This Week's Apple and Desktop Mac News
PowerBook, iBook, MacBook, and other portable computing is covered
in The 'Book Review. iPod, iPhone,
and Apple TV news is covered in The iNews
Review.
All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.
News & Opinion
Products
Software
News & Opinion
Leopard May Be Slower on PowerPC Macs
The Baltimore Sun's David Zeiler says:
"When Apple releases Leopard later this month (we hope), owners of
older PowerPC-based Macs will have a tougher-than-usual decision to
make.
"Unlike new versions of Microsoft's Windows operating system, which
invariably require much more robust hardware to run acceptably than the
previous version, every successive version of Mac OS X has
actually run faster on existing hardware. Not only did Mac users get
whatever cool new features Apple had cooked up, they got a faster Mac
too.
"Because of this, I have always advised Mac users to run the latest
supported version of OS X on their Mac. But Leopard promises to be
a cat of a different stripe. In addition to dropping support for
certain older Macs, this operating system upgrade might not offer much
of a performance improvement for PowerPC-based Macs. In fact, it's
likely such Macs will suffer a performance hit."
Link:
Will Leopard Make Sense for Older Macs?
Dell vs. Apple: 10 Years Later
Apple 2.0's Philip Elmer-DeWitt says:
"It was 10 years ago that Michael Dell, speaking before several
thousand technology executives at ITxpo97 in Orlando, answered a
question about what he would do if he were CEO of Apple with a remark
he probably instantly regretted:
"'What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the
shareholders.' (Link)
"...Apple's market capitalization today is more than double that of
Dell...."
Editor's note: Apple is closing on IBM and is expected to surpass
its market capitalization within
the coming months. dk
Link:
Dell vs. Apple: 10 Years Later
Borrow an iMac, Buy an iMac
The Houston Chronicle's Dwight Silverman reports:
"Perhaps the ultimate compliment a hardware and software reviewer
can pay to a product is to spend his or her own money on it.
"And that's exactly what I
did after just a few days of living with the latest incarnation of
Apple's iMac computer - I bought one of my own....
"Simply put, the new iMacs with their 24-inch screens, all-aluminum
cases and powerful components are easily the most pleasurable desktop
computers I've touched....
"What initially draws you into the 24-inch model is its display.
It's as gorgeous, sharp and bright as any widescreen LCD monitor I've
seen. I have it set up behind me on my desk at work, and when
colleagues come to talk to me, I find them staring at the iMac's screen
rather than looking me in the eyes.
"Another point of contention is the keyboard, which Apple has
redesigned to be incredibly thin. It's about a half-inch thick and
tilted slightly, front to back. Its keys are shallow - they're almost
identical to those found on the MacBook - with not much throw. This
looks very cool but also looks very uncomfortable. I was resistant at
first, but the more I use it, the more I like it. Normally I'm a fan of
ergonomic keyboards, and I was considering replacing the thin aluminum
one. Now I may not."
Link: A
Borrower of the iMac Becomes a Buyer
On-campus Mac Use Quadruples at Princeton
The Daily Princetonian's Doug Eshleman reports:
"I never thought I'd switch to a Mac. After all, I have used PCs
since I was 5 years old. I carried around my old Dell Inspiron 8000, a
bulky nine-pound beast of a laptop, throughout high school, and it
never suffered from any hardware problems over its five-year
lifespan.
"The trouble was Windows - the operating system from hell.
"So I decided to take the plunge and get a Mac. I wasn't alone; in
fact, 40 percent of Princeton students and faculty use Macs as their
personal computers.
"In the 2003-04 school year, when the iPod was just becoming
popular, a mere 10 percent of Princeton students had Mac computers
connected to the network, OIT director Steven Sather said.
"Sixteen percent of students chose Macs when the Class of 2008
arrived on campus the subsequent fall. The figure reached 23 percent
the following year and then jumped to 31 percent of all personal
computers on the network in fall 2006.
"This year, the University's Student Computer Initiative has sold
more Macs than PCs. Students were offered a selection of Dell, IBM and
Apple computers, and 60 percent chose Macs, up from 45 percent last
year....
"Princeton is not the only campus where Mac use is on the rise. At a
recent college technology conference, Shahbender found that Mac sales
also had significantly increased at MIT, Columbia, Dartmouth, Penn,
Duke, Stanford, Cornell and Brown over the past few years."
Link:
On-campus Mac Users Quadruple at Princeton
Powerline Adapters: Ethernet Speed Networking
without Rewiring
Computerworld's Lamont Wood reports:
"...the average U.S. house has about 40 power outlets, and with
powerline adapters, any of them can be turned into a data port. No
additional wiring is necessary.
"Powerline adapters were previously limited by interference from the
electrical noise generated by appliances and household gadgets using
the same circuit, but the latest generation appears to have largely
overcome that problem. Also, the adapters offer a theoretical speed of
about 200Mbit/sec., which is enough to handle digital video signals,
even when actual throughput is less than half the theoretical speed (as
is common with Ethernet).
"There are three competing (and largely incompatible) technologies
on the market: the HomePlug AV standard from the HomePlug Powerline
Alliance, the Universal Powerline Association (UPA) standard, and
Panasonic's High-Definition Powerline Communications (HD-PLC)
specification."
Link:
Powerline Adapters: Home Networking without Rewiring
Using Powerline Adapters for Home Networking
Computerworld's Lamont Wood reports:
"How simple is it to network your home via existing power lines?
"I connected my PC's Ethernet port to a powerline adapter and
plugged that adapter into a power strip that already fed several other
devices. Across the room, where my home office network's 100Mbit/sec.
router is located, I connected a port on that router to a second
powerline adapter and plugged it into the nearest power outlet. I sat
down in front of the PC, and I was online.
"It's that simple.
"Also, the connection felt as fast as the Ethernet cable I had been
using a few moments earlier."
Link:
Review: Using Powerline Adapters for Home Networking
New Apple Keyboard Prevents Accidental Caps
Lock
Ars Technica's Jeff Smykil reports:
"I would like to see a study regarding the misuse of the caps lock
key and the percentage of time that the caps lock is mistakenly
activated. I'm not sure what the data would show, but despite this
apparently Apple is trying to stop any accidental caps lock activators
in their tracks. Jonathan 'Wolf' Rentzsch of Red Shed fame has
unearthed a new 'feature' added to Apple's new wired keyboard:
"Unique among the rest of the keys, Caps Lock doesn't activate
immediately upon strike. There's a very small time window - perhaps a
quarter of a second - where if you release the key inside the window,
the keystroke is ignored."
Link:
Apple's New Keyboard Protects from OVERZEALOUS TYPISTS
Apple Admits Aluminum iMac Freeze Ups
The Inquirer's Nick Farrell reports:
"The maker of entertainment gear and bricked phones, Apple has
finally admitted that there is a wee problem with its Imac range.
"Apple has not said a dickey bird about screen freezes and has been
Stalinistically deleting all references to the problem from its
forums.
"According to Techworld, The problem is connected to the ATI
Radeon HD graphics cards and its drivers...."
Link:
Apple Finally Admits iMac Freeze Ups
Apple Hardware Remains Best in the Industry
Gene Steinberg, the Mac Night Owl, says:
"When I wrote a Mac War Stories column some years back, I didn't
expect to receive too many responses. Yet a lot of you have had
problems with your Macs over the years. When you factor in Apple's own
extended repair programs, which cover some notebooks and desktops, you
began to wonder whether quality control had gone down the tubes.
"However, year after year, Apple rates tops in customer support and
product reliability in such disparate publications as Consumer
Reports and PC Magazine. What is surprising is that these
sources aren't necessarily in Apple's camp. In fact, you'd think they
have more than a few axes to grind about Macs. Yes, even Consumer
Reports, which apparently has an editorial stance that is more
Windows-friendly than it should be, considering the magazine's pretense
of incorruptibility....
"The Mac and the PC these days use the very same processors, similar
graphics chips, hard drives, RAM, support components and so on and so
forth. Indeed, they are quite often assembled in the very sample
manufacturing establishments in Asia.
"So how could the Mac be more reliable than the PC?"
Link:
Apple Hardware Remains Best in the Industry
Rumor: Mac nano to Replace the Mac mini?
I would definitely place this one in the rumor column - barque ut
xyhd.com says:
"The Mac mini
hasn't gotten an upgrade in a while, so it was about time. The new Mac
nano is much smaller, and borrows components of the Apple Laptops to
achieve an amazingly small foot print. By moving the Power Supply
outside the case, ditching the Optical drive, and using an 80 gig 1.8
inch hard disk (like in the iPod classic) the new Mac nano is about
about half the height of the mini and slightly wider...."
Editor's note: This looks a lot more like
the iTV (later Apple TV) prototype Apple was showing a year ago
than a "Mac nano". Of course, Apple TV really is a Mac under the
hood.... dk
Link:
Mac nano to Replace the Mac mini? - Rumor
BeLight's Barra Starts Her Mac Voyage
PR: Barra, a white toy
sheep that represents a living logo of BeLight Software, Mac OS X
development company based in Odessa, is going to meet with 10 Mac users
in 10 different countries.
If you are a Mac user and like such thing as toy voyager, then help
Barra to proceed for this Mac-devoted voyage! Welcome to Barra
blog.
"I dedicate my journey to Mac society that thinks differently and
cool," says Barra. "I am On The Road!"
"Barra's voyage is the first
event of such a kind for Mac community, so I hope Mac users'll
participate in this Barra's quest", says Helen Nersesova, the PR
manager for BeLight Software.
BeLight Software
was founded in January 2003 by a team of very different people in
Odessa, Ukraine. They started with a software and do the same till
nowadays.
Link: BeLight's
Barra Starts Her Mac Voyage
Products
Macintosh Video Tutorials Available
Online
PR: Accularian has announced the online availability over 70
video tutorials designed to teach basic Macintosh computer skills
through the Internet. The first six lessons are free and there is a
one-time charge of $75.00 for the remaining lessons. Lessons are
available on the Web.
Short, fun video tutorials take students step-by-step through every
aspect of computer set up and the various features of Apple's Macintosh
operating system. The first section of lessons cover important aspects
of the computer such as The Finder, The Apple Menu, The Menu Bar, The
Dock, The Desktop, Files, Folders and more. The System Preferences
section teaches people how to customize their Macs, including how to
use the powerful speech recognition software, built into each Mac.
These Macintosh basic lessons, the first of many more planned, are a
fun way to learn how to use a Macintosh computer such as Apple's
popular iMac.
Beginners learn how to use their computers in an informal,
non-intimidating way. Seasoned Macintosh users find the lessons very
useful for learning new tips and tricks or brushing up on things they
may have forgotten.
"I have been using a Mac for fifteen years and I never knew some of
the things I discovered in these lessons," said, Marilyn Stephan during
an early test of the service. "The lessons are very basic, very
thorough and really fun to watch."
Paragon, the producer of Accularian's "Really Basic Training," is a
computer and network-consulting firm in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
specializing in the Macintosh platform exclusively. They have a 17-year
history in South Florida and are expanding their services nationally
with these new web based training videos.
Link: Accularian
Mac Pro Now Available in Black, 6 Other
Colors
PR: Custom tinted, anodized Apple Computers are now available
in black or your choice of 6 colors. AlumaMax announces availability of
the Custom Color Mac - an Apple Mac
Pro computer system anodized in black or your choice of 6 colors.
Matching colored aluminum keyboards and Cinema Displays are also
available.
AlumaMax uses
anodizing, a durable, attractive coating that utilizes electric current
to oxidize the surface of the aluminum. The process produces a sleek
metallic finish that cannot be achieved with paint. AlumaMax services
feature vibrant colors similar to much of the iPod line - an option
previously not available on Apple's "Pro" level systems.
Using the same process Apple Computer uses during manufacture, your
system's appearance can now be colored to your liking.
The company offers a tinting service for owners with existing
hardware or you can configure and purchase new, directly from them.
AlumaMax now offers 7 different colors.
Buy a new MacPro or Cinema Display in color or send in yours to be
colored. Select a Mac. Choose your favorite color. Add your options.
Pick a matching display.
About the process
These are not simply painted boxes. Alumamax uses the same process
to color your Mac as Apple does from the factory. Anodizing is a
durable, attractive coating that uses electric current to uniformly
oxidize the surface of the aluminum. The end result is a vibrantly
colored, unique metallic coating.
AlumaMax puchases a new Mac based on your model choice. The Macs are
configured with your selected options. The unit is then completely
disassembeled. The case is acid dipped to remove the original clear
anodize coating. The case continues on through the anodizing, dye and
sealer baths. The units are then re-assembled, extensively tested and
shipped to you. The entire process takes 2-4 weeks.
Customers choosing our AlumaMax "Send-In" Tinting Service will
receive an authorization number and shipping instructions via email
after your order is placed.
Prices begin at $49 for a keyboard tint and end with the 8-core
workhorse at $4,599.
AlumaMax develops and markets enhancements to Apple Computer
products. The company specializes in re-finishing aluminum computers in
brilliant colors. The company also develops custom application,
touchscreen enabled, in-car Apple Computer based multimedia
systems.
Link: AlumaMax
OWC's Lowest Prices Ever on Mac Pro Memory -
up to 32 GB
PR: Other World Computing (OWC), a leading Mac and PC
technology company, announced the lowest prices ever for Memory Kits,
including OWC 512MB x2, 1GB x2, 4GB x2 Kits. In addition, 16GB OWC
Memory Kits are priced at less than 1/4th the cost vs. factory option.
OWC 4GB x2 kits are available for up to 32GB of memory - twice the
memory than Apple currently offers.
With memory prices now at all-time lows through OWC, Apple Mac Pro
users can now add up to 16GBs of top quality memory for as low as
$64.31 per GB, or a full 16GB of memory for $1,029.00! And now with the
latest 4GB x 2 based kits, OWC lets customers with high-memory
intensive applications such as audio/video, photo, and 3D modeling
really let their systems crank at high speeds. The extra memory really
makes a visible difference in their computer's performance.
OWC Memory is fully-tested premium quality memory that meets or
exceed all Apple specifications. Utilizing superior components,
including true Apple-Qualified heat spreaders, the memory modules
provide a lifetime of high-performance, reliable operation backed by a
Money Back Guarantee and OWC's Lifetime Advance Replacement
Warranty.
"Since the Mac Pro was first released, OWC has been there with the
correct, Apple spec memory for these professional grade systems," said
Lawrence O'Connor, CEO, OWC. "By maintaining the full array of Apple
Computers for which we offer memory, OWC continues its expertise and
leadership position through ongoing testing and innovation to deliver
the best options and quality in upgrade solutions."
Link: Mac Pro Memory @
OWC
Software
Flash Decompiler for Mac
PR: Flash Decompiler Trillix (former SWF to FLA Converter)
converts Adobe Flash SWF files back into FLA format which can easily be
edited in native Flash environment. Every group of objects such as
morphs, shapes, texts, fonts, motions, sounds, ActionScripts, etc.
could be placed in separate FLA library groups, which makes using and
working with the resulting FLA file much easier.
Moreover, since Trillix version, in addition to SWF to FLA
conversion, Flash Decompiler can extract all objects (images, sounds,
video, shapes, text, morphs, ActionScripts, etc) used in SWF files into
various file formats just in several clicks.
Additionally, you may customize FLA file workspace by
enabling/disabling grids, rulers; specifying grid accuracy and so on.
Every morph or shape can be placed on different layers to make sure
that masks layers are working properly. Flash Decompiler Trillix is the
only Mac OS tool to export the whole SWF movie in FLA format that
supports Flash MX and ActionScript 2.0.
Several reasons why you may need Flash Decompiler Trillix:
Restore your original FLA file from SWF in case you have lost it
No matter how sadly it is to say, but nobody is protected from human
errors and hardware faults. In case you should ever lose your original
FLA files you may easily restore them from available SWF files using
Eltima's Flash Decompiler Trillix, thereby saving you time and efforts
to develop or modify your Flash movies.
Make changes to SWF file when you don't have its source code
(original FLA file)
Once your artwork is converted to SWF file it cannot be edited in
Macromedia Flash Studio (the same as with executable files). To be able
to make changes to SWF you must have its original source code. Eltima's
Flash Decompiler Trillix OS allows you to extract all resources from
SWF and save them in FLA file which is editable. Now, you can easily
change Flash objects (modify text or hyperlink, replace sound/image,
etc.) and convert it back to SWF file.
Modify protected SWF file
If you forgot the password to your SWF file it is not a problem any
longer. Flash Decompiler Trillix bypasses this protection mechanism
while decompiling SWF file resources. Once you have converted it to FLA
you can set new protection in your favorite Flash editor. Please, note
that some SWF files may be copyrighted.
Improve your designer's skills by learning from others
Rather than trying duplicate or reinvent dazzling animation effects
you may find on the net, you may pick into the SWF source code (FLA) to
find out how exactly those effects were created and achieve greater
results you can't even think of.
Features
- The only all-in-one converter and extractor from SWF into FLA for
Mac
- Very simple and fast few-clicks SWF to FLA decompilation
- New flexible and more convenient user friendly program interface
with intellectual, fully customizable controls
- Flash Decompiler Trillix combines both: SWF to FLA conversion and
SWF objects extraction using various formats
- Unique SWF conversion algorithms make this program the most
reliable and fastest way to restore Flash objects from SWF
- All the objects used in SWF file can be easily extracted into
different file formats for further editing and using them in other
applications
- Flash Decompiler Trillix offers Advanced and Simple program mode
for your convenience
- Over 50 options available to extract sounds, images, videos,
shapes, frames, morphs, fonts, texts, buttons, sprites and
ActionScripts with the great accuracy
- All Flash versions are supported for decompilation (Note: Flash 9
is currently supported in beta mode, Flex-produced SWF files are not
converted to FLA since there are no source file for them). The
resulting FLA files are editable in any Flash Studio starting with
Flash MX
What's new
- Added: Japanese localization (thanks to Tadahisa SUGISAKI)
- Improved: extraction of video files to AVI\MPEG file formats
- Improved: sprites are extracted as timeline now
- ActionScripts 2.0 engine improvements
- Fixed: several minor bugs and glitches
System requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 and higher
Languages:
- German
- English
- French
- Japanese
- Spanish
Demo version limitations:
- All graphics are stored in grayscale format only
- The resulting FLA file will have nag watermark layer
- ActionScripts are not available in resulting FLA files
- Extraction will only process two first objects from each SWF
category
Link: Flash
Decompiler Trillix for Mac
Desktop Mac
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