Thursday June 15, 2006

- Vista: Prices For Licenses Available?! - Lionel - 16:37:39

According to Clubic, the prices for the future MS Vista OS licenses are already available (at least for the French version, warning price may vary till Vista is finally released).

Price are "all taxes included":
- 200 Euros for the "Home" version
- 400 Euros for a version between "home" and "Pro", it will feature HDTV support as well as iApps clones.
- 650 Euros for the "Pro" version
- A version dedicated for Small Business, adding some automatic backup and scripting features will be available for 800 Euros.

It is expensive, very expensive, especially when comparing it to OSX or OSX Server. Let's hope that it does not give ideas to Apple to increase the price of OSX.5 Leopard.

[translation by Eric]

- HDMI: New Definition - Lionel - 14:31:32

The HDMI format definition has evolved, and a new version 1.3 is available.
Among the new features, the bandwidth will increase by rising up the frequency from 165 to 215MHz, and colors will be 36-bits coded instead of 30-bits previously.
Concerning the audio, the new version will support the future Dolby HD and DTS HD contents.
Do not forget that you will need a HDMI-enable display/TV to be able to watch protected HD contents on it. But the current HDMI version 1.2a installed in all devices will be sufficient to manage all HD movies that should appear in a near future.


[translation by Eric]

- The Amazing Story Of A Pink iPod mini... - Lionel - 14:26:00

Source : http://www.nbc11.com

Thanks to Michel for sending us this story that took place at the Santa Clara University, and explains how a simple pink iPod mini has caused huge headache for maintenance workers for the last few months.
A female student accidentally dropped her iPod in the toilet; she was probably far to imagine the consequences. Indeed, the iPod got stuck in a way that it clogs the University toilets.


While trying to flush it away through the pipes, different maintenance companies have successfully flooded toilets in some buildings; but at the end they were successful. One of the maintenance workers called the iPod: "indestructible".

It is not said if the iPod was still working after weeks spent into the water pipes, but this story has had a cost for the University (several thousand of US$).


[translation by Eric]

- Special Discount - Eric - 14:06:03

Our current partner, YourMacStores.com, is offering a special discount for hardmac readers:

We would like to offer a special discount coupon for HardMac readers.
Please type "hardmac06" in the field of discount coupon on the check out page.
All items are 10 % off with the coupon code from 6/15 to 6/30 on PST. We don't accept discount after checking out. So please don't forget to type the coupon code

This discount is only valid for a limited time period and in United States, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands and Italy.

- Mac mini and iMac Core Duo Are Cheaper...iPod nano too! - Lionel - 11:30:39

Apple has lowered the price of Mac mini and iMac Core Duo.
New prices are as follow (all taxes included):

Mac mini:
Core Solo: 619 Euros (-30 Euros).
Core Duo: 799 Euros (-50 Euros).

iMac core Duo:
17": 1299 Euros (-80 Euros).
20": 1699 Euros (-100 Euros).

Apple might have simply translate the recent price cuts applied by Intel on its Core CPUs.
Direct link to the AppleStore

[update]
ipod nano prices are also down!
- 1GB: 159 Euros (- 10 Euros)
- 2GB: 209 Euros (-14 Euros)
- 4GB: 259 Euros (-18 Euros)

Is Apple getting prepared for a future revision??

[translation by Eric]

- New Intel processor to be released June 26th - Lionel - 08:31:17

Source : TGdaily

It's now official. Intel has gathered journalists to officially present the next "Core" processors. It is expected that this occasion will bring the launch of the new Xeon, which is still known as WoodCrest for the moment, and which we suspected 5 months ago as being that which Apple will choose to replace the G5 in it's professional line.
Now, nothing says that Apple will be able to release the machines at the same time as the announcement of the processors as it did with Yonah. They could, just as easily, decide to wait two more months for it to coincide with the WWDC.

According to the rumor, the Xeon will be available at frequencies from 1.6 Ghz to 3 Ghz, with the price ranging from $209 to $851.
It would be interesting to test a 3 Ghz Quad Xeon MacPro :)

[translation by jwa]

- Who wants to buy AOL? - Lionel - 08:15:10

Source : Silicon.fr

The merger between AOL and Time Warner symbolises the sommet of what was later known as the Internet bubble.
All is now good and finished. AOL Europe is to be sold in pieces.
Free and Neuf Cegetel would be in line to acquire the still 450,000 subscriber strong, but overdrawn, French subsidiary.
The battle is likely to be rough between the two, seeing that the number 2 French ADSL position is at stake.

[translation by jwa]

- Intel's new mobile platform - Lionel - 08:03:23

Source : http://www.dailytech.com

Intel has released details on it's next platform which is targeted for portables and mini PCs (and Macs of course).
Currently known as Santa Rosa, it will use the new 965 series chipset. Its innovations are as follows:
- Support for memory busses up to 800 MHz (currently limited to 667)
- Replaces the GMA 950 with the GMA 3000
- Support for Robson technology, which will add a flash memory chip to the motherboard in order to accelerate access to information. Note that this technology could be doubled with the inclusion of flash memory directly in hard drives.
- Support for HDMI and UDI
- Support for the 802.11n Wi-Fi standard
This new platform is expected around March 2007, most likely just in time for a 3rd generation MacBook pro.

[translation by jwa]

- Apple Bluetooth Firmware Update 1.2.1 - MacEnsteph - 07:47:37

A minor bluetooth firmware update (version 1.2.1, 1.4 Mb) is available for PPCs. According to official documentation, its objective is , as you've already guessed, to improve performance and reliability.

The Bluetooth Firmware Update 1.2.1 improves Bluetooth performance and reliability issues.

[translation by jwa]

- Will the future belong to 2.5" hard drives? - Lionel - 07:15:44

Source : Dailytech

During Computex, Fujitsu demonstrated a 10 TB server based on fifty 200 GB 2.5" drives.


Even with redundancy it has 8 TB of free space, the 2 TB lost being used for the parity check.
The power consumption of this server is less than 80W, which is a lot lower than the equivalent with 3.5" drives.
The only hitch is that it is based off of 4200 rpm drives.
So there will be a high data rate, but poor access times.
If 2.5" drives can gain in performance, obtaining 10,000 rpm, perhaps one day it will be a viable replacement for 3.5" drives in servers.

[translation by jwa]