Sunday, April 5, 2009

Rumor: Xserve refresh coming up soon

Rumor: Xserve refresh coming up soon

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MacRumors is calling attention to a PC World report: new Nehalem-based Xserve models are expected soon, based on a slipup on Apple's Hong Kong site (gotta watch those ALT tags, folks!). The replacement units for Apple's Harpertown and Penryn Xeon-based rackmount gear should be able to leverage the new chip architecture and power management features to supercharge parallel operations in the Snow Leopard version of Mac OS X Server.

If you're in the market for Xserves, would you buy now for a known quantity or wait for the latest and greatest? Let us know below.

TUAWRumor: Xserve refresh coming up soon originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 04 Apr 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft at it again with 2nd ad tweaking Macs

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Microsoft is really working hard to get potential Mac customers to either buy or stay with Windows-based PCs. After the initial "Lauren" ad -- see BusinessWeek's take on her choice of a poorly-rated HP model, and TechFlash & Apple 2.0 on her oddly extensive acting career for someone who supposedly answered a Craiglist ad for market research -- a new ad [YouTube link] in the series launched today.

Our new shopper, Giampaolo, looks at a Mac at a computer store and says it is "so sexy," but then adds that "Macs are more about aesthetics than they are about computing power." [Check Harry McCracken's detailed side-by-side of 17" laptop hardware comparisons to debunk the "Apple Tax" and performance arguments.]

He winds up with an HP laptop which is within the $1500 dollar budget Microsoft gave him. The model he chooses is a Pavilion HDX 16t. We hope he enjoys it!

It's a strange campaign. Microsoft is spending a lot of time and money promoting HP, while saying not much at all about the advantages of Windows Vista... which is, after all, the product Microsoft sells.

Is it effective? Is it giving you second thoughts about buying Apple products, based on cost considerations? (Is this a rhetorical question?)

TUAWMicrosoft at it again with 2nd ad tweaking Macs originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 04 Apr 2009 20:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wireless Carriers Are Wrong to Cripple Skype for iPhone
Everybody loves the idea of cheap VoIP calls on cell phones. Everybody, that is, except for wireless carriers who charge usurious fees for voice and data plans. Cellular providers around the globe are placing restrictions on Skype for iPhone and other Internet phone services, and that’s bad news for consumers.

Entries for 2009 Apple Design AwardsThe Now Accepted

In a short email sent to the ADC network, Apple announced that applications for the Apple Design Awards can now be submitted. The dead-line is n May 4th. As usual, the winners will be announced during the WWDC.

Let your creativity shine as we honor the year's best-designed applications for Mac and iPhone at WWDC 2009. Winners will take home prizes of great Apple hardware—along with the respect, admiration, and envy of their peers from around the world. Enter today and put your work in the spotlight.

This year Apple decided to deliver awards to the best iPhone and best Mac applications:

Best iPhone OS Applications

Enter your iPhone OS app and gain the recognition of your peers as you take center stage to showcase your best work.

Awards will be presented to:

  • Up to four winners who have designed applications using iPhone SDK for iPhone SDK 2.2.1 (applications must be released versions and available on the App Store).
  • One winner who has designed an application using iPhone OS 3.0 beta (application must be a pre-release version)
  • One student winner who has designed an application using iPhone SDK for iPhone SDK 2.2.1 (application must be a released version and available on the App Store).

Best Mac OS X Applications

Submit your Mac OS X application and show off your hard work, innovation, and excellence in development and design.

Awards will be presented to:

  • Up to four winners who have designed applications using Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard (applications must be released versions).
  • One winner who has designed an application using Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (application must be a pre-release version).
  • One student winner who has designed an application using Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
    (application must be a released version).

Yes, you read it correctly, there will ba an award dedicated to an application developed for Snow Leopard, the forth coming Mac OS X only available for developers!

As usual, the price is composed of a nice package:

 

Great Software Deserves Great Prizes
Winners will receive two 15-inch MacBook Pros (best configuration), two 30-inch Apple Cinema Displays, two 16GB iPhone 3Gs, two 16GB iPod touch, an ADC 2009 Premier Membership, and reimbursement of their WWDC 2009 E-ticket.
Student category winners will receive one 15-inch MacBook Pro, one 30-inch Apple Cinema Display, one 16GB iPod touch, one 8GB iPhone 3G, one ADC 2009 Student Membership, and reimbursement of their WWDC 2009 E-ticket.
Entries will be accepted beginning Thursday, April 2 and ending at 5PM (PST) Monday, May 4, 2009.

Be the first to submit, we all benefit of having ground-breaking applications awarded. Let's hope the selection board will pick some cherries among the growing numbers of Mac and iPhone applications based on the GUI and user experience, and not according to some dark rules as those granting access to the iPhone AppStore.

 

 



AT&T says sorry

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Well, that was quite an uproar. Now it seems to be over, at least for the moment. AT&T now says:

"The language added on March 30 to AT&T's wireless data service Terms and Conditions was done in error. It was brought to our attention and we have since removed it. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused."

Hmmm. Now everyone can go back to being mad at Sling for dropping iPhone support for the old hardware. Ah, the power of the internet.

Have a nice weekend folks.

Thanks to our sister site Engadget for ferreting this one out.

TUAWAT&T says sorry originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Widget Watch: hiddenfiles

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Ever wonder what files your Mac is hiding from you? Maybe not, but once in a while there's a need to peek at the stuff OS X keeps you from viewing. Finder does a nice job of hiding the "guts" of some folders, you see, but there are occasions (troubleshooting, setting up a web server, looking for some folders, etc.) when you'll need to view and/or edit these files or folders. Enter hiddenfiles, a simple and unobtrusive widget that'll show those hidden files and folders.

Sure, you can use Onyx or Terminal and do some command line work. But it's much easier to drop into Dashboard, hit "Show" on the blue button and have Finder relaunch, showing all invisible files. I had to click on Finder in the Dock to actually launch it again, but when I did there were those lovely .DS_Store files, staring me down. I use this to remove the hidden _files off my daughter's PC-friendly MP3 player. That way she doesn't have to scroll through resource-fork versions of her songs.

The widget is free and available from developer Matthew Hansen's page.

TUAWWidget Watch: hiddenfiles originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Rumor: Xserve refresh coming up soon

Filed under: , , , ,


MacRumors is calling attention to a PC World report: new Nehalem-based Xserve models are expected soon, based on a slipup on Apple's Hong Kong site (gotta watch those ALT tags, folks!). The replacement units for Apple's Harpertown and Penryn Xeon-based rackmount gear should be able to leverage the new chip architecture and power management features to supercharge parallel operations in the Snow Leopard version of Mac OS X Server.

If you're in the market for Xserves, would you buy now for a known quantity or wait for the latest and greatest? Let us know below.

TUAWRumor: Xserve refresh coming up soon originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 04 Apr 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Microsoft at it again with 2nd ad tweaking Macs

Filed under: , ,

Microsoft is really working hard to get potential Mac customers to either buy or stay with Windows-based PCs. After the initial "Lauren" ad -- see BusinessWeek's take on her choice of a poorly-rated HP model, and TechFlash & Apple 2.0 on her oddly extensive acting career for someone who supposedly answered a Craiglist ad for market research -- a new ad [YouTube link] in the series launched today.

Our new shopper, Giampaolo, looks at a Mac at a computer store and says it is "so sexy," but then adds that "Macs are more about aesthetics than they are about computing power." [Check Harry McCracken's detailed side-by-side of 17" laptop hardware comparisons to debunk the "Apple Tax" and performance arguments.]

He winds up with an HP laptop which is within the $1500 dollar budget Microsoft gave him. The model he chooses is a Pavilion HDX 16t. We hope he enjoys it!

It's a strange campaign. Microsoft is spending a lot of time and money promoting HP, while saying not much at all about the advantages of Windows Vista... which is, after all, the product Microsoft sells.

Is it effective? Is it giving you second thoughts about buying Apple products, based on cost considerations? (Is this a rhetorical question?)

TUAWMicrosoft at it again with 2nd ad tweaking Macs originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 04 Apr 2009 20:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Wireless Carriers Are Wrong to Cripple Skype for iPhone
Everybody loves the idea of cheap VoIP calls on cell phones. Everybody, that is, except for wireless carriers who charge usurious fees for voice and data plans. Cellular providers around the globe are placing restrictions on Skype for iPhone and other Internet phone services, and that’s bad news for consumers.

Entries for 2009 Apple Design AwardsThe Now Accepted

In a short email sent to the ADC network, Apple announced that applications for the Apple Design Awards can now be submitted. The dead-line is n May 4th. As usual, the winners will be announced during the WWDC.

Let your creativity shine as we honor the year's best-designed applications for Mac and iPhone at WWDC 2009. Winners will take home prizes of great Apple hardware—along with the respect, admiration, and envy of their peers from around the world. Enter today and put your work in the spotlight.

This year Apple decided to deliver awards to the best iPhone and best Mac applications:

Best iPhone OS Applications

Enter your iPhone OS app and gain the recognition of your peers as you take center stage to showcase your best work.

Awards will be presented to:

  • Up to four winners who have designed applications using iPhone SDK for iPhone SDK 2.2.1 (applications must be released versions and available on the App Store).
  • One winner who has designed an application using iPhone OS 3.0 beta (application must be a pre-release version)
  • One student winner who has designed an application using iPhone SDK for iPhone SDK 2.2.1 (application must be a released version and available on the App Store).

Best Mac OS X Applications

Submit your Mac OS X application and show off your hard work, innovation, and excellence in development and design.

Awards will be presented to:

  • Up to four winners who have designed applications using Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard (applications must be released versions).
  • One winner who has designed an application using Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (application must be a pre-release version).
  • One student winner who has designed an application using Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
    (application must be a released version).

Yes, you read it correctly, there will ba an award dedicated to an application developed for Snow Leopard, the forth coming Mac OS X only available for developers!

As usual, the price is composed of a nice package:

 

Great Software Deserves Great Prizes
Winners will receive two 15-inch MacBook Pros (best configuration), two 30-inch Apple Cinema Displays, two 16GB iPhone 3Gs, two 16GB iPod touch, an ADC 2009 Premier Membership, and reimbursement of their WWDC 2009 E-ticket.
Student category winners will receive one 15-inch MacBook Pro, one 30-inch Apple Cinema Display, one 16GB iPod touch, one 8GB iPhone 3G, one ADC 2009 Student Membership, and reimbursement of their WWDC 2009 E-ticket.
Entries will be accepted beginning Thursday, April 2 and ending at 5PM (PST) Monday, May 4, 2009.

Be the first to submit, we all benefit of having ground-breaking applications awarded. Let's hope the selection board will pick some cherries among the growing numbers of Mac and iPhone applications based on the GUI and user experience, and not according to some dark rules as those granting access to the iPhone AppStore.

 

 



AT&T says sorry

Filed under: , ,

Well, that was quite an uproar. Now it seems to be over, at least for the moment. AT&T now says:

"The language added on March 30 to AT&T's wireless data service Terms and Conditions was done in error. It was brought to our attention and we have since removed it. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused."

Hmmm. Now everyone can go back to being mad at Sling for dropping iPhone support for the old hardware. Ah, the power of the internet.

Have a nice weekend folks.

Thanks to our sister site Engadget for ferreting this one out.

TUAWAT&T says sorry originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Widget Watch: hiddenfiles

Filed under:

Ever wonder what files your Mac is hiding from you? Maybe not, but once in a while there's a need to peek at the stuff OS X keeps you from viewing. Finder does a nice job of hiding the "guts" of some folders, you see, but there are occasions (troubleshooting, setting up a web server, looking for some folders, etc.) when you'll need to view and/or edit these files or folders. Enter hiddenfiles, a simple and unobtrusive widget that'll show those hidden files and folders.

Sure, you can use Onyx or Terminal and do some command line work. But it's much easier to drop into Dashboard, hit "Show" on the blue button and have Finder relaunch, showing all invisible files. I had to click on Finder in the Dock to actually launch it again, but when I did there were those lovely .DS_Store files, staring me down. I use this to remove the hidden _files off my daughter's PC-friendly MP3 player. That way she doesn't have to scroll through resource-fork versions of her songs.

The widget is free and available from developer Matthew Hansen's page.

TUAWWidget Watch: hiddenfiles originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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