Apple Website Points to PowerBook G5

lewsmind writes "The Register has a scoop on the new PowerBook G5. According to this article at the Apple website has hidden clues that suggest the coming of the PB G5 very soon. ."

Re:Since when is Slashdot an Apple Rumors site?

[garcia]

That was nothing but FUD that was been corrected by statements Apple has made to correct the misconceptions... statements which I know you've read yet you continue to repeat in an effort to spread FUD.

Where are the statements? I have asked for them multiple times and no one has shown me anything other than statements from third party sites that are quotes from supposed conversations with Apple representatives.

They're basing this on a 1x1 image...

[Ayaress]

It's on the server that hosts advertisements, it's a 1x1 invisible placeholder. Apple most likely did not name it that, the ad people (Avenue A, atdmt.com) did.

Once, about three years ago, I noticed one of these images on my ISP's web page with a file name something like XXXLESBIANPORNROMGAYWAREZMP3NAPSTERDOWNLOADZ.gif. I didn't assume that SBC was going to get into the internet porn or fileswapping business, I assumed that an ad agency used a few key words for one reason or another.

Re:Since when is Slashdot an Apple Rumors site?

[oscast]

Quote from Mac World Article [macworld.com]:

"contrary to rumors around the Internet, Apple has told Macworld that you can even do it yourself without voiding your warranty "unless you break something when you open it.")

Re:Where's the Beef?

[_xeno_]

On that subject, I'm confused what the article author means by: "As we've said, it could be an error, but with two separate files both using containing the sub-string _g5_, one on Apple's site, the other on Avenue A's, this seems unlikely."

I'm guessing what he means is that the file "apple_g5_powerbook" appears to exist on the target server.

Well, "http://switch.atdmt.com/action/i bet any damn string will work here and the register is just freaking stupid [atdmt.com]" works, and "http://switch.atdmt.com/action/tony smith is a wanker [atdmt.com]" seems OK too. Obviously they were already prepared for this story!

Or, of course, the bug accepts any input string and just dumps a 1x1 transparent GIF.

So what? Doesnt indicate anything

[Anonymous Coward]

The advertisers site is setup, so that any request for a 1x1 image will return the same (regardless if its an incorrect request) - probably to stop important web pages screwing up if a web developer enters the url to the image incorrectly.
So guess what could have happened here...the apple web developer adds these little tracker images, most of them with the 'g5' word. He gets to the powerbook page and sticks 'g5' like the others (after all, its all fairly boring and easy to loose concentration). The developer wouldnt notice the mistake till the advertising stats came back or someone told him e.g. slashdot/theReg

Re:Since when is Slashdot an Apple Rumors site?

[JabberWokky]

I wasn't aware that this was a Mac rumors site. I thought it was Slashdot (News for Nerds/Stuff that Matters + iPods)?

apple.slashdot.org [slashdot.org] has been active for quite awhile now.

--
Evan

Re:Since when is Slashdot an Apple Rumors site?

[Anonymous Coward]

You could always simply READ the warranty.

But since you're not going to, I'll tell you that it says it doesn't cover damage that is CAUSED by faulty user installation or problems caused by non-Apple products. It has no provision that voids the warranty for a case removal.

Re:Since when is Slashdot an Apple Rumors site?

[generationxyu]

You can set your preferences [slashdot.org] if you don't want to see certain articles. This falls under the realm of acceptable Slashdot articles -- if it's not something you're interested in, don't look at it.

Re:Since when is Slashdot an Apple Rumors site?

[catwh0re]

If you do a good job of it, apple don't have any real way of telling if you opened your mac mini(as any damage can be blamed on the person who opened the mac mini to check.. it's like the quantum cat in the box). Besides those that have dealt with apple know that they are quite fair(read: lenient) with their warranty policies (such as all those people that have dropped their ipods in water and got them replaced free of charge.)

Also when you open the mac mini you don't actually break the clips, it's just like in the ipods, the clips will make cracking noises but they don't actually break. (they do ware down a little if you repeat this too many times though)

Now considering the platform's target audience and apple being a business not a charity, there is nothing wrong with them asking consumers to not attempt to crack open their hardware and add ram etc. The reality is, if you can add it, then you can remove it should you need to give it to an authorised apple repair centre. The majority of hardware sold does not ever need to go to a repair centre anyway, so i don't see why this is such a huge issue.

As for the g4/g5 crisis that seems to exist in the press, I can assure you that not that many people actually care, people with any memory will remember that 'the g4 is too hot to be put in a powerbook' .. that was until it was put in an enclosure that was not only incredibly thin, but thinner than the g3 powerbooks.

Doing a little bit of research shows that the G5 doesn't have monster heat and power requirements when you run them below that 1.8ghz threshold, and that was before IBM did a transistor shrink on the architecture. The delay is really getting enough supply of g5 chips and enough of the models built so apple don't have a depressing wait time, like they manage to get for every new product they release, like with the g4 powerbook, they know this will be another monster release.

Re:Wait and see

[Slack3r78]

Given The Register didn't ask anyone to break and NDA and the source of their information is rather clearly posted on the page, I don't think they have anything to worry about.

Remember, the Think Secret case is primarilly about compelling Think Secret to reveal the source of their information so that Apple can enforce their NDA with that person.

here is the link to complete the circle

[mbaudis]

http://www.apple.com/itpro/resources.html

Re:Since when is Slashdot an Apple Rumors site?

[Dr. Mojura]

Apple Warranty: Installing Memory, Expansion Cards, User Installable Parts Does Not Void Warranty [apple.com]

You may install memory (RAM, VRAM), and other customer-installable parts without voiding your Apple warranty.

...However, if in the course of adding an upgrade or expansion product to your computer, you damage your Apple computer (either through the installation of, or incompatibility of the upgrade or expansion product), Apple's warranty will not cover the cost of repair, or future related repairs.

Seems pretty clear to me. You're free to upgrade the memory, but you're doing so at your own risk.

Re:Already gone...

[Tony Hoyle]

So is

the g6 powerbook [atdmt.com]

and

Duke nukem forever [atdmt.com]

Worked it out yet? This is a non-story.

It's a typo

[pressman]

I have a friend who works for Avenue A and he informed me that it is simply a typo.

Re:Where's the Beef?

[libra-dragon]

No one is implying that a file/folder named "apple_g5_powerbook" exists on switch.atdmt.com. The intent is not to display a 1 x 1 GIF. The real intent is to gather the number of hits to a particular page at apple.com. Upon every access to that page a subsequent access is made to switch.atdmt.com. Avenue A doesn't need to import Apple's enormous weblogs into a tool like WebTrends with this method. Similar to the way that WebTrends Live works.

Re:Already gone...

[Anonymous Coward]

you can type anything you want at the end, from g6 powerbook to g45438_powerbook, and still get a 1x1 GIF image. It seems to be a placeholder for content they don't have. Certain text strings after the /action/ folder will open PDFs or Flash movies, etc. Try:
http://switch.atdmt.com/action/apple_airportexpres s_tech_overview [atdmt.com]

Re:Since when is Slashdot an Apple Rumors site?

[Strolls]

I made the mistake of quoting the "as long as you don't break it" rumour to a colleague recently. He's clearly more observant than I am, replying:

I think it will invalidate your warranty, I read the article you refer to, but check the small print on the Apple tech spec for the mini [apple.com], it states:
5. Memory upgrade must be performed by an Apple Authorized Service provider.
Interestingly, on the US site it says even more:
5. Memory, AirPort Extreme and internal Bluetooth upgrades must be performed by an Apple Authorized Service provider; fees may apply.