Canon are set to launch the imageFORMULA P-150 portable duplex scanner on Monday 9th November, and Tech Digest were on hand at Canon HQ today to have a test.

Weighing less than a bag of sugar, the P-150 is incredibly compact. It measures up at 280 x 95 x 40 mm when closed, folding out to 280 x 222.7 x 202.2 mm to reveal the loading tray. It'd easily fit in a hand-bag or "man-bag", and is light enough to not be too much of a hassle when travelling.

Despite its size, the imageFORMULA P-150 packs a lot of punch for a scanner so small. Capable of 15 pages per minute/30 image per minute duplex scanning in black and white and 10 ppm/10 ipm in full colour, it churns through paper work at a pretty pace.

In a nice touch, the P-150 is fully powered by USB, and thanks to built in software can be plugged into any PC and used instantly, without the need to install any extra programs. Mac users can breathe a sigh of relief, as the scanner will be compatible with their systems also.

For the high-volume user, the P-150 will be compatible with Therefore software, offering remote management and streamlined indexing of scanned items. An Office-style UI will make the management system instantly familiar to most users.

According to Canon, 23% of office space is filled with filing cabinets. With the imageFormula P-150 not much bigger than a handheld gaming console, it could be a great solution for the space-conscious.

Look for a full Tech Digest review on the imageFORMULA P-150 early next week.

What? Hasn't the OS X versus Windows debate died out yet?

'fraid not, and it's not likely to either.

So, without further ado, here are ten superb reasons why you should switch to Mac OS X.

1. Manage your windows better

No, not that Windows (though it's worth noting that you can still run Windows applications on a Mac with the right bit of software).

One of the biggest headaches on any computer desktop is the number of application windows you have to manage all the time.

Sure, there's a minimise feature and you can always close windows you no longer need, but Mac OS X has some very elegant ways of managing the clutter of multiple windows with just a few keystrokes.

There's Exposé which shows you all the windows you have open and lets you switch easily between them (you can even drag and drop items between windows this way) or alternatively clears everything out of the way so you can see the desktop behind.

Combine this with Spaces which lets you have multiple virtual desktops and you have a very slick window management system that makes it easier to accomplish tasks rather than wrestling with windows.

Sure, Windows can do some of this, but not as well.

Google's Chrome browser doesn't have a massive marketshare, but those who use it love it very dearly thanks to its great UI and blazing speed. At the moment it's Windows-only, however recent videos posted by Google indicate that a Mac client is making good progress.

Chromium is the open source project that's behind the Chrome browser. The latest iteration of the source code for OS X is making good progress, as you can see in the video below:

Unlike the last video of the software in action, now you can actually click on the screen, load websites, and follow links. Crazy, eh? Who on earth would want to do that? It's still crashing a lot, but at least Google's getting closer to a working OS X port.

(via Ars Technica)

Okay, hold up. You know that netbook of yours? With the tiny screen, and CD drive? What you wanna do with that, right, is put a banging donk on it. And once you've finished, you might think about installing OS X.

Rob Beschizza over at BoingBoing Gadgets has put together an awesome compatibility chart of which bits work with which netbooks on OS X.

Of course, it goes without saying that you're going to need a dodgy copy of OS X, and you'll need to be pretty comfortable with using the command line, too. The best little machines for the job? The Dell Mini 9 and the MSI Wind.

OS X Compatibility Chart

Related posts: Apple exec unintentially leaks new OS X 'Snow Leopard' release date | Psystar clones Apple again with OS X ready OpenServe 1100 and 2400

Attention Microsoft! Apple has patented a new thing! There'll be emergency meetings going on in Microsoft's Seattle HQ today, thanks to internet scavengers tracking down some 3D desktop ideas Apple's been toying with. Which means MS is going to have to start pretending it actually had the idea six years ago.

The patented potential "Multi-Dimensional Desktop" layout looks a little bewildering compared to Apple's traditional locked-down simplicity, but the concept of having all your documents sitting behind each other in a little line waiting to be flipped through seems decent enough. It could work. Here's how it looks. The finished thing will probably be in colour, if it ever comes out.

it also makes your monitor look like you're sitting at the back of a cinema. That'll sell it to the mass market.

(Via MacRumours)

Related posts: Misleading iAdverts binned | Apple's virus shocker

It was the fake blog that spawned a thousand - or at least two we can think of - imitators, but Fake Steve Jobs has now sadly passed.

Outed as being the handiwork of writer Dan Lyons, who was the editor of business magazine Forbes, the site was a rather brutal picture of beloved Steve. It painted him as a self-obsessed loudmouth who lurched from juice bar to coffee shop, trampling the little people who got in his way. But it is no more.

In a post on FSJ, Dan says "I'm sorry that the blog is fizzling out with yet more screwups and confusion. But I suppose it's somehow appropriate, too." He then encourages readers to spend $25 buying a "greatest hits" book he's had made up of a select few FSJ posts. Or you could just print it out. Or forget about it. It wasn't that good.

(Via Fake Steve)

Related posts: "Steve Jobs Air" | Steve's abusive PR shame moment

In the fight for superiority, PC users trumpet the power to customise, hack and bully their machines into doing their will. Macs are not so pliable but at least now you can overclock them.

German site ZDNet.de has developed a tool creatively named, "ZDNet Clock" that will allow you to speed up OS X 10.5.x (Leopard) based computers.

The new streamlined Steve Jobs Air comes in the same smart casual denin jeans and sleek dark top design we've come to know and love, but now - thanks to a rigorous low-carb diet - Apple's new Steve Jobs Air weighs in around 15 pounds lighter!

Pictured below - the original bulky Steve Jobs 1.0 (left) and the slimmer Steve Jobs Air:

Sadly, this means the new Steve Jobs Air is incompatible with previous Steve Jobs version 1.0 accessories. Which means you will have to rebuy all your Steve Jobs jumpers, jeans and underpants if you want them to work on the Jobs Air.

Fortunately, the feet of the Steve Jobs Air have remained the same size, so existing Steve Jobs socks and shoes are 100% compatible with the Steve Jobs Air.

(Via Valleywag)

Related posts: SJ/OJ conspiracy nutjob | Steve Jobs cosplay

After Apple confirmed the release of their new operating system, OS X Snow Leopard, on Monday, it occurred to us at TD that pretty soon Steve Jobs is going to run out of big cats to name his products after.

He's gone through Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger and Leopard already and, with only Lion left, he's going to have to move on to some different animals and eventually some other ideas altogether. So, knowing the Apple Master like we do, this is the Tech Digest Top 10 of what Apple will call their operating system next:

1.) OS X Amoeba - retro version harking back to the original Mac OSs

2.) OS X Badger - constantly double-checking with users for every single operation

3.) OS X Meerkat - stripped down, sleek and nimble Linux-like version

4.) OS XXY Hermaphrodite - the one that costs twice as much with no improvements at all - go fuck yourself

5.) OS X George Clooney - heavy on design, best looking version; one for the ladies

Don't you love that with Apple naming their latest OS 'Snow Leopard', we have an excuse to post cute pictures of snow leopard cubs on Tech Digest?

Apple has confirmed details of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, which will be launched at the beginning of 2009. What we know so far is that it will be mostly minor tweaks to the current OS, including optimisation for multi-core processors, it will have a new QuickTime X platform, be GPU-friendly, and will support RAM of up to 16TB. Although whoever has 16TB of RAM, I don't know. Safari, Apple's browser, will be 53% faster where JavaScript is concerned

Snow Leopard

Related posts: Snow Leopard announced by Jobs | Five reasons why the iPhone 3G isn't perfect

Here we go with Steve Jobs' Keynote Speech at Apple's WWDC08 in San Francisco.

All times are BST (GMT+1/PDT+8), entries in reverse chronological order.

1950: All done.

1950: Steve concluding with talk about WWDC08. Go developers, get stuck in to the new iPhone!

More affordable iPhone

1944: More affordable: iPhone 3G 8GB will cost $199, 16GB for $299, also available in white.

Rolling out on July 11th to 22 countries, for a max of 199 all around the world (damn exchange rates)

iPhone worldwide

70 countries over next few months.

Eight months or so after initial launch, Apple has released the third version of its Leopard operating system (OS X 10.5.3).

It's a hefty download, and depending on what machine you have and how much needs to be updated, could require a 400MB file to be downloaded. Hope that broadband connection is fired up and ready to go.

If you want more than my first day Leopard review, here's a selection of opinion from the mainstream media:

Mark Kellner at The Washington Times writes that Leopard is "something any Mac user will want to have".

Edward Mendelson at PC Magazine gives a fairly decent review, though it's amusing that he wants to wait until 2008 to buy a new Mac so he can run Microsoft Word. Why??

Ryan Faas at Computerworld has reviewed Time Machine, saying that it's "so simple, there's no Step 3".

Dwight Silverman at Chron.com says: "If I am using both the older operating system and the newer one, do I miss the latter when I'm using the former? The answer, if everything has come together as it should, is yes. And that's definitely the case with Mac OS X 10.5, better known as Leopard."

Related posts
OS X Leopard Watch: 2m in first weekend, Blue Screen of Death, Leopard on PC, Stacks Feature Request, Entry-Level Requirements
OS X Leopard First Day Review

Your twice weekly roundup of all things OS X Leopard.

Two million copies of Leopard sold in first weekend

Apple today announced that, globally, it sold or delivered over two million copies of its latest operating system since it launched last Friday at 6pm (local time) around the world.

That makes it Apple's most successful OS release in history, a record previously held by Tiger.

“Early indications are that Leopard will be a huge hit with customers,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Leopard’s innovative features are getting great reviews and making more people than ever think about switching to the Mac.”

"Blue Screen of Death" installation problems

Apple has confirmed what a number of the Apple faithful have already discovered — some installations of Leopard have gone wrong, causing a blue screen to be displayed on startup, and nothing else.

The finger of blame has been pointed at some third-party applications, such as Unsanity's Application Enhancer, though that seems to be largely unsubstantiated at present.

More importantly, the solution involves either performing an "Archive and Install" installation, or forcing the command line to appear during boot up in order to remove problematic software.

Apple's official support document is here

Leopard on a PC

It's not at all surprising that, despite any protection Apple may have added to Leopard, the operating system has found its way onto non-Apple PCs.

Being a hack, it's not for the fainthearted, but it does seem possible. If the list of "things you will need", which includes "the 9a581 GM DVD image", scares you at all, then perhaps you're better off avoiding this hack.

It's available here (via Information Week)

After having played around with Apple's latest operating system for the past twelve hours or so, here are my initial thoughts on Leopard (10.5).

Bear in mind that I haven't tested everything extensively (some things I haven't set up at all yet), but it should give you an overall flavour for the new features, and perhaps help you decide whether it's worth upgrading yet.

FUNCTIONS AND APPLICATIONS

I've listed the main applications and functions, as touted by Apple, in alphabetical order, with my thoughts on each. I'll talk about the overall experience in the next section. If you just can't wait, jump to the the final overview or (very short) conclusion.

Automator

For all its promise, I never really made much use of the Automator in Tiger. Apple claims to have updated the Leopard version to make it easier to build automated tasks. Included is a "Watch Me" function which can be used to record a set of actions, in real time, and have them saved for later playback.

There are certainly a lot more options available, though in the main the best use of it, at present, will still come from being heavily reliant on Apple's own software -- Safari, Pages, Keynote, iTunes, and so on. Great if you're totally at home with these applications, but not so great if you want to throw Firefox, Word, or any number of other bits of software into the mix.

Promising, but (at least to me) still just that little bit too much effort.

Boot Camp

I've never had a desire to run Windows on my Mac -- I have access to a PC should I need it. I looked at installing XP, just to test, but wasn't comfortable messing about with partitions. Until I add another, larger hard drive, this will remain unused.

Hats off to Apple for making it available, though, particularly for the increasing number of PC users who have switched to the Mac and want/need access to Windows.

For Tech Digest's latest information about the UK launch of Apple's OS X 10.5 Leopard, bookmark this post and check back frequently.

Hint: If you find operating systems, and the liveblogging of them, immensely boring, then you're advised not to continue reading this post. You've been warned!

11.10pm: Flagging a bit. Best bet is to stop the "live blog" and review some of the features in more depth tomorrow.

10.25pm: Startup is very quick now - almost straight to login screen
10.10pm: Quick Look is great - you can open multiple documents of different types and have them all there, without the original applications having to open, and just leaf between them. Complete PDFs, Excel spreadsheets. Brilliant.

Will have to check what applications (if not all) it supports. Seems very speedy, too, loaded things pretty quick. Impressed.

10.01pm: Application "Help" drop down menus now include a Spotlight-style search box, which appears to then only search in that application. It's persistent (i.e. you type something and it searches, leave the menu, go back to it, the results are still there, but when there are results, the other normal menu items disappear) Not sure if I like that yet.

10.00pm: Snitter (a desktop client for Twitter) doesn't work under Leopard.

9.35pm: Skype had me worried, complained about a wrong password, think the Keychain has been updated, but it's in now. Not tried to use yet.

9.32pm: Mail has an RSS feed section now - not sure that'll replace Google Reader but we'll see.

9.30pm: Spotlight now indexes safari history items, which I don't recall it doing before.

Liveblogging/Twittering here

Today's the day that Mac fanatics around the world have been waiting for — OS X 10.5 (Leopard) arrives.

We feel a little stuck in the middle here in the UK. Apple's operating system launches are one of the few times that Australia get anything ahead of us, so happy early-adopting Aussie Mac fans already have hold of the new system.

You'd think we'd be beating America, too — by at least five hours — but of course those jammy people our friends at Engadget have already sneaked an early release copy.

We would've got away with it if it weren't for those pesky kids.

Fact is, Apple UK didn't deem us worthy enough to get us a copy of OS X ahead of time (or maybe the courier got lost, I don't know), so in about seven hours time you'll be treated to "the real deal".