Apple Files Future Touchscreen iPod Patent

AppleInsider found a filed patent by Apple that reveiles a possible future new iPod design. And again, I can't wait

Click to read more ...

New iPod rumors

The rumor engines are buzzing with 'news' about a new Wi-Fi iPod. The estimated release would be the holiday season (X-mas). This means an even more expensive X-mas... iPhone, Wi-Fi iPod, OSX Leopard.... all due in the second half of this year. Better start saving some money :-) B.t.w. I have some doubts on the delay announcements of Leopard. The announcement was only a small article on their (hot)news page. Apple stock didn't suffer that much with the announcement. What would happen to the apple stock if they will ship it during the WWDC? During the WWCD keynote, Steve would tell us about all the great features in Leopard (some of them were kept secret to prevent the copiers at Microsoft :-) ). And at the end of the keynote:

Oh yeah, there is one more thing..... We're shipping Leopard as scheduled starting TODAY! .... [crowd goes absolutely, and totally berserk] Together with iLife 2007, and the new iWork.... [crowd goes mental....] [Steve checks his Apple stock options on his iPhone]

Click to read more ...

Leopard Delayed (Officially)

Apple announced that the OSX 10.5 (aka Leopard) will be delayed till October 2007....

... We now plan to show our developers a near final version of Leopard at the conference, give them a beta copy to take home so they can do their final testing, and ship Leopard in October.....

Aaaaargh. I was hoping to get it in June. Well, this gives me more time for saving a little extra money, and buy a new piece of Apple hardware (Mac Mini or perhaps even a Mac Pro) which will have Leopard pre-installed. Or maybe just the iPhone when it arrives in Europe at the end of the year and a separate copy of Leopard.

Click to read more ...

What to Get?

The Apple TV box is available at this moment. This devices allows you to stream music, and movies from iTunes on your TV. Downside is that you also need iTunes to host these files, since the Apple TV can only sync with iTunes. This also introduces a limitation. It's not possible to watch videos in a format like DivX, or XviD. iTunes doesn't support those (and therefor, the Apple TV won't support them either. It is possible to hack the Apple TV and add DivX/XviD support (and lot's of other nifty features like installing a hacked version of OSX). To achieve this, you need to open the Apple TV (byebye warranty). The other possibility is to get a Mac Mini, and strip it down mainly for media center purposes. Downside with the Mac Mini is that it's a bit more expensive. Currently I use my MacBook Pro as a media center (whenever I need it). But this is kind of a hassle with power, audio and DVI connectors. So I need a (relatively cheap non Windows based) dedicated setup for watching content on my TV. *SIGH*

Click to read more ...

TWiT Podcasts Going Off-Topic

I've been a big fan of the TWiT podcasts. Especially the Apple, Windows and security related podcasts. But lately, the content of those podcasts seem to shift to too much off-topic talk. Take the latest edition of Security Now! (Cross-Site-Scripting - Part II). The podcasts is about an hour in length, but the first half hour is nothing but talk about the Sony e-book reader, and favorite writers. What's that got to do with security?? I don't know. Same goes for MacBreak Weekly. It's more about having a good time for the authors, than about bringing some news. I don't mind that the authors are having fun creating the content. Hell, I appreciate a good laugh as much as the next guy, but keep it on topic. Too bad that only about 50% of the content has something to do with the actual title (Mac / Security). If they keep this up, they will loose a listener (not that they might care).

Click to read more ...

100 Million iPods and Counting

Apple announced yesterday that they shipped 100 Million iPod since its introduction in November 2001. Leaving the competion far, far behind :-)

Click to read more ...

Run OSX on the Apple TV

It's been a couple of days since the release of the Apple TV. Directly after its release it became clear that the device runs on a minimal version of OSX. It didn't take long for enthusiasts to open the Apple TV box, and add extra functionality (like SSH, DivX, XviD, etc). Even adding a much bigger harddrive is quite possible. These 'hacks' can be found on AppleTVHacks.net. Today, a new hack surfaced. It seems that Apple implemented some sort of limitation on running a full blown version of OSX... Well, that limitation didn't last very long. There's a short tutorial about running OSX on the Apple TV (including support for keyboard and mouse). This makes the Apple TV the cheapest Apple PC available (299 euros). You do need additional hardware to make this work (like special screwdrivers, an Intel Mac, some extra peripherals, etc.)

Click to read more ...

Apple Adds Vista Support To Boot Camp

Apple has update their public beta of Boot Camp with support for the 32bit edition of Microsoft Windows Vista. This 'proves' that the rumors about the possible delay of Leopard due to lack of Vista support are not true.

Boot Camp 1.2 beta includes:

• Support for Windows Vista (32-bit)
• Updated drivers, including but not limited to trackpad, AppleTime (synch), audio, graphics, modem, iSight camera
• Support the Apple Remote (works with iTunes and Windows Media Player)
• A Windows system tray icon for easy access to Boot Camp information and actions
• .....

So a release of Leopard in Spring 2007 is still possible :-)

Click to read more ...

Mac OSX update 10.4.9

Apple had released a couple of updates these last couple of days. The first was an update for the Airport Extreme, and a couple of days after that they released an update to OSX Tiger 10.4.9. Also iPhoto got an update to version 6.0.6. The Airport Extreme update was more than welcome for me since I had trouble connecting to WPA(2) wireless networks. Only the WEP protected networks were working for me. This update seems to have solved the problem (so far). The update to OSX 10.4.9. contains the following improvements:

- RAW camera support - Handling of large or malformed images that could cause crashes - Image capture performance - Mouse scrolling and keyboard shortcuts - Font handling - Playback quality, and bookmarks in DVD Player - USB video conferencing cameras for use with iChat - Bluetooth devices - Browsing AFP servers - Apple USB Modem - Windows-created digital certificates - Open and Print dialogs in applications that use Rosetta on Intel-based Macs - Time zone and daylight saving for 2006 and 2007 - Security update

While the iPhoto 6.0.6 update deals with EXIF and Photocasting issues.

Click to read more ...

More EU Action Against Apple

And yet another dumb-ass politician with no clue whatsoever is starting a campaign against Apple. Again the iTunes Music Store (ITMS) is the victim in this crusade. A certain Meglena Kuneva is complaining about the fact that music bought at the ITMS can only be played on the iPod. Well, Meglena Kuneva, I got some considerations for you:

• Music bought in the ITMS can be played on Windows and Apple platforms (iTunes, which is free).
• 5 platforms can be authorized to play these songs. This means that you can buy 1 song and play it legally on your work, at home, on your laptop, on your wife's PC etc.
• Music bought in music stores selling the MS flavor (PlayForSure) can ONLY be played on Windows platforms.
• ITMS music can be burned on CD's by default, lot's of MS flavors won't allow that. There are some limitations on burning when you're burning playlists.
• Music burned to CD can be ripped to MP3, and can be played on ANY mp3 player.
• Music protected with PlayForSure solution, can't even be played on their own Zune media player, so you have to buy the song(s) multiple times.

The biggest advance is that there are no different flavors of FairPlay. The MS DRM can be different on each song. Sometimes you're not allowed to do anything but listen to it on you're PC, while other implementations allow you to do more with the music. This is nice, but when you have plenty of songs, how do you keep the limitations apart? An accurate list with the Apple FairPlay DRM limitations can be found here.

Click to read more ...