[CarlK]

Well done carl we did it, i am just reading MJCP weekend Blog, and i see you won a copy on bento

Thats cool!

Thanks for the help everyone.

And, it's my birthday so I'm super happy to have a surprise present from MacWorld & Bento.

Cheers, i vow to participate more in this great community of all things Mac.

[Ken Gracey]

Carl, as far as i am concerned mate you are a worthy winner, your help with the podcasts was fantastic, that little app you recommended made them so much better to listen to

[Damo]

Congrats Carl.

and... Happy Birthday to you!

Another link for podcasters. Pixelcorps.tv

Check out the Gear Media Tech section.... the others are excellent as well.

Orrabesht.

[Tom]

Yep
After previously getting booged down in content (Macbreak weakly, TWIT, Maccast etc) it was fantastic to get the bank robber style podcast. That is, get in, get the content, get out. Short and sharp.

Also (although more content) thanks for introducing the BRAN team. like your podcast they are to the point and don't ramble pointlessly in self admiration.

The Australian slant is fantastic as it addresses all our local issues that get ignored by the others

KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK !

[CarlK]

My copy of Bento just arrived.

Cool! Thanks guys

[mickdevlin]

My copy arrived today. It is now installed, updated and registered. I'm looking forward to playing with it tomorrow.

[mickdevlin]

I've just finished listening to episode 10 (the pirate edition - yeah, yeah, I know it's been out for a couple of days).

I was surprised to hear (or actually not hear) any mention of HandBrake, especially as it has just been updated.

There are several users of the forums who would probably like to hear about that software.

[MJCP]

That's why we call it the Weekend Edition -- you don't have to listen to it straight away, take a couple of days.

HandBrake did rate a mention in the Weekend Edition blog, which generally ties in with at least some of the subject matter in the podcast. We consciously decided not to say too much in the podcast about how you actually go about cracking the copyright on DVDs and suchlike.

HandBrake is a terrific tool. Personally I use Mac The Ripper for ripping DVDs, because then I have the VIDEO_TS folder that I can do with as I will, whereas HandBrake is more geared towards making the final product -- ie an mp4 or whatever. With the VIDEO_TS folder from Mac The Ripper I can watch the DVDs using Apple's DVD Player, or I can convert them for other devices using Roxio Crunch (amazing software) or even HandBrake.

[mickdevlin]

I've just listened to the latest podcast, during which it was asked why Apple didn't offer the directors of short films the opportunity to sell their work worldwide through iTunes. Why not suggest ask the organisers of Tropfest to approach Apple about this very topic? Perhaps you could work that into an AMW article.

[Tintin au Japon]

I've just listened to the latest podcast, during which it was asked why Apple didn't offer the directors of short films the opportunity to sell their work worldwide through iTunes. Why not suggest ask the organisers of Tropfest to approach Apple about this very topic? Perhaps you could work that into an AMW article.

I believe that the Sundance films, or at least a selection thereof, were available through the US iTunes store at one point.

And some late feedback on the Pirate Podcast, which I really enjoyed. You guys didn't *really* encourage anyone to do anything very pirate-y, but these days it takes courage to even tell people how they can give their money to a company which refuses to sell their product locally. (ie. Apple/iTunes & TV shows/movies, iPhone etc).

Something I thought might have been relevant to the discussion is the positive effects of piracy on a company's bottom line. I've read that one of the reasons Microsoft became so overwhelmingly dominant and one of the reasons they only ramped up anti-piracy efforts relatively late in the piece, is that it suited them to have every man and his dog pirating the early Windows OS in order to grow market share.

Personally, I'm not particularly ashamed to say that I've pirated probably $1000 or so of Apple software over the years. I've bought it when I could, but my circumstances haven't always enabled me to upgrade to the latest OS or the latest version of iLife. Looking at it from a strict point of view, that's $1000 I've stolen from Apple.

On the other hand, as an early adopter and an amateur Mac evangelist since 1992, I've got my head around everything Apple's had to offer the enthusiastic non-pro user and I've taken it to friends, family and colleagues at every opportunity. At a rough tally off the top of my head, I'm directly responsible as a result for sales of:

1 x 20" Alu iMac
2 x 20" iMac 2006
1 x Hemisphere iMac
2 x 17" Macbook Pro
3 x G4 iBooks
1 x iPod shuffle (I'm ashamed of this)
1 x iPod Nano 8gb 2nd Gen
1 x Mac Mini
1 x PowerMac G4 (Tower thing) 500MHz which I marvelled over at the time - 'so fast!'.

And those are just the systems I remember off my head, not including the upgrades, the peripherals and the other Apple gear that those people went on to purchase from Apple.

Some certain piracy is not always bad for a company. Would we have the luxury of Bootcamp if the entire geek world hadn't caused such a huge swell of excitement by working out how to get Windows running on intel Macs?

Lastly, I'm an Apple shareholder so I condone petty stealing from myself.

[MJCP]

I have absolutely no doubt that you're right, Tintin. Whether the story of Microsoft turning a blind eye to piracy is true or not I don't know, but I'm sure the company recognises that a significant part of Windows' widespread distribution is because of people who didn't pay for it.

Some quarters of the music industry "get" this too -- that's why artists make some of their songs available for free downloads and suchlike. Distribute it free, and then maybe they'll come back and buy something.

Apple's strongest sales force has historically been its passionate users. How big a proportion of Apple's sales now are from that kind of word of mouth and personal recommendation I don't know -- probably less than it used to be.

[mickdevlin]

I've got a couple of comments about Episode 13.

AppleInsider has a link complete with illustrations of the Melbourne Apple Store.

The second comment concerns Monolingual. Like Sean, I have used this application without problems. One of my brothers used it and failed to read the Read Me file. He had to reinstall Tiger. The moral of the story is that if an application you have installed includes a Read Me file, read it and follow any/all instructions and advice. Another, much safer method of getting rid of unwanted languages and drivers is to backup everything, erase your drive, then do a custom install of the OS by clicking the Customize button at the Install Summary check (refer screen shot).

[MJCP]

I've got a couple of comments about Episode 13.

AppleInsider has a link complete with illustrations of the Melbourne Apple Store.

Thanks for that. I read AppleInsider pretty regularly but clearly missed that. A major flagship location at the Fun Factory site certainly makes more sense than a shopfront in Chadstone.

And if those sketches are an accurate representation of what the store will eventually look like, the Melbourne location will be an even more spectacular landmark than the Sydney one -- which should ease Melburnians' pain at Sydney having been picked for the first site.

[Ken Gracey]

After walking past the possible new apple store in Chadstone on tuesday this week, i think you will find that its more likely going to be a relocation of the computers now store directly below rather than a brand new apple store in the centre.

Don't hold me to it, but after asking the staff there about a possible new apple owned store up stairs they where tight lipped, Second question are you moving up stairs same response, so i am stumped. I guess only time will tell..

TL

[Tintin au Japon]

I had a dream last night after listening to Podcast #13 that Perth too got an Apple Store, moments before the Heat Death of the Universe.

[Some Random Bloke]

I had a dream last night after listening to Podcast #13 that Perth too got an Apple Store, moments before the Heat Death of the Universe.

Which, no doubt, all the local resellers will be ecstatic about. Would be nice, but I kinda like supporting the little guy.

[mac rant]

PODCAST 14 - thanks for making the effort and getting it out... now for my comment...

= Flash ! =

I applaud Steve Jobs' attempt to rid the internet of the visual pollution enabled by FLASH.
It sickens me, even my email has been invaded by jumping, flickering PRODUCT aversion therapy.

Ironically, I wish to support a friend who makes a living as a musician -and- he builds his (and others') web sites in Flash. Yes, I still find them somewhat annoying, but I'd like to promote his work.

I have a habit of visiting the local Myer Apple Shop and leaving the demo iPod Touch on a favoured web site. And just this week, I was unable to leave my friend's site merrily playing his music (which it will do 24/7, if you let it).

The Touch
(I believe, as my French is non-existent. You wouldn't work in one of these shops for quids. The hack rate is unbelievable. They told me they can change their demo machines' passwords 3 times before lunch and it still gets cracked.)
went on to inform me something about not being able to display that web site.

All I'm saying is - I could live without it, but like all EVIL, sometimes there's a use for 'good'.

I remember the days when quicktime had all that and VR (I think it still does), but Apple has somehow missed the boat and THE WEB IS FLASH. Would that youTube convert to quicktime, but I fear, Apple has lost the battle for the hearts and minds of video developers.

Where did they go wrong?

[mickdevlin]

I've just listened to episode 14 and have an answer about why flash memory is slower than RAM. RAM doesn't retain its contents when power is removed. This is an example of volatile memory. Flash memory is non-volatile. The physical difference between the two types of memory is the reason flash is slower than RAM: RAM is dynamic but flash is static.

[Tintin au Japon]

Podcast 14 - Another great, fun, informative podcast.

Just wondering what happened at the end there with Alex? Very amusing in any case.

I hope you're right about the iPod not being tethered to a single provider when it comes to Australia, MJCP. My distaste for Telstra is so great that it would even overpower my desire for an iPhone.

As for spotting the things out there in the wide world, I saw my first actual iPhone just today. A techie visiting my workplace had one. A thing of beauty to be sure, but am I imagining it or is it also somewhat smaller than a Touch in addition to being a bit fatter?

[Tangerine-Alert]

Podcast 14

Well this was the first time that I wanted to fast forward through some of the podcast.

The amount of discussion around the iPhone was a little extreme, for a magazine which has stated in the past that it's a Mac magazine and won't get bogged down focusing a lot on the iPod strikes as a little bit of double standards.

Especially considering that the iPhone doesn't even have a tentative release date for the Australian official market (despite Sensis advertising for people to work on developing a search program for the iPhone).

Not that I'm saying all the iPhone discussion was un-interesting, some of it was enlightening and of interest, but a lot of it for someone who doesn't have an iPhone in their hand nor seen one in operation the discussion fell quite flat a lot of the time.

I did enjoy that there was some disagreement in the Macworld camp, it's always gratifying to hear that there are people with differing views on topics discussed. Also the background to the whole PDF thing was an interesting insight.