Apple looking into Intel iMac Video issues

I have had several listeners complain about issues with "Tearing" in FrontRow on the new Intel iMacs

Several reports have surfaced on Apples discussion board

Intel iMac "Tearing" Video

Random horizontal lines and other issues when using FrontRow.

Seems to be limited to software, so hopefully Apple will patch soon.

Touchscreen Video iPod rumors

Several rumors that Apple is set to reveal the "true" video iPod, this Spring (April 1st?)

Feature a 3.5" diagonal display and a "virtual" touchwheel

Touchwheel will appear when screen is touched and disappear when a finger is removed.

Scratching and fingerprint issues?

Rumor of WiFi and Bluetooth being added to future iPods

Portal Player has added in technology from UK Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR).

UniFi Wi-Fi and Bluetooth controller.

WiFi chips available 2nd half of this year.

Manhattan Apple store to be first 24/7 location

Apple's new midtown Manhattan store will be the first to be open 24 hours a day.

It's 25,000 square feet in the plaza beneath the General Motors Building on Fifth Avenue

It will also be among the first store to feature an iPod Bar. I would presume to take the load off the Genius Bar.

Some EXEs running on Intel Macs using WINE

"WINE does not require Microsoft Windows, as it is a completely free alternative implementation of the Windows API consisting of 100 percent non-Microsoft code."

The version of Darwine for PowerPC required using an SDK and compiling PC apps from source to get just a few apps to run.

www.darwine.org

The crew at OSx86Project have complied the latest version of WINE on Intel Macs and have successfully run some (very basic) Windows apps.

www.osx86project.org

OSx86Project and Darwine have release a Developer preview build of Darwine for Intel. Use at your own risk.

Show the promise for getting Windows apps to run within OS X.

Design change to protect screen on new Nano?

According to a thread on the iLounge forum (picts too). There seems to be a discussion that Apple changed the Nano design to help avoid scratching.

iLounge.com - Nano Design Change

About 1-mm in the face indents slightly. Some say it's a design feature to make the face not touch when it is placed face down on a flat surface.

Makes using "film" screen protectors difficult or impossible. Adds air bubbles.

iLounge also noted in their review that the screen seemed not as bright as previous version.

www.ilounge.com

Mac Roundtable Promo

Play Mac Roundtable promo

www.macroundtable.com

Correction on dB levels

Several listeners including Slau the sound engineer and producer of "Podsafe for Peace" wrote in to correct me.

www.podsafeforpeace.org

Every doubling of power results in an increase of 3 decibels, but that does not translate to a doubling in volume level.

So while a jet plane may register at 100 dB and two may be 103 dB, that is not twice as loud.

According to Wikipedia, "frequency response of the human ear results in a perceived doubling of loudness with every 10 dB increase"

Tivo and Mac Support

I have a new Tivo, but was disappointed by it's Mac integration. Being linux os you would think it would be better.

Tivo Desktop does not support Tiger, although I somehow got 1.9.1 installed, installer said it failed, and it seems to work.

Open source software, Galleon Tivo Media Server

Galleon TiVo Media Server

Apps for Music, Photos, Podcasting and Videocasting, RSS, Weather, Movie Listings, Tivo To Go.

How do you remove TiVo (.tivo) wrapper from MPEG-2 files? Series 1 Tivos had .ty files and there are tools for that.

TiVo to Go for Mac should be out in the next few months.

Tip: How to direct link to .Mac Photos

From listener Jeremy

Normally you cannot link directly to images in your pictures folder.

http:// homepage.mac.com/[username]/Pictures/image.jpg

Simply adding a period to the folder name make the image linkable.

This also works for the other folders like "Movies"

Actually a security issue as you can use this to access image on "protected" homepage sites.

Keeping your Mac secure

Lots of articles that are starting to scrutinize Mac security. An article over on Security Focus is a good example. Most revolve around a complaint that Apple doesn't audit is security as much as Microsoft (or at all according to some) or that Apple has ignored old holes in it's Uninx under pinnings which have been patch by other distributions.

www.securityfocus.com

Kim reminds us that many security researchers use Mac and are only bringing these concerns to light to help protect us. The media, as the do with Microsoft too, will always sensationalize these reports.

We should expect Apple to take any security issue seriously, investigate it and fix it. The should also take a pro-active rather than reactive approach.

Kim shared some easy steps for keeping your Mac safe:

1. Back up regularly - if you get taken over you'll want to get your stuff back.

2. Firewall - keep it turned on and close any service, like ssh, when you don't need it.

3. Non-admin user - do your daily work as a user that has no admin
privileges; only login as an admin user to install software or change
settings. That way if you goof with your computer use (browse to a bad
site, pass your PW in the clear), its much harder for bad guys to own
your computer.

4. Software Update - Do it timely; at most, check a website like
Macintouch for flaws. Its much better for one of Steve's engineers to
break your computer than for a bad-guy to get it.

Giving Apple feedback

On Apples contact page there links to several forms to provide feedback on different topics.

Apple Feedback

The links are at the bottom on the right-hand side.