Moore’s Tech Web Reader - Thursday, November 15, 2007
Leopard kills some Mac keyboards
Leopard Mauls Competition, Takes Half Japan Retail Market
Pro Graphics Shootout: MacBook 2.2GHz "Rosa" with GMA X3100 versus 2 rival Mac laptops
High Quality Gaming: MacBook 2.2GHz "Rosa" with GMA X3100 versus 2 rival Mac laptops
Why Buy a Macbook Pro When a Macbook Is Almost Identical?
Poll: In a fight between Vista, OS X, Linux, XP...
G4 Mac mini - "Road Apple"
Could the $200 'Green' PC with gOS Linux Become a Threat to Apple?
Wal-Mart Plans To Restock Hot-Selling Linux PC
1 Working eMac from 2 Broken Ones
Apple TV Goes To The Movies - May Be Useful After All
MacBook Pro: Sleep issues with NitroAV 2-Port FireWire 800 Card
Apple iMac: Still the Desktop Star
Green Computing - The Internet Meets the Oil Crisis
DWV Launches the Art.Engine - Ferrari-Inspired, Wireless Executive Audio System Unlike Any Other
The Mac Night Owl: The Leopard Report: Is Apple Ignoring Vintage Mac Users?
The Mac Night Owl: The One Paragraph Mac OS 10.4.11 Report
eWEEK: Microsoft Adds NAP for Linux and Mac
eWEEK: Intel CEO Sees a Greener Future
eWEEK: VMware Updates Fusion Virtualization for Mac OS
ExtremeTech: Nvidia 8800GT 256-Mbyte Cards to Ship
Gene Steinberg discusses Leopard security and networking problems, the future of backup software and Web 2.0 this week on The Tech Night Owl LIVE
eWEEK: Google to Gobble Sprint? Say It Ain't So!
eWEEK: Is VMware a Dead Duck?
Leopard kills some Mac keyboards
Computerworld's Gregg Keizer reports:
The new Leopard operating system is locking up the keyboards of some MacBook Pro laptops, according to some users. The only apparent solution is to reboot the computer.
Messages posted in Apple's support forums claim the keyboard problem crops up only after moves to Mac OS X 10.5, and they say that it's intermittent. "The keyboard will stop working and become unresponsive - the caps and num lock lights won't even turn on," said a user identified as Cub man. "Then after a few minutes, it turns on again and is fine until I let it sit for a while."
For the full report visit here:
http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?newsID=10644&pagtype=all
Leopard Mauls Competition, Takes Half Japan Retail Market
news.yahoo.com's Martyn Williams reports:
Apple's new Leopard operating system took a sizable bite of the Japanese retail operating system market during October and accounted for over half of all sales of packaged operating system software despite being on sale for only the last six days of the month.
OS X Leopard.. took a 53.9 percent share of the market, according to figures from Japan's BCN....
Combined with other sales of other operating systems including Tiger, Apple had an overall 60.7 percent share of the market in October... a big jump from the 15.5 percent share it had in September.....
For the full report visit here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20071114/tc_infoworld/93400
Pro Graphics Shootout: MacBook 2.2GHz "Rosa" with GMA X3100 versus 2 rival Mac laptops
BareFeats' Rob Art Morgan reports:
In addition to the "Santa Rosa" chipset, the newest MacBook sports the GMA X3100 integrated graphics chip. It's superior to the GMA 950 used in previous models of MacBook in that it supports hardware transform and lighting. It also supports vertex and pixel shader model 3.0 at 32 bit floating point per vector. And don't forget Anisotropic filtering of up to 16 samples.
Today we're posting results for some "serious" professional graphics applications.
MacBook Pro 2.2 = MacBook Pro C2D "Rosa" 2.2GHz with GeForce 8600M (128M)
MacBook 2.2 = MacBook C2D "Rosa" 2.2GHz with GMA X3100
MacBook 2.16 = MacBook C2D 2.16GHz with GMA 950
(All three systems had 2GB of RAM - two matching 1GB SODIMMs and were running OS X 'Leopard.')
Conclusion: Not only is the new MacBook with the GMA X3100 a bummer for high rez gamers, it's going to disappoint pro users when running serious graphics intensive apps....
For the full report visit here:
http://www.barefeats.com/mbook1.html
High Quality Gaming: MacBook 2.2GHz "Rosa" with GMA X3100 versus 2 rival Mac laptops
BareFeats' Rob Art Morgan reports:
In addition to the "Santa Rosa" chipset, the newest MacBook sports the GMA X3100 integrated graphics chip. It's superior to the GMA 950 used in previous models of MacBook in that it supports hardware transform and lighting. It also supports vertex and pixel shader model 3.0 at 32 bit floating point per vector. And don't forget Anisotropic filtering of up to 16 samples.
But will it run my 3D accelerated games at "playable" speeds when high quality settings are used?
MacBook Pro 2.2 = MacBook Pro C2D "Rosa" 2.2GHz with GeForce 8600M (128M)
MacBook 2.2 = MacBook C2D "Rosa" 2.2GHz with GMA X3100
MacBook 2.16 = MacBook C2D 2.16GHz with GMA 950
(All three systems had 2GB of RAM (two matching 1GB SODIMMs)
Conclusion: ...the new MacBook with the GMA X3100 is no "barn stormer" when it comes to gaming at high quality and native resolution (1280x800)....
For the full report visit here:
http://www.barefeats.com/mbook.html
Why Buy a Macbook Pro When a Macbook Is Almost Identical?
next2friendsblog.com's Hans Erik says:
Remember when low-end Macs were not as good as high end Macs? With Apple's quiet announcement of their new updated Macbook line I continue to be astounded that people continue to buy Macbook Pros.
This started a year ago when my wife announced that after years of using a PC she wanted to buy a Macbook Pro. So I started researching for her. I looked at graphs and charts on AnandTech and compared specs on Apple's own website. What amazed me was that the important specifications between the regular Macbooks and the Macbook Pros were nearly identical. At least in most of the ways that would effect performance for a casual user. Granted, there were differences, the Pros had the option to put in one more gigabyte of RAM, slightly better video cards, and were bigger in size, but these slight improvements didn't, in my mind, justify a nearly 100% increase in price between the models. So I advised my wife to buy a regular Macbook and we haven't looked back.
To read more, click here.
Poll: In a fight between Vista, OS X, Linux, XP...
silicon.com's Natasha Lomas reports:
In a fight between a penguin and a leopard which one wins? The leopard of course - but when it comes to choosing an operating system, Windows XP is top dog for silicon.com readers.
Asked which operating system they would use if they had a choice, Windows XP was named by almost half (42 per cent) of respondents as their numero uno.
And while that may sound like good news for Microsoft, there is a sting in the tail for the folks in Redmond. Among silicon.com readers at least, the most recent iteration of Windows - aka Vista - garnered just 14 per cent of the vote, making it less popular than both Mac OS X and Linux....
Mac OS X came second, with the backing of close to a third (27 per cent) of readers....
For the full report visit here:
http://software.silicon.com/os/0,39024651,39169139,00.htm
G4 Mac mini - "Road Apple"
Low End Mac's Dan Knight says:
Road Apples are Apple's more compromised hardware designs. For the most part, they're not really bad - simply designs unable to work as well as they should have.
When it was introduced in January 2005, the Mac mini was the smallest desktop computer on the market - and the least expensive Macintosh Apple had ever built. Measuring 6.5" square and 2" tall, the Mac mini was dwarved by almost any desktop computer ever built.
The secret to getting the Mac mini so small: Using notebook computer components. That's also a big part of the reason the Mac mini is considered a Road Apple. Not that it's a bad little machine: It has a decent amount of power, respectable graphics, plenty of ports, and supports up to 1 GB of RAM.
For the full report visit here:
http://lowendmac.com/roadapples/g4-mini.html
Could the $200 'Green' PC with gOS Linux Become a Threat to Apple?
Low End Mac's Adam Robert Guha says:
As some of you may have read, Wal-Mart is selling a $200 "green" Everex PC, which runs a customized version of Ubuntu Linux known as gOS. It's designed around access to Google applications for basic functions.
The system itself is pretty basic, with a 1.5 GHz VIA processor, 512 MB of RAM, a CD-RW/DVD-ROM "combo" drive, and an 80 GB hard drive. This reads like top-of-the-line for 2003, and $200 essentially buys you just that - except at a fraction of the size. The motherboard is the mini ITX standard, which means it is only 6.7"/17cm square (the motherboard has a slightly larger footprint than the 6.5"/16.6cm square Mac mini, which is only 2"/51mm tall).
There is a PCI slot, 2 USB ports, an ethernet port, and built-in video. The case, however, is a standard sized minitower (about 24"/60cm square), which research indicates is most popular amongst Wal-Mart customers.
The system, however, is not the key part of the offering. The most interesting part is that it runs Linux - a version called gOS - and attempts to offer all desired features to a novice computer user. It features a Mac-like 'dock' at the bottom of the screen with friendly looking icons for Google Docs, Gmail, YouTube, Facebook, and Wikipedia amongst others. It also comes with OpenOffice and Firefox.
The question that arises from this is whether it will threaten Apple or not, and what it means in the long run.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://lowendmac.com/archive/aa07/1114.html
Wal-Mart Plans To Restock Hot-Selling Linux PC
InformationWeek's Paul McDougall reports:
Wal-Mart officials said Wednesday that the retailer plans to re-stock a hot selling, Linux-based PC that is currently sold out on its Web site.
The Everex TC2502 Green gPC will again be available at Walmart.com "in the coming weeks," said a spokesman for the company.
Wal-Mart began selling the Everex gPC online for $199 earlier this month, but it's currently listed as "Sold Out". Wal-Mart's spokesman wouldn't disclose precise sales figures, but said the gPC "has been one of the top performing desktop computers on Wal-Mart.com over the last few weeks."
For the full report visit here:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=203100017
1 Working eMac from 2 Broken Ones
Low End Mac's Dan Knight says:
My track record with eMacs has not been the greatest. My first was a 700 MHz with a Combo drive. I purchased it refurbished after the second generation eMacs came out, which meant I got a great deal on it - and Apple's one-year warranty. Good thing, as it ended up in the service department when it simply refused to boot.
A few years ago, I picked up a pair of 1.25 GHz eMacs, one with a Combo drive and one with a SuperDrive. I sold the eMac 700 to my oldest son. The Combo drive died out of warranty, and I replaced it with a 16x dual layer Pioneer SuperDrive.
The other eMac has had inexplicable problems for almost a year, and it wasn't until last week that I finally figured it out. One of the FireWire ports had broken - snapped off and sitting loose until I unplugged a FireWire cable. Then part of the plug came out with the cable (photo below). Good thing it has two FireWire ports, but it would still lock up at any time. My plan was to snip out the contacts and hope for the best.
Then the other eMac died. Monday night the screen got dim and took on a strong magenta shift. Contrast was horrid, and Tuesday morning the screen was completely dark. I'm beginning to wonder if eMacs have reliability issues - or am I just unlucky?
For the full report visit here:
http://lowendmac.com/macdan/md07/1114.html
Apple TV Goes To The Movies - May Be Useful After All
The Register's Cade Metz says:
Sure, Apple TV is pretty close to useless if wanna watch stuff on your television. But it's a godsend to at least one independent filmmaker.
This weekend, at a neighborhood movie theater in Brooklyn, New York, an Apple TV made its way into the projection booth, streaming a high-def digital flick onto the big screen. And when we say big screen, we mean the really big screen.
With the New York premiere of his debut feature, "The Insurgents," writer-director Scott Dacko is using Apple's video contraption in place of a digital tape deck, bypassing so many of the hassles that plague poorly-funded digital filmmakers struggling to reach an audience.
"As far as I know, we're the first people to have ever done this," Dacko told us. "And it looked great." Well, it looked good. Dacko acknowledges that the image is "a little flawed" in places, thanks to some heavy compression from Apple's web-centric video codec. But his Apple TV kludge is cheap. And it's easy.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/14/appletv_goes_to_the_movies/
MacBook Pro: Sleep issues with NitroAV 2-Port FireWire 800 Card
A new Apple Knowledge Base article says:
If a NitroAV 2-port Firewire800 card is installed, MacBook Pro computers may have issues waking from sleep mode. If this occurs, waking the computer from sleep mode requires shutting down and restarting.
Products affected
• MacBook Pro
Solution
In order to avoid this issue, remove the NitroAV 2-Port FireWire 800 Card before allowing the computer to sleep. Once the computer is awake and not in a sleep mode, you can reinsert the card and proceed.
For more information, visit:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306999
Apple iMac: Still the Desktop Star
BusinessWeek's Cliff Edwards reports:
Zooming around a sharp corner while playing Electronic Arts' Need for Speed video game on my computer, I spun out of control, hit a guardrail, and sailed over a cliff to my doom. It's an outcome that's all too common now, but one that wasn't even possible until Apple began using zippy Intel processors in its computers, prompting EA to create versions of its games for the iMac.
It's been just a year since Apple made the switch, and the iMac has very quickly become the machine to beat if you want an all-in-one desktop computer. Between its design makeover, new multimedia software, and the ability to play games once confined to Windows-based computers and dedicated game consoles, the iMac remains the undisputed champ even as rivals Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, and Sony step up their offerings.
For the full review click here.
Green Computing - The Internet Meets the Oil Crisis
[ Press Release ]
Until recently the energy used by IT equipment has only been of minor importance to computer manufacturers and PC users. However, a report published this week by Cambridge, UK based analysts, CarbonFree, explains how the recent rise in oil and gas prices, combined with the explosion in the use of information technology in both the home and workplace, has focused attention on the energy required to process and store the megabytes of data we create and access each day.
The report, 'Low Emission IT - The Internet Meets the Oil Crisis', highlights the challenges facing the IT industry as the focus shifts from the sheer processing power of IT equipment to the amount of energy consumed by data centres and networked PCs. One of these challenges is the steep learning curve IT managers have found themselves on as they get to grips with an array of initiatives and emission reduction schemes, as well as the new efficient technologies that vendors are bringing to the market.
The report also highlights niche players in the power management software and hardware market as some of the key beneficiaries of the drive to lower energy IT related energy consumption.
According to Remi Wilkinson, Analyst with CarbonFree, both manufacturers and users of IT are faced with a bewildering array of energy management technology and emission reduction schemes and initiatives. "While manufacturers are obviously interested in selling more equipment, and some are using the eco-badge to do this, there are a number of ways companies can reduce the energy requirements of their IT systems without investing in new equipment," explains Wilkinson, adding "This is very important at the moment as the current oil price spike has coincided with a credit crunch that could make it difficult to finance a complete upgrade of a corporate IT system."
The report 'Low Emission IT - The Internet Meets the Oil Crisis' reviews a range of green computing initiatives such as Energy Star and the EU Eco-Label. Low emission IT solutions from NEC, Verdiem, Rackable Systems and Intel are also profiled in this report. The report is supplied with a copy CarbonFree's "101 Ways To Kick The Carbon Habit" - an overview of the carbon emission reduction market, and a catalogue of 101 ways organisations can reduce their carbon footprint.
CarbonFree carries out research and analysis in alternative energy related markets and disseminates results in its highly focused CarbonFree reports.
For more information, visit:
http://www.carbonfree.co.uk
DWV Launches the Art.Engine - Ferrari-Inspired, Wireless Executive Audio System Unlike Any Other\
[ Press Release]
David Wiener Ventures (DWV), a design and innovation studio that creates some of the world's most exclusive and prestigious products, has introduced the Art.Engine, a Ferrari-inspired audio engineering effort to create a completely new concept in audio, and an exciting listening experience.
Art.Engine is a complete stereo music system that combines twin-speaker arrays, wireless signal input, and digital electronics in an elegant tower that is unobtrusive yet impossible to ignore. Designed for use at home, in the office or on a yacht, Art.Engine has been licensed by Ferrari S.p.A. and produced in a limited edition of 1,000 as a guarantee of quality and exclusivity.
"Art.Engine's development demanded highly advanced audio technology, performance, style and construction methods, and was inspired throughout by Ferrari engineering and standards," said David Wiener, DWV President and CEO.
Standing 47 inches tall, 16 wide and only 6 inches deep, Art.Engine is a timeless electronic sculpture that quickly becomes the focal point of any space it inhabits. Its wireless digital receiver instantly accepts music files and Web-based radio from any 802.11 WiFi-enabled PC or Mac, while a hardwire input accommodates CD players, iPods, satellite radios, and other devices, so owners can listen to anything they or guests might want to plug in.
Art.Engine's proprietary signal management technology provides accurate stereo imaging to any location in a room, eliminating the need for separated speakers and liberating owners to place the Art.Engine anywhere in a room.
The Art.Engine tower houses a bi-amplified, stereo system with twin integrated line-source speakers, amplifiers, DSP signal management, and the wireless receiver. Each of its two channels hosts eight three-inch DWV carbon-fiber, high-performance low-to-midrange woofers, and one 1.1-inch ScanSpeak soft-dome tweeter with a Neodymium motor — all magnetically shielded, and matched as a group for the truest, most consistent sound.
Also included are four 200-Watt discrete digital amplifier modules, RCA jacks for wired input, and LEDs for system status. The Ferrari-inspired paint finish is available in Rosso Corsa red, Argento Nurburgring silver, Grigio Silverstone grey, and Nero black, plus custom colors on request.
The Art.Engine is available in the U.S. for $20,000.
For further technical information, visit:
http://www.dwvArtEngine.com
eWEEK: Opera Browser Builds Web Links
Review: While not as innovative as some past Opera releases, the Opera 9.5 beta does have some interesting new capabilities.
To read more, go to:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2216392,00.asp?=kcEWKDT111307
The Mac Night Owl: The Leopard Report: Is Apple Ignoring Vintage Mac Users?
Yesterday's commentary, about bringing back Classic Mac OS features, scored more comments than any article I've written in recent days. No, it's not the result of my peerless prose, although I do hope that helped a bit. Instead, I made some arguments that struck a nerve or two on the part of many long-time and extremely loyal Mac users. There's a growing feeling that they are being taken for granted as Apple becomes more and more of a mainstream company.
To read more, click here.
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
The Mac Night Owl: The One Paragraph Mac OS 10.4.11 Report
Are you ready to write Tiger's epitaph? Well, despite the fact that Wednesday afternoon's release of the Mac OS 10.4.11 updater represents the last major update for that system, there will most likely be security fixes from time to time.
Here's the URL for our latest commentary:
http://macnightowl.com/2007/11/14/the-one-paragraph-mac-os-10411-report/
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
eWEEK: Microsoft Adds NAP for Linux and Mac
Network Access Protection is now deployed in more than 150,000 desktops worldwide, including 70,000 at Microsoft.
To read more, go to:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2216345,00.asp?=kcEWKDT111307
eWEEK: Intel CEO Sees a Greener Future
CEO Paul Otellini pledges Intel's support of energy-efficient technology while touting the new Penryn chips.
To read more, go to:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2216543,00.asp?=kcEWKDT111407
eWEEK: VMware Updates Fusion Virtualization for Mac OS
VMware claims the upgrade will provide better performance over Version 1.0 and support Mac OS X Leopard.
To read more, go to:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2216463,00.asp?=kcEWKDT111307
ExtremeTech: Nvidia 8800GT 256-Mbyte Cards to Ship
"Cheaper Nvidia GeForce 8800GT cards with just 256 Mbytes of onboard memory are being announced, as Nvidia's answer to AMD's upcoming RV670 processor.
Nvidia confirmed the cards late on Tuesday, and XFX announced its entry, although the company gave its price as 149 euros ($217) rather than in dollars. Nvidia GeForce 8800GT cards with 512 Mbytes of onboard memory, the more common version, typically cost about $280, but are also reportedly in short supply."
To read more, go to:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,2216589,00.asp
Gene Steinberg discusses Leopard security and networking problems, the future of backup software and Web 2.0 this week on The Tech Night Owl LIVE
In this week's all-star episode, the Night Owl will revisit Leopard security and other hot topics with Alan Oppenheimer of Open Door Networks.. You'll also hear about a number of networking bugs in Leopard with John Rizzo of MacWindows.com.
How does Leopard's Time Machine compare with third-party backup software, and will it mean the end of the latter? Well, Dave Nanian, of Shirt Pocket, publishers of SuperDuper!, says it won't and will explain why.
And HostICan's Denis Motova joins Gene to explain what Web 2.0 means to you.
You can tune into the broadcast Thursday night from 6:00 to 8:00 PM Pacific, 9:00 to 11:00 PM Eastern, at:
http://www.techbroadcasting.com
An archive of the show will be available as a Podcast for downloading and listening at your convenience within four hours after the original broadcast.
You can also access the show's Podcast feed at:
http://www.techbroadcasting.com/nightowl.xml
eWEEK: Google to Gobble Sprint? Say It Ain't So!
News Analysis: How do you know when greed is not good? When the latest rumors say Google wants to buy Sprint.
To read more, go to:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2216500,00.asp?=kcEWKDT111307
eWEEK: Is VMware a Dead Duck?
Opinion: Microsoft, Red Hat, Citrix, Novell and now Oracle are all offering free or open-source virtualization of one sort or another. Can VMware survive?
To read more, go to:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2216435,00.asp?=kcEWKDT111307
Charles W. Moore
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