MWSF 2009: Lacie Announces d2 DVD±RW 22x External Optical Drive
January 5, 2009 6:22 PM
Chris Barylick

On Monday, Mac accessory company LaCie announced its new Today LaCie announced its new LaCie d2 DVD±RW 22x with LightScribe and Hi-Speed USB 2.0 and/or FireWire disc burners. The drives feature LightScribe labeling tools available from LaCie on the 22x rewritable DVD drive which allow users users to use a laser to etch distinctive designs on the surface of their burned CD or DVD.

With LaCie's new disc burner, users can store up to 8.5 GB of data, roughly the equivalent of more than two hours of theater-quality video on a large-capacity DVD.

The LaCie d2 DVD±RW 22x FireWire & USB unit comes bundled with Toast 9 Basic (Mac OS X 10.4 or later ) and Easy Media Creator Suite 10 with LightScribe Labeler for Windows for simple content management and labeling, while Mac users get LaCie LightScribe Labeler for Mac OS X.3.9 or later.

The d2 DVD±RW 22x with LightScribe is available worldwide through the LaCie Online Store or LaCie Reseller at the suggested retail price starting at US$119.99 USD for the FireWire/USB version.

If you've had any luck or failures with LaCie's d2 drive, let us know in the comments or forums.

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Category: Announcement
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Users Report Optical Drive Noises Under Mac OS X
January 5, 2009 5:56 PM
Chris Barylick

In something not related to Macworld Expo, a number of users have reported that the optical drives on their notebooks began making random loading or ejecting noises, as if the drive were trying to work with media that wasn't inserted at the time.

Per MacFixIt, the situation has been described as follows over on the Apple Discussions board:

"Ever since the 10.5.6 install, my black Macbook optical drive is randomly making noises like it's searching for a disc inside."

The problem seems to affect MacBook and MacBook Pro notebook owners with Matshita optical drives, albeit most MacBooks with optical drives from this manufacturer do not appear to be affected.

The problem also has yet to be associated with any loss of functionality and outside of a certain annoyance factor and the drives remain capable of reading and writing to media.

One user was able to stop the noise by removing the command line version of Disk Utility (diskutil) from his computer. While this may stop the problem, doing so is not recommended because "diskutil" is exceptionally useful for system maintenance and is required by some utilities and software packages. Removing it may introduce other problems.

The bug may also be caused by an incompatibility between the notification software package "GROWL" and the Mac OS X 10.5.6 update.

One suggested fix for the issue goes as follows:

Fix: Remove "GROWL" software Users with the "GROWL" notification software have noticed the sounds disappear after removing it. Therefore, it is recommended that affected users remove this software if they have it installed. Hopefully the GROWL developers will issue an update soon to address the problem.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available and if you've seen this bug on your end, let us know in the comments or forums.

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Google Releases Picasa Beta for Mac OS X Platform
January 5, 2009 5:25 PM
Chris Barylick

Software giant Google on Monday released a public beta of its long-awaited Picasa for Mac desktop softare. The program, a 17.2 megabyte download, marks the first appearance of the software on the Mac, allows users to organize photos regardless of location.

Once installed on your Mac, Picasa imports (without moving or copying) photos from the iPhoto library as well as other folders and external hard drives on your Mac. The program also includes assorted editing tools for straightening, text generation, red eye removal, collage creation and Photoshop-like effects and adjustments.

Per Macworld, Picasa includes a collage feature that lets users combine multiple images into one.

The program also integrates with Google's Picasa Web Albums online photo-sharing service, which Mac users have had access to previously using Google's iPhoto plug-in or the standalone uploader application. Using Picasa, users can sync local and online photos and share photos easily with those in a Gmail address book.

Picasa's Effects tab offers several Photoshop-like tweaks for your photos such as a slideshow movie maker with one-click YouTube uploading, and the ability to post to Blogger pages. For the initial beta, Google says it focused on matching the speed and most of the core features of the Windows version, and will refine the interface and improve the feature set in the future.

Picasa's Mac beta currently lacks geotagging features and the ability to order prints from online services.

The program will be demoed at Google's booth at Macworld Expo throughout this week.

Picasa for Mac requires and Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.4 or later to install and run.

If you've played with the beta and have any feedback regarding it, let us know in the comments or forums.

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Category: Software
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Rumor: Apple to Release Updated 17" MacBook Pro Notebook, Updated Mac Mini as Early as Tuesday
January 5, 2009 5:01 PM
Chris Barylick

It's bouncing around the grape vine over here in the Moscone Center, so it might be true.

Per AppleInsider, Apple may introduce a 17" version of its MacBook Pro notebook with a fixed internal battery as well as an updated Mac mini as early as Tuesday.

The two machines are expected to feature NVIDIA graphic chipsets and sources have indicated that the products are due to ship this month but did not corroborate a Macworld Expo introduction.

Those familiar with the anticipated notebook stated that the 17" MacBook Pro will not share the same panel-covered battery layout as its 13" and 15" cousins. Instead, the notebook's battery will be fixed in place and not easily removable by users, as is the case with Apple's MacBook Air notebook.

Sources have also stated that an anticipated Mac mini desktop will adopt chipsets from NVIDIA's MCP79 platform, as was previously implied by discoveries within the resource files of a Mac OS X build train that shipped on the latest MacBooks and MacBook Pros.

The new desktop is also expected to feature both a Mini DisplayPort as well as a Mini DVI connector. Additional rumors have stated that the unit will see the addition of a fifth USB port as well as a new FireWire 800 port with the legacy FireWire 400 port being done away with.

Until tomorrow, it's all speculation.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available and let us know what you think in the comments or forums.

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Category: Rumor
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MWSF 2009: Roxio Introduces Toast 10 Titanium, Toast 10 Titanium Pro Software
January 5, 2009 1:26 PM
Chris Barylick

Longtime CD and DVD-authoring outfit Roxio on Mnoday kicked off its Macworld Expo introductions with the announcement of two new versions of its Toast authoring software, complete with new features for creating, sharing and viewing content.

Toast 10 Titanium, which, according to AppleInsider, is available as a direct download for US$99.99, introduces new features such as Mac2TiVo for sending standard definition and HD video content from a Mac to a TiVo DVR as well as an audiobook creator for converting audiobook CDs into files compatible with portable devices.

The new version also include an AVCHD Archive feature for quickly backing up original content from high-definition camcorders onto DVD or Blu-ray Discs, and a Web video file capture and conversion tool that allows web-based video to be viewed on DVD or mobile devices.

Other new features included in the standard version of Toast 10 are as follows:

Parallels Desktop for Mac 4.0 retails for US $79.99 and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to run.

If you've tried the new build and have any feedback about it, please let us know in the comments or forums.

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Category: Software
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Jobs Releases Open Letter Concerning Health, Reveals Hormone Imbalance
January 5, 2009 12:35 PM
Chris Barylick

Kicking off the first day of Macworld and working to alleviate investor-based concerns regarding his health, Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Monday released an open letter citing his noticeable weight loss as being caused by a hormone imbalance as opposed to pancreatic cancer.

Shares of Apple rose more than 3 percent in early trade, as Jobs, a pancreatic cancer survivor, said he would remain CEO during his recovery and that his doctors expect him to regain his weight by late spring.

"I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple's CEO," Jobs said in a statement, breaking his silence about his health for the first time in months.

Within the statement, Jobs acknowledged he had been losing weight throughout 2008 and that his doctors determined "a hormone imbalance that has been 'robbing' me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy."

The CEO then went on to state that the remedy for "this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward" and that he has begun treatment.

Apple's board said in a separate statement that Jobs has its full support during his recuperation and

Jobs said the cause of his weight loss had been a mystery to himself and his doctors until he decided a few weeks ago that getting to the root of the problem was his top priority.

In a follow-up announcement, Apple's board of directors has stated that Jobs will remain on as the CEO of the company with the full support and backing from the board's members.

If you have two cents to chip in on this, let us know in the comments or forums.

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Category: News
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MWSF 2009: Initial Pictures
January 4, 2009 6:57 PM
Chris Barylick

The expo doesn't officially begin until tomorrow, but Jason and I are in and the first scouting pictures (largely of unraveled banners and outdoor signs) are up.

Take a gander...

If you know what to make of the outside banners, let us know in the comments or forums.

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Category: Photos
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30GB Microsoft Zune Players Experience New Year's Bug, Fix Posted
January 2, 2009 11:21 AM
Chris Barylick

If you own a 30 gigabyte Microsoft Zune player, you may have found out about the bug the hard way.

Per Macworld, owners of Microsoft's media player awoke Wednesday morning to discover that their Zune units were frozen and unworkable.

The problem turned out to be "a bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year," Microsoft Zune spokesman Matt Akers said in a posting to Zune forums Wednesday. The issue does not affect all Zune players, but all models of the Zune 30GB are potentially affected, he said.

The bug disabled the players on December 31st, the last day of a leap year. Microsoft issued notice that the company expects that the bug to have resolved itself by January 1st, after the device's internal clock resets itself.

"By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your device is recharged, then turn it back on," Akers said. "If you're a Zune Pass subscriber, you may need to sync your device with your PC to refresh the rights to the subscription content you have downloaded to your device."

For users looking for a more active solution to the problem, Microsoft Corey Gouker posted full instructions as to how to open the Zune player and fix the problem, thus voiding the warranty.

Microsoft has stated that it will issue a patch for the issue, ensuring that the bug doesn't arise again in 2012, the next calendar leap year.

If you've seen this issue on your end or with to contribute via the peanut gallery, fire away in the comments or forums.

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Category: How-To
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iPhone Dev Tearm Releases iPhone 3G Unlock to Cydia App Installer
January 2, 2009 9:37 AM
Chris Barylick

The iPhone Dev Team has officially released their iPhone 3G unlock, known as "yellowsn0w") to the Cydia application installer according to the team's blog.

The unlock currently works with Apple's latest firmware build for the iPhone and iPod touch handsets, but requires it to be installed for the unlocked process to work.

Stay tuned for more details as this develops and if you've tried the yellowsn0w unlock and have any feedback about it, please let us know in the comments or forums.

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Category: Hack
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