Tag: Apple

Chess on a Mac

Admittedly, Chessbase’ Fritz 12 is the best program for the PC. The Fritz 12 (or even the Deep Fritz 12) engine may not be the strongest computer chess engine out there, but the Chessbase interface is able to deliver on its purpose. I use it widely when analyzing games and studying openings. I load my favorite engines like Rybka, Houdini, Stockfish, etc., to test some of the more stronger engines.

But the problem is it’s only available in PC. When oh when can they be able to make a program for the Mac? I’m a Mac convert now, and there really are a lot of Mac users who are anticipating this from Chessbase. Although I already paid for the licensed copy of Fritz 12 for Windows, I’ll be willing to shell out another for the Mac — for as long as it will natively run on the Intel Mac. Continue reading Chess on a Mac

Sparrow – What Makes a Mac a Mac

Apps like Sparrow Mail are what makes a Mac a Mac. Not just because it is available exclusively for Mac, but they integrate well with the Mac.

Sparrow is a desktop email client for Mac that works like a native desktop client especially for Gmail. It could even replicate most of the keyboard shortcuts of Gmail as you would do in a web browser. It’ll support IMAP for Yahoo! Mail as well. What’s more, email accounts other than Gmail will behave like Gmail inside Sparrow.

Watch the introductory video below:

Continue Reading »

Tweetbot — The Quality You Pay For

Tweetbot, according to the developers, is an iPhone Twitter client with a lot of personality. And personality, indeed, it is full of. From its first release, the Tweetbot app significantly defines what a quality app is — what is value for money in the mobile app world.

I don’t want to delve into much details on what this app can do or how can it be so different from the other Twitter iPhone clients. Instead, just watch the introductory video »

MBP: Upgraded to Mac OS X Lion 10.7

Just had my MacBook Pro 13″ upgraded to Mac OS X Lion (10.7), and all I can say so far I’m enjoying the new features.

There are over 250 features introduced with OS X Lion, the major of which are detailed in the Apple site. I only got to play with Snow Leopard for a week before Lion was made available, and it was my first Mac experience. So honestly, I may not the best person to tell the differences in features, but let me walk you through the obvious and the most enjoyable for me so far.

Check out the pictures that follow (which by the way was taken using my iPhone 4):

See more photos »

More iOS 5 Goodness: More Alert Tones through iTunes

The 200+ features in iOS 5 obviously include the ability to select message (text) alert tones other than the stock tones in your iPhone.

buy custom alert tones

The drawback is you have to *BUY* them through iTunes. Nevertheless, it’s a good thing you have the option to employ different message alert tones into your iPhone, to avoid getting confused with other iPhone users in the office, as to whose/which phone did make that sound alert.

Read more: iOS 5 to sell text alert tones through iTunes

The iOS 5 Magic

Just in time for the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) later today where the details about the iCloud and iOS 5 are expected to be announced, here’s the preview of what to expect in the new iOS 5.

And they called this video the iOS 5 magic, and it’s literally — not really figuratively, like when you’re referring to new features.

iMovie for iPad Classic

The iMovie app for iOS devices is supposed to be a universal app. By that, though, according to the iTunes app page, you pay only once to install the same at both the iPhone and iPad 2 (i.e., only).

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I already paid for the app for my iPhone 4. And obviously, I can’t install it on my iPad 1. The apparent reason as it appears to be is just because it got no front-facing camera (nor even a camera at all). My question is, is it the only hardware spec the app requires? Continue reading iMovie for iPad Classic

River of News is a $3.99 iPad App Gone to Waste

River of News is a news aggregator iPad App that synchronizes with Google Reader.

I bought this App due to some positive reviews. Now I can’t even seem to find where I once read that positive review.

Here are the features of the App, according to its website:

  • Infinite scrolling;
  • Swipe to change feeds;
  • Always in sync with Google Reader;
  • Share with Twitter, Facebook and more;
  • Mark as read while you scroll;
  • Optimized for readability;

Probably not so far ahead of the competition in terms of features, but they sound great nonetheless, especially the unique ‘infinite scrolling’ and ‘swipe to change feeds’ features. However, check out the faults »

iBooks vs. Amazon Kindle App for iOS

This article does not delve into as to which eBook store has the most number of books, the quality of eBooks available, the price differences between the two eBook stores, or the DRM details for each eBook format. This is about the functionality of each eBook reader especially when it comes to their native eBook reader apps for iOS devices. Check out the differences »