[MyAppleMenu] Dec 10, 2002

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu Newsletter
Tuesday, Dec 10, 2002

MyAppleMenu : Top Stories
-------------------------
Is The Computer Desktop An Antique? (Steven Johnson, Slate)
<http://www.msnbc.com/news/845835.asp?cp1=1>
Interface consistency was a wise strategy for the early years of PC adoption, but the Mac’s new Swiss-army-knife approach makes sense now that using desktop interfaces is as second-nature as reading to a whole generation of computer users.

Top Teacher Trashes MovieMaker 'Hype' (Macworld UK)
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/main_news.cfm?NewsID=5674>
A leading UK educator has attacked Microsoft’s claims that its MovieMaker 2 beta is the best consumer video-editing solution on the market.

Tune In iPod (Lee Dembart, International Herald Tribune)
<http://www.iht.com/articles/79608.html>
Apple hits the right notes in design and sound quality.

MyAppleMenu : News
------------------
Film Gimp Released For Macintosh OS X (Computer Graphics World)
<http://cgw.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=OnlineArticles&SubSection=Display&PUBLICATION_ID=18&ARTICLE_ID=163140>
Film Gimp, the most popular open source tool in feature motion picture work, has released its first Macintosh version. It is a frame-by-frame retouching tool used by motion picture studios as an alternative tool to Adobe Photoshop.

CEO Of iPod Chipmaker Quits (Ian Fried, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1040-976740.html>
The chief executive of PortalPlayer, the start-up whose chip powers Apple Computer's iPod digital music player, has resigned.

Netscape Update Adds Features, Improves Security (Peter Cohen, MacCentral)
<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0212/10.netscape.php>
Changes in Netscape 7.01 include popup window controls; a home page group feature; new AOL Mail features; and COPPA compliance with improved security, which also offers greater control of certificates.

Saint Leo U. Offers Apple's iBooks To Its On-Campus Students (Brock Read, The Chronicle Of Higher Education)
<http://chronicle.com/free/2002/12/2002120301t.htm>
University administrators had initially planned to give the students laptop PC's, but opted for iBooks largely because Apple representatives promised ample technical support for the machines.

MyAppleMenu : Opinions
----------------------
Rants & Raves: Hey, I'm A Loyal Mac User, Too (Unknown, and Patrick Leal, Wired News)
<http://www.wired.com/news/rants/0,2350,56787,00.html>
Like any persecuted minority, Mac users are sensitive to criticism, even if it is more perceived than real.

MyAppleMenu : Reviews
---------------------
iBook, Desktop Prices Show Buyer's Market (James Coates, Chicago Tribune)
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0212080305dec08,0,5295447.column?coll=chi%2Dtechnology%2Dnav>
Designed with an eye toward the school market, the iBook is sturdy, seriously shock resistant and comes loaded with a wonderful collection of software.

Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (Kirk Hiner, Applelinks.com)
<http://www.applelinks.com/reviews/jedioutcast.shtml>
With a couple rare exceptions, LucasArts has created some of the best action games available on any platform, and Jedi Outcast is no exception.

Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (Christopher Morin, Inside Mac Games)
<http://www.insidemacgames.com/reviews/view.php?ID=327>
Yes, there have been a host of games that used this fantastic engine, yet the popularity of the Star Wars universe lends itself to this game and makes it a game worth playing.

Music To Your Ears: 2002 (Dan Frakes, TidBITS)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07012>
The problem is that most headphones stink.

The Laptop Stands, But Not Alone (Adam C. Engst, TidBITS)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07011>
You won't go wrong with any of these stands, I'm happy to say, making them an excellent alternative to suffering with poor laptop ergonomics or haphazardly stacking your laptop on a teetering pile of books.

USB 2.0 Vs. Firewire (Moto, The Tech Zone)
<http://thetechzone.com/display.php?i=227&p=1>

Sharing Memories (Dave Gussow, St. Petersburg Times)
<http://www.sptimes.com/2002/12/09/Technology/Sharing_memories.shtml>
Slide-show software lets you share your photos with friends and family at home, via e-mail or on the Web.

MyAppleMenu : Wintel News
-------------------------
Microsoft Unveils Guides To Windows (Joe Wilcox, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1001-976656.html>
Microsoft on Tuesday released blueprints designed to help technology managers install Windows more efficiently and at a lower cost.

More Wintel News at <http://www.myapplemenu.com/wintel/>

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow : Top Stories
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Welcome To The New IT Crisis (Marc Andreessen, ZDNet)
<http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-976655.html>
What is the most thankless, cumbersome function faced by Fortune 2000 companies? How about the one where your work only gets noticed when things break, where you're viewed as a major source of expenses, and your workload has tripled in the past year. Such is the state of information technology today.

Human Or Computer? Take This Test (Sara Robinson, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/10/science/physical/10COMP.html>
As chief scientist of the Internet portal Yahoo, Dr Udi Manber had a profound problem: how to differentiate human intelligence from that of a machine.

In The Future, We'll All Be Harry Potter (Jakob Nielsen, Useit.com)
<http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20021209.html>
The world of magic is a world where inanimate objects come alive; it's as if they had computational power, sensors, awareness, and connectivity.

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow : News & Opinions
--------------------------------------
Gateway To Offer Grid Computing Service (Tom Krazit, InfoWorld)
<http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/12/10/021210hngatewaygrid.xml?s=IDGNS>
Gateway has set up a grid using software from United Devices and the roughly 8,000 PCs on display at Gateway's retail stores around the country.

Too Many Web Services Standards Bodies? (Paul Krill, InfoWorld)
<http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/12/10/021210hnstandards.xml>
Representatives from Web services standardization bodies at a conference here Tuesday pondered the notion of whether there are, in fact, too many of these groups and whether it might be a good idea to consolidate efforts in one organization.

Aussie Can Sue Over Online Story (Associated Press)
<http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,56793,00.html>
In a landmark case, Australia's highest court on Tuesday gave a businessman the right to sue for defamation in Australia over an article published in the United States and posted on the Internet.

Corel Begins XML Push (David Becker, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1001-976708.html>
Canadian software maker Corel announced two new XML tools Tuesday in an effort to jump start its next phase of its financial recovery.

Kiddie Cell Phones: Hot New Toy? (Elisa Batista, Wired News)
<http://www.wired.com/news/holidays/0,1882,56784,00.html>
Dear Santa: Forget Mattel, and bring on Nokia.

Bluetooth In Five Minutes Or Bust (Ben Charny, ZDNet)
<http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-976587.html>
Mike McCamon, executive director of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), says he will urge SIG members at this week's Bluetooth Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif., to adopt a "five-minutes-out-of-the-box" mentality.

Interfaces Of The Future (Stephen Withers, ZDNet Australia)
<http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/enterprise/story/0,2000025001,20270531,00.htm>
How long will it be before your computer is able to read your facial expressions? Will a rude gesture become the next Control-Alt-Delete?

Wi-Fi Spreading Internet Access To The Masses (Nancy Gohring, Seattle Times)
<http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/134592327_wifi09.html>
Technology historians could look back at 2002 as the year a geeky wireless technology outgrew its grass roots and created a burst of excitement in the beaten-down telecommunications business.

MyAppleMenu Reader : World
--------------------------
Unequal Justice (Edward T. Pound, U.S. News)
<http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/021216/usnews/16justice.htm>
Military courts are stacked to convict--but not the brass. The Pentagon insists everything's just fine.

The Quiet Power Of Condi Rice (Evan Thomas, Newsweek)
<http://www.msnbc.com/news/844173.asp?0cv=KA01>
Born in 'Bombingham,' the enigmatic adviser has become the 'Warrior Princess'--Bush's secret White House weapon.

MyAppleMenu Reader : Science & Tech
-----------------------------------
At Genetic Frontier, The House Mouse Serves Humanity (Nicholas Wade, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/10/science/10MOUS.html?8hpib>
Now that the mouse's genome has been decoded, revealing just as many genes as its host, the 25 million mice that work in laboratories throughtout the world may be demanding a lot more respect.

MyAppleMenu Reader : Life
-------------------------
Limping Off The Shelves (Linton Weeks, Washington Post)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33012-2002Dec9.html>
Publishers and booksellers are scratching their heads and wondering why readers aren't reaching -- with the same eagerness they once did -- for the latest offerings by popular writers.

With Video Games, Researchers Link Guns To Stereotypes (Erica Goode, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/10/health/psychology/10RACE.html>
Unconscious biases, possibly instilled by the news media, advertising or other cultural influences, can shape behavior, even when people do not consciously endorse such biases.

MyAppleMenu Reader : Expressions
--------------------------------
The Bare Manuscript (Arthur Miller, New Yorker)
<http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/content/?021216fi_fiction>
Carol Mundt lay on the desk, propped up on her elbows, reading a cooking article in You. She was six feet tall and a hundred and sixty pounds of muscle, bone, and sinew, with only a slightly bulging belly. In Saskatchewan she had not stood out for her size, but here in New York it was a different story.

MyAppleMenu SingaporeSurf : Top Stories
---------------------------------------
Singapore 'Must Accept Review Right' (Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,159977,00.html>
Singapore must recognise Malaysia's right to review the price of water being supplied to the Republic before a new round of talks can be held, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said.

MyAppleMenu SingaporeSurf : News & Opinions
-------------------------------------------
Singapore's Lee Is Rapped Over Remark On Radical Groups (Debbie A. Lubis, Jakarta Post)
<http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/Weekly2002/12.10.2002/Indonesia2.htm>
Indonesian Muslim scholars denied on Sunday the statement by Singapore's Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew that there were some 100 radical groups in Indonesia aimed at establishing an Islamic superstate in Southeast Asia.

Singaporeans Generally Satisfied With Life (Audrey Tan, Business Times)
<http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,2276,66298,00.html?>
But cost-of-living issues get the lowest scores in NUS survey.

Film-Makers In The Spotlight With New Media Board (Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singapore/story/0,4386,159840,00.html>
It aims to develop the growth potential of film-making here by enhancing financial support and building links overseas.

More Singapore News at <http://www.myapplemenu.com/singapore/>

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MyAppleMenu is edited by Heng-Cheong Leong. This site is not affiliated with Apple Computer, Inc., or any other companies in any manner. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, Power Macintosh, PowerBook, iMac, iBook, iPod, and eMac are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. All other brands or product names are trademarks of their registered holders. Copyright &copy; 1996-2002 Heng-Cheong Leong. All rights reserved.