Shuffle September 2007 content

[Magnus]

A Word from the Editor
First time at GITEX

It’s that time of the year again, when thousands of people flock to Dubai for the annual GITEX. For me it’ll be my third GITEX experience but the first one with EmiratesMac being involved. Last year we had some ideas for GITEX but we were too new and didn’t have enough time to prepare. This time we’ll be available all through GITEX and we’ll give out copies of this shuffle, the one you’re reading. As a Mac user and Apple fan it’s sometimes hard to be really excited about GITEX. It’s easy to drown in all the PC and Windows companies and technologies. It’s a bit like life in general, I guess. We need to do what we can to put more emphasis on Apple and Apple-related products. We need to tell more GITEX visitors about how wonderful these products are and how they can enrich people’s lives, whether it’s at home or at work. In short, we need to educate the market. That’s one important mission of the EmiratesMac Apple User Group. Another reason why we’re interested in GITEX is of course exposure. We’ll have a chance to mingle with a lot of people and companies, and the more we can get our name, our web site, and shuffle out there to them, the more we can do in terms of our other missions. If you’re already an EMUG member, please come to GITEX when you can, make sure to look us up, and do what you can to spread the word about what we are and what we do. And remember to wear your EmiratesMac shirt and help us bring shuffle to as many people as possible. Let’s make this a successful GITEX for Emiratesmac. We’ll see you at GITEX!

[Magnus]

Safari 3 Public Beta
by Magnus

When Apple recently at WWDC announced that they will be releasing their web browser Safari for Windows, I think most of us were surprised. Safari for Windows was not among the typical rumors. In fact, I don’t think I had read about it before. Anyway, the beta is out for Mac and Windows, and I thought we’d take a look at some of what’s new in Safari 3 beta. A major revision of Safari doesn’t happen very often so this is big news in the Mac world. Now that Safari has been so intimately linked to development of web applications for the iPhone, it’s even bigger news. Apple announced that the iPhone would not have applications in a traditional sense, and that anyone wanting to write applications would basically write web applications and they would be tested in Safari. Besides that, obviously the big news is that Safari now also runs on Windows. Apple has ventured into Windows before with iTunes, AppleWorks, and more, so they have some experience. This is arguably so they can widen the development support for iPhone and it’ll be interesting to see how it develops from here. One of the more visible news is searching on web pages, which highlights all occurrences it finds and shows the current one in a very nice way. This is something FireFox has done for a while in a similar way. The other thing Steve Jobs touted was the speed, saying it’s the fastest browser available. A graphic on Apple’s site even shows how much faster Safari is than all the other major browsers. That may be true and it feels really fast, but it’s perhaps nothing that most users will think about all the time. But it’s welcome that Apple addresses this issue which is important to everyone using a web browser. In the brief time I’ve used the new beta, I’ve found resizable form fields very useful. If a field is too small for what you’re typing, drag its corner and make it larger. Or make a large box smaller to show more of a web page. You can now reorder tabs by dragging them to a new position and if you drag a tab onto a web page space, it’ll open up in a new window. FireFox has a function which automatically saves the session you’re in so if the browser crashes you can get back to the pages you were looking at. Safari 3 introduces something similar even though it’s much more limited. Apple would do well to expand this functionality. In terms of bookmarking there’s not much new. You can now easily bookmark all open tabs in one bookmark. So you could, for example, open up in tabs all your favorite sites, then save them as one bookmark. Opening that bookmark will open all your sites in their individual tabs. There’s also now a very welcome option for resetting the size of the text on a web page back to normal. Before you could only make it larger or smaller. Personally I really welcome this. Finally, you can select how long Safari should keep your browsing history. Safari 3 Public Beta is a free download from Apple - Safari 3 Public Beta - Download.

[Magnus]

iWork and iLife 08
by Magnus

It was a long time coming, but Apple has finally brought us updated versions of iLife and iWork. The previous versions (06) were launched in early 2006, so it’s about a year and a half since then. Rumors have been frequent since then about a new version and everyone expected it to be launched at MacWorld Expo in early 2007 but that didn’t happen. Speculation then was that Apple would wait for Leopard to be released. Leopard is obviously not released but perhaps Apple waited for Leopard to be finished enough to get some support or functionality into the new apps.

iLife 08
iPhoto got a serious overhaul and a new mode called Events where photos are organized by the events in your life, such as a wedding, party, or a game. It’s also tighter intergrated with Dot Mac with an advanced Web Gallery functionality. Dot Mac also got a boost to a total of 10GB of storage space per account. iMovie is completely rewritten and has got a new icon and its interface now looks more like iPhoto. iMovie also has better functions for organizing your movie library. Skimming promises to make it easier and faster to go through large amounts of video when you edit your masterpiece. An exciting new addition is that you can publish video straight to YouTube from iMovie. iDVD only got support for a new codec and some new themes. Garageband has a new function called Magic Garageband which attempts to help budding music makers better and more quickly put together new masterpieces. It shows a view of a virtual stage on which you place different instruments to form your virtual band. iWeb now has support for Google Adsense and Google Maps. You can also use personal domains (which you have to register yourself somewhere else) with your iWeb web sites.

iWork 08
The big news with iWork 08 is that it now includes a spreadsheet application called Numbers. This will hopefully make iWork a more credible alternative to MS Office for some users. Numbers take a different approach to spreadsheets compared to MS Excel, for example, you can write formulas in more normal language. Pages mainly got improved functions for word processing. Apple also added change tracking in the style of MS Word. You can now switch between a word processing mode and a layout mode. As the more mature application in the suite, KeyNote got less attention than Pages, but there is an improved function for animation, and more themes. Something else that will probably be helpful to many is an instant alpha function which can remove the background of a photo with one click. Instant alhpa also exists in Pages.

[Magnus]

Expanding shuffle
by Magnus (EmiratesMac)

If you’ve followed shuffle since we started in November last year, through starting to pring in April this year, you have seen a lot of changes, most of them for the better I hope. The shuffle you now read is different in several key ways from all the others before it.

More copies
When we started printing we printed 1000 copies. The month after we went to 2000 and now, with the September issue, we increase to 5000. Most of the copies for September we will distribute at GITEX. In October we will be at the Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi and distribute shuffle there.

Arabic
Another, arguably more exciting, new aspect of shuffle is that we now have articles in Arabic. We have included a 12-page Arabic section which we hope we can continue to grow with the same level of high-quality articles you’ve come to expect from shuffle, but in Arabic. We do this to see what you, our readers, think about it. If there is a positive response it’s something we’re definitely committed to continue to bring to you. It’s more work for us to produce shuffle with two languages but we think it’s work trying at least to see how it goes. Hopefully it’s something we can continue with in future issues.

Articles from other user groups
Despite these rather big changes, one thing that remains though is that shuffle is written and produced by User Group Members. What we do from this issue is open the authorship up to other Registered Apple User Groups in the Middle East, for their members to send us articles in English or Arabic that we may print in shuffle. After each author’s name you will from now see what group they belong to. That’s also something new that we hope will be an exciting feature for future shuffle issues. If you’re interested, send us your article as a simple text file, with any artwork as separate files, to us (shuffle@emiratesmac.com) and we’ll look at publishing it in future issues of shuffle. Each author will of course get proper credit for their work, and their group’s name written after their name. You can write in either English or Arabic. This we offer you at no cost to you. All we ask is that you help us find advertisers. If you want us to send you printed copies of shuffle we can do that, but we’d ask you to help out with the shipping cost.

Distribution
Finally, we can announce that we’re working hard on getting all these wonderful copies of shuffle into the hands of more people. So we get more readers, convince more people to switch, and generally speaking grow the Apple community in the region. There are no definite things I can reveal to you here, but rest assured we are working on a lot of things and we hope to be able to bring that to you soon.

To sum up, there are some exciting things happening with shuffle - we hope you want to come along for the ride.

[Magnus]

Name: Melchor Buan
Title: Assistant Store Manager
Store: iStyle Festival City, Dubai

Q: When did you start working for iStyle?
A: April 2006.

Q: What did you do before working at iStyle?
A: Worked as Sales Consultant with Berkley International.

Q: When was the first time you used a Mac and what was your first impression?
A: That was when I started working for iStyle. It was definitely different from anything I had used before and very elegant. It was like the software was alive, it was fun to use.

Q: What’s the best part of your job?
A: Helping customers solve Mac problems. I try to help them realize solutions for their needs. The best part is when a customer comes back to the store with a friend buying a Mac.

Q: What is your favorite Apple product and why?
A: My MacBook Pro, it can do anything I want it to do, and it’s very slim and I can take it with me anywhere. I like people reaction when they see the MacBook Pro, they can’t believe its a laptop when it is closed.

Q: What is the most challenging part of your job?
A: Customers have different needs and expectations and demands and it’s trying to match that to what I see they need, Ultimately I want to make iStyle their second home.

Q: Do you have a funny story about something that has happened in your job?
A: A customer with some iPod problems came to us and we fixed the problems. Same day she bought a MacBook and an iMac. That was a good day and she was very happy.

Q: Is there any particular product you wish Apple would release?
A: An Apple TV that records TV programs.

[Magnus]

iPhone: First Impressions
by MJ

If you’re reading this, then you must have heard of the iPhone by Apple. Yes, the rumors were true, for three years Apple has been secretly working on a phone that would change the way we look at mobile phones. A phone that would revolutionize the mobile phone industry just like the iPod revolutionized the MP3-player market. Apple is well known for its elegant designs and powerful yet stable and simple software. So imagine the simplicity of their software, their integration, the most powerful operating system, and put it in the most incredibly elegant design for a mobile phone. The outcome is breath taking.

iPhone on display in Dubai
I wouldn’t say this just because I am an Appleholic, but because last month I was a few of the lucky ones to get my hands on an iPhone and test drive this one of a kind mobile phone. On July 15th 2007, approximately 16 days after the official launch of the iPhone in America, the iPhone (unofficially) reached the UAE. I got online that fine morning, and logged on to EmiratesMac.com where to my surprise, a post was made indicating that ProTech which is a Apple reseller in the UAE had received an iPhone and had placed it in their store for display, for all to see and try out. I quickly changed my clothes and ran out the house, and drove from Abu Dhabi to Dubai just to see it. All I took with me was my camera to prove to others that I had really encountered this revolutionary phone.

The iPhone was waiting for me
As soon as I reached ProTech, I opened the door and found the iPhone waiting for me. It was like it had my name all over it, with a bright light glowing off of it, like it was something out of this world. I took one look at it, and I fell in love. The phone was perfect; there was no word to express how elegantly perfect they have designed this phone. The effort they have put on this mobile phone was worth the three-year wait. The first question that popped up in my head was, “If this 1st generation iPhone was so amazing, how do you think the 2nd and 3rd generation iPhones would be like?” After taking a few deep breaths and trying to hide all the excitement so I don’t look like a fool in front of the employees, I grabbed it, and felt every corner of the phone. I examined the phone like my life depended on it, and then when I was satisfied with what I saw and felt; I clicked on the Wake button and the screen turned on. My eyes couldn’t blink; the brightness of the screen was so intense that I felt like I needed sunglasses to wear just to navigate the iPhone. The resolution was remarkable, at 160DPI resolution this is the most crystal-clear mobile phone display you will ever find. Did I mention the screen was 3.5-inches in diagonal? Well its screen was huge, the whole iPhone was a screen, there were no buttons but the home button in the bottom front of the iPhone. It used the most advance touch screen system ever made on a mobile phone; Apple Patented it and is called the multi-Touch display. The difference between it and the regular touch screen mobile phone and tablets out there, is that you can do multi gestures with your fingers to navigate through the phone and do your regular tasks without the need of buttons or even those no-good-of-an-excuse for stylus.

Unlocking
Unlocking the phone was one of the coolest ways I have ever seen; it redefines the locking methods made on any phone out there. With just a swipe of your finger from the left to the right, the phone unlocks and the main menu appears. And I’m not talking about unlocking it as in making it work on any operator. I’m talking about how to unlock it so you can start using its interface. The main menu is elegant and simple thought through, made for everyone to use with ease. Literally a two-year-old baby can browse the iPhone with ease, and that must have been the main aim of the iPhone. The buttons are nice and big. With nine icons in the menu and four icons at the bottom of the screen it resembles the Dock that you would find in Mac OS X. The iPhone Dock contains the main features that you might use a lot, which are the Phone, Email, The Safari web browser, and the iPod. Then comes the other great features of the iPhone, like SMS, Calendar, Photos, Camera, Calculator, Stock widget, Goggle Maps, Weather widget, Notes, Clock, YouTube and the Settings. Each feature is so straightforward and easy to use. The best part of everything on this Phone is its way of navigating. With its amazing three sensors that Apple has built in the phone, it makes navigating through the phone and using all its features fun and cool for everyone to enjoy and bedazzled on what could be the next generation of mobile navigation systems. The three sensors are as follows: “iPhone’s accelerometer detects when you rotate the device from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display, so you immediately see the entire width of a web page or a photo in its proper landscape aspect ratio. The proximity sensor detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away. An ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display’s brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, thereby enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time.” (from Apple.com)

Multi-touch is a winner
But by far the most useful feature of all, and the reason this Phone could be a winner, is the multi-touch system embedded into its screen. When you scroll through your address book or through you music and even while browsing the web, your breath will be taken away and you might even purchase one of these amazing iPhones just for the sheer awesomeness of its multi-touch screen. If compared, I would say the multi-touch screen on the iPhone is like holding a Nintendo DS Lite in your hand and looking at a 90’s GameBoy. The Gameboy has no touch screen, but that’s exactly my point. The touch screens on the regular mobile phones you find in the market are nothing compared to the new multi-touch screens on the iPhone. They could also be placed in a different category if possible. Most of the touch screen cell phones we know of today use stylus to navigate through the phone because all the buttons are so tiny to push with your fingers, and the graphical interface is horrible, especially mobile phones with the Windows Mobile OS.

Love the animations
Anyway, back to the iPhone. With just a flick of your fingers you can scroll through a list of songs or numbers, and when you reach the far top or bottom of your list it acts like a roulette-wheel, it is just too cool. I loved the animations that the applications do, like for example, when you type a note in the Notes application and decide you want to delete the note: When you click on delete it shows you some cool animation of the trash can being opened and the page of notes gets sucked right into it. Another cool animation is the camera app. When your in the camera application, the lenses seem like they are covered by an actual shutter, and that automatically opened when your in the app. The best part is when you take a picture the shutter closes and re-opens as if it’s a real camera exposing the shutter. These are very cool effects that would impress any soul that plays with it.

Keyboard is no problem
Now let me talk about the keyboard for a bit. A lot of critics and sheer mortals that use every day mobile phones were very worried about the virtual keyboard. Because of past experiences with regular touch screen mobile phones, everyone knows how horrible it is to type on a virtual keyboard and that you end up using the stylus because the keyboard’s virtual buttons are too small. Well, Apple has done it this time, I am pretty sure they have solved this problem, and now you never have to use a stylus ever again. The keys on the keyboard are large and clear. When you type it gives you a great typewriter effect that makes typing look so cool in an old school type of way. Apple has also embedded an auto correction while typing, that allows the iPhone to autocorrect what you type and after a while you get used to it and it gets used to you. Then it will adapt and know what your going to type next before you type the whole word. Pretty impressive isn’t it? I sure was impressed when I was able to type just as fast as I would on a physical Qwerty keyboard on a mobile phone.

Stunning and outstanding
Over all, for a company that has never entered the mobile phone business, and for it being a 1st generation Phone, Apple has done a stunning and outstanding job and might prove them selves worthy of being the most innovative company in history. And if iPhone is just the beginning, I bet my life that by the end of next year Apple will get its 1% mobile phone market share that they are aiming for. I even have a feeling that Nokia, Sony and every other mobile phone company out there will learn from Apple and might even follow Apple in to making the next generation cell phones.

You can see a video of MJ with the iPhone at Video from iPhone in Dubai. MJ you can find hanging out at EmiratesMac a lot and you can see his profile at http://www.emiratesmac.com/forums/me...ppleholic.html.

[Magnus]

Q&A with iPhone switcher Klaus Lovgreen (from AME Info)
by istara

Q: When you very first opened the box and saw the iPhone in the flesh, what did you think?
A: It was a typical Apple experience - every little detail was carefully looked into and un-boxing an Apple product is always something special - but admittedly the iPhone was really special. The box was a lot smaller than I anticipated.

Q: When you first switched it on and touched it, how did you think/feel?
A: It was really amazing - it felt like touching the future - the most impressive thing is really that it works just like Steve demoed it - it reacts instantly and the coverflow works as advertised.

Q: How was it when you started using it? How easy or difficult was it?
A: Since you can’t really use any of the features unless it is activated (there are a number of different ways to activate with or without AT&T) - I took the AT&T route as I wanted to be able to upgrade and did not want to depend on hacks at this early stage. There is a cost associated with it and you can’t roam so you cannot use the iPhone as a phone outside the US at the moment.

Once it is activated you can use all the features except the phone bit (including EDGE of course) and it is amazingly intuitive and easy to use.

Q: What impressed you most?
A: How well the whole thing is integrated - the Google Maps app really stands out though - a lot more impressive that I had ever imagined. The GUI is really well done - I mean when was the last time you actually had fun and thoroughly enjoyed setting an alarm or playing with a stopwatch?

Q: What things worked better than expected?
A: The “keyboard” - if you follow the advice from Apple to just go on and type even if you hit the wrong keys from time to time - the iPhone actually gets it right in most cases. It takes a bit of training but within a week or so - I am certainly able to type faster than on any other mobile I have ever used.

Q: What was less good than expected or disappointing? (and be honest!)
A: That they locked it (so hard) to AT&T - although I understand the reasoning behind it - but I still think it should be a choice. To some extent it is also a bit disappointing that Flash is not supported and that YouYube video is a very small selection - but I expect that to be dealt with in due time. Finally that the 3.5 mm jack does not work with most iPod compatible headsets and a converter is hence required - such a converter should have been delivered with the iPhone in my view to ensure compatibility.

Q: How much do you use it now, and what for?
A: At least 1 to 2 hours a day in total - I browse the web, read news (Google Reader is amazing on iPhone), answer e-mails, audio books, audio/video podcasts and listen to music. It has actually helped me to get more mobile within my home so I don’t have to sit at in front of my screen all the time. (I do have to be connected all the time though - it is in the blood).

Q: When it’s possible to use it as a phone, to what extent do you see it replacing your current mobile entirely (given that it’s quite a bit bigger than a lot of high end slimline phones)? Or do you see it more as a PDA replacement/ultra portable mobile computer/web tablet?
A: It all depends on the work you have to do - for web browsing and communication it is more than adequate in my view and I am not usually packing a laptop so for me the iPhone is a great solution - in fact this is the first mobile device I actually use at home / where I have access to bigger screen etc.

Q: Any words of advice to others thinking of getting one?
A: It is hard to have an iPhone and not be able to actually use it as a phone to be honest - so unless you are a real gadget or Apple geek - I’d wait until there is an unlock or it is being offered in your country.

Q: Anything else?
A: Can't wait for Leopard as I suspect even tighter integration with iPhone.

[Magnus]

Venture Capitalist Extraordinare: Interview with Steve Jurvetson
by eFatima

Q: Tell us something about yourself, what you studied at school, your first job, your career, etc.
A: I wrote games for the Apple ][ in high school, and then programmed the Apple ]|[ during my first summer job (at the UT Dallas Chemistry Department). At Stanford, I studied electrical engineering with a focus on computer design and programming. After a BSEE and MSEE, I went back later for a MBA.

Q: You worked at Apple for a while. What did you do at Apple?
A: It was a summer job during business school. I was doing competitive product analysis in Powerbook product marketing. I got to take Compaq notebook computers apart as part of the job. I also worked at NeXT in a similar capacity. I wanted to see Steve Jobs in action. We went on some walks and later on, he tried to recruit me to Pixar.

Q: What was your experience like at Apple? Is it a good place to work at?
A: It was great, but people felt like they were drifting without a clear sense of vision. This was in the era before Jobs’ return, when the Newton was the new product du jour.

Q: If you were giving advice to someone who wanted to go to work for Apple today, what would it be?
A: Passion for Apple products goes a long way. You really should want to change the world.

Q: With the introduction of the iPhone, where do you see Apple going in the future? What's would you predict their future strategy is?
A: To be consumer electronics giant in the networked world.

Q: What was going on in your mind after seeing Jobs and Gates do an interview together after such a longtime in history?
A: It must have taken all of his self-control to repress his disdain for Microsoft.

Q: With the iPhone, Apple is entering previously unknown terrain for them. How do you see this change things for Apple?
A: For most people on the planet, the phone will be their computer. The usage modes are very different, but the framework for hardware I/O devices connected to web services is fundamental to future product flow.

Q: What experience do you have of Apple User Groups? How can Apple User Groups achieve for Apple?
A: It has been a long time since I was active in a User Group (college) or since I went to the WWDC (’94), but I see the community of enthusiasts as an essential element of building a digital ecology around the products and a loyalty to the brand.

Q: Many User Groups are steadily declining in membership due to the competition from the internet and people living busy lives. What do you think User Groups should do to regain the momentum?
A: They could use Illumio.com to discover expertise and resources among their members. Modern tools like that could remind people of the power of the community, without adding overhead or time wasted.

Q: What do you know of Apple's situation in the Middle East?
A: I don’t know much about their situation anywhere in the world right now…. Sorry.

Q: What advice do you have for the EmiratesMac User Group? What do you think we can do to support our members, and better the situation for Apple in our region?
A: There’s got to be a way to help people route around censorship (Flickr, etc.). More communication and free flowing information will make the world a better place.

Q: You're currently working in Venture Capital in DFJ (Draper Fisher Jurvetson). What is your job like, and what's the most important characteristics of someone working in the VC field?
A: It’s a blast. I get to meet smart people who have a vision of how they will change the world. They may be the next Jobs and Woz, or maybe not. We get to help them build their startups, and some of them go on to do great things, like Skype, Hotmail and Baidu.

Q: If one of our members is thinking of starting their own company in the tech industry, what would your advice be to them?
A: Pursue your passion and realize that with every passing year, the networked economy makes it possible for the next great web service to be launched from anywhere on the planet.

Q: For someone potentially approaching you, or someone else, about venture capital, what's your most important advice for them?
A: Be true to yourself, always honest to others, and self-confident enough to be humble and willing to learn. Hire people who are better than you at what they do. Lead with an infectious enthusiasm that will win over employees, partners and customers. Steve Jobs is a role model in that regard.

Q: In 2001 you wrote that nanotechnology will "enable miniaturization to a magnitude never before previously seen" and you're of the position that nanotechnology will transcend Moore's Law which have been a prevailing force in the hi-tech industry for some 30 years. In terms of our everyday lives, how do you see nanotechnology affect us?
A: Initially it will allow Moore’s Law to continue its steady progress, upon which more and more industries have come to rely. It will also improve energy generation, storage and consumption. In all near-term cases, though, the nanotech advances will be embedded in products we already know, like a memory chip. Myriad industries have been disrupted by the steady march of Moore's Law, from Tesla cars to synthetic genomics. Apple could predict exactly when the price of hard drives and then flash memory would enable the iPod to disrupt the Sony Walkman business. Moore’s Law drives electronics, communications and computers and has become a primary driver in drug discovery and bioinformatics, medical imaging and diagnostics.

Q: You have been to the Emirates before, with its ambitious economic decisions it has been taking, what are your views about this little Emirate both in terms of economy and technology?
A: There has never been a better time to be an entrepreneur. Globalization and network effects are mutual reinforcing, making it possible for the next Skype or Hotmail to come from anywhere. If Estonia could launch Skype, I can’t wait to see what all the smart people in the Emirates can produce.

Steve Jurvetson is a Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a leading venture capital firm with affiliate offices around the world. His bio is available at www.dfj.com/team/steve_bio.shtml and he keeps a blog at jurvetson.blogspot.com/.

[Magnus]

From: Apple Inc.
Distributor: Apple IMC ME
Web: IMC Middle East - Mac Pro - Main page
Price AED18499

When Apple unveiled the Mac Pro 8-core in April 2007, it was the fastest Mac Apple had ever produced. And it still is. The top of the line Mac Pro features two quad-core series processors that can run up to 3.0GHz. That makes for eight cores in total, a pretty impressive feat of Apple engineering, and one that few other companies can emulate. The two quad-core processors have 8MB of Level 2 cache each and a fast 1333MHz FSB (front side bus). These features alone contribute significantly to this monster’s speed. Of course you want lots of RAM as well for your hungry applications, and the Mac Pro does not dissapoint. It can handle up to 16GB of 667MHz DDR2 RAM which should be enough for anything you can throw at it. Like earlier Mac Pro models, it can take up to four serial ATA drives, of up to 750GB each. That will make 3TB of storage, or you can configure it in different RAID setups. In terms of graphics you have a wide range of options, so you should be able to find what you want. Bluetooth and AirPort are not standard and you have to purchase that separately. So there’s all the specs and technical details. what about actual use? It is fast, really fast. You notice it from the moment you turn on the power, to using the Finder, browsing with Safari, and more. We didn’t run any benchmarks on the Mac Pro as we feel these are usually not very useful, but we can promise this is one screamingly fast Mac. The Mac Pro comes with one 16x SuperDrive and it has a second bay in which you can put another one. It’s not cheap, but if you want the most power from your Mac, there’s no other choice .

[Magnus]

Review: Nokia E61i
by Magnus

When I dropped my BlackBerry I was faced the the choice of paying up for a good phone now awaiting the iPhone, or just get something cheap. I decided to get a good phone so after some thinking I bought the Nokia E61i. And after having used it now for about a month I can honestly say it's a great device. It has almost anything you would want in a mobile device: wifi, 3G, Bluetooth, memory expansion (micro SD), and more. If you're into messaging or email, you will enjoy the full keyboard. The screen is very clear, bright, and is visible even outside in the sunlight. Nokia has not always been Mac-friendly but they are improving fast. The E61i synchronizes with Addressbok and iCal with Nokia's iSync plugins (www.nokia.com/A4299040) as well as iTunes and iPhoto with Media Transfer (europe.nokia.com/A4423135). Some will complain about the 2MP camera, and it's certainly not top-notch, it's not bad (and it zooms and records video). You can view and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint with the E61i. You can even view PDF files which is a nice bonus. All in all, the Nokia E61i is full of functionality and features. The definite drawback with the E61i is the short battery life. There has been a few days when I've been traveling around and used wifi and 3G a lot when the battery has been dead at the end of the day. That's not good. One of the first things I bought was a car charger, and so should you. If you turn of the wifi feature, and Bluetooth as well, there's no problem going for days without a recharge. At around AED1600 in retail it's very competitive compared to alternatives. It's not an iPhone. But while we wait for iPhone to make it to the Middle East, it's a very good alternative. Arguably, even beyond that point the Nokia E61i will be the mobile device of choice for many.

Price: Around AED1600
From: Nokia
Distributor: Nokia
Web: www.nokia.ae/link?cid=PLAIN_TEXT_150630