mip's scan

Virtualization Goodness for the Mac

All those great beta versions of Parallels were finally released as a final candidate earlier this week.  I've installed it and it is all good.  If you have been using the beta version of Parallels, you can now go and update to the full release by clicking here.

Now, not be left behind, VMWare has just released a new version of their Windows-on-a-Mac virtualization software called Fusion.  We've been using Fusion on a Mac Pro here at work because Parallels was giving us trouble (although we use Parallels on all our Macbook Pros) and I've just started testing the new release.  Some of the new features that they list on their website are:

• Experimental 3-D graphics support — Play a selection of DirectX 8.1 games in Windows XP Service Pack 2 virtual machines.
• Snapshot feature — Roll back your virtual machine to a known good state when something goes wrong in your virtual machine—for example, when your virtual machine picks up a virus, or when a software upgrade causes problems.
• Improved networking — Automatically bridge to the computer’s primary network interface.
• Full support for Airport wireless networking, including virtual machines behind a NAT firewall and bridged to the local Airport network.
• Support for up to ten virtual network interfaces
• Improved Microsoft Vista support — Support for Microsoft Vista Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions.
• Complete VMware Tools support for Microsoft Vista including copy/paste, dragging and dropping files, shared folders, and screen resizing.
• Improved hardware editor — Add additional virtual hard drives to a virtual machine for needed capacity.
• View the physical computer's battery status in the virtual machine.
• Improved full screen mode — Support for plugging and unplugging displays while virtual machines are in full screen mode.
• Improved usability: an on-screen tip shows how to enter and exit full screen mode easily.
• Experimental support for Mac OS X Leopard — You can now install and run VMware Fusion on Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). Support is experimental because Mac OS X 10.5 is not yet released. Fusion will support the release version of OS X 10.5 in the final VMware Fusion release.

You can obtain the latest VMWare Fusion by clicking here.

More on The Future of Interface

You may remember I wrote a brief article about the future of the user interface with an fantastic embedded video of some work being done with multi-touch interfaces.  Well I came across another video of the same person, Jeff Han, giving a good demonstration and speech and wanted to share it.  The theme I like in this is that the future of interface will move toward making things "do what you expect them to do".  It isn't about making applications that are more feature rich - it is about making applications where the user interface "disappears".  Give the video a watch - very exciting and interesting stuff.

Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful

Well, as we get hit with a fairly bad storm and now freezing rain here in Souther Ontario I was exploring, of course weather tools.  Lots out there and mostly all the same.  And then I cam across an interesting one I though I'd share called Weather Bonk.  Yeah, weird name but cool site.  What do I like about it? 

Well first, they've leverage Google Maps and that is really well done.  With Google Map as the centre piece, they layer on after you select radar, real time weather info.  Temperature and precipitation, if I understand the map.
Around the map, they've made it very "portal like", aggregating data from other sources.  I like how they show traffic cams on the left that change as you zoom in or navigate to other parts of the map.  If there is no traffic cam in that area, they'll show you the closest one and tell you the distance from your location to that camera.  Nothing beats a good visual of a jammed highway with cars stuck in the snow to really drive home the fact that you shouldn't....well...drive home.

I also like how they have a feature called Route Weather.  You give it your starting and ending point (i.e., where you are leaving from and where you are trying to go) and it'll tell you when the best time to go will be.  Very neat feature.

Hopefully, if you're reading this in an area where you got hit by snow and ice, you got home safe and sound.

Sync Your Blackberry With Your Mac

Many people I know who move from the PC to a Mac and carry a Blackberry are always distressed that they won't be able to sync the two.  Of course if you run Windows in Parallels you can. But what if you don't?

Up until now I'd been using PocketMac with mixed results.  It works but it wasn't overly refined. Enter The Missing Sync for Blackberry, a fantastic application that you must get it you want to sync your Mac with your Blackberry.  It is a robust application, well integrated with Mac OSX and the various items you want to sync with.  I have used it for contacts, calendar and to do's, but if you own a Perl, then you can also sync pictures from iPhoto and music from iTunes.  Nice.  As you can see from the screenshot to the right, it has a nice user interface and is easy to configure and use.  It also places a nice quick access icon in the top right portion of your screen. 

You can get all the details and download from here.

New Way To Reach Me

Hi all.   Well, I finally got around to setting up an email address specifically for mip's scan rather than using one of my other email addresses.  If you want to reach me regarding items on mip's scan (tech you want me to look at, questions, feedback, ideas for posts, etc.) then you can now email me at mip@mipsscan.com and I'll be sure to see it!

This also gives me a chance to test Google Apps for business, as I'm using them as the back-end (i.e., I mapped my MX records for email to their service...so far so good).