Everything Apple

Rest in peace, Steve.

2011-10-05T21:38:00.000-04:00

Today, the world says goodbye to one of the true visionaries of the information age.

Rest in peace, Steve.

Steve Jobs steps down as CEO of Apple

2011-08-24T19:12:00.006-04:00

Today marks the end of an era, with Steve Jobs stepping down as Apple's CEO. He will stay on as Chairman of the Board, with Tim Cook taking over as CEO.

Best of luck, Steve. Stay well.

Prototype MacBook Pro with 3G

2011-05-16T12:06:00.007-04:00

Apparently Apple has been experimenting with 3G MacBook Pro designs in the recent past. AlricLantra from the AnandTech Forums has recently gotten his hands on a MacBook Pro prototype with a 3G SIM card slot (although the slot is non-functional). Ultimately the decision was made not to include 3G at that time, but the engineer was allowed to keep the unit for personal use.

I personally would have little use for 3G support, since I have an iPhone 4 and can tether my MacBook Pro to it. I'm on Fido in Canada with a 1 GB data plan, and tethering support is included in this plan. However, 3G (or 4G) data support would be an interesting option for some MacBook Pro or MacBook Air users, similar to the 3G option for the iPad.

Apple Java is dead

2010-10-21T12:35:00.007-04:00

Apple has deprecated its version of Java.

What this means is that Apple's Java will not be bundled with OS X 10.7 Lion. Interesting. I'm not sure why they did this, but perhaps it was too much of a headache, or maybe (like with Flash) they just wanted that third part technology out of Macs. I wonder if Sun/Oracle will pick up the slack to have a good version out by summer 2011, when Lion is released.

Could Blu-ray implementation in Lion have anything to do with this? Maybe not, but one can hope...

Apple has first $20 billion quarter.

2010-10-18T20:19:00.007-04:00

Apple has achieved a remarkable milestone, with its first ever $20 billion quarter. Along with that was a record profit of $4.31 billion, beating IBM's $3.59 billion. Little brother IBM?

In true market form though, AAPL dropped over 6% to below $300 in after hours trading, on lower guidance and news that the iPad has sold lower numbers than expected by the street.

Will there be an 11" MacBook Air?

2010-10-16T17:37:00.016-04:00

There are lots of rumours swirling that Apple will release an 11.6" MacBook Air on October 20. Personally, I'd like to see this happen (and I've been wanting one for a long time), since in my view the expensive 13" Air never made a whole lot of sense. It has the same footprint as the 13" MacBook Pro, has no optical drive, is slower, has fewer ports, yet costs a lot more. In other words, Apple provided a severely dumbed down 13" MacBook Pro for a heluvalot more money.

My favourite Mac laptop form factor of all time is the 12" iBook/PowerBook. Sure it was a bit bulky and it wasn't super light, but it had a much smaller footprint than my current 13" MacBook Pro. Remove the optical drive, swap in a widescreen 11.x" 1366x768 monitor, make it thinner, and you've got a winner… but only if the price is right.

With the PowerBook line, smaller and less feature rich meant cheaper. With the Air, Apple reversed direction and declared thinner (but with the same footprint) and less feature rich means more expensive. In fact, lots more expensive.

One theory is that any new 11.6" MacBook Air would only have an SSD, with no option for a conventional hard drive. If this decision is made, then the machine could be one of the smallest ever made… but could also be horrendously expensive for that category.

What I want is an inexpensive machine that's lighter and easier to use on the plane than a 13" laptop. SSD is nice, but for most people (including myself) not really worth the price premium at this time. If Apple gives us another overpriced Air, just in a smaller form factor, I may just end up getting a Windows 7 11.6" machine instead. However, that's assuming that AMD can come through with its low power but reasonably performing and inexpensive Ontario APU, or else Intel can price one of their low power but high performing chips competitively.

By the way, I have been playing with an older Windows 7 dual-core Atom machine, with NVIDIA ION GPU. I'm pleasantly surprised. It's reasonably responsive, and even plays Blu-ray smoothly. I'm enjoying the machine more than I thought I would, and that's why I'm considering a 11"-12" Windows 7 laptop for 2011… unless Apple can provide us with a smaller but decently priced MacBook Air.

iOS 4 is very, very slow on the iPhone 3G

2010-06-26T00:21:00.011-04:00

After a brief test period with iOS 4 on my iPhone 3G, I have reverted back to iPhone OS 3.1.3. Using iOS 4 on the 3G was utterly painful. Everything was laggy, and certain basic functionality like listening to music or even just answering the phone was problematic with iOS 4.

When I would listen to music and surf the net over 3G data at the same time, the music would sometimes skip. Completely unacceptable. Other applications would often have a few second lag too before I could interact with them. This even was true for answering the phone. If I was for example reading email and a call came in, the phone would go to the call screen, but wouldn't allow me to answer it right away. The swipe-to-answer finger gesture wouldn't work as the screen would be unresponsive for a few seconds. If the caller didn't stay on the line long enough I'd miss the call. Very irritating. This was never a problem on the 3G with previous versions of iPhone OS.

So, I downgraded back to OS 3, following these good instructions.

While reports of lag with the 3G are common, people have not been reporting it with the iPhone 3GS. While the iPhone 3GS has a faster CPU, I suspect it has more to do with memory. The 3G has 128 MB RAM, while the 3GS has twice that, at 256 MB. That's a huge difference, presumably saving on page-outs to flash memory. (The iPhone 4 has 512 MB RAM, which is actually twice as much as the iPad.)

I don't know if Apple will be able to address this performance issue on the 3G with future iOS 4 point updates. Hopefully they will, but no guarantees. At this point the iOS 4 features are not a big loss though, since multitasking of third party apps isn't offered on the 3G anyway, and folders as currently implemented in iOS 4 aren't something I will miss much. However, in the future, iOS 4 will be more of a necessity, as applications will eventually start requiring iOS 4 or higher to function.

iPhone 4 in Canada factory unlocked from Apple

2010-06-16T21:45:00.006-04:00

My globetrotting friends are pleasantly surprised to see that in Canada, we will be able to get the iPhone 4 unlocked straight from Apple.

An iPhone 4 not subsidized by a carrier contract will be costly, but it still actually is cheaper for those who spend a lot of time out of the country. They will be getting the iPhone 4 sans contract, and will use local service in the countries they visit, either through a regular wireless account or through prepaid SIM cards. Well, if they can find local micro-SIM cards that is.

I personally will probably still sign a contract to get a subsidized iPhone 4. However, given Fido's annoying stacked contacts, I'm also considering going to a new carrier for my iPhone 4 after my current 3G's 3-year contract runs out, but only if they can offer decent voice and data plans. Fortunately, the big three in Canada - Rogers, Telus, and Bell - all offer the iPhone now.

Apple is bigger than Microsoft

2010-05-26T14:20:00.009-04:00

Today, Apple has a higher market capitalization than Microsoft. Currently AAPL is just a shade over $227 billion, and MSFT is just a shade under.

[Update 2010-05-26]

AAPL closed at $244.11, for a market cap of $222.12 billion.
MSFT closed at $25.01, for a market cap of $219.18 billion.

The last time Apple was bigger than Microsoft was 20 years ago. At the low point about a dozen years ago, Apple was worth about 1/100th of Microsoft.

Rogers offers up $20 iPad data sharing deal... and then retracts it.

2010-05-10T23:17:00.012-04:00

Apple and Rogers today seemed to announce an iPad data sharing plan, which was advertised on Apple.ca. That plan would have allowed iPad users to share their existing Rogers 3G smartphone data plans with their iPads for an add-on fee of $20. Although that added $20 was not a terribly good deal, at least it would avoid having to get an additional 5 GB $35 plan just for the iPad.

Oddly enough, that offer was quickly retracted, and there now only remain a 250 MB $15 plan and the 5 GB $35 plan.

As expected, the folks over at Howard Forums are rather disgusted with Rogers right now. I'm sure everyone is now looking to see what Bell and Telus will offer.

Rogers seems have to have an unusual knack for screwing up Apple 3G launches.

In the meantime, 3G data tethering continues to be a free add-on for those of us with the GB+ iPhone plans, so that's a pretty strong disincentive to get an iPad. The iPad cannot tether at any price since the machine is simply incapable of that functionality, but a laptop can "share" that data usage at no extra charge.

Clash of the iPad

2010-05-09T10:11:00.002-04:00

This is a month old now, but I'm only getting around to posting it now. It's just an amusing chance placement by the Toronto Star of two pictures, for reports on the iPad launch and the Clash of the Titans movie.

27" iMac Core i7 as a monitor

2010-05-09T09:18:00.004-04:00

US FTC & DOJ considering antitrust inquiry into Apple

2010-05-03T21:56:00.009-04:00

The New York Post and Reuters are reporting that the US Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice are considering a formal inquiry into Apple's new very restrictive iPhone 4.0 developer requirements, which are essentially designed to exclude third party development platforms such as Adobe's Flash.

The New York Post first reported regulators' interest in Apple's policy, which essentially requires people who write apps to choose between writing them only for Apple or for Apple's rivals.

The agencies are expected within days to make a decision on which would handle the investigation, the Post reported.

"What they're (Apple) doing is clearly anticompetitive ... They want one superhighway and they're the tollkeeper on that superhighway," said David Balto, a former FTC policy director.

This will prove interesting if the FTC/DOJ does move forward.

[Update 2010-05-03]

The Wall Street Journal is now also reporting the interest from the FTC/DOJ.

Also mentioned in the WSJ article is the FTC's interest in Apple's new ad service for iPhone OS 4.0, called iAd.

Apple's new language forbidding apps from transmitting analytical data could prevent ad networks from being able to effectively target ads, potentially giving Apple's new iAd mobile-advertising service an edge, executives at ad networks say.

Steve weighs in new developer requirements

2010-04-11T13:21:00.011-04:00

Voicing his concerns, Greg Slepak at Tao Effect wrote to Steve Jobs about the harsh new programming requirements for iPhone 4.0. Here is Steve's response:

We’ve been there before, and intermediate layers between the platform and the developer ultimately produces sub-standard apps and hinders the progress of the platform.

The second statement does have merit from the business perspective, as for example, allowance of third party cross-platform development tools can slow down widespread adoption of new features introduced by Apple. Third party tools may not be as ready to incorporate those new features as Apple would, especially if other targets cannot support them.

As for sub-standard apps, banning third party tools does little to address this issue. Many apps created with Apple's tools are absolutely terrible, but similarly bad apps in iPhone 4.0 will win a free pass simply because they were created with Apple's tools.

Apple slaps draconian iPhone 4.0 requirements on developers

2010-04-09T23:42:00.007-04:00

Evidenced by the shock and dismay out there, Apple's new draconian new iPhone OS 4.0 programming requirement seems like a big blow to independent developers. I can't claim to be an educated coder or anything like that, but even as an outsider, this sends shivers down my spine.

IANAL, but I have to wonder if the regulators could consider this anti-competitive.

P.S. Until today I had no interest whatsoever in Android. Now I think I'll have to take a closer look at Google's baby to see what all the fuss is about.

iPad hands on

2010-04-05T09:37:00.010-04:00

A colleague made the trek down south to the US of A and braved the Apple Store crowds to buy an iPad this weekend. As expected, the machine is sleek and feels well built, and really does look like a giant but sexier iPod touch.

Of course, the larger screen is a massive improvement for its functionality, as compared to the iPhone and iPod touch. Things are easy to read and the width in portrait mode is perfect to fit most standard documents and email messages. iPhoto's Multi-Touch capabilities are excellent, and are really sleekly implemented. The machine is responsive for surfing and email and in its current form factor could easily replace a laptop for this purpose. Embedded video in sites such as CNN.com work fine, but unfortunately, the lack of Adobe Flash support is still a major impediment on many other popular sites. For example, videos on my favourite news site, The Globe and Mail, are dependent upon Flash and therefore are not viewable on the iPad. Ironically, the first video I tried (and failed) to view was the Globe's iPad review.

Typing in portrait mode is somewhat annoying as it's too cramped for touch typing, but it's still a much, much better experience than on an iPhone. Touch typing in landscape mode is possible, but it would take some getting used to. I was constantly adding extra characters by accident, when my fingers inadvertently brushed the screen.

The iPad is light, but I would find it uncomfortable to hold in place like a book for hours on end. Not that I would anyway, since it suffers the same problems as laptop screens for reading. If you want an eBook reader you'd be better off getting a dedicated eBook reader. I personally prefer real paper though. Call me old school.

I did not have enough time to give iWork a good run through, but the apps look sleek on the machine. The iPad would probably make for a good on-the-road machine for Keynote presentations, but then again on the road I'd still be taking my MacBook Pro, making the iPad superfluous.

All in all, the iPad is a great start. I'm holding off for now though, and will adopt Microsoft's wait-and-see stance. In its current iteration, the iPad is not quite there yet (or the internet is not quite there yet depending on your perspective), so I see no need to drop a wad of cash on an iPad in 2010. Maybe later.

ING Canada releases iPhone banking app

2010-03-24T21:45:00.012-04:00

ING Canada today released its banking application for the iPhone.

It is remarkably effective and easy to use, for accounts that have been previously set up online. Within minutes of installing the application I had already transferred some money from my ING account to a non-ING bank account. In fact, it was even simpler than online banking with some banks through Safari. No browser incompatibilities to worry about.

There was even an option for transferring either Canadian or US currency. I tried the Canadian $ transfer, but not the US $ transfer, as I don't have a US account.

There was one glitch where if I tried initiating a transaction with the "Later" date option using its built-in calendar, but instead chose today's date, it claimed today was a weekend day and would not let me proceed. However, choosing the option for a transaction "Now" worked fine. It looks like a quick update is in order to fix this bug.

There are a few other included options like the savings, GIC, and mortgage rate listings and fairly useless features like the Twitter posts and automated banking machine locator. There are all of 4 bank machine sites in all of Toronto according to the map.

CIBC has already had a banking application for months now too, but I hadn't been able to try it because I wasn't a CIBC client. I've heard good things about it though.

I hope the other big banks go this same direction soon. These apps are too simple and useful not to have. Royal, TD, Scotia, and BMO, where are you? To be fair, some of the others have browser based mobile pages, but it'd still be nice to get dedicated iPhone apps.

Aperture 3 out, recommends Core 2 Duo

2010-02-10T10:02:00.007-05:00

Apple yesterday released version 3 of Aperture. At first I thought a Core 2 Duo was required. Nope that's dead wrong. Core 2 Duo is recommended, but not required.

Apple steals iBooks interface

2010-01-28T00:04:00.005-05:00

iBooks:

Delicious Library:

Not cool, Apple.

More from Washington Post on this.

iPad: Not interested

2010-01-27T22:36:00.009-05:00

So, it turns out it was just a giant iPhone after all.

Well, not quite. It's more like a giant tarted up iPod touch (since you can't call anyone on it) that can have 3G data support (from AT&T, for a bunch of $ every month), if you cough up extra up front for 3G support that is. The maxed out iPad is US$830, although a geek might get by with a 32 GB $730 version. It has no real functional USB port (and the camera adapter doesn't count), it doesn't support Flash (which isn't completely surprising given its Apple-owned PA Semi SoC heritage, plus the fact that Apple despises Flash), and it doesn't even have a front-facing camera (or any other camera for that matter).

On the plus side, it can run iWork. I like Keynote and use it all the time, because I create Keynote presentations myself for own use on my own Macs when I need to present them, so the iPad would work there. However, as any enterprise employee will tell you, iWork's Pages just doesn't cut it for a world based on Word. At least the iPad's external keyboard support is nice.

Up until the launch, I just couldn't figure out what amazing features and/or content Apple could have added to the iPad to make it stand out in the established iPhone & laptop (or even netbook) world. It looks like Apple hasn't quite figured it out yet either. Maybe more will come with time, but so far I'm just not that interested.

If anything, I'm more interested in what the iPad experiment will mean for my current and future iPhones. I'd like to see iPhone computing and media capabilities expand sooner rather than later, and external keyboard support would be very nice too.

Impending Mac tablet: What is it?

2010-01-26T21:53:00.015-05:00

Impending Mac tablet: What is it? Hell if I know.

Is it just a big iPhone? If so, then it would be too big to be a truly functional iPhone. It has to be more than that.

Is it just a touchscreen keyboard-less laptop? If so, then it would be a pretty limited laptop. It has to be more than that.

Is it just an in-between machine? If so, it could do neither well, requiring an iTablet owner to own all three. It has to be more than that.

I think one thing we should do, however, is to stop focusing on the hardware. What an iSlate really needs to get off the ground is proper media connectivity and content, all accessed through an intuitive OS. The hard part is getting all the publishing and media companies on board, along with a sleek content delivery system, but Jobs probably has a lot of that wrapped up into a nice easy to use iTunes package already. How encompassing will that "a lot" be, and will it be enough? We shall see tomorrow... and in the months and years following. The iPad could end up being as important as the iPhone, or it could end up being as irrelevant as AppleTV.

The other part of all of this I personally wonder about is whether or not all that media goodness will be available to us multitouch MacBook and MacBook Pro owners. I'm not really holding out a lot of hope there, but maybe Apple will surprise us there too.

I have no 27" iMac i7 screen issues

2009-12-24T01:21:00.003-05:00

Gen asked what 27" iMac screen issues I've had, and I'm happy to say I have never had any.

However, for those of you who have experienced 27" iMac video flickering, Apple has released the 27-inch iMac Graphics Firmware Update 1.0:

About 27-inch iMac Graphics Firmware Update 1.0

Updates the graphics firmware on ATI Radeon HD 4670 and 4850 graphics cards to address issues that may cause image corruption or display flickering.

The iMac Graphics Firmware Update will update the graphics firmware on your iMac.

Do not disturb or shut off the power on your iMac during this update. Loss of power could result in your iMac failing to start up.

For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3181

DDR3 1333 MHz works in new quad iMacs

2009-11-30T10:35:00.014-05:00

Although Apple has included DDR3 1067 MHz memory with the new iMacs, but the built-in DDR3 memory controller officially supports 1333 MHz memory. Someone has now tried 1333 in his new Core i7 iMac and yes 1333 MHz memory works, with some caveats. The biggest issue is that the memory must have a cache latency of 7 - CL7 (like the 1067 MHz memory Apple provides) to work properly. However, a lot of 1333 MHz memory out there is the slower CL9 speed. CL9 modules can cause the iMacs to become unstable. Furthermore, it seems the speed boost from 1333 MHz RAM is at best small, even in synthetic memory benchmarks. Presumably, the lack of a third memory channel (as in the Mac Pros) limits overall memory performance.

So, save your money and get 1067 MHz RAM, to go along with the 1067 MHz RAM Apple provides. 4 GB may be fine for basic usage, but 8 GB is the sweet spot for most more advanced users from a price perspective, as the additional 4 GB is only US$85 for name brand RAM at some large retailers.

Kramer VS-30FW FireWire 800 Hub | Seagate FreeAgent Desk for Mac | SanDisk Extreme FireWire CompactFlash Reader | Transcend 600X CompactFlash

2009-11-26T00:36:00.023-05:00

Because current iMacs only come with a single FireWire 800 port, a hub is often necessary if you have more than one FireWire device. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, FW800 hubs are hard to come by. Luckily I was able to find the Kramer VS-30FW 3-port FireWire 800 hub for under US$80 at a reputable dealer, so I immediately bought one. I had been told that this hub is popular in professional audio/video environments. In fact, the VS-30FW can be rackmounted in batches of three according to the Kramer website, using their rack adapter.

The hub is a small metal device and seems solidly built. One thing I liked about the power adapter is that it has a screw collar on the plug, so that the plug cannot be pulled out by accident. That's a nice touch, that I've only seen before on higher end equipment. It only has three ports, which means it basically functions as an active 1 --> 2 splitter. One port is used for the input, and two ports are outputs.

I now have it hooked up to my quad-core iMac, splitting my single FW800 port to one FW800 chain and one FW400 chain. This is done with a Seagate FreeAgent Desk for Mac external FW800 drive, and a Belkin FireWire 400 hub hooked up to a Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750 GB external FW400 drive. Both drives were reasonably quiet. Sitting behind the computer, I could barely hear them, as they have no fans. I did notice a slight hum from vibrations transmitted through the table, but this was gone if I put the drives on top of a cloth.

The FreeAgent Desk for Mac is a multi interface drive, and I was thus able to test FW800, FW400 (through the Belkin hub), and USB 2.

The test consisted of a 3734.5 MB file transferred from the external drive to the iMac's internal 2 TB Hitachi HDS722020ALA330 SATA drive.

USB 2.0: 104.3 s or 35.8 MB/s (34.1 MiB/s), 286 Mbps
FW400: 93.5 s or 39.9 MB/s (38.1 MiB/s), 320 Mbps
FW800: 43.4 s or 86.0 MB/s (82.1 MiB/s), 688 Mbps

FW800 likely gets reasonably close to the drive's max transfer rates, while FW400 is less than half as fast, and USB 2 is slower still.

FW800 also can mean significantly greater speeds for CompactFlash downloads too. Using a SanDisk Extreme FireWire CompactFlash Reader (daisychained through the Seagate FW800 drive) with a 16 GB Transcend 600X UDMA CompactFlash card containing 15726.71 MB worth of Canon EOS 7D files, the speed difference was very obvious.

FW400: 405.2 s or 38.8 MB/s (37.0 MiB/s), 310 Mbps
FW800: 226.4 s or 69.5 MB/s (66.2 MiB/s), 556 Mbps

It would be nice Apple offered eSATA support for hard drives, but having FW800 is almost as good for non-RAIDed hard drives, and FW800 is very flexible for other usage as well like audio/video devices and CompactFlash readers too. One nice thing about FireWire is having that other FW400 drive hooked up didn't slow down the FW800 transfer speeds. FW800 hardware can run at full speed in mixed FW400/FW800 setups. (See below for one exception.)

However, there were two problems I noticed during testing with the Seagate FreeAgent Desk for Mac drive.

1) If I turned on the option in the OS X System Preferences to allow the computer to put hard drives to sleep, sometimes the computer would hang if the Seagate drive were plugged in. Unchecking that option solved that problem.

2) Once after some testing, the transfer rate over FW800 from the Seagate drive dropped to just under 20 MB/s. Going back to FW400 gave me almost 40 MB/s. I couldn't figure out why, so I rebooted, and was able to get my 80+ MB/s speeds back. I don't know why this happened, but it has not happened again since.

Now I just await Apple's fix to the disappearing external FireWire drives caused by 10.6 Snow Leopard. My older external region free bit-set SuperDrive is not detected in Snow Leopard, but works fine in 10.5.8. I can get around this problem by taking the IOFirewireSerialBusProtocolTransport.kext from 10.5.8 and installing it in 10.6, but obviously, this is a hack. Apple is aware of this problem (Bug ID# 7201113) and is working on it.

I also wonder how long it will take Apple to implement USB 3.0, given that USB 3.0 peripherals are now out. My guess is 2011 - 2012, which may be about the time I'll want to replace my Core i7 iMac anyway.

iMac Core i7 power utilization

2009-11-25T22:17:00.016-05:00

Using my trusty Kill-A-Watt power meter, these are the measurements I got for the iMac:

Off - 2 Watts
Sleep - 2-4 Watts
Idle, screen off - 55 Watts
Idle, min brightness - 71 Watts
Idle, mid brightness - 96 Watts
Idle, max brightness - 157 Watts

With screen set to mid brightness:

Booting up - Up to 184 Watts
Transfer file to iMac over Ethernet - 125 Watts
Cinebench OpenGL - Up to 142 Watts
Cinebench multi-CPU - Up to 196 Watts

With screen set to max brightness, the Cinebench multi-CPU benchmark can bring the iMac's total power utilization to 257 Watts.

This means the screen power can vary by almost 90 Watts between the lowest and highest brightness settings, and for the CPU, going from idle to near full usage, total power utilization will increase by 100 Watts. TDP of the Lynnfield Core i7-860 CPU is only 95 Watts (not 100) at max usage, but that doesn't include the increased power needs of other parts of the computer such as memory, etc. when the computer is run at full tilt. The power utilization would likely increase even more with heavier usage of the hard drive and GPU.

Given these numbers, we shouldn't feel the need to completely power off our Core i5/i7 iMacs to save energy. Sleep is good enough, as the difference in power usage between sleep and off is negligible. However, if you leave your computer on 24/7 without sleep, the machine will still use about 55 Watts (when the screen is off). At say 14 hours a day in this mode, that's 0.77 kilowatt-hours. At 11¢ per kilowatt-hour for example, that works out to about 8.5¢ per day, or $30 per year.

Handbrake 0.9.4 64-bit - 15% faster.

2009-11-25T00:04:00.019-05:00

Handbrake 0.9.4 is out, and it finally comes in a 64-bit flavour. The Handbrake site states it's about 10% faster than the 32-bit version, but with my Spirited Away clip from my Core i7 iMac review, I'm getting a 15% boost in speed compared to 0.9.4 32-bit. These were my speeds with Handbrake 0.9.3.

The default setting on 0.9.4 is no longer the same, and neither are the settings in the Advanced section. This may be important since if you just change the main settings, 32-bit 0.9.4 seems much faster than 32-bit 0.9.3. However, if you take the default Advanced settings from 0.9.4 and use them with 0.9.3 as well, the speeds get much closer. I changed the main 0.9.4 settings to replicate the old 0.9.3 default - 1500 Kbps Average, 2-pass with Turbo first pass - and then re-benchmarked, but using the settings in the Advanced section from 0.9.4 for all tests.

ref=2:bframes=2:subq=6:mixed-refs=0:weightb=0:8x8dct=0:trellis=0

This sped up encoding in 0.9.3 slightly, but the biggest gain was from using the 64-bit of Handbrake 0.9.4.

Handbrake 0.9.3 32-bit: 120.4 s (vs. 126.7 s with the 0.9.3 default)
Handbrake 0.9.4 32-bit: 121.6 s (1% slower)
Handbrake 0.9.4 64-bit: 105.5 s (14% faster)

64-bit Handbrake 0.9.4 is 15% faster than 32-bit Handbrake 0.9.4, and 14% faster than Handbrake 0.9.3. To put it in simpler terms, using these settings on similar animated material, it would only take 16 minutes to encode an entire 90 minute movie on my 2.8 GHz Core i7 iMac. Nice.

Well, sorta. If you adjust Handbrake 0.9.4's Advanced settings to the same flags that are default with 0.9.3 (ref=2:bframes=2:me=umh), then 0.9.4 slows right down. 32-bit 0.9.4 takes 196 seconds (or well over 3 minutes) to encode the same clip. Obviously the behaviour of the two versions with certain flags is quite different.

I should point out that Handbrake doesn't fully utilize all 8 virtual cores. However, it sometimes does come close.

Not bad for the first release of the 64-bit version of Handbrake.

Core i7 iMac - Benchmarks and first thoughts

2009-11-23T20:50:00.029-05:00

I finally received my 27" Core i7 iMac last week, right before a killer busy weekend, so I haven't had as much time with it as I would have hoped. Nevertheless I've been able to run some comparative benchmarks and get some initial impressions of it.

Ergonomics 1: The height of the 27" iMac is the same as the old 24" iMac, and like the 24" iMac, the height is not adjustable. Unfortunately, this means that the ergonomics is still potentially problematic for some people. The height forces me to look upwards to see the top of the screen, as I am not tall. To put that in perspective, I have an external 24" screen that is height adjustable. Even if I raise that screen to its maximum height, which is too high for me, it's still shorter than the 27" and 24" iMacs. Raising the chair doesn't help, because it means taking my feet off the floor. Lowering the table can help in certain situations, that is if the table supports lowering. Either way, those represent ergonomic compromise. Fortunately for me, I don't need to sit at that computer 8 hours a day. If you're a person who is under 6 feet tall and need to use this computer all day long, you might want to consider a different setup. One such setup could be a 21.5" iMac and a second screen. The main problem with this is the lack of a Core i5/i7 option with the 21.5" models, and the lower end GPU. The other option is just to get a VESA adapter and mount to lower the 27" screen, but that is a fairly large chunk of change to spend just to get the screen a couple of inches lower.

Ergonomics 2: The pixel size really is quite small for a desktop computer. This wouldn't be so bad if Snow Leopard were resolution independent, but it isn't. When surfing with Safari, I found that initially my tendency was to lean forward to read the small text. Since then I have taken to increasing the zoomed size whenever I start Safari. The good news is that this zoom setting is retained for all sites. The bad news is that the zoom adjustment is very coarse grained, zoom slightly blurs images, and the zoom setting is reset when Safari quits or opens a new browser window. Firefox does remember zoom settings after a quit, and has more fine grained zoom control, but unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your perspective), the zoom setting varies from website to website. Each site has to be set independently. Again, here the 21.5" iMac has the advantage. The pixels are still more densely packed than the 24", but it's less severe than the 27". At least in the store, surfing Safari on the 21.5" at the native zoom setting was noticeably more comfortable than on the 27". When Apple adds a half decent GPU and quad-core to the 21.5", I might consider one to replace my 27".

Ergonomics 3: The Magic Mouse is an interesting design. Initially I did not like it that much but it is growing on me. The scroll function works very well, and is much nicer than the scroll ball on the Mighty Mouse. The scrolling feel is very much like the popular iPhone and iPod touch. Right clicking also works well. On the negative side, the mouse feels a bit narrow even for my relatively small hands, and the low profile and sharp edges can be uncomfortable. The lack of Exposé control is also a disappointment. Overall though, it seems to be a significant improvement over the Mighty Mouse. Let's just hope that its being Bluetooth doesn't end up be a problem like it was with my 24" iMac.

For the keyboard, I recommend getting the wired keyboard with numeric keypad, for the same price. It can be very annoying doing real work without a proper numeric keypad. The aluminum laptop-like keyboard isn't bad in terms of feel, but some of us still long for the old style IBM keyboards.

Screen quality: I have not yet formally calibrated the screen yet but I have been impressed with the quality of this IPS screen out of the box. It is certainly nicer than the Dell 2407WFP beside it, which after some attempted calibration still doesn't look as nice. The glossy screen is potentially a problem for some people, but luckily I prefer to work with my ambient room lights dimmed, so I don't notice many reflections.

The LED backlight is much more even than my previous non-LED 24", which suffered from mild corner dimness.

I have not encountered the much reported screen flicker issue. Some have attributed this to graphics drivers, but I have not seen it.

Speed: The machine feels noticeably faster than my previous Core 2 Duo model. Part of this may be due to the hard drive speed, but much of it seems to be the available memory and multiple fast cores. With (inexpensive) 8 GB RAM, the iMac almost never needs to page to disk with my usage, even if I have a virtual Windows XP machine and several OS X applications running in the background. Furthermore, with the 4 fast CPU cores, even just basic OS navigation is noticeably more responsive, as are most apps. Whereas the Core 2 Duo iMac was fast, the Core i7 is near instantaneous for many actions.

Compute intensive applications are hugely improved now. The extra efficiency per core and extra cores are very welcome with video encoding for example. My Core i7 is more than three times as fast as my older Core 2 Duo 2.33 GHz, for Handbrake H.264 encodes.

In this test I transcoded Chapter 7 of Spirited Away to H.264, from the computer's hard drive, and measured the total time to completion. At first I thought there might be something wrong with Handbrake 0.9.3 on Core i7, as I was getting speeds slower than my Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro. Then I realized it was because I had mistakenly installed the PowerPC version of Handbrake on my iMac. Yet even running under Rosetta, the speed of Handbrake was not terrible. The Intel version was however nearly 5X as fast, with the iMac 3.5X as fast as my MacBook Pro. It took just 2 minutes and 7 seconds to encode that 10 minute chapter using the default 2-pass x264 encoding settings. In other words, the iMac Core i7 can encode at nearly real-time speed under Rosetta, and nearly 5X real-time using native (32-bit) code.

The 3D types are going to be happy with Core i7 as well. Cinebench screams on this iMac.

The Core i7 iMac is 3.2X as fast as my MacBook Pro in Cinebench, and a mind-blowing 25X as fast as my iBook G4. Isn't 800% processor utilization on 8 (virtual) cores just sheer geek beauty?

Click picture to enlarge.

With all this speed, the current Mac Pro seems even more a ripoff than it did before. Core i7 Lynnfield in the iMac can usually keep up with the Bloomfield quad Mac Pro, for much, much less money. Unless there is an absolute need for full internal expandability right at this moment, then potential Mac Pro customers should wait until 2010 Q1, when 6-core and 12-core Gulftown based Mac Pros should make an appearance. Only at that time will the Mac Pro truly be worth a premium over the Core i7 iMac.

All in all, Apple has a big winner on its hands with the new Core i5 and Core i7 iMacs. However, a note to Apple: We've achieved enough already with iMac thinness. The next thing to conquer is iMac ergonomics, with either some height adjustability, or just lowering of the iMac's height in a fixed design, by decreasing the iMac's chin size. Oh and please add an eSATA port or two, too.

Core i7 quad iMacs now shipping

2009-11-11T08:40:00.004-05:00

The quad iMacs started shipping a couple of days ago, but they were all Core i5 models. The Core i7 iMacs started shipping today, direct from Shanghai.

I ordered later in the day on Oct. 20 and my Core i7 has not shipped yet, but my order status has now changed to "Prepared for Shipment".

[Updated 2009-11-12]

Just after midnight, I got the shipment notification email from Apple. That would be early Thursday afternoon in China.

New iMac screens - Pixel density considerations

2009-11-02T00:09:00.010-05:00

The new value machines amongst the new iMacs are the Core 2 Duo 21.5" models unless you want a fast GPU. They are quite a bit smaller than the 27-inchers, but they can be more ergonomic, they are still full 1080p HD resolution, and just as importantly they have a much larger pixel size than the 27" models. The larger pixel size can be a significant advantage for a desktop, especially for an OS like Snow Leopard which is not resolution independent. In order of increasing pixel density (or smaller pixel size):

15" G4 iMac: 1024 / 12" = 85 ppi
24" iMac: 1920 / 20.4" = 94 ppi
20" iMac: 1680 / 17.1" = 98 ppi
17" iMac: 1440 / 14.4" = 100 ppi
21.5": 1920 / 18.7" = 102 ppi
27": 2560 / 23.5" = 109 ppi
13" MacBook Pro: 1280 / 11.3" = 113 ppi
12" G4 iBook: 1024 / 9" = 114 ppi

As I no longer have the eyes of a teenager, my favourite desktop pixel density for web surfing in Safari is somewhere around 90-100 pixels per inch (ppi). That includes the 20" and 24" iMacs, with the 21.5" coming in very close at 102 ppi. I had a chance to check out the 21.5" and 27" iMacs in person and I found the 21.5" more pleasant for general surfing than the 27" at normal desktop seating distances, at least with Safari. While it's true the 27" is still a lower pixel density than the laptops, people generally sit closer to laptop screens so the higher pixel density is less problematic for laptops than desktops. Luckily, while this is a problem for Safari, it's not as much of a problem with Mozilla Firefox, since Firefox is more easily adjustable. The 27" iMac might just be enough to push to me to Firefox as my primary web browser on the Mac.

We can only hope that the new 27" screen is a hint to full resolution independence to come in OS X 10.7.

Best 27" bang for the buck is the Quad

2009-11-01T22:28:00.026-05:00

Despite some expectations, the dual-core iMacs may not actually be the best value in the 27" iMac line.

The price advantage of the Core 2 Duo 27" iMacs is in large part due to the much lower end AMD Radeon 4670 GPU option in those machines. However, the Radeon 4850 is roughly twice as fast, helpful with applications like gaming, Aperture, and Final Cut Studio, as well as OS X features like OpenCL°. If you want to take advantage of that GPU power boost from the Radeon 4850, then the price comparison becomes very interesting.

3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo - US$1849 / CAD$1964
3.33 GHz Core 2 Duo - US$2049 / CAD$2184
2.66 GHz Core i5 Quad - US$1999 / CAD$2099
2.80 GHz Core i7 Quad - US$2199 / CAD$2319

Out of that group, the Core i5 quad-core machine is the best deal. In fact, it's even cheaper than the 3.33 GHz dual-core model (which I suppose might make sense, since the 3.33 GHz Core 2 Duo CPU is actually significantly more expensive than the 2.66 GHz Core i5 CPU). While 2.66 GHz doesn't seem that fast, Hz for Hz, Core i5 is faster, and there are four cores too. Furthermore, in dual-core mode, Core i5 can ramp up to as high as 3.2 GHz using Turbo Boost.

But bang for the buck be damned. I've ordered the Core i7 quad-core iMac. It will be nice having eight logical cores (!) in my iMac, even if only for bragging rights.

°Both the Radeon 4670 and 4850 support OpenCL, but the 4850 will be faster. Apple Canada and Apple UK (among other international Apple pages) erroneously do not list the Radeon 4670 as supporting OpenCL.

However, Apple USA has recently updated its OS X tech specs page to include the 4670.

Snow Leopard Up-To-Date upgrade disk is full version

2009-10-28T22:49:00.003-04:00

After waiting several weeks after Snow Leopard was released, I finally received my Snow Leopard Up-To-Date upgrade disk for my 13" MacBook Pro. I had already installed Snow Leopard on that machine so... shhh... I tried it on my 10.5.8 iMac instead. The install app wanted to upgrade 10.5.8 to 10.6, and provided no option to reformat and install. However, I was able to do that by rebooting off the install disk.

I then retried the Up-To-Date disk on the 10.6 iMac. The install app refused to work on 10.6. However, again, I was able to reformat and reinstall by rebooting off the install disk.

The Up-To-Date disk not only works to update 10.5 to 10.6, but also can do a clean install of 10.6 on any supported Mac.

New 27" Quad Core i7 iMac ordered!

2009-10-20T21:58:00.023-04:00

I predicted Apple could use Intel's L3426 Xeon chip for a new iMac, due to its very good power characteristics, perfect for a thin iMac. Alternatively, I thought they might use the mobile version of Core i7 instead. I was wrong on both counts, and I am very happy about it. Apple has somehow managed to wedge a Nehalem Core i7-860 desktop processor into the new iMac. This 2.80 GHz chip has a TDP of 95 Watts, which is over twice as hot as the previous 45 Watt TDP mobile chips Apple used, but Apple says the new design is still quiet. And it's stinkin' fast. Apple claims a SPECint_rate_base2006 score of 100, which is roughly twice as fast as a quad-core 2.0 GHz Xeon 5130.

Furthermore, when the multiple cores aren't being used efficiently, this chip can boost its clock speed all the way up to 3.46 GHz to compensate.

I presume OS X will be making heavy use of Intel's Enhanced Speedstep Technology to keep power usage down, and to keep the iMac quiet. While it's possible the new iMac will be significantly louder at full tilt, I think most people will be fine with that compromise, as long as the machine remains quiet with surfing, basic business applications, and email.

Another interesting feature is the size and shape. The previous 24" iMac had a height of 20.5". The height is actually slightly smaller on the new iMac, at 20.4", which means the overall height isn't any taller than the previous 24" iMac. While this is still tall, the centre of the screen has now been shifted downwards, as the size of the "chin" at the bottom of the iMac has been decreased. I was thinking that with a larger screen I might have to resort to a VESA mount to bring the screen lower for better ergonomics, but with this change it may not be absolutely necessary. The widescreen format doesn't hurt either, as more pixels are distributed sideways, at the expense of vertical resolution. If I do decide to lower it more, there still the option of the VESA mount available with the 27". It's not available with the 21.5" iMac, but it's much less needed for that unit.

The most welcome upgrade to most people however is the addition of two more memory slots in the new iMac. FINALLY, Apple has included 4 memory slots in the iMac. 8 GB of RAM is now relatively inexpensive using 2 GB RAM modules, and the hardcore geeks can upgrade the thing all the way up to 16 GB. The iMac still uses SO-DIMMs which are usually reserved for laptops, but that's fine by me.

Apple almost hit one out of the park with this upgrade. I immediately put my order in:

27" Quad-core iMac
2.8 GHz Core i7, with Turbo Boost up to 3.46 GHz.
4 GB DDR3 RAM (to be upgraded to 8 GB)
ATI Radeon HD 4850 GPU with 512 MB RAM
2 TB hard drive

I had decided to forego Apple Bluetooth devices, since my experience with them has not been pleasant. I said it'd take "some serious marketing" for me to get even the multi-touch mouse. I did forego the Bluetooth keyboard, and ordered the wired keyboard with numeric keypad, but caved on the Magic Mouse. It's new and seems interesting, but most importantly it comes free with the iMac. Since I already have RF mice and wired mice I can use if I don't like it, I figured it can't hurt to give it a shot, but the option of a wired Magic Mouse would have been nice.

There is one big downer about the new iMac though. While it has a Firewire 800 port, it only has one of them. This represents a loss of the Firewire 400 port from my three year-old iMac Core 2 Duo, although it is not unexpected since recent iMacs only had the Firewire 800 port too. This wouldn't be a big issue if Firewire 800 hubs were common, but they aren't. I currently use a Firewire 800 Compact Flash reader. With about 15 GB of files on a card, my USB 2 reader takes forever, and OS X tells me it would take about 10 minutes with Firewire 400. With Firewire 800 it's only about two-thirds that time, shaving off several minutes. Either I downgrade the port with a Firewire 400 hub to Firewire 400 only and deal with the slower speeds, or else I scrap my Firewire 400 drives for USB 2, and use the lone Firewire 800 port with my Compact Flash reader at full speed. Neither is an ideal solution.

[Updated 2009-10-23]

Although I could not find a FW800 hub locally, I was able to find a Kramer VS-FW30 3-port Firewire 800 hub available at a respectable out-of-country online vendor, so I promptly ordered it. I'll be sure to post back once I've had a chance to give it a whirl.

Apple is bigger than Google

2009-10-20T11:46:00.002-04:00

With the bump in Apple's stock price today, it is now bigger than Google. With a current stock valuation of just under $200, Apple is now worth over $178 billion, and Google is at $172 billion and change. For reference, AT&T is worth just over $152 billion, and Intel a paltry $113 billion.

I'm starting to wonder if AAPL is getting a little ahead of itself.

$1.67 billion profit

2009-10-19T22:16:00.008-04:00

Apple posted a $1.67 billion profit last quarter.

Apple sold 3.05 million Macintosh® computers during the quarter, representing a 17 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 10.2 million iPods during the quarter, representing an eight percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 7.4 million iPhones in the quarter, representing seven percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter.

“We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

You've come a long way, baby.

Apple Performance Update 1.0: No more spinning beachball of death?

2009-10-14T20:37:00.011-04:00

I have been infrequently getting the annoying spinning rainbow beachball of death on my 13" MacBook Pro with Snow Leopard, most noticeably while using Safari 4. It almost seemed as if the hard drive was failing, but after each pause everything was fine, and Disk Utility showed no problem with the drive. I then thought it was Snow Leopard itself, but it turns out it may be caused by hard drive pauses associated with Apple's latest Macs. This is hopefully corrected with the Apple Performance Update 1.0:

This update addresses intermittent hard drive related pauses reported by a small number of customers.

Products Affected
MacBook Air (Mid 2009), MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2009), MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009), MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2009), MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.53GHz, Mid 2009), iMac (20-inch, Mid 2009), MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2009), MacBook (13-inch, Early 2009), MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2009), MacBook (13-inch, Aluminum, Late 2008), MacBook Air (Late 2008), MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008), iMac (24-inch, Early 2009), iMac (20-inch, Early 2009), Mac mini (Early 2009)

I've had it with Apple Bluetooth products

2009-10-13T18:12:00.002-04:00

Given that the Apple Mighty Mouse's scroll ball has a nasty habit of not functioning properly after just limited usage, it has gotten a well deserved bad reputation. Even the cheap throwaway mice I get at the hole-in-the-wall PC shop in the $5 surplus bin never suffer this problem, yet Apple's pricey Bluetooth mouse does.

But that's not the worst of it. What's even worse is when the batteries in the mouse (or keyboard) die. Put in new batteries, and... nothing. Half the time the computer refuses to recognizes the mouse (or keyboard). Turning it off and on again helps once in a while, but the only really consistent ways to get the computer to re-recognize the mouse (or keyboard) is to reboot, or to manually set it up again from the Bluetooth preference pane. Very, very irritating. What about not letting the batteries die? Doesn't help. If you swap out the battery it's the same effect. Reboot may be necessary.

So lately I've just taken to putting my Bluetooth keyboard in the cupboard, and using a wired keyboard. As for the mouse, I've still been struggling with the Mighty Mouse, but won't get another one with my next iMac. Even if they introduce a brand new multi-touch mouse, they'll have to do some serious marketing to win me over if it's Bluetooth. The proof is in the pudding, and so far Apple's Bluetooth pudding is pretty rotten.

However, if they offered a wired multi-touch mouse, maybe I'd get that instead. Or perhaps a Microsoft RF mouse. Wireless, without all the Bluetooth headaches.

Intel L3426 = Quad-core Xeon iMac?

2009-10-10T09:57:00.013-04:00

Intel released a curious new CPU a few weeks ago. It's a Xeon, a chip class usually reserved for high-powered workstations (including the Mac Pro) and servers, yet this chip is quite different than the usual Xeons. Dubbed L3426, it is a relatively inexpensive 64-bit low-clocked (1.86 GHz) quad-core Lynnfield CPU, with a TDP of only 45 Watts, which makes it very interesting for consumer Mac fans.

The reasonably low TDP makes a quad-core Xeon iMac a distinct possibility for the next iMac release. This would seem to support previous Xeon iMac rumours. While 1.86 GHz seems slow, this chip class is actually very, very fast on a per-clock basis, and furthermore, it can rev the clock speed up to 3.2 GHz using Intel's Turbo Boost technology when its multiple cores are not being efficiently utilized. In addition, the Xeon L3426 supports Hyper-Threading, like all the Xeon 3000 series processors. This further differentiates it from Intel's consumer class Core i5 CPUs, which do not support HT.

Alternatively, if Apple wants to put quad-core into the iMac, it can use Intel's Clarksfield Core i7 Mobile class of processors. These chips have the same 45 Watt TDP and are quite similar to Xeon L3426, but are somewhat slower clocked, yet still remain very, very fast. In fact, it is possible that Apple will use Core i7 for low-end (1.60/2.80 GHz) and mid-end (1.73/3.06 GHz) iMacs, and Xeon L3426 for the top-of-the-line (1.86/3.20 GHz) iMac model, although ironically the reported Xeon L3426 pricing is cheaper than the Core i7 Mobile chips. Whether or not it is truly cheaper, the take home message is that Xeon L3426 isn't prohibitively expensive for consumer Macs.

There is also Core i7 Mobile Extreme which is faster clocked than Xeon L3426, but that chip has a higher TDP, which makes it less attractive for use in near-silent all-in-one iMacs.

Telus and Bell Canada to get the iPhone

2009-10-07T21:58:00.006-04:00

In just a few short weeks, the two Canadian CDMA providers Bell and Telus will get the iPhone. How is this possible? Well, it turns out the two companies have been building an HSPA network together to access all the cool phones and to get in on that lucrative foreign roaming action.

BTW, at one point Telus try to buy out Fido's GSM network, but then Rogers outbid them and incorporated Fido into Rogers, thereby creating a GSM monopoly in Canada. It was disappointing to say the least. It's about time we get some 3GSM competition around here.

Video head to head: iPod nano vs Canon 5D II

2009-09-24T00:11:00.003-04:00

This is a ridiculous comparison of course, but nonetheless it's worth a glance just for fun. Here is the new video-enabled iPod nano vs. the well-respected Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR.

No ISO 6400 or rack focus rig on the iPod nano unfortunately. ;) By the way, with the EF 35 f/1.4L lens and Compact Flash card, the 5D Mark II goes for the bargain basement price of about US$4200.

HDTV resolutions well supported in Snow Leopard

2009-09-20T00:30:00.006-04:00

It took Apple long enough, but HD TV resolutions are finally well supported in Mac OS X. Here is a screengrab of my 13" MacBook Pro supplying 1920x1080i to my Panasonic PT-AX200U home theatre projector, in 10.6 Leopard.

Safari 4 in Snow Leopard is very, very fast

2009-08-29T23:20:00.030-04:00

Just how fast is Snow Leopard? It's hard to say since every application will perform differently. However, one application that just about everyone uses these days is a web browser, and on the Mac, Safari is the most popular.

After browsing around the net a while with Safari in Snow Leopard, it definitely feels faster. But how much faster is it really? Let's put that to the test.

Hardware: 13" MacBook Pro, 2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3, 2.26 GHz Core 2 Duo
Software: SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark 0.9

Mac OS X 10.5.6, Safari 3.2.1: 3261.8 ms
Mac OS X 10.5.8, Safari 4.0.3 (5531.9): 824.8 ms
Mac OS X 10.6 32-bit, 32-bit Safari 4.0.3 (6531.9): 657.6 ms
Mac OS X 10.6 32-bit, 64-bit Safari 4.0.3 (6531.9): 479.2 ms
Mac OS X 10.6 64-bit, 64-bit Safari 4.0.3 (6531.9): 478.4 ms

(Lower is better)

As you can see, Snow Leopard's Safari 4.0.3 is noticeably faster as a 64-bit application than a 32-bit application. Still, even the 32-bit version of Safari 4 in Snow Leopard 10.6 is significantly faster than Safari 4 in Leopard 10.5.8. Of note, the speed of the 64-bit Safari 4 was essentially identical regardless if Snow Leopard 10.6 was running in 32-bit or 64-bit mode.

The older Safari 3.2.1 wasn't even in the same league, and our results mirror our previous benchmarks from back at the beginning of the year when the Safari 4 beta was released.

I personally will be sticking with the default 64-bit Safari, but those of you using third-party Safari plugins might benefit from the 32-bit version, since most of these plugins are currently incompatible with the 64-bit Safari.

P.S. Some of the more astute geeks might be wondering how I got 10.5.6 Leopard and Safari 3.2.1 running on a 13" MacBook Pro, considering the machine shipped with 10.5.7 and I believe Safari 3.2.3. Actually, I had a previous install of 10.5.6 on an external hard drive, as a backup for my white 13" MacBook. I hooked that drive up to the 13" MacBook Pro, and it actually booted, albeit initially with a few errors, and Safari 3.2.1 worked fine with the machine.

13" Mac laptop and 64-bit Snow Leopard: It works!

2009-08-29T08:23:00.010-04:00

13" Mac laptop and 64-bit Snow Leopard: It works! Well, sorta. I can confirm it works on the latest 13" MacBook Pro at least.

Whether your Mac's CPU is 64-bit or not, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard's 64-bit kernel is normally only able to load if the machine also has a 64-bit EFI. You can tell if your machine has a 32-bit or 64-bit EFI by typing this command in Terminal:

ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi

However, according to OSnews, the OS X seed notes claim that the 64-bit kernel of Snow Leopard is not supported on any 13" Mac laptop, even if it has a 64-bit EFI. Despite this, 64-bit Snow Leopard loads on my 13" MacBook Pro (aka MacBookPro5,5) just fine.

The latest 13" Mac lives up to its "Pro" name after all.

Despite having this 64-bit capability, I will usually run in 32-bit mode since 32-bit kernel extensions (like printer drivers, etc.) won't run when the 64-bit OS X kernel is loaded, and 64-bit applications can still run normally with the 32-bit OS X kernel.

MacBook Pro's best new feature: Battery life

2009-06-12T23:20:00.008-04:00

Apple has devoted a fair amount of screen real estate on its website bragging about the new battery technology in its new MacBook Pros. It turns out it's not just marketing speak to hide the fact the battery is no longer user replaceable.

According to AnandTech, the advertised 7 hour battery life (or 8 hours for the 17" model) is real. The 15" MacBook Pro is advertised to get 7 hours of battery life, yet with light usage Anand was able to get over "Eight, freakin, hours" out of the thing, and 6.5 hours with moderate usage. Even with relatively heavy usage he was able to get nearly 5 hours.

The MacBook Pro has just raised the bar enormously for battery life on full-fledged laptops.

It will be interesting to see if this battery life increase is limited to Mac OS X, or if it will be seen under Windows as well.

13" MacBook gets Firewire (again)

2009-06-08T15:40:00.008-04:00

Firewire, welcome back!

Many of us old timers complained about the loss of Firewire on the aluminum 13" MacBooks, expecting that it was gone forever. Well, good news, it's back. However, that 13" machine is no longer called the MacBook. The new 13" update has pushed it into the MacBook Pro category, and it gets a new Secure Digital slot as well. Also, even the low end model now gets the illuminated keyboard. Interestingly, it also has a non-removable battery now, like the MacBook Air.

Further good news is the pricing has actually decreased. That's a nice shift in Apple's marketing. Maybe it's time for me to jump into the market for a new laptop again.

Baby Shaker iPhone app sparks outrage

2009-04-23T10:28:00.006-04:00

Apple released a new third-party application in its iTunes store for the iPhone recently, called Baby Shaker. It has since been taken down, but it is shocking that it was allowed to get through in the first place, especially since Apple continues to refuse a lot of potentially very useful (and inoffensive) applications.

New iPod shuffle? No thanks.

2009-03-12T08:40:00.014-04:00

The new iPod shuffle has come out, with possibly the weirdest interface ever designed for Apple. No scratch that. The shuffle itself doesn't even have an interface. The shuffle's front is now absolutely naked, with the interface now on the headphone cord. That might actually be a good thing, except now there is absolutely no way to control the shuffle when using third party headphones. The really strange part is the fact that no control dongle exists for those third party headphones, either from Apple itself or from third parties. That will come of course, but who knows after how long? Given that Apple's included earbuds have always been absolutely terrible (as would be expected for included earbuds), this is a dealbreaker for many people until the dongle comes out. Even when it does come out, it will still be a problem, in terms of price. I wouldn't be surprised if they want upwards of US$29 for the dongle. Twenty-nine bucks isn't a lot in the greater scheme of things, but it is compared to the cost of a shuffle, especially when previous shuffles could be had for less than $50. And finally, even with such a dongle (or the included headphones), controlling the shuffle now seems a little complicated. I'm sure one can learn, but one might have expected something more intuitive from Apple.

Let me backtrack a bit though. The design is actually interesting in some ways. One thing I've always missed on the shuffle is the ability to know exactly what song was playing. I thought the way around it would be to have a small one-line LED or LCD screen or perhaps text-to-audio, but also thought Apple would implement neither. They've now added VoiceOver, which is essentially the latter idea, with multi-language support to boot. The other thing I've missed on the shuffle is proper playlist support, but Apple has now implemented that too. Despite all these advancements however, the lack of a controller dongle for third party headphones leaves me scratching my head for this announcement.

Somehow, this almost seems like a grand Onion parody.

I guess the best news is that VoiceOver may appear in non-naked non-shuffle iPods (and iPhones) too in 2009.

New iMac - No quad for you

2009-03-03T23:56:00.002-05:00

Apple disappointed many today by releasing an update to the iMac... without quad cores. This was not overly surprising however, as only high-power and mid-power quad-core Intel CPUs exist at the moment. The low power mainstream version that Apple will likely use in the iMac (and MacBook Pro) will not be out until about 2009 Q3 or 2010 Q1.

I want a new iMac, but I'll simply wait. My dual-core iMac will have to do until then. Hopefully by that time 8 GB of RAM for the iMac will actually be affordable, instead of the CAD$1200 it is now.

By the way, Apple finally added another USB port. Too bad they didn't make it five, like on the new Mac mini. However, they removed one Firewire port to make room for it.

New Mac mini gets dual video outputs

2009-03-03T23:53:00.002-05:00

As the rumours predicted, the newly released Mac mini gets two video outputs and five USB ports. Nice.

iPhone holds 2/3rds of mobile browsing market share

2009-03-02T10:19:00.002-05:00

AppleInsider reports Net Applications' numbers which show that Apple's iPhone completely dominates the mobile browsing market, with a 66.6% share. All the other competitors are at less than 10%. One might not be surprised though, considering that Apple's Safari along with the iPhone's OS make for the only mobile browser actually worth using. Everything else is terrible by comparison.

Safari 4.0 Beta vs. Safari 3.2.1 Benchmarks

2009-02-25T20:20:00.019-05:00

Yesterday, Apple released a beta version of Safari 4.0 on both Windows and Mac OS X... and it's faaaast. Using the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark, we can see huge improvements in speed going from Safari 3.2.1 to Safari 4.0. Safari 4.0 is in a whole other league. Previously Firefox 3.0.6 had the edge over Safari, but the new version of Safari is now also several times as fast as Firefox.

Cube G4 450 with 768 MB RAM

Safari 3.2.1 Run 1: 70637.8 ms
Safari 3.2.1 Run 2: 35922.4 ms
Firefox 3.0.6: 25779.6 ms
Safari 4.0 Beta Run 1: 16029.8 ms
Safari 4.0 Beta Run 2: 12592.4 ms

MacBook Core 2 Duo 2.1 GHz with 2 GB RAM

Safari 3.2.1: 3739.6 ms
Firefox 3.0.6: 3440.0 ms
Safari 4.0 Beta: 867.0 ms

As you can see, with modern Intel dual-core machines, browsing was already fast. However, the new Safari 4.0 breathes new life into our old PowerPC Macs too.

Safari 4 is much faster than Safari 3 on Windows too. Unfortunately, the Windows version seems much more unstable, so I won't be using it until it gets some more updates.

[Update 2009-02-25]

Cube G4 1.7 GHz: 5648.8 ms

Nice. Now only if Adobe could speed up Flash.

By the way, this is what I get when I try to run the SunSpider bench on my Cube G4 450 with Firefox 2.0.0.16:

New Mac mini to have two video outputs?

2009-02-20T00:41:00.011-05:00

A user at the MacRumors forums has posted a picture purporting to show a new port layout for the rear of an unreleased Mac mini. Included in the update is a fifth USB port, Firewire 800 (replacing FW400), mini-DVI (replacing full DVI), and mini-DisplayPort.

The addition of mini-DisplayPort in itself is not surprising. However, what is surprising is the inclusion of both mini-DisplayPort and mini-DVI -- two separate video outputs. If true, this could possibly mean dual monitor support for the Mac mini, something many Mac users have been hoping for ever since the Mac mini was released.

Mini-DisplayPort can pass through video signals for DVI or HDMI if necessary. DVI is electrically compatible with HDMI as well. VGA can also be supported with the appropriate dongle. Assuming the picture of the Mac mini is real (which is a big assumption), and assuming that the Mac mini could use both ports simultaneously, this would provide very good flexibility for different combinations of dual display devices.

[Update 2009-02-20]

Video

Woz to be on Dancing with the Stars

2009-02-09T10:08:00.005-05:00

Well, I certainly didn't see that one coming. The great Woz is one of the new competitors for the 2009 season of Dancing with the Stars.

That was a stroke a brilliance ABC! I usually despise "reality" television, but this is one show I will probably actually watch.

Here is the official press release.

Mac pirates get hit with iWork '09 trojan

2009-01-25T01:21:00.005-05:00

Ah, the benefits of an increasing user base: Mac viruses and trojans. A bootleg version of iWork '09 floating around the BitTorrent sites apparently is infected with OSX.Trojan.iServices.A. This is a pretty significant milestone for OS X, as apparently over 20000 Mac users have already been infected.

iLife '09: More idiotic system requirements

2009-01-10T12:15:00.010-05:00

Phil announced iLife '09 at Macworld, generally acknowledging (in not so many words) the sucktitude that was iMovie '08. Phil spent a lot of time telling us how much more has been added to iMovie '09, and if the hype is in any way representative then it should represent a marked improvement over iMovie '08... not that that would be very hard to accomplish. The real question though is if it will be anywhere near as nice as iLife '06's iMovie HD.

Unfortunately, Apple again has some idiotic and arbitrary system requirements for iLife '09. For example: "iMovie requires an Intel-based Mac, Power Mac G5 (dual 2.0GHz or faster), or iMac G5 (1.9GHz or faster)." So, an old iMac G5 1.9 or Intel Mac Mini Core Solo 1.5 are fine, but a single processor Power Mac 1.6 or 1.8, or even a dual processor Power Mac 1.8 are not?

What we already know is that iLife '09 does not include any high definition disc burning features, even on plain DVD. We can understand this for HD DVD since the HD DVD format is dead (although Apple's DVD Player already can play HD DVD made with DVD Studio Pro). There is AVCHD, but this won't work on all Blu-ray players, as plain AVCHD on DVD is not an official Blu-ray format. There is also BD9 (and BD5). However, I wonder if licencing and/or specifications are holding it back, or if it is just because Apple hasn't had the time to implement it yet.

Steve Jobs explains weight loss due to "hormonal imbalance"

2009-01-06T09:26:00.007-05:00

Steve Jobs yesterday issued a letter indicating his significant recent weight loss is due to a "hormonal imbalance". This soothed the markets, and AAPL was up about 4% for the day, and right now is trading up another buck and change premarket to about $96. This is all despite the fact that the statement was extremely vague. In this context "hormonal imbalance" could mean all sorts of different things, including even the possibility of a recurrence of his neuroendocrine tumour. (We all of course hope this is not the case.)

Nonetheless, the markets are happy, and I wish Mr. Jobs all the best in his recuperation. Hopefully Phil Schiller will be an effective stand-in for him at Macworld too.

Apple announces new MacBook Wheel

2009-01-06T09:11:00.006-05:00

Simply awesome!

Apple has done it again. Welcome to the future of laptop computing.

AAPL hits new 52-week low

2008-11-21T23:33:00.004-05:00

Today AAPL hit a 1-year low of $79.14 intraday, the first time in a very long time that the stock has been below $80. (On Thursday AAPL fell to $80, but never went below it.) However, at the end of the day the stock rallied with the rest of the market, and closed up 2.6% to $82.58 from yesterday's close of $80.49.

Author of Fake Jobs Heart Attack Story Found

2008-10-23T23:16:00.003-04:00

The author of the fake report of Jobs having a heart attack has been located, and it was an 18 year-old. We still don't know why he faked the story however.

What a world we live in. All it takes is just one random fake post for a stock to drop $5 billion.

iPhone outsells Blackberry

2008-10-22T09:31:00.012-04:00

Yesterday was Apple's financial conference call, and it didn't disappoint. Apple blew past analysts' expectations, announcing that 6.89 million iPhones were sold last quarter, 50% higher than consensus analysts' estimates.

That was more than what RIM sold in the same quarter. For good reason too. The iPhone is a triumph of interface design and feature integration (including the iPod). The Blackberries, not so much. Research In Motion is releasing its much hyped Blackberry Storm this quarter to compete with the iPhone, but I'm not convinced it will rise above the mediocrity that has characterized RIM hardware and software up until now. Perhaps Jim Balsillie should focus more on RIM's products than on acquiring a hockey team.

Steve Jobs went on to brag that in terms of revenue, Apple is now third behind Nokia and Samsung. Apple has already bested the ailing Sony Ericsson.

Apple still has no debt, and has about $25 billion in cash. That means that for every single share of AAPL out there, Apple has $28 sitting in the bank. To put it another way, about 30% of Apple's market capitalization at yesterday's close of $91.49 was in cash. And to put it yet another way, Apple could buy Dell in cash today, as Dell's market capitalization is under $25 billion. Maybe it's time to shut down Dell?

Guidance for the following quarter was unusually vague, as Apple provided a very wide range of possible outcomes, all conservative. The after hours market didn't seem to mind though, as AAPL was up to over $103 at one point, before settling back to a little over $97 at market open today.

Steve Jobs disses the Blu-ray Disc Association

2008-10-14T23:36:00.004-04:00

As usual, Teh Steve does not mince words. He said:

“Blu-ray is a bag of hurt."

"The licensing is so complex, we're waiting until things settle down before we burden our customers with the cost of the licensing and the cost of the drives."

This is perhaps not surprising. The Blu-ray licencing requirements for an OS are said to be draconian, and I'm sure Apple doesn't want to mess too much with the underpinnings of OS X just to support a costly format that is still languishing in the market.

What makes this criticism especially biting is the fact that Apple sits on the Blu-ray Disc Association's Board of Directors.

No backlit keyboard in lower end aluminum MacBook

2008-10-14T22:55:00.009-04:00

Just a word of warning for those interested in the new aluminum MacBook: The lower end model does not include a backlit keyboard.

This is a disappointment. Besides the new trackpad, the one very enticing feature of the new design is the backlit keyboard. Hopefully the next iteration of the AluMacBook will include the illuminated keyboard.

Who knows... Maybe by that time Apple will also add FireWire-over-Ethernet support to the MacBooks. That's unlikely though.

The Apple Store is very misleading. Although Apple's website confirms in multiple places that the low end 2.0 GHz aluminum MacBook does not include a backlit keyboard, the Apple Store order page says it does.

No new laptop for Everything Apple [Update: New laptop after all!]

2008-10-14T20:11:00.018-04:00

Apple released new MacBooks and MacBook Pros today to great fanfare, and my read of the press is that they were underwhelmed. The new clickable trackpad is nice, as is the new (laser cut) form factor, but it seems rather odd to exclude the 17" MacBook Pro from the party. Hopefully we'll see an update to the 17 incher sooner rather than later.

The loss of Firewire on the MacBook is a big loss for us old-timer Mac types, although I can understand it from Apple's business perspective. I betcha the vast majority of MacBook owners have never used a Firewire device. However, in my case, I've grown very fond of Firewire target mode, and I own a lot of Firewire devices, too.

I was just about to purchase a Firewire-endowed refurbished white MacBook for CAD$899 today, but was too slow on the trigger. They're all gone now. I'll have to just stick with my slow G4 800 iBook for now. I actually prefer its footprint over the MacBook anyway.

[Update 2008-10-14]

They're back! I just ordered one of the refurbished white MacBook units:

2.1 GHz Core 2 Duo
3 MB shared L2 cache
800 MHz bus
1 GB 667 MHz PC-5300 DDR2 memory
13.3-inch glossy widescreen display
Intel GMA X3100 GPU with 144 MB shared RAM
120GB hard drive
Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
Built-in iSight camera
Gigabit Ethernet
802.11n wireless
Firewire and USB 2
5.0 lbs

Not bad for CAD$899. At today's exchange rate, that's only US$770. With 4 GB of RAM, I'm all set. Fortunately, 4 GB RAM is much cheaper for the white MacBook too, as compared to the newer MacBooks. I should be able to pick up 4 GB for under $60.

Maybe in 2009, I'll get a new AluMacBook to add to the collection after Apple drops its pricing.

AAPL says Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-10-13T22:05:00.004-04:00

Is the worst behind us? On this Canadian Thanksgiving day, the US market had its highest point gain in history, and AAPL joined in the festivities. The stock was up $13.46 to $110.26, a rise of nearly 14%. AAPL beat the 11-12% gain of the market indices, but despite its upgrade to outperform, strangely enough it was merely good for a day like today. It wasn't outstanding by any means, as the screengrab below illustrates.

Dell, Google, and RIMM also beat AAPL's rise today, as did AT&T. On the other hand, this gain for AAPL was on top of Friday's 9% gain. In fact, it closed 28.7% higher than its low less than a week ago.

I sold the batch I bought at 108.30 for $109. Ironically, I made over 8% profit, during that two week period, the Canadian dollar dropped precipitously, following oil prices. The US dollar buys a lot more Canuckbux today than it did last month.

Tomorrow we will see the effects of the MacBook announcement, and next week we'll get the quarterly earnings report. Revenues and profits are likely to be very good, but who knows how conversative Apple will be when it comes to guidance.

AAPL was up to $113.75 in after hours trading.

October 14 MacBook event confirmed

2008-10-09T12:49:00.008-04:00

The long rumoured MacBook release for October 14 has been confirmed. MarketWatch reports: Apple sets up to release new notebook PCs

Apple Inc. on Thursday e-mailed invitations to media members for an event on Oct. 14 at the company's Cupertino, Calif. headquarters where Apple is set to rollout new models of its Macintosh laptop computers. The invitations, which read "The spotlight turns to notebooks," featured a partially obscured notebook PC coming out of shadows with a light upon the Apple logo.

AAPL closes below $90

2008-10-07T20:05:00.005-04:00

Wow. Just wow. AAPL closed down 9% at $89.16 today. It hasn't been this low for a year and a half.

I wonder if they still have that $20+ billion cash or if it's shrunk somewhat after the market meltdown. If intact, then approximately a quarter of Apple's market capitalization now is cash.

Apple has 17% of the consumer smartphone market

2008-10-07T09:19:00.005-04:00

According to NPD data, the iPhone now holds 17% of the iPhone market.

That's huge, but the stats can be misleading, as they do not include corporate sales.

Green Monday?

2008-10-07T00:13:00.009-04:00

Monday saw a huge ripple in the fabric of the finance world, with our Canadian S&P/TSX dropping 11% and the US Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 7.7%, before both finally pared the losses late in the day, to 5.3% and 3.6% respectively.

AAPL also dropped severely to $87.54 (almost 10%). I just about pulled the buy trigger yet again, but ultimately held off this time. To everyone's surprise, it later rallied so much that it actually ended up $1.07 at $98.14, for a gain of over 1% for the day.

Earlier in the day, some in the media were already calling this Black Monday, but it certainly didn't work out that way for AAPL. Perhaps a few of the supposed short sellers that Steve Jobs blamed are finally getting spooked enough to leave AAPL alone.

P.S. For some reason, the iPhone stock quote gadget has the wrong percentage drop for the TSX and the S&P 500.

Rogers & Fido 6 GB $30 data plan may still be valid

2008-10-07T00:07:00.005-04:00

iPhone in Canada reports that the 6 GB $30 smartphone data plan has been extended, although that plan no longer is documented on their public website.

The (new) official iPhone plans seem reasonable, but if you already have a good voice plan you don't want to part with, this $30 data plan is a great addition, especially if you want to tether your laptop with it (either using a jailbroken iPhone or another smartphone).

Apple stock plummets on false Jobs rumour

2008-10-03T10:13:00.015-04:00

Is somebody trying to manipulate the market?

A CNN iReport blog post claimed Steve Jobs had a heart attack. The stock dropped precipitously to $94.65 before rebounding, as it proved to be completely false.

One wonders if it's some overzealous investor out there who has shorted AAPL or wanted to buy in cheap. Whether it's illegal rumour mongering or honest mistake, there are going to be a lot of mad investors, as I'm sure many had (stop-loss) sell orders just below the $100 mark.

[Update 2008-10-03]

AAPL closed down 3% to $97.07, the first close below $100 in over a year. So perhaps the rumour mongering did not make that much difference anyway in the greater scheme of things. It would seem that although the bailout bill was finally passed by Congress, investors still weren't much impressed, and the market slid in general. Nonetheless, the US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the false report about Steve Jobs.

Besides the close below $100, this marks another milestone for AAPL. The stock has lost more than half its value for the year. I'm going to hold of course, but may just have to buy some more if it drops even further to below $90.

October Rogers & Fido iPhone plans

2008-10-03T09:14:00.013-04:00

After initially offering poor iPhone plans, Fido & Rogers offered us a 6 GB data plan for $30 to appease us geeks. That unfortunately is no longer available, but October also brought us new iPhone plans that seem much more reasonable:

$60
250 weekday minutes
Unlimited evenings and weekends
Unlimited with Fido/Rogers customers
No long distance minutes
75 text messages (sent)
1 GB data
Visual voicemail

$75
400 weekday minutes
Unlimited evenings and weekends
Unlimited with Fido/Rogers customers
Unlimited long distance with Fido/Rogers customers
100 text messages (sent)
2 GB data
Visual voicemail

I personally generally use less than 0.3 GB per month, but that's because I rarely use audio streaming applications with my iPhone, and I don't use YouTube much either. However, if Apple finally allows us those data tethering applications (again) so that one can surf on a laptop through the iPhone, then I would use a lot more data in certain months. Rogers' and Fido's 6 GB data plans specifically allow tethering.

AAPL hits $100

2008-10-02T16:02:00.006-04:00

For a new 52-week low, AAPL hit exactly $100.00 today, with a close of $100.10. (I guess there were tons of buy orders at that psychological threshold.) That's less than half the nose-bleed level of nearly $203 not so long ago. That has pushed Apple's market capitalization below the $90 billion mark, which is notable given that it has $20 billion in cash or cash equivalents. It also pushes their price earnings ratio below 20.

Everyone seems jittery about the bailout vote in the House of Representatives, despite the Senate's endorsement yesterday. Good luck tomorrow to all of us who own AAPL (or anything else in the stock market).

AAPL - Back in again at $108.30

2008-09-30T13:46:00.007-04:00

Because I'm such a masochist, I decided to chance it again right after the crash. I'm in again at $108.30, which was the price at open. Following the market, it's up today to around $112 so far (which means that Apple's market capitalization is still just under $100 billion), but the real test in the immediate future will likely be Thursday/Friday, and will depend upon what the US government comes up with in terms of a bailout.

[Update 2008-09-30]

That was amusing. Yesterday Morgan Stanley downgraded AAPL to a target price of $115. One day later, that target price was achieved intraday, with a close of $113.66.

AAPL now below $120

2008-09-29T09:34:00.011-04:00

AAPL's wild ride continues. With all the uncertainty in the market, everyone (except me) is pulling their money out of the market. Today, AAPL dropped below $120. This is not just about the greater market, however. Investors didn't like the downgrades to AAPL by RBC and (the beleaguered) Morgan Stanley, to $140 and $115 (ouch) respectively.

AAPL is currently down over $10, trading at $117 and change.

[Update 2008-09-29]

As of a few minutes ago, AAPL hit $109. Impressive drop, especially considering that the rest of the tech sector seems to be holding on with only mild drops.

[Update 2008-09-29]

After Congress rejected the bailout bill, AAPL briefly touched the $100 (plus change) level today, and closed just over $105, down nearly 18%. Maybe it's time to buy again soon. Or not.

Laminar Research confirms Apple's ad placements in movies

2008-09-23T23:29:00.011-04:00

We've always suspected that Apple actively pushes its hardware through strategic TV show and movie placements, but it's nice to finally get confirmation from an insider. (No, so many Macs are not in movies just because all the directors think they look good.) Laminar Research (the X-Plane guys) confirms that Apple keeps stashes of its hardware in storage specifically for this purpose:

When we need a bigger monitor to do the ARTWORK for the iPhone version of X-Plane (for example), all we would do is say the word and huge cases full of Quad-Core desktops and 30-inch monitors were rolled into our office. Why the huge cases to hold this stuff? As it turns out, we were given the SAME computers that are shipped off to Hollywood to appear in movies! Apple has a reserve of the latest and coolest hardware to appear in movies, and they lent THOSE computers to us to do the X-Plane for iPhone development.

By the way, their description of their time at Apple (including the above quote) has disappeared from their site. I guess Mr. Jobs didn't enjoy seeing his company's secrets all over the web.

iPhone 2.1 kills 3rd party AV cable support for 3G

2008-09-21T10:26:00.008-04:00

Recently I purchased a third party composite AV cable to use with my iPhone 3G, so I could watch my DVDs encoded with Handbrake while on the road, without having to take the DVDs with me. The cable worked perfectly, and the video quality was actually quite good on small to mid-sized TVs despite the fact that the source was composite video. The reasonable quality was likely because I use relatively high bitrate H.264, at over 2 Mbps for the video alone.

That all changed with iPhone 2.1. After the update, the cable no longer works. Apple has now locked out that cable. Well, not completely. The cable still does work at times, for about 10 seconds, before kicking us back out of the video. It's almost as if Apple is teasing us.

According to reports, iPhone 2.0 also removed compatibility of other 3rd party cables for owners of the original iPhone. Those cables worked perfectly with iPhone 1.1.4, but suddenly stopped working with 2.0.

Conveniently, Apple sells its own AV cables which are endowed with authentication chips . Sorry Apple, I'm not interested. $49 is simply horrendously overpriced, even if it does include an AC USB adapter (that I don't want). Maybe if I can find it cheaper I'll bite, but not at this outrageous price... especially when the $10 cable I had worked absolutely perfectly before.

AAPL's wild ride - Summer 2008

2008-09-19T08:44:00.011-04:00

AAPL has been down in the dumps of late, along with the greater market. Having sold at $167 months ago, I vowed to wait until it got back into the $120s before I bought back in. It then proceeded to get to about $190 before a pull back, and then again to $180 before starting on a sharp decline.

I decided to buy back in on Wednesday, right in the middle of all the market crash chaos. I bought at a then low price of $131.87, thinking my prediction of $125ish might not materialize. Of course, the falling knife got me, and another 11 bucks was shaved off the price the next day, a drop of 8.5% to $120.68. However, just before close the market rallied, and AAPL ended the day at $134.09 with an intraday high of well over $135. That was a remarkable show of volatility, with 55 million shares changing hands too.

Now at 9 am on Friday premarket, AAPL is sitting pretty at $143.36, over 9% higher than yesterday's close. Let's see if she can hold that value, and then some.

[Update]

AAPL closed at $140.91, for a gain of more than 5% for the day.

iTunes 8 HD video - Requires Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz

2008-09-09T19:42:00.008-04:00

Apple's new iTunes 8 has hefty requirements. If you want to watch iTunes HD on a Mac (or a PC), you need at least a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo CPU. That means that all Mac minis except for the latest top of the line model are excluded. In fact, Apple's entry level Mac mini being sold now doesn't even meet these requirements. Some older MacBooks, Intel iMacs, and even some MacBook Pros don't meet the requirements either.

Fortunately, I sold my old 2.0 GHz Core Duo MacBook (not Core 2 Duo) last month. I am using a G4 800 iBook for the time being. I'll probably buy a new MacBook in 2009, but I won't rule out buying a new one in 2008 should Apple release a super-duper new model this year.

Let's Rock - a letdown, but Jobs still alive

2008-09-09T19:04:00.008-04:00

Apple's "Let's Rock" media event was a rare misfire for Apple. The press seemed universally underwhelmed by the event, as predicted by analysts.

Apple released a bunch of new iPods (including a volume button-endowed iPod touch... finally), iTunes 8 with HD media (including from NBC), ear canal headphones, and not much else. The markets were pretty much indifferent to the announcement. Yesterday AAPL dropped in anticipation of the event, the opposite direction of the general market. Today AAPL fell in-line with the greater market, and closed at 151.68, down almost 4%.

There was one highlight to the event however, and that was Jobs' succinct statement about his health: "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." Bloomberg's obituary for Jobs was just a little premature.

iTunes has been blocked in China

2008-08-21T07:20:00.015-04:00

A few days ago a friend of mine in Beijing started having problems with iTunes. He said that it kept on resetting for no apparent reason. Strange as it may seem, he even called me across the pond on Tuesday for technical support. I had no idea what was wrong so his friend went to the Apple Store in Beijing, and they told him that iTunes had been blocked in China as of Tuesday morning (August 19, 2008).

It turns out that iTunes was blocked for political reasons. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Olympic athletes have been purchasing pro-Tibetan iTunes songs while in China. Obviously, China wasn't too impressed.

Simplify Media adds iTunes sharing to the iPhone

2008-08-14T22:07:00.007-04:00

Simplify Media has had an iTunes sharing application available for the iPhone for months, but only for jailbroken iPhones... until now. It is finally available at the iTunes App Store.

Finally we have iTunes sharing the way it's supposed to be, just like we had with iTunes 4.0 in 2003.

Netgear HDX101 Powerline Ethernet Adapter Review

2008-07-27T00:33:00.027-04:00

Last year I moved into a very large house. It's a great house, but internet access has been an issue for some parts of it. The house was built in two phases, and despite the fact the second part of the house was built just a few years ago, the previous owner neglected to put in Ethernet cabling. I do have a wireless router, but the signal from it is too weak provide reliable wireless coverage for my Xbox 360 and Mac Cube in the new part of the house. For this reason, I had been toying with the idea of setting up a WDS network using multiple pieces Apple Airport hardware.

I purchased an Airport Express for testing, only to discover that Leopard's Airport Utility doesn't consistently detect the unit on the network. After much strugging to get it set up right, I decided that Apple's implementation of its wireless access points and associated software leaves much to be desired. (Much to my surprise, the 802.11n Airport Express unit I got won't see my wireless network with hidden SSID, despite the fact that all of my many Macs and even my iPhone connect to it just fine.)

That's when I decided to try out powerline networking. There are multiple standards, but I chose to try Netgear's HDX101 Powerline HD Ethernet Adapter hardware. This adapter is not compatible with the HomePlug standard, but I don't care, because I don't own any HomePlug hardware. Plus, to get two refurbished HDX101 adapters only cost me just under $90 including shipping, so it wasn't a big chunk of change I was risking. The documentation claims up to 200 Mbps speeds, but as we all know, that's theoretical speed, and real world speeds are always going to be much lower.

However, I was very, very pleasantly surprised. The equipment was truly plug and play. I plugged the two units into the wall and attached Ethernet cables to them, one connected to my DSL router, and one connected to my Mac. In less than 30 seconds I had my very first powerline network, and it was fast. Mind you, that was on the same electrical circuit in the same room, but what really surprised me was when I went to the other side of the house.

From the opposite side of the house, a file transfer of one Toast disk image from my iMac to my MacBook moved 680 MB (over 713000000 bytes) in less than 186 seconds. That's roughly 30 Mbps, for a signal that had to go through two separate fuse boxes. (When the second part of the house was built, it got its own electrical panel, separate from the one that my home office is on.) That's Category 5 speed, without any need to lay any new network cable at all, and without the finickiness of wireless. I even got good speeds using the power outlet in the shed in the backyard. Truly impressive.

What's the catch? There are a few problems, none of which are huge problems in my case:

1) Cost. I got refurbished units so they were relatively cheap, but usually the price of new ones is about twice as much or more.

2) Configuration of the units on a Mac. They all come with the same default encryption password, so if a neighbour got the same adapter he might be able to access your network through the power lines if you don't change the password. (As I said, I had full access to my network from my backyard garden shed.) The software they provide to configure the units is much more reliable than Airport Utility with the Airport Express, but the problem is it only runs on Windows and would not work with my Parallels Windows XP installation. Fortunately, I have a backup XP box which I pull out of the closet for emergencies like this. An Apple Boot Camp installation should also work fine.

3) Quality of the electrical system. When I put the adapter on the same pair of outlets as where all my home theatre equipment resides, I got fairly slow speeds. I then moved the adapter to another plug in the same room which I know to be on a separate circuit breaker, and suddenly my speeds increased dramatically. It was on this plug where I got the 30 Mbps performance. (One should also avoid putting the units on power bars, as they are known to reduce performance.)

4) Heat. These run quite warm, but don't seem to be suffering for it. However, I don't know if the heat may affect the life of the product.

In summary, if you're in need of networking support to the far corners of your house, and you dread the idea of pulling Cat 5e cable or setting up a wireless network with multiple base stations, then give powerline networking a shot. I'm glad I did, and will be purchasing two more adapters to add to my network.

Carmack: We could spend $10 mil on an iPhone game

2008-07-25T22:12:00.007-04:00

John Carmack, that guy who gave us the revelatory Wolfenstein 3D seems enamoured with the iPhone, and goes as far to say the iPhone is on par with the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in some ways. That's some mighty gaming friends. In fact he says that if the market supported it, he could easily drop $10 million developing a game for the iPhone.

That might just be a little premature, but things look good for the future of the iPhone as a gaming platform.

In the meantime I'll go back to playing Labyrinth on my shiny new iPhone 3G.

Here we go again: AAPL down 10% after hours

2008-07-21T21:17:00.005-04:00

Apple posted its 2008 Q3 results today. Apple shipped just under 2.5 million Macs, just over 11 million iPods, and over 0.7 million iPhones, for the best June quarter in Apple's history.

Despite this, AAPL dropped 10% in after hours trading to $149.70. This was due to their very conservative estimates for the next quarter, well below analysts' expectations.

Video: iPhone 3G GPS

2008-07-10T01:15:00.003-04:00

If you're in the mood for a double double, you might enjoy this video of the new iPhone 3G in action, which includes a look at its GPS functionality among other features.

Fido caves: Offers 6 GB $30 data plan

2008-07-09T10:13:00.008-04:00

In a stunning move, Fido has caved in to protests and has offered a new and much improved promotional data plan, just two days before the much anticipated launch of the iPhone 3G in Canada. This plan offers 6 GB of data for $30 which in terms of price is in sharp contrast to their current $30 / 300 MB plan. The catch is that the new plan is only going to be offered until August 31, and will require a 3-year contract. Furthermore, it requires an "in-market" voice plan, which likely excludes special retention plans and maybe grandfathered plans as well.

Effective July 11, and as a limited time promotional offer for customers who activate until August 31, 2008 on a three year contract, a data-only offering of 6GB of data for $30 per month is being made available that can be added to any in-market voice plan. For example, with 6GB of data, iPhone 3G users can visit 35,952 web pages, or send and receive 157,286 emails, or watch 6,292 minutes of YouTube videos each and every month.

There is no word yet on Rogers.

[Update 2008-07-09]

Now on Rogers too.

Rogers relents, sweetens deal for iPhone 3G.

2008-06-30T22:04:00.015-04:00

In apparent about face, Rogers has updated it's iPhone 3G webpage to include information about alternate plans (including getting the iPhone without a data plan at all), and free bonus minutes for 3 months.

Price Plan Downgrade Fee
If you have subscribed to an iPhone Voice & Data Package or a Voice Price Plan with a Monthly Service Fee of more than $30, then a Price Plan Downgrade Fee of $50 will be applied to your invoice if, for any reason, you change to a Price Plan with a Monthly Service Fee of $30 or less at any time during the Service Agreement Term.

They have conveniently worded it so that the plethora of people out there with a $30 voice plan must either upgrade to a higher-cost voice plan or else pay a $50 downgrade fee.

Rogers spokesperson Liz Hamilton claimed consumers were just confused about the plans, but there was never any mention before on Rogers' website of allowing alternate plans, and several people have reported that Rogers customer service agents told them otherwise.

It is not clear yet if Fido will have the same policies, as this information has not yet appeared on the Fido website. If it does, I may get an iPhone after all.

In the meantime:

1. RuinediPhone.com has gotten well over 20000 signatures, but unfortunately their website now seems to be down.

2. Joy of Tech's comic summarizes this mess quite nicely.

RuinediPhone.com gets almost 11000 signatures

2008-06-29T13:22:00.005-04:00

Just a few days after the website went up (initially as ****yourogers.com), RuinediPhone.com has almost 11000 signatures. This has gotten the attention of media outlets around the net, including CNNMoney/Fortune.

Rogers probably didn't expect the backlash, but I think it's well deserved.

No iPhone 3G for me

2008-06-28T12:28:00.011-04:00

Rogers yesterday announced its iPhone 3G pricing, and unfortunately as some had predicted, their plans leave something to be desired. The details for both Rogers and Fido are as follows:

$60/mo: 150 anytime min, unlimited evenings/weekends, 400 MB data
$75/mo: 300 anytime min, unlimited evenings/weekends, 750 MB data
$100/mo: 150 anytime min, unlimited evenings/weekends, 1 GB data
$115/mo: 150 anytime min, unlimited evenings/weekends, 2 GB data

While the plans include unlimited received text messages and some sent text messages, note that these prices don't include Caller ID or the $6.95 system access fee. On top of this, a 3-year contract is mandatory, "evenings" start at 9 pm, and data costs 50¢ per MB if you go over.

An average user might want the 2nd plan:

$75 for voice and data
$15 (or $7?) for Caller ID
$6.95 for System access fee
$0.50 for 911 emergency access fee

Total (depending on cost of Caller ID) would be:

$89.45 ($101.08 including tax in Ont.)
or $97.45 ($110.12 including tax in Ont.)

No thanks Rogers.

iPhone 3G: On both Rogers and Fido.

2008-06-09T20:20:00.014-04:00

Rogers Communications (along with Apple) is really going after the Canadian market with the 3G GPSiPodphonePDA. Instead of limiting the iPhone 3G to Rogers alone (like it has done with some other phones in the past), Rogers has decided to offer it on both its brands, Fido and Rogers Wireless, starting July 11. These two brands represent the only two major 3GSM providers in Canada, both running off the same HSPA network.

iPhone 3G will operate on Rogers’ High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) wireless network, the fastest mobile network in Canada. HSPA is nationally available in the top Canadian urban centers from Vancouver to Halifax, covering more than 60 percent of the population. iPhone 3G will also operate on Roger’s coast-to-coast GSM/EDGE network, proven to be the country’s most reliable wireless network. More details on pricing and availability will be available soon.

The question now is how much they will charge for the iPhone ($199 for the 8 GB model?) and contract (two years?), and most importantly, the data plan. The iPhone 3G represents an excellent hardware and software update, but much of the benefit of this speedy new unit may be lost to the masses if the data plan is not reasonably priced. Rogers and Fido both have a $7 unlimited data plan, but it is likely that this plan will not apply to the iPhone.

Japan's SoftBank announces iPhone

2008-06-04T08:17:00.009-04:00

Japan's SoftBank Mobile Corporation today announced that they are getting the iPhone in 2008:

SOFTBANK MOBILE Corp. today announced it has signed an agreement with Apple® to bring the iPhone™ to Japan later this year.

SoftBank Mobile supports both Japan's PDC 2G technology, as well as 3G UMTS, the latter of which has long been the rumoured technology to be used in the 3G iPhone.

Rogers in Canada to get iPhone in 2008

2008-04-29T22:43:00.007-04:00

Not a big surprise, but Ted Rogers, CEO of Rogers Communications, has finally confirmed that the iPhone will come to Canada this year. He was tight-lipped on timing though, and there are still eight months left this year.

I suspect Rogers may launch with a 3G model, as it has a strong HSPA network, and the 3G iPhone may be announced by WWDC. I'm not optimistic that Fido will get the iPhone at all this year however, despite the fact that Fido is a subsidiary of Rogers, and uses the same network.

Apple buys semiconductor company P.A. Semi

2008-04-23T07:10:00.033-04:00

Apple has purchased the fabless chip design company P.A. Semi, for a rumoured $278 million. This alone is interesting, but what is doubly interesting is the fact that P.A. Semi designed the dual-core 64-bit PowerPC CPU that some had thought Apple could have used for a new Mac laptop (although Apple had already announced the switch to Intel).

It's not clear what Apple will do with this purchase. Right now in 2008, this 14 Watt 2 GHz dual-core chip seems inappropriate for most of their current products, although it's possible a derivative could be used in products like AppleTV (and theoretically a low power laptop), or other products that have not yet been announced. The benchmarks of this chip are listed below:

At 2 GHz, each core achieves a SPECint2000 score of 1,000 and a SPECfp2000 score of 1,500. Running SPEC benchmarks, each core dissipates around 7 W max; a SPECint/W of 142.8, about four times more power efficient than a Core 2 Duo processor.

Those speeds roughly are equivalent to about a 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 and a 3.4 GHz Pentium 4 Extreme for SPECint2000 and SPECfp2000 respectively, for each core of the PA6T-1682M.

Forbes postulates that Apple intends to use in-house chips for the iPhone (and iPod) platform, and I would agree that is a strong possibility, especially since the acquisition was led by Tony Fadell, Senior Vice President of the iPod Division. It would take a new chip design for this purpose, but it's plausible that P.A. Semi already has some such low power designs in progress, also based off the PowerPC architecture. It's of note that the founder of P.A. Semi had his roots in the design of very low power StrongARM microprocessors. Another notable piece of trivia is Apple helped develop the ARM architecture and put an ARM chip in the Apple Newton.

This news comes the day of the Apple earnings call, which will occur after the market closes. So far AAPL is up to $163 in pre-market trading this morning, up from a close yesterday of $160.20.

[Update 2008-04-23]

EETimes says Apple doesn't actually care much about P.A. Semi's chips.

P.A. Semi customers were told the acquiring company was not interested in the startup's products or road map, but is buying the company for its intellectual property and engineering talent.

No more AAPL for me

2008-04-22T09:53:00.005-04:00

I divested myself of AAPL on Monday afternoon, at $167.02. It had a great run up in the last few weeks, and closed at $168.16 on Monday. However, with all the various Wall Street analysts increasing their estimates for the quarter recently, I had become less optimistic that Apple will wow investors in their earnings call on Wednesday.

I hope for Apple's sake and the sake of its investors that Apple does blow past earnings estimates and provides better than expected guidance for the coming quarter. If so, AAPL should see a nice increase after hours on Wednesday. However, if they only meet (the new) expectations and provide very conservative guidance, it's quite possible that AAPL will drop in the short term by quite a signficant amount.

In the meantime, I will watch with interest... from the sidelines.

AAPL opened on Tuesday at $167.41, and as of 10:04 am was $163.81.

Apple captures 6.6% of US PC sales

2008-04-16T21:47:00.011-04:00

AppleInsider has given us details of a report released by Gartner indicating that Apple has hit 6.6% US market share for PC sales. This places Apple in 4th place, after Dell, HP, and Acer, and puts them ahead of Toshiba. The 6.6% market share represents a significant increase over the 5.2% in the same quarter last year.

What's really remarkable about this is the number of units shipped. Last year they shipped 0.76 million units in Q1. In 2008 Q1 it was up 32.5% to 1.010 million. Even more remarkable is the fact that this quarter's shipments are only slightly less than the 2007 Q4 quarter, when they shipped 1.035 million units. To put it another way, in this traditionally slow quarter, Apple shipped 97.6% as many units in the US as the most recent red hot Christmas holiday quarter.

What we don't know is the worldwide sales numbers. There has been talk of a 2 million Mac Q1, but given the remarkable US numbers released by Gartner, it makes us wonder if Apple can beat even that. Perhaps 2.1-2.2 million? Either way, if the analysts are right then this would represent the first time Apple has shipped 2 million units in the calendar Q1 quarter.

Apple reports its quarterly results on April 23. The (less than inspiring guidance) for the last quarter was revenue of $6.8 billion, with earnings of 94¢ per share. Undoubtedly Apple will beat that, and the Street is predicting earnings of $1.06 per share on revenue of $6.95 billion for the quarter. Expected guidance for calendar Q2 2008 is $1.10 per share on $7.14 billion in revenue.

AAPL closed today at $153.70, up $5.32 (3.59%), and then ended the day up another $1.37 after-hours to $155.07. That's $6.69 over yesterday's close, up 4.5%.

[Update 2008-04-17]

Here is a summary of analysts' earning estimates.

Note that the article talks about Apple's financial Q2, which is the same as calendar Q1.

Best iPhone review ever

2008-04-09T00:38:00.002-04:00

Enjoy!

iPhone SDK: Next iPhone will be 3.5G HSDPA

2008-04-08T23:04:00.003-04:00

According to ZiPhone's Blog, the latest beta iPhone software development kit makes reference to Infineon's S-GOLD3H PMB 8878. This is a 3.5G HSDPA chip, which maintains backwards compatibility with GSM EDGE and GPRS networks.

Now that we know "what", we just need to know "when".

Apple number 1 music vendor in the US

2008-04-03T23:08:00.005-04:00

For the first month of 2008, Apple took the crown of #1 music vendor in the US, from Wal-Mart. NPD notes that Apple had 19% of the market, noticeably ahead of Wal-Mart's 15% and Best Buy's 13%. Amazon and Target rounded out the top five at 6% each.

Everyone knew that legal digital music downloads would eventually become dominant in the market, but some of us (ie. me) are surprised at just how fast the adoption of this technology has been.

It has been a good week for Apple, with analyst estimates just two days ago indicating that Apple's US consumer computer market share was a whopping 21%.

AAPL closed over $150 today for the first time in months, up $4.12 to $151.61.

Hi-def disc creation improved in Toast 9.0.2

2008-03-29T17:13:00.024-04:00

Just in time to mark the dissolution of the HD DVD Promotion Group, Roxio has released Toast Titanium v9.0.2. With this new update, my HD DVD creation problems are now partially fixed.

I was able to create an HD DVD using the default "Best Automatic" setting using some of the clips that were problematic before, and the disc plays in both a Toshiba standalone HD DVD player and in Apple's DVD Player application. However, I was still unable to create the same disc using a custom 20 Mbps H.264 encoding setting. With this setting, the disc creation fails with a -50 Error. The discs that do work still don't work in my Xbox 360 HD DVD drive, as I cannot navigate beyond the menu on that player. However, as I mentioned before, this may in part be due to the player itself.

Apparently some of the Blu-ray problems have been fixed too. Roxio states that Toast 9.0.2:

* Resolves a number of encoding issues related to high-definition source content and creation of Blu-ray video discs
* Resolves situation where high-definition DVDs would not play back on PlayStation 3

However, I have not yet tested Blu-ray creation as I do not own a Blu-ray player, and Apple's DVD Player does not support Blu-ray.

Further Roxio Toast 9 HD DVD testing: Incompatibilities

2008-03-21T12:29:00.007-04:00

I've been doing some more testing of Toast 9's HD DVD creation and have run into a few more issues:

1) I mentioned before that H.264 encoding doesn't work. This continues to be the case.

2) Even with MPEG2 sources, Toast 9 sometimes crashes when making an HD DVD, albeit infrequently. The good news is that Toast 9.0 is more stable than Toast 8.0 was.

3) With MPEG2 sources, even if Toast 9 finishes the burn process, the disc may lock up in certain parts of the video. This is not a media problem, because even if I save the image to the hard disk, playback will lock up in the exact same spot. If I do burn the image to disc, playback will stop in the same spot on both my Toshiba standalone as well as in DVD Player.app on my iMac. However, if I start over and make a different encode with same source material, the resultant HD DVD may work fine.

4) My Xbox 360 HD DVD does not like these discs. The disc will load and go to the menu, but I cannot navigate out of the menu to play the content. I tried using both my Logitech Harmony Xbox 360 remote as well as the Xbox 360 controller.

I have not tested Blu-ray because I do not have any Blu-ray playback device at my disposal, and DVD Player.app does not work with Blu-ray. I will likely buy a Blu-ray player once there is a Profile 1.1/2.0 player below about $200-250, but I fear that may not be until 2009.

Roxio Toast 9's H.264 encoding doesn't work

2008-03-20T09:57:00.021-04:00

I've now installed Roxio Toast 9 Titanium (with the HD/BD Plug-in) and have burned a few HD DVDs on DVD-R. It does work, but with some serious caveats.

1) With the default encoding settings and with the advanced H.264 setting, it doesn't work at all with any of my files. Toast claims there are problems with the source material, but all of them encode to MPEG2 just fine in Toast. Obviously Toast has no problems reading the files. It just can't re-encode them to H.264 for some reason. (All the clips I tested are QuickTime HD files downloaded off Apple's website.)

2) I made my first MPEG2 HD DVD disc on DVD media with the video bitrate set to Toast's maximum of 26 Mbps. It starts to play on both my iMac and my Toshiba HD-A2, but skips on both. It seems to be a problem with the bitrate, in that the iMac's laptop drive and the Toshiba likely can't read the data fast enough off DVD media. If I put the disc into an external Firewire desktop DVD drive, the iMac handles the disc perfectly and playback is smooth. I also tried an 18 Mbps MPEG2 disc, and it still skips on the iMac if I use the internal laptop drive.

What this means for us is that we need to severely limit the bitrate on HD DVDs when using DVD media, for maximum compatibility with some DVD readers. I suspect a reasonable bitrate would be approximately 10-11 Mbps, but unfortunately, this is too low for MPEG2. MPEG2 is too inefficient a codec for good quality hi-definition material at that bitrate. At 10-11 Mbps, H.264 would be greatly preferred, but that is also not an option, since H.264 encoding in Toast does not work properly.

In short, Toast's hi-def disc support is problematic with DVD media at this time. Hopefully these issues will be corrected soon in a software update.

[Update 2008-03-20]

The skipping issue appears to be related to the DVD media type.

My iMac's Pioneer DVR-K06 and my Toshiba HD-A2 do not like Sony +R media (SONYD21). (These were burned as the +R booktype, not -ROM.) At 18 Mbps, both still skip. At 15 Mbps it plays smoothly on the Pioneer, but it still skips on the Toshiba. However, if I use Maxell DVD-R (RITEKF1) it plays perfectly with both machines, even at 26 Mbps.

Unfortunately, MPEG2 uses up too much space, and H.264 encoding still doesn't work properly.

The good news is Roxio is aware of the problem:

We're working on this... but I have authored AVC discs on DVD media.

I'll post an update when we have more information to share, right now we're gathering test files and working on a solution.