Monday, October 9, 2000
Top Stories
Apple: OS X Galvanizes Modern Macs
The recently released public beta version of Mac OS X opens a new OS era to users of current Macs, according to Apple Director of Mac OS Product Marketing Ken Bereskin. In an exclusive interview with ZDNet News, Bereskin said the new age will feature tighter integration between current Mac hardware and software than ever before.
Under The Hood With Mac OS X
New Unix-based operating system's beta shows reliability but erratic performance.
Apple's Trouble Lie At Its Core
Apple is expected to capture less than 30 per cent of new shipments to schools this year. Naturally, in the cutthroat world of selling boxes and laptops, the top PC makers have fixed their sights on schools and colleges at a time when many of the advantages Apple used to enjoy are fading.
News
Singapore NatSteel Electronics: Apple Hasn't Canceled Contracts
NatSteel Electronics Ltd. said Monday that Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) hasn't canceled any contracts with it, said Chay Yee Ming, its chief financial officer. "Apple is still using NEL as the exclusive supplier for motherboards," Chay said.
Apple Retain Core User Base On The Web, But Fails To Take A Bite Out Of Microsoft
QuickTime Live Opens In L.A.
Digital video pros are headed for Beverly Hills as Apple Computer's QuickTime Live conference opens Monday with a full slate of workshops. The event runs through Thursday, when the product showcase is open to the public.
Airlines Plan To Offer Internet Access In Terminals
The plans come at a time when relations between airlines and travelers are frayed over delays. Only 70 percent of planes are making their schedules, the Transportation Department says. United Airlines came in last among the 10 large carriers in August, with just 42.7 percent on-time arrivals.
Jeff Hawkins, Handhelds
"I knew people wanted something like this. Why else would they keep buying them — Apple sold 100,000 Newtons —" he says in a quick aside, "and then, after a while, throw them in a drawer?"
Opinion
Unix Gambit Alone Isn't Enough To Save Apple
All I do know is that Linux is becoming a credible desktop far faster than most would have predicted, and Apple's pretty plastic cases and faux-open-source OS won't be enough to keep it from being the next victim of Linux's rise up the food chain.
Apple Retail Store, PR Nightmare
If Apple does follow through and open a retail chain, there will be the loudest scream of "foul" and all the current Apple Authorized Resellers will be making noise, again illustrating how Apple doesn¥t care about them. Apple will be inviting weeks/months of bad publicity as they are trying to improve on their sales.
Review
More Than Just A Pretty Face
The Cube sets a new standard in style for Macs and PCs.
Netscape 6 PR3: Swings And Roundabouts
How many point releases of Netscape 4.x have there been this year? Why aren't they moving resources into chasing down the last bugs and issues with Netscape 6? Why haven't they withdrawn Netscape 4 from the market?
Sidetrack
Me, The Consumer
SlashDot is reporting on a rumor that indicates that Time Warner is considering changing the DVD region-coding thingy to stop multi-region DVD players from playing their movies.
The ironic thing is that this move would probably cause me to resort to piracy should I want to continue watching Time Warner's movies. Someone show me a single store in Singapore which sells, say, Labyrinth. In fact, someone show me a single store anywhere in the world which sells Labyrinth in code 3.
Okay, so Labyrinth is not released by Time Warner. It's just that this is the latest movie I bought overseas.
Last weekend, I tried installing the latest beta from Netscape on my Windows laptop. After the installation, I discovered that it also installed some form of internet phone application that gets started up with Windows and pop an annoying icon on my system tray. After a brief detour to its preference dialog box but couldn't find any way to turn off this behavior, I uninstalled the application.
If I could turn that behavior off, the application might have stayed in my computer, and I might use it in the future, and I might become a paying customer too. Now, I just hate Netscape more.
Moral for the day? Play nice.
Wintel
Intel Shifts Executives To Speed Pentium 4
Intel on Monday reshuffled responsibilities inside its microprocessor division to stem the chronic manufacturing problems that have stumped the company for more than a year.