News for Tuesday, 30 March 2004

The "Blue-ray Disc Founders" consotium presented the soon to be heir of the DVD-ROM. The BD-ROM, based upon Blue-Ray technology, will hold from 25 to 50 Go data, thus enabling the use of very high resolution films. As for burners, Sony Blue Ray double layer will be up to burn 50 Go (by the end of this year).
Yet a future competitor will challenge it by the same time (2005), the HD-DVD .
A new war is at hand, and shall probably delay our use of those products.

During0 CEBIT, HP displayed their LightScribe burning technology. If only a few minutes are required to engrave text, 40 mn were needed for high quality images.

This will seem quite a load of time, when a DVD will take less than 10mn and even 5 to burn.
Specific burners will cost 10 more Euros and medias 0.1 Euro.
We hope the Brun Buisson Commission (managing taxes on blank medias in France) will not make us pay more on those just because the two sides may be engraved :))
To know more, click HERE

Thx to Julien as we'd forgotten to talk about it

Though the info is from the beginning of March I didn't see any (French) comments on it. AAC files may be "bookmarked", like Audible files, thus enabling one to resume reading where they stopped, even if it was a week before, on multipe different files! This is naturally the best way for big audio books, or even live improvisations, interviews or DJ mixes. File type must be turned from "M4A " to "M4B ", with space. (This is not the extension, but the four letter type which comes from preceding OS versions). This will work as well with M4A and with M4P, ie iTunes music store files. A well known Doug Adams script will do it for you: http://www.malcolmadams.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=makebookmarkable This has been published by Apple themselves, who put an article online in their KnowledgeBase, then put it away some days afterward. This is probably related to the fact they tell programmers not to use the Types/Creators functions, though great they may be, they're still not compatible with Linux/Windows...) Though we all know one of the infos only in the file name it is not that convenient.

On top of savings as high as 20 to 40%, Refurb can hold other kinds of surprises.
If a client had bought a BTC machine, which ends up in Refurb, Apple won't change anything but sell it under base prices.
One of our readers for instance bought a G4 iBook, at a price of 959 Euros.
He had 384Mo RAM instead of 256, a 40 Go HD (instead of 30) and even a Bluetooth chip inside!
Which makes 139 Euros additional options, almost a 29% rebate.
Yet the Refurb store is finally closed.

What shall you do if one day, you find a security leak in a software which aims at making your computer secure ?
We really wondered about that : to shut up would only serve malevolent people, who would try to take advantage of it. Tell the editor without claiming it will often lead them to slowly but surely secure this issue (which is naturally the first concern here).
One last solution, talk about it on a Web so every one may know that using this software isn't the most secure of all things.
That's what Guillermito did, who showed the PC anti-virus Viguard had a security issue.
Though the gesture wasn't ill-intended, this is gonna cost him much:

Just back from Paris. I've been charged of "counterfeiting and receiving counterfeiting". I may get as much as two years in jail and a 150.000 euros fine. Nobody ever told me if I'm sentenced or considered as innocent, but I've already payed 2000 to 3000 euros, pour for two stays in Paris, plane tickets and lawyer fees.

Guillermito who is a researcher in molecular biology in Harvard proved wrong to be right.
There's be an unprecedented crisis going on on the Web those days. We won't talk of the upcoming LEN [loi de confiance dans l'économie numérique : digital trust act], but time has come where talking of a software and its failures makes you a pirate.
Les éditeurs préfèrent souvent masquer leurs lacunes, plutôt que de faire amende honorable et gagner en prestige.
To know more:
http://www.guillermito2.net/archives/2004_03_25.html

We're definitely glad we don't publish any more rumors. The future of G5 Powermacs and their renewal is quite obscure.
So to say, it is even more since Apple US's new rebate.
If you buy aPowerMac G5 with a 23" Apple Cinema Display, save $500.This lasts from March 28th to June 26th. As a reminder, next WWDC will start on June 28th.
[upd.] According to a professional user reader, the savings would represent 400 euros. It seems Apple's dollars/ euros exchange rate is still a bit eccentric.
Brilliant Savings

Following a claim from Dell, Apple has been forced to remove the commercial advertising "the fastest personal computer in the world". The National Advertising Division judged that the comparison wasn't reasonable, what we have always regarded as being true.
However, the fact that Dell feels obliged to counter such an affirmation is the kindest gift they could do to Apple. It's the evidence that they start considering they might lose some sales.
But keep in mind that each time Apple sales a Mac, Dell sells almost as many PCs as the number of screws in the Mac.

Thanks to Yves for this tip.

In addition to the previous article published by Sterpin related to the cleaning up of an apple keyboard, hereafter is an extensively validated method: to clean the letters keys made of plastic (after removing then from the keyboard of course), the best way might be a dishwasher!! The big plastic part will find their way into compartments designed for the plates, whereas the keys will be placed into the basket normally receiving the forks, and other spoons, but be careful to place the letters keys into a closed net!! Use a quick washing program (max temperature 50°) and you will obtain a perfectly cleaned keyboard.

Dear male reader, be careful, while using the dishwasher for cleaning your keyboard, you might prove to your wife that you are skilled enough for using it for its original purpose : washing the dishes...

The web site http://www.sterpin.net/ is back online with an article describing how to clean an Apple USB keyboard.

It's now Cora's turn (thanks Guillaume) to use a Ti Powerbook "running"... Windows (!) to illustrate it's multimedia products listing (Cora is a some sort of French Wall-Mart.)

Maybe it's time PC laptops would assume their ugliness*?

*OK, some VAIOs actually look sexy.

We reported on Refurb laptops that came with unexpected options.
We got an all-time winner here, named Didier.

At the first refurb in february 2004 (French site), I ordered a 100% standard G4 iBook 12"/256MB/30GB. A couple of days later I receive said iBook, but... it comes packed with 640MB of RAM, 60GB of HD and built-in bluetooth! I just had to buy an Airport card to get an all-options iBook :)

Which all in all makes it a 34.5% discount (on the French price).
Anyone can best that?

You were numerous to report on having spotted iPod posters around ski resorts.
Benj has finally sent us a picture that wasn't taken with a 2 micropixels camera phone ;-)