A few days ago Apple updated their iPod range as follows (reviews to follow in a couple of days):

iPod touch (8GB £199 / 16Gb £269)
A completly new iPod based upon the iPhone but without mobile phone connectivity (data or voice) but with WiFi built in. The iPhone touch brings Apple’s multitouch display to masses in Europe. Fitted with either 8GB or 16GB of Flash storage the iPod touch is the new top of the line iPod. Apple has a video walking through the various feature of the iPod touch available here.

Apple updated its iMac range with three new models. All three models have aluminium cases and feature Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, AirPort Extreme wireless 802.11n, slot-load disc drives, a built-in video camera and a much-anticipated new thinner Apple keyboard.
The 2.0GHz CPU model includes a 250GB hard drive, while the 2.4GHz 20in and 24in models carry 320GB capacity drives.
The three iMacs have widescreen TFT LCD displays, although the 24in model offers a 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution and 178° horizontal or vertical viewing angle. Apple’s two 20in models have a 1680 x 1050 resolution and a 160° viewing angle.

The other week I borrowed (long term) a friends Apple TV and after updating it to the new 1.1 Firmware (with YouTube support) have been playing with it every since.

 Initial Thoughts
The Apple TV certainly has the usual Apple design flair, looking like an Apple MacBook that someone sat on (its flatter and wider). On the back of the Apple TV are the connections for digital & analogue audio, HDMI, network. Full specifications may be found here.

I always find it a bit tricky to recommend an ISP, as even the best can have a bad day and a bad day for an ISP can result in a terrible user experience. A lot of this is the due to how tight the margins are for an ISP, with them making maybe £20-40 profit per user per year. With a single support call costing them an average of £15 you can see how any profit can be quickly lost.

I have just seen the news that Eclipse have become on of the first UK ISP’s to become carbon neutral.

They already have a great reputation as one of the best smaller ISP’s in the UK with great customer service and innovative service. It just shows small companies can be better choice!

Full information is available at the Eclipse web site here.

Apple has just released a new patch for OS X, version 10.4.10.

Weighing in at 49MB the update is available via Apple Software Update (Apple icon > Software Update).

It appears mainly to maintain bug-fixes for Bluetooth and USB as well as incorporating recent security fixes. More information below:

Bluetooth
Addresses an issue in which a Bluetooth headset may show up as an available device for sound output in the Sound preference pane after it had been removed from Bluetooth preferences.

Carrying on from my my previous article about PC or Mac, I have decided to compare the MacBook versus a PC laptop. For this comparison I decided to choose another iconic design company, Sony. Like Apple, Sony are repeatedly chosen as one of top 3 most reliable laptops and again like Apple tend to innovate.

The closest Sony Laptop to the MacBook is the Sony C Series, which is supplied in a range of colours, as follows:

Green (VGN-C2S/G)
Grey (VGN-C2S/H)
Blue (VGN-C2S/L)
Pink (VGN-C2S/P)
Silver (VGN-C2S/W)
Black (VGN-C2Z/B) (NVIDIA® GeForce® rather than Intel® 950)

First of all, if any begineers have a specific question please go ahead and post and I will do my best to answer.

1. Don’t Panic!
Unless you physically drop your mac its impossible (almost) to break it by playing around with OS X. So relax and take a look around.

Should I buy a MacBook or MacBook Pro seems to be a question I get asked a lot and to be honest it usually has the simple answer; “how much do you want to spend”.

In my opinion both laptops are great, with the main difference obviously been the screen size (13.3″ vs 15″/17″) The latest MacBook Pro now also coming with a LED display, which is more eco friendly, more efficient on battery and also slightly brighter).

After talking forever to a friend the other week about what laptop to buy and recommending a MacBook, I am going to save myself some time and write a quick review of one (my mates MacBook in fact, which I am currently setting up for him!) and will in the future only need to email a link to this article!