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News & Opinion
Reviews
Apple Updates
Products
News & Opinion
US Mac Sales Down 16% in February, Windows PC Sales
Up 22%
OS News' Thom Holwerda
reports:
"During these financially dire times, it's always interesting to
keep en eye on the sales figures of computes, to see if the downward
trend is still running. Sales figures from February analysed by NPD
indicate that while Mac sales went down, sales of Windows PCs went up.
Mind, though, that these figures are US-only.
"The cold hard figures are clear. February sales in the US of Apple
Macintosh computers went down 16%, while sales of Windows-based
computers went up 22%. In the laptop department, Apple's sales dropped
7%, while Windows-based laptop sales increased by 36%. Netbooks play an
important role here, since if you take the netbooks out of the total
figures, Windows laptop sales went up 'only' 16%. The figures are all
year-over-year, so February 2009 is compared with February 2008.
"Desktops continued to lag behind laptop sales. Apple's desktop
sales dropped by a staggering 36%, while Windows-based desktop sales
declined by 10%."
Editor's note: Apple's desktop line was well overdue for a refresh
in February, which should help explain the 35% drop. An updated Mac Pro
was introduced in January 2008, which could also have contributed to
higher sales in February 2008. New desktop models were introduced on
March 3, so we can expect a spike in Mac desktop sales when March
figures are released. dk
Link:
Apple US Mac Sales Down 16%, Windows PC Sales up 22%
Windows Slaughters the Mac in February Sales
Silicon
Alley Insider's Eric Krangel| reports:
"February computer sales numbers are in, and Microsoft is kicking
Apple's ass.
"Over at the Microsoft Watch blog, Joe Wilcox crunches recent
computer sales numbers from NPD and sees:
- Windows sales in Feb are up 22% y/y, with revenue up 1.4%. (In this
economy, that impresses us)
- Apple (AAPL) Mac sales are down 16.7% y/y, with revenue down
23.3%....
"Joe makes a secondary point that's an intriguing idea - he credits
not only the economy and netbooks, but Microsoft's 'I'm a PC' ad
campaign for putting Apple on the defensive."
Link:
Windows Slaughters the Mac in February Sales
Recession Breathes Life into PC Sales as Apple
Gasps for Air
CIO's Shane O'Neill
reports:
"Recession-weary consumers and Apple played another game of chicken
last month, and once again consumers didn't budge and Apple swerved off
the road. Mac sales fell 16 percent year over year in February,
according to research firm The NPD Group.
"The Mac sales drops in February were a 10 percent decrease from the
month before. Sales of Windows PCs, however, increased 22 percent in
February year over year, helped along by surging sales of lightweight,
inexpensive netbooks, according to NPD.
"At this point, I'm going to stop asking when Apple will acknowledge
these dark days we live in because I think the answer is never. Maybe
Apple should just be a bull market company. When times are lean, it
should pack up like a traveling carnival or disappear like a baseball
team in winter and not come back until everybody's rich and happy
again...."
Link:
Recession Breathes Life into Windows PCs as Apple Gasps for Air
Opera Turbo for Slower Connections Available for
Testing
Opera's Roberto Mateu says:
"At Opera, we love speed. We work hard to make our browser faster
with features that speeds you up, but your connection also plays a big
role on how fast you can go.
"Some people have fast connections, a lot have slow connections.
Many are always on the run from one place to another - making it hard
to find regular fast connection points. Even if you do, it might be
that too many people are on the Wi-Fi in the cafe or that you are
browsing through your mobile phone when commuting on the train.
"That's why we've been working on Opera Turbo, a server-side
optimization and compression technology that provides significant
improvements in browsing speeds over limited-bandwidth connections by
compressing network traffic. This does not only make you surf faster,
but also lowers the cost of browsing when you are on a pay per usage
plan.
"Today we start our time limited test phase for Opera Turbo, please
read . . . to learn a little about how Turbo works and where
to download it.
"You can also see it in action in a video."
Link: Opera Turbo
for Slower Connections Now Available for Testing
Opera Turbo to Speed up Slow Web Browsing
Cnet's Stephen
Shankland reports:
"Browser maker Opera Software has released a test version of
software called Opera Turbo, designed to use compression and the
company's own servers to speed browsing over slow Internet
connections.
"Opera Turbo is useful when grappling with overtaxed wireless
networks, slower broadband wireless cards, or Net connections through a
mobile phone, the company said.
"Opera Turbo runs on a person's PC, fetching data not just from the
original Web site but also from an Opera server that compresses that
site's text and images on the fly, Opera's Roberto Mateu said in a
Friday blog post about Opera Turbo...."
Link: Opera Offers
Turbo to Speed up Slow Web Browsing
Farewell, Sweet FireWire and Sony Handycam
Wired's Steven Levy
says:
"At one point during last October's introduction of the latest MacBook laptop, Steve
Jobs made a telling remark: 'We are just as proud of things we leave
out.' He was talking about toxic chemicals. But when the MacBook's
specs were detailed later that day, it became clear that Apple had left
something else out that customers would be less happy to lose: the
FireWire port.
"Can I shed some eye water here over the demise of FireWire - aka
the IEEE 1394 interface? Introduced in 1995, it was touted as a
panacea, speedily transferring information to and from gear like disc
drives, other computers, and especially video cameras....
"Losing FireWire got me thinking about all the ports and standards
that have vanished over the years, leaving behind a trail of memories
and a dumpster's worth of orphaned peripherals . . . One day,
USB paraphernalia will join them. It'll probably be Apple that pulls
that plug, too."
Editor's note: Except for the Unibody MacBook and the MacBook Air, all current Macs have
FireWire - even the $999
MacBook White. dk
Link: Steven
Levy's Ode to Vintage Ports - Farewell, Sweet FireWire
Reviews
Mac mini 'Deliberately Neglected' to Keep from
Cannibalizing iMac Sales
Register Hardware's Stephen Dean says:
"Someone at Apple must have a soft spot for the Mac mini. Despite its superb
design, the mini has always been a bit of an under-achiever, and
rumours of its poor sales and imminent demise have been going around
for a couple of years now. Yet, as the song says, 'good times and bum
times, I've seen them all, and I'm still here'....
"It . . . makes a darn fine media centre system. In fact, we
currently have the last-generation mini hooked up to a Samsung HD TV at
home where it does sterling service as an all-in-one music system, DVD
player and video recorder - with a little help from Elgato's EyeTV
tuner.
"Yet the Mac mini had an evil arch-nemesis - and, lo, its name was
'iMac'. Apple doesn't do 'cheap' - never has, never will. It would far
rather get you to buy an expensive iMac than ten low-cost minis, so to
prevent the Mac mini from cannibalising iMac sales it has quite
deliberately neglected the poor little thing over the course of its
four-year lifespan....
"The only problem is that the price of the mini is still steadily
moving upwards....
"Hopefully, this latest update will prove that there's still some
life left in the Mac mini. However, it's a shame that Apple doesn't
really take off the brakes and allow the Mini to fulfil its true
potential, even at the risk of challenging the almighty iMac."
Link:
Apple Mac mini (Early 2009)
New iMacs Benchmarked
Macworld's
Roman Loyola reports:
"Macworld Lab has been a benchmarking madhouse lately. First, the
Lab tested the new Mac minis, and then there was the new 15-inch 2.66
GHz MacBook Pro. Now we have benchmark results on the four new iMacs. The speed
improvements over the iMacs released in April 2008 are significant, and
there are also some interesting performance observations between the
new iMac models...."
Link:
Lab results: New iMacs show speed boost
Apple Updates
Apple Releases Mini DisplayPort to VGA Firmware
Update 1.0
Firmware update addresses
flickering, compatibility issues.
"The Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter firmware update will be
downloaded to the Utilities folder and will automatically launch to
update the firmware on the Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter.
"The Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter must be plugged into your Mac
and a compatible VGA display. The Mac power adapter must be plugged
into a power outlet.
"System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5.6 or later.
"Platform Support: PPC/Intel"
Link:
DisplayPort to VGA Firmware Update
Products
OWC Offers First Memory Upgrades Up to 32 GB for
New 'Nehalem' Mac Pro Models
PR: Other World Computing (OWC) has announced the first
available third party 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC memory upgrades up to 32 GB for
the new Mac Pro "Nehalem"
models announced last week by Apple. OWC Memory Upgrades offer new
Mac Pro users savings of up to $1,620 on same size upgrades, as well as
upgrade options not offered by the factory. Internal hard drive
upgrades are also available from OWC with savings of up to $540 versus
same size factory installed upgrades.
OWC First to Announce Memory Upgrades for Mac Pro
OWC Memory Upgrade Kits for the new Mac Pro were engineered with
premium quality components for cool, reliable operation, fully tested
and ready to ship. With this announcement, OWC continues its
first-to-market streak as the first independent provider to ship Mac
Pro memory upgrades that fully meet AppleDesign Specifications,
including specific required thermal EEPROM, board design, chip
components; and are fully RoHS and JEDEC compliant. In addition like
all OWC Memory, these new Mac Pro Upgrade Kits are backed with a Money
Back Guarantee and OWC's Lifetime Advance Replacement Warranty.
OWC Offers More Memory Upgrade Options at Lower Cost than
Factory
OWC's Memory Upgrade Kits for the new Mac Pro "Nehalem" models offer
thousands of dollars in savings over same sized factory kits and
configuration options not available from the factory. For example, the
32 GB factory installed memory upgrade for the Mac Pro 8-Core costs
$6,100, compared to the OWC 32 GB Memory Kit priced at only $4,479.99 -
a savings of $1,620. Mac Pro 8-Core owners can also choose three
4 GB module-based upgrades not offered by the factory: 12 GB (3 x
4 GB), 16 GB (4 x 4 GB), and 24 GB (6 x 4 GB) - and keep
memory slots open for future expansion. In addition to the savings
offered by OWC Memory Upgrades, Mac Pro users also retain their
original factory memory modules that can either be set aside for future
backup or be sent to OWC for a cash back trade-in of up to $19 per
Apple factory memory module.
Pricing for OWC Memory Upgrade Kits up to 8 GB for new Mac Pro
2009 Quad-Core 2.66 GHz and 2.93 GHz models:
- OWC 6 GB DDR3 ECC Memory Kit - $119.99 (3 x 2 GB matched memory
modules) 20% lower price than factory 6 GB upgrade.
- OWC 8 GB DDR3 ECC Memory Kit - $154.99 (4 x 2 GB matched
memory modules) 38% lower price than factory 8 GB upgrade.
Pricing for OWC Memory Upgrade Kits up to 32 GB for new Mac Pro 2009
8-Core 2.26 GHz, 2.66 GHz, and 2.93 GHz models:
- OWC 8 GB DDR3 ECC Memory Kit - $154.99 (4 x 2 GB matched
memory modules)
- OWC 12 GB DDR3 ECC Memory Kit - $229.99 (6 x 2 GB matched memory
modules) 23% lower price than factory 12 GB upgrade.
- OWC 16 GB DDR3 ECC Memory Kit - $299.99 (8 x 2 GB matched memory
modules) 40% lower price than factory 16 GB upgrade.
- OWC 12 GB DDR3 ECC Memory Kit -$1729.99 (3 x 4 GB matched
memory modules) Not available as factory memory upgrade option.
- OWC 16 GB DDR3 ECC Memory Kit -$2299.99 (4 x 4 GB matched
memory modules) Not available as factory memory upgrade option.
- OWC 24 GB (6 x 4 GB matched memory modules) DDR3 ECC Memory
Kit -$3429.99 Not available as factory memory upgrade option.
- OWC 32 GB (8 x 4 GB matched memory modules) DDR3 ECC Memory
Kit - $4479.99 26.5% lower cost than factory 32 GB upgrade.
Link: Upgrades for
Apple Mac Pro
Fujitsu Introduces 2 New ScanSnap Scanners
PR: Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. has introduced
two new ScanSnap scanning solutions for PC and Macintosh users.
The ScanSnap S1500, for PC, and the ScanSnap S1500M, for Mac, are
engineered with the same ease-of-use as its predecessors, while
providing additional productivity features to help streamline
organization and business operations. The devices feature a new sleek
design, offer advanced intelligent technology, faster scanning speeds,
and provide a newly designed software interface to unlock the most
productive scanning experience.
"Since the launch of the first ScanSnap device six years ago,
Fujitsu has rolled out multiple generations, each with new features and
increased performance, to meet the growing demands of our customers.
Over the years, we've learned that productivity and efficiency is of
paramount importance to our users" said Scott Francis, senior director
of product marketing, Imaging Products Group, Fujitsu Computer Products
of America, Inc. "The newest ScanSnap S1500 and S1500M underscore the
company's commitment to building strong products based on what our
users need. With the newest intelligent scanning features and enhanced
scanning speeds, users can be more productive without requiring
excessive time to process documents."
Simple, Versatile, Robust
New to users, ScanSnap S1500 and S1500M come bundled with advanced
features to make scanning easier and more intuitive. The intelligent
processing allows users to scan a variety of documents without having
to adjust scanner settings. With the simple push of a button, ScanSnap
transforms stacks of paper into digital images automatically, selecting
the page size, the page orientation, color setting and whether it's a
double-sided or single-sided scan. At the same time, new intelligent
paper feed detection, which is based on ultrasonic technology, senses
multi-feeds and provides users with an additional layer of security in
avoiding lost images.
Image quality has always been a priority feature in the Fujitsu
ScanSnap family. With a new automatic image quality adjustment feature,
the ScanSnap evaluates the document size and adjusts the resolution
accordingly, as well as identifies a document as color, black &
white and now grayscale. This is especially important for small images
or text within business cards and small receipts that typically include
fine print. ScanSnap automatically adjusts the settings for each page
so that the operator doesn't have to.
The new scanners feature higher resolutions and faster scanning
speeds of up to 20 pages per minute (ppm) or 40 images per minute
(ipm). With the newly designed ScanSnap Manager and Quick Menu, users
can choose to scan documents directly to email, save scans to
selectable folders, send scans directly to a printer, or to an
application bundled with ScanSnap.
Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 New Productivity Features
The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 for PC comes bundled with Adobe Acrobat 9
Standard and new versions of ScanSnap Organizer and CardMinder software
to help users control and secure paperwork more efficiently, while also
maintaining all of the rich features and capabilities that have made
the ScanSnap line an award-winning device.
The new ScanSnap Organizer 4.0 enhances the ease-of-use,
organization and productivity of PDF scanning with the introduction of
three new features users can drag and drop customizable keywords into
thumbnails, use a standard highlighter pen to automatically embed
searchable keywords directly into files, and perform advanced cropping
operations. Business card scanning has also become more versatile in
the new S1500 through the enhanced CardMinder business card software
4.0 to capture and export contact information into Outlook, Act! or
Goldmine.
Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M What's New for Mac Users
Supporting Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger!" and Intel or PowerPC based
computers, the S1500M comes bundled with Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional
and Cardiris Business Card software. Business card scanning has just
become easier. The new software seamlessly transforms business cards
into editable information and can be saved to text, HTML and vCard
formats, or exported to other contact managers. In just a few clicks
users can digitize their paper-based rolodex and update the content of
their electronic address book directly into their favorite contact
management applications like Address Book, AppleWorks, Entourage, Now
Contact and iSync.
The ScanSnap Manager for Mac adds a new auto keyword feature that
converts highlighted text into searchable PDF keywords using a standard
highlighter pen, making the device an even more ideal productivity
tool.
Additional Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 and S1500M Features
The ScanSnap push button scanning approach eliminates elaborate
scanning applications and the need for cumbersome driver interfaces.
Appealing to home office and business users, ScanSnap provides a
simple, fast and easy-to-use method for converting information
contained on paper into digital PDF files at the push of a button. The
resulting files can be easily stored locally, on the network, or within
an internet based storage service such Microsoft Office Live or Apple's
iDisk. Additional innovative Fujitsu ScanSnap scanner features
include:
- One button searchable PDF, PDF and JPEG scanning
- Dual 600 dpi color CCD optical scanning array
- Automatic color and grayscale detection
- Automatic blank page detection and deletion
- Automatic paper size detection
- Automatic image deskew Business card scanning and export
capabilities
- "Always On" Fujitsu ScanSnap Manager software
- Integrated, power-saving automatic document-feed cover
- USB 2.0 support
- Integrated ENERGY STAR and Restriction of Hazardous Substances
(RoHS) compliance
The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 and ScanSnap S1500M are available for
$495 through the Fujitsu web site, via mail order catalogs, and via
Fujitsu authorized resellers.
The Fujitsu Service Advantage
The Fujitsu ScanSnap scanner comes standard with a 1-year depot
limited warranty. Additionally, the Advance Exchange!" service
offering, the Fujitsu overnight replacement program, provides the
customer a replacement scanner prior to shipment of any malfunctioned
scanner back to Fujitsu. The Advance Exchange offering is available as
an upgrade to the standard limited warranty for $59 covering 12 months
from the date of purchase and $99 in the post-warranty years when
purchased at the same time as the scanner.
Link: Fujitsu
Scanners
Desktop Mac
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