The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

For machines that have only been in users' hands for 24 hours or so, the hits just keep on coming for the new unibody MacBooks. APC magazine has posted a "ten things you didn't know" review, covering some surprises and some well-we-thought-so's for the laptops.

Confirming our reporting from yesterday, APC spoke to an Apple representative in Australia who closed the door on any hope of Target Disk Mode availability via USB on the new MacBooks. Migration Assistant, which has been updated for these machines, will work over Ethernet or from a disk image of your source Mac, but not over TDM. The machines are running a new OS X build (figures); if you break the glass on the screen, you replace the whole screen (ouch!), swapping hard drives is much easier than on previous models (yay!) but if you lock your machine with a Kensington security cable, that will also block access to the bottom case (phew).

APC also notes a new internal feature on these laptops, and presumably on the MBPs as well, that MacMerc, HardMac and the Ars forums have pointed out: immersion sensors at various spots inside the case (previously seen on the iPhone). These adhesive dots change color when exposed to liquid, so the conversations at the Genius Bar where you insist "No, I'm sure that nothing was spilled on it!" just got quite a bit harder. AppleInsider has a diagram showing the locations of all eight sensors inside the machine, if you've got really really good aim with your spilled Dr. Pepper.

If you're not watching the presidential debate tonight, and you feel like more Mac news is what you need, then pop over to Shawn King's Your Mac Life show -- live now, 8:30 pm ET -- and tune in for MacBook discussion and more. I'll be on the show for the segment starting at about 9:20 pm to discuss your responses to the loss of Firewire on the MBs and more.

Your Mac Life is online at yourmaclifeshow.com and is streamed in QuickTime for your listening pleasure.

Update: The show archive is here -- thanks Shawn, and sorry about the coughing.

It's been in beta for a while, but now Adobe's ubiquitous media plugin (warning: LOUD) has turned 10 officially for the Mac. The 5.5 MB download (available in separate versions for Intel and PPC) gains a host of new and improved features, including custom After Effects-style filters, advanced text support, 3D effects, better hardware acceleration and streaming support, vamped-up APIs, and file upload/download improvements.

Flash 10 requires a 500 MHz G3 or better on the Mac, and runs on Tiger or Leopard: OS X 10.3 Panther users are out of luck. Download now from Adobe if you dare. Authoring content that takes full advantage of Flash Player 10 means using Flash CS4, which -- what a coincidence! -- is shipping as of today, along with the rest of the CS4 suite.

Flash's ubiquity in the marketplace (99% of Internet users have some version of it installed, says Adobe) does give it a wide advantage over media alternatives like QuickTime and Silverlight, but one of the ongoing challenges for Flash is version upsell; getting people to move to the new build sometimes has to wait until a popular service requires it. For Mac users, the lure of upgrading includes a move away from the traditionally lackluster performance of Flash on the Intel hardware -- I know many MacBook users who can tell when a Flash ad is playing in a hidden Safari tab just by the sound of the cooling fans ramping up -- so with any luck, version 10 will address the challenges in that area while simultaneously adding all these cool new features.

Thanks Richard

Having options is good; saving energy is good; improving battery life on your laptop is very good. Having to log out and back in to switch between the two video cards on the MacBook Pro? Um... not all that good. Kinda annoying, to tell you the truth.

Engadget posted a video last night of the swap process (click one button in System Preferences, log out, log back in -- seems ripe for automation) and while it's not particularly onerous, it does seem very weird considering that there aren't any other Energy Saver changes that require a logout. Also worthy of note: the default setting on the new machines is for "Better Performance," using the integrated card.

Why force a logout? Perhaps there are issues with having to redraw windows when flopping from card to card, or particular apps that go 'kaboom!' when told to move onto the other hardware? I can certainly imagine that 3D games or Core Animation-dependent apps might throw a minor freakout if the world shifted under them suddenly, but it still seems like a lot of people are going to settle on one graphics card based on their usage profile (desk-bound gamer vs. mobile maven) and stick with it.

There's also the possibility that the real advantage of this dual-GPU config won't be realized until the OS catches up with the gear. Adding a 2nd GPU is a fairly radical proposition if all you're gaining is the option of better battery life (although, since the 9400M hardware is part of the system chipset, it comes along 'for free'), but when Mac OS X 10.6 comes along it should include the capability to offload general-purpose computing tasks to the GPU, which could provide exponential performance increases for certain apps. Having an extra GPU sitting around waiting to be harnessed starts to seem like a really good idea when considered in that context.

It got a bit lost in the hustle and bustle of yesterday's announcements, but there was an update released for Microsoft Office 2008; the 12.1.3 update, weighing in at 154 MB, provides the usual slew of security fixes and bug repairs that you know and love. Some crashing bugs have been squashed (including one that affected documents with embedded PDF images that I've seen once or twice), chart performance is improved across the entire suite, PowerPoint gets a fix to address file timestamp issues, and Excel comes in with multiple fixes for file saving and corruption problems.

You can download the DMG of the update directly from Microsoft, or run an Auto Update pass in your Office application of choice. If you encounter update issues or problems after the patches are run, please advise (and, more importantly, let Microsoft know). The best way to get improvements in Mac Office, when there are definitely some management attitudes that need adjustment, is to make your needs clear.

Update: Many Exchange 2003 users who have updated to 12.1.3 (including yours truly) have discovered an unfortunate issue in the new build: attempting to send or respond to meeting invitations results in an error. Whoops. Alternatives include using OWA (or your iPhone!) to respond to invites until this gets cleared, but it's quite annoying.

As our old friend Nik tipped us yesterday and Macworld's Jason Snell reported in his two-hour rundown of the MacBook Pro and MacBook updates, there's a stealth feature with these machines that is sure to please iPhone owners: the $29 US Apple Stereo Headset, included with the iPhone, works as a microphone on the MB/MBP unibody models.

While this might not be a top-line selling point for the laptops, it's actually a very nice added feature for users of VoIP software (Skype, Gizmo) or iChat audio conferencing. Trimming your laptop bag by skipping the USB headset (or the Bluetooth headset, for that matter) will save wear and tear on your back; not having to buy another device to do sound input for your laptop will save wear and tear on your wallet.

Update: One commenter notes that these headphones also work for sound input on the previous MacBook Pro ("MacBookPro4,1"); if anyone else can confirm, please chime in. Another asks if the clicker button works to control iTunes playback; per the Macworld article, it does indeed.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

You heard the rumors, now get the details. Apple has just released a major update to the MacBook line, leaving the original white plastic model in the mix but lowering the price to $999; the two new models are priced at $1299 and $1599. You can see a video overview of the new beasties at Apple's site.

The new models feature the same unibody aluminum construction process as the MacBook Pro; video chores are handled by the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M display subsystem with 256 MB of shared video RAM, a dramatic performance boost from the older Intel integrated graphics -- Apple claims 2.5x-6x better 3D performance on gaming tests.

Both new models support up to 2560x1600 pixels on an external display (via the new Mini DisplayPort connector) and sport a native 1280x800 13.3" glossy LED screen. The design of these laptops is so radical, Apple has two full pages of sweet geeky detail posted on apple.com.

Both models include the new all-glass trackpad, built-in iSight, 8x Superdrive and 2 GB of RAM. They are under one inch high (2.41 cm), 12.78 inches (32.5 cm) wide, and they both weigh 4.5 lbs (2.04 kg). Neither MacBook model includes a FireWire port (unlike the big boys, which have a single FireWire 800 port) -- this is a definite drawback for anyone thinking of one as a mobile video workstation. Note that, contrary to some of the comments below, I see no evidence that the USB ports on the new MacBook will support target disk mode.

Lower-end model:

• Price: $1299
• Main Specs: 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo, 3MB L2 cache, 2GB of RAM expandable to 4 GB, 160GB HD
• Display & Other: 13.3" screen, 8x Superdrive, 2 USB
• BTO: Add RAM (up to 4 GB), up to 320 GB HD or 128 GB SSD

High-end model:

• Price: $1599
• Main Specs: 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo, 3MB L2 cache, 2GB of RAM expandable to 4 GB, 250GB HD
• Display & Other: 13.3" screen, 8x Superdrive, 2 USB
• BTO: Add RAM (up to 4 GB), up to 320 GB HD or 128 GB SSD

More details on features, graphics, tech specs and environmental compliance are up at Apple's site.

When Filemaker introduced Bento, the 'relational database for the rest of us,' at Macworld Expo this year, the response from the marketplace was pretty solid; as of August, the $49 multipurpose data organizer had been downloaded over 400,000 times. Still, the product was a clear 1.0 with a lot of room for new features and improvements; that's what Filemaker is looking to deliver with Bento 2, announced today and on sale immediately.

The big shift in B2 is the enhanced interaction with the data sources that contribute to your Bento collections. Need to include Mail.app messages in a layout along with contact info? Drag-and-drop them in, easy as can be. Want an RSS feed or your iCal data too? No problem. You can also sort and search your data in an iTunes-esque "Smart Collections" mode that should be familiar to novice users.

One of the top requests from Bento 1 users was for better spreadsheet integration, and Filemaker has added copy/paste support and improved import/export for Excel and Numbers; spreadsheets can be sorted and tweaked with ease, especially in the new split table/layout view. Surprisingly (to me anyway), AppleWorks import capability was also near the top of the feature request list; it's been added as well.

Bento's look has been revved up with 10 new themes; new in v2 is the ability to directly edit the layout of a database without switching into a layout-specific mode (just drag the field titles around). Address views now support AIM/iChat directly, and Google Maps integration is built-in. If you have rich media content that needs to travel with your database, you can embed it by option-dragging it onto the layout (a conventional drag creates a relative link to the media on your hard drive). Printing has been enhanced with new report modes, and the option to save a 'clone' template (no data records, just the schema and layouts) has been added.

Filemaker's customer research has been demonstrating a wide and diverse audience for Bento, from pilots and fashion boutiques to eBay mavens and goat herders. It's a pretty good bet that if your needs include a light, single-user and simple database app, Bento will be a match for you.

Bento 2 is $49 for one license and $99 for a family pack; through 10/27, it's available exclusively at the Apple Store or via store.filemaker.com. Bento 2 is a Universal Binary and requires Mac OS X 10.5.4 or higher.

If you're like me, your professional or personal efforts toward video organization nirvana have been less than fruitful over the years. With video files spread across multiple formats and multiple storage locations, keeping everything readily available and tagged for reuse is a giant pain. On the consumer level I've tried iDive, iView Multimedia (now Microsoft Expression Media), even plain old iPhoto, and I'm checking out FootTrack; moving up the ladder, there are high-end choices like Cumulus/Mediadex and Final Cut Server. Finding that midrange, prosumer & network-enabled video cataloging tool, with options for MPEG-7 metadata, dynamic clip creation and embedded Spotlight comments in files -- well, I'm still looking, but Frameline 47's new version 3 seems to come pretty close to what I want.

Frameline 47 is a $139 app that works both for an individual and as a networked tool, with Bonjour sharing and the ability to do the aforementioned Spotlight embeds, so your tags, comments and metadata travel with the files instead of with a master catalog; the full Workgroup edition is due at Macworld Expo, with additional capabilities for shared data. All your video files, on all your attached drives, in any QuickTime-readable format (plus WMV and more with Flip4Mac and Perian) can be scanned and thumbnailed into Frameline's search browser; once there, you can add annotations, identify clips for reuse, export your edited files, create webpage galleries, or pass along edit lists to Final Cut. There's a lot in Frameline to explore; probably more than I'll use for my personal projects, but if you have to wrangle a large collection of clips for your editorial work it's definitely worth a look.

You can download a 14-day trial from Frameline's site... but we've got a special offer for TUAW readers courtesy of Frameline: 10 licenses to give away, free of charge. Read on for details on how to enter and win.

P.S. Extra credit if you suss out why the app includes the number '47' in its name.

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Maybe this is a coincidence, coming as it does on the eve of a big Apple announcement... it could be meaningless, just regularly scheduled inventory maintenance, the BB version of the yellow sticky note. Sure, that's probably it -- nothing to see here. Yeah. No reason at all to think that Best Buy's website downtime could have anything, really, to do with the anticipated introduction of new Apple laptops tomorrow... right?

As if our conspiracy generators weren't already in full gear: suppose it is related. Could Best Buy be getting an exclusive deal on the $900 laptop outside of Apple's own stores? [Note that many sites are now reporting the "$899 MacBook" may in fact be a Cinema Display.]

Thanks to Horza for the tip