Macwingnut’s UK Mac Miscellany…

My personal pick of UK news stories for all things to do with the Mac, for the week ending Friday 4th May 2007.

This week I look at TheMacPack, Adobe Live Event 2007, Apple Store UK Expansion Plans and the Lumix DMC-FX10.

TheMacPak

This is the latest venture from UK based online entrepreneur and fellow MyAppleStuff contributor Mark Rowson.

What can I say about TheMacPak? Not very much actually, but that’s kind of the point, as the event has an air of secrecy about it!

Let me explain.

Here’s the deal 10 fantastic Mac Apps for $30 (approx £15). Where’s the catch? Well, you won’t know what you are getting until you hand over your cash. The only thing I can tell you is that TheMacPak bundle has a combined value of over $280. That’s a $250 discount!

This week TheMacPak revealed the first Mac App in the bundle, and it’s a choice between OttoMatic and Pangea Arcade both titles are from Pangea Software.

Over the coming weeks, every couple of days or so TheMacPak will reveal the next Mac App in the bundle, but with that the price increases. So we are almost due the reveal of Mac App number two on May 6th, when that happens the bundle price will increase to $35. With the reveal of Mac App number three due on May 12th it will rise to $40 and so on and so on.

In my point of view I think it’s worth a dabble. I was one of the early adopters I got my 10 Mac Apps for $30 (approx £15) that’s £1.50 an application. I still don’t know what’s in the final bundle, but for me that’s the fun part.

Learn CS 3 for FREE?

This week Adobe UK announced Adobe Live 5/6 June 2007, a FREE event to be held at the Business Design Centre, Islington, London.

Basically it’s a show and tell event to try and drum up some interest in the CS3 suite. Which in the UK is extortionately expensive!

The 2 day event has an extensive timetable of sessions highlighting the various elements of the new suite.

Who knows there may be some kind of promotion for a price reduction, details are sketchy. There may even be a chance to win a copy – you never know!

Might see you there!

Oooops late breaking news: Quark are also holding an FREE event at the same time
in a phone box next door! Tickets are limited but there’s definitely no need to book.

Ha ha ha…I’m so funny!

My Shopping Nirvana

Is it just me or do all male of the species loath shopping with their significant others. I’ve trawled many a shopping mall in a semi-zombie like state looking for that mystical pair of shoes with matching handbag!

The Apple store for me is an oasis in the proverbial desert of women’s clothing stores. It’s somewhere I can ponder, collect my thoughts, check my email and do some serious salivating!

Apple UK this week have announced they have plans for two more Apple stores in Liverpool and Glasgow.

And in my opinion the more of them the merrier!

I want a new camera and make it snappy!

For those of you who remember, a few weeks ago I posted an article about my digital camera woes. Well I received my new camera yesterday.

I’ve only had it 24 hours, but I have still managed to cram in some serious fiddling time. However, this isn’t going to a full on review. What I thought I would do is post the link to the specification here and then discuss the features that helped me decide to buy the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX10.

My reasons:

1. 6 million pixels, my old camera was 3.2 million pixels. I deliberately bought the FX10 because I very rarely print pictures. Most of my pictures are viewed online, TV or in iDVD projects. When I do print it is normally dupes for family at 6×4 or A4, 6 million pixels is more than adeqaute for this.

2. Leica lens technology. The german lens manufacturer is synonomous with quality. I hope this quality extends to the Lumix range. Reviews are very good.

3. Optical Image Stabiliser. This system uses built-in gyrosensors to detect even tiny camera movement and then shifts a lens in the opposite direction to compensate, giving you sharp, clear images without deterioration.
First test results trying to catch a shot my daughter have proved excellent so far.

4. 3x Optical Zoom. This camera is teeny weeny! How they have crammed a 3x optical zoom I’ll never know.

5. Shoots video in 16:9, this I think is quite unusual. So if you have a widescreen TV you can shoot the video to fit it perfectly.

6. SDHC compatible. These are next the gen of SD cards. Just my way of future proofing my investment as memory gets smaller and bigger and cheaper. The FX10 takes both types.

7. Very favourable reviews pretty much across the board.

8. UK Which report awards Panasonic – the most reliable camera manufacturer.

9. Build, quality, design and the teeny weeny size! See below for a size guide.

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