Jun 29, 2008 Jul 1, 2008 Monday June 30, 2008
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...and yet one more update from Apple. Time Capsule and AirPort Base Station (802.11n) Firmware 7.3.2
I must admit, I have an irrational fear of firmware updates. The Time Capsule and AirPort Base Station (802.11n) Firmware 7.3.2 update requires that you already have AirPort Utility 5.3.2 installed (versions for Leopard, Tiger and Windows are available). What does it do? Well, let's see what Apple has to say... The Time Capsule, AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n*... [read more at MacMerc.com]
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Myths of Snow Leopard 7: Free?!
Daniel Eran Dilger Apple's limited comments on Snow Leopard, the next version of Mac OS X due in about a year, have opened the playing field for rampant speculation. Here's a look at a series of myths that have developed around the upcoming release. The seventh myth of Snow Leopard: Apple will have to give Snow Leopard away for free if it lacks many marketing features. The idea of Snow Leopard being a maintenance release rather than a feature release has resulted in speculation that the company should or perhaps will have to offer it for free or at a greatly reduced cost. This is probably not the case, for a number of reasons. 1. Selling Snow Leopard for Less Would Make Selling 10.7 at Regular Price Rather Difficult. If Apple sold Snow Leopard at a steep discount as an apology for not adding fluff features, it would deflate the perceived value of Apple's operating system software. Additionally, the main group to benefit from Snow Leopard will be owners of recent, 64-bit Macs who are likely to willingly pay full price to fully unlock the power of their existing hardware. Everyone else is just as likely to just wait for Snow Leopard until they buy their next new Mac and are able to take full advantage of its advances. Snow Leopard's relatively limited audience means that any reduction in its price would have a limited impact on boosting retail sales volumes. At the same time, it would only make selling the next release of Mac OS X harder while offering less incentive for users to buy a new Mac. Keeping the retail price of Snow Leopard unchanged wouldn't help set any new sales records for a reference release of Mac OS X, but would help induce sales of new Macs, because buyers would think of new systems as including an additional $129 of software for free. 2. Apple Doesn't Actually Make Much Money From Software Anyway. Before Snow Leopard's details were released, I suggested that Apple would likely ship a full price reference release around the first quarter of 2009, if for nothing else, just to continue raising the funds needed to invest in regular new operating system development. Unlike Microsoft, Apple only earns direct profits on retail boxes of Mac OS X; it does not sell bundled licensing to other hardware makers. Microsoft's software licensing model allowed it to continue making money on sales of Windows XP for years despite minimal feature enhancements over the last half decade. Without a Microsoft-style monopoly to automatically sell its software, Apple is forced to actually deliver a product that is good enough to convince the market to go out of its way to choose to buy it. While Apple's Mac OS X doesn't generate direct licensing revenue, it does add value and differentiation to the company's machines. Apple works hard to trumpet the retail interest in Mac OS X at every release, but the painful secret that Apple itself would never advertise is that its software sales are not incredibly profitable, particularly in comparison to its Mac hardware sales. In the final quarter of last year, Apple brought in $9.6 billion, almost entirely from Mac and iPod hardware. It “only� earned $170 million from sales of Leopard in the final quarter; subsequent retail box OS sales quickly dropped down to $40 million in the next quarter of early 2008. Of course, pulling in those extra millions in software upgrades is a great bonus. However, Apple is not a software vendor; it is only making some extra cash on the side for the OS it develops primarily to sell its new hardware. As Steve Jobs once observed, Apple's OS sales are like “printing money.� Apple sells Mac OS X at retail only to help recoup the money it invests in developing it. If it were wildly profitable to sell the OS, Apple wouldn't be silent on the issue of licensing Mac OS X to other hardware makers. Apple hasn't even entertained the idea of licensing Mac OS X on systems in markets it does not compete in. Mac OS X exists to sell Macs. That indicates that, outside of bragging rights, Apple doesn't desperately need to work on delivering volume sales of Mac OS X at retail. Apple isn't selling Mac OS X against Vista, it's selling its Macs against Windows PCs. The only good reasons to lower the price of a product is to: induce volume sales to broaden its installed base. Apple is doing this with the new $199 iPhone 3G, as Sony has been with its subsidized PlayStation 3. However, Mac OS X (and Snow Leopard in particular) has a finite market, so again, dropping the price would only cut into revenue dramatically while generating minimal additional sales. Anyone who really wants it is going to pay whatever reasonable price is being charged. compete against direct or indirect rivals. Mac OS X has no direct rival. It has no indirect pricing pressure from Windows because nobody directly chooses one OS over the other in a shopping comparison. The retail price of Mac OS X does not add any cost to a new Mac versus a PC, and Windows considerably more expensive already anyway. Apple doesn't have to deeply discount Snow Leopard to reach customers. Why OS X is on the iPhone, but not the PC 3. Apple Would Rather You Buy A New Computer Than Give Away Mac OS X. Most of Snow Leopard's features announced so far exploit the potential of new and forthcoming hardware. The primary purpose of Mac OS X is to distinguish Mac hardware from PCs. Selling it at retail only helps Apple pull in some extra revenue from users who are not ready to buy new hardware. There are two alternatives to buying a Mac OS X upgrade at retail: not upgrading at all, or buying a new Mac. Mac OS X retail sales only compete against users' price sensitivity; it has to be priced cheap enough to sell users on buying it, because it is a largely optional purchase. Apple would happily sell users a new Mac rather than a Mac OS X upgrade. However, the company would just as happily sell full price Mac OS X upgrades to everyone it can, ensuring that those Mac users remain satisfied and more likely to buy a new Mac in the future. Deferring a $2000 computer sale to sell a high margin $129 software product is not a problem. Delaying the potential purchase of a new Mac by offering a $20 upgrade that costs $10 to distribute makes no sense. While most people who are interested in buying a new computer aren't going to delay their purchase just because they can buy the newest version of Mac OS X at retail, giving Snow Leopard away certainly wouldn't help sell new Macs in the near term, and doing that at cost or at a loss would be ridiculous. The last time Apple delivered a free reference release of Mac OS X was 10.1. That was a follow up to the original commercial debut, and mostly supplied missing features and stability fixes to help bring Mac OS X closer to parity with the classic Mac OS. Apple couldn't sell it at full price because nobody was even using Mac OS X at the time beyond a small group of early adopters. The company desperately wanted to induce adoption by any means necessary, so giving away a substantial reference release of Mac OS X made sense. It wasn't until the following 10.2 Jaguar release that Mac OS X became Apple's mainstream OS. It now makes no sense for Apple to give away its development work because it isn't in the same desperate position. Mac users who aren't going to upgrade unless the software is nearly free are not worth Apple's attention. They are likely to just steal it anyway. 4. Apple Doesn't Bother Trying to Sell to Thieves. Apple sells Mac OS X just as it retails music: it markets both products toward premium buyers at reasonable prices rather than attempting to force thieves to pay for a product they only want to steal. Microsoft failed in the music business with Windows Media because it tried to do just the opposite: force everyone to pay through the nose for expiring subscription music by using egregious DRM. Microsoft couldn't force the thieves to stop stealing, and premium customers weren't interested in being treated like thieves. Microsoft used that strategy because it has seemed to work well on the Windows PC desktop. However, that is entirely due to the company's monopoly position. Consumers don't have a choice in PC operating systems, and that lack of competition is reflected in Microsoft's predatory pricing: it sets the retail price of Windows desktop upgrades between $200 to $500 Microsoft can set a high retail price because it knows most people will just get Windows unwittingly with new hardware; the company reports that 80% of its Windows revenues come from people buying new PCs with an OEM copy of Windows on it. Relatively few people ever buy Windows at retail, which is part of the reason why the Vista launch parties Microsoft attempted to throw simply fell flat. Premium, price-insensitive users who need to buy a retail license will bite the bullet and spend whatever Microsoft charges. The company can also offer special deals to anyone that might be price sensitive, removing any pricing liquidity from the overall market. It's nice work if you can get it. Microsoft got it in part through “first one is free� marketing that leveraged software piracy. Throughout the 90s, Microsoft tolerated piracy of Windows because it helped the company achieve market dominance. Now that it holds an overwhelming monopoly on the PC operating system market, it has started policing its software licensing with online activation and its Windows Genuine Advantage spyware. Apple's smaller market means piracy doesn't really benefit the company. Even so, it does not police Mac OS X licensing with DRM, activation procedures, or spyware because it only sells to premium customers rather than trying to tax the entire PC market. The majority of Microsoft's customers are thieves that would only pay for Windows if they had no choice. Apple's customers have voluntarily chosen to buy from the company; offering them regular advances at consistent prices allows the customer to decide if they want to upgrade or not. Microsoft's Plot to Kill QuickTime 5. Snow Leopard Will Be Worth More than $129 To Those Likely to Buy it. The key benefit Apple has marketed in Snow Leopard so far is Exchange Server support. How much is that worth, and who would pay for it? Microsoft charges Mac users $500 (a whopping $350 premium over the regular version) for the version of Office 2008 that includes support for Exchange. Why is Microsoft ripping off the customers who are using its own server software? Microsoft knows that the organizations who have chosen Exchange are not price sensitive. Those customers already pay absurd licensing costs for its server and client access licenses, so they are likely to also shell out crazy amounts of money for a slightly less awful version of the Entourage Mac email client. If Microsoft can get away with charging businesses and education users $500 for Exchange support in Office 2008, Apple will have no problem selling those same customers an overhauled operating system that adds Exchange support for Mail, iCal and Address Book for just $129. What about home users who have no need for Exchange? Outside of those that want to buy every new release, that segment of the market is unlikely to buy Snow Leopard. We know this because they largely didn't pay for Leopard. Road to Mac Office 2008: an introduction Road to Mac Office 2008: Entourage ‘08 vs Mail 3.0 and iCal 3.0 Who Bought Leopard? In 2009, Apple will have an opportunity to sell Snow Leopard for $129 to an installed base of around 23 million Intel Mac users. Dropping the price won't make much of a difference in how many copies it sells because people who want or need it will pay $129. The real secret is that only a minority of Mac users actually upgrade at retail. Consider the Leopard launch. Apple's $170 million in Leopard revenues reported in its debut quarter is only enough to buy 1.3 million copies at retail price. A third - a surprisingly high percentage - of retail packages were family pack versions, meaning Apple actually sold fewer boxes than that at full price. Of course, lots of those retail boxes where sold to retailers at lower wholesale prices and then marked up by the retailer. (Incidentally, Information Week's Antone Gonsalves reported that Apple sold “170 million copies of Leopard,� which would be more than the number of Macintosh computers the company has sold over the past three decades. Several other sources repeated the same idea. “Operating systems traditionally sell very well the first quarter they are available, but then loose [sic] steam very quickly. Apple sold 170 million copies of Leopard in the first fiscal quarter, but that number dropped to 40 million last quarter, the CFO said.�) Apple actually reported selling 2 million copies of Leopard in the first weekend. It did not continue to report how many additional copies it sold after that initial figure because Apple didn't want to highlight the fact that most of the people who bought Mac OS X in the quarter did so over the first weekend. That weekend figure also probably included shipments to stores, further padding the number with marketing muscle. More recently, the company indicated that of the 27.5 million installed base of Mac OS X users, 37% are running Leopard. That would be 10.1 million Macs running Leopard. Apple has sold roughly 4.6 million new Macs in the last three quarters with Leopard pre-installed. That means “only� 5.5 million Macs have been upgraded to Leopard. But Apple didn't earn something like $709 million by selling 5.5 million boxes for $129 or more. It only reported $210 million in total revenues in Leopard sales over first six months, and has sold less than $40 million worth of Leopard since then. That's less than $250 million in total retail software sales. Clearly, a lot of retail boxes are getting applied on multiple Macs using the family pack or are simply being installed on multiple Macs contrary to the license agreement. Big surprise: lots of people are stealing Leopard. So of the 27.5 million Macs that perhaps could be using Leopard, “only� 37% have been upgraded, and about half of those got Leopard by buying a new Mac. That's great compared to the percentages of retail software upgrades for Windows, but indicates that setting a lowball price for Snow Leopard wouldn't have a major impact on new sales; it would only leave money on the table that Apple could otherwise earn from a reasonable charge for its software work. There's another angle on the value of Snow Leopard: it's not just an operating system. The next myth will take a look. WWDC 2008: New in Mac OS X Snow Leopard Myths of Snow Leopard 1: PowerPC Support — RoughlyDrafted Magazine Myths of Snow Leopard 2: 32-bit Support Myths of Snow Leopard 3: Mac Sidelined for iPhone Myths of Snow Leopard 4: Exchange is the Only New Feature! Myths of Snow Leopard 5: No Carbon! Myths of Snow Leopard 6: Apple is Out of Ideas! Myths of Snow Leopard 7: Free?! Cocoa for Windows + Flash Killer = SproutCore Apple’s other open secret: the LLVM Complier Ten Big New Features in Mac OS X Snow Leopard I really like to hear from readers. Comment in the Forum or email me with your ideas. Like reading RoughlyDrafted? Share articles with your friends, link from your blog, and subscribe to my podcast! Submit to Reddit or Slashdot, or consider making a small donation supporting this site. Thanks!
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Security Update 2008-004
Filed under: OS, Software Update, Apple, SecurityAlong with the 10.5.4 update, Apple has just released Security Update 2008-004 for users of Mac OS X Tiger (10.4). According to Apple, the update "is recommended for all [Mac OS X Tiger (10.4)] users and improves the security of Mac OS X." You can download this update for the following systems: Security Update 2008-004 (PPC) Security Update 2008-004 (Intel) Security Update 2008-004 Server (PPC) Security Update 2008-004 Server (Intel) The update is available through Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update) or by downloading the installer packages by clicking the links above for your system. Apple has provided a support article for more details on this update.Thanks to everyone who sent this in!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Time Capsule and AirPort Base Station (802.11n) Firmware 7.3.2
Filed under: Wireless, Airport, Software UpdateAlong with the Mac OS X 10.5.4 update tonight, Apple also released firmware 7.3.2 for Time Capsules and AirPort Base Stations. Apple states that it "includes general fixes and compatibility updates" for both Time Capsule and AirPorts with 802.11n. Most likely your AirPort (or Time Capsule) will find and download the update automatically; however, you can also visit the Apple Support Downloads page to download the installer package for Leopard, Tiger, or Windows. Thanks to everyone who sent this in!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple has updates for Tiger users too. Safari 3.1.2
Apple doesn't want Tiger users to feel left out of the day's updating fun. They've released a special Safari 3.1.2 for Tiger update. It's sole purpose appears to be a WebKit update that prevents an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution while visiting a maliciously crafted website. Whew! That's a relief! Now Mac OS X 10.4.11 users can visit all their favorite... [read more at MacMerc.com]
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Complete My Album is selling music
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPod Family, iTS, iTunes, AppleI was just as much a naysayer as Dave was when the service first came out (and for the record, I haven't used it all either), but apparently there are lots of people who do use Apple's "Complete My Album" service in iTunes -- the NYT says that it has become a prime selling tool, especially for bands and labels that pre-release singles from their album in a digital format. A whopping 52% of Lil Wayne's latest album sales on iTunes were sold through the "Complete My Album" feature. That means half the people who bought the album on iTunes had previously purchased one of the singles, and clicked through that way to buy the rest of their music.And though neither Dave or I use "Complete My Album," that's a good sign for consumers, and a nice wake up call for the record industry -- the days of playing a song on the radio to up album sales are over. Digital releases are what sells music, and though "Complete My Album" currently only works on music previously purchased in the iTunes store, Apple could very easily extend that to all music in iTunes -- if you like a song that you've downloaded as a free single from the artist's website, it's just as easy to find music of theirs to buy in iTunes the same way.We're done with a world where radio airplay determines what sells at the record store. These days, consumers are the ones who tell record makers what they want to buy -- it's already in their iTunes playlists.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple lays the 10.5.4 update on us and Security Update 2008-004
Apple released a Mac OS X update today, bring us up to 10.5.4. This update is available in Update and Combo Update flavors for Mac OS X 10.5 and Mac OS X 10.5 Server (gory details after the "read more"): Mac OS X 10.5.4 Combo Update Mac OS X 10.5.4 Update Mac OS X Server 10.5.4 Mac OS X Server Combo 10.5.4 Publishing pros will be happy to know that the 10.5.4 update includes fixes that... [read more at MacMerc.com]
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Found Footage: Mac Gaming 101
Filed under: Gaming, Found Footage Have you been wondering "where are all the Mac games?" Well, ChannelFlip (our newest favorite Mac-related podcast) has been asking the same question. In their latest episode, Mac Gaming 101, they take many points on the topic and explain why Mac users wait longer for ports of games. You may recall last Mat's post last night about Blizzard; if only other gaming companies would do the same thing. You may also remember WWDC '07, when many game companies (including EA) promised PC/Mac releases on the same day -- while they have almost held up their promise, it still leaves us wanting more.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Inside the OS X 10.5.4 update
A quick peek at some of the other things fixed—and not fixed—in the 10.5.4 update.
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iPhone 3G to be shipped in eco-friendly packaging: spuds
Filed under: iPhoneThe new iPhone 3G will ship in a paper tray made that has a carbon footprint a tenth the size of a plastic tray, according to its manufacturer. The paper tray, manufactured by Dutch firm PaperFoam, is made from potato or tapioca starch. According to Dutch blog Bright, PaperFoam CEO Hans Arentsen said that Apple ordered "millions of PaperFoam packages" for the new iPhone. PaperFoam also makes carton components for Motorola. The PaperFoam tray will be inside a coated cardboard box, both of which are fully recyclable. Apple committed to reducing its environmental impact in an open letter from Steve Jobs released in May 2007. [Via The Register.]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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10.5.4 is in Software Update Now!
Filed under: Software Update Fire up Software Update - Mac OS X 10.5.4 is available NOW! According to the update KB article listed above, the update includes:General Recent Apple security updates. Resolves an issue with saving and reopening Adobe Creative Suite 3 ï¬?les on a remote server. Includes additional RAW image support for several cameras. Addresses an issue that may result in a partially installed X11 application. Improves L2TP VPN client reliability. AirPort Addresses AirPort reliability issues with 5GHz networks. Addresses AirPort issues that may result in slower performance in Logic Studio or MainStage. iCal Improves overall iCal reliability for meeting requests, cancellation notices, delegation, and syncing with iPhone. Resolves an issue that prevents deleting an iCal event without notifying the creator. Addresses an issue in which events in all calendars affect availability. A checkbox now enables information-only calendars to be transparent from free/busy lookups. Resolves a UI issue preventing delegated calendars from showing up as a separate window. Addresses an issue with copying and pasting attendees from one event to another. Resolves an issue in which iCal may not delete events after a speciï¬?ed time interval, even when set to do so in iCal preferences. Addresses an issue in which To Dos cannot be marked private. Safari Addresses a potential performance issue when loading secure web pages. Resolves issues that may be encountered when accessing secure web pages with client certificates that reside on a smart card. Spaces and Exposé Addresses an issue in which switching from a space with a Finder window keeps the Finder as the active application instead of the application residing in the destination space. Fixes an issue in which dragging an application from the list of application assignments in Spaces System Preferences does not assign the application to the desired space. Resolves an Exposé issue that may result in only a subset of windows being shown. There are also a number of security changes listed in the security KB article as well. Thanks to eagle-eyed Louis and Alex for finding this first and letting TUAW know about it.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Mac OS X 10.5.4
Includes (among many other things) another useful Spaces improvement: Addresses an issue in which switching from a space with a Finder window keeps the Finder as the active application instead of the application residing in the destination space. This one, too, was apparently a very significant (read: “data loss”) bug: Resolves an issue with saving and reopening Adobe Creative Suite 3 files on a remote server. ★
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EA Veteran Starts iPhone-Focused Mobile Game Studio
Neil Young in an interview with Gamasutra regarding his new mobile game publisher Ngmoco: So if you think about what Apple’s doing with the App Store, they’re really turning mobile on its ear. They allow you to control the pricing yourself. They’re taking a distribution fee for distributing your software, but they’re really allowing users to choose what to put on their phone and how they want to enhance their device. And that is a fundamental shift. It’s interesting that from the perspective of Mac OS X and the Mac software market, the iPhone seems very restrictive — but from the perspective of those used to dealing with the mobile phone market or Nintendo’s and Sony’s handhelds, it seems free. ★
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Cornerstone 1.0
New $59 Subversion client for Mac OS X, from Zennaware. At a glance, the UI details seem very thoughtful, including an optional widescreen layout. The file comparison tool can compare both text and images. Extra credit for debuting with a proper 1.0 version number, unlike Versions, which debuted as (and remains) a public beta. It strikes me as an odd coincidence that two serious Subversion clients would debut at a time when many developers are starting to switch away from Subversion to distributed revision control systems such as Git and Mercurial. ★
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Securely Delete Data on iPhone 2.0
I have always been nervous about syncing my contacts and pictures to my iPod because they would be accessible by other people if I ever lost it, or it was stolen. I also have never sold a used iPod for the same reason. That is why I was excited when Steve Jobs announced at the keynote that iPhone 3G would allow enterprise users to remote wipe their devices. I think that is a great idea, especially for enterprise users. AppleInsider is reporting that the software update for iPhone 2.0 (and presumably iPod Touch) will allow users to securely delete all their files like you securely delete your trash on your Mac. You will be able to get to the secure delete function the same way you get to the “Erase all content ad settings” now: Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Contents and Settings. According to Apple, the software that will allow this will be released with the new iPhone on July 11th. It will take you longer to secure wipe your phone, about an hour. It will securely delete your data, so if you are upgrading to an iPhone 3G, make sure that you upgrade after the software update to securely delete everything from your phone.
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Taking The Plunge: Jungle Disk 2
I just plugged in my 4th external hard drive today - the 1TB My Book Essential Edition. That brings my total external storage capacity to about 2TB - which is pretty good considering most people don't have ANY sort of backup solution. But as I was plugging in the new drive I came to a realization that my backup solution was actually only a 50% solution to my backup needs. The hard truth is hard drives fail. Manufacturers quote a lifespan of approximately 5 to 10 years. But most of us know that estimate is about as accurate as Apple's estimated battery life. So although I have an entire row of hard drives, if one of them were to fail I would be “fraked.” (No, I can't believe I said that either) So in order to truly sleep soundly at night I moved my most sensitive and important data online. I looked into a number of different solutions including Mozy, Box.net, and even a manual upload using my Dreamhost account - but none of those solutions met all my needs. I wanted something simple to use and a solution that could grow depending on my changing backup needs. Jungle Disk Desktop 2 seems like the best solution for the job right now. Although the price might turn some people away (read: it's cheap but not free) the pricing structure allows you to pay for only what you use since the application uses Amazon's S3 internet storage service. After the one-time purchase of $20, this translates into $0.15 per GB-Month of storage used, $0.10 per GB of data uploaded, and $0.17 per GB of data downloaded. For my current needs I'm paying about $1.95 per month for storage and pennies each month to upload new data. The best feature of Jungle Disk Desktop is the fact that your Jungle Disk mounts just like your iDisk - allowing you to access your files directly from the Finder. Drag and drop, copy and delete. You can use your Jungle Disk just like any other hard drive. Jungle Disk Desktop 2, which was just released this week provides some welcome upgrades to the previous version. Perhaps the biggest change is the user interface. The new backup preview dialog so you can see exactly what will be backed up and the selection dialog makes it faster and easier to set up automatic backup. The new version, which is a free upgrade to previous users, also includes a number of other upgrades and new features including: Better “bucket” management - Jungle Disk uses Amazon's “bucket” structure to store files. Amazon S3 itself doesn’t have a built-in notion of directories or folders at all. Because of this, it is up to each application that uses S3 to decide how to use buckets to store files and folders. The new bucket features allow you, among other things, to encrypt your data without having to re-upload your data. Support for connecting to multiple buckets at the same time Support for multiple backup jobs with independent scheduling New command line options to integrate with external task schedulers and batch jobs Expanded bandwidth limiting feature I've used Jungle Disk primarily to backup my iPhoto library - the most precious 13GB of data I own. However, due to the changing nature of the iPhoto library, I opted to purchase the optional Jungle Disk Plus service which allows you to make block-level file updates - uploading only the changed portions of your large files. It also gives you web-based access to the files (even via iPhone) and the ability to resume uploads of large files where they left off. The Plus service will run you an extra $1 per month, but I think the savings in both bandwidth cost and time are worth it. Every week at a given time, Jungle Disk scans my iPhoto library file for changes and uploads them. That's it. It's that easy. Of course, if you're uploading a large amount of data it's going to take time. As I write this post I'm backing up an additional 6GB using my cable internet connection at 360 kbits/sec. According to Jungle Disk it's going to take approximately 1 day and 13 hours to finish uploading. But if you're performing incremental backups quietly in the background or in the middle of the night, this shouldn't be an issue. After using Jungle Disk for a few weeks, I have to say I'm impressed. It's proven to be the easiest, most convenient, and most affordable solution for me. It quietly backs up my data in the background and I feel safe knowing that my data is floating around inside Amazon's data cloud. Combined with my external hard drive backups, I can now sleep soundly at night knowing my family photos are backed up.
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iPhone developer waiting list could be six months long
Filed under: Rumors, iPhone, SDKSilicon Alley Insider reported yesterday that the waiting list to be accepted into the iPhone developer program is six months long. However, insiders say that the App Store approval process is "surprisingly" efficient, and that the beta period may be drawing to a close. Apple could throw the doors wide open when the beta period ends July 11, meaning no waiting list at all. Apple has been allowing a small fraction of applicants into the program: At WWDC, The Steve himself said that 4,000 developers have been allowed into the program out of about 25,000 applications. As of the keynote, 250,000 had downloaded the SDK. After being accepted to the program and submitting your app, there is another waiting period while Apple reviews it, and determines whether or not it's suitable for the App Store. How long that takes is up for speculation, but the time between June 26 and July 11 is about two business weeks. So, how's mid-February 2009 looking for you? At least we'll have new Battlestar Galactica episodes by then.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Odd Put-Down
Sony CEO Howard Stringer: “Apple is a marvellous company, but it is a boutique. We are a giant conglomerate.” ★
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[Sponsor] ScreenCastsOnline — Weekly Mac Video Tutorials
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Forum Activity: June 30, 2008
H.264 versus MP4 iPod Touch Case iPhone Plans in Canada BootCamp Windows Shortcut Documents Automatically Lock in Dreamweaver
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Interview with Stephen Caudill -Â FatJam
With more and more web applications being built by Mac-addicted developers, I thought I'd have a chat with Stephen Caudill over at FatJam. Stephen not only codes his creations on Apple hardware but also relies on it to serve up the applications to the public. Travis Vocino for The Apple Blog: Hey there Stephen! To me, it feels like the Mac, and specifically the MacBook Pro, is the web developer's absolute choice when it comes to deploying an environment suited to the work. It definitely hasn't always been that way though, as you know. What about you? What's your history with developing for the web on Apple hardware? Stephen Caudill for FatJam: In August of 2004, I started looking at the programming language Ruby, in response to the philosophy of “developer joy” that Ruby on Rails' creator, David Heinemeier Hansson was extolling. At the time I was working in Big Java and really just hated it… the job, the tools, the verbosity of the language were all a millstone around my neck and I wanted this golden path that David was describing. In and amongst the various doctrines of Ruby on Rails was this devout love of the Mac computer that I kept being inundated with. Around the same time Paul Graham penned an essay in which he observed that all the smart hackers he knew were migrating to OSX… That was apparently all the coercion I needed, as I soon found myself exploring a first gen Mac Mini. In retrospect, I guess I was drinking the Koolaid, but it was good Koolaid after the sour taste Windows left in my mouth. (more…)
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Marketing to beta testers
Brief interruption to our irregularly scheduled programming: Dimdim is very close to releasing Dimdim v4.0 which, among other things, will introduce Mac Desktop Sharing, or "screencasting" as they call it (it's like iChat's Mac Screensharing but totally inside a web browser) And the good folks at Dimdim want this new feature (along with recording, multiple presenters, and other goodies coming soon) to be the best it can be. If you are interested in helping them test this new Mac feature, please sign up for Dimdim (it's totally free) then send an email with your Dimdim ID and they'll sign you right up. Act fast as they are only letting in a handful of Mac testers right now. BTW, I'm curious. Has anyone ever beta tested Mac software before? If so, please share what software you tested using the comments feature of this blog.
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Bravery and Wall-e
At every turn, Pixar messed up the marketing of their new movie. It has a hard to spell name, no furry characters, not nearly enough dialogue (the first 45 minutes is almost silent), no nasty (but ultimately ridiculous) bad guy, hardly any violence and very little slapstick. Wall-e didn't get a huge Hollywood PR campaign or even a lot of promotion, it doesn't feature any hot stars and as far as I can tell, the merchandising options are quite limited. Can you imagine the meetings? Can you imagine the yelling? Pixar, recently purchased by Disney, could crank out multi-billion dollar confections. They know all the moves, they have the chops to create merchandising powerhouses. And with just one movie a year, they certainly must have been under huge pressure to do just that. And yet, instead, they make a great movie. A movie for the ages. A film, not 90 minutes of commerce. The irony, of course, is that they'll make plenty of money. Bravery often pays off, even if paying off is not your goal. Especially if that's not your goal. Marketing isn't always about pandering to the masses and shooting for the quick payoff. Often, the best marketing doesn't feel like marketing at all.
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Seeing readers
Paulo Coehlo — whom I got to interview in Paris for my book and an upcoming column — is asking his readers to help him create a virtual exhibition of them reading his books making 100 million — you read right — books sold. He loves the connections with readers the internet enables. This reminds me of what friend Annik Rubens' fans do for her podcast, Schlaflos in Muenchen, taking pictures of their iPods wherever they are in the world to show how far the show travels:
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Carlin would curse
If you happened to be driving down a New Jersey street this morning and saw a tall, pencil-necked, sweaty geek “running” down the road cursing into what appeared to be thin air, that would be me. But what I was cursing was what I was hearing on my iPod: the latest edition of On the Media, which gave the worst possible memorial to the legacy of George Carlin with its report on the seven dirty words quoting a Miami TV critic who gave unquestioned credence to the so-called Parents Television Council, saying that we are a nation divided about indecency. Bullshit. I've been a longtime listener and fan of OtM but I have to say that they have been driving me a bit crazy lately covering China and Russia more than American media and giving more time to political screeds than media news. Maybe they're bored with the beat but I can't see how they could be given that media are undergoing history, volcanic, accelerating, unsure, and profound change that will forever alter media and society. What a great time to cover media in America! This is on my mind now because they had asked me to be on this week's show to talk about the Associated Press. Whether or not they had me on to talk about it, that is an important story. But they said that their studio wasn't ready (who needs a studio when you have a mic and Mac?). So instead, they ran a 20-minute archive piece about a guy who collected sounds. By this time in my run, I wasn't cursing, I was merely muttering. What an opportunity lost. The AP story is rich with mines to explore about the new architecture of media and its interrelationships. And now the peg, the moment is gone. This is more on my mind because I am a loyal listener and because I want to hear OtM cover all this huge change in media. I'd love to hear them get to Sam Zell to explain his plans for the Tribune (and I'll bet they could) and to Rupert Murdoch to share his vision for the Journal. I'd like to hear them give attention to experiments in new ways to cover news — there are many. I'd want some perspective on all the layoffs in the business and what impact they have and whether there are better ways to restructure journalism. I'd be eager to have them explore new business models for news. If they're going abroad, I'd like them to bring back ideas that would be useful for American media to borrow. I'd like them to use OtM as a laboratory for multimedia itself: video, wikis, collaborative criticism, perhaps. Maybe they should find and turn the spotlight on the next Brian Stelters and Adrian Holovatys — the young innovators who will save journalism. They could also turn their sharp pens on the media executives who are rearranging cubicles on the decks of their Titantics. They could start tracking how Arianna Huffington invades Chicago and how the Tribune reacts. They could explain how new tools — Twitter, Flip video cameras, iPhones — could be used to do journalism. I could go on listing stories I'd like to hear for a page (and remember, there is no end to pages on the web). OtM should consider this a valentine not an attack. I want them to put their reporting and analytical talents to covering American media again. Please.
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iPhone 2.0 firmware release date hidden under our noses
Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone, App StoreSince its announcement, we've all been speculating about the iPhone 2.0 firmware release date, but Apple has been hiding the date under our noses all along. "iPhone 2.0 software will be available on July 11 as a free software update via iTunes(R) 7.7 or later for all iPhone customers," Apple notes in the original iPhone 3G press release (8th paragraph).Many have told me (3 times 10 times) that this date most likely is a stall date; in other words a "latest possible ship" date for the release. We noted last week that the iPhone 2.0 firmware has already gone gold master (received shipping status); however, we might not see the new firmware until the iPhone 3G is released on July 11th.Thanks for the tip, Austin!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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MacMix Promo to bring super deals for your Mac app fix
Filed under: Software, DealsApplications on the Mac give you this warm, fuzzy feeling when you download and unpack their .dmg (or .zip) files. "Make Your Own Mac Mix" hopes to make this feeling even better by offering deals in the form of discount tiers for buying Mac applications. You will be able to choose between 27 "high quality" Mac applications (similar to those being offered by MacHeist). Prices will be based on the following tier system: 10% off of any one app 30% off any 3 40% off any 5 50% off any 7 60% off any 9 70% off any 12 Just as there are no details on specific applications, there is also no set date; but the creators are claiming this will be an amazing deal on Mac applications. This deal is set to go live this month. This deal and details will soon be made available on the MacMix Promo website.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple Store Beijing to open July 19
Filed under: Apple Corporate, RetailLast February, we forwarded a report on China's first Apple Store. At the time, it seemed the store would open on August 8th to coincide with the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics.This week, The Shanghai Daily is reporting that the Sanlitun-based store will open on July 19, with a second store also scheduled to open during the Olympic Games (in the Qianmen area). China is the world's largest mobile phone market and second largest computer market.No official opening dates have been released, so please send us any specifics or spy shots you take. Thanks![Via MacNN]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Mac OS Ken: 06.30.2008
Apple 3Q Conference Call Slated for July 21st / Shanghai Daily: Apple Retail Opening in China July 19 / China Mobile: Talks Go Forward on iPhone in China / Canadians Upset Over Rogers Rate Plans for iPhone 3G / Report: Apple Pre-Releases iTunes 7.7 to Developers (with iTunes Remote Control App) / Report: iPhone SDK beta 8 Released / Sprint Does Well with First Week of iPhone Imitator Sales / Verizon CEO Praises Apple, Downplays iPhone, Alludes to Jobs Mortality, Apparently Forgets His Own / Apple Sues iPod Mechanic for a Bunch of Things / Labels and Acts Warm to iTunes âComplete My Albumâ / iTunes Buys Its Way Onto British TV