attack of mac

There have been many AppleTV hacks floating around for awhile now, and while some have been very well done, many have been hard to implement for the average user.  It usually involves the process of some programming knowledge in order to create a patchstick, which will then enable SSH on the AppleTV, which will then lead to you being able to install some hacks.  However, there is a new program out titled “atvusb-creator” which allows you to easily create (using a GUI) an AppleTV USB patchstick with XBMC and Boxee on it.

The whole process is very simple, as I did it myself in just minutes the other night.  Simply insert a USB drive into your computer, run the program following the instructions on their Google Code site, and you will have XBMC up on your AppleTV in no time.  It will simply be a new option under your main AppleTV menu.

So what are the benefits of having XBMC on your AppleTV?  Well, the main reason I really wanted it is so that I can run many different formats straight on my ATV now, which had been a bit limited before.  Files such as XviD and DivX will now play with no conversion necessary.  It also boasts a ton of others features such as weather, plugin support, last.fm support, many different plugins/visualizers and much more.  Check out their site for all the cool features that they offer.

atvusb-creator

Thinnest notebook in the World.

3.0 pounds, 0.16 -0.76 inches, 13.inch display, full-sized keyboard, multi-touch gestures, iSight, 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo standard, 2GB memory standard, 80GB hard drive standard (64GB SSD optional), 802.11n Wi-Fi standard, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR standard, and MagSafe.  Priced at $1799 in 2 weeks.  It fits in a manilla envelope.

Multi-touch features: You can turn on different types of gestures in the settings, like moving around a window with your finger, panning around a photo with two fingers, rotate a photo by twisting a finger, swipe between photos with three fingers, and zoom in and out with pinching.”

The CPU is the width of a dime.  You get 5 hours of battery life with the WiFi on.

There is no optical drive but new software called “Remote Disc” lets you borrow the drives of other Macs or PCs.  Also there is a $99 superdrive add-on that will use USB which is made just for the Air.

[Gizmodo]

$20 for exsisting owners, and free for new purchasers.

Pretty nice upgrade.

Apple has announced a product called “Time Capsule” which allows you to now sync your time machine wirelessly to an external hard through a time capsule device.

Jobs has announced a 500 GB device at $299 and a 1 TB device at $499.

I never find too many amazing deals on the Apple refurbushed items page.  Usually stuff is about 10%-20% off.  However, today I was browsing it out of sheer boredom and came across some amazing deals on Apple Cinema Displays, that seems to hint at a possible product upgrade coming soon.

Apple currently has Apple Cinema Displays listed refurbished for about 60% off, and is also including free shipping.  Just scroll down on that page until you see the cinema display section…

The 20-inch is listed at $499, originally $1,299.

The 23-inch is listed at $749, originally $1,999.

The 30-inch is listed at $1,499, originally $3,299.

This seems like an extremely great deal for an Apple refurbished product.  It hints to me that an update might be pending for the cinema displays at MacWorld.  Perhaps we’ll see the Apple docking station patent put to use in a new cinema displays?  (seen below)

One of the coolest and hottest designs in the tech industry right now is the Optimus Maximus keyboard by Art. Lebedev Studio.  If you are a tech junky, you probably already know what I’m talking about, but some of you may not have heard about this amazing product yet.

Basically, the Optimus Maximus is a USB keyboard that features an OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology in each one of the keys on the keyboard which lights up the key like a screen.  Because of this amazing technology, you can then change what is displayed on each key on the keyboard.  So if you’d like to change the language or layout on your keyboard, just boot up the software that comes with the keyboard and you can change it.  The keyboard also features 8 buttons on the left which lets you assign certain applications to each, displaying the logo through the OLED for a direct link between that program and the button.  Below is a picture of part of the Optimus and it’s software which allows you to change the keys.

Imagine this technology in a portable laptop keyboard.  The only problem right know with the Optimus Maximus is it’s outrageous price.  It is currently listed at around $450 to order.  This is obviously because of the expensive price of production in this technology and the small company that produces it.  I think it would be a revolutionary idea for Apple to buy the company that produces and has the patents for this idea, put some major R & D into it, and mass produce it into their laptop keyboards.  Imagine a MacBook with OLED keys.  Maybe I’m just dreaming…

I can already see a major computer company buying Art. Lebedev Studio out, because it’s an amazing idea that might die without the financial backing of a major company.  I’m positive that Apple could cut down the price of production in these keyboards once they put them in their major production and research departments.  Maybe at first it could just be an upgradable option in MacBooks, and they could then go from there.  I know I would pay for the upgrade.

If Apple tied this technology together with a large multi-touch trackpad on their MacBooks (that is rumored for Macworld), they would have the ultimate laptop on their hands.  I would buy one in a heartbeat.

Check out Art. Lebedev Studio’s site and check out some of their concept designs also.  The keyboard that they are wanting to produce in 2008 has a TFT display that looks like it will use multi-touch like technology.  Imagine this in a MacBook…

 Here is a really crappy photoshop of this on a Macbook…

We all know that MacWorld is this week and the new announcements from Apple will soon be flowing in.  However, one of the first announcements of the week has just come across the wire.

The new Mac Pro has arrived, and it is the strongest and fastest ever.  Here is what Apple has to say…

The fastest Mac ever, the new Mac Pro has eight processor cores and a new system architecture that delivers up to twice the performance of its predecessor.* It combines two of Intel’s new 45 nanometer Quad-Core Xeon processors running up to 3.2 GHz, powerful new graphics and up to 4TB of internal storage, offering the ideal system for creative professionals, 3D digital content creators and scientists. The standard 8-core configuration starts at just $2,799.

That’s right, EIGHT processing cores and twice the performance of the previous Mac Pro.  It features the new Penryn processors that have recently been released.  That’s a pretty impressive machine, if you can afford it.

[Mac Pro]

If you’re like me, you probably wish that the Apple logo on the back of your MacBook could change colors. The glowing Apple logo is really cool, but it would be even more awesome if it could glow blue or something like that, instead of white. I have done some researching around the internet and have realized that it will only cost you about $4 dollars to customize your logo.

iColours is offering thin colored sheets that you can put over the Apple logo on your laptop. You can choose from a variety of colors or you can even do a rainbow Apple logo like the one seen below. For colors, they are selling blue, orange, yellow, red, green, and rainbow.

The only problem lies in the installation. They have 4 tutorials on their site which are for the iBook, PowerBook, MacBook, and MacBook Pro. They also rank the installations by difficulty, with the MacBook being the hardest and the MacBook Pro being medium difficulty. The good thing is that they offer the installation instructions in a very detailed PDF file. It obviously involves sliding apart your screen case and placing the thin color sleeve over your current glowing Apple logo. You can’t really mess it up if you are careful. However, keep in mind that you should defiantly read through their tutorials and warnings before you go about this project.

iColours