[MyAppleMenu] Friday, Dec 19, 2003

Fri Dec 19 21:05:00 EST 2003

MyAppleMenu Newsletter
Friday, Dec 19, 2003

MyAppleMenu : News
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CBS MarketWatch Names Jobs 2003 'Winner' (MacMinute)
<http://www.macminute.com/2003/12/19/winner>

Edit This! Cold Mountain's Final Cut (Ken McGorry, Post Magazine)
<http://www.postmagazine.com/post/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=79165>
"Here it was just the laptops they had, fitted out with Final Cut... It's removed a bottleneck [I've faced] for 30 years."

Free ArcSoft PhotoStudio X For .Mac Members (MacMinute)
<http://www.macminute.com/2003/12/18/mac>
PhotoStudio X is a photo-editing software that lets you remove backgrounds, add text, and apply a variety of special effects.

MyAppleMenu : Opinions
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Newsfactor Network Hit Piece On 'Hidden Costs Of Mac Ownership' A Load Of Bunk (MacDailyNews)
<http://www.macdailynews.com/comments.php?id=P2377_0_1_0_C>
FUD, pure and simple.

MyAppleMenu : Reviews
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Shop Smart: When, Where, And How To Get The Best Mac Deals (Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/01/features/shopsmart/>
Although systems, software, and peripherals get better, faster, and smarter by the month, you don't need to plunder your 401(k) account to live a lavish Mac life. This wealth of tips will help you find the best deals on Macs and Mac products.

Mobile Mac: Leave Your Laptop At Home (Jeff Carlson, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/01/secrets/mobilemac/>

Create: Animatics In Final Cut Pro 4 (Anton Linecker, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/01/secrets/create/>

Digital Hub: Bring Old Photos To iPhoto (Jim Heid, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/01/secrets/digitalhub/>
To bridge the gap between print and pixels, you'll need a scanner. I'll show you how to pick the right one, and I'll share strategies for incorporating those old photos into your new digital workflow.

Dreamweaver MX 2004: An Indispensable Part Of Any Web-Site Developer's Tool Kit (David McFarland, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/01/reviews/dreamweavermx2004/>
Dreamweaver MX 2004 is a great tool for any Web developer working on the cutting edge of CSS design. It's too bad the same kind of innovation isn't demonstrated in other areas of the program.

Fireworks MX 2004: The Standard For Creating And Optmizing Graphics For The Web (Martin Gittins, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/01/reviews/fireworksmx2004/>
Fireworks MX enjoys a well-deserved reputation as a solid tool for producing Web graphics, but this release maintains, not enhances, that status. It also introduces new features that try to compete with Photoshop in creating bitmapped graphics, but they fall short.

Flash MX 2004: Development Tool Of Choice For Creating Rich Internet Content (Martin Gittins, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/01/reviews/flashmx2004/>
The introduction of separate standard and Professional editions lets the high-end application really take off as a solid development platform without eliminating the ease of use that made Flash so popular in the first place.

Nisus Writer Express: Powerful Word Processor Starts Fresh In OS X With Unsatisfying Results (Jeffery Battersby, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/01/reviews/nisuswriterexpress/>
Nisus Writer Express has great roots, and it's an excellent foundation for future versions. But while Nisus has succeeded in cutting back on features, it hasn't yet created an OS X word processor for everyday use.

Digital Performer 4.1: Simply Put, New Version Of Music-Product Program Rocks On OS X (David Leishman, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/01/reviews/digitalperformer41/>
Its comfortable interface, adherence to Apple's OS X technologies, and new Audio Units support make for a great working environment. If you must work with a huge number of tracks, you may want to investigate Emagic's Logic or wait until you buy a G5; otherwise, there's no reason not to start using Digital Performer now.

Eudora 6.0: E-Mail Favorite Gets Built-In Spam Filtering But Still Shows Its Age (Jason Snell, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/01/reviews/eudora6/>
Eudora is an undeniably powerful product. It's fast -- especially when searching thousands of archived messages -- and quite flexible once you take the time to learn its quirks. Its new spam-filtering features are first-rate, especially since they support third-party spam-filtering tools.

Cleaning Utilities: Spring Cleaning 6.0 And Internet Cleanup 1.0 Are Hampered By Overzealous Decluttering Efforts (T. Patrick Henebry, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/01/reviews/cleaningutilities/>
Spring Cleaning is a good choice for managing the digital junk you've created, such as documents and QuickTime movies. But some of Spring Cleaning's features make it potentially dangerous for people who may not know what they're deleting. As for Internet Cleanup, if you use Internet Explorer, you may find it useful. Fans of other browsers should look elsewhere.

Backup Hard Drives: CMS ABSplus And Maxtor OneTouch Offer Easy Backup And Easy Storage (Adam Engst, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/01/reviews/backupharddrives/>
Both drives do a fine job of simplifying backup and providing external storage space. The ABSplus is a focused backup device that's easy to use, right out of the box, for backup and restoration, whereas Maxtor's cheaper and quieter drive is better for people who want extra disk space and more backup flexibility.

Mathematica 5: Significant Speed Improvements Make Math App The Last Word In Numbers (Charles Seiter, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/01/reviews/mathematica5/>
If you already use Mathematica, you should upgrade to version 5 -- the speed improvements alone are reason enough. The program's overhauled matrix operations make Mathematica competitive with Matlab on most engineering matrix problems, and new solvers for business problems will prove valuable in financial modeling.

The Game Room: Macworld's 2003 Game Hall Of Fame (Peter Cohen, MacCentral)
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/01/reviews/thegameroom/>

Mac Gems: iSeek, DejaMenu 1.0, PocketDock, WireTap 1.0, iSight Case (Dan Frakes, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/01/reviews/macgems/>

MyAppleMenu : Wintel News
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Infinite Support -- Finito (John C. Dvorak, PC Magazine)
<http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1414128,00.asp>
Expect things to change even more with the release of Longhorn, when Microsoft can begin to slide people into its trusted computing initiative and force upgrades -- or else!

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

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow: News & Opinions
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New York And Microsoft File Suits On E-Mail Spam (Saul Hansell, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/18/technology/18CND-SPAM.html>
Eliot Spitzer, the New York state attorney general, and Microsoft each filed suits today charging one of the nation's most prominent e-mail marketers with fraud stemming from sending unsolicited commercial e-mail, commonly known as spam.

Regulators Issue First Citation For Violation Of No-Call Law (Bloomberg)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/19/business/19phone.html>
The Federal Communications Commission cited but did not fine CPM Funding of Irvine, Calif., which does business as California Pacific Mortgage.

MyAppleMenu SingaporeSurf : News & Opinions
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'No Frills' Must Not Mean 'No Class' (Alexis Hooi, Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singapore/story/0,4386,226104,00.html?>
Operators like idea, but warn that it could backfire too.

Days Of The Mega Hospitals May Be Over (Lee Hui Chieh, Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/topstories/story/0,4386,226112,00.html?>
Singapore's future general hospitals are likely to have fewer beds but with more space devoted to better infection control.

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