Los Angeles Galaxy

Alas Macworld is over for another year! No announcements regarding iLife, iWork or iTunes updates. However, Friday hasn't ended yet. It wouldn't be surprising if Apple Inc. holds off software and hardware revisions until the end of January or February when Apple TV bows.

Soccer superstar David Beckham, who has played for Manchester United, Real Madrid and England, is US-bound to the tune of, purportedly, $250 million dollars. Wonder if he'll receive a free Apple iPhone?

I'll have to content myself with an iTunes Store Music copy of JoJo's infectious, if ultimately disposable, Too Little, Too Late (Radio Version) courtesy of a Coca-Cola Music/Burger King promotion!

Took Toast 8 for a spin and the new features are worth the entrance fee! The only caveat, and this isn't the fault of Roxio, is that UK customers still can't use Toast to transfer recordings from sky+. And Apple still continues to preclude the burning of paid-for iTunes content.

This Phone Is Not A Toy

Goodbye Apple Computer. Hello Apple Inc.

With the advent of the long rumoured iPhone, Apple is, officially, a consumer electronics company. Stanley Kubrick, Gene Roddenberry and E.T. would be proud of Steve Jobs' telecommunications device and seeing Mac OS X, in a portable context, could be portentous! Does the iPhone form factor herald the shape of future iPod iterations?

Whilst the iPhone isn't available in the UK until Q4 2007. We can at least look forward to Apple TV shaking things up a bit in terms of vertical integration in the broadcasting industry (despite the limited range of iTunes movies and television series available at time of writing). There's shelf space for Apple TV next to Wii.

Sony, my other favourite brand, are you paying attention?

An Apple A Day

Almost everyone knows that the world's favourite 'toy computer' (said with irony) celebrates its 30th anniversary this year! So, we're all expecting really big things from tomorrow's Steve Jobs Keynote at Macworld Conference & Expo 2007.

For all the latest news and announcements from MacWorld, bookmark The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) and/or add Macword to Twitter.

I've written before about how stoked I was committing my cash to buy a new Intel iMac last year and, subsequently, bailing on the idea! This year I really mean it! Why did I wait? Well, that's a good question and the answer lies somewhere between socio and economic!

In time for Macworld, here are my aStore links:

Apple Shop UK
Apple Shop USA

Buy hardware, software and accessories under one roof and be assured of excellent order fulfilment (provided by Amazon). At the same time you're supporting my blogging at no extra cost to yourself. Thank you.

Opulent Tunes

Enough ruminating on the Sony BMG Music UK competition fiasco! Yesterday, I discovered that singer Nerina Pallot is from South London! Her dulcet transatlantic intonations fooled me!

Nerina sounds reminiscent of Sheryl Crow (famous former backing singer on Michael Jackson's Bad Tour). In the words of Times Online, Nerina has an 'astonishingly versatile voice' and a 'knack for alchemising half-focused images into phrases that haunt as long as her opulent tunes echo in the head'. Her album "Fires" is truly worthy of your consideration!

'80s mix master, Chris Lord-Alge (Darren Hayes' Spin), adds further snap, crack and pop to Nerina Pallot's production - you can really envisage "Learning To Breath" playing in The OC or The Hills. Chris would you mind remixing my DEF Track demo single?

Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover (MP3)

Nerina Pallot will be performing at the Acorn Theatre in Penzance on January 24th. A tempting post Birthday treat!

Beyoncé Interlude

I never heard any more from Sony BMG Music UK regarding winning tickets, in an online competition, to see Beyoncé Knowles perform live before a specially invited audience, backed by a 12-piece band, on an outdoor stage at BBC Television Centre last November!

Over the New Year weekend BBC 2 showed highlights (in SDTV and HDTV formats) of the Beyoncé concert. The one-off show looked and sounded spectacular. An acoustic arrangement of Irreplaceable was particularly effective.

No follow-up calls or an explanation has been forthcoming from the Sony BMG Music UK offices! Don't you think I deserve some form of compensation? My B-Day is on January 23rd and I await concert tickets and a backstage VIP pass. Thanks in advance Sony BMG Music.

New Year Toy

A very warm welcome back. This year marks the 30th anniversary of a certain Skywalker space opera and the release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard amongst many more memorable moments!

Mac Users can now download my all-new RSS Dashboard Widget for Mac OS X 10.4.3 and higher. This is the first in a proposed series of Widgets created using Apple Computer's Dashcode Beta. All feedback is welcomed.

The Twitter Machine

John Chow included my review of his blog. Thanks John. Does this mean that I'm now a fully-fledged Chowderhead? Congratulations to the winning entry, submitted by Jennifer Lynn of Broken-Ass Student, which was well deserved.

Maury McCown, over at RAILhead Design, is adding the finishes touches to his TwitterPost application (for Mac OS X). Twitter (direct link to my page), for those of you not in the know (myself included until recently), is a global community of friends and strangers answering one simple question: What are you doing?

This is my final post for 2006. See you in 2007.

Sleigh Ride

Part two of my Review of the Year.

*Album - Future Sex / Love Sounds. Justin Timberlake (aided and abetted by Timbaland) finally puts to rest any doubts as to the identity of the new King of Pop! Runners up: The Sound Of Girls Aloud: Greatest Hits (Girls Aloud) and Loose (Nelly Furtado).

*Single - Promiscuous. Nelly Furtado's stellar follow-up to Maneater needs no introduction! Runners up: Fergalicious (Fergie) and Rock Steady (All Saints).

*Movie - Adrift. An unrelenting study of fair-weather friendship set against the backdrop of the ocean. Runners up: Superman Returns and Pirates Of The Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest.

*DVD - Dungeons & Dragons. Runners up: Doctor Who - The Complete Series 2 Box Set and Lost - The Complete Second Series.

*Television Drama - Battlestar Galactica. Last year's winner recaptures the number one spot with the coolness of a Cylon agent! Runners up: Bones and Lost.

*Television Sci-Fi - Doctor Who. No change. Runners up: Battlestar Galactica and Torchwood.

*Merchandise - Doctor Who - Tardis Electronic Playset. Character Options continues to produce products worthy of everyone's favourite Time Lord! Runners up: Marvel Legends and Star Wars Transformers.

Oh Happy Day

A few weeks ago, I was reading Darren Rowse's ProBlogger post - Increase AdSense Earnings with Competitive Ad Filter - and, as Fortuna (AKA Lady Luck) was on my side, followed a link from this post - New Google Ad Placements - to John Chow dot Com! John Chow was extolling the virtues of using the Competitive Ad Filter to increase AdSense earnings.

Prior to this, the name John Chow meant nothing to me! However, John has clearly masterminded the art of near-transparent monetisation and is prepared to share his considerable and, by extension, invaluable knowledge with others.

Since adopting the Competitive Ad Filter (using AdsBlackList.com), my earnings have increased from a few cents to dollars per day! I certainly have much to learn from John Chow and am now an avid reader of his blog.

You could do worse than read both John Chow and Darren Rowse's online money-making musings.

Stay Another Day

Still stumped for last minute gift ideas? Why not send Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates to family and friends?