Gefen has announced that its HDTV Switcher, 4×1 HDTV Switcher, and HDTV Splitter products have been re-engineered. The company has done so "to address connection issues between new DVD players and set-top boxes with DVI or HDMI ports and HDTV displays with HDMI inputs." In their place, Gefen is announcing the HDMI Switcher, the 4×1…
Jobs House One Step Closer to Moving; Preservationists to Object
After months of wrangling over a 78-year-old, 17,000-square-foot mansion in southern California Apple CEO Steve Jobs doesn’t want, it appears someone is willing to take it off his hands, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Sunday. The paper reports 30 enquiries have been made into the property. Mr. Jobs, who has described the house as “one…
Apple Hot Deals Update For J&R
A pple has updated the Hot Deals page for J&R at the Macintosh Product Guide. The Mac Product Guide is a list of Mac compatible hardware and software products on the market. The Hot Deals section of the Product Guide features several Mac retailers and special offers that one can only get, at least in…
Dr. Mac: Rants & Raves - iMac G5 Review: The Director's Cut
My other column, Dr. Mac, runs every Tuesday in the Houston Chronicle. Writing for the newspaper is a lot different from writing for The Mac Observer (TMO). The newspaper column is the same length-roughly 500 words-every week; TMO columns can be as long or as short as the subject requires. Newspaper columns don’t have screen…
iPontificate: I Want My gMac!
I recently started working for a new client in the publishing industry. My job is to help the IT manager, who is versed in the ways of Windows, keep about ten Macs running smoothly in the company’s production area. Now, the IT manager is a good guy, and to protect his identity I will refer…
HD Production: 24 Days in the Valley, Part III
24 Days In The Valley: The Life And Times Of An HD Production In South Texas In Part I and II of this series, I introduced readers to the production of Harvest of Redemption, a High-Definition narrative feature I shot in the Texas Valley. In Part III I will cover the technical aspects of the…
Just a Thought - iPod Pretenders
Just in case you somehow missed it; Archos, Virgin, and Dell have announced iPod or iPod mini killers. These are just the latest in a series of iPod wannabe. There are some features in this batch that might catch the attention of a few, but ultimately, I believe these will wind up as the other…
Apple Sells 150 Millionth iTMS Download; 4 Million Per Week [UPDATED]
Apple announced Thursday that it had sold the 150 millionth download through the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) since its launch in April of 2003. The company also says that customers are now downloading some four million songs per week, putting the company on track to sell 200 million songs per year. “Crossing 150 million downloads…
Fortune Recommends iMac G5, Disses Windows Security
Fortune magazine’s Peter Lewis is the latest to talk up Apple’s new iMac G5. In a review titled “Apple All-In-One Is One For Almost All,” Mr. Lewis offers the now-familiar praise for the iMac G5’s design, looks, display, speed, etc. He also criticizes the 64 MB video card Apple included in the unit as “paltry,”…
TMO Reports - Earnings Conference Notes: Retail Good; Q1 Outlook Bright
Aside from the main headlines of Apple’s stronger-than-expected earnings, the announcement of six mini retail stores and Hewlett-Packard selling over 100,000 iPods, a number of other important pieces of news came out of the analyst conference call on Wednesday. Here is a short synopsis of other interesting developments: Apple’s total direct revenue through online and…
TMO Reports - G5 Supply Delays Still Affecting iMac, Power Mac Sales
Consumers wanting G5-based Macs may have to wait a while as supplies of G5 processors from IBM continue to fall behind demand. In a conference call with Wall Street analysts, Apple said Wednesday that inventories were getting better, but that it didn’t expect supply to meet demand until sometime this quarter. Apple sold 229,000 iMacs…
Microsoft Issues Security Warning & Update For Mac Office
Microsoft has issued a critical security warning, as well as accompanying updates, for Mac Office v.X and Mac Office 2001. The most recent version of Mac Office (Office 2004) is not affected. The security flaw is specifically found in Excel, and could allow someone to execute code that would allow them to gain complete control…
QuickerTek Boosts PowerBook Whip Antenna Signal Strength
The company says the new design of the WhipPro more than doubles signal strength, offering a 5.5dbi gain signal strength for both the Titanium and Aluminum PowerBooks. Users can expect both a gain the wireless range and in the signal-to-noise ratio, the company said. In addition, the new design offers a new attach/removal method to…
HP Sells 121,000 iPods (UPDATED)
HP introduced the Apple iPod by HP in late August, making for approximately one month of real sales, making the results impressive as HP ramped up its distribution during that time. While declining to comment on the details of HPis rollout, Tim Cook, Executive Vice President – Worldwide Sales and Operations, noted that another benefit…
Service Pack 1 for Office 2004 Fixes Security, Bug Issues
Microsoft said the update is the largely the result of customer feedback in identifying a variety of problems. “Our customers who use Office for Mac every day are a valuable resource because they put the product to the test in real-life scenarios that expand on our experiences in the lab,” said Scott Erickson, group product…
MacWireless Releases New Antenna Boosters
Weive been very busy here in the MacWireless offices preparing new products for release, and we are pleased to have arrived at launch-time for a couple of products that we are excited about. If you are looking to expand the existing wireless coverage of your AirPort base station, wireless router or wireless card, the 11g…
Computing with Bifocals - Mariner Write: Word Processing for the Rest of Us
I have often said, and will say again, that the Mac version of Microsoft Word is far superior to the PC version of the same application. It is also, in my opinion, superior to AppleWorks as a word processing application. However, that does not mean that I particularly like Microsoft Word. It only takes me…
M-Audio Releases Two New Virtual Instruments: Darbuka and Latigo
M-Audio has released two new virtual instruments for the Mac, Darbuka and Latigo. The two new instrument packages focus on the percussive, with Darbuka specifically aiming for a "Middle Eastern" sound, and Latigo catering to Latin American sounds. Both products were developed by Wizoo, and are being distributed by M-Audio: From M-Audio: Darbuka and Latigo…
Music Labels Pressuring for Common Download Standard, Report Says
Jay Berman, the chairman of global trade body the International Federation of Phonographic Industries, (IFPI) told the paper music labels have come together to put pressure on technology companies to establish a common standard for downloads. He admitted discussions with the IFPI and the Recording Industry Association of America have begun to work towards a…
Magnatune Now Offers Music CDs
< A href="https://www.magnatune.com/">Magnatune, the independent, Internet only music label, announced that it will start selling CDs of all 322 albums it currently offers as downloads. The company says that CDs will include cover art and a CD case, and will be delivered to your door. Offering CDs seems to go against the apparent trend by…
Apple, Thai Government Agree on Cheaper Mac Poject
Apple Computer has agreed with the Government of Thailand to sell Macs below market price in an initiative to get more personal computers in the hands of the nation’s people, the English language newspaper The Nation reported Wednesday. The offer will reportedly begin later this month for an undetermined period as part of a government…
First Albany Rates AAPL a 'Buy'; Raises Target to US$44 (UPDATED)
First Albany Capital has issued a ‘Buy’ rating for Apple’s stock, raising its target from US$35 to $44, saying the company is likely to report its fiscal fourth quarter earnings per share one cent ahead of the industry concensus of 18 cents. Analyst Joel Wagonfeld told clients in a report obtained by The Mac Observer,…
CTO of Infoworld Embraces PowerBook, Can't Quite Ditch ThinkPad
Chad Dickerson, the CTO of Inforworld, has been spent the last year managing his magazine’s IT infrastructure from a PowerBook. In an article for his magazine, he says that he has embraced his PowerBook, though he can’t quite ditch his IBM ThinkPad. While he has been able to use Mac OS X to work in…
Australian IT: Windows Desktop Stranglehold Slipping
David Frith has penned an editorial for Australian IT that rounds up all the recent trends away from Windows and towards the Mac. From those trends, he concludes that Windows security issues and the strength of Apple’s iPod has put a chink in the armor of the Windows dominance of the computing world. From the…
