Friday, October 6, 2006
News
MacBook Shutdown Is Heat Sink?
Apple Not Out Of The Woods In Options Probe
Apple and Steve Jobs can expect sharp scrutiny by federal authortiies despite Apple's announcement that an internal review of stock option irregularities found "no misconduct" by Jobs and other members of the current management team, legal observers said Thursday.
Can Ignorance Put Apple's Jobs In Clear?
Ignorance can be bliss, but it's not a tight defense, lawyers say.
Apple Admits iPod Nano Colours May 'Change Over Time'
What's this I read at the end of the small print on the back after the battery charge and storage capacity caveats? "Like a fine pair of jeans, iPod Nano colours may vary and change over time."
Apple's Options Disclosure Raises Concerns About Earning sRestatements
Wall Street Unmoved By Apple Stock Troubles
Opinion
Apple Following In Dell's Hellish Footsteps
Mac And It's OS X - And My Problems With It
Mac users tend to explain that the transition is an easy one. This may be true for someone who simply uses their computer to send email. For an advanced user like myself however, this is simply not the case.
Backin' It Up With Customer Service And Care
Long story short, Amy was put on hold for close to a half an hour, finally spoke to a representative, and was sent a replacement iPod... that was also partially broken.
Apple: Rotten At The Core
Something other than a pain-free apology is in order.
Some Assembly Required
One of my favorite programming slogans is from Larry Wall, regarding his goals for Perl: "Easy things should be easy, and hard things should be possible."
Pimp My Code, Part 12: Frozen In Carbonite
I want youto take this to your manager, and say, "Look, see! We've got to get to Cocoa! This has got to be a priority! We can't keep slapping tar on a boart made out of milk cartons!"
Apple's Time Machine: Forward Into The Past?
All in all, there is a great deal of reason to be excited about Tme Machine.
Review
The Lockdown: The Targus iPod Lock, Or Modicum Of Security
The iPod owner may also do damage if he is not careful in the way he removes the insert, and more importantly a co-worker or someone who just wants to be malicious can easily do damage by remove and inserting the connector.
Redline
With its combination of reasonably realistic physics, beautiful graphics, enjoyable sound, and solid gameplay, this is the best racing Mac game I've ever played.
Bejeweled: Gem-Swapping Puzzler Is Sadly Not The Jewel In iPod's Gaming Crown
The fact is it simply doesn't suit the device. It seems daft to bring it to iPod when it clearly doesn't work well with the controls available.
Sidetrack
Things I Don't Understand: Why Bother Reverse-Engineer Apple's DRM
First Real. Now DVD Jon. Both have came up with... er... anti-anti-DRM workarounds that allows content providers to put "FairPlay-compatible" DRM around their content, so that the content is protected by DRM, will play on iTunes and iPod with DRM intact, and Apple will not get a cut in the sale.
By reverse-engineering Apple's FairPlay DRM, the point is that third-party can create DRM-protected content that is identical to DRM-protected content purchased from iTunes Store. And by virtual of being identical, Apple have no choice, technically, but to support both DRM-protected content purchased from iTunes Store and third parties. In newer versions of iTunes and iPods, Apple cannot simply modify its DRM and disable older content, the argument goes.
This reasoning breaks down, unfortunately, for one very simple fact: this is not PlayForSure. By that, what I mean is that there is only one place in the entire world that one can purchased FairPlay DRM-protected content: Apple. Simply put, Apple knows which piece of content is purchased from iTunes Store, and which piece of content is not purchased from iTunes Store, even when the DRM in place is totally identical. This is not advance crypto technology, simply good record keeping.
There is nothing to prevent the next version of iTunes to simply dial home to Apple, check which content is purchased from iTunes Store, upgrade the DRM to a newer version, and disable playback of content that is encoded with the older version of DRM. Boom!
(Sorry.)
Yes, Apple has locked everyone in. Either you sell your content through Apple or Audible, or you sell without DRM, or you negotiate with Apple. You cannot simply hack your way in.
