British Mac Show Notes

Episode BritishMac077

			News

			New MacBook Pro Glass trackpad, glossy screen, two Nvidia GPUs and much more in latest MacBook Pro Jonny Evans Apple's all-new MacBook Pro packs new NVIDIA GPU, glass trackpad and At 0.95inches is Apple's thinnest-ever MacBook Pro. Apple today confirmed details of its new laptops, confirming the MacBook Pro offers a new Nvidia GPU, a glass trackpad and is manufactured using one block of aluminium which is precision-crafted to act as the main chassis of the device. The system offers black keys on the aluminium frame, and contains Nvidia's new 9400M GPU + chipset which hosts 16 parallel graphics cores that deliver 54 gigaflops of graphics performance. Even more interesting, the system also hosts a second graphics processor, which users can switch between depending on what tasks they are involved in or theur battery life needs. "We've got a new trackpad for notebooks," explained Apple CEO, Steve Jobs. "It's a gorgeous, large, multitouch glass trackpad for notebooks. It's 39 per cent larger tracking area than before, it's multi-touch for gestures, it's glass for silky-smooth travel. And we've optimized the co-efficient of friction on the glass, so it's really beautiful. And the entire trackpad is the button. It gives you more area on the trackpad and keeps you from hunting for that button. You can get multi-button support from software. And we've added some new four-finger gestures that are really nice." Two configurations: $1999 (£1,399), 15.4-inch LED-backlit display, 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / 3MB L2. 2GB 1066 MGhz DDR 3 memory. Both Nvidia cards. 250GB hard drive. Slot-loading SuperDrive. $1999. $2499 (£1,799), 15.4-inch LED-backlit display, 2.53GHz processor, 6MB L2, 4GB of memory, 512MB on the 9600M Gt, 320GB hard drive. Upgrades: 2.8GHz, 4GB mem, SSD, and more. "Shipping today. They should hit stores starting tomorrow."

			New MacBook The MacBook range has been broadened and improved, with Apple CEO Steve Jobs describing the product as the best-selling Mac ever made. Apple hasn't stopped there - the company has broadened the MacBook range with the introduction of aluminium models, manufactured using the new 'brick' manufacturing process and using an LED display. These new MacBooks are like smaller (13-inch) versions of the MacBook Pro, with the same metal casing, a glass trackpad, faster graphics (using the Nvidia 9400M introduced today across Apple's new range) and a Mini Display Port connector. Battery life is five hours. And, like all the Macs introduced today, Apple has focused on ensuring the new Macs are environmentally friendly in construction. Ever the showman, Jobs said, "This is the most eco friendly MacBook ever in the history of human existence." These new models are considerable more expensive than the older ones. Starting at $1,299 (£949): 2.0GHs Intel Core 2 Duo, 3MB L2 cahce, 2GB DDR3 memory, 160GB hard drive and SuperDrive. The $1,599 (£1,149) model offers a 2.4GHz processor, a 250GB hard drive and - borrowing heavily from the MacBook Pro - a backlit keyboard. These new models are available from today.

			The entire new MacBook family meets stringent Energy Star 4.0, EPEAT Gold and RoHS environmental standards, and leads the industry in the elimination of toxic chemicals by containing no brominated flame retardants, using only PVC-free internal cables and components, and using energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury- free and made with arsenic-free glass. "Apple has invented a whole new way of building notebooks from a single block of aluminum. And, just as important, they are the industry's greenest notebooks," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "The new MacBooks offer incredible features our users will love - like their stunning all-metal design, great 3D graphics and LED backlit displays - at prices up to £350 less than before." "Traditionally notebooks are made from multiple parts. With the new MacBook, we've replaced all of those parts with just one part - the unibody," said Jonathan Ive, Apple's senior vice president of Industrial Design. "The MacBook's unibody enclosure is made from a single block of aluminum, making the new MacBook fundamentally thinner, stronger and more robust with a fit and finish that we've never even dreamed of before." The new MacBook line features the powerful new Nvidia GeForce 9400M, a 3D integrated graphics processor that features 16 parallel processing cores and delivers up to five times the 3D graphics performance of previous MacBook and MacBook Air designs. Apple has worked together with NVIDIA on the chip, which makes its market debut in the new range. The new smooth glass MultiTouch trackpad on the MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro gives users almost 40 per cent more tracking area than before, making gestures like pinch, rotate and swipe easier to accomplish. New gestures allow users to activate Expose or switch between applications at the touch of a fingertip. The entire trackpad surface is also a button. Every member of the new MacBook family features an LED-backlit display that uses up to 30 per cent less energy than its predecessor and eliminates the mercury found in industry standard fluorescent tube backlights. Every display in the new MacBook line uses completely arsenic-free glass. "The new MacBook delivers the top three features that MacBook customers have told us they want in a new MacBook - an all metal enclosure, high performance 3D graphics and LED-backlit displays," Apple said, adding, "at an entry price that is £350 less than the £1,299 price of the MacBook Pro." Just 0.95-inches thin and weighing just 4.5 pounds, the new 13-inch aluminum MacBook costs from £949 and features the new GeForce 9400M graphics processor. The new MacBook is available in two models: the 2.0 GHz MacBook with a 160GB 5400 rpm hard drive, and the 2.4 GHz MacBook with a 250GB 5400 rpm hard drive and a backlit keyboard. The powerful new 15-inch MacBook Pro at only 0.95-inches thin and weighing just 5.5 pounds offers ultimate performance and extensive expansion features in a remarkably portable design. Starting at £1,399, the MacBook Pro uses the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors available, running up to 2.8 GHz, and a new graphics architecture that allows users to switch between the GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor for better battery life and the powerful GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics processor for higher performance. The new MacBook Pro is available in two models: a 2.4 GHz model with a 250GB 5400 rpm hard drive and a 2.53 GHz model with a 320GB 5400 rpm hard drive. Apple also updated MacBook Air and the 17-inch MacBook Pro. MacBook Air, measuring only 0.16-inches at its thinnest point, 0.76-inches at its maximum height and weighing just three pounds, now includes new GeForce 9400M integrated graphics and a faster architecture to provide robust support for 3D games and enhanced performance. Starting at £1,299, MacBook Air is available with a 120GB 4200 rpm hard drive, a 50 per cent increase from the previous generation, or a new 128GB solid state drive. The updated 17-inch MacBook Pro keeps its original aluminum design, and now comes standard with a high resolution 1920 x 1200 LED-backlit display and a larger 320GB hard drive or an optional 128GB solid state drive. Every model of the new MacBook family achieves EPEAT Gold status. Each MacBook unibody enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminum and hosts energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic- free glass. The new MacBook family meets stringent Energy Star 4.0 requirements, contains no brominated flame retardants and uses internal cables and components that are PVC-free. The new MacBook, 15-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air include a next generation, industry-standard Mini DisplayPort to connect with the new Apple LED Cinema Display. The Mini DisplayPort is ultra- compact at just 10 per cent the size of a full DVI connector, perfect for the sleek design of the new MacBook family. Adapters are available for using the MacBook's Mini DisplayPort with older generation VGA, DVI/HDMI and Dual-Link DVI displays.

			Old Mac Book Stays too Referring to the existing white plastic models, Jobs explained, "We sell a ton of these, and people love them," Jobs said. "They sell for $1,099, and we're gonna keep right on selling these, but we're going to reduce the entry price to $999." However, in the UK the price has gone from £699 to £719. It does, however, now sport a SuperDrive rather than the CD/RW-DVD combo drive previously found on the entry level MacBook.

			MacBook Air updates Apple introduces two new MacBook Air computers Jonny Evans Apple today introduced all-new MacBook Air configurations, offering a 120GB hard drive, and confirming reports which also predicted a 128GB SSD option would be made available. The new models contain the extremely powerful Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics processor, it also gains the Mini Display Port Apple also introduced in its MacBook Pro range today. Equipped with a 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and boosted with 6MB L2 cache, the $1,799 (£1,299) system has a 13.3-inch LED-backlit display and 2GB 1,066 MHz DDR3 memory as standard. A second model which costs $2,499 (£1,799) carries a 1.86GHz CPU and SSD drive. This ships early next month.

			FileMaker has introduced Bento 2, offering multiple improvements to its popular personal databasing software. Bento 2 links with Apple Mail; works with Excel, Numbers, and AppleWorks; and adds many spreadsheet style functions. The software also links RSS feeds to contacts, events, projects, and other information stored in Bento. Users can export spreadsheet data from Excel and Numbers directly into Bento 2 to view and use that data in beautiful Bento 2 forms, and also import Bento 2 data into the spreadsheet apps. New software features include spreadsheet style data entry; the ability to edit records and modify forms without ever changing modes; view and edit table and detail records in split-view on one screen; and even the capacity to link to Google Maps and online chat. There's also ten new themese and the facility to share templates with other users. “We found that the majority of Bento users were keeping track of their lists in spreadsheets, so we’ve added many new features to Bento that will make spreadsheet users very comfortable, while also accomplishing much more using Bento,” said Ryan Rosenberg, vice president, marketing and services, FileMaker. Bento 2 costs £29, or £59 for a family pack of five licenses. It requires Mac OS X v.10.5.4 Leopard on a Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5 or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor. A minimum of 512MB of RAM and 1GB of hard drive space is recommended. A CD drive is required for installation of boxed software.

			OpenOffice 3.0 is available now Microsoft faces serious challenge as well-featured free productivity software ships Jonny Evans After three years development OpenOffice.org has introduced OpenOffice 3.0, the most advances version yet of its completely free Microsoft Office competitor. OpenOffice.org 3 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common platforms. This version promises a host of new features including native support for Mac OS X without need of the X11 windowing software. OpenOffice.org integrates well with the Mac OS X accessibility APIs, and so offers better accessibility support than some other Mac OS X applications. The software is also extremely stable and fast-performing the developers said, adding, "Some Mac users have switched to OpenOffice.org just because of its extremely good stability." OpenDocument Format (ODF) 1.2 support, Office 2007 import filters, excellent charting and drawing tools, collaborative features and enhanced XML support and updated XSLT based filters round up this impressive release.

			The British Mac Magazine

			The Pussycat Club

			Say Hello and introduce yourself r

			Welcome to our new friends!

			Hi all, am sat on a bus heading for narita airport, Tokyo listening to episode 73. It's gonna be a long flight home but at least i will have photoshop, garageband and a macbook air to keep me company. The best bit is when they flick the lights out and the keyboard lights up like something out of randle and hopkirk! Thought I'd see if I could send a post at the same time - and hey presto looks like I can! Ahh the magic of iPhone ..thank you for your podcasting masterclass will - fantastic stuff!! Mwah to all, Mark / oomska

			Such an enjoyable machine the Macintosh and this forum is the conduit of love which, can can only improve our experience! Im Kefty from South Oxfordshire btw! Ive been listening to the podcasts since about 51 I think. Hello everyone

			Hi, my name is Scott and I have been a BritishMac listener for a couple of years now. I have the dubious honour of being the founder of the Fans of BritishMac facebook group too, though I have to be honest and say I havent dropped by there for some time due to pressures of time. I am Head of IT at Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals where I look after IT support for a large Windows network ( 4,000 PC's ). Macs have been my hobby for about 4-5 years now since I bought my first iMac, though I did have an early Mac laptop many years ago ( System 7 days ) which I used for a while. In my spare time I also run a UK Mac blog called UKMac.net ( http://ukmac.net ) which has been gradually getting more traction, though again I struggle to spend the time I would like to on this. I did have the pleasure of a night out in Ironbridge with Will last year and have to say he is just like on the podcast, a jolly nice bloke if not a little eccentric ( which I am sure he will agree with ! ) Cheers anyway Will, we will have to meet up with James again at some point and share a Guiness or three ?

			Hello, I'm Alan and I've been listening to Will's podcast since about episode 10. It's a joy to listen to, and Will is such a happy and generous-spirited bloke. We're really lucky that he takes the time and effort to do his stuff. My first mac was a G3 imac graphite special edition, and I bought it mainly to run Cubase and to write music. I also bought a 1st-gen 5GB iPod, which is still working! Then I bought a 2nd-hand G4 angle-poise imac that I still have. More recently, I've owned a couple of macbook pros - both bought new off ebay at much reduced price. I also have an AppleTV that I absolutely love. It is simply superb. I use it as an iPod for my telly. I also have a 160GB iPod classic and a 32GB iPod Touch (I should sell one of them, really). So you get the idea... I'm an Apple addict. I don't get around to doing much music stuff these days, even though I've got Logic Studio. In fact, probably the most recent thing I made was the Olde Mac & Mouse theme tune (write da feem toon, sing da feem toon) for Will. These days most of my creative work is video-based. I've got Final Cut Studio and I do a lot of corporate work with Motion (self-taught). Anyway... thats me. Cheers. Alan.

Hi, Just arrived at the forum, having found the podcast first via iTunes. Looks interesting. Looking forward to future visits.

Milemuncher (because I am into cycling and biking.)

			Hello All, Have been listening to the podcast since ep 71 (?) and love it! Thanks to Will for his unique style look forward to a lot more. Brucie

Hi my Name is Damian. I've been using Macs since 2002. I have my own Landscape Gardening business and live in South East Wales in a Town called Monmouth, although i am English.
I have yet to meet ForumCat but we do frequent another rather good Mac Forum even though it can sometimes be a bit flakey.

			Hi. Another refugee from the same place as Damian. I'm Heather, and I've been a Mac user longer than I can remember. I'm a freelance designer and artworker, specialising in absolutely everything. I'm currently rediscovering a passion for photography. I'm happy to report I've met ForumCat a couple of times now. =o)

			Hey. I'm from the same place as Heather and Damian! Haha. I'm Louise, been a Mac User for nearly 2 years now. Got my first Mac at the beginning of 2007, and I loved it. And now I have my MacBook I've only spoken to ForumCat via iChat and of course the other Mac Forums

			I too have jumped ship from the place formerly frequented by CC, Heather, Damien & Louise. I have, however, taken the opportunity to re-name myself with an anagram I discovered using the wonderful Internet Anagram Server. I'm not sure what reality is, but I think that my real name is Tim. I am a Baptist minister in inner city Manchester, but in my spare time I chair our local hospital. Oh yes, and I also run the local credit union. I can bore for England on any/ all of the topics above but will spare the forum. If you want to know about credit unions feel free to PM me.

			Evening all, JackC or Cj.

			Designing a website

			http://britishmac.proboards105.com/index.cgi?board=help&action=display&thread=299&page=1

			Desert Island Applications r

			The British Mac Desert Island Cocktail

			Hi Will I've just finished listening to episode 0071 of British Mac (shaken, not stirred) and thought I'd send you a list of favourite app's to forward to Gavin on the desert island. Us Gavin's have to stick together! So here's a list of applications that I use on a regular basis and which make my life a little bit simpler. Open Office - When I switched over from PC a couple of years ago I thought I'd see if there was an alternative to Microsoft's Office suite. Imagine my delight when I came across an open source set of applications that seems to do everything that MS Office does but for free! Freemind - is a mind-mapping application that allows you to quickly record ideas in a graphical form so you can see how different concepts relate to one another. Useful for recording ideas in a hurry. Mac Journal - Does what it says on the tin really, an app for recording a journal or diary with photo and video capabilities. Omni Focus - As a life-time member of the "Laid-back and lazy" school of working I thought I'd try out David Allen's GTD (Getting Things Done) approach to productivity which is all the rage at the moment and OmniFocus is designed with just that concept in mind. I'm not getting any more work done but my To Do list is beautifully organised now. RapidWeaver - After using Apple's own iWeb application for a while I came across RapidWeaver and have to say that it's made my web design work so much more straightforward. It's a wysiwyg web design tool with a host of plug-ins available and is really the one app that I would hate to have to do without. Also, I've listed a couple of system utilities that aren't concerned with productivity and which most Mac users will probably already know only too well but as a relatively new Mac user I found these to be really useful so perhaps giving them an airing will benefit other new Mac converts too: Onyx - A comprehensive system management application that keeps your Mac ship-shape and Bristol fashion. Quicksilver - So much more than just an application launcher. I use mine to control iTunes and a host of other applications. Growl - A system notification app that's easy to customise. iStat - System analysis tool that you can get either in the form of menu bar icons or as a widget. A great way to keep an eye on system resources. CoconutWifi - sits in the menu bar and tells me when wifi networks come within range. Handy when you're looking for an unsecured network to use. Lastly Will, I've noticed that you're not including the tone at the end of your podcasts any more and I'm missing it. It was like the tone that used to come on the TV after all the programmes had finished for the evening and I think was introduced to wake up anyone who'd fallen asleep in front of the tele. Now, obviously, nobody ever falls asleep listening to a British Mac podcast but the professional way you produced and delivered that audio tone summed up the production values of British Mac for me and looking forward to hearing it did at least mean that I'd listen all the way to the end of every episode ;) I hope that some of the above apps may be of interest to Gavin on the desert island and might perhaps give him something to think about other than the Polynesian beauties that it's rumoured he's been partying with day and night. Cheers Gavin Gough

			Uncle Mac's Pro Moment

			Switcher Part Three

			Frankenwidget

			Ye Olde Mac & Mouse

			Christmas Party...

			Hi Will, I had some problems with the iMac last week and had a very painful few days talking to AppleCare on the telephone but took it into my local repair shop (under the extended warranty plan) and they installed a new hard drive, PSU and added some more RAM for me. What's most unbelievable is that I've just got the whole thing restored back to full health with all settings, docs, etc in under an hour from my time machine backup....wow!!! I hope you're well, Andy

			Hi Will, Hope all's good. Had a problem the other night with the Mac Mouse scroll ball refusing to, well, scroll. All sorts of solutions were suggested, one of which involved dismantling the thing. Went to YouTube where a young American boy had put up a video explaining how to do it - and it worked for me. Strange little film, great advice: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=T-lIE6lKiFk It worked for me. Dead simple and nothing more deadly than a cotton bud, water and a sheet of paper. Might be one for your faithful. Also, bought the iPhone 3G a week or two back. Amazing and lots of fun, but where's the video camera and why is the Bluetooth facility so limited? But at least I can use maps and, after 53 years of wondering, now know where I'm coming from. Yours aye, John Visit John Edgar's website at www.storyjohn.co.uk

			British Icon