Thursday, November 30, 2000
Top Stories
Of Net Appliances, Cheap PCs And Macs
Macs really shine over the long haul, however: You won't find that your computer is trashed or unstable after you've added software to it. Which is to say, you have the ease of use and stability of an Internet appliance, with the flexibility of a personal computer.
Apple Sauced
An Apple Computer Duel a day helps keep complacency away. So, here we are, taking a look at both sides of the colorful computer maker. Care to take a bite?
News
PCs Fall Off Santa's List
PC Data Inc. and NPD Intelect Inc. say PC sales fell at a double-digit rate in October and are down 8 percent in the first two weeks of November.
Apple Takes Aim At Home PC Market
Apple Computer International Pte. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple Computer Inc. on Tuesday said it does not want to miss the ìhome PC revolutionî that is erupting in India and China.
BSD To Leapfrog Linux?
BSD is likely to rival Linux very soon in total number of users, and the BSD community is primping for center stage.
Opinion
Electile Dysfunction
The contested presidential election has prompted harsh criticism of our polling systems and our democratic processes, but one of the most vexing problems is an issue that the computer using public has been battling for years — an inadequate user interface.
Review
Evolutionary Upgrade To Productivity Suite Brings New Application, Welcome Features
Although you can find alternatives to all the programs in the Office 2001 suite, they won't benefit from the level of integration this package offers.
Sidetrack
Here are some things you might wish you could do in Windows.
Wintel
Microsoft Urges People Not To Use The Internet
Finding out what exactly Microsoft is thinking is harder than getting blood out of a stone or a coherent sentence out your grandma, but work hard enough...
Best Buy Puts Brakes On Pentium 4
Retailer won't have Pentium 4 PCs on shelves until Hewlett-Packard fixes Pentium 4 bug.
Gateway Shares Plummet On Earnings Warning
Sluggish computer sales over the holiday weekend prompted Gateway on Wednesday to lower its earnings and revenue forecast for the current quarter.
Wednesday, November 29, 2000
Top Stories
Apple Inside
The only folks who might be less enthused would be the people at Apple, whose Web site includes a three-page testimonial from the performers about their use of Macintosh computers in their high-tech stage show.
News
Flying High
Tim Meehan’s passion is chronicling events and telling people all over the world about them. That’s why he never leaves home without his camcorder, PowerBook, and Final Cut Pro software.
Apple Ad Guru To Run Pentium 4 Campaign
Intel's advertising agency has hired the creator of Apple Computer Inc.'s Think Different spots, Ken Segall, to work on the Pentium 4 campaign.
Swatch Pitches Net Time Standard
Apple Computer in Cupertino, Calif., has integrated the Swatch time standard into its QuickTime streaming video software so people know what time to tune into live QuickTime broadcasts via the Internet, regardless of what time zone they live in.
Gateway Country: A Lovely Museum
While you and I are quite capable of shopping unassisted, there are still many people who aren't. These are the people who are flocking to Gateway Country, and they probably leave much happier than they would from a traditional computer store. Even if the computer arrives later.
Fireworks Are Gonna Fly
Macromedia is finally showing its true colors. It wants to get rid of Adobe's Web product suites once and for all. No more coy, "We're just here for the Web, not to challenge Photoshop" put-ons.
Opinion
To 'Debunk' The Myth: An Apple Retail Strategy
The brick and mortar strategy should be like attending a Jobs keynote. You walk away enthralled and enthused about Macintosh. You walk away truly educated and informed. CompUSAs and Microcenters simply cannot do this for Apple.
The Ideal Machine For Creative Writing
Over the years their products seem to have lost their soul.
Why Can't PowerBooks Be Easier To Service And Repair?
It would be nice to think that the new Mercury PowerBooks and the next generation iBooks will be designed with better service-friendliness in mind, but the recent trend pattern has not been encouraging.
Review
Spring Cleaning 3.5
Both utilities will display false-positives, so you shouldn't let them delete all the items they select by default.
Mac Cube Has Power, Style — At A Price
It has some quirks, like an oversensitive power switch, but the new G4 has many strengths, too.
Active Bag For iBook
While the style of the Active Bag is first rate, the features and obvious design flaws far outweigh the stylish appeal of the bag.
BBEdit 6
Believe me, if you're doing Mac programming, especially if you're creating and maintaining web sites on a Mac, you need BBEdit. It's that simple.
Asterioids
Simply put, the new version of Asteroids relies just as much on "blast-'em-all" gameplay as its predecessors did - and the thrill of pulverizing space rocks ad nauseam holds only so much appeal.
Take A Trip To Creepyland With Stephen King's F13
The "screamsavers" are fun and well done, the graphics throughout the CD are great, and the Mini Games are a fun diversion.
iBook Special Edition
And with the better graphics controller, the consumer portable is now the equal of the current PowerBook line, which means it's a reasonably powered system for graphics and games.
Iook SE Is A Film Production Studio To Go
Whether the iBook SE is for the home multimedia or business user, it'll appeal with its style, ease of use, performance and stamina.
Sidetrack
Antonia Zerbisias: What's a pregnant character when you're grappling with a pregnant chad?
Wintel
MS: It's (Nearly) Illegal To Buy PCs Without Windows
By a strange coincidence Microsoft's dire warnings against buying PCs without preinstalled operating systems seem to have vanished from microsoft.com on the very day that Microsoft argued that it didn't have a monopoly of the OS market, and that "the market position of Windows was created by... consumer demand, not Microsoft's control of total output."
1.7GHz Athlon - Too Hot To Trot?
Is AMD running the risk of an embarrassing replay of the Intel 1.13GHz PIII recall by trying to run a processor too close to its performance ceiling?
XBox To Tempt Parents With Online Banking Option
Microsoft's Xbox software development team is apparently fiddling around with a version of Microsoft Money for the machine that started out as a games console but is increasingly mutating into a home PC.
Microsoft To Pay $3.7 Million In Bristol Legal Fees
Microsoft must pay more than $3.7 million to cover Bristol Technology's legal fees and costs in bringing an antitrust suit against the world's largest software maker, a judge ruled.
New Spin On Microsoft Case As Big Names Bow Out
While the issues have changed little, the case's future may be profoundly affected by the absence of three pivotal figures: U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, Assistant Attorney General Joel Klein and lead prosecution attorney David Boies.
Pocket PC Devices Making Headway Against Palm
Palm software runs four times as many handheld computers as the competing system from Microsoft. So why do some analysts believe market leader Palm should be worried?
Tuesday, November 28, 2000
News
Apple's FireWire Is Blazing A New Trail
FireWire, says film instructor Bart Weiss, represents the final step to putting professional-quality productions into the hands of home users.
Apple Gets Christmas Spirit
Just in time for Christmas and lasting until New Year's Eve, Apple Australia is matching the factory rebates being offered in the US on most of the range.
Mac Is The Apple Of Canada's Eye
Our politics and buying habits often resemble each other, he said, noting that buying one of the new, colourful iMacs - as opposed to just another beige computer - was a way of showing your individuality.
iListen Chats Us Up
MacSpeech chief evangelist Chuck Rogers recently stopped by the Demo Room to show off iListen 1.0, a new voice-recognition product that's set to go head-to-head with IBM's ViaVoice for the Macintosh, Enhanced Edition.
Opinion
Apple's Retail Strategy
In a fast-moving industry that defies prediction, Apple stores could be vehicles for extending the company's reach well into the new century.
Mac OS X: Whi9ers
What else do you miss from Mac OS 9? Check to see if there is a shareware author that has already built it for you. I'm sure they can use your money.
Wintel
Microsoft Brief May Be To The Taste Of Appeals Court
The appeals brief filed Monday by Microsoft in its ongoing antitrust battle with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) may sit well with the U.S. Court of Appeals, legal experts said. However, those same observers weren't swayed by all of the vendor's legal arguments.
Microsoft's Latest Move Has Ring Of Familiarity
In the last five years, Microsoft's lawyers have twice persuaded the appeals court here to disqualify other judicial officers after complaining that they were biased.
MS Office: A Snag In The .Net Plan?
Microsoft is encountering some user resistance to Office Online, one of the first tangible components of the software giant's expansive .Net plan.
Microsoft Comes Out Swinging In Antitrust Appeal
Microsoft dropped the legal equivalent of a bomb on a federal court Monday in a legal filing that argues that the judge presiding over the software maker's antitrust case misinterpreted the law in his decision to split the company.
Monday, November 27, 2000
News
Consumers Shop Online, But Shun PC Gifts
PC makers may have less to celebrate as consumers, who in recent years have rushed to put a computer under the Christmas tree and link their families to the Internet, turn instead to other, cheaper electronic gadgets.
Opinion
Apple In The Office?
I'm all for Apple's rebirth — I don't want to switch to using Windows boxes full-time, though I find Windows 2000 palatable in limited doses — but it seems to be focused on the consumer and not the business user. If Apple's market share is to continue growing, this must change.
Should Apple Be Tried For Monopolizing?
A year ago Microsoft was brought to trial for abusing their monopoly. If you analyze the charges, you'll find that Microsoft isn't the only company that has done this type of thing. In fact, Apple is guilty in the exact same way.
Sidetrack
Joe Clark: The fear is that Apple won't fix things, or will not doso for years and years, at any rate.
Wintel
AMD May Need New Ad Push
To better chip away at Intel, it might highlight features other than speed, analysts say.
WinME Can't Handle More Than 512 Megs Of Memory
It transpires that Win ME, Win98 and Win95 cannot deal with main memory sizes in excess of 512MB.
Sunday, November 26, 2000
Top Stories
Tech-Savvy Web Users Are Taking Indoor Wireless Technology Outside
Wireless LANs have significant limitations that make it extremely unlikely they will compete with the next-generation cellular services.
Wintel
P4: Total Dog Or Really Cooing?
Some say no because its FPU doesn't have enough grunt. Others say yes because that FPU is optimised for 144 new SSE2 instructions and performs extremely well - when code has been optimised to use them.
Saturday, November 25, 2000
Top Stories
Mac Vs. Windows: The Debate
This isn't a matter of objective truth; there is no one "best" computer or operating system out there, just what individuals are comfortable with spending their money on.
Sidetrack
Damien Barrett: AppleTalk may not be a perfect protocol, but Macs still use it in much of their OS. If you're going to abandon AppleTalk, do it for the right reason — because there is an adequate replacement/substitute.
Wintel
States Losing Interest In Laws Shielding Software Companies
Although software industry groups expect similar bills to be considered in a dozen more states next year, they have already watered down the proposal under pressure from consumer organizations, federal regulators and a growing number of blue-chip companies including Sun Microsystems, Caterpillar and Boeing.
MS-DOJ: Back In The Ring
Round One in Microsoft's fight to avert a breakup is scheduled to begin Monday. Can the company KO the Justice Department in its appeals court rematch?
Friday, November 24, 2000
Sidetrack
Before someone you love buy that 1GHz Wintel PC, consider this: "noise levels of 50 decibels or higher [is] more than enough to raise your blood pressure and affect your productivity." And we all know how much heat that processor is generating, right?
Wintel
Security Holes Found In Windows Media Player
Microsoft on Wednesday issued a patch for two security flaws in its Windows Media Player software that could allow malicious users to run programs on other users' PCs.
MS: How PCs Shipped Without Windows Will Destroy Your Life
In a propaganda page aimed squarely at its OEM customers, Microsoft goes to considerable lengths to blacken the reputation of what it terms "Naked PCs."
Thursday, November 23, 2000
News
Michael Crichton Is No Dinosaur
I started out with Macs back in the 1980s and since then I've never met anyone who could persuade me to switch or any particular piece of software that would obligate me to purchase a PC. Macs are dependable systems, but the main reason I stick with the machine is force of habit.
Desktops Are Becoming Studios
Many PCs, for instance, now include an IEEE 1394, or FireWire, port for digital video transfers at a speedy 400 megabits per second. A wide range of digital video software - from a $99 DV-Editor program by Dazzle, Inc. to Adobe System Inc.'s $549 Premiere and Apple Computer Inc.'s professional-level $999 Final Cut Pro - is also available.
Sidetrack
Dearest Low End Mac: the first web site is funny. The second is interesting. The nth site? Well...
Wintel
Microsoft Attorneys: What Holiday Weekend?
The long Thanksgiving weekend may prove to be an extra-long one for Microsoft's lawyers, as they gear up to deliver a critical brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Monday.
Wednesday, November 22, 2000
Top Stories
Mac OS X: All Sizzle, Little Steak
I can't help but feel that Darwin is getting the short end of the stick from all sides. Everyone is so captivated by Aqua et al that the open source project that could really use some more energy is being starved of it.
Apple Marketing Executive Resigns
Steve Wilhite came to Apple in 1999 after a nine-year stint as marketing chief at Volkswagen of America, where he was credited with helping to revive the carmaker's fortunes.
News
Mac OS X In The Network
If you are discussing NetInfo, Mac OS X's native network-management scheme, the answer is, "almost perfectly."
Chicago To Host Fourth Apple Retail Outlet
The addition of the Chicago store suggests that what originally appeared to be a small, local trial run may indeed be the basis for a nationwide roll-out.
Apple In The Windy City?
The store would be in a location formerly occupied by The Gap. It may be only a coincidence, but Gap CEO Millard Drexler sits on Apple's board of directors.
Apple Near Lease For Mag Mile Store
Apple Computer Inc. is close to leasing the storefront at Michigan Avenue and Huron Street that Gap Inc. vacated when it moved to a new flagship store on the retail strip last week.
Opinion
Apple's Stock Price: Bottom Of THe Class Or Ahead Of Its Time?
In the current environment, that’s no guarantee it will recover. But it makes clear that Apple has been punished for its recent soft profitability, and punished by more than some others in a similar situation.
Leveraging Apple Design
People will be creating knockoffs of their hardware products, so why not capitalize on this by charging licensing fees to the would-be copycats?
A Computer As A Fashion Statement, Part II
The Cube will probably go down in history as a breakthrough product. Its claim to fame is that it is the first luxury desktop computer to become widely available. This is particularly significant because it might be yet another sign of an emerging trend.
Review
Netscae 6.0 For The Mac: Crash Prone, But Promising
Too bad the venerable browser's all-new version is so unstable, because it does outdo Internet Explorer in several areas.
Test Driving Apple's Mac OS X
Long-time users may complain of a learning curve, given how much OS X differs from its predecessors. But the stability, speed and visual stunningness of the new system far outweigh the familiarity of the old.
Sidetrack
Robin Raskin tells us that you won't find as many software and peripherals for the Mac than for the PC. And they cost more. You only choose Mac if "you want to make a design statement, focus on video or digital picture editing."
Glenn Lortscher: Intel's top 10 sneakiest moves and screwups. Oh well. Make that 11.
So, does anyone has a backyard to store this giant iMac?
Wintel
Microsoft Honours Linux Programmer WIth Patent Gong
"It's a kind of a badge of honour. And anyway, I've got a much too perverse a sense of humour to give aything like this back!"
News Sites Panic Over P4 Glitch
The Register can reveal that these claims are nothing but ill-researched sensationalism.
Tuesday, November 21, 2000
Top Stories
Should Apple Think Retail?
There's the question of how thin the company can stretch itself in the endless quest for vertical integration.
Resellers Skeptical, Curious Of Apple Retail Stores
"For Apple to make this a reality and not even tell local dealers near Palo Alto it is coming, is just plain unpressional. Period."
Netscape Goes Bonkers
The biggest single complaint about Netscape 6.0 revolves around the way they reimplemented every UI widget from scratch. Indeed, they felt that this was the only way to get cross platform compatibility.
News
Resellers Skeptical, Curious Of Apple Retail Stores
"For Apple to make this a reality and not even tell local dealers near Palo Alto it is coming, is just plain unpressional. Period."
Where Next For Corel?
A smarter bet for Corel could be to go back to basics, and capitalise on its foothold in the creative content business.
Apple Slices Price Of Dual-Processor PowerMacs
Apple Computer launched another set of rebates Monday, this time shaving up to $500 off the cost of its dual-processor PowerMacs.
Apple Ad Plays Off Florida Ballot Design
You gotta love the folks who design Apple ads.
Mac OS X Could Take Apple 'Places It's Never Been'
"Most Unix workstations aren't fun to use. iMacs running Mac OS X are."
Opinion
Chip Chat
To many of us, it looks as though Motorola is pushing Apple over the edge and into the abyss, hence the hue and cry for Apple to seek processing power from another vendor.
OS X Is A Big, Scary, Unknown Beast
Why does OS X scare me? Probably most importantly, it's still very unfamiliar.
The Windows 9x Witch Is Dead (Almost!)
Microsoft's move to the NT code base is important, but this doesn't mean that the company faces clear sailing; there's a huge installed base of Windows 98 out there, and the transition will not be without challenges.
Resellers Should Embrace Apple's Retail Foray
Increasing sales channels and boosting the Mac's profile through an Apple store will be a boon for all existing resellers. Some sales might be lost in the near term. But in the long run, everyone will benefit.
Review
LaCie PocketDrive
The PocketDrive excels in the details. From the well conceived power supply to the anti-skid outer covering, the PocketDrive includes many small features that make the user's life simpler.
Netscape 6
I'm disappointed that AOL chose to release as final a product that is so obviously not a final release.
Browsing Made Beautiful: IE 5 Refines Tools
If you aren't using Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 as your Web browser, you should be. IE 5 is as near-perfect a browser as you'll find on the Mac or Windows.
How Steve Jobs Came Back From The Brink
Although "Second Coming" focuses on the life of one extraordinary, visionary and quirky person, it also offers valuable insights into the culture of the computer industry, the kinds of beyond-the-envelope thinkers who are involved in it and how they are changing the way the world works.
Review: 10 Optical Mice
Because the core technology is identical, performance of each mouse is very similar. What distinguishes one from the other are the design, plastics, buttons, software, and price.
Sidetrack
Joel Spolsky: Netscape 6 is just not very usable because it violates many rules of consistency.
Netscape 6 is not a Mac application because it doesn't behave like one. It is not a Windows application because it doesn't behave like one. In fact, Netscape 6 is like Word 6 on Mac — only worse.
Hello? You mean you weren't dead yet?
The Industry Standard have some breaking Comdex news: Bill Gates blah blah Ellison blah blah post-PC gadgets blah blah taxi lines yada yada cell phones blah blah blah.
Wintel
European Commission To Merge Microsoft Investigation
A consolidation would not only speed up the legal process, it would also strengthen the commission's case against Microsoft, competition lawyers said.
P4, What's It Good For?
So what does all this mean to you? Well, on the most widely-used applications, probably very little.
Intel Swats Pentium 4 Bug
Chip maker delivers a fix before processor ships in PCs, tweaking a glitch related to how the chip handles certain instructions.
Who Will Be King Of The Game Consoles?
As Sony scrambles to ramp up production of the PlayStation 2, two new combatants in the game console wars are wooing software developers to lay the groundwork for an assault on the market next year.
Microsoft Bids For Entry Into Games Market
While at first glance Microsoft's entry into the game market with its Xbox console may seem to have little significance for corporate users, the Xbox will have important, long-term implications for the corporate and home pervasive-computing environments and for organizations marketing to those environments.
"Romeo And Juliet" Bug Spreads On Outlook
A new virus dubbed "Romeo and Juliet" is attacking computers in Europe and America, but it is not as dangerous as the romance-themed "I Love You" virus, say computer experts.
Early P4s Contained Software Glitch
Intel admitted that early shipments of its brand new Pentium 4 chip contained the wrong software code forcing a recall of those chips.
Intel's Pentium 4 Had Early Glitch
Intel's early shipments of its Pentium 4 chips contained the wrong piece of software code, though it was corrected before the chips reached consumers, according to a report citing the company.
The Fallacy Of Moore's Law
We want software that actually runs on our machines. We want computers that do not crash every time we hit the left mouse button too quickly. I'm telling you, we're mad as hell and we're not going to reboot anymore!
MS Responds To Europe's Move To Open Up Windows
Microsoft filed its response to the European Commission's "statement of objections" on Friday, but both sides are keeping quiet about the case, and it could be months before the next move is made.
Microsoft Dot 'Nyet'
Does anyone actually understand the Microsoft .Net initiative? The idea came out of left field at Microsoft, and it's surrounded by too many buzzwords and generalities to be understandable. I'm not sure the company knows what .Net is, or whether anybody does. It has the onerous smell of failure about it already.
Pentium 4: New Chip, Old Problems
With the Pentium 4, Intel has made the biggest update to its IA-32 processor line in many years. In some ways, this is good — 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.
Pentium 4 Fails To Outpace Athlon, Testers Say
Intel's initial Pentium 4 chips released Monday don't provide a real performance advantage and are often slower when compared with the fastest Athlon chips from Advanced Micro Devices, benchmark testers and analysts say.
Pentium 4 Computers Hit The Market
But just as important as new PCs is that Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel, along with several review sites, will release performance benchmarks for the chip that should keep analysts and computer enthusiasts busy for weeks.
Monday, November 20, 2000
Top Stories
If You Love Someone, Put An iMac Under The Tree
This plucky little computer in the colorful translucent case has sold more than 4 million to date and is going strong. It marked a revolution in industrial design; for the first time, computers were marketed as a decorator item, sparking a rash of copycats in the personal electronics industry. Then there is the legendary Macintosh operating system, with its easy-to-use, intuitive interface.
News
Apple Cuts More Prices In G4 Tower Rebates
The price cuts keep coming as Apple has chopped up to US$500 off Power Mac G4 systems in the U.S. and Europe in the company's continuing attempt to turn around expected disappointing first quarter, holiday sales.
Opinion
Review
Apple AirPort 1.2
There's little to complain about with the AirPort networking system and plenty to recommend. It's well engineered, and it's easy for novices as well as experts. For home, office, or educational use, you can ditch the wires and feel good about it.
Sidetrack
More OS X web sites are up and running... Mac OS X Hints: Your community-built source for OS X hints and information.
Dearest Buddy...
Apple: Locate the file namd "Setup Info Dispatcher" and drag it to the Trash.
Mac OS Rumors: There are several reports that contradict this explantion and suggest that there may be more to the story...
Wintel
Can PocketPC Finally Break Palm's Grip?
The problem with PocketPCs is that they are essentially expensive peripherals with several features that you really don't need.
Sunday, November 19, 2000
Wintel
On The Near Horizon — 1 GHz Notebook
Intel plans to roll out its 1GHz mobile Pentium III chip in the first half of 2001, helping desktop replacement notebooks stay up to speed.
Saturday, November 18, 2000
Sidetrack
San Jose Mercury News: Fueled by Tone Loc's "Wild Thing," [Bill Gates] jump up and down, squatted and kicked his feet into the air, perilously close to two different dance partners. Not at the same time, of course.
Tom Santos, GM of reseller Macadam, on Apple's entry into retail stores: Retail is not just about moving boxes.
Interesting... Could it be that current Apple resellers are not moving enough boxes that Apple wants in the game too?
Dan Knight defending the appearance of a Dell ad on his Mac-centric site: We have not sold out to the enemy, but we're more than happy to take his money.
Wintel
Microsoft Promises A More Heterogeneous Approach To Application Development
Microsoft touts .NET as OS neutral but maintains that Windows will best leverage the platform.
Linux Gets A Virtual Windows Boost
The free software Plex86 project says it has successfully booted a copy Windows in the environment.
Friday, November 17, 2000
Top Stories
Apple Told Resellers: "No Stores"
A senior Apple Computer executive told Mac resellers less than a month ago that the company had no plans to open retail stores in the near future, said a dealer who attended the meeting. Apple now appears to be going ahead with such plans.
Apple Computer Biting Into Retail Area
Apple Computer Inc. is venturing into the retail arena with its very own Apple shops, selecting downtown Palo Alto, just a couple of miles from Jobs' home, as the start. The new store will sell Apple computers and related products.
Open-Sourcing The Apple
There will exist a cadre of OS X developers doing nifty Aqua applications whether the sources are released or not, but that group won't include so many of the talented BSD and Linux people who are backing other technology simply because it's free, both ideologically and monetarily, and the importance of that community should never be underestimated.
News
Apple: Software Piracy Costs Are "Numbling"
Peter Davies, European legal director for Apple, told Bloomberg News Wednesday that software piracy is getting worse, especially in Europe, and the ramifications are that manufacturers are losing billions.
Apple Updates Darwin, Asks For X86 Work
Apple has quietly updated its open source operating system foundation, Darwin, to version 1.2.1, and it appears to come with a plea for more work on the x86 side of things.
Will Cube Copy Bring Apple's Wrath?
Taiwanese company's virtual twin to the Power Mac G4 Cube has Mac fans wondering when Apple will send in the lawyers.
Opinion
Cracks In The Facade
After all, if a consumer wants to buy a professional desktop machine from Apple, what are the choices? A G4 Cube that sports a flawed case, and a G4 tower that might have a flawed power switch.
Looking At OS X Through Windows
The Age Of EveryMan Tech: Many Third Party Options
For the first time, I realize the frustration of my PC friends. They would point out a weakness of the Mac and I would go on a rant about ease of use and productively. I would go in the closet, pull down an SE30 and do all kinds of things to it, daring them to do the same with a PC of the same year. Of course they couldn't, but that didn't change the fact that they had valid points.
Review
Sexy Sounds: Harmon/Kardon's Speakers Look Organic, Sound Tasty
This is probably the best audio you’re going to get from a computer at anywhere near this price, and it stands up respectably to a $200-400-range home audio system.
Office 2001 Mac Edition
Microsoft has finally seen the light.
Sidetrack
J.D. Biersdorfer in New York Times: Apple is the king of computer couture.
By the way, if you, like me, do not know what's a couture, this is how GuruNet defines it: The business of designing, making, and selling highly fashionable, usually custom-made clothing for women; Dressmakers and fashion designers considred as a group; the high-fashion clothing created by designers.
And, no, this is not the word-of-the-day web log.
Wintel
Pentium 4 Impressive But Not Ready For Mainstream
Unlike Pentium III, which was merely an enhancement of Pentium II, Intel's Pentium 4 chip is a major new design that offers much more than the inclusion of additional instructions. Initially, mainstream users probably will not need the additional power and features of the new chip, but high-end users may want to consider immediate adoption.
Pentium 4 Computers Arrive Monday
Computers containing the Pentium 4 will arrive on Monday. Let the kvetching begin.
Thursday, November 16, 2000
Top Stories
Macworld Announces Eddy Nominees
Macworld magazine has announced the nominees for its sixteenth annual Macworld Editors' Choice Awards. Winners will be announced at a ceremony to be held Monday January 8, 2001 in conjunction with Macworld Expo in San Francisco.
CDW-G Adds Apple To Its Cart
Government technology users who prefer Apple Computer Inc. products now have another way to procure those machines.
News
Orange Micro Touts USB 2.0 At Comdex
What's a longtime Mac developer like Orange Micro doing at PC show like Fall Comdex? The company is here displaying its new USB 2.0 products, and appears likely to be the first to ship USB 2.0 controller cards for both Macs and PCs.
Linux Cube Reveals A New Box Of Tricks
Apple Computers was first with the concept. Now, it seems, everyone wants to get into cubism.
Opinion
Gauging The Gigaflops Gap
Motorola has good reason to be proud of the G4, but there is seldom little time to sit upon one's laurels in the CPU business.
Review
Netscape 6
The interface itself is less Mac-like than ever.
Sidetrack
Your IE5 keeps crashing? For this and other FAQs, check out the Unofficial MacIE FAQ.
Either someone have a great sense of creativity, or too much time on his hands. You decide.
Wintel
Pentium 4 Debut: Only 1 CPU?
Intel's promotion of the chip as a single-CPU workstation stands in contrast to previous promotions of dual-chip systems as the workstation ideal.
Microsoft Talks Up Bluetooth
Though the promise of the wireless technology has yet to pan out with actual products available on the market, Microsoft is confident in its decision to put its considerable weight behind the wireless technology.
IBM: Intel Ignored Mobile Market
Big Blue says Intel was so focused on speed it forgot to consider the power ramifications. Until Transmeta's Crusoe came along, that is.
Is Tech-Savvy Virus Dangerious Or Not?
An anti-virus firm warns of advanced Hybris. Other experts say it's software's equivalent of an overweight platypus.
Wednesday, November 15, 2000
Top Stories
Mac OS X: An OS For Larry?
Who is Apple Computer Inc. building its next operating system for — its customers or Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison's? Let me put it another way: Isn't it strange a company that long ago lost its enterprise customers is building an enterprise operating system?
Will USB Or FireWire Connect With Consumers?
Whatever it's ultimately called, a drama is unfolding around high-speed standards for connecting computing devices, with an Intel-led coalition on one side and Apple Computer on the other.
News
Is Netscape Still A Contender?
Despite the software's formidable pedigree as the first multiplatinum Internet browser — and notwithstanding some political partisans' continued reluctance to concede the title to the tender mercies of Microsoft Corp. and Internet Explorer 5.5 — many posters to ZDNet News' TalkBack threads are less than optimistic about the prospects for Netscape's latest candidate.
Apple Makes Up For Lost Time In Argentina
Apple Computer Inc. is moving to hone its competitive edge in South America with a new subsidiary based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Micro Center, CompUSA Give Cash Incentives To Sell Macs
Both retailers are offering the incentive — or what is known in the industry as a 'spiff' — in an effort to move more product during the holiday buying season.
Opinion
The Age Of Everyman Tech: Geeks, User Interface And Majority Rule
"How can I trust Apple to take my concerns seriously about their "baby," when they don't even have enough respect for the end-user to include a decent input device, even NOW. The mouse is great, the keyboard is bad."
Review
A Word Challenger WIth Some Classy Tricks
Nisus' latest word processor gives Mac users most of what they would get from Microsoft's program plus some neat features all its own.
Sidetrack
TechTV asks: What's the best video-editing platform? Windows, Mac or Amiga?
Is Apple spying on us? Mac OS Rumors has more readers reports on littlebuddy.apple.com.
jjg on the report that the race in New Mexico might have to decided on a hand of poker: Gore's camp would be lobbying hard for chess, while Bush would insist upon Yahtzee.
The Problem With Netscape
I haven't download Netscape 6, but I know I'll probably like Gecko, but hate the rest.
Does anyone know if I can download Gecko as a library and code my own browser around it?
Wintel
Microsoft Displays Networked Home
Microsoft Corp. Wednesday unveiled the Microsoft Home in New York, a loft in the Tribeca neighborhood outfitted with a complete home network, designed to showcase the company's current technology as well as offer a sneak peak at some of the technologies on their way over the next year.
Chipzilla, HP Target Apple's Cube
HP and Intel stress that Deep Forest is "a technology demonstration and not a product for sale". And why not? Presumably because, like Apple's own advanced PC design, which is on sale, no one's going to buy it. Ahem.
Tuesday, November 14, 2000
Top Stories
Power-Switch Glitch Hits Some G4 Macs
Some users of Apple's latest G4 towers have encountered persistent problems with overheating and failing power switches.
Mac Music
Tom Mgrdichian writes scores for major television shows and films, including E! Entertainment Network, VH1, ABC and Fox TV. Cooler yet, he composes, orchestrates and arranges all of his music on a Mac. [Nov 14]
Video Technology Scores With Pro Sports
Looking for edge against opponents, athletes
and franchises turn to the digital world for help.
Return Of The Mac, New And Improved
Overall? I think it's going to be a hit.
News
Mac Music
Tom Mgrdichian writes scores for major television shows and films, including E! Entertainment Network, VH1, ABC and Fox TV. Cooler yet, he composes, orchestrates and arranges all of his music on a Mac. [Nov 14]
MS To Intro 'Annual Sub' Price Structure With Office 10
Although renting out software as a service is a key part of the .NET strategy, the software the company will be renting first will be exactly the same as the packaged version you buy (well OK, license) outright.
Microsoft To Sell Office As Subscription Service
Microsoft on Monday said consumers and small businesses will be able to buy future versions of Microsoft Office through a yearly subscription.
Apple Reduces High-End PowerBook Prices
Over the weekend, Apple quietly reduced the minimum advertised price of its top-of-the-line 500MHz PowerBook by $500 to $2999 ($2819 for education customers).
Opinion
Live From COMDEX, No Apple
Apple has its own existence in getting the media's attention without being swallowed up in the mayhem of COMDEX that stars Bill Gates as the main attraction.
Review
Dreamweaver 4 Merges Code, Visual Web Editing
Contour MiniPro Mouse
All in all, this is one nearly flawless mouse. It's unique design is great for hands of all sizes (surprisingly), it's optical technology is state of the art, and it's low retail price of $34.95 qualifies it as one of the cheapest high-tech mice on the market.
Sidetrack
Amazon.com: We've devised a totally new way for you to find and discover anything you want to buy online.
The Daily Yomiuri: Silicon Valley is great at creating winning products with incredible returns to some investors, but discounting certain exceptions such as Apple Computer, it has basically dropped the ball when it comes to trying to understand the special relationship that man has with machine.
Wintel
Intel May License Pentium 4 Technology For Chipsets
Intel is negotiating to license elements of the technology for its new Pentium 4 processor to chipset manufacturers to ensure a smoother supply of the necessary parts.
The Tablet PC Is More Than A Blank Slate
The device Bill Gates showed off at Comdex bests its failed predecessors by being powerful, simple, and cool. Will that be enough?
PC Tablet's The Wrong Prescription
There are some applications where a big screen and handwritten data entry make sense; it's just that you and I don't happen to use them.
Ballmer To Ellison: Your Vision Won't Work
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer once again castigated archrival Larry Ellison, CEO of database giant Oracle, at the Comdex trade show Monday for his views on the future of computing technology.
Ellison To Microsoft: Your Software Is Too Complex
Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison took aim at his favorite punching bag Monday, deriding Microsoft's software as too complex and once again predicting the demise of PCs.
Microsoft Offers Test Versions Of Developer Tools
At the Comdex trade show in Las Vegas, Microsoft announced it has shipped a new test version of software tools in line with the company's new Internet software strategy.
Monday, November 13, 2000
Top Stories
Aple Embarks On Mac OS X For Intel Project
Intellectual exercise or carrot-and-stick for Motorola, this still doesn't mean Apple is actually going to ship MacOS X for Intel.
News
Macromedia Upgrades Dreamweaver, Fireworks
Responding to the latest versions of Adobe GoLive and Photoshop, Macromedia has taken the wraps off Dreamweaver 4, Fireworks 4 and Dreamweaver UltraDev 4, touting tighter integration and improved coding features in its Web-authoring trio.
Sidetrack
Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini: I'm buying less and less software now because I'm tired of getting beaten up during installations and initial runs. The only reason I'm not returning [Photoshop 6] is that I'm trying to get my Mac fully tricked out before January, when the Mac operating system is no more. At that point, I want my machine perfect, so I can go as long as possible before switching over to Windows.
Wintel
Will Windows 2000 Rescue Microsoft In 2001?
The new operating system's slow start isn't helping the company's stock price. One analyst, however, sees the program gaining rapidly next year.
Gates Unveils Tablet PC
Microsoft's latest software-to-software message is overshadowed by a two-pound prototype of one of its next-generation form factors.
Gates Defends PC In Comdex Speech
With no major software debuts imminent, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates used his state-of-the-computing-world address Sunday to call for a greater role for desktop PCs.
Sunday, November 12, 2000
Top Stories
Getting Over The Apple Menu In Ten Easy Steps
It's not the end of the world, I promise.
Sidetrack
Reader spoke up in Applelinks.com: I would much rather have Steve [Jobs] than some sugar sweet executive that runs the company either into the ground, or into obscurity.
Wintel
Microsoft's Big Picture: Whistler, Blackcombe And .NET
While packaged software isn't expected to disappear entirely, many believe that this new model will radically impact on how businesses and consumers obtain up-to-date products from companies like Microsoft. Individual and corporate users will be able to dial-up applications on demand through either a subscription agreement or rental arrangement.
Intel To Announce Two New Celeron Chips On Monday
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel is introducing two Celeron chips, one running at 766 megahertz and the other at 733 megahertz.
Saturday, November 11, 2000
News
Account Exec: Apple Still Number One In Education
Apple did lose its way and is not without mistakes, but "we will dominate education again in this decade."
OS Upstarts Challenge Apple In Germany
While SuSE touted the strengths of the latest PowerPC version of its Linux distribution, Be talked up the wisdom of its own switch to a business model based on Web appliances and Intel hardware.
Opinion
The Mac Is The Smartest OS? Not For Everyone
The way to bring more Windows users across is by development of the Mac OS in a manner that supports multiple intelligence theory.
Review
New IBM Computer Monitors Have High Resolution, High Price
IBM will announce shipment of a new generation of computer monitors today that it says produce images 25 times crisper than current displays and 4.5 times sharper than top-of-the-line high-definition television screens. There's just one catch: They cost $20,000 apiece.
Apple Cinema Display
The Apple Cinema Display has a stellar picture and an equally astronomical price. If you have the cash and a new Mac to connect it to, you'll own a first-class system with an awesome display. The rest of us can dream about it.
Mac Office 2001 Upgrade Ties Everything Together
Unlike some previous MS Office upgrades, there are plenty of reasons to get this version and, other than the expense, no major reasons not to.
MacNN Games
Players looking for more than up-to-the-minute news, however, won’t find MacNN Games a substitute for other Mac gaming sites. Downloads of game demos are here, though they’re neither plentiful.
Sidetrack
Mark Hurst: New wireless devices in Japan have the iMac look to them. Which isn't a bad thing — just very prevalent. I wonder if the device industry is in a design phase much like car makers in the 60s, who went a little nuts with the fins for a few years. Will we decide in five years to stop making every device look Jetsons-cute?
Wintel
Microsoft, HP Play Politics
Opting to fight archrival Sun Microsystems in the Java arena the old-fashioned way — with technology rather than through the courts — Microsoft is working to ink a broad alliance with Hewlett-Packard that could join the companies' application development strategies at the hip.
Es Su Casa Microsoft's Casa?
Gateway and AOL have a plan for wiring your living room. But Microsoft has a plan, too, and it uses many of the same technologies and standards.
Friday, November 10, 2000
Top Stories
A BeOS View Of Apple's New OS X
Can OS X seduce BeOS faithful?
Marketing Math Doesn't Compute
Misleading statistics, questionable assertions and unprovable claims of what you'll get. No, these aren't campaign ads. This is how a lot of computers are marketed.
News
AppleMasters In Asia, Two By Two
At an inaugural event in Singapore, Apple celebrates 18 leading athletes, musicians, artists, educators and civic leaders from five countries — Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.
Tangled Wireless Networking
Three different technologies for linking our gadgets and computers are starting to hit the consumer-electronics market. But although each has been pitched as the best way for our electronics will talk to one another, it looks like consumers might—just might—not have to put up with yet another standards war just yet.
Opinion
Apple Is Back In Business
The online Oracle applications require Java, yet the reliability of Java on the Mac OS 9 is questionable. So how compatible are the Mac and Oracle apps really?"
Why Are Apple's Laptops A Year Behind Dell's?
When will Apple offer me a laptop screen that is not a year (or two) behind what Dell is offering me today?
Review
USB Flatbed Scanners
Nine new models show off advanced technology.
QuickTime Streams Past Microsoft Rival
For versatility, QuickTime rules. More than a streaming platform, QuickTime is a multimedia operating system used for everything from Web playback to video production. QuickTime also incorporates the very cool QuickTime VR, which delivers 360-degree panoramic scenes you can navigate with the mouse.
iMac And iMac DV
With prices this good, these machines will tempt even veteran Mac users.
Sidetrack
Popular Science: Words like "striking" and "inspiring" are rarely used to describe desktop computers. But they seem almost insufficient to describe Apple's rapturous Power Mac G4 Cube.
Upside: Jobs' reputation for being a difficult employer seems not to have lessened with age. Brittle, nervous employees suggest that the general feel-good atmosphere of the Internet era has not crossed the moat surrounding this computer king's castle.
Wintel
Casio To Adopt Transmeta For Notebooks
Casio will introduce a notebook containing a Crusoe chip from Transmeta next year in Japan, becoming the latest small manufacturer to sign up with the chip start-up.
Palm And Microsoft To Duke It Out At Comdex
A debate next week between Microsoft's Pocket PC and Palm is billed as the "battle of the century," but in reality the two companies assess their differences in rather similar terms.
Defeat For MS Shareholder Measures
Microsoft Corp. shareholders on Thursday defeated the company's first-ever shareholder proposals that would have forced the software giant to detail political contributions and take a vocal stance on human rights abuses in China.
AMD Says It's On Track For Current Quarter
Advanced Micro Devices, Intel's main rival in the PC processor market, reiterated its fourth-quarter sales target and said first-quarter revenue growth will be in the "high teens."
Microsoft To Hear First-Ever Shareholder Resolution
The proposals, sponsored by a political activist group and a socially conscious investment house, would have Microsoft disclose its individual political contributions to shareholders and would require it to abide by the China Labor and Human Rights Principles, designed to link investment in China to its human rights record.
Thursday, November 9, 2000
News
FCC May Seek Rule Changes To Free Up Scarce Airwaves
Federal regulators are expected to propose rule changes that would make it easier to buy or lease airwaves, as part of an effort to make spectrum more available to the burgeoning wireless industry.
Oracle Certifies Mac E-Biz Client
In a move to hone the Mac's business acumen while extending Oracle Corp.'s software, Oracle and Apple Computer Inc. on Wednesday announced certification of the Apple Macintosh client on the Oracle E-Business Suite of Web- and Java-based applications for the enterprise.
Opinion
Innovating Greed
Apple may not like the flak it gets for cracks in the Cube or slow repair service, but the truth is Apple needs to held to a higher standard than other companies. Apple needs to polish its crown jewels until they're gleaming so brightly Bill Gates is purple with jealousy.
The Age Of EveryMan Tech: Like A Redheaded Stepchild
The assertion that change of Apple's Classic GUI is needed is wrong. While Apple needs to expand its user base, it doesn't necessarily require the complete destruction of the Classic Interface and with it, its core group of users.
Wintel
MS Hacked By Dimitri Again, Perhaps
The hacker that gained access to several Microsoft servers through a known security hole on Friday claims he did it again yesterday (Tuesday). Dimitri says he uploaded a file called oopsididitagain which mocked MS' security policy.
Wednesday, November 8, 2000
Top Stories
How Apple Flunked Out Of Schools
Steve Jobs blew it by reorganizing his sales force — and letting Michael Dell go to the head of the class.
Changes On Apple Account
A reorganization of TBWA\Chiat\Day's Apple Computer account became apparent Tuesday with the departure of creative director Ken Segall and the promotions of others.
OS X Dooms Apple
I think we have enough time now with OS X Public Beta to reach a painful conclusion: the transition will not work, at least not well enough to sustain the Apple we know.
News
Oracle Certifies Mac Client On Oracle E-Business Suite
This certification makes the Oracle E-Business Suite the first suite of Internet-enabled applications available to Apple customers. The Oracle E-Business Suite supports Mac OS 9 today, and is scheduled to be available in 2001 for Mac OS X, Apple’s next generation operating system.
Opinion
The iMac Is Not Dead
Mac faithfuls might be sick of the low end Mac, but Apple isn´t about to abandon a best seller.
Making PC-Basaed Macs
I've always thought Jobs should let Apple computers be cloned, but I doubt that will ever happen.
Review
Epson Stylus Color 980
MacWEEK's Joe LiPetri found that Epson's latest Mac ink-jet printer offers a good combination of image quality and speed for budget-minded business users. With a maximum resolution of 2,880 by 720 dpi, it sells for $199 after a $50 rebate.
Excel 2001: Expensive Excellence
Spreadsheet neophytes with little experience creating spreadsheets or those who occasionally sum a few columns of numbers should also find the upgrade worthwhile for Excel 2001's improved ease of use and the List Manager. Again, it's difficult to justify the cost of upgrading for Excel alone, but once you include Word, PowerPoint, and Entourage, the decision should become more clear.
Sidetrack
Armand Marciano wished that he had invented the iMac. "They're so cute. It was so simple but so great."
Wouldn't we all...
Wintel
The World Is A Tough Oyster For U.S. PC Makers
With U.S. and Western European PC markets hitting their saturation points, computer makers are increasingly turning their attention to resurgent economies in Asia and Latin America to fuel revenue and profit growth.
It's Back To "Borland" For Troubled Software Maker
HP Tests Waters With Pint-Sized PC
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company Wednesday is launching a phone book-sized PC for the home, the Pavilion 2755C, picking up on a popular trend at the office. The Bonsai Blue and silver metallic case—not to be confused with the iMac's Bondi Blue—measures 13 inches tall, 14.75 inches deep and 4 inches wide.
Tuesday, November 7, 2000
Top Stories
Apple Bruised But Still Has Juice
Slowing sales have killed the stock. But a rebound may be in the offing.
Goodbye Apple And American Power Conversion
With all the question marks from their recent earnings announcements and valuations that, while good, leave more room to fall should the companies continue to disappoint, I believe there are a few investments that represent better bets. That's not to say that I think Apple and APC will do badly or that I recommend anyone else sell — in fact, should their stocks fall significantly, I might buy them back.
News
Looking For Meaning In All The Wrong Places
When the leaders of the new economy say they're not in it for the money, that's not just bad for business. It's bad for everyone.
Apple Starts 'dollar A Meg' Offer On BTO Products
With memory prices at all time lows, Apple has begun a new promotional campaign for online build-to-order (BTO) and educational customers offering a one dollar rebate for every megabyte of memory added to BTO orders.
Review
The Joy Of X: Mac's Hot New OS Boasts Brains And Style To Spare
If Apple doesn't convince the developers to join up, we can only hope that Microsoft's designers take note of OS X's style innovations.
Adobe GoLive 5
Whether you'll find it to be a worthwhile upgrade depends on your extensibility requirements and your tolerance for its lack of standards compliance.
Epson Stylus Color 880
It produces excellent output at a fair price, and is well worth considering.
Sidetrack
Steve Jobs - The man who didn't invent windows backs the man who didn't invent the Internet.
Wintel
Compaq's Transmeta Diss: No Big Deal?
Compaq deals the chip startup another blow, choosing low-power Pentium IIIs over Transmeta's Crusoe, but an analyst says these maneuverings are being overblown.
Enterprise Still Slow To Adopt Windows 2000
Nine months after Microsoft Corp. released the operating system, only one-fifth of the 100 IT managers surveyed by InternetWeek use it as an e-business platform.
Itanium Set For March Launch
Loose tongues on the Intel booth hint broadly that the famously-elastic official launch date for Itanic has now been firmly nailed down for March 2001.
Microsoft Betting On The Tablet PC
The PC may not be dead yet, but Microsoft Corp. isn't wasting any time in developing a potential successor: Tablet PC.
Microsoft's Walk In The Clouds
Microsoft unveiled their first major step into the brave new world of "computing in the cloud" as Bill Gates has labeled it, announcing the launch of Phase One of their E-Business Acceleration Initiative (EBAI) today.
Monday, November 6, 2000
Top Stories
Buzzle Six Make Big Apple
Buzzle is the name, selling Apples is their game.
Artistic Apples
Don't consider a Mac if you enjoy playing the hottest new games or need special PC software to do your job. If you value ease of use, then a Mac is for you. Especially if you like the idea of turning heads when you walk into a coffee shop with a tangerine laptop tucked under your arm.
News
Microsoft Mourns Employee Who Pushed For Diversity
Santiago Rodriguez, who worked to bring more minorities to Apple Computer, the U.S. Civil Service and most recently Microsoft Corp., has died at age 56.
Review
Napster
Beneath this simple interface is a powerful tool.
TechTool Pro 3.0.2
TechTool Pro 3 follows in the excellent tradition of its predecessors but is better and more feature rich.
Links LS 2000
The game offers plenty of impressive features, but at the same time still leaves plenty of room for improvement.
Wintel
The Patch MS Forgot To Apply
A Dutch hacker going by the name Dimitri told IDG news service he entered Microsoft's network last Friday and was able to upload a text file, download other files, and view the structure of Microsoft's server network.
Microsoft, Compaq Shake On Handhelds
Compaq Computer and Microsoft said Monday that they would collaborate on making it easier for handheld devices to connect wirelessly to corporate networks.
Microsoft Hit By Another Hacker
One week after Microsoft Corp. disclosed that an intruder had broken into its computer network, the software vendor last Friday confirmed claims by another hacker who said he had managed to penetrate at least one of the company's Web servers.
Gates Files To Sell 2 Million Microsoft Shares
Bill Gates plans to sell Microsoft stock valued at $135.4 million, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed on Monday.
Sunday, November 5, 2000
News
When Flying Toasters Were Art
Back when the most colorful thing about your computer probably was that rainbow-striped apple icon on the monitor's frame, screensavers offered a bright, fun way to protect a bulky, ugly machine.
Opinion
OS X On Intel: Pros And Cons
Should Apple port OS X to Intel powered PCs? The debate has been going on for awhile, but what are the facts for each side?
Review
Window ME & Apple OS X: WorthAn Upgrade
The core system works well already and shows that Apple is still thinking about the person-machine interface in a creative way.
Sidetrack
David Dreman: Wouldn't it be nice to find an analyst who had warned you away from Intel and Apple with a sell recommendation? Good luck.
Wintel
Ruling On Procedure In Case Is Partly IN Favor Of Microsoft
In a procedural ruling partly in favor of Microsoft in its appeal of the antitrust decision that could split the company, a federal court ruled yesterday that America Online must join with three industry trade groups if the company wants to file a supporting brief.
Friday, November 3, 2000
Top Stories
Mac OS X86?
As Motorola struggles to boost the speed of the PowerPC G4, developers told MacWEEK that Apple could port its next-generation OS to AMD or Intel hardware with relative ease—if it were willing to abandon Classic Mac applications or force them to run in a slow emulation environment.
News
Bugs At Internet Speed?
Automatic anti-virus updates are touted as the solution to lightning-fast virus outbreaks. They could also become a recipe for disaster.
Warhol's Mac Art Draws Net Bids
A mysterious online shopper may soon part with at least $10,000 for a pastel-colored print of the famous Apple logo.
Connecting OS X To Unix
In the third part of his series on networking in the Mac OS X Public Beta, MacWEEK contributor John C. Welch looks at Unix connections, some of the easiest—and most convoluted—among the three major operating systems.
Apple Drops Online Exclusives Worldwide
Dealers in Japan and the UK are now carrying the Key Lime iBook and Pro Mouse as Apple races to cut inventories.
What Time Is It?
Trying to set up an event online can be tricky when there are 24 time zones to deal with.
Review
New iBook Special Edition Has It All
I give the iBook Special Edition two thumbs up — way, way up.
Sidetrack
Peeve Of The Day
We recognize that the whole idea of HTML is to allow browsers to have great flexibility in displaying web pages. It is supposed to allow different devices and browsers to render differently due to different limitations and preferences.
So why can't I read MacInTouch on my Visor?
Wintel
Microsoft Tells How To Remove Software In Scientolog Flap
Microsoft has developed complex instructions to remove part of Windows 2000 that had generated bad publicity in Germany because it was written by a firm headed by a Scientologist, a spokesman said Friday.
Thursday, November 2, 2000
Top Stories
System Administration - Anytime, Anywhere
I can go anywhere in the lab, or just about anywhere in the building and still control any workstation or server in the lab from my iBook.
Apple Gilds The Lily
The geeks who'd love the BSD microkernel, command-line power and such have no need for Aqua's pretty colors. Conversely, the beginning users most likely to be lured by shiny new objects could care less about protected memory and the like.
News
Macromedia: "We Share The Vision"
Macromedia and Adobe Systems may be bitter rivals for the hearts and wallets of Web designers, but Macromedia CEO Rob Burgess told MacWEEK that he supports Adobe's vision of Network Publishing, a set of new and emerging technologies that enable "visually rich, personalized content, available anytime, anywhere, on any device."
So Long, Computer Cable?
The bigger news for late 2000 and early 2001 is that virtually all notebook manufacturers will follow Apple's lead by making their products wireless-ready.
Opinion
Programs That Make Your Skin Crawl
Too many software developers think they own your computer.
Review
Excel 2001: Fewer Headaches But Still A Pain
Microsoft has made its mammoth number-cruncher a bit less daunting. The learning curve (and price) remains pretty steep, though.
Sidetrack
Monopoly - the .dot com edition.
Pop Up Idiots
The whole idea of advertisement, I believe, is to hide it between real content so that consumers cannot help but notice them. Which makes me wonder what's the point of having pop-up advertisements anymore on the web?
See a window popping-up? Quick — head for Cmd-W. (Or ALT-F4. Hey, it's your choice.)
Wintel
MS 'Whistler' Looks Solid
With its next-generation Windows client, code-named Whistler, Microsoft Corp. finally pulls the trigger on the long-awaited unification of the consumer and corporate Windows code bases. In the process, Microsoft has produced an operating system that benefits from the stability and security of Windows 2000 and includes several handy usability enhancements.
Compaq's iPaq Goes Wireless For Work
Compaq wants to put the iPaq H3650 to work at companies across the globe. To do so, the Houston-based PC maker is beginning to aggressively bundle wireless connectivity with a wide range of business-specific products and services for the device, which uses Microsoft's Pocket PC operating system.
Microsoft: Developers' Friend Or Foe?
Development shops can profit enormously by creating software for the world's most popular PC platform, but Microsoft's tendency to follow its independent software vendors into new markets also puts their products at risk. Yet Microsoft, without a large direct-sales force or full-fledged consulting group, leans heavily on its independent software vendor and reseller channel to get its products in front of customers.
Intel: Pentium 4 Will Pass Pentium III In Early 2002
Sales of Intel's Pentium 4 microprocessor will ramp up faster previously forecast, with the new chip overtaking the mainstream Pentium III in early 2002, company officials said in a webcast Wednesday.
Wednesday, November 1, 2000
Top Stories
Toppling The Desktop
The Mac's new OS X erodes the familiar user interface metaphor as Web browsers and the command line assert their influence.
Eek! A Two-Button Mac Mouse?
The news couldn't be more shocking if the Catholic church suddenly announced it was embracing contraception: Apple is moving to a two-button mouse.
News
Dollar Down, Apples Up
Apple Computer is the latest victim of the falling Australian dollar, increasing prices by up to 12.5 percent across most of its product lines.
IBM Most Trusted Brand
Big Blue took top honours, edging out fellow hardware makers Hewlett-Packard and Apple.
Warnock On The Third Wave
Adobe Systems CEO John Warnock, speaking to MacWEEK Tuesday afternoon, discussed the initiative, as well as Adobe's relationship with Apple and his views of Mac OS X.
The Big iMac Oversupply Means Rotten Apple Xmas
Apple Computer Inc. is giving itself a lump of coal for Christmas.
OS X On Intel? At Least 20,000 People Think It's A Good Idea
While the OS X on Intel rumbling has quited over the last month or so, one organization is out to keep the idea alive, and is doing everything they can to see OS X ported to work on Intel processors. OS X On Intel (osxonintel.com) has been collecting signatures since the release of OS X Beta, and the petition is now 20,000 strong and growing.
Opinion
The Road To Hell
If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, then Apple’s intention to launch its own chain of retail shops is one of the quicker roads to hell they can set themselves upon.
Mac Users Are Different
Call it some kind of mass denial, but the simple truth is that the Mac is not the computer for everyone. We should stop pretending it is.
Review
Risk II
It's fun for everyone, whether you are a kid or adult.
Beachhead 2000
When you put it all together you get a game that doensn't really stand up to the big boys, but it does offer some inexpensive fun for those with $20 to spare.
Wintel
Is Intel Sputtering Or Just Catching Its Breath?
The biggest problem: Investors who had learned to expect extraordinary growth from Intel were shocked when the company warned in September that third-quarter sales would fall short of Wall Street analystsí estimates. Intel said the main culprit was weak demand in Europe.
How You Hack Into Microsoft: A Step By Step Guide
We don't pretend to know; but we're going to walk you through the likely steps the intruders would have taken, and let you decide how much damage they might, or might not, have done.
MS Hack The Talk Of Linux Conference
Making Linux more secure against attacks is debated at the first-ever federal Linux user's conference.
IBM Puts Transmeta Plans On Hold
IBM has suspended a project geared toward releasing a ThinkPad notebook containing Crusoe processors from Transmeta, company executives confirmed Tuesday.
Microsoft Release Test Versions Of Whistler OS
Microsoft on Tuesday released the first test version of its next Windows operating system, which will finally merge consumer and business computers under one umbrella.