Stan's List

One of my favorites. Though, not as technically challenging as the superb Tin Toy, Knick Knack is a delight. Go to the Pixar section of the iTunes Music Store, where you can preview the award winning short animation before buying

Microsoft has submitted the Office Open XML document format to the Ecma international standards body, garnering the support of Apple, among others, in its effort. CRN reports Apple made a strong endorsement of the Microsoft submission, too. ‘Apple and Microsoft will continue to work closely together to deliver great products to Mac users and application developers for many years to come’” said Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, Philip Schiller, in a statement. Massachusetts officials maintain that a move to the OpenDocument format would open up office productivity software to more competition.”

This is from the iTunes Music Store:

Haunting, mysterious, ethereal, but never dull—Trio Mediaeval’s performances have earned them a reputation as one of the most exciting early music groups around today. The Scandinavian threesome has a history of combining some of the oldest and newest works in the vocal repertoire. On their latest album, Stella Maris they perform chants from the 13th Century alongside a contemporary setting of the Mass Ordinary, commissioned by the trio from Korean-born composer Sungjil Hong. This week’s “free” Discovery Download, Dou Way Robyn / Sancta Mater is practically unique amongst early English vocal music because while the lower part in in English, the upper melody line is in Latin.

I enjoy the Discovery Downloads as I likely would not get to know this talent

So, when Linux columnist Tom Adelstein says “if Apple made Mac OS X for Intel available to consumers to install on their PCs, it would “change the PC landscape like no other operating system has or could,” he does not know what his talking about.

Why should Apple do this, given the subject?

The Apple Store has launched its Black Friday Event on the Friday following Thanksgiving, offering special deals on select Apple merchandise. The “Feast beyond a Feast” will be a one-day only event in both Apple retail stores and online.

Apple also launched an Apple Store Microsoft Promotion , offering up to 50 percent off on Microsoft. Users can save up to $250 via mail-in rebate on any qualifying version of Microsoft Office–including Standard ($200 rebate), Professional($250), and Student/Teacher ($50) versions–when purchased along with a new Mac. The offer expires on January 31, 2006 and is available at any authorized Apple reseller.

MacFixIt has reports that non-special cell phones can cause unlocked iPods to behave erratically.

I find that so interesting, phone signal interference. No wonder I can not play my iPod when airplane is taking off. An unlocked iPod can take over.

Apple has announced long-term supply agreements with Hynix, Intel, Micron, Samsung Electronics and Toshiba for NAND flash memory through 2010. As part of these agreements, Apple will prepay a total of $1.25 billion for flash memory components during the next three months.

“We want to be able to produce as many of our wildly popular iPods as the market demands,” said Stevie.

A great move, especially after the Samsung debacle.

According to a November 15th notice on the Apple iPod Settlement Administration Web site :

On October 24, 2005, a notice of appeal was filed in the Superior Court of California, County of San Mateo, against the approved iPod Settlement. As a result, Settlement benefits will not be provided unless and until the appeal is resolved.

Presumably, the appellant is Apple. But if Apple is appealing, why did it initially agree to the settlement?

Apple released Front Row 1.0.1, an update that “delivers overall improved reliability and compatibility for browsing music, photos, and videos on your iMac.”

Or, for us who have the hacked version (runs on anything but the new iMac), we have to wait.

Apple is offering its first fresh freebie, Jam Pack 4, in several months to .Mac subscribers. This latest come on is a collection of sweet sounds for use with GarageBand:

“You’ve got 100 new loops from [the] latest Jam Pack 4: Symphony Orchestra in the Members Only folder in the Software folder on your iDisk. Enjoy this taste of Jam Pack 4 (free to .Mac members), plus 300 loops from Jam Packs 1, 2 and 3.”