Macbook Stickers

 

R0010238

Originally uploaded by Osman Junaid

It took me a while but I’m happy with it, for now at least!

Leopard 10.5.7 released

Looks like it’s a light upgrade, nothing groundbreaking here. Unless you’re running an ATi 4870 like me of course, in which case the new drivers in this release will improve performance by about double.

Here’s what Apple have to say:

What’s included?

General

• Includes latest security fixes.
• Includes additional RAW image support for several third-party cameras.
• Improves performance of video playback and cursor movements for recent Macs with NVIDIA graphics.
  
• Resolves an issue with Dvorak keyboard layout in Mac OS X 10.5.6.
• Improves the reliability and accuracy of Unit Converter, Stocks, Weather and Movies Dashboard widgets.
• Addresses a situation that may cause issues when logging into Gmail.
• Improves reliability when syncing contacts with Yahoo!.
• Expansion Slot Utility for Mac Pro now reports the correct PCIe slot configuration.
• Improves network performance when connected to certain Ethernet switches that have Flow Control enabled.
• Improves stability for network home directories hosted by Mac OS X Server v10.4.
• Improves Finder search results for network volumes that may not support Spotlight searching, such as Mac OS X Server v10.4, Time Capsule, and third-party AFP servers.
• Includes several improvements to Directory Service and Client Management.

iCal

• Improves overall reliability with CalDav.
• Improves reliability when automatically syncing with MobileMe.

Mail

• Addresses reliability and sync issues with Notes.
• Addresses an issue that may cause the BCC field to populate incorrectly when redirecting a message from the Sent mailbox.
  

Parental Controls

• Improves consistency with Parental Controls and application restrictions.
• Addresses an issue in which time limits may not work properly with full-screen games and Fast User Switching.

Printing

• Resolves an issue that may cause certain third-party printers to print to the incorrect paper tray.
• Non-admin user accounts can now be allowed to add and remove printers by enabling Parental Controls and selecting “Can administer printers”.
• Includes other printing reliability and stability improvements.

Toxic

Seen the new MacBook Air adverts? ‘Course you have. You’ll learn one thing from watching the advert – the backing music is better than the actual product being advertised. If you watched the advert like me and thought, “Wow, this is kinda good”, you’re after Yael Naim’s single, called New Soul.

I bought it off iTunes.

Sure, I buy music.

Yael Naim, a former Israeli Air Force Orchestra member, has a very distinctive sound about her. Yeah, it’s weird. So weird, in fact, that I kind of like the way it creeps me out. She’s done a cover of Britney Spears’ Toxic. The problem is, it’s not like Nickel Creek’s version, which is supposed to be a sort of tongue in cheek pisstake that actually sounds really good. Instead, Naim, not one to shift out of creepmode, did this.

You know what, Britney is bollocks, but this cover by Naim has got to be worse. Yes, I said it. Britney is better.

Perhaps I’m too harsh, perhaps not. I’m sure you’ll let me know what you think about that.

Watch Nickel Creek’s cover of Toxic here.

Air

Steve Jobs has unveiled the latest in his lineup for the first quarter of 2008, a 13.3″ super slim 3lb (1.36kg) MacBook, called MacBook Air. Although not a sub-notebook like the Sony TZ series, it comes with neither an optical drive nor an ethernet port.

Like the TZ series however, it uses a Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2gb RAM and has the option of a solid-state hard drive, for faster booting and access times. An 80gb hard drive will be the standard on the notebook that is already being called “the world’s thinnest”.

Being priced at $1,799 (£914), it will certainly be in the same sort of price bracket as the smaller, lighter and in my opinion more beautiful TZ series offering, once the higher UK pricing is revealed.

One thing that most certainly is nice is the full aluminium case that will, of course, come as standard.

Apple have launched this alongside Apple TV 2.0 and another interesting product, known as Time Capsule, which is primarily designed for use with Leopard applications such as Time Machine, for wireless back-up of data.

Looks alright, so far.

 Info on the MacBook Air courtesy of Ars Technica