The car is definitely about to become the must among the different accessories for iPod. More and more manufacturers are getting interested.
It is nowadays possible to install iPod inside a BMW, a Smart, or to use it combined with an
Alpine car radio.
BlueSpot proposes an integration kit compatible with Blaupunkt car radios, while
Car Audio Discount implements iPod with its accessories. At this pace, CD craddles will disappear in a few months/years
[Upd.] In France, the "Ice link" system is available on
Dension website, among different adapters for integrating iPod in different car radio brands. For information, they had a small stand during the Apple Expo. Alex.
One of our readers has had repeated problem with his G4 Dual 1.25 GHz bought in 2002. despite 2 motherboard exchanges, his computers is still having problems.
AppleCare has decided that enough is enough, and has taken a decision to stop his problem. He is going to receive, in exchange to his endless repaired computer, a PMG5 Dual 2.5GHz!!
That's a way to reconcile users with AppleCare.
DVD forum, responsible for defining the "-"R/RW format, is late regarding definition for double layer media. but it is not hopeless.
During its last meeting session, concept and specifications version 2.9 for double layer DVD-R (DVD-R9) have been validated.
In total it is a total of 21 definitions which have been decided, from the official logo for HD-DVD format to specs of the high density DVD-R format.
http://www.dvdforum.org
Denis would like to share his recent experience with us:
For those still skeptical of the Digital Music revolution, Selfridges, one of the "need-to-see" store in London, has just opened a digital music corner, carrying all the accessories and the kitchen sink ! As you can see on the picture, it is not an iPod-only booth, one can find players from Sony, Rio and al. but it is clear that the iPod is still the king !
One other interesting point, even though it is a music-dedicated booth, they have one computer there : a 17" iMac G5...
Nvidia added two new Geforce 6800 Ultra-derived cards. The 6600 GT is now the middle range, while the 6600 becomes the entry level.
The latter has a very low clocked GPU, only 300 MHz. It might soon become the overclockers' dream card :
The guys over at
Hardware.fr (in French) managed to jump from 300 to 550 MHz !
If Apple starts to use this card, we might need our good pal Thomas Perrier to write a little NviAccelerator :)
Olivier, who just received his Dual 2.5Ghz G5, had a little surprise.
Up until now, Apple had always installed Pioneer superdrives in their top-of-the-line. His G5 has a LG superdrive.
Specs wise, the LG GSA-4082B is very similar to the Pioneer 107. It burns DVD+/-R at 8x, DVD+/-RW at 4x, CD-R at 24x. It is a tad slower for CD-RW, burns at 16x against 24x for the Pioneer, and reads CDs at 32x instead of 40x.
We found a benchmark of this drive on
CDR-Labs. The LG has a better seek time than the 107, however it is a little slower in the DVD area. The only advantage the LG has over the Pioneer is the ability to burn DVD-RAM, but Apple has probably disabled that feature anyway.
According to our sources, Pioneer stopped producing 107s, and fully switched their production line to 108s. This, along with a lower price for the LG drive, may have helped Apple's choice.
Until Apple finally goes with 16x DVD and DL burners, if you have some cash left after receiving your G5, get yourself a 108, the still uncontested king in the arena.
A zone free firmware for the LG drive is available here (PC flashing utilities):
http://tdb.rpc1.org/#GSA4082B
