Apple eNews: July 28, 2005

	Thanks to its “excellent multicamera editing, native HDV and IMX support,” and support for “capture and playback for as many as 24 audio channels,” Macworld awards Final Cut Pro 5 an impressive 4.5 stars. Says reviewer Anton Linecker, “Apple’s tagline for Final Cut Pro 5 is ‘Edit everything. Wait for nothing.’ It turns out this is not an idle boast—the sheer range of video formats and codecs that Final Cut Pro 5 can edit is mind-boggling.”
	“I was counting 200 songs every six seconds. It’s amazing how fast it was going, so it’s kind of like winning the lottery.” So says Amy Greer, describing how she became the 500 Millionth Song Grand Prize Winner when she purchased and downloaded Faith Hill’s “Mississippi Girl.” Her “lucky song” will be the first she uploads to her new iPod. As for the other iPods Greer won, she revealed her plans to Erin Smith of Indiana’s Journal and Courier.
	When the Boston Consulting Group asked nearly 1000 senior executives to name the most innovative companies in the world, 25% of them named one that “delivers great consumer experiences with outstanding design; steady flow of new ideas that redefine old categories, such as music players; continual evolution of business models and brand.”
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Talk to those who have a BlackBerry, and you’ll hear nothing short of exultation. Especially since they can use PocketMac to sync Address Book contacts, iCal calendars, Stickie Notes, and more between their Mac and BlackBerry, including the latest BlackBerry 7100, 7250, and 7290 models.

Mac OS X has the members of Team Banzai singing “Baby, you can drive my car.” That’s because the team and Dora, “the world’s first fully autonomous vehicle,” have qualified for the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge thanks in large part to the piloting skills of Mac OS X and the fleet of Mac mini computers actually doing the back-seat driving. But it’s not just for driving that Team Banzai, one of only 40 teams invited to compete in the Challenge, depends on Mac OS X and their trusty Macintosh computers. How else does Tiger help the team?

We may have just introduced the new iBook G4 models the other day, but guess what? They’re already available as part of our Student Union promotion. If you’re bound for college this fall and you purchase a qualifying Mac, you can get a free iPod mini and save up to $479 in combined savings. Terms and conditions apply, so visit our website for complete details.

Quick Widget Tip. How’d you like to keep the Calculator Widget open even after you bid Dashboard adieu. Here’s how. First, hit the F12 key to reveal your Dashboard. Then drag the Calculator widget onto the desktop, and before you release it, hit the F12 key again. Voilà, while all your other widgets have fled the scene, the fully functional Calculator widget remains. When you're done with it, simply hit the F12 key twice.

Like to create your own Dashboard widgets? Danny Goodman can offer some help via his new “Mac OS X Technology Guide to Dashboard.” Available in printed and electronic versions, the book can show you how to “build rock-solid, professional widgets.”

If one life’s not enough for you, try on a Second Life by participating in Linden Lab’s massive multiplayer online role-playing game. A virtual community, Second Life offers “a virtual world—a 3D online persistent space totally created and evolved by its users. WIthin this vast and rapidly expanding place,” say the games developers, “you can do, create or become just about anything you can imagine.”

Back in May, we told you about Fresh Films and their plan to put PowerBook computers and Final Cut Studio into the hands of teen filmmakers. Now, all the films have been shot and edited, and you get to choose the 2005 Fresh Film Favorite—and enjoy the chance of winning an iPod or a trip to the Hollywood Premiere Party to meet the filmmakers.

Got a friend who should hear about the new models of iBook G4 and Mac mini? Send them to the online version of today’s issue of Apple eNews.

Every week, developers surprise the Mac faithful with new and exciting products for iPod, the Mac, and Mac OS X. Take a look at some of the more recent arrivals.

Apple eNews
July 28, 2005
Volume 8, Issue 15

We hope you enjoyed this issue of Apple eNews. We’ll bring you more exciting news from Cupertino just two weeks from today—on Thursday, August 11 See you then.

Apple eNews is a free, bi-weekly email publication.

Event dates and product specifications are subject to change. Some products, programs, or promotions are not available outside the U.S. Visit your local Apple site or call your local authorized Apple reseller for more information. Prices are estimated retail prices and are listed in U.S. dollars.

Want your iLife to go? Take it with you on a new iBook G4 that offers great value, great portability, and a great price. Available immediately with either 12-inch or 14-inch displays, the new iBook G4 features:

•	More Memory. 512MB DRAM standard, expandable to 1.5GB
•	Built-in Advanced Wireless. Both AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR¹
•	Faster Processors. Fast PowerPC G4 processors running up to 1.42GHz
•	Powerful Graphics. ATI Mobility RADEON 9550 graphics processor with 32MB dedicated memory
•	Larger Hard Drives. Up to 60GB standard; 100GB as CTO²

Designed to take you everywhere you need to go, iBook G4 offers up to 6 hours of battery life and now includes a scrolling trackpad and Sudden Motion Sensor technology for more data protection.³

^{1 Wireless Internet access requires AirPort, AirPort Express or AirPort Extreme Base Station and Internet access (fees may apply). Some ISPs are not currently compatible with AirPort.

2. 1GB equals 1 billion byes; actual formatted capacity less.

3. Battery life depends on configuration and use. See <www.apple.com/batteries/> for more information.}

With prices starting at just $499, it’s still the most affordable way to own a Mac, and now Mac mini offers you even more than it did before. For one, you now have three models to choose from, and all of them come standard with 512MB of RAM (expandable to 1GB) and bring you both iLife ’05 and the übersecure Mac OS X Tiger.

Like to work wirelessly? Our “better” and “best” configurations—at $599 and $699, respectively—feature AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth, so you can move your Mac mini anywhere in the house. After all, it does fit in the palm of your hand.

And if you like to burn DVDs, the “best” Mac mini configuration comes with a SuperDrive, great for sharing the movies and slideshows you’ll be creating with iLife ’05.

You’re keeping track of all the interstellar news with your NASA Widget; using Symphonic to search for the songs you want to hear in iTunes; learning your Word of the Day; playing a hand or two of Video Poker; and hunting for dinner with the Pizza Hut Widget.

Yes, Dashboard keeps you informed, entertained, enlightened, and well fed. But how can you successfully manage the widgets you can and can’t live without?

That’s easy. By using the new Widgets Widget that comes your way via Mac OS X v10.4.2, the latest Tiger software update. The Widgets Widget simplifies Widget installation, providing a clear notification when a new widget’s being installed. It also lets you enable and disable your Widgets, sort them (by name or date), and delete those Widgets you’re no longer using.

And here’s a neat trick: guess what happens when you double-click the name of a widget in the list.

Been a busy photographer this summer?

How would you like to please yourself and impress everyone you know with a huge poster filled with nearly a hundred of your best photos? You may think such a project would entail hours and hours of monotonous work in an image editing program, and you’d be right.

Unless, of course, you follow Jim Heid’s recipe and combine the strengths of iPhoto 5, Mac OS X Tiger, and Automator and take all the tedium out of creating an exquisite—and highly affordable—20- by 30-inch “Life Poster” from the photos in your iPhoto 5 library.

By the way, if that name sounds familiar, it’s because Jim’s the author of “The Macintosh iLife ’05,” which combines a great book on iLife ’05 with hours of DVD instruction.

You come across a great new website and bookmark it in Safari. But, come the weekend, when you’re surfing on the patio at home, you can’t remember the URL carefully bookmarked on your system at work.

Sure, you could email yourself the URL the next time, but here’s a much better solution: take advantage of the new .Mac Sync services built right into Mac OS X Tiger.¹

With .Mac Sync, you can automatically synchronize Safari bookmarks, so that they’re identical on every Mac system you use—at work and at home. You can also synchronize all your Mail settings, so every Mac you touch shares the same Mail accounts, signatures, rules, aliases, and Smart Mailboxes. The same goes for the passwords you store in your Keychain and the contact information you store in Address Book.

^{1. You must be a .Mac member to take advantage of .Mac sync.}

More and more post-production houses and research facilities have been discovering the benefits of Xsan. Apple’s enterprise-class storage area network solution allows simultaneous access by multiple systems, great for enterprise groups needing access to large amounts of storage. We’re not just talking gigabytes either. Xsan lets them access terabytes or even petabytes of storage, the huge volumes they need for working with massive files.

With the recent release of Xsan 1.1, enterprise clients can now take full advantage of Tiger and its 64-bit file system. Think you might be interested in such a solution? Then you’ll want to take a look at our support options. They include not just a wealth of Knowledge Base articles on the Xsan Support page but also the availability of 24/7 Xsan Support.