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Apple: iTunes strikes a deal with HBO

Opal Tribble — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:38:19 +0000

Good news! Sopranos, Sex in the City, Deadwood, The Wire, Rome, and Flight of the Conchords are HBO shows that have finally made an appearance in the Apple iTunes store. Recently Apple and HBO struck a deal so now iTunes users who watch thes shows will be able to catch some of their favorite episodes by purchasing and downloading a digital copy via iTunes.

You will notice a slight jump in price for at least one of the shows. The standard price is $1.99 per episode; however, if you want to purchase the an episode from the popular series The Sopranos the cost will be $2.99 per [...]

Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock free upgrade helps MacBook run it better

Leslie Poston — Wed, 14 May 2008 19:19:31 +0000

Acer released a Mac conversion for Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock a while back that Mac users love. It lets you put Guitar Hero 3 onto your Mac and play it without the need for a console. The controller it uses is a guitar shaped USB connector.

The patch released for the desktop version of the popular video game has plenty of improvements to the game that indirectly improve your laptop playing experience. In addition to some back end improvements that affect speed and ease of use, [...]

Apple: Parallels Desktop for Mac releases a new version supports Vista SP1, XP SP3

Opal Tribble — Tue, 13 May 2008 09:34:29 +0000

Parallels Desktop for Mac recently released a new version of its extremely popular software, Parallels Desktop 3. What’s new in Parallel Desktop 3 is support for Vista SP 1 and XP SP3. Numerous fixes have been corrected with this release including unusually high CPU usage, kernal panic issues, along with an improvement to Shared Folders.

Parallels Desktop enables the Mac user to run Windows on a Macintosh, Linux, and other operating systems simultaneously without rebooting. Bootcamp is another software application that allows the Mac user to run Windows but you have to reboot.

When it was first released on June 15, 2006 Parallels Desktop for Mac was [...]

Guitar input directly to your Mac with Fretlight

Leslie Poston — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:58:20 +0000

Fretlight Guitars are a bit expensive at nearly $600 USD, but for technology junkies who want to learn to play guitar these gadgets are a dream come true. The Fretlight Guitars use software and a patented lighting system to show a player where to put their fingers, “teaching” them the song as they play. Now Mac users can get in on the fun with the new software release that allows the Fretlight to talk to Macs

Guitar purists consider these guitars to be cheating, thinking people should learn to play the old fashioned way. [...]

Apple to provide refunds for faulty power adaptors; PowerBook and iBook computers

Opal Tribble — Sun, 11 May 2008 21:39:02 +0000

There have been some owners of Powerbook and iBook computers that claimed they had faulty power adaptors that were prone to spark. Several of the Mac users had reported these issues through the Apple support website and various other Mac related forums.

A class-action lawsuit was filed in 2006 regarding the faulty adaptors. The plaintiffs alleged that Apple had misrepresented problems with the power adaptors. The plaintiffs said that the adapter “dangerously frays, sparks and prematurely fails to work”

If you had one of these faulty adaptors Apple has agreed to pay cash refunds $25 - $79 to up to as many as 2.3 million Macintosh computer users to [...]

Associated Press launches Mobile News Network for the iPhone

Opal Tribble — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:13:53 +0000

Associated Press has launched a new service for iPhone users. It’s called the Mobile News Network. It’s a perfect companion for iPhone users who enjoy staying up-to-date on news even when away from their Mac or Windows computer.

Associate Press is one of the most comprehensive news network available for your iPhone. What I like about the service is that you can personalize it to suit your needs. What news options can you choose?

Local
National
International
Entertainment
Sports
Business
Elections
Wacky News
Technology
Government

Associated Press Mobile Network definitely gives you plenty of categories to choose from. Photo galleries and videos can also be viewed tough Associated Press Mobile News Network. If you find [...]

Apple resists adding iPod piracy filters

Leslie Poston — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:45:31 +0000

Apple fans should be dancing with joy as Apple decides to hold out against adding piracy filters to its iPod line. This is great news for people who want to listen to their entire music collection on their mp3 player, regardless of whether the songs came from CDs, iTunes, eMusic, a friend sending a recommendation or, yes, even P2P sharing.

Unlike Apple, Microsoft has caved to the demands of the industry and will be developing user-hated piracy filters for the Zune. There are no existing filters for every device, so each company would have to [...]

Apple patent filed for AppleTV 3D game controller

Leslie Poston — Fri, 09 May 2008 06:31:05 +0000

Apple already has its users attention on the computing, television and music fronts. Judging by patents filed by the company it is looking to add the gaming front to its conquests as well. Apple has filed a patent for a 3D gaming controller to go with its AppleTV.

The controller specs make it sound a lot like a Wiimote in functionality, though the drawings show it is somewhat different in appearance. The patent filing jibes with earlier rumors that the AppleTV would become a multi-use platform that enable users to play casual games in [...]

Natuba brings photo storage to the iPhone

Leslie Poston — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:21:25 +0000

For iPhone users who haven’t figured out Flickr, PhotoBucket or other free sites that will offer photo storage for their iPhone, there is now a reportedly iPhone specific solution. Natuba has started a new site that claims to offer iPhone users a little more handholding for their online photo storage needs.

As far as I can see by a quick overview of the site, Natuba offers nothing all that different from Flickr and the rest. It allows you to upload your photos to your Natuba account while mobile, via email. Just like Flickr, and Flickr has been doing it longer.

It [...]

AOL desktop for Mac released

Leslie Poston — Wed, 07 May 2008 05:45:30 +0000

AOL has released the next generation of AOL Desktop for Mac, to the collective sound of a great internet yawn. The world’s worst internet program and provider trying to make a program for the already fully functional Mac is laughable at best.

The AOL Desktop offers web surfing, instant messaging via AIM (AOL Instant Message), email and other “features”. It has been customized for Leopard this time around, which may avoid the lag time the last version faced when used on a machine with the newer operating system.

I flat out can’t endorse using AOL Desktop (or [...]