For a full working week, beginning as of 12:01am Monday the 1st of June, I will abandon my Apple products, casting them to the fortress that is my mother's house.

Since I purchased my first Mac (a 1.8GHz PowerMac G5) back in late 2002, I haven't been keeping up with what's going on in the wider world of consumer technology. Well, except to make fun of the companies that try to compete with Apple's products. So when it comes to buying gear for my personal use, I've simply purchased whatever has an Apple logo on it, because I know it will work with my Apple gear and I'll know how to use it as it all comes from the same company. And, umm, because it looks pretty and matches with my already existing Apple stuff.

Yes, I am a fanboy - no doubt about it. I love Apple and am totally biased towards their products and the way Apple does things. I own a poster of Steve Jobs for christ's sake (oh and, erm, run this site). Unlike most fanboys however, I realise I am one. Understanding that I am morphing into what I hate, I decided to force myself out of this white plastic and aluminum coated technological comfort zone and into a black and grey land that is foreign and confusing to me, but the norm for over 90% of the western population. ...

After a week of people copy and pasting quotes from the Simspons episode titled "Bart Gets an Elephant", the competition is closed and it's time for me to dip into my e-hat and pull out some wieners winners. ...

Together with our sponsors, we’ve organised a special treat for our loyal MacTalkers. We will be giving away a crapload of prizes every day this week! This is to thank you for sticking by us during our “renovations”, because you guys mean a lot to us, as without you, we are nothing. So keep your eyes peeled on the blog daily, to make sure you don’t miss out on scoring some sweet, sweet giveaways.



Part of today's prize haul comes from our friends at Try & Byte,  who have given 5x Agent18 EcoShield for iPhone 3G (Black) and 5x Agent18 ...

Alex Reid (Al Aero), Chris Kahler (arkenstone), Chris Menz (Xenex) and Anthony Agius (decryption) are still hatin' Optus. Read on for the full show notes & download links. ...