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Dr Logic Backup Demo Video

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:39:00 GMT

We have just added a video showing just how quick and easy Dr Logic Backup is to install, configure and restore lost files with.

Watch the high quality version (requires QuickTime)

The video shows how to

install Dr Logic Backup
sign in with your account
select the files to backup
begin backing up
accidentally deleting a file
and recovering it from your backup

The Sounds of Failing Hard Drives

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:36:00 GMT

US Data Recovery specialist Datacent have published a list of failing hard drive sounds that will send shivers down the spine of anyone not using Dr Logic Backup

Some of my personal favourites are:

A Western Digital 500GB drive with bad bearings

A Seagate desktop drive with degrading heads making a thrashing, then clicking sound

And one I’ve experienced on my laptop

Mike's Monthly Mac Tip (Nov '08)

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:24:00 GMT

We’ve all wanted to type that word that’s on the tip of our tongue but have difficulty in spelling it when typing it into the computer. Or when the spell check fails completely at your attempts on a word. So how can your Mac be of any help? Well, in addition to a fully featured dictionary and thesaurus built in; it can also Auto-Complete your words as you type.

The magic combination? Option-Escape or SHIFT-F5

Simply type the first couple of letters of word and press the magic keys; and up will pop a scrollable list of words which match those first letters. Try it!

This delightful feature should work in most Mac OS X applications (i.e. Cocoa based) but you may encounter the odd one or two that don’t. Most notably Microsoft Word.

Poland celebrates 90 years of independence

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:12:59 GMT

I was down at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday celebrating Polish Independence Day (11th November 1918) with my family, including my grandfather, Thomas Marszalek, who was interviewed by the BBC News website.

Poland did not exist for 123 years from 1795 after the third partitioning split the country between Russia, Prussia and Austria. What is remarkable is that even though it was illegal to speak the language, Polish and the Polish culture both survived during this time.

Five year anniversary

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:01:01 GMT

We our now entering our sixth year as a limited company and would like to extend a big thank you to all our clients for their support and custom!

Doctor Logic was founded on the 29th of October 2003 and we are proud to say that we are still working with most of the clients from my two years as a sole trader previous to this.

Mobile Me Update

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:30:00 GMT

Apple has made some under-the-hood changes and updates to their subscription based MobileMe service. There is no need for any user intervention, as all the updates are done on Apple’s server side.

Hopefully, we will see some improvements in the reliability and robustness of the service; which, as so far, in my experience has been pretty faultless to date.

For a detailed list of changes, consult Apple’s release notes.

Oh, and Happy Halloween!

New MacBooks - DisplayPort

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:55:00 GMT

As you may know, the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros are totally awesome: the new shell sculpted out of a solid block of aluminium is aesthetically gorgeous and very sturdy. The glass trackpad sounds a little gimmicky, but again, it’s very easy to use and there’s hardly any ‘adjustment’ period when using it.

The new MacBooks also introduced to us a new type of display adapter; formerly, we’ve all used VGA or DVI, but this time, Apple have adopted the new industry-standard of video output; “DisplayPort” and it’s little brother “Mini DisplayPort”.

In short, this new standard (and it’s not only Apple who are starting to adopt this) offers high definition video output, with sound and data in a plug that has no pins to get bent or screws to mess around with.

Read all about it on Wikipedia or MacWorld

Mike's Monthly Mac Tip (October '08)

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:29:00 GMT

You can get finer control of your Mac’s volume by pressing SHIFT-OPTION-VOLUME UP/DOWN. This provides an extra 4 levels per ‘notch’, allowing you to finally have sounds coming out of your Mac to be ‘just right’.

In addition, you can temporarily disable the changing volume sound simply by holding SHIFT down whilst you change the volume. Very useful when you’re trying to change the volume in the middle of a presentation or movie.

New MacBooks, MacBook Pros & Display

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 07:40:43 GMT

Yesterday, Apple released it’s next generation MacBooks and MacBook Pros, as well as a LED-backlit 24” display with build in MagSafe power for laptops.

The highlights are…

MacBook

Aluminium “unibody” enclosure
13.3-inch LED-backlit display for instant on
Faster graphics
Glass multi-touch trackpad
128GB Solid State Drive option

MacBook Pro

Aluminium “unibody” enclosure
15-inch LED-backlit display for instant on
High-performance graphics
Glass multi-touch trackpad
128GB Solid State Drive option

LED Cinema Display

24-inch LED-backlit display
Integrated MagSafe connector
Built-in iSight, Microphone and speakers

If you’re interested in buying one, please ask us for a quote as we can save you about 5% on the MacBooks and 7% on the MacBook Pros and Displays.

OpenOffice 3.0 is out

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:43:17 GMT

If you’re looking for a free (i.e. no cost) alternative to Microsoft Office 2008 then you’re in luck. OpenOffice 3 was released yesterday. Unlike it’s predecessor, you no longer need to run it with X11, as it’s now 100% native.

It allows you to create Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Presentation, Drawing, Database and Formula documents and it’s compatible with Microsofts’s latest Office 2007 (PC) and Office 2008 (Mac) document formats although it can’t write to the new XML formats (.docx, .xlsx etc.) but can open them.

Go to the official website to find out more, or download and give the application suite a try.

NeoOffice based on OpenOffice will begin it’s early access program for version 3.0 on the 15th of November. NeoOffice adds the following to OpenOffice:

Fast, free, and friendly support for all users
Extremely stable Mac OS X code
Significant speed improvements
Dozens of extra features