Summer is a beautiful thing. Especially so when we get to start it off with an extra day off from work to enjoy barbecuing in the wonderful company of our loved ones. The good life, all but warranted to us by those who have served.

Today we remember and honor our service men and women who have given their lives so that we may live in freedom.

Happy Memorial Day!

Since the launch of the iPad, many have expressed their concerns about the lack of support for Flash on a device that is supposed to be a mainstream portable media player (among other things). Steve Jobs made his point loud and clear, Apple does not want Flash or its developing platform on the company's Touch OS which the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad are running. Why you may ask.

In short, it's a battle between the new and upcoming web standard, HTML5 against Adobe's Flash technology, a de facto in video streaming on the web today. Some say Apple is shooting itself in the foot for not supporting Flash but promoting a technology that is foreign to end users. They have their valid points, however Apple has armed itself with a strong argument to say otherwise.

The iPhone and its touch OS has been released to the public through 3 different generations in the past 3 years. So don't think for a second that Apple never gave Adobe a chance to develop Flash for the iPhone (one that is not a resource hog which shortens battery life and slows everything down). Adobe simply failed to deliver. Case in point, Adobe recently demoed its beta build of Flash on the Android mobile platform, it crashed and burnt. Adobe at this point in time, simply doesn't have a working product on any mobile platform at all.

One would then think a simple solution for Adobe to get back into the game is to put more engineers to work and make Flash stable and available on all the mobile OS as soon as it possibly can. Well, that's not what Adobe is doing. Rather than investing in research and development, it spent money on marketing to portray Apple is foul-playing. Yes, the image shown in this post is one of the many used in this campaign.

Don't just take my words for it though because to most, I would appear to be a hardcore Apple fanboy. Personally, I'm falling off the Apple bandwagon as of late because Apple's current product offerings are not appealing to me. Read up on HTML5 and how it will change the web.

The new update to Facebook brought a controversial feature called Open Graph which shares your personal information with third party apps and website without your consent. Facebook touts this feature as a good way to be even more socially connected, but to many it's a great privacy concern. Here are some quick steps to opt out:

1. From your Account drop-down list, select Privacy Settings.

2. Click the Applications and Websites link.

3. Click the Edit Setting button in the Instant Personalization section.

4. Uncheck the box labeled Allow select partners to instantly personalize their features with my public information with I first arrive on their websites.

5. When prompted, click the Confirm button.

6. Back at the Applications and Websites section of the Privacy Settings, click the Edit Settings button next to What your friends can share about you.

7. Remove the check mark from every single item listed and then click the Save Changes button.

There are currently 3 applications that make use of Open Graph, you need to block them from accessing your information. Follow these links (Docs app, Pandora app and Yelp app). Locate the Block Application link on the left hand side of the page then click it. If done correctly, Open Graph will be completely disabled in your Facebook account.

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Apple today updated the MacBook Pro line with faster processors, powerful next-generation NVIDIA graphics and even longer battery life. The popular 13-inch MacBook Pro features the new NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor for up to 80 percent faster graphics and a groundbreaking 10-hour built-in battery. The new 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models feature Intel Core i5 and i7 processors and Apple's new automatic graphics switching technology that toggles seamlessly between powerful NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M and energy efficient Intel HD Graphics processors.

Processors
Apple stuck with Intel Core 2 Duo processors for the 13" MacBook Pros, bumping the two standard configuration models from 2.26 GHz and 2.53 GHz to 2.4 GHz and 2.66 GHz. The 15" and 17" models, however, saw a bump from the Core 2 Duo line to Core i5 and i7 processors offering Intel's Hyper-Threading technology that allows for four virtual cores on the dual-core processor. While the processors run at slightly lower clock speeds than the Core 2 Duo in the previous generation, the smaller 32-nanometer process, Hyper-Threading, and other enhancements yield performance improvements of up to 50% according to Apple. The Core i5 and i7 processors also support Turbo Boost, pushing clock speeds for the i7 models as high as 3.33 GHz for single-threaded tasks.

Graphics
On the new 13" MacBook Pro, Apple debuted the NVIDIA GeForce 320M integrated graphics processor that offers 48 processing cores, three times that of the previous generation. Apple claims a performance boost of up to 80% with the new graphics capabilities while also being able to deliver up to 40% less power usage. The GeForce 320M is reportedly a custom production for Apple, offering greater performance than NVIDIA's standard integrated graphics without building in discrete graphics capabilities.

The 15" and 17" MacBook Pro models utilize the NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with either 256 or 512 MB of dedicated memory, offering more horsepower while also delivering up 30% greater energy efficiency. The 15" and 17" MacBook Pro models also offer automatic graphics switching, allowing the system to seamlessly switch between the dedicated NVIDIA graphics processor and the included integrated Intel HD graphics processor for optimal balance of power and efficiency. Previous MacBook Pro models have required users to manually switch between integrated and discrete graphics and log out of their account for each switch.

Battery
All three MacBook Pro models offer greater battery life than their predecessors, a feat achieved through a combination of larger battery capacity and greater energy efficiency. The 13" MacBook Pro now offers up to 10 hours of power, while the 15" and 17" models boast battery life of 8-9 hours. The previous generation of the MacBook Pro offered 7 hours on the 13" and 15" models and 8 hours on the 17" model. The batteries in all three machine sizes are non-user-replaceable and are designed for up to 1000 full charge and discharge cycles. While designed to last five years for typical users, Apple offers a battery replacement service priced at $129 (13" and 15" models) or $179 (17" model).

Display
The 15" MacBook Pro has gained a new option for a high-resolution display, offering users the opportunity to bump the standard 1440x900 screen to 1680x1050. The high-resolution display is available in both glossy ($100 extra) and anti-glare ($150 extra) versions. Notably, an anti-glare option for the lower-resolution display does not appear to be available. The 17" MacBook Pro continues to sport a 1900x1200 screen in either glossy (standard) or anti-glare ($50 extra). Apple also continues to offer a single standard glossy display running at 1280x800 for the 13" model.

Hard Drive
Apple is offering up to 500 GB, 5400-rpm SATA hard drives across all three sizes, with the 15" and 17" models also offering the option of up to 500 GB, 7200-rpm drives. Solid-state drive capacities have increased with the addition of a 512 GB option, although it carries a hefty price premium of $1300-$1450 depending on which base hard drive the customer is upgrading from.

Inertial Scrolling
The new MacBook Pro offers an enhanced multi-touch trackpad supporting inertial scrolling. The feature, already present in similar forms on Apple's iPhone OS devices and the Magic Mouse, allows users to "flick" while scrolling as the trackpad senses the momentum of the gesture and smoothly scrolls through long documents and libraries.

In the U.S. and Canada, Apple's new MacBook Pro line is currently showing 2-4 business day shipping windows for standard-configuration 13" models, while base 15" and 17" models are showing availability within 24 hours. Apple's international online stores are showing shipping windows ranging from 24 hours to 5 business days for various standard-configuration models, with the 13" models and the mid-range 15" model most frequently seeing the longer delays.

The latest update to Mac OS X was released today. 10.6.3 features a list of bug fixes and the magical improvement in speed as usual. Safari and and other Apple software will be a lot "snappier"!

Updating your system

You should back up your system before installation; you can use Time Machine.

Do not interrupt the installation process once you have started to update your system. You may experience unexpected results if you have third-party system software modifications installed, or if you've modified the operating system through other means.

Choose Software Update from the Apple () menu to check for the latest Apple software via the Internet, including this update.

If your computer is not up-to-date, other software updates available for your computer may appear, which you should install. When Software Updates states "Your software is up to date," you can be sure that all available updates have been installed.

Note that an update size may vary from computer-to-computer when installed using Software Update. Also, some updates must be installed prior to others, so you should run Software Update more than once to make sure you have all available updates.

Following last month special promotion on Apple laptops, today Micro Center offers $200 off the 13" MacBook Pro. Best price anywhere for this latest 13" MacBook Pro.

$999 13" MacBook Pro at Micro Center

A couple weeks ago, I posted about a sales at MicroCenter where you can get a brand new latest model MacBook for 20% off Apple retail price. I was one of the first people to take advantage of this great deal and got myself a unibody MacBook. I upgraded the RAM to 4GB the moment I got her home. That was a nice upgrade but I felt something was still missing as the speed-bump wasn't that much appreciable over the PandaBook that I've been using.

It was faith when I found out Newegg was having a sale on this OCZ Agility SSD. I couldn't resist and pulled the trigger. This is "the single best computer upgrade" I've ever done. The increase in responsiveness throughout was unbelievable. Applications launch so quickly now that it seems the computer actually waits for your next command rather than the other way around. I partitioned the drive to have just enough space for Windows 7 and Mac OS X to be installed on this MacBook. Both show incredible performance on this solid state hard drive.

It may not be time for these SSDs to go mainstream just yet, but let me tell you the performance is well worth its price tag (at least for a geek such as myself it is). So go ahead early adopters, push your computers to that point of diminishing return!

I got a call yesterday morning about Skype not being able to recognize the external firewire iSight's built-in microphone. The lady who I was on the phone with tested iChat and everything works fine. So all the hardware-side of things were hooked up correctly. The only possible hiccup is with the settings with Skype. I guided her through different screens of settings both in System Preferences and Skype to start the process of elimination to eventually seek out the wrong setting. Input Sound settings in System Preferences was showing the buil-in microphone for iSight as selected. So the last place to check was Audio settings in Skype.

It happened that the Apple Mac desktop she was using has a internal microphone already, and Skype by default selected that one rather than the one in the iSight camera. Changing the Input Audio device in Skype to iSight fixed the problem.

I got a call last night for help with a liquid spill incident. The client was working on his MacBook and accidentally knocked the water bottle over, right on his laptop. Like most of us would react in such horrify scenario, he kept trying to power the MacBook on to see if it still works. However that might be the worst thing to do right after a liquid spill.

Liquid and electricity simply don't mix... if it's wet, then it's bad. The logicboard in the MacBook will be fried if enough liquid get to where there is active current. So to limit the chance of this happening, cutting the power supply to the laptop is the best thing to do. It will greatly increase the chance the MacBook would work again after it's dried out. Typically 48 to 72 hours for water spill, and 96+ hours for other liquid spills.