Google made their first UK exhibition this year, with what could only be described as the ‘most colourful stand’ at the show. Throughout the three days their theatre, complete with Google colour, comfy cushions, showcased their complete product line-up. Google Maps got a brilliant reception from the crowd.

My favourite Google application was SketchUp, which offers some superb 3D drawing features, with great integration with the Google online community. You can upload you creations to share with millions. The standard version of SketchUp is free, whilst SketchUp Pro 5 costs £315 (USD$499). It is available for Mac or PC. The Mac version is PPC, but runs pretty good under Rosetta. A universal version will be released early next year.
This was a really ‘good feel’ stand and certainly was creating a lot of buzz.

Check SketchUp out here.

Mac Expo London – End of Day One: Wow, what a busy day, trying to split my interest with the big players and the smaller vendors too. My day kicked off with the Quark launch of ‘Quark Interactive Designer’ posted online earlier today. The most important note of this launch (apart from a great product) is the pricing. Grab it now whilst it is on special offer for just £69, but fear not, even the full asking price of £139 is very good.

Onto the main Mac Expo show floor and things are very busy from the off. There is a lot of buzz and visitors seem genuinely enthusiastic. The one thing I picked up on very early was the number of people I heard discussing a MacBook purchase. Asking a few of them after their initial questions to Apple revealed that they were new to Apple. I must have spoken to at least twelve new users that had made their first Apple purchase at the show.
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by Dave Cryer
RouteBuddy, a first siting for myself, is a GPS solution for the Apple Mac. Gone are the days relying on Route 66 (which has not seen an update for many years). Routebuddy delivers one standalone app which intergrates with Garmin GPS devices (more device support to follow). Once purchased, all updates are free, with new maps available at an additional cost. Geocaching is built right into the software, with topographical data being added at a later date.

Head on over to www.routebuddy.com for the full lowdown.
Price: $99.50

I know Adam isn’t the biggest fan of the concept the rumored Apple iPhone. So, instead of talking about rumors, let us leave them aside for a moment and practically consider a scenario where Apple were to sell a mobile phone.

The “I wish Apple would make a” Syndrome

The consumer expectations bar is always high for Apple. The general public looks to it as a problem solver. Apple is a leader in thinking through technical tasks and making them easy for everyone. That’s why we’re always hearing: “I wish Apple would make a …”. And when I say Apple, I think much of the credit goes to Steve Jobs, who is nothing if not a perfectionist, and we’re all beneficiaries of it.
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ProfCast 2.0, a Macintosh application that allows users to record and publish their presentations as podcasts, is now available.

ProfCast allows users to integrate their lectures with their PowerPoint or Keynote presentations. Once the user saves it as a podcast, people who missed a lecture can download the podcast to a Macintosh or Windows computer or a video iPod and view the presentation. The lectures can be listened to on devices without video as long as they support the m4b format. Many educators in both the US and abroad are using ProfCast to create podcasts of their lectures so that students can have access to information covered in classes.

If you would like to try out ProfCast, a 15 day trial version is available. ProfCast can be purchased for the new affordable price of USD$29.95. For more information about ProfCast or to download the trial version visit the ProfCast website (http://www.profcast.com).

The Apple Store, Otay Ranch opens at 10:00 AM tomorrow in Chula Vista, CA and I will be there. I will probably arrive early to get in line, between 6:00 and 7:00 AM. The doors open at 10:00 AM and I should be there about an hour after that, so if your in the area and can make it out I would love to meet you. It should be a great time and I will have some Maccast schwag to give out. See you there.

[audio:http://media.libsyn.com/media/maccast/MC20061026.mp3]
Download today’s show here!
MC20061026.mp3 [32.2mb 01:10:16 64kbps]

A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 163. New MacBook Pros. “DVD Jon”‘s new venture. Selling iTunes DRM. Intel Xserve ship date slips to November. Bluetooth proof-of-concept exploit released. Apple releases preliminary 4th quarter financial results. Apple store iPod thefts on the rise. Apple releases iPod Shuffle fix. Apple also releases FinalCut Express HD update. Are MacBooks showing early signs of wear? Correction on fixing iPod restart issue. MacBook RSS fix is now working. iPod virus follow-up. Software recommendations for managing serial numbers. Migrating Outlook contact to Address Book. Managing iPod playback order. Getting around the iTunes tax. Speeding up the Dashboard. iTunes 7 and the disappearing podcast bug. More tips on deleting Mac Apps. Software to better manage and use iPhoto keywords. Locating large files in OS X. Fix for the iCal Alarm issue. Backups and drive formats. Toggling info in the iPod graph in iTunes 7. iLike not the first iTunes music social network service. Fixing battery, power and fan issues on your Macs. ScreenCasts Online Offer.

New music, What I should have said by Melissa

There’s always work at the post office. — Hollywood Shuffle (1987)

Shownotes: HTML or OPML
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Today, Quark launched their new product to the world. In a packed Apex Suite, right next to Olympia, London, all was unveiled.

“Quark Interactive Designer” allows the use of Quark Xpress 7 and Server Edition, to build fully interactive content. Design for web, print and interactive multimedia, all from within Quark. With full support for Flash (SWF), multiple video formats, with nice add-ons like zooming in on an image, the package mean “No more need for a separate web app or Powerpoint.”

It is available to order today, for Windows and as a Mac Universal application.
Retail price: (USD)$199. Special intro price until April 1st, 2007: (USD)$99. Students get the best deal as they get the new “Quark Interactive Designer” free of charge until until April 1st, 2007.

Interested in learning to play the guitar? Optek Music Systems has a combination of tools to make every amateur a sexy-mad professional rock star in mere hours.

Announced to the press: “Macintosh users can now advance their guitar playing skills in significantly less time than learning from books, charts, and endless hours of tedious practice.” Be careful of the hype. Isn’t it written somewhere that all great artists must suffer? No matter how great this GarageBand plug-in might be, it doesn’t appear to imbibe the would-be Jimi Hendrix with instant skill, and every decent guitar player is proud to have a handful of practice-made calluses.

Optek Music Systems produces four Fretlight guitars: the FG-401 Acoustic, FG-405 Acoustic Electric, FG-421 Electric and FG-451 Pro Electric, ranging in price from $429.95 to $899.95. The new Garageband plug-in allows a Mac to power the lights that are embedded in the guitar’s fretboard, which signify chords and scales. Using the plug-in, a Fretlight Guitar can be added as a GarageBand instrument to light any chord and scale, to create custom sequence lists and to cycle through them with a footswitch, and also to drag and drop loops or songs into the timeline.
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The Mac Expo London starts tomorrow, running from Thursday 26th through Saturday 28th October. Head on down to the National Hall, Olympia, London. It promises some great product announcements, workshops & competitions. Great fun for everyone. Mixed with vendors selling from the show floor, there are bound to be some bargains to be had.
Amongst the news, Quark has been sending out invitations for a worldwide new product launch. I will be attending the seminar and letting you know the news as it happens.

For those of you who can’t make it to London, check back throughout the next three days, for regular updates and photos of the event.