Fast Pro Apps on Core Duo
I can't say which program I'm talking about, since the conversation was off the record ... But an inside source told me that the Universal Binary development build of one of my favorite Pro Audio Apps is running 3x faster on a Core Duo than it currently does on a G5. Public Betas will likely likely be available, but not until MacBook Pros have started shipping.

In a way it's shame that Apple couldn't wait to have its own line of Pro Apps crossgraded before they announced the first IntelMacs, since the hardcore graphics, audio, and video users will likely be the biggest beneficiaries of the first speed bumps. Still, I may have just found my first reason to upgrade...

Culture of Litigation
The lawsuit has truly become the voice of the common man. Heard the one about the latest lawsuit being filed against Apple? John Kiel Patterson of somewhere in Louisiana has filed a class action suit against Apple demanding the company pay people money because iPods can damage their hearing. This is just about the stupidest thing I've heard all year. Turn the volume down. Sure, Apple limits iPods sold in France to 100 db output while US-market iPods go to 110 or 115 db. Who cares? Turn the volume down. It's amazing to me that people are getting up in arms about "iPods that damage hearing." It's great that the popularity of iPods are raising awareness about the harmful nature of loud music (and sounds) in general, but it's not like it's Apple's fault. Kids have been listening to loud music since the beginning of time, and Sony's Walkman was around long before iPods. iPods aren't the only earbud-equipped music player out there, anyway. This is a joke, and a waste of my tax dollars (seeing as the suit has been filed in my home state of California).

You want to sue someone over hearing loss? Sue the guys who put earth-shaking subwoofers in the SUVs that pull up next to me at stoplights. Second-hand sound kills, dontcha know?

Are PodTorrents the Future of TV?
So for whatever reason, my Comcast DVR decided not to record last Sunday's episode of Grey's Anatomy. It's not the best show ever, but it ain't bad, George is awesome, and Izzi's just about the cutest doctor you'll ever see, so I'm hooked. Disappointed at not having it to watch the next evening, I turned to Podtropolis. An hour later (I have a cable modem at home), I had a commercial-free, iPod-ready copy of the show. Ran my iPod 5G through a DLO dock into my home theater system and bingo! George and Izzi in the flesh. Well, sorta: Video quality was like a digital version of a so-so VHS tape, sort of grainy at first but watchable once you get used to it.

As an experiment, I surfed over to Podtropolis the next morning at work and started downloading Torrents of a major motion picture and a complete set of every episode of the old TV show My So-Called Life. We have a T-1 line at work. When I left eight hours later, neither file was nowhere near downloaded. I left it running overnight. The next morning the movie (500 MB) was downloaded but the TV shows (4.5 GB) were at around 11% complete. Left it running all day that day and the next night. Next morning the TV shows were at 53%. I, of course, deleted the movie without watching it since it's copyrighted material.

Moral of the story: BitTorrents are great for sharing relatively small video files over high-speed connections but I don't think the MPAA has anything to worry about just yet. The legality of sharing broadcast TV over the Internet is an interesting issue to debate: Free television (like Grey's Anatomy, an ABC show) should be fine to copy and trade, right? But what if you strip the commercials out first? Hmmm... Thing is, The Sopranos is on HBO and HBO is pay TV ... so I guess I'll be resubscribing to HBO before the final season begins next month.

Flash Drives are Soooo Cheap
Will Apple just make an instant-on Mac with flash memory already? I got a PR email yesterday about US Modular's Monstor Drive 4GB USB 2.0 flash drive. This thing's a little bigger than your normal stick drive, but it packs four gigs of high speed storage for under $100. We like cheap, fast, and small. Seriously, the nano's cool and all how about a cheap, no-boot Mac for my living room or OS X PDA for my shoulder bag? Now that would rock.

Have a question, comment, rant, or hot tip? Send 'em my way: pbc at threebase dot com.

* * * *

Get the best price for your new Mac at MacPrices.com