Take 2
We’re all about Apple this week.
It’s not the most talked about announcement Steve Jobs made at MacWorld, that’s the MacBook Air, but it could be the most significant.
Who needs a Blu Ray / HD DVD battle when you can rent HD movies with an Apple TV, no disc, no computer required?
The Apple TV was originally pitched as a way to stream content from your iTunes library on your computer, on to your tv. You could buy tv shows from iTunes, or stream your music library through your home theatre.
Now with the ability for the AppleTV Take 2 to act as the base, without the tv, it really becomes a brilliant stand alone set top box, for less than $250.
You can buy music directly from Appletv, you can browse photos from flickr and .mac, it will sync with your itunes, podcasts (audio and video) will be accessible and the movie rental really makes it. HD and DVD quality movies in dolby sound for less than $5 and no scrambling off to the video store.
catch the buzz … pass it on.
cyberbuzz - 01/22/08 [1:03m]: Top Ten Tech for 2007
Our top 10 tech from 2007 continues today at #2 with Facebook. Sure Barbara Walters picked Tom from MySpace for her most fascinating people special, but it’s Facebook that’s the new big thing for now.
It was opening up the Facebook platform to applications that caused the explosions. It’s turned into a tight, mini internet – there’s no need to leave. You can get news apps to bring in your feeds, you can read what your friends are doing and message them directly.
It’s kind of become an internet styled BioDome and until the next big thing comes along, Facebook is it.
Of course the iPhone tops the list as the biggest story of the year. It’s the reason Apple’s stock has tripled, and despite the fact you can’t get one in Canada we all know what it is and what it does.
Time labeled it the greatest invention of the year so it has to be our biggest story of the year.
catch the buzz … pass it on.
Regifting the eBay Way
Now that the family has moved on and you’re left surrounded in piles of wrapping paper, it’s time to do some triage and see what Santa really brought you.
One man’s trash is another treasure, so of you really don’t need another spice rack, I’d bet someone on eBay does!
If you’re a frequent ebay seller, you’ve probably figured out your own ways to get things scheduled and described quickly and easily.
If you’re new to ebay, you quickly realize the listing of items is the most tedious part of the selling experience.
For mac users, garage sale can streamline the process in seconds.
GarageSale is slick, feature rich and gives an intuitive mac-like experience to create auction listings with eBay. Because it’s made for a mac, GarageSale integrates perfectly with iPhoto, offers WYSIWYG text editing and comes with over 90 free design templates.
Scheduling and listing is all handled automatically and its done faster than if you went through all of ebay’s menus. It really is a simple streamlining solution for Mac OS X.
catch the buzz … pass it on.
Time to Make the iSwitch to iMac
There has never been a better time to switch.
If it’s computer upgrade time and you’re sitting there staring at a shelf with a beige box with Windows and a pretty white display with the little Apple on it – choose the Apple.
Recently Apple introduced iWork 08 and iLife 08, and while not the killer apps to take it over the edge, when you bundle those with the entire Apple experience, it makes for an interesting argument.
With Pages and Numbers and Keynote in iWork 08, you’ve got the ability to do word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. Yes, all the stuff the Mac guy in the commercials made fun of PC for being able to do, he can now do – in a very Mac way. You can also export these Numbers files into plain old Excel friendly spreadsheets so your old school friends can see them too.
iLife 08 will have you doing all the things Macs are famous for with ease. Making websites, movies, dvds, creating music, and organizing your photos have long been the selling features for the Mac and the new iLife programs make it easier than ever.
If you’re really attached to the way Windows works, you can still run it in parallel on your Mac and switch between the Apple OS and Windows, just by the click of a few keys. Every program you currently run on your dusty PC you could run on a slick, clean iMac.
And that’s where the time to switch comes in. By being able to still have Windows on your Mac, you can transition smoothly and easily. Instead of instantly having to learn how to do things on a Mac, and some things are different, you can dip your toes in and learn at your own pace by switching back and forth.
Now, I admit, I’m sitting here writing this on a nasty old humming PC that’s 4 years old. I’ve had a MacBook for a year now and have been tempted to upgrade the old desktop to a new Mac. When Bruce Hutchinson and Simon Atkins from Apple Canada gave me a tour of the new software suites last week, I was amazed and said “There really is no need to buy a PC anymore, is there?”
They just proudly smiled and nodded, “Nope.”
catch the buzz … pass it on.
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About cyberbuzz
buzz bishop is the host and writer of cyberbuzz, a one minute daily radio feature, and a weekly column in 24hrs, about the internet and wired culture.
buzz takes a quick and youthful look at the online world from the perspective of someone who understands new trends, but still speaks your language.
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