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  • Swad
    Several interesting things coming down the developer pipeline lately. Think Secret lets us know that Apple is seeding 10.4.7 to developers. From the article:


    The Intel build of the new update is marked build 8J2111, and includes about 60 documented improvements -- and a few known issues, as well. In a note to developers, Apple recommended that they focus their testing efforts on Aperture, iChat, Safari, Mail, and synchronization.
     
    The Intel version of the update is available for developers as a 213MB download. The PowerPC version is only 144MB in size.
     
    Apple publicly released the last update, Version 10.4.6, in early April.
    Also, Apple wants developers to update to the latest version of Xcode, released yesterday: version 2.3. The update includes “stability and performance improvements to the Xcode IDE, build system, and Code Sense. It is recommended that all Xcode users install this update.”
     
    Enjoy.
  • Swad

    A sign of things to come

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    Every day it seems we get one step closer to seamless interaction between Windows and OS X (and hopefully not the spyware and adware).
     
    Don’t miss this impressive video of an Intel iMac running Windows through Parallels. The interesting part is the use of two monitors – one for Windows and one for OS X.
     
    Tired of a non-universal Photoshop? Don’t worry. One day very soon (possibly as soon as Leopard) you can just move the mouse over to the fully-native, full speed Windows environment and drag and drop your files wherever you’d like.
     
    That day is fast approaching. Anyone else a little excited/scared?
  • sHARD>>
    OSNews is reporting that Apple representative Ernest Prabhakar (of Open Source & Open Standards) has denied the official closing of the Darwin x86 kernel source. Says Mr. Prabhakar: "We continue to release all the Darwin sources for our PowerPC systems, and so far have released all the non-kernel Darwin sources for Intel. Nothing has been announced, so [Tom Yager] (and everyone else) certainly has the right to speculate. But please don't confuse 'speculation' with 'fact'." Tom Yager recently wrote an article about the "closing" of kernel sources due to piracy. View the original post.
  • Swad

    Decisions, Decisions

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    This is an interesting time to be a potential Mac buyer. On the one hand, you've got these nice new MacBooks and MacBook Pros which are quite fast but also have some technical problems like whines, heat, etc... things that I really don't think I should have to deal with. (I was actually just interviewed on the subject by PC World! How cool is that?) One the other hand, you've got some exciting new things just around the corner.
     
    While I really want to get one of the new portables, I think I'm going to wait around until Merom comes out later this year. Why? Well, first I think that Merom - Intel's upcoming 64bit chip - will be a little more future proof than the current MB selection. There's a great article from Tom's Hardware regarding the leap that Merom could be from current processors. From the article:


    Yesterday, we also mentioned that Intel expects Merom to gain 20% more performance compared to Core Duo; Conroe promises performance increases of 40% over Pentium D 950 while decreasing power consumption by the same amount; and Woodcrest is forecasted to achieve an 80% jump in speed coupled with a 35% drop in power over today's dual-core Xeon DP 2.8 GHz. "Merom is the best processor we have ever built," summed up Pat Gelsinger, who runs Intel's digital enterprise group. Gelsinger added that Merom will be the most power-efficient processor on the market, and will give Intel a "very strong position" - strong enough, in fact, that Intel no longer feels the need to develop an integrated memory controller for Merom at this time.
    Those are some pretty big claims, but other benchmarks (here and here) seem to justify the position that Merom will be a significant step up from Core Duo. I know that there's always the danger of waiting a few months for that "next great thing" that's just around the corner. I hope that's not what I'm doing in this case.
     
    I'm also planning to wait for a few of the quality control problems to be fix. The new MacBook seems to have many of these beat - probably due to their construction being handled by a different manufacturer - but reports are still cropping up about the whine (and it's a little early to tell). I plan on using this laptop for at least 3-4 years, so I want to make sure that Apple's Intel growing pains get worked out before I snatch one up. I don't want to buy an adolescent notebook - I was awkard enough at that stage...
     
    What say you? Are you waiting for Merom or Conroe or are you perfectly content with the current offerings?
  • Swad
    Porn: Creative activity (writing or pictures or films etc.) of no literary or artistic value other than to stimulate sexual desire

    I'd say this fits the bill. Follow the link for all the unpacking and taking-apart thrills you can handle.
     
    Macbook...
     

  • Swad

    Darwin is dead.

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    In a move that doesn't surprise those who have kept up with the saga, Apple now appears to have fully ended the Darwin program of an open source OS X kernel. Although Darwin was essentially OS X without most of the things that make OS X great (streamlined UI, etc), it was a show of faith from Apple to the open source community. Many advanced users enjoyed tweaking the kernel for their own uses.
     
    It appears that those days are over. According to this MacWorld article,


    Thanks to pirates, or rather the fear of them, the Intel edition of Apple's OS X is now a proprietary operating system.
     
    Mac developers and power users no longer have the freedom to alter, rebuild, and replace the OS X kernel from source code. Stripped of openness, it no longer possesses the quality that elevated Linux to its status as the second most popular commercial OS.
     
    The Darwin open source Mach/Unix core shared by OS X Tiger client and OS X Tiger Server remains completely open for PowerPC Macs. If you have a G3, G4, or G5 Mac, you can hack your own Darwin kernel and use it to boot OS X. But if you have an Intel-based Mac desktop or notebook, your kernel and device drivers are inviolable. Apple still publishes the source code for OS X's commands and utilities and laudably goes several extra miles by open sourcing internally developed technologies such as QuickTime Streaming Server and Bonjour zero-config networking. The source code required to build a customised OS X kernel, however, is gone. Apple says that the state of an OS X-compatible open source x86 Darwin kernel is "in flux."
    We obviously know that piracy of the OSx86 kind is a new phenomenon to Apple. But does it really require the closing of its operating system?
  • Swad

    Quake II, Skype go universal

    By Swad, in OSx86,

    There are so many applications going Intel-native these days that it’s hard keep up with all of them (MacUpdate is good place to visit for doing so). Here are a few new ones that we found interesting.
     
    For those wanting to go back a little bit, you can now get your Quake II fix in full universal fashion. Like most of the game updates, you’ve got to have a copy of the PPC version to play. But hey, for an awesome late 90’s game, what do you expect?
     
    Also – and probably of more interest to our community – is that the new version of Skype is Intel-ready. With the new version you can, Forward calls to other Skype Names or regular phones, Pause iTunes automatically when you get a call, and get nice notifications with Growl.
     
    Try these out and let us know what you think!
  • sHARD>>

    Attack of the Clones!

    By sHARD>>, in OSx86,

    The Empire strikes back? It's been 9 years since the “death” of the Macintosh clones, but apparently they can't be killed. After seeing OSx86 for sale in Bangkok, it was only a matter of time before commercial pirates moved to the "hard" stuff. If Apple makes the big money on hardware, why shouldn't illegal cloners do too? Apparently they've caught on, selling such items as the "PowerPC G6 Macintosh", an "Apple G6 Macintosh-Clone Computer" with a 3.8GHz Pentium 4. Along with the fancy OSx86 compatible hardware, it comes pre-loaded with something the seller likes to call "Mac OSX-86 Apple MacOS X Tiger 10.4.3". A “low, low” price of $500 ensures plenty of sales.
     
    What's interesting to note here, beside the blatant disregard for copyright, trademark, and patent law, is the homegrown nature of these operations. What once was the domain of small South American and Chinese factories is now the realm of home PC builders. This represents quite a shift from the old business model, and it's probably time Apple started worrying about it. With the simplicity and anonymity of the internet, operations are here and gone in a few days. There's the potential to sell thousands.
     
    As you may notice, we refrain from linking to this material as we continue on our mission to prevent piracy. Clones represent the worst of theft, giving their perpetrators thousands in undue monetary gain. Rest assured, suppliers are out there.
     
    All this leaves us with an important question: When Steve Jobs first re-joined Apple, the clones were dead. When will we see a return of the jedi?
  • Metrogirl
    Silicon.com reported yesterday on this week's hack of Apple's Korean online store. According to the article here the hacker managed to get admin rights on a Mac OSX server running Apache.
     
    Although Apple have infuriated the public by refusing to comment, there is no suggestion that customer data may have been compromised or fraudulent transactions processed.
     
    In other reports, speculation about security vulnerabilities in OSX server, Apache, and Apple's trading model, which is apparently consistent across the world, have sparked renewed interest in Apple's 'holier than thou' policy. Particularly interesting is the company's almost proprietary response to incidents like this, pretending that nothing has happened and everything is as clean and white as the glossy plastic machines they sell. As one commentator states, "Mud sticks, but it's particularly obvious on a white surface".
     
    Although the hacker has not given details of the vulnerability which gave him access to deface the server, there is a good possibility that the same issue faces all Apple's web stores. Doubtless armies of Apple staff are fixing it even as you read this.
  • Swad
    El Reg is reporting that Intel’s dual core offerings are so successful that they’re bumping up production. Good news for those who can't wait for Merom!
     
    According to the article,


    Intel will begin producing more dual-core chips than single-core parts this quarter, the chip giant has revealed. Indeed, by the end of 2006, 90 per cent of the mobile CPUs it produces will be dual-core chips, rather more than the company previously forecast.
     
    In the past, Intel has said it will go into 2007 with "over 70 per cent" of its mobile processor production taken up by dual-core offerings - primarily the current, 'Yonah' Core Duos, but also some next-generation 'Merom' parts too. But with the accelerated Merom release schedule announced last week - the chip will debut this coming August instead of some time in Q4 - Intel hopes its single-core to dual-core transition will gain a significant boost.
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