Other Sites
Converting Mac OS Leopard to 4.7GB From 6.55GB
How Much Does A Flash Disk Increase Battery Life?
Ten New Things in WebKit [Safari] 3
University of York assembles world's first laptop orchestra using 50 Apple MacBooks
After Leopard: Apple's Parting Gift to Tiger Users
Apple Is Not Green Enough, Says Campaigner
Apple Wins Dismissal In Shareholder Suit
Road Apple - Core Duo Mac mini
With one bound, Apple is free of 54 security bugs
Jobs' RDF generator brings Warner Music CEO back into the fold
Hackintosh vs. Mac Pro vs. MacBook Pro Benchmarks
BusinessWeek has business-sized crush on Apple's iMac
Broadband May Become More Popular Than TV for Many in US According to In-Stat
PC Mag: Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch Review
eWEEK: OLPC Remains Laudable
eWEEK: Forrester Calls Desktop Linux a Credible Threat to Windows
PC Mag: 10 Thrifty Gadget Gifts
The Mac Night Owl: First Leopard Update Squashes File Move Bug!
Converting Mac OS Leopard to 4.7GB From 6.55GB
lionelxp.gigacities.net blog says:
Ok, Here's a short and quick foolproof guide to making a SL-DVD
Leopard install disc for 9a581…
What you need
1. Original Leopard image (.dmg)(6.55Gb)
2. One blank DVD (+1 backup blank just in case you screw up)
3. Mac OS X 10.4.X Tiger (This is important, cos leopard screws up disc burning)
4. 6.55Gb+6.55Gb+4.7Gb=17.8Gb of harddisc space
For the full report visit here:
http://lionelxp.gigacities.net/blog/?p=38
How Much Does A Flash Disk Increase Battery Life?
Blogger Robin Harris says:
Notebooks need longer battery life
I used a flash-disk based notebook for much of the '90s and loved its 10-hour battery life. You just have so much more freedom when you don't need to worry about keeping a battery charged.
I've been very interested in how flash drives could extend notebook battery life. Using a Kill-a-watt power meter I ran some experiments with an Intel Core Duo notebook. Power use is a little more complex than I'd thought. Here's what I found.
You can check it out at:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=239
[ Editor's note: The results certainly surprised me, and I'm now thinking that flash drives are likely not the panacea for various power issues related to notebook computing that I had presumed them to be based on hype and speculation. The likelihood of a new subcompact MacBook Pro with flash memory has been one of the things holding me back from upgrading my system (money is another), but if this analysis is accurate, and I have no reason to imagine it doesn't, then the good old hard disk has a lot of life left in ti yet. CM ]
Ten New Things in WebKit [Safari] 3
Webkit.org bloggerMaciej Stachowiak says:
Lately we've been talking about a lot of great new features in the latest development trunk of WebKit - features like web fonts, client-side database storage, CSS transforms and CSS animation. These features will likely make it to an official release someday. But I'd like to take a step back and talk about some older features, namely all the great stuff in our recent stable release.
Apple recently released Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard", including Safari 3. The latest Safari is also included in Mac OS X 10.4.11, the latest update to Tiger. A corresponding version is available as the latest Safari for Windows Beta, including the new features and lots of stability and usability improvements.
Apple's site can tell you a lot about the new end-user features of Safari 3. But a lot of the goodness is on the inside, in the WebKit engine that powers Safari. Here's a list of ten of the most exciting engine enhancements since the Safari 2 version of WebKit, with lots of details and demos. These features are all included in the WebKit that comes with Safari 3 - you don't have to download nightlies or anything else to get them.
You can check it out at:
http://webkit.org/blog/122/webkit-3-10-new-things/
[Editor's note: Not much visual change in Safari three, but this article outlines that a lot of tweaking and refining is there under the hood. One of the biggies in my estimation is:
"The latest stable WebKit has enabled significantly reduced memory use, compared to the Safari 2 version. We have made many kinds of improvements. Pages containing large amounts of text are stored more efficiently. JavaScript code generates smaller data structures. And most significant of all, we've revamped the way we handle the memory cache. The cache is now much better at holding the data that's truly critical for faster page loading, but less of the data that can easily be recomputed, like decoded image data."
I've finally got Safari 3.0.4 up and running with the OS 10.4.11 update, and so far no problems, and it does seem a bit faster than 2.0.4)
CM]
University of York assembles world's first laptop orchestra using 50 Apple MacBooks
MAcDailyNews reports:
50 music students from the University of York will perform three orchestral pieces on Apple MacBooks at concerts this month. They will form the largest digital ensemble of its kind anywhere in the world.
The Worldscape Laptop Orchestra (WLO) will perform new music written with MacBooks supplied by Apple Computer Inc.
The multimedia performance has been created by students of the Department of Music at York in just five weeks. WLO is designed and directed by Dr. Ambrose Field, an award-winning composer in the Department.
For the full report click here.
After Leopard: Apple's Parting Gift to Tiger Users
Apple 2.0's Philip Elmer-DeWitt says:
This is interesting.
Nearly three weeks after Apple started shipping Leopard, the sixth version of its flagship operating system, and urged Mac users around the world to step up to OS X 10.5, it has just released the largest software update in memory for its previous two versions, Tiger and Panther.
The major improvement in OS 10.4.11, besides a slew of scary sounding security patches, is that it gives Tiger users Safari 3.0, the version of Apple's Web browser that was included in Leopard's $129 purchase price. But there are changes across the board, including upgrades in most of Apple's pro products....
To read more, click here.
Apple Is Not Green Enough, Says Campaigner
ZDNet.co.uk's Andrew Donoghue reports:
Increasing pressure on IT hardware companies to make manufacturing and end products greener is beginning to bite, according to environmental campaigner Greenpeace.
The group claims that most companies have demonstrated some commitment to more environmentally friendly manufacturing processes such as eliminating the use of toxic chemicals.
"We are witnessing a global shift towards greener PCs with Acer and Lenovo — two major producers of PCs — committing to eliminate the use of the most hazardous chemicals from their product range," said Iza Kruszewska, Greenpeace International's toxics campaigner.
However, despite the progress made by some hardware makers — tracked by Greenpeace in its Guide to Greener Electronics — Apple continues to lag behind when it comes to environmental manufacturing, according to the pressure group.
For the full report visit here:
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,1000000091,39285011,00.htm
Apple Wins Dismissal In Shareholder Suit
Insanely Great Mac's M. Sharp says:
Bloomberg reports that Apple won dismissal of a shareholder lawsuit claiming company officers, including His Steveness, were overpaid with illegally backdated option awards.
"While the subsequent disclosure that the options were backdated might require a restatement, without a discernable drop in the stock price there is no basis upon which to establish an injury to shareholders," US District Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose, California wrote in his opinion.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=7944
Road Apple - Core Duo Mac mini
Low End Mac's Dan Knight says:
When it was introduced in February 2006, the Core Duo Mac mini was the smallest desktop computer on the market - and the second-least expensive Macintosh Apple had ever built. As with other first-generation Intel Macs, the price was $100 higher than the model it replaced.
The secret to getting the Mac mini so small: Using notebook computer components. That's also a big part of the reason the Core Duo Mac mini is considered a Road Apple. Not that it's a bad little machine: It has a decent amount of power, tolerable graphics, plenty of ports, and supports up to 2 GB of RAM.
For the full report visit here:
http://lowendmac.com/roadapples/core-duo-mini.html
With one bound, Apple is free of 54 security bugs
The Register's Dan Goodin reports: :
Apple has rolled out software updates that patch just about everything but the kitchen sink. In all, there are fixes for at least 54 security bugs, many of which could allow attackers to remotely execute code on vulnerable Macs and Windows machines.
A whopping 41 vulnerabilities reside in OS X 10.4, which is better known as Tiger, 1of which 15 could lead to "arbitrary code execution". Buggy components include Safari, Kerberos, CFNetwork, AppleTalk, as well as the OS X kernel itself. The updates also fix a security hole in Apple's version of Adobe's Flash Player. Adobe has offered a update since July, but Apple is only now rolling it into its list of automatic updates.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/15/behemoth_apple_patch_batch/
Jobs' RDF generator brings Warner Music CEO back into the fold
Ars Technica's Justin Berka reports:
There's been a fair bit of fallout from NBC's decision to abandon the iTunes Store, much of which has come in the form of other music labels considering modifying their own contracts with Apple. Warner Music Group was one such label, and had been considering a shorter contract with Apple in the wake of the NBC negotiations. But Steve Jobs apparently worked his magic, which caused Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman to change his views regarding online distribution.
For the full report click here.
Hackintosh vs. Mac Pro vs. MacBook Pro Benchmarks
Lifehacker.com's Adam Pash reports:
On Tuesday I detailed how how I built a Hackintosh Mac from start to finish on the cheap, but one obvious question remained unanswered: How does my Hackintosh stack up to the Apple-built competition? To find out, I put my Hackintosh, a Mac Pro, and a MacBook Pro through the paces. Here's what I learned.
First, it's worth noting that none of these setups is a perfect match for benchmarking comparisons. The Mac Pro is running two dual core 2.66 GHz processors versus the single dual core 2.21 GHz Hackintosh and 2 GHz MacBook Pro processors. Likewise, the Hackintosh has a whopping 4GB of RAM versus a measly 1GB in the Mac Pro and 2GB in the MacBook Pro. Also, the Hackintosh and MacBook Pro are both running Leopard, while the Mac Pro is still running Tiger. These aren't necessarily the ideal test subjects, but they're the machines I have access to. That said, the results are still very interesting.
For the full report click here.
BusinessWeek has business-sized crush on Apple's iMac
Ars Technica's Jeff Smykil says:
Since adopting the all-in-one form factor with the Lisa all those years ago, Apple has never really abandoned it. Even when the bland Performa series was in its hay-day and the Cupertino-based company probably should have cut its ties, it stuck to its guns. Eventually, Apple hit pay dirt with the release of the iMac in 1999. Since then, it has been one of the front runners in the AIO market. Some might even say the iMac is on top, as BusinessWeek would.
In the latest review or the 24" behemoth, BusinessWeek has declared, "The updated iMac remains the champ for those looking for a multimedia PC."
To read more, click here.
Broadband May Become More Popular Than TV for Many in US According to In-Stat
[ PRESS RELEASE]
Within the next three years, more than 16 million US TV households may be using their broadband service more than they use their TV sets today, reports In-Stat ( http://www.in-stat.com ). This is one of the key findings of an In-Stat survey of US consumers about TV viewing, media, and online habits, the high-tech market research firm says. Respondents had a broadband connection, a TV set, and were 18 years of age or older.
"Today's stable and profitable subscription TV services are facing new competition from online and mobile entertainment services, and from new, high-quality packaged goods, such as HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs," says Gerry Kaufhold, In-Stat analyst. "The very nature of what consumers call 'entertainment' is undergoing a profound change in which the ability to instantly share content with friends, family members, and those connected on social networks or buddy lists is creating micro user communities that replace traditional entertainment sources such as TV programs. As more high-quality content becomes available online, savvy consumers are considering ways to reduce their monthly bills by getting everything from the Internet."
In-Stat's survey also revealed the following:
• Up to 30% of respondents would drop subscription TV and use the Internet for TV.
• 42% of respondents said that they are not getting enough international news and information from their current TV delivery services, even though there are hundreds of channels available.
• Nearly 40% of all respondents said "This is the first I've heard of" the US analog TV cut off mandate in February 2009.
The research, "US TV Viewer Survey: Online Bids to Usurp Pay TV" (#IN0703448CM), covers US consumer attitudes and perceptions about TV viewing, media, and online habits. It provides analysis of a recent In-Stat survey of US consumers regarding their media consumption habits.
For more information on this research or to purchase it online, visit:
http://www.instat.com/catalog/mmcatalogue.asp?id=212
or contact a sales representative:
http://www.instat.com/sales.asp
The price is $3,995 (US).
PC Mag: Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch Review
The MacBook Pro 15-inch (LED) delivers better performance and battery life than the previous iteration, earning the MacBook Pro line yet another Editors' Choice.
To read more, go to:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2172475,00.asp
eWEEK: OLPC Remains Laudable
The OLPC isn't meeting its $100 goal but its work is still impressive.
To read more, go to: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2217700,00.asp?=kcEWKDT111507
eWEEK: Forrester Calls Desktop Linux a Credible Threat to Windows
Nearly half of enterprises have concrete plans to deploy Windows Vista, and 7 percent will have started by Dec. 31.
To read more, go to: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2217087,00.asp?=kcEWKDT111507
PC Mag: 10 Thrifty Gadget Gifts
Please everyone on your list with these cool tech presents-without breaking the bank.
To read more, go to:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2217016,00.asp
The Mac Night Owl: First Leopard Update Squashes File Move Bug!
What's the definition of a show-stopping bug? Well, how about something that can result in lost data? Certainly that ranks number one on my book, ahead of a problem that just makes your Mac crash.
To read more, click here.
http://macnightowl.com/2007/11/15/first-leopard-update-squashes-file-move-bug/
Notes: You can also access our new RSS newsletter feed, available at:
http://www.macnightowl.com/rss
Or our new Atom newsletter feed at:
http://www.macnightowl.com/atom
Charles W. Moore
Tags: News ď Tech-Industry ď
