A while ago I posted on my adventures getting OpenSolaris networking to move from its natural state of notworking (see what I did there?) on a mac mini. Well today I installed the latest release candidate of 2008.11, the forthcoming update, and it went much more smoothly. You still have to install a driver (tip – usb keys work fine for file transfers), but once done restarting networking worked first time.
Another reason for the Apple selloff: Two banks (Morgan Stanley and RBC Capital) cut their ratings on the stock.
“First, PC unit growth is decelerating and the remaining source of growth is increasingly in the sub-$1,000 marker, where Apple does not play” said Morgan Stanley analyst Kathryn Huberty, in a published note.
Oh if only there was some way Apple could lower the cost of their computers somehow. Obviously it sells the Mac Mini for less than $1,000 (even with added bling), but that doesn’t count because, um, it’s too small to be a real PC. And the news is grim on the laptop front, where the MacBook starts at $1099; there’s no way Apple could find room in its famously hefty margins to cut $100 off that. Looks like Apple is doomed.
Or maybe Morgan Stanley employ a bunch of shaved monkeys, and that’s why they’re doing so well at the moment.
First of all, don’t. Just don’t. But if you must, here’s the driver to get the ethernet port to work on a Mac Mini under OpenSolaris. You’re welcome.
I upgraded to 10.5.2 on my Mac yesterday, and found that screen sharing no longer worked when trying to control a 10.5.1 machine. So upgrade all your machines if you’re upgrading any, and as it’s almost a third of a gig in size it’s worth downloading the install if you have more than one machine.
Beta 3 of Firefox is out, and seems to be working well on my Mac at least, so worth considering.
I’ve used DropCopy in the past to move files between different machines, but iChat in Leopard (and maybe before, I don’t know) lets you move files between Bonjour users very easily. Start up iChat on both machines, open the Bonjour users list, and you can move files the same as in a normal chat session, but faster.
Finally it appears that WordPress automatically backs up posts as you’re typing, so that if, for example, you accidentally pressed backspace outside of a text box, thereby moving back a page, you wouldn’t lose everything. Hypothetically.
I joined a Netflix-like DVD rental service a while ago, based in part on the promise of a new iPod Shuffle after 3 months. I’d lost track slightly, so was pleasantly surprised when one arrived yesterday. As ever the packaging lives up to the rest of the product, and the machine itself is almost too small to believe. This is just the warm-up act though; the next version of OS X is released on Friday, and pretty soon after I’ll be in line to buy a couple of Mac Minis (one for us to use as a DVR, the other for my father to replace an aging PC). I’m no Josh when it comes to tech-love, but I must confess I’m moist with anticipation.