A PC including display for £53? Well I can do one for £121...

Nicholas Negroponte at MIT is developing a $100 PC for developing countries. It is portable and has a 14 inch colour display. The catch? You can only buy them in quantities of 1 million or more.
RED HERRING | The hundred-buck PC

This got me thinking: Is it possible to build a PC for £53 using off-the-shelf components? Or even £100? Apple managed one for £339 (without a monitor, keyboard or mouse). Now it's Marvbloke's turn to have a go. I'm going to aim for a more realistic £100 PC.

I'll use EBUYER. Their cheapest barebones PC is £46.80. Processor £36.58. Memory £9.48. Hard Drive £23.81. Keyboard, mouse and speakers £4.49.
Grand total: £121.16 ex VAT.

So what do you get for that? Here's the spec:
Intel Celeron 2.26GHz Processor
128Mb RAM
40Gb Hard Drive
Midi Tower Case
Keyboard, mouse and speakers
Linux operating system

What you don't get:
Windows (XP Home Edition for £47.82)
A display (17" CRT monitor for £49.99)
Optical drive (CD-ROM £5.99)

Interested?! Place your orders now...

New Apple Powerbooks launched

Faster processors (1.5 or 1.67GHz G4), 512Mb memory as standard, Bluetooth 2.0, 8x superdrives and a new trackpad scrolling feature. Interesting to note that even in a regular speedbump to a product line, Apple have added some more innovation. The trackpad scrolling is interesting - you use two fingers at a time in the direction you want to scroll, so you're not getting cramp in your hand trying to scroll.
Apple - PowerBook G4

Free face-to-face technical support at Apple Stores

Apple's retail stores really are the best retail experience out there. The Genius Bar is one feature that contributes to that. Read this story about them (CNET News.com), and reaffirm your faith in retail!

iPod shuffle in stock in Manchester! Get one now!

Marvbloke has finally managed to get hold of an iPod shuffle 512Mb. Other Manchester-based interested parties should contact the good people at GBM AppleCentre who have beaten all other Manchester retailers to it. Sorry Dawson's and Micro Anvika - but GBM are the daddy.

The lost 1984 Mac launch video

Now you can see for yourself one of Steve Job's earliest keynotes. On January 24th 1984 at the Flint Centre in Cupertino, California, Steve Jobs unveiled the "Apple Macintosh". This amazing computer had 128Kb of RAM, no hard drive and a 9 inch monochrome display. It was the first mainstream computer to have a mouse, windows, icons and a clipboard facility to 'cut' 'copy' and 'paste'. It retailed for $2495. Bear in mind it's main competitor at the time was the IBM PC-AT which cost $4000 and didn't have a mouse or any graphical interface - you had to type your commands on a text screen.
Listen for the audience "whoops" when the Mac displays a 3D chess board in glorious 2-bit monochrome!
Good to see that Jobs has since swapped the dinner jacket and bow-tie for a turtle-neck and jeans.
I've converted the (rather large) original video into 3GP format which you can watch now using QuickTime or transfer to a compatible mobile phone.
The lost 1984 video - Marvbloke's 3GP version (2.58Mb)
The lost 1984 video - the original version by Scott Knaster

Home videos turned into DVDs from just £15 per tape

Another posting on craigslist:
Home videos turned into DVDs from just £15 per tape

Home PC Problems Solved - quick, easy, friendly service

Marvbloke now advertises on craigslist
Home PC Problems Solved - quick, easy, friendly service

SkiFree - the only redeeming feature of the Windows platform

Remember SkiFree? It came as part of a free games package from Microsoft to accompany Windows 95. The original programmer has his own website where you can download it and try and beat my all-time record of 28 seconds on the slalom.
The Most Officialest SkiFree Home Page

Laws of Physics broken - invention can 'see through walls'

I double-checked the calendar, no it's not 1st April. So is this story really true???
Hurtubise says invention sees through walls - BayToday.ca

Water powered clock and calculator?

These have to be seen to be believed. Do they really run for 2 months using just normal standing water? How?
Real Goods

Four-week wait for iPod Shuffle

Surprise surprise - demand has already outstripped supply on the new iPod shuffle, as punters now have up to 4 weeks to wait for their orders. This situation is mirrored in all countries, so it's not like the iPod mini supply problem when Apple prioritised US customers over international ones. Marvbloke is waiting patiently for his 512Mb iPod shuffle, and will update you on it's whereabouts as the weeks go on.

New! Subscribe to Marvbloke! - UPDATED

I've added a couple of new features on the right-hand pane of Marvbloke entitled 'Subscribe to Marvbloke'. The 'Bot A Blog' link allows you to receive free email alerts when changes are made to Marvbloke (which is now working - please leave comments on this feature). The 'XML' link is for more advanced users who may have their own RSS-newsreader application they like to use.

Apple - QuickTime - Macworld San Francisco 2005 Expo Keynote

Watch it here.

MacWorld keynote vs. Marvbloke

So how did Marvbloke do with predicting the MacWorld keynote?. Not too badly...

• New entry-level Mac £299? Will it have TV-out enabling use as a sort-of "media centre"?
  Mac mini: Is actually £339 and has no keyboard or mouse. No TV out. But very small.
• New entry-level iPod mini £99? 1Gb? Use of AACplus to squeeze even more songs on it?
  iPod shuffle: 1Gb model is £99, but there's an even cheaper 512Mb model at £69. USB pendrive form-factor and no display. No sign of AACplus, so it stores 120 or 240 normal-sized songs.
• Current 4Gb iPod mini increased to 5Gb for the same price?
  No.
• Motorola/Apple phone announced?
  Was demonstrated. Haven't seen it yet.
• iPod games available to download?
  No.
• Apple own-brand iPod speakers?
  No.
• Airport Express 2 with proper remote/display?
  No.
• iWork '05 productivity suite (including Keynote 2) to replace the aged AppleWorks on all new Macs?
  iWork '05: Includes KeyNote 2 and Pages (a new design-friendly word-processor) for £49. I'd say it's positioned half-way between AppleWorks and Microsoft Office. Not bundled with new Macs.
• iLife '05 announced with 16:9 support in iMovie/iDVD?
  iLife '05: £49 or free with new Macs. 16:9 support in iMovie and iDVD - and some nice new features in GarageBand 2.
• Tiger release date announced? Will it include iWork and iLife?
  No. And no. But Apple have posted a lot more information on Tiger on their website including demos.
• Doom III for the Mac demoed by Aspyr?
  No.
• iTunes Music Store extended to Ireland and Australia?
  Ireland: Yes, a few days earlier. Australia, no.
• New Apple Stores announced in the UK? Manchester? Birmingham date?
  No.

Keynote will be posted by Apple at 2am our time tomorrow morning, so I may update this post then.

Best programme on TV - Dragon's Den

If you didn't catch last week's opening episode, make sure you watch this week. Dragon's Den is a 6 part series which allows budding entrepreneurs to pitch their business ideas to a panel of 5 multi-millionnaire investors. Think of it as Popstars for the Financial Times crowd! Tuesdays, 8pm BBC2.
More info here:
BBC - Dragons Den - Homepage

'iHome' pictures and video - fake or real?

This could be the new low-cost 'headless' iMac G4 previously rumoured. Someone with a camera phone has very kindly snapped and video-recorded the opening of a box marked "iHome Media Centre". Could be fake though - shouldn't "centre" be spelled "center" as it is a US product? Also in the video, the product appears to have very little weight to it, as though it is a cardboard box with ports/slots printed on it. Also, the box it comes in could be the iMac G5 box with 'iHome' stickers put on it.
Make up your own mind then let me know via the comments below whether you think it's real or fake:
'iHome' pictures and video

New iPod to have FM radio built-in?

Lindsay Lohan has spoken on TV ("Access Hollywood") about filming an advert for the "Apple iPod Radio". More info below.
Mac OS Rumors :: The Original Mac Rumor Site.

Life Is Random - new 1Gb iPod?

The Italian website Macitynet has some exclusive images of banners being erected at MacWorld in San Fransisco. They show the slogan "Life Is Random" suggesting the new 1Gb iPod selects 240 songs at random from your iTunes library every time you connect it to your computer. I would guess there is a manual option as well.
The Italians also took some photos INSIDE the Moscone building but were requested to delete them by staff:

We cannot show the images of the new iPod because we were forced to delete them from our cameras, but we can describe it. It is without any screen (that's maybe because the slogan is "Life is random!"), small, with a shape more vertical than the other iPod. The color is white, and it seems like a small remote control that fits confortably in a single hand.

View the article in Italian or translated into English.
See more of my MacWorld keynote predictions here.

Apple sort-of confirms rumours by suing the source

The recent MacWorld rumours (particularly the £299 entry-level Mac (Q88) and iWork) have been given extra credibility by Apple's move to sue Thinksecret.com. Should make for an interesting MacWorld next week!

Q88 or not Q88 - that is the question

Finally - a story on the recent $500 low-end Mac (codenamed 'Q88') that is based in reality:

Yet the launch next week at the Macworld exhibition in San Francisco on 11 January - where Mr Jobs is the keynote speaker and where he has for years announced new products and initiatives - could turn out to be a damb squib because online rumours sometimes run away from the facts.

Well I wouldn't expect anything less from 'The Independent'.

Apple drop their prices

Apple have just updated their UK prices as follows:

• iBook G4 now starts at £699
• iMac G5 now starts at £899
• Power Mac G5 now starts at £999
• PowerBook G4 12" now starts at £1099
• Displays reduced to £699 (20"), £1249 (23") and £2099 (30") - MASSIVE reductions

They've also introduced a new 2.3GHz Xserve G5 like the ones used in the Virginia Tech supercomputer. See them all at the Apple UK Store. Looks like the price drops are a result of the weaker dollar and lower LCD production costs.

DVD recorder highly recommended

Santa delivered as promised a brand new Philips DVDR70 DVD Recorder. It can record up to 6 hours on a blank DVD which can then be played on a normal DVD player. The only problem I'm having with it comes from the way it handles widescreen recordings. If I record a widescreen programme on Freeview (from a Sony IDTV) and play it back on the DVD recorder, it works perfectly well and correctly switches the TV into "Wide" mode. However, if I use a different DVD player (which normally switches to "Wide" mode for commercial DVDs), it remains in 4:3 mode, so everyone is tall and thin. Although this can be fixed by manually switching to "Wide", it is a pain, particularly when playing it back on 4:3 TVs or Apple's DVD Player app (which can't change aspect ratio).
Other than that, I'm very impressed with the technology. No longer in its infancy, it's good to see DVD+RW as a strong contender for DVD recording. I particularly like to rename and edit my recordings to remove the stuff at the beginning and the adverts in the middle. You can even choose a still frame to use as the index picture on the DVD menu!

Happy New Year! MacWorld next week...

My first post of many in 2005. Only a week to go until the most important date in the Apple calendar. Steve Jobs gives his keynote speech (or "SteveNote" as it is affectionately known) at the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco next Tuesday 11th Jan at 9am Pacific time (that's 5pm UK time). If previous years are anything to go by, Apple will provide a live QuickTime feed of the keynote here (at the moment it points to October's U2 event).

Here are my SteveNote predictions:

• New entry-level Mac £299? Will it have TV-out enabling use as a sort-of "media centre"?
• New entry-level iPod mini £99? 1Gb? Use of AACplus to squeeze even more songs on it?
• Current 4Gb iPod mini increased to 5Gb for the same price?
• Motorola/Apple phone announced?
• iPod games available to download?
• Apple own-brand iPod speakers?
• Airport Express 2 with proper remote/display?
• iWork '05 productivity suite (including Keynote 2) to replace the aged AppleWorks on all new Macs?
• iLife '05 announced with 16:9 support in iMovie/iDVD?
• Tiger release date announced? Will it include iWork and iLife?
• Doom III for the Mac demoed by Aspyr?
• iTunes Music Store extended to Ireland and Australia?
• New Apple Stores announced in the UK? Manchester? Birmingham date?

After the event, I'll repost this list to see which (if any!) came true.
By the way, I popped into the Apple Store Regent Street on New Year's Day and got my first glimpse at iPod Socks! So they really do exist!! Looks like you get all 6 colours in each box, but only the first one has an Apple iPod tag. Weird.