QuickTime 7.1.2 Apple has released an update to QT 7, mainly about some iDVD issue. (And probably "general reliability and performance improvements" as well.) ;) 51 MB for you through Software Update.
A side note: Those who retain their old QT 5 or 6 Pro players to have fullscreen (and other) feature(s) in QT 7 (non-Pro) should not install this update - or be prepared to finally pay up and buy a QT 7 Pro license. The update kills the old players' abilities. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 23:34 [article link]  0 comments

intel releases T2700 2.33 GHz Core Duo The new Yonah-family processor could be used in a silent update of both the MacBook Pro 15" and 17" models. Then again, "Merom" (the successor to Yonah, which will bring ca. 20-25% more performance at the same energy consumption level) is not so far away.
But this is one of the things I'd like Apple to do: Update the MBP now and release the Merom-version when it's ready. Basically: Everybody wins. Apple sells more first generation MBPs, because the features go up one more time near the EOL, and customers would get what's available on the processor market.
If you own a Mac mini core solo, this new processor could also be the way to go when Merom comes out. I'm sure the highend Yonah will drop in price, once its successors are out. Still, a dual core 2.33 GHz processor sure would make more of that old 1.5 GHz single core Mac. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 13:11 [article link]  2 comments

Adobe releases Flash 9 Player Adobe has released the new version of Flash Player. But so far, it's only the PowerPC version for Mac OS X that is available. Adobe will release version 9 for intel Macs at a later time. Currently, there's only a beta of version 8 available (link on the same page). If your intel Mac currently plays Flash, don't bother, there's nothing new for you right now. :)
According to a contact, Flash Player 9 for intel Macs will still come out "this Summer". - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 13:03 [article link]  0 comments

Mac OS X 10.4.7 released. Apple has finally released the update. 8J2135 (intel) and 8J135 (PPC) are the build numbers. Get the combo updater(s). It's worth it. Combo PPC, Combo intel. The links take you to the overview/download page at apple.com. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 22:45 [article link]  0 comments

Apple's online stores were down... ... for about an hour. No obvious changes it seems. The event stirred the Mac world, of course, because intel today wants officially announce the Core 2 Duo processors. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 17:43 [article link]  1 comments

Leopard at WWDC: Now official... You'll read a couple of newsblurbs around the web today. All they have to say is that Jobs will unveil some of Leopard's (Mac OS X 10.5) features at the keynote on Monday, 2006-08-07 at 10.00 PST. Which was obviously expected ever since Apple postponed WWDC from June to August early in 2006. So todays news is... the announcement of a forthcoming announcement, kind of. ;) - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 16:08 [article link]  0 comments

Next version of iTunes Music Store with Apple Lossless? AppleInsider mentions that Apple is preparing this at least on the developer side. Whether this will just be an option for some songs or if the whole catalogue will be redone is yet unknown. More interesting, of course, is the development in two other areas: The "full" iPod video, which our sources say will simply be the 6G iPod (whereas others claim there'll be both a 6G "normal" iPod plus a video iPod), and the arrival of movies at the iTMS. I guess we'll see near the end of the year. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 22:58 [article link]  0 comments

Apple seeds 10.4.7 8J2134/8J134 Apple has released the next build, and this one should now see release through Software Update and (better!) the support pages at apple.com (get the combo updater there) sometime this week. The build fixes two issues. One with Mail.app, the other with WebKit editing. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 19:58 [article link]  0 comments

Apple seeds Mac OS X 10.4.7 8J133/8J2133 Apple has again fixed some things in the forthcoming update to Tiger. This time: Important WebKit and Core Audio fixes. As has been said in the past a couple of times: The update is basically ready with no known issues - but is only released if no more errors that need fixing are found. (The release of the earlier build 8J126/8J2126 was postponed for the 5 or 6 changes that were done between that build and this new one.) - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 12:09 [article link]  1 comments

Parallels Desktop for intel Macs released The final version is now out. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 15:22 [article link]  0 comments

New "Get a Mac" ads rock. At least two of them do. The "Work vs. Home" one, in my opinion, completely ignores playing computer games. Although, come to think of it, the "Touché" one covers my answer. Touché. Either way: Watch them here if you have the time. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 01:15 [article link]  0 comments

Parallels Desktop Re- & Interview It's one of the first solutions for intel Macs to run Windows. The only _other_ solution right now is to install Windows on your intel Mac natively via BootCamp, which of course has the obvious disadvantage that you have to leave your Mac OS X environment completely. BootCamp also has an obvious advantage, though: Windows gets direct access to the hardware, whereas with the virtualisation software it only gets direct access to the processor - but not the harddrive, the graphics card etc. I have found Parallels Desktop to be perfect for everything except games. Games often rely on a good hardware setup, and a virtual solution just can't give that (yet). Also, some games simply refuse to run because they don't "see" the CD-ROM or DVD as being "real" i.e. they think you want to trick them into running without having the original medium ready. For testing websites in IE and Firefox for Windows, however, or running the full Outlook client or MS Project or some other software application that simply doesn't exist for Mac OS X, this solution is near-perfect, because it allows you to still work with any _other_ software you have running in your normal Mac OS X environment.
I've had the chance to interview Benjamin H. Rudolph, marketing manager of Parallels Inc. - here's the result...

First off: Congratulations on bringing this software to the Mac world. You certainly hit the right time with the product, too! When did you first decide to _do_ a Mac version? Did the thought come up when Steve Jobs said Apple would move to intel or much later on?
Thanks!  We’re really glad to be a part of the Mac community.  The last few months have been really exciting!
When we learned that Apple was moving to Intel chips, we immediately started outlining how we’d move our virtualization engine to the OS X platform.  Since our engine is compatible with the x86 chipset and already worked seamlessly with with Windows and Linux, porting the code over was relatively easy. We were able to put beta1 together in just a few months.

What is the number one feature-request for Parallels Desktop for the Mac these days?
We’ve seen a wide variety of features requested throughout the beta program, and fortunately, we’ve been able to address just about all of them.  Fullscreen mode and USB support were two of the biggest requests, and I’m proud to say that Parallels Desktop for Mac now enables users to expand virtual machines to fullscreen mode (or move them to a second monitor) and supports a very broad range of USB devices, including microphones, printers, external hard drives, memory sticks, cameras and PDAs.

Do you see the Mac crowd (the users) act/respond differently to your product(s) than your Windows/Linux customers?
For the Mac crowd, Parallels is a real productivity enabler.  It breaks down the barrier between the Mac and Windows worlds that was prevelant for so long.  Up until Parallels (and to a lesser extent, Boot Camp) appeared, you were either a “Mac guy” or a “Windows guy”, and there was very little crossover.  Now, Mac users can live in OS X, but use important Windows applications like Outlook and Project, without having to give up the OS X desktop that they’ve come to rely on.    Our software really takes the “standard” OS argument off the table; employers now can let users work on whatever platform they prefer,  because they know that via Parallels, every team member can run company-wide, mission critical applications, regardless of whether their computer is a PC or a Mac.
This use is pretty similar to our Linux user base; they too want to spend most of their day in a non-Windows OS, but know that they’ll need to access certain Windows-only programs occasionally.  They’re using Parallels Workstation for Linux to live in Linux, but work in Windows.
Our Windows customers rely on Parallels for security. By building secure, isolated, easily erasable virtual machines, IT managers can safely test new software or network configurations without risking a real machine.  We’ve also had a lot of users comment on how handy Parallels Workstation is for software development and testing, because it enables them to cross-develop and test across multiple platforms without leaving their home workstation.

Let's assume that in the future, Parallels Desktop will have competition in the form of Microsoft's VirtualPC (which already is a virtual machine solution on Windows, it's merely an emulation solution on PowerPC Macs) and VMware. And maybe even Apple will have a "more virtualised" approach in Leopard. What, do you think, are Parallels' strong points for going into such competition?
I can’t really comment on what our competitors may or may not be doing, because unfortunately, they don’t give me any prior notice!  What I can say is that we are 100% committed to building products that lead the industry.  Even if our competitors, or Apple, enter the market, I think that our blazingly fast performance and great ease of use will help us maintain our position as the choice for running Windows on a Mac.

How "easy" will it be to have better graphics support in a virtualisation software like Parallels Desktop? I've heard that you'd love graphics chip makers to add virtualisation features. What's possible with what we have now?
If you’re looking to run a high-res or high-refresh rate game or video, you’ll be able to do so flawlessly on Parallels.  Parallels Desktop offers limited 3d graphics support, so 3D intensive games work on a case-by-case basis.  This is a big request from our users, so we’re working hard to improve this area.

A release seems near, now that you've gone into the release candidate phase. Are there already goals for a version 1.1 or 2.0? What's still left to do for 1.0?
We’re in release candidate 2 for Parallels Desktop.  This is our final test version before we launch the final product, so now, we’re doing more “polishing” than anything else.  Look for a final version very soon!

With the final release of Parallels Desktop (which includes Parallels Compressor, a tool which also you to compact a Windows drive image to about 50% of its original size) nearing, Parallels lets you buy a license for 39.99 USD, compared to the final pricing which'll be 79.99 USD. You can download the demo here. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 14:21 [article link]  0 comments

Apple seeds Mac OS X 10.4.7 8J2126 (intel) ... and is expected to seed 8J126 for PowerPC later on as well. Apparently, Apple has made some tweaks about screen refreshing, sound playback, window shadow display and about TIFF metadata. Apple wants to make sure that 10.4.7 is a very strong release and has postponed the release to the public for a week. We're now expecting the release on Monday or Tuesday of next week, though. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 20:56 [article link]  0 comments

Like FrontRow? And watching a kitten play? Now you can do both things at the same time. Enjoy "Kitten vs. FrontRow" following the link to youtube.com. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 19:05 [article link]  0 comments

Google Video Player for the Mac You can get the universal binary here now. I think it's a beta, since it's from Google. :) - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 12:22 [article link]  0 comments

Apple seeds 10.4.7 8J2124 (intel) and 8J124 (PPC) Apple has fixed some WebCore, ColorSync, QuickDraw and CoreAudio issues in this build. Still: No known issues and the update is expected to be released this week. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 10:44 [article link]  0 comments

U2 iPod "back for an encore". But definitely not big enough news for Apple's home page (you find it here, though...). Since the 5th generation iPod comes in black as an option, anyway, the appeal for the device is certainly a little restricted compared to when the U2 iPod was the only way to get an iPod in black. For 329 USD, you also get an iTMS coupon for a video of 30 minutes length which has music videos and interviews inside. "A virtual backstage pass", Apple calls this. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 15:00 [article link]  0 comments

Apple acknowledges hot MacBooks. In this article, they tell you to remove the plastic on the vents, if there still is any. If there's no such plastic on your MacBook, you're guided here, where Apple basically tells you that everything's normal and that you shouldn't refer to third party utilities (CoreDuoTemp?) to troubleshoot your MacBook. You should call Apple. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 10:35 [article link]  0 comments

Stupid, stupid Pages file format... As you probably know, Pages saves its files as folders with XML code etc. and files, just like RTFD-files. They only look like "Pages-files" in the Finder, they're really folders. Now... Somehow when I cloned my old HD and brought the files back to my new MacBook, all the Pages files I had suddenly have a "last changed" date of the day when I brought them back. All my TextEdit RTF-files are fine, but the stuff I'd written in Pages suddenly lost the date. Which is a pity, because I organise stuff by date in my work-process as a writer. :/ This is a rant. I hope someone at Apple hears me. Please fix this, if you can... - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 23:05 [article link]  3 comments

intel Core 2 Duo ("Conroe") TheRegister has a nice bit of info about the processor most likely to find its way into the "good" and "better" configurations of the Mac Pro, which is expected to be launched by Apple before or at WWDC in August 2006.
Apparently, intel has hit a very sweet spot both in performance and power-efficiency, something the firm's processors long were very, very bad at. This, of course, is what Steve Jobs has been talking about ever since the move to intel was unveiled at last year's developer conference.
The "best" Mac Pro machine as well as the Xserve line of processors are going to use the "Woodcrest" Core 2 Duo processor, a version of Conroe aimed at the server/workstation market, enabled to be used in pairs and more. (The "Conroe" processor only allows one processor - although dual-core - setups, which is fine for the "good" and "better" Mac Pros, but not enough for the "best" machine, which should easily beat the G5 quad when it arrives.)
The article also mentions "Merom" again, the third part of the Core 2 family, which according to intel will bring 25% more performance with the same energy-consumption at the same clock rate to our iMacs, Mac minis and MacBooks. In addition, the Core 2 family will also bring 64bit extensions to intel's Core line of processors - and for the first time therefore to Apple's notebook lines as well. Apple is currently expected to bring "Merom" to the MacBook Pro line in Autumn and update the MacBook line in January for MWSF. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 19:07 [article link]  0 comments

Apple seeds 10.4.7 8J2122 (intel) and 8J122 (PPC) Again, Apple has seeded a new build of Mac OS X 10.4.7. This one is expected to be released next week - as long as no new problems arise, that is. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 16:12 [article link]  0 comments

MacBook Battery Life (for writers) I promised to add a little bit about the new MacBook's battery life. Well: If you're a writer, you're going to love the MacBook. Get the cheapest one and fill it with RAM. With the brightness of the screen on the lowest readable setting, I get 5 hours and 50 minutes of writing in my favourite café. Of course, I have WiFi and Bluetooth turned off then, because I want to actually _type_ this long. It works. And after almost 6 hours, you certainly need a pause.
If you turn WiFi and/or Bluetooth on and do more than just typing in TextEdit, battery life will soon degrade to 3-4 hours. Still good, but certainly not the same. I'm very, very content with my MacBook's battery life, I have to say. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 19:59 [article link]  0 comments

BBEdit 8.2.6 released. BareBones offers the new version for download for registered users (and as a demo). If you're already a user of BBEdit, you should use the app's "check for update" function, since it takes you to a different page, although I'm not sure whether the update.dmg is really different from the demo. I think they're the same. You'll find release notes with all the fixes of this version here on their site, as well. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 17:56 [article link]  0 comments

And now for the price/prize... ;) I've been listening around at the friends who still haven't got infected with the Mac enough, and they're basically all saying the same thing... They'd switch to the Mac if either the MacBook came as a lower-priced model (with maybe a core solo processor or at 1.67 GHz, would be perfectly do-able for Apple...) or if Apple let people buy a Mac mini for cheap again (again: this would and should be doable). Maybe we'll see something like that near the end of the year? Then again, I'm just guessing that Apple is more than content with how the minis and MacBooks are selling, so they just might not want to go there... What do you think? - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 14:10 [article link]  1 comments

Apple seeds Mac OS X 10.4.7 8J119 (PPC) & 8J2119 (intel) Apple has seeded another build of the next update to Tiger. Again: No known issues. According to sources, a release should happen the next week, maybe Monday. If no bigger issue is found, that is. The combo updaters are 215.1 MB (intel) and 145.2 MB (PPC) in size. With a delta size of 64.9 MB for the PowerPC version, this is rather a bigger update to Tiger which should fix various problems that cropped up over the past few months. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 00:01 [article link]  1 comments