[MyAppleMenu] Friday, Dec 12, 2003

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu Newsletter
Friday, Dec 12, 2003

MyAppleMenu : Top Stories
-------------------------
iPod In 'Huge Demand' -- Apple (Jonny Evans, Macworld UK)
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/top_news_item.cfm?NewsID=7494>
Apple's digital music initiatives continue to gather momentum, and demand for its market-leading iPod is very strong, the company has confirmed.

MyAppleMenu : News
------------------
Halo For Macintosh Now Shipping (MacMinute)
<http://www.macminute.com/2003/12/12/halo>
MacSoft today announced thatHalo for Macintosh began shipping to retailers yesterday.

How Mac OS X Can Shed Its Skin (Leander Kahney, Wired News)
<http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,61441,00.html?tw=rss.TOP>
A small community of desktop "skinners" has sprung up around Unsanity's ShapeShifter, a utility for Mac OS X that allows the desktop interface to be customized in highly personal and sometimes strikingly beautiful ways.

Profits, Revenue Up For Adobe (David Becker, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1014_3-5120733.html>
Software publisher Adobe Systems reported record revenue and income for its fourth quarter, buoyed by a new version of one of its main graphics packages and by strong growth for its publishing products.

School Unveils Wireless Laptop Project (Capital News 9)
<http://www.capitalnews9.com/content/headlines/?ArID=51262&SecID=33>
A Troy City school teamed up with Apple Computers to enhance the learning process.

MyAppleMenu : Opinions
----------------------
Kicking Off The Macworld San Francisco Wish List (Nicolas diPierro, Mac Observer)
<http://www.macobserver.com/editorial/2003/12/11.1.shtml>
December. It's the most wonderful time of the year.

MyAppleMenu : Reviews
---------------------
Tech Tool Pro 4.0.1 -- Powerful But Unfinished (Apple-X.net)
<http://www.apple-x.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=645&mode=thread&order=1&thold=0>

Differences In iBook, PowerBook Still Hefty (Bob LeVitus, Houston Chronicle)
<http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/2288981>
Rather than compare individual models, let's take a look at the differences between the iBook and PowerBook product lines.

MyAppleMenu : Wintel News
-------------------------
Floppy Costs Will Not Rise Due To FAT Licensing: Microsoft (Sam Varghese, The Age)
<http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/12/12/1071125633633.html>
The cost of an average box of formatted floppy disks is unlikely to rise next year even though Microsoft has decided to levy a charge on those who use the FAT file system, a company official claims.

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

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow: Top Stories
---------------------------------
Patenting Air Or Protecting Property? (Jonathan Krim, Washington Post)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A54548-2003Dec10?language=printer>
The Acacia case highlights why a growing chorus of corporate and government officials is warning that the U.S. patent system is broken, threatening to stunt technological innovation.

If The Kitchen's Warm, It May Be The PC (Katie Hafner, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/11/technology/circuits/11kitc.html>
Even if Internet-ready refrigerators have yet to become much of a presence, technology is making its presence felt as families increasingly descend on the kitchen not just for a meal but also for a session on the computer.

PC, Consumer Engineers Play Different Tunes On Road To Wireless Music (Rick Merritt, EE Times)
<http://www.eetimes.com/sys/news/OEG20031211S0019>
PC and consumer engineers are taking separate paths to audio over Bluetooth, raising the possibility of incompatible wireless MP3 players, headsets and speakers.

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow: News & Opinions
-------------------------------------
Big Blue Tackles New Grid-Computing Services (Michael Kanellos, CNET News.com)
<http://rss.com.com/2100-1010_3-5120601.html>
IBM has unveiled services for grid and autonomic computing that will, ideally, let large institutions run their most complex applications more efficiently.

Tomorrow's Menu: Spam, Spam, Spam (Amit Asaravala, Wired News)
<http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,61555,00.html?tw=rss.TOP>
Congress overwhelmingly passes a bill to fight the online scourge, but critics say the unwanted e-mail will increase because the law will actually legitimize spam.

Offshore Outsourcing: Little Effect On US Jobs? (Grant Gross, IDG News Service)
<http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/12/11/HNoffshorejobs_1.html>
The trend toward U.S. IT and manufacturing companies outsourcing jobs to other countries has so far had little effect on the overall U.S. job market, supporters of offshore outsourcing and some economists argued Thursday, but others predicted the national debate over the issue will get hotter as more jobs move.

VoIP Battles Heats Up With Carrier, Cable Announcements (Loring Wirbel, EE Times)
<http://www.commsdesign.com/story/OEG20031211S0035>
In a year-end claim-staking stampede, carriers from the cable TV, local phone exchange and long-distance worlds are scrambling to make announcements pledging customer support for Voice Over Internet Protocol service in 2004.

MyAppleMenu Reader: Life
------------------------
Wine's Secret Club (Corie Brown, Los Angeles Times)
<http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-winestorage10dec10,1,5236254.story?coll=la-headlines-food>
L.A.'s wine storage scene -- yes, it's a scene -- has exploded. And the locker rooms are for more than just cellaring. (Have you heard about the fabulous $13 Shiraz?)

Away At College, But Not Quite Away From Home (Lisa Kalis, New York Times)
<http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/011079.php>
So long, dorm room. These days, a growing number of parents around the country are buying property for their college-age children to live in.

Religious Upsurge Brings Culture Clash To College Campuses (Amanda Paulson, Christian Science Monitor)
<http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1210/p01s03-ussc.html>
Religion on campus is thriving these days, but it doesn't always find an easy home in the intellectual, secular world of higher education.

MyAppleMenu Reader: EOF
-----------------------
Santa's Coming To Town. Big Deal (Tim Radford, The Guardian)
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/news/story/0,12976,1103667,00.html>
And yet another blow for tradition: Santa Claus leaves New York children cold. Father Christmas can ho-ho-ho all he likes, but all that the tiny tots of Manhattan can manage in return is a Bronx cheer.

MyAppleMenu SingaporeSurf : News & Opinions
-------------------------------------------
Tropical Singapore Fears A SARS Winter Return (Jason Szep, Reuters)
<http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SIN132681.htm>
Fearing that the flu season getting underway in the Northern Hemisphere will be accompanied by a resurgence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), tropical Singapore is taking no chances and reinforcing its front-line health defences.

National Library May Install Cameras At Check Out Counters In Security Move (Channel NewsAsia)
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/print/61591/1/.html>
The National Library says it is stepping up security at all its outlets and there may soon be cameras fitted at book check-out machines and counters, just like at ATMs.

Bring Back Old CCA Grading System (Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/forum/story/0,4386,224950,00.html?>

---
Modify your subscription at <http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/applesurf-list>

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 (C) 1996-2003 Heng-Cheong Leong. All rights reserved.