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January 8th through 15th Archives
Wednesday, January 15th 2003 16:09 CST
Apple Reports $8 Million First Quarter Loss, Gives Details in Analysts' Conference Call
Just released Apple first quarter earnings data show the company lost $8 million in the quarter ending on December 28th, 2002. The company posted a $38 million profit in the same period last year. Revenues were $1.47 billion, up 7% from the same period last year. Here are the full details:
The quarter's results included a $17 million after-tax restructuring charge and a $2 million after-tax accounting transition adjustment. Excluding these non-recurring items, the Company's net profit for the quarter would have been $11 million, or $.03 per share.
Apple shipped 743 thousand Macintosh units during the quarter, about even with the year-ago quarter.
Tuesday, January 14th 2003 14:49 CST
Apple Ditches Regular Codenames for Hardware, Uses Only Project Numbers
Reader Craig asks:
The "P-numbers" for the 12" and 17" PowerBooks are P99 and P84, respectively. The numbers will now appear on the logic board next to the serial number on these new machines if you want to check it out if you happen to buy one.
All is Not Lost for Macworld in New York
This eWeek article suggests that IDG is working hard on resolving the differences between itself and Apple over Macworld New York in 2003 and the scheduled move to Boston for the East Coast show in 2004. It's added an escape clause to exhibitors' contracts so they can get their money back if Apple were to make good on its threat not to show up for this year's New York show. We'll see how the high-stakes brinkmanship between IDG and Apple play out...stay tuned!
MWSF Draws 90,473 to the Moscone Center
Macworld's official attendence numbers have been released: 90,473, which is up a bit over the 87,890 that showed up last year. We imagine that there were a lot of people who live in the Bay Area that just wanted to see the 12 and 17" PowerBooks in person, which could've boosted attendence a fair bit.
Apple Explanation for Poor Portable CDR Write Speed
Readers have complained that their 16X Combo drives in newer iBook and PowerBook G4 models only write at 4 speed some or all of the time. Apple's posted a Knowledge Base article that explains why the drive does this:
Combo drives included with iBook and PowerBook computers can detect imbalances in the disc that are caused by poor production quality or the presence of labels and ink on the disc's surface. These imbalances can cause write errors. When blank discs are initialized, if imbalances are detected the writing speed is slowed to between 4x and 8x write speeds (depending on the magnitude of the imbalance) in order to reduce the potential for write errors.
Apple Objects to Microsoft's Settlement Plans in CA
The whole issue is a bit complicated for these pages, so we'd like to refer you to the News.com article on the subject. Basically, though, Apple's apparently released a statement that claims Microsoft will benefit from its antitrust settlement plans in California. The full article explains this in detail.
Keynote VRAM Requirement Leaves Some PowerBook Users in the Cold
Apple's new presentation software Keynote requires 8 megabytes of video RAM, leaving all Wallstreet PowerBook owners (and anyone who's somehow gotten Mac OS X to run on something earlier than that) out of luck. The first PowerBooks with 8 MB of VRAM were the "Lombard" series at 333 and 400 MHz. It also requires 256 MB of RAM and Mac OS 10.2 or later.
Monday, January 13th 2003 00:01 CST
Buyers Stumped by Lack of Update to 15" PowerBook--When Will a Mid-Sized Aluminum Mac Arrive?
The innovations revealed last week in the 17" and 12" PowerBook G4s announced at Macworld Expo should not be underestimated. The illuminated keyboard is a feature that lots of customers have requested for years. Upgraded FireWire is not very important now, but as with any new I/O standard, it must have a large installed base before peripheral makers plunge development dollars into new products. Integrated Bluetooth removes the need for clunky external USB adapters and will become virtually ubiquitous over the next couple of years. AirPort "Extreme" adds up to 54 Mbps speed for those transfering files over local area networks or extraordinarily fast internet connections. The GeForce graphics architecture from Nvidia offers desktop-level performance in a portable package, especially on the 17" model with the 440 chip. Last, the anodized aluminum construction adds a sleek look with scratch-resistance that buyers will be sure to look for after the chronic problems with chipping and scratching on the painted PowerBook G4 Titanium units.
All of these exciting new features have one thing in common: they're not on the 15" PowerBook G4, which is still the "sweet spot" for PowerBook buyers. The 12" subnotebook-sized PowerBook G4 is going to be a hit with a lot of people--it's been hailed everywhere as the iBook G4 that everyone always wanted. The 17" PowerBook will certainly entertain those that immediately bought the 22" Apple Cinema Display when it first came out: the buyer that has to have the biggest and best first. Still, the overwhelming sentiment of buyers the day after the aluminum PowerBooks were released seemed to be: "Wow, that's great. I sure wish they made a 15" model." The 15" PowerBook still remains the size most people want, even after 12" and 17" choices are introduced, but obviously the 15" size doesn't have all the new features.
With new PowerBook upgrades for the last few generations, the newest models didn't add totally new capabilities, but only incrementally upgraded performance numbers (processor, RAM, disk space) and possibly an aesthetic redesign. The old models would be discounted and people would simply make a price/performance decision. That's not so with Apple's current crop of PowerBooks: two are from one generation and one's from another--but they all command current pricing, though Apple did drop the price of the 1 GHz PowerBook 15" by $200 so it had a larger price cushion from the 17" model.
The logical next question is "When is the 15" PowerBook going to be updated with aluminum and Bluetooth and AirPort Extreme and on and on?" There is no simple answer. Many people think Apple has built up inventory of the current 15" and is only waiting to exhaust that before taking the veil off an aluminum 15" that was simply hiding all along. Another theory is that since Apple just updated the 15" PowerBook to new speeds and the SuperDrive in early November, so it will be some time before another update cycle reaches the new machine. Perhaps Apple is waiting to see how sales of the "big" and "small" aluminum PowerBooks progress before making this decision.
The bottom line is that we don't know and nobody else does either. The number of announcements on Tuesday that weren't predicted by any of the rumors sites needs more than one hand to count. Apple's gotten even better about keeping its secrets. If you're in the market to buy a PowerBook now, consider the features/cost of the 12 and 17" models--are they right for you? If they're not--and we suspect they're not for a lot of buyers--consider buying the current 15" PowerBook, after all, it's still a great machine at a lower price (1 GHz model). If you don't need a machine right now, hang on for awhile. Macworld Tokyo was cancelled, but that doesn't mean Apple won't call a quickie press conference to announce an updated 15" machine after a couple of months.
It's obvious that the 15" model will be updated to the "new look" at some point. Everything about the new machines are where Apple's headed--they don't boot OS 9, they use a new AirPort card, new RAM architecture, a new graphics chip, and integrate two new I/O technologies. The only question yet to be answered is when the new aluminum 15" model will arrive. If we get any clues that shed some light on whether that's going to be sooner or later, you'll be the first to know.
$40 AirPort Power-over-Ethernet Solution May Simplify Base Station Installations in Difficult Locations
Want to put your AirPort base station on the ceiling but there's no power jack? Have another perfect, tough to reach spot, but can't run an extension cord to it?
The guys at MacWireless.com have what we can't help but call an ingenious solution--run the power over unused wires in the data-carrying ethernet cable.
The $40 MacWireless Power Over Ethernet is relatively simple. It combines the power and data source at one end with one little box and splits them back out at the access point with another box. You can run 250 feet of cable between the boxes with the newer "snow"-colored base station or 150 feet with the older "graphite"-colored unit. No word yet on how far the system accomodates with the new AirPort Extreme base station, but the company says the system is compatible with the Extreme units.
The company claims there's no loss of data integrity with power wires running right next to the data wires unshielded inside the ethernet cable, so we'll take their word for it. The product begins shipping "the first week of February" according to their site.
Saturday, January 11th 2003 01:53 CST
Site Notes
Well, another Macworld has come and gone. We'll see if it's the last in the current form we all know and are familiar with today. We think we covered a lot of ground and were happy to see new PowerBook released at the show...it's been exactly two years since new machines were announced at a Macworld and you had to go back quite some time before that to see another PowerBook released at a Macworld, so we enjoyed covering them. Since Tuesday morning, over 60,000 people visited the site during the show to read the 7,684 words of coverage we produced in that time. We hope a good portion bookmarked the site and will be returning for our standard coverage with their new 12 and 17" PowerBooks!
Griffin Formally Introduces iTrip
Griffin soaked up free press as Mac journalists noticed the iTrip at their booth at Macworld then cleverly put out a press release after all the major news had come and gone and editors needed things to fill their pages. Here's the press release received late yesterday:
The iTrip introduces several unique design innovations and industry firsts.
Super compact in size, the iTrip rests atop the iPod and attaches securely
to the headphone jack. The iTrip requires no batteries. It draws its minimum
power requirements directly from the iPod. Unlike other FM transmitters, the
iTrip is not limited to a few fixed frequencies. Users are able to select
stations from the entire FM band for complete flexibility. The iTrip will
retail for $35 and be shipping in Spring ¹03. Pre-orders are now being taken
at http://www.griffintechnology.com. Additional Notes on the New PowerBooks
Reviews editor Paul Cesarini sent in some notes on the new PowerBook 12 and 17" models:
Since I do a fair amount of presenting, and am considering buying the
12" model, I wanted to double-check the video options for it. For
the 12" model, it looks like Apple is including both the VGA adapter
and the Combo s-video / composite video adapter. Only the VGA
adapter has been included with iBook models. Including both with the
12" PBG4 is very cool, and will save buyers of this new PB $19 they
would've normally had to spend for this adapter. One less thing to
buy, right?
The Knowledge Base also has a slew of recent documents covering
FireWire 800, QuickTime 6.1, Final Cut Express, etc. There are also
more than 20 Knowledge Base docs pertaining to Safari, and more than
20 pertaining to Keynote, as well. Friday, January 10th 2003 01:20 CST
Brewing Tension Between Apple and Microsoft Tightens: Gates Dismisses "Keynote" at CES Show
The first sign was the public fight over Microsoft Office sales. MS was concerned about the adoption rate of Mac OS X and in turn, its Office v.X software suite, and the head of the Macintosh Business Unit at MS had some less than stellar quotes about Apple show up in a few articles. Apple's Phil Schiller shot back with the assertion that maybe Office would sell better if it didn't cost $500.
Things cooled and Apple and Microsoft worked together on a discount program for Office buyers. The end of Apple and Microsoft's five year cooperation deal came in August, prompting people to notice that they didn't sign a new deal. The openly anti-Microsoft/PC "Switcher" ad campaign began and articles began to profile the significant tension building in the relationship between the Redmond giant and its on-again, off-again Cupertino nemesis.
Tuesday's announcements mark another skirmish in the Apple v. Microsoft cold war. Microsoft's most popular--in terms of installed users--application on the Mac is Internet Explorer. Apple unveiled Safari, a browser that for all intents and purposes can immediately fully replace IE on the Mac. Long ago, many Mac users broke their "no Microsoft software" pledge made in the dark days of Apple's fight with MS by using IE because of the slow decaying corpse of a software product that was Netscape. Now that there's a simple, viable alternative (from Apple itself, no less), expect people to switch to Safari in droves. Three hundred thousand downloaded the software on the first day it was available, obliterating iTunes' previous 100,000 record.
Microsoft's most profitable product on the Mac is Office, which contains the Word word processor, the Excel spreadsheet, the Entourage personal information manager and email client, and the presentation tool PowerPoint. Apple's Mail.app has been improved by leaps and bounds, its iCal software performs many of Entourage's functions, and AppleWorks is a functional, but not quite equal, alternative to Word. That leaves Excel and PowerPoint untouched by Apple's software teams.
Until Tuesday. Apple unveiled "Keynote," a $99 presentation application that showcases two of Apple's strengths--beautiful automated themes and crisp, rich graphics using Mac OS X's "Quartz" rendering. Unlike PowerPoint's snooze-worthy themes and virtually non-existent transition tools, Keynote empowers the presenter to add professional touches to liven up any subject matter. And in a nod to the dominance of PowerPoint in the corporate world, Keynote both imports and exports the PowerPoint format, as well as Adobe's PDF format and Apple's own QuickTime.
So Apple directly challenged two cornerstones of Microsoft's Macintosh offerings on Tuesday. How did the company react? Well, Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit was busy launching MSN for Macintosh at the show, and little comment was officially received from their personnel. However, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which began today and runs through the 12th, Reuters asked Bill Gates what he thought of the new Keynote software:
One of those new Apple offerings, called Keynote, is positioned to compete with Microsoft's PowerPoint, while a Web browser called Safari could replace Microsoft's Internet Explorer for Mac users.
"I doubt what they've done is as rich as PowerPoint," said Gates, who added he had not seen Apple's program.
Just add this episode to the increasing lineage of little tit-for-tat comments and actions between the biggest friends and enemies in the entire technology industry.
Antenna Choices, Basestation Choices, Compatibility Questions: A Closer Look at Apple's New AirPort Extreme
When Steve Jobs introduced the 802.11g "AirPort Extreme" system on Tuesday, he mentioned you could grab the base station for a mere $199, and get great features including an external antenna port, wireless bridging, USB printing support, the increased 54Mbps speed, and a greater 50 user capacity.
What he failed to mention is that there are actually two versions of the base station. The $199 model he mentioned lacks the modem and external antenna port. If you don't have broadband or want to extend the built-in 150 foot range, you'll have to shell out an additional $50 to get the $249 base station model.
We think Apple should've included the external antenna port on both models, whatever the cost, and make the modem the only option that differentiates the price. We don't imagine a customer that is looking to use a modem with their base station is going to need the external antenna and vice-versa. The modem is the option that's extraneous for a lot of users and adds unnecessary hardware cost to the device. The external antenna port cannot be very expensive to add to the unit and is an option that most anyone would at least be grateful to have if they needed it one day.
The AirPort "Extreme" card is currently only compatible with the 12 and 17" PowerBooks. As Apple updates each portion of their product line, we expect they'll be updated to handle the updated technology.
We assume the external antenna connector on the base station is the wireless industry standard "N-type" connector, but Apple's spec sheet on the base station says "External antenna connector available on selected models only. For use with Apple-approved antennas only; antennas sold separately."
The antenna choices you have are an omnidirectional antenna (above left) that increases the range up to 250 feet and a directional antenna (above right) that increases the range to a whopping 500 feet. The antennae are only available through Apple's anointed-partner on antenna sales, Dr. Bott. They're available for $99 (omnidirectional) and $150 (directional) from Dr. Bott directly or through the Apple Store online, which lists them as "late February" for delivery. It's likely the connector is the standard "N-type" connector that's seen on other 802.11 products, so other antennas you might already have would probably work.
Apple did the right thing by waiting for the 802.11g standard instead of going with the incompatible 802.11a standard. While Apple pioneered the entire consumer wireless networking industry, it had fallen behind even with the small updates to the AirPort base station. Other 802.11b wireless routers could be had for as little as $50 after rebates, a much better deal than Apple's offerings until this week.
Apple's update to higher speed AirPort alone isn't enough for most people to upgrade. Unless you're moving large files across your home network, the extra speed isn't any faster than your connection to the internet (for most users), so it's overkill. It's the other features--the 50 user limit, the USB printing, the wireless bridging, and new antenna port--and a healthy price drop (the old base station was $299) that make this upgrade of AirPort a substantial success for Apple that was probably not noticed as much as it should have been in the excitement surrounding the mega-screened PowerBook. Apple again leads the way in consumer wireless.
Who Needs CES? The Best Gadgets are at Macworld! 5 Must-Have Macintosh Accessories
The Consumer Electronics Show began yesterday in Las Vegas. It's the world's largest smorgasbord of geek gadgets. But this year, we've seen some of the coolest toys at Macworld. Here are five gotta-have accessories for your Macintosh:
1: Griffin Technology iTrip iPod FM Transmitter
It's only $35. It broadcasts your iPod music on any FM station up to 30 feet. It plugs right into your iPod's audio port and draws its power from there too. It's unobtrusive and fits the overall iPod design. It's available soon. They bill it as the "coolest iPod accessory in the world" and we don't disagree. Click here for details.
2: Macally 4PortMiniHub
There was a race at one point in the Mac accessory maker world. It was called "who can make the smallest frickin' USB hub imaginable?" And several tried and came out with tiny USB hubs just like this. But the other ones didn't have a retractable USB cable built-in. This one wins. Available for $19.99. Details here.
3: Macally Retractable FireWireCable
It's our friends at Macally again. FireWire cables cost about $10. Why not pay another $10 and get a really cool one and a 4-6 pin adapter too? This is 5 feet of FireWire cable that retracts neatly for traveling PowerBook owners. The cable's flat so they're able to fit the full five feet in a tiny case. They also offer USB, ethernet, and phone cables in the same form factor. Details here.
4: Burton Amp iPod Jacket
It may be $500. It may be plain black with not much flair. But it's got a special iPod pocket and special "soft switch" technology that allows you to control your iPod with a gloved hand on your high-tech sleeve buttons. Sell the furniture, because we need $500. Details here.
5: Apple 12" PowerBook G4
It's small enough to qualify as a gadget. If you read nothing else about the 12" iBook, read this in-depth report over at MacNN, it's really top-notch.
What can we say about this little machine? It's an iBook G4. It's finally the powerful subnotebook that people have bitched about Apple producing for years. For $200 more, this sheet-of-paper sized computer can actually burn a DVD disc. If you had told someone that two years ago, they'd have hit you with their Tangerine iBook. For $1799--if you can deal with the small screen, this is a steal. Details, of course, here. Cheap Bluetooth Adapter--Part II
Reader David writes in with a tip:
Thursday, January 9th 2003 00:01 CST
Cheap Bluetooth Adapter
Can't afford a new 17" or 12" PowerBook with Bluetooth built in? Belkin's Bluetooth adapter is $24.99 for a limited time (Until Jan. 13th), so hurry and buy if you want one. To get the 50% discount ($14 cheaper than any Bluetooth adapter anywhere), enter coupon code "173" upon checkout at Belkin's online purchasing page here.
Even the slowest shipping is $12, so that eats up a lot of the discount, but it still yields the cheapest Bluetooth adapter available.
Tom Bihn Prepares for 17" PowerBook
Tom Bihn, bag maker extrordinaire for PowerBooks and other Macs, sent in his comments on preparing for the 17" PowerBook:
Owners of the new 12" will be happy to know that we have over 13
different bags to choose from to fit that model, including our brand new
Smart Alec http://www.tombihn.com/smartalec.
We are ramping up in the factory so that we will have the additional
capacity for both these new products, and hope to be ready to ship them
in 6 to 8 weeks. They will be available for pre-order on our website in
4 weeks.
See http://www.tombihn.com/newapple for the lowdown. QuickTime 6.1 Released
QuickTime 6.1 is now available for download via Software Update. It requires a restart. No word on the changes in the update just yet, but we'll have those shortly.
Bare Feats Tests New PowerBooks...Already
Bare Feats has already gotten test data on the new 12" and 17" PowerBooks. Check that out here. Rob Morgan startled the booth workers at Apple a bit when he tried to plug in his FireWire test suite, so he resorted to downloading XBench to test the new machines.
Apple Announces 10% Discount, Special Treatment for Apple Retail Store PowerBook Buyers
In a "first" for the Apple Retail stores, Apple will offer a 10% discount and VIP treatment to buyers of its new 12" and 17" PowerBooks introduced Tuesday at Macworld Expo.
The following notice was posted on its retail website late Wednesday:
Also, when they say "order early," we suppose they mean putting your name "early" on a waiting list at the store, because the 17" machines are listed as a 7-10 week wait at the Apple Store online and the 12" machines are not far behind at a 2-3 week wait.
With that said, this new initiative is clever--Apple creates goodwill with the buyer of one of its more expensive products and captures some additional revenue from accessory/software sales after the initial purchase. We'll attempt to clear up the confusion about the discount application and the early ordering and will add that to this post later in the day.
Day Two Ultimate Gallery Posted
Our captioned Day Two Ultimate PBZone.com MWSF Gallery has now been posted for all to see.
17" PowerBook Ordering Delays Top Two Months; 12" PowerBook Listed at 2-4 Weeks
Recalling the debacle of the Wallstreet ordering delays of 1998, the estimated ship time for the new 17" PowerBook G4 on the Apple Store website is now listed at a whopping 7-10 weeks. The smaller 12" PowerBook G4 is listed at "only" 2-4 weeks.
In 1998, Wallstreet PowerBooks, introduced in May, weren't delivered in any appreciable numbers until August, raising the ire of customers who had been promised their machine substantially earlier. Apple has learned its lesson since then, tweaking its production to meet demand better over the years, and underpromising and overdelivering with respect to delivery dates.
This time, we get the impression that incredibly high demand--the initial buzz on the 17" PowerBook is pure lust--a new, complex design, and Apple's desire not to promise any date it can't deliver on all add up to the incredibly long wait time for an order placed today.
The 12" PowerBook is available in a much more reasonable 2-4 weeks, according to the website. With both of these machines, orders placed with third party resellers such as MacMall or Amazon may be filled sooner than the Apple Store. Shortly after the debut of the online Apple Store, the company filled its own orders before that of their reseller partners, causing lots of complaints from these third parties. Since then, in a bit of over-correction, it seems the online store is the last to get supply of units, after the third parties and the physical retail stores.
We'd recommend getting the best deal you can from a third party seller (check PB Central for bundles and deals) or taking up Apple's 10% off offer from the retail stores if you have one nearby.
Update: Reader Tim wrote in with some details on how this all works:
Site Notes-Call for Comments
We still want your impressions of the new machines! What's missing from their features or design? What's perfect? Send in your comments to info@pbzone.com.
Also, we'd like to know if you've ordered a machine and where you've ordered it from, in addition to the time you've been quoted for delivery. What machine are you upgrading from? Why'd you choose the 17" or the 12" over the 15" machine?
Wednesday, January 8th 2003 00:01 CST
Bagmakers Retool for Yet Another Size PowerBook
We sent email inquiries to a few of the Mac-centric smaller bag companies yesterday asking what they planned to do about the new 17" PowerBook that would likely throw a wrench in their product line makeup. We've gotten two responses back so far and we'll add any more that come in later. The first is from WaterField Designs based in San Francisco:
This 17" Powerbook will be interesting for customers. One of the issues for
the 15" Powerbook was finding a case long enough... and now we have the 17".
For our part, we will come up with a good solution.
12 More Things You Probably Didn't Know About the New PowerBooks
Also, the 15" PowerBook supports type I and II PC Cards while the 17" model only supports type II cards. According to this page at Synchrotech, Type I cards are like the compact flash adapters and any sort of flash memory cards. Type II cards are the modems, LAN adapters, and those sorts of devices that are traditionally considered as "normal" PC Card devices. Of course, Type III cards are "double" thick, and don't fit in any PowerBook since the Wallstreet.
PBZone Day One Gallery Posted
You can check out our gallery of the first day's action at Macworld here. We've got some good close ups of the new PowerBooks as well as some general "Macworld booth" shots.
PowerLogix Introduces First 800 MHz Pismo PowerBook Processor Upgrade
Still hanging on to your venerable Pismo PowerBook? Not swayed by the new "Bluetooth," "FireWire 800," and "802.11g" technologies tossed out there by Apple yesterday? Not going to let anyone pry that PowerBook out of your fingers until they are both (A) cold and (B) dead?
PowerLogix has the product for you. Following up on the success of their "BlueChip" series of PowerBook processor upgrades for the Wallstreet, Lombard, and Pismo machines up to 500 MHz, the company has made the Pismo competitive for some time longer with the introduction of the "BlueChip 800 MHz" yesterday at Macworld Expo.
Here's what PL had to say about the new product and its interesting power-saving features:
Tests show that up to 30 minutes of additional battery life can be obtained by lowering the clock speed, which can be very useful in certain situations, such as long plane flights. In many cases, such as spreadsheet or word processing, sheer clock speed takes a back seat to battery life, and in the Blue Chip G3 800 Pismo offers the best of both worlds. The clock speed is user adjustable from 300 to 800 MHz. The Blue Chip G3 800 also features the IBM 750FX, with 512K of L2 cache at 800MHz.
The 800 MHz upgrade is expected to cost $399, according to an official at PowerLogix we spoke with today. The entire upgrade could take as little as 3 days total with overnight shipping in each direction, but all the details on shipping arrangements aren't finalized yet at PowerLogix. Their site should have more information following Macworld Expo.
Apple Politely Introduces Safari to Open Source Team; Welcomed with Open Arms
Apple's new ultra-fast browser application for OS X took some "shortcuts" in its development. Instead of building a browser from the ground up, Apple decided to embrace the open source software movement more closely, picking an already-developed rendering engine and using that for the basis of its "Safari" browser.
The engine Apple chose is "KHTML," the brains behind the "Konqueror" browser project, which is developed by the KDE team, more famous for their window manager system, KDE.
Well, when using anything open source, the thing to do is to take what you want, do whatever you want with it, but release your changes and how you did your changes to the public. Today, after Apple went public with Safari, Don Melton, "Safari Engineering Manager," sent a very nice email to the KDE team, introducing the Apple effort to what were probably some surprised open source programmers on the KDE email list. The email can be seen in its entirety here, but we'll quote the most important parts below:
[...]
[...]
Both WebCore and JavaScriptCore, which account for a little over half
the code in Safari, are being released as open source today. They
should be available at
http://developer.apple.com/darwin/projects/webcore/ very soon. Also,
we'll be sending you another email soon which details our changes and
additions to KHTML and KJS. I hope the detailed list in that email
will help you understand what we've done a little better. We'd also
like to send this information to the appropriate KDE mailing list.
Please advise us on which one to use.
We look forward to your comments. We'd also like to speak to you and
we'd be happy to set up a conference call at our expense for this
purpose.
Thank you again for making KHTML and KJS.
Please forward this email to any contributor whom I may have missed.
--
P.S. -- I'm sending you this email while attending MacWorld exposition
so it may take myself and my staff several hours before we can respond
to email. My apologies in advance. And evidence of that followed the email from Apple's team leader on the KDE site. Here are a few quotes, but you can read the entire thread here:
But with the recent success of Mozilla and now millions of Mac heads about to switch to a non-IE browser, the balance will shift back to standards-based web design.
This is really great!
I agree that a more open appoach where communication could have started earlier would have been adventageous to both groups. However, Apple is not required to do so and was likely trying to keep this project as secret as possible. Now that the wraps are off Safari, I'm sure Apple's developers will be in contact a great deal.
Post Your Thoughts on MacDebate.com
Want to see what others think about the new machines? Head over to the PowerBook and iBook forums over on sister-site MacDebate.com. Join the discussion and let your opinion be heard!
15" PowerBook, 14.1" iBook Price Drops
The "older" (only by a month) PowerBook G4 at 1 GHz (with SuperDrive) has had its price cut from $3,000 to $2,800. The 14.1 iBook has been cut from $1,600 to $1,500, presumably so it's at least a bit more attractive in the price/performance category versus the Combo Drive 12.1" PowerBook G4.
Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2003 first quarter ended December 28, 2002. For the quarter, the Company posted a net loss of $8 million, or $.02 per share. These results compare to a net profit of $38 million, or $.11 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenues for the quarter were $1.47 billion, up 7 percent from the year-ago quarter, and gross margins were 27.6 percent, down from 30.7 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 43 percent of the quarter's revenues.
Notes from the analysts conference call include:
AAPL is steady in after hours trading thus far at around $14.3 so far.
Any word on what Apple's code names were for the 12" and 17" Powerbooks (e.g. Wallstreet, Lombard, Pismo, etc.)? I'm not sure what to call these new ones!
Well, there may not be many leaks from Apple prior to announcements, but you can still find out neat things after the fact. Apple's hardware division doesn't use actual codenames anymore, it just uses the project numbers that have always accompanied the traditional codenames. You'll recall that "P1" was the project number for the "consumer portable," which eventually was unveiled as the iBook in the Summer of 1999. The software division still uses codenames (The name "Tropicana" appeared on the Apple Store website for the iLife product for a short time, then disappeared quickly).
Use CD-R discs that are capable of writing at 16x speed. The 16x or maximum option should be selected, if available, prior to inserting a blank disc. If so, the Combo drive is behaving correctly.
After this weeks preview at Macworld
Expo in San Francisco, Griffin Technology, Inc. officially announces the
iTrip, an FM transmitter for the Apple iPod. Designed specifically for the
iPod, iTrip allows users to play the music from their iPod to any FM radio.
Users can now enjoy their iPod music collection in their cars or through any
home stereo.
Just noticed PDF versions of the 12" & 17" PowerBook G4 spec sheets
are available via the Knowledge Base. Appropriately enough,
theofficial names of these new PBs are: PowerBook G4 (12-inch) and
PowerBook G4 (17-inch).
His remarks came a day after Apple introduced two new programs that compete with already dominant software offerings from Microsoft.
The full article is here. Gates is assuming that Keynote is not "as rich" as PowerPoint. Well, we'd hazard a guess that if PowerPoint is superior to Keynote in other areas, the one area where Keynote is clearly superior is in the visual richness of the presentations it easily allows one to create.
Just writing to let you know that the promotional code "173" you listed for
1/2 off the USB Bluetooth adapter at Belkin's website works for at least one
other product - Belkin's Bluetooth PCMCIA adapter. I prefer the PCMCIA
solution for my TiBook since I won't have to open the rear panel every time
I want to use Bluetooth.
We've received a ton of inquiries about cases for Apple's new laptops.
We are in the process of designing and manufacturing two new bags for
the 17" G4. Currently our
plan is to make a new size of our Eclipse http://www.tombihn.com/eclipse
and a new size of
the Monolith http://www.tombihn.com/monolith available. The new size
Monolith will snap into
the Brain Bag http://www.tombihn.com/brainbag .
Both Eclipse and the
Monolith are not simply padded cases but offer full suspension for your
laptop - pretty much the best protection shy of a Pelican case or a Zero
Halliburton.
As usual, we will be fooling around with some other ideas as well.
Order early and you'll not only be one of the first people to get a new 12" or 17" PowerBook G4, you'll also get an official launch t-shirt and a special day at our store. A Mac Specialist will help you choose software and accessories for your new PowerBook and ring up your 10% discount. A Mac Genius will install any new software you buy and answer any questions you have. This is just the beginning of the first-class treatment you'll get from Apple.
Although the wording is somewhat unclear, the 10% discount almost certainly only applies to accessories and software bought at the time of the PowerBook purchase, and not to the price of the PowerBook itself--if that were the case, it'd be a $329 discount off the 17" model, a price cut we doubt Apple is willing to hand out just yet.
I pre ordered a 17" powerbook yesterday at the Apple Store in Edina,
MN. I was told that the stores would no longer be keeping waiting
lists, and instead I was directed to order via the web at the store.
After ordering, I did get a 10% off coupon and a T-shirt. You are
supposed to redeem the coupon in the store after your powerbook ships,
and it applies to anything in the store except CPUs and Apple Care
plans.
Yes, we will be making a bag specifically for the 17" G4. Could it be an
enlarged Racer-X and or completely new case... I don't know yet. We will
have the our new size no. 12 SleeveCase specifically sized for the 17"
Powerbook ready to ship starting next week... well before the the laptop
ships. The size no. 12 SleeveCase will be available in either horizontal or
Vertical orientation and with all of the other optional upgrades (flap,
strap) as well. I'm heading over to MacWorld today to see what size the 12"
Powerbook SleeveCase will work with and if we need to tweak a current size a
bit to nail it.
Next, Spire weighed in:
Yeah, we just can't keep up with them! ;) We are working on something and
should have a solution in about 6 weeks.
Clearly bag makers are planning on the 17" PowerBook being a hot seller and are modifying their product lines accordingly. It's likely that you'll be able to buy a bag for your 17" PowerBook before you can actually get your hands on one of the wide-load PBs!
But we aren't done yet with new products. PowerLogix is also proud to announce the first ever software-controlled, variable speed CPU upgrade. Available for the PowerBook G3 Pismo (aka Firewire or PowerBook G3 2000), the Blue Chip G3 800 Pismo can be adjusted instantly 'on the fly' (i.e., no reboot required) to a lower clock speed in order to extend battery life. PowerLogix includes an easy to use software utility for this purpose.
Unfortunately, we're not able to find a price anywhere for the new upgrade. Like the 500 MHz upgrade, which costs $299, you send just your processor card in to PowerLogix and they complete the upgrade. The instructions for removing the processor card can be found here.
I'm the engineering manager of Safari, Apple Computer's new web browser
built upon KHTML and KJS. I'm sending you this email to thank you for
making such a great open source project and introduce myself and my
development team. I also wish to explain why and how we've used your
excellent technology. It's important that you know we're committed to
open source and contributing our changes, now and in the future, back
to you, the original developers. Hopefully this will begin a dialogue
among ourselves for the benefit of both of our projects.
Kudos to the KDE team for developing a product Apple could use to shorten the development time of what could have been quite the time consuming project and also congratulations should be extended to the Safari team for both what looks to be a solid, efficient, speedy browser and a respectful and cordial email to the KDE team. Apple already has a solid reputation within the open source community and projects (and project managers) like these will only serve to burnish that image.
The number one goal for developing Safari was to create the fastest web
browser on Mac OS X. When we were evaluating technologies over a year
ago, KHTML and KJS stood out. Not only were they the basis of an
excellent modern and standards compliant web browser, they were also
less than 140,000 lines of code. The size of your code and ease of
development within that code made it a better choice for us than other
open source projects. Your clean design was also a plus. And the
small size of your code is a significant reason for our winning startup
performance as you can see reflected in the data at
http://www.apple.com/safari/
Don Melton
Safari Engineering Manager
Apple Computer
I don't think the importance of this can[not] be underestimated. There was a point a year or two ago where it really looked like we were entering an era where web design was based on IE and IE only. From there it's only a hop, skip and a jump away from Microsoft eliminating the viability of Linux desktop. Only the most fanatical of the Linux faithful could stick with a platorm whose browsers can longer render the latest pages.
This clearly is the fruition of the "ease of the Macintosh, power of UNIX" promise that was bandied about so much at the beginning of the long journey to Mac OS X. With more projects like these, Apple can quickly extend the power of its machines through the use of dedicated programming teams using the foundation provided by UNIX underpinnings in Mac OS X and existing open source projects. Congratulations to the KDE team and Don's Safari team at Apple--it looks to be a great product with a bright future.
Apple did quite a bit of work coding a layer that sits between KHTML and Apple's own Cocoa framework for Mac OS X. This is not what Apple is contributing. The Changelog clearly shows a multitude of bugfixes, improvements and additions specifically to KHTML in areas including: ECMA (Javascript), CSS handling, HTML rendering, XML, Document Object Model and core services. Clearly this will result in a direct improvement to KHTML (and ultimately Konquorer) and, judging by the reaction of the KHTML developers, is much appreciated.
While the naysayers keep claiming that open source isn't ready for "The Desktop", Apple goes ahead and writes a KDE compatibility layer for the Mac... I think that speaks for itself.
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