Uncluttered Organization

Nothing is more annoying that a cluttered desktop. It is nice to create aliases to your favorite applications and files, but it is not very nice to have them all over your desktop. Just like for a real desk, a cluttered computer desktop can be less functional and can distract you from your work.

Dead (and Undead) People Don’t Use Windows

2001 – In light of the recent admission by Microsoft that “funded advocacy groups” have sent letters from dead people to newspapers in support of the beleaguered* computer software company, Apple Computer has issued a press release noting the tremendous advantages the Macintosh computer has for “the dead or recently unliving.”

Boring Old Software in Paris?

2001: For the first time in recent memory, Apple has announced the contents of Jobs’ keynote for the Paris Expo: Jobs: No New Hardware at Apple Expo 2001 (no longer online) Nouveaux Ordinateurs? Non! (no longer online) Steve Jobs to Keynote Apple Expo, Says “No New Hardware In Paris” Let the games begin.

The Paperless Office

2001 – I remember first reading a review of the original PaperPort scanner from Visioneer* in the mid 1990s. It was brilliant – a tiny sheet-fed scanner that could slurp up a typewritten page and automagically turn it into a word processing document.

Avoid Mac Obsolescence

Low End Mac readers have one thing in common – we are not the biggest fans of frequent upgrades. On the other hand, the computer industry loves you if you keep buying stuff, which is why hardware and software manufacturers work to make their products so attractive. They want you to lust for what they […]

SETI@home: Team 6100

2001 – Team 6100 has 18 members and has completed 301 work units since May 2, 2000. Over the last dozen work units, we are averaging 111 hours, 42 minutes. The total contribution of Team 6100 is 3.68 years of CPU time.

Astronomy on the World Wide Web

As regular readers of this column are aware, I am an astronomy teacher. I teach both high-school and college astronomy for teachers (online) and am involved in several organizations and astronomy programs. I maintain a collection of links at www.AstronomyTeacher.com, which lists dozens of links sorted by category.

Race Is Merely a Metaphor; So Is a GUI

The question of color takes up much space in these pages, but the question of color, especially in this country, operates to hide the graver questions of self. – 1961, James Baldwin, expatriated Black-American writer and gay activist Blood, darky, Tar Baby, Kaffir, shine, moor, blackamoor, Jim Crow, spook, quadroon, meriney, red bone, high yellow, […]

Being Ordinary in the Computing World

2001: The fact that Apple is out of trouble is really, really old news. The profits have been rolling in fairly consistently and have put Apple solidly in the black and on the road to long-term financial stability. The problem now, as always, is maintaining and increasing market share.

Palm Power

Last week I talked about Quicken. At one level, Quicken is a boring product – a database – but at another level it is a revolutionary tool for self-knowledge that can improve your relationship with money. Mac users who consistently apply Quicken’s tools are better off than those who don’t.

Not Franchising Apple Stores

McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, and a host of other businesses successfully sell franchises around the country – and sometimes around the world. Last week John Scheeser proposed Apple do the same thing with its retail store in an article published on The Mac Mind.

A Revolutionary Database

Last week I wrote about revolutions and participation. Revolutions in technology are rarely what we think they are. When something is termed revolutionary, it is usually a marketing ploy. For something to truly be revolutionary, I think that it requires participation from the users. Revolutions can’t be done for you by someone else.

LapBottom ‘Book Cooler, CMS PC Card Hard Drive, PowerBook Hoods, and More

2001-07-27: LapBottom keeps ‘Books cooler. PC Card drive from CMS. PowerBook hoods. More ‘Book news. Willow i/Ti Slipcases Ease Slip-Sliding Away The LapBottom CMS Launches Mac Support with Pocket and PC-Card Hard Drives New PowerBook G4 Sleeve from J.R. Hill and Company Hoodman PowerBook Hoods Reconditioned PowerBooks Apple Is Honoring Both PowerBook Sales Promotions Bargain […]

I’m Not Paying $20 for My OS X Upgrade

THIS is for all the times you followed me round in stores…. And THIS is for the times you treated me like a nigger…. And THIS is for G. P. – General Principle….. – Nate McCall, Makes Me Wanna Holler It makes me wanna holler And throw up both my hands…. – “Inner City Blues,” […]

Revolutions and Participation

July 2001 – Last week’s Macworld Expo was a disappointment for many people attending the show. People wanted to be amazed or surprised – flat screen iMacs were hoped for by many. The surprise was that the products were evolutionary.

600 MHz iMac G3

There were two different 600 MHz iMacs, one introduced in February 2001, the other in July. The early 2001 600 MHz iMac retailed for US$1,499 and includes 128 MB of RAM (expandable to 1 GB), a 40 GB hard drive, and an 8x CD-RW drive. It uses Rage 128 Ultra graphics with 16 MB of […]