Applelinks Tech Web Reader - Thursday, August 21, 2008
Australians Switch On To Apple Macs
Apple Flubbed MobileMe, But the Mac Is Making Inroads Into Enterprise Market
Apple's MobileMe is the Christmas Grinch
iTunes Blocked In China After Protest Stunt
Macbooks - Now on Sale at your local…Grocery Store? YUP!
Back to School: Securing Your Mac For Public Use
DF: Intel hint suggests 160GB MacBook Air
Apple will replace 'exploding' first-run iPod nanos
The news on Intel's Nehalem; chips with integrated GPUs up next
Intel Stuffs Nehalem Chips With Joy
Apple's Back-to-School Bonanza
Retail Sources Say Its Closing Time For Current iPod Line
Australians Switch On To Apple Macs
The Courier Mail's John O'Brien reports:
Australians are switching to Macs at a faster rate than almost anywhere else in the world.
Research firm Gartner's latest figures show Mac sales grew 52 per cent in the second quarter - nearly six times the rate of the PC industry overall.
This is even better than in the US, where Mac sales have been growing at about three times the industry average.
Apple's share of the Australian computer market in the second quarter of 2008 was 5.3 per cent, according to Gartner, up from 3.8 per cent a year ago. Rival research firm IDC puts the present figure as high as 6.2 per cent....
Worldwide, the Mac market share is about 3.5 per cent, but this is double the 1.8 per cent it hit about five years ago. With continuing gains in the West, and an emerging middle class in markets such as China and India, the potential is huge.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24205071-8362,00.html
Apple Flubbed MobileMe, But the Mac Is Making Inroads Into Enterprise Market
finance.yahoo.com's Dan Frommer reports:
Give Apple credit for making up for (rare) bad service: The company emailed MobileMe email/syncing customers this week, informing them that they'll be getting 60 days of free service in addition to the 30 days of free service most already received....
In the accompaning video, Henry and I talk about this uncharacteristic misstep for Apple, as well as some better news for the company: A record quarter for Mac sales and a growing presence in the enterprise market. Can Apple fill the gap left by Windows' crumbling hegemony? Or will Dell and HP finally figure out that it's all about design and beat Apple on price?
You can check it out at:
http://tinyurl.com/5vge4g
Apple's MobileMe is the Christmas Grinch
Macworld UK's Jonny Evans says:
Apple's attempt to pacify customers over its MobileMe launch fiasco has seen the firm inadvertently take a chunk out of my Christmas shopping budget!
While this was clearly not part of Apple's overall plan for a smooth, customer-focused, well-rehearsed tango to tenderly tease existing subscribers to remain with the service, the 90 day extension the company has offered could be costly for some.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://www.macworld.co.uk/blogs/index.cfm?blogid=1&entryid=428&RSS
iTunes Blocked In China After Protest Stunt
smh.com.au's Stephen Hutcheon reports:
Access to Apple's online iTunes Store has been blocked in China after it emerged that Olympic athletes have been downloading and possibly listening to a pro-Tibetan music album in a subtle act of protest against China's rule over the province.
The album, called Songs for Tibet, was produced by an a group called The Art of Peace Foundation, and features 20 tracks from well-known singers and songwriters including Sting, Moby, Suzanne Vega and Alanis Morissette....
The Foundation provided free downloads of the album to Olympic athletes, urging them to play the songs on their iPods during the Games as a show of support.
Funds raised from the sale of the album are being used by the non-profit Foundation to support "peace-related projects that are dear to the Dalai Lama", the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader whom China regards as subversive.
On Monday, expatriate iTunes users living in China began experiencing technical problems with their previously unfettered access.
For the full report visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/5sgmlq
Macbooks - Now on Sale at your local…Grocery Store? YUP!
AppleGazette's Michael reports:
So last night we went grocery shopping. Normal trip, nothing out of the ordinary…and then I walked past the photo booth. They have recently started selling notebook computers but, like every other place in the world, they're always Windows-based - so I don't care. Then I saw this…
And I did a double take.
Look at that! A Macbook on sale in a GROCERY STORE! If that doesn't say something about Apple's market growth - I don't know what will.....
For the full report (with photo) visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/6mpdxk
Back to School: Securing Your Mac For Public Use
TUAW's Cory Bohon says:
TUAW's going Back to School! We'll be bringing you tips and reviews for students, parents and teachers right up until the bell rings in September.
It's time once again to head back to school. Some are entering high school, while others are going to college for the first time. If you're taking your Mac with you, you need to learn some security basics. In this post, I will show you how to secure your operating system and hardware....
You can check it out at:
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/08/20/back-to-school-securing-your-mac-for-public-use/
DF: Intel hint suggests 160GB MacBook Air
Computerworld's Sharon Gaudin reports:
Intel Tuesday outlined the roadmap for its upcoming line of solid-state drives that will use flash-based solid-state memory to store data - and replace hard drives in some computers.
Such flash-based solid state drives are already available in some computers available on the market, including the MacBook Air, though the drives used in these products haven't been produced by Intel.
Dubbed the Intel High-Performance SATA Solid-State Drive product line, the data storage devices are aimed at mobile and desktop clients, as well as enterprise server, storage and workstation applications. The first products in the new line are slated to be available by mid-September.
The announcement was made Tuesday at the company's Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.macworld.com/article/135098/2008/08/intel_ssd.html
Apple will replace 'exploding' first-run iPod nanos
AppleInsider's Aidan Malley reports:
After instances where first-generation iPod nanos' power has triggered minor but device-killing fires, Apple has agreed to replace for free any more of the music players that suffer the same problem.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based electronics maker has released a statement to the press confirming the issue and solution while also attempting to minimize the scope of the problem.
"Apple has determined that in very rare cases, batteries in first-generation iPod nanos sold between Sept. 2005 and Dec. 2006 can overheat, causing failure and deformation of the iPod nano," the company explains. "Apple has received very few reports of such incidents (less than 0.001 percent of first-generation iPod nano units), which have been traced back to a single battery supplier. There have been no reports of serious injuries or property damage, and no reports of incidents for any other iPod nano model.
"Any first-generation iPod nano customers who have experienced their battery overheating should contact AppleCare for a replacement. Any other customers who have concerns about their first-generation iPod nano battery should also contact AppleCare."
For the full report visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/5sdwkk
The news on Intel's Nehalem; chips with integrated GPUs up next
ZNet's John Morris says:
Intel has given new details of what it calls the biggest change in its processor platform in a decade.
The new information on Nehalem, discussed in keynotes and presentations at the Intel Developer Forum this week, was expected. Nehalem isn't a single product, but a family of products all based on a new microarchitecture. The first products, due to ship in the fourth quarter, will be performance and "extreme" desktop chips bearing the name Core i7.....
Intel also dropped some hints about how the technology in Nehalem will be used in other products, most notably processors that have both general-purpose x86 cores and GPUs on the same silicon die. For example, the QPI can be used to connect the CPUs to the GPUs and turbo mode can be extended to control the GPUs as well, so that you can have any combination of x86 cores and GPUs running depending on the applications you are using. There will be both desktop (Havendale) and mobile (Auburndale) processors with GPUs onboard; the desktop and laptop versions without integrated graphics are code-named Lynnfield and Clarksfield, respectively. These are all due in the second half of 2009.
....Intel didn't provide much in the way of performance comparisons for Nehalem, partly because it is not a single product, but also, I suspect, because it is saving the numbers for the launch of the Core i7 chips. In general terms, the goal of Nehalem was to increase system performance, while using about the same or less power than the current Core 2 and Xeon platforms.....
For the full report visit here:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/processors/?p=194
Intel Stuffs Nehalem Chips With Joy
The Register's Ashlee Vance reports:
IDF Intel has tick-tocked itself into a frenzy about its upcoming line of multi-core fancies now being discussed under the "Nehalem" code-name.....
The desktop - Core i7 - and standard server Nehalem chips will start arriving in the fourth quarter. Then the the EX server chips and additional desktop desktop ("Havendale" and "Lynnfield") and mobile ("Auburndale" and "Clarksfield") chips will appear in the second half of 2009.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/20/intel_nehalem_server/
Apple's Back-to-School Bonanza
CNBC's Jim Goldman reports:
There has been so much written about Apple and the iPhone recently: the 3G issues, the MobileMe mess, the so-called Apps Kill Switch controversy, the iPod and its battery/BBQ issues, the company's $20 billion in cash, and a stock that continues to try to scratch and claw its way back from the doldrums.
What investors ought to be focusing on, instead, is the back-to-school shopping season, and what some say could be Apple's [AAPL 175.84 2.31 (+1.33%) ] most aggressive seasonal campaign ever.
Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster for one anticipates some big news: A new, sub-$1,000 MacBook; new MacBook Pros at substantially lower prices; a new, expanded memory iPod Touch at $199; and new lower prices on other iPods.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/26315422?__source=RSS*blog*&par=RSS
Retail Sources Say Its Closing Time For Current iPod Line
Appleinsider's Katie Marsal says:
Resellers both near and afar are reporting signs that Apple's current line of iPod digital music players are on their way out the door, just as one prominent Wall Street analyst restates his claim that a $199 iPod touch is likely to be among the new models that will fill the void.
Stateside, people familiar with the inventory management systems of mass merchandizer Target say all current iPod models have recently seen their status shift from "Active" to "Discontinued" when scanned with handheld PDA scanners used by employees.....
For the full report visit here:
http://tinyurl.com/6gukgu
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