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Friday, March 05, 2004How will Apple grow?Geek.com: "I've been pondering Apple's future growth after Apple became debt-free on February 16. While CFO Fred Anderson and Corporate Controller Peter Oppenheimer look to make Apple into a US$10 billion company again, I wonder how they intend to get there with such a small percentage of the computer market. According to Gartner, PC vendors will ship 187 million units in 2004, up almost 14% from 2003. Looking at Apple's CPU sales--around 700,000 to 800,000 units a quarter, or just over three million units for the year--Apple won't gain much ground."Umm..... they won't gain any ground, actually. If these numbers are true, they will continue to lose ground, as the company has done every year since Steve Jobs took over. Given the best-case for Apple (800,000 units a quarter, or 3.2 million units for the year), Apple will sell just 1.7 percent of all computers in 2004, compared to 1.88 percent for 2003. But that's the best case. It will certainly be lower. "I'd like to see it take its old 'Think Different' slogan to heart and aggressively move forward to break from the debated 3% marketshare of computers." There's no debate (indeed, Apple executives are still using the bogus 5 percent figure). Apple's market share is 1.88 percent today, and as your own math showed you, it will be 1.7 percent or lower in 2004. Why is this so hard for Mac advocates to understand? The Mac market is ending. Let's hope Apple has broader consumer electronics plans than just the iPod. [ Posted at 1:47 PM | Permalink ]
Power Macintosh G5 noise problem continuesArs Technica: "It's been about 6 months since the Power Mac G5 was introduced, and Apple still can't seem to produce a decent power supply for its dual processor models. There are several noise problems related to the dual G5's power supply ... The most serious is that noise sometimes leaks into the analog audio outputs. This may be partially caused by other faulty electrical connections and components, but the power supply has been the prime suspect for reasons that will become apparent in a moment. There are also some noise problems caused by faulty or misaligned fans. Finally, there's the power supply itself which actually makes a range of squeaking, chipring, hissing noises during operation. Yes, the actual power supply makes noise. No, not the moving parts like fans. The analog electronics themselves make noise. This problem has existed from the very first dual G5 to ship, and it continues to this day. There was a 1,000+ post thread in Apple's support forum on the topic. It contained complaints from users with all of the various PS-related noise problems. The thread was closed by the moderator ... Needless to say, this was not a popular action." [ Posted at 1:39 PM | Permalink ]
More on Apple's still-unpatched QuickTime vulnerabilityI'm sure they'll get to it eventually.Computer Weekly: "A critical hole in Apple Computer's QuickTime media player has been identified and is awaiting a patch. The vulnerability rated at 'high severity' by eEye Digital Security, enables malicious code to be run on someone's machine 'with little user interaction'. The hole exists across all versions of QuickTime and is present in the software's default settings, increasing the risk of the hole being used by hackers. Apple was informed on 18 February and is working on a patch." The Underground Mac: "Security firm eEye Digital Security has discovered critical vulnerabilities in Apple's QuickTime software and in various IBM personal computers which could lead to remote compromise of systems. Particulars of the vulnerabilities have not been released in keeping with eEye's policy of informing a vendor about a bug and then waiting until a patch is ready before releasing details. According to eEye, Apple and IBM have been notified of the flaw for 11 and 13 days respectively." [ Posted at 10:34 AM | Permalink ]
The great downloads warGuardian: "Apple's iPod has put it in pole position in the MP3 downloads race, but with the entry of aggressive new competition, the running order may be about to change, says Victor Keegan ... At the moment Apple is top banana with iTunes and the justly acclaimed iPod, and looks invincible. But Apple has been here before - it dominated the computer market decades ago but later blew it - and the question is whether history will repeat itself in an eerily similar manner ... The attraction of the quality and style of its products could wane if Apple's first-mover advantage evaporates and second movers offer cheaper products compatible with Windows Media Player and by extension, the majority of the world's computers." [ Posted at 10:31 AM | Permalink ]
Real ObnoxiousJogin.com: "The one application that I try to stay away from more than any other is Real Player ... Real Player, most prominently, is a small application with inferiority complex and delusions of grandeur, not too different from Napoleon. Although Real Player's task is simple and limited to a certain timeframe, Real Player defaults to running at all times, wether its limited functionality is needed or not, and claims a seat for itself in the throne commonly called the systray ... Imagine for a while that you had manipulated the right people, somehow infiltrated Real Inc, and had gotten yourself an important and influential position as an executive there, how would you make the program more obnoxious, more invasive, and less likable to the average user, without making the other executives and directors suspicious?" [ Posted at 9:48 AM | Permalink ]
Thursday, March 04, 2004Godzilla taking a break -- for now CNN: "Five decades after Godzilla first rose from the ocean, this monstrous movie star is about to take a break from show business. Hit by slumping box office sales for the iconic series, Japan's Toho Co. is planning to shelve its Godzilla films after this year's finale. Toho studios' executive producer, Shogo Tomiyama, said Thursday that the latest movie -- marking 28 releases and 50 years of "Godzilla" films -- would probably be the last one for at least a decade."
[ Posted at 10:42 PM | Permalink ]
Unreal Tournament 2004 goes goldBlues News: "Atari and Epic Games are pleased to announce that development is complete on Unreal Tournament 2004, the highly anticipated follow-up to last year’s smash Unreal Tournament 2003 and the third installment in the mega-selling Unreal Tournament franchise. The game is expected to be available at retail stores worldwide on March 15 ... The game builds on the success of past installments, taking the franchise to the next level with the introduction of the hyper-charged Onslaught mode, the return of the fan-favorite Assault mode, which last appeared in the original Unreal Tournament, and the introduction of land-, air- and space-based vehicles." [ Posted at 10:26 PM | Permalink ]
Real's realityNews.com: "The message in RealNetworks' antitrust case against Microsoft is clear: 'Predatory conduct' by Microsoft is responsible for lost business that could exceed $1 billion in damages to the digital-media company. Regardless of the lawsuit's merits, however, Microsoft's opposition is only one of a remarkable string of hardships faced by RealNetworks. The Seattle-based Internet pioneer has endured years of internal and external challenges, including new technologies, strategic mistakes and old-fashioned bad luck, that weren't caused by its crosstown rival ... The most damning oversight for RealNetworks, critics say, was its underestimation of the boom in digital music downloading and file swapping."[ Posted at 10:23 PM | Permalink ]
Mandrakesoft releases Mandrake Linux 10.0 CommunityMandrakesoft: "Mandrakesoft is proud to announce that its new flagship operating system 'Mandrakelinux 10.0 Community' has been released. 10.0 Community is the first major Linux distribution to take advantage of the new Linux kernel 2.6 while providing one of the most easy to use and attractive Linux operating systems ever ... The desktop user's experience is greatly enhanced with notable improvements in ease of use and reliability, plus impressive system responsiveness gains. Additional benefits include hyperthreading capabilities, major I/O performance improvements under various workloads, better support of and multimedia devices, as well as greater support for laptops with software support for 'suspend to disk' functionality."Also: Mandrakelinux 10.0 Presentation & Features [ Posted at 3:03 PM | Permalink ]
Apple patches iDVDApple: "This software update will upgrade your version of iDVD 4 to iDVD 4.0.1. This update is highly recommended for all users of iDVD 4 and will provide for improved reliability when authoring and burning DVDs." It's on Software Update. [ Posted at 11:20 AM | Permalink ]
Apple QuickTime security vulnerabilityeEye: "Software Affected: Apple QuickTime. Severity: High. Remote Code Execution: Yes. Description: A vulnerability in default installations of the affected software that allows malicious code to be executed with little user interaction."Inquirer: "Apple QuickTime Player ... has a flaw that permits a hacker to gain access and run software on users' computers ... The glitch affects all QuickTime platforms. Apparently Apple was told about the problem on February 18 and there is no patch available." MacFixIt: "An advisory from eEye.com notes a "high severity" vulnerability in Apple's QuickTime software that "allows malicious code to be executed with little user interaction." No further details are available, as eEye.com's policy is to provide details to the affected vendor but not release those details to the public until the vulnerability has been patched by the vendor." IGM: "Apple was informed of the problem 11 days ago. In keeping with eEye's policies, the specifics of the vulnerability remain confidential until the company concerned releases a patch. Analysis: It's unclear whether this might affect Mac or Windows editions of QuickTime or both. Keep an eye out for a minor security [????] update soon." [ Posted at 11:19 AM | Permalink ]
What next for GNOME's user interface?Useful Information Company: "Microsoft's XAML [the programming interface behind the Longhorn user interface] has a lot of people [competing with Microsoft] worried. Its advantage is to bring the ease of web page authoring and scripting into writing .NET application user interfaces. This makes immense sense. We have a desperate need for decent user interfaces, and the place where a large body of UI designers and programmers live and work at the moment is in web pages ... If GNOME is to be a serious contender on the enterprise desktop, and that is very much the intent, it must meet the challenge of XAML ... I believe the GNOME project and the open source desktop community at large can make a response to Microsoft. But we need to recognise a key economic constraint for would-be adopters. This constraint is developer time. Microsoft licensing and support is cheap compared to the time spent in creating applications. To get the cost of Linux desktop deployment down, we need to drive down the cost of application development." [ Posted at 11:10 AM | Permalink ]
Apple finally owns up to PowerMac G5 noise problemsMacWorld UK: "Apple has come clean on there being problem with noisy Power Mac G5s. The admission follows the leaking to Macworld of an Apple memo to UK resellers highlighting the issue. The company now openly admits that 'a small number of customers have experienced the issue'. It added: 'Any customers experiencing this should contact AppleCare.'"IGM: "Apple has officially acknowledged noise problems, c|net Asia News notes. The problem arises with some dual-processor G5 Power Macs, which result in the computers 'beeping' or 'hissing' when used with certain audio hardware. [This is] not the first time Apple has had these issues, with the replacement program for the MDD Power Mac G4s." [ Posted at 10:23 AM | Permalink ]
Pepsi Super Bowl promo failing, Apple's 100 million song goal in serious dangerUSA Today: "Pepsi-Cola's attention-getting Super Bowl ad campaign offering free music downloads from Apple's iTunes Music Store hasn't paid off in a big digital sales spike ... Bottles with the winning promotions took longer to get into stores than expected ... Apple CEO Steve Jobs predicted last October that he would sell 100 million downloads by the end of April, the one-year anniversary of the iTunes launch. Based on the digital downloads that have been sold so far this year, Jobs has a long way to go. Nielsen SoundScan says 14.7 million songs have been sold industrywide since January, when Apple last reported its total download sales at 30 million to date. Inside Digital Media analyst Phil Leigh figures Apple is selling 1.2 million songs a week, which he says would bring them to slightly more than 52 million total songs sold through the end of April." [ Posted at 10:20 AM | Permalink ]
Wednesday, March 03, 2004Even the co-creator of Apple's Finder agrees with meMacMinute: "And, in a view that will shock Mac fans, Steve Capps, co-designer of the Finder and much of the Mac's graphical user interface (as well as one of the folks behind the Newton OS), feels that Microsoft has done more to advance the desktop than Apple over the past 20 years. 'Granted they started from Windows 1.0, but still -- the Start Menu, the Taskbar, integration with the browser, intelligent assistance, the right-button context menu -- all of these are great things for the user, but Microsoft always get branded a copy cat,' Capps says. 'Their biggest problem is their tendency to lard on too many features instead of paying attention to details with fewer features, so the gems get lost.'" [ Posted at 3:54 PM | Permalink ]
Tuesday, March 02, 2004As Apple moves into the mainstream the Mac Web needs to changeMacNETv2: "It's time to finally bury this whole 'cult' thing that people associate with owning a Mac. If you really want Apple to succeed try not being such an elitist."Bravo. And, incidentally, what I've been saying all along. Arguably, the title of this article should be adjusted to "For Apple moves into the mainstream the Mac Web needs to change." It's not clear that Apple is "mainstream" today at all. In fact, Apple arguably has fewer customers today than at any point in its recent history. On the other hand, thanks to the iPod, many of Apple's modern customers are, in fact, "normal" people and not the tech elite the company courted in the past. "There is no doubt that this column is going to set off a firestorm among the Mac faithful. Regardless, I think the time is overdue to bring it out in the open and start a dialog in this community ... The Mac is a computer, not a religion, its time more of us stood up and said so." No offense, but I started that dialog long ago write here on this very site, and have argued what you're arguing for years. Based on the email I receive, you can expect some ugly responses. But I welcome you to the cause of truth. Put down the Kool-Aid, breathe the air, and get on with your life. [ Posted at 8:16 PM | Permalink ]
iPod Mini: Pay more for lessLess storage space. And, apparently, less battery life too.iPodlounge: "After more than a week of sustained iPod mini battery testing, we've come to three conclusions. First, after nine tests on the mini, we averaged approximately eight hours and ten minutes of music playback before battery death, a respectable number. This duration [does] not compare favorably with certain competing products [like the Dell DJ, which gets over twice the battery life for the same price, while offering three times the storage space]" ... Third and finally, though we were disappointed that our mini failed twice to duplicate Walter Mossberg's results under nearly identical conditions, we're not going to worry about it." Hey, sounds like a professional review! [ Posted at 8:08 PM | Permalink ]
NVIDIA and DOOM 3NVIDIA: "NVIDIA is pleased to announce that id Software recommends the GeForce FX family of graphics processing units for DOOM 3. The rich feature set and programmability of GeForce FX GPUs enable the gripping world of DOOM 3 to come to life with real-time dynamic lighting and shadow, while raw horsepower delivers non-stop multi-player action at lightning-fast frame rates. Look for this sticker on video cards equipped with a GeForce FX GPU, and witness the mind-blowing detail of the DOOM 3 experience - the way it's meant to be played." [ Posted at 9:55 AM | Permalink ]
Apple's iPod Could Transform CompanyDow Jones: "Apple Computer Inc. may have morphed into a niche computer player, catering largely to the creative community, but its iPod digital music player, loved by many, could be the 'killer ap' that pushes it out to the wider masses. At least that is what Merrill Lynch analyst Steven Milunovich predicts. In a research report Monday, he said the success of the iPod demonstrates Apple's 'tech know-how and strong brand' and could make the company 'relevant again.' And the iPod isn't expected to be small business for Apple. Milunovich estimates iPod's revenue to come in around $1 billion this year, contributing 15 cents to per-share earnings. By fiscal year 2006, the analyst said revenue for the iPod could double to $2 billion, adding 25 cents to the EPS."[ Posted at 9:06 AM | Permalink ]
Monday, March 01, 2004Eric Raymond involved in yet another controversyThis time, however, he's right. Go figure.ESR: The Luxury of Ignorance: An Open-Source Horror Story: "GUI tools and voluminous manuals are not enough. You have to think about what the actual user experiences when he or she sits down to do actual stuff, and you have to think about it from the user's point of view. The CUPS people, despite good intentions, have utterly failed at this. I'm going to anatomize this failure in detail, because there are lessons here that other open-source projects would do well to heed. The point of this essay is not, therefore, just to beat up on the CUPS people — it's also to beat up on every other open-source designer who does equally thoughtless things under the fond delusion that a slick-looking UI is a well-designed UI." Iraqi LUG: The Current Interfaces Have No Future: "Raymond is taking Microsoft as a direction example that the Open Source community could follow. Quote: 'This kind of fecklessness (poor UI usability and design) is endemic in open-source land. And it's what's keeping Microsoft in business — because by Goddess, they may write crappy insecure overpriced shoddy software, but on this one issue their half-assed semi-competent best is an order of magnitude better than we [in the open source world] usually manage' ... The Open Source community could better embrace psychologists for future development of interfaces and increasing the human efficiency instead of following 20 years old interface standards." ESR: The Luxury of Ignorance: Part Deux: "The most valuable gift you can give your users is the luxury of ignorance — software that works so well, and is so discoverable to even novice users, that they don't have to read documentation or spend time and mental effort to learn about it." Frankly, that's advice Apple should heed. It's OS X system is "beautiful looking" but not "easy to use" because Apple cares about aesthetics over ease of use. It's one area where XP kicks OS X's butt, as I've often argued, because Apple still employs a 20-year-old desktop interface, while Microsoft is pushing a discoverable, task-centric interface that helps people complete unfamiliar tasks. [ Posted at 5:32 PM | Permalink ]
Linux builds as global server sales jumpvnunet.com: "Worldwide server unit shipments grew by 22 per cent compared with the same period during the previous year ... Linux servers were identified as one of the hottest growth sectors, generating $960m in quarterly revenues and showing 63.1 per cent growth year-over-year." [ Posted at 5:17 PM | Permalink ]
Study: Blogging Still InfrequentAssociated Press: "Despite the potential of turning every Internet user into a publisher, relatively few have created Web journals called blogs and even fewer do so with regularity, a new study finds. Some bloggers indeed update their journals often, in some cases several times a day. But it's clearly a minority who are taking advantage of the blog and its potential to steer the online discourse with personal musings about news events and daily life ... A study released Sunday found that somewhere between 2 percent and 7 percent of adult Internet users in the United States actually keep their own blogs. Of those, only about 10 percent update them daily, the majority doing so only once a week or less often. 'The impression out there is that a lot of the blog activity is very feverish,' said Lee Rainie, the Pew project's director. 'That's not the case. For most bloggers, it's not an all-consuming, all-the-time kind of experience.'" [ Posted at 5:15 PM | Permalink ]
Corel sets WordPerfect updateZDNet: "Software maker Corel announced a new version Monday of its WordPerfect office software, marketing the package as a low-cost alternative to Microsoft Office for consumers and small businesses. WordPerfect Office 12, set to go on sale in late April, includes new versions of the WordPerfect word processing application, Quattro Pro spreadsheet program and Presentations slide show software. Enhancements in the new product include a number of features aimed at improving compatibility with Microsoft Office, by far the dominant productivity package. A new Microsoft Office compatibility mode ensures that documents are automatically saved in Office formats and gives WordPerfect a look and feel similar to Office, said Richard Carriere, director of office productivity for Corel. 'For the user, it's quasi-transparent whether they're using Microsoft Office or our product,' he said. 'There is at least 10 to 20 percent of the market interested in some alternatives' to Microsoft Office, Carriere said. 'The most important thing to them is to be able to communicate in a world where the standard is Microsoft formats.'"More: Corel Announces "WordPerfect Is Back!" -- "Revitalized WordPerfect Office 12 Arrives April 2004. Under new ownership and with a revitalized commitment to one of the world's best loved office suites, Corel today announced the upcoming availability of WordPerfect® Office 12–the newest version of its award winning office suite and the leading alternative to Microsoft® Office. Coming in April 2004, WordPerfect Office 12 offers a unique combination of powerful features, suite-wide enhancements to compatibility, and new functionality to increase users' productivity." [ Posted at 5:02 PM | Permalink ]
Older iPods are a much better dealRecordNet: "Apple finally shipped the new mini iPod. It is small, cute and very pricey. It holds 1,000 songs, which is certainly enough to get one through a long day or a flight to the East Coast. But don't forget the older iPods ... Frankly, the mini iPod is not cost effective for my money." [ Posted at 4:57 PM | Permalink ]
US resellers 'losing out to Apple'MacWorld UK: "US Mac retailers are reportedly losing business to Apple's retail stores ... A report in VAR Business describes an 'undercurrent of dissatisfaction' as US Mac specialists find they have been 'left out in the cold'. There are a number of reasons for the dissatisfaction, according to the article. Apple-authorized resellers are not allowed to service iPods. VAR Business suggests: 'This could have been a fairly lucrative business for some given the number that have been sold and whose nonreplaceable batteries have died'." [ Posted at 4:56 PM | Permalink ]
Coming soon ... to a screen near youChicago Sun-Times: "Last year was the year of the camera phone, digital music players (especially Apple's iPod) and satellite radio ... You might have an iPod loaded with 7,500 or 10,000 of your favorite tunes, but you can't watch TV on the tiny two-inch screens. But that's changing with a new category of devices that do what the digital music players do plus show video. The information in most cases will be downloaded from your computer. 'You can watch Will & Grace or your favorite movie,' said Rob Enderle, a Silicon Valley-based analyst, 'Portable media centers are like iPods on steroids.' Microsoft has developed Windows Mobile software for the portable media center platform that has been adopted by Creative, iRiver International, Sanyo, Samsung Electronics and ViewSonic Corp. Apple is testing a [copycat] device in Silicon Valley." [ Posted at 10:30 AM | Permalink ]
The Nine Lives of NapsterBusiness Week: The online music provider is struggling in its attempt to challenge Apple. Yet, this cat could still land on its feet ... Napster remains a distant second in market share to Apple's (AAPL ) popular iTunes service. And management upheaval at Roxio has raised fears about Napster's future once again ... It sells far fewer songs at its online store than Apple, which sells roughly 75% of the 3 million songs that are sold online each week. But Gorog points out that based on the latest weekly data from Neilsen SoundScan, Napster's share equals all other rivals combined, including services from Wal-Mart, MusicMatch, and Best Buy. He says the data show that Napster 2.0 is holding its No. 2 position against Apple in this music-download business ... In part to wean their students off illegal file-sharing sites, Penn State University and the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music intend to offer free Napster subscriptions to thousands of students in coming months. The hope is that the students will become paying customers for years to come. Smart." [ Posted at 10:28 AM | Permalink ]
Apple's iTunes Vs. Roxio's NapsterForbes: "The number of people legally downloading music amounts to a paltry 2.4 million, according to Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg, though he reckons that figure may grow as large as 28 million by 2008 [Napster has 1.5 million customers, more than half that figure]. Although the battle shaping up between the two leaders in the music download market looks rather lopsided, Gartenberg says it's still too early to declare a winner. Apple Computer clearly has the lead at the moment, while Roxio's Napster 2.0 is running a distant second. Neither is believed to be making any money on its music venture." [ Posted at 10:24 AM | Permalink ]
Ballmer chuckles over Linux woes (Open source proving expensive Munich struggling with new system)Toronto Star: "Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft Corp., appears to take delight in the troubles that Munich is having as it switches 14,000 city computers from Windows to a rival Linux operating system. The German city, roughly comparable in size to Toronto and just as strapped for cash, decided nine months ago to embrace the open-source software as a way to lower costs, improve competition in the marketplace and make the city less reliant on the world's largest software company ... Today, Munich's Linux switchover is proving more costly and complex than anticipated, according to news reports out of Germany. You can't blame Ballmer for feeling a bit of schadenfreude, as the Germans would say. 'They're saying it's more expensive,' Ballmer said. 'All of a sudden it's more expensive now to use the Linux solution than the Windows solution' ... Ballmer said governments that abandon Microsoft are more interested in making a political statement than using the best and most affordable software. 'The people who are making political decisions instead of business decisions, we're going to lose some,' said Ballmer. 'The people who are making business decisions based on where are the applications, what is the value, what is the lowest cost of ownership, we're not losing them. For us, anything that becomes a political issue, nobody wins them all on merit.'" [ Posted at 10:20 AM | Permalink ]
Winamp iPod Support Plug-inWinamp: "This plugin allows you to copy songs (MP3 & MP4 AAC) to your Windows iPod." [ Posted at 9:37 AM | Permalink ]
Microsoft Xbox 2 Software Development Kit is ... Based on Apple Technology?Xbit Labs: "Microsoft Corporation has just released its Software Development Kit for the Xbox 2 console, a report over The Inquirer suggests. Apparently, Microsoft supplies Apple POWER Mac G5 systems running 'a custom Windows NT Kernel' operating system – something one may hard to believe without becoming familiar with preliminary Xbox 2 specifications. The current version of the Microsoft Xbox 2 SDK is an Apple POWER Macintosh G5 computer based on two IBM POWER PC 64-bit microprocessors. Just like the latest Macs, the Xbox 2 SDK is equipped with ATI RADEON 9800 PRO graphics card. Microsoft decided not to wait for ATI Technologies to supply the next-generation R420 VPUs that resemble Xbox 2 graphics fairly more than the R350 chips." [ Posted at 8:33 AM | Permalink ]
Apple copying Napster strategytzonblog: "I have learned today from reliable sources that Northeastern University and Apple Computer are working out a deal to allow students to download music from the iTunes Music Store at a reduced rate. Apparently, the University is negotiating to buy a predetermined number of downloads at the reduced rate from iTMS so that its students will be encouraged not to download songs off P2P networks, a practice that is apparently running rampant at Northeastern, as well as many other colleges, and which is exposing the institution to lawsuits from parties (the RIAA?) who consider the practice illegal." This is exactly what the current Napster (now owned by Roxio) is doing with various other educational institutions. But hey, Apple innovates and never copies others. [ Posted at 8:31 AM | Permalink ]
Study: Laptop program causes problems for school districtPennLive.com: "A program intended to save teachers time by giving students laptops has caused classroom delays when the equipment malfunctions or students forget to bring the computers to class, a new study found. The state Department of Education in 2001 selected the Quaker Valley School District for the pilot program that gave Apple iBook laptops to 1,800 students in grades 3-12. And while teachers have found the equipment helpful in tracking student progress, a lack of technical support, malfunctioning computers and forgetful students have cost instructional time, the nonprofit research group Rand Corp. reported ... 'over 50 percent of students in the grade did not have their laptop available in a class on a given day when students were specifically working on a technology-based project,' the report said.'For this reason, teachers ... rarely made laptop use a fundamental part of instruction because of a high percentage of students without working laptops at a given time.'" [ Posted at 8:27 AM | Permalink ]
Cost of Mini IPod Raises QuestionsReuters: "Is $249 a mass-market price tag for a portable music player? That's the debate raging in consumer electronics circles after Apple Computer debuted its latest version of the iPod, which hit stores Feb. 20. But some observers are concerned that Apple's asking price for the Mini freezes out many casual music fans who otherwise would be interested in buying the device. 'I'm disappointed with the price point,' says a major-label technology executive who had hoped that pre-announcement rumors of a $100 retail price would prove to be true. It is a sentiment that has been echoed throughout the music and consumer electronics industries since January, when the Mini was unveiled at the Macworld confab in San Francisco ... The problem, critics of the Mini say, is that rival devices with storage capacities that mirror a standard iPod can be had for the same price as a Mini. For instance, Dell Inc.'s Dell DJ 15 -- a device with 15 gigabytes of memory that stores 3,700 songs -- also retails for $249. 'They've priced themselves out of the market,' Richard Bullwinkle, a senior product manager at Rio Audio, told Billboard in an interview earlier this year ... Apple reported full-year 2003 [iPod] sales of 1.45 million units ... shipments of [all] MP3 players totaled 3.8 million units in 2003." [ Posted at 8:25 AM | Permalink ]
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