Stan's List

The Ghost and the Darkness, starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas, contains guns and predators that attack in the darkness. A marked difference from last week’s Hours. Is this a plan to alternate movies for a variety of interests? All for the good.

VLC, the most renowned media player (yes more than QuickTime), supports a lengthening list of video formats. What I find interesting is the VLC has been a 1.0 or a 5.0 release for a long time. In the past I felt it necessary to convince you that VLC was not a beta program. The current version is for 10.3.9, 10.4 and 10.5

This update addresses issues with wire-bound books and cards.

You can install via Software Update or direct download

iTunes will by now report the update. Not much information from Apple, other than bug fixes and possible security patches.

Various other sources report that the update includes:

• Fixes the missing keystroke problem
• ZiPhone works with this release
• No features apparent
• Prepares the ground for the iPhone SDK

Install via iTunes or direct download

While DVD’s made in Taiwan are recommended, most are made in China. Well, that may change. The SF Chronicle reports that inflation has driven up prices so that iPods may even cost more. Will plant investment be driven to Indonesia?

China must also be worried about the possibility of a recession here, as they have considerable invested.

With a week to go, according to BusinessWeek, the iPhone SDK could be delayed an additional 1 to 3 weeks. There should have been a media announcement by now. usually made before important Apple releases.

ars technica reports there is an update coming for Office 2008 and this is what is delaying the XML converter for Office 2004. in the mean time, Office 2008 can save in Office 2004 format. Both Pages from iWork 08 and Leopard’s TextEdit can open Office 2008 files TextEdit will lose formating. Lastly, MS’ beta converter is successful for some.

Never wanting to revel too much, iTunes 7.6.1 includes several bug fixes and improves compatibility with Apple TV software version 2.0.

Apple has also started offering a movie for the weekend, at a $0.99. The first movie is The Hours.

In case you were wondering, Apple has a matrix of file size and estimated download time. Your internet connection will determine download time, but even so some of the estimated download times cause me to pause. With a 1 Mbit/s connection a two hours movie could take up to 2 hours to download.

With flash memory quite cheap, Apple has announced the 2 GB iPod shuffle for $69, which is the same price as was the 1 GB model. The 1 GB iPod shuffle is now $49, each holding 500 and 240 songs respectively. While the 2 GB model is due toward the end of the month, the price of the 1 GB model is already $49