Joe’s Weblog

The dust has only just started to settle after Apple’s iPod event last week, and already the company are tipped to be readying another range refresh.  Research firm Wedge Partners are predicting that Apple will release new iMacs and MacBooks “in the next several weeks”.  The iMac has not been significantly updated since March 2009

The new Apple iMacs are expected to be of a “thinner, organic design, likely with smoothed or rounded edges”, while the MacBooks will see less modification; their redesign “is likely to be limited” suggest Wedge.  It also seems likely that Apple will slot the latest processors into the updated systems; that could even mean a Core i5 or i7 iMac.

Wedge Partners, though, also expect movement at the budget end, predicting that Apple will attempt to head off Windows 7 PCs by adopting some lower price points.  The firm is suggesting Apple will ship three million Macs in Q4 2009.http://www.slashgear.com/new-imac-and-macbooks-incoming-tip-analysts-1656956/

This tutorial explains how you can install and configure APF - an interface to IPTables which lets you easily configure a full featured firewall to secure servers and workstations connected to a network. This guide describes an example installation on a server with cPanel but it’s only a matter of port numbers which must be open for everything to work. APF can be used on any system.http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-install-and-configure-advanced-policy-firewall-apf-on-centos-5.3

engadget.com review of Apple Snow Leopard - But underneath the customary OS X fit and finish there’s a lot of new plumbing at work here. The entire OS is now 64-bit, meaning apps can address massive amounts of RAM and other tasks go much faster. The Finder has been entirely re-written in Cocoa, which Mac fans have been clamoring for since 10.0. There’s a new version of QuickTime, which affects media playback on almost every level of the system. And on top of all that, there’s now Exchange support in Mail, iCal, and Address Book, making OS X finally play nice with corporate networks out of the box.http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/26/snow-leopard-review/

howtoforge.com has written an article about setting up VMware Server on a CentOS 5 host. CentOS is an open source version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.The full article is here:http://www.howtoforge.com/vmware_server_centos5.0

engadget.com review of the Apple iPhone 3GS -  It’s inside where all the changes have happened, with Apple issuing a beefed-up CPU, new internal compass, larger capacities for storage, and improved optics for its camera. More to the point, the release of the 3GS coincides with the launch of iPhone OS 3.0, a major jump from previous versions of the system software featuring highly sought after features like cut, copy, and paste, stereo Bluetooth, MMS, tethering, video recording, landscape keyboard options for more applications, and an iPhone version of Spotlight. At a glance, what Apple seems to be doing is less a reinvention of the wheel and more like retreading the wheel it’s already got (and what a wheel, right?). So, do the iPhone 3GS and OS 3.0 tweak the details in just the right places, or has Apple gone and gotten lazy on us? Read on to find out.http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/17/iphone-3g-s-review/

tomshardware.co.uk reviews the Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors. Intel’s emphasis right now is on Clarkdale, the Nehalem-based mainstream lineup centering on a 32nm process shrink. Clarkdale will be the foundation on which upcoming Core i5 and Core i3 CPUs are based. It’s a big deal for Intel. So big, in fact, that I was told jokingly two weeks before the Lynnfield launch that the whole company had been focusing on Clarkdale, not the Core i5 and Core i7 we’re seeing today.http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/intel-core-i5,review-31674.html

dpreview.com hands-on review of the LX3 - Third generation of Panasonic’s compact enthusiast model is a true thoroughbred offering a fast zoom with a real wideangle, a superb screen and excellent image quality, including high ISO performance puts most competitors to shame. The LX3 is positively understated compared to some of its competitors, which loudly proclaim the ‘bigger is better’ rather than ‘less is more’, and it’s a far, far better camera for it. It’s small enough to carry anywhere, fast and subtle enough for street photography and good enough to produce a decent 8×10 without the need to use raw. Of course it’s not perfect; the controls are pretty fiddly (as it’s so small) and there’s no telephoto to speak of, but if the feature set matches your needs there’s little to match it.http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicdmclx3/

dpreview.com hands-on preview of the GF1 - the third model in Panasonic’s Micro Four Thirds ‘G’ system. The GF1 squeezes much the same functionality as the G1/GH1 into a body that’s roughly the same size as the Olympus E-P1. We’ve had an early production sample for a few weeks now; just enough time to produce an in-depth preview and an extensive samples gallery (including plenty of shots taken with the new 20mm F1.7 pancake lens).http://www.dpreview.com/previews/PanasonicGF1/