- apple-list - University of Manitoba Mailing Lists

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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New Version of Boot Camp - 1.2 Beta
by Doug Hamilton 29 Mar '07

29 Mar '07

Hello, Apple has released another beta of Boot Camp, which now sits at version 1.2-beta. Boot Camp 1.2 beta includes: • Support for Windows Vista (32-bit) • Updated drivers, including but not limited to trackpad, AppleTime (synch), audio, graphics, modem, iSight camera • Support the Apple Remote (works with iTunes and Windows Media Player) • A Windows system tray icon for easy access to Boot Camp information and actions • Improved keyboard support for Korean, Chinese, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, and French Canadian • Improved Windows driver installation experience • Updated documentation and Boot Camp on-line help in Windows • Apple Software Update (for Windows XP and Vista) **NOTE: 1.) To install Vista you will need to have the single DVD media and not the multi-disk CD media distribution. 2.) It is highly recommended that you have 2GB of RAM to run Vista. 3.) Under Microsofts current EULA, you must have Vista Business or higher in the product line to be used with a virtual environment (e.g. Parallels Desktop for Mac, VMWare Fusion). However, Boot Camp is NOT a virtual environment. 4.) As a beta there is absolutely no support from Apple Inc. At this time, we have no guidance from Apple if this support situation will change with the final release of Boot Camp. For those who don't already know, Boot Camp is basically an installation assistant and a collection of MS-Windows drivers to enable Windows XP and Vista (32-bit) to boot on Apple computer hardware as the primary operating system without removing the Mac OS X installation. Specifically, MS-Windows has direct access to the hardware in the computer will no emulation or virtualization. It also modifies the boot manager to show MS-Window installations on local hard drives (reboot your Mac and immediately hold down the "Alt / Option" key). For more information see http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/ Regards, Doug ------------- Doug Hamilton, BA, MA, APP Senior Computer Consultant Computers-on-Campus; Univ. of Manitoba 204-474-6196 (Ph.) 204-474-7556 (Fax) http://www.umanitoba.ca/bookstore/ Begin forwarded message: From: Rob Klassen <rklassen(a)apple.com> Date: March 28, 2007 5:01:34 PM CDT (CA) To: Robert Klassen <rklassen(a)apple.com> Subject: New Version of Boot Camp - 1.2 Beta ****Please do not forward this email, this information is for you only**** Hi Everyone, if he have not seen this, Apple will be released Boot Camp 1.2 beta today with Windows Vista support. This version contains fixes for a variety of issues found in 1.1.2, updated drivers, and support for Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate. **Note that on a Mac Pro, you must have at least 2GB RAM installed if you want to run Vista or Vista will complain about needing additional resources. To get started, you still need a full copy of of XP or Vista (single disc). Vista Starter and Enterprise editions may work, but because they've not been tested, they are not recommended. Similarly, Apple only supports 32-bit versions of XP and Vista. No 64- bit. For 64-bit apps, use Mac OS X ;-) Note added support for the Apple Remote (try it. It's very cool) and made the system tray item in Windows about Boot Camp, not just the keyboard support. Apple Software Update for Windows is also being installed on XP and Vista so we can try updating some things automatically in the future (if necessary). Also they fixed a bug that sometimes caused the mouse cursor to stall, jitter, or shake when using a trackpad. Changes in Boot Camp 1.2 beta • Updated drivers, including but not limited to trackpad, AppleTime (synch), audio, graphics, modem, iSight camera • Fixes for Windows Vista (32-bit only) • Support the Apple Remote (works with iTunes and Windows Media Player) • A Windows system tray icon for easy access to Boot Camp information and actions • Improved keyboard support for Korean, Chinese, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, French Canadian • Fixes for the Boot Camp Assistant • Improved Windows driver installation experience • Updated documentation and Boot Camp on-line help in Windows • Apple Software Update (for Windows XP and Vista) Updating to Boot Camp 1.2 beta If you previously installed Boot Camp beta, you can easily update to Boot Camp 1.2 beta. You don't need to partition your hard drive again (unless you want to change its size) or reinstall your Macintosh and Windows software or documents, but it's very important to update the Boot Camp Assistant software, create a new Mac Drivers CD and install the updated software it contains onto Windows. Complete instructions are provided in the Installation and Setup Guide included with the Boot Camp 1.2 beta software. If you happen to upgrade from XP to Vista on a Boot Camp partition, you'll need to re-run the BC 1.2 Mac Drivers disc to replace the Mac XP drivers with the Vista drivers. Otherwise, your Vista install will act weird running on the Mac. If you have Windows installed on a FAT32 partition, you will need to reformat it to NTFS to install Vista (use the Vista installer) and may need to increase its size as Vista requires more space. Boot Camp Beta Expiration The Boot Camp beta program began April 2006 and will end upon the release of Boot Camp in Mac OS X Leopard (expected Spring 2007) and no later September 30, 2007, whichever occurs first. Upon the termination of the program, customers should cease using and destroy all copies, full or partial, of the the Boot Camp beta software and Windows drivers included with Boot Camp beta. Hard drive partitions created using Boot Camp Assistant, containing Microsoft Windows and Windows software applications are not affected by the expiration of the Boot Camp beta, only the Boot Camp Assistant. Please encourage customers that want to continue using Boot Camp after the expiration of Boot Camp beta to prepare by making arrangements to purchase or upgrade to Mac OS X Leopard.

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INTEREST: Blu-ray vs HD DVD sales
by billing 16 Mar '07

16 Mar '07

...from: http://www.oto-online.com/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=284&Itemid=1 Blu-ray and HD DVD - different positions in US and Europe Wednesday, 14 March 2007 Blu-ray Disc movie sales in the US are outpacing those of HD DVD titles by a factor of 2 to 1, according to figures from market researcher Nielsen VideoScan. At the MEDIA-TECH Showcase and Conference in Barcelona last week, Blu-ray Disc Association spokesperson Frank Simonis presented figures from 20th Century Fox predicting that the ratio would rise to 3.5 to 1 by the end of this month. Blu-ray title sales began to accelerate about two weeks after the release of the Blu-ray-equipped Sony PlayStation 3 on November 17 last year. Meanwhile, in Europe, HD DVD has the lion's share of the third- generation equipment market - for the time being at least. Figures from GfK Marketing Services show that, during January, mainly due to Toshiba's entry-level HD-E1 player, HD DVD had an 85% share of the market for blue-laser players, recorders and drives; the remaining 15% was split between Blu-ray equipment from Samsung and Sony. Prior to the launch of the HD-E1, Toshiba had only a 58% share; however, with the PS3 due to launch in Europe at the end of next week, these figures are widely expected to swing back in Blu-ray's favour.

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Daylights Saving Time
by Doug Hamilton 12 Mar '07

12 Mar '07

Here is a good article on making sure your Mac has adjusted to the new start date for Daylights Saving Time ... which started yesterday those of you who hadn't noticed. ;) http://www.macworld.com/2007/03/secrets/dstfix/index.php Regards, Doug

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INTEREST: Mac users, Microsoft's "guinea pigs"; "Double shot" trouble
by billing 10 Mar '07

10 Mar '07

...from: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,129592/article.html Microsoft Considered Dumping Mac Office to Hurt Apple Jonny Evans, Monday, March 05, 2007 07:00 PM PST Documents in the recent Iowa antitrust trial reveal more of Microsoft's business practices. Yet more criticism of Microsoft's business practices has emerged in the wake of the recent Iowa anti-trust trial. Documentary evidence that Microsoft considered abandoning Office for Mac in order to cause "a great deal of harm" to Apple has emerged. An emailed memo from Microsoft-founder Bill Gates to then Mac Business Unit chief Ben Waldman dated June 1997 talks about morale in the Mac Office development camp. At that time Microsoft's senior management were considering dumping Mac support. The email complains at poor sales of Office, which it attributes to a lack of focus on making such sales among reps at that time. It describes dumping development of the product as: "The strongest bargaining point we have, as doing so will do a great deal of harm to Apple immediately." The document also confirms that Microsoft at the time saw Office for the Mac as a chance to test new features in the product before they appeared in Windows, "because it is so much less critical to our business than Windows." ============================= ...from: http://www.designnews.com/blog/380000238.html Friday, March 2, 2007 Apple Wins Patent for Technology in Zune Mar 2 2007 4:37PM The US Patent office yesterday granted Apple Computer a patent for a process called double back injection molding used to make electronic housings. The process allows the distinctive glowing border effect in Microsoft's Zune player [which began shipping November, 2006]. The process allows creation of two different color effects as well as improved structural characteristics of the border wall. it avoids expensive and complicated action in tools. Apple uses double shot injection molding for both iPods and iMac desktop computers, which have a clear shell over a black or white layer. “The two shot injection process allows for a thinner walled enclosure that uses less materials and allows for added structural features that would not be possible using traditional molding techniques,” according to the patent summary [filed on August 16, 2005]. It was not clear, but seemed apparent, that Microsoft may have to pay a licensing fee to continue use of the process. One blogger [http://www.zuney.net/zune- news/736-good-bad-news.html] stated, without documentation, that Apple was stealing Microsoft’s idea. [Patent item at: http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser? Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch- bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20070048470.PGNR.&OS=DN/ 20070048470RS=DN/20070048470] ================================ Apple on Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, and Microsoft Office: - "Hi. I'm a Mac" Guy: "PC, you are a wizard with numbers and you dress like a gentleman." Microsoft on Apple and Steve Jobs: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/ 16934083/site/newsweek/ - Bill Gates: "...if you're really cool, that means you get to be a lying person whenever you feel like it?" and - Bill Gates: "If you just want to say, "Steve Jobs invented the world, and then the rest of us came along," that's fine. If you’re interested, [Vista development chief] Jim Allchin will be glad to educate you feature by feature what the truth is." Microsoft on Microsoft: http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/01/22/ HNmicrosoftappletie_1.html - Jim Allchin (head of the Microsoft division in charge of Windows and Vista development chief): "I have to tell you my experience with our software and [the Zune] is really terrible," he wrote in e-mail. "I expect you already knew this but I had not personally experienced it. Now I spent last night really playing with it. My goodness it is terrible. What I don't understand is that I was told that the new Creative Labs device would be comparable to Apple. That is so not the case.....I think I should talk with Jobs. Right now, I think I should open up a dialogue for support of the iPod. Unless something changes, the iPod will drive people away from WMP [Windows Media Player]," he said in a Nov. 13, 2003 internal e-mail that was marked 'highly confidential' and carried the subject line "sucking on media players." - also Jim Allchin: http://www.computerworld.com/action/ article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9005873 ""In my view, [Microsoft has] lost our way.I think our teams lost sight of what bug-free means, what resilience means, what full scenarios mean, what security means, what performance means, how important current applications are, and really understanding what the most important problems our customers face are. I see lots of random features and some great vision, but that does not translate into great products." [.............to be fair, it should be noted that Mr. Allchin has since elaborated on these comments by explaining that he was just trying to rally the troops to do a better job and that his comments were not intended to be taken literally. ] ...from: http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/12/apple-microsoft-mac-tech- cz_dl_1212mac.html "On Monday night, after reporters began making inquiries about the e- mail, Allchin published an item on a Microsoft blog in which he claimed the e-mail statement was being taken out of context. He said that he'd made the comment about buying a Mac "for effect," that the e-mail was nearly 3 years old and that he was trying to shake things up at Microsoft." ......from: http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/operating_systems/ allchins_buy_a_mac_email_exposed.html - the entire email message Mr. Allchin , who is co-president of Microsoft's Platforms & Services Division, sent to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer on January 7, 2004: "This is a rant. I'm sorry. "I am not sure how the company lost sight of what matters to our customers (both business and home) the most, but in my view we lost our way. I think our teams lost sight of what bug-free means, what resilience means, what full scenarios mean, what security means, what performance means, how important current applications are, and really understanding what the most important problems are customers face are. I see lots of random features and some great vision, but that doesn't translate into great products. "I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft. If you run the equivalent of VPC [Virtual PC] on a Mac you get access to basically all Windows application software (although not the hardware). Apple did not lose their way. You must watch this new video below. I know this doesn't show anything for businesses, but my point is about the philosophy that Apple uses. They think scenario. They think simple. They think fast. I know there is nothing hugely deep in this. "http: //www.apple.com/ilife/video/ilifeO432C.html [Note: Link is now dead] "I must tell you everything in my soul tells me that we should do what I called plan (b) yesterday. We need a simple fast storage system. LH [Longhorn] is a pig and I don't see any solution to this problem. If we are to rise to the challenge of Linux and Apple, we need to start taking the lessons of 'scenario, simple, fast' to heart. Jim"

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New AirPort Extreme wireless stations let incoming IPv6 sessions straight through
by Noel Friesen 15 Feb '07

15 Feb '07

Apologies if this was already mentioned. There's at least one feature of the new AirPort Extreme base station that's not secure by default: It lets incoming IPv6 sessions straight through. More details here: http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/2/14/7063 Noel

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INTEREST: the state of cellular phones in Canada
by billing 14 Feb '07

14 Feb '07

NOTE: if errors in the following are spotted, please feel invited to correct same. Thanks. Wayne ----------------------------------------- [HeavyTechnologyJargon ON] ...from: http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/generic/ 0,295582,sid40_gci1078079,00.html What is this 3G/4G/etc. thing anyway? -------------------------------------------------------- Let's start with "cellular telephones": First of all, "cellular" generally refers to the wireless telephone family. It is just starting to compete, in terms of data transmission (which is to say, non-voice,) with the wireless Internet family that includes Wi-Fi and the other 802 wireless IEEE standards. But it is a completely distinct set of standards. The only place the two are likely to merge is in devices which incorporate a marriage of both the cellular and Wi-Fi standards [such as Apple's announced iPhone]. [In the following, "G" stands for "Generation" and is not related to "Gigabytes". It should be noted that the as the Generations evolve, higher data transmission speeds are attained .] Briefly: - 0G (the 0th Generation, if you will): Wireless telephone started with what you might call 0G if you can remember back that far. The great ancestor is the mobile telephone service that became available just after World War II. In those pre-cell days, you had a mobile operator to set up the calls and there were only a handful of channels available to the entire population of wireless telephones which is why the operator was needed to "schedule" the call. - 1G (the 1st Generation, although nobody actually called it that): The big boom in mobile phone service really began with the introduction of analog cellular service called AMPS (Analog Mobile Phone Service) starting in 1981. This generation is 1G, the first for using cell technology that let users place their own calls and continue their conversations seamlessly as they moved from cell to cell. AMPS uses what is called FDM or frequency division multiplexing. Each phone call uses separate radio frequencies or channels. - 2G (the 2nd Generation): One 2G standard uses a digital version of AMPS called D-AMPS using TDMA (Time division Multiple Access). A competing system also emerged using CDMA or Code Division Multiple Access. As you might suspect, the two are incompatible but you can have one phone that works with both. Europe embraced yet a third standard called GSM which is based on TDMA. Digital transmissions allow for more phone conversations in the same amount of spectrum compared with analog transmissions. They also lay the groundwork for services beyond simple voice telephone calls. Data services such as Internet access, text messaging, sharing pictures and video easily lend themselves to digital technologies of TDMA and CDMA. (3G) - Now that a cell phone is not merely a cell phone, but also a PDA, a messaging system, a camera, an Internet browser, an email reader and soon to be a television set, true broadband data speeds are needed as is a new generation of cellular phone technology. That new generation of cell phone service has been dubbed 3G for 3rd generation. 3G is a new wireless standard promising increased capacity and high-speed data applications up to two megabits. Third generation wireless employes wideband frequency carriers and a CDMA air interface. Implemented in Europe as UMTS (also marketed under the name 3GSM) and CDMA2000 in North America, its goals are high-quality multimedia and advanced global roaming (in house, cellular, satellite, etc.). You will also encounter the 3G term EVDO (Evolution- Data Optimized ) which is the data transmission standard in the CDMA2000 specification. 4G: The fourth generation being championed in Japan will boost the data rates to 20 Mbps. These speeds enable high quality video transmission and rapid download of large music files. ...from: http://www.nttdocomo.com/pr/2007/001319.html TOKYO, JAPAN, February 9, 2007 --- NTT DoCoMo, Inc. announced today that it achieved a maximum packet transmission rate of approximately 5Gbps in the downlink using 100MHz frequency bandwidth to a mobile station moving at 10km/h. The field experiment of fourth-generation (4G) radio access took place in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture on December 25, 2006. [HeavyTechnologyJargon OFF] [LightTechnologyJargon ON] Where is Canadian cellular communications? -------------------------------------------------------------------- So, no without some of the jargon, the first generation of today's cellular phones have been around since about 1981. Canada's cellular providers seem to currently be working toward 3G: - Rogers Communications (Fido): On February 2006 at the 3GSM Conference in Barcelona, Rogers announced that testing for their 3G/ 3.5G UMTS/HSDPA network would be complete by March 2006. The network was brought online for select markets on November 2, 2006, with further expansion during 2007. UMTS/HSDPA is officially available in the Golden Horseshoe of Ontario, including Brampton, Burlington, Hamilton, Mississauga, Oshawa, Richmond Hill, Pickering, Newmarket, Markham, Niagara Falls, Oakville, St. Catharines, Toronto, and all points between. So far, users are reporting performance in the 2-3 Mbit/s range on the HSDPA network, and 1 Mbit/s using UMTS. Note, however, that Rogers already offers GSM/EDGE (the predecessor to UMTS) all across Canada. EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) is a digital mobile phone technology built on top of GSM that allows for increased data transmission rate and improved data transmission reliability. GSM/EDGE is generally classified as a 2.75G network technology since it does not include true 3G technology but is merely an enhancement to the 2G standard. EDGE has been introduced into GSM networks around the world since 2003, initially in North America. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Wireless http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_Data_Rates_for_GSM_Evolution - Telus: Telus employs the CDMA2000 standard for their cellular network, and its 3G EvDO network has since been deployed and marketed as "broadband on the fly". Telus has also been involved in a controversy similar to that of the American telecom firm Verizon, where it crippled the Bluetooth function of its mobile phones and devices, forcing customers to access its network more often and thus increasing charges and revenue. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TELUS - MTS Wireless: EVDO (which MTS is referring to as "Mobility High Speed") service is available within MTS EVDO coverage areas (currently Winnipeg & Brandon), where technology permits. Data download speeds of 400-700 kbps per second are average technology speeds that users will experience based on manufacturer’s specifications. Data download speeds will vary depending on user’s location and hardware. http://www.mts.ca/portal/site/mts/ menuitem.a275cbc6dbb0d4e50e14081031248a0c/? vgnextoid=56970331b4dca010VgnVCM1000000408120aRCRD&vgnextchannel=0b1ccc8 78fc81010VgnVCM1000000408120aRCRD Interesting side stories: a) Entitled "China skips 3G and goes to 4G cell networks" the January 30, 2007 post describes how 3G cell technology is not available in mainland China but it looks like they'll be going directly to 4G as a successful field trial and launch has been done in Shanghai. http://www.cellphones.ca/tag/4G http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=534007 b) On Monday, February 12, 2007, Microsoft filed an application with the FCC for an enigmatic wireless device that could be used to talk over the Internet. The device is described as being used for “consumer broadband access and networking,” which doesn’t sound like vanilla VoIP. Microsoft goes on to say that the device would use OFDM as its communications protocol, not WiFi or Bluetooth. The standard OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) is a modulation scheme that is used widely in upcoming 4G standards. http://crunchgear.com/2007/02/09/zne-phone-confirmed-launch- scenario-4g-wimax-action-rumors-off-the-wtf-o-meter/ [LightTechnologyJargon OFF] [NoJargon ON] The first generation of today's cellular phones have been around since about 1981. These phones have been dubbed 1G or 1st Generation cellular phone technology. Many of today's cellular subscribers in Canada are using 2G (2nd Generation) phones. Some Canadian cellular/ wireless phone providers are providing true 3G technology but at the moment this is most likely restricted to high-end devices such as BlackBerry units. In addition, other Canadian providers have enhanced their 2G technology (e.g. GSM/EDGE sometimes referred to as 2.75G) and are using this enhancement as a "stop gap" to provide faster data transmission for their cellular technology while they upgrade their networks country-wide to true 3G technology. The switch to 3G (and then 4G) cellular technology is driven by the need for high-bandwidth data transmission cell phones. As this an Apple oriented mailing list - in Canada - let's look briefly at how this affects the upcoming iPhone release: 1) Apple's iPhone will initially support only the GSM/EDGE standard. This seems to have been a strategic move on Apple's part as GSM is huge in Europe and many Asian countries; it is available in Canada; it is the standard used by the Cingular network in the United States. Cingular is the largest cell phone provider in the USA. It is widely speculated that the iPhone will remain GSM/EDGE for the duration of Apple's contract with Cingular (2 years) after which an iPhone supporting other true 3G (possibly 4G?) standards will also be released. [NOTE: Cingular has recently announced that it is changing it's name to ATT.] 2) Rogers Communication/Wireless is the only network which supports GSM/EDGE in Canada. Rogers purchased this network from ATT Wireless (Canada) when it closed down. 3) Rogers has announced that they are in negotiation with Apple attempting to reach an agreement that will allow Rogers to release the iPhone in Canada "sooner rather than later". [NoJargon OFF]

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INTEREST: one journalist's view of Microsoft "spin" (...and the Blogoshpere)
by billing 05 Feb '07

05 Feb '07

...from: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/25/technology/25pogue-email.html? ex=1185685200&en=5a72e70f46fca51d&ei=5087&mkt=techphoto A Wake-Up Call to Microsoft's PR Team By DAVID POGUE Published: January 25, 2007 From the January 1, 2007, edition of The New York Times: "Several bloggers reported last week that they had received Acer Ferrari laptops, which can sell for more than $2,200, from Microsoft. A spokeswoman for Microsoft confirmed on Friday that the company had sent out about 90 computers to bloggers who write about technology and other subjects" that could be affected by the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft's new operating system. "Being provided an evaluation computer from Acer is not a 'bribe,'" argued blogger Blake Handler, after receiving one of the free laptops. "It simply allows me to accelerate my evaluations, documentation and demonstrations of Windows Vista." OMG! You've got to be kidding me, Blake. I guess just being *lent* a laptop wouldn't have been enough to accelerate your evaluations? I guess only being given a freebie from Microsoft would do the trick. Now, I realize it must be hard to send a shiny new laptop back to the mother ship just because it's the right thing to do. Still, I think very little of the bloggers who are keeping Microsoft's bribe laptops. Clearly, they're exploiting the lawless, Brave New World of the blogsophere, where, since they're Not Quite Journalists, they don't feel constrained by any of those pesky journalistic ethics guidelines. Like the one that says, "You don't keep $2,200 gifts from the subject of your review. You might think you can still write an impartial review, but it's highly unlikely-and either way, nobody will believe it." But Microsoft gets much of the blame, too. It deliberately exploited a weak spot in today's court of public opinion: how bloggers influence consumers, but generally don't have conflict-of-interest policies. Now, I realize that this isn't exactly breaking news; in fact, it's weeks old. I wasn't even going to bring it up, but yesterday I remembered something: this isn't the first time. In fact, Microsoft has tried to buy public opinion in secret over and over again in the last few years. Here are a few examples-mainly, the ones where Microsoft was caught: In 1998, the Los Angeles Times reported that Microsoft, during its antitrust trials, hired PR companies to flood newspapers with fake letters of support, bearing ordinary individuals' names but actually written by Microsoft PR staff. Later, during the antitrust trials, Microsoft attempted to prove the inseparability of Windows and Internet Explorer by playing a video for the judge. But the government's lawyer noticed that as the tape rolled on, the number of icons on the desktop kept changing. Microsoft had spliced together footage from different computers to make its point. Then in 2002, Microsoft's Web site featured a testimonial called "Confessions of a Mac to PC Convert," a first-person account by an attractive brunette "freelance writer" about how she had fallen in love with Windows XP. Unfortunately, a Slashdot member discovered that the identical photo was available for rent from the stock-photo libraries of GettyImages.com. Sure enough: Microsoft had hired a PR firm to write the testimonial. The "switcher" did not actually exist. I am not, and never will be, a knee-jerk Microsoft basher. I'll give its products good reviews whenever they're deserved (as I have with, for example, Media Center, Windows Vista and Office 2007). But for goodness' sake: Why is Microsoft so insecure? Why can't it allow its software to stand on its own? Why does it feel the necessity to spin public opinion using these phony "grass-roots" marketing tactics? Here's a wake-up call to the Machiavellis on Microsoft's PR team: bribing bloggers, fabricating reviews and making up letters to the editor makes the company look worse, not better. If Microsoft really wants to earn high marks from the public, it might want to consider earning them the old-fashioned way: By creating products people love.

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(no subject)
by michael kinnear 22 Jan '07

22 Jan '07

Please leave me off your list until September 2007. Michael Kinnear

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FYI: Apple's 802.11n accounting conundrum
by billing 22 Jan '07

22 Jan '07

<Accounting Guru goggles on> WARNING: accounting contortions ahead ...from: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-6151790.html?tag=nl.e622 By Tom Krazit, CNET News.com Published on ZDNet News: January 19, 2007, 6:56 PM PT Apple's explanation of a planned Wi-Fi upgrade fee has its roots in obscure accounting rules that tell companies how to book sales of future product upgrades. Apple said Thursday that it plans to charge customers $1.99 for a software download that enables the 802.11n Wi-Fi technology currently present in almost all MacBooks and MacBook Pros with Intel's Core 2 Duo processor. The company says accounting rules known as generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) force it to ask for money for the download. "During the past several months Apple has shipped some Macs with the hardware to support 802.11n, but the draft of the 802.11n specification was not complete enough to create the required software," Apple spokeswoman Lynn Fox said in an e-mail to CNET News.com. "Now that the draft specification is complete, we are ready to distribute the software to make the 802.11n hardware in these Macs come to life." But because the company has already recognized all the revenue from the sales of those computers, it has to now charge customers at least a nominal fee in order to establish the value of its software upgrade and satisfy an obscure accounting regulation known as SOP 97-2, said Fox. Apple didn't have to do it this way, say accounting experts. But the company most likely faced difficult choices in relation to the upgrade: It could have held off on shipping the new Macs until the upgrade software was ready. It could have skipped the 802.11n capabilities altogether. Or it could have deferred revenue from the new Macs until the software was ready--all unlikely and unpalatable options. Hence, the $1.99 fee. [...] Apple began selling MacBook Pro notebooks with Intel's Core 2 Duo processor in September, later adding that chip to MacBooks and iMacs. However, the company also included 802.11n chips in almost all of those systems without telling buyers, Apple CEO Steve Jobs revealed at Macworld last week. Here comes the tricky part: under accounting regulations developed over the last several years, when companies sell a product with multiple pieces that are delivered at different times, they must determine the separate value of each piece of that product, accounting experts say. And the company can only record the revenue associated with a specific piece when it is delivered to the customer. This is a very common practice in many industries, said Ryan LaFond, assistant professor for accounting at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Business. For example, magazines receive all the money for a full year's subscription at the time the subscription is purchased, but they only record that as revenue as each issue is delivered, deferring the remaining balance into a liability account called unearned revenue. [...] That means a company in this situation would have to defer all the revenue associated with the product until it can establish the value of the Wi-Fi upgrade, or until it delivers the complete set of software, said Brett Trueman, a professor of accounting with the Anderson Business School at the University of California at Los Angeles. So, Apple would have had to defer all the revenue for Macs sold with the 802.11n chips from September until it delivers the upgrade in February, and that's not a realistic option. So now, Apple has to establish a value for the Wi-Fi upgrade in order to satisfy the requirement to separately account for the different pieces of software. One easy way to do that is to charge people for it. There's absolutely nothing in the GAAP requirements that says Apple must charge its customers for that software upgrade. The only requirement imposed by GAAP is that Apple must account for the separate value of the 802.11n capability, said MIT's LaFond. It can do this by creating a value at the time of purchase or it can wait until it delivers that capability to record all the revenue associated with the product. Another option, if the company had wanted to keep the 802.11n capabilities secret, is to create a "new arrangement" with the customer. Apple sold the customer a notebook in September, and is now selling the customer 802.11n capabilities for that notebook. These are two separate transactions that satisfy the need to account for the undelivered 802.11n capability as well as Apple's desire to book all the revenue for the notebook up front and keep the use of the 802.11n chip a secret. Any of those options would satisfy Apple's need to account for the separate delivery times for the Macs and the 802.11n capabilities, according to several experts interviewed for this article. But simply blaming the fee on GAAP, or on the Sarbanes-Oxley regulations as some rumors have suggested, does not tell the full story. "If I'm a company, and I want to give my customer something, GAAP isn't going to prevent you from doing that," LaFond said. But at a time when Apple's accounting practices are under significant scrutiny from regulators looking into the company's stock-options backdating practices, the company has to be extra careful about following the proper procedures while keeping financial analysts happy with strong earnings reports. <Accounting Guru goggles off>

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