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Apple announces redesigned MacBook Pro
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Design, PC / Laptop,
It took them about eight months since the last spec bump in the line, but we are still stoked that Apple today announced that their newly redesigned MacBook Pro is here, and available immediately. The notebooks are still sporting their aluminum exterior, but now they are built using a new process that involves carving a solid piece of aluminum rather than the old school welding technique. That means one part rather than many, which Apple is calling the “Unibody.” You’ll also notice, fairly quickly, that the MacBook Pro now sports an iMac-ish black bezel around the screen, along with a glass covering. Back to that whole aluminum and glass thing.
The display will now only be available in a glossy finish, gone are the days of matte Apple notebooks. The trackpad has also been re-imagined as well. It’s made entirely from glass, and no longer has a separate button. Instead, the entire trackpaad is the button. The glass trackpad is multi-touch compatible, and Apple has introduced new gestures in the product to boot.
Click to continue reading Apple announces redesigned MacBook Pro
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Apple introduces LED Cinema Display: 24-inch, $899
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, PC / Laptop, Peripherals,
After many years of remaining stagnant, Apple finally gave their Cinema Display line a nice redesign. The new 24” LED Cinema Display looks similar to what you’d find in an iMac. Aluminum casing, black bezel along the front, LED backlit, built-in MagSafe connector, and a built-in iSight camera with microphone. That last one is something we’ve been waiting for, for far too long. Unfortunately, not everything is all fun and games with the new Cinema Display, as it appears that - at least for the time being - these new Cinema Displays are only compatible with the new MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air that were announced today, which all incorporate the DisplayPort. There is currently no way to connect a Mac Pro, iMac, or older notebook to one of these. Let’s hope this gets remedied quickly.
You can pick up the new 24-inch LED Cinema Display in November for $899.
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| LED Cinema Display
Apple updated MacBook Air with NVIDIA graphics, more storage
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, PC / Laptop,
During this mornings notebook event, Apple announced that the MacBook Air was getting a bump in some of its specs. First and foremost, the Air is getting updated to the new NVIDIA 9400M graphics chipset, which should be a nice upgrade. Even better, if SSD is your thing, you’ll be pleased to know that a 128GB solid state drive is now available, along with a standard 120GB drive if that is more your thing. microDVI has been replaced by a mini DisplayPort, which we are seeinc across the board with Apple. You can grab the base model for $1799, or go with the SSD model with 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo for the lowered price of $2499 (that one is due in November.)
Read More | MacBook Air announcement
Don Cheadle Takes Over Terrence Howard’s Iron Man Role
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Paramount, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Sequels, Casting, Celeb News, Scripts, Upcoming Releases,
UPDATE: You can read Howard’s reaction to this casting change here.
When Iron Man 2 eventually begins production, one cast member will be missing from roll call: Terrence Howard.
As Jim Rhodes, Tony Stark’s best friend, Howard was looking at picking up more screen time in the franchise’s next installment. Unfortunately, several factors - including a financial disagreement - reportedly forced Marvel to look elsewhere. Now audiences will see Don Cheadle (Ocean’s Eleven) as the man who may one day become War Machine.
Even though Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow are both expected to join Cheadle, director Jon Favreau is the only other confirmed return at this point. Meanwhile, very little is known about the script though it’s rumored the sequel will “go beyond high-tech villains.”
Iron Man 2 will blast into theaters on April 30, 2010.
The Hollywood Reporter
Windows 7 officially named Windows 7
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Microsoft, PC / Laptop, Software,
So, you know that follow-up to Windows Vista that Microsoft has been working on for the past couple of years? They’ve been calling it Windows 7 for a while now, but we just thought that was going to be its codename. As it turns out, Microsoft just announced a few hours ago that Windows 7 is the official name of the next version of their operating system. Why not go with another cutesy name like Windows ME, XP, or Vista? Well, they say this is the seventh release of Windows, and that it “just makes sense.” Well, we guess it does. If you’ll be at WinHEC or PDC, you can plan on getting Windows 7 pre-beta code from Microsoft to play with.
Read More | Windows Vista Team Blog
The impending Social Security crisis
Posted by George Regal Categories: Taxes, US Economy,
Social Security (SS) is called the third rail of American Politics; when, in truth, it’s just a third rail period! Within the next ten years outlays for Social Security will exceed incoming revenue from SS taxes and things get really interesting. Now, you may be saying, what about all the money in the SS Trust Fund? Well, my friends, it’s time for a little truth about Social Security.
Since its inception, Social Security has generated an annual surplus; this means that after paying out current benefits, there is money left over. What happens to this money? It goes into the general fund (the same place the rest of your taxes go) and is spent on other programs. When the government spends the Social Security surplus it prints Treasury bond certificates equal to the amount that went into the general fund. Normally, Treasury bonds are sold on the open market. Again these are the same instruments that China has purchased, and the same bonds now being swapped for stocks and bonds in the current bailout. (See “Big Trouble in Little Washington”) The Treasury bonds printed for Social Security however, are quite different. By law they cannot be sold on the open market, they are stored in a vault in West Virginia. Had these bonds been sold on the market, they would have been inflationary (increasing the money supply) just like regular Treasury bonds.
Click to continue reading The impending Social Security crisis
Netflix charging $1 per month premium for Blu-ray
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Internet, Movies,
Netflix has been charging new members a $1 monthly fee, in addition to the price of their standard monthly rate, for the pleasure of renting Blu-ray discs, while those who have been members of the service for a long while have had no such increase to deal with. Well, as of November 5th, Netflix will make the $1 fee mandatory for all members. If you don’t want to rent Blu-ray discs, you are fine, no change in price - but if you, like us, are all about the 1080p, lossless surround sound goodness, then I think you’ll find that paying one extra dollar isn’t really so bad. Seriously, it could have been a lot worse.
Read More | Netflix Blog
New Xbox Experience is yours November 19
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Microsoft, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
At the Tokyo Game Show, Microsoft finally let everyone in on the date that their current Xbox experience would be ending, and the New Xbox Experience would be, er, beginning. We knew it would be coming in the fall, but the firm date is November 19th. We hope you’re ready to spend hours working on that perfect Avatar, because we are going to so own you in 1 vs. 100, despite having never seen it on television. The New Xbox Experience will go live for all Xbox 360 gamers across the world at the same time - no staggered launch here, folks. We must admit, we’re looking forward to it.
Videos: 2008 Presidential Debates
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Domestic Policy, Elections, Foreign Relations, Taxes, Videos,
Thanks to the wonders of the Internets, even those who weren’t able to catch the debates when they aired live (as well as those who don’t own TiVos) can still catch up on what exactly was said, without having to listen to the opinions of pundits and those in the media who may try to spin things.
We’ve got both of the dates that have happened thus far here for you. Above, the Vice Presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, originally from October 2. After the break we’ve got the first Presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain. That one took place on September 26 from the University of Mississippi in Oxford.
Click to continue reading Videos: 2008 Presidential Debates
iTunes 8.01 released, addresses App Store updates, HD TV downloads, Genius
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Music, Software,
We thought we were the only ones with issues with some of these smaller iTunes 8 issues, but obviously enough people were complaining that Apple has pushed out a new version, iTunes 8.0.1, to address these things. We are happy that Genius is getting fixed, along with App Store update checking. Here’s the full list:
- Seamlessly plays the current song when creating a new Genius playlist.
- Improves syncing spoken menus to iPod nano.
- Addresses an issue of deleting HD TV episodes when downloading.
- Improves checking for updates from the App Store
- Improves accessibility with VoiceOver.
- Addresses problems syncing Genius results to iPod.
Let us know how it goes for you.
Read More | iTunes
