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.