OSX Lion uncaged!

OK, so it looks like i was not able to preview all of the new updates for Lion before it came out. This could be because I procrastinated, the advertised “new features” were becoming less and less exciting to me, or a mixture of the two. haha! That being said, the time of observing the Lion while it is caged is over. The Lion has finally been set free for all (most) Mac users to use. If you are unsure about whether to upgrade or not, here is a checklist of things to consider:

1. ”Lion runs on all Macs with a 64-bit Intel processor — this eliminates the very first MacBook and MacBook Pro machines Apple sold, the very first Intel based iMac, and the first- and second-generation Intel-based Mac minis.”**** - (This was news to me)

2. You must have OSX 7 Snow Leopard to install OSX Lion

• also, if you have done a recent software update you probably already have the “App Store” on your system.  It will be necessary to have this in order to purchase the OSX download 

3. OSX Lion is about a 4GB download from the App Store, so make sure you have a good internet connection or you start the download just before you go on vacation!

4. OSX Lion is a $29.99 purchase from the App Store

• - NOTE!!! - This means you can use your iTunes gift cards to purchase OSX Lion! So you can finally cash in all of those unused Apple gift cards you got for Christmas. Also, for the deal nerds like myself, you can save a few dollars on the purchase price. How? Just google “iTunes gift card sale” and you can probably find a local drugstore, supermarket, or electronics store that is offering a deal on the cards. These places offer the gift cards at a discount just to get you in the door. I usually check www.dealmac.com for a Mac deals. If you can’t seem to find anything, there is always eBay. This will probably only save you a few dollars, but hey, you can make fun of your friends for paying FULL Price! Boooooooo!

If you want some more info, i would suggest reading the link below for a Lion Review by Edward Baig of USA Today. It is rather lengthy, but who am I to bash someone for rambling in an article. After all the news I’ve read, I think best new feature would have to be the “auto-save” that Lion performs in the backround. According to Baig’s article, not all Applications support this feature right now, but it is probably in the near future. While this feature seems very very helpful, I still think I will wait to purchase the update. Personally, I usually wait a few weeks when these updates come out so they can work out all the kinks. This will be less of an issue now than those what had to jump from Tiger to Leopard, but kinks still do exist. In fact, Baig mentioned having some issues with his Wi-Fi with OSX Lion.

**** http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/edwardbaig/2011-07-20-apple-lion-reviewed_n.htm - “Apple launches Lion, and it roars” - by Edward Baig of USA Today

Everything considered, it’s just another phase of Apple staying ahead of the game. What will you do? Will you make the leap to Lion?

Vic's Peachtree Roadrace T-Shirt Design

In Georgia, there is a staple every Fourth of July in Atlanta called the Peachtree Road Race. It’s a 10K race that has become the largest in the world even with a capped registration of 60,000. There are thousands more workers and spectators that also come each year. This is a huge economic boost for the city and brings in millions and millions of dollars in revenue. The race started in 1970 and its history over the years is very interesting. (Check it out here: http://www.peachtreeroadrace.org/press-center/history ) One of the things that captures the most attention each year is the official Peachtree Road Race T-Shirt. The main sponsor of the race is Atlanta Journal Constitution. Starting in 1995 they began to have a design contest for the shirt that was conducted through the newspaper. There is always a lot of intrigue with this. The design is revealed on raceday, when finishers of the race cross the line and recieve their goodie bags which includes the T Shirt. I have really only kept up with it for the past few years, but it is always interesting. They probably get hundreds of submissions, and then they narrow it down to a few. I know the past few years the AJC has put up a poll on their website to see which design is the most popular. Here is this years winning design - and a link to the 5 finalists: http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view/sports/peachtree-road-race/2011-ajcpeachtree-shirts/




Anyway, now to the point of this blog post, hahah! I don’t know about you, but I love to read the comments on websites. There is no better place to find quality quips and one-liners than on these comment boards. For the past few years, it never fails that the days following the race there are tons of negative comments concerning the T Shirt design. I must admit, that I don’t really care for most of the design finalist, or the winning designs, but they are not terrible. Well, just a few days ago, I read a very good comment from someone that was obviously tired of the annual T shirt bashing. They suggested that all the “haters” are just jealous and instead of whining, they should send in their own designs. I thought that was a great idea, in fact I decided that I would work on a Peachtree T Shirt design myself. Below is a picture of what I came up with. It’s probably not “artsy” enough for the judges, but I tend to like things simple and sweet. What do you think? Maybe I will submit it next year. Who knows maybe I could be the one with 60,000 people hatin’ on my T shirt design. hahaha!

3) Multi Touch Gestures

Gestures are nothing new to Apple fans, but this is the first OSX update that is promoting use on the computer. Rubber-band scrolling, page and image zoom, and full-screen swiping are all routine for those who have an iPhone or iPad. Some of the gestures have been available to those who purchased the Magic Mouse or the Magic Trackpad for use with their Mac. But with the OSX Lion update, laptop trackpads will now be gesture happy like the other Apple devices.




If you are not familiar with the different gestures, Apple now has a pictorial on their website (http://www.apple.com/macosx/whats-new/gestures.html) as well as a quick 2 minute video tutorial to show you the gestures in action on a laptop (see top right of gestures page).

Once again, this is Apple being intuitive and making something that we would never have asked for. We would have carried on for the rest of our lives using the mouse to click and scroll! Again, I must say that Apple is promoting this feature and OSX Lion like it’s some kind of life changing update. Most of these updates, we would expect to be on the next OSX release. Well, even though I jest at the advertising, I will still enjoy the simple time saving gestures just like everyone else.