Monday, October 20, 2003
Top Stories
Apple Whistles A Happy 1 Million iTunes
Apple said Monday that 1 million copies of its iTunes software for Windows have been downloaded since its introduction on Thursday. Apple also said it has sold more than 1 million songs in that same time.
News
Atlanta To Get Second Apple Store
It will be located at the Northpoint Mall with the grand opening scheduled for Nov. 22.
Swinburne Linux Supercomputer Tastes Apple RAID
"The Xserve RAID is the cheapest system of its type and none of the other mainstream players have a comparable price."
Laptops Losing Luster Because Of Budget Crunches Nationwide
In just a few years time, state budget surpluses that soared during the dot-com era have vanished, and laptops suddenly seem extravagant for states grappling with tight budgets.
USA Poll Shows Little Interest In Downloading Music
The recording industry's wails about free downloading of songs seem to be falling on deaf ears in Alabama, the results of a new poll suggest.
Jobs Named One Of Entertainment's Most Powerful 'Suits'
Apple and Pixar CEO Steve Jobs placed third in Entertainment Weekly's power list in its "suits" category.
Opinion
We'll Write It For You: Why The Mac Web Is Starting To Suck
All that's left are sites full of press releases masquerading as stories of interest.
Where Apple Education Got It Right... And Wrong
Microsoft Monopoly Says Apple Monopoly Is Too Restrictive
Comparing the two monopolies — one horizontal, one vertical — is an interesting exercise. Under which monopoly are users happier?
Review
Freeway Express
Whether you are a novice working on a personal site or a professional looking for a tool with more on-demand power, Freeway Express is well worth a look.
Power Mac G5 Dual 2-GHz — How Fast Is It?
We use our Power Mac largely for heavy graphics and 3D gaming and for those purposes, the G5 is very fast, maybe even the fastest as Apple claims
Swap, Lua Lua And Energy
Within these three games, there's some encouraging stuff here.
Sidetrack
LONGING FOR A FASTER MACHINE : Probably nothing makes me yearn for a shiny new Power Mac G5 (or even just a PowerBook G4) than spending a day of semi-frustration creating a Ken Burns slide show using iPhoto and iMovie on my trust old PowerBook G3 (FireWire) aka Pismo.
I wonder if KeyNote would have made my life easier.
STOP THE MUSIC : Everytime I lock my computer in Windows XP, iTunes stops playing. I wonder if this is a feature or a bug.
THE WORST WINDOWS APP EVER? : "Apple didn't follow the Windows Look and Feel Guidelines, or their own OS X Guidelines," observed Dylan Greene. "[Apple] instead [went] for their new pseudo steel look which probably looks cool to everybody who's still into chroming every part of their engine."
druhol : "A mistake that a lot of people make when comparing Microsoft and Apple [is to] assume that, like MS, Apple is a software company. They're not."
dswensen : "Microsoft preaching about giving users a choice. That's the funniest thing I've heard all day."
ON INTERNET AND THE TRUTH : The current deputy Prime Minister and the future Prime Minister of Singapore has this to say about gvoernment telling the truth — "If [the government] did not tell the truth, people will start beleiving the Internet uncritically because they can no longer depend on what the government says. So this is not tenable. We have to be quite open and people will have to have faith that what we are saying is in fact the whole truth."
TAKE THE SUBWAY, LAH : Straits Times in Singapore reports that some roads here will be closed tomorrow to accomodate George W. Bush's visit.
The interesting part of the announcement: "Announcements regarding the affected areas, however, will be made only an hour beforehand."
FRIENDS, AGAIN : When the local TV station first screened Friends 9 years ago, it debuted at a 8.30 pm timeslot, and was heavily censored. (Especially on the plot of Ross' lesbian wife.)
The same TV station is rerunning the first season starting tonight at a 11.00 pm timeslot. I wonder if anything has changed, given that homosexual lifestyle is still a pretty-much no-no here in Singapore media.
Wintel
Readers Weigh In On Longhorn Due Date
Some say they don't mind waiting another year for Windows; others say it's the straw that will drive them to Linux or Mac OS.
Windows Not Trustworthy
To earn the trust of computer users and corporate customers everywhere, Microsoft has to do more than declare a strategy. Trustworthy computing? Just ask the millions of people who are downloading the latest Windows security patch.
Microsoft's Integration Strategy Is Costly For Customers
Microsoft's strategy of increasingly integrating its server and client products — as best evidenced by the Office System line-up which officially launches next week — means some enterprises may end up paying 10 to 40 percent more to stay with Redmond's wares, a recent report from Jupiter Research suggests.
Microsoft Faces Open-Source Revolt
Microsoft Unveils Office 2003
With their old standby paid for and humming along, how many people will feel compelled to trade up?