[4/27] Apple Announced Nominations Are Open for 2006 Apple Design Awards: Nominations are open for Apple's Design Awards for 2006. Make sure your outstanding Mac OS X product gets the attention it deserves. Enter the eleventh annual Apple Design Awards, recognizing technical excellence and outstanding achievement in software products and solutions for Mac OS X. Winning developers receive outstanding prizes, and their winning entries will be showcased at WWDC 2006 in August, Macworld 2007 in January, and on the Apple Web site.

With eight award categories to choose from and the latest Macintosh hardware as prizes, Apple Design Awards 2006 is a unique opportunity to receive recognition from Apple, from peers, and from Mac users around the world. [Bill Fox]

[4/27] Brief Hands-On Report--Apple Pages 2.0.1 and Keynote 3.0.1 Updates: The updates are available via the Software Update application if iWork '06 is installed. They are also available as stand-alone files for download from this Apple Web page.

According to the ReadMe note,

Pages 2.0.1 addresses issues with charts and image adjust. It also addresses a number of other minor issues.

This update to Keynote 3.0 addresses issues with three-dimensional charts and textures. It also addresses a number of other minor issues. This update should be installed on all computers that share your Keynote 3.0 files, so that textures display properly.

We download and installed both with no apparent problems. We used both applications for several hours, revising presentations and documents, and found no problems. [Bill Fox]

[4/27] Peachpit published Apple Boot Camp Public Beta First Look: Ben Long shows readers how to get up and running on Apple's Boot Camp quickly and effectively in his new book, Apple Boot Camp Public Beta First Look (Peachpit, ISBN: 0-321-47377-9,$6.99). Unlike emulation systems such as Microsoft's Virtual PC, Apple's new Boot Camp takes advantage of the fact that an Intel-equipped iMac, Mac mini or MacBook Pro uses the same type of Intel processor that normal Windows PCs use, allowing users to now run Windows XP on their Intel-equipped Mac at full speed.

While most of the information currently available on Boot Camp focuses mainly on installation, in Ben Long's Apple Boot Camp Public Beta First Look full-color downloadable PDF book, Mac authority Ben Long walks readers step by step through everything they need to know to get Boot Camp running effectively, including how to find their way around Windows, how to get Windows working with some of their other hardware, how to avoid Windows viruses and Malware, how to share data back and forth between Mac and Windows systems, how to back up their Windows system, how to restore their Windows system and finally, even how to virtualize Windows using Parallels. With this Apple Boot Camp Public Beta First Look, readers will get a solid grounding in how to get Windows XP up and running on their Mac quickly and effectively. [Bill Fox]

[4/27] BeLight Software Introduced Image Tricks 2.0 Freeware: BeLight Software released freeware Image Tricks 2.0. This new version allows users to create unique images using the image generator feature and various Tiger Core Image visual effects. The results can be used as backgrounds, web-design illustrations, for print materials and more.

Image Tricks is also available in a Pro version (priced at $9.95), which contains 6 additional image generators.

"It is always a challenge to find a unique picture. With Image Tricks I can be sure that my image is one of a kind, no-one else in the world, even me wouldn't reproduce it:)" said Stanislav Sedashov, CEO for BeLight Software.

BeLight Software produces great software at value prices. [Bill Fox]

[4/26] iTunes Music Store's Free Single of the Week Series Turns 2: Starting its third year, the iTunes Music Store's (iTMS) Single of the Week and Discovery Download series has released nearly 200 songs for download free--yes, that works out to more than one a week. The songs are from new and developing artists. As a tribute to the series, the iTMS has released an album of the best songs picked by iTMS staff from the series. [Bill Fox]

[4/26] Macworld Magazine Wins Prestigious "Maggie" Publishing Award: Macworld was named the best computer magazine in the consumer category by the Western Publications Association at their 55th annual Maggie Awards banquet. The cover story of the winning June issue of Macworld was Time- Saving Tips. The prestigious award honoring excellence in print publishing was accepted by Macworld's Editorial Director, Jason Snell.

"It's tremendously gratifying to be recognized by the WPA's Maggie Awards," Snell said. "These awards, along with our recent Folio Award, show what a great job the Macworld editorial staff is doing these days, both in print and online."

In addition to the best computer consumer magazine, Macworld's "Total Tiger" special edition was presented with the best special theme issue in the consumer category. The widely popular issue provided Mac users with essential hints, tips and tricks for a smooth transition to Tiger, including a 24-page ultimate guide to its 200 new features.

"Our Total Tiger special issue gave our readers everything they needed to know about Apple's new operating system," Snell said. "It was created on a tight deadline by an incredibly small group of people, including Senior Editor Kelly Turner and Art Director Rob Schultz."

Macworld has been one of our favorite magazines since we got a subscription along with one of the very first 128K Macs. We still have a subscription despite the online edition. [Bill Fox]

[4/26] The Fate of Maine's 30,000 iBooks: The initial contract with Apple is ending on the 30,000+ iBooks Maine has used for every seventh and eighth grader for the past 4 years. What will the state do with them? Remember the stampede for the Henrico County, VA, iBooks at the end of their program? Not in Maine. The 3-4 year old iBooks are being offered to school districts for $48 each and many are taking the state up on the deal. The ibooks will be used to expand the school's reach, used as backups, sold to students/parents or donated to lower income students. Apple successfully competed for a four-year extension of the highly successful program in Maine. More... [Dana Baggett]

[4/26] Apple Revised the Offerings from Three Hot Deals Retailers:

J and R Computerworld has deals on a wide variety of Mac compatible products including: print directly to CD/DVD's with the Epson Stylus Photo R800 8-ink Photo Printer for only $379.99; the compact Edirol FA-101 FireWire audio capture interface supports ten channels in and out at 24-bit/96kHz resolution for only $499.00!; Wacom Graphire (white) 6X8 graphics tablet with pressure sensitive pen & cordless mouse. Includes Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 for only $169.99; see the big picture with the Viewsonic VA712B 17" LCD Color Display for only $209.99!; be sure you're getting the best color from your display with the Pantone Eye-One Display LT monitor profiling and calibration device for only $149.00; and much more.

MacZone has deals on a wide variety of Mac compatible products including: find out what's Inside Mac OS X Tiger training CD by Todd Howard. Bundle includes Tiger v10.4.3 for only $114.98; project a great image with the 6.4lbs. NEC VT48 SVGA projector for only $744.98; need a high performance black-and-white desktop laser printer? Get the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 1320N for only $498.98; backup everything with the LaCie Big Disk Extreme 500GB triple-interface (FW800/400/USB 2.0) external hard drive for only $349.99; get a free Microsoft Digital Media Pro Keyboard with your purchase of Microsoft Office: Mac Standard Edition for only $347.96; and much more.

Publishing Perfection has deals on a wide variety of Mac compatible products including: the new Sony DSC-R1 10.3 megapixel digital camera for only $955.95!; or the 6.0 megapixel Nikon Coolpix S4 digital camera for only $399.95; make dimensional design in Illustrator easier with FoldUP!3D 1.5 from ComNet for only $379.95; speed up your productivity with the InDesign Idealbook from Logic Arts for only $59.95; get textures and much more with the Eye Candy 5 Bundle from AlienSkin. Includes Eye Candy 5: Textures, Eye Candy 5: Nature and Eye Candy 5: Impact for only $198.95; create, animate and render 3D scenes to popular vector and raster formats with Swift 3D v.3 from Electric Rain for only $165.95; get total photo and film restoration software with the Microtek ScanMaker i800 flatbed scanner for only $309.95 after $50 mail-in rebate!; and much more.

[Bill Fox]

[4/26] SystemShootouts.com Updated for Intel-based Mac mini and 17" MacBookPro: Charles Gaba updated his SystemShootouts Web site with the following comparisons:

--New $600 Mac mini vs $600 Aopen MiniPC

--New $2,800 Laptop Shootout: 17" MacBook Pro vs 17" Dell Inspirion E1710

[Bill Fox]

[4/26] Seiko to Ship New Fast SLP 450 Label Printer for the Mac: Seiko Instruments USA, the pioneer of the one-label-at-a-time "smart" printer, is shipping a new model in its flagship Smart Label Printer (SLP) line, offering higher resolution and a print speed of approximately one second per label. Seiko Instruments' new SLP 450 adds 2D barcode printing and improved network connectivity, pumping out high-quality, professional-looking labels that can include patient or customer information, bar codes for storing, shipping or inventory tracking, as well as text and graphics for labeling office files or cabinets. The printer also will generate name tags with the company logo for reception desk visitors or office events. In a home environment, the SLP 450 will label home office file folders, boxes or bins storing projects for the kids or fancy name tags for parties.

The Seiko Instruments SLP 450 is compatible with Mac OS X 10.2 and later. It will be available in May at an estimated street price of $189.

[4/25] Apple Announced 17" MacBook Pro with Exceptional Value! Apple announced a new addition to its professional notebook series, the 17" 2.16GHz MacBook Pro. Priced at $2799 it is expected to ship in 7-10 business days according to the Apple Store.

Apple priced the new 17" MacBook Pro just $300 more that the top-end configured 15" 2.0GHz MacBook Pro at $2499. The 17" model is an incredible value since it comes with many additional features including: a 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo CPU (a $300 option on the 15" model); a larger or faster hard drive (a $100 option on the 15" model); a FireWire 800 port; 3 USB 2.0 ports (vs 2); 68 watt 5.5 hr battery (vs 60 watt 4.5 hr battery); and 8x Double Layer SuperDrive (vs 4x Single Layer SuperDrive). Of course, the 17" model gets a 17" screen with a higher resolution of 1680x1050 (vs 1440x900) but it is 1.3" wider and 0.8" deeper plus weighs some 1.2lbs more.

If one can accept the extra size and weight, the 17" model represents the best value. Having used 17" PowerBook G4's for the past several years, we certainly would have considered ordering a 17" model if they were available two weeks ago when we ordered our 15" model. It's actually too bad that Apple did not announce the entire lineup at the same time but that's life. As we noted yesterday, though, we are very happy with our 15" 2.16GHz MacBook Pro and, for now, we are pleased to carry a 'Book that has shed some size and weight in the change without losing any performance. [Bill Fox]

[4/25] Brief Hands-On Report: Apple GarageBand 3.0.2 Update: It is available via the Software Update application if one has iLife '06 installed, or as a stand-alone file from this Apple Web page. According to the installer's Read Me note,

This update to GarageBand addresses issues with video handling, podcast exporting, and importing QuickTime markers. It also addresses a number of other minor issues.

We downloaded, installed and used the update with no apparent difficulties. [Bill Fox & Dana Baggett]

[4/25] Apple Released Xsan Admin 1.3 and File System 1.3 Updates: The updates to Apple's enterprise-class storage area network (SAN) solution Xsan are available for Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.3.9 from this Apple Web page. There is also an Xsan 1.3 Uninstaller for those who may run into unanticipated problems. [Bill Fox]

[4/25] MacBook Pro ExpressCard 34 Devices Coming--Serial ATA Adapter from FirmTek: FirmTek, a maker of Serial ATA (SATA) storage solutions for the Macintosh platform, unveiled their new SeriTek/2SM2-E, a Serial ATA ExpressCard host adapter, at NAB 2006. With transfer rates up to 3 gigabits per second per port, this breakthrough solution sets a new standard for handling data in a remote setting. FirmTek's established hot-swap compatibility also makes it easy for users to move entire drives and arrays from the MacBook Pro to any FirmTek-equipped desktop system in seconds. FirmTek said the SeriTek/2SM2-E will be available July-September for $120. [Bill Fox]

[4/25] Mozilla's Thunderbird 1.5.0.2 Out But Not Yet Universal: Thunderbird 1.5.0.2 was released with improved stability and security fixes. Unfortunately, Mozilla's stand-alone email client does not yet have a Universal binary to run native on Intel-based Macs. They expect that v1.5.0.3 will be a Universal app.

Mozilla also released Thunderbird 1.0.8, the last of the 1.0.x builds. [Dana Baggett]

[4/24] Week One Update on our 2.16GHz MacBook Pro and our Power Mac G5 Quad is History: We've had our new 2.16GHz MacBook Pro for over a week now. We posted our initial impressions and some speed tests last Monday on this Web page. Since then we've mostly had it hooked up to our 30" Cinema Display, Apple Wireless Bluetooth keyboard and Microsoft Explorer 5-button mouse. Urged on by the great experience we've had with our 1.66GHz Mac mini Core Duo, we've used our MacBook Pro as our main computer here at MacsOnly.com's global headquarters.

We have learned that there is nothing that we do here that the MacBook Pro can't handle, including occasionally "testing" a 3-D game. Gaming is the department in which the Mac mini Core Duo falls a bit short but the 2.5GHz Power Mac G5 Quad excels. Our 1.67GHz 17" PowerBook G4 did not quite cut it as an omni-Mac, especially in the game department, so the MacBook Pro is a huge step up. The step will get even larger when some of our main applications like Adobe GoLive, Adobe Photoshop Elements and Call of Duty have Universal binaries to run natively on the MacBook Pro's Intel Core Duo processor. Until then, the MacBook Pro's performance is acceptable.

Of course, we don't process video or audio or apply numerous filters in Photoshop to many images. The most demanding thing we do is stay abreast of 3D games. We found that even at 32 frames per second (fps) versus 84 fps on the Quad, Call of Duty is just as playable, at least until it gets a Universal patch from Aspyr Media--we should see nearly 50 fps then. Doom 3 and Quake 4 are perfectly playable at 68 fps and 56 fps respectively because they already have Universal binaries. The only issue is the quality of the image. While all three games look perfectly fine on the MacBook Pro at medium quality settings, the Power Mac G5 Quad's Nvidia GeForce 6600 renders noticeably clearer than the ATI Mobility Radeon 1600X in the MacBook Pro. But we have always thought that images created by an Nvidia chip looked better than the images from a comparable ATI chip.

The MacBook Pro runs well closed and attached to an external monitor, keyboard and mouse. It's also much quieter than our Power Mac G5 Quad. Our MacBook Pro gets warm but not very warm in the closed position while doing "normal" work, i.e. word processing in Pages, creating Web pages on Adobe Golive CS2, checking finances with Excel and Quicken, creating presentations with Keynote, working on our photos with Adobe Lightroom Beta, iPhoto and Adobe Photoshop Elements, surfing with Safari or Camino, listening to music on iTunes and processing our e-mail with Apple Mail--virtually everything. It gets very warm on the bottom near the back edge but not hot while closed and playing 3D games or extensively transferring large numbers of files or watching HD videos. We have it sitting on a CoolPad on the support arm under our display.

Our use of the MacBook Pro as our primary computer this past week convinced us that we should give up our generally lightly used 2.5GHz Power Mac G5 Quad to someone who really can use its monstrous "horsepower." It sold on eBay in less than a day.

On our opinion, the MacBook Pro is the best ever Mac from Apple, certainly it is the best ever notebook. [Bill Fox]

[4/22] 100 New Macs for Kentucky School Districts and Cancer Center Grid: As the lead in a highly innovative partnership, Rep. Rick Nelson, announced Wednesday that Bell, Pineville Independent and Middlesboro Independent school districts will each receive as many as 100 state-of-the-art Apple computers over the next year through the Kentucky Dataseam Initiative.

"The computers will be used for more advanced computer design and math and science applications, and will be fueled by new software and high-speed Internet connections," said Nelson. "When the students aren't using the computers, they won't actually be idle. Their processing power will be harnessed through a network linking more than 4,000 computers to the University of Louisville Brown Cancer Center, where the excess capacity will be used to run new cancer drug experiments."

More... [Dana Baggett]

[4/22] Flip4Mac for Intel-based Macs Due July-September: Telestream is a maker of Windows Media Player software for Apple's QuickTime player. On Friday, in a press release, Telestream said that it should have all of its products available for the Intel-based Macs in the July-September quarter. Telestream's Flip4Mac software allows Mac Web browsers to play video and audio files designed for Microsoft's Windows Media Player.

"Support for Apple’s new Intel-based products is a top priority for us," Dan Castles, CEO of the Nevada City, CA-based, Telestream.

[Dana Baggett]

[4/21] Will Boot Camp Affect Mac Games? Not Those from Aspyr Media: In a recent note to us, Aspyr Media included its view.

Many have asked us here at Aspyr about the recent Boot Camp announcement and its impact on Mac gaming and our company. Our stance is pretty simple and comes from experience: The more hardware Apple sells, the more Mac games we will sell. Apple's recently announced OS feature, Boot Camp, is sure to sell more machines. After 10 years of developing games for the Macintosh we've learned that things change, industries evolve and that we must anticipate it and grow. We consider our ability to be quick and nimble a competitive advantage. These changes are the kinds of things we crave because it means things are getting better for the consumer. After all, when was the last time you heard people talk this much about Mac gaming?

Aspyr will continue to focus on 3 things:

1. Ship native Mac games as quickly as possible.
   
2. Deliver the best gaming experience and best support possible for our Mac customers.
   
3. Offer even more choices to Mac gamers.
   

Aspyr's leadership in the Mac gaming market is important to us, as is our commitment to being a great publisher for all video game platforms. With titles such as Dreamfall, Spellforce 2 and Gothic 3, we're fulfilling our vision to deliver an incredible entertainment experience to the world. We do not fear change; we anticipate it and kiss it right on the lips. So pucker up Boot Camp.

That's nice to know since Aspyr publishes our favorite 3D game, Call of Duty. [Bill Fox]

[4/21] Apple Revised the Offerings from a Hot Deals Retailer:

PowerMax has deals on a wide variety of Mac compatible products including: M-Audio's 02 25-Key ultra-thin mobile USB MIDI Controller for only $84.88; power up with Newer Tech's NuPower high capacity battery for 1st and 2nd generation iPods for only $24.99; get wireless with the Hawkings Hi-Gain Mini Wireless-G (802.11b/g) USB adapter for only $62.99; protect your new MacBook Pro with a Marware Protection Pack - keyboard cover and wrist rest for only $15.88; need back up? Get the Fantom Titanium 200GB 7200rpm FireWire external hard drive for only $129.88; Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 for only $344.88; and much more.

[Bill Fox]

[4/21] Quake 4 Dual Core Patch Coming Soon from Aspyr and More Universal Patches Too: In a note to us, Aspyr Media wrote that they are very close to releasing an SMP patch for the just-released Quake 4 which will add dual core support to the game. We complained about the lack of that capability in the initial Mac release which we were first to review on Monday this week. Aspyr's benchmarks on an Intel-based iMac, showed 20-40% speed increases in frame rate with the extra processor.

Other updates to Aspyr's existing games include the Sims 2 Mac Universal patch, which is available now, and a patch for Civilization 3 Complete Mac to make it Universal as well. Hmmm...no news on the Call of Duty Universal patch.

Development has also continued progressing with Call of Duty 2 and Sid Meier's Civilization IV. Aspyr told us to look for both of these titles to be released for Mac in the next few weeks. Both will be Universal applications out of the box like Quake 4--and dual core as well, we hope. We are really looking forward to playing Call of Duty 2 on the Mac! [Bill Fox]

[4/21] PowerPage's Jason O'Grady has Apple Suit Heard by CA Appeals Court: As most Mac users should know, last year Apple subpoenaed Jason O'Grady's email from his ISP in looking for the identity of the person who leaked information on Apple's "Asteroid" project to him and that he in turn posted the information on PowerPage. MacNN and AppleInsider are also parties to the case. Asteroid is alleged to be a breakout box for attaching instruments to a computer to record songs with Garageband or other audio applications.

The California District Court in a narrow ruling upheld Apple's subpoena because the leak was about a trade secret and not some nefarious activity by Apple that endangered the public in some way. We can see the benefits of this kind of interpretation. For example, if someone obtained our bank account number and PIN and some embecile published it on the internet as news causing us economic harm but serving no discernable public good, we would want to be able to find out the source. But, of course, every issue is different and there are questions as to the legitimacy of Apple's trade secret claim and any actual damages caused by publishing the information. Asteroid has never even seen the light of day in the public market.

The CA District Court decision skillfully avoided addressing the larger issue of whether an internet-based news site is real news site and, therefore, its news sources are protected by California law. Yesterday, the California Appeals Court heard O'Grady's appeal and heavily questioned Apple's attorneys. Several judges were more than snide in their questioning of Apple's attorneys according to some news reports.

We believe, of course, that O'Grady's PowerPage like Macs Only! is indeed a bonified news publisher and its sources for legitimate news are protected by California law. But we hope that the Appeals Court won't go there since the original decision did not. The case, we believe, truly turns on whether or not a leaked bonified trade secret falls under the source protection afforded by California law. At the federal level, we have seen in recent cases, like the Valerie Plame spy ID leak, that the source of some news leaks do not receive federal protection and reporters are subject to prosecution and punishment if they fail to reveal their sources. Of course, the spy name leak case was a criminal investigation and the Asteroid leak case is a civil case. What will California's Appeals Court decide? Stay tuned. More... [Bill Fox & Dana Baggett]

[4/20] Apple Released Q2 Financials--Beats Analysts' Estimate by 10 Percent: Apple announced its financial results for the second quarter ending April 1, 2006. Revenue topped $4.36 billion with a net quarterly profit of $410 million, or $.47 per diluted share. As we noted yesterday. the Thomson First Call consensus estimate of polled analysts was $0.43. Q2 of 2006 is the second best quarter in the history of Apple. This year's Q2 results compare to revenue of $3.24 billion and a net profit of $290 million, or $.34 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Apple's sales gross margin was 29.8 percent, equivalent to the year-ago quarter. Sales outside the U.S. accounted for 43 percent of the second quarter’s revenue.

Apple shipped 1,112,000 Macs and 8,526,000 iPods during the second quarter, representing 5 percent growth in Macs and 69 percent growth in iPods over the year-ago quarter. Desktop Macs (Power Macs, eMacs, iMacs, Mac minis and Xserves) increased 4 percent and portables (iBooks, PowerBooks and MacBook Pros) increased 7 percent. Apple does not provide a further breakdown of Mac or iPod sales.

"We've generated over $10 billion in revenue and almost $1 billion in earnings in the first half of fiscal 2006," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Our transition to Intel processors is going very well, and our music business just experienced another quarter of outstanding growth."

Revenue from the retail Apple Stores increased 11 percent. In a Q&A conference call, Apple executives stated that the retail Apple Stores and iTunes Music Store operated in the black during Q2. New-to-Apple sales increased to 50 percent. Apple expects to open 40 new stores in 2006 (6 already opened) with about 30 being in the US.

Apple paid the final $508 million installment on prepaid flash RAM from Samsung. It spent $120 million to acquire a new data center in a second campus being developed in Cupertino, CA, 10 minutes from the first.

Sales are seasonal, usually declining in Q2 from the holiday season of Q1. But the sales decline was also due to a shipping delay in the MacBook Pro, purchasing delays waiting for Intel-based Macs to come out and the loss of one week in the quarter to Q1 due to where the quarters break this year according to Apple executives.

Still Apple's gross margin was excellent. According to Apple's Tim Cook, Senior VP, and Peter Oppenheimer, CFO, it was buoyed by lower than expected costs of LCDs and flash RAM; software sales being better than expected, especially iLife '06; and expected price reductions to clear our Power PC Macs were not needed much. On the latter, Oppenheimer said "...we used very little of it."

In answer to a question about sales of Intel-based Macs, Cook stated that "Sales of Intel-based Macs accelerated across the quarter." But Apple apparently has no backlog of orders at present according to other statements made during the call.

Responding to question about the adoption rate of Boot Camp, Apple's tool to allow installation and booting of Windows XP on Intel-based Macs, the executives replied that Boot Camp is a beta product. It's not supported and they will not release the amount of downloads accordingly.

As for the immediate future, i.e. Q3 ending June 30, Oppenheimer said:

"Looking ahead to the third quarter of fiscal 2006, we expect revenue of about $4.2 to $4.4 billion."

[Bill Fox]

[4/20] Game Developers Conference 2006--Final Report: The Game Developers Conference 2006 (GDC:06) was held March 20-24 in San Jose, California at the San Jose Convention Center. The sponsors have provided abstracts and presentations given at GD:06 on line from this GDC Web page. Also available are presentations given at the GDC Mobile and Serious Games Summit sessions.

If you want to see/collect the presentations as videos, they are available for a fee from this Web page. There are free samples to check out as well.

GDC:07 is coming to San Francisco March 5 - 9, 2007, in the Moscone Conference Center North & West. [Bill Fox]

[4/20] Apple Revised the Offerings from Three Hot Deals Retailers:

CDW Mac Warehouse has deals on a wide variety of Mac compatible products including: a free Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 when you buy Adobe's Acrobat 7.0 Professional Upgrade from v.6.0 for only $149.00; Nikon Coolpix L1 6.2 mega-pixel digital camera for only $249.95 after $80 mail-in rebate! Hurry, offer ends 5/31; building a wireless network? Get the 3Com OfficeConnect 802.11a/b/g Access point. Cover all the bases for only $109.99 after $60 mail-in rebate. Offer ends 6/2; start creating great iMovies with the Sony HandyCam DCR-HC36 MiniDV Camcorder for only $399.99; Print, copy, scan and fax with the Epson Stylus CX5800F all-in-one for only $149.99 after $30.00 mail-in rebate; and much more.

Small Dog Electronics has deals on a wide variety of Mac compatible products including: Got backup? Get the LaCie Porsche Design 160GB P3 external FireWire hard drive for only $114.00; buy the LaCie 4GB Carte Orange USB 2.0 Key-Drive bundled with a .Mac Subscription for only $179.00!; get ready for summer vacation with a Canon camera/printer bundle: Canon Pixma iP1600 Color Photo Printer, Canon PowerShot A410 digital camera, Kingston 512MB SD card and Crumpler camera bag all for only $239.00!; CARTune FM Transmitter and iPod charger for dockable iPods for only $33.00; get an easy to use recording system for your Mac with the M-Audio Fast Track Studio bundle: USB Audio Interface; GT Player Express - guitar effects/practice software; and the SoundCheck dynamic vocal microphone all for only $139.00; and much more.

Sweetwater Sound has deals on a wide variety of Mac compatible products including: the M-Audio Podcast Factory which includes a USB Midi interface, microphone with desktop stand and recording/editing software all for only $149.97; Prophet V programmable analog synth w/vector synthesis textures from Arturia for only $199.97; lay down some great beats with the Korg padKONTROL Midi controller w/16-velocity sensitive pads for only $199.97; DJ mixers get the Native Instruments Traktor DJ Studio 3 for only $249.97; change your studio life with the Frontier Design TranzPort wireless remote digital audio workstation (DAW) with backlit LCD data display for only $199.97; recording on your Mac is a snap with the PreSonus Inspire 1394 FireWire audio interface w/two mic pre-amps, two hi-Z inputs and Cubase LE recording software for only $199.97!; and much more.

[Bill Fox]

[4/20] Tonight on The Tech Night Owl LIVE--Dr. Mac, Macworld's Jason Snell and Analyst Joe Wilcox: Tonight host Gene Steinberg and his irreverent son and co-host Grayson will explore the state of the Mac and other fascinating things with Bob "Dr. Mac" LeVitus and Macworld's Jason Snell. In addition, Apple's quarterly financials and other issues will be examined by noted industry analyst Joe Wilcox of Jupiter Research. It should be a really good show. Tune in the internet radio broadcast tonight from 6:00 to 8:00 PM PT, 9:00 to 11:00 PM ET. [Bill Fox]

[4/19] Apple will Release its Q2 Financials Today at Webcast Conference Call: Apple will release its second quarter financial statement today and discuss the results in a webcast telephone conference call at 2pm PT (5pm ET). The Thomson First Call consensus estimate by financial analysts of Apple's earnings is $0.43 per share, according to MarketWatch. However, Apple under Steve Jobs has nearly always, if not always, beaten the analysts consensus estimate. We'll post the results tonight. [Bill Fox & Dana Baggett]

[4/19] Brief Hands-On Report--Apple Firmware Update 1.0.1 for Intel-Based Macs--Fixed Our AirPort Reconnect Problem: Apple released Firmware Update 1.0.1 for the Intel-based Mac mini, iMac and MacBook Pro. The firmware updates must be manually downloaded and installed. We could not find any information on this new firmware update which is hot on the heals of v1.0 released with Apple's Boot Camp.

Since our job is to be an early-adopter, i.e. to install the update and to let you know what happened, we downloaded the Firmware Update v1.0.1 and installed it on our MacBook Pro. It went without a hitch and it appears to have solved our problem reconnecting automatically to our AirPort network after a long sleep, reboot or shutdown. [Bill Fox & Dana Baggett]

[4/19] Brief Hands-On Report--Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) 5.0 Release 4: Apple released Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) 5.0 Release 4 for Mac OS X 10.4.5 and later, client and server editions. It is available for download via the automatic Software Update application or as stand-alone updaters for PPC-based and Intel-based Macs. Our job is to be an early-adopter, i.e. to install the update and to let you know what happened.

According to Apple,

Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) 5.0 Release 4 delivers improved reliability and compatibility for Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0 on Mac OS X v10.4.5 and later. This release includes J2SE version 1.5.0_06. With this update J2SE 5.0 becomes the preferred Java version, superseding Java 1.4.2. Java 1.4.2 is still installed on your machine, but applications will run with J2SE 5.0 unless they specifically request Java 1.4.2.

J2SE 5.0 Release 4 provides fixes for the following security issues:

CVE-ID: CVE-2006-0613
Impact: Untrusted Java applications may obtain elevated privileges.
Description: A security vulnerability in Java Web Start may allow an untrusted application to elevate its privileges. This update addresses the issue by providing J2SE version 1.5.0_06,
which is not susceptible to this vulnerability. For additional information on this issue see Sun Alert 102170.

CVE-ID: CVE-2006-0614, CVE-2006-0615, CVE-2006-0616, CVE-2006-0617
Impact: Untrusted Java applets may obtain elevated privileges.
Description: Security vulnerabilities related to the use of "reflection" APIs in the Java Runtime Environment may allow an untrusted applet to elevate its privileges. This update addresses these issues by providing J2SE version 1.5.0_06, which is not susceptible to these vulnerabilities. For additional information on these issues see Sun Alert 102171.

Additionally, a minor security-related fix for Java InputMethods is included in this update. Due to an issue handling input method events, it is possible that key events intended for a secure field such as a password field may be sent to a normal text field in the same window. This could result in accidental password disclosure to others physically present when the password is entered. This update addresses the problem by properly handling input method events.

We downloaded and installed Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) 5.0 Release 4 on Intel-based Mac mini, iMac and MacBook Pro and Power PC-based Mac mini, Power Mac G5, G4 Cube, iMac G5 and PowerBook G4. There were no installation problems and we've encountered no operational problems in several hours of use. [Bill Fox & Dana Baggett]

[4/19] Pangea Software, Inc. Announced Free Mac Software for Public Schools: Pangea Software, Inc. announced that they are giving away free software and site licenses to any public school in the United States that wants one. For many years, Pangea Software has had a site license policy allowing a school to put any Pangea game onto all of the Macs at the school's location, so long as the school owned at least one legitimate copy of the game. But now the policy has been revised so that schools do not even need to purchase that single copy of a game to get the site license. All they need to do is request free serial numbers for the games from Pangea Software.

All of the games on Pangea's web site are eligible for this free offer: Bugdom, Nansosaur, Enigmo, Billy Frontier, Otto Matic, Firefall, Mighty Mike, Bugdom 2, Nanosaur 2, Enigmo 2, and Cro-Mag Rally. To request a free serial number for any/all of these games schools must do the following:

1. A written request on official school letterhead should be mailed to:

Scholastic Offer
Pangea Software, Inc.
12405 John Simpson Court.
Austin, TX 78732-2112

2. The letter must be signed by the principal of the school, and should include a list of games being requested along with the email address of the person at the school who should receive the serial numbers for those games. The email address MUST be a .k12 email address (addresses used by all public schools in the U.S.).

3. When the request is received, the free serial numbers will be emailed to the school. The games can be freely downloaded from the Pangea web site at www.pangeasoft.net/downloads.html, and then activated with the serial numbers.

Further information can be found on the Pangea Software Web site. [Bill Fox]

[4/19] Washington Apple Pi MUG Tyson's Apple Store Mini Meeting Thursday, April 20: Washington Apple Pi (WAPi) is the Metro Washington DC Apple Macintosh User Group and one of the oldest in the US. WAPi's second mini meeting for April will be held at the Tysons Corner Apple Store on Thursday, April 20th from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

April's topic is "Backing Up." This Thursday's presenter will be John Barnes.

Please mark your monthly calendars for the First Tuesday at 7 p.m. and the Third Thursday at 10 a.m. These are the regularly schedule dates for mini-meetings at the Tysons Corner Apple Store.

[4/18] Apple Reveals WWDC 2006 Tracks--Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" to be Introduced: At WWDC 2006 in San Francisco's Moscone Center West, August 7-11, Apple will provide a special sneak preview of Leopard, Apple's next major release of Mac OS X. In addition to being the first to try out Leopard, there are more than 120 sessions planned in five session tracks full of hands-on labs and in-depth technical presentations:

1. Application Technologies--Build modern, platform-differentiated products with powerful new and existing frameworks.
2. Graphics and Media--Leverage advanced audio, video, and graphics architectures to deliver awesome new capabilities.
3. Development Tools--Reach new levels of productivity using groundbreaking development tools and systems.
4. OS Foundations--Get in-depth guidance on integrating with industrial-strength, open-standard core technologies.
5. Information Technologies--Learn to configure, control, optimize, integrate, and connect Mac computers with the world.

Apple also provides ready access to its engineers and lots of fun for the attendees. Who should attend?

• Commercial software and hardware developers
• In-house developers
• Scientists and researchers
• Scripters and web developers
• System administrators

We have attended several WWDCs and greatly enjoyed each one. [Bill Fox]

[4/18] Apple Counter-Sued by Burst.com Over iTunes, iTunes Music Store and iPod: According to a Burst.com press release issued late Monday, Burst.com has filed counterclaims accusing Apple Computer of infringing four of Burst’s U.S. patents. In the counterclaims, filed in Federal District Court in San Francisco on Monday, April 17th, Burst alleges that Apple's iTunes Music Store, iTunes software, the iPod devices, and Apple's QuickTime Streaming products infringe Burst's U.S. Patents 4,963,995; 5,995,705; 5,057,932 and 5,164,839.

Burst's filing responds to a suit that Apple filed against Burst in January of this year, seeking a declaration that Burst's patents are invalid and that Apple does not infringe them. Burst requests in its counterclaims that Apple pay a reasonable royalty for Apple's infringing products and services, and also seeks an injunction against further infringement.

So what's this all about? It's hard to tell exactly because Burst's complaint simply broadly alleges violations of four of Burst's patents without explicitly stating how. Burst is requesting a jury trial in its counterclaim. Burst produces Burstware, software for audio and video distribution that stems from its first patent applied for in 1988 and issued in 1990. The other three were issued in 1991, 1992 and 1999.

According to Burst's 2005 Annual Report, it is a Delaware corporation located in 450 sqft of office space in Santa Rosa, CA, with three employees. It has a market capitalization of about $40 million, apparently due at least in part to its recent net settlement of $38 million with Microsoft. The latter was paid out nearly entirely in a dividend of $0.90 per share to shareholders. Over 80% of the company's stock is owned by the four corporation executives and board members. Burst noted that it had no sales of products for 2005. [Bill Fox]

[4/17] Hands-On Report--Our New 2.16 GHz MacBook Pro: We received our new MacBook Pro last Wednesday. We ordered it as a CTO from the Apple Store on April 7 and it arrived by FedEx from Shanghai Wednesday the 12th, faster than we expected. After having waited longer than usual to decide to order one, it was frustrating to be in the throes of tax time and not have the time to immerse our selves in setting it up and using it immediately.

We sold our 17" 1.67Ghz PowerBook G4 near the end of December on a hunch that Apple might release a new PowerBook at Macworld in early January. If not, we still had a 1st generation 12" 867MHz PowerBook G4 in inventory to use until Apple did so. To the surprise of many, Apple did announce the new MacBook Pro at Macworld. We spent a lot of time with it and provided a brief hands-on review from Macworld. The 1.83GHz MacBook Pros on display were very fast and the screens were very bright. We called it a "definite winner" but noted its heat issue and its lack of a PC card slot, i.e. a cutting-edge 34mm Express Card slot instead.

Our MacBook Pro was ordered with the optional 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo CPU and the optional 7200RPM 100GB hard drive in order for it to be as fast as possible. We are still looking for a 'Book that's fast-enough to replace our Power Mac G5. From all reports, the new MacBook Pro just might be the one. Of course, it will also drive our 30" Cinema Display.

The only other CTO items are an Apple USB modem and an extra AC adapter since none of our older ones will work with the MacBook Pro. We ordered a third-party 1GB RAM chip so that our new MacBook Pro would have 2GB of RAM and saved $100 off the Apple price. The RAM was here waiting on Monday.

Look & Feel

The MacBook Pro is 0.4" wider than a 15" PowerBook G4 and it looks hauntingly like a 17" PowerBook G4 and we have owned three (1GHz, 1.5GHz and 1.67GHz). It especially looks like a 17" Powerbook G4 when opened with the 15.4" low aspect ratio screen with 1440x900 pixels--the same as our last 17" PowerBook G4. But the MacBook Pro is 1.3lbs lighter at 5.6lbs.

There are other features of the MacBook Pro that appear to have a 17" PowerBook G4 heritage. The new lithium polymer battery looks like a 17" PowerBook G4 battery and the track pad is the same size. We feel right at home behind the keyboard.

The second thing we noticed, i.e. after the uncanny resemblance to our previous 17" PowerBook G4s, is that the trackpad clicker is butter-smooth, at least as compared with the ones on our previous 17" PowerBook G4s. The MacBook Pro's trackpad clicker is much easier to depress so we won't miss clicks or tire our thumb muscles like we occasionally did on our former 17" models. Two-finger scrolling works great. Of course, there are the built-in iSight camera and infrared port additions and the loss of the FireWire 800, modem and s-video ports. We won't have to carry around our iSight any longer but now we'll have to carry the gum pack sized modem instead, a good trade actually. We won't miss the 1.3lbs in weight. We will miss the lack of a PC card slot for our Verizon AirPrime card but our 12" PowerBook G4 didn't have a PC card slot either. And we expect that an Express Card replacement will come out sometime in the near future.

Fortunately, our MacBook Pro with a serial number starting 8614... does not have the screen whine or the CPU whine that some with earlier builds complained about, at least not that we can hear. Nor is there any problem with either speaker. Its screen is perfect, i.e. it has no dead or problematic pixels--our run of good luck with LCD screens is still intact. All of the keys are the same height an straight. The only cosmetic issue is a slight upward bend in the right hand side of the screen's top that is only visible when the screen is closed--with a tiny bit of careful flexing of that corner the screen, it now appears to be perfectly straight.

Our only use issue is that our MacBook Pro frequently does not automatically reconnect to our AirPort network after a long sleep or a restart. We have the same issue with our iMac Core Duo.

Speed

After downloading and installing Mac OS X 10.4.6 and a myriad of other software updates, we ran our suite of speed tests on our 2.16GHz MacBook Pro. The speed tests are composed of a series of "canned" benchmark applications and several so-called "real world" tests that anyone can repeat on their own Mac for comparison by following the steps that we perform. In the table below we also list the previous results from our 20" 2GHz iMac Core Duo with 2GB RAM and Power Mac G5 Quad with 2.5GB of RAM for comparison. Except for the RAM, both comparison computers are stock.

Here are the results: