For many years now I have been a fan (and user) of LaCie hard drives. They have always proved to be reliable, the build quality is superb and if you ever need to ask them a question, support is very good too. So, I was please to learn that on September 12th LaCie announced increased capacities for it’s LaCie Hard Drives Design by F.A. Porsche. To quote from their press release, “New drives reach a phenomenal 500GB in a small, sleek case created exclusively for LaCie by the renowned agency Porsche Design GmbH. Exhibiting world-class style and elite performance, LaCie Hard Drives Design by F.A. Porsche allow people to easily add massive storage to a desktop computer. New USB drives are shipping now, and FireWire drives ship in October.”

LaCie Senior Product Manager Olivier Mirloup said, “LaCie’s awarded Design by F.A. Porsche hard drives are quiet, easy to carry and stack, and now have some of the largest capacities available at a low price per gigabyte. These drives are the fastest, easiest way to add storage to your computer, making room for lots of additional video, audio and music files. And our 1-Click Backup Software simplifies data protection.”

LaCie Hard Drives Design by F.A. Porsche offer the choice of a USB or FireWire interface for use with Windows, Mac OS or Linux. Cables are included for immediate use. Drives are durable and lightweight for transporting from one machine to another, and multiple drives can be stacked thanks to secure rubber feet underneath.

I hope to bring you a full review of a Lacie offering very soon.

Link to the new Lacie 500Gb Hard Drive.

To say I feel honored is an understatement, but when I  took the new 2nd generation iPod Nano out of the shipping box my jaw dropped. The new transparent packaging is fantastic and I  now know why Steve Jobs mentioned it in his keynote. Not thinking my jaw could get any lower I  removed the Nano from it’s packaging and was once again amazed at how much sleeker it felt than the previous generation.

This is the first review where I  just felt that I  wanted to give you two pages (or more) of high resolution photographs. They say “a picture is worth a thousand words” and with the new Nano those words could not be more fitting. The case of the Nano is now all anodized aluminum and is so nice to touch, a real smooth feel, no worries about fingerprints either, which is fantastic news. Colors have been introduced with the 2Gb model being available in silver only, the 4Gb version available in silver, green, blue and pink, and the new higher capacity 8Gb model in a sexy black. All have this wicked metallic look.
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iPodulator Pro 2 from ThePlaceforitAll.com is an application for taking content form a variety of sources and making it available as Notes on your iPod.

The interface for the program is fairly simple to use although not rising to the level of elegant. The first thing you do is change your iPod settings so that it can be used as a disk and then select the iPod from iPodulator.
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Remember back in the 70s and early 80s when sweatbands were all the rage? Well, the folks over at iMojo have released an armband called the nano Sweats which holds the 1G and 2G iPod nano. It’s made out of that same elastic-like cotton weave that was so popular with runners of yore, that fits around your forearm, instead of your wrists or head.
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What do you do if you are big fan of the Mac and also a big fan of SecondLife? If you are  Dario Darrow (in SecondLife) then you create a  copy of Apple’s new Manhattan store on your land in SecondLife and stream in the video for the latest Apple announcement.

GoDaddy responds
Well strangely several hours after re-directing MacCast.com to my other domain so I could at least get a message to you and let you know what was happening (read the original message here) , I received a personal email from GoDaddy’s VP of technology. I am not saying these two events are related, but the timing was uncanny. In his email he stated that my shared hosting for MacCast.com had been re-activated and I was free to point the DNS back. He was also clear to point out that they will be monitoring the server “closely”. He expressed interest in talking to me about the incident and left his personal number, so I phoned him back and left a message. I am glad to see this type of service, but have to wonder if everyone gets this type of personal attention. Not long after I called him back I got a received a call from GoDaddy’s Hosting Operations Manager. I was able to discuss with him my situation and express my frustration with how things were handled. He was very apologetic and said they are now investigating their internal procedures for handling these situations and will be attempting to improve the process in the future. It may be a PR move, but I have hope that my incident my improve things for others.

So where are we?
As for MacCast.com… In the short term we are back and GoDaddy will closely monitor the server and notify me in advance of any issues to avoid another shutdown. I asked GoDaddy if they could tell me what the source of this issue was and they really can’t seem to identify a single cause other than the growing popularity of MacCast.com. I have not added or changed any services on the site in the past two months. I run WordPress, Invision PowerBoard, Gallery and some other small PHP/MySQL applications. In speaking with GoDaddy and others who run web sites the consensus seems to be that under heavy traffic each of the applications will place a load on a server. So in short, MacCast is getting too big for it’s britches, or at least it’s hosting plan. I still plan on moving to a better hosting plan (probably dedicated) and at least for now we are back in business.

For the Future
As I mentioned in my Podcast message to you, the MacCast is growing and I hope to continue that growth. This “event” has obviously proved we crossed the threshold and have grown into something more ambitious than just a podcast. I am excited by the opportunity and at the same time a little frightened by what other unknowns may lie ahead. The good news is that I have you on this journey with me and I know you won’t let me screw it up. Thank you for you continued support and encouragement.

“We’ve done the impossible, and that makes us mighty.” — Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Firefly)

I’m still here and this is my domain
First off, the MacCast and myself are still here, but as you can see we are having MAJOR server and hosting issues. MacCast.com and the enhanced feed have been down for the last day and a half. You can still subscribe to the regular feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/maccast, although I have not posted a new show since 9/13/2006 (I planned to release a show yesterday and then this happened). I want to say I am sorry for all the confusion and frustration my recent hosting issues have caused you. Second, please don’t be alarmed by the changed URL (http://maccast.terraform.com). This is a temporary measure which I will explain in a minute. Terraform.com is the domain for my new business and is still my domain.
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Apple iPod Earphones (USD $29.00)
Website: Apple Store
Having caved in to what must have been significant request, Apple has finally released some sleeker, form-fitting earphones, and I’ve already picked up a pair for my 30g Video.

Having tried Apple’s terrible, tinny, and low-volume in-ear earphones, I was hopeful that these new iPod earphones would finally achieve what I had missed in ditching my old Sony Fontopia earphones – smoother, thinner, and elongated stem earphones that fit so snugly you forget they’re there. I also hoped that the excellent sound quality (in my opinion) that was present in the previous, stock iPod earphones would remain, or improve.

So how do they measure up?
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Verizon is spending $20 billion upgrading its network to provide fiber to the home, a new network running fiber optic cable for voice, internet and TV/Entertainment applications. I was one of the first in line to swap out my Comcast services. Why?

Good old-fashioned, raw, American speed, of course. While Comcast Internet provides anywhere from 4-8Mbps downloading and somewhere between 500-768K upload service, performance wavers substantially during typical usage. For the same price, I could get Verizon’s middle tier service, offering 15Mbps downloads and 2Mbps uploading speed. Pricing may vary in some regions, but the basic options are as follows:

5Mbps/2Mbps: $34.95/month
15Mbps/2Mbps: $44.95/month
30Mbps/5Mbps: $179.95/month

All with free installation. And unlike cable, fiber technology promises to be “truer” to its rated speeds. You can run a bandwidth tester such as http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest, and see what you’re getting now with your current provider. So far with FIOS, I’m almost always getting the advertised download speeds, and come very close with the upload speeds as well.
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The Mouse BT II (USD $69.00)
Website: macmice.com

I am forever searching for that ultimate mouse, having tried offerings from Logitech, Microsoft and Apple I am always left with mixed feelings. Apple’s Mighty Mouse in either the corded or Bluetooth version looked promising, but I just did not get on with the whole two button sensor arrangement. I found myself having to lift my left finger slightly to get the right click to work. This was a shame as the shape and feel was spot on. So back I went to my Logitech cordless which is great, just a tad big.

The guys at MacMice just recently released a new offering call ‘The Mouse BT II’ and one just landed on my desk to review. To say I am excited is an understatement because the size and shape is almost identical to the Mighty Mouse but with some awesome differences.
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