Archive for December, 2008

Windows on a Mac

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
Windows XP

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Windows On Mac: With Virtualization Software, A New Ballgame

By Rob Pegoraro The Washington Post
December 15, 2008

When Apple announced in 2005 that it would switch to Intel processors in its Macs, it never mentioned one of the biggest improvements this shift would bring. Intel’s chips have been faster and more efficient — but they’ve also allowed Macs to run Windows as well as, or better than, any PC.

The usual way to do this is with the Boot Camp software Apple includes with the latest version of Mac OS X, which will carve off a partition from your hard drive, help you install a copy of Windows XP or Vista, and then let you choose which operating system to run each time your Mac boots up.

But with the right “virtualization” software, you don’t have to choose: Windows can be just another window on the Mac desktop.

Mac users now have three options for this job, all recently updated: VMware’s Fusion 2.0 (vmware.com/products/fusion) and Parallels’ Parallels Desktop 4 (parallels.com/desktop), both $79.99, and Sun Microsystems‘ free-for-personal-use VirtualBox 2.0 (virtualbox.org). All of these programs require a Mac with an Intel processor, the faster the better. They also all recommend or require a gigabyte of memory, but you’ll be a lot happier with the results if you have 2 GB or more.

All three involve the same basic setup. After installing the virtualization program, you create a “virtual machine” — a special file that, from the inside, looks like a PC’s hard drive — and install Windows itself. (Or you can install Linux or another operating system, but that can be trickier.) Once you boot up that copy of Windows, they prompt you to install a helper program that makes Windows feel more at home inside a Mac and allows you to move data between Mac OS X and Windows.

All three programs ran copies of Windows XP and Vista on a pair of MacBook laptops (one dating to this summer, one the newer model introduced this fall) at an impressive speed; windows and menus snapped open and non-graphics-intensive programs launched about as briskly as you’d expect on any random PC.

Instead, most of their differences surfaced at the first and last steps of that setup routine. Compared to the free VirtualBox, Fusion and Parallels provide more ways to put a copy of Windows on a Mac and make it far easier to swap files between the two operating systems.

Both Fusion and Parallels not only let you install a fresh copy of Windows, but can run — without rebooting — a copy of Windows installed earlier via Boot Camp. They can also run virtual machines created with other virtualization programs, although this can require an intimidating degree of fiddling with file-import settings.

In addition, Fusion and Parallels can migrate a copy of Windows from a “real” PC. Fusion allowed me to move over a Windows XP installation on an external hard drive, while Parallels required a slower transfer over a local network. Both migrations yielded virtual-machine files that required extra processing on arrival, but this added step took at least an hour longer in Parallels.

Fusion and Parallels each made almost all of a Mac’s components usable inside Windows; for example, a MacBook’s iSight webcam worked correctly in the Skype Internet-calling program. But this hardware help comes to a halt when you start playing with rich, 3D graphics. Neither program can run nearly as many games as Boot Camp, and neither could display Windows Vista’s transparent Aero interface.

These two virtualization programs also let you drag and drop files from Mac folders to Windows directories and move CDs or USB flash drives from Mac to Windows environments with a click of a toolbar icon.

Parallels, however, goes further in melding these two worlds — maybe too far. It normally runs in a “Coherence” mode that overlaps Mac and Windows parts on top of each other, leaving the Windows taskbar floating on top of Mac OS X’s Dock, with the Windows Start menu floating off to one side. The results looked, well, incoherent. Parallels also maps your Mac home folders to the equivalent Windows user directories so that you see the same set of files in each place, which was also confusing at first.

VirtualBox does much less than either Fusion or Parallels. This jargon-rich application essentially requires you to pay in time or expertise instead of money as you work around issues such as its failure to enable audio and USB support by default and its painfully wonky behavior with flash drives and CDs. Some of VirtualBox’s problems can only be fixed by an improved release: It doesn’t let you drag and drop files from Mac to PC, its shared-folders option is horribly awkward to set up, and it couldn’t play a high-definition QuickTime video without stuttering.

But VirtualBox did use less memory than the others, and it is, of course, free. It could suffice if you only need to run one or two Windows programs — a likely scenario for many Windows-to-Mac switchers.

The most likely scenario, however, may be this: A Windows user buys a Mac and doesn’t plan to run any more Windows programs, but can sleep better at night knowing this option exists, just in case things ever change.

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Iphone… nano?

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

Another blog is reporting that there may be an even tinier iphone in the works – an iphone nano.

iPhone nano Revealed by a 3rd Party Case?

Ever since Apple announced the original iPhone, we believed that it would create an iPhone nano at some point. It would be smaller, less expensive but unlike what we originally thought, it would most likely retain most of the same functionalities (applications compatibility).

The current rumor is based on a case design from XSKN that found its way to the web. This is not much to speculate on, but the idea of seeing Apple go after a mass-market is interesting, but not unexpected.

What’s your take on this? Will this be an iPhone nano or a small iPod touch or both? Or do you think that this is just vapor? More images here

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itunes application store downloading 2 million apps per day

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
App Store

Image via Wikipedia

Apple’s App store is seeing more than 2 million applications downloads everyday. Even though people thought that the initial swell in applications downloads would eventually top off and slow down, the App Store is actually seeing more traffic flow than before.

It was not long ago that Apple advertised claims of 300 million downloads since the App Store opened. Just back on October 22nd Apple announced the 200 million download mark. At this rate, who knows when the daily downloads will start to peak? As more and more users download premium applications, Apple will see its residual iPhone income increase.

“It’s unbelievable,” says Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster. “It’s a differentiator. We think in ‘09, it’s going to be a $1 billion market place and Apple will probably take about 30 percent of that. There’s virtually no operating expense for them. They just approve the apps.” Apple now has the most robust andintegrated software and media platform in the mobile world with over 10,000 applications to choose from.

[Via CNBC]

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Walmart to sell Apple iPhone

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
Image representing iPhone as depicted in Crunc...

Image via CrunchBase, source unknown

December 8, 2008 (Computerworld) Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will begin selling Apple Inc.’s iPhone later this month, employees at several stores in the discount retail chain said today.

Wal-Mart’s corporate headquarters, however, would not confirm that the company will sell the iconic iPhone. A spokeswoman said only that “we are not making an official announcement at this time.”

Over the weekend, reports surfaced claiming that Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in U.S., would soon sell one or more models of the iPhone. On Saturday, for example, the San Jose Mercury News cited managers and employees at stores in Northern California who said that they were undergoing sales training and that the iPhone would be on store shelves either shortly before or right after Christmas.

Today, employees at several stores in Oregon confirmed that Wal-Mart would sell the iPhone but that it would not be available before Christmas. “No, not before Christmas, after,” said an employee at a Eugene, Ore., store.

“Closer to the end of the year is what we’ve been told,” said an employee at a store in the Portland, Ore., area.

The Wal-Mart workers said that they didn’t know what Wal-Mart would be charging for the iPhone. Apple currently sells two models: an 8GB version for $199, and a 16GB device for $299.

Last week, separate reports surfaced that Wal-Mart would sell a 4GB model for just $99.

“I discounted these reports,” said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst at Technology Business Research Inc., “because if they were going to do it, they would do it before Christmas. But if Wal-Mart does sell the iPhone, it’s simply another way for Apple to deliver it. The [contract] obligation will be the same,” he said, referring to the two-year commitment consumers must make with AT&T Inc., the exclusive mobile carrier for the iPhone in the U.S.

Gottheil didn’t think that moving into Wal-Mart — known for its deep discounts — would affect Apple’s reputation, which is at the other end of the pricing spectrum. “Wal-Mart sells iPods, don’t they?” he asked. “I don’t see this changing the Apple image. I don’t see it terribly much affecting Apple one way or the other.”

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But assuming it’s on the level, the move is proof of Apple’s seriousness about the mobile market, Gottheil argued. “Apple really wants to be a very significant mobile phone provider, and this would be another [sales] outlet.”

According to research firm Gartner Inc., Apple was the world’s third-largest smart phone seller in the third quarter of 2008, accounting for an estimated 13% of all sales. Nokia Corp. and Research In Motion Ltd. ranked first and second, respectively, with 42% and 16% of the market during the three-month period that ended Sept. 30.

“But I wouldn’t rule out a $99 iPhone,” said Gottheil. “If the current 8GB model brings in $587 to Apple, which is our estimate, then they would probably be willing to go as low as $487 for a 4GB iPhone. The puzzle to me is, will people buy it, knowing what the commitment [cost] is?”

At the moment, iPhones are sold at Apple’s own retail stores, in AT&T’s stores and at Best Buy Co., which began selling the devices in early September.

A month later, Apple announced that it had sold 6.9 million iPhones during the months of July, August and September, nearly seven times the number it sold during the same quarter in 2007.


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