News

Hiatus

Due to ongoing house moving shenanigans, Mister Mac is on temporary hiatus.

See you soon.

iPhone 3GS

The iPhone 3GS (S for Speed apparently) will be released on 19th June.

It’s faster, comes with an updated camera, 3MP with video, voice control, a digital compass, remote wipe.

The hardware remains looking the same so that old case of yours will still fit.

Details

There was also a lot of iPhone software demoed.

Find My Phone allows you to find where you put your phone down even if it’s in mute.

TomTom are releasing an app taking advantage of the built in compass and GPS turning the iPhone into a proper turn by turn satnav.

iPhone OS 3.0

iPhone OS 3 will also be released on 17th June, a free update to all iPhone users and is compatible with the original iPhone.

I’d think of version 3 as the first proper version with features you’d have thought would’ve been included at the start, but also adds a few things to move it forward.

Cut/Copy/Paste is finally here as is landscape in all the main apps. You can now finally search using Spotlight.

Peer to Peer gaming so you’ll be able to play along with friends with iPhones.

MMS which shall make some happy (never cared about it myself).

Finally your notes are now synced, it’s been so annoying that wasn’t there at the start.

You can now shake to shuffle like other iPods.

It also adds tethering, making it easy to connect your computer to the net when you’re not near any wifi.

Details

Mac OS X 10.6

Snow Leopard or Mac OS 10.6 is set to be available in September for a price in the US of $29 (no UK price yet, but I’d guess they’d just change the dollar to a pound).

Snow Leopard is more an improvement of what underpins the OS, making it faster and actually giving you back space on your HD with a few UI improvements.

Details

Safari 4

Safari 4 is now out of beta and released for both Mac & PC.

I am a little hesitant to re-install it. I removed it after finding problems when reopening pages from the last session, but that was a beta version.

Download

MacBook Updates

Apple have updated the MacBook range making the 13” Alu MacBook a MacBook Pro in the process. Seems a little silly, why not just drop the whole Pro moniker?

Updates include:

New 15” MacBook Pro with the
controversial built in battery but now has a built in SD card slot which is no doubt a lot more useful than the PC card slot was.

So does the new 13” which now also brings back FireWire! Which puts me out of date. It happens.

The MacBook Air and MacBook (White) both got a speed bump. The 17” also got an update but kept its card slot.

You can look at the full specs
here

Five on your Mac

So along with 40d, channel Five is now Mac compatible too and the site has been much improved.

You can also watch with the
ITV Player, but the site design is a disaster.

Still it’s nice to finally be getting some Mac recognition.

4oD on a Mac!

Finally, 4oD, Channel 4’s catch up service is now available on the Mac, streaming at least.

Quality isn’t too bad on new programmes, older programmes like Father Ted are a bit more iffy, but it’s nice no longer to have to open Windows.

Link

iPod Shuffle


ipodshuffle_image3_20090311


Apple updated the
iPod Shuffle, making it smaller, removing all the controls to the headphones.

It’s not going to win any design awards (well, it will of course), but it’s smaller, lighter and still has a little clip on it. It’ll all be in the headphones eventually.

I’d have to try the voice controls to see how well they work. I know at the moment it’s a pain to dig the iPhone out of my pocket to check what’s playing, so it might be a great feature (and perfect for anyone visually impaired). All the tapping does remind me of the
MacTini.

At the moment you’re stuck with Apple’s headphones, but no doubt better ones will come and nobody is forcing anyone to run out and buy a new shuffle until they do.

Comes in Black or Silver - 4GB £59

Safari 4

Safari 4
Apple released Safari 4 beta for Mac and Windows yesterday.

I’ve only had a quick play around but so far I like the tabs at the top giving a little more screen space and top sites, but it may take some getting used to. I think they need an easier way of adding sites to it unless I’m missing something?

I’m unsure how useful
Cover Flow is going to be in Safari, but maybe it has finally found a use? I can’t say I use Cover Flow in anything else, it’s always been something you wow at then never use.

Windows users should be please that it’s now more a
native app.

MacWorld US has a good review and Ars.

You can download Safari 4
here.

MacBook

CIMG2159
After many months of waiting I finally bought a new Aluminium MacBook 2.4Ghz in October. I know you’re meant to wait for the second generation, but couldn’t keep my loaned iMac G5 forever.

I had some
early niggles which may’ve tainted my initial excitement, blame the problems I had with my previous Black MacBook which made me paranoid. Talking of which; it has the same static noise issue. After some research it seems the problem is the sound-card sleeping, the static blip is the sound it makes when waking. C’est la vie.

There was an initial problem with the trackpad not always responding when pressed, fixed in the
Trackpad Firmware Update. Two other updates fixed some problems I’d not had: MacBook EFI Firmware Update and MacBook SMC Firmware Update.

The lack of Firewire hasn’t been a problem. The one drive I had which used Firewire also could be connected via USB. It’s a pity there’s no way to use
Target Disk Mode, even if used infrequently it was a useful feature.

It’s a beautiful computer, feeling lighter and more solid than the Black MacBook, due to the new
unibody design, with none of the problems with greasy finger marks. It’s fast, easily capable of virtualizing Windows when I need to (blame 4oD, which is still Windows only). I’m using the cheap as free VirtualBox.

The new glass
multi-touch trackpad features are great, even if I don’t use them all. Swiping back and forth in a browser, or four fingers for Exposé just feels natural. I’ve even got used to just tapping instead of pressing the trackpad (which itself is one big clunky button). It makes for a much quieter computer experience. It’s also nice to know it being glass it hopefully won’t end up all shiny like most trackpads.

Overall, I’m enjoying it more now than when I first unboxed it.

One other thing, it also has a very satisfying thhhud when you close the lid, it feels engineered like car doors.

Christmas Ads

Picture 1


Two new animated for Christmas Holiday ads from Apple. I can do Anything and Tree Trimming.

Link

Apple Event 14th October

I can breath a sigh of relief. Apple have announced an event next Tuesday, 14th October. The invite simply reads The Spotlight Turns to Notebooks with a photo showing the back of an unknown Apple notebook. You can see the invite over at Ars.

Here’s hoping it’ll be something I can buy.

Boateng

Who’d not want one of his suits?

Cuil

Cuil is a new search engine from former Google employes. It’ll probably not catch on like many others, but I do like how it displays results in columns. It means a lot less scrolling, taking advantage of all the horizontal space monitors tend to have.

Another nail in Facebook's coffin?

I know this is pure schadenfreud on my part, but I couldn’t not post about a guy selling Facebook profiles on eBay. I do hope you’re not a friend.....

Link

WWDC 2008

iPhone 3G
Apple announced the iPhone 3G as anticipated at this years WWDC, available from 11th July. Main features added are, 3G and GPS. It also has better battery performance. Essentially it’s the same phone, faster and a lot cheaper:

8GB model will cost £99 on the £30 & £35 tariff, and
free on the £45 & £75 tariff. 16GB model, £159 on the £30 & £35, £59 on the £45 tariff and free on the £75 tariff. They will also be releasing a Pay-as-you-go version, pricing not yet available. Update: Previous owners will also be able to upgrade for free to the new model. Visit O2 for full details.

It’s also now available in white and black, the buttons are metal and the headphone socket is no longer recessed, making it easier to work with other headphones. Oh, and back is plactic now, which should help with reception I’ve read.

Not upgrading the camera seems a strange oversight. It still has the same 2 megapixel camera of the previous model, and no ability to record video, why? Many were also expecting a front facing camera, but that’s just an expectation, a good one mind. The problem is we still tend to go by the numbers and see 7mp as better than 2, just like the old days of the
Mhz myth, we have the Megapixel myth:

“The megapixel myth was started by camera makers and swallowed hook, line and sinker by camera measurebators. Camera makers use the number of megapixels a camera has to hoodwink you into thinking it has something to do with camera quality.”

Really, unless you’re heavily cropping an image or planning on printing over A5, 2mp is probably fine. I’m not an Apple appologist, as it does seem rather dumb to have missed even adding 1 extra megapixel. Sure it’ll happen in the next revision, they probably were concentrating on 3G & GPS first. If you’re a serious photographer, you’re going to have a proper camera anyway.

David Pogue came to the same
conclusions.

The only other missing
feature it seems, is MMS (Multimedia Message Service), unless you’re waiting for that haptic feedback? They have improved Enterprise integration (which is interesting for those corporate chappies). My brother is planning on getting one, so I’ll see what he uses most, I’d suspect I’d be surfing mostly.

You can watch the new iPhone advert
here.

Update: Apple have released a guided tour of the iPhone here.

Apple also launched
MobileMe, a replacement for .Mac (itself a replacement of the free iTools, damn them!). MobileMe will push services like calendars, mail and contacts to the iPhone. As well as a suite of web based applications. It’s still going to cost you 20GB storage $49 - 40GB storage $99 annually. You can no doubt get these services for free elsewhere, perhaps less elegantly, but you pays your money... You can now watch a tour of the service here.

There was also some information on the next version of
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. The OS appears to be laying foundations for the future, rather than adding flashy new features. Expected 2009.

Sadly, and I didn’t really expect it, there were no new Macs, specifically a new MacBook or MacBook Pro which is what I’m waiting for.


The keynote is available to watch
here (but it’s a pretty dull one).

Sex and the City

Ok, yes this is lame. If you ever saw an episode of Sex and the City, you would've noticed Carrie always had some form of Mac laptop. Well, if you have the urge, you can now delve into her virtual MacBook Pro, oh, and have a chance to win a poster from the film!

Link

Apparently she's still on Tiger.

Cambridge Apple Store - Grand Opening

I’m just back from the Cambridge Apple Store which opened today along with the rest of the Grand Arcade. I’d been turned down for a job working at the new store; but I wasn’t so miffed that I’d not want a free T-Shirt and a chance to win something!

I played it smart, I thought and went in via the new John Lewis end of the mall, which seemed to have less people waiting than the Lion Yard entrance (it turned out most had waited outside the main Grand Arcade entrance). There were balloons suspended from the ceiling ready for the opening, but to my disappointment they didn’t drop at 10:00.



At 10:05 I could hear a loud count down shouted at the other end and they were let through (even then the balloons didn’t drop). Some made a run for the Apple Store (others walked past), leaving the people at my end in some confusion, still being held back, until a few made a break for it. This lead to the normal human need to follow the crowd and stampede. Many rushed down to the Apple Store, but were made to form another queue against the wall opposite the store before being let in. I still managed to be in a line with about the first 15 people, had I been further back I’d would’ve gone home.


store opening
Hey you, get to the back of the queue.


There was some confusing as we were let in - other shoppers were either trying to squeeze past the store, or when trying to walk in were being ushered away down the line, not realising it was anything special. There was the usual noisy clapping, shouting and hooting as we entered, this was mainly from the Apple staff - not the people coming in. We were also extensively filmed & photographed by Apple’s staff, for no doubt more promotional videos, (like I saw during my Apple interview/seminar). I kept my hood up.



Once inside, I picked up my T-shirt from a guy I had been to the seminar with. I called him Vicas for some unknown reason. I couldn’t remember his name, it might’ve been close? I apologise if he ever reads this. I shook his hand, congratulating him. The (not so) funny thing; I’m sure he admitted not knowing that much about Macs at the seminar, but he does have a friendly face. I also spied another guy who had talked way too much during the seminar and is now one of their greeters! I guess Mac knowledge isn’t high on Apple’s wish list to work in a store (I think I’ve a right to be have my nose put out slightly - how could they not want MisterMac! heh).

store opening 3
Many shops remain empty


The shop seemed pretty generic, not very big but nicely laid out as you’d expect. After a look about and quick play with an iPhone (forgetting to look at the MacBook Air). I remembered to enter the competition,
once I found it. I also took some photos, which you can see here.



After leaving, I found the queue stretched right down to the old Lion yard. I’m actually unsure if some of the people in the queue knew what they were queuing for. I have a feeling some just thought it was still for the grand opening of the mall, or maybe I’m wrong and a lot of those old Grans really are Mac users? You never know!





Whilst walking out via
John Lewis - one of the staff asked me "what is in those boxes?". I explained it was a T-shirt and he seemed slightly disappointed. They are one of the other major stockists of Apple products, so I cheered them up saying the Apple Store still don’t give that free extra two years guarantee, unlike themselves. They thanked me heh.

store opening 2
Chic Apple Store, right next door to the classy
Clinton Cards. That’s gotta make you grin.


I kinda felt sorry for the other shops, most had more staff than customers in comparison, the guy at the Sony store looked quite miffed as I left with my Apple T-Shirt box.

Update: Just noticed my story has been linked by MacDailyNews - just to add; the Sony store isn’t in the Grand Arcade, it’s around the corner in Lion Yard , I just past it on the way out - I think the guy was more bemused. My old Sony Trinitron CRT TV has been going strong for 18 years, so not a comment on their products, but their stores do need modernisation.

Saturday I think will be the real test as to what shops people are actually interested in.
Top Man, that’s where I plan on going. Now I would’ve queued if they were handing out free T-Shirts, well they might do sizes other than large, or perhaps I should eat more pies!

Update: On Sunday the Apple Store was pretty full when I went past.

There’s still many empty shops in the Arcade, some of the new shops have just moved in from other parts of the town centre, leaving closed stores elsewhere. Hopefully we’ll get some real new stores soon, and not just expensive brand stores (not everyone in Cambridge is
rich).

Update: I saw on the local news that they did let the balloons down later, with dancing girls! They don’t mention the Apple Store, odd considering it had the most interest. Still, I can’t believe I missed that, instead I was inside a Mac shop. Here’s hoping I win something.


t-shirt
T-Shirt; only comes in large.

Phorm

Think about changing your ISP, it's as bad as bloody Facebook.

Phorm will allow the 3 big ISPs to track everywhere you go on the internet and sell that information to an advertiser, oh and with some guff that they're making the net a better place.

See:
BadPhorm
BBC Reports:
1 & 2


Update: You can now also sign the petition
here.

iPlayer downloads for Mac 2008

BBC have announced (again) they'll bring a download version of the iPlayer for Mac by the end of 2008.

That nonsense over developing for every platform, ohh really there's only 3.

I wish they'd stop announcing and start delivering.

Get a Mac ads get gone?

The UK Get a Mac ads starring Mitchell & Webb have gone missing from the UK Apple site, instead you're treated to a why you'll love a Mac page. You can still find them on Youtube.

The ads may not have been to everyone's tastes, usually rather anal people, but I found some quite funny.

That doesn't explain why they've vanished? No doubt it's something sensible to do with them not brining enough switchers and it's time for something new. As I mentioned below, perhaps an advert more on the lines of the iPhone would be better? Show off that OS and iLife etc.

Mitchell & Webb were a fun choice, although odd considering some of their sketches took the piss out of advertising, perhaps an unknown pair may've been better?



Update: The
Japanese Get a Mac page has also been pulled.

MacHeads the Movie



MacHeads the Movie


seriously...

MacBook Air - Macworld 2008

product-air


The big news from this years Macworld Expo was the MacBook Air, a super lightweight super thin notebook. It weighs just 1.36 Kg or just 3 pounds, for comparison the previous smallest notebook, the PowerBook 12" weighed 2.1 Kg.

If you travel a lot, or as my girlfriend says, find MacBooks too heavy for her lady like arms, then this is the machine for you. It may not be a super-sub-notebook, but I find it's the weight more than the size of a notebook that puts my back out and this way you still have that 13.3 inch widescreen.

It has a couple of
unique features, other than the weight & how thin it is. The trackpad now supports gesturing, like you'd find on the iPhone, pinching to zoom, three finger side swipe to go back and forth on a web page. It also has an option for a solid state hard drive, 64 GB or a standard drive at 80 GB.

The Air comes as a 1.6 Ghz £1,199 or an optional 1.8 Ghz £2,028 with 2GB of memory, built in 802.11n wifi. Behind a cool flap hides the Audio Out, USB 2.0 and Micro-DVI for external monitor support and of course, a built in camera. Full specs can be found
here.

What's missing is the optical drive. This reminds me of when Apple removed the old floppy drive when introducing the iMac, people got all hot and bothered about it, but now who uses floppy drives? Apple will sell you a USB optical drive (or buy a 3rd party device), but what's clever is, they've introduced some clever software,
Remote Disc, which allows you to use an optical drive of another PC or Mac, just as if it were attached to your machine wirelessly. The whole point of this machine is to go wireless.

Some have complained about the built-in-battery, probably the same ones who complained about the iPod, I don't see it as much of an issue when Apple won't charge to replace it, plus it's bound to have some third-party battery replacements for those who don't mind using a screwdriver, just like the iPod. You just need to think about what you want, and if the Air ticks all your boxes, it's for you, if not there's always the MacBook and Pro.

Apple have put together a handy video tour to explain a lot of the features
here.

Update: Reviews of the MacBook Air

The Ars Technica Review

MacWorld US
MacWorld US - Fitting files on
MacWorld US - Migrating

Lower iTunes Prices

Apple are going to lower the UK prices for the iTunes store, bringing it in line with the rest of Europe. Prices should drop from 79p to about 66p.

Apple have said this is what they wanted to do at the start, but were prevented by the major labels.

The new prices should be available in 6 months.

Reports from the
BBC & MacWorld UK

BBC iPlayer on the Mac

The BBC catch up TV service, iPlayer which has been in beta for Windows only, is now available on your Mac! Just visit the iPlayer beta site and you can watch some of the last 7 days shows.

You still won't be able to download anything on the Mac yet, but streaming is working at least. Downloads are meant to be coming to the Mac (and Linux) sometime in 2008. I still don't like that they're using any form of DRM, we pay the license fee, we should be able to keep whatever we download for as long as we like. I'm not the
only one to think that. The service is said to have had low take up so far.

Quality is pretty so-so and I've not found a great deal I want to watch, but there is the Sky at Night! I also wish it would stay full screen on one screen whilst I do other things on another (that's for those of us with a Mac & two monitors or a laptop Mac connected to another screen). It's still nice to have though!

The service comes out of beta on Christmas Day.

The BBC, ITV and Channel 4 also recently
announced they'll be creating a combined on-demand service, we wait to see what computer support it will have, as at the moment 4oD is not Mac compatible.

Hello iPhone

The iPhone arrived yesterday in the UK, I was surprised to see that there were queues in London etc. which just goes to show that the interest in the phone hasn't died down.

I tried out the iPhone in the
Carphonewarehouse in Cambridge today (and then saw it in the O2 shop opposite). I found it remarkably easy to use, surprisingly so, the keyboard works well and was very accurate, camera shots looked fine (I'd not believe the MP myth) and Safari was great, I even managed a smidge of self publicity.

I came out with my very own iPhone, it's very slim...


slim

Trojan Hype

The media sure like to get over excited at any mention that Mac OS X may not be secure, it's like they're desperate to all run in and say 'I told you so'. Well Bill Thompson who gets his guff blog posted on the BBC site sure seems like your average wind up merchant, I think he must be paid by the word for all the waffle.

He says: "At the moment the fake codec is being spread via porn sites, but it will quickly spread to more mainstream sites", which shows a complete misunderstanding. Trojans are not viruses. Trojans can’t spread on their own and they can’t self-replicate (viruses can do both).

He's not the only one of course, and for a nice take on the whole thing, take a read of
Daring Fireball on the same subject: "To get hit by it, you must (a) be the sort of moron who downloads “video codecs” from porno sites; (b) mount the disk image and launch the installer;"

It's not going to turn up on YouTube (since when did you download a code for YouTube? ummm never?), so don't worry about it, the people getting hot under the collar about this are just after headlines. Your Mac is as secure as ever it was.

Updated MacBooks

index_ataglance20071026


Apple have updated their MacBook line with intel's Santa Rosa chip set, so if you have been waiting, now's the time to buy.

Clock speeds haven't changed that much, frontside bus has increased to 800mhz.

13" White 2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo, 1GB RAM, 80GB hard drive, GMA X3100 Graphics chip set, Combo drive £699

13" White 2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo, 1GB RAM, 120GB hard drive, GMA X3100 Graphics chip set, Superdrive £829

13" Black 2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, GMA X3100 Graphics chip set, Superdrive £949

The MacBook Pro now has a 2.6Ghz option £160 and 5400rpm, 250GB hard drive £100 (7200rpm 200GB £130).

Leopard, THE review.

More than you ever may want to know about Mac OS X 10.5, in Ars Technica's review by John Siracusa.

The best PC Laptop, a Mac?

Funny isn't it?

Link

BBC iPlayer

The BBC catch up TV service iPlayer (which uses Microsoft DRM) is set to be on the Mac by 2008. Woo. However, we'll only be able to stream content and not download it. Sounds like a sneaky bodge, what a surprise. They'll try anything to wriggle out of it it seems, they're blaming some imaginary cost thing now.

Really it was no different than the BBC saying, unless you own a Sony TV, you can't watch our content.

Talking of things Microsoft,
John Pugh MP has pointed out that the Government has pretty much sold its soul to Microsoft. There's a surprise.

Update: Not that I've got it in for the BBC, but this
interview with Mary Taylor, President of UK Open Source Consortium, by Sean Daly makes you want to shove their license fee where...well you know.

Cambridge Apple Store

This is news because I live here, Apple are planning on opening an Apple Store here in Cambridge (that's in England, and the one in Cambridgeshire).

It's set to open in the newly built
Grand Arcade once it opens March 2008, John Lewis flag ship store will be opening there this November which is a pity as at the moment John Lewis is very nearby.

Mac OS X 10.5 arrives 26th October

26th October marks the launch of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard! You can pre-order now.

Single user is £85 and Family Pack (5 license) £129 from
Apple's store.

However; Amazom.co.uk prices £79.98 for
single license and £119.98 for the Family Pack.

You can see all 300+ New Features
here. It's best to check the minimum requirements before buying, as it might be the time to sell your old Mac, and buy a new(er) one.

The iPhone has arrived (almost).

The iPhone is here, well, almost here. The iPhone will debut in the UK on the 9th November with O2.

It will cost you £269 plus a monthly tariff of either £35, £45 or £55 but all plans offer free unlimited traffic (with a fair usage caveat) as well as access to
The Cloud WiFi hot spots.

You'll be able to buy the iPhone from Apple, O2 and
Car Phone Warehouse. No news on whether the Starbucks deal is coming to the UK anytime soon.

I'd still say wait for the next version, but if you wants it, you can now get it.

iPods

Today Apple introduced a whole lot of iPods.

New Shuffle colours, a squarer larger screened nano, higher capacity iPod Classic (as it's now known) and to top it off, the iPod Touch, which is like a cut down iPhone without the phone, so it's an i then, ahem. It has wifi and Safari. You can now also download music from Apples new iTunes WiFi store straight to the iPod Touch or iPhone.

Check them out.

iLife 08 going cheap

If you've recently bought a Mac (on or after 7th August) then you can purchase iLife 08 for the princely sum of £9.99!

See Apple's site for
more details.

Apple Special Event - August 2007

ad_specialevent20070807


Yesterday Apple hosted a Special Event at its campus announcing new:

iMacs
Keyboards
iLife
iWork
.Mac

Plus upgraded
AirPort Extreme and Mac Mini.

You can watch the event
here.

BBC iPlayer Petition

As you probably know the BBC are introducing a way where we can catch up with their programmes online, but it'll be only available for Windows PCs until they get their act together (whenever that will be). Just to add to the pressure there is a petition you can fill in online at Number 10. So don't hang about, we've got them on the run now with over 10,000 signatures so far.

Go fill it in

Buying a Phone

It's not like this when I buy a phone; remember, he's buying a phone! Still, I also don't get hugged by Whoopi Goldberg.

Yahoo Messenger Poll

images

Yahoo are asking Yahoo! Messenger users whether they'd prefer to wait for the messenger to be updated to work with older versions of OS X, or release updates sooner but will only work with newer versions of the OS.

I went with the later, it's not like the older OS won't still be able to run the older version of the messenger.

Take the poll
here.

Just one more iPhone

Nice review by David Pogue



That concludes my iPhone coverage, being it won't be in the UK for sometime. There are more rumours that Apple has done a deal with Vodafone/T-Mobile and CarPhoneWarehouse and it'll be 3G in Europe.

Update: The BBC are
reporting that O2 have won in the UK. We shall see...

iPhone iPhone iPhone

Did you know the iPhone is out? Maybe you live in a box, or think there are more important things in the world? Or, jumped on that old iPhone hate nonsense. Anyway, couple of videos:







It does look impressive for a first generation product, iPhone II should be interesting.

iPhone Ad



s Alec Sutherland has made his own take on an iPhone Advert, it's unofficial of course, but clearly professional.

Get a Mac Ads cleared by ASA.

In your faces complainers! The UK Advertising Standards Agency has rejected a bunch of complaints against Apple's UK Get a Mac ads, starring Mitchell & Webb.

Smug link

WWDC 2007 - Keynote Video

You can now watch the WWDC 2007 Keynote video, I always recommend watching, despite it often being somewhat cringey in places, you get a better idea than reading about it.

Watch

WWDC 2007 - Mac OS X 10.5: Leopard

index_disk20070611

Apple announced the near final version of Mac OS X 10.5, otherwise known as Leopard, they also let developers have a copy at the conference. Steve Jobs showed off 10 features out of the 300 new features in the up-coming version, due to ship in October.

First, the entire OS is now
64-bit! Great, you’re thinking? It should mean faster applications in the long run, now you’re more impressed. There will only be one version of the OS, 32-bit applications were shown to work without any problems.


Picture 12
This window is just like the other ones, this window is just the same



The whole OS has a more unified look, rather than the mix of brushed metal and Aqua etc. I did notice the scroll bars still looked like the old Aqua ones, perhaps this may change? You can of course get a more unified look at the moment using
Uno. The translucent top menu is bound to have its lovers and haters, I suppose it depends on if you can change it or not.

The main feature you’ll notice at first is the new more 3D Dock, I’m not sure if it’s any bigger or not, or even if I like it. They seemed to make quite a deal that the dock
reflects, I’m not exactly how this is a feature or just more visual noise. I suspect they’ll be 3rd party ways of changing it back to the the old dock if it’s not an option. I was hoping for a new launcher, along the lines of Over Flow.

The dock does have a much welcomed feature; Stacks: When you download from Safari, instead of defaulting to the desktop, it’ll save to a stack, which should mean we all have a lot more tidy desktops.

Clicking on a Stack will reveal its contents either in a grid, or they’ll be fanned out above. To get an idea, you can watch a demo
here. I don’t know if they’re only for the dock, it seems to me being able to have them on the desktop itself would be useful.


Picture 8
Leopard showing off its stacks



Stacks aren’t really a new feature, Apple has had a patent on the idea for many years and was once known as Piles (Such a shame they didn't stick with that name).

The
Finder has also been updated with a much improved sidebar, somewhat like iTunes and now you can view files in Cover Flow, just like iTunes. I’m not sure how much I’d use this feature, as I don’t tend to in iTunes (other than to show off).

Thinking about it; it may turn out to be more useful in the Finder than in iTunes. The Finder is made up of many different document types of documents, which should be instantly more apparent with the large preview of Cover Flow, this may give a quicker visual clue as to the file you’re looking for, rather than in iTunes where it's really just one type of file (cover art).

Spotlight can now search other machines on the network, and it’s now more easy to share content over the network and internet via .Mac. There was no other mention of .Mac, really as I’ve no intention of paying for .Mac I may never see the internet sharing feature. .Mac really ought to be free to my mind.

Quick Look is really a great new feature that allows you to preview your documents without having to open any application right from the Finder.


Picture 9
A Quick Look


Steve also showed off the
power of Core Animation and what 3rd party developers could do with it.

We also saw the new built in backup solution
Time Machine again, you will be able to back-up to a local drive, or a network volume including one attached to an AirPort Extreme. This has to be one of the best features (even if you’ve seen it before). It amazes me how many people still don’t back-up. Some may think this dull, but if you’re one of those people who has lost something critical, you’ll love this.


Picture 10
It’s a Time Machine


Spaces was also shown again; I’m still unsure if or how much I would use it (I may turn around and love it), unlike Dashboard, which I actually have turned off for being just too slow on a 12" PowerBook.

Dashboard did gain a new widget, and WebClip which allows you to use any part of a website as a Widget. I wonder how the websites feel about this? After-all, you’re avoiding seeing any advertising.

Owners of Virtualization software must’ve breathed a sigh of relief, as although
BootCamp will become standard in the system, it’s not going to allow you to run Windows software at the same time. Still a need for Parallels or VMWare Fusion etc.. for some people then.

iChat has gained some fun theatre features, changing the background behind you and PhotoBooth type effects. Pity with firewalls, bandwidth etc. I’ve never really managed to get video to work with iChat and yet Yahoo! Messenger/Skype will just work. The Theatre function looks to be the most useful, giving you the ability to show documents, photos to people you’re talking to.


Picture 11
The fun side of iChat. Help me Obi-Wan, you’re my last hope.


I don’t know if the OS is resolution independent for those of you with super high resolution screens and there was no mention of the system using Sun Microsystems ZFS files system, there is a
report saying they won’t.

There was a little on the
iPhone allowing developers to create compatible Web 2 type applications via Safari, but no standalone applications. I’d imagine developers would be non-plussed by this announcement.

No hardware of course, this really is a software event. There will be those who will be underwhelmed, and few more features we’d not seen in his 10 would’ve been nice, but; it’s still not ready yet, who knows what else may come in the final version in October?

People always expect a lot from Apple, they always want that... one more thing... which I guess keeps people coming back.

WWDC 2007 - Gaming on the Mac

pc_03
From the PC version of Harry Pottery & the Order of the Phoenix


Gaming on the Mac, one of the few places Windows users still say why they wouldn't use a Mac was given a boost during the keynote.

Both
EA Games and ID (pronounced id not i.d. it seems) announced they are developing and will have simultaneous launches of games for PC and Mac in the future.

Games include: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Madden NFL 08, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, Need for Speed Carbon, Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars and Battlefield 2142 from EA.

ID showed for the first time their new game texture engine. The company is known for the DOOM and Quake series.


Steve Jobs must've overcome his dislike of violent gaming, I'm sure I read that he doesn't like them.

Apple's New Website

Apple has updated their homepage, it's now more simple and streamlined. Oddly thought the UK site hasn't as yet been updated.

The website has been showing its age for quite sometime, so it's nice to see the change.

Updated MacBook Pro

Apple have just updated the MacBook Pro line in a quiet introduction. Which means it's no new case, more just increased speeds. Now 2.2 or 2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, memory is up to 4GB.

The 15" model now comes with an LED (Mercury Free) backlit display & the 17" has an optional higher resolution display. Upgraded NVIDIA GeForce 86000 GT Video Cards and faster optical drives.

iPhone coming 29th June

Picture 3


Apple has confirmed through their latest
TV ads,that June 29 is the US launch date.

They're a good set of ads, concentrating on the
iPhone ease of use, I've never understood why Apple don't make similar adverts for the Mac.

Still no word on when it'll be out in the UK, or who the carrier will be (
rumoured to be T-Mobile). There's still no page at http://www.apple.com/uk/iphone.

Google Map Street View

I am a little slow, but if you missed it (like me), google have a very cool new Street View option in google maps. It's not really a Mac thing, but it works on Macs (that counts).

Check it out

p.s. Only a few US cities so far & considering they've not even done a High Res sat. map of Basingstoke yet, don't expect your local town to be done soon.

Steve & Bill at all things digital

Interesting set of videos of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates at this years All Things Digital. It's quite cringy in places.

Link

10 Reasons why it doesn't pay to be the computer guy

It's funny, because it's true:

Link

A Greener Apple

Steve Jobs has written another essay, this one on how Apple is working to be more environmentally friendly. This comes in the wake of Greenpeace attacks against Apple, which have been found to be pretty misleading anyway.

The Gracious BBC

Oh, how gracious the BBC are; you may remember I mentioned the BBC making content available on the internet with their iPlayer, and how at the moment it's PC only. They've now announced, in a rather snide way that it will be made to work on Macs:

Mr Highfield said Apple's "proprietary and closed framework for digital rights management gives us headaches," but, "it is one of our top priorities to re-engineer our proposed BBC iPlayer service to work on Macs".

Headache? Microsoft is just as much a closed OS as Apple's. What he means is Microsoft doesn't fully support the Mac with it's DRM, which is no bad thing. Just at a time where DRM is finally being seen as the crap thing that it is, the BBC want to lumber us with it.

So, good news'ish, let's see how long it takes them.

Go sit on the naughty step!

Apple have released six more UK Get a Mac adverts featuring David Mitchell and Robert Webb aka. Mitchell & Webb.

The new ads include: Out of the Box, Accident, Network. Plus three original UK only ads; Naughty Step, Magic and Court.

Nice to see we're getting out own ads and not just US remakes.

The Best of Open Source

I mentioned CyberDuck earlier as a great open source FTP application, well why pay for software? Cyber Duck isn't the only bit of great Mac open source out there, so if you're interested in a few more. Have a look at The Best Open Source Mac Applications over at TechPwn and save your pennies.

BBC iPlayer

The trust, responsible for the public consultation regarding the BBC's iPlayer have released their provisional conclusions. It seems on the surface that's good news, the only worry is; what do they mean by reasonable timeframe?

Provisional Conclusions from the trust:

Platform-agnostic approach: As proposed, the TV catch-up service on the internet relies on Microsoft technology for the digital rights management (DRM) framework. The Trust will require the BBC Executive to adopt a platform-agnostic approach within a reasonable timeframe. "This requires the BBC to develop an alternative DRM framework to enable users of other technology, for example, Apple and Linux, to access the on-demand services."


To keep the pressure on, you can also sign a petition for the primeminister here.

Free online seminars

You can now watch many of Apple's seminars online for free. It just takes a quick registration, choose the seminar you're interested in and they'll mail you a link to watch online.

From things like
Enhancing Video Podcasts with Final Cut Studio, New to the Mac Compatibility with Windows and Making Music on the Mac with GarageBand, plus many more. Subjects include: Audio, Business, Design, Photo, Science and Video. There is also some self-paced learning and Technical Training.

Steve Jobs - Thoughts on Music

Apple have released a statement by CEO Steve Jobs titled: "Thoughts on Music". It's really his thoughts on DRM (Digital Rights Management) used to protect music sold on the iTunes store, or for that matter, any online music store.

You may not be aware, but it's not Apple who want DRM (their FairPlay system), it's the 'big four' music companies who will only let their music be sold online with some form of DRM. Apple would like to see them move to a DRM free system. Also, at the moment, if Apple's FairPlay DRM is cracked, they must fix it in a couple of weeks, otherwise the Music companies will remove their music from the iTunes Store.

I recommend giving it a read.

BBC to offer online TV downloads

The BBC have announced that they will be offering BBC content online. Whilst this sounds like good news on the surface, at the moment they are using Microsoft's DRM (Digital Rights Management), this will obviously restrict access to anyone who's not running Windows. That's us Mac users as well as Linux etc.

The BBC Trust have set up a consultation on the subject, if you could take the time to complete the
questionnaire it could help to ensure that once launched, we aren't discriminated against. After-all, we all pay a license fee regardless of which computer OS we run.

The main question to look out for is:

Question 5
How important is it that the proposed seven-day catch-up service over the internet is available to consumers who are not using Microsoft software?

It shouldn't take too long to complete, but will take a little more thought than just saying yes/no.

My thoughts are that they'd better not charge for any of the content, it's already paid for by the license fee. I also disagree with any form of DRM or 'time limit' to watch programmes. It really would've been easier if they just gave it away on
iTS for free (well, or other download services if you like).

A new years message from Apple.

If you pop along to Apple.com at the moment, you'll be presented with the following message:

welcome2007

Apple was founded in 1976, and the Apple II was introduced in 1977. Of course, people have already decided that there's some hidden meaning behind the new years greetings.

I'm sure some will become clear at the MacWorld Expo on the 8th January.

Front Row on a Mac Pro

images


Makes for a nice rhyme! I know none of us have a Mac Pro, but you never know when someone may pop out and get one, and when you do you'll be wondering why you can't run
Front Row, all because you don't have a remote?

Well, now you can. Just follow the hint over at
macosxhints.com.

Of course, most of us can't run it full stop without a lot more hacking. I did manage to get it running on my PowerBook 12" and my older 15" TiBook, using my phone, via
Salling Clicker as a remote, but it only ever seemed a novelty, having a laptop kinda negates placing your computer far away just to use FrontRow with a remote.

Aperture Give-Away!

Apple are letting you try out their professional post-production photo tool Aperture for 30 days. So, if you find iPhoto a little limiting and want to play with something a little more high-end, here's your chance.

It's available
here.

You could also try out the competition,
Adobe's Lightroom Beta

Get a Mac

Apple have posted some more Get a Mac Ads.

They are funny, but, would they really sell a Mac to a PC user? Oddy the PC guy is more endearing anyway, maybe that's just my British sense, wanting the underdog to win (though in reality, the Mac is the underdog).

One More Thing

Apple also announced they would be introducing in 2007 a media streaming box.

It's code-name is
iTV, which they've said will change. I should hope so, calling it iTV would be very confusing in the UK. "What's on ITV? Coronation Street, no Mum, I mean iiiiiTV"

This box will sit under your TV and you'll be able to stream music, film, photos etc to it from your computer wirelessly.

It will be controlled with an updated version of
FrontRow and the Apple remote.

This isn't a recording device, it's purely for streaming media from a computer. So if you want to record TV to your Mac, you'd still need something like eyeTV (yes, another itv to confuse you) from
Elgato.

WWDC 2006

wwdc



Incase you missed it, here's my round up of Apple's Keynote at the
World Wide Developer Conference yesterday, Monday 8th August.

First off; Apple have finished the transition to intel chips with the release of the
Mac Pro, replacing the PowerMac G5.


designgallery20060807


No new design, on the outside, all looks generally the same as the PowerMac G5, with the addition of two USB ports, 1 FireWire 400 and a FireWire 800 port all on the front. Plus there are now two optical drive trays.

On the rear there are 3 USB ports, 1 FireWire 400 and 1 FireWire 800. Optical and analogue in/out and two Gigabit ethernet ports.

index_intel_badge20060807

But it's inside where all the new stuff is happening. Gone is the G5 chip, replaced with two Dual core intel 64 bit Xeon "Woodcrest" processors (so many funny names). Which makes them Quad processor machines and said to be up to twice as fast as the PowerMac G5.

There are three processor speeds available: 2Ghz, 2.66Ghz and finally a 3Ghz model.

With the extra space given up by the huge G5, you can fill the machine up with 4 hard drives pushing the storage to 2 terabytes. You can also install up to 16 Gigabytes of memory!

Finishing off with 3 full length PCI express slots and a double-wide, 16-lane PCI express graphics slot.

You can
configure the machine in many, many ways: An example configuration of the 2.66Ghz model, 1GB memory, NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT Video, 250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive, 16x double-layer SuperDrive is £1,699.00 (1,445.96 excluding VAT)

Along with the Mac Pro, Apple also released the
intel Xeon based Xserve, servers.

That was it for hardware, those hoping for all manner of iPhones, metal iPod Nanos etc may be disappointed, but the World Wide Developer Conference really isn't a consumer event, so it wasn't any great surprise. People shouldn't listen to rumour.

aapl_0700806_leopard1



Next -
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard:

It will offer many new features, some Steve Jobs said they couldn't yet talk about, so we shall have to wait and wonder? Of course, it'll be 64 Bit.

timemachineheadline20060807


Time Machine: (The best feature) A new backup/restore feature, but unlike any you've used. You have to see it in action to understand, but it seems to be just a matter of plugging in a large enough Hard Drive and Time Machine takes care of the rest. This should give us all no excuse not to do our backups with the ability to just step back days in a very user friendly manner and bring back data, finally.

Mail: Brings a new notes feature, I know I'm forever writing text documents with things to do and memory joggers, now you can save those all in Mail, which seems a great place to keep them. You can also select text and automatically set that as a To Do, this feature extends out of Mail. There will also be templates allowing you to send more media rich and just better looking emails out, which should save on going to iCards.

iChat: Adds Photo Booth effects to your video iChats, as well as photo or video backgrounds. These are more just for fun features. It also has some features you'd normally find in Apple Remote Desktop. Allowing two users to use a single desktop, which should make explaining things a lot easier. You also have the ability to show Photos and Keynote presentations.

One feature many will be happy to see who don't already install
Chax, is a fully Tabbed interface, no more multiple windows all over the place.

spacesheadline20060807


Spaces: This is another you may want to just go look at. Spaces adds virtual desktops to your Mac, it's like having multiple monitors where you can keep certain activities together. Say you could have one Space where you're working on your email and browsing, another you're looking through iPhoto and editing in PhotoShop. This should reduce window clutter.

Dashboard: Finally Dashboard ads a Widget that might get me using Dashboard. I'm not a huge fan of Dashboard, but, Webclip is a widget which allows you to take a clip of any part of any website and have it right in Dashboard. For example you could make a webclip of a eBay auction you are watching so you can see when people are bidding and click and bid yourself. Webclip widgets are live. My only thought on this is, you could webclip anything you fancy, say a favourite cartoon which is great as you no longer have to visit or see any of the adverts placed on that site. Not so great for the website you're clipping though. Expect to see some sites finding a way to stop you clipping them.

They also add Dashcode, a way for you to create your very own Widgets for Dashboard.

Spotlight: Will be able to search other machines on your network, and adds an application launching feature which sounds a little like Quicksilver. I'm all for rolling things into Mac OS X, saves me having to install and pay for extra 3rd party software.

iCal: Now adds what I think is an industry standard CalDav, which should make sharing your calendars easier.

Accessibility: They have finally improved the voice in Mac OS X which hasn't changed from the Mac OS 9 days, you probably heard Fred on Radiohead's OK Computer album. The new voice is called Alex and really sounds a lot better, and for those who really need to hear things on their computer, it sounds good at higher speeds.

coreanimationheadline20060807


Core Animation: Which isn't really so much a feature for you and me, but more part of Mac OS 10.5 which should make for a richer experience when using your Mac. I have a sneaking suspicion that it will be used in iTunes in the future, if you've seen CoverFlow, you'll know what I mean.

One last thing, they'll also be bundling in Front Row and Photo Booth into Leopard, so those machines who haven't been able to have these features (without hacks) will be able to. Plus improved parental controls.

They'll also include
Boot Camp, the software which allows you to run MS Windows, but there was no mention of an new Boot Camp features (e.g. Running windows using Spaces). Apple have been endorsing Parallels an alternative way of running Windows applications on your Mac without a need for a reboot.

That's it really, there was no One Last Thing and no mention of a new improved Finder. Sadly though, it won't be 'till next Spring 'till we get our hands on 10.5, so plenty of time for some other features to appear.

You can watch Steve Jobs and friends giving the Keynote address yourself
here. It's fun just for the I'm a PC guy's introduction and Bertrand Serlet's comments on the remarkable way Window's Vista is starting to look rather like Mac OS X, we've never seen them do that before...

Total Recall

If you own a 15" Mac Book Pro, and bought it between Feb. and May this year then you may want to check your battery serial numbers. Apple have launched a battery recall program, due to some having faulty batteries and will replace them free of charge.

More information can be found at Apple's site
here.

A good review; from the Beeb?

Well; I'll eat my hat! If the BBC hasn't just given a Mac a good review. I take back all my past grumbles.

"
Apple's entry-level line of consumer laptops should give PC giants like Dell and HP sleepless nights.

The new MacBooks are powerful, fast and sleek machines, at a price to rival similar offerings from the world of Windows.

In addition, they sport Intel chips, so they can run Microsoft's operating system as well as Apple's OS X."

read on.

His negatives are: heat, lack of PC card slot and no modem. "Laptop" really is a misnomer for, well, laptops. I'd not keep them on your lap for too long. As for a card slot, have you ever used one? Surely you'd be buying a Mac Book Pro if you were likely to? Modem, seriously? A modem? You've Ethernet, Bluetooth and WiFi and well, you want a modem? You'll be wanting a floppy disc drive next.


I'd still not run out and get one quite yet; tends to be best to avoid first generation products.

More Gat a Mac

Apple have released 3 more "Get a Mac" ads.

That PC guy makes you want to say "bless".


Just kickin' it

Google Video

Google have released a stand alone video player for the Mac (Like Quicktime). So now you can watch videos downloaded from Google Video

http://video.google.com/playerdownload_mac.html

Add it to your collection of video players.

Take the fifth!

Apple's new fifth avenue New York store is now open, and what an opening! Yes, crazy as it's just a shop, but would this ever happen at a PC store opening? You can watch a time-lapse at Apple's site.

photo1

To get the idea, just have to watch this video, and the full story at IFO.

I think had I been the first one in I'd have been punching the air more!

Good news everyone!

"Good news everyone!" in a Professor Hubert Fansworth voice.

Apple Records Corp (what a great site) aka, The Beatles; have lost their court case with Apple Computer. I let out a 'yessss' when I read it, not that I'm one to gloat.

I'm no doubt in the minority, or just the wrong age group. The Beatles to me was always that music my Mum liked (I'm not sure she actually liked them that much either, she says they were ok, but wasn't fanatical). I don't mind them, I just never was in awe of them.

It just seemed like common sense has won through, nobody was ever really going to confuse The Beatles record label and the computer company. This case seemed more about money (like most things).

The Beatles recently announced they might join the 21st century and allow their music to be sold online, but it's doubtful it'll be with iTMS.

Update: Apple Records are appealing

Flippin' Eck!

Say goodbye to that awful looking Windows Media Player on your Mac, you need it no more!

You can now download for free
Flip4Mac, which adds components (codecs) to Quicktime that allow you to play windows media in the QuickTime player, and web browsers.

Update: I've removed Flip4Mac, after discovering it causes the Finder to quit when getting info. on AVI files. I'll let you know if they fix it.

Other news from MacWorld

Some other news from MacWorld:

Goggle Earth is now out for Mac.

"Want to know more about a specific location? Dive right in -- Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips."

home
Can you see Paul's car?



It's a great app!

If you liked the idea of sharing photos more easily, like Photocasting recently announced as part of iPhoto, why not try FilmLoop?

"FilmLoop is free software that lets you broadcast, find, and share photos. It's an instant way to share your photos with your entire social network, and have everyone get involved."

It's available for PC & Mac, I'll try setting up some loops so you can take a look.

Update: Here's a
loop I made earlier.


One last thing, I think a certain someone might be interested in
Montage. A new screenwriting application available in March. You can read a short review here.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year to you all, if a little late one. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and new year.

Now, you're expecting a bit on how do backup your Mac aren't you? Well, I'm afraid, it'll have to wait. It's all Mac News this week!

It's MacWorld 2006 in San Francisco, and yesterday was the Keynote speech. Time to find out which rumours were true, and which were just a lot of hot air.

Steve Jobs announced some evolutionary, rather than revolutionary products.

First some updates. iLife has now been updated to iLife '06. iTunes, iMovie etc.

Most notable were iPhoto, which now allows editing in a new full screen mode, and support for 250,000 photos. A new feature PhotoCasting, allows sharing of albums over the web, which you can subscribe to from within iPhoto or any RSS reader. Sadly publishing is hampered by having to be a .Mac subscriber. I suspect they'll be some workarounds for this from third parties. You can also now order calendars and cards as well as books.

Garageband now allows for simple creation of Podcasts. This was demonstrated by Steve, with his 'Super Secret Apple Rumours' podcast, which made me laugh, he has a wry sense of humour.  It can also record your voice conversations from iChat, if you want to use interviews in your Podcast. It links with iWeb.

iWeb is a new addition to iLife. It allows for quick and easy creation of web sites (blogs, photo albums etc), similar to Rapidweaver, which I use to create this site. I'll be interested in trying iWeb out. I believe it's also though will only upload to .Mac

iDVD now has widescreen support, easier drag and drop menu creation. iMovie gets improved themes. iLife sells for £55 and £69 for a family pack.

iWork '06 is also now shipping with the ability to do some simple spreadsheet calculations and charts within both Pages the word processor, and Keynote, the PowerPoint competitor. There was also mail merge support within pages, using the Address Book, and new Keynote transitions.

There was no sign of the widely expected spreadsheet addition to iWork, know as "Numbers". This is probably due to a Microsoft spokeswoman appearing on stage with Steve Jobs to announce their further commitment to make MS Office for the Mac for at least another five years.  Apple no doubt to appease MS dropped their spreadsheet in favour of Excel, for now.  Costs £55 and £69 for family pack.

There were some other minor updates. QuickTime was updated to 7.0.4 and Mac OS X to 10.4.4. The Mac OS fixes multiple bugs and adds some new widgets to Dashboard.  Available from Software Update.

Update: Apple intially removed links to QuickTime 7.0.4. No reason were given and an uninstaller issued. Since then Apple has re-released the update.

I had some problems starting up after the 10.4.4 update, it sat at the Apple logo with the spinning wheel, I had to force it to quit and start again in single-user mode and run a few repairs. Let me know if you have any problems, but I'd advice a backup before hand (You're asking me how to do that now aren't you?) Just remember, repair your permissions!

The iPod and nano gained a wired remote control with a twist, it has a built in FM tuner.  You do the tuning using the iPod. Costs £35

Next, the one people were waiting for. Which Mac gets the Intel chips first? ......... It's the...... Well, before I tell you.


The CEO of Intel Paul Otellini came on stage in a 'bunny suit'. Now, that doesn't mean he was dressed like a bunny girl I'm afraid. A bunny suit is a 'clean room' suit.  Intel used people dressed in various coloured 'bunny' suits in their ads for Pentium chips.

mwsf2006 intelgroup


Apple famously burnt one in an advert showing the speed of the PowerPC processor over the Pentium. Thus the appearance of the Intel CEO in the bunny suit was a little in joke, if a cringey one. 

So, the first to get the new chip is, the...... iMac. Surprised? I was.

Yes, though the iMac was only recently updated with an iSight camera built in, and remote control. It's the first to have the new Intel Core Duo (previously known as Yonah). It's at least twice as fast as the old iMac (that'll please Paul) has faster RAM and a mini-DVI to connect an external monitor.  It costs the same, 17" £929, and 20" £1229.

indexintellogo20060109

Now, I know some people might be funny about Intel chips in Macs, after-all they've been the enemy right? You've nothing to worry about, having an Intel chip in your Mac doesn't make it a PC, it doesn't make it vulnerable to PC viruses, that's a software issue. It runs all the old Mac software using Rosetta, so you don't need to run out and buy replacements and new software will be Intel native. All you need to care about is that the new Macs run faster, who makes the chip inside isn't that important.

They've created a new advert for the intel in mac, it looks remarkably like the Such Great Heights video by The Postal Service. In this writers opinion, it's cute.

applepostal
Spot the difference?


Portables. Yes, there's a new Intel based laptop Mac, and it has a new name.  

Say goodbye to PowerBook and hello to MacBook Pro.  I'm sure we'll get used to the new name, and I expect the iBook to become the MacBook when they're updated.   The reason for the name change, Steve said, is they've done with Power, being they no longer use PowerPC chips.  It makes sense, although the first PowerBooks also didn't use a PowerPC chip, so the Power in PowerBook was never an indication of the chip used inside. 

Enough of the history.

The MacBook Pro is a 1" thin, 15.4" aluminium clad laptop. Has a built in iSight camera and comes with a remote like the iMac for FrontRow. It's four times faster than the old PowerBooks.  It also has a thoughtful feature. The power connector is called Magsafe. The power cord no longer fully plugs into the Mac, it magnetically attaches, so if snagged it just pulls off, rather than dragging your Mac to its doom on the ground.  I've often caught the cable on my leg, so this is a welcome feature.

indexmagneticanim20060109


It also has a larger trackpad, brighter screen and improved graphics. The 1.67Ghz model costs £1429, the 1.83Ghz £1779 and available in February.

The design hasn't changed that much, and I'd expect the 17" PowerBook to gain the MacBook Pro treatment in time.  As for the 12", there's been rumours of its demise, who can say?  It would seem a bit daft not to have a smaller lighter laptop. Perhaps this will be passed onto updated iBooks/MacBooks when they arrive. Steve said all Macs would transition to Intel by the end of the year. 

Click here to watch the keynote for yourself.


What wasn't there?

There was no new Intel based Mac Mini. Many were expecting it with built in TV recording capability, tying into FrontRow. Of course there' s nothing to stop you adding these features using products from Miglia or Elgato running EyeTV, for example.

No widescreen 13.3" iBook. There was no talk of Mac OS X 10.5-Leopard, and the iPod shuffle wasn't axed.

I will get around to those back-up tips!