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Right out of the box, your Mac can do a lot of things. With these utilities, you can make it do nearly everything.

When you buy a new Macintosh, it comes pretty well equipped. It’s got an assortment of software already installed, including a top-notch browser (Safari), a fine instant-messaging program (iChat) and an industry-standard media player (QuickTime). Many system maintenance tasks are handled by Mac OS X’s own built-in, Unix-based routines that clean up old files, monitor the health of your hard disk and more. On top of that, Apple’s included Disk Utility can diagnose and fix the most common threats to the smooth operation of your hard drive.

Which isn’t to say there’s no room for improvement. The addition of a few select utilities can fill in some of the missing pieces in your Mac tool kit or extend the capabilities of the built-in tools. I’m not referring to the full-fledged applications almost everyone needs, such as a word processor or spreadsheet program, but rather the kind of inexpensive program that makes using your Mac easier, safer or more fun.

Here’s my list of the 22 must-have apps for the Mac in 11 different categories, plus a few bonus apps worth the download. These are tools that should be installed on every Mac — and Apple didn’t include them, so here’s where to get them yourself.

Read full article

Media attention these days focuses mostly on the high-definition Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD formats. Yet in this interim period — while high-def adoption ever-so-slowly ramps up — standard DVD continues to see updates and new products. Here’s a wrap-up of some of the most interesting (and some of the more pedestrian) DVD players and burners that have crossed my desk this summer.

More at Computer World

While Nokia will be launching the N81 in London tomorrow, here are some images of what the future looks like. The N81 certainly looks extremely sweet, bringing 8GB of flash memory to truly make this a portable entertainment device in addition to voice call capabilities. Word on the street has it that the 8GB N95 along with a slew of XpressMusic handsets will also be paraded at the London event.

More at Ubergizmo

IT Administrator Kevin Miller has decided not to support the iPhone on his company’s network. Find out why and what Apple could do to change his mind.

Dear Apple,

I know you’re a consumer-oriented company, but when you make products so cool my users just can’t help themselves, you make problems for me. My users love the look, the features and of course the bragging rights that come with an iPhone, so it was inevitable that they were going to come to IT and ask the dreaded question, “Can I use this at work?”

Well Apple, you’ve made me do something I don’t like to do — I said no. It didn’t have to be this way; I could have said yes to your iPhone if only you’d done a few simple things:

1. We don’t use IMAP or POP3, so users have no way to check their corporate e-mail through Exchange. IMAP would leave out some of the best functions of Exchange in regard to calendaring and contacts, which users now rely on to sync when they’re on the road. You’ve got all the components set up with Mail and Address Book—now we just need to get them to sync directly to our Exchange server.

2. What happens when a user’s pretty new toy gets lost or stolen — along with heaps of sensitive corporate data? What do you think the incidence of iPhone theft is going to be like? I need to know I can remotely wipe or kill the device to keep it out of the hands of evildoers.

3. What’s up with the aging wireless technology? Today when every smartphone is EVDO and 3G, why is the iPhone is stuck with 2.5G? Downloading attachments over 1MB shouldn’t be a hassle anymore. You’re missing out on a huge market by cutting out critical business features every other smartphone has already.

While we’re at it, I’ve got some other issues too, of a less technical nature.

Read full article at bMighty

As you probably noticed now we are turned into self organised blog network. Top of this site has a links to most valued members.Theese mashup blogs are up and running under our cover and technology:

• ExtraTech News - blog about technology, selected IT news from trusted sources;
• Extra Realty - Real Estate Press Releases. If you are interested in US Real Estate - don’t miss it;
• Sport Forward - Sports news; All about Sports events;
• WindowsUpdated - Last minute Windows and Microsoft stories,downloads, links, updates and simply news.

Don’t miss this blogs , they came in a handy format and updated few times per day (sometimes even on a hourly schedule)

Microsoft is in full throttle with the evolution of Windows Vista Service Pack 1. Having released the first wave of pre-beta builds to a select pool of testers in mid July, the Redmond company is hard at work on the development of the operating system’s first refresh.

A clear indication of this is the fact that a new build of Windows Vista SP1 has shipped to testers. Microsoft however is still mute on the subject and under Sinofsky’s Windows Omerta, codename Translucency. At this point in time the Redmond company failed to officially confirm the new release of Vista SP1. Still, it seems that the fresh stage of the service pack is still in pre-beta phase, and the company delivered no indication pointing to when it plans to move Vista SP1 into beta.

The latest Vista SP1 beta release is build 6.0.6001.16633 (longhorn.070803-1655), according to Mary Jo Foley. Outside of the build number there is actually very scarce information available about this release. Undoubtedly, as the fresh Vista SP1 version will be dropped in the laps of more and more users additional details will leak. The previous release of the service pack made it clear that leaks are inherent, as Windows Omerta is not in effect outside of Redmond. One aspect seems to be clear though, the new pre-beta build of Vista SP1 is a standalone .EXE installer.

With the initial versions of SP1 released to testers Microsoft choose to deliver an ISO containing the entire operating system, with the service pack installed on top. The full build tag of the first Vista SP1 was 6001.16549.070628-1825. Microsoft had to face not only a feast of information about the 6001.16549 after the July availability but also leaks of the actual pre-beta version of the service pack to torrent trackers. The Company failed to react in any manner to the fact that Vista SP1 6001.16549 was offered for download via peer-to-peer file sharing networks. The only difference is that with the new release, Microsoft scrapped the 3+ GB ISO file in favor of an executable file with the Vista SP1.

Source: Windows Updated

• Does your boss act out and throw tantrums like a spoiled child?
• Does your company ship most of its product the last 24 hours of the quarter?
• Are you afraid to bring up certain hot-button issues in meetings for fear of being humiliated?
• Do you spend more time covering your ass than you do sitting on it?
• Is your company in a perpetual state of limbo because nobody can make a decision?
• Does your company’s mission statement change weekly?

These are all signs of a dysfunctional workplace. But don’t fret; you’re not alone. In fact, an entire lexicon has grown up around dysfunctional corporate behavior. See if you can recognize some of the issues that drive you and your co-workers nuts in these definitions:

Analysis paralysis. Chronic debating that obstructs the decision making process. Often a systemic problem within a company and a symptom of dysfunctional leadership, processes, and pretty much everything else. Also see disruptive management style.

Breathing your own fumes. When executives actually start to believe and make decisions based on the spin-doctored bulls–t they consistently spew out to the media, analysts, investors, customers and employees.

Blowing smoke up someone’s ass. Feeding an insincere compliment or bulls–t to someone who should know better but hasn’t been around long enough to develop a healthy, cynical filter against that sort of thing. Not to be confused with having your head stuck up someone’s ass.

Committing political suicide. Pissing off or going toe-to-toe with your dysfunctional boss, some other self-important executive, or someone one of those people mistakenly trusts more than they trust you. AKA a career ending move.

CYA. Means cover your ass. It’s what weak, small-minded people do when they should be doing the right thing instead.

Disruptive management style. Euphemism for an executive who chronically swoops into meetings and makes wild, half-assed decisions based on limited data. Also, an executive prone to mucking with processes and projects and making everyone affected want to strangle him. Can cause strategy or roadmap du jour and analysis paralysis.

Don’t s–t where you eat. I think everybody knows this one … except maybe Bill Clinton.

End of quarter panic. The last week of the quarter when everybody - especially sales - wakes up and actually does their job. Usually results in pulling an all-nighter on the last day, followed by 12 weeks of partying.

Going down a rat-hole. When two or more people get into a non-productive fight or argument over a hot topic where neither side will give in. Often occurs when one pushes another’s buttons and can involve emotional outbursts, acting out, cursing and name-calling. See take it off-line - the only cure.

Hallway meeting. This is when managers make decisions, in the hallway or in an office or cubicle, they shouldn’t be making. The manager who is supposed to be making these decisions is typically missing from hallway meetings. Often the result of passive aggressive behavior and results in strategy or roadmap du jour.

Ivory tower mentality. When senior officers cut themselves off from employees, investors, and customers, typically by adding protective layers of superfluous executives, secretaries, voicemail systems, and outer offices. Caused by a deep fear of confronting their own issues, not because they think they’re better than you.

Moral flexibility. I first heard this expression in the movie Grosse Pointe Blank where John Cusack’s character is an assassin possessing a certain moral flexibility. Same thing with executives that possess this quality, except the fallout leads to fraud, scandal, and shareholders losing their savings, not their lives.

Passive aggressive behavior. When somebody agrees to a plan against his wishes - typically in a meeting with everyone present - and then goes off and does what he wanted to do in the first place, usually without telling anybody. Similar to an end around, can also be related to back stabbing.

Sacred cow. A project that’s immune to the company’s typical processes - like operating plans, phase reviews and budgeting - because it’s a self-important executive’s pet project. Not to be confused with a sacred animal you’re not supposed to eat or wear, although drinking its milk is apparently okay.

Silo mentality. When people focus solely on themselves, their department, their division, whatever, to the detriment of the broader organization. Similar to bunker mentality, which is defensive behavior to protect a project or organization that should have been killed long ago.

Strategy du jour. When dysfunctional executives consistently overreact to a single data point or hallway meeting and take the entire organization in a new direction instead of sticking with “the plan.” A serious problem that often results in spiraling morale, efficiency and operating performance. AKA roadmap du jour. Not to be confused with a common secondary symptom - reorg du jour.

Take it off-line. What you do when one or more people get completely off-track or off-topic in a meeting, sometimes going down a rat-hole. Also, what you tell two people who are getting into an embarrassing display of childish emotion in what’s supposed to be a civilized work environment.

Title inflation. When most of a company’s employees are VPs who are not qualified to sweep a normal company’s floors.

If you identify chronic evidence of several of these afflictions in your company, you may wish to consider alternative employment options. If, on the other hand, you’re the cause, I understand that Lexapro and Celexa work wonders. A little psychotherapy probably wouldn’t hurt, either.

Source: ExtraTech

APC magazine published this 15 issues and we just can’t go by ignoring them:

1. EDGE is too slow for the iPhone.

There are still lots of phones that ship with only 2G GPRS or 2.5G EDGE data support, but it’s really not a big deal on those phones because their Internet capabilities are so watered down as to be almost useless.

On most phones, the web browser mangles pages into something that’s mostly text-only and WAP-like. Even on Nokia phones with the Safari rendering core, the user interface for panning and scanning the full size web page is still too cumbersome to be useful for regular web browsing on the go.

With the iPhone it’s different. Safari is really usable, and when it’s purring on WiFi, it’s an absolute pleasure to use. But stick it on an EDGE mobile network and the frustration builds quickly. On many web pages the load times are intolerable for regular browsing.

On Windows Mobile, the browsing is experience is slow to render and the user interface is so generally awful you probably wouldn’t notice the difference between WiFi and 2G/2.5G anyway.

2. Mobile Safari is great, but not for all websites.

Try going to theage.com.au or smh.com.au on your iPhone and you’ll soon see why Mobile Safari isn’t 100% compatible with all sites on the net.

Digg is another example of a website that doesn’t render quickly on Mobile Safari, which is curious considering its lightweight layout.

On Windows Mobile, the browsing is experience is still so awful there’s no comparison. It might be called “Internet Explorer” on Windows Mobile, but it’s a pale comparison in terms of ability to render pages compared with IE for Windows.

3. Inputting information into web fields can be slow and painful.

For some reason inputting text into fields on a website can be awfully slow. Sometimes iPhone just freezes up and won’t accept inputs at all. I’ve noticed different performance on different sites so your mileage may vary.

Like #1 and #2, on Windows Mobile, the browsing is experience is still so abjectly dreadful you wouldn’t notice if there were problems with text entry fields.

4. Deleting multiple emails is way too hard.

If you’ve got more than a page full of emails (and you will when you first set up Gmail on your phone) it can be a nightmare to delete them all. Plus, once you start deleting them, more come in. It took me two days of solid deleting to finally clear my inbox.

This is a user interface flaw that should have been picked up by Apple if it wants to be taken seriously in the email-phone space. Blackberries have had simple menu commands like “delete previous emails” for years.

You can’t easily delete emails on some versions of Windows Mobile either, though. (The version that runs on the BlackJack, for example).

5. The virtual keyboard is good, but not great.

I still miss my Blackberry keyboard. I’ve spent over ten days on the iPhone now and while I can type quickly I still find it less comfortable to hold with two hands. Also, there’s no way to edit the custom dictionary but there needs to be.

You could be on any different Windows smart phone. Some have great keyboards (like the BlackJack) and some have only on-screen keyboards.

The ones with only on-screen keyboards suck eggs and shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same sentence as the iPhone’s virtual keyboard — they often require stylus input, and have none of the iPhone’s smarts like a popup character that appears above your fingertip so you can be sure you’re pressing the right on-screen key.

6. The camera doesn’t work if your subject is moving.

It’s too slow. It is however as good as the best camera phone if your subject is still and the light is good. Also, while the interface is simple it’s very quick to view the photos you’ve taken.

Same goes for Windows phones. And most phones in general, in fact. Despite what the bus-shelter advertising from Nokia tells you, phone cameras are universally awful (mostly because of their slow response time — it’s common for a phone to take 10-15 seconds to switch to camera mode), and user interfaces just as bad.

7. Ringer is too soft

Even at its highest setting the ringer is still too low. This is strange given the folk law that suggests that Steve Jobs has bad hearing and purposefully designed the iPod to deliver louder-than-average volume. I wonder if Steve ever misses calls?

With Window phones it depends on the phones. I’d guess that most are better than the iPhone in this regard.

8. The Stocks application only supports US stocks.

I didn’t realise other markets existed. Did you?

Windows is an open market and I’m sure there are many third-party applications that give you this information.

Hopefully Apple will open up the iPhone to third party developers soon.

9. Using the jog control in iPod mode isn’t accurate enough.

I haven’t been able to accurately control the play-head position in iPod mode. At least not to the same extent as on a regular scroll wheel iPod.

And, it must be said, using a touch screen, with no tactile buttons when you’re jogging (or otherwise not looking at your iPhone) makes it considerably harder to change tracks than on a traditional iPod.

To be honest I’ve never actually used the media playback functionality on a Windows Mobile phone… memories of Windows Media Player for Windows put me off.

10. The default setting for the Timer is always “Marimba”

Sometimes, it’s the little things that are so irritating… and I refuse to forgive Apple for it, since Apple’s whole raison d’etre is perfection of the fine points of user interface. Windows is the OS for people who don’t mind irritating default settings.

I like to fall asleep listening to music. Changing the setting once should set it for next time. It doesn’t and it sucks.

Again, not sure about Windows but I presume it’s equally complicated, if not more so. Happy to hear from Windows Mobile users on their real-life experience here.

11. Out-of-order lists for no obvious reason

Keeping lists in alphabetical order is a good practice, if there’s no other logical way of sorting the items, so why then, are ring-tones in the iPhone out of order? The top ring-tone the top selection is always ‘Marimba’. Why the hell isn’t ‘Marimba’ above ‘Motorcycle’? What makes it special? Is it simply Steve Jobs’ favourite ringtone that has been foisted on all the rest of us unilaterally?

Since this is a specific iPhone software problem, I’m going to give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt and assume there is no problem with list ordering on Windows Mobile (though nothing would surprise me.)

12. WiFi reception seems weaker than other devices

When scanning for WiFi networks, unless you’re standing in the same room as a base station, the WiFi reception level on the iPhone seems consistently low. Other devices tested in the same locations get strong reception. I can only assume it’s an antenna design issue in the iPhone, but I hope it’s something Apple can improve on with a software update.

On Windows Mobile phones? Well, it’s a hardware design issue more than a software one. I’d be interested in hearing from owners of WiFi enabled phones — Windows Mobile or other — on how their WiFi reception measures up to other devices like laptops.

13. 8GB is spread thin in the iPhone

If you had dreams of an iPod phone that could store all your email, your iPhoto library, a nice chunk of videos and your music, be prepared to spend a lot of time paring back the stuff you sync with your iPhone. 8GB doesn’t go very far at all when you look at all the different type of media that can be stored on it.

Then again, show me the Windows Mobile phone that can store more than 8GB… and if you do happen to pull one out of your hat, is it in a desirable, class-leading slim form factor?

14. No instant messaging. Full stop.

Apple has uncharacteristically accommodated AT&T by not including any sort of instant messaging on the iPhone. The closest you can get is a kind of instant messaging view for SMSes you send and receive. Of course, the reason for this is that AT&T differentiates its iPhone plans on two factors: call value and the number of SMSes included.

But seriously, the iPhone is a computer — it runs OS X, a high-res screen and it a TCP/IP pipe available to it. Not including an instant messaging application — even one to access the iChat network (AIM/OSCAR) — is simply an inconvenience to customers who will have to get by with web-based IM systems.

Most phones that come with Windows Mobile come with some form of MSN/Windows Live Messenger at least.

15. Battery is not user replaceable

When — not if — the battery in your iPhone loses most of its recharge capacity, you have to send your iPhone back to Apple. And for the privilege of that incredibly inconvenient service Apple wants $US79 plus $7 shipping.

Apple will also erase everything on your iPhone in the process.

Oh, and if you want a loan phone while your main unit is being serviced, it’ll cost another $US29.

So, basically, to replicate the experience that every other mobile user gets by walking into a mobile phone shop, buying a new battery and swapping it out on the spot, it’s going to cost you $US115.

‘Fraid to say, the Windows Mobile phones kick ass in this department: a genuine Samsung Blackjack extended life battery goes for between $US20 - $US40.

So, the verdict overall

Well, clearly, the iPhone has a bunch of problems — some significant, and some less so — but Microsoft’s Windows Mobile has many of the same problems in greater magnitudes.

In fact, if you look at the overall fit and finish and stability of the iPhone OS, it’s very impressive compared to the average Windows Mobile Phone.

These 15 points are problems that are tremendously outweighed by the number of good points in the iPhone.

There are some corkers in there that Apple really needs to make right for current iPhone customers, and in future evolutions of the iPhone, but given the choice between an iPhone and a Windows Mobile phone, which one would I buy? Still the iPhone. By a large margin.

Source: APC magazine