Journal: News & Comment

The latest breathless Apple announcements

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Speaking of PR spin machines, Apple Computer just announced a bunch of stuff this hour.

The new MacBook Pro laptop and iMac (page not updated as of press time) both run Intel dual-core processors instead of PowerPCs, but are otherwise quite similar to their predecessors. Lots of neat software updates to iWork and iLife (including broad podcasting support and a new iWeb blog/podcast application), an FM tuner/remote for iPods, and so on.

Engadget has the best announcement coverage, with photos.

The neatest stuff for me is all the built-in podcasting stuff in iLife and new features in GarageBand. Perhaps the coolest thing is the magnetic power adapter on the new MacBooks (I'm going to have to get used to the death of the PowerBook name): if you trip over the cord, it just disconnects, rather than pulling your laptop off the table. Smart.

Contrary to rumours, Apple is also not killing FireWire—it's still in both new machines—which is good.

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