Apple Archive

Anti-Alias Text in Carbon Apps; Price Drops On Powerbooks

Eugenia Loli 2003-06-02 Apple 60 Comments

Good news for Mac OS X users or users-to-be today. Apple dropped the price of the 15" Powerbooks $300 and the price of the 12" Powerbook $200. Additionally, Silk 2.0 enables the Quartz text rendering and smoothing introduced in Mac OS X 10.1.5 in all Carbon applications. This means antialiased text in Internet Explorer, Eudora, and many others.

Mac vs. PC: Which is Better for Business?

Eugenia Loli 2003-05-27 Apple 89 Comments

"Can I run my business on Macintosh?" David Coursey answers the question in his editorial at C|Net.

A Live Linux ISO for the Mac? Vote for your Favorite Mac Linux Distro

Eugenia Loli 2003-05-26 Apple 59 Comments

Apple.slashdot.org features an interesting question by a reader, asking for a bootable "live" Linux CD for the Mac, the way Knoppix and/or Morphix do it on x86 (one CD with KDE and another one with Gnome, plus apps). I would like to urge Yellow Dog Linux, the premier Linux distro for Macs (review), to build such a version, as it would not only help their product marketing-wise, but given the reluctance found in the majority of "normal" Mac users (as opposed to power users) to re-partition their Macs and try other OSes, it should "push" and introduce these users to Linux in an easy and comfortable way. UPDATE: I put up a poll for you, come in and vote for your favorite Mac Linux distro (vote even in case you don't own a Mac; there is an option for it).

What Will It Take To Put Apple Back on Top?

Eugenia Loli 2003-05-14 Apple 58 Comments

There is a possibility that Apple could reshape itself as a consumer entertainment company, according to Gordon Haff, an analyst with Illuminata. In fact, he said doing so would be a smart move. Also, Apple announced that it has sold over 2 million songs in the first 16 days of the iTunes Music Store.

Carving up Apple

Eugenia Loli 2003-05-13 Apple 71 Comments

Deal.com has an analysis of the Apple situation and they suggest a restructuring of the company, even if that might mean break up into smaller companies a'la Palm/PalmSource.

Apple’s First Unix, A/UX

Submitted by Hylas 2003-05-10 Apple 55 Comments

Old article, but nevertheless, interesting retro reading for the weekend. The first Unix from Apple, A/UX.

Apple Unveils New eMac Family

Eugenia Loli 2003-05-06 Apple 107 Comments

From the press release: "Boosting performance while lowering the price of its popular desktop for home and school, Apple today announced an entirely new eMac line offering up to a 1 GHz PowerPC G4 processor, a faster 4x SuperDrive(TM), high performance ATI Radeon 7500 graphics, up to 80GB hard drives and internal support for AirPort Extreme wireless networking. Featuring a 17-inch flat CRT and a remarkably compact all-in-one design that is even less deep than the original iMac, the most affordable PowerPC G4 system now starts at just $799." Update: New keyboard for eMacs. Read on.

Mac OS X and PowerPC 970 Benchmarks

Submitted by anonymous teller 2003-05-05 Apple 117 Comments

Macbidouille.com offers some benchmarks of the PPC 970 platform running MacOSX in 32bit mode, against a P4 at 3 GHz and a dual G4 1.42 GHz. Keep in mind that OSNews can't confirm the validity of the benchmarks as there is no official word from Apple or IBM (the article also doesn't give information about the exact hardware configuration used for both platforms).

The Fine Art of Imaging to Deploy Apple Software

Eugenia Loli 2003-04-30 Apple 23 Comments

"In my career, I have managed the deployment of Macintosh labs and offices in colleges and elementary schools and at companies with a few workstations to those at major corporations.

Apple’s Music: Evolution, not Revolution

Eugenia Loli 2003-04-29 Apple 39 Comments

For all the glitz surrounding the unveiling Monday of Apple Computer's new music service, a quick look suggests that it's a solid, but hardly revolutionary, addition to the market.

New Music Download Service From Apple

Eugenia Loli 2003-04-28 Apple 77 Comments

MacMinute and Maccentral have live coverage on the Apple online music initiative. Macslash also reports: "Steve Jobs announced a new music download service from Apple to go along with the new iPod and the updated version of iTunes. The music service offers a song catalog of over 200,000 songs from the top 5 record labels. It will allow unlimited burning to CDs, and will play on up to 3 Macs. There's a catch with the burning, though. It will require you to change a playlist after 10 burns in order to burn again. Online 30-second previews are available for each song, as is cover art. The service will include artists not available in other online catalogs."

Online Music Service Signals New Direction for Apple Computer

Eugenia Loli 2003-04-27 Apple 23 Comments

Jobs has a new direction. While the 48-year-old chief executive's roots are in the arcane programming codes of Silicon Valley, Jobs is today increasingly fashioning himself as a digital entertainment impresario. Over the past two years, he has turned Apple into a producer of entertainment technology for digital photos, movies and music, culminating in Monday's unveiling of the online music service. Read the news here, here, here or here. "Faster Than the Speed of Software: The record labels have a new idea for selling music online. The only catch: This time, they are ahead of the technology needed for it to happen" Los Angeles Times report.

Billboard Offers Details on Apple’s Digital Music Service

Eugenia Loli 2003-04-26 Apple 38 Comments

Billboard is the latest to report on Apple's digital music service, today posting an article that further describes the service. According to Billboard, the service is an "a la carte" download store that is built into iTunes. No subscription will be required for the service, and tracks will retail for an average of 99 cents. Once purchased, songs are automatically transferred to your iTunes library and synched to an iPod (if available). The content can also be burned to CD. Read more here, here and here.

Apple, AMD Working Together; Deep Inside Apple’s Piles

Eugenia Loli 2003-04-23 Apple 34 Comments

Apple and AMD have been working together of late, a senior AMD official admitted at the launch of the chip maker's 64-bit Opteron processor this week. Also, The Register is hosting an article about Piles, a feature to reportedly be found on 10.3 Pather: They were developed by Gitta Salomon and her colleagues at Apple's Advanced Technology Human Interface Group and announced to the world at the CHI conference in May 1992.

A Windows User Spends a Week with a Mac

Submitted by Robert Renling 2003-04-21 Apple 55 Comments

Steven Garrity, graphics designer at ActsofVolition writes: "I've been conducting a user interface experiment with myself as the subject. A long-time Windows user and armchair graphical user interface critic, I have spent a week working in Mac OS X. What follows is my review of the experience."

Apple Market Share Falling while Worldwide PC Market Grows

Eugenia Loli 2003-04-19 Apple 63 Comments

A red flag for Jobs & Co: Apple's sales are falling as the overall PC market worldwide showed growth last quarter. IDC's figures of 34.6 million PCs sold last quarter, which would indicate that Apple accounted for 2.05 percent of PC shipments worldwide. Read the article at MacDailyNews.

Unofficial USB 2.0 Drivers for MDD Power Macs

Eugenia Loli 2003-04-19 Apple 47 Comments

It seems that the SMP 1.25 & 1.42 GHz Apple PowerMacs came by default with a NEC USB 2.0 controller and no one knew about it. A Korean site broke the news that while these Macs are currently sold as "USB 1.1", in reality they are USB 2.0-capable, missing only the drivers needed to function as such. Some users claim that these drivers work fine with that NEC chipset, as USB 2.0. Caution: Installation on other Mac models could render the system inoperable.

A New Leaf for Apple?

Eugenia Loli 2003-04-17 Apple 96 Comments

What will Apple Computer Inc. look like by the end of 2003? The picture should come a lot clearer in the next couple of months, as Apple moves simultaneously on several fronts that encompass its home turf as well as new swathes of territory. Read the editorial at eWeek. Update: OSNews reader Charles Finch points us to another Apple-related article, a benchmark showing the fastest SMP Apple machines against a single Pentium4 3 GHz (two pages).

Apple to Boost eMacs to 1GHz, Add Third Model

Eugenia Loli 2003-04-15 Apple 55 Comments

Apple is on the verge of announcing a trio of speed-bumped eMacs, sources confirmed to Think Secret. 'Highly reliable' sources said that Apple's consumer eMac lineup will be expanded to three models at 800MHz and 1GHz, and with larger hard drives. But other changes are also in store.

Does Apple Still Need Microsoft?

Eugenia Loli 2003-04-14 Apple 81 Comments

MacObserver editor Bryan Chaffin said that even though a new agreement between the two companies is improbable, Microsoft still has incentive to continue developing Office for Mac. Read it at NewsFactor. Update: On other Apple news, Mac OS X Server 10.2.5 has been released via Software Update.