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HybRed lacks finished touches |
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Opinions
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Monday, 30 June 2008 |
 There is a a PC mod running around the internet that seems to be getting a lot of comparisons to the iMac. It goes by the name HybRed, and is supposed to be a PC all-in-one. The modder, Ville 'Willek' Kyrö, got his motivation from an iMac, but that is where it ended. Gizmodo's review made it sound like this was a bad-ass machine that blows the iMac out of the water. For me, it looks a little bit to unfinished and tacky to be compared to an iMac.
While it does house the display and motherboard in the same enclosure, the style is nothing like that of an iMac. And yes, it might be the "ultimate" all-in-one gaming console, but if you have to sacrifice looks for it, well ... I'd prefer the looks. The power supply has it's own 120mm fan and has large metal gauge enclosures for binding the wires together between the power supply and the case (and the case to itself?). There's enough LED lights on this thing to keep a small room illuminated and the cut-out sides of the case seem a little bit over-done. The craftsmanship seems like it is high quality, to me it just seems in poor taste. Maybe it's me, but I'll take an iMac over the HybRed any day.
HybRed case on metku.net via technabob and gizmodo
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Overclocking the MacPro made easy |
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Featured Mods
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Sunday, 29 June 2008 |
 So this looks pretty promising from our German friends at ZDNet.de. ZDNet has released an application that allows you to overclock your Mac Pro for free. The ZDNet Clock Tool 1.0 for Mac Pro allows you to grab some extra processor powers for all Mac Pros. It has been tested with the first generation and the latest generation of the Mac Pro with some success. According to the article on ZDNet.de the 2.66 GHz first generation MacPro can run at 3.1 GHz and remain stable, while the recent MacPros start off at 2.8 GHz and can be clocked up to 3.24 GHz.
The overclocking does come at some cost, mainly a possibly unstable system and an increased system clock. ZDNet is working on fixing the clock issues with future releases, but the unstable atmosphere may never go away (as that is the nature of over clocking). Waking up from a standby mode may cause the overclocking to reset, and the app may even cause some Mac Pro's to not be able to reboot.
This software seems more like a beta than a release, but if you are interested in overclocking in a safe way (a hard reboot sets it back to normal) give this a look. No reports of totally hosed systems yet, so it is far safer than a hardware hack.
Read more at ZDNet.de via MacRumors.com
Download ZDNet Clock Tool 1.0 here.
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Logitech sticks it to Mac users. |
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Other
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Friday, 27 June 2008 |
 Logitech used to be a great place to get equipment for your Mac, but I wouldn't suggest it to anybody now. Logitech is still recovering from the APE and blue screen fiasco. If you didn't hear about it before, lots of Logitech device owners were getting blue screens when upgrading to Leopard because of the version of APE that was installed by Logitech's older device drivers. It looks like Logitech would rather go that route than prepare a real Mac driver for their system. But wait, if that wasn't bad enough get ready for Logitech's latest anti-Mac move.
Logitech has released their QuickCam Vision Pro for the Mac only. While it does a great job, their's something fishy about it. The model looks very similar to the QuickCam Pro 9000 for Windows. It has the exact same specs, but just has a different ring around the logo. Oh yea, the Vision Pro for the Mac also cost $129, as opposed to the Pro 9000 which is only $99. Yes, that's right. Logitech is charging you an extra 30% for the Mac driver development. I really hope that Apple makes a new iSight HD, and I really hope that Logitech stops the Mac hating and re-adjusts the price before it gets to market in July.
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Snow Leopard is Leopard, just faster. |
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Apple
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Friday, 27 June 2008 |
It seems like Snow Leopard is just going to be another version of Leopard, but a lot faster. The big idea is
that the systems is being optimized for it's current environment, much
like a Snow Leopard is specialized for it's environment. Some interesting snippets have been picked up by the media, but there have been a few that might have slipped by the cracks.
We all know about the ability for the Mac to use multiple processors and the GPU if the programs are written correctly. That will help speed up the applications, but one thing that hasn't been mentioned is memory management. According to a reliable source the memory management in Snow Leopard is drastically improved on multiple fronts. Apple has revamped their memory management and added a new feature to release unused memory before it has to write to a disc. This should keep your system running faster, even when running multiple applications.
Image capture is supposed to get a good re-working as well. We already saw more RAW support in Leopard, and 10.6 is going to bring even more RAW support and improved scanning features. The Image Capture functionality is also going to be pulling heavily on the GPU for improved performance.
There are going to be a lot more apps that are coming across as 64 bit as well. This is something that Apple is doing to trim down the OS. Since the dynamic libraries for 32bit and 64bit applications are different, you have to load the libraries for your respective application. If Apple moves their apps to 64 bit compatibility then you have to load less dynamic libraries. Less loading means more space in the RAM which means a faster Mac.
I hope at least some of this is new to you. The 64 bit applications make sense as to why the beta was released as an Intel only OS, but it should support 64bit PPC in the near future. But my money is that in 10.7 you will see an Intel only operating system. That is when we will see the cool applications, since they can truly be built for a specific environment.
Apple's Snow Leopard Page
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Opinions
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Thursday, 26 June 2008 |
 Recent news has that Intel is not going to upgrade their current Windows operating system from XP to Vista. Not a big deal up front, as there are plenty of government and private businesses doing the same. What caught my attention was the REMOTE possibility of having Intel go Mac. Imagine if the 80,000 seat client went from Windows to Mac. It might not mean much to Intel, but it would be a huge blow to Microsoft and an even bigger win for Apple.
There's no verified source that this would happen, but it could. Apple runs Intel chips now, even if Intel went to a Windows operating system, what if they bought all Apple machines?
The possibility is there. That's all it is right now, just a possibility. But that is far more than Apple had 5 years ago.
From CNBC.com
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Microsoft dedicated to the Mac |
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Other
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Thursday, 26 June 2008 |
 It appears that Microsoft is dedicated more time and money to the Mac, with plans beyond Office. Microsoft is hiring almost all positions for the MacBU in Redmond and Silicon Valley. According to SoftRatty the Mac Business Unit (MacBU) of Microsoft is hiring for Program Managers, Developers, Testers, User Experience and Marketing. They also are saying that there will be more jobs in the upcoming months. Can you say iPhone? Maybe Silverlight improvements? Or are they trying to bring back the Zune.
Wanna work for Microsoft yet still play on a Mac? email
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Click here to find out more about working at Microsoft . (if you have no soul or good left in you)
From SoftRatty.com
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