Remote

This brings me to the topic of my post today. I’m happy about the fact that Apple has shown a lot of responsibility towards the environment and going green. As evidenced by their current line of products plus how they build them. It’s explained in their environment section of their web site.

Apple is explaining their environmental footprint and the breakdown. According to their site, 38% of their footprint is on caused by manufacturing, 5% by transportation, 1% by recycling, 3% by facilities and the biggest is product use which comprises of 53%.

Over the past few years Apple has tried to lessen the amount of materials they use for their products. Achieving this through better design and engineering. The current generation of iMacs uses 55% less materials than the 1st 15 inch iMac launched years ago. They’ve also tried to keep their packaging as compact as possible in order to use less materials and ship more products per container, thus saving on transportation costs.

The materials used on the products have been taken into consideration as well. Apple is leading the way in reducing or in some cases eliminating toxic substances in their products. Limiting the use of plastics and other materials that are not recyclable.

And because the biggest part of the environmental foot print comes from the usage of the products, Apple has tried as much as possible to make their products energy efficient. Quoting from their web site.

Take Mac mini, for example. It uses as little as a quarter of the power consumed by a typical lightbulb,⁴ making it the most energy-efficient desktop computer in the world.⁵

As we’re now feeling the effects of our actions, we should be more responsible in conversing energy and our natural resources. I’m just glad that the company that manufacturers the computer I’m using is doing it’s part. Learn more about Apple’s environmental program here.

Post from: EveryJoe

Hooray For Green Apples!

In the midst of this disaster, citizens used social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter and the like to spread news, update their loved ones and ask for donations. The phone networks were clogged and it was hard to get through. People were recommended to use text messaging instead as it’s easier for SMS to get through the phone network.

From everyday citizens, all the way to major news networks, social networks played a crucial role in getting information around. ABS-CBN’s news channel ANC used their Twitter account to get news out as well as to receive information from people who were in the affected area. People were asked to tweet their location and details so that the network can pass it off to rescue workers.

A picture of Cristine Reyes, a local actress was posted on several web sites to inform people that she and her family were trapped on the roof of their house and seeking assistance. This information was quickly disseminated through Facebook and Twitter and eventually reached the news networks and got in touched with her. Her plea was heard on air.  As of this writing, it’s unsure if she’s already been rescued.

Amidst the tragedy, the collective heroism of everyday people is making a difference. Tweets and Facebook status messages have been copied and reposted. These tweets and messages contain information such as contact nos. for rescue and help hotlines, information about loved ones, information about where to donate relief goods and information as to how overseas people can send their help.

These networks continue to help mobilize people by getting information out to the public and connect people. It seems that these impromptu coalition of friends and strangers are doing a lot more good compared to the machinery that is the government.

I’ve heard of stories of getting rubber boat suppliers in touch with companies willing to buy the boats for use in rescue operations. Several multinational companies have also expressed their intent of lending their helicopters for rescue operations with the information being passed around the social networks.

Stories of friends getting help from people in their networks because their pleas were posted on their Twitter or Facebook pages.
A friend and her family are trapped in the second floor of their home. The have trouble getting through the mobile and land based phone system but thank God, they were able to access the internet. They were able to post some pictures and get word that they’re safe. They have food and water but are still trapped in their home as the water outside their house is still chest deep.

With reports that the gov’t hotlines are clogged or worse not being answered, it’s the tweets and Facebook messages that are becoming lifelines to those affected by the flood.

This is a good example on how technology is being used for greater good. For people such as I who aren’t able to go out and physically help others, the internet and technology is allowing us to do our part to help others.

So, as I finish this post, I ask that you take time to read the stories linked below to see how much devastation Typhoon Ketsansa has brought to the Philippines, in hopes that you might be in a position to help out. There are also links below as to how you can help.
Thanks and may God help and bless those most affected by the storm.

Ongoing report from Inquirer.net

Coast Guard rescuers take LRT to save lives

Donate to Typhoon Ketsana (Ondoy) victims

Helplines for Typhoon Ketsana (Ondoy) victims

Donate to the Typhoon victims via the Ayala Foundation USA

Huffington Post report about Typhoon Ketsana

ABS-CBN News Channel Twitter account

Post from: EveryJoe

Citizens Use Tech To Help Typhoon Victims

Snow Leopard

There are applications that are essential to both my work and personal life. I use my mac a lot and can’t imagine life without it. That being said, my Mac is only as useful as the applications I have installed. So these applications are must haves for me. If I can’t make it run on Snow Leopard or find an alternative to it then Snow Leopard isn’t that much use to me.

Let’s start of things with 1Password

1Password is currently on version 2 with the latest version partially compatible with Snow Leopard. The app works as well as the extensions for the other browsers except Safari. Safari in Snow Leopard runs in 64-bit mode thus the extension for it won’t work out of the box. You need to do some tweaking to get Safari to run in 32-bit mode in order for it to run 1Password.

Version three of 1Password will run in Snow Leopard out of the box with Safari support as well. However it’s still in beta mode with the final release set to launch at the end of the year. Agile Web Solutions, makers of 1Password currently has a promo for early bird upgraders. The license will only set you back $19.95 as opposed to $29.95 when it gets released. Buying now will get you access to the 3.0 beta.

Cost of upgrade – $19.95 (promo)

Next on my list is Adium. Both Adium 1.3.6 and 1.4 beta 9 work on Snow Leopard and Adium is free.

Cost of upgrade – nada

Adobe CS3

This suite of applications is the major workhorse of most Grahic/Web/Multimedia professionals in both Windows and Mac platforms. According to reports CS3 has minor bugs in Snow Leopard, Particularly Photoshop and Dreamweaver. I’m really more particular with Photoshop and Illustrator since those are the apps that I used. Adobe says the flaws are not critical and you can still use the Adobe CS3 apps.

Adobe CS4 is good to go for Snow Leopard.

So, Adobe CS3 for the most part should be ok for Snow Leopard but if you’re really a stickler for these things you’d probaly want to upgrade to CS4. In my case if I was to upgrade I would probably go and buy the Adobe Design Premium at a cost of $599.

Cost of upgrade – $599

Coda is one of the apps I use for designing web sites. The version I have is 1.6.4 and according to reports it is compatible with Snow Leopard. There’s an available upgrade to 1.6.5 that fixes some bugs.

Cost of upgrade – nada

CSSEdit is one of the apps that I really can’t live without. Since I code websites as my main job, this app literally paid for itself. The latest version supports Snow Leopard

Cost of upgrade – nada

FireFox is my main browser. Sure Safari is faster but Firefox just has a lot of extensions I use for work and so this is really my browser of choice. It works on Snow Leopard with some minor bugs reported. FireFox is free.

Cost of upgrade – nada

MAMP PRO is my server environment of choice. Thank god it’s also supported on Snow Leopard.

Cost of upgrade – nada

Microsoft Office 2008 is still my default office suite, however iWork is getting more and more work time with me. It works though with Snow Leopard although there are some reports that it is sluggish.

Cost of upgrade – nada

Parallels is an essential app because it allows me to run Windows on a Mac. It’s important because let’s face it majority of computer users all over the world still use the Windows operating system and as such, I need to test web sites on this platform. I currently have version 3.0 installed and it sucks that it’s not supported in Snow Leopard. I need to upgrade to 4.0. The upgrade will set me back $39.99 after a $10 dollar discount due to their ongoing promo. This is a must have. If I upgrade to Snow Leopard, I need to forkout the moolah because well… I just need it for work.

Cost of upgrade – $39.99

TextMate’s latest build for Snow Leopard works fine. This is my text editor of choice. All my web projects are coded with TextMate. So it’s also a must have.

Cost of upgrade – nada

Skype is one of the apps I use for communicating with clients. Along with Adium this gets me through most of my communication needs save for email. Skype’s latest build works with Snow Leopard.

Cost of upgrade – nada

Transmission is my bit-torrent client. The latest version is supported by Snow Leopard.

Cost of upgrade – nada

Transmit works in Snow Leopard with some warnings. It seems that automator actions do not work. I don’t use automator actions so as long as the file transfer works I’m ok.

Cost of upgrade – nada

Versions is one of the latest apps I’ve added to my toolbox. So I would really be bummed if I had to pay for an upgrade or if it didn’t work. Good thing it looks like it’s good to go for Snow Leopard.

Cost of upgrade – nada

VLC is freeware and it works. So this is not a problem.

Cost of upgrade – nada

While most of my apps will work on Snow Leopard, there are still 3 apps that might cause a potential problem. Of the three, two of them can be run with Snow Leopard albiet with some problems. Minor and workable. The one app I have that won’t work is Parallels which is really a bummer because apart from the upgrade cost I paid for Snow Leopard I will need to fork out $40 bucks for the upgrade. Bringing my total upgrade cost to $78. This is the minimum. If I want to upgrade to CS4 this will add to it significantly. But since CS3 is still workable I might hold out on this.

$78 is still not a high cost to pay for an upgrade of the OS however given the trying times it’s still added expense that I could otherwise save on. Being the Mac addict that I am… all reason flies out the window. So I guess it’s time to backup my files and find time to upgrade.

How much will upgrading to Snow Leopard going to cost you?

Post from: EveryJoe

My Cost of Upgrading To Snow Leopard

Disk Utility Menu

Now, I tried moving my Time Machine back up before from a 200GB hard drive to my 500GB and I thought it was just as simple as dragging the files and resuming it from the new drive. Boy, was I wrong. Lesson learned.

Luckily transferring your Time Machine backup to another drive isn’t such a pain. The easiest way I’ve found out how to do this is to make an exact clone of your backup drive onto the new one. It will be the same except it has more space. There are third party apps to help you do this but Disk Utility works fine too.

Here’s how I did it.

1. Open up Disk Utility
2. Select the Restore option
3. On the left side of the window you’ll see icons for the various drives you have mounted. It’s usually your internal drive, the old external drive and the new one.
4. Drag the old external drive to the source input in the window, drag the new drive to the destination window. Make sure you check the erase destination option. I had problems when that was unchecked. It didn’t want to push through.
5. Hit the Restore button and go find something else to do. This will take some time. Mine took several hours including the verification process.

There you go. You should have your old Time Machine backups on your new drive. You can resume your backups on the new one.

Post from: EveryJoe

Moving Your Time Machine Backups

CUPERTINO, California—August 24, 2009—Apple® today announced that Mac OS® X v10.6 Snow Leopard™ will go on sale Friday, August 28 at Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers, and that Apple’s online store is now accepting pre-orders. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, new core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. Snow Leopard will be available as an upgrade for Mac OS X Leopard® users for $29.

With pre-orders being accepted it’s just a matter of days before the world has its hands on the latest iteration of Apple’s much acclaimed operating system.

Snow Leopard

Instead of bringing a boatload of new features, Apple chose to instead rewrite most of the operating system to improve user experience and performance. On the surface to the untrained user there will be little noticeable differences from Leopard to Snow Leopard but under the hood performance is vastly improved. This improves performance of applications significantly.

Snow Leopard also comes with support for Microsoft’s Exchange Server 2007, a first for a consumer oriented desktop operating system.

There are a lot of things to like about Snow Leopard, from faster performance, a totally new Quicktime application all the way to Expose being integrated to the dock. However, the thing I like most is the price. With a $29 price tag for current Leopard users, upgrading is dirt cheap. You won’t even have to think about it. Apple said they want all Mac users to upgrade to the new operating system hence the low price. Power PC users though won’t be able to experience Snow Leopard as it is only available to Intel Mac computers.

With all the good things that comes with Snow Leopard the only thing I probably don’t like about it is the box cover design. Oh well, nothing is perfect.

Read the complete press release here.

Post from: EveryJoe

Snow Leopard Roars On The 28th