Cowardly Custard
King Creosote

Harking from Fife, Scotland, iTunes single of the week this week is supplied courtesy of King Creosote, and I like it. Cowardly Custard is the single, taken from his new album Bombshell. If you like the Levellers then you’ll like this. It's a jaunty, self-depreciating folk ditty with more than a sprinkle of good wit and humour. King Creosote is tired of all the questions that come at the end of the relationship, but as the song progresses he spins a good yarn about being a coward, trying his best to avoid contact with his better half and just waiting for it all to end, without actually taking control. You can picture him on a sofa watching a clock and wondering if it's all over yet. It's quite morbid compared to the sugary pop that usually gets shoehorned into us and I like it for that reason alone. Folky blues from Britain, nice one.

Click here to download this week's free song from the iTunes store*.

To subscribe to our Single of the week RSS feed, click here.

About this entry
Every week, Apple gives away a song from one of the artists on its roster at iTunes, but while we like this generous bit of marketing, there are two problems. First, Apple doesn't provide an RSS feed alerting you to the free single of the week, but more importantly, there's no way or knowing if the track is any good. MacFormat is here to solve both problems with our new Single of the week category here on macformat.co.uk.

* Even though these songs are free, you'll need to have a valid iTunes Store account. You'll also need to have iTunes installed; though the link above should prompt you to install iTunes if it's not already there on your Mac or PC, you can click here to download iTunes manually.

One of the joys of the new Leopard operating system is that it supports huge 512 pixel icons. Of course, this means you can now 'zoom in' on your favourite application icons for a closer look.

One thing I've always wanted to know is exactly what it says on that Text Edit icon. Well, thanks to Leopard we can now see the text:

This Mr Appleseed sounds like a bit of a rebel. But who is the mysterious Kate?

Apple has sold 2 million copies of Leopard in it's first week - that's huge!

“Early indications are that Leopard will be a huge hit with customers,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Leopard’s innovative features are getting great reviews and making more people than ever think about switching to the Mac.”

But cut through the fanfair for a moment. I'd like to know what your experience of installng Leopard has been like. So far mine isn't great. New iMac - no problem. Old G4 - uh oh...

You need 9GB of free space to install Leopard. I only had 3GB free on the G4, with its tiny hard drive. So, I spent about half an hour deleting stuff I could live without, leaving me with 12GB free. After choosing to "upgrade" rather than do a clean install all I got was a blue screen once it rebooted, which has become known as "the Leopard Blue Screen of Pause" in tribute to the Windows Blue Screen of Death.

Ok, some people say you can wait it out and other say they've spent hours waiting for it to un-pause. Looking on the Apple site it recommends you install again and choose 'Archive and Install' instead of 'Upgrade' if this happens to you.

I wait 10 mintues looking at the blue screen, decide it's knackered, and reboot. Hey Apple, are you sure you didn't rush this thing out to hit a deadline?

To get out of this blue screen the only thing to do is to hold down the power button on the Mac for a few seconds. Once it reboots you hold down the C key on the keyboard, which boots your Mac from the DVD drive.

I tried to select Archive and Install this time, but the Leopard installation told me I hadn't got enough free space left on my hard drive to do this (after the first install I have about 5GB left free, and it needs 11GB) - my only option at this stage was to go for the Clean Install. This wipes the drive of everything and gives you a lovely clean install of Leopard. Fine, I guess, but I kind of liked all the programs I had installed on there and now I'll have to re-install them all over again. Frustrating, and not a great first experience of Leopard.

Currently the Mac is doing the clean install. I'll let you know what happens once it's finished... Let's hope there's no more blue screens...

Update: Yes, a clean install worked fine.

The new edition of MacFormat This Week for 29 October 2007 is now available for download!

In this edition of MacFormat This Week...

Mac OS X Leopard hits the streets and we've got everything you need to know! Chris Phin joins us to preview Leopard's newest and little known features. James Ellerbeck, Reviews Editor of MacFormat brings you the latest Mac products and we've got the latest Mac shareware reviews with Craig Grannell. Plus there's Q&A with show regular Trevor Middleton.

Here are your links for this week's show...

You can subscribe to the enhanced edition of MacFormat This Week through iTunes. To do this, click here.

Or you can download the files directly: For the enhanced edition of this show, click here.

For the MP3 edition of this show, click here.

If you'd like your questions answered in a future edition of MacFormat This Week, then please email machelpme-AT-futurenet.co-DOT-uk.

We'd love to hear your questions or comments regarding MacFormat This Week. E-mail us at macformatthisweek-AT-futurenet.co-DOT-uk.

As in ex-parrot. At least, that's the feeling I got today, walking around the likely-to-be-renamed-next-year MacExpo. With my contributor's hat on, it was quite a successful show - I got to meet up with Chris and Trevor, and a few other contacts. But as a consumer, the show was woefully lacking. A number of top-tier companies were notable in their absence - not only Apple, but also FileMaker and Adobe (whose presence comprised a few companies showcasing Adobe's wares, and a conference talk on CS3). It wasn't all bad news: the Microsoft stand was friendly and entertaining, the chaps at Eizo were great (assuming you're looking for an expensive but very high-quality monitor), the MacFormat stand was bustling all day, and Quark, as usual, showed off a decent stand. But the show still felt hollow and empty, and it doesn't bode well for the future. If the rumoured name change to something like 'Creative Expo' proves true, that's surely the final nail in the coffin, and will return what should be a high-quality 'Apple' expo to the largely unforgettable niche experience that it used to be some years ago.

What did you think of this years show? Am I being an old misery guts, or have I hit the nail on the head? Comment away, viewers!

It's been a busy few weeks at MacFormat Towers, as we gear up for this year's Mac Live Expo. We've got a packed schedule of events running at the MacFormat stand (550), so we wanted to give you a heads-up on what to expect. The below timetable will run every day of the expo, so if you miss the one you want to see one day, you can always come back the next. We'll have pro presenters walking you through each segment – including MacFormat's own Trevor Middleton – and some are even giving out freebies at the end of their slot. We'll have nine Macs set up so you can follow along with what's happening on the presenter's screen, too.

10:30–11:30 Get started with Mac OS X
11:30–12:30 Watch, record, and edit TV with EyeTV
12:30–1:30 Burn great CDs and DVDs with Roxio Toast
1:30–2:30 Get more from iLife ’08
2:30–3:30 Create a website with RapidWeaver
3:30–4:30 Run Windows on a Mac with Parallels Desktop for Mac
4:30–5:30 Converting video with Roxio Popcorn 3 and Crunch

We've also put together a killer subscription package that includes a copy of Crunch, a pair of earphones from iSkin and an exclusive, limited edition MacFormat t-shirt that's genuinely pretty cool. If you're not a subscriber, this is the perfect chance to sign up for a regular dose of the UK's best-selling Mac magazine and take home some free kit too!

At half past two in the morning of October 19, I got an email from Apple telling me that, thanks to changes to the .Mac infrastructure to accommodate Leopard, syncing would no longer work unless I was running 10.4.10, starting essentially that same day. You probably got one too if you're a .Mac subscriber.

Two things annoy me about this. One is that I essentially got no warning at all from Apple, and the other is that, because of Future Publishing's understandably strict IT policies, by work Mac is stuck on 10.4.8 until the entire company makes the move to 10.4.10. Normally, I'd just bluster and say, well just update to 10.4.10, then; it's free so what's the problem? But enough folks have had problems with 10.4.10 or, like me, are stuck in corporate environments where the updating of machines is mandated by a central department, that this decision really rankles.

It's worse if your company hasn't made the investment in 10.4 – if you're stuck on Panther, you're limited to syncing between other 10.3 Macs. If, say, you're nice and up to date with 10.4 on your home Macs but your work Mac is still running 10.3, you're stymied.

You might think that practically everyone – spurred on, perhaps, by Apple's decision not to protect its operating system with even a serial number – would be running 10.4, but Apple's own figures suggest otherwise. At this year's keynote, Steve Jobs told us that two thirds of Mac users were running Tiger, and that 90% of the user base was on the current release (10.4) or the current release minus one (10.3). Assuming this is true, a quarter of Mac users in January of this year were running 10.3, and that's a substantial chunk.

Regardless, I'm annoyed. I can't simply upgrade my work Mac to 10.4.10, and so one of my essential tools for doing my job properly – keeping my diary and contacts database synced between work and personal Macs – has been yanked.

Thanks for listening. You're cheaper than therapy.

No way back
Hundred Reasons

This week is preppy, guitar driven US-indie rock. You know the kind of thing; mock-distressed musicians moan into the microphone and pretend to be Nirvana but either lack the balls or don't fancy getting their hair messed up in the process. It's the kind of the music you might get in a car advert as a youngish, buttoned down family man drives along the coast and smiles at his fawning wife. It sounds like a thousand other US-indie rock tracks. I wish I could play an instrument and show these bozos what to do with music ... er, anyway, moving on; the main mail vocal lead and backing singers moan into microphone over mid-tempo percussion, dribbling on like a wounded rabbit about some girl or other. The lead is prone to shouting into the mic with a sprinkle of angst in his voice. It's mostly just a nasal sound that US popsters are predisposed to. I loathe this kind of crap. It posturing, pouty nonsense. Expect to hear it on a sitcom soundtrack, playing in the background as the Dad and son make up after a fight.

Click here to download this week's free song from the iTunes store*.

To subscribe to our Single of the week RSS feed, click here.

About this entry
Every week, Apple gives away a song from one of the artists on its roster at iTunes, but while we like this generous bit of marketing, there are two problems. First, Apple doesn't provide an RSS feed alerting you to the free single of the week, but more importantly, there's no way or knowing if the track is any good. MacFormat is here to solve both problems with our new Single of the week category here on macformat.co.uk.

* Even though these songs are free, you'll need to have a valid iTunes Store account. You'll also need to have iTunes installed; though the link above should prompt you to install iTunes if it's not already there on your Mac or PC, you can click here to download iTunes manually.

With OS X 10.5 Leopard now confirmed for 26 October it's time to take a closer look at the system requirements to see if your Mac is up to running it.

There's a long list of system requirements for Leopard on the Apple site here.

The bottom line is you'll need a Mac with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor, 512MB of memory, DVD drive for installation and 9GB of available disk space.

Obviously some pre-867MHz G4 owners are going to be disappointed by this, but I'm quite pleased to see that Apple has made Leopard work on at least some older G4 systems as well as the new Intel Macs.

If you haven't got a DVD drive then you can get around this problem by connecting to another Mac that does have a DVD drive using Target Disk Mode, and installing it this way.

I'm also particularly intrigued by this new technical support article
here giving more detail on the requirements for iChat, which aren't quite as straightforward as they first appear.

It's confirmed, folks, Apple will provide a proper developer kit to allow companies to create applications for the iPhone and the iPod touch. It'd due to arrive in February, so hopefully we should be able to report some progress in January when MacFormat attends Macworld Expo San Francisco. Here's what Jobs had to say about the news:

Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers’ hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users. With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers.

It will take until February to release an SDK because we’re trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once—provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc. This is no easy task. Some claim that viruses and malware are not a problem on mobile phones—this is simply not true. There have been serious viruses on other mobile phones already, including some that silently spread from phone to phone over the cell network. As our phones become more powerful, these malicious programs will become more dangerous. And since the iPhone is the most advanced phone ever, it will be a highly visible target.

Some companies are already taking action. Nokia, for example, is not allowing any applications to be loaded onto some of their newest phones unless they have a digital signature that can be traced back to a known developer. While this makes such a phone less than “totally open,” we believe it is a step in the right direction. We are working on an advanced system which will offer developers broad access to natively program the iPhone’s amazing software platform while at the same time protecting users from malicious programs.

We think a few months of patience now will be rewarded by many years of great third party applications running on safe and reliable iPhones.

Steve

P.S.: The SDK will also allow developers to create applications for iPod touch. [Oct 17, 2007]

Run Windows and OS X side by side on a new MacBook, courtesy of MacFormat

This month, MacFormat has teamed up with Parallels to offer a fantastic prize for one lucky reader: a copy of the world-beating Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac and a MacBook to run it on.

For more information, and to enter the competition, click here.

iLife '08 masterclass

We have 20 packed pages on Apple's amazing iLife '08 suite, offering you tips and advice on getting the most from the apps and your Mac.

Each of the five programs has a section of the feature dedicated to it. If you're an iLife old-hand, you can see how this new version differs from iLife '06; if you've never used the suite before, you'll get to see how versatile and easy it is to use.

After you've exhausted yourself with all the iLife tips, why not take a coffee break while reading our interview with rock legend, Peter Gabriel, who tells us all about his love of Macs and his music software, The Filter.

If you have an old Mac sat around gathering dust, our feature, 'Ten things to do with an old Mac,' has some great ideas on how to find a new use for it.

Also this issue

Tutorials

Use Camera RAW
Master syncing in iTunes
Use Markers in Final Cut Express
Get cheaper, better printing
Get started with Numbers
And more…

Reviews
The new Apple iPod range
Canon EOS40D
Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus
Roxio Popcorn 3
MacAce.net MacMate
And more…

Mac questions answered
Upgrading an eMac for more power, fixing video iChat, router reboot frustrations, advice for a hesitant switcher and more…

On the DVD
Three full programs: Osk 4.3, Color Pilot 2.21, DocHaven 1.0.8, shareware, games trials, hot demos and more…

It’s all in MacFormat issue 188, on sale now!

Visit the MacFormat forum by clicking here
Subscribe to MacFormat and never miss an issue again!

Love the media browser you get with iPhoto and the other 'iApps'? Wish you could use it in other applications? Now, thanks to Sandvox developers Karelia, you can. The guys there have developed a stand-alone version of the tool that gives you access to your media libraries from any application. Best of all, it's free!

Click here to read more and to download iMedia.

Good news for Essex Apple fans. The Apple Store Lakeside will open to the public on Saturday, October 20, 2007 at 9:00 a.m. Apple Store Lakeside, Lakeside Shopping Centre, Unit 245, West Thurrock Way, Grays, Essex RM20 2ZP You'll be able to get...

We'd like to do a 'man/woman-on-the-street' podcast interview with:

(a) Someone in London,
(b) Someone who owns an iPod touch and
(c) Someone who has a WiFi account with The Cloud or T-Mobile.

If a, b and c are you then please get in touch.

We'd like to meet up with you next week somewhere in London and go through the online, WiFi experience with you in person.

You'll be rewarded for your efforts with a year's free subscription to MacFormat - so don't delay; get in touch today!

ETA: We've removed the requirement for you to have an account with The Cloud or T-Mobile; we've set up one of our own.