One Page Crash Course in Switching to the Mac

[Within] you’ll find the My First Mac guide on how to use your new Mac when all you know is Windows. Of course this topic can go deep and take months or even years of training, so we will stick to the top dozen or so issues that new Mac users run into that makes them want to throw their Mac through the window. Read the article on MyFirstMacCom

 

UK education agency says no to Vista, Office 2007

“The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) has published its final report (PDF) on Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007. The agency is largely sticking with its interim recommendations that schools steer clear of Vista in existing deployments and Office 2007 altogether.”

“…Becta recommends against deploying Vista in current setups, saying that the upside of such upgrades aren’t worth the cost. According to Becta, only 22 percent of school PCs in the UK are capable of running Vista “effectively.” Read the full story on ArTechnica.Com

Lifehacker.Com Editor Builds a “Mac” PC for under $800

Last October I reported on how hackers had found a way to install Apple’s Mac OS X on regular old cheap PC hardware which attracted a lot of attention. It seems the folks at the productivity tips site Lifehacker.Com were intrigued enough to give it a shot.

“…Building a DIY Mac requires some work on your part, so be ready to dedicate time to this project. To make things as easy as possible, I’m going to lay out how I built my Hackintosh from start to finish, from the hardware I used to the final patches I applied to the Leopard install. If you can build a Lego set and transcribe text, you’ve got all the basic skills required”

“…All of your hardware should work exactly as you’d expect. Your sound, networking, and video will all work off the bat. (I haven’t tested the motherboard’s built-in wireless yet, but it reportedly works.) Your iPods will sync flawlessly, and CDs and DVDs read and burn just as you’d expect. Mail, Address Book, iTunes, and everything else I’ve tried so far work flawlessly. Firefox is browsing, Quicksilver is doing it’s thing, Spaces are rocking, Stacks are stacking, Cover Flow is flowing, and Quick Look is previewing.” Read the full story over on Lifehacker.Com

Installing Mac OS X Leopard on a PC

…“You can build your system for a lot less than a real Mac and get the performance of a top-dollar Apple machine. This is fact and a lot of the real Mac users will deny, but it is fact. My machine runs a e4300 Core Duo Processor over-clocked to 3.40 GHZ. Where can you get a 3.4-GHz Mac? It will cost you a fortune. I have 1066-MHz DDR2 memory. Where can you get that on a real Mac???”

“Why run OS X? Well, when you are just used to Windows, it is like living inside a house and not experimenting the whole world out there. Once you get out of it, it is just amazing. Mac is just that: You just feel like glued to the computer. Everything is just beautiful, the interface, the stability. Once you experiment it, you don’t want to go back to windows. Trust me.” Read the full how-to guide on OSx86Scene.com (found on MacUser.Com)

This post has been read by 901 unique visitors since being posted. (as of Nov 16 2007)

Manage your virtual desktops with Virtue Desktops [video]

What’s a virtual desktop you ask? Check out the video below… 

Read about it on LifeHacker.Com

 

 

Install Mac OS X Leopard on your PC in 3 easy steps!

…Well its been only a day since the Mac OSX Leopard was released officially by Apple and the hackers have managed to create a patched DVD that everyone like you and me can use to install Leopard on PC’s without having to buy a Mac. Please note the tutorial that I am going to post is still experimental and things might not work the right way simply because it is still early days in hacking Leopard to work on PC’s. Well if you don’t mind your PC getting screwed then go ahead and try out this tutorial. Read the full article on DailyApps.Net (found via CultOfMac.Com)

 See also: This post for a tutorial.

Lifehacker: The Complete Guide to Mac/Windows Interoperability

…You’ve got a household full of PC’s and you’ve stopped yourself from getting a Mac because you don’t want to deal with incompatibility headaches. Eight years ago that would’ve been understandable, but today Mac OS and Windows can work together in harmony on the same home network, sharing files and printers, mounting one another’s drives and using the same equipment, like wireless routers and USB drives. If you’re considering a mixed Mac/PC home or office, here’s a primer on how the two systems inter-operate (and the few instances when they don’t.) Read the full article on LifeHacker.Com

Migrating to a new Mac - say hello to a Mac Switcher

Other than needing to install keyboard and mouse drivers for my (gasp) Microsoft keyboard and mouse, I have yet to find anything that doesn’t just work. I’d like to accuse all you long-time Mac types of keeping this secret from Windows users, but the truth is that you have been telling us, and we haven’t wanted to hear it. My biggest fear when getting my first Mac was that I didn’t want to become an elitist Mac snob - they drove me crazy. But now I realize it’s not their fault; when your computing platform is so noticeably better than Windows, it’s hard not to get a bit full of yourself. Read the full post on TUAW.

Music Slows Vista Network Performance?

Over the months since Vista’s release, there has been no doubt about the reduced level of network performance experienced compared to Windows XP. However, some users over at the 2CPU forums have discovered an unexplained connection with audio playback resulting in a cap at approximately 5%-10% of total network throughput. Whenever any audio is being sent to a sound card (even, several users report, while paused), network performance is instantly reduced. As soon as the audio is stopped, the throughput begins to climb to its expected speed. It’s a tough one for users - what do you pick, sound or speed? So much for multi-tasking.” Read more. [via Slashdot]

Install uTorrent (and other Windows apps) on a Mac

The popular BitTorrent application uTorrent may be Windows-only at the moment, but weblog Simplehelp has a step-by-step guide for installing uTorrent in OS X using freeware application Darwine (the Mac port of the Wine project). The guide walks through what’s actually a very simple process, and when you’re finished you should be able to use uTorrent for all of your BitTorrent downloads. Read more.

Networking a Windows XP PC and Mac

Mac OS X or Windows? Nothing gets a flame war going faster than that old debate. But these days, many people are using both of those operating systems on a network. Maybe you have a Windows PC in the home office, but you’ve got an iMac for video editing and a Mac Mini for serving digital media in your living room. One big happy family? Hardly - Macs and Windows PCs can’t see each other on a network right out of the box, preventing you from sharing documents, photos, videos, music and even printers among your flock of computers. Luckily, the ability to share files among all of your computers on your home network is well within reach. Read more.

Review: Microsoft Outlook to Mac Tool

Michael Kaye at SwitchingToMac.Com has posted a review of an inexpensive little utility designed to migrate your PC’s MS-Office content (mail, calenders, contacts, etc.) over to a Mac. Definately something you’ll want to do if your new work machine is a Mac. Read more.

MacOffice Supports Office 2007 Formats

Mac Office announced the immediate availability of MacOffice Professional on Wednesday. MacOffice Professional is a business suite for Mac OS X that is compatible with Microsoft Office, and supports the new file formats used in Office 2007 for Windows. It includes tools for word processing, spreadsheet, presentations, relational database development, equation editing, charting and drawing. It also supports converting PowerPoint-compatible presentations into Flash .SWF files. Read more.

SwitchingToMac.Com: Getting your PC Files over to your Mac

If you’re making the switch from PC to Mac then one thing is for sure, you’re going to need to move your PC Files and Documents over to your new Mac at some point. The good news is that in almost all cases the same files that work with you PC programs will usually work with the Mac equivalent Applications. Read more.

How to make Windows XP last for the next seven years

Windows Vista may be shiny and brand-new, but as plenty of PC users will tell you, sometimes newer isn’t better. Many PCs simply don’t have the horsepower to run the new operating system, and even those that have the juice may get bogged down by processor-and RAM-hungry Vista. If you’ve got Windows XP, worry not — you can keep it running on your hardware for years to come. Read more.

Anti-Theft: Hide your iPod or iPhone inside a gutted Zune!

We’ve all heard the stories about iPods being targets for theft. What if you could disguise your iPod as something people wouldn’t want to steal? Put it in a $30 Hide-a-pod, carefully constructed from a Microsoft Zune. Hide-a-pod is also available for your iPhone. Read more.

Well worth the upgrade from Vista to XP

I’m really glad I followed the upgrade path from Vista to XP. I had had a good go with Vista and there is nothing it had to offer that I miss now I’m no longer using it. Read more.

Software Recommendation: Aqua Dock

“Macs. We PC users may pretend they’re all flash, but they certainly do have style to spare–and sometimes, the style offers usefulness as well. Aqua Dock gives PCs a dash of Mac-fashioned goodness, imitating OS X’s animated launchbar.” Read more and download.

How to Install Mac OS X on a PC

A new guide has surfaced on how to install Mac OS X on an Intel or AMD based PC. Not for the faint of heart. Read more.

VistaRapedMe.Com Introduced

…We don’t hate Microsoft. We like Microsoft. For better or worse we made a choice a long time ago to be “Microsoft guys”. What does that mean? Well it means we work with a lot of MS technology, we generally support the direction they are going and while we don’t necessarily think they make the greatest tools across the board, we also don’t think they are the devil. But what we will not become is Microsoft’s Bitch. Read more.

The Guide to 100%-Linux/KDE/Desktop-Success (The Linux manifest)

This is a guide on how Linux and especially the KDE desktop could revolutionize the world of computers and operating systems and bring a major breakthrough so Linux would go mainstream. Read more.

“Dad, do you have an unused copy of Windows XP?”

I thought the request was weird. Why? Well, he has a cool MacBookPro and already has Vista running on it with both Parallels and Bootcamp. Read more.

If Microsoft made toasters

I believe that Microsoft’s domination of the PC software market has dulled and altered our expectations of the ‘fit for purpose’ and ‘use from the box’ aspect of all - not just computer software - products we now shell out our hard earned for. Read more.

Spice up Windows - Replace it with Linux

Alex writes on his blog: “I decided to write a series of essays about moving from Windows system to a Linux one. There are plenty resources online that can help with this transition. I just thought to make an easy one and with explaining each step of doing so.” Read more.

The Google Product That Could Kill Microsoft

Office isn’t the only Microsoft hegemony that Google Gears could help destroy. One of the defining differences between Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux is the application lineup. That’s given the crew in Redmond, Wash., tremendous power. But technologies like Gears render the operating system irrelevant.

read more | digg story

How to make Ubuntu Linux look like Mac OS X

I have noticed that many people try to imitate Mac OSX Tiger’s look with their current operating system. No matter is it Windows or Linux. I’m one of those people and this is my atteption to make Ubuntu Linux look like OSX Tiger. I use Ubuntu simply because it is the best distribution of the best operating system. Read more.

A Day in the Life of an Apple Genius

Apple jealously guards its Apple Store “geniuses” — the tech-support people behind Apple’s Genius Bars. The editors of Mac|Life, however, got two of those geniuses to talk. Here are their unapproved-by-Apple comments on what it’s like to work for Apple.

read more | digg story

Tuaw.Com: 5 Things NOT to do on your Mac

Today, rather than suggesting a feature or tool that you might use on your Mac, I’d like to discuss some things to avoid. 5 common Mac-istakes that can stop you in your tracks.

read more | digg story

Use your Wii with your Mac!

SwitchingToMac.Com has an excallent article on using your Wii with your Intel Mac. Read more.

Getting a Fresh Start in Windows

So many times people have asked me to clean up their computers. I find it more than a coincidence that all of them are Windows users. By now we should all know that Windows has plenty of spyware problems; combine that with a cluttered registry and bad usage of temp files and you’re [...]

read more | digg story

Breaking down 52 ways to speed up your Mac - A great list of tips.

“It looks like I may have to make debunking Mac speed tips a regular feature. I already criticized a list of 11 things, finding a large portion that were really not helping. With a list of 52, I
’m going to be doing a lot of typing. Follow me down the extended section for the smackdown.” - Macuser

read more | digg story

How to boot your Mac from your iPod

To get it going you’ll need to set your iPod to run in disk mode, and then install OS X on it using the original installation disks. If you’re willing to lay out some cash for extra bootable iPod features, pricey software Protogo ($135, yikes!) can boot several versions of OS X from your iPod, as well as add various utilities.

read more | digg story

How to convert a DVD to iPod (MP4) for free

There are a number of certain pay programs that claim to do it for free, but many are riddled with bugs and fail to take into account DVD encryption. However, by using just two free programs, you can easily convert a full DVD movie into an iPod-ready mp4 file. Read on for the full guide and links.

read more | digg story

Connect360 adds H.264 video support

Nullriver Software has released version 3.0 of its popular Connect360 program, which previously allowed streaming of music from iTunes, photos from iPhoto and limited WMV only movies to Xbox 360. This new version (coupled with the Spring Update for your console) allows movies to be streamed directly from iTunes. Forget blowing cash on AppleTV!

read more | digg story

iTunes 7.1.2 DRM cracked

This utility will scrub DRM from YOUR music files and make a backup copy of the originals for safe keeping. Great for iPod owners who now have another brand of music player - iTunes will convert your AAC files to MP3 when you’re ready to run away from Apple. I’m sure this story will be buried by DMCA lovers.

read more | digg story

SystM Episode 7 - Hacking AppleTV [Video]

Patrick Norton and Dave Randolph take you through some of the more popular hacks and mods out there for the AppleTV. They have sorted out all the articles out there and have come up with a complete step by step procedure to help you get your AppleTV up and running with a larger drive, SSH, Xvid and a RSS reader.

read more | digg story

How to install Linux applications in OS X - A complete walkthrough

This tutorial will take you each and every step of the way through installing Linux programs in OS X - using Fink and FinkCommander.

read more | digg story

Converting movies for Apple TV using Roxio Crunch (an in-depth review)

Want to watch DVDs on Apple TV? On May 8th, Roxio will introduce a new application called Crunch designed specifically to convert a variety of different video formats for use with iPods, Apple TV, and the soon to be released iPhone. Check out how Crunch stacks up against the existing video conversion alternatives in our exclusive 3-page review.

read more | digg story