As the rumours predicted, the newly released Mac mini gets two video outputs and five USB ports. Nice.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Monday, March 02, 2009
iPhone holds 2/3rds of mobile browsing market share
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.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Safari 4.0 Beta vs. Safari 3.2.1 Benchmarks
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:
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:
Friday, February 20, 2009
New Mac mini to have two video outputs?
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
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
Monday, February 09, 2009
Woz to be on Dancing with the Stars
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.
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.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Mac pirates get hit with iWork '09 trojan
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.
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