Compiled by Charles Moore
and edited by
Dan Knight
- 2006.10.20
The final piece in Apple's Intel transition is in place, the
Xserve Xeon. InfoWorld's Tom Yager
finds it a marvelously well designed piece of hardware. Next up:
quad-core Mac Pro and Xserve models?
Macs are on the grow at Princeton and among the general computer
using public, and Apple is top rated for reliability. And D-Link
has a $38 USB adapter that can add Bluetooth to any Mac with a USB
port and OS X 10.2 or later.
PowerBook, iBook, MacBook, and other portable computing is
covered in The 'Book Review.
All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.
News & Opinion
Reviews
Products
iPod Accessories
Software
News & Opinion
Poll Shows Mac Attack Beginning
Investor's Business Daily's Patrick Seitz reports:
"Apple Computer is poised to grab more converts to its Macintosh
computers this holiday season, according to a new survey.
"The new Mac buyers are driven as much by Apple's decision to
switch to Intel processors as they are from the halo effect
associated with the company's much-loved iPod portable music
players.
"In its latest survey, ChangeWave Research found a large and
growing pool of consumers who say they're more likely to buy one of
the new Intel-based Macs.
"The survey of 3,046 members of the ChangeWave Alliance shows
that 37% say they're more likely to buy an Apple computer because
of the Intel chips. That's nearly double the 19% found in a June
2005 survey, taken just after Apple said it was switching to Intel
chips for its Mac computers. It had used chips made by IBM and
Freescale Semiconductor.
"Members of the ChangeWave panel tend to be more tech savvy than
average consumers. The group is made up of 9,000 business,
technology and medical professionals who are working on the front
line of technological change."
Link: Mac
Attack Beginning, Poll Shows
Princeton Students Are Mac-in' It
The Daily Princetonian's Doug Eshleman reports:
"Though PCs are still used most, in recent years, Mac has
increased its popularity by appealing to students with hip new
designs and software.
"Dude, you're getting a Dell! Well . . . maybe not any
more. According to the Office of Information Technology (OIT), 45
percent of computers purchased this year were Macs, more than in
any previous year. In 2003, when this year's seniors arrived on
campus, just 15 percent of them chose Macs. The next year, a
quarter of incoming freshmen did, and the year after that, 38
percent. These statistics aren't comprehensive, because some
students choose not to buy their computers through OIT.
Nonetheless, the upward trend is real. Macs are where it's at."
Link:
Princeton Students Are Mac-in' It
Xserve Xeon 'Built to Fall Apart'
InfoWorld's Tom Yager reports:
"A couple of weeks ago, Apple invited me to its campus to get a
close-up look at Apple's Xserve
Xeon. It is a marvel of physical design, so much so that I find
that it implausible that Xserve Xeon and Xserve G5 could have been
designed by the same company. Xserve G5 was pretty tight, but
Xserve Xeon makes its predecessor, not to mention ever PC 1U rack
server I've seen, look slapped together.
"I was struck by how perfectly Xserve Xeon was designed, and in
particular by how easily it comes apart. I have high standards in
this regard. I told a friend that I will only buy or recommend
servers that I can install, remove, disassemble and repair with one
hand, a TSA-approved butter knife and no instructions. While others
are marveling over the blue LEDs on the front panel (which, yes,
now reflect the load of four cores), I'm looking for blobby spot
welds and for paper-thin steel that's been bent into a U to grip a
cooling fan (once). I look for hacks done to make a server interior
"tool-less," such as levers hooked to long rods hooked to blades
that work as embedded pry bars. In that well thought-out design,
the tool-lessly removable part is exactly where it would be in, and
uses exactly the same type of connector as, a tool-fully
serviceable server. A sexy server assembled with a welder, a metal
brake and a torque wrench is like a sports car that drives
perfectly well, but which requires a pneumatic nut driver to open
the door."
Link:
Apple's Xserve Xeon: Built to Fall Apart
Last to the Intel Party, the Xserve Is Set for
a Fashionably Late Arrival
Ars Technica's Michael Biven reports:
"Early August, Apple announced their new Intel-based Xserves running two dual-core
Xeon processors and up to 32 GB of memory. That's a quad 64-bit
server with twice the memory and triple the bandwidth of the
previous Xserve G5. Ever since
later that month, you haven't been able to purchase an Xserve
directly from Apple and while the new systems are due this month,
there is still no word on when they will be shipping. 'The chassis
was designed first, and the logic boards were designed to fit it.
What a concept.' Tom Yager."
Link: Last to
the Intel Party, the Xserve Is Set for a Fashionably Late
Arrival
IBM/Lenovo, Apple Top Reliability Ratings
The Register's Tony Smith reports:
"Who makes the most reliable computers? Lenovo, closely followed
by Apple, if you believe online service and support company
Rescuecom's latest reliability audit, derived from more than 20,000
calls made by the firm's customers during the second quarter this
year.
"Rescuecom assigned a reliability rating to computer vendors.
Lenovo, in its guise as provider of IBM desktops and notebooks,
scored 243. Apple attained 201. Third-placed HP/Compaq scored a
mere 12. Dell's rating was 4, Gateway -12 and all the rest together
scored -16....
"Apple, for instance, has a quoted US market share of 4.02 per
cent but accounted for only two per cent of Rescuecom support
calls."
Link:
IBM/Lenovo, Apple Top Support Firm's Hardware Reliability
Ratings
Intel Quad-core Chips Going for Top Dollar
The Register's Tony Smith reports:
"So how much are Intel's upcoming quad-core processors going to
set you back? Top dollar, it seems, according to reports coming out
of Taiwan citing industry sources who've seen the chip giant's
latest roadmap."
Link: Intel
Prices Up Quad-core Desktop Chips
Intel Readies Refresh for Core 2 Duo Desktop
Line
The Register's Tony Smith reports:
"Intel will next year extend its Core 2 Duo desktop processor
line, rolling out four CPUs in the Q2 2007 timeframe, three with
support for the 1,333 MHz frontside bus speed due to be introduced
with the 'Bearlake' chipset series, it has been claimed."
Link:
Intel Readies Refresh for Core 2 Duo Desktop Line
Reviews
Mac Pro 'a Worthy Successor' to Power Mac
G5
PC Magazine says:
"Mac-using professionals who've been holding their breath for 9
months can finally exhale. The new Intel Xeon-powered Apple Mac Pro is a worthy successor to the
Power Mac G5 and its variants."
Link: Apple Mac
Pro
8 GB iPod nano Reviewed
PC Magazine's Mike Kobrin reports:
"Amid all the hooplah at Apple's September 12 press event, the
company released the second generation of its wildly popular iPod
nano. Thanks to its new anodized aluminum casing, the new model
looks much like the now-defunct iPod mini, but much, much slimmer.
Improvements over the first-gen nano include a brighter screen,
longer battery life, and my personal favorite-gapless playback. The
2 GB model comes in silver only while the 4 GB model comes in
silver, green, blue, or pink. And the 8 GB model comes in black
only (the 1 GB model has been dropped). This revamped nano still
lacks an FM tuner, a voice recorder, and video playback, so other
premium flash players such as the popular SanDisk Sansa e200 series
still have the iPod trumped on features. But then, the Sansa e200
doesn't do gapless, support lossless compression, or support
Audible audio books. And the nano synchs with your Microsoft
Outlook (2003 or later) contacts.
"One major difference between this generation of the nano and
its predecessor is that the new model has picked up the optional
recording capability of its full-size sibling; using an optional
microphone adapter from Belkin (and soon others), you can create
voice or line-in recordings on the iPod nano. Now that the player
comes in an 8 GB capacity, this is a significant new feature. It's
a good bet that this will be Apple's most popular iPod yet, and
with good reason."
Link: iPod nano (8
GB)
Products
$38 Adapter Adds Bluetooth to USB Macs
PR: D-Link, the industry pioneer in wireless networking,
introduces another performance breakthrough in wireless
connectivity - the D-Link PersonalAir series of Bluetooth enabled
networking products capable of data transfer among devices such as
PDAs, printers, cellular phones, computers, and other emerging
electronic devices.
The D-Link PersonalAir DBT-120
USB Bluetooth Adapter is a very compact, low-profile solution based
on the Bluetooth 1.1 specification, making it compatible with other
Bluetooth enabled devices. The DBT-120 was designed and engineered
from the ground up to be compact and portable, making it the
perfect solution for notebook computers, but also just as easy to
use with a desktop computer.
The DBT-120 features standard 128-bit encryption that provides
you with a higher level of security for your data and
communication.
The D-Link PersonalAir DBT-120 includes Bluetooth management and
connectivity software by WidComm, which enables you to configure
and access Bluetooth enabled devices quickly and easily. The
Bluetooth software enables your computer to discover and access
available Bluetooth services ranging from Internet access to
wireless synchronization with your PDA or cellular phone.
System requirements: Compatible with USB 1.1, the DBT-120
supports Windows XP/2000/Me/98SE and Mac OS X 10.2 and
installs quickly and easily to a desktop or notebook computer with
an available USB port.
Price: $37.77
Link:
D-Link Bluetooth USB Adapter
I/OMagic Expands Line of USB Storage
Products with GigaBank
PR: I/OMagic Corporation, a leading provider of data
storage products, announced today the launch of the first two
products in and 320 GB (1 GB = 1 billion bytes) 3.5" external
hard disk drives come in sleek, grey, oval aluminum enclosures,
they add-on easily to a personal computer and they hold large
amounts of data. Currently the Company is shipping both its
GigaBank 250 GB and GigaBank 320 GB to select retailers across
North America.
"The
initial consumer response to the new 3.5" GigaBank products has
been so positive that we anticipate adding both 500 GB and 750 GB
versions to the lineup in the very near future," said Tony Shahbaz,
president and CEO of I/OMagic Corporation. "These are affordably
priced hard disk drives that expand the storage capabilities for
large amounts of music, data, pictures, or video-clips."
With the growing need for data security, I/OMagic is including
with the launch of the GigaBank line of 3.5" external hard drive a
"free" copy of their DataBank software, a password-protected method
of encrypting and protecting data and files on internal or external
hard drives and portable devices that retails for $29.99. DataBank
not only adds value for the purchaser, but it uniquely
differentiates I/OMagic's GigaBank 3.5" external hard disk drive
line from our competition.
The GigaBank 3.5" line of external hard disk drives easily
connect to desktops or notebook personal computers (PCs) or a Mac,
with a high-speed USB 2.0 connection for optimal performance. The
drives come with a USB 2.0 cable to connect the high-speed USB 2.0
port of a computer for a fast maximum transfer rate of up to 480 MB
per second; the GigaBank also works with USB 1.1 ports but at
slower speeds. I/OMagic's GigaBank line of 3.5" external hard disk
drives also include a power adapter.
I/OMagic's GigaBank line of 3.5" external hard disk drives have
a one-year warranty; support Windows XP/2000/ME. Introductory MSRP
for the GigaBank 250 GB is $149.99 and $179.99 for the GigaBank 320
GB.
A user's total accessible memory/storage/data capacity will be
less than stated as a result of the user's operating system and
other factors.
I/OMagic is a leading provider of data storage products (such as
CD-RW and DVD+/-RW drives, USB Portable Storage Devices, external
USB hard drives and floppy drives, including its MediaStation,
DataStation, Data To Go and GigaBank™ products). The Company
sells products under three brand names - I/OMagic, Hi-Val® and
Digital Research Technologies - through nationally recognized
computer, consumer electronics and office supply superstores and
other retailers.
Link: I/OMagic
Danger Phone USB VoIP Handset
PR: MacMice is shipping its new easy-to-use USB VoIP
handset, the Danger Phone.
The Danger Phone is a USB VoIP telephone handset that works with
Skype,
or with any VoIP application that recognizes a standard USB
handset. It is plug-and-play compatible with both Mac OS X and
Windows XP. The Danger Phone design has been carefully simplified
to make operation easy, and to emphasize durability and
ruggedness.
Distinguished as much by what it does not have as by what it
has, the Danger Phone is the essence of a pure, clean product
design.
Doing Only One Thing Very Well
With dozens of VoIP handsets on the market, finding a new
direction to go with our product wasn't easy.
Instead of
making our handset look like a "real" telephone, and covering it
with gadgetry, a fake display, and flashing lights, we focused on
how people actually use a VoIP handset. And, we stripped away the
nonsense to deliver pure magic.
Buttons That Work. Parts That Last
Even though it's not really sexy to talk about how our buttons
are made to feel great, be easy to press, and to last a long time
without the numbers wearing off or the switches failing, we think
these are important factors in deciding to buy a VoIP handset. In
fact, all of the components used in the Danger Phone are high
quality, and are made to make this phone work very well and to last
a long, long time. We think for $30, you deserve durability and
ease of use.
System requirements: The Danger Phone is a USB VoIP telephone
handset that works with Skype, or with any VoIP application that
recognizes a standard USB handset. It is plug-and-play compatible
with both Mac OS X and Windows XP.
You can download the Mac OS X Danger Phone Utility software at
the URL below.
Danger Phone is available online or from any MacMice retailer
worldwide for $29.99.
Link: Danger
Phone USB VoIP Handset
2 Watt Transceiver Delivers
Industrial-Strength Wireless
PR: QuickerTek announces a 2,000 milliwatt (2 Watt)
Transceiver, expanding QuickerTek's line of Point-to-Point long
distance wireless networking systems. The Transceiver is easy to
setup and use. At only $599 , this 2 Watt Transceiver is the
perfect solution for very, very long distance wireless networks
where maximum performance is critical.
Mounted
inside or outside, this Transceiver performs equally well. Most
often used when wireless must reach across hundreds of yards of
line-of-site distances, users have found that building-to-building
wireless is easily within reach. Often wireless communications
between the broadband wired main office and the separate unwired
warehouse is accomplished with the new Transceiver. Wireless
between the main residence and a remote building is another
application for the 2 Watt Transceiver.
"Transceiver customers should know that when they need the
highest possible signal speeds across long distances, then this 2
Watt Transceiver is the only solution. However they should also be
aware that while this new Transceiver has very high RF power, it
cannot penetrate solid objects such as mountains and hills, several
downtown office buildings or other dense obstructions that occlude
line-of-sight. It's important to access the environment to create
an adequate wireless boosting solution," stated Rick Estes,
president, QuickerTek, Inc.
This new Transceiver works with all 802.11/b/g WiFi equipment
including Apple AirPort and AirPort Extreme. It works with all
AirPort-supported Mac OS versions and requires no software drivers
or extra steps each time you want to go online.
Like most QuickerTek products, it's backed with a one-year
warranty on parts and labor.
QuickerTek has been a recognized leading innovator of antennas
and RF products for Apple Power Macintosh, Mac Pro, iMac PPC and
Intel, PowerBook, MacBook and MacBook Pro computers. QuickerTek
products can be purchased online and from authorized dealers.
Link: 2
Watt Transceiver
iPod Accessories
New Italian Luxury iPod Cases
PR: Orbino, makers of fine luxury digital cases has
announced that it has updated its line of luxury iPod cases to be
compatible with the new 5.5 G iPod Video and 2G iPod nano.
Heralded
by GQ as the "Rolex" of carrying cases and by Esquire as "one of
the most visually intriguing cases available", the Orbino iPod Case
line is being launched in four different luxury colors: black,
brown saddle, hand antiqued cognac, and brown crocodile.
The Orbino iPod case is handmade by master craftsmen in Italy
and features a variety of high-performance features including:
- Patented spring loaded clip system which works as a belt clip,
desk pedestal, and clip for car cup holders.
- Work in case design: you never have to take your iPod out of
the case. Full access to click wheel and dock connector.
- Precious metal fixtures: give your iPod the look of fine
Italian machinery. Palladium finished belt clip and precious metal
scroll wheel frame.
orbshuffbelt.jpg
- Tight, formfitting contours: respects the elegant contours of
the iPod line.
- Stunning luxury calf skins handcrafted in Italy.
Prices start at US$59 and product can be shipped throughout the
world.
The Orbino cases can be purchased Orbino's online store.
Link: Orbino
Software
Drive Genius 1.5.1 Drive Maintenance and
Repair (and More) Utility
PR: Drive Genius is an OS X utility designed to provide
unsurpassed hard drive management. Featuring an easy-to-use
interface, Drive Genius is packed with powerful tools such as a
drive optimizer, a comprehensive repair facility for analyzing,
repairing and rebuilding volumes, plus excellent testing
capabilities with media surface scanning, performance benchmarking
and data integrity checking. It can be used to initialize drives,
create and delete partitions, and securely erase the data from
volumes/drives per Department of Defense standards. Drive Genius
can also hide partitions and duplicate volumes or drives swiftly.
Last but not least, Drive Genius features advanced tools for
resizing and moving of volumes without reformatting, and sports a
sector-editing tool to modify the data on any sector of the drive -
powerful features that will satisfy even the seasoned Mac
experts.
Emails. Digital pictures. Work files. Music collection.
Financial records. Lets face it, your computer has become an
important part of your life. As you use your computer, your hard
drive becomes bloated with thousands of files, mechanical parts
wear and fatigue, your computer begins to operate more slowly, and
eventually fails. Your only defense is to carefully monitor and
manage your hard drive so you can be sure it is in good health and
working at peak efficiency at all times - doing so might mean the
difference between your productivity and complete data loss.
Thankfully, Drive Genius makes these tedious tasks painless, fast,
and easy. From performance tuning, to disaster recovery, Drive
Genius provides all the tools needed to take control of your hard
drive, and your digital life.
Drive Genius includes essential maintenance tools, effective
optimization tools and powerful management tools.
Essential Maintenance Tools
- Duplicate - Fast and easy volume or entire drive cloning.
(click on image below)
- Integrity Check - Find problems before they find you with these
comprehensive hardware verification tests
- Repair - Quickly fix corruption on OS X volume structures to
get your damaged drive up and running fast
- Rebuild - Rebuild and replace OS X volume structures to regain
access to files that have become lost or hidden
- Verify - Check OS X volume structures for possible
corruption
- Fix Permissions - Reset OS X boot volume permissions to improve
application performance and compatibility
- SMART Status - Read and display SMART diagnostic codes from
your hard drive to avoid dangerous hardware failures
Effective Optimization Tools
- Defragment - Get the most speed and efficiency possible by
Optimizing your OS X volumes
- Bench test - Make sure your hard drive performance is what it
should be with comprehensive speed tests and graphical comparisons
to other common configurations
- Surface Scan - Verify your hard drive's reliability with a
complete suite of nondestructive read verification tests for any
drive or OS X volume
- Sector Editor - Fine tune all aspects of your system with
direct, advanced byte viewing and editing of all data on your
drives, volumes and files (for expert users only)
Powerful Management Tools
- Partition - Add, delete, hide, expand or shrink OS X partitions
so you can organize your data more efficiently
- Shred - Stop prying eyes with DoD compliant (5220.22 - m)
secure erase. Removes all traces of data from free space and
deleted files on any device or OS X volume
- Details - In-depth report of specifications and space
utilization of all devices and OS X volumes
- Initialize - Easy, high level OS X formatting to prepare new
hard drives for use on your computer
Drive Genius Is optimized for:
- Mac OS X 10.4.x Tiger
- Mac OS X 10.3.x Panther
- Mac OS X 10.2.x Jaguar
New in version 1.2:
- New OS X 10.4.2 based bootable CD. Supports latest
machines.
- Added support for hard drives formatted with Tiger's Extended
with case sensitive formatting.
- Resolved the issue of not being able to boot the source,
destination, and/or both drives after duplicating a Tiger
installation.
- Supports dynamically sized allocation blocks and b-tree
nodes.
- Resolved issue with the image size not matching the size
specified by the volume header.
- Resolved issue with a grayed out resize window under 10.3.4 and
10.3.5
- Resolved blank Defrag window under 10.3 to 10.3.5
- Improved error reporting.
New in version Please note, Drive Genius 1.5 (previous release)
came on 2 CDs, one for PPC and one for Intel-based Macs. The
Intel-based Macs CD is indeed a dual-boot CD (will boot both PPC
and Intel-Macs).
Version 1.5.1:
- Shred operations can now be cancelled.
- Any file can now be opened in the Sector Editor (either through
the File menu or by dropping a file on the Drive Genius Dock
icon).
- Custom icons can be set when adding a new partition.
- Custom volume icons are also used in place of the generic drive
icon everywhere if available.
- Mount and Unmount progress windows.
- When booted from a CD, Drive Genius will attempt to read
license information from mounted hard drives.
- Uninstall now offers the option to trash the running Drive
Genius application and remove the preference file.
- If the user attempting to launch Drive Genius is not an admin
user, Drive Genius will prompt for an Admin password.
- Bug Fix: If a volume is renamed in another application while
Drive Genius is running, Drive Genius will properly update
itself.
System requirements: Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later.
$99 demoware
Desktop Mac
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