BindApple

Did you manage to decide what present you want for Christmas, or at least what you're going to buy for your family and friends? You don't have to answer to that question, because I think it's always better to have more choices available, and even if you got all the needed presents already, a good deal for the geek in you won't hurt, I can bet on that!

I guess the image above should make the entire cheap Macintosh software story much clearer, since MacUpdate is probably the largest Apple software store on the Web, and the fact they got a special winter design for its "MuPromo.com" special offers site with the occasion of this Christmas promo shows we're talking about serious things. How serious? Well, that's what we're going to see right away...

Just as a side note, I am tired of seeing so-called "bargains" in December, just after pushing the prices up at least 50-60% in the previous months, but MacUpdate's Holiday Bundle is far from such a trick - just think about being able to buy software worth $447.69 for only $49.99! If that can't be called "a real bargain," then I don't have any idea what could be considered a good deal...

The bundle mentioned contains the following pieces of cheap Macintosh software: KeyCue, MacPilot, WhatSize, iVolume, RapidWeaver, LittleSnitch, MacGourmet Deluxe, VirusBarrier X5, Drive Genius, and Default Folder X, so almost everything is nicely covered. After all, we have a few great system utilities, including a file manager, a "cooking software" for those who like to plan and cook their own meals(hell yeah!), a HTML editor, and even an antivirus!

These being said, I conclude by saying this awesome Holiday Bundle can be purchased for another 10 days, and - if the tiny price offered is not enough - you will get a bundle free for each 3 you purchase! 10,672 bundles have been sold so far, and the counter is still moving...

First of all, I have to tell you I have nothing to do with MacMall - I only spotted some cheap Apple products that you may be interested in, and now I am giving you the news, that's all. After all, it seems everyone is looking for good deals these days, and what could be better than cheap Apple products in the aftermath of the Black Friday?

The deal goes like this - although most "Black Friday specials" were discontinued on Saturday morning, MacMall decided to make their Black Friday last no less than 4 days, so the cheap Apple products they started selling on the 5th of December will be available for those low prices until 11:59PM, on Monday, the 8th. Below, you have the most tempting products, at least from my point of view:

- the 8 GB iPod Touch is available for $199.99, and you can also get free engraving, if you want!

- the Mac mini starts at $543.99, and comes with the following freebies: Parallels Desktop 4.0, Epson Stylus Printer, Toast 9 Basic, and even free shipping!

- the iPod Nano also comes with free engraving, but you'll even get TuneRanger and a Leather or Silicone Case for free, while the pricing starts at $134.94!

- the MacBook Air starts at $1,149.99, and also comes with a bunch of freebies, including the ones available with the Mac mini, as well as a carrying case.

All right, this is ending here for me, since these are the cheap Apple products I would grab, but since there's more to MacMall's time-limited offer, you should go ahead and check them all out for yourselves. Happy shopping! ;)

While viruses are still having problems entering the Mac world, spam knows no frontier. As long as you're using an email service, you're going to be targeted by spammers, sooner or later, so finding some software to act as antispam for Mac is a must, and today I will help you by pointing my finger at SpamSweep.

Coming as a Universal Binary for PowerPC and Intel-based Macs, so with full support for any Mac running Mac OS 10.3 or later, "SpamSweep is an advanced bayesian spam filter with a simple, easy to understand interface. SpamSweep seamlessly combines many filtering technologies, including domain and relay blacklists, sender whitelisting, and a bayesian filter to automatically delete spam messages before they're downloaded by your email client."

The main features of the program, as described by Bains Software, its producers, are these:

- Extremely high accuracy.
- Filters quietly in the background.
- Works with most major email clients.
- Easy to use interface.

Priced at $25, SpamSweep just reached version 1.6.1, so if you're being overwhelmed by emails telling you about various lottery winnings, pills, anatomic enhancements, and so on...you should give this program a try! ;)

If you're using the iPhone to surf the World Wide Web, then most chances are you'll end up using Flickr sooner or later, if you're not one of those crazy about it already. Why use it? Just look at this - "1,715 uploads in the last minute · 6,292 things tagged with fresco · 2.2 million things geotagged this month," and all numbers are rising, of course!

Created by Ludicorp and owned by Yahoo! Inc., Flickr was born in February 2004, and grew up to host more than 3 billion images, and about 40 million unique visitors a month. Considering the impressive numbers above, it's obvious that having good support for iPhone is a must, and that's exactly what just happened...

...since "Yahoo has formally launched an updated version of Flickr optimized for mobile phones and with special formatting friendly to the iPhone, including a newfound ability to watch streaming videos," as AppleInsider reports.

What we have here is not a completely new iPhone Flickr, but a retouched version of Flickr mobile, now able to work flawlessly with all smartphones having Web browsers such as any Firefox, Opera or WebKit variant, but Apple's touchscreen devices(the iPhone and iPod Touch, of course) got special attention from the team behind Flickr.

The new Flickr mobile now has a bunch of finger-sized controls just perfect to be touched, and the best part of it all is that iPhone & Touch users will be able to watch Flickr videos without any worries about the lack of Flash support of their devices!

I don't know how is this iPhone Flickr working for you, so if you want to drop a comment below with your impressions, be sure to do it - I am eager to find out more about your experience with Flickr mobile on Apple's devices!

These days, a lot of European countries are not doing that great, with businesses running from a place to another, factories closing down here and there, and so on. Some call this a crisis, I only call it "cooldown," but - as usual - Apple is swimming against the flow. No, they aren't going to open some new production facility in Germany, but the first Apple German store doesn't sound too bad either, don't you think?

Well, our story about the first Apple German store goes like this - if you remember some news from last June, you may even remember those reports about the 4 story construction to become Apple's first retail store in Germany. To be honest, I don't remember those reports well, but now we have the real thing - this Saturday, you'll be able to attend the opening of Germany's first official Apple Store, on Rosenstraße, in Munich.

Unfortunately, there's no word out yet about commemorative t-shirts("Hallo, Ich Bin Ein Mac," anyone?), and the entire opening ceremony seems to be a myst shrouded mystery.

As a side note, since we talked about the first Apple German store, let's see what's happening in the US, with a quick and interesting rumor - Wal-Mart is expected to sell a special edition 4GB iPhone 3G for only $99, alongside two-year contracts, of course.

Just one more thing - if you happen to arrive at the big opening this Saturday, please try to get a T-Shirt for me, too. Pretty, pretty please! Thanks in advance! ;)