Blogintosh

With Apple’s recent release of the new iMacs it is only safe to assume the release of new MacBooks and MacBook Pros will soon follow. Some sources go so far as to say the new models have been seen floating around Cupertino.

The new MacBooks are said to be 13″ with the MacBook Pros at 15″ and 17″. They have a Aluminum-look to the casing much like the current Macbook Pros. This new look will bridge the long standing gap in appearance between the MacBooks and MacBook Pros. The current MacBooks only come in white and black while the MacBook Pros are an aluminum color. The new MacBooks and MacBook Pros are also rumored to be even more environmentally friendly than before with Apple taking it’s Green Initiative very seriously.

We’re interested to see what type of new features and speeds will be offered. They are rumored to be released before Christmas…. hint… hint.

Apple announced the release of the new iPod today. Apple will no longer be producing the long skinny Nano, they are replacing it with one that is slightly larger and reminiscent of the first generation iPods. The new iPod takes just a quick shake to change the song, has a more rounded body structure, and changes from vertical to horizontal screens with just a tilt.

One of the new features I personally am interested in trying is the “musical Genius” it will take a song of your choice and build a playlist of other songs that flow together from your iTunes library. For example, if you are having a bad day and listening to a slow, deliberate song, it will pull all other songs from your library that are similar and make a play list for you. It will be interesting to see which songs are grouped together in even the most diverse music libraries. With 9 new colors the self expression begins at $149.

The best news though is the design of the new earbuds. The new headphones are equipped with a woofer and tweeter for excellent sound quality. The new softer looking buds come in 3 sizes so they actually fit in your ears instead of falling out every 5 minutes on a run. The catch…. for the headphones along $79.

In recent days we have seen several laptops with problems in their Auto-off, or Sleep-Mode. While Apple did release an update to the firmware to help with this several months ago Smartacus also has a tip for laptop users.

Macbook manuals instruct users to never unplug the charger from the wall before unplugging the charger from the computer. By unplugging the power cord from the wall first, users essentially confuse the On-Off modes on their computer which can cause computers to not turn-on after being on Sleep-Mode or to wake up at random. So keep in mind the power cord needs to be unplugged from the laptop first before unplugging it from the wall.

Apple released a firmware update for the Xserve today. The update says it will help “improve the stability of Xserve computers.” The update 1.1 can be downloaded using the Apple Menu and clicking on Software Update, or it can be downloaded from the installer package on Apple’s website.

Of course you can always just call Smartacus to have a Technician install the update and do some routine maintenance on your Xserve. Calling us in when there isn’t an emergency will help lessen your probability of having emergencies in the future.

Apple Stores will be having Apple Camp in July with registration open now. Kids ages 8-12 will have the opportunity to learn how to work in iPhoto, Keynote, Garage Band, and iMovie making their very own song, movie, presentation, and slideshow. Campers can register for 2 workshops that are 3 hours long July 14-17 and July 21-24 from 9am -12pm. Campers do not need to bring a laptop or camera with them but if they have something in particular they would like to work on they can bring it along. They receive a t-shirt and CD of what they created plus the promise of “more fun giveaways.”

Space is on a first come first serve basis and are geared for all skill levels and is recommended for ages 8-12 but does note that kids over 13 don’t need to have a parent accompany them. The best part is….. it’s FREE, so all you Mac Mommas out there sign those kiddies up! It leaves adults everywhere are saying, “I want to go to Apple Camp” who knew that all the cool kids would be going to computer camp?

NOTE: In checking online, it looks like a lot of the camps are full, Bridgeport and Washington Square have a few spots left on the waiting list and Pioneer seems to have more space open so register quickly!

http://www.apple.com/retail/camp/

 Students already get a 10% discount at the Apple store, but now Apple is throwing in a little extra.  With the purchase of a new computer for college Students also receive a $299 rebate for an 8GB iPod touch or 8GB iPod nano.  After purchasing your Mac and iPod submit your rebate online before October 15, 2008.  Apple isn’t taking any chances this year  in their fight to be number one on college campuses.  The college students of today, are the Enterprise Employees and Business Owners of the future. 

Apple released a promotional video on Apple.com illustrating the convenient new MobileMe. They have marketed it as “Exchange for the rest of us.”

MobileMe is a secure online server that holds your email, calendar, address book, photos, and files pushing your most current information to all of our devices. MobileMe will work with your Mac, iPhone, PC while also giving you the option to access your information from online from any computer in any location. Web applications can be accessed through Me.com where icons for your mail, address book, calendar, photos, files and account settings are readily available upon login. This means even on your trip to Mexico you can access all your information from any hotel internet center and photos on MobileMe are accessible through Apple TV creating beautiful slide shows of your pictures. The instructional video illustrating every possible feature is on Apple’s website at: http://www.apple.com/mobileme/guidedtour/index.html?size=medium

While Apple only talks about the consumer benefits of such a product the business benefits are obvious. Try MobileMe for free for 60 days or purchase 20GB of space on the secured server for $99 a year. A family plan is also available for $149 a year for 4 people with 40GB of space.

Yesterday, Apple announced the release of Mac OS X Snow Leopard to take place in 2009. The developers in the press release give a large amount of information as to why they want to lay a foundation for the greatest operating system to date. The truth of the matter is that Leopard, while a great system with a lot of wonderful new features, is just plain buggy. Our technicians have spent hours working with Leopard and have found odd spots here and there (no pun intended). Apple describes Snow Leopard as the following,

“Snow Leopard is optimized for multi-core processors, taps into the vast computing power of graphic processing units (GPUs), enables breakthrough amounts of RAM and features a new, modern media platform with QuickTime® X. Snow Leopard includes out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 and is scheduled to ship in about a year.”

Snow Leopard is an attempt to make Leopard the operating system that was expected and the system Apple intended. When Leopard is working more efficiently Apple can roll out all of the great new features they are sitting on. Our predictions are that Snow Leopard will be set at a lower price point around the $30-$50 range to encourage consumers to buy. It makes sense to us, what is the point in releasing more features and more gadgets if the fundamental operating system is weak? If that were the case we would call it Microsoft.

Microsoft released a critical update for users of Office 2008 today. The update is said to improve security features of the program with some frighten specifics of problems that have been occurring with Office 2008.

The update description reads:

“This update contains several improvements to enhance security, stability, and performance, including fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code.”

Keep checking your updates to apply this patch since it is an important one.

This morning at 6:00am the new Apple store in Boston, MA opened. The Boston store is the largest Apple store to date outshining the 5th Street Apple store in New York.

The store opening featured a free T-Shirt give away as well as “special prizes” given out throughout the day…. one can only hope the “special prizes” started with an I and rhymed with PiePhone. While the store rumored to be opening on NW 23rd in Portland has still not showed any signs of remodeling it does encourage us to stand outside with bated breath when it does.