Tag Archives: Apple

Box.net

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I was searching the web trying to find directions on how to add more RAM to my eMac and I came across the MacAddict message board. While I was looking for what I came for, I happened across a thread about .Mac. .Mac is a service Apple offers with the following:

Share and access files, photos, movies, and more:

* Host web sites and publish web pages and photo albums from iPhoto.
* Send and receive email with an IMAP/POP .Mac Mail account and use webmail to access it from web browsers.
* Enjoy access to email, contact information, and favorite bookmarks from the web.
* Purchase up to 10 additional email-only accounts.
* Instant message with .Mac member name and iChat.
* Turn photos into slideshow screensavers with .Mac Slides.
* Publish iCal calendars online and share with friends and family.

Store all your important data:

* Back up files to FireWire drives, iDisk, CD, DVD, or other mounted volumes, and use one-step backups for iLife files.
* Store, publish and share files with iDisk, your personal hard drive on the Internet.
* Designate 1 GB of combined storage space between iDisk and email based on your needs.
* Set read/write access to and password protect the iDisk Public folder.

Synchronize your most important information:

* Keep iCal calendars, Address Book contacts, and Safari bookmarks in sync between your Macs and available to you online.
* With Mac OS X v10.4 “Tiger” keep critical Mail information—including Spotlight-driven Smart Mailboxes—as well as stored passwords from your Keychain in sync and access them from multiple Macs.

Create a .Mac space online for groups:

* Use a group email account to send and receive group messages.
* Access group messages, photo albums, movies, and web pages.
* View the group online calendar and subscribe through iCal.
* Share files using the iDisk Groups folder.
* Publish group web pages.

And more:

* Get exclusive tutorials on .Mac, iLife, Mac OS X, and more in the .Mac Learning Center.
* Receive freebies, discounts, and other surprises throughout the year with the .Mac member benefits program.
* Get comprehensive email-based support when you need assistance.

It’s free for the first 60 days and then after that it costs $100 a year. I tried it and the only thing I liked about it was the online storage that came with it. While I was at the message board, I found a thread about a free online file storage service called Box.net which also gives 1GB of online storage. From the thread, supposedly I can set up an iDisk on my Mac which points to my Box.net account.

 

iTunes 7.0 And New iPods

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Apple released iTunes 7.0 today which includes movies along with music and TV shows currently available. The pricing is comparable to buying the DVD in the stores except it’s basically already ripped so you can watch them on any PC/Mac or on an iPod including the new ones they released today. Apparently they realized how popular the different colors were for the iPod mini so they decided to release the iPod nano in the same colors. The new iPod shuffle was also redesigned and is now not much bigger than the click wheel interface to control it. iTunes 7.0 can now do gapless playback, which a lot of customers have been screaming for, and automatically import album artwork into the songs you import into your library. Before iTunes would only add the artwork for songs downloaded from the iTunes Music Store, so you would have to add the album artwork on your own. iTunes 7.0 can now sync with Outlook for your contacts and calendar information. Previously, you had to export vCards from Outlook and then copy them to the iPod manually.

 

Apple Store Fifth Avenue

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I decided to go check out the new Apple Store on Fifth Avenue last night after work. It right in front of FAO Schwartz at 59th Street. You couldn’t miss it. It’s a giant glass cube with the Apple logo floating in the middle. The place is huge compared to some of the other Apple Stores I’ve been in. It’s entirely underground and you can either take an elevator or a spiral staircase that wraps around the elevator to get in and out of the store. It’s the first store open 24/7/365. You can check out Apple’s photo gallery of the store to see what it looks like.

 

My New eMac

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I bought an eMac the other day so I can finally learn the Mac OS. I’m slowly getting used to it since I’m accustomed to Windows and that’s all I’ve known for the last 10 years. For the next month or so, I will be using the Mac most of the time. I’m in the process now of mirroring all the software I have on my Windows machine so I can get used to how to install software on a Mac. In some ways it is easier than installing on Windows (I can’t believe I just said that). I’m actually blogging this using the Safari web browser.

 

iTunes 6.0

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A little over month after Apple released iTunes 5.0, they come out with iTunes 6.0. iTunes 6.0 now supports video for the 5th generation iPods that support video. It has finally happened. Apple has true video capability in an iPod. There are even docks with IR ports for a remote control. As of right now, I don’t see myself wanting/needing a video iPod but that may, and probably will, change in the near future.

 

iTunes 5.0

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iTunes 5.0 was released today along with the new iPod nano. The nano replaces the mini but is slimmer and has a color display. It looks like a wider version of the shuffle with a color display. It comes in a 2GB and 4GB version whereas the mini was available in 4GB and 6GB models. The nano is also available in black instead of the stereotypical iPod white. I can honestly see the nano causing the end of the shuffle. The shuffle is $129 for 1GB whereas the nano is $199 for 2GB. I’ll have to go to the Apple store in the mall here to see how light the nano is.
The new version of iTunes isn’t much different from the previous version. They changed the look of iTunes and now podcasts that you’re subscribed to in iTunes show up under Podcasts and in your main library. Other than that, the only reason for iTunes 5.0 is to give the nano and the new iTunes phone, the Motorola ROKR available only through Cingular, something to sync with. The one thing missing from the new iTunes is BitTorrent support. A lot of the lesser known podcasts can’t afford the bandwidth that iTunes may bring them so most turn to BitTorrent to help control bandwidth demand on their sites. All of the other podcatching clients like Doppler, iPodder lemon, and iPodderX support BitTorrent.

 

iTunes 4.9

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iTunes 4.9 was released today and one of the new features is podcasting. Apple has finally embraced the idea of podcasts and podcasting. Not only can you subscribe to different podcasts through iTunes, but you can also create your own and submit it to Apple’s directory which is pretty much the same as Adam Curry‘s iPodder.org. I’m going to check it out for about a week or so and decide if I want to use iTunes for my podcasts or stay with iPodder lemon. So far it’s having a hard time with a few of the shows I subscribe to, no matter if I subscribe through the iTunes music store or manually add the URL.

 

iTunes Plugin

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I’ve discovered an iTunes plugin that will post the song I’m listening to into my blog here. You can either set it up to insert it automatically in the top of the post, the bottom of the post, or manually anywhere by hitting F11, which is the way I’m doing it for now.

[Listening to: Nine Inch Nails - Hurt (4:24)]