This Week @ MacsWest
Teaching, Helping, Learning and Having Fun!

• Monday August 23
     Palo Verde room closes for carpet installation 

• Tuesday August 24
     Nothing scheduled; Palo Verde Room Closed     
     No Q & A; Sessions begin again September 21st
     No Green Apples; Ray returns September 21st 

• Wednesday August 25
     Nothing Scheduled; Palo Verde Room Closed 

• Thursday August 26
     Nothing Scheduled; Palo Verde Room Closed

• Friday August 27
     Nothing sceduled; Palo Verde Room Closed   
     NO SUMMER GRAB BAG meeting

• Saturday August 28
     Nothing Scheduled

By Edward C. Baig, USA TODAY SAN FRANCISCO — Few if any major surprises emerged from Apple's press event here Wednesday. The crowd was more or less expecting a new iPod Touch with front and rear cameras and FaceTime video calling that makes it that much more like an iPhone 4 — without the phone part or a wireless contract. And no one was shocked that Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled a smaller and, at $99, far cheaper version of the Apple TV set-top box that Jobs often has referred to as a "hobby."

And with "social" the mantra of all things tech nowadays, the appearance of the new music-oriented Ping social network inside iTunes 10 — it borrows elements from Twitter and Facebook— also shouldn't have come out of left field.

Over the coming weeks, I plan to try out all of Apple's new offerings. In the meantime, here are some quick thoughts:

New iPods

The iPod Nano used to be the most popular iPod. That distinction surprisingly now belongs to the more expensive iPod Touch.

Both devices are getting a makeover as is the ever-more-diminutive iPod Shuffle, now just $49 with 2 gigabytes of storage.

Adding a multitouch interface to the Nano is probably the biggest change, a development that let Apple designers take the device to half the size and weight of the previous generation. You'll have to rely on multitouch, because Apple did away with the click-wheel folks used to use to access songs, artists, albums and playlists.

There's no home button as there is on the iPhone. Instead, you hold down your finger against the display to return to the Home screen.

Apple also added a clip that lets you wear the Nano on a pocket or lapel, just like on the Shuffle. It also has an FM radio. An 8-GB Nano costs $149. A 16-GB model is $179.

The cameras and FaceTime are the main feature add-ons for the iPod Touch, which will come in three versions: $229 for an 8-GB model, $299 for 32 GB and $399 for 64 GB.

But the strikingly thin Touch shares other traits with iPhone 4, including a handsome so-called Retina Display and a robust and power-efficient A4 chip that helps promise to push battery life for audio to up to 40 hours.

Apple TV

Jobs concedes that Apple TV hasn't exactly been a best seller, though those of us who own prior versions of this set-top box tend to be fans of it. Dropping the price to $99 — it had been $229 — could attract buyers, though whether it's elevated beyond hobby status remains to be seen.

The under-4-inch square box is one-fourth the size of the previous generation. On the back are ports for plugging in power, an HDMI cable or an ethernet cable. There's also built-in Wi-Fi. Unlike earlier Apple TVs, there's no built-in storage.

And you can't purchase movies directly from the box — instead it is all about streaming. HD movie rentals from all major studios can be streamed for $4.99 a pop. A selection of HD TV show rentals — from ABC, Fox, Disney Channel and BBC — go for 99 cents each. At this point, Apple TV would seem to compete more against a Roku set-top box then, say, what will emerge from Google TV. You can stream content off Netflix, YouTube, Flickr and Apple's own MobileMe service. You can also stream music, photos and videos from a PC or Mac, but a computer isn't otherwise required.

I also would have liked to see Apple's iOS 4 and the ability to run games or other apps through Apple TV onto your big-screen TV. That didn't happen.

iTunes 10

Want to know which songs your friends are listening to? When you "follow" them through the new Ping social network inside iTunes, you'll get the skinny on the stuff they're opining about, listening to and ultimately purchasing.

You'll even see a consolidated top 10 list of songs downloaded among your circle of friends.

Apple appears to be sensitive to privacy concerns, so you and your friends must give permission to follow or be followed. You can also follow performers such as Lady Gaga, letting you check out videos and concert listings.

Ping works on the iPhone and iPod Touch as well.

At least one pre-event rumor did not come to pass: I'd have liked the ability to store my entire iTunes music collection online in the Internet "cloud" to access anywhere, any time from any compatible computer or device.

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Verizon looking at taking TV shows to the iPad

By PETER SVENSSON (AP) – 19 hours ago

NEW YORK — Think you need another TV in the home? Maybe the iPad, Apple Inc.'s tablet computer, will do the job instead.

In the latest example of the slim device attracting the attention of the TV industry, Verizon Communications Inc. on Wednesday demonstrated an application that turns the iPad into another screen for its cable-TV service.

If the application sees the light of day next year as planned, subscribers of Verizon's FiOS TV service could walk around the home with their iPads and watch live TV. They would be able to channel-surf right on the touch screen, with no need for a remote.

Verizon is not alone in looking at sending cable-TV signals to non-TV devices. Cablevision Systems Corp., which competes with Verizon in the New York City area, has talked about a similar iPad app, but hasn't said when it would be available.

Hulu.com, which aggregates shows from ABC, Fox and NBC, is already available as an iPad application. But it doesn't show live TV, so there's no sports or news. Comcast Corp. offers TV shows online for viewing on computers. That service is only for cable subscribers, unlike Hulu. Verizon's and Cablevision's services would be available only to subscribers as well.

The big obstacle to taking TV signals further is that the owners of the TV channels have to be convinced that it's a good idea.

"There's a wide diversity of opinion on how to move the industry forward, so you really have to convince them one by one that this is good for everybody: the consumer, programmer, distributor and the business," said Shawn Strickland, Verizon's vice president of consumer strategy and planning.

Verizon doesn't want to launch the service with just a few channels. It would rather wait until next year if that means it can launch with a full suite of programming, Strickland said. It doesn't plan to charge extra for iPad viewing.

The company also wants to make the service available on other tablets as they come out, he said.

Initially, the service would allow watching only in the subscriber's home. But if the rights issue can be worked out, it could be extended outside the home as well, Strickland said.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Apple on Tuesday released a new Mac Mini computer with several new hardware features, including faster processors and an HDMI port.

The new Mac Mini comes in two models: one with a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and the other with a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. The older systems came with 2.26GHz and 2.53GHz processors.

The $699 standard configuration also comes with a 320GB hard and 2GB of RAM. The high-end $999 model has two 500GB hard drives, 4GB of RAM, and includes Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server. Both computers can be expanded to 8GB of RAM.

There are two interesting additions to the new Mac Mini: an HDMI port and an SD card slot.

The HDMI port allows you to connect the Mac Mini to an HDTV and see the computer's output on a digital screen. This gives you the option to play videos or other media directly from the computer, an option that many users have been asking for in the Mac Mini.

The SD card slot gives you even more options for adding media to the computer, especially if it is living room setting, connected to your TV.

Apple says the new Mac Mini "includes the fastest integrated graphics processor on the market today," with the Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics processor. It includes 48 processing cores, making it twice as fast as its predecessor, according to Apple.

Update: Our CNET Reviews team has a Mac Mini in house, but while we prepare it for testing, check out the hands-on shots in the slideshow below.

iPad Video 

Bruce Merrihew gave a presentation about cloud computing. It seems to be the coming thing and we club members need to be aware of trends in the computing world.

On Friday Bill Turvin (Great job, Bill!) shared insights into ‘iTunes,’ an application that brings us music, movies, podcasts, TV shows and more. Want to know all about it? Go to:  Apple iTunes Basics

On Friday former MacsWest Chair Melanie Schoenfeld presented a great program (Thanks, Melanie!) on how to create animated cards to e-mail to friends (relatives too, if you want). A video of the presentation was captured and as soon as is possible it will be available on the Club's website.

On Friday George Williams demonstrated ‘StoryMill,’ an application that helps us 'mature' folks write our memoirs  (or that novel we never finished).

Travel along with the Ginsbergs by viewing their photographs as they cruise up the Coast of Norway - July 13 - July 28, 2010

You can follow Ellen and Ed Zacko with The Continuing Voyage of Entr'acte.