Adobe misses its first Leopard compatibility deadline
Filed under: Opinion, Software, Updates, WTF, throw us a bone, whining
“We expect to publish free Leopard compatibility updates for the video applications in December 2007″ – Adobe
Remember back right around the time when Leopard was due to be released, Adobe put out this PDF meant to scare educate potential Leopard buyers as to possible incompatibilities between Apple’s new OS and Adobe’s CS3 Suite of apps? In it, Adobe assured us that “Thanks to close collaboration between Adobe and Apple, most of the CS3 applications and associated technologies, such as Adobe Bridge CS3, Version Cue CS3, and Device Central CS3, are compatible with Mac OS X Leopard without requiring additional updates.” Great. Because I can’t live without Version CueCS3.
But what about those OTHER apps, you know, the ones people BUY? Well, Adobe put out a timeline for when we could expect to receive full Leopard compatibility, and unfortunately, unless we see a couple releases in the next 7 hours, it looks like they missed their first self-imposed deadline. Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional was slated to be released in late January 2008, so we’ll assume Adobe’s still good to go on that front. However, Premiere Pro CS3, After Effects CS3 Professional, Encore CS3, and Soundbooth CS3 were all supposed to receive updates in “December 2007″.
So how’d they do?
Well, I suppose 2 out of 4 ain’t bad, assuming you are a user of the 2 apps that got updated (Premiere and Soundbooth). Unfortunately, as an After Effects user, I’m SOL.
Now, I don’t want to sound like an After Effects elitist here (although After Effects is the best app Adobe makes, and I am the best AE user ever born) but what’s the hold up? Why is Adobe dragging its feet on After Effects, and at the same time putting even an ounce of effort into Premiere and Soundbooth, 2 apps no one has ever used?
OK, obviously I am just venting, I am sure some Mac user has used those apps and prefers to use them their Apple equivalents (cough). However, the latest mention of a Leopard update for AE (the fabled 8.02) on the AE beta forums is dated November 27th. How about keeping us in the loop, Adobe?
RIP: Netscape Navigator dies with a whimper
Hey, remember Netscape Navigator?
If you were born after 1988 or so, odds are you don’t. Navigator was the first real web browser for the masses, and gave Microsoft’s Internet Explorer the closest thing to a run for its money any browser was able to in the mid 90’s. All Macs shipped with Netscape Navigator as the default web browser until the infamous 1997 deal between Apple and Microsoft which swapped out Navigator for Internet Explorer for the next 5 years. Netscape was eventually bought by AOL in ‘99, who pretty much killed it when it decided adopt its ad supported business model, but not before spinning off the open source Mozilla Foundation which gave birth to the excellent Firefox web browser.
In a sort of “Oh, they were still alive?” kind of way, I was somewhat shocked to read that AOL has announced that Navigator has been officially pronounced brain-dead, and will be taken off life support on February 1st.
So, what does this mean for Mac user? Well, nothing, quite frankly.
If you can find a Mac user running Navigator you can make some good “Big Foot”-type money providing photographic evidence of such a mythical creature. In fact, my Windows-using dad is the last person I ever heard of using the Communicator suite of apps, and I think even he gave that up in ‘05. But still, Navigator more or less gave birth to all modern web browsers, and as when a celebrity passes who hasn’t made a good movie in 35 years, seeing a once-glorious name in technology adorning a virtual tombstone should give pause to all tech geeks, irrespective of their OS.
I know I for one will never forget where I was when I heard the news of Navigator’s death… I was watching Underworld: Evolution, eating Doritos in my boxers, and looking for Apple related news on the internet… in Safari.
iPhone firmware 1.1.3 – Like a fine wine, the iPhone gets sweeter with time
Assuming the above Gear Live video of a beta version of the iPhone’s upcoming 1.1.3 firmware is legit (and it is looking pretty legit) then the iPhone is about to get a whole lot cooler (no easy feat). Multiple SMS address, (in-the-ballpark) GPS via Google Maps, Multiple springboards and dragable icons… you know, everything the iPhone should have had at launch. Looks pretty sweet, and I’m looking very much showing it off to my Verizon Voyager-owning in-law (hey Jere).
All hail the nanotech battery! 22 hours of MacBook battery life; 400 hours of iPod use, 2500 hours of iPhone standby time!
Filed under: Awesomeness, MacBook, MacBook Pro, News, iPhone, iPod
Imagine… what if you could watch 70 hours of iPod video on a single charge. (OK, wait, that actually, might be a bad thing).
Instead, imagine something more useful, like getting 22+ hours of MacBook use. Or 2500 hours of iPhone standby time. Such is the promise of Stanford University researchers who claim to have found a way to use silicon nanowires to improve the way lithium-ion batteries store energy, delivering a reported 10x boost in capacity.
Above: Silicon nano fibers (A) can expand to 4 times their size when they absorb lithium (B), allowing them to hold more charge. (We think).
Creating a nano-powered iPod nano
As everyone knows, nano technology will eventually cure every disease and solve every problem known to man, and then create a race of super robots that will enslave us all. But before it does, it looks like we’ll be able to benefit from extended periods of all sorts of mobile gadget use.
According to lead Stanford researcher Yi Cui, this increased storage capacity could also make Li-ion batteries an attractive option to electric car manufacturers and solar power aficionados. “It’s not a small improvement, it’s a revolutionary development.”
You bet it is. Imagine, we may finally be able to listen to all 40,000 songs Apple says the iPod can hold on a single charge! Not to mention the 100 hours+ battery life we’ll get from Apple’s super-secret, not-yet-announced, ultra-portable, ultra-hyphenated, flash-based MacBook!
From ScienceDaily.
Apple to hit $600? Um, no.
As an Apple stockholder with far too much of my portfolio invested in the Cupertino company, I was overjoyed to see the headlines streaming across the Mac-o-sphere this week proclaiming that “Analysts say Apple shares could reach $600 in 18 months!“.
WOW. Suddenly my 90% AAPL stock portfolio seemed far too diverse! “Time to buy more Apple while I can!” was all I could think as I fired up my E-Trade account.
Reality Check
Luckily for me, on my way to my future retirement, I paused to instant message a bit with one of my many “internet friends” who I’ve met over the course of running Macenstein. This one in particular is a stock-trading billionaire genius by the name of Dersky. When I showed him those Apple headlines, he showed me the site of the $600 analyst, and I suddenly came back down to reality.
Now, I know we aren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover, but when there’s money involved, all etiquette goes right out the window. Based solely on their internet presence, I’d sooner trade my cow for magic beans than invest based on the advice of Daedalus Capital. Now, I’m sure (well, reasonably sure) Stephen Coleman of Daedalus Capital has all the necessary qualifications to make such a headline-grabbing claim that Apple’s stock (which has been on a roll of late) will tripple in 18 months, but my god, their site is a far cry from Merrill Lynch.
What’s wrong?
Well, speaking of God, he is right there on their front page. Which is also their ONLY page. On it, Daedalus Capital outlines their “12 Cardinal Principals of Daedalus Capital, L.L.C” in a 10 Commandments-esque fashion (kind of odd that God could whittle down the rules of life in general down to 10, but investing apparently takes its own set of 12).
I encourage you to read through them on your own, but as an investor looking for accurate, up-to-date advice on how to manage my money, my personal favorites are:
#1 “Thank God Daily for our many blessings”
#4 “Trust our Gut”
and
#12 “Ask ‘How much can we lose?’ before we invest” (I realize this is meant to convey cautiousness, but read the wrong way, it implies they are out to lose money)
Oh, they also have a cool web counter at the bottom of their page (currently at 2160), something you aren’t likely to see outside of a free GeoCities site.
Again, this is solely me just looking at their website (and comparing it to those of analysts we have actually heard of) and reacting, but I do wonder how long and hard Bloomberg had to look to find someone willing to make that headline-grabbing statement.
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OS X 10.5.2: Trouble in “virtual paradise”?
Faithful Macenstein reader dolfke writes us with a warning to Second Life users hoping to test out the latest 10.5.2 Leopard build. According to dolfke, 10.5.2 breaks SL functionality in a big way.
“sl launches, then the general connection screen, where one can introduce name and password, then connect … sl loads, but when connecting to inworld, the last stage before coming onworld, all stalls, beachball, then CRASH …all 4 versions, Beta grid, normal program, Windlight and release candidate”.
Unfortunately, the only advice Linden Labs (Second Life’s creators) can offer at the moment is to do a total system reinstall back to 10.5.1 to get it back on track. Not exactly ideal. Apple recently fixed a QuickTime exploit which allowed hackers access to SL players’ virtual bank accounts, so odds are they’re aware of SL’s popularity, and are hopefully working on a fix for this 10.5.2 bug.
We’re not sure how many of you out there would be affected by this, but since roughly 9 million people play Second Life (sort of “Webkinz“, for adults), we figured we’d pass it along. (And of course, it’s never a good idea to test beta software on your primary computer for exactly this reason). If any of you have had success running SL with the latest Leopard build, please let us know.
Who likes free stuff?
Faithful Macenstein reader Shackelford alerts that he’s giving away $200 in iTunes gift cards to launch his new blog, 50 Leaves. 
The site bills itself as “100% Unadulterated Apple Porn“, which can’t be bad, and a quick skimming of the 6 day old blog shows the potential for good Apple-related hints and news. So check it out.
The contest runs now through January 16th, and entering is easy. 50 Leaves is giving away one $100 iTunes card to a random person who leaves a relevant comment on any of their articles (that would be YOU), and another $100 to a random website that links to them (that would be US!). Shackelford claims thus far only one person and one site have entered, so your odds are pretty darn good.
So good luck to both of us, and good luck to 50 Leaves. Writing about Apple everyday isn’t as easy as it looks. Believe, us, we know.
BBC: “These amps go to 11″
Filed under: Apple, Awesomeness, Humor, Software, That's Weird...
Apple may be trying to save their customer’s hearing, but the BBC is giving a big middle finger salute to the Tinnitus foundation in the form of the new Mac version of their BBC iPlayer.
That’s right, the Mac player’s volume goes up to “11″. Take that, Spinal Tap!
Luckily, since the BBC only lets UK residents use the iPlayer, only the Redcoats risk permanent hearing loss while watching Dr. Who and The Catherine Tate Show at the ear-splitting “11″ level. This means the eardrums of we Yanks will remain protected, thus giving us the advantage when they attack again.
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WTF? – ThinkSecret – still in business until at least February 14th?
Filed under: Rampant Speculation, Rumors, That's Weird..., WTF
We here at Macenstein love a good mystery, and if there isn’t a good mystery available, we’ll settle for a mediocre mystery. To that end, we are focusing today on the biggest Mac mystery of the moment, that of ThinkSecret’s Apple settlement.
Faithful Macenstein reader Michael Johnston of iPhone Alley read our post on ThinkSecret’s continued publication despite their claiming to have shut down as part of their settlement with Apple, and pointed our news-hungry noses over towards davethenerd. Apparently, Dave Hamilton of BackBeat Media handles all of ThinkSecret’s advertising (and that of iPhone Alley), and has been told they will continue to provide ads to TS until February 14th, 2008, and “content will be posted on the site regularly at least until then.”
We’re certainly no legal experts here, but this “settlement” sure seems odd. TS’s cryptic posting saying they have settled with Apple and “Think Secret will no longer be published“, followed by continued publishing, and then now further evidence that we can expect at least 2 more months of activity from ThinkSecret all seems strange. Why announce the agreement prematurely? Why wouldn’t Apple shut down TS before Macworld? Has anyone heard anything official from Apple on this? Help us out, faithful readers!
When is a legally closed Mac site NOT a legally closed Mac site?
When it’s ThinkSecret, of course!
Faithful Macenstein reader Shackelford points out that ThinkSecret has published 3 new articles since its infamous December 20th “Apple, Think Secret settle lawsuit” post in which it was stated “Think Secret will no longer be published”.
Above: Apparently the phrase “Think Secret will no longer be published†is open to interpretation.
The three posts (two as recent as today) are standard news type articles posted in the “Secret Notes” section, and not the type of rumor-mongering fare that got ThinkSecret in hot water, but it calls into question just how kaput the site has to be per the terms of that mysterious Apple settlement. It seems ThinkSecret may only be mostly dead, and as Miracle Max will tell you, there’s a big difference between mostly dead, and all the way dead.
