new earth online

Apple have always poked fun at PCs for them being affected by virii. I'd say it's hardly fair of them - I'd argue that there were no virii for Macs as people already feel sorry for them anyway so don't bother. Also, if you're going to create a virus you write one for the platform the most people are using - it makes sense.

 In recent months there have been reports of a number of virii that infect Macs, but unknown to most, Apple started recommending OS X users install a virus checker on their machine. I didn't even realise this until the tech site, Gizmodo pointed it out. Now that's justice. Maybe now they can stop poking fun at PC's! Before any of you comment on this... I do use a Mac too, and I don't see anything wrong with either platform (other than Apple hardware being overpriced for what it is... you're paying for the style and the brand).

Today Apple have announced a few updates to their product line-up. As of today user's can download iTunes 8 which has the new Genuis Playlists feature. The Genius Playlists is a way of creating a playlist based on a similar songs to the one you're currently listening too - quite cool, especially if you have a large library of songs. A similar feature is the Genius Sidebar - this picks songs from the iTunes store that are similar to music you already own. Quite an interesting idea for both of these, but the latter is one that to some degree has been a feature of Amazon for a long time. Other changes include the addition of a grid view, High Definition TV shows, improved accessibility, and a new Visualiser.

The next announcement from Apple is the change to the iPod nano. First point it now comes in a wide range of colours! Their website has it showing in White, Black, Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red and Pink. Another change is that it now has a Genius feature for creating playlists, and rotating the iPod rotates the screen! One questionable feature is that if you shake your iPod it shuffles your songs. So what if you're jogging or cycling with it? You're going to be reshuffling every few seconds! There is also a new iPod Touch out with these features (of course!) in 8Gb, 16Gb, and 32Gb flavours, and similar changes to their iPod Shuffle line-up.

Knowing that the Apple Store's grand opening would be at 10:00am, myself and a few others headed to the store just after the planned opening time thinking that an Apple store in Leicester wouldn't be a big deal. How wrong was that assumption. We queued for about 40 minutes as people were only being let into the stores in groups of about 10 - the door being protected by a number of policemen and security guards. As each group entered the store they were greeted by the Apple staff (in blue t-shirts and orange t-shirts) with huge cheers and "high-fives" making it seem like a really big deal. As you enter they give you your free T-shirt with and Apple logo and "Highcross" on one side, and "Designed by Apple in California" on the reverse. Sure enough by the time we got in through the door there were still more than enough T-shirts for us too, so I guess that means I was one of the first 1,000 people to enter Leicester's Apple store. Today I went back to the Apple store and it wasn't as crowded or excited, and so much easier to browse. Sorry no tutorial or review, or even a decent link - just thought I'd share the "Apple experience" with you.

The grand opening of the Apple Store in Leicester's Highcross is almost upon us. The official word from the Apple site says:

The Apple Store, Highcross will open on Thursday September 4th at 10:00 am; and you're invited to help us celebrate. Join us for the Grand Opening and get the chance to win a Digital Lifestyle Collection that includes a black MacBook and a silver iPod nano. The first 1,000 people through the doors will receive a free Apple T-shirt.

So that's pretty cool being able to get a free Apple t-shirt, I might have to try and get one. Next week they'll have some specialists on hand for some workshops on iWeb, iPhone, iTunes and iPod, and GarageBand. So anyone wanting to learn more about those products should reserve their tickets. They're also holding a competition to win 13-inch black MacBook and a silver 4GB iPod nano which is pretty cool and I guess it's a good way to get people through the doors and boost awareness of the new store.