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News & Opinion
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Software
News & Opinion
The Beatles Now on iTunes
PR: LONDON and CUPERTINO, California - November 16, 2010 -
Apple Corps, EMI, and Apple today announced that the Beatles, the most
influential and beloved rock band in music history, are now available
for the first time on the
iTunes Store. Starting today, the group's 13 legendary remastered
studio albums with iTunes LPs, the two-volume "Past Masters"
compilation and the classic "Red" and "Blue" collections are available
for purchase and download on iTunes worldwide as either albums or
individual songs. Fans can also get a special digital "Beatles Box Set"
featuring the "Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964" concert film, a
worldwide iTunes exclusive which captures the Beatles' very first US
concert.
"We're really excited to bring the Beatles' music to iTunes,"
said Sir Paul McCartney. "It's fantastic to see the songs we originally
released on vinyl receive as much love in the digital world as they did
the first time around."
"I am particularly glad to no longer be asked when the Beatles are
coming to iTunes," said Ringo Starr. "At last, if you want it - you can
get it now - The Beatles from Liverpool to now! Peace and Love,
Ringo."
"We love the Beatles and are honored and thrilled to welcome them to
iTunes," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "It has been a long and winding
road to get here. Thanks to the Beatles and EMI, we are now realizing a
dream we've had since we launched iTunes ten years ago."
"In the joyful spirit of Give Peace A Chance, I think it is so
appropriate that we are doing this on John's 70th birthday year," said
Yoko Ono Lennon.
"The Beatles on iTunes - Bravo," said Olivia Harrison.
"The Beatles and iTunes have both been true innovators in their
fields," said EMI Group CEO Roger Faxon. "It's a privilege for
everybody at EMI to work with Steve Jobs and with Apple Corps' Jeff
Jones and their teams in marking a great milestone in the development
of digital music."
Each of the Beatles' 13 legendary remastered studio albums,
including "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," "Revolver," "The
Beatles [The White Album]" and "Abbey Road" include iTunes LPs, which
create an immersive album experience with a beautiful design and
expanded visual features including a unique mini-documentary about the
creation of each album. The two-volume "Past Masters" compilation and
the classic "Red" and "Blue" collections are also available.
Single albums are available for purchase and download for $12.99
each, double albums for $19.99 each and individual songs for $1.29
each.
The special digital "Beatles Box Set" ($149) contains the 13
remastered studio albums with iTunes LPs and all mini-documentaries,
"Past Masters," and the "Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964" concert
film, a worldwide iTunes exclusive which captures the Beatles' very
first US concert in its entirety. In addition, Beatles fans can stream
and view the "Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964" concert film from
iTunes for free for the remainder of this calendar year.
Editor's note: Read more about the stormy relationship between Apple
Computer and Apple Corp, the Beatles' record label, in What's In a Name? Apple Corp vs. Apple
Computer.
'I Was a Mac User When Apple Was Doomed'
T-shirt
PR: If you came on board the Apple experience before the mid
1990s, you remember the "dark times." Back when having to learn '90s
Linux or Windows 95 was looking like very scary possibility. When it
was possible to sit in a Starbucks for twenty whole minutes and not see
an Apple logo. The idea that Apple would get this huge and successful
back in the "beleaguered era," would've seemed like absurd fantasizing
at the time.
Now there's a T-shirt commemorating that worst of times
for Mac fans. The "I Was a Mac User When Apple Was Doomed" image is
about nine inches wide professionally silk screened in white ink on
Jobsean 100% cotton black shirts.
One more thing: It glows in the dark!
Mens and womens sizes and styles available imprinted on Hanes,
American Apparel, or Bella T-shirts
Prices are $15.99 to $16.99, depending on size an T-shirt brand.
Editor's note: Read more about Apple's "beleaguered" period in
Beleaguered: Apple
Bottoms Out, 1996 to 1998, 1997:
Beleaguered, Mac OS 7.6 and 8, Killing Clones, and the First G3s,
and Apple Has Always Been a Niche
Player. This is the same timeframe that Low End Mac was launched.
dk
Link: 'I Was a Mac User
When Apple Was Doomed' Shirt
iFixit Publishes Self-Repair Manifesto
PR: iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens says that our relationship with our
stuff has spiraled out of control, observing that we buy things, use
them for a short while, then discard them and just replace them with
the next model. This cultural motif enables manufacturers to get away
with building products that break quickly, obliging us to buy another
whether we like it or not.
"That ends now," says Wiens. "It's time to take a stand! If you
can't fix it, you don't own it.... Let's take back our right to
repair."
Help us get this manifesto posted in every workshop, hacker space,
and garage in the world!
Put it up everywhere
Print it out or get a copy from us, then take a geotagged photo and
add it to our Flickr pool with the tag manifesto. We'll make a map of
the results and post it here. Let's take the fight against obsolescence
to the streets!
Giving away 1,500 posters
We really, really want people to read this manifesto. So much so
that we printed up some awe-inspiring posters - and we want to mail you
one! It's almost free, just pay with a tweet! We currently have 19 free
posters remaining. (Once the free posters are gone, you can still get
one from us by paying for shipping.)
Outside the US? iFixit can't send you one for free, but if you pay
for shipping, they'll send you one too.
iFixit is also including a poster in the next 5,000 orders we ship.
So if you're already going to buy some parts or tools from us, proceed
as planned. You don't have to do a thing, and we'll toss a poster in
the box.
Join the cause!
"We are building a free repair manual for every device," says Wiens.
"That's a monumental undertaking, but we're making great progress, one
photo at a time. We'd love your help™
iFixit is the free repair manual that you can edit from a community
of people helping each other fix stuff. Come hang out - you'll find a
friendly, helpful bunch of people who care about things and want to
make them last longer.
Print, hack, and redistribute this manifesto. The world needs to
hear this message, and we need to get the word out every way
possible.
You're free to do whatever you like with this manifesto. Just
include a link back to ifixit.com.
Editor's note: Low End Mac heartily endorses the Self-Repair
Manifesto, because the best way to get the most of our your Mac or iOS
device is often by hardware upgrade, and no device should be jettisoned
simply because Apple no longer repairs it or charges too much.
dk
Link: iFixit
Self-Repair Manifesto
Oracle and Apple Announce OpenJDK Project to Keep
Up-to-Date Java on Mac OS X
PR: Oracle and Apple have jointly announced their
collaboration in the OpenJDK project for Mac OS X, ensuring continued
support for Java, the general purpose software development platform
that enables application developers to "write once, run anywhere," on
the Mac platform. Apple will contribute most of the key components,
tools, and technology required for a Java SE 7 implementation on
Mac OS X, including a 32-bit and 64-bit HotSpot-based Java virtual
machine, class libraries, a networking stack, and the foundation for a
new graphical client. The Java platform is most widely used in business
software, web, and mobile applications, and OpenJDK will make Apple's
Java technology available to Open Source developers so they can access
and contribute to the effort.
"We are excited to welcome Apple as a significant contributor in the
growing OpenJDK community," comments Oracle's senior vice president of
Development Hasan Rizvi. "The availability of Java on Mac OS X plays a
key role in the cross-platform promise of the Java platform. The Java
developer community can rest assured that the leading edge Java
environment will continue to be available on Mac OS X in the
future. Combined with last month's announcement of IBM joining the
OpenJDK, the project now has the backing of three of the biggest names
in software."
Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering, Bertrand
Serlet, adds, "We're delighted to be working with Oracle to insure that
there continues to be a great version of Java on the Mac. The best way
for our users to always have the most up to date and secure version of
Java will be to get it directly from Oracle."
Apple has also confirmed that Java SE 6 will continue to be
available from Apple for Mac OS
X Snow Leopard and the upcoming release of Mac OS X Lion. Java
SE 7 and future versions of Java for Mac OS X will be available from
Oracle.
Link: OpenJDK
Enabling AirPrint in Mac OS X 10.6.5
Hardmac's Lionel reports that while Apple didn't enable AirPrint in
Mac OS X 10.6.5, thereby blocking the possibility to share a printer
with an iDevice running iOS 4.2, it is nevertheless possible to
re-enable that option by manually installing the files that were in the
last beta:
You can download the necessary files at http://cl.ly/99eaa26e6a7273db9ca0
Then you'll need to do some Unixing in the Terminal.
Link: Enabling AirPrint
in Mac OS X 10.6.5
USB Floppy Disk Hack
Hacker Charles Mangin says that as a weekend project, he decided to
put a promotional USB drive he had received at a trade show to good
use, attempting to cram the flash drive's innards into a 3.5" floppy
disk housing - or, more precisely, two floppy housings, since the
thickness of a single floppy casing turned out to be not quite thick
enough to accommodate the USB drive's cable and connector.
Link: USB
Floppy
Products & Services
Buffalo DriveStation Axis USB 2.0 Hard Drive
PR: Buffalo's DriveStation Axis USB 2.0 Hard
Drive HD-LBU2 is an easy to use external hard drive for the easy
addition of external storage to any device with a a USB port.
DriveStation Axis features a compact chassis that can be positioned
vertically or horizontally, adapting to the location it is used in for
efficient use of space.
DriveStation Axis comes equipped with Buffalo Tools, a feature-rich
suite of tools for Windows designed to enhance computer performance and
the day-to-day digital life of Windows PC consumers. Users can boost
file transfer performance by up to 180% using TurboPC, conserve energy
and battery consumption by utilizing ECO Manager and perform PC backup
with the easy to use Backup Utility. Mac users have Time Machine built
into OS X 10.5 Leopard and later.
Features:
- Adaptable Positioning: Product designed to be positioned
horizontally or vertically for ultimate flexibility and versatility in
any environment
- Connect & Go: Preformatted hard drive is ready to use
out of the box no formatting or installation required; simply plug it
in to any USB
- Works with PC and Mac: Connect to your computer for
additional storage or backup of your music, photo, video and data
files
- Buffalo Tools (Windows only): Use Buffalo Tools to enhance
PC and transfer performance and to back up your important digital
assets
- Fanless Design: Very quiet operation
- TurboPC: Enhance the overall performance of your Windows PC
and increase file transfer rates up to 180% over competing USB 2.0 hard
drives
- Back Up Your Files: Buffalo's Backup Utility automatically
backs up your Windows PC, protecting your data
- Time Machine Compatibility: Works perfectly with Time
Machine to back up your Mac computer
- Eco Manager (Windows): Eco minded power management tool
regulates power usage, conserving energy and battery consumption
Available in 1.0 TB, 1.5 TB, and 2.0 TB configurations.
Link: Buffalo
DriveStation Axis USB 2.0 Hard Drive (Buffalo DriveStation external
hard drives are available from Amazon.com)
Nvidia Quadro Delivers Fermi Architecture to the
Mac Pro
PR: Nvidia has announced the expansion of its award-winning
line of Nvidia Quadro professional graphics solutions to the Mac
platform, bringing the computational and visualization breakthroughs
enabled by Nvidia Fermi architecture to Mac Pro users. For professional
users operating on Mac OS X Snow Leopard, this means the wait is
over.
The Nvidia Quadro 4000 graphics processing unit (GPU) for Mac
is optimized to accelerate workflows and drive a range of top
professional applications. For example, the Adobe Mercury Playback
Engine in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 software leverages Nvidia CUDA™
parallel processing technology to enable film and video professionals
to work unconstrained. Other examples include visual effects and image
processing applications from The Foundry, including NUKE and STORM, and
MATLAB from MathWorks.
"Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 and the Adobe Mercury Playback Engine,
accelerated by Nvidia Quadro GPUs, have redefined the nonlinear editing
workflow, delivering huge productivity gains," says Ginna Baldassarre,
senior product manager at Adobe. "Adobe looks forward to working with
Nvidia to help more Mac users reap the benefits of real-time
performance and the ability to create compelling, multilayer projects
with multiple HD or higher resolution video clips, all while instantly
viewing results."
The Foundry is a leading developer of visual effects software for
film and broadcast.
"The Foundry's software has been used to help create visual effects
for many Hollywood blockbusters, including Avatar, Alice in
Wonderland, Harry Potter, Iron Man, Star Trek, District 9, 2012,
and Transformers," comments Bruno Nicoletti, Founder and CTO,
The Foundry. "The Quadro 4000 is a powerful GPU blockbuster for the
Mac."
MathWorks MATLAB is a high-level technical computing language and
interactive environment for algorithm development, numeric computation,
data analysis, and data visualization, all of which benefit
tremendously from fast double precision, a unique Quadro 4000 GPU for
Mac feature. Graphics features, including 2-D and 3-D plotting
functions, and 3-D volume functions required to visualize engineering
and scientific data, are available in MATLAB.
"The visualization features in the Quadro 4000, coupled with
GPU-accelerated computation for algorithm development and deployment
with MATLAB and Parallel Computing Toolbox, are a powerful combination
of capabilities for the Mac platform," says Silvina Grad-Freilich,
manager of parallel-computing marketing, MathWorks. "We are pleased
that our Mac users will be able to leverage Fermi-grade computational
performance in their applications."
The
high-end Nvidia Quadro 4000 GPU for Mac, with 256 Nvidia CUDA
processing cores and 2 GB of fast GDDR5 memory, delivers
exceptional graphics performance across a broad range of design,
animation and video applications. With new Nvidia Scalable Geometry
Engine technology, the Quadro 4000 for Mac can process up to 890
million triangles per second, enabling professionals to design, iterate
and deliver higher quality results in less time.
The Quadro 4000 GPU for Mac also provides additional display
flexibility through a DisplayPort and a DVI-I (Dual Link) connector
built into its bracket, and a 3D stereo bracket for optimal stereo
connection to the system. A DisplayPort to mini-DisplayPort cable is
also included to enable mini-DisplayPort only Apple displays.
Additionally, users can enable up to four high resolution displays from
a single Mac Pro using dual Nvidia Quadro 4000 for Mac boards.
The Nvidia Quadro 4000 GPU for Mac enables dramatic increases in
computing performance. Minimum system requirements include Mac OS X
v10.6.5 or later with Mac Pro3,1
(early 2008), Mac Pro4,1 (early
2009), or Mac Pro5,1
(mid-2010). The Quadro 4000 processing unit for Mac is designed,
built and supported by Nvidia to provide best in class performance,
reliability, compatibility and stability with professional Mac
applications. Nvidia and its ISV partners believe it's the right choice
in providing the dependability that video production and graphics
professionals require.
The Quadro 4000 GPU for Mac ($1,199 MSRP) is available this month at
the Apple Store, select Apple resellers and system integrators, and from
authorized distribution partners including PNY Technologies in the
Americas and Europe, ELSA in Japan, and Leadtek in Asia Pacific.
Link: Nvidia Quadro
Professional Solutions
Software
Freeware Bonanza: DEVONtechnologies Updates Its
Stable of Freeware Utilities
PR: All DEVON freeware applications and services: EasyFind,
PhotoStickies, ThumbsUp, XMenu, BlueService, CalcService, and
WordService, have been updated to the latest frameworks and optimized
for Mac OS X 10.5 'Leopard' and 10.6 'Snow Leopard' with new features
added and bugs fixed
DEVONtechnologies have released updates for all their freeware
applications and services: EasyFind, PhotoStickies, ThumbsUp, XMenu,
BlueService, CalcService, and WordService.
All freeware applications from BlueService to XMenu have been
updated to the latest frameworks and optimized for Mac OS X 10.5
'Leopard' and 10.6 'Snow Leopard'. In addition new features have been
added and bugs fixed.
"Our freeware offerings have always been our way to say 'thank you!'
to the greatest user community of all: Mac users. And so we will
continue to maintain and further improve EasyFind & Co. and offer
them for free to all Mac users," says Eric Bohnisch-Volkmann, President
of DEVONtechnologies.
EasyFind 4.6 features a new path control giving direct access to the
path of a found item, columns can be customized, the Escape key can be
used to close the Quick Look preview, and the asterisk operator again
matches all items. Searching whole volumes is much faster, the visual
appearance has been improved, and EasyFind comes with a brand new
application icon.
PhotoStickies 5.6.2 comes with a new Italian localization and many
detail improvements; XMenu 1.9.1 has been localized to Italian and
Spanish, opens the alternative menu also on a right-click, and comes
with a reworked application icon, too. Finally, ThumbsUp 4.5 creates
thumbnails up to twice as fast and supports transformations as used by
older versions of Preview.
Services are one of the most overlooked features of Mac OS X. And
they are brilliant: Services are added to the system without any hacks,
they don't need to inject code into other applications - prone to
causing crashes - but still provide contextually relevant functionality
systemwide. Snow Leopard finally gives them a proper place in the
contextual menu and a proper System Preferences panel. If you don't use
services yet, BlueService, CalcService, and WordService will give you a
reason to start doing it," says Eric Bohnisch-Volkmann, President of
DEVONtechnologies.
BlueService 1.4, CalcService 3.4, and WordService 2.8 have been
adapted to the requirements of Mac OS X 10.6 'Snow Leopard'. Snow
Leopard presents services now in a much more prominent spot in the
contextual menu. In addition, CalcService shows a new 'Copy' button for
quickly copying results to the clipboard after using 'Calculate &
Show'.
EasyFind, PhotoStickies, ThumbsUp, XMenu, BlueService, CalcService,
and WordService are available as free downloads from the
DEVONtechnologies web site.
EasyFind
EasyFind finds files, folders, or contents in any file without the
need for indexing. This is especially useful if you are tired of slow
or impossible indexing, outdated or corrupted indexes, or if you are
just looking for missing features like case sensitive or insensitive
search, Boolean operators, wildcards, or searching for phrases.
EasyFind previews files using Quick Look on Mac OS X 10.5 or later.
Highlights:
- Boolean operators, wildcards, phrases
- Extended Boolean operators, similar to DEVONthink and
DEVONagent
- Immediate searches, no indexing required
- Finds invisible files and files inside packages (something
Spotlight doesn't do)
- Displays the location of each file in a separate column
- Previews files using Quick Look (Mac OS X 10.5 or later)
- Provides contextual menus and services
- Supports drag-and-drop
- Very responsive, thanks to multithreading
- Uses very little memory
PhotoStickies
PhotoStickies puts all your favorite pictures on your desktop, as
stickies, floating or even borderless. Sticky pictures may reside on
your computer, or on the Internet. PhotoStickies also displays live
webcams on your desktop, updates them automatically, and even records
them like a VCR.
Key Features:
- Displays all image formats supported by Mac OS X
- Displays local images, pictures located on the Web or webcams
- Shows images as stickies or as desktop wallpaper
- Many live effects, e.g. alpha channels, transparency, color
corrections
- Savable states
- Internet-based list of new webcams
- Can run as a menu extra
ThumbsUp
ThumbsUp is a simple, drag-and-drop utility, designed to create
thumbnails for batches of images. It supports any and all image formats
supported by Mac OS X and QuickTime (including PDF documents).
Highlights:
- Convert and resize images as a batch
- Preconfigure desired size, quality, sharpening, and
anti-aliasing
- Scale images by percentage or maximum size
- Can be used as ultrafast image converter (scaling = 100
percent)
- Creates preview pictures of QuickTime movies
Use ThumbsUp to quickly create thumbnails for use on your website,
or for emails restricted by file attachment size limitations.
XMenu
XMenu adds one or more global menus to the right side of the menu
bar. They give you access to your preferred applications, folders,
documents, files, and snippets. Launch any application or insert text
snippets or URLs into your email messages or Pages documents with a
single menu choice.
Highlights:
- No need for configuration
- Six predefined folders: Applications, Developer Applications, Home,
Documents, User-Defined, and Snippets
- Keeps all your snippets and text modules handy
- Operates as a menu extra, requires no hacks or extensions
- Ideal replacement for Dock folders in Mac OS X 10.5
BlueService
Easily send selected plain or rich text - in the form of notes or
short messages (SMS) - to Bluetooth-compatible devices directly from
your favorite Services-aware Cocoa or Carbon application with a single
click. This service is extremely useful if your phone is not yet
supported by the Mac OS X Address Book and its SMS capabilities. (For
the technophiles out there, BlueService uses OBEX Object Push or OBEX
File Transfer.)
CalcService
Need a number, fast? CalcService calculates the results of selected
formulas from within all Cocoa applications (such as TextEdit, Mail,
iChat, Safari, Xcode, or the commercial DEVONtechnologies
applications). It then attaches the result to the formula, or replaces
the formula with the result. In addition, you can display the result in
a panel without modifying the text. With CalcService there is no longer
a need to launch Calculator (or any other similar program) if your only
need is to calculate some values immediately within text windows or
dialog fields.
WordService
This service provides 34 functions to convert, format, or speak the
currently selected text, as well as insert data or show statistics of
the selection within all Cocoa applications (such as TextEdit, Mail,
iChat, Safari, Xcode, or the commercial DEVONtechnologies applications)
and Carbon applications supporting services.
WordService offers the following commands: Reformat, Remove line
attachments/endings/links/multiple spaces/multiple feeds/quotes, Trim
line beginnings/line endings/lines, Sort lines ascending/descending,
Shift left/right, Initial caps of words/sentences, All caps and
lowercase, Mac/Windows/Unix line endings, Rotate 13, Straight/Smart
Quotes, Encode/Decode tabs, Insert date/date and time/time/contents of
path, Speak native/German text, Statistics.
Link: DEVONtechnologies
Freeware Applications
Link: DEVONtechnologies
Freeware OS X Services
Accordance Bible Software Instrumental in
Preparation and Publication of Groundbreaking Bible Atlas
PR: The Sacred Bridge, a landmark work on Biblical geography
by Anson F. Rainey and R. Steven Notley, is now being published
electronically by Accordance Bible Software. The authors credit
Accordance as indispensable to their own research in writing the Atlas,
making Accordance instrumental to both its preparation and electronic
publication.
According to Anson F. Rainey, he and his co-author made constant use
of the Accordance program: "The need to cite many passages from [a
variety or original language sources] was made easy by using Accordance
(then version 6). The use of several columns in a Search Window let me
see the Hebrew, the Greek and sometimes certain English translations
all in a glance. Countless hours were saved by the quick search
capacity of Accordance. Some of the reference tools were also found
indispensable. The outlines and bibliographies of articles in the
Anchor Bible Dictionary were a great help and saved me the need to
spend hours in libraries."
Since its publication in 2006, The Sacred Bridge has been acclaimed
as a landmark achievement. The new Accordance edition now promises to
make this first-rate work of scholarship instantly accessible and
easily searchable.
"The Sacred Bridge is far more than your typical Bible Atlas,"
explains David Lang, Vice President of Development for Accordance Bible
Software. "Its arguments are based on the latest archaeological
findings and the best available ancient texts and inscriptions, but
professors Rainey and Notley don't merely summarize their sources.
Instead, they include the relevant passages from ancient texts along
with careful translations, enabling the reader to evaluate those
sources directly. We are extremely proud that our software was helpful
in the production of this Atlas, and incredibly excited to be able to
offer The Sacred Bridge to other Accordance users."
The Accordance edition of the Sacred Bridge is one of a collection
of thirteen resources from Carta, Israel's leading publisher of maps,
atlases, and books on Biblical history and geography. Each book in the
collection is richly illustrated with maps, photographs, and artistic
reconstructions, and all of these images are included in the Accordance
Bible Software editions. Each book can be purchased separately, and
there are several cost-saving bundles available.
Accordance is a leading Bible study program for Macintosh computers,
offering features for everything from high-end academic analysis to
personal Bible study.
Link: Accordance Bible Software
Link: The
Carta Collection
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