Apple Sells Supercomputer Sequel
COLSA to Build Apple Xserve G5-based Supercomputer
Dell Eclipses Apple In Education Market
When Mac OS X Doesn't "Just Work"?
Mac Night Owl: The Tiger Report: Don't Get Impatient!
Mac Night Owl: The Mac Hardware Report: Another Business Coup for Apple?
Sick Of Your Bulky PC? A Desktop Replacement Notebook Could Be The Answer
Landscape Photography 12 Top Tips Tutorial[/url]



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Apple Sells Supercomputer Sequel

CNET News.com's Stephen Shankland reports:

"A U.S. Army contractor has purchased a $5.8 million, 1,566-server supercomputer from Apple Computer, a real-world cousin to an academic system that briefly appeared high on a list of the most powerful machines.

"In November, a machine called System X with 1,100 dual-processor Power Mac G5 workstations climbed to third place on the Top500 list of the most powerful supercomputers. On Monday, Huntsville, Ala.-based Colsa announced it's buying a larger system called MACH 5 to run Army simulations of the aerodynamics of flight much faster than the speed of sound."

For the full report, visit here.





COLSA to Build Apple Xserve G5-based Supercomputer

COLSA Corporation has announced the purchase of 1566 dual processor 1U rack-mount 64-bit Xserve G5 servers from Apple to build a new supercomputer expected to be one of the fastest in the world. The supercomputer, named MACH 5, is a breakthrough in price performance for high performance computing. It is expected to deliver a peak performance capability of more than 25 TFlops/second at a cost of $5.8 million and will be used to model the complex aero-thermodynamics of hypersonic flight for the US Army.

"We expect MACH 5 to rank as one of the most powerful supercomputers on the planet," said Dr Anthony DiRienzo, executive vice president at COLSA Corporation. "According to the November 2003 Top 500 supercomputer list, it would rank second only to Japan's $350 million Earth Simulator computer at less than two percent of the cost. We evaluated PC-based proposals from other vendors but none came close to delivering either the price, performance or manageability of the Apple Xserve G5."

"Apple is honored that COLSA chose the Xserve G5 to build their supercomputer cluster," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "The ground breaking 64-bit performance and incredible I/O capabilities of the Xserve G5, combined with the reliability and scalability of our UNIX-based Mac OS X Server software deliver high performance computing solutions perfect for anyone looking to cluster from two to thousands of nodes, at an unbeatable price."

The Xserve G5 supercluster system is expected to be on-line and working for the Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) division of the US Army Research and Development Command by late Fall. This acquisition is the second phase of a multi year COLSA program to create a center of excellence in Huntsville, AL for high performance computing. Through the continued efforts of Senator Richard Shelby, (R.), AL, a long term supporter of bringing this advanced capability to Huntsville, the new system will benefit both the U.S. Army and NASA for the National Aerospace Initiative and their research and development objectives.

Apple's dual-processor 64-bit Xserve G5 server delivers over 30 gigaflops of processing power per system, about 60 percent more than the PowerPC G4- based Xserve. With unparalleled performance and manageability in a 1U rack- mount enclosure and Mac OS X Server version 10.3 "Panther" software pre- installed, Xserve G5 is the perfect server for today's UNIX-based applications.

For more information, visit:
http://www.colsa.com





Dell Eclipses Apple In Education Market

notebookreview.com reports:

"Dell's share of the U.S. education market in the first quarter of 2004 was more than three times the sales of its nearest competitor, Apple Computer Inc., at 14 percent. Hewlett-Packard Co. had 11.3 percent, Gateway Inc. 6.2 percent and IBM 3.7 percent. Dell hopes to make further gains in the education market by cutting prices and helping schools create digital classrooms, chief executive Michael S. Dell said Monday.

"Dell intends to make further gains in the education market via agressive price cuts on on desktop and notebook computers this fall

"Dell already controls 44 percent of the market for computers and computer equipment to U.S. schools and colleges, according to research firm International Data Corp."

For the full report, visit here.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.aspx?newsID=1910





When Mac OS X Doesn't "Just Work"?

Matt Evans says:

"My wife, mother in law, father in law, and sister in law all grew up using Macs. I grew up using various unix machines.  I had to say that I was excited, if for no other reason than family tech support, to see that OS9 would be leaving our home and theirs and being replaced with something sensible and UNIX based.

"This weekend, that sentiment bit me, badly."

[Be sure to read the reader comments following the article]

You can check it out at:
http://blogs.msdn.com/mattev/archive/2004/06/21/161770.aspx






Mac Night Owl: The Tiger Report: Don't Get Impatient!

It'll all begin to play out come Monday.

Here's the URL for today's commentary:

http://www.macnightowl.com/index.htm#impatient





Mac Night Owl: The Mac Hardware Report: Another Business Coup for Apple?

Another positive development for Apple, or just a fluke?

Here's the URL for today's commentary:

http://www.macnightowl.com/index.htm#apple
 





Buoyant Portable Player Market Pressuring Movie Distribution Model, Finds ABI Research

In the Beginning was the Walkman, and it started a revolution. Since then we've seen the CD "Diskman", and recently, floods of portable MP3 players.

Now a similar revolution is gathering steam behind the portable video player, which, according to ABI Research's director of broadband research, Vamsi Sistla, "is entering the mainstream portable market."

"As price points fall, screens get bigger and form factors shrink," he says, "the market for portable video players is increasing." He notes, however, that because of their higher cost, personal video player market growth is not as explosive as that for MP3 players was in its initial stages.

Portable audio and video players are just one of four new equipment categories examined in the latest edition of ABI Research's "Residential Entertainment Technologies Quarterly Service". (Also covered in depth are LCD/Plasma/DLP TVs; digital cameras/camcorders; DVD Players/Recorders, DVRs, stationary audio devices, and other video and audio host devices. Segmented market breakdowns and forecasts are included.)

Unlike portable DVD players, portable video players often contain hard disk drives, allowing recording and storage of multiple movies. Therein lies a problem for the film industry, which is understandably frightened of piracy. In Sistla's view, "The industry has to figure out a way to deal with changes in technology and to make sure the consumer's rights to minimum copying for personal use are met, while at the same time protecting copyright holders' interests."

Can studios find inspiration in the success of online music retailing on the model of Apple's groundbreaking 99 cent song downloads? Given satisfactory solutions to the intellectual property issues, Sistla thinks so: "Make it legal," he says. "Motion picture industry players and regulators should jump in much sooner to realize the potential of this opportunity and start generating revenue. Maybe we need another Steve Jobs, to take the portable video player sales to the next level."

Founded in 1990 and headquartered in New York, ABI Research maintains global operations that support annual research programs, quarterly intelligence services and market reports in wireless, automotive, semiconductors, broadband, and energy. Their market research products can be found on the Web at:
http://www.abiresearch.com






Sick Of Your Bulky PC? A Desktop Replacement Notebook Could Be The Answer

Entrepreneur magazine's Amanda C. Kooser says:

"Take a multigigahertz processor, add heaps of RAM, attach at least a 15-inch flat-panel display, and put it all into a laptop. Now you're working with power. When it comes to computing on the road, slim is in. But sometimes you need more oomph.

"That's where desktop replacement notebooks come in. They won't win many beauty contests. But they will make your reliance on a PC tower a thing of the past....

"Mac users aren't left out of the desktop replacement option. Graphics and design entrepreneurs who don't want to skimp on their Apple laptops can look to the PowerBook G4's 17-inch screen, backlit keyboard and slim 6.9 pounds."

You can check it out at:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/mag/article/0,1539,316136,00.html






Landscape Photography 12 Top Tips Tutorial

MacUser UK has postes a tutorial on landscape photography by Gordon Laing:

"The key to successful landscape photography is knowing when to stick to the rules and when to break them for sensational shots. Here's 12 top tips.

"Whether you favour rolling fields, desert dunes or craggy canyons, the world's varied landscapes are undoubtedly some of the finest subjects for photographers. Unfortunately, though, photographs don't always do the scene justice. Sometimes the grandeur is lost, and technical hitches prevent you from achieving the desired effect.

"It's all very frustrating, but following a few simple rules can transform your fortunes, such as how to ensure both the foreground and background are kept in sharp focus. Other rules should be broken - for example, conventional wisdom encourages us to try to squeeze as much landscape as possible into the frame, whereas zooming in to concentrate on smaller areas can actually be much more effective. Even close-up modes and night exposures can be used for exciting landscape photography."

You can check it out at:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/?http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/features_story.php?id=59185


***



Charles W. Moore


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