Your car can either be your best friend or biggest foe depending on how well you maintain it. But with the advent of the car ECU (that’s “engine control unit,” aka the car’s computer), many of the tweaks that gearheads could perform manually are handled behind the scenes by the car itself. When’s the last time someone told you they had to adjust the fuel mixture on their carburetor? The ECU takes care of that for you, on the fly. Of course, when the Check Engine Light (CEL) begins to glow on the dash, most drivers panic, and for good reason. The CEL could be something as minor as a fuel cap that needs to be tightened–or it might signify that one of your cylinders misfired. CarMD enables you to take some of the guesswork out of determining exactly what’s wrong with your ride with the help of its literally named 2100 Handheld Tester. Call it doctor–Dr. Drive Good. The CarMD 2100 connects to the industry standard OBD2-compliant 16-pin port found on most vehicles manufactured since 1996. After downloading diagnostic information from your car, you plug the device into your Mac and are presented with a list of problems recorded by the vehicle, as well as its likelihood of passing a smog test. Information is displayed clearly and can be printed out so you can take the information to your local mechanic (or fix the problem yourself, if you’re automotively minded)

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CarMD 2100 Handheld Tester

    From its humble beginnings on a grad student’s Mac Plus to its complete photo-editing domination, Photoshop has changed the world in 20 short years.   Photoshop is everywhere. And while fundamentally it is the standard professional-quality image editor, it’s also a cultural touchstone with a reach that extends to advertising, fashion magazines, television, film, and the news. Lighter versions like Photoshop Elements, Photoshop.com, and even Photoshop Mobile on the iPhone have distilled its power for the masses, and sites like PhotoshopDisasters.blogspot.com chronicle painful misuses for everyone to point at and giggle about. “Photoshop” the verb was even added to Webster’s dictionary in 1992. In such a Photoshop-saturated society, it’s easy to forget that the software hasn’t been around forever. Since February 2010 marks the 20th anniversary of Photoshop 1.0, now is the perfect time to revisit everything from Adobe’s systematic dismantling of its competition to the way the software was used to make Katie Couric “lose weight.”   Two Decades of Photoshop   We give you every single Photoshop release, plus the effects of Adobe’s software on its competition and our culture.   1987   Release: Thomas Knoll, a PhD student at the University of Michigan, creates a program called Display for his Mac Plus. It can display 256-shade grayscale images on a 1-bit black-and-white screen with dithering.   1988   Release: Display is renamed Photoshop, and the Knoll brothers (Thomas and John, an effects expert at Industrial Light & Magic [ILM]) license the first version to Barneyscan, a slide-scanner manufacturer. Approximately 200 copies of version 0.87 ship bundled with the scanners. Cultural: The first working version of Photoshop appears at Apple, and the era of Photoshop piracy begins as engineers pass it around amongst themselves and gape in awe.   1989   Release: John Knoll demos Photoshop for Adobe’s primary art director Russell Brown and founder John Warnock

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20 Years of Image Editing: Photoshop from 1.0 to CS4

People are excited about the arrival of the iPad (or at least, some people are), but the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is a little more apprehensive about what the device could mean for AT&T’s wireless 3G network. In an official FCC blog posting at Broadband.gov, Director of Scenario Planning Phil Bellaria and Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Deputy Chief John Liebovitz expressed that concern. Bellaria and Liebovitz didn’t specifically mention AT&T by name, but it seems fairly obvious who they’re talking about in the FCC blog post last week, especially given that the iPad so far only has one official carrier in the U.S.: With the iPad pointing to even greater demand for mobile broadband on the horizon, we must ensure that network congestion doesn’t choke off a service that consumers clearly find so appealing, or frustrate mobile broadband’s ability to keep us competitive in the global broadband economy. The blog post also recalls a time not too long ago when AOL’s unlimited internet usage plan caused connection and service problems, and how that time mirrors our own: The congestion problem circa 1996-97 revealed an intense latent demand for Internet access.  Similarly, wireless network congestion today reveals intense demand for wireless broadband.  Widespread use of smartphones, 3G-enabled netbooks, and now, perhaps, the iPad and its competitors demonstrate that wireless broadband will be a hugely important part of the broadband ecosystem as we move ahead. Finally, Bellaria and Liebovitz leave off with the conclusion that AT&T and other mobile broadband providers must expand their spectrum offerings to ensure that a similar congestion problem doesn’t happen again. No doubt, AT&T is taking steps to galvanize its network (which it knows is in trouble already ) against the demand increase it has to have anticipated as a result of the iPad’s introduction, but will it be enough? This problem is one that affects the fundamentals of mobile communication in this case, unlike before with AOL’s home Internet access issues. Even though it doesn’t make as much sense from a profitability perspective, AT&T has to make every effort not only to anticipate demand, but to over-prepare for the iPad’s release. If there’s one lesson the telecom should’ve learned from its ongoing iPhone usage problems, it’s that half measures will only continue to exhaust the patience of its subscribers . I realize that a just-in-time approach to bandwidth probably makes more financial sense, but surprise everyone by taking a slightly longer view, AT&T. Presumably the next-gen iPhone will be available on your network, too, as an exclusive or otherwise, so factor that into the estimates of what you’ll need to provide for the iPad’s launch. Stay just one step ahead of the game instead of two steps behind and maybe you can go some of the way towards improving your terrible reputation.

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The iPad Could Mean Big Trouble for AT&T’s Network, FCC Warns

Section: iPod + iTunes , iPod touch , iPhone , iPhone , iPhone SDK & Apps , Originals Now that it’s a brand new decade and everything, it’s time for some new free apps, right? I thought so. I have some fun apps, some games, a dieting app, and even a new LEGO app. What else could you want?  Yeah, I don’t know either. LEGO Photo – LEGOs make everything better, right?  Probably not, but the kid inside of me thinks they do, so why not LEGOfy your pictures?  It’s novel, if nothing else. PhotoCalorie – It’s the first of the year, and chances are you’re getting the feeling you’re fat.  Why?  Because, January 1st is the international day for feeling fat.  And as luck would have it, it’s also the international day of false motivation.  So let’s go through the motions one more time by taking pictures of the food you eat and then typing a description.  This is uploaded to the server and paired with the most likely caloric content.  So basically it’s a semi-automatic food journal, and it’s one of the best dieting tools you have at your disposal. 10X Camera Tools – Free for a limited time, this app gives you a whole bunch of camera improvements. It has full screen display, digital zoom, timer, guides, custom image sizing, continuous shooting and sharing.  This app has a lot of features, so it’s probably something you’ll want to grab before they start charging. Camera 3D Pro – Avatar just came out, so everyone is excited about 3D again.  This app makes it pretty simple to take 3D images with just your iPhone.  Sounds like fun. Noodles & Company – Want noodles without the hassle of standing in line and talking to another human?  Noodles and Co. has you covered.  This app allows you to order for yourself or even a big group.  Now, if only they delivered too… Peg Solitaire – A short, but free, peg solitaire game.  It has eleven levels, so it probably won’t keep you occupied all weekend, but that’s okay too

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Free Apps roundup for January 1st, 2010

The title of a recent Mac Night Owl column by Gene Steinberg grabbed me as a question that might have been more relevant 10 years ago. “Can You Survive Without a Desktop Mac?” Gene queries rhetorically. From my perspective, and I think that of many others these days, the operative would more aptly be, “can you survive without a laptop Mac?” After all, the New York Times first reported that laptop sales exceeded desktops in May 2003, Apple notebook sales surpassed its desktops sold in July 2005, have done so consistently since April 2006, and now represent roughly three-quarters of Mac systems sold, although from time to time desktops gain back some ground, such as with the hot-selling new iMacs. Industry-wide, laptops began outselling desktops globally in Q3 2008, nearly four years sooner than anticipated. I was somewhat ahead of the curve, making the switch from desktop to laptop as my main production platform in October 1996, when I bought a PowerBook 5300. Aside from a brief dalliance with a G4 Cube in mid-2001, and purchasing a brand-new leftover SuperMac S-900 tower clone for $300 a year before that to use as a backup machine, it’s been all laptop, all the time for me now for more than a baker’s dozen years. I honestly can’t imagine myself trying to get along with just a desktop Mac anymore. Not that there aren’t some enticing and compelling Mac desktops. I found that Cube difficult to resist, at least conceptually. I loved the design, but in practical use I found it less enchanting and myself pining for laptop virtues, so after six months I grabbed an opportunity to swap the barely broken-in Cube even-trade for a year-old PowerBook G3 Pismo. I’ve never regretted the decision, and now, more than eight years later, I still have that same old Pismo in regular service. I’ve still got the big S-900 as well, but it’s been quite a while since it was booted up. Meanwhile, since that first PowerBook 5300, which is also still around and in working order, I’ve owned a PowerBook G3 Series WallStreet, two PowerBook 1400s, three Pismos, a dual USB iBook G3, a 17-inch PowerBook G4, and my present number-one machine — a late 2008 model unibody MacBook, purchased last March

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Laptop or Desktop: Which Would You Find It Harder Surviving Without?

It’s a game series that’s gotten much love over the years, despite, or perhaps because of, the cheesy live action cut scenes featuring actors like Tim Curry. Now, Command & Conquer comes to the iPhone with Command & Conquer: Red Alert ($9.99, iTunes link ), named after its PC and console counterpart released in 1996. How well does the beloved RTS translate to the iPhone platform? That depends on what you’re looking to get out of the game. EA Mobile has clearly tried to faithfully translate the experience, but as with any translation, no perfect one-to-one relationship can exist. What does come through, however, is definitely worth looking at. Graphics & Audio Perhaps just to make me sad, EA chose not to go with live action mission briefings for this installment of the series, opting instead to brief you with static cartoon images and scrollable text. It’s not nearly as pleasant as hammy acting, but it does get the job done and prepare you adequately for the in-game action. In-game graphics look great, and are probably a bit of an improvement over their original counterparts in the PC version

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Command & Conquer: Red Alert Brings the Red Menace to Your iPhone

From Computerworld , the ponderings of Broadpoint AmTech analyst Brian Marshall may state the obvious, but nonetheless bear repeating: Windows 7 is no threat to the Mac. Having looked at the data on Windows release dates, Marshall “found no negative correlation between them and Mac sales.” Further, Marshall suggests that “new OS launches from MSFT may have even acted as a ‘delayed accelerant’ to AAPL’s computing sales.” However, he is also careful to add that “AAPL’s success (or failure) in the computing market is largely idiosyncratic (or company-specific) in nature and not dependent on others in the industry.” Just like a six-figure analyst to have it both ways, but he does have a point, at least about Apple. While it’s true that the numbers don’t lie, they don’t tell the whole story in this case, either. Not shown on the chart, the release of Windows 95 was an unmitigated disaster for then Apple Computer. The company saw Mac market share effectively halved from 1995 to 1996, from around double digits to five percent in a year, and it only got worse. That bump in sales in 1997 is the original iMac, and so is a good deal of that spike until 2001. That would be the tech bust, not a worldwide embrace of Windows Millennium Edition at the expense of Apple. While Mac sales were stagnant over the next several years, even as PC sales grew, the basis of the Mac Renaissance we now enjoy can be traced to a few key events. Beginning in 2002, the continuous, incremental improvement in Mac OS X combined with the perceived security disaster of Windows XP changed attitudes about Microsoft and Apple. The iPod Halo Effect, the idea that the popularity of the iPod encouraged the Mac “curious” to switch, probably started in late 2003 with the iTunes Store and iTunes for Windows. The switch to Intel in 2006, along with the “safety net” of Apple’s Boot Camp or third-party virtualization, removed the last perceived obstacle to owning a Mac. So, the iMac, the iPod and the iTunes Store, OS X, Intel Macs, and now the iPhone; all these “idiosyncratic” products are what have fueled Apple’s comeback, though it’s also fair to say Microsoft’s lack of innovation played a small part in that comeback, too. Looking forward in 2010, it looks like that trend will continue.

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Windows 7 No Threat to Mac

With the end of September comes the end of fiscal year 2009 for Apple. While the company won’t be releasing the numbers for another two weeks or so, consensus estimates from Wall Street for the fourth quarter will fill in the blanks, as Apple always beats estimates. For 2009, during what is arguably the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, Apple will have its best year ever. For FY 2009, Apple can expect sales of approximately $36 billion, up from $32.5 billion last year. While the increase will only be half that from 2007 to 2008, that’s against severely curtailed consumer spending. Conventional wisdom suggests premium products like those from Apple would be hit hardest in such an environment, but Apple has been selling strong since 2005. However, looking at net income over the long term, the picture is a little different. That bump during the late 90’s is largely due to the original iMac, introduced in May 1998

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The 10 Million Mac Year

Section: Software + Apps , Miscellaneous , Third-Party , iPod + iTunes , iPod touch , iPhone , iPhone , iPhone SDK & Apps , Mac + Computers , Software Macintosh and iPhone/iPod updates and announcements for July 20, 2009: Macintosh Hyperbolic Software has announced Tidy Up! 2 , the latest version of the award-winning duplicate finder and disk tidying utility. Tidy Up! has become a must-have utility to reclaim disk space being taken up by duplicate files and packages. Tidy Up! locates duplicate items using a wide range of criteria including owner application, time created or modified, name, label, extension and content. Version 2 introduces nearly 50 new features to this already comprehensive tool. CoreMelt has announced their entire V2 2.2 version range of 13 new plugins , and a 40% special deal on all upgrades from previous CoreMelt products. CoreMelt Complete V2 2.2 now has over 200 plugins. Customers may upgrade from CoreMelt Complete V1 giving them a total of 54 brand new plugins. CoreMelt Complete runs on Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express, Apple Motion and After Effects CS3/CS4. XChange UK and ThePowerXChange have announced the new Chartbot Barcodes for QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign. Chartbot Barcodes is the only Quark/InDesign barcode package that lets users generate 1D, 2D and postal barcodes directly within their favourite variable-data extended technology module without using barcode fonts. Chartbot Barcodes is print production-friendly.

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Macintosh/iPhone software update roundup – July 20, 2009

Future perfect? Dave Lawrence’s mock-up of Apple’s homepage circa 1983 Dave Lawrence over at Newton Poetry had some fun with Photoshop making this retro-future homepage for Apple products. He picked a critical year in Apple history, 1983, when the company faced competition from IBM and the flop of the $10,000 Lisa. Inspired by “how Apple’s web site has changed over the years, ” Dave “thought it’d be cool to use it as a time-traveling template to take a peek into the past… It’s not accurate, of course, because I took some embellishments on the iPhone prototype and the fact that some sort of World Wide Web existed during the Reagan administration.” Still, it’s an interesting take on web design—as well as what’s gone right and wrong with Apple products over the years. Dave also mentions he’d like to see what would happen “if someone took a snapshot of Apple.com as it would appear throughout the years before its actual launch in 1996. For instance, I’d love to see what the homepage would’ve looked like on the Newton’s launch day, or the first PowerBook, or System 7.” Anyone game? Send us your what-may-have been mock-ups. We’ll give a prize to the best entry. Hat tip to CoM reader Raphael . This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp .

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Enjoy Apple’s ‘Back To The Future’ Homepage Circa 1983