Technology Blog

We are introducing a ‘tuesday roll on floor laughing’ category.

So for our official first one…

Here is how not to do a live webcast-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et_MmlTxMXA&feature=player_embedded

Take control of your business workflow…

We at Analogue think that WorkFlowMax is so good, we are using it ourselves for our own workflow management.

If you are a large or small business and have a need for -

Timesheets
Job Tracking
Project Management
Quotes
Invoices
Collaboration
Reporting
Purchase Orders
Integration with accounting packages
iPhone interface

There are heaps of features added regularly for example-

https://my.workflowmax.com/help/Latest%20Changes%207%20February%202009.htm

These are the changes coming up in the next release.

You can also build your own custom reports-

https://my.workflowmax.com/help/report%20builder.htm

If you are interested in a free demo of this product’s capabilities, contact Ed on +64 21 506 887 to arrange a consultation, we are official resellers of WorkFlowMax.

Pricing is very cost effective in NZ$-

Here is a great article explaining some of the lesser known tips and tricks for Google web mail interface. If you are using the webmail interface for your Google Apps account or a personal one, you may benefit from the tips in link below-

http://lifehacker.com/5451352/become-a-gmail-master-redux

Apple apparently have an issue worldwide with supply of these monsters (very fast monsters)

There are rumors of production lines stopping to fix the flickering 27″ screen issues, Apple have recently released a firmware update to address this (havent seen any issues on the 27″ models we have sold)

Apple are also denying the rumors-

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/02/02/apple-refutes-claim-regarding-halted-production-of-27-inch-imac-models/

If you have a 27″ iMac make sure you run the update-

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL998

Now back to the Quad Core i7, this baby is fast, relatively cheap to upgrade to 8GB RAM, runs CS4 and other apps like a demon, great for heavy design work.

They are selling like hot cakes, Apple NZ have a large back order to fulfill, if you need one or many let us know we have a direct line to US suppliers (with worldwide warranty) and can supply rather quickly.

At around $200 cheaper than Apple webstore who sell them for NZ$3368 ex gst, its a bargain.

See here for speed benchmarking-

http://gizmodo.com/5407204/benchmarked-the-quad+core-i7-imac-is-super-fast

If you require one of these email me

Apple have today released a minor update to address various issues -

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4013

Google have advised that from March 1 2010 onwards they will begin phasing out support for IE6 and other older browsers. The Google apps suite will be developed further to include support for HTML5 and other advanced features.

Here is the email I received from Google today-

In order to continue to improve our products and deliver more sophisticated features and performance, we are harnessing some of the latest improvements in web browser technology.  This includes faster JavaScript processing and new standards like HTML5.  As a result, over the course of 2010, we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 ​as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers.

Thank you for your continued support!

Bring it on!!!

For anyone that has moved to Windows 7 or is planning to, you may have some issues regarding those old applications that have not been updated that are still an essential tool for everyday use. Well Microsoft has an answer which will not cost you. You can download a virtual machine and a pre-activated copy of Windows XP SP3 to run within your copy of Windows 7.

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/reviews/2010/01/windows-xp-mode.ars

Here is a tutorial to run IE6, IE7, IE in Windows 7 with the above method-

http://blog.dotsmart.net/2009/06/24/using-windows-7s-xp-mode-to-run-ie-6-and-ie-7-side-by-side/

So this is a useful tool for all you web designers out there, the ability to test on all 3 IE versions in the wild.

For Mac users, this tool will not run under Parallels VM, but reportedly runs under boot camp although some have reported issues after the 3.1 boot camp update.

Here is some  information and links to the keynote quicktime stream and marketing material from Apple on the iPad-

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/specialevent0110/

http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/

http://www.apple.com/ipad/ipad-video/

Analogue have already placed their order via US supplier and should have it early April

From the murky depths of the rumor mills, 3 images have surfaced-
http://www.engadget.com/photos/is-this-the-apple-tablet/#2653751

For all you fence sitters and naysayers, McGraw-Hill’s CEO mentioned today on CNBC that Apple are releasing tablet tomorrow….

“Yeah, Very exciting. Yes, they’ll make their announcement tomorrow on this one. We have worked with Apple for quite a while. And the Tablet is going to be based on the iPhone operating system and so it will be transferable. So what you are going to be able to do now — we have a consortium of e-books. And we have 95% of all our materials that are in e-book format on that one. So now with the tablet you’re going to open up the higher education market, the professional market. The tablet is going to be just really terrific.”

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?play=1&video=1396376379

Update – McGraw-Hill spokesman Steven Weiss would not confirm the CEO was describing Apple’s actual product.

All will be known from 7am tomorrow morning…

Until the Apple event on the 27th, some people (possibly in the know) have already added sections to their online stores-

Others will just wait… until it happens.

Tech Crunch report-

http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/24/steve-jobs-tablet-most-important/

So while no-one outside Apple appears to have the entire story, lots of people have been fed small bits of information that indicates Apple have been fueling this hype for maximum reaction and coverage.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/01/18/apple-tablet-iphone-launch-confirmed-january/

Bring on the-

Apple 10″ tablet

iPhone V4

iLife 2010

Kodak is suing Apple and RIM-

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100114005746&newsLang=en

Nokia suing Apple-

http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/22/nokia-sues-apple-says-iphone-infringes-ten-patents/

Apple strike back-

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/16/apple-retaliates-requests-us-import-ban-on-nokia-phones/

Microsoft infringe xml copyright-

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/13/microsoft_office_2007_yanked/

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2009/12/microsoft-office-word-2007-banned-from-sale-starting-january-11/

An open source developer has written a Javascript runtime hack to enable Flash based animation on Safari web browser on the Apple iPhone-

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/01/hack-enables-flash-on-iphone/

See a few demo’s here on your iPhone-

http://paulirish.com/work/gordon/demos/

Valleywag have offered a range of rewards to anyone who can supply irrefutable proof of the Apple tablet-

http://valleywag.gawker.com/5447390/announcing-valleywags-apple-tablet-scavenger-hunt-win-up-to-100000

Apple wins big!!

http://valleywag.gawker.com/5448177/update-apple-wins-the-first-prize-in-our-tablet-scavenger-hunt

With 2 weeks to go to until Apple are supposed to announce their tablet offering, rumors are flying wild-

http://www.fingerworks.com/ website content has been pulled, Apple acquired this company 5 years ago and they have pioneered some great multi touch gesture keyboards and pads.

French Telecom executive supposedly confirms January tablet announcement-

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbtgfd_linterview-politique-de-jeanpierre_news (in french) translation from MacRumors here-

Jean-Pierre Elkabbach (the interviewer) : According to Le Point (a french magazine), your partner Apple will be launching a tablet
Stéphane Richard: Yes.
Jean-Pierre Elkabbach: … equipped with a webcam.
Stéphane Richard: Yes.
Jean-Pierre Elkabbach: Will Orange customers also be able to enjoy it?
Stéphane Richard: Of course!, they will actually particularly enjoy it because the webcam will allow live video streaming. It’s a new take on mobile video-conferencing.

Apparently a statement has been released saying that the executive was only agreeing with the rumors regarding the tablet…yeah right.

Apple employees confirm they have been working on application development of iWork for multi touch tablet use-

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/09/technology/personaltech/09reader.html

Parrot, the people who make the high end bluetooth hands free kits have released a quadricopter that you control from your iPhone/iPod touch.

Available are 3 augmented reality games that will integrate your live environment into games that can be played on your Apple device.

Parrot have opened up development for games to any developers.

More info here-

http://ardrone.parrot.com/parrot-ar-drone/en/

Steve Ballmer today showed 3 tablet/slate devices including a touch screen HP model.

Reports of a snooze-athon presentation by Ballmer and comparisons to Bill Gates style results in another missed opportunity for Microsoft.

See very short promo video-

The top model of iPhone (3GS) has voice dialing builtin. In this day and age of traffic laws and not being allowed to interact with your mobile device while driving, voice dialing and hands free kits are essential. For hands free most bluetooth hands free kits work fine, the Parrot models are the best I have seen.

If you have an original 2G or even 3G phone then you wont have voice dialing builtin, you will need a 3rd party app for this.

I have tried many (free and paid) apps over December and only one worked properly.

The features needed are-

Single button to push

No internet access required (slow on 2G models)

Easy voice recognition

Ability to choose different numbers without having to look at or click screen.

The app that we at Analogue use for voice dialing on the road is NameDial, its a $1.29 iPhone 2.2.1 and above app that just does the job.

Even over the specifically written for Aus/NZ voice recognition app, it is far better at matching up spoken names to your contact list.

http://www.apptism.com/apps/namedial

http://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/namedial/id302950702?mt=8