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Macworld unites iPod fanatics and Mac fanatics
During the keynote Steve gave the usual, 'the iPod is doing great' song and dance, however, he did say that this was Macworld and proceeded to talk about Macs for the majority of the keynote. The San Francisco Chronicle has a story up about the folks how have used the iPod as a 'gateway' drug into the Mac world and how many are attending their first Macworld.Ah, the mythical iPod halo effect, it seems less and less mythical every day.
No Apple key for Microsoft keyboard
Microsoft is showing off a wireless keyboard/mouse combo that they are working on just for the Mac (I'll post a picture later). This is good news for Mac folks since more peripherals are good. However, when Microsoft approached Apple about licensing the Apple logo for the Command key Apple declined.This isn't too shocking to me, since I can't think of any third party keyboard that has an Apple logo on the command key, can you?[via Paul Thurrott]
First look at iWeb via a blog made with iWeb
iWeb, the newest member of the iLife family, has garnered lots of interest from web developers, bloggers, and podcasters. Will it be the end all and be all of web development? Ok, probably not, but will it make creating blogs easier?Sam Kass isn't so sure. He takes iWeb for a spin and comments on it via a blog he created with iWeb. He says it is painfully obvious this is 1.0 release, but it has potential.And for everyone wondering about the HTML output of iWeb, just check out the source on Sam's blog.Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
Penny Arcade excited about Intel Macs
Penny Arcade is a webcomic/community that is all about gaming in all its forms, hence not the typical place where you would expect to find the events of the keynote being discussed, that is before Macs had some screaming Intel processors in them.It seems Tycho and Gabe, the men behind Penny Arcade, are all atwitter (warning: that link is rated PG-13 for language and adult situations) about the possibility of being able to play the latest and greatest games and not have to run Windows. Can anyone blame them?Thanks, Jimmy.
Ten reasons your next PC will be from Apple
Chris Pirillo of LockerGnome fame, has written the 'ten reasons your next PC will be from Apple,' in reference to the brand new Intel Macs. He lists some interesting reasons that go beyond the usual 'lack of spyware,' though that is on the list as well.Style, reliability, ease of support, and iPod are all on the list. Take a minute to read it over yourself.
TWiT Number 38: Comments from the live taping
In lieu of other parties on Tuesday night, I was lucky enough to get registered for the live recording of This Week in Tech, or as it is popularly called, TWiT. For those who don't know, TWiT is one of the most popular podcasts out there, featuring the inimitable Leo Laporte (he used to be on TechTV) and his band of merry tech pundits and writers. Regular guests include Patrick Norton, Kevin Rose, and resident grumpy old guy John C. Dvorak.This particular recording found a few Mac notables, including Chris Breen, and Amber MacArthur of Command-N (though she was also on TechTV for a bit too, and still is in Canada). There was the potential of Woz joining in, but I believe he had obligations to his company Wheels of Zeus, who have an IPO beginning soon. The last bit of the show found the Energizer bunny known as David Pogue also joining in. If you get a chance, be sure to listen. Hopefully it'll be ready by this weekend...More after the jump.
My first Macworld, Pre-show and Keynote
Having never been to a Macworld before, let alone San Francisco, I thought I'd let those of you who have never been here in on some first impressions. First off, San Francisco is quite an amazing town. The people have been fantastic, the food, the architecture, and so on. But this isn't a travel blog, it's a Mac blog. So let me tell you about this Macworld thing, seen through the eyes of a total MWSF n00b. And I want to thank everyone for sending in those comments and suggestions on things to do in the City (see, I got it). At least I never called it "frisco."My father, brother, and I travelled to San Francisco with one goal in mind: see the rock show that is the keynote. In fact, we are leaving today because my brother has to get back to his college classes before he gets in trouble. Since when did education mean not broadening your horizons? Oh well. Yes, we paid nearly $200 a person just to be at the real Macworld for a day. We're crazy like that. Luckily, since we got up at 4 a.m. and stood in line for a couple of hours, we did. But I'll talk about that in a moment.
Is Steve's "one more thing" yet to come?
Leander at the Cult of Mac blog has been feeling like Steve's keynote from this past Tuesday just didn't have the polish or energy that Macworld keynotes typically do. He was discussing this with a friend recently who, he says, is very much "in" at Apple, when his friend had something quite interesting to say. Namely, that "key products" had to be omitted from the keynote due to "supply issues." Now, this is rumor, of course, so do with it what you will. Leander writes:"'They can't get enough Core Duo (chips),' said my source. He also said that if he were me, he probably wouldn't order one of the new MacBook Pros. I asked if there would be MacBook replacements for the 17-inch and 12-inch PowerBooks, but he said, 'Oh, it's much cooler than that. Much cooler.'" Here we go again. So, what didn't we get to see and when wiill it be released? Let the baseless conjectures begin!
iLounge announces their 2006 Best of Show recipients
The Macworld Expo wraps up on Friday, and the folks at iLounge have identified the stand-out products that make up their 2006 Best of Show list. They are, in no particular order: Altec Lansing inMotion iM9 Speakers Garageband 3 with Podcast Studio iPod Radio Remote Belkin TuneTalk Stereo (we covered the first version of the TuneTalk here) Better Energy Systems Tread Case for iPod nano (aka the company that makes Solio) Contour Design Showcase 5G El Gato EyeTV2 Television Recorder with Export to iPod Griffin TuneCenter Interactive Dock for iPod JBL On Time Speakers and Clock Radio Mophie Relo Case Series for iPod nano and 5G Scosche Bluetooth Car Kit for iPod Shure E500 Earphones XtremeMac Iconz Sport - NBA Series for iPod nano and 5G Congratulations, all! Check these products out if you're at MWSF.
Send us your iWeb sites and your Photocasts
Ok, so some of you have had iLife '06 for a little while now, and I want to see the fruits of your labor. Leave an URL for a page that you created using iWeb in the comments, or the address of a Photocast.Let's share the love, folks!
Workstrip 3
I saw a demo of SoftChaos' Workstrip and I was quite impressed. Workstrip is a replacement for the Dock that offers you a number of features including multiple workspaces, previews, application specific favorites, and a number of other things. I really can't do this software justice, so go check out their website.
Hands on: Belkin Flip for Mac mini
Belkin has a huge booth here at Macworld (and I'll post an Engadget style booth tour later).%uFFFD I asked Burk Murray, director of Belkin product management, what I should look at since I am way too important to just wander around with the rest of the Macworld attendees and he said, without hesitation, 'The Flip for Mac mini,' which is a fancy pants KVM switcher designed for the Mac mini. Laurie has been covering the Flip for awhile, and she will be writing up a review of it shortly, but let me tell you I was impressed with this thing. It has touch sensitive buttons on the front that let you access features like CD ejecting, volume, and switching video/audio. Thanks to some software you can also switch just the video, so if you are working on your Mac mini listening to some tunes and you want to use the Windows box that you have hooked up to the Flip you can do so without having to miss out on the song.
DriveSavers takes us down harddrive memory lane
DriveSavers has this setup in their booth. In 1985 for $40,000 you got 40MB of storage that was far from portable. Today $400 will net you a tiny will 6GB drive.The future is now!
iDuo
Atech isn't only in the toilet paper/iPod dock combo biz, they are also doing other devices for the iPod. The iDuo is one such item. It is a combo iPod dock and card reader that supports CF Type I and II, MD, MMC, MS, PRO, SD, SM, xD, and MG.Now, before you go crazy, this won't transfer things from the card to the iPod or vice versa, it just functions like a card reader and a dock.Pricing is not available at this time.
More Apple - Intel Ad drama: Intel customers not dull
First we find out that Apple might have copied the new Intel ad from a music video, and now it seems that the ad has miffed Intel. Intel helped Apple with some of the ad, but they weren't consulted on the script for the voice over, in particular the section where Intel chips were described as 'trapped inside PCs--dull little boxes, dutifully performing dull little tasks.' Intel wasn't so thrilled with the characterize of their current customers.Ahh, irreverent Apple, what will you do next?
Reader report: iLife '06 has arrived
Brett Edwards wrote to let us know that his copy of iLife '06 arrived today. He placed his order yesterday and popped for overnight shipping so iLife was in his hot little hands faster than two shakes of a rabbit's tale.The install took about 20 minutes on his Powerbook G4 1.67 (how old school!) and clocks in at about 7.2 GB for the full install.Has anyone else gotten their hands on iLife '06? What are your first impressions?
Comparing the MacBook Pro to other laptops
Lots of people have been throwing out their thoughts and opinions about the new Macbook Pros (I'm still not used to that name), but Tristan has gone to the effort of creating a chart comparing the new MacBooks to the Powerbooks of yore (i.e. last week) and to an Acer laptop.How did the MacBook measure up? You'll have to read his post to see
MacGrab giving away software every 5 minutes
MacGrab is giving away free copies of AppZapper and Menuet every five minutes for the entire week of Macworld. They will also be giving away 25 copies of iClip. All you have to do is enter your name and email address and you're all set.Lots of chances to win a great app or two? Why not do it?
Apple Intel ad not so original?
Leander Kahney reports that Apple new Intel ad that is getting all sort of love from Mac fan everywhere, might have been done before and not by Apple. It seems that the Postal Service (a rock and roll band that the kids are listening to) has a video for 'Such Great Heights' which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Apple ad.Leander has a link to the video for you to compare and contrast.
Atech's toilet paper dispenser/iPod dock
I saw this at the Atech booth, but sadly I can't find any pricing info on their website. I want one right now!
