Apple releases Bluetooth Mighty Mouse

My thoughts.

Read my post

Something I missed is that it is laser based, not optical.

New iTunes Music store content

Warner Bros. TV shows including Friends, Fintstones, Jetsons and Babylon 5

Entire Metallica back catalog. Remember they sued Napster.

A new version of the Beach Boys' album "Pet Sounds" will be available exclusively through the iTunes Music Store for four weeks before becoming widely sold everywhere

eBooks on the next iPod

Engadget reports that sources tell them of the new feature

Content will be sold via the iTunes Music store.

Interesting, but even a wide screen iPod screen maybe too small. Power issues? Sony has a really nice new eBook reader with an ePaper screen due out this spring?

Apple patent for "none touch" technology

Recently filed Apple patent application for, "Proximity detector in handheld device".

In June Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou, an Apple iPod vendor mentioned development of an iPod with "none touch" technology

Among other things the patent describes, " A method for initiating floating controls on an electronic device, the method comprising: detecting the presence of an object above and spaced away from a surface of the electronic device; "

Other reports that Apple may be again using Synaptics to supply touch wheel technology for next generation iPods. Apple stopped using them for trackpads and tried for click wheels, but turned back to them for iPods.

FinalCut Pro Backup comment

Play comment from Geeks and Gods

www.geeksandgod.com

Says audio, but I think he means video files.

Follow up on bare drive adapters

They are not really for long term use, if you are going to do that get an enclosure, you need the cooling.

NewerTechnology has a Universal USB 2.0 Drive adapter (USD$25.00). Compatible with any 2.5", 3.5", 5.25" IDE or SATA device!

NewerTechnology Drive Adapter

One listener reports that under good conditions a bare drive should hold data for about 10 years.

Thoughts on buying a new Mac

Listener Parmeet was wondering...

When is the best time to buy a Mac?

Do I buy the first model in a new line?

How long do I keep my current Mac

Which model, i.e. MacBook or MacBook Pro?

Cheapest or top of the line? How much to spend?

What features?

Integrated vs. Dedicated graphics?

SuperDrive?

How much memory?

Getting better battery life

Recalibrate your battery

Do in first week of use and about once per month after. Set up an iCal reminder.

iBooks and PowerBook G4s other than the PowerBook G4 (15-inch Double-Layer SD)

Fully charge, disconnect and Fully discharge until sleep and then recharge.

Powerbook G4 (15-inch Double-Layer SD), MacBook, MacBook Pro

Fully charge and then run at full charge for 2 hours (can work as long as plugged in), disconnect and Fully discharge until sleep, turn off or let sleep for 5 hours and then fully recharge.

Save all work before sleep.

Optimize your battery settings in Energy Saver preferences.

System Preferences --> Energy Saver.

Click Show Details.

Choose Battery Power from the "Settings for" pop-up menu.

Choose Longest Battery Life from the Optimize Energy Settings pop-up menu.

Set your screen brightness to the lowest comfortable level.

Eject CDs and DVDs from your drive. If they are present the drive will spin every so often even if you are not using it.

Rip CDs to iTunes and rip DVDs to disk. Handbrake or Mac the Ripper. Reports that Tiger Apple DVD player will no longer open Video_TS folders, but I was able to open one just fine, if not use VLC or MPlayer

Mac the Ripper
Video LAN Client
MPlayer

Disconnect peripherals when you're not using them. Many draw at least a small amount of power.

Turn off Airport and Bluetooth when not in use.

Click Airport icon in menubar and turn off, or from System Preferences-->Network and choose Network Port Configurations and uncheck Airport

Click Bluetooth icon in menubar and turn off, or System Preferences-->Bluetooth and the Settings tab and click Turn Bluetooth Off.

Apple Battery page

Apple Batteries

Network attached storage for OS X

Listener Jarry is looking for a multi disk solution that is Mac compatible

Many inexpensive solutions from companies like Buffalo seem to require PC to set up. But support MAcs, generally run Linux and have web interfaces too.

SnapServer, LaCie and Iomega make some nice solutions with Mac support. But tend to be expensive, USD $500-$2000

www.snapsolutions.com
www.lacie.com
iomega.com

Another possibility is to use a old PC or Mac and set it up as a network file server. An old G$ Mac would be perfect as it has room for up to 3 drives and you can add SATA or EIDE controller cards. OS X will work fine as a solution, if you want a true server OS X Server can be bought with 10-users for USD $499.00 (database, mail server, web server, etc).

If you want to manage user access and use OS X standard look at SharePoints from Hornware

SharePoints

IWeb options completely grayed out on new Mac

Listener Andrew had this issue

Delete the iWeb application and then reinstall iWeb 1.0 from your iLife or recovery disks. Then update to 1.1.1 via Software Update.

Support your software developers

Listener Kevin points out that Carbon Copy Cloner is "donationware".

Can use SuperDuper core "clone" feature for free.

People complain about lack of OS X software, we need to support our developers.