iPhone coming to UK, but not for another 7½ agonizing weeks

Well. Most of the rumours have proved to be true. The carrier of the UK iPhone will indeed be O2, and apart from O2 shops (including the recently-acquired The Link shops) the only independent retailer will be Carphone Warehouse. The phone will be identical to the $399 8GB US model.

As of 1pm GMT the only major Mac website reporting on this is TUAW. Some places still haven't got their act together - O2's official iPhone page was briefly visible at 11am GMT but has since been unavailable for over two hours since. Funnily enough Carphone's iPhone page is live and kicking.

The iPhone is priced at a surprisingly reasonable £269 (inc. VAT). Prior to the launch some people were predicting as much as £600! Tariffs start at a not-quite-so-reasonable £35 per month for 200mins/200texts with £45 for 600mins/500texts and £55 for 1200mins/600texts for the heavier users. All plans include unlimited internet usage. There is also apparently a deal with WiFi Hotspot outfit The Cloud, who specialise in providing paid WiFi access in pubs, restaurants, and city centres. The Cloud have a Hotspot finder here. The biggest news is probably the lack of 3G. This is allegedly due to the high power costs of using 3G on a mobile device. So we're all stuck with O2's currently-being-upgraded EDGE network, although for those of us who don't live or work in a major city don't care too much about 3G anyway. O2 have a website to check coverage in your part of the UK.

I can't wait to place my order

Parallels Desktop 3 hasn't impressed everyone...

Or as one user so eloquently put it:

It is a f@#king useless, steaming freshly laid turd of a program with more bugs than a congolese jungle.

I've decided to hold off upgrading for the moment

iPhone frenzy

Well, it's finally been announced, and it has far surpassed the expectations of even the most optimistic Apple fan! I wrote a lengthy piece about it on my mobile phone blog. I bet Bill Ray is feeling pretty foolish right about now

Built for Adsense? Try Built for Google Buyout instead

Have you ever heard the term "built for Adsense"? Have a look at this AJAX word processor site, and then come back here and place your bets on how long it takes for Google to buy the company behind it. Edit: Yes, Google already bought Writely, but this version is available for you to try out right now. Via Fosfor Gadgets.

This week's sign that the US patent office has lost their minds

One unknown California web-design firm has been granted a patent which covers, among other things, Flash, AJAX and Java. Talk about completely fucking insane.

Interesting video interview with Derek Franklin

If you have half an hour to spare (as well as decent broadband, 1 megabit minimum), I would urge you to watch this video interview with Derek Franklin. Franklin is a longtime Flash author as well as the creator of Search Automator and WhoNu.com. Not only is the interview interesting (Franklin comes across as a very engaging fellow), but the quality of the h264 video is simply stunning and well worth a look if you are interested in this sort of thing. Quicktime 7 required.

More MacBook Pro reviews and speed tests

The best of the bunch is a very thorough writeup by 'controller2k' on Apple's discussion forums, but MacWorld's first look and Geek Patrol's benchmarks also make for interesting reading.

The new MacBook, and why everyone should have one

Cometh the moment, cometh the MacBook
It's finally here - the much anticipated Intel-based Apple laptop! Despite December's rumour frenzy, the first portable Intel Mac was NOT the iBook. With an all-new dual core Intel processor running at 1.67 or 1.83 MHz and supporting up to 2 GB of RAM this is by far the fastest Apple laptop ever. Connectivity is via a Firewire 400 port, two USB 2.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11g WiFi and optical audio input and output. The MacBook also ships with hard drives ranging from 80 to 120 GB at speeds of 5400 and 7200 rpm and comes with a built-in dual-layer DVD-RW/CD-RW drive. The machine boasts a 15.4" 1440 x 900 resolution display with VGA and dual-link DVI output powered by a ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics processor, as well as a backlit keyboard with ambient light sensor and stereo speakers. As this is the first Mac laptop officially supported by Front Row it also comes with Apple's new remote control. The MacBook retains its predecessors' vaunted 1" thickness and weighs in at 5.6 lbs. On the software side Apple's usual full-featured package is included, with OS X Tiger, iLife '06, Front Row, and PhotoBooth all featuring prominently.

New hardware
Although the big news is the new dual-core Intel Core Duo processor (formerly known as 'Yonah'), the new MacBook also features an iSight video-conferencing camera built into the upper bezel of the screen. The bezel appears to be wider than previous models, presumably to house the camera's innards. This new mini-iSight is said to have the same specifications as a full-sized iSight, i.e. VGA resolution and auto-focus. Despite the relatively low resolution, the iSight image quality is widely considered to be superb (especially with some extra software). The laptop also benefits from high-end ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics and a dual-link DVI connector for that 30" Apple Cinema Display we all secretly lust after. Apple have dropped the PCI card compatibility in favour of the smaller PCI Express - which is a mixed blessing given the lack of PCI Express cards currently available.

Power? No trip!
Apple are making a big deal of the new MagSafe power connector, which is a magnetized power connector which easily pops out if someone tugs (or trips over) the power cord. Whilst I've never had my PowerBook fly off my lap due to someone tripping over the power cable, it's a thoughtful design touch which embodies Apple's attention to the little details.

Yonah! Yonah! Yonah!
The Register has a nice round-up of the dual core Yonah processors here, but essentially the range includes the top-of-the-line 2.16GHz T2600, the 2GHz T2500, and the two chips used by the MacBook Pro, the 1.83GHz T2400 and 1.67MHz T2300. It seems sensible to assume that Apple opted for the two lower-speed chips due to volume requirements.

The BIG question
Can it run windows software at near-native speeds? No one seems to know. You might remember that Apple said this should be possible, but then again we never know when Apple will try and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. If there is a way to maintain their exclusivity and alienate thousands of customers, I'm sure Apple will find it! Hopefully there will be no surprises, and Windows apps running at native speeds will be in our futures. Personally, I look forward to the day when I can hurl that slug known as Virtual PC into my virtual trash!

The Hyperbole
APPLE RELEASES FASTEST NOTEBOOK EVER! Or so proclaims MacRumors. They seem to have missed the fact that while Apple's high-end offering uses the 1.83MHz Core Duo, there is already a 2.16GHz version (the T2600) available in stores now. Nevertheless, expect much cheering for this new laptop (kind of like what I'm doing now ).

How much?
£1,429 (US$1,999) for the base model. It may seem like a slightly high price tag, but given the Core Duo competition it's not overly outrageous, especially when we consider that some features that used to cost extra are now standard across the line (Bluetooth, Airport, Superdrive, we're lookin' at you). Some Windows-based Core Duo laptops are significantly less expensive, but are missing a raft of features and software. Windows machines with similar specifications are possibly slightly less expensive, but it's still a coin toss depending on what features a user is looking for.

Core Duo here, Core Duo there, Core Duo everywhere
There's a nice roundup here, but with just a little research we see that the MacBook isn't priced out of the ballpark when compared to other Core Duo laptops, especially when we consider the added value provided by the iLife package and other Apple standard features.

For instance, the just-announced Acer Aspire and Travelmate laptops start at $1,500 and $2 grand respectively. The high-end model has a slightly higher resolution screen, more RAM and a bigger hard drive, but is otherwise not too dissimilar to the MacBook except it is heftier by exactly 1 pound.

Aspire 5670 will be available in a few different configurations starting at $1499, but the flagship model will feature 2GB of DDR2 memory, a 120GB hard disk, and an ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 graphics controller pushing a maximum resolution of 1200 by 800 to the 15.4-inch display.

The TravelMate 8200 notebook offers similar specifications to the Aspire 5650, including the same new camera functionality and system tools, but ships with superior 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics delivering a resolution of 1680 by 1050 to its 15.4-inch screen

Dell's Inspiron 9400 is another Core-Duo-sporting laptop with a 2 grand starting price, although for this price you also get a 17" screen (this is Dell's only dual core offering). On the downside the thing is 1.6" thick and weighs 8 lbs.

Customers can opt for either an Intel Core Duo processor T2500 (2GHz) or a T2400 processor running at 1.83GHz. The unit's 17-inch widescreen display has a standard maximum resolution of 1400 by 1050 but a 1600-by-1200 UXGA option also is available. The Inspiron E1705 features NVidia's latest 256MB GeForce Go 7800 graphics controller, 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, a 60-100GB 7200-rpm SATA hard disk, and an optional USB 2.0 TV tuner that is compatible with its Windows Media Center Edition 2005 operating system.

For a low-end Core Duo system we turn to Gateway, whose dual core offering is the S-7510N at a base price of $1,150 which includes Windows XP and Microsoft Works. For that bargain price you get the slowest Core Duo processor, the T2300, a mere 40GB hard drive, a 15.4" 1280x800 screen, lousy onboard Intel graphics, no DVD burner or dual-layer DVD capability, no remote control, no camera and no Bluetooth. You do however get 512MB RAM, a modem, 4 USB 2.0 ports, and an integrated media card reader. Unfortunately it's also a bit of a brick, at a portly 1.31" thick and weighing 6.32 lbs.

Conclusions
The MacBook is a winner. This is a cutting edge laptop in terms of both design and speed without compromising its svelte 1" form factor. While I am sorely tempted to buy one RIGHT NOW I am trying, with difficulty, to restrain myself until there is an updated model to allow the inevitable kinks and bugs to be ironed out. I'd still like confirmation that it will indeed run Windows apps at near-native speeds, but given Apple's previous statements it seems likely that it will. If I was into rating things I'd give this beauty a 9 out of 10, but I'm not so let's just call it awesome . The only negatives that I can see is the lack of an internal modem and lack of Firewire800, and those are pretty minor quibbles in the grand scheme of things. In my eyes the price is perhaps 10% more than a comparable Windows-based laptop, but the Apple extras - slick design, iLife integration, security and lack of malware - make that extra money well worth spending.

Is that a mouse in your PC card slot?

This slick new mouse was featured on TUAW today. It's a Bluetooth mouse which slots neatly inside a laptop's PC card slot. The mouse also recharges via the slot. Finally a use for that wasted space in my Powerbook! The mouse has a small kickstand which flips out, and apparently the buttons are on the bottom of the mouse, so that pressing down the body causes a click (the lower end of the mouse is the front). It doesn't look particularly comfortable, but is still seems to be a great idea for those of us who aren't so keen on trackpads and have an unused PC card slot. The mouse is set to be introduced next month at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Via TUAW, who had it from Engadget, who got it from Uber-Review, who give credit to GearLog (even though the article appears to have vanished from GearLog). Don't you just love blogs? In a strange twist of fate, GearLog is a blog from the editors of DigitalLife magazine

JenSense strangely beats ProBlogger ... how?

I noticed today that JenSense has won SearchEngineJournal's 2005 "Search Engine Blogs Awards", beating out several high profile blogs, including ProBlogger. Now don't get me wrong, I read and enjoy both ProBlogger and JenSense, but I simply cannot understand how people voted. Without being rude about it, I simply cannot think of a single area where JenSense is better than ProBlogger. Both authors are clearly knowledgeable, but ProBlogger is far and away the more interesting read. JenSense simply seems (sorry Jen!) boring by comparison.

I think part of it is a personal bias towards design. Jen's blog is so ... plain. I know, I know, whitespace is the new black and there isn't enough of it around, but c'mon, there's got to be more to a website than the words. Why not just use default fonts and no CSS at all? Perhaps this simplicity is good for attracting the business-types, I don't know. I also think the main body column in JenSense is too wide and find reading it quite tiresome. That could however simply be my uselessness rearing its ugly head.

My final gripe is that JenSense is much more 'news' oriented. A simple glance at the last 15 entries on each blog clearly demonstrates this. (I started to type out the 15 recent entries of each blog but quickly got fed up. So I took some screenshots instead.)

Here are JenSense's last 15 entries:


And here are ProBlogger's last 15 entries:


I think these two shots are pretty illuminating, but if you don't agree a quick read through those entries may change your mind. On re-reading this post it may appear that I am being overly critical of JenSense. This isn't my intention. My goal was simply to understand how ProBlogger could rank so many places behind JenSense. (I am more careful about these things since facing the wrath of a couple of righteous commenters a few days ago!)

Update: On further reflection (which I should have done before posting ) I think the fact that JenSense is more focussed on Adsense while ProBlogger has a wider coverage makes JenSense less interesting to me. The narrower focus means that Jen covers more of the minutiae which by definition is less engrossing to the casual reader such as yours truly.

MPEG2 Works 4 updated

The Mac video Swiss Army knife ffmpegX has dominated home video conversion on the Mac for quite a while now, and for most of that time its only serious rival has been MPEG2 Works. So today's news that MPEG2 Works has updated to version 4.0.5 is more than welcome! New features include:

• Added horizontal cropping aside of existing vertical under Tools section [requested by users]
• Added burn DVD after authoring option under Advanced Authoring section [requested by users]
• Improved VOB/VRO with AC3 audio > QT conversion /works faster now/
• Improved VOB > SVCD conversion /works faster now/
• Improved ReplayTV > QT conversion /one preset button from now on/
• Improved AC3 > AIFF conversion /better output/
• Improved overall performance

Might be worth a look if ffmpegX isn't working out. MPEG2 Works has traditionally been strong in the areas of NTSC<->PAL conversion and VCD/SVCD creation whereas ffmpegX was better for batch processing, PSP support, H264 support (including iPod video), and, in my opinion, a more intuitive interface. However some of MPEG2 Works' new features (such as burning) have no equivalent in ffmpegX.

Both programs have the benefit of fantastic support by their authors via the MPEG2 Works forum and the ffmpegX forum.

Aperture gets torn a new one by the mighty Ars

That font of supremely in-depth technical information, Ars Technica, has reviewed Aperture - Apple's new pro-photography software - and given it an absolute mauling:

It saddens me to say that Aperture's innovations are only skin deep. If it could deliver on the promise of being both fast and produce flawless results, it would be the dream package. At this point it is an expensive and questionable alternative to Camera Raw, a free extension to Photoshop, and Adobe's Bridge which can batch produce better quality images in arguably less time. For US$500 (Photoshop itself retails for US$750), there is no excuse not to be aware of professional needs like a high-quality sharpen tool, DNG exporting or more basic things like curves, a sampler tool for RGB pixel readings, or retention of EXIF data on output.

Furthermore:

The quality of Aperture's RAW converter is bad, and for an application that's selling point is iterative nondestructive RAW editing, that's like building a house on a plate of Jello.

And this:

They have only themselves to blame: they set themselves up for a big fall by attempting to dig themselves a chunk of the pro market by purporting to have the lossless holy grail of imaging. The trouble with that is they obviously didn't have the engineering or expertise in RAW processing to pull it off or, if they did, they chose not to include it because of speed constraints due to Core Image.

I had previously been considering buying Aperture. Now I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole, at least until these numerous fatal flaws have been fixed.

$80 keyboard skimps on letters

Xoxide's Das Keyboard is an all-black geek-chic keyboard featuring 104 keys, all of which are blank. The idea is that the keyboard is for "ÜberGeeks" who don't need to read no stinkin' keys anyway. Seriously, the idea is that without letters printed on the keys, your brain will adapt by doing a better job at memorizing the keys' locations, thus making you type faster and more accurately. The keys also have variable force-feedback so that keys you would use your weaker fingers on require less pressure to depress.

The manufacturers say:

If you are an elite programmer who can write sophisticated code under tight deadlines, someone who makes impossible projects possible, or a Silver Web Surfer your colleagues turn to when they need IT advice, this keyboard is for you. Shouldn't your keyboard reflect your status as one of the elite? We think so!

Das Keyboard is an enhanced 104-key USB PC keyboard equipped with 100% blank keys mounted on precision and individually weighted key switches. Since there is no key to look at when typing, your brain will quickly adapt and memorize the key positions and you will find yourself typing a lot faster with more accuracy in no time. It is amazing how slow typers almost double their speed and quick typers become blazing fast!

Most keyboards use a standard 55 grams of force required to register every key, Das Keyboard has 5 different levels of force. The keys are divided into groups and their feedback springs are weighted differently; from 35 grams to 80 grams, which correspond to the strength of the finger that touches the keys. The result is more comfort for your hands.

PimpRig have a hands-on review where they conclude:

Xoxide put it best on their site... ÜberGeeks Only. Only an Übergeek will fully appreciate this keyboard. When I first saw the $79.99 price tag of the Das Keyboard I originally thought, "yeah right! $79.99 for an old IBM keyboard with the letters scratched off?!" Now that I have had 6 weeks up close and personal with it I can say that this keyboard is worth that cash if, and only if, you are a solid typist already and you do a lot of typing. Anyone else will be too frustrated to thoroughly appreciate the subtle tweaks of the Das Keyboard. There is also the matter of "props" you immediately get when someone sees this keyboard on your desk or at a lanparty. It simply screams, "I am a 1337 typist!" Another added benefit is that of security against n00b users. No more will the family PC killer (my father springs to mind) want to use your PC.

Google Maps for your phone

I somehow missed it at the time but I've just discovered that back in April Google launched a Google Maps service on certain mobile phones. The service is a downloadable application which lets you view Google Maps (maps and satellite imagery tied together with driving directions and telephone directory information) on your mobile phone. Just like the computer version of Google Maps, you can drag the map around the screen. The mobile phone service also introduces a new feature named 'click to call' where you can phone up a local business simply by locating them on the map.

The service, named Google Local for mobile, is currently only available in the US and is officially limited to just over a dozen phones from a few manufacturers. Google say that 'most' Java-enabled (J2ME) phones released in the last year should be compatible, although phones from Sony-Ericsson are conspicuously absent from the compatibility list. There have been reports on the Google Local for mobile group that some unsupported phones are also compatible - notably the Treo, the SE W800i walkman phone, the SE P800/P900/P910, the SE K750i ... but not the Blackberry.

There are no charges other than data transfer charges for your phone's internet connection. The service is only currently available on certain networks, including Cingular, T-Mobile and Sprint.

Mobile MMORPG

Here's one for all of you with unlimited data connections on your mobile phone plans: German developer CipSoft have finally introduced a worldwide version of their Tibia MMORPG for Symbian Series 60 phones. For those of you paying per kilobyte, one hour of gameplay averages around 400kb of data transfer. Could this be a threat to the dominance of World of Warcraft? No longer will people need to closet themselves at home to get their online gaming fix!

Apple's one more thing

Unless you've been under a rock for the last 24 hours you've already heard the news. Let's just get this out of the way, shall we?

• New iPod - 320x240 video, H264 playback, thinner than before, available in black, US$1.99 TV episodes (US only), no firewire, improved battery life (which plummets when playing video)
• New iMac - built-in iSight, 2.1GHz, more and faster RAM, no modem
• New Apple Remote - infrared required, works with new iPod dock, magnetically sticks to iMac
• New iTunes - supports video, iTunes 5 only a month old
• Front Row - new media centre software, sceptics say it looks like CentreStage
• New Apple external USB modem - for those who must have one
• Photo Booth - special effects for iSight self-portraits

Sources: too innumerable to mention

Sony Ericsson P990 announced

Say hello to the upcoming Sony Ericsson P990! The new flagship phone from Sony Ericsson is due in early 2006, with major improvements over the current P-series including 3G, true 320x240px QVGA screen resolution (up from 320x208px), a 2 megapixel camera, 801.11b WiFi, 80MB onboard memory, included 64MB MemoryStick (expandable to 2GB), and FM radio. The new model will also apparently support Blackberry 'push' email, and includes a VPN client. The phone is very similar in size to its P-series predecessors (114x57x25mm, compared to the P800's 118x59x27mm), although the screen has been moved upwards to make room for the new keypad on the actual body of the phone (instead of inside the flip as on the P900). Given the extra horizontal resolution the new screen should be 'squarer' that previous screens, which appears to suggest a slightly reduced dot pitch in order to maintain the candybar form factor.

iWood nano, love Bill

While the recent launch of the iWood nano - a wooden iPod nano case - isn't particularly noteworthy, poking fun at the world's richest man certainly is! Via Infinite Loop.

Salling Clicker 3

Salling Software have released Clicker 3! The bluetooth-based software acts as a great remote for iTunes, DVD Player, VLC, iPhoto, Keynote, EyeTV and a host of other programs. In a move guaranteed to please huge numbers of people worldwide this fantastic software is now also available for Windows. The new version sports a snazzier phone interface as well as wifi support. The website has also undergone a slick revamp and now includes a WordPress blog by Jonas Salling himself.

Apple cracking down on 'Mac' adwords?

TidBits are reporting on a strange crackdown by Apple on the use of Apple trademarks in Google Adsense ads which target the EU. Why us Europeans are being deprived is unclear, but it looks like the end for all those MacLingerie™, MacWartRemover™ and MacShampoo™ ads I've been seeing.

On a more serious note, how will anyone know that a product is Mac-oriented if the vendors aren't allowed to advertise the fact? Just imagine: "Deal of the week - 15% off annual subscriptions for a magazine dedicated to a fruity-Cupertino-based-computer-vendor!

Propose marriage via Search Engine

Just when you think you've seen it all, someone comes up with a truly original idea. Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable has proposed marriage to his significant other via the Ask Jeeves search engine. He suggested she type in her name into the search box and the top result was a marriage proposal. What a smoothie Congratulations Barry!

Mac news schizophrenia

Same day, same news outlet, two wildly contradictory stories - here's one, here's another.

Free Opera (or how to abandon desktops while taking over the world)

The relatively unknown (to the general public) web browser known as Opera is now free! From humble beginnings in 1996 with a public debut as a small Norwegian browser to 2005 and membership of a very exclusive club - browsers that cost money - Opera has had a good innings.

Who cares?
Opera is mostly known for the oft-repeated claim of being "the fastest browser on earth" (which incidentally is probably true). However despite impressive performance Opera never really caught on (cost probably had something to do with that), and it now seems likely that the advent of Firefox has sounded Opera's death knell as a worth-paying-for alternative to the mighty Internet Explorer. Opera users today are a shrinking mixture of diehard loyalists from the glory days, web designers testing for compatibility, and power surfers willing to pay for Opera's much touted speed and impressive, if sometimes exotic, features.

So how is Opera Software going to survive?
Their website doesn't suggest many possibilities, but presumably Opera Software will make a few bucks from paid support for the now-free browser, however it doesn't take a genius to see that, even charging for it, they cannot continue supporting a declining browser forever. Despite that it's not all doom and gloom - surely Opera for Mobiles (smartphones and PDAs) must form a major part of Opera Software's future. After all, Opera for Mobiles has no serious competition and the mobile market can't do anything but grow. Opera Mini, released for non-smartphones (stupidphones?) in 2004, is still in its infancy but is another clear sign of Opera's dominance of the entire mobile browser market.

What will happen to the desktop browser now?
Given that paid support is likely to have a limited lifespan, one possible option which would generate some public interest, not to mention great PR, would be to open-source the browser. This must seem tempting to Opera bigwigs given the lightning pace of development shown by the unpaid volunteers working on the Firefox project. On the other hand Opera Software may be taking a page out of Google's book and offering free-yet-proprietary software to the world, all the while betting that the software's performance and features will boost the company's reputation in the public eye.

Comment
Hmm ... giving away quality software for desktop PCs ... proven technological innovation ... demonstrable longevity amidst fierce competition ... complete domination of a massively growing market. Sounds a bit like the history of a certain fruit company. Opera Software went public on the Norwegian stock market last year - could it be time to buy some shares?

(Better late than never) DoubleCommand on Tiger!

Don't take the title the wrong way - I'm incredibly pleased that Michael Baltaks has updated DoubleCommand! It's just that happened a month ago and I've only just noticed it! This was the final piece of the jigsaw in my migration from Panther. DoubleCommand allows many unusual key remapping combinations, but for me it is the ability to remap a PowerBook's enter key to a function key, in order to allow for one-handed pageups and pagedowns, that makes it indispensable. DoubleCommand is donationware.

New SE P910i P950i leaked

Gizmodo are reporting that Ubergizmo has been served with a Cease & Desist letter for revealing pictures of the new Sony Ericcson P910i P950i update, codenamed 'Hermione'. Update: It seems Gizmodo received a C&D themselves, but unapologetically ignored it. Ubergizmo got the picture from the French site MobileMag (who appear to have removed the offending article). The images are apparently from an Orange (France) internal presentation.

From the image we can see that the phone features a slick new all-silver look, as well as a prominent new central directional keypad. Other obvious differences include a forward-facing camera aperture (presumably the original aperture is still present on the rear of the phone). Other improvements supposedly include 3G UTMS connectivity and a 2 megapixel camera.

Comment:
This looks like a solid update. 3G will be a welcome speed upgrade, provided you live in an enabled area. It never made sense that a high-end phone like the P-series was limited to crawling along at GPRS speeds. And the 2MP camera is a drastic improvement over the current VGA resolution which again was a notable weak point in the P910 specs. The directional pad doesn't sound too appealing here, but some may prefer it over the scroll wheel.

Update: More info via Gizmodo, and collected here.

Cabir finally spotted in the wild!

Mobile anti-virus software makers must be deliriously happy. The mobile virus Cabir (covered earlier) has finally been spotted in the wild. Although the article mentions previously reported infections at the Live8 concerts, Google was unable to find any reports of it. Cabir still only affects Series 60 phones, and unless you're in a crowd of thousands is still not any kind of serious threat.

Mighty Mouse!

Apple introduces the Mighty Mouse! I first learnt about this $49 USB mouse via Tech Ronin, and after reading a little more, all I can say is that it sounds great! You've gotta hand it to Apple, they don't do things by halves.

Buttontastic
As you can see in the image, the Mighty Mouse keeps Apple's favoured 'simple mouse' philosophy. They have kept the appearance of a single mouse button, but by using the touch sensitive technology used on the iPod's scroll wheel users can assign the left and right forward quadrants to react as left and right buttons. This is apparently customisable, so presumably a single button will still be the default behaviour. In addition to the touch-sensitive main buttons, the mouse also has two old-fashioned buttons on either side of the body. The idea is that the user squeezes the mouse to activate a user-defined function (this is likely intended for Exposé ). A good idea, but perhaps a step too far in attempting to be original. The squeezing motion certainly doesn't sound all that comfortable, and apparently the buttons are not individually programmable. I think simply adding a third button assignable to Exposé might have been a simpler and less RSI-inducing approach. Speaking of third buttons, the division of what is presumably a single large touch-sensitive area into two sections seems purely arbitrary. Look out for unofficial hacks to divide the touch-sensitive area into three or more discrete 'buttons'.

Balls to that
Not content with simply improving button aesthetics, Apple have also taken the scroll wheel concept a step further by implementing a "Scroll Ball". Don't get me wrong, scroll wheels are great - I don't function well without them. But the current implementations for scrolling sideways - such as positioning the cursor over a window's horizontal scroll bar before using the scroll wheel - are simply unsatisfactory. Granted, Apple themselves appear to concede that the scroll ball will only work in certain 'scroll-ball-enabled' apps - iPhoto, iMovie HD, Final Cut Pro, GarageBand and Logic Pro are mentioned by name on Apple's Mighty Mouse page. The ball does not seem to be pressable in the way some scroll wheels are.

Click chirp beep swoosh
Yet another (as far this technology geek is aware) "innovation" is embedding a speaker into the mouse. This is to provide audible feedback of various mouse functions, primarily clicking to add feedback to the touch-sensitive 'buttons', but likely also including scrolling and dragging. This will clearly be divisive, with some loving and some hating it. Hopefully users will be able to control the volume, if not completely silence it if they wish.

Still smilin'
Apple have been seen exercising their sense of humour in public on a few occasions recently, but giving a high-profile product a name like Mighty Mouse takes the cake. For those of you too young to remember, Mighty Mouse was a superman-clone (but obviously a cartoon mouse instead of a being from Krypton) who featured in an eponymous Saturday morning TV show with its origins in the 1940s. This was incidentally a particular favorite of mine as a pre-teen. Apple credit the Mighty Mouse name on their page, with acknowledgment going to Viacom International. Interestingly, while 'borrowing' Apple's image of the (computer) mouse used at the beginning of this article I noticed that the name of the JPEG file was "mightymousehero". Which I thought was a nice touch.

Why no blue teeth?
The burning and obvious question - why isn't this mouse Bluetooth capable? Some are speculating (fairly wildly in my opinion) that Apple are waiting to sell a few million of these mice before introducing a wireless version. That doesn't quite ring true - I see a design issue as carrying heavier weight here. Perhaps the batteries increase the mouse's size too much. Or perhaps the Apple design philosophy requires something more elegant than batteries or a power cable, such as a recharging dock, but a dock pushes the price up to unpopular levels. I prefer the latter explanation, and wouldn't be surprised to see a "pro" wireless version, with snazzy Apple dock (and obligatory pulsating light), available next year sometime.

Good mouse? Bad mouse?
On paper, Apple's new super-hero mouse packs a KABAAM-like punch. It is cunningly innovative in so many ways that it simply screams Apple quality. The price tag isn't overly outrageous, and given the fact that it is Windows XP/2000 compatible it will surely lure some curious PC users into a test drive and, if all goes to Apple's master plan, perhaps encourage them to consider an Apple option when it comes time to upgrade the home PC. It's not all rosy though - initial reports suggest some problems with the touch-sensitive buttons, for instance not being able to 'press' one button while a finger is still touching the other. This will likely be fixed in a coming software update. A more serious complaint I've read is that some find it difficult to 'squeeze' the side buttons. The mouse is also only compatible with OS X 10.4.2 and later, which rules it out for those Mac users still happily using Panther and Jaguar. Still, if you are running the latest version of OS X, and need a new mouse, this Mighty Mouse appears to be worth a try.

Update: c0nsumer has posted an initial review with images and screenshots.

Final update, I promise: Engadget have posted links to no less than six reviews of this mouse. When was the last time you ever heard of a mouse getting this much attention?

London A-Z on your P800

VisualIT's Tube London program is now on version 2. This new version moves on from a mere subway map to a full streetmap of London. Just tap on a station and see the nearby streets! Great stuff!

NASA TV online

NASA have announced that live coverage will henceforth be broadcast on the internet! This is great news - and given NASA's purpose seems eminently appropriate.

Free Tube Map for UIQ phones

In the wake of the London bombings, Visual IT have released a free version of their Tube 2 London software. This version reflects the temporary alterations to the London tube network which have been in place since the bombings.

Developers' Intel-Macs much faster than expected

AppleInsider published a fascinating article yesterday, which contained some great information about the speed of the $999 for-developers-only Intel-based Macs. My favorite part:

"It's fast," said one developer source of Mac OS X running on Intel's Pentium processors. "Faster than [Mac OS X] on my Dual 2GHz Power Mac G5." In addition to booting Windows XP at blazing speeds, the included version of Mac OS X for Intel takes "as little as 10 seconds" to boot to the Desktop from when the Apple logo first displays on screen.

SlashDot discussion here.

Batch audio conversions, new contender

Given my previous travails batch converting mp3s to low-bitrate oggs, I was interested to read about the latest update to Sound Grinder. However, it is priced at a hefty $39 ... I'll try the demo and see how it goes.

Sasser virus author sentenced, informants collect $250K

A teenager creates two of the bigger viruses of recent times, Sasser and NetSky, and gets off with 21 months probation, 30 hours community service, and a job. Meanwhile two of his mates collect $250,000 from Microsoft for turning him in. Does anyone else think that these three friends have done pretty well out of this?

Intel hedging bets

Intel appear to be hedging their bets by investing an unspecified amount of money into ClickStar, a 'new' startup planning to distribute movies over the internet before they come out on DVD. The company was founded in 1996, but appears to have done little since then, and clickstar.com is nothing more than a link farm. Strangely enough, Morgan Freeman is one of ClickStar's founders.

No word on how ClickStar plans on getting cooperation from the movie studios so it looks like an effort by Intel to cover their bases. Any chance Apple's unexpected success with the iTunes Music Store is the prime motivation here? It seems likely.

Tiger Notes, vol. 4

Finally, Mail.appetizer has been updated to work with Tiger! There is a new compatible beta available for download! Cue angels bursting into song...

The last major (for me) item is still DoubleCommand.

Google toolbar for Mac Firefox

Although this unofficial hack already exists, this unconfirmed mailing list post states that Google are about to release an official Google Toolbar for Firefox.

Nvu WYSIWYG web editor

I noticed on MacNN today a new "website creation suite" named Nvu. The application started life as Composer, the web-editing portion of the Netscape Communicator suite, but along with the rest of Communicator has since gone open-source (resulting in, among other things, Firefox). However when MacNN say "suite" it appears that they simply mean a WYSIWYG editor with FTP built in. Pffft.

Downloading the 11.7MB disk image and opening it displays the Nvu app and a text file named MUST_README_FIRST.txt, which contains this rather gloomy text:

Nvu 1.0 IMPORTANT WARNING
=================
Do **not** run Nvu directly from the disk image (the *.dmg file you just opened) or you will experience a never-ending loop. Please copy the Nvu icon in that disk image to your /Applications directory and run Nvu from there. Thanks.

Can we all say 'a sense of foreboding'?

Moving the app to my Applications folder and launching it resulted in a fairly slow start-up where the icon bounces a few times before disappearing - twice! - before finally launching. My next step was to open up one of this site's pages. Whoops - you cannot drag .php pages onto the dock icon. No problem, use the 'Open' menu item. Uhhhhh. Attempting to open a .php file using Nvu's open dialog box causes the file to open in Dreamweaver! Despite further efforts I was unable to open any .php documents in Nvu.

Thus endeth what was supposed to be a slightly longer mini-review

Google Maps UK updated!

The internet colossus known as Google has finally got full resolution satellite imagery of the United Kingdom! Check it out. Truly amazing stuff.

BitTorrent's successor? From Microsoft...

El Reg has an interesting article today on a new P2P system ... from Microsoft of all people. The logic behind it sounds plausible, although part of their explanation is somewhat vague: Apparently this means that each downloader will be recombining already-downloaded chunks into brand-new chunks. All other downloaders will be able to utilise parts of these 'mixed' chunks to recreate the original chunks they may be missing. The original research paper is here.

Comment

Exactly why this is better than BitTorrent isn't exactly clear. It seems to me that a very large swarm would be needed to make this useful. But then again, if the swarm is that large surely the original BT protocol would be just as efficient?

A secondary concern is the CPU power 're-encoding' will take. Users of BitTorrent on the PC will already know what a resource hog it can be once you get up to a few hundred connections, causing your PC to become extremely sluggish when performing routine UI tasks such as dragging a window. The situation is better on a Mac where the UI doesn't suffer any slowdowns, but the CPU drain is still significant.

Windows on Intel Macs

Previous speculation that the future Intel-based Mac will be able to run Windows has been confirmed.

It's cold here in hell

The big news of today occured at 10.28am at the WWDC in San Francisco when Apple's announced that Macs will start using Intel CPUs in 2006 (don't miss Steve's interview on CNBC afterward). Microsoft and Adobe were quick to declare support. MacNN have live coverage of the WWDC.

Comment: yet again the rumours are proved true. Strangely enough no lawsuit this time ... could it be that suing a public company like CNet is less appealing than suing a minnow like ThinkSecret?

Update: I was reading more reactions to this news over at TUAW, where reader Michael Ströck points out that the BIG news here is that Macs in 2006/2007 will be able to run Windows natively! Now that would be, to paraphrase Steve Jobs, "insanely great" - imagine all the elegance and security of OS X with the ability to run Windows programs when necessary ... at full speed.

Dragon FliX

Newtech Infosystems, the people behind Dragon Burn (discussed here earlier), have announced Dragon FliX, a new competitor to DVD2OneX and Roxio's Popcorn.

H264 demo videos

The Mac Observer today linked to two great demo videos in H264 format. TMO notes:

Happy tenth birthday, DragThing!

DragThing, one of the greatest accessories in Mac history, is celebrating its 10th birthday! The author James Thomson has posted a great history of the program which is well worth a read. There's a lovely 'coolware' anecdote in there as well

The article will be updated regularly over the next 10 days with even more DragThing trivia, and also contains a link to a US$10 discount page.

When I started reading the article I was convinced that I had been a DragThing user since System 7, but after looking at the comparison 'about page' screenshots, I now suspect I jumped on the bandwagon with DragThing 2 and OS 8. I seem to recall that my first use of DragThing was when it shipped with my PowerMac 6100/60 which would place it sometime in 1994/95, but the year seems wrong so perhaps I'm thinking of my subsequent Mac, the 8600/250 (bought in late 1997). In any case, I have used DragThing without interruption since then, right up to DragThing 4.5 which is installed on my Mac right now. I've been so happy with DragThing 4.5 for the last couple of years that I haven't even tested any newer version! Sorry James!

Tiger review revisited

Not to be outdone by Ars, AnandTech have published their own Tiger review. It's a good review, and very detailed (although not to quite the geek level of the Ars review).

Tiger review like you've never seen

Nobody reviews like Ars Technica. They've just posted an in-depth Tiger review here - just to give you an idea of how thorough this is, the pdf version is 106 pages!

Tiger in da house

It's arrived!

Mac Mini essential extra

MicroNet have announced a particularly drool-worthy Mac Mini accessory, essentially an extra hard drive and a port replicator in a Mini-like case. The device comes in flavours ranging from a US$149 80Gb model to a US$499 400Gb model, with the US$249 250GB model having the best gigabyte-to-dollar ratio.

1 gigabit internet, but I no longer live there

Wouldn't you know it. Just when I'm feeling quite pleased about upgrading to a 2 megabit connection, a company in my home town named Hong Kong Broadband Network has announced a 1 gigabit connection. Essentially they are installing gigabit ethernet in apartment blocks, so it's currently only about a third of the total households in Hong Kong. Discussion on Slashdot here, and although some of it is pure ignorance Slashdot reader xstein astutely noted that the 1 gigabit speed only applies to local traffic within Hong Kong, overseas bandwidth is capped at 20 megabit (warning: Chinese language page, plus humongous flash advert).

Intel demos Mac mini lookalike

Hey! That looks familiar!

Walkman phone announced

Continuing this post, SonyEriccson have now officially announced their new Walkman phone. Notable features are the 2 megapixel camera and the supplied 512MB MemoryStick Duo Pro. As previously stated, it supports both MP3 and AAC.

Safari Googlemaps

I mentioned Google's amazing new map service recently, noting that it only worked in Firefox and Internet Explorer. No longer! Google have now got it working with Safari as well.

Memory Stick Pro Duo hits 2GB

Engadget are reporting that Sony has finally announced 2 gigabyte Memory Stick Pro Duo cards! These should work in the P900 and P910 - yet another reason I'm considering an upgrade.

Sony Ericcson Walkman Phone

Sony Ericcson are planning on cashing in Sony's Walkman brand by releasing a combination phone and digital music player. The story is that it will have enough storage for six to ten albums worth of MP3 or AAC files which suggests a 256MB capacity. The support for AAC is interesting, since that is the usual format for the iPod and iTunes.

'Powerbook HD' rumours

No G5 for now, but the PowerBook's future is looking good. MacMischief has posted an analysis here.

PC makers desire OS X?

It's been mentioned in a few other places over the last couple of days, but this ArsTechnica article provides some insight. If true, this will be huge.

Googlemaps

Google Maps has gone beta. Most definitely worth a look, but only using Firefox or (ugh) Internet Explorer. Make sure you try click-and-drag on the map! Double-click it as well! Amazing stuff - streets ahead of the competition. It only covers the United States at the moment, but expect more countries to be added soon.

Pirated software erases your PocketPC

Geek News Central are reporting that the developer of an app named Pocket Mechanic has introduced a 'feature' which forces a hard-reset (thus erasing your data) if the user inputs a pirated serial number. Sounds like the Echelon fiasco all over again.

Keyword Assistant updated!

I mentioned in this entry that Keyword Assistant, an indispensable iPhoto plugin, was broken by the upgrade to iPhoto 5. Have no fear, life is good again - author yesterday released an update which works with iPhoto 5. Phew!

iPhoto 5.0.1 but not on Software Update

According to MacMinute, iPhoto has been updated to version 5.0.1. Unfortunately, as of 20:16 hours GMT, there seems to be no reference to it on Apple's site - the most recent update is listed as iMovie HD 5.0.1:

Software Update is also drawing a blank:

Update: MacOSXHints has a possible solution.

iPhoto 5, hero and zero

My copy of iLife '05 has arrived! The app I was looking forward to most was iPhoto 5, in particular the long-awaited addition of folders to help you organise your albums. However there are apparently numerous problems: MacOSXHints, MacInTouch, Accelerate Your Mac, and MaxFixIt have all had reports. The MacOSXHints article in particular specifically concerns a problem with folders. This problem did not affect me for some reason - although MacOSXHints has included a solution if it does start to occur.

My own experiences so far have been generally good, with the one glaring exception of exporting photo galleries for the web. Don't get me wrong, iPhoto's web export works pretty much as it always has (pretty well, but not great), but neither of my preferred web-export plugins, BetterHTMLExport and PhotoToWeb, work with iPhoto 5. They look like they're working, but no images get exported. BetterHTMLExport's webpage states that the developer is aware of the problem.

Also a concern is that iPhoto 5 seems to be noticeably slower than iPhoto 4. In particular opening images used to be instantaneous. Now you have to sit and wait while iPhoto displays your selected thumbnail for a second or two in the centre of a large empty black box before the full-size image fills the window. I've also heard that it is almost useless on a Mac with a G3 processor - most of the editing functions do not work and navigation is painfully slow.

26/1/05 - Update: At some point in the last few hours BetterHTMLExport was updated to version 2.1 and is now compatible with iPhoto 5!

27/1/05 - Further update: Ack! I just noticed that Keyword Assistant has vanished! I refuse to even attempt to assign keywords without this wonderful piece of software. Luckily it appears that there is an iPhoto 5 version going through beta-testing right now.

One more virus, nothing to write home about

MobileTech is reporting that Simworks have discovered another Symbian virus, this time one that affects only the more modern Series 60 phones running the latest Symbian OS v7. It does not affect UIQ phones. The virus, dubbed Gavno (as well as a variant Gavno.b) is said to be dangerous and "is able to" render your phone unusable, but can only infect your phone if you run a file named patch.sis. Not exactly contagious - but consider yourself warned.

Fairly major ffmpegX update

ffmpegX 0.0.9s has been released! This is a significant update - it includes a new easy-to-use Summary pane, support for TiVo .ty files and the ability to export to Sony's PSP (PlayStation Portable) movie format! There are also a host of other minor improvements.

Wolfenstein 3D on UIQ

The granddaddy of first-person-shooters has been ported to UIQ . Wolfenstein 3D is available for download here. Note that you will need the original shareware game's data files. The data files from the paid game will not work. Update: version 1.0.1 has been released - it now supports the full (paid) game data files.

DVD Freedom

Vito LaVilla (no, I don't know if that is a person or a company) has released a DVD ripping application named DVD Freedom. Interestingly, it appears to have a Mac Classic version in addition to the OS X version. There is also a Windows version . Unfortunately, the initial reviews are poor. I gave it a test run, but after it took 30 minutes to rip 52MB (out of a 6.3GB DVD), I cancelled the operation. MacTheRipper would have finished the entire DVD in that time.

WMV in Quicktime, looks promising

A few months ago I mentioned the announcement of Telestream's Flip4Mac, a QuickTime component for the WMV9 format (Windows Media Video). There was some question as to whether or not the product would actually appear or not, but Telestream proved all the doubters wrong! The software was duly released in December, but as feared it was an export component only. All is not lost however! I noticed today that Telestream are working on a WMV importer for release in the first quarter of 2005! This is great news

HP iPod doomed?

AppleInsider are reporting today that HP have refused to order any more iPods until they resolve a potential future pricing dispute. The article mentions that during the fourth quarter of 2004 HP iPods accounted for only 7% of total iPod sales. Rob Enderle must be feeling pretty stupid.

Confirmed - Mac mini is upgradable

The Unofficial Apple Weblog is reporting that the Mac mini is indeed upgradable. Not only is the RAM relatively easy to upgrade (there's an image of the Mac mini with case removed to prove it), users can also install an Airport card and a (presumably only Apple ones) bluetooth module. They also state that opening the machine does not void your warranty, unless you break something while opening it. I have previously heard this but believed it to be wishful thinking. The machine will also boot headless, which means it would make a good small server.

Analysts analyse Apple

MacMinute noted today that Yahoo News had a good article on analyst reactions to the Mac mini and iPod shuffle. Things are looking pretty good for Apple right now - their stock also took a 12% jump overnight after the earnings report yesterday. Like probably everyone else who read about the Mac mini, I considered buying some (or at least urging my wealthier friends to do so), but you know what they say about hindsight ...

Not everyone loves it though. Frank Steele over at Nicest of the Damned had a positive write-up today, but also maintained enough perspective to include links to some of the nay-sayers. Most of them were knee-jerk Mac-bashing, but a guy named Bill Palmer has some one fair criticisms, concerning Apple Stores and the non-existence of a low-end Apple monitor (Apple's lowest priced monitor is the 20" Cinema Display costing US$999).

Finally!

We finally have confirmation of all the recent rumours! Steve J's keynote speech is over and Apple's website has been updated. The iPod shuffle looks great - although it appears to have undergone a name change in the last few hours. The direct USB connection is typical of Apple's ability to cut through the crap directly to the most elegant solution.

The Mac mini is a definite winner. It brings the old Cube to mind, but at a much nicer price This thing could really be huge for Apple. It is so tiny and has the functionality of many computers ten times its size. It also represents an inexpensive option for PC users who wish to try out Mac OS X. On the other hand it is not perfect. One particularly noticeable drawback is the lack of an audio-in port, although there are USB-based alternatives. Another drawback is the US$425 (!) Apple charges to upgrade to 1GB of RAM (the Mac mini appears to only have one DIMM slot)

Other highlights include iLife 05 (iPhoto finally has folders!), and iWork 05 including the much-anticipated word-processor Pages.

Oddly enough the Apple Store is currently unresponsive very sluggish My guess is the horde of iPod shuffle and Mac mini buyers!

MacTheRipper defeats ARcoSS

Last month I mentioned the new ARcoSS protection scheme appearing on some DVDs in Europe. At the time I said there were no Mac DVD rippers which could defeat ARcoSS, but that the MacTheRipper team were working on it. Well, they've done it . MacTheRipper version 2.6 includes, among other things, the ability to rip ARcoSS discs.

QuickImageCM updated

QuickImageCM has been updated to version 2.4 This is a significant new release - it is about 3x faster, has improved quality, adds a progress bar (and a cancel button! woohoo!), support for labels, and other goodies. I discussed QuickImageCM and DropIcon back in October.

3G networks? Pffft - 4G is coming

Unwired reported on DoCoMo's 4G tests today. The plan is for 1 Gbps mobile transfer rates. Apparently field trials will begin in early 2005, but given how much money the European mobile carriers have already spent on largely unused 3G bandwidth I'm not confident we'll be seeing 4G in Europe anytime soon. This C|Net report predicts commercial 4G services by 2010.

Windows evangelist twists truth

The amusing rantings of rabid anti-Apple evangelist Paul Thurrott at his tabloid-style site occasionally make the news, but today he's managed to exceed his usual level of selective truth-telling.

The article in question is entitled MSN Toolbar Suite Preview and starts by laying this groundwork:

At the Professional Developers Conference 2003 in Los Angeles last year (see my exhaustive coverage of that show), Microsoft chairman Bill Gates touted the searching innovations that would go into Longhorn, the next generation Windows version that's now due in mid-2006. In a way, by detailing the new desktop search features Microsoft was working on so early, Gates had thrown down the gauntlet. In today's PC world, desktop search is a miserable, slow affair, and as Microsoft executives are fond of pointing out, it shouldn't take longer to find a file you know is on your hard drive than it takes to perform a Web search.

At least he's got the "miserable, slow affair" part correct. Anyone who's ever tried a simple search to locate a specific file on both Mac and Windows systems will know that one platform is vastly superior. I'll give you a hint, it isn't Windows.

But wait, Thurrott has more to say. This is the bombshell:

However, Gates was also giving his competitors a leg up on Microsoft. And since announcing its Longhorn desktop search intentions, Microsoft's worst fears were realized. Other companies began copying the Microsoft desktop search strategy, knowing that the never-ending Longhorn delays would help them get to market sooner and appear to be nimbler and even more innovative, though it's sort of astonishing how transparent that latter claim is. Chief among these competitors are Apple and Google.

I'm not even going to attempt to analyze this. Apple and Google stole the idea of indexed searching from Microsoft. You read it here first! It is so patently false that anyone with the slightest amount of computer experience should realise it. One more time, in case you missed it ... he's accusing Apple and Google (Google!!!) of stealing search technology from Microsoft!

PS You may be interested to know that LaunchBar 3 was released in August 2001. Draw your own conclusions.

Cheaper-than-normal iPod

Gizmodo are reporting on a David Hasslehoff-signed 20GB iPod on eBay (click through for a little movie from the man himself). The current eBay price after 6 bids is £102.01. A brand new 20GB iPod from Apple costs £212. Go figure - evidently the Hoff's signature immediately strips £100 off the iPod's value. I wonder if the signature can be buffed off?

MovieGate joins the DVD transcoding crowd

The French app MovieGate has quietly included DVD transcoding options in their latest release (English translation here). Given that it uses the same open source tools, I would expect the results to be similar to ffmpegX's DVD9>DVD5 tool.

DVDRemaster 2

DVDRemaster 2 was released today. The authors have posted an intriguing speed comparison here.

MGS MadMacs UIQ

Noumena have released their latest Magic Game Station (MGS) game. It's a 3D turn-based tank game named MadMacs which apparently includes the capability for 8-player online games. There is a downloadable demo, as well as a Series 60 version. If you haven't tried any MGS games, you are strongly urged to. Every one of their MGS games easily makes my list of great games available for the UIQ platform, while some, such as MGS Karting or MGS Virtual Pool 2, would both make the top five.

iSilo for UIQ goes beta

The popular Palm and PocketPC ebook reader iSilo has been released as a beta for UIQ! This is noteworthy since they already have an OS X converter.

YA iPod Killer

Yet another iPod Killer - Gizmodo had an insightful report on Archos' new G-Mini XS 200 digital music player. I particularly liked the comparison of the relationship between Apple and Archos with the relationship between OS X and Linux. The Gizmodo article linked to a more complete review. Engadget also covered it, but went with C|Net's review instead.

iPod killer

John Dvorak reports on X2's MEGA View 561. This device sounds great, think of it as the fusion of the iPod photo with TiVo. It looks good too - and all for US$399, although versions with larger hard drives would be welcome. Oddly enough, this device is smaller in every dimension than the Archos Gmini 400 but it has a 3.5" screen as opposed to the Gmini's 2.2". It's also quite a porker - it weighs in at about 50% more than the larger Gmini.

CrystalPlayer Mobile for UIQ

An updated version of the CrystalPlayer video player was announced today. No horizontal playback, and another proprietary video format - no thanks. See my earlier take on the advantages of SmartMovie over VICS Video Player.

iMac G5 voltage warning

BoingBoing had an interesting link today to an International Herald Tribune report. Apparently the new iMac G5s being sold in the US are 100-110 volt only (as opposed to being 100-240 volt). This is in contrast to every other Mac on the market except the eMac. Apparently this is to protect foreign sales since the US dollar is currently so weak - a British buyer could save £197 by buying one in the States.

Skulls and Cabir gangbang Series 60

The Register reported today that a new combined version of the Skulls trojan and the Cabir worm (covered earlier) has been discovered. It's been tagged as Skulls-B. Beware of an application called Extended Theme Manager for Series 60 phones.

Nokia Collector software posted

Macslash reported today that Nokia have finally released their Nokia Collector software for OS X. The software is described as Nokia 7280 Phone Support but apparently will work with any phone that supports the Bluetooth OBEX File Transfer profile. However it won't work with Series 60 phones due to their strange OBEX implementation. No mention of UIQ phones, but I was unable to get my P800 (original firmware) to be recognised by the software.

Remote control for AirTunes

While we're on the subject of Airport Express, Macworld had an article today about the Keyspan Express Remote. The setup consists of an infrared remote control and a receiver. The receiver plugs into the USB port of an Airport Express or the iTunes computer whilst the remote lets you control iTunes (and other media applications).

Nokia 7710 and Series 90

Nokia recently announced this new phone. It looks very slick and improves on several of the flaws of the P800, notably the P800's lowly VGA camera and its distinctly average phone-related features (poor microphone, no profiles). Hopefully the 7710 will have the same great reception that my old Nokias all had (the P800's signal reception is noticeably worse). The Register has a write-up.

5 megapixel phone

Showing the rest of the world what we have to look forward to, this 5 megapixel phone will be available in Korea later this year. There are images of the device here. And lots of criticism here. The criticism is pretty harsh in my opinion - I for one would like this kind of camera in a UIQ phone.

Update: ArsTechnica has a review of the phone.

New MKVToolNix

MKVToolnix has been updated, although there no mention on the developer's site about what's been added.

Mind games

There was an amazing article on News@Nature today about device implanted into the brain of a paraplegic which allows him to control his computer and television! Surely it won't be long now before this sort of thing becomes available to the general public. The possibilities boggle the mind - imagine answering and dialing your (implanted in your skull, naturally) mobile phone or unlocking your car and starting your engine. How about sending passwords and PIN numbers to computers, ATM machines or your home security system.

Cinematize 2

Cinematize 2 is out! The new version has some great sounding new features, including speed improvements and new export and clipping options.

Mac WMV, finally?

Macworld had an article yesterday about Flip4Mac, an upcoming (late 2004) Windows Media Format tool that allows importing, exporting and playback of wmv files in Quicktime. Macworld's report concentrates on the ability to encode wmv files, however in my possibly biased opinion it's the flexibility of having wmv import and export Quicktime components (if that is indeed what they are) that is the big news here.

10,000 zombie PCs

It's almost like something out of Neuromancer! An article at the Register today describes the discovery in Norway of a 10,000-strong network of PCs all infected with worms such as MyDoom and Bagle being controlled via Internet Relay Chat (IRC) for spamming or Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. The article goes on to refer to a Ohio-based IRC provider shut down for acting as middleman in corporate DDoS attacks.

1.5GB mobile phone

Okay ... this is what I want my next phone to be like. This CultOfMac report on a new phone from Samsung sounds flippin' awesome. 320x240 colour screen, megapixel camera, 1.5GB harddisk, built in FM transmitter, TV output (!!!), and built-in stereo speakers. The original TechWorld report is here.

The phone is being discussed as an iPod killer. I don't know about that, 1.5GB translates to about 15 albums worth of 128Kbps MP3s - not enough for a real music freak. However for me the killer features are most definitely the hard disk, megapixel camera, FM transmitter, and TV out. While I probably won't go for a $800 Samsung phone, it should only be a matter of time before Nokia or SonyEricsson incorporate most of these features. The one probable drawback will be battery life. Neither of the articles discuss it, but with a built in hard disk I would be surprised if it could manage a whole day of moderate use.

Dual Layer DVDs on OS X 10.3.5

Insanely Great Mac reported today on an article on the French site MacBidouille about burning DVD-R dual layer discs on a Pioneeer DVR 108 using OS X 10.3.5. You can find an English translation here. Points of interest include support only by Toast and DragonBurn (no Finder or iApps), and Toast 6.0.7 only being able to burn a maximum of 8GB onto the disc (which took 27mins).

Hue/Saturation for iMovie

MacUpdate reported today on an update to HSL, a hue/saturation plug-in for iMovie.

iStablize 1.1 released

iStablize 1.1 has been released. The website says "iStabilize is a software video stabilizer for MacOS. It stabilizes movies by removing unwanted shaky motion and smoothing the image path".

eBooks and DRM

Cory Doctorow over at BoingBoing discusses a C|Net report on the current state of eBook publishing and whether or not Digital Rights Management (DRM) makes a difference.

Slow 12x/16x DVD burning on G3/G4 Macs

The Accelerate Your Macintosh site explains why 12x and faster DVD-R burners will burn at slower than expect rates on G3s and G4s. G5 owners don't need to worry (All the more reason to get one!)

One Mouse, Many Macs

The folks over at Forwarding Address: OS X today mentioned an app named teleport, an amazing-sounding preference pane that lets you move your mouse from the monitor of one Mac to another Mac just by moving past the edge of the screen. If you've ever used two Macs you'll know how cool this is! I no longer have two side-by-side Macs, but I'm looking forward to trying this out. Be warned, some of the comments at both the Forwarding Address page and the MacUpdate page mention bugs, but by and large the comments are extremely positive.

Archos' video iPod

Having had the chance to play with a relative's Archos Video Recorder early last year, I've kept an eye out for Archos news. The Video Recorder I played with was impressive despite the large size - the current 40GB model appears to be slightly smaller but still weighs in at 350g (12.5oz).

However, Archos' new product is in a different league. The €400 Gmini 400 weighs in at a mere 160g (5.6oz) and features a 20GB hard disk and 2.2" 220x176 pixel 262,000 colour screen. Interfaces include USB2.0 and a CompactFlash slot and it can play MP3, WMA and WAV audio and Mpeg4, Xvid and Divx video. It can also play Mophun games, either on the onboard screen or on a TV.

On-screen bezels with LanOSD

Another gem from the codepoetry page - anyone who has ever used Applescript will absolutely love LanOSD. Essentially you can pass it information to display in an on-screen bezel (like the OS X volume bezel) along with a choice of icons.

Brand spanking new DVD2OneX

Big news! DVD2OneX 1.4 has been released! It apparently features the new selective ratio engine from the (PC only) DVD2One 1.5, as well as some speed improvements.

Be Ready, the US Govt is coming

I received this via email. I wouldn't normally post this sort of thing, but the captions really did make me laugh!

The US government has a new website, titled Be Ready. The thing is that the pictures from the site are so ambiguous they could mean anything! Here are a few interpretations.

If you have set yourself on fire, do not run.

If you spot terrorism, blow your anti-terrorism whistle. If you are Vin Diesel, yell really loud.

If you spot a terrorist arrow, pin it against the wall with your shoulder.

If you are sprayed with an unknown substance, stand and think about a cool design for a new tattoo.

Use your flashlight to lift the walls right off of you!.

The proper way to eliminate smallpox is to wash with soap, water and at least one(1) armless hand.

Michael Jackson is a terrorist. If you spot this smooth criminal with dead, dead eyes, run the hell away.

Hurricanes, animal corpses and your potential new tattoo have a lot in common. Think about it.

Be on the lookout for terrorists with pinkeye and leprosy. Also, they tend to rub their hands together manically.

If a door is closed, karate chop it open.

Try to absorb as much of the radiation as possible with your groin region. After 5 minutes and 12 seconds, however, you may become sterile.

After exposure to radiation it is important to consider that you may have mutated to gigantic dimensions: watch your head.

If you've become a radiation mutant with a deformed hand, remember to close the window. No one wants to see that shit.

If you hear the Backstreet Boys, Michael Bolton or Yanni on the radio, cower in the corner or run like hell.

If your lungs and stomach start talking, stand with your arms akimbo until they stop.

If you are trapped under falling debris, conserve oxygen by not farting.

If you lose a contact lens during a chemical attack, do not stop to look for it.

Do not drive a station wagon if a power pole is protruding from the hood.

A one-inch thick piece of plywood should be sufficient protection against radiation.

Always remember to carry food with you during a terrorist attack. At least you'll be able to enjoy a nice coke and apple before you die.

MacTheRipper 2.0.1

I just received an email announcing MacTheRipper 2.0.1 with a download link. The homepage hasn't been updated yet though...

Edit: a thread has been posted on DVDRHelp.com about the new release.

New OS X, New iSync

The new OS X 10.3.5 update is out. I was hoping that this, in combination with the new iSync 1.5, would fix my P800 sync problems. Alas not...

ffmpegX 0.0.9n

Due to my recent absence this is a week late, but worth noting nonetheless - ffmpeg 0.0.9n has been released. The main updates are MOV xvid/mpeg4 and MOV/3GP AAC encoding using the faster ffmpeg engine.

PocketPC and Symbian viruses, neck and neck

The first PocketPC virus has been discovered! At the moment Duts, as it's known, doesn't do any damage and asks the user's permission before spreading, but transmission avenues include email, the web, synchronisation, or bluetooth. And Pandora's box is now open ...

Of course, over here on the Symbian side of the fence, we've had our first virus, Cabir, for over a month now (at the moment it only affects Series 60 phones, not UIQ phones like the P800). Again, the virus is a "proof of concept" non-malicious release which requires user approval to spread itself, and unlike Duts, can only do so via bluetooth.

Both viruses were allegedly created by members of the hacker group known as 29A Labs. I considered the ramifications of linking to 29A, but those of you who are interested could easily find them on the web anyway. Whatever the case may be, if you do decide to have a look at their page make sure you have a look at their 'old news' for a bit of an eye-opener.

Salling Clicker updated

The newest version of Salling Clicker is out! Version 2.2 adds support for the Sendo X, Motorola A925, Nokia 7610, palmOne Zire 72, TapWave Zodiac and Sony Ericsson T637, as well as adding integration with EyeTV and VLC. This new version also includes a separate installer for P800s with the original R1D firmware (that's the phone firmware, not the calendar or other parts). It appears to be working on my un-updated phone exactly as advertised so far. Great stuff!

Son of P900

Sony Ericsson have announced the P910! It's billed as a 'minor' upgrade, but in my opinion the major benefits are 64MB internal ram and access to Memory Stick Duo Pro (up to 1GB!). Not to mention the non-virtual QWERTY keyboard! The screen has been upgraded to 200k+ colours too, but that's not a big issue for me.

Breaking the 128MB barrier will make a huge difference. Instead of storing 6 albums of music in 48KHz ogg format, we're now talking about 48 albums. In my eyes 48 albums is a full-fledged music player, whereas a 6 album capacity was just a phone that dabbled in music. In a similar vein, we're now talking about 8 full length SmartMovie xvids per Memory Stick instead of just 1. Finally, we're also talking about enough storage for a movie in a VHS quality format now - think Divx or VCD/KVCD! Granted, it will take a phone with a beefier processor than the P910 has now to play back VHS quality Divx or MPEG1, but imagine plugging your phone into a 50" TV and playing back a movie...

Update: I'm not sure how I ended up posting this after the previous entry about the P900 firmware update, but there you have it

New P900 firmware

I was looking at the new firmware R5B02 release notes when one sentence caught my eye: "Improved visualization of the stand-by clock". I was curious what the difference was until I read the next sentence. It turns out the clock's digits are now larger than before! Silly me

On a more serious note, the update looks good. Lots of fixes, including improved Bluetooth, improved photos, improved handsfree sound, and fixed auto-caps in T9 text prediction.

QuickSilver steps up

I have been a long-time fan of LaunchBar , the whole concept is amazing and has truly changed my daily computer usage. Simply hit the activation key (ctrl-spacebar by default) and type a few letters from the app's name and Launchbar presents you with a list of possible apps to launch. Every extra letter further condenses the results. It is intelligent as well, learning to recognise which apps you mean. And it's fast - the whole procedure of launching an app takes as long as typing a 4 letter word. For instance launching Apple's DVD Player is merely a question of typing ctrl-spacebar, d, v, return! The on-screen list updates with every keystroke so you can see what app you are choosing, but often-used apps will automatically float to the top of the list.

However, there is a new upstart on the scene! QuickSilver is very similar to LaunchBar, but it looks prettier There are a selection of interfaces for it, but I think it's safe to say the bezel interface is the slickest. The activation key brings up a bezel centered on your screen and as you press keys the icon in the bezel changes. The bezel looks very similar to the built-in OS X application switcher - itself a rare example of a feature that Apple swiped from Windows rather than the other way around (no matter what the developers of LiteSwitchX would have you believe).

All-in-all, QuickSilver has all the functionality of LaunchBar, but it looks more "OS X-like". The sole problem was that QuickSilver was for a long time noticeably less responsive than LaunchBar, however this appears to have been fixed in the latest B25 version of Quicksilver. This new version is very snappy and compares nicely to LaunchBar in terms of speed. It also doesn't suffer from the quite frankly far-too-slow indexing rigamarole LaunchBar goes through at startup.

Dashboard vs Konfabulator

With all the recent 'controversy' over how Apple's new Dashboard feature (highlighted in the WWDC OS X 10.4 "Tiger" preview) copies Konfabulator, I'm surprised no one remembers a very similar 'controversy' from late last year over Apple's application switcher and LiteSwitchX. If you ask me, John Gruber's comments regarding the earlier debate are just as applicable to the current argument.

OS X URL Handlers security hole

This problem has cropped up in the last few days. There has been much discussion about it, including on Slashdot here and here. The general consensus seems to be that the best solution is to use Rubicode's DefaultApp as documented on Daring Fireball.

What's new at Google?

There's a new service called FreshGoo which provides an easy way to search for recent entries to the Google database. Pretty useful if you're looking for recently-updated information and can't be bothered to negotiate Googles Advanced Search page.