News for Saturday, 1 March 2008

A version of Ziphone, the software to Jailbreak and desim/unlock the iPhone is now available in a version that has specifically validated to work with firmware 1.1.4.
It is strongly advised to restore to version 1.1.4 instead of just updating to 1.1.4 before installing Ziphone.
http://www.ziphone.org/

Apple has put online several technical notes in English on the Time Capsule

Setting up Time Capsule for the first time

Backing up with Time Capsule for the first time

Time Capsule: Initial backup is interrupted

Restoring files from a Time Capsule backup
We learn that it is very compatible with Time Machine, and the first back up can be extremely long. Following back ups, being incremental, will be more rapid.
Apple gives some advice:
- Never interupt the first back up; if you do - you must start again from scratch.
- For the first back up : have the computer connected via AirPort as close to the base station as possible - or better - use Ethernet.

So, when Apple say that Time Capsule uses a

massive 500GB or 1TB server-grade hard drive

what they really mean is that it contains regular Hitachi Deskstar 7K drives, namely the 7K1000 for the 1TB unit and -probably- the E7K500 for the 500GB unit.
This can be seen on pictures of a 1TB Time Capsule's innards taken by nakedmac and posted on flickr.
According to Hitachi's spec sheets, these drives are tailored for

Internal and external storage for consumer computers
Networked storage servers
Extreme gaming machines
Video editing arrays

So in a sense yes they are "network-grade".
Check out the longer post on the Hardmac Blog, complete with a price/cost analysis.

The Albis commission in France met specially yesterday to vote on the royalty tax for the iPhone, which will henceforth tax this apparatus and those similar in the same way as a iPod - thus the 8 GB model will soon cost 7 euros more.
This vote was done under difficult conditions, about half of the voters, representatives of industrialists and certain consumer associations having practised the policy of the empty chair.
This price rise must be put into effect by April 1 - and unless a miracle happens and Orange absorbs this charge - it will be added to the retail price.
It is this decision to tax the telephones as much as the mp3 players without making a study of usage that feeds the resentment - this commission has the right to make discretionary decisions without having any real dialogue.