I was just made aware that many people are having issues getting the MacCast from Libsyn. Listeners are reporting getting connection failures and timeouts. I was just told this seems to be a symptom of a larger issue. There is currently a battle raging between two tier 1 ISPs (see this cNet article for details) and is is resulting in large Internet “blackouts” for many sites and customers. The major group affected seems to be Earthink and Time Warner Roadrunner customers. If you are unable to get the MacCast your options are to wait it out or Libsyn has been attempting to work around the issue by updating information on their servers. If you would like them to try and route you around the issue you can send your IP address (if you are behind a router they need the IP from the router) to support@libsyn.com. Sorry for the inconvenience, but it is not in my control.
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Well. It looks like Apple does have some announcement up its sleeve. There is a lot of speculation on the Web that it will be the video iPod. The announcement they sent out (see image) does seem to be a theatre curtian, so maybe. They also could finally announce those new PowerMacs or PowerBooks. Stay tuned.
The weekend I saw one of the new Intel Centrino TV Ads and I immediately noticed some things. First the ad featured Tony Hawk and Seal, who are known Mac users. I thought that’s interesting. Then I noticed that they never say the term “PC” in the ad, they only refer to “mobile laptop technology” and then finally the closing screen of the ad had an almost all white look with a very “aqua” like version of the Intel logo. Are they subtlety signaling the arrival of new Intel macs soon? I just needed to share these observations and fan the flames a little.
[Watch the Ads] – Requires Windows Media Player
Living up to it’s promise that the Ped2 from Thoughtout.biz will be the ” Device Pedestal for Now and the Future”, the company plans to offer a simple “Nano kit” so you can upgrade your existing Ped2 stand to accomadate the newest member of the iPod family.
A Brief and Warped History of the Mac, part 9 (WozCast)
Taking a break from the Mac itself, this week the column is going to focus on something that may have been the PodCasting of its day.
By his own admission, Steve Wozniak – Apple’s cofounder and original engineer was a phone fanatic. Back when answering machines were relatively new and had to be rented from the phone company, he set up a ‘dial-a-joke’ service.
The idea of this service was that Woz would record a joke onto his answering machine every day and then distribute the number to anyone who may want to listen to it. People could then phone his number to listen to the recording.
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Craig Patchett from the Behind the Scenes podcast sent the following email about Roxio’s new “upgrade” option or lack there of for Toast 7. Seems like they may be learning some upgrade pricing tricks from Apple.
I won’t be upgrading to Roxio Toast 7, even though I’m a registered user of Toast 6. Why? Because apparently Roxio couldn’t care less about its registered and loyal owners. The cost to upgrade to the latest version? The same as it is for anyone else to buy a copy. Technically, actually, it’s more. Any user of OS X qualifies for a $20 discount off Toast 7, which you can purchase from Buy.com with tax and shipping for $85. Net cost: $65 after rebate. Registered owners qualify for a whopping $30 discount, but only if they buy directly from Roxio for $99.95 + $11 shipping (the discount only applies to the CD version) + tax. Net cost: $80.95 + tax after rebate. So basically Roxio wants to reward those who are buying Toast for the first time and punish those who were foolish enough to purchase previous versions.
This approach to upgrade to upgrades is disgusting and is nothing more than a blatant example of corporate greed. Roxio should be publicly shamed by its existing customer base for choosing such tactics.
So the big announcements:
iTunes 5.0
iTunes 5.0 is available for download from Apple.com. New features include a redesigned look with the ability to organize playlists into folders. An improved shuffle feature called “smart shuffle”. You can now control the frequency of how you hear songs from the same artist of album. There are also now parental controls. The biggest new feature for Windows is users is the ability to sync their Outlook calendars and address book with the iPod.
“Motorola ROKR” iTunes phone
Works like an iPod Shuffle built into your phone. Connects via a USB cable and holds about 100 songs. Service in the US will be carried by Cingular
iPod Nano
New iPod will replace the existing iPod Mini. The iPod Nano uses flash memory and has a 14-hour rechargeable battery. The Nano will connect via a USB 2.0 cable and uses the standard 30-pin iPod docking connector so it is compatible with all existing iPod accessories. It features a color screen, is half as thick as the iPod Mini, comes in two colors (Black or White) and is available in 2 sizes 2GB and 4GB at $199.00 (USAD) and $249.00 (USD) respectively
Woah!. I am not sure when this went live, but I guess maybe someone at Apple is listening to the MacCast. Apple has a Test Drive a Mac Mini program. It is an online exclusive program that allows you to order a Mac Mini and try it for 30 days, if you like it you keep it. Otherwise call within the 30 day trail period and you have 15 days to return it no questions asked. If you order a mouse and keyboard at the same time you can also return those. I wonder if Apple’s marketing team will be sending me a consulting fee? Just kidding.
Update: Something strange is going on. Looks like this promo is no longer on Apple’s site and the images and pages have been pulled. Even stranger is that I am an affiliate with Apple through their LinkShare program and this offer is in an email I just received, but all the links and images are dead. Hmmm. Maybe they didn’t like the idea after all? I’ll keep ya posted.
Update: (08/31 – 10:24 PM PST)
I just received this from LinkShare in my email:
“As a follow-up to an email we sent you this morning, please note that the Mac mini Test Drive promotion is no longer offered at the Apple Store. We have dynamically updated the banners and landing pages for this promotion, so if you are featuring this promotion on your site, they will automatically update to another promotion. Please be sure to update your Mac mini Test Drive text links. The rest of the promotions featured in today’s email are still live.
We apologize for the inconvenience”
A Brief and Warped History of the Mac, part 8 (My Favourite Mac)
This week, I’ve been in the mood to reminisce and have been thinking about all the Macs I’ve owned, used or lusted over. Hopefully, this week’s edition will spark a nice thread in the MacCast forums because I’m sure all us Mac Geeks love to gush about which model is our favourite ever Mac.
Way back in the 1980’s when I was young and the Mac was just a little younger, I didn’t know much about computers, I was happy pottering with the Toshiba HX-10 machine that my grandparents bought me for Christmas when I was 4. Even at that age I could just about manage the simplest elements of the BASIC programming that it required – though I will apologise to my Mum for the hours of copying code into the computer that she was persuaded to do on my behalf.
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