Wednesday September 03, 2008

- Orange Fully Unlocks Data Speed for the iPhone 3G - Lionel - 14:29:43

To stop the on-going complains and potential legal action, Orange, the exclusive iPhone distributor in France, decided to fully unlock the data speed of its 3G network for the iPhone 3G. So, if you are located in a area properly covered by the 3G+ network and that not all neighborhoods are using the same network, then you could experience data speed transfer up to 7.5 Mbit/s. Orange should unlock gradually its entire 3G network, while upgrading it too to face the increasing usage.

[translation by Linathael]

- iPhone 3G, Apple and APRs: Incompatible Trio? - Lionel - 12:08:26

Unlike what was promised by Apple, the Apple Premium Resellers still can not sell iPhones 3G while they already started training their collaborators to do so. It seems that Cupertino keeps postponing its final decision to give them the green light, and the iPhone 3G shortage might not be the only reason for such delays. Most APRs are getting quite upset as Apple does not seem to be able to provide reliable information, considering that Apple Europe Exe announced in August that APRs will sell iPhone 3G in September...

Even if APRs are used to live with the chaotic decision taken by Apple regarding sell and repair policies, the iPhone 3G was the expected device to boost their sales. If Apple keeps shipping iPhone at that pace, it will most likely reach 10 million milestone by the end of September, making the number of potential customers every smaller for APRs.

Maybe the APRs should join their forces and publicly criticize Apple’s policies regarding the iPhone 3G, as Cupertino usually does not like having bad news about the company coming on the front pages.

[translation by Linathael]

- Adobe to Unveil CS4 on September 23rd - Lionel - 11:39:35

On September 23rd (12h00 CET) Adobe will unveil, via a Webcast, the new version of the Creative Suite, aka CS4. Of course, this version will bring new and improved features while introducing a new and unified interface; even though some consider it as a transition towards a more "important or revolutionary" version to come.

According to our sources, the CS4 will be available at the end of the year depending on countries and languages. As usual, all purchase of the CS3 after September 23rd will give right for a “free update” to CS4 as soon as it will be available.

The website for the CS4 Launch Webcast is: http://www.adobe.com/go/somethingbrilliant

[translation by Linathael]

- Logitech illuminates its keyboards - Lionel - 10:39:55

Source : Logitech

MacBook Pro and MacBook Air owners know how much the backlit keyboard on their machine can be a comfortable and convenient way to work in low light situations.
Those who can't live without this function can now also have it on their desktop computer thanks to Logitech.


The company launched the Illuminated Keyboard which will be sold at $79.99. Like the MacBook's and the latest Mac's keyboards, the keys are seperated, which are quite comfortable to use after a brief adjustment period. Incidentally, this allows the keyboard to be only 9.3 mm thick.
At the moment, this keyboard is only labelled for Windows (but it will work with the Mac). Knowing Logitech, a Mac version will be along shortly.

[translation by jwa]

- The problems for the MacBook Air have not ended - Lionel - 08:01:10

We begin with the words from a reader

I am the owner of a MacBook Air as 4 of my colleagues (we bought these MBA over a few months interval with different configurations). This portable could be perfect for me.

BUT he suffers from a very large bug which makes it quasi unusable at the daily level: it does not support a loaded CPU, in particular when the ambient temperature is hot. The 5 MBA in the office have all the same behavior and considering the number of contributions on this subject in the Apple forum (such as here http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1387729&tstart=45 and here for example http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1445521&tstart=135) one can suppose that this problem is general.

The origin the problem appeared when one of the cores gets blocked at 0% while the other core is set at 100%, the mac then becomes quasi uncontrollable. Last week Apple updated a patch supposed to correct this problem. In fact it is nothing, since then in the event of request for the two cores are at 100%, the mac becomes also unusable. If the activity monitor is opened, one sees that the "kernel_task" is running at 120-150%.
Here are the cases in which the problem appears and/or is more frequent
- Room temperature higher than 27-28° without any active application
- Reading a video on youtube in Safari
- Play Flash in Safari
- Remote loading (!!) of a video from the iTunes Store
- playing a film bought or rented on the iTune Store with full screen (this goes with a video using less than 50% of the screen)
- Reading of a sequence avi under VLC in full screen
- Connection of a 23" screen
- Backup of TimeMachine on a DD USB

In other words this portable is unusable. What is astonishing is that few people seem to complain in a vehement way, apart from those at the Apple Forums. It is quite simply unacceptable that Apple is not able to regulate the problem 9 months after the launch of the product.

All in all, certain owners of MacBook Air meet this kind of problems and others do not; the proportion being difficult to establish, those affected tend to complain much more that others.
One can attribute this behavior of the machine, or rather of the processor to the fact that in the event of detecting overheating: it will radically lowers its voltage and its frequency in order to protect itself from the destruction, with the cutting of power of the machine related to the last level of alarm at the CPU; an event that will lead to a powerdown without notice.

[translation by crispin]