There are a whole bunch of Mac software bundles out there, with users able to snag a selection of shareware at a bargain price. However, the PMC Bundle is different: you make a selection from a diverse array of software, negotiate an offer, pay the agreed price to the Pan-Mass Challenge (a cancer charity) and then get all your apps in a download bundle.

It's a real win-win—you get a bunch of software at a potentially bargain price, and a cancer charity gets some cash. Be quick, though—there are only a few left of many of the applications on offer!

Vote now in Future’s 10th annual .net Awards

Internet users across the globe are being asked to come forward and have their say about the best and worst of the internet, as voting opens for the 10th annual .net Awards.

The public vote for the .net Awards 2008 is now open at www.thenetawards.com and runs through until 13th October 2008.

The influential.net magazine has held the awards annually since 1998 and celebrates the best in web design and development, mixing public opinion with those from a leading global panel of online gurus, including experts from Yahoo, Microsoft, Adobe, the BBC and many more.

In 2007, the .net Awards attracted their largest haul of votes ever, Google led the way with two awards, including ‘innovation of the year’ for its map service, Google Earth. Russell Brand’s popular BBC Radio 2 show scooped ‘podcast of the year’ whilst Facebook beat its rivals to scoop ‘socially powered site of the year.’ MySpace collected the dubious honour of ‘infamy of the year’ with judges condemning customisation features which often led to ‘eyeball-bleeding’ design.

Celebrating its tenth anniversary – the .net Awards are the UK’s longest-running Web awards. With 16 categories ranging from Best Redesign of the year and Viral Campaign of the year, through to the Infamy award – a chance to name and shame those ruining your web experience. Visitors to www.thenetawards.com can vote on as few or as many of the award categories as they wish.

.net Awards 2008

Interactive site of the year
Web application of the year
Socially-powered site of the year
Mashup of the year
Blog of the year
Podcast of the year
Vodcast of the year
Mobile site of the year
Design agency of the year
Innovation of the year
Web personality of the year
Viral campaign of the year
Standards champion – best use of accessible design
Open source application of the year
Best redesign of the year
Infamy award

Editor of .net, Dan Oliver said:

“The .net Awards give web users the chance to vote on the sites, services and people that they believe have made a serious impact in 2008. Our Awards combine nominations from the public and the opinions of more than 30 leading industry figures, making a .net Award the ultimate seal of approval!”

For more information and the chance to vote, visit www.thenetawards.com

In this edition of MacFormat This Week...

Deputy editor Christopher Phin joins host Brad Gibson to review Apple's replacement for the .Mac internet services suite, MobileMe; and following the launch of the App Store, we turn the spotlight on six of the very best applications you can download for your iPhone and iPod touch. Plus, Trevor Middleton answers your technical support questions.

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.

This month, MacFormat has teamed up with Motorola to offer eight readers the chance to win ultra-lightweight MOTOROKR S9 headphone bundles. The included iPod adaptor syncs your iPod with the S9 over Bluetooth. With your mobile phone synced, too, the S9 will pause your iPod’s playback so you can take the call, and take you back to your music afterwards.

Weighing barely an ounce, the S9 is lighter than most sunglasses. The behind-the-head form and small earbuds (1.3cm) help provide true comfort even during extended use. The water and sweat resistant design is ideal for jogging. Integrated touch-sensitive buttons give you control over volume, track browsing and calls. Play your music or answer a call by simply pressing the buttons on either side of the headphones.

The S9 will connect with any brand of Bluetooth-enabled phone or music device that supports Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) and Audio Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP).

For more on Motorola’s Bluetooth products and huge range of mobile gear, please visit www.motorola.com

To enter this competition please click on this competition link.

The next issue of MacFormat will be our two hundredth, and we'd like to invite you to help us celebrate our bicentennial with a little nostalgia.
We'd like you to record a short video – no more than 60 seconds – telling us what your Mac-using life has been like over the past two hundred issues (we launched in 1993) and beyond. It could be about the magazine – have you been reading from the start? miss any of the old team? have a favourite feature that we once ran? – about the Macs that you've had over the years, about favourite moments in Apple's history... in fact it can be about pretty much anything Mac- or magazine-related you like!

How to shoot
If you have QuickTime Pro you can simply create a new video recording and capture straight from your iSight camera, and while you're welcome to break out an HD camera to shoot a scene worthy of Ridley Scott, what you have to say is much more important than what your video looks like. iMovie 06 also allow direct recording from an iSight or connected FireWire camera.

How to submit
Upload your video to YouTube and tag it with macformat200 – that way, anyone will be able to click on this link and, when people have started uploading their memories, we'll all be able to browse and enjoy them.

What we'll do with the videos
We'd like to put your videos on our coverdisc, and to showcase them on our website and Facebook group. To give us permission to do this, email us a link to your video on YouTube; doing so confirms that you give us permission to use the videos in these and other ways in promoting the magazine and its bicentennial.

Get shooting, folks! We're excited to see what you come up with!

For those of you who have Facebook accounts, there is now a MacFormat group on the site. Head here to join.

In this edition of MacFormat This Week...

We've focussed on an often-ignored topic for the Mac community in this episode of MacFormat This Week: security. We're joined by Sophos's senior Mac software engineer Graham Lee to talk about protecting your data, and editor Graham gives us the low-down on a new, free antivirus app for the Mac. Plus, Craig Grannell picks some of the best new shareware titles, and Trevor Middleton answers your technical support questions.

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.

Win a complete set of iPod accessories from Griffin

This issue, to celebrate the latest range of Griffin iPod accessories, we’ve been given a boatload of prizes to give away in our competition.

Four prizes are on offer. The main prize is a superb Griffin Evolve speaker system with a brand new iPod nano, plus a range of accessories for playing your iPod in the park, your car, or just about anywhere you can think off. Three runners-up will take away an iTrip Auto with SmartScan – an excellent in-car FM transmitter that won a MacFormat Choice Award a few issues ago.

Griffin is at the forefront of iPod accessory technology. The SmartScan is the first transmitter we’ve found that really nails automated station scanning, and the Evolve system also broke ground with its wireless speakers. The cube speakers charge on their base, but then lift off. The range is wide and you can add extra speakers, too.

The main prize reflects different areas of Griffin’s product range. There are iPod cases, earphones, power supplies, a sports armband, FM transmitters and speakers. For a complete look at Griffin’s range, please visit www.griffintechnology.com.

To enter this competition please click on this competition link.

Thought I'd do a bit of cross promotion for our sister title Digital Camera Magazine's Photographer of the Year competition. It's the leading contest for anyone with a passion for digital photography and is open to both amateur and professional photographers of any nationality. Its aim is to reveal the most inspirational and imaginative photographers from around the globe. Last year, the competition attracted more than 81,000 entries from around the world.

It’s completely free to enter and there is a main prize of £15,000 up for grabs.

There are ten categories, these include the usual: People and Portraits, Animals, and Landscapes. We have a few interesting categories this year, Hidden Britain which should expose the real character or spirit of Britain, Creative Vision; the 'anything goes' category and there is Urban which can open doors for bringing ordinary city locations to life and reflecting everyday scenes in a new way.

For more info, go to www.photographeroftheyear2008.

There is also www.youngphotographeroftheyear.com for people under the age of 17.

iLife expert

Become an instant master of iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD

WE all love iLife, but for many people it’s much more than a fun set of programs – it’s a key part of their everyday work. Our main feature shows you how to become an expert with the suite of apps, including easier iPhoto management, great tips for movie-making with iMovie, getting more professional results from GarageBand and then exporting and saving your finished project with iDVD, iWeb or MobileMe.

Elsewhere in the magazine, we investigate iPhone 3G and tell you everything you need to know about Apple’s second-generation iPhone. Plus we take an in-depth look at Microsoft’s Office suite and show you the wonders it can do with your word processing, spreadsheets and presentations.

Also this issue

Tutorials
Improve a group photo in Photoshop Elements
Master OS X’s Dictionary
Create the perfect Mac setup
Keep your laptop secure
Protect your Mac from viruses
And more…

Reviews
Realmac Software RapidWeaver 4
onOne Software Essentials 2 for Apple iPhoto
Western Digital My Passport Studio 320GB
Epson Perfection V200
Penax K200D
Group Test of six Mac email clients
And more…

Mac questions answered
Divert data from a Mac mini; fix iMac fan problems; strange media on PowerBook; screen sharing with a MacBook Pro; missing sidebar section on Macs; strange characters on iWeb pages and more…

On the disc
Three full programs: Spectasia 3, Artist’s Butler 2.8 and Stomp 1.3 plus Greek lessons, Flash CS3 training, freeware toolkit, hot demos and more…

It’s all in MacFormat issue 198, on sale now!

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

You can download the issue 198 Disc cover for printing out here.

In this edition of MacFormat This Week...

We take you on a guided tour of one of your Mac's hidden gems, the Dictionary. James Ellerbeck joins host Brad Gibson to review a brace of entry-level DSLRs and a handy little audio utility. Plus Trevor Middleton answers your technical support questions.

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.

Over the past couple of years, we've seen a slew of shareware bundles, but the problem with each of them is the same: there are always a number of apps you're not really interested in. Although the bargain-like nature of the bundles means this isn't a major issue, Mac Mix is trying a different method. It offers 29 apps over five categories, and the more of them you buy, the bigger the discount—up to 75% if you grab a dozen.

As always, there's some dross lurking, but Xyle Scope, Witch, TextExpander, iConquer and DrawIt are all decent apps. Grab all five and you still net a 40% discount. Be sure to use the 'lite' version of the website, though, to avoid the hateful standard version, which spangs back and forth when you check app descriptions.

You can download the issue 197 disc cover for printing out here.

I don't know about you, but for me the 'upgrade' to MobileMe has been shambolic. The switchover was delayed, the online web apps have been sluggish, and I found myself acquiring a whole new Sent and Drafts folders on my MobileMe email server that necessitated some protracted message moving. Outlook sync has been a bit weird and unless I'm missing something incredibly obvious, I can't so far see my server-side Sent and Drafts folders in Outlook on my MacBook's Vista partition to allow me to save sent and draft messages.

At least, however, I've just been pinged to let me know that the MobileMe update is available which should, I hope, make things run a bit more smoothly on the Mac side at least.

How about you? What's the transition been like?