Refreshed after devoting a month to medical matters, I return to both full health and the Macworld Podcast. During my enforced absence, Apple has been busy (too busy, it appears, to bother with a get well card). Doing what? Oh, nothing much. Just issuing a more robust MacBook Pro (complete with a whizzy new processor, pumped up L2 cache, higher RAM and hard drive capacities, and the return of the FireWire 800 port on the 15-inch model). Oh, and pulling together a firmware update to help end the unplanned shutdown issues experienced by some MacBook owners. And then there’s the iPod shuffle Reset Utility, a tool that, unlike the old iPod Software Updater or the restore feature built into iTunes 7, can actually revive a first-generation iPod shuffle that’s, quite literally, on the blink.
News aside, we also turn our attention to the Caribbean to catch up with the doings aboard the MS Veendam, Holland-America’s luxury ocean liner that houses MacMania V —the Mac-centric learning/playing/eating high-seas adventure. In addition to such Mac luminaries as Andy Ihnatko, Apple’s Sal Saghoian and Janet Hill, Leo Laporte, Ted Landau, Derrick Story, and Ben Long, Macworld’s own Dan Frakes and Rob Griffiths have taken to the ocean blue to pass along their wisdom to a group of now-pampered Mac enthusiasts. Dan and Rob tell us how they spend their free time as well as chat with a passenger who—some might suggest—spends an unhealthy amount of time scouring eBay for old Macs.
And finally, I ask you, dear listener, to offer up any audio questions you care to have answered on the air. Drop your MP3- or AAC-formatted questions to my attention at mac911@macworld.com.
Listen to episode 57
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Show notes
Both Dan and Rob are filing regular reports from aboard the Veendam in the MacMania Weblog. If you’d like to join in on their fun, you should also check out the Geek Cruises Web site for information on the next scheduled MacMania event.
Regarding the updated MacBook Pros, Jonathan Seff lauded Apple for increasing the amount of installed memory on the laptops, while Philip Michaels speculated on how the new MacBook Pros might perform using the iMac’s addition of a Core 2 Duo processor as his guide. Speaking of benchmarks, those should be live at Macworld.com later this week.
Music credits
“Basic” by Epicte the Elemental. Want to hear more of his music? Need a DJ in the Washington, D.C. area? E-mail him at epicte [at] gmail [dot] com.