Archive for October, 2009
Microsoft is allowing netbook users to download Windows 7, its new operating system, onto a bootable USB or burn it onto a DVD, in yet another move by Redmond to disseminate the operating system to as many users as possible. Although Microsoft reported yet another quarter of declining revenues, executives remain hopeful that Windows 7, rising PC sales and a sunnier economic outlook will translate into a more profitable 2010.
Microsoft has developed a solution for porting Windows 7 onto netbooks that lack a DVD drive: a USB memory stick. The feature was announced during the Windows 7 launch event in New York City on Oct. 22.
Specifically, netbook users can use Microsoft’s newly revamped online store to download Windows 7 for Netbooks onto a bootable USB, or burn it onto a DVD.
“For netbook users without DVD drives, the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool [WUDT] will take an ISO image and create a bootable USB device that can be used to install Windows 7,” Microsoft spokesperson Brandon LeBlanc wrote in an Oct. 22 entry on The Windows Blog. “The WUDT can also create a Windows 7 installation DVD from the ISO file as well.”
The WUDT will work with PCs already running Windows XP or Vista. However, there are also some caveats for netbook users looking to take the USB route.
“Please note that in order to boot off of a USB device (or external DVD player), you will need to configure your BIOS to boot off of that device,” LeBlanc added in his blog post. “If you’re not comfortable making this type of BIOS change I recommend you seek assistance from your favorite ‘tech geek.’”
The WUDT plays into Microsoft’s strategy to port Windows 7 onto as many devices as possible. Now that the operating system has been released, Redmond needs it to be a sizable hit among both consumers and the enterprise in order to help reverse a declining revenue trend.
Despite the popularity of netbooks, PC sales have been slumping due to the recession, and weighing down Microsoft’s revenues in the process. On Oct. 23, Microsoft released earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2010 that showed a 14 percent decline year-over-year from the same quarter in 2008, with revenues of $12.92 billion.
During that period, Microsoft’s operating income, net income and diluting earnings per share for the quarter declined 25 percent, 18 percent and 17 percent, respectively. Microsoft is hopeful, though, that its new collection of products plus a corporate culture increasingly devoted to streamlining will ultimately translate into positive earnings in 2010.
“Windows division revenue will be in line with overall PC growth,” Chris Liddell, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, said during an Oct. 23 earnings call. “Our strategies will position us to take advantage of the economic recovery.”
Liddell expressed hope in what he termed “good” feedback from corporations with regard to adopting Windows 7. Although 80 percent of all commercial PCs continue to run Windows XP, according to a recent report from research firm Forrester, the support for XP’s Service Packs 2 and 3 will end in April 2014.
Long before that point, of course, Microsoft is hoping that people will have made the leap to Windows 7—even if they need a USB device to make that happen.
Source from: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Windows/Microsoft-Offers-Windows-7-on-USB-Drives-for-Netbooks-225258/
Google Inc. wants to answer your mobile phone calls when you can’t or just don’t want to talk.
In its latest bid to become a bigger player in telecommunications, the Internet search leader is giving people a chance to have its free voice mail service answer calls to their cell phones. The offering was introduced Tuesday.
The voice mail feature is part of Google Voice, a fledging service striving to become a hub for phone calls to people’s mobile, home and office numbers.
Taking advantage of all of its tools requires getting a new number from Google Voice, a leap that many people aren’t ready to make.
So Google has come up with a way to tie existing mobile phone numbers to its voice mail service. The process requires requesting an invitation from Google and then following a few steps outlined at http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html. Invitations also are available from Google Voice’s current users.
“We see this as a perfect step for getting familiar with Google Voice without a lot of change,” said Vincent Paquet, a senior product manager.
The caveat: People choosing to stick with their existing phone numbers won’t be able to take advantage of all Google Voice features, such as directing calls to a home or office number.
But the voice mail option will provide more bells and whistles than what most major mobile phone carriers offer in their standard packages.
Among other things, Google’s voice mail service automatically transcribes messages and lets users customize greetings for frequent callers.
As part of its expansion efforts, Google developed a voice application for the iPhone that didn’t get approved by Apple Inc. The snub triggered a Federal Communications Commission inquiry into whether Apple and the iPhone’s U.S. carrier, AT&T Inc., might have been trying to stifle a potential competitor.
Source from: http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20091027/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_techbit_google_voice
LONDON (Reuters) – Tweeters are being invited to submit questions for the spirits of departed celebrities including Michael Jackson and William Shakespeare as part of the world’s first Twitter seance.
A psychic medium will then try to contact the stars — who were chosen along with actor River Phoenix and Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain from nominations sent in by the public — at the London-based seance on Friday, the day before Halloween.
Other prominent dead figures nominated by tweeters keen to pose questions during the “tweance” included John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe, Abraham Lincoln and Houdini.
Twitter users will be able to follow the seance live on the micro-blogging site, which psychic Jayne Wallace will use to relay any responses she receives from the spirits
Source from:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091027/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_britain_twitter
Local tattoo artist Scotty Savell wants your help to break a Guinness World Record while raising money for cancer awareness and education.
Ink has been Savell’s passion for the last 13 years, and now he’s using that passion in an attempt to break a world record.
Starting Friday Oct 23rd at noon, Savell will tattoo customers for 24 hours straight at Freakys Tattoo and Body Piercings. They are located on Colfax Avenue and Ivanhoe Street in Denver.
Savell says it’s not just about the record. It’s about giving back.
“I have quite a few people in my family who have been affected by cancer. Breast cancer, stomach cancer, brain cancer. Mostly it wasn’t about breaking a record. A lot of it was, how do we hold an event to make money for cancer awareness and education,” he said.
Available designs will be awareness ribbons in a certain size based on Guinness World Record guidelines of 3.72 x 3.72 inches, but customers can pick a cause and a color.
Event organizers say if you’re too “manly” for an awareness ribbon they’ve got a crossbones design for you.
The current record for the most tattoos in a 24-hour period is 801 tattoos set in 2008 by Arizona tattoo artist Hollis Cantrell.
All participants must be over the age of 18.
Ribbon tattoos cost $30 (or $20 between the slower hours of 1 to 6 a.m.), an off-the-street savings of almost 500 percent. Though walk-ins are welcome and encouraged, interested parties can e-mail tatsforacause@yahoo.com to schedule an appointment. It all goes down at Freaky’s, 5701 East Colfax Avenue. Get more information at www.freakys.com or by calling 303-765-2628.
Considering Halloween is my favorite holiday of all times I thought I would share with you all it’s origin and traditions.
ANCIENT ORIGINS
Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).
The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.
During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.
The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of “bobbing” for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.
By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints’ Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints’, All Saints’, and All Souls’, were called Hallowmas.
HALLOWEEN COMES TO AMERICA
As European immigrants came to America, they brought their varied Halloween customs with them. Because of the rigid Protestant belief systems that characterized early New England, celebration of Halloween in colonial times was extremely limited there.
It was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies. As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups, as well as the American Indians, meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included “play parties,” public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, dance, and sing. Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making of all kinds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing Ireland’s potato famine of 1846, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally. Taking from Irish and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition. Young women believed that, on Halloween, they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings, or mirrors.
In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers, than about ghosts, pranks, and witchcraft.
At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season, and festive costumes. Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything “frightening” or “grotesque” out of Halloween celebrations. Because of their efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century.
By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular, but community-centered holiday, with parades and town-wide parties as the featured entertainment. Despite the best efforts of many schools and communities, vandalism began to plague Halloween celebrations in many communities during this time. By the 1950s, town leaders had successfully limited vandalism and Halloween had evolved into a holiday directed mainly at the young. Due to the high numbers of young children during the fifties baby boom, parties moved from town civic centers into the classroom or home, where they could be more easily accommodated. Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration. In theory, families could also prevent tricks being played on them by providing the neighborhood children with small treats. A new American tradition was born, and it has continued to grow. Today, Americans spend an estimated $6.9 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country’s second largest commercial holiday.
TODAY’S TRADITIONS
The American tradition of “trick-or-treating” probably dates back to the early All Souls’ Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called “soul cakes” in return for their promise to pray for the family’s dead relatives.
The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred to as “going a-souling” was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given ale, food, and money.
The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween has both European and Celtic roots. Hundreds of years ago, winter was an uncertain and frightening time. Food supplies often ran low and, for the many people afraid of the dark, the short days of winter were full of constant worry. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter.
AROUND THE WORLD
Halloween, one of the world’s oldest holidays, is still celebrated today in several countries around the globe.
The autumn rite is commemorated in the United Kingdom, although with a surprising and distinctive British twist. In Mexico, Latin America, and Spain, All Souls’ Day, the third day of the three-day Hallowmas observance, is the most important part of the celebration for many people. In Ireland and Canada, Halloween, which was once a frightening and superstitious time of year, is celebrated much as it is here in the United States, with trick-or-treating, costume parties, and fun for all ages.
EL DIA DE LOS MUERTOS
In Mexico, Latin America, and Spain, All Souls’ Day, which takes place on November 2, is commemorated with a three-day celebration that begins on the evening of October 31. The celebration is designed to honor the dead who, it is believed, return to their earthly homes on Halloween. Many families construct an altar to the dead in their homes to honor deceased relatives and decorate it with candy, flowers, photographs, samples of the deceased’s favorite foods and drinks, and fresh water. Often, a wash basin and towel are left out so that the spirit can wash before indulging in the feast.
Candles and incense are burned to help the deceased find the way home. Relatives also tidy the gravesites of their departed family members. This can include snipping weeds, making repairs, and painting. The grave is then decorated with flowers, wreaths, or paper streamers. On November 2, relatives gather at the gravesite to picnic and reminisce. Some gatherings even include tequila and a mariachi band! Celebrations honoring departed loved ones and family members are found as far back as ancient Egyptian times.
GUY FAWKES DAY
On the evening of November 5, bonfires are lit throughout England. Effigies are burned and fireworks are set off. Although it falls around the same time and has some similar traditions, this celebration has little to do with Halloween or the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. The English, for the most part, stopped celebrating Halloween as Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation began to spread. As followers of the new religion did not believe in saints, they had no reason to celebrate the eve of All Saints’ Day. However, a new autumn ritual did emerge. Guy Fawkes Day festivities were designed to commemorate the execution of a notorious English traitor, Guy Fawkes.
On November 5, 1606, Fawkes was executed after being convicted of attempting to blow up England’s parliament building. Fawkes was a member of a Catholic group who wanted to remove the Protestant King James from power. The original Guy Fawkes Day was celebrated right after his execution. The first bonfires, which were called “bone fires,” were set up to burn effigies and symbolic “bones” of the Catholic pope. It was not until two centuries later that effigies of the pope were replaced with those of Guy Fawkes. In addition to making effigies to be burned in the fires, children in some parts of England also walk the streets carrying an effigy or “guy” and ask for “a penny for the guy,” although they keep the money for themselves. This is as close to the American practice of “trick-or-treating” as can be found in England today. Guy Fawkes Day was even celebrated by the pilgrims at the first settlement at Plymouth. However, as the young nation began to develop its own history, Guy Fawkes was celebrated less frequently and eventually died out.
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
In Ireland, where Halloween originated, the day is still celebrated much as it is in the United States. In rural areas, bonfires are lit as they were in the days of the Celts, and all over the country, children get dressed up in costumes and spend the evening “trick-or-treating” in their neighborhoods. After trick-or-treating, most people attend parties with neighbors and friends. At the parties, many games are played, including “snap-apple,” a game in which an apple on a string is tied to a doorframe or tree and players attempt to bite the hanging apple. In addition to bobbing for apples, parents often arrange treasure hunts, with candy or pastries as the “treasure.” The Irish also play a card game where cards are laid face down on a table with candy or coins underneath them. When a child chooses a card, he receives whatever prize is found below it.
A traditional food eaten on Halloween is barnbrack, a kind of fruitcake that can be bought in stores or baked at home. A muslin-wrapped treat is baked inside the cake that, it is said, can foretell the eater’s future. If a ring is found, it means that the person will soon be wed; a piece of straw means that a prosperous year is on its way. Children are also known to play tricks on their neighbors, such as “knock-a-dolly,” a prank in which children knock on the doors of their neighbors, but run away before the door is opened.
Source from: http://www.history.com/content/halloween/real-story-of-halloween
With Halloween just around the corner I thought I would post the Top 10 Halloween costumes for 2009 (if you want to be original then stay far far away from this list!).
List of the top ten Halloween Costumes for 2009
With this year’s many events, great losses and historical makings it’s not hard to come with up with what kid’s will be wearing this year on the day of the dead.
Top ten kid’s costumes:
1.
Michael Jackson (was there any doubt?)
2.
Barack Obama
3.
Transformers
4.
G.I. Joe
5.
Hannah Montana
6.
Tinker-bell and friends
7.
Spiderman
8.
Harry Potter and friends
9.
American Girl Characters
10.
Ironman
Dressing your kids up and taking the around the block, too families and friends and too carnivals can be fun for the kids and even a little fun for the parents. But this list is for those of you who want to get out there and win the 2009 costume contest!
Top ten adult costumes:
1.
Michael Jackson
2.
French Maid
3.
Vampire
4.
Fairy
5.
Gangster
6.
Pimp
7.
School girl
8.
Mermaid
9.
Naughty Nurse
10.
Devil
No costume list could be complete without a couples list, so here you go.
Top ten couple’s costumes:
1.
Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley
2.
Fred Flintstone and Wilma Flintstone
3.
Romeo and Juliet
4.
Cop and robber
5.
Plug and socket
6.
Popeye and Olive Oil
7.
Batman and Sexy Robin
8.
Doctor and Naughty Nurse
9.
Little red riding hood and wolf
10.
Dracula and Vampirella
And finally one last lovable member of the family has his or her pick of a top ten Howl-o-ween costume!
Top ten pet costumes:
1.
Devil
2.
Pirate
3.
Pumpkin
4.
Biker
5.
Chile pepper
6.
Prisoner
7.
Bee
8.
Zorro
9.
Hot Dog
10.
Sailor
There you have it. Top ten list for everyone in your family!
List courtesy of http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2091015/list_of_the_top_ten_halloween_costumes.html
The Orionid meteor shower is expected to put on a good show tonight into the predawn hours Wednesday, weather permitting.
This annual meteor shower is created when Earth passes through trails of comet debris left in space long ago by Halley’s Comet. The “shooting stars” develop when bits typically no larger than a pea , and mostly sand-grain-sized, vaporize in Earth’s upper atmosphere.
“Flakes of comet dust hitting the atmosphere should give us dozens of meteors per hour,” said Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office.
People in cities and suburbs will see far fewer meteors, because all but the brightest of them will be overpowered by light pollution. The best view will be from rural areas (the moon will not be a factor, so dark skies will make for ideal viewing).
When and how to watch
The best time to watch will be between 1 a.m. and dawn local time Wednesday morning, regardless of your location. That’s when the patch of Earth you are standing on is barreling headlong into space on Earth’s orbital track, and meteors get scooped up like bugs on a windshield.
Peak activity, when Earth wades into the densest part of the debris, is expected around 6 a.m. ET (3 a.m. PT).
Some meteors could show up late tonight, too. Late-night viewing typically offers fewer meteors, however, because your patch of Earth is positioned akin to the back window of the speeding car.
The Orionids have been strong in recent years.
“Since 2006, the Orionids have been one of the best showers of the year, with counts of 60 or more meteors per hour,” Cooke said.
Some of those counts come in flurries, so skywatchers should find a comfortable spot with as wide a view of the sky as possible. Lie back and allow 15 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the darkness, then give the show at least a half hour to play out through spurts and lulls. Meteors could appear anywhere in the sky, though traced back they will appear to emanate from the constellation Orion.
Telescopes and binoculars are of no use, because meteors move too quickly. Extra warm clothing is a must, and a blanket and pillow or lounge chair allows comfortable positioning so you can look up for long stretches.
Reliable event
Predicting meteor showers is tricky because the debris comes from multiple streams.
Each time comet Halley passes around the sun on its elongated orbit – every 76 years – it lays down a fresh track of debris for Earth to plow through in subsequent years. Those tracks spread out and mingle over time, and we pass the tracks each October during our 365-day, nearly circular trek around the sun.
Japanese researchers Mikiya Sato and Jun-ichi Watanabe say activity in recent years is related to debris put in place from 1266 BC to 911 BC, and this could be another good year, according to NASA.
Even if that prediction does not hold, the Orionids will almost surely put on a decent show. Prior to 2006 and going back many years, the Orionids have produced a reliable 15 to 20 meteors per hour at the peak, for skywatchers with dark skies.
As a bonus, this time of year you can expect an additional five to 10 sporadic meteors per hour – those not related to the shower.
Original Story: Get Out: Orionid Meteor Shower Peaks Overnight
Glossary of meteor terms
Fireball: A bright meteor with an apparent visual magnitude of -4 mag. or brighter.
Limiting Magnitude: Generally denotes the faintest star visible during an observation and evaluates the quality of the sky as well as the observing technique. The magnitude of the faintest meteor visible can be different from the stellar limiting magnitude, particularly for photographic and video observations. Visual observations assume about the same limiting magnitudes for stars and meteors.
Magnitude: The brightness of stars and other celestial objects. Smaller numbers are brighter (negative numbers are the brightest). The scale assumes dark skies. Venus is -4.4, and the faintest star visible to the naked eye is about +6.0.
Meteor: The light phenomenon which results from the entry into the Earth’s atmosphere of a solid particle from space.
Meteorite: A natural object of extraterrestrial origin (meteoroid) that survives passage through the atmosphere and hits the ground.
Meteoroid: A solid object moving in interplanetary space, of a size considerably smaller than a asteroid and considerably larger than an atom or molecule.
Meteoroid Stream: Stream of solid particles released from a parent body such as a comet or asteroid, moving on similar orbits. Various ejection directions and velocities for individual meteoroids cause the width of a stream and the gradual distribution of meteoroids over the entire average orbit.
Meteor Shower: A number of meteors with approximately parallel trajectories. The meteors belonging to one shower appear to emanate from their radiant.
Micrometeorite: A small extraterrestrial particle that has survived entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. The actual size is not rigorously constrained but is operationally defined by the collection procedure. Micrometeorites found on the Earth’s surface are smaller than 1mm, those collected in the Stratosphere are rarely as large as 50 micro-m.
Radiant: The point in the sky where meteors from a specific shower seem to come from. (Technically: The point where the backward projection of the meteor trajectory intersects the celestial sphere.)
Sporadic Meteors: Those not associated with a particular meteor shower.
UT, or Universal Time, is 5 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, and 4 hours ahead of the East Coast during Daylight Savings Time. UT is the same as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), the 0 hour beginning at Greenwich mean midnight.
Zenith: The point in celestial sphere directly overhead from an observer.
ZHR (Zenith Hourly Rate): The number of shower meteors per hour one observer would see if his limiting magnitude is 6.5 magnitude and the radiant is in his zenith.
SOURCE FOR GLOSSARY: International Meteor Organization
Hot on the heels of its knockout earnings report from last night, Apple is seizing more attention today with a significant upgrade to its consumer PC lines, specifically the entry-level MacBook, the iMac, and the Mac Mini.
Here’s the rundown:
The MacBook has been redesigned with a new polycarbonate shell, which has a unibody design similar to that of the Aluminum unibody found on the MacBook Pro. It has a new look, with rounded edges, has a seven-hour battery that’s built in, just like on the MacBook Pro. It also has an LED screen, which gives the entire Apple notebook line backlit LED-based displays, which I think is new. Its microprocessor is an Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.26 GHz and hard drive space starts at 250GB. Price: Still $999.
The iMac is getting a major face lift. It too has LED-based displays of sizes of 21.5 inches and an impressive 27-inches. In fact the only non-LED based display in Apple’s line-up is the 30-inch LCD screen still offered. Apple VP Phil Schiller told me last night that getting an LED screen of that size is no small feat, so don’t expect an LED replacement right away.
The 21.5-inch model is a classic consumer design, sporting chips from Intel running at 3.06 GHz and 3.33 GHz. It will sport Intel Core 2 Duos at speeds of 3.06 GHZ and 3.33 GHz. Graphics options include the Nvidia GeForce 9400M or the ATI Radeon 4670. There’s support for up to 16 GB of RAM, and up to 2 terabytes of hard drive capacity. The starting price ranges: $1,199 to $1,499.
The 27-inch model is something else entirely. It’s aimed at the professional who might otherwise buy a Mac Pro, but who wants an iMac, because they look better. I saw the screen on this monster last night and it’s really impressive in person. It starts at $1,699, but there’s another model that has a quad-core Intel Core i5 chip, that starts at $1,999, and which won’t ship until November.
The entire iMac line will ship with a new mouse, dubbed Magic Mouse that replicates the multi-touch surface found on Apple notebooks, and which supports the same two-finger gesture movements for scrolling up and down and for moving back and forth between Web pages. Both iMac models will also have slots for SD cards, typically used in digital cameras. I generally wasn’t crazy on the whole multi-touch touchpad thing on notebooks, that is until I bought a MacBook Pro over the summer.
While I still tend to use a traditional two-button mouse more often than not, I like the touchpad a lot more than I ever expected to and use it more often than before. So if you like that touchpad, and even if you like a two-button mouse, then you’re going to love the Magic Mouse, because it gives you the best aspects of both. You can make the same two-finger gestures for scrolling and snapping back and forth between pages, but also, you can configure the mouse to recognize the “right click” found on a traditional mouse, as the click toward the right side of the mouse. Yes it looks a little weird when you first see it — its very thin and smooth — but I think it’s going to be very popular. Also, both the Magic Mouse, and the default keyboard that ship with the iMac are wireless.
Finally, the Mac Mini, much loved, but always rumored to be due for retirement, got some love today too. The new entry-level Mini still sells for $599 and sports a new 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo chip, an Nvidia Geforce 9400M graphics card and a 160-gigabyte hard drive. A second model priced at $799 boosts the performance on the Intel chip to 2.53 GHz and the hard drive space to 320 GB.
As many probably already know, it turns out that many Mac Mini owners use their machines as inexpensive servers. Seeing an opportunity — Apple’s Xserve professional server line starts at $2,999 – Apple has launched a Mac Mini server for $999. The target Schiller says is small businesses for whom an XServe would be too expensive, as well as enthusiast consumers looking for an inexpensive, small-footprint media server server to share files around the house. The server has the same dimensions as the traditional Mac Mini, and supports storage capacity as high as One terabyte, but lacks an optical drive. It ships with a server version of Apple’s Snow Leopard operating system.
Source from: http://blogs.businessweek.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/15846.1259612849
Google Wave, the search engine giant’s real-time collaboration platform, began rolling out to 100,000 new users Sept. 30 as an extended preview. The platform combines e-mail, instant messaging and wiki-like document and file sharing with social networking features. Many of those new users included luminary bloggers such as Robert Scoble, and the early reports are rolling in. It’s too early to judge Wave yet, but it’s clear that the HTML 5-based platform has a number of issues that need to be addressed, from missing features to concerns about Wave’s infrastructure. But perhaps the biggest challenges are the learning curves associated with using Wave—it’s quite chaotic—as well as the potential for crashing users’ productivity parties.
10-Don’t Believe the Hype
Wave is not the new killer Internet application. It is not a replacement for Twitter, FriendFeed or Facebook. It’s instant messaging and distributed editing in real time—collaboration on steroids, perhaps, but not the new Twitter.
9-It’s Total Chaos!
If you’ve used Wave, then this is just preaching to the choir. Imagine being able to see what multiple writings at the same time looks like—several cursors zipping across the screen. Instead of the one-to-one communications mode of IM, Wave is many-to-many.
8-Learning Curve
Because Wave is so confusing, it will take some time for people to learn how to use it. This isn’t like Twitter, where you can pick up and just run with it. Reading, grokking and working in Waves will take time. Users will have to exhibit patience.
7-Socially Inept
The “social” features in Wave are lacking. Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn and other social sites, you can’t see profile biographies or real names, or even manage Wave users and group them. It’s one, big free-for-all. This wouldn’t work for a project management effort.
6-Chaos Breeds Confusion
While we’re learning how to Wave, we’re all going to be really unproductive. Scoble was spot on. This chaos can lead to serious productivity breakdowns. Moreover, unlike e-mail, new Wave content can appear deep down in the in-box.
5-What?! No Draft Mode?
Welcome to Wave’s Wild West, where everyone is typing at the same time. Wave needs a draft mode so you can type without people seeing you. This will eliminate the distracting cursor pulses.
4-You Don’t Need Permission
Anybody can become a Wave contact without permission. In other words, if someone has your user IDs, they can add you to Wave. That needs to change. There need to be permissions.
3-Where’s the Sheriff?
Not only are there no permissions, but once a Wave is released to the wild, there is no control over it, no one to manage it. Wave might benefit from some Wikipedia-type editorship.
2-Document Format Is XML, Not HTML
Some geeks take issue with the fact that the document format in Wave is based on XML, not HTML so everyone can display it. This will make it more challenging for developers to build other presentation layers on top of the Wave platform.
1-Greed Is Not Good
People are actually bidding on eBay over Wave invites. That’s right. When asked why, eWEEK was informed that it’s a developer thing. The first programmers to learn about Wave can win the race to build the most useful apps on it. Unhealthy competition?
Source from: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Messaging-and-Collaboration/Top-10-Complaints-About-Google-Wave-502278/