Tuesday February 19, 2008

- Reveal the tiger who sleeps in Leopard's screen sharing! - Cri-cri - 18:22:03

Source : A Vos Macs

Thanks to Axel for letting us know about this great feature revealed by our colleagues in the journal A Vos Macs (No. 81, dated February 2008).

One of the major new features in Leopard is taking remote control of another computer on your local area network, with the click of a mouse. This type of function is not a novelty as such, as there is plenty of software that allows this already, but the ease of Leopard's implementation is truly staggering.

Having said that, what we are offered standard from Apple is a lighter version of what, among other things, is Apple Remote Desktop. Some useful features are missing for example only being able to observe the screen controlled, blocking use of the mouse on the 'controlled' screen, etc.

But no, these functions are actually alive in Leopard's screen sharing and it is only the user interface that has been clamped. To unlock it, just change plist file that contains the interface preferences of the software for them to be listed. Here's how ...

You will need the application Property List Editor, which is part of the Developer Tools, which can be downloaded at the ADC website (free to access)

Navigate to the file com.apple.ScreenSharing.plist, which is in the Preferences folder in your user library. Double-clicking the file will launch it in Property List Editor.

Unfold trees "Root" / "NSToolbar Configuration ControlToolbar" / "TB Item Identifiers" then add new "siblings" in this category to activate functions (see screen shot below)



Add the following strings (one per line):
FullScreen (passage in full screen mode)
Curtain (blockage of write-authority by a black screen with a padlock and a personalized message)
Quality (slider to control the quality of the image input - to optimize refreshing)
Capture (screen-capture the remote station)
Control (alternate mode control - by default - and observation only)
Share (control mode, alternating between the authorization for the use of the keyboard / mouse / authoring and not)

And there you are! A whole new set of possibilities for this application!

Your new menu looks like this:


Cri-cri (MacBidouille) has given a little order in the bar using the menu bar customization tools, consolidating functions that go together. "Be careful," he warns "not to remove the bar icons. If you do, you will have to reedit the plist file as described above).


It's up to you to test these new features that you should open new horizons for screen sharing!

[translation by CliveAtFive]

- Apple abandons the Xserve RAID - Lionel - 17:33:20

Like the late iPod Hi-Fi, the Xserve RAID has parted us without the slightest noise. It no longer appears on the US Store, and its former page is now devoted to the storage array Promise RAID.

Perhaps it is not so bad, the product had always seen slow update cycles.

[translation by CliveAtFive]

- A petition against the 2008 MacPro that 'freeze' - Lionel - 16:16:46

Source : XLR8yourMac

A number of Mac Pros, all fitted with the Radeon X2600 XT, suffer a similar problem to that seen by owners of the iMac alu - also fitted with the Radeon 2600.
At random times, the screen freezes and the machine grinds to stop making all work impossible.
The exchange of the graphic boards does not solve the problem in all cases, on this Apple has still to comment. None the last updates - eagerly awaited especially those that had some bearing on the graphic components - brought a solution or an improvement. An online petition has been set up with the goal to force Apple to fix this problem
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/nomorefreezeonMacPro/

Note: machines fitted with the Geforce 8800 GT are NOT affected by this bug!

[translation by crispin]

- BBC at the UK iTunes Store - Lionel - 14:53:19

The BBC has announced its decision to sell some of its products, such as the series Life On Mars via the iTunes Music Store.
Each episode will cost � 1.8 or approximately 2.40 �. Of course, these series will be offered for the moment only on the UK Store.

[translation by jeremy]

- Carbon nanotube circuits at 1 GHz - Lionel - 13:44:49

Source: Dailytech

Our entire electronics industry is now based on silicon and its semiconductor properties. The race for more power increasingly hits against the technical limitations for burning chips. Yet hundreds of laboratories attempt to develop technology at these limits, where the quantum take precedence over the nanoscopic, searching their fame and fortune.
Researchers at Stanford University are on an interesting track based -- as a lot of advanced research -- on carbon nanotubes, which have increased in a short period of time from a scientific curiosity to that of the new Eldorado.
These scientists have succeeded in manufacturing an electronic circuit with 11000 transistors and capable of operating at 1 GHz.
While there is still a long way to go to realize the specifications required for the manufacture of a modern processor, this important step has been taken.
The manufacture of these components must be made easier -- as with silicon lithography processes, which have the merit of ensuring manufacturing en masse at an acceptable cost.

[translation by jeremy]

- SSD drives commercially available soon - Lionel - 13:12:07

While we often report about SSD's (solid state disks), it is impossible to find them commercially available, except possibly in Japan.
Things could change soon. In fact, Samsung announced that it has started mass production. The first model that will be available will be a 64 GB formatted 2.5 " drive, with a SATA interface.
No way you can use this model in a MacBook Air, but those who may be tempted by this expensive product (its price is not yet known), will be able to install in their MacBook or MacBook Pro.
Its tantalizing performance, 100 MB/s reading and 80 MB/s writing might even encourage the more motivated to use two in a RAID configuration in a Mac Pro in order to have a boot disk with frightening performance.

[translation by jeremy]

- Apple US Store closed - Lionel - 13:03:26

We leave the frenzy on the forums for a few hours.
The US Apple Store just closed, which portends the arrival of new products.


[Update] Store has reopened. The only announcement concerns a new 2 GB iPod Shuffle at a price of $ 69 which is not yet online
We will have to wait for the notebooks and iMac.


PS: Apple also announced the arrival of Xsane2:
http://www.apple.com/xsan

[translation by jeremy]

- Cry Wolf! - Lionel - 13:01:37

Source: http://www.itwire.com

How do you say something on a subject where not much happenens? By a poll on the subject and elaborating the results.
This well-known trick of the press was used by Sophos, the anti-virus publisher .
A survey conducted online between January 29 and February 7 taken by 355 computer users, suggests (93%) that 2008 might be the year of the explosion of viruses and other malware in OS X.
Remember it has no basis other than opinions.
While it remains clear that more market share is important for Mac OS X, more hackers will have motivation to try to harm the Mac Users. And maybe more surveys.

[translation by jeremy]

- Refurb !! - Lionel - 12:51:55

After a period of quietitude, Refurb returns with lots Macbooks, MacBook Pros and iMacs (leave the Mac Pro).
Take note: several generations of MacBook Pro are present.

@ The Refurb Store (France)

[translation by jeremy]

- Cheaper Shuffle's! - Lionel - 12:28:48

Source : MacGeneration

Good news: Apple has just dropped the price of the iPod Shuffle from 79$ to 49$.
This makes these iPods a good competitor again in the low-priced market.
The pricedrop is only available in the US Store for now, but we hope it will be available for European customers soon too.

[translation by xavier]

- A 128 Gb 1.8" SSD - Lionel - 12:24:18

Source : MTRON

Mtron has announced that they'll start producing 128Gb 1.8" SSD's.
The announcement is still vague, but it appears that the drives will be equipped with MLC memory, assuring a speed of 100 Mb/s for reading, but only 40 Mb/s for writing. One should keep in mind that 1.8" drives are typically even slower than regular-sized drives.
When we want to know whether these drives will be supported by the MacBook Air, we need to know which interface they'll support (ZIF ATA for the MBA), their height (max 5mm for the MBA) and of course the price if we want Apple to support it as a BTO - this will probably be the biggest problem.

[translation by xavier]

- HD-DVD is officialy buried - Lionel - 12:15:23

According to blu-ray.com Toshiba may announce later today that they're leaving HD-DVD. They'll stop producing HD-DVD players and the corresponding authoringsoftware immediately. The products will still be available in stores for a few weeks.
Confirmation of this rumor should come in the next few hours.
[update] It's official now: read the press release.

[translation by xavier]