Tuesday April 29, 2008

- iPhone for Canada in 2008 - Ewok - 23:13:07

The iPhone will be released this year in Canada according to The Star which interviewed Ted Rogers, CEO of Rogers Communications. This is the only hope for the Canadians to have the iPhone as Rogers are the only mobile operator functioning with standard GSM in this territory, since the purchase of Microcell Telecommunications in 2004.

[translation by crispin]

- Delivery of Open Computers - Ewok - 23:06:24

Even though we have questioned the credibility of Psystar, the delivery of the Open Computers - these assembled computers running MacOS X - has began.
A little reminder of the facts HERE and HERE

Gizmodo proposes a video (HERE) and a photo gallery (HERE) of a machine recognized as a MacPro.

Merci Mac Zangdar

[translation by crispin]

- Java SE 6 for Mac OS X 10.5 - crispin - 22:42:31

Java Update for MAc OSX 10.5 through the usual software update

This Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 1 adds Java SE 6 version 1.6.0_05 to your Mac. This update does not replace the existing installation of J2SE 5.0 or change the default version of Java.

For more details on this update, please visit this website

- iMac ATI Radeon HD Graphics Firmware Update 1.0.1 - Cheerful - 19:54:28

Source : Apple

Apple has released a graphics firmware update for the previous iMacs running 10.5.2 and above (n.b. official latest OS update currently at 10.5.2).

Naturally, one assumes that the latest iMacs come with this updated firmware.

This update is for iMac computers with an ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro or ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT graphics card installed, running Mac OS X 10.5.2 or later.

It updates the ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro or ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT graphics card firmware in the iMac to improve system stability.

- 25 Of The Best Home & Office Mac Setups - Eric - 15:12:14

The website http://www.cartridgesave.co.uk/ published a long article on the "25 Of The Best Home & Office Mac Setups". Unlike other photo gallery, the article provides details and comments.

From the Leopard and iPod fan:


to the DJ setting:


Personally I love the "go vertical":

- Sonic Acquires Simple Star - Eric - 14:37:07

Sonic, developer of the well known Roxio Toast burning Suite on Mac, acquires Simple Star, Inc., a privately held software products and online service provider based in San Francisco, California.

Simple Star is the developer of PhotoShow™, a comprehensive multimedia storytelling platform and online community that enables consumers to quickly and easily turn personal photos and video clips into entertaining shows that can be enjoyed and shared on PCs, TVs, handhelds, or published to popular social media sites.
....
"With over 300 million copies of Roxio software distributed, Sonic has one of the largest installed bases of savvy digital media consumers in the world, and these consumers are always eager for new services and products," said Matt DiMaria, general manager of the Roxio division of Sonic Solutions. "Simple Star provides us with innovative new products and web services that are a natural fit for our users and that will extend the reach of the Roxio brand beyond the desktop to online and cable offerings. Simple Star also brings to us a group of talented engineers and senior managers who will help us expand and diversify our product line."

It seems that all large players prepare their offer for online video contents.

- New iMac: Montevina or not Montevina? - Eric - 11:34:37

Following the announcement of the new iMacs, and their rather surprising specification, the websites are speculating on what is really inside of those new iMacs. Whilesome websites seems to have mixed up plateform code name with CPU generation, the hardware sitting in the new iMac is for sure exotic.

According to several websites, CPUs are a "special" model of the current 45-nm Penryn processor, but not officially available from Intel catalog. Those special CPUs feature clock speed ranging from 2.4 GHz over 2.66 and 2.8 GHz all the way to the 3.06 GHz CPU with 6 MB L2 cache and a 1066 MHz FSB.
So, the second point is the chipset, as the current Santa Rosa is reported to provide FSB topping at 800 MHz, and here Apple claims to have 1066 MHz FSB processors powering the new iMac. So, either it is indeed 1066 MHz FSB capable CPU on a 800MHz Santa Rosa FSB, or the new iMacs feature a overclocked version of the Santa Rosa to bring support for 1066 MHz FSB.

If the figures for the CPU seems clear, and is not so much a surprise as Montevina was compatible with Penryn CPUs, the current chipset sitting in the new iMacs remain an opened question. It really looked like the Montevina based on the 1066 MHz support, however, Apple being using CPUs not officially available from Intel, Cupertino might also have had access to an overclocked Santa Rosa, allowing the company to offer an upgrade, while waiting for the next one which will be then based on Montevina.

It would be nice for us as well as the end users that Cupertino starts providing full details about Intel CPUs and chipsets being used in our Macs.

[update]:
Apple released a TechNote dedicated to the new iMac, there is unfortunately not enough information to clearly identify the chipset being used, either an overclocked Santa Rosa Refresh, or the Montevina.
Direct link: http://developer.apple.com/documentation/HardwareDrivers/Conceptual/iMac_0408/Articles/ProductDeveloperNote.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP90004831