VERNONCHAN.COMApple-related news and reviews covering all its products and services including Mac Pro, iMac, iPhone, iPad, iPod, macOS, iPadOS, iOS, watchOS, tvOS, and more.
In a shocking announcement, Apple has announced plans to use Intel microprocessors across its product line this time next year. Apple previewed a version of Mac OS X Tiger running on an Intel-based Mac at the Worldwide Developer Conference today.
Apple is voluntarily recalling certain lithium ion rechargeable batteries that were sold worldwide from October 2004 through May 2005 for use with the following notebook computers: 12-inch iBook G4, 12-inch PowerBook G4 and 15-inch PowerBook G4. For information on the exchange program and whether you are affected, click on the link below:
iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 Battery Exchange Program
No, this isn’t some sex-related advertisement for some pink-lighted joint in Patpong. Nor is it the latest headline for a Victoria’s Secret catalogue. Although I’d wish for both, preferably both in the same sentence. But hey, this is still about something hard. And something soft. Actually, it’s more of a new instalment of solid software and hardware integration.
I hate Steve Jobs. I really do. He has this uncanny ability to judge the market. He knows what we want. He knows what we will want in the future. He rocks. He is GOD. Not satisfied that the original iPod and its siblings enjoy 50% of the digital music player market, he introduces the ultra-cool iPod Shuffle.
Apple quietly releases a much-needed update to Mac OS X, after the rather buggy and slow 10.3.6 release. Been experiencing application slowdown, Finder freezes, quirky networking in the previous release.
The 26MB 10.3.7 update installed without problems. Everything seems slightly snappier. No problems or known problems as yet.
According to Apple’s technotes, the update resolves the ‘flash of lines’ display issue which also affected my G5 immediately after installation of 10.3.6. The update also addresses issues with Blizzard’s World of Warcraft as well as some Firewire and networking problems.
Full details below:
About the Mac OS X 10.3.7 Update (Delta)
—–
Flash iPod in the works?
There are heavy rumours that Apple is secretly developing a Flash-memory based iPod. The original iPod, with the Mini iPod and latest iPod U2 SE + iPod Photo have already taken the world by storm, shortages already reported moving towards the Christmas holidays.
A Flash-iPod would address another chunk of the MP3 player market, one which Apple already dominates. Booming sales of the iPod is complemented by 200 million downloads from the iTunes Music Store reiterates the strength of the Apple music device. There seems to be no stopping Apple’s surge in sales and market share at present time.
I can’t wait to get my hands on a Mini iPod!
If you haven’t downloaded and installed it already, the Mac OS X 10.3.6 client and server updates are available for download from Apple servers.
MyMUG crew – Sean, Azul, me, Alvin, Chris (Azxel) + Juan (Qwerty)
The where-in-heaven’s-name-is-the-computer iMac G5 was officially launch with much fanfare and excitement last night at Velvet Underground : Zouk. Rudy of the Hitz.fm Morning Crew emceed and he was as entertaining as he was funny and spirited. I had attended the event with some of my colleagues, a couple who are Mac-heads, like yours truly.
I am not a biggie fan of the new iMac form factor, but I think simplicity has its advantages. It does look sleek and minimal, definitely saves plenty of desktop space. Plus the G5 processor brings it one level up from the previous G4 offering. Nice, nice quality display (choice of 17″ or 20″) I have to say.
The highlight of the day was definitely Jit Murad who did a 45-minute skit. He was hilarious as usual, with a quick swoosh, transforming into Renee Choi, world reknowned hair stylist and *fooooh* blowdry specialist from Sungai Wang! 😀 He was funny, as usual. Talented dude, and Mac user, no doubt!
Audience was also fed with games, giving participants chances to win Apple merchandise – mostly polo tees and ‘Book bags. Did I mention exclusive? Ok.
All in all, it was a fun event. In fact, I think it was one of the better, more happening ones ever organised by Apple. Well done! And btw, the picture you see up there are some of the MyMUG members who came to support the event. Cheers people! See ya online!
Not quite the Holocaust or Armageddon, but however I look at it, the past three days have been rather hellish to say the least. Firstly, our laggy 1.25Ghz dual processor G4 server went down like a bitch. Locking up at startup, faster than you could say “Apple Rocks”, the server just refused to boot. Entering single user boot while attempting to repair using “fsck” brought no improvements.
This is really good. Published by Bill Palmer of iPodGarage, this pokes fun at the current fiasco between Real Networks and Apple, and obvious ramblings over the ‘opening’ of the iPod and iTunes. Check out the list of top ten Real reasons below:
10. Didn’t think that ten years of crappy versions of RealPlayer had generated enough badwill for the “RealNetworks” brand name.
9. Felt bad about Steve Jobs being in the hospital, wanted to cheer him up by giving him something to laugh about.
8. Took at a look at the value of all that RNWK stock he’s holding, realized he couldn’t afford 99 cents per song.
7. Pulled the whole stunt just to help launch the comeback of Devo.
6. Actually thought he was signing up for a free VIP Pass for the South Beach Party.
5. Figured why steal music, when you can just steal the whole iPod?
4. Secretly planning to launch iPod-padlock accessory, as pictured here.
3. It was all just a plot to get this “Real vs. Apple” logo created.
2. Really just wanted to see his name on the iPod Garage Front Page.
and the number one real reason Rob Glaser is going after Apple…
1. It’s a complex strategy (buffering…) that involved many hours of (buffering…) intense discussion regarding (buffering…) various aspects of (download has failed).
And… I’ve just made another coaster. My fourth attempt to burn a backup of my stuff has yet again, failed. Lying in the bin, in no particular order, are 4 spanking new Sony CD-Rs. Unusable.
Toast Titanium 6 (the best CD-burner app on the planet?) kept bugging me with a “Medium Error”, just when it needs to do a “lead-out” to close the burning session. This is annoying. And I hate errors which really don’t tell you anything. Like a “Type 1” error. Or a “Type 2” error. What the fuck? How’s anyone supposed to know? Might as well just be “I’ve fucked up. It’s not my fault. It’s the system.”
My 1.8 Ghz G5 PowerMac in the office has been intermittently freezing on me. It’s not supposed to do that. It’s supposed to be uncrashable, thanks to its UNIX underpinnings. But, oh no, it has a mind of its own. It thinks it’s Windows of some sort. Hell, even the console startup is like DOS. (Well, at least there isn’t a “blue screen of death”).
I take care of it. I run maintenance scripts frequently. I do an “update_prebinding” to optimise the system. I delete and clear system + user cache. I verify and repair permissions. I do all that is possible to keep the system free of crap and running optimally.
What the heck’s going on?
And you know what’s funny? The G5 I have has a serious problem with Flash memory. Plug in any Flash-based peripherals and files get 100% corrupted. Without fail. And this has happened since upgrading to Panther (Mac OS X 10.3). Panther is quick and superb, but also introduced some nagging bugs with the update.
So, I thought – why not backup all your data then reformat the 120GB SATA drive and do a clean reinstall of the system? Shouldn’t take more than 2 weeks I reckon. But oh no…Toast just had to act up. Doesn’t want to burn a damn thing. Crap.
Don’t you hate it when things don’t work? The worst is when it doesn’t work and you don’t know why. Just spend your whole day figuring out through trial and error what could be causing these anomalies. Grrr… Maybe I should just format the damn thing, for the heck of it. Screw the data. Format and zero all data on the hard drive. Then leave the country.
Case closed.