Apple Patent Suggest Future MacBook Convertible Design

Andrew Grush — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:58:40 +0000

Whether you like Microsoft’s new direction with Windows 8 or not, it is clear that it has since inspired several new changes in laptop designs. Particularly, it has brought forth an age of interesting hybrids and convertibles. Now it looks like Apple might be following suite, as a new patent describes a convertible MacBook design with a touch-sensitive screen.

As always, Apple’s patents tend to take familiar ideas and make them, well, Apple-y. In the case of the notebook convertible, Apple’s version isn’t about creating a standalone tablet that simply hooks into a laptop base.

Instead, Apple’s patent describes a touchscreen that detaches but communicates to the base using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other wireless methods, since the laptop’s base would still hold the guts: the CPU, GPU, storage, etc.

In other words, the screen would be more like a Wii U remote, where you can do touch-interactive things, but only as long as you are within range of the Wii U console. This method isn’t about replacing the iPad. Instead, it is about creating a way to interact with touch-programs like games and even drawing programs without having to deal with the clumsy way you would interact if it was still attached to the base.

It is an interesting idea, but I’m not sure if it is a good one. Microsoft Windows convertibles are basically tablets that can work like a notebook, the Apple patent is for a notebook that can work like a tablet – this could be a limiting form factor. It also means that it is pretty much guaranteed to run OSX, not iOS, which would mean that Apple would have to work hard to add decent touch-capable apps to the Mac App Store, or find a way to port or directly run iOS apps.

What do you think of Apple’s convertible concept, like it or not?

[ source ]

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Apple Open Sources Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC)

Michael Kwan — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 21:44:30 +0000

I don’t think I’ve ever used “Apple” and “open source” in the same sentence without having to throw in a “no” or a “not” in there somewhere. Throwing my head into a bit of a loop, Apple has now formally announced that they will offer their Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) to the open source community.

Making me wonder if this was a part of Steve Jobs’ plan all along or whether it came from someone else in the company, I suppose Apple recognizes that the reverse engineering community had already figured out Apple Lossless back in 2005. Since then, we’ve seen the audio compression format make its way onto such players and platforms as Plex, VLC, XBMC, and Boxee.

In case you’re not as familiar, Apple Lossless was a codec originally introduced in 2004, compressing audio files between 40% and 60% without any noticeable loss in quality. That’s why it’s a “lossless” audio codec; it’s been used across all Apple products since then, including Macs, iPods, and iPhones. You can get more details about the open source project at MacOSforge.org. It’s being made available through the Apache license.

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Seagate announces ultra-portable Time-Machine hard drives

Raggy Jin — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 07:26:38 +0000

Seagate, arguably one of the most well-known names in external hard drives announced the release of four new ultra-portable “GoFlex for Mac” external hard drives at CES.

Formatted to work with Apple’s Time Machine backup system right out of the box, the 2.5-inch hard drives actually require PC users to download a specific driver to use the machines. Company representatives cite iTunes sales and growing market share as the reason behind their sudden Mac bias.

“With over 10 billion songs downloaded from the iTunes store and Apple’s market share continuing to grow year-over-year, the growing audience for Mac OS X will need external storage to backup all their digital content,” said Darcy Clarkson, vice president of Global Retail Sales and Marketing for Seagate. “Today’s product introduction addresses these current market trends and underscores Seagate’s commitment to delivering flexible, easy-to-use solutions that meet varying customer needs.”

According to their press release, Seagate even went as far as to design the drives’ exterior with Apple’s trademark metallic finish “to deliver a fresh look that fits seamlessly with today’s Apple product line.”

The drives will be compatible with other GoFlex devices, such as a net media sharing device and a TV HD media player, which allow users to view and share content from the drives on their TV, smartphone or iPad.

GoFlex for Mac drives are available now, ranging in size from 500GB to 3TB, and they’ll set you back between $150 and $280.

[Seagate]

Seagate Introduces GoFlex for Mac External Drives

New Collection of FreeAgent® GoFlex™ for Mac External Drives Are Designed for Mac Enthusiasts While Maintaining Cross-Platform Compatibility

2011 International CES
LAS VEGAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–2011 International CES — Addressing the personal preferences of the Mac community, Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) today introduced a new collection of GoFlex™ for Mac external drives designed to make it easy for those who use Mac OS X and Time Machine to backup, shuttle, or share their digital content.

“Today’s product introduction addresses these current market trends and underscores Seagate’s commitment to delivering flexible, easy-to-use solutions that meet varying customer needs.”
These new portable and desktop solutions are HFS+ formatted out-of-the-box, making them fully compatible with Apple Time Machine® backup software, while maintaining the ability to work across both Microsoft® Windows® and Mac OS X computers. A truly unique feature, GoFlex for Mac drives can also be used with computers running Windows by simply downloading an HFS+ driver for Windows from Seagate.com, which will provide full read-write access to the drive from a Windows computer.

Each GoFlex for Mac product comes bundled with FireWire® 800 and USB 2.0 adapters and cables—the most popular interfaces for Apple computers — but also delivers the flexibility to change the drive’s interface to USB 3.0 or powered eSATA for use with Windows computers. The GoFlex™ interface cables help deliver the speed, performance and connectivity people need, as well as to help safe guard their investments against changing technology. To deliver a fresh look that fits seamlessly with today’s Apple product line, each 2.5-inch, ultra-portable drive in the family features a durable, soft-touch, metallic finish, which is also designed to withstand scratches, fingerprints or other marks incurred from travel.

The new line-up of GoFlex™ for Mac external drives include:

GoFlexTM for Mac ultra-portable drive — This 2.5-inch portable drive is now designed specifically for use with Apple’s Time Machine right out-of-the-box, easily go back in time to access changes or file updates were before they were made. MSRP $199.99 for 1TB, and $249.99 for 1.5TB.
GoFlexTM for Mac Limited Edition ultra-portable drive — The GoFlex™ for Mac Limited Edition ultra-portable drive packs 1TB of storage into the standardized 2.5-inch form factor, making it the slimmest high-cap drive available on the market today. With a depth of 12.5mm and shorter in length than an iPhone, the GoFlexTM for Mac Limited Edition is perfect for use with GoFlex TV or GoFlex Net. MSRP $199.95 for 1TB.
GoFlexTM Pro for Mac ultra portable — This 7200RPM, 2.5-inch drive delivers advanced performance for those professionals who place high demands on their storage, such as graphic artists, musicians, videographers or photographers. Using the included FireWire 800 cable to achieve transfer speeds up to three times faster than USB 2.0. MSRP $149.99 for 500GB; $179.99 for 750GB.
GoFlexTM Desk for Mac drive — This 3.5-inch high-capacity external drive includes a flexible design that can sit horizontally or vertically to fit your workspace. Back up files using Apple’s Time Machine. Optional software displays the drive’s real-time capacity with lights on the dock and includes other useful tools. MSRP $219.99 for 2TB; $279.99 for 3TB.
In addition, each GoFlex for Mac drive can be used with other devices in the GoFlex™ Storage System such as the GoFlex™ Net media sharing device and the GoFlex™ TV HD media player1. These solutions provide the flexibility to enjoy content on a TV or a mobile device, such as an iPad or smart phone. There is also an option to download additional software for use with all GoFlex for Mac drives that will provide helpful utilities such as a control to turn the activity lights off and a tool to verify that the drive is functioning properly. Each drive in the family also comes backed by a Seagate three-year warranty, helping to protect your investment and providing peace of mind.

“With over 10 billion songs downloaded from the iTunes® store and Apple’s market share continuing to grow year-over-year, the growing audience for Mac OS X will need external storage to backup all their digital content,” said Darcy Clarkson, vice president of Global Retail Sales and Marketing for Seagate. “Today’s product introduction addresses these current market trends and underscores Seagate’s commitment to delivering flexible, easy-to-use solutions that meet varying customer needs.”

About Seagate

Seagate is the worldwide leader in hard disk drives and storage solutions. Learn more at http://www.seagate.com.

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© 2011 Seagate Technology LLC. All rights reserved. Seagate, Seagate Technology, the Wave logo, FreeAgent, and GoFlex are trademarks or registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. When referring to drive capacity, one gigabyte, or GB, equals one billion bytes and one terabyte, or TB, equals one thousand billion bytes. Your computer’s operating system may use a different standard of measurement and report a lower capacity. In addition, some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions and will not be available for data storage. Actual data rates may vary depending on operating environment and other factors. The export or re-export of hardware or software containing encryption may be regulated by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (for more information, visit www.bis.doc.gov) and controlled for import and use outside of the U.S. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Seagate reserves the right to change, without notice, product offerings or specifications.

1 Note, due to the thickness of the 750GB and 1TB ultra-portable drives, they must be connected to the GoFlex TV HD media player using one of the two additional USB ports on the product.

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Mobile Magazine » mac osx

Apple Patent Suggest Future MacBook Convertible Design

Apple Open Sources Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC)

Seagate announces ultra-portable Time-Machine hard drives