Latest Posts in Macworld Podcast

New laptops from Apple

If you love laptops, Tuesday’s event at the Apple campus was custom-made for you. Apple overhauled its entire laptop line, ushering in new designs for both the MacBook and MacBook Pro models, as well as faster graphics and more storage for the MacBook Air. The company even unveiled a Cinema Display built specifically for laptop users.

It’s a lot of mobile news to stay on top of, but in this special edition of the Macworld Podcast, we’ve assembled the crew to do it. I’m joined by senior news editor Jonathan Seff and senior editor Dan Frakes, both of whom attended Tuesday’s live event. Each of us offers our perspective on what you need to know about the latest laptop announcements.

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Kid-safe Mac, App Store improvements

This episode of the Macworld Podcast is all about control—both taking and letting go. In our first interview, my daughter Addie talks with me about Leopard’s Parental Controls feature—a feature for locking down parts of the Mac to help keep both your computer and child safe.

In our second interview, Macworld.com executive editor Philip Michaels, leads a discussion with editorial director Jason Snell and associate editor Dan Moren about Apple’s recent moves to give up some of its control of information regarding the iPhone non-disclosure agreement (NDA), a move that has made countless developers happy because they can now share their programming techniques with one another. And happy developers could mean happy iPhone users, as Jason and Dan explain in the podcast.

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Show Notes

Breen the Elder and Younger chose this moment to discuss Leopard’s Parental Controls because my feature story, The Kid-Safe Mac, appears in the November 2008 issue of Macworld. Elements of that story are sure to appear on Macworld.com in the near future. In the meantime, enjoy these reviews of the content-filtering programs KidsGoGoGo and ContentBarrier X4.

CS4 and the App Store

In a financial world where your house is worth half of what you paid for it, your 401K has lost 65 percent of its value, and the nation’s Treasury Secretary is hoping to make off with your kid’s piggy bank, what’s another $2,499? If you’re a creative designer, that nearly-$2,500 could be one of the year’s smarter investments if you require the latest and greatest Adobe applications.

I write, of course, of the recently announced Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection—a collection of design tools that includes InDesign, Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, Acrobat, Dreamweaver, Flash Professional, Fireworks, Contribute, After Effects, Premiere Pro, Soundbooth, OnLocation and Encore.

Macworld.com executive editor Philip Michaels and senior editor Jackie Dove witnessed Adobe’s announcement of CS4, interviewed some of Adobe’s CS4 key players, and brought back the audio evidence of their work to share with you.

Apple's music event

So, anything interesting happen today?

Oh, that's right. Tuesday was Apple's annual "fall iPod event," in which the company refreshes its iPod line for the holiday buying season. And so it was that Steve Jobs appeared on stage and unveiled new iPods and an iTunes update.

Here with quick reactions to this event are Macworld's Chris Breen, Dan Frakes, Dan Moren, and Jason Snell, all of whom attended the event in San Francisco on Tuesday morning.

Olympics and Intel Developer Forum

A couple of largish events with ancillary Apple connections occurred during the past two weeks—Beijing’s summer Olympic games and the Intel Developer Forum.

Apple and the Olympics? No, Steve Jobs wasn’t cavorting in a bikini during the beach volleyball matches. Rather Apple and Kodak helped put together the Olympics’ media center—along the way encouraging professional photographers to learn more about Aperture. Frequent Macworld contributor and photo pro Derrick Story was there to lend a hand. In our first interview, he talks about his experiences in China.

I’m then joined by former MacAddict editor in chief, Rik Myslewski, who attended the recent Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco. Rik and I talk about how Intel’s efforts will effect future Apple products, wireless broadband, and, perhaps, appliances in your home and automobile.

iTunes, iPhones, and iMacs

The Old Farmer’s Almanac tells us that the Dog Days of Summer ended on August 11, and the last couple of weeks demonstrate that these old farmers know a thing or two. While some of Apple’s actions on July 11 did indeed make it appear as if the company was going to the dogs, Apple has quietly—sultrily, one might even say—gone about its business, apologizing for this, fixing that, and boasting about the other.

With the news from Apple being a bit on the thin side, we devote this episode of the Macworld Podcast to broader topics. Specifically, what a redesigned iTunes might look like, how things are going for the iPhone 3G and App Store after a month in the wild, and the significance of the iMac’s 10th anniversary.

A redesigned iTunes is the topic of my opening musing. Is iTunes just perfect as it is, or has it taken on so many tasks that it’s become unwieldy? I’m starting to believe the latter, but welcome your input.

MobileMe & iPhone apps

The events of July 11—the release of the iPhone and iPod touch 2.0 software, the sale of the iPhone 3G, the opening of the App Store, the release of iTunes 7.7, and the launch of MobileMe—have had a profound impact on Apple and the effects are still being felt. In this episode of the Macworld Podcast, we look at some of these events nearly three weeks on.

We start with my interview with Seattle Times columnist, TidBits managing editor, and frequent Macworld contributor Jeff Carlson. Jeff recently reviewed Apple’s MobileMe, a Web service that has had a bumpy beginning. Jeff’s -review of MobileMe received a similarly bumpy reception from some of our readers. We talk about that review as well as the ups and downs of MobileMe.

Macworld editorial director Jason Snell is then joined by Macworld senior editors Roman Loyola and Kelly Turner to talk about iPhone applications—the ones they like, the ones they thought they’d like but rarely use, and the ones they simply find curious. During this lively roundtable discussion, Jason and Roman share a romantic moment.

iPhone 3G debriefing

We've been burning the candle at both ends since the iPhone App Store opened very early Thursday morning, and after a weekend spent working hard on all things iPhone, we're here with a special early edition of the Macworld Podcast.

In this edition, Executive Editor Philip Michaels moderates a panel discussion from Macworld headquarters in San Francisco about iPhone matters with Editorial Director Jason Snell, Senior Editor Jonathan Seff, and Associate Editor Dan Moren. Jason wrote our full review of the iPhone 3G, Dan wrote our forthcoming review of the iPhone 2.0 software, and Jon stood in line for many hours to buy an iPhone 3G before leading the editorial coordination of our coverage.

Download Macworld Podcast #126

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Show Notes

You can browse all our iPhone 3G coverage, including Jason Snell's full review of the iPhone 3G and his detailed iPhone 3G reviewer's notebook. Get more iPhon-y goodness on our iPhone resource page.

iPhone 3G, enterprise, and syncing

Our latest podcast is a triple-threat, examining recently released details on iPhone 3G activation and pricing, Macs in the enterprise market, and the ins and outs of syncing data and files between Macs. On the way to these interviews, I take a look at the new Rhapsody MP3 Store and compare it, ever so lightly, to Amazon MP3 and the iTunes Store.

The first-interview-of-three features Macworld associate editor Dan Moren. Dan’s been keeping a watchful eye on what AT&T and Apple have planned for iPhone 3G activation and pricing. He and I talk turkey about what this means for those moving from other phones and carriers as well as for current iPhone owners.

I then chat with LANrev Chief Operating Officer, Peter Frankel, about the Enterprise Desktop Alliance, a group of five companies—LANrev, Atempo, Centrify, Group Logic and Parallels—created to facilitate the acceptance of Macs in the enterprise world.

iPhone developers roundtable

The Worldwide Developers Conference is now a recent, bright memory. To celebrate its passing, we devote this episode of the Macworld Podcast to all things WWDC—a reality check on what Apple announced last week and then a roundtable interview with a group of Mac developers who have turned their attention to the iPhone.

That reality check consists of me musing on the true costs of the iPhone 3G and whether it makes sense for current iPhone owners to upgrade; the precious few details we have on the next version of Mac OS X, the no-new-features Snow Leopard; and what MobileMe brings to the table (and which bits of .Mac it leaves on the floor).

Editorial director, Jason Snell then sits down with three key Mac developers—NewsGator’s Brent Simmons, The OmniGroup’s Greg Titus, and The Icon Factory’s Craig Hockenberry—to talk about their experiences developing for the iPhone.