Apple Grrl

 The much anticipated WWDC is here, and Steve Jobs made one of many cool announcements: a new animated OS for apple. The software he used to illustrate the point, a disc burning software named Disco, blows smoke while it burns. Why is that cool? Because if you blow into your Mac’s built in microphone the smoke blows across your desktop. It’s not only animated, it’s reactive animation. Very cool.

At the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, Jobs will probably show off Leopard, a Mac OS X update due in October that he has promised contains “top secret” features. But perhaps the most important feature is one that has been overlooked by many Apple fans: a new set of tools for building program interfaces called Core Animation.

I can’t wait until Monday for the official unveiling of the rest of the features. Look to Apple Reporter to get the scoop.

Source

[tags]apple, wwdc, steve jobs, animated desktop, os x leopard, disco, wwdc conference[/tags]

DON’T FORGET TO ENTER THE MOD YOUR MAC CONTEST!!! LAST CHANCE!!Finally! The videos are starting to be posted online for the vicarious enjoyment of all of us who were not at All Things D to see Jobs and Gates on stage together. Enjoy (shown after the break)! (more…)

Macworld has live coverage on their site from the historic dual stage presentation of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. You can read the coverage on their site by clicking here. Some highlights:

“We made this bet that this paradigm shift would happen, to graphical interfaces, and that the Mac would be the one to do it,” said Gates. “The big bet wasn’t Mac versus Windows, it was character-mode versus graphics interface.”

(more…)

We have now received the first entries in the Mod Your Mac contest! They look lovely! Keep them coming in people!

Original contest post here.

Questions Post here.

Reminder post here.

My MacBook mod here.

DON’T FORGET TO ENTER! DEADLINE MAY 31, 2007.

[tags]mod your mac contest, apple contest, win ipod speakers, win itunes gift card, apple mod contest, apple reporter contest, mac contest[/tags]

Who has the industry clout to bring Steve Jobs and Bill Gates together for an appearance on stage in what is an industry first? The Wall Street Journal, apparently. Their columnist, Walt Mossberg, has achieved the impossible: bringing Jobs and Gates together on stage at the Wall Street Journal’s D5: All Things Digital conference. What I would give to be in attendance there!

This is an historic moment in the technoverse. Two industry titans, normally at odds, playing nice for a day? Unheard of.

The tech titans from Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. didn’t even appear together when they announced a partnership that helped Jobs save Apple at Macworld in Boston 10 years ago. (Gates teleconferenced in remotely, appearing on a screen looming over Jobs.) It could be the first time they’ve been together in such a setting since Jobs famously interviewed Gates as a possible suitor for Apple’s new computer in an onstage version of the “Macintosh Dating Game” back in 1984.

So when is the big day? Wednesday at D5 is when computer junkies everywhere will get this rare treat. And what will be the big topic for the day? That is a hotly contested secret. Chic geeks everywhere are hoping for a true dialog on operating systems, the future of computing, the possibilty of bridging the Microsoft / Apple gap, future plans for each company, and so much more. Whether or not they delve that deeply into their 20+ year rivalry and look that closely at their respective futures remains to be seen.

I’ll update this post with links to transcripts and video of the historic meeting when they start appearing online after Wednesday’s momentous occasion.

Source Slashdot | Gates and Jobs to Share A Stage

DON’T FORGET TO ENTER THE MOD YOUR MAC CONTEST! CLICK HERE!

[tags]D5 All Things Digital, The D, Wall Street Journal, Walt Mossberg, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jobs and Gates, Conference[/tags]

Apple has been testing the newest version of its Boot Camp dual operating system software, scheduled to be released with the next generation OS X, Leopard, later this year. Apple has even gone so far as to post on its web site that it hasn’t been able to solve the issue for users of Boot Camp 1.2 trying to boot the version of Windows Vista that released in January. Luckily for the Mac user, Apple is exceptionally good at problem solving and customer service, so we can rest assured they will have the issue fixed by the time Leopard releases in keeping with their usual high standards, but for now it’s a problem.

Apple has offered a workaround for the problem to help people use their software fully while it continues to address the issue. To use the workaround:

To get around the problem, Mac Pro users wishing to use Windows Vista on their Mac OS X-based machines first need to employ the Boot Camp Assistant software to create a dedicated Windows partition on the secondary drive and then start the Windows Vista installation process as usual.

There are other workaround for issues surrounding Vista and BootCamp. These issues include a computer freeze during Vista installation, among other things. Apple addressed the problem and listed all the possible issues and workarounds here. Other Apple products being hobbled by Vista include iTunes, Apple’s popular music download software. You can find workarounds for iTunes here.

Author: Leslie Poston, © 2007, All Rights Reserved

On the feeds this week is the announcement from Volkswagon of their marketing campaign for the Volkswagon Golf. Currently being rolled out in Europe is the new campaign for the Golf, which they are now referring to a the iGolf. that’s right, they are touting their car as completely iPod intergrated, down to the name. so what does the iGolf console look like? Check it out:

One of the drawbacks, of course is the label on the car. With iGolf printed everywhere, everyone will know there is expensive equipment inside they could possibly steal. Other than that, it’s a groovy thing, baby, dig it. To read more about the campaign in Spain, go to the Spanish campaign website here.

Author: Leslie Poston, © 2007, All Rights Reserved

igolf, volkswagon

It is possible that a release date of June 11 has been confirmed for the much anticipated iPhone. On CNET today a blog was posted that Cingular has confirmed the release date to CNET. If you contact Cingular directly, they do in fact, confirm the date of release, although they don’t have any further information. The date makes sense - it’s the opening day of Apple’s World Wide Developer’s Conference, so it fits.

Update: Or Not. According to suppliers of the components, the iPhone will not be ready in time for a June 11 release.

Author: Leslie Poston, © 2007, All Rights Reserved

apple, iphone