MacBook Air Guided Tour
Filed under: Macworld, MacBookFollowing in the grand tradition of the iPhone guided tours Apple has posted a guided tour of the new MacBook Air. Available in QuickTime, of course, for download (iPod or large versions) and in a variety of streaming sizes.This guide will answer any questions you might have about just how thin this thing is (it is very thin) and just might get you to open that wallet of yours and increase your consumer debt.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Leopard guided tour video posted at Apple.com
Filed under: Video, LeopardDid you enjoy watching those iPhone walkthrough videos last June? Every feature covered, every icon pictured... good times, good times. Now you can get that same sense of anticipation and "ooo ooo gotta buy it" excitement in a bigger-than-a-breadbox form factor with Apple's newly-posted Leopard guided tour video. The tour, narrated by Apple retail store employee "John," is streamed for your pleasure right here.The video can also be downloaded in iPod-friendly (108 MB) and 'large" (380 MB) sizes, if you're the type that likes to watch this kind of thing in private, nudge nudge.Thanks to everyone who sent this in.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Ten Big New Features in Mac OS X Snow Leopard
Daniel Eran Dilger Apple is marketing the idea of there being “no new features� for Snow Leopard and instead promising an overall improvement in how Mac OS X works under the hood, thanks to a diligent code optimization and refactoring cycle discussed in the previous article. At the same time, there are plenty of significant new features coming in Snow Leopard to look forward to. Here are ten big new features (plus a few minor ones) that you probably haven't heard much about from anywhere else, including my previous articles on the subject that already described QuickTime X, Grand Central, and OpenCL. WWDC 2008: New in Mac OS X Snow Leopard Snow Leopard Server Takes on Exchange, SharePoint Pulling Invisible New Features into Snow Leopard. Apple's increasing collaborations with the open source community have pulled back the veil of secrecy on several new but mostly invisible enhancements that will be showing up in Snow Leopard. One relates to LLVM, the Low Level Virtual Machine compiler architecture project originally founded at the University of Illinois. Apple began contributing to LLVM development in 2005, and started using it Leopard to expand support for OpenGL hardware features. Lower-end Macs that lack the silicon to interpret that specialize graphics code can now do it in software. LLVM is also working its way into Apple's Xcode IDE, initially as a highly efficient optimizer and code generator that works as a bolt-on upgrade to components of GCC, but eventually as a complete compiler replacement. That project, known as Clang, was opened up last year. LLVM compiler technology not only makes developers more productive, but also results in code that runs significantly faster on the same hardware. Apple's other open secret: the LLVM Complier The LLVM Compiler Infrastructure Project Another openly hidden secret in Mac OS X is CUPS, the Common Unix Printing System. Beginning with Jaguar in 2002, Apple adopted and licensed CUPS from its developer as Mac OS X's printing engine. It then purchased the project outright. CUPS is also the de facto printing system for Linux distros and is available for BSD and other commercial Unix systems. That means Apple owns the project that develops the printing architecture for Linux. That's not an issue because Apple has established a reputation in open source as a strong contributor and open sharer. According to a review of bug fixes and improvements in CUPS software, 24% of the enhancements came from Apple while 76% came from free and open source software contributors working with Linux, OpenSolaris, and other projects. Of course, 100% of both sides benefited from that sharing. CUPS collaboration has resulted in high quality code and the advancement of new features. CUPS 1.4, the version sources say Snow Leopard will use, adds performance enhancements and a variety of security improvements that use sandboxing to prevent malware attacks on the printing system from being able to read sensitive documents that may be in use by printers. Common UNIX Printing System A third significant new feature originating from an open source project in Snow Leopard is ZFS support, portions of which come from the OpenSolaris project (along with Sun's DTrace technology, which Apple uses in its Instruments performance profiling tool). Leopard debuted read-only ZFS features, but Snow Leopard and Snow Leopard Server will provide both read and write support for Sun's new 128-bit file system. ZFS was designed to provide “simple administration, transactional semantics, end-to-end data integrity, and immense scalability.� ZFS hype during the development of Leopard helped the new file system reach buzzword status as news of the three letter acronym swept through blogs and the tech media. It is frequently described as being the imminent replacement for the Mac's native HFS+. However, the benefits of ZFS including as storage pooling, data redundancy, automatic error correction, dynamic volume expansion, and snapshots all apply primarily to servers and higher-end workstation users who deal with multiple disk drives. ZFS isn't going to replace HFS+ outright in Snow Leopard, and has limited relevance today to desktop and laptop users, particularly those who never move beyond the single disk drive installed in their system. More Predictions for WWDC 2007: Solaris, Google, Surround Apple - Mac OS X Leopard - Developer Tools - Instruments Symbiotic: What Apple Does for Open Source Apple's Open Source Assault Pushing Visible New Features in Snow Leopard. Apple's extensive work in developing push support for Exchange Server on the iPhone will also be included in Snow Leopard's Mail, Address Book, and iCal. Push support in those client side apps are also being used to power MobileMe's push messaging subscription service and Snow Leopard Server's push messaging services. Apple will be offering both in parallel as alternatives to Exchange, thanks to smart planning on the part of Apple's engineers to develop an interoperable push architecture in Mac OS X and on the iPhone. There is also a fourth application of push that has developed alongside push messaging: Apple's new Push Notification Service. PNS allows iPhone and iPod touch users to set up server side notification alerts that don't require mobile applications to stay running in the background just to update users of the external events they track. Along with Bonjour discovery, PNS will keep iPhones wirelessly connected in all sorts of sophisticated ways that third party developers can imagine in their applications. Whether Apple will integrate a listener for the same PNS system into the desktop side of Mac OS X remains to be seen, but it would allow a single, unified interface for alerting client users of new events. I proposed a system wide, Growl-style notification system in the Leopard Wish List published back in 2005. Snow Leopard Server Takes on Exchange, SharePoint Apple’s Mobile Me Takes On Exchange, Mobile Mesh With the strong push into push messaging, Apple will make mobile devices even more tightly integrated with its desktop products. Leopard delivered Back To My Mac as a novel way to use Wide Area Bonjour's dynamic service registration as a mechanism for sharing resources served from home to any location without configuring static naming services for address lookups. Because any software can register itself with .Mac/MobileMe, this opens the door to third party developers with the vision to exploit the potential of these enabling technologies. A Global Upgrade for Bonjour: AirPort, iPhone, Leopard, .Mac Ten Big Predictions for Apple in 2008 Among the technologies profiled earlier in Myth 3 that have been trickling from the iPhone into Mac OS X, there's at least one idea I proposed for the iPhone that will be in Snow Leopard's Safari: self contained web apps. The new feature will allow users to run web applications as a local app in its own window, essentially making the web platform into a native-looking app that can run outside of Safari. I proposed a similar feature as a possibility for the iPhone prior to the announcement of the Cocoa Touch SDK: web apps packaged up into a set of files that could be run on the device as a Dashboard widget-like standalone app, even when off the network. Why Apple hasn't pursued such an obvious strategy is a little hard to figure out, but it seems they've got the ball rolling on the desktop. That ball will be rolling even faster thanks to SquirrelFish, a new JavaScript interpreter that will make Safari and any other WebKit-based browsers, standalone self contained apps, and Dashboard widgets all a lot faster. Apple's MobileMe, Yahoo's Flickr, and Google various web apps will all gain new speed thanks to faster JavaScript execution. SquirrelFish will also raise the bar in performance and efficiency in the Rich Internet Applications sector in general, giving Flash, Silverlight, and Java a faster, simpler, and more openly interoperable runtime to compete against. RoughlyDrafted: Leopard Wish List: 2005 How Open will the iPhone Get? Surfin’ Safari » Announcing SquirrelFish Microsoft's Application Features in Mac OS X, System Wide. Microsoft's business model of tacking on features hasn't been a total wash. The company's desperate efforts to invent novel marketing features for every new release of Windows and Office have pioneered a number of ideas that have later found their way into Mac OS X. One example is the idea of Fast User Switching, which Apple added to Panther. Windows XP pioneered the trick, but built it upon the kluge that is Terminal Services. Microsoft also helped originate the basis of Ajax web apps by inventing XMLHttpRequest in order to make its Outlook Web Access 2000 web app work decently within Internet Explorer. Today, standards-based web apps are eating a hole into Microsoft's monopoly on the proprietary desktop platform, and tools such as SproutCore and resulting products such as MobileMe are poised to tear down interoperability barriers and level the playing field. Microsoft may now regret having opened Pandora's Box in terms of standards-based web applications, but its efforts to seal the web back up with the proprietary Silverlight plugin, which turns web apps into .NET programs, will now be next to impossible. Another example of a Microsoft innovation are the fancy text features in Word, such as red underlining to highlight spelling mistakes and the green squiggle for grammar errors. Word also features a variety of word auto correction, smart dash insertion, and text replacement features (such as typing TM to get the ™ character). The former have already become system-wide features in Mac OS X, while sources indicate that the latter text processing features will find their way into Snow Leopard, and therefore every application that runs on it. RoughlyDrafted: Remote Display part 3: Terminal Server Cocoa for Windows + Flash Killer = SproutCore Super Size Me. On top of injecting Word features into its OS for the use of every application, Apple will also expand the use of its own Data Detectors, a technology it invented in the mid 90s for identifying useful bits of text and making it actionable. Leopard introduced Data Detectors in Mail as a way to extract contacts and events for use in Address Book and iCal, but Snow Leopard will expose Data Detectors everywhere it draws text. Sources also indicate Snow Leopard will expand upon Font Book to provide full Auto Activation of any fonts requested by any application, using Spotlight to track them down. Snow Leopard is also suggested to have a new set of frameworks specifically for working with multitouch trackpad gestures, patterned after those introduced with the MacBook Air. Speaking of the ultra-thin Air, sometimes less is more. However, the high cost and relatively low capacity of Solid State Drives like the $1000, 64 GB SSD option offered for the Air means that one Microsoft feature Snow Leopard could do without is bloat. As one reader noted, “Currently, Leopard requires 9 GB of available disk space for installation and iLife requires an additional 3 GB. This means that a product such as the [SSD] MacBook Air comes with the hard drive 20% full.� How the MacBook Air stacks up against other ultra-light notebooks Leopard Predictions for WWDC 2006 WWDC 2007: An Inside Perspective From the Halfway Point Think Small. Snow Leopard aims below the bloat to accommodate the coming wave of SSD-based systems. In the latest build, sources say Apple's own apps are losing weigh dramatically across the board. The apps in the Utilities folder all drop from 468 MB to 111.6 MB, for example. Other apps are similarly svelte, as the graph below indicates. Is this the product of just code optimization and shared resources? One factor likely relates to work on Resolution Independence, which substitutes bitmapped raster graphics (which define every pixel) with smaller vector graphics files (which draw GUI elements and controls by recipe). Vector graphics can be scaled to any size while retaining a high quality appearance, while bitmapped graphics can quickly look blocky when scaled up. Adding larger bitmapped versions can solve that problem, but at the cost of consuming more disk space. Apple earlier told developers it would be providing a library of shared, high quality vector graphics they could use instead of each packaging their own bitmapped art into every app. The dramatic size reductions in these apps must also involve more efficient Localization. For example, Mac OS X Leopard's Mail currently weighs in at over 285 MB, but the majority of its bulk comes from 18 language localizations inside the application bundle that consume 276 MB. The actual Universal Binary code is only a few megabytes and even its associated graphics and other resources only amount to 2.8 MB. Why does Apple default to dumping support for 18 or more languages in every app without providing any simple, centralized way to get rid of the unnecessary ones? Perhaps that question is answered in Snow Leopard, where Mail is reportedly just 91 MB. That's too big to simply to be an English-only, stripped down version for developers, but still far smaller than than Leopard's. Across the board, it appears Snow Leopard apps are about a third as large as their Leopard equivalents. And so while Snow Leopard paradoxically gains more useful features through code improvements and under-the-hood retooling rather than from a Microsoft-style new feature focus that aims to deliver “wow� with flashy marketing gimmicks, the system is also getting smaller and tighter. There must also be some other subtraction, right? Will Snow Leopard scrape away the old Carbon API? That's the next myth. WWDC 2008: New in Mac OS X Snow Leopard WWDC 2008: Is Mac OS X 10.6 the Death of Carbon? 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! Technorati Tags: Apple, Development, Mac, Software
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Stacks on the iPhone
Filed under: Software, Hacks, Productivity, Apple, Leopard, iPhoneSo I finally had a chance to watch that Leopard guided tour that everybody has seen already this week, and one thing struck me like a bricked iPhone thrown directly at my head: boy, Apple really does love iTunes, don't they? It's everywhere in Leopard, from the unified toolbars to the Finder with its CoverFlow interface and drop-down sidebars. Leopard might as well be called the iTunes OS.But in the future, a few months from now, we can only hope that some of Leopard functionality comes back around, and beefs up our iPhones and iPod touches. Until then, we've got this awesome hack-- someone has put Leopard's stack functionality onto the iPhone's little dock. Very cool-- if you made all four of the icons on the dock into four little stacks, you could have all of the application access, and none of the clutter.Especially when the SDK comes out (and already, those with jailbroken iPhones are feeling the icon squeeze), we're going to need expansion slots like this. Apple clearly borrowed lots of ideas from iTunes and the iPhone in their new OS, and with this idea, it's time to start borrowing them back.Thanks, Steve!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Chandler 1.0, the open source PIM
Filed under: SoftwareLittle noticed amid all the hubbub about Mobile Me, the App Store, iPhone killswitches and everything else, was the news from last week that Chandler 1.0 for OS X was finally released. If that leaves you only fractionally less in the dark, here's some background: Chandler is a cross-platform, open source Personal Information Manager (PIM), and project of the Open Source Applications Foundation. The vision behind Chandler and the OSAF is that of Mitch Kapoor, designer of the original "killer app" for the PC generation, Lotus 1-2-3. Chandler has been many years in gestation, but that's hardly surprising when you look at the feature set - there's a huge amount of stuff packed in there. The 3-minute guided tour (direct link to .mov file) is well worth watching for an overview. The very first thing that catches my eye is the "Quick entry bar", which looks just like the search boxes you see in many other OS X apps like Mail and Safari. This one isn't just for search, though; it's also for rapid input. You type something, hit enter, and it instantly becomes a new item in Chandler for you to edit, expand on, and deal with later. Chandler is a free download from chandlerproject.org. We'd be interested to hear what you make of it. Via MacNetJournalRead | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple posts Japanese iPhone guided tour
Filed under: Apple Corporate, Apple, iPhoneWith the release of the iPhone 3G, Apple will be in a completely new cell phone market in Japan. Apple recently posted a new iPhone 3G Guided Tour on the Japanese Apple website, undoubtedly to get the Japanese warmed up to the iPhone. While there are no new apparent features shown, Apple does show off the character recognition (which is really slick when you see it in action). It is still neat to watch, even if you don't understand Japnese. You can view this video on the Japanese iPhone website. [via MacRumors]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple posts iPhone 3G Guided Tour
Filed under: Found Footage, iPhone, App Store, SDK Apple just posted a guided tour for the new iPhone 3G. In the video, our old friend Bob from the original iPhone walkthrough covers "What's new in the iPhone 3G" and the iPhone 2.0 software update. The iPhone 3G isn't due out until July 11th, but it looks like Apple is, once again, trying to start up the hype train. You can watch the video by heading over to Apple's iPhone website.Thanks, Justin!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Mac OS Ken: 02.04.2008
Yahoo Welcomes Other Suitors in Microsoft Fight / Mac OS Grows Share in January / More Discounts for O2 iPhone Users / Report: Problems with 1.1 Software for iPod Classics / iTunes Overtakes RealPlayer for 2nd in Online Media Players / Apple Posts Guided Tour for Apple TV / Report: MacBook Air Processor Picked Up by 2 PC Makers / Flash Crash to Yield More Flash-Based Tech / Ive Named Great Britton by Morgan Stanley / House of Woz Discounted for Sale
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Dear Santa Steve: A Sub-notebook, iPhone stability and Aperture 2
Filed under: Humor, iTS, Portables, Odds and ends, PowerBook, Steve Jobs, Apple, Macbook Pro, MacBook, iPhone, HolidaysDear Santa Steve, As my most recent bank statements show: I've most certainly not misbehaved over the course of this last year. I've queued for hours in the bitter cold, and sacrificed myself endured keyhole surgery for injuries from doing so - no really, that bit isn't hyperbole. If there's anyone who's been an exceptionally well behaved Apple fan, you've got to admit I'm up there with the best of them. So what on earth could I be asking for? Just a few simple things: 13" MacBook Pro / MacBook nano Steve, I can wax lyrical about the sheer brute force of my 17" MacBook Pro - I love it, I really do. But lugging it on the train for a ninety-minute commute everyday isn't the pleasurable workout you might expect. In fact, I'd quite like a little version of my MBP, so that I pack it into a reasonably-sized Crumpler with my Nikon D80 and not resort to hiring sherpas buying a small trolley-case to travel. So what might I be asking for? If you were to start by making the display 13 (matte) inches or there abouts, and keep a dedicated GPU, that'd be ace - a machine Aperture would love. In fact, you could even remove the optical drive from the body, and use SSD if you really, really, wanted. I can hear Jonny Ive say 'SSD may be a little way-off yet' in the background, but you get the idea? All I'm asking for is a modern-day 12" PowerBook. I've sold my soul to Cupertino maximised my overdraft told the bank not to block large charges from my local Apple Store, and you've got my bank details. So let's work something out, for I can't be the only one asking for such a machine this year.Stability in my iPhone This one's arguably simpler Steve, what with it not requiring you to design any new hardware. I'd like my iPhone's iPod and Safari applications to get on better than you and John Sculley. I'm sorry, that was perhaps a little too forceful but I think I made my point. A software update to the device that brings some new functionality would be most welcome too, what with it being 'all about the software' and the SDK on the horizon.Aperture 2 This one may seem out of place for Stevemas - for general wisdom places Macworld as the launch of more consumer-orientated products - so I'll happily be told 'be patient, my child' for this one. But with Aperture now the last of your professional applications not to see a notable (paid) update, I'm hopeful that whatever may be in the works arrives sooner rather than later.There's but one more thing, and I'll be content for a while Steve. In fact, if there's one thing I'd choose from my requests this year, it would be this.... Let's take these big-media names to task, and encourage investment in, not criminalisation of, those who do buy their content online. Towards the end of 2007, Apple seemed to lose their iTunes momentum despite the year getting off to a good start. EMI went on the offensive, trying to capture hearts and minds by dropping DRM from their download sales. But since then, we've seen little continuation in the dream of eradicating DRM from our digital lifestyles. Steve, in 2008, all I want is for Apple to help bring the media industry back to serving the needs of its customers as a business model. Let's make it less of the iTunes Extortion and Shakedown Store, and all about the music once more.There's cookies by the side of the MacBook Pro - and green tea simmering on it. Enjoy.Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Found Footage: 'I Am Rich' walk through
Filed under: Humor, Found Footage, iPhone, App Store [YouTube link] Apparently, eight people actually bought the famed "I Am Rich" iPhone application. If you weren't rich stupid lucky enough to buy the app, or if you are merely curious what the fuss was all about -- the above "guided tour" is for you. I'll admit, I've found this whole saga pretty unfunny thus far. Don't misunderstand me, I get the joke, the whole thing has just struck me as easy and lacking any real point. Call me puerile, but I had to laugh at this video. The line that got me, "notice how 'deserve' is fashionably [misspelled]." Classic. Thanks Neil!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple posts MobileMe Guided Tour
Filed under: WWDC, Apple, .Mac MobileMe is a brand new service from Apple that will soon replace, and supplant, .Mac. Apple bills it as 'Exchange for the rest of us,' meaning that it offers you one central place ('the cloud,' as Apple is calling it) to store your email, calendar, and address book. You even have a number of different tools that let various devices sync that data. Confused? Worry not! Apple has just posted a guided tour of MobileMe that will give you a good idea of what to expect.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments