This is so cool. I was just told by a listener that the MacCast was mentioned on the latest episode of The Gadget Show on Channel 5 in the UK. I was very excited and flattered to hear the news. Thanks to The Gadget Show and Channel 5 for even considering my show worth the mention, I am honored.

Since I obviously don’t get UK TV here in the States, I would love it if someone could send me a clip of episode.

UPDATE: Thanks to a listener I now have a copy of the segment and a DVD version is on the way. I have asked for permission to post the clip, so as soon as (and if) I get it I will post a link.

Several listeners have pointed out the fact the the Motorola E1 ROKR phone looks almost identical to the Motorola E398 (see picture). The obvious difference is the ROKR is white and adds the iTunes button, but considering the E398 has MP3 and MPEG4 support I think it is easy to tell that Motorola probably didn’t have to do much engineering on this phone. Some are already speculating on E398 hacks to add iTunes support. I still say it’s too bad Apple didn’t insist Motorola adapt the way slicker and cooler RAZR design especially in light of the Nano. I hate convergence as you know, but at least if you do it make it look cool.

Well, seems like the media spin over the so called Microsoft iPod patent is even bigger than we thought. Look at what listener Nick just pointed out to me:

I wanted to comment on something you talked about in your 8-17 show regarding Apple’s iPod patent problems. There seems to be a lot of misinformation regarding this story and I’m glad you talked about this. One thing that I’m not sure if you’re aware of though, is that Microsoft’s patent application has been turned down too, so they don’t hold the patent on this technology either. They simply turned the application in before Apple did. This is still unclear but from what I understand, the descriptions on both applications are too vague and overlap one another somewhat. The patent that Microsoft filed seems to have more in common with Smart Playlists and the way that a device could assemble a playlist by looking at a user’s habits, etc. (similar to the way Amazon.com suggests other products you might like based on products you’ve already purchased). Regardless of what happens with Apple’s patent, it looks like Microsoft will have a hard time getting the rights to this because it seems to be a pretty basic use of databases.

There is some good additional information over on the Register, read it here.

Patent Links
Apple’s Patent Filing (Robbin, Jobs, Schiller)
Microsoft’s Patent Filing (Platt)

Listener Steve (reboot98@gmail.com) took advantage of a tax free day for computers, clothes and school supplies in Missouri.

Is a new Mac store opening?
Are they just now releasing Tiger in the Midwest?
Are they giving away Ipods? Well actually yes but only to teachers.

This weekend is a tax free holiday in Missouri, for computers, clothes and school supplies. Looks like everyone was using it to buy Macs.

Here are some pics of the Apple Retail Store opening at The Woodlands, Texas

Special thanks to listeners Charlie and Eugene for sending these in.

Here is another great story from Albert who also successfully runs his business using Macs.

My Wife and I started Due, three years ago. It started out as a little maternity boutique down here in sleepy Santa Barbara.

Because we used Macs in our past careers, (in advertising and PR) we decided to run the store on Macs too. It wasn’t an easy choice at the time because there was only 2 advanced retail applications that ran on the Mac, and one of them had poor industry ratings.

So we went with POSIM (Point of Sale Inventory Management) produced by Ensign, a company based in Utah. http://www.ensign.com

Continue Reading »

You don’t often get stories of businesses switching to Macs, so whwn I received this story from listener Jamie I wanted to share it with you.

Thought you might want to hear about my Mac experience.

I am a business owner of a computer software/support company. I have for years been slaving over books and updates to keep current on programming languages and new support bug fixes. In my offices I have several Windows Servers and Windows XP laptops and desktops. You guessed it, I am (was) a PC geek.

Continue Reading »

Here is a great story of an experienece listener Michael had at his local Apple Retail Store:

I just had to tell the story of a great experience at my favorite Apple store in Salem, NH (at the Mall at Rockingham Park in Salem New Hampshire)!

On July 14th on the way to the White Mountains of NH for some camping, I stopped in to pick up a 12 inch iBook, an extra 256 MB of RAM and a trusty apple care plan for it. I was in and out in no time and en route to my first campground.

Continue Reading »

This is pretty cool and was sent in from listener Jeff.

1) Open iTunes 4.9 and open the Preferences
2) You will see the Podcasting tab with the “i” Podcast icon.
3) Now change your display to only show 256 colors and watch the icon change to a “phone” icon.

cool.

Listener Rob sent in this link to his photos on Flikr

[ Pics from Apple Store opening, Geen Hills, Nashville, TN ]