Yesterday, I penned a story for my weekly column on Hydrapinion on eBooks.

Why eBooks suddenly matter (to me): I've never really understood the whole eBook thing. I've tried - really, I have. I've also given audio books a go and quite like the idea of the convenience they offer. Studying requires that I read a wide variety of different references in addition to my lecture notes. This has lead me, for the first time, to establishing an electronic reference library so that I can carry my reference books with me.

By sheer coincidence, Drew Turney, who's standing in for Stephen Withers on the Mac column, also wrote a story on eBooks that's worth a look.

 eBooks

Well, it's been almost a week since I took delivery of my MacBook Air and I'm pretty happy. Despite all the reviews panning it when it was released I've not encountered any of the hassles those so-called experts said that I would. The thing is, the MacBook Air is as much as desktop replacement as the Eee PC. In other words, the MacBook Air is designed to be an accessory system. My main work system is a 20" iMac. The MacBook Air covers me for email, browsing and creating a few docs.

The problem is - there aren't very many decent MacBook Air specific accessories. There are plenty of cases for 13" notebooks but most are quite chunk - obviously designed for larger notebooks that are an inch or more thick. For the odd occasion where a USB hub would be handy where are the nice aluminium-look, slim line models? A Google for "MacBook Air accessories" doesn't reveal anything special.

The only case I've seen that I've liked is this one from Mac Case.

If you're one of my regular readers or a reseller that has some ideas for MacBook Air accessories that I should review or look at send me an email at anthony at pocketmojo dot net or reply to this thread.

 MacBook Air • MacBook Air accessories

I've just popped this news story up at Australian Macworld. Australia's largest telco, Telstra, has boosted their anaemic iPhone plans to offer decent amounts of data by local standards.

Telstra has finally relented and is now offering greatly improved, although in no way market leading, data plans for all its NextG customers including iPhone users.

 iPhone • Telstra

With no fanfare Apple has opened a new new aisle in the iTunes Store. Australian customers can finally access episodes of some of their favourite TV shows.

Popular American imports Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives are there as well as Bit Torrent favourite Lost. Local productions from Channel 9, McLeod's Daughters, Sea Patrol II and Canal Road are also available with the ABC represented with Chris Lilley classics We Can Be Heroes and Summer Heights High there as well. That's interesting as those shows were freely available from the ABC when screened through their vodcast service.

There's plenty for the kids as well with Blues Clues, Hannah Montana and Cory in the House.

The full list of shows is

Blues Clues
Canal Road
Cory in the House
Desperate housewives
Double the Fist
Foreign Correspondents Postcards
Grey's Anatomy
Hannah Montana
Laguna Beach
Lost
McLeod's Daughters
My Super Sweet Sixteen
Pimp my Ride
Scrubs
Sea Patrol: The Coup
Sleek Geeks
South Park
Summer Heights High
Surfing the Menu
The Hills
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
Urban Magic
We Can Be Heroes

Individual episodes are priced at $2.99 - that's a hefty premium on the US prices of $1.99USD. Full series cost start at around $40 but range up to over $60. Depending on what you're after it may be cheaper to buy the DVD. All the series available are complete so there's no sign that we'll be able to download episodes the day after they air as it the US practice. A look at a current series such as Sea Patrol II shows that you can download all the current episodes for $17.94 (the cost of the six individual episodes that are available) even though the series is intended to run for 13 episodes.

OK - so it's not as good as the US store but it's a start.

 Apple • iTunes • TV

I've written an opinion piece over at Hydrapinion about the Eee PC.

Let me start by saying that the Eee PC is a wonderful computer. Out of the box, it's easy to use and has almost all the apps one needs to be productive. My problem with the Eee PC, running Linux, is that installing software is a bitch.

Ok - so I've been a little provocative headlining the story "Eee PC proves why Linux blows" but I do offer some potential solutions to the issues. Hopefully the various Linux development communities can get together and sort out the mess.

 Eee PC • Linux • Linux blows

Apple's .Mac service has been down for much of the day. Email access has been non-existent and the .Mac customer site has been unavailable intermittently. The Mac user group I'm a member of, iMug, has had several members reporting issues throughout the day. Syncing my iCal and Address Book data doesn't seem to have been affected.

100% of members were unable to access mail using an IMAP client. Normal service has been restored.
5.30.2008 :: 22:00 - 01:00 PST Due to scheduled maintenance from 10:00PM to 1:00AM PST, Some .Mac members could not access .Mac Mail. Normal service has been restored. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Access has been restored new but with all the hoopla about Apple renaming .Mac and registered about a bazillion new domains, many registered in Montenegro so that they get a .me TLD I wonder if some of today's hassles have been driven by preparations being made for a change-over.

Darren

For posting the following when asked how an iPhone would change his life:

iPhone? Can't wait! My WM6 powered JASJAM is all but dead and all it really does now is fuel my Microsoft aversion! Oh to have a proper, painless and accurate sync to my Mac, an "it just works" moment each time I connect. Besides, I need all the "cool factor" help I can get (or at least that's what my 11 year old daughter tells me!). So as soon as it's available, it's gonna be mine!

Darren - drop me an email at competitions at pocketmojo dot net (you know how to fix the "at" and "dot") with your shipping address and the awesome Sandisk Cruzer Contour will be winding its way to you ASAP.

I can relate to being told I'm not cool by a young daughter and looking for a "just works" piece of tech.

 Winner

Don't forget that you can still enter to win a 8GB Sandisk Cruzer Contour - a very spiffy looking memory stick.

To win it all you need to do is post a comment to this post (use the Send Feedback link) telling me how you think the iPhone will/has changed you life.

Entries close on Friday night.

You have to be in it to win it!

 Win a 8GB Sandisk Cruzer Contour

Given that it's next to impossible to make an iPhone announcement that will surprise anyone (given the recent carrier announcements by Vodafone and Singtel/Optusand leaks from Telstra) the world is wondering what Apple will announce that will come as a surprise.

Many people seem to think that the mythical Apple Tablet (iTablet? MacBook Slide?) will make an appearance. Naturally, there are some leaked or Photoshopped images doing the rounds, adding further veracity to what is really a wild guess.

Personally, I doubt it'll come. The MacBook Air's lukewarm reception and the fact that tablet computers, in general, haven't really done much more than fill some specific vertical applications makes me think that Apple won't bother - yet. There's a couple of things they'll be to do.

A viable tablet will need to be thin, robust, have a user interface that doesn't feel like you need a mouse. Perhaps Apple can pull this off. I know that they have all the building blocks but I can't help think that the problem isn't one of the hardware being ready but the market.

 Apple • Apple Tablet • iTablet • MacBook Slide

While it's probably only a short-term blip, Apple's running low on iPhone stock. The UK store's saying the iPhone is currently unavailable. This follows hot on the heals of UK carrier O2 being sold out as well as third-party retailer Carphone Warehouse.

Given that the rumours of a new iPhone model are getting more steam and that there's mounting evidence that the 3G iPhone will be here real soon (as evidenced by stories discussing 3G preferences in the SDK).

 3G iPhone • iPhone SDK • iPhone sold out