Apple with INTEL Shipping Today

Wow, what a day for news on the Apple front, with one BIG surprise that I did not expect.

The big surprise was the update to the iMac, so soon after the recent updates to iMacs with the iSight camera built in. Today, Apple announced two new iMacs, both remaining the same form factor as the previous generation, but with new Intel Dual Core processors.
The 17inch has a 1.83GHz Dual Core, 160Gb Hard Drive and 128Mb VRAM, the 20inch has a 2.0Ghz Dual Core, 250Gb Hard Drive and option to upgrade to 256Mb VRAM. On the memory front, they both sport 512Mb RAM.

They are also bundling iLife 06, which sports some changes... more on this later.

I was right with my other prediction - NEW INTEL POWERBOOKS.

Two models, both sporting 15.4inch screens, extra bright displays, built in iSight camera, new power supply magnetic connection, superdrive, ethernet, FW400, USB2, Bluetooth, Airport. What separates the models. Well here goes;
1.67GHz Dual Core Processor, 512Mb RAM, ATI Radeon X1600 with 128Mb VRAM, 80Gb SATA Hard Drive.
1.83 GHz Dual Core Processor, 1Gb RAM, ATI Radeon X1600 with 256Mb VRAM, 100Gb SATA Hard Drive.
Both have options to upgrade various components, both come with iLife 06.

Foursome of Apple Announcements

Sorry, it has been such a long time since I last posted any updates.
It has been very hectic of late with so many Apple updates as well as new StickiT skins for the Apple iPod Video.

So what have we got from Apple, to top out the awesome Nano.

First up is beefed up spec PowerBooks. The 12" unfortunately gets nothings, whereas the 15" and 17" get higher resolution and higher brightness displays, dual layer superdrives, DDR2 memory, better (and faster) choice of hard drives, as well as some minor internal changes and a new sleep mode feature. The sleep mode feature takes a snapshot of your current work when you put the PowerBook to sleep, so you can change batteries without losing data.

...So not a massive update for the PowerBook, but still worthwhile.

Then there was the announcement of Dual Core PowerMacs and a Dual Core Dual Processor BEAST OF A MACHINE which will really fly. New max memory and superb graphics cards will certainly see this latest revision keep people happy until MacTel next year.

Aperture next, now this sounds exciting, Professional RAW image management and processing. Definitely not a Photoshop competitor, but something for pros to add to their digital workflow that looks the business. I will take a more in depth look at this in a separate article.

Almost forgot, the iPod Video, or as Apple put it "iPod with Video". Superb (if a little small) screen, nice and bright, new slimline cases with flat front (similar to the Nano) and available in black and white.

Just quickly before I sign off, StickiT skins (as previously posted for the Nano) are also now available for the iPod Video, so head on over to ebay to get your order in now.

New StickiT Skins for iPod Nano from Europe Digital

Everyone who buys an iPod Nano is going to want to keep it scratch free.

The trouble with putting it in a case is that you cannot see the awesome design of the Nano and it also adds to the overall size of the iPod. Well, head on over to ebay and bag yourself a StickiT.

This new product from Europe Digital (seller name on ebay europedigital) sells a thin plastic skin that covers the front, back and screen of the iPod Nano. The click wheel, top controls, dock connector and headphone socket remain fully accessible.

All for a very reasonable cost of £4.99.

The StickiT is available worldwide and looks like a very wise buy.

Click here to see the StickiT

So the iPod Nano takes on Mork

Very quick post here, with an iPod Nano on the way, I keep seeing forums with users giving various meanings for the word 'Nano'.

Now, I know this is not entirely correct, but I thought Mork (aka Mork & Mindy) used to call Orson (excuse the spelling) with 'Nano Nano, Mork calling Orson, come in Orson'.

Now if I was Robin Williams I would be straight onto the lawyers for a cut of Apple's profit :-)

New Mighty Mouse !!! FIRST POST TOO !!!

Hello and welcome to the first posting to Geekanoids. This site has been published to bring you news and reviews of all the latest, greatest (and not so greatest) gadgets. Anything remotely resembling a gadget, console, or game will appear on these pages. Where possible, as well as the latest news, we will try to offer up some full reviews too. So here goes with a very short review of Apple's New Mighty Mouse.

Ever since the birth of Apple, users (of which I am one) have been given the choice of a one button mouse, or, errrrr, a one button mouse. PC users sneered, savvy Mac users maybe gave in and bought a two (or more) button PC mouse, and so it was written that if you wanted to use an Apple mouse you had to use your keyboard to modify the type of click.

 Now with the mighty mouse, we have a choice. The top of the mouse still only has one button, which is made up of the complete top of the mouse. There is also what I would describe as a nipple, which acts as a all-way scroll ball.

Back to the buttons, well this is the clever bit. The top of the mouse is touch sensitive, so depending on which finger pushes the button down, this determines if you get a left or right mouse click. In theory and in the main this works very well, but if you do one left click and then a right click (without slightly lifting your left finger first) the mouse actually gets it wrong. This is because it thinks you are still holding the left mouse button down.

The nipple works very well and allows for vertical, horiztonal and DIAGONAL scrolling, it is superb, and the mouse even emits a small clicking ratchet type noise from its' speaker. Yes, you heard me correctly, Apple's new Mighty Mouse has a mini piezo speaker built into it. Superb or what !?!

Finally, there is also two side buttons on the mouse. The unfortunate part is that do not work independently, they act as one button, which can be assigned various functions.

Overall thought, the Mighty Mouse is a giant leap forward, it feels great, very smooth, and with a few software tweaks, I am certain it will be a real winner. Buy this item with confidence, but put aside a little time to adjust to it.