Stan's List

Not really, but well timed, engadget has it by the minute.

An extensive article in The Age discusses Apple’s Intel transition from a graphic designer’s point of view. “Jason Castan, principal of Emperor’s Mind, a systems integrator working in corporate and specialist graphics markets in Melbourne and Sydney, says the switch means short-term pain for long-term gain that may not be seen for six months to a year, when software companies such as Adobe are expected to produce Intel-compliant software for the Mac. A lot more …

The Business reports that Apple is expected to announce plans to distribute full-length movies via its iTMS service at the February 28 media event this week.

AppleInsider reports that Apple will launch an Intel-based Mac mini at Tuesday’s media event and not an x86 iBook as some have speculated.

Start up RealPlayer and you should get an invitation to download the final release of version 10, or use the link to go directly to the download page avoiding the registration form.

Added media type assignment in Preferences (Mac OS X 10.4 and later)

Recently reported security vulnerabilities fixed

MacInTouch has a fairly comprehensive performance comparison between the Intel Macs and the most recently released PPC iMac G5, Quad G5 PM and PowerBook G4. Also results from a number of benchmark programs with links to each so you can compare your Mac.

AppleInsider: “Based on checks with Apple specialist resellers and an analysis of iPod unit shipment data released this week, research and investment firm PiperJaffray believes Apple is on track to have a March quarter that is in line to slightly above estimates.” More …

The recent cancellation of the PowerBook G4/15″ model in the wake of MacBook Pro shipments might give an indication of how PowerPC-based Macs have been selling during the Intel switch, as Macworld UK notes.

The article notes analyst Keith Bachman, who employs NPD data which suggests Apple’s January Mac sales grew - but not by much, year-over-year, in 2006. Instead of the 20-something per cent unit growth figures to which we’ve become accustomed each quarter, the NPD data indicates Apple’s Mac unit sales increased by only 6 per cent in January. Revenue is estimated to have swelled by a mere 1 per cent over the same period.

VNUNet reports that prices for the DDR2 memory chips commonly used in PCs with Intel CPUs will begin to rise significantly next month because demand is exceeding supply, according to sources in Taiwan’s semiconductor manufacturing industry. “While upwards pricing pressure already exists, monthly contracts are creating delays of at several weeks before price changes begin to reach consumers.” More.

Apple announces the sale of the 1 billionth song to be sold on the iTunes Music Store.

“I hope that every customer, artist and music company executive takes a moment today to reflect on what we’ve achieved together during the past three years. Over one billion songs have now been legally purchased and downloaded around the globe, representing a major force against music piracy and the future of music distribution as we move from CDs to the Internet.”

The billionth song, Speed of Sound was purchased by Alex Ostrovsky from West Bloomfield, Michigan. As the grand prize winner he will receive a 20-inch iMac, 10 5G generation iPods and a $10,000 gift card good for any item on the iTunes Music Store. In addition, Apple will establish a scholarship to the world-renowned Juilliard School of Music in his name to commemorate this milestone.

Paranoid Android v1.3 (requires 10.4 or later) is free from Unsanity and it fixes the automatic portion of the Safari (and Mail) vulnerability and the general issue with LaunchServices in Mac OS X 10.4.x “Tiger” of which the new vulnerability is a subset. Paranoid Android 1.3 also prevents the demo exploit by intercepting the command to open the Terminal.app, asking if you really expected and wanted that to happen–we clicked “Cancel.

You will go through 4 web pages before you get to the actual download