[MyAppleMenu] Mar 18, 2003

Tue Mar 18 21:05:01 EST 2003

MyAppleMenu Newsletter
Tuesday, Mar 18, 2003

MyAppleMenu : Top Stories
-------------------------
Apple Pulls Plug On Original iMac (Ian Fried, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1041-993081.html>
Five years after debuting the original iMac, Apple Computer has stopped selling the gumdrop-shaped machine to the public.

Apple Warns Of Samba Bug, Promises Update (MacNN)
<http://www.macnn.com/news/18800>
Apple today notified customers that it plans to release a Mac OS X security update for a newly announced Samba security issue.

MyAppleMenu : News
------------------
Apple Dip Toes Into Clustering (Stephen Shankland, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1010-993100.html?tag=cd_mh>
Following in the footsteps of larger competitors that sell Intel-based products, Apple Computer has begun offering a version of its server that can be linked in groups, or clusters, capable of tackling mammoth computing tasks.

Apple Challenges Accountancy's PC Habit (MacNN)
<http://www.macnn.com/news/18807>
"Apple is targeting its Macintosh systems at accountants."

4D 2003 Ships, Now With Integrated Web Services (Peter Cohen, MacCentral)
<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0303/17.4d.php>

Buyers Would Pay More To Copy Digital Music (Colin C. Haley, Internet.com)
<http://boston.internet.com/news/article.php/2109811>
A key conclusion of the Jupiter Research study is that music fans -- whether buying CDs in a store or downloading albums or individual tracks over the Internet -- want to own the tunes and are willing to pay a premium to do so.

Detto Announces Japanese Version Of Move2Mac (MacMinute)
<http://www.macminute.com/2003/03/17/detto>

Apple Updates X11 Public Beta (Peter Cohen, MacCentral)
<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0303/17.x11.php>

Low-Priced iPod Still 'Temporarily' Out (Ian Fried, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1041-992937.html>
Apple Computer's lowest-priced iPod MP3 player has been largely unavailable for the past two months, a situation that the company has called "temporary" but that analysts worry has become all too permanent.

Apple's PowerSchool Unit Releases PowerSchool 3.5 With New Scheduling, Reporting, GPA & Honor Roll System (The Mac Observer)
<http://www.macobserver.com/article/2003/03/17.13.shtml>

MyAppleMenu : Opinions
----------------------
How Good A Value Is A Used PowerBook G3 WallStreet (Dan Knight, Low End Mac)
<http://lowendmac.com/macdan/03/0318dk.html>
Let's call WallStreet a very good buy with the classic Mac OS, but less so with OS X.

Wanted: Conflict Catcher For Mac OS X (Adam C. Engst, TidBITS)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07108>
Mac OS X has its own soft underbelly, and an appropriate bit of file corruption in the wrong place can cause all sorts of wacky problems that can be devilishly difficult to track down.

Is The Original PowerBook G3 Too Limited Today? (Dan Knight, Low End Mac)
<http://www.lowendmac.com/macdan/03/0317dk.html>
As a primary computer, I think there are better 'Books to own, but if the price is right, Kanga could be a very competent field machine.

Forget About USB 2.0 On The Mac (Derrick Story, O'Reilly Network)
<http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/2914>
USB 2.0 is somewhat threatening to the FireWire golden goose, and Apple isn't about to prop up this standard the way it did for 1.1.

MyAppleMenu : Reviews
---------------------
Tools We Use: LaunchBar (Adam C. Engst, TidBITS)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07107>
LaunchBar has worked its way into my neurons, and I'm all the more productive because of it. It's absolutely worth a try, and that's especially true if you use lots of applications, you're primarily a keyboard user, or you're coming to Mac OS X from the Unix command-line world.

Payback (Kirk Hiner, Applelinks.com)
<http://www.applelinks.com/reviews/payback.shtml>
I'm not sure what their guidelines for user interface were, but they sure weren't up the Mac standards.

Liquid Ledger (Chris Siebold, MyMac.com)
<http://www.mymac.com/seibold/liquidledger_3.17.03.shtml>
Liquid Ledger features most of the other goodies you would expect from personal accounting software.

MyAppleMenu : Wintel News
-------------------------
Microsoft Is Said To Shift Strategies For MSN Service (Steve Lohr, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/17/technology/17SOFT.html?ex=1040360400&en=0af7158d1cc97ad9&ei=5006&partner=ALTAVISTA>
In a report posted on Thursday on its Web site accessible to clients, IDC said Microsoft had abandoned its goal of trying to overtake America Online as the largest online service. "MSN," the report states, "has adopted a new strategy — to ultimately become a portal or software company, with customers obtaining their own Internet access from any source."

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

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow : Top Stories
----------------------------------
Your Open Source Plan (Christopher Koch, CIO Magazine)
<http://www.cio.com/archive/031503/opensource_content.html?printversion=yes>
Once a toy for geeks, open source is slowly but surely filtering into the enterprise and transforming the way software is designed, sold and supported. And any CIO without an open-source strategy in 2003 will be paying too much for IT in 2004.

Surveillance Nation (Dan Farmer and Charles C. Mann, MIT Technoogy Review)
<http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/farmer0403.asp>
Webcams, tracking devices, and interlinked databases are leading to the elimination of unmonitored public space. Are we prepared for the consequences of the intelligence-gathering network we’re unintentionally building?

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow : News & Opinions
--------------------------------------
Search Engines Target Weblogs (Cathleen Moore, InfoWorld)
<http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/03/17/HNblogs_1.html>
A new crop of search engines tuned specifically to unearth information from Weblogs and other news feeds are emerging to help simplify the process of searching and navigating Weblogs. To that end, the FuzzyGroup recently launched Feedster, a search engine designed to monitor and index the RSS feeds that comprise Weblogs.

The Magic Of Wi-Fi (BusinessWeek)
<http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2003/tc20030318_6843_tc106.htm>
The allure of unfettered, high-speed Internet access has many enchanted. But its real power is getting tech giants all fired up again.

The West Will Rise Again (Stewart Alsop, Fortune)
<http://www.fortune.com/fortune/alsop/0,15704,401201,00.html>
People who say the era of tech entrepreneurship is over could not be more wrong.

How Much Does It Cost To Oversee The Internet? (Kieren McCarthy, The Register)
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/29796.html>
While when most companies reorganise, staff numbers go down and cost savings are made, ICANN's new structure will see it take on more staff and cost significantly more.

Buyers Would Pay More To Copy Digital Music (Colin C. Haley, Internet.com)
<http://boston.internet.com/news/article.php/2109811>
A key conclusion of the Jupiter Research study is that music fans -- whether buying CDs in a store or downloading albums or individual tracks over the Internet -- want to own the tunes and are willing to pay a premium to do so.

CIOs Feel Stress From Tighter Budgets (Antone Gonsalves, TechWeb)
<http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20030317S0009>
CIOs are being asked to increase innovation and security while cutting costs to meet tighter budgets, according to a survey released Monday by IT advisory firm Gartner.

Motorola CEO: Let's Get Back To Basics (Ben Charny, CNET News.com)
<http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-992912.html>
Motorola CEO Chris Galvin told wireless executives gathering here that the industry should "get back to basics" by improving their chief product--voice calls--instead of developing new data-centric features like multiple-player games.

Linux Firms Look To Plug Samba Hole (Robert Lemos, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1002-992965.html>
The open-source community is pushing customers to patch their systems to close a hole in a software component that allows Windows programs to store and retrieve files on Linux and Unix servers.

MyAppleMenu Reader : World
--------------------------
Freedom Of Speech -- Or Of Intimidation? (Shoeb Kadga, Business Times Singapore)
<http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/sub/views/story/0,4574,75582,00.html?>
In an era where demonstrators can be hired for the right price, mob rule is beginning to replace peaceful protests as the preferred means of making a point.

Pearl Habor 2003? (Frederick W. Kagan, Washington Post)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42821-2003Mar17.html>
The United States is facing a deep and terrible crisis in Northeast Asia, and the repeated statements by the secretary of state and others to the contrary are making it worse.

Things To Come (Paul Krugman, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/18/opinion/18KRUG.html>
Victory in Iraq won't end the world's distrust of the United States because the Bush administration has made it clear, over and over again, that it doesn't play by the rules.

Bush, Shame And The Dixie Chicks (Stephanie Zacharek, Salon)
<http://www.salon.com/ent/music/feature/2003/03/18/dixie_chicks/>
The arch-conservative country music biz forced Natalie Maines to apologize to the president. But for a moment she was the bravest American entertainer.

Baghdad Express (Richard Muller, MIT Technology Review)
<http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/wo_muller031403.asp>
A subway planned for Iraq’s capital was never built—or was it? Saddam’s biggest secret may be a weapon of mass transit.

The Arrogant Empire (Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek)
<http://www.msnbc.com/news/885222.asp?0cv=KA01>
America’s unprecedented power scares the world, and the Bush administration has only made it worse. How we got here—-and what we can do about it now.

MyAppleMenu Reader : Life
-------------------------
Is The Pram In The Hallway The Enemy Of Good Art? (Maggie O'Farrell, The Guardian)
<http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,6000,915606,00.html>
I've always known about the school of thought that says writing plus babies does not go.

London? I Must Be California Dreaming (Sue Ellicott, The Times)
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7-614288,00.html>
After years of living in Santa Monica, our reporter returns to Britain to find its capital bursting with pilates, yoga and life coaches -- albeit served up with crisps, Danish pastries and wine.

So Did Agent Mulder Kill The "The X Files"? (Andrew Billen, The Times)
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7-613964,00.html>
David Duchovny doesn't mourn the final passing of the conspiracy-driven science fiction series that made his name. But mystery persists: what destroyed his working relationship with Gillian Anderson?

'I Can Stratch The Itch' (Stephen Armstrong, The Guardian)
<http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,7558,915409,00.html>
He swears like a docker, berates his viewers, and mocks his president. So why has Jon Stewart been handed a show with a global audience of 160 million?

In Defense Of The Slippery Slope (Eugene Volokh and David Newman, Legal Affairs)
<http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/March-April-2003/scene_marapr03_volokh.html>
Despite the metaphor's poor reputation, a good decision now can lead to a bad one later.

MyAppleMenu Reader : Expressions
--------------------------------
Two Poems (Michalle Gould, Slate)
<http://slate.msn.com/id/2079926/>

Our City, Your War (Katherine Kawkins)
<http://www.poetsagainstthewar.org/displaypoem.asp?AuthorID=2095>
It is our city, Mr. President, not yours.

MyAppleMenu SingaporeSurf : News & Opinions
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Singapore Ready To Prop Up Markets If War Breaks Out (Associated Press)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/latest/story/0,4390,177790,00.html?>
Second Finance Minister Lim Hng Kiang, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a regional financial conference, declined to give out details of the plans, but said the Government would wait to see how the situation developed before doing so.

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.