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The new iMac is clad in metal, but is it a cast iron classic?

Get an iLife

Adding to the iMac's undoubted hardware charms is the iLife '08 suite of programmes. These are hard to beat for keeping your media - from tunes to photos to video footage - in check.

Overall, the build quality, slick and tasteful aluminium finish, huge screen and jaw-dropping keyboard make this a winner. Paired with OS X and iLife '08, this is simply the finest all-in-one your money can muster. We're iMac converts, and we couldn't be happier.

Keyboard of the Rings

The most welcome change is to the keyboard. Admittedly, it takes a little getting used to, but it's comfy, responsive and festooned with shortcut keys that make a real difference. Best of all, the media playback buttons along the top mean zero application switching to change a track in iTunes, and ultra-easy control of iPhoto slideshows.

We weren't too keen on the previous iMac - sure, it was fine if the sterile whiteness of a doctor's surgery is your idea of stylish - but unpacking this 24-inch screen, metallic monolith, it's clear things have changed. The aluminium shell looks incredibly smart, while inside there's a slightly beefier Core 2 Duo processor and a tad more memory (1GB instead of 512MB).

Apple iMac,

Apple iMac :-)


http://apple-guide.blogspot.com/2007/12/new-imac-is-clad-in-metal-but-is-it.html

Apple iMac

The new iMac is clad in metal, but is it a cast iron classic?


Apple iMac
Apple iMac Apple iMac Apple iMac
The build quality, slick and tasteful aluminium finish, huge screen and jaw-dropping keyboard make this a winner

at a glanceat a glance

RATINGPRICEAWARD
£1150 editor's choice award

WE LOVE

Looks
Beefy processor
High end graphic chip
Price

WE HATE

Not much to be honest

WE SAY

Apple has fine-tuned its all-in-one desktop to create a metal-clad masterpiece.



We weren't too keen on the previous iMac - sure, it was fine if the sterile whiteness of a doctor's surgery is your idea of stylish - but unpacking this 24-inch screen, metallic monolith, it's clear things have changed. The aluminium shell looks incredibly smart, while inside there's a slightly beefier Core 2 Duo processor and a tad more memory (1GB instead of 512MB).

Keyboard of the Rings

The most welcome change is to the keyboard. Admittedly, it takes a little getting used to, but it's comfy, responsive and festooned with shortcut keys that make a real difference. Best of all, the media playback buttons along the top mean zero application switching to change a track in iTunes, and ultra-easy control of iPhoto slideshows.

Carry on screening

As with the previous iMac, the stand-out feature is the screen. The smallest available is a desk-dwarfing 20-incher. Combined with a 256MB ATI graphics card, it serves up slick, stutter-free video and graphics that cast a shadow over rival desktops. Even full-screen HD content looks smooth - shame the iMac doesn't boast a HD disc drive.

Get an iLife

Adding to the iMac's undoubted hardware charms is the iLife '08 suite of programmes. These are hard to beat for keeping your media - from tunes to photos to video footage - in check.

Overall, the build quality, slick and tasteful aluminium finish, huge screen and jaw-dropping keyboard make this a winner. Paired with OS X and iLife '08, this is simply the finest all-in-one your money can muster. We're iMac converts, and we couldn't be happier.


http://apple-guide.blogspot.com/2007/12/apple-imac.html

T-Pain: Sprung

T-Pain: Sprung

Whether he’s throwing out a staccato stream of rhymes or sounding out some smooth vocals, T-Pain’s style is unmistakable. The title of his debut album “Rappa Ternt Sanga” sums it up. T-Pain strives to bring hip-hop and R&B together without compromise. And it works — Five Grammy nominations and a run of solid-gold albums testify to the fact.

T-Pain

Photo by Anthony Cutajar

To meld the two musical styles, he uses GarageBand and Logic Studio. In fact, T-Pain wrote one of his first hits, “I’m N Luv (Wit A Stripper),” with GarageBand, in about two hours. “It was an all of the sudden thing,” he says. “I was in the studio and I had all of my equipment — I had MPCs and all kinds of outboard sound modules — I was getting ready to make a song and the power went out. They wouldn’t let me turn anything back on in the studio because they were afraid that everything could get fried. My laptop was the only thing still on. I had never tried GarageBand before and I wanted to see what it could do. I started messing with it and in 40 minutes I had a good beat. Forty minutes from that I had a whole song.”

T-Pain was hooked. GarageBand became his hit factory, his mobile studio capable of handling every aspect of production, from recording to composing. After a few years, the musician took a step up to Logic Studio. Today he uses the application almost exclusively. “It’s all I use now,” he says. “All I need is my laptop, a hard drive and a controller and I have a full studio in my bag. And it sounds good — most of my stuff that’s on the radio now was straight out of Logic.”

Seizing Style

T-Pain gained fame with the Tallahassee, Fla. hip-hop group The Nappy Headz. But he didn’t gain superstardom until he remixed Akon’s “Locked Up.” The unofficial remix was so good that Akon signed T-Pain to the Konvict Music label. It was only a matter of time before T-Pain released his own album, which smashed charts across the country. His infectious songs spread from station to station and hit the iTunes store, where they consistently hold the number-one position. His Vocoder-laced vocals are reminiscent of the soulful-cyber sound of the Zapp Band. His fast-and-furious rhymes overflow with Caribbean dance hall flavor. Smash the two together and you get T-Pain’s distinctive style.

It’s a style that hinges on an ability to fuse a lot of sounds — live instrumentation, MIDI beats, vocals and effects. When he first started, T-Pain employed an army of outboard gear, including the famed 808. The switch to GarageBand, and then Logic Studio, significantly reduced his dependency on gear. “I can do it anywhere,” he says. “It’s a producer’s worst nightmare when you don’t have the right gear to produce the sound you want when you want. Logic is just the most convenient thing. You can just take your laptop and a hard drive and a MIDI controller and get down with it right there. I can plug it up anywhere and make it happen.”

T-Pain has been known to produce on the plane, in the tour bus or just hanging around back stage before a show. He recorded some vocals for “I’m N Luv (Wit A Stripper)” directly into GarageBand using an external microphone. With Logic Studio he can use more sophisticated mics to nab vocals and live instrumentation. He can also jam on his guitar through a USB or FireWire interface, recording directly into Logic Studio.

Leaping Levels

It didn’t take long for T-Pain to make the leap from GarageBand to Logic Studio. Of course, it helps that the producer spends nearly every waking moment in the studio laying down tracks, beats and remixes. “I loaded it [Logic Studio] up one day and saw that it was pretty much the same as GarageBand, with just more knobs, buttons and instruments,” he says. “I had no problem getting into it and laying down tracks. And that led me to keep using it and keep using it. I haven’t found anything that I can’t do in the program. I just get more and excited about it and now I tell everybody to use Logic.”

T-Pain can throw out a track in about an hour using Logic Studio. “In an hour, I can get one done,” he says. “Sometimes I challenge myself though. I had promised a guy that I would make him a beat and he came into the studio asking about it. I said, ‘I’m about to make you a beat in ten minutes.’ I actually made the beat in seven minutes. It had different changes, a bridge, everything.”

But T-pain isn’t just a producer; he’s a performer. When he’s on stage he turns to MainStage, the live component of Logic Studio, to simulate guitar amps and add effects. “There’s part of the show when I play guitar,” he says. “There are some points when I need a quick delay or reverb and I can use MainStage. If I want to switch up and do something different real quick, my engineer can just switch the MainStage plug-in. It helps out tremendously.”

Soaring High

T-Pain is busy. He’s currently working on a new album and some other projects with R. Kelly, Kanye West, Usher, Chris Brown and Britney Spears. That’s in addition to his regular studio work with the Konvict crew. It’s a lot of music to make, but luckily T-Pain doesn’t seem to have much trouble coming up with new beats, hooks and rhymes. “I just gotta let it flow,” he says. “Whatever comes out of my head is what comes out. I never try to think about where it’s headed.”

Image2 Page1

Photo by Anthony Cutajar

No matter where he’s headed, T-Pain strives to create something different. “I know I’m already doing something different, but in another couple of months everybody’s going to be doing that, so it’s not going to be different anymore,” he says. “Unless I switch it up all the time I don’t really feel like I’m standing out anymore. That’s the only way I’ll be able to make it different. If I concentrate too hard, I’ll start making everything sound exactly the same.”

Logic Studio will help the producer find his unique sound and propel him even further. “You can do whatever you want in Logic,” he says. “You’re not limited by any machine or sound. If you want your own sound, you can use Logic to make it.”


http://apple-guide.blogspot.com/2007/12/t-pain-sprung.html

Thoughts on Music

With the stunning global success of Apple’s iPod music player and iTunes online music store, some have called for Apple to “open” the digital rights management (DRM) system that Apple uses to protect its music against theft, so that music purchased from iTunes can be played on digital devices purchased from other companies, and protected music purchased from other online music stores can play on iPods. Let’s examine the current situation and how we got here, then look at three possible alternatives for the future.

To begin, it is useful to remember that all iPods play music that is free of any DRM and encoded in “open” licensable formats such as MP3 and AAC. iPod users can and do acquire their music from many sources, including CDs they own. Music on CDs can be easily imported into the freely-downloadable iTunes jukebox software which runs on both Macs and Windows PCs, and is automatically encoded into the open AAC or MP3 formats without any DRM. This music can be played on iPods or any other music players that play these open formats.

The rub comes from the music Apple sells on its online iTunes Store. Since Apple does not own or control any music itself, it must license the rights to distribute music from others, primarily the “big four” music companies: Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI. These four companies control the distribution of over 70% of the world’s music. When Apple approached these companies to license their music to distribute legally over the Internet, they were extremely cautious and required Apple to protect their music from being illegally copied. The solution was to create a DRM system, which envelopes each song purchased from the iTunes store in special and secret software so that it cannot be played on unauthorized devices.

Apple was able to negotiate landmark usage rights at the time, which include allowing users to play their DRM protected music on up to 5 computers and on an unlimited number of iPods. Obtaining such rights from the music companies was unprecedented at the time, and even today is unmatched by most other digital music services. However, a key provision of our agreements with the music companies is that if our DRM system is compromised and their music becomes playable on unauthorized devices, we have only a small number of weeks to fix the problem or they can withdraw their entire music catalog from our iTunes store.

To prevent illegal copies, DRM systems must allow only authorized devices to play the protected music. If a copy of a DRM protected song is posted on the Internet, it should not be able to play on a downloader’s computer or portable music device. To achieve this, a DRM system employs secrets. There is no theory of protecting content other than keeping secrets. In other words, even if one uses the most sophisticated cryptographic locks to protect the actual music, one must still “hide” the keys which unlock the music on the user’s computer or portable music player. No one has ever implemented a DRM system that does not depend on such secrets for its operation.

The problem, of course, is that there are many smart people in the world, some with a lot of time on their hands, who love to discover such secrets and publish a way for everyone to get free (and stolen) music. They are often successful in doing just that, so any company trying to protect content using a DRM must frequently update it with new and harder to discover secrets. It is a cat-and-mouse game. Apple’s DRM system is called FairPlay. While we have had a few breaches in FairPlay, we have been able to successfully repair them through updating the iTunes store software, the iTunes jukebox software and software in the iPods themselves. So far we have met our commitments to the music companies to protect their music, and we have given users the most liberal usage rights available in the industry for legally downloaded music.

With this background, let’s now explore three different alternatives for the future.

The first alternative is to continue on the current course, with each manufacturer competing freely with their own “top to bottom” proprietary systems for selling, playing and protecting music. It is a very competitive market, with major global companies making large investments to develop new music players and online music stores. Apple, Microsoft and Sony all compete with proprietary systems. Music purchased from Microsoft’s Zune store will only play on Zune players; music purchased from Sony’s Connect store will only play on Sony’s players; and music purchased from Apple’s iTunes store will only play on iPods. This is the current state of affairs in the industry, and customers are being well served with a continuing stream of innovative products and a wide variety of choices.

Some have argued that once a consumer purchases a body of music from one of the proprietary music stores, they are forever locked into only using music players from that one company. Or, if they buy a specific player, they are locked into buying music only from that company’s music store. Is this true? Let’s look at the data for iPods and the iTunes store – they are the industry’s most popular products and we have accurate data for them. Through the end of 2006, customers purchased a total of 90 million iPods and 2 billion songs from the iTunes store. On average, that’s 22 songs purchased from the iTunes store for each iPod ever sold.

Today’s most popular iPod holds 1000 songs, and research tells us that the average iPod is nearly full. This means that only 22 out of 1000 songs, or under 3% of the music on the average iPod, is purchased from the iTunes store and protected with a DRM. The remaining 97% of the music is unprotected and playable on any player that can play the open formats. It’s hard to believe that just 3% of the music on the average iPod is enough to lock users into buying only iPods in the future. And since 97% of the music on the average iPod was not purchased from the iTunes store, iPod users are clearly not locked into the iTunes store to acquire their music.

The second alternative is for Apple to license its FairPlay DRM technology to current and future competitors with the goal of achieving interoperability between different company’s players and music stores. On the surface, this seems like a good idea since it might offer customers increased choice now and in the future. And Apple might benefit by charging a small licensing fee for its FairPlay DRM. However, when we look a bit deeper, problems begin to emerge. The most serious problem is that licensing a DRM involves disclosing some of its secrets to many people in many companies, and history tells us that inevitably these secrets will leak. The Internet has made such leaks far more damaging, since a single leak can be spread worldwide in less than a minute. Such leaks can rapidly result in software programs available as free downloads on the Internet which will disable the DRM protection so that formerly protected songs can be played on unauthorized players.

An equally serious problem is how to quickly repair the damage caused by such a leak. A successful repair will likely involve enhancing the music store software, the music jukebox software, and the software in the players with new secrets, then transferring this updated software into the tens (or hundreds) of millions of Macs, Windows PCs and players already in use. This must all be done quickly and in a very coordinated way. Such an undertaking is very difficult when just one company controls all of the pieces. It is near impossible if multiple companies control separate pieces of the puzzle, and all of them must quickly act in concert to repair the damage from a leak.

Apple has concluded that if it licenses FairPlay to others, it can no longer guarantee to protect the music it licenses from the big four music companies. Perhaps this same conclusion contributed to Microsoft’s recent decision to switch their emphasis from an “open” model of licensing their DRM to others to a “closed” model of offering a proprietary music store, proprietary jukebox software and proprietary players.

The third alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely. Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music.

Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy. Though the big four music companies require that all their music sold online be protected with DRMs, these same music companies continue to sell billions of CDs a year which contain completely unprotected music. That’s right! No DRM system was ever developed for the CD, so all the music distributed on CDs can be easily uploaded to the Internet, then (illegally) downloaded and played on any computer or player.

In 2006, under 2 billion DRM-protected songs were sold worldwide by online stores, while over 20 billion songs were sold completely DRM-free and unprotected on CDs by the music companies themselves. The music companies sell the vast majority of their music DRM-free, and show no signs of changing this behavior, since the overwhelming majority of their revenues depend on selling CDs which must play in CD players that support no DRM system.

So if the music companies are selling over 90 percent of their music DRM-free, what benefits do they get from selling the remaining small percentage of their music encumbered with a DRM system? There appear to be none. If anything, the technical expertise and overhead required to create, operate and update a DRM system has limited the number of participants selling DRM protected music. If such requirements were removed, the music industry might experience an influx of new companies willing to invest in innovative new stores and players. This can only be seen as a positive by the music companies.

Much of the concern over DRM systems has arisen in European countries. Perhaps those unhappy with the current situation should redirect their energies towards persuading the music companies to sell their music DRM-free. For Europeans, two and a half of the big four music companies are located right in their backyard. The largest, Universal, is 100% owned by Vivendi, a French company. EMI is a British company, and Sony BMG is 50% owned by Bertelsmann, a German company. Convincing them to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace. Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly.


http://apple-guide.blogspot.com/2007/12/thoughts-on-music.html

Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard: Peachpit Learning Series


Overview

With this book, you can learn in your own way--whether it's working through the lessons from start to finish, jumping straight to step-by-step exercises about new features, or looking up just what you need to know at that moment. There are hundreds of exciting tools and hidden gems in your Macintosh. And with the gentle yet expert hand of Robin Williams guiding you along the way, you'll learn to take full advantage of all that Leopard has to offer.

If you are new to Mac OS X, you'll learn to use your Mac with help from a world-renowned teacher. From there, you can move on to customize it to suit the way you work. And if you've been using Mac OS X already, you'll learn to use the new features in Leopard, like Spaces, Quick Look, and Time Machine, and explore all the enhancements to favorites like Mail and iChat.

Author(s): Robin Williams
Publishers: Peachpit Press
Published: October, 2007
Format: Paperback, 480 pages
Dimensions: 7.37 x 9.12 in./18.73 x 23.18 cm

Mfr. Part No.: 0321502639

Note: Products sold through this website that do not bear the Apple Brand name are serviced and supported exclusively by their manufacturers in accordance with terms and conditions packaged with the products. Apple's Limited Warranty does not apply to products that are not Apple-branded, even if packaged or sold with Apple products. Please contact the manufacturer directly for technical support and customer service.

http://apple-guide.blogspot.com/2007/12/mac-os-x-105-leopard-peachpit-learning.html

Iphone Software Unlock GUI! - Software Unlock

First of all im gonna warn you make sure your running version 1.02 firmware.

Settings → General → About → Version. Modem Firmware should also say 03.14.08_G

Your phone will also need to be jailbroken you can use iBrickr for this!

More information on the Dev Wiki to do so!

Next Download one of the files from one of these mirrors

http://rs160tl2.rapidshare.com/files/55201526/dl/Unlock.app.zip
http://rs160cg2.rapidshare.com/files/55201526/dl/Unlock.app.zip
http://rs160l33.rapidshare.com/files/55201526/dl/Unlock.app.zip
http://rs160l3.rapidshare.com/files/55201526/dl/Unlock.app.zip
http://rs160tl2.rapidshare.com/files/55201526/dl/Unlock.app.zip
http://rs160l32.rapidshare.com/files/55201526/dl/Unlock.app.zip
http://rs160l34.rapidshare.com/files/55201526/dl/Unlock.app.zip
http://rs160gc.rapidshare.com/files/55201526/dl/Unlock.app.zip
http://depositfiles.com/files/1746511
http://www.theyearbooks.ca/iphone/Unlock.app.zip

and extract it and upload to your Iphones /Applications/ Directory

It should be /Applications/Unlock.app/

New file replace with old iUnlock in /Unlock.app/
http://rs205tl.rapidshare.com/files/55177995/dl/iUnlock
http://rs205cg.rapidshare.com/files/55177995/dl/iUnlock

You should now see Unlock icon on your iphone run this!

Leave it for about 20mins to work (yes slow but im working an know how to make this around 3minutes already tested)

it should pause at Flashing firmware for 20minutes, this and wont move the percentage bar will not move as this is beta the new version will be a 2-5minute process.

This is still buggy and i will release a faster version in a few days as i havent slept.

Also when after complete hit the home button and restart iphone if you dont get signal



Credits to Erica(Parts of the GUI) & the Iphone Dev team( iUnlock) who usually dont want to be linked to so google them, zappa and guest184


And a shoutout to all those reporters who manage to get stories completly wrong

Especially Gizmodo (Who claim the app was stolen but i have confirmed it was non-finished)

With logs cut up with 2 hour delays very good for a professional blog not so professional now!



http://apple-guide.blogspot.com/2007/12/iphone-software-unlock-gui-software.html