Apple Magic Trackpad Announced

It’s been speculated about for a while, due to FCC filings and the like, but it’s finally here. Today, Apple introduced the Apple Magic Trackpad. It’s based on the same multi-touch technology behind current MacBook Pros and can either replace or simply compliment your existing mouse. It has a glass surface similar to the MBPs and is 80% larger than the touchpads on MBPs. It connects through a Bluetooth wireless connection.

From Apple’s PR:

The new Magic Trackpad is the first Multi-Touch trackpad designed to work with your Mac desktop computer. It uses the same Multi-Touch technology you love on the MacBook Pro. And it supports a full set of gestures, giving you a whole new way to control and interact with what’s on your screen. Swiping through pages online feels just like flipping through pages in a book or magazine. And inertial scrolling makes moving up and down a page more natural than ever.

Why would I bring that up here, you might ask.

Simple, anybody who has played around or used any of the current iOS genealogy apps for iPhones and iPads (iOS / iPhone / iPad Genealogy Software at MobileGenealogy.com), knows how easy it can be to navigate around some of them using a touch interface. Obviously those apps are built for such an interface, and I’m not sure how/if genealogy applications running on regular Mac OS X based systems can really take advantage of this in the same way that iOS-based apps do – there maybe a way for developers to build it into their software to allow you to navigate visual family trees.

Even if that’s not the case, we all do a lot of scrolling and zooming in and out and might benefit from this. Using the Virtual Tree in MacFamilyTree as an example, it would be easy to zoom in and out and move around it.

I may pick one up in the next few weeks, and if so I’ll post a review here. I am going to have to try one out in a store, but having used a MacBook Pro extensively, I think I might just be able to use it.

FileMaker 9 Announced

FileMaker 9 has been announced, with four versions: FileMaker Pro 9, FileMaker Pro 9 Advanced, FileMaker Server 9, FileMaker Server 9 Advanced. Several Mac genealogy applications and utilities have used previous versions of FileMaker, including one or two genealogy applications currently in development. This is considered one of the biggest upgrades in years, with over 30 new major features/changes.

Creation, automation, sharing and database reports have been simplified for both users and database developers. Online collaboration has really been stressed in this release.

Full details at Filemaker.com

MacZot – Bundle of Mac Software

Update: the deal is over.

MacPAF Poll – Which Versions of Mac OS X

Logan Allred, the developer of MacPAF, is running a poll about which versions of Mac OS X should be supported under MacPAF:

When I started MacPAF several years ago, Jaguar (10.2) was the current OS, and Panther (10.3) was coming. I decided that I would support 10.1.5 and newer with MacPAF. I’ve intentionally left out many nice features I could add that are only for Jaguar, Panther, or Tiger to allow as many people as possible the opportunity to use MacPAF.

This has led to certain compromises in the design and implementation of MacPAF. I know the majority of you are on a modern version of the OS and will miss these features, but I don’t want to exclude those that are running older versions. There a few members of my own family still running 10.2.8, and I’d prefer not to exclude them, but they are feeling the urge to upgrade as well, and likely will when 10.5 (Leopard) comes out.

I don’t think I’m ready to drop support for 10.2 at this point, but I am considering dropping support for 10.1. I may still release an initial 1.0 version that supports 10.1, but I’m pretty sure after that I’ll move to 10.2.8 as the minimum OS for sure for MacPAF 1.1 and newer unless there’s a strong desire to keep 10.1 support around.

If you are interested in MacPAF, head over and vote in the poll here at Logan’s website.

Virtualization for Mac OS X

The hits keep coming: Parallels.com

It’s here! Parallels is proud to launch the Beta program the first virtualization solution specifically designed to work with Intel-powered Apple computers! Parallels Workstation 2.1 Beta for Mac OS X is NOT simply a “dual-boot” solution; rather, it empowers users the ability to use Windows, Linux and any other operating system at the same time as Mac OS X, enabling users to enjoy the comfort of their Mac OS X desktop while still being able to use critical applications from other OSes.

Driven by full support for dual-core processors and Intel Virtualization Technology (included in almost every new Intel-powered Mac), virtual machines created using Parallels Workstation 2.1 Beta offer near-native performance and rock-solid stability.

Their versions for Linux and Windows cost $50.

Keep in mind this allows you to run Windows inside of Mac OS X – it’s not a “dual-boot” solution like Apple’s ‘Boot Camp’ that came out yesterday, and it’s not limited to Windows XP, but everything from MSDOS/Windows 3.1 all the way up through Windows 98 and XP. It won’t be as fast as the dual-boot option, but for most of your applications, you won’t care.

This makes it extremly easy to get people to switch to Mac OS X – if they just have a few applications they can’t let go of, they can just pop open a window running Windows, access the application, and then exit out, without having to reboot.

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