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A few months ago, we reported on the release of CheckUp 1.0 from app4mac, a health monitoring application for our Macs. Now, we bring you good news with the most recent version of this useful program.

For those of you who already know the application, the first two features to notice are the refreshed UI (User Interface) and the price drop. When it came out, CheckUp cost $49; a reasonable price for a well-designed application created to help you keep your Mac in shape, which is not an irrelevant task for anyone who appreciates his computer.

Now, we’ve found an updated version for just $29. It’s a nice price drop, which makes it even more desirable for those of you who wanted to wait, or just decided to pass the first time it came out.

Check out the new and top features after the break.

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When I switched to Mac a few years ago, I wasn’t really worried about the PC apps I used and their possible Mac substitutes. I know that a common and sensible worry to have, but I was so excited to finally be able to get my hands on a Mac, that I said to myself, “I’ll deal with it later.”

Today, I regret neither my decision nor my attitude towards the platform change, but there are a few things I certainly felt were lost in the crossover process. Like most people who make the switch, a great deal of that lost feeling has to be with our computer using habits more than with a lack of features or alternatives available on the new platform.

Find out what I got back with SizzlingKeys after the break.

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It’s clear for everyone who follows the iPhone, that Apple is interested in the enterprise environment. Since the iPhone SDK press event on March 6th, Apple made it clear they wanted to be a mayor player in the business of corporative mobile computing.

Apple claims to have the best phone for business ever, but we all know how good they are on making up convincing lines for us to consume. The iPhone, so far, has great features that makes it a potential contender in the enterprise arena, but, according to Gartner, after three weeks of testing and reviewing the 3G version of the phone in large businesses, the device can be supported by IT shops, but only for a narrow set of uses such as voice, e-mail, web browsing and storage of personal information. They claim some security issues as a reason for the limited use cases.

Even though the phone could not be entirely mature for the enterprise yet, some big players are betting on Apple’s device now. They know Apple, so they also know the Cupertino-based company does take its goals seriously, and they’ll probably overcome today’s limitation in the near future.

Learn more about IBM’s plans for the iPhone after the break.

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My First Mac is an independent initiative supported by bright ideas, a lot of well-organized material, talented writers and a great web design. It’s aimed to help (new and prospective) Mac users to master their computers, and to drive knowledge of experienced users to beginners, managing somehow to create an interactive community useful to any Mac user.

The site presents several interesting sections, such as Before You Buy, Getting Started, Getting Help, Switching from Windows, Mastering the Mac, News, MFM Forums, MFM Q&A and How Do I…? Together, they help organize most of the content on the web page in easy into find categories, combined with a powerful search engine for specific findings.

More after the break.

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If you’ve ever found yourself in the position where you need or want to install Windows (natively) on your Mac, you are probably familiar with Apple’s Boot Camp software. Boot Camp allows you to set a native Windows installation on your Mac easily. The application takes care of everything, and makes the process of creating a target partition, beginning the installation process and installing the right drivers, a very simple task.

But, if you are a Windows user on a Mac with Boot Camp, you may also be familiar with a common problem involving disk space. As soon as you begin installing software (productivity apps, games, antivirus, antispam, and general utilities), you become aware that free space will be eventually gone, forcing you to take action and solve the situation.

Learn of an easy way to do it after the break.

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Since the launch of the App Store from Apple, developers of the iPhone have seen the great possibility for their apps to be released directly into the hands of thousands—or even millions—of users throughout the world.

Jump past the break to hear about a couple of early success stories.

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Today the subject of backing up your computer is hot again. We’ve always known that if our information is important to us, we need to somehow find a way to make it safe and available for recover in case something goes wrong. After all, accidents happen.

Backing up, like so many other important tasks, has been one of those “I know I have to do it, but I’ll do it tomorrow” activities that we haven’t been able to include in our daily habits. 

Learn about a good solution to this problem after the break.

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In a previous post, I wrote a little bit about the activities involved in the management of collaborative work using Subversion. That post was completely server-side oriented. 

Now, I’d like to address the other side of the coin, the client side of Subversion. I’ll be describing the most common activities related to SVN Clients for the Mac and the best way to use them, and will provide a few more useful tips from the perspective of, let’s say, a programmer.

Read on for info and tips.

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Nowadays, every experienced company or group of people dedicated to software development knows there are a lot of variables to handle when you work on a project from a collaborative point of view. The project leader has to handle every detail regarding time, costs, human resources, deadlines and quality of the delivered product. If you add to this picture a contractor, then your are adding more things to control, and, most of the time, more potential headaches.

There are many possible solutions for this scenario, but the one I’d like to address now is based on three main components: Subversion, Trac and a Mac. This proposal needs to be separated in two parts: on one hand we’ll have the server side, and on the other hand we’ll have the client side. We’ll now be focusing on the server side of the solution.

Read on for into and tips.

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Have you ever wondered what everyone on the Windows world does if they want to develop an application for the iPhone?

I’ve been asking myself this question more and more now that I see the growing excitement, and the business possibilities surrounding the iPhone development efforts. If Microsoft has more than 80% of the OS home and office market, it means a lot of potential developers are being left out the party.

As far as I know, there’s no solution for that problem yet, at least not one as elegant as the iPhone SDK for the Mac, with all its fancy tools. Nevertheless, the idea behind this article is not to propose a solution for Windows developers, but rather to focus on just one element of the application development process: the design.

Jump past the break for more.

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