#apple Articles



Apple adds Bluetooth headset and printer support

Apple has released (available through Software Update) a new version of their Bluetooth drivers for the Macintosh. Bluetooth Update 1.5 (available for Panther users) will allow you to use a Bluetooth headset for your iChat connections and other sound I/O. Further, if you are near a Bluetooth printer …

Peter Gabriel stumps for new music models

An article from Wired discussed rock artist Peter Gabriel and his move (with fellow artist Brian Eno) to encourage new artists to look away from the traditional record labels and toward a direct relationship with their fans via the Internet. The pair were stumping support at Midem (a music conference …

Washington Post reviews GarageBand

Bob Massey of the Washington Post has a favorable review of Apple's new GarageBand (part of iLife '04). He ends the review with "The GarageBand name hides a certain irony -- it's hard to make a song sound any way but slick and seamless in this program. But this same relative …

Virtual piano keyboard for Garage Band

Apple's new iLife '04 contains an interesting music program called GarageBand. With it, you can create music via a number of different methods, including MIDI keyboard input. However, if you're not yet ready to plunk down real cash on a keyboard and still want to play, look at microSynth, a …

iPhoto 4:Bigger, stronger, faster

It may just be $50, and not $6M, but Apple's upgrade to iPhoto works as promised, it is bigger (handles larger libraries), stronger (does a bunch more stuff, like photo sharing), and faster---oh, so much faster! So, if you have a lot of photos (or if you will have a …

Of Music, "standards" and "choice"

The announcement last week that Hewlett-Packard would be aligning themselves with Apple in the approach to digital music was met by strong support in the Apple community and strong condemnation by both Microsoft and Dell. The press comments from these two companies spoke of "standards" and "choice", so what could …

MacWorld Keynote viewing

I'm going to be putting the MacWorld Keynote up on the big screen on Tuesday at noon. Send me an email if you want to come. Most likely, it'll be streamed in via QuickTime.

The Limits of Innovation

There's an interesting article in Fast Company about Apple, Steve Jobs, and innovation. The gist of it is that "if Apple is so innovative, then why are they so damned small." The author, Carleen Hawn, makes some interesting points, but seems to have missed a particularly large one in my …

Wal-mart's new music service for 88 cents/song

Wal-mart's PC-only, web-based service is now available for testing, with a $0.88/song price tag and rights similar to those of Apple's iTunes Music Service ( 3 PC copies, 10 burns, unlimited digital music player transfers), it may well provide some competition. Of course, it is windows only right now …


iTunes for Windows hits 1 million downloads

In half the time that it took Mac users to embrace the music service from Apple, Windows users have hit the 1,000,000 downloads mark for the iTunes application, Apple announced today. Apple has also sold 1 million songs since the Windows announcement on Thursday, but there is no …

iTunes Music Service goes Windows

As the Apple home page said, "Hell Froze Over." Apple has made iTunes for Windows absolutely identical to the Macintosh version, right down to the brushed metal. Importantly, you can find Mac servers (or Windows servers) using Rendezvous and play music from one computer on another (even cross platform).

iTunes & iPod updates

Apple unleashed a flurry of new features and tweaks for the iPod and iTunes today. Among them are Windows iTunes, AOL integration, gift certificates, and allowances for iTunes; and voice recording and photo storage for the iPod. Here's the low-down: AOL Integration - AOL users can use their screennames and passwords …

Panther event at Apple Store on Oct. 24

Any good Macintosh übergeek will be at their local Apple Store (in the case of Northern Virginia, it'll have to be Clarendon, since the Tyson's store is closed for remodeling) on October 24 to fork over $129 for Panther. Of course, you may want to wait on the $129, but …

Apple updates iCal and iSync

Apple released new versions of iCal and iSync yesterday that add a number of useful new features. The updates are both available from the Software Update panel in Jaguar (Mac OS X 10.2), although iCal must be updated first and then iSync since there is a dependence on the …

Apple 10.2.8 update released -- fixes ssh problem

Almost a week after the vulnerability was found, Apple Computer has now updated Mac OS X to fix the SSH problem on both client and server operating systems. The update is part of 10.2.8, a periodic maintenance update which, according to the tech note, includes a number of …

Barefeats benchmarks new Apple PowerBooks

They have seen Apple's PowerBooks and they are good. According to benchmarks from barefeats, the new PowerBooks are beating the old ones in performance, despite the removal of the Level 3 cache. I won't go into everything, but the new video chip (ATI Radeon 9600) makes a huge difference in …

RIAA lacks support of some artists

An article from the Atlanta Journal Constitution contains a variety of quotes from musicians as diverse as the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir, David Draiman of Disturbed, and rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy indicating that the efforts being made "on their behalf" by the RIAA are not being appreciated by …

Apple announces PowerBook revisions and more

To a crowd of happy Apple enthusiasts in Paris, Steve Jobs announced revisions to the PowerBook line of G4 portable Macintosh computers. In addition, Apple has released a wireless keyboard and mouse using Bluetooth technology. The key changes in the PowerBook line are centered around the popular 15" model, which …