Just in case you missed it… Apple quietly added the 8-core “Octo” Macs to it’s line up of Mac Pro systems.

More details available on Apple’s Mac Pro website.

I had been meaning to promote this earlier, but you know how it goes. If you get a chance and have an extra USD$0.99 to spend today, please go here and click the iTunes link to buy a copy of the track “Mine Again” by the band Black Lab. Why? Well, Christopher Penn from the Financial Aid podcast had this idea to show the power of podcasting and independent music promotion. He plans to take an indie podsafe music track to number one on the iTunes charts, at least for one day. He picked the track “Mine Again” by the band Black Lab because the band was dropped from not just one, but two major record labels (Geffen and Sony/Epic). To make matters worse, the band was forced to fight the labels just to get their own music back. So, if we as individuals can make them number one, even for just one day, it will remind the RIAA and the record labels of what they turned their backs on. We can prove to the labels that bands no longer need them to gain commercial success and artists have options beyond signing draconian record deals. The other great thing about this promotion is that Chris set up an iTunes affiliate link and every commission made on the sale of “Mine Again” will be donated to college scholarships. Not only that, but Black Lab has taken it up another notch and 50% of their earnings are going to be donated to the scholarship fund as well. So join me, other podcasters, and listeners today as we fight back for indie music artists and take back charts.

Apple has posted their new iPhone teaser ad titled, “Hello” on Apple.com. The new commercial aired last night during the 79th Annual Academy Awards. The ad shows a series quick cuts from films and TV shows where the characters are answering the phone and saying “hello”. The spots end with a rotating iPhone, the text “Hello”, an iPhone image, a message that says, “Coming in June”, and a white Apple logo. Interestingly, there is no URL and no text that would indicate the name of the product, iPhone. Personally, I felt the ads probably had little or no impact on anyone who isn’t already aware of the iPhone. Obviously Apple used film and TV images to tie in with the Oscars, but I didn’t find the ad very exciting or compelling. In case you missed it the ad is now available for viewing on Apple’s iPhone page.

[View iPhone Teaser Ad]

The pilot episode of an all new Maccast begins in just 10 hours. The Maccast Loop is your chance to be a part of a brand new kind of Maccast. Each week I get such great feedback, comments, and email from you, but I am not always able to cover it all. I also receive questions and comments that turn out to be a bit too specific or niche for me to cover on the main show. “The Loop” is here to take care of that. Each and every Sunday morning at 10:00AM PST, myself and Loop producer, Victor Cajiao (Typical Mac User Podcast [iTunes]), will be taking your calls and discussing your feedback, comments, and reactions to the past few episodes of the Maccast. We will also get into any topics and conversations brought up live as we record the show. If you choose to participate, head over to Talkshoe.com now and sign up for an account. Then, just call in to the conference on Sunday and you can be a part of the show (see details on Talkshoe). It should be a lot of fun. Don’t worry if you can’t make it live because the show will also go out as a podcast. Look for it on iTunes or here once the RSS is ready for the first episode.

Maccast Loop, Mac Geeks United.

So we all know that Mac LCDs have been occasionally known to have bugs, but this one might take the prize. Listener Jay was disappointed one day when he saw a dead pixel in the lower left portion of the screen on his 17″ 1.33GHz G4 PowerBook. So imagine his shock and amazement when, while searching for a replacement LCD on eBay, the dead pixel started to move. Turns out he literally had a bug in the display. The poor little guy appeared to be trapped within the layers of the screen, possibly between the backlight and main panel. He made a daring effort to escape his confines, pausing briefly near the center of the screen, and mustering just enough strength to get to the upper right before, alas he died. Now Jay has a 2mm long black fuzzy line in the upper right quadrant of an otherwise beautiful 17″ powerbook screen. Has anyone else heard of this happening before? I would guess that the poor guy somehow became encased in there during manufacturing, possibly even as an egg. But, look at the bright side, if you had to be trapped in a computer wouldn’t you rather be trapped in a Mac?

Full size images on Flickr

I just saw this cool little app over on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) and tried it out. Desky is a little application that makes it super easy to change your Mac’s desktop in the Finder. All without having to take the usual route of going into the System Preferences. I love simple little apps like this, especially when they work unobtrusively, and Desky does. What makes Desky “click” for me is that you have the choice to place it in the Dock, Finder sidebar, or the Finder toolbar (which is how I have it set up). Then it sits there ready and waiting for you to want to change your desktop background. Once that mood finally strikes, simple drag an image file onto Desky and presto-changeo, you have a new desktop beaming back at you. Sweet! Well worth the asking price, which is free.

(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).)

The Apple Store Bentall Centre, Kingston-upon-Thames opened today, Saturday 17th February at 9.00am. I am happy to say I was there to soak up the atmosphere, with exclusive shots from inside the Apple Store before they opened. In the photo gallery that follows you will see photographs of the whole store, including the astounding applause for the first customer, who had been in the queue since 4am.

Here are some photos that I took whilst there, to view the full gallery click here, or visit the Geekanoids home page.

The staff at the store clapped and welcomed the first 1,000 customers, with the queue still going strong at 10am. The staff and visitors enthusiasm was superb and things soon sprang into action with advice and sales meeting with so many smiles. The sales were ultra smooth too, using the scanner technology that Apple introduced late last year, customers do not have to get into line to pay. If they have something in their hand, they can have it scanned where they are standing, pay by card and they’re good to go. You can see a picture of the Fujitsu scanner in the full gallery too.

Also prominent in the store was the “We are better than Vista Campaign”, with the new slogan “Go Beyond Vista… It’s time to get a Mac” on coloured banner displays and some staff t-shirts (see the full gallery for more on this too).

I was also pleased to see how happy everyone was, and from all walks of life too. There were many silver haired heads to be seen, right down to enthusiastic youngsters using the display machines with big grins all round.

So enjoy the photos, I hope they help you soak up some of the atmosphere that was happening today, and if you are in the Kingston-upon-Thames area be sure to visit the Apple Store… full gallery of photos by clicking here>>

As a Mac geek I am constantly “sighting” Macs when they are used by Hollywood as props in movies and TV shows. Most often you will see Apple’s latest and greatest systems and technology, but every now and then the older stuff surfaces too. Check out the Twentieth Anniversary Edition Mac (TAM) listener Ryan noticed recently in the film Children of Men.

I was sitting in the movie theatre this afternoon watching Children of Men, (for the second time) It is the best film i have seen in a while and if you haven’t watched it yet… go.
There was a scene in the movie where the bad guys are breaking on to a property of the good guys (Clive Owen & Michael Caine) tripping a perimeter alarm. When the good guys rush to the monitor to see who it is on the “video screen” I thought: ‘That’s funny that kinda looks like a 20th Anniversary Macintosh.’ I took another closer look and i believe it is indeed the TAM without the apple logo. Now i know this isn’t groundbreaking news on the magnitude of Brittany Spears without underpants or Iraq or something… but well i get kinda jazzed about seeing macs on tv and in film like other mac geeks. Ok i admit it! And well this movie is dark and cool and set in a bleak 2027 so i thought it was extra cool. Maybe some other mac geeks might think so too. (My girlfriend wasn’t all that impressed). So what to do… i don’t know tell another mac geek who speaks to other mac geeks…. so there you go. no biggie just kinda neat…

Don’t feel bad Ryan, my wife is “not impressed” by my Mac sightings either. That’s why we have each other. :)

Anthony from the Opie and Anthony show spent over 12 hours trying to install Windows Vista without success. After downloading countless drivers that didn’t work and dealing with lots of hardware conflict issues, he finally figured out the best way…

Some days you hate Jobs and others you love him. Today it’s the latter. Read this letter from Jobs to those in Europe who seem to be overly obsessed these days with Apple opening up iTunes and licensing their FairPlay technology. In the letter Steve-o explains why Apple has been required to add DRM to iTunes by the major labels and that if Fairplay is ever hacked, Apple’s agreement with the record companies give them just weeks to fix the problem. If Apple fails to patch iTunes or iPods fast enough, the labels have the right to pull all their titles off iTunes completely. Obviously, in opening up Fairplay, Apple would have to reveal secret aspects of their technology to 3rd parties. This compromises the security of the system and makes the task of managing and updating 3rd party software and players in the time frame agreed upon with the labels almost impossible. So, (believe it or not) that is how Apple explains Fairplay in iTunes and why they can’t simply open it up.

Where the real meat of this letter lies though, is in the alternative solutions Jobs offers for fixing this broken DRM model; a model both Sony (Sony Connect) and Microsoft (Zune) seem to also be required to follow. In Jobs’ opinion the best choice is for the record companies is to remove DRM from digitally distributed music completely. He makes some very compelling arguments and even calls out the labels who Jobs says, “are selling over 90 percent of their music DRM-free” by putting out CDs which are completely unprotected and DRM free. There are some great facts and information in this letter so, if you care about this stuff at all you take a moment to read it.

Like I said, some days you just have to love Steve Jobs.

Thoughts on Music, Steve Jobs