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  • kevin_4e
    People, hurry and mark your calendars for June 11th. Not only for the start of Apple's World Wide Developers Conference, but also for the confirmed release of the long awaited Apple iPhone. Find it hard to believe? Call for yourself just as the guys over at CNET did:


    Now Cingular is confirming that the release date will be June 11. A customer service manager at Cingular (we called 800-947-5096 and were transferred to sales) gave us that date late Thursday, but, alas, said he didn't have any additional information beyond that.
  • Alex Oughton
    Apple's Boot Camp beta software has just been updated to version 1.2, bringing with it support for the 32-bit version of Windows Vista. Many users have already successfully installed Windows Vista on their Macs, however this package brings official support and drivers for the new OS.
     
    Apple's official list of improvements 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 Improved keyboard support for Korean, Chinese, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, and French Canadian Improved Windows driver installation experience Updated documentation and Boot Camp on-line help in Windows Apple Software Update (for Windows XP and Vista) The new software can be downloaded directly from Apple's Boot Camp site (no pun intended).
  • Swad
    I've learned a lot over the past two years – I've discovered things about myself and the way life works. I've also learned that if a community like this is going to be run well, it has to be done by those who can commit the time and resources to seeing that through. I was able to fill that role for the past 2 years, but now the time has come to pass that to others who can carry the site forward.
     
    I'm really excited to introduce you to the new owners of InsanelyMac: Brendan, Paul, Ed, and Jim. They started Fubra Limited - a small UK based web services group - a few years back to help people find (and use) good information. Ed and Jim also have their own design studio, do1. One of the reasons I chose to sell to them, out of the all other offers I received, was that they're passionate about helping people find the things and communities they're looking for.
     
    They're all Mac fans, and Jim, one of the guys who'll be helping here, has been an InsanelyMac member (ColdFusion) since a month after this site was started. These guys are great because they're interested in the same things we are. Another reason I wanted to sell to them is that the only changes they want to make are improvements: better news, additional focus on new tweakable products like AppleTV, and other projects. And since their expertise is in content, expect things to get a lot easier to find. (A better search function! Yay!) Plus, since they had to buy the site, they'll be accountable to themselves and others, since the money they put forward acts as a contract of sincerity.
     
    Although this will be their first Mac forum to run, these guys are no strangers to the Web (or Macs or OSx86), and their team has the technical skill to do the things I've only dreamed about. They'll be able to bring a more professional – but still lighthearted and fun – air to the site than I've been able to give. They're in their 20's like many of us, so that helps too.
     
    In short, Ed and Jim and their friends will bring a fresh perspective to InsanelyMac that'll ensure it remains a place we're proud to call home. The contract we signed ensures that I'll be around for the next 3 years (at the very least!) so I won't be going anywhere.
     
    You'll get to know these guys better in the upcoming few days and weeks. We're planning some IRC Q&A sessions and we'll let you know more when we get the dates set. Welcome to InsanelyMac, guys!
  • Swad
    Well, that didn't take long. After hearing many Apple TV users clamoring for a hard drive image to dissect and toy with, a torrent of one was released today. Here are the accompanying notes:

    This is a slightly-modded AppleTV dmg file of all three partitions, for use when you screw up your own modding - you can restore to this one.

     
    It has a startup script disabling the firewall, with ARD and sshd running. (ssh -1 frontrow@your.appletv.ip, password frontrow). It's pre-set for 720p. We obviously can't confirm the contents of this image, nor do we encourage the theft itself, but... hey... torrented stolen files are always interesting if nothing else, right?
     
    Keep up with the latest Apple TV developments in our new Apple TV Forum!
  • Swad

    InsanelyMac is for sale

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    Update: The site has sold. The new owners are fellow OS X fans and have a great vision for the site in the next few years. You'll get the chance to meet them over the next few days. Stay tuned!
     
    First, the great news. I found out last week that I’ve been accepted into a one-year Masters program at the University of Chicago. I’ll be seeking my degree in Political Theory at the school where so many great minds have gone before me. I’m honored to follow their footsteps.
     
    Now, the rest of the story. InsanelyMac, along with the OSx86 Project wiki and OnMac.net, is for sale.
     
    Over the course of many sleepless nights, I’ve come to the realize that the schedule required by such a program won’t allow me to devote the time required to see InsanelyMac grow into the future. It’s been a struggle to do so over the past year, and all indications would point to a school load that’s 3-4x what I’m currently carrying at the end of my Senior year. A community such as this needs a strong leader who will do whatever is necessary to fight for the continued strength of that community. I have served in that capacity as I was able, but fate now takes me on a much different path.
     
    I thought I’d try to answer a few of the questions that I’ve received over the past few days in discussing the matter with the staff:
     
    What will you be selling?
    Simply the things for which I have paid from my own pocket – the server, the domains, the site design and databases, etc.
     
    Who will you sell it to?
    This is an important point – I will only sell to a buyer who is willing to “carry the torch” and continue to serve InsanelyMac in a manner that we would want. I will not sell to anyone – regardless of money – who does not have the best interests of the community in mind. You can count on that.
     
    Will you leave?
    No, not at all. I’ll be around for as long as InsanelyMac is here (forever?), although my schedule for the foreseeable future won’t allow the amount of involvement I’d like. I’ll also be here to help with the transition to new ownership.
     
    Will the staff leave?
    The staff has agreed to stay on through the transition as well. As always, they’re free to leave whenever they’d like. Real life often comes calling when we least expect (or want) it.
     
    Why sell?
    Ideally I’d just be able to hand the forum over one of the other Administrators of the site, but cmoski, the other remaining Admin, wants to spend his time with IRC-related pursuits. I could give it over to a group who wanted to manage it, but 2 years of running this place have taught me that rule by committee rarely works well.
     
    Eventually I came to the conclusion that selling the site would be the best idea. It would give a new owner a stake in its success… and it ensures that he is committed to seeing it forward (or else he wouldn’t spend the money to buy it). It’s a little bit of insurance that my successor will be accountable to both himself and the community, which is exactly how a forum like this should run.
     
    Where's the auction?
    The SitePoint auction can be found here. Obviously, I'll give preference in bidding to InsanelyMac community members, even if they are not the highest bid.
     
    Although I'll still be around in the months to come, let me say this: it's been one wild ride with all of you, and I thank you for all the times we've shared so far. I consider you my friends... and that's one that won't change, regardless of who owns the rights to the site.
  • Swad
    Note 1: We've now got a new forum for Apple TV hacks. Check it out here and let's start posting all the info you've discovered in this thread - a central source for information is always a good thing.
     
    Note 2: The hacking of the Apple TV has begun in full force. There's a new blog on the subject, plus a ton of comments in this SomethingAwful thread, not to mention several dissections.
     
    Here's what we know so far:
     
    Hardware:
    1.0GHz Intel Pentium M-based "Crofton" CPU, based on SSE2 Dothan model # 7645A966 0159 NVIDIA G72M graphics with 64MB DDR2 memory 256MB of 400MHz DDR2 Software:Suspected to be a modified version of OS X 10.4 or 10.5 Firmware:Nothing so far. Communication: TCP port 3689 is used to communicate with iTunes while using the iTunes Library Sharing feature. UDP port 5353 is used by Apple TV for automatically finding computers with iTunes on your network using Bonjour. TCP port 80 and 443 are used for basic and secure communications with the iTunes Store via the Internet. Please post new findings in the new Apple TV forum!
  • Swad

    Leopard, where are you?

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    Leave it to the guys at Ars Technica to rain on our parade of an early Leopard release. Well, InsanelyMac Nation wasn't expecting an early release, what with our patented Reality Distortion Field Distorting X-Ray Vision GogglesTM, piercing even the thickest of hype.
     
    The InfiniteLoop article, quoting some of the ubiquitous "sources" we've come to love, makes several good points about why we shouldn't be expecting Leopard anytime soon.


    - "Our sources say that, from past experience, Apple typically ramps up production in the last six weeks before shipping with 'many seeds - like two a week.' This constant seeding period continues for several weeks, and then is then typically followed by a sudden quiet period. Apple usually announces the ship date soon thereafter, and starts pressing CDs/DVDs (which in itself takes several weeks)."
     
    - "Developers have not even entered into the constant seeding period. 'We still have the same seed we got 2 weeks ago,' we are told. 'I'd say it's barely beta, not Final or Gold Master.' Is it possible that Apple is keeping some of its key developers in the dark by holding back a surprise, nearly-perfect build? Sure. Anything is possible. But seems like just about the worst idea ever if the company wants anyone's software to work when Leopard comes out." And in what may be the most depressing part of the article,


    - "One more tip we got regarding Leopard, is that InputManager plugins are no longer allowed. That's right... no more 'haxies' (their words, not mine or anyone from Unsanity's) from anybody besides Apple. No more Apple menu hacks. No more Safari plugins. (InputManager is not exactly the same as APE, by the way.) "Apple isn't really broken up about it since InputManagers were often used for nefarious purposes anyway," our sources said, but the loss of InputManager control will break a lot of shareware and commercial software that currently makes use of that control. This last point seems like a move that is typically Apple - shutting out good ideas in the name of protecting "quality" across the board (the limitations on third party programs for the iPod and iPhone come to mind). When will they learn that the next big thing may not always be conceived in Cupertino?
  • Swad
    Gizmodo has a short video of a new Apple TV going through the initial setup. For those with "unpacking pr0n" fetishes, feast your eyes.
     
    Even as a poor college student with a 20" TV that I hardly ever watch... I really want one of these...
  • Swad

    A History of OSx86 – Part I

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    Author's Note: This is the beginning of a 3 part series I'm writing that chronicles the origins of this site and the simultaneous rise of OSx86. In keeping with our community spirit, I'd love to read your early experiences with OSx86 as well... just jump right in this thread. Thanks, and enjoy. - Jason Swadley
     
    A History of OSx86 - Part I
    A New Hope.
     
    I consider myself the quintessential 'switcher.' My journey to OS X began with an early frustration with Windows, a new iPod, and an infatuation with gorgeous Macs. I came to the Macintosh by way of a little thing that came to be known as OSx86, and its story is one of intrigue and hacking the likes of which hadn't been seen since the beginning of the PC age. This is the tale of how OS X came to the PC and, in doing so, changed computing history. I didn't sleep much in those days - and I've slept a lot since then - but I humbly present a chronicle of the story as I recall it.
     
    For me, OSx86 began in June of 2005. Rolling out of bed on the 6th, I plopped down at my PC to get my morning tech news fix. The top story: Steve Jobs (a name I vaguely knew) had just announced that the entire line of Macintosh computers would be transitioning from PowerPC processors to those made by Intel. At first I was shocked. A year or so before, I had done some searching on installing OS X on PCs. I loved the Dock and couldn’t find a suitable replacement for Windows at the time. I quickly discovered that the main roadblock to running OS X on a generic PC was the different processor architecture, which wasn't changing anytime soon. I forgot the idea and filed it away under "Wishful Thinking."
     
    But then came June. That morning I was reminded of my earlier question - why can't I install OS X on my PC? If the answer had been processor architecture, and that architecture was changing, surely we would soon be able to buy OS X for PCs! Wouldn’t that be great!
     
    As the summer listlessly passed, however, it became clear that Apple had no intention of selling OS X for my Dell. Those long hot days of June also revealed a large interest among geeks in having Aqua on a generic PC. Blogs everywhere were wondering if a leaked version of the Intel developer build could be run on a PC. Several posted rumors about leaked developer disks from WWDC. This is where my story begins.
     
    Although I consider myself quite competent with computers, I'm certainly not a hacker. I was curious about OS X since it offered the stability of Unix without having to learn command line. That June no one knew anything - whether a disk would be installable on any PC, whether it would be traceable to a specific developer who leaked it, or how Apple would manage the transition. All we knew was that we wanted to get our hands on it to try.
     
    A random blog comment mentioned that a leaked x86 installation disk had been posted to Demonoid. Although the comments on Demonoid proved the first archive was a hoax, links in the comments sent me to a site linking to a site that linked me to the IRC channel of osbetaarchive.org.
     
    By this time there were a number of nicknames floating around for the Intel version of OSx86, with none gaining universal usage. Some called it "mactel," others "macintel" or "OSx86," a combination of OS X and the x86 processors on which it would now run. The IRC gang began calling it OSx86, which didn't have the "hacking" connotation it does today. Since this was my only real interest on IRC, and since the folks in the main osbetaarchive channel had other things they wanted to talk about, I launched #osx86 for discussion solely about the new Intel OS X. I had no idea where "/join #osx86" would take me. This is where The OSx86 Project, and then InsanelyMac, began.
     
    In July of 2005, an archive was posted onto Demonoid called "mactel.tar" that supposedly contained files smuggled off an Intel developer machine (DevKit or DTK in the lingo of those first few months) at WWDC. The excitement was palpable. The numbers in the IRC channel swelled as several developers and hackers began to dissect the "mactel" files. While incomplete for a pure installation, several folks began working on combining those files with files from a stock Darwin installation in order to get a working copy of OSx86.
     
    It was becoming clear that IRC was not the best medium for the discussion of everything we were learning about OS X for Intel - there were no archives, communication had to be in real time, and longer-term conversations were very difficult. After discussing the matter with a friend named Shuddertrix, I realized that we needed a wiki for folks to post their knowledge and other interesting information. We set up the wiki at osx86.classicbeta.com and it quickly became the central repository for all information relating to OSx86.
     
    About this time, the devs working on the mactel.tar files made an interesting discovery – the Intel version of OS X routed many important Rosetta system calls through a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip. It was the act of posting this news on our wiki that launched what can only be called the OSx86 revolution. What began with digg soon spread to Slashdot and others, bringing visitors by the thousands to our website, all curious about the possibilities of installing OS X on their PCs. Having just launched a tiny forum a few weeks earlier, we were amazed at the number of people who joined. OSx86 was truly becoming a phenomenon.
     
    On July 30, 2005, the first OSx86 installation disk was leaked. Here's what I posted on the wiki (which was our news page) at the time:


    We can now confirm that the DVD that was included with the Developer Transition Kits has leaked and has been placed on a major torrent site with the name of "Apple.OS.X.x86.Developer.Kit.Install.DVD-pheNIX." According to sources, the DVD image is in .dmg format and an NFO was included. Of course, we can only assume that this DVD will not immediately be ready to install on x86 machines, as it still incorporates SSE3 and the TPM. More news as it happens...
     
    UPDATE: Sources indicate that the torrent has now spread to many of the most popular Bit Torrent sites. However, there seems to be an issue with the tracker reporting few or no seeders, although there are many. Also, news of this leak has now spread to many other popular computing websites, including that of our friends over at pearpc.net. Of course, as you all know, the news broke here first. :-)

    As pursuant to our warez policy, we do not encourage the theft of copyrighted material. We report - you decide. The intimate details of that leak weren't known to many. Rampant speculation was that Apple leaked it intentionally, and while that would make for a much better story, it wasn't the case. An IRC chap who we’ll call ColdKill had contacted someone from a random forum who mentioned that his corporation (a large Silicon Valley firm we've all heard of) had purchased a DevKit. ColdKill asked for a copy of the install disk and the developer agreed. The developer called the disk image "Marklar" after the codename of Apple's Intel project from previous years. After agonizing days of slowly downloading the image via FTP, ColdKill brought together a handful of IRC friends to help release a torrent; the idea being that the more people who could eventually access the files, the quicker it would be cracked.
     
    One of the funny things about that initial leak was the format - the developer who leaked it, being a Mac user, ripped the disk into a .dmg file. Since all the would-be hackers weren’t using a Mac yet, this presented a problem. Hours were spent trying to convert the file using a Windows program until someone finally discovered one that worked. The hackers were ecstatic and immediately began dissecting the contents.
     
    The files for a complete OS X installation were now available to anyone - the trick would be creating a working copy. A community was beginning to form, and it would only be a matter of days until the beauty of Aqua first graced the monitor of a PC.
     
    Stay tuned for A History of OSx86, Part II later this week...
     

  • Swad
    As someone who likes to have instant access to what their computer is doing at all times, tools such as Geektool and MenuMeters are an indespinsible part of my Mac experience.
     
    Lifehacker had a great write-up of Geektool last week, and I'm linking it here for any who missed it:


    One of the best ways to keep up with information about the state of your computer is to embed it in your desktop as simple, plain text. Sure, Dashboard/Yahoo/Google/Vista widgets are big, colorful desktop toys, but they also can be distracting, space-hogging and stingy with vital information.
     
    If you like to monitor your system using age-old command line tools like uptime and top, you want the free GeekTool on your Mac. Today we'll cover how to automatically embed command output, text files and even monitoring images - like web site traffic charts - onto your Mac desktop with GeekTool. Ah, the simple joys of real-time goodness. Anyone else use this or a similar app?
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