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News & Opinion
The EPEAT Controversy
Software
News & Opinion
Apple Posts List of Macs Official Supported by OS X
10.8 Mountain Lion
Apple has posted an official list of supported hardware on its
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
"How To Upgrade" page.
In order to install and run Mountain Lion, your Mac must be one of
the following models:
Presumably, anything older than the models listed is excluded
because of 64-bit compatibility issues - at least the right sort of
64-bit compatibility (OS X version 10.8 is a 64-bit-only operating
system that won't boot in 32-bit mode) - and/or insufficient graphics
processing power.
If you're running OS X 10.7
Lion, you can find out if your current Mac qualifies by clicking
the Apple icon at the top left of your screen, choosing About This
Mac, and then clicking More Info.
Note that Mountain Lion will install over OS X 10.7 Lion or the
latest version (10.6.8) of OS X
10.6 Snow Leopard. While you have the About This Mac window
open, you can check what version of OS X your Mac is running.
If you are running Lion (10.7.x), you're ready to update to Mountain
Lion. If you are running Snow Leopard (10.6.x), update to the latest
version of OS X Snow Leopard before you purchase OS X Mountain Lion
from the Mac App Store. Click the Apple icon and choose Software
Update to update Snow Leopard to version 10.6.8.
With the above provisions satisfied, you'll be ready to download OS
X Mountain Lion from the Mac App Store when it's available later this
month. Open the Mac App Store from your Dock to buy and download
Mountain Lion. Then follow the onscreen instructions to install it. If
you don't have broadband Internet access, you can visit any Apple
Retail Store to get help with downloading.
Publisher's note: Over the past week, we have updated all profiles
for Macs that can run OS X 10.7 Lion to indicate whether they
officially support Mountain Lion, along with whether three new
OS X 10.78 features - AirDrop, AirPlay Mirroring, and Power Nap -
are supported. dk
Link: Upgrade Your Mac to OS X
Mountain Lion
Power Consumption May Put Power Macs Out to Pasture
as Servers
PPC Luddite's Dan says that with most longtime Mac users moving to
Intel systems but still having perfectly good PowerPC hardware sitting
around, many ask, "What can I do with those old computers?
. . . Is there anything close to their original purpose I can
use them for?"
The answer most people come up with, if it isn't eBay, is some sort
of server: a file server, music/media, or even a web server, and while
Power Macs with their multiple drive bays seem ideal for this task,
there's the issue of power consumption, and since a server computer
will generally always be on, it's a good idea to look at their wattage
efficiency to see which models "would be best served being servers of
the served."
The article points the finger at dual-processor models as energy
hogs, and a note by our own Dan Knight reminds us that the only G4
Power Macs to support drives over 128 GB without special software or an
add-on card are the Quicksilver and Mirrored Drive Doors models.
Publisher's note: I will attest to dual-processor G4s running hot,
although I haven't measured their power draw. I have a dual 1.25 GHz
MDD running OS X 10.4 Tiger
and a dual 1.0 GHz MDD running OS X
10.5 Leopard, and they definitely heat up the room. Putting them to
sleep helps, and turning them off at night or over the weekend helps
even more, especially with summer heat. (In the winter, this becomes
the coziest room in the house.) In fact, once outdoor temperatures get
much about 80°F, I need to turn on the air conditioner to keep the
Leopard Power Mac from overheating. That said, a G4 or G5 Mac running
OS X 10.5 Leopard with file sharing enabled can function as a
Time Machine
backup server, providing one more reason to keep the old Macs doing
something. dk
Link: Power Consumption
on Power Macs
Google Chrome Browser Soon Ending Support for OS X
10.5 Leopard
The Chrome Dev Channel Update's Jason Kersey reports that the Dev
channel has been updated to 22.0.1201.0 for Windows, Mac, Linux, and
Chrome Frame, and that starting with revision 22, the Mac version of
Chrome
requires OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or higher.
Publisher's note: Chrome has never supported PowerPC Macs or OS X
10.4 Tiger, so this applies only to Intel Macs running OS X 10.5
Leopard. Note that Chrome 20.0.1132.57 is the current stable version,
revision 21 is in beta, and 22 is still a ways off, so Intel Macs
running Leopard will still be able to remain up-to-date with Chrome
until Chrome 22 reaches stable release status.
I have to admit that one reason I got an Intel Mac was to I could
try Chrome, and in the past few months, I find myself using it more and
more - especially to access Google resources such as Google+, Google
Analytics, and Google Affiliate Network. Safari is taking over as my
primary browser on the Mac mini running OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and vies
with Camino for most-used status on my OS X 10.4 Tiger and 10.5 Leopard
G4 Power Macs. Firefox and TenFourFox (Firefox
ported to PowerPC) are used less frequently, and Opera rarely. (If
you're using Leopard on a PowerPC Mac, you might want to give Leopard WebKit a try.
This project compiles the latest version of WebKit 1.x for PowerPC, and
it's been working well on my Leopard machine for several weeks now.)
dk
Link: Dev Channel
Update
Future Thunderbird Development Limited to Security
and Maintenance Updates
A Mozilla.org blog last Friday noted that the venerable Thunderbird standalone
email client that dates back to the days of Netscape's Communicator
Internet software suite, still provides an open-source, cross-platform
email alternative for those of us who still use desktop email client
software, affirming that it's a trustworthy app., under your control,
and built to reflect the Mozilla mission. Thunderbird was spun off as a
freestanding application with the development of Firefox as Mozilla's
flagship Web browser.
However, the blog says that in light of more and more Internet users
opting for Web-based email solutions, Mozilla's developer team have
been pondering whether Thunderbird is a likely source of innovation and
of leadership in today's Internet life, or is it already pretty much
what its users want, and mostly needs only ongoing maintenance going
forward.
The conclusion reached by most of Mozilla's leadership, including
leaders of the Thunderbird team, is that ongoing stability is the most
important thing, and that continued innovation in Thunderbird is not a
priority for Mozilla's product efforts. Consequently the Thunderbird
team has developed a plan that provides both stability for
Thunderbird's current state and allows the Thunderbird community to
innovate if it chooses.
Under this plan, Mozilla will provide security updates through an
Extended Support Release process that will provide security maintenance
updates, and will also maintain mechanisms for the Thunderbird
community to organize for ongoing development.
If you are a Thunderbird user and are interested in more details,
you can find links to follow the discussion.
Link: Thunderbird:
Stability and Community Innovation
The EPEAT Controversy
Apple: Dropping EPEAT a Mistake; We're
Back
Earlier today, Bob Mansfield, Apple's Senior Vice President of
Hardware Engineering, posted this letter to Apple customers:
"We've recently heard from many loyal Apple customers who were
disappointed to learn that we had removed our products from the EPEAT
rating system. I recognize that this was a mistake. Starting today, all
eligible Apple products are back on EPEAT.
"It's important to know that our commitment to protecting the
environment has never changed, and today it is as strong as ever. Apple
makes the most environmentally responsible products in our industry. In
fact, our engineering teams have worked incredibly hard over the years
to make our products even more environmentally friendly, and much of
our progress has come in areas not yet measured by EPEAT.
"For example, Apple led the industry in removing harmful toxins such
as brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). We
are the only company to comprehensively report greenhouse gas emissions
for every product we make, taking into account the entire product
lifecycle. And we've removed plastics wherever possible, in favor of
materials that are more highly recyclable, more durable, more efficient
and longer lasting.
"Perhaps most importantly, we make the most energy-efficient
computers in the world and our entire product line exceeds the
stringent ENERGY STAR 5.2 government standard. No one else in our
industry can make that claim.
"We think the IEEE 1680.1 standard could be a much stronger force
for protecting the environment if it were upgraded to include
advancements like these. This standard, on which the EPEAT rating
system is based, is an important measuring stick for our industry and
its products.
"Our relationship with EPEAT has become stronger as a result of this
experience, and we look forward to working with EPEAT as their rating
system and the underlying IEEE 1680.1 standard evolve. Our team at
Apple is dedicated to designing products that everyone can be proud to
own and use."
Link: A Letter from
Bob Mansfield, Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering
Apple No Longer Registering Products in EPEAT
EPEAT has posted a notice
saying:
"Apple has notified EPEAT that it is withdrawing its products from
the EPEAT registry and will no longer be submitting its products to
EPEAT for environmental rating.
"EPEAT is the leading global environmental rating system for
electronic products, connecting purchasers to environmentally
preferable choices and benefiting producers who demonstrate
environmental responsibility and innovation.
"For participating electronics manufacturers, EPEAT is a chance to
showcase and validate their greener design initiatives, cleaner
production and customer support services. But EPEAT is more than simply
a product rating it is also a community effort by all interested
stakeholders to define and maintain best practice in environmental
sustainability for electronics.
"We regret that Apple will no longer be registering its products in
EPEAT. We hope that they will decide to do so again at some point in
future."
Link: Apple Ceases
Registering Products in EPEAT
Apple Sacrifices Green at the Altar of Thin
iFixit's Kyle Wiens notes that federal agencies can no longer buy
Apple products for their offices due to Apple's announcement that it
will be pulling its products from the Electronic Product Environmental
Assessment Tool (EPEAT) green consumer electronics standard. EPEAT,
developed by the Green Electronics Council with a grant from the EPA in
2006, is tasked with mitigating negative environmental and social
impacts of electronics manufacturing by requiring that products meet
eight environmental performance categories, including product lifetime,
toxic materials, and recyclability of components and packaging
materials.
Wiens says that since 2007, all of Apple's new products have been
EPEAT Gold Certified, and federal agencies can only purchase products
that meet the EPEAT standard. He believes that it's no coincidence that
Apple's pullout decision came just weeks after release of its
very-difficult-to-repair MacBook Pro with Retina Display, for which
EPEAT certification was quietly left out of Apple's marketing
material.
According to Wiens' EPEAT contacts, Apple's mobile design direction
is in conflict with the intended direction of the environmental
standard, which imposes particular requirements for product
disassemble-ability, which is a major consideration for recycling. The
standard dictates that external enclosures, chassis, and electronic
subassemblies must be removable with commonly available tools or by
hand, because it poses difficulty when manufacturers glue batteries to
the device chassis with industrial-strength adhesive - as Apple has
chosen to do with the Retina MacBook Pro.
Wiens concludes that Apple's decision to opt out of these most basic
product eco-standards demonstrates that in Apple's world
design-coolness supersedes concern for the environment.
Link: Apple Ditches
Green Standard, Cuts Off Federal Agencies from Apple Products
Why Apple Withdrew from EPEAT
Macworld UK's Mark Hattersley has a simple explanation for Apple's
bombshell withdrawal from the US government's EPEAT product
environmental impact rating system this week: the new MacBook Pro with Retina
Display.
Hattersley notes that with this machine practically no internal
upgrade can be performed, with the chipset, graphics, RAM, and flash
memory mostly (except for the SSD) hard-soldered together and guarded
by propriety Apple pentalobe screws, and the battery glued to the
chassis increasing the likelihood that it'll break during disassembly,
and also covering the trackpad cable (more damage potential), plus the
display assembly is completely fused, with no glass protecting it, so
if anything fails inside the extremely expensive display assembly, the
entire thing will need replacing.
EPEAT is concerned with not only the materials a device is built
with, or the conditions that it is built in, but how easy it is to
break down and recycle, an aspect where Apple is obviously getting
worse and not better, going out of its way in general to build devices
that are difficult to strip apart, and the MacBook Air Retina Display
most likely pointing to the future of the MacBook range.
Link: Why Apple Has
Withdrawn from EPEAT: The MacBook Pro Retina Display Battery
Apple Responds to EPEAT Concerns
The Loop's well-connected Jim Dalrymple reports that Apple on
Tuesday responded to concerns over its asking to have its products
removed from EPEAT, the US government's list of environmentally
friendly products.
Dalrymple cites Apple representative Kristin Huguet telling The
Loop, "Apple takes a comprehensive approach to measuring our
environmental impact, and all of our products meet the strictest energy
efficiency standards backed by the US government, Energy Star 5.2. We also lead the
industry by reporting each product's greenhouse gas emissions on our
website, and Apple products are superior in other important
environmental areas not measured by EPEAT, such as removal of toxic
materials."
Ms. Huguet also emphasized that it's important to note that in
addition to not measuring toxins and other environmental areas, EPEAT
also doesn't measure smartphones or tablets, which are clearly two
areas vitally important for Apple and not covered by EPEAT, and
observes that companies like Dell may have 171 products listed on
EPEAT, but if you look on Dell's website, none of their computers are
Energy Star compliant.
Link: Apple Responds to
EPEAT Concerns
City of San Francisco Ends Mac Purchases Due to
EPEAT Withdrawal
The Register's Iain Thomson reports that San Francisco city
authorities have banned departmental purchases of Apple hardware now
that Cupertino has dropped out of the Electronic Product Environmental
Assessment Tool (EPEAT) green-standards scheme, citing Melanie Nutter,
director of San Francisco's Department of Environment, telling The
Wall Street Journal, "We are disappointed that Apple chose to
withdraw from EPEAT, and we hope that the city saying it will not buy
Apple products will make Apple reconsider its participation."
Thompson reports that Apple pulled out of the EPEAT program after
launching of its latest MacBook line - the design of which has both the
battery and the screen glued into the case, causing iFixit to declare
it
the most unrepairable laptop they've ever tested and harshly
criticizing Apple for making the components impossible to recycle
economically.
Link: Nutter Bans Apple
Purchases over Environmental Fudging
Retina MacBook Pro Nukes Apple's Green
Credentials
The Register's Anna Leach says that the tightly packed new MacBook
Pro with Retina display prevents the laptop from meeting requirements
laid down by the US government's eco-friendly Electronic Product
Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT), which announced on Monday that
the Retina Display Apple laptop is "difficult to disassemble for
upgrades, repairs, and recycling - and could force the green-minded to
rethink Apple loyalties".
Apple preemptively pulled all 39 of its products from the EPEAT's
registry of "green gadgets" last week. All of the company's gear
previously had gold ratings from EPEAT.
Link: Retina MacBook Pro
Nukes Apple's Green Credentials
Software
TypeIt4Me 5.3 Now Available on the Mac App
Store
Ettore Software's TypeIt4Me
5.3, a text macro and typing shortcut utility that expands
abbreviations as you type, is now available to download from the Mac
App Store. This latest version includes iCloud support, so you can use
your TypeIt4Me abbreviations seamlessly across all your Macs and with
TypeIt4Me Touch on your iPad or iPhone. There's also a new pane just
above your TypeIt4Me clippings that enables you to manage your local
abbreviation sets and drag them across to iCloud and back again as you
require.
A note for customers who purchase TypeIt4Me outside of the Mac App
Store:
Apple currently only permits applications sold through the Mac App
Store to access iCloud, so for now, the incarnation of TypeIt4Me
available for direct download from the Ettore Software website will
remain at version 5.2.1 rather than 5.3. That's while Riccardo Ettore
evaluates options for adding some form of access to iCloud, for example
via a helper application made available separately on the Mac App
Store.
Version 5.3 system requirements:
- OS X 10.7 or later
- 64-bit processor
$19.99
Link: TypeIt4Me 5.2.1 (30
day trial), Ettore Software
Link:
TypeIt4Me 5.3, Mac App Store
Version 3.6 of Logitech Control Center Intel Only,
Drops OS X 10.5 Leopard
Logitech Control Center (LCC) is a software driver utility designed
to support Mac OS X and allow you to take full advantage of your
Logitech keyboard, mouse, or trackball features set. With the LCC you
can:
- Browse the Internet using dedicated keys that provide one-touch
access to your favorite sites.
- Launch your email application by pressing a button.
- Play music and control the system speaker using built-in
buttons.
- Open frequently used items, such as documents, folders and
applications, with a single keystroke.
- Scroll in windows of applications built for MacOS X. You can scroll
up and down with a single keystroke or wheel movement.
- Switch between open applications.
- Show contextual menus with a single mouse click.
- Simulate keystrokes to provide shortcuts to commands you use
regularly.
New in version 3.6:
This release adds support for OS X 10.7 (Lion). Other changes
include:
- Mission Control can be assigned to a mouse button or keyboard key.
Within this action, you can choose whether to launch Mission Control,
or show all windows of the current application, the desktop, Dashboard
or Launchpad.
- OS X 10.4, 10.5 and Macintosh computers using a PowerPC processor
are no longer supported.
System requirements:
- Intel
- Mac OS X 10.6 or later
- Logitech USB pointing device or keyboard.
Still available:
Free download
Link: Logitech
Control Center for Macintosh OS X
Desktop Mac
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