News for Wednesday, 28 January 2009

The computer industry only realized recently that notebooks are selling better than desktop, a phenomenon already recorded by Apple since quarters.
For the last quarter, all Mac notebook models (MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air) account for 70% of the sold units, leaving the rest of the iMac, Mac mini and Mac Pro. Of course the latest models should be upgraded in a very near future, and as a consequence customers might wait for the new models to be released before purchasing a desktop unit. As we indicated previously, Apple is most likely spreading the release of new products over a longer period in order to average its sales in the economic crisis phase.

The HD division from Fujitsu announced the end of its manufacturing activities for the head of plate-based HD, marking a new step towards the future acquisition of the division by another manufacturer. While this happens, Fujitsu will have to get its HD heads from another source, as many other HD manufacturers. The company is only offering 2.5" HD, so concentrating on the growing market of storage unit for notebooks, this could explain why Samsung, also manufacturer of notebook HD, might be interested to acquire the HD division.

This HD features 32 MB of cache and should reduce power consumption by 40% (according to the manufacturer) when compared to a similar 3.5" HD: 7.4 W in action, 0.97 W idle. This drive is silent, with only 29 dB. As it features a green label, this drive will most likely spin at 5400 RPM, so it will rather be a storage drive than system drive. The Black version should be release in near future and will offer higher rotation speed.
This HD will also be available in 1.0 and 1.5 TB models. The expected price for the 2 TB model is 299 USD, so most likely around 280 €. This drive has already been reviewed based on a pre-production sample by HotHardware. Despite is relatively low rotation speed, its performance levels are high, with an average transfer speed of 88 MB/s and excellent 8 ms access time, making it the fastest drive of its class. Once formatted, this drive features 1.8 TB of storage capacity.

In a press release, Macway announced the arrival of the first batteries compatible with the Unibody portables.

Looking from the outside, they are practically identical to those of Apple, although they have a capacity slightly higher than the original by approximately 10%, 5200 mA.h for MacBook Pro and 4800 mA.h for MacBook. They are offered at 119 and 109€, i.e. 10 and 20€ less than the Apple products.

Here is certainly end of the incredible story that following a complaint by IBM, Mark Papermaster was prevented from taking the position of director of material division for the iPhone and iPod.
In the end he will take up this position on April 24. Apple did not give details on the way they used in order to release him from the claws of his contract of noncompetition with IBM.

Thanks to Julien at the Krystena shop in Paris 15 for letting us know that the boxed iLife has arrived at the APR.

Apple has thus ensured a perfect synchronization for they are available everywhere at the same time in the world, for those who ordered them online as for those wishing to buy them at the retailers.
[Update 1] the shop in Paris 15 tells us they are now out of stock.
[Update 2] We have just installed iPhoto that is bigger than 700 MB! The system of facial recognition is scanning the library (a few thousands photographs in 5 and 10 Mpixels). It will take some time,it says more than one hour on Mac Pro Octo. iPhoto does not seem to be at ease with multi CPU, since it does not exceed the 115% of load. Note that it is necessary to enter the administration password to install the iLife package (it contains an update of the system). It is thus likely to tempt the providers of Trojan horses to the pirate networks!
[Update 3] I launched the facial recognition on a smaller library, and it is great! Not only does the system manage to recognize adults, but it was also able to sort through the heap of the photographs of children in spite of the rapids changes of face. Thus, after having presented a photograph of my youngest child at the age of one year, it succeeded in recognizing her when she had been newly born!

With the insane behavior of some news networks, tracking Steve Jobs down to invade his private life and collect info about his health status, one can find simultaneously on the web reports, tagged as reliable, that simply can not be. On one side Walleywag reports that Steve Jobs will undergo surgery at Standford Hospital, while some other sites reports that he atteneded a meeting at Apple HQ...
So, except if he is part of a successful cloning program, he can not be simultaneously at 2 locations, so one of those information has to be wrong...
the best might be that some networks do what Steve asked them, Let him alone, taking care of himself and his family. Damned...