Chipbit ®

A bit of Everything

This is shaping up to be the autumn of new operating systems. The latest version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard, ships to customers this Friday. Windows 7, the follow-up to the much-maligned Windows Vista, hits store shelves in late October. Neither operating system is going to drastically change the way you work.

Managing Your Files

Snow Leopard’s Finder and Windows 7’s Explorer have strikingly similar interfaces: Both have quick search fields in the upper-right corner, path bars (OS X’s is optional and can be switched on in the View menu), and sidebars giving you easy access to various common locations on your computer.

Windows 7 introduces a new feature to the mix: Libraries. A library is best defined as a way to view the contents of several folders all in one place. For example, the Pictures library pulls together the contents of the My Pictures and Public Pictures folders by default. You can add or change the folders tied to any particular library, of course.

Nothing in Snow Leopard directly compares with Windows’ libraries. The closest OS X feature is saved searches (known as Smart Folders), but a saved search pulls together files based on search criteria, not location. You can’t, for example, create a smart folder containing all photos from only two folders. On the other hand, Windows 7 libraries can’t be combined with saved search results.

Both Snow Leopard and Windows 7 allow a large icon view. Windows 7 supports icons up to 256-by-256 pixels. Snow Leopard one-ups Windows 7, though—the Finder can display icons up to a seemingly absurd 512-by-512 pixels (512-pixel icons were around in 10.5, but the Finder could not take advantage of them outside of Quick Look and Cover Flow view).

Quick Access

Some OS X apps can use the Dock’s pop-up menus to display application-specific information and provide easy access to frequently used commands. For example, if you right-click

Tunes’ Dock icon in Snow Leopard, you’ll get a menu that lets you see what’s playing, play or pause your music, assign a rating to the current song, and control other simple iTunes commands.

With Windows 7’s re-tooled taskbar, Microsoft introduces a similar feature called jump lists. Jump lists can not only provide access to common commands (Windows Media Player‘s jump list has a Play command, for example), they also let you “pin” items to a specific list. For example, you can pin commonly-used folders to the Windows Explorer jump list and important documents to the WordPad jump list.

Snow Leopard doesn’t have any features that directly compare to the jump list’s pinning feature; instead, Mac users can use stacks in the Dock to provide quick access to folders and files (drag any folder to the Dock to create a stack). Stacks get a refresh in Snow Leopard: You can now view unlimited items in a stack using Grid view (thanks to the addition of scrollbars), as well as drill down into folders without having to open any Finder windows. You can also drag and drop any file into the Dock for quick access…………

Full Post here

you’re looking for the performance of a MacBook Pro without the Pro price, then you’re going to like Apple’s newly updated MacBook.

The MacBook, unveiled with updates to the iMac and Mini lines last month, is still priced at $999 — $200 less than the 13-in. aluminum-clad MacBook Pro. But compared to the model it replaces, Apple’s latest entry-level portable delivers an updated architecture, a beefier hard drive and a higher-quality screen.

The biggest change from the old model is the redesigned plastic housing, which is created using Apple’s "unibody" manufacturing process. While still encased in the shiny white plastic that has been the hallmark of the line for years, Apple’s latest MacBook forgoes the boxy look in favor of flowing lines, swooping angles and a precision fit.

The end result is a solid laptop that feels sculpted instead of assembled and has the processing power users need.

New curves, updated hardware

Not only is it curvier, but the MacBook now weighs in at 4.7 pounds — 0.2 pounds lighter than before. It’s still just over an inch thick when closed.

Full Article

Apple Inc said on Tuesday it is updating its iMac and Mac mini desktop line of personal computers with prices starting at $599.

The new line of desktop computers includes a 24-inch iMac with twice the memory size and twice the storage of the previous generation 20-inch iMac, but is priced at the same $1,499. The new iMac line includes one 20-inch PC and three new 24-inch iMacs priced between at $1,199 to $2,199.

The two new Mac Mini desktops measure at 6.5 inches by 6.5 inches by 2 inches and the price starts at $599 to $799. The company also introduced a new Mac Pro desktop PC aimed at business users. The new Mac Pro starts at $2,499, $300 less than the previous Mac Pro

SophosLabs is reporting that a new Trojan horse capable of infecting the Apple Mac OS X platform is doing the rounds.

The Trojan, being called "iWorkServices" or "iServices", has been distributed via BitTorrent inside a pirated version of Apple’s new iWork ’09 suite.
Hackers have used a pirated version of iWork ’09 as a "host" for the malware, just as Apple has loosened up anti-piracy protection in the package.
While previous versions of Apple iWork required users to enter a serial number when installing from CD ROM, the new version allows users to install the software on as many computers as they like – without apparent repercussion.
Malware affecting Apple Macs is much less frequently encountered than it is by Windows-using counterparts.