News for Thursday, 2 September 2004

Even with an opening date during summer time/holidays, it did not impact the number of visitors for AppleExpo 2004. On Tuesday, it was really packed, crowed...amazing...During all days so far, it is difficult to move from one booth to another. One will have to wait for the final number of visitors, but so far it is a real success. We have noted than many visitors were actually parents coming with their children, which was giving a nice touch to this Apple event; and it is never to early to become a Mac-user.
Till the end of the keynote, the whole Apple exhibition booth was covered with black curtains (4m height). Around 10h00 many visitors started packing up around Apple booth, the number increasing more and more with time, creating a bit of tension... Members of Apple staff who were present on the other side of the curtains, have told us that when it was finally opened at the end of the keynote, it has been nothing but a huge bustling; it was apparently amazing, and even at some point some visitors fell down due to the pressure...
This enthusiasm is definitely proving to Apple that the launch of a new product is not affected by the fact that it has been announced weeks before, it might even be the opposite!! And results of AppleExpo2004 will strongly benefit from the iMacG5 anticipated announcement.

To taunt time-limited special offer from Real, Apple is launching iTunes Affiliate Program. The "iTunes affiliate program" lets websites place links to iTunes songs, albums, audio-books and artists; and as benefit, earn a 5% commission for clicks that turn into sales.
Registration is free of charge, and possible as soon as you follow the "Terms and Conditions", and that you website does not contain sexually explicit materials, hate/violent/offensive content or promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or age...
(Otherwise are considered offensive or inappropriate at Apple’s sole discretion)
This offer is available for U.S. iTunes Music Store only, and is completing other Apple programs for large download accounts and US Universities agreements.
for additional info

Airport Card update version 3.4.3 is available for all Airport Extreme-equipped Macintosh. This update is related to AirPort 4.0:

AirPort Card Update 2004-08-31 improves reliability in mixed 802.11b and 802.11g environments and is recommended for all customers with AirPort-capable computers running AirPort 3.4 and later, including AirPort 4.0.

[Update]
Apparently, this new version is fixing the audio problem sometimes faced by users when using AirTunes in a mixed 802.11b and 802.11g environment.

Tom's Hardware has performed an extensive test of the Logitech MX 1000 mouse. this mouse is the first one to be based on a laser instead of a red diode. It results an extreme precision not achieved yet. Unfortunately, this mouse can not be used by left-handed users.
To read this article :
http://www.tomshardware.fr
[translator note: onlyin french, on www.tomshardware.fr so far, not yet translated into english, should be soon available on www.tomshardware.com]

It is nowadays possible, like on PC, to overclock an ATI graphic card on the fly, and without having to flash it. It is extremely interesting, because it decreases the risk of destroying the card. We advise you not to be to enthusiastic when increasing the speed, because it can harm the device. Start with the speed of the memory, it is the main limitating factor, and the margin for improvement is bigger. Furthermore, a memory chip is less fragile than a processor.

Don't hesitate to post your results and comments on the forum!
http://thomas.perrier.name/software/ATIcceleratorII.html

Since the Keynote, theApple stock is increasing. The announce of the iMac, though expected, did its effect. It's a good news: those past years, Keynotes didn't always had any consequences on the stock of the company. Yet, it reaches $35.86, while it was worth $23 one year ago, and $14 two years ago.

Here is a picture taken in the press hall at Apple Expo.

As you can notice, being a journalist is exhausting :)
A few months ago, we talked about Waff.
If you plan to come to Paris before Saturday evening, please step by the stand of "Le Pommier" (Trans: the Appletree, an association of the main mac-related French websites, streaming Mac topics over the Web), and there, you'll be able to try one of those funny pillows...

Here is another picture of iMac G5 (thanks nitrox) :

Click to zoom