Apple Mac Mini Rant

It has been a long time since I have written an opinion piece on Geekanoids… well this is more of a rant, through pure frustration of wanting to buy a new item from Apple's portfolio.
With the WWDC coming up soon, I was really hoping that Apple would not save ALL of its announcements until then. They will be concentrating on the iPhone, which I want, but will have to wait for (being UK based), then I anticipate that the rest of the keynote will cover Leopard, which again I will purchase and install when available.
The recent announcements regarding the inclusion of LED displays in 2007, may well see the announcement of a refreshed MacBook and MacBook Pro, which again will be great, but on a personal note, my MacBook has to do at least another year before being replaced.
What I have really been waiting for is a new Mac Mini, with a Core2Duo chipset, or perhaps a Mini Tower, somewhere in between a Mini and a Pro. It seems a little suspicious to me that Apple have left the Mac Mini dragging its heals. Perhaps you could read into the lack of revision, that we may well see something special happening to the Mini at the WWDC. Then again, we have been here before, expecting big announcements and then in the aftermath of getting nowt, waiting as each week passes, hoping for a Tuesday announcement… so come on Apple, deliver us some small revisions before WWDC, or at least make it a two hour keynote and revise the complete Mac range in one go.

iPod update Tuesday? Touchscreen?

An unconfirmed tip points to the possibility of an iPod update as early as tomorrow, with a touch-screen iPod taking center stage. The timetable contradicts tips passed on from more reliable sources, which have said not to expect a 6G iPod until later this year at the earliest, but... via thinksecret



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Creative Zen Stone - Shuffle the price down

Creative are due to launch the diddy Zen Stone for a paltry £27.99 that gets you a 1GB MP3 player. It is available in six flavours, have a simple navigation control (aka Shuffle), drag and drop your tracks, and upto 10 hours of music playback. We will bring you a review soon.

SimCity 4 Rush Hour Intel Update

Aspyr Media has released a free patch for SimCity 4 Rush Hour to add Intel-based Mac support. The patch is not yet an official launch, rather a public beta, asking that you provide feedback of anything that still needs fixing. It is available for download here.

Sling adds Apple TV to SlingPlayer

Sling Media today launched a new version of SlingPlayer for Mac, which amongst other things, adds support to control Apple-specific devices. SlingPlayer can now control the Apple TV and play its content from any broadband connection, meaning you can now remotely control and listen to your iTunes library. This is great news and shows that Sling definitely wants to support and improve functionality for Mac users.

Samsung start shipping 16GB flash memory

Samsung have started shipping 16GB flash memory NAND chips. These new chips are built on a 51 nanometer process, that means they can squeeze 16GB onto a single chip. This new process also improves data read and write rates, so these new 16GB offerings will work faster too. Apple has reportedly ordered a large amount of memory from Samsung for their future iPod devices and no doubt the iPhone too. Who knows, maybe we will see a laptop using flash memory too.

Folkestone Kent - Hit by Earthquake

Not exactly tech news, but being based in Folkestone I felt I should bring you this news. At around 8.18am this morning (GMT) we were the victims of an earthquake. Reported to have measured 4.1-4.3 on the richter scale, things shook for around 15 seconds.

My own experience was pictures crashing to the floor, ornaments and bottles falling over, but most saddening was losing half of my morning cup of tea and my internet connection. All of my family were pretty scared, this being our first experience (and hopefully last) of such an event.

On a more serious note, there was also an explosion of someone's gas boiler pretty near to us. There was also a complete house collapse and many chimney stacks had fallen in the roads nearby. Emergency crews have been very busy making sure everyone is safe and also evacuating unsafe buildings. I would like to put my thought out there, to hope that everyone is safe and well.

iQuiz Maker for iPod - Free App from Aspyr

Aspyr Media, Inc. has released iQuiz Maker, a new program that allows anyone to create their own custom trivia packs, sync them to their iPod and share them with friends. Users of iQuiz, the fast-paced entertainment trivia game from Apple, can download the free iQuiz Maker from Aspyr at iquizmaker.com

iQuiz Maker works seamlessly so you can write, create, and package your very own quizzes. Download the free application today to begin putting the world to the test. Included with iQuiz Maker, or available as a separate download, is Quiz Installer, which allows for easy loading of quizzes onto an iPod.

Currently iQuiz Maker is only compatible with Mac OS X 10.4. The PC version is scheduled for release in May.

Apple Reports Second Quarter Results

Good news all-round for Apple and the faithful…

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2007 second quarter ended March 31, 2007. The Company posted revenue of $5.26 billion and net quarterly profit of $770 million, or $.87 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $4.36 billion and net quarterly profit of $410 million, or $.47 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 35.1 percent, up from 29.8 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 43 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple shipped 1,517,000 Macintosh® computers and 10,549,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 36 percent growth in Macs and 24 percent growth in iPods over the year-ago quarter.

Griffin Technology Air Dock for iPod

Griffin Technology Inc., today announced their AirDock, a charge/sync/play docking station for the iPod, which has been designed to position your iPod as the centerpiece of any home entertainment system.

Griffin's AirDock is much more than just another dock for iPod. AirDock provides the output connectors for integrating your iPod with your TV and home stereo. Connect the included AV cable, and soon you are enjoying your music, audiobooks, TV shows, movies and music videos, and your own photo slideshows, direct from your iPod to your TV and sound system. Living up to its name, AirDock even includes a RF remote control, so you can control playback from your couch. It also lets you connect your iPod to your computer for data synchronization and charges its battery while you work. Just connect AirDock to your computer with the included USB cable.

AirDock features:
- Connect AirDock to your computer's USB port to sync or play your iPod while it's charging
- Connect AirDock to your home entertainment system to share your iPod with the whole room
- Included RF remote controls audio and video playback from your iPod
- Works with 4th & 5th generation iPod, 1st & 2nd generation iPod nano, and iPod mini

AirDock for iPod (9803-AIRDOCK) is priced at $69.99, and is available from Griffin's website and most major retailers nationwide.