fscklog

MacOrama für den 10. April 2004

Fantastischer Launcher-Artikel bei MacDevCenter.com, abgehandelt werden unter anderem (natürlich) LaunchBar, Quicksilver und Butler, wobei mir insbesondere das Fazit aus dem Herzen spricht:
"As for me? I said at the start that I've been a LaunchBar user for some time, and while testing all these apps I did consider changing to Quicksilver. But then, overnight, the new version of LaunchBar was released and after using it for a day or so, I was certain that I had no need to switch.
Your choice of launcher is up to you. Of course, you could always do what I did during the process of writing this article--install all of them, and watch in bemusement as you use one launcher to launch another, and a different one to switch between them. Silly, I know, but we writers have to get our entertainment from somewhere."
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Das könnte sich zum 'dirty secret' des iPod mini ausweiten, iPodlounge berichtet:
"Many forum members have been reporting that their iPod mini is creating audio distortion when used. One such member claims to have discovered a major design flaw in the iPod mini, which results in sound distortion when placing pressure anywhere on its surface or headphone port."
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Ein komplettes (Probe)Kapitel aus der 3. Ausgabe von Mac OS X Panther Unleashed bei informIT.com, sicher einen Blick wert:
"Mac OS X comes with dozens of utilities and applications—many of which can be easily cataloged, such as the Internet and media tools discussed in the upcoming chapters. Many applications, however, can't easily be assigned a category. This chapter covers the useful Mac OS X applications and utilities that you're likely to use regularly. If you're a big fan of Stickies, sorry; it gets an honorable mention, but we have to draw the line somewhere!"
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Playfair ist nach Indien ausgewandert.
(via Boing Boing)
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AppleInsider:
"In addition to updating resellers on the status of Xserve G5 shipments, Hansen reportedly provided hints that the company would be 'refreshing' many of its professional products during its World Wide Developers conference, set to take place in San Francisco during the final week of June."
Oder zum Gerüchteselberbasteln der Ostertip bei IT&W.
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Einige Synchronisierungshilfen für OS X, vorgestellt bei bronski.net:
"Über Versiontracker bin ich gestern auf FoldersSynchronizer X gestossen. Das könnte ein recht nützliches tool sein, dachte ich mir, habe dann aber irgendwie aus Neugier und Forscherdrang ein wenig auf der Seite rumgeklickt, habe Links verfolgt und irgendwann sogar ähnliche Produkte gesucht. So habe ich dann auch You Synchronize, ChronoSync und Gemini gefunden. Letzteres lasse ich aber im weiteren ganz bewusst weg, erstens scheint es nicht mehr aktuell zu sein, und zweitens hat die Seite des Entwicklers einen eher, nun ja, negativen Eindruck hinterlassen."
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Die New York Post mal wieder:
"Steve Jobs wants to return to the Disney fold if Michael Eisner is ousted as CEO, The Post has learned."
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Apple wird ordentlich auf der vom 06. bis zum 19. Mai in Düsseldorf stattfindenden drupa vertreten sein:
"Visit us in Hall 9 (Stand 9D44) and find out exactly why Mac OS X is the platform of choice for the print production industry. From May 6th to 13th, Apple will host a series of seminars (see detailed information, below) designed to demonstrate how cutting-edge technologies that are built into Mac OS X Panther, including ColorSync, AppleScript, Font Book and Quartz Extreme, work hand-in-hand with our award-winning hardware range — as well as a wide range of third-party solutions — to give you complete control over every aspect of your workflow."
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BBC News über den Streit zwischen AppleApple und AppleBeatles:
"The late Beatle George Harrison spotted an advert for Apple Computer while flicking through a British magazine in 1980.
He felt there was potential for trademark conflict with Apple Corps - set up by The Beatles in 1968 to release their songs and manage their creative affairs."
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Außerdem (Halb-)Wissenswertes aus dem Terminal - heute:
04/10 Paul McCartney announces that he's quitting the Beatles, 1970
(Nachvollziehen).
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In diesem Sinne 'Frohe Ostern' an alles fscklog-Leser!

Erster Trojaner unter OS X? (Update)

Den glaubt zumindest Intego entdeckt zu haben und schützt natürlich sogleich gegen selbigen:
"Intego, the Macintosh security specialist, has just released updated virus definitions for Intego VirusBarrier to protect Mac users against the first Trojan horse that affects Mac OS X. This Trojan horse, MP3Concept (MP3Virus.Gen), exploits a weakness in Mac OS X where applications can appear to be other types of files.

The Trojan horse's code is encapsulated in the ID3 tag of an MP3 (digital music) file. This code is in reality a hidden application that can run on any Macintosh computer running Mac OS X.

Mac OS X displays the icon of the MP3 file, with an .mp3 extension, rather than showing the file as an application, leading users to believe that they can double-click the file to listen to it. But double clicking the file launches the hidden code, which can damage or delete files on computers running Mac OS X, then iTunes to play the music contained in the file, to make users think that it is really an MP3 file . While the first versions of this Trojan horse that Intego has isolated are benign, this technique opens the door to more serious risks.

This Trojan horse has the potential to do any of the following:
- Delete all of a user's personal files
- Send an e-mail message containing a copy of itself to other users
- Infect other MP3, JPEG, GIF or QuickTime files

Due to the use of this technique, users can no longer safely double-click MP3 files in Mac OS X. This same technique could be used with JPEG and GIF files, though no such cases of infected graphic files have yet been seen."
(via MacNN)

Update:

Inzwischen dürfte weithin durchgedrungen sein, dass es sich bei diesem 'Trojaner' lediglich um eine Farce handelt, schönstes Zitat aus einem Wired-Artikel:
"They gave the impression that this is a threat, but it isn't," said Dave Schroeder, a systems engineer with the University of Wisconsin. "It is a benign proof of concept that was posted to a newsgroup. It isn't in the wild, and can't be spread in the wild. It's a non-issue."

Mehr von Dave Schroeder ist bei MacNN zu lesen:
"The only way for Apple to "fix" this would be to universally visually identify executable applications in some fashion. Whether or not this comes to pass, the true source of real widespread damage from trojans, virii, and worms is their ability to spread. Since any raw transmission without encoding that preserves resource forks effectively neuters the trojan, and since there are no easy ways to mass-propagate a virus using Windows- and Outlook-style methods on Mac OS X, this is really not a major issue at all.
You will likely do more damage sending out a friendly email message politely asking people to move their home directories to the trash."

MacCentral lieferte Apples Reaktion:
"We are aware of the potential issue identified by Intego and are working proactively to investigate it," said Apple in a statement given to MacCentral. "While no operating system can be completely secure from all threats, Apple has an excellent track record of identifying and rapidly correcting potential vulnerabilities."

MacFixIt berichtet ebenfalls ausführlich.

Intego selbst hat eine Q&A-Seite online gestellt, auf der die Meldung erheblich relativiert wird (warum nicht gleich so?) und MacBidouille konnte schnell noch ein Interview mit dem Intego CEO zustande bringen.

Außerdem mit erheblicher Verspätung bei heise.

Apples Unix-Rechtsstreit

Was wird aus der schon etwas älteren Klage um Apples Nutzung der Unix-Bezeichnung für OS X? osViews hat einen sehr interessanten Artikel darüber:
"Will the Open Group lose its trademark on the Unix® name or will Apple have to pay a hefty yearly fee to continue to use the word Unix throughout its marketing and promotional materials. The lawsuit between Apple and the Open Group will go back to court in two months time after two years in the making and then after a one-year delay. osView's Kelly McNeill summarizes the situation and speaks with the Open Group and a technology attorney to put the pending legal matter into perspective."
Darüber wird in nächster Zeit sicher noch erheblich mehr zu lesen sein.

Was die Pepsi iTunes Promo bisher bewirkte

Wenn auch Steve Jobs sich eher enttäuscht zur Pepsi iTunes Promo äußerte, so gibt es doch einen klaren Nutzen der gemeinsamen Aktion, wie dailypress.com zu berichten weiß:
"By all accounts, despite complaints about their ad, Pepsi and iTunes have profited from their affiliation. In March, comScore Media Metrix - which measures the size of Internet audiences - reported that Apple broke into the top 50 most-visited sites in February, partly fueled by its promotional partnership with Pepsi.
The iTunes deal, begun during the Super Bowl, drove Pepsi's site visits up 50 percent, iTunes' up 117 percent and contributed to the music category's 7 percent growth from January."
Endgültige Zahlen zur Promotion sind frühestens Anfang Mai zu erwarten, sollten diese überhaupt veröffentlicht werden.

MacOrama für den 08. April 2004 (Update)

heise berichtet von einer eventuellen Sicherheitsproblematik unter OS X:
"Anwender von Apples Unix-Betriebssystem Mac OS X haben die Diskussionen um Sicherheitslücken auf Windows-Seite bisher eher gelassen verfolgt. Doch die Sicherheit kann trügerisch sein. Viele Installationsprogramme, die in /Library/StartupItems/ ein so genanntes StartupItem einrichten, scheinen nämlich ein wenig nachlässig bei der Rechtevergabe zu sein."
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Mal wieder leichter Unmut über die dem iPod beigefügten Kopfhörer:
"We chose the 80-20 rule, as we think that the supplied headphones satisfy the big majority of our customers," says Stan Ng, director of iPod product marketing at Apple Computer in the story."
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Die Analysten erwarten ebenfalls Apples anstehende Quartalszahlen:
"While some intend to look beyond the success of the iPod and take sales of the Power Mac G5 into consideration, others are suggesting that the iPod is more than a one-hit-wonder and are predicting that it will be worth almost $1 billion to Apple this year."
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TMO schreibt über ein Apple Patent:
"On March 30, 2004, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USTPO) issued United States Patent Number D487,893 to Apple Computer, Inc. for a "Display device with a moveable assembly," which was filed on November 8, 2001.
This is a design patent for "[t]he ornamental design for a display device with a moveable assembly." Rather than blab on about it, it's just easier to show it:

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Die Gerüchteküche ist weiterhin nicht gänzlich untätig, AppleInsider munkelt von PowerBooks:
"Apple engineers are simultaneously working to deliver updates to the company's iBook and PowerBook G4 product lines, recent information has revealed. Both sets of updates are rumored to be revisions to the currently available products, rather than totally new offerings." Informationen für die man keine Quellen braucht.
Zu den Power Macs:
" Anonymous sources have confirmed portions of a recent report on pending updates to Apple's Power Mac G5 product line. According to information which is believed to be very accurate, Q77 is indeed a name used externally to referred to speed bumped Power Mac G5 units. Sources also confirmed that the absence of faster models is a direct result of an unanticipated setback. "Something has gone terribly wrong," one source said, who noted that prototypes of the revised Power Macs first shipped to select partners prior to the start of the year, but would not comment further."
O'Grady's Powerpage schiebt ebenfalls nach:
"I also learned that Apple did not want to spend the a huge premium to have the new PowerBooks air freighted to the U.S. as they are not totally new models but just revisions of current models. Another source tells me that the boxes were last seen waiting on the shipping dock for the next available departure by container. Some speculate that they new PowerBooks have already been loaded into the containers and are on the way."
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Ein Musikempfehlungssystem für iTunes:
"The Music Recommendation System is an automated system that provides music recommendations specifically tailored to each user to find new music that they might like. This system, designed by students at the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana), operates by taking ratings from your own iTunes playlists and comparing them against other users who have used the recommendation system."
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Bloomberg News: "Yahoo Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and RealNetworks Inc. may obtain pan-European licenses to sell music over the Internet under European Union plans to regulate royalty collection companies, according to a EU draft proposal." Und eine mehr für den iTMS bitte.
Apropos Hals nicht voll bekommen, beim Motley Fool:
"No sooner have digital tunes really started to catch on, we hear that the $0.99-per-song --or less, if you go to Wal-Mart-- price tag is under threat. According to The Wall Street Journal, the recording industry is trying to cook up ways to charge folks more for music. Even Apple's iTunes and Roxio's Napster services have been charging premiums for some of the big names and hot new releases, the article said."
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Zur Abwechslung:
However, Sophos senior technology consultant anti virus expert Graham Cluley warned Macworld that some virus writers are considering other operating systems: "A small number of virus writers are showing an increased interest in Unix, and there have been Unix worms which have spread in the wild."
He added: "For this reason Mac OS X users should not think they have nothing to worry about moving into the future."
The enemy isn't yet at the gates, Cluley stressed: "There's no evidence of any imminent attacks on Macs in the same way we have seen on Windows systems."
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Donn Denman hält Apple für eine Software Firma, die sich als Hardware Firma tarnt:
"Apple needs to make another huge investment in software in order to grow again. Recent developments at Apple, and the marketplace make me think this is possible," Denman told MacMinute. "Apple has always been an island apart, unconnected to the rest of the computing world. But now some bridges are being built to the mainland. With OS X, there's a bridge to Unix, and that brings in many opportunities for certain kinds of development. With products like iTunes for Windows and the iTunes Music Store there are two bridges: one into Windows software, and one into the world of software services. Apple is getting more connected, and that's good."
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Command & Conquer: Generals Demo 1.0, satte 362 MB.
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The Motley Fool wirft einen tiefergehenden Blick auf Pixar's Finanzen:
"I'd say they're up to something, which is a good thing considering the talent and track record of Jobs (the same Steve Jobs from Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), in case you were wondering) and the Pixar crew. We'd all like to know the future, but the stock appears reasonably priced even without fireworks on the horizon."
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Außerdem (Halb-)Wissenswertes aus dem Terminal - heute:
04/08 Buddha born, 563 BC
(Nachvollziehen).

Sony Ericsson K700 Review

Wer gerade über den Kauf eines SE T610 bzw. T630 nachdenkt und noch ein wenig Zeit bis zur Kaufentscheidung hat, sollte vielleicht aufs K700 (das gemunkelte T650) warten, welches mit einigen netten Verbesserungen auftrumpft. Ausführliche Besprechung mit etlichen Bildern gibt es bei Mobile-Review.com:
"The design however remains strict and stylish. The technical specifications are actually cut-off version of 3G phone - Z1010, the phone’s software speaks out for itself. More than that, existing firmware versions contain curious menu item – videocall, although in reality K700 has only one camera inside. In future other models from K-series will be released, they will differ with the functionality. But since K700 is the first phone from this line-up it plays important role, especially considering the fact that there are not any similar products from other manufacturers. The only competitor in this segment is Siemens CX65, but in reality it loses clearly comparing to K700, in terms of price and functionality."

Ein Blick auf die Apple Retail Stores und den Marktanteil

In seiner Business Week Kolumne hat sich Alex Salkever diesmal die Apple Retail Stores vorgenommen, wobei er allerdings recht wenig neues zu erzählen weiß. So liest man einmal mehr über Gateways Ladendesaster, die (leichte) Profitabilität der Apple Stores, den innewohnenden 'community/service hub'-Aspekt, die höhere Marge beim Power Mac im Vergleich zum iPod und zu guter letzt über die angebliche Verfehlung des Ziels von Apples Ladenkette: der Steigerung des Marktanteils. Zur Untermauerung nutzt Salkever Apples US-Marktanteil, der laut IDC 2003 auf 3.2% (von 3.5% 2002) gefallen war, obwohl ihm durchaus bewusst zu sein scheint, dass die Bedeutung dieser Zahlen mehr als diskutabel ist: "Sure, IDC numbers are imperfect measures. A huge chunk of PC purchases come from big companies, and Apple doesn't compete in that market at all. Still, it has to show some improvement in market share to convince Wall Street it has long-term legs."
Tatsächlich sollte das Erfolgsmaß der Stores neben der gegebenen Profitabilität in den entsprechenden Mac-Verkaufszahlen gemessen werden, denn diese stiegen -insgesamt betrachtet- 2003 konstant, auch wenn der Marktanteil im gleichen Zeitraum gefallen war, was auch 'Wall Street' erkennen könnte/sollte.

MacOrama für den 07. April 2004

Die Financial Times über Steve Jobs Einfluss durch den iTMS:
"Mark Mulligan, senior analyst at Jupiter Research, suggests Mr Jobs' words should not necessarily be taken at face value. "It discredits his competitors' chances of making money and strengthens his position in negotiating with the labels," he says.
Mr Jobs' position is undeniably getting stronger all the time."
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Reuters:
"Apple Computer Inc. on Tuesday lost a High Court bid to have its legal case brought by the management company for legendary Fab Four rockers, the Beatles, moved from Britain to the United States."
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Jon Gales über SpyMac:
"If you took all Mac sites and rated them on a scale of "shady-ness", SpyMac would be at the top. Besides calling it's spattered collection of PHP scripts a "platform" or "operating system", the site has a faux address at the Empire State Building listed as its home. Not to mention SpyMac is really based in Germany but co-founded from Canada. Just for fun, they are known to steal stories nearly verbatim from Mac news sites and act like it's their right."
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"Here is an example of DOT-POD in action: Let's say you've created some original music in GarageBand and you want to make it available to your clients, or friends and family. You can't really email huge files to all your friends - the easy way is to copy them to your iPod and use DOT-POD to make them available on the web from your iPod so that your, clients, friends and family can download them from their web browser."
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Ein MacBU Mitarbeiter plaudert in seinem Blog über Office 2004:
"The bad news is that Mac Word 2004 doesn’t support XML. Also, because the new Information Rights Management feature in Win Office 2003 is based on some Windows-only Active Directory authentication and identity features, we were not able to put together a solution for Mac Office 2004 that will enable Mac users to read Win Office 2003 documents that have IRM protection turned on. Both of these, however, are high on our list of things to do in the immediate future. Exactly when they’ll be available, I don’t know."
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Das PDF Browser Plugin 2.0.1 von Manfred Schubert liegt mit etlichen Bugfixes in Version 2.0.1 vor.
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Sony Ericsson Z1010 Galerie inklusive Größenvergleich zum Z600 bei MobileBurn.
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Außerdem (Halb-)Wissenswertes aus dem Terminal - heute:
04/07 Albert Hofmann synthesizes LSD in Switzerland, 1943
(Nachvollziehen).

MacOrama für den 06. April 2004

Die Gerüchteküche.
O'Grady, der PowerBooks für vergangene Woche vorhersagte, bessert verzweifelt nach:
"...a reliable PowerPage source has informed me that the speed bumped PowerBook G4s (note: they are not going to be G5s) should be announced within the next week or two - give or take a few days."
AppleInsider kann vor lauter Brisanz keinen Termin für die nächsten Power Macs nennen:
"After confirming the most recent wave of delays, sources provided AppleInsider with an updated time-frame for Power Mac revisions. Due to the sensitivity of the subject, AppleInsider will refrain from publishing these details until they can be confirmed. However, it should be noted that a number of larger Apple resellers have received a significant shipment of the current Power Mac G5 offerings over the past week."
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Fröhliches WegvonWindows-Konvertieren: Der Schockwellenreiter erklärt, wie sich ein WMV-Filmchen in Quicktime umwandeln lässt und EasyWMA (Donationware) konvertiert WMA in MP3, was ebenfalls äußerst praktisch erscheint.
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Bei internetnews.com wiederholt Ron Okamoto einmal mehr 'Apple Sees a Shift in Developer Profiles':
"The Cupertino, Calif.-based computer maker, which is preparing for its annual developers conference in late June, claims a spike in the number of enterprise code writers. The company said it has seen a large number of UNIX, Java and Open Source developers migrating to its Mac OS X operating system.
"Over the last three years, people who have experience in those areas are showing a great interest in our OS," Apple Vice President of Worldwide Developer Relations Ron Okamoto told internetnews.com. "We're seeing a lot of first timers. It's really impressive."
Was Okamoto in letzter Zeit ähnliches zur WWDC von sich gab ist hier und hier im fscklog verlinkt.
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Die Genius Bar der Apple Retail Stores unterliegt nun einer Reservierungsmöglichkeit.

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Laut Think Secret besitzt Office 2004 die längst überfällige Unicode Unterstützung:
"Sources said that Office 2004 for Mac will have four levels of support for the Unicode text encoding standard, which enables character support across languages. Office 2004 will officially support Japanese and most Western European languages; these have been properly tested and debugged by Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU), according to reports."
Ausgeliefert soll es ab Ende Mai werden.
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Linux on iPod schreitet voran:
"A release version of the 2.4.24 kernel is now available for download! This version includes full support for first, second and third generation iPods (no iPod mini support) including audio, firewire and remote.
The other important inclusion with this release is the demo podzilla program. Podzilla is a basic GUI demo similar to the native Apple firmware, it has a very simple mp3 player which can be run by running the file browser and selecting a .mp3 file, during playback the pause/play button will pause and menu will exit back to podzilla."
(via iPodlounge)
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Apfelautos.com begeht seinen zweiten Jahrestag.
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"The Customer Respect Index is a qualitative and quantitative in-depth analysis and independent measure of a customer's online experience when interacting with companies via the Internet." Apple schaffte es gerade mal in die Durchschnittlichkeit.
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Dirk Ellenbeck testete ausführlich die iPhoto-Fotobücher:
"In dem von uns bestellten Buch sind sowohl gescannte Fotos als auch Fotos, die mit einer Digitalkamera mit 4 Megapixeln gemacht wurden, enthalten. Allen Fotos gemein ist die gute Abbildungsqualität, die die eines Ausdrucks auf einem sehr guten Tintenstrahldrucker unserer Meinung nach übertrifft.
Nicht so überzeugend ist hingegen die Qualität der Schrift, da diese zum Teil Streifen aufweist."
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playfair Diskussion bei macslash.
TMO:
"It's not clear if the process of stripping the DRM affects the bit rate quality, but the program is reported to be extremely quick -- taking only a few seconds to strip the DRM -- so it's unlikely that any re-encoding is taking place. However, some MacSlash.com users are reporting that iTunes reports a lower bit rate for tracks that were processed by PlayFair.
It will be interesting to see if PlayFair affects iTMS sales. Will those that do not like DRM get off the fence and start purchasing tracks? Will wide scale pilfering of the iTMS's database ensue? Time will tell."
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Ogg Vorbis 1.0d7:
"Ogg Vorbis is a iTunes 4 compatable Ogg Vorbis decoder plugin for Quicktime 6.2 or later under Mac OS X 10.2 or later. This will allow you to play Ogg Vorbis music with iTunes."
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Dell versucht seinen Dell DJ mithilfe eines geringeren Preises zu verscherbeln:
"No. 2 personal computer maker Dell Inc. on Monday cut the price on its digital music player 20 percent to $199 from $249 as it tries to compete with the industry leading iPod from Apple Computer Inc.
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Außerdem (Halb-)Wissenswertes aus dem Terminal - heute:
04/06 Chakri Memorial Day in Thailand
(Nachvollziehen).

Apple veröffentlicht Security Update 2004-04-05

Per Softwareaktualisierung (oder die Standalone-Variante) 3.7 MB groß für 10.3.3:
Security Update 2004-04-05 delivers a number of security enhancements and is recommended for all Macintosh users. This update includes the following components:
CUPS Printing
libxml2
Mail
OpenSSL