Merry Christmas from MacBore!

May you get that Mac, iPod, iPhone, AppleTV, AirPort you wished for.

Think Secret RIP

The Apple rumour site Think Secret has settled its lawsuit with Apple. It was all over the leaked product details about 'Asteroid', a device used with GarageBand. The source of the information, an Apple employee, wasn't revealed but Nick Ciarelli, Think Secret's publisher, has agreed to kill off his own site to avoid being sued.

Finally! A BBC iPlayer for Macs

After ecxuses about Macs being incompatible with DRM (iTunes?) the BBC have released a stripped-down iPlayer for Mac users. The bit they stripped out was the ability to download programmes (they're only streamable). Better than nothing, I s'pose. I haven't tried to use it yet but it looks like a Flash-based web app. More info here.

Radiohead to sell on iTunes?

Macworld have reported that Radiohead are in talks with Apple to sell on iTunes. There latest album, In Rainbows is no longer available to buy from their own site and as this wasn't downloadable as separate tracks, it looks like it will only be an 'album only' offer.

Apple Store's One Day Shopping Event set for this Friday

I asked the new Apple Store chat device what sort of discounts there would be but they couldn't divulge any info at the time. If you're planning on buying from the Apple Store, save yourself until Friday. The discounts are never huge but, in the words of Tesco, every little helps.

Clever New Online 'Get a Mac' ads appear.

I saw this on Macworld. 'Clever use of the medium' is how they would describe it in adland. When I (mistakenly) advised my Mother in Law to buy a cheap Dell (I'm sorry) and was setting it up, I found a new name for my pain - Vista. I should have told her to spend the extra money on a Mac mini. Actually, Vista is so bad that when Ruth at work queried me on a good cheap laptop (she's a XP user but only for MS Office and gets through iPods like matchboxes), I told her to bite the bullet and get a MacBook. If she'd bought a £399 laptop with Vista, she'd hate me forever.

New Mary J Blige iPod Ad.

Here's a new iPod ad featuring soul/rap diva Mary J Blige advertising her new album Work That. Very Christmassy.

Leopard's been updated to 10.5.1

The new Mac OS has been updated to 10.5.1. This means that all the major bugs have been ironed out so there's no reason not to buy it. Well, it is coming up to Christmas and you're probably short of cash, but you can stick it on your wish list. I think I'll wait a while. I'd rather put the £80 towards a iPod touch (I had a fiddle with one the other day and suffered from jealous spasms).

Price cut on Final Cut Express 4

The new version of Final Cut Express 4 is out today and it's only £129.

Apple’s powerful moviemaking package now supports the latest AVCHD cameras, features an open format Timeline, provides iMovie ’08 compatibility, and offers sophisticated effects and filters.

Offering plenty of creative options, Final Cut Express 4 lets you edit footage captured in the most popular formats — including AVCHD.* Simply connect your camcorder to your Mac, preview and select the AVCHD clips you’d like to import, and start editing your video.

No need to worry about formats, frame rates, or conversions. Final Cut Express 4 provides an open format Timeline that handily accommodates DV (both NTSC and PAL) and HD footage simultaneously and in real time. Just drop video into the Timeline and edit away.

With iMovie ’08, putting together a great movie is as quick as drag and drop. When you want to add professional polish to your project, simply export to Final Cut Express 4 and edit like a pro.

Add cinematic looks to your project with an expansive library of professional-quality transitions and filters and experiment with over 50 brand-new video effects, including Soft Focus, Vignette, Light Rays, and Line Art.

The new Zunes look quite nice, don't they?

Just to prove to you that I'm not a complete Microsoft hater (I ditched the Apple mouse for a MS trackball years ago) I have to say that I do like the look of the new Zunes. Even though they don't work with Macs and aren't touchy-screeny yet, they do have nice big screens and look much more stylish that the original - which still looks like a rejected iPod design. And whereas iPod have a mirrored finish on the back, Zunes are brushed which stops them getting covered in greasy fingerprints and scratches. I'm sure Apple have kept their iPod backs shiny for a reason - they'll always look tatty by the time a new one comes along.

Mac OS X 10.4.11 Update

Old Tiger has been updated to version 10.4.11. Hopefully making it the most stable and secure version of the pre-Leopard system, so the Apple programmers can safely put this one to bed and concentrate on perfecting 10.5. There's a long list of modifications that include the new version of Safari.

Modification Details:

Includes Safari 3

Adds RAW image decoding support for the following cameras: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50, Leica V-Lux 1, Olympus E-400, Olympus EVOLT E410, Olympus EVOLT E510, Canon EOS 40D

Improves compatibility when using OpenType fonts in QuarkExpress

Improves reliability when running VMWARE's Fusion

Improves support for using Image Capture to import pictures taken on your iPhone

Improves syncing between iPhone and Yahoo! address books

Addresses an issue copying files from a Mac OS 9 AFP sharepoint

Improved reliability advertising an AFP sharepoint over Bonjour

Addresses an issue which could prevent the use of port mapping when sharing your Mac's internet connection

Improves reliability when trying to authenticate to an AFP share using Kerberos

Improves compatibility with third-party wireless wide-area network devices

Improves reliability when mounting external USB hard drives.

Adds support for Microsoft Presenter Mouse 8000

Addresses an issue in which selecting two rows of album art within the iTunes artwork Screen Saver may cause System Preferences to unexpectedly quit

Includes updated Daylight Saving Time information for customers in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States state of Indiana

Allows the use of the special keys on aluminum Apple Keyboards to control Aperture slideshows

Addresses an issue in which help content for some applications may be displayed in English when using the computer in another Mac OS X language

Addresses issues with certain Apple Dashboard widgets: Unit Converter, Calculator, Stocks

Includes recent Apple security updates

Can you wait until after Christmas for a new Apple laptop?

AppleInsider have reason to believe that the recently mooted ultra-thin MacBook is ready to be unveiled at MacWorld Expo SF in January. It's form-factor is "approximately 50 percent lighter and strikingly slimmer than the company's current 15-inch professional MacBook Pro offering. In achieving this smaller notebook footprint, Apple has reportedly adopted design cues that fall in line with the minimalist nature of its chief executive, including a bold move to omit a traditional optical disc drive from the aluminum-clad systems." They're saying that it won't even have a spinning hard drive now that Samsung's NAND flash memory goes up to as much as 64GB.

Dell use JamPack sample in teaser ad.

Somebody on the Engadget site has noticed that the soundtrack for a new Dell XPS One ad uses one of Apple's loops from a GarageBand JamPack. 'Contemplative Synth 01'in fact.
End of the PC as you know it? They're talking about the iMac, aren't they? It does look like an iMac from what I can see of it.

Actually, looking at the leaked photos it really is horrible...


Unlike the Gateway One (why the same name?) which does look like it could give the iMac a run for it's money...on looks, not OS, obviously.

What is up with My iTunes?

That's it. I've had enough. Either Apple make the My iTunes widgets work all of the time or I'm not going to use them. They didn't really work that well in the first place. I'm deleting them today. They're messing up my blog!

Stuff.tv at the iPhone launch event.

You can watch UK Flagship Apple Store event on Stuffs podcast in iTunes here.
I've just been into my nearest O2 shop to see the thing and I have to say that it is quite large for a mobile. C'mon Apple, where's that iPhone nano that we've been rumouring about?

New iPod touch ad.

We may see this ad in the UK before Christmas - once the hoohah surrounding the iPhone has died down. The track is Music is my Hot Hot Sex (ooh-err) by CCS.

Photos from Regent Street

Andrew Nesbitt, a Developer and Designer is documenting the iPhone queue in Regent Street on his Flickr page. You can also nose at the photos of his new flat, a peace protest and some flowers. Lovely.

iPod touch update adds calendar editing

MacUser have reported that calendar editing has returned to the iPod touch. Steve Jobs showed us all how to do it when the touch was unveiled, but once it arrived in the shops, the function had disappeared. The firmware update downloads in iTunes.

Synchronize watches: 6:02pm is iPhone time!

Is there really a queue for the iPhone?

There have been some news reports that a queue has formed outside the Regent Street Apple Store. Well this Flickr photo tells a different story.

Apple bumps MacBooks to Santa Rosa

AppleInsider has seen that Apple updated it's laptops this morning. Here are the details:

2.0GHz 13-inch MacBook (white)

* 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 1GB memory
* 80GB hard drive
* Intel GMA X3100 w/ 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM
* Combo drive

2.2GHz 13-inch MacBook (white)

* 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 1GB memory
* 120GB hard drive
* Intel GMA X3100 w/ 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM
* Double-layer SuperDrive

2.2GHz 13-inch MacBook (black)

* 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 1GB memory
* 160GB hard drive
* Intel GMA X3100 w/ 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM
* Double-layer SuperDrive

At the same time, Apple also began offering customers the ability to upgrade its 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pro notebooks with a 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo chip and 250GB Serial ATA Drive.

MacLiveExpo 07 photos

Here's a link to the few photos I took at this year's Expo before I got bored and went back to work. Apple weren't even there! Can't blame them now they've opened so many Apple Stores across the country. Why do I always come back clutching a bag full of junk? This year's bounty included:
MYOB stress ball
MYOB mint dispenser
Minolta Printers flashing badges
I 'Heart' RW (Rapidweaver) badge
Guide to Rapidweaver plug-ins
The Cat In The Hat educational game (for the kiddies).

Install Leopard on a PC (why?)

Here are instructions on how to install Leopard on your PC in 3 easy steps. Now your PC may never work properly again, but what the Hell? If you break it, you can replace it with a proper Mac.

6 o'clock is Leopard time!

If you really have to buy it today, or you just want to take part in the celebration, all Apple Stores and many Apple resellers are staying open late. Even MacLiveExpo at Olympia is staying open for an extra 30 minutes (by the way, don't bother going. It's rubbish this year). In fact many are blowing up their balloons as we speak. I probably would have popped into the Regent Street store on the way home if Silverlink train drivers weren't on strike.
Ahh, it takes me back to the night Mac OS X 10.0 was released. Me and fellow MacBore Neill (you know, the other contributor who never posts anything) decided to pop into Micro Anvika on the Tottenham Court Road whist we're were out drinking. I remember spotting a biker-type man with an Apple logo tattoo. What a nerd.

Leopard Guided Tour online now.

Let John guide you through this weeks new arrival in the Mac OS X Leopard Guided Tour. Now, I said that I wouldn't buy it until at least the first revision is released, but it does look very nice. I'll see what my mate, Neill does. He always buys a new OS when it's released. The fool.

GarageBand is ToTP.

Last week's Guardian Technology was full of Apple stuff. The front page ran with an interesting story on how GarageBand is helping new bands to get started. George Pringle has even scrawled it onto her skin (that's her up there). They used to have to hire studios by the hour to record their demo tapes. Now they're able to do it on a mac at home (probably in their garages). The Guardian bods ask if including it for free on every Mac is generosity or a clever marketing ploy. Who cares? Also did you know that the drum loop in the Rihanna song 'Umbrella' is straight from GarageBand? Open it up and have a listen to Vintage Funk Kit 03. Slow it down to 90bpm and sing along.

iTunes Plus songs now same price as DRMs

It looks like all songs on iTunes are now 79p.Apple (UK and Ireland) - iTunes: "Now, for the same price of just 79p (UK) / 99c (Ireland) each, choose iTunes Plus songs that feature higher quality, 256 kbps AAC encoding — twice the standard bit rate — and no DRM (digital rights management). You can play these iTunes Plus songs on any iPod, other digital music players, and an unlimited number of computers, now with no extra charge."

MacBore's favourite w(h)ine?

I wanna go to Lakeside! Essex's new Apple Store opens this weekend. How exciting!

MacBore's Computer Chronology. Part 1

As a reader of this blog, you may be sitting there thinking 'what made MacBore the way he is?' or ''what computers did MacBore use before Macs?'. In reality you're probably pondering over something much more important but I'm going to answer those questions whether you like it or not.

My first computer: The Commodore 64

The C64 is still the best selling personal computer of all time. The 64 stood for the ammount of kilobytes of RAM it had. I think it was a 14th birthday present, bought from Dixons. It came with a few free games (on cassette tape, naturally) that included Mr Wimpy: The Hamburger Game. If you're too young to know, Wimpy was the once the only burger restaurant chain in the UK. My local Wimpy was opposite the Wilco in Nuneaton. I digress. Many a Quickshot joystick was knackered-in playing Daley Thompson's Decathelon. In fact, a whole summer holiday was lost being due to drug-dealing, fugitive action playing Elite. My old C64 is kicking around somewhere at my mum's, minus the 6 key.




Second, and First Non-Home, Computer: Linotype CRTronic.

During my time at Art College I spent months of my life learning how to program this beast. And when I say program, I really do mean program. The CRTronic was a typesetting computer with a black and green CRT monitor. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) hadn't been thought up yet so you spent hours coding each word of type without seeing it. To see your work you had to process it like a photograph. So you really had to get your points and picas right first time around. You should see the printer...
Just after I had spent months typesetting and Cow-gumming together the artwork for the end of year fashion show booklet, my tutor, Ken Ward showed me the design course's new purchase; two Apple Macintosh SEs and a LaserWriter. It suddenly dawned on me that the last 6 months of CRTronic-ing was a complete waste of time.

26th October for Leopard. It's official.

Apple have just sent out a press release. You probably know all about 'Leopard' by now, so let's skip to the important bit - the price:

"Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard will be available on October 26 at Apple’s retail stores and through Apple Authorised Resellers for a suggested retail price of £85 (inc VAT) for a single user license, and online pre-orders can be made through Apple's online store (http://www.apple.com/uk/) starting today. The Mac OS X Leopard Family Pack is a single-residence, five-user license that will be available for a suggested retail price of £129 (inc VAT). Volume and maintenance pricing is available from Apple. The standard Mac OS Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorised Reseller on or after October 1, 2007 for a shipping and handling fee of £5.95 (inc VAT). Leopard requires a minimum of 512MB of RAM and is designed to run on any Macintosh® computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5 or G4 (867 Mhz or faster) processor."

Damn. I bought my iMac a month too early. Of course, the sensible thing to do would be to wait until at least version 10.5.1. They never get it right first time, even though they've had an extra year to release it.

Greenpeace say iPhone isn't green enough

The toxic avengers say the antenna and headphones are the mail culprits. Hey, go easy with that scalpel!

DRM-free tracks reduced to 79p

MacUser have noticed that some DRM-free tracks on iTunes are selling for the same price as those that have DRM (i.e. 20p cheaper). They presume this is due to Amazon's mp3 store selling unrestricted tracks for as little as 88 cents. It does seem silly that iTunes charges so much for iTunes Plus, when sites like (my favourite) eMusic can sell high-quality, non-DRM tracks for as little as 20p.

We've done an advert selling colour. Err...

You may remember hearing the music on this new Play-doh rabbit ad before. Yes it's on that old Rolling Stones long player that your dad owns. But it's already been used on an advert. Back in 1997 Apple used it to sell their new range of iMacs to follow the classic Bondi Blue one. Personally, I'd rather look at some swirling Macs than a load of bendy bunnies. And coloured computers were much more revolutionary than a TV that shows colour. That is sooo forty years ago!

Don't. Repeat. Don't buy a MacBook before the end of October.

Think Secret have said that MacBooks are 'poised' for a update on the same day we finally see the new OS X. On the other hand we could finally see the new slim MacBook Pro that has been bandied about in the rumour mill for a while....but Think Secret think not. Their sources aren't seeing any other hardware revisions before Christmas. The ultra slim laptop above isn't an Apple, it's one that Intel designed with the help of Ziba Designs, but it could be an idication of how slim the new mini Macbook Pro could be.

When Macs Go Wrong

Here's a mildly amusing YouTube clip that the Guardian Technology picked up on yesterday.

What's happened to My iTunes?

It hasn't been missing in action for a couple of weeks now. And there's no mention of it on the Apple Support pages. Just look at my column on the right, what's going on?

The Last Beatle on iTunes

Today saw the last Beatle, George Harrison being added to iTunes. Now this means that 'Thumbs-up' Macca, Yoko, Olivia Harrison and Ringo Starr have all climbed into bed with Apple Inc and are ready for one big Beatles orgy. Once they've digitized their back catalogue, that is. It also means that I'll be able to download the extended version of 'Got My Mind Set On You' that I bought on 12" picture disc back in 1987.

Another Apple purchasing dilemma

There I was, last week, in the Apple Store looking at the new iPods. I'd seen the new nano in Dixons Heathrow a few weeks ago and was amazed by how nice it looked (the photos and TV ad do nothing for it). I was already planning to ask for just money for Christmas so I could buy one. I have a lot of unwatched, ripped DVDs on my Mac and now the nano can play them I'd be able to watch them on the commute. OK the screen is a bit small, but Steve Jobs didn't seem to bothered by that as it has the same amount of pixels as the old video iPod. And it was only £139. So, I had my heart set on a new 'fat boy' nano. But then something happened. The iPod touch was in town. I'd already dismissed the touch because of Gigs per pound but once I got my greasy fingers my one, that all changed. There's no point in buying a nano for movies once you've seen them on a touch. And having the internet on it is fantastic. I quickly found a few of my movies on YouTube and played them within seconds. Even coverflow worked smoothly (it's a bit creaky on the nano). The iPod touch is beautifully sleek and works wonderfully. Like the new iMac, it's an 'I want one' product and guess what? I WANT ONE! I don't mind if it's an 8GB one and not 16GB, that doesn't matter as my playlists automatically update themselves and most movies are 1.5GB in size. It's a bit expensive and I'd never be able to walk into a shop tomorrow and buy one. Luckily, I know people. People who either live in the US or will be visiting there soon. That way I can get one for $300 (£150 if customs turn a blind eye). Yes it's bad, but Gordon Brown made me do it...the bastard.

New Ultra-slim MacBook rumours

Rumour has it that new Alu ultra-slim MacBooks will be released to world on the same day as Mac OS X 10.5. HEre's the lowdown from 9to5Mac.com:

What we know:

* Black aluminum and silver aluminum (like MacBook Pros) have been seen
* They are considerably slimmer than current MacBook and even a bit more than MacBook Pros
* The screen reaches much closer to the edges than current MacBooks but is the same size as current MacBooks - indicating a somewhat smaller footprint
* The keyboards resemble Apple's new Bluetooth Keyboard
* There is something strange about the touchpad (more on this to come)
* They are set to be priced extremely aggressively
* While they are dense, overall they are lighter than the current MacBooks

What we are wondering:

* Will there be colors like the Nanos? (Red) would be hott.
* Will the hard drives and memory be easily upgraded?
* Will they be in the Pro or Consumer lineup?
* Will they be released with the Leopard announcement? Before Christmas? Macworld?
* Is Apple over White?

O2 named as official UK iPhone carrier

O2 seal the iPhone deal. From 9th November, you'll be able to buy the 8GB version for £269 on either a £35 tarriff (200 mins, 200 texts), a £45 tarriff (600 mins, 500 texts) or a £55 tarriff (1200 mins, 500 texts). All tarriffs include free data calls, visual voicemail and access to 7,500 wifi hotspots. I think I'll wait for the price to come down before I upgrade. Anyway, I'm sure it'll be at the top of all UK mugger's wishlists this Christmas.

iPod touch photos

AppleInsider have just posted some photos of an iPod touch being unpacked... and doesn't it look nice? It's gonna be one of those products that, once you seen it, you'll want one - NOW! But £200 for an 8GB iPod? No, it's not just an iPod - it's an ultra-portable Mac. Well, as long as you're in a wifi-zone. I slowly warming to it's little brother, nano. Probably because it's half the price, made of metal and my 1st gen nano isn't as shiny as it used to be after I took it to the beach.

Peter Petrelli's ad past catches up with him

How could they let an exploding man onto a plane? Yes, it's everyone's favourite hero (apart from Hiro and ahem, Clair Bear, of course) Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia) in an old ad for the iBook. You wouldn't be able to fit a MacBook onto one of those narrow fold-down tables, now would you?

Upgrading iMac RAM is the easiest ever.

I just upped the RAM on my new iMac to 2GB and in all of my 15 odd years of being a Mac owner, it was the easiest thing ever. There was a slot waiting for my 1GB RAM strip (bought from Crucial for £25.99), unlike previous times when I had to remove the pre-installed RAM (and thus throwing it away) to make room - aren't Apple being eco-friendly? The whole process to about 10 minutes and now I have an even faster Mac. Jurassic Park!

New Logic Studio

Today "Apple has unveiled Logic Studio, a comprehensive suite of professional tools that gives musicians everything they need to create, produce and perform in the studio and on the stage. Logic Studio features Logic Pro 8, a major upgrade that combines an intuitive new interface with Logic’s renowned sound quality and rock-solid timing, and introduces MainStage, an innovative new application that turns the Mac into a streamlined live rig. In addition, Logic Studio includes SoundTrack Pro 2, Apple’s professional audio post production software; Studio Instruments, made up of 40 pristine quality instruments; Studio Effects, with 80 professional effect plug-ins; a vast Studio Sound Library; and a powerful set of production utilities. Logic Studio sells for just £319."

Regent Street special event set for the 18th

According to MacUser, Apple have planned a special event at the Regent Street store on the 18th September. The tilte on the invite reads 'Mum is no longer the word'. What the duck does that mean?! I though 'grease' was the word? Could mean that they've been keeping 'mum' on which mobile phone giant will get the iPhone contract and will announce the winner? (Please, 02! Please, O2!). More than likely, yes.

Get your free MacExpo tickets now

Register now for you free MacExpo ticket. You'll have to pay £15 if you don't and free ticket numbers are limited to the first 5000, so don't hang about. The expo runs from Thursday 25th to Saturday 27th of October at the National Hall, Olympia in Olde London towne.

Mmmmm. iPod touch

What a beauty! Even if it is and iPhone without the phone bit.

iPod launch event webcast uploaded

Watch the new iPods being hyped-up in a way on Steve Jobs can do. Also KT Tunstall makes a hash of it at the end.

Does your current iPod look a little dated?

Today the iPod range was completely updated with a new iPod touch (wirelessly capable like the iPhone without the phone bit), iPod classic (a thinner 160 GB all metal version of the old iPod video), Ipod nano (the iPod classic's fat little brother) and a new set of colour for the (still) 1GB player.
Here's the finer details:iPod shuffle now available in range of pastel colours (silver, light blue, turquoise, green, and a PRODUCT (RED) version. All at 1GB.
iPod nano offers a larger, brighter 2-inch display, supports Cover Flow, iPod games and offers larger capacity. Battery life: 24 hours audio, 5 hours video playback. Available in 4GB and 8GB capacity.
iPod Classics are metal and thinner than before. Capacity starts at 80GB with 30-hours audio playback and six hours of video playback. Slightly thicker iPod Classic also available featuring 160GB capacity. Offers 40-hours audio playback and seven hours of video playback.
iPod Touch offers same (3.5-inch) size screen as an iPhone and is just 8mm thin. "The new iPod touch. It's one of the seven wonders of the world," says Jobs. iPod Touch has built-in WiFi, supports CoverFlow and more. Apple's WiFi iteration means a version of Safari is built-into the device, which is used by iPod Touch users attempting to access a WiFI network. This also means you can use iPod Touch to browse the web - and the device will play YouTube video content or browse Facebook. Battery life for iPod Touch is 22 hours audio, five hours video playback. The device features a touch-sensitive contextual keyboard. Two models are available - an 8GB and a 16GB. Should ship worldwide this month.

Apple also introduced the WiFi iTunes Store. Where you can buy music with your iPod Touch. Song previews, purchased songs sync with iTunes, searchable too. The WiFi iTunes Store is going to be made available in all countries that have iTunes. Ooh-err!

Touch-screen iPod predicted

AppleInsider predicts that there will be a touch-screen iPod launch tomorrow. It'll sport a 3.5" screen and a hard drive (not a flash drive) as 1.8" drives now have capacities of up to 120GB. It may alsohave wireless connectivity.
A new iPod nano (probably the one in the leaked photos) will do pretty much the same as the current video iPod, including video playback and have a 320x240 pixel display. This one is staying flash-based, with a max of 12GB or 16GB. It could even have sexy cover-flow (as above). Oh look, there's a Beatles album.

iLife '08 only £9.99 to recent Mac customers

Recently bought a Mac that didn't have iLife '08 pre-installed on it? Apple will sell you a copy for just £9.99 as part of their Up-To-Date program.

Doh, I've only gone and bought one!

I popped along to Regent Street on the way home from work last week, initially just to have a look and a play with a new iMac. Malcolm, the Mac guru designer at work had been telling me how fast and lovely his 24-incher was all week and I needed to check one out for myself. Did I manage to get on one? No. Every Mac in the shiny shop was in use. The world's freeloading students, tourists and immigrants were checking their email. It was either queue up for half an hour or buy one - so I bought one (I still had to wait half an hour for one to be fetched from the store cupboard).
It's a beautiful machine and very fast compared to my old G4, even though it is (only) the 2GHz entry-level model. I say 'only' as if 'entry-level' is a dirty word. But I checked to specs and the difference in price and concluded that another £150 for another 0.4 of processor power, 100GB storage and 128MB of video RAM wasn't worth it. I'm not a gamer and I can always upgrade the HD later on. It's way fast enough for me. I can't wait to see what another GB of RAM will do to the CD ripping time. I will be moving my desk so the shiny screen doesn't face a window though. The increase in power has opened up a who new world of Mac OS that was impossible with the G4 - I can use widgets without having to wait minutes for them to load, CDs rip in a minutes rather than half an hour, PhotoBooth is a fun thing to do with kids (as well as the new 'auditions' in GarageBand), I can now upload web galleries, Handbrake can rip DVDs in hours rather than days and I can switch my iLike plug-in on iTunes again without it slowing everything down to a snails pace. I'm also very impressed with FrontRow, even though it's just a media player. All in all, everything works the way it should. I can waste the hours away more quickly than ever before! That must be a good thing, surely?

Apple sends out invites

The invites have been sent out and AppleInsider have predicted that the event will have something to do with the Beatles Catalogue appearing on iTunes. They noticed that the headline comes from Apple Records' press release announcing the Beatles split on April 10, 1970:
"Spring is here and Leeds play Chelsea tomorrow and Ringo and John and George and Paul are alive and well and full of hope. The world is still spinning and so are we and so are you," read the 1970 Beatles release. "When the spinning stops -- that'll be the time to worry, not before. Until then, the Beatles are alive and well and the beat goes on, the beat goes on."

Finally! TV for sale on UK iTunes

US TV comes to iTunes UK a bit earlier than expected. At £1.89 a pop you can view them on a PC or Mac, fifth generation iPod, or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV.
“We’re thrilled to bring TV programming to the iTunes Store in the UK,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We’ve got 28 shows and expect to continue to add more great programming.” The complete list of television programming on the iTunes Store in the UK includes:
• Disney’s ABC Studios’ dramas and comedy-dramas “Lost,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Ugly Betty,” “Commander in Chief” and “Nightstalker;”
• Disney Channel’s renowned children’s programming including “Jake Long: American Dragon,” “Kim Possible,” “That’s So Raven,” “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” and Playhouse Disney titles “Handy Manny,” “Little Einsteins” and “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse;”
• MTV’s reality favourites “Pimp My Ride,” “Barrio 19,” “Bam’s Unholy Union,” “Laguna Beach,” and “My Sweet Sixteen;”
• Nickelodeon children’s programming “Avatar: The Legend of Aang,” “Drake and Josh,” “Dora the Explorer,” “Genie in the House” and “SpongeBob SquarePants;” and
• Paramount Comedy hits “South Park,” “Comedy Blue,” “Jongleurs Unleashed: Part I,” “That 70’s Show” and “The World Stands Up.
I think I'll stick with Stage6 and Veoh for the time being.

iPod sale = new iPods on horizon

Whilst holidaying in Cornwall, I spotted a John Lewis newspaper ad for iPods - silver ones are now only £68.95 and the black ones are £30 cheaper. This can mean only one thing. The new iPods that run on Mac OS X will be out soon. Some (supposedly) leaked blurry photos of the new video iPods have appeared on the web (a bit disappointing compared to the iPhone) and AppleInsider reckon there'll be some sort of event on the 5th September. They may even announce the long awaited video downloads on the UK iTunes Store. Oh Joy.

Lennon for sale on iTunes

John Lennon's back catalogue has popped up on the iTunes Store. It's only a matter of time before the 'holy grail' of the Beatles appears there too.

Widget reveals music purchases to the world

Apple has introduced a web widget My iTunes, to go with the new iWeb '08. You can upload it to most blogs and even an RSS feed. You can show either iTunes Purchases or Favourite Artists for the world to see. So it's a good way to embarass yourself. You can choose from five styles and three sizes. Here's a medium one for you to laugh at. I'll Stick two small ones down the right hand-side so you can keep up to date with the sort of shit I waste my money on.



(Well it was supposed to be a medium-sized widget but it looks like they still have a few bugs to iron out.

Apple backtrack on iMovie

iMovie HD '06 has now been made available to those of us who bought iLife '08 to run on our old Macs. The new iMovie can only run on fast G5s and Intel processors. Horray! Apple still care for us 'vintage' Mac users. Not everyone can afford to upgrade their Mac whenever a new processor comes out. (This makes me feel better since I tried to play around with the new Web Galleries within .Mac. I couldn't without first upgrading my iLife.)
I would've liked to get iLife '08 for free with a new iMac, but there's no way I can afford one. Now there's no excuse for not getting Life '08. Now what can I eBay for £55?

Ready for some 4G iMac nerd porn?

Here's some nice shots of the beautiful new iMac. Engadget took them as they unpacked and fitted more RAM (third-party, I hope).