The One September 27, 2007
Posted by reverseengineer in Alternatives, Announcements, Hardware, iMacs, The Other Side of the Fence.6 comments
It seems the fading Gateway still has some fight left in it. The former computer giant has unveiled its contender for the iMac throne with something Gateway calls, simply, One.
Tale of the tape:
- 3.6″ thick all in all
- 19-inch widescreen LCD
- 2 models at US$1300/US$1800
- 1.5GHz/2GHz Core 2 Duo
- 2GB/3GB memory
- 320gb/500gb hard drive
- special online-only model at US$1500
- all black front
- metal shell
- all cords and most ports out of sight (all on the power adapter)
- side-mounted slot-loading DVD burner
- no announced date of availability, but soon
Now call me silly, but doesn’t that look like something we all know?
Google Calendar interface for iPhone upgraded September 26, 2007
Posted by reverseengineer in Announcements, Apps, iPhone, Updates & Patches.add a comment
The Google Calendar graphic interface has just been upgraded to have an iPhone-specific look when using the popular phone.
Being tailored for the iPhone, it’s now a perfect fit, and can show distinctive colors based on your calendar preferences. iPhone users can just point their Safari browsers to http://calendar.google.com.
For more info just head on over to the Official Gmail Blog here.
Heads-up: MacBook/MacBook Pro update September 25, 2007
Posted by reverseengineer in Announcements, Apple Inc., Downloads, Hardware, Notebooks, Updates & Patches.add a comment
Apple’s just issued MacBook/MacBook Pro Update 1.0 via Software Update.
This update enables file system journaling on MacBook and MacBook Pro notebook computers. Some MacBook and MacBook Pro systems were shipped with file system journaling turned off. Journaling is recommended on all Mac computers as a preventative measure against file corruption.
Eh? The 660KB download is explained further on the Apple Support Page here.
Coffee and a song: 50,000,000 iTunes tracks for free September 25, 2007
Posted by reverseengineer in Announcements, Free Stuff, iPhone, iPods, iTunes Store, Music.add a comment
Starbucks announced today that they are giving away 1.5 million songs everyday from October 2 to November 7 across its 10,000 branches in the United States, for a total of 50,000,000 by promo’s end.
This is part of the launching of the “Now Playing” arrangement with Apple that allows iPhone or iPod Touch users or those accessing the US iTunes Wifi Store at one of 600 initial Starbucks outlets in New York and Seattle to preview, buy and download the song current playing at the coffee shop as instant gratification. The “Song of The Day” promo will give customers iTunes cards for a complimentary song download for a specific track selected by Starbucks.
The songs will be selected from a wide variety of artists including Bob Dylan, Joss Stone, Dave Matthews, Bebel Gilberto, John Mayer, KT Tunstall, John Legend, Annie Lennox, Joni Mitchell, Keith Urban, Paul McCartney, Sia, Band of Horses, Hilary McRae, Frederico Aubele and Sara Bareilles. Customers have until the end of the year to download their free tracks.
New OpenOffice for Mac available Sept (next year) September 20, 2007
Posted by reverseengineer in Announcements, Apps, FOSS, Share/Freeware.1 comment so far
On the heels of the release of OpenOffice.org 2.3.0 update for most operating systems on the planet this week, the group has announced that they are releasing a new native Mac version of OpenOffice, the FOSS alternative office suite, one that does not require X11 to run, in September – of 2008.
I actually did a double-take when reading the original report from Computerworld, thinking they meant this September we’re in now – which made me wonder about the odd statement; why not just say this month then?
Macworld UK didn’t even notice the year: writer Jonny Evans, citing the exact same original report I linked to, wrote totally a off-the-mark and misleading report that headlined “Mac native OpenOffice this month?” It further says:
Popular and free Microsoft Office alternative OpenOffice seems set to ship in a native Mac OS X version later this month.
A report on Computerworld claims that OpenOffice 3.0 will ship later this month, citing a presentation to be made today by the lead engineer working on the project, Eric Bachard.
If you hurry, you can still read Macworld UK’s big blooper (if they haven’t yet pulled it by now) here. (If they have, I can still show you – I saved the page, heh heh.) They should read more closely, especially if they’re just snagging a report. Macworld should be more careful. If you’re just going to crib (like me), at least get the dates right. Tsk tsk.
Ahem. Back to the story.
Development for the Mac platform has been lackluster and perfunctory of late, but with the increasing popularity and acceptance of Macs and OS X as part of the halo effect of the various Apple “side” projects, apparently the group has re-thought their commitment to the Mac community and redoubled efforts to develop the suite for the platform, and assigned a few more people to the project. But – a year?
Version 3.0 is being designed for OS X 10.5, although by then 10.6 might be the prevailing OS for the Mac.
A year might be too long for most people. Like me. This is one instance where I literally can’t wait. And I don’t mean that in a good way.
Mum Tuesday: the UK iPhone September 18, 2007
Posted by reverseengineer in Announcements, Apple Inc., Events, iPhone, Support, Telecommunications.add a comment
The Apple Event in Regent Street’s done, and we’re basically underwhelmed. Just the rollout announcement of the iPhone for the UK. No earthshakers, no surprises, no open-line 3G units. Here are the uh, high points:
- O2 is the official
suckercarrier - Rollout will be on November 9
- 8GB iPhones will cost approx US$535
- You can transfer your existing number from other carriers
- Same banana – use iTunes to activate, update
- Nothing new – no 16gb, no 3g, no open lines, no nothin’
- No news on carriers for other European countries
Ho-hum. For a more detailed coverage, check out Engadget.
Becoming un-blued September 8, 2007
Posted by reverseengineer in Announcements, Apple Inc., Hardware, iPods.1 comment so far
Breaking News: Boing Boing confirms that there is no Bluetooth feature in the new iPod Touch. Despite obvious “evidence” on Apple‘s own sites (and reported everywhere on the net, even here), an Apple spokesman Boing Boing, uh, spoke to unequivocally says there is no Bluetooth of any kind in the new iPod.
We were all just imagining that little squiggle then. Hmph.
See the denial through Boing Boing here. Doink doink!