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  • MacTech announces new 2015 MacTech Pro event series in 9 US cities

    by 
    Steve Sande
    Steve Sande
    01.21.2015

    MacTech Magazine has been around for 30 years, bringing information to Apple techs, consultants, and support personnel since the mid-1980s. Associated with the magazine are a number of MacTech events, including the flagship MacTech Conference. For 2015, editor-in-chief and publisher of MacTech Magazine Neil Ticktin has announced that the company will host one-day MacTech Pro Events to be held in nine cities across the country. Each MacTech Pro event will be a single-track seminar based in a hotel, geared to Apple support professionals. Ticktin notes that event topics for 2015 include: Deconstructing iCloud Drive: What a Tech Must Know Time Machine Deep Dive, and Fitting it Into a Backup Strategy The Professional Apple Tech's Toolbox Using OS Resources to Diagnose Troubles Caching servers, DNS Tricks, and More VPP, DEP, and Under 13: How New Apple ID Requirements Impact You and Your Clients Productivity Tools: Best Practices and Uses of Microsoft Office Security, Viruses and Malware. It's real. It's now. You need to take it seriously. Managing Your Clients To Increase Productivity and to Optimize Revenue The MacTech Pro events will be held on the following schedule: March 4, 2015 : MacTech Pro, Seattle March 25, 2015 : MacTech Pro, San Francisco April 15, 2015 : MacTech Pro, Boston May 6, 2015 : MacTech Pro, Atlanta June 24, 2015 : MacTech Pro, Washington DC July 22, 2015 : MacTech Pro, Chicago August 12, 2015 : MacTech Pro, New York September 2, 2015 : MacTech Pro, Dallas September 30, 2015 : MacTech Pro, Denver What's great about these events is that they take very little time away from a busy tech's schedule and pack a ton of information into one day. If you register this week (until January 26), you can save US$50 off of the early-bird $299 conference fee. Educators, students and staff can attend for $199. If you wait until the day of the event, registration on-site is $499.

  • MacTech Conference special this weekend

    by 
    Victor Agreda Jr
    Victor Agreda Jr
    11.26.2014

    If you've never been, MacTech Conference is an event for IT Pros, consultants, and techs. This annual event has been fantastic each year since its 2010 inception - and I and others on the TUAW team have been a part of it first hand as media, attendee or speakers. Not only does the event have world class speakers from all over the world, but they are the type of people that want to share what they know, and help others in the Apple tech space. Beyond that, the folks from MacTech make the event a truly special experience. The type of experience where you really get to not only know some amazing people in the community, but have an incredible amount of fun. MacTech is also well known for food, food and ... more food. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. This year, they even had chocolate covered bacon and I was surprised to find how many people not only tried it, but loved it! The next MacTech Conference date is now set. November 4-6, 2015 in Los Angeles. MacTech will once again have additional pre-conference workshops the day prior on November 3rd. The event registration is normally $1599 including all the sessions, meals and activities. By far, however, the best price is the "Special Early Discount" that is available now through Mon, December 1. The $899 price you can only get now - and it will save you $700. Register using this link.

  • Dev Interview: Oleksandr Kosovan, MacPaw

    by 
    Neil Ticktin
    Neil Ticktin
    06.11.2014

    TUAW and MacTech are once again teaming up to interview developers surrounding Apple's announcements at WWDC. Hear what they have to say. Introduction We'd like to welcome our guest, Oleksandr Kosovan, CEO at MacPaw. MacPaw develops products for Mac, iOS, and Oleksandr took some time to tell us about WWDC and how it impacts the company. What were you most excited about hearing in Apple's recent announcements? The biggest things we're excited about are Home Kit and iBeacon. Even though they're not directly related to our business, they open a whole new layer of possibilities for smart home devices. But there are couple of more things which we found pretty exciting: iCloud drive -- we hope iCloud finally will work as it was supposed to and that our users will benefit from it. Touch ID APIs -- finally we have it! What does your company do? We're a fresh, independent software development company located in Kyiv, Ukraine. We specialize in software development using the latest Mac OS X technologies. Our objective is, and always will be, to release innovative software and information technology solutions. Our main concern is our customers' needs and we always do our best to listen to them. We have several standout software solutions: CleanMyMac 2 (our main software) is an all-in-one Mac cleaner that removes apps, data, and gigabytes of unnecessary junk. It's a powerful cleaning app that's beautifully designed to make cleaning and organizing your Mac incredibly simple. Hider 2 (our newest release) is an app that lets you hide, encrypt, and password protect private data on your Mac. It has custom grouping, global shortcut keys, and an array of other organizational features that make keeping track of your hidden data a piece of cake. Gemini: The Duplicate Finder is an easy-to-use, duplicate-finding utility for Mac. It finds duplicate files, folders, photos, archives, and more. And it has an Auto-Select feature which means less time spent on removing duplicates, and more time spent without them. Listen (for iPhone) is a music player designed to help you focus on things besides the music player. It runs via gestures, not buttons, which helps you stay focused on the task at hand without having to look for the controls. It's the ultimate minimalist music player. DevMate is a development and distribution assistance platform for Mac Developers. It gives developers a jump start on tracking, analytics, and marketing their applications. What is the coolest thing you can tell us about what you do? CleanMyMac 2 is the safest and most powerful system cleaning and maintenance utility. It has a special feature called the Safety Database, which is a list of items, rules, and exceptions that CleanMyMac refers to in order to correctly select and clean out the junk on your Mac. It currently has over 1,500 operational rules and exceptions to prevent even the smallest of mishaps when cleaning your Mac. Did Apple make any announcements that will impact your direction? Actually, they did. The new iTunes Connect provides similar possibilities to what our DevMate platform does. However, it gives only basic statistics and analytics data, so we believe iTunes Connect will help developers choose more complex solutions as they grow. The new Yosemite OS X interface will definitely impact on the way our apps look, so we've already started adjusting the interface for our next app release. What's coming from you and your team? We plan to release a couple of major updates for our existing Mac apps, as well as an open beta version of DevMate for a wider audience. Anything more you can tell us? Well, unfortunately we didn't see any new devices at the WWDC. However, the good thing about this is that Apple is turning the WWDC into a developers conference; it's providing developers with a bunch of new tools and possibilities for growth. Find out more For more information on MacPaw, see www.macpaw.com This developer interview was put together by the staff of TUAW and MacTech Magazine about how Apple's new technologies will impact them and you, their customers. What to know more about MacTech? See the web site, or check out one of the many live events MacTech puts on each. If you're a developer, consultant, or IT Pro, come join TUAW and media throughout the industry at MacTech Conference 2014.

  • Dev Interview: Wil Shipley, Delicious Monster

    by 
    Neil Ticktin
    Neil Ticktin
    06.08.2014

    TUAW and MacTech are once again teaming up to interview developers surrounding Apple's announcements at WWDC. Hear what they have to say. Introduction We'd like to welcome our guest, Wil Shipley, Chief Monster at Delicious Monster. Delicious Monster develops products for Mac, iOS, and Wil took some time to tell us about WWDC and how it impacts the company. What were you most excited about hearing in Apple's recent announcements? iCloud Drive is something I want to use all the time. I like the improvements in Mail and Safari a lot, and I appreciate that they're concentrating on making those apps solid instead of doing crazy new stuff and letting their old apps rot. Continuity is a technology I've wished for every time I go to a website on my Mac. I end up texting a lot of stuff to myself, this is SO much nicer. And we used to have caller ID and dialing our phones from our Macs back in 2004 with iSync and our Moto RAZRs, it's nice to see it's finally back with the iPhone. Swift seems like it could be really fun, but I'm a bit more guarded about that. New languages are hard to get right, and I've been using Objective-C for 25 years now. What does your company do? Delicious Monster sell Delicious Library, which lets users catalog all their books, DVDs, music, hardware, software, and other collectibles on their Macs. What is the coolest thing you can tell us about what you do? We pioneered the "shelf" interface that iBooks uses and invented the videocamera-based barcode scanner which is now industry standard. Did Apple make any announcements that will impact your direction? Their HomeKit ties in directly with work I'm doing on my next, unannounced product. I hope like heck it's supported on the Mac and iOS! I'm also incredibly glad to see SceneKit on iOS. I lobbied hard for this, since both Delicious Library and my new app use it extensively. I may be able to use the new iCloud features to publish users' libraries from Delicious Library even more easily, but I can't make any promises until I've seen what it does. What's coming from you and your team? I'm working on my first all-new product in 10 years. I haven't announced what it does yet, but it'll be amazing if I pull it off. Anything more you can tell us? I'm excited by the changes in OS X and iOS. I think Apple has taken a close look at the apps we use every day, and trying to make them incrementally better for us. I spend 90% of my time in Mail, Preview, Safari, Calendar, and Xcode, and so it's great to see those get lots of love, instead of them announcing some new way for me to play drums. Find out more For more information on Delicious Monster, see http://delicious-monster.com This developer interview was put together by the staff of TUAW and MacTech Magazine about how Apple's new technologies will impact them and you, their customers. What to know more about MacTech? See the web site, or check out one of the many live events MacTech puts on each. If you're a developer, consultant, or IT Pro, come join TUAW and media throughout the industry at MacTech Conference 2014.

  • Are you an Apple tech or consultant?

    by 
    Victor Agreda Jr
    Victor Agreda Jr
    01.30.2014

    Do you support others? If so, our friends over at MacTech have an event just for you. MacTech BootCamp III is the third incarnation of MacTech's successful event series, and it's specifically designed for techs and consultants that support clients, or those in their organization. MacTech events are not only designed to learn great, useful content from key players in our industry -- but also to give techs a chance to spend time with their peers, meet new people and make that incredibly useful vendor contact that could be critical. MacTech BootCamp is a one-day, regional seminar that is headed to nine cities in 2014 (more than ever before): Seattle, San Francisco, Austin, Denver, Chicago, Boston, Washington DC, Atlanta and Toronto. Neil Ticktin, MacTech's editor-in-chief, says "MacTech's 2014 topics/sessions are designed to tackle the most critical issues of the year: From encryption to Apple IDs, mobility to deployment, WiFi to storage, and security ... man o' man ... security. The all-new content is good for both those that have attended past events, as well as those new to MacTech." Even better, if you support Microsoft Office for Mac, or Office 365 for Apple users, there's more for you. Microsoft has updated their new Microsoft Office for Mac Accredited Support Professional program with new content for 2014. This half-day course and exam takes place the day prior to MacTech BootCamp in each city -- and is included in your MacTech BootCamp registration. After attending the course, and passing the exam, you become accredited by Microsoft. MacTech makes every effort to make every attendee feel like a "guest," and for people to get the most out of the experience. We've seen it firsthand, and MacTech tells us that people from 48 states and 35 countries have already been to its 39 events held since 2010. In talking with readers, it's clear the community agrees. That said, if you are a consultant or tech, these MacTech BootCamp events are an excellent way to get up-to-date on what's going on with Apple technologies to make you an even better tech. As it has been for the past few years, TUAW is a sponsor of these event, and our own Kelly Guimont will be speaking at the Seattle event in a couple of weeks. The regular registration price for the event is US$495 and includes sessions, lunch, breaks and the opportunity to talk to some great vendors. TUAW readers can not only save significantly on their registration, but get a special bonus as well -- your price: $299 when you use this special TUAW link.

  • Talkcast tonight, 7pm PT/10pm ET: MacTech wrapup edition!

    by 
    Kelly Guimont
    Kelly Guimont
    11.10.2013

    All-new dial-in experience! See below -- do not call into Talkshoe, we won't be there. Be sure to set up Fuze Meeting before the show if you want to join in live. It's Sunday once again, like it or not, so as we come to the end of the weekend, we also come to the TUAW talkcast! Tonight we'll have a special guest: MacTech editor-in-chief Neil Ticktin, who'll join us to talk about this past week's MacTech Conference in Los Angeles. So we will spend a little time discussing all of the awesome you missed if you weren't there! We may also get around to the news of the week, provided we can find some. :) Reminder on new-style talkcasting: With some help from the fine folks at Fuze, we're using a new system to record the show. This should let everyone listen in live -- and, if you want, raise your hand as you would in the Talkshoe room to get unmuted and chime in. You can join the call in progress (meeting # is 20099010) at 10 pm ET from any computer via this link; if you download the Mac or Windows Fuze clients ahead of time, you'll get better audio and a slicker experience, but browser-only will work fine. Just click the phone icon to join the audio once you're in. Using an iPhone or iPad? Grab the native clients from the App Store and get busy. (Even Android users can join the party.) Still feel like using the conventional phone dial-in? Just call 775-996-3562 and enter the meeting number 20099010, then press #. While the Fuze web and native clients have a chat channel, we'd like to reserve that for host participants, requests to talk and other real-time alerts... so the full-on chat for the show will appear in this very post at 10 pm tonight. You'll need Twitter, Facebook or Chatroll credentials to participate in the chat. We'll remind everyone to check back in at that time. Your patience and forbearance with our new tech is appreciated in advance. For the time being, the podcast feed of the show will continue to originate from Talkshoe and should be there within 24-36 hours. See you tonight!

  • Talkcast tonight, 10pm ET/7pm PT: iPad Air Edition!

    by 
    Kelly Guimont
    Kelly Guimont
    11.03.2013

    All-new dial-in experience! See below -- do not call into Talkshoe, we won't be there. Be sure to set up Fuze Meeting before the show if you want to join in live. It's Sunday once again, so we return to that long standing tradition, the TUAW talkcast! (Yeah yeah, it's an hour 'earlier' than last week. I know.) This week we have a look at the new iPad Air, as well as a preview of the coming week's events in TUAW land, the MacTech Conference, where you can meet Victor and Kelly, and even hear Kelly speak! Well. Granted it's not revolutionary to hear me speak, but I have a topic this time so you still might want to check it out. Reminder on new-style talkcasting: With some help from the fine folks at Fuze, we're using a new system to record the show. This should let everyone listen in live -- and, if you want, raise your hand as you would in the Talkshoe room to get unmuted and chime in. You can join the call in progress (meeting # is 20099010) at 10 pm ET from any computer via this link; if you download the Mac or Windows Fuze clients ahead of time, you'll get better audio and a slicker experience, but browser-only will work fine. Just click the phone icon to join the audio once you're in. Using an iPhone or iPad? Grab the native clients from the App Store and get busy. (Even Android users can join the party.) Still feel like using the conventional phone dial-in? Just call 775-996-3562 and enter the meeting number 20099010, then press #. While the Fuze web and native clients have a chat channel, we'd like to reserve that for host participants, requests to talk and other real-time alerts... so the full-on chat for the show will appear in this very post at 10 pm tonight. You'll need Twitter, Facebook or Chatroll credentials to participate in the chat. We'll remind everyone to check back in at that time. Your patience and forbearance with our new tech is appreciated in advance. For the time being, the podcast feed of the show will continue to originate from Talkshoe and should be there within 24-36 hours. See you tonight!

  • Wanna talk OS X Mavericks? MacTech can help!

    by 
    Kelly Guimont
    Kelly Guimont
    10.23.2013

    Goodness, but we had a lot of news from yesterday's event! Now if only you could get together with a bunch of other people who have also spent time with OS X Mavericks and iOS 7. Where, oh where could you find such a place? Well let me tell you... At the 2013 MacTech Conference is where! This is going to be the first place people can finally stop calling it [TOMCRUISE] and [REDACTED] and say whatever they want. Or as MacTech describes it, "Where 7 and Mavericks Meet Reality" This year's MacTech Conference is the first major event after Apple shipped both its new operating systems. And it's primarily geared toward developers and IT professionals, so there's a lot of in-depth, nuts-and-bolts style information here on everything from enterprise Mac/iOS management to deep development talks about a variety of subjects. (I got the chance to go last year and seriously you guys, if you even sit next to the Mac IT person at work, you should be here.) And as a reminder, TUAW readers who register today can save an additional $400 just by being TUAW readers! If it is at all possible for you to attend, you've heard me go on about the "hallway track" in the past, and I've had some truly memorable hallway track encounters at MacTech so I cannot recommend this conference highly enough. Where else can I find myself standing in front of Darth Vader while Andy Ihnatko takes my picture? (Answer: Nowhere else.)

  • MacTech Conference offers TUAW reader pricing

    by 
    Kelly Guimont
    Kelly Guimont
    09.27.2013

    You know how you see TUAW staffers on the ground at various conferences? Well here's another to add to the list: TUAW is once again sponsoring the MacTech Conference, and as in the past, you can find some of us in attendance. If you haven't checked out MacTech Conference 2013, this year's speaker lineup is (as usual) fantastic -- including keynote speaker Jacqui Cheng from Ars Technica, and an incredible cast of IT leaders, as well as developers from around the world. Not to brag, but I've made it on the speaker list too, so you can hear me talk about things in person instead of on a podcast! This year's event has not only a new venue, but also an expanded schedule, a wide array of pre-conference workshops, more sessions, more labs, more certifications and a new Vendor Forum. Here are the two most important things to know about MacTech: You've heard me talk about the "hallway track" at conferences, and particularly for developers and IT folks, this hallway track is second to none. So not only do you get to hang out and chat with awesome attendees, but you also get to do it over some of the finest food available at any conference I've attended. Organizer Neil Ticktin has said on more than one occasion, "You will never walk away hungry from a MacTech event." Truly, if you are hungry at MacTech, you are actively doing it wrong. Not only is the conference full of great material, but also this year, MacTech has added four full-day pre-conference workshops. They are: iOS Development 101 by RayWenderlich.com; Mastering Auto Layout for developers by Rich Warren; The Automation Mindset-Scripting, Command Line, and More by Scott Neal; and iOS Mobility Solutions by Russell Poucher. Pricing for the pre-conference workshops is currently US$299, and includes lunch. Early Bird pricing of $999 for the three-day conference will end Monday, September 30. However, as a TUAW reader, you can save an extra $100 -- but you need to act quick. Discounted hotel guest rooms are selling out fast, and you don't want to miss out!

  • Bigger, better MacTech conference coming this November

    by 
    Victor Agreda Jr
    Victor Agreda Jr
    07.16.2013

    The MacTech Conference is expertly run and has always been loaded with good sessions and an abundance of opportunities for the IT crowd and developers. This year MacTech is cranking up the volume, with a number of enhancements plus a newer, better venue. So what's new? The new venue is the Manhattan Beach Marriott. There are now three full days of content. There will be a pre-conference workshop day offering two accreditation/certifications, plus four full-day workshops. They've added a free Microsoft Office for Mac Accreditation course and exam (given by a Microsoft trainer). There will be more sessions, although they aren't all listed yet. Vendor forums will allow attendees to "select the vendors they want to hear more from with a deeper dive." And Jacqui Cheng, of Ars Technica will be the keynote speaker. Currently, MacTech is on "Super Early Bird" pricing at US$899 which saves people $500 until August 15. The Pre-Conference day is November 5th, 2013. The Conference is November 6-8, 2013. Will you be attending?

  • TUAW and MacTech discuss WWDC announcements

    by 
    Victor Agreda Jr
    Victor Agreda Jr
    06.19.2013

    Last week during WWDC, I sat down with Neil Ticktin of MacTech and we interviewed a bunch of developers about their thoughts on what Apple announced. We'll be rolling out those videos as quickly as we can, but Neil and I also spent some time discussing among ourselves what we thought about iOS 7, Mavericks and the new Mac Pro.

  • Daily Update for June 7, 2013

    by 
    Steve Sande
    Steve Sande
    06.07.2013

    It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS I

  • Chat with MacTech and TUAW at WWDC

    by 
    Victor Agreda Jr
    Victor Agreda Jr
    06.06.2013

    It's that time again! TUAW and MacTech will be at WWDC and would like to talk to you. From MacTech: Once again, MacTech Magazine and TUAW are joining forces to do a series of interviews and stories on those attending the 2013 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference. The interviews will explore what they think about the announcements Apple makes on Monday, what they are hearing, as well as what developers have in mind or coming. MacTech and TUAW be doing a combination of video interviews and written stories and are currently taking requests for 10-minute appointments on June 11 at a location near Moscone West (easily walking distance). For more info go to http://www.mactech.com/WWDC-2013-Interview-Request . "Our strong preference is principals from each company rather than public relations personnel," says Neil Ticktin, editor-in-chief and publisher of MacTech. "For this event, we're looking for senior management, technical personnel, developers to talk about their reactions, and what their company has planned, or currently in the works for Apple platforms. This is an appointment request only, and does not mean that we will be able to meet you. Decision based on availability of time slots as well as topic proposed."

  • Origin Stories: Saul Mora, developer

    by 
    Victor Agreda Jr
    Victor Agreda Jr
    05.13.2013

    While the Origin Stories series has typically focused on products, in the coming weeks we're going to focus a bit more on the people and personalities behind the products. In this episode I spoke to Saul Mora of Magical Panda during the MacTech Conference in 2012 to learn about how he got started in iOS development.

  • MacTech BootCamp Seattle: Includes Kelly G and Microsoft

    by 
    Kelly Guimont
    Kelly Guimont
    02.28.2013

    If you're an IT professional supporting Apple software and hardware, or you are an Apple Consultant, you might want to check out the MacTech series of BootCamp events. Actually, I'm going to upgrade that to you should check out the MacTech BootCamp events. They take place all over the country, and as with any conference, you're absolutely going to get your money's worth just on the hallway track alone. Interacting with other technicians/consultants is always valuable time. Not only do you get to chat up fellow Apple tech types, you also get sessions with a variety of topics. MacTech's first BootCamp of 2013 is in Seattle on March 6, and this one adds an interesting feature. Those familiar with MacTech's conference later in the year may recall the opportunity to test for Apple Certification at the end of the conference. Earlier this week, MacTech announced the Microsoft Office for Mac Accredited Support Professional accreditation pilot program. This is a half-day program the day before each BootCamp event. Microsoft's program will cover information for supporting Microsoft Office for Mac and Microsoft Office 365, particularly for Apple users. And it's free, MacTech's gift to you as part of attending MacTech BootCamp. Let's be honest, there's not a lot that Microsoft gives away, particularly when it comes to Apple or certifications. If a free certification wasn't bonus enough, MacTech BootCamp Seattle will now include yours truly. I'll be there looking for stories, so if you have something you want to pitch to TUAW (and you've read the book to know how to do this properly), now's your chance! I know budgeting can be a concern, so I have a deal for you. If you register using this extra special TUAW link, you'll get a pretty fantastic deal (regular price is $499, TUAW reader price is $299 with six months of MacTech magazine). I will see you in Seattle!

  • MacTech, Microsoft team up to offer Office for Mac support credential

    by 
    Michael Rose
    Michael Rose
    02.21.2013

    Got Macs? Got Office? For support personnel who want to show the world that they know which end of a pivot table goes into a stylesheet and how to upgrade PowerPoint for full compatibility with Exchange Server 2013*, your opportunity has arrived. MacTech's upcoming seven-city BootCamp II tour, which provides a full day of seminars for people supporting the Mac in small to medium size business and other contexts, now has a frontloaded (and free) certification option for Microsoft's new Office for Mac Accredited Support Professional credential. For a half-day ahead of the BootCamp, attendees can learn all about Office installation, deployment, troubleshooting and much more. While the Office credential program, including the final evaluation and certificate, is free, MacTech BootCamp II itself is $299 for early-bird registrants, $499 for regular registration. The tour kicks off in Seattle in early March, so check to see when it's coming to your neck of the woods. If you do sign up, be sure to use our TUAW reader affinity link to make sure you get your special benefit! *Yes, those are nonsensical support challenges. Congratulations, you passed the first quiz.

  • MacTech finds Parallels beating VMWare Fusion again in annual virtualization rundown

    by 
    Mike Schramm
    Mike Schramm
    01.30.2013

    MacTech has posted its annual rundown of benchmarks between two of the most popular virtualization solutions out there on the Mac: VMware Fusion 5 and Parallels Desktop 8. Both are of course used to run Windows-compatible software inside of an OS X environment, and especially on the high end IT side (which MacTech covers well and focuses on with its ongoing conference series), just a few measures of speed or performance can make a big difference in productivity. Or, as the benchmarking study shows, game playing. As you can see in the comprehensive report, MacTech set up a series of Mac desktops and laptops, and then installed and ran both VMWare Fusion and Parallels on them, along with a series of games (including the great Warhammer 40000: Space Marine) and other productivity and benchmarking software. So who won? "When we look at the 'big picture' of all the top-level test results," says MacTech, "Parallels is, once again, the clear winner." Parallels has been beating VMWare in these tests for the past few years, and this year won over 68% of the tests by a total of 5% score or more. So if you need a powerful, comprehensive solution for virtualization, MacTech says the choice is clear. However, MacTech also says once again that both of these pieces of software work very well, and that virtualization is more viable than ever as a way to run even the newest Windows software like Windows 8. Bootcamp is still another option for running Windows on your Mac, but if you want to do it without even leaving your OS X environment, either Parallels or VMWare's Fusion will serve you well.

  • MacTech Insight coming to CES in January, tickets available now

    by 
    Mike Schramm
    Mike Schramm
    12.16.2012

    The good folks at MacTech have announced a special dedicated conference track at 2013's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, called MacTech Insight. The track, which takes place on Thursday, January 10, will feature a full keynote and a series of talks from experts on the Apple marketplace, where it's been, and where it's headed. There are talks on the cloud and storage, home automation and how Apple's devices fit into that growing market, and even talks on how to "take app concepts to reality," to design and develop for the huge population of people who've picked up an iOS device already. This sounds like a full day of Apple insight, and as you probably know from our coverage of MacTech conferences before, they always make sure the shows are interesting and informative. MacTech is registering for this special event at CES in Las Vegas right now: The cost is $350 during pre-registration until January 2, and then $500 if you register right there on site. Plus, MacTech has provided a discount code just for TUAW readers: Just plug in the code "MT25P" (without the quotes) at checkout and you can save 25% off of registration. TUAW will be around CES all week as well, so do get in touch if you'll be there with an app or something Apple-related to show off. MacTech's shows, as we've said, are always very helpful, so this should be an excellent addition to your CES trip.

  • TUAW Origin Stories: Retro Dreamer

    by 
    Mike Schramm
    Mike Schramm
    11.09.2012

    Today we continue our Origin Stories series by interviewing Gavin Bowman, one of the co-founders of Retro Dreamer, a great iOS indie developer that's released games like Velocispider, Duckers, and most recently, Happy Fall. In the interview, Bowman lets us in on the wild story behind Happy Fall, and tells us about his company's philosophy lately, of simply making smaller games and testing the App Store market bit by bit rather than building huge projects with substantially more risk. Thanks very much to Bowman for chatting with us at the recent MacTech conference in Los Angeles! Retro Dreamer has updates coming for a few of their apps very soon (including Ice Cream Jump), and we'll stay tuned for more releases from them.

  • Behind the scenes at MacTech with Boinx

    by 
    Victor Agreda Jr
    Victor Agreda Jr
    11.02.2012

    At any given conference you'll have speakers and presenters who get up and use some sort of slide presentation. There's also usually a video setup which is documenting the conference and possibly giving attendees alternate angles. At MacTech, sessions were recorded and mixed with graphics live using BoinxTV and a few additional tools. Check out the video below as Oliver Breidenbach (from Boinx) walks us through the equipment used for MacTech presentations and live video archiving.