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Universal Remote's MX-810 gets previewed
Universal Remote's company name leaves little unsaid about what its core competencies truly are, and its latest professional-series remote recently got a bit of hands-on time with the crowd at Electronic House. The MX-810 Pro Wizard was purportedly designed to work with setups ranging from a single room to an entire home, and sports a color LCD, 44 hard buttons, RF / infrared compatibility, rechargeable Li-ion, and hot keys for powering up select groups of components. Interestingly, this unit also includes 32MB of built-in memory to store commands that control "up to 24 activities for each of 24 different devices programmed into eight LCD pages." Of course, this also means that you'll need at least a week of vacation to actually program this $399 gizmo once it hits your doorstep in July.[Photo courtesy of Tony Scarpetta]
Video walkthrough of Xbox 360 Spring Dashboard update
You know how it goes: pictures are fabulous, but videos are probably the next best thing to handling it yourself. In this case, a video walkthrough is about as close as you're going to get to May 7th whilst still chillin' in April, and considering you already know just about everything you can ever desire about the impending update and QWERTY thumboard, why not relearn it all again care of an "official" on-screen walkthrough? You know you can't resist, so be sure to hit the read link and pull up a chair, because you're going to get tired of standing after 25 or so minutes.[Thanks, Buck]
First Impressions: Mailplane - the desktop Gmail client
The fusion of web services and desktop software is a holy grail of computing bliss that few can claim. The web can often be clunky and limited by the constraints of a browser, while the data in your desktop software takes a swim with your MacBook when you drop it at the beach. Anyone who has ever gone back and forth on whether to use the convenience and innovation of Gmail on the web vs. the power and integration of a desktop email client like Apple's Mail.app knows what we're talking about. While the melding of these two universes might seem like an impossible hope to some, Mailplane is a new desktop Gmail client in private beta that just may be a light at the end of the tunnel.Continue reading for the details on just what Mailplane is about, and be sure to check out our screenshot gallery for a taste of how well (so far) Gmail and the desktop are getting along.%Gallery-2135%
Macworld goes in-depth on the new AirPort Extreme
Dan Frakes at Macworld has published an in-depth article that delves into just what the new AirPort Extreme is all about. Pointing out some of the details we covered in our original post, Dan goes the full mile and then some with a history of the device and explanations of some interesting new features. Most notably, he unfolds fancy new technology like the multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) feature of 802.11n, as well as a new time-based access control system which lets you specify times that each device can access the internet. Are your kids (or your roommate?) spending too much time on MySpace when they should be doing homework on their MacBook? No sweat - just use Apple's easy-breezy AirPort Utility to cut 'em off until... well, whenever you feel like it.Dan also covers what's missing - things like Gigabit ethernet (which, given the fact that it's been in Macs for years, still blows my mind) and the once-standard antenna port. He even pulls an industry price check to make sure Apple isn't taking us for too much of a ride with the new station's $179 price. All in all it's a good state-of-the-AirPort-Extreme for anyone interested in this recent sleeper release from Apple.
First Tag Heuer cellphone mockups surface
As we suspected, it looks like Tag Heuer will indeed be joining the ranks of D&G, Prada, Aston Martin, McLaren, and the host of other brands out there who are joining the cellphone craze. Dial-a-Phone is reporting that the forthcoming handset should be "a completely new design," unlike the D&G RAZR which was devoid of originality save for the branding, gold finish, and dangerously high pricetag. Additionally, the Paris-based ModeLabs will indeed be crafting the design, and if all goes as planned, should be launching in undisclosed locales "within a few months." Currently, all they know is that it should be "made of stainless steel" and closely resemble many of Tag's unmistakable timepieces, and while chances are slim that the phone will actually be in a watch, be sure to hit the read link for the first wave of mockups.[Thanks, Stokelake]
Runthrough with Samsung's Q-killing i320
Slim, wide, full keyboard-packin' WM5 Smartphones might be out and about this side of the pond, but our European friends have yet to get in on the Motorola Q -- making Samsung's release of the i320 even more interesting for them, not to suggest there aren't a few Americans that'll be reading PPCReviews' first impression with bated breath. Unfortunately, the outcome isn't exactly a love fest, with the reviewers knocking the i320's sluggish response, odd speakerphone positioning, under-battery microSD slot and lackluster camera. On the positive side, well, it's a WM5 Smartphone with a full keyboard if you're into that sort of thing, and the QVGA display gets high marks. They were also a bit confused about the inclusion of two batteries, suggesting that the i320 might eat some serious power. We'll wait for a couple more reviews before issuing a final judgment, but the HSDPA Q is looking better every day.[Via Smartphone Thoughts]
Macworld's first look at the MacBook
Jason Snell gets to play with all the cool toys. I suppose it doesn't hurt when you're paid to do it (when is AOL going to get me a MacBook, huh?). Anyway, Jason has put together another one of his patented 'first looks' for the MacBook (he got one of each hue). Jason says there are two things people with either love or hate: the glossy screen and the new keyboard.Based on the pictures I am digging the new keyboard, but I will reserve judgment until I actually pound a few keys (since when I am on my Mac I tend to be typing something).
TIME gets hands-on with the Nintendo Wii
We knew we should have taken that call from Miyamoto the other day, but our loss was TIME magazine's gain, because the Mario and Zelda creator was looking for someone to, wouldn't you know it, take the upcoming Wii for a little spin. TIME's five page article is so full of interesting deets that we barely have room to scratch the surface here, but suffice it to say that Lev Grossman not only reports on his hands-on experiences with a number of games, he's also able to get inside Nintendo's head, if you will, and tease out a bit of the methodology behind what some hardcore gamers perceive as the company's madness (Wii? those controllers? Nintendogs?). As for the actual gaming, Grossman got to play some tennis (the sensors even allow you to add spin), slay some dragons (brandishing the controller like a sword in Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess), and bring those wacky Warioware minigames into the third dimension (think: fishing, weight lifting, cooking, etc.). Geez, this thing sounds like so much fun that we may just skip the Sony keynote this afternoon and see if the folks from Nintendo will let us play with their goodies.
New Core Duo iMac: First Impressions
So, yesterday, I decided to be conservative, save some money, and purchase the 17-inch Dual Core iMac, which was in stock at the Palisades Apple Store, rather than wait for the more expensive 20-inch to arrive. After all, I've already ordered a fully-loaded, top of the line MacBook Pro, so I may as well be conservative with the iMac. Also, someone at the Apple Store screwed up, because when I got the iMac home and unpacked it, I had a free upgrade to a wireless keyboard and mouse. Nice! I need to order more RAM and the monitor adapter (wish they'd included it...), so I can plug in another monitor and try the monitor spanning trick.As soon as I opened the box, I lost the iMac remote. It turned back up about 25 minutes later, and now I am keeping it stuck to the side of the iMac.So far, I have to say, this machine is very fast. Even with only the default 512MBs of RAM, this baby launches programs fast. Safari and iTunes are instantaneous in nearly everything (with only a slight load screen when visiting the iTMS). Universal binary programs are all super fast, and most of the programs running in Rosetta still function very well, as long as they aren't graphics intensive. Unfortunately, World of Warcraft is quite laggy with frame-rates fluctuating from 7-20 per second. I hope the universal binary version comes out soon. iPhoto is fast and cool, but would seem to need some more RAM to really zip through my 12K photos. I'll report more details later today, and hopefully have a nice video podcast of the new machine for you sometime today or tomorrow, so stay tuned.I was disappointed to find that GraphicConverter is no longer bundled with the new Macs, but there is a universal binary version of the application already available. For a full list of apps included with the new iMac, check after the break.
First impressions: Macbook Pro
After waiting patiently in line for twenty minutes, Dan at The Apple Blog got his turn to play with the Macbook Pro (MBP). There were other members of the press waiting for their turns, so he wasn't able to conduct a complete review, but he did get a good feel for the machine. A few quotes from his first look:"...the Intel build of Safari is the fastest web browser that I have ever used, on any platform. Instead of bouncing in the dock and forcing you to wait, Safari opens a new window and loads a page almost instantly when you open it...""..I went to the Applications folders, selected all, and double clicked...the MBP started working smoothly...clicking around between applications produced instant results..." That's with every application open? Wow.He identifies the lack of a Firewire 800 port and a PCMCIA slot as the bad news, but his overall (albeit brief) impression of the machine was quite positive. Check it out.
