Source : Generation NT Intel has revealed a network card able to transfer 10 Gbits/s on standard Ethernet cables, of Category 6 or 6a thus making it easy to migrate a network of machines to this standard without having to recable again. The card makes it possible to maintain this flow with 55m of Cat 6 and 100m of the 6a, which is already very comfortable. Of course, this standard, as always, initially will be reserved to the professionals having of the absolute needs for large flows, each PCI Express card costs $999. But in a few years, this standard should become the standard for professional computers, with the Mac Pro at the head. [translation by crispin]

Apple decided to offer an agreement to stop the process of a class action launched in Canada by a group of iPod owners complaining about a short lifetime of iPod battery. After one year of usage, the capacity of iPod 1, 2 and 3G batteries were dramatically reduced, and the overall experience of the iPod strongly affected. The group of iPod owners were suing Apple for having misinformed users about battery performances. To avoid this legal action to go one step further, Apple agreed to offer to all Canadian iPod owners asking for compensation, a 45 CAD coupon only valid on the Apple Store. If it will cost Apple some money, at least it will most likely be entirely recovered via the online store. If you want to read the settlement: http://images.apple.com/ca/ipod/settlement/settlement_agreement.pdf [translation by Linathael]

Let's one of our forum members pikacube talk about an interesting Media Center application A shot email to report about my "currently" favorite application: XBMC ! It quickly became THE Media Center application on Mac OSX, and has just been released in beta 0.5 including support for Apple Remote. This application is derived from the Xbox 1, but has been nicely ported to the Mac with a "xTV"-like skin similar to FrontRow. Even if it is not as intuitive as FrontRow, it features so many parameters and features that it is worth every minutes spent in learning and discovering how it works! For additional information, please visit the official website: http://www.osxbmc.com/ [translation by Linathael]

Source : NikkeiOver the last years we have spoken about fuel cell batteries; however, in spite of advertisements by various manufacturers, they are not a hot news item. Sony, however, has just assembled its product, that seems a sucess. They succeeded in putting into a "box" of 5 cm x 3 cm a fuel cell battery running on methanol, and a Lithium Polymer battery that is used as a reserve for peak loads and all the management electronics. The product is able to provide an instantaneous power of 3W, which is still too little for a computer, but enough for a mobile telephone. The idea to add a traditional battery is interesting, because it makes it possible to quickly deliver an energy already produced during the periods of rest, and this allows the reduction of size and cost of the part producing energy. Thus, a mobile telephone would see its battery permanently recharged during the night for periods of the following day. [translation by crispin]

Source : AppleInsiderO2, UK's exclusive iPhone carrier, today announced that both 8GB and 16GB versions are sold out at its stores. O2 had earlier lowered the price of these models in advance of a rumored June launch of a 3G iPhone, in order to spur sales of the current iPhone model.

New rumors and announcements related to the iPhone have popped up for the last few days: - The 3G iPhone will announce on June, 29th in the USA, and in the following weeks it should invade Europe. - Vodafone has won a contract to distribute the iPhone in 10 European countries (not all are exclusive contracts: in Italy, for example, Telecom Italia is also distributing the iPhone). - thus, Italy will be the first country where 2 operators will sell the iPhone. - Orange is said to be in talks with Apple about a similar contract. It appears that Apple has finally decided to step away from the exclusive-carrier business model, in order to let carriers compete among eachother. Taking into account that T-Mobile and O2 are trying to sell all iPhones they still have in stock, and the exclusive contracts still appear to continue, one can imagine Apple's new approach: - If an operator is willing to pay the high price for the exclusivity-contract, they'll get it. Otherwise, they'll have to share the market with those willing to sign a cheaper contract. These contracts are still necessary, because Apple wants unlimited data traffic, and -obviously- support for its Visual Voicemail feature. - Apple allows carriers to sell its iPhone, and therefore, some competition may be welcome. Therefore, we expect to see cheaper iPhones in Italy. - Given the higher price Apple Store UK continues to ask for its iPhones (compared to O2 retailstores), Apple might be keeping these prices high enough, trying not to stimulate more gray-market sales (since the iPhones sold in Apple's store are sold without having to sign a carrier contract). In short, we're still far away from the standard business model for mobile phones, but the gap is narrowing. [translation by xavier]

Macworld has tested the new iMacs, and they're performing, unsurprisingly, better than their predecessors. We're especially mentioning the 3.06 GHz model, which features a very powerful graphics card and fast harddisk, even better than the default HDD's in the Mac Pro. This iMac may be interesting to consumers who want a powerful machine, but don't need the 8 cores and plenty of harddisk-slots in the Mac Pro. [translation by xavier]

Source : IntelProcessors are produced from large silicon waffers that are currently 300mm wide, with each CPU engraved next to each other. Hereafter is a 300mm waffer with Penryn CPUs. To produce always more CPUs per waffer, and consequently decrease production costs, founders have 2 possibilities : use thinner engraving process and/or increase the size of the waffer. Despite what one could think, the second option is very complex, and if Intel or IBM are using 300 mm waffer in most of its manufacturing plants, many other founders are still using 200 mm wafers. To develop the production on 450 mm wafers, several competing companies decided to join their forces to reach this goal: Intel, Samsung and TSMC entered a strategic partnership to share their knowledge in this field. Once fully validated, one would be able to engrave 2 t o3 times more CPU on those larger waffers. In the meantime, engraving process will be below 30 nm and yield should then be even higher. [translation by Linathael]

While NBC left the iTunes Store US to enter a partnership with Microsoft and its Zune, US TV channel shows are still available on the iTS UK. The reason might well be that NBC own online site, Hulu.com is not available outside USA, the company has to find other distribution channels outside America. Rumors indicate that Hulu.com might be available in EU in near future. [translation by Linathael]

According to http://www.boygeniusreport.com, Apple might be almost ready to release the iPhone 3G, thanks to a rumor originating from AT&T. Indeed, it seems that the carrier has sent letter to its employees asking to reschedule holidays in order to have as mush task force available from June 15 to July 12: To: All Employees Last year at this time we asked that all vacations be scheduled before June 15 or after July 15, to ensure adequate store staffing and to give everyone an equal opportunity to benefit from an exciting product launch. Thanks to your hard work, we experienced excellent sales during the mid-summer period. This year, the numbers you produced in 2007 will be hard to beat; but as a business, we must rise to the challenge, and make every effort to exceed last year’s sales results. Your management team is counting on you! We’ll meet the challenge "head-on" by providing an exciting Summer Promotional Launch to enable your sales to soar. We again anticipate heavier than normal customer traffic in our stores, providing an excellent earning opportunity for every front line retail sales consultant (RSC) in company owned retail stores. To ensure proper staffing during this period, Sales personnel planning to take approved time off are encouraged to schedule their vacations before June 15 or after July 12 to participate in the heavy selling period Previously approved vacation will be allowed where voluntary rescheduling is not feasible No additional vacation will be approved for 6/15 – 7/12 So the scenario would then be, announcement of the iPhone 3G during the WWDC, then subsequent launch in USA from June 15, then later on in August in Europe and probably in other countries where carriers can offer reliable 3G services. [translation by Linathael]

According to the New York Times, quoting information provided person close to the situation, the launch if the iPhone 3G in Europe should be in August. This information came as part of today's announcement of Apple-Vodafone partnership to distribute this popular device in 10 additional countries. The goal could be to offer the new device right before the most important holiday period, giving future customers the possibility to be connected while being on the move. This rumor makes sense with Vodafone agreement too, as the UK carrier was repetitively commenting that a non-3G iPhone would not offer all capabilities allowed by 3G. In addition 3G-linked services might also be a way for carriers to offer more financially interesting services such as the rumored Orange unified video-on-demand service which would give you the ability to watch a video or a show in the appropriate format depending if you log on from a TV, computer or a mobile device such as the iPhone; encoding and format being automatically identified . [translation by Linathael]

One can now obtain a badge for the Apple Expo 2008 which will take place in Paris from September 17th to 20th. For additional information, please visit the official website: http://www.apple-expo.com [translation by Linathael]

Thanks to an in-depth source, the French high-tech blog Electronlibre announced already two weeks ago that the "video-on-demand" service will be available in France on the iTS (It might also be the case for other European countries in addition to the already existing one in Germany). This information has been "confirmed" by the French reference in term of TV programs and analysis, Télérama, in its today's newsletter. without predicting the success or not of such offer on the iTS, (Télérama offers in addition a review of all VoD services available in France), one can clearly understand that thank to its last week agreement with leading Hollywood Studios, Apple might have bypassed most of local/national and historical distribution channels in Europe. Indeed, among the studios now partnering with Apple, there is "EuropaCorp", Luc Besson's production agency. So at least some non-US studios have been signing with Apple too, even if it was not publicly advertised... In addition, located in Luxembourg, the European iTS could offer VoD in EU without requiring authorization from national distribution channels as defined by the EU laws related to online services (including VAT regulation for such service!) So, we could see soon the new Apple TV, featuring larger storage capacities, as well as some hardware improvements to fit with larger worldwide consumers. So, if such online video offer over EU arrives soon, it will for sure create a new local earthquake, after having modified the way we listen/purchase music, Apple and its partners might adapt the way we watch/purchase movies/video online. [translation by Linathael]

In a press release, Vodafone announce to have reached an agreement with Apple to exclusively distribute the iPhone in 10 countries: Vodafone today announced it has signed an agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone in ten of its markets around the globe. Later this year, Vodafone customers in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey will be able to purchase the iPhone for use on the Vodafone network. This is a real success for Vodafone, and might illustrate the potential of the iPhone, as initially Vodafone refused to start a partnership with Apple for the UK market, and O2 was then the winner. This is a huge market of potential users for Vodafone, and the carrier will have to develop the corresponding infrastructures to offer a complete "iPhone experience" for the users. [translation by Linathael]

Source : DailytechSupertalent is very active in promoting its SSD models, and today announces the future availability of "cheap" SSDs dedicated to the "mass market. Three models will be available and their corresponding "Low" price: - 30 GB for 299 USD - 60 GB for 449 USD - 120 GB for 649 USDOf course with such "low" price, those SSDs are based on slower MLC chips, and Supertalent claims 120 MB/s in reading mode, and "only" 40 MB/s in writing mode. Such drive will only be available in 2.5" SATA format. [translation by Linathael]

Source : EngadgetA class action was initiated in USA against Creative music players as their true storage capacities around 7% lower than claimed. The legal procedure ended yesterday, and couple of MB will cost millions USD to Creative. Indeed, the company will have to offer a compensation for all US-resident consumers who purchased a Creative-branded product from May 5th 2001 till April 30th 2008. Consumers will have the choice between a 50% discount on a 1GB Creative music player, or 20% of the value on purchasing coupons for the Creative online store. Seagate is already forced to pay back around 5% of the value to compensate the difference between the marketing and true MB, in other words 1000 KB vs. 1024 KB. Other companies, leaders in consumer’s electronics featuring storage capacities, including Apple, might have already thinking of escape and/or agreement plan as the result of those legal actions will serve all consumers complaining about discrepancy between marketing MB and true MB. [translation by Linathael]

Source : http://www.news.comLast week, the announcement of a large partnership between Apple and the leading Hollywood studios created a lot of buzz. Indeed, the iTunes Store in USA will offer movies on the same day they come out to DVD. The price for such movie download from the iTunes Store will be around 14.99 USD for new movies and only 9.99 USD for movies already available as DVDs. But the price of 14.99 USD is reported to be already lower than the price paid by distributors to the studio for DVD-based version, as it is rumored to be around 15.5 to 16 USD. So, it seems that Apple is ready to cut its margins or even lose money in order to make its online video store launch and business model a success as it already happened with the online music store. Despite investment and agreements, numbers of movie downloads did not really rocket up on the iTS, and beside some price consideration, the overall low broadband internet access for consumers in USA might well be the true limiting factors, and apple should rather quickly expand such online video offers on the iTS to countries where average internet speed ranges from 15 to 60 Mb/s. Such low prices might also illustrate the current strategy of the Hollywood Studios willing to collaborate with Apple, without repeating the same mistake than Music majors: do not underestimate Apple. [translation by Linathael]

We're quoting Branislav Milic: ADOBE ALERT: DO NOT INSTALL THE TRIAL VERSION OF AFTER EFFECTS CS3... This applies to the Mac platform, I have not tested it on Windows. When you install the trial version of After Effects CS3, be aware that you will not be able to use the CS3 setup-application for adding/deleting/uninstalling components anymore. You'll have to re-install your entire Mac. More on http://www.milic.com/indesign Forwarned, forearmed. [translation by xavier]

Source : TGdailyWhile Intel and NVidia have respectively claimed that GPU are dead, and CPU have no future, they found themselves common interest in an exciting project which could, of course, serve their goals: the Parallel Programming Initiative Indeed, even if future computer will only run with a GPU, or a CPU, having multi core processing units will not bring that much extra performance gain if software (and OSes) are not able to benefit from such raw power, in order to deliver massively multithreaded applications. Of course, Intel and NVidia are not the only sponsors of this initiative, and AMD, Nvidia, Sun Microsystems as well as Intel, Hewlett-Packard and IBM, are also on the list. By providing hardware and financial support to university laboratories, such as Stanford’s Pervasive Parallelism Lab (PPL), those sponsors expect to boost research in developing parallel programming. However, all companies might well be willing to push their own project, with Nvidia and its Tesla stream processor cards, AMD’s GPU, AMD’s and Intel’s CPU and Intel's massively parallel Larrabee accelerator card. Such basic research might also make developers' life easier by providing a platform for native multi core support, so coding application without thinking of core management. All those companies have a common interest: current business plan for computer industry development is based on the multiplication of the number or cores per GPU/CPU, so if such raw power can not be used, performance gain will never be really noticeable by end users. [translation by Linathael]

As usual during at the WWDC, Apple will unveil the Apple Design Awards to recognize technical excellence, innovation, and outstanding achievement, and this year among the categories there will be two dedicated to the iPhone apps: • iPhone Developer Showcase • Best iPhone Web Application • Best Mac OS X Leopard Application • Best New Mac OS X Leopard Game • Best Mac OS X Leopard User Experience • Best Mac OS X Leopard Graphics and Media Application • Best Mac OS X Leopard Student Product The previous categories Developer Tool, Scientific Computing Solution and Dashboard Widget have been replaced by iPhone Developer Showcase, iPhone Web Application and Graphics and Media Application. If you are a developer and an ADC member, it is worth participating as: Winners in the iPhone and Mac OS X Leopard categories will receive two 15-inch MacBook Pro laptops, two 30-inch Apple Cinema Displays, one 16GB iPod touch, one 8GB iPhone, an ADC Premier Membership, reimbursement for one WWDC 2008 E-ticket including airfare and accommodations, and one 2009 ADC Macworld Expo Exclusive Marketing Package. The Best Mac OS X Leopard Student Product category winner will receive one 15-inch MacBook Pro laptop, one 30-inch Apple Cinema Display, one 16GB iPod touch, one ADC 2008 Student Membership, reimbursement for one WWDC 2008 E-ticket including airfare and accommodations, and one 2009 ADC Macworld Expo Exclusive Marketing Package. However, you only have till May 12th to submit your application! Hurry up. Additional information: here [translation by Linathael]

Source : Apple DiscussionsMost review sites have already lamented about the insufficient USB ports (currently 5) on the top-of-the-line pro systems. Certainly one was not expecting underpowered ports too. Well, apparently it happens only when one uses all the 5 ports and especially true when the ports are connected to another hub (e.g. a Dell display with a built-in USB hub etc). These hubs appears to draw an excessive amount of power which unfortunately interferes with the other ports. Interestingly, these built-in hubs (within displays) should not require additional power as they are independently powered. The above paragraph is certainly nothing conclusive, but whatever the actual reasons may be, you know what to look out for when you are unable to mount a thumbdrive, even when it is plugged directly into the Mac Pro's USB ports. Share with us your personal experiences by clicking here or below. p.s. Myself, I've experienced reproducible kernel panics on a 2008 Mac Pro I recently tested by simply using the DVI port no. 2 (DVI 1 is not connected). It is a brand new system, booted from an external 2.5" HDD, Mac OS 10.5.2, stock ATI Radeon 2600. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to test if it happens with the Apple Displays.

Here's the second part of our series of articles dedicated to NAS (part one). The new generation of NAS devices has arrived, bringing some real performance gains, while keeping the user-friendly setup and usage interface. We have expanded our selection with two manufacturers, Synology and LaCie, thus offering more competition to the QNAP products. Once again, we're limited to initial installation, setup, and performance of the devices, and we've discovered some surprises. For more information, click here. In the next episode, we're gonna test how these NAS devices perform as a webserver (HTML/PHP), and FTP-fileserver. [update]: english version of the article to come soon [translation by xavier]

Today, Microsoft surprisingly withdrew its bid for Yahoo on after having raised it to 46 billion USD last Friday, and agreed that a hostile bid for the Internet company do not make sense. Details and explanation were described in a letter sent by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang. Yahoo officials reacted and expressed their pleasure with the end of the Microsoft bid. At the same time, Microsoft indicated that it will proceed with its Web advertising strategy, while Steve Ballmer was expressing its concern about further Yahoo-Google partnerships, naming it "the dominant search provider". A weird comments coming from a company known for having built its business on a well-known monopoly... Monopoly does not seem to be good for business when you are not owning it according to Redmond's Giant standard... For sure, the future will be interesting, with the opened and growing collaboration between Yahoo and Google on web Ads, and the future offer from Microsoft, it will probably be the beginning of a serious war for the control of the juicy online advertising monopoly.

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a non-partisan research and educational institute – a think tank – whose mission is to formulate and promote public policies to advance technological innovation and productivity internationally, in Washington, and in the states; unveiled its 2008 International Broadband ranking. By examining OECD nations through statistical analysis and defining representative parameters (household penetration, price, speed) the ITIF intends to provide a better view of the success full broadband development and usage in those countries. Thanks to its household penetration South Korea ends first in front of Japan which offers the fastest and cheapest broadband. Behind those 2 asian nations, we find 5 EU countries (Finland, Netherlands, France, Sweden and Denmark) followed by Iceland and Norway. USA ranks 15th due to slow broadband and high price. If you wish to spot your country in this ranking, you can look at the official report here. [translation by Linathael]

Apple extended the deadline for registering to the WWDC which will take place from June 9th to 13th in San Francisco. [translation by Linathael]

Apple just released a firmware update dedicated to the iPod 6G. For once, we have details: Cover flow became a lot more faster. Cover flow image loading time reduced greatly. Clickwheel sensivity improved. The screensaver is still there. Still no option to disable it ... A bit more crisp sound. The font became slightly blur comparing to 1.0.3. No hiss issue when changing volume while song is on pause. Battery pull is still the same i belive. [translation by Linathael]

Yesterday, the Microsoft's Mac Business Unit (MBU) released the Messenger 7 for Mac. One can not say it did not take years to come, as it has been rumored and postponed so many times. So as expected we finally get audio calls and videoconferencing capabilities, but with some limitation... Indeed, Microsoft decided that such features have to be restricted to mac working in an enterprise environment, as it is well known, nobody has Mac at homes... Audio calls, multi-party conference calls and video-conferences are limited to users who run the Messenger 7 for Mac in conjunction with the Microsoft Communicator and Exchange Server. So, if you were finally expecting to chat with your brother who owns a PC running Windows Live Messenger, well too bad, it is planned, but later on, if at all... So, if you are a fan of Messenger, you can install it, but if you could not wait for Messenger 7 for Mac, and decided to switch to other chat applications allowing audio and video conferencing such as iChat or Skype (multi-platform), then do not feel bad today, it was a good choice as Messenger 7 is far from being the expected Mac version of Windows Live Messenger.

Yesterday, Apple published a press release to announce that new movies released from major film studios and premier independent studios are available for purchase on the iTunes Store on the same day as their DVD releases. To strengthen the potential of the iTS, Apple signed this agreement with most of the largest Hollywood studios : 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros. Unfortunately, iTunes Movies remains exclusively available in the US, prices will vary from 14.99 USD for new releases and 9.99 USD for library title purchases. Majors probably found a way to slowly stop their DVD business and transfer it to an online store, and then have more resources to concentrate on the growing new format, Blu ray. [translation by Linathael]

Flash format is becoming the new reference for animation on the web, especially when large community websites such as MySpace and YouTube use it extensively. To strengthen its position, Adobe decided to launch the "Open Screen Project", a smart way to push developers to use Flash. The Open Screen Project is dedicated to driving consistent rich Internet experiences across televisions, personal computers, mobile devices, and consumer electronics. While the project is supported by technology leaders, including Adobe, ARM, Cisco, Intel, and others, and leading content providers, including BBC, MTV Networks, and NBC Universal, Apple is not in the list. Maybe Cupertino is waiting for the iPhone 2.0 to bring support for Flash, a real missing feature in the current iPhone. The Open Screen Project aim to enable a consistent runtime environment to eliminate barriers for developers and designers and to make their published contents and applications across desktops and consumer devices (phones, mobile internet devices (MIDs), etc.) independent of operating systems and devices. To achieve such goals, Adobe is ready to free the Flash format, as indicated below: Specifically, this work will include: - Removing restrictions on use of the SWF and FLV/F4V specifications - Publishing the device porting layer APIs for Adobe Flash Player - Publishing the Adobe Flash® Cast™ protocol and the AMF protocol for robust data services - Removing licensing fees – making next major releases of Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR for devices free

Before one wonders what some people may be using their computers for - you should realise what is behind this rather sensational headline. For sure we all know that keyboards are not the cleanest of items since they are touched by everyone everyday - however, also, due to their construction it is easy to trap dirt between and under the keys... It seems that some office workers eat their lunch sitting in front of their computers (this is a report from the UK - not France!) thus food particles, together with dust, collects and forms a reservoir of nutrients. Additionally if they also skip the washing of the hands after using the toilet - one can understand how the keyboard can harbour all sorts of undesirable bacteria. I think this is enough on this unsavoury subject of personal hygiene - but maybe one should look with suspicion at public terminals...

If you have seen it, maybe you did and also wondered for a moment at what the slogan wants to say... "iTunes turns five"? Of course, it is not a question of a fifth version of the software iTunes (exceeded since we are already at iTunes 7): this slogan is to remind us that what was called then "iTunes music store", the second stage of the iPod rocket (launched to a quasi-skeptical general public in 2001), opened its doors five years ago in the United States. One could almost ignore this information since the iTunes Store of today is just so clearly obvious to everyone. However let us briefly recall the facts for the sake of 'history'. Everyone knows that Apple computers (became since then Apple, Inc), made a success of a historical change of direction from being solely involved in the data-processing world towards the universe of the digital lifestyle, thanks to online music. The experienced negotiator, Steve Jobs, knew how to impose onto the music majors a mode of distribution and remuneration which in effect installed his 'juke-box' at the top of its category. The competition still seeks to join the parade, especially since ITS today is changing focus towards the video, before evolving/moving tomorrow towards subscription models of the unlimited downloads? Who knows... In 2003 with the Web talking only of the G5 future, that promised to relegate G4 to be "the computer of secretary" (the words of Lionel), it was not this ultimate misadventure with the PowerPC that will have allowed the rebirth that led to the rise of the market share of Apple. More discrete, perhaps, it is the chance taken with IT(M)S and this proved to be decisive on the long term. To carefully facilitate its entry in the "dark" universe , iTunes was a remarkable Trojan horse for Apple. To bring the funds necessary for the transition to INTEL, the income of the online music were essential. To confer on Apple, then on the decline, the label of outsider perpetually innovating that it enjoys today, the ITMS marked a historical turning point-- a term which is not easily used in the world of new technologies. What can we wish from this company that made this beautiful American come back? Putting business aside, it would be undoubtedly to recreate a little of the special bond that, in the past, attached it to its fans, a magic that the growth of the sales, apart from the circle of the shareholders, can not be replaced.... [translation by crispin]

The website primatelabs released the first benchmarks of all the new iMac models. They have been using their own benchmarking application, geekbench, which only measures processor and memory performances. As expected, the high-end model seems to deliver substantial raw power, however, they did not add results from previous generation imac, it would have provided information regarding the impact of the new FSB 1066 MHz vs 800 MHz for the 2.4 GHz model.

Paragon has been working on a new software of data recovery. Paragon Rescue Kit for Mac OS X Lite will be available for free and will allow copy of critical data on an external or network-based storage volume. It will also work with NTFS volumes. We offer our readers to be beta testers for this application, and to report your comments and bugs in the dedicated forum topic: - Bug (let's hope there is none!): Provide as much details as possible, including your hardware and other applications running during the test. - Design user interface: Your comments or reports are welcome. - New Features While the application is in beta test, and the general availability (GA) expected to be around the corner. Paragon might not have time to code new features or functions, but it might give ways to improve the next version of this application; or maybe even integrate them immediately. To download the beta version, click HERE More information: HERE To install the application: - Mount the image disk. - Burn the image Rescue Kit for Mac OS X - Lite Beta1.iso with the Disk Utility - Reboot from the CD (this is a image disk including a bootable Linux system, only compatible with MacIntel). To react: post on the dedicated topic in our forum: HERE. [translation by Linathael]

Source : XLR8yourMacA few weeks ago, we reported the possible return of the BTO ATI Radeon HD 3870 for the Mac Pro. Today, XLR8yourMac posts some very promising information. It is still rather a pity that Apple users are unable to get Crossfire or SLI support natively. As mentioned almost a year ago, "Apple keeps playing this nasty game of using GPUs from the previous generation, mostly for cost reason, making Mac users frustrated over time... without speaking of the lack of support for crossover or SLI on the Mac Pro while the hardware is ready to support both..." Rumor of Combo Mac/PC Edition Radeon HD 3870 in works - I normally don't comment on rumors and nothing official from ATI yet, but I've gotten word there's a Mac/PC (dual boot) Radeon HD 3870 PCIe card in the works, hopefully available at retail channels by the end of May. The card will be PCIe 2.0 but backward compatible with PCIe 1.0 slots. Here's a summary of the info I have on it: * 512MB of DDR4 vram (256-bit wide I assume) * Supports 1st gen and 2008 Mac Pros * Dual boot Windows/OS X (OS X 10.5.2 or later) * Crossfire supported when booted to Windows * Mac OS perf. said to be similar to Mac 8800GT (but remains to be seen) With the Mac 8800GT priced at $279, IMHO the Mac/PC 3870 will have to be priced at or below that card. (And every day that passes means more potential lost Mac Pro owner sales now that there's versions of the Mac 8800GT for both 1st Gen and 2008 Mac Pros.) Again no official ATI info on this mac/pc model currently, although they have (PC/windows focused) pages on the ATI Radeon HD 3000 series.

The iPhone will be released this year in Canada according to The Star which interviewed Ted Rogers, CEO of Rogers Communications. This is the only hope for the Canadians to have the iPhone as Rogers are the only mobile operator functioning with standard GSM in this territory, since the purchase of Microcell Telecommunications in 2004. [translation by crispin]

Even though we have questioned the credibility of Psystar, the delivery of the Open Computers - these assembled computers running MacOS X - has began. A little reminder of the facts HERE and HERE Gizmodo proposes a video (HERE) and a photo gallery (HERE) of a machine recognized as a MacPro. Merci Mac Zangdar [translation by crispin]

Java Update for MAc OSX 10.5 through the usual software update This Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 1 adds Java SE 6 version 1.6.0_05 to your Mac. This update does not replace the existing installation of J2SE 5.0 or change the default version of Java. For more details on this update, please visit this website

Source : AppleApple has released a graphics firmware update for the previous iMacs running 10.5.2 and above (n.b. official latest OS update currently at 10.5.2). Naturally, one assumes that the latest iMacs come with this updated firmware. This update is for iMac computers with an ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro or ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT graphics card installed, running Mac OS X 10.5.2 or later. It updates the ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro or ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT graphics card firmware in the iMac to improve system stability.

The website http://www.cartridgesave.co.uk/ published a long article on the "25 Of The Best Home & Office Mac Setups". Unlike other photo gallery, the article provides details and comments. From the Leopard and iPod fan: to the DJ setting: Personally I love the "go vertical":

Sonic, developer of the well known Roxio Toast burning Suite on Mac, acquires Simple Star, Inc., a privately held software products and online service provider based in San Francisco, California. Simple Star is the developer of PhotoShow™, a comprehensive multimedia storytelling platform and online community that enables consumers to quickly and easily turn personal photos and video clips into entertaining shows that can be enjoyed and shared on PCs, TVs, handhelds, or published to popular social media sites. .... "With over 300 million copies of Roxio software distributed, Sonic has one of the largest installed bases of savvy digital media consumers in the world, and these consumers are always eager for new services and products," said Matt DiMaria, general manager of the Roxio division of Sonic Solutions. "Simple Star provides us with innovative new products and web services that are a natural fit for our users and that will extend the reach of the Roxio brand beyond the desktop to online and cable offerings. Simple Star also brings to us a group of talented engineers and senior managers who will help us expand and diversify our product line." It seems that all large players prepare their offer for online video contents.

Following the announcement of the new iMacs, and their rather surprising specification, the websites are speculating on what is really inside of those new iMacs. Whilesome websites seems to have mixed up plateform code name with CPU generation, the hardware sitting in the new iMac is for sure exotic. According to several websites, CPUs are a "special" model of the current 45-nm Penryn processor, but not officially available from Intel catalog. Those special CPUs feature clock speed ranging from 2.4 GHz over 2.66 and 2.8 GHz all the way to the 3.06 GHz CPU with 6 MB L2 cache and a 1066 MHz FSB. So, the second point is the chipset, as the current Santa Rosa is reported to provide FSB topping at 800 MHz, and here Apple claims to have 1066 MHz FSB processors powering the new iMac. So, either it is indeed 1066 MHz FSB capable CPU on a 800MHz Santa Rosa FSB, or the new iMacs feature a overclocked version of the Santa Rosa to bring support for 1066 MHz FSB. If the figures for the CPU seems clear, and is not so much a surprise as Montevina was compatible with Penryn CPUs, the current chipset sitting in the new iMacs remain an opened question. It really looked like the Montevina based on the 1066 MHz support, however, Apple being using CPUs not officially available from Intel, Cupertino might also have had access to an overclocked Santa Rosa, allowing the company to offer an upgrade, while waiting for the next one which will be then based on Montevina. It would be nice for us as well as the end users that Cupertino starts providing full details about Intel CPUs and chipsets being used in our Macs. [update]: Apple released a TechNote dedicated to the new iMac, there is unfortunately not enough information to clearly identify the chipset being used, either an overclocked Santa Rosa Refresh, or the Montevina. Direct link: http://developer.apple.com/documentation/HardwareDrivers/Conceptual/iMac_0408/Articles/ProductDeveloperNote.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP90004831

With the new iMac, Apple released its first hardware model based on the new generation of Intel mobile platform, known as Montevina, the successor of Santa Rosa. This new generation was supposed to be officially unveiled during the worldwide renowned Computex Taipei 2008, taking place on June 3-7, 2008. So Apple seems to have had a special agreement with Intel, and is the first manufacturer to release a computer based on Montevina. Montevina supports the 45-nm Penryn Core 2 Duo processor currently used in the last version of Santa Rosa (MacBook and previous iMac). But it also opens the doors to Core 2 Duo supporting faster FSB to 1066 MHz, higher clocked CPU from 2.26 GHz to 3.06 GHz, support for SSE4 instruction set. The power consumption should also be lower, but the high-end CPU will should not end-up in the next revision of Montevina-based MacBook Pro. The Montevina Intel Mobile 45 Express chipset, also known as Cantiga, will bring new and promising Intel GMA X4500 graphic unit. While it will remain a shared memory GPU, its clock speed should be ranging from 533 to 640 MHz, and its core will sport 10 shader units. Montevina will also bring support for the DDR2 and DDR3 RAM, and the DDR2-667, DDR2-800, DDR3-800 and DDR3-1066 SO-DIMM modules will be compatible. As Montevina supports the DisplayPort, it will be interesting to see if Apple add it to the new iMac, or keep it for a future revision.

Record players with USB connections which allow you to easily encode your records have been around for a long time. Numark, who recently has demonstrated an innovative spirit, offers the TTi Turntable with an iPod dock. Convert and transfer your records directly to a Mac or iPod. The included software automatically retrieves MP3 tags if they are available on Gracenote. The TTi Turntable also allows the navigation and playback of music from your iPod. The iPod, for once, becomes an accessory to a music player. [translation by jwa]

Apple quickly updated the price of the Mac mini on the European Apple Store, probably to reflect the currency rate between USD and Euro, and/or to avoid the growing gray market in Europe. The new prices are: - Mac mini 1.83 GHz, 1 GB, 80 GB, combo - 499 euros - Mac mini 2 GHz, 1 GB, 120 GB, superdrive - 699 euros [translation by Linathael]

It might be the first non expected updates of Apple branded hardware since years. Today, without any spreading rumors before, Apple updated iMac models by boosting CPU speed as well as RAM. New specifications: - CPU: 2.4, 2.66, 2.8 and 3.06 GHz - GeForce 8800 GS as a BTO for the high-end model - up to 6 MB of CPU cache More details to come soon.

The US and European Apple Stores have been closed for more than one hour, and as there was no real rumors of upcoming products, we end up with several options. Just pick one of the following ones: - Server upgrade - Cupertino likes playing with our nerves - A guy pressed the wrong button - New iPod nano - The long-awaited Mac Pro mini - Some BTO available for MacBook Pro and/or Mac Pro

Several users could not resist and purchase the GF 8800 GT as soon as it became available on the apple Store. Hereafter is a report from Christophe about this card installed in his Mac Pro: I offered a GF 8800 GT to my Mac Pro Rev1 I received it yesterday, and immediately ran some comparison test with the Radeon X1900 XT Couple of Benchmarks first: - XBench: The GF 8800 GT and the X1900 XT obtain similar result, despite the OpenGL performance, higher for the ATI/AMD GPU (might be directly linked to drivers) GeForce 8800 GT Results 220.73 System Info Xbench Version 1.3 System Version 10.5.2 (9C7010) Physical RAM 6144 MB Model MacPro1,1 Drive Type WDC WD2500JS-41SGB0 Quartz Graphics Test 207.17 Line 184.65 12.29 Klines/sec [50% alpha] Rectangle 255.95 76.42 Krects/sec [50% alpha] Circle 206.52 16.83 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha] Bezier 203.21 5.13 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha] Text 198.04 12.39 Kchars/sec OpenGL Graphics Test 161.59 Spinning Squares 161.59 204.99 frames/sec User Interface Test 388.25 Elements 388.25 1.78 Krefresh/sec X1900XT Results 246.66 System Info Xbench Version 1.3 System Version 10.5.2 (9C7010) Physical RAM 6144 MB Model MacPro1,1 Drive Type WDC WD2500JS-41SGB0 Quartz Graphics Test 208.27 Line 185.96 12.38 Klines/sec [50% alpha] Rectangle 253.47 75.67 Krects/sec [50% alpha] Circle 206.24 16.81 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha] Bezier 204.91 5.17 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha] Text 201.77 12.62 Kchars/sec OpenGL Graphics Test 220.13 Spinning Squares 220.13 279.25 frames/sec User Interface Test 354.83 Elements 354.83 1.63 Krefresh/sec - CineBench X1900XT 5212 8800GT 5016 Here too, the Radeon seems to be better for OpenGL rendering. This could confirm some reports found on the web, the GF 8800 GT would be a gamer-dedicated GPU while the Radeon X1900 XT would better fit for application-based graphical rendering. Let's try some games: - Colin Mc Rae Rally: The game experience is strictly identical to the one provided by the Radeon, no difference. There is no difference at all, even when setting FSAA to 4x. - Age of Empires III The War Chiefs: This is a big surprise, with the Radeon X1900 XT it was simply impossible to play at high display rendering 1680x1050, no fluidity, horrible scrolling, and this game was putting the Radeon on its knees. With the GF 8800 GT, no problem at graphic options set to max, and the game flies like a breeze, 100% fluidity I could not test WarCraft III, but I will test Command & Conquer Tiberium Wars as with the Radeon it is simply unplayable except with all graphic options set to lowest level... So first conclusion: If you do not play game, then keep your Radeon X1900 XT! If you are a hardcore gamer, then depending on the game, the GF 8800 GT might be the only one to allow a true immersion and a good gaming experience. If the price of the GF did not drop I would have been slightly disappointed by the ratio performance gain/price for my own usage. When checking with Hardware Monitor the power consumption of the Mac Pro, Christophe noticed that the GF 8800 GT once installed drained 50W less than the Radeon! This is a quite substantial saving. One should also mention that many Radeon owners are experiencing overheating problems with the ATI/AMD card that usually lead to system freeze of 3D rendering bugs. [translation by Linathael]

According to http://www.macsimumnews.com, Toshiba CEO predicts that 25% of notebook will sport SSD by 2011. HE expects 133% annual growth for this market over the next couple of year. Of course, Toshiba with its current SSD offer ranging from 32 to 128 GB models is preparing to take a large stack of this growing market. During this interview, Toshiba CEO announced a 256 and 512 GB model in a near future. Standard HD manufacturers will have to keep racing for offering larger storage space to compensate performance and access time when compared to SSD. [translation by Linathael]

When Microsoft decided to put its hand on Yahoo, Google did not see this alliance in a good light and decided to help its old competitor by giving it access to its technologies being used to tap into advertising income. If this made it possible for Yahoo to stand firm, it also started an investigation by the American government into a possible violation under the anti-monopoly act. The investigation will take a good time, but whatever is the result, it puts Yahoo in an uncomfortable position to make a deal with Microsoft. It will be noted that MS also suffered from this fallen through purchase (all at least for the moment), certain analysts y having seen the incapacity of MS to conquer the Internet market alone. It will be necessary that its directors try to reassure by announcing that they did not need Yahoo at all to go forward into a serene future. [translation by crispin]

One remembers that at the beginning of the month, Intel had opened the hostilities with the video board manufacturers by announcing that their hours were counted and that they would be soon useless. A counter attack by NVidia has been launched. The company declared that the central CPU is died, and that the NVidia chips does the essential of work in a modern machine. Besides the video, NVidia is refering to its Cuda project that makes it possible to carry out in the GPU many massively parallel calculations with a enormous saving of time. The company even launched a contest, Cuda Challenge in order to promote this solution to developers. Of course, we only in the first stage of a war without mercy, full of fizzling pieces of advertisements. The graphics processors will certainly acquire the statute of CPU coprocessors, at least initially. To know which chip will have the dominating role in a few years, it will be necessary to wait. [translation by crispin]