tuesday 01 august 2006

Dear All -


I'm pleased to report that this mailing now goes out to 297 people, and again I'm pleased to welcome a number
of new clients since the previous post. (And, of course, if you DON'T want to receive this posting - let me
know!)

As always, this mailing does go out to a wide readership - some parts will be of interest to you, some will
be irrelevant. Skip the meaningless-to-you bits, and call me or email me with ANY questions.

All is well here at MacDoc Towers. I'm enjoying the heat of the summer, lots of interesting client work, and
trying to learn how to manouevre my boat in the confines of the marina!

The 20" iMacs and the 15" MacBook laptops are great machines from Apple and I seem to be sending out a steady
stream of them to you.

Here are some news snippets from the world of Apple computers - the next big announcements will come at the
World Wide Developers' Conference, to be held later this month. There we will see announcements and
demonstrations of the next major release of OS X, to be called Leopard, and numbered OS X 10.5. And probably
other things too, but who can tell what Steve Jobs has up his sleeve?

Now to the news:


1.	Apple results

Apple's second strongest quarterly profit of $472 million was driven by strong laptop and iPod sales, as well
as a very strong showing from its retail segment. Apple in the June quarter saw a hefty 61 percent year-over
year increase in unit sales of its portables, as the company launched its consumer-based MacBook and sold the
MacBook Pro for an entire quarter; however, Apple saw a decline in the sales of desktops. The company sold
nearly 800,000 laptops, and only 529,000 desktops, a drop of 23 percent from the year-ago quarter. They sold
8,111,000 iPods during the quarter, representing a 12 percent growth in Macs and 32 percent growth in iPods
over the year-ago quarter. Apple's retail division (146 stores, worldwide) achieved a 50 percent increase in
unit sales and nearly a 30 percent increase in revenue.

- 75% of Macs sold during the quarter used Intel processors.
- 2nd highest quarterly sales and earnings in Apple's history
- International sales accounted for 39 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
- iPod continued to earn a US market share of over 75 percent
- Desktops: 614,000, down 14% from previous quarter
- Portables: 498,000, up 60% from previous quarter
- iPods: 8,526,000


2.	Battery replacement programme for MacBook Pro line of machines

Apple has initiated a worldwide battery exchange program for certain rechargeable batteries that were sold
for use with 15-inch MacBook Pro computer systems from February 2006 through May 2006. This does not affect
the MacBook (white or black). See this website for details:

	https://support.apple.com/macbookpro15/batteryexchange/index.html



3.	Avery labels

Avery has released Avery Mac Label Expert, its free label creation software designed to handle the tedious
task of creating and formatting text for printing to sticky labels. The software features a new user
interface, templates for all Avery printable products, and support for both printer as well as Mac fonts, according
to Mac world. Avery Mac Label Expert guides users through a series of steps to format and print onto all Avery
printable address or ID labels, business cards, dividers, and CD as well as DVD labels. Avery Mac Label
Expert requires Mac OS 9.x or Mac OS X 10.0, and is available for free.

Go here to pick it up:

	http://www.avery.co.uk/uk1/downloads/maclabelexpert.jsp


4.	Wireless Mighty Mouse now loose in the wild

Apple has released the wireless (BlueTooth) version of its Mighty Mouse (the mouse with several button areas
on the top and a scroll ball that allows you to scroll not just up and down, but side-to-side in some
programs)


5.	Skype have released a beta version of their software which now supports video

The very popular Skype program, used for making free telephone calls from your computer to another computer
or telephone line across the (broadband) internet, can now do video calls. The beta version of the program
can be found at:

	http://www.skype.com/download/skype/macosx/videopreview.html

Note the operating system and processor requirments
	•	Macintosh computer with G4 800 Mhz processor or faster
	•	Mac OS X v10.3.9 Panther or newer
	•	512 MB RAM
	•	40 MB free disk space on your hard drive
	•	Microphone
	•	Webcam: Suggested webcams include Apple iSight, Philips SPC900NC, or Logitech QuickCam Pro 400.
	•	Internet connection (broadband is best, GPRS is not supported for voice calls, and results may vary
on a satellite connection).


6.	Liveliest current Apple rumour

A number of Apple watchers are suggesting that Apple may release a mobile 'phone (dubbed, of course, an
"iPhone"). Apple say they are interested in telephony, but that is all they are saying at present. Apple
never 'Pre-announces' products.


Any questions? Let me know! Anything you'd like me to write a note on? Let me know!

Best wishes to you all, and thanks for being Mac users

hugh