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Mac OS X Lion first take: Apple's next big cat

OS X 10.7 "Lion" is the eighth major release of OS X, and comes with a new philosophical approach to the Mac. Apple has been using OS X for the "Mac OS" as well as the underlying OS for the AppleTV as well as the iOS on iPhones and the iPad, and is now looking to bring some of the innovations in the iOS back to the Mac OS to enhance the Mac experience.

The first is multitouch gestures, a feature that has been progressively implemented into OS X with Apple's multitouch trackpad, Magic mouse, and Magic trackpad input devices. While many might imagine a touch-screen option for notebooks, Apple is not going to go in that direction, indicating user fatigue as the main problem with that approach, but also that it is just cumbersome for most users. Instead, Apple will be concentrating on the horizontal approach to gestures and inputs that we have seen in the multitouch trackpads, and is leaving the onscreen gestures to mobile devices.

The second feature is the implementation of the Mac App Store on OS X. This is available as a standalone application that you can put in your Dock, which will open and show a view into the store similar to the iTunes store. It will allow you to better discover new applications as well as offer easy one-click purchasing and installation of applications. When applications are purchased, they will immediately show in the Dock along with a progress bar indicating the download and installation progress for that application. When the progress bar is done, the application can be launched immediately.

While Apple is advertising the new App Store for Lion, the program will be available for Snow Leopard within 90 days, so stay tuned. Apple has a developer kit to hopefully get other applications into the store besides its iLife and iWork suites, and we expect that like the current App Store for the iOS, it will populate rather quickly.… Read more

Do 'multi-OS' smartphones have a future?

A French fellow who goes by the handle Crazy Nawak e-mailed me some concept photos for a "multi-OS" smartphone from HTC that would allow you to switch between two operating systems. HTC already has the old HTC Touch Dual, but the "dual' in that phone stood for the combination of a slide-out keypad and a touch screen.

This fantasy model has a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor and runs both Windows Mobile 7 and Android 2.2 (see more photos here). Of course, plenty of people out there have already hacked Windows Mobile phones to run … Read more

Smoother Mac scrolling

Smart Scroll is a handy preference pane that can give you much more flexibility with trackpad, mouse (and Magic Mouse), and keyboard scrolling, including coasting iPhone-style scrolling.

Smart Scroll works in the background, but its settings interface gives you extensive control over its five primary features: the iPhone-style "Super Scroll" that lets the content of a window continue scrolling even after you let go of your trackpad or mouse (you can easily control the speed and amount of "coasting," stop with two fingers, and even reverse the x and y axis to match the iPhone); the &… Read more

Trillian chats up Android

Already available in one form or another for BlackBerry and iOS, Trillian launched the beta version of its multiprotocol instant-messaging client for Android on Thursday. Trillian for Android brings many of the desktop program's core features to Android 1.6 and above, including tabbed chats, emoticons, and support for a broad range of instant-messaging services.

To install the app, be sure that you've enabled installing from unknown sources under Settings, then Applications.

The app will work with AIM, Facebook Chat, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, WLM, and MySpaceIM, and because it natively supports Android … Read more

A waking dream of color, from HP

I've been getting requests to review the HP DreamColor LP2480zx for the better part of the last year. Sorry it's taken so long, but here it is. Better late than never.

It's an interesting endeavor, to review a product that costs well over $2,000. This is especially true when other devices that serve the same basic purpose exist and can be procured for fraction of the cost.

In this situation, the intended audience has to be considered. Does it meet their needs as best you can tell? Are there lower-priced alternatives?

This leads to comparisons that … Read more

NEC PA271W brings onscreen customization to a new level

The decision's been made. The NEC Multisync PA271W is the best-performing monitor we've yet reviewed. It has a high resolution (2,560x1,440 pixels), impeccable color, and an incredibly detailed and in-depth onscreen display (OSD), obviously designed by crazy people (I mean this in the best possible way).

Unfortunately, these same crazies decided not to give this $1,349, 27-inch monitor an HDMI or even component ports.

So, how does it compare overall with the high scoring all-star that is the Dell UltraSharp U2711? Well, we've already let one cat out of the bag, the NEC performs--slightly--better, … Read more

Guided project planning

We suspect that there are probably people out there who have been thrust into the role of project manager with no real idea what they're doing. RationalPlan Multi Project is the perfect program for such people; it's a full-featured project management tool that walks users through the entire management process. Although its capabilities are befitting an experienced project manager, it's the perfect solution for novices who need some guidance.

The program's interface is plain and won't be winning any beauty contests, but it's extremely easy to navigate. Each step of the project management process … Read more

The best (and worst) laptop touch pads

Though battery life, keyboard, and processing power are all very important parts of the laptop experience, it's the touch pad that can really make or break a mobile PC. These tiny slabs of plastic or metal (or glass) are responsible for navigating everything from Web site buttons to document creation to photo editing--which means that a badly designed touch pad can really ruin your day.

It's true that many laptop users hook up to an external mouse when their machines are docked or parked on a desk--but in nearly every other situation, whether lounging on your couch or sitting at an airport or coffee shop, it's just you and the touch pad, attempting to replicate the wide variety of movements and tasks associated with the traditional mouse. (If you recall, we caught some serious flack for predicting the eventual end of the mouse-driven computing era recently.)

Fortunately, PC users have become increasingly acclimated to the idea of touch interfaces on tech products, thanks to everything from iPhones and iPads to touch-screen all-in-one desktops (and even ATM machines). We're already tuned to accept touch pads as our primary methods of input, but that also makes flawed ones all the more aggravating. So, what makes a good one?… Read more

Get a Gateway all-in-one desktop for $530

I've always been a sucker for all-in-one PCs. There's something uniquely appealing about a desktop that consists of a big screen, a keyboard, and nothing in between. (I know, I'm weird.)

While supplies last, TigerDirect has a refurbished Gateway ZX4800-02 all-in-one desktop for $529.97. Shipping will run you about $15 more.

Though fine for, say, a home office, this strikes me as a nearly perfect kitchen PC. It sports a 20-inch LCD--not too big, not too small--and it's a touch screen, meaning you can navigate Windows (in this case Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit) multi-touch-style, … Read more