Tip: Upgrade to Safari 3.1 Beta to fix NTLM issue

Safari 3.0.4, the latest stable release for OS X 10.4 and 10.5, has a very annoying bug when asked for NTLM credentials. Basically, it sits in a loop and either hangs the browser, or eventually times out with an (I think) 401.1 error. I could reproduce this on 10.5.0, 10.5.1, and 10.5.2. I can't reproduce this now though since I just upgraded to the Safari 3.1 Beta (Seed 9B4021), and the issue has been solved. This has been causing me pain at work because the SharePoint and LiveMeeting sites uses NTLM by default with my Active Directory credentials.

I have no problems with it so far with the beta, actually one less problem than the stable release, and the browser is smoking fast. The WebKit team (rendering engine in Safari on both Mac OS X and iPhone OS X) have been doing an amazing job. The only way I know to get the beta is to signup for an Apple Developer account (entry level is free) and download the bits.

Update:
I spoke too soon. This must be a timing component to the NTLM bug I haven't figured out yet because I saw the issue again today on 3.1 Beta.

Updatex2
The NTLM issue was fixed in either the Mac OS X 10.5.3 or Mac OS X 10.5.4 software update, I can't remember which for sure, but i definitely don't have the issue on 10.5.4.

Got AN Xbox 360 back

2 weeks ago (Saturday February 23, 2008) I got AN Xbox 360 back, but it wasn't mine. I got my original Xbox 360 in April 2006, reviewed it on June 21, 2006 and updated my original review on August 03, 2006. I just got back an Xbox 360 with a manufacture date of July 2006! How is this going to solve the Red Ring of Death problem for me long term? Since the manufacturing problems didn't become public until June 2007 (I blogged about a recall in July 2007), how is a 3-4 month newer manufactured console going to solve this problem permanently for me? I think the obvious answer is that it is not, or MS knew long before they said that boxes were breaking. I know people with boxes that died which were made in the timeframe I just got mine from. Unless of course the manufacture date is misleading and the internals are new, but aren't there laws for this sort of thing? I will say this, it is certainly quieter than my original box, like this one is like a jet sitting at the gate, and my original is like a jet at takeoff. Complaints aside, and the reason it took me a couple weeks to post, was that I hadn't seriously exercised the machine until today with a 2 hour Half-Life 2 play session. The box seems fine, and I didn't lose any of my content, I can still access all of it. So no more horror stories, for now, with my Xbox 360.

Nine Inch Nails releases Ghosts I-IV on web, experiment in direct sales doesn't go so well at first

I have made it through one listen to Ghosts I-IV, the new album from Nine Inch Nails. This release is noteworthy for a number of reasons:

• The first fully instrumental release from the band
• Their first release without a record label
• Their first release made available nearly exclusively through their web site (though Trent Reznor has dabbled with direct content releases before
• Each album is 9 tracks long, so the full release is 4 albums, 36 tracks, for just $5.00 if you want to pay, because...
• It's also officially available on BitTorrent (at least the first 9 tracks, though it's only a matter of time before the whole thing is up anyway) and the Amazon MP3 Store (though you don't get the extras from Amazon that you do from the band's site for the same $5.00, it's just the music and only 256 kbps MP3s, not even the 320 kbps on the band's site)
• Ghosts I-IV is not available on iTunes

I have been a NIN fan since high school and I have wanted a purely instrumental release from the Trent Reznor since at least The Downward Spiral (Wikipedia). It usually takes me multiple listens to get into a new NIN album, but Ghosts on one listen is obviously great. If you have ever liked music like this, then you should go get it, especially since it's so cheap or free depending on your disposition.

That said, yesterday when I went to download Ghosts from NIN's site, which was released on March 2nd, the site was crushed. It took a long time to complete the order and checkout process, then when I went to download the album at 8 PM March 3, this is what I saw:

Later, about 9 PM, the server error was replaced with a more friendly message (which I forgot to screenshot), and finally this morning I was able to download the release and the NIN homepage has the following message from Trent Reznor:

Choose your format, and why not on iTunes?
Ghosts is offered in a number of formats:


I really don't understand why anyone would choose the MP3 option here, other than possibly convenience, even that I think is kinda silly. If you get Apple Lossless, you get audio mathematically identical to a CD with no DRM. Once you add the songs to iTunes, you can convert them to either AAC or MP3 by right-clicking on the songs and picking convert, its like 2 clicks to get to either of the lossy formats. Pictured left is the AAC option, the convert choice is dictated by the format you have set to Import music as in iTunes (Preferences -> Advanced -> Importing). Apple Lossless (ALAC for Apple Lossless Audio Codec) is the best possible format to buy in since the tool to convert, iTunes, is so easy to use and a lot of people have it installed. I am sure people could make freedom arguments for FLAC, since ALAC is an Apple proprietary format even though Apple is using the MP4 container format, just not a licensable codec like AAC. But ALAC is the right mix of features/convenience, and since ALAC is DRM free lossless, you can even get the tools to convert to FLAC if you really wanted to. I actually just loaded the ALAC files onto the iPhone, the total was 582 MB and I had the space.

So why not on iTunes? There is literally no music label involved, is Apple holding Trent Reznor and company back from releasing Ghosts I-IV + extras on iTunes for $5.00? Did Apple want more of a cut than Amazon? Did Reznor want to release first on his site before giving iTunes the goods, like Radiohead did with In Rainbows? Would Apple only allowed release in 256 kbps MP4 AAC branded as iTunes Plus? Would Apple offer ALAC too? NIN sure could have used the iTunes distribution network yesterday...

If I were going to buy a gaming PC, this might be the one...

I haven't owned a gaming PC in over 3 years, instead using my iMac, then PowerBook, and finally MacBook Pro, to play World of WarCraft (which I haven't played since May 2007), but if I was going to buy a new gaming PC, this would be it (since it looks like a BattleStar Galactica Cylon):

Courtesy of Engadget

Tip: See the full description of a movie or TV show on Apple TV 2.0

In Apple TV 1.0, if a description for a piece of content was longer than the about 8 lines of text the UI would display, you couldn't read the full thing. In Apple TV 2.0, when you get to what I call the detail page on a piece of content (pictured left, courtesy of Apple), then hit the + button, you can see the full description. Pressing the button again cycles to the full credit list, and a third time brings you back to the default combo view. Too bad they didn't add a shortcut like this in the 1.0 style lists. Now if only you could actually read reviews from the detail page...

Another possible reason you can't rent HD movies from iTunes to a computer

In AnandTech's article on Apple’s 45nm Refresh: New MacBook & MacBook Pro, I found a statement extremely interesting:

The Mobile GM45/47 chipsets are an integral part of Montevina and will feature the new GMA X4500HD graphics core. The X4500HD will add full hardware H.264 decode acceleration, so Apple could begin shipping MacBook Pros with Blu-ray drives after the Montevina upgrade without them being a futile addition. With full hardware H.264 decode acceleration your CPU.

Could Apple be waiting on a refreshed hardware platform from Intel before releasing HD movie downloads from iTunes to computers with this stuff? When H.264 encode/decode goes off-CPU for all computers, then the battery drain while be manageable. I might hold off purchasing a new Mac until this happens.

Tip: Open the main menu from anywhere on Apple TV 2.0

When Apple TV was upgraded to 2.0, a completely new main navigation menu replaced the 1.0 style list, though those lists still exist in some places. I stumbled on this little trick, ff you hold down the menu button on the remote for a few seconds (maybe 2), then the main menu will fly in no matter how deep you are in the navigation, which can get really deep when looking at movie rentals.

The remote trick/shortcut makes it obvious now why Apple went with this floating navigation menu. One of the tremendous problems I have with Xbox Live from an end-user standpoint is that you are always going back from somewhere to reset to home. Apple TV 1.0 didn't really suffer from the depth problem because you where always only 2-3 levels deep. With Apple TV 2.0, you can always get home at anytime, and still see where you currently are faded out behind the menu. If you want to stay where you are, you can click the menu button again. Simple, and a great example of a reason to rethink your UI if original assumptions are no longer true

Microsoft made the Vista "experience" bad on purpose to help Intel sell older chipsets

I wasn't really paying attention to the Vista Capable lawsuit as it had no effect on me, but this article popped up on the radar this morning, and there is some pretty damning email trails from MS execs, including this shocker:

we lowered the requirement to help Intel make their quarterly earnings so they could continue to sell motherboards with the 915 graphics embedded

You can read through the whole article, but Engadget has a good summary.

One word version: damning.

Dear PayPal, Safari Isn’t The Security Problem

After I read that PayPal says don't use Safari (via MacCentral), I thought about clueing them in that users don't know about EV certificates, and most of the anit-phishing stuff is annoying, but Jeremiah has done it for me. These extremely subtle pieces of chrome around the actual pages are just one more things users ignore. I have turned off the anit-phising in IE, and I didn't even know/remember that a green address bar meant that EV certificates where being used, but maybe I am a stupid user :-). One thing I want to call out though in Jeremiah's post is that he says technical solutions are most likely not the answer, but then says as long as it's part of his DNS (which is a link to OpenDNS, then its OK). OpenDNS sounds like a really cool idea, but you know it blocks phishing sites, which is a technological solution:

OpenDNS protects millions of people a day across hundreds of thousands of schools, businesses and homes. We block phishing sites, give you the power to filter out adult sites and proxies among more than 40 categories, and provide the precision to block individual domains.

This sounds like a better solution than anti-phishing that is application specific, and of course it would obviate the need for anti-phishing in Safari.

iPhone SDK: Enterprise Development Coming?

The prevailing sentiment seems to be that the presence of the word enterprise in the iPhone SDK unveiling meeting Thursday March 6th means that Apple is taking a RIMshot. While that may be true, I think it at least equally likely that, since we are talking about an SDK, and the details haven't leaked, it could mean that development for the SDK is coming to Windows and Visual Studio. I know, sounds crazy, why wouldn't Apple use the iPhone SDK as leverage to guarantee new Xcode and Mac OS X developers? A developer halo? They may, but they may also be thinking that they sacrifice exclusive development on Mac OS X to accelerate and increase iPhone OS X adoption by making the SDK available on Windows. They ported Safari to Windows for iPhone Web app testing, so there is some precedent. Could Xcode be coming to Windows? Seems like if that's the case, Cocoa is only a stones through from being fully ported and supported on Windows as a development runtime. This of course may all be entirely wrong, and enterprise only means integration with Notes and Exchange, but Apple likes to surprise, and it's fun to speculate. If this is even half right, I will look like a genius ;-), and I have absolutely no insider information.