The Commercial Times has posted a recent report giving some production idea's on the forthcoming Apple Intel iBook. The report states that the unit will be produced by Asustek Computer Inc, and production being limited to 1.2 million initially. The only limiting factor at this time will be the production and delivery of the LCD 13.3" panels. These will be sourced from AU Optronics Corp and Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp as well as South Korea's LG Philips LCD. The production and delivery will be approx upto 50'000 panels per month, beginning in April, and the whole unit is expected to go on sale in June.

With this new notebook by Apple you can accomplish all of your computing needs wirelessly at a reasonable cost, under $1000. The new iBook G4 is a fast powerful notebook with speeds up to 1.4 GHZ. It has built-in wireless capabilities and a powerful DVD burning drive. The iBook is very impressive with its power and flexibility for everyday work and play. It comes with the complete suite of Apple's iLife 2006 applications. You can also edit and organize your movies and photos while on the go. With the operating system you get Spotlight, the fastest search that lets you find anything as fast as you can type it. The iBook is thin and light with the 12 inch model weighing only 4.9 pounds and the 14 inch model weighing 5.9 pounds.

Included with the new iBook:

• Mac OS X Tiger Operating System
• Built-in wireless with BlueTooth Technology
• up to 1GB DDR RAM
• up to 60 GB Hard Drive
• Combo and SuperDrive DVD and CD-RW drives

So you can't wait to get your hands on the touch screen technology for iMacs. If it's easy for you to shell out $2,275 or $2,675, then head on to Troll Touch's Valencia, California facilities to get your new full-touched enabled 17- and 20-inch iMac Core Duos. If you're running low on funds, then have your iMacs converted for only $869 and $1045, for the 17 and 20 inch iMacs, respectively. The prices already include both outbound (to the facility) and return shipping. 

"Troll Touch seamlessly integrates its PSR-1 touch technology on a variety of Macs, including the iMac, eMac, iBook laptops and the Apple Cinema displays. The company's touchscreen technology operates with any non-sharp pointing device, such as a stylus, fingertip or gloved hand."

You only need £13.99 to give some love to your iPods. So, give it what it deserves.

We just want to send a kudos out to California's Miramar High School who managed to install three thousand iBooks in less than 3 days. The installs included the configuring, install and delivery.

For those of us who cant quite fathom the amount of work these guys put into this project, check out the pictures.

 
Even if this isn't a world record it sure is impressive. Good work guys!

The Invisible Shield was originally designed to protect helicopter rotor blades from the hard elements. Or so the story goes. Now they're making this amazing coating available to consumers for protecting anything and everything you can imagine that could be scratched or gouged.

I've got one on my iPod, and it's amazing. Anyone who's seen an iPod under regular use knows that they scratch if you look at them wrong. I'm super careful with mine, and it still ended up with small scratches. After applying the Invisible Shield, I toss it around without a care in the world. It really is THAT good.

I came across recently, that they also sell protective skins for camera LCD screens. I've got one on order for my Rebel 350D already. If you're interested, they also offer many cell phones' protection, as well as gaming systems, such as the PSP, and Nintendo DS.

Wow, I guess University High Board of Trustees members really do love their student body. According to reports, two trustees, Scott Jones and Charles Lanham, have stepped up to donate enough money to fund the entirely worthy venture of supplying all students and teachers at the school an Apple laptop.

The students in Carmel, Indiana will be receiving their laptops in August and will be given plenty of flexibility as to when and where they can use the machines on campus. They will be using the computers to access their files, send e-mails, download music and software, and get homework done. Families will be given the option to buy the laptops and retain ownership when the school term ends.

Where were these guys when I was in school?

I'm a bag fiend.  I am always on the prowl for a better bag to carry my PowerBook/iPod/whatever and have a graveyard of perfectly good bags to prove it.  Then one day I happened upon bags by Spire USA.  I honestly don't recall how I found them, but I'm eternally glad that I did (as is my wife who doesn't have to listen to any more excuses for new bags laying around the house). 

At the time, I was sporting a 17" PowerBook, and finding a bag to handle my Apple-goodness wasn't easy.  Enter Spire.  Their Endo XL was built for 17" notebooks (of which, the PowerBook was the only one at the time), so I took a closer look.  The materials and build quality were superb, and it could carry my computer with plenty of room to spare for programming books, iPods, cables, and pretty much anything a self-respecting geek could need to lug around.  The icing on the cake was how comfortable it was, even when loaded down with all the crap I deem necessary on a daily basis.  Oh - and the bags even come with hard, padded, removeable sleeves for the notebooks to live in while inside the bag!

I've had the bag for a couple years, and that's a real record for me.  For one, because I haven't found something I've liked better, and two, because it hasn't worn out!  I did have one stitching issue, but under its lifetime warranty, I sent it to the [local] Boulder, CO based headquarters and had it fixed in no time at all. 

Whether you're into messenger-style bags or backpacks, they've got you covered.  So what's your favorite bag?

Citigroup analysts see a very high likely-hood of Intel based 'PowerMacs' ('PowerMac' being in quotes because the 'Power' portion comes from the IBM-built PowerPC chips.  PowerBooks with Intel processors are now MacBooks Pro.  'PowerMac' is expected to be replaced with a similar naming scheme...) announced at the World Wide Developer Conference in August of this year.  Typically the WWDC is in June, but Intel's announcement of certain new chips being available in August and then Apple's subsequent WWDC data announcement seem too conspiratorial to overlook.  It is expected that August will mark the final conversion of Apple's line of computers to the Intel platform.

Citigroup goes on to muse that Intel-based iBooks and the long-rumored 6th generation large screen video iPod will come to light as early as April.  April 1st marks the 30th anniversary of Apple Computer.  Watch for a media event from Apple right before or right after April Fool's Day - not for fear of dis-belief, but because April 1st falls on a Saturday this year.