[MyAppleMenu] Feb 26, 2003

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu Newsletter
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2003

MyAppleMenu : Top Stories
-------------------------
Mac User Fights For Quieter Life (Leander Kahney, Wired News)
<http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,57793,00.html>
Since October, a digital filmmaker has neglected his business to run a pressure campaign to force Apple to do something about the notoriously loud cooling fans on PowerMac G4s. So how come he's still grumbling now that Apple's offering a fix?

Dist. 54 Students To Get Laptops (Shruti Date Singh, Daily Herald)
<http://www.dailyherald.com/cook/main_story.asp?intID=3767715>
"I think back 20 years ago. A school wouldn't even consider not having a set of encyclopedias. [Laptop computer] is a new resource every child should have access to."

MyAppleMenu : News
------------------
AirPort Extreme Base Station Firmware Update Posted (MacMinute)
<http://www.macminute.com/2003/02/26/airportfirmware>
"This firmware update fixes an issue where an AirPort Extreme network appears to be unavailable as displayed by the AirPort Menu Extra or the Internet Connection application."

Fresh Apple Software Promised (Macworld UK)
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/top_news_item.cfm?NewsID=6012>
Apple is to expand its software range, promises the company's chief financial officer Fred Anderson.

Apple Releases iDisk Utility For Windows XP (Jim Dalrymple, MacCentral)
<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0302/26.idisk.php>
With the iDisk Utility for Windows XP, users can access your iDisk Public Folder and upload or download files.

Harvestworks Makes Technology Accessible To Artists (Stephanie Jorgl, Apple)
<http://www.apple.com/dvdstudiopro/articles/harvestworks/>
"At Harvestworks, we keep on top of the technology, and make sure the artists know about it and have access to it. We are very interested in becoming a point place to explore interactive technology."

Apple Computer Says Goal is To Raise Marketshare (Down Jones)
<http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=31815976>
Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology Symposium, Anderson said a "good intermediate" goal would be to reach 5% marketshare from 3% today.

Speed Demon Of Wireless Network Heads To Homes (Reuters)
<http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/business/1794478>
The new Ferrari of wireless networking has just hit the market, driving techies mad with the promise of more speed than even they can handle.

What's Next: The Next Next Big Thing (Robert X. Cringely, Inc)
<http://www.inc.com/magazine/20030301/25200.html>
Were you thinking that the innovations of the Internet age are over?

Wi-Fi Group Gives time Frame For Approval (Richard Shim, CNET News.com)
<http://rss.com.com/2100-1039-985957.html?type=pt&part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news>
The Wi-Fi Alliance announced Tuesday that it will complete interoperability tests of 802.11g-based products in July.

Bare Bones Software Axes BBEdit Lite (MacNN)
<http://www.macnn.com/news.php?id=18600>

A New Twist In The Mac-Windows Waltz (Stephen H. Wildstrom, E=Commerce News)
<http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/20845.html>
As long as Microsoft can make money on its Mac business, it will stay in the game. But as any Mac lover will tell you, Microsoft is a very unsentimental company, and if the business goes south, it will abandon Apple with few regrets.

Flaws Found In Apple Streaming Servers (Dennis Fisher, eWeek)
<http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,903477,00.asp>
There are several security vulnerabilities in recent versions of Apple Computer Inc.'s popular QuickTime Streaming Server and Darwin Streaming Server that give attackers the ability to execute code on remote machines.

MyAppleMenu : Opinions
----------------------
Poll: Virtual PC Buy Out 'Bad News' (Jonny Evans, Macworld UK)
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/main_news.cfm?NewsID=6016>
One fifth of Macworld Online voters believe the purchase to be "a bad thing", while a further 43 per cent say it's a "very bad thing".

Is The Dock A Blessing Or A Curse? (Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl)
<http://www.macnightowl.com/#curse>
The Dock is, like the rest of us, imperfect and in need of work. But I've grown accustomed to its cartoonish, goofy face.

An Open-Source Opening For Apple (Alex Salkever, BusinessWeek)
<http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2003/tc20030226_0465_tc056.htm>
PC emulation is exactly the area where Apple should rely on the open-source community for software and development. Lots of Unix and Linux users need it, so it's highly probable that a strong open-source support group will develop around Bochs or other PC emulation. That gives Apple a ready-made support and research team for Bochs.

Calling It Like It Is: What Was Free Is Gonna Cost Ya Now (Rob McNair-Huff, Mac Net Journal)
<http://www.whiterabbits.com/MacNetJournal/archives_Feb2003.html#note_741>
I do think the Bare Bones people could have been a little more up front about the fact that TextWrangler is a replacement for BBEdit Lite.

It's Slow, It's Fast, It's... (Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl)
<http://www.macnightowl.com/index.htm#slow>
My expectations weren't high, but Jaguar ran just fine.

MyAppleMenu : Reviews
---------------------
Ten For X Games (Gary Coyne, Applelinks.com)
<http://www.applelinks.com/reviews/xforx_gms.shtml>
Despite the games aiming for a more youth oriented market, there was something here for everyone and as such it's a great family bargain.

Apple Downsizes PowerBook G4's Size But Not Its Features (Jason Brooks, eWeek)
<http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,902909,00.asp>
Paired with new application flexibility, thanks to the BSD underpinnings of OS X, this unit is a compelling mobile system for the enterprise.

Controlling Your Mac With AppleScript And Java (Scott D.W. Rankin, O'Reilly Network)
<http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2003/02/25/apple_scripting.html>
Even though there isn't a lot of formal support for Java in AppleScript, you can execute AppleScripts from Java. Why would you want to do this? Because by combining these technologies, you can easily interact with and control your Mac from remote locations. What follows is a look at how to set that up.

Black & White: Creature Isle (Kite Pierce, Inside Mac Games)
<http://www.insidemacgames.com/reviews/view.php?ID=357>
With its lopsided gameplay and extra abstraction, it isn't the self-contained experience others have made it out to be. In the end it comes down to how much you value the contributions of your creature.

Ten For X Utilities (Gary Coyne, Applelinks.com)
<http://www.applelinks.com/reviews/xforx_ut.shtml>
In short, Ten for X is a great idea that I'd like to see tightened up a bit.

MyAppleMenu : Wintel News
-------------------------
HP Sharpens Dual-Brand PC Focus (Ian Fried, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1003-986158.html?tag=fd_top>
"[HP] is going after Sony and Apple, and [Compaq] is going after Dell," said Jim McDonnell, vice president of marketing in the personal systems group.

Rights Management? Or Restriction? (Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft-Watch)
<http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,4248,903461,00.asp>
If you are a big company or organization with lots of correspondence and documents you want to keep secret, Windows RM is, indeed, a blessing. If you are a whistleblower, a journalist, a lawyer, a cop -— or anyone who has the audacity to want to use software other than Microsoft Windows or Office -— you should be very afraid.

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

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow : Top Stories
----------------------------------
IT Budgets May Get Fatter (Dawn Kawamoto, CNET News.com)
<http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-985922.html>
After months of keeping a tight grip on the purse strings, companies are ready to start spending on information technology again--but with a close eye on the bottom line, says a new survey.

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow : News & Opinions
--------------------------------------
Chipping Away At Workers' Privacy (Joanna Glasner, Wired News)
<http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,57774,00.html>
Employers rely more and more on technology -- from sensors to cameras to keystroke recorders to GPS -- to keep an eye on workers. A new book paints a picture of an increasingly privacy-free workplace.

Sponsored Links - Future Of Net Ads? (Paul Festa, CNET News.com)
<http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-986008.html>
Phil Kaplan, creator of the widely read F***edCompany.com site for news and rumors about layoffs and other corporate misfortune, launched MarketBanker, a site that lets people purchase and post their own text links on participating Web sites.

AOL Offering Music Catalog For Downloads (Saul Hansell, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/26/technology/26MUSI.html>
In the strongest attempt yet to create a legitimate alternative to free music-trading sites, America Online will introduce a service today that lets users download and listen to a large catalog of songs.

What's Next: The Next Next Big Thing (Robert X. Cringely, Inc)
<http://www.inc.com/magazine/20030301/25200.html>
Were you thinking that the innovations of the Internet age are over?

Stop,  Thief! (Michael Wolff, New York Metro)
<http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/media/columns/medialife/n_8384/>
If only it were that easy. Music and film execs obsess about our evil file-sharing ways, but demonizing the public they so desperately need won’t stop the free fall in the value of content.

Blogging Comes To Harvard (Paul Festa, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2008-1082-985714.html?tag=fd_nc_1>
America's oldest university has hopped on the Internet's hottest new trend, hiring software developer Dave Winer to help get students and faculty blogging.

Wi-Fi Group Gives time Frame For Approval (Richard Shim, CNET News.com)
<http://rss.com.com/2100-1039-985957.html?type=pt&part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news>
The Wi-Fi Alliance announced Tuesday that it will complete interoperability tests of 802.11g-based products in July.

Cisco's Power Grab: Wireless LANs (Elisa Batista, Wired News)
<http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57794,00.html>
In a move analysts say is an attempt to lock up the market, Cisco Systems teamed up with IBM, Intel, Hewlett-Packard and six other technology vendors to offer corporate customers what it says are more stable and secure wireless networks.

IM Has Identity Crisis, Microsoft Says (Scarlet Pruitt, InfoWorld)
<http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/02/25/HNimcrisis_1.html>
Speaking at the Instant Messaging Planet Spring 2003 Conference and Expo here Tuesday, Microsoft product unit manager David Gurle told attendees that IM is often misunderstood, and that for its true potential to be realized, service providers will have to undergo a tremendous shift in their business models.

W3C Members Don't Pass Standards Test (Paul Festa, CNET News.com)
<http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-985941.html>
Members of the Web's leading standards consortium are leading by fiat, not example, according to a survey.

Linux Servers To Host Office (Matthew Broersma, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1001-985940.html>
CodeWeavers announced Monday new software that will allow Linux servers to host Microsoft Office and other Windows productivity applications, which can then be accessed through a Web browser.

MyAppleMenu Reader : World
--------------------------
Who Would Choose Tyranny? (Michael Kelly, Washington Post)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2709-2003Feb25.html>
I understand why some dislike the idea, and fear the ramifications of, America as a liberator. But I do not understand why they do not see that anything is better than life with your face under the boot. And that any rescue of a people under the boot (be they Afghan, Kuwaiti or Iraqi) is something to be desired. Even if the rescue is less than perfectly realized. Even if the rescuer is a great, overmuscled, bossy, selfish oaf. Or would you, for yourself, choose the boot?

Does China Have A Free Press? Yes... And No (Hu Shuli, Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/commentary/story/0,4386,173845,00.html?>
I am optimistic that the media will become a viable monitor of Chinese industry, if for no other reason than that most people recognise by now that economic development will falter without it.

MyAppleMenu Reader : Science & Tech
-----------------------------------
One Battle Lost, But The Aids War Goes On (Sarah Boseley, The Guardian)
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/aids/story/0,7369,902039,00.html>
The first Aids vaccine ever to complete all three stages of clinical trials is a failure. It is disappointing news, even though hardly anyone expected AidsVax, made by the Californian biotech company VaxGen, to be a runaway success. But it is vital that this setback does not in any way damage the hunt for an effective vaccine. More effort, more commitment and more money is needed -- not less.

MyAppleMenu Reader : Life
-------------------------
Living With Our Mistake (Christopher Hawthorne, Slate)
<http://slate.msn.com/id/2079228/>
Is New York about to choose the wrong proposal for rebuilding the World Trade Center?

Skipping A Night Out On The Town (Jane L. Levere, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/25/business/25ROOM.html>
A growing number of business travelers are skipping a night out on the town, once an inviolable perk, in favor of spending their evenings alone in their hotel room to work or relax. Many of them are also converting the room into an office where they work during the day.

Hussein Interview Is A Coup For CBS And Rather (Howard Kurtz, Washington Post)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1427-2003Feb25.html>
"I'm a reporter who got lucky...  You work hard, work your sources, make your contacts, not get discouraged, just keep coming."

MyAppleMenu Reader : Expressions
--------------------------------
February 26 (David Lehman, Slate)
<http://slate.msn.com/id/2079185/>

MyAppleMenu SingaporeSurf : Top Stories
---------------------------------------
Youth Averse To Disagree With Government (Neo Hui Min, Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singapore/story/0,4386,173833,00.html?>
They know of Newater, the tudung controversy and the plot by militants to bomb Yishun MRT station, but are much less aware of the Feedback Unit or the Remaking Singapore Committee.

More
----
Internet News <http://www.myapplemenu.com/internet/>
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; 1996-2003 Heng-Cheong Leong. All rights reserved.