News for Thursday, 18 May 2006

For a long time Sony has been searching for a way to integrate Linux with it's gaming consoles, including a version for the PlayStation 2 that remained confidential. With it's latest baby, the PlayStation 3, planned for November, Sony decided to provide a standard Linux distribution, and also to open it to outside developers.
So it is likely that there will be a outpour of all sorts of applications, games, and software ports from other platforms by amateurs and opensource communities. And if the Mac community is interested, there is nothing to prevent us from officially developing applications to facilitate the connectivity between our machines and the PlayStation 3. The PlayStation 3 could be completely integrated with iLife for example.
This is the first time that a important console manufacturer (Microsoft, Sega, Nintendo, Sony) has allowed outside development (with the risk of hacking that that allows) and not solely the more lucrative in-house development.
It seems very likely that the openness of Sony is to make its game console, which required a lot of research and development, more than a simple game console, so that it can be integrated in all the homes of the world, and not just those of game addicts. And if that allows us to integrate it easier into our already Macified homes,, all the better.

Apple has released the MacBook, finishing the transition of its notebook models to Intel CPU. It is also now easier for customers to choose a notebook according to their needs, and it makes also Apple's life easier (no more competition between iBook and PB12", no more iBook 12" or 14").
The other interesting point is the price of the new MacBook, very aggressive, and calculated to directly compete with similar notebook models from PC manufacturers, especially from Dell, as noticed by Slashdot.
Hereafter are the specs of a Latitude D620:

Intel® Core(TM) Duo T2400 (1.83GHz) 667Mhz Dual Core
OS: Windows® XP Home Edition, SP2
Display: WideScreen WXGA 14.1"
GPU: Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 950
RAM: 512MB, DDR2-533 SDRAM, 1 DIMM
HD: 60Go, 9.5MM, 5400rpm
optical drive: 24X CD-RW/DVD w/ Cyberlink PowerDVD(TM)
Wifil (802.11): Dell Wireless(TM) 1390 802.11g Mini Card
Bluetooth: Dell Wireless® 350 Bluetooth Module

its price 1466 $, a price very similar to the MacBook (after adding the extended AppleCare to match Dell warranty)!!
Things have changed at Cupertino, and the competition seems now on, between Apple making CPU transition and record financial quarter vs. Dell posting profit warning.
As mentioned by Jesper on Waffle website, "I think it’s safe to say that whenever someone tells you that Dell’s machines are cheaper than Macs with comparable specs, they’re bullshitting you.".
Will the price of all Apple hardware models be lowered due to Intel CPU transition? It will benefit Mac users anyway.

Apple has decided to change its policy regarding OsX x86 Darwin kernel. From now on, it will not be possible to modify or edit the OSX x86 kernel anymore. This modification does not concern PPC processors.
This decision has been taken to avoid kernel modification by hackers in order to run MacOSX x86 on PC.

Less than 2 days after its introduction, MacWorld has just published the first benchmarks of the MacBook.
As expected, results are almost identical to the MBPro when using CPU-dependent benchmarks; however, when testing the GPU, the MacBook is slightly faster than the iBook 1.42GHz, but 3x slower than the MBPro or the iMac Intel equipped with a Radeon X1600.
For more details: MacWorld.