ProfCast 2.0, a Macintosh application that allows users to record and publish their presentations as podcasts, is now available.

ProfCast allows users to integrate their lectures with their PowerPoint or Keynote presentations. Once the user saves it as a podcast, people who missed a lecture can download the podcast to a Macintosh or Windows computer or a video iPod and view the presentation. The lectures can be listened to on devices without video as long as they support the m4b format. Many educators in both the US and abroad are using ProfCast to create podcasts of their lectures so that students can have access to information covered in classes.

If you would like to try out ProfCast, a 15 day trial version is available. ProfCast can be purchased for the new affordable price of USD$29.95. For more information about ProfCast or to download the trial version visit the ProfCast website (http://www.profcast.com).

The Apple Store, Otay Ranch opens at 10:00 AM tomorrow in Chula Vista, CA and I will be there. I will probably arrive early to get in line, between 6:00 and 7:00 AM. The doors open at 10:00 AM and I should be there about an hour after that, so if your in the area and can make it out I would love to meet you. It should be a great time and I will have some Maccast schwag to give out. See you there.

[audio:http://media.libsyn.com/media/maccast/MC20061026.mp3]
Download today’s show here!
MC20061026.mp3 [32.2mb 01:10:16 64kbps]

A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 163. New MacBook Pros. “DVD Jon”‘s new venture. Selling iTunes DRM. Intel Xserve ship date slips to November. Bluetooth proof-of-concept exploit released. Apple releases preliminary 4th quarter financial results. Apple store iPod thefts on the rise. Apple releases iPod Shuffle fix. Apple also releases FinalCut Express HD update. Are MacBooks showing early signs of wear? Correction on fixing iPod restart issue. MacBook RSS fix is now working. iPod virus follow-up. Software recommendations for managing serial numbers. Migrating Outlook contact to Address Book. Managing iPod playback order. Getting around the iTunes tax. Speeding up the Dashboard. iTunes 7 and the disappearing podcast bug. More tips on deleting Mac Apps. Software to better manage and use iPhoto keywords. Locating large files in OS X. Fix for the iCal Alarm issue. Backups and drive formats. Toggling info in the iPod graph in iTunes 7. iLike not the first iTunes music social network service. Fixing battery, power and fan issues on your Macs. ScreenCasts Online Offer.

New music, What I should have said by Melissa

There’s always work at the post office. — Hollywood Shuffle (1987)

Shownotes: HTML or OPML
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Today, Quark launched their new product to the world. In a packed Apex Suite, right next to Olympia, London, all was unveiled.

“Quark Interactive Designer” allows the use of Quark Xpress 7 and Server Edition, to build fully interactive content. Design for web, print and interactive multimedia, all from within Quark. With full support for Flash (SWF), multiple video formats, with nice add-ons like zooming in on an image, the package mean “No more need for a separate web app or Powerpoint.”

It is available to order today, for Windows and as a Mac Universal application.
Retail price: (USD)$199. Special intro price until April 1st, 2007: (USD)$99. Students get the best deal as they get the new “Quark Interactive Designer” free of charge until until April 1st, 2007.

Interested in learning to play the guitar? Optek Music Systems has a combination of tools to make every amateur a sexy-mad professional rock star in mere hours.

Announced to the press: “Macintosh users can now advance their guitar playing skills in significantly less time than learning from books, charts, and endless hours of tedious practice.” Be careful of the hype. Isn’t it written somewhere that all great artists must suffer? No matter how great this GarageBand plug-in might be, it doesn’t appear to imbibe the would-be Jimi Hendrix with instant skill, and every decent guitar player is proud to have a handful of practice-made calluses.

Optek Music Systems produces four Fretlight guitars: the FG-401 Acoustic, FG-405 Acoustic Electric, FG-421 Electric and FG-451 Pro Electric, ranging in price from $429.95 to $899.95. The new Garageband plug-in allows a Mac to power the lights that are embedded in the guitar’s fretboard, which signify chords and scales. Using the plug-in, a Fretlight Guitar can be added as a GarageBand instrument to light any chord and scale, to create custom sequence lists and to cycle through them with a footswitch, and also to drag and drop loops or songs into the timeline.
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The Mac Expo London starts tomorrow, running from Thursday 26th through Saturday 28th October. Head on down to the National Hall, Olympia, London. It promises some great product announcements, workshops & competitions. Great fun for everyone. Mixed with vendors selling from the show floor, there are bound to be some bargains to be had.
Amongst the news, Quark has been sending out invitations for a worldwide new product launch. I will be attending the seminar and letting you know the news as it happens.

For those of you who can’t make it to London, check back throughout the next three days, for regular updates and photos of the event.

This morning the MacBook Pro update we have all been waiting for happened. Following yesterdays rumors on digg, Apple has updated the entire MacBook Pro line to include all Intel Core 2 Duo processors. Apple claims the upgraded systems provide up to 39% more performance and all models come with double the storage and memory of their predecessors. The new systems also all include a Firewire 800 port. So you now have your choice of either 2.16GHz or 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and can add even more storage (up to 200GB) and memory (up to 3GB) via Apple’s build-to-order options. Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Pro models are priced at USD$1,999.00 and USD$2,499.00 and should be shipping this week, with the 17-inch model priced at USD$2,799.00 shipping next week.

Update/Note from Editor: I have been able to confirm from Belkin that at this time this product is not Mac compatible. A Belkin spokesperson has said the company is working on Mac compatibility and are planning support for Macs. When Mac support is added we will try to get a unit for a full review and update.

For a Mac-head who uses his laptop as a portable desktop, plays videos in the corner of an external monitor while working, and has lots of stuff to plug in, the Belkin Notebook Expansion Dock might be a great tool.

The word “might” is important here because although Belkin’s information page says the dock will work with any laptop with an ExpressCard port, e.g. a MacBook Pro, Belkin never mention’s OS X, only Windows XP and Vista.
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The final round of judging for My Dream App has begun. Guest judges for this round are Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple; Guy Kawasaki, the Apple evangelist; J. Allard creator of Xbox and Zune; Bruce Horn creator of “Finder”; and Amber MacArthur, G4TechTV personality.

The contest has been underway for the past month, with elimination rounds each week. Voting ends on Tuesday, October 24th at 8 PM EDT when three winners will be announced. The winners will see their ideas turned into Mac shareware applications.

Users who vote this round will receive a copy of Overflow 2 (USD $14.95) and PhotoPresenter (USD $7.95).

My Dream App was created by Phill Ryu. If you want more information about the contest visit My Dream App (http://mydreamapp.com).

On Friday, October 20th, Econ Technologies released an updated version of ChronoSync. ChronoSync is an automated synchronization and backup application for Mac OS X. ChronoSync runs natively on PowerPC and Intel Macs running Panther or Tiger.

The ChronoSync application allows you to back up your computer, synchronize two computers, archive files, filter files and folders, and analyze your data. A useful feature of the product is the scheduler, where you can create synchronizer documents that will handle your updates automatically.

The 3.3.3 version of ChronoSync fixes the following:
– permission errors on locked files under Mac OS X 10.4.8
– a file copy failure bug that occurred when there was no opposing file, the filename was greater than 30 characters or the filename began with a “0”
– a bug where rollback predetermination could not be specified for mirrored sync modes.

The update is free for existing users. You can download a demo of ChronoSync 3.3.3 or buy it for only USD $30 from Econ Technologies (http://www.econtechnologies.com).