Back in 2004, Realmac software released the first version of its popular RapidWeaver Web development software. Since its initial release, it has won many awards form many Mac publications all around the globe, and still continues onward with that trend. Just last Friday, RapidWeaver 4 hit the streets, and is already changing the way consumers create Web sites. From its more professional iWeb-like templates to its ease of creating pages, RapidWeaver 4 is sure to be an instant hit for people who want a simple way to create professional looking Web sites.

Make a site.

It couldn’t be any easier. You simply click file / new project, then a new project will form. Once you complete that, whenever you want to add a page, you go to the top left hand corner, and click the add button. It will ask you what kind of page you want - From Blog and Photo pages, to Blank and Contact pages as well. Simple as that. You can now choose from the abundance of themes that RapidWeaver has to offer, of you can download more themes form the Realmac Web site. Editing your site is also very easy and straightforward. You simply hit the edit button to edit the photos and text on that page, and if you want to see a preview of your site, just click preview to see a version of your site as it were up online.

Publish a site.

To publish your Web site you created with RapidWeaver, you press the publish button, and where you are presented with two methods of publishing. You can ether publish using your own domain name, or using your MobileMe account (previously .Mac). You fill out the form and push publish, and within a few minutes, you have a professional Web site.

Features:

You can mainly adjust almost anything you want about your Web site, whether it be the font, or the color a section of a theme, its all at your fingertips. Navigating through RapidWeaver is a breeze. Its so simple, straightforward, and professional. The buttons are laid out perfectly, and the menus are super easy to use and customize.

Overall:

I love RapidWeaver 4. It’s so simple to use, and it gives me better results than iWeb ever will. With RapidWeaver 4, you can finally make sites with ease, and have them looking like a professional graphic artist designed it. I would definitely recommend giving RapidWeaver a try and see just how good your Web site comes out. You can try RapidWeaver for free for up to 30 days. My only gripe is that RapidWeaver 4 can only be used on a Mac running OS X 10.5 Leopard. RapidWeaver 4 retails for $79, but can be found on Realmac’s Web site for $59.

Happy Weaving!

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Gnomie greggScutum writes:

Hi Chris,

I’ve just watched your latest video about operating systems. At the end you said that you would like to hear some opinions from people who recently changed their OS. First I would like to say that I absolutely agree with you in case of “the best OS.” You are absolutely right that there is no best OS; everyone must choose which OS is the best for him.

Now I would like to describe you my way through different operating system and also ask you a question that I think is quite important. The firs OS I used was Windows 95. I was quite young at the time, so I didn’t care much about my operating system. The only thing I remember is that it crashed in 2000 and never turned on again. That’s why I bought one of the best computers available in shops at that time with Windows ME. Some people say that it was a bad OS but for me, switching from Windows 95 to Windows ME was brilliant. What surprised me is it crashed once or twice and I only had to restart my PC — it otherwise worked smoothly for five years.

In 2005 I decided to buy a PC with Windows XP. For me it was like a revolution. The great thing about XP was its appearance. Some time after buying XP I decided to learn programming; that’s why I decided to install Linux as my secondary system. I don’t remember which version it was, but I know that since then I’ve never tried using Linux again! My printer didn’t work, my sound card didn’t work, and I wasn’t able to use the Internet.

A couple of months ago I bought parts for my new PC and figured I’d install Vista. A couple of months later I realized that it was the worst decision of my life. Vista was the worst OS I had ever used, so I started to learn more and more about Macs. For a month now I’ve been an extremely happy owner of a white MacBook. I won’t describe my thoughts because you know how brilliant Macs are! Seriously, now I wonder how I could ever have stored my photos, documents, or movies on a Windows computer. With Leopard I feel absolutely safe.

Soon I will buy an external hard drive for Time Machine so I’ll be able to restore my data every time I want. Sometimes I wonder how I could ever live without Mac and OS X. There is one more thing I would like to tell you about. Here in Poland Macs are much more expensive so it is not possible to buy one just to try. Two days ago my friend came to me to see my Mac. He told me that my MacBook is the best computer he’s ever seen but he’ll probably buy a Vista PC because he needs a computer just for editing text and browsing the Internet and he doesn’t want to learn how to operate a different OS. I don’t know what to say in such a situation. I really want him to buy a Mac and see how great they are. Also, I think that almost 50% of people use Windows just because they don’t want to learn new OS. They prefer to use what they know (no matter how ultimately inferior it may be) instead of learning about docks, etc. Mabye you have some idea what to say to such people.

Dive deep beneath the waves to the lost city of Atlantis and join a young archeologist on her search for the true story of Neptune’s demise!

Uncover the mystical secrets of her own lineage and the power of her amazing amulet! It’s a sea-worthy adventure, filled with seek and find thrills!

Featuring 75 gorgeously detailed levels, loads of cleverly hidden objects to find, and a fantastic story to reveal, Neptune’s Secret is an exciting plunge into the depths of fun!

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OnyX is a utility for maintenance, optimization, and personalization of OS X. It also makes it possible to configure certain hidden parameters of Finder and the Dock and to remove a certain number of files when they become cumbersome.

[19M] [OS X 10.5] [FREE]

The Camino Web browser is powerful, secure, and ready to meet the needs of all users while remaining simple and elegant in its design. Camino combines the awesome visual and behavioral experience that has been central to the Macintosh philosophy with the powerful Web browsing capabilities of the Gecko rendering engine.

Built and tested by thousands of volunteers, Mozilla’s Gecko brings cutting-edge innovations and capabilities to users in a standards-friendly and socially responsible form.

[15.47M] [OS X 10.3/10.4/10.5] [FREE]

Gnomie Matt writes:

Hey, Chris!

I recently blogged about an amazing story of a man named Joe Barnick who was born with SMA. He uses some new technologies to use his Mac to do things that he could never dream of doing in the real world like talking/IMing with friends. It’s a great story and my post has an embedded video of him, so please enjoy, I hope you pass this on to others.

Pack your bags for a trip through the skies in Airport Mania!

Travel through 8 amusing airports while you land a variety of planes, purchase upgrades, and avoid delays. Stay on your toes as some planes carry precious cargo and will need to land in a hurry, while others might need a trip to the repair shop. But, with good planning, you’ll make it to the gate on time!

With unique challenges, whimsical characters, and fun that will put a smile on your face, Airport Mania is one flight you can’t miss!

[Download free trial of Airport Mania: First Flight]
[Buy Airport Mania: First Flight]

This RSS (Really Simple Syndication) reader can fetch and display news from thousands of different Web sites and Web logs.

NetNewsWire includes a Weblog editor that allows you to post to blogging sites such as Movable Type, Radio UserLand, and Blogger, and a scrapbook that stores news headlines, URLs, subscriptions, and draft text. The Find command allows you to search through current news. NetNewsWire is scriptable via AppleScript and other OSA languages and includes a Scripts menu where you can add your own scripts.

Version 3.1 offers an improved UI, performance and memory enhancements, a new HTML Archive feature, desktop integration, synchronized news clipping, and microformat detection.

[OS X 10.4/10.5] [FREE]

Save big on Apple-certified refurbished products!

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When you get a new computer, iPhone, or iPod, the device comes preconfigured in the way Apple feels will be the most useful to the greatest number of their customers. But what if you want your exciting new gear to conform to your wishes and requirements rather than Apple’s preferences?

If you long to individualize your gadgets and make them your own, just consult the latest release from the folks who bring you Make magazine — The Big Book of Apple Hacks. Bigger in size, longer in length, and broader in scope, author Chris Seibold’s new collection of tips, tricks, and hacks helps you to get the most out of Mac OS X, your iPhone, the new line of iPods, and Apple TV.

Into the weather? With a few tools Seibold shows you how you can turn your Mac into a weather-monitoring beast. Got an old MacBook? Seibold can help you soup it up. Got Leopard? Find out how to gain control over your widgets with three simple tricks.

“Most of the hacks in the book are answers to questions or problems people have had when using their Apple products,” says Seibold. With wit and style, Seibold takes you under the hood with complete and clearly illustrated step-by-step instructions to help you personalize your stuff.

“One of my favorite hacks is from a contributor (Rich Lefko). After he left a job he wanted to keep his work data (he used a PC at work) without having to buy a Windows PC. Rich’s hack was brilliant. He discovered a way to swap out the hard drive of the MacBook and install the hard drive from work and boot into Windows. So now, on the rare occasions he wants a Windows machine, he just switches out the drive in his MacBook.”

Indeed, by tinkering in ways Apple never envisioned, you’ll learn how to:

• Optimize your operating system, whether you have Mac OS X Leopard or Tiger
• Customize the applications that come with Mac OS X, including Mail, Safari, Dashboard, and the iLife suite
• Tweak system and device settings in minutes with Quick Hacks
• Perfect your peripherals with hacks that hone your hardware, from Apple TV to the new iPod touch
• Protect your data with backups and keep your secrets by tightening security
• Open up the iPhone and iPod to all kinds of possibilities
• Run Windows and other operating systems on your Mac

Indeed, with help from the The Big Book of Apple Hacks, you can truly be the unbending overlord of all your Apple gadgets and systems!

Gnomie JavaBeans writes:

Hey Chris,

I’ve noticed the recent videos involving programming. Seems like that is a pretty popular subject as of late. My questions are aimed at development on the Mac OS platform. I’ve never programmed outside of Windows. I have really been debating on switching over and developing for the Mac. I have heard that Apple is great toward its developers and provide a nice array of tools that are free with the OS. To me this is pretty amazing coming from using the bloated Visual Studio IDE. Not that Visual Studio is bad, but it is bloated and it does cost too much.

With Mac giving these tools out with the OS, you would think it would make more mention of it. If I had known that a long time ago I would have started in that direction. What do you think? Does Apple limit itself developer-wise because it doesn’t advertise this aspect enough? I am always seeing something about Windows development, but never anything about the Mac. Just thought it was interesting. I don’t want to spend a ton of money on my first Mac, so I guess I will pick up a Mac mini to start development on; it’s more than fast enough for that I think.

The VMware Fusion team is proud to announce a new video contest, entitled “My Switch to VMware Fusion.”

As part of our new campaign encouraging Mac users to switch to VMware Fusion for Windows on Mac, we are kicking off a video contest wherein users who have already switched to Fusion pull together a 60 second video on why they switched to VMware Fusion to run Windows on their Mac, and post it on the Web.

There’s no better spokesperson than happy, delighted customers, which is why we see this customer validation as central to our campaign. Marketers can say all kinds of things (trust me, I know), but unvarnished peer references really count.

The great thing about the Mac, is that it has all the tools to make a great video documenting a “Switch to Fusion” from iMovie, to the iSight, and so on. The VMware Fusion team has pulled together all the necessary resources in an easy “how-to” tips and tricks document on the video contest page.

When they’re done, all participants have to do is submit their finished work via the online form on the “Switch to Fusion” video contest page. We’ll be blogging them as they come in.

Gnomie Matt (itubepro in our chat room) writes:

Is the Macintosh for everyone? Here’s a list to test if you should switch to Mac.

1. Go to an Apple Store or visit a friend who has a Mac and see if you can limit yourself to using a Mac for a couple of days. I am a big Mac supporter, but I wouldn’t suggest buying one until you know what you’re getting yourself into. As a safety net, remember that you can also run Windows — so don’t throw away your install disk!

2. If you get frustrated, keep trying — you will get used to it. I know the first day of using my MacBook was a mixture of excitement and frustration!
3. Remember that OS X Macs operate differently from Windows machines. It took me five minutes to discover that the options are on the top bar! Not everything’s intuitive if you’re used to the way Windows works. Expect initial confusion.
4. Get used to Finder and Spotlight. These applications will start you off on OS X as finder is Mac’s Explorer. If you cannot figure out the OS by yourself, go to the Apple Store and the Mac specialists will be more than helpful.
5. The price shouldn’t scare you! I know this is a advertising thing, but they have better bang to your buck is completely true. The iLife suite is amazing and the software is very simple to use. I can find a file using Spotlight in five seconds while in Windows it might take me five minutes. (As a side note, I am only 14 and bought the 2.2 GHz model myself by selling RAM on eBay)
6. The way the Mac is organized is much simpler. Start off with a lower-end Mac like a Mac mini or the lowest end MacBook if you need a notebook. But as I said in the first step, test Macs before you buy them. I personally like Mac better, but you may not. And no I did not pull the virus card this whole entire list!

Send the housing market through the roof as you build, buy, and sell houses in the new strategy game Build-a-lot!

You can flip houses for quick cash or sit back and watch the rental income pile up. Become a real estate mogul as you visit scenic towns, earn huge profits, and perform special favors for the colorful local mayors. Can you build a new cinema for the local movie star? Install a bowling alley in the Mayor’s Mansion? No problem!

There’s plenty to do and lots of fun ahead in Build-a-lot

[Download free trial of Build-a-lot]
[Buy Build-a-lot]

The 13″ MacBook Notebook Computer from Apple gives you all the power of a Macintosh computer in an easily portable and attractive form. The laptop is housed in a white polycarbonate shell that brings the signature Apple design aesthetic to the notebook. It is designed to meet the needs of video editors, graphics designers, educators, and businesspeople who demand a compact and light portable computer.

The MacBook is powered by the Intel Core 2 Duo Processor. The Core 2 Duo is actually two processors built into a single chip, which translates into much better performance than a single processor chip. The computer is loaded with a 120GB 5400rpm SATA hard drive, 1GB of RAM, Airport Extreme wireless networking, integrated Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, built-in speakers and Apple’s SuperDrive, an 8x speed DVD burner with support for dual-layer discs. The computer features a beautiful glossy 13″ widescreen display that delivers a bright and clear image.

All this hardware runs on Apple’s OS X 10.5 Leopard operating system with Rosetta technology. This allows you to seamlessly run legacy applications as well as Universal Binaries that have been designed to run on both PowerPC and Intel chips, making the MacBook a great choice for your home, office, or college dorm.

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