Over on both MacVoices and MacNotables we get more than a few emails asking if there will ever be an emulator or any kind of support for Mac OS 9 applications in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. The simple answer to that is:

No.

Classic is dead in Leopard and it just doesn’t make economic sense for Apple to continue to support an OS version that is now years out of date. From a user perspective that might annoy you, but from a business perspective it is easily understandable. Continuing to dedicate resources to supporting OS 9 or the Classic environment doesn’t generate any revenue for either Apple or the software developers who haven’t upgraded their software.

Whether you understand or agree, the fact is that you’re not going to see Claris Emailer or any of your Classic apps running on your shiny new (or even not-so-new) Leopard machine.

It is always best if you can migrate your projects from old software to new for a host of reasons, but if you are one of those who have Classic apps that is mission-cricital, or even is one that you just don’t want to live without, here are a couple options to keep you reasonably happy.

Read the rest of this entry »

Any computer user on any platform with any experience is probably just a little wary of major software upgrades. We’ve all had bad experiences that took hours (or worse) to recover from. If you’re lucky enough to have a test machine, your solution is obvious. If you don’t, here’s a safe way to do a “test upgrade” with a minimum risk to your production environment.

Read the rest of this entry »

For many people, October marks the anniversary of their .Mac account…and an annual decision on whether to renew Apple’s $99 online service.

The latest updates that include the new Web Gallery, web site hosting options, an increase of 10 GB of online storage and more make .Mac even more valuable. Still, there’s no need to spend the $99 to renew your account.

Simply buy a boxed copy of “Apple .Mac 5.0″ from Amazon for $78.99, select free shipping and, upon receipt, enter the Activation Key from the box in the renewal section of your .Mac account information online. Your update will go through on the expiration date and you will have saved $19.95 offer the list, automatic renewal price. Yeah, it requires you to pay attention and get it done before your renewal date, but that’s $20…a 20% savings.

7/2/07 1 PM: The last day and a half have been truly amazing. After talking with no less than nine AT&T employees on various toll-free numbers, being told multiple times that my account was not up-to-date (in spite of having the previous AT&T customer service rep tell me they had fixed it), two different in-person trips to an AT&T Store, over twenty-four hours with no cell service at all and a new SIM card later, I’m finally activated.

Would love to share with you exactly what the problem was, but I’m honestly not sure. As it turns out, I have to wonder if it was as simple as a bad SIM card. Once that was replaced I experienced the same 5-minute activation process that so many others have.

To be fair, all but two of the AT&T folks were very pleasant and seemed genuinely interested in trying to resolve the problem, escalating my case at least twice, sharing super-secret toll-free numbers that had little or no wait and more. Based on the information each gave me, I’m placing a great deal of the blame on my delay at the feet of AT&T, since I was constantly told the issue was my service plan, and not the phone.

In any case, the iPhone is finally up and humming along as all sorts of information fills it to the brim. Much of what I could say at this point has been written elsewhere, so I’ll leave you with the suggestion that if you are still a resident of Activation Hell, push AT&T to give you a new SIM card.

6/30/07 10 AM: Still no email from anyone on the activation issue, so, under the theory that only the East Coast would be awake and that wait times would be less, called AT&T Customer Service. Spoke with a very nice lady who informed me that, indeed, the old AT&T contract was the issue. After consulting her supervisor, she explained that the would need to convert my contract to a “new” standard AT&T contract, and then to an iPhone contract.

Hmmm…

The first step went smoothly, but she couldn’t get me switched to the iPhone contract. After more checking she gave me another number to call and tried to transfer me to that department. Two disconnects and 50 minutes later I finally got through. The lady who answered said she didn’t know what to do, and suggested I try to activate the iPhone again with iTunes. No joy. She put me on hold, where I was disconnected after another 10 minutes.

AT&T is not giving me a warm, fuzzy feeling. And judging from reports on the web, I’m not alone.

6/29/07 7 PM: Like everyone else who has been anticipating the iPhone, I was contemplating various strategies to be certain that night would fall on June 29 with *my* iPhone tucked safely in its cradle. Unfortunately, business and personal obligations prevented me from applying the brute force approach of getting in line from early morning…or earlier. Instead, I opted for a more calculated plan, targeting a relatively out-of-the-way AT&T Store.
The strategy paid off. I walked into a mall in Chambersburg PA at 5:03 PM, turned the corner and was greeted with a line of only seventeen people! You may laugh, but that many people in that particular location was something of a memorial to just how far the new cult of iPhone had spread. The remaining 57 minutes were spent chatting with fellow

The folks at the AT&T store handled the situation very efficiently. Only eleven buyers allowed in the store, each directed to a specific clerk to take their order. The iPhone boxes themselves were nowhere to be seen. There was one runner who, once you stated your order, would retreat to a back room and bring each one out individually.

After selecting an 8GB iPhone and a “Belkin iPhone Holster, I explained to the clerk that there might be a problem with completing my activation online: I’ve been sitting an *old* AT&T unlimited talk time plan like a mother hen, enjoying the ability to call anywhere, any time, 24/7/365 for one flat rate. From past encounters with then-Cingular Customer Service I knew this can make things problematic, since I’m not in their usual database. “No problem,” the clerk assured me (just like another clerk at another AT&T store had assured me at 11:30 AM that morning).

By 6:45 PM I was home, with new version of iTunes fired up and ready to go. With a slight chirp, the iPhone came alive. Gorgeous screen! The activation process seemed to go smoothly…and then the message I didn’t want to see: “Your Account requires additional time to complete.” An email would let me know when my iPhone was ready for action.

While not a total surprise, I was a bit annoyed at this, since I suspected the old AT%T plan to be the problem, and had asked twice, receiving assurances that it would not. Patience is a virtue.

Now that you’ve learned a little about how to select podcasts from the ocean of content out there, and how to evaluate what you decide to listen, we would like to (slowly) provide you with some recommendations on shows that are worth, as a Weapon of Mac Production, your time.

We’ll start with one of our favorites and the most prolific of our recommendations: IT Conversations, now part of the GigaVox Media Network.
Read the rest of this entry »

If you followed our advice in MacProductive Listening: How to Select Podcasts, you now have a healthy collection of podcasts that you are sampling…and you are probably wondering how you are ever going to catch up. Here are some tips on deciding what to keep, what to abandon, and how to decide if a given podcast is right for you.
Read the rest of this entry »

We all love our iPods. Whether you own a lowly first-generation shuffle or a (current) state-of-the iPod video-capable 80-gig model, you can take audio (and perhaps) video content with you to enjoy anywhere. It also means that you can ratchet up your Weapon of Mac Productivity rating a bit by foregoing movies and music at least part of the time to listen to the really good stuff: content that expands your knowledge and your skill set.
If you haven’t delved into the world of podcasts yet, you’ll soon develop two big questions:

a) How do I choose the best among the thousands of offerings out there

b) How do I keep up with them all?

We’ll start with how to find what you’re looking for.

Read the rest of this entry »

Most road warriors can be tough on equipment. A backpack or laptop bag can only protect your Mac when it is tucked safely inside. Despite your best efforts, scratches, dings and the like can mar the surface of your computer, not only damaging the appearance, but also the resale value. That’s why I decided to try one of the Speck SeeThru hard shell cases for my MacBook.

The Facts:
The polycarbonate plastic case comes in two pieces, top and bottom. The top goes on easily and fits securely. You need to pay a little more attention to the bottom because of the five “hooks” that fit on the back vent of your computer. These are what hold the case securely on, and you want to be certain they are all in the proper position. Once in place, the SeeThru isn’t coming off unless you want it to.
Read the rest of this entry »