Thursday January 03, 2008
- Disassembling the iMac Alu - Lionel - 15:12:21
The website Amfiteatar published a step-by-step procedure to disassemble a 20" or 24" iMac Alu in order to change the HD.
If this operation is not complicated, one would need to remove the glass plate with suction pad, and later on it will be very difficult to install it back in front of the display without trapping some dusts! In addition, it voids the warranty...
[translation by Linathael]
- Penryn-based Notebooks Ready to Go - Lionel - 15:11:48
Dailytech has been asking PC manufacturers (among them Sony, Fujitsu, Acer...) about Penryn-based notebook models, and all indicated to have them ready to roll out as soon as Intel officially announced the availability of its new mobile processor on January 6th.
Apple might also unveil a MacBook Pro powered by a Penryn during the MWSF. we would not be surprise to see the current enclosure evolving, at least for the keyboard to adopt the current MacBook key design. Apple could use the Core 2 Duo Penryn T9500 clocked at 2.6GHz, or the T9300 clocked at 2.5GHz or even lower the T8300 clocked at 2.4GHz but featuring only 3MB of cache instead of 6MB.
For the future iMac, Apple could adopt the Core 2 Extreme Penryn X9000 clocked at 2.8GHz, as its TDP of 45W does not make it suitable for being used in notebook (29W for lower CPU models).
[translation by Linathael]
- Samba Dev Team Get Access to Microsoft Code Thanks to EU - Lionel - 15:11:18
Samba is well known by Mac users as being the protocol used when connecting a Mac to a PC. So far, Samba compatibility with Microsoft SMB system was obtained via reverse engineering technologies. Just before Christmas, Samba team received Microsoft protocol documentation. One should not think that Redmond's Giant did it on purpose to serve the open source community:
Microsoft was required to make this information available to competitors as part of the European Commission March 24th 2004 Decision in the antitrust lawsuit, after losing their appeal against that decision on September 17th 2007.
Of course the Samba Team was pleased by this decision:
Andrew Tridgell, creator of Samba, said, "We are very pleased to be able to get access to the technical information necessary to continue to develop Samba as a Free Software project. Although we were disappointed the decision did not address the issue of patent claims over the protocols, it was a great achievement for the European Commission and for enforcement of antitrust laws in Europe. The agreement allows us to keep Samba up to date with recent changes in Microsoft Windows, and also helps other Free Software projects that need to interoperate with Windows".
Jeremy Allison, co-creator of Samba said, "Andrew did a superb job in negotiating the agreement with Microsoft. We will be able to use the information obtained to continue to develop Samba and create more Free Software. We are hoping to get back to the productive relationship we had with Microsoft during the early 1990's when we shared information about these protocols. The agreement also clarifies the exact patent numbers concerned so there is no possibility of misunderstandings around this issue."
Volker Lendecke, head of the Samba Team in Europe said, "I am very pleased to see that the European Commission acknowledged Free Software as a valid competitor in the IT industry and that the License conditions on the protocol information offered to the Free Software world are indeed compatible with the GPL. This is much better than what we have seen in similar cases in other countries and the Commission has done a great job to push the case to this point."
[translation by Linathael]
- Wal Mart to Stop its VOD Offer - Lionel - 15:10:40
After only one year, and while Apple is rumored to prepare its own offer, the US supermarket leader Wal Mart announced its decision to stop its VOD service. According to the PR, as HP discontinued the technology used for this online service, Wal Mart had no otter choice than stopping it. While, one could have found a replacing technology, the low success of this offer most likely help Wal Mart to take this decision.
One more time, DRM will now be a nightmare for customers, as they will prevent them to upgrade their hardware, as they prevent them to move purchased video to another new computer. In addition Wal Mart already announced that it will not provide any reimbursement plan or any support.
In the future, VOD platforms will have to offer a defined warranty otherwise Wal Mart's experience might simply make consumers thinking twice or even staying away from such online video stores as current DRM remains a brake to consumers freedom.
[translation by Linathael]
- A new Keyboard Concept from Art. Lebedev - Lionel - 15:10:16
The Studio Art. Lebedev, known for its OLED key-enable display, unveiled a new keyboard concept scheduled to be released in 2008 and entitled, Optimus Tactus.
As indicated by its name, it will use multipoint touch screen while providing a fully customizable interface.
This concept if of course much less revolutionizing than the OLED-based keyboard unveiled in 2005. Touch screen peripherals are getting really popular as they bring a true user-friendly interface as illustrated by the iPhone.
Of course, it remains a concept, and Art. Lebedev will have to build it and find a large multipoint screen with the required definition and design a video system, powerful enough to generate the visual rendering while consuming less energy than a USB2 can deliver. In other words, we are far from getting a prototype.
[translation by Linathael]
