White Headphones: "A beacon to thieves".
The Times Newspaper today reports on the front page (no real news then?) that more and more iPodders are recklessly flashing their trendy white headphones in public. One iPod user was asked if he was using an iPod, "As soon as I told him yes, he pulled a knife out and started waving it at me, saying: 'Well hand it over, then.' I gave it to him and he ran off. He must have known I was wearing an iPod because of the white headphones." Silly arse!
Apple's response? "There are guys who would rather be robbed than change the colour of their headphones. Some users really like the coolness of being seen wearing an iPod".
Who wants to wear the white headphones anyway? They sound crap and they easily get dirty. Even the new in-ear one aren't that good. Get some nice Sony MDR-EX71s like I did. Black cables, brilliant sound, and they're cheap at Amazon.
Thanks to Ben Wade for forwarding this story to me.

More signals hint towards a load of new stuff by the end of April. AppleInsider has revealed that US stores have been warned of a 'dry spell' in the Apple CPU inventory (except for G5s).
This means they'll be updated iMacs, iBooks, PowerBooks, and eMacs to look forward to. They also report that back-orders for 20- and 23-inch Cinema Displays have now reached 1,300. Aluminum G5-style Displays on their way too, then!

iPod mini worldwide launch is pushed back to cope with US demand.
If you registered for Apple iPod Mini information, you would have received this mesage in your email:

Dear Customer
Thanks for registering with Apple to be kept up to date on iPod mini in Europe. Today we announced that Apple has moved iPod mini Worldwide availability to July. Please see our Press Release below.
We will continue to keep you up to date as we get closer to launch.
Once again, thank you for your interest.

Apple

Apple Moves iPod mini Worldwide Availability to July
CUPERTINO, California--March 25, 2004--Apple® today announced that it is
moving the worldwide availability of iPod(TM) mini to July due to the much
stronger than expected demand in the U.S. far exceeding the total
planned supply through the end of June. Apple expects to ramp up its
manufacturing of the iPod mini to meet worldwide demand in the July
quarter.
"The iPod mini is a huge hit with customers in the U.S. and we're sure
it will be the same worldwide once we can ramp up our supply in the
July quarter," said Tim Cook, Apple's executive vice president of
Worldwide Sales and Operations. "The iPod mini adds further momentum to
the iPod, which is already the leading digital music player in the
world."
The iPod mini is the world's smallest portable music player to hold up
to 1,000 CD-quality songs, and is encased in an ultra-portable,
lightweight anodised aluminium body, available in five colours--silver,
gold, pink, blue and green. iPod mini features the Click Wheel for
effortless one-handed operation, along with the same award-winning user
interface as the rest of the iPod family, and works effortlessly with
Apple's iTunes®, the world's number one digital music service.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the
Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the
Macintosh. Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing
experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers
around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet
offerings.
Once again, America comes first.

Apple updates Bluetooth Keyboard and mouse firmware.
No one knows what the update does, but Apple advises you to download it. See Apple - Support - Downloads - Wireless Keyboard/Mouse Firmware Update 1.1

Pictures: ©Apple

iChat Updated to v2.1
"iChat AV 2.1 adds support for video conferencing with AOL Instant Messenger 5.5 for Microsoft Windows." Download iChat AV 2.1 here.

Picture: ©Apple

Another year, another MacExpo. Register now for free entry!

iPhoto Updated to v4.01.
"iPhoto 4.0.1 includes many organizational and stability enhancements. Performance has also been increased throughout the application, giving you faster importing, smoother image viewing and easier Rendezvous photo sharing. This version of iPhoto also features improved thumbnail images in your photo library. To take advantage of this, your thumbnails must be upgraded, which may take a while, depending on the number of photos in your library."

Picture: ©Apple

iPhoto printing prices announced.
It costs £16.99 for a ten page, cloth covered, hardback book of prints. Anyone just got married? Had a baby?

Another magazine jumps on the iPod bandwagon. See Word mag's site here. Others include Mixmag, Sunday Times Style magazine, I could go on... When will this iPod madness end?!
And how many mags have to feature a 'What we played on our iPod this month' colomn? All of 'em. Well done to NME for not following the herd and sticking to 'what's been on our stereo?'. Very lo- fi.

4th Generation iPod rumoured to have colour screen for viewing photos and boast a 50GB HD (that's approx 12,500 songs!) So really it' become more of a storage device than a music player. The dial is also said to resemble the one on the iPod mini, ie. the row of buttons will be integrated into the dial. The likely date when we'll know for sure will be the iPod's anniversary on 28th April. See AppleInsider for more.

Over two years in the waiting - iPhoto Uk Print Service is up and running.
When it was launched in January 2002, one of the major selling points of iPhoto was that it enabled you to order a bound album of your selected prints. That was, if you lived in the US. At the time, they said that the service would reach our shores soon after. That was over two years ago.
Last night, the service sprung into action and us Brits can now order leather-bound photo albums in several different styles: Catalog; Classic; Collage; Picture Book; Portfolio; Story Book and Year Book, and different colours. Otherwise pictures cost from 23p each (4-x-6-inch) to £1.69 (8-x-12-inch). VAT and a £1.99 p&p charge is also added on top of that.
Read about it on Macworld UK

Famous MacBores: Stuart Maconie.
Yes. That man who always pops up on those I Love... and Top Ten... music programmes. The journalist/writer/BBC DJ owns a 40GB iPod and is having trouble with his Airport Extreme and Mail app. So much trouble in fact, that he'd like Steve Job's email so he ask him why he can't delete any unwanted email.
We if you've got a problem, it always best to go straight to the top of the chain, I guess. Read the Guardian Online interview here.

Apple recently annouced that, after a year, it's Music Store downloads had topped 50 million. What they didn't say was that they actually predicted that they would sell 100 million.

Could Apple be planning to announce a European iTunes Music Store at the end of April? Should I start getting excited now or prepare for the disappointment? see under iTunes in: AppleInsider | Notes: Mac OS X 10.3.3 7F43, iTunes

Panther Update!
This is a very important update that will iron out the 10.3.2 niggles. It's a biggy! 58.8 Megs. How can it be possible to live without broadband? I can't. I take my PowerBook to Paddington Station for free wireless broadband whenever there's a mammoth update. I remember the days before this newfangled interweb thing, when all the Apple updates could be found on a MacFormat covermounted CD.
"The 10.3.3 Update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther" and is recommended for all users.
Key enhancements include:
network volumes are now available in the Finder sidebar and Desktop for convenient access
improved file sharing and directory services for Mac (AFP), UNIX (NFS) and PC (SMB/CIFS) networks
improved PostScript and USB printing
updated Disk Utility, DVD Player, Image Capture, Mail and Safari applications
additional support for FireWire and USB devices
improved compatibility for third party applications
previous standalone security updates and Bluetooth Update 1.5
For detailed information on this Update, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n25711

Picture: ©Apple

Happy Birthday PowerPC chip!
Ten years ago today, Apple brought us a new generation of IBM chips in the 6100, 7100 and 8100 PowerMacs. Preceding this Macs ran on Motorola's 680x0 processor. The first Mac I bought was a 6400/200 PowerPC, I owned many Macs before this, they were SEs rescued from certain death when the ad agency where I worked won the Viglen PC account. It was the first Mac I could 'do stuff' on. I had the internet at home, I could edit Video (using the built-in Avid card), and I designed websites. It was the Mac that got me properly hooked. I'd been using them since 1990, but this was the one that snared and dragged me into this world of obsessive behaviour, GODDAMMIT! Happy Birthday.

Things have been a little hectic recently. It all happened when I tried searching in the finder when a Security Update install was in the middle of optimizing. This gave my Mac the biggest Panther crash of all time. I was forced into a Hard Restart (holding down the power button until it shutsdown) and after I restarted, I could only open my Apple apps. Everything else crashed during loading due to some sort of problem with my Shared Library. I tried reinstalling the update, a few third party apps and running Norton Yoots but everything was well and truly buggered (to put it nicely). A search of the Apple Knowledge Base revealed that a complete reinstall of Panther was the sole remedy.
It's times like this when you realise how precious your hard drive of Ones and Zeros really is. What I needed was a external drive big enough to store a copy of my whole hard drive. Only then would I be immune to such disasters. So, after warning the wife, I pedalled off to Tottenham Court Road after work and returned home with a beautiful 80GB Lacie P3 (sculpted by the Porsche Design Team, don't you know?). That night, using Norton Disk Editor, I made a backup of my whole drive, ready for a Reinstall of Panther.

With a reinstalled System, and a few apps, things were up and running again. All was back to normal. Or so I thought. It was only when I synced my iPod I realised that all was not as hunky-dory as I was led to believe. iTunes informed me that some tracks were missing from my library. I scrolled through my track list and there must have been at least 100 missing files. Nortons Utilities had failed to make a complete copy. Not something I'd expect from the great Doctor.
Realising that these missing files were still sitting 'invisibly' on my iPod, I downloaded a piece of shareware called iPod Access which enabled me to copy the missing tracks back to my iTunes folder. All I did next was remove all the tracks in my library with missing files (this meant going through 3000-odd songs).
Learn by my mistakes: Back up everything - then check that your backups all there. Don't go to Symantec for your Backup Utility. Try out Disk Warrior or Drive 10. Check the reviews.
NB. MacUser or MacWorld have not reviewed Nortons version 8. Symantec probably 'forgot' to send them a copy (catch my drift?).

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Eric Clapton uses i-Tunes to launch new album - NME.COM It seems that even the big players are getting in on the act of music downloads. Those of you who were nosy enough to riffle through my iTunes playlist would have noticed that I have the ripped odd Clapton track. This new 4-track E.P. entitled 'Me & Mr Johnson' is available from the iTMS today but fans over here will have to wait until the 30th when it's available in the good ol' shops.