08/10, 12:29am
Code names may hint at lack of optical drives
Some internal configuration files that reveal a list of Macs that support flash drive or USB booting in Mountain Lion may have inadvertently tipped Apple's hand on future iMac and Mac Pro configurations. A report by AppleInsider also indicates that the as-yet-unannounced models could be the first desktops in nearly 20 years that don't include a built-in optical drive, a long-desired Apple engineering goal. The configuration files with the new model numbers are seen inside Boot Camp Assistant.
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07/24, 4:53pm
Cartel lasting five years inflated drive prices to PC OEMs
The European Commission is contacting thirteen manufacturers of optical drives over possible EU antitrust rules breaches. The EC suspects the unnamed companies of being involved in a bid-rigging cartel, artificially raising the price of optical drives during contract auctions with two major PC OEMs over the last five years. If parties are found to be breaking the rules, they face a fine of up to 10 percent of the company's worldwide turnover.
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05/22, 6:30pm
OWC low cost Superdrives
Other World Computing on Thursday unveiled low-cost Superdrives for almost any Mac released within the last decade, offering 48x CD burning and LightScribe labeling technology. OWC claims the drives are quiet, and do not require any extra software to be installed with the drive. Users can also write to dual-layer DVDs at up to 12x speeds, while single-layer discs can write at up to 20x. OWC is selling the Superdrives starting from $35.
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02/14, 1:30pm
OWC Mac DVD/CD burners
Other World Computing (OWC) today unveiled new Superdrives and CD burners for all Mac computer models. The company's drive upgrade -- the 20X DL SuperDrive DVR-115D -- reads as well as writes DVDs, CDs, and dual-layer DVDs. Capacity for dual layer DVDs is 8.5GB at speeds of 10X; regular DVDs for 4.7GB capacity at 20X; and CDs for 700MB at 40X. "For most Macs, this is an incredibly easy upgrade and one of great return for anyone who's currently making or planning to make their own DVDs or CDs," OWC said. The new drives are priced from $30 and up.
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01/11, 10:50am
NTI Dragon Suite
NewTech Infosystems today released NTI Dragon Suite, a collection of three Mac applications to handle disc burning as well as data compression and backup. NTI Dragon Burn features patented multi-burning technology that supports internal as well as external drives for simultaneously creating multiple copies of a CD or DVD. The software includes support for burning the leading video, audio, photo, and data formats onto the latest optical discs -- such as 16x DVD-R drives and 8.5GB DVD+R Double Layer (DL) media. NTI Dragon Suite is priced at $80, and requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later.
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01/10, 12:50pm
Fujitsu to demo scanner
Fujitsu has promised to showcase its newest ScanSnap Scanner for Mac at the Macworld 2008 Conference and Expo from January 14-18 in San Francisco, CA. The company also said it will announce a forthcoming device to address the mobile document imaging needs of the Mac community. Fujitsu's new ScanSnap S510M is one of the only single-pass duplex automatic document feeder (ADF) scanners available today for the Apple community, according to the company, and comes bundled with ABBYY FineReader 3.0 optical character recognition (OCR) software. Live demonstrations of the S510M will take place at booth no. S308.
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12/14, 4:05pm
4x Blu-Ray drive upgrade
FastMac today unveiled a 4x Dual Layer Blu-Ray optical drive upgrade (site not updated) for Apple's Mac Pro and Power Mac G5 workstations. The 5.25-inch tray loading drive uses one of the fastest Mac-compatible Blu-ray mechanisms, according to the company, providing up to 50GB of storage on one dual or dual or double layer disc without sacrificing compatibility with standard DVD or CD media. Utilizing SATA connectivity, the drive's BD-R DL feature allows Mac users to burn a complete 50GB disc in under 50 minutes. The drive is already available for an introductory price of $600, and comes with a 1-year warranty.
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11/30, 11:30am
Apple optical disc patent
Recently published by the US Patent and Trademark Office is an application from Apple, relating to optical disc drives. Originally submitted on May 22nd, 2006, the application details an an improvement to slot-loading drives, which allows them to play smaller-sized three-inch discs, in addition to regular-sized five-inch ones. Normally, only tray-loading drives can play both. The application is attributed to iPod engineer Anthony Fadell, who has devised two possible adapters: one with two folding halves, and another in which four sections lock together.
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