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Apple and NBC feuding at a really lousy time

Yikes, Apple is playing hardball with NBC.

It's too bad this tiff broke out just now because the fall NBC line-up looks sweet from the geek perspective. Along with Heroes and Battlestar Galactica (on NBC-affiliated Sci Fi Channel), there's the new Journeyman, Chuck and the Bionic Woman. (I'm watching press screeners of the latter three shows this weekend, so more on those later.)

But none of the above will be on the iTunes store. Bummer.

Update: They'll be on (ugh) Amazon Unbox, though.

My old faves the Flamin' Oh's in Mears Park

Way back in the 1980s, when I was a wee college lad and recent grad, I was wild about such local bands as the Wallets, the Suburbs and the Flamin' Oh's.

So you can just imagine how much fun I had with my college chum Phil Kaupa and our families when the Flamin' Oh's bid summer adieu last night in downtown St. Paul's Mears Park.

I like the Oh's newer "I can Tell" nearly as much as my all-time fave, "Stop."

Both tracks are available online. Thank heavens for iTunes, you never know what gems you'll unearth there.

Apple back in Best Buy chain in a major way

My pal Jim Akin and I checked out Apple's new ministores at the local Eden Prairie and Richfield Best Buy stores -- the focus of a story I wrote for today's St. Paul Pioneer Press.

We liked how those Apple displays mimic Apple's own retail stores. but we had a few nits to pick. I couldn't check my e-mail on display Macs, which is a given at Apple's boutiques. I could access Web sites, just not Web-mail sites. What gives?

And Jim noticed that Mac-hardware purchases don't include an AppleCare option. I insist on that when buying Apple hardware, and accept no substitute (such as a Best Buy care plan).

Other than that, the Mac experience at Best Buy is quite nice, from what I could see (just don't plan to get an iPhone, at least not yet).

A fellow local tech blogger had a dissenting opinion a while back, but I think this was prior to the current, more-elaborate and self-contained displays going in.

Related: "Just a Thought -- Apple's New Best Buy 'Shops' "

Apple press confab: New iPods likely Sept. 5

New iPods on Sept. 5? Looks likely, per a press invite that just hit my inbox (image above, text below):

Please join us at Moscone West in San Francisco on September 5 at 10:00 a.m. Registration begins at 9:00 a.m. Arrive early for this invitation-only event.

I try the latest, greatest Bluetooth headsets

I'm not a bigtime mobile-phone user (never owned one), so it stands to reason I'm not a bigtime wireless-headset user. I'm puzzled by those who wear the bulb-y things on their ears for hours at a time.

But, as the Tech Test Drive columnist hereabouts, It's my duty to check out the latest, greatest headsets -- and that's just what I did.

Online video honors combat troops, families

You've seen all those "support our troops" bumper stickers.

Well, a local nonprofit group actually does that, in a big way, by writing checks to combat troops and their families as a gesture of thanks, seemingly without strings attached, and with no apparent political motive.

Now the Minnesotans' Military Appreciation Fund has also created a YouTube video in the troops' honor. Here's a piece I wrote on the front of today's St. Paul Pioneer Press. See the video, along with more sample images, after the jump.

AT&T comes to its senses, trims iPhone bills

AT&T has been absurdly itemizing every bit of data activity on iPhone paper bills sometimes running into the dozens or hundreds of pages. Ridiculous.

But the wireless carrier has finally come to its senses and sent out the following SMS (I just got it on my loaner phone):

AT&T free msg: We are simplifying your paper bill, removing itemized detail. To view all detail go to att.com/mywireless. Still need a full paper bill? Call 611.

So, what the heck is on the way, iPod-wise?

So what's coming on the iPod front? It's safe to assume new models will be somehow iPhone-like. And that likely means some kind of Mac OS X variant on the devices, as Apple has done with the iPhone and its Apple TV.

AppleInsider fearlessly predicts:

Apple Inc. will use a media event next month to unveil a new breed of iPod digital music players that have been injected with the company's most vital asset -- the Mac OS.

Meanwhile, the Web is abuzz with images of a purported future iPod nano that Apple legal reportedly ordered removed from various sites. But a Gizmodo artist rendering remains (above).

Update: Apple event on Sept. 5?

Carbonite will match Mozy with Mac version

After I wrote about online-backup services and lamented Carbonite's lack of Macintosh compatibility (compared to the dual-platform Mozy), I received the following from the Carbonite folks:

Julio: I read your recent piece on storage and backup in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. We’re getting close to launching a beta of Carbonite’s Mac version.

Also, we also have a major new PC version coming out this week (v3.0) that is even simpler to use than the original Carbonite. 

Thanks for the mention in your article. I hope we can convert you over to Carbonite at some point! Regardless, it’s great that you’re writing about the industry. People need to think about protecting their data -- It’s a nasty surprise when the hard drive goes.

Agreed. 

By the way, My pal Jon Gordon is having mixed results with Mozy after I turned him on to the service: 

Trying Mozy, but it's flaked out on me twice. It starts a backup, runs for a long bit (up to one day) but then I get an error message saying the backup failed. I'm not terrible impressed so far. Also trying the free .Mac trial, which looks good, but the trial data-storage limit is too small to be useful to me.

Besides, Jon notes, Mozy is $60 a year for unlimited storage, compared to $99 a year for only 10 gigabytes on.Mac. 

If I I'm not interested in the other features of .Mac, Mozy would seem to be a clear winner on price (if i could get it to work).

Mozy online backup: Macintosh vs. Windows

In today's Tech Test Drive column, I wrote about the Mozy online-backup service. It happens to work with Macintosh as well as Windows.

The Mac and PC versions aren't identical, though, so mind these nitty-gritty distinctions (per a recent e-mail exchange with Mozy):

We do not yet offer a Mac version of our professional, business version called MozyPro. So businesses, resellers, corporations and OEM partners cannot administer Mozy to Mac users in their organization just yet. But we will be offering this soon.

Most of your readers are consumers, however, and we do have a nice Mac version for them.

The second major difference is that Mac Mozy does not support open and locked files. This is because of limitations in Mac OS X, not because we don't want to.

Third, Mac Mozy leverages Spotlight search to create customer backup sets. Mozy for Windows allows users to create custom backup sets, as well, but Mozy doesn’t leverage Windows or Google desktop search.

One other item to note: Mozy for Windows allows users to restore their files via Windows Explorer (e.g. “In-shell” restore). Basically, users can right-click on a file to restore a previous version, or they can see what looks like a virtual Mozy drive on their computer, and browse the selection of files they have backed up.

Mac Mozy has a restore via the Mac Mozy client itself, which does NOT require users to visit the Web to restore their files. In other words, both Mozy for Windows and Mac Mozy provide a way for users to restore their files from their computer without having to visit www.mozy.com.

Both also give users the choice if they are traveling to access their files from the web, and both offer a DVD-restore option.