Tuesday March 20, 2007

- 3,300 Xserves for Belgian Schools - Lionel - 16:56:36

The website enseignons.be reports that French-speaking Belgian schools will have their IT equipments exchanged by 2010, in other words 40,000 computers and 3,300 servers.
If schools will have the choice between PC and Mac, we have learned that Apple Benelux has secured the server deal: all 3,300 servers to be replaced will be Xserves.
It would be a big success for Apple Benelux and Apple Europe and would add a new stone to pave the way of Apple's comeback into enterprise and education markets.


[translation by Linathael]

- FireWire-based Flash Memory Keys Are Back - Lionel - 16:48:25

Couple of years ago, some manufacturers tried to offer flash memory keys using the FireWire interface instead of USB, but the relative high cost of NAND and the cheap price of USB killed their marketing success.
Today, as flash memory is now cheaper and storage capacity have dramatically increased, some manufactures could re-enter this market. As reported by 59hardware, OCZ presented FireWire-based flash memory keys during the CeBIT:



OCZ would offer FireWire 400 and 800 flash memory keys with either 16 or 32GB storage capacity.
If the price is not ridiculously more expensive than the USB version, it might well be a strong success among Mac users, as FireWire 400 remains faster than USB2 when it comes to get access to data storage units.


[translation by Linathael]

- Apple TV Already Shipping! - Lionel - 13:31:00

One of our readers, Pierre-Yves, just told us that the status of his Apple TV order has evolved and displays now "shipping".
So, we will soon know what to expect: is it really the first true digital hub that we are waiting for years, or simply a marketing coup for a device which does not deliver...

[translation by Linathael]

- Apollo Program: Does Adobe Expect to Sky Rocket to the Moon? - Lionel - 09:49:33

Adobe just released its Apollo program, a nickname for its new cross-operating system runtime.
Behind the name, the software relies on web technologies (Flash, Flex, HTML, JavaScript, Ajax), and will allow development of interactive websites as well as cross-platform applications.
One can download for free the alpha version of Apollo which is currently working on Windows and Macintosh, from the following website: http://www.adobe.com/go/apollo.

If you test Apollo, please drop us your comments in the dedicated topic.of our forum.

This release comes couple of weeks after the announcement by Adobe of its wish to develop a free online Photoshop-like application. So one could imagine that the GUI of the CS4 will be developed via Apollo, giving the freedom for users to use either the slower and incomplete online applications server, or the fast and complete rendering engine installed locally on their computer.

[translation by Linathael]

- iPhone's Printed Circuit Board Being Manufactured - Lionel - 09:47:45

Source : Macworld UK

According to EMSNOW, the Taiwanese manufacturer of printed circuit boards (PCBs), Nanya Printed Circuit Board Corporation, claims to have its high density PCB dedicated for the iPhone certified by Apple. So Nanya expects to capture at least 30% of iPhone's PCB manufacturing volume, and plans to deliver the first board from early April

[translation by Linathael]

- Fujitsu Offers SSD-based Notebook - Lionel - 09:46:46

Source : tgdaily

Fujitsu announced the availability of flash memory-based HD as an option for its ultra portable P1610 notebook. Of course, it is not cheap, even very expensive as it would cost US$700 for a 16GB SSD and US$1,200 for a 32GB unit.
It is very expensive compared to the publicly released price offered by SanDisk for the extremely fast 2.5" 32GB SATA model: US$350.
So we would rather advise any geek not to rush, and the competition between manufacturers should bring price down while performance and storage space should increase.
Most of those announcements for SSD-based notebook have been made during the CeBIT, and models should be available in the coming weeks or months.

[translation by Linathael]

- Express Card <--> PCMCIA Adaptor - Lionel - 09:45:54

The DuelAdapter should drive interest from users owning expensive PCMCIA cards or systems which are not available in Express Card format yet.
This adaptor allows you to connect your PCMCIA cards on a MacBook Pro via its Express Card 34 port.
The company's website does not provide much details, nor describe how the system works, but it seems to use the USB2 channel found in the Express Card (in addition to the PCI Express 1x). So one will need a driver for this device, and we expect that it will be compatible with most PCMCIA card available on the market. Last but not least, a small annoying detail: one has to reboot the computer after inserting the adaptor and the connected PCMCIA card to make it active.

[translation by Linathael]