More $100 laptop news

Nicholas Negroponte at MIT's Media Lab announced the specs of the upcoming $100 PC aimed at developing countries:
500Mhz processor, 12" colour display (which can switch to a sunlight-friendly e-book monochrome display), 1Gb memory (serving as both RAM and storage I'm guessing), Wi-fi (with mesh network support), Linux and specially developed non-bloat software. Good luck Nicholas - looking forward to the prototype due on November 15th. Due to ship end of 2006.

How to use Google Secure Access on Mac OS X

Google Video - pretty cool - UPDATED

Anyone can submit their video content to Google for inclusion in their new video search engine (provided they own the video & audio copyright, and it's not obscene). The content plays back using an embedded Flash player, so no downloads are required (and it works on Windows, Mac OS and Linux). This is great - free bandwidth for video content that's easily searchable and viewable by the public. In fact, the US TV network UPN has uploaded the pilot episode of a new TV series called "Everybody Hates Chris" for 4 days. An interesting experiment! There are plans to allow content creators to charge for certain clips, but for now everything is free. Try searching for "david beckham copenhagen"...

UPDATE: The "Everybody Hates Chris" link only works if you're based in the US. One way to get around this is to use the Google Secure Access VPN. Normally this is a PC-only app, but I worked out a way to use it on a Mac and will post a how-to soon.

Apple develops iTunes for Windows Mobile 5.0?

Could be an elaborate fake, but a German website has posted images of what it says is a developer build of iTunes for Windows Mobile 5.0. Have a look, and drop me a comment below with your verdict...
REAL or FAKE?

Apple Store Trafford Centre - first pictures!

Here it is - the confirmed location of the new Apple Store in the Trafford Centre. Upstairs, between Dolcis and Clinton Cards. You can see the location on the map where the yellow dot is - half-way between Selfridges and HMV. Grand opening still on for late November, but the size of the unit suggests something more like the Bluewater store than the London store. No theatre or glass staircase for the Mancunians.

Second Life membership now FREE!

This one passed me by - but the online virtual world 'Second Life' has now made membership free. The idea is to get you hooked, so you'll buy 'land' within the game. Best bit about Second Life? Works with PC and Mac!

Apple Store Trafford Centre 'Opening Soon'

For the first time, The Trafford Centre themselves have now confirmed the imminent (mid-Nov?) arrival of the Apple Store on their website.

Top 10 TUAW Stories of all time

If you haven't already checked out TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog), you should head over there right now. It's a nutritious source of Apple goodness that I ingest more than once daily. They have the same great Weblogs Inc. interface as Engadget, with a humorous take on all things Steve. In particular, their coverage of Apple conferences and events is second to none. They also continuously drop hints and tips to make life as a Mac user even easier (which is saying something!)

More after the jump... (I've always wanted to say that Engadget-style!)
Here are my favourite stories from the boys and girls at TUAW. Think of this as a rough guide to the great work going on over there:

- Happy Birthday, Woz (Laurie) - it's important to remember our forefathers, and Laurie really does Woz proud with this post!

- Mighty Mouse: Multibutton-esque Apple Mouse (C.K.) - a great example of what TUAW does best: initial reactions to Apple announcements that resound with everyone. Thankfully the "Mac apocalypse" didn't follow...

- First things first (Laurie) - a fresh face is added to the stellar line-up. Definitely my favourite blogger on the site with her own unique perspective on life with Apple (and, like me, can't image life without Apple!)

- Apple II cluster computer (Dave) - weird and wacky stuff from the Apple blogosphere is reported frequently. This post begs the question "WHY??!??!"

- Mend your iPod's firewire cable (Dave) - when they go through something traumatic in their Apple-filled lives, they take you with them!

- Mac news goes mainstream? (Laurie) - well spotted Laurie! It is fantastic how much coverage Apple receive, and can only lead to more and more people discovering just how great the Mac really is.

- Apple Everywhere (C.K.) - remember the first Apple you bought? I'm a relative newbie, doing the switch in Summer 2000 with an Indigo iMac 350. Before then, the case was constantly removed from my PC to solve yet another hardware conflict, and I never had more than a day's uptime without one problem or another. Oh how times have changed (thank you Jonathan Ive and co!)

- New Intel Chips - Apple's Ace in the Hole? (David) - this post goes to show how all angles are covered: the Intel switch was covered brilliantly by TUAW, with both the "Yay" crowd and the sceptics getting equal coverage.

- Chessic Update (C.K.) - he finally admits to being a nerd! Aren't we all?!

- Scott McNulty (Scott) - Check out Scott's 'biography'. Philadelphia's Most Influential Blogger writing for TUAW - who knew?! ;-)

Hey, TUAW! If you ever need a Manchester UK correspondent (the upcoming Trafford Centre store is only five minutes away from me), then iChat me!

Marvbloke

Apple Store Trafford Centre - November opening

ifo Apple Store reports: "The opening of the future Trafford Centre (UK) retail store has been pushed back by about two weeks, to mid or late November."

Webchat now available

Notice the new Userplane box in the right-hand pane? Enter a username (anything will do - no need to register) and start chatting now with like-minded gadget freaks! Feedback on this new feature is welcome in the comments...

It's official: Pro Evo 5 is a Net Play game

As this picture of the box art shows, the new Pro Evolution Soccer 5 game for PS2 (due out October 28th) will be an online game! This is the first time I've been able to find any definite confirmation. Pre-order yours now!