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Review: Pioneer's AirPlay system is feature-rich but fares poorly
Airport Utility 6.0
You may want to keep both 5.6 and 6.0 versions. I used Pacifist, and manually reinstalled the 5.6 version side by side. Lots of missing features in the new utility. No way to tweak wireless options for Mode, Frequency, Multicast Rate or Transmit Power, and such a tiny window for port mapping list. An elegant interface, but at a price.
For a thorough review and pointers to stand alone updates, read here.
[crarko adds: Consider this a public service announcement. It also appears that AirPort Utility 6.0 only functions with the 802.11(n) compatible base stations, so that old AirPort Express you may have (like I do) is not supported. I've actually saved many older versions of the utility, even for the original Graphite (flying saucer) bases.]
10.7: See Exposé view of an app in the background
In OS X 10.7, the four-finger swipe down toggles app Exposé for the app in the foreground. Except if you place the cursor on the icon of a running app in the Dock, in which case the four-finger down swipe toggles the app exposé of THAT app, not the application that is in the foreground.
If you swipe down again without selecting a window from the Exposé view, you are taken back to the app you were in before toggling Exposé.
[crarko adds: I'd love to test this, but my Lion system is still trying to finish installing the 10.7.3 update, which has already taken considerably longer than anticipated.]
(Insider) The Macalope Daily: Still not getting Apple
(This story is viewable exclusively by Macworld Insider members.)
The iPad at work, Day 2: testing the limits
Opinion: OnLive is a train wreck
Canon joins the Wi-Fi and 20X-zoom fray with new PowerShot cameras
Nikon D800 full-frame DSLR packs 36 megapixels
iOS Review: Mad Chef serves up casual gaming fun
Appeals court denies Google bid to keep email out of Oracle trial
Make apps appear correctly in Mission Control
Remains of the Day: Look around you
Bookle brings ePub reading to the Mac
Monday Recap: Best Buy TV Survey, Siri Hardware, AT&T Throttling Unlimited Data
Hey, how about that Super Bowl, am I right? Okay, you got us -- we didn’t watch the darned thing because we were working hard all weekend while the rest of you planted your backsides on the couch to indulge in cheap beer, stale nachos and the high blood pressure that surely comes from such testosterone-driven forms of entertainment. Most of you are probably having a hard time adjusting to a bad case of the post-Bowl Mondays, but we’re here to help with a heaping helping of tech news for this manic Monday, February 6, 2012.
There May Be a Valid Reason Why Siri Isn’t on Older iPhonesNo one likes to be left behind when cool features like Siri are introduced and touted as only available on newer hardware. Despite the valiant efforts of hackers to port the intelligent assistant technology to older iOS handsets, Ars Technica is reporting that Apple may have had a valid reason for limiting it to the iPhone 4S. “According to recent SEC filings from technology start-up Audience, Apple incorporated an improved version of its background noise filtering technology directly into the A5 processor used in the iPhone 4S -- technology that improves Siri's speech recognition capabilities.” Of course, the basic functionality of Siri has already been available in software-only form as a free app, since discontinued after Apple’s release of the iPhone 4S in October -- but coupling it with Audience’s “earSmart” IP would certainly make a more convincing case for keeping Siri tied to newer hardware.
Best Buy Dreaming of an Apple Television, TooYeah, yeah, we know: You want an Apple television, and so do the analysts. But what about major electronics retailers? According to The Verge, apparently Best Buy also wants one, and wants one badly enough to query its customers with a survey exclusively dedicated to a theoretical 42-inch “AppleHDTV” which may retail for $1499. Now, before you get all excited and start clearing space on your credit cards, this is in no way an indication that said HDTV will ever arrive in stores -- Best Buy or otherwise. It sounds more like the retailer is getting a feel for what customers might like to see from such an offering, especially when features like a “built in iSight camera and microphone for Skype,” neither of which sound too Apple-like in this day and age. (FaceTime HD, anyone?)
Samsung Galaxy Note: The Stylus Makes a Comeback?With an audience of millions watching the Super Bowl on Sunday night, Samsung introduced the latest of their attack ads against Apple in the form of a whopping 90 seconds of pure delusion. The spot opens with the usual bored-looking hipsters, presumably in line for the next iPhone, in what can only be described as sheer make-believe -- hey, we stood in line for the first two iPhones and nobody looked as bored and tortured as these folks. Of course, the dark cloud parts when one of them spots a dude with his new Android-packing Samsung Galaxy Note, which reintroduces the stylus to a world that has pretty much forgotten about it. The hipsters get so excited they take to dancing in the streets for the majority of the commercial time before the spot ends with Samsung’s slogan “The next big thing is already here”… followed a moment later by a “Coming Soon” notice. Confused? Yeah, us too…
Still rocking one of those awesome unlimited data packages from the original iPhone back in 2007? If so, AT&T apparently hates you and wants you to die -- okay, so they don’t want you to die, but they do want you to surrender your unlimited data and get with the times. According to iLounge, customers are starting to receive text messages warning that they’re in the top five percent of data users -- a penalty that comes with reduced data speeds for the remainder of the billing cycle. So what is the top five percent, you may ask? If you guessed five or even 10GB, guess again: This particular user got whacked at only 2.1GB, which is ironically under the new 3GB for $30 data plan the carrier recently began offering. What gives? “Data consumption by all smartphone customers, including the top 5 percent of smartphone data customers, varies by month and by market,” explains Emily Edmonds, Director, AT&T Corporate Communications. “As of August 2011, the average data use across the country by the top 5 percent of AT&T smartphone customers was 2 GB per month.” Sounds more like a way to strong arm users grandfathered with undesirable unlimited plans into getting with data caps, if you ask us.
Redbox Partners with Verizon for Streaming, Consumes Blockbuster ExpressHey, Redbox… slow down! You’re making our heads spin here! If you weren’t paying attention earlier today, you might have missed the big news that the DVD rental kiosk giant is indeed preparing to take on Netflix with a new subscription-based streaming service in an unlikely partnership with Verizon. Concerned that the company might be abandoning those giant red kiosks? Don’t be, because Fast Company is reporting that Redbox had yet another huge announcement this afternoon, dropping $100 million for competitor NCR -- the folks behind their sole competition, Blockbuster Express. The deal will now bless Redbox parent Coinstar with “more locations than McDonald’s and Starbucks combined” -- and they predict those DVDs will keep slinging for upwards of another decade, to boot.
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter



