MacBooks updated, barely

The MacBooks received a very minor speed bump on Tuesday

Models feature faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors (not Santa Rosa)

1GB of memory standard

Plus, larger hard drives across the board.

Other spec remain the same. 13.3in LCD display, Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, integrated iSight, etc.

Models and pricing:

2.0GHz Intel Core 2, 1GB of RAM,a 80GB drive, combo drive (CD-RW/DVD) for USD $1,099.00

2.16GHz Intel Core 2, SuperDrive, 1GB of RAM, 120GB drive for USD $1,299.00.

2.16GHz Intel Core 2, Black, SuperDrive, 1GB RAM, 160GB drive for USD $1,499.00.

The UK also saw a MacBook price drop of 70 Euros down to 1,049, 1,249 and 1,449 Euros respectively

Side note: iPod Shuffle price was also lowered from 55 Pounds to 49 Pounds.

More info suggests LCD backlight displays

A report from DigiTimes say that Taiwanese manufacturers AU Optronics (AUO), Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) are reading 13.3" and 15.4 inch LCD backlight panels for testing

Two other backlight unit (BLU) makers, Coretronic and Kenmos, are also said to be sending samples for use in panels

Jobs recently said in an open letter that Apple plans to ship iMacs with LCD backlighting before the end of 2007.

The 13.3 and 15.4 inch panel sizes however suggest that maybe the MacBooks might see the LCD backlight treatment as well. Larger LCD backlight panels could be cost prohibitive.

New Intel Santa Rosa feeds rumor sites

Intel unveiled their latest Core 2 Duo mobile chips, 'Santa Rosa". The chips are officially called Centrino Duo and Centrino Pro. In addition to improved performance the new chips offer better power management, longer battery life, faster boot times, and new computing chipsets.

Apple insider has some theories about the new chips and LCD Backlight displays

No Santa Rosa update or LCD update in the MacBook soon

15.4" LCB backlight displays with 800MHz Backside bus 2nd gen core 2 Duo Santa Rosa chip in MacBook Pro

So what about those 13.3" LCD displays. Apple Insider says, "ultra-portable"

No optical disc drive

On-board NAND flash for faster application launching and boot times

Built-in iSight webcam

Thinner and lighter than existing MacBook offerings

AirPort Extreme 802.11n enabled

MagSafe power adapter

Target launch late '07, early '08

New McCartney Album exclusive to iTunes

From MacNN, Apple today announced that Paul McCartney's new album, "Memory Almost Full" is available for digital pre-order beginning Tuesday exclusively on the iTunes.

Pre-order customers will get the single "Ever Present Past" immediately upon pre-order. When the full album is delivered they will also get the video "Dance Tonight" as a bonus.

Later this month McCartney's entire solo catalog of 25 albums will be made available for digital download on iTunes and other services.

Jobs entices labels to go DRM free

Apple enters talks with the labels this month

Jobs is offering to sell tracks at higher prices if the labels agree to make those tracks available DRM free.

According to an AP report two labels are expected to ask Apple to sell more digital bundles of music, videos, and other multimedia.

Amazon announced it's own plans to sell DRM free tracks thorgh deals with EMI and other labels.

New Apple Get a Mac Ads

"Choose a Vista", "Genius", and "Party is Over".

Another un-aired one, "Knocking" was posted to YouTube

Get a Mac, "Knocking"

I liked Genius and Knocking

There are also some exclusive ads done just for PC Mag.com

PCMag Apple Ad

Apple shareholders re-elect Board

Share holders vote unanimously to re-elect the entire current board, including Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Al Gore, and Jobs himself.

In light of the recent stock options investigation, Amalgamated Bank LongView Collective Investment Fund out of NY and the Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds, of Hartford, Connecticut sponsored a measure to change the way Apple set grant dates. The new proposal would set future grant dates at the beginning of the fiscal year which would avoid the possibility of backdating.

The proposal was voted down.

In a subtle, but possible bigger story Apple eluded to the possibility of Movie rentals on iTunes. Maybe to compete with Amazon's Unbox TiVo service?

iPhone is on track to sip iPhone in June and revel a feature complete Leopard at WWDC

Ads in Sacramento "Bee" for iPhone team in Elk Grove.

New Apple stores

San Francisco, Los Gatos and NY in the Meatpacking District.

Back-side touch iPods?

Recent Apple patent shows iPods, iPhones and other devices with touch controls on back of the device.

Overlay interface controls on the front screen. On screen cursor so you can see your position

Review of XtremeMac XtremeHD Cables

I got a set of these from Apple with my AppleTV and they are great

XtremeMac HD Cables

Low price for good quality cables. USD $15-$20.00

I liked the tapered backs near where the cable enters the connector tip. Makes it easy to grab when next to other connectors.

The gold plated connecter fit snugly, but are not too tight like my Monster cables.

Good feel with rubberized moldings

All kinds of cable options

HDMI to HDMI

HDMI to DVI

Component, TOSLink and Audio

Also have the XtremeHD HDMI switcher (USD $99.00)

4-HDMI devices to one HDI port. Connect your AppleTV, game console, HD DVD Player, and HD DVR box all at once. Cool little remote to switch between inputs.

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Tip: NAS backup with AirDisk and SuperDuper

Play tip from Eduardo

SuperDuper

Mount the network volume, and then choose Disk Image... from the destination pop-up. Then, select the network volume and folder where you want to store the image, and name it appropriately.

SuperDuper! will automatically mount the network volume, mount the image, back up to it and unmount it when done.

It’s very important that the network drive support files larger than 4GB. FAT32-based servers or NAS devices will not work, and fail pretty spectacularly when this limit is reached.

To create a sparse image with Apple Disk Utility

Choose File-->New Blank Disk Image...

Select a size, up to the largest size you think you'll need

Encryption, if you want to.

Format-->Sparse Disk Image

Save to more places

Listener Grant was wondering how to save to places beyond your favorites, default locations, etc.

OS X's built in save "sheet" is not that obvious.

Click the little aqua triangle next to the text entry area for the filename. A standard column or list view dialog will expand out. Use the built-in spotlight search to quickly find a specific folder.

Syncing based on events

Listener Adam wanted to know if there was a way to sync the same directory to PDA and an external USB drive automatically.

Use ChronoSync from Econ Technologies

ChronoSync

Can schedule syncs to happen on the mounting of a volume

Write an AppleScript application using the rsync shell command. Then trigger this running of the script with a Folder Action set on the Volumes directory

Use the Applications/AppleScript/Script Editor to write an AppleScript using the "do shell script" command to run 'rsync' on the volumes and directories you want to sync. To trigger the sync use the 'on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving added_items' handler.

See AppleScipt page on Apple.com for more details on building Folder Action scripts

Apple Folder Action Scripts

Save the script to the /Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts directory

In the Finder menu choose 'Go'-->'Go to Folder...' and type '/Volumes' to go to the hidden Volumes directory.

Control+Click (Right+Click) the Volumes folder and choose 'Attach a Folder Action...'. Select the script you just made.

Now when you mount your volume the script should run automatically.

Playing QT movies Full Screen

Play question from Allen

One way is to use the Movie Properties, Window-->Show Movie Properties, in the 'Presentation' tab check the 'Enter Fullscreen Mode when opened' option.

Requires you have QuickTime Pro and that you re-save the file.

Full Screen Movie Player from MonkeyBread Software

Full Screen Movie Player

Place in Dock and just drop movies on it to play in fullscreen

I had some playback issues with file son an external drive connected via USB2

Use VLC instead of QuickTime for video playback of all types of video files and it offers a fullscreen mode. To make it default:

Open VLC and go to VLC-->Preferences, select the video section and check the 'Fullscreen video output' option.

VLC

Now when you launch videos with VLC (put in Dock and drop video on it). they will open and play in fullscreen mode.

Can hack QuickTime standard to play in fullscreen using an AppleScript I found on Chris Breen's great Macworld Mac 911 column

Mac 911: QT Fullscreen

1. Launch Apple Script Editor

2. Enter this exactly as follows…

tell application “QuickTime Player”
present front movie scale screen
end tell

3. Save the script as an application (Save on desktop or in dock for easy access).

4. Open the movie you want to view in full screen in Quicktime and then double-click on the apple script application you created.