Following up on a complaint that was posted at the Apple forums, a disgruntled and slightly confused Xbox 360 owner found that, among other things, his console isn't compatible with Apple's 802.11n Airport Extreme Base Station. And no, this isn't another Apple vs. Microsoft issue.

As time passed, Jamie Green, the complainant, figured out that if he disabled the Wi-Fi security protocols, only then does the Xbox 360 recognize the network. What's notable is that one participant, Warren Hoffman, claims his Wii and the Playstation 3 can recognize the APX secure network.

Microsoft support claims that Apple's routers are not recommended for Xbox Live, although there are also claims of reports that D-Link and Linksys router owners have complained about Xbox 360 issues, too.

Perhaps the old wired solution is a sure-fire way to get connected for those Xbox 360 users. Wired networks have wider bandwidths, anyway. And perhaps Microsoft can resolve this issue like last time.

Are you a Mac aficionado who just so happens to think that searching for alternative energy sources - i.e. the sun - is the only way that us humans can hope to extend our stay in this big bad galaxy? If so, then you better hope you have US$ 180 to spare. According to Treehugger.com, that's the estimated cost of the home-made, portable solar kit that Pat, a blogger from Will Blog For Experience, used to power his MacBook. Here's what Pat himself said:

This kit weighs about 2 lbs, costs $180, and will power my Macbook for 1.75 hours (1.83ghz, browsing the web and checking email via Airport Extreme, bluetooth off, screen brightness about 70%) with a little more than 5 hours of good sun.

Frankly, this gadget is one hell of a good idea. An initial expenditure of a hundred and eighty bucks seems like a pretty big amount, but just the thought of how much we'll be able to save in the long run certainly has an appeal, plus, when folded, the whole thing really seems quite easy to lug around. And it's not just for MacBooks and other laptops, too. We reckon you can use this portable power source for a whole host of other gadgets. Check it out for yourself. Images of the environmentally-friendly doodad are available below.

 

Good news!!! Previously a rumor, AppleInsider confirms that the Wi-Fi card in your Apple Intel-based Core 2 Duo iMac IS 802.11n ready! This means your stylish, spankin' Apple desktop can enjoy all the benefits of next-generation Wi-Fi connection! The catch? You owe Apple five bucks (or US$ 4.99, to be exact). Either that or get the new AirPort Extreme Base Station, itself 802.11n-enabled. Do that however, and you'll owe Steve Jobs ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY NINE BUCKS for the AirPort and the 802.11n. Take your pick.

Yes, Virginia. Apple has been quietly shipping your iMacs to you with such advanced capabilities, without telling you about it. To enable it, though, will require a patch that will begin shipping next month when the new AirPort comes out. But why the nominal five dollar fee? (But the cheapskate in this writer replies: Nominal my butt!)

AppleInsider offers an explanation from iLounge editor Jeremy Horwitz, based on talks with Apple reps. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act prohibits companies from selling products without advertising their features, and there are financial/accounting penalties for doing so. 802.11n was unadvertised, but as AppleInsider confirmed, it's there, in the box, and all ready but for one measly patch.

The five dollars (or five dollars from the US$ 179 of Uncle Sam's notes) might be part of that accounting penalty - to balance the books, so to speak. If it didn't collect the additional fee for the unadvertised next-gen Wi-Fi feature, Apple could be held liable for improper accounting, Horwitz says.

Hey, no one wants an Enron - even over five dollars a patch.

Even though the iPhone made quite a bang at the recent MacWorld, it's still quite interesting how some other items have almost slipped quietly past everyone's attention. So, while you're all ogling at some iPhone images, let us divert your attention to the AirPort Extreme.

Shipping this February for US$ 179, the AirPort Extreme Base Station is a wireless router that provides a secure network for you and 50 other peers. It's five times faster and covers twice the range/distance of the previous 802.11g standard. The device is clocked at 802.11n wireless technology, but all the same, it's still compatible with other devices using the previous Wi-Fi standards.

Built with the same Mac philosophy as Apple's other products, the AirPort Extreme is easy enough to set up and find a place to tuck it into. In fact, this would go well with that new Apple TV that you might be planning to get.

For more info, tech specs, and/or to place your orders, click the "Read" link below.

You gotta love rumors confirmed. Mac OS Rumors started combing the grapevine and all their sources clean of whatever juice they could squeeze out, until they were able to confirm that the "MacBook Thin" (a) exists, and (b) has specs that (c) would probably make the "Thin" "the fastest, most feature-rich ultraportable laptop on the market". Probably because it's a Pro in a smaller package.

Here are the specs that Mac OS Rumors were, so far, able to confirm from American and Southeast Asian sources. Start drooling.

• "Macbook Thin" -- spec-wise, primarily a variant of the Pro family but will probably be branded as separate from the standard *or* Pro MacBook families. Shipping name is unconfirmed.
• 12-inch widescreen display, 1280x800 resolution.
• 2.16 or 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors
• 1GB of DDR2-667 memory standard. Max. capacity 3GB.
• Standard "Pro" ports: USB2, Firewire 400 & 800, Gigabit Ethernet, Digital/Analog Audio minijack I/O ports.
• ExpressCard expansion slot (believed to be /34 type)
• Similar storage to "Pro": 2.5in SATA HDDs at 120GB & up, 'Combo' or 'Super' optical drive.
• ATi Radeon Mobility X1600 or nVIDIA GeForce GO 7600 graphics systems with 256MB of VRAM.
• Mini-DVI display connector with full second display capabilities
• Of course, Built-in iSight, stereo microphone, Airport Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR.
• Battery life is expected to be "best in class" at about 6.5 hours real-world, some reports have suggested up to 8 hours is possible.

Final speculation has the "Thin", or whatever they're going to call it, shipping within ten weeks, announced in six. What keeps this speculation iffy is the fact that the upcoming MacWorld Expo is so packed with other high-profile items - such as iTV and the iPhone - that were the "Thin" announced there, it could easily get lost in the shuffle. Not that it won't be noticed by a lot of people who'd love to get a MacBook in smaller dimensions.

The September 12 opening of the Paris Expo and that little surprise event in San Francisco is only a few days away, yet apparently the new iMac can't wait. Apple's gone and announced the up-gunned iMac earlier than expected - media outlets and professional Apple watchers, including us, were guessing the lineup would be announced during either September 12 event. So "12" won't be a number to associate with the iMac.

But two numbers to associate with the iMac are "2" - the Core 2 Duo processor - and 24 - a new 24" screen that caps the high-end version of this latest lineup (And isn't it curious that 2 x 12 = 24? But enough of the math). Apple claims that 64bit Core 2 Duo iMac outpaces its Core Duo predecessor by up to 50%. No need to specify the benefits of the larger screen.

Besides 2 and 24 (and 64 and 50%), here are the other numbers on the upgraded iMac, all involving dollar signs:

• $999 - 17" / 1.83GHz / 512MB RAM / 160GB HD / Combo / Intel GMA 950
• $1,199 - 17" / 2.0GHz / 1GB RAM / 250GB HD / SuperDrive / Radeon X1600
• $1,499 - 20" / 2.16GHz / 1GB RAM / 250GB HD / SuperDrive / Radeon X1600
• $1,999 - 24" / 2.16GHz / 1GB RAM / 250GB HD / SuperDrive / GeForce 7300GT

All versions will include the AirPort Extreme, and versions that cost $1,999 and up will also feature Bluetooth 2.0. However, there's no word on whether Apple will also upgrade the education iMacs.

Reports say that they also decided to upgrade the last of the Core Solo Mini's heart to the 2 Duo as well, eliminating the Core Solo sales lineup and throwing in a new 1.83GHz Core Duo Mini into the mix. Them Cupertino boys do know how to surprise us.

Apple's new Mac Pro will have a new AirPort card. For those who aren't familiar with it, the AirPort is a wireless networking card. There's already been an AirPort and an AirPort Extreme. The new card is the "AirPort Express."

Dang it! I keep typing "Airport" instead of "AirPort" ... what the heck is up with naming GadGets and ProgRams with CaPital LetTers StuCk in the MidDle of words! Anyway, back to the AirPort Express.

What will this mean for Apple users?
Apple has chosen to go with Broadcom's 802.11a/g BCM4311 chip for the new AirPort Express. This might be a sign that Apple's gearing up to start supporting the 802.11a WiFi standard. You see, 802.11a operates at around 5GHz, and some people report that the WWDC had a 5.8GHz network up during the keynote. But not everybody likes the faster 802.11a because even though 802.11a is faster, it's not compatible with the already popular 802.11b and 802.11g.

Will Apple use the faster 802.11n?
Not yet. The IEEE (the global Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) has scheduled the 802.11n WiFi standard to come out sometime in the middle of 2007. While many believe that Apple will be among the first to try it out, you all just have to learn to wait.

If 802.11a is faster, why doesn't everyone want Apple to fully switch to it?
Both b and g work at 2.4GHz, and this is also the frequency of many cordless phones, so you interference messing up your WiFi. The 802.11a works at around 5GHz so there's no problem with interference, and it also sends and receives more data (usually five times faster than 802.11b).

So if 802.11a is faster, shouldn't it be common sense to adopt it? Not really. For those who are not familiar with the ways of WiFi communication, 802.11b was the standard before 802.11a and 802.11g (we know; it's weird that the version after "b" is called "a," but that's how they did it). The 802.11a is not backwards compatible with the already popular 802.11b, although a lot of new technology has come out that smoothes over the compatibility problems.

The new AirPort Express has Broadcom's 802.11a/g BCM4311 chip, and 802.11g is backwards compatible with the existing 802.11b/g setup that many people have.

AirPort is a local area wireless networking system from Apple based on Wi-Fi and is certified as compatible with other 802.11b devices. Now of course, products from a major company would be costly. There is just no way around it. An AirPort Express Base Station would cost you $129.00, while it would be $70 more for the AirPort Extreme, add to that tab the AirPort Extreme card coming in at $79.00. You don't have to say it. A hefty price tag, I know.

Thankfully, there are daredevils like Mark Hoekstra from Geek Technique, that is willing to go the extra mile to look for cheaper alternatives. In this tutorial that he made, all that you need is a Lucent WaveLAN Orinoco Silver card and a lot of patience.

Those that want to try this how-to, just make a note that Mark's iBook is a dual-USB with 600MHz G3 and 384MB with a modified keyboard. Now that you have the bulk of what you need, let's get to it.

This would be the first of the things to go in your card. Remove the black plastic from the card. According to Mark, he wanted to do it with care but unfortunately, the only way to remove it is to pry it open.

Check out the rest of the steps after the jump!

Free Trade Agreements have been, in most ways, a disaster - at least to the workers of the world. (CEOs of transnational corporations are laughing all the way to the World Bank aboard their private jets with gold-plated bathroom fixtures - but that's a whole other rant).

However, Apple Computer (admittedly an offender as they offshore their manufacturing away from the U.S.) encountered an awkward situation earlier today - which a carefully and well-thought out Free Trade Agreement might have helped them avoid.

When their corporate website went down earlier today for a few hours people speculated that some upgrades were being done. Actually, it was a case of "downgrading" the site.

A number of features and products, including iSight Camera and the AirPort Extreme base Station had to be removed from Apple's European website. The reason: these products were not in compliance with E.U. regulations.

One can only guess at the nature of those regulations, and perhaps some of our European readers can shed some light on this matter. It is a fact, however, that unlike the U.S., most countries in the E.U. protect their industries. It was something that the U.S. did prior to 1980, and resulted in the nation becoming the leading industrial power on the planet. A quarter century of "neo-conservative" economic policy has changed this dramatically. The recent fall of the U.S. dollar against the euro, as well as an Iranian plan to start trading oil in euros rather than dollars are only two consequences of these policies.