News for Friday, 11 July 2008

If Apple had planned everything, they underestimated the number of requests for Firmware 2.0-based iPhone activations, including new customers with iPhone 3G, as well as iPhone owners willing to benefit from the functions and extended possibilities packed in the the new firmware version.
As a consequence, dedicated servers were down or unaccessible for several hours, making customers frustrated as well as shop employees unable to activate newly purchased iPhone 3G.
This has especially been the case in Europe in the morning, and it did not really improve later on when US East cost citizen woke up. Several customers left shops after waiting for several minutes or long hours to get unsuccessfully their iPhone 3G activated. They will have to try it from home.
We have learned that Apple has launched a emergency plan to quickly increase the number of mirrors in order to allow iPhone 1G and 3G to download the Firmware 2.0, and later on to activate their mobile phone.

So far, most news about SSDs were composed of press releases about future products with non defined date for availability. As the market was just starting most players did not want to launch mass production, and most of them were just producing on-demand to avoid to generate stock of products which will never be able to sell as almost outdated when coming out from the fabrication line.
Confident in the success of SSDs, Samsung announced to have launched the mass production of its 2.5" SSDs based on SATA interface with capacity ranging from 64 to 128 GB. Those solid state HDs will be based on MLC chips allowing data transfer speed of 70 MB/s and 90 MB/S in writing and reading mode respectively, a performance level already higher than most traditional notebook HDs.
Prices were not unveiled, but should be similar to the current offer from OCZ, so 500 USD for the 128 GB model. Samsung plans to launch a new SSD model by the end of the year which will feature 256 GB of storage space. Right one time to find its way in the Nehalem-based MacBook Pro?

Couple of days ago, the Chinese website Apple.pro released a photo supposed to be a prototype of the case for the future MacBook Pro.

Apple Insider claims to have obtained confirmation and so called additional details from its sources.

The photo would not be showing the battery, and its dedicated space would be hidden by the top part of the case. So the MacBook Pro would then adapt a similar design already used in the MacBook allowing to easily access the HD to change it after having removed the battery. The hole in the bottom case being a latch that will pop-open the battery/HD chamber, representing about 1/3 of the bottom space of the future MacBook Pro.
So, Apple only needs to decide if such design will appear soon, with a future revision of the current MacBook Pro powered by the Penryn, or if Cupertino decide to unveil this new enclosure for the Nehalem-based MacBook Pro which should arrive either for Christmas or for the MacWorld SF in January 2009.

Over the last few months, all traditional HD manufacturers decided to have a break in their race for the 3.5" HD with the largest storage space, and all current offers were topping at 1 TB while they all have the tools to go beyond. One can think that due to the low demand for such large capacity HD, they could then reduce production cost and prepare the next wave of new products.
Seagate just announced the future availability of a 3.5" HD featuring 1.5 TB of storage space. The Barracuda 7200.11 will be based on 4 disks of 375 GB each, allowing data transfer speed of 120 MB/s in reading/writing mode. This announcement came 24 hours after Hitachi unveiling its 1 TB based on 3 disks of 375 GB each to reduce power consumption. In addition, Seagate is introducing 2 new 2.5" HD dedicated to notebook, Momentus 5400.6 and Momentus 7200.4, both featuring PMR and targeting respectively mid-range and high-end market. The Momentus 5400.6, is a 5400-rpm drive with SATA 3Gb/interface and capacities ranging from 120GB to 500GB with an 8MB cache. The Momentus 7200.4 is a 7200-rpm spin speed HD with SATA 3GB/second interface, and comes in capacities ranging from 250GB to 500GB with a 16MB cache.

Already it was said about the beta, now it seems that it has been done for the final version if one believes the captures posted by iClarified

As this capture shows, the Installer is found placed beside the AppStore application, and we understand that the iPhone has been jailbroken; and that it is possible that official and semi-official applications cohabit.
We will have more information within the next 48h.

Apple took account of criticisms formulated about the 3G iPhone and is certainly prepared to ease after-sales service of it, which will be sold with tens of millions of specimens.

As shown in this photo, already iFixit has taken it apart. All one has to do is to take out the two screws located each side of the connector, lift up the screen and even reach the battery, which is not soldered in.
To finish: a little photo of the iPhone all in pieces.

To ensure compatibility with remote control operation with the iPhone and iPod Touch, Apple has an update for the Apple TV. It is available via the software update of the Apple TV.