| This time around, I’m coming to you live from the beautiful City By The Bay, Fran Sancisco.  The following notes were taken during Steve Jobs’ keynote address, so I didn ’t delve into specifics… • Safari: v1 & SDK released today PANTHER: Mac OS 10.3 • General: NFS file locking, Free BSD v5.0, dynamic browsing of SMB, IPSec VPN • Finder: new: “Acton Button” with Labels assign, new Open & Save, very fast searches (kind of like Get Info on steroids) • iDisk: has a virtual local volume that auto–syncs in the background with remote server volume • Exposé: slick labeling and auto–focus (full screen) & hiding of all app.s & windows • FileVault: on–the–fly encryption • Mail: Safari–based HTML rendering, usable thread-based management, object–based addressing • FAX: Built in at the print level • Pixlet: professional HD QT codec @ 48 bit/pixel source data, no artifacts, no interframe compression, supports half HD (960 x540) resolution for less powerful CPUs • Preview: current fastest PDF renderer, on–the–fly thumbnails, fast searching, distilling built in • User Switching: instant switching between user accounts w/ nice, 3D transition • FontBook: semi–Suitcase provides font managment, much better than Jaguar’s non–existent tools • iChat AV: adds audio (56 kbaud) & video, free .Mac buddy name, very nice image rendering, standards–based though Mac–only at present • iSight: camera: 640 x 480 @ 30 fps, autofocus F/2.8, lens shutter, aluminum case, clever mounting included, $149, noise canceling mic • Xcode: new development tools: based on GCC 3.3 for fast compiles, distributed builds, no linking, predictive compiling while editing, “fix & continue” while app is running, new, clean interface, fast search HARDWARE: • Chip: G5 (IBM 970): 64 bit with 32 backward compatibility, up to 2 GHz (3 GHz in 12 months), 1 GHz FSB, supports full SMP support, 2 FPUs, 2 symmetric integer units, “massive” branch prediction, 130 nm process, 59 M transistors • System: G5 system controller w. point–to–point CPU interface, 400 MHz, 128 bit DDR (64 GB/sec. transfers), AGP 8X Pro graphics, 133 MHz PCI-X w/ HT interconnect, SATA w/ independent HT interfaces • PowerMac: 500 GB storage, 8 GB memory, 4x SuperDrive, aluminum enclosure, 9 independent fans, 35 dB SPLa, max’d dual 2 GHz model $2999, external 802.11g & Bluetooth antenna connectors, AES-EBU Type II optical I/O, FireWire-USB-headphone on front Panther Performance Benchmarks: • SPECtest: - single CPU: G5 vs 3.06 MHz P4: 10% slower on integer, 20% faster on FP - dual CPU: G5 vs 3 MHz Xeon: 3% integer, 41% FP • Photoshop: up to 2.1x over Win version • Mathmatica: v5: up to 2.3x faster over Win version • Logic: more than 1000 simultaneous 24 bit stereo voices from their soft synth, 100 8–band stereo EQ @ 25% CPU utilization by Oliver Masciarotte Bio — OMas left the conference to help out on a restoration job at Different Fur studios in the Mission district. For his meager effort of attending the WWDC, Apple rewarded him and all the other keynote attendees with a new iSight camera. | |