Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. If you’re one of our more easterly
readers, you’re probably getting sick of the stuff. Unless you’re a
skier or a snowboarder or are inexplicably into curling. If you’re out a
little further west, it’s just the thing for the slopes and you wish
you were getting a little of that east coast action.

And if
you’re up north in Vancouver, you’ve been seeing it all the time. And in
honor of the 2010 games, Mac|Life has a full slate of medals to hand
out in the best writing of the week. Of course they’re all gold, silly.
It’s Mac|Life, after all.

Features:

- 15 Awesome
Google Services You Never Knew Existed – Will they stop at nothing? The
constant stream of new products and services offered by the company that
promises to "don’t be evil" come fast and furious with new stuff every
half-second. We take a look at some of their lesser known services that
just might auto-complete your life.

-
The Gregory Brothers Interview: Auto-Tune the News and Other Blatant
Acts of Awesomeness - Seriously, need we say more? We bagged an
interview with the gang behind the online sensation that is Auto-Tune
the News. Why are you even still reading this?

How-Tos:

-
Send Large Files Over the Internet Without Enraging the Receiver –
We’ve all been there. Some dolt promises to send you a file, and he
attaches it to an email, tying up your computer and timing out as the
email server tries to handle the bulk. There’s loads of better ways to
do this, and as usual we’ve got the list.

Reviews:

- Logitech Harmony 900 – It’s funny how many remotes you end up
with around the house, even after you’ve bought your first, second, and
third universal remote that promises to be the one remote to bind them.
Logitech’s $400 Harmony 900 might seem pricey for yet another so-called
universal remote, but it goes many steps beyond universal remotes. This
baby is programmable with macros that don’t just turn on one product,
but help you organize your entire entertainment experience.

-
Google Nexus One – Sigh, another iPhone killer hits the market. They
keep getting a step closer, but not really. Google’s own branded and
sold Nexus One is probably the closest yet, but trackballs are so 1997
we don’t know what to think. Oh wait, yes we do: "cumbersome and
imprecise." Maybe that can be the pull-quote for the review. Not without
its highlights, such as background processing and no AT&T suicide
pact, the Nexus One could kill the iPhone 2.

-
G-Technology G Drive – Remember when a 100GB hard drive seemed like a
vast vista of storage that would last you long into the future? Hahaha,
yeah, those were the days. Now, we all look to terrabytes to save our
souls, and G-Technology’s G Drive offers speed, size, and a beautiful
aluminum case that perfect matches your Mac Pro. Cut down on the 2TB’s
spin volume and give us a vertical orientation for non Mac Pro users and
this baby’s just about flawless.

News:

It’s
to be expected that Apple business (not just products) were all the
news in follow-ups to the iPad announcement. One slight tech note: some
analysts claim that the new A4 chip for the iPad cost a cool $1 billion
in research and development…that’s apparently small change to the
$40 billion in cash that is sitting around in Cupertino while Steve Jobs
rolls around on it naked, demanding the company "think
big"….shareholders might have been stoked about that news, but those
shareholders who don’t understand science found Al Gore’s appearance
controversial and wasted no time spouting their silliness, to no
discernible effect…Apple COO Tim Cook sat down with some folks at the
Goldman Sachs Technology & Internet Conference in San Francisco and
dished on the iPad, AT&T, Apple TV, and more…speaking of
everyone’s favorite mobile carrier, if this report is to be believed,
AT&T actually improved; tell it to the judge, people…speaking of
being judged, Apple’s commitment to no sweatshops in their manufacturing
partners is a nice reminder of the power of persuading corporations to
do right…and speaking of corporations doing right, it seems more of
them are finally seeing the value of switching to Macs. It’s about time,
gang.

Fallout
continues from the great prude purge of the App Store. First there was
the Purge. Which oddly enough didn’t seem to touch big name profitable
joints like Playboy or Sports Illustrated…then a few apps that were
caught up in the same dragnet, but which did things like sell swimsuits,
found their way back in…Phil Schiller was dragged out to answer a few
questions and unsurprisingly said Apple is doing everything right and
just be quiet about it after all…then there seemed to be some hemming
and hawing going on about whether or not to let these kinds of apps have
their own little private corner of the App Store…and finally the app
whose name is synonymous with all of this, Wobble came back to the App
Store, with toned-down marketing imagery…

In
hardware news, analysts predict yet a cheaper iPhone to hit the market
around mid-year….Boxee has managed to get itself back on Apple TV and
the game goes on….touch interaction might just be coming to all your
computers, and if this patent application is to be believed, Apple’s
definitely on the way to bringing it to the iMac…while there was no
camera in the iPad that was shown off by Jobs & Co., tidbits of the
SDK still manage to turn up that suggests that a camera is in the
future, either very soon or not far off…speaking of that SDK, Beta 3
was out for a second and a half, then pulled back at the last
moment….and Apple seems to think this mobile OS the iPhone sports
might just work in more than just the three mobile devices we’ve all
seen and loved; need a job working in Apple’s mobile product line? Well,
this posting could be your ticket….and while iPad pre-orders didn’t
start last week as the rumor mill had it, there’s still the possibility
that they could be taking orders aaaaannnnyyyyyy minute now…