News for Thursday, 28 September 2006

On September 18th we were reporting about the reason leading to the well-known and described Intermittent Shutdown of MacBook.
So far, the standard repair procedure was implying the exchange of both the heatsink and the logic board. Well, it is not the case anymore, as Apple has sent a new revised procedure to the certified Apple centers (Thanks Michael):

MacBook Intermittent Shutdown Issue: Revised Part Order and Repair Instructions
Applies to Technical News
For MacBooks exhibiting intermittent shutdown, previously released documentation directed Apple service providers to replace the main logic board (MLB) and heatsink. After further investigation, Apple has determined that only the heatsink needs to be replaced in MacBooks exhibiting intermittent shutdown.
To support service providers in updating repairs affected by the revised part instructions, and effective immediately, Apple will review and update (as necessary) all repairs in which a MacBook logic board/heatsink combo part is on backorder. See complete details about order review below.
Apple will only be reviewing and updating (as necessary) those MacBook repairs placed prior to the publication of this message. As a reminder for all future repairs, it is critical that notes clearly describing a product's issue(s) be entered into the GSX 'Notes' field for every repair.
See the Knowledge Base document MacBook: Shuts down intermittently for more details about the issue.
...

So unlucky users should have their MacBook repaired much faster.

Microsoft has unveiled the price of its iPod-killer, aka Zune that should be available in USA on November 14th. Without big surprise, it is identical to the iPod Photo 30GB, US$249.99.
As for the iPod, peripherals are available, and not really cheap:
- Zune Home A/V Pack, including a remote control, a dock, a cable for synchronization as well as a A/V connector: US$99.99.
- Zune Car Pack, including a FM tuner with autoseek and car charger: US$79.99.
- Zune Travel Pack, including Dual Connect Remote, Premium Earphones, Gear Bag, Sync Cable and AC Adapter: US$99.99.
Concerning music tracks that can be purchased online, here too, no big surprise, US$0.99/track or 79 Microsoft points... so 1 Microsoft points= US$1.25... this is a quite usual marketing way to fool the customer making him thinking that 1 Microsoft point is about US$1; helping him to loose references to currency.
Beside purchasing music tracks, a month fee system will be available for US$14.99, giving the opportunity to download and listen all tracks available in MS online music shop, but it is only a renting system, as soon as you stop paying the monthly fee, you will not be able to listen to downloaded music.
It is now time for Apple to launch its counter attack... how long will we have to wait for? Before Christmas, or on January at the MacWorld.

To our request, Jefftrep has performed a test using either 1, 2, 3 or 4 Seagate 750GB SATA HDs in the MacPro using OSX software RAID 0 feature.




On the top capture, with only one HD, there is a weird phenomenon, already picked up by Barefeats resembling to an incomplete compatibility between the Seagate 750GB HD and the MacPro.
this problem disappear immediately when using 2 HDs in RAID 0.
As demonstrated by those capture, the software RAID feature inside OSX is really powerful, improving read/write speed proportionally to the number of HDs used in the RAID.

Sharp has just demoed a quite intriguing and innovative product.

It is a LCD monitor able to display simultaneously 3 images depending on the viewing angle.
Sharp is providing examples of applications for such technologies, from providing different information for a van driver and his passengers from the same LCD panel to displaying 3 different shows from the same TV.

Microsoft is facing a big problem since a couple of weeks. AS we have already reported about it, a developer has been able to systematically hacked all patches released to fix breaches in Microsoft DRM system aka Playsforsure. The name of this developer is Viodentia.
While Redmond keeps patching its DRM system to give Music Majors the impression that they control the situation, Microsoft has also launch an action to sue Viodentia, claiming that he has had access to the source code while this one is protected by a copyright.
However, Viodentia denies such claims, and reports that he did not need such information to hack Playsforsure.
For sure this story is not over yet.

Hear what Mark has to say.

Microsoft has at last released version 6.0 of its MSN Messenger for Mac software. The big news is that the protocol war is (sort of) over, as Messenger 6 now supports Yahoo! and AIM/iChat accounts. And it's a Universal Binary. And OMG you can personalize your screen status!!! And even get it to reflect your current iTunes track... and you can use smileys!!! And it integrates the OSX spellchecking service!!!!!

Do not download it here:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac
[moose: OK, OK, Mark didn't say exactly that, but I couldn't resist... all these new features got to my head]