Yahoo Maps is back with a new vengeance with their new beta. It’s like Google Maps, but with some new features like a tiny overview map showing what your context is from a farther perspective. That’s slick.
Even better, you can superimpose current traffic conditions. Finally! This is going to hold my attention over Google Maps, at least for a while. I like. Now if only I could get my hands on that Yahoo Mail beta to see if it really beats Gmail.
All right, so Apple released Mac OS X 10.4.3. There were a huge number of improvements. The most notable of which Safari passing the Acid2 Test (even though this was attainable before the update by using your own custom WebKit), homepage URLs in the Address Book are synchronized, iChat sessions over .Mac names can be encrypted, and Disk Utility can verify the boot volume.
We saw a new round of Powerbooks that were pretty unexciting without a processor improvement. The screen resolutions were enhanced and DDR2 was added, but only for the 15″ and 17″ models. The 12″ model was completely passed over. The message is clear, nothing big is coming in the Powerbooks until they go Intel.
The Powermacs got a boost with DDR2 RAM (which they can actually utilize). They also got dual core processors which only really benefit the high end model, the only one retaining two processors. However, the clock speed dropped to 2.5 GHz instead of 2.7 GHz processors. They were also outfitted with dual gigabit ethernet ports. AGP and PCI-X were dropped in favor of PCI Express. They also introduced a Quadro FX 4500 (be prepared to mortgage your home).
Was making the movie Zathura necessary? Really? It’s about a couple boys who find a board game that propels their house into a space adventure. Does that sound familiar? That’s Jumanji, except in space instead of the jungle.
Well, that’s not entirely accurate. There’s no Robin Williams, or even young, hot, Kirsten Dunst. Instead, we have Dax Shepard (I’ve never heard of him either) and two young boys. Oh, and Tim Robbins. I can understand the younger actors getting involved, but Tim Robbins. I should send this, if I had his address.
I love RSS. I subscribe to 243 feeds. I’ve curbed my reading though, so I miss most stuff during the day. However, that doesn’t stop me from being driven nuts on a regular basis.
The first is Day by Day. First, it doesn’t put the comic in the feed. That alone is forgivable. Lots of comic RSS feeds do that. The problem is that new entries show up before the cartoon is uploaded. Hello? This isn’t a once in a while thing. This happens every night. Message received by this reader: I will unsubscribe and stop reading.
I haven’t posted in a while due partially to getting a cat (pictures will follow… someday). As I went to go to take pictures, I realized both my batteries were dead. Charging them takes a while, so I sat down to finally label and describe all the photos I took when I moved into my house, all 82 of them. Now you know why it took me a couple months to get around to it.
We didn’t see Powerbook, Powermac, and Mac mini revisions like most level headed analysts thought. Macrumors’ Buyer’s Guide still has the bright red “Don’t Buy” description next to the Powerbooks. The typical cycle is 185 days, and we’re now 255 in. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them next revised in January as the first Intel Macs (as they stand to benefit the most, being stuck with maxed out G4s).
Instead, the long-awaited video iPod arrived, the iMac got revised (in a rather interesting way), and the eMac has returned to its proper status as an education product.
According to live news updates out of Apple’s press conference today, iTunes 6 will be introduced today.
You didn’t misread that. Barely a month after its introduction, iTunes 5 has been superceded by iTunes 6. A month. Good lord.
It’s official: iTunes 5 was most meaningless iTunes update ever. Either that, or we can expect iTunes 7 at Thanksgiving, earning it the name “iTunes Turkey Edition”. That will be followed by a Christmas version 8 with an all red and green interface.
My brother called me today, slightly frantic, but calmed. His iMac G4 wouldn’t start up. Normally, I’d recommend zapping the PRAM, resetting the Open Firmware, things like that.
The problem was, he couldn’t do those things. It wouldn’t boot at all. There wasn’t even a chime. The computer was absolutely dead silent.
Little did I realize that the flat panel iMacs also had the PMU (Power Management Unit) like my Powermac and Powerbook had. Apple even has instructions.
Think Secret has retracted its earlier statement that there would be no video iPods tomorrow.
They’re now calling for them. To quote them:
The rumor business is not always kind. Reliable evidence has corroborated reports of the development of a video iPod, but information until now had pointed to a release date later than October. Recent notes suggest otherwise, however, and tomorrow may in fact see the release of a video iPod, while Mac updates may not be delivered until next week.
I finish this project
Thank all visitors for reading my blog all this time. I really enjoyed to post hot “around macintosh” news and rumors, funny pictures. Unfortunately, I decided stop it, and here is a main reason, a part of e-mail was received tomorrow:
“We’ve received a complaint that content in your blogs… infringes upon the copyrights of others…
…with any personally identifying information removed, will be posted online by a service called Chilling Effects…