I have just downloaded and tested out the latest version of Microsoft messenger for mac, and once again I am very disappointed. We were all awaiting this release because we were promised the ability to webcam with our windows buddies, that however is not the case. It appears that this version does indeed have webcam capabilities but only on corporate accounts running windows communication server 2007.

Other than that massive let down, Microsoft has continued to try and make their apps look like it belongs on vista, it looks completely out of place on my nicely unified leopard desktop.

On the mactopia website for messenger, I was also amazed at the paragraph describing this latest update:

“Conveniently and instantly share files and gather feedback through Messenger for Mac 7. Attach Word docs, Excel charts, PowerPoint slideshows, or even emoticons to your instant messages.”

Have we not had the ability to share files and send emoticons for at least the last 10 years? Stop trying to make this release sound impressive. add webcam, no one cares about anything else!

Thing I have noticed that have been changed:

1. New icon - I guess its better than the old one
2. New glossy “Vista” look - once again destroying my desktops mac look.
3. The ability to search your contact list by name or email (only useful if u have 50+ people online)
4. Integrated Bonjour List (haven’t tested this out yet)

And thats about it - This should NOT be considered a whole new version, these are simple things that normally are taken care of in small updates.

Well, I’ll be switching back to Adium now, thanks for another useless product Microsoft. Maybe we’ll see webcam in another 5 years.

Here are some screenshots:

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Well, It’s been a few days since I have posted anything on here, But I have a great excuse! Last week my previous cell phone, a Samsung d807x, decided it wanted to delete all of my contacts on it’s own. By doing so, it immediately got tossed and I went on a search for a new phone.
I had been waiting for a long time for Rogers to release the iphone in Canada, but clearly they are to stubborn over data rates to do anything about it. Anyways, I search craigslist for a few days and tracked down several numbers I thought could be good purchases. On Friday I went out to meet a guy who was selling an 8gb iphone, only used for 6 days (half the stuff still in wrapping). I had honestly never used the iphone before and was very curious to see if I would like the feel of the touch screen, and I was also skeptical if the phone would live up to the hype surrounding it. Well, the second I slid the “Slide to Unlock” button on the main screen, I fell in love. I was utterly amazed at the accuracy and feel of the touch screen! Everything about this phone is amazing! The physical styling looks gorgeous but also feels great, the screen is beyond anything I have ever seen, colors are incredible, the touchscreen - so smooth and quick to use, and best of all - OS X! Did I mention everywhere I go people stare at the phone in amazement?

I will get into a break down of all the features and a more in depth summary of the iphone in a future blog post. However, I will answer a few questions that I know will arise.

1. Durability?
   This is something I was very worried about when buying the phone. I usually treat my phones horrible and go through about 1 or 2 a year, just because I don’t really care about them. The iphone is different, upon buying the iphone I immediately went to the nearest 3rd party cellphone store (not Rogers or Fido or anything because they don’t have iphone accessories yet obviously) I found a store in Richmond Center Mall Called “Cellular Baby” which had what I was looking for. I purchased a clear screen protector which applies to the face of the phone with no air bubbles and no adhesive, you can’t even tell its there, as well as a silicon case that covers the body of the phone to keep it from scratching.
2. Unlocked Software?
   Well not much to say on this part. I know a lot of you have been wanting an iphone up here in Canada, but are nervous about buying it unlocked or buying one from the states and having it unlocked. The phone works perfect, and unlocking it only takes a few minutes. If this is the only thing holding you back from buying the iPhone, don’t let it! go out now and buy one! I would however like to mention that I love to support Apple’s products, they pioneer incredible technology, and I would have loved to buy the phone from them. Unfortunately, given my circumstances I had to get the phone ASAP and since Rogers wont get off there butt and work harder to support the iPhone, I had to buy it - Sorry Apple!
3. Data Rates!
   This is probably the main concern about using the iPhone in Canada. No one wants a $1000+ bill at the end of the month, just for browsing the web! Well, unfortunately if you try to connect through Rogers EDGE network, you WILL get a large bill. Fortunately, the iPhone is equipped with wifi so you can use it free of charge almost anywhere public these days. There are also websites and programs that show you where all the free hotspots are in your area. Even if I could use EDGE, I probably wouldn’t because the wifi on the iphone is very fast. Also keep in mind there is a rumor, that Rogers will have wifi disabled in there Canadian bound iphones to force people to use their EDGE network. If you look at their current line up of phones available, not one of them supports wifi!
4. Battery Life
   Short and sweet - Incredible! This phone has a massive display, but due to its ambient light sensor, it will adjust the screen’s brightness to what is best viewed in your current location. This saves a lot of battery power. (Quick Tip: If your low on battery, or just want to conserve it. Rather than adjusting the brightness yourself by clicking through the settings panel, simply cover the ear piece with your finger before you turn it on from standby and slide to unlock. This sets the brightness down low because it thinks it is in a dark room.) The other cool feature is the proximity senor,while you are talking on the phone, the screen senses it is close to your face and turns the screen off. This conserves a lot of power, and also eliminates the accidental hitting of touchscreen buttons while talking…

If anyone has anymore questions regarding the phone, please just leave a comment and I will do my best to answer them.
As promised I will do a thorough breakdown of the phone in my next posting. For now, I gotta go play with my iphone

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For all you Canadians wanting an iPhone, it looks like our time is near. Rogers Wireless has finally released an “Unlimited Data Plan” - Much like AT&T did in the U.S. a year ago. According to Rogers you can add the package to your existing contract for $20 extra per month. The plan offers the following features:

• Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing
• 2500 Sent Text Messages
• 1000 Sent Picture/Video Messages
• Voice Mail
• Call Display
• Name Display
• WhoCalled

Now, Rogers has not “officially” said the iPhone is coming, but considering this package was pretty much the only thing holding back the iPhone’s release, I would assume that it is just around the corner.

In Europe, when the iPhone was released, there was not much warning, I think consumers were only given a week or two notice it was coming. So maybe we will see the iPhone by the months end!

This move by Rogers is a HUGE step for the canadian wireless industry! The only concern I have is about the actual pricing of the phone, will get it at the same cost as our American neighbors, or will we experience the typical expensive Canadian price?

Either way, I know I’ll be having a sleep over outside my nearest Roger’s store in the near future!

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Over the past few days i’ve been going because my files (php, html, css, javascript etc.) have been opening in random applications. For example sometimes an html file will open in my web browser, sometimes in coda, some times in dreamweaver, and sometimes in xcode. I know u can use the built in settings for OSX by right clicking (option + click) on the file, then choose: Open with, then click on the app you want it to open in and click “Always open in the application”. Many attempts of doing this failed and the defaults program was still sporadic.

After a quick google I found a great little program that installs into your preference pane and allows you to set all of the file types’ default application. I would highly recommend this free plugin to speed up productivity on your mac!

Click here for the download page!

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Ever since these new Intel books from Apple started coming with built in iSight, I have been dyeing to video chat with all my buddies. If I had it my way, I would be on ichat and only ichat, however, since im in Canada and absolutely no one here uses AOL (AIM), ichat is basically a write off. The only exception is when I’m in the office and need to transfer files from one computer to another, then im all about “Bonjour” which I think is one of MAC OSX’s strongest features. Anyways - Back to my rant.

Windows users running windows messenger have had audio & video capabilities for as long as I can remember, as well as things like nudges, winks, games etc. Although most of those features are just little quirks, I still would like to see them on the Mac version of messenger.

Well Microsoft FINALLY got off their butt’s and release a new version of Office for mac (4 years to late). I realize that they had to convert all their code to run on intel macs properly but if Adobe can convert a whole creative suite to a new platform in about a years time, there’s no reason why Office took so long.

When Office 2008 was released in mid January, the Microsoft Business Unit (MBU) - who develops the mac based apps, told us the new version of Messenger would be available by the end of january. I have been watching the MBU’s mactopia site for any sort of update, but like usual, they don’t seem to care (not even a blog update!).

I’m really anxious to be able to finally use my Macbook Pro’s iSight for video chatting. Let’s just pray that the Messenger 7 for mac isn’t another typical bloated piece of software from Microsoft, much like the long awaited messenger 6 was. For the time being, I’m using Adium which is a fantastic app for chatting on multiple services at once. The team over at Adium says they are close to releasing a new version that also supports A/V, I wouldn’t be surprised if Adium supported the new features before the official release of Messenger 7.

This brings me to my question - Is Microsoft purposely delaying it’s release of products on the mac in order to push people to a Windows platform?

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Thousands of people have been experiencing extremely long load/startup times for Word, Excel and PowerPoint in office 2008 for Mac. I have read horror stories of people waiting up to 4 minutes for the splash screen to disappear on brand new Apple Computers. My load time problem wasn’t that bad, but it did take over a minute to launch. I knew there had to be a reason as to why the new programs were drawing 99.4% of my 2.2Ghz macbook pro with 4Gb of RAM (not even Office 2004 running in rosetta used this much CPU!). I have managed to get the load time down to about 4 seconds or less with some very minor tweaking of the preferences. Here is how to get Office 2008 running like it should.

1. Launch word (and wait for it to eventually launch)
2. In the menu bar, go to: “Word” > “Preferences…”
3. In the preference pane, click “General”
4. Uncheck the box called “WYSIWYG Font and Style Menus”
5. Uncheck “Show Project Gallery At Start Up”
6. Click “Ok”
7. Quit Word
8. Re-Launch Word.

On the re-launch of Word it should be pretty quick. It seems that the problem is how Office renders the fonts for preview. I suggest using “Font Book” which is built into Mac OS 10.4 and 10.5 to preview fonts.

Although we have solved the load time issue, I still feel there are better alternatives for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations for the Mac platform. I would highly recommend looking into iWork 08′ by Apple. Keep in mind that iWork is compatible with office documents and can also export documents so they can be easily opened in Microsoft Word.

I hope this helps everyone out, please leave comments and let me know how it worked for you!

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