Friday March 14, 2008

- Macs Are Everywhere - Eric - 13:32:11

Of course with such title you can argue that we are Mac centric and/or addicts not able to look around or to consider anything else that does not hold an Apple logo. But if you are a long time reader of Hardmac, you know our policy to support the Mac community, without being devoted to Apple. The reason of this title is quite simple and you will better understand.

Couple of weeks ago, while we were sailing in West Indies, we had to stop in Union Island (piece of land in the middle of the Caribbean sea) for getting some food as well as the last information about weather and wind forecast. While we were looking for the local harbor authority building, we spotted a small internet cafe:



As we could get the required information from the net, we headed to the place. I was entering and getting prepared to see couple of PCs, but I was wrong, deeply wrong: it was a kingdom for Apple computers! The only PCs belong to customers willing to use the wireless network provided by the Airport station:



Most stations were composed of Mac mini, from the last generation powered by Core 2 Duo:



Even though in the corner, an iMac G4 was still in use:



This was also the place for a shock between Apple notebook generations, with on the same table the veteran PB G4 12" and the brand new MacBook Air!



Last but not least, hosts of the internet cafe were friendly as one would expect between Mac users. This was a pleasant experience for me while I was 9000 km from my home I was feeling in a familiar environment.



To conclude, if you decide to go on holidays to fortget about your usual work or activities for 1 or 2 weeks, you might actually never be able to reach this goal... Macs are everywhere.

- Disney satisfied with its iTunes sales - Lionel - 09:04:20

Source: Macworld UK

So Apple struggled to fill the virtual shelves of the iTunes Store with films, according to information from Disney. The company considers itself satisfied with the sales since it put its videos online. They have sold 4 million films and 40 to 50 million shorts for a total of $ 123 million in 2007. Yet, with a turnover of 35 billion overall, this is a drop in the ocean.
Disney certainly believes that this is an encouraging start, unless they just wanted to give a little boost to a company that shares a large shareholder with them.

[translation by jeremy]

- WWDC takes place 9 - 13 June - Lionel - 08:57:21

The site of the WWDC has been updated. It will be held this year from 9 to 13 June. Developers can already book or even pay for their tickets.
It should be a bigger success compared to previous years, as it should mark the launch of third-party applications on the iPhone.
There are also special sessions on developing for Mac OS X mobile.
http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/


[translation by jeremy]

- Apple chooses Kroll Ontrack for data recovery - Lionel - 08:51:16

Source: Macworld.co.uk

Apple has signed a contract with the company Kroll Ontrack which makes it the only company officially certified to recover lost data for its customers in Europe.
Customers' hard drives that become illegible will be sent here.
We just have to convince them to offer this service to those who have suffered with Seagate disk firmware 7.0.1 and why not then exchange these discs for non-defective ones.

[translation by jeremy]

- Apple TV will eventually serve as a DVR? - Lionel - 08:08:49

Source: http://www.appleinsider.com

Apple filed a patent for an interface to record programs in 2006 but have released few details . While the recorder is not revolutionary, Apple innovates (as always) in friendly and ease of use ways.



The idea is extremely attractive, since most recording equipment have shown an incredible complexity in order to be programmed. They often make use prohibitive for those who do not have extensive experience in obtuse menus.

[translation by jeremy]