Optical discs are so 2000! Whether you got the disc at retail or acquired it through dubious sources like The Pirate Bay (which I don’t condone), you can re-partition an old iPod or external hard drive and use it to install OS X. Installing an OS from USB/FireWire is remarkably faster than its disc-based variant. It’s also not so prone to scratches and dirt, a problem many disc owners face daily.

Required Ingredients

To get this speedy install medium baked and ready, you’ll need:

• Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard install DVD or ISO
• External USB/FireWire drive or old iPod
• A working Mac computer to partition the above drive

Convert OS X 10.6 Install DVD to DMG

If you purchased the Snow Leopard disc – like most – you may want to convert it to a disk image for back-up purposes. This step is not required, so you may skip over it if you want.

1. Launch “Disk Utility”
2. Select the Snow Leopard DVD in the side pane
3. Select “New Image” from the top
   
4. Give the DMG a name to save it somewhere
5. Click OK

Partition external drive

There are a few things you need to pay attention to for your Mac to be able to boot from your external drive. You can achieve this by – once more – using the Disk Utility described above.

1. If not already open, launch “Disk Utility”
2. Select the external drive you want to use, not one of the underlying partitions
3. Select the “Partition”-tab
4. If you still want to use the disk for other storage purposes, you should create 2 partitions. The first one will be around 10GB and will allow for installing Mac OS X 10.6.
   
5. Select the first partition (in my case called “BOOT”) and click the “Options…“-button.
6. Select “GUID Partition Table“. This is the only type of partition table that Intel Macs can boot from. If you format the other partition as FAT it will still be usable on Windows or Linux.
7. Make sure that the first partition is formatted as “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)”.
8. Then, still having the first partition selected, click the “Restore”-tab at the top.
   
9. Go select your install image (or select the physical DVD) and drag the destination partition from the left pane to the destination text field.
10. Click restore.

Once ready, make sure you have backups handy (if you use Time Machine you’re set to go), plug in your disk. You can then start the installation from the desktop or reboot and hold down the Option/Alt key at startup to select your drive.

Installation will work as it would when running from the DVD. Only faster. If you created a DMG, you’ll also have a backup in case you lose the install disc (or it gets broken).

• Solid-State Drives Go Mainstream #
• Woofer: This Twitter look-alike requires 1,400 characters #
• Using ‘Free’ to Turn a Profit #
• Hey, PC, Who Taught You to Fight Back? #
• Is Apple the Enemy of the TV Industry? Microsoft Thinks So #
• Apple kicks ZFS in the butt #

Solid-State Drives Go Mainstream

While prices for SSDs are still significantly high when compared to conventional spinning hard drives, mainstream consumers are starting to see the benefit of this new technology. As more and more manufacturers and models are available on the market, computer vendors are starting to incorporate them into lower-end computers as well. Because SSDs are currently still limited in storage space (up to 256GB, .5TB & 1TB are available but are prohibitively expensive), more and more people are turning to them as complimentary storage. SSDs can easily contain the operating system and applications, while other data can be stored on normal HDDs. Because SSDs are inherently faster, this workflow would evidently speed up your computer. ComputerWorld elaborates.

This Twitter look-alike requires 1,400 characters

I generally ignore Twitter “news” because it is cumbersome and totally useless – in my mind, but this one’s too funny. Woofer, an astoundingly accurate Twitter-lookalike actually requires you to update your status with at least 1,400 characters, as opposed to Twitter’s maximum of 140 characters. Woofer advises its users to be eloquent, to use adverbs and never to abbreviate. Via CNET News.

Using ‘Free’ to Turn a Profit

This editorial article from NYTimes gets together with Evernote and discusses its – and many other web businesses’ – revenue model. True to the web’s nature, Evernote is free for everyone to use. But how does the company make money? NYTimes finds out.

Hey, PC, Who Taught You to Fight Back?

Again from the NYTimes, this article describes Microsoft and Apple’s ad-fighting history in light of both companies’ latest television commercials. While Apple has always been big on advertising, it seems Microsoft has been making renewed commitments with its latest efforts – and is getting some results from it, too. From NYTimes.

Is Apple the Enemy of the TV Industry? Microsoft Thinks So

Microsoft’s Director of Consumer and Online in the UK has expressed his concerns with the Television Industry’s future if it doesn’t take initiatives to move its repertoire to the web and keep its content out of the hands of a single online entity – read: Apple. According to the said Director, the industry should be wary of what he called an “iTunes moment”, referring to the music industry and Apple’s hold on it with iTunes. The same could become true with TV, Microsoft warns. Via Mashable.

Apple kicks ZFS in the butt

In other Apple news, it turns out Apple completely yanked the promised ZFS functionality from its latest OS, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. ZFS is Sun’s open source, highly reliable and modern file system that would make its entree into the consumer operating system market for the first time with Snow Leopard – as announced two years ago by Apple itself. With every developer release of OS X 10.6 traces of ZFS became vaguer and the final release completely erases any trace of it – silently. Microsoft was harshly called out for yanking WinFS from Windows Vista, but is anyone paying any attention when Apple pulls the same stunt? ZDNet blog post.

• Google Now Offers Over a Million Free Ebooks in EPUB Format #
• Microsoft cuts Xbox price by 25 percent #
• Asustek to launch e-book reader under Eee family #
• Confirmed: $29 Snow Leopard Installs Whether or Not You’ve Got Leopard #

Google Now Offers Over a Million Free Ebooks in EPUB Format

Google currently offers 1 million books in EPUB format through it’s Google Books portal. Many of these books are in the public domain, so many of them are pretty old. But old books can still be good. Source at Mashable.

Microsoft cuts Xbox price by 25 percent

Microsoft has intensified the price war with Sony by lowering the price of its XBOX360 by approximately 25%. The Elite model will be 100$ US cheaper, with its 299$ US price point. The Arcade remains the same at 249$ US. The middle model, called the Pro, will be discontinued. This leaves the consumer with a simplified choice, says Microsoft. As of now, Microsoft is the only console manufacturer with positive sales. Source at Reuters.

Asustek to launch e-book reader under Eee family

eBook-readers seem to be in vogue lately. Word goes round that Asus, maker of the EeePC, will also be manufacturing an eBook-reader to compete with Amazon and Sony. Source at DigiTimes.

Confirmed: $29 Snow Leopard Installs Whether or Not You’ve Got Leopard

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard will cost Leopard-users $30, and Tiger users $169, because they are supposed to purchase the Box Set. This includes the new OS, iLife ’09 and iWork ’09. It has been confirmed that OS X 10.6 will also install whether or not you’re actually using 10.5. It turns out the so called upgrade disc doesn’t check for prior versions. If you’re still on Tiger, you can skip Leopard all together and save a lot of money, but you’ll be violating Apple’s EULA. Source at Lifehacker.

• Update | Mozilla asks EU to reject Microsoft’s Windows 7 browser plan #
• Update | Microsoft warns of chaos if Word sales are halted #
• iPhone Outsold All Windows Mobile Phones in Q2: Analyst #
• Snow Leopard now available from Apple Store, ships Aug. 28 #
• Blurb | Looks like Zune HD supports apps too #

Mozilla asks EU to reject Microsoft’s Windows 7 browser plan

After much ado over Microsoft’s “browser ballot screen” Mozilla is now requesting the EU to reject the OS vendor’s browser plan. Mozilla is obviously dissatisfied with the fact that Internet Explorer would get a more prominent spot on the screen, because – obviously – IE still has the biggest browser usage-share. Mozilla claims this is “unfair” and continues to whine. Source at ComputerWorld.

Microsoft warns of chaos if Word sales are halted

Because of the utter boringness of this story, I’m sure you won’t mind me just quoting ComputerWorld: “Microsoft Corp.warned last week that an injunction preventing it from selling Word in the U.S. after Oct. 10 would cause “massive disruptions” to sales of its Office software, as well as to key partners like Best Buy Co., Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.” Source at ComputerWorld.

iPhone Outsold All Windows Mobile Phones in Q2: Analyst

I always take analyst reports with a grain of salt, but the inevitable has happened in the smartphone world. The Apple iPhone has outsold Windows Mobile based phones for the first time in Q2 2009, with a lead of approx. 4.7%. Industry leaders Nokia and Blackberry retain suit with respectively first (~44%) and second (~21%) places. Palm isn’t currently on the list, despite its efforts with the Palm Pre. Blog post at TechnologyExpert.

Snow Leopard now available from Apple Store, ships Aug. 28

After the Apple Store’s brief down-time on Monday morning the site pulled up again with Mac OS X Snow Leopard’s page updated and release confirmation. Shipping date of the OS is officially scheduled for August 28, 2009. If you pre-order now you’ll get it on the 28th – guaranteed. Also, no shipping fees will be charged for the time being. Source at ArsTechnica.

Looks like Zune HD supports apps too

Microsoft’s much anticipated competitor to Apple’s iPod Touch will sport an application platform/store after all. This was the last essential selling point needed for Microsoft to make a fair chance against Apple Inc. As things stand now, the Zune HD will also be more affordable than than the current-gen iPod Touch. Blog post at Paul Thurrott’s Supersite Blog.

Disclaimer: The news summaries above contain opinions of editorial nature. Opinions expressed in this post do not reflect those of source materials and are entirely my own.