MacHELP

I am no longer responding to emailed questions, as I was never able to catch up with the backlog after my wife’s death a few months ago. I simply burned out on spending 1-2 hours a day answering requests for help and never really getting anything back from my efforts. I sold the MACHELP.ORG domain in order to pay medical bills, and am hosting it for the new owners until they can move it over to their systems.

Since my wife’s death in June, I just haven’t had the time or the patience to keep this site updated as it should be and it’s time to let someone else take over.

I appreciate all the kind words and thoughts that have been sent about my wife’s passing.

Thanks, everyone, for the past eight years of readership.

Over the next few days, this domain name and site will be transferred to its new owner.

Update: I’m back to answering questions, but I cannot guarantee any time frame for a response right now. I’ll get to them when I can. My apologies, but this site does not produce any income and I have to concentrate for now on things that will help pay hospital and funeral expenses.

My wife passed away unexpectedly and suddenly on June 16th at the age of 34.
I’ll resume answering questions when things are closer to normal.

Apple has released iTunes 8.2 and QuickTime 7.6.2 via Software Update. The new iTunes adds support for iPhone OS 3.0, while the new version of QuickTime has the standard “changes that increase reliability, improve compatibility and enhance security”.

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2009 second quarter ended March 28, 2009.

The Company posted revenue of $8.16 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.21 billion, or $1.33 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $7.51 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.05 billion, or $1.16 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 36.4 percent, up from 32.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 46 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple sold 2.22 million Macintosh® computers during the quarter, representing a three percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 11.01 million iPods during the quarter, representing three percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone units sold were 3.79 million representing 123 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter.

I’ve updated my list of Essential Mac Software.

Apple released updates to its desktop systems today.

The new Mac Mini looks identical to the old model, except that it now has both mini-DVI and Displayport in the back, five USB ports, and GeForce 9400M graphics onboard. The base model ($599) has a 2Ghz Core 2 Duo CPU and 1G of RAM along with a 120G hard drive. The high-end unit ($699) has the same CPU but a 320G hard drive and 2G of RAM (both expandable to 4G). Both models come with an 8x SuperDrive standard.

New iMac systems are available in 20″ and 24″ sizes, with Core 2 Duo CPUs from 2.66 to 3.06Ghz and RAM configurations up to 8G (two SODIMM slots). Hard drives range in size from 320G to 1TB. Prices start at $1199.

Mac Pro systems have been updated with Intel’s new Xeon “Nehalem” processor. Quad-core configurations are available at 2.66 or 2.93Ghz; 8-core CPUs can be had at 2.26, 2.66, or 2.96Ghz. Quad-core systems support up to 8G of RAM, while the 8-core systems can hold up to 32G. Four internal SATA drive bays can accommodate up to 4TB of total storage. Graphics options include the NVidia GeForce GT 120 or the ATI Radeon HD 4870. The new Mac Pro systems start at $2499.

In addition to the desktop systems, the Airport Extreme and Time Capsule now support simultaneous dual-band 802.11n operation.

The Apple Wired Keyboard has a new model without a numeric keypad, but it is not available as a “standalone” product yet, only as an option with the purchase of a new Mac system.

The Omni Group has released four of their applications (OmniWeb, OmniDazzle, OmniDiskSweeper, and OmniObjectMeter) as freeware.

Apple has released the Safari 4 public beta for Mac and Windows.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is taking a medical leave of absence from the company until June to deal with his ongoing health issues.

Tim Cook will manage Apple’s day-to-day operations while Steve is out.