Applelinks Tech Web Reader - Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Apple snags 14 percent of US-based PC retail sales in February
Firefox 3 Goes On A Diet, Eats Less Memory Than IE and Opera
What's The Best Beta? IE 8 vs Opera 9.5 vs Safari vs Firefox 3
Rush Limbaugh Resorts to His Bully Pulpit to Get His Mac Fixed
The Dumbest Thing I've Ever Done: Corona Meets MacBook
Intel Reveals Plans For Quad-core Laptop CPUs
Determining Whether Or Not A FireWire drive is Mac-Bootable
Taking Linux to Mac OS X with Virtualization
Apple In Portfolio's Toxic Ten
Hungarian Group Hungry for Apple
Apple MacBook Air: Gorgeous, Expensive And Exasperating
New Apple Mac Pro Packs A Mighty Punch
eWEEK: IBM Turns on 'Light Switch' for Chips
eWEEK: Indie Labels Take E-commerce into Their Own Hands
Desktop Linux: One-Third of Asus Eee PC Users to Run Linux
Apple snags 14 percent of US-based PC retail sales in February
AppleInsider's Katie Marsal reports:
Growth in Apple's personal computer business continued to outpace the industry average last month, with Macs accounting for a 14 percent unit share and 25 percent dollar share of all US-based PC retail sales, according to market research firm NPD.
The results - first revealed in an investor note from Pacific Crest Securities analyst Andy Hargreaves on Monday - represent 60 percent unit growth and 67 percent revenue growth over the same period one year ago. At the same time, overall US PC retail shipments grew just 9 percent on a 5 percent increase in revenues.
Apple saw particular strength in notebook systems, which rose 64 percent in units and 67 percent in revenues....
For the full report click here.
Firefox 3 Goes On A Diet, Eats Less Memory Than IE and Opera
Ars Technica's Ryan Paul reports:
In our recent coverage of the Firefox 3 beta releases (1, 2, 3, 4), we have noted performance improvements and a significant reduction in memory consumption relative to Firefox 2. The enormous amount of effort that developers invested in boosting resource efficiency for Firefox 3 has paid off, and the results are very apparent during day-to-day use.
During intensive browsing with approximately 50 tabs, I have found that Firefox 3 generally consumes less than half of the memory used by Firefox 2.0.0.12. Firefox 3 is also snappier and more responsive when switching between tabs and performing other operations that typically lag in Firefox 2.0.0.12 when the browser is experiencing heavy load.
For the full report click here.
What's The Best Beta? IE 8 vs Opera 9.5 vs Safari vs Firefox 3
Crave reports:
It's up to your Web browser to make using the Internet easy and enjoyable -- it's arguably the most important piece of software you use. As the Internet becomes more integral to daily life, the browser you use is of great importance to software companies too. That's why every major browser developer is working on new versions of their product.
Fortunately, they've all released early versions of their work -- that's betas to you -- for us to poke around and play with, so we can suggest fixes and improvements that could be made before the final version is released to the general public.
The four browsers in question are Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8, Mozilla's open-source Firefox 3, Opera 9.5 and Apple's Safari 3 for Windows. All are free downloads and all try to offer something better than the competition.
With this furious battle for worldwide adoption, we've decided to put the most recent beta releases head-to-head to see which is looking to be the best, and why.
We're not benchmarking and we're not reviewing; we're simply using each browser as the average user would, to determine which we think is the coolest, which works best so far and which we expect to be the strongest offering to the general consumer....
Conclusion?
Firefox remains the best browser on the whole.... The improvements in performance are stellar...
For the full report visit here:
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/software/0,39029471,49296021,00.htm
Rush Limbaugh Resorts to His Bully Pulpit to Get His Mac Fixed
The New York Times' Brian Stelter says:
Mac users who want to back up their e-mail archives may have Rush Limbaugh to thank.
One month after the conservative radio talk show host publicly appealed for computer help to the Apple chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, his e-mails are now saving properly.
For the full report visit here:
http://biz.yahoo.com/nytimes/080317/1194756457757.html?.v=15
The Dumbest Thing I've Ever Done: Corona Meets MacBook
PowerPage's Chris Barylick says:
About a week and a half ago, I was sitting at my kitchen table, working out my taxes on my MacBook while setting up a black PowerBook G3 to be sent to my grandmother as her first computer. Simple enough and if you can make it easy enough to understand, you might not be inundated by calls from a person who'll probably love you unconditionally but is confused by her e-mail.
With the receipts almost in order and tallied up under Quicken, I grabbed a Corona from the fridge, took a sip, placed it on the table and kept working......
That's when the phone rang. Moving with all the grace of a Muppet having a seizure, I managed to trip over the PowerBook's power cord and knock half the Corona onto the MacBook's keyboard....
[Editor's Note: Did you know that Apple charges a $755 flat rate for repairing spill-releated damage? Further observation: this incident reveals a big downside to the MacBook's (and MacBook Air's) unorthodox, integrated keyboard design. The conventional keyboard in a MacBook Pro would be easily replacable for a LOT less than $755!. ]
To read more, click here.
Intel Reveals Plans For Quad-core Laptop CPUs
Engadget's Joshua Topolsky reports:
It looks like your favorite lap burner will get all quad-ified this year, thanks to the folks at Intel, and a little something we call "enthusiast pressure." The hot-to-the-touch CPU rumor mill claims that we'll see the quad-core, 45nm QX9300 hit the scene after the Centrino 2 (aka Montevina) chips are launched in the second quarter of the year...
For the full report visit here:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/15/intel-reveals-plans-for-quad-core-laptop-cpus/
Determining Whether Or Not A FireWire drive is Mac-Bootable
MacFixIt says:
The ability to boot from an external FireWire hard drive is invaluable, allowing the use of full system clones (as can be created by SuperDuper! and other utilities) in the event of a drive failure, an alternate startup environment isolated from the internal drive, and myriad other useful procedures. Unfortunately, determining whether or not a FireWire hard drive or enclosure will be capable of booting a Mac, prior to purchase, isn't always easy.
The limiting factor is almost always the chipset used by a FireWire drive's enclosure. We don't have (and couldn't find) a definitive list of compatible chipsets, but in general, we've received many positive reports about chipsets from Oxford and many negative reports about chipsets from some other manufacturers such as Prolific. Make sure to determine which chipset is used before purchasing a drive, and ask the manufacturer specifically whether or not it will boot a Mac. This won't guarantee success, but can eliminate some hassle.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=2008031713281356
Taking Linux to Mac OS X with Virtualization
Low End Mac's Keith Winston says:
If you are moving from Linux to the Mac, you'll find a BASH shell and a set of Unix command line utilities available to make you feel at home. If you need a complete Linux environment for development or special applications, you can run Linux in a virtual machine (VM) using VMware Fusion.
Fusion Basics
Version 1.0 of VMware Fusion was released on August 1, 2007. The shipping version as of this writing is 1.1.1. Fusion only works on Intel-based Macs. It builds on the experience of VMware in the Windows and Linux market. It is comparable in features to VMware workstation, and to its competitor in the Mac market, Parallels.
VMware sells Fusion primarily as a Windows-on-Mac solution. You have dig into the details to learn that it also supports Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, and other Intel operating systems as guests.
While beta versions suffered with performance issues, the latest version is relatively snappy running different flavors of Linux. I currently have Centos 5.1 and Ubuntu 7.10 running nicely under OS X. Full screen support works as expected. VMware supplies extra software called VMware tools that improves video and mouse performance. Installation of VMware tools in a Linux guest works exactly as on other host operating systems.
For the full report visit here:
http://lowendmac.com/ed/winston/08kw/linux-on-mac-os-x.html
Apple In Portfolio's Toxic Ten
Portfolio's Harry Hurt III reports:
Significant amounts of phthalate, a toxin thought to cause birth defects, have been found in the iPhone and iPod headphone cords....
What the company says: Apple says it plans to eliminate PVCs and brominated flame retardants by the end of 2008. It has no comment on the phthalate issue.
To read more, click here.
Hungarian Group Hungry for Apple
MacObserver's Jeff Gamet reports:
A group of Apple fans in Hungary is hoping to convince the Cupertino company to open its own offices and stores in the country. In an open letter to Apple, the group asked the company to ramp up its presence in Hungary and to bring services available elsewhere, like the iTunes Store, to the country.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.macobserver.com/article/2008/03/17.2.shtml
Apple MacBook Air: Gorgeous, Expensive And Exasperating
"Gorgeous, expensive and exasperating in equal measure, and yet still desirable despite its myriad faults," is how Australia's PC Authority sums up the MacBook Air.
Before you've even laid eyes on the MacBook Air, the very process of extricating it from its packaging frustrates and excites in a way that few technology purchases can.... the MacBook Air is a simply stunning example of fine design...
The MacBook Air's skinny frame requires pretty serious compromises when it comes to components, however....
For the full review visit here:
http://www.pcauthority.com.au/review.aspx?CIaRID=5428
New Apple Mac Pro Packs A Mighty Punch
IT Business.ca's Michael DeAgonia reports:
In front of me, two 30-in. Apple Cinema Displays glow softly at my desk. Beside me sits the fastest stock-configuration Macintosh that Apple Inc. has ever shipped: a superfast eight-core Mac Pro....
For the full review visit here:
http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/Home/News.asp?id=47557
HP vs. Acer vs. Apple: The Fight to Come
TechNewsWorld's Rob Enderle reports:
Apple is a world-class marketing company. One of the few firms in the world that truly builds marketing into a product from birth, Apple eclipsed all of the other consumer electronic vendors with the iPhone last year. This company has set the bar with regard to demand generation and often seems to embarrass Microsoft, a vastly larger and better-funded company, with its execution.
Over the last two weeks, I attended a huge HP lab event, watched Apple launch the iPhone SDK brilliantly, and saw one of the strongest consumer laptop lines launched by Acer. All three vendors are growing in the 30 percent range in the PC market; Acer just passed Dell for the No. 2 spot in the notebook market; and all three vendors have smartphone efforts in their infancy.
This leads me to believe there is a collision coming and that it might be fun to talk about each vendor's strengths and weaknesses in the fight.
To read more, click here.
eWEEK: IBM Turns on 'Light Switch' for Chips
Big Blue researchers have now developed a switch that will control the flow of data within chips that use light pulses instead of copper wires.
To read more, click here.
eWEEK: Indie Labels Take E-commerce into Their Own Hands
Driving buyers to a single-label online store can be a challenge, especially if they are used to purchasing from one outlet, such as eMusic or iTunes.
To read more, click here.
Desktop Linux: One-Third of Asus Eee PC Users to Run Linux
"It's funny how some people are so stuck on the idea that Windows, and only Windows, is the one true operating system that they can't even hear their own words. That's the case with a recent news story with the headline, "Windows XP Will Fill Two-Thirds of Asustek Eee PCs." (This article will only be online until April 13.)
OK, I know almost none of you are journalists, but what's wrong with that headline?"
For the full report visit here:
http://desktoplinux.com/news/NS8695263477.html?sp=0&kc=DTDLX031708LINX
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