News for Friday, 16 April 2004

The info isn't official yet, AquaMac lets us know Formac will sell two LCD TVs models.

The first is 27" 16:9 with a 1280*720 max resolution, which shall cost 2,135 Euros
Le second is a 30" 15:9 with a 1280*768 resolution, the price will be 2,628 Euros

Pascal Cagni confirmed the iTMS would come to Europe in 2004. Delays are due to both technical and contents issues. We also wonder if the fact that Apple refuse to pay the French tax on HD doesn't account for this delay. Cagni spoke of Europe, not of every european countries...

While RealNetworks suggested the next version of their soft might be iPod compatible, including the DRM solution from Apple, Steve Jobs let them know he was clearly not interested in working with competitors. It seems he claims having a monopoly IS a cool thing indeed.
He already had declared in the Wall Street Journal :

"The iPod already works with the No. 1 music service in the world, and the iTunes Music Store works with the No. 1 digital-music player in the world. The No. 2s are so far behind already. Why would we want to work with No. 2?"

It would seem Bill eeerrrr.... Steve will do his best so Micro..eeerrrr... Apple will keep the whole pudding for themselves...

Apple published two jobs offers.
One is a job in the iSync Team.
The other one is a job in the iCal Team.
It would seem those two iApps are developped in Les Ulis [near Paris].

Thanks to Jean Philippe for noticing that Motorola modified its techspecs webpage on PPC G4 7447A. Here is now this new table:

There is a 1.5 GHz chip. And also a 1.42 one.
If Apple keep shipping its laptops with G4, no doubt those CPUs will be inside the new Powerbooks.

Thanks Arthur for the info.

I just found an interesting bit in this week's CERN newsletter... (see below) and a little message from the CERN Computer Club (http://cmc.home.cern.ch/cmc/ (in French) ): "We will take part [...] in the CERN's 50th anniversary event. [...] In collaboration with Apple Computer Switzerland, we will offer a customized iPod with the logo [of the 50th anniversary of the CERN] at a very special price." Here there are a lot of Apple logos on the doors, however not so many on the desks anymore... But the Mac spirit still seems to be alive in here.

Taiwanese manufacturers (Lite-On, BenQ...) are working hard to release 16x dvd burners as soon as possible and ideally before Japanese makers (Pioneer, Nec...)
The group releases should happen anytime between the end of this quarter and the beginning of the next.

Fred Anderson, future ex CFO of Apple admitted that the the company intended to open a flagship store in London before the end of this year.
This will be the first Apple retail Store in Europe.
For France, the picture is still blurry, and we didn't get clear answers from anyone.
Apple seems to want to open one or two Stores there, with the help of the various Apple Centers, even if that means to participate financing the modification of the shops to bring a certain coherence in their design/architecture.

Source : La Dernière Heure (in French)

Next week-end, Belgacom will start a test on its DSL grid, allowing authorities to sniff packets from and to its clients. Even if this is officially set up to help bring child pornographs and other criminals to justice, this raises serious privacy concerns.
Some time ago, France had its share of stories about illegal phone tapping for lucrative or political purposes, where people were using the authorities infrastucture...

While the Majors will probably start suing people in Europe, The European Parliament would like to regulate p2p activities on the Old Continent.
If Intellectual Property is not put in jeopardy, personal use could well become tolerated.
Had this news been release on April 1st, it could have made a nice little joke!