fscklog

FreitagsMacorama

Heute unter anderem: Etliche Berichte über Panther natürlich, besonders hervorzuheben die grandiosen 40 Mac OS X 10.3 Features, Tips, and Tricks in der Macworld, David Pogue legt in der NYT nach, Wall Street Journal und eWeek reihen sich in die Lobesreihe ein, sowie ein Bericht über die iParty (die nichts mit Panther zu tun hat). Die Details gibt es beim Weiterlesen:

Sowohl Macworld, wie auch MacCentral werfen einen mit Screenshots ausgestatteten Blick auf Panther, der allerdings auch nicht allzuviel mehr hergibt als die sowieso schon bei Apple aufgeführten Features.
Viel spannender sind hingegen die '40 Mac OS X 10.3 Features, Tips, and Tricks' die ebenso die Macworld auflistet:
"Here are some of our favorite hidden gems, as well as a collection of tips that will help you get the most out of this major update."

David Pogue, der bereits gestern in der NYT eine wahre Pantherhuldigung geleistet hatte, legt heute nochmals nach und listet einige weitere nette Funktionen von 10.3 auf:
"Most keyboard shortcuts are already consistent from program to program on the Mac, but there are exceptions; the Hide All Windows command in Photoshop, for example, should be Command-H like most other Mac programs, not Option-Command-H. Fortunately, using the new Keyboard control panel, you can easily change any keystroke in any program. You can also make up a new keyboard shortcut for menu commands that doesn’t have them. I’ve already found this simple feature useful over and over again."
"As I noted in the review, some Mac fans are annoyed with having to pay $130 for each annual Mac OS X update. Of course, they don’t HAVE to do anything. It’s up to Apple to make each upgrade so juicy, nobody can resist—and if you ask me, Panther nails it."

Auch Walter Mossberg, der fürs Wall Street Journal bereits äußerst positiv über den iTMS geschrieben hatte, berichtet nun auch über X.3 als perfekte MS-Alternative:
"This big gap in security and virus susceptibility has altered the balance in the age-old debate between Windows and the Mac, and made the Mac a more attractive contender than it was when I last compared the two platforms in 2002. But it's not the only thing going for the Mac.
Apple will introduce tomorrow an impressive new version of OS X, called Panther, that can network easily with Windows computers and is packed with lots of other cool features, some of which Windows can't match. And the company has recently introduced faster PowerBook and iBook laptops suitable for consumers and small businesses. Consumer models of the Mac start at $799 for desktops and $1,099 for laptops.
Not everybody can, or should, jump to Apple. But if you're tired of the virus wars, the Mac can be an island of serenity."

Zusätzlich, so berichtet macdailynews, erschien Walter Mossberg auch bei CNBC und erklärte, warum er OS X für die bessere Alternative erachtet:
"Walter S. Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal appeared today on the CNBC cable channel during CNBC's "Power Lunch" program to outline why people in the market for a personal computer should strongly consider buying a Macintosh instead of a Windows PC. Mossberg basically walked CNBC's Michelle Caruso-Cabrera through his Wall Street Journal article that appeared today. Mossberg was very convincing and Caruso-Cabrera seemed to follow his points and accept them.
Overall, it was an amazing few minutes for Apple and the Mac platform that was probably seen by many analysts, professionals, and CNCB watchers. It was quite shocking, actually, to hear frank talk of the porousness of Windows compared to Mac OS X on a major business cable outlet. We're sure quite a few "movers and shakers" watching Mossberg's appearance today were shocked as well. Here's hoping Gates and Ballmer had CNBC's "Power Lunch" on in their offices to track their billions and spit their soup all over their keyboards."

Und selbst beim Microsoft Monitor stößt Mossbergs Argumentation auf offene Ohren:
"The one: Right now, for whatever reasons, the Mac has far less security problems than Windows. Maybe Windows really is the victim of its own popularity. That may not matter to some frustrated businesses and consumers looking for a solution right now.
Mr. Mossberg rightly limits his "consider a new Mac" recommendation to consumers and small businesses. The majority of enterprises with huge operations dependent on Windows and Office are in no position to swap out huge portions of their infrastructure for Macs or Linux, for that matter. But, his call for some people to consider switching highlights Microsoft's security stigma. As he points out, Microsoft is working to fix the problem with the release of Windows XP Service Pack 2 next year.
The other point: Mr. Mossberg argues in part that Mac OS X, which is based on Unix, is more secure because of the way the operating system handles rights. User rights are separate from "root," or "administrator," rights, which helps limit the damage a hacker might do to a system. Core functions governed by administrator rights would not be accessible to the user whose account had been broached. Windows, by contrast, grants administrator rights that can expose the whole operating system when there is a single user hack.
Mr. Mossberg raises an issue that has troubled me for a long time. I would like to know why I as a parent must grant my fourth grader Windows XP administrator rights just so she can install the latest SIMs expansion pack or Rugrats adventure game.

Positive Anmerkungen zu 10.3 (hauptsächlich zur Einsatztauglichkeit in Unternehmen) auch in der eWeek:
"Croll declined to compare Panther to the still-embryonic Longhorn, which Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft is expected to showcase at next week's Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles.
Croll observed that the only comparison he could address was that Panther "is shipping on Friday." Microsoft has said it's next-generation OS won't ship until 2006."

Auch vom Virginia Super Cluster gibt es mal wieder ein wenig neues bei CNET:
"In preliminary performance tests carried out on 2,112 of the system's 2,200 processors, the so-called "Big Mac" cluster achieved 8.1 teraflops, or trillions of operations per second, according to figures published on Wednesday. The system is still being tuned, and final results won't be announced until next month, but the performance figure would place the Big Mac at No. 4 on the list of the world's fastest 500 supercomputers."
Selbst wenn Apple die 1100 G5s an die Universität verschenkt hätte, diese Art von andauernder positiver Medienpräsenz ist beinahe unbezahlbar.

Es gibt am 05.11. mal wieder einen Conference Call, das jährliche 'Apple Analysten Getreffe', welches durchaus die ein oder andere Information über Apples Pläne ergeben könnte.

Der Apple Store SoHo gewinnt einen Architekturpreis und wird passend ausgeschildert:
"The ads can be found at certain subway entrances and mimic the style of the New York City subway signs." Zu sehen bei chaosmint.

"Under Andrew Andrew’s bespectacled guidance, DJs pick the tracks for their seven-minute sets from a vast playlist that their hosts change weekly. But you won’t find Andrew Andrew schlepping cartons of heavy vinyl and bulky analog turntables to and from the club. The duo travel far lighter — in fact, their entire setup consists of a pair of iPods and a mixer." Der iParty Bericht bei Apple.

Außerdem (Halb-)Wissenswertes aus dem Terminal - heute:
10/24 United Nations Day
(So einfach ist das).

'Intel-Chef hätte gern Mac-OS X'

So lautete zumindest eine Suchanfrage bei Google, die dabei auch meine Seite ausspuckte.
Interessant ist allerdings, dass sich gestern Intels CEO Craig Barrett tatsächlich in dieser Hinsicht geäußert hat:
'Q. Will Intel ever be able to crack Apple?
Barrett: We keep trying, but frankly it gets less and less interesting each year. When they were 10 percent of the market it was a more interesting issue. But at 2 percent of the market...our sales can blip 2 percent quarter on quarter, so we can shrink or grow by a couple of Apples. There are lots of interesting aspects in there. Steve (Jobs) is trying to appeal more to the Intel base. You might ask why he doesn't take his OS and try to compete in the other 98 percent of the market. But he doesn't choose to do that. The OS X kernel runs just fine on Intel. Just a matter of the app stack to stick on top of that. But you'll have to talk to Steve about that. We just try to get design wins with these guys.'

Komplettes Q&A findet sich bei ZDNet.
(via macdailynews)

NYT und Guardian über Mac OS X Panther

Es ist zwar nichts wirklich neues in beiden Artikeln zu lesen, dafür ist der Grundton aber äußerst positiv.
David Pogue in der New York Times (kostenlose Registrierung erforderlich):
"The reputation of the personal computer has taken a horrible hit this year. Viruses have made headlines week after week. Spam now exceeds 50 percent of all e-mail. Hackers and academics have uncovered one Windows security hole after another, turning Microsoft into a frantic little Dutch boy at the dike without enough fingers. If the computer industry were a celebrity, it would hire an image consultant.
Correction: The Windows computer industry would hire one. Macintosh fans, on the other hand, have watched the tribulations of the much larger Windows population with mixed feelings - sympathy, relief, even amusement - because their operating system, Mac OS X, is so far 100 percent virus-free. And because Mac OS X comes with less of its plumbing exposed to the Internet than Windows, hackers are a far more distant worry."

Und der Guardian:
"The release tomorrow of Panther - the new version of Apple's OS X operating system - is far more significant an upgrade than the change in version number from 10.2 to 10.3 would suggest.
The new system, which Online has been able to put through its paces, is the most mature version of OS X so far, and lies at the centre of efforts by the company's chief executive, Steve Jobs, to revitalise the company."

DonnerstagsMacorama

Heute unter anderem: iTunes wird sowohl von AP sowie dem Wall Street Journal als seiner Konkurrenz weit überlegen angesehen, ein weiterer iSight Test, der iPod als neue Plattform, der billige Supercomputer in der NYT und Mac OS 1.0 vs. X.2.8. Die Details gibt es beim Weiterlesen...

Walter Mossberg im Wall Street Journal:
"Overall, I believe Apple's iTunes is the best combination of a music store and jukebox program for Windows users. It has an elegant, easy-to-use design, and a large music catalog. It loads and runs crisply on Windows, and is the only Windows downloading service that works with the best, and most popular, portable music player, Apple's own iPod."

"iTunes for Windows is as fully featured as the Mac software - Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes music software rips and burns songs. It's links you to a legal music store. It's easily downloadable. And now it's available to the 95 percent of computer users who depend on Microsoft Windows operating systems,' Matthew Fordahl reports for Associated Press in a sotry that's being picked up by AP affiliates worldwide right now.
"And it's just as easy to buy songs online at Apple's iTunes Music Store. The catch is that if you want to transfer songs to a portable player, you've got to use an iPod, which start at $300. Still, compared with the Windows competition, iTunes can't be beat," Fordahl reports.
(via macdailynews)

Apple stellt laut CNET auch bereits eine Version 4.1.1 von iTunes für Windows bereit:
"A few customers reported conflicts with specific PC configurations and we quickly updated the iTunes software in response," Apple said in a statement. "iTunes 4.1.1 addresses an isolated incompatibility with Windows 2000 and older third-party CD burning software, as well as problems caused by corrupt MP3 files on some users' PCs."

codepoetry über das Zusammentreffen von iTunes und der 'Windows Mentalität':
"Windows users are used to a hard life. They’re used to importing CDs into one program, playing them in another, and burning them in another. They are used to what they call “control” which is really that they’re just used to having to do everything themselves. It’s not a common concept in the Windows world for a program to step up and say “Hey, no, you don’t need to do that yourself, I’ve got it.” When one does, they get a little scared."

TechCentral testet Apples iSight:
"However, with its small, robust construction and built-in mic, the iSight could possibly be used with other Apple products in the future; imagine a next-generation iPod that can be attached to the iSight to form a hard disk based video camcorder, for example."

Die Business Week philosophiert über den iPod:
"As these students unwittingly attest, Jobs has created a new platform. Since the iPod's introduction in October, 2001, Apple has sold 1.4 million of the digital music players, representing 31% of the market. How many of those buyers were Windows users? Analysts estimate that at least 50% of them. That's astounding considering that Apple has less than 5% of the overall PC market."

Die NYT (kostenlose Registrierung erforderlich) über den 'Low-Cost Supercomputer':
"The ranking is a coup for Apple, which for several years has lagged behind, in terms of raw computing speed, the PC world controlled by Intel and Advanced Micro Devices microprocessors. It is also an indication that the supercomputer industry, which has been in eclipse since the end of the cold war, is again playing a more vital role."

Und ein Direktvergleich (per Screenshot) zwischen System 1.0 und X.2.8 findet sich bei weltentummler.de, inklusive einem interessanten .pdf (207 KB) über die Herkunft des meist falsch verwendeten "never change a running system".

Kleiner aber feiner Trick für iCal:
"More hours displayed per day in iCal to remove scroll bars".

Außerdem (Halb-)Wissenswertes aus dem Terminal - heute:
10/23 Earth created at 6:30 AM, 4004BC.
(So einfach ist das).

Globaler iPod Exhibitionismus

Es ist bis jetzt komplett an mir vorbeigegangen, dass es bei iPodlounge.com eine Galerie mit momentan 1656 Bildern gibt, die den iPod weltweit an allen möglichen und unmöglichen Orten mit ebenso möglichen und unmöglichen Personen zeigt, zweifelsohne sehr unterhaltsam:

Tatsache: G4 iBook (Update)

Ich hätte ja wirklich nicht daran geglaubt, aber die Gerüchte scheinen wahr zu sein, es gibt sie tasächlich! Mal sehen, ob noch anderes aktualisiert wurde...

Update:
Die Details im Schnelldurchlauf beim Weiterlesen:

12" iBook im Apple Store für 1199 €
800MHz PowerPC G4
256KB L2 Cache (bei 800MHz)
12" TFT-Bildschirm
Auflösung von 1024 x 768 Pixeln
256MB DDR266
30GB Ultra ATA-Laufwerk
DVD/CD-RW-Laufwerk (Slot-In)
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200
32MB Videospeicher
Internes 56K Modem
AirPort Extreme vorgerüstet
Bluetooth optional

14" Variante #1 iBook im Apple Store für 1449€
933MHz PowerPC G4
256KB L2 Cache (bei 933MHz)
14" TFT-Bildschirm
Auflösung von 1024 x 768 Pixeln
256MB DDR266
40GB Ultra ATA-Laufwerk
DVD/CD-RW-Laufwerk (Slot-In)
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200
32MB Videospeicher
Internes 56K Modem
AirPort Extreme vorgerüstet
Bluetooth optional

14" Variante #2 iBook im Apple Store für 1699€
1GHz PowerPC G4
256KB L2 Cache (bei 1GHz)
14" TFT-Bildschirm
Auflösung von 1024 x 768 Pixeln
256MB DDR266
60GB Ultra ATA-Laufwerk
DVD/CD-RW-Laufwerk (Slot-In)
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200
32MB Videospeicher
Internes 56K Modem
AirPort Extreme vorgerüstet
Bluetooth optional

Bei allen 3 Varianten: 1x Firewire, 2x USB 2.0 und X.3 wird gleich mitgeliefert.

Der eMac ist übrigens auch billiger geworden:
1 GHz, Combo, 128MB RAM, 40 GB für 899 €
1 GHz, SuperDrive, 256MB RAM, 80 GB für 1199 €

Apple-Stores offline

Inzwischen scheinen alle Apple Stores offline zu sein, mal sehen, ob es nur ein wenig Umgeräume ist, oder wir doch was neues (iBooks, G5 Xserve?) präsentiert bekommen, der Dienstag als Tag der Wahl scheint ja inzwischen sowieso passé zu sein...

Solange kann man die Panther Box (inklusive Katzenfotos!) begucken, die ein erster glücklicher Besteller in England angeblich zugeschickt bekam.

Update:
Inzwischen ist leider nur noch die Katze zu sehen, da die Bilder der Packung wohl auf Apples Wunsch entfernt wurden, danke an Leser JuvenileNose für den Hinweis per Kommentar!

Noch mehr vom SE P900

My-Symbian.com hat einen weiteren Bericht über das SE P900 zu bieten:
"Even though there are just a few hardware changes, the software side has changed a lot providing better functionality and ease of use. If you are looking for a perfect phone/PDA combination, then P900 is the best choice for you."

Inklusive einem sehenswerten Größenvergleich:

Mehr über das P900 gab es bereits bei mir hier und hier verlinkt.

MittwochsMacorama

Heute unter anderem: Apples versteckte Agenda, Berichte zum Belkin Media Reader und Voice Rekorder für den iPod, Longhorns Verzögerung bringt Switcher, die Geschichte von OS X und Apples europäische Stückzahlen. Details gibt es beim Weiterlesen...

'Apple's hidden agenda' bei globetechnology.com:
"iTunes also tells Windows to use QuickTime whenever you play other media files. QuickTime? Yes, QuickTime! iTunes for Windows automatically installs the latest version of Apple's media player software including plug-ins for Web browsers like Internet Explorer. After installing iTunes, Windows users can also use QuickTime-based Web sites like Apple's own 'Movie Trailer' page. Note that Apple has done away with the "Upgrade to Pro" nag message that used to accompany the Windows version of QuickTime. It's free, kids. Help yourself."

Bei Microsoft-Watch.com will so mancher Leser aufgrund der Verzögerung von Longhorn lieber gleich switchen:
"But to others — who have been hearing Microsoft's promises of better security; more tightly integrated development tools and technologies; a souped-up user-interface equal to Apple's best — another delay is the last straw. Linux and Mac OS: Here they come."

Der Belkin Voice Recorder für den iPod wird bei iPodlounge.com getestet:
"Once a recording has been made, it can be played back through the built-in speaker or heard through headphones. No doubt owing somewhat to the Voice Recorder's quality omnidirectional microphone, voice recording quality is surprisingly clear, especially for 8KHz sampling, and we feel comfortable agreeing with Belkin's claims that the Voice Recorder is capable of recording lectures*, memos, interviews and conversations. But you'll only be able to hear them clearly with a set of headphones. Playback through the speaker is clear, though quite limited in volume by the speaker's small 16 millimeter size and the unit's low power drain."

Die Geschichte von OS X bei RoughlyDrafted:
"With the release of Panther just a few days out, it's a great time to look at the story of NeXT, the company that developed the technologies Mac OS X is largely based upon."

Macworld UK berichtet über Apples verkaufte Stückzahlen in Europa (letztes Quartal):
"Apple saw year-on-year sales climb 17.1 per cent in Europe in the third quarter 2003, reports IDC."

Ein kurzer Bericht über den iPod Media Reader bei Interactive Narratives:
"I picked it up and works like a charm."

John Gruber liest zwischen den Zeilen des albernen MS-Selbstinterviews mit David Fester (am Sonntag auch bei mir verlinkt):
"iTunes captured some early media interest with their store on the Mac, but I think the Windows platform will be a significant challenge for them. Unless Apple decides to make radical changes to their service model, a Windows-based version of iTunes will still remain a closed system, where iPod owners cannot access content from other services."
"We’re bad-mouthing Apple because they’re not using WMA, and our goal is to establish a monopoly on digital media formats and rights management. You might think that the iPod and iTunes are in fact open, given that they work swimmingly well with MP3 files, but you would be wrong, because what we mean by “open” is “based on Microsoft’s propriety formats”. (In fact, we don’t even mention “MP3” in this entire “Q&A”.)

"Apple should get out to an early lead in music downloads, based on its strength in both distribution and ease of use. Here's our assessment of the prospects for the other recently launched (or soon-to-be-launched) music services." CNET handelt die Konkurrenz des iTMS ab.

Wired freut sich auch über iTunes für Windows:
"Windows users who take the new iTunes for a spin will find a service that is fairly reliable and easy to use, making it a strong addition to the ever-growing collection of paid music services".

Außerdem (Halb-)Wissenswertes aus dem Terminal - heute:
10/22 Franz Liszt born, 1811
(So einfach ist das).

Apple Werbung auf download.com

"The ads are presently targeted at PC users downloading Kazaa, iMesh, Morpheus, Limewire, Kazaa Download Accelerator, eMule, and Blubster -- which are all Peer-to-Peer (P2P) related applications in the top 50 most popular downloads at the CNet site."
(via macrumors)

Die anderen 'Motive' gibt es bei chaosmint zu sehen.