Snow Leopard Gets Officially Official, Ships August 28
And, if you’ve purchased new Mac hardware (such as the new 15-inch and 13-inch MacBook Pros) since June 8 of this year, you can get Snow Leopard for just $10 (plus shipping and handling) via Apple’s Up-to-Date upgrade program. The trick is you’ve got to make the Snow Leopard Up-to-Date order within 90 days of the hardware purchase (or by December 26, 2009–whichever comes first).
–Agen G.N. Schmitz
A peek inside an iTunes LP file
On the shiny exterior, the new iTunes LP may seem like some sort of fancy proprietary format. In actuality it’s an image-heavy, JavaScript-driven webpage that only renders correctly in iTunes or, with a bit of hackery, WebKit-based browsers such as Safari, Omniweb, or Google’s Chrome. However, the system requirements for it may be a bit of a head scratcher—according to Apple’s support document, the technology requires 1GB of RAM, a 2.0 GHz Core2Duo processor, and a screen resolution of at least 1280×800. Unfortunately, this means no iTunes LP on an iPhone or an AppleTV, which is odd because it seems like the LPs are perfect for the home theater device. If we had to guess, Apple will be adding iTunes LP support in future Apple TV updates—especially since there are allusions to HDTV in the code of the .itlp file.
Making use of an LP in iTunes is a no-brainer, but if you want to see what makes it tick, there is a fairly simple trick to view its dark, vast, innards. (Before you try this, we recommend you duplicate your LP before you go forward.) Just change the file extension from .itlp to .zip and make sure you accept the extension change. You will then have a normal directory with all of the contents freely viewable and editable.
A peek inside an iTunes LP file
On the shiny exterior, the new iTunes LP may seem like some sort of fancy proprietary format. In actuality it’s an image-heavy, JavaScript-driven webpage that only renders correctly in iTunes or, with a bit of hackery, WebKit-based browsers such as Safari, Omniweb, or Google’s Chrome. However, the system requirements for it may be a bit of a head scratcher—according to Apple’s support document, the technology requires 1GB of RAM, a 2.0 GHz Core2Duo processor, and a screen resolution of at least 1280×800. Unfortunately, this means no iTunes LP on an iPhone or an AppleTV, which is odd because it seems like the LPs are perfect for the home theater device. If we had to guess, Apple will be adding iTunes LP support in future Apple TV updates—especially since there are allusions to HDTV in the code of the .itlp file.
Making use of an LP in iTunes is a no-brainer, but if you want to see what makes it tick, there is a fairly simple trick to view its dark, vast, innards. (Before you try this, we recommend you duplicate your LP before you go forward.) Just change the file extension from .itlp to .zip and make sure you accept the extension change. You will then have a normal directory with all of the contents freely viewable and editable.
Snow Leopard Gets Officially Official, Ships August 28
And, if you’ve purchased new Mac hardware (such as the new 15-inch and 13-inch MacBook Pros) since June 8 of this year, you can get Snow Leopard for just $10 (plus shipping and handling) via Apple’s Up-to-Date upgrade program. The trick is you’ve got to make the Snow Leopard Up-to-Date order within 90 days of the hardware purchase (or by December 26, 2009–whichever comes first).
–Agen G.N. Schmitz
Apple Pushes Unwanted Software To PCs, Again
itwbennett writes “Blogger Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols wags his finger at Apple for indiscriminately pushing the iPhone Configuration Utility 2.1 update out to Windows users, since it is a tool for business system administrators to set up and administer corporate iPhones — the blogger himself (and practically every other iPhone user) not being of the corporate iPhone user persuasion. But more than just unnecessary, the update actually puts him and millions of other iPhone owners/Windows PC users at increased risk by installing ‘not just a configuration program, but the Apache Web server as well,’ says Vaughan-Nichols. ‘A Web server like the one Apple [is] adding to your PC… [is] a gateway just asking to be hammered on by an attacker. Managed properly Apache is as safe a Web server as you’ll ever find, but ordinary PC users shouldn’t try to manage it, and even an expert can’t do anything with it if they don’t know it’s there.’” Reader CWMike notes that Apple pulled the iPhone Configuration Utility from the update list after a few hours.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Poll Technica: iPhone dropped calls—is 30% normal? Defensible?
An iPhone user in New York who got frustrated with dropped calls recently discovered that his problems are not as bad as the average iPhone-toting New Yorker. While Geniuses at his local Apple Store were able to verify from logs that his dropped call rate was about 22 percent, he was told that the average in the city is actually 30 percent.
The user, who shared his story with Gizmodo, said he had been experiencing what he felt was an unusually high rate of dropped calls. He tried to get help from AT&T first, but the mobile carrier said everything was just fine on their end. He then took his iPhone in to the Genius Bar at a local Apple Store. They verified that calls were being dropped at a rate of 22 percent, though the phone itself checked out fine. This is when he learned that “the problem is consistent with service provided by AT&T”—the Genius even told him that the average rate is about 30 percent. Ouch.
Poll Technica: iPhone dropped calls—is 30% normal? Defensible?
An iPhone user in New York who got frustrated with dropped calls recently discovered that his problems are not as bad as the average iPhone-toting New Yorker. While Geniuses at his local Apple Store were able to verify from logs that his dropped call rate was about 22 percent, he was told that the average in the city is actually 30 percent.
The user, who shared his story with Gizmodo, said he had been experiencing what he felt was an unusually high rate of dropped calls. He tried to get help from AT&T first, but the mobile carrier said everything was just fine on their end. He then took his iPhone in to the Genius Bar at a local Apple Store. They verified that calls were being dropped at a rate of 22 percent, though the phone itself checked out fine. This is when he learned that “the problem is consistent with service provided by AT&T”—the Genius even told him that the average rate is about 30 percent. Ouch.
Fnac’s Apple Shops job opportunities
Αν είστε ερωτευμένοι με τους Mac, τότε έχετε μια ευκαιρία στη Fnac, για να σταδιοδρομήσετε παρέα τους!
Αγγελία για συνεργάτες.
Στο νέο κατάστημα της Fnac, στο κέντρο της Αθήνας στο Μοναστηράκι, στη συμβολή των οδών Μητροπόλεως & Αιόλου, θα διαμορφωθεί ειδικός χώρος για την προβολή των Apple Mac & iPod προϊόντων. Παράλληλα έχει τεθεί σε λειτουργία ήδη αντίστοιχος χώρος στη Fnac στο Μαρούσι (The Mall).
Αν είστε πάνω από 18 ετών και έχετε πάθος με την Apple, τότε σας δίνεται η ευκαιρία να εργαστείτε για την αγαπημένη σας brand!
Οι θέσεις που αυτή τη στιγμή είναι κενές αφορούν σε έναν υπάλληλο part time (Μοναστηράκι) και σε έναν full time (Μαρούσι).
• Part time: εργασία 5 ημερών την εβδομάδα με 1 μέρα ρεπό, εκτός Σαββάτου, ωράριο συνεχές, 4 ώρες ημερησίως, κάποιες μέρες πρωί και κάποιες απόγευμα – Ref MAC09PT.
• Full time: εργασία 5 ημερών την εβδομάδα με 1 μέρα ρεπό, εκτός Σαββάτου, ωράριο συνεχές, 8 ώρες ημερησίως, κάποιες μέρες πρωί και κάποιες απόγευμα – Ref MAC09FT.
Εάν ενδιαφέρεστε να συνεργαστείτε μαζί μας, μπορείτε να στείλετε το βιογραφικό σας σημείωμα στα αγγλικά, με συνοδευτική επιστολή με e-mail στη διεύθυνση ή με fax, στο 210 9856 330 και επιλέγοντας απαραιτήτως τον αντίστοιχο κωδικό Ref.
Η Εταιρεία προσφέρει ελκυστικό πακέτο αποδοχών & παροχών, εξαιρετικό εργασιακό περιβάλλον και προοπτικές εξέλιξης σε ένα διαρκώς αναπτυσσόμενο οργανισμό.
Όλα τα Βιογραφικά Σημειώματα θεωρούνται άκρως εμπιστευτικά.
Apple Pushes Unwanted Software To PCs, Again
itwbennett writes “Blogger Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols wags his finger at Apple for indiscriminately pushing the iPhone Configuration Utility 2.1 update out to Windows users, since it is a tool for business system administrators to set up and administer corporate iPhones — the blogger himself (and practically every other iPhone user) not being of the corporate iPhone user persuasion. But more than just unnecessary, the update actually puts him and millions of other iPhone owners/Windows PC users at increased risk by installing ‘not just a configuration program, but the Apache Web server as well,’ says Vaughan-Nichols. ‘A Web server like the one Apple [is] adding to your PC… [is] a gateway just asking to be hammered on by an attacker. Managed properly Apache is as safe a Web server as you’ll ever find, but ordinary PC users shouldn’t try to manage it, and even an expert can’t do anything with it if they don’t know it’s there.’” Reader CWMike notes that Apple pulled the iPhone Configuration Utility from the update list after a few hours.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
New Apple tablet rumor says it’s more media, less computer
It’s not that the Intertubes aren’t stuffed with rumors of a magical Apple tablet that will rain down on consumers like wireless mana from heaven, because they are. But the latest rumor suggests that what Apple currently has under wraps will be focused more on media playback and “light communications” than serious mobile computing.
According to a source for iLounge, which in the past was spot on about the iPod nano and sort of right about the iPhone 3GS and its Chinese variant, the current form factor for the tablet is a lot like a large iPhone 3G/3GS. It will come complete with a curved back, 3G networking option, and will have a 10.7″ touchscreen with “720p or thereabouts” resolution. The focus of the device will be on consuming media, much like current iPhones and iPod touches, though it’s suggested that it will also serve as a replacement for books and magazines (i.e. an e-book reader). The device is not meant to compete directly with netbooks—along with media playback, it will also serve “light” communications and web browsing duties.
