Apple to Seed OS X 10.5.5

Sources are reporting that Apple is close to issuing the first pre-release build of the next maintenance update to Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). Mac OS X 10.5.5 is said to include support for new Mac notebooks due out later this year (autumn).

“People familiar with the matter say Apple Developer Connection members and other high-profile software makers could receive the first test builds of the software prior to the start of the weekend,” AppleInsider reveals. “The first seedings will almost certainly arrive by the middle of next week,” the site notes, citing the same sources.

Apple’s latest maintenance update for Leopard, Mac OS X 10.5.4 was released on June 30, just a month after the first beta build had been seeded to the Apple developer community. Read More »

iPod and iPhone on the Big Screen

Here’s an interesting little gadget for iPod and iPhone owners, it’s a mini LED/LCoS projector called the QuingBar MP101. Just pop in your pod (or phone) into the docking slot on the top and it’ll throw up a 640 x 480pixel image, up to 50cm across, on any handy white surface or wall. Okay, so the picture is going to be a bit grainy, and with only 15 lumens on tap, not very bright, but it has to be better than going boss-eyed trying to watch a movie on the handset’s titchy screen. It has a built in speaker and it’ll also charge you iPod or iPhone while it’s in place. No price or UK availability yet – it’s only lust been launched at a European trade show, but I’m guessing £150-ish and in the shops in a month or two.

Hack a Laptop Challenge, Winners and Losers

In a three-day contest, held at a major security conference in Vancouver recently, teams of hackers were challenged to break their way into three laptops, running Mac OS X, Windows Vista and Ubuntu Linux operating systems, reports CNet News.

Now I know what you are thinking but you’d be wrong… On the first day all three machines repulsed attacks on the operating systems and via a network connection. The Mac Air laptop was the first to fall, however, two minutes into the start of the second day’s session. This was after the judges relaxed the rules to allow the hackers to attack browser and email vulnerabilities. Read More »

Mac Owners Told ‘Don’t Panic’

Security specialists Sophos are doing a fine impression of Dad’s Army’s Corporal Jones with its latest advice to Apple Mac users, which is ‘Don’t Panic’. This follows the discovery of a Trojan horse web popup that targets OS X users, called Troj/MacSwp-B or ‘Imunizator’. Windows PC owners will be familiar with the trick it plays, it purports to be a security program checking for problems, which needless to say it finds, it then tries to frighten Mac users into paying out for bogus software. Read More »

Shirt Power for iPods

A week or so ago you may recall many newspapers carried a story about an odd looking contraption that you strapped to your legs, which generated power as you walk, enough to power up to 10 mobile phones one report said. Well, here’s something a tad more elegant. Researchers at the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology have come up with an idea that generates power from nano fibres, that can be incorporated into everyday items of clothing, like shirts and trousers. Pairs of fibres are coated with zinc oxide nanowires and as they rub against each other they generate tiny currents using a piezoelectric effect. Read More »

Welcome To Macintosh: The Documentary

Well it appears that 2008 is going to be the year of the Apple documentary. Last week I mentioned the upcoming MacHeads The Movie, and now comes Welcome To Macintosh. It looks a little less fanatical than MacHeads. There’s a trailer and teaser out, but I could only find the teaser on Youtube, so I have it posted after the jump. The trailer is the good one though, so you’ll have to follow the link on the next page to watch that sucker, but it’s worth it. Best line in the whole video, from an Apple employee:

The people on the outside think that it’s like this wonderful World of Oz or Disney going on and all of us are just all these brilliant, amazing, happy people and like, it’s not, it’s like a sausage factory man — you really don’t want to know how this stuff happens. Read More »

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Wired picks Zune 80 over iPod Classic

Taken from Wired:
The big conundrum this holiday season? It’s not how to escape your in-laws. (You’re trapped, fool!) It’s which media player to buy that special someone. The initial knee jerk reaction is to buy the 80GB iPod Classic. Not so fast, there hotshot. There’s also the brand new 80GB Zune 2, which is actually your better bet. The kids are getting a Zune for Christmas, even if they asked Santa for an iPod. Read More »

Apple’s iPhone Top Gadget for 2007

Steve Jobs will be popping the cork tonight as he celebrates the fact that Time Magazine voted the Apple iPhone as the top gadget in their Top 10 list. Read More »

How to Buy an MP3 Player

MP3 players are one too many these days. Music on the move is fine, but being bombarded with choices can be quite a pain when you are ready to buy one. Do you go with a well known name, such as Apple and their iPod or do you take a chance on a cheaper, not so well known maker? Well, to make your decision a little easier, here is a rough guide on what to look for when buying an MP3 player.

Memory

Memory is the key to an MP3 player. Therefore, the greater the memory, the better it is. You can store that many more songs and so on. There’s nothing like it! Read More »

MP3 Player for The Dolphins

Music addicts out there who like to swim have now the chance to listen to their favorite music underwater with the only condition to get the latest item in the waterproof electronics industry. This time, is Oregon Scientific MP120 fully waterproof MP3 player.

What’s interesting about this device is its capability of functioning underwater, at a maximum depth of about 1 meter. What sucks is the amount of time it does that, reduced to a shameful 30 minutes. But hey, you have to admit it’s cool, since your heart won’t let you submerge your precious iPod underwater. Unless you get one of these. By “these” I mean the H2O iPod Underwater Housing, which was specially designed to keep the most important components of your electronics away from the water. This time, the design line is not bad either. Read More »