What's New - Jul 20, 2005

By: Mike Yocom - Revised: 2006-07-03 devin

Download Slides – PDF-File, 3.7 MB

Introduction

What's new for the Mac in the previous month:
  • General issues, workarounds and fixes
  • New Software and hardware
  • Software and hardware updates/patches


New Apple Software

Xsan Admin 1.1 Update (10.3.9 & 10.4.1) — Delivers overall improved reliability for remotely administering, configuring and maintaining Xsan 1.1 deployments.

Xsan 1.1 Update (10.3.9 & 10.4) — Delivers overall improved reliability for Xsan and is required for all systems.

WebObjects 5.3 Update for Mac OS X Server 10.4 — Makes it easy to develop and deploy enterprise-level web services and Java server applications — while giving you the agility to respond quickly to change.

iPod Updater 2005-06-26 — iPod Updater 2005-06-26 includes new iPod Software 1.2 for iPod with color display, new iPod software 3.1 for iPod and new iPod software 1.4 for iPod mini. iPod Updater 2005-06-26 contains the same software versions as iPod Updater 2005-03-23 for all other iPod models.

iTunes 4.9 — You can now browse and subscribe to podcasts from within the iTunes Music Store.

DVD Playback Update 4.6.1 — DVD Playback Update 4.6.1 addresses a disc validation issue some users may encounter when attempting to play a disc for the first time with DVD Player 4.6. This update is recommended for all users of DVD Player 4.6.

iSync Update 2.1 — supports compatibility for more devices such as the latest Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic and Sony Ericsson phones.

Mac OS X 10.4.2 (Client Combo & Delta, Server Combo & Delta) — Delivers overall improved reliability for Mac OS X v10.4 and is recommended for all users.

iPhoto 5.0.3 — Recommended for all customers using iPhoto 5.0, 5.0.1 and 5.0.2, iPhoto 5.0.3 addresses issues with Tiger compatibility, Book and Print ordering, and Smart Albums.

Final Cut Studio Updates — The latest updates to all Final Cut Studio applications: Final Cut Pro 5, DVD Studio Pro 4, Motion 2, Soundtrack Pro, Compressor 2, Apple Qmaster 2, Cinema Tools 3, and LiveType 2.

DVD Studio Pro 4.0.1 — DVD Studio Pro 4.0.1 Update addresses isolated stability issues. In PAL menus, the font size no longer changes when applying the same template multiple times. Auto button assignment now works consistently in all templates.

Soundtrack Pro 1.0.1 — Soundtrack Pro gives audio and video professionals a powerful way to edit and design sound. Provides improved reliability and performance.

Final Cut Pro 5.0.2 — Final Cut Pro 5.0.2 Update provides improved reliability. Final Cut Pro (version 5.0.2) is highly recommended for all Final Cut Pro 5 users.

AirPort 4.2 (Mac OS X 10.3.3—10.3.9, Mac OS X 10.4.2) — This update fixes compatibility with Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA2) security software on AirPort Express and AirPort Extreme base stations. This update also resolves IPv6 link local configuration issues.

New Third Party Software

(Updates are assumed to be for Mac OS X, not much is being updated for Mac OS 9 nowadays…)

Anti-Virus Updates
  • Symantec NAV virus def Jul 14
  • Virex 7 DAT 050713
BBedit 8.2.2

Dantz Retrospect 6 Driver Update 6.4.102

Eggplant 2.21

File Buddy 8.1.6

FileSalvage 4.0

FinderCleaner 1.5

Guest PC 1.5

Wacom Pen Table 4.9.0-2

Wacom Tablet 4.8.7-2

Mathematica 5.2

TextWrangler 2.1

TinkerTool 3.5

Toast Titanium 6.1.1

VirtualPC 7.02

Software Notes

According to a Knowledge Base article, Apple has dropped Virex as part of .Mac. Anecdotal evidence indicates that Virex's lack of Tiger compatibility is the reason for Virex being dropped.

The E-Commerce News is reporting that Students Use iTunes, Even With Free Napster at Hand. The University of Rochester, amongst other universities, has a partnership with Napster that gives each student a free account on Napster's subscription service. However, a survey of Rochester students shows that seventy percent still us the iTunes Music Store, even with access to a free Napster account. The main reason, according to the survey, is the lack of iPod compatibility with Napster's service.

Hardware News

Apple recently released the fifth-generation iPod, essentially merging the iPod and iPod photo families. The new iPods offer:
  • Color Display
  • Photo Albums
  • 15 hour Battery Life
  • 20GB — $299/269 EDU
  • 60GB — $399/369 EDU
Apple also quietly lowered the price of the 1GB iPod shuffle by $30, to $129/119 EDU.

LaCie is offering the LaCie mini, an external hard drive designed to compliment the Mac mini. Drives used are 7200 rpm drives, at capacities as high as 250GB, with a 300GB version due in September. The case matches the material of the Mac mini, and is designed to allow the mini to be stalked on top of the LaCie mini with space between to maintain cooling airflow.
  • USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 versions
  • 80GB, 160GB, and 250GB

Retail News

Publish magazine is running an article quoting graphic-arts consultant David Blatner, who says that InDesign, Not Quark, Is the Future of DTP.

Apple recently held a promotion to Countdown to 500 million iTMS Downloads. The grand price was 10 iPods, a 10,000-song gift card, four Coldplay tickets, and Coldplay "back-stage" passes. Every 100,000th song during the promotion won an iPod mini and a 50-song gift card.

BroadcastEngineering is reporting that Intel backs movie download venture, along with Revelations Entertainment. The venture, called ClickStar, will provide movie distribution over the internet on the same day the movie opens in theaters.

According to iPodNN, Sony MP3 players outsell Apple's Shuffle in Japan. The article hints that the lack of a Japanese iTunes Music Store could be to blame. Apple's hard-drive based iPod mini and regular iPod are still the top sellers in Japan.

A Business Times article reports that Microsoft will help Creative challenge the iPod dominance.

Citing a recent survey, Blu-ray Claims To Have Support from Majority of Consumers. The survey should be taken with a grain of salt, as it was conducted by the Blu-ray group itself.

Issues

Occasional performance issues in Safari crop up as a result of corrupted QuickTime Plugin preferences. Deleting the corrupted preference at ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.quicktime.plugin.preferences.plist from time to time is one workaround.

Some people have reported strange behavior when printing to HP printers from Tiger. Specific problems include excrutiatingly slow printing with the printer saying "Processing Job" for several minutes, and unusually high processor utilization. Workarounds include making sure you use the gimp-print versions of the printer drivers and downloading the Panther versions of your HP drivers. Another odd thing is that sometimes the problems are limited to the first time you print from a particular application, meaning that if you print, see the problem, cancel the job, and print again, the problem goes away.

There's widespread reports that the first restart after installing Tiger can take an unusually long period of time if the computer is connected to a network via Ethernet. A workaround is to unplug the Ethernet until the computer finishes starting up. Fortunately, the problem seems to be limited to the first restart.

Mac OS X in Brief

Freescale, formerly Motorola's semiconducter unit, has announced the MPC7448, a new version of the "G4". This new version improves on the MPC7447/MPC7447A currently used in PowerBooks and iBooks by increasing the system bus from 167 MHz to 200 MHz, the L2 Cache to 1MB, is produced using a 90nm SOI CMOS process, and increases the CPU speed from 1.42 GHz to 1.7 GHz. (The official top speed for the 7447A is 1.42 GHz, suggesting that Apple is over clocking the chip to get the 1.5 and 1.67 GHz PowerBooks.)

IBM has also announced new PowerPC products with the PowerPC 970FX, a low-power version of the "G5", and the PowerPC 970MP, a dual-core version. The main feature of the 970FX is that it runs on only 13W of power at 1.4 GHz, and 16W at 1.6 GHz. The 970MP Antares offers dual cores running at 1.4—2.5 GHz each, with 1MB L2 Cache per core.

Intel also has big processor news, announcing that it will revamp its product line in 2006. This is probably just the tip of the iceberg in regards to what Apple was shown to entice them into switching processor platforms. The main feature of Intel's revamp is to switch to 65 nm processes without increasing clock speed, which would significantly lower power requirements and heat generated by its chips. Most interesting of the new cores is "Yonah" and a 64-bit version code-named "Merom", which will allow the Pentium M line to migrate from Laptop-only to "Small Form Factor" (SFF) PCs and Notebooks, making it the possible engine for both the PowerBook and Mac mini.

Citing insider information, Jon "Hannibal" Stokes of ArsTechnica says that performance-per-watt is not the main reason Apple is switching to Intel chips, see Inside the big switch: the iPod and the future of Apple Computer for details.

As reported in the Houston Chronicle, the Mac mini and iPod shuffle both won Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA).

General News

iCon, the unauthorized biography of Steve Jobs that got a lot of publicity when the Apple Store removed all books from Wiley, who published iCon, from their shelves a couple months ago, has failed to impress at least one reviewer.

eWeek reports that Intel Says Photonics Light the Way to Faster Chips. Photonics are interconnects that transmit data using light, instead of electricity, which would significantly boost performance within processors, especially inter-core communication on multicore chips.

Although the Third Quarter is traditionally Apple's weakest quarter, Apple had an exceptionally strong Third Quarter this year. Highlights include:
  • $320 million profit (compared to $61 million in Q3 2004)
  • Revenue of $3.52 billion (compared to $2.01 billion in Q3 2004)
  • $7.2 billion in cash
  • 1.2 million Macs shipped — the highest quarterly Mac sales in over four years, and the highest Q3 Mac sales ever
  • 6.2 million iPods shipped — 616% more than Q3 2004
For more information read the official Apple press release, AppleInsider's excellent summary, or listen to the conference call.

In related news, Apple's Third Quarter growth outpaced the rest of the PC industry, increasing Apple's market share to 4.5%, causing it to move up from the fifth largest market share to the fourth largest.

Declan McCullagh of C|Net News.com asks Will the UN run the Internet?

IBM has officially announced that support for OS/2 Warp will end on December 23. The recommendation of IBM itself for those using OS/2 is to migrate to Linux. An OS/2 Users' group is urging IBM to make OS/2 open source.

Scientists have made the startling discovery of a planet orbiting one of the stars in a trinary star system, meaning the planet would have three suns. This is significant in that there has long been doubt that planets could form in such multi-star systems.

Humor

Joy of Tech
  • Dude
  • War of the Worlds
  • Communing with Nature

Events

MacEnterprise Webcast: Mac OS X Server

Presenters: Eric Zelenka, Apple Computer
Moderator: Fred Reynolds, Apple Computer
Date: July 12, 2005 (will be available for download in a couple weeks)

EXPO 2005 Aichi, Japan
  • ("World Fair")
  • Location: Aichi Prefecture (between Tokyo City and Sedo City)
  • Dates: March 25—September 25, 2005
  • Registration Information
SIGGRAPH 2005
  • Location: Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA
  • Dates: July 31—Aug 4, 2005
  • Schedule
  • Registration
Presenting Final Cut Studio
  • Location: CompUSA #264, 1830 South 389 West, Salt Lake City, UT
  • Dates: July 21, 2005
  • Free introductory demonstration of Final Cut Pro 5, Motion 2, Soundtrack Pro, and DVD Studio Pro