But what about Sandy Bridge-E?
Ivy Bridge will be Quad-Core. If you want more threads and cores, go for SB-E. Sandy Bridge-E as well as Ivy Bridge will have PCIe 3.0. SB-E has 40 PCIe lanes (compared to 16 lanes in Sandy Bridge) as well as 1600MHz memory speed (quad-channel memory) which should be around 33% faster in theory.

There are confirmed builds that can run Mac OSX 10.7 (Lion) as well as 10.6 (Snow Leopard) with the Intel Sandy Bridge-E (SB-E) X79 Chipset. Integrated Graphics are not supported, but who needs them anyway, since the AMD 6990 GPU or the upcoming 7990
Here is a list of the confirmed mainboards:

Asus P9X79 Deluxe (user: vonmolk)
$370 in the US, €299 in Europe

Pro: good build quality (compared to other versions of that board)
Cons: none. The Asus Rampage IV has even better build quality.

Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 (user: machacks)
€297 in Europe, ??? in the USA

Pro: Awesome board! (nanofunk recommendation). Gigabyte has a longer history of hackintosh-capable boards, so get one of those.
Cons: none, really. Overclocking features could be better.

ASUS RAMPAGE IV EXTREME - LGA2011 - X79 - 8x DIMM - PCIe 3.0 Motherboards Hackintosh chimera

* ASUS Rampage IV Extreme (user: nfsking2)
$415 in the US, €369 in Europe

Pro: awesome build quality, extreme overclocking support.
Cons: expensive.

The MSI X79 Big Bang XPower II is suspected to work as well (once it becomes available). Theoretically, most of the X79 boards should work, we just have to wait and see what early birds (early adopters) are coming up with. Keep up the great work, ppl!

The new ATI Graphics Cards from the 7970 series are super-fast, while being single GPU systems (the upcoming 7990 will be a dual-GPU 6GB Graphics Card). Besides being quite "cheap" (around 500€ in Europe, $589 in the US, they are said to be supported in OSX soon (see also a discovery by netkas) - until then, there is a current way how to use them (although not accelerated) with chimera. Props go to Shrapnl from the tonymac86 forum:

I was able to force my 7970 into a higher res (still unaccelerated of course) via the org.chameleon.boot.plist with the following:

<key>Graphics Mode</key>
<string>2560x1440x32</string></pre>

Of course, you can overclock the 7900 Series just fine. There are "Waterblocks" from Aquacomputer for the 7900 series, as outlined by Geeks3D.

Of course, the GPU runs quite fast without overclocking, still you could go faster. Below: Shamino has overclocked a Radeon HD 7970 under LN2 with the following clock speeds: 1650MHz for the GPU and 1800MHz real speed (7200MHz effective) for the memory. (Source: geeks3d)

1920x1080 Full HD (comparable to 2K)

Dell UltraSharp U2711 27-inch.

For the penny saver: you could use a Full-HD LCD Television (LED) with HDMI to monitor your edits. You can get them starting at $600 via Amazon US (starting at around 500€ in Europe). Since you might produce for TV or youtube anyway, this might be the best way to go, since it is also a cheap solution.

If you need to have a higher resolution (~2.5K 2560 x 1440) the Dell UltraSharp U2711 27-inch might be the Monitor you are searching for.

3K Footage (e.g. from the RED Scarlet-X)

IBM T221 22-inch QUXGA-W LCD Monitor

There is a 22.2" LCD Monitor with the resolution of 3480 x 2400 pixels - the Viewsonic VP2290B-2 22.2" and it's twin: the IBM T221. That's 9.2 Megapixels (!). The Viewsonic VP2290B-2 is available as Refurbished for $3.500 on Amazon, the IBM T221 is available used for $1.675.

You might still be lucky and get a bargain via eBay, though:

a) $1500 (€1.140) IBM T221 IPS, including a LFH-60 to DL-DVI Adapter

b) $600 for a Viewsonic VP2290b (!) with free shipping. Plus there are some more of that IBM monitors available from that seller.

4K Footage (e.g. from RED Scarlet, RED Epic, Arri Alexa, etc.)

Sony VW1000ES 4K Projector for $28.000. You might get second hand 4K Projectors starting at $2.000 already.

The EIZO DuraVision FDH3601 with a 4096 x 2160 resolution (2160p) sells for around 36.000$. You might be cheaper off with a 4K Beamer (Projector).

While the Sony VW1000ES 4K Beamer sells for around 28.000USD, the Christie Mirage S+4K 3D DLP Projector with 5000 Lumen sells used for $5,980.00 on Amazon. Still, the question is if you care about a second hand beamer: if you own 4K production equipment, you most likely have the moolah to get yourself a brand spanking new 4K projector as well.

5K Footage and above, up to 8K (e.g. from 5K RED Epic or 2x RED Epic)
If you want to go all way up to next-level 8K, you can get the recently announced 85 inch 8K Monitor. Make sure to already start saving some bucks, though.

Strangely, the trend of the past years seems to be in decreasing the pixel resolution on the displays (since there are mostly mobile screens deployed). We can expect a pixel bump in 2012 though, since the upcoming iPad 3 (and it is said also MacBook Air and MacBook Pro) will most possibly have Retina Screens with 2880x1800 pixel resolution (source: ArsTechnica).

Recommended Reading: make sure to read "The Truth About 2K, 4K and The Future of Pixels" for some background information on pixels and sensors.

Meet the new 5D Mark II Magic Lantern Unified from Andrew Reid on Vimeo.

here is out only wanted feature:

* more work on HDMI output for the 5DMKII so it is fully usable with the Atomos Ninja

You can support the development by sending them a small donation: http://goo.gl/gvD8Q. Here is the original sendout from the magic lantern user group:

Following the small, but positive feedback from this thread [ http://bit.ly/ml-unified-5D2 ], I'm glad to announce the next long-term direction of Magic Lantern: merging the AJ 5.x firmware with the unified one currently running on smaller cameras.
I need your help. As explained in the previous post, a good port (one suitable for paid jobs) requires me having a camera for testing. On 550D/60D ports, crashes are almost non-existent, audio meters are calibrated, HDMI monitors are fully usable and so on. So, if you like this idea, you may help me buy a 5D2 by:

- a small donation (you don't need a PayPal account for this): http://goo.gl/gvD8Q
- or by spreading the word, since right now there are not many users familiar with both ML versions

Feature-wise: I'd like to ask the users who have tried both AJ and Unified ML (especially those using both versions in a regular fashion) to comment on this. Main question: what's the best of both worlds? What do you like better in AJ 5.x and what do you like better in Unified? Big thanks to all ML community for making it possible!
Alex

Magic Lantern Unified looks promising: High Dynamic Range VIDEO for Canon cameras:

============== UPDATE ================
available for download now!
magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Release_2011Dec22
======================================
Demonstration of the new and free High Dynamic Range VIDEO feature for control over ultra contrast situations.

Discussion, workflow, RAW footage, FAQ:
vimeo.com/groups/74140/forumthread:250295

Magic Lantern is a custom firmware add-on for Canon dSLR cameras. It is not a hack, or a modified firmware, but it runs alongside Canon's own firmware, booting from the card every time you turn the camera on. The only modification to the original firmware is the ability to boot software from the card.

magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Unified

HDR Video: what does it mean? It does not output pre-processed HDR video from the camera, rather it blends the alternative high ISO / low ISO frames together in post (see this discussion thread at Vimeo). There is of course a difference if you use two Canon 5D MKII for generating a HDR movie (as this guy did) compared to this "hack", although the development of Magic Lantern continues to impress!

Keep on rocking! We can't await clean HDMI output for the 5DMKII to use it with the Atomos Ninja (if this hack is possible at all...)

Minicraft is an 8-bit game written in Java (playable in the Browser or via a downloadable version) where resources and materials have to be collected to craft and create something new. Persson told, the higher aim of the game is to kill the only other creature with "consciousness" to be alone forever.

Since the Mozilla Foundation got 300 Million US$ per year from Google to implement Google's search engine as the default one, two new releases of the Firefox Browser have been presented: Firefox 10 (stable) and Firefox 11 Aurora (Version 11). The mobile Android version of the Android implementation gets a new, native UI. That makes the browser faster and it needs less memory besides other improvements and fixes. Firefox Aurora and Beta can be downloaded from Future of Firefox.

Here is a list of all the changes:

NEW Firefox can now migrate your bookmarks, history, and cookies from Google Chrome
NEW The CSS text-size-adjust property is now supported
CHANGED Windows: An OS security dialog should no longer come up when updating
HTML5 View source syntax highlighting now uses the HTML5 parser (see bug 482921)
HTML5 The outerHTML property is now supported on HTML elements
DEVELOPER The Style Editor for CSS editing is now available to web developers
DEVELOPER Web developers can now visualize a web page in 3D using Tilt
DEVELOPER SPDY protocol support for faster page loads is now testable
DEVELOPER XMLHttpRequest now supports HTML parsing
DEVELOPER Files can now be stored in IndexedDB (see bug 661877)
DEVELOPER Websockets has now been unprefixed
FIXED Redesigned media controls for HTML5 video
FIXED Firefox notifications may not work properly with Growl 1.3 or later (see 691662)

Known Issues:

UNRESOLVED Some synaptic touch pads are unable to vertical scroll (see 622410)
UNRESOLVED For some users, scrolling in the main GMail window will be slower than usual (see 579260)
UNRESOLVED If you try to start Firefox using a locked profile, it will crash (see 573369)
UNRESOLVED This version of Firefox will not work on Macintosh hardware with Power PC CPUs (see 587799)
UNRESOLVED Under certain conditions, scrolling and text input may be jerky (see 711900)

Currently, with the announcement of the Hitachi Deskstar 7K4000 4000GB, SATA 6Gb/s (0F14681) and the 4TB Deskstar 5K4000 as well as the 4TB Seagate Barracuda XT 7200RPM a total of 24TB could be reached when modding the Promise Pegasus just replacing the 2TB drives it comes with.

Tomshardware even reported on 5TB HDDs arriving in January 2012, so a modification to fit 30TB into the Promise Pegasus would be possible theoretically.

While all the drives are not available at the current time of writing of this article, please do consult the Promise Support if you are planning to do modifications or already did! Judging from the current feedback on modifications, updating the Promise Pegasus before an official answer or statement from Promise Technology is NOT RECOMMENDED!

Please send emails to Promise directly and ask them to react on the current limitations. I already did so - still waiting for response.

Nov 28 18:30:42 mbp kernel[0]: hfs: FindNextLeafNode: Error from hfs_swap_BTNode (node 9852)
Nov 28 18:30:42 mbp kernel[0]: hfs_swap_HFSPlusBTInternalNode: catalog key #54 too big
Nov 28 18:30:42 mbp kernel[0]: hfs: Runtime corruption detected on SSD, fsck will be forced on next mount.
Nov 28 18:30:42 mbp kernel[0]: hfs: FindNextLeafNode: Error from hfs_swap_BTNode (node 10370)
Nov 28 18:30:42 mbp kernel[0]: hfs_swap_HFSPlusBTInternalNode: catalog record #22 keyLength=32 expected=65568
Nov 28 18:30:42 mbp kernel[0]: hfs: node=10965 fileID=4 volume=SSD device=/dev/disk0s2
Nov 28 18:30:43 mbp kernel[0]: hfs: Runtime corruption detected on SSD, fsck will be forced on next mount.
Nov 28 18:30:43 mbp kernel[0]: hfs: FindNextLeafNode: Error from hfs_swap_BTNode (node 14503)
Nov 28 18:30:43 mbp kernel[0]: hfs_swap_BTNode: record #55 invalid offset (0x9B46)

It was getting slower and slower, reporting tons of errors in the Console.app. Then, it did not reboot anymore. Even in an external USB drive enclosure the drive did not mount anymore. Contacting OCZ about this issue, they sent me an RMA number right away and told me they will replace the drive. Does this mean our data is not safe in SSD? What can we learn from this?

First of all, it is a myth that SSDs are more reliable than hard drives. Secondly, they are not even fully supported on OSX yet (see Should I use Trim Enabler on Lion for the OCZ Vertex 3? No!) - at least if you install the drives yourself (which is also what I would suggest, since Apple does not offer any decent SATA 6GBPs drives yet).

So where is the proof, you ask?

Proof #1: The Hot/Crazy Solid State Drive Scale (via Coding Horror)

Super Talent 32 GB SSD, failed after 137 days
OCZ Vertex 1 250 GB SSD, failed after 512 days
G.Skill 64 GB SSD, failed after 251 days
G.Skill 64 GB SSD, failed after 276 days
Crucial 64 GB SSD, failed after 350 days
OCZ Agility 60 GB SSD, failed after 72 days
Intel X25-M 80 GB SSD, failed after 15 days
Intel X25-M 80 GB SSD, failed after 206 days

As a commenter put it: "Average life of SSD = 227.375 days (based on Wills' data)" - which is also what I can confirm.

SOLUTION: Backup early, backup often. Don't rely on the SSD and make two local backups plus one backup in the cloud.

Proof #2: long-term study of SSD failure rates (via Tomshardware)

SOLUTION: Buy drives that come with a very long warranty. Be prepared to let your drive replace for several times.

I am still waiting for my replacement OCZ Vertex and I will benchmark how fast it will die again. Since OCZ told me, it can take up to three weeks for my replacement to arrive, I bought myself a Seagate ST750LX003 750 GB SATA 600, Momentus XT, 8 GB SLC - it's a hybrid 750GB HDD with an 8GB SLC cache. The drive shifts data that is used often in the 8GB SLC SSD space automatically. While the SSD part of this hybrid drive can also fail, the data won't be lost and it will suffer just some minor speed loss (if it fails, since SLC is said to be more reliable than MLC chips). While this disk is now my main startup disk, i will go back to using the OCZ Vertex 3 again, once the replacement arrives. I just need to backup regularly - the speed gain is really worth the trouble.

Facebook had 22 Million active users in the middle of 2007; fast forward to 2011 and the site now has 800 Million active users, with 400 million of them logging in every day. Facebook has grown exponentially, to say the least! To cope with this kind of exceptional growth and at the same time offer a reliable and cost effective service requires out of the box thinking. Typical high-end, brute force, ultra redundant software and hardware platforms (for example Oracle RAC databases running on top of a few IBM Power 795 systems) won’t do as they're too complicated, power hungry, and most importantly far too expensive for such extreme scaling. (quoting Anandtech)

"The AMD servers are mostly used as Memcached servers, as the four channels of AMD Magny-cours Opterons 6100 are capable of using 12 DIMMs per CPU, or 24 DIMMs in total. That works out to 384GB of caching memory."

It remains unclear, when or if that server hardware will be available for purchase - but it looks like there will be some cloud/datacenter providers jumping on the idea of the open compute servers, so it might be possible to rent them.

OS X Lion is the next major release of OS X, the world’s most advanced desktop operating system. It includes over 250 new features that will transform how you interact with your Mac. Built on a rock-solid UNIX foundation, OS X is engineered to take full advantage of the technologies in every new Mac. And to deliver the most intuitive and integrated computer experience. Brought to us by HOTiSO group. Mac OS X 10.7 was first shown to the public in October 2010. The presentation was understated, especially compared to the bold rhetoric that accompanied the launches of the iPhone (”Apple reinvents the phone”) and the iPad (”a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price”). Instead, Steve Jobs simply called the new operating system “a sneak peek at where we’re going with Mac OS X.”

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Video: Tsawout Spit – Gh2 Test (driftwood 176mb gop1 hack) from mark wyatt on Vimeo.

There seems to be no day without any surprises with the Panasonic GH2. The latest hot-shit is a hack to get 176Mbps AVCHD Intra up and running on the camera. Right now there's no possibility to record in 25p but there are attempts by vitaly and others, so let's see what the future holds.

What is AVCHD Intra?
"AVCHD Intra is usually recorded to extremely expensive P2 cards on high end cameras and here it is on a consumer camera with an SD card. [...] This is a codec that uses i-frames only unlike consumer AVCHD. Every frame from the sensor is stored. Standard AVCHD is a Long-GOP compression format and works by estimating and guessing at frames in-between ‘real’ images but Intra doesn’t. [...] AVCHD Intra is very good for heavy colour grading, fast action, hand held footage and green screen VFX work. You certainly get a better result from AVCHD Intra on the GH2 than by outputting from any DSLR’s HDMI feed to a external recorder as well." (via eosHD)

How does it compare?
eosHD has a comparison on AVCHD intra 100Mbps vs 24Mbit AVCHD.

And if that's not enough: there is even a 244Mbps AVCHD Intra Hack, as outlined by Driftwood: "It's stable and with good lighting conditions can look amazing."

eosHD recommends: "AVCHD Intra at such high bitrates can be tricky to edit so I recommend transcoding it to ProRes 4-4-4 first."

The Panasonic GH2 turns out to be the currently best Video-DSLr out there, although it is not even a DSLR. The micro-four thirds sensor is much smaller than a full-frame sensor, but the video footage that this great camera produces is far superior to those from lets say the Canon EOS 5D MKII - no moires, no aliasing and a much better video codec: AVCHD. Besides the obvious facts, the GH2 gets hacked extensively: Vitaliy Kiselev first hacked the GH1 and after that the Panasonic GH2.

With the PTOOL firmware manipulation tool, you can get the following improvements, among many others:

- Change Video Bitrates
- Improved GOP patches.
- Improved MJPEG size patches.
- change the 30min recording restriction
- lots of other changes

Patching the firware was possible, after a GH2 Firmware update leaked.

Here is a short overview on what to do in 10 steps:

1) Get a Patch from the extensive patch repository.
2) Load the GH2 1.0E firmware
3) Check all necessary patches, Version increment must be always checked.
4) Save firmware. Just change last digit to any number you want. (e.g. GH2__V11.bin)
5) Copy firmware to root of SD card. Fully charge you battery. Do not even attempt to use AC coupler!
6) Power off your camera if it was on.
7) Power on camera. After this press (not hold) green play button.
8) You'll see hourglass and prompt to update.
9) Press down arrow and after this Menu/set.
10) Wait until upgrade will be completed.

happy modding!

Intel will bring Thunderbolt to the PC, which means you can use your devices such as the Promise Pegasus Thunderbolt RAID or the Lacie Little Big Disk, but also products such as the black magic intensity extreme Thunderbolt video capture cards on your Windows PCs - and on your hackintosh machines as well.

During Intel’s Developer Forum, the chip maker showed off some Ultrabook prototypes running on its Haswell-based processor and sporting the high-speed Thunderbolt port. The technology was developed in collaboration with Apple and has so far remained exclusive to Macs. That may change soon as Intel teases that Thunderbolt will be heading to Windows PCs as well.

(via slashgear)

hunderbolt was originally code-named Light Peak and was installed on the update to the Mac Book Pro earlier this year. Rights to the Thunderbolt technology were originally registered under Apple, but were transferred over to Intel which is why you'll see it's name popping up a bit more. We already know Acer and Asus are planning Thunderbolt integration, but we're unsure how the port will look. Currently, the Thunderbolt port on Apple products is identical to the mini-display port, but PC users would rather it be more like USB for increased compatibility. Not to many people are aware of this, but Sony released their VAIO Z with a hybrid USB 3.0/Light Peak port, so it's kind of up in the air as to how things will shape-up.

Expected timeframe: anywhere in 2012.

This is an information from our Partner, 5uper.net:

In Autumn of 2011 the Festival Coded Cultures takes place for the 4th time, this year focusing on the topic "City as Interface". Ever since the foundation of the Festival in 2004 lay the general emphasis on creative practices of cultural development on the intersections of art, technology, science and design. It is our concern to decode de- velopments, concepts and projects in those “coded” structures of digital and (new) media production, which won’t open up easily to broader audiences. Over the years the alignment of Coded Cultures and its variations were orientated internation- ally with the focus on eastern Europe in 2004, Brasil in the following years and Japan in 2009. This year, Coded Cultures involves mainly participants from Europe with prominent attendees such as transmediale from Berlin, Media Lab Prado from Madrid, Amber Festival from Istanbul and the Enter Festival from Prague.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
CODED CULTURES was initiated by the group »5uper.net«: a network of producers, theorists, artists, designers, architects and programmers, which is active in the field of knowledge-work based on digital media related forms of art and culture. Recently, the Book "Coded Cultures: New Creative Practices Out of Diversity" published by Springer.

http://codedcultures.net
http://5uper.net
http://www.facebook.com/codedcultures
http://twitter.com/codedcultures
Coded Cultures: New Creative Practices Out of Diversity

Among the lenses, a reworked Rodenstock 50mm f/0.75 for Micro Four Thirds, that fits on your camera without the need of an adapter. The lens focuses from 3ft to infinity. Wide open, images are very soft but unlike C-mount lenses the circle covers the full m43 size. Here are some flickr examples.

What are currently recommended HDMI field recorders?

1. Black Magic Hyperdeck Shuttle (RAW Video)

* Product information page/ manufacturer: Black Magic Design
* Discussion on the Magic Lantern User Group: hyperdeck shuttle

Pro:

Very Cheap: ($339.99 in the USA, 299€ in Europe

Cons:

SSD drives NOT included, so you might need to calculate in some OCZ Vertex 3 SSDs in your budget

No Video Monitoring on the device itself. You might need to buy an external monitor, such as the Liliput external HDMI monitor (starting at $169 in the USA and 186€ in Europe)



2. Atomos Ninja - Portable HDMI Recorder (ProRes)

Pro:

Conclusion:
Unless you are super-rich and have tons of money to spend for Solid State Drives and a RAID Array, you should get the Atomos Ninja. Besides the actual device, you also get a monitoring solution and have a true portable device, that creates files usable with normal hard drives. Overall cost is much lower and there should not be a really visible difference from ProRes to RAW footage. If you are into Bokeh Porn, you might want to spend your money in the Black Magic Hyperdeck Shuttle.

Keep in mind, there are currently some issues with HDMI out an Magic Lantern: there is a video on the 5D MKII's 1080i out and also some discussions going on in the Magic Lantern Forums, because some processing needs to be done to get actual usable files. Actual resolutionis 12-19% less (depending how you do it) but still the results are awesome - especially in low light situations. Maybe we will get real clean HDMI out with the Canon EOS 5D MKIII.

We also blogged that enabling TRIM is a good thing, although it seems that it seems to be not necessary on Sandforce based chipsets.

Since we still were experiencing freezes and Sandballs on our Mac OSX Lion 10.7 SSD Setup that were actually not related to TRIM, also the system did not feel as snappy anymore.

Conclusion: don't use TRIM on OSX Lion 10.7, if you are using a Sandforce based SSD. Revert to the original driver and not only the Beachballs will go away, but also the system feels snappy again. See the below Benchmarks for real-life results (since AJA System Test does not work on internal drives, we can recommend using XBENCH to verify the figures for you).

XBENCH Screenshot with TRIM Enabled (using TRIM Enabler for OSX 10.7 Lion)

Screenshot of XBENCH without TRIM Enabler (Restored to original setting)

UPDATE: Grant Pannell (digitaldj.net) reports on how to restore to the original settings.

To reproduce the issue:
1) click on "Clear Display" in Console.app
2) go to http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/ and the error will show up in the console.

The error must be Flash related. Sometimes, the whole System is unresponsive, freezing everything but the mouse. There is no official response from Adobe or from Apple, so we can only hope and wait. Please check your Console.app for this error and respond to any of the existing discussions.

[Update] the error message also seems to have surfaced in 10.6.4 already, as visible in the Apple Discussion Forums

[Update] installing the Adobe Flash Player 11.0 from Adobe Labs seems to at least minimize the freezes, but still the console messages appear.

[Update] i posted a poll on insanelymac to see which browsers and systems are affected. please also post your results there!

[Update] the new Beta 2 11.0.d1.98 of the flash player is out (thanks JP Hansen)

[Update] The Flash Player 11 is officially released. It seems though, that not all issues are resolved with Mac OSX Lion compatibility.

[Update 23.12.2011] more than 6 months after the issue was reported, (and we have Apple Mac OS X 10.7.2 and 10.7.3 in beta) there is still no update on this issue from Adobe. Please write your concerns to the Adobe Forums in the existing thread to have them fix the issues! Especially for SSD owners this is unacceptable!

Existing Discussions:

* Nanofunk.net discussion thread in the Adobe Flash Player Forums
* Thread in the Apple Support Communities Forum
* Thread on MacRumors Forums regarding Lion Freezes with kernel: IOSurface

[Update] I posted to the Adobe Bugbase with a bug description. Hope they will respond now.

1. Get Mac OSX 10.7 Lion
A Retail Version has already been spotted in the german amazon store but it seems the product has already been removed from amazon. Other ways to create a bootable Lion DVD are outlined here:

* MacRumors Forums: Make an OS X Lion Boot Disc
* Download the Lion Boot Disc via Torrent (of course, only if you already legally own Mac OSX 10.7 Lion)

2. Get a Cheap USB Stick that works with OSX

3. Boot the Chimera Installer

4. Install Multibeast

Of course, you can also try the method outlined by tonymac: Installation of 10.7 Lion with Snow Leopard and Boot Partition. Please post any success or fail information in the comments section.

createdigitalmusic posted some hacking tips, including information on how to build your own MIDI clocking and how to create a "switchonome". Another post by runagate describes how to Turn A $50 Bliptronic 5000 Into A Monome Controller [update: Bliptronome conversion kit for $68 USD].

Information via ThinkGeek:

Product Features

* Unusual retro synthesizer is played with a grid of glowing buttons
* Create looping patterns and change them dynamically while playing
* Chain multiple units together and create more complex melodies
* One octave range. 8 notes can be played simultaneously
* 8 different old-skool synth sounding instruments to choose from
* Sounds created using FM waveform synthesis
* Set the BPM (beats per minute) from 60 to 180 in 20 BPM increments
* Built in speaker with headphone jack and line-out jack
* Front panel is constructed from brushed aluminum
* Includes, manual and 2 link cables for connecting additional Bliptronic units
* Requires 4 x AA batteries (not included)

The company Cycling74 announced Max/Msp 6 which will arrive fall 2011. Prices have been lowered, starting from $59 for a student 12-month license. Upgrade prices for existing Max5 users will be $199, if there will be a "max for live" upgrade fee is not known at the moment.

Main news are:

1. Performance: code generation, HTML5 and a new 2d Graphics API in Javascript has been announced.
2. Quality: "output gaps" should not be audible anymore when working on running patches, as well as "an advanced toolset for high quality rendering 3-D objects" has been announced. Jitter comes with a new physics engine and better support for 3D model and animation files. Better support for cameras and lighting, as well as a new "materials" systems have also been introduced.
3. Workflow: a new attribute monitoring and editing workflow, as well as a "new project feature, where you can see all the patchers, code, and media files you’re using" has been announced.

You can read the full announcement at the Cyling74 website, as well as read the @cycling74 twitter feed for more recent updates.

Steps to install OSX Lion:
1. Get the "GM" (Golden Master) of Lion via torrent
2. Get an EFI Boot Loader
3. Get a decent 8GB USB thumb drive and install the Golden Master on there.
4. Install using iBoot.

You can get detailed information on installing Mac OSX Lion 10.7 by reading the geeknizer blog howto.

[UPDATE] tonymacx86 showed how to Install OS X 10.7 Lion on any Supported Intel Core 2 or Core i based PC with xMove + MultiBeast. Furthermore, there is a Mac OSX Lion v10.7.2-HOTiSO that should also boot from any PC. Don't forget that you need to buy Apple Mac OS X Lion from the App Store to legally use it.

[UPDATE] with the announced Hitachi Deskstar 7K4000 4000GB(4TB), 5K4000 as well as the 4TB Seagate Barracuda XT a total of 24TB could be reached when modding the Promise Pegasus just replacing the 2TB drives it comes with. 5TB HDDs are reported arriving in January 2012. Read our updated Article: Caution with Promise Pegasus Thunderbolt RAID 6x3TB (18TB) or 6x4TB (24TB) modification. 6x5TB (30TB) possible as of January 2012?

The Promise Pegasus is the most "promising" hardware for enthusiasts and pro users, since it offers really fast transfer speeds, even topping the OCZ Vertex 3 SATA 6Gbps internal SSD on Macbook Pro computers.

Delivering over 800MB/s of disk performance, Pegasus is compatible with Mac systems with Thunderbolt

Compare the Promise Pegasus R4 (4x 2TB) and the Promise Pegasus R6 (8x 2TB). Of course, if you want to pimp your pegasus, you can replace the internal drives with different ones.

Internally Promise uses a PMC Sierra PM8011 8-port SAS-2 RAID controller. This is an 8-lane PCIe Gen 2 controller with eight SAS/SATA 6Gbps ports. On the R6 obviously only six of those ports are functional. The PM8011 has an embedded 600MHz MIPS processor and is paired with 512MB of DDR2-533. (via Anandtech)

Possible replacements and hacks for the Promise Pegasus:

* replace the internal hard drives with SSD drives: at the current date this still has stability issues. We are waiting for updated drivers or a response from Pegasus about the current freezes and issues with SSD drives. If you really have to test it out, make sure you get 6Gbps SSD drives. 2.5inch drives will also fit in the caddy.

* replacing the internal drives with 3TB drives: this is a confirmed and stable way of pimping your pegasus drives. Pegasus comes with 2TB Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 drives, so make sure you are getting 3TB drives from the same brand. We can recommend the Hitachi 3TB 7200RPM drive, but also we can confirm the Pegasus runs with the Western Digital 3 TB SATA II Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive and the SEAGATE Barracuda XT 3 TB SATA 6.0 Gb-s 64 MB Cache. Just keep in mind, not to mix up brands: you should get 6 times the same hard disk for the most stable system.

* replacing the internal drives with SAS 6Gbps Hard Disks: while this would render the promise pegasus a real pro system that is rock stable, drives should be used, that offer a compatible SAS-connector. Since SAS-drives are generally compatible to SATA-connectors, we can generally recommend the Seagate Constellation ES.2 3 TB Internal Hard Drive SAS 600 7200rpm 64MB

Conclusio: The Promise Pegasus is a fast solution for great read/write speed plus the extra feature of having the possibility to daisy-chain more Pegasus devices together, to increase the space when needed. Compared to the Data Robotics DROBO PRO System, it only offers 1-drive fail (1 drive can get corrupted, if 2 fail your data is lost) while the DROBO offers dual drive redundancy. Also, the DROBO PRO supports different sized drives, while you can only put drives of the same size (and it is recommended to also only use the exact same drive models) in the Promise Pegasus.
Overall, nanofunk is recommending the Pegasus R4 and R6, because of its faster speed and possibilty to enhance the system. Since we had our DROBO PRO replaced twice (the unit itself was faulty) we are currently fully in favor of the Promise Pegasus.

Which type are you?

• the collector: two 750GB SATAII Drives
• fast, but not furious: 256GB SSD SATAIII drive + 750GB HDD in the optical drive slot
• the caretaker: 256GB SSD SATAIII drive + 500GB SATAII hybrid drive in the optical drive slot
• speed enthusiast: 256GB SSD SATAIII drive + 256GB SSD SATAII drive in the optical drive slot
• humongous and rich: 512GB SSD SATAIII drive + 512GB SSD SATAII drive in the optical drive slot

The recommended steps are to select your setup, get an OptiBay, choose an external casing for your optical drive and get your hands dirty. Read our recommendations and tell us which type you are!

The new MCE OptiBay was created for users who want as much hard drive capacity as possible inside their MacBook Pro, MacBook, PowerBook G4, iMac, or Mac mini. Period

256GB SSD SATA III 6Gbps Drive

The first SATA port on the current MacbookPro models is a true 6Gbps port. That means you can mount SATA III 6Gbps devices without any much trouble into your soon-to-be-blazingly fast aluminium portable.

Recommendations: either wait for the OCZ 240 GB Vertex 3 SATA III 6.0 Gb/s 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive (which sadly is not officially released yet, but already got a great review by Anand from AnandTech) or you can alternatively get a 256 GB Crucial RealSSD C300 which is aleady available and also shows great results

OptiBay: original or replica

The OptiBay is a size adapter, that makes your optical drive slot usable for other "normal" 2 1/2" drives, such as HDD and SDD drives. Unfortunately the SATA port where the optical drive is connected on the new MacBook Pro 2011 Models is only capable of 3Gbps. Still it would be possible to insert SSD drives as well, if you are brave.

You can either get the original MCE OptiBay (which sells for around $100 on the MCE Page), or you can safely get a replica OptiBay, which are starting at $9, sometimes there are even cheaper offers on ebay UK or ebay USA.

750GB Second HDD Drive recommendation: Western Digital WD7500BPKT Scorpio Black 750 GB

If you are careful about your SSD wear (having lots of "traffic" on your disk shortens the lifespan of your SSD) or are downloading torrent like crazy (bittorrent clients are quite a load on the drives), you might consider putting a Hard Disk instead of a SSD in your Optical Drive Slot.

Western Digital WD7500BPKT Scorpio Black 750 GB ~106€ in Europe, $109.99 in the USA

Recommended second SDD for the OptiBay: OCZ Vertex 2 Extended

If you are brave and have the necessary bucks, why not go for a second SDD in your MacBook Pro? We can definitely recommend the OCZ Technology 240 GB Vertex 2 Extended SSD
, since we had two drives already mounted in a 2010 MacBook Pro. Yes, that is a fast setup. If you want to have a mobile power workstation that is suited for high end audio and video production, this is definitely the way to go.

external Optical Drive enclosure

Since you might want to still use your optical drive from time to time, you should consider getting an external casing for it. We can definitely recommend those external enclosures, since they are dead cheap and do exactly what you need them to do: host your Apple internal drive and make it an external one. Recommended: USB2.0 Slim External Enclosure Case

Possible Extra: get an external bluray drive

If you don't care so much about the size of your external drive, you can also get an external BluRay Drive, to also watch your HD Movies. Recommendation: the Plextor 6X Ext USB Bd Combo

1. Get an original Apple Mac Pro Case (Enclosure/ Chassis) or alternatively: an Apple Power Mac G5 Case to tinker with

You can find Apple Mac Pro Cases (case only) via ebay, although they might be quite pricy. Another option is to search for Apple Power Mac G5 Cases instead, which are sometimes selling for a few bucks (most of the people interested are searching for "Mac Pro" and not for "Power Macintosh"). So while there might be some tinkering required, still the Apple Power Macintosh G5 Case is a very fine piece of casing. (see a howto for G5 Casemodding on Youtube)

2. Almost as good as the "original": Lian Li PC-V1000 computer case

You might get lucky and find the Lian Li PC-V1000 computer case on ebay - unfortunately I did not find any other ways of ordering this awesome case somewhere else.

3. DIY your own.

There are some impressive CaseMods out in the wild (e.g. the Hackintosh Jr. Case Mod). While this might be a lot of work, you will earn lots of (digital) street creds for your "almost impossible mod". Enter hardforum.com if you are brave.

"lion is booting with some old xpc version" ~ Netkas

Some people are claiming to boot the recent Mac OSX 10.7 Lion with the XPC Bootloader project. More and more voices are popping up, so I am just pointing in the right direction, since "Any and all information about downloading and installing Lion, as well as any details are under Non-Disclosure Agreement from Apple.". You probably find updates on Netkas' Blog as well.

UPDATE: see a posting/ short guide on a popular board as well: Mac OS X 10.7 Lion [Beta/HowTo]

via fffff.at: "The 2nd edition of the SPEED SHOW presents again a wide selection of pop.net.art pieces and addresses various developments of performance related but still screen based art works. Most interaction and communication on the web bears it’s very own performance character. One could say Facebook is a huge mass performance piece. net.art in it’s classic form could be considered a performance by interactivity as well. In recent years artists from different fields work increasingly in a mix of performances and digital interventions. In some cases the screen itself, the beholder of the pixel is subject to fluctuations. In other works the performance is acted out by a hysterical mass or just by the code."

Thursday, 8th of July 2010, 19:00 – 22:00 h // Kaukas Handy Shop, Äussere Mariahilferstr. 178, Vienna (Map)

"Hit an Internet-cafe, rent all computers they have and run a show on them for one night. All art works of the participating artists need to be on-line (not necessarily public) and are shown in a typical browser with standard plug-ins. Performance and life pieces may also use pre-installed communication programs (instant messaging, VOIP, video chat etc). Custom software (except browser add-ons) or off-line files are not permitted. Any creative physical modification to Internet cafe itself is not allowed. The show is public and takes place during normal opening hours of the Internet cafe/shop. All visitors are welcome to join the opening, enjoy the art (and to check their email.)"

Participating artists will be:

- Margarete Jahrmann & Renate Christian

- JODI

- JK Keller

- Greg Leuch

- Michael Marcovici

- Will Moffat & Peter Burns

- monochrom

- Evan Roth

- Sakrowski

- Gordan Savicic

- Michael Schieben

- Georg Schütz

- Chris Sugrue

- Philipp Teister & Kim Asendorf

- UBERMORGEN.COM

- Jamie Wilkinson

Owl Project is a collaborative group of Manchester based artists who share interests in human interaction with technology and process led art. Over the last few years they have become known for a distinctive range of wooden musical and sculptural instruments that critique human interaction with computer interfaces and our increasing appetite for new and often disposable technologies.

While the idea of the hardware alone is already nice, I was wondering how that instruments sound. As you can decide by yourself (I inserted the videos from the owl website right to this posting) - there are some people that are fascinated after seeing the creators (Simon Blackmore, Antony Hall and Steve Symons) perform.

"Admittedly I just didnt “get it” at first. From a solely audio perspective, the sounds produced didn’t appeal to me. It seemed like a near random collection of sounds, which although generated in a unique and unusual way didn’t have any meaning.
However, when they performed live infront of us my opinion changed. It turned from being a video on the screen to a entertaining engaging show, in which the performers were totally immersed. Perhaps the process of making the sounds is more important than the sound itself." (pixel-junkie.com)

While this seems to be a new and nice idea at first, lots of people I know doing DIY technology end up creating wooden cases to hold their prototypes. The main difference might be that owlproject uses wood for their finished products. Makes me remember my old synthesizers with wooden panels.

The following information is compiled from the owlproject website just to give you an overview of the instruments they have.

Log1k

Log1k Definition 2001
The Log1k is a sequencer & sampler, which also contains; Signal generators and other noise making devices.It has several, Mic inputs and 8 Audio outputs. It requires around 24 AA batteries. A mains 240v Fluorescent tube provides a screen like glowing panel which also provides electrical interference. The Log1K is defined by being constructed from a fully circle log section. This is divided into two half's and hinged at one side; thus giving it a laptop like appearance.

The Log1K was removed from operation after damaging several sound systems and catching speakers on fire.

m-Log

It's the latest development in Owl Project technology; a powered USB controller interface. Like the iLog, the m-Log fits in the palm of your hand and is made using a semicircular cross-section of a branch. Personalise yours with switches, wooden knobs and an accelerometer. The m-Log has plug and play compatibility with a wide variety of applications, notably MAX MSP and SuperCollider.

Want an m-Log?

Get your saw and soldering iron ready. Either make it yourself with the full kit, or come to the next m-Log workshop! The Owl Project will guide you through building and using your new m-Log. (you can contact them via email or phone. go to the owlproject website for more information)

iLog

ILog Definition 2008
The iLog is a stand alone noise generator. It is powered and outputs an audio signal.
The iLog should fit in the palm of the hand and is normally made using this semicircular cross section of a branch. At its base is the power socket and at its top is the audio out put.

Maybe you’ve got thousands of Logs in your pile. Maybe you have just a few. Maybe you like creating noise on the go. Maybe you just wanna grab a log and run. No matter where or what you want to do, there’s an iLog made for you.

ILog models
Metro - Beat generator (2001)
Signal - Tone generator (2003)
Rustle - Voice sampler (2005)
Photo-synthiser - AM detector (2007)
Modulator - Effects & feedback (2008)

Sound Lathe

Sound Lathe is a new piece of work by the Owl Project that explores of the sonic properties of woodwork.The Sound Lathe produces audio data, saw dust, noise and wood chippings. With this human powered machine, turned spindles are shaped into complex sounds such as tones, glitches and beats..

Unlike many electronic instruments, the Sound Lathe produces a unique wooden object at the end of each performance. This object serves as a memory of the performance, slightly faulty and incomplete as it represents the conclusion rather than an accurate recording of the process.

Checking out the owl project website is highly recommended. Besides the videos and pictures I already embedded here, there is a lot more of information available on their projects - and maybe you want to build your own wooden-electronic instruments?