Apple releases iPod Shuffle update

Apple says it addresses "bugs" in the Shuffle

No other models updated

Highlights from Apple's 10-K filing

Apple on Thursday filed their Form 10-K, an annual report with the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC).

Mac net sales increased 27 percent over last year. That is a unit sale increase of 1.2 million units

The average sales price of a Mac decreased 7 percent

Education sales improved too. 21 percent in higher education and 11 percent in K-12

Apple sold 28 million iPods, 248 percent revenue and 409 percent unit increase year over year.

Apple opened 38 new retail store in 2005.

Retails sales doubled to $2.4 billion which is an annualized revenue per store of $22.4 million.

Apple’s operations reported operating income of $151 million during 2005, compared to $39 during 2004

R&D spending was up 9 percent from 2004 to $534 million

AnandTech reviews next gen Intel Yonah Chip

Great review of the next Gen Intel chip.

anandtech.com—Yonah

The new Yonah. Will this be the chip in the Intel Macs announced at MacWorld?

Dual-core, extremely low power consuming, better optimized for multimedia and 3-D than current Pentium-M chips.

Can quite live up to the current Athlon 64 X2 desktop chips, but that what the new Conroe and Merom chips will be for at the end of the year.

Possible security flaw in QuickTime

bug hunter Tom Ferris reported the flaw Security-Protocols.com

security-protocols.com

"The vulnerability allows an attacker to reliably overwrite heap memory with arbitrary data in order to execute arbitrary code on a targeted host,"

According to Farris an attacker could commandeer a computer running Windows or Mac OS X by tricking a user into opening a malicious media file.

Ferris offers a screenshot of a QuickTime player that has crashed on a Windows XP machine as proof of the bug.

FOX exec says they would be open to iTunes deal

Fox Filmed Entertainment co-chairman James Gianopulos says they would be open to a deal with Apple Computer's iTunes music and video service.

I really hope Steve and Apple jump on this opportunity. The simpsons and X-Files alone would make them a lot of money.

Apple may offer "streaming" video downloads

According to Think Secret "sources". The service would be launched along with the also ThinkSecret rumored new MacMini

Claim Apple already has content lined-up from NBC, CBS, and Paramount.

Purchases would be stored on .Mac iDisks and be streamed on demand via FrontRow 2.0. Apple would also allow direct transfer to iPod.

Apple iTunes 100 millionth European download contest

The customer who downloads the 100 millionth song from any of the European iTunes stores will receive a 17-inch iMac G5, a 30GB iPod, a 10,000-song gift card for the iTunes Music Store, and two tickets to see Robbie Williams in concert.

MacCast One Minute Tip #8 - Messy Desktops

Play MacCast One Minute Tip

www.oneminutetip.com

Correction on installer optimization

Listener Juan pointed out that it is not optimizing the hard drive, but updating the pre-bindings.

Pre-binding simply creates a "list" of what files are needed as you launch an application, where they reside on your disk, and in what order they need to be read and loaded

OS X does have many technologies for keeping your disk from becoming fragmented. Good overview of these technologies in this article from Macsimum

macsimumnews.com—Disk Optimization

Good tip for optimization from Gary

Create a separate partition for your audio or video projects. Could also just purchase a dedicated hard drive.

Laptop Insurance vs. AppleCare

Play comment from Noah

Insurance is more expensive. Can anyone vouch for SafeWare or other service?

www.safeware.com

Many credit cards also offer purchase protection (sometimes and extra cost).

Expose and Drag and Drop are powerful allies

Listener Allen points out that these two technologies can be used together with good results

1) Start dragging an item and then, without releasing the mouse button, hit F9 (or whatever the "miniaturize all windows" key is defined as) with the other hand to display all windows in miniature.

2) Drag the item on top of the miniaturized destination window and either hit F9 again or wait a couple of seconds to make the windows de-miniaturize with the destination window in front.

3) Drop the item in the appropriate area in the destination window.

I use this technique all the time to move files around the Finder.

Start dragging it and use the F11 key (or whatever...) to get all open windows out of the way and access the disks and folders on the desktop. Then utilize the spring-loaded folders feature to drop the item in the desired folder, even if it's several levels deep in the hierarchy.

Sharing your GarageBand songs

Since I have mentioned it a couple of times on the show many people are sending my their work. I can't and won't play them all on the show.

Great garageband sharing sites

iCompositions.com

www.icompositions.com

MacJams.com

www.macjams.com

Setting up a Mac home security system

Play question

Great article on Low End Mac. Using an old 6500/250, but you could use any one that had RCA video out.

Cheap Mac Video Surveillance

EvoCam from Evological. Supports multiple USb and Firewire cameras and work with many of the wired and wireless net cams.