News for Tuesday, 1 April 2008

Despite the attractive title and although it is still 1 April, it will not be tomorrow that Apple releases a type of mini-tower, at a floor price. Like PC towers, Mac users are looking for machines that are scalable and inexpensive. The dream can become reality for most of us handymen. In fact, a faithful member of our forums, Grincheux, not to point him out, has implemented such a project much appreciated on MacBidouille.
His project is to transplant a Intel Mac mini into the tower of power - a PowerMac G4. Close to a Mac tower, it remains an Apple design to the end�

The ultimate aim of Grincheux is to get a machine with a large amount of storage space. And he managed to install 7 SATA hard drives!

Two FireWire hard drives via the provided bridge; another hard drive on the original SATA channel of the Mac mini, and no less than 4 remaining disks via a high performance "connector". The trick is to use the mini PCI Express port of the Mac mini, which originally used to connect the Airport card. Of course it's not as simple as that, a PCI Express card cannot just be added directly into the appropriate port of the Mac mini. Grincheux found a mini-PCI to PCIe adapter to insert the PCI Express SATA card. Finally in order to connect 4 hard drives, the card connected to a a 4-port SATA replicator.


The total project cost is estimated at 1400 euro. The pieces are the most expensive: the MiniPCIe-> PCIe adapter (115 �) and the SATA card coupled with the multiplier ports (120 �). The mini PCIe to PCIe adapter is available on the website DHS Tools (order by e-mail).
We give you the pleasure of discovering the rest of the assembly on the site he created for the occasion: PowerMac mini .

If one likes to eat salmon eggs, the sperm of the male salmons is considered a waste, or at least it used to be.
A researcher recently discovered an unexpected use: they can be used to manufacture biodegradable LED diodes, using its ADN as an isolating cover to retain the electrons and to obtain a very vivid light, consuming less energy.
The only remarks left are the unknown lifespan of these LED panels, and the cost of the industrialization.
They are only satisfying yet for few people, but the increasingly greedy industry will work on that.

We usually post a new about the RefurbStore to let you know about some good deal; we also have to do it when bad deal are offered to consumers. So, today, old MacBook Core Duo are available for 799€; this is way too expensive compared to the MacBook Core 2 Duo 2GHz also available for 849€. The latest model was 90€ cheaper last week...
So pay attention to the hardware specification prior placing an order and do not get confuse by the discount percentage applied to the models! Usually the higher it is , the older the model is.
Shortest way to the Refurb Store.

This news has nothing to do with the Mac, but with the forthcoming Euro 2008 Football Championship which will take place in Switzerland and Austria in June.
According to the French-language Swiss newspaper Le matin, the Swiss Administration responsible for collecting taxes related to audio/video copyright management and regulation. The SUISA launched a campaign in the country to remind some rules related to organizing public live video relay of football games. The rule is such that inviting friends, not part of the near family members, to watch a football game on TV might cost you up to 26 CHFr (26USD)... Of course it targets primarily some people aiming to make money by providing non registered football game relays during the Euro 2008 as there will be more fans than sits in stadium or opened bar available.

Do not get it wrong from the title of this news, the Nintendo's Wii remains a top-sellers in USA and units fly out from the shelves almost instantly whenever a store gets new stock. But US customers are still lining up in front of a store when flyers indicate that Wii are available in stock, something not happening here in Europe where you can get one in any consumer electronics shops.
According to an analysts the weak US dollars could well be the only reason behind such phenomenon, as Nintendo would benefit a lot more by selling all its Wii units in Europe than in USA, making the Euro-lands, the primary targets for Nintendo supply chain. So, at the end it is only about money, and it explains why for once Europe gets access to a popular electronic devices ahead of USA...

A relatively minor bug affects the 2.0.1 update of the Apple TV. With this firmware, connections with the Airport N configured to use the 5 GHz frequency no longer work when using the option WIDE CHANNEL.
A work around to this problem is either to use the 2.4 GHz band or to disable the WIDE BAND.
We will take this opportunity to say a few words about the little used 5 GHz option and also the WIDE BAND option.
The band of 5 GHz is less used than the usual 2.4 GHz, but it is very useful downtown if you are surrounded by many wi-fi networks.
The WIDE BAND option allows the base station to use a bigger bandwidth. This only works with the 5 GHz band since it can cause perturbations to neighbouring networks. However if this is not a problem for you, you can reach the maximum rate for wi-fi N of 300 Mbits/s compared to the maximum of 130 Mbits/s with the 2.4 MHz band.
All the Macs compatible with 802.11n, ie most of the Mac Intels and the iPhone/iPod Touch support the use of the 5 GHz band.
Incidentally, it will make your network much less detectable, since compatible machines remain rare.

Source: http://www.portfolio.com

It is hard not to remember the heated debates that took place in France around the establishment of a global license to legalize downloading music on the Internet in exchange for a monthly fee. We remember the pressure of majors to derail this project (successfully) and the promotion of artists who did not want to hear about it.
Sony last week reversed its position on the topic to propose its catalogue in exchange for a monthly fee. It is the turn of Warner to come to the party, and even go a little further.
They are considering establishing a global license and propose (for a fee) access to a database containing all the music where you could draw at will.
This initiative would enable them to recover some tens of billions of dollars annually, and tp refloat their economic model which has been seriously damaged, because the clampdown had no other effect than to make examples (of "offenders") and make the majors unpopular.
Of course, this shift of some majors will only make a few happy, sellers of music online, which Apple leads, will have no reason to exist.Of course, there are many unknowns not yet revealed, starting with the sum that will represent this subscription, the way it will be charged and is presentation. Will it cover each Internet subscription? Will it be mandatory?
In any case, the trend seems unstoppably moving in this direction, Apple is going to have to prepare for life after the iTunes Music Store and quickly develop the market for the sale of films, not waiting for these projects.
On a more Franco-french note, such a license would make some laws obsolete, such as the law Olivenne which will be passed very soon, or the levy on private copying.