World’s First USB Turntable

Well, since I blogged about this topic before, I thought I’d add the following:

The World’s First USB Turntable: Recording vinyl records onto your computer in order to turn them into MP3s or CDs isn’t too hard if you have a record player, phono preamp or an amp with a Phono input right next to your computer, a high-quality audio input on your computer (I recommend the Griffin iMic), and a good amount of experience with recording software and noise reduction. OK, so maybe it’s not so easy after all.

Listening Post

Apple Goes Green – Gives Old Computers a Home

CUPERTINO, California—April 21, 2006—Apple® today announced an expansion of its successful recycling program, offering free computer take-back and recycling with the purchase of a new Macintosh® system beginning in June. US customers who buy a new Mac® through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com) or Apple’s retail stores will receive free shipping and environmentally friendly disposal of their old computer as part of the Apple Recycling program. Equipment received by the program in the US is recycled domestically and no hazardous material is shipped overseas. Earlier this week, Apple was named a “Forward Green Leader,” one of the top ten environmentally progressive companies recognized by the Sierra Club and its investment advisor, Forward Management.

“Apple is committed to supporting our customers and protecting the environment throughout the entire product life cycle, from purchase through to retirement,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Now we are making it even easier for Apple’s customers to safely and affordably recycle their used computers and iPods.”

Apple’s free take-back program will extend Apple’s existing US recycling program, which has recycled more than 90 percent of electronic equipment collected since 2001. Apple also operates a free drop-off recycling location at its headquarters in Cupertino for used computer systems and selected home electronics.

Apple also announced that the fifth generation iPod®, iPod nano and iPod shuffle are 100 percent compliant with the upcoming restrictions of hazardous substances (RoHS) in California and Europe, which are recognized as the new global standard for environmental regulation. iPod’s RoHS compliance comes months ahead of the July 1 deadline set by the European Union, and most of the materials covered by the RoHS directive, including mercury, cadmium, chromium VI and brominated flame retardants, were voluntarily eliminated from all Apple products years ago.

In addition, iPod power adapters now exceed Energy Star efficiency requirements and already meet California’s stricter appliance efficiency regulations, which are scheduled to take effect July 1, 2008.

Information on Apple’s recycling programs and industry-leading environmental policies is available online at environment.

HT – Matt Nadeja

Apple Boosts PC Connection’s Sales

PC Connection announced solid results for the financial quarter that ended March 31 thanks in part to Apple product sales. Sales of accessories and other companion products increased 26 percent year over year, partly due to the high sales of iPods and related products, according to PC Connection Chairman/CEO Patricia Gallup.Net sales for the three months increased by $56.6 million, or 17.5 percent, to US$380.5 million from $323.9 million for the three months that ended March 31, 2005. Approximately $27.3 million of this growth, or 8.4 percent, was attributable to the October 2005 acquisition of key assets of Amherst Technologies. Net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2006 was $1.7 million, or $.07 per share, compared to $0.9 million, or $.04 per share for the three months ended March 31, 2005.Notebooks and PDAs continued to be the PC Connection’s largest product category, accounting for 17 percent of net sales in the first quarter of 2006 compared to 18.8 percent for the corresponding period a year ago. Desktop computers and servers accounted for 14.9 percent of net sales in the first quarter of 2006 compared to 14.8 percent of net sales for the corresponding period a year ago. The average sales price for computer systems decreased 4.9 percent in the first quarter compared to the corresponding period a year ago, and decreased 1.1 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2005. Software and video, imaging and sound product lines each increased 25 percent over the first quarter of 2005.

Macsimum News – iPod sales boost PC Connection’s bottom line

Apple Update Keynote & Pages

Apple has updated both components of its US$79 iWork ‘06 suite.Keynote 3.0.1 is an update of the presentation software. A 39MB download, Apple says it “should be installed on all computers that share your Keynote 3.0 files, so that textures display properly.” Pages 2.0.1 is an update of the word processing/layout app. The 21MB update addresses issues with charts and image adjustments. Both Keynote and Pages require Mac OS X 10.3.9 or higher, a Mac with a 500MHz or fasters PowerPCG4, PowerPCG5/Intel Core processor, 256MB of RAM, 32MB of VRAM and QuickTime 7.0.3 or later. iLife ‘06 is also recommended.

Macsimum News – Apple updates Keynote, Pages

Retro CD Player Does Vinyl!

I know this isn’t Macintosh related, but I couldn’t resist! -TG

Teac’s Retro CD player doesn’t just pay lip service to the days of yore, it actually plays artifacts from the original rock-and-roll era –; yep, we’re talking about vinyl! In addition to CDs, it will also take your 33-, 45- and 78-rpm records, allowing you to hear your favorite music as God and the record industry intended. It also has a USB port, so you can play mp3s from a flash drive or portable hard drive, and an FM tuner. The 2.1 speaker system with subwoofer should give you solid desktop sound. Available in Japan for just over $200.[Via Akihabara News]

Gear Factor

Record VD to an iPod

Catapult is the world’s first device to allow capture of video footage from DV or HDV video cameras directly to iPods or virtually any USB drive, and begin editing immediately. A battery powered device not much larger than a Blackberry, the Catapult eliminates the time consuming and tedious task of digitizing video footage. Read more…

Record DV to an iPod at DVcreators.net

Unpatched Mac flaws may put users at risk

Apple Computer is investigating several unpatched and potentially serious security flaws in Mac OS X that have been publicly disclosed, the company said Friday.Tom Ferris, a security researcher in Mission Viejo, Calif., published late on Thursday information on seven flaws in Apple’s operating system that potentially put Mac users at risk of a cyberattack. The most serious of the flaws could let attackers surreptitiously run malicious code on users’ PCs, Ferris said in an interview via instant messaging.

Unpatched Mac flaws may put users at risk | CNET News.com

technorati tags: Macintosh, Apple, security

Boot Camp Tutorial

macTV Show #128 – Installing XP on a Mac (via Boot Camp)Published April 20th, 2006 in macTV Episodes. This is an awesome and 100% necessary video for those of you who are lucky enough to own a new Intel Mac. UneasySilence.com has created this video tutorial that shows you how to install Windows XP *sigh* on your Mac. A video tutorial that won’t send you to sleep! (Finally!) Enjoy! [58.7mb] [Running Time: 08:06]

macTV Show #128 – Installing XP on a Mac (via Boot Camp) at macTV Videocast

technorati tags: Bootcamp, Macintosh

Firefox Working to be More Mac Native

For most Mac users out there who make a living on the Web, using Safari exclusively just isn’t an option. Camino is nice and all (it’s my daily browser, in fact), but Firefox is unparalleled in its plugins and installed userbase / community. One common complaint Mac users have about Firefox is that it just doesn’t feel like a native OS X application. This is a valid critisism, mostly because… Firefox isn’t a native application. Firefox abstracts away a lot of the OS-specific stuff like dialogs, context menus, and “widgets” like buttons and dropdowns in order to be more portable across platforms.

Infinite Loop: Cocoa widgets in Firefox, Thunderbird progressing nicely.

technorati tags: Macintosh, Firefox, Cocoa

Apple Planning a New Facility

Here’s some rare footage of the “real” Steve Jobs meeting with the Cupertino, CA city council. Worth a look! -Tim

April 19 – 16:19 EDT Apple Computer is planning to build a new, 50-acre campus near its present headquarters in Cupertino, California, the company’s CEO, Steve Jobs, said, reports Reuters. “What’s happened at Apple is that our business has basically tripled in the last five or six years,” Jobs said on Tuesday evening at a Cupertino city council meeting. “Apple has been rejuvenated since it introduced its market-leading iPod digital music player in 2001 and is in the process of moving its entire Macintosh computer line to Intel Corp. chips from those made by IBM,” notes the report. The council meeting is also available via Webcast.

MacMinute | Mac News First.