The video encoding is handled by the new video platform Yahoo has been developing. The platform is a transcoder that converts any uploaded video to H.264 format, and it’s accessible through an API. It’s only available internally right now, and Yahoo will continue to expand its use across the rest of its video-heavy sites like Music, News and Sports. The company says it plans on eventually opening up the video transcoder platform for use by independent publishers and developers.
Category: Apple
Apple Pulls the Plug on Kbase #HT2550
Apple’s kbase article on antiviral software that created such a stir the last few days has been taken out back and shot in the head. Macworld:
“We have removed the KnowledgeBase article because it was old and inaccurate,” Apple spokesman Bill Evans, told Macworld. “The Mac is designed with built-in technologies that provide protection against malicious software and security threats right out of the box.”
A Good Second Car
Macworld’s Peter Cohen on the EeePC 1000HA:
The Eee 1000HA is no replacement for a full-sized laptop or a desktop computer, but as a means to check e-mail and get some light work done while you’re out and about, it’s fantastic. The Eee 1000HA gets you around town conveniently and economically…
Back to my original thesis: Now, more than ever, after spending some time with an Asus Eee, I remain convinced that Apple is missing an important opportunity by sitting on the bench rather than entering the netbook market, and I hope Steve Jobs and company bring something to market soon (as the rumor mill suggests they might. I’d love to see something in the form-factor of an Eee PC that’s descended from the DNA of the iPhone. That’d be the best of all possible worlds, and it would certainly give Asus, HP and the other companies that have carved out a niche in this market a new target to aim for.
Misplaced Modifier
The Internet (at least the parts that center around the Mac) has exploded over kbase article HT2550, which is about antivirus utilities on the Mac. Here’s the line people are worked up about:
Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult.
The issue is the wording. ArsTechnica writer Justin Berka reads it this way:
Footnotes
I was poking around Apple’s site, and came across their Public Relations page. It’s not that exciting, really. Just info that gets spun into countless blog posts across the Internet. The oldest release I could find was from 2000*, which is surprising, since the “PR Library” only links to releases from 2003 forward. One thing I found interesting was the last paragraph on the releases from 2000. Remember, this is a year before OS X was released:
The "Documentary For the Rest of Us"
The documentary, which has already made showings at five film festivals, “mixes history, criticism and an unapologetic revelry of all things Apple.” Though neither Jobs nor Woz make appearances, less-well-known, but no less important, figures in Mac history are in the film, including Mac engineer Andy Hertzfeld, former Apple Evangelist Guy Kawasaki, and Ron Wayne, a short-lived but original co-founder of Apple Computer. If you liked Pirates of Silicon Valley or read Revolution in the Valley, then this film is for you. There is even a new trailer to entice you to check it out.
In Greensboro, Apple Store is all Politics
Normally, I don’t care about new Apple stores, but my mother’s family is from the next town over from Greensboro, NC, where Apple is set to open one soon. It seems ( according to TUAW) that things haven’t been all smooth sailing for you-know-who:
Apparently Greensboro won’t see the story by December 25th, as there’s apparently some argument with the property’s owners over whether Apple is “just another computer store” or deserves a better place in the location.
iBook Insides
I took apart an iBook G4 today. I do that most days, but today I documented it:
This Idea Won’t Die
PCWorld chimes in on the Apple netbook:
While other vendors scramble to keep up with the Joneses, Apple is well-known for creating innovative products that shake up staid categories. The prospect of an inexpensive mobile computer that melds the netbook form factor with technologies and concepts from the iPhone is intriguing. Could it really happen?
The netbook market could certainly use some innovation. Asus, the company that defined the category, seems to be heading the opposite direction. First it introduced the Eee PC 1000, which traded the older models’ Lilliputian chassis for a more traditional laptop form factor – and upped the price tag. Now comes news that the cost of the 1000 line will climb again, as the original 1000 series is due to be phased out in favor of the new 1002 model. Rather than innovating, Asus seems determined to back away from its original concept.
Linux on the iPhone (Sorta)
The iPhone Dev Team has made an interesting announcement today:
…the Linux 2.6 kernel has been ported to Apple’s iPhone platform, with support for the first and second generation iPhones as well as the first generation iPod touch. This is a rough first draft of the port, and many drivers are still missing, but it’s enough that a real alternative operating system is running on the iPhone.
This list seems staggering:
What we don’t have (yet!): - Write support for the NAND - Wireless networking - Touchscreen - Sound - Accelerometer - Baseband support
Happy Thanksgiving
TUAW pointed to this site earlier today, which explains how to make an apple pie that looks like a Mac mini. This is amazing:
We’re certainly not the first to put an Apple logo on a pie, but we think this implementation raises the bar a bit. Unlike a regular pie, you need to start with the top piece since you need to use the pan as a cookie cutter before you line it with dough. Roll out your dough for the top, and press springform frame onto it to get the right shape.
It Ain’t Gonna Happen
No matter how many times I read this:
The slipping economy will force Apple to address a glaring omission in its lineup: the lack of a lower-priced laptop, said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst at Technology Business Research Inc.
“Apple is facing the possibility that as the economic news gets worse, that they’re increasingly pricing themselves out of an important market,” said Gottheil. “Economic conditions are accelerating this.”
Mac sales have yet to slip due to the economic meltdown, but we’ll see how the company does with holiday sales. But even if the company has a rough quarter, Apple doesn’t get “forced” into much.