British Mac Show Notes

Episode BritishMac060

			NEWS

			Headlines

			Apple, O2 announce iPhone in UK September 18, 2007 - At a media event in London Tuesday, Apple announced the details of the iPhone's roll-out in the UK. True to previous Think Secret reports, the iPhone will be available November 9 in the UK and will mirror the model offered in the U.S., including featuring 8GB of storage and EDGE wireless networking. As widely reported in recent weeks, Apple has parterned with mobile provider O2 for the iPhone's UK launch. O2 will offer iPhone-specific service plans, like AT&T offers in the U.S. All plans included unlimited data and pricing starts at £35 for 200 minutes and 200 SMS text messages. While many media outlets expected Apple to disclose details of its other European iPhone plans at Tuesday's media event, the company will do so later at other country-specific media events, as Think Secret reported last week. Sources expect details of the iPhone roll-out in France will emerge around September 24, while an announcement detailing plans in Germany is also expected this month. Both countries are also slated to receive the iPhone in November, albeit later in the month than the UK

			New iPhone updates add features to iPhone, but breaks cracked Phones The device gains: - loud speaker and receiver volume; - a shortcut to phone favorites or music controls; - the capacity to intelligently insert periods and spaces; - Mail attachments are viewable in portrait and landscape; - Apple Bluetooth Headset battery status in the Status Bar; - support for TV Out; - A preference to turn EDGE/GPRS off when roaming internationally; and - adjustable volume alerts.

			Up next for Apple: the return of the Newton By Kasper Jade Published: 10:00 AM EST Apple Inc, which helped spawn the PDA market with its Newton MessagePad line in the early '90s, plans to give the concept another go with a modern day reincarnation of the old fan favorite based on the company's new mutli-touch technology, AppleInsider has learned. For Apple, the ongoing project represents its second stab at reinventing the PDA since the Newton met its fate in the late 90's -- the first of which never saw the light of day and is only known to have existed based on a one-off comment from chief executive Steve Jobs over three years ago. Speaking at the 2004 edition of the Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference, Jobs stated that he was proud not only of the products Apple had released in recent years, but also the products the company had decided not to ship. When asked by an audience member to elaborate, Jobs said simply, "an Apple PDA." It appears that Jobs and Co. never gave up hope, and instead returned to the drawing board. For the past 18 months, well-respected sources tell AppleInsider, a small team of Apple engineers have been at it again, this time tapping the company's revolutionary multi-touch technology as a foundation. During that time, sources have observed the project slip in and out of limbo, as Apple struggled to meet its self-imposed June, 2007 launch date for the iPhone. In at least two instances, the company pulled software engineers off the project to assist in the completion of the iPhone software, only to return those same engineers to the their original task months later. With the initial iPhone now out the door and two successive models well underway in Apple's labs, it's believed to be full steam ahead for the modern day Newton project. Like iPhone and the iPod touch, the new device runs an embedded version of Apple's Mac OS X Leopard operating system. Externally, the mutil-touch PDA has been described by sources as an ultra-thin "slate" akin to the iPhone, about 1.5 times the size and sporting an approximate 720x480 high-resolution display that comprises almost the entire surface of the unit. The device is further believed to leverage multi-touch concepts which have yet to gain widespread adoption in Apple's existing multi-touch products -- the iPhone and iPod touch -- like drag-and-drop and copy-and-paste. Artist rendition showing approximate size ratio to existing Apple handhelds \| Artwork by audiopollution. More broadly characterized as Apple's answer to the ultra-mobile PC, the next-gen device is believed to be tracking for a release sometime in the first half of 2008. Assuming the project remains clear of roadblocks, sources believe it could make an inaugural appearance during Jobs' Macworld keynote in January alongside some new Mac offerings. Still, manufacturing ramp and availability would seem unlikely until closer to mid-year, those same sources say. As AppleInsider has hinted in recent months (1, 2), the next-gen PDA will signal the advent of a fifth core business segment (fourth if you discount Apple TV) for Apple, but at the same time represent just smidgen of what's to come from the company's new multi-touch platform, which has already proven to be a game-changer.

			Quick News

			Apple polishes iWork '08 apps Stability and performance tweaks all round on software fix Friday Jonny Evans Apple has issued a trio of updates for its iWork '08 applications, Keynote 4.0.1, Pages 3.0.1 and Numbers 1.0.1. All three updates are described as maintenance releases, with particular regard to improving performance problems. The Keynote update addresses issues with presentation builds; Pages gets some help with change tracking, while Numbers has had some table-creation problems repaired. Keynote 4.0.1 (31.1MB); Pages 3.0.1 (27.8MB); Numbers 1.0.1 (26.1MB). All three updates are also available through Apple's Software Update mechanism.

			Third party updates through Leopard? Will Apple finally enable third party application updates through Software Update? Jonny Evans Apple has raised the required system specifications for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard - and has begun testing technology that will enable the delivery of updates to third party software using Software Update. The latter feature has been a fabled mission for Cupertino since Mac OS X first shipped, but the company has been unable to complete on that mission. This seems set to change. The latest version of the pre-release build of the OS requires developers to download the latest HP drivers using the Software Update feature. An HP representative told MacNN the reason for the independent download is to test out the notion of third party downloads through Software Update. "Although listed in Apple’s last developer Leopard Seed Note as an 'Issue', the recommendation to use Apple’s software update process to install the HP driver set for the Leopard developer seed is actually a test scenario, not a driver problem or bug issue," the representative said. The representative also confirmed that the update mechanism will not update these HP drivers unless a printer from the company is connected to the Mac, or the Print Driver has an HP printer enabled. In related news, the same site reports that Mac users will require an Intel processor or a PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) or G5 processor in order to install and run Mac OS X 10.5.

			and finally...

			Frankenwidget

			St. British Mac

			Uncle Mac's SiestaP

			Ye Olde Mac & Mouse

			Hi Will. Hope you're keeping well. I thought this link from DHL may be of interest to you and your listeners as DHL do a good job in explaining the difference between import duties and VAT that people in the UK have to pay. People often forget that the EU charges non-EU imports a surcharge as well as the VAT. Oh, it's great living in the UK, isn't it?! http://www.dhl.co.uk/publish/gb/en/information/shipping/about_duty_and_vat.high.html All the best, Mike

			RE Apple employs Umpa-Loopmas - maybe not so far form the truth http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/citations/sent_to_mordor_1/ "send to Mordor" Hardware techies at Apple are regularly sent from California for intense two-week shifts to the city-sized FoxConn factory in Shenzhen, China where iPods are made and tested. Internally at Apple this is known as "being sent to Mordor."

			im guessing youre likely to have seen this. http://www.stephenfry.com/blog/ -- Matthew Maber, UK

			Hey Will, I have just finished listening to your latest show and am finally up to date with all British Mac has to offer! I have just discovered a great tip for you. In Safari, you are browsing around and you want to do a google search without losing the page you are on. Go to the Google search bar and type in your search. Now hold down he command (apple) key and press enter to go do the search... Voila your search opens in a new tab... Still learning new things 17 years after my first mac experience... Keep up the great show. And please let the world know your thoughts on the pricing of the iPhone contracts... I think they are ridiculous!!! Has anyone told you you sound like Steven Merchant from "the Office"? And that's a good thing by the way!! CHEERS Joel Mills Newcastle upon Tyne

			Will, I hope that you will be delighted to hear that the Truphone team have successfully managed to demo SIP VoIP calls over WiFi on the iPhone at DEMOfall in San Diego earlier today, Hurrah! Google search on < Truphone iPhone VoIP > should give you a load of references. Andy Abramson (of VoIPWatch) has posted a short video of the indomitable James Tagg and Alistair Campbell (who also invented the LCD Touch Screen) in San Diego showing how things are done! I am currently in Phoenix, Arizona doing similar demos at ASTRICON (the Open Source Telephony conference). Feel free to call me on my iPhone on either +1 201 323 2921 OR +44 797 88 00001 For short bio details - Google search for < "James Body" chemistry disruptive > - your "You were only supposed to blow the bloody door off" clip makes me smile every time - cos I once blew the door off an airing cupboard (unstable homemade detonator production - oops) -- James Body

			http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2007/09/27/227059/truphone-allows-free-iphone-voip-calls.htm

			Hi Will read this.. http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/customers-ask-is-apple-going-rotten/ I am afraid I feel the same way Will. I am addicted to the quality products but have totally lost faith in their ethos. Christian

			Hi Will, Just wanted to drop you a note to let you know I listened to last weeks British mac on my new iPod Touch; and what a beauty it is! Looks great, the user interface bit is awesome... Not that I'm trying to review it here, but I think this is the device we have been waiting for. A few negatives, no mail and you can't update calendar directly into it; you have to do it via your mac and sync. If it had a notepad and mail it'd be 100% satisfaction! However, I downloaded an episode of 'lost' and was indeed lost within 5 minutes, the wi-fi you tube and safari is a god send, saves powering up the mac just to read the BBC news. However the best bit is I can now purchase and download from the iTunes store straight onto the iPod; although I can't find podcasts on it. Anyway, great show as always. Cheers! Charlie.

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