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news of 2004-09-28

iMac G5 display spanning

According to this forum thread, you can use the usual firmware hack to enable the new iMac's monitor spanning capabilities. In the past, this hack has been working beautifully on all the iBooks I've installed it on. However: You do this on your own, Apple won't pay if you mess up your iMac.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-09-28 at 17:17 CET ]
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FreeScale confirms new processors

Among them is the 7448 (which will be used in the next round of PowerBooks according to our sources) and also two other contenders of the e600 family (G4) of processors: The 8641 and the 8641D (dual core) processors. You can read the press release here.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-09-28 at 16:44 CET ]
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Those Microsoft PMC devices...

I've read about all of the reviews about the first Portable Media Center device available, the Creative Zen PMC-120. A new one's out on infoSync now. Some find the device too big, others like the size. Some mention that converting video for use on the device is ultimately too slow, unless you're using a yet unavailable dual core 6 GHz Pentium V or something. But what most of the reviewers tend to forget is: Buying this device will give you a device that is old in a few months and doesn't deliver adequate quality.

Let me just say what I think here. A portable media player on which I have all my media files (be it audio or video), that I can connect to my home theatre etc. is great. The Microsoft PMC solution, however, is not. 320x240 is, I believe, about the quality of a VCD. Sure: That's enough for the supplied screen (which is too low-end), but even on a slightly bigger TV set, you'll see artefacts and pixeling. Not to speak of my video projector enabled home theatre, where I find 640*320 (scaled to the projector's resolution) 'good enough', but I'd rather want more than that. Plus: The fact that you have to re-encode all video files before they can be synched with the device doesn't exactly make them better.
In a few months, this hardware will be old. Much because it even seems old now. If Apple would take its chances, they could do for this (very young) market what they did for digital music. The Microsoft PMC project, as it is now, is a DOA project. And those who do buy these devices will either replace them in the coming year or go back to the 'old days' instead, letting their PMC catch dust.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-09-28 at 12:53 CET ]
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Apple seeds Mac OS X 10.3.6 7R9

to ADC Select and Premier members. File size is 30.6 MB. Changes from 10.3.5 include: Graphic drivers, OpenGL, Safari, FireWire, USB, and Disc Recording (CDs and DVDs).

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-09-28 at 11:53 CET ]
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