[Tech] SUPERDRIVE TO THE RESCUE!

(I tell ya, I'm a sucker for superhero stuff!)

Well, after the great response we’ve received from all of our readers about some of our tech pieces, I’ve gone in and kicked over the anthill in the back office to see what would happen. BIG mistake. After nursing the many tech-ant bites I got, they finally settled down and told me their tale of the Internal 8x DL SuperDrive (DVD-R + CD-RW) UJ-85J drive.

This drive (we’ll call it the UJ-85J for short) is one of the most common internal superdrives for many laptops, Mac minis and the iMac G5/intel models. The 8x DVD-R writing speed, and the 4x DVD+R Dual Layer are the same specs as the Macbook Pro 17 inch models. So for laptops you know that this drive is at the top of the game because it’s in the best models Apple has to offer currently. This drive also supports 5x DVD-Ram burning, which Apple drives do not support. With the ease of use of DVD-Ram, it adds into a great bonus for those who purchase it.

Now if you feel that the burning speed on your Powerbook/iBook is slow, it’s a great upgrade to get for it. I take that back, it’s not a great upgrade. Just because the Powerbook/iBooks have a Combo Drive only…it is a SUPER upgrade! (See, yet another superhero reference!) So, once you install it and install the patch software, it’ll work as a genuine drive for you. It works perfectly with iApps or Finder, and it can boot from CD/DVD boot discs.

Another benefit is the drive’s ability to work with OS9. Since there is no burning software currently available for OS9 (you’d have to find a REALLY old version of Toast…and you can’t purchase it normally), you’d need a drive like this if you’re still in “vintage times” and using OS9.

Since the Macbook/Macbook Pro 15inch models are smaller, they do not use the UJ-85J. They use a smaller, ultra slim drive instead. With some luck, we’ll hopefully see a SuperDrive like the UJ-85J for these models in the near future. Keep your fingers crossed, eh? :)

[Apple News] NOTES FOR APRIL 25, 2007

APPLE IN TALKS TO BRING LYRICS TO ITUNES

From AppleInsider.com

Apparently, Apple and Gracenote are in talks to hopefully bring lyrics to the users of iTunes. It looks as if their point in all of this is to be a part of a large music industry push to get rid of the independent music lyrics websites that are nothing but gigantic popup ads and inaccurate song lyrics. Likely it’ll go the same way that Gracenote and Yahoo set themselves up with yesterday in their announcement.

Last year, Gracenote set up a deal with several different music publishers to give them the digital rights to lyrics. The Chief Executive of Gracenote, Craig Palmer, said,

“…licensing lyrics should boost worldwide music publishing revenues, estimated at about $4 billion annually, with the words to songs ultimately providing as much as $100 million in annual revenues in about 10 years as the market expands with new opportunities like online subscriptions, downloads and automotive distribution deals.”

That’s a heck of a lot of revenue they’ll think that they will create just by publishing song lyrics online in a cohesive manner. But I guess it’s a fair trade to make certain that Billy can sing along to REM’s “End Of The World As We Know It” and not sound like a complete fool…and think of it, bar bets everywhere settled by the internet. Ahhh life is grand. :D



APPLE REPORTS SECOND QUARTER RESULTS

From apple.com

Today Apple posted their 2nd quarter financial results, which added up to a net quarterly profit of $770 million. Also is mentioned that 10,549,000 iPods and 1,517,000 Macs were shipped during the quarter. Not to shabby folks. :)

[Product Review] CHARGE!

One of the great things we’re doing here at YourMacStore is importing very cool and new items from Japan. These are things that you can’t get anywhere else, and those clever Japanese manufacturers are putting together some very interesting stuff these days. We all know that they’re about space saving and about versatility, so let me show you a couple of the things that we’ve got from them recently.

First up, the AKIBA Front Attack DDT drive case…ah yes, everyone loves the cool drive cases. Well, not only is it a sleek looking drive case that holds TWO external drives…notice the Firewire port on the front of it? How about the Firewire port on the back right next to the 2 USB 2.0 ports? Pretty nifty indeed! But, who are we at YourMacStore to try and sell you on this double external drive case…without throwing some cases into it? That’s right…how about a 600GB External Drive? How about a 1 Terabyte External Drive? Oooooh…bootable external drives rule! Especially ones that can store up to 1000GB of information!

What’s that? How does it stack up against the competition? Ok fair question, and rather than let y’all do your own research, Uncle Mike here has done some of it for you. Let’s compare the AKIBA Front Attack 1TB against…hmmm…how about one of the big boys on the block…G-Tech’s G-SATA 1000GB external drive. Over on their website is similar to the AKIBA Front Attack model…with two gigantic differences. The first difference is no firewire ports at all on the device (it’s got an eSATA PCIe adapter though – read: more work). The second, and by far the most important difference to price conscious users…it’s over $200 more than the AKIBA. Now who is giving you the best bang for your buck? Why YourMacStore of course! :D

Speaking of external drives, here’s another beauty from AKIBA. The . Similar in nature to the Front Attack dual external drive above (except no USB ports), if you want to have a 500GB external drive, this little guy delivers. It’s small, space-saving, and easy to set up. What? You’d like a smaller external drive? Why…err…sure! How about the 120GB Century SuperCombo 2.5, FireWire/USB 2.0 External Drive? Compact and portable, this external drive is even bus powered, so you wouldn’t even need a power cable in most circumstances.

Lastly I should mention our first AKIBA product to sell here in the US, the AKIBA ATA/133 PCI Host Adapter Card w/Cable. This little beauty is comparable with other PCI host adapter cards out there…only it’s far cheaper, and of the same quality!

Ok I’ve gone on a bit here about what cool items that AKIBA puts out…but all of you need to check them out yourselves. They’re worth your precious money and time. We wouldn’t bring them to your attention if we didn’t believe in how good they really are.

-Mike Leader

[Product Review] SILICON DISK BUILDER

I know that many of us who have digital cameras, digital photo frames, camcorders, GPS devices and even cell phones have SD cards just lying around. There’s two 2GB ones lying right over there on the other desk in my office…just sitting there unused because I’ve got an 8GB one now. Should I throw them out? Give one to a less fortunate buddy? Build a cool sculpture out of them? Nope…I can now put them to good use inside my PC. (Yes, I said PC…says the guy who deals in Mac hardware all day long.)

Well, we here at YourMacStore came across an awesome little piece of PC hardware that’s currently only made in Japan, and is pretty popular there with those folks who have 3-4 leftover SD cards that can be put to better use. Without further ado, let me present to all of you…the AKIBA Silicon Disk Builder!


Now, I know that you’re saying to yourself…I already have a 200 GB hard disk, why would I want something that’s going to give me an additional 8GB of memory? Well, let me tell you…no spinning drive on this thing for one. It is Ultra Quiet because of no moving parts, and it also produces a very low amount of heat. To top that all off, it’s “Super Anti-Shock” so static electricity isn’t its bane. But because of that Anti-Shock, it makes it quite capable as an exterior/portable “hard drive”. With a little bit of modification, you too can make this work for your PC as a simple, little portable “hard disk” that is so quiet, it makes mice seem like they’re moshing at a Pennywise concert.

The only real restrictions you’re looking at here are minor, but good to know about. You cannot combine different types of SD cards because it uses RAID-0. They also need to be installed in a group of 4 cards or in a pair of 2 cards. That’s relatively minor for those of you who have a couple of these cards lying around.

So PC users…what do you think?

[Apple News] AppleTV to land in Target stores...

As reported over on Apple Insider today, it looks like Target will join the other major electronics stores in carrying the Apple TV product. While they already carry it in their online store for sale, this is an interesting move for them. Target isn't known for it's big and flashy looking floor displays and I can tell you from personal experience (after working as a logistics team member for them many years ago) their staff usually doesn't have the technical knowledge to explain how an answering machine works, let alone a 40GB video streamer. However, with some luck and some possible employee training, this could work out for Target. Not every family shops regularly at Best Buy, and a move into a larger semi-big-box store that caters to the average family, might actually perk some sales up.

It really all depends on if Target is able to step up to that kind of retail move.