journals
XvsXP.com Relaunches
Today, XvsXP, a site which compares Mac OS X and Windows XP, has relaunched after changing ownership hands from its creator Dan Pouliot to its current co-ownership of Michael Moriarty and James Scariati. The site sport a refreshed look and rewritten sections. The site will undergo a major content addition as big OS releases from both Apple and Microsoft are due out within the year.
The new site has been in development since November, when the new ownership first took effect.
Deep Thought’s Take: Well done, guys! the site is, in my opinion, much more well laid-out with better sections (not that the previous versions weren’t good.)
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| Liam | comments | views |
Apple offers special iChat icons for .mac users
In a stunning turn of events, Apple has made a number of iChat buddy icons available exclusively for .mac users. These icons include letters of the alphabet, “status” icons ("out," “lunch,” “busy,” etc...), pets, Japanese characters, and many more. But hurry, these icons are only available through June 1, 2006. You must be a .mac user to download this awe-inspiring set of icons.
The excitement among Mac users has reached a fever-pitch with the release of these new icons. “Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” said one Deep Thought reader, bristling with enthusiasm. “I thought all such stupid things were left in the world of Windows,” stated another reader, right before he did a happy dance in celebration of the announcement.
DT’s Take: Insert “$99 a year and all we get are iChat icons” remarks here…
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| Nick | comments | views |
News of the Weird: Microsoft responsible for iPod packaging parody video?!?
From the “What the...?” desk…
You remember that clever video floating around last month highlighting the differences between Apple and Microsoft packaging (the Microsoft iPod parody)? It seems that Microsoft itself is responsible for it. That’s right, do not adjust your screen. Microsoft actually poked fun at its own packaging design.
From iPod Observer:
Microsoft spokesman Tom Pilla on Tuesday confirmed with iPod Observer that his company initiated the creation of the iPod packaging parody video that was first reported last month. “It was an internal-only video clip commissioned by our packaging [team] to humorously highlight the challenges we have faced RE: packaging and to educate marketers here about the pitfalls of packaging/branding,” he said via e-mail.
Um, yeah. Wow. This pretty much sums it up: 
But it’s nice to see that major companies can poke fun at themselves.
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| Nick | comments | views |
Apple sells movies--sorta [UPDATED TWICE AGAIN]
It looks like the rumors got this right, kinda. Movies are available for download on iTunes, sotra. Now available on iTunes, “High School Musical” (iTunes link), a touching story about a jock and a brain who both enjoy singing and break down stereotypes. Beautiful. Powerful. Made-for-TV. It runs for $1.99, the same as other iTMS videos, [UPDATE: It looks like Apple upped the price to $9.99.] and is a 487 MB download.
Rumors have been floating around for a while about Apple moving into offering full-length movies on iTunes, though it’s hard to tell whether this is simply an extension of offering TV shows (it is a made-for-TV movie, as mentioned before), or if you really will be able to download Dude, Where’s My Car? someday in the near future.
UPDATE: Changed “brian” to “brain.” I hope nobody got the wrong impression… -ed.
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| Nick | comments | views |
No Vista for Macintels
Microsoft has announced that it will not support EFI in the first versions of Windows Vista, due out at the end of this year. The first version of Windows that will support it will be the first version of Longhorn Server. EFI may find it’s way into a later version of Vista but it will never work on the 32 bit version, ruling out the new Macintels. And Microsoft’s reason for not supporting EFI? A lack of support for it from hardware manufacturers.
Deep Thought’s take: Microsoft killing off features from Vista? Normally we’d joke about it but this is a huge loss to Mac users. Microsoft’s reasoning also sucks. Who is going to support EFI in new machines if the OS they use doesn’t support it. If Microsoft added EFI support to Vista from the get go then the hardware manufacturers would be able to support it.
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more stuff
- XvsXP.com Relaunches
- Apple offers special iChat icons for .mac users
- News of the Weird: Microsoft responsible for iPod packaging parody video?!?
- Apple sells movies--sorta [UPDATED TWICE AGAIN]
- No Vista for Macintels
- Five Reasons Why There WILL Be Macs in 2010
- Security Dos and Don’ts
- Shut the FUD UP!!!
- iMac: All Your Base-ic Needs In One
- Rumors: end the madness
- Apple updates abound
- Are Apple Leather Jackets Next?
- Mac Minintel + iPod BoomBrick.. er… Box
- News or Rumor? Apple to announce film downloading service [UPDATED]
- Rumor Mill: Is this the new video iPod? [UPDATED x3: We’ve been duped]
- iMac light sensor and LCD
- Do We Really Need “Anti” Virus Software?
- iTunes: Over One Billion Sold [UPDATED]
- Apple to hold special event Feb 28
- iMac light sensor and LCD
- Who says that people aren’t switching to the Mac?
- The truth about OS X/Leap.A
- Will Apple Adopt Windows? Not even when hell freezes over!
- Mac OS X Trojan Alert: This is NOT a Drill! [UPDATE]
- iMac vs. The World: Round Deux
- iMac vs. The World: Round 1
- Apple hasn’t impressed me lately
- iMac G5 Hard Drive Replacement
- Ambulance Chasing: Apple sued over iPod volume
- Homestar Runner: Coming to an iPod near you
- Mac Naming Convention
- Prediction: Apple’s new naming convention for Macs
- Apple registers “Mac Pro” trademark
- iLife 06 Review Part 6: Wrapup
- iLife 06 Review Part 5: iDVD
- Counterspective: Apple is a hardware company.
- An Interesting Perspective on the Intel Switch
- Macintosh turns 22
- iLife 06 Review Part 4: iMovie
- iLife 06 Review Part 3: iWeb
- iLife 06 Review Part 2: GarageBand
- Path Finder 4 Released
- iLife 06 Review Part 1: iPhoto
- At A Glance: Pixound Jam Studio
- A few minutes with Cris Pearson of Plasq
- Interview with Ben Counsell of Realmac Software
- Adobe releases beta of Aperture competitor
- Rumors. Need I say more?
- iPod dominates 2005 Froogle Searches
- Good reads: ‘500 Days at the Helm: The Rise and Fall of Gil Amelio’
- Mac IE dead at last
- Apple featured in a Jeopardy! category
- An Apology to Apple
- Google Earth for Mac leaked
- Apple adds more shows to the Music Store
- News of the Weird: Steve wants to keep his cube
- Rhapsody is Mac-accessable, kinda
- OmniOutliner 3.5
- Rockingwith a Community HotSpot, Airport Express, AirTunes and browserTunes
- RIP Macromedia
- LyX RoX
- Rumor Mill: Mac mini to Morph into Mega Media Machine?
- What’s Wrong With View Options, and How To Fix It
- The Front Row Set Top Box
- 10.4.3 Makes its Way Into Retail Boxes
- SGS International releases DeskBrowse beta
- The Search For The Long Lost Software
- News of the Weird: SunnComm releases press release to counter satire
- Mac mini+Front Row+Ford F150=Awesome
- iOnMac holding logo contest, giving away iPod nano
- Intel Macs coming early?
- It will take more than just whining to FTFF
- The Clone Wars (with apologies to George Lucas)
- Apple asked to pull iPod ad
- Masses laud release of WeatherBug Lite for Mac
- Make it Great
- iList Studio 3.0 Released
- Apple Releases Mac OS 10.4.3 Update
- New iPod ad draws fire from Lugz
- New Apple Hardware
- Apple US Market Share Sees Impressive Annual Gains
- Yet Another Apple Media Event; New Pro Macs?
- Is Apple Killing Off eMac?
- New Stuff, But I’m Still Unimpressed…Why?
- Is Apple Killing Off Firewire?
- New iPods, New apps, New iMacs
- What we can piece together…
- Unsanity Celebrates Fifth Birthday, Has 50% off Sale
- Media Event: Where to find news [UPDATED]
- Apple Conference Call Highlights
- What’s wrong with the Mac part 1
- “I was writing paper…”
- Back on Track With Mac
- Apple Holding London Event October 12?
- NewsGator Acquires NetNewsWire
- Apple to Announce “One More Thing” at Media Event [UPDATED x2]
- Apple Responds Part 1
- Do the Customer Service Limbo
- Wow, that was easy!
- Rumor Roundup: iTunes for Windows Mobile; New Mac minis?
