I hate to admit this, but my kids hate Macs.
Despite forcing them to dress as iPods at Macworld* the little chickens aren’t in love with beautiful Apple hardware.
Even though the house is filled with wonderful Macs, the kids prefer an old ThinkPad we have kicking around for playing Club Penguin and other online games .
Why, I hear you ask?
“It is much faster,” says son number one, Milo, seen here giving his Mac user salute.
They couldn’t give a hoot about the elegant interface or the better quality of QuickTime video. All they care about is the responsiveness of the Flash games they’re addicted to.
Worse thing is they have a point. As my esteemed colleague Paul Boutin pointed out many years ago, Windows machines are much faster on the Web than Macs. *Actually my wife’s idea. I was mortified.
Hacking stories bore me to tears, but the cleverly named “pwn-2-own” hacking competition (Hack a honeypot MacBook, get it as the prize) is getting such attention, it’s worth pointing to some of the better reporting on the subject: Dan Goodin at The Register:
A New York-based security researcher spent less than 12 hours to identify and exploit a zero-day vulnerability in Apple’s Safari browser that allowed him to remotely gain full user rights to the hacked machine. The feat came during the second and final day of the CanSecWest “pwn-2-own” contest in which participants are able to walk away with a fully-patched MacBook Pro if they are first able to hack it.
…
Dai Zovi, who is not attending the conference, was recruited on Thursday night by Shane Macaulay, a friend and conference attendee. The ease Dai Zovi found in pwning the machine was all the more remarkable, given an update Apple pushed out yesterday patching 25 Mac security holes. Macaulay described Dai Zovi’s vulnerability as a client-side javascript error that executed arbitrary code when Safari visited a booby-trapped website.
… huge numbers of pundits and anonymous nerds on the Internet will decry Apple’s lack of security and how unfair it is that Microsoft, which expands so much effort on security, is perceived as having a less secure OS. Meanwhile, Mac users will rationalize the situation, including me.
Check out this bizarre video of a elderly woman in Moscow surfing the net on a brand new MacBook. It appears that the guys who shot the video were so surprised to see her, they tried to sneak a peek at her screen — but she shooed them off. Anyone speak Russian?
UPDATE: Olegs Straume writes:
Realy nice video
The guy wasn’t so nice to her – at first The guy in a black jacket says her “don’t worry i’ll just take a picture” than the man who is filming this scene says to his friend – “I think shee is watching some Porno” – “i’ll go and check” – when he got closer to her she answered “What? – Is it Interesting” ( Russians say that – when they are not so happy) – so the guy anwsered laughing “Sorry” on the way back he says “She was surfing”¦ (some kind of) “WISE SURFACE” (or something like that i didn’t hear well – thats it
As ever, Ars Technica has the best technical coverage of Intel’s Developer Forum. For those of us who care less about the details of things like systems-on-a-chip and pinball grid arrays, they always manage to cut to what really matters. Here’s what you need to know: The upcoming Penryn chip, the mooted successor to the Intel Core2 Extreme line, is going to absolutely scream at video encoding.
The developmental iron came through with a 221 percent speed improvement on DiVX encoding. That’s unheard of in this era. Most of the performance improvements are more linear, but this chip is coming to rock. I’ll take four quads, please. Intel details Penryn performance, new SSE4 extensions:
Thomas Fitzgerald spent some quality time with his AppleTV and wrote up this thorough and interesting review. His conclusion? It’s a great product, well thought out and executed.
It is the Apple TV’s integration with iTunes that makes it a truly fantastic product. Again it’s the little things. When you watch something on your iPod, and then sync it, it knows your playback position. When you watch a podcast, (if you set it to sync only recent episodes) it removes it and sends the next episode (but cleverly it waits till you have watched it to the end before it does so) Synching seems to happen often and as soon as you change something it will sync. It’s pretty impressive and seamless. Another cool thing is that if you have slideshows set up in iPhoto when you sync your photos it remembers the music you had set with that slide show. I know it’s simple little thing, but it just struck me as being indicative of the seamless integration across all Apple’s products, that competitors just can’t or don’t want to achieve.
…Even if you live outside the US and don’t have access to movies and TV shows on iTunes there are plenty of ways to get content onto the Apple TV. Two must have pieces of software are mediafork (aka handbrake) and visual hub. Visual hub does an excellent job of transcoding all those divx movies you may have acquired through whatever method you may have acquired them (and I’ll make no comment or suggestions on that topic) with no significant loss in quality, which is a pretty impressive feat. Media fork does a similar job with DVDs.
Wilkes University Wilkes-Barre, PA, is about to become one of the first colleges to make a complete switch from Windows PCs to new Intel Macs. Over the next three years, Wilkes will become an all-Mac campus — a $1.4 million switch involving 1,700 computers. The reason? To save money. The college will buy fewer machines and expects to spend less on support.
Scott Byers, vice president for finance and general counsel at Wilkes, answered a few questions by email, explaining the reason for the switch and the reaction from students and staff.
“Students seem to like the change and recognize Apple as an innovator in technology,” he said. “This generation of students has a great affinity for the Apple brand.”
Whose idea was it to switch to Macs?“¨The idea was generated as we solicited bids for our annual technology refresh program. Every three years we replenish all 1,700 computers on campus. Apple introduced us to their Intel-based Macs and we saw it as an opportunity to provide Apple and Windows operating systems in one machine for the campus community. The benefits to the end user were obvious. Students and faculty could choose the platform they needed and wanted based on their individual computing needs. We also saw an opportunity to reduce the number of machines on campus and therefore create more efficient use of computer labs. We soon realized the question wasn’t ‘why make the switch,’ but ‘why not?’
Was there any resistance?ҬWe are an institution whose mission is to establish personal relationships so we worked closely with our faculty and staff to make sure we had a general consensus in moving forward with Apple.
Your stated reason was to save money. Were there any other advantages or disadvantages?ҬBeing more efficient was a desire but we felt it had many other advantages;
1) Allowed the user to choose the desired operating system
2) offered the potential to enhance teaching and learning using Apple’s iLife software
3) created a standard base that our IT department could work with consistently rather than Dells, Gateways, HP and Apples
4) reduced the number of units necessary for campus and the number of units requiring potential service and replacement.
What was the reaction to the news like from staff and students?ӬStudents seem to like the change and recognize Apple as an innovator in technology. This generation of students has a great affinity for the Apple brand. Staff have embraced the change as well. We anticipate additional support from the campus community by providing training on the educational benefits of Apple software.
A couple of years ago, universities and schools were switching away from Macs. Do you think we’ll see more switch back?“¨I think so. Apple has made inroads in the personal computer market with an operating system that one could argue is superior to Windows. The switcher approach allows campuses to access both platforms from one unit. Again, I would pose the question why wouldn’t a campus make the switch? The visual, user-friendly nature of Apple-based programs, along with iTunes and other lifestyle programs, has aligned well with the current and incoming generation of college students.
Any additional comments?
I’d like to add that Wilkes has long been a leading provider of graduate education for teachers. We offer master’s degree and certificate programs in classroom technology and instructional technology. At the core of those programs is an emphasis on computer skills and also leadership skills so teachers can implement crucial technology upgrades in their respective schools.
Our partnership with Apple will be a vital part of providing cutting-edge, quality education in the way of instructional technology for today’s teachers.
I love these cameras (I’ve bought three more since January as gifts, with great results). They shoot stunning pictures (here’s Flickr’s collection of FX07 shots) and have totally kick-ass image stabilization that works great in low-light, getting me incredible shots without using a tripod or leaning the camera against a table. They also shoot wicked-fast, making it easy to shoot a continuous stream of photos of something exciting as it’s happening. The presets are also really smart — the aerial photography setting got great shots when I was in a helicopter last month over the Grand Canyon. The camera also shoots crisp, 640×480 Quicktime video.
Michael Adberg of WeaKnees, a company known for its TiVo upgrades, wrote in to say his company just started shipping a self-install upgrade kit for the AppleTV. For $200, you get a 160 Gbyte hard drive pre-formatted for the AppleTV. “The installation process only takes a few minutes and then the AppleTV will re-synchronize with your iTunes to download all of your music, videos, and photos,” WeaKnees promises.
The Mac Pro has been updated to 8-core Intel Xeon chips — and can cost up to $16,000.
The new machines, available immediately, can be configured with several different chip combinations, from two Dual-Core Intel Xeons to two Quad-Core Intel Xeons. The top of the line runs two Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Clovertown” processors running at 3.0GHz.
The monsters can be configured in every way imaginable, and have options for four internal hard drives and four video cards. But pricing is not for the feint of heart.
The entry level model — which has two dual-core processors — starts at $2,500 for the base configuration.
The top-end beast starts at $4,000, and that’s with only $1 Gbyte of RAM.
Bump the RAM to 2GBytes and the internal drive to 500Gbytes, and the price jumps to $4,500 — this should be considered the base price.
Add a pair of 30-inch high-def monitors, and it costs $8,200.
A model with all the bells and whistles (16Gbytes of RAM, 4x750Gbyte drives, 4 graphic cards, two displays, airport+bluetooth, fibre channel, etc. etc.) and of course, an Applecare protection plan but no extra software — costs $15,900.
Australian Simon Clement had the back of his PowerBook laser etched with the specs of the original Mac and the signatures from inside the case.
The case of the original Macintosh was embossed on the inside with the names of the development team, led by Steve Jobs. “Artists sign their work,” he said at the time.
Metafilter’s Matt Haughey recreated the Star Wars Kid video with a MacBook and software called MacSaber, which makes lightsaber sounds as the motion-sensor-equipped notebook is swung around.
The result is hilarious. Writes Matt: “I went for accuracy, combing my hair down, putting on tight khakis and a striped tight shirt, and following his first set of movements.”
Bumbling around the Web, I just stumbled on Smay’s blog, where he’s written a good description of his “Mac Lust.”
“I want one of the new MacBook Pros. I have a couple of computers at work; a year-old Dell here at home; a perfectly good ThinkPad. I do not need another computer. But I want one. I have never used a Mac. Don’t look forward to having to learn a new operating system or move back and forth between Mac and PC.
I want a Mac because they are cool. And all the cool kids have them. They are sexy. There is no logic or reason at work here. This is happening in the lizard part of my brain. I’ve thought about sneaking over to St. Louis to the Apple store and putting my hands on one of the new MacBooks. But that’s like saying I’ll just lie down on the bed next to the super-model, but we won’t “do anything.” If I walk in that store, I’ll walk out $2,500 poorer. So I’m holding on. Like a junkie trying to survive the shakes and chills and maybe in the morning I won’t want that fix.”
iAlertU is a super clever anti-theft software package that sounds the alarm in the event of an attempted laptop theft.
The software uses the hard drive motion sensors built into late model PowerBooks and MacBooks. The sensors park the hard drive heads in the event of a fall, but in iAlertU, they sound a screeching alarm if the laptop is picked up. Click the video to see it in action.
I love the witty use of the remote, which arms the laptop just like a car alarm. The screen even flashes like a vehicle’s marker lights.
The software is still being developed. There’s no word if suffers from an obvious fatal flaw: the mute button.
A BusinessWeek poll about the Microsoft Vista delay yielded an interesting result.
BusinessWeek asked: “Will Microsoft’s decision to delay the next version of the Windows operating system change your PC purchase plans?”
The biggest response by a huge margin — more than 65 perccent — said, “I do intend to buy a new computer — an Apple.”
The results aren’t at all scientific, but it is interesting. Polls always skew toward the negative, but the Apple shift is huge. I’m guessing the poll must have been noted on a pro-Apple site somewhere and Apple fans responded en masse.
“We’ve figured out how to put an inferior OS on more expensive hardware! That way, we can have both the frustrations of Windows and pay out of the ass for Mac. Everybody wins!”
And here’s Joy of Tech’s take. Click the pic for the entire cartoon.
It reminds me of my experience of installing Linux on a Mac a few years ago — which was, “great, now what?”
Another Slashdot poster has a good point about Windows-running Macs being attractive to businesses — they won’t:
“First, dual boot is a myth, it is damn annoying and so counterproductive. Most people dont realise that until they actually experiment it, it’s hype now, but all Linux users know it’s a pain, and I know from experience that a dual boot Windows/Linux means one thing… Windows 90% of the time. Vmware and others solutions are the way to go for people who need Windows professionaly for a given application, I can’t wait for a Mac OS X version. Second, some people try to makes us believe that companies will buy Apple PC to their employees now that they can run Windows, yeah right, serious manager will buy more expensive hardware, plus a Windows licence, so that their employees can have an Apple design and the joy of using Mac OS X out of the office… “
The Dutch MacNed website has copies of the controversial pictures of a magsafe power connector that were removed from Flickr on Thursday at the request of Apple.
The magnetic MagSafe power connector allegedly burned up. Its owner, Rogier Mulder, posted some pictures to Flickr, which immediately caught the attention of Apple. He was asked to remove the pictures while the company investigates. He writes on Flickr:
“Apple support responded very well (thanks Klaas) and fast. Before I called our local Apple support line, the dutch engineers were already contacted by their US collegues (who saw the pics) to inquire if I already called in. I’m getting a new Macbook asap and I will return my current one.”
iFixit publishes a series of Fixit Guides for Apple laptop owners who want to fix their own machines. iFixit makes the guides in the hope customers will buy the spare parts from them. The guides are exceptional — well illustrated and very clear.
IFixit’s CEO Kyle Wiens writes:
We made some notes in the Guide about new and interesting things. Here’s the highlights:
* All major parts are new, and not backwards-compatible with
PowerBooks. This specifically includes the hard drive (SATA 9mm), and
the SuperDrive (4x Matsushita 9.5mm vs the previous 8x 12.7mm drive).
* I think Apple’s using Intel’s 945PM chipset (see
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/85.1.16.html)
* Apple is using an Intel SATA controller
* The processor is soldered on, so it will be more difficult to
upgrade than the socketed Intel iMac
* The RAM is new, PC2-5300 DDR2
* Speedy 667 MHz bus and 2MB cache on the Core Duo
* The case is easier to get into than the PowerBook G4 15″.
Replacing some parts, like the hard drive or superdrive, will be easier.
Others are about the same, like the keyboard and display.
* Airport and bluetooth are on two separate cards again (they were
previously combined)
* Apple put temperature sensor boards on the heatsink and lower case
assembly:
* iSight, infrared, and bluetooth are all USB.
* The internal case design is different from the PowerBook G4, but
not extensively so. I can tell it was inspired by a combination of the
15″ and 17″ designs.
I’m curious to see what people come up with off the part numbers on
the inside chips. We posted hi-res photos of the logic board: Logic board top Logic board bottom
The latest mockup Mac from amateur Apple designer Isamu Sanada is a reimagining of the Mac mini with iBook styling.
There’s no info on Sanada’s site, but I guess this is how he imagines the anticipated media Mac will look. Maybe we’ll see it at Apple’s “fun products” launch event next Tuesday.
UPDATE: I’m kinda late to clue into this, but as Trent Lapinsky of AppleXnet pointed out in the comments, this looks suspiciously like one of Apple’s Design Award trophies. Thanks Trent!
Supposedly, the blurry picture was snapped with a camera-phone and sent to the site anonymously with the following note:
“I was only able to snap one quick shot of this as I was only in there for about 30 seconds. I sort of stumbled upon it – can’t say more about how or why. I only got about half a sec to look around back – there are a bunch of ports (and maybe a button or two) neatly arranged on the back (?) of the cube in a line along the bottom edge. It’s about 8-inches square and 8-inches tall – a perfect cube. It seems to be made out of a similar material as a Power Mac – aluminum perforated with a round hole pattern, but they’re smaller holes than found on a Power Mac. The top is the same material as the sides with the addition of the Apple logo, even though it doesn’t look like it in the photo – I had to snap it quick, sorry.
I don’t have any real detail on exactly what it’s designed to do, but I know from other things I can’t mention that it’s media-related. Apple “Media Cube,” maybe? Anyway, thought you guys would be interested.
With all the speculation about a tablet Mac from Apple, it may soon be possible to buy one from a small company that plans to convert a batch of iBooks into tablets.
Though it has not yet been built, the iTab is a 12-inch iBook with the screen removed and the keyboard replaced with a touch-sensitive screen. The company plans build 100 iTabs as it sells them on eBay, starting at $1,500.
“The iTab is built one at a time from modified Apple iBooks. It has the same specs and hardware as the originating iBook (except for the touchscreen and the lack of keyboard, trackpad, and one less USB port). Its screen will be fastened to the body of the originating iBook, making it more durable. The width and depth of the iTab is the same as the iBook. Its height should also be the same, but might vary slightly.
As well as missing a bunch of hardware, the iTab will have no warranty (Apple’s not going to fix it) and the touch-screen doesn’t work with Apple’s highly-regarded InkWell handwriting recognition, which seems like a major drawback. Isn’t that one of the key features of a tablet? To enter text, users are recommended to buy the KeyStrokes virtual keyboard.
There is one cool feature though. Thanks to the iBook’s built-in sudden-motion sensors, which are designed to park the hard drive heads in the event of a fall, the iTab will play the Labyrin3D maze game simply by moving it up and down and backwards and forwards in space. (You can also play the same way on any of Apple’s new laptops, but you won’t have to deal with the screen flapping about).
There’s talk over at ThinkSecret that the next video iPod may feature a big screen covering the entire front of the device. The screen will be touch-sensitive, allowing the iPod to be controlled by a virtual click wheel that will appear when a finger brushes the screen.
Apple was recently granted several touch-screen patents. The filings (here, here and here) include illustrations of a hand making circular motions as if it were using an iPod clickwheel.
But the patents may also refer to a tablet PC. They mention rotating and centering pages, zooming in and out of documents — and recognizing complex gestures from multiple touch points on the screen — all of which sounds like a multipoint gesture interface developed at NYU.
In New York, researchers have created a working prototype of an amazing touch-screen interface for a computer that, unlike most touch screens, supports multiple touch points — or multiple people.
Running on OS X, the interface is reminiscent of Steven Spielberg’s fictional, gesture-based UI in Minority Report — but much cooler.
In a demonstration video (You Tube link), a user can be seen rearranging digital pictures scattered across a virtual desktop, and resizing them by squeezing their fingers together or splaying them apart. The user also creates some digital art, zooms in on a map and scoots around, and types rapidly on a virtual keyboard.
I’m not a tablet expert, but all the tablet PCs I’ve seen present a standard UI with some gesture controls, substituting the mouse cursor for a greasy finger.
The NYU research seems like a radical rethink — a real haptic interface, appropriate to hand control.
There’s been lots of rumors of an Apple tablet lately. If it has this kind of interface — it’d be a killer.
