News, reviews, and tips for MacBook and iPhone users

Review: BenQ Joybee GP1 ultraportable projector

Richard Jantz — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:14:00 -0800

This ultraportable projector displays good-looking images but works best only in low lighting.

Review: Mac mini (Late 2009)

Dan Frakes — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:15:00 -0800

Just seven months after giving the Mac mini line its biggest update ever, Apple has bumped the performance of the company's smallest desktop computers. While the improvements are modest, the latest Mac minis address a few of our biggest criticisms of the Early 2009 models.

Review: InFocus IN1102 ultraportable projector

Richard Jantz — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:14:00 -0800

The versatile, 2.75-pound InFocus IN1102 is a superior choice for a double-duty, lamp-based projector that delivers bright, colorful images both in large conference rooms and in cozy living rooms.

Review: Jabra Halo headphones

Aoife M. McEvoy — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:44:00 -0700

If you’re looking for nonearbud headphones to handle music and calls—but primarily music—the Halo is a good choice

Review: Optoma Technology EW330 ultraportable projector

Richard Jantz — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:30:00 -0700

Optoma’s compact, 2.4-pound EW330 is a lamp-based ultraportable projector that features 1280 by 800 resolution and enough illumination power for use in a large conference room.

Review: Motorola Droid smartphone

Robert S. Anthony — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:04:00 -0700

The Droid certainly lives up to its promises and does a lot of things the iPhone doesn’t. The iPhone will probably keep its smartphone throne for now, but it will have to deal with a powerful new competitor.

Review: 13-inch MacBook/2.26GHz (Late 2009)

Jonathan Seff — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:14:00 -0700

In bringing the unibody treatment to the white MacBook, Apple has added many pro features while removing FireWire and the infrared port.

MacBook (Late 2009) benchmarks

James Galbraith — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:05:00 -0700

Macworld Lab has received the new MacBook and has been hard at work, putting it to the test. And while we don’t have Speedmark 6 finalized just yet, we do have some MacBook benchmark results we’d like to share.

Review: Dell M109S ultraportable projector

Richard Jantz — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:30:00 -0700

Dell’s tiny M109S is a palm-size LED projector with a low brightness rating of only 50 lumens, which makes it best suited for very small groups in dark or dimly lit conference rooms.

Virgin America and Google team up for free in-flight Wi-Fi

Jeff Porten — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:25:00 -0700

This holiday season, enjoy free Wi-Fi access on all Virgin America flights, courtesy of Google, who's footing the bill.

White MacBook gets unibody design

Jason Snell — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -0700

The new MacBook, while still clad in white polycarbonate, now features the same unibody construction and bright LED-backlit screens as Apple's other laptops. The $999 portable is powered by a 2.26GHz processor.

U.S. TV body approves mobile standard

Stephen Lawson — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:27:00 -0700

ATSC, which oversees TV standards for the U.S., has approved a standard for mobile digital broadcasts.

New WikiReader lets you take online encyclopedia offline

James Galbraith — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:03:00 -0700

Openmoko unveiled a $99 handheld device that lets you browse Wikipedia entries without requiring an Internet connection. But will users embrace the idea of a handheld that does nothing but look up things on Wikipedia?

Automatically mute sound before meetings

Rob Griffiths — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:44:00 -0700

Use a couple of very simple AppleScripts and iCal to mute your laptop before (and unmute it after) you head to meetings, lectures, or other scheduled events.

AT&T on iPhone tethering: Not yet

Lex Friedman — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:32:00 -0700

AT&T today announced that 'fine-tuning' of its network is needed before the carrier can enable iPhone tethering.

Epson reveals four new business projectors

Roman Loyola — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:51:00 -0700

Epson today released four new projectors.

Google leak points to imminent iMac, MacBook refresh

Gregg Keizer — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:37:00 -0700

Google posted ads on its search results over the weekend that hinted Apple will soon refresh its iMac, Mac mini and MacBook lines.

Newton veteran returns to Apple... to market rumored tablet?

Ian Paul — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:10:00 -0700

Michael Tchao, one of the leading proponents of the Newton, is back to work at Apple, according to the New York Times.

What's your wireless signal strength?

Glenn Fleishman — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:30:00 -0700

When you're having trouble with your wireless connection, it can be frustrating to figure out the strength of the signal from your client to the base station. Glenn Fleishman shows three ways to get the information you need.

E-readers could push growth in e-textbook market, analysts say

Matt Hamblen — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:07:00 -0700

With more e-readers hitting the U.S. market, analysts predict a big uptick in sales in late 2010 with a strong surge in the popularity of electronic textbooks.

Oklahoma tech center eyes Kindles, iPhones for e-learning

Matt Hamblen — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:12:00 -0700

High school and college students could be big beneficiaries of mobile technology by using e-readers and smartphones to access electronic textbooks and other course materials.

Microsoft Courier tablet prototype appears on Web

Dan Moren — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:23:00 -0700

A prototype of a new tablet-like Microsoft device named Courier surfaced on the Web late Tuesday.

Slideshow: 20 years of notable Apple totables

Benj Edwards — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Take a stroll through the past two decades as we look at 20 years’ worth of laptop improvements introduced by Apple.

The five most important Mac laptops

Benj Edwards — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:00:00 -0700

It's the 20th anniversary of Apple's first laptop -- the Macintosh Portable. To mark the occasion, Benj Edwards lists the five most significant laptops to come out of Cupertino and why they enjoyed such a lasting influence.

Epson announces new PowerLite 1716 projector

Roman Loyola — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 08:08:00 -0700

Epson today released the PowerLite 1716, a projector designed for business travel.

MobileMe adds iPhone, Snow Leopard features

Dan Moren — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:22:00 -0700

Apple's punched up its MobileMe online service with new features for users of iPhone and Mac OS X Snow Leopard—and even some fixes for Windows users.

Ihnatko: Why MobileMe is worth it

Andy Ihnatko — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 07:00:00 -0700

Andy Ihnatko has a hard time explaining why MobileMe is worth $100 a year. But given enough time, he can manage it.

Small USB flash drives

Roman Loyola — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:18:00 -0700

In this video, senior editor Roman Loyola takes a quick look at two USB flash drives that are very easy to carry with you all the time: LaCie’s iamaKey and Verbatim’s Tuff-’n’-Tiny.

Analysis: Gmail fail casts dark cloud on cloud computing

Ian Paul — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:48:00 -0700

Tuesday's Gmail outage was not only an inconvenience. It calls into question -- yet again -- the feasibility of present day cloud computing.

The $300 challenge: The telecommuter

Dan Moren — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 06:00:00 -0700

Ever-roaming editor Dan Moren creates a fully-loaded Mac setup fit for a telecommuter with just $300. And he doesn't skimp on the tip.

Missing Sync helps Palm OS users with Snow Leopard transition

Peter Cohen — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 09:53:00 -0700

If you're still using a Palm OS-based PDA or smartphone, you're going to need The Missing Sync if you want to sync with Snow Leopard.

Decision time approaches on FCC wireless industry inquiries

Matt Hamblen — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:48:00 -0700

The FCC is slated to discuss several wireless industry issues during its monthly meeting next Thursday.

Survey: Apple's lack of netbook hurts it with students

Peter Cohen — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:42:00 -0700

Retrevo says that Apple's absence of a netbook is hurting it with students shopping for a back-to-school computer.

Wireless service costs too much, and all but the carriers agree

Matt Hamblen — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:12:00 -0700

Criticism of U.S. wireless carriers has reached a peak during the dog days of summer, with cries that carriers are charging too much for wireless voice, data and texting.

Wi-Fi on planes growing, if you can find the right flights

Matt Hamblen — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:58:00 -0700

U.S. airlines are adding Wi-Fi to more of their planes, but it could still be years before the biggest carriers have their fleets fully equipped with the technology.

Review: Rise of Lost Empires for iPhone

Tim Mercer — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:37:00 -0700

Gameloft has managed to strike the right balance between real-time strategy gameplay and lots of action with Rise of Lost Empires. The game does away with some of the more tedious aspects of the genre so that you can focus on the fast-moving though still strategic action.

Survey: Asus, Apple provide most reliable PCs

Agam Shah — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:09:00 -0700

Asus, Apple were the most reliable PC vendors in the U.S. during the second quarter, according to a PC reliability survey from Rescuecom.

Consumers want 3G modems -- at half-price

Stephen Lawson — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:49:00 -0700

Nearly half of U.S. consumers are interested in cellular modems, but only at half the price that service providers are charging for service.

Verizon offers free netbooks with BlackBerry Tour

Stephen Lawson — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:26:00 -0700

Verizon Wireless is offering BlackBerry buyers any phone or data device free if it costs the same or less than the smartphone.

Trackpad update targets Boot Camp users

Philip Michaels — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:43:00 -0700

Multi-Touch Trackpad Update 1.1, released Tuesday by Apple, promises to improve reliability while running Windows XP or Vista on a Mac laptop via Boot Camp.

Things roadmap hints at wireless sync, Web access

David Chartier — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:00:00 -0700

Things developer Cultured Code has laid out a roadmap for future features. Reading between the lines, however, hints at some very interesting possibilities.

Review: Iomega eGo Mac Edition 500GB portable hard drive

Chris Holt — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:57:00 -0700

Known for its iconic sleek designs, Iomega updated to the eGo hard-drive line with improved speeds and more versatile connectivity.

Review: Evernote 1.4

Jeffery Battersby — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:44:00 -0700

Evernote 1.4 is a versatile tool for capturing a wide variety of information and syncing that information among a variety of platforms.