Saturday, June 25, 2011

Mac OS X Lion New revolution ahead Part.III



Again Apple wanted to streamline the Airdrop, which allows exchanging files with Mac nearby, without configuration and without any Wi-Fi network; however, this method gives a semblance of consistency to the file, so that everything in Lion pushes the use of IOS as: applications become points of access to their own files, for a presentation as a library.

This mode of use has had some detractors, not unreasonably given the way so far, management of files for each application was made in iOS iTunes. Again icloud addresses this problem and provides a consistent solution: the file no longer exists. Those who demanded a Finder IOS will be for free: the concept itself has become simply obsolete. It remains to propose a way to exchange files with other users on how to easily Airdrop of IOS.

And it took many steps to arrive at the disappearance of the file as we have always known. These functions are direct descendants of Time Machine, but also Spotlight: it is the search for metadata that is likely to make navigation file obsolete term. Integrated with facial recognition photos can do research on the content of images them, without having to remember the name and location of the jpeg. Various teams are currently working on generic object recognition in images.


But Apple is not his first attempt. In 1995, she tried to redefine the boundaries between applications and files with OpenDoc, which allowed the use of application functionality scattered within a single document. Certainly, there was no question at that time to end the file, Apple still had tried a different approach, which proved unsuccessful, and to which he was terminated shortly after the return of Steve Jobs at Apple, then as special adviser Gil Amelio.

Still, for users of Mac OS X, there will be definitely a before and after Leo. In the future, you may rethink the way you currently manage your files with some amusement.

Mac OS X Lion New revolution ahead Part.II



In common use, you can switch operation between various parameters Version: block the file status (not to automatically save the changes you might add), clone the file (to create a working copy, thus incidentally create template files), and return to the status of the document as it was when you opened it. Let us make no mistake: with this feature, Apple editing for the first time since the first Macintosh in 1984 not backing up files.


In other words, these functions would have greatly benefited from the support of ZFS, which incorporates features specifically iterative and incremental backups, among others. Unfortunately Apple has had to abandon plans to support ZFS in Mac OS X as a matter of license. Apple will have no rest, probably at the cost of a little more space on the disk and less flexibility, HFS + cannot bear comparison with ZFS.

The Finder itself reflects these “flattening” files: the default view window now displays all the files on the disk equally, with no indication or hierarchical file. Ultimately, it is conceivable that Launchpad takes precedence over the Finder to become the default access mode, although direct access to the files will remain indispensable for some time.


Apple has also brought another part of the answer to this question with icloud, which synchronizes your devices seamlessly. A user will no longer have to use USB or send each its own files by email to make them move from one machine to another, which a little disembodied file. There remains the problem of communication of a file to another person.

(Cont.)

Mac OS X Lion New revolution ahead Part.I



Apple had already obliterated the notion of IOS file; it will push the logic even further with Leo. Who among us has never found a raging against fatal crash, which occurred "unexpectedly" before any backup job in progress? And conversely, never regretted a backup unfortunate, disfiguring involuntarily working hours following a false manipulation '?


So far, it was the user that he belonged to "make clean" to manage their files, save, classify, list them, in short, time well productivity unnecessarily flown by itself, and worries that everyone without. In the absence of any alternative, we had to do against bad luck, good heart.

Mac OS X 10.7, two technologies relegate such practices to the level of inconsistencies of the past as automatic backup of IOS, and versions, a system that allows to go back on the various stages of changes in your.

With the automatic backup, you will not have to worry about any crashes, power failures and other accidents: the application opens in the state where you left off, reopening the file on which you were to work. Better yet, the windows are repositioned such that you had placed before leaving the application, and even the current selection is returned in the same condition. Nothing distinguishes the application state between the two moments.

Versions promises to further ease the use of software: with a format similar to Time Machine, you can navigate in time to return to previous versions of your document. If you want a version you can scroll the document window to inspect it, and even make a copy and paste from an old to a new version. This feature alone promises new ways of working and use your Mac. The work is temporal and it will be possible to annotate a document as and when its edition to appear with nothing in the end and a simple return on the file's history will reveal these notes.

(Cont.)

Friday, June 24, 2011

Testing the 27 "iMac" Thunderbolt - part V



Even in the video where the Mac Pro is traditionally at home, Westmere processors marking time: we find the fine balance between the raw frequency and the number of cores, which directly determines the performance for different applications. Handrake, for example, recognizes only core logic: this iMac is fighting against is with four cores to eight cores Westmere Mac Pro to € 3 400. But Handbrake does not take advantage of all the subtleties of Xeon processors, while the raw frequency is a key element of its operation: the iMac, with half of a good heart but more than the gigahertz Mac Pro, dominates with insolence. He can deal with anything against the twelve core Mac Pro to € 8 300: the frequency difference is less important than offset by the use of three times as many hearts.

The very marked differences in the Photoshop tests confirm the very different profiles of these machines. The DHT test uses a lot of old filters, so that the differences are erased in excess of five hearts (real and virtual) so the iMac is the hand with its higher frequency. The RAT test, it is much more realistic and simulates the touch of a photo with the latest filters: Although Photoshop performance peaked with massively multi-core configurations, the Mac Pro are Westmere at this time.

A beautiful iMac € 2 700 can be put in the closet of Mac Pro much more expensive? In most areas, yes, and widely: it shows, once again, the effectiveness of the Sandy Bridge Intel platform. The self in need of power will therefore turn to the iMac, which is not only the most powerful iMac ever made by Apple, but Mac is also one of the most powerful of the current range. The difference between these two lines is therefore not about raw power, but the concept: the iMac is an all-in-one, unlike the Mac Pro, which is still relevant for its scalability, ensuring a sustainability specific to dampen investment, therefore that represent the largest configurations. It also remains the machine of choice for certain niches, here for its computational capabilities, there to him the possibility of adding expansion cards. Still, the iMac is more than ever like the computer to do everything from Apple.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Testing the 27 "iMac" Thunderbolt - part IV



It is indeed one of the great surprises of this model: despite the powerful processor and the summer climate of the test period, the temperature of the iMac Sandy Bridge has remained surprisingly low levels. Most of the time, CPU temperature stays around 30 to 35 °: the ventilation system is effective and extraction points at the top of the screen and behind the foot, once hot, now warm. When exporting Aperture, the temperature rises to 48 °. A video encoding where the four cores are at 100% for 25 minutes? 55 °. The fans always keep the composure of the machine without a voice, a sharp contrast to the previous generation and some MacBook Pro Sandy Bridge.

This discretion only to mask the raw performance of the iMac Core i7: they reach or exceed those of most of the range Mac Pro. This is not the first time we see the top of the range iMac rival the Mac Pro or exceed, but it's the first time that the difference is so great and strong.

The distinction is clear: the common tasks, the iMac Core i7 overwrite the entire Mac Pro. It drives not only its direct rival, the Westmere Mac Pro 2.4 GHz or eight cores (€ 3,400), but offers the luxury of making lousy Westmere Mac Pro 2.93 GHz twelve hearts, a machine ... € 8 300! We cannot even say it's SSD benefit: the twelve core Mac Pro was tested with excellent Toshiba 512 GB SSD So Sandy Bridge architecture that works wonders on the cuts in the Finder or the export Garage Band or Aperture. Match almost zero on the export music with XLD.

A test like Cinebench shows that Westmere Mac Pro keeps the advantage in raw power; the iMac is above the Nehalem Mac Pro. The entire iMac line is better than the Mac Pro graphics side, a habit now.

(Cont.)