News for Thursday, 20 July 2006

Intel's next platform for laptops could include an optional GSM 3G modem. It would only require installing a compatible SIM to surf the Internet via the mobile network.
Though a intriguing idea, it still has a long way to go to actually get interesting. Data transfer via 3G still comes at a prohibitive price (at least in France), while the compatible network can only be used in big towns, which now offer so many free Wi-Fi hotspots.
An even more interesting future would be the widespread adoption of Wi-Max, which would cause much chagrin to mobile phone network companies.
JCJ

Apple announced last night (French time) their financial results for the last quarter. Once again, they're excellent — the second best in the company's history.
During this period of time, Apple sold 1,327,000 Macs and 8,111,000 iPods for an overall revenue of 4.37 billion dollars and a profit of $472 million. 75% of Mac sales were, of course, MacIntel machines.
It's great to see that the number of Macs sold has increased by 19% from Q3 last year to Q3 this year. Sales of the iPod, on the other hand, declined somewhat (-5%). Yet this period was neither Christmas nor a holiday season.
JCJ

Apple forums display a lot of testimonies about MacBook unexpectedly and brutally shutting off.
François sent us some information too.

I explained what problem I'd met and was immediately confirmed it was a documented issue, concerning a small series only, so a few serial numbers were unofficially registered while they're trying to deal with this problem.
The 10.4.7 update actually contained a patch to address this issue yet changed nothing...
I must therefore go to the nearest Apple certified dealer where a logic board change will be done, as it's the only way they found out to deal with this... (with no certainty he admitted), that's why until the problem ain't internally solved by Apple, there'll be no official communication about it...

Thank you for sending us your serial numbers if you face this issue, so we might try and find out which machines are concerned.

Probably to reassure investors, Intel CEO, Paul Otellini, has announced the introduction of a 4 core CPU ahead of schedule (Q4 2006 instead of Q1 2007).
This CPU will be a double Core 2 Duo (Conroe) CPU. It will feature 2x4MB of L2 cache and should be clocked at 2.67GHz.
What could explain this decision?
Either Intel wants to respond to some customer needs (Apple perhaps), or they want to increase the pressure on AMD.

JCJ

We all thought that the DVD burning speed war was over, but it has started again. After numerous announcments of 18x burners, Lite-On steps in and promises a 20x device for late 2006.
The likely reason for this escalation is the ever increasing delay of blue laser devices. Manufacturers have to push sales and margins up in the absence of any real novelty, and the only way to do this is to offer new products with better performance.
The question is to know whether all 16x media will handle 20x burn speeds and if the decrease in burn time will be worth the extra cost of the burner.
JCJ

Here one of these rumours we just love at Hardmac...
Apple is rumoured to be integrating to its next-gen iPod an nVidia graphic chip, the GoForce, which is dedicated to mobile devices. The chip would allow iPods to handle 3D animations and to decode H.264 videos.
This rumoured evolution would open new horizons for the iPod, which could become a real videogame and on-the-go movies platform.
Let's be honest: when news about Apple was all about the iPod, we got more than a little fed up, but now, this long silence is equally frustrating!
JCJ