iCame, iSaw, iConquered: Rome Apple Store opens

Posted on Mar. 31, ’07, 10:55 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple » Stores

Rome. Home to the Vatican, the Colosseum, and, of course, fine cuisine. Well, the Eternal City can now add another distinction to the long list that dates back thousands of years: the first Apple Store on the European continent. Rome Italy now joins a small, distinguished roster of other countries around the world featuring stores: Canada, the United Kingdom, and Japan.

The store, located at the Roma Est mall, had its grand opening this morning at 9AM local time. To celebrate, 1000 commemorative t-shirts were given away. An estimated 800-1000 fans were on hand for the store opening, some even coming from other countries such as Luxembourg and France. Macity has put up a couple of galleries documenting the opening celebrations.

My question: now that Rome has the Apple Store, how long before Pope Benedict drops by the Genius Bar to get his iPod nano fixed?

Update: So I accidentally referred to Rome as a country. Nitpickers!

Google Maps won’t help you go on a Panther Safari

Posted on Mar. 31, ’07, 9:04 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Troubleshooting

My friend Tony dropped me a line last night to ask if I had any idea why Safari on his PowerBook would suddenly refuse to display Google Maps. “Huh,” said I. “Just Safari?” Yep, he confirmed. Firefox still worked fine. I had him check JavaScript, which was enabled, and then run repair permissions, which found no problems.

So I turned to Google and—whoa. Google, we have a problem. Tony’s not alone it seems: a number of users have had trouble with Google Maps and Safari in the last week or two. The key? All of them are running Panther. Since my desktop is still running Panther, I decided to check it out: sure enough, Safari just displays a big gray block when I call up Google Maps (good lord, I must be encased in a block of cement!). Camino, meanwhile, seems to work with no problem.

There’s also an ongoing discussion thread on Apple’s board about the issue. From all indications, Google has been notified and is scrambling to fix the problem. In one odd twist, some external sites that rely on Google Maps do still work in Safari (Gmaps Pedometer, for example).

Any readers running into this too? Find any other workarounds?

Readers strike back: more on iTunes sharing

Posted on Mar. 31, ’07, 8:03 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Tips

Turns out you guys are on top of finding out who exactly is jamming away to your iTunes Shared Libraries. We got a number of comments that improved upon the original terminal command that we shared, so we naturally thought we should pass these unprecedented savings back along to you.

Frequent Macworld contributor (and the man whose abode is most likely to induce pangs of jealousy) Kirk McElhearn showed us a way to get the same information without the hassle of having to open up terminal and type in a cryptic command. Launch Activity Monitor and select the listing for iTunes; click the Inspect button; choose the “Open Files and Ports” tab. If you scroll to the bottom of that list, it’ll give you the same output as the terminal command.

That’s certainly easier for those who prefer not to mess with the terminal. But commenters AC and Axel mentioned an even easier way: a Dashboard widget called iTunes Connection Monitor (pictured above). This handy little program has two sides: the front displays the IP addresses connected to your library, the back tells you which songs are currently being played. I’m not sure if you can tell at a glance who’s listening to what, though I presume that the first IP address listed is usually streaming the first song listed, et cetera.

Finally, an anonymous reader sent a link to an AppleScript called “Shared Music Monitor” by Neil Evans. The script updates play counts and last played dates on files that have been streamed over iTunes sharing feature and places all songs that have been shared into a special playlist so you can tell at a glance what people have been listening to.

It’s worth taking this opportunity to mention once again just how much we love our readers. You guys complete us.

VW creates first “iCar”

Posted on Mar. 30, ’07, 5:05 PM PT by Aaron Freedman

Category | iPod » iPod Accessories

Some day, every piece of technology around us will work perfectly with iPods, Macs, and all things Apple. Well, at least in my fantasy. But, today another step forward in an iWorld has been made, with the new VW iGolf car (the link is in Spanish, for a translated version, click here).

The VW iGolf is essentially the VW Golf car with an iPod dock in the front armrest, which is, obviously, totally integrated into the car’s soundsystem. Oh, and the iGolf comes with an 8GB nano to boot. Nice.

While, the iGolf looks like a nice car, it’s still pretty amazing to see an iPod accessory that’s a car. Now, all that’s left is the iHome, that comes complete with an iPod, iMac, and Apple TV.

[via Gizmodo]

EMI talks about the future of phones and DRM

Posted on Mar. 30, ’07, 4:20 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen

Category | Business

Every time I think about record labels, there’s this little flame of loathing and discouragement that burns inside of me. However, once in a while, that flame turns into a flame of hope lighting the end of a dark tunnel. Before this post becomes a poem, let me tell you what this is all about: EMI’s chief executive recently spoke at CTIA Wireless, and he said some nice things. Really.

Eric Nicoli’s main point is that phone carriers, makers, and content providers should be prioritizing the customer if they want the phone industry to be taken to “the next level”. He offers the example of, yes, Apple:

“Apple makes stuff that people love to own,” Nicoli said. “They love the simplicity and user-friendliness of the iPod and iTunes. Apple doesn’t employ any sorcery or dark magic to achieve this. They listen to what consumers want. And that shouldn’t be Apple’s unique privilege.”

It’s nice to see a “big guy” that gets what it’s all about. Speaking of iTunes, Nicoli also talked about digital rights management. While he mentioned EMI is willing to try different options regarding DRM, he claims that the industry must move forward now: “The status quo is not an option if we hope to exceed our goals.” Hopefully that includes considering selling DRM-free music on the iTunes Store, but only time will tell.

[via Macworld UK]

Apple TV gains USB accessory and local file playing support

Posted on Mar. 30, ’07, 3:07 PM PT by Aaron Freedman

Category | Hardware

I must say, I am quite impressed with the Apple TV hacking community. Within only a little more than a week of its release, the Apple TV has been hacked to do everything from function as a SSH server, have an upgraded hard drive, and even boot from an external drive. Well, now two more hacks have come out.

The first hack allows the Apple TV to play video content on its hard drive without having it transcoded or streamed from iTunes. Unfortunately, this hack does require codecs to be installed, from sources such as Perian and A52Codec. Still, this does allow the Apple TV to play “unsupported” video formats, such as .avi files.

The next hack makes use of the Apple TV’s “for service and support only” USB port. According to user “Turbo,” the Apple TV’s USB port can now be used not only for external storage, but also for use with a keyboard and mouse. While his method for enabling this has not yet been posted, a video showing it has.

It’s really quite amazing top see how fast Apple TV hacking development has gone. At this rate, who knows how long it’ll be before someone is able to install the full version of OS X, or even Linux or Windows, on it.

Who killed the album? Not iTunes.

Posted on Mar. 30, ’07, 2:01 PM PT by Dan Moren

Category | iTunes » iTunes Store

One only has to Google “iTunes is killing the album” to see how far this idea has permeated the Internet. The theory usually runs that since iTunes has ushered in an era of legitimate à la carte downloading, the album, that masterwork of musical production, will suffer gravely as people flock to buying individual tracks.

I don’t see how this could be further from the truth. Especially with the introduction of the Complete My Album feature from earlier in the week, iTunes is among the strongest champions of the album as a format. This isn’t to say that the album, as we know it, has not faced some very serious challenges in the past decade or two, but to lay such wholesale destruction at the feet of iTunes is ludicrous.

For one thing, despite the blockbuster success of iTunes in the music download market, it still only makes up a fraction of music sold. That fraction is on the rise, certainly, but the days when digital downloads trump physical CD sales has yet to materialize. There’s no denying that the iTunes Store has influence (especially when it comes to integration with the iPod) but the album was becoming an endangered species before digital downloads were a gleam in Apple’s eye.

Mooching off another Mac’s optical drive

Posted on Mar. 30, ’07, 11:20 AM PT by Kate Marshall

Category | Hardware

Okay, actually it’s just using another Mac’s optical drive when your own is unavailable but it’s still a good tip. You may already know that when moving files from one Mac to another, you can turn the “recipient” computer into a large, expensive FireWire drive by stringing a FireWire cable between them, restarting the target computer and holding down its “T” key. However, the optical drives in newer Macs are also accessible using this method, albeit with some caveats:

Now, you probably won’t be able to use this drive for burning—I wasn’t, at any rate. Nor was I able to use it to watch a DVD movie (in either DVD Player or VLC). But it is a usable CD/DVD drive, meaning you can install that urgently-needed software package, or grab some files off of a burned backup disc.

This is definitely getting filed in the “Useful Information in the event of a terrible computer malfunction” category (right alongside “Back up frequently”). Now where’d I put that FireWire cable for the basement iMac?

[Via Macworld]

Google Notebook goes to language school

Posted on Mar. 30, ’07, 10:20 AM PT by Kate Marshall

Category | Internet

Back when I was trying to find the perfect writing software, it never occurred to me to use a web-based solution. Possibly it’s because a particular web-based word processor still won’t work with Safari and I’m too lazy to wait around for Apple or Google or the chicken gods to get off their butts and do something about it.

Anyway, in addition to Google Docs and Spreadsheets, there is also Google Notebook, which also works better in Firefox (whatever). I’d completely forgotten about my own Google Notebook until I saw an official blog posting touting its multi-language features and improved interface. Because I believe in trying new things, I’m going to give Google Notebook another chance for various note-taking duties: URLs to follow up on, To Do’s that need doing, comparisons between Blood Ties the TV show and the source novels by Tanya Huff (hey, Heroes is on hiatus until April 23, okay? What else am I supposed to do with my spare time? Interact with the outside world?)

Apple store mentions quad-core systems again

Posted on Mar. 30, ’07, 9:16 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple » Huh?

Is there something you want to tell us, Apple? Something about new Macs? Really? You sure? Because your website seems to say otherwise. For the second time this month, an apparent slip up on an Apple website suggests that Macs featuring quad-core Intel processors are on their way. This time, the culprit is the Apple Store’s page on Creative Suite 3. The text, which has not yet been corrected as of this writing, reads:

Every new Mac features powerful dual-core or quad-core Intel processors, the world’s most advanced operating system, and more. [Emphasis added]

The three systems displayed below that are the iMac, MacBook Pro and Mac Pro, none of which have quad-core systems. At this point, we’ve got to say we’d advise you not to bet against the appearance of 8-core Mac Pros at the NAB event on April 15th. Unless you’re betting with us, in which case, sure, we’ll take your money.

[via Apple Insider]

Who took the music from the iTunes jar?

Posted on Mar. 30, ’07, 8:42 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Tips

We’ve regaled you with the ever-useful lsof command before, but here’s another handy way to put it to good effect. iTunes will tell you how many users are connected to your shared library (Preferences -> Sharing), but have you wondered just who those users are? Here’s how to find out.

The command you’ll want is lsof | grep iTunes | grep TCP—note that those straight line characters are pipes, not lowercase L’s (to make a pipe, hold shift and hit the backslash key, the one above the return key). If you have connected users, you’ll get a few lines back that look like these.

iTunes 438 dmoren 17u IPv4 0x01994570 0t0 TCP *:daap (LISTEN)

iTunes 438 dmoren 18u IPv4 0x01807744 0t0 TCP 192.168.1.23:daap->192.168.1.110:64658 (ESTABLISHED)

The first line tells you that iTunes is listening for connections. The subsequent lines will tell you who’s streaming your tunes. You’ll notice two IP addresses there: the first is the IP address of the server (your computer), the second is that of the computer connected to your library. Multiple lines of this variety mean more than one person is connected. Of course an IP address won’t get you very far, unless you, like me, have memorized the IPs of every computer on your LAN. It was a slow week.

[via Lifehacker]

Baseball highlights on iTunes is right in the strike zone

Posted on Mar. 30, ’07, 8:16 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | iTunes » iTunes Store

Finally, the way has come to get my dad into the iTunes Store. Apple’s announced that they’ll be partnering with Major League Baseball to host video content on the store. My dad’s a certifiable baseball nut (he got his annual share of Red Sox season tickets earlier in the week).

You’ll be able to get twenty-five minute “Daily Rewinds” of baseball highlights for $1.99 each, or a month’s worth for $7.99. In addition, every week will see two “Games of the Week,” which will showcase the best games from both the National and American Leagues, from first pitch to final out. A Season Pass for all the Games of the Week will run $19.99.

As if that’s not enough, iTunes and MLB will also be putting out classic games for $1.99 apiece (2004 Yankees-Sox playoffs, anyone?). Finally, a free preview of the upcoming season will be available for free sometime soon.

Whether this will be enough to tear my father away from his brand new FIOS cable setup, it’s hard to say. But maybe his eyes won’t glaze over next time I start to explain the future of downloadable media.

[via Playlist]

OS vulnerability “study”

Posted on Mar. 30, ’07, 7:35 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Security

Like GI Joe says, when it comes to security, knowing is half the battle. With that said, I read OmniNerd’s 2006 Operating System Vulnerability Summary. The goal is to document the number of remote access vulnerabilities there were in Windows XP, Server 2003, Vista Ultimate, Mac OS 9, OSX Tiger, OSX Tiger server, FreeBSD 6.2, Solaris 10, Fedora Core 6, Slackware 11, SuSE Enterprise 10 and Ubuntu 6.10. The other used Nmap to scan for open services while Nessus provided vulnerability information. It’s a rather long article and well documented, but make several critical mistakes that end in the following conclusion:

As far as “straight-out-of-box” conditions go, both Microsoft’s Windows and Apple’s OS X are ripe with remotely accessible vulnerabilities.

By “straight-out-of-box”, he means “after-I-turned-on-every-service-that-I-could-find”. By ripe, he means 2 supposed vulnerabilities in the client and 7 in server. First of all, any user behind a NAT router is shielded from these attacks. Second, users (that don’t know what they’re doing) don’t generally turn on every service they can find just for kicks. Windows was susceptible, genuinely out of box (using an XP install prior to SP2).

Second, none of these exploits were actually verified. The author took the word of Nessus as gospel. I’m not saying it’s necessarily incorrect, but the fact is, we don’t know. If one is going to make a conclusion about the state of security for things, you best verify the results.

It’s interesting to see the general state of Windows, OS X, and the other various flavors of Unix, but I’m unconvinced this article is an accurate representation of that state.

Google apps on iPhone not exclusive by any means

Posted on Mar. 30, ’07, 7:02 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | iPhone

When the iPhone was announced at MWSF, we were all treated to a parade of people that aren’t Steve (referred to as PTAS from now on). Jerry Yang from Yahoo discussed the use of Yahoo email for the iPhone (it’s also worth noting that Yahoo email accounts will have unlimited space soon). Google’s CEO and Apple board member Eric Schmidt kissed Steve’s butt and talked about Google apps on the iPhone.

I’ll admit, part of the iPhone mystique for me were the partnerships that Apple has set up. Google Maps and the “push” email will have a huge impact on the usefulness of the device. However, Yahoo and Google are both promiscuous.

LG says it will pre-install Google’s mobile apps, including Maps and Gmail, on millions of LG phones that will be sold in North America, Europe and Asia starting in the second quarter of 2007. In February, LG announced a similar deal with Yahoo’s mobile services. An interesting aspect of the announcement is that LG and Google say they will jointly market LG-Google handsets — I wonder how many of the major U.S. carriers will be interested in those marketing efforts?

LG says it will offer one-click access to Google search in its menu, and preload Google Maps, Gmail, and Blogger. LG also says it will launch 10 of the new LG-Google phones this year. Google and Samsung also have a similar deal for mobile services as do Samsung and Yahoo. The LG-Google deal, and Yahoo’s partnerships with other device makers show that handset makers are beginning to realize the consumer appeal of popular web services such email and IM services, and that they can be an attractive sales tool.

Will those phones be nearly as cool? Will they have the pinch? No, but inevitably, someone with an axe to grind against Apple will use these other partnerships as proof that the iPhone is nothing special, opting for the “the more feature bullets, the better the device” theory. We all know the usability is going to make the iPhone.

Casing the joint

Posted on Mar. 30, ’07, 6:46 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Tips

Out of all the aspects of upgrading my Powerbook’s hard drive, the last thing I expected to strike a chord with all of you was the use of an external hard drive case. That’s just one of those things that I take for granted that you do. In fact, I’ve never bought an external drive. I’ve bought an internal and the case to put it in, but never as a combined product. If you shop around (I use dealnews), you can not only make a drive that’s cheaper, but you can choose the hard drive manufacturer of choice.

As said in the comments of the other post, it’s also a great way to reuse drives from older machines, including old PCs. I’ll even let you in on my Leopard plans. I’m going to buy OWC’s two drive RAID case and a couple 500 GB drives for a really fast Firewire 800 1 TB drive for Time Machine backup. That should give me a good long history.

And speaking of OWC and external cases, they just released two new 2.5” cases. They both support SATA drives (like in your MacBook), but one is USB 2.0 only while the other is a combination USB 2.0/eSATA deal. Due to the current lack of eSATA on current Macs and my aversion to use of USB 2.0 for hard drives, I like the Firewire 800/USB 2.0 case for SATA drives.

Also, finally, I hate to get all broken record on you, but once you’ve slapped that old drive in a case, it makes a great backup drive. It’s ok that it’s smaller than your main drive (in most cases) because ideally you’ll want to keep a bunch of space free on your main drive and it’s ok if your backup sits a little tight.

Dictionary political commentary

Posted on Mar. 30, ’07, 6:22 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple

We’ve already seen Apple’s famous Macintosh commercial used for political purposes. We’ve even seen a former vice president of the United States become an Apple board member. Of course, he is still heavy in politics.

Would you believe though that you can find Apple’s political affiliation in one of OS X’s apps? Look up “Democracy” in the Dictionary application. Go ahead. I’ll wait. You’re not going to do it, are you? Ok, fine. Under the Thesaurus section, you’ll find the following.

a democracy in Iraq is quite unlikely for now or any time soon

Before anyone points it out, Apple buys these databases from other companies. Still, I’d rather not get political commentary when looking up a definition.

Bonus tip: Double click words in the Dictionary application to get those words defined.

iPhone will boost competitors’ sales. Huh?

Posted on Mar. 29, ’07, 4:01 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen

Category | Apple » Rivals

Partly thanks to the ongoing CTIA Wireless trade show, opinions about the iPhone are emerging from different COOs, CEOs, and all those other important people from the mobile phone industry.

First, iPhone World reports that Research In Motion thinks the iPhone will boost their own Blackberry sales:

“Hats off to Steve [Jobs],” said [RIM co-CEO] Lazaridis. “He made smartphones cool again. Now everyone wants one. He helped the entire industry.”

I’m not sure that the average person considers the iPhone a smartphone, and the people who do are likely not running out the door to buy a BlackBerry because of Apple.

Verizon’s COO Dennis Strigl is on the same frequency: he too thinks Apple’s phone, apart from being a flop, will improve Verizon cell phone sales, this time by creating awareness for music on mobile phones. Strigl says he feels “okay” with Verizon’s music efforts, pointing out they sold 12 million songs through their download service. Wait, who sold more than 2 billion? Not only that, but he also seems to think Apple is only focusing on the music aspect of their phone, while Verizon emphasizes “all the things you can do on your Verizon wireless phone”. I’m not an expert, but isn’t Verizon that very same company that locks down their phones so much you can barely flip them open?

AirPorts treated to extreme updates from Apple

Posted on Mar. 29, ’07, 3:37 PM PT by Scott Silverman

Category | Software » Updates

Today marked the release of yet one more update for any and all standard AirPorts. Yes, even our favorite new AirPort Extreme with 802.11n support got a little boost today. The AirPort Base Station Update 2007-001 fixes/updates the following applications:

• AirPort Utility
• AirPort Admin Utility for Graphite/Snow base staions
• AirPort Disk Utility
• AirPort Disk Agent

For some odd reason the update will not appear in Software Update for me. Thus I would recommend downloading it directly from Apple.com.

Update: It appears as though Apple’s support site is in error. Although the 2007-001 update claims it is for “the AirPort Extreme Base Station with 802.11n, AirPort Extreme Base Station and AirPort Express Base Station,” the update will only install on systems with the AirPort Utility v5.1 installed. This is the utility which ships with the 802.11n AirPort Extreme.

The older AirPort Extreme, as well as the AirPort Express both utilize the AirPort Admin Utility (the most current version of which is 6.3.) Thus the 2007-001 update appears it is only for the 802.11n enabled AirPort. Sorry for the confusion.

Tote around with a homemade iPod tote

Posted on Mar. 29, ’07, 2:34 PM PT by Scott Silverman

Category | iPod » iPod Accessories

Let’s cut to the chase: those fancy, expensive, sometimes ugly iPod tote bags really aren’t worth their cost. If you’ve got money to burn, then by all means be my guest. But personally I’d much rather make my own. What’s that I hear? PopSci has a tutorial to do exactly that on instructables.com? What a coincidence!

All you need is a tote bag, some fabric modification material, speakers, and wiring—which should all cost you about $55. Using some basic sewing skills and sheer ingenuity, simply assemble the bag (instructions provided). Three hours later you will be ready to relax on the beach with your music, handy tote bag, and only $55 missing form your pocketbook. What a deal.

[via MAKE]

Apple to EU: Ooh, burn!

Posted on Mar. 29, ’07, 11:20 AM PT by Kate Marshall

Category | Business

Although one doesn’t expect a major computer company to engage in childish taunting against a consumer-rights group, one could hardly blame Apple if they’re secretly jumping up and down with glee right now. When last we heard, the European Commission was starting to come off as a bunch of Whiny McWhines for continually insisting that Apple unlock its iTunes-iPod system (because apparently, no other computer company has ever done anything like that before. Sarcasm voice off).

And I won’t even point out that the music labels do have a fairly big say in DRM on iTunes Store purchases, so maybe the European Commission should also look at them. Oh wait, did I point that out? Whoops, my bad. Anyway, Apple might not have to unlock the FairPlay system after all:

Top EU Commission official Philip Lowe dismissed the need for such measures yesterday, saying: “Before we jump in to regulate competition on the market it is worth asking whether competition is actually harmed.”

Yes, patience and prudence are much more desirable than Apple sticking its tongue out and saying, “nanny nanny boo boo!” at European Union consumer chief Meglena Kuneva. The latter certainly sounds more entertaining though.

[Via Macworld UK]

More reports of cranky MacBooks?

Posted on Mar. 29, ’07, 10:25 AM PT by Kate Marshall

Category | Hardware

Or are old problems just being rehashed without any new information? Either way, there’s an article about previous MacBook woes, like swollen batteries, random shutdown issues, and that weird discoloration problem. Did I mention that these problems first occurred shortly after the MacBooks arrived in May 2006, and that they’re mostly solved now, through a combination of firmware updates and/or replacement heat sinks, and old-fashioned technical support? Well, I’m mentioning it now, so there.

It would be one thing if the issues in MacNewsWorld’s article were recent, but one case was from the summer. Now I miss summer as much as the next person (four distinct seasons is 1.5 too many) but reminiscing about random shutdowns in the MacBook won’t make it June 2006 again. And I don’t want to hear about any new problems with current MacBooks, to be frank about it. Call me if there’s a massive recall but otherwise, I’m not going to spend my free time worrying if my MB will suddenly morph into a wheezing, freezing, combusting machine.

As it is, let’s see what Adam C. Engst says:

“Apple hasn’t said anything about this to my knowledge, but they never do, since for them to do so before having a specific recall or repair plan could open them up to legal liability,” Adam C. Engst, publisher of the Internet-based Mac newsletter TidBITS, told MacNewsWorld.

I want to say that I’m lucky my laptop hasn’t experienced any of these issues (it hasn’t) but experience has taught me to keep my mouth shut; otherwise, guess whose favorite computer will spontaneously combust, steal my iPod, and devalue my property? (Experience can be a very harsh teacher sometimes).

[Edited 9:46 PM for typo]

More power to you

Posted on Mar. 29, ’07, 9:55 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Troubleshooting

For some time, I’ve been thinking I should write an Ode to Apple’s Power Adapters. I mean, more design engineering goes into one of those little white bricks than most PC makers put into their entire machines. It’s compact, stylish, and most of all, functional.

Now, despite the fact that I’m bullish on the adapters, they’re not always the most reliable. My current MagSafe adapter had to have its “duck-head” replaced (the little flip-out part with the blades of the plug), and I went through a couple of the old yo-yo adapters when I had my PowerBook G3 and iBook. I’ve also long noticed that I often get blue sparks when I plug the adapter into the wall.

An Apple Care document on Troubleshooting power adapters says that this is totally normal:

Sometimes when you plug the power adapter into the wall, you may see a spark. This is usually normal and can occur when you plug any electrical appliance into a live outlet. If you are concerned about the spark you see when you plug your adapter into the wall, or if the spark comes from somewhere other than the blades of the plug, you can take your adapter (you don’t need to take the computer) in to an Apple Authorized Service Provider or Apple Retail Store for evaluation.

Erm. Well, I guess that’s a relief. Anyway, the article’s chock full of other information you can use to find out if your power adapter’s gone wonky, and it covers both MagSafe and earlier versions.

Lack of fades in iTunes burning making you cross? Have some Toast

Posted on Mar. 29, ’07, 9:25 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | iTunes

Reader Dan (bona fide member of the Secret League of Dans) had a question that could only be answered by the MacUser team: is there a way to burn a CD in iTunes with the crossfade effect that you get in iTunes playback?

The team went to work—like a model engine of efficiency—coming to the decisive conclusion that we actually weren’t sure. Probably not? We could have just left it there, but no—that’s not how we roll. So we contacted our friend (and yours) Macworld Senior Editor and premiere iTunes-ologist Chris Breen, to get his expert opinion.

Chris says that while iTunes can’t burn CDs with crossfade, that hardly means it can’t be done. Roxio’s Toast 8 Titanium will let you accomplish just such a feat of derring-do. Toast can be had for about $80, which is a bit expensive for just that one feature (unless the program itself is actually carved from pure titanium), but hey, if it’s the feature you must have, who are we to argue?

Despite hubbub, Apple TVs probably not hax0red

Posted on Mar. 29, ’07, 8:43 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Hardware

The folks at Tutorial Ninjas created quite a stir by announcing last night that they’d gotten reports of a few modded Apple TVs being returned to their default state (i.e., all hacks rendered inoperable). Unfortunately, they then took a wild leap to Conclusion Island:

Several of us over in the Awkward TV IRC(l0rdr0ck, myself, and others) have had our Mod’d Apple TV’s played with over night(SSH/VNC disabled), our guess is apple has started to fight back the mod’d Apple TV’s. This is a warning to all of you to block your Apple TV from the internet by going into your routers settings and denying it internet access!

This does mean Apple may have the power to update your Apple TV, without you knowing it!

You should:

Change the password on your apple tv

Deny internet access to it.

Failure to do either could result in a breach in your network or a broken Apple TV’

We have no proof of apple doing this but i know of 4 cases in our IRC, and my startup script to disable the firewall got its permissions stripped!

That’s it, I’m pulling their Netflix privileges. Somebody’s rented JFK way too many times.

On a scale of 1 to unlikely, this rates a “fluoride is a mind control substance introduced into our water supply by communists.” I love the idea that there’s this big Mission Control room in Cupertino, with a huge LCD screen where they’re monitoring all the Apple TVs in the world. So what, suddenly this red flashing blip appears on a map of the US, and someone yells “We’ve got a hacker in sector five! Initiate reversion procedure alpha-alpha-niner!”? Right.

Of course, this has already gotten picked up and flung bodily around the entire Internet, including some choice words from one of our favorite incendiary ZDNet bloggers (who we now refuse to link on principle—you know who I mean). More likely, as many have already suggested, this is some kind of maintenance cron script that runs a repair permissions command or some other disk cleanup that happens to break these mods. Should be pretty easy for anyone who’s opened up their Apple TV to confirm, so let us know.

New hard drive hotness

Posted on Mar. 29, ’07, 8:05 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Hardware

I picked up my Powerbook from MacEdge yesterday evening. The guy at the desk actually startled me by referring to the blog. He set up an automated Google search for references to MacEdge and my last post on upgrading my Powerbook’s hard drive tipped him off. So much for my secret identity.

They completed the upgrade in a single day as estimated. Everything looks in place and worked as expected, so if you’re somewhat near the southern New Hampshire area and need some service, I refer you to MacEdge. Armed with my Powerbook, fast new (blank) drive installed and old drive in pouch with it, I set off for home.

I dropped the old drive into an OWC On-The-Go Pro Firewire 400/USB 2.0 2.5” drive case. I booted from it via Firewire and then used SuperDuper to copy my installation onto the new drive. The good news is that the new drive is fast, fast, fast.

Using AJA KONA 2 System Test, I tested the new drive connected via ATA and the old drive connected via the new Firewire. The newer drive transfered data in both directions twice as fast as the old. If I’d done more planning I would have tested the old drive prior to surgery because now I’m unsure if it’s some kind of interface overhead.

Subjectively, the new drive seems to have removed the false starts I’d gotten so used to. Operation seems much more fluid. NetNewsWire starts right up and even feed downloading seems to tax the machine less. However, the drive seems warmer. While the drive is quiet while accessing, its rotation has its own sound and if you’re really paying attention, you can hear it.

Overall, I’m completely satisfied with the upgrade. I feel like I breathed new life into my laptop.

Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog’s eye

Posted on Mar. 29, ’07, 7:29 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple » Speculation

Few people can make less sense than John C. Dvorak (yOu know who does). We’ve been good, resisting his irrepressible flamebait. Today I must break my silence because his latest column for MarketWatch made me spit chocolate milk out my nose I laughed so hard.

It’s the loyalists who keep promoting [the iPhone] as if it is going to be anything other than another phone in a crowded market. And it’s exactly the crowded-market aspect of this that analysts seem to be ignoring.

Or it could just be a really cool phone. Then again, the iPod’s success couldn’t possibly be pulled off again.

First the MP3 player business was segmented and unfocused with numerous players making a lot of cheap junk and not doing much to market any of it. Apple does what? Advertise. Gosh, what a concept.

This is hard hitting analysis people. If I knew analyst was another language for “make stuff up and offer naive explanations of complex situations”, I wouldn’t have studied computer science. I missed the boat with gems, such as the one I will close with.

What Apple risks here is its reputation as a hot company that can do no wrong. If it’s smart it will call the iPhone a “reference design” and pass it to some suckers to build with someone else’s marketing budget. Then it can wash its hands of any marketplace failures. It should do that immediately before it’s too late. Samsung Electronics Ltd. might be a candidate. Otherwise I’d advise you to cover your eyes. You’re not going to like what you’ll see.

You know, like John throwing a hissy fit a couple years down the road with the iPhone really is as popular as everything on the Ouija board indicates.

Penryn isn’t a dragon

Posted on Mar. 29, ’07, 6:22 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Hardware

I remember a day when being a Mac user that’s up to date on processors meant being able to say a letter and increment a number (fun fact, I skipped the G5). Nowadays, it means keeping track of the bizarre and sometimes confusing Intel processor naming system. You know, Conroe, Merom, Woodcrest, Clovertown, and so on. Quick, without cheating, what’s the codename for the processor in your Intel Mac?

While I want to report how Penryn will arrive in Cupertino being ridden by Eragon, I’ll have to settle by telling the truth. Intel has announced Penryn chips will arrive this year. Imagine today’s Core 2 Duos and Xeon chips, only with clock speeds in excess of 3 GHz. They’ll start outsmarting us. That or Intel will reach a speed wall again, being forced to reengineer their product line again.

Breaking: iTunes now offering album credit

Posted on Mar. 29, ’07, 5:12 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | iTunes » iTunes Store

The other day, we reported that Apple was in negotiations to offer credit for music already bought on an album, and it seems that this feature is now in place. A reader tipped us to the fact early this morning, and we’ve now confirmed it.

When you go to an album on the iTunes Store from which you’ve purchased a track, the Buy link now says: “Complete My Album for $X.” Below it you’ll find the full price of the album. There’s also an option to see the tracks you’ve already purchased from that album, or to buy the full album, should you so desire (for example, maybe you’re on the road and don’t have the track you’ve already bought on that computer—a shame Apple won’t just let you redownload it at that point, but one thing at a time).

Of course, there’s a catch. The offer to complete the album is only valid for six months (technically, about 180 days, it seems) after the purchase of the original track, after which you’ll presumably have to pay full price once again.

As of yet, we don’t know if this is offered across the board, but I’ve checked two albums from which I’ve made recent purchases, and it also appears that this has been made retroactive, since I have the option to complete an album I bought in early February.

In my book, iTunes has just become a bit more attractive. We’ll keep you posted on this story as it develops.

Update [10:06AM ET]: There’s now a Complete My Album page on the iTunes Store, which lists the albums from which you have purchased tracks that are “eligible” for completion. Most of the albums on my list (the ones purchased prior to this year) have an expiration date of June 26, 2007, approximately six months from the beginning of the year. No word yet on if this is available in all countries of the iTunes store. Readers?

[Thanks, Dave!]

Vista + iPod = Love. Thanks, Microsoft.

Posted on Mar. 28, ’07, 4:41 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen

Category | Windows

Now, we hope that if you’re reading this blog, Vista is not your primary operating system. We really do. But if it’s your second choice, or if your neighbor hasn’t seen the light yet, you might want to know that Microsoft has issued a patch for Windows Vista that fixes a pesky iPod issue. Apple had done some work with iTunes 7.1.1 to improve the Vista-iPod love, but now Redmond brings you more.

Here’s the deal: you can now use the Safely Remove Hardware command from the system tray to eject your iPod without risk of corrupting its data. Aren’t you thrilled? This is going to be huge. All jokes aside, kudos to Microsoft for stepping up and fixing a bug that affected a competing product — yeah, they still sell those Zune things. Or at least they try.

Apart from the iPod issue, Microsoft has also fixed the wreckage of Canon raw photos, video quality in Vista on your TV, the OS’s narcoleptic tendencies with dial-up connections, and more. By now, I’ve fallen asleep, just like Vista when it has a dial-up connection.

Apple’s recycling program is all apples to me

Posted on Mar. 28, ’07, 3:28 PM PT by Scott Silverman

Category | Apple

Greenpeace makes a pretty compelling case for reforming Apple’s not-so-green ways. Primarily they want Apple to quit using toxic chemicals in the manufacture of their products. This makes sense, and I agree that Apple could certainly become an environmental leader in the computer world, should they so choose. However, Greenpeace also advocates an improved recycling program:

Apple finally came around to a limited recycling program in the US, but they can do better. We want them to offer a comprehensive take-back and recycling program worldwide. Not just in the US or where Apple is legally compelled to.

Sure. I guess I’d agree with that too. Apple’s recycling program should be worldwide. But I happen to think that Apple’s US recycling program is pretty good, and here’s why. I bought a brand new MacBook last night to ultimately replace my MacBook Pro (eventually along with a Mac Pro). I awoke this morning to a nice email from Apple titled “Apple recycles. Here’s your code.” Inside was the tag-line “It was good to you. Be good to it. Recycle.”

The email contained two FedEx barcodes along with easy instructions on how to recycle my electronic equipment. All I have to do to recycle my old computer (or printer, or monitor) is box it up, print my barcode-including email, and show up at any FedEx location. How easy is that?

Don’t forget too about Apple’s iPod recycling program, where you can receive 10% off a new iPod by turning in your old one. Incentives like that might help less green-minded people recycle. Thus I’m not saying that Apple is perfect, and they surely have a long way to go, but maybe Greenpeace is being a little harder than they should be on good ol’ Apple.

Run Vista on your Mac: Boot Camp 1.2

Posted on Mar. 28, ’07, 2:32 PM PT by Scott Silverman

Category | Software » Updates

We know that you’ve all been eagerly waiting for today: the day when Macs can officially run Windows Vista. Thanks to Apple’s Boot Camp 1.2 update, all you need now is a copy of Vista. But Apple didn’t leave it at that. No sir, they just had to make other improvements to the Boot Camp experience as well:

• Updated drivers for graphics, iSight, trackpad, and more
• The Apple Remote now works with both iTunes and Windows Media Player (!!)
• A Boot Camp system tray icon has been added (much the same as Parallels)
• An Apple Software Update function for XP and Vista

Now that Boot Camp officially supports Vista, what can be expected to be seen from Leopard? Ability to dual-boot with Vista can no longer be added as a feature, so might we see virtualization in Leopard? At the rate Apple’s going we’ll never know.

Nano volume leans to the left

Posted on Mar. 28, ’07, 1:31 PM PT by Dan Moren

Category | iPod

I love my second-generation iPod nano. It’s not my everyday iPod, since it lacks the capacity of my 30GB iPod with video, but I use it for working out and in other circumstances when I don’t want to be weighed down by the obese 5G (it’s…just…so…heavy).

My experience with the 2G nano had been largely trouble-free, but earlier in the year I noticed that on occasion I would start getting sound through only my left earphone. Twiddling the headphone plug would usually restore the missing channel, though often with a bit of static. The same was true no matter whether I was using headphones, a minijack-to-RCA cable for my stereo, or my car’s tape adapter.

As of yesterday, the problem worsened to the point where if I didn’t twist the headphone plug perfectly, I’d get absolutely no sound through the right headphone. A quick search of the Apple Discussion Forums shows that I’m not alone, so I guess I’ll be taking the nano in for service when I have a chance.

How about it, readers? Any of you encounter misbehaving headphone jacks? Got any clever solutions?

Apple TV on your MacBook

Posted on Mar. 28, ’07, 11:30 AM PT by Kate Marshall

Category | Hardware

Okay, bear with me because I don’t quite see the point of getting an Apple TV to run on a Mac, but someone did it anyway. With a fresh copy of OS X, a patched Finder file (which appletvhacks.net won’t help you get), and some elbow grease, you can turn your $1100 laptop into a $299 media bridge device. The finished product does show up in iTunes (just like the Apple TV) and will work with other computers (again, just like a real Apple TV). I’m inclined to file this under my “Kind of cool but is it all that useful?” category, but I do believe in keeping an open mind. What do you all think?

iPhoto sharing: Look but don’t touch?

Posted on Mar. 28, ’07, 10:30 AM PT by Kate Marshall

Category | Photography

When iPhoto 4 arrived three years ago, it allowed users to share their photos with different computers over a network. If you imported photos from Suzie’s birthday party into your laptop, you could just enable iPhoto Sharing on the family iMac, and drag and drop your pictures between the computers. The world made sense again.

So imagine my suprise when I tried to perform this feat last night between a MacBook and an iMac (PowerPC) both running iPhoto 6 and found that while I could certainly view the iMac’s pictures on my laptop, they were not going anywhere over that fiber-optic cable. Neither were the MacBook’s pictures when I attempted to drop them into the iMac’s photo library. A trip to iPhoto’s Help pages turned up this paragraph:

If your computer is connected to any other computers over a local network, you can share the photos in your library, albums, slideshows, books, calendars, and cards with up to five of those computers. The computers need to be in the same subnet as your computer (see the Network pane of System Preferences to see what subnet your computer is in). You choose the items you share in the Sharing pane of iPhoto Preferences.

However, it also turned up this important sentence: “When you view shared photos, they’re streamed over the network to your computer. You can view them, but you can’t add them to your library, albums, slideshows, books, calendars, and cards, or burn them to a CD or DVD.” Bah, I say. ‘Tis a loss of a good software feature and not just because I’m too lazy to cart cameras and CDs all over the house, or teach the cat how to do it for me. It was just convenient and sensical, is all. Bah, I say again.

Under the Gavel: Apple named in Bluetooth suit

Posted on Mar. 28, ’07, 10:01 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Legal

No, not as in “say, that’s a mighty fine Bluetooth suit you’re wearing today.” More like the kind of suit where you sit around in a court room while people speak in an unfamiliar language and bandy around terms like “liability” and “eleventy billion dollars.”

The Washington Research Foundation is a non-profit group which, according to its website, “was founded in 1981 to assist universities and other nonprofit research institutions in the state of Washington with commercialization of their technologies and to provide support, through gifts and grants, for scholarship and research.” In December, the WRF sued Matsushita, Samsung, and Nokia over Bluetooth asking for damages and a ban on selling the specified devices. On March 15th, Dell and Apple were added as defendants, along with Logitech, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba, and Plantronics. I kind of picture this like one of those murder mysteries where there are a bunch of people milling around in an ornate ballroom, waiting for the host to appear and say “I suppose you’re wondering what you’re all doing here…” Perhaps that’s just me.

What’s really at stake is that these companies used chips produced by CSR Plc., which is using Bluetooth technology without the approval of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group. Other hardware makers, such as Broadcom, which operate with the Bluetooth SIG’s say-so are exempt from this action.

Okay, all of this makes sense, except I’m not entirely certain why they’re suing the vendors instead of just going after CSR. According to their website, they have US offices in Dallas and Detroit. Is it just to grub money from Apple and the others, or do I simply not understand the intricacies of our legal system (those two options are not mutually exclusive).

Apple TV content “limited”? You keep on using that word…I do not think it means what you think it means

Posted on Mar. 28, ’07, 9:32 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | iTunes » iTunes Store

Depending on who you talk to, the Apple TV is either the greatest thing since sliced cheese melted between slices of bread or it’s going to crash faster than Eddie Griffin behind the wheel of a $1.5 million Ferrari. For a couple of analysts, our favoritest people in the whole wide world, the flaw of the Apple TV is simple: content.

Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi reported what we’ve known for a while, that the iTunes Store is somewhat on the skimpy side when it comes to feature films.

Sacconaghi took inventory, and found just 298 movies available on the site. (Not counting short films and music videos.) That’s actually a lot less than you’ll find at Amazon’s (AMZN) Unbox service, which has 2,407 films for purchase, 1,250 to rent, with content from all major studios other than Disney. Walmart.com (WMT) has 1,037 movies to download, with titles from eight studios. Apple still has nothing from Fox (NWS), MGM, Sony (SNE), Universal (GE) or Warner Brothers (TWX).

Needless to say, other analysts picked this up as the reason that the Apple TV will fail.

To which we respond with a heartfelt pffft. Movies haven’t taken off on digital download period. We know more films are making their way to iTunes (Hondo, anyone?), and we’re guessing that we’ll see new studios added later this year. But downloaded films aren’t going to knock DVDs, either purchased or rented through sources like Netflix, off the top of the hill anytime soon.

We think the strength of the Apple TV is not in feature film content, but television content. We love the idea that you can simply set it up to sync with your TV shows acquired via season pass, thus foregoing commercials and the peskiness of dealing with a cable provider. We love the music and photo streaming functionality. And clearly, we love using the “royal we.” To all of that, feature films are merely an added bonus right now.

The whole downloaded video market is still heating up; saying that the Apple TV will bomb because its content offerings in one section of the store don’t match up with competitors is like saying Wal-Mart will bomb because they have a limited selection of cereal.

Ad copy: Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery, or the sincerest form of plagiarism?

Posted on Mar. 28, ’07, 9:00 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple » Advertising

Commercials are big business. A thirty-second TV spot during events like the Oscars and the Superbowl goes for millions of dollars, and a good ad can make or break a product’s reputation. Apple’s advertising is usually considered second to none, which has made the company’s spots ripe for parody and pastiche over the years—I’ll admit it; even I made a parody of the “Think Different” commercial in college. It was the ’90s; I was experimenting.

In the past couple weeks, two of Apple’s commercials have been in the spotlight. First, there was the Obama-themed take on Apple’s seminal 1984 spot. The television and movie rights holder for George Orwell’s novel, on which the ad was loosely based, spoke out on both the Obama version and the original.

“The political ad copies a prior commercial infringement of our copyright,” said [Gina Rosenblum].

Rosenblum said that over the years her company has authorized related products, including the Richard Burton movie, videos and soundtracks, but that licensing hasn’t extended to Apple’s use. […]

“When the Apple ‘Big Brother’ television commercial was aired during the 1984 Super Bowl telecast, we immediately objected to this unauthorized commercial use of the novel, and sent a ‘cease-and-desist’ letter both to Apple and to its ad agency. The commercial never aired on television again,” said Rosenblum.

Okay, two points: 1) I’m not sure how well such an argument would have held up in court, and 2) isn’t there a certain irony to threatening to sue an ad merely influenced by a book about the totalitarian control of information? Just a smidge?

But those looking to rake Apple over the coals for infringing ads don’t need to cast back all the way back to the first Mac ad. Apple’s most recent spot, for the iPhone, has also been accused of knocking off an existing work. Visual artist Christian Marclay did a film in 1995 called Telephones which was a montage of characters from a variety of films answering the telephone.

Marclay claims that Apple approached him about using Telephones for the ad, but Marclay refused, so Apple went ahead and made their own spot. While the clips are different, some of the same actors appear in both videos, such as Clark Gable. Marclay has said that he has no plans to sue as of this time.

Follow the jump for a few more thoughts.

Applications, update thyselves

Posted on Mar. 28, ’07, 8:09 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Software

We all know how important it is to keep your applications up to date. OS X’s software update does a good job of managing your built-in Apple apps, but what about the myriad of other applications that you have on your computer? A Spotlight search shows me that I have 86 programs installed on my computer. I can’t be expected to go to each of their websites every day to see if they’ve been updated.

Automatic update functionality, whether developed in house or using the Sparkle framework, can go a long way towards alleviating the dreaded out-dated application travesty. For the rest, though, you might want to consider AppFresh.

You could almost say that AppFresh is the Software Update for the rest of us. While the application is still in an early preview release, it seems to be largely functional. It’ll scan through your apps, and tell you whether or not they’re up-to-date, as well as give you the option to download newer versions. At the moment, AppFresh won’t install apps for you, but will rather download the updates to your desktop and let you apply them at your leisure.

AppFresh also includes a bunch of other useful functionality: like the ability to create “snapshots” of apps at particular points, allowing you to rollback to earlier versions if you want. You can also instruct AppFresh to skip certain applications in the update process. While Widgets are not checked in this version, this feature appears to planned for a future release. Naturally, AppFresh can also check for updates to itself (phew—that would have been embarrassing).

All in all, it’s a promising prospect for a function that I think most Mac users would be glad to see.

[via Digg]

Putting the 12” under the knife

Posted on Mar. 28, ’07, 7:25 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Hardware

The 12” Powerbook still has a strong following, even among those that have since abandoned the beloved form factor (traitors). The MacBook is nice in all its 13.3” glory, but it just doesn’t have that tiny feel of a 12”. Once you find a former owner, you’re likely to get a ten minute tirade about how Apple ditched what was perhaps the perfect laptop for those with two machines.

I’m one of those nuts, except I still own mine. I still use it daily and will be putting off purchase of a new machine until a suitable replacement is released by Apple (which won’t be too long if the current rumors hold any water). It’s an aging machine and with the RAM maxed out, I felt there was nothing left to do until I did some investigation about the hard drive.

Mine has a 60 GB 4200 RPM drive. The space is fine for what I do with it, but geez, 4200 RPM? That’s so old school. Replacing its drive is not so trivial as evidenced by tutorials. The idea of doing that much, worrying about damage at the same time always forced me to put the idea to the back of my head.

I finally bit the bullet and contacted a couple Apple service agents to see pricing on this little procedure. MacEdge quoted me a price of $75 for the labor. That’s not all that bad. All that was left was to purchase the drive of my choice. If I was going to be replacing the drive, I might as well go high end. My choice was a Seagate 7200.1 (100 GB 7200 RPM) hard drive ($110 at Newegg at the time).

I dropped off my pride and joy last night along with the new drive. I should be picking it up tonight, at which point I’ll do some informal testing and tell you all about it in excruciating detail.

Mark/Space delivers The Missing Sync for BlackBerry

Posted on Mar. 28, ’07, 6:33 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Software

I know, I know, you don’t care about BlackBerry. You don’t want one and its antiquated tactile keyboard. You want Apple’s iPhone. Some people are stuck with yesteryear’s technology. Some even like it. They’ll only admit it behind closed doors after a long session to address their denial. Then they’ll be shunned by their true Apple fan friends.

After the dust settles, the need for good synchronization remains. PocketMac may be free, but everything I’ve heard has been pretty lukewarm to toilet bowl cold. Maybe it’s not that bad. However, if that were true, I wouldn’t expect Mark/Space to be entering the market with their own paid solution.

I use their software to sync my Palm TX with great success, but have no BlackBerry to test the new software with. With that, I command Pat to us his as a test subject. It’s either that or Dan and I give him a swirly after the next podcast.

Diving into Leopard, server style

Posted on Mar. 28, ’07, 5:17 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Geekery

John C. Welch, Mac expert and zoot suit aficionado, has written a nice piece on Leopard Server. He documents all the major new features specific to the server version, which to be honest you’ll likely never use. The article covers iCal Server, Wiki Server, 64-bit Capabilities, File Services, Web Services, QuickTime Services, iChat Server 2, Mail, Xgrid2, and Open Directory 4.

That’s a lot of geeky terminology. Break out your nerd translator. The really interesting (and longest) portion is the bit on iCal Server, which will allow iCal users to collaborate and share events and whatnot. That’s great for small businesses. It’s all so geeky good that I almost wish I had a reason to set up a Mac or Xserve with it just so I can play with it. If Apple keeps going in this direction and beefing up organization support, they could start taking part of Microsoft’s prized business cake.

Steve Jobs: things I knew, things I didn’t know

Posted on Mar. 27, ’07, 5:08 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen

Category | Apple » Steve Jobs

It’s always fun to learn more about our god Apple’s CEO. If that’s precisely what you wish to do, you can head over to “10 Things You Never Knew About…” and read the 10 pieces of information you (supposedly) never knew about Steve Jobs.

Personally, being the Apple freak that I am, I knew about quite a number of those never-known things. However, there were a few interesting bits and pieces about Jobs’s “real” sister, his college days with Woz, and the fact he held on to one single share of Apple Computer when he was fired from the company in ‘85. This part is also new to my knowledge:

Steve Jobs credits his father and an early neighbor for inspiring his passion for building things and working with electronics. When Jobs was around six years old, his mechanic father cleared one end of his workbench for the young Steve to tinker on his own projects. Shortly after, a Hewlett Packard employee named Larry Lang moved in down the street and got to know the neighbor kids by teaching them about electronics. Jobs was mesmerized and his fascination continued through high school until he got a summer job at HP with friend Steve Wozniak.

Finally, I just have to mention that item #8 on the list tells us Steve is pescetarian (fish is OK, meat is not). So forget vegetarian lasagna, Steve shops for pescetarian lasagna.

[via digg]

iPhone spotted! And not at a soccer game

Posted on Mar. 27, ’07, 3:56 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen

Category | iPhone

Yes, an iPhone has been spotted in the wild, and this time, not at Stevie Jr.’s soccer game. Today, we learn that AT&T’s COO, Randall Stephenson, took a rabbit out of his hat, er, took an iPhone out of his pocket during his keynote speech at CTIA Wireless 2007.

According to Associated Press, “it lasted just moments, but it was easily the highlight of an otherwise uneventful morning.” Stephenson himself must’ve been pretty happy to be able to hold one himself, as it was apparently the first time he was allowed to use an iPhone — he’d held one before, but that one hadn’t been a working unit.

But wait, it doesn’t end here: no other than FCC chairman Kevin Martin managed to get his paws on the phone. “It seemed like he wouldn’t give it back,” said Stephenson. Considering the FCC hasn’t even approved the iPhone, I’m afraid that Mr. Martin is a bit hypocritical. Hey Kevin, how about approving this baby right now so we can get it too?

iPods and driving don’t mix

Posted on Mar. 27, ’07, 2:50 PM PT by Dan Moren

Category | iPod

It really shouldn’t be news that using an iPod while driving is dangerous—as dangerous as talking on your cell phone. But a Drexel University study is making the rounds with just such a conclusion.

On the one hand, this seems like common sense. Using an iPod usually requires you to take your eyes off the road, and at least one hand off the wheel. Naturally, that’s not the safest way to operate what my driver’s ed teacher repeatedly referred to as “two tons of glass and steel.” I’ll come out and admit that I’ve used my iPod while driving plenty of times. And I drive a stick shift. (I fully expect that within five minutes of posting this, at least one of my parents is going to call me or send me an upset email.) Usually I just leave the iPod on shuffle and reach down to skip the song if I don’t want to listen to it, which isn’t really worse than adjusting the radio, in my opinion. But sure, it’s a distraction.

Now, on the flip side, this study is hardly conclusive. For one thing the sample size was small: only 12 people. The test was conducted by a computer science professor using a driving simulator; the participants chose music, podcast, and videos. Selecting the tracks caused most of the subjects to veer to the left or right and reduce speed. Unsurprisingly (and terrifyingly), watching videos affected the speed at which the drivers followed another car.