Apple empowers Malaysian music production

Malaysia's International College of Music (ICOM) said its use of a mobile computing solution, powered by Apple, has given its students significant creative and technical freedom.

According to ICOM course leader, Nilesh Thomas, the idea behind its m-Mobility program, which includes the use of Apple MacBook Pro notebooks and Logic Studio, was to put studio facilities into a mobile box that met the demands for serious music production.

"ICOM has been using Logic and Digidesign workstations for a long time and it was decided that we were not going to look into any other workstations," said Thomas. "So, whatever computing solution we were to adopt must completely support these applications."

Thomas said that ICOM students receive an m-Mobility system during the first semester of college, and various components were added as they progress through the course. To date, Apple has delivered over 150 units of MacBook Pro and Logic Studio software. Prior to the m-Mobility programme, the PowerMacs and iMacs were already implemented and used in ICOM's recording studios and various technology labs.

Technology has dramatically changed music

"Modern technology has dramatically changed the way the music and entertainment industry functioned in the mid 90's and there was no looking back," said Thomas. "Many sceptics predicted that digital audio will never take off, but today we know that it has taken the industry to greater heights."

Thomas explained that after detailed testing, the power of Apple's hardware and operating system - OS X - proved a useful tool for the process of creating music.

"Since the introduction of the computer into recording studios, it is evident that audio and music technology are in tune with the trends of the digital world," he said. "It was inevitable and irreversible, plus the ever decreasing gap between the desktops and portables in term of computing power, gave us the hint to make radical changes in the way we taught music and audio technology."

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Analyst: Microsoft to buy BlackBerry

Microsoft may have its eye on Research in Motion (RIM), makers of the BlackBerry range of handsets, says one analyst.

According to Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek, RIM's shares have plummted in recent months and a slow in spending thanks to the credit crunch, could leave the company wide open to a takeover bid.

Misek told Reuters: "RIM is a massive strategic fit [for Microsoft]. I'm fairly certain they have a standing offer to buy them at $50 [a share]"

"If you did a stock and cash deal, you wouldn't need to tap the credit markets. The people I've talked to who deal with institutional investors every day say they would look at this as a gift," Mark McQueen, chief executive of Wellington Financial told Reuters.

"In this particular climate, you have to part with your loved ones sometimes."

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Poker dice with Pokarus for iPhone

European iPhone application developer Chillingo has teamed up with gaming veterans Parys Technografx to introduce Pokarus on the iPhone and iPod touch.

“We are very excited to be working with Parys Technolografx on this truly innovative poker dice game for the iPhone and iPod touch. Pokarus brings the best of Poker Dice puzzles and marries it with the tilt and touch screen technologies of the iPhone to make it a truly unique gaming experience for the casual gamer.” said Chillingo Director, Chris Byatte. The rules of Pokarus are simple - poker dice fall, and the gamer selects where they fall to make that winning poker hand. “We have been creating games since 1991 - from the ATARI, PCs, to Windows Mobile and Symbian smartphones, and now the iPhone and iPod touch. We have been able to fully utilise all the device capabilities of the iPhone to create a truly innovative game for poker dice gamers everywhere. This is very exciting times indeed for the mobile casual gamer. ” said Stephen Parys, CEO of Parys Technografx. Pokarus costs 3.99.

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iTunes playlist sharing - online and legal

A new service called SonicSwap offers iTunes playlist sharing, playback and social nertworking features to iTunes users for the first time.

The service achieves this by a clever integration with YouTube. Essentially it converts a user's existing iTunes playlist collection into YouTube video plalylists of original and live music performances, reports Distorted Loop.

Users of the service can therefore play through their own collections using a web browser, and can permit friends to explore them as well. The service also offers a range of social networking features, such as widgets for Facebook pages, and more.

In a final flourish, the legal service also offers built-in purchase buttons for iTunes and Amazon, and the facility to download playlists belonging to other people that you like.

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Apple posts Security Update 2008-007

Apple on Thursday posted Security Update 2008-007, a new security patch for client and server versions of Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" and Mac OS X 10.4.11.

The update is available for download from the Software Update system preference or from Apple's site.

Multiple vulnerabilities have been address in the Apache 2.2.9 release, the most serious of which may lead to cross site request forgery. Root certificates have been updated, added to the list of system roots. ClamAV - the open-source anti-virus software included on Mac OS X Server - was updated to 0.94, addressing problems that could lead to arbitrary code execution.

ColorSync has been updated to address an issue involving a buffer overflow while handing images with embedded ICC profiles. An issue involving printer sharing and the HPGL filter has been corrected, and a Denial of Service (DoS) attack problem with the Finder has been fixed. An issue specific to Mac OS X 10.5.5 involving launchd has been corrected, along with a problem processing an XML document that could lead to unexpected app termination.

MySQL has been updated to 5.0.67 to address vulnerabilities; a networking problem involving the local IPC component of configd's EAPOLController plug-in has been fixed; multiple vulnerabilities in PHP 4.4.8 have been addressed; a problem with Postfix has been fixed that could cause a remote attacker to send mail directly to local users; a problem handling maliciously-crafted PostScript files has been fixed; an issue with Leopard's QuickLook and Microsoft Excel has been corrected; an update has been made to rlogin; Script Editor's operation has been improved; Single Sign-On's security is better; Tomcat, a Java Servlet application installed on Mac OS X Server 10.5.5, has been fixed; The text editor vim has been updated to 7.2.0.22; and access control for weblog postings with Mac OS X Server 10.4.11 has been improved.

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FileWave 3.6 ships for Mac, Windows, Linux

High-end management tool FileWave 3.6 for Mac OS, Windows and Linux is available now.

In addition to distributing, installing and configuring operating system upgrades, FileWave permits users to efficiently mass deploy and manage all other types of software, from large ready-to-use applications such as Adobe Creative Suite 3 and Microsoft Office to vital security patches, both in a single- and a multi-platform environment.

This version promises "significant performance enhancements and greater administrative flexibility," the developer said.

It includes such new features as an “All Users” folder that enables a system administrator to deliver files to every user account on each computer.

System admins can also choose to re-install Filesets, Patch Installers or Executables with the new Reactivate Filesets feature.

“We are pleased to have a FileWave 3.6 shipping with these and many other enhancements,” says Ben Forsyth, Director of Software Development at FileWave (USA), Inc. “We used this release as an opportunity to add several minor fixes and a few major features that our end user community has been looking for.”

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iPod touch is 'Gadget of the Year' - T3

Apple took yet more awards this week, this time sweeping the board at the T3 awards.

The company took four top prizes, with the iPod touch declared the "Gadget of the Year", beating the Asus Eee Pc budget laptop, TomTom's GO 920 car navigation system, Sony's HDR-TG3 compact camcorder and six other devices for the prize.

T3 editor Michael Brook said Apple had "nailed the mix of style and usability" with its devices, adding, "The iPod wasn't the first MP3 player, but it was, and is, by far the best," he said. "The iPhone clearly wasn't the first smartphone, but it was the first one that every man, his dog and his dog's ticks would sell limbs to own."

Apple won three other awards: Best commuter gadget iPhone Best music gadget iPod Touch 32GB Gadget Candy Prize : MacBook Air.

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