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A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 185. Apple Q2 financial results. Stock options questions still linger. Apple battery fixes, woes and replacements. Oh my. Apple’s European plans revealed obs talks about a “greener” Apple. Apple drops Pro-Care training and goes one-to-one. Denmark Lab verifies denied iBook flaw. Feedback on buying your software, go open source. Backups and restoring. Tip on using OS X Smart Folders. Upgrading your notebook hard drive. Tip, using 2 iTunes Libraries, 1 Mac, and an AppleTV. Firewalls and opening ports, what are the risks? Docking a notebook

New music, Santa Barbara by Andrew Osenga [ iTunes ]

Promo for the Suite Pineapple Hotel Podcast

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Now you can “knock out the fat” and pump out some killer tracks at the same time. In the “now I HAVE seen it all” category we have the George Foreman iGrill. For USD$149.00 you get an indoor/outdoor electric grill with a built-in 10 watt amplifier and speakers. The site doesn’t provide many details, but it looks like it will support any MP3 player, so I assume it is using the 1/8″ mini jack to connect to the grill, and not the iPod’s 30-pin dock connector. From the images it looks like there is a holder near the base of the grill where you would set your iPod. I am guessing the speakers are also mounted near the base of the grill. Now, in checking Apple’s iPod tech specs the rated operating temperature is 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C), so it’s a good thing the iPod is kept far away from the grill, but I imagine that doesn’t make for convenient operation. I would also worry about hot grease splattering and raining down on my precious Pod. Definitely not for most, but if you would like to hickory smoke some ribs and listen to the Maccast I’m not going to stop you.

Earlier this week there were reports of a new iPod game, “iQuiz” surfacing on the French iTunes store and then quickly disappearing. Well I was just on the iTunes US store (12:51 AM PDT 4/24/07) and saw the game featured on the main page and for ONLY $0.99? I of course clicked through immediately and the resulting page showed the standard price of $4.99. Unfortunately when I tried to buy a copy it reported that the item was no longer available. Bummer. Not sure if this means they are launching it today and just getting it set up or if it is another fluke. Just in case I grabbed a screen shot (below) and a screen capture of the preview video. Basically this looks like an updated version of the iPods previously built-in “name that tune” style game with a much improved interface and graphics. It also claims to have the ability to create and share your own quizzes, so that should prove fun.

Update: Well… Looks like it is official and it’s only $0.99! Great price, but no scoop here. Darn. Looks like I just caught them setting things up in the wee hours of the morning.

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A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 184. Security Update 2007-004. iTunes contact negotiations will get pushy. Apple TV expanding “big box” presence. MacBook Pro successfully hacked in security contest. Please sign the Save Net Radio.org petition. BBC iPlayer will be coming to the Mac. Clearing up the 720×304 video on iPod confusion. Feedback on OS X Active Directory support. Buy your software, please.. Review of El Gato eyeTV Hybrid. Combo Updater can offer a magic fix. Tip for creating quick playlists from a selection in iTunes. Thoughts on Apple allowing re-downloading of purchased content from iTunes. Concerns over bulging MacBook Pro batteries. Apple sees significant market growth in a year.

Teach Mac double rewards offer

New music, The World Is Over by The New Addiction

Yeah, and we’re not going to fall for a banana in the tailpipe. — Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

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A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 183. Apple delays Leopard. iPhone on schedule. The Octo Mac has arrived, performance results. The 100 Million iPod March… ok April. MGM flicks roar onto iTunes… more like meow. New Apple TV and Get a Mac ads. Airport Extreme Basestation update. More Apple TV hacks. Apple may have bigger “media center” plans. Rumors of 6G iPods before 2008. NAB: Final Cut Studio 2. Let Them Hear You promo. Corrections and follow-up, how to type ellipsis, EMI DRM Free album pricing, Screen Recycler, locking down wi-fi to one access point, photo syncing with Apple TV. Review SRS iWow Plug-in. 720 x 304 resolution video on an iPod. Active Directory support in OS X. Review: Koloroo iPod “Widgets”. Listener recommended quick tips. Using the AirDisk on new Airport Extreme. Don’t foregt to write your Teach Mac modules for double rewards. The new Maccast.com web site.

New music,Heavy Women by Ray Schinnery

Promo for the Let’s Get Down to Earth… Science Podcast.

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Hey Geeks. I hate to keep doing this, but I am still not ready to get a show out too you and it’s KILLING me. Just so you are kept “in the know”, here what’s up. I recently went back to a day job and needless to say I have been putting in some killer hours. Add to that an hour long commute each way and I have been a little spent in the evenings. I need to reorganize some things and try to get back on track. I think I am almost there and I should have the show done this weekend. Sunday is going to be a full day of podcasting starting with the Loop in the AM, so if you are dying for your Maccast fix join us there. My hope (fingers crossed) is to have the next Maccast up and posted that evening. Believe me, as much as you hate this delay I hate it more. You have been awesome with your emails of support and understanding and I can’t thank you enough for those. I think after this weekend I will have a handle on my new schedule and be back to the regular weekly Maccast schedule. Until next time…

Just wanted to write a quick note to address a few concerned emails I have received recently. I realize I am a couple days late in getting out the next show, but rest assured I am currently hard at work on the next cast. I will fill you in later, but in essence with the Easter holiday and some other personal things I have fallen a bit behind. I actually paused briefly from my show prep just to make this post. As you can see, I also recently re-launched Maccast.com with a brand new design so that distracted me a bit too (what do you think?). I think it was worth it. Please don’t read anything into this delay beyond the fact that I have a busy schedule. The Maccast Loop was also skipped last week due to Victor (Typical Mac User) being off on a well deserved vacation. Expect the Loop to be back this Sunday as scheduled. Thanks for understanding and I will talk with you soon.

Just in case you missed it… Apple quietly added the 8-core “Octo” Macs to it’s line up of Mac Pro systems.

More details available on Apple’s Mac Pro website.

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A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 182. Apple Unveils Higher Quality DRM-Free Music on iTunes, Other iTunes Store & iPod News. Apple opens first retail Store in Italy, Boot Camp update adds Vista support, AirPort Base Station Update 2007-001 for Mac, Cingular offers iPhone ship date details. Follow-up: Recycling your old computer. My experience with AppleTV. Apple TV OS hacked to boot on MacBook. Changing or creating keyboard shortcuts. Review of File Salvage. Using times zone support in iCal. Can you lock the Mac to one wi-fi access point? Teach Mac.

New music,Wind and Wings by Derek Clegg [ Buy on iTunes ]

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I’d like to share some brief thoughts about an application I discovered about a month ago (via the magazine MacUser here in Britain) called Scrivener. You can find it on the web at

I’d been using Word or Pages to write my essays for some time, but was always aware that I didn’t feel entirely comfortable writing in those environments. But then I happened to read a review in MacUser UK for Scrivener. It is a brand new app from Keith Blount, a writer who learned Cocoa and became a developer so that he would have an application he could enjoy writing in. Naturally I was intrigued, so I downloaded the trial copy.

From the start, it was obvious that Scrivener had a very different philosophy to the staple word processors. In some ways, it isn’t even a word processor; it’s a draft-builder. Instead of worrying about formatting, Scrivener lets you work on your draft—the actual text—and manage the whole book/essay/play as a large project rather than a continuous flow of paragraphs and pages.
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