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news of 2004-10-31

So, Google wants on the Mac desktop...

And apparently, it'll take at least a few more weeks if not months, until Google will automatically index your harddrive for you and display local results in your browser of choice - or something like that. Having shortly looked at how Google Desktop on the PC does and how Spotlight works on Tiger, I have to admit, I don't really understand why Google wants to enter this market. Spotlight, which will be publicly available in the first half of 2005, will outbeat Google's approach by far. Their one advantage, as I see it, just really isn't one. They mix local results to internet results. Now if I'm writing a paper on a subject and go searching about it, I'll drop over my own feet all of the time? Super. ;)

However: If Google supports Mac OS X 10.2 and 10.3 with their desktop application, I guess there will be a market for those who won't initially upgrade to Tiger, when it'll be available. And on the PC side... Microsoft was the first to announce such technology. For Longhorn. (And even before the term 'Longhorn' was anywhere.) They then said Longhorn wouldn't have this feature, since they're late already. Now that Google's in the game, they're instead going to bring their own desktop search tool out before even a public beta of Longhorn appears. Guess Google will have a hard time on both platforms... Maybe they'll announce a linux approach now?

Remains to be seen how it all plays out, but I guess the game will play in Apple's favour in the end. Google pressed others to bring these features on as add-ons to the system. While Apple, as far as I can see, does it right. Spotlight will drive 'search' in every aspect of the operating system and gives third party developers the chance to make use of its engine (on Mac OS X, that is, via an API). Interesting times, once again...

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-31 at 21:00 CET ]
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A few notes on Tiger 8A294

According to some reports, Tiger build 8A294 takes a bit longer to install than some of the builds of late. Whether that's due to 'taming' the beast a bit remains a speculative thought, however. After installation, the build is as snappy as any 8A2xx build tested by our sources, they report. There are, however, instances of lag, and some Carbon applications will probably need updating (or Tiger needs fixes, time will tell...).
The new build incorporates yet a new look of the menu bar, which probably shows the direction in which Tiger development (at least regarding the look) is headed. 'Aqua Blue' shows graphite backgrounds for both the Apple and the Spotlight logos in the upper left and right corners - until you click on them, that is. Then they turn to a darker blue. The logos are nicely bevelled now.



In this shot you multiple things. First, there's the bevelled logos in the menubar, but you'll also notice that in 'current' applications like Adobe Photoshop CS the looks don't yet match. This will probably be fixed in newer builds soon. Apple currently notes some problems with Carbon based applications and their toolbars, and this design glitch might be only a small problem that will be addressed. The look in this screenshot is, of course, Graphite, not Aqua Blue (I find this more consistent right now).

The Finder, in column view, now has a 'more info' button that opens the usual get-info dialogue, as you can see in the next screenshot.



Working with an 'empty' system (i.e. a clean install without any actual work data) is not much fun - and certainly doesn't show off Spotlight's abilities. Similarly, Mail.app 2.0 really shines when you have a whole lot of E-Mail rather than an empty test mailbox active. Thus, I've tested the FW-migration tool when installing this build. The external FW drive took quite a while to transfer everything into the clean installation of Mac OS X 10.4 8A294, but after that, basically everything worked just fine. A few utilities that enter the system more deeply (for example antiviral tools, network extensions etc.) need to be reinstalled, but the transferring application informs you of those. Spotlight, btw., just works. It's fast and really does what Steve promised us at WWDC: It finds what you're looking for.
For now, Tiger is certainly not ready for 'average users' and, as Apple puts it, 'productive environments'. But the time nears when the new operating system is feature complete, and we'll then see optimisation and bug-fixing that will, over time, create the best Mac OS X version yet.

We'll report more on this new build, the first one for ADC Select members since they were shipped the WWDC build via snail-mail, in the coming week.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-31 at 16:30 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-30

Apple seeds Tiger 8A294 to ADC members

Apple has seeded the new build this weekend. There are quite a few noted issues in the build, so it's not recommended to use it in production systems, even if you usually ignore Apple's warning thereof. ;) (For example, activating SMB shares may corrupt login passwords and similarly fun stuff.) Yet: For ADC Select members, this is surely good news, since the last build they held in hands was the one released at WWDC.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-30 at 22:39 CET ]
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More Apple seeds...

Apple also seeded Mac OS X Server 7R27 as well as Xsan 7N154.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-30 at 00:47 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-29

Apple seeds Mac OS X 10.3.6 7R27

Apple also changed the download process for developers, according to sources. Apparently they don't choose the location from where they're downloading anymore. In the past few days, download for ADC members was on and off.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-29 at 14:03 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-28

Firefox 1.0rc1 released

Late last night, Firefox 1.0rc1 was released to the servers. Get the file here (from this directory).

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-28 at 06:16 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-27

Newer Tiger Info (and screenshots)

Thanks to a source with access to one of the newer Tiger builds, we can show you a few new screenshots.



This one shows the new battery menu bar item. It offers a bit more choice than Panther's.



Here we see the family control options in place.



A look at Mail.app's new interface.



You can get info on an e-mail account and get a window like this.



Here you see that Safari 2 offers a choice for your default RSS reader application.



Finally, we can encrypt Virtual Memory, too.



And the 'target disk mode' from Startup Disk system preference pane...



Another good look at the new style of interface, this time System Preferences. Currently, it seems that Tiger has three interface styles. NewAqua (like Panther), Brushed Metal (like Panther) and Aluminum. And then there's the new menubar style you can see in some of the screenshots.



TextEdit opens Word files with tables. Still with some issues, but basic support is here.

We hope to bring you more and new information on Tiger's process soon. Stay tuned...

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-27 at 22:31 CET ]
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The iPod Video done right...

We know that Apple in all probability won't release another iPod in the coming six months. My guess is that we'll see the white iPods go all colour screen in the next revision (5G). This might happen next Spring or Summer. Video, in my not-so-humble opinion, is the logical next step. Sure, there are issues (we'll come to those in a moment), but rather than dismissing an iPod Video, I hope that Apple will take these issues head-on, solve them and create the real next step in a future generation of the iPod.

The Issues
Apple has repeatedly said users wouldn't want to watch videos on such a small screen. At yesterday's press event, Steve Jobs looked at the first PMCs and said they were too big, too heavy and had too small a screen. That's two issues. The first one is a question: Would there be enough potential buyers? And the second issue is a task rather than a question. The task is to create a device small enough to be pocketable (iPod size) and a screen large enough for viewers to enjoy flicks. The third issue is missing content, also mentioned by Steve Jobs yesterday (and the reason they went with photos for the iPod Photo, where licensing is a non-issue and content is readily available on the user's part).

So, would there be enough potential users?
This question is both difficult and easy to answer. Surely, 'music' has more potential users than 'video' per se. But how many potential users are enough for Apple to produce an iPod Video? We don't know. What we do know is that people around the world are watching a lot of music video clips, a lot of TV in general and that they do buy a lot of movie DVDs. If you can simply hook the iPod Video to a TV set like you can with the iPod Photo, I don't really see the problem of the small screen. Video would also just be 'yet another' feature. You could still use the iPod for music or photos only. And I guess a lot of future iPod Photo owners will mainly use it for music playback rather than photo sessions.

Small enough device, big enough screen...
The current iPod's size is perfect. No need for it to grow, no need to shrink. Now if the whole front could be a screen, that'd make a good screen for watching short flicks like music videos in a train. It responding to touch would reduce the need for hardware buttons and scroll wheels. Problem solved? Well: I'd let Apple surprise me. If they have an even better way of doing it, please do so...

Missing content?
That's flat-out a lie, in my opinion. There's a lot of video content. Let's start small! Apple could use the iTMS to also sell music videos. Actually, they could use MPEG-4 (H.264, preferrably) with AAC sound which would result in files about 30 MB in size, and you could choose at play-time whether you want to see the video or just use music playback. I'm sure there could be said a lot more about music videos alone (and this is feasible and attractive, I think!), but let's move on. TV shows. Using H.264, a 45 minute TV show (which is 'normal' for many series) could be about 200 MB in size for a good quality video file. Sure, that's a lot of space, but I see people buying DVD boxes of old seasons, so why not buy the shows while they're still new? And to the creators: Why not sell the shows directly to the customer? And then there's movies. People love movies. (Apple loves movies, too, and I'm sure Steve Jobs is proud that that Nemo DVD was the best-selling DVD ever?) And I'm pretty sure that a mom would love to be able to give her kid the iPod to watch a movie or two instead of having to take care of all those DVDs and video cassettes and that the kid doesn't eat the packaging. Well, I hope the kid won't eat the iPod Video, but you see what I mean, probably.

Conclusion
My conclusion is simple. No, we won't see an iPod Video for some time now. Yet, if done right, the iPod Video could simply be the next iPod. In several senses. It could be the next success explosion for Apple. It could be the next step in content sales for Apple (iTunes Video Store etc.). And it could simply be the coolest music player that is already an icon more than the Walkman by Sony ever was! Additionally, it would also double as a video player you could hook up to your video beamer or TV set. Give it the right Java interpreter and suddenly there are also a lot of games available (those do sell well for mobile phones all over the world, maybe with the exception of the USA). May my critics be reminded, that we do already live in the 21st century. :)

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-27 at 13:22 CET ]
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Critical Mass Reader Mail Leading To An Answer. ;)

We do get a lot of e-mails by readers. Questions, comments and criticism. We don't usually react to them publicly, but the inbox has hit critical mass this time. ;)

You all know that I'm not just another Apple fan boy, and that while I enjoy Apple's technology and generally have a positive feeling about what Apple's doing, I also criticise them quite often. Today, however, is not that day. Yet: I've rarely encountered so many critical voices after Apple had released another product. People, it seems, think the iPod Photo is "too little, too expensive" (quoting one reader's message). The consensus of the critical messages is the following: Many people think the iPod Photo will not attract many people, as its colour screen is too small to view photos in good enough quality. I beg to differ...

As long as the iPod does not gain video capabilities, think of the iPod as a music player first - and everything else second. Yes you can use it as your newsreader on-the-go by feeding it textlets. Yes you can use the new iPod Photo to have your family photo slideshows with you when visiting relatives (and show them on their TV set, using the A/V cable, too!), but the most important thing about this new iPod - at least in my opinion - is that listening to music and selecting tracks becomes more beautiful.



A nicer graphical interface as unobstrusive as this one is a pleasure to behold - and can make all the difference.

I can imagine myself, holding my iPod 4G 40 GB model, sitting next to an iPod Photo user. If he's looking at his photo collection, I won't mind, really. But seeing him use the colourful interface will quite surely turn me green with envy. Would I have paid the 100 USD more to get the iPod Photo 40 GB instead? Doesn't 100 USD sound like a bit much for just the interface? Well, I guess I would have to go into that mode and tell everyone around me that it synchs with my iPhoto collection, too (which you know is not a big interest of mine), but I guess I would have paid those 100 USD, in fact, for the interface. But I'll probably stick with this one that I have for now, since it's still the best music player around. And it'll serve me well for another two years. I guess my next iPod will have video functionality.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-27 at 01:53 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-26

Looking good...

However: This is definitely a mockup (made by Apple, though) and not a screenshot. The resolution of the actual display is lower.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-26 at 23:30 CET ]
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Unsanity: ShapeShifter 2

This new release comes with a slew of new features.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-26 at 22:10 CET ]
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Apple releases iTunes 4.7

You can get it here at apple.com/itunes/download. While the software doesn't seem to be necessary in order to access the iTMS in new countries, it's sure recommended to use the newest version possible. This version is also needed for the new iPod Photo. One new feature for other users, too, is the automatic finding of double songs. (Gotta try that now...)

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-26 at 20:27 CET ]
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New iPods!

There's a black U2 20 GB model now, and the iPod Photo for 25'000 pictures. iPod Photo 40 GB for 499, iPod Photo 60 GB for 599 USD. iTunes 4.7 is used to transport fotos to the iPod Photo (downscaled?).

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-26 at 20:16 CET ]
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New iTMS Countries: No Switzerland

As expected, iTunes has gotten available in more countries today. The list shows Austria, Belgium, Deutschland, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom and United States now. We'll keep you updated.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-26 at 19:01 CET ]
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Mac OS X and Viri

There's been a lot of talk about Mac OS X security in the past 72 hours. The verdict: You're still safe, if you're using Mac OS X and keep it updated. If you really want to install an antivirus package on your Mac (maybe also because you don't want to send viri to your Windows using contacts accidentally), you might want to check out ClamXav. Might be of some use in the future, but also in the present. And be it only to provide you with a nice "nothing found" message... It's free, too. (Note: There still are some rough edges in the application and the installer, however, it should basically work fine. If you notice some window that doesn't seem to react, just quit the application/installer and restart it afterwards. Worked for me the second time around.)

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-26 at 01:19 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-25

iTu(n)esday

Tomorrow's the big day of the music announcement. We're certainly expecting new iTMS locations (Switzerland, please?) as well as an iPod (or similar device) using the 60 GB drive. The black U2 branded iPod is in talks as well. We'll see tomorrow...

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-25 at 18:58 CET ]
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iEmulator

There's another kid in town. iEmulator emulates a PC on a Mac, or so they claim. There's a bunch of screenshots available, "untouched" as the site promises, that show the software emulating up to 4 PCs at a time. They claim they can get a 1.5 GHz G4 emulate about a 500 MHz PC. However you should keep in mind that performance and experienced performance are two different things altogether. The software should be available in November, so we're waiting for comparisons to VPC before applying for a license. ;)

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-25 at 15:35 CET ]
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Windows XP is 3 years old

Happy Birthday, Windows XP! Teletubby-Land has found its way to 'their' desktops on 25th of October 2001. Around that time, I was testing near-final builds of Mac OS X 10.1 and was eager to follow the future evolution of that operating system. In the past three years, we have not only seen the final release of Mac OS X 10.1 (Puma), but also the final releases of 10.2 (Jaguar) and 10.3 (Panther) as well as several 'service packs' in the form of releases such as the most recent 10.3.5 update. In the same time, Microsoft has released SP 1 and SP 2 for Windows XP, both without seriously updating the feature set of the operating system. Granted, they kinda had to focus on the security issues - and many people around the globe are glad they did - but on the other hand: If you want to make sure you're using the most insecure operating system, prone to attackers using worms and viri, Windows XP is still the way to go. And with Longhorn 'just around the corner' (2-3 years?), here's a toast to another three years of Windows XP, while we on the good side will be enjoying Tiger (10.4) in the first half of 2005 and probably Mac OS X 10.5 before Longhorn arrives. Cheers!

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-25 at 13:54 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-24

AMD: Surf the net securely - use a Mac?

MacBidouille posts a french ad by AMD that asks users to surf more securely.



The picture shows a Titanium PowerBook (minus the Apple logo), which of course is a good advice, since Mac OS X is still without virii (although there's now a hand-made rootkit available - and no, it's not a virus...).

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-24 at 15:09 CET ]
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Or will we see the PB 7448?

Freescale publishes new information on the PowerPC 7448, MacBidouille has the link (French, but you'll find the linked PDF easily). Guess it all depends on what information is true. Our sources claim a) that Apple has a PowerBook with PPC 7448 ready, basically but that b) Apple could just skip this revision in favour of an earlier-than-expected (early 2005 instead of 2nd quarter 2005) PowerBook G5. Either way: Now is definitely not the time to buy a PowerBook.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-24 at 15:05 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-23

Apple seeds Mac OS X 10.3.6 7R24

... and cleans up the older builds with a special 'fix it' package that should get rid of the damage done by earlier betas of 10.3.6. A release of Mac OS X 10.3.6 is expected next week, possibly even 7R24.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-23 at 04:13 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-22

Apple seeds Xsan 7N153

The 53 MB package shows that Apple is still creating about a new build every third day (the first build seeded to developers was 7N130 at the end of August as we reported). Speculation now is that Apple will announce a much broader and bolder business strategy early next year.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-22 at 02:06 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-21

Misunderstanding at AppleInsider

AI posted this about 10.3.6 developer builds today. They say Apple has eased the update process from build to build, removing the reversioners. However, that's not true. The latest build, 7R20, did not contain a reversioner, however that was only the case because the build was _not_ intended to update earlier development builds of 10.3.6. Instead, the build was only applicable to the GM version of 10.3.5. If you are a developer with access to beta builds, do not install 7R20 over 7R14 or 7R12 etc., because after the upgrade, you won't be able to open some of Apple's applications (like iChat, Mail.app for example), effectively ruining your experience...

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-21 at 02:15 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-20

About the PowerBook non-show

I'm sure you're aware of the fact that macnews.net.tc was the first and one of the more prominent rumour sites to talk about the PPC 7448 PowerBooks we then thought would arrive in Autumn 2004. Apparently, this will now not be the case, and we want to apologise, if our rumour has caused any inconveniences.
We have used the past 24 hours to talk to the two separate sources we had for the rumour, and of course they're sad, too, that it didn't come as predicted.
From what we hear, three things have happened that led the PowerBook 7448 not to come true. 1) FreeScale, after being spun off of Motorola, has taken a lot more time than Apple was expecting. The PowerPC 7448 is simply not ready, although preproduction PowerBooks had been made. 2) IBM and Apple have been working hard to bring the PowerBook G5 to the market. And while IBM, too, had its share of problems creating more refined and less power consuming (and heat generating) 64bit processors, it apparently has made it possible that 3) Apple can announce the PowerBook G5 in January 2005. Apple basically had two options when it became aware of the delay of the PPC 7448 and the advances of IBM. They could've postponed the 7448 based PowerBooks by a month or two. However, with the PowerBook G5 coming closer, that wouldn't have made much sense. While choosing to go with the 'old' PowerBooks for the holiday season might not be comfortable for Apple, they rather sell more PowerBook G5's next year. According to our sources, the PB G5 will be announced in January and will be available in quantities a month or two afterwards.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-20 at 19:47 CET ]
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MAMP

Macintosh, Apache, MySQL and PHP. webEdition has posted a simple installation for a development environment that can just as easily be removed (just trash the MAMP folder). (Updated with English link...)

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-20 at 16:04 CET ]
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Apple announces Tiger Early Start Kit

... and will probably soon start seeding new builds. The "Enterprise" title song springs to mind while I'm typing this. ;)

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-20 at 13:43 CET ]
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PowerBooks skipped?

"This new line-up of iBooks, along with the current PowerBooks we have will make-up the complete portable line-up we will be offering for the holidays...", David Moody has said to MacCentral. This could very well mean that the 7448-PowerBooks won't see the day of light at all. Which could mean that the PowerBook G5 is being readied for a January announcement. We're digging our sources...

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-20 at 00:28 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-19

Xserve with 400 GB S-ATA drives

Apple has also added new options to its Xserve line. A new 'ultimate' configuration for the Xserve offers 3x400 GB S-ATA drives (1.2 TB of storage) and the Xserve RAID can now have up to 5.6 TB (14x400 GB) of space.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-19 at 18:30 CET ]
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Opinion: Single processor PowerMac G5 1.8 GHz

Apple has introduced a new entry-level model to their PowerMac G5 line. 1499 USD (2299 CHF) is, while certainly not cheap for an entry level desktop computer, cheaper than the previous entry into the PowerMac area. Although I'm glad Apple takes a step into the right direction with this new model, I don't think it's the right thing to do. The PowerMac label should be reserved for the highend models, but a 1.8 GHz single processor PowerMac with a 600 MHz frontside bus, 256 MB of RAM and a GeForce FX 5200 with 64 MB VRAM doesn't cut it for me. Unless it'd cost 999 USD (1499 CHF).

I'm sure Apple has their own plans and it will all play out well - as it has in the past - but I'd rather have seen the same PowerMac named something else, strip the SuperDrive, strip the FW800 ports and sell it for 500 USD less. The new model, as they sell it now, seems not very attractive for me. Home users might as well buy a better iMac for the same price (not so expandable, true) and professional users are surely better off spending a little more for a 'real' PowerMac (i.e. the dual 1.8 GHz one). For now, I'll call this new Mac the 'loserMac'.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-19 at 15:25 CET ]
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Apple updates iBooks

As predicted by several rumour sites, the iBooks have been brought to 1.2/1.33 GHz G4 processors. AirPort Extreme is built-in and the pricing starts at 999 USD.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-19 at 14:37 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-18

New Server!

You're looking at the new server. Everything's okay and will be fine. :)

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-18 at 20:27 CET ]
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Special Music Event Next Tuesday!

Apple has invited several press people to a special event on 2004-10-26 (10 AM PST in California). U2 will probably perform their iPod ad song. And quite possibly a _bit_ more (iTMS Europe, iPod 60 GB...).

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-18 at 18:49 CET ]
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Apple also seeds Mac OS X Client 10.3.6 7R20

We're in the wrapping up phase of this update, and a release is now expected anytime, basically - probably as early as next week.

The ReadMe for this update will read: "The 10.3.6 Update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther" and is recommended for all users. Key enhancements include: improved file sharing for Mac (AFP), UNIX (NFS) and PC (SMB/CIFS) networks; more reliable network automounts and launch of network applications; improved OpenGL technology and updated ATI and NVIDIA graphic drivers; additional FireWire audio and USB device compatibility; updated Calculator, DVD Player, Image Capture, and Safari applications; improved compatibility for third party applications; previous standalone security updates.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-18 at 11:27 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-15

Apple seeds Mac OS X Server 10.3.6 7R20

The server version focuses on Active Directory Plugin Authentication, AFP Server Performance, SMB Sharing for Windows XP clients (especially for large files writing to the SMB share), Mail server SMTP authentication when using CRAM-MD5.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-15 at 12:58 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-13

Microsoft also updates Office v.X

You can get the updater to 10.1.6 at the MacTopia site.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-13 at 16:39 CET ]
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OmniWeb 5.1 Beta 2

The second beta is out and ready for download. Version 5.1 brings OmniWeb to a newer WebCore version and compatibility with sites like Gmail. Beta 1 had some flaws that have now been corrected. A final build of OmniWeb 5.1 is expected in the weeks ahead.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-13 at 10:52 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-12

New iPod ad: U2 "Vertigo"

You can take a look here at apple.com/itunes/u2 and at the iTMS there's a 2min extended version.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-12 at 17:32 CET ]
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Cherry OS: Fraud?

Cherry OS claims to emulate Mac OS X at 80 percent of the host's CPU speed. For about 50 USD, that's quite a cheap Mac (OS sold separately...). Their website says (right now) they feature a 'skin enadled GUI' (sic!). Well, I hope they have not so many typoes in their software, then. ;)

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-12 at 17:14 CET ]
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MS Office 2004 (Mac) SP1

You can read more about it here. Will be available soon here at Mactopia, too.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-12 at 16:08 CET ]
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Apple releases Remote Desktop 2.1

Fixes and new features include support for full screen mode when controlling and observing remote computers; support for controlling and observing remote computers with multiple monitors; support for mouse scroll wheel and right-click when controlling remote computers; support for computer restart for packages that require a restart; improved reporting of output for the Send UNIX command; improved printing of hardware and software reports; improved remote data collection; improved file copy for files on networked home directories; and enhanced column sorting in Administration application.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-12 at 16:04 CET ]
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Apple seeds Mac OS X 10.3.6 7R14

Select and Premier ADC members have access to this latest build of Mac OS X 10.3.6. A release of the update is expected in the coming weeks. Developers are still asked to test this build against Graphics including OpenGL intensive games and DVD playback, FireWire, Safari, Disc Recording (CD and DVD), USB, Mass Storeage devices etc.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-12 at 14:26 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-11

Creative copies iPod (again)

This time the mini with their Zen Micro.



Doesn't the interface look remarkably similar to an iPod's? Sure does. Read more about the yet-to-be-introduced Zen Micro here at gizmodo.com and also look at the bigger picture (pun intended).

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-11 at 13:27 CET ]
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Apple's Business Strategy

Does, according to this article, pay out. Changes the way Apple's looked at in business. When Steve Jobs introduced Xserve, he said that they'd enter this market in a very "humble" way. I'm sure making the list of supercomputers isn't quite what Steve meant back then by his words. However, I'm also sure that he meant Xserve to have such kind of reviews and press (and success). But, and the linked article says that, so I quote: "Apple's next challenge will be knocking on the right doors." Well put.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-11 at 09:47 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-10

A Windows Power User's 1 Month Trip to OS X

Now that was an article I was begging to read. Really. I've heard a lot of switchers' stories, but they mostly were - mildly put - relatively 'dumb' users. Apple clearly caters to those with Panther and will even more with Tiger (Spotlight will show you 'desktop pictures' if you search for 'wallpapers', for example). But someone who grew up with DOS and puts Windows XP to good use and is able to have his/her system running without a crash for several weeks: I hadn't heard much about such a user trying out a Mac. This article on anandtech.com will give you a better idea, too.
The following quote should give you an idea about the fact that the author was willing to give OS X a real chance (and probably more so than most die-hard OS 9 users still out there...): "The benefit of leaving applications running even when you're not using them is that when you do need to use them or open a file with one of them, the response time is instantaneous - as opposed to waiting for an application to load. Of course, you can do the same thing in Windows, but for some reason stability and performance seemed to remain unchanged under OS X, whereas I almost always ran into an issue with Windows - whether it was having too many windows open or too many programs running."

He's also talking about browsing speeds, and quite certainly, he makes a point that we Mac users seem to have forgotten. Remember the days before Chimera and Safari, both of the browsers that are responsible for bringing the Mac 'up to par' with Windows? Well... Considering the amount of web browsing that we all do on a regular basis, Safari's rendering performance is nothing short of unacceptable." - If you think he's wrong, just take a look at the numbers he got comparing Safari to IE on Windows. Not unusually, Safari was 30% slower. That's of course much better than OmniWeb 3.x/IE 5.x/Netscape 5.x back in the old days, but it's still bad.

One other point in his article is very important to me: "The keyboard and mouse both look great but fall flat on their face when it comes to functionality. For a company that has seemingly done a good job of allowing form and function to go hand in hand, and for a company that has developed some of the best human interfaces to digital technology, the input devices are a strange enigma." - I have to admit that I wasn't really aware of this fact, but I haven't used a Mac mouse in years (I'm using the original Microsoft IntelliMouse with IntelliEye, the best mouse ever made ergonomically - for right hand mouse users at least). I've recently installed an iMac G4 at the company I work for and found the mouse incredibly bad. And I've been a mobile user for years, so I was using the perfect keyboard for me for years. Actually using the iMac's keyboard (and it's the same that comes with the PowerMacs) was so ugly, I had to get back to my PowerBook instantly. I totally agree with the article's writer here.

The biggest weak point of the Mac is Games. The article says that in some places and of course in the 'Games' section. For years I've been saying that if you want to use a Mac and want to play games: Get a GameCube or a Sony Playstation 2. The Mac quite definitely just isn't for games, and I doubt it'll ever be. In my opinion, Apple should rather forget about pampering game developers. It just won't happen...

A final comment to the article about Mac pricing: Sadly, the writer completely ignores anything but the most expensive Mac. Sure, he's a power user, so he really needed the dual processor PowerMac. But the fact that he has to doesn't apply to other users. I'm well aware (as many of us are) that it's the PowerMacs that still give the false image that Macs are expensive. And this article only looks at them. The iMacs are priced well against the competition, the eMacs anyway, the iBooks are great value/price performers. But even the PowerBooks, the professional notebooks Apple is selling, compare well to Windows counterparts. I'd have given the article five out of five stars if I did have a star-based system for reviewing reviews, but if a good article writer starts to talk about the price of Macs, he or she should definitely not ignore everything but the most expensive Mac Apple is willing to sell.
I still think that this is a very good and important article.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-10 at 17:53 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-08

If anyone ever...

... wants to badmouth Apple's quality to you again claiming that Apple had to recall some PowerBook batteries, just remind them of the big DELL 4.4 mio. power adaptor recall of October 2004. These things happen to the best (and the rest) of computer companies. The fact that they actually fix things for free is also a sign of quality of service. Quote: "Dell today asked 4.4m notebook users to return their power adaptors after it admitted these peripherals pose both a fire and electric shock hazard." Not exactly a low number of notebooks, eh? And I wouldn't want my power adapter to catch fire and expose its electrical stuff, because it cracks open. Could cause my apartment to burn down. Another important quote, to show you just how _many_ users are affected: "Those parts shipped alongside computers were bundled with Dell's Precision M40' Latitude CP, CPi, CPiA, CPtC, CPiR, CPxH, CPtV, CS, CSx, CPxJ, CPtS, C500, C510, C540, C600, C610, C800, C805, C810, V700, C-Dock and C-Port; and Inspiron 2500, 2600, 2650, 3700, 3800, 4000, 4100, 4150, 5000, 7500, 7550, 8000, 8100, Advanced Port Replicator and Docking Station. [...] The adaptors were shipped between September 1998 and February 2002 inclusive." Compared to that, the number of affected 15" PowerBooks (first generation aluminum only, and only some of them...) that had their batteries replaced simply pales.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-08 at 17:59 CET ]
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So, those 60 GB iPod drives...

... will finally be put to a good use, then. ThinkSecret reports that within the next two months, Apple will release a 60 GB iPod with 2" colour screen (filling the 499 USD spot) that has iPhoto integration. Also, an A/V out port will be there. Other than that, it's gonna be a 'normal' 4th generation iPod, according to TS' sources.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-08 at 11:30 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-06

Leander Kahney of WIRED likes VPC 7.0

You can read his short review here. Basically I can't really add anything but just sum it up for you: It won't do wonders (no, you're not going to play 3D shooters in VPC just yet) but for those who could live with VPC 6.x, VPC 7.0 is going to be a good upgrade. And a must if you need VPC and have a G5.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-06 at 12:39 CET ]
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EC continues to harass MS

And I personally like it. WIRED has the story about the EC considering 'cleaning Windows of DRM'. Now here's to an interesting twist in the story. ;)

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-06 at 12:33 CET ]
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What is really on our iPods?

Let's assume the dust has settled and Steve Ballmer's remarks don't drive the blood into our heads anymore. If we cut down through what he said and try to squeeze something useful out of it, it would be something like this: "Many people have MP3s on their iPods that they don't have paid for." We can certainly agree that this sentence isn't altogether wrong, since we can't deny that there was quite a long time when legal music downloads weren't even possible and the old Napster was thriving. And when the original Napster was killed, other services (Gnutella, Kazaa etc.) picked up where things were left - long before iTMS came into the game, and long before other countries than the USA had access to its songs.

Let's talk open here, I'd say. Back in the days, I have downloaded a few hundred songs from Napster. I have later used some or other Gnutella client to get more. I still can't access iTMS, since it's simply not available here in Switzerland. My iTunes library has about 13 GB of music. 12 of those 13 GB of music are, however, not from some misty online source, they're ripped from CDs. Legally so, although the term 'ripped' still sounds quite bad in some ears. And I personally guess I'm not the exception out there. We could have a poll, and I'm sure someone's gonna do it one day, but my guess is that most iPod users have some illegally downloaded songs on their iPods and many CD-ripped songs to crush the other number.

I could erase the illegally downloaded songs. That'd be quite a difficult thing to do for me, though, since I have often bought the albums that I liked later on. And it's not like you could create a smart list in iTunes that would list only pirated tracks. ;)

So what's Ballmer (and also 'the music industry') going on about? Instead of bashing iPod users and customers, they should - in my humble opinion - increase their efforts to ease buying tracks online. That's what Apple does, and I'm glad they're doing it. One day, I hope, I'll see that 'buy' icon next to a song in iTunes and clicking it will actually work for me in Switzerland...

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-06 at 10:40 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-05

MS releases VPC 7

Improves performance by 10-30 percent and adds G5 compatibility. More can be read here...

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-05 at 12:13 CET ]
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Aluminum theme in Tiger

AppleInsider has screenshots of the new Mail.app (in Tiger's 8A27x builds) showing a theme we were expecting quite a long time ago. They're calling it Platinum, but in my head, that doesn't quite ring. The theme fits the aluminum clad hardware Apple's making, so let's just call it an aluminum theme...

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-05 at 10:58 CET ]
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Apple seeds Mac OS X 10.3.6 7R12

Just after the weekend, Apple has seeded a new build of 10.3.6 to its developers. No new information in this build, so it's still: Graphics including OpenGL intensive games and DVD playback, FireWire,Safari, Disc Recording (CDs and DVDs), USB, Mass Storage (external HDs, optical drives, card readers, etc.).

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-05 at 10:54 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-04

Security Update 2004-09-30

Released through Software Update. Still no SMB/Samba update, it seems. AFP Server, CUPS, NetInfoManager, postfix, QuickTime are the areas of this update.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-04 at 23:39 CET ]
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Gmail teasing users...

... with new features. In the past, a red 'New Features' link in the upper right menu showed us what was changed. Right now, that link is there, too, but it only says that new features are about to come soon. Now let's see what they have for us...

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-04 at 21:35 CET ]
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Mac.Ars PowerMac G5 Dual 2.5 GHz Review

You'll find their good and extensive review here.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-04 at 21:17 CET ]
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B&O and iTunes

If you happen to enjoy a Bang & Olufsen home equipment and a Mac, you can now link them using a swedish Mac fan's software.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-04 at 21:08 CET ]
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apple.com/startpage

ThinkSecret reports that livepage.apple.com will be replaced next week. Apparently, the new page will be centered around Apple's own Hot News and their products and services (.Mac, probably). You can already take a look.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-04 at 21:04 CET ]
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Steve (the other one) bashes iPod users

... as MP3 stealing crowd, as you can read here on TheRegister. Maybe our Steve (Jobs) should bash that other Steve (Ballmer) in public, too, sometimes? A good ol' spanking would do, too. MTV Celebrity Death Match would surely be funny for us, too... Or let me put it differently: It's not a news day in the Mac world, really. But SpaceShipOne has apparently taken the X-Prize. I'm tired. ;) Oh, and Jason Deraleau at O'Reilly writes a better comment about this iPod thing. He probably didn't work that much before writing it. He still used the same 'other' joke to refer to the Steves (and even included Wozniak). But I saw that only after I first posted this story... ;)

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-04 at 20:59 CET ]
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Flash iPod no-go?

TheRegister updates the story about SigmaTel and Apple. Obviously, SigmaTel has announced a deal with Rio this past weekend. So: The source for the flash iPod rumour obviously was led down the wrong path somewhere. Doesn't mean Apple can't do a flash iPod all the same, but kinda defies the original rumour.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-04 at 11:43 CET ]
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news of 2004-10-01

Flash-based iPod?

MacRumors posts this story today. While I don't think Apple should even enter this competition, really cheap iPods could make even clearer that Apple ownz this market.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-01 at 23:41 CET ]
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Again a Samba vulnerability

This one affects versions up until 3.0.5, so the currently installed 3.0.2 is quite certainly affected. Read the security notice at samba.org for more information. Hopefully, Apple will fix this soon enough by letting us download another of those security updates. Too bad they still mean rebooting the whole machine... :/ Also note that another Samba issue we mentioned more than two weeks ago (!) is still not patched in Mac OS X.

[ written by fryke™ on 2004-10-01 at 16:20 CET ]
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