I just thought I'd update you on the broken iPod. Annoyingly, MicroAnvika (where I bought it) couldn't help me. So, after logging onto the Apple Support site I arranged for my iPod to be collected for repair. Three working days later a Cardboard box was DHL'd to me with instructions on how to pack and arrange a pick-up (the repair centre is in the Netherlands of all places). The next morning I called DHL and sorted a courier to pick up my box from work. Two and a half hours later he arrived and by the early evening my sick friend was at Heathrow ready to be flown to our friends in Amsterdam - I know 'cos I've been tracking it (sad, I know). We'll see what happens tomorrow. I do hope they don't take their time, my CD Walkman can't handle the bumps in this country's fine railtracks. Also going from having a choice from over two thousand tracks to having only a couple of CD's worth is a bit of a come down. I mean, we are living in the 21st Century. Aren't we?

Funny man of wit Dave Gorman discusses his hates and occasional loves in this month's X-Ray Magazine. His hates include Litter, 'Zen and the Art of Stand-Up Comedy' by Jay Sankey, and text language (lmao). His occasional loves list The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players (now they are funny), his mates, Marmite and his iPod. "Just get one. I went to New York for three months and took a hundred CDs. Now? Just an iPod. It's the best thing in the world. They didn't even need people like me to mention them in the press cos they know how good they are. They're like the pretty girl at school who's not bothered." Wise words mate but I bet yours hasn't died on you yet.

Apple in new chrome logo shock horror!
It looks like the well-known Apple logo is in for yet another tweak when Mac OS X Panther is launched. The last time the bitten fruit was upgraded was when Jobs unveiled the iMac. Before that, we all had to make do with the original rainbow apple, which was a subtle piss-take of the bland logo belonging to Apple's 80s rival, IBM. This time it will get a polished chrome finish to fit in with Panther's hi-tech chrome user interface - a look that some Apple enthusiasts are dead against, as reported in this Wired News article.

Who said .Mac wasn't worth the money? (Oh, it was me actually). Apple are still out to prove their dot Mac doubters wrong. Members can now download Version Tracker Pro and iBlog software for free. Well done! Now, shall I move my blog out of Blogger? Nah, it's top of the list when you google Mac and bore. I wouldn't want to change that now, would I?

After everything Micheal Dell said about Apple in the 90s, it now seems that he wants to be Steve Jobs. Today Dell announced that they would be releasing a rival to the iPod (called the Dell Digital Jukebox) and they will launch their own version of the iTunes Music Store. Eat your words, Dell Boy.

You've probably read about this on other sites before. But now Wired have photographic evidence. Students at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute have built the first Mac-based supercomputer to (hopefully) rank somewhere in the top fifty supercomputers in the world. They've clustered a magnificent 1,100 dual G5s together to create a MONSTER. "Obviously, there have been some challenges, as we have had to port a lot of the Linux code used to make a cluster a cluster -- specifically the MPI communication libraries -- but the porting process progressed very rapidly," said Varadarajan, the director of the Virginia Tech Terascale Computing Facility. Really? People say that you a pay a premium for Apples but they chose G5 over Linux because of price. The finished 20 ton beast will hopefully be running on the 1st October and will be used to research nanoscale electronics, quantum chemistry, computational chemistry, aerodynamics, molecular statics, computational acoustics and the molecular modeling of proteins. Yes, that's all very good but how fast will it render in Photoshop and rip a CD?

No! Don't Do It! Bad Update Warning!
Apple have with withdrawn their OS X 10.2.8 update because of an ethernet problem.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Yesterday I turned on my iPod and it failed to wake from it's sleep. I've followed the troubleshooting hints on the iPod Knowledge Base, reset it, updated the iPod software but it still won't work. How long have I had it? Just over three months. I do hope that this a rare occurrence. Well, I'm putting on a brave face. I haven't had chance to take it back to the shop yet but God knows how long it will take to be sent to somewhere for repair. I'll keep you posted.
Now where did I put that CD Walkman?

Mac OS X 10.2.8 Update out.
Just checked Software Update and up this popped. Here's how Apple describe it: "The 10.2.8 Update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for the following applications, services and technologies: Audio, Bluetooth, Classic compatibility, Finder, Graphics, LDAP, Power Management, Safari, and FireWire and USB device compatibility.
The update also provides updated security services and includes the latest Security Updates." It's another bloater (40.6MB).

Picture: ©Apple

G4 iBook ready to roll out!
Macworld UK have reported that the books will have 500MHz processors, 60GB hard drives, 256 megs of RAM, combo drives and a 15" screen. Well I never! This info appeared on a Dabs advert by mistake. They said it should've been an ad for the iMac (Yeah right!). So it could be true, or it could be someone on the Dabs design team pissing about. Time will tell.

Here's yet another local boy done good, Jonathan Ive report on Investors.com. Is he becoming the world's most famous designer, or what?

It seems that the European iTunes Music Store is being held up by our own Fab Four. The legal battle between Apple Computers and Apple Records is reported on MacNN to put the store on hold for a further ten months!! (I know. I don't know how I'll cope either). You see, Apple Records agreed to let Apple Computers use the name back in the 80s, as long as Apple didn't venture into anything to do with music. Well, that was in the days before mpegs (At the time I did wonder how Apple were allowed to launch the Music Store with this legal agreement in force). Well the past has caught up them and Apple Records see the Music Store and the iPod as infringement. Nevertheless, I can't see Apple closing their Music Store in the US (tracks by The Beatles aren't for sale by the way), so only God knows how it will take to be resolved.
All of us who are waiting for our own AAC download service may be in for a very long wait indeed.

Picture: ©Apple Records

iTunes for Europe - "I think we'll do it next near."
That's what Jobs said in a post-keynote Reuters interview. Cheers, Steve. Get the Windoze version for US sorted out first, why don't you? (Cue violin music) Just remember those who stood by you through the 90s... those you couldn't be bothered to include when you launched the iPhoto printing service...those who, everyday, put up with you renaming our wastebasket 'trash'...those who now speak 'international English' when you speak American English... (Sniff...sorry, I seen to have something in my eye. Sniff.)

Paris Expo Latest
As everyone predicted, Steve Job announced a new 15" Aluminum PowerBook in today's keynote. The rest of the PowerBook family were updated too (but these were mere speed bumps and the inclusion of USB 2.0).

It's about time the 15" TiBook was updated, some bloke was Pro-Tooling on one the other day on the train. It was chipped all over and looked rather dated compared to the AlBooks.
Another treat that was revealed was something that I reported about a few weeks back - The Bluetooth Wireless Mouse and Keyboard. They'll be on my Christmas list, I can tell you. Oh yes!
Hey Jobs! Didn't you forget something?!
What about the iTunes Music Store for us lot, hey?
Bah! What a let down.

Pictures: ©Apple

AppleExpo Paris Tomorrow...
Rumour has it that there will be a special edition iPod launched at tomorrow's French Expo.
No one know what will be so special about it yet, but it is only a rumour. It's not an announcement that will get the keynote crowds whooping, is it?
My predictions for tomorrow are:
For Definite: Medium-sized G4 aluminum Powerbook (to replace the aging 15" TiBook)
A Possibility: New iBooks (they're getting old and slow)
A Must: iTunes Music Store for Europe (everyone else has managed to get over the European publishing rights, why can't Apple?)

If Steve Jobs doesn't announce the Euro Music Store tomorrow, I'll cry.

Software Update!
Quick! There's a Java to download. Java Update 1.4.1 adds improved Java applet support for Safari and other web browsers that support the Java Internet Plug-In; Improved drawing correctness and performance; Changes to Java 1.3.1 that provide support for Oracle11i client applications on Mac OS X; Improved stability, memory usage, and correctness. It's a big bastard though. Nearly 40 MB. Better download it overnight if you're still on narrowband (like myself).

Picture: ©Apple

Managing Director of eBay.co.uk, Douglas McCallum has been interviewed in The Guardian Online Talk Time. He let slip that he plans to retire by selling his Apple Newton number 000001. A nice little nest egg if you ask me. It's in working order as well! Apparently it's in his loft, if anyone knows where he lives.

Yesterday (new iPods and iMacs aside), Apple announced that at 11:34pm on September 3, 2003 some gullible Music Store user had bought and downloaded the one millionth AAC file. What did this person download? Avril Lavigne's Complicated. Shame on you! You know who you are. Realistically, The actual 'ten millionth' download was probably something less well-known or even sadder - Atomic Kitten for example (I just searched for the aforementioned girl group and the message 'Did you mean Attic Sitter?' came up. Nice to see that the Music Store does draw the line somewhere). Imagine if the 10,000,000th track was 'Fuck Me' by Vanilla Ice? Or 'Fuck her Gently' by Tenacious D? Would that have been 'cool'? Call me cynical but I'm sure the Apple PR department picked the most suitable song from between 999,980 to 10,000,020 for the press release. Or else they chose which track summed up the whole iTunes download experience (for their desired target market) and downloaded it when the time came.
You can't fool me, I know how you operate.

Soon you'll be able to buy a replica of the first ever personal computer, the Apple I. They're only $200. Cheap as chips!

New iPods and iMacs!
40 and 20GB iPods replace 30 and 15GB. 40GBs holds four solid weeks worth of non-stop, 24 hrs a day, back-to-back tunes. Now who, apart from John Peel, owns 10,000 songs?! Perhaps I'm jealous. The G4 iMacs have also been upgraded. They now have all the usual speed/drive/video card bumps and include USB 2.

Every nerd's dream girl and ex-co-presenter of Robot Wars, Philippa Forrester has been interviewed by The Guardian Online. Yes, I know she now presents the Heaven & Earth show, but boy, did she look good in a tight black vest top, floozing about in the robot pits! I digress. The real reason she's deserved a mention here is because she uses Macs. Not only does she use Macs, she's also a fan of Final Cut Pro.

Backup 2 Beta is ready for download! Use it at your peril.

Picture: ©Apple
A bonus treat for all .Mac subscribers is the free download of StickyBrain 2 (usually $20). It's a useful, sort of searcher/scrapbook for Mac OS X. There's also the chance to download a trial version of F10 Launch Studio. Apple offer the upgrade the full version for only $10. This also looks like a useful little app. Mmm, I'm tempted.
On the subject of .Mac, I re-subscribed last week and was offered a choice of free gifts. I chose The Sims over a strategy game (the name escapes me) or a money-off voucher for the Apple Store. The Sims is one of those games that I always think about buying but never get around to it. It'll be sent out to me when this year's subscription runs out.

The new G5 advert is playing on UK channels. It involves an unsuspecting victim who is blasted backwards through four walls of his house and slammed against a tree. All he did was start it up! Thankfully Jeff Goldblum explains why. Those crazy ad people!

Picture: ©Apple