The PinoyMacLovers Me & My Mac Project Entry#3

Hello, fellow Mac lovers! Today we have some cool pictures of a sleek-looking blacBook and an awesome setup sent in by my friend and loyal reader, Nic. Take a lookie...

His home setup involves a large 40-inch Toshiba Regza flatscreen TV hooked up to his very lovely MacBook via a mini-DVI to VGA adapter.



And just a few feet away is his spacious desk where he can work and play using his Apple Wireless Keyboard and Mighty Mouse.



This is definitely one pretty cool setup.

Thanks, Nic!

Also check out:
The PinoyMacLovers Me & My Mac Project Entry#2

Disclaimer: The PinoyMacLovers Me & My Mac Project is an independent project and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved in any way by Apple, Inc. The use of any of the images featured in this project, in whatever manner and for whatever purpose, is prohibited without express and written authorization from the author.

Buy A Mac And Get An iPod Free

For the month of March 2007, every purchase of select Mac models from Ynzal comes with a FREE iPod.

15” MacBook Pro 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MA609
1GB/120GB/SuperDrive/APX/BT/iSight/128MB Video
Promo Price..... P109,880
FREE iPod: 4GB Nano

15” MacBook Pro 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MA610
2GB/120GB/SuperDrive/APX/BT/iSight/256MB Video
Promo Price..... P131,880
FREE iPod: 4GB Nano

iMac 24” 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MA456
1GB/250GB/8xSuperDrive/APX/BT/iSight/GeForce7300GT w/ 128MB Video
Promo Price.....P105,880
FREE iPod: 1GB Shuffle

You may contact Ynzal at 413-7575/74 | 413-7579/78 | 373-2232 | 373-3940 or send an email to sales [at] ynzal [dot] com.

Disclaimer: PinoyMacLovers is not affiliated with Ynzal. Please contact Ynzal directly and make the necessary inquries before entering into any transaction.

Hello There!

I've been getting quite a few visitors lately, many of them coming from the link that I got from the 2007 Philippine Blog Awards homepage as a result of being nominated under the Technology and Design categories. Hooray! So a big THANK YOU goes out to them. And to you, dear reader, I say welcome! Welcome to my humble blog. I do hope you stick around to read some of the articles. You might want to check these out...

The PinoyMacLovers Me & My Mac Project

as well as...

The PinoyMacLovers iLove iPod Project

Just click on the images. Enjoy your stay! :)

Trade-in Your PC And Get P10,000 Off On A Brand New Mac

Ynzal's Switch2Mac promo offers a P10,000 discount when you trade in your desktop PC (any model in good working condition) for a brand new Mac. This great deal from Ynzal is applicable when you purchase a 17-inch iMac with the following specs:

- 17-inch LCD
- 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
- 512MB DDR2 SDRAM
- 160GB Hard drive
- Built-in iSight camera
- 24x Combo (DVD/CD-RW) drive
- Intel GMA 950 graphics processor with 64MB DDR2 SDRAM

Price...P54,880
Trade-in Price...P44,880

Promo runs until March 15, 2007. Call Ynzal at 413-7575/74 or send an email to sales [at] ynzal [dot] com.

Disclaimer: PinoyMacLovers is not affiliated with Ynzal. Please contact Ynzal directly and make the necessary inquries before entering into any transaction.

The 2007 Philippine Blog Awards

Hello, my dear & faithful readers (there are two of you). I am happy to announce that PinoyMacLovers has been nominated in the Technology blog category for the 2007 Philippine Blog Awards. Hooray!!! Check out the list of nominees.

Power Mac Center in Greenbelt Holds Free Apple Seminars For The Month Of February

For the entire month of February, the Power Mac Center in Greenbelt 3 is conducting free Apple training seminars. These seminars are open to anyone and everyone who loves Macs! Topics to be covered include: (1) Mac Basics - Mac OS X Fundamentals, (2) Mac Music Day - iPod, iTunes & Garageband Essentials, and (3) Mac Movie Day - iMovie, iDVD & iPhoto. The seminars are held every Tuesday (Mac Basics), Thursday (Mac Music Day), and Saturday (Mac Movie Day) at 6-7 pm.

Click on the graphic below for more details:

*The Power Mac Center is located at the 2/F, Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center, Makati City, Philippines
Tel: (632) 729-7128 | Fax: (632) 729-7087

Note: PinoyMacLovers is not formally affiliated with Power Mac Center. You are advised to contact them directly, if you wish to avail of a slot in any of their seminars.

The Right Time To Buy A Brand New Mac

Now, this is tricky. It's tricky for any type of computer or gadget for that matter because new and upgraded versions will always come out. I remember a few years ago (2005, I think) when I was all set to buy a 20-inch iMac. On the day I planned on getting one, I was just so busy with work that I wasn't even able to call the store to place my order. This turned out to be quite fortunate for me because the very next day, Apple announced the release of the very first iMac with a built-in iSight. So I ended up buying that instead. I know I've mentioned that the release of upgraded models is inevitable, but in this case, it would really suck big time to find out about a new model on the very next day that you buy a product. So luckily for me, I didn't end up being in a situation that would surely have caused me to pull a few strands of hair off my head.

So the question remains - when's a good time to buy a brand new Mac? or an iPod? or a plutonium-powered flux capacitor? I usually go with the 6 months rule. If a specific model has been out for atleast 6 months, I'd much rather wait for a new release to come out. And then I also do a little research for any rumors and speculation about upocoming new models. Now, for those of you who don't have the time or patience for that, you might want to look at Mactacitc.com. Their website says - "We estimate the release date of new macs so you get a chance to buy when they are the best value." They have a list for Macs as well as iPods and Apple accessories. An item can be labeled caution - may be replaced, still good value or buy immediately. They also give information about how long a particular model has been in the market and an estimtate on when it might be replaced. Now, I have no idea how they come up with those figures so I think you should take them as recommendations instead of fact. In the end, what's important is that you make a well-informed decision before you make your purchase. Get a Mac or an iPod or an Apple accesorry that suits your specific needs. If it can do the things that you need it to do, then that's a lot more important than being on the cutting-edge all the time.

[via TUAW]

Perian: Adds QuickTime Support For Many Different Video Formats

There are so many different video formats out there that won't play in QuickTime unless you download and install a specific video codec. Perian, touted as the "swiss army knife for QuickTime", tries to make things a little easier for us Mac users by enabling Apple's standard media player to playback many different video types. It is a free, open source QuickTime component that adds native support for many popular video formats which include:

• AVI and FLV
  
• 3ivX, DivX, Flash Screen Video, MS-MPEG4, Sorenson H.263, Truemotion VP6, and Xvid
  
• AVI support for: AAC, AC3 Audio using A52Codec, H.264, MPEG4, and VBR MP3
  

This is great because Mac users don't have to download and install a bunch of different codecs to add support for the many different video formats out there. Perian provides all of those for you all in one package. I also like how it adds native QuickTime support for the Flash video (flv) format. Up until I discovered Perian, I was using a separate standalone FLV player to playback my Flash videos. Now, I don't have to.

You can log on to Perian.org to download and learn more about Perian.

The iSkin Protouch Keyboard Protector For Your Apple Keyboard

Throughout the years, my very first Apple keyboard went from a lovely shade of pure white, to this horrendous yellowish color.


So before my newer keyboard suffers the same fate, I have decided to protect it with the iSkin keyboard protector by Protouch.

Made of durable high-grade silicone, this removable and washable product effectively protects your keyboard from dirt, grime and the occasional booger that sticks to your fingertips.

The instructions indicate that the iSkin keyboard protector be "massaged" into position until perfectly fitted. After "massaging" it on for a few minutes, it still didn't fit as snug as I'd wanted it to, but it was still quite unobtrusive and made typing on the keys feel more soft and jelly-like.


The iSkin Protouch Keyboard Protector - don't eat cheetos in front of your computer without it.

The iPod Shuffle Now Available In 5 Colors

The very tiny iPod Shuffle now comes in 5 different colors - blue, green, orange, pink and the original silver - giving you more choices to match your personal style. Check out the photo gallery at iLounge.com for cool pics of all the different colored iPod Shuffles.

Optical Disc Drive Underneath Your MacBook?

Speculation regarding the development of a new ultra-thin MacBook continues as various sources report about 2 patent filings made by Apple describing a portable computer with an optical drive that is located underneath. Apparently, placing the optical drive in this area will optimize space, allowing for a significant reduction in size.

Hmmm... To be honest, I find the idea a bit weird. Having to turn a laptop over everytime I have to insert or remove a disc just seems a little counterintuitive, don't you think?

Read more at TUAW and Apple Insider.

The Plantronics .Audio85 USB Headset

The Plantronics .Audio85 is a foldable USB headset that works great with a Mac. Its features include:

• an adjustable lightweight headband
• noise-canceling microphone
• inline volume and mute control
• 32-bit DSP (Digital Signal Processing) for superior stereo sound and speech recognition
• USB plug & play
  

I recently purchased one for myself because I had been looking for a headset that I could use with iChat. I didn't want to just buy any generic headset because I wasn't sure if it was going to work well with my Mac. So you could just imagine how happy I was when I found this product and read straight from the box that it is "Great for iChat, Video Conferencing, Multiplayer Online Games, and Listening to iTunes, CDs, DVDs, and MP3 Music." It was exactly what I was looking for so I immediatley purchased it. It even works with an iPod.

Once out of the box, all you have to do is insert the headphone and microphone jacks into the USB adapter that comes with it. Then plug it into your USB port and your Mac will automatically recognize the headset. No need to install any software whatsoever. It's that easy.

The Plantronics .Audio85 USB Headset

The USB headphone and mic adapter offers plug & play ease

It folds away for easy storage and even comes with a leatherette carrying pouch.

I'm very pleased with this product. The stereo headphones offer great sound quality and the noise canceling microphone does a good job of keeping your voice clear-sounding. It's really great for iChat video conferencing and listening to your iTunes music library. This is definitely a product that I would recommend for those who are looking for a USB headset for their Mac.

Product Specifications:

Digital Signal Processing
5 channel 16 bit, 48KHz data from USB
24 bit, 100dB signal-to-noise CODEC
32 bit digital audio processing
Headphone Output
2 channel 48KHz output to headphone
Headphone gain stage >80dB range
20Hz-20KHz speaker frequency response
Microphone Input
Mono, 16 bit, 48KHz data
Mic gain stage >50dBrange
Up to 25dB noise rejection (hypercardioid response)
100KHz-8KHz frequency response
Electret condenser microphone with -39dBV/Pa sensitivity
Cable length: 3 meters

Fitness First Members Get The Chance To Win An iPod Video

Attention Fitness First members: get the chance to win an iPod Video by updating your contact details. If you've received the form already, all you have to do is fill it up and submit the completed form at the reception desk of any Fitness First club. You can also log on to FitnessFirst.com.ph and post your updates there. Once you've entered the website, you should see a "want to win an iPod Video?" link at the lower right corner of the page. Updating your details automatically earns you a raffle entry for the chance to win the iPod Video. Deadline for submission is on 31 January 2007. So hurry!

Disclaimer: PinoyMacLovers is not affiliated with Fitness First in any way.

MWSF 2007 Goodies

So all in all I think Apple fans are pretty happy with the new toys Santa Jobs took out of his bag during the keynote. So what do we have so far? Well if you have to read it from me first, it only means that you've been living under a rock with no Internet connection. But anyway...

"We need to talk", says one big banner ad for the... (drumroll please)... Apple iPhone! Hooray! The much talked about toy that has been predicted to come out by Mac pundits (self-proclaimed or otherwise) the world over down to the lizard that lives in the corner of my room finally got announced. It's a camera phone, an iPod (with widescreen video capabilites) and an internet device rolled into one supercool device that weighs 4.8 ounces. The phone is set for a June release date and as of today has the following specs:

Screen size: 3.5 inches
Screen resolution: 320 by 480 at 160 ppi
Input method: Multi-touch
Operating system: OS X
Storage: 4GB or 8GB
GSM: Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)
Wireless data: Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0
Camera: 2.0 megapixels
Battery:
Up to 5 hoursTalk / Video / Browsing
Up to 16 hoursAudio playback
Dimensions: 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches / 115 x 61 x 11.6mm
Weight: 4.8 ounces / 135 grams

For U.S. users, the iPhone will be locked to the Cingular network (I did read complaints on this one). I have no idea if the product will be available for us 3rd world geeks, but I certainly hope it will be. For pics of the iPhone, click here and here (from TUAW.com).

Other products announced include:

The all-new AirPort Extreme - 5x faster than its predecessor, offers both wired and wireless connections, and lets you share a printer or a hard drive via USB.

Apple TV - connects to your widescreen TV via an HDMI port or component video & audio ports and syncs with the iTunes library on your wireless enabled Mac or PC. This will enable you to watch and listen to your downloads directly onto your home entertainment system instead of your computer.

Both the Apple TV and the all-new AirPort Extreme are scheduled for shipping on February 2007.

It's A Mac, Mac World!

Just a few more hours 'til Macworld Keynote 2007! How exciting!!! In the meantime, take a look at what Apple has to say on their website...
Oooooh...