Code Retard

Last week we reported on a thread at Apple’s Discussion Boards about an issue affecting some 15″ MacBook Pros. Specifically, their hard drives seem to be spinning down and even parking themselves at inappropriate times, like in the middle of a task. It’s understandably frustrating, as that would slow things down considerably and offer unwanted “quality time” with the Marble of Doom. According to CNET, Apple is aware of the issue and working on a fix right now. There’s no word on when it will become available, so affected owners should just hold tight for a few more days. Note that one user on the discussion boards claimed to have fixed the problem by creating a new admin account on his machine. We haven’t experienced the problem or replicated this fix, so take it for what it’s worth.CNET notes that the issue seems to be limited to the 15″ model with a 5400 RPM drive, but at least one user in the discussion board claims to have swapped drives to no avail.[Via MacNN]

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Apparent Corporation, makers of the popular Intelliscanner barcode scanners, has announced that their new Doxie document scanner is in private beta-testing and on track for release to the public in November, 2009.
Doxie is a USB-powered 600-dpi photo, document, and receipt scanner designed to integrate with a number of undisclosed Web and Mac apps. While I’m personally disappointed that Apparent didn’t go with the pink and white Good & Plenty candy color scheme, the Doxie is heart-friendly and comes emblazoned with a number of pink hearts. The biggest heart is on the single scan button, which is just visible in the top right of the photo above. I was shocked to find a mistake in the press release, in which they said there were 9 hearts on the device. There are actually 10: one above the “i” in the logo, 8 after the logo, and one on the scan button.A cool thing about Doxie is that it will automatically know when you’re trying to scan a photo, clean up the photo (straighten it and trim if necessary), and then politely offer to put the photo into your iPhoto Library, Flickr pool, or other web apps. As an Apparent spokesperson noted, the company isn’t interested in coming out with yet another piece of software to store your receipts and documents. Instead, they want Doxie to work with as many existing Mac, Windows, and Web apps as possible. One comment from the developers that may point to some rather unique functionality is that they recommend using Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Doxie will retail for $129, and you can sign up for updates and early release information at the new website, which went live today.

Stefan Constantinescu of IntoMobile has written a lengthy piece dissecting the long, tortuous history of the Newton II/Apple Tablet/iTablet/Tablet Mac. It’s a pretty comprehensive look at seven years worth of speculation, rumor, outlandish analyst claims, more speculation, more rumor, and event after event with no release of what’s become Apple’s most infamous vaporware product.

The article is definitely worth a read (as long as you’re not sensitive to its occasionally salty language), but the conclusion Constantinescu reaches at the end of the article is perhaps most interesting of all:

“The Apple Tablet does not exist. What do I believe will happen? [...] I believe what will be announced at the end of this year, or early next year, is a new MacBook with a 10 or 11.6 inch screen. The screen may or may not be touch enabled. This will be the first Mac portable with a 16:9 aspect ratio LCD. Why wide? One reason: foot print. With a wide LCD, a laptop in the open/closed position can house a wider keyboard.”

While that certainly sounds plausible, there’s one thing I have to wonder: aside from a slightly wider keyboard and a possible touch screen, what distinguishes that theoretical miniature MacBook from the glut of netbooks made by other manufacturers, products that Apple has derided as underpowered machines that provide a dismal user experience?

While Apple does have a history of taking existing products, putting their own spin on them, and gaining industry laurels for innovation as a result (iMac, iPod), the introduction of a product like the one Constantinescu is talking about seems a little bit too much “Me too!” even for Apple. Such a device would also heavily cannibalize sales of the MacBook Air, to the point of making that device largely irrelevant.

After reading this piece, our own Aron Trimble noted, “I don’t think it makes any more sense to speculate on what Apple will not do than to speculate on what Apple will do.” Despite the fact that I pretty much did just the same thing, I agree with him.

The only thing that’s certain about all of this: until Apple releases something like an iTablet, or definitively says “We will never, ever make this product, and we mean it, pinky swear!” the speculation will never end.

What do you think? Do you agree with Constantinescu that the long-rumored Tablet Mac will never see the light of day? Let us know in the comments.

With just a few months to go before launching the Windows Marketplace for mobile applications, Microsoft has published details on porting iPhone apps to its Windows Mobile platform. It’s a case study of the app Amplitude [App Store link], which lets users hear far-off sounds with ease. It’s a detailed writeup that takes readers through the entire process.

Microsoft will have quite a task ahead of them in this market, considering Apple’s considerable lead and foothold. However, there are many (to say the least) Windows Mobile devices out there as well as people for whom “Windows Mobile” means business.

It will be interesting to see if and how iPhone/iPod touch app developers choose to move their products to Windows Mobile. The Windows Marketplace for mobile applications is expected to drop between September and December of this year, as are Snow Leopard and Windows 7. It’s going to be an exciting autumn.

[Via Macworld]

Yes, it’s a lot of storage — but the drive’s form factor won’t fit into any currently available Mac laptop. (Note the update at the end of this post)I was pretty excited when the Western Digital news release hit my inbox. The new drives, the industry’s first in that size for portables, have pretty good specs and capacious storage space. The problem really is the size. With Apple in the business of providing slim notebooks, the drive is just too tall (12.5mm) to make it into any Apple portable, which maxes out at a drive size of 9.5mm. The drive will be available in a USB enclosure, and WD is also offering a 750 GB version of the drive as well. The 1 TB drive lists for US$250, while the 750 GB drive is $189. Those prices are for the drive alone. Mounted in a USB enclosure the 1 TB drive sells for $300.Currently the largest 3rd party drives you can get in current Mac laptops max out at 500 GB.The Mac Mini may be able to house the new drive, but it would be a pretty tight fit, and according to our Steven Sande, may require the removal of the SuperDrive.Update: We’ve had a variety of responses to this post, with different ideas about which, if any laptops could take this new high capacity drive. I thought the quickest and best approach would be to try the experts at Other World Computing, who make a living selling replacement hard drives for Mac Desktops and portables. The tech there told me that the last generation 17″ MacBook Pro can take the 12.5mm drive, but that the 15″ model can’t. He also said none of the unibody MacBook Pro models can take a drive of that size. I’m sure some won’t accept this information either, but these were the most expert opinions we could find since Western Digital wasn’t sure and Apple doesn’t generally comment on such things. Since the drives are just shipping, we’ll wait for some real world experience and report back. Thanks to all who commented.

Logitech makes a lot of cool stuff, ranging from products like the acclaimed THX certified Z-5500 speaker system, the G25 racing simulation wheel with 6-speed shifter and clutch pedal, and universal Harmony remotes. We are proud owners of all three products (yes, yes reviews have long been pending) so it’s hard to imagine that Logitech would design their universal Harmony remotes with one large flaw: the incapability to operate the PS3.

The PS3, like the Nintendo Wii, uses Bluetooth technology between the wireless controllers, the benefit being that no line of sight is required for control. The PS3 remote control works the same way, though it is alkaline battery powered like normal remotes. Perhaps as an initial oversight on Logitech’s part to accommodate Bluetooth technology in their Harmony remotes when the PS3 first launched was a valid excuse, but after three years it’s now just inexcusable.

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This was the figure estimated by research firm iSuppli, which concluded that every T-Mobile G1 phone being sold should at least pay for itself in components and materials, selling for retail at $179 with a $144 bill-of-materials. Not counting the humans costs like software development, R&D or machine costs like manufacturing and packaging, each Google G1 phone generates a $35 profit. This is a modest profit compared to the iPhone, whose initial bill-of-materials estimate worked out to be $173, more than the G1 except that the iPhone, when it first came out, was selling for profit upwards of $500.

The estimate from iSuppli did not include physically dissecting the phone so a full parts teardown that was similarly done on the iPhone is not available, but they did note that the G1 has at least two processors designed by ARM, whose chips also appear in the Apple iPhone.

HomeLink is a universal garage door opening system comes in a variety of vehicles, usually as a luxury add-on. HomeLink can be found on a number of car manufacturers and works with a number of garage door manufacturers. New technology in garage door openers has resulted in a rolling code security system, obsoleting the old dip switch remote controls that could be “guessed” open by anyone willing to try all the combinations. Rolling code garage door remote controls don’t have any dip switches to set, instead they must “learn” how to open a garage door from the actual garage door motor unit. While programming the stock Chamberlain or Genie garage door remotes with the corresponding manufacturer is usually an easy process, getting your vehicle’s HomeLink to play nice with a rolling code system is a different story. Read more »

More demo videos of the T-Mobile G1 released. T-Mobile CEO said they will unlock these phones for you 90 days after activation, and will let you tether your phone to a computer as long as its not a major network issue. Another thing is, when you sign the contract, you will be limited to 1gb of data per month before they throttle your d/l spee to 50kbs….not to happy about that…