The Low End Mac Link Archive, April 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.
- Web: New
ultra-intrusive pop-up ads introduced, Slashdot, 04.30.
"...Unicast is attempting to introduce a new on-line ad format that
takes over the entire screen of the PC for about 15 seconds and
must be closed by the viewer."
- News: Apple seeking
coder to port iTunes to Windows, Tony Smith, The Register,
04.30. "...the company is seeking a Senior Software Engineer. His
or her key responsibility: 'Design and build Apple's newest
Consumer Application, iTunes for Windows.'"
- Opinion:
The iPod: In two years it has changed how we listen to music,
Rolling Stone, 04.30. "The iPod makes the days of portable CD
players seem like a bad, distant memory."
- Opinion:
Apple Music Store: The new 8-track tape, John Kheit, The
Devil's Advocate, Mac Observer, 04.30. Apple's solution should
offer discounts, higher encoding rates, easier export to non-iPod
MP3 players, and better support of music for Macs not connected to
the Net.
- Opinion:
Apple scores a hit, Marc Zeedar, Less Tangible, Mac Opinion,
04.30. "The service itself is nicely done and elegantly integrated
right into iTunes (brilliant)."
- Hardware: PoGo! Products
releases Radio YourWay digital AM/FM radio recorder,
Mobilemag.com, 04.29. It's like TiVo for radio. Never miss your
favorite radio programs. Archive them on your computer.
- Opinion: The
10-10-220 of file-sharing, Paul Boutin, Slate, 04.29. "For the
first time in three years, iTunes lets music buyers pay for only
the songs they want."
- Rights: RIAA gets
the message about IMs, Katie Dean, Wired, 04.29. "On Tuesday,
the RIAA began sending thousands of instant messages to file
traders using IM services on Kazaa and Grokster, warning them that
trading copyrighted songs is illegal."
- Analysis: Is the iTunes Music
Store really music to our ears?, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl,
04.29. "...Apple feels that the setup is fair to users, the music
companies and the artists."
- Opinion:
Apple's stealth iBook upgrades, Charles W. Moore, Road Warrior,
Mac Opinion, 04.29. "On April 22, Apple just upgraded the
specifications of the four iBook models on their Website...."
Spam:
Virginia governor signs tough anti-spam law, Steven Ginsberg,
Washington Post, 04.29. "The law, which takes effect July 1,
creates stiffer criminal penalties for spammers and allows the
state to seize some of their assets."- Spam:
FTC: Two-thirds of e-mail spam contains false claims, Linda
Rosencrance, Computerworld, 04.29. "...the FTC is holding a
three-day Spam Forum to focus on the proliferation of unsolicited
commercial e-mail and to explore the technical, legal and financial
issues associated with it."
- Opinion: History sucks
(so study it, already), John H. Farr, Grack!, Applelinks,
04.28. "...technology writer Norr was canned because his bosses
didn't like his views, and so far they're getting away with
it."
- Analysis: Apple attempts to
patent iPod-like 'scroll-disk' mouse, Tony Smith, The Register,
04.28. "Essentially, Apple's patent application details an
iPod-style scroll-dial on the face of the mouse in place of the
usual scroll-wheel."
- History: MacOS and
the 128K Macintosh, John Ward, Vectronic's Apple World, 03.04.
"It is quite remarkable that Apple was able to pull off such an
effective graphical operating system using rather sparse
hardware."
- Rights:
Judge
throws out case against file-sharing services, Scarlet Pruitt,
MacCentral, 04.26. Judge dismisses case, states ""It is undisputed
that there are substantial noninfringing uses for defendants'
software."
- Software: Freeware
gems for Mac OS X, Giles Turnbull, Mac DevCenter, O'Reilly
Network, 04.25. "...neat little apps that you might not have heard
of, but that can do the job of something much better-known (and
much more expensive) without you having to pay a penny for
them."
- Opinion: OS X has
taken my blinders off, John Ward, Vectronic's Apple World,
04.25. "Classic OS was a great operating system for its time. I
could have gone on using it for many years, but in the wake of OS
X, I could never go back."
- Dark Side: Not all
Microsoft apps run on Windows Server 2003, Gregg Keizer,
TechWeb News, 04.25. "Many of the company's own applications won't
run on Windows Server 2003 without updating. Some never will."
- Dark Side: The
curious world of Windows, John H. Farr, Applelinks, 04.24.
"...two of the three claimed that it was impossible to delete
emails in Outlook Express without opening them first."
- Spam: E-mail
marketers sue antispammers, Daniel Tynan, MacCentral, 04.24.
"Antispammers contacted for comment seemed more amused than
concerned by the suit."
Web:
AOL blocks
BigPond mail, Kate Mackenzie, Australian IT, 04.23. "Telstra is
negotiating to have a block lifted on some of its BigPond
customers' mail being delivered to AOL and Compuserve users."- Apple:
Apple updates AppleWorks and AirPort, Jim Dalrymple,
MacCentral, 04.23. Lots of little improvements to AppleWorks.
- Advice: Buying
vintage Apples on eBay, John Ward, Vectronic's Apple World,
04.23. "Color Classics, once rare and expensive, are now cheap and
plentiful. You can come by a decent Color Classic for $30 to
$45."
- Low End: Simple,
little machines can make a big difference, Andy Ihntako,
Chicago Sun-Times, 04.23. Even last generation computers provide
plenty of power for most users.
- Advocacy: A plea for a better
help system, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 04.23. "...aside
from the usual brand of performance and stability enhancements, we
need a proactive help system."
- Opinion: Least expensive
laptops? Hint: It ain't Dell..., Jim Banahan, OScast, 04.22. "I
hadn't considered Apple in the past because I perceived their
prices to be so much greater than their PC counterparts."
- Analysis: Why am I
getting all this spam?, Center for Democracy & Technology,
04.22. "...it is very interesting to see the different ways that
e-mail addresses attracted spam - and the different volumes -
depending on where the e-mail addresses were used."
- Analysis: PC sales climb,
Centrino builds slowly, The Register, 04.22. Worldwide PC
shipments up 6%. What about Apple?
- Advocacy: So when will Apple
take off the gloves?, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 04.22.
"....Apple's sales, with few exceptions, are dipping quarter by
quarter, and so is the market share."
- Rights:
Telemarketer
reveals tricks of trade, Bob Sullivan, MSNBC, 04.21. Epixtar
Corp. allegedly alters taped phone conversations to "prove" it is
authorized to tack $29.95 onto your phone bill.
- Benchmarks: Notebook drives: Toshiba 60G
"GAX" versus Hitachi 80G "GN", Bare Feats, 04.21. Which is the
fastest? Which is quietest? Which makes the best replacement
drive?
- OS X: Next Mac OS X
puts user at the center, M Rothenberg, N Ciarelli, eWeek,
04.21. "...one proposed feature will let users take home
directories they've saved on peripherals and networks and use them
for file access or securely log into a Mac running Panther."
- Opinion: Apple's
desktop cases are just fine, Kris Hookerman, Vectronic's Apple
World, 04.21. "The advertising department's shiny Macs may irritate
IT people, but the creative artists love them, and so do millions
of home users."
- History: Apple
lore: The creation of the Macintosh, John Ward, Vectronic's
Apple World, 04.20. "...I don't think rational people could argue
that every computer wouldn't work this way someday."
- Analysis: NeXT
still stands out in its Mac incarnation, Dan Gillmor,
SiliconValley.com, 04.20. "...the tools and platform make it
possible for a significant number of individual programmers or
small teams, not just corporate behemoths, to create seriously
innovative applications."
- Analysis: Google's page
rank - Great for searching the Internet but not single sites,
petersu, Kuro5hin, 04.19. Why Google is great for searching the
entire Web but less useful finding the right page within a single
site.
- Web: Beware! Bogus Paypal
email, Macs Only!, 04.19. "We received this email purportedly
from 'Paypal Security' regarding a non-existent eBay account."
- Advice:
The IIciMac: An iMac in a Mac IIci case, Pat Sullivan,
Accelerate Your Mac!, 04.18. "I couldn't believe how perfectly the
Logic Board/Mass Storage Chassis and the power supply fit into the
case."
- Review: One
application proves to be a shining light in a field dominated by
dim products, Jeffery Battersby, Macworld UK, 04.18. "This
roster of Mac-based fax applications isn't pretty, and if not for
Page Sender, it'd be downright ugly."
- Review: 17" PowerBook G4,
how fast is it?, Macs Only!, 04.18. "...until one sees it next
to the 15" Powerbook G4, which also has a 'huge' screen, one doen't
really appreciate how large the new 17" PowerBook's screen really
is."
- Opinion: Apple's desktop computer
cases suck, David Brickner, O'Reilly Network, 04.17. "Look at
the trend in corporate desktop PCs, it is to smaller integrated
devices."
- Opinion: Mac
retailer Elite Computers of Cupertino shuts its doors, Bryan
Chaffin, Mac Observer, 04.17. "...with a market as small as
Apple's, it's seldom smart to burn bridges."
- Dark Side: Office 20k reg. bug
in code used to block registrations, Tony Smith, The
Register, 04.17. Source of bug "apears to have been identified as
glitch in code incorporated in the software to prevent
requests for product registration after 15 April 2003."
- Dark Side:
Corporations suffer Microsoft activation bug, Slashdot, 04.17.
"As of the 2003-04-14 update, people are reporting that Office 2000
SR1a is now asking to be 'registered' again. And again, and
again."
- Review: Move large
files to your compact Mac with SplitIt! v2.0, Vectronic's Apple
World, 04.17. Shareware program lets you split large files over
several floppies, making it easier to move large files, programs,
and installers to older Macs.
- AAPL: Apple
announces Q2 financial results, net profit of $14 million, Mac
Observer, 04.16. "Gross margins were 28.3%, the highest in the
industry, and Apple increased its cash on hand to US$4.5
billion...."
- Analysis: A look at
Apple's second quarter unit sales, Peter Cohen, MacCentral,
04.16. iMac/eMac sales way down, iBook sales weak, Power Mac sales
level, and PowerBooks way up.
- Advice: Megapixels and
sufficient resolution, Dan Knight, Digigraphica, 04.16. How
many megapixels you need to create a decent snapshot or a really
sharp 8 by 10 depends on how the final image will be printed.
Inkjet demands much less resolution than other processes.
- News: Cupertino
Mac retailer Elite sues Apple for $5m, Peter Cohen, MacCentral,
04.16. "The $5 million suit, filed last month in Santa Clara County
Superior Court, claims breach of contract, unfair competition,
false advertising and fraud."
- Opinion: Replacing a new
driver with an old one, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 04.16.
"Would it be so hard to deliver a warning to the customer if the
software you have is more recent than what it's trying to
install?"
- Benchmarks: P4/3.06 vs. G4/1.42 dual
updated, Bare Feats, 04.15. When running multiple tasks at
once, hyperthreading helps P4 at 3.06 GHz nearly match dual G4 1.42
GHz performance.
- Upgrade: 500 MHz G4 upgrade
for slot-loading iMacs, Insanely Great Mac, 04.15. G4 power, a
bigger level 2 cache, and 500 MHz speed. US$307 shipped.
- Opinion:
The PowerBook mystique revisited, Charles W. Moore, Mac
Opinion, 04.15. "...PowerBooks aren't just spectacular-looking;
they've always had substance to match their style."
- Huh?:
Israel-made battery found in computer, Tariq Khonji, Gulf Daily
News, 04.12. "Steps were taken by a distributor for Apple Computers
to ensure that Israeli-made parts do not enter Bahrain after an
Israeli-made battery was discovered by a customer in an old
Apple...."
- Benchmarks: 1000
MHz Power Mac bonanza, Bare Feats, 04.12. Yes, Virginia, two
CPUs really are better than one.
- Benchmarks: Pentium 4 3.06 GHz versus
the fastest Power Macintosh, Bare Feats, 04.11. Sorry, Mac
fans, but the dual 1.42 GHz Power Mac G4 only wins a single
comparison.
- Review: Charles Moore
reviews "Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual", Charles W.
Moore, Applelinks, 04.11. "...if you're one of the many folks who
are obliged to use a PC at work but have a Mac at home, this book
will serve admirably as a cross-platform reference manual."
- OS X: Thoughts
and musing on the OS X 10.2.5 upgrade, Charles W. Moore, OS X
Odyssey, Applelinks, 04.11. "...MacFixIt is reporting kernel panics
after restart , as the most worrisome glitch with this version so
far."
- Apple: Apple in talks to
buy Universal Music Group - report, Tony Smith, The Register,
04.11. "Universal is the world's largest music label, accounting
for around 25 per cent of world CD sales."
- OS X: Mac OS X
10.2.5 available through Software Update, downloadable, Bryan
Chaffin, Mac Observer, 04.10. Updater is about 38 MB - or available
on CD for US$19.95.
- .mac: Free
games .mac deal, Macworld UK, 04.10. Eight free OS X games for
.mac subscribers.
- Advocacy: The case for
a new LC Macintosh, John Ward, Vectronic's Apple World, 04.10.
"...there is a gap in the kind of products Apple produces and the
kind of products many consumers are demanding."
- Apple: Dell
stops selling Apple's iPod, Jim Dalrymple, MacCentral, 04.09.
"Dell is discontinuing sales of the iPod because of changes Apple
wants to implement in the reseller agreement between the two
companies."
- Opinion: I'll take Mac OS X
only please, Gene Steinberg, The Jaguar Report, Mac Night Owl,
04.09. "When it just has to run under Mac OS X, developers can
concentrate on getting the best possible performance and
stability."
- Advice:
How to double your After Effects render speeds, David Nagel,
Creative Mac, 04.08. Adobe After Effects already comes with all the
tools necessary to use both CPUs. Here's how to do it.
- Advice: Never delete a
Mail account, Derek Fakehany, MacInTouch, 04.08. If you delete
an account in Apple's Mail program, it deletes every email sent or
received by that account.
- Dark Side: Microsoft
shortlisted for "most invasive project", iTnews, 04.08.
"Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing initiative was nominated 'most
invasive project' by activist group Privacy International in its
annual Big Brother awards in the USA."
- Rights: Label's
copy protection keeps radio station from playing CDs, Bryan
Chaffin, Mac Observer, 04.08. "...if we can't transfer the CD
tracks to our digital playout system the CD ain't going to get any
airplay at all!"
- Analysis: Debunking
Dvorak with napkin math for OS X on Intel, John Kheit, Mac
Observer, 04.08. "...how realistic is a move to OS X on Intel
hardware by way of licensing to clone makers?"
- Advocacy: Apple
needs a budget-minded box, Eduardo Rodriguez-Perez, MacMerc,
04.08. "Despite the design genius of the iMac, it's still tough to
go in and shell out $1300+ at an Apple store, when a late model PC
with ALL the bells & whistles pops in under a grand...."
- Forum: What Mac
maintenance apps do you run?, MacSlash, 04.07. "MacJanitor,
fsck, Disk Utilities, Disk Warrior, Tech Tool, Norton Utilities...
What maintenance, repair, or optimizing utilities do you run on a
regular basis to keep your Mac happy?"
- History: Make your
old compact Mac talk with Speak, Vectronic's Apple World,
04.07. Tiny program appears to be the one Steve Jobs used when he
unveiled the original Macintosh in 1984.
- Opinion: How the
MacIntel will change the market, John C. Dvorak, PC Magazine,
04.07. "There is no doubt that a MacIntel machine could supplant
the Wintel platform." Uh, right.
- Opinion: The
Apple guide to world domination, John Halbig, Mac Design
Online, 04.07. "The goal is obvious: Not just to sell an operating
system and a platform, but a complete, integrated package."
- Opinion: Comments:
Doomed iBox effort?, John H. Farr, Applelinks, 04.07. Much as
we'd like to see a cheap desktop Mac, Apple just isn't going to let
someone else do it.
- Advice: Crash as crash
can, CodeBitch, MacEdition, 04.07. "...it's not acceptable to
have browsers crashing on your content."
- Tech: Types of
printers, David K. Every, iGeek, 04.06. The differences between
laser, inkjet, and dot matrix printers.
- Benchmarks:
ATI's OEM Radeon 9700 Pro AGP graphics card, Mike Breeden,
Accelerate Your Mac!, 04.05. "Huge boost in shader performance over
previous models. Literally no performance drop even at the highest
resolutions."
- Low End: A cool
use for old Mac boards, Vectronic's Apple World, 04.05. "Here
is a cool use for old Mac motherboards you may have never
considered. Use them as decorative wall ornaments."
- Dark Side: Your
loss, their gain, Ed Foster, The Gripe Line, InfoWorld, 04.04.
Under Microsoft Licensing 6.0, companies can keep paying for
software on computers they've already sold.
- Benchmarks: ATI
Radeon 9700 Pro versus GeForce 4 Titanium, Bare Feats, 04.04.
Unless you play games like Quake, you might not see any difference
between these cards.
- Advice: Create
disk images from DVD movies for longer playback, Mac OS X
Hints, 04.04. Create a disk copy of a DVD, watch it from your hard
drive, get longer battery life.
- Advice: Leave
Windows 9x behind, Greg Shultz, ZDNet UK, 04.02. Five top
reasons to migrate to Windows XP - should sound familiar to users
of the classic Mac OS.
- OS X: Mac OS X
'Panther' on track for September, Matthew Rothenberg, eWeek,
04.02. "...sources report that the 'Panther' release will reach end
users in mid-September."
- News: Apple
ships G4s with Radeon 9700 cards, Peter Cohen, MacCentral,
04.02. "The Radeon 9700 is one of the fastest graphics chips you
can get on the Mac...."
- Upgrade: 1 GB DDR-RAM
module for 12-inch PowerBook, O'Grady's PowerPage, 04.02.
"Macup in Germany is reporting that DSP Memory has a 1 GB DDR-RAM
module for the 12" G4 Powerbook, enabling one to have a maximum of
1.148 MB of RAM...."
- Low End:
Apple updates obsolete and vintage products list, Charles W.
Moore, Applelinks, 04.02. "Apple has discontinued support for
certain technologically obsolete and vintage products."
- Upgrade: Pizza box or
iMac? No, an iBox, Leander Kahney, Wired, 04.02. "A Minnesota
man has plans to launch his own Macintosh-manufacturing business,
building a low-cost, upgradeable Mac called the iBox."
- Opinion:
The case for a 3% market share, Gene Steinberg, Mac Reality
Check, AZ Central, 04.02. "So if Apple offers the better mousetrap,
why didn't it take over the market?"
- Opinion: Do you feel you're
part of a cult?, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 04.02. "You see
we're part of a cult. We want things to 'just work'....
- OS X: USB
floppy disk striped RAID under OS X, ohlssonvox, 04.01. Five
USB floppies plus OS X RAID software yields one 4.22 MB floppy
array. Wierd and impractical, but it works.
- Huh?: Intel
inside: Apple partners with Dell, reintroduces PC compatibility
card for Mac, Bryan Chaffin, Mac Observer, 04.01. "Perhaps more
importantly, the product will allow Apple to use the coveted 'Intel
Inside'" labels on Macs that include the card."
- Opinion:
My ideal laptop would be easy to fix, Charles W. Moore, Road
Warrior, Mac Opinion, 04.01. "...user-unfriendly policies do not
endear me to Apple Corp."
- Humor: Top
100 April Fool's Day hoaxes of all time, Museum of Hoaxes,
04.01. The Swiss spaghetti harvest, sale of Liberty Bell to Taco
Bell, the Sydney iceberg, and other incredible foolery.
- Review: Spell Catcher for Mac
OS X: Welcome back old friend, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl,
04.01. "A quick comparison between Spell Catcher 8 and Spell
Catcher X shows the latter has all the features of its predecessor
and is well integrated into the Mac OS X environment."
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