Archive for the 'Apple' Category

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The iTV – Apple’s Media Center

Published on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 in Apple, Internet, Movies, Noteworthy, PC, Podcasting, Technology, TV's and Wireless. 4 Comments

This is the one product which hasn’t been released, as in it is not on Apple’s website. The name iTV is not official yet, so it is subject to change. I think that is good because iTV sounds a bit plain, and similiar to Elgato’s EyeTV line of products. So people could get confused. Down to the details:

It looks like a flatter Mac mini.
No power brick, but there is USB 2, Ethernet, 802.11 Wireless, HDMI, Component and RCA jacks as well as optical audio.
Controlled via the Apple remote.
Hooks up directly to your TV, set-top box or other input device.
An enhanced version of Front Row, with windows media centre style browsing. The right hand side has menu and the left has images.
“You can do movie trailers form Apple.com right from your couch. This is big screen over the internet, live as we watch. [demo]“
Movies, TV Shows, Music, Podcasts, and Photos
Coming Q1 of 2007
Works with Macs and PCs
$299

As Apple doesn’t have an official page, I’ll link you to Engadget’s live coverage of the “It’s Showtime!” event.
This certainly seems like a very interesting idea and because of the price point even more so. Now we just have to wait for it to come out, doh!
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iTunes 7 – With Movie Store!

Published on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 in Apple, Gaming, Internet, Movies, Noteworthy, Podcasting, Software, Technology and TV's. Closed

The new version of iTunes has a lot of new features, you can find a good walkthrough of the main features at TUAW. These are the main enhancements:

TV Shows are available in h.264, in 640 x 480 which is up from 320 x 240.
You can update your iPod from right inside iTunes now, you don’t need to go to Preferences. You can say, “I want to sync the 10 most recent unwatched episides of all my TV shows.”
You can sync content between multiple computers as long as you have the same iTMS account and both the computers are authorised.
Coverflow mode allows you to scroll through the artwork of your music as if it was on a shelf.
Music Artwork can be downloaded free from Apple, and it will fill up all the missing artwork in your library!
“Today we’re starting out with films from Disney, Pixar, Touchstone, and Miramax – four studios owned by Disney. Today we’re making over 70 films agvailable online today including Pirates of the Caribbean. They’ll be available the same day they’re out on DVD.“
New movies will be $12.99 if you pre-order them or buy them during the first week. Other movies are $9.99. The movie store is integrated into iTunes and you can preview new releases in album cover flow mode. They will also be at 640 x 480 with Dolby Surround Sound. Initially it will be for the US only, but it will go international in 2007.
Games for iPod are $4.99 and only work with the 5G iPod (old and updated).
A refined look with sections for music, other content, playlists etc. It is not really too big, but it allows iTunes to flow more seamlessley. You have to see for yourself, it is hard to describe.

It is available for download now. I think that’s virtually it, I’ll update it if I find anything else.

The updated iPod

Published on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 in Apple, Gaming, Noteworthy, Software and Technology. Closed

So no 6G iPod with real video capabilities, but an updated ‘version 2′ iPod, if you may call it that. So what’s new? Well for starters, there is a new 80GB model, which has the same size as the 60GB. The battery life has been bumped upto 20 hours of music, and 6 and a half hours of video, that is of course on the 80GB model. There is a search capability, so you can search through the music you have and find what you want easily. You can watch movies and TV shows from the iTunes ~~Music~~ store (more on that in a separate post) on the 60% brighter screen. There are also dedicated games for iPod, including Texas Holdem, Zuma, Pac Man, Tetris, Minigolf and many more. These are available for download from the iTunes store for $4.99 each. The 30GB is selling for £249/£189 and the 80GB for $349/£259.
Nothing else has changed from the iPod, so I would consider it a minor revision. I like the fact that Apple has included game support, and the search is also really good. The battery life is the thing I’m most pleased about as I have always thought it would be quite short for video (though I own a 4G iPod). I can’t wait to try it out, whenever I can. Though it is a shame there is no true video iPod yet, but I think Apple are working on a few things they need to work out.

iPod Shuffle is now the world’s “smallest MP3 player”

Published on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 in Apple, Noteworthy and Technology. Closed

In Apple’s “It’s Showtime” event in San Francisco, a few hours earlier, they revealed the new iPod Shuffle. It is now a lot smaller, somewhere in the size of the radio adapter for the normal iPods, as you can see from the image above. It is also now made of anodized aluminium, just like the iPod nano/mini. With a built-in clip, it is 10mm thick and 41 by 27mm wide. That’s around 1.6 inches long. So it is tiny! It also includes the new headphones like the new iPod nano and the revamped box. It only comes in 1GB and the price is $79/£55. An interesting thing to not is that it doesn’t have a built-in USB port anymore, you have to use an included ‘dock’; which may seem strange, but that is one way they reduced the size so much!
I don’t really like the design so much. Sure it’s small, but the way they changed the look of it makes it look like something’s missing, or does it just look ‘too’ small. I’ll have to see for myself. What do you think?

Return of the iPod mini nano!

Published on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 in Apple, Noteworthy and Technology. Closed

Well not really! But the new nano’s that Apple released today (2G) look like the old iPod mini’s. And who’s to blame them because they were really popular. However, there is no white coloured iPod nano, instead blue, black, green, pink and silver. The sizes are exactly the same, except they are made out of brushed aluminium, like the mini’s, and have beveled edges. They are available in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB. The 2GB only comes in silver at $149/£99, 4GB is available in pink, silver, blue and green, but not black at $199/£129 and the 8GB only comes in black at $249/£169. As to why these variations, we have yet to find out. The box has also been revamped and is 52% smaller in volume. The headphones have also been re-designed, and remain the same white colour, but with a more curved surface. The nano itself, now has a 24-hour battery life, and the screen is 40% brighter than before.
A new ad is also out, which can be seen here. I think the ad looks really cool, although I’m still not sure of the colours. I really liked the current design, but I’ll have to pop into an Apple Store and see for myself.

Video of Leopard?

Published on Saturday, July 1, 2006 in Apple, Software and Technology. Closed

This is more ‘realistic’ than the simple screenshots we last heard about eariler. Not only does this show actual cursor movement and the use of the interface, but it shows us that legendary about box; though even that may not add up to much as that can easily be modified using a .plist file. I honestly think that I think this video is fake, why? For one, this solely centres on tabbed browsing in Finder, which if added wouldn’t be that big of a deal, and certainly not what Apple would classify as the main feature of Leopard. Secondly, the video is quite short and doesn’t seem to show anything else. If someone got their hands on a copy, wouldn’t they show us the most new and exciting features of the OS, not the tabbed browsing which can actually be done with a GUI modifier like UNO. Sorry to tell you guys, but I think the screenshots have more merit than this (which are fake).
I have a mirror of the video here, as the original link went down. It was hosted on a free Box.net account which ran out of Bandwidth. You can check out the original post, which was again, posted on a blogger account using the link below.

Links for June 30

Published on Friday, June 30, 2006 in Apple, Gaming, Noteworthy, Software and Technology. Closed

The shorts for Friday June 30^th 2006.

DocCRP’s Wii and PS3 comparison images. Looking small! (above) [link]
Beneath the Wii’s mysterious flap — SD Slot and Sync button [link]
Mac OS X 10.4.7 now available for download via Software Update [link] and re-release for Intel Macs [link]
Get iClip free only today from MacZot [link]

Links for June 29

Published on Thursday, June 29, 2006 in Apple, Noteworthy, Random Stuff, Shorts, Software and Technology. Closed

The shorts for Thursday June 29, 2006.

LAPD to trial GPS darts, like in the moves (above) [link]
Apple replacing some MacBook’s with the colour defect [link]
MacWorld’s 23 things we want in Leopard [link]

MagSafe meltdown is back!

Published on Thursday, June 29, 2006 in Apple, Noteworthy and Technology. 2 Comments

The first time this happened I wasn’t majorly concerned as this was a ‘one-off’ thing. But hearing it happen a second time makes me slightly worried, but only slightly. I was a bit skeptical at the last incident as to whetehr the furry kittens had any part of the problem. However, this time it is a bit different: the power cord was burning as you can see from the image above. Luckily the owner (who goes by the name of Atomsk on the Bit-tech forums) was there when this happened and witnessed the event.

I was using my macbook pro in bed earlier and I started smelling a burning smell and look down at my laptop and see that the magsafe power cable is melting. I am on the phone with apple right now to see what they are going to do. I am just thankfull that I was using it when this happened otherwise It could have burnt down my apartment or something.

The first time it happened, Apple was quick to sort it out, and replaced Mr. Mulder’s MacBook Pro quickly, but they also requested for the images to be taken down. I’m sure something similar is going to happen again. However I don’t think this problem is solely the MagSafe’s problem. The cable seems to be bent as if it had been constantly used and worn out. I think that this seems a more likely cause, as I have had such electronics cables have the wire exposed as the time went by. But the burning is still irregular. For those touting a MacBook or MacBook Pro: Maybe you should keep that extra eye on it for the time being.

Mac OS X Leopard Screenshots?

Published on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 in Apple, Software and Technology. Closed

Two pictures have cropped up on a blogspot blog, apparently showing screenshots of Apple’s next Mac OS X version, named ‘Leopard’. The first picture (above) shows Finder with tabs, as well as IE 7 running. The ‘About this Mac’ screen also shows a listing for Windows, and spec is “XP with Service Pack 2″. The second screenshot is of a Desktop Switcher which uses a door peep hole sort of idea to show the next desktop, very igenious.
This obviously could be a fake, and with many talented Mac lovers out there, it would be no surprise if it was. However, saying that, the ideas shown are very ‘Apple style’ and very unique. A lot of people are speculating that Apple will build into Leopard a virtual Windows, where you click on an .exe and it opens up, much like Classic on OS X. But this is still in the field, so take it with a grain of salt. Let’s hope that Apple shows of these at WWDC in August.

UPDATE: So this is fake. I actually thought that it maybe real, but the owner has made a post on his blogger account detailing into the main reasons as to why, and how he did it. [link]