As Dan mentioned it looks like A le finally gave in to all our whining and has released an adapter which allows you to power (not charge-the seats don't provide enough juice) your MacBook on those long haul flights-that is, if you're lucky enough to be seated somewhere with acce to an EmPower plug. While sixty clams is co iderably steep for what is e entially a piece of wire and an adapter plug, frequent flyers will finally be able to continue their always-on existence while cramped between the fu y baby and overly-friendly guy. On a bit of a more editorial note; is this the first ecialized adapter A le has released? I can't think of any other situatio in which A le has provided anything other than the normal desktop adapters, leaving third parties to fill in the market.
There might be more to the iTunes store being down than we originally thought. A little bird sent us a tip that belies the po ibility that the 'Showtime' buzzword A le's been using to promote their ecial event today could be the actual new name of the iTunes/Music/Movie Store and software. This link points to a phobos.a le.com/showtime page which echoes the same phrase we've been seeing elsewhere. Those phobos.a le links, if you haven't seen them before, are iTMS- ecific links, allowing users to link directly to items i ide the store. The fact that there's a /showtime/ after this one makes it all the more su icious.
Attention, New Jersey: A le Store Freehold Raceway will open this Saturday, May 27th at 10:00 AM. This store is located at 3710 Route 9 South in Freehold, near the Center Court next to The Limited and Bath %26am Body Works. You can find complete travel directio here. 
The Google Ma Plugin for Addre Book has updated to version 2.5, adding Universal Binary super-powers and a slick new feature: Google Earth su ort (which is handy, since Google Earth just went Universal, too). Also in this new version is a true-blue A le i taller package (no more digging around in Library folders), su ort for Europe and new localized Google Ma domai , and user can now choose their preferred default country in the Google Ma Preferences.
Major new features in the upcoming Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard like Time Machine are great, but I've been thinking about all the other a ects of the Mac OS X experience that could use some it and polish from A le's engineers. They've done a fantastic job building a damn impre ive OS over the years, but that doe 't mean there i 't room for improvements both big and small (besides: they have to keep their OS product cycle on a good pace). Following is a list of 10 unlikely requests I have for the next version of Mac OS X that might not be worthy of a Stevenote, but they could bring smiles and sighs of satisfied relief to many a user: 
De ite making the a ouncement in January of 2005, Volvo has finally begun shi ing its iPod integration kit in the UK. Volvo's kit lives in the vehicle's arm rest. With the iPod co ected, it can be controlled either by the stereo or the steering wheel (if you've got one of those fancy-dancy Volvos). ecifically, the kit will work with the S60, S80, V70 estate (2000 onwards) and XC70 AWD estate (2001 onwards).
Sounds like things might not be so squeaky clean in the "iPod City" after all, as Engadget has dug up some dirt on the Foxco factory's admi ion of breaching Chinese labor laws. ecifically, Foxco has admitted their employees work about 80 extra hours each month - which is a tad above and beyond the 36 extra hours that Chinese law allows for. To make matters worse though, A le launched an investigation into the factory once this i ue broke, "but has found no problem with Foxco ", to quote a factory okeswoman from the ChinaCSR.com report. Here's hoping A le is delving a bit deeper into the matter beyond what is likely a preemptive quote from a oke erson eager for the i ue to simply go away.
The holiday season is upon us, and it is only 28 days until Christmas. I know this because I just downloaded X-MasTree, a freeware a that puts a Christmas tree (with optional Christmas countdown) on your desktop. X-MasTree has a surprising number of preferences for a one trick freeware a . You can choose the color of the tree, what kind of lights are on, whether those lights blink, and if you want a star on top.
An ifoA leStore ti ter has taken a few pictures (one seen at the right) of the 'ri ling' that is ha ening on two of the panels of the gla staircase in the Grove (that's the A le store in LA). This i 't structural damage, meaning that the staircase is still as safe as ever, it just doe 't look as pretty.
Blogger Martin Backschat has more or le tra lated a German article that takes a stab at trying to figure out what is going on with this random MacBook shutdown i ue. One only needs to check out MacBook Random Shutdown.com or comb the archives of digg and A le discu ion forums to gra how many are plagued by this dark game of workflow Ru ian roulette, but we have yet to hear even a peep from A le as to what the problem is, and how they're going to fix it.
After emerging victorious in the trademark di ute between A le Computer and A le Cor , Steve is extending the olive branch to the record label. In a statement made to Macworld, Steve said, "...We have always loved the Beatles, and hopefully we can now work together to get them on the iTunes Music Store...We are glad to put this disagreement behind us."
You may have noticed that we seem to have a bit of a thing for LEGOs here at TUAW. We previously told you about the open source LEGO design program Bricksmith, but now LEGO themselves have released version 1.6 of the LEGO Digital Designer. This cool little a lets you generate HTML building i tructio for your design, check the cost of your raw materials, and perha best of all, upload your creation to an online gallery.
Theinternet is a olutely 
I anely Great Tees, the clever new Mac-centric shirt shop, has a ounced 6 new t-shirts - but not all of them are going to see the light of day. A arently the i anely great crew are having a tough time deciding which ones they like most, so they've put it to a vote for the rest of us. Head over to I anely Great News (their blog) to see all shirts laid out, each with their own voting optio ranging from "I'd wear it!" to "Eh..." and even "It's the worst."
As holiday sho ing inte ifies, many of you might be pla ing a personal iPod purchase. So how do you decide which iPod is right for you? Should you go for a Shuffle, Nano, or cough up the big bucks for a Video? 
Also known as the "small one" and the "cheap one", the shuffle is the lightest and smallest of the iPod family. It's got a tiny form factor but plays back its music fully caffeinated. You don't compromise on audio quality.
The Nano is the iPod of choice for the listener who wants to hit the sweet ot between controlling playback and su orting an active lifestyle. Smaller than the iPod Video, and bigger than the iPod shuffle, the Nano comes in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB versio . 
As you might expect, this one does video. Which rocks. E ecially while commuting or on air planes and so forth. But the iPod Video packs a lot bigger punch than just video. 
About a month ago, A leI ider reported that Morgan Stanley analyst Rebecca Runkle's research note detailed her findings from u amed i ide sources. Her predictio were:
Ok, so we'veheard from the TUAW bloggers (both yayand nay), now it's your turn:What did you think of Steve's dog and pony show yesterday? Check back tomorrow for the poll results.
DavidChartier, at TheUnofficial Photoshop Weblog, recommends a set of Automator actio for Photoshop CS and CS2 that you shouldn't mi if you're into Photoshop or digital photography. Version 2.0 of Ben Long's Photoshop Action Pack includes scores of actio for controlling Photoshop functio and automating photography and graphics production workflows from your Mac.
Attention TUAW readers! This week we'll be starting a a Questio and A wers help column as a weekly feature. But of course to do this well we need some good questio . We'll take questio from anyone, but we hope to be e ecially useful for all the switchers and other new Mac users out there. Please submit your question via the comments page (put Ask TUAW in the subject), or just by leaving a comment to this post. Each week we'll choose several questio of general interest to a wer in the column. Although we will try to be as helpful as po ible, we may not be able to a wer all questio . And naturally we invite our other readers to pitch in with suggestio as well. So get to asking!
Back in August, A le a ounced they had found some stock option irregularities and launched an internal investigation to get to the bottom of things. This voluntary audit netted a warning of de-listing from NASDAQ because they had to delay filing their Q3 earnings results (fortuately, NASDAQ cut A le a break). Today, the big fruit has i ued a pre release with the findings of this audit, which was performed by a ecial committee of outside directors, independent cou el and accountants. This crack team had to shuffle through over 650,000 emails and documents ( otlight to the rescue!), as well as conduct over 40 interviews of current and past employees.
Customers of the MacHeist bundle should be receiving an email offering a download link for the new iClip 4 beta that was promised. This is a new version that John Casasanta is a arently just about ready to release next week at the Macworld expo, and users are encouraged to help track down bugs and submit them to a bug reporting link provided in the MacHeist email.
Now this I want. At CES 2007, Phili introduced two new iPod gadgets, the DCP750 and the DCP850 which allow you to dock your iPod and watch your video on a 7-inch or 8.5-inch screen. You can use the included car adapter, so you can watch video in your car on these nicely sized scree , or you can use the rechargeable battery (also included) that offers about two plus hours of playtime. When plugged in, your docked iPod will recharge. Both units also allow you to view photos from memory cards and play DVDs. (S)VCDs and DivX-on-disc as well. (There's an o oard DVD player as well as the memory card reader.) Best of all, the units cost $150 or $200. Much better thought out, I think, than the Altec. Here's a link to the pre release, but be warned it's a Word doc.
A le has teamed up with a handful (if you have a 6-fingered hand) of airlines to offer iPod integration, making your long flight a bit more comfortable. Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM and United will deliver the first "seamle integration" between the iPod and their own in-flight entertainment systems. These airlines will provide pa engers iPod seat co ectio that will power and charge your iPods in-flight and allow your video content to be viewed on the seat back di lays!
Who doe 't love a clever mod? I still have yet to see a deep-fried Mac, but looks like the Halloween festivities were too much for one warranty-killer, and have yielded the Mac-O-Lantern. It's a Mac mini stuffed i ide a medium-size pumkin. Some fun tidbits include a eak in the mouth, a webcam in the eye and a lash of color thanks to those little faux neon cords the kids love these days. The little glowing A le logo on the side makes me want to do that with all my computers... Clever mod or too much time on someone's hands? You be the judge. And is it just me or does this guy look a little like the original HHGTTG Marvin?
Last week I carried out an interview with Peter Molyneux (the founder of Lionhead Studios which has games like Black %26am White, Fable and The Movies to its name) over at TUAW sister site Joystiq. I made sure to ask him a question or two about the state of Mac gaming because one, I *used* to be a relatively hardcore Mac gamer and two, Lionhead has a track record of bringing all of its games to the Mac. That i 't changing with Microsoft's recent acquisition of the company (haven't we heard all this before?!).
Good news everyone: Microsoft has released Virtual PC into the wild for free - but not for 'the rest of us'. That's right: an a ouncement on a MSDN blog (Microsoft Developer Network) has released Virtual PC 2004 as a free download for Windows users, and it offers details of VPC 2007 along the lines of su ort for Vista and improved performance over version 2004 (who on Earth thought it was a good idea to use years as a versioning system?). Of course, there i 't even an ETA that Microsoft can start delaying for version 2007, so we're gue ing around 2010/2011 for the new version. 
TUAW will be covering Macworld this year like no other year. We'll be posting pictures of booths, reporting the news, live blogging the Keynote, and sharing our general o ervatio . In addition to all that we will also be posting a number of videos from the show floor including interviews. Leo Laporte, head TWiT and prolific netcaster, has agreed to be one of our interviewees.
David Pogue has put together another goofy video forthe New York Times -- TownHall: The OS Wars. Pogue a wers questio from the %26quot ublic%26quot about ru ing Windows on a Mac withBoot Camp and Parallels. Pogue's %26quot ublic" includes shills like Andy Ihnatko, asking questio the ma es arelikely to have, like: Why would anyone want to run Windows anyway? Am I going to catch all those Windows viruses? Mr.Pogue, is ru ing Boot Camp like having a real Windows PC in your office? (The re o e in typical Pogue style:"Let me a wer your question in two parts: Yes and No.")
A le Knowledge Base article 304058 is brief but important for you discolored Mac Book owners out there. I'll quote it in its entirety: ' If your Mac Book is exhibiting discoloration on the top case after some use, please contact A le Care for service.'
Two hundred dollars for 20GB and black paint?!? Has A le gone mad? Still, that black MacBook is a seriously good looking machine. So, TUAWers, what's the verdict? Have you got an extra two hundred bucks for Steve? Take our poll and check back tomorrow for the results.