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How Apple Can improve the Mac App Store

Apple’s Mac App Store has been a hit and miss among the community of Mac users. Many users like having the Mac App Store because of its easy access to the software. Many users also liked having the software in CD form because they can share it among their family and friends. I personally like the Mac App Store because it’s easy to find apps, and even easier to install and update your app. Sometimes your app goes missing, all you have to do is go back into the Mac App Store, search up your app, and click install and your app will reappear again.

Yet, the Mac App Store has more room for improvement among many other things. I would like to see Apple be able to transfer the CD form of an app and automatically enter it into the Mac App Store. Before the Mac App Store was available, everybody had to buy the CD form of the software. If Apple would allow grandfathered Apple apps, it would eliminate the confusion of updating Apple’s apps. When the Mac App store originally opened, Apple actually let disc-installed Apple apps to be installed and put into the Mac App Store and be marked as installed. Unfortunately this feature doesn’t work anymore; hopefully Apple gets back to that.

Unfortunately on the Mac App Store, users are limited to viewing their Apps from recent to oldest. In the Mac App Store there is a “Purchases” button. When you click that button, you see the lists of Apps you bought from recent to oldest. Apple should allow the user to find their apps in alphabetical, price, and so forth. The Mac App Store only lets full-fledged applications to be put onto the Mac App Store. Apple should loosen up and allot screensavers and widgets on the Mac App Store. They don’t present the same risks as some third-party owners. Some users like to scroll through screensavers and actually buy them. That would put an interesting twist into the Mac App Store.

Apple will certainly change the Mac App Store into a cooler store. The Mac App Store is almost new, so Apple is still trying to fix the store. We just have to be patient and hope that Apple listens to us. Have any questions? Leave a comment and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

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iPad 2 Supply Catches Demand

Apple has finally caught up with the iPad 2 demand. Apple’s iPad 2 shipping times have decreased to the standard 1-3 days. When the iPad 2 first launched in April, in a matter of days the shipping times quickly rose to 2-3 weeks. At one point, it even reached 4-5 weeks. When Apple first sold the iPad 2, it sold so fast that Apple was selling every single iPad 2 they could make. The iPad 2 sold like hotcakes because of it’s many upgrades. It is lighter, faster, thinner, has a camera on the front and back, why wouldn’t you buy the iPad2?

One of the many reasons why Apple may have caught up to the demand is that the demand may be decreasing. The iPad 2 has been out for several months now and many customers are waiting for the iPad 3. Apple is clearly trying to push the iPad 2 in order to make room for the iPad 3. Apple will clearly be able to keep up with the supply and demand for the iPad 2. As soon as the iPad 3 comes out, we will be having the same talk. Will Apple be able to keep up with the supply and demand? Do you think so? Leave us a comment and we will get back to you.

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Apple’s Back to School Promotion

What is Apple’s Back to School Promotion? Basically, the deal is that when you purchase a new qualifying Mac with Apple education pricing from June 16, 2011, through September 20, 2011, you’ll get a free $100 Back to School Card. You can use the Back to School Card on the Mac App Store, the App Store, the iTunes Store, and the iBookstore.

If you buy a Mac after the June 6, 2011, you are eligible to request an up-to-date upgrade. The upgrade will allow you to upgrade to Lion for free. You must request your Up-to-Date upgrade within 30 days of purchasing a new Mac computer.

Who qualifies for this promotion? College students or students accepted to college, parents buying for college students or students accepted to college, or faculty or staff members at any grade level qualify.

How do you get your $100 Back to School Card? First, you must shop for a Mac at either the Apple Online Store for Education, the Apple Retail Store, the Apple Authorized Campus Store, or call 1-800-MY-APPLE. Second, you will either get your free Back to School Card with your order automatically if you order it at the Apple Retail Store or Apple Online Store or you’ll have to submit your claim online and get your code via email. Third, you will enter the code on your Back to School Card in your iTunes Account to redeem the $100.

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How to: Prepare your Mac for Lion

If you want to upgrade your Mac to OS X Lion, you don’t have to worry about going to the store and having to install a bunch of discs from a box; you can just go to the Mac App Store and buy Lion for $29.99. You also need to prepare your Mac for Lion. Your Mac must have an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor for your Mac to be able to run Lion. You can check to see what processor your Mac has by clicking the Apple icon on the top left of your display and choosing About This Mac. Your Mac must also be up to date with the latest version of OS X Snow Leopard. Click the Apple icon and choose Software Update to install version 10.6.8 if you haven’t done so already. After you have done those steps, you can open the Mac App Store and purchase OS X Lion.

There have been questions about the pricing and availability of OS X Lion to business customers and education customers. Apple decided to give business users Volume License contracts at the same $29.99 per license with a minimum of 20 users. Maintenance contracts for extra support will be available for $49.99 with a minimum of 20 users. For education customers, Lion will be included in the Apple Software Collection. The Apple Software Collection will contain Mac OS X Lion, iLife, and iWork for $39 per license with a minimum of 25 licenses.

You are still able to use the same mass installation techniques people use today to deploy Mac OS X. To install Lion on multiple systems on a network, you can simply copy the Install Mac OS X Lion application to the target system and run the installer. Administrators will also be able to use the System Image Utility included in OS X Lion Server to create a NetInstall or NetRestore image.

If you bought a Mac on or after the June 6, 2011, you are eligible to request an up-to-date upgrade. The upgrade will allow you to upgrade to Lion for free. You must request your Up-to-Date upgrade within 30 days of purchasing a new Mac computer.

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How to: Virtualize Mac OS X Lion

A virtual machine (VM) is a software implementation of a machine that executes programs like a physical machine. VMs are separated into two major categories; these categories are based on their use and degree of correspondence to any real machine. A system virtual machine provides a complete system platform which supports the execution of a complete operating system. A process virtual machine is designed to run a single program, which means that it supports a single process. Any software running in a virtual machine is restricted and it cannot break out of its virtual world.

 

The virtualization story for Mac OS X is about to change, a lot. This is a positive change as Lion’s licensing changes the rules for virtual machines. In some circumstances for certain enterprise deployments, virtual Mac OS X environments are held in a very high light. By giving access to Mac only applications, the demand increases without having to supply Mac hardware on a one-to-one basis.

 

Leopard started the virtualization for Apple. Apple began to permit limited virtualization of Mac OS X, with two major caveats: you could only run VMs on Mac hardware (no blade server racks full of HP gear serving out Mac desktops). By doing this, it cost a steep price because you needed a Mac OS X Server license. Since it was so expensive, few people took advantage of it.

 

Lion’s new EULA is prepared to change all the rules. 10.7 users will be allowed to run one or two virtual Mac instances on each physical Mac. The tools will be helped by VMware Fusion, Parallels, VirtualBox or others. The people that will benefit from this are developers, IT managers and others who need to keep a known-good test environment or try out new apps in a controlled fashion. Like this article? Hate this article? Leave a comment and we will let you know as soon as possible.