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- Dear Verizon: Let Me Fix That Survey For You
So Verizon is finally acting like they “get it,” specifically asking people who leave their service if “the iPhone” has anything to do with it.
The problem with this is that by saying “the iPhone” they imply having the device just like it exists on AT&T’s network. But knowing Verizon there’s a good chance that wouldn’t be the case.
So I’ve fixed the survey, and offer it to Verizon free of charge so that they may get an accurate picture of whether people would stay on their network for “the iPhone.”
Below is the revised option Verizon should have on their survey.
The iPhone
- But no Wi-Fi (You can just stay on our network, ‘K?)
- And no iTunes Store (We have this cool VCAST thing, you’ll love it.)
- Oh, and no iTunes desktop sync (”PC stuff on PC, mobile stuff on mobile,” that’s our motto.)
- Homemade ringtones? No. (We have plenty of Muzac-like ringtones for purchase)
- Bluetooth? (That’s never been our favorite, we’ll get back to you on that.)
- The App Store? (Don’t be silly, you’re gonna love our BREW apps.)
- Visual Voice Mail? (Sure, just like we do now, it’s a monthly charge.)
- Finish activation at home? Download and install firmware at home? (Enough already! Our heads are exploding.)
I think that about covers it. Now let’s see how many people will check that box.
Verizon is holding on to a (fading) model where they dictate hardware requirements to the manufacturers. They do this to ensure every device they sell serves their network first, then their services, then the hardware manufacturer, and finally the customer.
The iPhone, as it currently exists, would never have been allowed on Verizon, and it’s debatable as to whether they’d even allow it now. AT&T made a bold (and risky) move in allowing Apple to change the rules of the game with the iPhone. It’s easy to take shots at AT&T, but they’re never given enough credit for that.
I left Verizon nearly two years ago. For an iPhone. I’ve never looked back.
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Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - BlackBerry App World Revealed: How Does it Stack Up Against the App Store?
Well, right away, “App World” doesn’t win any points in the name category. It sounds like a bargain basement retailer of remainder App Store stock. What it actually is, though, is BlackBerry’s new application store, the details of which were just unveiled last night. Perhaps not coincidentally, they announced their official plans on the same day the iPhone Developer’s SDK celebrates its one-year anniversary.
So should Apple take warning and batten down the hatches? You would think that the biggest fish in the smartphone pond getting into the direct download application game would be enough to rattle anyone. Let’s look at the details and see if there isn’t something to be afraid of.
Devices and Locations
Device support for App World will extend only to those handsets running BlackBerry OS 4.2 or higher, with either a trackball or the Storm’s touchscreen. The application portal will also initially be available only in the U.S. and Canada, and will support only English at launch, although plans to add other languages are in place.
Broad device support is a big win for BlackBerry, since their apps will then be available to a wider market of buyers using any recent BlackBerry hardware. Apple’s iPhone sales are growing, but it’s hard to compete in turns of market coverage when your opponent is giving away Pearls and Curves at the low end of the spectrum. The many devices advantage will be initially hurt by the lack of international support, but BlackBerry is probably ready to roll that out pretty quickly as long as the initial launch proves profitable. I don’t think it’s a “can’t do” thing, more like a “won’t do” until we’re sure it’ll make us money.
Available Memory
A big downside of App World is that BlackBerry users will only be able to download as many apps as fit in internal memory, which on most BlackBerry devices, is paltry. 256MB in the new BlackBerry Curve 8900. You can’t even buy a 256MB flash drive anymore, can you? It’s a problem G1 owners ran into, and it’ll be a problem for BlackBerry, too. Apps can’t be installed to memory cards, in case you were wondering. Apple may get knocked occasionally for lacking expandable memory on their iPhone, but at least the ample space they do provide is usable.
Pricing
BlackBerry is getting a lot of attention for their pricing structure, which is laid out nicely over at our sister site jkOnTheRun. The key figure there is the starting price of $2.99. That means a serious lack of 99 cent fart and noisemaking apps. Look at the Top 25 Paid Apps list on your iPhone or iPod touch, if you have one. How many of those apps cost 99 cents? Say what you will about Apple’s pricing, it’s a big reason for the success of their model.
On the other hand, BlackBerry’s $2.99 entry point will hopefully discourage a lot of the throwaway apps that clutter up Apple’s store. They know that they still cater mostly to enterprise customers, and I’m sure they want to keep the selection geared towards that side of things, or at least towards the kind of apps that professionals can take home with them and use after work…which is unlikely to be a $2.99 shotgun noise simulator.
Gaming
Games will probably end up being the most significant measure of comparison in terms of revenue generation, since they represent so many of Apple’s top sellers. I don’t see BlackBerry going for a “Funnest BlackBerry Ever” angle, or trying to compete with the DS and PSP, but stranger things have happened. More likely they’re looking to offer utilities as an incentive to sell handsets, and not trying to mimic the success of the App Store as a serious revenue-generating venture.
So in the end, I don’t think it’s necessarily fair to pit the two head-to-head against each other, unless BlackBerry has some unexpected hardware moves up its sleeve in the future that put it on par with the iPhone as an entertainment and gaming device. We’ll see what happens, but I don’t think App World will be able to take the wind out of the App Store’ sails.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Become a Mac Power User: General OS X
An attribute of Apple’s OS X operating system that I love above nearly all others is that there’s so much power beneath the simple and elegant interface. Although there are many undocumented features of OS X, we’re going to look at some that are fairly well publicized, but that you may not be familiar with in practice. The following five tips are fairly simple, yet working them into your computing habits will surely make you feel like a “Power User.”
Drag and Drop. Anything.
For many, this technique requires thinking slightly outside the box. Go ahead — drag anything, and drop it anywhere. Want to launch a picture file in Photoshop rather than Preview? Just drag the image file onto the application icon for Photoshop. Maybe you just read a great idea on some webpage that you want to revisit later — select that text, drag it to the desktop (or any folder) and have a text clipping to read later. If using Spaces, from the far-out view of all desktops, try dragging iTunes (for example) to a different desktop.
Labels
Not to be confused with Keywords, Spotlight Comments, or the common term, ‘tags’, Labels are a feature in Finder that let you color-code your files. Control-click (or right-click) on a file/folder to access the labels. By default nothing has a color label applied, but you can choose from Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple and Gray. The names associated to each color can be edited in Finder’s Preferences, but default to the color name. Using Labels can be useful for quick visual separation of important files, Finder sorting, or anything that seems useful to you.
Smart Folders
Open a Finder window, and scroll down the left column (where all the folders and drives and such are displayed) until you see the “Search For” heading. If you expand it (arrow pointing down) you should see some purple folder icons, each with a gear on them (this signifies a Smart Folder) with names like ‘All Movies’, ‘All Documents’, etc. Click on one of these Smart Folders and you’ll see just that — all documents on your system, regardless of the folder they live within. You can create your own Smart Folders based on a myriad of file attributes like modified date, kind, label, contents, size, and on and on. There are so many uses for such functionality, but a quick illustration may be to keep anything with contents = “taxes” in one Smart Folder for reference when you need to file your annual return.
Multimedia Inter-connectivity
It almost goes without saying that the iLife applications all tie-in with one another, but OS X makes it simple to pull your music, photos, and movies into any other application you may be working in. Whenever an Open Dialog window is launched (to open or browse for a file from within an application) there’s the left column that holds quick access to Documents, Pictures, etc, but if you scroll down further (as you did with the Smart Folders earlier) you’ll find the “Media” header. Expanding it (arrow down) will let you choose from Music, Photos, and Movies, which tie into the media libraries for your different cataloging apps (iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and PhotoBooth for example). This is far easier than navigating the folder structure for the media files, or copying a photo from iPhoto to your desktop!
Spotlight
This was a cornerstone feature of OS 10.4, aka Tiger. Integrated desktop search was fairly huge in concept. Spotlight didn’t immediately knock socks off, but it has grown some in the four years of its existence. Not only can you perform powerful searches using Spotlight, but you can also use it to launch programs and perform calculations without needing Calculator. If you like this functionality but are still left wanting, checking out Quicksilver or Google Quick Search Box (the up-and-coming Quicksilver replacement). The former does it all and plenty, plenty more, but is getting long in the tooth and generally out of support/development. The latter is pretty fresh and not as fully featured yet, but is being vigorously developed. Both will likely blow your mind if you dig this entry-level functionality offered by Spotlight.
These five features of OS X aren’t so tricky that they should induce cold-sweats. Giving them a try for yourself can lead to great improvements in productivity — of course with everyone’s personal computing styles, your mileage may vary — and make you feel like the proverbial “Power User.”
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Is AppleCare Coverage Worth the Price?
Many Mac experts recommend purchasing the AppleCare Protection Plan extended warranty — particularly for laptop users, arguing there are just too many things that can go wrong and that replacing notebooks and their parts can be very expensive. But is it really worth it?
I've heard that same argument advocating the purchase of AppleCare for Mac portables since I bought my first PowerBook, a 5300, in 1996. I've never heeded the advice, and so far I've had exactly zero cause to regret it with the more than a half-dozen Apple laptops I’ve owned that could have qualified for AppleCare. I've never made a warranty claim under the basic 1 year warranties on my Apple notebooks, and I never seriously considered purchasing AppleCare with the Apple Certified Refurbished 2.0 GHz unibody MacBook I bought a couple of weeks ago.
I hasten to emphasize that my anecdotal experiences represent a statistically insignificant sampling, and many folks out there say they’re very thankful they did purchase AppleCare. I’m glad for them, but in general I remain unconvinced that extended warranties like AppleCare are a good investment.
Scientific Corroboration
Corroborating my deduction, in 1997, Consumer Reports surveyed readers who had purchased extended warranties on electronic equipment. On average, consumers paid about as much for the extended warranty, by the time the product needed service or repair, as the average repair cost for a product of that age. In most product categories, fewer than 25 percent of units surveyed required repairs within five years.
Something else to consider before purchasing an extended warranty is that many major credit cards will double the manufacturer's warranty period (often capped at two years) on purchases made with their card. However, if you use your computer for work be sure to read the fine print, since most credit card warranty extensions don’t apply to machines used for business purposes.
Most Warranty Issues Happen in the First Year
The strongest likelihood of warranty issues manifesting is in the first year, in which case you’re covered anyway. The second two years of coverage you pay for with AppleCare are more of a dice-roll, although given the general reliability of Apple portables, if your Mac survives the initial 12 month warranty period with no repairs needed (as is most likely), or is repaired during the first year, probability of it needing repairs during the subsequent two years is relatively low (although it could of course still happen).
From my own experiential perspective, had I purchased AppleCare for each of the five PowerBooks, one iBook and one MacBook I've purchased over the past 13 years, I would’ve spent something like the price of a new MacBook Pro with no benefit to show for it, which is the philosophical equation that has dissuaded me from buying AppleCare.
Telephone Tech Support Also Extended
However I'm tech-savvy enough that I don't have much interest in extended Apple tech support (Apple's standard phone tech support on new machines expires after 90 days.). Over the years, I think I phoned them once or twice about the 5300, but I was a lot newer to Apple laptops then. On the other hand, for some users the tech support lifeline could be vital.
Purchasers of the AppleCare Protection Plan also receive a CD containing TechTool Deluxe software from Micromat — a full-featured computer diagnostic and repair utility, which adds some value to the package.
The AppleCare Protection Plan can only be purchased while your computer is still under its original one-year warranty. All covered systems and covered Apple peripherals must either be new or newly refurbished by Apple (Apple Certified Refurbished), or still under Apple's limited warranty to qualify for Protection Plan coverage.
Don’t Buy Until the Deadline
Note that even if you are interested in the AppleCare Protection Plan, it’s in your best interest to wait until the 12th month of ownership before purchasing, rather than buying the coverage when you purchase your computer, unless you really need or want one of the enhanced services or the TechTool utility right away. Doing so will delay the extra expense, and thus delay the ding on your pocketbook.
Despite my skepticism about AppleCare’s value, if you buy an expensive machine like a 17″ MacBook Pro and the big screen or the logic board fails after the first year, you'll thank yourself for having ponied up for AppleCare. However, with at $999 MacBook, AppleCare coverage costs $250, adding a whopping 25 percent to the cost of the computer. If you’ll sleep better under the AppleCare umbrella, don't let me dissuade you. Risk tolerance is a personal decision, and with any mass-produced product there will always be a percentage of lemon units, so if you decide to roll the dice, be prepared to accept that once in a while they will turn up snake-eyes.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Magic Bullet Looks 1.2
Red Giant Software is a company that develops special effects applications for film and video editing, with credits in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Vanilla Sky, Grindhouse, and more. These applications are offered in two formats, as standalone applications or as plug-ins for most industry-leading editing software. Red Giant offers up many software solutions, but one of their most powerful is a color correction application called Magic Bullet Looks that is actually a plug-in for heavy-duty pro applications.
What many of you may not know, however, is that this is a completely redesigned program from the original, which allegedly had a slightly buggier interface and fewer options, and compatibility with only After Effects. The reinvention of “Looks” incorporates every industry standard video editor, a redesigned interface, and more advanced features.
Magic Bullet is one of the most complex video editing applications I have used in a while, but thankfully it’s also one of the easiest to use. This app is loaded with 100 look presets which are meant as a starting point, and literally allow infinite possibilities for color correction (which you can then save as a custom look).
The time line is organized in to 5 parts: Subject, Matte Box, Lens, Camera, and Post, which helps in discerning which order to apply the effects. I found this to be both a burden and a blessing at times, in that it is nice having a guide for laying effects, but at certain times I wish I had the option of placing an effect in any spot on the time line, rather than where an effect is supposed to go.
I was a bit skeptical of this application when I first installed it. I didn’t believe an application that was so powerful could be so easy to use. The interface of Looks seamlessly integrates with Final Cut Pro or any other editor and jumping from Final Cut to Magic Bullet Looks is as simple as creating an effect for the selected clip, and customizing it.
When I first installed Looks I was worried that it might slow Final Cut down, or cause my system to run a little slower. However, I was surprised when I witnessed no slow down. However, I did notice that it took slightly longer to render my footage. Magic Bullet Looks flawlessly made my footage look like it was shot on 35mm, which is one desire every videographer has in common. It isn’t easy to sell a piece of software for $399/$99 upgrade, but compared to the thousands of dollars you would spend forking out for a professional quality camera, this is a fraction of the cost without sacrificing much.
I installed Magic Bullet Looks for Final Cut Studio 2, and after using this software on several projects of my own, I have fallen in love.
These are before and after shots of footage I used Magic Bullet Looks on. The look here is a custom one I built myself, which is fairly simple to do.
I found that the possibilities for looks was literally endless, and that this would be a great tool for someone working in this industry. Red Giant Software has an example page demonstrating various aspects of this application at work.
Every filmmaker has one desire in common, and that is to create a distinct look for his or her footage. Whether that be wedding footage, or the next Oscar worthy film. The thing many people do not realize, however, is that being a filmmaker is similar to being a magician, in that neither want to reveal their secrets. The point is, the best effects are the ones you don’t see, and Magic Bullet Looks passed with flying colors.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - App Review: Smack Me — Play Rough With Your iPhone
App Quick Stats
These days, gaming is all about getting physical: tilting and shaking, shouting and whispering and now apparently the occasional bit of pinching and smacking. Sounds like fun!
All this talk of touching reminds me of a great toy I had, back in my student days: Bop It. A group of us would play together, flicking, spinning, bopping, pulling and twisting to a never-ending funky beat. The experience was intensely physical, surprisingly fun and overwhelmingly frustrating.
Clearly inspired by Bop It, Smack Me transports the toy’s increasingly furious antics to our handheld Apple devices. The question is, does the iPhone have what it takes to support such a tangible experience?
Thrill Me!
Ever since hearing Add N to X’s electro-anthem Plug Me In, I’ve known that robots can be a little naughty. It’s no surprise then that FunMobility’s latest iPhone game features a naughty bot repeatedly demanding to be pinched, shaken and smacked. It may be painful but we all know he really loves it.
Literally getting to grips with the gameplay is super-simple. Ito the robot is a demanding sort of guy — he’ll be barking orders at you in his electronic voice. If Ito shouts, “Smack me,” you tap the screen, if he hollers, “Shake me,” you shake the iPhone and, if he firmly requests, “Pinch me,” you give the screen your best multi-touch pinch.
There are three game modes — Easy, Medium and Hard. Completing the Easy mode also unlocks two extra orders from Ito: “Freeze me,” which is kind of a curve ball as you’re meant to stay perfectly still, and, “Lift me,” where you’ll have to quickly raise the iPhone (a vertical shake, if you will).
The limited, but moderately engaging, gameplay is wrapped up in the most fantastic graphics and sound, like a special candy for geeks: it looks and sounds delicious, the audiovisual experience is akin to having a retro rainbow blasted straight in to your brain-box.
The music bleeps and bloops along, faster and faster, as Ito barks his digital orders at you. The ever-changing soundtrack is accompanied by an continuously shifting visual as each of the robot’s requests arrives accompanied with an odd explanatory image too.
Disappoint Me!
Once you’ve played a few rounds and given the robot a good pinching, shaking, smacking, freezing and lifting, there’s nothing else to it. It’s the same thing, ad infinitum but increasingly faster, with different music. Indeed it’s fun for a while but there’s just no depth — nothing beyond the initial ten minutes of play.
Plus, there’s no true multiplayer mode either. Where Bop It really came in to its own was multiplayer mode: there would be hours of secret solo practice before the toy inevitably came out at a party with everybody wanting to grab at this strange, noisy object.
The iPhone isn’t designed for fast-paced pass-and-play games and, rightly so: it’s no fun to watch folks slap ‘n shake your iPhone then throw it to the next person to do the same. It’s sado-masochism for tech-fetishists and I’m just not in to that. All that said, the game does feel like it’s missing some kind of formal multiplayer element.
Summing Up
If I judged Smack Me based upon the first ten minutes of play, I would be exalting its delights. The artwork captures that classic 8-bit vibe in such a way that my inner-geek is awkwardly jumping for joy. The sound is old school lo-fi and frequently funny — locking in with the graphics like two missing pieces from a giant retro jigsaw.
Ten minutes passes though and, assuming you unlock the extra functions, you’ve seen it all, and done it all, repeatedly. You’ll get bored, feel disappointed at spending three bucks on this, hit the home key and check your email, Ito’s tinny robo-voice fading in to the distance.
The issue is that the game doesn’t have enough depth, particularly in relation to its price. Now if this was a quick-fix 99 cent time-waster, my opinion may well be different. Unfortunately it’s not 99 cents, it’s three whole bucks and, as such, my opinion isn’t wholly positive. This is fun, but fun that is priced way above its station — despite the polish — due to a lack of depth.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Why I'm Buying the New Mac Mini: Value Reconsidered
Yesterday, Apple introduced new hardware across its desktop offerings, and with one exception, the changes were pretty much hailed and welcomed by all. That one exception received, and continues to receive, fairly harsh criticism from all sides, including from our very own Tom Reestman, who argued that Apple really under-delivered with yesterday’s update to their tiny all-in-one. Tom’s main problem is with the value prospect of the new machine, since, as he rightfully points out, you don’t get very much bang for your buck when you drop $600 on the entry-level machine.
What’s Wrong With It
It is underpowered, it is overpriced, and, worst of all, as Gizmodo points out, it is not easily upgradeable after the fact, so most users would be advised to bite the bullet and pay Apple’s extortionate rates for in-house upgrades, or risk breaking something. The hard drive options are almost insulting, with the max available upgrade being 320GB. That seems pretty clearly intended to force your covetous gaze towards the higher-priced iMacs, if you ask me.
Even though I agree with Tom, and I truly believe everything I just said, I will still be buying a new Mac mini today…despite already owning an iMac and a MacBook. Maybe I’m masochistic, or just a compulsive shopper, right? While both of those things may be true, neither is the reason for my purchase.
What’s Right With It
The reason I’m buying the Mac mini is that for my needs (not as a small business owner, and not with such specific tastes as some), and with my existing setup, it is the perfect home theatre PC. Before you protest, let me explain. Afterward, you can protest till the cows come home.
The Current, Mac mini-less Setup
I currently don’t have a proper home theater receiver, or traditional book shelf or floor speakers or any kind of 5.1 surround setup. What I do have are two sets of Logitech X-series (two different incarnations of the same product, but released at different times) 5.1 computer speakers, three gaming systems (Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii), an HD cable box, and an LCD HDTV. To wrangle these mismatched, hodge-podge devices, I currently use a system of plugging and unplugging depending on what I intend to do, watch, or play, and what source I intend to use. Volume is controlled either remotely or manually, owing to my speaker sets lacking a wireless remote. I would provide a visual diagram, but I don’t want anyone to become terribly lost and confused.
There is one set of circumstances during which everything seems at peace with my home theatre setup. In order for everything to come together, I have to have my MacBook hooked up next to my TV, with both set of speakers attached to the headphone jack via a 2-mini stereo jack to 1-mini stereo plug adapter, and with the optical audio out from my TV attached to the MacBook input via a TOSLiNK to mini-TOSLiNK cable. Also, my MacBook’s video out is hooked up to my TV’s VGA input.
Still with me? I also need a software helper, the freeware app called LineIn that lets you pass audio directly through your computer from the input jack to the output. This means that audio from the cable box will play through the speakers, or, if I watch something from my MacBook, I can hear that too. It also gives me remote volume control, thanks to Apple’s own IR remote (of which I have many).
All that sweet synchronicity falls apart every time I have to unplug my MacBook to work, or to travel, and in the meantime I trip on all the cables it takes for me to be able to use my computer from the couch. Then it’s back to fumbling with plugs and switches, and turning dials to control volume.
The Setup With the Mac mini
The Mac mini will sit quietly in my TV console, nestled comfortably next to my cable box, all wires out of site. With the improved graphics card, it’ll be able to handle full 1080p HD video without issue, and maybe even some older games. Thanks to LineIn, it will be doing the duty of a receiver, and thanks to my existing external media hard drives, which will be plugged in behind it, it will provide access to my entire media library, including movies, TV shows, and music.
Buying a new home-theatre-in-a-box would cost me at least $600, and that’s not for a good one. I don’t need Blu-ray, because I’ve got it with my PS3, and even then, I suspect digital distribution will replace it in a few years anyway. I don’t need an HDMI connection, although it would be nice, because the PC-in on my TV, even if it does required two cables (gasp!) works just fine. I’d like a larger hard drive, but I can live without it, thanks to the FireWire drives I already own. I don’t want a screen, because that’s precisely what’s stopping me from using my iMac in the same capacity.
The new Mac mini may not be the ideal computer for everyone, and I fully acknowledge its many failings. For someone like me, however, who’s looking to leverage his existing components, and cares more about form factor than whiz-band features and specs, it might just be the perfect machine.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Beta Watch: Thunderbird 3 Email Client
Mozilla recently released Thunderbird 3 Beta 2, another stop along the road to the final release of Thunderbird 3.
Thunderbird is a full-featured, open-source email client originally based on the old Mozilla suite browser’s Mail module, which in turn derived from the ancient Netscape Communicator Messenger module.
I’ve never been a particularly big Thunderbird fan, but I’ve recently revisited it as a possible Intel Mac-friendly replacement for my longtime email stalwart — Eudora — which is proving an unhappy camper on my new Unibody MacBook. One reason to go with Thunderbird is that it also forms the basis of the new, open-source “Eudora” version 8 (aka Penelope), which is really nothing like classic Eudora other than sharing some of the its appearance conventions. Thunderbird shares with Eudora 8 the happy facility to efficiently import settings, contacts, and email archives from Classic Eudora, a huge convenience.
Thunderbird incorporates the three-pane user interface model familiar to users of OS X Mail and Outlook Express. It’s fast (at least on Intel-based Macs), reasonably easy to configure, and will be intuitive to use for folks who like three-pane email clients, but less so for us Classic Eudora holdouts. It’s also open source and one of the most sophisticated free email clients available.
Thunderbird handles HTML mail competently, lets you keep images turned off until you want them to load, has sensible protocols for dealing with suspected spam, a decent search engine (not as slick as Classic Eudora’s, alas), and allows the user to specify manual checks of individual mail accounts, which is huge for me, as I have 22 accounts configured.
Less commendable are Thunderbird’s clunky Address Book implementation (especially its handling of recipient groups), obtuse CC and BCC configuration, and less-than-straightforward handling of multiple accounts —- particularly SMTP server assignment. Another thing that bugs me is that you can’t select all in a message and get in the address and subject line info along with the body text, which makes frequent copy-and-paste tasks take literally twice as long. All those angularities can be worked around, but they’re frustrating for old Eudora hands accustomed to that program’s tractable and convenient flexibility.
However, I’m getting acclimatized, and finding the Thunderbird 3 Beta 2 build released last week a smooth performer, with no beta bugginess encountered so far.
Notable changes in Thunderbird 3 Beta 2 include:
User Experience Improvements
Message Archive
- You can now file messages from your Inbox or other folders into the new Archive folder system.
Activity Manager
- Now records all the interactions between Thunderbird and your email provider in one place.
Performance improvements
Faster Message Loading for IMAP
- Thunderbird will now download IMAP messages by default in the background, allowing for faster message loading, and better offline operation. This feature can be enabled on an individual folder basis or for all folders in an account.
According to the developers, there are more than 340 changes in this release, many laying the groundwork for future ones. And a blog post by David Ascher says the most striking aspect is the sheer volume of bug fixes. You can check the bug fix inventory here.
Ascher says the new Archive feature is borrowed from Gmail’s, which relies on the program’s search capability to find messages, although you can also still use the standard “file in a folder” method, and while the projected new fast global search isn’t implemented yet, even the old cross-folder search mechanism has been improved.
The next beta release is projected to be the last scheduled Thunderbird 3 beta and the last milestone to introduce more new features. Slated feature additions include:
- New global search function, leveraging tabs
- Cleaning up the message header area further
- The beginning of some theming work (prettier icons, etc.)
If you’re running an older system, be aware that Thunderbird 3 Beta 2 no longer supports Mac OS X versions prior to 10.4 Tiger. As is common fare for Mozilla, Thunderbird is completely free.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Watchmen Poised to Bring MMO Action to the iPhone
First it was a critically-acclaimed comic by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons that took a darker and more sinister look at superheroes than had ever been taken before, then it was a movie locked in a nasty dispute over distribution rights between Warner and Fox, and now it’s going to be what one could argue will be the first full-featured MMO for the iPhone and iPod touch. According to G4tv.com, the game will use Amazon’s web services to create a persistent universe for Watchmen players to occupy and interact with.
Game developer Last Legion used their patent-pending “cloudMMO” tech in combination with Amazon’s existing web services to set up the game’s backend. MMOs on the iPhone to date haven’t yet had the kind of persistent universe the upcoming game, dubbed “Watchmen: Justice is Coming,” boasts.
Players will be able to team up and fight each other and NPCs, albeit not exactly in real-time. While the game doesn’t use the kind of asynchronous combat found in Aurora Feint, combat will be turn-based, like traditional console RPG series Final Fantasy (up until recently). It’s not clear how this will work with a game that essentially looks like a brawler, and is meant to be played together with other players, but we won’t have to wait long to find out how the battle system is implemented.
Watchmen: Justice is Coming will take place before the events depicted in the comic (and movie), during the 1970s. Players will be able to create their own in-game avatar, though how customizable the character actually is remains to be seen. The game spans five large areas, and future content updates are planned.
No word from either G4 or the game’s official blog on a specific release date, although Gizmodo seems to be betting on March 6, which is the movie’s release date. I’m not holding out much hope on gaming quality, as this is probably more promotion and less motivated by a desire to deliver a solid gaming experience, but at the very least it should suggest new ways in which the iPhone can be used as a gaming platform.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Toy Bot Diaries Giving Away $10,000, Cutting Prices
Lately people have been talking about how short the attention span is of the average iPhone app purchaser. Having just gone through one of my regular app purges myself, and reduced my iPhone from six to two pages of apps (including those included by default), I’m somewhat familiar with the phenomenon. IUGO, makers of Toy Bot Diaries, wants you to keep playing, though, and they’re willing to part with $10,000 to prove it.
IUGO is giving away the tidy sum as part of a promotion for the Toy Bot Diaries trilogy, which has received a lot of critical praise for being a solid platformer that makes good use of the iPhone and iPod Touch’s unique control scheme. I have to admit, I’ve only played the free version, and I wasn’t sufficiently hooked to actually make a purchase. That said, lots of others have, and my taste tends to run more traditional when it comes to gaming in general.
In order to enter the contest, you have to buy all three Toy Bot Diaries titles, and therein lies the catch. The good news? For a limited time, each game costs only $0.99, whereas they would usually run you $3.99 a piece, so you are getting better than a 3-for-1 deal. Other prizes besides the ten grand include 10 second-place prizes of $100 iTunes gift cards, and one third-place prize of a lifetime subscription to IUGO games, to include anything they release in the future and all updates.
I’m pleased to see a company making a really complete effort to promote their product beyond just cutting prices when sales start to stagnate. Contests and giveaways are something the App Store has generally been lacking before now, and this should help separate some of the wheat from the chaff, drawing attention towards quality apps and hopefully away from the dime-a-dozen fart and gun noise apps. Plus it means more deals and free stuff for us, the consumer, which is never bad.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - First Look: Amazon Kindle for iPhone
That sound you heard across the Internet late Tuesday night was every tech blogger on the planet clicking on iTunes to download the new Kindle for iPhone app. This free app lets you read any of the hundreds of thousands of books that are available in Amazon’s Kindle Store. The Kindle for iPhone boasts the following features…
- Buy a Kindle book from your Mac, PC, or iPhone using a web browser and wirelessly transfer the books to your iPhone
- Read first chapters of any book for free before you buy
- Download the Kindle books you already own for free — they are automatically backed up on Amazon.com
- Adjust the text size, add bookmarks, and view the annotations you created on your Kindle device
Once you launch the app, you are greeted by a setup screen that asks you to log in to your Amazon account. Once you tap in your username/email and password, you are met by an empty bookshelf just begging you to buy some books from the Kindle Store. You can’t buy books directly from the app, but you can buy books on Amazon’s site by using a web browser on your Mac or PC, or even on the iPhone.
The online store has not been optimized for the iPhone like some other sections of Amazon.com, but using pinch and zoom, you can navigate around the page reasonably well. You will probably have a better experience on a full desktop browser, but I am hoping for a future iPhone web app to make the browsing and purchasing of e-books a little better on the iPhone itself.
It appears that you can only read e-books on the iPhone, at least for now. When browsing newspapers, blogs, and magazines, the Amazon web site says that you can sync to your Kindle or iPhone, but it only actually shows your registered iPhone when browsing books. I hope this will get fixed eventually so that all Kindle content will be accessible on the iPhone as well as the Kindle itself.
If you have a Kindle, your books will sync to your iPhone automatically. Even better, if you have set bookmarks or made annotations, those items will sync to the iPhone app as well. I tried setting some bookmarks in a book I purchased at Amazon.com (”Coraline,” by Neil Gaiman, if you were curious) which worked great. I could not find a way to delete the bookmark though — I guess we should expect 1.0.1 sometime later this week.
To remove content from the iPhone app, you simply use the slide-to-delete gesture like you do in the mail or SMS apps.
The reading experience is pretty smooth. Coraline opened to the first page of the book when first launched and I could swipe forward to keep reading, swipe back to get into the table of contents, or use the controls by tapping on the screen. Available controls include a slider to jump directly to any page in the book and buttons to add a new bookmark, view existing bookmarks, change the font size, and retrieve the furthest read page (from any device that Amazon knows about — Kindle or iPhone).
The app is responsive and quick, and swiping pages is natural enough where I did not feel the app was getting in the way of the book. I did notice the narrow width though. As a fast reader, I really wanted to be able to scan longer lines at once. Turning the iPhone horizontal does not change the view, unfortunately — it is stuck in vertical mode, which does look more like a book (or a Kindle) but might make for slower reading for some.
Now that I’ve had a chance to read a chapter of a book on my iPhone, I am definitely intrigued by the whole concept, even if I am not sure that I am sold on the Kindle app for the iPhone. Purchasing books is quick and easy, just like iTunes for books. Reading is nice but a little cramped on the iPhone. Honestly, I found myself wishing I had a bigger screen, maybe something just like a Kindle 2 device — which is probably exactly what Amazon wanted me to feel.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Apple Updates the iMac: Big Screen, Small Dollars
In marked contrast to the disappointing Mac mini update today, the iMac’s upgrades make great strides in keeping the value proposition for this excellent desktop system.
All the Basics
First, we get all the stuff we expected:
- Newer Core 2 Duo processors w/ 6MB L2 cache
- Front-side bus speed of 1066MHz
- Fast DDR3 memory
- NVIDIA 9400M graphics
Even the Mac mini updates included the above. These were obvious and well-known. Where Apple departed from the Mac mini updates, however, was in the rest of the package.
Value Added at Each Level
Where the base Mac mini must suffer with an inadequate 1GB of memory, the base iMac has 2GB, and the other three models have 4GB! Selling memory as an add-on is typically pretty profitable, in light of this the “RAM-stuffing” is particularly appreciated. Well done, Apple.
Hard drive space is another area where the base Mac mini suffered, but not so with the iMacs. The base model has 320GB (it’s nice to see Apple not even mess with 250GB here), the two middle models have a whopping 640GB, and the high-end model a full TB! Thank you, Apple, for acknowledging that if you’re going to provide great photo and movie software, I might actually need room to store my data.
Further, while the 9400M is faster than the base iMac graphics available yesterday, the two top models provide something even better, as well as upgrade options. With a GeForce GT 130 at the high-end, and GT 120 just below it, and both having the option for an ATI Radeon HD 4850, there’s some great graphics muscle in these machines.
In short, unlike the mini, Apple didn’t just modernize the innards, they increased value all along the line in terms of other performance and usability features. Keeping prices the same but adding, in addition to the new guts, double the memory, lots more drive space, and better graphics. They also allowed for upgrades to even better graphics, added a USB port, and upped the memory max to 8GB!
And I haven’t even gotten to the best part…
Yesterday’s high-end 20″ model, at $1,499, has been replaced by a 24″ model! Keep in mind that this doesn’t just provide a much bigger screen, but also a better screen. The 24″ display is gorgeous, with better color and more brightness than the 20″ (which is no slouch).
Key Bored?
Tired of all those keys on your keyboard? There’s a new twist with all the iMacs: The included keyboard has been modified to match the wireless model, meaning it has no dedicated navigation keys or keypad.
Before you panic or complain, you need only check a box when ordering to get the full keyboard (no additional price) if you want it. Personally, I have a wireless and I love it.
Yesterday vs. Today
Here’s what today’s money gets you compared to yesterday’s, and remember that they all have the newer C2D processors, faster bus speed, and fast DDR3 memory:
$1,199 Base Model
- Processor speed bump from 2.4GHz to 2.66
- Hard drive bump from 250GB to 320
- Memory bump from 1GB to 2
- Better graphics with the 9400M
That’s a great set of improvement for the same price.
$1,499 Model
- Screen size increase from 20″ to 24 (and a superior screen as well)
- Hard drive bump from 320GB to 640
- Memory bump from 2GB to 4
- Better graphics with the 9400M
Frankly, this is a fabulous machine. What really makes it so good is that you’re getting the “base” 24″ model, and yet you don’t feel like you have to add a few things to make it better. It’s already loaded with memory and drive space! If you have a chance, compare the 20″ and 24″ screens at an Apple store and you’ll see even more why this is a great machine.
$1,799 Model
- Processor speed bump from 2.8GHz to 2.93
- Hard drive bump from 320GB to 640
- Memory bump from 2GB to 4
- Better graphics with the GeForce GT 120
For $300 more than the above model you’re getting a 5 percent bump in processor speed and the improved graphics. The latter look to be roughly twice as fast as the 9400M, a significant improvement. Those graphics also utilize dedicated memory, so free up a little for the system to use. If you do 3-D work, or perhaps want to ensure you get the most out of Snow Leopard when it arrives, this may be the model to shoot for. This is especially true because this model has BTO options for even better video cards.
$2,199 Model
- Processor speed bump from 2.93GHz to 3.06
- Hard drive bump from 500GB to 1TB
- Memory bump from 2GB to 4
- Better graphics with the GeForce GT 130
For $400 more than the above model you get another 5 percent processor bump, an upgrade to a full TB of storage, and the GT 130, which betters the 120 not only with twice the video memory (512MB vs. 256), but also a large performance improvement. Further, you can upgrade the video to the ATI Radeon 4850 for maximum graphics performance.
Summary
A well-conceived set of upgrades from Apple on the iMac line.
As is typically the case, the sweet spot is in the middle, and here the $1,500 model shines brightly. This system would please almost anyone, providing great power and room to grow for years to come.
The higher models are also significant. For those intending to do intense 3-D graphics or gaming, this is where you go. I could argue that the $1,799 model with the 130 (or 4850) graphics upgrade makes for a $2K system that’s a better value than the $2,199 model.
And the lone 20″ model remains an excellent system. My current MacBook doesn’t have this horsepower, and cost a lot more, yet it runs iPhoto (and Aperture), and iMovie without a hiccup. This may be the “low-end” iMac, but don’t kid yourself, it’s easily more than adequate for casual, family, hobby, or business use.
Finally, I would encourage anyone looking at a Mac mini as part of piecing together a complete system to seriously look at the base iMac. A Mac mini with acceptable hard drive and memory is $800. Add an inexpensive 20″ monitor, keyboard and mouse and you’re well over $1K. At $1,200 the iMac is a better performer with 20 percent more CPU horsepower, and includes an excellent monitor, keyboard, and mouse with the convenience and beauty of Apple’s all-in-one design.
Sometimes Apple watchers get disappointed when there’s no new design or other incredible knock-your-socks-off update. But I tend to think the day-to-day upgrades are where the real action is. Today’s iMac represents a machine with great value all along the line.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Software Updates Explain Dual-Band Networking
Along with all the hardware updates, Apple has released a few software updates as well.
The Airport Client and Airport Utility Updates add support for the latest Airport Extreme and Time Capsule models announced earlier today and provide some further details about how dual-band networking will be implemented. The Airport Client Update helps Apple laptops work better with the dual-band networking features. The release notes succinctly explain that:
This update is recommended for all Intel-based Macintosh computers running Mac OS X 10.5.6. It addresses issues with roaming and network selection in dual-band environments.
The Airport Extreme features page says:
Instead of choosing one of the bands, AirPort Extreme now operates simultaneously on both bands, and your multiband devices automatically use the best available band.
I took note of this because I was curious how they were going to accomplish this feat. There isn’t any procedure (that I know of) in the 802.11n spec that specifies how a client should decide which network to join if they both have the same name (SSID). Apparently, Apple is going to roll that functionality right into their wireless drivers so the client device will decide which network to join based on the frequency band of the available networks.
This likely means that it won’t work seamlessly for Windows or Linux users on your Wi-Fi network and they will have to manually switch to the 5GHz 802.11n network if they first join the 2.4GHz 802.11b/g network. I am curious to see how Windows and Linux drivers will handle wireless network priority when there are two networks on different bands with the same SSID and WPA password. I imagine it can be set, but it would depend on the drivers and the features that the operating system exposes to the user.
I am sure it will work great for Apple users, but may disappoint those supporting mixed-platform environments. Truth be told, it is not any worse than other available solutions because everything else will continue to see two separate networks. Just something to be aware of when you wonder why it doesn’t work the same way on your netbook as it does on your MacBook Pro.
It will be a lot more interesting when we see the firmware update for the previous Airport and Time Capsule models so we can see what is different. Early speculation is that the MobileMe sharing features will be enabled on the old devices, but that dual-band networking will only be on the new devices. No word yet if Guest Networking will be available on the older Airport Extreme.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - App Review: Tap Tap Revenge 2 — New Tunes and Achey Fingers
App Quick Stats
Taking the iPhone’s potential even further, Tapulous is here to show us how games can play good and sound awesome.
The Tap Tap Revenge series has come a long way since its humble beginnings almost two years back. Indeed, back in September ‘07, indie developer Nate True spent a couple of days designing the game’s first incarnation: Tap Tap Revolution.
The latest edition of the game, aptly titled Tap Tap Revenge 2, arrived at the App Store today. Tapulous has been hard at work polishing and updating the original, bringing it right up to spec with App Store high-flyers like Rolando and Zen Bound.
The game sports a wealth of features — online multiplayer, a library of free tracks to download, career mode — alongside a serious graphical overhaul, taking the title into 3D territory.
Start!
Taking its inspiration from the rhythm-action genre, in particular the Dance Dance Revolution series, Nate True’s original 2007 creation squashed the rhythm experience down to the touch and iPhone. It was a different time though — there was no App Store and therefore no official Apple-sanctioned place for True to develop his creation.
And so Tap Tap Revolution found its first home on jailbroken iPhones and iPod touches across the globe. The game design and aesthetic evolved, the community grew and bustled, Tap Tap Revolution became an illegitimate classic.
Jump to present day, almost two years later, re-named Tap Tap Revenge, the rhythm-action series has found its home at the App Store. Now published by Tapulous — the crew behind Twinkle and Friendbook, amongst others — it’s got serious backing and has been embraced by the music industry, evident by the wealth of tracks available in the latest edition.
The folks at Tapulous have been crazy busy since releasing the original Tap Tap Revenge. Capitalizing on the game’s engine and boiling hot reception by iPhone and touch owners alike, TTR has become a series in its own right.
In the past year, Tap Tap Revenge has been followed by two other editions. There’s TTR: Nine Inch Nails, a re-skin of the game which exclusively features Reznor’s weird industrial dabblings and, for folks who fancy something a little more upbeat, TTR: Dance which includes tracks from Justice, Moby and Daft Punk.
No Limit
The latest addition to the series, Tap Tap Revenge 2, isn’t just a small tweak, it’s a complete update, upping the ante with a new features, new graphics and new modes.
The basics of the gameplay are still intact, though. After picking a tune to tap along to, you’re presented with a playing field with lots of glowing orbs flying towards you from the distance. Once the orbs hit the threshold at the bottom of the screen, you simply tap them.
For beginners to the whole rhythm-action thing, it can seem a little strange and unnatural at first, kind of like putting your jeans on backwards to be just like 80’s hip-hop sensation Salt-n-Pepa — it works but it doesn’t feel right for a while.
After some practice, you get your head round the notion of tapping in time to the music and your focus can turn to the brand-new achievements board accessible via Career Mode.
Modes And Scales
It’s an all-encompassing game, as is evident in the various different modes offered; there’s One Player for soloists, Two Player for those who like to swing to the groove together and, ideal for those with a competitive temperament, a feature-rich Online Mode.
The One Player mode comes with the standard difficulty options — Easy, Medium, Hard and Extreme — but also includes a new one that I’d not seen before: Kids.
The Kids mode is a particularly clever addition on the part of Tapulous. The idea is that the game is stripped down to a kind of immensely simple level, nothing too demanding, flashing light to tap on.
Testing Kids mode out, though, I couldn’t help but think it would be perfect for beginners, too. There’s a whole raft of potential new players who would find this mode an ideal starting point but may find the fact that it’s called Kids a tad alienating. But I’m nitpicking because, so far, there’s so much to love and so little to complain about.
The other difficulties seem to be paced just right for players looking to skill up before learning the game’s nuances — like scoring even higher by using Revenge Mode — and taking it online in an attempt to advance up the ranking board.
When I’m not writing for TheAppleBlog, or making music, rhythm-action games are something I adore and like to think I excel at. As such, after a few practice rounds on the lower difficulty levels, I tried out Crystal Method’s exclusive TTR 2 track Double Down Under in Extreme and had a serious blast: It was challenging, fast-paced and, I’m pleased to note, seriously good fun.
Getting The Band Together
Several months back, I was sat on a train speeding through Finland. My travel companion and I had an array of tech goodies to keep us entertained, including a Nintendo DS, Macbook and iPod touch. We ended up playing TTR’s original Two Player mode on my touch.
The updated version of Two Player overhauls the graphics and adds in a catch-up feature, but keeps the essentials that made it so appealing in the first place. The big thing is that two people can play off one device, simply by laying it flat on the table and putting the iPhone between you.
It leads to crazy, kinetic tsunamis of tapping as both of you frantically tap and bash away, trying to eek out the track’s rhythm amid the flurry of tapping and confusion which ensues. There’s not much to it but there doesn’t have to be, it’s quick and easy fun, and a great way to get beginners involved in the game.
TTR has a dedicated following and its this base of users that will make for a vibrant TTR 2 community in the weeks and months to come. The online mode certainly makes sense in the general scheme. One Player becomes a place to practice alone, building up your technique and learning tracks, then, when you’re ready for live musical carnage, take your game online.
Unfortunately, while testing the game, the Tapulous server seemed to be inaccessible a couple of times. Not a good start but I have faith in Tapulous. This game is a big deal and a massive investment of time and money to them; as such I know that they’ll be working to resolve any day-one toothing issues and I’m already looking forward to some hectic online battles in the coming weeks.
Wired For Sound
The music selection on offer in TTR 2 is a seriously big deal. The folks at Tapulous have been hob-knobbing with the industry big wigs, meeting with the fresh talent and even getting independent artists in on the action.
What essentially results from all this deal-doing is that there’s an immense library of music on offer. Before you even get to the downloads, there’s an exclusive track included with the game from Crystal Method which, while it isn’t my cup of chai, fits the game perfectly.
Tap on over to the downloads section and there’s purportedly over 150 tracks on offer, absolutely free. In among the stuff you’ve not heard of, there are some big names in the Tap Tap Revenge 2 library, including Death Cab for Cutie, Daft Punk and The Whip.
As if that wasn’t generous enough, apparently there will also be new tracks released every Thursday. It’s not all about giving though, dig a track enough that you’ve just got to have it and you can also buy it by clicking a handy iTunes link. It’s savvy on the part of Tapulous and genuinely useful for us players.
Summing Up
Tapulous seems to have gone above and beyond anything I expected for Tap Tap Revenge 2. The game is still very much part of the series, there are no massive, paradigm shifting changes, however what is on offer is an overwhelming evolution, a bold and engaging step forwards.
I’m pleased to be awarding this game TheAppleBlog App Review’s first Gold Award. This is no small thing, these awards will be rarities reserved for essential App Store releases. For iPhone and iPod touch gamers, Tap Tap Revenge 2 is an essential download.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Apple Updates the Mac Mini: More Modern, Even Worse Value
So Apple updated the Mac mini today. It seems it’s pretty much everything the rumor sites were saying, and I can’t help being disappointed.
In my look at the various rumors, one thing I stated was that the price was out of line. I based this on the value of the machine, not the usual ramblings from pundits about the economy. In my view, the mini is overpriced and the upgrades — which only make the machine more modern after nearly a year of stagnation — wouldn’t be enough. Oh, and thanks Apple for pulling the remote from the package, I’d probably just lose it anyway.
Unfortunately, there was no price change, and Apple did nothing beyond the updates to bridge the value gap. The base mini comes with 1GB of memory and a 120GB hard drive. That’s laughable. In a day when even the old, white plastic MacBook comes with 2GB, the base mini is still left stuck at one. Apple has all but admitted that 1GB isn’t enough and yet, there’s the mini, sitting there under-performing. A desktop, machine no less.
It’s probably just as well, since the base mini only has a 120GB hard drive. Geez, Apple, mini or not this is a desktop machine, save the 120GB drives for your base laptop, but a desktop machine deserves more. Thanks for including FireWire, so I can fill up the drive in about 10 minutes.
So, six hundred bucks gets me a 1GB machine that won’t hold much data. Six. Hundred. Dollars. Want a great keyboard or mouse? When you buy an iMac these are included (albeit now without a keypad), so moving to the wireless version of both is only $50. For the mini? Well, they’ll set you back $100, and that’s not even wireless; kick in another $30 for that.
Apple, did it never occur to you that even though this is a BYODKM (bring your own display, keyboard, and mouse) system, you might have, you know, encouraged people to buy your keyboard and mouse? A hundred bucks? Are you drunk? The potential new Mac user sucked in by the supposed low price of the mini, perhaps even thinking Apple’s not so expensive after all, is going to get a shock. I’m not suggesting a wholesale lowering of prices, but rather simply selling a bundle dirt cheap for new mini buyers at the time of purchase.
Finally, yes, you can get the 2GB of memory the machine deserves, and a decent hard drive (320GB), and it’ll only set you back another $200. Eight hundred bucks and you now have a desktop machine that’s at least in the ballpark. Of course, at that price the 2.0GHz processor seems a bit weak but, hey, only another $150 is needed to bump it up to 2.26GHz! Woo hoo! I have a decent machine now, and it’s only $950, though I still have to dig a keyboard and mouse out of the garage.
Apple, barring a reduction in price on machines that do not compete at all, you should have at least tossed in some things to increase the value proposition. The cheap keyboard/mouse bundle as mentioned above, a remote, and maybe a copy of iWork, perhaps. Oh, and that second GB of memory. At $600 I might feel better about that baseline machine. As it is, it’s difficult to recommend the mini to anyone. I’d push the MacBook, but then maybe that’s what you wanted.
It’s hard to think that Apple looks at the potential mini buyer with anything but a bit of disdain. How else would you describe taking a year to update a machine that wasn’t competitive, and replacing it with something even less so? I get the feeling mini sales are just brisk enough that Apple can’t kill the thing, though that would probably be their preference. It appears they’d sooner run Windows Vista on their corporate machines than make the mini a good value.
Oh well, guess I’ll focus on the new iMacs next, those look like a great deal.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - New Airport Extreme and Time Capsule
The Airport Extreme and Time Capsule were updated today with some new features that, while they don’t change the basic capabilities of the devices, do make them more flexible. Both devices now offer “guest networking” and simultaneous dual-band networks. All of the new features apply equally to the Airport Extreme and the Time Capsule. The Airport Express, sadly, has been left out of today’s update cycle.
While most people won’t run out to exchange their existing Airports, it is worth considering the new features to see if they are something you could use.
Dual-Band Networking
In previous models of the Airport, you had to choose either 2.4GHz or 5GHz. If you ran at 2.4GHz you could still offer the increased speeds of 802.11n but it would not be quite as fast as 802.11n on 5GHz. If you went with 5GHz, then your 802.11b/g devices were left out in the cold.
The new Airport Extreme offers the ability to run separate wireless networks on both the 2.4GHz and the 5GHz band at the same time. This means that you should be able to offer maximum connection speeds to all your devices, regardless of type. For many people, this means that your new MacBook or MacBook Pro will finally be able to access your home network at top speeds while you still allow older devices to connect.
In my house, this means that I could allow my Nintendo Wii and an old PC laptop to connect on 802.11g and move my MacBook to 802.11n on 5GHz. This should result in a speed increase on the MacBook when I am accessing my home file server. If you are only connecting to the Internet from your laptop (and not another device on your home network) then this feature is not going to help you because your wireless connection is still going to be faster than your Internet connection. However, if you are sharing files between devices on your home network (Apple TV syncing with iTunes, file server, iPhoto library sharing, etc.) then you will definitely enjoy the higher speed.
This is a good solution for an office environment with a range of devices too. You can enable 5GHz 802.11n for the latest laptops and still support iPhones, Blackberry’s and older computers that can only access 802.11b/g networks.
Guest Networking
Guest networking is a new feature that allows you to create a separate wireless network that only allows those users to access the Internet. The practical effect is that they are blocked from accessing devices that are on the “main” wireless network or connected to the Ethernet LAN ports. This is a great feature for someone that wants to create public access in their home or at work. I have a client that uses an Airport Extreme at their restaurant and left the network open for their patrons to use. This new Airport Extreme would allow them to share the Airport and use it for their internal network and still offer guest access. You could also set this up in the lobby of your office too, so that visiting guests could use your Wi-Fi for their iPhone or laptop to get on the Internet, but not on your office network.
You could also disable the guest network temporarily if you needed all the available bandwidth to download the latest Battlestar Galactica episode on Saturday morning - with the series finale coming up soon, you wouldn’t want to have to wait and run the risk of getting spoilers on Twitter before you had a chance to watch it, right? Or is that just me?
The configuration screen for Guest Networking on Apple’s web site only shows password as an option. It would be nice to have additional controls on the guest network so you could limit bandwidth usage or control access by time of day. It could be on during business hours and off at night, for example.
Do You Need One?
The Airport Extreme and Time Capsule updates are great and I see real practical uses for both dual-band and guest networking.
If you would use the Time Capsule at work or at home with a file server, then using dual-band networking to allow full speed connections for all devices probably has a measurable benefit for you. If you are only accessing the Internet and your current wireless connection is faster than your Internet connection, then you are fine with what you have.
For those that want to share their Internet connection with guests at work or at home, or even neighbors, then the new guest networking gives you a way to do that without inadvertently sharing access to your private network at the same time — a really important feature in some scenarios.
Of course, what I really want to know is if these changes are coming to the older models or not. On the surface, they look like software changes (guest networking) but I don’t know if dual-band networking requires hardware support that the previous models are lacking. We’ll find out soon, I’m sure, because I can’t be the only one that would love to update their existing Airport Extreme with these features.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Don't Forget the Little Guys: Updated Processors, Hard Drives, and Keyboards
Alongside some of the more publicized changes Apple made to their lineup today, including the long-awaited new Mac mini, the iMac and Mac Pro updates, and the changes to the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule devices, there were also a few, more quiet modifications made.
Maybe most interesting among these changes are the processor speed improvements made to the MacBook Pro line of Apple notebooks. Whereas MacBook Pros used to cap out at 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors, the limit has now been increased to 2.93GHz. The standard processor included in the more expensive 15-inch model also gets an improvement, up to 2.66GHz from 2.53GHz.
Processors weren’t the only thing to receive attention today in Apple’s notebook lineup. The 256 SSD drive upgrade option that first appeared with the 17-inch MacBook Pro is now available for all unibody MacBooks and MacBook Pros. I still think it’s prohibitively expensive, but I suppose if you have $825 lying around, there are worse ways to spend it. Maybe.
Apple peripherals also received a minor alteration this morning. Specifically, their keyboard now comes in three possible configurations. There’s the existing wired keyboard with numpad, and the wireless Bluetooth keyboard without, and now, there’s also a wired version without. The new smaller wired keyboard apparently ships by default with the new iMac, though the Mac Pro still comes with the numpad-inclusive version. Price point for the new wired keyboard? $49, same as with the numpad.
Does this strike anyone else as the opposite move Apple should’ve made? I don’t know about you, but I want my wireless keyboard with a little numpad spice, not the other way around. Talk about a missed opportunity. We’ll see how the Apple community reacts to the keyboard switch, but I really hope it isn’t just the first step towards phasing out the numpad version altogether, and then introducing a new peripheral, or worse yet, suggesting the iPhone is their numpad.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - The New Mac mini
After months and months of waiting, the new Mac mini turns out to be exactly what all the rumors said it was going to be — the same exterior design with some changes to the ports on the back. And while the visible changes are fairly minor, just about everything inside has been improved significantly. It may even be just the update you were looking for. Here is the rundown on the new Mac mini.
Love Comes Quickly
There’s a lot to like here. Just like we saw all over the internet for the past few days, the Mac mini includes five USB ports (up from four) and two display ports — one mini DisplayPort and one mini-DVI. Also included is FireWire 800 (an upgrade from 400 on the previous model) and gigabit ethernet. From left to right, the ports are [1] power, [2] gigabit ethernet, [3] FireWire 800, [4] mini-DVI, [5] mini DisplayPort, [6-10] USB 2.0.
You can also see audio input and output connections above the USB ports (that’s an opening for a lock above USB port #2). These are both dual optical digital and analog connectors so you can plug in either one. The optical audio out is great for those looking to use the Mac mini in their living room connected to a home theater system because you will be able to get surround sound to your receiver.
You’ve Got the Looks
One of the most exciting changes to the mini is the new graphics system. For the past couple years, the Mac mini has been limping along with Intel GMA950 integrated graphics. The new mini sports the nVidia 9400M discrete graphics processor with either 128 or 256MB of RAM shared with main memory. This is the same system used in the new MacBooks and represents an enormous improvement over the dated GMA950.
I am also really excited about the option for two monitors on the Mac mini. This opens up some interesting possibilities for people that were previously considering an iMac with a second display, or a Mac Pro with two displays. I know a few writers, stock traders, doctors, etc. that really want two displays but don’t really need the power (or expense) of a faster machine.
The support for two displays also makes the Mac mini a little more interesting as a home theater device. It would be possible to use the mini on the desktop and run a longer cable to a TV for watching DVD’s, Hulu, boxee, etc.
We don’t know yet if the 9400M will result in a better TV picture for media applications, but it should be a good machine for that purpose.
I am disappointed that Apple has not released new Cinema displays to go with the Mac mini and Mac Pro upgrades (the 24″ LED Cinema Display has that Magsafe connector for laptops), but 3rd party options are plentiful.
I’ve Got the Brains
The Mac mini CPU has been updated to the latest portable Intel Core 2 Duo running at 2.0GHz with a faster front-side bus speed of 1066MHz. There is a configure-to-order option for the 2.26GHz processor available as well. The Mac mini still has two SO-DIMM slots, but max memory has been increased to 4GB.
If you’re thinking about ordering more RAM, I would recommend getting it from Apple for $150. Yes, you are going to pay more than you would if you bought 3rd party RAM (about $80), but that extra $70 is going to be worth it to many people to have the RAM covered under your Apple warranty or AppleCare protection plan and not have to worry about cracking open your Mac mini to pull the RAM out or put it back in if you ever need to bring in the Mac mini for warranty service.
Being Boring
The new Mac mini has been updated to include wireless and bluetooth as a standard feature in all models. Wireless is now 802.11n capable, so you can enjoy the faster speeds on the updated Airport models that were also announced today. There is not much to say here, except thank goodness that it is finally done.
Always On My Mind
Or at least, always on my drive. The next big option on the new Mac mini is the selection of hard drive capacities. 120GB is standard on the base model and a 320GB drive comes installed on the high-end model. There is a 250GB drive available in the online store too. All of these drives are 5400 RPM 2.5″ laptop drives, so they are not particularly speedy. With the new FireWire 800 connection, I would think most people would be better served by buying an external drive rather than paying to upgrade the internal hard drive. You would get more storage that is both faster and cheaper than the internal drive upgrades.
To put the upgrade cost into perspective, you could buy a 500GB FireWire drive for the same cost as upgrading from 120GB to 250GB, or a 1TB FireWire drive for the cost of upgrading to the 320GB internal drive.
Was It Worth It?
I love the upgrades to the Mac mini. Maybe I am just giddy because we have been waiting so long for this blessed day to come, but I think the new mini deserves serious consideration. The Mac mini is a respectable little machine and the new graphics system and display options really make it a nice choice for many people to use as a desktop computer. I think the main reason to consider getting an iMac would be the speed of the graphics system if you are doing 3D design work or rendering, or if you are using large Photoshop files where the speed of the hard drive would impact your workflow.
The Mac mini makes a nice home theater or media device. You’ve got more display connections and better graphics and more USB ports to connect TV tuners and other devices. I think people will snatch them up for use in the living room.
That’s My Impression
While there are two choices in the Mac mini, I am left feeling like there is really only one choice. The $200 price difference between the two models comes down to 2GB of RAM (rather than 1GB), 256MB of shared graphics RAM (compared to 128MB) and a 320GB hard drive (instead of 120GB). I would definitely get the base model for $599 and upgrade the RAM and buy an external hard drive rather than buy the upgraded $799 model. I think you just get a lot more for your money that way and if you’re going to miss the graphics RAM, you should probably buy an iMac.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - The New iMac: Keeping Up With the Joneses
Well, those late rumors of updated iMacs and Mac minis coming today proved to be true. The Apple Store went down for a while this morning, and when it came back, refreshed versions of all of Apple’s desktops, including the Mac Pro, had appeared.
Even though I just made an iMac purchase last year, and will be buying one of the new Mac minis, the iMac refresh does make the machine very appealing, even if there are very few surprises in the changes to the computer.
Not least among the iMac’s improvements is a lower price point for the entry-level model boasting the larger, 24-inch screen. The new price for that starts at $1,499, which is the same price point occupied by the older, premium 20-inch just yesterday.
Another new and notable feature common to every iMac offered is the inclusion of NVIDIA graphics hardware across the board. While the two less expensive machines come with the same NVIDIA GeForce 9400M that’s in the Macbook as a standard component, the two pricier models come with the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 (256MB) and NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 (512 MB) respectively. Apple’s move to integrated graphics card in the two cheaper iMacs probably saved them some money, which could account for the boost in specs elsewhere. No graphics card upgrades are available for those two models. People who favor ATI hardware will have to get the optional upgrade available for both top-end iMacs, which switches the NVIDIA card out for an ATI Radeon HD 4850 with 512MB.
Other changes include the capacity of the hard drive included standard, which moves from 250GB to 320GB on the entry level model, doubles to 640GB on the two mid-priced machines, and jumps to 1TB for the top of the line iMac. 1TB upgrade options are available for all computers in the line-up.
All models except the base now come standard with 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM, and you have the option to bump that up to a whopping 8GB, for the small one-time fee of an extra $1,000. Talk about an instance where getting aftermarket RAM is probably best. The support for double the RAM, along with the processor improvements (2.4 to 2.66GHz on the base, 2.8 to 2.93 and 3.06GHz remains the same at the top end), definitely make this a machine to contend with when fully maxed out with upgrades.
The new iMacs do away with the FireWire 400 port, as has been the trend with Apple’s latest releases. It does still provide FireWire 800 connectivity, along with four USB 2.0 ports. The Mini-DVI port has been replaced with a Mini DisplayPort, as is also now standard on Mac machines, and the optical digital audio out/in and headphone/microphone are still included.
Apple is also touting the environmental friendliness of their new machine, in keeping with their marketing surrounding their other products. It looks like it really is greener than ever, and I’m green with envy at friends who are purchasing one. Release day is always a bittersweet day, since your own hardware quickly becomes “the previous model.” Ah well, c’est la vie.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Apple Announces Nehalem-powered Mac Pro
Apple has announced a number of updates today, including a considerable refresh to their professional desktop line, the Mac Pro. Utilizing the Intel "Nehalem" Xeon processors and a next-generation system architecture, the new machines deliver up to twice the performance of the previous generation system.
Philip Schiller, Apple's ( aapl) senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, noted that:
The new Mac Pro is a significant upgrade and starts at $300 less than before. It features an advanced system architecture, new faster processors and our best-ever graphics options to deliver a faster, more powerful system that our professional customers are going to love.
Confident words from the man behind Apple’s product lineup, and seemingly justified with the new specifications on offer.
Improved Performance
When compared to the previous generation Mac Pro, performance is up to 1.7x faster:
The speed increases are due to the introduction of a new processor and graphics card. Two models offer a choice of either one 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3500 processor, or two 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500 processors. The new cores offer up to 2.4x greater memory bandwidth, in addition to a new “Turbo Boost technology” which claims to speed up the processor when all cores aren't in use. A range of architecture changes assist with improved performance, full details of which can be found at the features page.
Following on from recent graphics updates in their notebook line, the new Mac Pros include a NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512MB of GDDR3 memory — supposedly up to 2.9x faster than the previous model. For even greater performance you can opt to pay more for an upgrade to the ATI Radeon HD 4870.
As with many speed claims, it’s always interesting to see how they translate to day-to-day use. In this case they seem justified, and I’m looking forward to seeing various application benchmarks.
Graphics Options
The new machines feature both a dual-link DVI port (as supported previously) and a Mini DisplayPort, with room internally for up to four individual graphics cards. There’s no shortage of display options! It will be interesting to see whether both of these can function at the same time, supporting two monitors from a single graphics card.
Updated Interior
The interior design of the Mac Pro has long been a source of pride for Apple, showcasing their excessive attention to detail in hardware design. The new alterations are no exception:
An updated interior provides easy access to all components within the Mac Pro for easy expansion, and the case includes four direct-attach cable-free hard drive carriers for installing up to 4TB of internal storage. An optional RAID card delivers enhanced performance and allows the four internal drive bays to be set up in various RAID arrays for additional data protection or speed.
Environmentally Friendly
Continuing their focus on developing environmentally friendly machines, Apple note that the Mac Pro has a number of “green” features:
The new Mac Pro exceeds Energy Star 4.0 requirements and is leading the industry as an early adopter of the more stringent Energy Star 5.0 requirements which will become effective later this year. The Mac Pro enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminum and the interior is designed to be more material-efficient. The Mac Pro uses PVC-free internal cables and components and contains no brominated flame retardants. The new Mac Pro achieves EPEAT Gold status.
Available Models
The new Mac Pros are available in two base models, configurable to your required standard:
The base model costs $2,499 and includes:
- One 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3500 series processor with 8MB of L3 cache;
- 3GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 8GB;
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics with 512MB of GDDR3 memory;
- 640GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
- 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
- Mini DisplayPort and DVI (dual-link) for video output (adapters sold separately);
- Four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
- Five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire® 800 ports;
- Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
- Ships with Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Mighty Mouse.
The higher specification with a price of $3,299 (US) includes:
- Two 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500 series processors with 8MB of shared L3 cache;
- 6GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 32GB;
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics with 512MB of GDDR3 memory;
- 640GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
- 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
- Mini DisplayPort and DVI (dual-link) for video output (adapters sold separately);
- Four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
- Five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports;
- Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
- Ships with Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Mighty Mouse.
Availability
Apple notes that the new systems will be available next week (with their online store stating four business days), so you won’t need to wait much longer if you’ve been holding out for the latest specification bump.
More information can be found at the Mac Pro product page or you can order one of the new machines now through the Apple Store.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать
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