Category: Apple

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iTunes revises their podcast categories

I got an email from Apple last week about some changes they applied to the way podcasts are categorized in the iTunes music store.

Today we launched a revised set of categories for podcasts listed in the iTunes Music Store. We’re sending you this email to let you know how to change your podcast feed to accommodate these changes. The revised categories and subcategories are listed at the bottom of this message. Please take the time to change your podcast feed as soon as possible. Please note that we will support the use of the old category names for the next few months, so there is no immediate deadline for making these changes. We will send another message before discontinuing support for the old category names.

When we read your RSS feed, we capture and store up to 3 category+subcategory pairs, and we use all of them to populate the browse lists that you see when you click the “Browse” link in the Music Store. However, the first category+subcategory pair listed in your feed is the most important, since it is the one listed as the Category field on your podcast page, and it is the only one used to map your podcast into the category feature pages.

Most of the old categories and subcategories are now automatically mapped to corresponding ones within the new system. For example, if your podcast was listed under “Arts & Entertainment > Photography”, it will now appear under “Arts > Visual Arts.” However, 3 categories have been removed and do not have a similar replacement: “International”, “Talk Radio”, and “Public Radio”. Those categories overlapped with others in the old system, making some podcasts difficult to find. If one of these categories is listed as the first subject in your podcast feed, that category information will be ignored and the second category will be used to determine eligibility and placement in that feature page.

It goes on to explain that these changes will take time to show up on their podcast directory, and any changes that I make will take 1-2 weeks before they show up in their system. No big deal, but you would think that making changes would be a bit more instananeous. It could be that they are hand checking every podcast as they come in. How would you like to have that job?

I’ll throw in the list of the new categories that they’ve added to the store, but you’ll have to click to the rest of the post to see them. I should add that even though the new categories are there, there might not be any podcasts that fit all of them yet. Continue reading “iTunes revises their podcast categories”

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The next Apple OS to be previewed this August

Is anyone else anxious to see what the next Apple operating system is going to feature? I know I am, but that makes me a geek. And I’m okay with that.

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) on Monday announced that it will kick off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote preview of Mac OS X “Leopard” in August.

A team headed by Apple chief Steve Jobs — including Philip Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide product marketing; Bertrand Serlet, senior vice president of software engineering; and Scott Forstall, vice president of platform experience — will demo version 10.5 of the Macintosh operating system on August 7. [macnewsworld]

I’m sure we’ll hear how the transition to the Intel processor is going, but this leaves the door faily open to lots of new features and tweaks that were only waiting for faster CPU speeds. The other thing this means is that the rumor mill will crank up within the next few weeks with specualtions of what’s to come, not to mention what users, like me, really want, such as better correlation between the address book and iCal. How hard can that be?

And in other Apple news, a handful of other updates were released last week. I have yet to install the Mac OS 10.4.7 update[macnewsworld], but iTunes 6.0.5[apple] and Quicktime 7.1.2[apple] are installed and working fine.

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It’s been flagged. It’s been in the bathroom.

iCartaThis is going a little bit too far. The iCarta lets you take your iPod into the bathroom with you. Why and for what reason? Because you can? But do you want to? I mean, I thought the click wheel on my mini got kind of filthy from my sweaty hands making mid-run adjustments, but this takes things to a whole new level.

The four external speakers are not the only cool feature of this “accessory”. It comes with two USB ports and charges your iPod while you… um… wait? It’s also waterproof and requires AC power.

Oddly enough, there is this news story coming out of Santa Clara, CA.

A pink iPod Mini, just four inches long, caused a huge headache for maintenance workers at the Santa Clara University for the last few months.

A female student accidentally dropped the iPod in the toilet.

It got stuck in a way that maintenance crews could not get it out. They told NBC11 News they first tried to break the iPod into pieces, but that failed. One maintenance worker called the device “indestructible”.

In order to get the iPod out from under that building, crews simultaneously flushed as many toilets as they could and they turned on every sink. That caused a water surge which pushed the iPod into a larger more accessible pipe.

It cost the university $1,000 a week to fix this problem. It took months.  [nbc11]

Something to make a mental note of when mounting your iCarta.

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Problems with sweatshop labor and patents for Apple

There are a slew of problems brewing for Apple right now. It seems that Creative is going on the offensive once again about the iPod patent.

The U.S. International Trade Commission plans to launch an investigation into Apple Computer’s popular iPod digital music player for possible patent infringement, Creative Technology said Wednesday.

The ITC is an independent federal agency that reviews patent disputes for possible infringement and unfair trade practices. The commission’s decision to review the matter follows two lawsuits filed last month by Singapore-based Creative and its U.S. subsidiary, Creative Labs.

Creative, maker of the rival Zen portable digital media player, alleges that Apple’s iPod infringed on its user interface patent for its Zen and Nomad digital media players. [cnet]

The iPod woes continue with recent claims that factories in China, where iPods are manufactured, have extremely harsh working conditions for its workers.

Over the past week, a firestorm has brewed over a report in Britain’s Mail on Sunday which claimed extremely harsh working conditions at iPod factories. The original story is not available online, but Arstechnica has posted a good summary of the article.

In brief, two factories were visited by Mail on Sunday reporters. The first factory was found to be forcing its staff to work 15 hour days for $50 USD per month. The second facility benefited from being in closer proximity to Shanghai, and workdays were shortened to 12 hours/day and workers were paid almost $100 USD per month. Security guards were paid up to $150 USD per month, although much of that had to be paid back to the company for housing and food. In addition to long hours, work days were said to often be accompanied by military-style drills. [macrumors]

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Black MacBooks were always my pick

Wash your hands before you eat and/or use the computer.

Owners of white MacBooks are reporting a yellow discoloration mostly on the palm rest area of the device, according to a growing number of members on an Apple Computer discussion board.

The discoloration seems to be occurring after just a few weeks of use. MacBook owners experiencing the problem have tried an array of cleaners, to no avail.

An Apple representative could not immediately be reached for comment and the company hasn’t responded yet to the disccusion board.

Some surmise that the yellowing is caused by heat coming from the device combined with hand grime. [cnet]

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Now that I live in Canada, I care about these things

It’d be even better if some one was uber super awesome cool and scored us both some of these sweet things.

Apple has cut the prices of the fifth-generation iPod sold in Canada. The 30GB iPod video, which was CAD$379, is now $30 less at $349, while the 60GB iPod video model is now $459, a $40 cut from the original $499 price tag. The newly updated special edition U2 iPod, also based on the fifth-generation design, sells for $379. According to iLounge, the price drop is an apparent response to changes in international currency exchange rates. The report notes that the iPod nano and iPod shuffle pricing remain unchanged.  [macnn]

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Vancouver Apple Store Rumor

A friend of ours just purchased a MacBook Pro from a retailer here in Vancouver, and during one of his visits, an employee told him that Apple wants to open a store in the downtown area.  The rumor, as it was conveyed to me, was that this Apple Store would probably open some time next year.

In true Apple fashion, they are reportedly searching for a location that is big and really visible.  Anyone in Vancouver can tell you that real estate is tight in the downtown area, not to mention expensive, but a very likely location would be Robson Street[wiki].  That’s not to say that it could be located anywhere.  It does seem that stores kind of come and go up and down Robson, so it would be a matter of timing for a location that is suitable to Apple’s taste.

Of course, this is just a friend relaying something that he heard to me, so who knows what the legitimacy of the rumor is.  The other thing to consider is that it took Tiffany & Co.[wiki] a number of years until they found the perfect location to open a store in Vancouver.

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Viruses Still Work On the Ill-fated

For the longest time, there hasn’t been much to worry about in the world of viruses when it comes to being a user of Apple computers. In my memory, there has been a few times that things have freaked out in the MacOS world, but that is nothing compared to the two plus years of tech support I did in the Windows world.

It’s only been a matter of time that Apple users would be targeted, but the media is flipping out because there are already attacks out there that can get to the new Intel Macs. However, most of these issues are being over hyped because it takes the user execute them onto their own machine. Continue reading “Viruses Still Work On the Ill-fated”

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17inch MacBook Pro

I am very happy to see this product come from Apple. I currently own the first version of the 17″ Powerbook, so the fact that they are going to keep making laptops this massive makes me a little giddy.

The big thing to me is the inclusion of FireWire 800[wiki]. I use an external hard drive to store a lot of data and work from it as well. It comes in uber handy with audio editing. In fact, I record all my podcasts to my external. It never misses a beat. (no pun intended)

I’m far off from upgrading my current laptop, but this is at the top of the list for when I can.

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‘Boot Camp’ Brings XP to Intel Macs

I’ve been watching a lot of websites and listenings to various Mac related podcasts about getting Windows XP to boot on a Mac with an Intel processor inside of it. There is this huge hack that was done to get it to work, but it’s not for the faint of heart. On top of that, you need the cash to do it because you could completely destroy the computer if it goes wrong. Then some other people found other ways to do it, and so on.

However, Apple unveiled Boot Camp today. This is a piece of software that will let people with the already mentioned Intel Macs be able to run Windows XP. You need the latest MacOS update to 10.4, and this software will be bundled with 10.5 when it comes out.

When the Intel Macs first came out, they were kind of negative on the idea about XP running on these machines. This is a huge turn around, and a major shift to the industry if it holds out. Does it run well? Will people buy into it? And more importantly, will Microsoft do anything to stop this? I don’t see why they would, but you never know. Stranger things have happened.

So there you go. Sexy Macs running… XP.