Jake Lee, 17 - the first UK iPad hero

Someone offered him £500 for his place at the front of the queue, but he stayed put to become the first customer to buy an iPad from the Regent Street Apple Store.

No real news so here's fun with words.

What's happened recently? Steve Jobs isn't going to die. Perhaps he is the new messiah; My mate Neill queued for two hours in the Regent Street Apple Store to buy a 16GB iPhone 3G; and there are rumours of a MacBook touch flying around. A few years ago Jobs said that he had no reason to even think about an Apple Tablet but He also said that about a iPod phone. Anyway, Wordle.net was featured in Creative Review this month. It takes words from cut and pasted paragraphs and blogs and arranges them artfully on your screen. Above is a peice created using words from this very blog.

Now there's a reason to go shopping in Milton Keynes.

I went shopping in Milton Keynes last year and I was disappointed to say the least. Half of the shop premises are empty or of the 'Pound World' type. Even Hemel Hempstead was better (although the MK Ikea is a paradise compared to the one at Wembley). From this week, it's a different story because the MK branch of the Apple Store has opened. Oh joy.

A Closed Apple Store Hints At New Products

The US Apple Store is closed for the moment. So what could this mean? New touchy-trackpad MacBook Pros?

Duffy Live at Regent Street on the 15th Feb.

Gorgeous newcomer, Duffy - who's about to steal Amy Winehouse's crown (the singing crown, not the booze and drugs one)- will be the next artiste to play live at the flagship Store. Best get to the Apple Store before eight to join the queue as she's on at nine pm.

Apple Stores are being updated!

...and you know what that means, don't you?

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

US Apple Store is closed for updating. Could this mean the new iMac is out today?
We'll know after lunchtime.

Live From London 9pm, 26th June: Natasha Bedingfield
The sister of that bloke who had a car crash...you know "I gotta get thru this"... will perform a special acoustic set at the Regent Street Apple Store on Tuesday June 26th. The set will feature tracks from her albums Unwritten and NB. Arrive early to avoid disappointment, or else download it from iTunes a couple of weeks after.

Kate Walsh to play Live From London next Tuesday.
If I remember rightly, she had an iTunes Single of the Week a few month's back. She's a sort of KT Tunstall without the drink problem. So if you like acoustic folk sung by a lady, get yourself down to the Apple Store on Regent Street before 9pm.

Apple Store to open in Liverpool next year.
Hey! Hey! Alright! Calm down!
It'll be in the new Liverpool One development, and will bump the total number of Apple Stores to fourteen.

Lame Academy runner-up, Lemar will perform an exclusive acoustic set at the Apple Store Regent Street on Tuesday April 24th at 9.00 pm. The event is the next in the iTunes Live From London series. The set will include his new single Tick Tock. Prepare yourself for lots of girly screaming.

Apple TV ad on US screens.
We won't be seeing this 'School of Rock' ad on UK TV. We'll have to wait until iTunes UK begins selling movies. They could always re-edit to show a music video or vodcast. I don't understand the point of buying an Apple TV in this country until we can buy movies and TV programmes from iTunes. What do I know?! It's the 16th best-selling item at the Apple Store.

Thoughts On Music - A least someone was listening.
EMI will offer DRM-free, 256kbs AAC files on iTunes this May (Hooray!)
News just in from Apple:
"Apple today announced that EMI Music's entire digital catalogue of music will be available for purchase DRM-free (without digital rights management) from the iTunes Store (www.itunes.co.uk) worldwide in May. DRM-free tracks from EMI will be offered at higher quality 256 kbps AAC encoding, resulting in audio quality indistinguishable from the original recording, for just 99 pence per song. In addition, iTunes customers will be able to easily upgrade their entire library of all previously purchased EMI content to the higher quality DRM-free versions for just 20 pence a song. iTunes will continue to offer its entire catalogue, currently over five million songs, in the same versions as today —128 kbps AAC encoding with DRM — at the same price of 79 pence per song, alongside DRM-free higher quality versions when available."
More good news within news:
"iTunes will also offer customers a simple, one-click option to easily upgrade their entire library of all previously purchased EMI content to the higher quality DRM-free format for 20 pence a song. All EMI music videos will also be available in DRM-free format with no change in price."
Now who's on EMI? Air Traffic, Auf De Maur, badly Drawn Boy, Beth Orton, Corinne Baliey Rae, Dave Gilmour, Faith Evans, Faultline, Fischerspooner, Hot Chip, Iron Maiden, John Cale, Kate Bush, Keran Ann, Kraftwerk, Pink Floyd, Radar, Radio 4, Robbie Williams, Saosin, Sigur Ros, Starsailor, Telepopmusik, The Aliens, Van Hunt and Vincent Vincent and the Villians. EMI also own the Heavenly, DFA, and Positiva labels.
I think I'll first buy one higher bit rate song to see if I can tell the difference in quality, before I go and waste a whole bag full of 20 pence pieces. Being a child of the Walkman generation, my hearing ain't that good.

Wacom Pens Down. Adobe CS3 Launch Party Time!
Adobe will be holding their Creative Suite 3 launch at the Regent Street Apple Store on 28th & 29th March, between 6.30-8.00pm. There you'll find exactly what is in the box.