Safari 4 breaks cover! Comes with handy beta tag!

Safari users have reason to sing and dance in the streets today as Apple has released Safari 4 beta for Mac and PC. Take note that you have to manually go to Apple’s website and download Safari 4 as it won’t show up in software update’s. What new excitement did Apple bring to the browser table?

• Top Sites: (Shown above)  Now you’re top sites are displayed in a nice graphical UI giving normal everyday browsing some pizazz.
• Cover Flow: Apple is just loving the cover flow navigation method and is bringing it to Safari bookmarks and history
• Full  History Search: Cover Flow UI + Keyword full history search
• Nitro Engine: The new name for the updated performance in Javascript…4.2 times faster to be exact
• Native Windows Appearance: For windows users, Safari will now blend in better and look like your Windows OS
• Tabs have been moved above address bar ala Chrome
• Developer Tools: Tools to help developers tweak/debug their websites for optimum performance
• Smart Address Field: Automatically finishes URL’s displaying easily read suggestions from top sites, bookmarks, and history
• Full Page Zoom: Get a little closer without loss of text or image quality

I for one am excited as I primarily use Safari.  I dabble with Firefox from time to time to play with new plugins and such but I don’t use it daily.  I just like the look and feel of Safari better.  Any one else care to share a boat with me?  To get a stab at Safari 4 beta head on over to Apple’s download page and geek away.  But before you do that, come inside for some more pictures of Safari 4 in action.

*Update* After spending an hour so far on Safari beta 4 for Mac, I’ve noticed a pretty big problem.  I use WordPress, and when I go to insert a link, the box appears but it has a dark mask over it like it hasn’t finished loading and it hangs.  The only way to get back to what your were doing is to reload the page.  Anyone else noticing this?

The gigabyte of yesteryear…

*Old GB*

What better way to start a Tuesday morning than with a trip down memory lane.  Do you walk through your office or listen to one of your friends complain about how their 250+ gig hard drive is getting low on space?  Remember when computer storage was considered generous and “huge” when it came with a meaty 50MB hard drive?   Of course we think “Wow, how long a go was that?”.  It wasn’t really that long ago…15-20 years.  A lot in the computer world has changed since then with storage capacity being just one area.  In your Sunday ads for big electronic giants such as Best Buy, hhgreg, ABC Warehouse, etc, you’ll see memory cards, flash drives, and portable hard drives all at sizes exponentially smaller than storage mediums of past with many times the storage to boot. So it is in good spirits that I present the image above (1GB in 1988) compared with the image below which shows (1GB in 2008). Laugh away but just remember, 20 years from now our children will look back on our tech and laugh at us!

*New GB*

Source: Crave, Toxic Junction *old pic*, Legit Reviews *new pic*

Give iTunes 7 a little dash of Aqua

If you like the darker look of iTunes 8 and want to spread that look throughout Leopard, check out a previous article I posted here.  If however you are a fan of the ‘ol shiny Aqua look and want iTunes 8 to reunite in harmony with the rest of Leopard you now have an option.  Users of iTunes 7.6 (Aqua4iTunes is reported to work with 7.6) and older versions can use Aqua4iTunes in order to give iTunes 7 a little more pizazz.  However users of iTunes 8 are getting the cold shoulder…read: DO NOT USE as it doesn’t work.  I just tried it and am now re-downloading iTunes.  I know it says 7.5 only, but I did see on some forum that people had been using it with 7.6 so I though why not lets give it a shot.  Consider it taking one for the team.  No biggie.  However, I finally found a way to get Aqua back in iTunes…iTunes Blue by way of Larzon83 at deviantart has posted a tweaked iTunes.rsrc file that will give you that shine in your life that you have been lacking ever since the new duller iTunes revealed itself.  Download iTunes Blue and replace the iTunes.rsrc file by opening up finder, navigate to your applications.  Find iTunes.app, right click, and click on “show package contents”.  Then go to “contents” -> resources and replace iTunes.rsrc and bam!  Aqua shine everywhere you look.  If you ever want to go back to the toned down look just replace the .rsrc file with the one you backed up at the beginning.  Remember, always back up back up back up!

Microsoft loses a business partner, good software, and most importantly…a friend

Apogee Electronics, long time Windows software developers and audio enhancement/editing devices has announced that 2009 is the year of change for them as they run like crazy over to team OS X where they will begin investing all of their time, money, and resources in developing software for Mac operating system.  Apple computers are known for their graphic, audio, and video editing capabilities.  Apogee has realized this and is using that as their reason.  Current Windows users who have Apogee products can let loose a small sigh of relief as Apogee still plans on supporting your now defunct Windows software.

If you are left speechless and have any questions regarding Windows support, you can contact Apogee technical support, available Monday through Friday 9 A.M. to 6 P.M. Pacific Standard Time either via phone at 310-584-9394, email, or fax at 310-584-9385.

Is anyone sad?  Frustrated?  Don’t care?

Source: Mac Daily News

LG GD910 watchphone to cost a cool $1,500…*who needs two kidneys*?!

Ouch!  Chalk the watchphone up there with the private island and jet you’ve been saving up for.  The LG GD910 watch phone slated for release on Orange UK has been priced at $1,500!  Granted it is very cool tech though not entirely a new concept still looks mighty sexy and appears appeared as if it had a good chance of actually selling quite a few…that was until the $1,500 floated by.  Granted, I’m sure Orange will eat some of that price.  But still, $500+ ensures the elite few will have a shot at this.  Not to mention, if a U.S. carrier doesn’t pick this up (highly likely that they won’t) then that $1,500 will be eaten straight by the consumer.  Oh well, the James Bond in all of us will have to live some other day, relinquishing himself to the innards of our minds for the time being.  Godspeed good sir.  Godspeed.
Source: Crunchgear

TouchPro2 coming sooner rather than later?

One of HTC’s biggest announcement, (to North American’s anyway), was that of the TouchPro2 comming to North America.  Long has N.A. been given the less than warm shoulder in the sense that many of HTC’s latest and greatest came across the pond many weeks and sometimes many months after our European friends had been yakin’ it up on the same devices.  After the TouchPro2 was initially announced at MWC, many hopefull N.A. dwellers anxiously awaited word of the sweet TP2 making it’s way stateside.  That confirmation came by way of two Twitter posts (Twit 1), (Twit 2).  Awesome!  We can all dance in the streets, buy glow sticks and fog machines in mass quantities, and go all out crazy.  Hold on just one second.  While a release is now garunteed, the actual date is still up in the air with but a vague “Q2″ given.  So hold off on the glow sticks and fog machines for a couple more weeks folks.  Remember, All great things in life require work, time, or money!  For those of you that have somehow forgotten, the TP2 will launch sporting WinMo 6.1 (6.5 will be added once launched) and have a 528MHz Qualcomm processor, 288MB of RAM, microSD slot, 3.2 megapixel still matter capture device, and a 1500mAh battery that ensures you won’t have to camp by a wallout let that often.  For the completely geeked out there, the day is coming, you just have to wait a little longer.

Source: Boy Genius, Bright Hand

How to charge your iPhone3G/iPod Touch 2G/Nano 4G on old iPod docks

With new advancements in technology comes the possibility of incompatabilities.  In the case of Apple, any iPhone3G, Touch 2G, or Nano 4G users will notice that older iPod docks will not charge them.  The first reaction is anger as that $300 Bose Soundock you just bought last Christmas now is useless (for charging anyway) with your shiny new *insert device mentioned above*.  After the anger wears off, curiousness starts to build and you find yourself asking “Why?”.  The new design of iProducts brings with it a difference in the way the devices handle voltages.  Because of these voltage differences, old iPod docks will not charge new iProducts.  All is not lost however.  Coming to the rescue is Scosche with their passPORT Home Dock which aligns the voltage differences so that your *again enter device mentioned above* can now play music and charge your device.  The device will set you back $39.99.  Seems a bit pricey for a voltage changer if you ask me.  But hey, if it is really that important to you, price means nothing.  If you just gotta have one, stop by Scosche’s website and float a few dollars their way.

Source: Slashgear