MacHELP

As detailed in this TUAW post, the iMac was announced ten years ago today:

The original iMac came stocked with a 233MHz G3, 32MD of SDRAM (though you could bump it up to a whopping 128MB), a 4 gig harddrive, 2 USB ports, a CD-ROM drive (not a CD burner, Apple was late to that party), and an IrDA port.

I’ve owned G3, G5, and Core Duo versions of the iMac, but finally “upgraded” to a Core2Duo-based Mac Mini with a separate screen a couple of months ago. While the quality of the flat panels used in the iMac series has always been good, their $800-per-panel repair cost was a bit extreme compared to the price of a standalone LCD display (using the same model of panel) from a vendor such as Dell in my opinion.

Apple announced new products and updates at MacWorld San Francisco today:

Apple TV is now $229, with a forthcoming software update that will let you rent movies from the iTunes Store in “standalone” mode without a host Mac system. Movie rentals (from every major studio) are $2.99 for older releases and $3.99 for new releases, with prices for HD versions at $3.99/4.99.

Time Capsule combines the Airport Extreme wired and wireless router/print server with an integrated 500G or 1TB hard drive that supports wireless operation of the Time Machine backup software. The 500G model retails for $299 while the 1TB model costs $499.

iPhone firmware version 1.1.3 adds Google Maps location finding, multiple-recipient text messages, Web Clip bookmarking, home screen customization, and the ability to play movies rented from the iTunes Store. This is a free software upgrade for iPhone owners. A $20 firmware upgrade for iPod Touch owners will add Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather, Notes, and iTunes Movie Rental capability.

MacBook Air is the world’s thinnest notebook. It’s less than an inch tall (from 0.76 to 0.16 of an inch), it can fit into a manilla envelope. The screen is 13.3″ with LED backlighting, and the system features a backlit full size keyboard, iSight camera, and multi-touch trackpad. The processor is a 1.6 or 1.8Ghz Core 2 Duo, with 2G memory standard (non-upgradeable), 802.11n and Bluetooth wireless, and an 80G hard drive. A 64G solid-state disk is available as an option. Ethernet networking and an external SuperDrive are possible via the system’s single USB port. The MacBook Air starts at $1799.

The NetNewsWire 3.1 RSS feed reader is now free for everyone. I’m happy to have been a paying user (and beta tester of 3.1), and am even happier to see that the application is now available to everyone at no cost.

In addition, NewsGator syncing is available at no charge once you create a NewsGator account. I use a NewsGator account to keep my RSS feeds synced between home and work.

Apple has announced new versions of the XServe and Mac Pro at CES.

Apple has announced that it has sold two million copies of Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard” since its release on Friday the 26th at 6pm.

Apple has made minor updates to its MacBook lineup. Systems now range from 2.0 to 2.16Ghz, with 1G RAM now standard on all models and prices ranging from $1099 to $1499.

Apple has released the latest updates to the iMac and Mac mini product lines.

The iMac product line now ranges from a 1.83Ghz 17″ Core 2 Duo model for $999 to a 2.33Ghz 24″ Core 2 Duo model starting at $1999.

The new base 17″ iMac model has integrated Intel GMA950 graphics, a 24x Combo drive, and lacks the Apple Remote (this system was previously sold as an Education-only configuration). The 20″ model has been upgraded to 2.16Ghz Core 2 Duo CPUs, 4M shared L2 cache (versus 2M in the previous Core Duo model), and 1G of RAM as standard. The new 24″ model features a 2.16 or 2.33Ghz Core 2 Duo processor, 4M shared L2 cache, a 250G SATA hard drive, NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT graphics (native display of 1920×1200), built-in Bluetooth and AirPort Extreme, and an Apple Remote. All Core 2 Duo-based systems are now 64-bit.

The Mac mini product line has been upgraded to Core Duo processors across the board (the Core Solo option was discontinued).

The base mini Core Duo system at 1.66Ghz and a Combo drive is available for $599, with the high-end model at 1.83Ghz and a SuperDrive is $799. Both systems still ship with 512M of memory as standard.

My Dream App opened for business today. My Dream App is a competition that invites people to submit their idea for the best Macintosh/OSX “Killer App”. Participants will compete for chances to have their idea turned into a functional Mac shareware app and earn royalties on sales as well as prizes for finalists.

Competition judges include Digg.com founder Kevin Rose, columnist David Pogue, former Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki, and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Engadget, The Mac Observer, and PowerMax have some great internal photographs of the new Mac Pro systems, while The Apple Blog has pictures of the freebie items given out to WWDC attendees.

Update: PowerMax has already received their new Mac Pro and has more “take it apart!” pictures.

Due to illness, I’d not been able to update this site as much as I’d like over the past month. Let’s see if I can catch up in a single post.

- Apple released the MacBook, the Intel-based replacement for the iBook G4. The only available screen size is a 13.3″ glossy widescreen, but processor options are 1.83 and 2Ghz Intel Core Duo CPUs, with the choice of white or black enclosures.

- Apple also released Final Cut Express HD version 3.5, a Universal Binary for both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs. Retail price is $299, with a $99 upgrade from prior versions.

- The U2 iPod is back, in a completely black edition of the 30G iPod Video and the band’s autographs on the back. Retail price is $329, only slightly more than the “normal” 30G iPod.

- Equinix releases CoverScout ($15.95) for editing album covers in iTunes, and a new Universal Binary version (1.1) of On Air.

- Jonathan Nathan has released Jon’s Phone Tool 3.5 and EntourageABMenu 1.5.

- Specere has released Art Collector and Menuet, tools for finding and applying album art to your iTunes music libarary.

- XtraLean Software is having a Father’s Day special on their ShutterBug software.

- Meetro now supports the Mac with their location-aware social messenging software.