In previous news, we were reporting that the high-end PMG5 model dual 2.7GHz was equipped with Pioneer DVR-109 SuperDrive, while the entry-level had a Sony DW-Q28A. We do not have information yet regarding the Dual 2.3GHz, but it seems to be Sony SuperDrive.
hereafter are the specs of both models:
DVR 109:
Burn DVD+/-R at 16x
Burn DVD+R9 6x
Burn DVD-R DL 6x
Burn DVD-RW 6x
Burn DVD+RW 8x
Burn CD-R at 40x
Burn CD-RW at 24x
Read CD at 40x
Read DVD at 16x
DW-Q28A:
Burn DVD+/-R at 16x
Burn DVD+R9 4x
Burn DVD-R DL 4x
Burn DVD-RW 6x
Burn DVD+RW 8x
Burn CD-R at 48x
Burn CD-RW at 24x
Read CD at 48x
Read DVD at 16x
In summary, Sony model is faster in burning and reading Cd, while Pioneer model is faster with dual layer media. The DVR-109 is also theoretically compatible with DVD-RMA, but we suspect that Apple has disable this feature as usual.
It is officially today that iTMS Switzerland should be launched, but the link to
iTunes/iTMS on the
AppleStore Switzerland is already active and entitled:
"iPod+iTunes, the musical duo that the entire Switzerland has been waiting for".
Starting today, iTMS is also available in Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
In addition, one of our readers (thanks Guillaume) is reporting that the Swiss Bank UBS announces an exclusive cooperation with iTMS Switzerland, targeting young customers:
www.ubs.com/young . UBS has launched a portal related to this offer:
UBS campus et UBS Generation .
Under 20-years and students can get an UBS Generation or an UBS Campus account, collect KeyClub points by using their bank account, and benefit to special offer linked to iTMS : Song Cards iTMS :
The new song card for the iTunes Music Store by Apple is available exclusively to UBS clients from all UBS branches in Switzerland. The cost of the card can be debited to your UBS account if you do not have any KeyClub points. KeyClub members who pay with KeyClub points will receive the song card at a particularly attractive price.
That way one can obtain:
• 12 music downloads for 15 points or 18 CHF.
• 20 music downloads for 25 points or 30 CHF.
UBS offers 20 KeyClub points to every owners of a UBS Generation or Campus account.
Let's hope that such an initiative will not remain Swiss-specific.
Thanks to Javier for his testimony:
Microsoft's "Gatekeeper Test" was intented to crown the best European IT security expert. It started this monday, and was meant to last for 2 weeks, but was finally canceled because of a technical incident:
"Thank you for your participation in the Gatedeeper test. Unfortunately, for technical matters, we decided to stop this challenge, in order not to penalize some participants. We apologize for this situation, and hope you'll appreciate our willing to be correct. We're currently solving the problem, and we'll let you know when the challenge will be ready again."
In fact, the test could be easily hacked. Each questions had two possible answers. once you had answered correcttly to one of those, you just had to click "back" in your browser, and answer again to the question: it gave you extra points... After three days, some clever kids had already more points that the maximum available...
The European challenge is therefore canceled. Too bad, because I was leading in Switzerland, and 6th at the European level.
Apple must be happy: they're going to be able to feed Mac users tons of GeForce 5200 for aaaaages.
NVidia just announced they have upped the production of these entry-level graphic chips (hey, THEY call them entry-level, promise). They should pump out 2 MILLION units a month.
One of the main reason is that dirt-cheap PCs remain faithful to AGP because it is really, erh, cheap. And the Chinese market just love cheap PCs.
Reality check: NVidia sells a barebone GeForce 5200 chip US$18...
Jonathan gives us a heads up on the release of KiSS MacLink 2, which allows your Mac to interface with DivX Kiss standalone players.
What's new:
- Rewritten in Cocoa
- iTunes playlists support
- Compatible with the DP-558 (firmware 1.1.2 or better)
- Subtitles display
http://kissmaclink.free.fr/
Cricri brilliantly shatters our doubts regarding the new G5 systems and Panther:
As you can see on this screenshot, he is running Mac OS X 10.3.9 on a 2x2.7GHz G5 machine. He actually booted his machine on an external firewire drive which had Panther installed... but nothing prevents you from cloning the system back onto your new G5's HD.
And Cricri reports having no trouble at all running his dream machine under Panther... now, just grab your wallet and rush to the nearest AppleStore.
