Thursday April 03, 2008

- Intel does not let go of the SSD market - Lionel - 22:26:02

Intel has already made and sold SSD disks; it was at the very beginning of this technology and always with products of low capacity destined for the professional market.
At the Intel Developers forum which is being held now, they have announced that they will continue to release products on this market, and propose SSD with a capacity between 32 and 160 GB. These products are reinforced and capable to withstand a shock of 1500G.
Intel foresees these just for the professional market and does not even communicate the price of these disks.

[translation by crispin]

- Griffin boosts the reception of the iPhone - Lionel - 22:15:50

Source : http://www.griffintechnology.com

Griffin has just announced a new case for the iPhone.



As well as protecting the iPhone, it is fitted with a booster antenna that increases the sensitivity of the device and allows the telephone to operate in conditions of limited reception.
To prove their point, they have posted a video showing the signal strength received using this case. However they point out that an improvement in reception does not always show up as an increase in bars on the reception meter.
One will have to do real life tests to judge the real gain in reception.

[translation by crispin]

- Photoshop CS4 only 64-bit for Windows - Lionel - 22:11:46

On his blog, John Nack of Adobe comments on the 64-bit compatibility of Lightroom and speaks of the upcoming CS4. His words will certainly cause a big controversy. It states that the next version of this software will be compatible with 64-bit machines, but only under Windows.

To justify this difference in treatment, he explained that the CS suite is still developed in Carbon, and that Apple had, suddenly, decided at the last WWDC not to develop 64-bit version of these libraries.
Adobe will therefore need a great deal of work to rewrite Photoshop under Cocoa and subsequently offer 64-bit compatibility of its software, which they will include with CS5.

To add salt to the wound, Nack indicates that a 64-bit version provides a performance gain of between 8 and 12%, but much more under certain conditions. Indeed, the 64-bit addressing allows software mainly to exceed the threshold of 4 GB of memory, which can load images (especially large ones) much faster images yet maintain performance fluidity, even with many images opened simultaneously.

Then comes the controversy: is it Apple's fault or Adobe's? The truth is certainly between the two, or more precisely about the war they are engaged in over a few overlapping software titles. Indeed, it has long been clear that carbon is a dying API. Adobe could have, long ago, started the transition but they know that maintaining CS is very important to our platform, and were very disappointed that Apple certainly does not help.

Perhaps it was wise of Adobe to announce it via a blog, long before CS4 debuts, therefore envoking an early storm, hoping that such negative attention will die down at release time, as to avoid plummeting sales. Incidentally, a large outcry *could* encouraging them to change their plans without undue delay. That is what we hope.

[translation by CliveAtFive]

- Big price reduction of the iPhone in Germany - Lionel - 22:04:14

Source : MacGeneration

In order to restart the sales of iPhone, T Mobile is making a large efforts with the tariff of the 8 GB version as of Monday.
It proposes very attractive tariffs depending on the subscription one choses:

- 99€ with a subscription of 89€ per month
- 149€ with a subscription of 69€
- 199€ with a subscription of 49€
- 249€ with a new base subscription of 29€.

Given the sale figures in France, it will not be surprising if Orange does the same thing shortly, the feasibility of this has now been proven.

[translation by crispin]

- An Apple Store in Switzerland for real! - Lionel - 21:56:32

We tell it in the words of one of our reader ..

Just a little note to tell you that there will be not one but two Apple Stores in Switzerland by this Autumn and this is before France; one will be in Geneva and the other in Zurich.

I was contacted a few days ago by a recrutement agency for a position in one of these stores.

Thus - this is serious, some people have already be taken on.

Don't worry, there will soon be stores also in France

[translation by crispin]

- Latest updates: iTunes 7.6.2, QuickTime 7.4.5 and Front Row 2.1.3 - MacEnsteph - 15:05:58

3 updates on the menu for tonight: iTunes, which is now version 7.6.2 (45 MB), QuickTime version 7.4.5 (56 MB) and Front Row version 2.1.3 (20.5 MB).
As usual, stability, performance, security and compatibility are the flavours.

ITunes 7.6.2 provides bugfixes aimed at improving the stability and performance.

QuickTime 7.4.5 includes fixes that improve the reliability and compatibility with third-party applications, and solve security problems. This version is recommended for all users of QuickTime 7.
For details on the contents of this security update, visit the following web site:
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798-french .
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798-english .

The Front Row update solves problems and provides better compatibility with iTunes.

[translation by jeremy]

- iPhone tax from 1st May (in France) - Lionel - 14:58:36

Source: PC Inpact

The fee for private copying for Walkmans/ mp3 phones has been published in the official gazette and will be applicable from the first of May.
It will ultimately be somewhat lower than anticipated because the distinction was made between devices that can play videos and those which serve purely as an audio player.
It will be from 7 euros on the 8GB model and 8 Euros on the 16 GB. VAT must still be added, the charge being treated as duty-free.

[translation by jeremy]

- The Geforce 9800 GTX fails to amuse - Lionel - 14:53:54

NVidia has launched its new high-end card, the GeForce 9800 GTX.
The first tests carried out on the products showed that it only meets the lower bounds of performance that could have been hoped for.
Indeed, the 9800 GTX reflects the basic architecture of the 8800 GTS and merely uses a slightly higher frequency without changing the width of the memory bus or additional memory.
But NVidia is dominant ahead of AMD/ATI and does not really need to innovate to stay well ahead.
Good news for us, as long as these cards have a 128 KB EEPROM, it should be possible to make them work on our mac in the same way we modified the ROM of the 8800 GT.
The price of these cards without real innovation remains affordable. It takes around € 300 to acquire one of them.

[translation by jeremy]

- The WWDC schedule is online - Lionel - 10:49:08

Apple has put online the program of the different courses and hands-on sessions for this year's WWDC:
http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/sessions/

At the heart of your WWDC experience is the range of technical sessions and hands-on labs presented by Apple engineers and experts. Get in-depth information with presentations on the technologies that power iPhone OS, Leopard and Leopard Server, and code along during practical "how-to" sessions. You’ll get answers to your most critical questions, insight into development techniques, and best-practices on optimizing features that will define your product’s success. The first set of sessions and labs now are available—with many more coming soon.

Without surprpise, the iPhone plays a major role, even bigger than the Mac, and in total, there are no less than 70 courses available for developpers.
The success of this WWDC will be a perfect indicator of Apple's new success. They've managed to attract many new users and customers, and this will be the time to verify if the developpers are following.

[translation by xavier]

- 5 new ATOM processors from Intel - Lionel - 07:36:02

Source : Dailytech

Definitely, Intel is doing everything to remain in the limelight with its new ATOM processors. They have gone further with the variations in this range and announce 5 new products that are even smaller. The ATOM in the series Z measure 13x14 mm.
They run with a frequency between 800 MHz and 1.85 GHz and have a consumption between 0.65 and 2.4 W.
They are destined for the market that Intel calls mobile internet, comprising of telephones, mp3 players, GPS ...
The chipsets that accompany these processors have the functions needed for this use:
- 3D video capacity
- Audio HD
- Video 720 and 1080i
They can also support wifi, WiMax, the EV-DO and the 3G+ (HSDPA)

This is largely what is needed for a new generation of iPhone; Mac OS X Light running in an iPhone would be powerful with this type of processor architecture.

[translation by crispin]

- Blu-ray readers start with a price rise - Lionel - 07:18:31

Source : TGdaily

The war of the formats made it possible for HD readers to have regular prices reductions, however this movement seems to have come to an end and there is a tendency even for reversal.
Thus, the majority of the Blu-ray readers have started with a price rise since Toshiba has withdrawn from the market.
The size of the price rise depends on the product, but nonetheless it is notable.
For this tendency to reverse the market needs to be opened up and become competitive, this will not happen in the short term, not until the production of these blue laser diodes increases in a significant manner.

[translation by crispin]