Slashdot Mirror

Yes, that's true, but remember, this is the same guy who was whining about Linux's organizational structure because of the SCO fiasco. Mac Rumors had this story a few weeks before Cringley did.

Apple is widely rumored to be releasing a "mini-ipod" that (a) is smaller and (b) costs less than the current ones, with prices of $99 to $149 being floated around for a 2GB model and $149 to $199 for a 4GB model.

Just wait and get one of those. You don't want to use a crappy service with WMA audio when in a week you can get the real thing.

Mini iPod On Apple's Plate

Mini iPods ... focus of upcoming Expo keynote

Mini iPod Buzz...

MWSF: More Mini iPod Confirmation and Detail?

Mini-iPod Rumors

Apple is widely rumored to be releasing a "mini-ipod" that (a) is smaller and (b) costs less than the current ones, with prices of $99 to $149 being floated around for a 2GB model and $149 to $199 for a 4GB model.

Just wait and get one of those. You don't want to use a crappy service with WMA audio when in a week you can get the real thing.

Mini iPod On Apple's Plate

Mini iPods ... focus of upcoming Expo keynote

Mini iPod Buzz...

MWSF: More Mini iPod Confirmation and Detail?

Mini-iPod Rumors

music, video, games, recipes, forums -- earth2willi.com!

Not only is Apple alive, they should have some interesting new stuff coming out the beginning of the New Year. The MacWorld keynote is January 6. Rumors are circulating of new, smaller iPods with 2gb and 4gb capacities and a lower price. There are some mockups and pictures here.

music, video, games, recipes, forums -- earth2willi.com!

MacRumors has a more complete history of the rumors surrounding the mini iPods. Think Secret is not the only source pointing toward their introduction.

When I saw this story it immediately made me think of this story from back in November on macrumors.

This snippet is what I recalled:
Toshiba plans to expand into 1" hard drives in the future. 1" form factor drives are already being produced by Hitachi at this time.

Toshiba supplies 1.8" drives for the current iPods. Seems a 1" drive is more likely than solid state memory for the new miniPods.

No. Apple tends to have quite a following, so unlike many other companies it has many rumor sites. You don't really see a sonyrumors.com, or dellrumors.com?

Just off the top of my head i can name:
thinksecret.com
spymac.com
macrumors.com

and i'm sure there are a lot more. i seriously doubt this is apple using a pr stunt, as these sorts of leaks happen often within apple and apple isn't to happy about it usually.

See MacRumors.com for Forbes' "sources".

sounds like apple is taking the steps they need to be taking, they just dont have a fix yet. On the other hand I think this battery bussiness is not so widespread but just a few defective ones. I know loads of people with ipods that have no problems.

Apple has also just released Final Cut Pro 4.1.1, LiveType 1.1.1, and Xcode 1.1.

That appears to have been fixed, though the fix might have affected the 'p' key.

Here you go, I don't know if it is detailed enough, but it has more info.
Quicktime info

iTunes info

Here you go, I don't know if it is detailed enough, but it has more info.
Quicktime info

iTunes info

Quicktime info

iTunes info

Quicktime info

iTunes info

Apple has also released Quicktime 6.5 and iTunes 4.2.
Quicktime info
iTunes info

Apple has also released Quicktime 6.5 and iTunes 4.2.
Quicktime info
iTunes info

that being said, there are circulating rumors of Smaller/Cheaper iPods.

Apparently some artists don't agree. Many are arguing that people will pay one or two dollars for only one or two songs from an album, instead of buying the whole thing. But then again, why should we go to a store and pay for an entire album when we only want a few?

IIRC there was a management agency or two saying that, but I don't recall any artists saying so themselves (maybe some did, but I missed it).

At any rate, sometimes people change their minds.

I also know BSD is a superior OS to Windows, and in large part, to Linux (even Linus has been quoted that his biggest mistake was not using a Mach kernel). No flames please, its just a fact.

How can you "know" an opinion? Regardless, if you've followed Linus' statements on microkernels, you know your statement on Mach is precisely the opposite of fact. And what does Mach have to do with BSD anyway?

10% is the best discount you'll find on an iPod, whether you are a student, get a corporate discount, or have a friend who works at Apple.

Your best bet is to wait until after Macworld San Francisco and also check on Macrumors' buying guide here. to make sure you don't end up paying for something thats considerably cheaper in a month,

Apple tablet prototype pics here and there! But the best idea is the detachable touch screen that merely lifts off the iMac (the dome base serving as the brains and charging cradle). For completeness, there is also the Cintiq ($3500, and a tether to boot) and the AirBoard (Japanese Flash, sorry, it's the best I could do).

Apple tablet prototype pics here and there! But the best idea is the detachable touch screen that merely lifts off the iMac (the dome base serving as the brains and charging cradle). For completeness, there is also the Cintiq ($3500, and a tether to boot) and the AirBoard (Japanese Flash, sorry, it's the best I could do).

One more thing, his "Killer App" of a digital hub is simply based on Steve Job's quote made just last month. But, personally, I don't think Cringely is on the right path. Jobs has said before that the TV and computer shouldn't merge, and Job's idea of Digital Hub has been iTunes, iDVD etc, not directly interacting with your home appliances.

Joseph Elwell.

Dear attemptedgoalie,

We have noticed that you are infringing on our patented Piles Technology. Please cease and desist immediately.

Apple Computers

Because I just bought a 17" iMac less than a month ago. Apple always upgrades boxes a month after I buy them.

From now on you should bookmark the MacRumors buyer's guide - they tend to be pretty accurate as to what you should and shouldn't buy if you want to get the best deal. For example, right now you should avoid buying xServes and Apple LCDs, since they're both overdue for an upgrade.

... these /. mac fags should go get their own site and leave real enthusiasts/nerds alone.

Okay. I'll bite. Dear Mister Troll sir...as to us having a site of our own...we do. In fact we have several from which to choose. And, pray tell, what in your tiny little troll-like mind leads you to believe that Mac users are all of a particular sexual orientation of any kind at all? Or that mac users don't qualify as nerds? And by some strange twisting path of logic that we don't in some way belong here?Newsfalsh! The mac now not only sports a command line environment, but you can set your environment to your shell of choice!

I know, I know, please don't feel the trolls. Move along. Move along...

that powerbook would go very nice with the rumored 30" cinema display that should be out early next year - even though dell beat them to the 2.5 feet punch.

From the recent Apple Analyst Meeting Conference Call:
Q: "Any plans to support or license WMA going forward?"
Jobs: "We decided to support an open audio codec standard rather than a proprietary one." (AAC) .... "That's our plan and we're sticking to it. We're feeling real good about it too".

General info sheet on AAC

MyTunes developer name: billzeller my username: greenstork Here's the link, this is what the developer had to say in the Macrumors forum: Link

MyTunes developer name: billzeller my username: greenstork Here's the link, this is what the developer had to say in the Macrumors forum:

However I'm not complaining too much, because some WMV files which VLC could not play for me, run fine. (I haven't tried MPlayer for OS X so I can't comment on that.) And on my 1 GHz G4, it's reasonably fast, and not crash-y. Ugly interface by Apple standards, but actually better than I might have expected. Much less ugly than the Windows version of the player.

"[Napster and MusicMatch have] started money losing businesses and I'm perplexed as to why." - Steve Jobs

More interesting Quotes from the Apple Analyst Meeting:

MacRumors

Steve Jobs had a lot of interesting quotes... including that Napster and MusicMatch have "started money-losing businesses"

MacRumors has the full quotes

According to Macrumors.com they have received confirmation that McDonald's is planning an iTunes give away. Traditionally, Macrumors has been very accurate in their Apple related rumors.

or rumoured to be on, definitely, probably, unsubstaiatedly ?

1) The statement was a non-statement. They said they have nothing to announce. Period.

2) MacRumors.com confirms that it is happening.

MacRumors -- McDonald's: No Deal To Announce

According to this article, McDonald's is denying the rumor by saying "There are no agreements to announce, so anything else is pure speculation."

MacMinute notes a statement from McDonald's regarding today's rumor about the McDonald's and iTunes giveaway.

According to McDonalds, "There are no agreements to announce, so anything else is pure speculation."

McDonald's goes on to say that they are continuing to pursue "bold new initiatives in the areas of music, sports, fashion and entertainment" and that news can be expected in the coming weeks to months.

MacMinute notes a statement from McDonald's regarding today's rumor about the McDonald's and iTunes giveaway.

According to McDonalds, "There are no agreements to announce, so anything else is pure speculation."

McDonald's goes on to say that they are continuing to pursue "bold new initiatives in the areas of music, sports, fashion and entertainment" and that news can be expected in the coming weeks to months.

MacMinute notes a statement from McDonald's regarding today's rumor about the McDonald's and iTunes giveaway.

According to McDonalds, "There are no agreements to announce, so anything else is pure speculation."

McDonald's goes on to say that they are continuing to pursue "bold new initiatives in the areas of music, sports, fashion and entertainment" and that news can be expected in the coming weeks to months.

Don't critique a GUI you haven't used. Things make a lot more sense when you actually use the UI. For example, when a song is playing, its obvious that the slider that is moving is the time control, and the one that isn't is the volume. Also, in the bottom right, the number that is changing is the current song time, and the number that isn't is the total length. JuK needs some work (cut/copy/paste are probably extraneous, some elements need better labels) but remember, its a beta version of a new app.

Also, as for the "changing depending on context" thing: a lot of classic MacOS users find that one of the most annoying things about OS X is its tendency to move things around when you're not paying attention. Thus, you've got the constantly shifting dock, changing button uses, etc.

But I can play that game too. Let's critique iTunes's GUI

1) What the hell is that diamond shaped thing in the LCD view? If I didn't have an iPod, I wouldn't guess that its the time control. It doesn't even look like something you can manipulate!

2) What the hell are those buttons along the bottom? The icon images tell very little about their purpose. Also, they certainly are not consistent with the images used in the rest of Aqua.

3) Why is "Burn CD" all the way in the right-hand corner? Toolbar items are supposed to start on the left and work their way right.

4) What is the little arrow with the triangle in the LCD view?

5) Why are the play controls so far away from the selection pane?

Oh... touche.

Regarding apple, I agree completely. Apple would have been an alternative choice for my parents and would easily allow them to do all the things that their current system allows.

Apple didn't enter my mind here--I was just trying to explain the paradox between my love for microsoft software and my distrust for their business practices.

Mainly, my parents eventually picked a PC system because I could better help them debug and pick out software--not because PC >> apple in features/ease.

Please turn off the troll-claims and apple flames or my buddy arn over at macrumors.com will refuse to come over for my next dinner party.

YEEEEEeeeeeeess....

You have the option of formatting your drive as case sensitive, if you really want to.

Personally, I'd recommend against it, unless you have a really good reason to choose otherwise. Most Mac apps assume case insensitivity. For instance Dantz has this knowledgebase article regarding Panther and Retrospect. Note the paragraph which reads:

Case-Sensitive HFS+ (Panther Server only)
* Panther Server's Disk Utility allows administrators to format disks with a new case-sensitive HFS Plus file system. Retrospect 5.1 does not recognize case-sensitive file names. If "file" and "FILE" exist in the same directory, only one will be backed up.

Interestingly, they say that this feature is only available on the server edition. Can anyone confirm or disprove this?

You say:

The g5 supercomputer mentioned on slashdot before never performed what it originally claimed.

What was the claim? The only bogus claims I heard regarding the Terascale (G5 cluster) were:

1. Ignorant people taking Rpeak and multiplying by the number of machines and,
2. Wired taking an accurate claim of the clusters performance on 128 CPUs and extrapolating it to 2200. In the article, the manager of the top500 noted that the G5 cluster might take #3 and contend for #2.
3. A whole bunch of FUD from people like you who have some reason to wish the people working on this project ill simply because they chose Macs to do it.

Then a New York Times report using old data reported 7.1 teraflops Rmax--enough to put it at #3 on the old list and #4 on the new--NYT forgot to mention that there have since been three new clusters that made the top 10, one of which slightly edged out the Terascale.

Of course, by the time that was reported, the figure was revised to 8.3 Tflops and now, officially reported (both on the current Top500 and by the head of Terascale) as 9.555 Tflops (60% efficiency) with the stipulation they could probably get 10% more. A pretty umapproachable #3 spot in the Fall500 and the first sub-$100 million dollar system to break the 10 teraflop mark.

Go look at the current benchmarks, where are the Pentium clusters that are above it? Where are the Itanium clusters above it? Where are the Athlon clusters above it? Oh, I'm sure there will be some (probably in the Spring2004 500), but where are they all right now? How much do the current ones on the list cost (answer: no less than $30 million). Sounds to me the wishful-thinking, poor-reporting Wired and the Mac zealots were closer to the truth than FUD-meisters and the anti-Mac zealots.

The most efficient top 10 supercomputer right now is also the most powerful: The NEC EarthSimulator at about 80%. I'd imagine we should expect a 60-80% efficiency from the big budget Blue Gene/L. And in my book there is nothing wrong with the current 60% efficency of Terascale--anyway it probably says a lot more about how good Infiniband is than it does about how good the Mac is.

But the writing is on the wall. There is nothing special about the the 970 (G5), Virginia Tech could have done the same thing with an Opteron or Itanium2--it would have taken more processors and cost twice as much: ~$10 million best offer for the systems as opposed to $5.7 million list price paid for the Macs (subtracting $1.5 million for the Infiniband cards, routers, and cabling).

The take home point is not that they did it with Macs or Mac OS X instead of (your favorite CPU) and Linux. The take home point is: these guys built a top 10 supercomputer in a fraction of the time (months as opposed to years) at a fraction of the cost (<$10 million as opposed to >$100 million).

Yes, like the Crays of the old days (and today) there will always be those who need something like Blue Gene/L and IBM is happy to supply them. But a whole new generation of supercomputers will be built on-demand and out of commodity PC hardware and a good set of software running on an OS that doesn't charge for all the CALs. Right now the 970 is easily the best performer for LinPak. So much so, they can pay educational list price which included such worthless features as an Apple-tooled case, overpriced RAM, gigabit cards, and Radeon graphics cards, firewire, usb2.0, digital audio, iTunes and other iApps, and a OpenGL based desktop. Since the 970 is made by IBM, I'd hazard a guess that IBM would be happy to supply these people too. Whether they choose to run Linux, MacOS X, or something else.

Yeah, spending $799 on a computer is sure enough to cause anyone regret. BTW did I mention I spent $1100 just "upgrading" my P4 game machine recently? You need to get with the times brother, and stop spewing your lies.

You got this from The MacRumors Page. This is a rumor from several months ago and is (AFIAK) untrue. These iBooks use Motorola processors. Even the presence of the AltiVec engine is unknown, but I am pretty sure that these aren't IBM procs.

Just got myself a 12' PowerBook, oh well :-) Today I'd be hard pressed to choose -- one big plus on the PB is the *digital* video out, which lets you attach a Studio display. The new iBooks are discounted $100 at my University's edu store, versus $200 on the PBs. Specs and Euro prices from Macbidouille:

- 12" / 800MHz
PowerPC G4 a 800 MHz
256 Ko de cache N2 (a 800 MHz)
Ecran TFT 12" (1024 x 768)
256 Mo DDR266 / 30 Go
Lecteur combo DVD/CD-RW
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 (32 Mo VRAM)
1.199 euros

- 14" / 933MHz
PowerPC G4 a 933 MHz
256 Ko de cache N2 (a 933 MHz)
Ecran TFT 14" (1024 x 768)
256 Mo DDR266 / 40 Go
Lecteur combo DVD/CD-RW
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 (32 Mo VRAM)
1449 euros

- 14" / 1GHz
PowerPC G4 a 1 GHz
256 Ko de cache N2 (a 1 GHz)
Ecran TFT 14" (1024 x 768)
256 Mo DDR266 / 60 Go
Lecteur combo DVD/CD-RW
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 (32 Mo VRAM)
1699 euros