MacSwitching.com > Windows-to-Mac Switch

As rumors predicted a new lineup of MacBook Pros has been announced today by Apple.

Not exactly an update of the previous models: some brand new features have been introduced:

See what you’ve done, Steve?
You’ve gotten people so whipped up in a froth over your new phone that they’re actually baking cakes in its visage.
Same with the Mac mini, but it’s safe to say that’s probably not the first Mac mini cake that’s come to be.

Check here.

From trusted Jason D. O’Grady’s Apple blog comes a cool round on MacWorld surprises.

iLife & iWork ’07 – Apple’s iApps usually get updated at Macworld Expo and this year should be no exception. Look for updates to both of Apple’s software suites and maybe we’ll even see the addition of a spreadsheet (rumored to be called “Numbers” or “Sheets”).
[odds: even money]

Mac OS 10.5 – Leopard could be released at Macworld Expo despite Steve Jobs’ assertion that it would be released in “Spring 2007.” Remember that Steve likes to under-promise and over-deliver and take a peek under your seat at the keynote address.
[odds: 2:1]

Jason goes on with Quad Mac Pros, renewed Apple Cinema Displays and the usual ‘rumors’-items.

It’s been exactly one year.
Check here…
On November 9th, 2006 I had the opportunity to trade in my (trusted) old G4 1.67 GHz PowerBook in favour of a brand new MacBook Pro 2.16 GHz, with Core 2 Duo processor, 2 GB RAM and so on…
Thanks to Enry & Donato for this…

Why am I writing this only now?
Because I got very little time to use it, and had even less time to save all my data/software to ensure a smooth transition from one Mac to another.

I’ll be writing more about this direct experience on Universal Binary, Windows on Mac & so on…

Following the recente MacBook Pros with Core 2 Duo processors, Apple renews the MacBook family with the same new Intel processor.
Apple says it’s up to 25% faster than previous MacBooks.

Not much changes, beside the priceline.
Same configurations, 1.83 and 2.0 GHz for the white model, 2.0 GHz for the beloved black one.
Same RAM, starting from half a Gig up to 2 Gigabytes, same disk configurations,same 6x dual-layer SuperDrive for two out of three configurations.

Maybe there will be some disappointment about the graphics card, it’s still the same Intel GMA 950 used in previous MacBooks.

Rumors have been talking about enhanced graphics chipset but it simply didn’t happen.

Prices range from the 1.83 GHz white MacBook US $1,099, to the 2.0 GHz white MacBook for US $1,299, up to the 2.0 GHz black MacBook, for a suggested retail price of US $1,499.

Apple’s gift to travelers: Magsafe airline power adapter.

Well hidden deep within the product pages for Apple’s new Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro is mention of a new product that will make frequent flyers happy – the Magsafe Airline Power Adapter.

For US$59 you can now purchase an adapter (PN MA598LL/A) that works with the in-seat DC power ports found on many commercial airliners. Both EmPower and 20mm ports are supported with the included adapter.

The Magsafe Airline Power Adapter provides power for the MacBook Pro but will not charge the battery. Disappointingly, the new adapter is incompatible with automobile power ports.

Anyway is one of those add-ons that really make Macs usable & useful worktools!

In early 2007, the recently-announced Apple iTV will debut but right now we’re able to have a look at it and time to think what we will with it!
In short, could the iTV be considered just like a well-grown-up version of the Airport Express, in terms of streaming (video) content wirelessly from iTunes?
Check out for yourself: as far as it concerns myself, I’m looking forward for some smart hacking of this cool device.

Click here to watch the CNET first look video on Apple’s iTV

Three new models: 17″, 20″ and a gorgeous 24″, Core Duo 2 64 bit processor ranging from 1.83 GHz to 2.33 GHz.

Up to 500 GB hard disk and three different graphics board: from Intel’s GMA 950 to ATI’s Radeon X1600 up to NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT with 128 MB of DDR3 memory.

Prices from US$ 999 up to US$ 2.249 for the high-end 24″ with 2.33 GHz model.

Check the new iMac specs on Apple’s web site.

A pretty working tool to download & convert videos from YouTube, Google Video and iFilm to your Mac and PC into AVI, FLV and MP4 (iPod & PSP!) and Palm Treos as well!

Every single moment a nice idea comes alive on the web.
This is useful too: a website that enables anyone to convert a video available on one of the most popular video sharing systems around, namely YouTube, Google Video and iFilm, and save it directly to your PC (or Mac!) into three different video formats.

This is done simply starting in two ways from the http://www.googlevideodownload.com/ home page:
– searching on Google Video, Youtube of iFilm or
– copying the video URL directly into the second textbox.

The first way will give you results you’ll be using later.
Let’s see what happens for a simple search: let’s look for guy kawasaki, a well-known guy in the Mac-world and Venture Capitalist guru, among other things.

Clicking on the first link/result we get just brings us to the magic of this site: a page with at least three download links, namely for .FLV (Flash Video), an .AVI compatible with PCs and Macs as well and (great!) .MP4 directly for iPod, Sony’s PSP and more…
The result page should be this bringin up the Guy Kawasaki presentation in several video formats .

The advantage is clear: you can watch videos without downloading/installing flash players or Google Video Player (available for PCs and Macs) and have your favorite videos converted for iPods, PSP and any other portable device as well: for free!

It’s just a matter of downloading them from googlevideodownload.com website (so it’s up to your internet connection speed) and you’ve got a stand-alone copy of these videos on your hard disk.

File size matters: the Guy Kawasaki presentation it’s about 300 MB for GVI (Google Video format) and stays the same (same encoding?) in .AVI format; it goes down to 174 MB in .MP4 format.

What to add more?
Palm Treo video playback support!
We still love & use our Treo 650 and, even though it lacks stereo headsets and a huge screen it’s still enough to see some pod/videocasts or to show some friends videos.
Interested? Here’s how we did!

Download the MP4 version of your favorite video and open it with Quicktime 7 Pro (you may try some other free video converters too).
Export video to .3GP, a common cell phones video format, and then copy it onto your Treo.
Our Treo 650 is using a 1 GB Sandisk SD card, so file transfer it’s quite easy this way!
Again, the Guy Kawasaki video shrinks to a mere 22 MB fitting perfectly the SD card and leaving room for a lot of videos.
Check the Treo video playback in this Quicktime or the .MP4 version

As a result we’re able to pass the video on any device: from the Powerbook G4 to Windows XP, to a DiVX player, to an iPod or PSP and to a Treo 650 too!

Kudos to the guys at googlevideodownload.com!

BTW: please keep in mind that some video content may have copyright or stuff like that so check out before sharing them.

As a Mac-switcher (and still using/owning some Windows PCs) I’m always looking for stuff I can use on my Powerbook G4 and iMac too.

Benq keyboard model X530 got my attention while walking in one of those retail stores for its sleek design and, quite clear, its low price, less than $20.

A wireless keyboard with optical mouse just like thousands others you may have seen; light keyboard with a good touch with USB connection and a split PS/2 connector for older PCs.

Strangely enough the box says it’s just for Windows 9X/2000/XP: funny I bet on this error and won.
Plugged it in the Powerbook and boom (just like Steve says) it worked. No driver, just a dialog box asking what kind is the detected ‘external keyboard’.

I’m still arguing why most products never state they work with Macs too.

Check Benq web pages for more details.

Strange days…
The same week Apple announces the truly innovative Mac OS Leopard’s Time Machine, an automatic backup and file rollback system like nothing, NASA seems to have lost some valuable data or, at least, seems unable to find some tapes.

Slashdot reports and links an australian news site.

Apart from bad press for NASA (which it doesn’t deserve), maybe it’s time for any organization to consider very loooong time backup and storage policies, isnt’it?

News.com reports on Virtualization software manufacturer VMware has announced a product designed to enable Mac OS X users to run multiple PC operating systems simultaneously without needing to reboot the computer. [here for the full story on VMware on Mac]

VMware is a long-time well-known software for Windows and Linux users, which has allowed virtualization of almost any OS running on Intel processor.

Right now, Parallels has estabilished a good beachhead with its VM (virtual machine) software running on Intel-based Mac as we reported here and, since Leopard will feature Boot Camp, multiple OS running on Intel Macs will be a really hot topic in the near future.