Friday February 29, 2008
- Apple to Control 3rd-Party iPhone Applications - Lionel - 18:48:57
Source:iLounge
iLounge was able to obtain information about the SDK iPhone, specifically on how Apple plans to implement software distribution:
-- Mandatory distribution (unsurprisingly) via iTunes and the iTunes Music Store, which will serve as a server.
-- Apple reserves the right (also no surprise) to accept or reject software, not only based on quality but also at their disgression.
-- The SDK will not allow (no surprise, once again) the interactivity with new devices like GPS, microphones, etc...
In short, Apple is Apple. They announced the SDK under pressure due to the release of an unofficial version and the explosion of informal applications, but will ultimately continue to try to do what is natural in the corporate culture: maximize control of their dear product, the iPhone, even if only in their head.
In this context, SDK or not, iTunes distribution or not, the jailbreak method remains a prerequisite to enjoy one's device according to his or her wishes.
[translation by CliveAtFive]
- Dreamworks Squirming out of its exclusive HD-DVD contract - Lionel - 18:30:53
Dreamworks who, among other things, produces the Shrek films, signed an exclusive HD-DVD contract at the same time as its parent company Paramount. While the latter has announced its move back to BluRay, Dreamworks seems unable to opt out so easily.
Pending discussions and an agreement with Toshiba, it will sever its contract, and abandon HD-DVD films. Given the already low share of HD-DVD media sales, the commercial impact would be relatively small. However, their image is damaged and the door is left open to competitors, meanwhile the security (or lack therof) of partnering with Paramont/Dreamworks will be another casualty of the format war.
[translation by CliveAtFive]
- Orange delivers 16 GB iPhone - Lionel - 18:02:11
Orange has decided to start marketing iPhone 16 GB, not in stores, but via their website. Crashray, a reader who has ordered online, just finally received it.
As a reminder, this device is identical in all respects to 8 GB model, including the bootloader and its firmware. Only the capacity differs, which is automatically recognized by the software. It is very easy to jailbreak with the software Ziphone, which remains a necessary step in order to exploit it fully.
Likely, this is the most memory this device will be given before the next iteration, which is predicted for June, one year after the arrival of the first model.
[translation by CliveAtFive]
- Dell Continues on the DisplayPort Path - Lionel - 17:50:36
Source: TGDaily
While Apple continues to stagnate with its range of aging monitors, Dell continues to renew its screens at high speed, not hesitating to add the last tiles or the latest connectivity.
After offering a 30" screen with a DisplayPort connector (in addition to the HDMI and DVI [HDCP compatable]), the manufacturer now offers the same thing on a screen 24".
Dell neither hesitates to smash prices. The 24" monitor costs $699, while the 30" is billed €1950.
It's not pleasant to admit, but buying an Apple display now is anything but sensible. They are certainly more beautiful than the competition, but they are expensive and are locked into dying technology. Meanwhile, the rest of the world begins to embrace HDMI connections and more HDCP compatibility.
[translation by CliveAtFive]
- More out of our 8800GT overclock - Lionel - 17:34:51
After the first test of an overclocked 8800 GT, we decided to go further in our endeavors to reflash a 8800 GT.
Before continuing, we should warn you:
-- The overclocked card we have is not the one provided by Apple, but another PC-flashed card. It has a newer, more efficient heatpipe than Apple's card.
-- Though the overclock that we have achieved yesterday was relatively simple and rather dangerous, the technique we are proposing today would certainly not be supported by all cards.
This time, we have decided to go much further, and after verifying that the card was supported under Windows, we have pushed the GPU to 721 MHz, the ROPS to 1802 MHz and RAM to 2042 (2x1021) MHz.
Here are the results obtained under GLview:
Center: results of yesterday's trial (roughly 7% performance gain)
Bottom: results of today's trial (10 to 14% performance gain over the base model)
In the future, we will change the heatpipe and try to modify the memory and GPU settings to go even further. The aim will be to go to the extreme limits of the architecture of this product.
But already, with these frequencies, (if we trust the specifications given by Apple) this card has more power and memory bandwidth than the Quadro FX 5600... But Apple's figures for the 8800 GT are obviously wrong.
[translation by CliveAtFive]
- All Mac portables will switch over the the (Macbook Air) hatch? - Lionel - 12:40:12
Source: MacNN
If you had a MacBook Air in your hands, you will appreciate the hatch which seems to contain too few connectors. It allows Apple to move increasingly towards clean lines and edges which are as thin as possible.They filed a patent on these ports which reveals some interesting things.
The ports were originally scheduled to be installed at the rear. But it is likely that this is a way for Apple to unveil fewer things on the patent.
Note especially that there is room for more ports than the (miserly) 3 on the MacBook Air.
From here to imagine that there will one or even two of these hatches on upcoming MacBook Pros, there is only issue to cross. This would allow beveled sides that would give a more streamlined look to the machine as on the MacBook Air .
[translation by jeremy]
- Apple competes with Lamborghini - Lionel - 12:16:00
If the PC world finds Apple laptops too expensive, in particular the MacBook Pro, a test conducted by Xbitlabs makes that reputation seem unfounded.
They compared the 15" model running vista costing $2500, to the high-end star of ASUS, the very similar Lamborghini VX2S that costs more than $ 3000.
Both machines stand neck and neck in almost every test, Asus is actually in front most of the time by a few percent. But the Mac is back in front when it comes to 3D applications and is much better in the tests of autonomy giving half an hour to an hour longer depending on usage.
If we add the fact that it is more elegant and less expensive, and most importantly that this test was done by a PC site that may not be particularly favourable to Apple, we can conclude that the Apple is an excellent machine, currently without peer!.
[translation by jeremy]
- Comparison of HD 2600 XT vs 8800 GT - Lionel - 11:57:10
Source: MacWorld
Macworld compared the performance of two (generally available) video cards with Mac Pro Rev. 2, the Radeon 2600 HD XT and GeForce 8800 GT.
As you can see, the Radeon is far behind in DOOM 3 and Quake 4. It does better than the Geforce with Unreal Tourney, a game in which the renderering effects seem ancient today.
It is also noted that in the first two games, the performance of the Radeon collapses in the high resolution while those of the Geforce are constant.
These may be explained these simply enough:
-- The memory bandwidth of the Geforce is wider than the Radeon. It does not get filled up by the high resolutions (as tested).
-- NVidia GPU is also much more powerful, better supporting the complex effects -- which go wrong in the Radeon.
-- The fact that the Radeon can earn more in the UT test is related to these. In this game, few complex effects are used. Of course, we must also take into account the optimization of drivers on the Mac, which is far from being equal to that seen on the PC where AMD and NVidia are real and in constant competition.
[translation by jeremy]
- Details about the Centrino 2 - Lionel - 09:33:29
New information on the next mobile platform of Intel, the Centrino 2 (ex Montevina) have been published. Here is a list of processors that will be available:
All these processors can be put into Apple portables. One could have MacBook Pros that reach a maximum of 2.8 GHz.
We recall that the CPU are of the type Penryn just like those recently released, and it is only the bus frequency that will rise to 1066 MHz compared to 800 MHz available today. Also with the arrival of DDR3 the data flow will rise for a lower power consumption.
Other smaller processors with a size as that fitted in the MacBook Air will also be available for the ultra portables:
Reminder: the Centrino 2 has other refinements such as the GMA X4500, Wi-Max, DDR3 800 MHz, a new memory scheme: Turbo memory (acceleration by use of flash memory), support of Displayport instead of DVI for extended display....
[translation by crispin]
