[MyAppleMenu] Mar 11, 2003

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu Newsletter
Tuesday, Mar 11, 2003

MyAppleMenu : Top Stories
-------------------------
Apple's Mini PowerBook Is Big On Amenities (Stephen Williams, Newsday)
<http://www.newsday.com/business/columnists/ny-pigear3167629mar11,0,4664728.column?coll=ny-business-columnists>
Apple's notebooks have transcended the idea of Computer as Utility -- even though they are indeed useful -- and ascended to the plateau of Computer as Icon. And at that level, there is no competition.

More On Microsoft's Monopoly Helpers (Dan Gillmor, San Jose Mercury News)
<http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/archives/000846.shtml#000846>
"You also should know that little companies... like ours could not raise a dime from investors to build a Mac version."

MyAppleMenu : News
------------------
Apple Silent On iBook Battery Bug (Macworld UK)
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/main_news.cfm?NewsID=6071>
Widespread reports indicate that 10.2.4 causes the iBook's power level read-out to plummet to 45 minutes, while, in use, the iBook battery runs out after as little as ten minutes.

Hebrew Office For Mac Looms - Enough To Head-Off AntiTrust Suit? (Andrew Orlowski, The Register)
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/29686.html>
Sources close to Apple Europe are adamant that a Macintosh version of Microsoft Office which supports Hebrew will be announced within the next few weeks.

Rules For 8th Annual Apple Design Awards Announced (Dennis Sellers, MacCentral)
<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0303/10.design.php>
The awards, which focus exclusively on Mac OS X, are designed to recognize outstanding product innovation and user experience.

Revamped Macromedia Site Irks Customers (David Becker, CNETNews.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1046-991868.html>
A redesign of software maker Macromedia's main Web site is attracting criticism from customers because it doesn't work with some browsers, including Apple Computer's much-hyped Safari.

PCs May Bite Into State College District's Apples (Anne Danahy, Centre Daily News)
<http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/5357408.htm>
Apple versus Windows -- the debate lives on.

Apple Releases Mac OS X Java (Daniel H. Steinberg, O'Reilly Network)
<http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/2890>
Apple has moved their Java implementation from Carbon to Cocoa and added many other improvements to this major update.

MyAppleMenu : Opinions
----------------------
Myths And Realities Revisited (Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl)
<http://www.macnightowl.com/#myths>
You'd think by now that most folks understand the realities of Mac OS X, but it appears not to be so. Without any attempt to present this as the final word on the subject, here is indeed a list of some of the common perceptions about Jaguar and my view of their truth or lack thereof.

Google And Branding (Mark Hurst, Good Experience)
<http://www.goodexperience.com/columns/03/0305.brand.html>
A good product, with good advertising, can still work to create a strong brand. And a good product is just another version of a good user experience.

MyAppleMenu : Reviews
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Cordless Elite Duo (Narasu Rebbapragada, MacAddict)
<http://www.macaddict.com/issues/0302/rev.ceduo.html>
The beautiful, customizable keyboard charmed us with its functionality, while the heavy mouse made our hand shriek with discomfort.

MyAppleMenu : Wintel News
-------------------------
Microsoft's Foreign Policy On Linux (Charles Cooper, ZDNet)
<http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/os/story/0,2000024997,20272762,00.htm>
For Microsoft, is there a worse nightmare than a world filled with pirated copies of Windows? A world filled with copies of Linux.

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

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow : News & Opinions
--------------------------------------
What Rebound? Tech Firms Still Slashing Jobs (Michelle Kessler, USA Today)
<http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2003-03-10-layoffs_x.htm>
Job cuts at U.S. technology companies continue despite earlier predictions that the industry had hit bottom in one of its worst downturns ever.

The People Factor (Richard Hogg, Technology & Business Magazine)
<http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/enterprise/story/0,2000025001,20272776,00.htm>
It’s time for workers in ICT to switch their focus from the business of technology to the technology of business.

Linux Zealots Lean On Desktops (Guy Kewney, IT Week)
<http://www.vnunet.com/Analysis/1139321>
A government department can reckon on a stability of headcount, so they can hire beginners, train them on an esoteric Linux word processor, and then expect them to start a "career path" with the department.

Microsoft's Foreign Policy On Linux (Charles Cooper, ZDNet)
<http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/os/story/0,2000024997,20272762,00.htm>
For Microsoft, is there a worse nightmare than a world filled with pirated copies of Windows? A world filled with copies of Linux.

SCO Lawsuit Does Not Bother Linux Creator (Sydney Morning Herald)
<http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/11/1047144961635.html>
It appeared that the suit was more of an effort by SCO to force IBM back into licence discussions over Unix itself.

McDonald's To Offer Wireless Internet (Jim Krane, Associated Press)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8686-2003Mar11.html>
In a further sign of the spread of wireless Internet technology, McDonald's restaurants in three U.S. cities will offer one hour of free high-speed access to anyone who buys a combination meal.

Clique Of Instant Messagers Expands Into The Workplace (Amy Harmon, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/11/technology/11MESS.html>
Instant messaging, long associated with teenagers staying up late to chat online with friends, is moving into the workplace with an impact that has started to rival e-mail and the cellphone.

Social Software And The Politics Of Groups (Clay Shirky)
<http://shirky.com/writings/group_politics.html>
The conversations we can have about social software can be advanced by asking ourselves the right questions about both the software and the political bargains between users and the group that software will encode or enforce.

Google And Branding (Mark Hurst, Good Experience)
<http://www.goodexperience.com/columns/03/0305.brand.html>
A good product, with good advertising, can still work to create a strong brand. And a good product is just another version of a good user experience.

AOL Testing TiVo-Like Service (Jim Hu, CNET News.com)
<http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-991788.html>
AOL Time Warner is testing a TiVo-like digital recording service that it's considering offering to its cable TV subscribers, according to sources close to the company.

Disney Passes Go.com To Google (Jim Hu, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1025-991753.html>
Google said Monday that it has begun providing Web search results to Walt Disney's Go.com in a deal that will replace one with competitor Overture Services.

Standards Group Tackles Web Services (Martin LaMonica, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1013-991791.html>
Hoping to accelerate the use of Web services, a standards group on Monday said it will create a technical committee to tackle the problem of managing Web services applications.

Recent Worms Punish Bad Passwords (Robert Lemos, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1002-991844.html>
A spike in Internet traffic caused by a worm over the weekend can be largely blamed on bad passwords and poor security practices, security experts said on Monday.

Can The Feds Make Software More Secure? Yup! (Robert Vamosi, CNET)
<http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2912268,00.html>
While it's still too early to tell if all vulnerabilities will be dealt with as well as Sendmail's and Snort's, the IAIP is off to a surprisingly good start.

MyAppleMenu Reader : World
--------------------------
Why Can Shopping Malls Limit Free Speech? (Dahlia Lithwick, Slate)
<http://slate.msn.com/id/2079885/>
Because malls are private property, and our constitutional rights are triggered only when the government (and not a private citizen) tries to limit our freedoms.

Wrong Way To Do The Right Thing (E. J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8033-2003Mar10.html>
The paradox is that creating the more democratic world we seek requires more than power. It demands alliances, institutions and trust. Doing the right thing the wrong way for the wrong reasons could squander all three.

MyAppleMenu Reader : Science & Tech
-----------------------------------
The Unbearable Loneliness Of Being Homo Sapiens (James Gorman, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/11/science/social/11ESSA.html>
Homo sapiens is a lonely species. We have no living relatives in our genus, and the thought that we might have spent some time with another human species, even if it did go extinct, is comforting.

MyAppleMenu Reader : Expressions
--------------------------------
Wes Amerigo's Giant Fear (David Schickler, New Yorker)
<http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/content/?030317fi_fiction>
Wes awoke suddenly in his bed. He did not hurt anywhere or need water. His wife, Helen, sighed and twitched beside him, as she had for sixteen years. He looked out the window and saw snow mounting on his lawn. The clock glowed midnight, an hour Wes rarely saw. Somehow he felt an emergency at hand. An unfamiliar dread filled his mind and lungs, a feeling that he hadn’t awoken by accident but been summoned like a minuteman to a war just taking shape.

MyAppleMenu SingaporeSurf : Top Stories
---------------------------------------
Singapore Has An Image Problem - When It Comes To Cost (Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singapore/story/0,4386,176271,00.html?>
While not an entirely new area of criticism, there were MPs yesterday who were quick to reinforce the view that the opportunity to make Singapore a more attractive place for businesses had been lost.

MyAppleMenu SingaporeSurf : News & Opinions
-------------------------------------------
$10m Worth Of Artworks Adorn North-East MRT Line (Christopher Tan, Business Times)
<http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/sub/premiumstory/0,4574,74934,00.html?>
The $5 billion north-east MRT line, due to open next month, will boast almost $10 million in specially commissioned artwork for its 16 stations. The art commission, planned during early stages of the seven-year project, is believed to be Singapore's biggest.

What To Axe? The Red Tape That's Driving Singapore Nuts (Tan Tarn How, Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singapore/story/0,4386,176268,00.html?>
Since then, the red-tape buster has received 500 complaints - half of which have resulted in a rule change. The high rate not only shows how effective the panel has been, but also how much bureaucratic pruning has to be done.

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; 1996-2003 Heng-Cheong Leong. All rights reserved.