mac

Blame the Mac for Firefox's Release Candidate 3

Mac freak that I am, it is with shame that I admit that it's all Apple's fault that Mozilla had to issue another Release Candidate for Firefox 3. No, it won't have any impact on the final release date, which is still scheduled for June 17. But it makes me ashamed that the Mac, and not Windows, had the last-minute problem.

Sniff. Sniff. There. Now I feel better.

As for any of you out there who have yet to download Firefox 3, please do so. Now. Yes, you can wait until Tuesday for the final release, but … Read more

Firefox 3 gets a third release candidate

Updated at 12:30 p.m. PDT on Wednesday with links to the newly debuted release candidate.

If you were planning to host a Firefox 3 launch party this week, keep that bubbly on ice a bit longer.

Mozilla on Wednesday released Firefox 3 Release Candidate 3. Windows and Linux users won't likely feel a thing; the new browser is considered stable on those platforms.

The extra release candidate addresses some lingering issues on the Mac OS X operating system. The changes are internal.

The previous test version, Firefox 3 Release Candidate 2, can also be downloaded for Windows, … Read more

HP Voodoo silicon mimics MacBook Air, ThinkPad

Notice any similarities between the Hewlett-Packard Voodoo Envy and its thin rivals, the Apple MacBook Air or ThinkPad X300? Yes, they're all very thin. But look inside and you'll see more common features.

To deliver reasonable processing power at low power the Voodoo Envy opted for the same special low-power processors used in the Air: the Intel SP7700 and SP7500.

You won't find these processors listed on Intel's processor pricing page. They were designed originally for the MacBook Air and use a special 22mm x 22mm package and have a thermal envelope of only 20 watts … Read more

Mac OS X 10.6 details leak out

Updated 3:44 p.m. PDT: Apple PR formally issued the press release in question that went out inadvertently earlier Monday.

Apple quickly retracted a few Mac OS X 10.6 tidbits leaked out by its Canadian subsidiary following the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote, but the Internet misses nothing.

Scores of sites picked up on a press release that went out from Apple Canada and was pulled at some point after it went live. According to the release, Snow Leopard--which Apple CEO Steve Jobs confirmed is the code name for 10.6--will focus more on improving the basic plumbing of … Read more

Apple eyeing Nvidia's CUDA technology?

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference is expected to cover the parallel tracks of Mac and iPhone software development, but the company may have another aspect of parallelism to discuss next week.

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, in an interview earlier this week, suggested that Apple might have plans for Nvidia's CUDA technology as part of the WWDC festivities next week. CUDA is a programming technology that allows software developers to take advantage of the unique parallel processing characteristics of graphics processors such as Nvidia's GeForce 8600M, found in the MacBook Pro. Nvidia released a beta version of CUDA for Mac OS X … Read more

Live coverage of WWDC 2008 starts Monday morning

If you want blow-by-blow coverage of Apple CEO Steve Jobs' keynote address on Monday, make sure to pay us a visit before 10 a.m. PDT for our live report.

I'll be inside Moscone West on Monday morning, where we expect Apple to unveil a new iPhone and talk more about the next version of Mac OS X at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. We'll be posting live updates every few minutes from the conference hall, and will have photos of the new iPhone and anything else that gets introduced Monday morning as soon as humanly (or networkly) … Read more

CNET Live - Episode 57

Daniel Newman, executive director of MAPlight.org showed us how his Web site lets you trace how money is influencing politicians.

Watch the show on CNET TV.

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Buzz Out Loud 739: One tingly pinky

Microsoft finds that we're all in increasing RSI pain thanks to laptops and mobile devices ... which they continue to support with mobile versions of Windows. Um. Thanks for the info? Also today, the space station toilet is fixed, an iPhone patent filing lists some actual features, Comcast is up-front with some slightly reasonable sounding throttling plans, and Microsoft says it's not running a call-in "save XP petition," even though everyone is calling in asking them to save XP. That is just sad. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 739

Happy Birthday! X86 Turns 30 Years … Read more

Google gets serious about the Mac

In the "20 percent time" that Google employees have to work on projects of personal interest, it turns out that an increasing number are spending time writing open-source projects for their beloved Macs.

Google has long had a fondness for the Mac, with upwards of 6,000 of its 10,000 20,000 current employees opting to use the Mac over Windows.

It is in the 20 percent employee development time, however, where this statistic becomes interesting. At Google, development time translates into products. The more Mac-friendly employees, the more Mac-related development. The more Mac-related development, the more Google-sponsored Mac-based open-source code.

As Google's Mac Developer Playground demonstrates, some of this code is quite interesting.

Here are a few of the best open-source Mac projects from Google:… Read more