New Keyboard Rumors
Posted by Stretch | Filed under Apple, Blogs, Gadgets, Rumors
Engadget has posted pictures of a new keyboard rumored to be the next keyboard from Apple.
It looks alot like the MacBook keyboard, and I very much like the style, but I’m not quite convinced that this is real, and if it is, why did Apple do some of the stuff it did?
Given the above, I’d give this, oh, a 75% chance of being a developmental version of the new Apple keyboard. I’d say there’s very little chance this keyboard will ship in this form.
There are too many unknowns here. Why move the volume keys over the middle, when it fits fine above the numberpad on the current keyboard?
Via Daring Fireball
Latest Leopard Screenshots
Posted by Stretch | Filed under Apple, Rumors, Software
Currently Playing ~ Breath | Breaking Benjamin
Think Secret has released a gallery of screenshots of the latest build (9A343) of Leopard.
Thanks to Leopard’s many under-the-hood improvements, users can expect to see signficant gains in performance and responsiveness under Mac OS X 10.5, especially on recent Macs. Window resizing relative to different System Preference Panes, for example, is now instantaneous and completely smooth, without that half-second delay found in previous Mac OS X releases.
As far as build 9A343 specifically goes, most of the bundled applications and utilities remained unchanged from earlier builds. The Terminal has seen substantional improvements with the first public release of version 2.0; tabbed windows and a new Inspector and preferences are the most notable preferences.
Apple has also added a three new screensavers to Mac OS X 10.5, details of which can be found in the accompanying screenshot gallery.
They also think that Apple will be releasing Leopard at the end of March, which I’ll believe when it happens.
Via TUAW
Mac OS X Finally Hacked?
Posted by Stretch | Filed under Apple, News, Rumors
Currently Playing ~ Black And White | Static-X | Machine
Everyone has heard the news by now. Mac OS X has finally been hacked, or has it?
While it’s troublesome that you can apparently get root access from a non-privileged account in OS X, I would be more worried if the guy got it without the help of a non-privileged account in the first place.
Needing that means we’re back to where we were yesterday, where virtually the only way someone is getting into your Mac is if you invite them in, either intentionally or through accepting a Trojan horse.
Not to mention, the guy who set up this challenge in the first place doesn’t seem to be the world’s savviest sysadmin. The hacker claims he used “undocumented exploits” to get in, but that just sounds like tough talk to be more mysterious. He probably just used a flaw in a network service that the admin left open. A firewall (which ships preinstalled on every Mac) would probably have prevented it.
So it looks like we still have no problem with someone hacking into your Mac yet. Although,
Watch out though, I’m coming to get you with a whole book of undocumented exploits! Just create me an admin account on your machine first and close your eyes!
Via Digg
Mac Mini No Longer Available As Bulk Order
Posted by Stretch | Filed under Apple, News, Rumors
Currently Playing ~ 13 Steps To Nowhere | Pantera | The Great Southern Trendkill
Apple’s Mac Mini is no longer available for bulk orders according to FreeMacBlog. Which may mean we will be seeing Intel Minis at the Apple event on the 28th of this month.
I work for a company that goes through a lot of Mac minis. A lot of minis. A couple hundred a month.
Well, today we called to place our order for our next big batch of minis and we were told “We’re not able to take large orders for Mac minis right now.†And that was it.
At first, my boss got a little upset because we do this all the time. But, I reminded him of a certain Apple Event scheduled for Feb. 28th planned for some “fun new products from Apple.†That calmed him a bit.
If this is true, and I can get a nice Mac Mini for under $300, I think I will.
Via TUAW
iTMS Videos To Go HD?
Posted by Stretch | Filed under Apple, Blogs, Gadgets, Movies, Rumors
Currently Playing ~ Sacrament Of Wilderness | Nightwish | Oceanborn
Rumors are abound about a touch sensitive, widescreen iPod. If this is true, then the videos from iTMS are all the wrong resolution. So a possible upgrade to HD videos may be coming in the near future.
Currently, most videos downloaded via the iTunes store come in at 320 pixels wide x 240 pixels high, the size of the current iPod screen. This translates to about half of a standard definition television set’s resolution. The compression Apple uses on its videos is quite aggressive. Videos looks great at native size, but once you begin scaling ITMS videos, you begin to see blocky compression artifacts (these artifacts are more noticeable in “dark†shows like LOST). Playing back iTunes video from an iPod hooked to a television via Apple’s AV Connection Kit results in a viewing experience similar to watching a VHS tape.
But lets imagine for a moment that the next “video†iPod does indeed have a screen 3x larger than the current model. That would be a 960 x 540 screen, assuming Apple would be adopting a 16×9 horizontal form factor, as most predict. Although Apple’s compression codec scales fairly well, and videos often look reasonable (if not a bit soft) at even double their size, a 3x scaling is pushing it a bit. Throw in the fact that it’s hard to even find a standard definition TV in a store like Circuit City anymore, and you see that the idea of Apple locking itself into half-res video meant for standard def viewing is a dead end.
Via Digg
