Macs

Well kinda……
Porn sites that offer free movies, but you have to install a “codec” to view them.
Sound familiar? All those setup.exe files are back but with a Mac flavour.
Once installed the trojan hijacks DNS and redirects popular purchase sites to sites controlled by the hijacker to extract credit card details.
Now I hardly think this constitutes “open season” on the Mac as Wired would have you believe. Fair enough it’s a development in the “viruses on the Mac” department, but, currently, you would have to be a bit of a muppet to get duped. Macs are not invincible, and they never have been. There’s been plenty of dodgy apps that do dodgy things once authentication has been given. This is nothing new.
And as for this pearl of wisdom from “security researcher” (?) Gadi Evron:

Apple’s day has finally come, and Apple users are going to get hit hard. OS X is the new Windows 98.

Ahuh……

Yeah, ok, I’m lame. Moving on…..

As a web developer working on a Mac and having to confess to running Safari 3 beta, this leads to a problem that I can’t test pages in Safari 2.0.4.

Til now.

http://www.michelf.com/projects/multi-safari/

Awesome!
UPDATE:Same thing for Windows and IE. Useful for me in Parallels!
http://tredosoft.com/Multiple_IE

Woohoo!
FLAC and Vorbis makes a welcome return to iTunes thanks to the lovely people at xiph.org. Hopefully this will remove the need to run 3rd party apps to listen to music encoded in these open formats.

Get it here.

*UPDATE* - Alas, still no support for native FLAC file format. Only Ogg FLAC, but at least it’s a step in the right directon.

From Apple’s PR website:

Nike and Apple® today announced a partnership bringing the worlds of sports and music together like never before with the launch of innovative Nike+iPod products. The first product developed through this partnership is the Nike+iPod Sport Kit, a wireless system that allows Nike+ footwear to talk with your iPod® nano to connect you to the ultimate personal running and workout experience.

This is a partnership I imagine most people won’t have seen coming, and I for one wish it hadn’t. Nike’s track record is dubious to say the least. It’s not too difficult to find information regarding their use of sweatshops in various parts of the world.
Apple itself have not been immune to some rather negative commentary, notably from Naomi Klein in her book “No Logo”, a discussion about branding and it’s impact on society.
In relation to this, an article on igorinternational.com states:

The company projects a humanistic corporate culture and a strong corporate ethic, characterized by volunteerism, support of good causes or involvement in the community. Nike blundered here. Apple, on the other hand, comes across as profoundly humanist.

Until now. Or maybe the ‘magic curtain’ has just been lifted, and I’ve seen a side to Apple that I did not want to see before. Maybe we’ll have Apple powered Starbucks WIFI spots next, or maybe even a range of Gapple clothing…….

I may not go as far as some people I know who are actually considering SELLING all their Apple equipment following the announcement of this “partnership”. I will have to think long and hard about my next Apple purchase though. The branding inbreeding is becoming too much to take.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Branding, Nike, iPod

Sorry. Couldn’t resist the title!

Regarding the new glossy screen on the Macbook (optional on 15″ Macbook Pros), John Sircusa offers the following:

Glossy displays have effectively taken over the entire laptop market. Why are they so popular? Here are three possible reasons.

They are better than matte-finish displays.
They are cheaper than matte-finish displays.
People are idiots.

Sounds fair to me.

The guys at Macserendipity disagree:

I have a Sony TFT at home with an Xblack glossy screen and I love it. The colors look vibrant and deep and switching to my Belina screen at work is frankly painful.
…
So maybe not having a choice is bad. People ( that are not idiots) should have a choice as some may not like the Glossy Screen. However some do. Those people including myself are not idiots they just have a preference.

Before I begin, I will say that I am NOT a fan of glossy screens. These “more vibrant colours” that are being spoken about and “higher contrast” make the screen almost unusable for getting an ACCURATE colour representation and are therefore fairly useless to anyone wanting to attempt some colour matching. Admittedly, this is something I do only rarely and is something that most people would not have any want or need to do, but it still annoys me! :-p

Anyway.
I’m sure a Sony XBlack TFT screen would look great in a lot of rooms. After all, indoors in a environment where you can control lighting conditions, a situation which is perfect (nay essential?) for these screens. Most showrooms, for example, are just such environments.

But the Macbook is PORTABLE computer. Thus, it would be preferrable to be able to use the laptop the conditions I happen to find myself, be it on a train, in the park having lunch, whatever…..
I should dictate where I use a portable computer, not the other way around.

As for John Siracusa’s argument about people being idiots, once you eliminate the first two options:
A: Glossy screens are better - Um, no they’re not.
B: Glossy screens are cheaper - Unsure, but can’t imagine there’s much in it. As far as I’m aware it’s only the finish that differs?

there aren’t many options left.
To say that people PREFER a glossy screen is to say that they prefer an inferior product (given A and B above), which isn’t unusual these days. As I’m oft reminded, people are entitled to their opinion, but then again, I happen to think most people are idiots anyway! :-p

From USA Today

Apple Computer Inc. is entitled to use the apple logo on its iTunes Music Store, a judge ruled Monday, rejecting a suit filed by Apple Corps Ltd., the guardian of The Beatles’ commercial interests.
Apple Corps, which contended that the U.S. company had broken a 1991 agreement in which each side agreed not to enter into the other’s field of business, said it would appeal.
Judge Edward Mann ruled that Apple Computer used the fruit logo in association with the store, not the music, and thus did not breach the agreement.

It is widely known that the Airport card that ships with a MacBook Pro supports 802.11b and 802.11g wireless networks. It also has support 802.11a networks, though this feature is undocumented and is not supported by Apple or Applecare.

Technorati Tags: apple, mac, macbook pro, network, undulattice

Apple have announced the addition of the 17″ MacBook Pro to their Intel based range.
Specs include Firewire 800 and a Double Layer 8x Superdrive, which were both missing in the 15″ MacBook Pro. It also has an additional USB 2.0 port.

You also get the option of up(down)grading from a 120gb 5400rpm hard drive to a 100gb 7200rpm hard drive. Personally I’d go for speed over space!

It’s expensive though, about £200 more expensive than a 17″ Powerbook (which have been discontinued and are no longer available from the Apple Store)

Technorati Tags: apple, mac, macbook pro, undulattice

Having just read a recent post on Daring Fireball regarding how Boot Camp will start an exodus to Windows, I have to go one step further than John Gruber’s “Jackass of the Week” description and label USA Today’s Andrew Kantor a complete idiot!
Firstly we have this……

Boot Camp isn’t going to propel the Mac into the mainstream. If anything, it will get Mac users to switch to Windows. Sure, it’ll be terrific for Mac fans not wanting to give up their machine of choice but find more and more they need to use Windows. But Boot Camp doesn’t offer any kind of compelling argument for PC users to buy Mac hardware.

From experience, I have found the exact opposite to be true. Since switching to Mac a few years ago, I have found it LESS AND LESS that I need to use Windows, to the degree that I no longer own a machine that is even capable of running Windows. Boot Camp offers PC users the chance to try OS X and still revert to Windows if they don’t like it. So why wouldn’t you?!

Followed by……

The Macs that can currently run Boot Camp are the Mac Mini, the iMac, and the MacBook Pro notebook. Price-wise, they can’t compete with PCs.

The Mini will set you back about $1100 for a machine with 512 MB of RAM and a 60-GB hard drive — that’s when you add in a keyboard, mouse, midrange monitor ($150), and a full copy of Windows XP.

The iMac is about $1600 (with 512 MB RAM, a 160-GB hard drive, and Windows). The MacBook Pro, with an 80-GB hard drive, is about $2000 with Windows.(All these prices come from the Apple Store. I mention the hard drive sizes in particular because you’d need the space to load two operating systems and two sets of software.)

I don’t know which “Apple Store” he’s been looking at, but iMacs currently start at $1299 and MacBook Pros at $1999. Prices exclude a copy of Windows which we can safely assume most “switchers” already own.

And “two sets of software”? Surely the idea is to only use the other operating system when it’s absolutely necessary, so the second “set of software” is most likely going to be fairly minimal.

In contrast, a 3 GHz Gateway DX210 PC with 1 GB of RAM, a 160 GB hard drive, and the same monitor I suggested for the Mac Mini — that’ll be only $900.

In contrast, a 3GHz Gateway DX210 PC has a single core, single processor Pentium 4, no Superdrive, crap video card, and ships with Windows Media Center Edition. GREAT! Way to compare like with like!

Oh, and the whole “no viruses on the Mac” business? Besides the fact that it’s no longer true, you can get this neat stuff called anti-virus software.

Now I want to punch him. If we’re gonna be pedantic about it, let’s rephrase.
“No viruses on OS X”. Better?
And given that Windows can’t read the Mac filesystem, I think the “spreading” argument is effectively null and void.

The folks at Parallels.com, however, released “virtualization software” that they say allows OS X to run any operating system, including Windows, within OS X — no rebooting required. So that’s a step above Boot Camp right off, even if it costs $50.

Rumour has it that Leopard will have this feature built in. Certainly wouldn’t surprise me. Though it would be funny if Apple treats Windows the same way they treated Classic environment.

It may not be so bad — they might even enjoy the convenience of sharing a common platform with the other 97% of the world, brought to them courtesy of Boot Camp.

A million people are not smarter than one.

Technorati Tags: apple, boot camp, mac, OS X, PC, technology, windows

Now that the dust has settled on Apple’s landmark release (albeit public beta - strange how that bit gets left out……), time to reflect on what this means for Apple, Macs, and the computing community in general.

Firstly, the chasm that once existed between Macs and PCs has all but vanished. In fact, Macs have emerged in the aftermath as being undeniably more versatile machines. As John Gruber said in his Daring Fireball commentary

Instead of occupying a separate universe from that of PC hardware, it’s now a superset of PC hardware. Instead of choosing between a Windows PC or a Mac, you now get to choose between a computer that can only run Windows or a computer that can run both Windows and Mac OS X.

While this is true on initial inspection, there is still the obstacle of Apple reluctance to allow “non-apple” hardware to run on their machines. The situation has definitely improved over the last few years, but they still insist on having Apple specific firmware on devices like Superdrives and CD burners etc. Absence of this firmware does not mean that your drive will not work, just that it will not be “supported” by OS X. Obviously there are ways to make it work, but the point is that these are obstacles are unnecessary and only serve to annoy people.

Another issue that I think Apple need to address in the post-apocalyptic Intel world is support and warranty. Apple’s default warranty sucks. Plain and simple.
For example, a MacBook Pro costing £1429 comes with a standard 1 year warranty with the option of purchasing Applecare for an additional £279, bringing the total to £1708.
A comparable Dell laptop (not as nice as a Mac before you start flaming me) will come in as standard at £1549 including a 3 year warranty.

OK. So that’s about £160 so far. However, Apple’s standard warranty is return to base and usually takes 7-10 days minimum. Dell’s is next day AND on site! For some people, THAT is a deal clincher. Some people don’t mind paying extra for some peace of mind, but to pay less?! I’m convinced this is one of the main reasons that Apple’s share in the server market is so small. The hardware is great, the operating system is rock solid, but 1 YEAR RTB warranty just does not cut it when the equipment is mission critical.

Apple need to address this situation. They have traditionally always gone after the higher end of the market, which is fine when the market you’re talking about is Mac based. But as soon as the Mac and PC markets become one, these little problems could become the deal breaker for a lot of people.

Technorati Tags: apple, boot camp, mac, PC, technology, windows