iPod Shuffle price drop

Apple lowered the prices on 1GB iPod Shuffles to $49 bucks

Plans a 2GB model for $69 bucks soon.

The new mysterious Apple, updating software and now new products?

Apple releases XSan 2 and kills of XRaid

XSan 2 is Apple's enterprise class Storage Area Network Software

Updated for Leopard among other things and added support for 3-party RAID solutions

Supports qualified Fibre Channel switches from vendors such as Brocade, QLogic and Cisco

Good thing since Apple discontinued it's own hardware RAID solution the XRaid.

Apple's XRaid page redirects to a page with details on the Promise VTrak E-Class RAID Subsystem.

American Idol puked on my iTunes

Apple's iTunes worked an exclusive deal to distribute and promoted digital audio and video downloads of the finalists performances from American Idol

Music tracks will sell of $0.99 and video for $1.99

On Tuesday my iTunes was Idolized with all three top featured slots making one giant banner. My email box also got splattered

iTunes 7.6.1 update

iTunes 7.6.1 includes several bug fixes and improves compatibility with Apple TV software version 2.0.

Apple also is offering a $0.99 cent standard definition "Movie of the Week" rental. The first one is "The Hours".

Some movies seem to be showing up sooner than 30 days after the DVD release. Michael Clayton showed up this week.

MacBook, MacBook Pro Keyboard Firmware Update 1.0

Addresses an issue where the first key press may be ignored if the computer has been sitting idle.

They don't go into details, but the tech note also notes that the update "addresses some other issues"

I had seen one report of keys randomly repeating after being pressed and released.

DoubleTwist frees iTunes music to other devices

DoubleTwist, from DVD Jon

Desktop app for Windows, they are working on a Mac version

Converts files on the fly in real-time (a la Audio Hijack?) and then lets you sync or share them

Supports Nokia N Series phones, Sony Ericsson Walkman & Cybershot phones, LG Viewty phones, phones using the Windows Mobile 5.0/6.0 platform (e.g. Treo, HTC, Palm), the Sony PSP, and the Amazon Kindle.

Apple patenting podcast tech

Personalized Podcasts. Basically assembling a "show" on the fly based on bits.

10 min CNN Headline news, followed by ESPN Sports wrap-up, with Wallstreet Journal Stock report, followed by a Horoscope and Mac new roundup from Mac OS Ken.

Can also insert ad bits of course.

Apple also has a patent filing for "podmaps". Podcasts with map data and voice directions designed for a specific trip.

I Jailbroke my first iPhone

it was WAY too easy.

Used ZiPhone and was able to authorize, jailbrake, and SIM unlock in one swift step.

iJailbrake has also been updated.

20" Aluminum iMac Gradient Display debate

Brent is a new listener and debating a 20" iMac purchase, but heard about a "gradient" display issue.

I decided to look for myself.

There are some "anomalies", but I think it is a choice of component and technology issue, not a "defective" LCD.

All LCD Macs displayed signs of the issue, except the 24" iMacs, Macbook Airs, and Apple Cinema Displays.

Enhanced by off angle viewing and glossy screens.

Replying in Mail with Quoted text

Play audio from Tom

Time Machine is great on many levels

I couldn't find a specific built-in command or an Applescript to do what you want.

2 manual approaches using keyboard shortcuts to speed things up.

Leave the the auto quote option on and then after typing reply hit Command+A (select all) and delete before typing your message.

The opposite approach is to turn off auto-quoting and then for the messages you want to quote before hitting reply select the text in the body of the email (Command+A) and then copy it (Command+C). Now start the reply (Command+R) and do a Paste as Quotation (Command+Shift+V). Now hit Command+up arrow to jump to the top and start composing your reply.

Cleaning up Flash Cookies

Ric noticed a bunch of .sol files eating up space on his system

They are Local Shared Object files (Flash cookies) and can be found in OS X at ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects

Not easy to view or remove.

Use Global Privacy Settings Panel on Abode website

Flash Global Privacy Settings

Firefox plug-in Objection

objection.mozdev.org

Manually delete from the folder.

Syncing OS X Home Directories

Play question from Raphael

Syncing apps

ChronoSync offers a Home-to-Home sync option

Home-to-Home Sync

Merlin Mann likes Unison, a bit more tricky to use.

Unison

Custom cron jobs or Automator/Applescripts and command line tool rsync. Uber tricky.

Move home folder to an external drive

Instructions for Leopard from Chris Pirillo's site

Move OS X Home Folder

Try at your own risk as I have not tested or confirmed this.

Copy your home folder to a network or shared drive. Could use a cloning tool or just drag and drop.

Go to ‘System Preferences’ -->‘Accounts’

Unlock the padlock by entering admin password, CTL-Click (or right click if you have this enabled for your mouse) on the account (from the list of user accounts in the left pane) to reveal an ‘Advanced Options’ contextual menu. Select this item.

Look at the ‘Home Directory’ option. This is the path that OS X uses to locate your home folder when you login. It should say: /Users/shortname

Click on the ‘Choose’ button, and browse to the home folder in the new location (this will be the folder you moved in Step 1 which will be named after your shortname). After you select the new location, the ‘Home directory’ path should change to something like: /Volumes/shortname.

OS X will continue to use the original home folder until you restart. So restart the computer and login as normal. To confirm that the new home folder is now active, browse to the folder you copied and check it has the ‘house’ icon assigned to it. Now that your home folder is successfully located on your 2nd drive, you can delete the original home folder in the Users folder. It should now have a generic folder icon as it is no longer the active home folder.

Repeat these steps for the second mac.

It may also be necessary to make sure that the username (shortname) and User ID value are the same on both Macs.

Quick Time Machine Access in Finder

Bill sent in this handy tip and reminder about a feature of the finder window toolbar

You can drag application, file, web links etc into the Finder toolbar for quick access

Add TimeMachine and you can now activate quickly right from your current Finder window.

Drag an item up into the grey area near the middle of the window. Should see a green "+" icon, now drop to add

To remove or re-arrange hold down the Command key while selecting an item in the toolbar. Drag off to remove.

Encoding Flash video for web

Play comment from Hector

You need an encoding app that supports OS X's Xgrid Technology

Apple XGrid

Visual Hub

Dauger Research Pooch and their Pooch Quicktime exporter. Only works with Quicktime export.

Pooch

FLV's can be added to your web page using free FLV players like the JW FLV Media Player

www.jeroenwijering.com

iMovie '08 has a YouTube export option which use H.264.

Use QuickTime Pro's export for web option. GIves you all the files and embed code you need to add a slick Ajax-like player to your site. Support multiple formats, iPod, iPhone, etc.

Are Leopard's Parental Controls busted?

Received an email from listener Steve who has been trying to set up the new Parental controls and discovered that they just are not working.

Issues include:

o Time controls totally not working. The kids can just click on "ignore" and stay on as long as they want! Or they can simply reboot the machine and log in fresh. (Not sure if this is universal, but it's very common.)

o Locked up computers that require turning off to get working again.

o Dashboard problems when parental controls are enabled (although I believe this one was fixed in 10.5.2).

o Processor use hitting 99% because of parental controls.

o Browsing problems ranging from sites not being blocked that should be, to no sites accessible.

Anyone else have feedback on these problems? Possible solutions?

Extending AppleTV's Wi-Fi Range

Listener Chris is having trouble getting signal to his Apple TV

Requires hacking the AppleTV open, but QuickerTek makes an add on antenna

AppleTV Antenna

Use a "bridge" or second router like an Airport Express.

Go wired if you can. Will always give you better speed and reliability.

Thoughts on the ModBook

Email from Sam:

"Hello, Adam. My name is Sam and I am 11 years old. I am a HUGE fan of the show! I have an idea for it. Have you heard of the AxioTron Modbook? It was at Macworld. It is a tablet Mac. It's kind of a fraud because it's not made by Apple, but it is cool. You could just give some facts about it for a little part of the show."

Axiotron Modbook

Modbook

Tablet Mac

Macbook modified with a pressure sensitve chemically strengthened glass LCD screen

digitizer technology from Wacom using OS X built-in Inkwell technology

Built-in GPS

Same specs as Apple's MacBooks. 2.0 or 2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo. $2,279.00 and $2,479.00 respectively

I think they are cool, but serve a niche market. Artists, Doctors, Field research, etc.