Apple and Tech News Mash-ups for Week 10

Read someone's rant about the price differences of Apple products between the US and Europe.

ZDNet is becoming the number one source of FUD when it comes to Mac security issues. They reported a contest of which a Swede hacked into a Mac in under 30 minutes. What most people don't realize, of which ZDNet happily exploits, is that the Mac in question was allowed to be hacked. Meaning, the would-be hackers were given the username and password of the system. At the same time, the machine was not hacked from the Internet but rather from within a local network. Dave Shroeder of the University of Wisconsin says there's a big distinction and he has launched the academic Mac OS X Security Challenge. He is doing this to counter the false and misleading claims ZDNet wrote in the article, which he called journalistically poor and sensationalistic. (Update: Shroeder changed the deadline of the challenge to end on midnight of March 7 (CST) instead of March 10. He will be posting the results of the challenge soon. Perhaps his machine got hacked sooner than he expected? The challenge has been closed and Dave Shroeder reported that there were no successful attempts during the 38 hours testing period. More test results and information soon. (March 10, 2006: Turns out that the University of Wisconsin didn't know about the challenge and promptly pulled the plug over concerns over the security of their own servers.) TUAW also criticizes the crap ZD Net printed.

SteveJack from MacDailyNews said ZDNet and other companies that are spreading FUD (Fear, Uncertainity, Doubt) do so because they fear the switching that's been going on. These people want to keep people from switching at whatever means possible which includes telling false and misleading statements.

Another digital security company issues warnings, this time affecting Quicktime and iTunes.

Here's a tale of a switcher and some tips for the would-be switcher, and things to consider for those switching to Intel Macs from PowerPC Macs.

TUAW's post explains how your Mac can become insecure and gives advice on how to lessen your chances from becoming more vulnerable to security exploits. From this post I clicked over to "The Six Dumbest Ideas in Computer Security."

Washington Post tells you the you are foolish to rely on Microsoft Defender alone. You have to add other anti-spyware or use other browsers like Firefox or Opera. Better yet, just get a Mac.

According to Winn Schwartau, the total cost of ownership (TCO) of owning a Windows machine for three years is twice as much when owning a Mac. Schwartau has his created a TCO analysis tool and is free to download.

Learn the things you can do with your Apple remote.

The Macbook Pro is Time's Gadget of the Week and HD Beat says connecting a Macbook Pro to a HDTV "just works." A Boston Herald writer points out two shortcomings of the Macbook Pro: it gets pretty warm and the missing standard PC slot. The writer does call the Macbook Pro as a contender for best computer on the market and dreams of the day that Windows XP boots on the Macbook Pro (Which won't be happening since Windows and Tiger boot up differently.) More reviews from Matthew Fordahl ("...may have a new name and brain, but they haven't lost the Apple shine."), Glenn Fleishman ("...clearly poised for the next generation of laptop use, though its lack of a modem disregards the reality of the present generation."), Yuval Kossovsky ("...offers a welcome improvement in speed and performance and would be an excellent purchase for PowerBook users looking for the next bump up."), and Jeff Carlson (...a success, delivering the Macintosh experience with speed and potential to spare.).

In their "Two Gigahertz Bonanza," Bare Feats pitted a 2.0 GHz Macbook Pro against a Powerbook G4 that has been upgraded to 2.0GHz! To make things more interesting, they disabled one of the cores in the Macbook Pro and also used a 2.0 GHz iMac Core Duo and a 2.0 GHz Dual Core PowerMac G5 as comparisons. Their test showed the Macbook Pro, even with one core disabled, performing better in all but one test (Photoshop CS which is non-universal binary). The Macbook Pro also managed to hold its own against the two desktops.

Tom Yager reports that the Macbook Pro has problems reporting battery status properly.

Ifixit.com has a complete disassembly guide for the Macbook Pro.

Apple is having problems supplying Macbook Pros to their retail stores and resellers. There aren't enough MBPs to keep up with demand. Analust Gene Munster says that there might be a fiscal second-quarter drop because of limited availability of the Macbook Pro.

Apple declares the 20" iMac G5 as terminal, "end of life."

Murray Hill of Canada.com says that concern regarding applications running under Rosetta is a "lot of bunk," but erroneously states that there is no FireWire port. Transitive, developer of Rosetta, echoed the sentiment and said that majority of Mac users are not concerned with the speed hit on applications running under Rosetta.

Last week, an actor from Fox's hit show, 24, complained about the shabby treatment he got from Apple regarding his problems with his Mac. MacDailyNews reports that Steve Jobs is sending him a new Intel iMac as a way to say he's sorry. If only things were this easy with us normal humans.

The 5G iPod goes up against what Toshiba and Creative has to offer. The result? The iPod is still king. Audio tests using RightMark Audio Analyzer 5.5 resulted in the fifth-generation iPod getting an overall performance rating of "very good".

Shaw Wu of American Technology Research reported that iPod demand is still solid with the low-end models like the iPod shuffle and 1GB iPod nano leading the way, and intial sales of the iPod Hi-Fi is strong. Goldman Sachs, however, said that iPod shipments may drop by a minimum of a million units for the first-half of 2006.

Vending machines for the iPod and PSP? Cool!

David Pogue thinks that Samsung's Z5 is better than the iPod nano.

More 'real' iPod video pictures from Macshrine.

MacNewsWorld gives a lowdown on the different earphones available to get the most from your iPod. Quality is not dependent on cost.

Apple UK hopes the iPod's success will spill over to the Macs.

The iPod keeps Filipino youngsters shielded from the insane politicians like Marcos, Escudero, Ocampo, Estrada (all of them), etc...

ITunes Music Store competitors are still betting on a subscription model for music downloads as the way to beat Apple. Competitors are fighting over the remaining 16% of the market share for digital music download while stuck with Microsoft's buggy and inferior technology. Meanwhile, Apple is trying to convince consumers outside the US that the iPod is hip to own. Apple is looking at rapidly growing countries like China, India, Russia and Brazil as potential markets for their own brand of digitl music players. Piracy, however, might hurt Apple's drive. With pirated music readily available in countries like China, it makes no sense to buy an iPod when a digital music player that can be bought at a fraction of the cost of the iPod can do the same job. It also means that an iTunes Music Store, which is a part of the iPod + iTunes system, most likely won't be profitable in China. The Chinese are also known to blatantly copy designs from companies from other countries. IPod knock-offs are seen proliferating in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Hence, music and intellectual piracy will hurt Apple in gaining a real foothold in some countries and Apple has to rely on the iPod's aesthetics, ease of use, and popularity to woo consumers.

Best Digital Music Store: iTunes. Music Week Awards 2006.

Get a free iTunes song from Papermate. (Hasn't worked for me. Twice.)

A cardiovascular surgeon has his own podcast. Cool!

University of Michigan will offer podcasts of lectures this autumn as Georgia College & State University is being called as a leader in integrating the iPod into its curriculum. The school has been using the iPod to enhance learning and teaching.

Will podcasting kill satellite radio? In Australia, podcasting is gaining traction and surprisingly, consumers that are quickly adopting this form of media are thoseaged between 40 and 54.

Should Apple fans expect a reward for being loyal to Apple? A debate on the issue at MyMac.com. MyMac.com also has a review of iLife 06.

Giles Turnbull from O'Reilly Network reviews iWeb, RapidWeaver and Sandvox to determine which one comes out on top of the heap. His recommendation is for those who need a website quick and fast, and a webpage builder that's easy to use, iWeb is the way to go. He adds that RapidWeaver is a nice polished application and Sandvox shows promise.

Apple is said to be planning a media event for their 30th anniversary, but no definite schedule is set. It is speculated that the event might held be on March 28 or April 4.

Apple's WorldWide Developers Conference (WWDC) this year will take place on August 7 to 11, two months late from the usual June schedule. There are no official explanations from Apple. Coincidentally, Intel has announced that their new processors will be released on the second-half of this year. The new "Core"-based processors are the Merom for mobile PCs, Conroe for desktops, and Woodcrest for servers.

Some people are reluctant to switch because of familiarity, according to Daring Fireball. The writer explains that Windows users find the familiarity with their current OS as comforting and Microsoft pulled off a neat trick making their users think Windows is open.

There are speculations that Adobe Photoshop CS3 will be ready by the end of the year instead of the first-half of 2007. Source say that Adobe, with a help from Apple, is pushing to get the product into the hands of consumers this year.

Another patent application from Apple for a touch screen interface has been revealed.

Needham and Co thinks Apple could grab as much as 10% of the PC marketshare if Windows applications can run in the new Macs. Apple, however, says that there's no way to dual-boot Tiger and the Windows operating system on an Intel-based Mac since both start-up differently.

Being number one, Apple's got a bull's eye on its back. Lawsuits are filed against Apple from all directions. From the stupid American that can't read as well as from companies that exist to sue.

Apple's Chief Financial Officer says there are now more than 1,000 native applications available for the new Intel Macs. He also adds that major developers such as Adobe and Microsoft have expressed their commitment, and that Apple has no plans of making Windows and its applications run on the new Intel Macs.

Web 2.0 is here and it is said to change the way we look at the Internet. Apple is wise to support it and its developers since Web 2.0 is seen to make some of Microsoft's services become redundant and irrelevant. Speaking of which, Google has acquired Writely, a web-based document editor that allows users to collaborate, developed by Upstartle. Google has shown thepublic its first step into challenging Microsoft in the office suite applications arena.

IfoAppleStore has screenshots of two new Apple Store window displays.

The trials and tribulations of an Apple Genius. Of cracked LCDs and protestation of innocence.

A writer talks about his experiences in digitizing the contents of his 'banker's box' with the help of his Mac and the web.

How to...
... podcast in 8 easy steps.
... install FrontRow with Bonjour support.
... boot a PowerPC Mac from a USB 2.0 drive.
... make the comma trick in Quicksilver work for you and fully utilize the preferences pane. Also understand Quicksilver basics.
... become smarter.
... effectively use RSS.
... avoid the ten biggest mistakes in making a database.
... create photo-realistic digital images.
... use Apple's Remote Desktop.
... tag pictures in iPhoto.
... avoid making the biggest mistakes in web design and avoid being featured in Webpagesthatsuck.com and Useit.com.

Mailbigfile.com let's you send files to up to 1GB.

You can choose from over 400 clips, images, and audio files from BBC's Open Earth Archive and download them for free.

Gorog thinks he's all that and blames Microsoft and other digital music player for the failure to beat Apple to the ground. Gorog has failed to realize that his Napster is only a part of the whole and even though he thinks his company's so great, without the other pieces, there's no way to compete with Apple and its iPod and iTunes.

The blog of Mac Kiesler has a list of downloadable AJAX galleries, slideshows and effects.

Manybooks.net has currently over 13,000 books available and they are free to download. The website is being maintained by Matthew McClintock as a service to the Internet community.

A starting list of 25 websites for the Apple loyalist.

Brief history of ClarisWorks.

Cool wall mounts for the Mac.

Is 2006 the Year of the E-Paper? Is iPad coming?