Compiled by Charles Moore
and edited by
Dan Knight
- 2007.06.29
This week's biggest Apple news takes place at 6:00 p.m. local
time on Friday, June 29, 2007, when the iPhone goes on sale. We
expect it to be a huge success for Apple and a revolutionary
experience for iPhone users. We'll look at all of that starting on
July 11, after Low End Mac's summer break.
Next to the iPhone, the huge news is that Apple has 13% market
share in the US - and that includes looking at both storefronts and
online sellers. One notebook of every seven sold is a Mac, while
desktop sales lag that at 10.4%.
PowerBook, iBook, MacBook, and other portable computing is
covered in The 'Book Review.
All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.
News & Opinion
Products
iPod News
Software
News & Opinion
iPhone Release a 'Religious' Event
Busted Halo's Rocco Palmo says:
"June 29 marks the feast day dedicated to the founders of the
church of Rome: Saints Peter and Paul. The observance is an ancient
one, but this year it coincides with a religious festival of a more
modern sort.
"For the believers of this other faith, it's the day of
deliverance they have long awaited, the moment when they'll finally
be able to grasp the Holy Grail which they've long lusted and
defended against all nay-sayers, sight unseen.
"I'm talking, of course, about the release of Apple's iPhone.
And to say that the thought of nabbing one makes my brain water
would be putting it lightly.
"To be sure, I'm a new convert. But as with many others, the
living encounter with the Mac has changed my life and the way I
work. Even the Vatican 'webmistress,' Sister Judith Zoebelein,
recently disclosed that the Internet Office over at Catholic
Central had just undergone the same conversion experience.
"So, yes - I've drunk the Kool-Aid. Yes, I've become something
of a Cupertino cultist. But if your workload just happened to kill
three PCs in the space of seven months, you'd probably end up one,
too....
"There's an analogy of faith in this. People want to belong to
something that makes greatness manifest in our own time, a movement
that can show beauty and achievement as more than just traits of
the past....
"As far as some of our own are concerned, man's expression of
his God-given creativity halted sometime around 1570. But just as
there'd be no Internet without Gutenberg and no iPhone without
Bell, tradition's clock never stops ticking. It extends even into
our own time and becomes our responsibility to cultivate, grow and
pass forward even richer than we found it, but just as faithful to
its beginnings as it was before....
"If only Apple's sense of embracing the future was heeded within
the walls of the church. We need to change the perception that the
only future we can offer is a return to the past. Until that
happens, don't be surprised when the eager masses find their
future's promise not in a living God, but in his battery-powered
stand-in instead."
Link: iPhone
Release 'Religious' Event &endash; Is It God Machine or Tech
Tempter?
Mac Sales Grow Faster than Windows
InformationWeek's Antone Gonsalves reports:
"Apple notebooks and desktops in May continued to take market
share away from Windows PCs in the consumer market, a research firm
said Friday.
"Apple's share of desktop and notebook sales online and through
brick-and-mortar stores rose to 13% from 11.6% in April, according
to The NPD Group. Apple notebook sales rose to 14.3% of overall
purchases from 12.5%, while desktop sales inched up to 10.4% from
10.2%."
Link:
Apple Mac Sales Grow Faster than Windows PCs in Consumer
Market
Running Windows on Mac a Rising Trend
OSWeekly's Brandon Watts reports:
"Nowadays, there's a lot more to a Mac than OS X. Thanks to
Parallels, VMware, and Apple's own Boot Camp, that beautiful Mac
that you have sitting on your desk, or on your lap, can also run
Windows. Granted, the experience doesn't even come close to
matching that of OS X (in my opinion), but it can be done. Due
to the large exposure and applications catalog that Windows has,
it's easy to see why many users would supplement their OS X
usage with a little bit of Windows from time to time, but did you
ever stop to think about the fact that there's a segment of users
who buy a Mac solely to run Windows? It may seem crazy, but it's
being done.
"If you've taken the time to explore the PC hardware
possibilities that are in the market today, then I'm assuming that
you came away from the experience largely unimpressed. Every time I
go to an electronics retailer, I scour the aisles that are loaded
with Windows computers, and while a few of the products may be
intriguing in design and functionality, the majority of them are
still fairly generic and uninspiring.
"There's so much of an emphasis on selling budget computers, and
unfortunately, their aesthetic appeal matches their price tag. When
the iMac first came out, there was a resurgence of interest from
the PC manufacturers in terms of building better looking machines,
and even though they do look better than the eMachines of
yesteryear, you can still spot a PC from a mile away."
Editor's note: There's nothing new about running Windows on
Macs. Macs have had DOS support since the Dayna MacCharlie hardware
introduced in 1985, add-in DOS cards since
1987 (introduced with the Mac SE
and Mac II), and x86 emulators - such as
SoftPC,
SoftWindows, and VirtualPC - since
1986. dk
Link:
Running Windows on Mac: A Rising New Trend
Macs 'Snap-Crackle-Pop' after 10.4.10
Update
Computerworld's Gregg Keizer reports:
"Apple Inc.'s update to Mac OS X 10.4.10 last week is driving
some users crazy from a new popping sound.
"Dubbed 'Snap Crackle Pop' on Apple's support forum by the first
to note the problem, the noise was irritating enough for one to
call it 'maddening,' while another claimed it 'would slowly drive
me insane.'"
Link: Macs
'Snap-Crackle-Pop' after 10.4.10 Update
Silencing Pop Once and for All
MacUser's Derik DeLong reports:
"More than a few of you may be thinking that the title suggests
a way to keep the likes of Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake
from being emitted from your poor computer's speakers, but no, I've
found a solution to the speaker popping problem we talked about
yesterday thanks to the venerable MacFixIt. Their solution (which
is sure to disappear to the purgatory of their paid archives in
mere days) involves a little hackery but should be generally
manageable."
Link:
Silencing Pop Once and for All
Apple Looking for More 500 GB Hard Drives
Hardmac's Lionel reports:
"Following the lack of PowerBook top case part, Apple seems to
have problem to deliver 500 GB HD to the certified Apple Centers to
replace the faulty ones found in iMac 24".
"One of our team members has his iMac stacked in a French Apple
Center for more than a month simply because Apple can not deliver a
500 GB HD... And still no date for a potential replacement...."
Link: Apple Is Looking for
500 GB HDs
Intel Releases Core 2 Chip BIOS Fix
The Register's Austin Modine reports:
"Intel has released a BIOS patch for Windows machines running
Core 2 and Xeon 3000/5000 chips that addresses potential
unpredictable system behavior.
"The update is recommended for users running an Intel Core 2 Duo
E4000 and E6000, Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800
and QX6700, Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 and Quad-Core Intel Xeon
5300.
"Specification updates for the affected processors are available
at <http://developer.intel.com/>.:
Editor's note: No word on whether this might impact Macs.
Because Intel-based Macs don't use the old BIOS system, this may
not be an issue. dk
Link:
Intel Releases Core 2 Chip BIOS Fix
Core 2 Duo Gains 1.33 GHz Bus
MacUser's Derik DeLong reports:
"It's been a little while since we revisited the latest in Intel
technology, but one new juicy tidbit has been announced. Core 2 Duo
chips will soon feature 1.33 GHz frontside busses. That's double
the speed of the Merom chips that fuel iMacs, MacBooks, and, up
until recently, MacBook Pros (which now have a 800 MHz bus)."
Link: Core 2
Duo Gains 1.33 GHz Bus
Third Party Websites with iMac Updates
A new Apple Knowledge Base article says:
"iMac third party websites for updating hardware and
software.
"These updates are not supported or necessarily recommended by
Apple, this is merely an information service for iMac
customers.
"For more information on available USB products please visit the
apple.com website "USB Products" at <http://guide.apple.com/uscategories/usb.html>."
Link: iMac: Third
Party Updates
Products
Iomega 160 GB eGo Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Portable
Hard Drive
PR: Take files anywhere, in style, with the Iomega
eGo Portable Hard Drive USB 2.0 - an extremely durable drive which
includes patent pending Drop Guard feature to withstand the
toughest of travel environments. Available in 160 GB capacity, it
holds up to 640,000 photos, over 2,900 hours of music and 240 hours
of video. Plus, the Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drive requires no
external power supply and includes a free EMC Retrospect HD backup
software license.
At a Glance:
- Super Durable - Extremely durable with Patent Pending DropGuard
feature
- Stylish & Compact - Ultra stylish - fits easily into a
briefcase or purse
- Easy-to-use - USB powered, no external power supply
required
- Secure EMC Retrospect HD software license included for file
backup (software via download)
What You Get:
- Iomega Portable Hard Drive
- USB 1.1/2.0 power cable
- Backup software license included, software via download (PC
only)
- HTML User Manual and Help Files
- Quick Install Guide
- One year warranty
System requirements: Mac OS X 10.1.5 or later
$159.95
Iomega also just introduced its new eSATA/USB 2.0 Professional
Hard Drive which features an external serial ATA interface plus a
USB 2.0 interface, has 500 gigabytes capacity, requires Mac
OS X 10.2. or later and sells for $209.95.
Link:
160 GB eGo Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive
Seagate Unveils 1 TB Hard Drives
PR: Seagate has announced 1 terabyte (TB) hard drives
that deliver an industry-leading combination of capacity,
performance and reliability for a wide range of enterprise and
desktop PC applications as rampant growth of digital content
continues worldwide.
This explosive growth of digital content in the home and the
office is driving demand for massive amounts of hard drive storage.
Businesses and consumers are generating and consuming staggering
volumes of digital content - from high-definition video, music,
blogs and podcasts, to Computer Assisted Design (CAD) and other
large graphics files, critical business records, archived emails,
and database and file server data. Seagate is focused on delivering
the industry's most advanced hard drives to satisfy the world's
growing need for digital content, from the home to the hand to the
car and the office.
"The need for high-capacity storage in enterprise networks and
home entertainment centers is almost insatiable," said John Monroe,
a research vice president at Gartner. "Historians may consider the
shipment of 1 TB drives as a watershed event for the industry
but users will consider such devices commonplace. We believe
1 TB (and larger) drives will become 'standard equipment' in,
on or near virtually every television set in the world as well as
in a variety of multi-user environments."
As the industry's only second-generation desktop and enterprise
perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) hard drives, the Barracuda
7200.11 and Barracuda ES.2 deliver 1 TB of capacity, 7,200-rpm
spin speeds, average seek times of 8.5ms, caches up to 32 MB and
Seagate's industry-leading five-year limited warranty. Seagate's
newest hard drives pack 1 TB of data on just four discs to
provide cool operating temperatures and low power consumption,
which help extend drive life.
The Flagship of High-Capacity Enterprise Storage - Barracuda
ES.2
The Barracuda ES.2 is a newly designed product optimized for
demanding business-critical and nearline enterprise storage
environments including: networked and tiered storage solutions,
reference/compliance storage, disc-to-disc backup and restore,
archiving solutions, rich media content storage and
collaboration.
The Barracuda ES.2 hard drive's robust new features stand out in
performance, reliability, capacity, and energy efficiency. Among
them is its new RVFF (Rotational Vibration Feed Forward) system,
designed to sustain performance in densely-packed multi-drive
systems. The Barracuda ES.2 also boosts reliability with an
industry-best unrecoverable error rate that is 10 times better than
desktop class drives and a 1.2 million hour Mean Time Between
Failure at full 24 x 7 data availability.
With the introduction of the Barracuda ES.2, Seagate is first to
provide customers with a SAS interface option in addition to SATA.
SAS offers greater levels of reliability, data integrity and
performance for business-critical and nearline enterprise
environments. The choice of SATA or SAS also enables greater
system-design and integration flexibility for solution builders and
OEMs.
"EqualLogic's customers have an insatiable demand for increasing
capacities and high performance in their networked storage
solutions," said John Joseph, vice president of Marketing at
EqualLogic. "Seagate's strategy of offering a SAS or SATA version
of a 1 TB disk drive demonstrates leadership in recognizing
that customers want high performance and high capacity disks for
enterprise storage. Serving both needs with a single interface like
SAS simplifies technology design decisions and customer
choices."
Seagate's new PowerTrim( technology is integrated into the
Barracuda ES.2 and dynamically manages drive power consumption at
all levels of activity. With PowerTrim, the Barracuda ES.2
addresses the IT dilemma facing energy-constrained data centers by
delivering a 20% reduction in overall drive power consumption and a
best-in-class 55% reduction in watts-per-gigabyte.
Desktop Storage - Barracuda 7200.11
Award-winning Barracuda hard drives are the industry standard
for computing applications ranging from mainstream,
high-performance and gaming PCs to workstations and desktop RAID.
Now with over 42 million PMR Seagate drives already shipped, the
proven technology and components of the 11th generation Barracuda
7200-Series hard drive enables Seagate to deliver high-volume
shipments of the 1 TB drive with the highest levels of quality
and reliability - essential in ensuring long drive life.
"Seagate is a valued and trusted supplier to Nor-Tech, and has
always maintained the highest levels of field-proven reliability
with consistent product delivery," said David Bollig, president of
Nor-Tech. "We look forward to enhancing our portfolio of offerings
using Seagate's new Barracuda drives that will offer even more
choice and value for Nor-Tech's customers."
The Barracuda 7200.11 stands alone in performance among
high-capacity desktop hard drives, with category-leading 105 MB/s
sustained transfer rate - the highest ever. And with a low power
rating of 8 watts at idle, the Barracuda 7200.11 is not only
energy-efficient, but also operates cooler, increasing reliability.
Barracuda 7200.11 also delivers industry-leading acoustics, as low
as 2.7 Bels, which is nearly undetectable by the human ear.
The Barracuda ES.2 and 7200.11 will begin shipping in volume
during the third quarter. The 1 TB Barracuda 7200.11 will be
offered at an MSRP of $399.99.
Seagate remains the only hard drive manufacturer dedicated to
the digital entertainment, security and surveillance markets with
hard drives built to specifically address these unique
applications. Seagate will extend its offerings in this area from
the new 1 TB platform and will provide details as these new
products become available.
Software
Miglia Enhances Its TV Products with
MigliaTV Software
PR:
Miglia, a market-leading manufacturer of Macintosh-based computer
peripherals, has announced its intuitive new software MigliaTV.
MigliaTV software is to be used to enhance functionality in its
existing TV products - TVMax+, TVMax and EvolutionTV.
MigliaTV software features a new clear design with a simple user
interface. The software has been redesigned for improved usability.
MigliaTV's new features include a toolbar in the scheduled
recording window and new icons, allowing easier access to the 'Add
to iTunes', 'Burn to DVD', 'Show in Finder' and 'Play' functions.
MigliaTV software includes support for image cropping on live
recordings for MPEG-4 and DivX formats. This enables you to create
perfect looking videos in 16:9 format for AppleTV.
MigliaTV software is available for TVMax+, TVMax, and
EvolutionTV as a free download.
The MigliaTV software download will remove earlier TVMax+ and
EvolutionTV installations. Your recordings, schedules, and channel
lineups will be kept.
iFreeMem - The Memory Optimizer for Mac
OS X
PR: Free system memory for better application
performance. A quick and easy alternative to either a reboot or RAM
upgrade to get defragmented free memory.
If you are in the middle of using an application and the system
becomes unresponsive for several seconds it could be the memory
manager working and claiming back some of the Inactive memory for
your application to use, if you wish to avoid this then iFreeMem
may be for you.
Some scenarios where iFreeMem can be useful:
- You have been busy on your laptop preparing for a presentation
meeting and you would rather not have the system become
unresponsive in the middle of your demo, might be worth running
iFreeMem shortly before the meeting.
- You are a musician or DJ, about to do a live performance or
session using your Mac, you want to ensure everything will run
smoothly and on cue.
- You have just closed down a whole load of applications as you
are just about to start a new task with different applications, you
might want to use iFreeMem here.
- You are about to run some memory hungry applications, such as
graphic design software packages (Photoshop, Flash etc.)
- Your CPU is not working hard at all, yet you are convinced your
Mac used to run a little quicker when you first got it, could it be
that the activity of your startup items cause Inactive memory to
fill-up when you log-in, and your memory hungry applications are
having to grab Inactive memory back fairly soon, making them appear
to run much slower?
- You have low 'Free' memory and high 'Inactive' memory and you
want to test if your applications performs better with more 'Free'
memory.
- You just have a specific application you wish to run as fast as
possible without memory manager interruptions.
- Ideally, you would like to buy more memory, but its too
expensive. This app might be a solution for a performance
degradation you could have been experiencing when Free memory gets
very low?
iFreeMem can improve your Mac's performance by maximizing Free
memory and reducing Inactive memory!?
How can this bold statement be so?
Well, firstly lets look at Apple's official description of four
types of random-access memory (RAM)
Wired memory
This information can't be cached to disk, so it must stay in
RAM. The amount depends on what applications you are using.
Active memory
This information is currently in RAM and actively being
used.
Inactive memory
This information is no longer being used and has been cached to
disk, but it will remain in RAM until another application needs the
space. Leaving this information in RAM is to your advantage if you
(or a client of your computer) come back to it later.
Free memory
This memory is not being used.
This means you shouldn't worry when the Free memory is low. The
only time Free memory should be high is right after the computer
starts up. As you use applications or services, memory is used and
transitions to Inactive. Applications that need more memory will
take from the Inactive, but the Inactive is there just in case you
need it again. If the combination of Free and Inactive is very low,
then you might need more memory.
Source:
https://web.archive.org/web/20071011054433/http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107918
However....
There can be a performance hit when applications need to take
from Inactive memory.
This can cause a very noticeable delay where the applications
appear to have become temporarily unresponsive and this performance
hit may not always be desirable for you, especially when you are in
the middle of working with a memory hungry application or doing a
presentation or even working with audio in a live recording
session.
iFreeMem was created to avoid this particular performance hit
happening mid-application by clearing out inactive memory in favor
of maximum free memory.
New in version 1.6.2:
- AppleScript support
- Now working as a status bar item.
System requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 or later
System support: PPC/Intel
$12 shareware
Link: iFreeMem
Desktop Mac
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