[MyAppleMenu] Dec 24, 2002

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu Newsletter
Tuesday, Dec 24, 2002

MyAppleMenu : Top Stories
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Cult Brands: Lessons Learned At Apple, ESPN, And PepsiCo (Martha Lagace, HBS Working Knowledge)
<http://hbsworkingknowledge.hbs.edu/pubitem.jhtml?id=3228&sid=0&pid=0&t=marketing>
What gives some brands an extra lift? An avid cult following, that's what. At a session of the HBS Marketing Conference, experts debated the pros and cons of managing a brand that customers truly adore.

MyAppleMenu : News
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She's A Knockout (Linday Martell, TechTV)
<http://www.techtv.com/news/culture/story/0,24195,3412186,00.html>
Meet Apple employee Kelsey Jeffries, key-punching geek by day, face-punching boxer by night.

New MPEG-4 Based Video System Takes Step Forward (Martyn Williams, Macworld UK)
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/main_news.cfm?NewsID=5731>
The technical design for a new video compression system based on the MPEG-4 standard that promises better quality digital video was agreed at a meeting in Japan last week, said the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Apple Posts Win-To-Mac OS X Porting Guide (MacNN)
<http://www.macnn.com/news.php?id=17821>

Farewell Beloved CDs (Paul Rubens, BBC)
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2000/dot_life/2600783.stm>
Having all your music collection in your pocket - it's an idea thousands of Christmas shoppers will have fallen for. But is it all it's cracked up to be?

MyAppleMenu : Reviews
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Savvy Shopper Can Save Money With 'Refurbs' (Allan Hoffman, The Star ledger)
<http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/hoffman/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1038813206315960.xml>
You can save money with refurbs, but you've got to be a savvy shopper.

Should You Upgrade Your PowerBook To USB2? (Charles Moore, MacOPINION)
<http://www.macopinion.com/columns/roadwarrior/02/12/24/index.html>
If you would like to be compatible with USB 2 for a particular reason, than upgrading with one of these PC cards is not terribly expensive. Also, even with faster FireWire coming, older machines won’t benefit from that.

Picking The Right MP3 Player (Brian Clark, CNN/Money)
<http://money.cnn.com/2002/12/20/pf/saving/techguide_mp3/>
If you know what you're looking for, you'll be able to eliminate many lesser models right off the bat.

Java Media Development With QuickTime For Java (Chris Adamson, O'Reilly Network)
<http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2002/12/23/jmf.html>

MyAppleMenu : Wintel News
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Microsoft Ordered To Carry Java (Paul Festa, CNET News.com)
<http://rss.com.com/2100-1001-978786.html?type=pt&part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news>
A U.S. district court judge on Monday ordered Microsoft to include Sun Microsystems' version of Java with the Windows operating system, citing the software giant's history of undermining the platform-neutral programming language.

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

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow : News & Opinions
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New York Says Nix The Cell Phone (Associated Press)
<http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,56930,00.html>
The City Council on Wednesday approved a bill that would ban the use of cell phones at public performances in New York, from Broadway shows to highbrow art galleries to Madison Square Garden concerts.

Is That A TiVo Under The Tree? (Katie Dean, Wired News)
<http://www.wired.com/news/holidays/0,1882,56828,00.html>
Will this be the year that TiVo catches on with a mass audience? Not likely, say analysts.

San Francisco Bans Segways On Sidewwalks, Bike Paths (Carlton Reid, BikeBiz.co.uk)
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/28682.html>
This is the first serious obstacle to inventor Dean Kamen's "pedestrian-friendly" "sidewalk interloper".

Online Sales Are Up For Holiday, But Just How Much? (Bob Tedeschi, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/23/technology/23ECOM.html>
While ordinary stores and catalog merchants have struggled for sales growth this holiday season, online retailers are having their best year yet. The main question late last week was how good was good.

Yahoo Plans To Buy Inktomi (Saul Hansell, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/24/business/24PLAC.html>
Moving to re-establish itself as the pre-eminent place to search the Internet, Yahoo said yesterday that it would buy Inktomi, a maker of Web search technology, for $235 million in cash.

Christmas Brings 'Tsunami Of Spam' (Paul Roberts, Macworld UK)
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/main_news.cfm?NewsID=5735>
The advent of the Christmas holiday season has brought with it a more than 20 per cent increase in the volume of spam traffic, according to a statement released by Brightmail.

The Roof As A Copyright Infringement Tool (Matthew Gast, O'Reilly Network)
<http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/2456>
While I appreciate the desire of copyright owners to protect their rights, the entertainment industry has become so aggressive in defending rights that it is hard to be sympathetic when they claim "injury."

Open Source Christmas? (Matthew Langham, O'Reilly Network)
<http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/2473>
"What if the community decides it doesn't need a Santa to bring the presents. What if they decide that some Brad Pitt lookalike would be better?"

What's Up With Wireless Java? (Steve Anglin, O'Reilly Network)
<http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/2478>
There's no question that wireless Java is a powerful programming medium for cell phones and other wireless devices. It's a question of "when", not "if".

Online Retailers 'Miss' Santa's Deadline (Laura Cummings, BBC News)
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2601511.stm>
Some shoppers who escaped the crowds by ordering presents online have discovered their goods will not arrive in time for Christmas.

MyAppleMenu Reader : World
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The Good Guys (Paul Krugman, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/24/opinion/24KRUG.html>
The bravery of the whistle-blowers was real enough, but Time seems to be celebrating what should have been, not what was.

MyAppleMenu Reader : Science & Tech
-----------------------------------
The Origin Of Religions, From A Distinctly Darwinian View (Natalie Angier, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/24/science/social/24CONV.html>
Whereas evolutionary biologists traditionally view an adaptation as the outcome of a struggle between unevenly matched individuals, Dr. Wilson sees religion as the product of group selection at work.

MyAppleMenu Reader : Life
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Nigella Does Bite (Sara Dickerman, Slate)
<http://slate.msn.com/id/2075465/>
The hot new chef is sexy, charming, and lazy.

Two Holiday Heavyweights Keep Fans In Their Corners (Hillary Johnson, Los Angeles Times)
<http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/cl-et-johnsonxmas24dec24.story>
Once again, it's time to choose up sides. Pick your poison: Is it eggnog, that sweet, sticky beverage that has left many a regional sales rep floating face-up in the office punchbowl for the cleaning lady to find? Or fruitcake, a literally ancient dessert first eaten in the Roman Empire (which means that, technically, fruitcake predates the Christmas holiday itself)?

Debate Erupts Over Authors Of The Dead Sea Scrolls (John Noble Wilford, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/24/science/sciencespecial/24SCRO.html>
Qumran itself went largely unexplored for the longest time. Even the results of the few initial excavations in the 1950's have remained mostly unpublished and unavailable for independent study.

Way Too Much Fantasy With That Dream House (Deborah Roffman, Washington Post)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20520-2002Dec21.html>
During the past decade, there have been an unprecedented number of assaults on the whole concept of sexual boundaries (with Lingerie Barbie only of the more egregious examples), typically without so much as a peep from the adult world. Maybe we've just been too busy or too overwhelmed to notice, or perhaps we've become so adjusted to the ever-quickening pace of cultural change that the change itself is simply harder and harder to perceive.

In Search Of Mr. Right (Sage Stossel, The Atlantic)
<http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/interviews/int2002-12-18.htm>
Odds are that the pulled-together young woman you encounter riding up in the elevator, emerging from the gym, or riding the subway wearing sleek professional attire but no wedding ring is struggling to meet someone to spend her life with.

MyAppleMenu Reader : Expressions
--------------------------------
Crows In Evening Glow (Henri Cole, Slate)
<http://slate.msn.com/id/2075952/>

Bright In The Sky (Daiquiri, CLAW Zine)
<http://www.afn.org/~afn64591/issue2/dec976.htm>

MyAppleMenu SingaporeSurf : Top Stories
---------------------------------------
KL Steps Up Pressure Over Pedra Branca (Reme Ahmad, Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,162397,00.html?>
To boost its case for ownership, it plans to protest against construction work by Singapore on the disputed island.

MyAppleMenu SingaporeSurf : News & Opinions
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Mahathir Chides Singapore Over Pedra Branca (Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/latest/story/0,4390,162489,00.html?>
Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has criticised Singapore over the Pedra Branca issue and this was followed by a protest at the Singapore High Commission by about 50 National Front Youth members who pressed demands for the removal of Singapore personnel from the island.

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

More
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Linux News <http://www.myapplemenu.com/linux/>

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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.