Firefox 3 Beta

Yay I'm back with another of my far too infrequent posts, but I'm getting more of a writer in me so perhaps that will change. Anyway, I decided to download the Firefox 3 beta after they mentioned it on TWiT, so here are my first impression for the mac side of things:

I have always loved using Firefox, it is my browser of choice by far on Windows machines and it probably still has dominance over Safari on my mac, which is what I am on right now (using Firefox 3 to type this, or course). The third iteration of this great browser certainly lives up to its name. It's fast as ever and looks and functions better than ever.

Leo and the guys mentioned that one of the main new features of Firefox 3 is that it looks like it should for a given OS (vista and Mac OS X). Firefox 2 looked sort of like an XP program with an Apple header, it didn't look much like a Mac program, but they weren't kidding; FF 3 indeed looks like a Mac program and really just looks much better than the previous version. The menu and taskbar area is very smooth and everything just seems to flow better.

On the performance and functionality side of things there are a few differences, if not quite as noticeable. Supposedly it's faster, I haven't really checked, it may be just a tad but it's not insanely noticeable. One thing I do like is it seems to have even less annoying pop-ups asking me if it wants me to remember a password or something. It just displays these questions in a bar at the top like it does when it's missing a plugin or such in 2. This is probably my favorite new feature to be completely honest.

Anyway you look at it, FF 3 is certainly a great continuation of the amazing Firefox legacy. It;s not quite as big of a jump as 1-2 was as far as I can tell, but it's still an improvement and hey, it's only Beta 1, give it time. I say it's definitely worth a download but just be aware that many extensions and themes you might have may not work in it. Other than that, it's great. Long live Firefox!

New Stuff!!

Alright, sorry I'm a little slow but I've finally gotten around to putting up the update on everything new that Apple announced Tuesday. Of course, as was highly anticipated a new iMac was announced, and I must say it looks fantastic. Here it is pictured with the brand new iMovie (and terribly sorry to whoever's bandwidth I'm stealing here). Anyway, I'd say the only new hardware bit I don't really like is the new keyboard. It just doesn't look that great IMO. A desktop keyboard should be just that, a desktop keyboard, not a laptop keyboard slapped onto a sheet of metal to be a desktop keyboard, but then I haven't actually tried it yet so it could feel great and me not realize it yet. The glossy screen seems to be a good move even if it has made a few people angry. I see why they're angry; glossy screens are more prone to glare, but they have to remember that this is a desktop, it can be put anywhere where there isn't much of a glaring light source and it will look great, and the added benefits of the glossiness will be reaped. The aluminum casing looks great to (though, like I said, I still haven't got a chance to see it in person yet, so I cannot fully say.

The other two this Apple announced were iLife '08 and iWork '08. iWork ''08 actually excites me a lot more than iLife '08. This is because they have added Number to the iWork suite. Finally, a spreadsheet application from Apple! It certainly looks to be a good one too. Again, I haven't tried any of this in person so i can't say a whole lot but from what I've seen and heard it looks fantastic. iLife doesn't excite me all that much except for GarageBand. I personally think they killed iMovie with the new version. I guess it's great for making a quick easy movie, but I liked the advanced editing features in iMovie HD, so I'm glad they left the option to keep the old iMovie installed as well. GrageBand does have some great new features that I'm looking forward to trying as well, but I still probably won't get iLife '08 until I get my MBP later this year, which will come with it, and I'm not sure when I will try iWork '08 (probably later in the school year when I can really put it to the test. Essentially, it was a very exciting Apple Tuesday.

Announcement?

Alright well I know I don't really get to write that much on here, but I thought it worth mentioning a rumor I've been hearing going around. Actually, I'm not sure it is really a rumor, more or less confirmed if I'm not mistaken. Anyway, to get to the point: supposedly Apple will be making a big announcement this coming Tuesday, but of course nobody knows what this will be. Huge signs point to that it will be a completely new iMac, which I believe is very likely. I also think they may be adding LED LCD screens to the 17" MBPs and possibly other screens. It could even be that the Cinema's get updated to this. Either way, I will post what this update ends up being as soon as I hear.

MacBook of Some Kind

I have about decided that after I get my iPhone (who knows how long it will take to save up?) I will start working on replacing my current Windows laptop with either a Macbook or Macbook Pro. I like, well, all of the features of the Pro better (metal case, backlit keyboard, screen size, power) but I definitely like the price of the regular MacBook. The smaller size of the MB might be nice at time as well but ultimately I would rather have the screen size.

Starting Off

I just though I would make a separate blog to talk about everything Apple, since I apparently like to do that. Anyway, I will start this blog off with a bang by talking about Leopard, which was rather extensively discussed recently by Steve Jobs at WWDC. It looks like it it going to be quite an operating system.

I have loved my Mac from the day I got it last November, and Leopard really does look even more fantastic. The new features Apple is throwing in like all of the new desktop innovations look to be a huge improvement to the overall feel (not that it wasn't already great) and the functional ones like 64-Bit functionality will just be an overall boost. I can't wait.

It continues to amaze me that Microsoft still has huge a huge advantage in market-share as inferior as their operating system is to OS X. Tiger was superior to Vista well before Vista even came out and now Leopard is making that gap even bigger. In some ways I'm glad OS X is smaller though. You don't really see "Windows fan groups" do you now? It makes the Apple community tighter and more friendly with it being the minority like it is. Either way, I'll just sit here and continue to enjoy my Mac while I laugh at the people stuck with Windows.