Upgrade your original Mac Pro with the Radeon HD 2600 X

Posted on Feb. 29, ’08, 1:55 PM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Hardware

Back when the 2008 Mac Pros were released, I noticed that they shipped with a new video card, the Radeon HD 2600 XT. Sure, I could purchase the Radeon 1900XT, but at $400 as an after purchase item, it wasn’t terribly economical. While the 2600 isn’t what you’d call high end, Apple’s own graphics page (88 fps versus 64 fps) shows it as a decent upgrade over the Nividia 7300GT that shipped with the original Mac Pros.

The trick is that although no Apple source specifically calls out the card as compatible with the original Mac Pro, it actually is by virtue of the backwards compatibility of PCIe 2.0. Barefeats has even gone as far as to do performance testing comparing the two cards (which is also how I learned the card was an option.

While it doesn’t exhibit the same level of performance that the 1900XT does, you’re looking at a double improvement in most cases. For $149, that’s not bad. I’m tempted to pick one up, but I must admit the lack of noise with a fanless card has been quite wonderful. Has anybody done this upgrade or can anyone comment on fan noise?

SmartSleep puts your Mac in a healthy sleep cycle

Posted on Feb. 29, ’08, 1:30 PM PT by David Dahlquist

Category | Software

Your Mac laptop needs a regular sleep pattern just like you and SmartSleep sets out to give it the sleep cycle it needs to maximize its battery life.

SmartSleep regulates your Mac’s sleep patterns, setting it to sleep only (no hibernation) when your battery is high and putting it on sleep and hibernate when your battery goes below 20%(this level is customizable). Once your battery goes below 5%, SmartSleep sets the computer to hibernate only, which will preserve the battery completely.

I’ve had my MacBook completely die on sleep mode before, which is more than a little annoying, so I’ll definitely be giving this free software a try.

[Via TUAW]

Security glitch reveals OS X password

Posted on Feb. 29, ’08, 12:35 PM PT by David Dahlquist

Category | Security

If you’re buddies with any malicious cyber geeks or hackers, think twice before letting them hop on your Mac—A security glitch that exposes the OS X password of a Mac to someone with physical access to it has been confirmed by Apple. Oops.

The vulnerability, discovered by San Francisco-area programmer Jacob Appelbaum, arises out of a programming error that keeps the account password in the Mac’s memory long after it’s needed, allowing it to be retrieved and used to log into the computer by unsavory types.

“This is a real problem and it needs to be fixed,” said Appelbaum, who reported the issue to Apple. Apparently, Apple’s response was far from stellar: “They won’t put it in the latest security update or release a security update just for this issue.”

I don’t grant physical access to my Mac to many people, and the ones who do use it every so often wouldn’t have the know-how or intent to take my password. Nevertheless, this is still a big deal; Your OS X password should never be at risk of being compromised. I hope as this story circulates, Apple will be pressured to address this issue with haste.

[Via boingboing]

Lies, damned lies, and available rentals

Posted on Feb. 29, ’08, 11:55 AM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | iTunes » iTunes Store

When His Royal Steveness announced iTunes movie rentals at Macworld Expo, he claimed there would be 1,000 available titles by the end of February. Which, coincidentally, happens to be today.

Ooo, spooky.

Can’t wait to get home and check out all the…wait, what? Chris “Geezer” Breen at the Mothership says there are not yet 1,000 rentals?! Whatchu talkin’ ‘bout, Chris? (running joke?)

Choose All Movies on your Apple TV and you’ll find 351 titles for rent. Dash to the iTunes Store from your Mac or PC and you’ll see that you can rent 378 titles if you use the All Rentals link. Use iTunes’ Power Search feature, however, and 399 titles appear. When you select iTunes’ All Movies link, 770 titles appear, the combined total of movies for rent and for sale.

Those bastards. I bought, like, a dozen cases of Orville Redenbacher’s Gourmet Popping Corn, enough soda to quench the thirst of a small nation, and one of those sweet reclining chairs with cup-holders and a built-in toilet. Now what am I going to do this weekend? Homework?

As if.

Apple also promised 100 titles “in stunning high definition video with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound.” Chris’s search turned up 91 HD movies, and not all with 5.1 sound.

Well, hey, they still have a few hours to meet their deadline. I picture a hundred frantic Apple employees using HandBrake to rip every DVD they could rent from Blockbuster/find at their homes to cram into iTunes before midnight. Clock’s ticking, gentlemen.

Time Capsule magically does USB backups

Posted on Feb. 29, ’08, 10:20 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Software

The team over at Gizmodo has wasted no time—har-dee har—in getting their hands on one of Apple’s new Time Capsule devices. Their initial reports suggest all is as to be expected in Capsule-land, but I noted one interesting point from Wilson Rothman’s post that will be sure to have AirPort Extreme owners frothing at the mouth:

But say you buy the 500GB Time Capsule, and want to use an external 1TB drive to do all your serious backing up. When you connect it via USB, it is automatically visible in both the AirPort Utility and the Time Machine on your Mac.

Much as I wish I had an answer for this perplexing question of the ages, I got nothing. I would have hoped that a firmware patch for the AirPort Extreme would be forthcoming, but Apple’s playing this one close to the vest.

Brouhaha over undocumented APIs is much ado about little

Posted on Feb. 29, ’08, 9:19 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Geekery

How’s this for sensationalist headlines: “Mac OS X Secretly Cripples Non-Apple Software”? So said a piece on Slashdot yesterday, referring to a blog post by Firefox developer Vladimir Vukicevic. Vukicevic uncovered some programming options that were being used by development builds of WebKit, but were undocumented, and thus, unavailable to third-party developers.

Of course, that led to many calling foul on Apple, with Mozilla developer Robert O’Callahan going so far as to say:

It’s worth reflecting that if Microsoft was doing this, they’d likely be hauled before a judge, in the EU if not the US. In fact I can’t recall Microsoft ever pulling off an undocumented-API-fest of this magnitude.

The programmatic disabling of coalesced updates should not be public API. It’s actually a very dangerous thing to do. We aren’t really happy with that code in WebKit, but we had to do it to avoid performance regressions in apps that embedded WebKit. Technically it’s wrong though, since we turn off the coalesced updates for any app that uses WebKit! This includes drawing they do that doesn’t even use WebKit.

Vukicevic has updated his initial post with a clarification, stating that he thought Slashdot “misunderstood the post”; he doesn’t think “Apple is in any way trying to purposely “cripple” non-Apple software,” rather he would just like to see these methods documented, in case they’re useful for others. The most even-handed writeup I’ve seen so far is from Ryan Paul at Ars Technica, so if you’re interested in the nitty gritty details, it’s worth a look.

Personally, I think that these kind of differences—important though they may be—are probably not the deciding factor when you choose which browser you want to use. That’s true for me, anyway: I surf on Safari because I prefer the interface and look of the browser; others prefer Firefox’s extensive plugin architecture. To each their own.

Forty percent off .Mac, just for showing up

Posted on Feb. 29, ’08, 7:50 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple » Stores

Last night, I took a journey—a journey of the body and the spirit. To the Apple Store. Well, okay, mainly it was a journey of “I need to buy a new power adapter, because my MacBook’s is dead.” But it became so much more.

I’d just paid for my new power adapter, and the cashier offered, as usual, to send my receipt to me via email, confirming that I wanted it sent to my .Mac address. As I turned to walk away, a second cashier—having overheard that I had a .Mac account—asked me if I wanted to save some money on my renewal. Savvy shopper that I am, I asked him how much I’d be saving. “40%,” he told me.

Well, seeing as how I was going to renew my account anyway, it seemed silly not to take advantage of $40 off the usual $99 price, so I handed over my credit card. When I asked about the discount, the cashier shrugged and said it was an incentive for people who took the time to come into the store, and that it wasn’t widely advertised, but he tried to mention it to people whenever he heard they had an account. “I’m still selling something,” he pointed out, adding that it made people happy.

So there you are: if you’re planning on renewing your .Mac account, you might want to take a trip to your local Apple Store and see if they can hook you up. I’m told there are some restrictions (I think it needs to be at least three months since you’ve purchased/last renewed), but it’s probably worth checking out.

Apple + Coen Bros = 4 oscars

Posted on Feb. 28, ’08, 5:30 PM PT by David Dahlquist

Category | Apple » News

The Coen brothers are putting Apple and Final Cut Pro back on the Hollywood map—in a positive way this time.

The brothers, who created the four-oscar-winning film “No Country for Old Men” have discussed the importance of Apple hardware and software during the editing of their film.

“They [Apple] made it really easy for us — we cut now much the same way we cut on film [using Final Cut Pro]. It’s hugely faster,” said Ethan Coen.

Whatever they did with Final Cut Pro, it worked, as they won Best Picture of the Year, among a number of other awards. This is an especially big deal since, according to Macworld, this is the first movie edited with an entirely digital workflow on a Mac to win the Oscar.

iPhoto 7.1.3 offers a quick fix

Posted on Feb. 28, ’08, 5:00 PM PT by David Dahlquist

Category | Software » Updates

For those iPhoto users who have been suffering from “issues with wire-bound books and cards”, your wait is finally over. iPhoto 7.1.3 is now available, and the 16.9 MB download claims to fix this exact issue. I’m not exactly sure what “issues with wire-bound books and cards” it may be addressing, but it’s good to know that this is no longer a problem.

Now go, my wire-bounding and card-making friend. Download the update, be free, and wire-bound and card away!

Iconfactory tweets Twitterrific 3.1

Posted on Feb. 28, ’08, 4:30 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Software » Updates

Twitter’s hot in the Mac community. Probably because we all think everything that crosses our minds is so important that everyone must know it.

Which is true, really. At least everything I think.

So it’s always a blessing when Iconfactory updates their famed Twitter client, Twitterrific. Version 3.1 includes a host of new features: new preferences for scrolling tweets, new keyboard shortcuts, new option to display @names instead of full names, and more. It also has a ton of bug fixes.

Check the Twitterfic site for info about the app, and the Version History page for deets on the 3.1 update. Twitterrific is $14.95, or you can use an ad-supported free version.

Crystals put Icing on the Air

Posted on Feb. 28, ’08, 3:45 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Hardware

Mark this one in the “Extravagant for the sake of extravagant” column: the folks at Crystal Icing covered their MacBook Air with 8,000 Swarovksi Crystals, adding a half-pound of weight and an eighth-inch of thickness.

And they’ll plaster your laptop in crystals for a measly $2,000.

So, yeah. Good to know you’ve got that option. Might get you out of a bind one day. Somehow.

[via Engadget]

PayPal: Safari is a little phishy

Posted on Feb. 28, ’08, 3:00 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Internet

I get a lot of emails from PayPal about inconsistencies in my account, or requests to verify my account information, or to pay $1500 I didn’t know I owed. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the courtesy; but it’s just a little annoying when you have to verify your bank info three times a day, you know?

At least I’m not a victim of phishing, the tactic used by web criminals to acquire sensitive data by tricking people into thinking they’re inputting their information into a trustworthy site that’s really just a front for money-hungry evildoers.

And PayPal, one of the most phished sites on the ‘net, has a warning for Safari users: it’s one of the most susceptible web browsers to phishing fraud. Via the Mothership:

Unlike its competitors, Safari has no built-in phishing filter to warn users when they are visiting suspicious Web sites, Barrett said. Another problem is Safari’s lack of support for another anti-phishing technology, called Extended Validation (EV) certificates. This is a secure Web browsing technology that turns the address bar green when the browser is visiting a legitimate Web site.

They recommend using Firefox, or even Opera, instead, at least until Apple can get its anti-phish act together.

Remember kids, always verify you’re at the real website by checking the URL before submitting any sensitive data. These guys are slick.

Oh, come on. They want me to verify my account info again? Dammit PayPal, you’ve got the memory of a goldphish.

Some thoughts on multi-touch, patents and the future

Posted on Feb. 28, ’08, 2:00 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Hardware

In a post on his blog at CNET, Tom Krazit discusses how Apple’s implementing Multi-Touch gesture recognition on its notebooks might impact us in the future, as the technology is more widely adopted and different PC vendors implement the same feature on their own notebooks.

The thing that vexes Tom is the possibility that PC makers, in an attempt to sidestep Apple’s patents (and avoid the legendary Jobsian wrath), start using various different gestures for doing similar tasks. Are we headed towards a future where pinching and expanding your fingertips on a MacBook zooms into an image but a similar gesture on a Sony VAIO deletes a file?

Personally, I don’t think we are. Such things tend to sort themselves out in the long run. Doesn’t tapping on all trackpads indicate a mouse click and don’t we have scroll wheels that function pretty much the same on all mice? Maybe the multi-touch trackpad will make its way onto ThinkPads and Inspirons in the same way and pinching and zooming will expand pictures on every multi-touch enabled device.

Even if we do end up with different multi-touch interfaces on different notebooks in the future, I don’t think it will be much of a catastrophe. As Krazit himself points out, we’re used to Macs and PCs having different modifier keys and cars having different gearshifts (not to mention the continental US having four different time zones), so I guess we’ll adapt ourself to some more diversity in our computing devices when the time comes.

Either way, it certainly is food for thought and once again raises the question of whether patents really do help us in any way or just act as speedbumps in the path of progress. We’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter, so feel free to sound off in the comments.

iPhone Software Roadmap. March 6th. Town Hall.

Posted on Feb. 28, ’08, 1:00 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Apple » Events

Well, would you lookee at what just arrived in the mailbox? It’s an invitation from Apple to a special event on March 6 to discuss the “iPhone Software Roadmap.” At last, a week from today, Apple will discuss the promised SDK. The invitation, as usual, is terse:

Please join us to learn about the iPhone software roadmap, including the iPhone SDK and some exciting new enterprise features.

Are you thinking what I’m thinking? What “exciting new enterprise features” are we talking about here? Are we going to see the iPhone get Microsoft Exchange support?

Hopefully, Apple won’t be dilly-dallying anymore and will release the SDK during this event. Jobs promised to have the SDK “in developers’ hands” by February and March 6—well, let’s just say it ain’t February, no matter how much you stretch it.

Sound off in the comments; it’s free of charge.

Whither the “open-box” products?

Posted on Feb. 28, ’08, 12:00 PM PT by Cyrus Farivar

Category | Hardware

So I’m at the Apple Store Bay Street in Emeryville, CA the other day, getting my iPhone earbuds replaced (the left channel decided that it was going on strike for some reason). While I waited, I asked if they had any “open-box” earbuds in case mine weren’t covered under warranty (it turned out that they were).

The friendly employee told me that not only did they not have any open-box earbuds, but that they had no open-box products of any kind, and that the Apple Stores had gotten rid of them something like six months ago.

How sad. The secret open-box sections were one of my favorite ways to get a good deal.

Maybe now I’ll just have to rely on my brother’s company discount—yes, he works at 1 Infinite L—aargh! [It appears Cyrus has been the victim of a paralyzing blowdart to the neck, courtesy of Apple Special Forces. We’re assured he will make a full recovery. -DM]

Anyone else try to go open-box recently?

Buying used Macs

Posted on Feb. 28, ’08, 11:00 AM PT by Cyrus Farivar

Category | Hardware

While it’s always fun to look at the shiny new gear that’s out there, you may not want to spend that kind of scratch. Fortunately, you can get some great deals on previous generations of Macs for a lot less money.

For instance, dealmac notes a bunch of different Macs available for a range of budgets: from your G3 iMac ($60), to an iBook G4 12” ($590), to a 1.83 GHz MacBook ($830).

Of course, unless the shop you’re buying from offers AppleCare, you run the risk of replacing the hardware out of your own pocket, should it crash out on you.

Here’s another tip: if you’re buying a laptop from one of these dealers, or checking out one on Craigslist, here’s another tip: bring a copy of CoconutBattery on a thumb drive to check out what kind of state the battery is in. (You can thank me later.)

New iPod ad is touchy, feely

Posted on Feb. 28, ’08, 10:14 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Apple » Advertising

There’s a new advertisement from Apple making the rounds. Continuing Apple’s love-fest with American Idol, the ad debuted during last night’s episode of the singing competition. The ad features disembodied hands using the various features of a tableful of iPod touches. At the end, several hands reach into the frame and each grab an iPod touch, followed by the tagline “Everybody Touch.”

We also noticed that Apple is now more actively promoting the songs they use in their commercials. At the end of the video, they give you a direct link to the song on the iTunes Store. It’s Brendan Benson’s (iTunes link) lucky day alright.

“Crossword puzzle helper” in 11 letters

Posted on Feb. 28, ’08, 9:38 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Tips

I’m all for a little cruciverbalism in my spare time—it’s why I’m such a fan of Red Sweater Software’s Black Ink crossword puzzle app. Sometimes, however, there’s just a clue that you can’t crack. In my case, it’s usually because my brain is just in need of a reboot, but it can still be frustrating to stare a mishmash of letters and see only gibberish.

An anonymous tipster at our sister site, Mac OS X Hints, has one suggestion for combatting that sort of brain fatigue. With a couple of simple lines of Terminal code, you can easily create a command-line program that’ll let you enter a pattern of letters and find all the words that match that pattern. The full code for the app can be found in the hint above; all you need to do is paste it into the text editor of your choice, save it to disk, and then pop into terminal and type chmod +x plus the file name (thus telling your Mac that it’s an executable application).

Some may view the use of this sort of thing as cheating; me, I call it a memory aid. Besides, the only person I’m cheating is myself, and I have it on good authority that I’m totally down with that.

Kick that nasty Dashboard habit with Dashquit

Posted on Feb. 28, ’08, 8:53 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Software

It’s not that we don’t love Dashboard, but sometimes you just want it to go away. Maybe it’s distracting; maybe it’s just eating up too much darn memory. Now, you can always go into Activity Monitor or—if you’re the daring type—Terminal and kill the associated processes, but wouldn’t it be nice if there was a simpler solution?

Wow, was that a set up or what? Of course, we have just such a solution for you in the form of Dashboard widget Dashquit. This unobtrusive little feller sits in your Dashboard, calmly reporting to you just how much of your precious RAM Dashboard is devouring. If, at any point, you decide that Dashboard’s had 1 megabyte too many and needs to be cut off, just hit the big “stop” button and you can kill the whole kit-and-caboodle.

Dashquit’s a free download from its developers at Elaum Dev Center, and is available for both Tiger and Leopard.

[via Lifehacker]

What is…Febtoday? Time Capsules now shipping.

Posted on Feb. 28, ’08, 8:10 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Hardware » Accessories

Just a couple of days ago, we witnessed Dan go ballistic about the Time Capsule’s failure to show up along with the updates MacBooks and the iPod shuffle. When he starts talking about dying kittens, you know he’s in panic mode.

Therefore, it was music to his ears when he heard today that those much vaunted backup devices have not been forgotten by Apple in all the February excitement. Apple has now confirmed what we’ve been hearing from those who have pre-ordered, that the status of Time Capsule orders—which they’ve been trying to change by sheer willpower ever since the Macworld Expo—have finally budged and are now showing “preparing to ship.” We presume that means they are, in fact, being loaded into bullock-carts and dispatched all over the world as we speak. If you’ve ordered one, give us a shout below to tell us of your (presumably good) fortune.

Localizing annoyance

Posted on Feb. 28, ’08, 7:05 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Geekery

One “feature” in Mac OS X is the option for application names to be localized. While the actual filename of an application is one thing, depending upon your current language settings the name of the application could be another. Apple’s own usage of it is inconsistent.

Truth be told, it’s a mess. You can’t refer programatically to the name of the application as it is presented to you, requiring you to try to figure out the real name. Here’s the real wacky part of it (when I first encountered this): you can rename for English as well. As such, should a developer change the naming of an app (by adding a trademark symbol, for example), they can hide it with localization, resulting in you staring at two applications named the exact same thing as far as you can tell.

It really freaked me out the first time I ran into it until I figured it out. It’s a great idea for international users, but there must be a better way to deal with this.

[via Daring Fireball]

Apple RAM, cheaper, but still 4 times markup

Posted on Feb. 28, ’08, 5:40 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Hardware

Reader Carlos wrote in to note that RAM prices on the newly released MacBook and MacBook Pro were much better than they used to be. That seems to be the case, but I still personally recommend against upgrading your RAM through them. You will encounter overly loyal fans that will not put a stick of RAM into their Mac unless it’s been kissed by someone at Apple.

To upgrade your MacBook with 4 GB of RAM through Apple, it costs $400. That’s better than the $700 more it used to cost. However, Other World Computing is now offering 4 GB upgrade kits for $95.99. That’s a quarter of the cost and they don’t have the profit of the machine itself to defray cost.

To make things even better for you as a customer, they offer a trade-in program. Assuming you don’t want to try to sell those two now useless 1 GB sticks of MacBook yourself, you can send the RAM to them and get a $20 rebate off your order. You can upgrade the RAM for less than $80. That’s a fifth of Apple’s option cost. Now you know. Don’t let your friends overspend on RAM upgrades.

Stream ‘net radio on Apple TV

Posted on Feb. 27, ’08, 2:41 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Apple TV

Quickie tip from our brethren at Mac OS X Hints: how to play Internet radio — like those found in the “Radio” list in iTunes — right on your Apple TV.

Simple process: Create playlist in iTunes; drag radio stations you want on Apple TV from Radio list into playlist; sync playlist with Apple TV; play playlist on Apple TV.

Voila. As long as your Apple TV is connected to the Internet, it will stream the music — no computer needed. You can even add web streams that aren’t in the iTunes Radio list by going to the Advanced menu, selecting Open Stream…, inserting the URL of the stream itself, then dragging that to your Apple TV playlist.

I just wanna know: does anyone actually listen to Internet radio? Anyone?

Research firms to Hollywood: Cut Apple out of the equation

Posted on Feb. 27, ’08, 2:20 PM PT by David Dahlquist

Category | Apple » Huh?

Two major research firms—Park Associates and Entertainment Technology Center at USC—are drinking the Apple Hater-ade. They’ve released a document urging Hollywood to adopt (steal) Apple’s innovative tactics of offering low-cost TV shows and feature films for mobile devices, and to cut Apple out of the equation *collective hiss*.

“Hollywood shouldn’t let Apple make all the money, especially since they are the ones making the movies,” said John Barrett, director of research at Parks Associates. “Judicious use of free mobile content can help drive ticket and DVD sales.”

While they’re at it, why doesn’t Hollywood go ahead and build a new chain of movie rental stores as well? After all, they make the movies, so why should they let Blockbuster or Netflix take some of their profit? Heck, why don’t they set up a competitor to Best Buy, Regal Cinemas, and HBO, too? Oh, yeah, these companies operate in the “real world”, unlike Apple who only distributes through the internets. *facepalm*

[Via ipodnn]

Creative challenges iPod with $150 ZEN

Posted on Feb. 27, ’08, 1:40 PM PT by David Dahlquist

Category | Apple » Rivals

Creative is kicking things up a notch in its effort to grab a bigger share of the Apple-dominated MP3 player market. They’ve dropped their relatively popular 8 GB ZEN to $150, bringing it in direct competition with the 4 GB iPod Nano, also $150. Not only that, but the ZEN boasts a larger, 2.5-inch screen and offers potential expansion through an SD card slot *gasp!*.

Creative has also dropped the pricing on their smaller players—$80 for a 2 GB model and $100 for a 4 GB version, making the 4GB model $50 cheaper than the comparative iPod nano.

If price-to-storage ratio were the determining factor in what makes an MP3 player a hit, then Creative would have this one in the bag. Unfortunately for them, however, there’s much more to the MP3-player-success equation. Things like brand recognition, marketing, reputation, music store, support, style, etc. all play a huge roll in making or breaking an MP3 player. Creative is pretty far behind Apple on all of these elements, and so they have a ways to go before they catch up to their dominating brethren. That said, this is definitely a wise move that could potentially turn some thrifty customers away from the pricier iPods. Any thoughts?

[Via ipodnn]

City Inn promises a Mac in every room

Posted on Feb. 27, ’08, 12:00 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Apple » News

The next time you visit London or Manchester, you might want to stay at the City Inn hotel. Macworld UK reports that all the rooms in these hotels are equipped with a 20-inch iMac that serves as the entertainment center. It plays television, radio, and DVDs, which are freely available from a well-stocked catalogue at the guest services desk.

Not only that, these iMacs are all Internet-enabled, which means that you can always get online and have a video conference with iChat or look up flight schedules. And for those times when you just have to get that spreadsheet done, you can use the included Office suite as well.

The iMacs are all pre-configured with Faronic’s Deep Freeze software, an application that wipes the slate clean every time the machine is restarted, so no one needs to know that you’ve been listening to Paris Hilton.

The managing director of the hotel chain, Huw O’Connor said, “With this solution we have taken an outstanding piece of kit from one of the world’s foremost technology providers to give customers what they should rightfully expect; an in-room entertainment/multimedia capability that is equal to that which they will have in their home or in their office.”

Now, if only they gave away free iPhones to every visitor, we would have a winner. But let’s not get too greedy, shall we?

The evolution of the notebook

Posted on Feb. 27, ’08, 11:00 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Internet

Did you know that the first portable computer weighed 23 pounds? We have desktop computers that weigh half as much as that today and notebooks that are one-tenth as heavy. We’ve come a long way and in this age of notebooks thinner than your tiny little pinky finger; it’s easy to forget how much innovation and hard work it’s taken to get here.

To keep us mindful of the ancestors to the MacBooks and ThinkPads we hold in our hands today, BusinessWeek has published a slideshow of the evolution of notebook computers. Starting with the Osborne 1, the 23-pound “portable” released in 1981, to the 3-pound, 0.76-inch thin MacBook Air released this year (I’m going to pretend that the Lenovo X300 did not make it to this list, undeserving as it is of this honor), it gives us a remarkable insight into what was considered revolutionary a decade ago and has been archived in museums today.

One day, perhaps a decade or two from now, we’ll be looking at a picture of the MacBook Air and chuckling to ourselves, amused at how far we’ve gone since 2008. Here’s hoping to a consistently inventive and innovative future ahead of us.

[Via The Mac Observer]

A no holds barred look at the MacBook Pro internals

Posted on Feb. 27, ’08, 10:00 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Hardware » Intel Macs

Wow, that was quick! Anand Lal Shimpi, over at AnandTech, has not only laid his hands on one of the brand new 17-inch MacBook Pros released yesterday, he’s already torn it down to its barest essentials and put the pictures up for geeks like us to drool over.

The explicit pictures (quite safe for work, unless you happen to be working at the Electronics Fundamental Rights Foundation) reveal that not much has changed from the previous generation MacBook Pro. It still features a custom motherboard design similar to the previous iteration, which has now been outfitted with the updated processor, hard drive, graphics card, and the Broadcom chip that enables that Multi-Touch goodness we all love.

Surprisingly, Mr. Shimpi didn’t find any significant improvements in performance (you’d think Penryn would be quite something after all that hype). Stay tuned for the full-fledged review from the ever reliable Macworld. It’ll be published in a couple of days, once they’ve had a chance to give it a thorough testing, Macworld-style.

[via TUAW]

Salt and battery: MacBook specs hubbub

Posted on Feb. 27, ’08, 9:01 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Hardware

With the release of yesterday’s new and presumably shinier MacBooks and MacBook Pros, Apple tweaked a couple of things in its technical specifications. You’ll notice, for example, a brand new Environment section touting things like the fact that most of the notebooks’ circuit boards don’t use the thoroughly reprehensible brominated flame retardants. We’re pretty stoked about that, but as it turns out far more attention was given to another change: the new laptops’ estimated battery life.

The MacBooks, for example, are now listed as having 4.5 hours of “wireless productivity,” while the MacBook Pros lists 5 hours for the 15” and 4.5 hours for the 17”. Previous incarnations had been pegged at 6, 6, and 5.75 hours of battery life respectively. Apple’s notebooks have always promised more than they really deliver in real-world situations, just as the company’s iPod battery claims are usually underestimated. So what gives?

According to Gizmodo—whose story on the matter has undergone more changes than Madonna’s image—the reason behind the difference is that Apple has changed how they measure battery life. Instead of taking the longest of three separate results from tests as varied as watching a DVD to editing a text document, they’re taking the middle result, our new buddy “wireless productivity.” As Apple PR told Infinite Loop, “The wireless productivity test is the closest to normal usage, right in the middle of the road with WiFi, text editing, sending e-mail, etc.”

Whether this actually yields results closer to what you might see in the real world, well, we’ll reserve judgment until our cohorts at the Macworld Labs gets their hands on the models and give them the oh-so-thorough investigation they deserve, but it’s worth pointing out that the specs for the MacBook Air promise 5 hours of wireless productivity, which by all accounts isn’t quite the case. So, for the moment, continue taking battery estimates with the requisite dose of sodium.

Microsoft fined 899 million Euros for crimes against humanity (or antitrust violations)

Posted on Feb. 27, ’08, 8:01 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Legal

The problem with having more money than god is that everybody wants a piece of it. So Microsoft has been discovering for the last several years. Now the European Commission has bellied up to the bar once again, laying down a hefty €899 million on Microsoft’s tab. The charge? Non-compliance with the 2004 antitrust decision handed down against the company. This on top of previous fines brings the total in Microsoft’s debit column to €1.7 billion, equivalent to $2.5 billion in increasingly Monopoly-like US dollars. Which, you know, might hurt more if they hadn’t made, oh, $51 billion last year alone.

European Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes—last seen in these pages refusing to take action against iTunes, a fact that will surely get her pegged by fellow EU commissioners as an Apple fanboy—said that “the Commission’s latest fine is a reasonable response to unreasonable actions by Microsoft.” That’s right, Microsoft—you’re grounded for two whole days for setting Old Man Johnson’s house on fire. That seems about right.

The compliance issues mainly focus on Microsoft’s failure to license its protocols to open source developers at a “reasonable” price. Just last week, the company said it would take steps to make its technology more accessible to open source developers—which we took to mean that Microsoft would drop its long-standing practice of sticking its fingers in its ears while loudly singing “I can’t heeeeeear you” whenever approached by the open source movement. To that claim EU Commissioner Kroes responded—and we’re paraphrasing—“Cha, right.”

iBank 3 released

Posted on Feb. 27, ’08, 7:10 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Software

iBank, developed by IGG Software, has been updated to version 3. The personal finance management software has gained a slew of new features in the latest version, most prominently that you can sync with your iPhone. You know you want to look at your cashflow while some stranger looks over your shoulder on the train. Also new:

• Direct Downloads (Get data without entering it manually or downloading some file.)
• Interactive Graphs
• Category Images
• Cover Flow for Transactions (Too much coverflow! My head hurts.)
• Tax Support
• More…

It looks really great and priced right at $60 ($30 upgrade). I’m really quite tempted to try it out and possibly switch from competition that can’t even manage a universal binary coughQuickencough.

[via Macworld]

Yet another way to keep WoW add-ons updated

Posted on Feb. 27, ’08, 5:50 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Games

World of Warcraft is a well-designed game, but as you reach the end game, add-ons are nearly required for effective gameplay. Whether it’s a threat meter to keep from stealing aggro, a damage meter to show that you’re the damagiest of them all, or something to simply improve button layout, there’s one that will help you to accomplish your goal.

However, they’re not published by Blizzard. They’re not even stored in a central place. This makes keeping up to date difficult. I previously told you about WowAceUpdater, which still works wonderfully for plugins using Ace.

I use add-ons that aren’t always Ace plugins though. WowMatrix aims to fill in that gap, updating even more add-ons. I tried it last night. It showed me a series of updates I had no idea about. So far so good. It updated them. I started WoW and… I lost the settings for nearly all of my add-ons. The add-ons were updated, but I think I’ll stay away from it for now and go back to the manual method.

[via BigRedKitty]

No HDTV? No Apple TV rentals

Posted on Feb. 26, ’08, 6:15 PM PT by David Dahlquist

Category | Apple » News

Not all Apple TV owners are created equally, and what I mean by that, is not all Apple TV owners are HDTV equipped—which is a problem.

Jeff Carlson at TidBITS upgraded his Apple TV to Take 2 and decided to celebrate by trying out a movie rental. Much to his dismay, Apple TV wouldn’t let him play his movie because he doesn’t have an HDTV, which is apparently required for Apple TV. So why won’t an Apple TV rental play on a regular computer monitor (which is what Jeff was using)?

You guessed it—DRM. Or to be more specific, HDCP (High Bandwidth Digital Content Protection), which is a form of DRM that prevents you from playing video over DVI and HDMI connections if you don’t have compatible hardware that can decode the signal.

This will obviously amount to much unneeded frustration for legitimate purchasers, all in the name of anti-piracy. In Jeff’s case, he simply wasn’t able to watch the movie at all, as anything rented directly to Apple TV can only be viewed on Apple TV (whereas a movie rented on a Mac via iTunes can be transferred between an iPhone, iPod, or Apple TV—weird.)

Fortunately for Jeff, after contacting Apple about his problem, he was granted a swift refund. But let this be a warning to Apple TV owners who lack HDCP support, component video input, or certain appropriate DVI inputs. Until Apple gets their act together on this, stick to iTunes on your Mac for movie rentals.

Aperture World Tour coming to your city, March 5 to April 28

Posted on Feb. 26, ’08, 2:40 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Apple » Events

Apple announced yesterday that they’ll be kicking off the Aperture 2 World Tour on March 5 this year. The two month tour includes fourteen cities from around the world and will be a chance for Aperture users and enthusiasts to learn the various new features of the recently released application.

The list of cities shortlisted for the tour are Atlanta, Milan, New York, Boston, London, San Francisco, Moscow, Sydney, San Diego, Hong Kong, Miami, Singapore, Chicago and Seattle. They’ll first hit Atlanta on March 5 and then proceed down the list in the given order, ending with Seattle on April 28.

Check out the schedule at the link above and reserve your seat if you’re interested in attending the free, in-depth presentation when (and if) it comes to your city.

PC Mag posts top 10 weirdest iPod accessories

Posted on Feb. 26, ’08, 1:45 PM PT by David Dahlquist

Category | Apple » Humor

The funny folks at PC Mag have compiled an amusing top 10 Weirdest iPod Accessories list. From a guitar case complete with built-in bottle-opener and iPod storage pocket, to a sports headband that transmits sound through vibrations rather than sound waves, there are products here that leave me wondering what their respective company execs were on when they approved them.

One of the strangest items is the Hymn Book Case, made to protect your 30GB and 80GB iPod video while looking like—any takers?—an old book of hymns. It’s a cute idea, and from the looks of it, might offer some solid protection. And of course it would make a great gift for your church-going friends (religious iPod owners—such an untapped market).

Check out the list—and included slide-show—for a quick chuckle.

MacBook Pro keyboards say “Sayonara, numpad!”

Posted on Feb. 26, ’08, 1:27 PM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Hardware

Many of us—myself included—thought perhaps the next MacBook Pro revision might adopt the same style keyboard as the standard MacBook, MacBook Air, and Apple’s latest external keyboards. Alas, while this was not to be the case, it turns out that the newest professional-level laptops have been modified to remain consistent with Apple’s other keyboards.

As we reported last month, Apple has slowly been eliminating the numeric keypad functionality from its keyboards. Switch to a Mac points out that the same holds true with today’s newly updated MacBook Pros, along with the repositioned media function keys (play/pause, volume, forward, back, etc.), plus the replacement of the “Enter” key with a second option key, and relabeling the “Apple” key as command.

This isn’t terribly surprising: after all, it does make the keyboards less complex and more uniform. Personally, I always thought that you were better off getting a separate numeric keypad anyway, especially after the time my friend panicked that his MacBook was possessed because it would only type numbers (his NumLock light was broken). But how come the MacBook Pros are the only ones with the old-style laptop keyboard? I vastly prefer the “chiclet” keyboard to the MBPs, but maybe that’s just me.

[hat tip: Roberto]

There’s something in the AIR…again

Posted on Feb. 26, ’08, 12:50 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Software

After running it through an extensive beta, Adobe has announced the maturation of Adobe AIR (boy, it sure seems to be the buzzword of 2008), the company’s cross-platform development environment that seeks to merge desktop and Internet applications. Their open source application development framework, Flex, was also updated to version 3.0.

AIR enables developers to deploy their applications on the Internet as well as on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux by using the same codebase. That means that managing and updating all the different versions of the application across platforms is several times simpler because it only requires the developer to make changes once. The code itself is comprised of web standard languages and protocols such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and AJAX, along with Adobe’s Flash and Flex technologies.

In addition, Air ensures a very advanced level of integration between Web 2.0 applications and their desktop companions. Several popular web services and websites, such as AOL, finetune, eBay, NASDAQ, Pownce, Nickelodeon, and Twitter, already have their own AIR-enabled desktop applications. Adobe itself has promised to port its own principal applications, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and other members of the Creative Suite, to the web in the coming years.

This is especially good news for Mac users because of the inherently cross-platform nature of this venture. In the past, developers of several prized Windows applications have opted not to port their applications to work on our platform of choice. Though that situation has been mostly rectified now, there are still some exclusive Windows applications that are missing on Mac OS X. AIR promises to be a good solution for this dilemma and we’re looking forward to some great new applications that aren’t discriminatory towards Mac users.

The only problem I have with Adobe AIR is the fact that the applications aren’t native to Mac OS X. However, to get something you have to be prepared to let go of other things in return and if it does indeed deliver on its promise of excellent cross-platform applications, I guess the lack of the Mac OS X features exclusive to native applications won’t be missed too much.

If you want to give it a whirl, and you should, proceed to the Download Center to grab it and then to the Adobe AIR Marketplace to have a look at the (currently) few applications available.

Logic3 JiveBox review

Posted on Feb. 26, ’08, 12:00 PM PT by David Dahlquist

Category | iPod » iPod Accessories

Need to get the party bumping, but your iPod headphones and MacBook Pro speakers just aren’t doing the trick? Electronista has posted a beaming review of the new Logic3 JiveBox, an all-in-one cube that houses a 2.1 speaker that packs a good amount of oomf for its 7¼-inch frame.

Aside from its cool, Darth Vader meets the Borg starship appearance, the JiveBox is can generate 70 to 110 watts of power, which is plenty for a moderate sized house party. The reviewer also praises the JiveBox’s booming, distortion-free bass output and the inclusion of an IR remote and a number of docking cradle plates to fit a variety of new and old iPod.

The JiveBox is only available in Europe at the moment, but lets hope it’s released in the US sooner than later.

Photonic makes Flickr snaps a, um, snap

Posted on Feb. 26, ’08, 10:59 AM PT by Cyrus Farivar

Category | Photography

The Mothership reports that there’s a new app afoot for the Flickr set. (Get it?)

Based on the screen grabs, this just might be the new app for me, given that Flickr Uploadr seems to constantly give me problems. I often find that when I try to toss up some new pics, it will just give a sickly cough and say that there was an upload error.

But I won’t be able to use Photonic for awhile as it’s Leopard-only, and I still haven’t upgraded. Why? Because Digidesign still doesn’t have their act together, and hasn’t made Pro Tools LE—a program I use nearly every day—Leopard-compatible yet.

Brooklyn thieves only want Apple products?

Posted on Feb. 26, ’08, 10:00 AM PT by Cyrus Farivar

Category | Apple

I suppose at least one Brooklyn thief has discriminating taste, according to Gawker:

True story. My apartment in ‘prime Williamsburg’ was broken into. The thieves searched out my [Apple] iPod and [Mac] PowerBook, but the [sic] didn’t touch my roommate’s Dell that was sitting out in plain sight on our kitchen table.

Not surprisingly, this isn’t the first time that we’ve heard about Apple products being targeted for theft.

[via Cult of Mac]

Time Capsule still lost in space

Posted on Feb. 26, ’08, 9:09 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Hardware

As we puzzle out the mysteries of the universe, I’m trying not to panic. But I must ask: what the devil has happened to Time Capsule? Yesterday, we saw that Best Buy had been advertising Apple’s new wireless backup solution in their weekly circular, and given that today is Tuesday (aka Apple Announce-o-rama), we kinda assumed that they’d be showing up in the Apple Store along with the new notebooks.

But as a wise man once told us: when you make an assumption, you make an ass of you and mption. And, I believe, a kitten dies. Or something like that. There are still, we concede, three whole days left in February for the Time Capsule to make its TARDIS-like appearance. The Apple Store still lists a vague “February” as a shipping date, and Best Buy’s online catalog says that both models are backordered, meaning “Usually leaves our warehouse within 1-2 weeks.” That could just be placeholder text, but we wonder if the doodad just isn’t ready to fly yet.

We throw this question to you, dear readers: have any of you pre-ordered a Time Capsule? Hearing anything that we aren’t?

iTunes picks up the number two spot

Posted on Feb. 26, ’08, 8:21 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | iTunes » iTunes Store

I know you love numbers almost as much as we love numbers. And we love numbers a lot: almost as much as we love chocolate milkshakes. Almost. So today’s announcement from Apple that they’d assumed the number two position in US music retail, well it hit the spot.

Of course, “two” on its own isn’t enough to sate our appetite, and Apple obliged, citing 50 million iTunes customers and sales of over four billion tracks. That’s right: enough for almost two-thirds of the world to have their own copies of Coldplay’s latest hit single. Twenty million tracks were sold this past Christmas Day alone (ten million of them, admittedly, bought by Steve’s kids—shhhhhh) and Apple is still boasting the world’s largest online music catalog of over six million tracks from all the major labels and a bevy of indie producers as well. On the video side of things, Apple reiterated its plan to have 1,000 titles available by the end of the month (three days and counting, Cupertino).

The number two spot comes from a MusicWatch survey by the NPD Group which, if you’re interested in the fine print, counts one CD as twelve tracks. Which means that if everybody was out there buying copies of They Might Be Giant’s Apollo 18, the numbers might be slightly skewed. But I guess that seems unlikely.

With Apple occupying position numero dos, that leaves giganto retailer Wal-Mart as number one with a bullet. Watch your back, smiley.

Run programs… on your video card

Posted on Feb. 26, ’08, 7:07 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Geekery

Video cards in personal computers are quickly becoming computer powerhouses, especially when compared to the host computer itself. In order to fuel all that multimedia and those oh-so-real video games, video cards have to be powerful and fast. For many users, the video card impacts the user experience far more than a couple hundred megahertz in the CPU.

It’s not surprising then that some people are actually interested in tapping that power for uses other than pretty pictures. Nvidia understands this and has offered CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture), a development environment geared to deploying software that runs in their video cards. It allows software to be written specifically to be run on the cards, not for existing software to run on them, in case you started having delusions of grandeur.

There are some caveats (such as requiring an “8 series” model or greater), but that dream that some researchers with parallel computing needs have held can finally be fulfilled. What’s new and even greater is that it’s available for Mac. I find the news encouraging as it’s a sign of Nvidia’s commitment to our favorite platform.

[via Ars Technica]

iPod shuffled up to 2GB and shipping now

Posted on Feb. 26, ’08, 6:45 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | iPod

The MacBooks were not the only ones getting the update treatment from Apple today. Remember the 2GB shuffle Apple promised us last week? It’s not “coming soon” anymore, people, because you can now order it from the Apple Online Store and it will be shipped to you within 7-10 business days.

I guess that means it’s still going to be “coming soon”, but whatever. Point is, the updated shuffles are here, selling for $69 and you’re free to grab ‘em whenever you feel like it.

You gotta love Apple’s creative captions: “A new gig for iPod shuffle.” A new gig—as in gigabyte. Get it? Good. We knew we had smart readers.

Enter faster MacBooks and Multi-Touch enabled MacBook Pros

Posted on Feb. 26, ’08, 6:16 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Hardware » Intel Macs

Apple launched updated MacBooks and MacBook Pros today with faster processors and larger hard drives across the board. The new MacBooks come in 2.1 GHz and 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo configurations, up to 250GB of hard drive space and 2GB of RAM standard (except for the lowest configuration). The price remains the same and so does the screen, trackpad, design and, quite unfortunately, the combo drive in the cheapest MacBook.

The new MacBook Pros boast of an even meatier upgrade. The standard configurations include 2.4 and 2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 2GB of RAM, 200GB and 250GB hard drives, dual-layer SuperDrives and the NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT with 256 and 512 MB of onboard memory. Most importantly, these shiny new babies come with a Multi-Touch trackpad, à la the MacBook Air. We know a lot of people had been eagerly waiting for this, so they now have the chance to plunk $2000 or more for one of these.

Optionally, the MacBook Pros can be configured to have a 2.6GHz processor, 300GB hard drive (which is much slower than the 250GB and 200GB variants) and a 17-inch 1920 x 1200 high-resolution display (the standard model ships with a 1680 x 1050 one). All Mac notebooks also include the standard features we’ve come to expect such as the iSight camera, MagSafe power connector, the works.

Now, is it just me or is this a disappointing upgrade? Faster processors and more capable graphics cards are cool and we love them. We want more storage and power and all the other stuff that comes along with it. But we also want a new design. The current MacBooks and MacBook Pros have been around for the last seventeen years (just a little exaggeration, folks; no need to be uptight about it) and frankly, we’re starting to lose our patience now. The MacBook Pros, at least, have a very good design already, so I guess it makes sense to stick with it for as long as they can, but the MacBooks sure could use a little bit of all that aluminum love.

Anyway, for those of you who were holding on to that credit card hoping for an update, the new MacBooks are here. It’s time to use some of that money you’ve got stashed up. Go easy on it though—you never know what the next Tuesday might bring.

Update: Eagle-eyed reader Preshit informs us that neither of the MacBooks ships with the Apple Remote now, which means that you’ll have to shell out an extra $19 for it. This officially sucks. Thanks for the tip!

Unsanity is back

Posted on Feb. 26, ’08, 5:27 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Software

One of my favorite pieces of shareware is Unsanity’s Fruitmenu. What can I say? I have a little bit of that nostalgia. I like being able to customize the Apple menu. I like putting various folders and applications into it. The Apple menu is in an unmoving location and virtually always available.

When Leopard first premiered, other than a bug in an obsolete version of APE, we heard nothing about the software developer. Radio silence. I began to wonder if I’d continue to stare at Apple’s bland new(sih) self-branded menu for the rest of time. Those ellipses continued to mock me, as if to say “you can’t just restart or shutdown without me bugging the crud out of you”. (I do know I can hold option, but having to hold another guy means I might as well click/button press out of the confirmation dialog.)

Unsanity is back with Leopard ready versions of their products (all in beta). Ah, but that’s not all that Unsanity has written about in their post. It also explains why the long obsolete APE 2.0.1 caused a problem with 10.5.0 but not 10.5.1 or 10.5.2. Also, it explains why they couldn’t test for the issue and why there wasn’t anything they could do even after the incompatibility was found (“Hi dear user, please update to a version that released a year and a half ago.”). It’s long, but if you were one of those ready to point the finger (ahem, Dan), it hopefully will give you a fresh perspective.

Beyond that, we have all those great utilities back (in beta form). I’m pretty happy about that.

Breaking News: The Apple Store goes down

Posted on Feb. 26, ’08, 3:02 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Apple » Speculation

CUPERTINO, California—February 26, 2008—In what is being reported as a completely unexpected move, the Apple® Store came crashing down today and isn’t accessible anymore from web browsers across the world. Visiting what used to be the Store’s homepage now just shows up a curious little yellow sticky note (pictured on the right) with the promise that the store will resurface soon.

Scientists and investigators around the world have been informed and they’re looking into what might be the cause of this sudden turn of events. Could this be the launch of the highly anticipated iPhone software development kit that everyone is clamoring for? Or are we going to see the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros today?

Conspiracy theories are rolling in from several sources, with some even going so far as to suggest that it might just be routine maintenance (the blasphemy!), but we’re still waiting to hear the actual cause. No one really knows for sure. MacUser bloggers Dan, Derik and the rest are on the spot providing us with live up-to-the-minute updates. We’ll let you know as soon as something conclusive turns up. Stay tuned.

Amazon: 2 for 1 iPod deal?

Posted on Feb. 25, ’08, 7:15 PM PT by David Dahlquist

Category | iPod

Amazon, who has just started selling the iPod touch 32GB model, is very much interested in your business. So much so, that they are offering customers a free 1GB iPod shuffle with the purchase of an iPod touch 32GB. I know this doesn’t sound quite as good as the headline, but it still pretty much amounts to two iPods for the price of one (whether or not the shuffle can be considered a real iPod is up for debate).

The ad, posted below the pricing and availability specs, reads:

“You qualify for a free 1 GB iPod shuffle with the purchase of this 32 GB iPod touch from Amazon.com. Eligible 1 GB shuffles include the blue, green, silver, and purple. Just add both items to your cart and you will not be charged for the shuffle.”

Apple, who lowered the price of the iPod shuffle to $49 last week, is selling the 32 GB iPod touch for $499, while Amazon is selling it for $494, plus a free shuffle. Looks like the clear winner in terms of cost + promotional incentives is Amazon. Is this nifty little bonus going to sway you toward the 32 GB iPod touch?

[via TUAW]

Toontrack’s EZdrummer sampler updated

Posted on Feb. 25, ’08, 3:21 PM PT by David Dahlquist

Category | Software

Looking for that perfect drum sound that you just can’t find in the GarageBand or Logic loop library? The next place to look would be third-party drum sampling programs, which come with thousands of sampled drum hits and loops, professionally mic’d and ready for use on your rhythm-deficient track.

Toontrack has updated its EZdrummer sampler plugin, which not only offers 7000 high-quality sound files of drum hits and loops, but lets you customize virtual mic placement as well. The website has a few MP3 samples and as a drummer and wannabe studio producer, I can vouch for the quality of these samples. They might not capture the exact, intangible magic of an awesome drummer in an awesome studio with an awesome engineer (no software can do this), but comparing their $179 price tag to the several thousand dollars it would cost to achieve pro-quality live drumming, it’s a pretty good bargain.

[via Macworld]

Macworld: How to share files in Leopard

Posted on Feb. 25, ’08, 2:28 PM PT by David Dahlquist

Category | Tips

Apple left out some pretty important file-sharing features in previous versions of OS X, but they’ve at last addressed this issue with Leopard. Luckily for us, Macworld is on the ball with a step-by-step guide on how to share your files over a network or the internet.

After launching system preferences and activating file sharing, Leopard makes specifying whom to share with much simpler. You can even specify certain classes of users whom you’d like to share files with, or create a Sharing Only account in which users will be able to remotely access shared folders, but lack login privileges. Also, Leopard now makes AFP, FTP, and Samba services accessible from one central location.

Another handy addition to Leopard is screen sharing, which lets users remotely view and control someone else’s Mac screen without third party software. This would also be a fun feature to set up on an unsuspecting friend’s Mac for pranking purpose (wait for the frantic phone call asking why they keep losing control of their mouse and why it constantly directs Safari to the Hannah Montana home page).

Accessing a remote system takes a little more work, but I’ll shut up and let you check out the article for yourself. It’s a must-read if you’re interested in collaborating on projects remotely or if you’d just like to share videos and music with friends.

Acorn sprouts into 1.1

Posted on Feb. 25, ’08, 12:46 PM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Software » Updates

Flying Meat’s Acorn, which was released last fall, has just acquired its first major update in the form of Acorn 1.1. The latest version adds a number of new features, bug fixes, and other changes, all laid out for you on Flying Meat’s website.

Big changes include the addition of histograms for adjusting levels in your photos, a new Web Export option that lets you optimize a picture for use on the web, improvements to resizing and cropping images, and memory use and speed enhancements. Acorn 1.1 also includes a new polygon selection tool, a Trim to Edges command, and the ability to drag-and-drop layers out of images into other applications or onto the Desktop.

Acorn’s been my go-to tool for lightweight image editing in the months since its release, and 1.1 looks to make the program even better. The app costs $50, but 1.1 is a free upgrade to all registered users.

DivX to shut down Stage6

Posted on Feb. 25, ’08, 10:14 AM PT by Brian Chen

Category | Internet

In a blog today, “Tom” of DivX announced that his company plans to close the curtain on Stage6, a popular video-streaming Web site. To make a long story short, Tom explained, the service was simply too expensive and difficult to maintain. This is a tragedy for the online video community, but it comes as no surprise. Instantly viewable, high-quality video seemed too good to be true — and, well, I guess it was.

Farewell, Stage6. You gave directors a platform to present their work without compressing it to look like crap (think YouTube). And you provided viewers like myself with hours of free, high-quality entertainment. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. If we clap loudly enough, perhaps we’ll get an encore.

Apple lets you recycle iPods, cell phones

Posted on Feb. 25, ’08, 9:44 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | iPod

Apple’s taken plenty of flack over the past couple of years from groups such as Greenpeace, for its stance on the environment. Among the attempts Apple has made to combat its negative perception is instituting a thorough recycling program, which we’ve discussed in the past.

This program lets you recycle not only your Mac, but also your iPods and now your old cell phones too. All you have to do is fill out your name, address, and tell them how many iPods and cell phones you’ll be recycling. You then have your option of having Apple send you a pre-paid mailer or printing out a pre-paid label which you can slap on your own packaging.

Some still seem to claim that Apple’s recycling program is sub-par—the one downside I can see at the moment is that it’s not available internationally, though I imagine that’s largely because recycling standards probably vary from country to country. It seems to me, though, that they’re doing a pretty good job of making recycling easy for their customers.

[via Electronista]

Time Capsule visits from the future?

Posted on Feb. 25, ’08, 9:01 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple » Huh?

There remains but one single solitary week left in February, and yet Apple has miles to go before it sleeps. We’ve been promised both an iPhone SDK in February (which, late last week, a BusinessWeek report claimed might be delayed) as well as Apple’s new Time Capsule backup device.

Now