Universe’s Tech Blog

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7th of November

and

15th of November

It’s back.

Where we post answers to Frequently Asked Questions.

All forum posts will be redirected to this mailing list. It’s been submitted, will advice on creation.

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Apple has issued a trio of software updates for photographers, including Aperture 1.5.1.

The company has also released two Digital Camera Raw Support updates, one for PowerPC (1.4MB), the other for Intel-based Macs (2.4MB).

These updates “improve Raw file format compatibility for some digital SLR cameras,” Apple states. They usher in support for additional cameras from Canon, Nikon and Pentax. Adobe DNG and large Raw file handling has also been improved.

The Aperture 1.5.1 update - which cannot be installed on the trial version of the application Apple also released last night - is a weighty 125MB download.

Apple explains the update: “Addresses numerous issues related to overall reliability and performance in all areas of the application.” The company recommends all Aperture customers should install the update.

Specific areas seeing a performance boost from the software tweak include: Keywords, Loupe, Cropping, Previews, Metadata presets, Versions, File renaming, iPhoto Library import and Watermarks.

Global chip sales leaped to a record high of $21.37 billion in September, boosted by demand for mobile phones, digital music players and PCs, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said on Thursday.

Computer memory chip sales also boosted the chip industry, as vendors add more DRAM (dynamic-RAM) to new PCs in order to keep up with the latest hardware requirements.

Memory sales climbed 10 per cent, month on month, while microprocessor sales increased by 4 per cent. Sales of microprocessors by value actually declined 11 per cent compared to the same month last year due to the price war going on between Intel and rival AMD.

Mobile phone sales also boosted the chip industry, particularly on demand in India and China, SIA said, where ultra-low-cost handsets have pushed demand. Texas Instruments, the world’s largest maker of chips for handsets, said in late October that ultra-low cost mobile phones are taking up a much larger share of the overall handset market than before, a trend it expects to continue for a long time.

The September sales record was up 9.3 per cent over the same month last year, and beat the old record of $20.5 billion reported in August of this year.

The SIA predicted a strong fourth quarter for the chip industry as retailers stock shelves ahead of the holiday shopping season. The industry group reiterated its prediction for 9.8 per cent global sales growth for the global industry this year.

Analysts believe that investing in Apple stock still makes sense, despite serious gains in value so far this year.

Analysts at Piper Jaffray and American Technology Research both released optimistic forecasts on the company last night.

American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu told clients: “While Apple shares have appreciated significantly in recent months, we continue to believe shares still have sizable upside ahead of Macworld Expo in January 2007.”

Wu holds a ‘Buy’ rating on Apple’s stock with a $92 target price. He reckons Apple will have a strong December quarter, with Mac and iPod sales maintaining their momentum.

“MacBook continues to be the top selling Mac due to its excellent value and solid feature set while MacBook Pro sales have rebounded following the recent refresh to Intel Core 2 Duo processors,” he writes.

Wu also warns that pre-orders for the all-new iPod shuffle remain strong, “we continue to believe this dark horse could end up being the top selling iPod and gain significant share against flash competitors,” he speculates.

Looking ahead, Wu sees no end of factors which will help Apple continue to boost its business, including: the release of Mac OS X 10.5 next year, the launch of iTV, the introduction of movies for sale through the iTunes Store from studios outside of Disney, new iPods, the fabled ‘iPhone’ and more.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster also shot some positive observations at his clients last night, according to Apple Insider, which has published Munster’s comments in their entirety.

His report addresses 16 unanswered questions about the future of the company. These make fascinating reading, and confirm Munster’s ‘Outperform” rating and $99 price target on Apple stock.

Apple has upgraded its Product Red iPod nano, adding an 8GB version to the originally announced 4GB model.

The company quietly added the second higher-capacity configuration of the product last night.

The 4GB version costs £129, as before, while the high-capacity model costs £169, effectively meaning you can have an 8GB iPod nano in your choice of black or red.

If you buy the red one, then a portion of the money spent will be directed to the Product Red-backed Global Fund that’s dedicated to battling HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was established in 2002, with the support of the world’s leaders and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

On the launch of the Product Red iPod nano in mid-October, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said: “Now customers can buy the best music player in the world and do something to help the world at the same time. We’re honoured to work with Bono, (RED) and this team to contribute to an incredibly important initiative and help change the way people think about AIDS in Africa”.

Anecdotal reports claim that Apple has seen stronger-than-expected sales of the commercial fundraising product.
UPDATE: Apple vice president of worldwide iPod product marketing, Greg Joswiak, confirmed strong Product Red iPod sales today, saying: “Customer response to the iPod nano Product Red Special Edition has been off the charts. We’re thrilled to add a second model with 8GB of capacity, enough for 2,000 songs, so customers have yet another choice in supporting this important cause.”

Microsoft plans to shut down its MSN Music Store this month.

A report on CNet News.com claims that the store - originally launched in a doomed attempt to battle iTunes - will soon begin directing music fans to either the Zune Marketplace or RealNetworks Rhapsody websites.

This is poor news for Microsoft’s existing hardware partners, as it clearly shows that for Redmond, support of the ‘Plays for sure’ programme is waning as the company applies its muscle to popularise its Zune player.

The news comes as inside industry knowledge seems to agree that “no one buys Windows Media files,” as one digital music insider told Macworld last night.

While MSN Music says that people who have already purchased songs in the WMA format will still be able to use their songs, it clearly also shows the threat proprietary standards expose users to, should parent companies decide to withdraw support for them in future.

It’s another reason why stores such as eMusic or Wippit in the UK enjoy far more success in selling unprotected MP3 files than in selling Windows files. Apple will not allow others to sell songs protected by its rights management system.

Writing on his blog, Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg wrote: “While it’s not like there’s a lot of folks that actually bought music from the MSN music store, it would seem those folks are in a bind. If they start buying from Zune , they will need to get to get a new Zune device, and their existing music won’t go with them. If they go Rhapsody, new stuff they purchase likely won’t work on devices they currently own either.”

The analyst is “surprised” Microsoft hasn’t tried to offer its few WMA music customers a chance to replace their files in a compatible format.

“It shows the problems of picking the wrong format in a format war, especially when one format owns over 75 per cent of the market,” he writes, speculating, “I wonder how many of these folks will end up going neither to Real or Zune and in the end, just buy an iPod.”

Outside the US, the challenge seems even deeper for music lovers who have assembled collections in Windows Media format. The company has confirmed it has no plans to launch Zune in the UK at present.

Speaking to Business Week, Microsoft’s UK managing director, Gordon Frazer, said: “At this stage we have no firm plans to launch anywhere else globally.”

Instead the company is going to test market reaction to its Zune player in the US before deciding any international strategy. He thinks the Steve Jobs-condemned wireless sharing in Zune will make a difference.

Jobs recently cat-called that feature as “slow”, adding: “By the time you get it working, the girl is gone.”

The Microsoft chief doffed a hat to Apple: “Today certainly Apple is the market leader, I don’t think anybody is questioning that and they are out ahead in a lot of ways. They deserve the credit they get, they’ve built up a large installed base, they continue to be the market leader. But we think there are things that can be done better.”

Introduction

Dina is a monospace bitmap font, primarily aimed at programmers. It is relatively compact to allow a lot of code on screen, while (hopefully) clear enough to remain readable even at high resolutions.

I made this font after having tried all the free programming fonts I could find. Somehow there was some detail in each of them that meant I couldn’t work with them in the long run.

The closest to perfect I found was the Proggy font, which the author kindly allows you to modify. So I started building this font using Proggy as the base, and with inspiration from Tobi, Fixedsys and some old DOS fonts I used to love.

This version is the result of intense tweaking and testing, and I am quite happy with it now.
Font Format

Dina is a monospace bitmap font in Windows FON file format. It is available as:

* 8pt regular, bold, italic, bold italic
* 9pt regular, bold, italic, bold italic
* 10pt regular, bold, italic, bold italic

All styles are the same width for proper alignment.
Motivation

In designing a programming font the following guidelines were followed:

* Needs to be monospaced
* It has to be easy to see the difference between i, l, 1, I
* It has to be easy to see the difference between o, O, 0
* The symbols used in programming languages have to look ‘right’
* Braces should line up nicely
* Still has to be pleasant to read passages of text

Installation

Just copy the file ‘Dina.fon’ to your Windows font folder (C:\Windows\Fonts or similar), and it should show up in the font selection list of your favorite editor.

Depending on your monitor size and type, the 8pt or 9pt versions should be preferable up to at least 1280×1024 resolution. The 10pt version may be an option at higher resolutions.
License

The Dina font is free. You are welcome to use, distribute and modify it however you want, just don’t use it for anything illegal or claim that you made it.

The Dina font is provided ‘as-is’, without any express or implied warranty. In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages arising from the use of this font.