Macenstein

Apple’s Mac Pro announcement makes Blu-ray an unlikely candidate for Macworld debut

Apple’s newly announced Mac Pros seem like real power houses, but one thing is preventing them from being truly state-of-the-art: A Blu-ray drive. The current tech specs list the new Mac Pro as shipping with a regular old “Super Drive”, and there is no custom Blu-ray add-on option. Yes, there is still the standard extra optical bay found in previous models which would allow you to add your own Blu-ray drive down the road, but seeing as these new Mac Pros ship... Read More

Rumor: Blu-ray Apple TV at Macworld

Ok, let’s preface this (as always) by pointing to our less-than-stellar track record when it comes to uncovering any real dirt leading up to a Macworld… but on the odd chance lightning decides to strike once, we pass this little bit of info on to you, dear readers. Remember the Apple TV? No? Well, it is a hobby of Steve Jobs, and he runs Apple. You can look it up here. Anyway, apparently, according to faithful Macenstein reader Anonymous, it will finally get an update... Read More

Apple’s Top 5 current design travesties

Sure we all love Apple, but it doesn’t mean we have to turn a blind eye when they occasionally make the odd design decision. Below is our list of the top 5 most glaringly bad design decisions the company has recently (and is still currently) incorporating into its hardware. Feel free to add your own favorites in the comments. 5) The iPhone’s speakerphone volume is (still) pitiful In “reinventing the phone”, Apple chose to unnecessarily re-invent the “low... Read More

Creating a rich man’s “poor man’s” Apple TV

Faithful Macenstein reader Phil writes: Hi Doc, I tried finding info on this on Google and all known mac forums, but have not found anything so far. I am wondering whether I can use Dot.Tunes to stream video to my iPod touch (they say I can: http://www.dottunes.net/ipod_touch.html) and then use the Apple composite cable to connect the touch to my TV, creating a poor man’s Apple TV. Do you know whether this is possible? Thank you, Phil Hey Phil, Well, first off, I wouldn’t... Read More

iTunes Store Tops Three Billion Songs

Posted by Dr. Macenstein Apple today announced that more than three billion songs have been purchased and downloaded from the iTunes Store, presumably 2 billion of which are from Fergie. “We’d like to thank all of our customers who have contributed to this incredible milestone,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. iTunes features a catalog of more than five million songs, 550 TV shows, and 500 movies, and it recently surpassed both Amazon... Read More

Apple TV “Holy Grail” discovered – You can now use an external USB drive

Posted by Dr. Macenstein Tom Anthony, one of the daring tech-“crusaders” over at Apple TV Hacks apparently remembered that in the Latin alphabet, Jehovah starts with an ‘I’, and has now discovered the Holy Grail of Apple TV Geeks – namely, the ability to not only use an external USB hard drive as the primary storage for Apple TV media, but also the ability to retain full syncing capabilities as well. That’s right, you can now have terabytes... Read More