Stan's List

tom’s Hardware is convinced Apple will incorporate Nvidia’s Ion in the Mac Mini. They were told by a Nvidia’s partner that Apple was first to be seeded samples Nvidia GPU handles all HD video and Intel’s Atom 330 processor is used for general computing processing. There are some rumors that the Ion board will be used in the Apple TV update, but this is to much computing power to be used in such an application.

Open XML File Format Convertor for Mac 1.0—45MB
— Open XML Converter allows you to convert Open XML files that were created in Office 2008 for Mac or Office 2007 for Windows so that you can open, edit, and save them in earlier versions of Office for Mac.

Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.3 Update—15MB
— This update contains several improvements to enhance stability and performance. In addition, this update includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code.

High Definition Content Protection (HDCP) is coming to Mac, in fact is in the new MacBook. How does this new DRM work or not work?

When my friend John, a high school teacher, attempted to play Hellboy 2 on his classroom’s projector with a new aluminum MacBook over lunch, he was denied by the error you see above. John’s using a Mini DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter, plugged into a Sanyo projector that is part of his room’s Promethean system. Strangely, only some iTunes Store movies appear to be HDCP-aware, as other purchased media like Stargate: Continuum and Heroes season 2 play through the projector just fine. Attempts to play Hellboy 2 or other HDCPed films through the projector via QuickTime also get denied. Other movies that don’t work include newer films like Iron Man, Star Wars: Clone Wars, and Love Guru, but older films like Shawshank Redemption are restricted as well.

ars technica has the details

It will get to the point where the only material you may display is that you create yourself.

Gizmodo has a great article about how today’s presentation was a way to respresent how Apple is prepared to continue after the eventual retirement of Steve. I think Apple will continue to thrive especially with so many steve-minded people working at Apple.

I still shed a tear at the close of an era of Steve-notes, and “one more thing”s.

http://gizmodo.com/5063281/is-steve-jobs-preparing-his-farewell

While my dad is busy watching the moving crew break all his precious knick-knacks I will be filling in to give you a wrap up of today’s announcements.

To start we have the announcement of the new Macbooks and Macbook Pros. Apple takes this opportunity to bring their visual style in line with the iMac, sporting a glossy black border around the screen. More importantly, they much rumored new aluminum case was unveiled making the laptop even more sturdy than before. The guts have also been given a large upgrade with a single NVIDIA chip in the Macbook and duet of chips in the Pro model allowing for tiered use of the chips to meet workload and power demands. Fans of the iPhone and Macbook Air will be glad to know the laptops also have gained a buttonless glass trackpad with multi-finger gesturing.

Among the other changes, Firewire has been dropped from the Macbooks, as well as the full size DVI port on the Macbook Pro. MiniDVI will be used through out and is also seen on the new Cinema Displays.

Now for the specs:

Macbook Pro

• Standard Model: $1999
- 15.4-inch screen
- 2.4GHz processor
- 2GB DDR3-RAM
- Geforce 9400M and 9600M GT
- 250 Gig HDD
- Super-Drive

• Better Model: $2499
- 15.4-inch screen
- 2.53GHz
- 4 GB RAM
- 512 MB on 9600GT
- 320 GIG HDD

Macbook

•$999 (Last generation), $1,299, and $1,599

- 13-inch Screen
- 2.0, 2.1, 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
- 2GB SDRAM
- 160,180, and 250GB Hard Drives
- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M

In a nutshell that about wraps it up. For all the dirt Gizmodo has given some great hands on reviews of the machines.

http://gizmodo.com/5063271/hands-on-with-macbook-pro-2008

http://gizmodo.com/5062885/hands-on-the-new-silver-macbook

http://gizmodo.com/5063291/hands-on-with-the-24+inch-apple-cinema-display

Microsoft Watch reports: Windows laptops are losing luster, as Mac notebooks make surprising gains. Netbooks will help reverse the trend, but too few ultraportables run Windows Vista. For now.

Then there is the question of Apple. Netbooks are but one new entrant in the low-cost laptop category. It’s the broader category, with its sub-$700 ASPs, that should concern Apple. Meantime, Apple has got bite, given its 35 percent dollar share at retail. But Microsoft is biting back. It will be interesting to see how Microsoft’s ‘I’m a PC’ commercials will affect Mac sales.

On the heals of 3.0.2, Mozilla has another update, which addresses a serious problem

What’s New in Firefox 3.0.3

Firefox 3.0.3 contains the following changes:

* Fixed a problem where users were unable to retrieve saved passwords or save new passwords (bug 454708)

Java for Mac OS X 10.4, Release 7 delivers improved reliability and compatibility for Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0 and Java 1.4 on Mac OS X 10.4.11 and later. This release updates J2SE 5.0 to version 1.5.0_16 and Java 1.4 to version 1.4.2_18.

Learn more about this update here.

Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 2 delivers improved reliability and compatibility for Java SE 6, J2SE 5.0 and J2SE 1.4.2 on Mac OS X 10.5.4 and later. This release updates Java SE 6 to version 1.6.0_07, J2SE 5.0 to version 1.5.0_16, and J2SE 1.4.2 to 1.4.2_18.

For more details on this update, please visit this website:

Firefox 3.0.2 addresses a number of security and stability issues

* Fixed several security issues.
* Fixed several stability issues.
* Official releases for Sinhala and Slovene are now available.
* Beta releases for Bengali, Galician, Hindi, Icelandic, Kannada, Marathi, Telegu, and Thai are available for testing.
* Fixed a number of minor issues with the layout of certain web pages.
* Fixed several theme issues that affected right-to-left locales.
* Fixed issue that caused some users with customized toolbars to have their Back and Forward buttons go missing (bug 426026)
* Add new Extended Validation (EV) roots to Firefox 3.0.2.
* On certain IDN sites, the password manager would not fill in username and password details properly.
* Fixed several hangs and crashes that occurred when using screen readers.
* Fixed Mac-specific issues.