July 4 - 12:15pm EDT   At its current stage of development, the Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard beta is not outperforming 10.5 Leopard by any wide stretches, as developers dive into the new OS with GeekBench. The Netherlands' Mac Zone writes that benchmarking numbers indicate that 10.6 performs better than 10.5, but only by a small margin. This hardly is conclusive of the final product, however, given that 10.6 Snow Leopard is still under early development – early betas of 10.5 Leopard had a very Tiger-like interface and poorer performance than the final build. [full story]

June 27 - 4:10pm EDT   Cynical Peak Software has released Rivet 1.1, a new version of that software that enables users to stream video, music, and photos from Mac OS X to an Xbox 360 over your home network. 1.1 adds better media browsing support and fixes performance and stability issues. Your Mac's folder structure and organization is completely reproduced to allow you to find what you want to view. Features include music streaming of your iTunes library, photo streaming of your iPhoto library and user defined folders, video streaming from user defines folders and full organization support [full story]

June 26 - 3:30pm EDT   RAGE SERank 1.7 ($60) Mac OS X search engine rank checker for website owners to track and monitor their search engine rankings. RAGE SERank will monitor search engine rankings for any number of keywords and display changes in a website's search engine rankings over any point in time. RAGE SERank 1.7 now lets you check up to 1000 search results so you can easily see if you are making improvements in your search engine rankings, even if you have not made it to the first 10 pages of search results yet. It also adds speed optimization options to the RAGE SERank database so you can make sure you are always operating at peak performance. [Download - 13.2MB] Today ... [full story]

June 18 - 2:10pm EDT   Timepost 2.3.2 ($50) a reliable web-integrated time management system for Mac OS X. Timepost is a full-featured time tracking solution that integrates with internet project management services. Can post time to Basecamp, Blinksale, Cashboard, FreshBooks, FogBugz, and Tick. Not only is Timepost a simple project timer, but a powerful extension to your existing web service. The new release adds menubar timer access. [Download - 1.1MB] Modul8 2.5.5 (300 Euros) Mac OS X based real time, live performance video compositing software. The incremental update brings several interface enhancements, numerous bug fixes and added 'keyword' functions in its python scripting based module system. ... [full story]

May 29 - 3:35pm EDT   Scorecard 1.3 ($30) golf scorecard and statistics application for Mac OS X. Offers comprehensive statistics, helping users discover trends and explore aspects of their gameplay that might otherwise go unnoticed. Scorecard 1.3 gives golfers further insight into their problems areas with the new Best vs Worst statistics. Best vs Worst presents a comparison of key performance indicators which allow the golfer to quickly and easily see what part of their game went wrong when they didn't perform well. They can then focus on improving that portion of their game to improve their overall game play. [Download - 1.2MB] Keyboard Maestro 3.1 ($20) set of macros through which you can control ... [full story]

May 13 - 3:05am EDT   The Microsoft Mac Business Unit on Tuesday announced the release of Microsoft Office 2008 Service Pack 1, a major update that provides increased stability, security, and performance enhancements, as well as an update for the former 2004 version. The update culminates several months worth of feedback from the Microsoft Error Reporting Protocol tool into optimization and improvements. Microsoft is posting the download on its website, but says it is also available through Microsoft Auto Update. [full story]

April 17 - 3:35pm EDT   Popular Mechanics says that Macs run Windows Vista better than PCs designed to run the operating system. The magazine published an analysis based on user feedback and performance benchmarks for similarly equipped machines, using a number of 'real world' tests to evaluate the machines. Testers were asked to set up the computers right out of the box and "explore the machines through everyday tasks such as Web surfing, document creation, uploading photos, downloading Adobe Acrobat files and playing music and movies through Media Center and Front Row." The magazine said that in both the laptop and desktop showdowns, Apple's computers were the winners. Results found that ... [full story]

April 16 - 11:45pm EDT   HP will offer the 2133 Mini-Note PC preconfigured with Windows XP in mid-May, something the company refers to as a "downgrade". Laptop Magazine observes that XP is more ideal for ultramobile PCs, given its lower power requirements, and better performance on lighter hardware. The revelation came after a chat with an HP Sales representative, who confirmed that XP would be an available feature in the future. [full story]

April 9 - 3:15pm EDT   CalDigit has announced HDElement, a new compact 4 bay storage device that works in conjunction with the CalDigit RAID card offering full hardware RAID capabilities. Users can connect up to 3 HDElements to the CalDigit RAID card. The HDElement is also bootable. CalDigit's RAID Shield GUI allows users to manage drives, run performance checks and monitor system settings are a snap. In the event of any errors, alerts or changes to the RAID array can send an email notification. The CalDigit RAID card offers dedicated Intel processor, and 256MB of built-in cache memory. This gives true hardware RAID capabilities via PCI-e expansion slot. [full story]

April 4 - 7:30pm EDT   Primate Labs has published new benchmarks for MacBooks and MacBook Pros released in early 2008. The models show marginal speed gains over their predecessors, in some cases exhibiting performance slower or roughly equal to previous models. The MacBook Pro Early 2008, for instance, shows a gain of just under three percent over the Mid 2007 MacBook Pro -- scores of 3323 and 3236 respectively. The Early 2008 model uses a Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 2.6 GHz, while the Mid 2007 model uses a Intel Core 2 Duo T7800 2.6 GHz (2 cores) [full story]

April 2 - 10:30pm EDT   Apple today released updates to QuickTime 7.4.5, iTunes 7.6.2, and Front Row 2.1.3, offering several performance enhancements, as well as a patch for a security hole found in QuickTime. The patch fixes an issue related to the SHA-1 checksum, which is related to protecting files with 160-bit encryption. iTunes 7.6.2 doesn't list specifically which issues are fixed, but more than likely resolves compatibility with the new QuickTime version. Front Row's update similarly guarantees functionality with iTunes 7.6.2. [full story]

March 31 - 8:20am EDT   Apple's new 15" MacBook Pro, based on Intel's latest Penryn processor, earned high marks from PC Magazine. In a recently published review, Editor Cisco Cheng took the new model for a test drive, benchmarking performance and feature enhancements. His conclusion - MacBook Pro is a winner. Cheng called it "one of the fastest laptops I've tested". That's high praise indeed, coming from a publication devoted to Windows PCs. [full story]

March 5 - 6:55pm EST   Primate Labs has taken a close look at the performance of Apple's lastest MacBook, and claims that the newest base model is slower than the previous generation. A performance comparison via Geekbench -- an application designed to test the speed of computers in various areas -- revealed higher scores for MacBooks released in early 2008 than the latest models offered by Apple. In overall performance the early 2008 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook scored 3,135 against a baseline score of 1,000, which signifies the score a 1.6GHz Power Mac G5 would receive. Conversely, Apple's late 2008 2.2GHz MacBook scored 2,890 -- significantly less than the slightly older model. [full story]

February 27 - 2:05pm EST   Less than 24 hours after their introduction, Apple's new MacBook Pros based on Intel's Penryn Core 2 Duo architecture have been benchmarked using the venerable Geekbench utility. PrimateLabs tested the MacBook Pro (Early 2008) with an Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 @ 2.50GHz and MacBook Pro (Early 2008) with Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 @ 2.40GHz; comparing them to the MacBook Pro (Mid 2007) with an Intel Core 2 Duo T7800 @ 2.60GHz and MacBook Pro (Mid 2007) with an Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 @ 2.40GHz. The results show that the old 2.4GHz MacBook Pros are actually faster than the new 2.4GHz models -- a discrepancy explained by the smaller L2 cache on the new models. The 2008 2.5GHz ... [full story]

February 20 - 11:00am EST   Lexar Media today unveiled fully buffered Crucial 800MHz memory modules for the Mac Pro, available in 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB paired kits. The memory includes heat dissipation fins to balance the temperature, and feature a lifetime warranty. The new Mac Pro is capable of holding 32GB of memory, and Apple states that each increase to the system memory enhances the machine's performance due to the nature of the RAM pairings. Lexar did not unveil pricing, but said the modules are currently shipping. [full story]