fscklog

'My powerbook can't make lasagna like she does.'

Skurril unterhaltsames aus den Apple Discussions:
My grandmother decided to place her lamp on top of my laptop for some odd reason and made a 3-inch scratch along the top. Is there any way to brush it out or fix it? Would apple fix it for a price or does the top casing need to be replaced?
I hope you still love your grandmother. That is worth a whole lot more than the shiny new powerbook. Even so, sorry to hear about that scratch.
Of course. My powerbook can't make lasagna like she does.
Well, that depends, if you had an older aluminum powerbook it just might generate enough heat...
(via bronski.net)

150 Leute frieren inzwischen vorm Apple Store San Francisco

Und fiebern kontinuierlich der Eröffnung um 10 Uhr Ortszeit (19 Uhr CET) entgegen. Die gestern verlinkte Webcam ist bereits seit einiger Zeit online und zeigt die frierenden und PowerBook-behafteten Gläubigen:
"Oh, it's 4:30 a.m. in front of the Apple store, and it's quiet. Most of the regular passersby have evaporated, the street sweeper has come and gone, and the coldest part of the night has set in. The line count is officially--surprisingly--148, leaving plenty of space for those who want to purchase a gift bag. The workers have finished with the back-lit logo, and are preparing to spray-wash the sidewalk in front of the store."

Ein erster 'Overnight Video Report' von Gary Allen ist ebenfalls verfügbar.
MacNN liefert zusätzliche Galerien (plus Kurz-Video), allerdings noch aus den letzten Tagen.

'APPLE charttechnisch richtig sexy'

Na dann:
"Bei 25,0 $ hat Apple eine sehr starke mittel/langfristige Widerstandslinie. Seit Oktober 2000 gab es einige Versuche diesen Widerstand zu überbrücken, sie scheiterten alle. Seit dem 13.01.2004 hebelt die Aktie aber wieder mit einem bullishen Konsolidierungsmuster gegen die 25,0. Nach unten ist das Papier durch eine Unterstützung bei 21,57 $ gut abgesichert."
Quelle: FinanzNachrichten.de

Made on a Mac: New York City Photobloggers

Der Apple Store SoHo hatte bei seinen Special events auch eine illustre Ansammlung von New Yorker Photobloggern zu bieten. Galerie der verschiedenen Sprecher und ihrer entsprechenden Blogs finden sich bei rachelleb.com.
Satan's Laundromat lieferte dabei den Anblick, der sich im Apple Store als Sprecher bietet:

Mehr bei kottke.org.

Inside Apple Store San Francisco und der geheimnisvolle 'Lucky Bag' (Update)

Gestern gab es hier im fscklog schon einige Informationen zu den Apple Retail Stores im Allgemeinen und speziell zum San Francisco Store, der morgen eröffnet. Vor Ort berichtet wieder Gary Allen (der unter anderem in Tokyo 28 Stunden Schlange stand), bis jetzt mit Vorab-Video, das die Örtlichkeiten ('the heart of Macintosh country') genauer unter die Lupe nimmt und natürlich per ständig aktualisiertem Diary:
"Thursday, Feb. 26th
Indeed, the rainy and windy weather has moved east, and we're left with partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the 50s. The sun should make more of an appearance on Friday and Saturday."

Apple selbst liefert ebenfalls eine erste Galerie (zu sehen ist dabei natürlich wieder Steves Flagship-Store-Freischwebe-Treppe) und heizt die Vorfreude durch einen geheimnisvollen 'Lucky Bag' an, der rund 7 oder 8 Apple Produkte im Wert zwischen 600 und 1000 US Dollar enthält und bei der Eröffnung für 250 Dollar über die Theke gehen soll (zumindest 200 Stück), wie Jason Snell, Redakteur der Macworld, berichtet:
"What's in the bag? Apple refused to say, worrying that media wags like me might "spoil the surprise." Smart folks.
But we media types are curious people. We demanded to see a Lucky Bag. We asked probing questions. One woman asked if she could shake the bag -- a time-worn Christmas tradition in many homes.
No, senior Apple officials said, you can not shake the Lucky Bag."

Wired hat sich die Wundertüten-Geschichte sofort geschnappt und spekuliert über einen beinhalteten iPod mini:
"We've got a really popular product that sells for $249," he said, referring to the new music player, which went on sale last weekend. "So some of them might have a nice surprise."[...]
According to reports, lucky bags, or fukubukuro, attract tens of thousands of consumers to Japan's New Year's Day sales. One store alone claimed 25,000 lucky bag shoppers, and there are reports of injuries during lucky bag stampedes.[...]
At the Apple store, Johnson failed to explain why anyone who wants an iPod mini would spend the exact purchase price on a grab bag that had a good chance of not containing one."

Update:
Bei OSXFAQ findet sich eine weiter Galerie vom gestrigen Presse-Event.

Gary Allen liefert inzwischen einen Bericht über die ersten Schlangensteher:
"The first persons got in line for the San Francisco store grand opening at 9 p.m. on Thursday night, 49 hours before the 10 a.m. Saturday opening!"
Zusätzlich wird das Apple Logo noch schnell gewaschen:
"Workers were busy washing down the store's front stainless steel siding and back-lit Apple logo, and installing the stone siding inside the BART transit entrance."
Ab demnächst sollte man das Geschehen dann per Live-Webcam verfolgen können.

Apples Marktanteil in Q4 2003 unter 2%

Merrill Lynch platziert für das vierte Quartal 2003 Apple weltweit als neuntgrößten Computerhersteller und einen damit einhergehenden Marktanteil (nach Stückzahlen) von 1.7% .
Bei diesen Zahlen ist stets zu bedenken, dass Apple letztes Jahr durchaus gewachsen ist, nur leider langsamer als der gesamte Markt, was zwangsläufig zu einem Rückgang des Marktanteils führen muss.
Zu Sinn und Unsinn des 'Marktanteils' ist außerdem stets ein schon älterer Artikel bei Daring Fireball lesenswert:
"It certainly sounds dire when put that way. But it’s a bogus statistic. Overall PC market share covers large market segments where Apple isn’t competing — including markets where Apple doesn’t want to compete. Fifteen or 20 years ago, personal computers were generally only purchased and used by people who were “into” computers. Today, however, many computers are purchased for use as generic business machines, modern-day typewriters and adding machines."
Merrill Lynch jedenfalls gibt sich positiv:
"We expect iPod success eventually to spill over into Mac purchases."

FreitagsMacOrama

Bei IT&W nimmt man sich der Wasserkühlung im Zusammenhang mit einem Artikel bei CNET über Cooligy an:
"Apple setzt bekanntlich in weit höherem Maße auf neue Technologien als andere Computerbauer. Ein flüssigkeitsgekühlter Hochleistungs-Mac - oder auch ein G5-PowerBook, wie AppleInsider es im Kaffeesatz sah - sind also zumindest vorstellbar."
--

Frédéric Latour setzt sich stets lesenswert mit der Problematik der überbordenden Menüleisten Icons auseinander:

"About everyone using Mac OS X is using menu bar icons (also menulets"). Those appear on the upper right corner of your screen and offer various informations : the Clock, your Internet Connect, AirPort and iChat status, the Fast User Switching menu in Panther, etc. In fact, there are so many menulets available, that we soon miss space to store them on our menu bar. With applications that have long or multiple menus, menulets sometimes disappear as they are covered by the applications menus (this is especially true on smaller screens)."
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Der iPod mini im speziellen Akku-Test bei iPodlounge.com:
"The iPod’s advertised eight-hour battery life has been a point of controversy for some time now, and our results are not yet likely to end the debates. We were surprised to see our 3G iPod exhibit nearly identical performance on both of our tests, while the iPod mini on one test misses and alternately exceeds its advertised performance."
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Das ist auch Apple selbst eine Erwähnung wert:
"The world-famous British Pathe archive is using Apple technology to adapt the first digital news resource of its kind, so that schoolchildren can download high-resolution, original footage of the Titanic, the D-Day landings or The Beatles, and use it to bring their school projects to life."
Insbesondere wohl auch deswegen:
"In 2001, thanks to funding from the New Opportunities Fund, Peter initiated the first stage of the project, making the content available in Windows Media Player format. “QuickTime 6 is far superior”, he explains, “but it wasn’t released until Spring 2002. So when we started the coding in 2001, we had to go with Windows Media 8”. However, when Microsoft opted out of supporting the emerging cross-platform MPEG-4 standard on which other vendors — including Apple and Real — were basing their next generation technologies, the die was cast, and Pathe turned to QuickTime."
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Das feine Pflicht-PDF Browser Plugin von Manfred Schubert liegt nun in Version 2 vor (nur für 10.3).
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Review des iPod mini Armbands bei i-pod.de.
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'Safari Wars IV: A New Hope' bei RoughlyDrafted:
"The Finder has ruled Mac applications for the last twenty years. It's always there, right in front or lurking in the back waiting to help. What new features does the Finder dream of when a Mac goes to sleep? What does it have to do with Safari? Answers await!"
--

Entlassungen in Apples Education Division:
"An Apple spokesperson confirmed there were "minor work-force reductions" but declined to say how many jobs were cut, or which area they came from. The spokesperson did say that headcount at the company continues to grow overall. Apple has around 10,000 employees overall."
--

In der Forbes-Milliardär-Liste ist Steve Jobs auf Platz 262 mit einem geschätzten Vermögen von rund 2.1 Milliarden US Dollar. Platz 1 wird nach wie vor von Bill Gates beherrscht, dicht gefolgt von einem heftig reicher werdenden Warren Buffett und auf Platz 3 findet sich natürlich Karl 'Aldi' Albrecht.
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Alex Salkever setzt sich in der Business Week mit Apples Serverstrategie auseinander, die nach dem Weggang von Sebastian Gunningham einen Dämpfer erfahren musste:

"Apple's efforts in business computing are still relatively young -- it's not uncommon for companies seeking to crack corporate computing to take five years or more before making real inroads. In fact, sales of Apple's servers are growing smartly off a tiny base.
Still, Apple could improve its chances by making the purchase of an Xserve more palatable to potential customers. Ultimately, it needs to think about expanding into different business segments if it wants real staying power in corporate-computing markets. That will require much heavier lifting to convince IT managers outside Apple's fan base, since many remain wary of a company with so little history and reputation in corporate computing."
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CNET liefert einen Bericht über die neuen Produkte der Sony Line Show 2004:
"As always, we're there to bring you the news on Sony's latest wares, from portable audio players to DVD camcorders to swanky HDTVs."
--

Außerdem (Halb-)Wissenswertes aus dem Terminal - heute:
02/27 Independence Day in Dominican Republic
(Anleitung).

iPod mini Festplatte ausschlachten

Ich hatte es Mitte Januar bereits erwähnt, die Möglichkeit dem iPod mini seine Festplatte zu entreissen, könnte ihn zum billigen MicroDrive Lieferanten degradieren. Nun ist eine lebhafte Diskussion entbrannt, ob dies (momentan) überhaupt möglich ist.
Bei Boing Boing kam man zu folgendem Schluss:
"The iPod/microdrive hack does work. Where the other poster is confused is that you can't format the microdrive in the camera. You need to mount drive on you system with a CF reader. Then format it FAT and it works fine."
Während bei iPoding noch gebastelt wird und man sich nicht allzu sicher ist:
"Anyway, we can't, at this time, give a definitive answer to the question of the suitability of the mini as a source for cheap MicroDrives. Our shenanigans with the firmware didn't help, but mainly we're just not sure the Lexar reader supports the MicroDrive."

Vom iPod mini lässt sich anscheinend übrigens nicht Starten, sprich er lässt sich nicht als bootbares Backup o.ä. verwenden.

Microsoft und Napster gegen den iTunes Music Store

Laut einem Artikel der New York Post (und damit vorerst im Land der lustigen Gerüchte und wüsten Spekulationen) schiebt MS etwas 'marketing muscle' hinter den arg schwächelnden Napster Store:
"They certainly don't want to see [Apple] become so dominant it becomes the de facto service," said Michael Goodman, an analyst with the Yankee Group. "Microsoft doesn't really care how many stores there are, but it does care that they're established."
Microsoft talks up the diversity of its format, called ".wma," noting that more than 60 digital-music players support it.
But that very diversity may be hurting .wma, as marketing efforts are disjointed compared to Apple. There are a dozen online music stores supporting the .wma format, but they command only about 30 percent total market share, according to estimates from Nielsen SoundScan."

Der Krieg der Formate wird uns dieses Jahr sicher noch ordentlich bei Laune halten, die MacGuardians widmen sich der oben genannten Angelegenheit in schöner Ausführlichkeit:
"Was sollte Apple noch tun? WMA einsetzen? iTunes und iPod WMA-kompatibel machen, was ja durchaus möglich ist, wie man seit den jüngsten Berichten weiß? Nein. Diese Tür muss Apple nicht öffnen, es wäre eine defensive Strategie. Natürlich könnte man manchen Napster-Kunden wahrscheinlich zu einem iPod-Kauf animieren. Aber was wäre mit AAC? AAC hat momentan den größeren Marktanteil, kurioserweise aber eigentlich die geringere Verbreitung - wenn man einfach einmal die Anzahl der Stores sich anschaut, die AAC einsetzen. Ein WMA-iPod würde demnach eher den WMA-Stores nutzen, was Apple trotz nochmals potentiell steigender iPod-Absätze nicht schmecken kann."

Details zu den Apple Retail Stores (Update)

Apples (Noch-)CFO Fred Anderson widmete sich in seiner Rede während des Goldman Sachs Technology Investment Symposiums in Phoenix den Apple Retail Stores:

"Mr. Anderson said the gross profit margin for Apple's retail stores was 3.3 percent, generating US$9 million in profit on revenues of US$273 million during the latest quarter.

Mr. Anderson said he is "very pleased" with the profitability of the existing 76 stores. "Our stores are creating significant growth for Apple," he said. "Somewhere between 40 and 50 percent, depending on the quarter, of our sales are to non-Mac users, so it's definitely converting switchers to the platform."

Asked where the company would be "max'ing out" on the number of retail stores, Anderson repeated that the company has 76 stores today, would be opening the 77th "flagship" stores in San Francisco this weekend, and would be opening the second international store in Osaka before the end of the year. He said the company is targeting "somewhere around 80 stores" by back-to-school September.

"We can predict with a fairly good degree of accuracy the sales of a new MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) market that we might be evaluating to enter based upon the sales historically correlated with the Mac base within a 10 to 15 miles radius of a planned store location," Mr. Anderson said. "It's a pretty good prediction of how much revenue we would be able to do for a store. So we don't plan to open any new stores that we don't believe we have a really good chance to at least break even in the first year of operation."

Mr. Anderson said there were no plans to move or down-size any existing stores, but admitted, "some of the store locations in the first year of operation, had we had it to do over again, we would have put a small store (at 4,000 square feet) rather than a standard store (at 7,000 square feet) because the markets weren't large enough to justify a larger store."

(Quellen: ifo Apple Store und The Mac Observer)

Apropos Apple Store:
Apple Insider munkelt:
"The next round of Apple's international retail store experiment is set to touchdown in Canada, according to sources with ties to the company's retail division.
Plans to launch at least two stores in the Toronto, Ontario area are said to be underway, with Apple representatives actively seeking additional locations in and outside of the province."
und 'Second Apple Store coming to San Francisco, sources say'. Der 'erste' San Francisco Store öffnet kommenden Samstag seine Tore.

Update:
Einige weitere interessante Details zu Andersons Rede bei MacNN:
"Apple said it doesn't calculate all revenue generated by its software, since some of its software is bundled for free with Macs. However, in the December quarter was $238M, up 50% year-over-year. Apple said its R&D spending is $500M per year. 50% on hardware; 30% on OS, and 20% on application development. Sales of software on a standalone are much like other software companies, although it declined to mention specifics."

Weitere interessante Details zum Apple Store San Francisco bei CNET:
"The store will have 70 employees, Johnson said, who speak a total of 15 different languages.
"One language they all speak is Windows," quipped Johnson. "That's really important if you are trying to switch people to Macs."