Apple has outfitted its Mac Pro desktop machines with a new 3.33GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon upgrade option, at a cost of $1,200, as well as 2TB hard drives for the Mac Pro and Xserve.
The new, faster processor for the Mac Pro is offered in addition to the basic 2.66GHz quad-core, and the 2.93GHz Intel Xeon, which costs an extra $400. The new “Nehalem” Xeon processor-equipped Mac Pros debuted in March. They feature an updated system architecture that delivers twice the performance of the previous model, and start at a price that was $300 lower than its predecessor.
posts
Comcast to Preserve Hulu
Comcast chief operating officer Stephen Burke called Hulu’s existing business model “smart and appropriate” and said there weren’t any plans to change the way the streaming video site works. He points out that the split already works in Comcast’s favor, as much of Hulu’s content comes from basic cable and leaves out the premium channels that Comcast would want to reserve for On Demand Online.
Burke added that NBC (and now Comcast) was only one of three studios involved in Hulu and thus couldn’t determine its fate outright. However, he noted that Comcast doesn’t have any plans to implement a pay-only section of Hulu.
Google Public DNS Takes on OpenDNS [UPDATED]
If you’re like me, your ISP’s DNS sucks. I’ve being using OpenDNS for years to avoid Comcast’s DNS issues. While not everyone is thrilled with their service, I don’t mind a redirection here and there for faster browsing and the ability to filter traffic.
Today, Google launched their own independent DNS service at 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. While it’s not as robust as OpenDNS yet — Google doesn’t offer any filtering, for example — it doesn’t redirect any traffic, which is a plus for some users.
Five Reasons to Jailbreak
Miland Alvares at Smoking Apples:
For the full year that the first gen iPhone was out, the only way to put it to any real use was to jailbreak it. Then the app store came along and changed the game of using third party applications on iPhone OS. ‘Official’ apps were far more refined, polished, and as is evident by the current figures, far more in number. But if the App Store is famous for anything other than its sheer size, is the stringent rules by which Apple allows an application to be sold at the store. In most cases Apple doesn’t even have to reject the apps—the developers of the apps in question know they won’t make it. Yes, they are that cool.
‘Just Good Enough’
Overall, I like the Droid. The hardware design is merely par for the course; it’s well-made but has some rough edges. The hardware specs, however, combined with Android 2.0, makes this a good enough device to be a solid competitor to the iPhone 3GS. This is the hardware that Android should have shipped with. In some areas it is better, in some areas on par, and some areas slightly worse than the iPhone or other high end smartphones. But all of it is “just good enough.” It all depends on your preferences in phone features. If multitasking matters, the Pre and the Droid are your only choices. Droid lets you play music on Pandora, navigate, and check Twitter all at the same time, with no lag and no delays. If you’re looking for a media player phone or a camera phone, on the other hand, you might check elsewhere. It just comes down to the feature set you’re looking for.
Comcast Buys Controlling Stake in NBC
NPR:
Comcast, the nation’s largest cable provider, is buying a controlling stake in NBC Universal which has broadcast and cable networks and a movie studio. The deal would make Comcast one of the nation’s most powerful players in news and entertainment.
The possible ramifications of this are scary. What if Comcast decides to charge other cable companies more to carry NBC? What if they only allow NBC programming to be streamed online to their own Internet customers? This is a step backwards.
‘There is no Single Cause’
“With dwindling revenue and diminished resources, frustrated newspaper executives are looking for someone to blame,” he [Google CEO Eric Schmidt] wrote in the article published on Thursday.
“Much of their anger is currently directed at Google, whom many executives view as getting all the benefit from the business relationship without giving much in return,” he said. “The facts, I believe, suggest otherwise.”
Revenue from ads that appear alongside news articles on Google’s search engine represent a “tiny fraction” of the company’s overall revenue, Schmidt said.
The Future of Print
Here’s a look at what Time, Inc. has been working on:
This type of device is exactly what print journalism needs to stay relevant. In a world of always-on communication, the printed word is out of date before the ink dries.
If Apple’s tablet is true, I expect this type of content to be at the heart of it.
Snow Leopard Server, Address Book Server, the iPhone and a Bucket of Tears
This is from Apple’s Snow Leopard info online:
While most companies store contact information in centralized LDAP directories, IT administrators usually prevent users from modifying or adding their own contacts to the directory. This makes it hard for users to maintain a centralized list of contacts and access those contacts on multiple computers and devices they own.
The new Address Book Server in Snow Leopard Server solves this problem. Not only does it store contacts on the server, but it allows you to access and use those contacts on each of your Mac computers. With Address Book, you can even synchronize contacts to your iPhone for accessing your contacts on the go.
Google News and Pay Walls
Google said Tuesday it is changing how it grants access to news stories through its search engine to give publishers more control over how much content people can see for free.
The move by Google marks a step toward placating the publishing industry, which has raised concerns that the popular search engine has undermined its revenues.
The changes will be made to Google’s “First Click Free” program, which allowed users free access to content through Google News that a publisher would normally charge for.
The iPhone as an Uber-Device
More than a few of the items on the list are certainly debatable, especially the last one, but the point remains: in only three years, the iPhone has seen an explosion in functionality that very few people could have predicted when it was first introduced. It’s become the electronic equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife, capable of duplicating or outright replacing many standalone devices and items and rendering others completely obsolete. It seems somewhat counterintuitive that something that costs as much as an iPhone could actually end up saving you money in the long run, but if you can actually manage to replace all 33 items on this list with an iPhone as I have, you’ll end up coming out way ahead.
Ramp Champ Free in App Store
Ramp Champ — the delightful carnival-themed game from the Iconfactory — is free for a limited time in the App Store.
There’s no reason not to get it. Be warned, it requires a wifi connection to download, as it is over 10 MB.