This morning’s announcement of the new G5 iMac was, well, expected and overdue (especially since we knew the iMac supply chain dried up months ago). The new design looks great and I hope it brings lots more Mac users into the fold and makes Apple scads more cash. But one thing that seems like a glaring miscue is that AirPort cards and Bluetooth continue to be options. Why?

Apple’s mantra for the past year or so has been “wireless-this” and “wireless-that”, and you’d think that AirPort and Bluetooth are vital a parts of that chant. We have Bluetooth keyboards and mice, the AirPort Extreme Base Station, and the new AirPort Express for streaming music or extending your Base Station’s range. And it’s hard to find a cell phone or PDA these days that doesn’t have Bluetooth inside. Apple has continually set the bar high when it comes to hardware, and integrating standard “features” that everyone wants and expects in a desktop computer. You know, basic things like audio in/out, built-in CD/DVD drives, Ethernet, USB, FireWire.

So why not AirPort (802.11b/g wireless) and Bluetooth?

I realize that the iMac is Apple’s low-cost consumer model, and that they probably shaved a few bucks off the price by leaving out AirPort cards and Bluetooth modules, but since these are pretty much household terms these days, don’t you think it’s time to quit making them an option? (It can’t really cost Apple $50 to add Bluetooth when they’re already providing the slot, and they have the know-how to build-in Bluetooth with the work they’ve done on the Aluminum PowerBook line.)

Just imagine how sweet those pictures of the new G5 iMac would be if they didn’t have wires connecting the keyboard and mouse to the back of the unit. As someone who uses Apple’s Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, I can assure you they do a great job (and that I can have fun messing with my wife’s PowerBook from the living room when I steal her mouse).

Now close your eyes, and repeat these two words three times:

Wireless. Bluetooth.

Now run up to the rooftop and scream them in the direction of Cupertino. Maybe they’ll hear?

Power to the people; make mine wireless. Bring an end to the tether!

Should the new G5 iMac be an entirely wireless, no-option-required consumer Mac?

Related link: https://www.ovolab.com/phlink/

Ovolab’s Phlink 1.5 introduces a very intriguing “network Caller ID notification” feature that could be quite handy. Currently, I have incoming calls announced (using text-to-speech), but the audio is sometimes hard to hear if I have iTunes cranked up. Having Phlink pop-up a window with the notification, on every computer in the house, would be a nice alternative.

I’m hopeful, but reserve judgment because there isn’t much information about the details of how it works available. A message in the Phlink Forum says that a standalone receiver application is forthcoming. (Right now, you’d have to run the full Phlink package on every computer where you’d want to receive messages.)

There are a few other approaches that can deliver this today, but you’d have to knit some pieces together yourself. An AppleScript that calls LanOSD, for example. LanOSD displays network messages in a beautiful translucent overlay, if Phlink offers anything half as pretty it will be great.

AfterTen’s CIDTrackerX is another alternative. In fact, it supports several different protocols for broadcasting CallerID across the network, even to Windows and TiVo clients. If Phlink works with these protocols, integrating it into a similar setup should be a snap.

How’s it working for you?

Related link: https://www.apple.com/imac

The new iMac has it all. A G5 Processor and a stunning design. It is fascinating to look back at the evolution of the iMac design. The first, now famous, Bondi Blue iMac with its futuristic all-in-one design. Next the cube-like-base with a unique swivel arm holding a beautiful flat screen display. Now the display has become the computer, held by an elegant stand that also functions as an arm. Notice a trend? Everything revolves around the display.

The new iMac is a perfect machine for someone who wants it all, a computer and a display. But a lot of us have old monitors around and, believe it or not, are not obsessed with the clever integration of CPU and flat screen. For too long now Apple has not provided consumers with a computer without a display. For someone who wants to surf the web, check email, and organize his or her photos a G5 desktop is overkill. And for that same person who could be switching from a PC they probably just want a CPU to plug their current monitor into. Paying a premium for a flat-screen monitor with the CPU (albeit cleverly) integrated into a flat screen is money wasted.

I don’t mean to put a damper on the wonderful new iMac which, on screen anyway, looks like a winner. But Apple needs to look far back to the tradition of the Performa line. They were great machines that offered a slightly stripped down version of their more powerful cousins. And they didn’t come with a monitor.

Would you like a low-end Mac CPU with no monitor or is the iMac perfect as is?

Related link: https://www.apple.com/imac/

Apple announced the third generation Imac today in Paris at the Apple Expo. I definitely think the exterior design of it is a step down from the second generation. The second Imac’s adjustable display was simply beautiful — height, tilt, and angle adjustable. Still, the new one is nice, just not as nice in my opinion. It does contain some nice new technology. I’ve already spoken to another Mac user that plans to get himself one for Christmas — upgrading from a Titanium PowerBook.

It is good to see Apple sharing common technology between their professional and amateur class computers. The PowerMac and Imac now have the same processor, same stand (as the Apple Cinema Displays), same bus for the hard drive. It reduces the differences between computers which strangely makes it easier to decide between models. And it’s better for Apple to steal sales from themselves than to let another company do it.

What do you think of the new design inside and out?

I typically use a PC card adapter for uploading images to my PowerBook. It fits nicely in my bag and always seems to work without fail.

But a recent book project has forced me to test some new media readers, and one in particular has turned my head — the Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.0 15-in-1 Media Reader & Writer. Yes, that’s quite a lengthy title, but it does a lot of stuff.

It accepts just about every type of memory card on the planet. And in my case, since I use CF and SD cards, I can put one of each in the reader at the same time. The upload speed is incredible. The specs say “480Mbps — 40 times faster than USB 1.1 media readers.” Well, I’m not sure about 40 times faster in real life, but this thing smokes.

It’s also quite thin and doesn’t take up much room at all in my laptop case. No special drivers are required. My PowerBook has USB 2.0 built-in, and that’s all it needs. The only downside is the hefty USB cord that accompanies it. I tried substituting one of my Zip-Linq retractable cords, but the Belkin didn’t like it and wouldn’t mount on the Mac. So for now, I’m stuck with the hefty cord.

Cord issues aside, I’m really hooked on this $49 device. I just love watching it drain a 512MB card in no time at all.

Enthusiasm for all things digital media are on the upswing here at O’Reilly. For me, it started a few years ago with coauthoring iPhoto: The Missing Manual. As soon as we finished that, O’Reilly asked me to work on the Digital Photography Pocket Guide, which is now in its second edition and selling stronger than ever.

Since then, we’ve added lots of great authors to the catalog, including Deke McClelland and Ken Milburn. As these books began to roll off the presses, we realized that we didn’t have anywhere to congergate as a community. Ken’s articles landed on our Web DevCenter, mine on Mac DevCenter, and others wherever we thought they fit best.

We’ve now put an end to that nonsense and have launched our Digital Media site — brand new and built from the ground up. I’ll do my best to temper my excitement as I describe it to you, but it won’t be easy.

The site will unfold in three phases. The first is digital photography, and that’s live now. Soon we’ll add the digital audio component (we’re working on that as you read this), and the final phase will be graphic design. I’m also looking at digital video, but haven’t quite got my arms around our approach to that yet. More to report later.

Site Highlights

The primary features of the digital media site now include:

• Photographer of the Month — An important function of this site is to give innovative photographers a place to display their work. Personally, I’m inspired by looking at pictures that go beyond what I would normally shoot. I hope these portfolios will have the same effect on you. Our first featured photographer is the incomparable Julian Cash.
• Industry News — Every day we’ll post the latest in camera releases, new software, events, and other happenings in the world of digital photography. The News section is above the fold and easy to find.
• Digital Media Services Directory — Our production team has constructed a beautiful and functional directory for you to list your services and to find what other digital artists are doing. It only takes minutes to become a part of this directory, and I encourage you to do so today.
• Feature Articles and Tutorials — How do you leverage your tools to make your vision happen? Our featured articles and tutorials will help you become a better technician, and ultimately a more engaging artist.
• Weblogs — It wouldn’t be a community without a place for us to post our late night discoveries. This site gives us the opportunity to add a new dimension to our blogging line up.

How to Contribute

The first place to start is to enter a listing in the Digital Media Services Directory. Then, you might want to contact us about writing articles, weblogs, or showing off your work as our featured photographer. Simply drop a line to and tell us what’s on your mind.

Once you take a look at this site, I think you’ll see why I’m so fired up about it. The design is absolutely beautiful, the content will be compelling, and you’ll have the opportunity to meet new artists and technicians.

And if I’ve overlooked something, let me know. I want this site to reach its fullest potential.

Related link: https://features.engadget.com/entry/1253716493759137/

On Engadget, Phillip Torrone provides step-by-step instructions for creating 3D photos (the kind that can be viewed with red and blue glasses) using an ordinary camera and photoshop.

Related link: https://www.mac.com/1/iTour/tour_antivirus.html

As most .Mac members now know, McAfee recently released a new version of Virex, called (unsurprisingly) Virex 7.5. Under this simple version change hides a profound transformation though: the previously effective but slightly rustic application now features weekly eUpdates and background scanning, two much asked for features.

I have played a bit with the new Virex and thought that I should share my observations with those of you who might be interested.

First of all, allow me to say that I have always been a Virex fan. Of course, it is not perfect but, when considering the harm that a few competitive applications can do, I am ready to sacrifice a few features for a more effective and less intrusive engine. Despite my positive feelings for the technology though, I had to admit that McAfee probably did not invest too much into the product as a whole, releasing an application that has always felt slightly rough around the edges and lacked some help files or documentation — which is never too good for an anti-virus application.

Virex 7.5 solves many of my previous concerns : it is obvious that some work went into the interface that remains “light” (compared to competitors) but pleasant to look at, and provides a much more Mac-like experience by providing timely feedback to its user. It also roughly follows the Apple-provided guidelines which, coming from McAfee surprised me quite a lot!

The paper documentation has also been entirely rewritten and localized (I had a quick look at the French files and they appear well written), which will be of a great help to new users. Getting started with Virex is now easy to do and users who need help with an issue will find a shoulder to lean on — it would be even better if error messages weren’t cryptic but some could argue that this cryptic side is part of the anti-virus experience.

Technologically speaking, one can only welcome the introduction of background scanning as well as active scanning (which takes care of inspecting files as they are scanned to the disk). Scanning mounted volumes can also be a good idea and the new Virex takes care of that beautifully as well.

During my tests with an EICAR file, Virex reacted every time, warning me that it had found it. It was also surprisingly quick at detecting it as I download a zipped version of it from a web site, which makes me think that scanning has been improved over the previous versions and is now even more effective.

There are of course a few negative sides to this new release that I wish I did not have to see. My main concern is that the background scanning system is quite rustic itself and can take up some unneeded resources — nothing worrying but I wouldn’t call it “low resource” like the user manual. The modular structure of the system mitigates the negatives though and allows the application to fail and relaunch itself a lot more graciously — scanning processes were restarted every time I tried to kill them.

Some embarrassing over-zealous cleaning operations were reported with the beta (and I experienced them myself) but, so far, I haven’t seen that happening again. According to the release notes, the Virex engineers luckily took care of these issues. [Update:] I have received some conflicting reports on this one so, for now, I’d recommend setting up Virex so that it doesn’t delete anything automatically but just notifies you. That way, you’ll be able to deal with issues on a case-by-case basis.

Interface-wise, I am not too enthusiastic about the appearance of a separate “Virex Schedule Editor” utility. whose functionalities could have been integrated with the main Virex application itself. This is only in line with the Windows version of Virex and pretty much every other anti-virus system I know, though, so I guess I am the only one who does not appreciate the benefits of this dual system.

What worries me more though is the remaining roughness around the edges, interface and help-wise. For example, the Help Center-based help has been entirely rewritten but its antiquated Windows-like structure remains, which shows that some people inside the development team do not pay too much attention to detail or are not given the necessary resources to do so — unfortunately, time and money constraints often get in the way of engineers, even at the best companies.

All in all, I am very satisfied by what I have seen of Virex so far and am glad that McAfee continues improving this application. It is a great evolution on Virex 7.2 and gives me good hopes to see Virex turn into a star Mac OS X product in the near future (provided that the team keeps up the good work). For having used many anti-virus products, I have to say that Virex remains my favorite. I am glad so far to see that Apple provides .Mac members with it and all the necessary updates.

Until next time, dear Mac users, enjoy thinking different!

P.S. : May student switchers receive all my best wishes for this soon-to-begin academic year!

And you, what are your experiences with Virex?

Related link: https://www.binaryelysium.com/itrip_amp/

Here’s a proof-of-concept setup for boosting the signal strength of one of those FM-radio transmitters for iPods and other MP3 players.

Related link: https://www.howtoons.org/

Saul Griffith’s howtoons.org has fun science projects for kids (and grownups). Learn to count like a computer on your fingers! Make a balloon hovercraft! Launch a pop-bottle rocket!

According to Apple’s web site, we know that Mac OS X Tiger (version 10.4) will be coming sometime in the first half of next year. Of course, that means that I’ll be swamped until Tiger releases as we work on revisions for our books, and start to work on new titles for all you Macheads out there.

So, I know what’s on my Mac radar (Macdar, if you will) for Tiger. What’s on yours? What would you like to see us publish a book on? Is there something we might have missed in one of the Panther editions that you’d like to see us work into an update?

Here’s your chance to let me know what you’d like to see us publish, revise, update, add, delete, tweak, or just let be if everything’s copacetic. If you don’t feel like posting something here, send me an email.

What would you like to see us cover in the Mac books we’ve published, or what new titles would you like to see O’Reilly publish?

Related link: https://features.engadget.com/entry/8817137592535661/

Phillip sez: “This week?s How to from Engadget is a handy one for the Mac folks out there who want to run multiple operating systems, but not install them to their hard drive, all using an iPod as a bootable FireWire drive. They also cover ways to simply back up your home directory (or anything else to your iPod) which can be handy too, and even used in conjunction with this how-to. Still no word on where Apple’s “Home on iPod” is.”

Related link: https://www.jimhillmedia.com/mb/articles/showarticle.php?ID=1036

This is one of those blogs that’s just a glorified link to another story. I tried wrapping it with some framing devices — that powerful CG tools have become easy enough, or that we tend to branch out later in life so why shouldn’t a 79-year-old actor want to be a computer animator too — but they do nothing to enhance the novelty of Jim Hill’s article.

So here you have it: Jim writes about his trip to SIGGRAPH, where he discovered that actor Dick Van Dyke (The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, etc.) is a self-taught and apparently rather accomplished computer animator, and has been into it since he bought an Amiga years ago.

Kinda neat, huh?

Related link: https://www.freedomofmusicchoice.org/

Real Networks recently launched their Freedom of Music Choice campaign in an attempt to lure iPod users away from the iTunes Music Store. The store offers consumers half as many songs as the iTMS, but is currently charging half the price, at a cost of 49 cents per song. However, customers should beware, Apple has publicly stated that future releases of the iPod’s firmware may break compatibility with songs that are protected with Real’s DRM.

I have two problems with Real’s approach to this. First, Real portrays the iPod in such a way that users are led to believe that Apple only allows iTMS-purchased tracks to play on the iPod. This is patently false. I was happily playing MP3s on my iPod long before Apple brought its music store to market. Out of the box, the iPod can play MP3, WAV, AIFF, and AAC formats. All of which are common enough that I don’t think anyone would have problems finding an encoder to rip their existing CD collection to an iPod-friendly format.

My second issue with Real’s approach is that they reverse-engineered their way onto the iPod. I’m by no means a proponent of the DMCA, but I think Apple should use it to smack Real down. The DMCA doesn’t apply in situations where the reverse engineering is done for the sake of consumer fair use, but as pointed out above, there are plenty of readily available formats out there that consumers can easily use with their iPod. iPod sales are at an all-time high, demand is huge… If consumers felt that they were restricted by owning an iPod, I doubt there would be waiting lists for the mini.

No, Real’s actions are more like if HP reverse-engineered Epson’s print cartridge design and then offered their own, cheaper alternative. Epson wouldn’t stand for that, and I’m glad to see Apple isn’t going to stand for Real’s transgressions. Real is making a desperate attempt to capitalize on Apple’s success with a campaign that spreads the usual FUD. Heck, if Real’s motives are for greater compatibility, why can’t I, as a Mac user, purchase songs from their store?

Sorry, Real. I’m not convinced. Try gaining market share the old fashioned way, by offering a superior and compelling product. In the meantime, I’ll be buying my music at the online store with more features and a larger selection of music. And I don’t mind paying a higher price for a superior product; but then, I’m a Mac user. ;)

Like it or hate it: What’s your take on the new Real campaign?

Related link: https://www.mobilewhack.com/handset/ringtones/itonez_for_mac_os_x.html

mobilewhack.com has a nice little entry about using Garage Band to make free ringtones for your mobile phone. Not really a how-to, but the sample MP3 is an inspiration for me to try making one myself.

Related link: https://www.omnigroup.com/

OmniWeb 5.0 has finally shipped. I’ve been beta testing it for a while now, and I use it more often than Safari. I love site preferences, saved workspaces, RSS support, and their novel implementation of tabbed browsing. I do wish that OmniWeb’s auto-fill was more like Safari’s, but that is really its only weakness in my eyes. Version 5.1 which will integrate the latest release of WebCore and is expected soon.

What browser do you use?

In a recent weblog, I posed the question, “Which Is faster: PC card adapter or FireWire reader?” I then opened the floor for guesses as to which was faster and by how much.

I now have the results for you, not only for a PC Card adapter and FireWire media reader, but I’m including the numbers also for a USB media card reader and direct upload via USB directly from a Canon Digital Elph S400. The test was conducted using a standard SanDisk CF 256 MB memory card containing 32 4-megapixel images recored at high quality. The photos were uploaded into iPhoto 4 on a PowerBook G4 667 (TiBook).

After each test I would trash the iPhoto library, then run the test again. I’m posting the times for both tests for each card reader. And here they are, from fastest to slowest:

1. SanDisk FireWire ImageMate Reader — 1:29, 1:29
2. SanDisk PC Card Adapter — 1:45, 1:48
3. SanDisk USB ImageMate Reader — 2:29, 2:29
4. Canon S400 via USB — 3:22, 3:20

So the FireWire reader was the fastest by 16 seconds over the PC Card adapter on this particular test. Looks to me like the closest guess was by lfransson who posted FireWire by 8 seconds. So, lfransson, send me your mailing address, and I’ll get a signed copy of Digital Photography Hacks headed your way.

Thanks to all who participated! And if you want the fastest uploads, it’s looking like a FireWire reader to me.

Related link: https://prothon.org/

As someone who works with and supports both the proprietary Microsoft products and Open Source products (and takes flak from both sides :-), I was pretty pleased to learn, in the past week, that different aspects of my favorite programming language (Python) will support the Microsoft .NET framework.

Mark Hammond released his experimental Python for .NET compiler back in 2002.

Jim Hugunin announced last week at OSCON that IronPython would support .NET/Mono (and that he is going to work for the Microsoft CLR group).

I just read Mark Hahn’s announcement in the comp.lang.python.announce newsgroup that:

This [IronPython supporting .NET] presented an opportunity for Prothon that was too good to pass up. By
following in IronPython’s footsteps, Prothon will not only be able to run on
a stable established interpreter, the CLR, but Prothon will have immediate
access to the .NET runtime library of unmatched size. Prothon’s previous
design plans would not have worked with Python’s runtime library and the
establisment of its own library would have taken some time.

Python, IronPython, Prothon on .NET anyone?

I was did a little testing tonight for a new book I’m working on, and thought you might be interested in the contest. In fact, I’ll let you guess the outcome, and the person who comes closest by Sunday, Aug. 8, 5pm PDT, will receive a signed copy of Digital Photography Hacks.

I shot 32 images with a Canon Digital Elph S400 at full resolution and the highest quality setting. These are 4-megapixel images. The pictures were recorded to a standard SanDisk CF memory card that has a 256 MB capacity. I then upload the pictures to iPhoto 4 on a PowerBook 667 G4 Titanium.

I tested two rounds with a SanDisk PC Card Adapter and two rounds with the SanDisk FireWire ImageMate Reader. I’ve been using the PC Card adapter for years and have loved it. It’s always been faster than USB card readers, but I wondered how it would stack up against a newer FireWire reader.

The fastest time for the winner was 1:29 from start to finish for the iPhoto import.

So here’s the big question. Which device imported the images the fastest, and by how many seconds did it beat the fastest time of the other device? Post your guess for which device won and by how many seconds in the TalkBacks. If two people post the same winning guess, the person who posted it first receives the book. If no one gets it exactly, I’ll go with the closest guess.

I’ll announce the winner on Monday. Have fun!

Post your guess for which device won and by how many seconds.