[AppleSurf Inbox] May 14, 2000

[applesurf at myapplemenu.comapplesurf]

AppleSurf Inbox

== Reviews (The good and the bad) ====================

Should I Stay Or Should I Go? (Newsweek)
<http://www.newsweek.com/nw-srv/printed/us/st/a19559-2000may7.htm>
Ultimately the choice to go Mac -- or stay -- comes down to one's own personal calculus. The Mac has always had an emotional appeal that often winds up making its users more productive.

PowerBook G3: Apple Unwired (BusinessWeek)
<http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/may2000/nf00511b.htm>
The newest edition of Apple Computer's PowerBook G3 notebook has many impressive features. But what may be the most interesting touch is completely invisible.

== Thousand Flowers (News on Macintosh third-parties) ====================

Music Fest Mission Control (Salt Lake Tribune)
<http://www.sltrib.com/05142000/arts/arts.htm>
You might say classical musician Leslie Harlow is as much a keyboardist as she is a violist.

New iMac Computers Operate In Spanish (The Modesto Bee)
<http://www.modbee.com/metro/story/0,1113,158863,00.html>
Hispanics in the Central Valley lag behind the general population in computer ownership, but a new Spanish language computer option may help bridge that digital divide. 

== Know Thy Enemy (Keeping track of the Wintel empire) ====================

Hate Gates? Valley Poll Says You're In The Minority (San Jose Mercury News)
<http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/poll051400.htm>
During Microsoft Corp.'s federal antitrust trial, many people said the lawsuit pitted the interests of Silicon Valley against the Seattle sperpower. But according to a Mercury News poll last week, more than half the people in the valley actually like Gates and Microsoft, the company he co-founded.

== Breaking Barriers (About the internet and the web) ====================

Eyetracking Study Of Web Readers (Useit.com)
<http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20000514.html>
Web content is intellectually bankrupt and almost never designed to comply with the way users behave online. Almost all websites contain content that would have worked just as well in print.

Start-up Links Online Medical Assistance With Charity (CNET News.com)
<http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-1865737.html?tag=st.ne.1430735..ni>
A San Francisco Bay Area start-up is attempting to act as a model for other early-stage companies interested in making philanthropy and social responsibility integral parts of their services. 

Online Businesses Learn Hard Lessons Of Consumer Behavior (Associated Press)
<http://www.techserver.com/noframes/story/0,2294,500204187-500283383-501519238-0,00.html>
Many startups are learning a hard lesson: consumer behavior is not only unpredictable but much harder to track on the internet - a reason many online retailers will fail in coming months,analysts say.

Want Some Advice? The Internet Is Full Of It (San Jose Mercury News)
<http://www.mercurycenter.com/business/top/037774.htm>
Were we to somehow turn our backs on the world of e-commerce and tune out the mindless blather of chat, the online experience would quickly boil down ot questions and answers. Distill Net culture to its most elemental form and what are you lfeft with? People Who Know Things, People Who Need To Know Things, and not much else.

Rising Internet Use Quietly Transforms Way Japanese Live (New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/05/biztech/articles/14internet.html>
The Internet is quietly transforming Japan, making celebrities of small farmers like Rei Kimura, right, empowering women, changing the way people apply for jobs and schools and generally chipping away at traditional patterns of behavior. 

Internet Economics Forcing Changes In Event-Ticketing (Los Angeles Times Syndicate)
<http://www.techserver.com/noframes/story/0,2294,500204007-500283068-501490337-0,00.html>
As event ticketing shifts onto the Web, online companies are expanding beyond traditional seat-selling to offer customized goods and services based on information that technology allows them to gather on customers.

== The AppleSurf Reader (Great Reads!) ====================

Wisdom Of Fonts (Chicago Reader)
<http://www.chireader.com/hottype/2000/000512_1.html>
Ron Reason belongs to a guild so small that even though he's the assistant managing editor in charge of redesigning the Sun-Times, he's simultaneously doing the same sort of work for the rival Tribune Company.

== Technology (The Technology Scene In Singapore) ====================

iCart With iMacs (MacSingapore)
<http://www.macsingapore.com/news200005a.html#icart>
Are you interested in furniture that looks as good as your iMac?