News for Wednesday, 31 January 2007

As we reported yesterday Apple silently released the Airport 802.11n enabler to allows Mac with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor (except the 17-inch, 1.83GHz iMac) or a Mac Pro with AirPort Extreme to get full WiFi capabilities.
- If you have received recently or if you are waiting for a Core 2 Duo based Mac or Mac Pro, the airport 802.11n update might be already included. To check it, open "Network utility" and look at the information displayed concerning the Airport interface: if you can see something similar to the screen capture below then your computer is compatible with all WiFi formats, 802.11 a/b/g/n, and you do not need to purchase this update.

- If this update is not free, Apple has made software license for the 802.11n Enabler software more flexible as you can install and use it on all computers under your ownership or control.
- The bad news: this enabler does NOT solve the sensitivity and transfer speed issues faced by iMac Core 2 Duo and Mac Pro owners when using 802.11g network. This is a real scandal when asking money for an enabler that does not solve on-going issues.
- We have tried to force the enabler to be launched on a non supported model, a MB Pro Core Duo, but the patch did not provide any improvement or any other changes, it still does not support 802.11n.
- In addition to the current issues with 802.11g not being fixed, the enabler does NOT allow creation of a 802.11n local network between two 802.11n-based machines (Let's say 2 iMac C2D). Apple will probably have to dig into OSX network layer to allow it.
In summary, better wait than purchase this enabler, save your money for Leopard, this will be a much better investment.
En résumé, à moins d'avoir tout ce qui est nécessaire pour en tirer partie, cette mise à jour est inutile.

Below is a screen capture taken from the FNAC website (French leading consumer electronics distributor) aiming to promote Vista (Thanks to Gregory for this info).

For non French speaking readers, the beginning of the paragraph describing "Windows Defender" says:
"Security in Windows XP SP2 was Microsoft's Trojan. Vista enhances it and offers an increased number of tools to fight against attacks originating from the net"
For sure Microsoft will be delighted to learn that Win SP2 was a Microsoft's Trojan speaking about security.
They probably meant the "main focus" (“cheval de bataille” instead of “cheval de Troie”), but at the end it might be a good prediction, if one looks at reports from security experts about Vista.

Verbatim announced the availability of blank HD-DVD media. There are not that many burner models compatible for such media.
The bad news for HD-DVD, is the price of those media: it is as expensive as BD media whereas it was expected to be cheaper; it was one of the main marketing points for HD-DVD alliance for getting support from consumer electronic manufacturers. In addition the storage capacity is limited to 15GB, in February 30GB media should be available, based on double layer technology, they will also be much more expensive.

If Meizu does not ring a bell for you, this company offers a MP4 player with an iPod-like design:

It must commercially advantageous to stay as close as possible to Apple's way for designing consumer electronics, because this company just announced future availability of a mobile phone as reported by VR-Zone.

Who said it was clone? Bingo, you are the winner.
The M8, the name of this iPhone clone by Meizu is, runs on Windows CE, feature a touch screen, and a 720x480 display.
This is the first iPhone clone and probably not the last one.