CastMedium » MacBreak Weekly

MacBreak Weekly 177: iPad

Jonathan Downin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:52:10 +0000

This is it people, the iPad has been announced and Leo and co. were on site to cover the complete reveal. This episode picks up with Leo and full cast of pundits immediately after they left the announcement hall. They cover everything here, from the specs of the new ‘category defining’ device to their hands’on impressions of the final product.

While the iPad certainly receives a lot of praise here, you can’t help but feel that many were expecting a little more. There was no announcement of a new way to access media, whether through cloud-based storage or otherwise. The one thing that everyone can agree on is that the $499 price is incredibile. Games were touched on as well, but the true gaming potential of the iPad is yet to be seen.

Note: You can check out the full presentation video at Apple’s website.

Live from Steve Jobs’ announcement of the iPad.

Runtime – 1:34:01

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MacBreak Weekly 176: Don’t Touch Me There

Jonathan Downin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:17:10 +0000

The rumors were right– partially, for now. The long rumored Apple Tablet took a huge step towards being an actual thing this week with Apple announcing that they will be having a special event on Tuesday, January 27th. The invitation that they have sent out regarding the event reads “Come see our latest creation.” This almost has to be a tablet announcement at this point, and atypically, many in the games press have been invited as well. This has lead some to believe that games will play a big role in the new device.

Leo, Andy and Alex spend the whole show airing their final predictions, as next weeks show will take place immediately following the keynote. In addition to a tablet device, a significant update to the iPhone OS is expected with the launch of iPhone OS 4.0. There is a lot to look forward to since this will probably be an announcement of a magnitude which we haven’t seen since the reveal of the iPhone.

Jan. 27 Apple event for the tablet/slate? Follow our coverage on http://live.twit.tv. OS 4.0, iLife 2010, and more.

Runtime – 1:26:48

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MacBreak Weekly 174: Is 10 Inches Enough?

Jonathan Downin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:36:59 +0000

Google’s Nexus One starts the discussion this week. It is fair to say that everyone is surprised about the details surrounding this launch, but the pervading opinion is that is isn’t incredibly significant.

The meat of the cast is all centered around the tablet. It has been almost accepted as fact that Apple will introduce a tablet at the end of the month, with rumors pointing to the 26th and 27th of the month. There is a lot of good speculation here, but with everyone expecting something completely fresh and new, the stakes have been set very high.

Google’s Nexus One, Apple tablet, Quattro Wireless acquisition, MobileMe, and more.

Runtime – 1:53:41

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MacBreak Weekly 173: Two Words: Dance Belt

Jonathan Downin — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 01:54:50 +0000

It is still unclear what exactly happened, but iPhones were temporarily unavailable for order for New York City residents via the AT&T website. The real discussion this week is centered around the forthcoming Android announcement, and rumored Apple announcement.

It has been all-but confirmed that the January 5th Android announcement will be focused on the release of the Nexus One. The guys touch on this before discussing the rumored January 26th iSlate announcement. There is nothing to new here, but there is some discussion about Apple’s potential 3 operating system approach to their products. Nokia litigation also gets a mention, but an unboxing of the N900 steals the limelight.

NYC short iPhones, Google Nexus One, Apple’s Jan 26 announcement, tablet rumors, and more.

Runtime – 1:15:45

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MacBreak Weekly 172: There’s Always A Donna

Jonathan Downin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:58:15 +0000

The Main man behind the Macworld Expo starts this one with some serious PR for the forthcoming show. The topics then turn to the iPhone gaming with news that Tapulous is making over $1 million a month in revenue, and the reveal that Unreal Engine 3 is running on iPod Touch/iPhone 3GS. If Unreal is running as smoothly as the 15 second video depicts, you should be very excited.

Apple has released a firmware update that supposedly fixes the screen flickering issues with the recently released 27 inch iMacs. Steve Jobs did not get Time Magazines man of the year, but he did get CEO of the year. Microsoft is facing some tough litigation with Office, and this sparks a discussion about office suits.

The rumblings of deals between Apple and media giants has the guys talking about the potential of a TV-related iTunes subscription model.

Steve Jobs loses one and wins one, Apple enters the TV biz, and a Macworld Expo preview…

Runtime – 1:46:11

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MacBreak Weekly 169: This Is What Happens Larry

Jonathan Downin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:15:19 +0000

It’s a rather news-filled episode this week with the recent Crunchpad weirdness taking over the first part of the show. Michael Arrington released information on the now halted project that places the blame squarely on their partner in the project. After some initial skepticism, Leo and crew come around to believing Arrington’s claims. Alex is well versed on the topic of tablets as he also began the process of producing one before finding it next to impossible to make at an affordable price.

Psystar has lost the initial round of litigation with Apple, and have purported been ordered to pay $2.7 million in damages. They claim to have a new business plan in mind, but with just a little over 700 units sold of their initial offering, the group is skeptical at best.

iTunes LP is slowly being opened to the public and this has Leo balking at the idea of using it for his podcasts.

Psystar’s last gasp, crunchpad drama, and iTunes LP coming to iDVD and more.

Runtime – 1:47:34

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MacBreak Weekly 167: Skittles And Beer

Jonathan Downin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:23:24 +0000

Things have been quiet on the Apple front over the past few weeks, and that trend continues here. Leo starts this one with an interview with Paul Kent of Macworld Expo. Leo will be among 3 big guest speakers next February including David Pogue and filmmaker Kevin Smith.

Microsoft recently opened their first retail store an a video has hit the web showing a display of “spontaneous dancing” by the store employees. It appears that this is a play to make the store experience fun, but it ends up being completely awkward. After some time with the the new Magic Mouse, Don McAllister has soured on it, but his does share some positive experiences with Wacom’s Bamboo tablets.

Leo received an 27″ iMac i7 and he is impressed with the speed of the machine. The switch to iPod Touches as checkout devices in Apple stores and discussion about a potentially leaked document showing Apple Black Friday deals finish the show.

This week on Macbreak Weekly: Dancing Microsoft store, a look at the new 27″ iMac, Black Friday rumors, and more.

Runtime – 1:18:17

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MacBreak Weekly 163: Stroke The Mouse

Jonathan Downin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:38:53 +0000

Apple released a slew of new products yesterday including a unibody iterations on the iMac and white MacBook, an up-speced Mac Mini and a new multi-touch enabled mouse, dubbed the Magic Mouse. This many big products aren’t usually launched without a keynote event, so these releases caught many off-guard.

The new iMac now come in 21.5″ and 27″ models. While 27″ sounds huge, Apple has moved to a 9×16 aspect ratio for their displays, so they are not really that much bigger, just wider. The line also received processor and RAM bumps with the highest end model outfitted with Intel i5 chip, or i7 as a $200 upgrade. This really brings the iMac up to date and makes it the best all-in-one choices available.

The Mac mini now comes in a dual HDD server model, sans disc drive and the MacBook changes are mostly based around its construction and aesthetics. Apple’s new Magic Mouse is welcome replacement for the much-hated Mighty Mouse, but we will have to wait for some more hands-on opinions before we know if it works as advertised. The group also touches quickly on B&N’s new Nook e-book reader. Overall, it was an exciting day in the Apple world and the guys share their excitement here.

The team covers Apple’s release of new iMacs, Mac Minis, a new mouse, and more.

Runtime – 1:26:25

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MacBreak Weekly 158: They Don’t Have That in the US

Jonathan Downin — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:09:54 +0000

Andy and Alex have both gotten their hands on the new camera-equipped iPod nano and the impressions are fairly positive. While the image quality takes a serious hit when moving quickly, walking and in low-light situations, the video looks great in optimal conditions. Overall, it seems to be a great addition to the device.

The camera-less iPod Touch receives a lot of attention with the group again reiterating that a camera equipped version will probably show up in the next few months. The technical differences between the 8Gb and higher-end models also has the guys somewhat puzzled.

Leo and Andy have the new Zune HD and it sounds like they are really enamored by the device and the aesthetics of the user interface. While it probably won’t overtake the iPod Touch in sales, it sounds like a more than worthy competitor and addition to the space. The recent price-drop of the Apple TV is discussed as well with the general feeling being that it will be scrapped and replaced with a new product sometime soon.

Zune HD, iPod Nano camera, cameraless Touch, Apple TV price drop, dream acquisitions, and more.

Runtime – 1:38:50

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MacBreak Weekly 157: The New iPods Are Here

Jonathan Downin — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:53:37 +0000

Apple’s annual iPod music event happened today and in light of that fact, Leo and crew postponed the regular Tuesday recording of Macbreak Weekly to today and recorded it as the announcements were being made. This is an interesting take on event coverage and is much more interesting than reading live blogs. Of course, catching the recorded version isn’t nearly as exciting, so make sure to try and catch it live next time at live.twit.tv.

The special guest sitting in with Leo and Alex for the event is the author of the amazingly in-depth review of Snow Leopard for Ars Technica, John Siracusa. Since the group is getting the information about what was announced as they record, there is not too much detailed analysis. Next week’s show will be the place to hear more analytical takes on what was announced today.

The notable reveals were: iPod touch 3rd gen, iPod nano 5G with camera and iTunes 9

Live Apple coverage: Steve Jobs returns, iTunes 9, iPhone/iPod OS 3.1, Nano video, and more.

Runtime – 1:47:54

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MacBreak Weekly 156: Snow Job

Jonathan Downin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:45:18 +0000

Okay Mac fanboys, buckle-up because Leo is crashing this thing. He is not too happy about the recently released Snow Leopard and he is not shy about letting everyone know that it doesn’t feel like a significant upgrade and it should have been rolled out as service packs. In fact, not only was it not a meaningful update to him, it broke many things in his daily work-flow. Alex and Andy are in defense mode though, so not everyone is unhappy about Apple’s latest OS release.

After getting the Snow Leopard discussion out of the way the guys move onto predictions for next week’s Apple event scheduled for Wednesday, September 9th. The predictions are all over the map, but obviously the big announcements will be iPod focused as September Apple events always are. There is a slight chance of a tablet announcement and the feeling is that if Steve Jobs is giving the keynote, it will probably show up.

Also, comic artist of PvPonline, Scott Kurtz, is on the show this week joining in on the discussion.

Snow Leopard, iPhone app tops Microsoft contest, ZFS support, 9/09/09 Beatles rumors, and more.

Runtime – 1:34:52

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MacBreak Weekly 155: When You’re Ready to Compromise, Call Me

Jonathan Downin — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:41:28 +0000

With Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard a mere 3 days away, it is a big topic this week. While Leo doesn’t want to spend too much time on it since next week’s episode will probably be nothing but impressions, Andy does speculate on the motivation for Apple to reduce the disk space imprint of the new OS. He surmises that it may have something to with Apple wanting to accommodate for SSDs, possibly for the forthcoming tablet. Also, don’t miss the Snow Leopard application compatibility Wiki.

Apple has released 2 new “Get a Mac” ads and they are both pretty good with the standout featuring Patrick Warburton of Puddy on Seinfeld fame. After quickly discussing the rumored sprucing up of the plastic MacBook design, the guys move onto the latest rumors in tablet land. The latest is that Steve Jobs has been exclusively focusing on the project since his return.

The App Store approval process continues to be under the microscope with Apple’s recent open letter to the FCC. With over 8400 apps submitted a week and 40 people on staff in the app approval department, it seems like a rough situation. Leo, Andy and Alex chime in with their thoughts on the recent issues and the prospect of future apps from Rhapsody and others being approved.

Snow Leopard, new “Get a Mac” ads, MacBook refresh, Apple Tablet news, App approval process, and more.

Runtime – 1:23:07

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MacBreak Weekly 154: Graceful Degradation

Jonathan Downin — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:19:10 +0000

Merlin Mann is back after his 1 1/2 year absence as a regular on MacBreak Weekly, and it makes you realize how much of an asset he was to the show. If you aren’t aware of some of his personal projects, you will be doing yourself a favor to check out his productivity blog 43folders.com and podcast You Look Nice Today.

iPhone satisfaction is at an all-time high with a staggering 99% customer satisfaction rating. This is in stark comparison to other smartphones and notably the Palm Pre which has an 87% rating. These figures don’t sound too different until you look at the customers that replied with “very satisfied” and then the numbers are 82% and 45% respectively.

In addition to a lot of productivity talk, GPSs ends up being a big topic this week with the release of Tom Tom for iPhone. It sounds like it is a decent implementation, but a bit on the pricey side. If Google Maps aren’t enough for your adventures this may be the next best thing out there besides a dedicated unit.

Quake Live is now available for Mac and Linux users. Upon release, it was only Windows compatible, but now everyone can get in on the action.

Apple attempts to suppress Jobs article, iTunes 69% of music sales, Tom Tom iPhone GPS, Quake Live, and more.

Runtime – 2:05:16

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MacBreak Weekly 153: The Case Against Apple

Jonathan Downin — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:59:36 +0000

TWiT favorite and Mahalo head-hancho, Jason Calacanis, wrote a scathing essay titled The Case Against Apple–in Five Parts wherein he airs his grievances with Apple’s recent actions. He has some fair points, but Alex and Andy aren’t quite on the same page. What everyone can agree on is that Apple could be a little more open to the benefit of everyone.

Rumors, which seem to be the lifeblood of the Apple community, are flying about new features that may be coming to iTunes 9. While Blu-ray support is among those, the guys focus on new “social” features that may or may not be coming to Apple’s media management software. Last.fm, Facebook and Twitter integration are touted as possibly in line for direct integration.

In smaller news, there is now an antiglare screen option for the 15″ MacBook Pro for an extra $50.

Calacanis’ criticisms, social iTunes, antiglare MacBook Pro, Facebook/Friendfeed, and more.

Runtime – 1:27:37

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MacBreak Weekly 152: It’s In Airplane Mode

Jonathan Downin — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 05:03:56 +0000

The Google Voice app story continues to be a big issue in the tech world. The FCC is now involved and the latest development is the departure of long-time Apple board member, Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt. The speculation is that this is related to the FCC investigation, but Apple insists that this is just due to the converging markets of the two companies.

The Apple tablet seems almost certain at this point. Everyone agrees, it is coming before March, and many expect a September announcement with an October release. The rumored $699 – $799 is steep, but listening to Alex and Andy’s ideas for the device makes it sound almost worth it.

Snow Leopard is available for pre-order at Amazon and the Alex speculates that it is probably mere weeks away. Purchase through the provided link to help support CastMedium.

Covered topics: Google Voice app pulled, Apple’s iron fist, exploding ipod, keyboards vulnerabilities, tablet, Snow Leopard pre-order, “jailbreaking helps terrorism,”

Google CEO leaves Apple board, FCC investigates Apple and AT&T, Apple keyboard hack, and more.

Runtime – 1:48:44

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