MacDesperate - Yes, we're thát desperate...

Spring 2010 Wallpapers

Rosana — Thu, 13 May 2010 16:03:00 +0000

Spring is almost gone, but I still felt like creating a couple of nice new wallpapers. I get a spring feeling from these wallpapers. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. They come in various resolutions. The color themes are Pink and Orange, Pink and Blue, Orange and Green.

Dilbert on lost iPhone prototype

Wouter — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:06:37 +0000

You may have all heard of the iPhone prototype: lost in a bar by an Apple engineer, found by someone who then sold it to Gizmodo. Of course, Gizmodo made a full report about what they've found. Including pictures and a dissection of the phone itself. Poor iPhone...

The affair made a lot of media attention, which even lead Scott Adams, creator of daily office life comic 'Dilbert', to draw some comics about this...

He also wrote a blog post about these comics, which you can read on his website.

The agonising road to Macness - iPhone thingies (1)

Wouter — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 11:27:47 +0000

While working through the piles of work thrown at me during the last few months, in a moment of clarity I suddenly realised: ‘Oh shit, I still have an editorial about Mac thingies’.
Yes dear reader, sometimes you just don’t remember things you were ought to do. Especially when they’re not on top of your priorities list. Which is why I haven’t written a lot over here yet.

Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 3.1

Tales — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:51:38 +0000

Apple just released "Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 3.1" adding RAW support to iPhoto and Aperture with the Following cameras

This update extends RAW image compatibility for Aperture 3 and iPhoto ’09 for the following cameras:

Hasselblad H3DII-50
Leica M9
Leica X1
Olympus E-P1
Olympus E-P2
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1
Pentax K-7
Pentax K-x
Sony Alpha DSLR-A500
Sony Alpha DSLR-A550
Sony Alpha DSLR-A850

Besides this update Apple recently also released an update to Aperture 3 which is supposed to fix the slideshow issues.

This update addresses an issue affecting the playback of video clips used in Aperture 3 slideshows on Snow Leopard.

The update is recommended for all users of Aperture 3.

10 billion iTunes songs downloaded

Tales — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:42:55 +0000

Yesterday Apple announced that it had reached 10 billion music downloads from the iTunes store. During the countdown Apple was also running the contest "Countdown to 10 Billion Songs". The winner of this contest is Louie Sulcer of woodstock, Georgia. He downloaded the song "Guess Things Happen That Way" by Johnny Cash. He will be receiving a $10.000 iTunes Gift Card.

Full press release after the break.

Source:

Macrumors

iPad

Rosana — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:18:07 +0000

The word's out. The buzz is all about the new Apple iPad, a tablet device. But why would I tell you all about it, when Apple has a great page about this online: http://www.apple.com/ipad

A revolutionary device for browsing the web, reading and sending email, enjoying photos, watching videos, listening to music, playing games, reading e-books and much more.

I won't be saving money to get one for myself. I don't see this being useful - for me. First I'd like that MacBook Pro. Then maybe some other gadgets. I already have a great tablet to draw and other than that I don't see the iPad fit in my life very well. It's too big to be a gadget I just carry around. I'd be too afraid to damage the thin device.

How about you? Are you excited about the iPad? Are you going to buy one? Or, if you can't, save for one? I'm pretty curious. Over at Plurk, my buddies seem to have many different opinions. Some say it's another device they are not going to buy, others say they need it asap! I'm very curious to hear if you are planning on buying one and why, what are you doing to use it for primarily?

The agonising road to Macness - The chin

Wouter — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:12:00 +0000

Due to piles of work, some obligations and other general busyness during the last few weeks, I wasn’t able to write my editorial. But I’m back now baby!

The agonising road to Macness - First time

Wouter — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:44:30 +0000

Macs have had a very unique look for quite a long time. Not only do they look pretty, but their design certainly sticks around in your memory. For one, I can remember quite well when I used a Mac for the first time, but not with Windows, or a PC for that matter…

iTunes Holiday Sampler

Tales — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:38:22 +0000

Apple released a Free Holiday album to promote the new iTunes LP format. The album comes with 20 Free holiday orientated songs and comes with allot of extras like a nice visualizer, lyrics and artist information. The 'iTunes Holiday Sampler' can be download for free here. Please note that you need a US iTunes Store account. If you are located in Europe check out the '12 Days. 12 Free Downloads.' promotion.

Google releases Chrome for Mac Beta

Tales — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:18:40 +0000

Google just released their Google Chrome browser for the Mac. After months of waiting the First stable (beta) release of Google Chrome for mac has been released. Development versions of Chrome have been available for around 6 months. Chrome includes a fast javascript engine, which you will notice with javascript intensive websites like Google Maps, Google Docs and Gmail. Besides this Chrome also runs Tabs in seperate processes meaning that if a Tab crashes (Java anyone?), only that tab will be terminated, the other tabs will keep on going like nothing ever happened.

The Chrome for Mac (Beta) download comes in at 17.6MB, Carries build number: 4.0.249.30 and will only work on Intel-based macs with OSX Leopard or higher.

iTunes Store gets 'Preview All' on albums.

Tales — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:58:43 +0000

iTunes has added a 'preview all' option to its store. This lets you listen to a 30 second clip of every song on the album. Although this feature isn't really new as you have been able to preview by double clicking a song, it makes it a whole lot easier to get a fast impression of an album. Click 'Preview All', sit back and enjoy the tunes.

Source:

TUAW

12 Days. 12 Free Downloads.

Rosana — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:12:56 +0000

I hadn't noticed this yet, but Bas notified me through Twitter. Because of the holidays, Apple is giving away free downloads through the iTunes Store. The link Bas showed me was for Dutch people only. And of course we have Dutch visitors, but we'd like to let our international visitors enjoy this special action as well.

Dutch - 12 dagen. 12 gratis downloads.
English (UK) - 12 days. 12 free downloads.

I tried to look up a US url for this but couldn't find one. When I change .co.uk to .com it just redirects to the .co.uk. That's not helping But I just found out through Wired that the US does not have this specific giveaway.

Launching Today!

Rosana — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:57:59 +0000

Welcome to MacDesperate! The long wait is finally over. We're here to keep you informed about the latest Mac and Apple related news, while we're saving up to get some Macs ourselves. We'll have goodies, fun articles and much more for you to enjoy here. Just make sure you give back by making a donation! Thanks a lot, and welcome again!

The agonising road to Macness - The nineties

Wouter — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:50:08 +0000

For a long time, I wasn’t really interested in Macs. Especially during the nineties. When I was about 10 years old, I already knew Macs were some weird kind of PC, which can’t run Windows and it didn’t even have Pentium II! Everybody knew your PC had to have Pentium II! Never mind that I hadn’t got the slightest idea what a Pentium II exactly was, you knew it was somehow better than a normal Pentium, so you needed to have it, like now. Nobody was even aware of Macs as a real alternative to Windows PCs back then.

Apple silently updates Mac Pro

Tales — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 16:51:14 +0000

Apple updated the built to order parts on the Mac Pro. You can get upgrade the quad-core Mac Pro from 2.93Ghz to 3.33Ghz for a whopping $800. This option isn't yet available on the 8-core Mac Pro. Besides this Apple also updated its available drives. You can now get a 2TB drive for the low low price of $500. Or you could upgrade them yourself and be done for $200 per drive.

I personally wonder why you would want to get a Mac Pro though. The new Core i7 iMac is cheaper compared to the Mac Pro and it includes a 27" screen. The speed difference is near insignificant. The biggest difference is probably that you get to upgrade system parts with ease. But if I was a professional I'm quite sure what I would choose, and it ain't the big box with holes in the front.