Zune on CNET - All 3 colours demonstrated

Editor James Kim of CNET gives us a nice video overview of the Microsoft Zune, which is due to launch on November 14. The Zune is Microsoft's new portable MP3 player market.
James lets us know how nice and bright the screen is and that the casing is a nice matt finish. Nice for repelling those fingerprints. He also starts up a music transfer, but in this very short video we don't see this complete. Maybe Steve was right after all and it takes ages to transfer a track over wifi.

The video is very good though and worth a look.
Link to video.

Apple’s New Shuffle Available Worldwide Friday

The "Most Wearable iPod Ever" from Apple, the new iPod Shuffle, will be available worldwide this Friday, according to a press release from Apple.

Apple’s new iPod® shuffle which I saw in the flesh at the Mac Expo London, is tiny and just so neat and appealing. It will be available in Apple’s retail stores and Apple® Authorised Resellers this Friday, November 3. It is nearly half the size of the original iPod shuffle and is just half a cubic inch in volume. It weighs in at just half an ounce and features a minimal aluminium design with a built-in clip, making it the most wearable iPod ever. The new iPod shuffle contains one gigabyte of flash memory which holds up to 240 songs. The package includes earbud headphones and a new minature dock. With up to 12 hours battery life, the new iPod shuffle is priced at just £55 (inc. VAT).

“With its ultra-compact design and built-in clip, the new iPod shuffle is the most wearable iPod ever,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPod Product Marketing. “ The new iPod shuffle completes our all-new lineup of iPods for this holiday season and beyond, and we hope it's going to be a huge hit.”

Get down to an Apple Store, Apple Authorised Reseller, or buy one from Apple UK online here.

Mac Expo London - Closing Report

I had a busy two days at Mac Expo, leaving behind the crowds with a real good feeling that this years show was a great success. More so than previous years, because I had met so many NEW mac users. From people who had attended the show to find out more, through to those who left the show clutching their new Mac gear.
One gentleman who I approached was leaving with a big smile on his face. When asked, he said, "I came here to find out about the new iMac. I had my eye on the 20 inch model". He obviously had his questions more than answered, he continued... Now I just have to convince the wife that this 24 inch model really is only 20 inches." So another new user, but surprisingly buying in at the top of the iMac range.
Whilst taking a break for lunch, the general conversation seemed to be around the MacBook and the iPod Nano. To the extreme one nice young lady was discussing how to match the different coloured Nano's with her outfits. This made me smile, knowing that Apple had hit the nail on the head.

So all in all a great show and it can only grow in size from year-to-year. I predict that this will be reflected in other shows around the world. It cannot be ignored that the Mac's popularity is growing at quite a rapid rate. The iPod and the very cost effective MacBook may well lead new users in, but the quality of product and friendly community will be sure to keep them hooked.

Until next year... enjoy your newfound knowledge and of course your new Apple purchases.

Griffin Technology - Geekanoids Best of Show

In true Mac stylee, Griffin Technology get my 'Best of Show' vote at the London Mac Expo 2006. Not only because my contact there is just so pleasant, but because the company produces the most stunning products available for the iPod today.
For example, take the iKaraoke. This innovative product turns your iPod into a mini Karaoke machine. The styling is good, the user interface well implemented and it is just one of those 'must have' products.

Griffin were all smiles on day two of the Expo, because apart from my vote, they also won the 'Mac User iPod Accessory Manufacturer of the Year' award !
The quality of all Griffin products is superb, delivered with such enthusiasm that it shines through, from the naming to the design.

Many thanks Griffin, keep up the good work, you are top of my list and iPod users from all corners of the world !

Check out the iKaraoke here.

Konica Minolta - Nice range of printers !

Konica Minolta had a nicely presented stand, showing a selection of their printer range. From the desktop 'magicolor 2530DL' through to their A3+ 'magicolor 7450'. There were plenty of representatives from the company to ask questions. Their approach was really friendly, which was attracting visitors to the stand.
The 2500 series are the desktop babies of the family. This does not mean that they skimp on features, far from it. With 5ppm in colour and 20ppm in monochrome (black & white), you can print on paper up to 200gsm in weight. This is very good by desktop standards. Print quality looked top notch, with the 600dpi engine giving nice detail to the printouts.
Check out the full range here.

Dual Tuner 'eyetv diversity' from Elgato

Elgato were showing their eyetv for DTT and eyetv hybrid units to the Mac public. Visitors were paying a LOT of attention to Elgato's offerings, with stand employees reporting massive interest.
The eyetv hybrid unit is a small USB stick device, which has both digital and analogue tuner. The software looks great, with some bug improvements of late. Scheduling for recording to your Mac is really easy. The years free subscription to tvtv (an online programme guide) means that you can schedule recordings from anywhere you have internet access. I was impressed with the picture quality that I saw.

Of note, a new product called 'eyetv diversity' is soon to be available. Units should be shipping about mid-November. This new product costs £109.99 and offers two tuners. So you can record one channel whilst watching another, or record two channels and play back a recording at the same time. Another feature is the ability to combine both tuners into one 'super tuner' for increased signal reception.

Also coming mid-November is a software update that gives you 'Picture in Picture' (PiP). This fits in well with the new 'eyetv diversity' as it has two tuners. With the other products PiP will still work, displaying a live channel inside a recording you are playing back. You could also add another single tuner stick to your set-up to get similar PiP functionality to 'eyetv diversity'.
A full review of 'eyetv diversity' will be on its' way soon after the product starts shipping.
www.elgato.com

HP deliver quality in ALL sizes

Hewlett Packard, better known abbreviated to HP were all smiles today. They won the MacWorld Best of Show Award for their B9180 inkjet printer.
Apart from the B9180 they had pretty much every printer and scanner that they manufacture on the stand, including the HP Photosmart C5180 that caught my eye. The C5180 is an all-in-one device, offering printing, scanning and a memory card reader. It also supports ethernet, which is a nice feature in this type of printer.
Large format printers were churning out glorious colour posters. I was most impressed with the Designjet Z3100, which prints up to 44" wide media. This is a real 'fine art' printer, you need to see the quality with your own eyes to believe it.
www.hp.co.uk

Google Video, Google Maps, SketchUp - Wow!

Google made their first UK exhibition this year, with what could only be described as the 'most colourful stand' at the show.
Throughout the three days their theatre, complete with google colour, comfy cushions, showcased their complete product line-up. Google Maps got a brilliant reception from the crowd.

My favourite google application was SketchUp, which offers some superb 3D drawing features, with great integration with the google online community. You can upload you creations to share with millions. The standard version of SketchUp is free, whilst SketchUp Pro 5 costs £315 ($499). It is available for Mac or PC. The Mac version is PPC, but runs pretty good under Rosetta. A universal version will be released early next year.
This was a really 'good feel' stand and certainly was creating a lot of buzz.
Check SketchUp out here.

Toast and Popcorn with Special Mac Expo Pricing

Roxio, creators of the superb CD & DVD writing application Toast, had some special offers for this years visitors.
Popcorn 2 which is a universal app right out of the box was available for just £34.08. Whilst Toast 7 had 30% knocked of its' price, bringing it down to £48.99.
I swear by Toast, which can be updated to a universal app via a software update.
For more information, click the link.

Belkin - Record in Stereo with TuneTalk for iPod

Belkin, manufacturer of many Mac and iPod accessories, concentrated on showing some of their iPod product line at this years Mac Expo. Their TuneTalk Stereo was on the stand. This neat unit plugs into the dock connector on your iPod and gives high quality stereo recording for just £59.99.
A black version is available now, with a white version sure to follow.

Make cutouts easy with Fluid Mask @ Mac Expo

Being a steadfast Photoshop user, Fluid Mask from Vertus caught my eye today. This photoshop plug-in for Windows and Mac platforms offers to make life easier for creating cutouts in Photoshop.
The demonstration I watched showed the removal of sky from quite a complex image. It was very intuitive and easy to follow, with very good looking results.
The show offer for this product is £129 (which continues through to November 8th), after which the price tag is £149. For this price you get both Mac and PC versions, plus two licenses.
Check out Fluid Mask here.

Carry your Mac in Style with Crumpler

Crumpler UK had their full range of products at the Expo. With the "Bucktaker" review coming very soon, it was nice to see visitors being very positive about this new bag. Along with the "Sophisticator", these two top of the range offerings certainly allow you to carry a lot of gear in style.
The Glory Box is also new to the UK. This is a more compact, lightweight bag for the 13.3 MacBook. It has a removable laptop sleeve, comes in red, black/white and olive. Retailing for £85 the Glory Box seems good value.
The Double Charge was also on offer, again at £85. This is a slightly larger bag, capable of carrying a 15.4" widescreen.
Check out the full range here.