Briefly: Possible iPhone date, Office 2008, Apple TV USB hack
An AT&T representative raised the first hint of a specific launch day for the iPhone. Simultaneously, two pieces of software entered testing in the Apple community: one an important hack for the Apple TV, and another the highly sought-after Office 2008.
iPhone release date rumor spreads like wildfire
News.com's Declan McCullagh rejuvenated the iPhone frenzy on Friday by claiming late the night before that AT&T had confirmed June 11th as the Apple gadget's official launch day. The journalist cited a customer service manager from the cellular giant's sales department as the source of the claim.
The date would be otherwise dismissible if not for its fitting perfectly with the start of Apple's WWDC developer expo, which begins the same day and will most likely see Steve Jobs provide an opening keynote that could mention a ship date.
The conference rarely touches on consumer products, however, and readers should know that sales agents are rarely provided with these details months ahead of a projected release. Apple has only set the iPhone's launch for sometime in June.
Apple TV's USB port exploited
Yet another of Apple's safeguards on its Apple TV media hub was compromised this week when hackers published info proving that they had circumvented restrictions on the lone USB port for the device.
Cracking the protections opened up one of the last obstacles to complete access to the hub's features. Where the USB connector is only recognized by Apple as a service tool, the newly freed version makes possible keyboards, mice, and other input devices that bring the Apple TV closer to its computer-like origins than the Apple Remote.
The disclosure is the third major exploit following the Mac software installs and booting from different hardware.
Office 2008 reaches beta stage
Microsoft revealed on Friday through an interview that its Office 2008 suite had entered the beta phase, moving the productivity software one step closer to completion.
"We're in private betas right now," said Microsoft's Mac Business Unit marketing exec Sheridan Jones.
The development staff was unwilling to predict if or when the software might be opened to the public, but reiterated the importance of the ribbon-like user interface (revealed first at Macworld San Francisco) that seeks to avoid dependence on menus, also highlighting the advanced "Escher" visual engine that helps improve page layouts.
"Part of our mission with Office 2008 is to expose all the things that are already there and make the product easier to use," Jones noted.
Office 2008 is the first Intel-native version of the Microsoft package and is due in the second half of this year.
Apple Store Rome: first photos appear
Finally, Apple on Friday held a special preview event to showcase Apple Store Roma Est, the Mac maker's first self-run store in Italy as well as in mainland Europe as a whole.
The store, which AppleInsider revealed in an exclusive report as early as June of last year, is situated in one of Rome's newest shopping malls. A video as well as an extensive photo gallery show the retail space to be one of Apple's larger non-flagship stores, with a large center aisle and a full-sized Genius Bar.
The store will hold its grand opening Saturday, March 31st, at 9 AM local time.
iPhone release date rumor spreads like wildfire
News.com's Declan McCullagh rejuvenated the iPhone frenzy on Friday by claiming late the night before that AT&T had confirmed June 11th as the Apple gadget's official launch day. The journalist cited a customer service manager from the cellular giant's sales department as the source of the claim.
The date would be otherwise dismissible if not for its fitting perfectly with the start of Apple's WWDC developer expo, which begins the same day and will most likely see Steve Jobs provide an opening keynote that could mention a ship date.
The conference rarely touches on consumer products, however, and readers should know that sales agents are rarely provided with these details months ahead of a projected release. Apple has only set the iPhone's launch for sometime in June.
Apple TV's USB port exploited
Yet another of Apple's safeguards on its Apple TV media hub was compromised this week when hackers published info proving that they had circumvented restrictions on the lone USB port for the device.
Cracking the protections opened up one of the last obstacles to complete access to the hub's features. Where the USB connector is only recognized by Apple as a service tool, the newly freed version makes possible keyboards, mice, and other input devices that bring the Apple TV closer to its computer-like origins than the Apple Remote.
The disclosure is the third major exploit following the Mac software installs and booting from different hardware.
Office 2008 reaches beta stage
Microsoft revealed on Friday through an interview that its Office 2008 suite had entered the beta phase, moving the productivity software one step closer to completion.
"We're in private betas right now," said Microsoft's Mac Business Unit marketing exec Sheridan Jones.
The development staff was unwilling to predict if or when the software might be opened to the public, but reiterated the importance of the ribbon-like user interface (revealed first at Macworld San Francisco) that seeks to avoid dependence on menus, also highlighting the advanced "Escher" visual engine that helps improve page layouts.
"Part of our mission with Office 2008 is to expose all the things that are already there and make the product easier to use," Jones noted.
Office 2008 is the first Intel-native version of the Microsoft package and is due in the second half of this year.
Apple Store Rome: first photos appear
Finally, Apple on Friday held a special preview event to showcase Apple Store Roma Est, the Mac maker's first self-run store in Italy as well as in mainland Europe as a whole.
The store, which AppleInsider revealed in an exclusive report as early as June of last year, is situated in one of Rome's newest shopping malls. A video as well as an extensive photo gallery show the retail space to be one of Apple's larger non-flagship stores, with a large center aisle and a full-sized Genius Bar.
The store will hold its grand opening Saturday, March 31st, at 9 AM local time.
Comments
Besides, I tend to believe that Apple would hold a special media event to formally launch the iPhone, not use the Developer's Conference.
How feasible is it to turn the Apple TV into a cheap-a$$ computer? I don't know much about the internal components (got a feeling the video card may be somewhat compromised). Is the ram easy to swap out?
Cuello
How feasible is it to turn the Apple TV into a cheap-a$$ computer? I don't know much about the internal components (got a feeling the video card may be somewhat compromised). Is the ram easy to swap out?
Cuello
I think it is the other way around. The ATV does video reasonably well, it is just the CPU that is crap (as far as making it an all-around computer).
I'm curious to see where the hackers take this. If they don't offer downloadable rentals it may be up to the hackers to make this fly...
Someone at AT&T probably just screwed up, and now they are scrambling to act like the date is up in the air. Or perhaps they are aiming for June 11 but it isn't very solid yet. It's also quite possible that the one guy knew the answer and other people don't.
I think it is the other way around. The ATV does video reasonably well, it is just the CPU that is crap (as far as making it an all-around computer).
I'm curious to see where the hackers take this. If they don't offer downloadable rentals it may be up to the hackers to make this fly...
I don't think that hackers can make any product "fly" per se - I don't image the folks at Best Buy advertising that the Atv only requires several hours of "modifications" at the korean computer surplus store on the corner to achieve it's full feature set!
Or maybe a package deal where you get a free soldering iron and some duct tape and spiral-bound printouts from hacker.com!
I don't think that hackers can make any product "fly" per se - I don't image the folks at Best Buy advertising that the Atv only requires several hours of "modifications" at the korean computer surplus store on the corner to achieve it's full feature set!
Or maybe a package deal where you get a free soldering iron and some duct tape and spiral-bound printouts from hacker.com!
Yeah, bad choice of words, I was tired.
I should have finished with:
"...it may only be the hackers who are interested in ATV."
Still, I believe it is possible for modders to show interest in using a product in a different way--to show that something is feasable and desirable-- thereby inducing the original manufacturer to create the "official version."
I didnt say it would happen, but it is possible.
How feasible is it to turn the Apple TV into a cheap-a$$ computer? I don't know much about the internal components (got a feeling the video card may be somewhat compromised). Is the ram easy to swap out?
Cuello
Word. The ultimate mini.
I don't think that hackers can make any product "fly" per se - I don't image the folks at Best Buy advertising that the Atv only requires several hours of "modifications" at the korean computer surplus store on the corner to achieve it's full feature set!
Or maybe a package deal where you get a free soldering iron and some duct tape and spiral-bound printouts from hacker.com!
I don't think it will be that hard. Now that they've figured out how to do it (that's always in iterative, experimental process), a simple installer can be made to add a package of upgrades. This sort of thing has happened with consoles too, but apparently without the need for soldering in the case of AppleTV.
Yeah, bad choice of words, I was tired.
I should have finished with:
"...it may only be the hackers who are interested in ATV."
Still, I believe it is possible for modders to show interest in using a product in a different way--to show that something is feasable and desirable-- thereby inducing the original manufacturer to create the "official version."
I didnt say it would happen, but it is possible.
I best thing to happen would be for a player like MediaMonkey or WinAmp to make an appearance on Mac - full compatibility with pretty much all media players, support for every format you can think of including divX, flac, ape, wav, aiff, etc. etc., plus solid library browsers and tag editors.
That would force Apple to increase the functionality in iTunes, and then all of a sudden having a product like ATV would mean more than Apple Lossless, low res. video and MP3...
The #1 thing I miss since switching to apple in November is MediaMonkey, it's so much more functional, intuitive and usable than iTunes! Never any headaches. WinAmp is also a really solid piece of software in terms of format support and library options (although the cover view is bad).
As it stands, there really aren't any good options to iTunes - VLC is great for format support, but not for iPod, or library management, or tag editing....
1) 6-1-1 is the general customer service access number for many mobile phone carriers. Cute-sy, but that gives June 11 for the intro date some plausibility.
2) But, this is contingent on FCC approval..... and they do things on their own schedule. So, it might be somewhat premature to jump the gun.
Since June 11 is the first day of WWDC.. I'd believe that is the iPhone launch.
Someone at AT&T probably just screwed up, and now they are scrambling to act like the date is up in the air. Or perhaps they are aiming for June 11 but it isn't very solid yet. It's also quite possible that the one guy knew the answer and other people don't.
OK, there's two choices. WWDC launch, or special event. Let's compare the options:
1) WWDC is a developers conference, which goes on for several days and deals with issues and stuff that developers care about. It costs a good amount of $$$ to attend. Media coverage is more or less mac-centric.
2) A special event would bring in the media people you specifically invite. It would guarantee broader coverage. And, most of all, it won't piss off your entire developer community by spending the entire keynote talking about a closed-system product.
Which would you choose?
And, really, how many people at this point know the proposed date of release? And then they're stupid enough to announce it? Hell, that's the kind of thing that gets you dropped like a rock and seeing Jobs snuggling up to Verizon!
OK, there's two choices. WWDC launch, or special event. Let's compare the options:
1) WWDC is a developers conference, which goes on for several days and deals with issues and stuff that developers care about. It costs a good amount of $$$ to attend. Media coverage is more or less mac-centric.
2) A special event would bring in the media people you specifically invite. It would guarantee broader coverage. And, most of all, it won't piss off your entire developer community by spending the entire keynote talking about a closed-system product.
Which would you choose?
And, really, how many people at this point know the proposed date of release? And then they're stupid enough to announce it? Hell, that's the kind of thing that gets you dropped like a rock and seeing Jobs snuggling up to Verizon!
I think with phones it is a bit different than with other computer related stuff. Phone companies always know within a day or so when phones are released. That is how the phone agents in the store make their money. I was there to get the first 8703e BlackBerry at the Verizon store my guy knew in advance when the date was up in the air. They make it their business in the phone business to know because it effects their pockets. They are less secrative.