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News & Opinion
Apple Will Make Macs in America Again
Apple is gearing up to make a major hardware product in America for
the first time in many years, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook in a
video interview with NBC's Brian Williams (see Apple CEO Tim Cook Announces Plans to
Manufacture Mac Computers in USA).
In an interview with BusinessWeek's
Josh Tyrangial (see Tim Cook's Freshman
Year: The Apple CEO Speaks), Cook noted: "It's not known well that
the engine for the iPhone and iPad is made in the US, and many of these
are also exported - the engine, the processor. The glass is made in
Kentucky. And next year we are going to bring some production to the US
on the Mac. We've been working on this for a long time, and we were
getting closer to it. It will happen in 2013. We're really proud of it.
We could have quickly maybe done just assembly, but it's broader
because we wanted to do something more substantial. So we'll literally
invest over $100 million. This doesn't mean that Apple will do it
ourselves, but we'll be working with people, and we'll be investing our
money."
Bloomberg BusinessWeek, with this 13-page cover story, is on
newsstands today, Friday, December 7.
Tim Cook on Apple's Plan to Manufacture Macs in US
in 2013, on Whether iOS and OS X Will Merge, and More
The Register's Rik Myslewski has posted a summary and comment on
recent interviews with Apple CEO Tim Cook that have appeared in both
video and print covering a broad range of issues, including Apple's
plans to move some manufacturing to the US and Cook's reasons for
showing iOS chief Scott Forstall the door. Myslewski also reports that
Cook threw cold water on those who believe that the Mac's OS X and
the iDevices' iOS will eventually merge.
"We don't subscribe to the vision that the OS for iPhones and iPads
should be the same as Mac . . . Customers want iOS and Mac OS
X to work together seamlessly, not to be the same, but to work together
seamlessly."
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates sees operating system unification as
the ultimate fate of Windows and Windows Phone, telling Bloomberg
BusinessWeek.
Link: Tim Cook: Apple to
Manufacture Macs in US in 2013
How to Upgrade RAM in 27" iMac
Fairer Platform notes that Apple's trendsetting industrial designs
are always beautiful, but often quite difficult to upgrade and repair.
A case in point is the just released 21.5" iMac, which is elegant on
the outside but riven with glue and easily torn rubber gaskets on the
inside. However, getting performing a 27" iMac RAM upgrade is easy
peasy.
Link: How to: 27-inch
iMac RAM Upgrade
Republican Staffer Fired for Copyright Reform
Suggestions
The Register's Iain Thomson reports that a Republican staffer who
wrote a position paper (see Three Myths
about Copyright Law and Where to Start to Fix It - PDF) suggesting
that the current system of copyright legislation might benefit some
market-based reform has been summarily fired for saying that the
current copyright system "violates nearly every tenet of laissez
faire capitalism," ensures government-enforced monopolies rather
than competitive stimulation, that excessive fines for copyright
infringement harm innovation, and that America's unusually long
copyright period of 75 years plus the author's life breaks the statutes
set out by America's Founding Fathers "for a limited copyright - not an
indefinite monopoly," and that "current copyright law does not merely
distort some markets rather it destroys entire markets."
Link: Republican Staffer
Fired for Copyright Reform Suggestions
Reviews
2012 Mac mini: 'HDMI Performance Is Crap'
The Register's Tony Smith says that as much as he likes the Mac mini's form-factor, looks
and, more particularly, its operating system, he can't really recommend
the latest version, at least not to anyone hoping to hook it up to an
HD TV by HDMI, perhaps for media center duties.
The thing is, Smith explains, the new Mini's HDMI performance is
crap. Fortunately, you have an alternative, he says, since the Mini
also sports a Thunderbolt port, so it can be hooked up to Thunderbolt
and DisplayPort monitors, and notes that in a very rare moment of
generosity on Apple's part, there's an HDMI-to-DVI adapter bundled
in the box - shouted because he was so surprised.
He notes that Apple has been generous with ports too, including four
USB 3.0 ports and even FireWire 800 and an SDXC slot, and gigabit
ethernet. He also notes approvingly that it's very easy for anyone to
open the Mini: just rotate the plastic base 20° or so and off it
slips, exposing the two notebook RAM slots, while removing four Torx
screws flips off the WiFi antenna unit to reveal the hard drive, and
it's relatively easy to slide out the motherboard and replace the
drive.
Link: Review: Apple Mac
mini 2012
Software
FlareFighter Combats Flash Slowdowns
PR: Do you want your computer to run faster and your battery
to last longer? FlareFighter can help. FlareFighter gives you the
easiest way to pause your Flash plugin when you're not using it. Save
your battery by only allowing Flash to run when you need it.
Did you know?
- Flash videos could use your CPU even after you've finished watching
them
- An average site with Flash banners is still using CPU, even when
left open in the background or in browser tabs.
- The more CPU you use, the more your fans spin and the faster your
battery runs down.
FlareFighter works its magic by allowing Flash plugin to run only
when Safari is active. Switching to anywhere else will pause Flash, so
it won't use any precious resources. Anytime you click back, Flash will
turn back on.
Features
- A timer can keep Flash running for 30 or 60 seconds after you leave
the browser window, for those times when you only switch from Safari
for a quick chat or to check your email.
- Battery mode option
- One-click disable
New in Version 1.1:
System requirements:
- OS X 10.6 or later, 64-bit processor
- Works with Safari on 64-bit Macs
Free
Link:
FlareFighter
Maxthon Launches Cross-Platform Maxthon Cloud
Browser Preview for Mac
PR: Maxthon has announced the release of Maxthon Cloud
Browser (Preview), designed to provide users with a seamless and
unified user experience across multiple devices and platforms. Maxthon
Cloud Browser works on Windows, Mac OS, iOS, and Android and goes
beyond simply syncing bookmarks to enable users to access and push web
content such as images, videos, and text to and from any of their
devices. Maxthon's new C4 Cloud Engine delivers these cloud services
with lightning fast speed and maximum security. Maxthon Cloud Browser
(Preview) is available to download now.
"This rollout of Maxthon Cloud Browser marks a significant step for
Maxthon in our development of a cloud-powered browser that integrates
full-featured cloud services," says Jeff Chen, CEO of Maxthon. "It is
our mission and the focus of our innovation in this post-PC era when
people are using multiple devices to access information, to lead the
browser industry in giving users the ability to move effortlessly
between their devices without any interruption in their browsing
experience. With each platform interlocked through our C4 Cloud engine,
information will flow seamlessly from device to device."
Unique features in Maxthon Cloud Browser (Preview) that set it apart
from other browsers include:
- Cloud Push - With Maxthon Cloud and a Maxthon Passport account,
users can push web content (text, images, videos) to and from any of
their devices.
- Cloud Download - Maxthon Cloud backs up users web downloads in the
cloud, making it possible to access them locally and from any of their
devices using any operating system.
- Cloud Engine - Maxthon Cloud Browser's engine, C4, is a fast and
powerful pushing, storage and syncing engine that has high-performance
cloud backup and syncing capabilities. With data encryption and a
distributed architecture for storage, C4 protects users privacy and
secures their data.
- Unified User Experience - The most common actions and processes are
standardized across devices and platforms. Maxthon Cloud Browser allows
users easily to learn something once and then do it the same way on
other devices.
Continuing in the tradition of Maxthon browsers, Maxthon Cloud
Browser (Preview) offers:
- Speed -Maxthon browsers have always rendered web pages with
speed.
- Cross-Platform Sync - Maxthon Cloud Browser further simplifies the
user experience by making the cross-platform syncing of browser tabs,
bookmarks/favorites, history, and settings automatic and transparent to
the user.
- HTML5 Leadership - Maxthon offers the most comprehensive support
for the evolving standard of HTML 5 of any desktop browser.
Feature Rich - Maxthon Cloud Browser comes fully loaded with
features not found in other browsers, such as the ability to view two
websites at once (split screen) and the ability to switch between two
rendering engines, which allows users to access pages optimized for one
of the other.
"We began integrating Cloud services into our browser in 2005 when
we were the first to enable users to sync their bookmarks/favorites
between desktop computers," says Jay Shen, vice president of
engineering for Maxthon. "Today's launch of Maxthon Cloud Browser takes
seamless web browsing to an all new level, introducing more cloud
services across more devices, and we have plans to take it even
further."
Maxthon Cloud Browser for Mac
Maxthon Cloud Browser for Mac offers Mac users the same
high-performance experience enjoyed by Maxthon Windows users around the
globe. With a Maxthon Passport account, users of Maxthon for Mac can
keep all user data in sync across different devices and operating
systems.
Cloud Browser for iOS
Maxthon Cloud Browser for iOS saves and syncs key settings, content
and features to your own private cloud across multiple platforms and
other devices. Unique gestures make it easy to open and switch between
tabs for an easier-to-use experience. Other cool features include
Reader Mode - for easier-on-the-eye reading - and Undo, a one-click way
to restore the last web page closed. All of this is presented to you in
a simple and original design.
Maxthon Cloud Services
- Cloud Push: supports sending text, images, websites/links and tabs
to Mac, Android and Windows operating systems.
- Cloud Download: supports downloading files in various formats and
uploading them to 'My Cloud' for backup on any device.
- Cloud Tabs: Lets you pick up where you left off by automatically
syncing your tabs to Mac, Android or Windows devices.
- Sync Bookmarks/Favorites: Sync Favorites across Windows, Mac and
iOS devices.
Fresh User Interface
- Easy to use interface offers innovative, touch-sensitive
browsing.
- Fullscreen browsing mode maximizes screen size.
Reader Mode
- Makes it easy to view articles by adjusting font sizes and removing
ads.
- Built-in Night Mode protects your eyes in low light
situations.
Super Gesture
- Use gestures to create, close, switch and restore tabs.
- Create your own gesture commands.
More Cool Features
- Brightness Control: adjust screen brightness within the
browser.
- Portrait Orientation Lock: supports switching the screen
orientation in Maxthon Browser.
- Privacy Protection: Lets you browse the web without being
tracked.
Mac Version
- Super Drag and Drop - Highlight a URL or words on a webpage and
then drag and drop into your Address Bar to open a new page or execute
a web search.
- Mouse Gesture - Make a simple shape with your mouse and trigger
commands like Refresh, Close Tab, Page Top/Down and Previous/Next
Tab.
- Built-in Flash Support - No need to install Flash to watch Flash
videos on Maxthon for Mac Great for all of the fun flash games you find
as you browse.
- Extension Center - Maxthon's extension center makes it easy for you
to find great extensions to add even more firepower to your
Maxthon browser.
- Maxthon for Mac is compatible with Chrome extensions.
Security and Privacy
- All user data is encrypted to ensure security.
- Do Not Track is offered to protect privacy from ad networks and
beacons.
Maxthon Cloud Browser is supposed to be offered for iPhone, iPad,
Windows, Android Phone, and Android Pad, but while I had no problem
downloading and checking out the Mac variant, I could only find an
iPhone version when I checked the App Store with my iPad.
Maxthon is developed in China, and beginning with version 3 uniquely
supports both the Trident and the WebKit rendering engines.
Link: Maxthon Cloud
Browser
Products & Services
FirmTek Ships New 4-Port eSATA 6G Storage
Adapter
PR: Serial ATA
(SATA) storage specialist FirmTek, LLC has announced that the
SeriTek/Q6G 4-Port eSATA host adapter is now available. The high
performance SeriTek/Q6G is Mac OS X Bootable, whether installed inside
the Apple Mac Pro or in a Thunderbolt PCIe expansion chassis, with or
without SATA port-multiplication.
Performance
"Dynamic growth in the availability of SATA 6G SSD and HDD storage
devices has increased the need for ultrahigh performance 6G eSATA
controllers with sufficient bandwidth to maximize performance. The
SeriTek/Q6G was developed to meet this need. With real world storage
performance results in excess of 500 MB/s per channel, the SeriTek/Q6G
offers a new level of performance for professional customers", says Chi
Kim, Stanford Vice President of Business Development. "The SeriTek/Q6G
is ideal for audio/video editing, photography, large media content
libraries, storage expansion, backup and any application where
external, hot swap, high performance, data storage is desirable."
Mac Pro or Thunderbolt
For connecting high-speed external SATA enclosures, the SeriTek/Q6G
is claimed to work equally well as a powerful storage adapter in either
the Mac Pro desktop computer or with a Thunderbolt PCIe expansion
chassis. Due to performance rivaling that of traditional tower
computers, many professionals are now turning to notebooks as their
primary platform for working with audio, video and photography. The
Thunderbolt expansion chassis helps unlock the full performance and
storage potential of Apple's current compact systems such as the
MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac mini, and the iMac.
Configurations
The SeriTek/Q6G is built to support several types of eSATA
enclosures. Direct connect enclosures like the miniSwap/ES, connect
each drive to its own individual eSATA port. This configuration offers
the ultimate in performance with the lowest number of drives. The
SeriTek/Q6G also supports port multiplication enclosures like the
SeriTek/5PM. The 5PM allows up to five SATA drives to be connected to a
single port or up to 80 TB and twenty hard drives with four 5PM
enclosures.
While the miniSwap/ES and the SeriTek/5PM can be used separately
with the SeriTek/Q6G, one setup professional users deploy is the
combination of ultra-fast SSD storage along with 5-bays of high
capacity 3.5" SATA data storage provided by the SeriTek/5PM. This
combination offers the best of both worlds. The four eSATA ports
available on the SeriTek/Q6G allow both the miniSwap/ES and the
SeriTek/5PM to be used concurrently. Use the SSD(s) in the miniSwap/ES
for high-speed data manipulation and dump the final work to the 5PM for
customer distribution and archival purposes. This combination offers
the customer maximum transfer rates for data intensive operations while
still supporting up to five removable 3.5" SATA drives for expanded
storage capacity.
Key Features and Benefits
- Bootable: Supports Mac OS X 10.8.x Mountain Lion, 10.7.x,
10.6.x
- Supports Windows 7
- Four high performance eSATA ports
- Compatible with Thunderbolt PCIe Expansion Chassis
PCI-Express Base 2.0 specification compliant, supports 2.5 Gbps and
5.0 Gbps
- Supports SATA 6.0 Gb/s, 3.0 Gb/s and 1.5 Gb/s hard drives
- Fully compliant with Serial ATA Revision 3.0 specification
- S.M.A.R.T application support for third party Macintosh
utilities
- Supports Disk Utility RAID and JBOD configurations
- Supports up to 20 SATA hard disks using SeriTek/5PM and Mac OS
X
- Supports up to 4 direct-connect SATA hard disks using two
miniSwap/ES enclosures
- Complete CRC error checking for ensuring data integrity
- Provides hot swap and PM support not available with the internal
Mac Pro bays
- Bandwidth can exceed 700 MB/sec. with a high-speed HHD/SSD
configuration
- vLow power consumption with aggressive power management
- User-upgradeable firmware
- Multiple SeriTek/Q6G controllers can be configured to support a
single large RAID set
The FirmTek SeriTek/Q6G 4-port eSATA controller for Apple Mac Pro
and Windows 7 PC is available now, with a retail price of $199.95. The
SeriTek/Q6G (SATA-Q6G) can be purchased from FirmTek distributors,
resellers or directly from FirmTek. The SeriTek/Q6G is also available
bundled with the SeriTek/5PM (SATA-Q6G-5PM) or the miniSwap/ES
(SATA-Q6G-ES).
Link: SeriTek/Q6G
Desktop Mac
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