Serenata festival gets padded up.

Fri, 6 Aug 2010 11:27:01 +0100

Anyone anywhere near the vicinity of Dorset cannot have missed the news that Serenata, Britains first Classical music festival is nearly upon us, taking place in Kimmeridge from the 26th to the 28th August.

In the run up to the great event James has been hard at work ensuring that the nerve centre behind the operation is working as smoothly as possible, utilising Apples Mobile Me technology.

Mobile Me allows constant and instant synchronisation of calendars, contacts, emails and documents between the Macbooks in the office and the iPhones and iPads out on the road.

If you think your organisation could benefit from this technology, give James a call 07803 172949, or see him at Serenata.

No Sex for Apple in this city

Thu, 20 May 2010 08:10:39 +0100

I am not sure how to take the news just out that Apple is to be dropped as the laptop of choice by writer Carrie Bradshaw in the upcoming new Sex and the City movie, is this news significant of something or merely a shruggable irrelevance.

The news does in fact bare no significance to me one little jot, Sex and the City is but to me a minor irritation, one of a growing band of them in fact, but one that can be easily remedied by a swift flick of the remote controlling wrist. But what signal is this sending out to the masses who hang on SJP’s every little foible, that the character renowned for analysing every little detail of her and everyone else’ lives, has decided that her Macbook can no longer cut the mustard, and she must embrace a new HP machine and Windows 7.

Is this going to have any impact on how the brand is viewed, will it suddenly make HP the must have machine, or in the case of Bond driving a BMW, will it be no time before common sense and decency prevails, and the Aston Martin returns.

Well, the only reason that this change is being made is because Miss Parker is being given a big wad of cash to promote HP’s new lineup, and “hell, for an even bigger wad, I’ll use it in my new film. Hell, for a really really big wad, I’ll write the damn column on bog roll.”

So no, this news has no significance whatsoever, to me, or I suppose to any normal person who is contemplating the imminent purchase of a computer. What is somewhat more alarming, and I fear is perhaps more than a shruggable irrelevance is that I bothered to sit down here in front of my gorgeous iMac and even consider it.

Coffee anyone?

Pre-order your iPad now.

Tue, 11 May 2010 12:41:38 +0100

The wait is finally over, pre-ordering is now open for the iPad range on the UK Apple Store site. Limited to two per customer the line up ranges from the £429 16 Gb Wi-fi model, to the range topping £699 64 Gb utilizing a 3G data plan.

Delivery by May 28th is free, so what are you waiting for.

As an aside even Steve Jobs has joined in the “Why is the iPad more expensive in the UK debate” replying to irate customers emails with his own lessons in mathematics.

Whatever next .....

Apple taking things too seriously

Thu, 6 May 2010 15:00:23 +0100

Seems I am not the only one disappointed by Apples take on a light hearted spoof iPhone advert put together by Ellen Degeneres.

The company who prided itself on the mantra “ Be different”, who railed against the corporate machine and who enjoyed making mischief at the supposed misgivings of its competitors in a popular series of tv adverts, has had a sense of humour failure when the boot is on the other foot.

Come on Apple, just because you’ve finally got the multi billion dollar turnover, just because you’ve finally got the multi billion dollar profits, and just because you’ve at last got a share value in the same league as Microsoft, doesn’t mean you have to start behaving in a manner to disappoint the legions of Mac enthusiasts and supporters who helped get you there.

Judge for yourself.

UK iPad launch delayed

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:01:37 +0100

Just as the planned end April UK launch for the iPad was getting tantalisingly close, Apple has announced a one month delay to the End of May.

Citing a “surprisingly strong US demand” that saw 500,000 units shipped in the first week and demand far higher than expected over the coming weeks, the global release for the iPad is now the end of May, with online pre-ordering available from Monday 4th May.

UK prices are yet to be announced, but will most likely start at around £349

Back to My Mac..... from a beach in oz!!

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:23:52 +0100

Those of you familiar with Apple’s Mobile Me may have come across the Back to my Mac feature, a little tick box in the system preferences that allows you to connect remotely to your computers over the internet.

If you are familiar with Back to my Mac then you will most likely also be familiar with the lottery of finding yourself connected to a router that supports NAT-PMP or UPnP protocols, and if you are lucky enough to be, that they have been enabled, and if they haven’t, that anyone has even the foggiest idea of the router password to log in and switch them on.

So with this in mind I was sat in the office idly wondering who or what was the “Admins” laptop that kept popping in and out of the Shared devizes tab on my desktop. There were to my knowledge no laptops switched on with me, and no one else in the building should by all right have access to our network.

Feeling somewhat like a naughty boy peeping through a fence I clicked on Share screen and awaited to see what would pop up before me from the offending machine, so imagine my surprise to be met by a photograph of my 5 year old daughter, on the beach where she is currently on holiday with the in laws, in Australia!!

I suppose my surprise must have been matched by my wife, who while struggling to get emails to send, was greeted by my message along the screen asking if she wanted me to sort out her mail smtp settings for her.

Technology, we take it for granted, but every know and again something happens that surprises and impresses.

To find out more about mobile me and what you could get out of it, visit the Apple website, or give us a call.

back up back up back up!!!!!!

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:12:08 +0000

I seem to have had a week of breaking the sad news to people that their hard drives have failed, ceased to be, shuffled off this mortal coil. Historically this news would have caused the onset of mass hysteria, as the prospect of losing all ones data, documents, files pictures, the whole kit and caboodle became a reality.

But we all know that with a mac that doesn’t happen does it, with a mac you just pop in a new drive, plug in the old Time Machine backup drive, click restore and retreat to the pub for a few swift jars. A couple of hours later you return to find your computer back up and running in the exact state it was within an hour of the drive failure.

Oh, and how easy is it to set Time Machine up?

Well pretty easy actually, plug in the chosen back up device and when asked if you want to use it as you time Machine drive click on “YES”. That’s it, one click of the mice, a task we perform with consummate ease countless times a day.

So why are people not using it!! Why am I met with a blank stare, followed by mumbled “I was going to” “didn’t know how” “it was his fault!” and lastly “have I lost everything?”

So please people, plug in that external drive, switch on time machine and get it working, and if you’re not sure how give us a call, a few minutes on the phone is all it takes. Please.

Ok, lesson for the day over, time I think for some topical entertainment thanks to John Cleese.

What to do with $40 billion!!

Thu, 4 Mar 2010 13:47:13 +0000

Apples meteoric rise over the last few years has seen the value of the company grow from fairly meagre pickings merely a decade ago, to the near $200 billion business it is today, including a four fold rise in market value in the last 4 years alone!

Growth on this level has landed them with what one could call a healthy bank balance, now standing at some $40 billion, or for us brits a staggering £26,500,000,000, but Steve Jobs has made it clear he is in no hurry to spend it.

“We’re a large enough business now, that in order to really move the needle, we’ve got to be thinking pretty bold, pretty large. And who knows what’s around the next corner,” Jobs said at Apple’s annual general meeting.
“When we think about big, bold things, we know that if we needed to acquire something, a piece of the puzzle, to make something big and bold a reality, we could write a cheque for it,” he said. “Our judgment and our instincts tell us to just leave that powder dry right where it is right now and it’s going to come in awfully handy one of these days.”
So if are struggling with ideas of what to do with their cash, we certainly are not, and neither I would suggest are you. So what would it be?
Well for starters you could have 175,000 Aston Martin DBS’, if that is that number had ever been built, or maybe 160,000 average UK houses, but what would you do with them all.
You could afford to pay out the UK’s largest ever lottery win of £56,000,000 every week for the next 5 years, or just sit back and wonder what to do with the 4.5 million pound daily interest coming in.
Decisions, decisions.
So what would you do with it?

Beware of ebay Applecare

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:11:27 +0000

Tempted by the lure of the cheap Applecare seen all over ebay these days, it seems lots of you are. Well I stumbled over this post from a web forum that should I hope make you think twice before hitting that Bid button.

“I was looking around a few weeks ago for a good price on Applecare.
I always buy it for Mac laptops but not for Mac desktops. Laptops get more of a beating being carried around all the time and I think components are under more stress because everything is packed in so tightly.

Anyway - I found a huge discrepancy in pricing between what Apple charges - straight list, what some retailer charge, may $50 or $100 off list (depending on the specific Applecare) and what many people on ebay sell it for - less than half price and well under Apple's wholesale price to the dealers.

Rather than jump on the lowest price immediately, I decided I better try to find out what is going on.

After reading numerous threads all over the net, it turns out there is a pretty neat fraud going on where one doesn't know one has been defrauded until days or weeks or years later and maybe never.

Let me explain -
When one buys Applecare one basically gets a 15 digit registration code. You then go to an Apple webpage, put in the serial number of the computer and that Applecare registration code and if everything matches - right registration code, right serial number and registration done before the one year warranty runs out, you get registered automatically and get an email back to that effect.
So most people on ebay who sell Applecare dirt cheap, well not that cheap it turns out, willnot send you the complete retail package with the registration code inside but make a statement like "shipping is free - no shipping necessary, I'll just send you the registration code by email"
And they do - you use it with your computer serial number, Apple sends you the registration email and you think everything is fine.
Later something breaks on your laptop, you go to the Apple store, they look up your computer serial number, they see you have Applecare, the problem gets fixed for free and usually very quickly. Applecare sells for $400.- for a MacBook Pro, so you are a well paying customer. Little do they know that you bought Applecare - well the code - on Ebay for less than $150.-

Life's good, everything is great until you get an email from Apple which asks you for the serial number on the outside of the box or a sales receipt for the Applecare.
Of course you have neither - all you have is the Applecare registration code.
No serial nimber or sales receipt - Applecare gets cancelled and you're left high and dry.
Not only are you out your $150 for the eBay purchase (the ebay and paypal complaint timeframes have now long passed), but even worse, you can no longer buy Applecare because it has to be bought within the original warranty period and that has passed as well. So now there is a double whammy.

What happened????????????????
Well it seems someone in China has managed to create an algorithm (or steal it from Apple) where he can generate valid Applecare codes.
These are sold in China for $25.- to a number of middle men who then peddle them to US resellers in bulk who then sell them on eBay for about $150.- each for the MacBook Pro ones.
When you register that "fake" Applecare code with Apple everything seems fine (it's not really fake as such since it's a valid code just obtained through illegitimate means) until someone goes and buys the "real" Applecare in a retail box and it happens to have the same registration code as the one you have already registered.
That may happen a week, a month a year or even past the two-year Applecare warranty period, but when it does, a red flag goes up at Apple that someone tries to use a registration code that has been used already. If you register on line, your registration will go to "pending (or some such words) while Apple tries to figure out who bought the valid code.
They do that by asking for the Applecare serial number which is on the outside of the box that the registration code came in.
No box, no serial number no Applecare.........and a bunch of really mad Mac users.
"If it's too good to be true it usually is" certainly applies here.

Now that doesn't mean you can't buy Applecare on eBay - I just did. Just make sure you get the whole product with the box sealed, not just the activation code.”

http://discuss.50plus.com/ipb/index.php?showtopic=23432

Macbook hard drive repairs

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:08:01 +0000

Apple have finally agreed that there is a problem with some early Macbook laptop hard drives, leading to potential failure, and have implemented an extended repair program.

According to a new support page on the Apple website, the affected Macbook models are 13-inch black and white MacBook models sold between approximately May 2006 and December 2007 with the following processor speeds and hard drive capacities:

■ Processor speed - 1.83GHz, 2GHz, or 2.16GHz
■ Hard drive capacity - 60GB, 80GB, 100GB, 120GB, or 160GB

The symptons of the problem are the classic flashing question mark on the screen at start up.

More information can be found on Apples website, http://www.apple.com/support/macbook/hd/repairextension/

Macs for Sale

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:11:52 +0000

We currently have the following Apple Macs for sale

MacBook Pro 2.4Ghz 15 inch 2007
Intel Core 2 Duo
4Gb RAM
250Gb hard drive
Mac OS 10.6.2
iLife ’09
£600

Mac Mini 1.83Ghz 2008
Intel Core 2 Duo
1Gb RAM
80 Gb hard drive
Mac OS 10.6.2
iLife ’09
NEC Accusync LCD 72VM 17” display
£350

Powerbook G4 867mhz 12 inch
640 mb RAM
40Gb hard drive
Mac OS 10.5.8
iLife ’08
Airport Card
£190

eMac G4 700 mhz 17 inch
1Gb RAM
40Gb hard drive
Mac OS 10.4.11
iLife ’06
Airport Card
From £120

iBook G3 500mhz 12 inch
640 mb RAM
14Gb hard drive
Mac OS 10.4.11
iLife ’04
Airport Card
£150

iBook G3 500mhz 12 inch
384 mb RAM
14Gb hard drive
Mac OS 10.4.11
iLife ’04
Airport Card
£130

iBook G3 Clamshell 300mhz
For spares or repair
£35

For further information contact James Thrift on 01747 850486

New product launch

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:29:12 +0100

Apple have dominated the tech pages this week, firstly with the announcement of their most profitable quarter to date , followed closely by an overhaul of their mainstay iMac range, updated entry level Macbook, and stunningly sleek new Magic Mouse

New iMacs

New 21.5" and massive 27" backlit LED display models join the iMac range, replacing the original 20 and 24" versions, with externally few changes, the screen surround goes right to the edge of the casing and that seems about it.

Inside is where the differences lie with new processors up to a Core i7 Nehalem, up to 2 Tb of storage and 16Gb RAM, all in all providing up to double the speed of the outgoing 3.06Ghz machine.

The 27" is stunning but huge, as is the gap now down to the 21.5" model and I think Apple will regret scrapping the 24" size.

The 21.5" model starts at £949 incl. VAT going up to £1759 incl VAT for the top i7 machine, a lot of money but then again one hell of a machine!!

http://www.apple.com/uk/imac/

New Macbook

Now with a new Unibody polycarbonate case, the entry level Macbook gets the same 13.3" glossy glass display as its brother the Macbook pro and a 2.26 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, Multi-Touch trackpad and 250 gb of hard drive space as standard. Still lacking a Firewire port, but at £799 a fantastic piece of kit.

http://www.apple.com/uk/macbook/

The New Magic Mouse

Following on from the advances seen in the glass trackpad and iPhone in multi touch technology, Apple have crammed the whole lot into the new Magic Mouse. Scroll, swipe, point and press, it does it all wirelessly, and just in time, as lets face it the scroll wheel in the last incarnations of Apple mice was pants. £55 isn't cheap, but I can see these flying out of the stores.

http://www.apple.com/uk/magicmouse/

With all this excitement did anyone notice the arrival of Windows 7, thought not.