Category: news

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iMac revision, will we see Blu-Ray?

This week should see Apple release new versions of the iMac if the rumour sites are to be believed.

I wonder as well as new chips, etc… we will see the first Macs to have Blu-Ray drives?

It was back in 2005 that Apple joined the Blu-Ray consortium. MacWorld at that time said:

Apple did more than just affiliate with a trade group looking to develop and promote a new technology when it announced plans last week to join the Blu-Ray Disc Association’s board of directors. The company also inserted itself right into the middle of a battle over high-definition DVD.

Since joining the association we have not seen a single Mac with a integrated Blu-Ray drive. Third party developers (such as Roxio) have been providing Blu-Ray support for external Blu-Ray drives, however no such Apple drive has been seen.

Of course back in 2005 was the start of the HD format war, which saw HD-DVD lose this war back in February. Blu-Ray had won the format war.

So could now be the time we see Blu-Ray for the first time on the Mac platform?

Of course though Blu-Ray won the war, both Microsoft and Apple seem to be ignoring the physical HD formats and concentrating on the HD download market, with xBox Live and Apple TV.

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Blog back up and running…

The blog is back up and running after my hosting service moved their servers from the UK to Germany!

Apologies for those who were trying to access the blog.

We’re back…

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Adobe launches a Media Player

After their success with Photoshop Express, we now see another web application from Adobe.

This is a media player application which works on the AIR platform.

Macrumors says about it:

In many ways, the Adobe Media Player mimics iTunes Video and Podcast functionality by providing users with an all-enclosed application that provides access to network shows and podcasts. Content is sparse at the moment, but Adobe has partnered with a number of content providers such as CBS, PBS, MTV and more. Unlike iTunes, however, Adobe’s Media Player is not presently a “store” and offers free and ad-supported content. Adobe, however, has said that it plans on adding payment systems later to offer purchase and rental options.

Certainly this looks like it could be a real alternative to iTunes for those looking for a way to play podcasts.

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MacBook Pro issue resolved totally now I hope

In a previous blog posting I mentioned the problems here and here, I was having with my 802.11n WPA2 encrypted network and a MacBook Pro.

In the end what seemed to help was ensuring that Airport was at the top of the network configurations.

However even with that it still took the MacBook Pro some time after sleep to re-connect to my 802.11n Airport wireless network. Even then sometimes it failed to re-connect so I had to turn the Airport on the MacBook Pro off and back on again.

The MacBook Pro has now been upgraded to Leopard 10.5.2 and this does seem to have resolved the issue fully, with the MacBook Pro re-connecting to the wireless network immediately rather than after a minute or so.

Hopefully it will remain resolved and not happen again.

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Podcasting Doctor Who

Tonight the first episode of Doctor Who of the new series (series four of the new new series and somebody will no doubt be able to tell me which actual series of Doctor Who it is if you take into account all the other Doctors. As it happens BBC Four is showing a William Hartnell Dalek story tonight (on right now as I write)).

Well not everyone knows that the BBC issue a commentary on the new series as a podcast which is available either from iTunes or from the BBC 7 website. Though the new Doctor Who Flash based website may have the audio files there as well, it’s not working for me on my Mac, none of the links work.

The podcast has the cast and crew talking about the episode.

Now what I didn’t know having subscribed via iTunes for the first three seasons which had podcasts, the last Christmas episode did not have a downloadable podcast, it was available as a stream only!

Why we’re doing things a little differently this Christmas. You’re probably wondering why the commentary for Voyage Of The Damned isn’t available as an MP3 and isn’t on iTunes.

This is because the BBC is only currently allowed to offer big downloads like this if they’re related to radio shows.

We’re working to reach a new agreement and get this and future commentaries back as downloads before Series Four, but in the meantime we’re streaming the one for Voyage Of The Damned.

Huh!

Well they did manage to sort things out and thanks to BBC 7 we have the downloadable version back with us.

What a bizarre limitation, I wonder who insisted on that?

It is recommended that you watch the episode without the commentary first and then either listen (as I do) or watch again with the commentary.

I do like some commentaries (the cast commentaries on the Lord of the Rings films are really fun to listen to) and the Doctor Who ones have been pretty good in the past – though season three was my least favourite, here’s hoping that this new series of commentaries is better.

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Photoshop Express

Adobe have released an online photo editing app which they have called Photoshop Express.

You shot it — now do something to it. Make it pop. Make it impossible to ignore. Upload, sort, polish, and store up to 2GB of photos. All for free. Resize, tint, distort, and more — add your mark to all your images. Then show them off on Adobe® Photoshop® Express or your Facebook page.

Photoshop Express

Now before you run off and think wahay! This is not an online version of Photoshop. This is an online photo editing application which Adobe have called Photoshop Express.

It reminds me a lot of iPhoto and many Mac users will find it pretty simple and easy to use and very familiar, but obviously Photoshop Express also works on Windows PCs.

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Mucked about by…

There are credits and then there are credits.

There I was watching the Colour of Magic when I noticed Terry Pratchett’s credit.

Mucked about by…

Mucked about by….

Excellent.

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The Light of Other Days

With the death of Arthur C Clarke last week I thought I would post my choice of his books.

The Light of Other Days

This is one of my favourite books and I have read it quite a few times now.

‘Space is what keeps everything from being in the same place. Right?’ With these words Hiram Patterson, head of the giant media corporation OurWorld, launches the greatest communications revolution in history. With OurWorld’s development of wormhole technology, any point in space can be connected to any other, faster than the speed of light. Realtime television coverage is here: earthquakes and wars, murders and disasters can be watched, exactly as they occur, anywhere on the planet. Then WormCams are made to work across time as well as space. Humanity encounters itself in the light of other days. We witness the life of Jesus, go to the premiere of Hamlet, solve the enigmas that have baffled generations. Blood spilled centuries ago flows vividly once more – and no personal treachery or shame can be concealed. But when the world and everything in it becomes as transparent as glass and there are no more secrets, people find new ways to gain vengeance and commit crime, and Hiram Patterson finds new ways to keep his Machiavellian schemes secret.

The idea of the wormcams is really scary and the impact they have on the world is immense and explored in this novel.

You can get the book either from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.