test

[Krell]

fhfhwehfwhwhhg; ng;lhiohg



Sunday, 19 March 2006
Morgan Stanley Predicts iPhone
Topic: Apple
As we get closer to Apple's 30th anniversary, speculation is running rampant of how Apple will mark the occasion. EnGadget reports that Morgan Stanley told Barron's Online that Apple will soon introduce a "an iPod with phone functions." (N.B. Image is a clever mock-up)

This still seems like the least-likely of all possible Apple introductions, unless Apple is involved in the product in software and name only. The company has never been interested in devoting its resources to a product that will mainly make money for someone else -- a mobile carrier, in this case. Having worked with Cingular already, it could happen, but it might just be an Apple logo on a phone with the 100-song cap removed.

Apple Insider also quotes a PiperJaffrey analyst saying an iPhone is 75 percent for the next 12 months. We'll see.

Also on the rumor-mongering front, AI further claims Apple has put the 60-gig video iPod on its 60-day "at-risk list." It's not as clear a sign as an end-of-life notice, but it means Apple could pull the product for a new model at any time. More full-screen video iPod mock-ups are being generated now at the very thought of it.

Meanwhile, no firm date of an Apple event by April 1. Let's hope this doesn't turn out like the 25th anniversary, when Apple didn't do anything...
Posted by petemortensenwired 11:13 AM PST | post your comment (0) | link to this post


Media Center enabled on Mac XP
Topic: Software
The subculture based in the desire to see a computer capable of running pretty much any piece of software ever created has found a true home on the Intel Macs.

Since the announcement late last week that narf2006 and blanka had won Colin Neederkoorn's contest to get Windows XP installed on a MacBook Pro, talented users who know both a hell of a lot about Macs and Windows have been working to fill in the gaps left by the initial version of the software.

A member at OSx86 Project, Airman Pika, figured out a way to enable Windows Media Center Edition 2005 on Intel Macs, and posted the screenshots to prove it.

There's a further initiative to get a triple-boot machine running OS X, Windows and Linux running simultanously, though not much progress has been made in that regard.

To get a sense of the kind of excitement and passion committed to what was once a blasphemy (installing Windows on a Mac), the thread tracking various users' experiences with video drivers using the XOM (XP On Mac) solution is essential reading. The answer hasn't been found yet, but people are literally working on this around the clock and around the world.

It also contains evidence of some of the first efforts to break XOM, apparently put together by a PC user. The Mac/PC wars have never before been so accessible.
Posted by petemortensenwired 10:56 AM PST | post your comment (0) | link to this post


Friday, 17 March 2006
Does DRM Really Suck the Life of Batteries? -- CNet Test Flawed
Topic: iPod
An experiment by CNet to see whether copy-protected music files sucked the life out of player's batteries is interesting but flawed.

According to CNet, DRM copy-protected music can decrease battery life by up to 25 percent thanks to the processing overhead necessary to play them.

But as one commentator on the story points out, the test compared protected WMA files with unprotected MP3 files. It should have compared protected-WMA to unprotected WMA, or Apple's FairPlay AAC versus unprotected AAC.

Posted by Wiredblogs 7:07 AM PST | post your comment (8) | link to this post


Thursday, 16 March 2006
Here's the Censored Pics of Torched MacBook Power Connector
Topic: Apple

The Dutch MacNed website has copies of the controversial pictures of a MagSafe power connector that were removed from Flickr on Thursday at the request of Apple.

The magnetic MagSafe power connector allegedly burned up. Its owner, Rogier Mulder, posted some pictures to Flickr, which immediately caught the attention of Apple. He was asked to remove the pictures while the company investigates. He writes on Flickr:

"Apple support responded very well (thanks Klaas) and fast. Before I called our local Apple support line, the dutch engineers were already contacted by their US collegues (who saw the pics) to inquire if I already called in. I'm getting a new Macbook asap and I will return my current one."

Posted by Wiredblogs 10:37 PM PST | post your comment (24) | link to this post


Contest Confirms XP on Intel Mac Process Authentic
Topic: Hardware
Count it. The organizers of the XP on Mac contest have confirmed that blanka and narf2006's solution to installing Windows XP on Intel Macs is authentic and are offering instructions and the needed files (you'll need your own Win XP installation CD) to make it happen here.

There's also a Wiki with basic information you can read here. There are still some outstanding issues, as detailed in t he FAQ:

* Why won't it work on my 20 inch iMac?
o It has resolution problems. Stay tuned for a fix

* What works?
o So far, the optical drive, Ethernet, USB, Firewire and sound (via headphone/speaker jack) all work

* What doesn't work?
o MacBook: Airport card
o Everything: iSight, remote, video drivers

Pretty impressive. Two months from Intel Mac release to successful isntallation. On the other hand, for the time-being you need a PC in order to create the bootdisk, and they're not releasing a fully hacked Win XP boot image, for obvious reasons. But *checks watch* I would expect to see such an illegal varmint online in...a couple of minutes.

Edit: Check out an interview with contest founder Colin Nederkoom At CNET
Posted by petemortensenwired 3:57 PM PST | post your comment (1) | link to this post


FreeiPods.com Sold Private Data -- Despite Promising Not To
Topic: iPod
FreeiPods.com, the wildly popular marketing scheme that offers free iPods for trying out various subscription offers, sold the data it gathered on 7.2 million Americans to an email advertising firm, according to a story at Wired News by my colleague Ryan Singel.

(New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer) announced Monday that e-mail marketing giant Datran Media had agreed to a $1.1 million fine for knowingly buying marketing lists from companies with privacy policies that promised not to sell or transfer the lists to a third party.

... Datran's biggest purchase, according to the text of the settlement (.pdf), was a list of 7.2 million Americans' names, e-mail addresses, home phone numbers and street addresses from Gratis Internet, a company best known for promising free iPods, televisions and DVDs to users willing to sign up for promotions offered by partners such as Citibank, Blockbuster and BMG's music club.

The sites inspired dozens of "Is there really such a thing as a free iPod?" stories in the press (including one by Wired News), and internet forums were packed with pleas for information on how to acquire a free version of Apple Computer's signature fetish item. The freebie required a registrant to sign up five others into the program, and eventually the legalized pyramid scheme reached its inevitable saturation point.

While many did indeed get a free iPod, all ended up with inboxes full of marketing pitches, which began showing up within hours of registering.

Gratis lied to me for the story I wrote originally about the company (also linked above), which did wonders for their early credibility, and then lied again for a follow-up story I wrote about it's privacy practices that was prompted by the avalanche of spam its customers mysteriously received.

In addition, Gratis Internet was a member of Truste, which provides a "privacy seal" to companies it says have a trusted privacy policy.

When asked by Wired News in 2004 how third-party spammers got hold of Gratis members' e-mail addresses, Truste said it could not find a problem with Gratis' practices.

"The results of our investigation indicate that Gratis Internet did not violate their privacy policy," Truste investigator Alexander Yap wrote in an October 2004 e-mail. "Truste did, however, work with them to strengthen and clarify their privacy statement."

Several months later, Truste revoked Gratis' seal of approval, then quickly reinstated it, then pulled it again, but declined to state publicly its reasons.

In the wake of this week's settlement, Truste's spokeswoman did not return repeated phone calls, and executive director Fran Maier did not respond to e-mailed questions about why Truste never discovered the alleged sale or informed the public that Gratis was not adhering to its privacy policy.

Posted by Wiredblogs 10:35 AM PST | post your comment (1) | link to this post


Wednesday, 15 March 2006
Apparent Proof of XP on Intel Mac
Mac on Intel has provided a link to a video that appears to show the full procedure for installing, booting and using Windows XP on an Intel Mac by narf2006. The contest sponsors are still testing the procedure now.

You can see the video here or here. It's fairly convincing stuff. The only possible way I can think to fake this would be if they got into the iMac's internals and connected its screen to an outside computer. I haven't messed with a current-generation iMac, but it was certainly possible back when it came in colors. If real, this is a pretty astounding accomplishment, given that Microsoft won't be supporting EFI for years.

This comes on the same day that two readers of MacWindows reported about their experiences with Q, the cocoa-based port of QEMU, on their Intel Macs. Apparently, Win XP SP1 and 98 run pretty darn well. Yes, you read that right.
Posted by petemortensenwired 11:01 AM PST | post your comment (7) | link to this post


World's First iPod Film Festival
Topic: Quickies
Flux has announced the first-ever iPod film festival. They accepted entries in iPod video format from 11 different countries, and no users can vote on their favorites. low-ranking videos get kicked out after the first week, and then final voting will be open until April 15.
Posted by petemortensenwired 10:53 AM PST | post your comment (0) | link to this post


It's the System (7) of 1995 -- TODAY!
Anyone who thinks that modern graphics, audio, multitasking, search, protected memory and I/O are strange and confusing would do well to hit up System 7 Today, the Web site devoted to getting the most out of Macintosh System 7.6.1, the "ultimate version of System 7."

It's the brainchild of a Bradley University student, Dan Palka, who introduces himself thusly:

This site is owned and maintained by Dan Palka. His main computer is a 1.8ghz G4 tower, running the latest versions of Tiger and everything else. But for school reports and such, he likes to tote around his older PowerBook which runs, of course, Mac OS 7.6.1.

Dan attends Bradley University, majoring in Advertising. His other interests include cars, politics, and drinking heavily. This site is growing over time!

Dan maintains an entire lab of PowerPC 601, 603, and 604 based Macs which he uses in testing software for this site.

It's a nostalgia-fest, and a glorious one. And who knew you could still order a boxed copy of 7.6.1 from Apple?
Posted by petemortensenwired 10:38 AM PST | post your comment (0) | link to this post


Hearing Hazard?
Topic: iPod
There continues to be much gnashing of teeth about the notion that the iPod is causing hearing loss worldwide. The story derives, as the Chicago Tribune reports in the first link, from a Zogby poll conducted in late February that found that almost 30 percent of teenagers and young adults exhibit some symptoms of hearing loss.

Well, duh.

It's nice that the articles in question mostly clarify that it's all portable media devices that contribute to hearing loss, not just the iPod, but the copy-editors were mostly sure to put the industry standard as close to the top as possible.

It's been known since headphones came out that listening to music for too loud for too long damages your ears. What is needed is education about how much is too much, not a bunch of lawsuits. If you're honestly not sure how loud is too loud and you default to full-blast, who's really to blame?

There might be merit in a maximum output standard such as France has, but I've a feeling it's possible to damage your ears from listening at 100 decibels for extraordinarily long periods of time. Manufacturers need to take some precautions, but this would need to be litigated to unuseful volume-levels to ensure that no one ever damages their hearing with an iPod.

Even then, someone could shove a Shuffle into their ear-canal.
Posted by petemortensenwired 10:17 AM PST | post your comment (3) | link to this post


It's The First iTunes Movie! Just $2, no, $10!
Topic: iTunes
Apple posted the first pretend movie to the iTunes store early this morning.

As Macrumors reports in the above link, the Disney made-for-TV movie High School Musical (iTunes link) went up for sale for $1.99 for the nearly 500-meg file. Almost immediately, it got yanked and reposted -- for $9.99.

This might be an indication of pricing when Apple begins offering real movie downloads (you know, ones that have seen the inside of a theater, instead of on expanded basic cable).
Posted by petemortensenwired 10:00 AM PST | post your comment (1) | link to this post

[Lord_of_the_Dense]

Thanks for testing this, Krell. Now I know it's here.

[Krell]

Well you know I stay up late just to make ur life complete

but while your here and happy as a little girl, maybe you could just do one small thing?

put the DELETE button back on my %$#@! profile


.

[Lord_of_the_Dense]

I am totally lost at what you're requesting.

[Krell]

the ability to click a fucking delete button

its gone

do you have it?

go get me one, I want refund


.

[Excrement_Cranium]

Getting ready to do some housecleaning, Krell?

[Mels_Smileys45]

Delete buttons been gone awhile. A mod can only delete threads now.



Whats the test for?

[Krell]

No, I was testing some scripting functionality, i just posted this in a obscure place

What do you mean "have been gone for a while"?

I cant delete a post, or a thread that I CREATED, what kind of bullshit is that?


.

[mfgbypooter]

sameo.

*

[Lord_of_the_Dense]

I understand the frustration as I have encountered the same on many other sites.

I should have a right to delete my own spam!

Dunno what to say, Krell. Just don't take us hostage.

[Krell]

Its not like I dont have plenty of OTHER posts to run code on, I just wanted something less conspicuous.


.

[mfgbypooter]

The hardest part about this test is not having a number two pencil.

*

[Lord_of_the_Dense]

#50 "Scripting functionality" is:

○ A - Krell's way of sounding smart.

○ B - Hard to pronounce.

○ C - Essential to file-sharing.

○ D - Proof of evolution.

○ E - The act of drawing a good "member."

All answers should be completely filled in "●" with no stray lines outside the circle. Good luck!

[Krell]

l m a o !

[shawners]

Originally Posted by Krell

No, I was testing some scripting functionality, i just posted this in a obscure place

What do you mean "have been gone for a while"?

I cant delete a post, or a thread that I CREATED, what kind of bullshit is that?


.

It's to protect the SEXY spam thread that cpugen was gonna delete.