Archive for January, 2012

Mac OS X finally gets ZFS support thanks to former Apple engineer

Leo Huang January 31, 2012 · No comments

Apple has long been rumored to include support for the ZFS file system designed by Sun, with rumors dating back even before Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz announced in 2007 Leopard would utilize ZFS as its file system. It even made an appearance in Disk Utility in a beta of Mac OS X 10.5 (pictured right). Although ZFS support was never included in Leopard, it was initially hinted in Snow Leopard Server documentation in 2008 before being removed prior to launch.

In 2009, Apple had seemingly ceased all work on ZFS claiming the project had been “discontinued.” Today MacRumors pointed us to a 2011 Ars Technica article profiling an Apple engineer named Don Brady who worked on the ZFS team at Apple until 2009. The report noted “Apple couldn’t reach suitable license terms with Sun” at the time, and Brady eventually left to form his own company in 2010 called Ten’s Complement. Two years later, Brady and Ten’s Complement are bringing ZFS support to Mac OS X with the company’s latest project, ZEVO Silver Edition.
//

The Silver Edition is just the first product from Ten’s Complement and includes basic ZFS support for $ 19.95. Other products will follow including a $ 40 Gold Edition and a Platinum Edition with support for RAIDZ and other advanced features. A Developer Edition will provide devs with “convetional ZFS command line tools”, GUI options, and customization options. As MacRumors pointed out, the MacZFS open source project is also continuing development on the original work done by Sun and Apple.

9to5Mac

Apple passes HP as top PC maker when counting iPad sales

Leo Huang January 31, 2012 · No comments

New data released on Monday by market analyst Canalys shows that Apple's iPad was instrumental to an overall growth in the client PC market for Q4 2011, as excluding the tablet's sales numbers would see the sector posting a net loss.

AppleInsider

Mozilla Releases Firefox 10 With Full Screen Support

Leo Huang January 31, 2012 · No comments

Mozilla has released Firefox 10 for Mac, Windows, and Linux which adds powerful built-in developer tools, smoother updates, and full screen support. iClarified - Apple News and Tutorials

Amazon has a one-day sale on Mac games

Leo Huang January 31, 2012 · No comments

Amazon is having a sale on Duke Nukem Forever, Dragon Age Pack, and Spore for the Mac, as well as other titles for your PC-using friends today only. These are the digital download versions that can be downloaded again if anything happens to your Mac or you get a new one.

Duke Nukem Forever – $ 5.00
Dragon Age Pack – $ 11.99
Spore - $ 7.99

If you’re uncertain whether downloading games is for you, the Amazon Game Downloads Help page has the answers for all of your questions.

AppleTell

Macworld | iWorld attendance steady in 2012; many newbies in the crowd

Leo Huang January 31, 2012 · No comments

Attendance at this year's Macworld | iWorld event was approximately the same as last year's Macworld Expo -- about 25,000 people -- according to IDG World Expo, the group that organizes the "ultimate fan event."

A wrap-up news release from IDG World Expo noted that about 40 percent of the attendees at this year's event were first-time visitors, which may translate to growth in attendance for next year's event scheduled for January 31 - February 2, 2013.

Conference attendance was up a whopping 145 percent over last year, thanks in part to the $ 75 iFan Pass that made its debut in 2012. In the past, expo tickets were relatively inexpensive, but the cost of going to the conference sessions was prohibitively high. The iFan pass gave show-goers unlimited access to the educational sessions, show floor, music performances, and film screenings that made up this year's event.

IDG World Expo has posted a gallery of photos from Macworld | iWorld as well as a video (see below) of Friday's happenings at Moscone West. Both are worth checking out for a taste of this year's event.

Macworld | iWorld attendance steady in 2012; many newbies in the crowd originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Court upholds ban of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany on new grounds

Leo Huang January 31, 2012 · No comments

A German appeals court on Tuesday sided with Apple in upholding an earlier ruling banning Samsung from selling the original versions of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9 in Europe's biggest economy.

AppleInsider

Appafolio Lets You Easily Create Native iOS Presentations

Leo Huang January 31, 2012 · No comments

Appafolio has released an update to their app for iOS that lets you easily create a native iOS presentation. iClarified - Apple News and Tutorials

Band of the Day earns App of the Week, my respect

Leo Huang January 31, 2012 · No comments

Band of the Day Amongst all of the wildly inaccurate statements people make these days, there are two which irk me most: 1.) “Saturday Night Live hasn’t been funny since (insert either original cast or era with which speaker grew up here),” and 2.) “There’s no good music out there these days.”

Saturday Night Live we’ll debate at another time. Music we’ll discuss now, because there’s more great music out there than ever, it’s just not on the radio or on MTV. So, where do you look for it after your subscription to CMJ has expired? Try out 955 Dreams’ Band of the Day, now a universal app for iPad support.

About Band of the Day, from the press release:

Late last year, 955 Dreams launched a completely new platform for daily mobile publishing with the release of Band of the Day (BoD) for iPhone. The world’s first mobile-exclusive music publication was adopted by hundreds of thousands of users in its first few weeks, and Band of the Day was quickly named iPhone App of the Year Runner Up by Apple. Unlike the path of mobile adoption taken by traditional magazine publishers, BoD is built from the ground up for iOS Devices. Expanding its daily magazine platform to the tablet, Band of the Day is now available for the iPad. Also built on the 955 Publishing Engine, BoD iPad app features emerging artists using beautiful magazine layouts, full play songs and easy access for social engagement. Unique navigation mechanisms, like allowing users to flip through editorial pages rather than scrolling, keep user engagement very high. Band of the Day has proven to be a revolutionary new way to discover great music directly on iOS, as seen by passionate iTunes user reviews and consistent 5 star ratings.

Band of the Day provides a simple way to find great bands from all over the world, the kind my buddy John and I would play for each other on those long drives between New York City and our hometown in Ohio. The only problem with an app like this is that it’s possible to find too many new bands, which can be a burden on your wallet.

But if you’re an actual fan of music, Band of the Day gives you a free, easy way to get that thrill of discovering new bands directly from the convenience of your iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

Product [Band of the Day]

AppleTell

Kanex Sydnee recharging station traces design to an unusual source

Leo Huang January 31, 2012 · No comments

Kanex is an accessories manufacturer that has traditionally built cables and connectors for Apple products. The company has recently brightened up its branding and is introducing some new products that are sure to grab some attention. I was able to take some photos of the new Kanex Sydnee iOS recharge station at Macworld | iWorld 2012 last week, and heard a fascinating story about the origins of the design of the Sydnee.

Gallery: Kanex Sydnee

First, a little bit of background about the Sydnee. It's designed to charge up to four iPads simultaneously. That means that it supplies the requisite 2.1 Amps of current to four individual USB ports. Sure, you can swap out some or all of those iPads with iPhones or iPod touches, but where the Sydnee really shines is in the area of charging multiple iPads at one time.

What's nice about the Sydnee is that it manages to be both functional and stylish at the same time. In terms of functionality, the Sydnee does an amazing job of holding three iPads at the same time while feeding power to them through included USB cables that are just the right length. The fourth iPad (or an iPhone) must sit on the table, uninvited to the party.

Now, about the style. As you can see from both the image at the top of this post and the gallery, the Sydnee uses a unique design that allows it to hold three iPads gracefully. There's a clear plastic piece in the center of the oblong "loop" that separates two of the iPads, while the third perches on the outside of the device.

If this design seems vaguely familiar, than you must be a fan of Disney Pixar's Wallo.E. The Kanex team told me that Sydnee's design was inspired by the Axiom, the huge BnL spacecraft that is inhabited by a "lost colony" from Earth. Whether that story is true or the team was pulling my leg, there is a resemblance, and the design is striking.

Sydnee's not available yet, but you can sign up for updates on availability. The recharging station is expected to retail for US$ 149 when it appears, and you'll be able to get it in either black or white. I just wish it had a Buy n Large logo sticker on the outside...

Kanex Sydnee recharging station traces design to an unusual source originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Neil Young: In spite of iPod revolution, Steve Jobs enjoyed music the old-fashioned way, by listening to vinyl

Leo Huang January 31, 2012 · No comments

You would be forgiven for thinking that the late Steve Jobs enjoyed digital music on his home stereo through his iPod or MacBook. Quite the contrary, though, despite him single-handily taking the music industry by storm with the iPod and the online iTunes digital music store a decade ago, Apple’s cofounder preferred listening to vinyl. In an interview with Walt Mossberg and Peter Kafka at the D: Dive into Media conference, musician Neil Young said the digital age “degraded our music” quality-wise.

A better techology is needed, Young cried. Conceivably, only one man would have been up to the task:

Steve Jobs as a pioneer of digital music and his legacy is tremendous. But when he went home, he listened to vinyl. And you’ve got to believe that if he’d lived long enough, he would have done what I’m trying to do.

We also love Young’s take on piracy:

Piracy is new radio. That’s how music gets around.

We can imagine Jobs’ reaction to Young’s school of thought, even if he only pointed out the music industry’s Achilles’ Heel. Young also said this of record labels:

What I like about record companies is that they present and nurture artists. That doesn’t exist on iTunes, it doesn’t exist on Amazon. That’s what a record company does and that’s why I like my record company. People look at record companiues like they’re obsolete, but there’s a lot of soul in there — a lot of people who care about music, and that’s very important.

Young’s thinking on the labels much echoes that of Steve Jobs, as laid out in a prophetic 2003 Rolling Stone interview:

There are a lot of smart people at the music companies. The problem is they’re not technology people. The good music companies do an amazing thing. They have people who can pick the person who’s gonna be successful out of 5,000 candidates. It’s an intuitive process. And the best music companies know how to do that with a reasonably high success rate. I think that’s a good thing. The world needs more smart editorial these days.