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A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 213. Mac marketshare hits 8%. Apple sued over iTunes “monopoly”. Apple granted display docking patent. iPhone sales drop-off in France, up in UK. Radiohead goes iTunes anyway. iTunes Rentals looking imminent. Avon calling, Andrea Jung joins Apple Board. 8-Core Macs revealed pre-Macworld. First iPhone Trojan Horse. MacBook Pro Trackpad wake from sleep issue. How to export iMovie Project to iDVD. Setting up a kids Mac station. What’s the best format/bitrate for importing in iTunes. Leopard, .Mac, and iCal syncing woes for some. Switcher asks about Photoshop Elements for the Mac. Listener Questions. PC viruses can use a Mac.

Join us at Macworld for the Mac Meet and Mingle

A very special thanks to Russell Brown

New music, Save Me by Tripleswitch (iTunes)

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If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions. –Pulp Fiction (1994)

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Apple today announced that the entire line of Mac Pros will now come standard with two 4 core Intel Xeon Processors. That’s a total of 8 cores starting at USD$2,799.00. One hell of a lot of power. The baseline system now specs out with Two 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Harpertown” processors, 2GB memory (800MHz DDR2 fully-buffered DIMM ECC), ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics with 256MB memory, a 320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7200-rpm hard drive, and a 16x double-layer SuperDrive. Build to order options will allow you to take the processors up to 3.2GHz and bump the graphics card to a 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT or a 1.5GB Quadro FX 5600.

Now this announcement is cool and all, but the real interesting thing here is the timing. Apple typically does these quiet bumps during Macworld. This announcement has come a week early which in my mind says one of two things (maybe both). One, they wanted to get an announcement out this week and steal a little press from CES or two, Macworld is going to be HUGE in 2008. I can’t wait for next week.

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This is Episode 037 of the Maccast Loop. “The Loop”, offers a whole new way to join the Maccast community. It is recorded live each Sunday at 10:00 AM PST/1:00 PM EST. Using the Talkshoe network we offer live audience participation using text and audio chat. You can subscribe in iTunes or by using the links above and then join us live next week.

Maccast Loop – Episode 037
We are back after a brief time off for the holidays and Victor even fights back a nasty cold to make the return. In this episode we talk about how to troubleshoot wi-fi issues, what we think about rumors of iTunes adding movie rentals and what it may mean for the future of Apple TV, and get into the USB2 vs Firewire debate.

The Maccast Loop is your opportunity to become a part of the Maccast. Each week the hottest topics and issues from the Maccast will be discussed and you will have the opportunity to give your feedback LIVE. Join host Adam Christianson and producer Victor Cajiao (Typical Mac User Podcast) as you become part of the show. Share your thoughts, opinions, tips, tricks, and knowledge of all things Macintosh. The Maccast Loop completes the circuit, closes the loop, and brings the Maccast community even closer.

Thanks to my audio engineer and producer, Victor Cajiao (Typical Mac User Podcast [iTunes]) and to all the listeners and participants who make this show possible.

Looks like an observant Maccst listener, Fred, may have found the source of that secondbMacBook Pro wake from sleep issue I told you about on the last show. Despite the recent patch from Apple, many of our listeners were still experiencing a problem with their MacBooks where the trackpad and keyboard would become unresponsive after waking from sleep. Fred discovered that in his case his Remote Buddy software (a great app that I have recommended on the show before) may be causing the issue. He wrote the developer and sure enough there seems to be a bug in OS X’s handling of the USB bus when waking from deep sleep. If you want to know all the down and dirty facts there is this post up on the Remote Buddy support forums. In my understanding is that there appears to be a bug in the IOKit with connections made using the IOUSB*UserClient. This issue seems to effect the newer “Santa Rosa” (I still hate this term as it is technically not correct) MacBooks. In these models the USB bus for the internal trackpad and keyboard is shared with external ports. When waking from sleep OS X goes through the USB bus and re-establishes it’s USB connections. The issue is the timing of events. If a 3rd party app makes a call to reset the USB bus at the wrong moment during this process, it may inadvertently lock-up the IOUSBController rendering the USB ports, internal trackpad, and built-in keyboard unresponsive. Annoying, but should be relatively easy to patch in the next OS X update. For now the workaround would be to turn off deep sleep mode or to un-install any 3rd party apps that may be triggering the issue.

If like me, you have become addicted to Twitter, then you should check out the TwitterPod application for the Mac.

If you have been living in a cave, twitter is a web based server that allows people to “micro blog”. You can enter any text that will fit in a 140 character limit. Twitter updates (or tweets) can also be delivered to your cell phone if you so desire. People twitter about blog articles they have written, what they have had for breakfast or words of wisdom as long as it fits in 140 characters. Many podcasters and bloggers have started to use twitter because you can send updates to a set of people who follow you but follow the updates, potentially, of a completely different set of people. Adam twitters at maccast (sometimes) and I (my podcast is the Amateur Traveler) twitter at chris2x.

The best twitter updates I received (or wrote) yesterday:

acedtect Happy Arbitrary Roman-derived change of annual enumeration.
leolaporte Turkish coffee and a flight to Aswan where we meet the Sun Boat IV. Sarkozy and Blair are in town, snarling the traffic.
chris2x just a thought, when Clark Kent gets new frames, does anyone recognize him?
scottsimpson For the record, a certain part of my anatomy has also been compared to a baby’s arm: my arm.
hotdogsladies GoDaddy’s checkout is like a hallway of Marines trying to hit you with a sock full of pennies. “Ow! Quit it! Don’t need ‘WebSite Tonight!!'”
CaliLewis “When we honor the potato, we honor ourselves.” Just heard it on NPR.
Ihnatko The fonts I bought from Comicraft for $20.08 each (with one freebie plus a $16 discount…details in post): http://tinyurl.com/3d36aq

And if those literary gems make you more interested in Twitter than as a Mac user one program that I would recommend is TwitterPad which has a clean interface and growl notification. It also highlights the last post you read (you can read URLs posted in a pop out panel) so it makes it easy to tell what posts are new.

Let the tweats begin.

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A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 212. iPhone firmware 1.1.3 leaked. iTunes rental rumor strengthens. Apple stock climbs, analysts bullish. What CUDA stands for. Leopard Spotlight tips. Remote control your Mac from your iPhone with Telekinesis. Set-up an animated or video desktop. Make your iCal relationships complete. Share yourself and your Mac. What do you want me to cover at Macworld? Mac Podcaster Meet-up and Mac Mingle Party (details).

New music, I Saw Three Ships by lectronin (iTunes)

Special thanks to our sponsors:

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Even a poisonous snake isn’t bad. You just have to keep away from the sharp end. — Gods Must Be Crazy, The (1980)

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One of those things that irks me about the iPhone and iPod Touch is that you can download iTunes music directly, but you can’t subscribe to podcasts. These two mobile devices are amazing because they free us from the traditional computer paradigm, but they just feel artificially limited by business model constraints. Fortunately, Matthew Smith is developing a solution called MobileCast that lets you download your podcasts directly to your iPhone, without having to first sync with your Mac or PC. Let’s take a quick look…

MobileCast is a native iPhone app, not a web app. So, at least until Apple puts out their SDK, you’re going to need to jailbreak your iPhone / iPod Touch to install this app. If you’re running a recent version of the Installer.app, MobileCast can be found in the Multimedia category. Tap to install it, like any other app. After you exit the installer, MobileCast’s icon should be located on your Springboard (the home app menu).
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If you haven’t heard of the video website Hulu, you must be living under a rock. For the past few months, it has been the site of controversy, hate, and mild like. For those who are living under rocks, let me sum it up for you. Hulu is a joint venture between NBC Universal (NBC, USA, Sci-Fi, etc) and Newscorp (Fox, FX, Fox Sports, and iHOR (International House of Republicans)). Both of them were tired of having their shows put up on YouTube, and felt that Apple was ripping them off, so they decided to make their own site. When I first heard about this site, I assumed the usual: No downloading, heavy DRM, no Mac/Linux, and only clips. Yet I signed up anyway because, lets face it, I am a sucker for a new web service (I am the guy who signed up for the Slingbox for Mac private beta even though I do not own nor have I ever owned, a Slingbox.) A few days ago I got the email that I had been accepted, and I delved into the website with the lowest of expectations. And those expectations were blown away.
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A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 211. 9th Security update of ’07. Update fixes MacBook keyboard issues. Lepoard Java 6 on the horizon. Leopard is Apple best OS launch ever. iPhone market share shows good growth. New Firewire spec promises 4x performance. Apple and ThinkSecret settle lawsuit. A little wireless networking 101. Sharing iPhotos and iTunes. Save “broken” old mac with a new battery. A word or two about Apple “refurbished” products. Previous system folders and second Application folders. Printing Holiday mailing labels from Address Book. Macworld Mac Meet and Mingle

New music, Holiday Wishes by MC Statistics

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I don’t know what to say, except it’s Christmas and we’re all in misery. — Christmas Vacation (1989)

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A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 210. Leopard owners seeing green and not envy. Canada gets iTunes TV Shows. Consumers like Apple’s new spots. .Mac sales are up. Quicktime and GarageBand updated. iPhone can do video. Apple posts Holiday TV ad. French unlocked iPhones are “country” locked. 2G plus vs. 3G iPhone. File sharing in Leopard. Keyboard shortcut symbols and tricks. Taking screenshots on the Mac.

New music, The Beauty of Exhaling by Ice Cap Fortune [iTunes]

Special thanks to our sponsors:

Circus Ponies – Free 30-day Trial of Notebook
The Gadget Locker – Save up to 20% on select items.

Marriage is punishment for shoplifting in some countries. — Wayne’s World (1992)

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