This might be what a lot of us have been searching for: Diaspora*, which is being designed to be a “personally controlled, do-it-all, distributed open-source social network.”  Developed by four students at NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Diaspora* is a social network built on privacy. Essentially, Diaspora* is software that will enable users to set up their own personal servers, called “seeds,” create their own hubs and have full control over the information they choose to share amongst friends.

The project has gained a good deal of support.  The team behind Diaspora* launched a funding campaign on Kickstarter to help them achieve their plan of being able to work non-stop for the next 3 months so that the software can be released by end of summer.  The initial goal was to receive at least $10,000 by June 1st.  As of today, they are fully funded at $189,797.

I’m excited to see how this pans out and will be following the team’s progress this summer.

Adobe Ships Creative Suite 5 http://tmo.to/edWC (via @MacObserver)

Our tech James was going to wait for the iPad Wi-Fi + 3G, but he just happened to walk past the Apple Store the day the iPad Wi-Fi debuted…

James bought the 16GB Wi-Fi iPad, which he says is indeed an amazing device, and is easily as much of a paradigm shift as the original iPhone was, if not more.

James is able to functionally leave his laptop at home 90% of the time, and the iPad is small and light enough that he can always have it with him. The iBooks app allows him to get some reading done when he takes to the subway.  James has re-ordered the 3G iPad, which will be much much much more functional for him as he’s constantly out and about.  We’ll give a report on that later this month.

James’ only minor complaint is that some of the apps available for iPhone aren’t quite up to speed for iPad yet:

• Office2 app interfaces with Google Docs pretty well, and Pages and Numbers are pretty sweet.
• Server Admin Remote has been updated for the iPad, but still waiting for iStat to follow suit.
• A couple of different VNC clients are already out — waiting to see who rises to the top.

James says he’s hoping for a Firefox and an Apple Airport Utility for the iPad as well.

You can check out an iPad at your local Apple Store or take the guided tour online here.

A word of caution from James when using your iPad in public — you may not be able to use it without being stared at or talked to.  Yes, it’s that stupendous.

iPhone OS 4 is arriving sometime this summer!  The major new iPhone OS features and improvements are:

• Multitasking (only available with iPhone 3GS and third-generation iPod touch 32GB and 64GB models from late 2009)
• Folders – organize your apps
• iBooks – read books on your iPhone
• Enhanced Mail – unified inbox, switch between inboxes more quickly, organize messages by threads, and the ability to open attachments in third-party apps

Other exciting new features and improvements include:

• Spell check
• Bluetooth keyboard support
• User-defined wallpaper
• Tap to focus when recording video and a 5x digital zoom for the camera
• Playlist creation and nested playlists
• Game Center — an official social gaming network for the iPhone

You can catch the official Apple keynote on the new iPhone OS 4 here.

Hands on with Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 – http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/04/23/hands-on-with-microsoft-office-for-mac-2011/

Don’t be a scrooge, try out some fun holiday apps.  We’ve collected a few here and they’re all free, so you don’t have to worry about dipping into your Xmas fund:

Mixology: Drink Recipes – a good collection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks to get you through the holiday season

Slacker Holiday Radio – Unlimited free holiday tunes from 11 different holiday radio stations.  Everything from classic holiday songs to contemporary anti-holiday tunes can be found here.

Elf Command – Rush hour in Santa’s workshop!  Help the robot elves sort the presents to take to good boys and girls.  Fun for kids (some adults might like it too).

Do Not Press The Red Button – Christmas Edition! – Just get it.  It will make you laugh at least once.  We promise.

Dr. Seuss Camera – The Grinch Edition – OK.  So this one isn’t free, but it’s a lot of fun.  You can take a photo of yourself and then put your face on the Grinch’s body and send a “Grinchmas Card.”  You don’t have to be a Grinch if you don’t want, though.  You can also choose from other Dr. Seuss characters like Cindy-Lou Who and the Grinch’s dog, Max.

Over the past few years, we have deployed the Mac mini as a server for several of our small business clients, all of whom have been happy with its performance.  Since Apple released the new Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server back in October, some of our clients have been considering upgrading.

Our tech Gene sent me this very thorough review of the Mac mini Server that was published by MacInTouch last week.  The review runs through the history of the Mac mini and OS X Server and gives a very good overview of the features.

Many fixes are included in the Snow Leopard 10.6.2 update, among them a fix for the “Guest Account” bug that was deleting user files.  Users can find the full list and update information on Apple’s website.

Be sure to back up your system before you install the 10.6.2 update.  Tips on backing up your Mac to an external hard drive can be found here.

And bad news for the hackintosh fans: 10.6.2 breaks Intel Atom-based netbooks that have been hacked to run Mac OS X.

The Safari 4.0.4 update addresses “performance, stability, and security.”  Click here to get Apple’s full list of security flaws addressed in this update.

A million pardons to our BlackBerry users out there for not posting this sooner.  The first update for the BlackBerry Desktop for Mac was released a few weeks ago.  The v.1.0.1 update apparently improves data synchronization and has important bug fixes (the BlackBerry website does not elaborate on what bugs are fixed).  You can get the update on the official BlackBerry website.

For our users who just purchased the latest iMac, which comes with the super sleek Magic Mouse, and for those of you who may have just purchased the Magic Mouse alone, there are software updates available.  The only information that Apple has provided about the updates is that you should install the software to “take advantage of your Magic Mouse special features.”

Magic Mouse Update – Leopard

Magic Mouse Update – Snow Leopard