Apple’s iTunes is the defacto standard application for syncing music to iPods on many PCs. As a result, many people also use iTunes to organise their music libraries, iPhone applications, podcasts etc. However, there is one big problem with the iTunesSetup.exe installation file. Apple have decided to bundle and install a number of other applications with the iTunes installation. The other applications include Bonjour, Mobile Me, Apple Application Support, Apple Mobile Device Support and Quicktime.

Many people do not want to install the other applications. However, Apple does not allow the option to install individual components. The good news, is that it very easy just to install the individual components that you want.

Firstly, you need to install Winrar. This application will allow you to ‘unpack’ your downloaded iTunesSetup.exe file. Locate your file, and right click on it. You will be presented with a number of menu options, select ‘Extract Here’.

Winrar will now extract the iTunes installation package and will reveal the individual MSI setup files. You can now double click on the iTunes.msi file to install iTunes without the other applications.

This post was originally made by Gizmodo. However, I have added some additional information to support the 10.6.2 update, which removes Intel’s Atom processor. All picture credits to Gizmodo.

This post walkthroughs the process of preparing Mac OS X Leopard, onto a USB memory stick. The USB memory stick can then be used to install Snow Leopard on the Dell Mini 10v netbook.

Prerequisites

• Dell Mini 10v.  It must be a 10v, not a regular Mini 10.

• BIOS version lower than A06 (A05, A04, A03 all work fine). Downgrade instructions are available here, though they require a Windows PC for creating a bootable DOS flash drive.

• Retail copy of OS X 10.6 (NOT an OEM copy that comes with a new Mac).

• An 8GB (or larger) USB flash drive, the faster the better. External HDDs will work too.

• A Mac with a working optical drive, for preparing your flash drive

• Netbook BootMaker and NetbookInstaller

Preparing Your Flash Drive

1. Insert your flash drive and OS X Retail install disk into your computer

2. Open Disk Utility (searching in Spotlight is the easiest way to find this)

3. Select your flash drive from the list on the left. Make sure to select the drive itself, not any partitions you may have written to it before.

4. In the right panel, select the "Partition" screen.

5. From the dropdown menu, select "1 Partition," then click "Options" below the partition map.

6. Select "Master Boot Record." This will ensure that your Mini 10v can boot from your flash drive. Select a name for your partition—doesn’t really matter what—and apply your changes. Keep in mind this will delete anything you have on your flash drive right now, so back it up if need be.

7. Once this is done, move from the "Partition" screen to the "Restore" screen in Disk Utility

8. For your Restore Source, select (by dragging) the OS X install disk from the left panel. Make sure this is the item called something to the effect of "Mac OS Install DVD," not "Optiarc DVD" or some other hardware title. For the destination, drag your newly-prepared partition over. Click restore.

9. Run the BootMaker app., select your OS X partition on the USB drive and select Prepare Boot Drive.

Installing OS X Snow Leopard

10. Jump into the BIOS, double-check to see if you have the right BIOS. As long as it’s lower than A06, you’re fine. If not, you will need to downgrade. See above.

11. With the arrow keys, cycle over to the "Advanced" screen, where you’ll see a list of options. USB BIOS Legacy support should be enabled, as should Bluetooth.

12. Now cycle over to the Boot screen., "USB Storage," and move it to the top by pressing the F6 key.

13. Once you’re done, press F10 to save and exit.

14. Ensure your power plug is connected to your computer and the USB stick is connected. All being well, you should see the screen below.

15. The first thing you need to do is format your hard disk. Bring up Disk Utility in the installer select it at the highest level possible. Go to "Partition" and make it a single Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) partition. Before hitting Apply, go to Options and select GUID Partition Table. Then hit apply.

Follow the usual OS X install instructions.

Updates

16.  Download  the Mac OS X v10.6.1 Update. After the installation reboot. Now, install the Mac OS X v10.6.2. Update – BUT DO NOT REBOOT!

17. Next download and install the latest version of Netbook Installer and reboot. The netbook should now reboot with the 10.6.2. update.

Odds and Ends

By and large, your install should work out of the box. Sleep, shutdown/startup, sound, keyboard shortcuts, battery indicators, and anything else you can think of should be present and at attention, barring one glaring flaw: the trackpad.

18. Go here, and download the attached trackpad driver.

19. Open Finder on your 10v, and press CMD+Shift+G (on this keyboard, that’s Alt+Shift+G.) In the box that comes up, typed "/Extra" and press enter.
This will bring you to a hidden folder. Copy the .kext file you’ve download into the Mini10vExt folder, making sure to back up the one you’re replacing.

Open Finder on your 10v, and press CMD+Shift+G (on this keyboard, that’s Alt+Shift+G.) In the box that comes up, typed "/Extra" and press enter.
This will bring you to a hidden folder. Copy the .kext file you’ve download into the Mini10vExt folder, making sure to back up the one you’re replacing.

20. Run the app in the "Extra" directory called UpdateExtra, which will alert OS X to the new drivers. Restart your computer.

Now you should be able to click and drag—the cursor should jump when your second finger makes contact. You should see, as you could before, a panel in the OS X preferences where you can adjust trackpad settings.  The only other issue you’re likely to run into is the occasional too-tall settings screen. Here‘s a clever virtual screen resolution workaround for that.

Apple removed Atom processor support in the latest update to Snow Leopard – 10.6.2. This prevents the MSI Wind hackintosh to update correctly. However, by following the instructions below, you can easily enable 10.6.2 support.

1. Download the 10.6.2 update from Apple’s download site.

2. Before running the update, launch Terminal and type in the following command:

sudo cp /mach_kernel /mach_kernel_10_6_1

3. Now, run the installer, but DO NOT restart

4. Next, type the following commands into the Terminal:

sudo cp /mach_kernel /mach_kernel_10_6_2


sudo cp /mach_kernel_10_6_1 /mach_kernel

5. Finally, launch any tools you need to patch your ktexts (if needed).

6. Restart Snow Leopard.

Hat Tip to Mario Sundar

5 Management Mantras

#10. On Management

My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better. My job is to pull things together from different parts of the company and clear the ways and get the resources for the key projects.

And to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better, coming up with more aggressive visions of how it could be.

#9. On Hiring

Recruiting is hard. It’s just finding the needles in the haystack. You can’t know enough in a one-hour interview.

So, in the end, it’s ultimately based on your gut. How do I feel about this person? What are they like when they’re challenged? I ask everybody that: ‘Why are you here?’ The answers themselves are not what you’re looking for. It’s the meta-data.

#8. On Firing

We’ve had one of these before, when the dot-com bubble burst. What I told our company was that we were just going to invest our way through the downturn, that we weren’t going to lay off people, that we’d taken a tremendous amount of effort to get them into Apple in the first place — the last thing we were going to do is lay them off.

#7. On a CEO succession Plan

I mean, some people say, ‘Oh, God, if [Jobs] got run over by a bus, Apple would be in trouble.’ And, you know, I think it wouldn’t be a party, but there are really capable people at Apple.

My job is to make the whole executive team good enough to be successors, so that’s what I try to do.

#6. On Product Strategy

It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do.

We just want to make great products. (I think he means “insanely great products!“)

5 Leadership Mantras

#5. On Leadership

So when a good idea comes, you know, part of my job is to move it around, just see what different people think, get people talking about it, argue with people about it, get ideas moving among that group of 100 people, get different people together to explore different aspects of it quietly, and, you know – just explore things.

#4. On Evangelism

When I hire somebody really senior, competence is the ante. They have to be really smart. But the real issue for me is, Are they going to fall in love with Apple? Because if they fall in love with Apple, everything else will take care of itself.

They’ll want to do what’s best for Apple, not what’s best for them, what’s best for Steve, or anybody else. (this actually reiterates my oft-repeated mantra of “ubiquitous evangelism” in companies)

#3. On Focus

People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.

#2. On the User Experience

Our DNA is as a consumer company — for that individual customer who’s voting thumbs up or thumbs down. That’s who we think about. And we think that our job is to take responsibility for the complete user experience. And if it’s not up to par, it’s our fault, plain and simply.

#1. On Creativity

That happens more than you think, because this is not just engineering and science. There is art, too. Sometimes when you’re in the middle of one of these crises, you’re not sure you’re going to make it to the other end. But we’ve always made it, and so we have a certain degree of confidence, although sometimes you wonder.

I think the key thing is that we’re not all terrified at the same time. I mean, we do put our heart and soul into these things.

We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life.

Life is brief, and then you die, you know?

And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.

The video show a walkthrough of the complete install. However, a pre-configured iso is now available for the MSI Wind/Advent 4211

1. Download, burn  and install the MSIWindosx86.iso.  Sourced from the ‘usual’ sources. NB. The build is the release up to 10.5.4
2. Install Paul’s MSI Wind Driver Utility Pack and install the fixes and unpack all Kexts, you will need to reinstall all of these shortly
3. Install 10.5.5, from a working system on 10.5.4
   1. Download 10.5.5 from here
   2. Mount DMG
   3. Run Terminal
   4. Type ‘sudo passwd’ and enter your password
   5. Set your root password (and confirm)
   6. Type ‘su root’ and enter your password
   7. Type ‘while sleep 1 ; do rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext ; done’ (the terminal window should just ‘freeze’ (it’s processing a loop))
   8. Run the updater (MacOSXUpd10.5.5.pkg) from the volume you mounted earlier. When it completes do NOT restart
   9. Switch back to the Terminal window
   10. Press Ctrl-C
   11. Type ‘exit’ (and then again) to close terminal window
   12. Switch back to updater and press restart

NOTE: When the system boots, you’ll need to reinstall the video drivers, just drop the kexts back onto the kext helper and reboot when prompted. If you experience problems, reboot into safe mode and reinstall ALL the kexts. (Press Shift on startup to enter Darwin, then –x, for Safe Mode)

Also, always ensure you have the latest BIOS

You can view the BIOS version by entering the BIOS setup (press ‘del’ at startup).
- MSI machines: download your BIOS update here
- Advent machines: download your BIOS update here

After updating your BIOS, enter BIOS setup and press F9 to ‘restore best performance defaults’. This step is VITAL!

GeekBench – check out the score of your machine! It should be around 900.

The BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones has posted a video request to Steve Jobs, in a hope to make the iPhone better. Rory is spot on and describes many of the areas where the iPhone still needs improving. Apple’s recent announcement of the iPhone soon supporting  ActiveSync and Exchange, will rock the corporate world. However, what I really want is more GB capacity and 3G.

In other news, the BBC’s iPlayer comes to the iPhone.

Photo by Kathryn Yu

During a recent discuss with some colleagues, we remarked on how our computing needs had changed in recent years. Gone were the days of large and heavy laptops which were lugged around from place to place. Today, computer OEM’s provide a variety of small and slim laptops. However, recently Apple released the Macbook Air. A new breed of ultra slim laptop that can fit into a manilla envelope.

Indeed, the laptop is an engineering masterpiece. However, as many have already found, the tradeoff between super thin and a machine you can be productive with, is a big one. The image below is Guy Kawasaki’s Macbook Air. As you can see, today’s laptop user needs more than one USB port and occasionally needs an Ethernet connection.  The Macbook Air, is superb laptop, though born a before its time I feel

Carmine Gallo over at Business Week breaks down Steve’s latest keynote and suggests a 10-part framework you can use to wow your own audience.  The article is reproduced below, excellent stuff for CEO’s and presenters the world over.

When Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs kicked off this year’s Macworld Conference & Expo, he once again raised the bar on presentation skills. While most presenters simply convey information, Jobs also inspires. He sells the steak and the sizzle at the same time.

Carmine, analysed his latest presentation and extracted 10 elements that you can combine to dazzle your own audience. Bear in mind that Jobs has been refining his skills for years. Still, how he actually arrives at what appear to be effortless presentations bears explaining.

1. Set the theme. "There is something in the air today." With those words, Jobs opened Macworld. By doing so, he set the theme for his presentation and hinted at the key product announcement—the ultrathin MacBook Air laptop. Every presentation needs a theme, but you don’t have to deliver it at the start. Last year, Jobs delivered the theme about 20 minutes into his presentation: "Today Apple reinvents the phone." Once you identify your theme, make sure you deliver it several times throughout your presentation.

2. Demonstrate enthusiasm. Jobs shows his passion for computer design. During his presentation he used words like "extraordinary," "amazing," and "cool." When demonstrating a new location feature for the iPhone, Jobs said, "It works pretty doggone well." Most speakers have room to add some flair to their presentations. Remember, your audience wants to be wowed, not put to sleep. Next time you’re crafting or delivering a presentation, think about injecting your own personality into it. If you think a particular feature of your product is "awesome," say it. Most speakers get into presentation mode and feel as though they have to strip the talk of any fun. If you are not enthusiastic about your own products or services, how do you expect your audience to be?

3. Provide an outline. Jobs outlined the presentation by saying, "There are four things I want to talk about today. So let’s get started…" Jobs followed his outline by verbally opening and closing each of the four sections and making clear transitions in between. For example, after revealing several new iPhone features, he said, "The iPhone is not standing still. We keep making it better and better and better. That was the second thing I wanted to talk about today. No. 3 is about iTunes." Make lists and provide your audience with guideposts along the way.

4. Make numbers meaningful. When Jobs announced that Apple had sold 4 million iPhones to date, he didn’t simply leave the number out of context. Instead, he put it in perspective by adding, "That’s 20,000 iPhones every day, on average." Jobs went on to say, "What does that mean to the overall market?" Jobs detailed the breakdown of the U.S smartphone market and Apple’s share of it to demonstrate just how impressive the number actually is. Jobs also pointed out that Apple’s market share equals the share of its top three competitors combined. Numbers don’t mean much unless they are placed in context. Connect the dots for your listeners.

5. Try for an unforgettable moment. This is the moment in your presentation that everyone will be talking about. Every Steve Jobs presentation builds up to one big scene. In this year’s Macworld keynote, it was the announcement of MacBook Air. To demonstrate just how thin it is, Jobs said it would fit in an envelope. Jobs drew cheers by opening a manila interoffice envelope and holding the laptop for everyone to see. What is the one memorable moment of your presentation? Identify it ahead of time and build up to it.

6. Create visual slides. While most speakers fill their slides with data, text, and charts, Jobs does the opposite. There is very little text on a Steve Jobs slide. Most of the slides simply show one image. For example, his phrase "The first thing I want to talk to you about today…" was accompanied by a slide with the numeral 1. That’s it. Just the number. When Jobs discussed a specific product like the iPhone, the audience saw a slide with an image of the product. When text was introduced, it was often revealed as short sentences (three or four words) to the right of the image. Sometimes, there were no images at all on the slide but a sentence that Jobs had delivered such as "There is something in the air." There is a trend in public speaking to paint a picture for audiences by creating more visual graphics. Inspiring presenters are short on bullet points and big on graphics.

7. Give ‘em a show. A Jobs presentation has ebbs and flows, themes and transitions. Since he’s giving his audience a show instead of simply delivering information, Jobs includes video clips, demonstrations, and guests he shares the stage with. In his latest keynote, the audience heard from Jim Gianopulos, CEO and chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment, and Paul Otellini, CEO of Intel. Enhance your presentations by incorporating multimedia, product demonstrations, or giving others the chance to say a few words.

8. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Despite your best preparation, something might go wrong as it did during the keynote. Jobs was about to show some photographs from a live Web site, and the screen went black while Jobs waited for the image to appear. It never did. Jobs smiled and said, "Well, I guess Flickr isn’t serving up the photos today." He then recapped the new features he had just introduced. That’s it. It was no big deal. I have seen presenters get flustered over minor glitches. Don’t sweat minor mishaps. Have fun. Few will remember a glitch unless you call attention to it.

9. Sell the benefit. While most presenters promote product features, Jobs sells benefits. When introducing iTunes movie rentals, Jobs said, "We think there is a better way to deliver movie content to our customers." Jobs explained the benefit by saying, "We’ve never offered a rental model in music because people want to own their music. You listen to your favorite song thousands of times in your life. But most of us watch movies once, maybe a few times. And renting is a great way to do it. It’s less expensive, doesn’t take up space on our hard drive…" Your listeners are always asking themselves, "What’s in it for me?" Answer the question. Don’t make them guess. Clearly state the benefit of every service, feature, or product.

10. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Steve Jobs cannot pull off an intricate presentation with video clips, demonstrations, and outside speakers without hours of rehearsal. I have spoken to people within Apple who tell me that Jobs rehearses the entire presentation aloud for many hours. Nothing is taken for granted. You can see he rehearsed the Macworld presentation because his words were often perfectly synchronized with the images and text on the slides. When Jobs was showing examples of the films that are available on the new iTunes movie rental service, one poster of a particular film appeared at the exact moment he began to talk about it. The entire presentation was coordinated. A Steve Jobs presentation looks effortless because it is well-rehearsed.

Steve Jobs has always been an inspirational leader. However, his speech at Stanford a few years ago nicely articulates his values, his reason for being. A wonderful and memorable speech.

Apple has announced that Mail, Maps, Stocks, Notes and Weather are all coming to the iPod Touch. New iPod Touch owners get the apps bundled. Existing owners will need to pay £12.99 for the upgrade.The new Maps app can’t use cell-based location-finding, as available on the iPhone, but it can still figure out where you are, using SkyHook’s WiFi hotspot database. The touch also supports webclips and the reconfigurable home screen now. Though, £12.99 for the upgrade is a lot of money!