fscklog

iPod trifft seinen Meister

Allerdings nicht in Form des Dell Bizarro DJ, sondern selbstverständlich im iPod mini, wie Rob Pegoraro treffend in der Washington Post anmerkt:

"Finally, somebody has outdone the iPod. After years of unsuccessful attempts by Creative, Dell, Rio, Samsung and others to knock Apple's MP3 player off its pedestal, we've got a player that makes the iPod seem like the oversize, clunky relic it (now) is.
That player is Apple's iPod mini, a $249 gadget not much bigger than a cell phone. On sale starting Friday, it packs the old iPod's virtues into a smaller, lighter, sturdier, more elegant and cheaper design.[...]
The old iPod worked fine, but this is better. This kind of painstaking perfectionism explains why the iPod continues to sell so well -- the rest of the industry runs on a "get it working, then move onto something else" mentality."

Mac per Bluetoothhandy ins Netz schicken

Sehr brauchbare und ausführlich bebilderte Anleitung bei macuser.de, wie sich ein Bluetooth taugliches Handy als GPRS Modem nutzen lässt und so an fast allen (un)möglichen Orten direkter drahtloser Netzzugriff besteht.
Momentan bezieht sich die Anleitung auf ein SE T610 in Verbindung mit e-plus, die Vorgehensweise kann aber problemlos auf andere Bluetooth Handys übertragen werden und die Details zu weiteren Netzanbietern sollen in Kürze folgen.

iPod Zombies

Schöner NYT-Artikel genau richtig zum Wochenende:

"Much of America — the part that lives behind the wheel of a car and views life through the glare of the windshield — has long since adapted to life in a bubble. But city dwellers are supposed to be different; their constant interaction with other human beings, urbanites like to think, makes them more socially advanced creatures than the detached inhabitants of car culture. But could the iPod and similar high-capacity players be turning the vibrant sidewalks of New York into the pedestrian equivalent of the soulless freeway?[...]

The fear that personal stereos could lead to antisocial behavior is an old one. The late Akio Morita, a founder of Sony and the company's chief executive at the Walkman's introduction, was said to have been so afraid of the device's capacity for creating solipsistic drones that he insisted early on that the Walkman have two headphone jacks and a microphone so listeners could communicate with each other. There is little evidence that the Walkman wrecked modern society, so some technologists say there is little reason to fear the iPod.[...]

The people at Apple, which makes the iPod, concede that a few antisocial types might use the iPod to turn off the world, but call such people a small minority. The notion that the hot-selling contraptions could lead to social ills almost seemed to hurt one company executive's feelings.
"It's a little wacky to look at it that way, when the iPod has brought so much happiness into people's lives," said the executive, Greg Joswiak, the vice president for hardware product marketing."

SamstagsMacOrama (Update)

Update:
Andy Hertzfeld, momentan mit Folklore.org beschäftigt, die wirklich unzählige unterhaltsame Anekdoten liefern, im macnews.de-Interview (leider nur in übersetzter Form):

"macnews.de: Was ist vom "frühen" Steve Jobs heute übrig?
Hertzfeld: Ich hoffe, dass Steve heute weiser ist als damals. Er hatte ja eine ziemlich harte Zeit in den frühen Neunzigern und lernte aus seiner Erfahrung. Ich denke allerdings, dass er hauptsächlich noch der gleiche Steve ist: Ein leidenschaftlicher Überzeugungskünstler, dem das Beste nicht annähernd gut genug ist."
--

The Motley Fool fragt seine Windows-Leser, ob sie sich denn nicht so langsam ein wenig unsicher fühlen:

"Are you one of the many Windows users feeling a teensy bit insecure today? In the latest security snafu to befall Microsoft, news broke last night that a portion of the source code related to Windows 2000 and NT has been leaked. Whether this is earth shattering or merely embarrassing remains to be seen, but there are clear ramifications."

Gartner warnt derweil vor Microsofts Sicherheitspolitik:

"Research firm Gartner issued a note late Thursday that raises serious questions about Microsoft's internal commitment to rid its operating system of security holes that make worms such as MS Blaster, SQL Slammer, and Code Red possible."

heise spekuliert fröhlich weiter über die Folgen des freigelassenen Windows Quellcodes:

"Ob der unfreiwillig in die Öffentlichkeit geratene Quelltext zu juristischen Scharmützeln führen wird, bleibt vorerst offen. Denkbar ist einiges: Möglicherweise finden ja Dritte unerwarteterweise ihren Code in Windows wieder. Zyniker spekulieren schon, dass Microsoft künftig Open-Source-Entwicklern bequem vorwerfen kann, von Windows abgeschrieben zu haben. Eventuell finden sich im Quelltext sogar Belege, die das Urteil der amerikanischen Justiz im Kartellprozess ad absurdum führen, etwa in Bezug auf Microsofts wie ein Mantra wiederholter Aussage, der Internet Explorer ließe sich in großen Bestandteilen nicht ohne Schaden für das System von Windows trennen."
--

Der Download-Manager in Safari 1.2 konnte nett zulegen, zusätzlich ist er noch drag&droppable, wie ein Tipp bei macosxhints verrät:

"But my favorite change is that you can now drag-and-drop onto the Downloads window! Links, files, even your location bar are applicable candidates."
--

Pepsi überlege, möglicherweise die iTunes Pepsi Promo zu verlängern, da offensichtlich in vielen Regionen noch keine 'Gewinndeckel' zu finden sind, ist in Steven's Notebook zu lesen:

"Secondly, the iTunes promotion didn't get started as quickly as it was supposed to - so if you've been looking for iTunes caps (to send me) and haven't found any yet, that's why. Keep the faith, and keep looking. Also, they are considering extending the promotion period."
--

Paul van Dyk greift unterwegs auf ein PowerBook zurück, berichtet Wired:

"When Paul Van Dyk goes on the road, he leaves his collection of vinyl and CDs at home. The popular Berlin-based techno DJ has gone entirely digital: He carries 1,000 select songs with him on a 60-gig PowerBook G4 that runs a hardware-software tool called FinalScratch."
--

Bei Apple wird Dave McKean portraitiert:

"Probably best known for his groundbreaking illustrations of 76 covers for Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman” series of graphic novels, the English, bearded McKean has also applied his explosive talent to book design and illustration, esoteric comic book illustration, CD cover design, advertising photography, writing — even composing jazz.[...]
“The Mac has been really wonderful for that. Before the computer, I managed to realize about 20 or 30% of what I was trying to imagine. Post computer, it went up to a good 60 to 70%."
--

Stapelweise Reviews bei MacUser UK:
"GarageBand, iMovie 4, iDVD 4, iPhoto 4, iTunes 4.2, Giga Designs G-Celerator G4 1.4GHz CPU Upgrade, Ulysses 1.0, Business Card Composer, Olympus C-5060 Wide Zoom, und ATI Radeon 9800 Pro."
(via MacMinute)
--

Wo kommen bloß neuerdings all die iBook G4 Besprechungen her? Bei Newsfactor:

"Now that the blazing G5 tops the Apple line, the company has -- without much fanfare -- installed its G4 in the iBook. What this means is that the once lowly iBook, formerly thought of as just a Web surfer and e-mail machine, is now a multimedia player. Except for a few quibbles, this is a hot box for a good price."
--

Außerdem (Halb-)Wissenswertes aus dem Terminal - heute:
02/14 First micro-on-a-chip patented (TI), 1978
(Anleitung).

Student raubt Strom per iBook (Update_3)

"Steckdose für Laptop gesucht: Gegen den Trierer Studenten und Greenpeace-Aktivisten Jan Michael Ihl ermittelt der Bundesgrenzschutz, weil er am Bahnhof Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe seinen (sic!) iBook aufgeladen hat".
Zu lesen bei Intrinet, via vowe.

Update:
Im law blog hat man sich der Begebenheit ebenfalls angenommen.

Update_2:
Die Geschichte hat nachvollziehbarer Weise weite Kreise gezogen, bis hin zu SPIEGEL ONLINE.
Wer das Gedächtnisprotokoll des Vorfalls lesen will, kann das bei Jan Michael Ihl persönlich tun.

Update_3:
Inzwischen bei The Reg:
"Ihl is not the first voltage-rustler to face an appearance before the beak. In Japan last month, a 38-year-old was caught red-handed after unplugging a business's neon sign and using the socket to recharge his mobile phone. A 22-year-old student was also charged for disconnecting a vending machine in order to power his portable stereo. Both men are estimated to have stolen around $0.0094 worth of electricity."

Globalisierung

zeigt sich deutlich im Dock bzw. Application Switcher:

Palm versucht zu beschwichtigen

'In a statement, supplied to Macworld UK, the company states: "PalmSource is fortunate to have a great Palm OS developer community who provide solutions for Mac compatibility today.
"Palm OS provides an open and flexible architecture and allows its licensees to decide whether to ship a Mac compatibility solution with their Palm Powered device. One such solution is provided by Mark/Space."
The company chose to stress that the relationship between Apple and Palm has not ended, saying: "We are continuing our efforts with Apple to provide compatibility between Palm OS and Macintosh."[...]
Apple and its Mac users remain important to Palm, said Chu. "We very much value the Mac user community," he said.'

Followup zum Apple Store London (Update)

Wenn die Schlange zum Apple Store London auch nur halb so lang wird, wie vor dem Apple Store Tokyo bei dessen Eröffnung im vergangenen Winter darf man sich sicher wieder über unzählige frenetische Berichte freuen. Angeblich soll der Londoner Apple Store in der Regent Street zum kommenden Weihnachtsgeschäft seine Pforten öffnen und seine Besucher mit der gleichen Größe beehren über die auch der Tokyo Store verfügt. Über 180.000 EUR soll die Miete entsprechend monatlich dafür verschlingen, ein offizielles Statement zur Eröffnung steht allerdings nach wie vor aus. Dabei ist zu hoffen, dass dies erst der Anfang für die europäischen Apple Stores ist, schließlich verkündete man für Japan ebenfalls bereits einen zweiten Store in Osaka. Weniger wahrscheinlich ist allerdings, dass sich am Ende der Schlange zum Apple Store London wieder ein 'Schlangenende'-Schild-Hochhalter finden wird...

Update:
Natürlich regt sich auch erster leichter Unmut bei den lokalen Apple Händlern, berichtet PC Pro UK:
"The managing director of London-based Apple reseller Square Group said today that he is 'disappointed' but 'not surprised' by the news that Apple plans to open a retail store on Regent Street.
Darren King said his only complaint is that, 'Apple didn't have the decency to talk to us first.'
King said that rumours have been circulating for a while and although Apple has neither confirmed that it plans to open a store, King said that everything he has heard from Apple once the news broke points to the report being accurate."

Zeit für neue PowerMacs und PowerBooks? (Update)

Die Gerüchteküche verspricht es schon seit langem (unter anderem hier im fscklog), nun schreibt CNET:

"The tech giant plans to announce on Friday that it has started mass production of PowerPCs on the 90-nanometer process, which refers to the average feature size on the chips. (A nanometer is a billionth of a meter.) The PowerPC 970FX, which is used inside IBM's blade servers and Apple Computer's Xserve G5 server, is the first processor to be made with this manufacturing method.
Big Blue is expected to describe a 2.5GHz version of the chip made on the 90-nanometer process at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco next week. PowerPCs on the market today, produced on a 130-nanometer process, top out at 2GHz."

Update:
Inzwischen hat sich IBM geäußert:

"IBM, based in Armonk, New York, said that it was using the method, which combines three existing technologies used in chip manufacturing, to build its PowerPC 970FX microprocessor in its new East Fishkill, New York plant.[...]
Given the chip's reduced need for power, which means longer battery life, Apple may consider it for use in a notebook computer for gaming enthusiasts, Doherty said.
"It's logical that Apple would select the flexibility of this chip for a next-generation notebook computer," Doherty said."

The Reg erklärt ein wenig mehr zur Methode:

"Now, where IBM differs from Intel is in the use of silicon-on-insulator (SOI), which conveniently aids the implementation of strained silicon. As it announced last September, IBM removes the SiGe layer before fabrication, after applying the strained silicon onto the insulator. The upshot: it gains benefits of strained silicon using what is essentially its standard SOI process. By removing the SiGe layer, it doesn't have to integrate that material into the chip fabrication process per se. It calls the new technique, Strained Silicon Directly on Insulator (SSDOI)."

Pixar-Disneys wirre Nachwehen (Update)

Die ganze Pixar Disney Geschichte nimmt immer skurrilere Züge an, so kann man bei Forbes.com lesen:

"Eisner reserved his best barb for Steve Jobs, the CEO of Pixar and also co-founder of Apple Computer Inc., whose Macintosh computers are a leading alternative to PCs running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system."
"He created the computer, or at least Windows, or whatever he created, and did a good job," Eisner said to peals of laughter from analysts attending the company conference in Orlando, Florida."

Zugleich berichtet die Times online:

"Pixar, whose chairman is Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, which until last week was involved in a joint venture with Disney, is understood to be looking at forming a consortium of financiers to counter Comcast’s bid.
A spokesman for Mr Jobs would not comment, but a Pixar source said: “Steve is looking very closely at this.”

Update:
Die New York Post kann es ebenfalls nicht lassen und mischt entsprechend fröhlich mit:

"Roberts, Comcast's CEO, is said to be wooing the Pixar Animation Studios chief to his side of the brewing battle for control of Disney, according to sources close to the unfolding events.[...]
At the same time, Jobs is said to be in active discussions with numerous parties, including cable operators, about putting together a rival bid of his own for Disney."