Well the big event is on in just a few hours. Unfortunately there is no live video stream of the event (but I am sure you can expect a delayed QuickTime stream to show up on Apple.com a few hours after the keynote). So that’s the bad news. The good news is there will be many blogs and sites offering near real-time “text” based coverage of the event. Below you’ll find a list of several sites that should be delivering all the WWDC goodness about as fast as they can auto-refresh it (please don’t flood the servers). I myself will be blogging my reactions and impressions along with some other Mac Geeks over at http://wwdclive.wordpress.com/. Also if you would like to get in on some reral-time chat with other MacCasters, then fire up iChat (AIM) and go to the chat room ‘maccast’.

Updated: Added more links to live coverage.

WWDC Coverage
WWDC Live (I’ll be blogging here)
MacNN
MacRumors
MacTeens
The Apple Blog
PodTech (Podcast with Photostream)
ars technica (IRC)

Listen to today’s show here!
MC20060803.mp3 [25.8mb 00:56:17 64kbps]

A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 152. Scandinavia still not satisfied with iTunes, but France has a change of heart. iTunes Europe sells over 200 million songs. NBC ‘Heros’ on iTunes three weeks early. Apple .Mac outages annoying users. Apple removes Discussion Board support staff. Apple recalls MacBook Pro batteries. Misquote leads to iPod life-span complaints. Hackers demonstrate wireless vunerability on a MacBook, headlines don’t tell the whole story. Apple releases 4th security update for 2006. MacCast One Minute Tip #19 – Hot Corners. Follow-up on Network attached storage, lots of recommendations. A warning, beware of aging power adapters. Resetting the PMU/SMU to fix power issues, sleep and other issues. How to have your Mac read to you. Loads of speculation on upgrading Intel Mac processors. A tip for Enhanced MacCast listeners, burn audio CD with chapters. I explain the “subliminal” image in last MacCast.

New music, That Song (Is Stuck In My Head) by Full Minute of Mercury

Promo from Answers for Freelancers

With excitement like this, who is needing enemas? — Short Circuit (1986)

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I just saw this post over on ArsTechnica and was a bit taken back. Seems like Josh Aas of the Mozilla group was out browsing for music and discovered the Wu-Tang album “Think Differently Music – Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture” and after buying a CD single noticed something familiar about the image of the full album featured on the back of the single (see image on right). Well it turns out this is not just a new album, but a whole new record label formed by members of Wu-Tang called Think Differently Music Group. There is no word yet on whether Apple has any connection to the project, but I would think it is highly unlikely. The article notes that Apple still owns the trademark on “Think Different” and that the Wu-Tang page has a ® next to “Think Differently Music Group”. I see some trouble brewing here. After all the hoopla from Apple Records over Apple and the iTunes Music Store, can you imagine what kind of trademark questions this is going to raise? The Wu-Tang lawyers may need to start sharpening their pencils and their tongues. That or the Wu-Tang should be getting their pens out and preparing to write some fat checks. If your interested the album is available on iTunes.

Apple’s Mighty Mouse can’t seem to catch a break. I’m still amazed at the bad reviews it gets. And almost all the reviews of the new wireless version seem to have the same ‘Too little, too late’ mantra.

This review may be a little different. I have been using a Mighty Mouse exclusively for the past ten months, and I couldn’t be happier. It seems to address nearly every beef I’ve ever had with other mice. These three points are where the Mighty Mouse shines for me most:

1. Size & Weight
I have a problem with large, bulky mice (I don’t have dainty hands, by the way). The way I mouse, I basically use my thumb and ring finger to move, and index and middle for clicks. I have never liked ‘mitting’ my entire mouse. Too many mice that are ‘ergonomically’ designed seem to REQUIRE you to do a full on, sweaty-palmed wrap around. As a lifelong Mac user, I’ve always worked with quick mousing and lots of keyboard shortcuts. I don’t get stuck into the right-click, click, right-click, click mode that Windows traps you in. That is just too slow and constricting for me.

The Mighty Mouse is svelte, lightweight, and easy to glide. It has a low profile and symmetric Tic-Tac like shape. It’s easy to grab, move the pointer, and get back to the keyboard. You don’t need to conform your hand to the shell of the mouse just to move it.
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STM Loft (USD $59.95)
Website: stmbags.com (Buy now from RadTech)

Taking a cue from the latest MacRoundtable Podcast episode I thought I would do a mini review of the STM bags, specifically the Loft bag, as we became a supplier at work a few weeks ago.

We have a range of STM bags in the showroom, but by far my favorite is the Loft. While Sports 2 is the official educational bag for Apple in the US (for good reason; they carry everything a student could need), the Loft is much smaller and suits people like me who like to carry everything we need, but limit ourselves to not carrying the things we don’t.

Loft comes in two sizes; medium (15″) and small (13″) and is produced in two color combinations; grey & grey or tan & orange (depending on whether you are a PC user or a Mac user). The bag seems incredibly small when you get it in your hands and yet holds a lot. I took a medium sized bag and tested it with all my work papers and pads, a 15″ MacBook Pro, power cord, Ethernet cord, iPod connector and a range of other power cords I typically carry and it was great. My iPod fit into the small pouch on the strap, the notebook felt very secure and protected with the padding and extra “lid” on the Loft. It genuinely felt lighter than carrying the exact same stuff in my usual setup; a regular backpack with a cheap notebook sleeve in it.

I think build quality is one of my biggest concern with notebook bags since my current backpack is starting to wither. The straps (on my current bag) are coming apart from the bag, the bottom is looking thin and overall I don’t want to carry any real weight in it anymore. With the Loft however the build quality is such that I would feel comfortable carrying anything in there, especially with the extra padded strap so your shoulder won’t hurt. It feels strong both in the materials and in the stitching. In addition, the strong metal clasps on the straps (something most manufacturers cheap out on with plastic) make it feel even more secure and make me believe it’s robust enough to last for a least a few years of good use.

Of course it looks great and not at all like a laptop bag, so I would feel more secure walking around town with it (the reason I have my current setup). In short; I am getting a small one as soon as possible in the hope that I will someday be able to afford a MacBook. I love it, and can sell this product just like I do my Macs; with absolute confidence in every aspect of it’s design and ability.

One final note to you Mac Mini owners; you may want to checkout one of STMs other offerings, the Mac Mini lunchbox. One thing is for sure, STM knows how to appeal to an Apple owners sense of cool design.

The folks at iProng will be at Action Sports Day, a Southern California event for extreme sports enthusiasts, tomorrow Saturday, July 29th, 2006 and they invited me to hang out at their booth. The iProng booth will feature a variety of iPod-related festivities including demo stations for all current iPod models, podcasting seminars, and interactive demonstrations of the latest and greatest iPod accessories.

Action Sports Day will feature extreme sports stars showing off their skateboarding and BMX skills on a large half-pipe ramp. Athletes scheduled to appear include 2005 X Games Gold Medalist Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Lincoln Ueda, Mike Crum, Chris Gentry, Phil Hajal, Jim Burgess, and more. The event is sponsored by Soundcast Systems, makers of the wireless iCast system for iPod, who will also be hosting a booth.

Action Sports Day will take from place from 2:00 to 6:00 pm, between races at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, California on Saturday, July 29th. Admission to the event is $6.00 for adults, or free for children under eighteen years of age. The city of Del Mar is within driving distance of San Diego, Los Angeles, and all of Southern California.

You may or may not have been aware of the contest going on over at phillryu.com, but regardless it yielded some very interesting results. All I can say is that as always Mac fans are extremely creative and have amazing imaginations when it comes to what an OS can or should do. I’d be willing to bet Apples OS X R&D team will be looking over this stuff and stealing borrowing some of these concepts (lets just hope not everything). You know these are some Mac-worthy innovations because the contest was judged by talented individuals from around the Mac developer and web site community. The contest received over forty entries, so I am sure it was not an easy task to select the 3 winners who all received prize packages worth over USD$1000. The winning screenshots by Eric Patterson, Emmett Stackelberg and Adam Shutsa, as well as runners up by Nathan Ziarek, Reuben Henriques, and Stephen Siciliano are now on display and accompanied by comments by members of the judging panel. So take a look and start daydreaming about your perfect OS X feature.

Listen to today’s show here!
MC20060726.mp3 [27.0mb 00:59:01 64kbps]

A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 151. Apple releases Bluetooth Mighty Mouse. New iTunes Music store content from Warner Bros., Metalica and Beach Boys. eBooks on the next iPod. Apple patent for rumored “none touch” technology. FinalCut Pro backup tip. Follow up using bare drives with connection adapters. My thoughts on buying a new Mac. When to buy and how do you choose the right Mac. Getting better battery life from your Mac notebook. Network attached storage for OS X. What to do if iWeb options are completely grayed out on your new Mac. Reminder to support your OS X software developers. Getting your preferred MacCast feed back.

New music, Why? by Reel

We’ve got a piper down, I repeat, the piper is DOWN! — So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)

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I love Skype, but ever since they were bought by eBay it seems like they have been having a hard time getting the Mac client up to feature parity with the PC client. Well, looks like they have finally posted the official Skype for Mac with video preview. Of course it is a preview so we can expect bugginess to ensue, but at least we can play with it. Now if they could only add Skypcast support… Oh well, I’ll take the features as I can get them. Thanks Skype, I still love you.

Can losing the cord save the mediocre Mighty Mouse?

Well at least Apple finally caught a clue and fixed one of my major complaints about the Mighty Mouse. It should have been Bluetooth from the beginning, especially since every Mac currently ships with Bluetooth built-in. Now, I actually bought an original Mighty Mouse and I was really excited about finally having an Apple designed mouse with two buttons and scrolling. I even used it for a while, but the truth is it now lives life in a bottom desk drawer (a fate I feel many a Mighty Mouse may have met). My reasons for abandoning the Mighty Mouse are unknown even to me. The only answer I have is an esoteric one and it involves knowing that using the Mighty Mouse just never felt quite right. The mouse-ball was fun to play with, but was never really as practical as a scroll-wheel. The “squeeze” button was always awkward to use and the invisible right mouse button never seemed to be as functional as the button on a true two-button mouse. Lastly there was the wire. It just never made sense considering all the great wireless two-button scroll-wheel mouse options available from Microsoft, Logitech and others. So while Apple has lost the wire, and that is a good thing, I think this new revision of the Mighty Mouse may end up being the “Almost but Really Just Not Quite Mighty Mouse with Bluetooth”.

UPDATE: I just read that the new version is also laser based and not optical, which is a nice improvement, but doesn’t really fix the issues I mentioned above.