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  • kevin_4e
    Introducing "Links for the Weekend," a weekly feature to help pass those lazy, hazy, crazy weekend days of summer (or winter).
     
    Looking for a brand new, ultra fast browser that now supports spell checking as you type? Search no further than Mozilla’s new Firefox 2 Beta 1... Another newly released app is Twisted Melon’s Mira 1.1.6 (Free Demo) which gives you “personal control for your Apple Remote” with all your favorite applications... New hybrid hard drive tech will allow for faster, safer, and less power-hungry storage for notebooks... If you're jealous of the iMac’s capability to magnetically hold the Apple Remote in place, don't miss this tip for all MacBook owners... And for the ultra-paranoid who use nothing less than a random 64 digit password, here’s your spot.
     
    If you missed some interesting Forum posts this week, we'll help you catch up: The guys over at Tom’s Hardware were able to create a silent, liquid cooled PC filled with 8 gallons of cooking oil, for which they created a guide... If you haven’t found it yet, the Photography forum has a new sticky, “Your Greatest Photos,” a place for everyone to upload their Pulizter-ready shots... In the new Blog area, Colonel’s Corner revealed Colonel’s Paint 1.0, to easily create shapes, text, and then print off your work of art... And finally, when compared to this Dell, has your MacBook really gotten all that hot?
  • Swad
    Since the beginning of the Intel transition, it has been the hope of gamers everywhere that, one day, a Cedega-like solution would allow Windows games to be played on an Intel Mac. TransGaming, the company that makes Cedega, announced today that they’ve developed Cider (get it? Apple? Cider?) to allow Windows game developers port their games to Macs without changing a single line of code. (See the FAQ here)


    Cider is a sophisticated portability engine that allows Windows games to be run on Intel Macs without any modifications to the original game source code. Cider works by directly loading a Windows program into memory on an Intel-Mac and linking it to an optimized version of the Win32 APIs. Games are simply wrapped up in the Cider engine and they work on the Mac. This means developers only have one code base to maintain while keeping the ability to target multiple platforms. Cider powered games use the same copy protection, lobbies, game matching and connectivity as the original. All this means less work and lower costs. Cider is targeted at game developers and publishers and, unlike Cedega, is not an end user product. This really seems to be a multiplatform solution, allowing Cider games to even be used in Linux via Cedega.


    Stemming from the same technology foundation as TransGaming’s technical sensation, Cedega, Cider empowers game developers and publishers to release Mac editions of their titles. Cider is so effective that publishers will be able to simultaneously deploy the Mac and Windows versions of their titles, even for new games already in development. With Cider, whole catalogues of games can be easily brought to a brand new audience starving for games. Another great benefit is that games migrated to Intel Mac using Cider will also run on Linux under Cedega, forging a path to another game hungry market. What’s all the corporate jibba-jabba mean? Hopefully, it means that game developers will finally have the tools (and incentive) to bring most of their gaming library to the Mac platform. It will be interesting to see what kind of performance hit, if any, Cider games will show in relation to their Windows brethren. We hope this isn’t too good to be true.
     
    It’s no secret that Macs have not traditionally been the platform of choice for gamers. However, with what seems like a renewed commitment by Apple for ease of customization (see the pull tab hard drive in the MacBook) and the possibility for a flood of new Mac-able games, that might just be changing.
  • Swad
    It’s ok. Admit it. You’ve already got the kids scheduled for the baby-sitter Monday morning. The shades will be drawn, the car will be left running for an emergency run to the Apple Store, and you’ll lay out all your credit cards along your desk… just in case. It’s ok. We understand – ‘WWDC Fever’ is a legitimate condition. Look it up. It’s in the DSM IV.
     
    For those that just can’t wait, here’s a taste of what OS X running on Conroe will look like. t-break isn’t a review site we frequent (it was actually pointed out to us by a member) but they claim to have checked out OSx86 running on Conroe… and they were impressed.


    Our curiosity got the better of us and we decided to “setup a Mac” with the equipment available to us. Its really no secret that a “home installable” version of the Intel OS X has been floating on the “scene” for sometime now and we used one such version based on 10.4.6 version of the O/S. Hardware-wise, we used Intel’s 975X motherboard with a Core 2 Xtreme CPU running at 2.93GHz along with 2GB Corsair RAM running at DDR2-800MHz speed. We chose the ATI X1600XT graphics card which is what’s used on the current generation of Mac Book Pro and iMacs. If you google, you will find a way of getting this card working natively on the “home installable” version of OS X. Guys, it’s ok to say “ATI card working natively with the ‘Boris’ method.” Anyway…


    These last two tests were also conducted on that same PC with Windows installed and we see the Mac performing as well as Windows in Cinebench and a mere 3% slower in Photoshop which is especially impressive considering that Photoshop CS2 was running under Rosetta on the Mac.
     
    All in all, we'll say that things are looking pretty good for the Mac with its supposed move to the Conroe architecture. We might see better performance numbers than above if Apple decides to go with Woodcrest Xeons and their higher FSB speed. But even if they don't, the 2.93GHz Core 2 is looking mighty impressive. Pretty impressive indeed. We didn’t write anything about this when we first found it since, frankly, we’re a little skeptical about some of the results. Especially the non-native Photoshop numbers. Nevertheless, it’s probably a good indicator of some of the things we might hear at WWDC.
  • Swad
    Not to get you MacBook owners alarmed or anything, but there’s a small chance that at any moment – maybe within the next 5 minutes - your laptop may suddenly become unresponsive and uncontrollable. Don’t be surprised if it starts doing odd things… very “hacker-like” things.
     
    Well… ok… so you’re probably not at that much of a risk unless you’re camped out at the Black Hat security conference, chillin' 'til the break so you can grab some more free stuff. According to the Washington Post (now there's some underground cred), Jon "Johnny Cache" Ellch and David Maynor gave a presentation today showing how a MacBook could be compromised in a minute or less.


    One of the dangers of this type of attack is that a machine running a vulnerable wireless device driver could be subverted just by being turned on. The wireless devices in most laptops -- and indeed the Macbook targeted in this example -- are by default constantly broadcasting their presence to any network within range, and most are configured to automatically connect to any available wireless network.
     
    But according to Maynor and Ellch, this attack can be carried out whether or not a vulnerable targeted laptop connects with a local wireless network. It is, they said, enough for a vulnerable machine to have its wireless card active for such an attack to be successful. That's a trivial demand, given that most wireless devices embedded in laptops these days are switched on by default and are configured to continuously seek out available wireless networks. These guys are no Mac fans, and especially wanted to poke fun at “smug” Mac users who think they needn’t worry about security. But alas, there appears to be no honor even amongst hackers.


    Maynor said he and his colleague opted in favor of a videotaped demonstration versus a live one because of the possibility that someone in the audience could intercept the traffic sent to a potentially live target and deconstruct the attack -- possibly to use the exploit in the wild against other Macbook users.
    Update: It seems that the Washington Post article may have been making the situation seem a little worse than it was - in fact, they weren't exploiting the AirPort card at all, but another wireless adapter. See this article for more on the topic.
  • Swad
    I posted this in the Buying forum, but I thought I'd post it here for those that didn't see it. Newegg has 1GB Transcend JetRam 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Notebook Memory for $77.99 ($67.99 after $10.00 Mail-In Rebate).
     
    This RAM is compatible with all the recent Intel portables and should be compatible with all other Macintels.
     
    It’s a good deal on high quality RAM, so get it while it’s hot!
     
    Check out the original thread for comments and questions.
  • Colonel

    iPhone rumors and clues

    By Colonel, in OSx86,

    For years now we've been hearing rumors of Apple developing a cell phone and jumping into the wireless market... and we've seen plenty of fake pictures to go along with those rumors. According to a few reports, Apple just might have proved these rumors true with the recent iPod update. AppleInsider has the scoop:


    While Apple has been relatively mum on any plans for iPod-branded cell phone, the latest iPod software includes references to an "t_feature_app_PHONE_APP" application and variables such as "kPhoneSignalStrength," "clPhoneCallHistoryModel," prPhoneSettingsMenu," "prPhoneSettingsMenuView," prPhoneEnableSetting" and "prPhoneMenuItem."
     
    The phone references within the iPod software are unlikely in relation to Motorola's iTunes Music phones because those phones do not run the iPod operating system, the member pointed out in his analysis. The references also appear to be unrelated Apple's address book synching. It remains to be seen if this means Apple will be releasing an “iPhone” soon or simply an update to the Motorola iTunes phone. Who knows, some sort of iTelecommunicationDevice might even be revealed at WWDC. The real question - would you buy one?
  • Swad

    MacBook Pro Batteries Recalled

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    In case you missed it yesterday (we almost did in moving the site to InsanelyMac), Apple has initiated a recall… no, wait… a “worldwide battery exchange program” for the 15" MacBook Pro model.
     
    According to their website,


    Apple has initiated a worldwide battery exchange program for certain rechargeable batteries that were sold for use with 15-inch MacBook Pro computer systems from February 2006 through May 2006.
     
    We recently discovered that some 15-inch MacBook Pro batteries supplied to Apple do not meet our high standards for battery performance. To give our users the best experience possible, we will replace these batteries for customers free of charge. Apple states that all the affected batteries have a model number of A1175 and have serial numbers that end in U7SA, U7SB or U7SC. They estimate that it’ll take around 3 to 5 business days for you to get your – are you ready for it – Apple juice back.
     
    As far as we know this is unrelated to the "silent" recall a few months ago. Hey, at least it's not catching on fire.
     
    Thanks to Big Kahuna for posting this in Reader News!
  • Swad
    Post your predictions for WWDC here. Mine include:
     
    1. Leopard preview.
     
    2. New Mac Pro.
     
    3. Promise of Merom Macbook Pros (and maybe Macbooks) by the end of the month.
     
    4. Introduction of some big universal app - Office, etc.
     
    That's about it - I'm not expecting anything too crazy. How about you?
  • Swad

    InsanelyMac is live!

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    Welcome to the all new InsanelyMac, the evolution of everything you loved about The OSx86 Project. A few months ago, after careful thought, we decided that for our site to better adapt to the future, OSx86Project.org should become solely dedicated to running OSx86. In order to accomplish this, we’ve moved our (much improved) news and forum to their new home here, InsanelyMac.com.
     
    What’s new and what can you expect in the coming months?

    OSx86 Project
     
    We’re committed to remaining the most valuable OSx86 resource on them thar interwebs. To do so, we’re spending the month of August revamping our wiki, rolling out new features, along with a great new look. To let us know what you think should be improved, check out this forum thread.
     
    InsanelyMac
     
    After establishing a dedicated News Team to scour the Mac Web, setting up blogging capabilities for everyone on the forum, and rolling out a shiny new theme… we’ve been busy, to say the least. Nevertheless, we’ve got some great ideas for the upcoming months, including an integrated RSS reader and photo gallery. We hope you like the forum’s new home – frankly, we’re crazy about it.

    Likemind
     
    The current portal to InsanelyMac (or iMac for short) is a temporary one. To make a long story short, we tried a bunch of the portal systems out there and found out that they were all lacking. So, we decided to make our own. It’s called Likemind and it’s an open source project we’re starting here at iMac. The goal is to create an extensible news-driven content management system that’ll be free for any community to use and adapt. If you’re a PHP guru and would like to help our site help others, check out our development forum in the X Labs for more information.
     
    Enjoy the new site!
  • Swad

    Apple gives up on discussion?

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    As the administrator of a growing online community, I found this to be one of those "I can't believe that the heads of Apple, who have MBA's and private Learjets, are getting paid to make these decisions" things. From The Mac Observer,


    Apple Computer has terminated its Apple Discussions Hosts, the forum moderators that monitor and moderate the company's user discussion boards. A source involved with Apple Discussions, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Mac Observer that management at Apple has questioned the value of the discussion boards. The end result, however, has been a marked decrease in the quality of discussions, and an increase in everything from rudeness to instructions on pirating music and software.
     
    Apple Discussions are used by Mac, iPod, and other Apple software users to discuss issues they have with their Apple products. The boards have heretofore been moderated by Apple staff members, called Hosts, who answer questions and otherwise moderate the discussion (for instance, deleting rude and unruly posts reported by highly ranked volunteers).
     
    Apple Discussions have long been a source for its customers to find solutions to their problems, and the vast majority of posts are how-tos and problem/solution threads. According to TMO's source, some within the company fear that losing its staff of mods will result in Apple having less of a direct interface with its customers.
     
    "We know that Apple will have far fewer eyes to spot real problems," said our source, "or to moderate the actions of those who have unproductive agendas." Any ideas why they'd do this? This was a great resource that I think most of us have used from time to time when considering buying a Mac. It's a shame they don't care about it anymore, and I guess it means that communities like ours will be all the more important in the years ahead.
     
    P.S. We have a great Mod staff here - they really are the best I've seen.
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