News for Thursday, 6 July 2006

-Apple in last January had to face a bronca for creating the ministore in iTunes 6.0.2. The software actually sent a server the titles of the tunes you'd listen to in order to display an adapted ad.
This wasn't enough, as the site red-sweater.com has it.
It seems that since the 10.4.7 update, Dashboard also communicates with Apple servers.
This communication is supposedly made to check out that the installed widgets are the same than those registered on Apple's site.
In that case, Dashboard communciates to two URLs:
http://www.apple.com/widgets/widgetadvisory
http://www.apple.com/widgets/parser.info
For the time being, there's not much to blame Apple for, unless that we're not allowed to deactivate this feature.
On the other hand, clicking on the first link brings a clear reference to a "Serial Number", which might eventually lead to paying Widgets (made by Apple) or to more thorough check outs.
It would be better than in the future, we'd be told of such features prior that they're enabled.
Just considering the issues met by Microsoft with their Genuire Advantage makes you think.
[MàJ] Wired gives a hint as to how to deactivate the spy.
Open a Terminal and type the following:

sudo mv /etc/mach_init.d/dashboardadvisoryd.plist /etc/mach_init.d/dashboardadvisoryd.plist.disabled

then enter your admin password.
Then reboot, and unless.Apple or you reactivate it, it won't come back.

According to The Guardian, Universal Music might release in September low cost CDs.
Those basic CDs would be mainly old albums, have a minimalist packaging, but would cost only £7, (about 10 euros/ $ 12).
They clearly indicate those CDs are aimed at diminishing the iTMS sales, as Apple's platform brought a new interest to old, hard to find tunes.
At the same time, and also to fight against online music, a "deluxe" version of the albums might be commercialized. It would hold a bonis CD or DVD.

Samsung has announced to have launched the production of the next generation graphic card-dedicated RAM chips: GDDR4.
Those modules will have data speed transfer reaching 2.4Gbits/s at 32 bits vs. 2.0Gbits/s for the current GDDR3. If the difference is not impressive, the main feature of the GDDR4 is its low power consumption level that can be up to 45% lower. This is achieved thanks to a thinner engraving process (80nm), and as a consequence it will also be easier to cool down GDDR4 chips.
The first graphic cards based on GDDR4 should be available by the end of the year.

After weeks of intensive use, I made my mind: Future Sonics EM3 now has a heir, XtremeMac FS1. In my humble opinion, Let's say that it is no less than than the best intra-ear iPod earbuds set... and certainly one of the best models to listen to your music while making sport : the best for summer!
The EM3 now has a challenger, and the reason to that is simple : the FS1 was made by Future Sonics in cooperation with XtremeMac. And this partnership will make it possible, for instance, to find the FS1 easily in France : a good point, as the EM3 could only be ordered via the web.
A big thanks to Future Sonics. Thanks also to Gotchi, greg57 and linathael for helping me with every step of this review.

The iMac Education, iMac Core Duo 17" for 959 Euros, is now available in non-US Education AppleStores.
To our point of view, this iMac Education is a strong competitor of the Mac mini Core Duo.

It seems that the market for blue laser-based devices is finally growing, leading to an increased number of press releases and/or product announcements.
Yesterday, LG announced the GBW-H10N, a drive able to burn a BD-R media at 4x, in less than 30 minutes.
It also supports single-sided single-layer (SL) BD, DVD+RW/-RW, DVD-RAM (rewritable), CD-R/RW burning as well as SL and single-sided double-layer (DL) DVD+R/-R burning.
As described above, this drive does NOT support double-layer BD media; it may be a choice since such media might be too expensive.
So, as illustrated above, specifications of blue laser-based burners will become more complex to identify and customers will have to pay attention to all information provided (support for single and/or double layer, BD-R or BD-R/RW, CD-R or CD-R/RW, etc.)
In the coming months competition between manufacturers will bring prices down and our advice remains the same — do NOT buy a blue-laser burner yet.

JCJ

New details have emerged related to new attempts from Microsoft, aimed at the iPod market.
Microsoft's iPod-like device will be able to play audio and video content and should come bundled with an iTunes-like application. It will, of course, come with an on-line music store similar to iTMS.
According to sources, "Microsoft is now interested in controlling the whole vertical stack of technology from the device to the service to the software."
We'll see by the end of the year how interesting Microsoft's iPod killer is. By that time, Apple will likely have released the next generation iPod nano and iPod with video.
As usual, Microsoft is not innovative. They simply copy good ideas (often poorly) and throw massive marketing dollars to kill competition. In the end, customers do not benefit from better devices or a better experience. :-(

JCJ

Thanks to Thomas for this report.
While Symantec claims to have identified Trojan-type viruses on Macs, experts from Sophos, a well known IT Security company, have drawn completely different conclusions:

"Security threats to PCs with Microsoft Windows have increased so much that computer users should consider using a Mac, says a leading security firm."

The information has been picked up and published on BBC website and elsewhere.

JCJ

Despite the usual iPods, MacBook Pro 15" are available on the Le Refurb Store in Europe with price discount varying from -15 to -27%. You will pay less than 1400 € (VAT included) for a MBP 1.83GHz.