Microsoft Releases Monad Beta 3
Despite being separated from Windows Vista, Monad is on track to be ready before Microsoft's next-generation operating system. Redmond developers on Tuesday delivered a feature complete beta 3 of Microsoft's command line shell, which includes support for a new snap-in model and cmdlets.
According to Microsoft, Monad "allows administrators to quickly write scripts, customize commands, and author their own shell tools." Monad is expected to play a big part in Exchange 12, as an administrator would be able to control and configure the server without having to use the graphical interface.
XP Won't Run on Intel MacBook, iMac
With the announcement of the first Intel based Macs yesterday, many users have rejoiced in being able to dual-boot both Mac OS X and Windows. Unfortunately, this is not the case; due to Apple's use of the extensible firmware interface (EFI) rather than BIOS, current Windows releases will not run on the systems.
On Tuesday at Macworld, Apple senior vice president of worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller said the company would not specifically block the use of Windows on Mac hardware. Instead, limitations in Windows itself will prevent its use on the new MacBook Pro laptop and iMac.
Microsoft's FAT Patents Upheld
Ending a two-year battle over the FAT file system, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has reversed a non-final ruling from October and upheld Microsoft's patents on the technology. Despite the prior setbacks, Microsoft had remained steadfast that it would be victorious all along.
In June of 2004, the USPTO agreed to review the patent after questions arose surrounding its validity. A group known as the Public Patent Foundation disputed Microsoft's claims to FAT in April 2004, saying it had become ubiquitous as a format and found in many devices.
iWork '06 Announced at Macworld
FROM MACWORLD Apple refreshed its iWork productivity suite at Macworld on Tuesday. The package still features the Pages word processor and Keynote presentation builder, but adds support for 3D charts, advanced image editing and image reflections, tables with calculations, along with new themes and templates. iWork '06 will remain $79 and come as a 30-day trial on new Macs.
Apple Introduces iWeb Blogging Tool
FROM MACWORLDApple CEO Steve Jobs introduced a brand new iLife application in his Tuesday morning keynote for publishing photos, movies, music and blog content to .Mac. Dubbed iWeb, the program makes use of themes to quickly create a personal blog in seconds, which can be viewed in any Web browser.
Users can use the iLife browser to select content for uploading, and create iPhoto-like slideshows that appear on the site using AJAX technology. Content can be organized by simply dragging boxes around, and iWeb integrates directly into the iTunes music library as well.
iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand Improved
FROM MACWORLD As part of its $79 iLife '06 suite, Apple has updated iMovie with the ability to export video to the iPod and create video podcasts. Animated themes are also now available for movies, along with new audio adjustment tools and real time effects. iDVD has also been improved to automate the creation of DVD movies.
A new feature called Magic iDVD lets users select a theme, drag and drop videos and photos, and click one button to build a disc. Third party burners are also no supported in iDVD. GarageBand, meanwhile, has been turned into a vertiable "podcast studio," with a podcast artwork track, speech enhancer and the ability to use iChat for conducting remote interviews.
Apple Issues Mac OS X 10.4.4, iLife '06
FROM MACWORLD Apple on Tuesday will release Mac OS X 10.4.4, along with new Widgets from Google and ESPN. An address book and calendar Widget for Apple's Dashboard will also be available. 10.4.4 has long been rumored to be the version of Mac OS X compatible with Intel based Macs.
Apple is also issuing an update to its $79 iLife suite of applications, which CEO Steve Jobs called a "giant release" comprised of a new version of iPhoto with speed improvements and full-screen editing. Photos can also be shared over the Internet in what Apple calls "photocasting." Photocasting will require a .Mac subscription and uses RSS to receive photos.
Apple Launches SNL Content, FM Tuner
FROM MACWORLD In his Tuesday morning keynote, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that Saturday Night Live content will be available through iTunes, including classic clips of the Blues Brothers, Coneheads and more. Last week, Apple added the college bowl games to iTunes.
Giving iPod users more options to access content beyond iTunes, Apple has launched a new remote control with FM tuner that works with existing iPod models. A new radio screen on the iPod allows users to tune FM radio directly with the device. The remote costs $49.
100 iPods Being Sold Every Minute
FROM MACWORLD The holiday season proved a boon for Apple Computer, with the company selling 100 iPods every minute in the fourth quarter of 2005. Total sales numbers for the iPod reached 14 million, and topped 32 million for the entire year. The holiday rush also pushed iTunes to an 83 percent market share.
In total, Apple has sold 850 million songs and 8 million TV shows through iTunes. At the current sales rate, Apple is hitting 1 billion song downloads per year and trumping its Windows Media based competitors. According to CEO Steve Jobs, since the iPod's launch, Apple has sold 42 million units.
Microsoft Downplays New WMF Problem
One week after issuing an emergency patch for a vulnerability in Windows Meta File image processing that opened the door for arbitrary code execution, a new problem has been discovered in the format. But Microsoft has downplayed the concerns, saying the bug only causes "performance issues."
According to a posting to the Bugtraq mailing list, "Windows WMF graphics rendering engine is affected by multiple memory corruption vulnerabilities." The problems involve the ExtCreateRegion and ExtEscape functions.
Yahoo Buys Webjay Playlist Community
In order to beef up the playlist capabilities in Yahoo! Music Engine, Yahoo has acquired Webjay and hired its creator Lucas Gonze. Webjay enables users to create and playback playlists of music and video from the Web. Gonze also played a role in developing the open XSPF playlist format.
"With Dave Goldberg (head of Yahoo! Music) running around telling people that the playlist is the next frontier in digital media, it shouldn't come as any surprise that we're interested in what Lucas is doing with Webjay. Y! Music Engine has some interesting playlisting features, open APIs, and more goodies on the way. Lucas will help shape our strategies around playlisting in the future," explained Ian Rogers on the Yahoo! Music Blog.
Creative Redefines 'Podcast'
The word "podcast" -- a combination of iPod and broadcast -- has become the latest tech term to enter our growing lexicon, being named the 2005 word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary. But Creative, unhappy that the word promotes its rival, has redefined podcast as "Personal On Demand broadCast."
The change comes alongside the launch of ZENcast, the company's beta application for downloading video blogs and podcasts. "Podcasts, short for Personal On Demand broadCast, are audio files you can download into any MP3 player or computer. These audio files are broadcasted over the Internet automatically to subscribers of specific podcast channels,"
Microsoft Provides Peek at Live Expo
Microsoft at CES last week provided the first official peek at Windows Live Expo, formerly known by the code-name Fremont. Expo joins a number of other Live services already in public beta, and offers classified listings much like Craigslist.
Using its AJAX interface, Expo users can post items for sale or rent, complete with images and a WYSIWYG text editor. The service also supports job listings and other types of content. Each entry is categorized into groups, which can be searched or browsed by users.
Adobe Releases Lightroom Beta
To coincide with the start of Macworld 2006 this week in San Francisco, Adobe has released a beta version of its new tool to compete with Apple's Aperture. Called Lightroom, the software enables professional photographers to work with digital photos more easily and natively supports manipulation of RAW images.
According to Adobe, "The concept behind Lightroom is to provide a single environment that has all of the functions photographers most commonly need to perform on their images." But the company says it isn't "interested in trying to pack more knobs and switches into Lightroom than Aperture."
Microsoft Rushes Out WMF Security Fix
Just days after announcing plans to release a patch that fixes a security vulnerability in Windows Meta File image processing on January 10, Microsoft has rushed out the update early. The company said the patch was ready earlier than expected and its decision was based on feedback from partners.
WMF, or Windows Metafile, is a vector based image format used by Microsoft's operating systems. SHIMGVW.DLL is loaded to render the images and contains a flaw that opens the door for a malformed WMF image to cause remote code execution and potentially allow for a full system compromise.