April 2007 - apple-list - University of Manitoba Mailing Lists

INTEREST: Microsoft dumping US$3 XP Starter Edition to government student programs; One Laptop Per Child program
by billing 23 Apr '07

23 Apr '07

...from: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/apr07/04-19UPLaunchPR.mspx Microsoft Announces Commitment to Promote Sustained Social and Economic Opportunity for the Next 5 Billion People Company unveils affordable education suite for young people in developing nations and announces plans for 90 new Innovation Centers to promote local software ecosystems. BEIJING — April 19, 2007 — Microsoft Corp. today unveiled a new commitment to help close the digital divide by creating new products and programs that will help bring social and economic opportunity to the estimated 5 billion people who are not yet realizing the benefits of technology. Through the expansion of Microsoft® Unlimited Potential, the company is renewing and accelerating its long-term commitment to use technology, training and partnerships to transform education, foster local innovation, and enable jobs and opportunities to sustain a continuous cycle of social and economic growth for everyone. “All human beings deserve a chance to achieve their full potential,” said Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft. “Bringing the benefits of technology to the next 5 billion people will require new products that meet the needs of underserved communities; creative, new business approaches that make technology more relevant, accessible and affordable; and close collaboration between local governments, educational institutions and community organizations.” [...] “Computers and connectivity are still too expensive for private ownership by the poor, and applications as well as information resources that are appropriate to this group have been slow to emerge, in part because the poor themselves have not been involved in creating them,” said C.K. Prahalad, author and professor at the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business. “In order to help create the applications and start the business dynamo that unleashes their potential, the people at the bottom of the pyramid need to have reliable, affordable access to technology and to learn computing skills.” Transforming Education To help expand education opportunities worldwide, Microsoft is partnering with government, intergovernmental organizations, academic and industry leaders to facilitate access to high-quality education through dynamic, learner-focused technologies and resources. [...] Through the Partners in Learning program, Microsoft today announced the Microsoft Student Innovation Suite, an affordable and reliable software package for governments purchasing and giving Windows®-based PCs to primary and secondary students for their personal use at home and for schoolwork. The education suite includes Windows XP Starter Edition, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Microsoft Math 3.0, Learning Essentials 2.0 for Microsoft Office, and Windows Live™ Mail desktop. Microsoft will offer this suite in the second half of 2007 for $3 (U.S.) to qualifying governments that purchase and supply PCs directly to students. More information about the offer is available at http://www.microsoft.com/unlimitedpotential/MSIS. [...] ======================================== ...from: http://www.laptop.org/ - the home of the One-Laptop-Per-Child program developed by by Nicholas Negroponte (http://web.media.mit.edu/~nicholas/) with a core of MIT Media Lab veterans. mission Most of the nearly two–billion children in the developing world are inadequately educated, or receive no education at all. One in three does not complete the fifth grade. The individual and societal consequences of this chronic global crisis are profound. Children are consigned to poverty and isolation— just like their parents—never knowing what the light of learning could mean in their lives. At the same time, their governments struggle to compete in a rapidly evolving, global information economy, hobbled by a vast and increasingly urban underclass that cannot support itself, much less contribute to the commonweal, because it lacks the tools to do so. It is time to rethink this equation. Given the resources that poor countries can reasonably allocate to education—sometimes less than $20 per year per pupil, compared to the approximately $7500 per pupil spent annually in the U.S.—even a doubled or redoubled national commitment to traditional education, augmented by external and private funding, would not get the job done. Moreover, experience strongly suggests that an incremental increase of “more of the same”—building schools, hiring teachers, buying books and equipment—is a laudable but insufficient response to the problem of bringing true learning possibilities to the vast numbers of children in the developing world The first countries to sign up for buying the machine (officially dubbed XO") include Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Rwanda, Nigeria and Libya. ...from their FAQ: What is the $100 Laptop, really? The XO is Linux-based, with a dual-mode display—both a full-color, transmissive DVD mode, and a second display option that is black and white, reflective, and sunlight-readable at three times the resolution. The laptop has a 500MHz processor and 128MB of DRAM, with 500MB of Flash memory; it has three USB ports and an SD-card slot for expansion. The laptops have wireless broadband that, among other things, allows them to work as a mesh network; each laptop will be able to talk to its nearest neighbors, creating an ad hoc, local area network. The laptops are designed to be extremely power efficient, enabling the use of innovative power systems (including wind-up). Why not a desktop computer, or—even better—a recycled desktop machine? Desktops are cheaper, but mobility is important, especially with regard to taking the computer home at night. Kids in the developing world need the newest technology, especially really rugged hardware and innovative software. Recent work with schools in Maine has shown the huge value of using a laptop across all of one's studies, as well as for play. Bringing the laptop home engages the family. In one Cambodian village where we have been working, there is no electricity, thus the laptop is, among other things, the brightest light source in the home. Finally, regarding recycled machines: if we estimate 100 million available used desktops, and each one requires only one hour of human attention to refurbish, reload, and handle, that is tens of thousands of work years. Thus, while we definitely encourage the recycling of used computers, it is not the solution for One Laptop per Child. ...from: http://www.laptop.org/vision/progress/ 2007 April First school server deployed. March First mesh network deployed. February B2-Test (Beta 2)machines deployed to children in launch countries. January Rwanda starts out the New Year with a bang by announcing that it, too, will participate in OLPC. 2006 December Uruguay commits to OLPC. November 875 B1-Test (Beta 1)machines roll off the Quanta assembly-line in Shanghai. XO is for real. October Libya announces it has signed up for 1.2 million laptops, one for every school-age child in the nation.

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INTEREST: AppleTV overview, Google Desktop for Macintosh, Apple ships 1 millionth iPod, iPhone speculation, 8 Core MacPro,
by billing 16 Apr '07

16 Apr '07

....and OS X 10.5 delayed....... ========================================== ...from: http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/mwvodcast/2007/04/mwvodcast10/ index.php?lsrc=mwweek Macworld Video: Apple TV interface By Christopher Breen This latest Macworld Video is all about giving you a first-hand look at Apple TV in action. Senior news editor Jonathan Seff puts Apple TV through its paces so you can see how it operates and what its interface looks like. Starting with the main screen of the interface, work our way into the movie screen, and show how a movie plays. There is also a tour the screens for TV shows, music, podcasts, and photos. After a peak at the Settings and Sources screen, things are wrapped up with a look at the trailers and previews feature. --------------------------- ...from: http://www.macworld.com/2007/04/firstlooks/googledesktop/index.php? lsrc=mwweek First Look: Google Desktop (Beta) for the Mac Google’s search application comes to Mac desktops, and we try it out By Dan Moren Love it or hate it, Spotlight is pretty much the de facto choice when it comes to searching your Mac’s files. Until today, that is. Google has released a Mac version of Google Desktop, its desktop search app previously available only to Windows users. Google says its search application and OS X 10.4’s Tiger are complements, not competitors. Still, many Mac users dissatisfied with Spotlight might approach this new product with the following question in mind: By bringing Google’s considerable expertise in all things search-related to bear on your Mac, could Google Desktop outshine Apple’s Spotlight? Let’s take a preliminary look at this application, which you can download for yourself, provided you’re running Mac OS X 10.4. Search party You can summon Google Desktop’s search window by hitting the command key twice in quick succession. (That keyboard shortcut can be changed in the preferences.) Typing a query in the text box will display a live list of results, much as Spotlight does. In my informal tests, Google Desktop seemed zippier than Spotlight, showing results with little or no delay. Google Desktop easily lets you use powerful search operators to narrow down your query. Google Desktop will match searches against files, e-mail messages, addresses, and chat transcripts—by default, the application will display the first ten results but you can shorten that to the first five or expand it the first 15 via Preferences. An icon to the side of each result lets you know the type of file you’ve found and its associated application; selecting any result from the list will open that document in the associated application, just like in Spotlight. For example, if I do a search for “Apple” and click on an e-mail result labeled “Apple eNews,” that e-mail will open in my default e- mail client. At the bottom of the list there’s an option to display all results from your desktop or search the Web with the same string; selecting either of these options will open your default browser and call up the appropriate results. One feature that ought to have Spotlight users (particularly Spotlight detractors) jumping for joy is the ability to use the same query operators that Google.com uses. For example, enclosing a string in quotes will only search for instances of that complete phrase; you can also require or exclude terms with + and -, respectively. (It’s worth noting that Apple plans to add support for boolean logic—using AND, OR, and NOT—in search requests in revamped version of Spotlight to be included in the forthcoming OS X 10.5 update.) Among the most powerful options Google Desktop brings is the caching of deleted files. If you accidentally trashed that report you need for tomorrow’s meeting, you may still be able to recover the content via Google Desktop. What’s your preference? Like Spotlight, Google Desktop builds an index of your files to enable quick searching. Google Desktop’s preferences, which are installed as a preference pane, allows you to choose which volumes are indexed and whether or not you want your Gmail account and web history indexed as well. Indexing begins as soon as you install the application, and while I didn’t notice a substantial slowdown in using Google Desktop, I did notice that the fans on my MacBook kicked into action. A quick check of Activity Monitor showed the indexing processing taking anywhere from 15 to 85 percent of CPU cycles during the initial procedure. By integrating with Google.com, Google Desktop can return results from your Mac whenever you use search on Google. There’s also an option to integrate Google Desktop with Google.com. Once enabled, whenever you search for anything on Google.com, you’ll also be alerted to how many results appear on your own machine. Google says that these results are kept private (even from the company), but you can disable this functionality in Google Desktop’s preferences if you choose. Concerns Since Google Desktop is not drag-and-drop and it doesn’t use Apple’s standard installer, there’s no information about what files are being installed and where. Google Desktop does offer an option for uninstalling via the preference pane. Also, though Google Desktop offers an option of whether or not to display results from deleted files, disabling this option does not prevent those files from being cached—it merely hides the results. Those users who work with sensitive files should be aware of this fact. Naturally, this being a Google app, Google Desktop is still in beta, but in the brief time I’ve used it, I’ve experienced no problems. While it may not offer the same level of integration into the OS that Spotlight has, it seems a more than able competitor when it comes to the nitty-gritty of searching your Mac. Macworld will have a full review of Google Desktop as we get more of a chance to put the application through its paces. ------------------------------------------------------------ ...from: Apple ships 100 millionth iPod By Marguerite Reardon Staff Writer, CNET News.com Published: April 9, 2007, 7:54 AM PDT Apple said last Monday that it has sold its 100 millionth iPod [NOTE: Greg Jowswyak, Apple's VP of iPod World Wide product marketing spoke with Macworld's Philip Michael's about this milestone. In that podcast, Greg stated that, of that 100 million units, 46 million were sold during 2006.] [...] Apple's iTunes Store has seen comparable success in selling items from its catalog of more than 5 million songs, 350 television shows and 400 movies. The company says it has sold more than 2.5 billion songs, 50 million TV shows and 1.3 million movies. [Editor's note: the TV shows and movies are not yet available in the Canadian iTunes Music Store.] [...] ================================= ...from: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/04/03/tech- iphonejune-20070403.html Apple confirms U.S. iPhone launch set for June Last Updated: Tuesday, April 3, 2007 | 3:45 PM ET CBC News Apple Inc. has confirmed reports that its iPhone cellphone will be released in the United States in June. [...] "We haven't announced whether we will carry the iPhone," Odette Coleman, manager of corporate communications for Rogers Wireless, said in an e-mail to CBC News Online. "Everything in the media has been speculations to this point. The only fact is that we are the only GSM carrier in Canada. That's the only fact." (Editor's note: the "only fact" quoted is not quite true. www.icewireless.ca shows the ICE Wireless GSM system available in Yellowknife and Inuvik.... Well, OK. The "only fact" is that Rogers Wireless is the only GSM carrier in most of Canada within 100 miles or so of the US border - except for Alberta (where most of the province is covered - thank-you Teles) and North-Western Ontario where you won't have any coverage at all between Kenora and Sault Ste. Marie except for around Thunder Bay. ::-) ***** ***** ***** ***** [Editor's note: from an email received January 16, 2007 from Rogers Customer Service: > Dear Wayne Billing, > Thank you for taking the time to write to us, we appreciate your > use of > online customer service. > > In your recent email, you have informed us that you have concerns > about > the availability of the iPhone on Rogers. > > We would also like to assure you that we take your concerns very > seriously and we appreciate any feedback that you can provide us. We > appreciate your feedback because this is information that we can > use to > address any similar problems that may arise in the future. On the > whole > it makes us better able to address our customers concerns. > > On Tuesday, January 9, 2007, Apple announced the unveiling of their > new > iPhone, a combination mobile phone/digital music player/camera > > Availability > " The iPhone will first be introduced in North America > " Cingular is the only wireless carrier to launch the iPhone in the > United States > " Rogers is actively working with Apple to launch the iPhone in Canada > as soon as possible and will be the exclusive provider of the > iPhone in > Canada > " Apple is planning to introduce the iPhone in Europe (Q4 2007) and > Asia > (2008) > " Please be advised that Rogers will be offering the iPhone > exclusively > in Canada. Unfortunately, the launch date and pricing for Canada > are not > yet available > " Other Canadian wireless carriers will not launch the iPhone, Rogers > will be the only Canadian wireless carrier to offer the iPhone ================================= ...from: http://www.apple.com/macpro/ http://www.apple.com/macpro/specs.html Apple has announced the new MacPro line which can have two Quad Core Xeon or two Dual Core Xeon processors, 16 GB of RAM, well..... OK.... it's Big and Fast with lots of room for Expansion. ::-) Apple sees is aiming this at film/video, 3D animation, 3D modeling, 3D rendering, Scientific computing, in addition to high end graphic desing, music/audio, and photography users. ==================================== OS X 10.5 delayed ...from: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/ Apple Statement iPhone has already passed several of its required certification tests and is on schedule to ship in late June as planned. We can’t wait until customers get their hands (and fingers) on it and experience what a revolutionary and magical product it is. However, iPhone contains the most sophisticated software ever shipped on a mobile device, and finishing it on time has not come without a price — we had to borrow some key software engineering and QA resources from our Mac OS X team, and as a result we will not be able to release Leopard at our Worldwide Developers Conference in early June as planned. While Leopard's features will be complete by then, we cannot deliver the quality release that we and our customers expect from us. We now plan to show our developers a near final version of Leopard at the conference, give them a beta copy to take home so they can do their final testing, and ship Leopard in October. We think it will be well worth the wait. Life often presents tradeoffs, and in this case we're sure we've made the right ones. [Apr 12, 2007]

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INTEREST: Microsoft starts testing Office 2008 for Mac
by billing 02 Apr '07

02 Apr '07

Microsoft starts testing Office 2008 for Mac By Ina Fried, CNET News.com Published on ZDNet News: March 30, 2007, 10:53 AM PT ZDNet Tags: Microsoft Office, Software engineering/development, XML, Microsoft Microsoft has started private testing of the next version of Office for the Macintosh, which is due out in the second half of the year. Office 2008 for Mac, as the product is known, helps bring the desktop suite back into compatibility with two key technologies. First, the product is the first version of Office that runs natively on both Intel- and Power PC-based Macs. The new software also adds support for the XML file formats that Microsoft added to the Windows version of Office--Office 2007, which hit store shelves in January. Microsoft did not say how many people are taking part in the private beta or whether it will have a public test version, but a representative said Friday that the company is still on track to have the final product out sometime in the second half of the year. While the biggest changes in Office 2008 are the compatibility moves, Microsoft has detailed several new features. One is a program called My Day, which gives users quick access to calendar information without requiring them to first go into the Entourage e-mail program. Also on tap are improved page layout controls in Word and new Excel templates, called ledger sheets, which allow users to handle tasks like producing invoices without having to create or understand the underlying formulas.

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FYI: EMI, Apple partner on DRM-free premium music
by billing 02 Apr '07

02 Apr '07

...from: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/04/02itunes.html Apple Unveils Higher Quality DRM-Free Music on the iTunes Store DRM-Free Songs from EMI Available on iTunes for $1.29 in May CUPERTINO, California—April 2, 2007—Apple® today announced that EMI Music’s entire digital catalog of music will be available for purchase DRM-free (without digital rights management) from the iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com) worldwide in May. DRM-free tracks from EMI will be offered at higher quality 256 kbps AAC encoding, resulting in audio quality indistinguishable from the original recording, for just $1.29 per song. In addition, iTunes customers will be able to easily upgrade their entire library of all previously purchased EMI content to the higher quality DRM-free versions for just 30 cents a song. iTunes will continue to offer its entire catalog, currently over five million songs, in the same versions as today—128 kbps AAC encoding with DRM—at the same price of 99 cents per song, alongside DRM-free higher quality versions when available. “We are going to give iTunes customers a choice—the current versions of our songs for the same 99 cent price, or new DRM-free versions of the same songs with even higher audio quality and the security of interoperability for just 30 cents more,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We think our customers are going to love this, and we expect to offer more than half of the songs on iTunes in DRM-free versions by the end of this year.” “EMI and iTunes are once again teaming up to move the digital music industry forward by giving music fans higher quality audio that is virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings, with no usage restrictions on the music they love from their favorite artists,” said Eric Nicoli, CEO of EMI Group. With DRM-free music from the EMI catalog, iTunes customers will have the ability to download tracks from their favorite EMI artists without any usage restrictions that limit the types of devices or number of computers that purchased songs can be played on. DRM-free songs purchased from the iTunes Store will be encoded in AAC at 256 kbps, twice the current bit rate of 128 kbps, and will play on all iPods, Mac® or Windows computers, Apple TVs and soon iPhones, as well as many other digital music players. iTunes will also offer customers a simple, one-click option to easily upgrade their entire library of all previously purchased EMI content to the higher quality DRM-free format for 30 cents a song. All EMI music videos will also be available in DRM-free format with no change in price. ...webcast of the press conference: http://w3.cantos.com/07/pjxrobbi-703-5zvx0/interviews.php?task=view ...EMI Worldwide web site including groups and songwriters signed with EMI: http://www.emimusicpub.com/worldwide/index.html

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