::: bisonium.com :::

Today starts the week-long Apple developer love-fest in San Francisco - the World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC).  This year, Apple's at it again with the ever so well-known arrogance that has become the norm in everything from their advertising to their conference banners.  Apple's latest poke at Redmond is the banner shown above (pics from Engadget).  But you know that wasn't enough.  Last year, Apple had a banner stating "Redmond, Start your Photocopiers."  This year they built on that with the following:

You have to admire a company that is so bold as to put it out there like that.  But then again, Redmond is sitting back laughing at Apple's market share.  So who's the winner?  I don't know, it will be interesting to see what Vista has in store.  But I can tell you this much, Microsoft has their work cut out for them.  OS X "Leopard" is showing some pretty promising and wicked things, and that's just what we know about.  There are some secret features that Steve would not discuss during the keynote.  Makes you stop and wonder.

The keynote didn't appear to be as exciting as others in previous years.  Quite frankly, it was boring.  The highlights are that Apple released some MONSTER desktops, now named the MacPro, which should just about be able to pilot you into the next solar system.  These Quad Xeon 64-bit machines are INSANE.  Aside from the ridiculous speeds, they finally added that 2nd optical drive bay and the ability to have 4 hard drives for a total storage capacity of 2 TERABYTES!  That's just insane people.

Ushering in a new era of outstanding performance — and completing the Mac transition to Intel processors at the same time — the new Mac Pro introduces the 64-bit Dual-Core Intel Xeon “Woodcrest” processor to the Mac lineup. Running at up to 3GHz, it’s a state-of-the-art processor that — from day one — makes the Mac Pro one of the fastest desktop computers on the planet.

With the new build-to-order (BTO) options, there are more than 4 MILLION possible ways to configure your system.  Talk about an IT administration nightmare!  But hey - don't let it be said Apple doesn't give you choices.  Just remember, if you BTO a system - there are NO RETURNS!  Nice little gotcha that they don't make too obvious when you buy the system online.

Not to be outdone on the server side, there's a whole new breed of Xserves to play with.  A Quad Xeon 64-bit nasty one at that.

The Xserve packs phenomenal power and industry-leading capabilities into a high-density, 1U rackmount server that fits easily into any network environment. And this award-winning UNIX-based server just got a 5x (1) performance boost over the Xserve G5, thanks to quad-core 64-bit Intel Xeon processing. Additional features include up to 2.25TB storage, two eight-lane PCI Express slots, dual onboard Gigabit Ethernet, and a combo drive. With all this, the Xserve provides the stability you need and the performance you want, starting at just $2999.

The "Leopard" preview is not too shabby.  There are some much needed enhancements and upgrades made to Apple Mail, iChat and Spotlight.  One of the newest features that will make a lot of people yell "Hot Damn!" is the Time Machine feature.  This takes automated backup to a whole new level.  You will now have the ability to literally roll-back files to previous states and even recover lost or deleted files from your system.  This will be a life saver for many people and especially IT departments everywhere.  Just as a little kick in Redmond's rear, Apple decided to make the Time Machine interface a little bit like the way Vista navigates through open windows.  Just remember, Time Machine is worthless if the drive fails.  You still need to think about backing up to external media or running an internal RAID 5 configuration with those extra drives you can put into the MacPro.

All-in-all, there's still quite a bit of work left to be done on Leopard.  It will be Spring '07 before we really see the final product, and with any luck, Microsoft might just be able to pump out Vista by then.  It will be really interesting to compare the 2 systems side-by-side.  For now, we'll just have to be content with Tiger and some fast machines.  Not too shabby.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Macintosh, OS X

Posted by Frank Bisono at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So last night I am watching the usual Prison Break and 24 on Fox, when this strangely familiar Apple-esque look hits my screen, and before I could say WTF...BAM - it was indeed a genuine Apple Ad.  I guess people screamed loud enough that Apple heard them and finally decided to do something about it.  The ads are a little bland, but they get the point across loud and clear.  The new ads begin another phase of the switch campaign titled: "Get a Mac".  It should be interesting to watch how these play out and what kind of "switcher" numbers they bring to the Mac platform this time around. The new ads can be seen here.

A tad bit of bisonium.com trivia for my fans....yours truly was filmed in one of the original "switcher" ads.  At the time I had switched back to the Mac after a lengthy hiatus on the PC side, and decided to write Apple an email about the experience.  It wasn't before long, I got a call from TBWA \ Chiat \ Day (Apple's Ad Agency), and after a few calls and an NDA later, I was on a jet flying first class to Los Angeles. It was an incredible experience I will never forget and gave me a killer look behind the scenes of what really happens on a Hollywood back-lot.  Ultimately my ad didn't air, but one of the guys I shot with did - it was Richard Ziskin (pictured to the right).  Nice guy who owns an umbrella factory in New York if memory serves me correct.  All the original ads can be seen here.

I was considered "talent" (signed contracts and all) and got paid quite well for the 3 days, therefore entitling me to be "SAG Eligible".  Basically I earned the right to pay a ridiculous sum of money to the Screen Actors Guild to carry a card that says I am in the union and can do more "acting".  Your first 2 gigs are on the house, by the 3rd, you have to sign up - or so they tell me that is how it works.  I passed for now as I don't see myself doing too many more commercials, but it's still kind of cool to get those letters from SAG every now and then.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Comedy, Macintosh, Video

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well here's something you don't see everyday.  Here's a very cool insider view of the MacBu @ MSFT.

[ via O'Reilly MacDevCenter.com ]

Microsoft's David Weiss gives a tour of the Microsoft Mac Lab:

Microsoft's David Weiss provides a A Tour of Microsoft's Mac Lab. Lots of interesting information and good photos from the home of Mactopia.com.

Technorati Tags: Macintosh, Microsoft

Posted by Frank Bisono at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's been another hectic and busy week with little time for catching up on the blogsphere happenings, but I just HAD to take the time to post this.  If Microsoft thinks they have problems now, they 'aint seen nuttin yet.  Today Apple announced a new "feature" that will be available in OS X v10.5 (a.k.a. Leopard), called Boot Camp.  This "feature" will allow Intel based Macs to boot natively into Windows XP.  Yes - you read correctly, Windows XP running NATIVELY on your Mac.  Full PR after the jump or at Apple.com.

Technorati Tags: Apple, OS X, Windows

Continue reading "Macs Do Windows Too!" »

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For those of you working in education, especially in the state of Florida, you may have heard of, or even attended FETC (Florida Educational Technology Conference).  This is one of the largest conferences of its kind in the country and it's hosted in sunny Orlando, FL.  If you happen to have missed the conference this year, Apple has graciously provided some podcasts that bring you the action straight to your computer or iPod.  You can get updates on cool products from a variety of vendors, and even hear the first Podcast Palooza in education!  You can go to the site at: FETC 06 or subscribe to the podcast at: FETC 06 Podcast.

Technorati Tags: Podcasts, Education, FETC

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The fallout from Microsoft's announcement that Vista won't ship until 2007 continues in Business Week's latest online poll.  In this case a picture is worth a thousand words.  Make sure you place your vote at Business Week!

Technorati Tags: Apple

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ok, so by now you have heard, seen, read or whatever about Apple's new toys announced today.  In order to maintain everyone's sanity, I'll skip the "review" and just get to the point.  Am I the only one out there who seems to be disappointed...hell, lets just say it like it is - PISSED OFF?

<rant> I mean come on Apple, a new mini - we all expected that and has some spunk that makes it a really attractive buy.  I don't think anyone will argue that.  But what I WILL be vocal about is the lack of a "real" media center device.  I want something like a damn Sony VAIO running Media Center edition of Tiger in my living room.  Who the flip is hard of hearing,  riding the "special" bus, or just simply an idiot that they aren't getting the message over there?

OOOMPA LOOOMPAS AT THE MOTHERSHIP....WTF is going on over there?  Who the bunk is going to kick a home stereo to the curb for a boom box with an iPod dock?  I'm sure it sounds great, no arguments there, but I am hardly dumping my $10,000 worth of home theater audio gear over this thing.  This is like a great box for the park, a picnic, the beach or going camping.  Maybe if you live in a dorm or a shoe-box it might be a good thing too.  This thing is priced WAY to high for what I would have bought it for, which is a nice set of speakers for my OFFICE. Instead I just ordered a kick-ass set of speakers from Logitech for my office and it cost me $50, and trust me - they sound GREAT.  Hooked up to my G5 running iTunes at work, and it's all I need.  How the hell loud do you think people are going to crank  up that iPod in the office anyways?  I don't need a $350 speaker-box for that thank you.  And WTF is up with the overpriced "leather" cases.  SOMEBODY BETTER GET OFF THE DAMN CRACK PIPE AT CUPERTINO!

Seriously my digerati peeps.  I am really down with today's announcements.  I swear on my dead poodle that I would have gone out and bought that damn video iPod TODAY if it had come out and had at least 100GB hard drive.  Let me say that again...APPLE PAY ATTENTION: the next video iPod HAS to have AT LEAST 100GB drive for me (and many others I know) to even consider it.  I already have 80GB of music and would really like to see a 120GB iPod, especially with all this new video content.

I'm not even going to get into the desire for a Treo 650 killer, tablet or a myriad of the other things we Mac nerds have been begging for.  I'm just over it.  How many people does it take to blog about something before a company LISTENS and just makes the damn thing?  Ok - enough.  And that's all I have to say about that.

</end rant>

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPod, Macintosh, Rant

Posted by Frank Bisono at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Boy o' Boy - you have gotta love someone with this much time on his hands.  To be honest, it was quite brilliant.  It just goes to show the extent of how bad those of us Mac freaks WANT to believe that the gadgets we are asking for have actually been listened to by Apple and they have produced them.  I wouldn't hold my breath on that new video iPod or tablet, or Netwon, or iPhone just yet... [via MacShrine ]

iPod video: How we all got fooled:

Technorati Tags: Apple, Apple, Design, iPod, Macintosh, Video

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For those of you Mac-toting digerati that have a few of those friends or family using a PC (you know who you are), here's a cool little hint on how to use Google's new Google Talk service via iChat.  Hint: it uses that Jabber capability in iChat some of you have been wondering about.  This tip only works on OS X v10.4 "Tiger"...

[ Google Talk via iChat ]

Technorati Tags: Mac Tech Tips, OS X, Google, Chat

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Technorati Tags: Comedy, Clueless

Continue reading "The Clueless Manifesto" »

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fast Company is running an article about how the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and others, want to change American Schools.  This is something that I can honestly say I commend Bill Gates on.  I don't however think that they can change everything or make a significant impact by just throwing money at it, as the author of this article implies.

"A couple of years ago, high schools were not on anybody's [to-do] list," says Frederick M. Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Now, suddenly, they are: With a boost from Gates's money, 472 new small high schools have opened in New York, Chicago, and elsewhere. Almost 400 more will open by 2009. The foundation has also backed the restructuring of almost 700 existing high schools, often by breaking them up into smaller "learning communities" focused around such themes as science, art, or technology.

Why? "America's high schools are obsolete," Bill Gates declared in a speech earlier this year. "Our high schools--even when they're working exactly as designed--cannot teach our kids what they need to know today." Fewer than 60% of Hispanic and African-American students entering ninth grade ever graduate. And many of those who do earn diplomas emerge ill-equipped for college or work. Gates's ambitious goal: 80% of all students graduating college-ready in 20 years, versus a third today.

As someone who has worked in the K-12 education system, trying to implement technology solutions in to the curriculum and seen first hand the problems they face every day, there is a lot more that needs to be done than just throw money at the problem and solve the issues through the use of technology.  This isn't an Apple vs. Microsoft thing we are dealing with anymore.  One of the main problems that nobody seems to want to speak about is the parents.  No matter what you do or how much these kids get the opportunity to excel, it all starts at home.  If parents don't start to accept responsibility for raising their children properly by getting involved and teaching them right from wrong, NOTHING in the world is going to change those kids pre-determined paths and behaviors.

What some of these organizations need to do is spend some of that money in educating PARENTS, not the students.  In most of these inner-city schools, the kids are simply products of their environment.  If the parents themselves are criminals, act like animals and set a poor example, can you really expect a different outcome from the children?  It all starts at home folks.  Until the government and school system acknowledge that and try to change the behavior at home through education and incentives like free tuition, no amount of money or technology will help these kids (or parents) succeed. And if the parents don't want to improve their lives and take the initiative to educate themselves and get off of public assistance (ie. Welfare), well then...you can pretty much figure out the rest.

I think a goal of 80% of students graduating college-ready is completely unrealistic.  Take it for what it is, there will always be folks at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder and that won't ever change.  Stop throwing money into programs and places where it won't do any good, and start spending it where the kids are on the borderline and can go one way or the other.  If you can save those kids and push them over the edge into the right direction, then we have accomplished something indeed.

Magnet programs are a great start.  As the article implies, creating programs centered around specific themes (what we call magnet programs), the kids seem to get more involved, learn more, and overall turn out better than those students who don't have that opportunity.  If you can capture a kids interests, and get them involved in something they care about, you have won half the battle.  And THAT my friends is where I jump on my Apple soap-box.  Apple just plain and simply gets it.  NOBODY else has the resources in education and can implement a magnet program in the arts like Apple does.  I applaud Bill and Melinda Gates for their efforts, they are certainly on the right track, but the missing element is what Apple seems to do best - CREATE and INNOVATE.

Full Story @ Fast Company | The Gates Effect:

Technorati Tags: Education, Microsoft, Bill Gates, Charity

Posted by Frank Bisono at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posting has been slow around these parts hasn't it?  It's been over 2 weeks and Bellsouth STILL doesn't have a clue how to fix the problem with my DSL line.  Surprising isn't it?  Every time I call I get someone in India who is clearly having to call back to the states to actually get a real Bellsouth employee to tell them what to do.  I have had it, I am sooo over Bellsouth.

There is light over the horizon though.  By the time I get home tonight, I should have a brand spankin new 6Mbps connection through Adelphia.  I originally thought Comcast serviced my area, errr - technically I guess they do since they bought Adelphia, but for now everything is branded Adelphia.

I had the cable tv installed this weekend and got 2 Motorola HD / PVR receivers to boot.  I can't begin to express how absolutely AMAZING the HD picture is from regular cable or Satellite.  Watching Discovery HD Theater has just become my favorite past-time.  DirecTV, you lost.  If you offered me the upgrade at no cost, you would have most likely kept me as a customer.  So sad, too bad.  If the cable modem is anywhere near as fast as I am thinking it will be during those heavy peak hours, I will be one happy camper.  Next step - order up Supra telecom and completely dump Bellsouth services and related affiliates.  Unfortunately I am stuck on Cingular for another year, but rest assured - their days are numbered too.

For now, you can get your bisonium fix over at Gear Live with the following posts:

Sony Ericsson P990: The Ultimate Mobile Phone

Put Some DICE In Your Ride

VMware Server Released for Free

Major Nelson Giving Away Xbox 360 for Dummies

Adobe On Mactel: An FAQ

Posted by Frank Bisono at 4:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yet another addition to the idiots that are the reason we have so many problems in the USA.  Litigation happy attorneys and morons who file this kind of lawsuit should themselves be thrown in jail for wasting tax dollars on foolish things like this.

So this idiot files a law because Apple doesn't adorn their product with warning labels that playing your iPod too loud is bad for your hearing.  Does any normal competent adult actually need to be told this?  Like everyting else in this society, people just refuse to accept any responsibility for their own actions and expect others to pay for their stupidity.  So wait, I guess I should go sue the US Navy for exposing me to all the jet noise for the years I served in the Navy huh?  Or wait, maybe I should sue the National Guard because firing my weapon made too much noise and scared me.  Come on people....when are we going to say enough is enough and just slap these morons silly and be done with it?  The full story is after the jump...

Continue reading "Apple sued over hearing loss in iPod buyers" »

Posted by Frank Bisono at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Jon Maddox gives us an update on Henrico County's woes after switching to Dell and dumping their iBooks.  All I have to say is: I'm GLAD it is happening to them.  SUCKS TO BE HENRICO.  Now FIRE every idiot that was involved in the decision making process to go all Dell.  There's nothing better than watching your tax dollars being thrown in the garbage I tell you...

After a much publicized move from Apple iBooks to Dell Laptops, it looks the Henrico county school system isn't having much fun with the Dells.

This is what I've heard from a buddy of mine that works hand in hand with the computers.

About 100 dells are reimaged each week in henrico and after 5 months, the Dells have the same amount of laptops being sent in for repairs as we did once the iBooks turned 4 years old.

Wow, well no one saw that coming. Duh. We all know that Dell laptops are made very very "cost effectivly" and couldn't last one year under the stress of high school students. Especially when they know they aren't theirs. Thats one of the reasons Negroponte wants the $100 laptop to be owned by its users, so they last longer.

And like Gruber said "PCs typically cost less than Macs because they're pieces of crap, not because Intel CPUs are less expensive than IBM's or Freescale's."

Posted by Frank Bisono at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[ via Apple Insider ]

As part of its exhibition at National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) trade show this week in Aniheim, Calif., Apple Computer could be seen demonstrating a new version of its Logic music composition and production software designed to run natively on the first Intel Macs.

The company also said it is ahead of schedule developing the application and plans to release the software as Logic Pro 7.2 next month.

According to a report from Macworld, Logic’s performance seemed much faster running on the new Intel Macs than with PowerPC-based machines.

"The performance is stunning and has met my already high expectations," Dr. Gerhard Lengeling, Apple senior director and lead architect audio applications said.

The company was performing the Logic demos on a pre-production MacBook Pro laptop. During one demo, Apple’s Bob Hunt was reportedly running video, with thumbnails, music and a dozen or more high-end effects.

"None of these sessions would even run on a PowerBook," said Hunt, comparing the new Intel-based MacBook Pro to the PowerBook.

Logic's evolution to a Intel-native application won't be the only change users will notice, according to Macworld. Logic Pro 7.2 will also reportedly feature integrated support for the new Apogee Ensemble interface; Digidesign Pro Tools HD 7 DAE support; Serato Pitch ‘n Time support; Improved Rewire support; Enhanced Control Surfaces support; and 32-channel support for multi-channel Audio Units instruments.

The application also adds compatibility with GarageBand 3 through new support for playback of compressed files; a Ducking plug-in; a speech enhancement plug-in; and the same jingles and sounds effects found in GarageBand.

Owners of Logic 7.1 may upgrade to Logic 7.2 for Intel via a $49 crossgrade upgrade package Apple will begin offering in February.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Been a loooong weekend at Disney and I am beat.  Just checkin the wires and came across this.  Pretty spankin cool!  Give some new life to that old iBook or PowerBook laying around...

[ via MacMinute ]
MacStyles relaunches expanded, enhanced Web site:
MacStyles.com today relaunched an all new and expanded Web site. MacStyles are custom-cut vinyl decals for iBooks and PowerBooks. They can be made in a variety designs and are crafted from a selection of 21 colors. Eleven new colors are being offered as of today. Along with the addition of "MacPads and MacStyles Pro," the company is working on a line of decals for iPods, as well as an extended line of accent decals known as "Maccents."

Posted by Frank Bisono at 8:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Bring it on Apple - we race fans are ready!

[ via iPod Observer ]

NHL and NASCAR Working on iTunes Music Store Deals:

The NHL and NASCAR are both within weeks of signing deals to provide content to the iTunes Music Store (iTMS), according to the Sports Business Journal (subscription required). Apple has already signed deals with ESPN and ABC Sports, and is close to a deal with MLB Advanced Media, too.

The extent of the NHL's and NASCAR content is not yet clear, but it looks like a deal may be struck in time for the Daytona 500 in February.

Video downloads at the iTMS and other legal Internet video content provider sites are proving successful for the broadcasters that have already jumped on board. The NFL and NBA are both looking for deals, although neither have committed to a specific provider yet.

Brenda Spoonemore, senior vice president of interactive services for NBA Entertainment commented "The iPod is a great device and it's exciting to see what's happening. Apple, however, is only one piece of a much larger distribution model. The key thing is having the best available content in the most convenient manner for fans."

Posted by Frank Bisono at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hmmmm, I dunno whether to cry or be elated.  I think this is potentially the secret trojan horse that Apple needs to be honest.  The perfect machine - you get to pick your platform of choice. Doesnt get much better...

[ via Engadget ]

Video: OS X 10.4.3 dual-booted on a Thinkpad:

Posted by Frank Bisono at 2:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This guy is friggin hilarious.  John Gruber over at Daring Fireball has continued the saga from where he left off last year.  You will definitely enjoy the read...

iLife ’06 From the Perspective of an Anthropomorphized Brushed Metal Interface:

Brushed metal visits Safari.

Continue reading "iLife ’06 From the Perspective of an Anthropomorphized Brushed Metal Interface" »

Posted by Frank Bisono at 7:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Frank Bisono at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sometimes there are people in this world that just don't get it.  Jeremy seems to be one of those folks here.  Now this is ok, because the poor soul is just temporarily misguided, and just needs someone to find his hot button and push it a few times. 

Yawn @ Apple:

"Between Google's "big announcement" of Google Video + Google Pack, and Apple's non-announcement's this week at Macworld (yes, I watched the whole presentation), I'm incredibly surprised there hasn't been a mass exodus of PC, Google and Mac users to something more exciting. Like Libyan Midget Volleyball."

I can understand the disappointment of the keynote, after all, even we die-hard Mac fanatics were expecting something with a litle more OOOOMPH, like say.....a 50" Plasma iMac?  Apple could very well still be working on this, or it could be total bunk.  Only time will tell.  One thing is for certain though, they WILL get there.  Now back to the main point here...

I need to try and communicate a few things to Jeremy that maybe he just hasn't been made aware of.  Apple didn't just make Unix or Linux cool, that was a side effect.  Apple made unix FRIENDLY and USABLE by anyone.  There is a HUGE difference. 

Jeremy made some comments about how Apple just announced some Widgets and fixed some broken apps.  What planet are you on Jeremy?  Apple added new widgets, which was barely mentioned, and they made MAJOR upgrades to an already incredible suite of products, which happen to ship for FREE with every single Mac.

Jeremy also seems to think that Apple's industrial design will be wiped away in the next few years, and OS X will be made moot by Vista.  Man, I gotta tell you...Jeremy is really smoking some good shit today.  NOBODY in the industry has been able to successfully emulate Apple's industrial design.  They are quite simply BAD IMITATIONS.  There is a difference between imitating someone elses design, and actually INNOVATING by not only coming up with never before used designs, but designing the hardware and technology to go in those designs, while at the same time making it all look elegant and sexy.  Apple has pioneered almost every single technology used in a PC today, from the floppy drive to wireless and firewire, Apple was the INNOVATOR.

One of the best statements by Jeremy was how Steve Jobs didn't show him any VISION.  No vision huh?  That's pretty interesting.  It seems to me that the ONLY person / company showing any vision these days is Apple and Steve Jobs.  Again, Apple was the first to demonstrate vision with the iPod and even HD.  Apple's iMovie has had HD capabilities for over a year now. 

The best quote of all has to be...

"I was disappointed. I know, a Windows guy disappointed at a Mac announcement. For shame. But, really, the only thing worth looking at that came out of the announcement was the new hardware. And it wasn’t even all that nice. Especially when you consider that you get the same hardware from any PC manufacturer for 800$ less."

Now I am really dumbfounded by this statement.  Apparently Apple is NEVER going to win over certain folks.  Now that we are not only on par, but FASTER than most PC's, they are still bitching about something.  I'd LOVE to see an $800 laptop and what specs it brings for that money.  And I bet it looks just dandy to boot.  It would never look like a 50lb plastic boat anchor now would it?  A quick peruse of Dell's website begs to differ.  WHATEVER.

Jeremy, it's ok to be a happy Windows user.  Everyone has a personal preference and taste.  But PLEASE don't make silly comments and rant about what you have no idea about.  I really honestly wish someone with knowledge of how YOU work and what YOUR needs are, would take the time to just see how a Mac could make your life better.  Everyone is different, so it could be that you just haven't seen what you need to see to make that light-bulb go off in your head.  Maybe a Mac truly isn't for you, and thats ok - they aren't for everyone.  But I used to be sitting on that side of the fence at one time, until a Libyan Midget Six Pack hit me across the side of the head and knocked me to my ass.  At that point, I screamed EUREKA, and saw the light.  The rest is history.  It can happen to you too... :-)

Read Jeremy's rant after the jump...

Continue reading "Jeremy Wright Doesn't Get It" »

Posted by Frank Bisono at 8:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Posted by Frank Bisono at 7:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So here is the blow by blow details of the Keynote for MWSF 2006:

Retail Update:

• 135 Retail Stores
• 26 Million visitors during the 2005 holiday quarter
• First $1 Billion dollar quarter
• Over $5.7 Billion in total revenue for the 2005 holiday quarter

Music Update:

• Sold over 14 Million iPods in 2005 holiday quarter.
• Over 100 sold every minute 24/7.
• Over 850 Million songs sold on iTunes /// Avg. of 3M per day ///  >1B Songs per yr. run rate.
• New video content for the iTunes Music Store.
• iPod Remote + FM Tuner for nano or 5G iPod - $49, available TODAY.
• Chrysler iPod integration support - in 2006 over 40% of vehicles sold in US will offer iPod integration New iPod Ad.

Mac Updates:

• Aperture - Recap with some old videos.
• Widgets - Over 1500 New Widgets available for Tiger.  New widgets introduced.
• iLife '06 - Impressive enhancements to the iLife suite.  New Jam Pack. New product - iWeb. Updated iWork.
• Intel-based iMac. Duo Core processor, 2x faster than previous iMac.
• New Intel TV Ad.
• PowerBook replaced by MacBook Pro. Intel Duo Core processor, 4x faster than previous PowerBook G4. Built-in iSight, Apple Remote, Front Row.
• Magsafe Power Adapter - AWESOME!.

My thoughts and commentary on the individual products to follow...stay tuned!

Posted by Frank Bisono at 6:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, most of the world already knows the details of the MWSF Keynote, now it's time to watch it for myself, and then write up the summary reports.  You can catch the keynote here.  Back in a bit...gotta drool for a while...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 3:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FoxTrot by Bill Amend:

Posted by Frank Bisono at 3:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now here's an interesting blog post.  Adobe blogger, John Nack, has written a blog entry introducing Project Lightroom.  There are a couple of things in his blog entry that raised a few of my own questions.

"Obviously Lightroom and Aperture aim to tackle a similar set of challenges, and one might say, "Well, you guys are just releasing this beta now because Aperture is in the market."  That's not the case, actually, as we've been planning since early in the project to release a public preview.  But even if we were spurred by the release of Aperture, so what?  Isn't it better to break new ground on openness?"

Now if I were to read into this statement, I would be drawn into the part stating "But even if we were spurred by the release of Aperture, so what?  Isn't it better to break new ground on openness?"  This is nothing short of HOGWASH.  What's this "so what?" stuff?  So what?  I'll tell you what --- call it for what it is John.  Adobe is pissed as hell at Apple for releasing Aperture and Lightroom is Adobe's way of giving Apple the bird.  What makes that perfectly clear is that it is available for the Mac ONLY, and just happens to coincide with MWSF.  Now this could have all been planned so that the Mac version would indeed be ready for demo at MWSF, and I won't dismiss that.  However, it just seems that Adobe is taking a defensive stance and protecting their turf (which is perfectly acceptable and to be expected).  But don't get all high and mighty on this new idea of  "openness" because we all know that Adobe is about anything BUT openness.  If so, Photoshop would be "open" and all your other apps would be too. Somehow I don't think we'll be seeing too many "open" projects from Adobe.

My second comment is that it appears that Lightroom will eventually become part of Photoshop, as well as a separate app.  There's nothing to substantiate this other than John's comment in the Q&A about Lightroom being available together with Photoshop.  If this is indeed the case, then great!  It will all but guarantee that Adobe will retain the pro photographer crowd, unless Apple addresses those major shortcomings in Aperture.

I don't want to sound like I am coming down too hard on Adobe, I think that having Lightroom is going to be a great and much needed addition to the Adobe product line.  I just don't things being masked to look like something they aren't.  It's ok to come straight out and say "Apple, you crossed the line and we're pissed".  Lightroom clearly is a major shot across the bow at Apple and I say let the photo management wars begin!  The winners in this whole thing will ultimately be the end-users.

Read the full blog posting from John after the jump...

Continue reading "Adobe Blogger's Statement on Lightroom" »

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[ via Computerworld ]

South Park turns to Apple for new storage setup:

To handle its growing storage needs, South Park producers are  moving away from a sluggish direct-attached disk backup and a tape library to a faster system that later this month will blossom into a full storage area network.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[ via The Different District ]

MacUpdate offers free membership in January:

MacUpdate, one of the top websites for downloading Mac software and updates, today announced that they will be allowing users to register for free in January (normally $20 per year).  Benefits for members include: customized watch list; customized wish list; automated email update notifications; daily releases email; download history; customizable site layout; customizable columns; and a member profile. Go check it out and register now!

Posted by Frank Bisono at 7:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[ via OsViews | OsOpinion ]

Apple increases .Mac bandwidth from 10GB to 1TB per month:

Apple's .Mac service has increased the data transfer capacity from 10GB per month to 1024GB (a terabyte!) per month for select users in what may be a methodical rollout to all .Mac users and a sign of something(s) to come at Macworld Expo.

On December 10, 2005, Ryan Katz reported for Think Secret, "Apple is planning to unveil a robust new content distribution system in January at Macworld Expo alongside its revamped media-savvy Mac mini.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 7:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[ via MacVroom ]

Mac'd Ride: Jeepintosh - 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee:

Check out this sweet Mac mini install in a 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The mini is installed in the glove box and snugly held in place with a soft, but rugged carpet-covered custom bracket. A hub is mounted behind the CPU and USB and Firewire cables run to the back of the Jeep to easily add peripherals to this system. The 7" Xenarc 700 TSV display has replaced the original stereo in the center console. Grey vinyl was used to match the display surround to the factory grey interior. Below the heat/air controls is a small Kensington USB hub with a Griffin PowerMate connected to it to control iTunes.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[ via TUAW ]

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[ via O'Grady's Power Page ]

Leak is in the Air: Bluetooth Headphones?:

The Apple Japan Web site has a little teaser for their New Year's Special t-shirt design that depicts an iPod nano dandelion with iPod earbuds as the wishes.

The caption reads "Luck is in the Air" and a pair of the headphones are suspiciously detaching from the rest.

Could this be a hint of an upcoming wireless Bluetooth headphones for the iPod? Or even an iPod with Bluetooth built-in? Tough to say, but it's great fodder in the build up to Macworld, no?

The t-shirts will be given out to the first 1000 visitor of each Apple store on January 2nd.

[ UPDATE ]

Totally bogus rumor!  After going to the Apple store, there were no special t-shirts to be given out, at least not in the USA.  Must be a Japan only thing.  Oh well, it was a good trip to the Apple store anyways!  ;-)

Posted by Frank Bisono at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This take the reigns as best integration of a Mac Mini in a ride...beat out the Audi from last week for sure...

[ via MacVroom ]

Mac'd Ride: 2006 Infiniti M45:

Here's another slick install that features Apple's Front Row and a concealed Mac mini driving the show. Brooks Weisblat Mac'd out his new 2006 Infiniti M45 Sport with a Mac mini stashed in the center console. The "Tech" package on the M45 comes with an auxiliary RCA input for audio/video hookup, so Brooks simply jacked the Mac mini's video through the two factory 8" displays - sweet! A Kensington bluetooth mouse with VirtualKeyboard X, and a Palm Treo 650 running Salling Clicker provide input and control for the entire system.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ok, so now i have an excuse to upgrade to that F350 Dualie I have been foaming at the mouth for.  Already have the F-150, so trading in for another F-150 seems silly no?  :-)

[ via MacNN ]

Mac mini with Front Row in a Ford F-150:

Car news site Leftlane News has a report on one Mac user's project to install a Mac mini in a Ford F-150. The user makes use of Apple's Front Row software and a Keyspan remote for easy navigation. He placed the Mini out of sight, and also installed a 10.2-inch LCD touch screen. The user also installed some GPS software to serve as a navigation system. In January, we noted a Washington Post article suggesting the Mac mini "comfortably fits in my car's glove compartment." Later, we reported that a New York-based company had plans to install the new Mac mini into car dashboards.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yellowmonkey has released iQuotes, a new screensaveer that displays some of Steve Jobs best quotes ever.  Quite a nice (and funny) bit of code, great if you are doing a presentation and just waiting for the audience to trickle in.  Toss it up on the projector and let it rip!  ;-)

Posted by Frank Bisono at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

You won't see this done with a Dell!!!

[ via Apple ]

Small School Makes Big Statement with Xserve Cluster:

With a limited budget and relying almost entirely on undergraduate students to assemble and configure, Bowie State University built Xseed, an Xserve cluster that ranks among the world’s most powerful computers. [Nov 04, 2005]

Posted by Frank Bisono at 6:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today marks yet another historical landmark day in Apple history.  As if a third media special event within a month is not enough to wig out your typical Apple fanatic, these press briefings have introduced some of the most innovative new products to hit the market on ANY platform.  At the top of todays announcements is a brand new application named Aperture.  As you can guess, this is geared at the professional photographer.  You could say that this is iPhoto on steroids to put it mildly.  Some might go as far as to say that this is a Photoshop killer.  I am here to tell you that this is not exactly the case.

This tool should be considered as a COMPLIMENTARY tool to Photoshop, and just another way to manage and work with your photos.  This would be very similar to the relationship between Motion and Adobe After Effects.  Where this app sets itself apart is that it can be your primary tool for managing your photography.  Aperture picks up where Adobe has dropped the ball.  This tool is geared to and dedicated to professional photographers.  Adobe Photoshop is but a mere 1 click away from importing the image you are currently working on in Aperture, and when you are done, you can revert back to Aperture and your corrected image will be reflected on-screen within Aperture.  VERY cool indeed.  Photoshop is nowhere near being completely replaced by this product, but I would venture to say that this will definitely put a big dent in Adobe's universe and photographers will be taking notice in a major way.

The major upside here is that there is a huge population of photographers out there that for one reason or another, seem to have completely missed the boat on Apple.  I have heard every excuse in the book, but it mainly boils down to the fact that most photographers I know are just plain 'ol cheap bastards.  I am a photographer myself and just have too many buddies that have this common trait.  Some of you out there are still running Photoshop 5 (you know who you are)!  Your average photographer is so fixated on PRICE that they often overlook the value of what a proper machine would do to improve their workflow, time spent editing, quality of their work, customer satisfaction and overall bottom line.  If you have a machine that is capable of increasing your productivity by a significant factor, that directly translates into more time spent in the field or studio, doing what you love most, taking pictures.  That alone should be justification to get the proper tool for the job, even if it will cost you a little more initially.  Well folks, the kicker to this story is that not only is a Mac the right tool for the job, it is also every bit as affordable as a PC configured in a similar fashion (if there is such a beast).  I think this is going to make an awful lot of PC folks rethink their platform of choice.  The benefits and advantages of a Mac these days is just too much to overlook for any professional in the new media industry.

That leads me into the next major announcement, the long-rumored QUAD G5.  Yes folks, it's tru - Dual-Core Dual-Processor G5's have arrived.  This is one SMOKIN machine.  Up to 69% faster on some apps clocking in at a whopping 76.6 gigaflops of number-crunching madness.  The sheer power of this machine is nothing short of astonishing.  One thing you will notice is that the G5 line as a whole was revamped.  ALL new PowerMac G5's are running Dual-Core processors.  But only ONE is running Dual-Processors.  So for those of you with a "more is better" complex, that means anything short of ordering the Quad will net you ONE processor in the box.  Yeah yeah, I know...but having TWO just LOOKS so cool (and gives you über bragging rights) !  :-)  And here's something to think about, we all know Steve Jobs would not have crossed over to an Intel architecture for the next generation G5 unless is was something that would stomp this Quad G5.  The thought of a machine that can unleash a can of whoop-ass on this Quad G5 is something fierce.  I for one am already itching and tweaking at the thought of it.  If I actually have to wait a year+ to see that machine, I am going to need some serious rehab.

The last, but certainly not least of the major announcements is the revamped and improved PowerBook line.    Most people are going to let out a big yawn and say "whatever".  Yeah, it wasn't what everyone was hoping for, but we all know that a major announcement for this line is not going to happen until the switch to Intel happens.  It's just a fact of life folks, lets cope with it for another year.  If you need a portable machine TODAY, it isn't going to get any better than a PowerBook with a high resolution display.  Let me say that again...High RESOLUTION, not HIGH DEF.  Many people were predicting an HD display on the PowerBook, that did NOT happen.  The display is spectacular, but not HD.  So again, I don't think anyone in the industry has an HD laptop, so there isn't much room to complain, but you know us Apple peeps, we love to bitch about SOMETHING.  :-)  Sooooo Apple, can we go for a FOURTH announcement within the next month?  Now THAT would be something spectacular.....Long Live the Newton!  Did someone say Newton?  Apple, are you listening?  Hail Newton!

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just when you think it's safe to buy a new iPod, Apple does it again.  Today Apple released yet another version of it's wildly popular iPod.  This is not your momma's iPod boys and girls, this bad boy now does video.  New flavors are 30GB and 60GB models, and yes, there is a new and sexy black one as well.  Quite frankly, I am over myself.  The only complaint I have is that it should have been an 80-100GB drive.  But all-in-all, I am quite pleased with the new goodies.  But wait, it doesn't stop there.  Other new announcements include a revamped and much nicer iMac G5, and after a mere 5 weeks on the charts, iTunes is now at version 6, including all new video goodies topping off with content from ABC / Disney for that shiny new iPod.  Exciting times we are living in...can't wait to see what's next.  For the full breakdown and specifics that you DO NOT want to miss, grab a cup of coffee and sit down to watch the special event on Quicktime.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 6:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

BeatnikPad has released their G5 optimized build of Firefox.  Grab the new build while it's hot!  New fixes include:

• Fix for a potential buffer overflow vulnerability when loading a hostname with all soft-hyphens
• Fix to prevent URLs passed from external programs from being parsed by the shell (Linux only)
• Fix to prevent a crash when loading a Proxy Auto-Config (PAC) script that uses an "eval" statement
• Fix to restore InstallTrigger.getVersion() for Extension authors
• Other stability and security fixes

Posted by Frank Bisono at 2:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Apple Introduces Major Enhancements to .Mac:

The membership-based online service .Mac now features the following: .Mac Groups, a service that helps members communicate, coordinate schedules and stay in sync with private groups of friends or colleagues; an updated version of .Mac Backup software that makes it easy for members to archive their iLife and other important files; a four-fold increase in combined iDisk and email storage to 1GB for individuals and 2GB for families; and full French and German localization. [Sep 20, 2005]

Posted by Frank Bisono at 4:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes, I dropped off the planet for a week again, work has been insane.  You all know about the Nano and iTunes 5, iTunes Phone, etc...so no need to rehash old news.  Onward.  I had to post this link though..this is too damn funny.  John Gruber is a sick pup...I LOVE IT!  :-)

Daring Fireball: The iTunes 5 Announcement From the Perspective of an Anthropomorphized Brushed Metal User Interface Theme:

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

More news on the Cobb County homefront. As of Tuesday evening, Superintendent Redden has resigned.  This is just frickin unacceptable.  I am saddened to see that one of the few people who "got it" has been ousted by a bunch of idiots that couldn't see beyond their petty politics to do what was in the best interest for the kids.  Thinking Different was obviously beyond the scope of these people.  Chief Redden, a former Air Force General was grossly overqualified for the position, and that is now obvious.  Chief Redden....hold your head up high and march on.  You've still won the respect of many others and will do well in another district.  Although, why you would want to deal with the crap is beyond me.  Enjoy your retirement and thanks for your service to our great nation.

For the full story via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, click here.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 9:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What some people will do to protect their goodies.  Apparently some enterprising whipper snapper got his beloved iPod crushed against a handrail in a crowded Japanese subway and vowed to never have it happen again.  The solution, the Fort Knox of all iPod cases.  Check it out here.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

According to a recent job posting at Apple, they are looking for a Handwriting Recognition Engineer.  Could this mean an Apple Tablet is in the works?  Things that make you go hmmmmm....

Title: Handwriting Recognition Engineer 
Req. ID: 2379263
Location: Santa Clara Valley, California 
Country: United States
Req Date: 11-Aug-2005
Are you passionate about providing handwriting solutions to end customers? Do you strongly believe that using a stylus and a tablet is the way to interact with computers?

Apple Handwriting Recognition team is seeking an engineer who will be responsible for advancing gesture and handwriting recognition on Mac OS X. The ideal candidate will be an expert in the area of pattern recognition, with an excellent understanding of handwriting recognition issues. The person will also assume primary responsibility for maintaining existing code and tools.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's pretty safe to say that you all know I am not a huge Microsoft fan when it comes to their Windows OS. I am a pretty hard critic and I don't deny that. But there are times when Microsoft actually does get it. A perfect example is this job ad just placed on Careeerbuilder.com. Looks like they are trying to clone Robert Scoble! :-)

Microsoft is making a valid attempt at placing people in strategic positions where they can interact with the community and head off misconceptions or potentially bad rumors before they get out of control. This also puts more of a human face on Microsoft and if you ask me, shows some really progressive thinking and cutting edge gorilla marketing tactics. The million dollar question is: Why can't Apple do this? Why does it seem that Apple still just doesn't get how to market to the masses and build a community for those potential switchers with a ton of questions out there?

We have all been pretty disappointed that Apple hasn't stepped up their marketing with TV ads for OS X or the smattering of kick-ass products like the G5 or Powerbook. How can people buy what they don't know about? It's just silly. There is more to life than the iPod! Apple hiring this kind of evangelist would be a great start in the right direction. No matter how many of us are out there blogging about Apple and giving them positive PR, it is no substitute for having an "official" Apple Blogger that can dish out the goods coming straight from the source. This doesn't happen often folks....but....I commend Microsoft for their forward thinking and progressive attitude on marketing. Now lets see if Apple is listening and starts to get on the ball with the rest of the blogging world.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ahhhh...the stupidity tirade continues full force. This one is pretty interesting as it seems to be legit. The problem I am having is....how does a foreign national have the right to file a patent (or anything for that matter) in the United States? I am no attorney and totally ignorant to patent and trademark law, but it just seems silly that we let any idiot around the world file for anything here in the US. Does this mean I can go to Hong Kong and file for a patent over there? I say give him a nickel and tell him to have a coke and a smile and shut the fuck up!

For the full scoop on continuous stupidity, follow the link to AppleInsider:

AppleInsider | Apple, Sony among those named in new DRM lawsuit:

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This has been posted everywhere, but just in case you missed it, this is too damn funny not to post...

[ via Gizmodo ]

Apple iBook Riots in VA:

What do you get when you mix record heat, $50 4-year-old iBooks, and a burgeoning back-to-school season? Riot! Folks in Richmond, Virginia piled up at the doors of the Richmond International Raceway to get their hands on one of about 1,000 laptops. The ensuing chaos caused one intrepid shopper to lose her footwear:

"This is total, total chaos," said Latoya Jones, 19, who lost one of her flip-flops in the ordeal and later limped around on the sizzling blacktop with one foot bare.

Another charming and telling quote:

One woman went so far to wet herself rather than surrender her place in line.

They couldn't donate these things? Tell the kids to take one home?

Panic ensues in rush for cheap laptops [CNN]
iBook frenzy, as it happened [GatewayVA]
Video [NBC12]

Posted by Frank Bisono at 8:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the most recent study by the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), the consensus is that happy customers make good customers. In a study of some of Americas most famous brands, the ACSI concludes that revenue growth is directly correlated to customer satisfaction. It should be no surprise that Apple Computer beat out all other computer manufacturers with a score of 81, beating out Dell by a full seven points.

For the full story, check out ZDNET...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Great to see that I can at least be of some help in getting others to understand what the Mac is all about! Rock on Rob...you won't regret coming over to OS X. Prepare yourself....life will never be the same again! :-)

[ via Roblog @ Intersplice ]

Think I might get an Mac:

Posted by Frank Bisono at 5:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is truly amazing...you have to read the article to appreciate this....

[via Apple.com]

Fully-Autonomous Vehicle Driven by Mac OS X:

Team Banzai, one of 40 teams from around the country to advance to the national semi-finals of the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, developed “Dora” — the world’s first fully-autonomous vehicle driven by Mac OS X. The team’s entire development and race management efforts use Apple Mac OS X technology. [Jul 20, 2005]

Posted by Frank Bisono at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It was just a matter of time before someone created this. Thanks to RB Software, here is a handy GUI (Graphical User Interface) for the iTunes Chapter Tool used when creating podcasts for the iTMS. The tool includes the Chapter Tool, no need to go download it seperately. Enjoy!

Posted by Frank Bisono at 7:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ok folks...now that everyone knows what's powering this rice rocket, I'm taking bets as to how long before this ride gets jacked...

[ via macvroom.com ]

MacWorld Boston: Geek My Ride II:

For those readers venturing to the MacWorld Expo in Boston this week, make sure to check out this totally Geek'd out Ride at the Tech Superpowers/BOSFCPUG Booth (523/524). This Lexus IS300 is the world's fastest mobile video production studio. It is totally tricked out with two Xserve G5s, an Xserve RAID with 5.6 Terabytes of storage, two 19" flat screen monitors, a Q-Logic Fibre Channel switch, Bluetooth and AirPort wireless capability, and even a Philips 42" plasma screen! You can read all the mind bending specs here.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 1:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By now everyone is aware of iTunes 4.9 and the podcasting capabilities built into the program. Here's an interesting feature that hasn't been documented as of yet. Apparently if you go too long without listening to your podcasts, iTunes takes it upon itself to stop updating the podcast for you until you specify that you would like to resume updating. Pretty interesting indeed.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 10:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

What a day in iPod land. Today Apple has announced a plethora of iPod related news. First, we'll start with the new iTunes 4.9 Update. This update includes a new Podcasting support feature. We'll talk more about this in a minute. Second, a nice update to the iPod itself (clickwhell and shuffles only) to enable that Podcasting feature. Third, the iPod line has been retooled and all iPod models have been merged into either iPod (no more iPod Photo), iPod mini, or iPod Shuffle. The entire iPod line is now full color and there are 2 models to choose from (this includes a new 20GB U2 version). There is the standard 20GB model with a nice new price point of $299. Or you can opt for the mambo monster 60GB rig for a mere $399. Not too darn shabby. The Shuffle price point has quietly been lowered as well. The new price is $129 (down from $149) for the 1GB model. So those are the major announcements. Now for the reviews.

Lets start with iTunes 4.9. The killer on this update is the podcast support. Apple has really outdone themselves on this one. It isn't perfect (yet), but it's one heck of a promising start. It couldn't be any easier to find and subscribe to a podcast (although the categories still lack depth). There are the usual and popular podcasts to choose from, but if your favorites aren't listed, fret not. You can simply go to the advanced menu, click Subscribe to Podcast, and enter your favorite podcast feed URL and it will magically appear. If you have an audio file that you downloaded, you can also import that into iTunes as well. Apple has added a new setting under the AAC Encoding menu for Podcasts. The setting will encode your imported file at 64Kbps, which is more than ample for voice podcasts.

The way iTunes manages the podcasts is great. I have been a long time user of iPodderX and find it to be a great app. However, you have to configure every feed just right in order to have it dropped into your playlist (unless you just accept the default settings, which you may or may not like).

For me, iPodderX sometimes worked, sometimes it didn't. iTunes has made the process incredibly easy by creating a Podcast menu in iTunes, just like you have the Music Store, party shuffle or radio menus. Better yet, when you sync up with your iPod, there is now a Podcast category and all your podcasts are neatly organized by title. One previously annoying thing about having certain podcasts on your iPod was that the interface was horrible. For certain podcasts with long names, it was impossible to easily see what podcast episode you were selecting. More tech savvy podcasters created their own naming conventions which made it a little easier to identify each podcast by its title, but it was a far from flawless method of overcoming the iPod's limited interface. With the new iPod user interface (UI), the name of the podcast will scroll automatically and let you see the full name without having to actually play the podcast. Apple has also added a date field at the end of the title menu that is fixed, so that as the title scrolls, you will always see the date of that podcast. Nifty...VERY nifty. Apple has been listening indeed. If I am not mistaken, Leo Laporte himself had made that very suggestion on one of his many podcasts. No doubt that Adam Curry had a bit of input on these improvements as well.

On the negative side of things, I have seen some people complaining that iTunes is not all that and that you should stick to iPodderX. Well folks, being that I am not exactly biased by being personal buddies with the good guys August and Ray at iPodderX, I can give you a more realistic viewpoint on this. One of the complaints I have read is how iTunes doesn't handle bit torrent very well. That is true, no question about it. However, I only know of ONE podcast (at least of the popular ones) that is delivered via bit torrent. That would be The Week in Tech (TWiT) by the former Screen Savers gang. Great podcast, but guess what? It is also delivered via MP3 through another feed that works just fine in iTunes. That doesn't exactly call for the use of another app other than iTunes. I must say though, I would like to get that bookmarkable AAC feed via normal channels. I don't see iTunes EVER supporting bit torrent, as I am sure Apple wants complete and total control over what you are downloading from their apps and music store. It's no secret that a lot of folks use bit torrent for downloading music in more nefarious ways than we would like to admit. Don't expect Apple to facilitate this practice any time soon. If bit torrent is your thing, then iPodderX is definitely a better choice for you. iPodderX also has really nice RSS support built-in, something iTunes has yet to implement.

The second complaint I have read about is that iTunes won't fetch your podcasts while it isn't running. And the point? That is a pretty simple thing to overcome folks. Just leave iTunes running and if you don't want the controller visible, hit COMMAND-H to HIDE the darn thing! It will still be running and catching all your podcasts on whichever schedule you tell it to retrieve those podcasts. If you want iTunes to startup when you log in, just add it to your Login Items under Accounts in the System Preferences. But again, if this is just too much trouble for you, iPodderX is your best choice.

Another observation I have made is that the list of categories for podcasts in iTunes is too limited. If you go to iPodder.org, you will see that there is an extensive list of categories that better defines what you are looking for. I am sure this will improve in future updates of the music store. Remember, this is only day one.

Enough on the negative, lets go uber geek. So what is new and uber kewl in the new iTunes? Plenty. If you are into making your own podcasts, there are some nice updates that should make you happy. Lets start with the ability to publish your podcast to the iTunes Music Store. Apple has added a "Publish a Podcast" button to iTunes. Apple still has the final word on if you get in or not, but I don't think it will be too hard judging on what they have in there at the moment. If you are just starting out and don't know how to create a podcast, Apple has provided a step-by-step guide to get you going. It isn't the most sophisticated setup, but it works. For a more real-world view on how to podcast, you may want to check out the tutorials at Engadget, or check out the Podcasting Primer on Mac Merc, courtesy of the Wizards of Technology.

Back to geeking out. Apple has also added a Chapter Tool to the mix. Word of advice, this tool is NOT for the faint of heart. It is a COMMAND LINE tool at the moment. If your unix skills are not up to snuff, you may want to pass on this until Apple releases the commercial version. This tool will allow you to add chapters, images and web links to specific time codes in the podcast. iTunes (and iPod Photos) will then display those assets real-time as you listen to the podcast. This will be HUGE for people that like doing Sound-Seeing Tours, another Adam Curry invention, in which he records audio commentary as he strolls through scenic (or some not-so-scenic) areas. Imagine what this will do for Museums and such, where you can be walking through a self-paced tour and viewing the images the author wants to convey right on your iPod or in iTunes. This is the future folks! Any podcast that has been encoded with this feature will now sport a new icon to the left of the iTunes status window with a list of chapters and images encoded in the podcast. Since at this time Apple can only control the AAC audio format, these types of podcasts are limited to the MPEG-4 AAC (.m4a) fie format (same as the tunes you download from the music store).

That pretty much wraps it up folks. Lots of great and exciting news today. If you are new to the world of Podcasting, welcome! If your an old hat, I am sure you can appreciate today's announcements. In either case, one thing is for certain. The face of radio is changing and control is being put back in the hands of the listeners. Radio stations across the country should afraid. BE VERY AFRAID. No longer will we be held at the mercy of the junk being played on the radio. Between satellite radio and podcasting, can anyone tell me why they would listen to the radio anymore (except for live coverage of news or sports)? For the first time that I am aware of, ANYONE now has the ability to create their own radio show and be heard by the masses. You gotta love technology and Apple Computers.

[ Update ] Apparently Apple slipped one more goodie into iTunes which hasn't been publicized much. If you download a podcast from iTunes that has officially been added by Apple, the MP3 file will be bookmarkable! That takes the cake. Way to go Apple. Thanks to Jon for the heads up.

[ Update 2 ] Another interesting bit of info, when encoded properly, podcasts now carry the show-notes into the iPod! Just click the center button of your iPod twice and it will load any show notes that were part of the podcast. It just keeps getting better...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

None other than the Steve "Woz" Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer, will preside over the Commencement Ceremonies at Nova Southeastern University this weekend (June 25, 2005). Most of you know the history behind the Woz, so we won't get much into that. Should be interesting to see what he has to say, especially following Steve Job's speech at Stanford recently. Too cool...the Woz right here in my backyard!

Posted by Frank Bisono at 2:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nice find!

[ via TUAW ]

Blender:

If you're interested in getting into 3D high end graphics, but the nosebleed prices of the software out there keeps getting in your way, why not go free with Blender? Blender is "the open source software for 3D modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, interactive creation and playback. . . . Available for Windows, Linux, Irix, Sun Solaris, FreeBSD or Mac OS X under the GNU Public License."

There was a new version released today, and there are flavors available for OS X 10.2, 10.3, and 10.4. Head over to the downloads page and grab your copy. Post links to your Blender-created stuff in the comments and we'll check it out. If you feel like supporting this open source project, you can invest in the 800 page manual.

Did I mention that it is free?

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Following up on my previous post about Steve Job's speech at Stanford, here is the actual video!

[ via the Stanford Report ]

In his Commencement address, Apple and Pixar CEO Steve Jobs urged Stanford graduates to follow their hearts. A pancreatic cancer survivor, he told the Class of '05, "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking."

Posted by Frank Bisono at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is more like it. Apple is now starting to see the light when it comes to advertising. I can only hope to see some new TV ads and in about a year, hear the Intel jingle on an Apple tv ad. Ahhhh - the horror! :-) Did ya ever think you'd live to see THAT happen? It's going to be a great next couple of years as this transition rolls out...

[ via MacDailyNews ]

Apple Computer attacks Microsoft Windows with two-page Mac OS X Tiger print ad in Time (with images):

Apple Computer has debuted a new two page Mac OS X Tiger advertisement in the inside cover in the latest issue of Time Magazine.�Į�ĮThe ad features the Mac OS X Tiger "X" on a black background on the left page (click for larger image) and powerful quotes from reviews of Mac OS X Tiger on the right page (click for larger image).�Į�ĮThe quotes on the right side read:

[in large, bold print]�Į"It leaves Windows XP in the dust."�Į- Walter Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal

[in smaller print]�Į"It's the most elegant, useful and powerful operating system I've ever used in three decades of computer ownership. It runs circles around Windows."�Į- Mike Wendland, Detroit Free Press

"Spotlight isn't just a fast Find command. It's an enhancement that's so deep, convenient and powerful, it threatens to reduce the 20-year-old Mac/Windows system of nested folders to irrelevance."�Į- David Pogue, The New York Times

"Want to see what the future of personal computing looks like? Don't wait for Microsoft to show you; go out and get yourself a copy of Apple's latest operating system release, OS X Tiger. It's that good."�Į- Michael Gartenberg, Computerworld

"Not only is Spotlight super fast, but it looks through absolutely everything: email messages, contacts, the information attached to digital photos, even a page you scanned in or a map your downloaded from the web."�Į- Chris Taylor, Time

"I remember writing an article about Lotus 1-2-3 back when the product was released during the 80s... It may have been nearly two decades since I wrote that column, but it took Spotlight less than 2 seconds to find it."�Į- Larry Magid, CBSNews.com

Posted by Frank Bisono at 5:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This past weekend Steve Jobs gave the commencement speech at Stanford University. From all accounts I have read, it wasn't the most exciting speech, but it brought home some very good points to those about to hit the real world. The full story can be read at SFGate.com.

But that isn't the reason I am writing this today. I am writing about something I found to be somewhat ironic. In his speech, Steve referenced the days when he started college and how certain things in life played out as a result of his dropping out.

"If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on that calligraphy class and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do," he said. "Believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference."

Here is Steve Jobs, one of the wealthiest people on the planet, and undoubtedly one of the best and most admired CEO's in history, addressing a bunch of kids that just dropped around $100,000 on their education. A college dropout just addressed the graduating class at Stanford. Wow.

So that leads me to the point of this post. Just recently Donald Trump's "The Apprentice" pitted college grads vs. those without a degree. Ultimately a girl with a degree won the battle, but not to be outdone by those that did not have the degree.

I am all for education. I am a college grad myself. Certain professions require it. I certainly wouldn't want a doctor, for instance, that didn't have a top notch education. However, when it comes to the business world and certain trades, I just don't believe that a college education is a necessity. A more practical approach would be a technical or trade school. Then there are those people that just have a natural God-given talent without ever having to pick up a book or attend a lecture. Should those folks be penalized?

There are those who will disagree with me and insist that if you don't have a degree (from a name-brand school at that), you must not be worthy. Heck, they even base hiring decisions on such nonsense. Imagine THAT! But the fact remains that there are those who are book smart, but are completely clueless in the real world. Then there are those that are DOERS. They are self-starters, independent thinkers, aggressive and determined. They are the TRUE Entrepeneurs. I'll take one of those guys in my organization ANY day over the so called "educated" candidate who really has nothing more than good study habits and no practical real-world experience to back it.

Lets face it people, school has become a BUSINESS. It is no longer about education. It is all about the money and how much money the sports teams and alumni can raise. Curriculums are filled with useless classes that are supposed to "round you out", but do nothing more than waste precious time and fill up an already busy schedule. If you are a career student, great. Knock yourself out. But I would rather spend my class time on classes that will directly affect my chosen profession.

So back to the point of this. I found some interesting facts on the net that I am betting many of you aren't aware of. For those of you that insist a college education is a must, I propose a question to you. Where are you in your career today? Take a good hard look at yourself, and evaluate your status in life. If you can tell me that you are more successful that any of the following people, then I want you in my rolodex. Lets take a look:

Steve Jobs
Steve Wozniak
Bill Gates
Larry Ellison
Michael Dell
Wayne Huizenga

These are just a few names that you might recognize. What the hell is the point you ask? Every one of them (and a whole bunch more) are college dropouts.

So again. I ask you. Where are you in your career today? Do you think it is fair to pre-judge a candidate in an interview based on whether they have a degree or not? If that was the case, just look at what we may have missed out on. Many of us wouldn't even have a career in our chosen professions. It's kind of hard to make a case against someone without a degree when you look at some of these people I listed above.

So for those of you in management with hiring authority, I ask you to open your minds before you open your mouths. You just may not be as smart as you think YOU are. The candidate you pass on today, just might be the guy who puts you out of business tomorrow.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is one of the many questions that mac fans have been asking since last weeks WWDC. The resounding answer is YES. According to Extreme Tech, , Intel quietly announced that it has shifted the majority of its P4's to 64-bit capability over the weekend. "The unspoken message is that a customer will receive 64-bit capability for free." That just about sums it up folks. Everyone was wondering if the higher priced 64-bit processors would mean higher priced Macs. The answer is NO. If anything, prices will most likely go down. This is good news....real good news. I say BRING IT ON INTEL!

Posted by Frank Bisono at 3:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[ Thanks to TUAW for the tip! Grab the Keynote with chapter markers while it's hot folks! ]

WWDC Keynote Video in Chapters:

Joi Ito points to a neat version of the Keynote that has been split into chapters by Kevin Marks.

So now you can jump over to your favorite part, or just watch the podcast bit and skip over all the Intel business.

It's the digital equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and repeating "No no no no no..." for close to an hour!

UPDATE: Joi updated with a link to the how-to behind the chaptered video feed. Cool.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 9:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Todays weather report from HELL: It's COLD, REAL COLD. Why heck...slap me silly and call me Sally...did I just see a flying pig go past my window? Yep, sure did, and it just IM'd me requesting a flyby. That would be a "Negative Ghostrider...the pattern is FULL".

Today marks a day in history which we Apple zealots will never forget. It almost feels as if we have been violated. There comes a time in a man's life where he must humble himself and admit he was wrong. My predictions were a tad bit off we could say. I am still trying to recover from todays madness and must regroup myself and accept the fact that this is NOT an alternate universe we have just been tele-ported to.

Well folks, the rumors as reported by CNET were in fact, TRUE. Apple has announced a partnership with Intel that will put an Intel based processor at the very soul of the next generation Macintosh, beginning this time next year (2006). Apple will transition all of its Macs to using Intel microprocessors by the end of 2007.

I guess this comes as a shock to us who have always believed the hype that RISC based processors were faster and more efficient. I for one not only drank the kool-aid, I lived it and preached it. The fact that Microsoft switched their next generation XBOX 360 to the same processor used in a Mac was kind of a validation that we Mac-heads were indeed correct, and had the baddest processors on the market. So that leaves many of us asking: WHY? The answer is actually quite simple. IBM dropped the ball in a MAJOR way. Lets get this out of the way first, IBM Makes a kick-ass processor. There is no question that the G5 processor is by far superior to anything on the market. However, IBM missed the mark in delivering a 3GHz processor to Apple as promised, and they have not been able to produce a mobile version of the G5 for the PowerBook line. These are not exactly things to be taken lightly by Apple. It does Apple and the rest of us no good to have this great processor if we can't create new products that are worth upgrading to. It is really that simple. So if you are feeling a little betrayed and Jaded, you can put the blame on nobody but IBM. Way to go Big Blue.

So what's this mean for Apple? A lot of people are truly pissed off. I attribute that to more of an emotional state of mind than a logical rationalization. It is human nature to cry foul and say you are going to go buy a Dell. But seriously, who are we kidding folks. Lets not lose focus of the real story here. It's about the OS dummy. Quite honestly, I could care less about what is under the hood as long as my computing experience does not change for the worse. In NASCAR racing, everyone is running different engines (Ford, Chevy, Dodge, etc), but they are all limited to the same amount of horsepower. The real difference in the race is the driver and the team. Well, a Mac will still be driven by OS X, no matter what the CPU powering it will be, and the same engineering team will be innovating us into the future at Apple. This is probably a good move on behalf of Apple and I for one am not one to say it wont work. If I were that smart, I would be sitting right next to Steve Jobs helping pilot the mother-ship. But alas, I am a humble schlep in the grand scheme of things.

There are still a lot of questions to be answered, but the writing is pretty clear. The biggest concern was the ability to port apps to an Intel architecture and Apple has all but blown us away with their solution for this. Between the Rosetta emulation technology and the new X-Code tools, running PPC apps on Intel will honestly be painless. This probably won't be anywhere near as painful as some people would like you to believe. For those of you wondering if this means you can run Windows on your Mactel, well...that is a big question mark that is yet to be determined. I also wouldn't expect you to be able to grab an Intel version of OS X and be able to drop it on that old x86 beige box you have lying around. These are but a couple of the many questions that will be brought to the table over the following year.

A lot of people (including myself) speculated that sales will drop for Apple over the next year until the new hardware is released. After giving this a lot of thought today, that may not exactly be true. Keep in mind that although Apple is switching to Intel, they will still be supporting PPC code for a VERY long time. There is honestly no reason for anyone to wait up to 2 years to buy a new machine. The G5 you buy today will be running for a VERY long time since a developer can recompile for both platforms effortlessly. In the near future, you will be seeing software released with the code base for both architectures on the same CD/DVD. This will in essence future-proof your purchase. It would be complete lunacy to go buy a Dell in lieu of a Mac at this point in the game. Apple is without a questionable doubt the most innovative company on the planet, and I have no reason to suspect this move will be anything but a success.

Full Quicktime archive of the WWDC 2005 Keynote will be available via this link very shortly. Other points of interest today is an interview with Steve Jobs on CNBC this afternoon. More in-depth discussions can be found at the usual news sources. So there ya have it. No new hardware (but the week isn't over yet). Whatever happens, I think it is safe to say that whatever other news we read this week will not top today. This was a biggie. I hope everyone is coping with this ok. Don't everyone go get drunk all at once and tattoo Apple on one ass cheek and Intel on the other! :-)

Posted by Frank Bisono at 7:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lately I haven't been posting much because quite frankly, everything making the news has been quite <yawn> ... BORING. There has been ONE bit of news hitting the wire in the last couple of days that finally merits some attention. The pundits of CNET have reported that somehow they have an "inside source" that claims Apple is switching over to an Intel based architecture and will be announcing it on Monday at WWDC.

I am here to tell you folks (IMHO)...this is pure HOGWASH. It make absolutely NO sense at all for Apple to make such a monolithic move and the WRONG direction. For starters, this would mean yet another major overhaul and porting effort on behalf of all Macintosh developers out there. They did it once because they had to do it for the OS X transition. But to do it twice in the space of a few years? Ain't gonna happen people. Second, announcing such a move that would not happen on the PowerMacs until 2007 would essentially bring sales to a grinding halt. Nobody is going to spend $3,000+ on a professional system that will be out of date in a MAJOR way in the next 2 years. Apple has spent A LOT of time and energy dispelling the myths surrounding CISC vs. RISC based architectures and the so called "Megahertz Myth". And now, at a time when everyone is finally starting to understand the difference and major gaming platforms like the XBOX 360 and PS3 switching to what is essentially a G5 processor, what would Intel be able to offer that could throw all of that away?

It just makes no sense folks. What DOES make sense is Apple announcing Intel SUPPORT by creating an x86 version of OS X. Apple is a software and hardware company. Although keeping OS X solely on the Mac platform would obviously be good and help increase Apple's hardware sales, it would make more sense to announce that OS X will now run on an x86 machine. At a time when people have reached their threshold for pain on the Windows side of the house, it would tactically be genius to offer those folks an alternate OS that will run on their existing hardware. No more viruses, spyware or Blue Screens of Death. Just like the Mac mini concept, this is not a far fetched idea. Once the general public sees what they have been missing, they will no doubt think of Apple in an entirely new way. That only means one thing, increased hardware sales in the not too distant future. As those folks switch to OS X on Intel, when that hardware becomes obsolete and they need a replacement, now they will be looking long and hard at an Apple box.

The next logical move is the enterprise. One of the biggest concerns for an enterprise migrating platforms is cost. Porting OS X to Intel would allow an enterprise to transition to OS X with minimal cost and pain. The money saved on IT support costs alone would more than justify the money spent on training employees on the new OS. Productivity apps like MS Office would require practically no training. Overall, it just makes sense for an enterprise to switch to a safer and more stable computing environment.

Now we all know hell has frozen over at least once in recent history at Apple. So we can't be 100% sure of what exactly Steve has up his sleeves until Monday morning. It's going to be an interesting week to say the least. Stay tuned for more to come...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 1:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

[ via Gizmodo ]

Just when exactly will the rest of the world actually do something original and stop copying Apple? This is a friggin disgrace. Geee, does it resemble any other device we have all seen from a certain fruit company?

'Intel mini' Prototype Picture: Code-Named 'Pandora' or 'Paradox':

No sooner do we mention the 'Intel Mini' do pictures show up online of the prototype from AOpen, code-named 'Pandora' or 'Paradox' (there seems to be conflicting information).

Intel Mini Picture [SilentPCReview]

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This kicks ass....thanks Engadget!

HOW-TO: Make a customized RSS screensaver in Tiger:

Allright, we all know a bunch of you OS X users got Tiger and went Yipee! over the RSS screensavers. Well they are pretty cool, but Apple news gets boring&hellip;so why not make your own for your obviously favorite website? With Tiger's Quartz Composer, you can make both standalone RSS applications and Screensavers which ends up being really useful or at least handy if you're an RSS junkie. Let's get going already. All you need are 2 things: A mac running Tiger (decently fast of course) and Xcode developer tools installed.

We'll go through the process of making a screensaver first. Go into your Developer folder and open Quartz Composer. Yes, it's very pretty. That's what it's good for, making pretty things. Choose "New Project" from the menu and choose Mac OS X RSS screensaver (see below)

What this serves as is the starting point for our RSS screen saver. It does the dirty math work for us basically. And when you click it and choose a name to save it as, you'll see a pretty scrolling Apple RSS screen saver. You will also see the underlying heart of Quartz. It looks like a bunch of squares and cubes hooked together with yellowish hoses. Apple has made it very easy for things to interconnect. You can just drag a hose to an appropriate spot to connect it (it will even light up).

So we don't want this screen saver right? We want to customize it. Make it our very own creation that you can brag about. There's 4 main parts when it comes to changing this:

#1 is our starting point. This is the RSS feed location. You'll want to click on the dot next to URL and a text box should pop up with Apple's RSS location in there. Let's enter something like http://www.engadget.com/rss.xml shall we? Good. You're done step one. Wait a few seconds and sure enough, Engadget's RSS feeds start popping up instead of Apple's!

Technically, if you're really keen on the glowing background and everything, you could just save it and be done with it right now. But that's no fun. Let's keep customizing.

#2 is the background. Double click the box and you'll go further into the composition and you'll see an all new set of boxes and hoses. If you want to make the background a static color combo, you can remove the hoses from the pink box that says Gradient. Choose your colors with the color wheel and it will remain the same. But what if you want to make the colors/direction/blending change? Easy. Look at that list to the right of all the functions/objects/interpreters etc. Find the one that says LFO. This is going to spit out a ton of random numbers for us thus giving us a dynamic variable (read: always-changing) background. Clicking "Type" allows you to mess around with what kind of mathematics it will use, but what you want to do is click on the dot next to Result. Drag your hose over to a variable on the Gradient. Say, Direction. Voila. Direction now will be a constantly changing thing. Or why not do a color? You can randomly bust out the hot colors like it's nobody's business. When done, look at the hierarchy tree above and go back to the root. You'll be back at our numbered chart section again.

#3 is the article title. The one we see in the middle. Double click the box and you'll be inside the guts of that. In the words of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,"Whoa dudes!" theres a lot inside here! Don't worry. Interpolation is the same as LFO, it busts out a slew of mathematical functions which means randomization. Grab another LFO from the side menu and throw it somewhere. Double click on where it says Repeat Mode and choose "Mirrored Loop". This will make a nice back and forth transition with whatever we're doing instead of it going all nuts like a normal loop would. It's kind of like a seesaw. With this you can really have some fun. Drag the hose over to either of the Billboard boxes and hook it up to Rotation. Ooh! Look! It's moving back and forth and floating! Mess around with all kinda of variables and what not. Just remember, if you hook it up to something like X-Position, know the following:

What you're looking at is an X/Y graph. Thus, X-Position that's negative goes to the left, positive to the right. With Y-Position, negative is down, positive goes up. Remember math class from middle school? Good. You're putting it to good use now. Quartz is really scaled so use decimals, not whole numbers. Ex: 0.8339 or -0.52252 instead of 4.5 or 8.5.

#4 applies just the same to #3 except it deals with the floating article content in the background. You can just delete the box entirely if you don't like it, or you can mess around with it, make it fade in and out and what not. You should have the hang of it by now.

When you're done your creation, it's time to save. Save it and quit, open your screen saver preferences and choose the one you just made in Quartz. Tada! Go you.

Now if you wanted to take it a step further (read: people/developers familiar with Xcode, Cocoa, and Interface Builder), you can start a new Cocoa Application in Xcode, edit MainMenu.nib, import the Quartz Preference Pane into IB, load your composition in, add a button or two, edit the menus, save it, and build it, you'd have a standalone RSS application that's pretty! Also useful if you spend a lot of time waiting for RSS to update! Now get out there and start messing around with Quartz! There's much more to be created...iTunes plug-ins anyone?

Posted by Frank Bisono at 8:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Get yer updates folks, get 'em while they're hot. Updates include...

�Ģ file sharing using AFP and SMB/CIFS network file services
�Ģ using DHCP in wireless networks
�Ģ user login when accessing LDAP and Active Directory servers
�Ģ core graphics including updated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers
�Ģ synchronization with .Mac
�Ģ Address Book, iCal, Font Book, Mail, and Preview applications
�Ģ Dashboard widgets: Address Book, Flight Tracker, Phone Book, and World Clock
�Ģ creating and burning disk images using Disk Utility and System Image Utility (Remove)
�Ģ compatibility with third party applications and devices

Posted by Frank Bisono at 1:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Apple does it again by posting a new ad just 1 week after their most recent Skate video. The new ad is called "Pop-Lock" and grooves to the beat of Daft Punk's Technologic.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Apple quietly announced an upgrade to iTunes today. The latest version is 4.8 and adds a few improvements to the mix. Version 4.8 includes ���new Music Store features and support for transferring contacts and calendars from your computer to your iPod (requires Mac OS X version 10.4 on your computer).��� There are a few other feature related to international ITMS, and video cataloging. Very cool stuff indeed. The question remains...where the hell is the Video iPod??? Could this be the first indication that video is indeed coming to the iPod?

Posted by Frank Bisono at 2:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Chalk this one up as a must have utility! Widget Manager is a Preference Pane for OSX 10.4 that allows you to inspect, remove, and disable Dashboard Widgets.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes, you read correctly. Someone has finally figured out how to use MSN and Yahoo through iChat AV!!! I dunno why the heck I didn't think of this myself since I use Jabber on my Treo 650 to do the same exact thing. Here is the article with all the how-to info. Thanks to allforces.com !!!

Posted by Frank Bisono at 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Apple has posted a new iPod commercial groovin to the tunes of Fell Good Inc. by Gorillaz. Check it out!

Posted by Frank Bisono at 9:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Great Anti-virus piece via mrbarrett.com ...]

Mac Anti-virus: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly:

The state of anti-virus protection on the Mac (as I see it).

THE GOOD
There's a new kid on the block called ClamAV, an open source product that's regularly udpated. While its interface isn't as spiffy as the commercial-ware anti-virus apps, it still does a great job scanning. And it's free! Works with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.

Sophos continues to be on top of their game and released an update for Tiger compatibility the same day the operating system shipped. Sophos is the best choice for large shops. I continue to be impressed with their product and level of support. Now, if only I could convince my own employer to switch.

THE BAD
Network Associates' Virex used to be a decent product. It was fast and updated regularly. It's eUpdate engine did a great job of keeping the virus def files up-to-date and was easy-to-configure. Unfortunately, much of this is no longer true. Virex is incompatible with components of Final Cut Pro, and so we must disable anti-virus in those rooms to allow the students to get their work done without mysterious crashes. Good AV software shouldn't interupt any application's standard behavior. Network Associates and Symantec have known about this conflict since FCP 4 shipped in the summer of 2003 but still have not updated their products to be compatible. Virex 7.5.1 and even the beta of 7.6 are both incompatible with Tiger, causing major processor hogging. Network Associates has given us no information on when version 7.7 will be released with the promised Tiger compatibility.

THE UGLY
Symantec Norton Anti-Virus continues to wallow in their ineptitude. Their product is designed for the home user (barely) and has little use in the Enterprise or large-scale environment. Its LiveUpdate mechanism is annoying, crash-a-riffic, and sloo...ooo...ooo...www. And since the release of Mac OS 10.3.9 and the latest NAV defs, it's been (I'm convinced) misreporting users swap files (virtual memory space) as being infected with a hacktool.underhand trojan. Users unaccustomed to having to deal with a virus/trojan on their Macs are panicking. Symantec's clueless tech support is having people wipe hard drives to deal with an issue caused by their own software. This thread at Apple's discussion boards is an interesting read. Most are arriving at the conclusion that they would've been better off having not installed NAV to begin with.

Should you have antivirus software installed on your Mac? Probably, but you shouldn't be over-worried about the threat of contamination. If you're lucky enough to work in a large environment, maybe you have Sophos available for you to install. Otherwise, download and install ClamAV. At this time, I'd avoid both Norton Anti-Virus and Virex, which seem to cause more problems than they solve, particularly if you've upgraded to Tiger.

I protect my Macs at home with ClamAV and a dose of common sense. Don't download and open mysterious attachments. And run your websurfing with the excellent PithHelmet, which blocks all kinds of behind-the-scenes activity that could potentially link you to unwantables.

NOTE: I have zero experience with Intego Virus Barrier.

P.S. Stumbled across this apparently new bulletin board set up to discuss issues with Virex.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So after finally migrating all my mail to the G5 running Tiger, I am finding little things here and there that used to work fine in Panther, and aren't so fine in Tiger. Once such beast is the use of Digitally Signed Certificates. Although I have successfully imported the certificates and verified they are seen by Tiger (looked in the address book and they show up there just fine), I can't seem to digitally sign, or decrypt encrypted messages anymore! What gives? Seems that I am not alone and there is some chatter about this in the Apple firums as well. Anyone had similar experiences? Sound off in the comments section...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 2:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sorry I haven't posted these sooner, but it's been a busy weekend. Here are some pics from the OS X "Tiger" Launch at the Falls in Miami....Enjoy!

Posted by Frank Bisono at 8:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well folks, it is finally that day! With so much anticipation and hoopla surrounding this launch, I thought we'd never get here. The wait is finally over. All around the globe, people are jumping with joy at the sight of their Fedex or UPS guy. And tonight, many, many more will make their way to the holy temple of Apple (the Apple Store) to wait in line with the other minions as the doors swing open to the masses of Apple fanatics known as the Cult of Mac.

Over the past few days, many of the greatest developers out there have released their OS X "Tiger" ready versions of their warez, prepping for the onslaught about to hit their servers tonight. I must say, many of the apps that have been broken, for the most part, now work magnificently. There are just some apps, such as Delicious Library, which must be experienced in person. Some other notables that are working beautifully are Daylite, Transmit, Candy Bar, StickyBrain, Little Snitch, Apple Remote Desktop, and many more. A more extensive list can be found at MacWorld.

So what other goodies could there possibly be for the day? Well plenty I tell ya. For one, Apple released their upgraded .Mac service. Some of the upgraded features include a much tighter integration with the OS. You can now sync passwords from your Keychain and Mac OS X Mail preferences...including accounts, rules, signatures and the new Spotlight-driven Smart Mailboxes...Mac-to-Mac. A new shared address book is now available. Turn on sharing in your Tiger Address Book's Preferences, then add other .Mac members and choose whether to allow them to edit contacts. Any changes made are reflected in all of the accounts. VERY cool if you ask me. Soon there will be a member-only section for widgets. And you can now finally access your email aliases right from within Apple Mail. All very worthy upgrades which in my opinion, makes having .Mac mandatory in order to get the true Apple experience of integration with your OS and web services. This is the future folks, and Microshaft Longcrap won't have it.

So speaking of widgets. This is definitely one of the absolute COOLEST features of Tiger. And as you would expect, Apple has released the Dashboard page to the public. Talk about some wicked new toys. Better grab em now before the servers get slammed tonight! There have been some insanely busy developers out there and they have delivered in a BIG way. Make sure you visit the Widget Wonderland, you won't want to miss this one!

Other places you won't want to miss are the Automater Actions page, and Spotlight Plugins. More very essential resources for things that will make you go Oooooohhhhhhh, Ahhhhhhhhhh and have you sayin "Hot Damn! Now THAT is T-I-T-E "TIGHT"!!!

There is just waaaay too much goodness here for anyone to absorb in one day. If you haven't already ordered your copy, I highly recommend you pick up a copy TONIGHT at your local Apple store. If you happen to be in the Miami area, I will be live and in person at the Apple store in the Falls helping out as part of the Apple Tiger Launch Team (and no I don't work there, I am just part of the Apple team helping for the launch. I'll be the goon in the "Apple Education" shirt and most likely keeping you overly excited peeps from storming the front door before 6pm. If you work in K-12, I will be your go-to guy. See you there!!!

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[via MacMinute]

Apple takes top spot on Wired 40 list | MacMinute News:

April 26, 2005 - 11:05 EDT Apple was given the No. 1 spot on this year's Wired 40, Wired magazine's annual list of the 40 companies leading in technology and innovation. Apple ranked third on the list last year. From the May 2005 issue (not yet online): "As the world moves toward open standards, the last ture believer in closed systems refuses to capitulate. Funny thing: No one is asking Apple to change. That's because the computermaker turned consumer electronics powerhouse has made a virtue of proprietary control, consistently delivering quality and flair. The company sold 8.2 million iPods in 2004, and iTunes accounted for 70 percent of legal music downloads, leading to exceptional revenue and profit in Q4. With such a foothold in music, can an assault on TV be far behind?"

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[via TUAW]

OS X Security Tips from the NSA:

Filed under: OS

The National Security Agency knows a thing or two about security in general, and it seems that Macs have infiltrated the Agency. Why else would the Systems and Network Attack Center (SNAC to you) compose a 109 page document entitled, 'Apple Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther" Security Configuration Guide?' Plus this is Guide Version 1.1 so not only was it penned in the first pace, but it has seen been revised.

The guide is thorough, and contains some good information even for those of you who aren't spies.

ReadPermalink

Posted by Frank Bisono at 8:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[via assortedgeekery.com]

This blog posting contains 50 brief observations of changes made in 10.4 which weren't reported elsewhere or advertised by Apple as new "features".

bisonium.com Tiger observations:

I've been testing Tiger for a while now and have noticed a few gremlins in the 8a428 GM build. Some broken apps you may want to watch out for are as follows:

- Apple Remote Desktop 2 (which was upgraded to 2.2 with Tiger) fails to launch.
- Transmit FTP has major issues using the SFTP protocol.
- Panic's Candy Bar is broken.
- Little Snitch 1.1.1 aint snitchin.
- Apple Motion took a dump and required a re-installation.
- Maya went bunk.
- Modo got fried.
- Virtual PC required a re-install.
- Sticky Brain won't launch.
- Reason wants you to re-insert and authorize all CD's.

I'm sure I will find some more as time goes on, but these were the biggest ones off the top of my head. Gonna be an interesting week!

Posted by Frank Bisono at 8:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rocketboom.com has a great vlog for today on Mac vs PC. Chec out the post!

Posted by Frank Bisono at 6:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Big news for the day os Apple's new line of Pro Apps. Some big announcements were made today at NAB. Highlights include:

Final Cut Pro Studio Suite:

Apple's new Pro Studio Suite includes updates toFinal Cut Pro 5, Soundtrack Pro, Motion 2, and DVD Studio Pro 4.

Final Cut Pro 5 features include:

�Ģ Real-time, native HDV editing
�Ģ Multicamera editing
�Ģ Dynamic RT

Soundtrack Pro features include:

�Ģ Waveform editor with Action layers
�Ģ Intelligent Find-and-Fix
�Ģ Over 50 effect plug-ins and Audio Unit support

Motion 2 features include:

�Ģ GPU-Accelerated 32-bit float rendering
�Ģ Replicator for animating waves of repeating graphics or movies along user-defined grids.
�Ģ FxPlug, which ushers in a new breed of third-party filter effects using full 32-bit processing.

DVD Studio Pro 4 features include:

�Ģ HD DVD
�Ģ Distributed encoding
�Ģ Dolby Digital Professional encoder

Final Cut Studio will be available in May for $1,299. Registered users from any previous version of Final Cut Pro can upgrade for $699, while Production Suite customers can upgrade for $499. Final Cut Pro 5 ($999), Soundtrack Pro ($299), Motion 2 ($299) and DVD Studio Pro 4 ($499) will also be sold separately.

Also announced at NAB today was Shake 4.

"Shake 4 is the only compositing software with a complete toolset for both single artists and visual effects facilities. With 3D multi-plane compositing, 32-bit Keylight and Primatte keying, cutting edge Optical Flow image processing, Final Cut Pro 5 integration and an open, extensible scripting language, Shake 4 delivers all the tools required for sophisticated film and television visual effects."

Shake 4 for Mac OS X with unlimited render licenses will be available in June for $2,999. The cross-platform (Mac and Linux) version of Shake 4 will be available for $4,999. The Shake 4 upgrade is $999.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Apple has updated the certifications for Tiger. Gone are the 1 test takes it all certs, now it is more like getting a medical board certification. You now have to earn credits towards your cert by taking multiple exams. Looks like just another way for Apple to squeeze more money out of us than they already do. Not exactly easier and more flexible like they advertise. They upped the ante by making sure your new cert expires in 2 years. It's all good though. If you can pass the ACSA, you deserve to be paid top dollar. THAT is one damn hard exam...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you are a Mac user in a business world dominated by Windows it’s frustrating, although not too surprising, to find that practically every business tool and resource out there is targeted toward Windows users.

If you need a hand in running every aspect of your business on your chosen computing platform, check out Macfriendly.com - SOHO (small office/home office) and internet marketing resource directory created just for Mac users.

Macfriendly is the home of the Mac-Only Directory with over 2200 resources listed in about 20 differennt categories and the Macintizer, a nifty Windows to Mac Conversion Chart which has numerous tips for decoding the Windows-centric speak that you so often come across online and in print. Every resource listed is pre-screened for Mac-friendliness, so you’ll never have to ask “Is that Mac compatible?” again.

Macfriendly is new, but it seems to be off to a solid start. I am looking forward to seeing it grow into a more comprehensive resource for Mac-based business owners. I already submitted a tip of my own and I’d encourage you to do the same!

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:38 PM | Permalink

Great article from Business 2.0. Pay attention CEO's and VC's...the Mac community is alive and well and lookin for a huge comeback. Lock us out now, and we won't forget it...

Startups Are Missing the Mac Opportunity:

Business 2.0: "The startup buzz is back in the Valley. Entrepreneurs are at work again, dreaming up new ideas and new ways of doing old things. And even as they put their neurons through a grueling test, they are still hanging on to conventional notions of platforms and market share."

Posted by Frank Bisono at 6:57 PM | Permalink

A new Logic Pro files sharing portal and community is born, under the sign of the online collaboration:

A new and unique Apple Logic Pro related portal is born Not just kibitzing, but file sharing for all members. Members may share following kinds of files: Logic Icons Logic Channel Strips

[[ Visit http://www.macmegasite.com for full article ]]

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:28 PM | Permalink

You aren't going to see THIS using a PC!!! :-)

Mac Mini GTI Style:

This may be the best Mac mini auto install ever. Matt Turner has installed the Mac mini into his 2001 VW GTI and all we can say is "WOW!".

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:01 AM | Permalink

Macworld Expo attendance rises from 2004:

IDG World Expo on Wednesday offered attendance figures (available for download as a PDF file) for January's Macworld Conference&Expo in San Francisco, Calif. Today's information shows that total attendance for the event rose more than 11 percent from 2004, from 32,409 attendees to 35,989.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:44 AM | Permalink

This dude has WAY too much time on his hands! But I must say, it is total geek sheik and has a cool factor of 8.

Apple Powermac LED Clock Hack:

Those punched holes in the front of the Apple G5 Powermac's aluminum case just happen to be the perfect size to hold standard-issue LEDs. Swedish hacker Anders Lundberg built his own LED clock that fits right in the bottom, and I think it's sort of swell.

Can you think how rad it would be if the entire front panel was one giant LED array? (Thanks, Hammond!)

Project Page [PaulAnders]

Posted by Frank Bisono at 10:27 PM | Permalink

So yesterday I posted news about hard drives and referred to that new IBM drive in the PowerBook. Today I see this post which is by far the coolest thing I have seen being done with this new technology. Check it out!

Repurposing the Powerbook Motion Sensor:

This isn't something new for you to buy (sorry), but it's so cool I had to share. Amit Singh patched into the six-axis motion sensor in the new Apple Powerbooks&mdash;originally designed to measure quick movements, like drops, and park the hard drive to prevent damage&mdash;and wrote a program that rotates the windows based on the orientation of the laptop to the ground. But that's not all it can do. Singh offers these examples:

1. Panning across large maps (consider Google Maps: you slightly tilt the PowerBook backwards to go North, tilt it slightly to the left to go East, and so on)
2. Vertical and horizontal scrolling in general, say, in a web browser
3. Input for games (for example, a flight simulator)

It's enough to make a man lie to himself that he needs a shiny new Powerbook. (Thanks, trunc();!)

The PowerBook Sudden Motion Sensor [KernelThread]

Posted by Frank Bisono at 3:02 PM | Permalink

Could big business finally be starting to see the light? Sure the heck looks like it. Great article with plenty of ammo to take into your executive team meetings...

In Business to Stay:

Macs remain strong players in graphics and digital-media production markets. And now they're becoming a factor for everyday server chores inside the data center.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:26 PM | Permalink

Long time Apple reseller Mac Center, in south FL, has closed it's doors effective Feb. 28, 2005. It is a sad moment to see such an icon in the Mac community close up shop. I have some buddies that are now going to be hitting the streets looking for work in an already tough job market. Good luck to all of you and stay strong, keep the faith. Many good things are yet to come.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:55 AM | Permalink

Cobb County appears to be one of a number of growing school districts in the country who are starting to get it. This isn't about Mac vs. PC, this is about the kids and providing them the best tools possible for their EDUCATION. Once the parents and politicians figure this out, we will start seeing more progress in the schools. The difference here is that Apple knows education better than ANYONE in the industry, their resources in education are incredible, and Apple has some of the brightest and most talented people I have ever met. Unlike some other vendors, the Apple folks genuinely care about the education process. They are passionate and it shows. Parents and administrators who may be reading this...if you want to make a difference in your childs future, contact your local Apple Education team and set up a discovery meeting. Let them show you the way that education SHOULD be and how the future is all about the Digital Classroom.

Thanks to MacNN for the write-up...

Cobb County community discusses iBook initiative:

More than 250 parents, students, teachers and taxpayers met Wednesday night in east Cobb County to learn more about a plan to give Apple iBooks to 63,000 students and teachers. Three Cobb County school board members and Apple representatives were on hand for the first of four community meetings, designed to educate the public and answer their questions about the laptop computer program. The majority of the comments at the meeting were from people in favor of the initiative, which would provide laptops to teachers and middle and high school students. Cobb officials expect the cost after the first four years to be about $20 million a year if it continues to lease 63,000 laptops at once. Apple also will provide an around-the-clock help desk as well as 100 computer servers to the district.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Every so often comes along a person who deserves some special recognition and a big thank you. One such person is Michael Pike, creator of the X-SYS series of applications. Not only are these apps functional and look great, they are 100% FREE. This show the kind of passion and dedication that I wish everyone in this line of work had. This is proof that there are still people out there who are not all about the money, and do what they do for the pure love of it. I haven't had a chance to play with the apps yet, but I do plan to evaluate them and post my results at a later date. Thanks Mike for a job well done and contributing to the cause...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 1:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Can I have a diet coke and some fries to go with this? :-)

Quarter Pounder Mac mini Cluster (now with cheese):

After the great worldwide success of Virginia Tech's Big Mac , a new Macintosh cluster has taken everybody in the Mac community by storm. The Quarter Pounder Mac mini Cluster is turning heads in the low-performance computing world because it has been built for just over $2,000, from off-the-shelf Mac mini, in about six hours. Recently the cluster was super sized with a Google Search Appliance (AKA "cheese box") Clustering, which involves linking hundreds or thousands of computers to take on massive projects.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:55 PM | Permalink

Now here's to having double vision!

The iPod photo stereoscope:

There has got to be a cheaper and easier way to create a digital stereoscope, right?

[Via The Cult of Mac]

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:32 AM | Permalink

What a week. This wrap-up is a general comprehensive look at the past week's Macworld Conference and Expo. I won't be covering the products in detail here as I hope to put out a Podcast in the next couple of days to go into detail on the new products.

All in all, I must say that it was one of the most incredible weeks I have had in a long time, as well as one of the most frustrating weeks.

Continue reading "Macworld San Francisco 2005 Wrap-up" »

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Hey everyone. Wow. Today has been an incredible day. To have the opportunity to cover the Keynote in person was amazing. But more amazing were the people I met today. This is one serious networking event for all Macheads. Forget the fact that I was able to personally meet the likes of Phil Schiller, Jonathan Ives, and countless other Apple celebs, but the absolute highlight was getting the chance to meet 2 people that I feel I have known for ever. When you spend as much time geeking out in the technology world as I do, some names and faces just seem synonymous with the tech crowd. A couple of those people are Laura Burstein and Desmond Crisis. They were totally cool and real. I enjoyed getting the chance to spend some 1 on 1 time with both of them. They were a trip. Maybe I'll get a chance to hang out with them some more at the party tomorrow.

I had originally planned to do out first podcast tonight, but man - this place is exhausting!!! There is just waaaay to much to do and see. I will try to get that podcast in sometime this week, and it will cover everything to date. Stay tuned for more!

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:48 PM | Permalink

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:26 PM | Permalink

Keynote coverage delayed since the WiFi and GPRS signals everywhere were blocked. But here it is!!!!

• Retail stores numbering 101 stores, London store largest to date.
• Update on the iMac. Quoting Walt Mossberg, Detroit Free Press, PC Magazine best quote "5 out of 5 - BEST" iMac most popular computer sold to date.
• Mac OS X Update, 14 million users have transitioned to date. On schedule to release first half of the year. Talking about the major features of Tiger. Showing handful of features.

Spotlight:Talking about Spolight wannabe's like Google and MSN. Demo of spotlight, pretty darn slick! Spotlight is FAST. Amazing what this new feature can do. Searching over 100,000 images from Corbis that are loaded on the Mac. It searches the drive for metadata as well. OOOOPS! Demo poooped, Steve flawlessly switches to his backup system. Crowd cheers! Ouch, another app crash, but nothing major, he keeps truckin through the demo. Finder: Smart folders absolutely kick ass. Searching capabilities rule. WOW, new screensaver that can grab images like album art and make a screen saver out of all of them.

Mail: Mail is integrated with Spolight. LIghtning fast searching through emails. Smart mailboxes from Spotlight integrated into Mail. Wowsa, new slideshow button integrated into mail windows. Clicking will show you all images in the email as a slideshow right within Mail. You can automatically add the photos from Mail into iPhoto. INCREDIBLE integration with the system apps.

Quicktime 7: QT6 has had over 330M copies downloaded. 98% downloaded to WINDOWS clients. Live resizing, MPEG4 compliance, 24ch surround sound, full HD play. H.264 codec adopted by Blu-Ray and HD DVD. AMAZING picture quality, on screen controls. Steve playing an HD movie. Resizing and scaling on the fly without a hitch. F L A W L E S S . Sound quality in U N R E A L. This is going to REVOLUTIONIZE the video industry.

Dashboard: a place for widgets to live. showing off the widgets - AWESOME! Widget tool bar pops up under the main dock. UNBELIEVABLE widgets. Steve showing off the widgets live. Just an amazing amount of widgets that have actual REAL every day functionality. This is going to be HUGE. Konfabulator will never see this kind of integration and functionality. The integration with the OS is just rockin.

iChat: Made it even better for Tiger. Extended audio conf. to 10 people, video added multi-party conf. with 4 people using H.264 compression. Live demo: WOW - full screen looks AMAZING. Reflections below the participants on the tabletop are realtime. This is incredible.

Introducing FInal Cut Express HD: Priced at $299 ($99 upgrade) and available in Feb. 2005 the year of HD video editing.

iLife '05: Major upgrades of all apps.

iPhoto - Better organizing & searching, more formats, more powerful editing, Added project folders. Added calendar view. Supports MPEG4 movies. Supports RAW format native. Editing is much nicer, pics run across the top and added an editing dashboard. SWEEET! Almost a mini-Photoshop within iPhoto. CRAZY level of editing options. Advanced slide shows. New way to make books. Live Demo: Searching & organizing capabilities are improved dramatically. Editing of the images is just insanely easy. Ablility to straighten photos is amazing, grid pops up on screen and you can make the image level to the horizon or anything else. Slide shows kick ass. New transition looks like a water ripple is sweet. New book making abilities are impressive. WAY more advanced than previous versions. You can order photos from iPhoto for only $.19 a print (half the previous price). Books can be ordered 8.5x11, 8x6 or 3.5x4 in both hard cover or soft cover.

iMovie: Dramatically faster, non-destructive trimming, more transitions, mpeg4, magic iMovie, HD support. Live Demo: running HD movie right from a camera through iMovie. AMAZING picture and sound quality. Images are unbelievably life like. Demoing new SONY HD Prosumer camera FX1. HOLY JEEPERS!!! Introducing President of SONY: Kunitake Ando!!! Kunitake is praising and commending Apple and Steve Jobs saying how much admiration he has for Steve. This is amazing folks, history in the making. Kunitake cracking a joke about Apple just sticking to software apps. :-) Crowd is laughing. Kunitake wants to work together with Apple on making HD the standard format for the future. Kunitake struggling with the English language, but making his point well heard. Even cracking jokes about making products with lower prices.

iDVD: 15 new themes. Animated drop zones. 1 step DVD creation. Supports ALL DVD formats. Live Demo: New themes are smokin hot. Moving video within video. Fantastic! Better than most Hollywood DVD's!!!

Garage Band: Covering the Jam Packs. Introducing "Orchestral Instruments" Jam Pack. Up to 8 track recording, real-time music notation, pitch and timing fixing, recorded tracks are now as flexible as software instruments and loops, create your own loops, vocal transformer. Introducing John Mayer to demo Garage Band!!!!! Demoing music notation. OMG! This is like having Finale inside Garage Band! This is absolutely incredible. John Mayer crackin a joke about not winning a Grammy for playing the piano. Crowd cheers. Now they are fixing notes manually by dragging them up and down the notation scale. WOW. Coolness. John Mayer about to start jammin on the Guitar. OH YEAH BABY! ROCKIN!!!! He is playing Neon. Recording live 2 guitars and vocals into Garage Band!!!! WOOOOT!!!! Crowd is rippin and cheering. 4 tracks recorderd LIVE. Playback is flawless. Now soloing and muting tracks to demo GB. That was awesome. Absolutely rockin. Priced at $79. On sales Jan. 22, 2005. FREE on all new Mac's.

iTunes: no updates. Sold more than 230M songs to date. Selling at 1.25M songs per day. iTunes at 70% market share. 15 countries. 70% of global music market. Sold over a million prepaid cards since Thanksgiving. iTunes Essentials has been retooled.

• New product: iWork. Building the successor to Appleworks. Created from the ground up to take advantage of OS X. Upgrade to Keynote 2. 10 new themes, animated text, animated builds, presenter disply, interactive sideshows, self running kiosk mode. New themes are really nice. Animation features are wicked. Mere mortals can set this up. Nice animated graphics. Themes are really nice. Compatible with Appleworks, PowerPoint, Flash, PDF. New app: Pages. 40 Apple designed templates. This is insane. Word can't even touch this. All you do is insert text. Templates are beautiful and functional. Live demo: Wow, this is integrated with the iLife apps. You can drag and drop photos right into the documents. Automatic text resizing and flowing as you reposition graphics. Adobe & Quark could learn a lesson or two from Apple. Compatible with Word, Appleworks and PDF. Priced @ $79 available Jan. 22.
• Introducing the Mac mini!!!!!!! Holy cow, the rumor is TRUE!!!!!! OMG! This is AWESOME!!!! It looks like a toaster with a slot loading combo drive!!!! Holy MOSES! This thing fits in the PALM OF YOUR HAND!!!!!!! BYODKM "Bring your own Display, Keyboard and Mouse". It hooks up into ANY industry standard display, keyboard and Mouse. Tons of ports on the back. Comes with OS X Panther and iLife 05. Oh man, here it comes, this is gonna be awesome. 2 models priced at $499 and $599. Both G4 based. Most affordable Mac ever. Available Jan. 22.

• iPod: Last year had 733k iPods sold. Sold 4.5M iPods during 2004 Holiday Quarter. Cumulative to date has sold over 10M iPods. Over 8M sold in 2004 calendar year. iPod is leading the charge in the digital music era. Amazon top 5 Consumer Electronic Products, Apple has 3 of the top 5. New accessories: iTunes-iPod-Car. New manufacturers offering iPod adapters on their cars. Mercedes, Nissan, BMW, Volvo, Scion. Alfa Romeo and Ferrari in Europe as well. Mercedes brought 2 cars to Macworld show floor with iPod adapters. AWESOME. SLK Roadster and the new CLS which nobody has even seen yet. One other thing....iTunes-Cell Phone. iTunes integration with MOTO phones rolling out this spring. No new iPhone as predicted, just integrated phone with existing MOTO phones. Uh oh - ONE MORE THING....talking about iPod market share. Talking about flash market. iPod Mini results. iPod Market share is 65%, up from 31% from last year. Flash down from 62% to 29%. Now we are going after the remaining mainstream flash players. Talking about the Rio and just rippin it apart. Tortured user interface, very small display, no click wheel, batteries will cost you over $100 a year. Apple wants to make something really great. Something easier to use than current iPods. iPod users discovered a new way to listen to their music last year. SHUFFLE. You don't have to find your music. It finds it for you. Apple decided to make a flash based player that just shuffles your Music. Introducing the iPod Shuffle. Smaller than a pack of gum. Weighs the same as 4 quarters (< 1 ounce). Simple set of controls. This thing is SICK. USB connector built into the bottom of the unit, it just pops out. USB 2 and a 12 hour battery. Works on PC or Mac. Lanyard is supplied and you can wear it around your neck. WOWOW!!!! SEXY!!!!! this is slick. iTunes now has feature called AutoFill. Goes through your library or playlists and picks random music that will be the precise size of the iPod shuffle to fill that puppy up. You can use the iPod Shuffle as an external drive. Interface built right in to enable disk use. iPod Shuffle will have 2 models: 512MB for $99 and 1GB (240 songs) for $149. Available TODAY. Accessories: Armband, dock, sport case, battery extender. All $29, rolling out in the next 4 weeks. Now showing us the new TV ad for the iPod. NICE!!!! RUMOR has it there might be some at the Apple store a few blocks away!!! :-)

What a Keynote! Some of the media were actually not allowed to sit at the main event, and were crammed into a room with a video feed. Yours truly was in fact up front and personal. Jaron, that son of a gun, got 2nd row seats thanks to a buddy that procured the seat for us. Some of the famous faces in attendance were Al Gore, Robin Williams (the comedian), the usual Apple Executives, and some dreamy folks like Laua Burstein. Overall, it was one hell of a keynote. On my way to the show floor to get some more juicy video and interviews. Stay tuned! I will be uploading Day 2 pics and maybe even some video teasers later tonight. Cya!

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So here we are, FINALLY! Jaron and I arrived early this morning at the Moscone Center to pick up our credentials. All was looking GOOD and life couldn't be better except for a few glitches. Having media access definitely has it's perks. However, it also has it's downside. As media, we get full access to pretty much everything at the conference (except Hands-On sessions). The catch is that if a conference or session is sold out, we can't get into that either. So being the super-nerd techie Systems Engineer that I am, I wanted to attend todays Power Tools Session on Mac OS X Server Advanced Administration. Guess, what? SOLD OUT. Hence, I am hosed. There were other sessions that were sold out as well. Only a few of the creative sessions are still open. I went to the Dreamweaver session and almost fell asleep. I can't handle that all day.

Continue reading "Macworld SF 2005: The saga begins..." »

Posted by Frank Bisono at 1:27 PM | Permalink

Those pranksters @ the Joy of Tech are at it again!!!

★ The Joy of Tech! ★:

http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/636.html

Posted by Frank Bisono at 10:33 AM | Permalink

Hey folks...just wanted to make a final post before heading out to Macworld in San Francisco. Gonna be airborne all day tomorrow, hopefully we won't hit the bad weather. I would like to remind you to make sure you check in every day for the latest and greatest updates straight from the Macworld floor! At then end of the day, my colleague (Jaron Brass) and I will be putting together a podcast full of Mac goodness. Gonna be a great week!!! Let the fun begin...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:47 PM | Permalink

Apple has yet AGAIN filed another lawsuit, this time against Think Secret for disclosing trade secrets. Can anyone blame them? Here's what a lot of people just don't understand about WHY Apple keeps things so hush hush. It's actually quite simple and logical if you think about it. Marketing costs money. LOTS of money. When Apple creates the anticipation that surrounds an event like MacWorld, the end result is an enormous amount of PR that would otherwise cost Apple big bucks. Instead, they create the buzz, and in return get huge FREE coverage and huge savings. That all trickles down to the bottom line, which is good for investors and good for Apple. Another downfall to spreading these rumors is that it could have the exact opposite effect. Ex. A lot of people are now EXPECTING a pizza box headless iMac as a result of these rumors. Knowing how fickle Wall Street is, if this turns out to be bogus, the financial world in turn, dumps their Apple stock. NOT good.

The other side of this fence is that when you sign an NDA, you are bound to keep your mouth shut. Otherwise, what is the point? If Apple doesn't pursue the source of these leaks with a vengeance, then other people will eventually divulge information without giving it a second thought. Internal employees know better than to talk (Apple security is quite anal about this during orientation), but on occasion there is an idiot that feels compelled to feel special by bragging about things that nobody else is supposed to know. Whether the source of these leaks is an internal employee or developer is uncertain, but rest assured, they are gonna get hammered when they get discovered. Sux to be them...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 5:29 PM | Permalink

Well folks, it is almost that time of year again - Macworld San Francisco!!! The rumor mills are in full effect with Mac sites across the globe reporting everything from an iPhone to a pizza-box headless iMac. We've all been bitten by those false rumors before (Apple PDA anyone?) but one can only speculate and wish for some of these rumors to be true.

Whatever happens, you can count on two things: 1) Macworld will be better than ever this year with a BUNCH of new and exciting products. 2) Bisonium.com will be bringing you daily reports live from the Mac World floor. We will be there in full force to report on everything from the Keynote address to the seminars, to the expo. Make sure you check the site DAILY for the latest news during Macworld. Also be on the lookout for the first ever Bisonium.com podcast which will be a combined tag-team effort with my colleague, Jaron Brass. It should be an exciting show and we are looking forward to bringing you the best the show has to offer.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 3:06 AM | Permalink

Big news in the Apple world. Looks like we have several things to rave about today. The first is a nice new G5 Xserve sporting dual 64-bit 2.3 GHz PowerPC G5 processors with over 35 gigaflops of processing power per system and the industry's fastest front side 1U server system bus, running at up to 1.15 GHz, providing up to 9.2 GBps of bandwidth per processor and up to three 400GB drives, achieving a groundbreaking 1.2TB of hot-plug storage. Whew! Talk about a run-on sentence!

To accompany this new bad boy, Apple finally decided to ship XSan, a high performance, enterprise class Storage Area Network (SAN) file system priced at the industry's most aggressive price point of $999 per client and per server. Pretty tight indeed.

And most surprising - price reductions on Apple Cinema Displays! The 20-inch Cinema Display and 30-inch Cinema Display HD are now US$999 and $2,999 respectively, $300 less. The 23-inch Cinema Display HD also got a price reduction -- it's now $1,799, $200 less.

Xserve [Apple]
Cinema Displays [Apple]

Posted by Frank Bisono at 2:22 AM | Permalink

Enderle: Apple's iPod dominates market 'because it is superior to competitors':

"Apple has clearly become more than a computer company. The Cupertino, Calif., firm said it sold more than 2 million iPods in the quarter, up from 860,000 sold in the third quarter... Rob Enderle, consumer electronics analyst at The Enderle Group, says Apple has dominated the MP3 player market because its product is superior to competitors', and Apple 'outspent everyone else on marketing 10 to one,'" Jefferson Graham reports for USA Today.

"Companies such as Dell,...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:31 PM | Permalink

Credit Suisse First Boston: Apple's Q1 04 'is shaping up to be one of the best on record':

"Credit Suisse First Boston raised estimates on Apple Computer and raised the target price. CSFB said the company's latest fiscal fourth-quarter results were the strongest since September 2000 'as iPod showed no signs of slowing down,'" Forbes reports.

"CSFB said 'iPod shipments of two million increased 500% over the year-ago quarter as supply constraints eased and expanded distribution opened up a larger percentage of the market.' The research firm said...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:16 PM | Permalink

Analyst on Apple's earnings: 'It's shocking. I'm shocked':

"Apple Computer Inc.'s fourth-quarter profit more than doubled, beating analysts' estimates, as surging sales of iPod digital music players drove revenue to its highest for the period in nine years," Bloomberg reports. "Net income rose to $106 million, or 26 cents a share, from $44 million, or 12 cents, a year earlier, Cupertino, California- based Apple said in a statement. Sales rose 37 percent to $2.35 billion. IPod shipments increased fivefold to...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:03 PM | Permalink

Analyst: Apple is going to do for digital content what Microsoft did for the office:

"Even though more competitors are angling into the crowded online music business, Apple's iPod (the hardware) and iTunes (the software) remain the standard for digital music," Paul R. La Monica writes for CNN/Money. "The company is no longer nearly dependent on the Mac as it once was. As such, Apple has continued to post better-than-expected financial results, and skeptical Wall Street analysts have had to keep raising their earnings estimates."

La Monica...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 10:47 PM | Permalink

Steve Jobs on why Apple's customers are so loyal, innovation, and more:

BusinessWeek Computer Editor Peter Burrows recently talked about the nature of innovation with Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Excerpts of a few of Jobs' comments:

I get asked a lot why Apple's customers are so loyal. It's not because they belong to the Church of Mac! That's ridiculous. It's because when you buy our products, and three months later you get stuck on something, you quickly figure out [how to get past it]. And you think, "Wow, someone over there at Apple actually thought...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 10:40 PM | Permalink

New York Times: 'switching from Windows to Apple is a revelation':

"Not that long ago, Microsoft and Netscape were fighting for control of the computer desktop, a battle that still goes on in one form or another. Microsoft argued that only a browser tightly integrated with the rest of the operating system could deliver the seamless, gratifying Web-browsing experience most people hope for," Verlyn Klinkenborg reports for The New York Times.

"But Microsoft was wrong. These days, nobody wants to have anything tightly integrated with the...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:55 AM | Permalink

A month with an Apple Mac: a die-hard PC user's perspective:

"I've always been a fan of trying alternate Oses - I was even an OS/2 user (both 2.0 and Warp) for a little while in my early years. So, a while back, I conjured up this idea to try using a Mac for a month. At first, it started as just a personal experiment, but it later developed into the foundation for the article that you're reading now. After doing the necessary research to make sure that I could actually get work done on a Mac, I whipped out the trusty credit card and decided to...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 12:36 AM | Permalink

MacSurfShop back in business:

The MacSurfShop today announced that it is reopening...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 5:53 PM | Permalink

Get your Apple iMac G5 in any color you desire:

Color-Ware Inc., established in 2000, is an industry leader in altering the color of existing products. The idea behind Color-Ware started with transforming the ubiquitous beige computer into a custom-colored work of art.

Now Colorware is doing it with Apple new white iMac G5 by offering 20 different standard colors and also the choice of "custom" color. Prices start at US$1,760 for the 17-inch iMac.

What's your favorite iMac G5 color?

More info here.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 5:43 PM | Permalink

The Back Page - Fool vs. Fool: Apple is Rotten and Macs Suck, So There!:

The Motley Fool published a new Fool vs. Fool debate over AAPL that features a cogent defense of Apple...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 9:15 PM | Permalink

Fortune: New Apple iMac G5 a 'triumph in both technology and design':

"Has apple got a deal for you - a brilliant, 17-inch LCD flat-panel display for $1,299, with a powerful desktop computer thrown in free. But the real bonus is that the computer itself does not take up any desk space. Zero. Zip," Peter Lewis writes for Fortune. "With its new family of iMac G5 computers - there's a fancier 17-inch model for $1,499 and a 20-inch model for $1,899 - Apple has defined the shape and style of desktop computing for the next few years. Combining...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 4:23 PM | Permalink

Well folks, after what has been a pretty damn crappy week here, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. It looks like my MONSTER of a G5 system is finally on its way. I just got the shipment notification at 9:04pm this evening. I must say, this was getting a bit OLD. It has been over 2 months since I ordered it. That damn NVIDIA 6800 Ultra card better be out of this friggin world. I have had the 23" Cinema display sittin here as a 2nd extended monitor for my PowerBook and now it gets to plug into it's real mama. pple was nice enough to ship it 2 day Fedex free of charge. Looks like I will be indoors all weekend - WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!!

_________________________________________________________________________

Dear Apple Customer,

The following products shipped on 10/06/2004. Transit time will
depend upon whether you have chosen standard or premium freight
options. If your order is shipping standard freight, it should arrive
within 10 days of shipment.

Product # Product Description Qty Ext Price
__________ ________________________________________ ____ ________________

_________________________________________________________________________
Z0AC 2.5DPG5 CTO 1 3,732.00
With the following configuration:

Processor 065-4803 2.5GHz PowerPC G5
Memory 065-5115 4GB MB DDR400 (PC3200)-8x512
Hard Drive 065-4983 2X250GB Serial ATA-7200rpm
Optical Drive 065-4928 8x Super Drive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
Graphic Support 065-5128 NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL
Gigabit Ethernet PCI 065-5080 None
Fibre Chl PCI 065-4491 None
Modem 065-5168 56k V.92 Modem
BlueTooth 065-4985 Bluetooth Module
Airport 065-1899 None
Keyboard Language 065-4923 Apple Keyboard & Mouse
Mac OS Language 065-4897 Mac OS X
Server Mac OS Language 065-4494 None
Custom SW I 065-4683 None
Custom SW II 065-4681 None
Country Kit 065-4894 Country Kit
_________________________________________________________________________

Posted by Frank Bisono at 11:15 PM | Permalink

CTO of Infoworld Embraces PowerBook, Can't Quite Ditch ThinkPad:

Chad Dickerson, the CTO of Inforworld, has been spent the last year managing his magazine's IT infrastructure...

The Mac Observer Spin: Mr. Dickerson's experience is an invaluable one for anyone in the enterprise space wanting to Switch

Posted by Frank Bisono at 10:37 PM | Permalink

iPod dominates teenage mindshare, market share:

by Larry Angell - Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said today that based on a survey of 600 teenagers, Apple's iPod is dominating "mindshare and market share."...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 10:28 PM | Permalink

Apple delivers to enterprise markets:

Infoworld says that Apple's server and storage offerings are helping the company overcome its reputa...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 10:21 PM | Permalink

New DTS surround encoders leverage OS X, Xserve:

Digital Theater Systems Inc. (DTS) on Wednesday announced the availability of two new audio software encoders aimed at audio professionals creating multi-channel soundtracks for DVD-Audio, DVD-Video and 5.1 CDs: the Pro Series 6.1 Surround Encoder, a standalone solution designed to work on Mac OS X and Windows-equipped computers, and the DTS Pro Series Network Encoder, which allows up to 99 users on Macs or Windows computers to encode audio using an Apple Xserve and Xserve RAID system. Both encoders were announced earlier this year, and are anticipated for release this month. DTS's Pro Series encoders can create up to 96kHz, 6.1-channel DTS-ES soundtracks.

Posted by Frank Bisono at 10:03 PM | Permalink

Latest Apple interface spotted in new Tiger builds:

Brushed aluminum swept aside as Apple's Mail 2.0 will reportedly sport an updated theme.

For the...

Posted by Frank Bisono at 7:15 AM | Permalink