Mac OS X only: Dashquit is an elegant response to an niggling issue many Mac users have known for years—that the Dashboard widget screen, while awfully convenient sometimes, can also be a memory-sucker. When activated, the Dashquit widget shows you how much memory the Dashboard feature is using at the moment, and offers a big, bold “Stop” button to shut it down (after confirmation). It’s basically a graphical way to perform the terminal commands that shut down Dashboard, which is going to be a lot more convenient for many folks with less memory. Dashquit 3.0 is a free Leopard-only download and uses 50% less memory than it predecessors, but a 10.4-friendly version can also be found at the link.

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written by Jose Castillo

What’s that? You didn’t take the risk and upgrade your PC to some crappy Intel-based machine Microsoft may or may not have known wouldn’t run Vista as promised? Well, at least now you can get in on the latest version of Windows a little cheaper than yesterday: Ultimate full looks to be officially headed down to $320 from $400, and the upgrade is down to $220 from $260; Home Premium is now at $130 from $160. Will the dip be enough to entice plenty of new OS upgraders? Perhaps, but we think most of those that haven’t already upgraded will probably just wait until their next PC so they can get Vista “free”. But if you’re looking to buy it boxed though, give it a bit for the new prices to propagate through the retail network — not even Microsoft’s site reflects the new Vista price points.\

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written by Jose Castillo

Apple’s 1.1.4 firmware update for the iPhone and iPod touch just hit the wires, courtesy of iTunes 7.6.1.9. Nobody knows what exactly is in store (SDK support, perhaps?), so obviously those jailbreakers out there might want to hold off while the braver souls among us give it a shot. For the record, no SDK has hit Apple Developer Connection yet, so take that for what you will. So far those who’ve successfully updated haven’t seen any changes, but we’ll keep you posted. So far the entire official word from Apple on the release seems to be “Bug fixes.” Typical.

Update: So far we’ve tested 1.1.4 on a jailbroken 1.1.3 iPhone and a non-jailbroken 1.1.3 iPhone, and had zero problems with either, including intact music libraries after the procedure — your mileage may vary! We went through all of the system settings and can’t spot anything new. Multiple sources are claiming ZiPhone works, but it’s not fully tested and may be a little wonky at this point, so proceed with caution.

Update 2: Well, ZiPhone claims to have worked, but there aren’t any icons for our installed apps, and we can’t uninstall or reinstall. Also, it’s worth noting that since this is a rather hefty update in terms of file size, and yet added features seem non-existent, our best guess is that this paves the way for an SDK in the coming weeks.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

written by Jose Castillo

 Break out the champagne, that Apple spec bump you’ve been waiting for is finally here: the 2GB iPod shuffle is shipping as of today. It’ll set you back a cool $69, but if you’ve decided to hold of on this round of lackluster MacBook updates, we’re guessing you’ve got the cash. Go ahead, you’ve earned it.

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written by Jose Castillo

Well, the rumors were right on target — new MacBook and MacBook Pros are finally here! Unlike the very minor updates in November, this refresh features across the board speed bumps, bigger hard drives, more stock RAM and for the MacBook Pro, a few new features sure to make every Apple fan’s mouth water. Both lines are now featuring the new Penryn Core 2 Duo chipset, with the higher end MacBook Pro models taking advantage of a spectacular 6MB of L2 cache.

MacBook

The price configuration is the same same (starting at $1099 US for the non-Super Drive white base model, $1499 for the BlackBook), but the base features have received a nice upgrade. The significant changes:

• Processor speeds now start at 2.1 GHz for the base model, 2.4 GHz for the $1299 and $1499 models
• 120 GB drive is standard for the base level MacBook, 160 GB for the $1299 MacBook and a whopping 250 GB drive for the BlackBook. All drives are 5400 RPM
• 2 GB RAM standard for all but entry-level MacBooks (that remains at 1 GB)

MacBook Pro

• Processor speeds now start at 2.4 GHz, and are available up to 2.6 GHz (2.5 GHz is standard for the 17″); the new 2.5 GHz chip has 6 MB of L2 cache
• The MBP 17″ now has an LED backlit screen option
• 200 GB is the starting HD size (this is up from 120 GB in the last revision), 250 GB standard for the upper 15″ and 17″ models. A 300 GB drive is available BTO, as is a 7200 rpm 200 GB drive
• NVidia 8600GT now starts at 256 MB of VRAM — 512 for the higher end 15″ and stock 17″
• Multi-touch trackpad a la the Air.

All in all, some very nice updates — particularly for the MacBook. The basic specs for the BlackBook and entry-level MacBook Pro are so similar, I have to think the MacBook is the better deal for anyone who doesn’t need the dedicated graphics card.

Update:
As the commenters have pointed out, the Apple Remote is no longer included in the box. That’s right, you know have to spend an extra $19, for what I think is one of the most convenient Mac accessories. With $18 billion in cash, you’d think they could throw in something that we all know probably costs $0.30 to make. Oh well.

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written by Jose Castillo