The Low End Mac Link Archive, November 2000
External news links are listed below by the date of publication
with the most recent articles listed at the top, older ones below
them. Other monthly archive indexes are linked on the right. Links
were correct when originally posted. However, we cannot guarantee
that these links are still active.
- Analysis: Getting
a taste for cookies, David K. Every, iGeek, MacWeek, 11/30.
What "cookies" are and why they are "not a huge security
risk."
- Technology: A bright future
for OLED?, Joe LiPetri, MacWeek, 11/30. Organic LEDs promise
thinner, less costly, lower power draw screens.
- News:
Defunct Pets.com throws lifeline to Alaska sled dogs,
SiliconValley.com, 11/30 [Win98 Central]. Bravo! As
they go under, Pets.com donates 21 tons of dog food to villagers in
Alaska's interior.
- Opinion: A
radical solution, part II, Marc Zeedar, Mac Opinion, 11/30. How
Apple can go forward by leaving Motorola behind. An interesting
proposal.
- Dark Side:
Gateway warns of Q4 meltdown, Yahoo/Interactive Investor,
11/29. Apple isn't the only computer maker expecting a weak holiday
quarter.
- OS: BSD
to leapfrog Linux?, Henry Kingman, ZDNet, 11/29. Thanks to OS
X, there may soon be more BSD users than Linux users. (You can
discuss this article on
MacSlash.)
- Low End: EMMpathy,
VST, download link from Bookcase.
Freeware application designed specifically to recondition batteris
on PowerBook 500 series. If you know of an online source for
EMMpathy 2.1, please email Dan Knight
.
- Analysis: AirPort and
HomeRF in wireless war, Dennis Sellers, MacCentral, 11/28.
AirPort (a.k.a. Wi-Fi, 802.11B) is faster and already established,
but HomeRF could muddy the waters.
- Virus:
MTX virus won't let you get help, ZDNet, 11/29 [Win98 Central]. "The bug has
one very sinister feature: once it infects a user, it's programmed
to stop the victim from visiting antivirus Web sites...."
- Opinion: The
computer, perfect hiding place?, Michael Munger, On the Flip
Side, Mac Observer, 11/28. How much do you really know about others
on the Net?
- Opinion:
Why can't PowerBooks be easier to service and repair?, Charles
W. Moore, Road Warrior, Mac Opinion, 11/28.
- Opinion: Get ready for the
rhetoric: PC partisans and computer voting, Scott McCollum,
osOpinion, 11/28. "...the computer-voting partisans will have four
years to put together a plan that will truly take American voters
into the new millennium."
News:
Mac is the apple of Canada's eye, Toronto Star, 11/27. Apple
sales up a whopping 47% in Canada over the past year.- Advice:
What to do when your Mac won't sync with your monitor, Ask Al,
Alsoft. Clever solution to a vexing problem.
- Huh? HP
pays CD burner "fee" under German anti-pirating law, Charles W.
Moore, Applelinks, 11/27. New German law assumes burners will be
used to make illegal music CDs. Does that mean purchasers have a
license to copy?
- Humor: Zap the PRAM,
Macboy.com.
- Dark Side:
WinME tops out at 512 MB, MacSlash, 11/26. Macs and the Mac OS
have supported a full gig of RAM since at least 1995.
- Benchmarks: Maxtor DiamonMax 80 vs. IBM
Deskstar 75GXP, round 2, Bare Feats, 11/25. Maxtor much faster
after ten power cycles - read why.
- NeXT: Architectural
technical overview, Tech 68K.
- Advocacy: Demand
a recount of those PC crashes, Apple is the people's choice,
Wes George, Mac Observer, 11/22. "If an IT person ever tells you
that PCs are a more fiscally responsible capital investment
. . . just laugh in his or her ignorant face."
- Consumer: How to buy a
G4/500MP from the Apple Store for $1,999 (after rebate),
DealNN, 11/22. Save another $50 if you don't need the 56k
modem.
- Deal:
Kodak NC 2000e digital camera, $1,000, Kodak [MacInTouch]. Close-out price on
1.3 megapixel camera based on Nikon N90 camera. Very tempting!
- Intel:
Itanium pilot program takes off, Yahoo/ZDNet, 11/22 [Win98 Central]. Intel may
finally have 20 Itanium systems built. Commercial Itanium computers
may be out by mid-2001. See Itanium or Itanic? for our thoughts
on the chip.
- Intel: Intel's
top 10 sneakiest moves & screwups, Glenn Lortscher, Tuplay,
11/21. Bonus: Intel recalls Pentium 4! The article covers recent
problems, completely ignoring the infamous Pentium Math
Bug of 1994 which resulted in Intel recalling every Pentium
ever made. In fact, a quick Sherlock search for "Pentium" and "bug"
shows every version of the Pentium has been subject to at least one
recall.
- News:
US Robotics previews minor upgrades in v.92 modems, CNN, 11/20.
New v.92 standard allows for quicker connect time, modem on hold.
faster uploads.
- Humor:
Amazon.com: Usability or Confusability?, Amazon.com. Inspired
by the Palm Beach County, Florida, ballot form....
- Advice:
Does buying a discounted Pismo make sense with Mercury on the
horizon?, Charles W. Moore, Road Warrior, Mac Opinion,
11/21.
- Low end: Macintosh
IIfx, Dev68k. All sorts of technical details on the "wicked
fast" Mac IIfx.
- AAPL: Downgrades
rake tech stocks over coals, but AAPL beats trend, Wes George,
Mac Observer, 11/20.
- Review: Lacie
PocketDrive, AllUSB. Compact drive work with both USB and
FireWire.
- Opinion:
Need more CPU speed?, Henry Norr, SF Gate, 11/20. "...for the
majority of users running the software available today or likely in
the next few years, I suspect our desktop computers are already
approaching the digital equivalent of 90 miles an hour."
- P4: Intel
introduces Pentium 4 chip, Yahoo/Reuters, 11/20. Starting at
1.4 GHz, Intel projects P4 will reach 10 GHz within five years.
Motorola, are you listening?
- P4: Intel's
new Pentium 4 processor, Tom's Hardware Guide, 11/20. "Whatever
Pentium 4 is right now, it is certainly not the greatest and best
performing processor in the world."
- P4: Pentium 4
ships: A disappointment at 1.5 GHz, PC World, 11/20. "In
PCWorld.com tests, the new chip barely keeps pace with the 1-GHz
PIIIs used for comparison, and it even fell behind these older
systems on some measures."
- P4: Pentium
4 fails to outpace Athlon, testers say, Cnet, 11/20. "On a
number of benchmark tests, the first version of Pentium 4
underscores Athlon and even the Pentium III."
- P4: Pentium 4: New
chip, old problems, MacWeek, 11/20. "The PIII design is running
out of steam rapidly, but Intel's slavish devotion to
ever-increasing clock speeds has resulted in some trade-offs that
will disappoint the raw speed addicts."
- Opinion: Memo
to dot-com workers: Life's not fair, Monty Manley, osOpinion,
11/20. "I always want to go up to them and say: Welcome to the real
world, kids."
- AAPL: Mid-day
report: AAPL defies gravity, John H. Farr, Applelinks, 11/20.
Tech stocks sinking, but Apple is on the rise. Maybe due to retail
store rumors?
- Opinion: OS
X Beta: to use or not to use?, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks,
11/20. Thoughtful reader feedback to last week's article.
- Opinion: Resellers
should embrace Apple's retail foray, Benjamin Jonas-Keeling,
Right On Mac, 11/20. Apple's retail stores can only result in a
larger Mac market.
- Huh?
Yahoo shares fall 5% on French court ruling, Yahoo/Reuters,
11/20. French court tells U.S. company it must prevent French
citizens from accessing auctions of Nazi memorabilia. This type of
ruling would make Hitler proud. (
Discussion on Slashdot.)
- Huh? Taxing free
software, LinuxNews.pl, 11/20 [
Slashdot]. Poland allows local revenue boards to decide if and
how freeware will be taxed.
- Humor: New Zap the PRAM
cartoon, Macboy.com, 11/20.
- Local:
Fifth Third a midwestern buyer again, CBS MarketWatch, 11/20.
Fifth Third Bancorp to buy Old Kent, Low End Mac's local bank.
- Consumer: Apple
announces $300 rebate on G4/450, $500 rebate on G4/500. Offer
valid thorugh 12/31/00.
- Virus: BleBla
inects users upon arrival, ZDNet, 11/17 [Win98 Central]. Code executes
upon previewing or reading infected HTML email, can connect to
Internet to download payload. Only infects Microsoft Outlook on
Windows.
- Huh? Extreme
PowerBooks return! - Motorcycle 101, Go2Mac.com, 11/17. A
testimony to how rugged the PowerBook is.
- Opinion:
OS X is coming: Watch out, you may be a reactionary Luddite,
Bryan Chaffin, Mac Observer, 11/17.
- News: Apple told
resellers, "No stores," MacWeek, 11/17.
- News: Some iMac DV users report SuperRes, a
free utility from Griffin Technology, allows them to run the
internal monitor at 1280 x 1024. (Try it at your own risk.)
- CustoMacs: Sascha's Red
Mac, Sascha Grant. A very nicely repainted Mac Classic.
Includes instructions for doing your own.
- Web: Mac
fanaticism/insanity quiz, Chris Lawson.
- Consumer: Week's
best iBook, PowerBook deals, PowerBook Central, 11/17.
- MacInSchool: iBooks
win 'em over, Dennis Sellers, MacCentral, 11/17. "Since many
people use Wintel systems for no better reason than that's what
they think they ought to use, Ahlborn felt that end users would
appreciate the opportunity to use something as great as an
iBook."
- News: Newer
brings OS X support to G3 upgrade users, Mac Observer, 11/17.
Good news for most PCI Power Mac users, but clone users still out
in the cold.
- Opinion:
Moving to OS X from Windows, MacSlash, 11/17. Transition from
Windows to OS X may be easier than from older Mac OS to OS X.
- Opinion: Making a "top seven"
list, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl.
- News:
Apple Computer biting into retail area, SiliconValley.com,
11/16 [MacWeek].
6,500 square foot prototype store planned for downtown Palo
Alto.
- Web: ICANN:
The winners are..., Wired, 11/16 [
Slashdot]. ICANN unanimously approves .biz, .info, .name, .pro,
.museum, .aero, and .coop. lowendmac.info, hmmmmm.
- Analysis: Gauging
the gigaflops gap, Don Granberry, ZDNet, 11/16. Pretty
accesible explanation of how the G4 outperforms Pentium III and
Athlon at floating point math. However, the math is wrong at one
point: It would take a 1.85 GHz PIII to match a 500 MHz G4, not 2.6
GHz as the article states. Of course, to match the gigaflops
performance of two G4/500s, you'd need four PIII/900s. :-)
- Advice: MacHome Tips
& Tricks, Apple. Tips on crash recovery, IE5, a faster way
to open images, and Sherlock.
- Opinion:
Home networking: Wired, wireless, or wait?, Scott McCollum,
osOpinion, 11/16.
- Virus: Is
tech-savvy virus dangerous or not?, ZDNet, 11/15 [Win98 Central]. "Called
Hybris, the Internet worm is 'perhaps the most complex and refined
malicious code in the history of virus writing.'"
- Deal: $999
iBook at Sears?, DealMac, 11/15. It's the old 300 MHz Blueberry
model. Supply may vary by location.
- Opinion: Another
"Ten Best Macs" list, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 11/15.
- Advice: 88
keyboard shortcuts & commands, part II, Nancy Gravley,
Computing With Bifocals, Mac Observer, 11/15. More shortcuts than
you can shake a stick at!
- Drivers: Bill's ixMicro Driver
Page. ixMicro is history, but ix3D, TwinTurbo, and ixTV drivers
are available from Bill Miller's page.
- Huh? Apps gain
OS 9.1 compatibility, but where's 9.1?, Mac Observer,
11/15.
- Hands On: VNC:
Virtual Network Computing, Michael Coyle, ResExcellence, 11/15.
Remotely control your Mac or a PC over a network or the Internet
from almost any type of computer.
- Technology:
A drive with the works: DVD-[R,RW] and CD-[R,RW], Slashdot,
11/15. Apple, how about a BTO option for the G4, Cube, and
PowerBook?
- News: Cube clones
continue, Tony Smith, The Register, 11/15. Here's a company
that doesn't think different - they outright steal Apple's
design.
- Consumer: System upgrade
may kill Palm, Applelust, 11/14. If you have updated the ROM
once, doing so a second time may ruin your Palm.
- Connectivity: All you gotta do is plug it
in, MSNBC, 11/14 [Win98 Central]. Plug-and-play
networking over power lines is just around the corner.
- Opinion:
Hotrodding a WallStreet, RAM and hard drive, Charles W. Moore,
Road Warrior, Mac Opinion, 11/14.
- Analysis: Apple embarks
on Mac OS X for Intel project, Tony Smith, The Register, 11/13.
The question is not if, but why.
- Opinion: Choices
vs. standards: Which do we want?, Michael Munger, Mac Observer,
11/14. "It is easy to ask yourself whether we need standards,
ever-changing standards, or no standards at all."
- Wow! Seagate
releases monster 180 GB drive, The Register, 11/14. And I
thought 6 GB was plenty of space....
- News: ATI brings
Radeon to laptops, MacWeek, 11/14. Any doubt this will appear
in the next generation PowerBook?
- Opinion:
The science of Star Trek, Janet Wells, SF Gate, 11/13. Not
computer related, but an enjoyable read.
- Analysis: Viruses:
The next generation, Kim Zetter, PC World [Win98 Central]. "In 1993,
there were 3200 known viruses in the world. Today, there are more
than 40,000...." Thanks Jobs for Macs!
- Consumer: Apple drops
PowerBook/500 to US$2,999, Macs Only, 11/13. A drop like this
usually means Apple has a new model in the wings.
- Hands On: ATI
Radeon vs. 3dfx Voodoo 5, Macs Only, 11/13. Has ATI unseated
3dfx?
- Opinion: The top
seven Macs of all time, Gene Steinberg, Green, 11/10. Hard to
fault, but our "top 8" list would include the Mac Plus (not the memory light 128K),
the PowerBook 170 (first laptop with
a trackball), and the b&w G3
(for the clever drawbridge case).
- Huh? LC Cube,
Reino Basile, Applefritter. A very low tech alternative to the G4
Cube, but it really is a Macintosh. :-)
- Web: Zap the PRAM and
Other Placebos, MacBoy.com. An online cartoon for the Mac user.
Don't miss the archive.
- Advocacy:
Election '04, Slashdot, 11/10. "It's time to take a good hard
look at our ancient voting system, and bring it up to date."
- Web: PayPal
introduces international accounts, Charles W. Moore,
Applelinks, 11/10. It's become my favorite way to pay - and now it
works in Canada, Australia, U.K., Japan....
- Opinion:
Computers as a fashion statement, Stanisalv Kelman, osOpinion,
11/10. "...the nearly pathological lack of taste among geeks is the
main reason why replicating the success of 'the little computer
that could' proved to be so difficult."
- Opinion:
Marketing math doesn't compute, Rob Pegoraro, Washington Post,
11/10. Why a 20 GB drive might not format to 20 GB, and why
benchmarks can be misleading.
- Opinion: Why are
Apple's laptops a year behind Dell's?, Bill Troop, Mac
Observer, 11/9. Dell (and Gateway) have moved well beyond the
PowerBook's 1024 x 768 screen.
- Opinion: The
spam wars are escalating, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 11/9.
"Have you noticed that the avalanche of spam has increased in
volume lately?"
- Opinion: New
& Noteworthy, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 11/9. A quick
look at several good articles on the Mac Web.
- iBook: Kensington
driver disables iBook trackpad, Apple TIL #31268, 11/2. As we
noted on 10/15, "There is an incompatibility between the Kensington
Startup ADB extension and the Trackpad control on the iBook.
Symptom: Trackpad responds during boot, but not later. Solution:
Disable Kensington Startup ADB extension. This may also apply to
other USB portables and versions of the Mac OS."
- Advice: John
Rizzo's Mac FAQ, Cnet [Macs
Only]. John Rizzo is a long-time Mac guru with excellent
advice.
- Huh? Lavazza and
eDevice present the first ever coffee machine to send e-mails
[Win98 Central]. Are
we perhaps becoming a bit too wired? (Okay, really bad pun. Sorry.
Couldn't resist.)
- Opinion: Innovating
greed, Marc Zeedar, MacOpinion, 11/8. "...if Apple begins to
cater toward the business community the way Microsoft does, what
will happen to user-centric innovation?"
- Advice: Keyboard
shortcuts & commands, Nancy Gravley, Mac Observer, 11/8. So
many Mac users have no idea how fast commands can be from the
keyboard instead of the mouse.
- Opinion Omnibus
sampler of OS X commentary, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks,
11/8.
Politics: Ballot mistake
may prove decisive in US election, Ananova, 11/8 [AtAT]. "The US presidential
election could be decided by the poor design of ballot papers in
one Florida county...."- Spam: The Spamhaus
Project, revealing ISPs who knowingly carry spam.
- Low End:
Macs that kill: The final part of a Mac family saga, Stefano
Scalia, The Mac Mind, 11/7. The joy of Macs - until one hits you in
the side, breaking your ribs in a car accident.
- Opinion: The
big problem with Mac OS X, Michel Munger, On the Flip Side, Mac
Observer, 11/7. "Once we saw Mac OS X, strong with its Unix base,
protected memory, symmetric multiprocessing, preemptive
multitasking and all the changes, panic grabbed many of us."
- AAPL:
Apple bruised but still has juice, Bob Beaty, Worldy Investor,
11/7. "For those who share the vision, the stock's current level
should tantalize."
- Opinion:
PowerBooks, power outages, and my WallStreet hot rodding
project, Charles W. Moore, Road Warrior, MacOpinion, 11/7. "One
of the big advantages of using a PowerBook for your workhorse
computer, is that you can sneer at power outages. Well, sort
of."
- Rights: Blind Ballots: Web sites of
U.S. political candidates censored by censorware,
Peacefire.org, 11/7 [
Slashdot]. Dozens of sites blocked by Cyber Patrol, other
censorware.
- Virus: Apology
beats LoveLetter in October Virus chart, Computer User, 11/7
[Win98 Central]. Yes,
Virginia, they do keep "top virus" charts on the Windows side of
the world.
- Intel: Itanium set for
March launch, The Register, 11/7. It's "the chip that time
forgot." Also see Itanium or
Itanic?
- Opinion: Election
2000. This year, think different, Wes George, Mac Observer,
11/6. Well stated indictment of the American two-party system.
- Opinion: Wanna
appreciate your Mac? Try using a PC, Rodney O. Lain, iBrotha,
Mac Observer, 11/6. "He was unproductive for three days while he
reinstalled and reconfigured Windows."
- News:
Microsoft betting on Tablet PC, Yahoo/Reuters, 11/6. Sounds
like an overgrown Newton
(1993-97).
- Spam:
PSINet assailed as spam contract surfaces, Cnet, 11/6
[
Slashdot]. "...some of the world's largest ISPs knowingly do
business with spammers in violation of stated anti-spam
policies."
News: Apple Australia
increases all Mac prices except G4 Cube, Mac Evangelist
[MacNN]. Price hikes due to
weakened Australian dollar.- Consumer: Dealers
asking, "Where are the iBooks?," Brad Gibson, MacCentral, 11/6.
"It doesn't matter what you want - Indigo, Graphite or Key Lime -
you simply can't get them...."
- Dark Side: MS audit
cripples city, The Register, 11/6. "A demand by Microsoft to
run an audit on all its software has brought chaos to the city of
Virginia Beach, Virginia."
- Dark side: Microsoft
hacked again, The Register, 11/6. "Just one week after
Microsoft admitted to a major breach of its security, another
hacker...."
- Politics: Compare your views
with presidential candidates, SpeakOut.com [Slashdot]. Interesting use of computer
technology!
- Analysis: Mac OS
X86?, David Read, MacWeek, 11/3. Porting the software is easy,
but hardware is another story.
- Benchmarks: New
firmware makes Acard controller "demon" of an ATA controller,
Bare Feats, 11/3. "...my test results show that the bargain priced
Ultra ATA arrays and controllers can 'run with the big dogs.'"
- Consumer: Week's
best PowerBook, iBook deals, PowerBook Central, 11/3.
- News: Macs
land teacher top prize, Dominique Fidele, Macworld UK, 11/3.
"...prize for the most creative use of technology at primary-school
level."
- News: Honor
students admit stealing school's computer equipment, Houston
Chronicle, 11/2 [AtAT].
Two straight-A students stole 10 iBooks, more, from their
school.
- AAPL: Tech
stock rally sends Apple's stock higher by 8.8%, Wes George, Mac
Observer, 11/2.
- Analysis: Buy now or wait
for PowerBook G4?, Stephen Hildreth, PowerBook Central, 11/2.
"...the most compelling feature is the rumored 15" screen capable
of displaying 1280 x 1024 pixels. That alone would be a good enough
reason for me...." (And me!)
- AAPL: Apple stock soars past $22/share.
- Advice: Optimising
your monitor for Web design, Web Page Design for Designers,
11/00. Step-by-step instructions for calibrating the Mac's
monitor.
- Virus: Sonic.Worm
approaching, ZDNet, 11/1 [Win98 Central]. "Sonic.Worm
is an email virus that keeps itself up-to-date by downloading
enhancements from a web site." Windows only, of course.
- Low End:
Dove enhanced Mac 512, b.b., MacArchaeologist. First upgraded
from 128K, the Dove Mac Snap SCSI upgrade added SCSI and brought
memory to a full megabyte.
- Opinion: PC
Data's contention that Napster significantly husts CD sales
challenged, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 11/1.
- Advice: Date
& Time and other helpful hints, Nancy Gravley, Mac
Observer, 11/1. "The end of daylight savings time means changing
the time on your Mac...."
- Opinion: The road to
hell, Nobody Special, MacEdition, 11/1. "...Apple's intention
to launch its own chain of retail shops is one of the quicker roads
to hell they can set themselves upon."
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