Over in the comments section of my other blog, reader Lone Star kindly posted the five steps needed to configure your illegally pirated copy of FrontRow, including a keyboard shortcut to launch it.
Click the link for Lone Star’s tutorial. Be warned, I haven’t tested it.
Apple’s PowerBooks and iBooks are generally well-made, value-for-money machines, but they suffer from a critical design flaw — the tip of the AC power adapter is prone to breaking off inside the power port.
It’s a costly and time-consuming repair, and it’s almost impossible for owners to fix themselves. I know, because it’s happened to me three times in the last three years.
The last time was just last week, and the story of how I fixed it is a saga you can read after the jump. Long story short: I finally dug it out in a frenzy of rage and frustration that almost ruined a $2,500 computer.
Apple’s FrontRow and PhotoBooth software are both available on BitTorrent, even though they’re supposed to be restricted to the new iMac.
It took about two minutes to find and download PhotoBooth. Thirty seconds later I was snapping fun pics with the kids using a PowerBook and an iSight camera.
FrontRow, which allows you to control your music, photos, and DVDs from the couch, has been hacked so that it doesn’t look for the iMac remote control it is supposed to ship with. Instead, the hacked version works with any keyboard. I got it running on the PowerBook and a Power Mac G5.
In fact, FrontRow is pretty useless without a remote, but I hooked it to an old Keyspan external USB remote-control, and it works perfectly, though it is slow to load the music and video libraries.
There are also reports of it working with bluetooth keyboards and the free Romeo remote-control software (which is compatible with a limited selection of Sony Ericsson phones and the Nokia 3650).
Update: The DVD player in the hacked FrontRow doesn’t work — at least not for me. Too bad.
From the heart of Japan’s youth culture — Tokyo’s trendy Shibuya district — Flickr user Purpin describes how Apple is advertising the iPod nano:
As part of their rather unique advertising campaign, huge iPod nano posters now adorn the platform walls of Toyoko Line Shibuya Station.
As you depart the train you’ll be faced with a stream after stream of 1:1 iPod nano cutouts, in which you can pull off and take home. Obviously, I helped myself to a few as well.
Needless to say, with its tens of thousands of people passing through Shibuya station daily, those iPod cutouts won’t last very long.
Fortunately, I was lucky enough to be able to catch a glimpse of the staff furiously “refilling” the empty spaces with new cutouts in between the waves of departing passengers (I took the pictures after the evening rush. I can only imagine how busy these guys can be during rush hour!).
Much to my suprise, I later realised that these cutouts weren’t made of cardboard but of plastic, and are very rigidly built too. On the reverse side were the URL and QR Codes of a site where you can download iPod nano wallpapers for your mobile phone.
Having living somewhere way out from Tokyo, I was very lucky to be able to get my hands on these cutouts AND witness those “refillers” in action. Hats off to Apple and their wonderful advertising.
Update: Apple Japan has more pix of the nano promotion, which give a good idea of its placement in the subway.
“
Yahooligan and occassional-OS-X-critic Russell Beattie bought a new video iPod, and he absolutely loves it. Russell’s no slouch. He’s one of the sharpest observers of tech and Silicon Valley. He writes:
I got the new 30GB White iPod yesterday and it completely rocks. Apple did a great job with this gadget. Much thinner than previous iPods, super-fast syncing over USB, and the screen is *great*. Anyone who complains about the screen size is either 1) blind 2) a whining tempermental jerk 3) someone who hasn’t actually seen the screen. It’s beautiful.
I’m telling you right now, Video Podcasts are going to be huge. HUUUUGE… Making it so easy to rip or download new music and sync it to your device made the iPod what it is today. The same functionality for Videos is what is going to make the new iPod the standard bearer for portable video as well, even though it has a much smaller screen than the PSP.
…I can’t wait for iFilm and AtomFilms and JibJab and all the rest to start creating content for my iPod and other devices as well, available via an RSS feed (do they already?). And I can’t wait for the Podcast guys to start ramping up their content like RocketBoom and Mobuzz have as well.
…It’s all related, can you see it? Portable video is really here at least… and it’s going to be huuuuge!
Londoner Graham Bower has some plausible video iPod predictions, as well as nifty Photoshop mockups of the rumored device.
In Bower’s view, Apple needs to differentiate the 60/80 Gbyte iPod from lower-capacity, music-only offerings, and that’s done by adding video.
The video iPod will sync music, photos and home movies (“home movies away from home”), as well as play short music videos and video podcasts downloaded from the iTMS.
Other predictions include an onscreen keyboard, controlled by the click wheel; a return to the original iPod design (polycarbonate front, metal back); video playback in landscape mode; and a revolving click wheel to control playback when the iPod is held horizontally.
Luxpro, the Taiwanese company that knocked off the iPod shuffle, has a new product: the Pico.
Sell your old iPhone 15 Pro to Cult of Mac. We buy back iPhone 15 Pro. Get immediate cash. Save your old iPhone 15 Pro from landfill.
https://giphy.com/gifs/AppleTV-apple-tv-app-3WCNY2RhcmnwGbKbCi
Spotted on Flickr, a homemade iPod speaker system from someone called ianbrown42 (surely not the great Ian Brown):
“These are remote iPod speakers I scratch-built for my wife’s iPod shuffle. It’s all scientific glass and aluminium construction. The sub-woofer is an inverted glass dome, and a fresnel lens from a rail-car. The guts of the thing is borrowed from a stock computer amp, whilst the speakers themselves are Apple Pro’s.”
“You can see from this alternate view that the tripod legs are made from aluminium garden trowles, polished up.
You can see the CD player I used to test it in the bottom right corner – this thing is huge, and weighs a ton (15 kilos).
The sound is pretty good, as you would expect of apple speakers, but the sub-woofer thumps a bit. Overall a fun project!”
Oddly, a BBSpot satire from last September skewering Apple almost perfectly predicted the iPod Shuffle.
Apple: Next-Generation iPods Will Have No User Interface, Controls
Cupertino, CA – Close on the heels of a recent redesign to its popular iPod line of digital music players, Apple CEO Steve Jobs confirmed today that the next-generation devices will have no interface, ports or controls of any kind.
“With each successive refresh to iPod, we’ve made the design simpler and cleaner,” said Jobs at a rare sneak-peek press conference Thursday. “It’s time to take it to the next level.”
He then drew back a velvet curtain to reveal reference designs for the new devices. Onlookers gasped, then stood and applauded vigorously.
“Brilliant!” said one.
“Genius!” said another.
“Editors’ Choice 2006! Why even test it?” shrieked one reporter as spittle flew from his mouth.
When asked how users will load, navigate or listen to music on the device, Jobs replied, “Uh, wait and see,” his eyes darting nervously about him. He then mumbled something about MacWorld before melting into the crowd.
In the wake of the event, Apple-related chat rooms were filled with speculation on the means by which the device works. Many think the new iPods will come pre-loaded with music you will like, recognize what you want to hear, when and at what volume, and play it via some sort of wireless neural link, possibly using Bluetooth-enabled nanomachines. One blogger believed the device is nothing more than a hard drive in a sleek plastic case and has no practical function, but was quick to add he would buy one regardless.”
Microsoft’s Bill Gates discussed iPods at Microsoft with news anchor Peter Jennings of ABC News.
From the transcript:
JENNINGS: On the subject of music, I read somewhere that about 80 percent of Microsoft employees who have a music playing instrument or a music playing device use an iPod.
GATES: Well, I doubt that’s the case. Certainly, the iPod’s a great success.
JENNINGS: Do you have one?
GATES: No, I’m not an iPod user. I use the Creative Zen which is a fantastic product. That’s another space where, even what we have today, whether it’s iPod or the other things are only the start of what we’re gonna have in a few years. People are gonna want choices. These things are going to be smaller or better, cheaper. So, music has changed. The age of the CD is really coming to an end.
JENNINGS: The public likes this tension between you and the others as I’m sure you know. So people want to know do you have an iPod. You say you don’t have. Did iPod beat you in this issue?
GATES: Oh the iPod did a great job, but what Apple’s done there is typically what they do. It’s their, only their one music store, only their device. What we’re doing is providing choices. So it’s like the Apple computer versus the PC. With the PC you can buy from many companies so you get cheaper prices, you get more variety and here with music devices we’re coming in with the same. But they’re a strong leader in the space and I think as we gain share, people will be surprised.