News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
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It's one of those ideas you look at and slap your head thinking "I should have thought of that". An enterprising designer in Spain has created durable sleeves for the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air that resemble the manila office envelope that Steve Jobs famously pulled the MacBook Air from at the Macworld Expo in January.
Available in two versions — student and executive — the iSobre sleeves have identical dimensions, but differ in their materials. The student version is made of pigskin suede with a "velvet effect" finish, and the executive version is full-grain cowhide leather with a tanning finish. Both feature the same folds and seams as a standard envelope, as well as a string closure.
In the words of Alex Uolla, the creator of iSobre, other laptop sleeves did not offer "functionality, durability, a great design and a little bit of playfulness" — characteristics he believes Mac users desire and which iSobre clearly embodies.
The student version costs 29.99 euros (about $A48.75) and the executive is 49.99 euros (about $A81) shipping to Australia is 30 euros (making it a total of about $A130 for the executive version shipped to Australia), and delivery is estimated at four working days via FedEx. The sleeves are made in Cadiz, Spain and can be bought directly from iSobre's online store using PayPal.
For watching movies, Jobs announced that the second iteration of the Apple TV will allow movies to be downloaded (and even rented) directly from the iTunes Store without the need for a computer to get involved. Of course, this feature is only relevant to Americans, but as an increasing number of Australians are figuring out how to access the US iTunes Store it's worth noting. The iTunes rental service includes both new release and "catalogue" films from all the major studios.
Matthew JC. Powell | Jan 16, 2008
If you’re waiting for your new MacBook Air to show up, there are a few notes from Apple that may interest you before it arrives. All of the notes, including one about older base stations, outline potential issues and fixes with the MacBook Air. The MacBook Air is compatible with the 802.11n wireless networking standard and uses a wireless network to access remote discs and install software. However, some older base stations using the draft specification may implement what Apple calls a “wide” channel in the 2.4GHz range that could interfere with the MacBook Air, which conforms to more recent draft specifications. If this happens to you, Apple recommends changing your older base station to use the 5GHz channels or upgrade your base station to a newer model.
Jim Dalrymple | Jan 31, 2008
Processors specially developed by Intel for Apple’s new MacBook Air laptop will soon be used by other PC vendors in systems, possibly creating competition for what Apple calls the world’s lightest and thinnest notebook.
Agam Shah | Feb 1, 2008
Confounding the rumour sites that couldn't decide whether to predict a MacBook Pro revision this morning or just a MacBook revision, Apple has unveiled updated versions of both the MacBook and the MacBook Pro. That ought to keep them guessing. Both lines have been updated with faster processors, plus larger hard drives and, in the case of the Pro, faster graphics by NVidia. Most significantly, the MacBook Pros now feature the same multi-touch trackpad as the MacBook Air.
Matthew JC. Powell | Feb 27, 2008
