Sparrow for Windows

Ellis Hamburger on Sparrow for Windows:

To sum it up, Sparrow for Windows never existed.

I recently accepted a new position. This jobs required me to use a Windows machine and let me tell you… none of the awesome software I use daily exists for Windows. That includes Sparrow, Tweetbot, Reeder, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Pixelmator, Aperture, Fantastical, Cobook, Bettertouchtool, and (to a lesser extent) Garageband. And the Windows alternatives (where they even exist) cost hundreds of dollars more than I paid for the OS X versions I use daily.

I now have two computers for work. The MacBook I use for everything and the HP I use when absolutely necessary.

Piracy Wins (Again)

John Brownlee on the theory that AirPlay Streaming is limited to Macs with Sandy Bridge chips to make use of Intel Insider DRM:

If true, this has got to be infuriating to Mac owners who arbitrarily don’t have an AirPlay-compatible Mac. As is often the case, AirPlay Mirroring on Mac is just another example of how DRM usually only inconveniences legitimate customers, while pirates, as always, figure out a way around the safeguard.

Windows Market Share

Alex Wilhelm:

[W]e can anticipate that Windows 7 will overtake Windows XP’s global market share in late July. Our estimates point to the changeover occuring on July 23rd, at around 3:30 Pacific, but suffice it to know that it should happen at some point this month.

I wonder how many people are still running OS X 10.0.

Doing Taxes with iOS

Ben Brooks:

Jeffery Battersby has a nice rundown of the apps that are out there for doing your taxes on iOS, but is it just me or does that seem like a really odd/weird task to be doing on iOS?

I'd do them on my Mac but there's not one piece of software written than will allow me to file my taxes from my Mac. Unbelievable.

Annual OS X Releases

Charlie Sorrel:

OS X is switching to a one-per-year launch cycle, with a major new version annually like iOS.

I am going on the record right now to say that the price for new OS X upgrades will fall dramatically. Perhaps even free in the name of upgrading. What use is a great new feature you don't have access to on your desktop machine? They'll want every Intel Mac running 10.8 and to do that they need to price the price barrier so far down people simply cannot resist upgrading.

Claim Chowder? We'll see.

Messages Beta

I just downloaded the new beta of Messages for OS X. It's awesome. You should get it too. Here. You can chat with all your iOS/OS X using compatriots.

OS X Coming to ARM?

Killian Bell:

Tristan Schaap wrote a thesis on his time at Apple shortly after he left the company in 2010, but he was unable to publish it until August 16 2011, when an embargo protecting the sensitive subject matter was lifted. It’s now available for anyone to read, and it details Apple’s work on porting its Snow Leopard desktop operating system to devices powered by ARM processors.

This shouldn't surprise anyone. Jobs was porting OS X to Intel well before theirs were the superior processors. Apple like to have options. I'm sure they run all kinds of scenarios and have plenty of avenues being explored at any given time.