Apple’s New Shuffle Available Worldwide Friday
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
The "Most Wearable iPod Ever" from Apple, the new iPod Shuffle, will be available worldwide this Friday, according to a press release from Apple.Apple’s new iPod® shuffle which I saw in the flesh at the Mac Expo London, is tiny and just so neat and appealing. It will be available in Apple’s retail stores and Apple® Authorised Resellers this Friday, November 3. It is nearly half the size of the original iPod shuffle and is just half a cubic inch in volume. It weighs in at just half an ounce and features a minimal aluminium design with a built-in clip, making it the most wearable iPod ever. The new iPod shuffle contains one gigabyte of flash memory which holds up to 240 songs. The package includes earbud headphones and a new minature dock. With up to 12 hours battery life, the new iPod shuffle is priced at just £55 (inc. VAT).
“With its ultra-compact design and built-in clip, the new iPod shuffle is the most wearable iPod ever,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPod Product Marketing. “ The new iPod shuffle completes our all-new lineup of iPods for this holiday season and beyond, and we hope it's going to be a huge hit.”
Get down to an Apple Store, Apple Authorised Reseller, or buy one from Apple UK online here.
Mac Expo London - Closing Report
Saturday, October 28, 2006
I had a busy two days at Mac Expo, leaving behind the crowds with a real good feeling that this years show was a great success. More so than previous years, because I had met so many NEW mac users. From people who had attended the show to find out more, through to those who left the show clutching their new Mac gear.One gentleman who I approached was leaving with a big smile on his face. When asked, he said, "I came here to find out about the new iMac. I had my eye on the 20 inch model". He obviously had his questions more than answered, he continued... Now I just have to convince the wife that this 24 inch model really is only 20 inches." So another new user, but surprisingly buying in at the top of the iMac range.
Whilst taking a break for lunch, the general conversation seemed to be around the MacBook and the iPod Nano. To the extreme one nice young lady was discussing how to match the different coloured Nano's with her outfits. This made me smile, knowing that Apple had hit the nail on the head.
So all in all a great show and it can only grow in size from year-to-year. I predict that this will be reflected in other shows around the world. It cannot be ignored that the Mac's popularity is growing at quite a rapid rate. The iPod and the very cost effective MacBook may well lead new users in, but the quality of product and friendly community will be sure to keep them hooked.
Until next year... enjoy your newfound knowledge and of course your new Apple purchases.
Griffin Technology - Geekanoids Best of Show
Friday, October 27, 2006
In true Mac stylee, Griffin Technology get my 'Best of Show' vote at the London Mac Expo 2006. Not only because my contact there is just so pleasant, but because the company produces the most stunning products available for the iPod today.For example, take the iKaraoke. This innovative product turns your iPod into a mini Karaoke machine. The styling is good, the user interface well implemented and it is just one of those 'must have' products.
Griffin were all smiles on day two of the Expo, because apart from my vote, they also won the 'Mac User iPod Accessory Manufacturer of the Year' award !
The quality of all Griffin products is superb, delivered with such enthusiasm that it shines through, from the naming to the design.
Many thanks Griffin, keep up the good work, you are top of my list and iPod users from all corners of the world !
Check out the iKaraoke here.
Konica Minolta - Nice range of printers !
Konica Minolta had a nicely presented stand, showing a selection of their printer range. From the desktop 'magicolor 2530DL' through to their A3+ 'magicolor 7450'. There were plenty of representatives from the company to ask questions. Their approach was really friendly, which was attracting visitors to the stand.The 2500 series are the desktop babies of the family. This does not mean that they skimp on features, far from it. With 5ppm in colour and 20ppm in monochrome (black & white), you can print on paper up to 200gsm in weight. This is very good by desktop standards. Print quality looked top notch, with the 600dpi engine giving nice detail to the printouts.
Check out the full range here.
Dual Tuner 'eyetv diversity' from Elgato
Elgato were showing their eyetv for DTT and eyetv hybrid units to the Mac public. Visitors were paying a LOT of attention to Elgato's offerings, with stand employees reporting massive interest.The eyetv hybrid unit is a small USB stick device, which has both digital and analogue tuner. The software looks great, with some bug improvements of late. Scheduling for recording to your Mac is really easy. The years free subscription to tvtv (an online programme guide) means that you can schedule recordings from anywhere you have internet access. I was impressed with the picture quality that I saw.
Of note, a new product called 'eyetv diversity' is soon to be available. Units should be shipping about mid-November. This new product costs £109.99 and offers two tuners. So you can record one channel whilst watching another, or record two channels and play back a recording at the same time. Another feature is the ability to combine both tuners into one 'super tuner' for increased signal reception.
Also coming mid-November is a software update that gives you 'Picture in Picture' (PiP). This fits in well with the new 'eyetv diversity' as it has two tuners. With the other products PiP will still work, displaying a live channel inside a recording you are playing back. You could also add another single tuner stick to your set-up to get similar PiP functionality to 'eyetv diversity'.
A full review of 'eyetv diversity' will be on its' way soon after the product starts shipping.
www.elgato.com
HP deliver quality in ALL sizes
Hewlett Packard, better known abbreviated to HP were all smiles today. They won the MacWorld Best of Show Award for their B9180 inkjet printer.Apart from the B9180 they had pretty much every printer and scanner that they manufacture on the stand, including the HP Photosmart C5180 that caught my eye. The C5180 is an all-in-one device, offering printing, scanning and a memory card reader. It also supports ethernet, which is a nice feature in this type of printer.
Large format printers were churning out glorious colour posters. I was most impressed with the Designjet Z3100, which prints up to 44" wide media. This is a real 'fine art' printer, you need to see the quality with your own eyes to believe it.
www.hp.co.uk
Google Video, Google Maps, SketchUp - Wow!
Google made their first UK exhibition this year, with what could only be described as the 'most colourful stand' at the show.Throughout the three days their theatre, complete with google colour, comfy cushions, showcased their complete product line-up. Google Maps got a brilliant reception from the crowd.
My favourite google application was SketchUp, which offers some superb 3D drawing features, with great integration with the google online community. You can upload you creations to share with millions. The standard version of SketchUp is free, whilst SketchUp Pro 5 costs £315 ($499). It is available for Mac or PC. The Mac version is PPC, but runs pretty good under Rosetta. A universal version will be released early next year.
This was a really 'good feel' stand and certainly was creating a lot of buzz.
Check SketchUp out here.
Toast and Popcorn with Special Mac Expo Pricing
Roxio, creators of the superb CD & DVD writing application Toast, had some special offers for this years visitors.Popcorn 2 which is a universal app right out of the box was available for just £34.08. Whilst Toast 7 had 30% knocked of its' price, bringing it down to £48.99.
I swear by Toast, which can be updated to a universal app via a software update.
For more information, click the link.
Belkin - Record in Stereo with TuneTalk for iPod
Belkin, manufacturer of many Mac and iPod accessories, concentrated on showing some of their iPod product line at this years Mac Expo. Their TuneTalk Stereo was on the stand. This neat unit plugs into the dock connector on your iPod and gives high quality stereo recording for just £59.99.A black version is available now, with a white version sure to follow.
Make cutouts easy with Fluid Mask @ Mac Expo
Being a steadfast Photoshop user, Fluid Mask from Vertus caught my eye today. This photoshop plug-in for Windows and Mac platforms offers to make life easier for creating cutouts in Photoshop.The demonstration I watched showed the removal of sky from quite a complex image. It was very intuitive and easy to follow, with very good looking results.
The show offer for this product is £129 (which continues through to November 8th), after which the price tag is £149. For this price you get both Mac and PC versions, plus two licenses.
Check out Fluid Mask here.
Carry your Mac in Style with Crumpler
Crumpler UK had their full range of products at the Expo. With the "Bucktaker" review coming very soon, it was nice to see visitors being very positive about this new bag. Along with the "Sophisticator", these two top of the range offerings certainly allow you to carry a lot of gear in style.The Glory Box is also new to the UK. This is a more compact, lightweight bag for the 13.3 MacBook. It has a removable laptop sleeve, comes in red, black/white and olive. Retailing for £85 the Glory Box seems good value.
The Double Charge was also on offer, again at £85. This is a slightly larger bag, capable of carrying a 15.4" widescreen.
Check out the full range here.
It's a Shure Thang !
I love my iPod. Next to my Apple lap friend, my iPod is the best item I have ever purchased. It allows me to listen to my favorite Maccast podcast (had to get that in somewhere!). When not listening to tech news, I really enjoy my music. Don't even ask me how much money I have spent on my speakers.Now, here goes with some real honesty. My iPod earphones only got used a couple of times, then I bought some alternative ones. They are Shure earphones, but they soon will be. The demo I had today of the E2c earphones convinced me that I need to save up £59 to buy some. The richness and detail it added to the music was astounding. Then I listened to the E3c and E4c, wow am I going to be broke. Then the Shure guys just made my bank manager very unhappy. The E500PTH earphones had to be literally torn from my ears. I just did not want to give them back and that was after just two minuted of listening with them.
I am not one to normally abuse my editorial position, but "if you are reading this Shure, please get in touch, please send or lend me a pair of E500PTH earphones!" They really are that good. Check them out at www.shure.co.uk
Nike + iPod Feel Good Factor
Spending too much time in front of your screen? Taking a break to play for XBox 360? Nike would like you to get out and about with your Nano and start pounding the streets and shedding some pounds.The Nike + iPod stand had a real, feel good factor. With three enormous treadmills, plenty of Nike trainers, kitted out with transmitters, plus iPod Nanos with their suerb little receivers plugged in. If you are not in the know, this bargain piece of kit allows you to exercise with your iPod. You can run or exercise to specially tailored tunes and your progress is recorded in your iPod. Then when you connected your iPod, you can upload the data to a special Nike website. You can then track your progress, with some pretty nice features and graphs.
The music was pumping at the Nike stand. If you want to get fit whilst having fun, check it out whilst at the Mac Expo, or visit www.nike.com
EazyDraw - At last an alternative Illustrator
EazyDraw travelled all the way from the USA to bless Mac Expo London with their technical drawing and illustration package. Now at version 2.1, this universal application seems to offer some nice features.From what I could make out, it sits somewhere between Freehand and Illustrator without being over-complicated. The user interface looks very clean and the feature list reads like a dream. Vecotr EPS and PDF, along with full bitmap support, plus importing of MacDraw and ClarisDraw files should come in handy.
Owner David (pictured here) was kind enough to give me a full version of the application, so check back soon for a full review.
If you can't wait for the full review, visit www.eazydraw.com
Intego - The Big Green Castle
It was nice to see Intego at Mac Expo, hard to miss the big green castle, showing their full compliment of Mac software. Their whole suite (now all universal binary) were available for hands-on, with programmer Jack Nahon on-site to answer questions.I have used Personal Backup X4 myself and can vouch for its' user friendliness and powerful features.
No new products were actually launched at the show, but there is a new offing on the horizon. VirusBarrier for OSX Server (Euro 299, $299) and Mail Gateway (Euro 499, $499) are due mid-November and sound like they offer some very powerful filtering features. Again, expect a full review soon.
Visit Intego at www.intego.com
IRIS - OCR and Scanner Goodness
When a company like IRIS Inc. step up to the mark to offer Mac products and applications, they don't give us a half measure. On offer a Mac Expo was their well established Readiris Pro 11, IRISCard mini and IRISPen express. It is not often that one company has three products that interest me, so I found myself engrossed for quite some time.Readiris Pro has been around for a while now and is now up to version 11. The software offers the main ability to scan and transform a printed page into a file that can be edited, archived and shared. The accuracy on the demo I had was pretty impressive. I especially liked the scanned document, which then had an area highlighted. The text that fell within that area was then copied and pasted (fully editable) into an email. It was very easy and I could see myself using that feature a lot.
IRISCard mini is, as the name suggests, a miniature scanner. It is designed to organise those pockets of business card into useful and searchable information. The software cleverly pulls the information into MS Outlook, Outlook Express, Address Book and Palm Desktop. This has the added appeal, that once the information is in Address Book it can be synced with your iPod for portability.
I would much rather have this, than all those business cards that just end up getting lost.
Last up is IRISPen express, which is a truly portable USB pen-sized scanner. It recognizes multiple languages and transforms printed type into editable text. Again integration is good and includes Word, Excel and Outlook to name just a few.
IRIS' ethos seems to be, that once something has been typed and printed, there should be no need to type it again.
I would like to really thank IRIS for opening my eyes and offering review units of all their products, so I can bring you full reviews very soon.
Take a look at their products now at: www.irislink.com
Razorlab - laser engrave your Mac
Razorlab, who I mentioned briefly in my day one Mac Expo report, deserve another mention as one of those unique companies. They offer a service that should appeal to the Mac community on two fronts.First up, individuality. We all know how owning a Mac makes you feel special. We may be a minority (at the moment), but we are the wiser, creative types. So what more could one want, than a really individual designed Mac laptop or iPod.
Razorlab's iTattoo service laser engraves a design onto your laptop lid, or perhaps the back of your iPod. You can supply your own design, or choose from a growing library of artist images (or tattoos).
Secondly, the fact you have something unique engraved onto your gear, makes it instantly recognizable. A would be thief may well think twice before nabbing your expensive gear, which is great.
The service price range from £25 to £50 for iPods, with laptops from £75 to £200. Choosing a library image adds a VERY reasonable £10.
You can contact the guys at www.razorlab.co.uk or see the service in action at the following venues, where you can take your gear and have it done while-u-wait;
Selfridges, London - 28th to 29th October.
DesignersBlock, Tokyo - 1st to 5th November.
Accountz - Money for Macs
I do not know a lot of background about Accountz, but they certainly have some great sounding products on offer. Personal Accountz (£39.99), Business Accountz (£69.99) and Professional Business Accountz (£169.99) all offer varying feature levels. Topping the range is the multi-user Enterprise Business Accountz (£349.99).The applications look very well laid out and even the entry level Personal Accountz offers features like scheduling of recurring transactions, unlimited accounts and entries, plus the ability to import Money & Quicken files.
Looks like I am going to busy reviewing over the next couple of months, as this will be added to Geekanoids review list. Until then, check out the features at www.accountz.com
Gear4 launch BluEye for iPod
Gear4 launched their new BluEye gadget today at Mac Expo. This £49.99 device connects between your iPod dock connector and your headphones. Then, via Bluetooth 2, connect the BluEye to your mobile phone and you have some really nice features on tap.First up, an FM radio, plus remote control of your iPod tunes. Where the features really excel is when used in conjunction with your mobile handset. If a call comes in, press the BluEye button, the tune you're playing mutes and you take the call. In addition to this, you also get caller display on your iPod screen, last nine number redial direct from your iPod and voice dialing.
The BluEye works with the iPod Mini, Photo, both Nano's and the 5th Gen iPod. It will be available in 14 days from all good resellers.
Full details from www.gear4.com
Mac Expo London - End of Day One
Wow, what a busy day, trying to split my interest with the big players and the smaller vendors too. My day kicked off with the Quark launch of "Quark Interactive Designer" posted online earlier today. The most important note of this launch (apart from a great product) is the pricing. Grab it now whilst it is on special offer for just £69, but fear not, even the full asking price of £139 is very good.Onto the main Mac Expo show floor and things are very busy from the off. There is a lot of buzz and visitors seem genuinely enthusiastic. The one thing I picked up on very early was the number of people I heard discussing a MacBook purchase. Asking a few of them after their initial questions to Apple revealed that they were new to Apple. I must have spoken to at least twelve new users that had made their first Apple purchase at the show.
Apple's stand was very busy. They had banks of MacBooks, MacBook Pros and iMacs. The MacBooks were generating the most interest. My eye strayed to the massive screen real estate of the 24 inch iMac. I had not seen one in the flesh before today. I must say, this iMac is absolutely stunning. The screen is bright and just how the stand supports it is amazing. Another one for the shopping list.
There were plenty of Apple staff on hand to ask questions and give demonstrations. Alongside was the Apple Theatre, where apps were demonstrated throughout the day. This was broken up by product showcasing to bring visitors up-to-date with all of the current line-up.
One stand that I really loved, because of their friendly attitude, was Crumpler. The bags from the Crumpler camp are great (I use one myself). They had a few new bags at the show (names may be different in the US).
The Glory Box is specially for the new MacBook. It is a very light bag, with a removable laptop sleeve and just about enough room for a few accessories. It is available in red, black/white and olive, sporting a reflective strip on the front. Retail price is £85.
The Double Charge is slightly bigger, again with a removable sleeve. This bag is suitable for upto a 15.4inch widescreen and again weighs in at £85.
Crumpler bags are made specially for Apple laptops, so be sure to check out their website when choosing something to carry you pride and joy!
Of the smaller vendors a few stood out. Razorlab were there showing their iTattoo service. Laser engraving on your iPod or laptop, it looked really impressive and not too expensive. Apart from adding an individual look to your gear, it also makes it pretty unique, so not as appealing to would-be thieves.
iTango, also covered in an earlier post, launched their iTango dock. This was very neat, with an integrated cable tidy and the ability to dock your iPod whilst it remains in a silicone or hard case.
There were so many vendors to get round, that to write one long post it is probably better I sign off now. Check the individual articles that will be up online over the next 24 hours for more in-depth details. Plus a show roundup featuring the 'Best-of-Show' on Saturday. Until then... enjoy the coverage.
Adobe Sing Aloud at Mac Expo
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Adobe's presence at the Mac Expo is stunning, with two separate theatres. Each one running at the same time, with great tutorials and demos of all of the Adobe range. I watched the After Effects 7 demo from start-to-finish and must say it was great. Noise is pretty high on the showfloor, so some parts were hard to follow. Overall though, it was a worthwhile watch, with things moving along at a nice pace.Show offers included a free 10 hour tutorial DVD "Total Training Adobe Creative Suite 2 from Design to Delivery" with every Creative Suite 2 purchase. A great give-away, but could do with a shorter title.
Stunning monitors from Eizo - Mac Expo
Eizo have a really nice stand, showing off their high end LCD monitors. Really aimed at professionals (or casual users with deep pockets). The two that caught my eye were the ColorEdge CG221 and CG211 (both pcitured), 22.2 inches and 21.3 inches respectively. The larger of the two, the CG221 displays at a resolution of 1920x1200. The colour uniformity and brightness seemed to be spot on. Backed by a 5 year warranty it may well be worth a look.Special offers at the show for the FlexScan S2110W, 21 inch, at £499, or the larger 24 inch, S2410W at £749, seemed like a pretty good buy. The image quality on these two were definitely on a par with the more expensive offerings.
Link to Eizo's website.