Applelinks Tech Web Reader - Friday, September 5, 2008
Google Founder On Lack Of Mac Chrome: "It's Embarrassing"
Google readies Chrome for Mac and Linux
News From The Mac Mini Front?
Overclocking A Mac Mini Got Me Hooked On Souping Up Macs
Road to Snow Leopard: twice the RAM, half the price, 64-bits
Tomorrow's Solid State Drives and Notebooks
Chrome Is A Security Nightmare, Indexes Your Bank Accounts
PC Mag: Google, Criticized for Harsh Chrome EULA, Backs Down
Google Restores Chrome's Shine
Can Apple Save the Music Industry, Again?
Can Steve Jobs save the iPod?
Google touts iPhone, Chrome browser
How Do I Print Wirelessly From My PC On a Mac Home Network?
"Phrase "Laptop Machines" An Anagram Of Apple Macintosh
Mac Users Rejoice For New Lab In Union Building At Weber State U.
Sony Recalls Burning US laptops
Sony Recalls Notebook Computers Due to Burn Hazard
PC Mag: Sony Recalls Thousands of Vaio PCs Over Burn Risk
Internet's First Music Festival to be Launched by College Radio Network
Technology Aided U.S. Olympic Sailing Team Win Olympic Gold
The Mac Night Owl: Does Apple Need an Information Czar?
Google Founder On Lack Of Mac Chrome: "It's Embarrassing"
MacUser's Derik DeLong reports:
Valleywag has pulled a section out of a Kara Swisher interview with Sergey Brin, one of the Google co-founders. When asked if she has tried it, Swisher tells Brin she hasn't because of a lack of a Mac version.
He then tells her "It's embarrassing." and "I run it in VMware on my Mac."......
For the full report visit here:
http://www.macuser.com/software/google_founder_on_lack_of_mac.php?lsrc=murss
Google readies Chrome for Mac and Linux
ZNet UK's Tim Ferguson reports:
Google has revealed it is working on versions of its Chrome internet browser for Mac and Linux operating systems.
Writing on the the search giant's Mac Blog, Google software engineer Amanda Walker said the company is now "actively working" on versions of the newly released Chrome for Mac OS X and Linux....
For the full report visit here:
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,39484267,00.htm
News From The Mac Mini Front?
Hardmac's Lionel reports:
One of our "sources" has indicated that he has more and more problems obtaining a supply of the Mac mini from Apple.
With a little bit of luck (but we have already said this many times) Apple could have finally decided to update this machine that we particularly appreciate.....
For the full report visit here:
http://www.hardmac.com/news/2008-09-04/#8792
Overclocking A Mac Mini Got Me Hooked On Souping Up Macs
Low End Mac's Adam Geller reports:
My first Mac helped to change my life for the better.
It was a 1.42 GHz G4 Mac mini, which later became 1.5 GHz thanks to overclocking. I was hooked from that moment on.
But I had to go further. I tracked down the rare 1.5 GHz G4 board with the expanded 64 MB of RAM and then overclocked the mini to a perfectly stable 1.67 GHz. I was playing games like Prey and Quake 4 perfectly in 800 x 600 - not that I ever would use a Mac solely as a gaming machine.
Even though it was replaced by my MacBook Pro, I found it extremely fun to hot rod old Macs to give as gifts to my friends. PowerPC computers have this multitasking capability that is still unrivaled today.....
Here's a good value equation: Get a Power Mac 9600 for practically free, and right now you can get the Sonnet Crescendo/PCI G4 1 GHz board for $100. If you need a cheap OS X machine and don't care about USB, there you go - 1996 reliability with modern software. It's good as long as you don't mind the 66 MHz bus speed.....
For the full commentary visit here:
http://lowendmac.com/first/08mfm/geller-overclock.html
Road to Snow Leopard: twice the RAM, half the price, 64-bits
Appleinisder's Prince McLean reports:
Snow Leopard's across-the-board leap to 64-bits, from the kernel to all of its bundled apps, will do more than just make more memory available. It will also have a significant positive impact on performance system wide, even more than the same jump to 64-bits in Windows Vista. Here's why.....
Under the 64-bit Mac OS X Leopard, 64-bit apps get a massive virtual memory allocation that breaks out of the 4GB box. This allows 64-bit apps to occupy high address spaces while the kernel uses its own low addresses. Without any shared address overlap, the TLB doesn't need to be flushed and can therefore function as intended. That potential windfall isn't yet fully realized because Leopard's kernel and most Mac apps are still 32-bit (below left).
Snow Leopard will deliver both a 64-bit kernel and a full set of 64-bit bundled apps, erasing the entire TLB flush issue because the new kernel won't have to share any address space, even when running 32-bit apps (below right). This will benefit all 64-bit Mac users with a Core 2 CPU or better, even those lacking a Santa Rosa platform-style chipset, as being able to run 64-bit code and virtual memory is not tied to the amount of addressable system RAM...
To read more, click here.
http://tinyurl.com/688yw7
Tomorrow's Solid State Drives and Notebooks
Low End Mac's Dan Knight says:
Flash memory is pretty amazing stuff. Invented in 1980, it made digital photography possible. It's been used in PDAs for ages. And its inside those useful USB thumb drives that have become so affordable and become a normal way of moving data between computers.
And now flash drives (also known as Solid State Drives or SSDs) are becoming popular in notebook computers. They're a lot more expensive than hard drives, but they have no moving parts and may reduce power consumption compared with hard drives. (Some tests find this to be true, others find the opposite.)
Flash drives are not without their drawbacks. I'm not just talking about price and capacity - prices keep dropping, and capacity keeps increasing, as is also true of hard drives and computer RAM. SSDs may never achieve price parity with hard drives, especially at high capacities, but they will become more competitive in the low end.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://lowendmac.com/musings/08mm/tomorrow-ssd-notebook.html
Chrome Is A Security Nightmare, Indexes Your Bank Accounts
TG Dauily's Humphrey Cheung reports:
Can a browser's search function work too well? After playing around with Google's brand new Chrome browser, we've discovered that its history search box will fetch all types of data - even text from HTTPS-protected financial sites like Washington Mutual and Capital One. With a few utterly simple keywords like balance, account and Sept., everything from balance information, account numbers and even how much you spent at Costco can be pulled up.
To see all of this in action, just open up Chrome and log in to your favorite financial website. Like most important sites, it should be protected with HTTPS/SSL encryption and that should be evident in the address bar of the browser. Do the stuff you would normally do like look at your balances and gawk at your latest transactions and then open up a new tab in Chrome by clicking the "+" symbol. In the right-hand history search box, enter a few keywords and see what they get you. Surprised? I bet you are. No luck? Then try something simple like oh Visa, Mastercard, balance and account. Also try out the names and abbreviations of months like September, Sept and Sep....
For the full report visit here:
http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/39176/108/
PC Mag: Google, Criticized for Harsh Chrome EULA, Backs Down
They've already issued an "Our Bad" and retracted the offending language, but Google's initial EULA (End User License Agreement) for their Chrome browser was seriously offensive.
To read more, go to:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2329414,00.asp
Google Restores Chrome's Shine
The Register's Chris Mellor reports:
Google has acted with speed and retracted the objectional sentences in Chrome's EULA, so that any content you post via Chrome is yours and yours alone.
The ruckus was caused by our old friends, the paralegal firm Cut 'n' Paste Inc. Their employment has now been terminated and a new contract arranged with Fink First, Cut 'n' Paste who have produced a revised section 11 reading:
11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights that you already hold in Content that you submit, post or display on or through the Services.
There are no qualifying sub-sections at all.
So why did this happen?...
To read more, click here.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/04/google_retracts_lousy_chrome_eula_terms/
Can Apple Save the Music Industry, Again?
MotleyFool's Rick Aristotle Munarriz says:
There is plenty of speculation about what Apple has in store with next Tuesday's "Let's Rock" press event, and most of it revolves around the company updating its line of iPod portable media players.
It's inevitable. Unit sales have slowed over the past year. The iPod touch can't cling to its $299 price, when the superior iPhone with built-in speaker for media playback is being subsidized by AT&T
at a lower price. Smaller players can use a little pizzazz to get them moving again.
However, in this article, I won't be the zillionth person to go over a hardware wish list - or even the iTunes software upgrades, which may include the rollout of a music subscription plan. Instead, I want to get into a likely aspect of next week's announcement that isn't getting a whole lot of press attention: the interactive digital album.....
For the full commentary visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/645vyf
Can Steve Jobs save the iPod?
Apple 2.0's Philip Elmer-DeWitt says:
One of the unintended consequences of the success of the iPhone is that it has rendered the classic iPod and its diminutive sisters - the nano and the shuffle - nearly irrelevant. What do you need a second MP3 player for if you've already got a few hundred tunes in your pocket?
Apple was able to goose sales for a while last spring by sharply cutting prices on the iPod shuffle, but the tide is drifting away from the company's iconic product which once accounted for nearly 50% of its annual revenue. By last Christmas, sales of iPods, which enjoyed triple-digit growth as recently as 2006, had nearly flattened out. If something isn't done, they could soon be headed south....
For the full commentary visit here:
http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/09/04/can-steve-jobs-save-the-ipod/
Google touts iPhone, Chrome browser
InfoWorld's Paul Krill reports:
A Google executive Thursday heaped praise on Apple's iPhone, even with his company set to challenge Apple in this same space with its Android mobile computing platform.
During the cloud computing-focused Office 2.0 conference, Google's Matthew Glotzbach, product management director for Google Enterprise, revealed his list of 10 things that can be done in the cloud today that could not have been done a year ago. Although the list focused on Google technologies, including its newly introduced Chrome browser, the tenth spot on the list was reserved for praise of Apple's iPhone.
"I'm a huge Apple fan, I'm a huge iPhone fan. It's really opened up computing in the mobile world," Glotzbach said, emphasizing the iPhone's impact on cloud computing.....
For the full report visit here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20080904/tc_infoworld/110956
How Do I Print Wirelessly From My PC On a Mac Home Network?
My First Mac' Paul McKie says:
I've had a Mac in my house since 1999 but my employer insists I use a PC for work purposes. Because I'm on the road or in meetings away from the office I have a PC laptop. I'm often at home working on my PC and find I have to print something.
In the past I had to untether my USB printer from my iMac running Tiger to plug into my Dell Latitude D510 (running Windows XP Professional) and print that way. I was also accessing the Internet by unplugging the Ethernet cable from my Mac and connecting it to the Dell. But that meant only one computer at a time on the 'Net. So when I worked on it, the kids were unable to surf.
I am no computer genius. I knew it was possible to work wirelessly but I was intimidated by the prospect of setting up a router (a process complicated by the fact that many router manufacturers do not support the Mac platform so their installation software is PC only - even though all routers will work with a Mac). I also needed a router that would work with my PC as well as the Mac (the 802.11n speeds and configurations of Mac modems are still barely supported by most devices out there).
A few years back my ISP had a special offer to set up a wireless network. The Dell has a built in wireless card and the wireless router they installed (a SpeedStream 6520 for those who need to know) allowed me to work and surf the net on the laptop while others at home could use the Mac online.
I heard so much about Mac OS X's versatility and its ability to seamlessly chat with Windows machines. I knew there had to be a way to get these two computers to speak to each other and then for my PC to print wirelessly.
To read more, click here.
http://tinyurl.com/6o3fmo
"Phrase "Laptop Machines" An Anagram Of Apple Macintosh
Tha Arizona Wildcat reports, among an eclectic assortment of other trivia, that the "phrase, "laptop machines," is an anagram of Apple Macintosh.
Who knew?
You can check it out at:
http://tinyurl.com/6aexck
Mac Users Rejoice For New Lab In Union Building At Weber State U.
The Weber State University (Ogden, Utah) Signpost 's Chase Christiansen reports:
"The Mac Lab," a computer lab composed of new Macintosh computers, is now open for students and faculty to use in the Shepherd Union Building. The lab provides students with programs like the Adobe Design Suite and Safari to make homework and Internet access a breeze.
Some students are glad to have the new lab....
For the full report visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/6sasmw
Sony Recalls Burning US laptops
The Register's John Oates reports:
Sony is recalling 73,000* Vaio TZ-series laptops sold in the US, as a possible short circuit of wires near the hinge could burn users.
(*)The BBC reports 440, 000 machines in the US and Japan are affected by the recall, but none in the UK.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission is working with Sony to get the machines back. Users are advised to stop using their machines immediately and check if their laptop is one of those being recalled. The problem is caused by a loose screw in the hinge.
Sony batteries were blamed for the last consignment of burning laptops which hit Apple and Dell. Over five million batteries were eventually recalled at a cost to Sony of some $430m....
For the full report visit here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/04/google_chrome_analysis/
Sony Recalls Notebook Computers Due to Burn Hazard
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety CommissionOffice of Information and Public Affairs has issued a notice announcing a voluntary recall of of certain Sony VAIO TZ-series laptops.
The cited hazard is irregularly positioned wires near the computer's hinge and/or a dislodged screw inside the hinge can cause a short circuit and overheating. This poses a burn hazard to consumers.
Sony has received 15 reports of overheating, including one consumer who suffered a minor burn.
The recalled notebook computer models are the VAIO VGN-TZ100 series, VGN-TZ200 series, VGN-TZ300 series and VGN-TZ2000 series.
For more information, visit:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08392.html
Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Sony toll-free at (888) 526-6219 anytime, or visit the firm's Web site at http://www.sony.com/support
PC Mag: Sony Recalls Thousands of Vaio PCs Over Burn Risk
Sony said Thursday that it would recall 73,000 notebooks because of a potential burn risk caused by a short circuit.
The total number of Sony's Vaio notebooks that will be recalled totals about 73,000 units, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which worked with Sony to get the PCs recalled. They were sold between July 2007 through August 2008 from a variety of merchants.
Sony said customers reported 15 cases of overheating, including a minor burn.
To read more, go to:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2329434,00.asp
Internet's First Music Festival to be Launched by College Radio Network
[Press Release]
Over a dozen schools to participate in an experimental weekend of peace, love and streamed music - with live performances by hot, local bands on respective campuses - sharing content and broadcasting over multiple Internet stations on the Apple Mac-based IBS Student Radio Network by Backbone. Sept. 19-21, 2008, Available free on iTunes Radio.
Internet radio is taking another step forward as a legitimate entertainment medium this month as the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System's IBS Student Radio Network by Backbone (IBS-SRN) launches the Web's first live music festival, called IBS-Palooza. Increasingly sophisticated college radio clubs combined with advances in Internet broadcasting technology will allow, for the first time, multiple stations to digitally share and play each other's live content and provide valuable exposure to emerging local artists from around the U.S and around the world. This is expected to become an annual event on the IBS-SRN. IBS-Palooza will be available on the Internet from each participating school's website, as well at WIBS and Apple's iTunes Radio, College Radio category; September 19th through the 21st, 2008.
IBS-Palooza is intended to break new ground in the areas of both entertainment technology and education. As the first live multi-venue music festival created for the Internet, it harnesses the technologies of both Apple and Backbone Networks to enable live syndication of streaming content among several stations simultaneously. As an educational project, it opens up the student radio experience to a broader, more exciting arena of involvement. Together, the students and organizations hope to use this weekend to attract more support for their stations, hone their live event broadcasting skills and processes, and most importantly, have fun.
The Festival also aims to help local, emerging artists gain wider exposure through student radio and the Internet. Most bands will be performing live at their host school's campus while live on the air, and some schools will combine their efforts to create an even larger live concert event. During non-concert hours, stations will be able to air live music from other time zones or use their Mac-driven Backbone Radio automation software to run highlights of Palooza from their station or syndicated from any participating school.
"The IBS-Palooza has caused a stir of excitement and enthusiasm at WLIU-BK that I have not seen in many years," said Cedric Watson, Technical Administrator at Long Island University's Brooklyn campus. "IBS and Backbone are already looking for ways to make the next one even better,". Len Mailloux, IBS Chairman, added "It will be fun, challenging and should make for some great radio!". This inaugural IBS Palooza Festival will deal with a host of challenges, including coordinating multiple live stations all syndicating their live content on a real-time basis using peer-sharing radio automation software.
The following is a partial list of stations scheduled to participate:
• NEIA New England Institute of Art, Boston
• Babson College Radio, Babson Park, MA
• Simmons College, Boston
• WLMU, Le Moyne University, Syracuse, NY
• WLIU-BK, Long Island University, Brooklyn
• WFNM, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA
• Goucher College Student Radio, Baltimore
• XTSR, Towson University, Baltimore
• Valencia CC (Flatfoot Records), Orlando
• KCLR, Loras College, Dubuque, IA
• KXZY, Oklahoma State University
• Las Positas College, Livermore, CA
IBS Student Radio Network by Backbone:
http://www.studentradionetwork.org
Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS):
http://www.ibsradio.org/
Backbone Networks Corporation:
http://backbone.com
Technology Aided U.S. Olympic Sailing Team Win Olympic Gold
[Press Release]
The 2008 Olympic Sailing Regatta concluded in Qingdao, China with strong performances from Team USA despite challenging conditions. Twenty-five-year-old Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.) led the team on the water with a gold medal in the Laser Radial class, the first gold medal for a U.S. female sailor in 20 years and twenty-four-year-old Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) produced a strong performance in the Finn Class, earning a silver medal for the U.S. Sailing Team.
Because of the complex currents and light winds at the venue, the U.S. Sailing Team meteorologist (Sailing Weather Service LLC), contracted Applied Science Associates, Inc. (ASA) of Narragansett, Rhode Island to use their latest computer modeling tools to provide tidal current predictions for the Olympic races. The accurate prediction of tidal currents gave racers an advantage in sailing the challenging conditions of the Qingdao region. ASA provided tidal/current modeling software that enabled team meteorologists and sailors to view, print, and analyze the ocean conditions of the race courses.
Sailing Weather Service meteorologists utilize several different data sources and models for information in planning strategies based on wind forecasts and tidal predictions. ASA's models provided numerical output and 10 minute interval data which are crucial during tide changes; this was an advantage over teams that did not have this high resolution data. ASA's software also includes a user-friendly interface with integrated GIS and visualization capabilities that the athletes and coaches themselves could use for training and strategizing prior to each race.
"Each US Sailing coach has been provided with a detailed "current book" for their specific course area. These books detail expected current variations at 10-minute intervals for each day. I have worked closely with the coaches and sailors to develop simple graphical depictions that help explain the complex currents of Qingdao using the ASA modeling," said Jennifer Lilly, lead meteorologist (from Sailing Weather Service) for Team USA.
The regatta at Qingdao was challenging and the coaches were impressed with the team's ability to handle and sail in challenging conditions. High Performance Director and Head Coach for the U.S. Olympic Sailing Program, Gary Bodie said, "This is a tough place to sail and it was a tough regatta. We had light wind, plenty of current and ocean lump. It's not an easy place to excel."
The team, its management, Sailing Weather Services, and Applied Science Associates are already working together again on planning for a strong performance in 2012. For more details about U.S. Sailing's use of ASA ocean modeling, please contact or +1 401-789-6224. For more information about ASA visit:
http://www.asascience.com
Sailing Weather Service's was founded in 1998, to provide weather consulting and forecast services to competitive sailors, adventurers, and the wind power industry. More information is available at:
http://www.sailwx.com
The Mac Night Owl: Does Apple Need an Information Czar?
Once, a long time ago, and I don't know where I wrote this suggestion, I envisioned a new line of Apple commercials featuring Steve Jobs. Since he's such a master salesman, you'd think he'd do well in that setting.
Here's the URL for today's commentary:
http://www.macnightowl.com/2008/09/does-apple-need-an-information-czar/
Notes: You can also access our new RSS feed, available at:
http://www.macnightowl.com/rss
Or our new Atom feed at:
http://www.macnightowl.com/atom
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