Storage and peripherals specialist Buffalo announced the HD-PEU2-RD external hard drive. It is designed to woo the fairer sex with its glossy coloured shells, available in red, white and black. The 81 (W) x 16 (H) x 130 (D) mm shell houses a 2.5 inch hard drive, which comes in capacities starting from 250 GB to 500 GB. The unit tips scales at 190 g. The drive uses USB 2.0 to connect to any PC or Mac. Depending on the capacity of the hard drive, the HD-PEU2-RD is priced between $95 for the 250 GB model, and $171 for the 500 GB model.

Codeweavers, the company behind CrossOver, a software that allows Linux and Mac users to run Windows applications, is readying support for Microsoft's DirectX 10 API on in upcoming versions of CrossOver Games. CrossOver Games is a variant of the software specifically designed to run games for Windows with near-complete software API support.

In his blog, Jeremy White, a lead developer for CrossOver products reviewed how much they had achieved on the goals they set eight months ago in the development roadmap. "We've just shipped a lot of those "under the hood" improvements for games out in CrossOver Games 7.2. We're really pushing Direct X 9 support pretty far along, and getting ready to move on DirectX 10." said White.

AppleInsider has allegedly confirmed previous rumours that a 17-inch unibody MacBook Pro is on its way to hit the stores very soon. Claiming own sources, AppleInsider has been able to confirm that tomorrow Apple will introduce a 17-inch MacBook Pro with a fixed internal battery and a new version of the Mac mini. Before going into detail, let me remind you that Macworld 2009 Conference & Expo starts today, so if true the two new Apples will make first appearance there. The new unibody 17-inch MacBook Pro will not share the same panel-covered battery layout as the 13- and 15-inch models. Instead, the notebook's battery will be fixed in place and not removable, similar to the MacBook Air notebooks. As for Mac mini, the new version will add a FireWire 800 port and a fifth USB port, in addition to the already presented Mini DisplayPort and Mini DVI connectors.

Logitech today unveiled the newest addition to its line of award-winning diNovo keyboards - the Logitech diNovo Keyboard, Mac Edition. In addition to offering the exceptionally comfortable typing experience of the Logitech PerfectStroke key system, the cordless diNovo Keyboard, Mac Edition provides the convenience of a 3-year battery life and an integrated number pad.

"With the recently released diNovo Edge, Mac Edition, and now this diNovo Keyboard, Mac Edition, Logitech is giving people more options when it comes to choosing a keyboard that perfectly complements the Mac design," said Denis Pavillard, vice president of product marketing for Logitech's keyboards and desktops. "While the diNovo Edge keyboard is rechargeable and includes a TouchDisc and touch-sensitive volume control, our newest diNovo keyboard has a full-size layout and nineteen shortcut keys that provide quick access to Safari, iTunes, Expose, iChat and much more."

Back in July 2008, NVIDIA publicly acknowledged that it had a higher than normal failure rate for some of their graphics processors due to a packaging defect. After the announcement NVIDIA agreed to pay up to $200 million to cover the whole case and repair, return or replace the faulty chips. At the time NVIDIA admited the high failure rate, it also assured Apple that Mac computers with these graphics processors were not affected. However, after an Apple-led investigation, today Apple has determined that some MacBook Pro computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor may be affected after all. If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within two years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty. Here's what to look for in your Mac, if you receive a distorted or scrambled video on the computer screen or in the worst scenarion if you have no video signal on the computer screen (or external display) even though the computer is on, you should immediately go to an Apple Retail Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) for evaluation, or you should call your local Apple Contact Center for help. Among the models affected are those that were manufactured between approximately May 2007 and September 2008. They include the following models: MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.4/2.2GHz), MacBook Pro (17-inch, 2.4GHz), and MacBook Pro (Early 2008).

MCE Technologies released MCE Drive, which allows Mac users to read, write and print labels on optical discs.

The drive can read and write up to dual-layer Blu-ray discs at 2X speeds for BD-RE, 4X for BD-R. It can read BD-R at 6X and BD-RE at 2X speeds. The drive can read HD-DVD at 6X speeds. All DVD and CD reading and writing formats are supported. The drive comes with Toast 9 Titanium as an option for $100 extra.

This drive comes in two major variants, the external drive which connects using Firewire or USB 2.0 for use by all Mac users, or the internal drive version for Mac Pro and Power Mac users. The external drive sells for US $750, and the internal drive for $500.

Corsair, announced today the launch of their new Mac Memory kits made especially for the newest Mac Pro desktop systems. The new Corsair Mac Memory kits are fully-buffered 800MHz solutions, available immediately in 4GB (2 x 2GB modules) DIMM kits.

The new Corsair Memory Line for the Mac Pro is immediately available through Corsair's authorized distributors and resellers world-wide, priced at $250 for the 4GB Mac Memory kit. Corsair memory products are backed by a Limited Lifetime Warranty. Complete customer support via telephone, email, forum and Technical Service Xpress is also available.

To help you stay close to those who matter most, Logitech today unveiled its first Mac-compatible webcam with premium autofocus technology and Carl Zeiss optics: the Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro webcam for Mac. The new Logitech webcam delivers image-perfect detail and clarity, and exceptional video calling with iChat and Skype.

AMD today announced the new ATI Radeon HD 3870 for Mac & PC Edition, delivering the power to go beyond high-definition visual computing for work and play. Optimized exclusively for Apple Mac Pro systems, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC edition can help drive productivity with built-in 256-bit 512MB GDDR4 frame buffer memory and 320 stream processors to deliver maximum performance for graphics-intensive applications such as 3D modeling, animation and games. Users also can expand visual workspace using twin dual-link DVI ports to connect two 30" Apple Cinema HD displays.

Expanding on its popular portable storage offerings, WD today introduced its new Mac-formatted My Passport Studio Portable Drives. The newest members of the My Passport family are designed for Mac users on-the-go and are equipped with both FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 interfaces, a clever capacity gauge, and include a soft drawstring carrying bag for protection from scratches and dirt. Available now at select retailers and at WD's online store, the My Passport Studio portable drives are offered in capacities of 320GB and 250GB.

In the past, Macs were sometimes argued to be better for image editing than Windows-based PCs. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure if this was true or a complete myth, but it looks like things may not be like that anymore with the introduction of Adobe's Windows-only 64-bit version of Photoshop Creative Suite 4. Until now, Adobe has strived to ensure that both the Windows and Mac versions of Photoshop come with similar features. However, due to a choice by Apple not to make the Carbon technology that is used to develop Photoshop available as 64-bit, Adobe has decided it will not be providing a 64-bit version of CS4. Adobe's product manager for Photoshop, John Nack, said:

We're not going to ship 64-bit native for Mac with CS4. We respect Apple's need to balance their resources and make decisions right for that platform. But it does have an impact on developers.

Adobe's preliminary testing suggests that the 64-bit version of Photoshop CS4 will offer a performance boost of 8-12%, with the benefits being much greater for memory-intensive tasks due to its ability to take advantage of more than 4GB of memory.

Corsair, a worldwide leader in enthusiast computer and flash memory products, announced today the launch of their new Corsair high-density Memory Line for Mac Pro desktop systems. Made especially for the high performance demands of the Mac market, the new Corsair Mac Pro Memory Kits are fully buffered 667MHz solutions, available immediately in 2GB (2 x 1GB modules) and 4GB (2 x 2GB modules) DIMM kits.

Corsair announced today the world's first high performance memory modules made especially for the Mac. The new Corsair memory modules are the industry's first low latency modules specifically tuned for the new MacBook and MacBook Pro laptop computers.

Somebody took the time and effort to write a fairly neutral list of reasons why people should switch from any Microsoft operating system to Mac OS X. The full list is available at the source link, but I think you might be interested in what made the top five.

• It seems that the future of Windows development is happening largely for corporate environments and customers.
• Excellent power management in OS X. When I close the lid to my MacBook Pro, it falls asleep. When I open the lid to my MacBook Pro, it wakes up. Imagine that!
• I'm ready to experience different frustrations. OS X isn't perfect, certainly - but I already see its noticeably more stable than Windows Vista has been. Kernel Panics at least look prettier than BSODs.
• There's more interesting, useful, beautiful, and affordable software being developed for OS X
• VMWare Fusion

Aspyr Media announced today they will publish Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for Mac. Developed by Infinity Ward and licensed by Activision, the Mac version is expected to be available in May 2008.

Featuring a tense storyline, filled with plot twists, the title thrusts players into battle like never before. With amazing special effects, including rim-lighting, depth of field, texture streaming and character self-shadowing, players are enlisted into one of the most photo-realistic gaming experiences imaginable.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for Mac will soon be available for preorder through Aspyr's website for 49.99. For more information, fans can also visit the official CoD4 website.

Microsoft Corp.'s Macintosh Business Unit today announced the official availability of Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac at the Macworld Conference & Expo 2008. Office 2008 for Mac is significantly enhanced to provide a simplified user experience that helps beginners and longtime experts alike deliver professional documents that are compatible for co-workers and friends on Macs and PCs. The suite provides the Office tools Mac users rely on, with a Mac-like approach and style. In addition to Office 2008, the Mac BU Web site, Mactopia (www.microsoft.com/mac), features a dramatic transformation to provide an even more resourceful hub for all things Mac BU.

A few years ago, one of the biggest weapons in a Mac user's arsenal for any Windows vs OS X debate was that Apple's operating system was more secure than Microsoft's. However, the statistics compiled by ZDNet (which are shown in the table below) tell a very different story for this year. Combined, Windows XP and Vista saw a total of 44 flaws, whilst Max OS X experienced 243 - over five times more. Overall, Macs had 234 highly critical vulnerabilities compared to just 23 for Windows, although admittedly Mac OS X had no extremely critical flaws, whilst Windows had four. This would seem to suggest that the tables have turned a little, which could well be linked to the fact that Macs have become more popular over the last couple of years and as a result there is a greater incentive to hack them.

Apple today announced that it sold (or delivered in the case of maintenance agreements) over two million copies of Mac OS X Leopard since its release on Friday, far outpacing the first-weekend sales of Mac OS X Tiger, which was previously the most successful OS release in Apple's history. Sales included copies sold at Apple's retail stores, Apple Authorized Resellers, the online Apple Store, under maintenance agreements and bundled with new Mac computers. Leopard is the sixth major release of Mac OS X and is packed with more than 300 new features.

Just one day after its release, Apple's new OS X Leopard has already been hacked to work on standard Intel-based computers. Admittedly it isn't guaranteed to work 100% yet, and is more than likely illegal in some way, but all you need to give it a try is a patched DVD image, a zip file with a patch and a USB flash drive. After that you're just three easy steps away from running the new operating system on your Intel PC (SSE3 and later) but unfortunately there's no AMD support available yet. As many PC owners have a slight dislike for Macs this may not be too appealing to everyone, but you can take a look at the procedure here.

Apple's latest iMacs suffer seem to suffer from a graphics card problem that causes the computer screens to lock up. Numerous discussion threads on Apple's support forums report that, while the iMac display becomes unresponsive, the Mac itself appears to work normally. Apparently indicating the fault relates to the iMac's ATI Radeon HD card. iMac users suffering the screen freeze can get their Mac working again with a hard restart. Some users claim the fault appeared after they had installed recent software drivers (v1.1) for the Radeon HD card -- others claim that restoring the iMac to factory settings fixes the machine. While Apple is alleged to be aware of the issue, no fix for the flaw has yet been made available.

Apple has issued a warning to Boot Camp users that their beta software is on track to expire this month. The company's latest tech support posting for the software warns: "As indicated in the license agreement for Boot Camp Beta, the Boot Camp Beta program expires when Mac OS 10.5 Leopard becomes available publicly in October, 2007." The note explains that the license to use Boot Camp Beta 1.2 or earlier expired on 30 September, requiring users to upgrade to Boot Camp 1.4, which will work a little longer. The Boot Camp 1.4 license is set to expire when Mac OS X 10.5 is made available to the public. Apple has not yet disclosed a date for this release. "To continue using Boot Camp at that time, upgrade to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard," the company warns. Previous reports have indicated Apple may release a version of Boot Camp for use with Mac OS X 10.4, but the company's existing technical support warning offers no information as to such future plans

Apple's next version of the Mac OS X is reportedly close to being a release candidate, and some analysts believe the company is on track to meet its self-imposed deadline of shipping Leopard next month. Developers received the latest pre-release of the OS, called 9A559, Friday evening, just hours after receiving two minor updates of the previous build 9A527, AppleInsider, a site for Mac enthusiasts, reported. Build 9A559 contained only a couple of known issues, and may be the first of several release candidates, AppleInsider said. The last release candidate graduates to "Gold Master," which is the version that's shipped for duplication and retail packaging. An Apple spokesman on Wednesday confirmed that 9A559 was the latest build, but could not confirm whether it was a release candidate. Leopard's official release number will be Mac OS X 10.5. For Apple to meet its promise of releasing Leopard to consumers sometime in October, the company would have to finish the current testing process within three weeks, and some analysts expect the company to meet the tight schedule.

Apple today unveiled an all new all-in-one iMac line featuring gorgeous 20- and 24-inch widescreen displays encased in elegant and professional aluminum and glass enclosures. The entire new iMac line features the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors and a new, ultra-thin aluminum Apple Keyboard, built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing and iLife '08, making it the ultimate digital lifestyle desktop computer for both consumers and professionals. The 20-inch iMac now starts at just $1,199, $300 less than the previous 20-inch model, and the 24-inch iMac starts at just $1,799, $200 less than the previous 24-inch model.

Last month, techPowerUp reported that Apple had accidentally listed an 8-core Mac Pro on its website, and although it was quickly removed, the new machine genuinely has been launched now. The new Mac Pro comes with either two quad-core 3.0GHz "Clovertown" Xeons or two dual-core "Woodcrest" Xeons running at up to 3.0GHz, and it will also accommodate up to 3 terabytes of storage with up to 16GB of RAM. When it comes to graphics cards you can chose between an NVIDA GeForce 7300GT (up to four of those actually), an ATI Radeon X1900XT or an NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500. The most basic model starts at $2,200, but if you want the 8-core version with 3TB hard drive space and 16GB of RAM you'll be spending at least $10,292 - and even then you only have a 256MB GeForce 7300GT. At least the shipping's free.

This comes just after the release of Adobe's new Photoshop CS 3, which is likely in an effort to attract any professional image editors who are looking to upgrade with the new software, although it could quite expensive if you like to have the best machine available.

Yeah, you could see a Mac Pro with whopping 8 CPU cores at the British Apple Store this morning. After they realized the mistake (or did it happen intentionally?) they took the wrong offering down.



The story behind that is quite simple. When the current Apple Mac Pro was introduced in August last year it was quite a performer around the Macs. Featuring two Dual Core Xeons (Xeon 5100 aka Woodcrest, up to 3GHz, 4 MByte shared L2-Cache), support for up to four PCI-E graphics cards (no SLI or Crossfire though) and a solid storage/network base it was very competitive compared to the PC workstations as well. But soon afterwards (in mid November) Intel revealed the Quad-Core-Xeons ('Clovertown').
Now it's finally time for Apple to unveil something new - obviously a Dual Quad-Core workstation, this time hopefully with full SLI or Crossfire support.
To add another theory, Apple will reveal a Quad-Core desktop Mac at the same time. At the moment the iMacs are based on Core 2 Duos (Merom) and that's it. I think there is plenty of room for a Kentsfield Mac...