When they're not hand-wringing over the recent drop in Apple's share price, Mac enthusiasts have been transfixed lately by the mystery product, code-named "brick," that's due for release later this month.

Some bloggers and pundits have suggested it might be a new iteration of Apple TV or an updated Mac Mini. But according to a report on 9to5Mac.com, "brick" refers not to what it is, but how it's made. The Web site, which cites an anonymous source, says the code name has to do with a manufacturing process for Apple's MacBook and MacBook Pro lines of laptops. Apple will build the notebook out of a single piece of carved-out aluminum - a brick......

But if the new product does prove to be a notebook made from a block of aluminum, how much pressure are Apple's margins likely to undergo? More to the point, would Apple's brick be a brick?

The term "brick" was mentioned in a 9-to-5 Mac rumor piece on 10 September 2008 when their source said that the MacBook update is "all about the Brick." 9-to-5 Mac now claims that the "brick" isn't a specific Apple product but rather a manufacturing process that uses lasers and jets of water to carve MacBooks out of a solid mass of aluminum (a.k.a. a "brick").

Jon Gruber previously noted that a new lineup of MacBooks will be released on 14 October 2008, one week from today. BusinessWeek today throws some fuel on the fire by speculating that Apple's radical new laptop will be announced in a week, and that 9-to-5 Mac's brick thoery is supported by Apple's patent filings:

Apple declined to comment on its plans, but the company has made patent filings related to the design of notebook enclosures. In May 2007, it filed for a patent on a design for "enclosure parts that are structurally bonded together to form a singular composite structure.… That is particularly useful in portable computing devices such as laptop computers."

"Lack of software" is one of those Mac myths that just refuses to die. There have always been thousands of programs for the Mac and today there are more than ever. You'll have to look online for most of them.

Below is our pick of the top Mac apps that aren't available for Windows.

Adium

Aperture

Bento

ComicBookLover

Delicious Library

iLife

iWork

Pixelmator

Transmission

Twitterific

A mate of mine who has only been using Macs for a few weeks has been using a PowerBook G3. We installed Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" on it, and then he got a larger hard drive. He was about to reinstall OS X when I suggested cloning.

Being a PC user, he was new to the idea, so I emailed him some instructions, and it worked with no problem. So for anyone new to cloning, here is how to do it.

Cloning makes a complete bootable copy of your hard drive onto another drive.

Here is what you will need........

The EU is readying a new set of directives that could spell trouble for Apple's iPhone and any other gadget that lacks an easily removable power pack.

A new, draft batteries directive mandates that power cells inside electronic devices must be "readily removable" for replacement and safe disposal. This isn't the case with the iPhone, which does not have a user-replaceable battery.

Neither do Apple's numerous iPods, or a growing number of handheld devices from other manufacturers.....

Gary Nevison of Leeds-based repair services company Premier Farnell believes the requirement is "clearly intended to ensure that users can remove batteries by opening a cover by hand or after removal of one or two screws".

Left-field battery developer ZPower has signed up a "major notebook computer" manufacturer, which will release a laptop fitted with its silver-zinc power packs next year.

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, ZPower isn't saying who it is. Still, it's a coup for ZPower, which has been trying to persuade the world for a few years now that it has a better rechargeable battery solution that lithium-ion.

Its central pitch is that its technology delivers power for longer than a same-size lithium-ion battery will, and that it does so in a form not only more eco-friendly but one that has no risk of spontaneous combustion too.

ZPower's projections have silver-zinc beating lithium-ion energy density by 30-40 per cent, a lead it claims can only increase over time as silver-zinc technology continues to evolve.

Following our previous news, we have received several reports originating from different places all over the world from Mac Pro owners having contacted Apple Care as they wanted to get additional information about the weird smelling produced by their computer. According to those reports and our sources, it seems that Apple has internally communicated about this issue, clearly stating that it does NOT involve benzene. Hereafter is an example of such report, originating from Bill, a hardmac reader:

"I just called AppleCare about it....

When I asked about the benzene issue, the manager said that the advice coming down from Apple's engineers was to tell customers that it's 'definitely not benzene', and not to worry about it. I asked the rep to email this info to me, but understandably (I guess) he wasn't prepared to do so - in fact, he joked that he'd probably already said too much....."

EMC Corp.'s online backup subsidiary, Mozy Inc., has begun offering a Macintosh version of its business backup offering.

The company has long looked to reach the growing number of small and medium-size businesses using Mac desktop and laptop computers. The company released its home version of Mozy for Macs earlier this year.

Steve Wozniak said it best in his exclusive interview with the Daily Telegraph earlier this week: "The iPod has sort of lived a long life at No. 1," he said. "Things like, that if you look back to transistor radios and Walkmans, they kind of die out after awhile.

"It's kind of like everyone has got one or two or three. You get to a point when they are on display everywhere, they get real cheap, and they are not selling as much."

Finally, someone on the "inside" at Apple has made some sense about the iPod and its future. Although it may be difficult for Apple zealots and even CEO Steve Jobs to understand, the iPod is not going to be one of the most important devices forever, and if we consider the impact the Walkman had on the industry, the iPod should be moving to the execution chamber in the next 5 to 10 years.

Following in the footsteps of various members of the Bush Administration, Laura Bush (and their iPods), Karl Rove, and of course, Al Gore, former prime minister and current foreign minister of Sweden, Carl Bildt, has finally switched over to the Mac.

He writes, via a Google machine translation:
After much reflection, examining and discussing the other week, I took the big step to switch from Microsoft world to the Mac world

I went and purchased a Mac.

On Sept. 8, 2003, the recording industry sued 261 American music fans for sharing songs on peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks, kicking off an unprecedented legal campaign against the people that should be the recording industry's best customers: music fans. Five years later, the recording industry has filed, settled, or threatened legal actions against at least 30,000 individuals. … But suin

Taiwan's Asus aims to move the Eee PC line upscale with its slim and light S101, which is in some respects better than a MacBook Air for a fraction of the price

Taiwanese manufacturers are not known for inviting the world's press to fancy product launches, but this afternoon in rainy Taipei, Asus put on a little fashion show to launch the latest Eee PC, the S101. This is a cut above the previous models in being thin and stylish, and Asus reckons it's "a successful melding of fashion and functionality" that puts it at the "pinnacle of netbook computing." And while it comes at a higher price -- $699 -- it's much lighter (1kg) and cheaper than a MacBook Air, it looks nicer, and it has a much more practical specification.

Aurore got an iBook G4 12" for her son, however the notebook had a problem with the LCD display. She could not find spare parts, so she decided to turn the iBook into a Mac mini-like desktop tower.

The entire hardware of the iBook has been installed in a 5.25" enclosure initially designed to host a DVD burner. Everything is kept, including the SuperDrive. For those willing to improve further this mod, by up scaling the cooling system, one could overclock the CPU and the GPU

Here's a tale of how a humble Mac mini system outperformed my cutting-edge quad-core system. It's also a story of how Apple can't write good software for the Windows platform.

At one time, if you posted photos or other information that was dangerously accurate about a forthcoming Apple product, you'd get a legal letter demanding you stop. But after losing a high-profile case against some popular bloggers last year, and convincing Think Secret to close shop, it appears Apple has pulled back and is taking a less obsessive view of the situation.

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