The Preferred Toronto Apple Reseller of MacMedics:
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A Safe Way To Dispose Of Your eWaste – And Get A Tax Receipt Too!
My Preferred Canadian-Based ISP
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Jul
19
Fall Out
Filed Under Apple News, Tech News, Views, iPhone | Leave a Comment
I’ve been asked to comment further by a number of readers on Apple’s response to the iPhone 4 antenna issue. This is a device that is currently unavailable in Canada and I’ve yet to actually see or hold one to test out the problem causing all hoopla. However, my feeling is that Apple, like Google with it’s street view project privacy issues, would have loved for this to have gone under the radar. They totally underestimated their client base and felt the pressure to respond. The idea of a recall was already partially addressed with the extension of a return policy – a kind of voluntary recall. They’re going to give away free bumpers/cases to anyone who bought an iPhone and is going to buy one until September 30th. I suspect a slight redesign after that. They also tried to dilute and deflect the issue by pointing out signal weaknesses in their competitors devices. Perhaps valid, but I somehow expected a higher road to be taken. The press conference began with the video song below – quite catchy and fun – about the iPhone 4. The chorus of the song goes:
If you don’t want an iPhone 4 don’t buy it
If you bought one and you don’t like it bring it back
(but you won’t)
This is the jist of Apple’s response. For some this will strike as arrogance. Others may see this as Apple poking fun at itself. I tend to side with the former. For Apple I think this is still a non-issue that has gotten totally blown out of proportion. As they tried to point out – most of the 3 million people using the phone aren’t experiencing this as a problem in day to day usage. The return rate is much lower than was the case following the release of the iPhone 3GS. I think the Consumers Report recommendation retraction really hit the folks behind the Apple veil. Throughout the Friday event it seemed to me that Steve Jobs was irritated – Apple hasn’t gotten bad press like this in a while and this device is another one of his babies. I’m not concerned about the lack of a recall as the problem can be worked around and from reports in the field even if it is held in the ‘death grip’ position calls are not dropped per se unless one is in a very weak cellular zone. They have been forced to address this, admit it and will probably fix the design. The important issue here is transparency. Apple got called out and is responding because the information got out. People wrote about their experiences.The press broadcasted it to the world and change is coming.
For me I’m disappointed with Apple’s handling of the whole affair and in a way they’re not really admitting to anything. I’ve written it before – not everything Apple does is good. They’re a company, a corporation, with shareholders to please. They’re not the underdogs anymore. They don’t operate out of a garage. They are an industry leader and as a leader I hope for more. The good news is this is a company that can evolve. I hope lessons are being learned.
Jul
17
The Wizard Of Oz
Filed Under Apple News, Tech News, iPhone | 1 Comment
For those of you wanting to see and hear the Steve Jobs distortion field conference:
and judge for yourself. Apple has also created a special iPhone 4 antenna page which goes over antenna issues in general, comparisons with other smart phones etc…
iPhone Antenna Performance Page
Meanwhile, RIM was none too happy being drawn into Apple’s antenna issue and issued the following statement:
“Apple’s attempt to draw RIM into Apple’s self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple’s claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public’s understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple’s difficult situation. RIM is a global leader in antenna design and has been successfully designing industry-leading wireless data products with efficient and effective radio performance for over 20 years. During that time, RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage. One thing is for certain, RIM’s customers don’t need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity. Apple clearly made certain design decisions and it should take responsibility for these decisions rather than trying to draw RIM and others into a situation that relates specifically to Apple.” - Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie
Oh my! The free bumpers/cases offer that Apple is initiating will end September 30th. Does that mean there will be a slight design change in the next round of manufacturing?
May
27
I Am Not A Number (well, maybe…)
Filed Under Tech News | 2 Comments
Number 6: Where am I?
Number 2: In the Village.
Number 6: What do you want?
Number 2: We want information.
Number 6: Whose side are you on?
Number 2: That would be telling. We want information… information… information.
Number 6: You won’t get it.
Number 2: By hook or by crook, we will.
Number 6: Who are you?
Number 2: The new Number 2.
Number 6: Who is Number 1?
Number 2: You are Number 6.
Number 6: I am not a number, I am a free man.
From the 1967s TV Show, The Prisoner – Opening Sequence
If Apple were a number it would be number 2 – in terms of Market Capitalization (a measurement of size of a business enterprise (corporation) equal to the share price times the number of shares outstanding of a public company). Yes folks, Apple today hit a milestone. It surpassed Microsoft and is second only to Exxon in terms of it’s net worth in the economic village. From the Globe And Mail (article sent to me by one of my wonderful clients – thanks Julian):
The financial scorecard – a $222.1-billion (U.S.) market value for Apple versus $219.2-billion for Microsoft – marks a symbolic changing of the guard. Only one company is worth more: Exxon.
And it parallels a remarkable reversal of fortunes for the two U.S. technology titans – one who wooed consumers, the other who chased Big Business.
The consumer won. Apple, which once relied on one-hit wonder computers, has transformed itself into a consumer electronics giant by cleverly linking its trendy devices – including the iPod, iPhone and its latest iPad – to lucrative sales of songs, books, photos and movies.
Microsoft, meanwhile, has become a stagnating giant, content to be a technology follower, too reliant on pushing its Windows operating system on business customers.
Holy Smokes! And what is amazing is that in 1997 it was Microsoft helping the almost bankrupt Apple to stay afloat (and avoid more anti-trust accusations) when it agreed to continue to support Microsoft Office for Mac and invested $190 Million in stock options (methinks it made more on that deal than through any innovation since). At the time, those of us die-hard Apple watchers were a sad lot indeed – being bailed out by the Man from Redmond – seeing Big Bill Gates on the screen at the MacWorld Keynote 1997 hovering over the huddled masses like the 1984 commercial that gave birth to the Mac itself. Ahh, how the village scene has changed…Is Microsoft on it’s way to becoming the new number 6? As the FCC in the US investigates the Apple’s sway in the Music business is it becoming the new villain?
May
21
“This River I Stand In…
Filed Under Tech News, Views, iPad | Leave a Comment
is not the river I step in…” – text part of “Time and a Clock” by Eldon Garnet. Completed in 1990 using stainless steel at Broadview and Queen, Toronto.
It’s been a while since my last post – just really busy doing what all good Macmedic team members do – supporting our clients. But it’s time for a post and boy oh boy there has been a lot going on:
iPad In Canada!
Yes folks, May 28th is the day Canucks can get their hands on their very own iPads without begging, borrowing or pleading with people to please, please bring them one from the US. In fact, Apple has finally opened the International iTunes stores to iPad applications – no need to set up a US iTunes account now! Prices are $50 above US listings.
Some of my clients have asked about capacities to purchase (16, 32 or 64GB) and if it’s worth getting the 3G model or just the WiFi version. My view is this: I think it terms of capacity the 32GB model is the sweet spot. iPad applications tend to be larger and people are going to also be buying books and magazines on this thing (and games if you have kids). The 3G option really depends on whether you want to spend money on another data plan – you would already have one on an iPhone or Blackberry if you use these – and if you want/need always-on access to the internet.
Now, I use a MiFi which is a wireless cellular router that Rogers is offering and Bell used to support. Up to 5 devices can surf off of this portable network including the iPad and iPod Touch or laptop so I opted for a non-3G. I also require access everywhere to support my clients. That said, the iPad is an internet device. Many of it’s apps depend on it. So, my feeling is if you can afford it then the 3G option is worthwhile. Check the data plans with your carrier of choice. Another positive aspect is that the iPad is unlocked which means a user can sign up with ANY local carrier when travelling abroad for temporary always-on access!
Television’s Future Today
What happened today? Well, Google took a shot across Apple’s bow is what happened and introduced GoogleTV incorporating a new Open Source codec called WebM.
What does this mean? Well, it seems pretty obvious that the convergence of the Web and Television is upon us. Apple has had their AppleTV out the marketplace for a while and they have publicly called it a hobby product. However, I don’t think Apple wants to yield the ‘living room’ to Google and it’s partners. I am very curious to see what it has in the works vis a vis a real product offering that addresses this area.
I have an AppleTV and it’s a pretty interesting device – more for it’s possibilities than it’s actual feature set. Music and pictures can be streamed and stored to it from iTunes and iPhoto. You Tube and Flickr can be viewed in addition to Podcasts in full High Definition if desired. Movie, Music and TV rentals and purchases can be made via the iTunes store online and it supports wireless and wired connections. It can even be used as a remote speaker source in iTunes. Other software developers have released useful offerings as enhancements to this hobby gadget such as atvFlash which adds the ability to transfer files to AppleTV as well as the ability to play non-iTunes file formats such as .AVI, .MKV and .MOV files without having to convert them. Users can also get access to services like Boxee (a media centre interface with a social network element), Joost, surf the Web with a built-in browser and much more.
Google’s set-top box (or embedded services in new TV’s supporting it) would have a lot these features built-in without a hack plus the power of Google’s search engine and other technologies. Big stuff.
In The News: Privacy and Security Issues
It’s interesting to note that during the keynote given this week to kick off Google’s I/O conference (Google’s Developers Conference) references were made to Apple in regard to Google’s Android phones and OS offering:
“If we did not act, we faced a draconian future. Where one man, one company, one carrier was the future…”
Who’s become Big Brother? Apple? Given Google’s recent privacy issues surrounding the discovery that their Street View vans roaming the World’s cities were unknowingly picking up and storing data being transmitted through unprotected wireless networks one has to wonder.
Note: I’m a huge Google fan – I use them to host my company’s email systems and implement their solutions for many of my clients. Also, they do respond quickly to mistakes when discovered. The operative word is ‘discovered’. It is a little disconcerting that such huge blunders like the Street View incidents and more recently it’s initial Google Buzz problem were not foreseen. Reminds me of Toyota’s mistake of growing too quickly at the expense of quality (and in this case, Privacy). Google co-founder Sergey Brin addressed the issue at I/O conference on Wednesday saying:
“Let me just say that we screwed up. I’m not going to make any excuses about it. The answer is yes. We do have a lot of internal controls in place but obviously they didn’t prevent this error from occurring. We are putting more internal controls in place and bringing in third parties to work on this issue, as well. Trust is very important to us. We are doing everything we can to preserve that trust.”
Google’s bread and butter is based on reliability, security and trust and if this is breached or tainted it can bring this Goliath down. Privacy and security must be the default experience and choice of all these cloud and social networking services and the parameters for users should be easy to configure and understand (Facebook anyone?). The Agenda on TVO has been airing some pieces on internet security and the panel on Tuesday evening’s Web Conference touched on these important issues:
That’s all for now. Coming soon, a piece I’ve been thinking about a long time to be titled Data Rot!
Mar
29
Some News Of The Day(s)
Filed Under Apple News, Apple Updates, Tech News, Views | Leave a Comment
Some announcements to bring to your attention:
1. 10.6.3 was released today for both Client and Server. As usual – if you want to be an early adopter BACK UP your machine first. One never knows how the update will affect 3rd-Party applications or things in general. I suggest holding off until we find out about the bugs and fallout.
2. Even though we won’t see an iPad here in Canada until the end of the month our US brethren will be getting them in their hands this Friday! In anticipation of that Apple has released a slew of How To… iPad videos which are fun to watch:
3. I received numerous emails from clients and readers of this blog about a new iPhone Application called Line2 that allows users to make long-distance calls over a cellular connection. It was written about by David Pogue in the NY Times as well and has been receiving a lot of buzz. It allocates a second phone number to an iPhone and according to his article:
Line2 also turns the iPhone into a dual-mode phone. That is, it can make and receive calls either using either the AT&T airwaves as usual, or — now this is the best part — over the Internet. Any time you’re in a wireless hot spot, Line2 places its calls over Wi-Fi instead of AT&T’s network…
Turns out Wi-Fi calls don’t use up any AT&T minutes. You can talk all day long, without ever worrying about going over your monthly allotment of minutes. Wi-Fi calls are free forever.
Well, not quite free; Line2 service costs $15 a month (after a 30-day free trial)
From what I can tell as of today – they (Tokumi, the makers of this app) have suspended it’s download due to Denial Of Service attacks on their account creation servers. Also, from the feedback it seems only Ottawa numbers are supported at the moment – not 416 or 647 area codes. It may be the future of telephony, but it’s not quite here yet.
On a completely different front, my wife Dina sent me a link about a site called Wiki Leaks. This fascinating site is:
…run by the non-profit group Sunshine Press, that is devoted to exposing suppressed government and corporate corruption by publicizing many of their most closely guarded secrets….which aptly calls itself “the intelligence agency of the people” — has obtained and then published a wide array of secret, incriminating documents (similar to this CIA Report) that expose the activities of numerous governments and corporations
Salon.com just posted an article about Wiki Leaks called The War On WikiLeaks which is an interesting read and do check out the site itself.
So quite a hodge-podge.
Feb
26
I found this being presented as a ‘watch out, Big Brother’ type of example. It involves a program by Apple called One-to-One/Student-to-laptop where they provide laptops for educational use in certain schools. The case surrounded a situation where administrators could visually remotely monitor what was going on kid’s laptops as a way to ensure they remained focused on school work. They typically used Apple Remote Desktop to do this – a program I use to more easily administrate multiple machines, run bulk updates, installs and which I also use for remote support.
This is not totally Orwellian, but it’s getting close. However, it does get worse. Unbeknownst to the kids and without their permission, these same administrators installed covert webcam activation software which could also monitor their machines when they took them home too! Administrators claimed it was done in case there was a theft of a laptop. Parents claim:
(the School) spied on students and families by “indiscriminate use of and ability to remotely activate the Webcams incorporated into each laptop issued to students by the School District.
A student was actually confronted by a school official concerning ‘improper behaviour in his home’ culled from the spy software – yikes!
The school is being sued by the Parents of the students and the school has rejigged their security policies in response:
As a result of our preliminary review of security procedures today, I directed the following actions:
· Immediate disabling of the security-tracking program.
· A thorough review of the existing policies for student laptop use.
· A review of security procedures to help safeguard the protection of privacy; including a review of the instances in which the security software was activated. We want to ensure that any affected students and families are made aware of the outcome of laptop recovery investigations.
· A review of any other technology areas in which the intersection of privacy and security may come into play.
It’s all a bit creepy, but the program’s root aspirations and results in general are inspiring – a few stray administrators can really ruin a good thing.
More info on the story can be found here as well as here. What do you think? Please comment!
Jan
28
The iPad Cometh…
Filed Under Apple News, Fun, Tech News, Very Very Cool, iPad | 1 Comment
“Our most advanced technology, in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price” – Steve Jobs
So, the big day has come and gone and the world now has the Apple iPad. Was it good for you? Did it meet our collective expectations? Was it even possible? Will you remember where you were when it was announced?
I was asked by quite a few people to comment on this new thing-a-ma-bob right after the announcement. I felt I really had to let it all sink in, let it wash over me, process what really was revealed.
I initially followed the keynote on a live blog feed, but that didn’t really do it justice and the blogger’s point of view left out a lot and interjected their initial impressions which coloured my first take. That take was that this technical manna seemed more like a big iPod Touch – just with more functionality. I guess that’s a way of looking at it on one level.
However, upon watching the actual presentation by Steve and company online the sense that something deeper was going on here took over. I’ve been following the rumours like many out there and although I don’t think there is a revolution a-foot I do think this product represents something significant. Steve Jobs has positioned the iPad as something between a smartphone/iPhone and a laptop. He asked aloud about what kind of product could fit in that space. It would have to do certain things better than either of these types of devices to make it even worthwhile introducing such an offering:
Jobs framed the new iPad as being in between its iPhone and MacBook products. But in order to succeed, he pointed out, it would need to do some things better than either. Today’s netbooks don’t do anything better; they’re just cheap and small notebooks, he said.
It was widely expected that Apple would release a 10″ iPod touch, and that’s essentially what the iPad is. However, that’s really only the case in hardware. The iPad’s larger screen, which melds the MacBook’s beautiful IPS LCD display with the iPhone’s multitouch sensitivity, provides so much extra room that it enables iPhone apps to grow up in sophistication from being mostly information browsers to being full blown desktop apps driven primarily by a multitouch interface.
I think this will be a wonderful device to carry around in place of a laptop most of the time for many people. I love my iPhone, but many times I wish it could do more or enlarge itself to deal with some of the applications I use everyday. I typically carry around my phone and laptop with a power supply etc…and my bag gets heavy. I used a MacBook Air for a while and loved it for it’s weight reduction to my load. The iPad is half that of a MacBook Air weighing in at 1.5lbs with much longer battery life (up to 10 hours).
The addition of iWork for iPad is a huge bonus for business users and users in general who want something that can actually do more than surf the web. It’s also going to be a killer presentation tool – for creating them using Keynote and for controlling the display of them via the iPad itself (adapters for connecting to projectors will be available). I also love the idea of having my tech manuals handy in case I need to refer to them for something as well as access to the net on demand without having to plug in a cellular dongle (3G iPad). Home users will love this thing for it basic communications feature set (web, email) and the fact that it’s a killer digital photo frame – a stand-alone device that people pay big bucks for and that only have one use – is an amazing bonus. I can see users buying 2 or three for the house just for that – and you can read your morning paper with it too!
The iBooks Store really excited me too. I was thinking during the presentation this could do a lot for the written word as it makes reading easy as well as book, periodical and newspaper purchasing fun and extremely accessible. It will be interesting to see how different generations approach the iPad. I think younger people will take to it easily. They’re used to these kinds of devices and this will be a great gaming platform. The potential for the education market and students is huge in terms of text books and I’ve seen some amazing proof of concept developments in this area such as this one which I think will come to the iPad:
Older people who are more comfortable with traditional forms of reading papers, magazines and books may be reluctant to migrate to the newer technology coming our way, but Apple’s iPad may just win them over. It’s intuitive ease of use and tactile interface may convince and make using a computing device fun – and fun is really important.
The iPad’s strength and advantage over it’s competitors will be similar to the iPhone’s – the massive infrastructure of Apple’s iTunes store and it’s relationship with it’s now built-in iPhone operating system developer community. I mean, there are already 140,000 applications that are compatible with it from day 1! Only Apple could have produced this device. They designed the unit, wrote the software, made the processor, developed the ideas – they have leapt ahead of everyone again:
Even with all their hardware partners, Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile haven’t been able to attract the same kind of attention from developers or software buying users. Apple’s new iPad is unique on many levels, and demonstrates a formidable new challenger in a the formerly lackluster tablet computer market. For competitors to match it, they’ll need to catch up not just in hardware but also in media distribution, in developer tools, in customer base, and in raw component technology, and all at a tremendously aggressive price.
It appears iPad launches Apple as far ahead of its peers as the iPhone did at its unveiling. It remains to be seen if the market will respond and buy up this $500 tablet revolution as quickly as it snapped up the similarly priced iPhone and iPod touch.
When you look at current eBook readers, even really cool ones (and this is so much more) they now look dull in comparison. Am I going to buy one? Absolutely! Which one to get, that’s the big question. There will be two models with different specs – a WiFi only and a WiFi/3G cellular model. Each sports a 16, 32 or 64GB solid state drive configuration. The sweet spot will probably be one of the 32GB variants (I like to subscribe to video Podcasts and I think a lot of the new iPad applications are going to take up more space due to the larger repertoire developers now have). No one knows what deal Apple will strike with the carriers here. AT & T in the States will be offering an unlimited data plan for $30/month – I hope the oligarchy of cell phone companies follow suit in Canada.
Will it be a success? I believe it will and I also believe it will subtly infiltrate our lives through other technologies and applications that spring forth from it and from other companies’ responses to it in ways that are not yet apparent.
Update: reviewers are weighing in – the NY Times has an article and I especially like David’s Pogue’s first impressions.
Oct
2
Blackberry Goes Apple
Filed Under Tech News | Leave a Comment
Finally! I mean finally! RIM is releasing a native Blackberry Desktop application for the Mac! This is great news for all you Blackberry users out there. No more Pocket Mac or Missing Sync hell (we hope). Those products will have to offer different features to stand out. RIM’s offering is to be released today (October 2nd) from their site:
It will allow easy syncing of your device with Apple’s Address Book and iCal as well as Entourage. The software will also let
…BlackBerry users add and remove applications from their device, schedule back-ups, encrypt back-up files and install software update.
Various other improvements in this release include support for syncing with multiple computers, and the capacity to choose where to store any required music or media files (on an SD card, on the phone’s internal memory, etc).
System requirements for the new Desktop Manager will be:
Mac OS X 10.5.5 or higher, and BlackBerry OS 4.2 or higher. It will be available as a free download, starting at 10 a.m. PDT on Friday..
Hooray!
Aug
29
If you just have to upgrade to Snow Leopard over the weekend or you just bought a machine with it pre-installed here are a few links to utilize for application compatibility information:
Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard: Compatibility (Macintouch)
Wikidot 10.6 Compatibility Page
Apple’s own 10.6 Compatibility Pages
Apple’s Printer and Scanner 10.6 Compatibility Pages
That should keep you busy! There are a lot of applications already compatible, some with a few glitches and some waiting for updates. You also may find a few that have reached the end of the line. Not everything is listed of course so do some research on those you need to find out about.
This has, so far, been the most stable release of any Mac OS I can remember – probably because it’s building upon a very solid foundation to begin with (10.5).
I have installed it on my main mobile machine (MacBook Pro 13″) and the process was simple and fast. The drive recovered over 8GB of space and everything feels much zippier – startups, logouts, rebooting, networking. It’s the kind of upgrade that you have to let wash over you. On the surface it looks very similar to what came before, but it’s the little things that begin to seep in as you go about your daily tasks. And of course, what did I do before I installed? BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP – a full up-to-date backup of my entire system before proceeding.
Aug
26
As a followup to the last post Macintouch has provided a compatibility page for Snow Leopard which I strongly urge users to peruse. Apple is releasing Snow Leopard on August 28th – a full month ahead of schedule – which is compromising 3rd party application developers’ ability to fully test or release updates to incompatible software. Adobe has announced that most (that’s right, they use the word ‘most’) of Adobe CS IV is compatible:
“As for Adobe Creative Suite 4
, everything is good with the exception of auto-updates to Flash panels (which I guarantee you’re not using) and Adobe Drive/Version Cue (which doesn’t work at the moment on 10.6). CS3 & earlier haven’t been tested.”
Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Design Premium
is a relatively recent release which caused some of Nack’s readers to question the company’s testing methods. Answering these complaints, Nack states: “I’d frankly be shocked if people at Adobe & Apple really hadn’t tested CS3 on 10.6. I *think* it’s just some corporate conservatism at work here, and Adobe doesn’t want to over-promise anything. As I say, though, I’ll try to find out more.”
However, Adobe’s tech support briefing warns: “You may therefore experience a variety of installation, stability, and reliability issues for which there is no resolution. Older versions of our creative software will not be updated to support Mac OS X Snow Leopard (v10.6).”
Personally, I think CS 3 will work as it would really alienate a lot of Adobe and Mac users if it didn’t. I also think Adobe has tested it with Snow Leopard (and Apple probably has too) – they’re just not going to allocate huge technical time to ironing out certain bugs.Maddening. Macintouch reports that:
Leister Productions Inc., the publisher of Reunion 9 genealogical software, sent e-mails out to its users stating that their program has incompatibilities with Snow Leopard. An update should be available in a week or two.
I use an application called Daylite for my business. I’m hoping to have a beta in my hands shortly that is compatible with the new cat as the current version (3.9.3) is not – don’t even think about installing it over earlier versions than the most current. I won’t be installing SL on any of my own production machines until my main apps are deemed compatible. So again, please be careful and do your homework before making the transition.
Early Reviews
For those of you who want to read about early reviews check out 9to5Mac’s “Snow Leopard reviews start coming in…”
And of course you’ve got read David Pogue’s: Apple’s Sleek Upgrade
———————————————————-
UPDATE: Adobe has already responded to the CS 3 compatibility issue:
Principal Product Manager for Photoshop John Nack pointing to a new FAQ document noting that only Creative Suite 4 will be officially supported on Apple’s forthcoming Snow Leopard operating system, with Creative Suite 3 and earlier versions reportedly not having been tested on Snow Leopard.
Nack has now posted an update after investigating the CS3 situation in which he reveals that Adobe and Apple actually did do extensive testing of at least Photoshop CS3 on Snow Leopard and found that it is in fact compatible with the new operating system.
It turns out that the Photoshop team has tested Photoshop CS3 on Snow Leopard, and to the best of our knowledge, PS CS3 works fine on Snow Leopard.Nack notes that only two minor issues remain that his Photoshop team is aware of: window highlight rings in Exposé and text field nudging in Japanese versions of Snow Leopard. But while Photoshop CS3 otherwise appears to be perfectly compatible with Snow Leopard, Adobe has chosen to not categorize it as officially supported due to the level of testing it feels would be required in order to be entirely confident in that statement.
That was fast! Follow the above link for more info and wait for more announcements from other software companies.