The Low End Mac Link Archive, February 2003
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.
- Tech: wDesk
web browser offers office security features mini-review,
Charles W. Moore, OS X Odyssey, Applelinks, 02.28. Interesting
review, but even more interesting discussion of memory, swap files,
etc. following the review.
- Review: MacAlly iceKey
slim USB keyboard, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 02.28. "The
new MacAlly iceKey keyboard features the same sort of short-travel
scissor-cross type key action and thin key caps as used in the
PowerBook and iBook keyboards."
- News: PowerPC 970
prototype: 2.5GHz, "fastest PowerPC ever", Remy Davison,
Insanely Great Mac, 02.27. Wow, prototypes are running as 1.8 GHz
all the way up to 2.5 GHz. Just the power Apple needs.
- Advice:
Jump to non-hyperlinked URLs in Safari, Mac OS X Hints, 02.27.
In Safari, you can follow a URL - even if it isn't a link. Here's
how.
- Rights:
Is vigilante hacking legal?, Robert Lemos, Cnet, 02.27.
"Striking back at computers that are attacking a company or home
network could be legal under federal nuisance laws...."
- History: Five years
later, Newton still going strong, Slashdot, 02.27. "To this
day, no one has created a PDA device that is as natural to use as
the Newton."
- Dark Side:
Rivals chip away at Microsoft's dominance, Byron Acohido, USA
Today, 02.27. $90,000 fine for 8 unlicensed copies of Microsoft
Office leads Sterling Ball to ditch all Microsoft products.
- Education:
Antioch classrooms may switch over to PCs, Rowena Coetsee,
Contra Costa Times, 02.26. Antioch (CA) Unified School District
proposal will replace all Macs with PCs over next 4-1/2 years.
- Analysis:
Intel's big shift: We need more than speed, Patrick Houston,
ZDNet, 02.26. MHz isn't everything. Intel's new 1.6 GHz Centrino
outperforms 2.4 GHz mobile Pentium 4.
- Advice: iBook
(white) disk upgrade pages, Graham Cox, 02.26. Step-by-step
instructions for replacing the hard drive in an iceBook.
- News: Apple
CFO Fred Anderson says Apple is going for market share,
intermediate goal of 5%, Bryan Chaffin, Mac Observer, 02.26.
Ouch, Apple admits market share is a paltry 3%.
- Opinion: Is the dock a
blessing or a curse?, Gene Steinberg, The Jaguar Report, Mac
Night Owl, 02.26. "In the end, the Dock is, like the rest of us,
imperfect and in need of work. But I've grown accustomed to its
cartoonish, goofy face."
- Opinion: Value and
cost: With a PC, you get what you pay for, Katherine Keller,
Thinking From the Box, Low End PC, 02.26. Macs may last a long
time, but with the right choices, the same applies to PCs.
- Opinion:
Calling it like it is: What was free is gonna cost ya now, Rob
McNair-Huff, Mac Net Journal, 02.25. Looks like Bare Bones is
killing off BBEdit Lite. Now your choices are $49 TextWrangler or
$179 BBEdit.
- OS X: Memory
leaks and dock discussions, Charles W. Moore, OS X Odyssey,
Applelinks, 02.25. Learn more about OS X memory management, memory
leaks, and logging out (rather than restarting) to clear up memory
problems.
- Deal: TiHandle on
sale, O'Grady's PowerPage, 02.25. "The Titanium PowerBook
Handle is on sale this week only from DevDepot for US$29.95."
- Review: Memory
Stick RAM usage monitor, Charles W. Moore, OS X Odyssey,
Applelinks, 02.24. Utility measures RAM usage and drive swaps.
Documentation also points out a flaw in OS X memory
management.
- Virus: Introducing the
Lovgate.C trojan, John Leyden, The Register, 02.24. "Yet
another mass mailing email worm is spreading across the Net today."
Windows users watch out for this .exe file.
- Rights: Michigan man
uses junk fax law to sue Sears over spam, Linxnet, 02.24. Key
seems to be that message was received over phone lines, as with a
fax, and then printed out.
- OS X: Top 10
reasons the Apple dock sucks, Bruce Tognazzini, Ask Tog, 02.24.
Two years ago: The dock sucks. Two years later: Things are not much
better.
- Review: FWB BackUp Toolkit
for Mac OS X, Macs Only!, 02.24. "With FWB Software's BackUp
Toolkit v3.1.2, backing up has never been so simple."
- Opinion: The Mac
hardware report: Are they still reliable?, Gene Steinberg, Mac
Night Owl, 02.24. "The big question, however, is whether Apple has
taken a few too many shortcuts in the drive to shave manufacturing
expenses."
- Opinion: Apple is
going out of business ... again, Slashdot, 02.22. "...this
Canadian tech journalist didn't get the memo that Apple's been
going out of business longer than most tech journalists have been
in business."
- Opinion: Broadband
and the boonies, Charles W. Moore, OS X Odyssey, Applelinks,
02.21. "...the fact is that there are an awful lot of Mac users who
have neither access to domestic broadband nor a conveniently
located Starbucks outlet or other cyber-cafe facility."
- Opinion: Shareware is
dead, Unsanity.org, 02.21. I hope the days of
try-before-you-buy software are not behind us.
- News: Power Mac G4
power supply exchange program, Apple, 02.21. Program offers
owners of Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors) the option of
reducing the operating acoustic level of their computers by
exchanging original power supplies, system fans.
- News: PCMCIA
announces NEWCARD format, Digital Photography Review, 02.21.
New card format combines benefits of PCMCIA, PC Card, USB 2.0, and
PCI Express, targets both desktop and portable computing.
- Opinion: The Jaguar update:
No, Apple, not everyone has broadband!, Gene Steinberg, Mac
Night Owl, 02.21. "The process of receiving [software] updates
should be made as convenient as possible." Dialup users need a
real alternative to multihour downloads or $20 update CDs.
- Opinion: Floppies,
Zips, CDs, and whatever comes next, Charles W. Moore,
Applelinks, 02.21. "Backwards compatibility, or lack of it, is one
of the most baneful aspects of the computer era, along with its
evil twin, rapid obsolescence."
- News: Connectix CEO
weighs company's future, Peter Galli, eWeek, 02.20. "The
Microsoft deal has created a significant change in our product
roadmap, and so we are going to have to do an evaluation and
reset."
- Tech: JavaScript
in Mac browsers, Internet Developer, Apple, 02.20. How well do
the six Mac OS X browsers support JavaScript?
- Hardware: VillageTronic
Notebook Desktop Doubler, VillageTronic, 02.20. Video card fits
laptop's PC Card slots, supports DVA and VGA (ADC with adapter)
under OS X.
- Spam: Microsoft to
fight spam with subpoenas, Scarlet Pruitt, MacCentral, 02.20.
Suit filed in California federal court "goes after unnamed
defendants" harvesting Hotmail addresses.
- Tech: Understanding
Moore's Law, Hannibal, ars technica, 02.20. What Moore really
said, how it has applied in the fast, and what it means for the
future.
- Opinion: Paranoia strikes
deep: Strange reactions to Microsoft/Connectix deal, Gene
Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 02.20. "That [VirtualPC] will become an
official Microsoft solution merely enhances its credibility."
- Dark Side: MS
and Virtual PC: There goes the neighborhood, John H. Farr,
Applelinks, 02.19. "It appears that the Beast of Redmond has eaten
Connectix. Whether this is good or bad depends on your
perspective."
- Opinion:
Cut new Mac users a little slack, Al Fasoldt, Post-Standard,
02.19. "This extraordinary new computer represents the rebirth of
Apple's Macintosh.... It scoffs at Windows computer viruses and
worms."
- News: Power5 boasts
quadruple performance gain, John Leyden, The Register, 02.19.
"Servers based on IBM's forthcoming Power5 chip will be four times
faster than current Power4 machines." The Power5 is close cousin to
the PowerPC 970.
- History: Steve Jobs: The
next insanely great thing, Gary Wolf, Wired, 02.18. A year
befor Apple acquired NeXT, Jobs stated, "Apple lost. The desktop
market has entered the dark ages, and it's going to be in the dark
ages for the next 10 years."
- Review: DiskWarrior 3.0 first
look: No longer a one trick pony, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night
Owl, 02.18. New version is OS X only and taps into internal
diagnostics on hard drives.
- Web: Spinning the Web: The
realities on online reputation management, Nicholas Carroll,
Mindjack, 02.17. Thanks to the democratic, chaotic Web, "it is . .
. difficult to spread disinformation on a grand scale."
- News:
Chimera gets a new name, Slashdot, 02.17. For legal reasons,
the browser formerly known as Chimera might (maybe) become Camino -
or maybe not. But it must have a new name before 0.7 can be
released.
- Review: 867 MHz
12-inch PowerBook G4, Jason Snell, Macworld, 02.17. Little
aluminum PowerBook "packs more of a punch than the iBook but not
quite as much power as the Titanium."
- OS X: OS
10.2.4 update installed, Charles W. Moore, OS X Odyssey,
Applelinks, 02.17. The Combo Updater download took 9-1/2 hours with
a dialup connection. Yikes!
- Benchmarks: Mac OS X 10.2.4
- How fast is it?, Macs Only!, 02.17. "Basically, there is no
speed difference between the two Mac OS X versions except in two
tests."
- History: The Macintosh at
10, Tom Thompson, Byte, 02.16. From 1994: "Although few took it
seriously during the early years, in many ways the Mac defined what
a desktop computer should be."
- Review: Fetch v4.0.3
vs. CaptainFTP v2.1.J, Kirk Hiner, Applelinks, 02.16.
Head-to-head comparison of two shareware FTP titans for Mac OS X
users.
- Rights: The
Penny Black Project, Microsoft, 02.15. "The Penny Black project
is investigating several techniques to reduce spam by making the
sender pay."
- Advocacy:
Yes, you can afford a Mac, Gene Steinberg, AZ Central, 02.15.
"When you start tallying up the cost of the items that Apple
includes as standard equipment, the price disparity vanishes with
the wind."
- Advice: Mac OS X 10.2.4
reader reports, Macintouch, 02.14. Things to look out for if
you're using Apache, PHP, or a FlashDrive.
- Opinion:
Death of the desktop II, Joel Davies, iMaculate Conception,
Applelust, 02.14. "The death of the desktop is inevitable."
- Opinion: Life after
Apple? Another perspective, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks,
02.14. "Ironically, Apple had a larger market share (and the Mac OS
even more so, thanks to Mac clones) in 1996 than it does
today...."
- Opinion: 101 ways to
save Apple, James Daly, Wired, 06.01. From 1997: In the movie
Independence Day, a PowerBook saves the earth from
destruction. Now it's time to return the favor.
- Opinion: Another nail in the
coffin for local Apple dealers?, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl,
02.14. "...independents will have to demonstrate once and for all
that they deserve the Apple franchise."
- OS X: Carbon vs Cocoa: The
speed issue, Unsanity.org, 02.14. Are Carbon applications
really faster than Cocoa ones? The debate rages on.
- Forum: Mac OS X
10.2.4 - What differences have you noticed?, Mac Observer,
02.13. One poster says it seems to use memory more
efficiently.
- Low End: OS X on the
6500 a reality!, 6400 Zone, 02.13. You can install and run Mac
OS X 10.1 on a Power Mac 6500 - but do you really want to?
- Opinion: Checking
out Mozilla 1.3b and Safari 1.0b60, Charles W. Moore, OS X
Odyssey, Applelinks, 02.13. Fast and faster. Which wins over a slow
dialup connection?
- OS X: Apple
releases Mac OS X 10.2.4, Jim Dalrymple, MacCentral, 02.13.
"...Address Book, Classic compatibility, Finder, FireWire,
graphics, OpenGL and Sherlock all feature improved functionality
and reliability under this new release."
- Opinion: Safari development
on a fast track, Gene Steinberg, The Jaguar Report, Mac Night
Owl, 02.13. Lots of bugs fixed, especially in page rendering, but
still room to grow.
- Low End: Now-famous shuttle
photo snapped by researchers using old equipment, Leslie
Hoffman, TBO.com, 02.12. Photo showing pre-breakup shuttle taken
with 3-1/2" telescope and 11-year-old Macintosh computer.
- Software: File
Synchronization 1.1, Nemsys Software, 02.12. Indispensible OS X
utility has the ability to synchronize multiple pairs of folders or
files.
- Software: Safari Public Beta
updated, Apple, 02.12. Update "improves compatibility with
popular web sites, displays web pages and Flash content more
quickly, adds XML support, increases standards conformance and
improves stability."
- Opinion:
Why Apple needs fewer resellers, Alex Salkever, Byte of the
Apple, BusinessWeek, 02.12. Apple "needs to provide some
clarification and guidance to the independents, many of whom have
dedicated their life's work to supporting the Mac."
- Opinion: Is your Mac too old
or just right? What about the office PC?, Gene Steinberg, Mac
Night Owl, 02.12. "...I occasionally visit clients who look at
their Macs as trusted friends, and wouldn't consider letting them
go, even though they are way past their prime."
- Humor: Reefer
Madness, Joy of Tech, 02.12. Steve the Dell dude busted for
possession. Bummer.
- Analysis: Why Apple's
market share hasn't budged, John Martellaro, The Warp Core,
Applelinks, 02.11. Mac market share, disruptive technology, and
religion.
- Analysis:
The 12" iBook and 12" PowerBook - Brothers under the skin,
Charles W. Moore, Road Warrior, Mac Opinion, 02.11. The two
computers are far more alike than different.
- Software: NetNewsWire
1.0 released, Peter Cohen, MacCentral, 02.11. "NetNewsWire is
an RSS news reader that displays news and headlines from thousands
of different Web sites...."
- Web: Homepage real estate
allocation, Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, 02.10. Nielsen says most
home pages make very poor use of their space.
- Opinion: Pixar an
Intel shop? Say it ain't so, Steve!, Vern Seward, Mac Observer,
02.10. "One thing this move does emphasize, however, is that
Apple's hardware does not make the best rendering platform."
- Upgrade: Sonnet releases
software update for Crescendo/7200 upgrade, Mac Minute, 02.10.
Software updates allows more diverse memory configurations, reduces
demands on motherboard memory.
- Review: Virtual PC v.
6.0.1, Gary Coyne, Applelinks, 02.10. "Not only is this version
significantly faster, but it has some slick new features that
almost make running Windows on your Mac as easy and as fun as
running Mac programs on a Mac."
- Review: Tex
Edit Plus X 4.5 mini review, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks,
02.10. "I can't say enough good about this cool program. If you've
never used Tex Edit Plus, you really owe it to yourself to check it
out."
- Opinion: Is the Lombard
worth upgrading?, O'Grady's PowerPage, 02.10. Will upgrading to
a G4 processor be enough, or is it time to replace the old
PowerBook?
- Humor: How to
Lose a Geek in 10 Seconds, Joy of Tech, 02.10. Nine ways to
have your geek drop you in a hurry.
- Review: Pith
- A different take on tabbed windows for Safari, OS X Hints,
02.10. Freeware program "seems to be a nearly perfect potential
solution to Safari's lack of tab support."
- Web: New Mac website for New
Zealanders, NZMac.com, 02.10. Localised coverage for Mac users
in New Zealand.
- Hardware: Apple
upgrades Xserve, intros Xserve RAID, Jim Dalrymple, MacCentral,
02.10. Xserve now available in dual 1.33 GHz version - RAID for
Xserve finally shipping.
Web: NTL
seeks to clarify 1GB/day broadband cap, Tim Richardson, The
Register, 02.10. "NTL has been stunned by the outcry from its
broadband customers over the cableco's decision to cap usage of its
broadband service to 1 gigabyte a day."- Review: 1.2 GHz
PowerForce G4 Series 100, Bill Fox, Macs Only!, 02.10. Very,
very fast. Only drawback: Cube won't wake from sleep with upgrade
installed.
- Opinion: A few pet
peeves to chew over, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 02.08.
Leading OS X cheerleader says, "I am not a cheerleader," disses
other Mac websites.
- Advice: PowerBook G3 Pismo 14.1" LCD
replacement, Scadboy, 02.08. The key is a $200 replacement LCD,
the right tools, and these step-by-step instructions.
- Advice: Buying
refurbished, Nick Canfield, The Mac Side, CoolMac, 01.16.
"Buying a refurbished Mac can actually be a great idea, you can
save a lot of money."
- Humor: iWorthless,
AppleCrap, 02.07. "In response to a recent Macintouch article
calling for a sub $400 computer Apple has released their new
low-end home computer called iWorthless."
- Advocacy:
What do you mean you still run Windows?, Gene Steinberg,
CyberSpeak, USA Today, 02.07. Why Gene Steinberg uses a Windows XP
laptop - it's useful and makes him a better journalist. Maybe all
Mac journalists should have Windows boxes....
- Analysis:
If Apple went to Intel: Two developers explain impact, Anthony
Frausto-Robledo, Architosh, 02.07. "... it would set into course an
irreversible destiny of Intel-dependency, a place where Apple may
not wish to go for various strategic reasons."
- OS X: A
watershed crossed, Charles W. Moore, OS X Odyssey, Applelinks,
02.07. "It dawned on me this week that I've crossed a watershed of
sorts on this Odyssey; I finally prefer working in OS X as
opposed to OS 9."
- Huh?: Pixar
switches from Sun to Intel, Michael Kanellos, Cnet, 02.07.
What, you thought Steve Jobs' other company would use Power
Macs?
- Opinion:
Royal standard has given way to a royal pain, Marc Fisher,
Washington Post, 02.07. "Computer training has become the living
hell of the American workplace, a loathsome ritual that highlights
the mounting battle between the computer cognoscenti and us mere
mortals."
- Analysis: Why
spy?, Jeffrey Pfeffer, Business 2.0, 02.07. "If you don't want
your people missing work to take care of personal business, maybe
it would be better to let them take care of some of that business
at work."
- Analysis:
Standards: Truce pays off for rivals, W Wong, R Shim, Cnet,
02.07. It's not a matter of 802.11a, b, or g - some brands are
supporting all the wireless protocols.
- Advice: Yes, you can
customize Mac OS X, Gene Steinberg, The Jaguar Report, Mac
Night Owl, 02.07. You don't have to leave Mac OS X the way
Apple delivered it. Clever utilities let you control the
experience.
- Web:
States, stores make online sales tax deal, Eric Chabrow, Yahoo
News, 02.06. "Walmart, Target, Marshall Field, Mervyn's, Toys 'R'
Us, and five other retailers agreed this week to start collecting
sales tax for merchandise sold online."
- Opinion: Mail Mail, Address,
iCal and iSync, Mac-Mike.com, 02.06. Mac-Mike left Entourage
for Mail, iCal, iSync, and the Address Book - and is pretty happy
with the results.
- Opinion: Apple
timing, Marc Zeedar, Less Tangible, Mac Opinion, 02.06. "No,
what interests me about these new computers isn't megahertz, price
points, or Airport Extreme. It's timing."
- Advocacy: Easy ways to adapt
to Mac OS X, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 02.06. "You just
have to look at it with an open mind and not fear the future."
- Rights:
Patent scare hits streaming industry, John Borland, Cnet,
02.06. Patent suite reaches back to 1991, appears to cover
streaming audio and video - and pay-per-view movies on cable.
- News: Dell finally
says bye to floppy, Peter Cohen, MacCentral, 02.06. Dell
abandons the floppy as a standard feature, but keeps them available
on a build-to-order basis.
- Analysis: Office
surfers aren't slackers, says study, Lisa M. Bowman, ZDNet,
02.05. "A new study finds that employees may waste time surfing on
the job, but they tend to make up for it by working from home in
their off hours."
- Analysis: Are
internauts necessarily slackers at work?, Ken Fisher, ars
technica, 02.05. "...there is more or less a consensus among human
resources administrators that Internet access in the workplace is
absolutely a drain on efficiency."
- Opinion: The age-old
question: Are Macs still too expensive?, Gene Steinberg, Mac
Night Owl, 02.05. "Has Apple converted to the price religion and
decided, at last, to sacrifice some short-term profits to build
market share?"
- Opinion: Leaving classic
behind, Gene Steinberg, The Jaguar Report, Mac Night Owl,
02.04. The classic environment is good enough that you may never
need to boot into OS 9 again.
- Review: How fast
is it? 12" PowerBook G4, Bill Fox, Macs Only!, 02.03. "...the
power of the new 12" Powerbook G4 is roughly equivalent to that of
the 15" 800 MHz PowerBook G4."
- News:
Apple dealers biting back, Henry Norr, SFGate, 02.03. "Apple
Computer Co. has been hit by a growing number of lawsuits filed by
Mac dealers who are upset by the company's alleged efforts to lure
their customers to outlets that Apple owns."
- Benchmarks: The great
interface-Off: FireWire vs. USB 2.0, Cade Metz, PC Magazine,
02.03. Although USB 2.0 is rated as faster, FireWire is faster in
the real world.
- Analysis: The
spread of the Sapphire/Slammer worm, Moore, Paxson, et al,
CAIDA, 02.03. Fastest worm in computing history infected 90% of
vulnerable hosts within 10 minutes of launch.
- Spam: Spam deluge
leads to search for silver bullet, Scarlet Pruitt, MacCentral,
02.03. "E-mail users are deluged, upset and angry about spam."
- Web: Global
browser statistics for January, OneStat.com, 02.03. Safari has
0.11% share in first month - and only runs on OS X. Opera 7, which
runs on Windows, has only 0.03%.
- Opinion:
A PowerPC 970 in every pot? I doubt it..., Chris Seibold,
Macbase, 02.02. Why the new IBM PowerPC 970 won't get the attention
of Windows users.
- Opinion: Life after
Apple, John Martellaro, The Warp Core, Applelinks, 02.02.
"Computers, as frustrating, complex devices on our desktops that
betray our trust and security will disappear."
- Web:
Some electric utilities offer cable, CNN, 02.02. "The good
folks in Glasgow, Kentucky pay $19 a month for 70 cable channels,
and for an additional $25 they can get blazing fast Internet
access."
- Dark Side:
Experts: Microsoft security gets an 'F', CNN, 02.01.
"...Schneier said he was thinking of switching from Windows to the
Macintosh platform because of all the security issues. "My wife has
a Mac and she doesn't worry about viruses, trojans...."
- Virus: Trojan writers
exploit Outlook to get around content filtering, John Leyden,
The Register, 02.01. "A feature of Microsoft Outlook can be
exploited to evade content filters and persuade an email recipient
that an attachment is safe to open - even when it contains
malicious code."
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