Friday September 07, 2007

- Apple Released Pro Applications Support 4.0.2 - Lionel - 15:47:50

The new version of Pro Application Support 4.0.2 is available from the Apple website: Pro Application Support 4.0.2

This update addresses issues with keyboard interface reliability for Apple's professional applications and is recommended for all users of Final Cut Studio

[translation by Linathael]

- Intel Released Information about Xeon Clovertown and Tigertown - Eric - 15:41:07

Source : TGdaily

Intel announced that its quad-core Clovertown server CPUs will support new abilities, including lower power consumption, thanks to a new stepping (B3 to G0). The affected models include the entire range of Clovertowns: the X5355, E5345, E5335, L5320 and E5310 which operate at 2.66/1.333 GHz, 2.33/1.333 GHz, 2.0/1.333 GHz, 1.86/1.066 GHz and 1.6/1.066 GHz respectively. Apple does not use such Xeon in its Mac Pro, but we could expect to see the first Penryn Xeon finding their way in the future Mac Pro revision.

On the other hand, Intel unveiled Xeon Tigertown, known as Xeon 7300/7200 series, intended to compete with AMD's Barcelona server CPU to be unveiled in 4 days. Unlike the forthcoming Penryn Xeon engraved at 45nm, the Tigertown will use 65nm engraving process



The Tigertown will be available as Dual (7200) and Quad Core (7300) Xeon CPUs. Unlike the forthcoming Penryn Xeon engraved at 45nm, the Tigertown will use 65nm engraving process. However, a new chipset will allow users to setup 16-core processing power based on the Caneland four-socket server platform. Probably the biggest feature of the Caneland platform is that its four processor sockets are connected to the memory controller hub (MCH) by four 1066MHz FSB, providing a lot of bandwidth.

As pointed before, such processor will be targeting performance server niche market dominated so far by AMD Opteron and the future Barcelona. Apple will probably never use such Xeon platform, and should rather concentrate of getting the most out of the current raw power present in Mac Pro.

- iTunes 7.4 Blocks AT&T-free iPhone Activation Hacks - Lionel - 14:16:21

Several readers reported that the new version of iTunes 7.4 blocks iPhone activated by another procedure than the one designed by Apple and AT&T.
Those hackers successfully activated the iPhone without modifying the firmware of the iPhone, after iTunes 7.4, one can use the iPhone on a non-AT&T network. iTunes updates even deletes some ringtones installed after hacking the activation procedure.
So Apple fired back, and hackers will have to further refine their procedures to maintain AT&T-less activation possible.

[update]
According to Frenchiphone forum, iTunes 7.4 simply prevent Jailbreak to run (allowing automatic activation of iPhone independently of an AT&T network)

[update2]
New tools to be used only with iTunes 7.4 are now available:
http://www.winandmac.com

[translation by Linathael]

- Apple Offer US$100 to Early iPhone Customers - Lionel - 14:15:27

Source : Apple

As he did it couple of weeks ago to expose his thoughts on digital music, Steve Jobs wrote an opened letter to further explain his decision to massively cut the price of the 8GB iPhone.

I have received hundreds of emails from iPhone customers who are upset about Apple dropping the price of iPhone by $200 two months after it went on sale. After reading every one of these emails, I have some observations and conclusions.....

First, I am sure that we are making the correct decision to lower the price of the 8GB iPhone from $599 to $399, and that now is the right time to do it. iPhone is a breakthrough product, and we have the chance to 'go for it' this holiday season. iPhone is so far ahead of the competition, and now it will be affordable by even more customers. It benefits both Apple and every iPhone user to get as many new customers as possible in the iPhone 'tent'. We strongly believe the $399 price will help us do just that this holiday season....even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of iPhone, and even though the technology road is bumpy, we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price. Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.

Therefore, we have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. Details are still being worked out and will be posted on Apple's website next week. Stay tuned.

Of course a US$100 store credit implies that the money gave back to customers by Apple will come back to its initial location, nevertheless it is a sign that Apple takes care of its customers more than most consumer electronics companies.

[translation by Linathael]

- 24-layer Multi NAND Chip Package - Lionel - 14:14:13

Source : Oranews

The market for NAND chips is a highly competitive one, and manufacturers are innovating as much as possible to offer the largest storage capacity without affecting their margins.
The innovation race was initially focusing on the capacity of NAND chip itself, but one is limited by the engraving process. So manufacturers started to pile NAND chips up in order to increase the density, and so on the storage capacity. In this field, Hynix seems to be ahead, and announced to have created a package composed of 24 layers of 2GB NAND reaching a record capacity of 48GB, for a thickness of 1.4mm!
Hynix expect to go further and the next goal is to deliver a package based on 28 layers. The real breakthrough resides in the development of the sophisticated technology required for producing multi layer chip package, as dozens of chips are stacked one over the other, with almost no space in between, while being interconnected!
The era of notebook based on both NAND memory and HD storage could be around the corner, with the OS and applications of NAND flash, while data will be located on a standard HD.

[translation by Linathael]