Just days before Macworld apple took the wraps off a new behemoth of a computer. The new Mac Pro are now standard with 8-cores using Intels new Penryn family of chips (Using the “Harpertown” desktop chip to be specific).

The base model new features these drool worthy specs:

• Two 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors with dual-independent 1600 MHz front side buses
• 2GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC fully-buffered DIMM memory, expandable up to 32GB (?!)
• 320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm
• and a 16x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

Wonder why Apple introduced this machine now? Maybe to make room for more positive Macworld news?

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Miffed that you can’t listen to online radio on your iPhone or iPod Touch? Well, with a little help from a Windows box you can listen to all the online radio you could ever want. Mind you – this can only happen on a Windows machine.

What you will need is:

• An XM or Sirius subscription
• uXM (for XM) or uSirius (for Sirius) from Millard Software
• Orb server from Orb.com
• QuickTime
• An iPhone or iPod Touch

You will first need to download and install the Orb server. During the install process you will need to create an Orb account.

Now, one the Orb install is done, download an install uXM (to the PC). Click on uXM’s or uSirius’a settings button and enter your email address (or username) and password you use to stream the satellite radio. Now click Start.

Once you have uXM/uSirius and Orb running on your PC – log into Orb.com on the PC you just install all the software on.

In the Orb website:

• Click Open Application
• Click Audio
• Click Favorite Channels under Internet Radio
• Click the ‘Add Custom’ link that is on the top of the new Internet Radio page.
• Type in the XM/Sirius channel name – you want to listen to
• Double click the uXM/uSirius logo in your PC’s system tray (next to the clock) and click the URLS button
• Choose the satellite channel you want to stream from the pull down menu
• Click the clipboard button
• Return to the orb website and paste the URL in the URL field
• Click save (Repeat as many times as you want for your favorite stations)

Now on your iPhone or iPod touch and go to Orb.com in mobile Safari and sign in.

• Click Audio
• Click Internet Radio Favorites
• Click the channel icon for the channel you just saved
• Click Play
• Click the small play arrow in the lower right corner of the QT screen

Your stream should start. Kinda a neat hack if you have an extra Windows box kicking around. Thanks Kurt for the tip!

This year we are sitting out on CES. Why? It’s simple too big for our staff to cover effectively and too expensive. Instead, we will bring you highlights from CES as it filters into our Inbox.

This year we devoted out time, staff and resources to bring the best Macworld coverage to date.

We will have our famous LIVE keynote coverage on our instantly updating keynote subsite as well as dedicated Macworld coverage in our Apple category.

We will also have setup a special Pingie page that will allow you to get INSTANT SMS updates of the keynote – just sign up for feed here.

Also if you are attending Macworld, drop a comment. We would love to meet you!

Just in time before the bell tolls for 2008, we snuck in a MacTV for you! The above video is the demo playing on Apple Resellers machines for the Holiday season. As an added New Years bonus, we uploaded the special Flash UI that runs on the kiosks, just for you to play with! Fun for any Apple fan!

You can play with the kiosk environment here. Mind you the files are big and will take some time to download.

Downlaod Now

Recently buying a few new Macs I found that Apple bundles a special crippled “drop in” Leopard upgrade disc that requires an installation of MacOS 10.4 on your Mac. Considering that I format my Macs right out of the box this crippled upgrade DVD doesn’t really work for me – which then forces me to purchase a retail copy of Leopard. Hardly fair!

Here is how to convert that crippled MacOS X 10.5 Leopard “Drop In” DVD into a regular retail MacOS X 10.5 Leopard DVD. Mind you this is NOT TO be used for any illegal distribution and should only be used within your “fair use” rights of your licensed media.

• Put your licensed Leopard Disk in DVD Drive
• Start Disk Utility
• In Disk Utility Select New Image
• The New Image Dialog will pop up. Leave everything at default setting and set Volume Size to “8.0 GB (DVD+R DL)”
• Select the Leopard DVD on the side pane of the Disk Utility and Click Restore
• Set the source as the Leopard DVD and destination as the Newly Created Disk Image

Now wait. This process will take a VERY long time.

• After it is done, eject the DVD
• Now you must show some hidden files on your Mac. To do that you will need to open your Terminal (in your utilities folder) and type the following commands:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles True

• Press Return then type in the next command:

Killall Finder

• Press Return

This will show all hidden files.

• Go into the newly created Leopard Image on your desktop
• Navigate to /Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Installation/CDIS/
• Right-Click on “Mac OS X Installer” and Click on Show Package Contents
• In the New Window goto Contents/Resources and DELETE the “CheckForOSX” File
• Now just rename the DMG Volume to Mac OS X Install DVD using the Get Info Dialog
• Now burn this image

Thats it now your crippled upgrade DVD is the equivalent to a retail DVD.

Thank you to faithful reader TIM for sending in this tip!

Intuit is targeting iPhone users with an upcoming service add-on ($3 / mo.) that will allow users to interact with their money on the go. Scheduled for release on January 8th, iPhone users aren’t the only ones who can enjoy managing their finances on the go. A general mobile version will be served up as well.

Intuit, creator of the popular money management software Quicken, has decided to test out a new version of its software by offering it as a service to iPhone users. That demographic tends to be young, educated, affluent, and trendy—the perfect group to test out Quicken’s new software-as-a-service (SaaS) model and hopefully infuse some life into the company’s plateauing sales.

So what readers still use Intuit’s Quicken software? Anyone? Although I’ve always found the real-time data syncing offered by Quicken with personal banking accounts, I couldn’t justify the cost. In any case, Intuits decision to target the iPhone is nothing more than proof that the iPhone is a platform that will enjoy increasing growth over the coming years. Check out the rest of the article on Ars Technica.

If you are not sick of the Mac vs. PC ads by now Apple has made another one just to put you over the edge this holiday season. All I want for Christmas is for these ads to vanish.

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According to Jason O’Grady it seems that Apple may be quietly prepping to replace their aging displays.

Some time last night Apple re-shuffled the layout of the front page of their online store and removed all mentions of the Cinema Display. They didn’t remove the displays entirely though. You can still find them by clicking on Accessories in the left navi, then on Displays. But it’s a definite snub.

He also continues to speculate that the displace if refreshed at Macworld will feature LED backlighting, an HDMI port, a built-in iSight camera and a new industrial design.

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My friends over at Xactup have finally released a new really cool product, iTenna, that allows you to view, edit, share and sync documents stored on your Mac on your iPhone.

Any document edits will be synced automatically to your iPhone, computer and web.

Although this is in beta form, a remote access tool like this helps keep the mobile professional just a bit more mobile.

If you are running 10.4 or 10.5 (Windows support coming soon) I suggest you try out the software by navigating your web browser to their signup page.

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Apple is releasing the strangle hold they have on iPhone sales ever so slightly. No they still will not accept giftcards or cash to buy the device (You will have to go to an AT&T store to do that) but they DID raise the limit on the number of iPhones an individual can buy.

The rumor late last week was that Apple had quietly bumped up the sales limit on iPhones from two to five both here in the U.S. and U.K.
After much speculation over the weekend, an Apple representative told EPICENTER on Monday morning that this is indeed the case. As such, you can now grab up to five iPhones at once without upsetting the natural balance of the universe. No word yet on why the limit was increased, but as earlier reports indicate, Apple probably discovered it had sufficient units on hand to meet Holiday demand.

I’m not sure what this means exactly – does that mean that people are not buying iPhones fast enough to meet Apples 10 million device goal, or did Apple ramp up production to meet demand?

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