The 10.4.8 Update is recommended for all users and includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes for the following applications and technologies:

- connecting to wireless networks using the EAP-FAST protocol
- Apple USB modem reliability
- using OpenType fonts in Microsoft Word
- compatibility with 3rd party USB hubs
- scanner performance
- RAW camera support
- printing documents with Asian language names
- performance of the Translation widget
- broadband network performance
- security updates

Check Software Update to grab the download.  It’s a whopping 211Mb for Intel users.

I was pretty excited to see the news for this even though I’m not a .Mac subscriber and despise webmail for the most part. If anyone was going to do webmail right (GMail users don’t start in on me) then it would be Apple. The interface looks almost exactly like Mail.app and sports some really cool features to be a web based application. There is a preview page up right now so you can learn more info. It looks very cool and seems to be a nice use of Ajax as well. I’m wondering if storage updates will be accompanying this as well?

View new .Mac webmail here.

I haven’t had the change to really use this application and wouldn’t know what to do with it anyway since I’m clueless when it comes to photography, but I thought it was worth mentioning of the significant update simply because there is always a lot of drama surrounding this app and the fact that I am in love with the interface so much.  I love charcoal HUD windows and such!!

 Aperture homepage

This is a new application that is what using bittorrent technology should be like. Built-in searching and easy downloading of files makes the whole process seamless with great sense of elegance and style. Currently a free beta available for download, will be shareware once it’s finished. Music this week is “Hate Me” by Blue October.

Download the subtler replacement for iTunes 7 here.

Grab the Xtorrent beta here. 

 

 Enhanced Podcast [25:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2034)

I talk about the new products that were released this week, briefly go over iTunes 7, and a cool freeware application called LiquidCD that allows you to easily create audio, photo, data, and other DVDs or CDs, including burning Video_TS folders as well as making direct copies of discs. Music this week is “Lips of an Angel” by Hinder.

This is a nice application that allows you to get a lot accomplished and you should check it out for all of your disc-burning needs.

Download here.

To give iTunes 7 a makeover and let all of the aqua goodness back into the application, download AquaT from here and install it.  Note:  Backup your iTunes applicaiton first in case something goes wrong.

 

 Enhanced Podcast [22:58m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1525)

Well, I’m not going into an all out review here, but I went out and bought a new green Nano as a treat for myself earlier this afternoon. Have to say that the black was a very tempting choice, if it wasn’t the same price as a 30Gb Video. I’m not that stupid, Apple.

The new Nano comes in a very nice little package and reminds me very much of my Mini. Almost too much in fact, I feel like we’ve went backwards in design a bit. But anyway, it’s a nice and solid unit with a great screen and audio quality. Can you tell I like green? Read the rest of the entry to see more than this first pic.

Continue reading »

Well, I just finished installing and playing around with iTunes 7 and let me tell you that it is amazing! The interface is absolutely wonderful. I mean, this is great! The icons are gorgeous (except for the main app icon that was changed, reminds me of the older 10.1 iTunes icon) the iTunes Store has seen a major upgrade, everthing is just great. The views are also a nice touch. There are tons of features that I didn’t even hear about and only saw on the website.

Your Library is now divided, quite nicely, into Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, etc and it’s wonderful! Even the default view for the TV Shows makes sense now.

The Cover Flow view is simply a nice touch…(cough, cough…where are the developers of that application now I wonder?)

Even the Mini-store sports some nice updates that keep it in touch with the new look of the store itself.

Another very cool feature that I’ve wanted was the ability for iTunes to download new TV Show episodes for you as they become available. Buy a season pass, and there is now an option that will “Automatically download pre-purchased content” for you. Nice.

UPDATE: I just had to add that Apple has addressed the TV Show bug so that you can now view your TV shows on your iPod and with Front Row.  They also added more info in the Get Info area just for TV shows, which is really nice.  And controls for full-screen playback!

In case you haven’t heard about all the cool stuff that was announced today, Apple released a new version of the iPod Shuffle, new higher capacity and more colorful Nanos, and some cooler Video iPods. The expected films in the iTunes Store were announced as well as iTunes 7, which looks like a major upgrade already. And the much talked about iTV or iHome product so you can stream video, pictures and more from your Mac or PC to your TV was also released. Everything we heard except for the lovely iPhone rumors.

Everything is available today except for the wireless device.

There are several rumors surrounding today’s event, the biggest of which being the addition of movie downloads to the music store. I was downloading an episode of Eureka (a great TV show from Sci-Fi) last night and when I took a look to see if it had finished, I had received an error message about my download telling me to try again. Checking for purchases got me the following message box from the iTMS. Enjoy.

Checking out the store itself results in a black window like the one below