Digital City Podcast

Episode 51 of the Digital City, where we deconstruct the PSP Go, discuss some new MacBook rumors, and wonder why the Palm Pre has already gotten so many price cuts.

It's also the second week of our new live Monday afternoon timeslot, so remember to adjust your schedules accordingly.

Related links:
>>It's 'PSP No' for converting old UMD discs
>>Rumor alert: New MacBooks only weeks away
>>Wal-Mart sale: Pre for $79.99

>>Watch the Digital City live every Monday at 3pm EST on CNET Live!
>>Subscribe to Digital City on iTunes
>>Join the Digital City Facebook fan page
>>Need more? Follow Dan on Twitter!

(Credit: TwelveSouth)

Apple has created a monster. No, we're not talking about growing iPhone sales or the success of its imposing chain of retail stores. We're talking about the almost oppressively beautiful design of the product packaging and marketing of Apple products. In addition to the acclaimed look of Apple products themselves, their boxes and accompanying packaging border on the obsessive. Laptop boxes unfold gently and present fitted trays. iPhone boxes unfurl like Chinese puzzles.

It's no surprise, then, that Apple accessories have gotten in on the game, too. TwelveSouth's BookArc Desktop Stand for MacBooks promises a "cleaner, less cluttered Zen-like workspace" and that it can actually "boost the performance of your laptop." What it is, simply, is a laptop stand--a curved piece of metal that a MacBook can slot into like a piece of toast into a toast-rack. And that is it. But, of course, it is also a beautiful laptop stand.

Read the full review of the BookArc.

BookArc photos

New MacBook day in the CNET Labs.

Episode 36 of the Digital City, where Dan reports back from the E3 video game trade show, we check out the new MacBook laptops, and Joey jumps on the Palm Pre bandwagon.

Note that there are two versions of the show available now, the traditional audio stream, and our exciting, new video version -- check out both below.

>>Subscribe to video version of the Digital City on iTunes
>>Join the Digital City Facebook fan page
>>Need more? Follow Dan on Twitter!

Unboxing: It's New MacBook Day

In Episode 24 of the Digital City, we discuss light-up MacBook mods, the pirated Wolverine film, how to repair your Guitar Hero drum kit, and the cool packaging for Nintendo's new DSi.

>>Subscribe to Digital City on iTunes
>>Join the Digital City Facebook fan page
>>Need more? Follow Dan on Twitter!

After looking at countless laptops during 2008, a small handful have jumped out as personal favorites. I'm not saying these are the very best laptops of the year, nor the highest-rated--they're just the ones that struck me as particularly interesting, useful, or well-designed.

Chances are high that you'll disagree with some or all of this list--which is what makes the comment section below so handy. Share your personal favorites, and see how they stack up against mine.

Gateway P-7811FX
For a brief time in 2008, PC gamers had a single bright spot in their otherwise drab world (well, except for the success of World of Warcraft, I guess). Gateway made a series of FX-branded laptops that combined serious gaming power with ridiculously modest prices. The laptops, originally available at Best Buy stores, were very popular. In fact, the P-7811 version offered so much for so little, I couldn't imagine how Gateway was going to make money on these things.

Maybe they couldn't, because that P-7811 model was (very) quietly discontinued. The replacement model (the P-7801u) is about $300 more expensive and is no longer available at retail--only from specialty mail order outlets such as Newegg.

Lenovo IdeaPad U110
With low-cost Netbooks taking over the small form factor market in a big way, it was easy to forget that only a year ago, an 11- or 12-inch laptop would probably run $1,500-$2,500 or more. Sure these machines sported excellent industrial designs and fancy cases, but the low-voltage processors they used really didn't run much quicker than your average $500 Atom-powered Eee PC.

Still, it's nice to see the high-end ultraportable still has a little life in it, and the 11-inch Lenovo IdeaPad U110 from the company's new consumer-focused line is an impressive showpiece, with an intricately etched lid, a nice big keyboard, and even cool designs for the air vents.

HP Mini 1000
Let's be honest--for the most part, Netbooks are commodity products, using the same parts and components to largely the same effect. Therefore, any point of differentiation is a huge plus, and can even let you get away with charging a few bucks more than the competition.

HP's Mini 1000 has one major thing going for it. It largely solves the Netbook's tiny-key problem by including a really nicely designed almost full-size keyboard. Sure, the system has a few other quirks, such as a single audio jack and a weird proprietary memory stick port, but that very cool keyboard makes it our favorite of the current crop of Netbooks.

Apple MacBook
What else can we say about what is probably the single most popular laptop out there right now? The Intel-powered MacBooks have been winners since their debut, and the latest revision somehow manages to make them even better, with a thinner, lighter aluminum chassis and a killer giant touchpad.

As tinkerers and DIY types, we'll probably always be PC guys at heart, and clicking the giant button touchpad thing is about as awkward as using a Blackberry Storm (just turn on tapping, you'll be much happier), but the incredibly useful three- and four-finger gesture controls have totally ruined us for PC touchpads.

Sony Vaio AW125
Every laptop stable needs a massive desktop replacement multimedia model. With a big push from the factories that make the actual glass for the screens to move to 16:9 displays, expect more and more 16- and 18-inch laptops next year--or just get ahead of the curve and jump in now.

While not really radically different from the competition, Sony's was not only the slickest-looking of the initial run of 18-inch systems we checked out, it was also the cheapest Blu-ray model.

New MacBooks!
Went down to the Apple store in Soho the next day -- no lines, no MacBooks, biz as usual. In fact, the entire store was filled with people using the old MacBooks still on display to check their e-mail.

I took the new MacBook down to the coffee shop -- no one even noticed...but Jeff, Wilson, Justin totally flipped for it.

Were we wrong about video games being recession-proof? Sales down for September...
But it may be because last September we had Halo 3...

ATM Skimming machines
Every New Yorker's worst nightmare! These new machines will SMS the card info to crooks. Citibank also had a big ATM security problem a few months ago here in NYC -- someone hacked into their system and stole ZTM card numbers and PIN codes.

New Yorkers Most Vulnerable To Computer Attacks
New York City is the most dangerous place to be a computer user, according to a recent study. New York is followed by Houston, Texas; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; and Miami, Florida.

Of course, this study is from PC Tools, a company that makes anti-virus software...

The new MacBook's bigger touchpad.

In case you missed it after checking out our rumor mill posts, live coverage of the Apple press conference, and even our collection of "unboxing" pictures of the actual hardware, you can now read CNET's full review of Apple's new 13-inch MacBook.

The redesigned MacBook is a solid improvement on an already well-loved system. The new aluminum frame essentially makes it a smaller version of the MacBook Pro, and even the new Nvidia chipset and integrated graphics are impressive, offering playable frame rates in games such as Quake IV and Call of Duty 4 (as long as you keep your expectations modest).

It's a shame the entry $1,099 price is gone (replaced by a $999 version of the previous plastic MacBook model), and that the FireWire port went out to get some milk and never came home. Otherwise, we're calling this one an overall winner.

Read the full review of the new Apple MacBook.

Market Meltdown continues!!!
World Stock Markets have lost $26 Trillion since the peak of almost exactly one year ago.

Apple -- $92 -- was north of $160 a couple of weeks ago
Sirius -- 39-cents! Seriously!
GameStop $27 -- was $60 last Xmas season
Take-Two -- $11 -- was $25 or so for most of the year
Microsoft -- doing ok, actually. Mid-20s to mid-30s most of the year, now $20.

Wi-fi on LIRR?
They already have it in Penn Station, why not on the actual trains? Sounds annoying, actually. Cablevision has free Wi-fi on LIRR platforms now -- for Optimum High-speed customers only.

Prisoner of the Cable company!
FIOS vs. Cablevision vs. Time Warner. Note that Cablevision and the Dolan family actually own MSG. [Bonus -- see who's got what HD channels]

Netflix adds $1 per month surcharge for Blu-ray
WTF? Netflix is already winning on Blu-ray since I can't do the old burn-n-return on them...

Yahoo's fire sale
Yahoo's Jerry Yang was apparently in NYC last week to talk about possibly buying and/or merging with AOL. Of course, with Yahoo stock now down around $12, that seems less likely.

Apple's got new laptops coming this week!
All-aluminum one-piece construction? What is the "brick?" Will we see an $800 MacBook? Leaked spy shots are everywhere -- are they real?

Required viewing: Sony CEO Howard Stringer on 'Charlie Rose'
Anyone who knows my television viewing habits knows that the only program I have my DVR automatically record for me is Charlie Rose, the long-running PBS talk show. Last week's long, candid conversation with Sir Howard Stringer, chairman and CEO of Sony, should be required viewing for anyone interested in consumer electronics.

The official invite just popped up in our mailboxes for Apple's long-rumored October 14 press event in Cupertino, Calif. The big picture of a laptop and the headline, "The spotlight turns to notebooks," leaves us with a pretty clear idea of what Steve Jobs and company will be talking about. Not mentioned here is the most persistent rumor--that at least one of the new systems will hit a meltdown-friendly price of $800.

Here's the invite itself, for the curiosity seekers out there.

Apple's most cryptic invite ever...