British Mac Show Notes

Episode BritishMac019

				NEWS

					Intel-based Xserve due this summer From MacWorld. May 31, 2006 - Apple's Xserve may find Intel processors inside of it ahead of any Power Mac upgrade, sources report. Intel is currently on track to deliver Woodcrest, the code-named successor to its Xeon processor targeted at servers, in June, and sources say Apple is eying the release of the first Intel-based Xserve around July. Apple's Power Mac systems, meanwhile, are expected to make the transition to Intel processors with the Core 2 Duo, code-named Conroe, for which Intel is targeting a July release. It has been widely speculated that new pro systems will debut around Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference, which takes place in early August. If Apple goes ahead with such a plan, it would not mark the first time its Xserve has trumped the Power Mac in performance. Apple quietly started shipping Xserves with 2.3GHz Power PC G5 processors when the Power Mac still topped out at 2GHz. Meanwhile, sources inside Intel are reporting that Merom, the laptop-friendly version of the Core 2 Duo, remains on track for an August release, indicating a new MacBook Pro may arrive soon afterwards, depending on when Apple chooses to employ the new chip in its products.

					Quark pricing RIPs off Britain By Karen Haslam There appears to be significant discrepancies between the pricing of QuarkXPress 7 in the US, UK and Europe. In the US the standard version of QuarkXPress 7 retails at $749 before sales tax. As a direct conversion that would be £401 or €584. However, in the UK the standard version of QuarkXPress 7 retails at £749 excluding tax, that’s £879 with VAT. At today’s rates that is the equivalent of $1,398. And in Europe you are looking at paying €1,299. That works out at $1,665. So if you are in the UK expect to pay about double what your US cousins are paying. Europeans will need to fork out more than double for the privilege. Adobe’s pricing isn’t a lot better. A standard version of Adobe’s Creative Suite 2 costs £809 in the UK (excluding VAT). It’s $899.95 in the US and €1,699 in Europe.

					Apple is PC World's Best Hardware Hardware Company of the Year With a huge RD budget and a single-minded despot running the show, Apple once again introduced products that made everyone else look bad. iPods (#36) that play video have created a new market for reruns, Core Duo-based Macs (#35) have expanded the market for Intel chips, and Boot Camp software (#10) has opened the door to running Windows on the Mac hardware. We continue to hope that some of the Cupertino crowd's design ideas will trickle down to the rest of the tech industry. Web Company of the Year Yahoo has progressed far beyond being a mere search engine; it has emerged as the number-one online developer, on the strength of great revamps of Yahoo Mail (#30) and Yahoo Maps (#56), smart acquisitions of Web stars such as Del.icio.us (#93) and Flickr (#78), and development of the Yahoo 360 personalized Web spaces and of the Yahoo Music Engine (#73). Google may get a lot more attention, but Yahoo has been getting more things accomplished. Software Company of the Year In the 1990s, Adobe was known for its professional software; its dumbed-down consumer products didn't fare so well. Now, however, the company makes stellar $100 apps that regular folks can use--for example, Premiere Elements 2 (#7) and Photoshop Elements 4 (#11)--while continuing to improve its pro applications. How can Adobe afford to sell an app with 90 percent of Photoshop's power for only 10 percent of its price? Volume, volume, volume. Worst Company of the Year We get the feeling that Sony doesn't trust people. Many of its ills over the past year involve copy protection: First was the fiasco with its music CDs, which installed rootkits on PCs to hide digital rights management spyware, thereby exposing the computers to viruses. Then came delays in the delivery of Blu-ray drives due to difficulties implementing a second copy protection scheme. And as a result of the Blu-ray problems, Sony had to push back its PlayStation 3 console to November. All this from the company that virtually pioneered copying with the Betamax.

					Nike & Apple Comments According to Business Week, when Nike and Apple designers met for the first time 18 months ago, the teams simply clicked. "Both companies are technology-driven companies. It's just that we work in completely different areas of technology," Jobs told the publication. "We are semiconductors and software, and Nike is anatomy and precision-molding and thin-film technologies. What's interesting is the people are very similar."  Other challenges centered on the life of the sensor's non-replaceable battery, which Apple says will last close to 1,000 hours.  "Wireless takes power," Jobs told Business Week. "The last thing you wanted was a wire going down your leg. It looks deceptively simple and that's how it should be. It took a while to get it right. But there is a lot of technology there." Not Bluetooth!  Keeping the price of the kit at $29 was also crucial, according to Jobs. He wanted everyone to be able to afford the technology, which he claims is 90 percent accurate straight out of the box.   Parker said there are about 4 million Nike+-ready running shoes in circulation right now, a number could soon balloon to 10 million. In all, Nike plans to offer seven styles of shoes that will be iPod-ready. They'll include the just-announced Air Zoom Moire and several other models from the company's Nike Shox and Air Max lines.

				UNCLE MAC's MAC MOMENT

				If you want to narrow your search right off the bat, you can add a category when you type the term in the Search field. For example, if you’re looking for a song type “kind:music” (with no space in between or quotations), then add one space and type the name of the song. Wonderful.

				St. BRITISH MAC

				Ripping DVD's - you naughty children! By Mike Bradbrook.

				YE OLDE MAC & MOUSE

				Top Ten Games Count Down.

toptengames

				Best of the Original Mac Games Vol 1 Freeverse Software brings you a collection of FIVE critically acclaimed Mac games developed originally for OS X. Action, strategy, arcade funtheres something for everyone! Practically BURSTING with fun, this set includes: Active Lancer - Join Lancer Squad, an elite team of flight capable soldiers, on their current mission to defeat the diabolical war machine of an alien army bent on taking over the universe. Taking the battle to the alien factories over the diverse landscapes of their home world, Active Lancer pits you against a never-ending onslaught of alien ships, tanks, boats, and gun turrets over 15 levels of increasing intensity. It's straight up vertical scrolling arcade shooter action. (4 mice, MacWorld) a throwback to the golden days of shmups but offers enough new embellishments to keep the action challenging and fun for gamers young and old. It features elaborate 3-D cinematic sequences worthy of a big-budget game, as well as a lavishly illustrated and lushly rendered environment. It's also got a body-rocking soundtrack and game play up the wazoo. - Macworld Kill Monty is the game that spanks your adrenal gland and makes you call it ""Papi"" with wave after wave of non-stop monkey zombies! (4 mice, MacWorld) an homage to classic arcade shooters such as Robotron: 2084 and Smash TVand a useful reminder that games dont have to be complex to be a lot of fun. - Macworld Airburst Extreme - Unravel the mystery of the Mars Media Megacorp as you compete in balloon-popping matches across the solar system. 10 characters, 32 game types, dozens of powerups and furious action makes Airburst truly ""extreme!"" (4.5 mice, MacWorld) An amped-up sequel to Freeverse/Strange Flavours 2001 award-winner! The action is fast, furious and fun Macworld Deep Trouble 2 All New! Features 11 levels with gorgeous and detailed graphics made possible by the use of OpenGL's vertex and fragment shaders. Bump mapping, dynamic shadows and other advanced techniques add to the highly detailed graphics. OpenAL is being used to bring out great sound effects that will immerse you into the game together with the suspenseful music. Starbase Defender (4 mice, MacWorld) Intense action! This 2004 MacWorld Game Hall of Fame winner evokes old-school space shooters. Support original Mac development! Price (RRP): £24.99 Publisher: Freeverse Software Rating: Teen Product code: BEST1 Barcode: 080627050138

				My Dead iPOD

				Open Step on a PC

				Frapper names missing: Ian Rycroft Wayne LeFevre New Frapper Members are... http://www.frappr.com/britishmac

				Pub Chat shout out! Phil Waller has come up with the great idea of a iChat pub chat in this section. We choose a topic before hand, arrange a date and time and have a live chat about Mac stuff in the Olde Mac & Mouse. If you're interested please email britishmac@mac.com. My iChat user name is britishmac if you're ever online.

				Next weeks my birthday so no British Mac because I'm going to London for the weekend. I'll get some Regent Street Mac photo's whilst I'm their and do a review of the store.

				BRITISH ICON

				Vimto was first formulated in 1908 by Manchester herb importer John Noel Nichols, who saw the market opening for soft drinks due to the temperance movement and the passage of the 1908 Licencing Act (which attempted to drastically reduce the number of licenced premises in England and Wales). It was originally sold under the name Vimtonic, which Nichols shortened to Vimto in 1912. It is currently made by Vimto Soft Drinks Ltd, a division of Nichols plc. It has acquired cult status amongst its consumers and celebrates its 100 year anniversary in 2008.

				Tommy Cooper

				Tommy Cooper took up show business on Christmas Eve, 1947 after seven years in the Army, and rapidly became a top-liner in variety with his turn as the conjuror whose tricks never succeeded. However, it is probably his television work that catapulted him to national recognition. After his debut on the BBC talent show New To You in March 1948, he soon started starring in his own shows, and was popular with audiences for four decades, most notably through his work with Thames Television from 1968 to 1980. On April 15, 1984, Tommy Cooper collapsed from a massive heart attack in front of millions of television viewers, midway through his act, on the popular ITV variety show, Live from Her Majesty's.