MacCast 06.12.2007 - Show #189
Media/Links
V Opening
V Opening Music
* Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
* Mandaandthemarbles.com
www.mandaandthemarbles.com
V News
V WWDC Summary
* Games Coming back to the Mac
* 10 Key Features of Leopard
* Safari 3 Beta for Mac OS X Tiger, Windows XP, and Windows Vista
* iPhone web app development
V MacBook Pro Updates
* New Intel Core 2 Duo 'Santa Rosa" processors running at 2.2 or 2.4 GHz
* Up to 4GB of of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM.
* 15-inch has new LED backlit display. Mercury-free. Less power
* 17-in optional 1920-by-1200 high-resolution display.
* NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics cards (up to 50% faster)
* Every model includes an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB of shared L2 cache, an 800 MHz frontside bus and 2GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory,slot loading 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics cards, Gigabit Ethernet, Enhanced Data Rate Bluetooth, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Firewire 400 and 800, 3 x USB 2, built-in iSight, backlight keyboard, ExpressCard/34 slot, DVi video output
* 15.4" 2.2Ghz USD$1,999.00, 15.4" 2.4 GHz USD$2,499.00, and 17" 2.4 GHz USD$2,799.00
V iPhone gets a birth-date
V 4 new TV ads. Never Been an iPod, How-to, Calamari, and Watered Down
* date on NYTimes is October 2nd, 2006
* 12th icon conspiracy. Close-up shots in the "Never Been an iPod" ad shows four icons across the bottom.
* Does require 2-year contract
* June 29th. Lots of speculation on availability. AT&T stores 20, 40, 80 units per store?
* AT&T Getting ready, Fine EDGE?
V Leaked AT&T support document for sales agents
* can use cellular and wi-fi at the same time
* sync with Outlook and Outlook express. Bookmark sync on Mac and PC
V What's missing
* GPS
* direct cellular Internet media download and streaming (why would you need it?)
* No instant messaging. (SMS of course). Was iChat the 12th icon?
V Movie rentals on iTunes?
* Reported on Financial Times reporting Apple in "advanced" talks with studios
* $2.99 for 30 days, sync to at least one device (iPod)
* Studios prefer rental services because it doesn't compete with DVD sales
* Targeting a fall launch date
V BootCamp 1.3 Beta released
* Support for keyboard backlighting (MacBook Pro only)
* Apple Remote pairing
* Updated graphics drivers
* Improved Boot Camp driver installer
* Improved international keyboard support
* Localization fixes
* Updated Windows Help for Boot Camp
* Victor reported inability to launch BootCamp 1.3 after installing the new Parallels 3.0
V Sponsor
V Audible.com
* Free audiobook if you sign up and try out Audible Listener Gold
Audible Offer
* With over 35,000 titles to choose from it's easy to find something that would interest you. Work like podcasts when synced with your iPod, remember playback position, chapters, etc.
V Feedback, Comments and Commentary
V Doh! Zune does AAC
* Listener Ole points out that the Zune will play AAC files. It's in the tech specs
* I saw welcome and bring it on!
V Extract audio from Quicktime and put on your iPod
V Jeff wanted to put just the audio from a MOV file onto his iPod using Quicktime Pro. There are of course many other tools for this.
* Open the movie in Quicktime Pro
* Choose File->Export
V Under Export choose Sound to AIFF and pick your quality. I always start with 44.kHz 16-bit Stereo.
Take the exported file and add it to iTunes. The AIFF will play on the iPod,but be large. You can convert it to AAC or MP3 in iTunes if you want.
* 1) In iTunes, go to Preferences, Click on the Advanced tab, and click on the Importing tab
* 2) Select your format settings (MP3, AAC, etc) under 'Import Using...'
* 3) Choose the desired settings, sample rate, bit rate, etc. and click OK
* 4) Find the AIFF track you just imported in the iTunes library and select it.
* 5) Go to Advanced-->Convert Selection To [format]..."
* 6) Once the conversion finished you can remove the AIFF file from iTunes.
V Preference Panes Crashing
* Listener Andrew is having troubles that are reminiscent of my issues. Mine was the dock, but his is the system preferences randomly quitting.
* I recommend taking a look inside the /Library/PreferencePanes and ~/Library/PreferencePanes directories for 3rd party preference panes that might be causing the crash. Take them out and then replace them one by one, launching the system preferences in between.
V For my issue, many pointed out the StuffIt expander contextual menu bug.
* Check /Library/Contextual Menu Items and ~/Library/Contextual Menu Items
V So other types of "crashes" and places to look for culprits
V Finder and Dock crashes (with Control+Click)
* /Library/Contextual Menu Items
* /Library/CFMSupport
* Also check and maybe disable 3rd party menu-bar items. Usually enabled from the application or via a system preference.
V Finder and Dashboard
* Check running widgets
* Close widgets you don't use on a regular basis
V Quicktime
* /Library/Quicktime
* These can also cause issues with any app that uses Quicktime, (Finder, iTunes, Imovie, Safari)
V Safari, other browsers
* /Library/Internet-plugins
V iTunes
* /Library/iTunes/iTunes Plug-ins
V Log-in items
* General slowdowns, crashes, etc.
* Monitors for scanner, printer buttons, etc.
V Lots of stuff ends up here over time.
* 1) System Preferences --> Accounts
* 2) May need to click lock and enter admin password to unlock.
* 3) Click the Login Items tab for your account. Use the +- to add or remove items.
V Closing
V Podcast Marketplace
V Thanks to my sponsors
* Audible.com
Audible Offer
* The Gadget Locker
The Gadget Locker
V Keep emails coming. Audio comments.
* maccast@gmail.com
V 206-222-2788 (20-MACCAST-8)
* PLEASE LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
* MacCast Forum
forum.maccast.com
V New music, "Creepy" by John Hoskinson
* John is a listener and friend of the show
* His new CD, "Pancho Fantastico" will come out on June 12th, but he is giving us a sneak listen.
* Artists Web Site
johnhoskinson.com
V MacBooks on Fire, Really
* Macs and fire don't mix
Mac on Fire