Apple Product Announcements.

The Intel Mac Mini


Engadget reports:

It should come as no surprise that the first thing Apple announced at today's event was a revamped Mac mini. And while the updated diminutive computer may not be the Mac media center many had hoped for, it does have Apple's Front Row media management software, and comes in both Core Solo and Core Duo versions, which Apple says makes the machine anywhere from 2.5 to 3 times faster than the G4 version...

My Take:
Good to hear Apple keeps moving their computer line to intel ahead of schedule. Having said that, the use on intel integrated graphics (eek!) may turn away some potential buyers. The lack of DVR software, may dissapoint some people. Regardless I believe this machine as it is, blows the old mac mini in peformance in every aspect.

iPod Hi-Fi


iLounge reports:

Today's big announcement from Apple? A premium iPod speaker system called iPod Hi-Fi ($349), a white box with rounded corners and a removable black fabric front grille. Inside the grille are three very large drivers - two 80mm mid-range speakers and one 130mm central bass speaker (a dual voice coil woofer), flanked by an Infrared sensor and a small light to indicate status. The light shines through the grille when you control the system from a distance with an Apple Remote, which is included in the box.

My Take:
Way to expensive for what it offers. Basically a pair of speakers with an iPod dock. The added functionality with the iPod is nice, like full screen album art and charging, however nothing ground breakig. Regarding audio quality, iLounge reported - "Audio quality? We don’t ever like to comment on this until we’ve done straight comparisons, but it was evident in each of Apple’s four demo rooms that the Hi-Fi is capable of revealing flaws in compressed audio - good for audiophiles, perhaps less so for average people or those accustomed to iTunes Music Store downloads."

Apparently the quailty is good, so good it makes AAC 128kbps audio look bad? Who knows, but those are the first impressions on the iPod Hi-Fi.

Donkey Kong Country 3.

Retro gaming time. I recall playing the first DKC on the Christmas of 94...95? Man it has been a while. Anyhow, Since their debut, two more sequels were released. The last one made it out on the Super Nintendo's last dying breaths. Dixie Kong's Double Trouble it was called.

I never got the chance to play the third sequel on my SNES, mainly because I already had moved on to the Nintendo 64 and all that. Thanks to emulators, I now have the chance to finally play this game.

I must say that the last installment of the series, is very very good. Great graphics and sound (for the time) were a trademark of the series, and it's still evident here. Depth of gameplay is crazy, so many places to explore, so many things to collect. Really puts to shame many games out today. Regardless of their eye-candy HD goodness.

So if you never had a chance to play DKC 3. Please do. Matter of fact, if you never played any of the DKC games, you are missing out on a great part of the history of gaming.

Unzipping is Timeless..

What more can be said. StuffIt has always been home to wacky time estimations. That been said, this app is in version number 10. How many versions have they been through developing and yet they can't nail this bug? Serious bug, or lazy programmers?

BTW, giving your email address to receive a download link sucks, it sucks even more when they automatically sign you up to receive unwanted crap like..

Please note: By confirming your email address and downloading this file, you are signing up to receive periodic followup emails from us...

TUAW's Fake Apple Invite Contest.

Yesterday The Unnoficial Apple Weblog, or TUAW if your acronym inclined, announced the grand winner of their fake Apple invite contest. The contest was set around you creating a fake Apple event media invite for an event to be held on Feb. the 22nd. More than 150 entries were submitted, only one was deemed worthy of the grand prize.

Bad news, I didn't win. Not that I really care, it was more of a fun photoshop exercise than anything. Good news, I made it to the 20 finalists for the contest. No bad uh? Guess that my home-made photoshop skills are up to get some attention out there lol.

Heres the Flickr gallery with all 20 finalists and the grand winner. http://flickr.com/photos/tuaw/sets/72057594069327414/

Is this the *NEW* iPod Video??

MacShrine reports:

This images was just sent to us. It follows the description provided by several rumor sites and also appears to be from the same factory where the iPod pictures last November were taken. Come on 28th!

Update: The serial number appears to read “M8719Z/A” and the Chinese characters read “This Side”.

iTunes Breaks the 1 Billion Mark.

Yes that is Billion with a B everyone. The special page set up @ Apple reads..

Music lovers like you in 21 countries around the globe have purchased one billion songs from the iTunes Music Store. And for helping us reach this massive milestone in digital music history, we’d like to thank you.

There you have it, truly a milestone in the legal music download arena. Now you may be wondering, what was the grand prize for that lucky person who downloaded the 1 Billionth song? Well...

The prize for the billionth song purchased:

iMac, iPod and iTunes Gift Card

• One 20-inch iMac


• Ten 60GB iPods (5 white/5 black) (F'ing crazy...)
  
• One U.S. $10,000 iTunes Music Card (good for any media type) (F'ing crazy... X 2)

Not to shabby at all uh? Well if you are the lucky winner and you are reading this, congrats.

Seeing how profitable the iTunes Store has become, I wonder how hard would it be to set up an international store. I wouldn't be surprised if the biggest hurdle are the greedy record labels. Oh well... iTunes Music Store Argentina...maybe?

Windows Vista February CTP Due Today.

Neowin.net reports:

According to many industry analysts and rumours posted to our Forums the Feb CTP is due today.

With a build tag expected to be 5308.x86fre.winmain_idx01.060217-2200 the CTP is likely to be near feature complete.

Now I'm too thrilled about Microsoft OSX...er Vista. However, this build may incorporate full EFI support. This leads to the possibility of having Vista booting and installing on the new intel macs. Now that, I am thrilled about.

Video Of the Week: BMW M5 Ring Taxi

Let me showcase a new feature @ void. The VOtW, or Video Of the Week. Once a week, I'll showcase an awesome, worth-seeing video. To start it off, what better way to let the gorgeous sound of that V10 M5 engine rip the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

Just awesome, enjoy.

A (real) Apple Event Coming.

Here we go again. On Feb. 28 has call the media to come and visit Apple's turf for the debut of new and fun products. Notice the emphasis on the -s, not just a new iPod, maybe an intel Mac Mini as well? What about an intel iBook...er MacBook and an intel Mac Mini? Mac Mini and iPod? iPod and Mac Tablet-thing..

I don't know, but I'll tell you this much, only one week away. Lets see what His Steveness has to unveil for us to go crazy about..

You are Old...

You know when I was a "young kid", I would look at 25 years old people, and label them as "Old".

Now I pose myself the question- "Are you old dude?" and I have nothing to say, like the Rammstein lyrics. I am not the young careless kid that played with his NES, nor am I the old guy trying to get thru life. Yet, sometimes it does feel that way. Maybe it's not so much about age, but your mental state. It's all in your head perhaps.

At times, due to the circumstances, I can't help but to think with an "old state of mind". Doesn't take away the fact, that yes time does pass you by..faster and faster which each passing day. Something to think about, I guess...

Real Madrid, the Richest Football Club in the World.

Overtaking Man U for the number one spot after 8 years, RM has become the world's richest football club for the 04-05 season. Real Madrid's earning came in at $328.19 million dollars, enough to put them ahead of Manchester United, who ranks second with $293.31 million. Third on the "rich list" is Italy's AC Milan is with $279 million. Juventus came very close with $273 million.

What's worth noting, such richness doesn't make up for Real Madrid's low ranking in the field. There you have it, you can have a crap load of money, yet still suck.

And yes, Ronaldo is fat.

Working @ One Infinite Loop.

We all love Apple, the Macs, the iPods, but have you ever wondered what's it like to work at Apple? We have all heard about Steve Jobs' demanding character, is it really true? Is the guy so into getting things "right"? Intrigued by what goes on at the Apple Campus?

All of these questions have been answered by Mike Evangelist in his Writers Block Live website. As an ex Apple employee, Mikes gives insight on many of Apple's trademark stuff, including how the infamous keynotes are set up! Using his website to showcase his experiences at One Infinite Loop, the site also serves as a rough draft and a way to get people's feedback on the book he's writing. Matter of fact, many of the entries you see at the site are excerpts of such book.

It is not only just text, Mike also has a pictures, and even movies of his old Apple days. Truly a great read if you are an Apple fan, or have ever wondered what's it like to work at Apple.

So head over to Mike's site and see Apple from the perspective of somebody who worked there.

From Latvia with Love.

They say that the internet knows no boundaries, as cliche as that may sound, there's some true to that statement.

These past few days, it has come to my attention the vast amount of visitors I seem to be getting from the country of Latvia or Latvijas Republika should you speak Latvian.

Fellow latvians seem to come from this page, where they linked to my IT certification debate

My (Fake) Apple Invite.

Stumble accross this @ TUAW. Had fun and gave it a shot.

Random Chuck Norris Fact Generator....Gone?

In what can be classified under "that sucks", the site which hosted random facts regarding the Man Of Texas, seems to be gone. At least for now..

Hitting http://www.4q.cc/chuck/ you are greeted with a 404. Sad times indeed..

As you can see, Mr. Norris isn't too thrill about these news..



I would also like to mention that due to the amount of Manliness the given graphic file has, Blogger's own image service, couldn't load such file to their server for hosting purposes. Apparently, Blogger's servers are aware of the the unwritten law that states nothing in this planet can have anything related to Chuck Norris inside of them. Unless you are a member of the opposite sex.

Update: The Facts are indeed back online! That's right we can now rejoice and educate ourselves on Chuck's facts once again.

How to Update Apple Pro Apps and Not Have to Re-register Them Again.

Lets face it, registering and serial numbers suck. They are cumbersome, and get on the way most of the time.

Here’s a solution if for some reason or another, you are forced to re-enter all your information and serial number after upgrading an Apple Pro App. In this example, we will use Soundtrack Pro, and we will make those irritating info-asking boxes disappear forever. No hacking of any kind involved.

First thing first, run Software Update and make sure there’s an Update Available for your App. In this case, we will be updating to version 1.0.3 of Soundtrack Pro. Don’t update just yet.

Now, go to the Finder and find your Application. Right-click on it, and choose “Show Packages Contents”. Double click the Contents folder, and then MacOS folder. Drag the Soundtrack Pro file from there to your desktop.

Finally, you can now use Software Update to put up to date your Pro App. After the update is installed, go back to the MacOS folder. If you don’t remember how, refer to the previous paragraph. Once back inside the MacOs folder drag from your desktop the Soundtrack Pro file back to the folder, replace the file.

Close that finder window, and double click the application to run your now up to date pro app without having to re-enter any sort of information.

Fast and easy, and most importantly killed that pesky box asking to re-enter information in the process. Hope you guys find it useful.

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way liable if this renders your computer unusable in any kind. Doubt it will happen, but hey you never know.

!--UPDATE--! As pointed out by one of the comments below, this may not really update your app. However I won't rule this out, since I'm wondering if this Unix Executible which we took ouy and replace back in, is actually the main app to call it something, or just a launcher.

Whatever the case may be, keep that Studio serial handy (keep it with your Final Studio box, and don't throw that away) just in case.