Apple To Release ‘ Snow Leopard’ Friday 28.08.09

Finally it is nearly here… Apple’s latest and greatest Operating System is being released this coming Friday the 28th August 2009.

Priced at an AMAZING £25.00 !!

Microsoft has a lot to learn with not only pricing but the ‘different’ versions they put out !.

You can read more from Apple’s Website

Enjoy.

My blog might be quiet for a while as I am studying…

Just to let you know that I might not be posting much over the next few weeks or months as I am studying for more IT related certifications.

Apple release Safari 4.0

Today Apple release the latest version of their browser Safari.
Claiming to be the webs fastest browser currently available with the following features:

Top Sites
See your favourite websites at a glance and open with a single click.

Cover Flow
Flip through your site bookmarks or history as you do with your music in iTunes.

Full History Search
Easily retrieve sites you’ve browsed before.

Nitro Engine
Massive increase of speed of showing the web pages.

Windows Native Look and Feel
If you’re using Safari on a PC with Windows Vista or Windows XP, you’ll feel right at home.

So why not try it, download for either Mac OS X / Tiger or Windows XP / Vista:

Safari 4.0 Mac (43mb)
Safari 4.0 Windows (47mb)

Apple releases updates for; iLife 09, iwork 09 and Aperture 2

iLife Support provides system software resources that are shared by iLife and other applications. This update addresses general compatibility issues, improves overall stability for the Media Browser, and fixes a number of other minor issues. The issues addressed include:

* Resolved memory leaks for improved performance of the Media Browser
* Corrected issues to display custom folders when added to the Media Browser
* Maintained correct image dates when importing from iPhoto to Aperture
* The update is recommended for all users of iLife ’09, iWork ’09, and Aperture 2.

Run your ‘System Update’ on Mac OS X or download the files shown below.

iLife Support v9.03 (54mb)
iDVD Update v7.0.4 (29mb)
iMovie Update v8.0.3 (35mb)
iPhoto Update v8.0.3 (97mb)
Digital Camera Raw Compatibility v2.6 (4mb)

Windows 7 due for release October 22, 2009

Whilst Windows 7 has already gone through a public beta phase which started January this year and a further update of a Release Candidate version last month, Microsoft are keen to put Vista in the bin and move everyone to Windows 7 on the 22nd October 2009.

Those of you aiming to buy a new PC around that time will almost certainly get Windows 7 pre-installed onto your shiny new PC but will they still offer XP or Vista, I hope not.

Microsoft are planning on releasing six, yes that six versions of Windows 7, although only Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional will be available at retail.

Those that where unaware of Windows 7 RC being available for download can get all the details and files from here. However, Microsoft has put a time limit on the download and at this time it is only available until July 2009 so be quick!

For further viewing and reading see Microsoft’s Windows 7 home page.

So will it be worth changing from XP, Vista ?
In a word, YES !
As I am a Microsoft Partner Program member I get to beta test most of Microsoft’s software and from the time that I have spent with Windows 7, I can say that it is definitely worth the upgrade.

Here are some of the features I’ve found of interest from general use:

1. It’s QUICK, much faster bootup and closedown and general use.
2. Much better User Account Control (UAC) – This annoyed so many users using Vista.
3. Libraries – better file handing system for local and remote files.
4. More control over Wireless networks – Vista users will be happier!
5. Pin items to your task bar instead of creating shortcuts.
6. Better searching – works simliar to ‘spotlight’ on Mac OS X and across networks!
7. Nicer Tab bar switching and stacking of open apps / windows on the Taskbar.
8. Windows media player now accepts ‘iTunes AAC format’ files!
9. Bluetooth 2.1 support.
10. IE 8 – Much better intergration within Windows 7 (I prefer Firefox )

Some features for the Administrator(s), Remote User:

1. Bitlocker to go – Encrypt those USB flash drives, very handy.
2. DirectAccess – Easier VPN use, but requires IPv6 and IPsec on Windows Server 2008 R2.
3. DNS SEC – A much needed fix for DNS on the host, prevents spoofing.
4. AppLocker – For network administrators to prevent certain apps from running.
5. BranchCache – Nice little feature that caches files from the internal network or internet and makes them available to local machines much faster ! (needs a Windows Server 2008 R2 setup).
6. VHD Boot – Booting Images with a virtualized desktop infrastructure as a ‘Virtual Hard Drive’.
7. Enhanced Power Shell and Scripting.
8. Windows Troubleshooting platform – new approach to troubleshooting in the form of downloadable packs.
9. Better use of Public and shared folders & files.
10. Problem Steps Recorder – a nice feature that takes screen grabs for support to see what the user is up to!

So go on try it, you have until July 2010 to use it.
However, beware that the machine will warn you from March 2010 that you need to purchase a licence otherwise as it will start to shutdown automatically every 2 hours!

Enjoy.

iWork 09 Update 2 released

Those of you running iWork 09 on your mac will be happy to know that Apple has just released Update 2.

This update improves reliability when saving some iWork documents and when playing some presentations more than once per keynote session.

Note: This update is recommended for all users of iWork 09.

The Update can be obtained by either using Mac OS X in build ‘System Update’ or by downloading the update direct from Apple (45meg).

Remote Desktop – The easy way

I recently came across an excellent Remote Desktop application called TeamViewer
TeamViewer is a fast and simple remote solution that works through firewalls and offers a solution for anyone wanting to get access to a computer from the Internet.

Having installed TeamViewer on to a couple of friends computers, I was impressed how easy and quickly it worked.
As I have an implementation of a hardware/Software firewall in addition to my routers own firewall, I had to add a new rule to allow TCP 5938 through.

TeamViewer offers 3 types of session, ‘Remote Support’, ‘Presentation’ and ‘File Transfer’.
Connections are fully encrypted with key exchange and AES 256bit session coding for piece of mind!

TeamViewer works on Windows and Mac computers as well as having a USB flash drive option that includes U3 USB flash drives, so you can have remote desktop functionality wherever your are.

The biggest bonus is that it is completely FREE for non-commercial use!
So check it out now.

TeamViewer (Full Version) – Windows, Mac
-both client and server install
TeamViewer (Quick Support) – Windows, Mac
-standalone version no install required
TeamViewer Host – Windows
- For unattended windows servers

Vista/Server 2008 Service Pack 2 – NOW OUT

Those of you running Windows Vista who haven’t moved to Windows 7 RC yet, will welcome Microsoft’s release of Service Pack 2 for both 32bit and 64bit versions of Vista.

32 bit Version (350meg)
64 bit Version (577meg)

Overview
Service Pack 2 for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista (SP2) is an update to Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 that supports new kinds of hardware and emerging hardware standards, and includes all updates delivered since SP1.
SP2 simplifies administration by enabling IT administrators to deploy and support a single service pack for clients and servers. Please see the Windows Server SP2/Windows Vista SP2 page on TechNet/MSDN for additional details and documentation.

Windows Vista SP2 TechNet
Windows Server 2008 SP2 TechNet

‘Chromium’ an open-source browser for Mac OS X, Linux and Windows

This open-source browser has been in development for some time and it certainly is worth a look if you haven’t already tried it.
Windows users will probably know of Google’s browser called ‘ Chrome’ which is based on ‘Chromium’!

I thought I’d post the links to the daily builds of ‘Chromium’ for the Mac, Linux and Windows systems so you can try it out.

Currently in a beta phase:
Windows
Linux
Mac OS X

The project’s homepage is found here.

I think I spoke too soon.

‘A Picture says a thousand words’