Friday, January 21, 2005
Top Stories
Behold The Artful Price Tag
The design excitement last week in Apple's latest introductions was not in the Mini's small simple box or the Shuffle's stick-of-gum wand. It was in the prices.
News
Dr. Bob Arnot: Backpack Broadcasting
Given the magnitude of the mission and the volatility of the country, the surprise is in how little Arnot required beyond his Save the Children mandate to tell the story.
Harold Moss: Handcrafting In High Definition
"Composing and recording an original piece of something from scratch overnight, while you're also trying to finish the animation, starts to become a little impossible. So to just be able to sit down with Soundtrack and come up with something that works really well and sounds more than professional, it's hugely helpful."
iPod Shuffle May Not Play Well With All AAC Files
A document on Apple's support website says that users may not be able to play songs that are encoded by applications other than iTunes.
Opinion
No Cannibals
The competition is not the rest of Apple's range, it's the rest of the world.
Dell Could Take Hint From Apple's Style
Apple's continued existence is proof that design does mean somethng and that customers will pay a premium for that sort of excellence.
Pepsi iTunes Contest: The Tilt Still Works
iPod Shuffle Not Compatible With eMac Or iMac G3
The physical limitations imposed by the placement of the USB ports on those models make it impossible for the shuffle to plug into them. Luckily, many folks will already have on hand one possible piece of equipment for connecting the shuffle: a USB hub.
Is The Dock A Hopeless Kludge Or Just In Need Of A Few Tweaks?
Review
Keeping It Together
Given that the only way to be sure that my iPod suffle cap sticks around is to physically attach it to the shuffle, this would be my solution.
The Mac Mini: Inside And Out
The big question on many prospective Mac mini buyers' minds is, "How easy is it to upgrade the RAM?" First things first, you need Apple's official Mac mini Upgrade Tool Kit (otherwise known as "two very thin putty knives").
Smarter Shuffle Playlists
I mentioned that while iTunes' new Autofill feature is convenient, you can create better playlists for the shuffle with a Smart Playlist. After a couple of colleagues responded with "Care to show us how, smart guy?" I've come up with this.
Shuffle, The Newest, Cheapest iPod Yet, Will Surprise You
I had no clue which of 137 eclectic melodies would play next. And frankly, that was part of the appeal.
Hands On With The Mac Mini: Taking Apple's New Desktop Out For A Test Drive
Overall, as I suspected, the Mac mini performs well, but not spectacularly.
Sidetrack
Rumor Today: Apple To Reward Employees With Free iPod Shuffles
AppleInsider: Apple in the coming weeks will begin offering complimentary iPod shuffles to many of its employees... Several Apple employees at the company's retail stores have been told to expect a free 1GB iPod shuffle sometime in the next three weeks.
Cool. What better to simultaneously provide a little reward for your hardworking employees while equiping them with a little extra product knowledge than to do this? And, next year, if Apple's sales break through the roof again, maybe both 2006's editions of iPod and Mac mini too?
Wintel
Latest MSN Messenger Worm Can Hijack System Info
Microsoft Cuts 62 Testing Jobs
The job cuts come as Microsoft is moving some work from manual to automated testing. Workers were given the option of looking for other jobs at Microsoft.
