The iPhone 3G is undoubtedly the best mobile phone on the planet, so we’re delighted to give you a chance to win the very best model there is, the top-of-the-line 16GB model. Best of all, we’re offering the phone on Pay As You Go, so you don’t even have a contract to pay; you just pop in an O2 PAYG SIM and only pay for the calls you make. O2 even gives PAYG iPhone 3G owners a year’s free unlimited data and access to The Cloud and BT Openzone WiFi hotspots.

One criticism of the iPhone 3G, however, has been that it’s so much fun to use that the battery doesn’t last long. Kensington to the rescue, then, with its superb Mini Battery Pack and Charger, which is a rechargeable pack you plug into the bottom of your iPhone 3G to give it more juice when you’re running low. The company is also offering an essential car kit, including a handy mount
– the Power Port Mount – and an in-car charger to make sure you never run out of power with your iPhone 3G again.

Find out more about these and other Kensington products at http://uk.kensington.com

To enter the competition please click here

In this edition of MacFormat This Week...

Chris Phin reviews his group test of five multifunction devices combining a printer, copier and scanner. Also, Craig Grannell reviews two great, free shareware titles including Spark and Trevor Middelton answers your Mac questions.

Here are your links for this week's show...

You can subscribe to the enhanced edition of MacFormat This Week through iTunes. To do this, click here.

Or you can download the files directly: For the enhanced edition of this show, click here.

For the MP3 edition of this show, click here.

If you'd like your questions answered in a future edition of MacFormat This Week, then please email machelpme-AT-futurenet.co-DOT-uk.

We'd love to hear your questions or comments regarding MacFormat This Week. E-mail us at macformatthisweek-AT-futurenet.co-DOT-uk.

In this edition of MacFormat This Week...

We've got all the details of the revamped Mac notebook line-up (new MacBooks and new MacBook Pros) and reaction with MacFormat Deputy Editor Christopher Phin. Also, MacFormat regular Craig Grannell reviews six popular Mac Web browsers and picks his favourite. Finally, Trevor Middelton answers your Mac questions.

Here are your links for this week's show...

You can subscribe to the enhanced edition of MacFormat This Week through iTunes. To do this, click here.

Or you can download the files directly: For the enhanced edition of this show, click here.

For the MP3 edition of this show, click here.

If you'd like your questions answered in a future edition of MacFormat This Week, then please email machelpme-AT-futurenet.co-DOT-uk.

We'd love to hear your questions or comments regarding MacFormat This Week. E-mail us at macformatthisweek-AT-futurenet.co-DOT-uk.

Most of us have been on holiday over the summer or been to some stunning locations, and often take great photographs of these amazing places! Well imagine if these shots of yours earned you £15,000.

It could if you enter The Digital Camera Photographer of the Year competition. It's basically for anyone interested in digital photography. It’s completely free to enter!

Hurry! The closing date is 5pm GMT, Friday 31st October. What are you waiting for? Go to www.poty2008.com

To help you with your shots, Digital Camera has even given us some top tips on creating the perfect picture…

Be different

If we're likely to see several entries with the same subject as yours, ensure there's something different about your entry.

Keep it razor-sharp

Don't take a potentially award-winning shot then find it's not sharp where it should be. Focus carefully and support the camera.

Select the best

If you've taken several variations on one great shot don't enter them all – it'll dilute the impact. Pick your best and go with it.

Go for quality

Don't excessively crop your shots or overprocess them to breaking point. Think exhibition-quality work.

Don't ruin it

Watermarks and over-elaborate borders can really detract attention from your images – leave them off.

Essential Mac money-savers

We show you how to beat the credit crunch

Buying a Mac and keeping all the software and hardware up to date can be a drain on the bank balance. But for all the big-name apps that are out there, there are free alternatives that can do just as good a job. Take a look at our main feature to find out how to load your Mac up at no cost at all.

If you can afford to splash out on a new Mac, we investigate where you can buy your favourite Apple kit. There are several high street stores that now stock Macs and other Apple products, including M&S and Argos. Find out whether this decision is beneficial or detrimental to the industry and consumers.

As the iPod reaches the grand age of seven, we take a look back at its history. Our visual timeline guides you through its life, right from the first generation 5GB model of 2001 to the stunning new nanos and classics.

Also this issue

Tutorials
Turn your photos into artwork
Master iChat’s great features
Make an iTunes remote
Enhance your Finder
Stream iTunes to your iPhone
And more…

Reviews
Apple iPod touch
Apple iPod nano
Apple iTunes 8
Canon HV30
iDrive for Mac
And more…

Mac questions answered
Mix WiFi networks on a MacBook; move iTunes to an external drive; Time Machine and Entourage files; controlling a PC from a Mac; Creating playable DVDs from iTunes; mixing g and n wireless standards and much more

On the disc
Three full programs: HoudahSpot 2.0.9, Invoice 2.1.5 and Crossword Wizard 4 SE, plus freeware toolkit, hot demos and more…

It’s all in MacFormat issue 201, on sale now!

Visit the MacFormat forum by clicking here
Subscribe to MacFormat and never miss an issue again!

This month MacFormat has teamed up with Mr Site to offer a brand new MacBook and a complete web-hosting package to one lucky reader. Mr Site sells a range of web-hosting packages, all of which let you build your own site from scratch in a matter of minutes, and then host them for a year or more. The different packages – Takeaway Website Beginner, Standard and Pro – offer different amounts of storage, email accounts and tools. The Beginner’s package (which we’re offering here) is perfect for people wanting to make an impressive small website within a matter of minutes. With Takeaway Website Beginner you get five web pages, five email addresses, 75MB of web space and a generous 2GB of bandwidth.

Mr Site has already done the coding for you; you just select which elements you want on your site, and let the program do the rest. Each Mr Site package includes its own web address (which includes a .com option), and if you want to migrate your site away from Mr Site at a later date you can do so easily. To read more about Mr Site and its different versions just take a look at its website at www.mrsite.com where you’ll find all the information you need.

To enter please click here.

To help celebrate the launch of MacFormat presents The Essential iPhone Handbook, our sister site TechRadar has posted the interview with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak we wrote for the magazine. It's a great read, and Woz has a great insight on what Apple is trying to do with the iPhone. When we asked him if the iPhone is as revolutionary as the Apple II that he created, he told us:

No. I hate to say that but I'm an engineer in my heart and have to tell the truth. The Apple II brought the concept of computing equipment in the home to all of us. It was like something that never existed, and almost every new hardware and software app changed our view of the world and shocked and amazed us. There was a revolution going on.
The iPhone is more an example of creating the most excellent product in a market that existed. It didn't do new things, it just did them better.

Everyone here at MacFormat is delighted to announce our latest project: MacFormat presents The Essential iPhone Handbook. It covers everything from buying your iPhone to getting the best out of it, choosing essential accessories, and making sure nothing goes wrong. It's from the same expert writers behind MacFormat, the UK's best-selling Mac magazine, and continues our proud tradition of accessibility, depth and high production values. It's packed with beautiful photography and easy to understand, authoritative advice.

Whether you're looking for advice on buying your first iPhone or just want some inspiration on how to get the best out of one you already have, The Essential iPhone Handbook is the only book you need.

It's on sale now from WHSmith, Tesco, Easons and Borders, or you can order a copy online here!

In this edition of MacFormat This Week...

More fantastic tips to help you get more from your Mac with Christopher Phin. Also, Craig Grannell reviews two great shareware programs, Ian Tromp tells you how to get organised using your Mac and Trevor Middelton answers your Mac questions.

Here are your links for this week's show...

You can subscribe to the enhanced edition of MacFormat This Week through iTunes. To do this, click here.

Or you can download the files directly: For the enhanced edition of this show, click here.

For the MP3 edition of this show, click here.

If you'd like your questions answered in a future edition of MacFormat This Week, then please email machelpme-AT-futurenet.co-DOT-uk.

We'd love to hear your questions or comments regarding MacFormat This Week. E-mail us at macformatthisweek-AT-futurenet.co-DOT-uk.

In this edition of MacFormat This Week...

To celebrate 200 issues of MacFormat, we've got a slew of fantastic tips to help you get more from your Mac. Also: Editor Graham reflects on the past 15 years of MacFormat and Apple history, James reviews three great products and we answer your questions.

Here are your links for this week's show...

You can subscribe to the enhanced edition of MacFormat This Week through iTunes. To do this, click here.

Or you can download the files directly: For the enhanced edition of this show, click here.

For the MP3 edition of this show, click here.

If you'd like your questions answered in a future edition of MacFormat This Week, then please email machelpme-AT-futurenet.co-DOT-uk.

We'd love to hear your questions or comments regarding MacFormat This Week. E-mail us at macformatthisweek-AT-futurenet.co-DOT-uk.

We weren’t quite sure to expect for this year’s major European Mac show. In the weeks leading up to the event, whenever we spoke to someone in the industry, the response to the question “so, will we see you in Paris?” was usually along the lines of “nah, not bothering this year”.

Despite this, however, there was lots to see at the show. Best of all, though, was this stand for the iPhone:

Stick with us, we know it sounds dull; actually, it ‘sounds’ great. Drop your iPhone onto the clear plastic block with some audio playing through the iPhone’s built-in speaker, and a gramophone-style horn built into the plastic base amplifies the sound completely passively. There’s no power or extra speakers involved, and even on the noisy show floor you could hear a tremendous difference in volume between having the iPhone out of the stand, and dropping it in. It’s a lovely technical trick, and had us endlessly amused. That you can thread in a cable and have your iPhone charging at the same time is just the icing on the cake.

You can read our full show report here.

200 unmissable Mac tips

To celebrate 200 glorious issues of MacFormat, we’ve come up with 200 fantastic tips to help your get more from your Mac

Many people will know a handful of shortcuts from their favourite app or some handy timesavers. But we have a whole heap of tricks and tips that will prove invaluable. From OS X and iLife to system performance and essential software, there is something for all Mac users in our massive 20-page feature.

We also take a nostalgic look back at MacFormat’s 200 issue history. We talk to some familiar faces from the magazine’s past, and look at ten of our classic covers. It’s a great trip down memory lane for die-hard MacFormat readers.

Also this issue

Tutorials
Get better results with RAW images
Add and edit titles in iMovie
Get organised with your Mac
Set up multiple displays
Organise your photos in iPhoto
And more…

Reviews
QuarkXPress 8
Redlex Mellel 2.5
Elgato EyeTV DTT deluxe
Sennheiser MM50 IP
Desktop speakers group test
And more…

Mac questions answered
Trouble booting iMac G5; foreign song faults in iTunes; jumping mouse problems; wonky printing in Preview; streaming connection drops and much more

On the disc
Three full programs: ConceptDraw MINDMAP, AppDelete 1.1.1 and TextSpeach Pro Basic 1.5, plus learn Russian, six hours of video training, freeware toolkit, hot demos and more…

It’s all in MacFormat issue 200, on sale now!

Visit the MacFormat forum by clicking here
Subscribe to MacFormat and never miss an issue again!

To mark our bicentennial celebrations, Apple would like to wish us and all our readers a happy birthday by offering a brand new iPod Touch 16GB as a prize; well, it was brand new when we organised the competition - so, in fact it's the older, first-generation iPod touch.

To enter this competition please go to this web page

In this edition of MacFormat This Week...

Chris Phin reviews Apple's new iPod announcements - the iPod nano and the iPod touch. We talk to The Filter about Apple's new Genius music recommendation system that features in iTunes 8. Plus: AppleCare discussion, September shareware picks, and our regular Q&A!

Here are your links for this week's show...

You can subscribe to the enhanced edition of MacFormat This Week through iTunes. To do this, click here.

Or you can download the files directly: For the enhanced edition of this show, click here.

For the MP3 edition of this show, click here.

If you'd like your questions answered in a future edition of MacFormat This Week, then please email machelpme-AT-futurenet.co-DOT-uk.

We'd love to hear your questions or comments regarding MacFormat This Week. E-mail us at macformatthisweek-AT-futurenet.co-DOT-uk.

Get your hands on a huge amount of storage to go with your Mac

This month MacFormat has teamed up with Western Digital to offer three lucky readers some whopping desktop hard drives. These are Western Digital My Book Studio Edition II 2TB boxes, which should solve all your storage needs.

These are the biggest desktop drives that Western Digital offers, with a capacity of two terabytes. They are also RAID-enabled and use 30% less power than their predecessors. Each has two FireWire ports (1x 400 and 1x 800), a fast USB 2.0 port and even a cutting-edge eSATA port, and can read and write to them in blisteringly fast times from your Mac.

These drives work right out of the box, but software is included to help you partition the drives and set a backup schedule if you want to use it. You could use OS X’s Disc Utility or Time Machine to do the same job.

All Western Digital drives have light indicators to show you how the drive is operating, how full it is, and whether any warnings are afoot that you should take notice of. For more information on Western Digital’s various offerings for the Mac, please visit www.wdc.com.

To enter this month's competition please visit our online entry form by clicking here