After a few delays, Apple's Time Capsule is finally here! It took a while, but let's hope all previous problems that caused the delay have been solved, and everyone will have a smooth ride backing up their data on this handy wireless network-attached storage device. Just think about the fact that the Time Capsule was introduced in Steve Jobs' keynote speech on the 15th of January, so it's good to see it shipping, after almost one month and a half, don't you think?


If you don't remember about the Time Capsule, then let me refresh your memory a little... Basically, we're talking about a 802.11n AirPort Extreme router that has a built in server-grade hard drive. This device works with Apple's Time Machine software to help you perform automatic wireless backups of one or multiple Macs running Mac OS X Leopard.

Currently, on Apple's site you can find the 500GB Time Capsule, priced at $299, as well as a 1TB setup, sold for $499. To find out more about the device and, maybe, order your own, feel free to visit the official product page, here.

Published for the first time between 1768 and 1771, in Edinburgh, the Britannica is currently the oldest English-language encyclopaedia still in print. Obviously, as the media moved from the offline to the online realm, Britannica followed the trend, releasing its online version, which can be visited here. Now, I just found out about a link between Britannica and Apple's iPod, and I think this is interesting enough to let you know about it, so here we go...


The iPod is, basically, a portable media player, but with the latest models (the iPod touch, to be more specific), it became more than just that - you can play games, use various software applications and, most important, connect to the Internet.

Considering the above, Britannica's engineers released an application for the iPod touch and the iPhone to bring the encyclopaedia one step closer to those using them, no matter where are they, as long as the gadgets are in place.

What we're talking about here is a web-based application with full text search capabilities and thousands of high resolution thumbnails, everything being optimized for cellphone bandwidth.

"People today want information wherever they go. They want to satisfy their curiosity the moment it's aroused, whether they're on a train, in a restaurant talking to friends, or watching a sunset on the beach. Now we can get answers to them in ways that weren't possible before.", said Dan Smith, senior vice president at Encyclopedia Britannica.

As I was saying a few days ago, the iPhone SDK has been delayed, but the good part is that, according to latest news, we may see it appearing in the first week of March, and not by the middle of the month, or even towards its end. Now, Apple announced a media event called "iPhone Software Roadmap", and while its name doesn't give any hints about an early SDK release, I wouldn't bet on that...


Apple sent the following message to various analysts and members of the media - "Please join us to learn about the iPhone software roadmap, including the iPhone SDK and some exciting new enterprise features.", inviting them at the "Town Hall" of the company's Cupertino campus, at 10A.M. Pacific time. In the same location, thy introduced the Intel-based Mac mini and Hi-Fi iPod back in February, 2006, as well as the aluminum iMacs, last August.

Other than the above, there's nothing else to say. In fact, since only a handful of people were invited, the rest of us will have to wait until 6th of March, afternoon, so we can get a clear view of what happened. Until then, my guess is we'll see the iPhone SDK before the 13th of March. What's yours?

Some time ago, the iTunes software surpassed RealPlayer's market share, and now the iTunes Music Store is aiming the first spot in the music retail market. That's a very interesting evolution, because according to latest reports, the iTunes Music Store is breathing down Wal-Mart's neck already...


Right from Apple.com, here's the news:"Apple today announced that iTunes is now the number two music retailer in the US, trailing only Wal-Mart. The iTunes Store — now with over 50 million customers — has sold over four billion songs. In fact, it sold an incredible 20 million songs on Christmas Day 2007 alone. And with over six million songs from all of the major and thousands of independent labels, it offers the world’s largest music catalog."

Do I have to add anything else? After climbing above Best Buy and Target, the iTunes Music Store will probably go higher than Wal-Mart later this year, if the current growth rate is maintained. Well, I guess we'll look back in late 2008 and say "it seems we were right, now Apple's first music retailer in the US"... or not?

Fortunately, it seems Bubble Bash wasn't quite Apple's surprise for this Tuesday, and I say it this way because, to be honest, it was simply something too small for them. The good news arrived less than a day after the game for iPod, as the new MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops, something everyone has been waiting for a while already...


Basically, it's all about moving to the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors, so you won't get to see any MacBook or MacBook Pro as thick as the MacBook Air, but there's plenty of time for this to happen. These being said, let's check the technical specifications of the latest MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops, shall we?

The MacBook has the same pricing, starting at $1099 for the non-Super Drive white base model, and $1499 for the BlackBook, but processor speeds start at 2.1GHz for the base model, and 2.4GHz for the $1299 and $1499 ones. The storage solutions used are 5400rpm "classic" hard drives, starting at 120GB for the base model, and going up to 250GB for the BlackBook. At last, all models get 2GB of memory, apart from the entry-level MacBooks, still having 1GB of memory in the default configuration.

The MacBook Pro got a few extra features, when compared to its younger brother, with processor speeds starting up at 2.4GHz, and up to 2.6GHz. The new 2.5GHz, the default one installed on the 17-inch models, has 6MB of L2 cache. The 17-inch MacBook Pro has a LED backlit screen option, hard drives range between 200GB and 300GB, and the video adapter is using the NVIDIA 8600GT chipset, starting at 256MB of video memory. Last, bot not the least, the new MacBook Pros have a multi-touch trackpad like the one available for the MacBook Air users.

The MacBook Pros are priced between $1999 and $2799, but these are the prices for standard configurations. If you want to go higher, I am sure that's not a problem...

All MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops are shipping with Mac OS X Leopard and Apple's iLife application suite, adding some extra value to your purchase, as it always happened with Apple's desktop and portable computers.