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Tech news: All tech news is coverage of the Apple WWDC 2006.
New Products:
Mac Pro. The new Mac Pro is in the same case and form factor as the Power Mac G5. The advantage of using the same case with the Intel chips is that you can regain space due to less heat output from the chips. With the added space you now have two optical drive slots. There is also room for 4 harddrives. The complete rundown of the new Mac Pro is as follows:
Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon “Woodcrest” processors
4MB shared L2 cache per processor
1.33GHz dual independent frontside buses
1GB memory (667MHz DDR2 fully-buffered DIMM ECC)
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphics with 256MB memory
250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7200-rpm hard drive1
16x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
You can stuff up to 16GB of RAM, along with 2TB of storage. There are over 1,000,000 available built to order configurations.
XServe. Apple is always quiet in the server market due to Dell tooting their horn but Apple’s Xserve’s are great machines that also have new features thanks to the Intel switch. Scheduled to be available in October these sport 2 Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 processors (up to 3 Ghz), up to 32 Gigs of RAM, 1.33GHz frontside bus per processor, 4MB shared L2 cache per processor, and two eight-lane PCI Express expansion slots and redundant power supplies. You can have up to 2.25 TB of onboard storage. Best of all your $2,999 gets you unlimited Tiger client licenses!
Cinema Displays. While nothing was mentioned during Steve Jobs’ keynote, Apple has dropped the price on their cinema displays, with the 30-inch getting a HUGE price cut. The new prices are:
20-inch: $699
23-inch: $999
30-inch: $1999
On top of this, the 20 and 23 inch screens have the same contrast ratio as the 30 inch (700:1, up from 400:1) and they both are brighter. The 20 inch now has a brightness of 300 cd/m2 (from 250 cd/m2) and the 23 checks in at 400 cd/m2 (from 270 cd/m2).
Mac OsX 10.5 (Leopard):
Of course the big news from WWDC was the preview of the upcoming version of OsX 10.5, also known as Leopard. With the fifth iteration of the best operating system, Apple of course is rolling out features that make you say “Why didn’t I think of that!” and making the spring 2007 release date seem even further away. During the course of the presentation, Apple took jabs at Microsoft saying how they are copying lots of ideas from Apple and Vista has ‘borrowed’ items from Cupertino. Because Apple is trying to get things to market first, they decided to keep some of the features under wraps. There are many people who are hoping the Finder gets an update and some polish. The top secret items could include those updates but we will not know for many months. For now, we have 10 features of Leopard. Here are the goodies we can expect in the spring:
1. Time Machine – a new built-in backup system that will back up your entire system and allow you to restore the whole thing or just selected files. Of all features shown during the keynote, this is the one that got the most attention, ooohs and applause. Time Machine is not a ’system restore’ rip-off that Apple is going to implement but it’s a full-on backup system for your Mac. Time Machine backs up not just your system files and state but also all files on your computer. By automatically backing up everything you have the ability to not just repair your system but also the ability to get back files you deleted, regardless of what application it was in. Apple has pulled out the stops with the interface, making look like you’re flying through space when restoring and also implementing Spotlight so you can search for files you want to restore. In true Apple style, the restoration process is 1-click, where you select the file you want to restore and click a “restore” button. The file is instantly brought back and you can go on your way. I believe this will be one of the top features in 10.5 and will change the mac experience for everyone.
2. Enhancements to iChat – including a tabbed interface, custom still or video backdrops for your video iChat, iChat Theater (which lets you show iPhoto pics or a Keynote presentation during an iChat), and Photo Booth effects. Other iChat enhancements that were mentioned but not demoed include video recording, invisible mode, and animated buddy icons. iChat also looks like it’s ditching the brushed metal look for the current Mail & iTunes style that we love so much more. The Apple site also shows the ability to share your desktop during an iChat. Desktop sharing, while not mentioned by Steve as a solution, can be used as a great administrative tool for someone who needs help with their mac. iChat never gets updates, so a new version will much needed.
3. DashCode and Web Clip. Web Clip is a great idea, harkening back to the days of Active Desktop. WebClip allows you to build dynamically updating widgets from any Web page. Safari will have a new button on it and when clicked, it’ll take the page your on and turn it into a widget. The main difference between this and active desktop is it seems A.D. never was implemented well by Microsoft, never promoted, never developed, and just fizzled away. Apple on the other hand has a hit on their hands with Dashboard, it’s constantly being worked on, it gets out of the way if you don’t want to see the widgets, and it’s just plain old cool.
DashCode is a new program for widget development. The application comes complete with modifiable widget templates (for RSS, podcasts, and more), and a library of parts to pop into your widget. It’s plug-and-play for widget building.
4. Additions to Mail. Mail, another program screaming for an update will now get a revamping. New items include a To-Do list that can be made automatically from emails and that ties into iCal and other apps. You also get Stationery for your messages, which will come in standard HTML, and Notes. Notes looks like a yellow legal pad where you can take notes for anything and even drop in graphics. From e-mail and notes you can select items to insert into your to-do list. Jobs’ has said that Leopard will have a “to-do service” that will tie all items together across your system. While not mentioned, an RSS icon has been spotted on the side-bar.
5. Universal Access features. Universal Access is one area that needs as much development as possible. This goes for any OS. People who want to use their computer but are disabled need to have tools to help them. Apple has shown new features that look great and are a step in the right direction. There is a new natural sounding voiceover that sounds very real. When it was demoed I closed my eyes and was able to make out all words spoken without having to listen carefully. Along with the voiceover there will also be closed captioning in QuickTime, and braille support.
6. Core Animation. All the ‘core’ services in OsX are great for developers who only need to create their programs with the outline and let OsX take care of the rest. With Core Animation you can now let the mac handle the rest and you won’t need to build your animations with tons of code. Core Animation comes with features like keyframing and tweening.
7. Spotlight enhancements. Spotlight will be able to search other machines on your network, do Boolean search, and will launch your applications for you. This may be Apple’s foothold into the territory held currently by Quicksilver.
8. Spaces. Apple has finally adopted the idea of multiple desktops, a staple in the Linux world for years. Apple is advertising it as having a desktop for each task you have, such as a space for podcasting (where GarageBand, Safari, and iTunes are open) and then a space for work where appropriate applications are open for there. You can see an overview of all desktops at once, reorder them, and best of all you can drag apps from one desktop to another. This may be a fantastic implementation of a long-used feature.
9. “The Complete package”. When Apple uses this tag-line, it means they are going back to the times not long ago when all macs came with the same software and there was no difference OS-wise of an iMac to a MacBook. In all copies of Leopard you will get: Boot Camp, Front Row, and PhotoBooth and all enchancements rolling out with this upgrade.
10. 64 bit processing. The G5 was a 64-bit processor and the Unix code was able to execute these instructions but the fun stopped there. Past the machine-level, you could only execute 32-bit code. With Leopard that is all changing where 64-bit commands will extend past the kernel into the Cocoa and Carbon levels. At this point any application developed can take advantage of this new speed. Apple is developing it so that current 32-bit applications will still run and need no modification. To go along with this, Xcode 3.0 is being released as well.
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Test a geek: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast.
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How To: Get a Leopard feature today.
WebClip was announced by Apple only two days ago but we’ve already got a feature released to hold us mac lovers over until the spring. I bring to you Dash Clipping.
Dash Clipping is a universal widget tool that allows you to turn any part of any web page into a Dashboard widget with a couple of clicks. Once you open the widget, type in a URL, set the refresh time, align the page & widget. You’re now done and you have a rudimentary feature we’re all going to get in a few months. Go wild and go get clipping!
Dash Clipping can be downloaded at http://www.fondantfancies.com/blog/3001239/
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Ask A Geek: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast.
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Hack: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast.
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The geek’s view: This segment will return on a future episode of The Geekcast.
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