Jump to content

InsanelyMac

Manage articles
Show all categories
  • ColdFusion
    As part of their new Green(er) approach to the environment, Apple is planning to introduce LED backlighting to its range of LCD displays.
     
    After coming under some criticism from environmental organisations (including Greenpeace), Steve Jobs outlined exactly what Apple is doing to remove toxic chemicals from their products:
    "Apple plans to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of mercury by transitioning to LED backlighting for all displays when technically and economically feasible...we plan to introduce our first Macs with LED backlight technology in 2007"
     
    But the plus points for LED backlighting aren't all environmental; the technology offers increased colour saturation, lower power consumption, cooler operation and a longer life span when compared to the existing cold cathode fluorescent backlights (CCFLs).
     
    It's not clear exactly how soon we'll see these new displays across the board, as Jobs is careful to mention:
    "Our ability to completely eliminate fluorescent lamps in all of our displays depends on how fast the LCD industry can transition to LED backlighting for larger displays."
  • ColdFusion

    More Apple Updates

    By ColdFusion, in OSx86,

    Rather unusually Apple have re-released their latest security update (2007-004) to include a fix for Airport connection problems (affects OS X v10.3.9 only) and a security update for FTPServer (OS X Server only). More info here.
     
    Perhaps more topical for those interested in the $10k Mac Hack story is the news that Apple have released an update for Quicktime, which addresses the exploit. It also includes support for the recently released Final Cut Studio 2.
     
    Both updates should show up in OS X's 'Software Update' facility, though you'll need to be on version 10.4.9 for the QuickTime update .
  • ColdFusion
    Reuters reports that British Home Secretary John Reid will reach out to Apple and Sony for help in curbing "gadget" related crime.
     
    The UK saw an 8 per cent rise in street robberies in the last quarter of 2006, prompting the government to draw up a shortlist of MP3 player makers who it hopes to convince to take part in an anti-crime summit. According to a spokesman, the Home Office already enjoys a close working relationship with mobile phone manufacturers.
     
    "New technology, lifestyle changes, new commodities and new gadgets mean that the criminals continually move on," Reid told the BBC's Sunday AM programme. "So when we defeat them on mobile phones, they move on to Sat-Navs and then on to iPods."
  • Alex Oughton
    Apple has just released Battery Update 1.2 via Software Update, to "improve battery functionality".
     
    The update applies to the following notebook models:
     
    * MacBook
    * MacBook (Late 2006)
    * MacBook Pro (15-inch)
    * MacBook Pro (15-inch Glossy)
    * MacBook Pro (15-inch Core 2 Duo)
    * MacBook Pro (17-inch)
    * MacBook Pro (17-inch Core 2 Duo)
     
    The update requires Mac OS X 10.4.8 or higher to install, and battery firmware is updated the first time a battery is connected with the AC power plugged in.
     
    Unfortunately, no information on specific fixes is available from Apple at this time.
     
    More Info
  • ColdFusion
    We think this could be a world's first: Forget Cisco or Juniper, yesterday Fubra (the new owners of InsanelyMac) hooked up two Mac Mini boxes running Quagga in to the London INternet eXchange (LINX) to act as BGP border routers for the Fubra Network.<br><br>For those of you who don't know, an Internet Exchange is where a bunch of ISPs and content providers get together to swap traffic. LINX handles 95% of total UK Internet traffic, and as their newest members Fubra had to come up with a clever solution to keep costs low and speeds high. Utilitising just 3U of rackspace, they were able to install 2 low latency HP gigabit switches and a pair of 1.83 GHz Mac Minis with 2 GB Ram, giving them fully redundant connections to the largest Internet Exchange Point in the world.Fulfilling their environmental obligations, the total power draw of this setup is less than 2 typical household lightbulbs (< 120W).<br><br> Setup 2 x HP Procurve 1800 24G Switches 2 x 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo Mac Minis (with 2Gb Memory upgrade) Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn (Server Edition) + OpenSSH + Quagga 2 x 100Mbps connections to LINX (eXtreme LAN and Foundry LAN) Fubra Director, Paul Maunders, commented "Installing Feisty Fawn on the Mac Minis was a breeze, although we did have problems with the boot-loader with previous versions of Ubuntu. We think Fubra may well be the first to use Mac Minis in a setup like this, but let us know if you've seen it elsewhere."<br><br>You can read the full article, and see more pictures over on the Fubra Blog.<br><br><script type="text/javascript">digg_url = 'http://www.fubra.com/blog/2007/04/first-mac-mini-bgp-routers-on-worlds.html';</script><script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
  • ColdFusion
    Apple has announced revenue of $5.26 billion and net profit of $770 million for its fiscal 2007 second quarter ended March 31, 2007. This represents a growth in profit of 88% on last year's quarter.
     
    During the quarter, Apple shipped 1,517,000 Macintosh computers and 10,549,000 iPods, representing 36 percent growth in Macs and 24 percent growth in iPods over the year-ago quarter.
     
    These figures really reinforce the fact that Apple is gaining market share, but what about from the osx86 community? cavemonkey wrote an excellent article a few months ago sharing his experiences on the switch from osx86 to the "real thing". I personally first encountered OS X through osx86, and it was enough to entice me to buy a Macbook. So we want to know how many of you have taken the plunge and forked over your hard-earned cash for some genuine Apple hardware?
    Let us know by taking part in our poll!
  • ColdFusion
    Dino Dai Zovi and Shane Macauly succeeded in gaining OS X user-level shell access to a MacBook Pro over a wireless network, Macworld reports.
     
    The hack was written and implemented on day two of the CanSecWest security conference held at the end of the last week. It was accomplished in just nine hours, but only after contest hosts eased rules and allowed security experts to attack through code sent through malicious websites instead of directly compromising the OS itself.
     
    Apple has turned down an opportunity to comment on the Safari flaw, but the vulnerability will be disclosed to them by 3Com, who put up the cash prize.
  • ColdFusion
    Apple has released their second biggest security update of the year, covering 25 vulnerabilities in 20 components.
     
    Most of the vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to execute malicious code, although no exploits have been reported so far. Components at risk include iChat, fetchmail and Libinfo. Apple has also addressed an issue with the Login Window that would allow the local user to obtain system privileges and execute arbitrary code. You can learn more about the vulnerabilities here.
     
    Early indications suggest that the update is safe to run on OSX86 installations.
  • ColdFusion
    The figures from research firm Gartner show an impressive 30% increase in market share since the first quarter of 2006. This compares favourably with the -15.5% of Dell and +25.8% of HP, despite the release of Vista, which may well have caused a spike in sales:
    "On a monthly basis, mature regions experienced a bubble in demand following its release." Gartner notes.
     
    If a similar spike occurs on release of Leopard, perhaps Apple can expect to gain even more market share in the year to come...


    source: Gartner
  • ColdFusion

    iPhone on Vodafone?

    By ColdFusion, in OSx86,

    According to American Technology Research Analyst Shaw Wu, Vodafone is very close to closing a deal with Apple to become the carrier for the iPhone in Europe:
    “Our sources indicate that Vodafone is most likely iPhone’s carrier partner for Europe...We believe Vodafone’s 200 million subscriber base (compared to 61 million for AT&T, its USA partner), broad country coverage, and investment in advanced technologies make it a strong fit for Apple.”
     
    A somewhat more obscure rumour involving two guys in a bar in Amsterdam hints that Vodafone may already be working on iPhone integration.
     
    Whatever the truth, it seems that we're not likely to see the iPhone in Europe until late this year, and according to BusinessWeek the US launch may well be later than expected:
    "Various iPhone suppliers have been told that the iPhone may not be available until the end of June, according to Jagdish Rebello, an analyst with iSuppli, a market intelligence firm in Silicon Valley."
×
×
  • Create New...