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news of 2003-12-31

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I know, it's early enough. Even for CET. ;-) However, the party I'm going to attend is going to start soon and I guess I'll be too drunk at midnight (and too offline as well) in order to post this, so I do it now. Have a nice time tonight, y'all, don't do the bad things and come back well before Steve Jobs enters the stage at MWSF 2004!

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-31 at 18:29 CET ]
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Safari 1.2 soon

ThinkSecret posts a rumour that Apple might release Safari 1.2 in early 2004 (January, February timeframe).

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-31 at 18:20 CET ]
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'The far side' rumour: iBox

macosx.com has published a rumour about a TV set-top box (and home entertainment network WiFi server) called iBox that Apple, according to the rumour, should be developing. While it's quite certainly a box I would buy, I don't quite believe this rumour and haven't heard of it through any of my other channels. One of my most prominent sources called the rumour an 'early April fool's joke' - and I think she's right.
However: We would welcome Apple to do such a baby. Specs from the rumour page: 900 MHz G3 processor, 128 MB built-in RAM (not upgradeable), 120 GB harddrive, 1 FW 400, 2 USB 2.0 ports, 10/100 Mbit Ethernet, various video ports, SuperDrive, AirPort Extreme, Bluetooth (for remote control via mobile phone).

The device, according to the rumour, should be able to record (MPEG 1, 2, 4?) & broadcast (WiFi, Ethernet) video as well as pictures and music.
The G3 processor sounds a bit weak for the MPEG stuff (and so does the RAM size), as AltiVec is known to be a good helper in encoding MPEG video. However: If true, such a device would (and should) have a hardware chip for the encoding and decoding.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-31 at 15:59 CET ]
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OmniWeb 5 to appear very, very soon?

At 01:27 CET, Ken Case from OmniGroup wrote to the OW-mailinglist: "We should be posting an update about OmniWeb 5 to this list in the next 24 hours."
OmniWeb 5 is a big update to the browser that will bring the long-expected tab-like UI feature. We'll report as soon as we get our hands on a build of the new version and/or hear more.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-31 at 04:11 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-29

End of year rumour roundup for MWSF 2004

We've taken a deep look at the hints and bits that we've accumulated over the past few weeks. And here we bring you a list (sorted by probability) of what to expect and what not to expect at MWSF 2004 in early January...

100% - iLife update
We're told that all of the iLife applications will see major updates at MWSF. We've first reported about this on 2003-11-16 and more specifically on 2003-12-08.

80% - New iPods
While it's not completely clear what storage they will make use of, we will see new, smaller iPods with 2 and 4 GB capacity. At the same time, the 'normal' iPods will get software updates and price reductions. The new line-up will be very competitive, with the 'mini iPods' finally also luring lower budget buyers into the iTunes/iPod world.

50% - PowerMac G5
First reported at our site, Apple is preparing new PowerMacs with the PowerPC 970+ (90nm) processor at up to 2.5 GHz. The rumour is 90% probable, however: Sources are not clear whether Steve will intro them at MWSF or in the month following the show.

50% - iWrite & Keynote 2
Apple reportedly is finishing up the word processing application that will be the competitor to MS Word as much as Keynote is a competitor to PowerPoint. Apple is also preparing Keynote 2 for a release. Our informants could not say definitely when the two applications would be released, though.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-29 at 13:03 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-27

Holidays = Slow news days

Nothing much has happened in the Mac rumours and news world in the past few days, and there probably won't be much to report about in the coming days. We will however contact all of our sources for what's going to happen at MWSF 2004 (which is really only a few days into the new year away...) once more and create a round-up report for you in the coming days (as soon as the info is gathered and packed up nicely).
Recent rumours about the iPod range, for example, let us rethink what sources said earlier, and we're sure to bring you the right information at the right time. Before MWSF kicks off, of course. ;-)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-27 at 20:09 CET ]
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Speed up startup time in Mac OS X 10.3.2

Easily, really. Apple just 'forgot' something... ->

sudo ln -s /System/Library/Extensions/BootCache.kext/Contents/Resources/BootCacheControl /usr/sbin/BootCacheControl

After doing it, you'll have to restart at least twice to see the effect. (Explanation: Mac OS X expects the BootCacheControl in /usr/sbin/, but Apple has either put it into the wrong place or it isn't automatically created.) This macosx.com thread lays out how it works and what to do. (But you can really just do what the bold line says.) ;-)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-27 at 20:04 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-22

The 'low-cost' iPod rumours

Around the web, several different rumours have come up about a low-cost iPod at MWSF 2004. The first one came up directly after Steve Jobs was heard saying that Apple 'would like' to release a low-cost iPod, but that the truth was they couldn't sell iPods cheaper right now. The rumour then was, that Apple would reintroduce a 5 GB model for cheap. And this one - and only this one - makes some sense. Apple _has_ done the R&D on the iPod. And compatible 5 GB drives are available from Toshiba, the maker of the other models' drives.
However, the news that some harddrive makers would introduce smaller 1, 2 and 4 GB harddrives (some time next year, but not cheaper than available 1.8" drives, rather more expensive instead) led some people to believe that Apple would instead make the low-cost model smaller. Which makes no sense whatsoever.
If we'll see a low-cost iPod model at MWSF 2004, it's going to be a 5 GB model at a price below 200 USD.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-22 at 22:53 CET ]
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A free (and open source) workspace manager for OS X

At version 0.4.0, it's still considered an alpha version. But it works already. Read the release notes carefully before installing/using the software.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-22 at 12:20 CET ]
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PowerBook 10.3.2 fan update

You'll find the 10.3.1 fan extensions (mentioned earlier) at http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pomme-vaillante/Apple1031fanextensions.zip.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-22 at 12:15 CET ]
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MWSF 2004 Keynote QT Stream URL

A placeholder page is in place. January 6 at 9am PT. This means 18.00h for CET time zoners like myself.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-22 at 12:13 CET ]
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Jonathan Ive decorated (again)

"The highest design honour of appointment to the RSAÕs Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry has was given to Jonathan Ive, designer of the iPod and iMac, on Friday 21 November 2003 at 6pm at the RDI Annual Event at the RSA, 8 John Adam Street, London WC2. Jonathan Ive is vice-president of industrial design at Apple."

Read more about it at this location.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-22 at 11:59 CET ]
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Login problems/crashes with 10.3.2?

Some people wrote in with problems in 10.3.2. Some had many application crashes, some couldn't even login after the update. The solution? You have to move your fonts out of the way. Sounds strange? Yes, but it works. At least for most of the users that wrote in to us. It's only about the 'personal' fonts you'll find in "~/Library/Fonts", so you can move them all in single-user mode, for example to your desktop folder:

mv ~/Library/Fonts/* ~/Desktop/

Other sites suggest that you delete your fonts, but this is, of course, not necessary.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-22 at 11:58 CET ]
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Derrick Story (MacDevCenter) about the 17" PB

He likes it, apparently: "If you live a text-only life, this PowerBook might not be for you. Also, if you're not in the mood to spend over $3,000 US for a notebook, then you might want to look at another model. But if you have the budget for it, and demand crisp audio, saturated pictures, and big time video performance, the 17" PowerBook is a dream machine. And even when I'm working in text, I can have side by side documents open at full size. Spreadsheets are pretty fun too."

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-22 at 11:53 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-20

Security Update 2003-12-19

Patches AFP Server, ASN.1 Decoding for PKI, cd9660.util, Directory Services, fetchmail, fs_usage, rsync, System Initialization.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-20 at 12:21 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-19

Apple's new 'Academic Research' web pages

Apple has released their 'education' & 'science' webpages into the wild wide web. Talking about the "25 years, [in which] Apple has provided powerful tools to enable scientific discovery. Today, Apple continues to innovate. With the worldÕs first 64-bit desktop computer, robust cluster, and storage solutions, and thousands of scientific applications, scientists everywhere are moving to Mac - and with good reason. An open source, UNIX-based operating system, industry-leading hardware, and unparalleled price/performance make the Mac the ideal platform for modern scientific research." Take a look at the pages here.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-19 at 23:58 CET ]
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Video iPod - Some thoughts...

A job listing is making the rumour-sites' rounds. It asks for a person to help in the iPod audio & video development. Now commenting users are jumping the gun, going this way and that and get the most basic things about this very, very wrong.
For example: There is no way that Apple will promote ripping DVDs to an iPod. Yet that doesn't mean that you won't be able to watch movies on a future, video enabled, iPod.
There's also the ever-recurring argument that "I don't want to watch video on a one inch screen...". Totally ignoring, of course, that a future iPod doesn't have to have a ONE inch screen but could have a bigger one - and furthermore that you could connect such an imaginary device (as of now) to your home theatre or TV set.

But give Apple some slack here. Apple doesn't cater for the present. Apple creates for the future. Always has been, always will be. But what does this mean?

Introducing the new 80 GB iPod - now with video
This is just some thoughts, not really a rumour - keep that in mind, please. The basis for this, however, is facts.
The new iPod comes with a larger screen. The 2.5" transreflective TFT display shows 480*320 pixels in thousands of colours. And it's well connected. Put it in the Dock to synch with your iTunes, iPhoto and iFlix libraries. With 80 GB of space, there's enough for all of it. You can buy AAC encoded songs from iTunes Music Store and MPEG-4 encoded (640*480 for 4:3, 640*360 for 16:9 format) movies from the iFlix Video Store. But the iPod also plays MP3 and other audio formats as well as MPEG-1 and other video formats. [The iPod will not play DivX encoded video files, however you'll be able to download a DivX2MPEG4 converter from shadowy underground websites.]
The iPod's Dock will also connect to your TV cable, so you can watch TV on your iPod and/or Mac as well as record digitally to your Mac. The iPod itself comes with a S-Video connector that you can use to show your flix on a TV set or other projection device.
The new iPod also lets you watch your iPhoto library as well as your diashows (with sound from the iTunes library).
But even better: You can use your iPod as a presentation device with Keynote presentations.

While Apple probably won't make all of this (and not all of it at once), a video enabled iPod will come at some point in time. And it'll have a subset of the features named in above musings...

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-19 at 23:53 CET ]
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Apple pulls Xcode 1.1?

It seems that Apple doesn't let users get Xcode 1.1 any longer through Software Update. No reason was given.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-19 at 21:45 CET ]
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Ugly hack for PowerBooks' fan problems in 10.3.2

In case you didn't notice, Apple has lowered the temparature at which PowerBooks' fans turn off, which leads to fans never turning off with some PowerBooks (mostly, the 12" models are affected). This might be Apple's answer to the heat problem with those models, but you might rather have silence (and more battery power) than cool hands. If so: You'll find a solution here. It's actually replacing two kernel extensions with ones from 10.2.8 (might also get those from 10.3, maybe, which sounds more reasonable to me, but hasn't been tested yet...). Too ugly a solution for you? Send feedback to Apple...

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-19 at 12:30 CET ]
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Sorry: Here's the link...

... for DVD Studio Pro 2.0.3: Get the updater here.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-19 at 08:51 CET ]
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DVD Studio Pro 2.0.3

Ah yes. Another one. ;-) Here's the link. (2nd link down at the moment. Strange... We've got this one from macrumors.com... Maybe later?)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-19 at 00:28 CET ]
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Final Cut Pro 4.1.1 and LiveType 1.1.1

Available through Software Update.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-19 at 00:05 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-18

Xcode 1.1 released

It's the day, it seems. Software Update.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-18 at 23:22 CET ]
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QuickTime 6.5 & Divx 5.x.x

Finally, you can use QuickTime player to play DivX files without problems. At least the ones I had to use MPlayer or VLC for now play just fine. Yay!

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-18 at 21:57 CET ]
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iTunes 4.2 released

It's before-christmas update frenzy time at Apple. Get iTunes 4.2 here .

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-18 at 21:40 CET ]
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QuickTime 6.5 released!

Get it through Software Update. (18.2 MB.)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-18 at 19:38 CET ]
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Mac OS X 10.3.2 7D24

As predicted, Apple has released Mac OS X 10.3.2 7D24 through Software Update. You can also download it directly from Apple via http.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-18 at 13:33 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-17

Apple releases 'Battery Update'

While it's not definitely clear what the update actually does, it is recommended that users with iBooks & PowerBooks install this update through Software Update.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-17 at 23:13 CET ]
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Adobe releases Acrobat Reader 6.0.1

... and also mentions better Panther compatibility. However, for Panther users, there's 'Preview', the included PDF reader that is about, say, 10 times faster in launching, opening and browsing files... If you need Acrobat Reader because of some of its other features: Get it here.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-17 at 22:12 CET ]
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QT MPEG-2 component updated...

We've just mentioned it not working any longer, but Apple has patched the component. Users must login to the Apple Store and redownload the component (no automatic software update).

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-17 at 19:27 CET ]
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Nice or not: We've got text-shadows now. ;-)

After noticing that Safari is the only browser right now to support the CSS property of "text-shadow", I've applied some to titles and dates. Want to use it? Do so. Might bring other browser-makers to support it... "text-shadow: 2px 2px 4px grey" is the code that casts the shadow on our titles.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-17 at 15:45 CET ]
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QuickTime 6.5 soon

ThinkSecret mentions that QuickTime will soon be updated to version 6.5. Recently, the MPEG-2 extension (sold separately) stopped working on 15. Dec. 2003. (Workaround: Set your computer's date back when using it. Sad but true...)
Just to make sure you don't expect too much from QT 6.5: We're already at 6.4 now, so it's not a 'jump' in version numbering, as one could expect from a .5 number. The update will mainly bring two new formats in: 3GPP2 and AMC.
QuickTime 6.5 has not been seeded to free ADC members nor ADC Select members.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-17 at 15:39 CET ]
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Yeeeeeeet another security issue. *Sigh!*

This time: Finder. A user whose privileges do not allow him to start, say, Terminal, can start Terminal. How, you ask? Just use the keyboard instead of the mouse. Use the Command- and Arrow-keys to move through directories, find /Applications/Utilities and start Terminal. He hasn't got root-privs yet in the shell, but together with another exploit like the one found yesterday...
Apple seems to have a lot to do over christmas. This one might even delay 10.3.2, as it concerns the Finder directly. (Found at this heise.de article in German.)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-17 at 11:30 CET ]
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New Mac OS X security issue (and fix)

MacBidouille notes a new security issue in Mac OS X 10.3.1 (and probably others). This time, it's a buffer overflow in file system (cd9660.util and ufs.util) code. Basically, because the system doesn't verify the code and because the parts are run as root, an exploit could get root access to your machine. However, it's a local exploit and a potential hacker would already have to have access to your machine, if I read Security Focus' BUGTRAQ message correctly.

The MacBidouille article contains two replacement parts for your system that fix the problem. Apple should already be aware of the problem and is expected to release a Security Update soon.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-17 at 00:29 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-16

AppleInsider: 17" Cinema Display EOL'd

In a news blurb, AI notes that Apple's 17" TFT display may have been EOL'd, paving the way for a displays update at MWSF 2004.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-16 at 21:18 CET ]
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What "iPhone" for Christmas?

Yes, there's no Apple iPhone. But there's iSync - and compatible mobile phones. They're fun and work, too. All your PIM data on the go without a PDA, they promise. But which one's right for you? (Attention, we're looking at GSM compatible phones only, being that we're based in Europe.)

SonyEricsson
SE has a few nice phones for you. The T610 and T630 (white T610, basically) are very nice, small mobile phones that have everything. The camera's bad, really, and the screen is not that good in bright sunlight. They work fine with iSync and there's my very own Panther theme for them. The Z600 is the same in clamshell form, but it's really too fat. ;-)
The P900 is a real smartphone and adds a much bigger screen. It's quite nicely shaped and - for such a big phone - looks much better than its predecessor P800, which you might grab for low prices right now.

Nokia
Nokia has only a few Bluetooth-capable phones, and they're all Series 60 based. Which is good. But it also means that there's no competitor to the SE T610/630 from Nokia. All Nokia "iPhones" are bigger.
The N3650 and 3660 (newer) are the bigger, more consumer-oriented phones. The N6600 is the business edition with the newest OS version (2.0). You'll want the latter, if you want Nokia.

Others...
There are a few others around. Siemens is launching (finally) the SX1, a Series 60 phone. But it's too little, too late. On the other end of the scale, there's Sendo's X, which we have praised before.
The Treo 600 is the Palm OS smart phone now sold by PalmOne (initially made by Handspring, which's been bought by Palm). It synchs through iSync with Palm's HotSync. No Bluetooth, but USB.
There are a couple of other iSync compatible phones, but they all lack some basic things. Like style. ;-)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-16 at 10:55 CET ]
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PortalPlayer (iPod's OS maker) Photo Edition

TheRegister notes that PortalPlayer Photo Edition is coming along. The new version of iPod's operating system will support JPEG and Motion JPEG formats along with a few effects and supports adding music to slideshows. Sounds like iPod might get iPhoto integration. However: This would take new hardware. Not only because you'll want a colour screen for the photos, but also because the OS needs more processing power.
Also see the interview at EETimes.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-16 at 10:39 CET ]
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What Chris Adamson doesn't want for Christmas...

Chris Adamson writes at MacDevCenter what he doesn't want for Christmas. Nice read. Although some of the items are on my list all the same. ;-)

He lists the following items: Video iPod, Tablet Mac, Apple flat-screen TV, Anything "Extreme", The continued existence of an US-only iTMS. Nice read.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-16 at 10:28 CET ]
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Fixed RSS-Feed.

Thanks to a reader, we have now fixed our RSS-Feed. It should be working just fine with your favourite newsreader application. Now including hyperlinks. ;-)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-16 at 10:24 CET ]
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iWrite.

MacRumors.com notes that Apple has trademarked 'iWrite'. Together with our previous rumours of an Apple word processor application at MWSF 2004 (also read our ), this quite probably means: iWrite at MWSF.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-16 at 10:22 CET ]
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PowerMac G5 Firmware Update

Apple has released a firmware update (Version 5.1.4) for the G5 series PowerMacs.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-16 at 01:25 CET ]
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Apple seeds 10.3.2 7D24

Yes, yet another build. Apparently, some bugs were found in 7D23 that prevented the build from being released to the public. We're expecting Apple to release the software now to the public, if no more bugs appear.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-16 at 00:25 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-15

StuffIt Deluxe 8.0.2 solves Panther-ZIP file problem

The update's just out, and here's the scoop on what's new: "Version 8.0.2 includes a number of changes designed to better support Zip archives created by Mac OS X 10.3 "Panther". If a file being archived with Panther zip compression contains a resource fork and/or Finder information, those parts of the file are stored in a separate folder at the root of the archive. StuffIt will now correctly combine a data fork with its associated resource fork and Finder information as it is being expanded. In order to ensure that the connection between a data fork and its resource fork is not broken, the StuffIt Deluxe application will open any archive created by the zip compression included with Mac OS X 10.3 as a Read Only archive."
You can get the file at this MacUpdate link.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-15 at 21:12 CET ]
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WWDC 2004: End of June

Apple's just announced the dates for WWDC 2004: June 28-July 2, 2004. We're expecting first details about 10.4 at WWDC - among (possibly) some other news. However, this is still half a year away - and we'll first focus on MWSF 2004, which will take place in early January.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-15 at 14:19 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-13

Questions about Mac OS X 10.3.2 (7D23)

A few readers have been writing in lately about 10.3.2. More so now that we're expecting it to be released early next week. Let's answer some of the questions.

When is it going to be released?
Quite a few readers have asked this one. Apple has asked developers to file bug-reports 'in a timely manner' lately. This request has been removed from the seed notes in the latest build, which - among other things, like the quality of the build - leads us to believe that a release is imminent. A source within Apple has told us that 'Monday' is the day of release.

Are there any new features?
Not really. The Mac OS X 10.3.2 Update is a bug fix release. It's the one that actually should have been 10.3.1, but Apple had to rush a few bug fixes after the disastrous news that 10.3 had some major bugs. However, there are new graphics drivers for both ATi and nVidia chips.

What about the 'Macromedia bug' you've mentioned?
The bug affected all Macromedia applications. In dialogue boxes, you couldn't click any buttons. This bug was in every build of Mac OS X 10.3.2 until 7D20. It's been fixed and is also gone in 7D23.

What about 10.3.3?
No such thing yet. We'll inform you when the builds are seeded.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-13 at 22:44 CET ]
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What's wrong with ZZ Top? ;-)

Catrin Pascoe, writing for icwales.icnetwork.co.uk, sees the iPod as too expensive, too monochrome, too low-battery. She says that looking at the greyscale screen can take you back to 1984, listening to ZZ Top. Well, she's not that extreme, really, but she thinks Apple should start surprising us again. Colour screen for the iPod, she wants. And Bluetooth (for listening, but sharing probably wouldn't be far...). And more battery. Less price. Stereo recording. FM tuner. And maybe more. She writes: "Expect the IPod to one day to merge not only with the wireless but internet-connected personal organiser, GameBoy, portable television and mobile phone."

While I think that Apple quite surely will take the iPod to the next level(s) in the coming year, I don't see some of the features Catrin Pascoe demands in her article. But which features are important right now? With Apple driving the digital music revolution, I (sadly) don't see the videoPod happening right now (but Apple's prepared for it with QuickTime, MPEG-4 etc.). Bluetooth audio just doesn't cut it. The bandwidth is just too low. (Believe me, just believe me...) An FM-Tuner is certainly not too much to ask for - and iPod has the right interface for it with the wheel. ;-) ... An integrated stereo microphone (recording to AAC directly, or to AIFF?) is a must, I think. Musicians love the iPod. Now give them more, I say... (Not to forget reporters, which can replace their MD-recorders with iPods, if it has an integrated - and good - microphone...)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-13 at 14:28 CET ]
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Mac OS X 10.3.2 7D23 seeded

And this build is expected to be released as Mac OS X 10.3.2 on Monday according to our sources. (The knowledge base article should appear shortly before the update.)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-13 at 13:28 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-12

AppleInsider reiterates PowerMac G5 rumours

At this link you'll see what news they have added to their rumours. Our sources still assure us that the highend PMG5 will not go past 2.5 GHz. (AI says 2.6 GHz.)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-12 at 20:58 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-11

Please flame this guy

This column at ABCnews asks for correction. No, only because Mac OS X has one security issue that is solved before exploitation doesn't suddenly mean "Macs are just as insecure as Windows computers". Please tell him.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-11 at 19:08 CET ]
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Mac OS X Server 10.3.2 7D20 seeded

Apple also seeded the server version of 7D20 last night. Fixes in this build concern DNS, NetBoot, ServerAdmin, Workgroup Manager App. Key enhancements of 10.3.2 Update: Improved Kerberos support for AFP services, enhanced Server Admin and Workgroup Manager applications, improved Network Image Utility and QTSS Publisher applications, improved integration with Active Directory, updated MySQL to version 4.0.16, more robust printing to PostScript printers, faster importing of user records, FileVault, FireWire 800, WebDAV and USB Printing improvements, previous standalone security updates: "Security Update 2003-11-19"

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-11 at 12:47 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-10

Mac OS X 7D20 also seeded to Select ADC members

After seeding the build to Premier members yesterday, it also appeared this night on ADC Select members' accounts. The build's size is 36.7 MB.

From the seed notes: "Please focus your testing on these major areas of change (from 10.3): Core OS, Graphics, Imaging, USB, Printing, International Text, Core Services, AppleScript, Cocoa and Carbon Framework. Please report any issues you may encounter in a timely manner - within a week of this seed would be very much appreciated."
Means no changes in seed notes from recent builds.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-10 at 11:23 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-09

More from Enderle...

But let's post macdailynews.com's 'distillation' (and macdailynews' answers) of Enderle's newest column (our answers in italics):

1) IT people who choose Macintosh risk being fired. - Anecdotal evidence based upon one story doesn't mean squat. Pure FUD.
Erh... Rob?

2) Some people don't want to pay for new operating systems, they want Apple to do all of the work for free. - Some people are cheap and/or not too bright.
And Enderle seems to have got it wrong. You don't _pay_ for Panther when buying a new Mac now. The OS's in the box.

3) Don't buy an iPod or use the iTunes Music Store because Apple might go out of business and then all of your music will be worthless and you'll have to buy it all again. - Apple has been "going out of business" for over two decades according to these types. If they ever actually did go out of business, at the very least, users could burn CDs and import them into whichever format they'd like.
Enderle has repeatedly said Apple was going out of business. For years, I believe. So... Let's start this: Enderle's going out of business. Soon.

4) Apple won't make a Tablet PC because Steve Jobs killed the Newton and won't admit that was a mistake. - Maybe Apple won't make a Tablet PC because they are so niche that there is no reason to bother making them right now or ever. "Nobody is able to actually be profitable making the Tablet PC," said Campell Kan, the chief officer of Acer's notebook products division, September 30, 2003.
Argueing doesn't seem Enderle's strength. What logic is behind the thought that Apple won't make a tablet because of Newton's demise?

5) The iPod is a bad PDA. - Depends on what you want your PDA to do. The iPod is a music player, not a PDA - the PDA functions it does have are there for the user's convenience.
Who ever said iPod was a PDA?

6) Apple has no smartphone product. - Right. Does Apple need to have a smartphone product? Can Apple make money on a smartphone?
Getting angry now... Has Enderle got a, hmm, brain product?

7) The Switcher campaign failed. - We weren't aware there was an official "end time" for measuring the Switcher campaign's success. How does Enderle know it won't prove to be successful with time?
No, let's be fair. The switch campaign was really bad (I _mean_ that) and didn't work. Numbers show this. Actually, I just don't like the switchers ads. Too lame. Gimme edge.

8) Steve Jobs doesn't think "outside the box." - Rob Enderle is an idiot.
Rob Enderle is a troll.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-09 at 23:15 CET ]
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Mac OS X 10.3.2 7D20 for Premier members

According to one source, 7D20 has only been seeded to Premier, not Select ADC members. And according to another source, the 'Macromedia bug' has been fixed in this build.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-09 at 22:46 CET ]
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"Mac OS X Unwired" by O'Reilly

Their new book (sample chapter available at the link) covers WiFi, Bluetooth, Infrared, CDMA, GPRS etc.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-09 at 11:58 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-08

What the...

Today's such a day. No, my iBook didn't break, thank you. A different kinda day. A ... Microsoft day. I don't know. How many CRM (yes, that's customer relationship management) software solutions do you know? Thought so. Not that many. And now, all around the web (I am _NOT_ linking and adding even more to the story...), everyone's talking about Microsoft's new CRM software version (1.2, not a version 2 or 3 or something...). As if everybody had been waiting for it. Do we hear about the competitors' .x-releases? Well: I haven't. I think I have never at all read about a release of a CRM software solution in the news before. What happened?
My thinking goes... Microsoft wants much, much more market share in the CRM software market. And somehow they've made news out of their 1.2 release, although I can't see how (besides money). None of the articles seems in any way interesting to 99% of the people out there. But I'm sure that if anyone asks me about CRM software next week, 'Microsoft' will be on my mind. Strange, n't it? (Am I being paranoid? Or does it strike you as odd, too? Drop me a line via the mail-link below the article...)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-08 at 22:03 CET ]
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Full screen webbrowser NagaraBrowser

The website is in Japanese. (Look here for other applications of'anne'...) I don't understand much of it, but you can download the disk image for free here. It's only about 500 KB in size and uses Safari's bookmarks. I guess it's using WebKit (thus the size). You can surf fullscreen (with a menu bar) and keep it open as your desktop picture. (It doesn't take clicks as long as the app is not the foreground application.)

Another application, called WebStickies, sounds interesting, too - and more info (and a download link) is available here.

Sounds like the use of WebKit finally bears some fruit. I've been waiting for freeware like this... :)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-08 at 21:20 CET ]
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Microsoft Office 11 and VPC 7 at MWSF 2004

Appleinsider has the rumour. Office 11 has been in development for the Mac for over 1.5 years now. Virtual PC definitely needs an update, as it's not at all compatible with the G5 processor in its current state.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-08 at 20:38 CET ]
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Apple acknowledges the alu PB 15"'s white spot problem

Apple has posted this article about it. Sadly, Apple doesn't describe the problem in much detail. If you buy one, make sure you bring it back early, should the problem arise.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-08 at 17:47 CET ]
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Steve Jobs about the Music industry

Read it, it's good: The Rolling Stone's article is an interview that gives quite some insight about how Steve thinks about music, the industry, piracy, copyright etc.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-08 at 15:56 CET ]
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New kids' browser: BumperCar

Read the news at FreeVerse's news page. It's basically a changed OmniWeb (using WebKit) with kids' (and, of course, parents') features. It will be out in January according to their news page.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-08 at 15:00 CET ]
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iMovie 3.5?

According to this ThinkSecret rumour, the update will be released soon and is - or close to - GM. Our own sources however expect the whole iLife suite to be updated at MWSF. Details about each app's feature-set are sparse. One source mentions two-track support in iMovie 3.5.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-08 at 13:22 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-06

Mac OS X 10.3.2 7D18 still has the Macromedia bug...

A few testers wrote in that the bug discovered in 7D15 (some Macromedia apps' dialogue boxes' buttons can't be pressed, although keyboard-shortcuts like 'enter' and 'esc' work) is still present in the newest build of Panther.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-06 at 19:29 CET ]
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Quark XPress 6.1 soon

MacBidouille has a report that confirms an XPress 6.1 update (bug fixes, Panther support etc.). We should see it in a bit.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-06 at 19:25 CET ]
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Pioneer Press compares iMac and Gateway 610

Read it all at this location. Or just take our words for it: The article compares nicely the two products but fails to say the most obvious thing for a long-time Apple Macintosh user: The Mac is cheaper. In every sense. The 20" iMac costs more, of course, but hey: It's a twenty inch iMac!

Compare the other models, though, and you see a different story... The 17" Gateway 610XL costs 2'000 USD, the (same screen size of 17") iMac costs 1'799 USD. If you go 'cheaper': Without DVD-burner, the 610 costs 1'500 USD, the iMac 1'299 USD. Gateway Profile 5 costs 1'100 USD, the eMac can be had for 799 USD.

So what do we learn? PCs are more expensive than Macs. Let's keep it simple, shall we? ;-)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-06 at 16:26 CET ]
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Mac OS X 7D18 seeded

Apple has seeded ADC members (Select & Premier) with Mac OS X 7D18 (and Server 7D18 at the same time). The size of the Client seed is 35.7 MB, the server seed comes in at 52.8 MB at the moment. The seed notes are basically unchanged from 7D15 and read: "The following is information on Mac OS X Update 10.3.2 build 7D18. Mac OS X update 10.3.2 is an update to Mac OS X v10.3. Major areas of change include: Core OS, Graphics, Imaging, USB, Printing, International Text, Core Services, Cocoa Framework, and AppleScript. Please report any issues you may encounter ithis seed would be very much appreciated."

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-06 at 11:24 CET ]
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A review of SonyEricsson's P900

infosync.no has reviewed the SonyEricsson P900 smartphone. Quoting their conclusion: "While the Sony Ericsson P900 does indeed deliver improvements in most areas when compared with the P800, none of these are particularly noteworthy. Some small flaws still remain, but the P900 now represents what the P800 should have been at launch, yet finds itself competing in a far tougher market. Still, with snappy performance, a good feature set and quite a bit of software available, the overall impression of the P900 would be good was it not for its steep price tag: at 700 EUR - or more in some cases - there are certainly alternatives worth considering."

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-06 at 00:31 CET ]
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Security Update for Mac OS X/Safari

Apple has made available a security update (fixes cookie access rights in Safari) through Mac OS X' Software Update engine.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-06 at 00:25 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-05

Apple planning new Software Update engine

According to this ThinkSecret article, Apple is planning to introduce a new Software Update engine that will also let third parties in, such as Microsoft or Adobe.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-05 at 14:57 CET ]
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MOSR joins G5 rumours for MWSF 2004

Check out MOSR today and you'll find them saying similar - but not the same - things about the G5 update round of MWSF 2004. We now have about three different models for the update round, ranging from all-90nm-PPC 970+ up to 2.6 GHz (AppleInsider) to our own (single 2 GHz 130nm 970 model, dual 2.2 and dual 2.5 GHz 90nm 970+ models) to MOSR's model (single 2 GHz 970, dual 2.2 GHz 970 and dual 2.4 GHz 970+, only the latter at 90nm). We're confident that we'll see clearer near the end of this month, but for now, our sources seem confident that our model is the right one.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-05 at 13:10 CET ]
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AppleInsider confirms PowerMac G5 at MWSF 2004 update

In their news article, AppleInsider claims knowledge of IBM's PowerPC 970+ at 2.0, 2.2, 2.4 and 2.6 GHz. They say Apple will make use of the chip early next year. This collides with our own sources who mentioned a single 2 GHz model, a dual 2.2 GHz and a dual 2.5 GHz model for MWSF 2004. We'll keep you informed.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-05 at 01:27 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-04

codepoetry about Panther's new text engine

... for Cocoa applications. Quite extensive review of all the new features. Did you even know there were drop shadows at this level?

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-04 at 04:04 CET ]
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ShapeShifter 1.0.1 released

Unsanity has released a bug-fix & feature update to its themer system add-on. Several bugs have been issued with this release.

Quite an extensive list of changes: "Resolved an issue that could prevent systems using non-English and multi-byte localizations (Japenese, for example) from being able to use ShapeShifter. Resolved issues that could cause application instability in Panther when using themes created for earlier operating systems. Resolved an issue that caused fuzzy Menu Extras, slow window resizing performance, redrawing issues in Safari, and incorrect window transparency in some applications for users running Panther. Added a "Default Aqua Theme" item to the theme list. Added compatibility for "dlta" themes created for OS X versions earlier than 10.2. ... (list is longer...)"

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-04 at 01:08 CET ]
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Apple seeds Xcode Update v1.1 Build 7K112

Yes. Another round for the ADC members. Still no 10.3.2 updates, though.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-04 at 00:16 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-03

Symantec bringing updates?

According to this MacNN article, Symantec's planning to release updates to all of their Mac applications for Panther compatibility. However: Be aware that those 'Norton' apps have a history of killing Mac harddrives. And we're not kidding.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-03 at 15:10 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-02

Suitcase X1 11.0.2

Extensis releases an update to its font management software that better handles Panther. Much better startup- and shutdown-time makes this a must-have update.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-02 at 16:14 CET ]
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NYtimes.com (free reg. req.) about online music

"You've got a portable music player that can fit 10'000 songs on it? Come on. No one will spend $1 a track filling it." ... says the article. Ignoring the fact that an iPod can act as an external harddrive for backup purposes, too. Or that you can buy CDs offline and rip them to your iPod. Or that it's better to have a bit of spare space on such a device instead of having to select songs to delete. The article isn't all bad, though. ;-) ... Some more information about iTMS being near profitable (which is both a good and a bad thing, I guess... Good in that it's actually going to be profitable, bad in that the market leader is still losing money with its store.).

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-02 at 15:27 CET ]
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New PowerBooks?

Not that it'd annoy me much, but I don't think so. MacRumors posts a 'page 2' rumour that new PowerBooks would be released today. Apple's online store's still up. ;-)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-02 at 14:03 CET ]
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news of 2003-12-01

Apple plans 'AppleCare Plus' for iBooks & PowerBooks

... according to this ThinkSecret article.
A quote: "AppleCare Plus would reportedly cover accidental damage, but would only be available for iBooks and PowerBooks. Laptops, of course, are more likely than desktops to incur accidental damage, in situations such as travel."

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-01 at 16:09 CET ]
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Another Nokia 6600 Review

This time from powerpage.org. The article features quite a few screenshots (although jpeg-degraded) and says nice things about the smart phone.
We would urge you to also take a look at the Sendo X (review link here) before buying the N6600, as it is said to feature more for about the same price - and also looks (and is) a bit lighter.
Buyers should also be aware of the fact that this phone (the Nokia 6600) isn't supported by iSync out of the box. You'll need to change some stuff in the XML .plist files of iSync, so that iSync thinks it knows about the phone. (Basically, the protocols are the same as for the 3650 and the 7650, so the code should be the same, only renamed.)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-12-01 at 12:25 CET ]
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news of 2003-11-30

'Two years of iPod' @ nytimes.com

(free registration required to read the full article...) - Called "The Guts of a New Machine", the article talks about the success, the chances and risks of the iPod. Rob Walker talks nicely about our favourite digital music player. A quote:
It is, in short, an icon. A handful of familiar cliches have made the rounds to explain this -- it's about ease of use, it's about Apple's great sense of design. But what does that really mean? ''Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like,'' says Steve Jobs, Apple's C.E.O. ''People think it's this veneer -- that the designers are handed this box and told, 'Make it look good!' That's not what we think design is. It's not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.''

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-30 at 17:06 CET ]
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news of 2003-11-29

No news about 10.3.2

We were expecting another build of Mac OS X 10.3.2 last night, but alas, Apple seems to be gathering more feedback about 7D15 right now. As mentioned before, Apple probably doesn't want to rush this first 'real' update to Panther (it's currently 34.1 MB in size, much more than the bug fix release of 10.3.1). Yet, Apple pressed its ADC Select and Premier members to give feedback fast - a thing we haven't seen for the past two years in Mac OS X beta releases. Our sources within Apple sadly don't know much more about the schedule for the update, but expect a new beta seed soon that will - hopefully - address all the issues with 7D15 (and 10.3.1 for that matter) correctly, without bringing new issues along.
Another seed early next week could lead to a download for users at the end of the week.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-29 at 19:02 CET ]
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Cleaner does REAL in Classic - with a trick

A friend wrote in with the following steps that actually let you create REAL files with Cleaner 6 in Mac OS X (using Classic):

1.) Startup Classic
2.) Go to 'Cleaner 6' in Finder and search its package contents (contextual menu) for 'Contents/MacOS/cleaner'
3.) Start that application and create REAL files.

Discreet's REAL encoder for Mac OS X is still in development. Three years after Mac OS X 10.0.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-29 at 16:58 CET ]
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OmniWeb 5 SneakyPeek by year's end

An OmniGroup engineer 'promised' that we'd see news (and some downloadable) of OmniWeb 5 by year's end. With version 4.5, OmniWeb moved to WebCore. Version 5 is expected to definitely move to WebKit, i.e. its engine will be updated along with Apple's Safari (and HTML help, Mail etc.). The version is said to bring various new interface enhancements, for example "something like tabs" - but different. We'll inform you about progress as we get more information.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-29 at 13:40 CET ]
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G5 firmware update?

ThinkSecret says Apple is preparing a G5 firmware update. Not much more information available. Previously expected release date: November. Now it seems, this has been delayed, if ThinkSecret's sources are right.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-29 at 00:01 CET ]
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news of 2003-11-28

Discreet Cleaner 6 - no, REALly?

According to a source that has tried the retail package of Cleaner 6, the application which promises encoding in REAL's formats, does not in fact offer this option in Mac OS X. Not even in Classic. You'll need a computer which boots into Mac OS 9 in order to produce REAL videos with Cleaner 6. Sad...

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-28 at 13:25 CET ]
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Japanese robot can carry 60kg

And thus, a human. Well, a woman. Or a youngster. Although I don't read Japanese, the page is worth a look, for the pictures mainly. (Yes, this is majorly off topic, but why not link it all the same?) ;-)

The site also has MPEG movies you can watch - a bit further down the page. Fun to watch, of course. (Links not working at the moment, sadly...) However: What can such robots be used for, actually? Can they take you upstairs? Then they're quite perfect. :-)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-28 at 13:18 CET ]
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Nov. 28 is here: Apple gives 10% off iPod

... and iPod accessories at store.apple.com. It seems that there are no other announcements today, but we could be surprised. And would like to be, too. ;-)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-28 at 12:14 CET ]
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Apple's Office plans

Apple has a long history with word processors. I've used MacWrite in 1987 for the first time and was impressed. Well, I've used a non-electric typewriter before, so that might be a reason, but it just felt so natural to me. Might be one reason I became an author of short stories later on.

Later, Apple created 'Claris', the subsidiary that made MacWrite Pro and later ClarisWorks, which eventually turned into ClarisWorks Office and then was renamed AppleWorks when Claris was erased (and FileMaker Inc. was born). However, AppleWorks never really had the chance of being a real MS Office killer, mostly because the integration with Office documents was always just a little bit too flakey to be really good enough.

Another path of the 'evolution': SimpleText. Initially, it was called TeachText. Mac OS X brought TextEdit, which replaced SimpleText with quite a few features - and in Panther, it can read and write MS Word files without problems - as long as you don't mind some formatting issues. ;-) Still: If you mostly need MS Word v. X now to open attachments from business contacts and not because of its vast feature-set - TextEdit 1.3 will do the job.

Keynote was released with PowerPoint compatibility. So what's Apple waiting for? We need an Excel replacement. AppleWorks already has a spreadsheet part. But Apple is doing it one by one, while keeping AppleWorks updated for compatibility - without feature enhancements. Up next: Document, the word processing application that is TextEdit on steroids (and Brushed Metal, probably). According to our sources within Apple, a lot of work has been put into this piece of software, and Apple is going to release the 1.0 version at MWSF 2004. It seems, though, that there are voices inside Apple against such a move just yet. Because the more Apple replaces Office with their own applications, the less likely Microsoft is to further support the Mac. Office v. X is the 'last thing standing' from the Microsoft Business Unit. And switching to the Mac is easy mostly because there is MS Office v. X. It's a delicate decision for Apple. A critical one. And their choice is to release single apps rather than a whole "Office-Replacement Suite" - mainly because of this.
We're pretty sure that an Excel replacement is the very last thing we'll see released in this plan. But come it will.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-28 at 12:07 CET ]
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David Pogue thanks Apple and others...

... in his latest column.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-28 at 11:52 CET ]
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Apple responds to DHCP/LDAP flaw

... with a document on how to disable LDAP for DHCP. However, this does not solve the problem for users who want to actually use the feature.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-28 at 11:43 CET ]
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news of 2003-11-27

Another Security Hole in Mac OS X

Read all about it here.
An excerpt:

"Vulnerability: Malicious DHCP response can grant root access

Affected Software
Mac OS X 10.3 (all versions through today's date)
Mac OS X Server 10.3 (all versions through today's date)
Mac OS X 10.2 (all versions through today's date)
Mac OS X Server 10.2 (all versions through today's date)
Probably earlier versions of Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server
Possibly developer seeded copies of future versions of Mac OS X

Abstract
A series of seemingly innocuous default settings can cause an affected Mac OS X machine to trust a malicious machine on a network for user, group, and volume mounting settings."

Apple has been notified of this issue. It is not currently known whether Apple is issuing this security hole with 10.3.2. It is assumed that a separate security update will be released at the beginning of next week, as this has to be taken seriously. You'll find workarounds in the linked article.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-27 at 00:34 CET ]
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news of 2003-11-26

A preview review of the Sendo X

(And what's a 'Sendo X' you might ask? Well, it's a pretty smart phone.)

infoSync.no today posts a 'preview' of the new Series 60 phone. In short: It does many things right where the competitors do 'em wrong.

A quote from the review: We'll leave the final words to Sendo's Ron Schaeffer, who expressed himself better than most people when commenting on Sendo's bundle of MMS templates for the X: "We think that if you can make people look stupid in a picture, you're more likely to send it as a MMS." Needless to say, we agree.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-26 at 21:54 CET ]
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BusinessWeek: Apple! Bring on iPhoto for Windows!

In today's article, Alex Salkever finds Apple has an opportunity here. Sell iPhoto to Windows users for 30 USD, he says. However: While it's easy to get people to try Apple's software by giving away iTunes, Windows users might just opt to Adobe's Photoshop Album 2.0, which costs 40 USD. And giving away iPhoto on Windows doesn't make sense, because Apple doesn't sell digicams.
But the main question, that arises: Should Apple create more Windows compatible software - at all? Or is that distracting users from buying Macs?

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-26 at 21:44 CET ]
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phpiCalendar 1.0 RC2

The first final version of the PHP based webserver solution for sharing iCals is near - Release Candidate 2 has been released.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-26 at 17:51 CET ]
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A cheaper iPod...

MacRumors posts the rumour of a cheaper, 5 GB iPod to be released at the November 28th music event (in Apple Stores, USA).

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-26 at 10:28 CET ]
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news of 2003-11-25

Yet another Panther review

... this time by Sandy McMurray of 'The Globe and Mail'. He opens with a big error (putting the birth of Mac OS X to September 2000 instead of March 2000 (September was 10.1), but other than that writes nicely about our favourite operating system. ;-)

A hilarious quote from the verdict: "Finally, if you're a Mac user still clinging to the classic Mac OS, I encourage you to set aside your preferences (literally) and embrace the future."

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-25 at 19:19 CET ]
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Panther Server review part 2

Computerworld's Yuval Kossovsky posts the second part of his review of Panther Server. If you've missed the first part - it's here.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-25 at 19:08 CET ]
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iComic

If you read comics online, this software called iComic is for you. There's also a nice introduction to it on MacDevCenter.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-25 at 19:06 CET ]
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Another "Video iPod"

This time from French company THOMSON. The "lyra Audio Video Jukebox PDP 2860" packs 20GB of harddrive space, does MP3, MP3-Pro, WMA (all audio) and MPEG-4 (video) at 320*240, can record off a video source and playback to a video recorder or TV.

While the resolution is not _that_ great, it's still a portable digital video recorder and player for about 80 hours of video. It is compatible with Windows XP and Mac OS X.

While macnews.net.tc was definitely wrong about Apple's market entrance with the infamous iPod II, it seems that, albeit slowly, Apple's missing a chance here. However, as the market leader of digital audio players, Apple still can make sure to bring us a best-of-breed device that will not only do MPEG-4 at PAL/NTSC resolutions (at least for the video output, half the size for onscreen, maybe) but also pack more harddrive space in a smaller package (iPod already has 40 GB and is likely to go 60/80 GB in the next revision).

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-25 at 18:56 CET ]
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news of 2003-11-24

About that "iTunes DRM hack"...

Late last week, TheRegister broke the news that someone had found a way to save running (encrypted) AAC tracks - bought from iTMS - into a decrypted raw AAC stream file.
All around the web people are now saying that Apple's "DRM was cracked", which isn't true at all. There's still no way you can get your hands on someone's (bought) music files from iTMS and decrypt them on your Mac or Windows box. The only thing possible with this software (which patches QuickTime 6.4, btw.) is to save your own bought music into a decrypted AAC stream without file headers. Not only can't you play this file anyway (I'm sure some tool will appear that makes them playable in iTunes/QuickTime again, though), it's also still on the owner's computer. So he/she would have to share the resulting file illegally. Much the same as when the user burns a CD and reimports as AAC, which also returns unencrypted AAC files, although with a slight quality loss.
Fact is: Apple's DRM has not been cracked at all. Someone just found a way of eavesdropping the track right when QuickTime has decrypted it. Not that that's a good thing for Apple, but most headlines on the web about it are just false information.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-24 at 16:41 CET ]
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ThinkSecret also mentions Mac OS X 10.3.2 7D15 seed and...

... adds a phrase from the seed notes we seem to have overlooked: "Please report any issues you may encounter in a timely manner - within a week of this seed would be very much appreciated." Such a pressing kind of note hints at a release within the next two weeks, of course, but Apple probably won't rush it, anyway. If you want to guess when Apple will release it, the build points you to this knowledge base article, which isn't in place yet, of course, as we're speaking.
We're expecting another build of 10.3.2 at the end of this week.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-24 at 15:34 CET ]
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Your "un-favourite": Web ads... and free information

Today, c|net posts an article about the Windows version of Internet Explorer getting a popup-blocker in its next iteration. This made me think about advertising on websites a little...

First, there was the web. Okay, not first really, but for this article, let's start there. The web was hypertext. No images at all. Not many users, either. Then came Mosaic, the first graphical webbrowser. And with it, JPEGs and GIFs. Then came GIF89a, which introduced 'animation' to those graphics. Soon, many webpages used them in many ways. And then came the first banner ads and link exchange facilities. This wasn't very annoying, apart from the fact that our (very limited) bandwidth was wasted for stuff we didn't really want to see. But it also brought a boom. More and more interesting stuff (and even more not-so-interesting stuff) came about. The business got kinda big.
But soon enough advertisers started to notice that people didn't actually click those banners. And they didn't click them, even if they were blinking in bright colours and playing sounds, too, as Flash came along. That was a problem. Not for the users, but for the advertisers. They thought they needed 'more oomph', instead of accepting that one of the basic thoughts about the internet was that this was the place of actual freedom of information (both free and free). That's when pop-up ads were invented. Highly annoying they were. And are. But we don't have to see them any longer. Whether you're on Mac OS X (probably), Mac OS 9 (what?!), Windows or Linux: There are browsers and/or browser add-ons that prevent those nasty pop-up and (gasp!) pop-under ads. Even the 'Google Bar' for Windows' IE sports a pop-up ad filter. Microsoft will now (well, with Longhorn in a few years) bring pop-up filters to the unwashed masses. This basically means that the market shows the advertisers what not to do.

Don't get me wrong here. I'm not against advertising at all. It's one way of making information (and goods) free, and it certainly helped the growth of information on the internet (and we are also keen to get your clicks on our sponsored links, as we ourselves are trying to bring you free information...).
But maybe IE's pop-up ad filter will bring an end to the thought that in-your-face advertising is actually useful. While it might bring a few more clicks than a simple text ad or graphics banner, it pisses even more users off and rather damages the image of the product advertised. Let's hope for a bright future...

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-24 at 14:07 CET ]
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NewsForge reviews the PowerMac G5

A bit late to the game, but an interesting source, as NewsForge is 'the online newspaper for linux and open source'. "Apple's new 64-bit PowerMacintosh G5 is aptly named: it has power to burn. Mac and *NIX users who can afford these machines will find them to be much faster than the Power Mac G4s they replace and at least as fast as any PC you can buy or build today."
And another quote. Sounds like humour, but I guess they're really trying out such things: "Interestingly, when you remove the clear air baffle with the power on, a red light comes on in the G5's case and all of the fans throttle up to full -- and sound a lot more like an Intel or AMD machine."
Their final verdict: "This is a very fast, well-engineered, and well-built machine. Mac and *NIX users [...] won't be disappointed with the speed or craftsmanship of this fine machine. Apple, often the innovation leader, is now a performance leader as well."

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-24 at 13:30 CET ]
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Mac.Ars takes on Apple's growth prospects

The link of the article, and a quote of the intro: "It can be argued that things are going very well for Apple right now. They are competitive on the desktop with the G5, laptop market share is growing, and they've got a smash hit with the iPod. Where do they go from here?"

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-24 at 11:59 CET ]
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news of 2003-11-23

10.3.2 7D15: Problems with Dreamweaver MX 2004

... and possibly other Macromedia releases using uncommon dialogue boxes. If you open Dreamweaver MX 2004 in Mac OS X 10.3.2 7D15 and try to create a new document, the dialogue box popping up has non-functioning buttons. You can 'cancel' via the escape-button or command-. - but not by pressing the buttons. Our guess: Another seed to ADC Select & Premier members will solve the problem.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-23 at 21:57 CET ]
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Weekly Roundup

The past week started very good for me, personally, as my ISP has upgraded my 600kbps/200kbps line to 2048kbps/400kbps, which is more than just good. ;-) In Mac news & rumours, we saw Fink updated to 0.62, we've heard of the Cocoa File Saving Bug, AppleInsider renewed the dual processor PowerBook rumour, Mac OS X 10.3.2 7D12 and 7D15 have been seeded, Apple released the 20" iMac and the dual 1.8 GHz PowerMac G5, ShapeShifter 1.0 was released (some scrolling bugs will have to be sorted out according to testers), a new roadmap for IBM's PowerPC processors (970, 970+, 980) was posted and today, macnews.net.tc introduced a little search form to the site.
It's been an interesting week for us - and for you, hopefully - and we're looking forward to more news about Mac OS X 10.3.2 builds as well as updates to the rumours regarding MWSF 2004. Have a happy rest-of-the-weekend!

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-23 at 14:25 CET ]
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Search Form

We've updated macnews.net.tc with a text search form. You can use this if you want to only see the articles about "10.3.2" for example. Try it out - but be aware that the form also finds very, very old articles. ;-)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-23 at 13:11 CET ]
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MacDevCenter: Maintenance tips for Mac OS X

You'll find the tips in this column. They're healthy. You should read them, if you haven't already.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-23 at 12:01 CET ]
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news of 2003-11-22

Mac OS X 10.3.2 7D15

ADC Select & Premier members have been seeded with 7D14 (Server) and 7D15 (Client) on 2003-11-21.

Key enhancements include:
- improved file sharing and directory services for mixed Mac and PC networks
- more robust printing to PostScript printers
- improved font management
- updated Mail and Address Book applications
- new ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers
- FileVault, FireWire 800, WebDAV and USB Printing improvements from Update 10.3.1
- previous standalone security updates

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-22 at 15:20 CET ]
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news of 2003-11-21

Nokia 6600 reviewed.

infosync.no adds their review of the Nokia 6600 to their site.
The smart phone is the first Series 60 phone to use version 2 of the system software. Perfectly compatible with Apple's iSync, this is one of the most anticipated mobile phones of the year.
From the review: "The 6600 is more of an evolution than a revolution. In spite of this, Nokia's third generation smartphone finally performs the long-anticipated, proverbial slam dunk as a number of scattered improvements raise the overall impression to one of utter reliability and versatility."

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-21 at 18:33 CET ]
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AppleCare for iPod

As reported by MacRumors, Apple now offers AppleCare for iPods. At 59 USD, it offers coverage for "iPod and its original included accessories (excluding the carrying case) that are defective in materials or workmanship or for battery depletion of 50 percent or more from original specification". More information at the Apple Online Store.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-21 at 18:16 CET ]
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Nisus Writer Express 1.1

Nisus updates its Nisus Writer Express to version 1.1, a major upate. Free for current owners of 1.x, the new version brings along many new features such as ligatures and kerning support and a language palette. Quoting their release notes about faster file opening: "We have spent significant time speeding up the file open process. You will find files will open up to 12x faster than in version 1.0 (actual results may differ)."
Nisus Writer Express has incorporated the old macnews.net.tc-favourite Okito Composer, which showed much promise. Nisus has done, in our opinion, good work with their Cocoa wordprocessing application. And, yes: It can open and save Microsoft Word documents, too.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-21 at 14:31 CET ]
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Jack into my iPod, hun...

WIRED News has the story. Although we'd call this gossip rather than news, it's nice to see the iPod creating new creative ways of communication. ;-)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-21 at 12:29 CET ]
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MacRumors posts "PowerPC 980 Roadmap"

... and finds it 'hard to gauge its accuracy', though 'information appears to be consistent'. The report - in part at least - confirms our own sources for the new PowerMacs of early next year. Read more at the MacRumors article.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-21 at 03:09 CET ]
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TIME: PowerMac G5 & Panther means more fun...

"Getting a Mac doesn't mean switching. It just means having a little more fun." Lighthearted, nice to read column. Show it to your Windows-using friends... Link: time.com article...

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-21 at 03:04 CET ]
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news of 2003-11-20

But thinking of a compact desktop...

While the G5 processor currently simply isn't made for compact desktop machines (too hot, simply), there are two viable alternatives for a really cheap and compact, headless desktop machine. The G3 processor from IBM (750FX, GX) and the newer G4 processors from Motorola (7457, 7447). If Apple wanted to have a cheap desktop machine without a monitor, Apple could make one. No problem.

(On the left, you see my rendering of a 'cMac' - whether that stands for 'cheap Mac' or 'compact Mac'...)

Take a look at the current iBook G4. You can have one for 1099 USD - and that includes a TFT display, which we wouldn't want in our headless, compact desktop system. Without looking at current 12" XGA display prices, we can quite safely assume that the price of a display-less iBook G4 would drop below 1000 USD. But Apple can save even more money by making its harddrive a 3.5" one instead of a 2.5" notebook size one, because the housing of our compact, headless desktop can be a bit larger. Apple can also use a cheaper optical drive, say, a standard CD-ROM drive. Apple could actually make quite a sexy low-profile desktop machine and sell it for, say 599 USD including a standard keyboard and mouse.
Even cheaper, you say? Okay, why not choose the G3 processor over the G4 processor. After all, those machines will be used for basic stuff like webbrowsing, E-Mail and Office tasks, after all. Not for media production. (And a G3 is still well capable of ripping a few CDs to AAC - albeit a little slower.) Let's say: 499 USD for such a machine. 256 MB RAM on-board. Not upgradeable. It's okay for basic work, certainly not the fastest machine around, but still a machine capable of doing its tasks. People can add a cheap VGA-connected display (that they might already have lying around) and start digging into the Macintosh world.

Q: But if this is such a good idea, why doesn't Apple do it?

This question is easily answered, although not to your liking, perhaps: There's no margin in such a device, and it wouldn't exactly add to Apple's image, as you certainly won't want to play the latest games on such a machine. Apple would have to sell tons of those to larger businesses (a market where Apple isn't very strong at the moment) in order to make a profit. Or market it as 'your secondary computer', which doesn't, well, sound so good.
Yet, maybe there is a market for such a device. Maybe this would bring much more people to the Mac platform (and their computer after this one would be a 'real' Mac?). Well... I leave it to Apple, but I just don't see Apple going there. I've promoted the idea of a 'cheap Mac' for quite a while, but it would simply bite into Apple's more profitable machines' sales. Need a second Mac? Now you'd buy an iBook, an iMac or an eMac, where Apple still makes some money. If the 'cheap Mac' were available, you'd quite certainly buy one or two of those - and Apple would make less money. And making less money just isn't Apple's thing, I guess.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-20 at 16:30 CET ]
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Greg Torok is wrong...

In his text about a G5 Cube he mentions that Apple should make a G5 Cube and 'succeed where the G4 Cube has failed'.
The problem with that is that it was mainly the form factor and the price that made the Cube a failure. People don't want computers that can't be expanded - or they want an AIO like the iMac. Greg Torok thinks that a G5 Cube would have to sell at 999$ or below, and that it would hit on iMac rather than PowerMac sales. Well, Greg: Apple wants to sell iMacs to cost conscious users and PowerMacs to users who expect more power.
One can translate Greg's text into one phrase: "I want a G5 but I can't afford it - and yeah, the Cube was kind of cool, eh?" - But business doesn't work like that.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-20 at 14:38 CET ]
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iPod Apple Care coming...

MacRumors is reporting that Apple will announce an AppleCare protection plan for the iPod as soon as next Monday. Pricing information has not yet been revealed.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-20 at 12:01 CET ]
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Poisoned exposed.

Since July, Mac users had a way to join the Kazaa network. There was one RIAA vs. user case, where the user was freed from guilt, because Macs didn't even have access to the network, the files in question were downloaded from. No more, c|net has exposed Poisoned to the public. ;-)
Gotta wonder, though, why c|net makes it a story some five or six months late... Do they want to promote the use of the Fasttrack network to illegally download music, movies and warez among Mac users?

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-20 at 03:21 CET ]
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Control brain waves with your PDA?

This is not really Macintosh news or rumours, but too good not to read... Korean startup DreamFree has an accessory for PocketPC PDAs that stimulate your brain. Quote: “It changes your brain waves and makes you feel better.” Just read on... ;-)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-20 at 01:55 CET ]
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MacDevCenter about Keynote and XML

In the latest MacDevCenter column, David Miller talks about using XML (and Apple's APXML description) to use external data to create and update Keynote presentations. If you're a Keynote user with external data, this is for you.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-20 at 01:51 CET ]
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90nm G5 confusion?

AppleInsider, which previously confirmed our rumours about new PowerMacs using 90nm PowerPC 970+ processors, now puts them into a March timeframe. This 'updated rumour' sounds like it's changed because of the recent introduction of dual 1.8 GHz PowerMac G5s.
We have however confirmed with our previous sources that Apple would announce the machines at MWSF 2004. They'll try and find out whether the machines would be available immediately or later. We'll keep you informed.
Our take: IBM will officially announce the processors in February, so maybe Steve Jobs will announce the machines, but they'll only be available a month later? It's happened before with the initial G5 release...

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-20 at 00:54 CET ]
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news of 2003-11-19

Jaguar/Panther Security Update

Apple released Security Update 2003-11-19 today via SU. Release notes say: "Security Update 2003-11-19 includes the following updated components: OpenSSL, zlib "gzprintf()" function." - It is advised that current users of Jaguar update via Software Update as soon as possible.
UPDATE: I just learned that the security update is also available for Panther up to 10.3.1 - but is already included in 10.3.2 7D12.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-19 at 23:51 CET ]
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Terra Soft Solutions: 64bit PPC Linux

At the SuperComputing 2003, Terra Soft Solutions has presented their 64bit version of Linux for the PowerPC. This is going to be important for both machines from Apple and IBM.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-19 at 18:46 CET ]
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A little more info about IBM's PowerPC 970 blades

German newssite heise.de posts a little more details about IBM's forthcoming dual 1.6 GHz PowerPC 970 blades. You can try google.com's translation to English if you don't read German.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-19 at 16:34 CET ]
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iChat does ICQ just fine

I haven't read much about this lately, but AOL announced some time ago interoperability between their AIM and ICQ networks. Apparently, this has seamlessly spread over to iChat, too, as I've successfully added some of my ICQ contacts to iChat (just enter their ICQ# as AIM name). Their online status, however, doesn't seem to be visible unless they talk to you first, which kind of makes it difficult to use. Still: Better than nothing - and better than using more than one application for IM.
People who don't love iChat as much as I do can, of course, use Fire or Proteus, too.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-19 at 14:59 CET ]
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Avid lowers price for Avid Xpress DV

Release 4.0 now costs 806 EUR, while the previous version (3.5) cost ~1400 EUR. This is a step to face competition by Apple's Final Cut Pro, which now is more expensive than Avid Xpress DV.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-19 at 14:45 CET ]
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Another Panther ZIP-bug

According to MacBidouille's story (in French), Panther's archiving feature produces unreadable files if they are above a certain size. Reports are in that, for example, an 800 MB .zip-file created in Panther cannot be opened on a PC with WinZip or a Mac with StuffIt Expander. The reason for these errors is - as of yet - unknown.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-19 at 13:30 CET ]
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After yesterday: What's with the rest of the rumours?

It seems like ThinkSecret had the right informant the day before yesterday, when they said Apple would release the 20" iMac and the dual 1.8 GHz G5. They also mentioned a sub-1000$ device, which didn't show up yesterday, however. AppleInsider mentions a 749$ device, which fits the sub-1000$ thing. MacRumors hints at displays, other people are musing "colour Netwon II with 1.8" harddrive" again (on AppleInsider forums). Of course it could also be that this particular rumour just turns out to be wrong.
28. November 2003 will bring an Apple in-store event. Subject: Music. It's not expected to bring anything radically new. Rather, we'll hear how good iTMS is doing and be urged to buy more songs, now that there are 400'000 tracks available on iTMS. (Steve Jobs promised that number for the end of November.)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-19 at 13:26 CET ]
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IRIS report: 9 new computer threats a day

The latest IRIS report (PDF) shows that the 3rd quarter of 2003 had much more computer security threats than any one before. Not surprising, but the number of 9 new threats per day (30% of all threats have the tag 'high security risk'!) shows that we can be glad about Windows alternatives... The report doesn't say much about the Mac. ('mac' in Preview's search pane brings up 3 items. All of them about 'machines'.) ;-)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-19 at 13:16 CET ]
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Unsanity's ShapeShifter

Yesterday, Unsanity unveiled ShapeShifter, a 20$ theme-switcher for Mac OS X. There's basically one thing it does differently: It doesn't hack the resource files of your system.
This sounds good, although APE (the base application of all of Unsanity's haxies) gets into the system quite deeply, as it seems. Have you ever managed to lock OS X' UI for good? APE is the way to go, if you haven't. If you're on Panther, I'd wait for another update or two to APE and ShapeShifter before even trying it out. But other than that: The company has good ideas and seems to know where Apple leaves the door open for third party changes on Mac OS X' user interface.
If you've tried ShapeShifter and want to change my mind: Drop me a line...

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-19 at 12:36 CET ]
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news of 2003-11-18

Mac OS X 10.3.2 - First experiences

The build 7D12 feels ready for prime-time. However, it is not currenctly known how long Apple will take for the beta phase. With the recent amount of glitches from Apple's software updates, it is assumed that Apple will rather hold back any such updates a bit longer for better and more quality checks. We'll inform you about newer beta builds as soon as we are informed. So stay tuned...

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-18 at 22:49 CET ]
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Apple releases pro software updates

Several small updates to Apple's pro software titles bring better G5 and Panther compatibility and optimisations.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-18 at 14:58 CET ]
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AppleStore was down: New PowerMac G5 Dual 1.8 GHz, new iMac 20"

Apple announced a new PowerMac model today: The Dual 1.8 GHz model. It's priced at 2499$ between the old 1.8 GHz model and the Dual 2.0 GHz model. Great news for pro users!
Also new: A 20" iMac model with a 1.25 GHz G4 chip inside. This is surely great news for the X-Mas buying season, as the new iMac will also promote the 'lower' iMac models. (Kid wants 20" model and is happy to even get a 17" iMac.) ;-)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-18 at 14:43 CET ]
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Mac OS X 10.3.2 7D12 seeded

ADC Select and Premier members have been seeded a first build of Mac OS X 10.3.2. The update is said to contain changes in USB, Graphics drivers, networking, AFP server, WebDAV and international text. Other than 10.3.1, this update weighs in at about 15 MB. We'll keep you informed...

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-18 at 12:45 CET ]
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news of 2003-11-17

AppleInsider claims biprocessor PBs coming...

AppleInsider claims to have a source for information on an upcoming dual processor PowerBook. The rumour of a dual processor PowerBook is as old as January 2001, when people saw the Titanium PowerBook G4 for the first time. We're doubting this new rumour as much as we have done the ones in the past. It's an interesting idea, but our own sources tell a different story. (See yesterday's weekly roundup edition for more information.)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-17 at 19:11 CET ]
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Cocoa File Saving Bug!

Apparently there's a Cocoa bug that instead of saving your file under the specified name replaces the surrounding directory with it. If you save into the root of a mounted partition, you might end up losing all the partition's data.
The bug is some kind of buffer overflow. However, in order to see it, you have to enter a file name that is very, very long. The number of 1'000 characters has been named, although that's probably not an exact number. It could be that already a file name such as "I'm just too stupid to find good names for my files so I tend to end up choosing the content of the file as the filename.doc" could lead to the bug. (It doesn't, I've tried.) ;-)
Cocoa applications warn you that they're going to overwrite the -name_of_surrounding_directory- before actually doing something. So if you're a fan of longish file names (255 characters and up, probably), I'd wait for 10.3.2. Until that, why not choose shorter file names instead. ;-)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-17 at 18:17 CET ]
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Fink updated to 0.62

OpenSource package manager 'Fink' has been updated to 0.62. The new version is available in both source and binary form. From their site: "This release, like the previous one, was built on OS X 10.2 using the gcc 3.3 compiler, and runs fine with some exceptions on OS X 10.3. Most Fink users who upgrade to 10.3 will continue to want to only use the binaries from this new distribution for now, while the Fink team continues to modify Fink packages for 10.3."
We advise users new to Fink to carefully read more about it before going ahead and installing on Panther.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-17 at 17:39 CET ]
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Adobe chastens Windows-favouring author

PCPro's article mentions Adobe PR director Russell Brady is denying a deliberate snub against Apple: "Ted Alspach's views do not reflect the views of Adobe. He shouldn't have written what he did and indentified those opinions with Adobe. It can be safely assumed that Ted won't be making any more statements like that."
The article also mentions that Alspach's claims were based on Macs before the arrival of the PowerMac G5.
The article raises the question however (again), that Adobe sure would like to cut R&D-costs by half (leaving one platform in the dust). However, the Macintosh side of Adobe's sales is still at a strong 30%, and R&D-costs would certainly not drop by 50%, because much of Adobe's R&D budget is spent platform-independently.
With Apple selling more pro machines this year than in 2001 and 2002 combined, Adobe will quite surely see a rise in sales of their Mac applications as well.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-17 at 17:17 CET ]
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Microsoft going to release Office 2003 file formats

news.com is reporting that Microsoft is releasing the XML-based file formats for Office 2003, opening access for third-party application developers. We expect to see support for those formats in future versions of OpenOffice.org and Mac OS X (TextEdit, for example). Read more in news.com's article.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-17 at 17:07 CET ]
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New 'lean' layout for macnews.net.tc

In the main menu, you can now switch from the default layout to a leaner one that uses less graphics and smaller ads. (I hope this doesn't decrease my income, though, as clicks are always appreciated...) You can, of course, also bookmark the 'lean layout home page', if you want it as your default (it's not cookied).

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-17 at 15:21 CET ]
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How Linux and Mac OS X can fight Longhorn

Rob Enderle, in his newest column, talks about this. A quote from the article: "Apple will have some serious problems because the Apple hardware platform will not be able to create customer demand comparable to what Linux could do. To generate that kind of demand, Apple will need to either move to Intel, or get significant help from its hardware partner, IBM." The latter, please. ;-) Mr. Enderle also hasn't done his homework concerning Mac OS X codenames. He suggests 'Cheetah' as the next release from Apple. I hope Apple won't listen, because it'd mean they'd release Mac OS X 10.0 again. ;-) Otherwise, it's a good article that bases its content on historical similarities (IBM and Apple expecting Windows 95 to fail).

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-17 at 14:57 CET ]
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Yay (I just have to post this...)!

Swiss cable ISP Cablecom just upgraded my 600kbps/200kbps line to 2000kbps/400kbps and at the same time reduced the price by about 5%. Good times, good times... :)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-17 at 13:06 CET ]
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CRN names Steve Jobs as one of the 2003 top 25 executives

You can read a nice article about our favourite CEO that states: "Once again, Steve Jobs, the king of digital cool, managed to raise Apple's mindshare, if not market share, though his quest to stay at the forefront of innovation in the PC and consumer arenas."
They didn't notice that Panther was not in fact a '64bit OS', but I don't mind. ;-)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-17 at 12:02 CET ]
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Acrobat Elements Server

Adobe is going to announce Acrobat Elements Server later today, according to this zdnet.com article. Quoting the article: "Acrobat Elements Server will reside on a central server at the company, where employees can access functions via a Web server or other means. The simplest way to convert a file is to drag it to a desktop folder, Krasilczuk said. The server software converts the file and drops a PDF into another desktop folder.Acrobat Elements Server will reside on a central server at the company, where employees can access functions via a Web server or other means. The simplest way to convert a file is to drag it to a desktop folder, Krasilczuk said. The server software converts the file and drops a PDF into another desktop folder."
I've just found Acrobat Elements Server on Adobe's website, and it seems as if it's always been there. ;-)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-17 at 11:34 CET ]
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Groupcal: iCal + MS Exchange Server

The shareware 'Groupcal' by snerdware lets you manage Exchange calendars from Apple's iCal. Currently, you can get free licenses for the beta version (currently 1.0b1). Pricing for the final product has yet to be determined. Anyone care to test this and tell us what it's like? I don't happen to have an MS Exchange server around... :P

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-17 at 02:11 CET ]
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Performance of Panther on slower G3s

MacNightOwl's test of Panther on a G3 iMac shows that for Jaguar users, Panther is a must-have update. Good read, too!

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-17 at 01:31 CET ]
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Graphical Update done!

The graphical updates to macnews.net.tc 2004 are done. We hope you enjoy the new site and its new featureset as much as we do. Keep on giving us e-mail feedback! We're appreciating it.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-17 at 00:30 CET ]
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news of 2003-11-16

ext2fs for Mac OS X

The opensource project ext2fsx (ext2fs for Mac OS X) has reached 1.0 final status. With it, you can read and write linux partitions that were created in this format. A disk image of version 1.0 final is available here.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-16 at 22:38 CET ]
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Stuff StuffIt?

SimX of apple-x.net posts an article about StuffIt becoming obsolete with Panther incorporating .zip-archiving. We tend to agree in some points, however not in the main point of the author: "But I believe that it's time for StuffIt to go. Not the StuffIt Expander application -- that will always be useful for unstuffing the wide variety of already existing compression formats. But StuffIt needs to be kicked out of the position of king of compression."
Quite surely, the demise of Aladdin's payware would end Expander (on any platform), too. And this would be bad for quite a few Mac users. But is StuffIt really obsolete? Panther's support for archives isn't very extensive. You can archive & expand. To .zip. That's it. StuffIt Deluxe offers far more options. However, if SimX is right, I'm doomed. I don't want to wake up in 2006 to find out that I haven't got a chance to expand some of my oldest backups that are stuffed. ;-)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-16 at 20:11 CET ]
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Some tips for further use of macnews.net.tc

The new backend for macnews.net.tc is an old one, actually, in a new version. When we've started macnews.net.tc loooooooong ago, we were using simple HTML pages. And then we've found blosxom, a simple perl blogging tool originally intended for your personal Mac. We found it so extensible (with a little coding) from the beginning, that we were using until we brought iCity up, which had an integrated news system. Now we're back using blosxom - and happy with it. One of the greatest things about it is that you can just add dates to the URL. Take a look at the main menu links at the top of this page to see what I mean. You can replace 'index.html' by '2003', for example, and you'll see all entries of this year. Add '2003/11' - and you'll see all entries of this month. As I've just brought back the archives from our old blosxom-times, you can go back to almost the beginning of macnews.net.tc. (Well, you can go back to August 2002, when we've started with blosxom for the first time.) :)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-16 at 19:48 CET ]
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If you find bugs...

in the new layout of macnews.net.tc, please drop us a line. We haven't tested it on every platform and every browser yet (how can we, we're only using 3 platforms and 16 different browsers...), so there's a possibility that some things just don't work. Btw.: There's an RSS-Feed now for macnews.net.tc. You can use the following URL in your favourite newsreader application, if you want to. ;-) -> http://macintosh.fryke.com/cgi-bin/macnews.cgi/index.rss. (Something with the links seems to be wrong, so we'll have to take a look into it again, but for basic newsreading, it works just fine... Also: The headlines-links actually do what they're told. ;-))

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-16 at 18:24 CET ]
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Weekly Roundup

In the past week, we've heard that IBM will release blade servers based on 1.6 GHz G5 chips in March 2004, we've read ArsTechnica's Panther Review thoroughly and seen Mac OS X 10.3.1 7C107 appear on Software Update.
We then started to compile our information on what's up for MWSF 2004 in January. To sum it up for you again:

New PowerMacs
Entry level 2 GHz single processor (PPC 970) PowerMac G5 with basically the current 1.8 GHz model's features. Mid-level 2.2 GHz model using two PPC 970+ processors (90nm process), adding FW1600 (same connectors as FW800) to the mix of features. The highend model will have two 2.5 GHz PPC 970+ processors. (The sources that provided information about FW1600 are not the same ones that brought the processor information.)

Software
There are several rumours about new versions of iApps, however the most prominent one is that Apple will finalise their wordprocessing application based on TextEdit and Panther's new text handling features (i.e. Word compatibiltiy).

PowerBooks
New PowerBooks are expected to be released at MWSF 2004, too. Depending on Motorola's ability to deliver newer G4 chips. Current expectation is that the 12" PB will receive a 1.2 GHz procesor, the 15" PB a 1.4 GHz and the 17" model a 1.6 GHz PowerPC 7457-RM. This information is not yet very clear, however, as Motorola hasn't spilled anything, really, about the 7457-RM since early this year (a delay). Bus performance will have an impact on actual processor speeds, too.

We'll keep you informed on the list of expected news for MWSF 2004 for the rest of the year and the beginning of 2004.

Speaking of 2004, we've introduced 'macnews.net.tc 2004' today. To quote ourselves (from the 'old' macnews.net.tc): "We've finally found out why software companies name their new releases after years that are not the current one. It all makes sense. ;-)" In this process, we've also closed iCity. You can read more about this below...

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-16 at 18:04 CET ]
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iCity is no more...

We have spent the last year trying to build a community on our forum iCity. However, this has been a drag. First: There just are too many (good and bad) Macintosh fora around the web already. I myself am co-moderating macosx.com, and that's mainly where the news & rumours of macnews.net.tc are discussed anyway. For this reason - and to save some time and energy - we have decided not to have our own forums any longer. If you want to discuss our articles, why not do it on macosx.com? It's a great community, and you can always copy the 'story link' below an article to reference it. Those links are permanent links, so they'll also work in the future.

For those who helped on iCity: I apologize to you. I'm sad to see it go, too, but it just didn't make much sense any longer. *snif* ... Well: Let's head on. :)
Another thought about this: It also means that there are currently no archives of macnews.net.tc's articles of 2002/2003 available for public access. I'm sure that you'll manage without them. If I'll have to reference older material myself in newer articles, I'll just copy and paste the parts that are important.

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-11-16 at 17:25 CET ]
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news of 2003-03-26

Transition: The new macnews.net.tc

Please use the 'normal' link macnews.net.tc in the future. We've completed the integration of iCity and macnews.net.tc. (fryke)

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-26 at 17:01 CET ]
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news of 2003-03-25

MacBidouille: More PowerPC 970 Rumours

According to MacBidouille, WWDC has been delayed also for an introduction of PowerMacs with PowerPC 970 processors running at speeds of: Single 1.4 GHz, Single 1.8 GHz and a Dual 2.3 GHz. Now, IBM has confirmed that the speeds exceeding 1.8 GHz will be chips only manufactured in early 2004, so this rumour doesn't sound very convincing. But I'm sure we would *like* such a setup this Summer... (fryke)

-> Read more at: MacBidouille's Rumour
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-25 at 12:05 CET ]
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news of 2003-03-24

Booting OS 9 On New Machines - Yet Again!

MacBidouille/MacFixit post that a new version of the Apple Hardware Test CD strangely 'fixes' the problem. (fryke)

-> Read more at: MacBidouille Link (contains MacFixit link)
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-24 at 12:44 CET ]
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news of 2003-03-22

Safari v67

It's been seen in the wild. Tab support is now in preferences, there are multiple languages included... But: German version crashes on window open (starts without any open) and the tab feature is crippled at best. If you can, stay at v64. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-22 at 00:12 CET ]
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news of 2003-03-21

Panther @ WWDC In June

Apple will unveil Panther at WWDC, just like it has revealed Jaguar at WWDC last year.

In earlier years, WWDC used to be in May, this year, it's in June. I wonder whether that means that Panther won't actually arrive in final form until veeeeery late Summer. Also note that a definite version number has not as of yet been given to the product. Sure, we all expect it to be called 10.3, but who knows... (fryke)

-> Read more at: Apple's WWDC Page
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-21 at 16:09 CET ]
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news of 2003-03-20

Dvorak At It Again: "Apple will go Itanium"

It's a strange column, really. Let's take one center piece to rip it apart, although that's not really necessary. I'm not saying Apple CAN'T go Itanium. It's an option like everything else, but as Mr. Dvorak also says, Apple fears that people will be able to run Mac OS X on vanilla hardware.

Later on in the article, he claims: "Third, if Apple optimizes the OS X kernel for the Itanium, the likelihood of the Apple OS being ripped off by normal PC users is nil."

One simple question, Mr. Dvorak: Why is that so? Because nobody bloody wants to buy Itanium hardware. And why, Mr. Dvorak, is that so? Because it's slow, hot and expensive. So, why, Mr. Dvorak, would Apple jump from one cold bed into another? Yep, Apple wouldn't. Strike that column and write a better one... (fryke)

-> Read more at: The... Column
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-20 at 16:20 CET ]
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iPod Firmware 1.2.6 Update

Apple has released a new firmware for the iPod. Better battery monitoring is the main feature this time. Download it at the link below. (fryke)

-> Read more at: Linkname
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-20 at 16:06 CET ]
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Some Americans Are NOT At War

The person elected for president of the United States, for example, has joined Apple's board. I'm talking, of course, of Al Gore. Kudos to Apple for making a clear statement against the current American regime. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-20 at 16:04 CET ]
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news of 2003-03-18

P62 On 20th

If MacBidouille's rumours turn out right, Apple will give order to build the new case for the next PowerMac (yes, a newly designed case specifically to fit the new motherboards rumoured earlier), the P62, on 20. March 2003. This leads to speculation about when to expect new PowerMacs from Apple. Our own sources provide us with information that testing of the new motherboards is still a high priority, which contradicts the rumours that the motherboard has already be sent off for production, so while other rumours claim a release in about two or three months, we're not holding our breath: July/August is a much more likely date.

Our sources also confirm that the motherboard is built around the thought of being able to hold PowerPC 7457 and PowerPC 970 processors. A release of the PowerPC 970 could be held off for later in the year, or Apple could release a line with dual G4 processors at 1.3 and 1.5 GHz (7457, running significantly cooler than the 7455 used now) and a high end machine with one PowerPC 970 at either 1.6 or 1.8 GHz, depending on what parts IBM will actually be able to deliver. (fryke)

-> Read more at: MacBidouille's Rumour
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-18 at 10:56 CET ]
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news of 2003-03-17

Apology

Lack of updates here on macnews.net.tc. My main computer died and will be replaced in a few days. In the meantime, it takes me more time and energy to keep most of my projects running, and I guess macnews.net.tc will get less news & updates posted until I am back to normal efficiency. I apologise for the inconvenience. Our services are still up, though, and you can join us for discussions on iCity anytime. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-17 at 13:33 CET ]
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news of 2003-03-12

IBM PowerPC 970 News (Sad Ones)

The 1.4-1.8 GHz speed remains intact. Speeds of up to 2.5 GHz will follow sometime 2004. The server blade presentation at CeBIT was cancelled. Still: Some news and other tidbits can be found around the web. MacRumors has the links at the link below. (fryke)

-> Read more at: MacRumors' PowerPC 970 Sad News
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-12 at 23:46 CET ]
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news of 2003-03-11

MacWhispers Update

An update at MacWhispers offers some news about their 'new plastic enclosure' thingie, which looks interesting. Also: The new motherboards described in an earlier post don't seem to fit into current PowerMac enclosures, so this might very well be a hint to a bigger update to the PowerMacintosh line this year... (fryke)

-> Read more at: MacWhispers' Article
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-11 at 13:23 CET ]
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Java 1.4.1 For Mac OS X

It's available via Software Update. Apple's Java page says: "Apple takes Java to the next level with the latest, certified release of the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition, version 1.4.1 for Mac OS X. This release delivers hundreds of new features, performance improvements and unique benefits by tightly integrating Java even more closely with key technologies of Mac OS X. Still the only high-volume desktop operating system to ship with Java 2, Mac OS X is emerging as the best place to develop and deploy your applications." (fryke)

-> Read more at: Apple's Java Page
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-11 at 00:19 CET ]
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news of 2003-03-10

PowerPC 970 & PowerPC 7457-RM Rumour Roundup

On Wednesday, 12. Mar. 2003, CeBIT will start. It's time for a little bit of history. Here we go. :) Late last year, IBM surprised the industry and the Macintosh crowd with a slimmed down version of the big iron Power4 processor aimed at the high end desktop workstation market. The processor named PowerPC 970 would be a 64bit PowerPC processor, binary compatible with 32bit PowerPC processors. Plus it'd also have an AltiVec engine, a first for IBM, which previously was against that engine but had developed its own SIMD engine for the later G3 series' processors, the Sahara or PowerPC 750FX used in Apple's latest iBooks.

Although Apple denied having plans for using the PowerPC 970, which was to be released in mass production in late 2003 at speeds of 1.4 to 1.8 GHz, the press saw a light at the end of Apple's own processor tunnel in IBM's processor development. Around the same time, a Motorola roadmap made the rounds of rumour sites, that put a PowerPC 7457-RM at up to 1.833 GHz on the very same horizon: Late 2003.

In a few days, IBM will present blade servers at CeBIT with PowerPC 970 processors running between 1.8 and 2.5 GHz. This certainly looks like IBM is well ahead of its original plans. But a press release is just a press release, and IBM hasn't yet said what the processors will cost and when the higher end 2.5 GHz parts will be available.

To repeat what Steve Jobs said just before both new PowerPC processors (the 970 from IBM and the 7457-RM from Motorola) made rumour site news - and people were asking Mr. Jobs whether a switch to AMD 64bit processors was a viable choice...

"We like to have options." And one of the most obvious options Apple has, is to use the PowerPC 970 only in the highest end PowerMacs and move PowerBooks and consumer machines to advanced G4 processors such as the PowerPC 7457. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-10 at 02:01 CET ]
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news of 2003-03-09

QuickTime Update Et Al.

MacRumors posts that a QuickTime update is pending. They also post that MPEG-4 DRM has been pushed by Apple. They link this to an expected iPod release, Apple's rumoured Online Music Service and pending deals with movie distributors.

The last QuickTime update to 6.1 was quite a silent one in January. There have been no rumours about a QuickTime 6.5 or even 7.0 update yet, so we think we'll see something like a 6.2 update in the next few weeks. As QuickTime is at the core of iTunes as well, we certainly hope for AAC support in iTunes 4, iPod and iPod II. (fryke)

-> Read more at: MacRumors' Story
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-09 at 03:29 CET ]
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news of 2003-03-07

New PowerMacintosh Motherboards

MacWhispers posts a rumour about a new PowerMac motherboard being readied for production. No technical details so far are available, but MacWhispers promises to stay on track and keep its readers updated, which of course we'll also do and keep listening to rumours about that. MacWhispers suggests that usually, a rumour like that would mean a 3 to 4 month timeframe until we'll see a final product. In the past few years, Apple has more or less kept up the 5-7 months timeframe between introductions for new PowerMacs.

The next round of new PowerMacs would be between July and September, and this could very well be the time when first models with either a PowerPC 970 from IBM or a PowerPC 7457-RM from Motorola could be used. Both processors are to be released in that time frame at 1.8 GHz or more. CeBIT will start soon, and we'll know more about the PowerPC 970 from IBM by then. (fryke)

-> Read more at: MacWhispers' Article
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-07 at 12:01 CET ]
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Slashdot Down...

The mother of all flamewars has been down for the past two hours (or more, I was asleep before that) and is still down. Whether that's due to an administrative error or due to a hack, we don't know. If you get on /. or have an update for us, please inform us. (fryke)

Update: Strange enough, if you have direct links to older articles, they still seeem to work fine, only the main pages like slashdot.org or apple.slashdot.org seem to be down. --- Update again: It's up again. Let's see if anybody finds out what was up... (fryke)

-> Read more at: Slashdot
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-07 at 11:42 CET ]
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Camino

Camino 0.7 (previously dubbed Chimera) has been released and marks the final official build of the mozilla-based Mac browser using the 1.0 base of mozilla. The development is now heading to use the 1.3b trunk of mozilla, which should lead to faster boot times and faster overall behaviour. In light of the recent Safari betas, this is needed to keep up the competition. (fryke)

-> Read more at: Camino Homepage
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-07 at 10:09 CET ]
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Safari 1.0 v64

The new build making the rounds on the web (not officially available at Apple) has extended tabs support (but still in the debug menu). The tabs now look better (the darker ones are brighter. And they have a nice rollover effect. Although v62 has been known as stable enough (didn't crash more than any other browser out there), v64 adds some stability, too. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-07 at 09:20 CET ]
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news of 2003-03-06

iMovie 3.0.2

Apple has released the 3.0.2 update to iMovie (4.4 MB) through Software Update. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-06 at 22:38 CET ]
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iTrip: Late March

I've received a reader E-Mail today. The mail he got from Griffin Tech. states that the iTrip, a small add-on for iPod, is scheduled to ship later this month (late March). Thanks. (fryke)

-> Read more at: Our iTrip Article
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-06 at 21:52 CET ]
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Apple's Shipping The 1.42 GHz Dual PowerMacs

They should, at least, because their homepage says so. We're looking for reports by people who're getting those babies. Talk about them on iCity (comments link below). (fryke)

-> Read more at: Apple
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-06 at 11:26 CET ]
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news of 2003-03-05

SonyEricsson's Next Phone

You've probably heard it by now (and seen it on the left), the T68i is an old hat. While still the best phone you can get that works with iSync, SonyEricsson is introducing its successor.

Apple has been very, very silent about iSync lately. Whether that is because the mobile phone makers don't want to cooperate or because Apple is waiting for a _big_ update on what's happening - we're seriously left in the dark.

Apart from that: The T610 looks promising. A larger screen with better resolution, an integrated camera and (still) theme support. But is it enough to replace the T68i? Sure, it has some style, but what _more_? (fryke)

-> Read more at: SonyEricsson's T610 Page (more pix...)
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-05 at 03:59 CET ]
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PickChar

Isn't there always a utility that you only rarely use? Very much so that even the slightest amount of shareware dough would seem just a tad too much? Well, it's been like that for me with PopChar. Every two months or so, I need one character. :)

Well, I've found a free alternative. You can get it from VersionTracker or its website (link below). It's a great free tool. (fryke)

-> Read more at: PickChar Website (German, But English Download, Too)
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-05 at 01:47 CET ]
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news of 2003-03-03

Illustrator 11 & Quark XPress 6

ThinkSecret has two new stories up. Illustrator 11, more interesting to me personally, is bound to bring back some of the performance we last saw in versions 6 and 8 (7 and 9 were bad, 10 even worse...). (fryke)

-> Read more at: ThinkSecret
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-03 at 17:54 CET ]
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news of 2003-03-01

Apple: A Business Perspective

BusinessWeek Online has an article up on how good/bad Apple's current position looks. (fryke)

-> Read more at: BusinessWeek's Article
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-01 at 20:45 CET ]
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Link For 'Books Comparison

The photos have been taken from yoursphotographer.com, linked below... (fryke)

-> Read more at: 12 and 17 Inch First Look
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-03-01 at 12:08 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-28

'Books Comparison

A friend sent me those pictures he found on a Japanese site. (Link follows as soon as I get it.)





Shows nicely how they compare. If you're about to buy one of them, visit a store, though, as you'll want to use them for a few minutes before buying one... (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-28 at 16:16 CET ]
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Several News & Rumours

MacBidouille posts several news & rumours. First: Apple has released Keynote 1.01 via Software Update. This build incorporates international support (various languages). Then: An anonymous source hints at PowerPC 970 in July (running at speeds exceeding 2 GHz) and a 970 (0.09 micron) in early 2004. MacBidouille also has info on Apple's 970-mobo, which has - according to them - some stability problems but is running fine other than that. More, and all in French, at the link below. (fryke)

-> Read more at: MacBidouille
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-28 at 11:39 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-27

IBM Add-On: Press Page

Just the link. Directly to IBM's press release for the CeBIT... (fryke)

-> Read more at: IBM's Press Page
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-27 at 12:54 CET ]
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More Details: PowerPC G4 7457, Motorola

Motorola has a new page up. These will be in the next PowerBooks, I'm sure. The 1 GHz version at 1.1V will run much cooler than the 867 MHz version of the 7455 now used in the PowerBook G4 12". (fryke)

-> Read more at: Motorola's PowerPC 7457 Page
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-27 at 12:42 CET ]
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IBM Talks 1.8 To 2.5 GHz For PowerPC 970!

The IBM development department wants to show prototypes of the PowerPC Blades at CeBIT. In a report IBM speaks of the PowerPC 970 as a processor "with clock frequencies of 1.8 to 2.5 GHz", "the fastest PowerPC". A few months ago clock frequency was named 1.8 GHz. (This text translated through Babelfish and Fryke from heise online.

Well, either those IBM development department guys are wrong - or we're all in for a surprise... (fryke)

-> Read more at: heise.de News (German)
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-27 at 12:33 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-25

Mac OS X Server 10.2.4 Released

It's available from Software Update and through Apple's website as a combo update. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-25 at 10:32 CET ]
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Followup Info On Booting OS 9 On New PowerMacs

A few readers have written in with their experience with the tip about booting OS 9 on the new machines. For some it simply worked like that, others couldn't choose their OS 9 partition for booting. MacBidouille has got some new info about it, too. Apparently, you can't install OS 9 from an original OS 9 CD, but you can take an installed OS 9 from an older PowerMac and installing it on a partition on the new PowerMac. (fryke)

-> Read more at: MacBidouille Followup (in French)
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-25 at 10:25 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-24

Safari's Going For It

The screenshot shows how the tabs feature - available through the Debug menu in Safari - looks and works. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-24 at 20:54 CET ]
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Quark XPress 6 (Slowly) Arrives

MacBidouille posts some screenshots of the XPress 6 Beta. No new news about a release date, though. Summer, we guess. (fryke)

-> Read more at: MacBidouille (in French)
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-24 at 17:22 CET ]
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Safari Gets Tabs (Screenshot Mockups? No, no, no)

Thinksecret has an article with pix about Safari b62 (unreleased). (fryke)

-> Read more at: ThinkSecret Article
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-24 at 09:26 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-23

Booting OS 9 On New PowerMacs

Yes. We all knew it would happen, didn't we? I'm reluctantly posting the retro-hack found on MacBidouille tonight...

- Install Tinkertool
- Make all folders visible
- Relaunch the Finder
- Insert the Restore CD 1 and click on '.images'
- Double-click on OS9General.dmg
- Copy the System Folder to your harddrive
- Reboot.

Well, well, well. OS 9 is a zombie. ;) (fryke)

-> Read more at: MacBidouille
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-23 at 01:07 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-22

Mac OS X Evolves - Even In The Background

On his weblog, bbum writes that he's found an interesting tidbit with one of the latest Safari updates: Mac OS X' Software Update now finds the software it wants to update. Whether you have Safari in /Applications, in ~/whatever - the SU updates the software.

I wonder what happens, if you have two instances of Safari, though. Guess it'll update the first it finds. Care to try? (fryke)

-> Read more at: bbum's rants
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-22 at 23:07 CET ]
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iPod Line Update On Tuesday?

MacWhispers tries its sources and says the new 10, 20 and 40 GB iPod models will be introduced on Tuesday at prices from 299 to 499 USD.

Our own sources claim that Apple won't update the iPod until Summer (iPod II), which left us gasping for a moment. Rather, our sources say, Apple will reduce prices and drop the 5 GB model, leaving the 299 USD 10 GB model and the 399 USD 20 GB model until the whole line will be replaced by iPod II. To quote one source: "Apple sees the 40 GB harddrive in the iPod II, not the iPod, because iPod isn't primarily a mobile harddrive but an MP3 player. iPod II will be a media player device that craves for more space. Apple is working with Toshiba for a Summer release of 40 and 60 GB harddrives for iPod II, while iPod 10 & 20 will scale down in price." (fryke)

-> Read more at: MacWhispers' Claim
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-22 at 21:07 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-21

Power Mac G4 Power Supply Exchange Program

When the Mirrored Drive Door (MDD) Power Mac G4s made their debut in August 2002, many consumers complained about the excessive noise associated with the new machines. This problem has been resolved in the newest Power Macs, released in January 2003, but those who had purchased the first MDD models were stuck with a noisy machine.

Until now.

Apple has started a program that will allow Mac users who purchased the August 2002 MDD Power Macs to switch out their current power supply and system fans for the new, quieter versions. The cost to the consumer: $19.95 (USD) shipping and handling for the do-it-yourself kit. This includes return postage for the original components.
The program begins today and ends June 30th, 2003.

Cheers to Apple for stepping up and offering a solution to the problem. (chm)

-> Read more at: Apple
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-21 at 19:31 CET ]
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The Switzerland AirPort Extreme Story In Short

1) Apple unveiled their 802.11g hardware at MWSF 2003 in early January.
2) Dataquest (biggest of Switzerland's Apple resellers) couldn't get AirPort Extreme cards, because
3) Bacom (the Swiss office for everything you want and doesn't get approved) hadn't approved yet 802.11g use in Switzerland.
4) People working for Bacom obviously use Apple computers. And they buy at Dataquest in Bern, Switzerland.
5) Bacom has now accelerated the approval of 802.11g.
6) Dataquest will soon get AirPort Extreme hardware.

So, basically, Apple has accelerated the adoption of 802.11g in Switzerland. Ain't that great? ;) (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-21 at 11:40 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-20

Gotta Quote That...

From Microsoft's press release about buying VirtualPC...

"Our customers told us they wanted a best-of-breed virtual machine solution that enables them to run their legacy Windows applications, even as they migrate to more modern operating system technology," said Bill Veghte, corporate vice president of the Windows Server Group at Microsoft.

That's an Apple Switch-Ad, isn't it? (fryke)

-> Read more at: The Beast's Press Release
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-20 at 22:46 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-19

Microsoft Buys Connectix

Of course they say that MS will continue to produce VirtualPC for the Mac. I guess, though, since Microsoft wasn't cut to pieces in court means that their old ways may again begin. And that kind of makes me sad. MS buying Connectix? Sounds like a funeral to me. Let's raise our glasses and say goodbye to a good old friend that not only brought us some Windows compatibility, they also used to double our RAM (RamDoubler) and Speed (SpeedDoubler). And of course they enabled our Macs' sense of sight (QuickCam). (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-19 at 22:12 CET ]
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MacWhispers Promotes The Idea Of A Newton II

In an open letter to Apple, MacWhispers puts together their recent rumours about several third party suppliers (hardware) and promotes the idea of kind of a subportable, larger than PDA tablet Mac. Interesting idea, but the price tag would be too high, I guess. (fryke)

-> Read more at: MacWhispers' Open Letter
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-19 at 22:04 CET ]
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New iMac 17" Packs A Sony SuperDrive

MacBidouille (in French) posts: "Les iMac G4 17' sont désormais équipés de "SuperDrive" de marque Sony (DVD RW DW-U10A)." Your French should be enough to translate that. ;) (fryke)

-> Read more at: MacBidouille
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-19 at 19:52 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-17

iPod Updates Tomorrow?

ThinkSecret chimes in with some other rumour sites that tomorrow might be the day of the new iPods. 10, 20 and 40 GB Toshiba harddrives without any other changes to the line. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-17 at 12:21 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-15

Update To 10.2.4 - Cripple Your RAM?

Some people have written us to comment that half of their DIMMs weren't recognized any longer after updating Mac OS X yesterday. Others had bluescreens that were easily handled by another restart. About the RAM: Just pop them out and back in (in a different order might help) and you've got them back. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-15 at 12:18 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-14

Mac OS X 10.2.4 Update

It's available in SU. (fryke)

-> Read more at: Apple's Info Page
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-14 at 13:22 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-13

Where Apple's Ignoring Apple's Human Interface Guidelines

Yes, there are inconsistencies in Aqua itself. Yes, Apple added a 'secondary' theme for 'Digital Hub' applications that link to an external device (iPhoto - Digital Camera, iTunes - iPod and so forth) and yes Apple now uses the Metal theme for apps that DON'T belong into that category (Safari, Calculator etc.).

While some people don't seem to get that iTunes and QuickTime have a hardcoded Metal theme and are not as of yet using Jaguar's Metal theme (but will be updated to do so, of course), other arguments (like the ones just mentioned) are perfectly valid and open for discussion. (fryke)

-> Read more at: osOpinion Link List
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-13 at 14:36 CET ]
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Soon: PowerBooks

The PowerBook 15" is up next for a change. The 15.4" screen to be used in the machine will reduce the resolution to 1280*800 pixels. The new PB15 will have Bluetooth and AirPort Extreme and, aren't we lucky, the illuminated keyboard. We haven't heard any prices, but there apparently won't be an 867 MHz model, only 1 GHz. The two options will be Combo-Drive or SuperDrive, plus a RAM equipment difference. The graphics card will be nVidia's 440 known from the PB17. The introduction, our sources say, is basically ready, but Apple still has some old TiBooks to sell. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-13 at 01:17 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-12

Safari CSS Bugs Eliminated

Version 1.0v60 apparently includes about the newest version of webcore, the engine Dave Hyatt is working on at Apple. Make sure you read his blog linked below to see what bugfixes we'll see in the next beta update. Apple will obviously let us have several updates until a final version will appear. Latest rumours suggest that Apple internally has fixed the date for 1.0: We'll see it in Summer, together with Mac OS X 10.3, codenamed Panther. (fryke)

-> Read more at: Hyatt's Weblog
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-12 at 21:41 CET ]
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Safari 1.0v60

... is available via Software Update. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-12 at 21:01 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-11

The 500 Dollar Lie

This isn't news or rumours, this is a little rant. ;) All over the net, reviews of the 12" PowerBook are rolling in. And everybody seems to feel the urge to tell the 500 Dollar Lie. Huh? You ask... Well, they all say "This is the cheapest PowerBook ever!" and ignore the very first PowerBook I ever bought: The Macintosh PowerBook 150 (introduced in July 1994, replaced in October 1995). Yes, that baby only set you back 1300 USD at that time, while the 12" PowerBook G4 sets you back a whopping 1800 USD. End of this little rant. (fryke)

-> Read more at: Apple-History.com
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-11 at 00:49 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-10

Xserve and Xserve RAID

Today, Apple announced an upgrade to Xserve and the availability of the new Xserve RAID. The new Xserve features single or dual 1.33 GHz processors, up to 2 GB of 333 MHz DDR SDRAM, two 64 bit 66 MHz PCI slots, dual Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire 800, USB and four ATA/133 hard drive bays that can support up to 0.72 TB of storage space. All of this, of course, fits within a 1U rack-mount enclosure. The Xserve ships with OS X server with a license for unlimited clients.

The long awaited Xserve RAID is a 3U rack-mount hard drive array that can handle up to 14 hot swappable drives. This gives a maximum capacity of 2.52 TB. The Xserve and Xserve RAID can optionally communicate via a 2 Gb fibre channel over extended distances. (chm)

-> Read more at: Apple
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-10 at 23:50 CET ]
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As Promised: Motorola's 7457!

Motorola today officially announced the first line of PowerPC 7457 (and 7447) processors. The processors are available at up to 1.3 GHz, which again raises the questions, whether Apple uses overclocked (or not-officially-supported) 7455 processors in their high end PowerMacs. It's also - as of yet - unclear, whether the new PowerMacs at 1.42 GHz will use the 7457 processors. More details in the link below. (fryke)

-> Read more at: Motorola Press Release
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-10 at 23:45 CET ]
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Macromedia FreeHand MX

MacCentral writes: "Macromedia Inc. on Monday will release FreeHand MX. The latest version of the graphics-illustration software will be available for download from Macromedia's online store, with the boxed version due in the next couple of weeks." (fryke)

-> Read more at: MacCentral Article
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-10 at 11:56 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-06

Motorola's 7457 In-Depth Info Coming Soon...

At the end of March, Motorola will attend the SNDF 2003 in Dallas (23.-27. March 2003). Motorola has several sessions on the MPC-7447 and MPC-7457 host processors in their list (link below). Further information on availability will follow soon. (fryke)

-> Read more at: Motorola's SNDF 2003 Dallas Session List
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-06 at 14:47 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-05

Linux On iPods

A SourceForge project aims at installing a version of linux on iPods. It's booting already and some things are working. Most are not as of this time. It's unclear whether this project will lead to anything, but still: It's worth thinking about. Or not? ;) (fryke)

-> Read more at: Project Page @ SourceForge
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-05 at 11:58 CET ]
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osNews Interviews Ken Case (OmniGroup)

Interested in Mac OS X? Maybe OmniWeb's future now that Safari is slowly arriving? Well, it's a good read anyway. (fryke)

-> Read more at: osNews Interview
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-05 at 00:36 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-04

A Bit Wrong, A Bit Right...

Apple today updated its line of iMac computers. Our sources' prices were a bit off, as was the low-end model, which wasn't released at all. Noteable: The entry-level iMac already includes the Pro Speakers but also raises the price to 1'299 USD, which I think is a pity. The eMac's entry price was reduced to 999 USD without technical changes. (fryke)

-> Read more at: Apple's iMac Pages
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-04 at 15:44 CET ]
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news of 2003-02-03

iMac Prices Revisited

Low-End iMac
15" LCD
867 MHz PowerPC G4
CD-RW Drive
nVidia GeForce 2 MX
128 MB RAM
40 GB Harddrive
10/100 Mbit Ethernet
999$

Medium iMac
17" LCD
867 MHz PowerPC G4
Combo Drive
nVidia GeForce 4 MX
256 MB RAM
60 GB Harddrive
10/100 Mbit Ethernet
Apple Pro Speakers
1199$

'Better' iMac
17" LCD
867 MHz PowerPC G4
SuperDrive 2x
nVidia GeForce 4 MX
256 MB RAM
80 GB Harddrive
10/100 Mbit Ethernet
Apple Pro Speakers
1499$

'Best' iMac
17" LCD
1 GHz MHz PowerPC G4
SuperDrive 2x
nVidia GeForce 4 MX
512 MB RAM
80 GB Harddrive
10/100 Mbit Ethernet
Apple Pro Speakers
1699$

All models will be AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth Ready. Our sources claim that no model will include an AirPort or Bluetooth card. We have gotten word of two possible release dates for the new iMacs/eMacs: 4. Feb. 2003 and 14. Feb. 2003. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-02-03 at 14:03 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-31

iLife In Software Update

Fire up your SU engines. And get the 110 MBs of iMovie 3 and iPhoto 2.

You can also get the individual software packages at http://www.apple.com/iphoto/download/ and http://www.apple.com/imovie/download/. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-31 at 21:21 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-30

40G Toshiba 1.8" Drives For iPod Available

Toshiba has unveiled a 40GB version of their small harddrives that Apple uses in the iPod. Apple has kept updating the iPods with the newest generation of these Toshiba drives. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-30 at 07:16 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-28

New PowerMacs and 20 in. Display

Apple unveiled today the new line of PowerMac desktop computers sporting a SINGLE 1GHz processor in the low end model, dual 1.25 GHz processors in the midrange and dual 1.42 GHz processors for the top of the line model. The dual processor configurations have 167 MHz bus and support PC2700 DDR SDRAM while the low end bus runs at 133 MHz and uses PC2100 DDR SDRAM. All models have built in FireWire 800 and support Airport Extreme and Bluetooth wireless technologies. Also available in the high-end model (or as built to order in the others) is a SuperDrive that burns DVDs at 4X. No changes were made to the case.

Also unveiled today: the 20 in. Cinema Display. The 17 in. display now brings up the low end and the 23 in. display tops out the display line. (chm)

-> Read more at: Apple
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-28 at 18:07 CET ]
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Opera For Mac? Not Anymore...

Cnet News.com has an article about Opera's reaction to Safari: They're leaving. I have two things to tell them about this...

1.) It's a pity. Yes, with Safari out (in beta), Opera hasn't got much of a chance anymore.

2.) The Mac crowd has been waiting for an easy to use, fast browser for years. For some reason, we seem to have waited for Safari. It's been, I repeat, years in which Opera could have simply taken the lead in the Macintosh browser department. But the ports were ugly and didn't deliver enough to replace OmniWeb, IE and the Mozilla derivates. Sad to see you go, but: Bye, bye all the same.

Although I see the point that Apple is eliminating some third party developers with their own iApps (including the ones without an 'i' in front of their names), I also have to say that Apple delivers quality products. If Apple hadn't deliverd a good product, we wouldn't be using it. See it the way you want, but the fact that Microsoft got away with this quite well is helping Apple now. (fryke)

-> Read more at: News.com Article
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-28 at 13:29 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-27

ThinkSecret: Adobe To Drop OS 9 Support

ThinkSecret writes that with the next round of software upgrades (not the .x.x updates, of course), Adobe is going to drop OS 9 support. (fryke)

-> Read more at: ThinkSecret Story
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-27 at 12:58 CET ]
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Year Of The PowerBook: Panther

Sources close to the PowerBook development team at Apple disclosed that with Panther (probably Mac OS X 10.3, July/August 2003) mobile Macintosh users will get more features from OS 9 back. One of the most requested features among them is a full featured location manager.

In Mac OS X 10.2.x, some parts of the old (Classic) location manager are not really needed. For example, your network connections can all be active at the same time, and most of the time, 'Automatic' works quite well. Mail.app already supports multiple SMTP servers (it asks you which one to use if the standard one doesn't work). Together with Rendezvous, tightly integrated mobile phone access (Bluetooth, GPRS), the Panther version of Location Manager won't be an application, but like 'Favorites' rather an underlying technology that will 'just work'. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-27 at 00:48 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-23

Mojave For iBooks?

The Gay Blade (MacEdition) is reporting (rumours) that IBM will merge its PowerPC 7xx and 4xx families into the Mojave processor line in late 2003. The processors should start at 1.6 GHz and be _the_ low power processor for 2004 (PowerPC 970 being the processor that uses a bit more power, but it also gives some...).

The Blade writes: "Mojave, which will start at 1.6 GHz, will be based on a 0.10-nanometer process and feature dynamic voltage and frequency scaling. As a result, this bantamweight will be able to run at its base speed at 1.2 V and eat up only a Callista Flockhart-size 10 W." (fryke)

-> Read more at: MacEdition Article
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-23 at 22:40 CET ]
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iLife On 31. January

MacCentral confirms that iLife will only be released on 31. Jan. 2003. The downloadable versions are also delayed. (fryke)

-> Read more at: MacCentral
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-23 at 22:32 CET ]
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PowerBook 15" etc.

Valentine's day, our sources say, is the day we'll see them. 15.4" displays, aluminum enclosure & Bluetooth. Firewire 800 is in, too, no information about the keyboard backlighting is available, though. The same day, our sources claim, will be used for new iMac & PowerMac introductions. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-23 at 12:37 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-22

Possible iPod Update Soon?

Many Mac news and rumor sites are reporting – and we have confirmed – that the Apple online store is currently out of stock on the 5 GB iPod. The page simply states:

Due to significant holiday demand, the 5GB iPod is temporarily unavailable.

Some are speculating that this may indicate an iPod update is on the way. Furthermore, Mac Whispers says that an inside source at Texas Instruments claims TI is shipping a low-power FireWire 800 (IEEE1394b) bridge chipset to Apple which would likely end up in a new iPod model. (chm)

-> Read more at: Mac Whispers
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-22 at 21:19 CET ]
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Macintosh: The UNIX Workstation Of Choice?

Now that Apple is bringing X11 to Mac OS X - yes, there were efforts before... - the question arises, whether Mac OS X is 'enough UNIX' to cater for the ones in need. ;) osOpinion has an article about it.

Add-on: Although the author writes an entertaining and interesting piece, he seems to think Linux/Unix users are too dumb to buy a third party USB-mouse: "If Apple succeeds in the Unix market, it will certainly have taken a scenic route to get there. And even after Apple has added X11 support, Linux and Unix users will still have one unanswered question: When will the company ship a mouse with more than one button?"

Also today: Cnet News.com has a similar article about the same subject. (fryke)

-> Read more at: osOpinion's Article
-> Read more at: News.com Article
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-22 at 20:26 CET ]
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Who's 2nd? Linux Or Macintosh...

osOpinion has an article that tries to decide whether Mac OS X or Linux will catch place 2 in the desktop war.

The article gives 2 points to Mac, 2 points to Linux. And it says "Cost for Linux is cheaper. And cost is more important. Linux will win." --- I personally think the 'Applications' category might have some influence, too. And ease of use can save you millions, depending on IT support's rates... (fryke)

-> Read more at: osOpinion Article
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-22 at 09:19 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-21

StorCard Is Coming - When?

Several sites are commenting today on StorCard, a product of the company with the same name. StorCards will be credit card sized (really!) harddrives that need a reader which fits on a PC-Card. The media will come in different sizes from 100 MB to 5 GB. The lowest will cost just under 15 USD, which is not too cheap, as the price for the interesting ones (5 GB) hasn't been published. A card reader will retail for about 100$, which is okay.

I personally think that it sounds great. But I also think we'll only see the technology in stores this Summer. And I fear that the 5 GB cards just "won't be available just yet" and will come out later for a price too high. The product might still be an immediate hit, if 1 GB cards are cheap enough. Digital cameras with integrated StorCard readers sound like fun. Same goes for mobile media players like iPod or iPod II, although I guess Apple likes the integrated drive more than removable media for their media players. (fryke)

-> Read more at: StorCard Inc.
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-21 at 17:09 CET ]
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Beyond Safari Hype

osOpinion.com has an article about how Safari was received in the Mac crowd. With a few quotes from big Mac site admins and the like. And a bit about the future. (fryke)

-> Read more at: osOpinion Article
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-21 at 13:22 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-20

Quark XPress 6.0 Alphas?

Several sites are posting rumours about XPress Alpha versions being out. They all have one source, which is a macintouch.com reader. We'll post about it again when we can confirm this... (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-20 at 16:31 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-19

iApps Eating the Small Ones?

That's the question the article linked below raises. And I've got a very, very simple answer to give.

Why was iTunes such a success? Sure, it's free. That's a big plus it has going for it. Yet, there's also one other point that you can't take away from it: It's a pretty good application. I have tried many MP3 players before Apple came out with iTunes, and I just have to say: It's the best I've ever used, and I haven't looked back. Ever.

Watson/Sherlock? I know, it's a difficult thing. It's political and all. But Watson _still_ has a big chance of winning this game. How? Include many, many more international services, and I'll buy a license. Sherlock means nothing to me, as most of its channels are US centric. And I don't want to buy cinema tickets for New York or Frisco, as they're quite far away from Switzerland. Watson? Go talk to internet services in Europe. And you'll find many more customers.

As long as Apple delivers software as cool as iTunes, I don't think they're using their 'monopolistic' power (in the Apple subworld of computing), because they're also delivering better software. (fryke)

-> Read more at: OSNews Article
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-19 at 20:52 CET ]
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Rumors: New PowerMacs, iPods, OS X 10.3 and Dual Processor 17" PowerBooks.

Rumors are rumors, but Mac OS Rumors has a reasonable record of getting alot right. Right now they report new PowerMacs in March or April. This update is very likely to include Firewire 800, Airport Extreme and a small bump in processor spreed. Perhaps the PPC 7457 with the DDR frontside bus?

The upgrade to follow that one (likely in September as of right now) may finally include the PowerPC 970 with 900 MHz front side bus.

Mac OS Rumors also reports the likelyhood of new iPods in March, OS X 10.3 in September and perhaps dual processor 17" PowerBooks in the second half of 2003.

Lets hope that these aren't just rumors. (chm)

-> Read more at: Mac OS Rumors
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-19 at 18:07 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-18

GPRS Scripts For Nokia & SonyEricsson Mobile Phones

I've finally found some useable GPRS modem scripts for Bluetooth (or IrDA) enabled PowerBooks/iBooks and the above mentioned mobile phones. This article is being posted from a train. So, yes, it works fine. ;) (fryke)

-> Read more at: The Scripts Page
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-18 at 17:31 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-17

'chm' - New Author At macnews.net.tc

We welcome chm as our newest addition to the team. We hope you'll enjoy his articles as much as we do. I continue my most stressful weeks in a long time and will check in from time to time... (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-17 at 21:57 CET ]
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PPC 7457

MacBidouille reports a rumor that the Motorola PPC 7457 chip is in production. The chip is built with 0.13 micron technology, sports a 512 KB L2 cache and can support DDR bus speeds up to 200 MHz. The processor speeds will likely max out at 1.3 to 1.4 GHz, which is not a huge increase compared to the now available 1.25 GHz processors, however, the new 7457 chips supposedly run about 33% cooler. This should allow apple to build quieter PowerMacs since they won’t need so much cooling. The added L2 cache compared to the current processors should help speed some things up as well. (chm)

-> Read more at: MacBidouille
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-17 at 21:17 CET ]
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Mac OS X 10.2.4

ThinkSecret reports that Apple has seeded OS X Server v. 10.2.4 (build 6I13) to developers.

Meanwhile MacBidouille says that build 6I14 of OS X v. 10.2.4 is available to ADC members.

MacRumors adds: “ For reference, the lead time for the 10.2.3 seed to GM was approximately four weeks... but this time-frame is certainly not set in stone.” (chm)

-> Read more at: ThinkSecret
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-17 at 21:13 CET ]
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Windows GUI On Linux Core?

Cringley gets it all wrong in his editorial. At least most of it. He thinks Windows XP is still based on DOS, which is, of course, wrong. Yet, the idea to give Windows an open source core - much as Apple did with Mac OS X - could be a way for Microsoft to further break linux' momentum (and Apple's, maybe). Read the article linked below. It's quite funny how he's misinterpreting things... (fryke)

-> Read more at: I, Cringley
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-17 at 15:08 CET ]
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Macromedia Buys Presedia

MacCentral writes: "Express will allow non-technical professionals to use existing office productivity tools like Microsoft PowerPoint, annotate their presentations with audio, and combine these two elements into a streaming Macromedia Flash application delivered via a hosted or licensed solution. The content can contain slides, audio, animations, quizzes and surveys. The system tracks and reports results, and can also be integrated with existing learning management systems."

Will Macromedia make this software compatible with Keynote.app? :) (fryke)

-> Read more at: MacCentral Article
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-17 at 15:02 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-16

Apple's Glass Is Half Full, Not Half Empty

Yesterday, Apple posted that they have lost 8 Mio. USD in the last quarter. However, they say, that's because of after-tax restructuring et al. Without those, it would have been 11 positive.

In an article at MacCentral (linked below), CFO Fred Anderson talks about how Apple will innovate through the hard times, to be ready for growth when it comes along. It sounds positive, but it's basically just talk. They admit that PowerMac sales are lacking, and they blame everybody but themselves.

But really, can't they see and admit? While the iMacs are a great consumer computer and thus do sell well, while the iBook is the best consumer notebook around and aggressively priced, while the PowerBooks are certainly innovative, cool and everything Apple claims them to be... The PowerMacs just aren't that attractive. Of course they still feature the great case introduced with the blue & white (or rather cyan & white if you look at them next to any G4) G3 towers. They have double processors alright (which they kind of must to be at best competitive in performance), but they don't feature much else. You can have a SuperDrive in a portable or an iMac, so you don't have to get a tower for that. The performance gain compared to an iMac isn't _that_ big, and the one year old iMac still is the top-of-the-line iMac performance-wise.

There's not been too much reason for the pro users to upgrade, really. All the things you can get from a PowerMac today, well, you already have them if you bought a PowerMac a year ago. It's time, Apple, to move ahead more aggressively. Yes, some people will iWhine about just having bought a dual 1.25 GHz tower, when you release faster hardware. But please, please don't be afraid of those.

We know that computers get old fast, we've come to assume that it's just like that. However, Apple has started to prove that assumption wrong in the PowerMac area of the last few years. And that's just sad for Apple itself. Bring on those towers! (fryke)

-> Read more at: MacCentral Article
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-16 at 08:39 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-15

Several Tidbits...

MacRumors.com assembled several new rumours and tidbits today.

Apparently Apple has recruited the team from GoBe in 2001 (makers of an office suite for the BeOS).

Digitimes reports that Compal Electronics will produce 15.4" PowerBooks (they're also the producers of the 12" and 17" models).

MacBidouille expects the iMac upgrade round as early as next week.

And MacFixit reports that Microsoft is developing Office 11 for the Macintosh.

A note about this and next week: My time-resources are at an all-time low, currently, which could lead to fewer updates in the coming 10 days, unless we find at least one spare writer accumulating what's in the (background) news. So if you want to write for macnews.net.tc, write us a line or two... (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-15 at 22:37 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-11

Safari Update

You can get v51 of the Safari 1.0 Beta at Apple's site. (fryke)

-> Read more at: Apple's Safari Site
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-11 at 16:36 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-10

iWant iTrip

iTrip is a small FM transmitter for the iPod. It doesn't need a battery and you can use a set of stations that you 'play' from the iPod (MP3 files, apparently...).

Look at the picture: This is made for iPods...

iTrip is far sexier than the device below, I believe, and you can also use it for your car radio. Price tag: 35 USD. This seems like a must-buy for iPod owners to me. (fryke)

-> Read more at: Griffin's iTrip Page
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-10 at 17:39 CET ]
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Mac OS X 10.2.4, PowerBooks, etc.

Apparently, the new PowerBooks will ship with a build of Mac OS X 10.2.4. (And, as Steve so proudly said: "They boot into Mac OS X." No OS 9 booting. Yay!) The PowerPage has a blurb on it, as well as on the new 'midrange enhancing' speakers in the 12" TinyBook. (fryke)

-> Read more at: PowerPage.org
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-10 at 12:38 CET ]
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Quicktime 6.1 Released (And A Quote)

Get it from Software Update, the ReadMe's within. Plus the quote of the day...

"Never ask a man what kind of computer he drives.
If its a Mac, he'll tell you. If not, why embarrass him?" - Tom Clancy

(fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-10 at 00:50 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-09

TiVo, Brother, Aspyr: Rendezvous!

Apple has announced that TiVo will release TiVo devices with Rendezvous technology. Aspyre will release a game with Rendezvous-ability, Brother announced a network laser printer with Rendezvous.

Now that sounds cool! Will we soon be able to automatically record digitally and stream to AirPort (Extreme) connected devices? (fryke)

-> Read more at: Apple's Press Release
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-09 at 17:48 CET ]
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Attention Safari Users!

Don't set downloads to automatically clear from the download-list, as some users have found their home directories deleted... The bug has been submitted to Apple and a fix is expected in the next several days. Dave Hyatt (of former Chimera fame), who's working on the Webcore of Safari, has also mentioned that 96 dpi rendering is now active in internal builds (we're using 72 dpi rendering right now). Expect a newer beta before long with additional bugfixes. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-09 at 15:39 CET ]
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Microsoft E-Book Software Cracked

Yes, and the news is on MSNBC.com. ;) ... I'm all for the promotion of E-Books (although not the MS variant, rather a PDF variant or PalmDoc versions), and this sounds bad for E-Books in general. (fryke)

-> Read more at: MSNBC's Story
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-09 at 12:43 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-08

Apple Shows Humour ;-)

a.c. posted the following on konqueror.org's discussion of Apple giving back their source changes and the effects on konqueror's and Safari's further developments: "Navigator, Explorer, Konquoror - Safari is only natural for exploring a conquered land. They do have a sense of humour."

Get it? :) We navigated through wads of strange HTML... We explored the seven seas of the web. We konquered it finally, and now we - the tourists - are there on Safari. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-08 at 13:24 CET ]
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Apple's X11 And OpenOffice.org

As you can see, OpenOffice.org 1.01 (Public Beta) runs beautifully with the installed Mac OS X theme. Apple's included Quartz support for X11 applications works fine in this release. I had to start OpenOffice.org a few times before it stopped crashing on startup, but this is mentioned in the release notes of OO.org. Sadly, X11 uses the American Keyboard settings and other settings have to be done by hand. Not userfriendly enough for 'users'. This might change, though.

Write in with your experiences on different X11 versions around... (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-08 at 09:03 CET ]
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New PowerBooks

Apple now has all the PowerBooks you want. From 12" to 17" (with price reduced 15" models inbetween), Apple has all the style and the power. Choose between portability and screen size: They're all cool. While I personally prefer small size for portability reasons, the 17" PowerBook is certainly the perfect mobile workstation if you have a bag it fits in. It's a pity there's no Bluetooth in the 15" models, though. But we're voting for a silent upgrade (which would also remove one option from the catalogue that's quite grown now...) soon. (fryke)

-> Read more at: Apple's PowerBook Pages
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-08 at 01:36 CET ]
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Safari - And Its Future

While Apple's claims of Safari beingt the fastest browser on Mac OS X may not be altogether true at this point in time, it shows Jaguar's teeth more than any other browser out there today. Chimera is sometimes faster (depending on the task), sometimes Safari is. For a first beta, the application is incredible - as you'd expect from an Apple application. (Is this one an iApp at all?) ;)

If you look on Konqueror's (where Apple got the KHTML source) pages, you'll find that its developers are adding tabbed window browsing support to the source, so Apple might add that also in a future (or the final?) build. We sure send our feedbacks to Apple that we're interested in that feature.

Whatever your first impressions are, add them to iCity in the comments link below, and don't write Safari off at first sight. It might have shortcomings, but remember that it's been out there only a few hours... (fryke)

-> Read more at: Konqueror
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-08 at 01:32 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-07

Official Keynote Updates

New Software

- Pro Tools for OS X Digidesign (available later this month)
- Final Cut Express (stripped down version of FCP3 for $299)
- iPhoto 2 (integrated with iTunes)
- iMovie 3 (integrated with iTunes and iPhoto 2)
- iDVD 3 (integrated with iTunes, iPhoto 2 and iMovie 3)
- iLife - iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD combined for $49 (iTunes, iPhoto and iMovie will still be free downloads)
- Safari, Apple branded browser (khtml based, open source)
- Keynote (presentation application for $99)

New Hardware

- OS 9 will no longer boot on new hardware
- 17" 1GHz Aluminum PowerBook G4, 8.6 lbs., FireWire 800, Bluetooth, AirPort Extreme for $3299
- 12" 867MHz Aluminum PowerBook G4, 4.8 lbs. for $1799
- AirPort Extreme, 802.11g, 54mbps for $199

Missing In Action

- iPod II
- 19" LCD Studio Display
- 20" LCD Cinema Display
(kendall)

-> Join us at iCity

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-07 at 22:02 CET ]
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Rhapsodized For Mac OS X 10.2.3

Max has finally posted an update to his Rhapsodized theme - the theme that gives you (more or less) the look of Rhapsody on Mac OS X - that fixes the incompatibilities with Mac OS X 10.2.3. (fryke)

-> Read more at: Max' Themes
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-07 at 13:08 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-05

Forget Marklar: Mac OS X Binaries On NetBSD?

A new project tries the 'unpossible'. They have already a layer running on NetBSD (PowerPC version) that allows command line applications compiled for Darwin (or Mac OS X) to run without recompilation. One of their next steps (pun not intended) is to get the WindowServer up and running. The goal is of course to have Cocoa applications running on a Mac OS X desktop on a NetBSD x86 (or anything, really) machine. (fryke)

-> Read more at: Project Page
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-05 at 23:17 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-04

MWSF 2003 Rumour Roundup II

Curiouser and curiouser. ThinkSecret says: No new hardware (at all, but a hint of a tablet?). Bluetooth and 802.11g frenzy. iApp frenzy (and rumours of *pay*-updates to iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD?). It all sounds very strange. This must be the most anticipated MW ever. It seems like now, just a few days before Steve Jobs' keynote, the rumours are finally getting somewhere, but they all stray...

I wonder what the L.A. Times will write about MWSF and rumour sites (they've interviewed me last night and said the article would be in either Saturday's or Monday's edition). In the 'last-weeks' before earlier MWs, rumour sites tended to finally agree on what would appear (and then be partly right and partly wrong), but this time around, nothing seems to be so sure anymore.

If new iMacs appear (which we believe is true), they're going to be what our list said. Spymac adds slot-in drives to those rumours, ThinkSecret (in a large roundup list) says 'no', MOSR doesn't say anything, really and others join whatever side or leap to 19" iMacs, which I think is a bit too head-heavy (and isn't what we've heard so far). Some rumour mongers still believe new PowerMacs will make it to MWSF, while all others (ThinkSecret, MOSR, Spymac and us) claim that they will come about a month later (02, 03/2003).

The software lineup seems to be agreed upon, more or less. You can read our first roundup for a list. (fryke)

-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-04 at 14:41 CET ]
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MOSR: New Display Lineup

MacOSRumors added to MWSF rumours with a new display lineup:

- Entry-level 17-inch standard aspect 1280x1024 model
- 19-inch widescreen display, resolution in the ballpark of 1600x1024
- 20-inch widescreen HDTV display, 1920x1080
- 23-inch widescreen HDTV display, 1920x1080

While our own sources confirm the 19" model, the 20" model is in serious doubt, as it would cut deep into the high end display's sales. Apple doesn't like to have too many (similar) offers open, so we're going for a 17/19/23 approach. (fryke)

-> Read more at: MOSR
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-04 at 14:24 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-03

Strange Days

Obviously, several writers of columns make different things of the quite silent phase of pre-MWSF rumours. The L.A. Times has announced they're going to call me for an interview later today, so I guess they're wondering, too.

While Railhead Design says "There's certainly going to be _something_ besides iApps..." (or something like that), ScottW of macosx.com thinks that it's a bit like the silence before the storm: "Something big is coming, at least in Steve's mind..."

Quite differently, ThinkSecret (read article linked below): "Apple will not use Macworld Expo in San Francisco as a venue to upgrade the iMac, eMac or flat-panel display families...". (fryke)

-> Read more at: ThinkSecret Article
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-03 at 16:15 CET ]
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iSync 1.0 & iCal 1.0.1

Apple apparently has enough news for MWSF 2003, as it has already released some of the expected iApp updates. (fryke)

-> Read more at: Apple
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-03 at 00:14 CET ]
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news of 2003-01-02

Dark Matter - Photoshop 8.0

ThinkSecret says Adobe Photoshop 8.0 (Codename: Dark Matter) is aimed to be released in the third quarter of 2003. Not much details, except that its aim at digital photography should be apparent. (fryke)

-> Read more at: ThinkSecret Article
-> Read and write comments

[ written by fryke™ on 2003-01-02 at 02:05 CET ]
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