Monday, November 3, 2003
Top Stories
Apple Official Weighs In On 15-In. PowerBook Problem, Laptop Successes
Dave Russell, director of product marketing for portables and wireless at Apple, said late last week that the company is aware of the white blemishes on some new 15-in. screens, but hasn't yet "captured" enough of the computers to figure out why the spots are appearing.
'Bundle iTunes', Apple Exec Urges PC Makers
Apple's applications marketing chief Peter Lowe has urged PC manufacturers to bundle iTunes for Windows with off-the-shelf PCs.
OS X Insecure — How Do You Like 'Dem Apples?
Say what you want about how great OS X is, but Apple dropped the ball when it found out there were vulnerabilities in its flagship operating system. It didn't release a patch when the issues became public, didn't ask the company that found the flaws, @Stake, for any time to produce a free fix, and has resorted to spin to save itself further embarrassment.
News
iTunes Offers Legal 'Sharing'
Yalies have rushed to download the iTunes music player and iTMS since it became available to Windows users two weeks ago. Many Yalies said they use it mainly to "share" others' music, not to buy songs from the iTMS.
FileVault Problems Continue Apple's OS Woes
FileVault is suspected of resetting or destroying the data for Safari, Address Book, the Dock, Mail and the Keychain, among others.
Apple Vendor Will Move To PC Sales
Apple retailer NextByte is planning to sell its own brand of PCs in the first of what it hopes will be a national chain of Windows-compatible outlets.
Digital Music Biz Faces Hurdles In Europe
Apple's success with its digital download store in the U.S. is irrefutably sweet, but the European market could prove to be bitter fruit.
PC Sales May Be Coming Out Of Doldrums
The numbers are encouraging to a sector that has been languishing for the past three years, battered by the dot-bomb, a flagging economy and a mountainous inventory of used equipment that sold at auction for far less than even the cheapest new computers.
Fink 0.61 Brings Panther Compatibility
Microsoft Moves Virtual PC From Linux
When Microsoft Corp. launches Virtual PC 2004, a Linux version of the software won't be along for the ride — at least not officially.
For Many, It's Still No Sale
Many industry observers say the new services will provide little lift for the beleaguered record business. In fact, they say, the pay services will only steer more people toward the freebies.
Digital Singles Close To Eclipsing Hard Copies
Digital tracks are outselling physical singles by a growing margin, a sign that consumers increasingly are embracing the brave new world of Internet downloading.
Opinion
Paying For Fewer Features
There are some new features, but the important improvements are subtle and all over the place. The end result is that the system just feels better.
Mac.Ars Takes On Apple's Quality Control
Apple is in a stronger position than it has been in some time. Capitalizing on its position and growing its market share both in the home and corporate spaces requires an increased commitment to quality.
Apple's Bad Hair Day
Let's not point fingers of blame at this point, except to point out that hard drives are a fragile lot. And you see now how easy it is for something to go awry.
Review
Huevos And iSeek
Huevos and iSeek are both solid, easy-to-use utilities, and I recommend them for most users.
An Early Eval Of Apple's Mac OS X 10.3
Will Panther tempt Linux users? Sure! But I don't think there will be widespread defections, given the price points of the Apple hardware required to run it.
Sidetrack
FLYING iPOD : Why iPods die at high altitude.
AN APPLE A DAY : Keep track of the news, via Watchster.
AN APPLE A DAY : The premiere of Matrix Revolutions, at Sydney Opera House, in QuickTime VR.
DEAR DIARY is one of my favorite columns in New York Times, and the latest proved to be a very good read again.
Wintel
SQL Server On A Non MS Platform? Never!
Gordon Mangione, corporate vice president, SQL Server Team, made a strong and clear statement that SQL Server would never be ported to other environments, when he addressed developers last week at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles.
How Intuit Bested Microsoft
What "Inside Intuit" offers is a straightforward, if not dramatic, portrait of a company in a constant state of crisis or change that accompany shifts in the software industry, software bugs, new products, acquisition decisions (good and bad) and changes in top management.