News for Monday, 16 July 2007

Intel officially launched the new Core 2 Quad, aka QX6850, the new high-end desktop CPU based on Core architecture.
This processor is now featuring specifications almost identical to the current Quad Core Xeon: FSB 1333MHz, 3.0GHz core frequency. The Xeon can be installed in pairs thanks to Intel dual CPU motherboard (used in the Mac Pro) which is not available for the Conroe yet.
Apple will need Intel to speed up the evolution of the current Xeon for being able to offer the expected high-end power crunching Mac Pro in a near future. In addition the price of the fastest Xeon is significantly higher than the equivalent Conroe. One would need Intel to release a 3.4 GHz Xeon running on a 1600MHz FSB to maintain the gap between server and desktop CPU. Indeed, why paying premium price for a Xeon-based hardware if a Conroe-based hardware might be faster, Apple has probably looked further in Intel roadmaps.
For the time being, Mac Pro based on Dual Dual Core Xeon (original and entry model) will not be of great interest for power user, and we might expect Apple to significantly decrease their price on July 22nd when Intel will massively cut the price of Xeon 51xx.

As we already mention it in the past, all mobile phone running Symbian UIQ3 system are not natively supported by Mac OS X, as Apple decided to not update Symbian support further than version 1.0...
Well, things might change as reported by Simon:

An iSync-dedicated plug-in for the P990i was released on my-symbian.com forum. It seems to be derived from an undisclosed version developed for the P1i, and is reported to work only with P990i loaded with the last firmware update. Several users have successfully used it.
http://my-symbian.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33135
Another plug-in should give m600i owner the possibility to sync their favorite mobile phone with their Mac... it did not work with mine, but one might need to further investigate...

Do not hesitate to report your success or failure on our forum (here) with those unofficial Mac plug-in for SE UIQ3-based mobile phones.

In a recent article (Connect your Mac to cellular networks the easy way using launch2net), Moose was testing the Express Card HSDPA/UMTS Merlin XU870 modem with the launch2net application.

The last Mac OS X update 10.4.10 could have added the native support for the WWAN, as reported by one of our reader:

Apple seems to have quietly updated the WWAN support. When I insert my Merlin XU870 Modem Express Card in my MacBook Pro, it is now instantly recognized by the system (even though it is identified as a Cingular card).
There is a dedicated icon appearing on the menu bar, indicating the strength of the wireless connection while providing a quicker way to connect/disconnect. The transfer speed can even be monitored via the Monitor Utility.
When compared to the Novatel drivers installed by Launch2net, Apple's drivers seems to be faster and more efficient, delivering higher wireless data transfer speed.