Tuesday June 03, 2008

- The best of Palm in the iPhone? - Lionel - 22:58:29

Source : Generation NT

For a very long time, Palm was the PDA of predilection of Mac Users. Since then, the company has descended into hell, Windows Mobile has arrived, and finally the iPhone came onto the scene with a role to play.
The nostalgic ones may be about to refind a little of Palm on a iPhone, since, StyleTap, a company specialized in the emulators has decided to create a product that allows Palm OS software to run on the telephone of Apple.
We will hear more during the WWDC where the company will be present. It remains unknown the position of Apple concerning software that will allow other software, not bought through AppStore, to run.

[translation by crispin]

- Supertalent Announces "Cheap" SSDs: SSDs for the Mass? - Lionel - 19:01:01

Source : Dailytech

If the SSD market is literally exploding, it is mostly linked to marketing campaign and announcement of products which are not available yet for most of them. In addition, if the numbers of companies claiming to deliver the best SSD increases exponentially, prices are not really getting down; and SSD remain mostly used by OEM for high-end notebook.

Things might change as Supertalent decided to bring a cheap SSD to consumer market: one will be able to get a 120 GB 1.8" SATA SSD for "ONLY" 649 USD, so about 50% less than the previous average price for such storage space!
Based on MLC chips, it features read speeds of 120 MB/sec and write speeds of less impressive 40 MB/sec.

Supertalent will also offer 2 other models with lower storage space, 30 and 60 GB, which will then be even cheaper, respectively, 299 and 449 USD. Supertalent claims to be willing to introduce such SSD models as soon as possible. We would be very happy to get such SSD for a test, it would be perfect in a MacBook, but Supertalent will have to offer a PATA version for being able to install it in a MacBook Air.

[translation by Linathael]

- Reed will compensate for Apple's absence - Lionel - 16:14:13

Reed Expo, the organizer of the Paris Apple Expo, has sent a message to exhibitors of the show. Here is an excerpt:

With the confidence of Apple, with whom we have prepared the 2008 edition, we have presented the main strengths of the next show and its news and have the pleasure to be among the exhibitors this year. Also, it seems natural to inform you that a few days ago, Apple decided to suspend its booth presence at the show. However, Apple Expo Remix '08 (the only show in the world to bear the brand name the apple) will be held without question.

To ensure the presence of Apple products, starting with the most recent, Reed and his partners are working already to supply the core portion of the event: to present the latest solutions surrounding Apple's ecosystem.

Under the theme of creation and digital talent, Apple Expo Remix'08 will stage the culmination of 25 years of innovation and success, and will offer visitors the meetings, conferences and debates within a space dedicated and that many animations to discover or progress on the key themes of digital technology.

In this context Adobe will be this year, an official partner of Apple Expo Remix'08 and offer an area of exceptional conferences dedicated to news brand products. This major player in the creative world is for us all, the guarantor of a strong and attractive content for creative professionals, and the testimony of the relevance of the show. So far, there are already 85 exhibitors in the event .*

Good news, the show is still on. It noted the return of Adobe, which takes up much of the place left vacant by Apple, who is not expected to have an official presence.

It should also be noted that the organizer wants to maintain an Apple space at the center of the fair, the latter being obviously set up by dealers. If they play well the coup, the difference with this year's Apple Expo is that "Apple" will be minimal, except perhaps the typically thick-carpeted booth, in which it is so pleasant to walk.

[translation by CliveAtFive]

- Toshiba restarts an attack with a super reader of DVDs - Lionel - 09:32:48

Source : VNUNet

Obviously, Toshiba has not yet digested its defeat with the format HD-DVD which has cost them an enormous loss of money.
After having announced to want to centre itself on the on-line distribution of HD videos, the giant of the electronic world returns to the fray by announcing a new product, the improved DVD.
This product which will be launched in 6 months time and will be much less expensive than Blu-Ray; thus they hope to compete in the market of the HD.
This reader will be able to improve considerably the quality of restitution of the DVD on HD screens, to almost the level of Blu-ray.
We do not know the techniques for upscaling that will be used, but the delay before the launch implies that there will be new technologies. It is possible that the company has decided to integrate an underclocked Cell into its readers; this super processor could take care of the very heavy calculations needed to optimise the image.
The goal in any case seems clear. Toshiba now seeks with all its force to undermine the Blu-Ray by offering a product able to prolong to the maximum the life of the good old DVD.

[translation by crispin]

- NVidia responds to the ATOM with the Tegra - Lionel - 07:41:24

Tegra is a chip of a new design: a cross between a CPU and a GPU.
It contains a central ARM 11 processor and an evolution of the video chip GoForce already marketed for as mobile video for the telephones and other ultra portable.
This chip is a SoC (System on a Chip) containing almost all the necessary functions for a device in a single chip of 144 mm2.
The interest of this product is that it can be manufactured at a very low cost, and the motherboards can be reduced to the extreme for mobile devices.
Tegra will run at least at 600 MHz, will take care of reading videos in 720p and will support screens of resolution up to 1024x768. It also integrates support for ATA, for an HDMI output and will consume only a few Watts; one talks of a consumption of only 1W for reading videos 720p.
A more powerful model, running at 800 MHz will be able to decode 1080p.
On a technical point of view, this chip is much closer to the one used by Apple in the iPhone than the ATOM processor of Intel.
It would not be surprising to find it in this device, or a forthcoming variation of the iPod since it matches so well the needs of Apple.

[translation by crispin]

- Apple Help Files: Isolating Issues in Mac OS X - Lionel - 03:05:54

As we all know, Mac have less problems than most PC, but it does happen. If you ever experience such problem, Apple just released a step-by-step procedure to isolate the origin and potentially fix it. The new article is in the knowledge base: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1388?viewlocale=en_US

However, in most cases, the advise is... to reinstall Mac OS X... the same rescue advise made by Microsoft for years. Luckily, one can find less extreme procedure in Mac-dedicated websites (such as our forum), or even in Apple knowledge base if you scroll-down the page mentioned above.

[translation by Linathael]

- iPhone 2 for 99€ ? - Lionel - 02:52:11

According to Times, the iPhone 2 could be available in UK at the target price of 100 £. This is much lower that the current value of the first generation, and could be explained by the switch in the iPhone business plan. It would then finally confirm what we reported earlier, Apple might have accepted to let carriers subsidized the handset. Apple's main goal seems to have evolved from making as much money as possible with exclusive partnership to get as much device sold as possible, expecting that at the end it pays off. As with iTunes and the iPod, Apple might be willing to quickly increase the pool of iPhone users in order to quickly generate revenues via its AppStore.

The price of the iPhone 2 could be even cheaper in other European countries, aorund 99 €, especially in countries where several carriers will offer the iPhone (such as Switzerland). However, the price of hte iPhone 3G might not be changing much in countries (such as France) where the original exclusive partner will still have the monopoly for distributing the device.
The availability of hte new iPhone is expected in July.

[translation by Linathael]