Microsoft makes SkyDrive available for Mac OS X and iDevices 

Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the download link. The default storage is 7GB, but while I was poking around the settings at live.com, it offered me a free upgrade to 25GB.

645 PRO app for iPhone offers access to lossless camera output 

App developer Jag.gr has launched 645 PRO, a flexible photography and processing app that provides access to the lossless output of the iPhone’s camera. The company grabs the processed camera output before the phone compresses it, and saves it as a TIFF file. These files, which it slightly optimistically calls ‘Developed Raw,’ can then be accessed via iTunes. The app also offers a series of features such as spot metering and exposure, focus and white balance lock, as well as a series of film simulation options and aspect ratio options, but it’s the uncompressed output that is, as far as we are aware, unique.

What is more amazing is that the app comes with a comprehensive manual explaining all the settings. The very fist thing it explains are the settings for emulating different types of film stock that professional photographers use, as well as the different picture ratios it can capture. Though it only outputs TIFF files (RAW is not possible), this has taken photography on the iPhone to a new level.

The Macalope recently trashed an eWeek article by Don Reisinger called Ditch Microsoft Windows In Favor of Mac OS X Lion: 10 Reasons Why. Since the article is so poor, I thought I’d write my own list, taken from over two-and-a-half decades of experience with computers, so here are …

10 Real Reasons to Switch to a Mac from Windows.

1. If you have an iPhone or iPad, you get an ecosystem that keeps all your critical things in sync easily.

Not to say that you can’t do this with Android, Google or 3rd party software, but Apple simply makes it too easy and adds music, apps photos as well, all wirelessly, via iCloud.

2. The hardware is excellent.

People may say “But it is just the same hardware in any other PC in a fancy case.” but do PC makers buy up all of a particular kind of laser just to drill microscopic holes in the case for a single light to indicate the camera is on? Can you find an Ultrabook as good as the MacBook air that doesn’t have serious compromises? Even if we’re not talking computers, just look how popular the iPhone 3GS is, still! Not only that, but …

3. The hardware will last you 5 years.

Try getting parts for your HP or Dell in a few years. Good luck. Try getting up-to-date drivers for a PC notebook too. Good luck! With a Mac, you’ll be able to install the latest version of the operating system for at least 5 years, because, not only does Apple control both the hardware and software, but they have …

4. System software that is straight-forward.

No serial numbers, no activation. If you buy Mac OS X you can install it on all the computers you own and Apple doesn’t check. Un-intalling most apps simply means dragging them to the trash, as uninstallers aren’t needed. Even if you install, say, an internet plug-in, the files installed will all have meaningful names and you can easily uninstall most system add-ons by dragging their files to the trash. Even if you do buy a new Mac …

5. You can upgrade to a new computer or re-install the system and be up-and running quickly and easily.

You can re-install without wiping your critical data and all your apps will still work. Even if you erase the disk or are starting from a new machine, you have a number of options to import from an older Machine or hard disk via the Migration assistant. You do back up, don’t you? Regardless, on a Mac …

6. Time Machine will look after you.

Because not only does the system ask you if you want to use a disk for Time Machine, those backups can be used to migrate everything to a new install or Machine. You can be somewhat selective about what you want to import too. Of course, if you accidentally nuke an important file or files, you’ll be thankful you had hourly, daily or weekly backups, automatically taken care of in the background.

For iPhone or iPad users, backup is now done to iCloud as well, whenever you plug into the power, so you don’t have to worry about it.

7. Safety and security.

When you do need to re-install, it is usually because of a hardware upgrade of some kind. Rarely is it because of system problems, let alone malware, all of which definitively requires, like all programs, user permission to run.

8. You don’t get a computer not bogged down with OEM rubbish.

How often have you seen a brand-new PC loaded up by the manufacturer with loads of crap that you’ll almost certainly never use.  Then, even if you do put on a fresh copy of Windows, you don’t have much useful software, unlike Apple computers, which come with …

9. Most, if not all the software you need from the start.

With iLife and iWork free, you can do most of what you need to do right off the bat. Even if you do want or need mores software, you can get ..

10. Software that doesn’t suck.

Sure there is a huge ton of software for Windows, but how much of it doesn’t suck? Ever hunted for good software and had to bear bizzare and ugly user interfaces and ended up trashing the program anyway? This isn’t a problem in the Apple world, as if someone writes sucky software, because the user base is smaller, it doesn’t sell. Not to mention, with Apple’s App Store, all software is approved by Apple, so you know you’re not going to end up with rubbish, but instead, there are many apps out there written by people who love Apple and are deeply dedicated to designing the best software possible. Also, now that the iPhone and iPad have pushed software prices right down, even excellent software is quite cheap. Since use software is 100% of what you do with the machine, through the hardware, this is the most important thing.

I finally made may way through the entire WWDC keynote yesterday, it leaving me with much to think about. My first reaction was to feel that Steve had taken a beating physically – it was rather scary to see him looking so (relatively) frail. I’ve been watching these keynotes for a decade now. Other than that, I feel they have addressed many customer complaints and desires with iOS5, the biggest obviously the issues iCloud fixes. However, it was less-mentioned moments that, to me, were interesting.

The admission that MobileMe wasn’t Apple’s finest moment was one. Steve talked about email and calendar syncing as if MobileMe didn’t exist, which it does. By that I feel he is saying “Give us a second chance to get this right and make it really ‘just work’ for you”.

The Reading List and proper tabs in iPad Safari really addresses one critical issue that plagues the iPad – a lack of memory. Honestly, on my Mac, the only programs that use more RAM than Safari are Aperture (I shoot at 12mp RAW) and Photoshop. Browers easily chew up a gig or two of RAM. So on the iPad, every time, just about, I tap on a tab in Safari, it has to reload the page as there presumably wasn’t enough memory to store the contents of it.

The lock screen improvements are incredibly welcome. When I first bought an iPhone, it annoyed me with how tedious it was, compared to a regular flip-phone, to make a call to my wife, who was first in the list on my phone. With my old Motorola, it was: Flip open, press the down button, press the call button. On the iPhone however, it was: Click the home button to wake up the screen, slide to unlock, tap the phone icon, tap on address book, scroll through the list to find the number, tap to select then tap to select which number to call. Six actions, half of them slow, versus three quick ones. Once I’d worked out how to use favourites it was a little faster, however, but it still doesn’t beat my old phone.

In Mac OS X, saved sessions in programs such as Pages has been a feature that people have wanted FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS. This is not a joke. The Sun Solaris terminals at university had this feature before Mac OS X existed and it has taken Apple that long to implement it. They had spaces too with most of the features. Apple is the king of rehashing old, good ideas, or in the case of those ideas that are similar to good features found elsewhere, from other people.

Does anyone else see how ironic full-screen apps are, considering how many times over the years we’ve had to explain to people switching from Windows that Mac OS X isn’t designed in a way that you’d use your apps full-screen?

Versions is brilliant. This is why Apple writes great software – they think about building the features that would be really useful and that they themselves would like and use, just as we would.

Autosave too. I think Apple has to continue in the direction of making software that “just works”. The only problem I worry about is, if something breaks, how readily will we be able to fix it? Where are app sessions stored? In the application’s preferences?

Being a victim of your software’s success can have a different meaning in Apple land. Instapaper and Dropbox are examples – if your idea is too good, if you aren’t bought out by Apple, customer demand will result in Apple creating their own, if not as good, version of your software.

Dropbox emailed me (well, all their customers presumably) straight after the keynote trying to persuade me to upgrade to a paid service with 50-100 GB of storage. While I feel that iCloud will impact them, I’m sure they’ll take advantage of the API for it quickly to build something more advanced for users who want more flexibility and control. This keynote, while it seems on the surface bad for them, could be very good if they see it as an opportunity, such as Instapaper has.

Mission Control looks pretty, but as someone who never got enthusiastic about Exposé and uses the Dock, Cmd Tab + Spotlight for just about everything, I’m not sure I’ll be particularly interested in Mission control without deliberately forcing myself to change habits.

The music matching service is meh. All my music is lossless as my audio gear is high-end and I don’t purchase from the iTunes Store.

It was interesting noting what garnered the most and least applause too. The most went for finally being able to activate and use an iPhone or iPad without a computer. This requirement alone prevented me recommending the iPad to various acquaintances for whom it would be a great device, being that they are computer illiterate. It sure would have been great for my parents. I can’t help wondering what my late father would have made of reading the newspaper and magazines on one.

Ultimately, however, it is interesting to ponder how much we pick the finest details about what we don’t like about the iOS devices, despite the wonder and convenience that they have brought us. As much as we may joke about Steve Jobs and his reality distortion field, there is no doubt that he has revolutionised personal computing from a chore to something wonderful that will define our lives as much as electricity did a century ago.