Apple News

News from Apples

New Intel-based Mac mini’s Are Available.

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As you have probably heard by now, Apple has released Intel Core Solo and Core Duo-based Mac minis, now making half of their product line Intel-based. Specifications:

Apple Lists Universal Binaries, MacBook Pro Upgraded

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If you are curious about which Mac OS X applications have already made the transition to Universal Binaries, Apple has put together a list of Universal Applications. At this time, MacFamilyTree is the only genealogy application listed as a Universal Application, although most reports are that current Mac OS X genealogy applications will run just fine under Rosetta.

We have a short page dedicated to explaining just what a Universal Binary is as well as how older Mac OS X applications will run under “Rosetta”.

iLife ’06, .Mac Updates

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Last, but not least, iLife ’06 has been released – with some updates that maybe of interests to some Mac genealogists. Along with it, an update to .Mac to allow for improved integration between the two. Among the highlights – in addition to creating nice photo books through iPhoto, you can now create calendars and greeting cards, and order them online, as well as enhanced performance for iPhoto (which can now handle 250,000 photos).

iWork ’06

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iWork ’06 was released with some major enhancements to Pages and Keynote. Although a spreadsheet application was not added, spreadsheet functionality was increased. Among the changes:
* Ability to create more sophisticated/compex documents and presentations, including spreadsheet-like tables
* 3D Charts
* Image editing (similar to iPhoto)
* Masking tools added
* New ways to view the documents as you create them, as well as the ability to control the viewing angle for presentations
* Improved Mac OS X Address Book compatability
* Dozens of new themes

iWork ’06 is available now for $79 through the Apple Store.

Universal Binaries, Rosetta, Intel CPUs

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Apple has updated their pages concerning Universal Binaries, Rosetta, and Intel CPUs:

Apple’s Rosetta page
Apple’s Intel CPU page
Apple’s Universal Binary page

We also have a small page concerning Universal Binaries here. As of yet, few Mac genealogy applications are compiled as Universal Binaries (MacFamilyTree being one), as far as I know, most Mac genealogy developers are going to work on Intel-compatible/Universal Binary versions of their software, although with Rosetta, they have plenty of time. After all, even if a PowerPC-based application under OS X on Intel runs 25% slower than on a PowerPC-based Mac, considering the new iMac is twice as fast as the old, and the MacBook Pro is upto 4 times as fast…well I don’t think we need to worry about performance problems 🙂