MacCast 01.04.2007 - Show #172
Media/Links
V Opening
V Opening Music
* Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
* Mandaandthemarbles.com
www.mandaandthemarbles.com
V News
V A very merry Christmas for Apple
* According to a Hitwise, Apple's iTunes Music Store received 413 percent more hits on Christmas day this year than last year.
* And according to their Retail Index the Apple Store was the 4th most visited website on Christmas Day with 100% increase in traffic over last year.
* Goldman Sachs analyst David Bailey predicts Apple will announce sales of 1.8 million Macs for the 4th Quarter of 2006. 1.1 million being notebooks.
V Month of patches for 'Month of Apple Bugs'
* Security researcher is revealing a Mac OS X bug a day along with proof of concept code.
* The first was a vulnerability in the QuickTime rstp URL handler
* Second bug is actually a VLC format string vulnerability (not technically an "Apple' bug. But the team already has the fix committed to the source code so it should be out in a future version.
* Former Apple BSD Technology Group engineer, Landon Fuller has vowed to provide fixes for the exploits.
MoAB Fixes
V Steve Jobs did (or didn't) know about backdating
* Kinda missed the whole scandal, but to summarize.
* Rumors that an investigation could implicate CEO Steve Jobs in the stock option backdating.
* Allegedly, Jobs was given 7.5 million stock options in 2001 without the required authorization from the company’s board of directors.
* Apple's internal investigation said Jobs was aware of some backdating. Didn't understand the financial implications of backdating and never exercised the options.
* Not sure what happened, as I thought we had covered it already.
* Apple's 10-Q filing supported the original findings and concluded there was no wrongdoing on the part of current Apple management.
* Apple found that 6,428 grants on 42 dates during the period between October 1996 and January 2003 were not properly recorded. 35,649 other grants issued during the same timeframe were fine.
* Apple will restate financial data going back to 2002 and take an $84 million charge.
* May not be over as the feds are still looking. A Wall Street Journal article says Steve, 'recommended the selection of some favorable grant dates', but not for the options he was granted. Pixar also seems to be under investigation for issues while Steve was CE), but he did not receive any of those options.
V Apple and others sued over digital distribution technology
* Intertainer has filed a lawsuit against filed a lawsuit against Apple, Google and Napster saying their movie, tv and other media download services infringe on Intertainers patents for distributing digital media over the Internet
* Intertainer, which began in 1996, developed technology for using cable and phone lines to distribute movies on-demand to computers and televisions.
* They shut down in 2002, suing the studios backing Movielink, the digital download service, for allegedly engaging in anti-competitive behavior. The suit was settled for a unknown amount.
* Intertainer seems to now be an IP company.
V Feedback, Comments and Commentary
V Bond-eye, not Bond-ee
* I mispronounced the color of the original iMac, which was named for the water color at a popular beach in the suburb of Bondi, New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.
* Thanks to all those down under who let me know.
V Macworld predictions and thoughts
V iPhone (iPod Mobile)
* 4GB and 8GB Flash (Nano with a phone). USD $299.00 and $449.00.
* Seamless syncing, iLife Integration (iTunes, iPhoto), iChat support. Bluetooth and possible Wi-Fi support for VOIP (Skype?).
* Slideout keypad. 2 batteries/1 charger.
* CDMA or GSM? MVNO, stand alone or service partner?
V iTV
* No power brick, 802.11 Wi-Fi. Likely N, USB2, Ethernet, HDMI connector, Component video (RGB), Analog audio (RCA), Optical audio, Remote. USD $299.00
* HD Supported?
* Hard Drive, Flash (buffer). PVR capabilities
* Real names, MacTV, iTheater, Showtime, iHD, all trademarked?
* More movie studios selling content in iTunes? Better quality? HD?
* Movie rental service?
* Running a slimmed down OS X
* Software quality controls issues may delay the release to late January or early February
* Speculation Microsoft may use CES to introduce an ITV competitor. Vista Media Center based, XBox 360 integration, no details on hardware specs.
V Updated Mac Pro
* Dual Quad Core 2.0 GHz Xeon "Octo Mac"
V Leopard
* Demo some new features
* Finder enhancements/ Tabs?
* Resolution Independence, OpenGL and Quicktime enhancements, ZFS Filesystem (no), XAR Package format.
* Shipping end of May or early June 2007
V iLife '07
* Updates and enhancements
* iWeb 2.0
* Music subscriptions on iTunes?
V iWork '07
* Addition of Charts? Numbers trademark was withdrawn. Spreadsheet and slimmed down DB based on Filemaker?
* Updates to Pages and Keynote
V Updated displays
* built-in iSights
* Brighter, 20", 24" and 30". Lower prices? Dell 27" is rumored. (24', 27" 32")?
* HDMI interface?
* 40" or 50"?
* Core 2 Duo Mac mini
* New AirPort – 802.11n
* Xserve, Quad core?
V Other new hardware?
* Updated Mac Book Pros or Mac Books?
* Larger capacity for iPod and iPod nano?
* More (product) RED products?
* New stand-alone iSight?
V True Video iPod
* Full screen with touch sensitive controls or bezel
* Jobs is said to be waiting to gauge success of iTunes Movies and iTV.
V Ultra-portable notebook
* Super-thin, full-featured
* 12" widescreen (1280x800)
* Tablet mode?
V Closing
V Meet and Mingle at Macworld
* Meet. Thursday night 6:00 PM at the Apple Store San Francisco with your favorite podcasts and discussing the best announcements from the show floor.
V A who's who of Mac podcasters
* Adam Christianson, MacCast
* Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Scott Borne, MacBreak
* Ken Ray, Mac OS Ken
* Merlin Mann, 43 Folders
* Todd Maffin, CBC Radio (Canada)
* Dave Hamilton, Mac Geek / Mac Observer (maybe)
* Bill Palmer, iProng
* Chris Christensen, Amateur Traveler
* Shelly Brisbin, Shelly's Podcast
* Mingle. Party beginning at 8:00 PM at Jillian's in the Metreon. Co-hosted by Deb Shadovitz, from Mac Efficiency. Sponsored by RadTech, Teach Mac,iProng, Now Software, DealMac , MacSpeech,Thoughout.biz, TypeIt4Me , Circus Ponies , and Macworld.
V Visit the website
* Show notes.
* Maccast RSS Blog Feed
Maccast Blog RSS
* Maccast Dashboard Widget
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V Two feeds, one Maccast
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Maccast (Enhanced)
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Maccast (MP3)
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V Keep emails coming. Audio comments.
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V 206-222-2788 (20-MACCAST-8)
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* MacCast Forum
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DIGG Podcasts
V Audio feedback and comments
* Normally I would play a new music track, but I wanted to share some voicemail with you.
* Play comment from Brad, A case for Apple Care
* Play comment from Lon