[MyAppleMenu] May 6, 2003

Tue May 6 21:05:00 EDT 2003

MyAppleMenu Newsletter
Tuesday, May 6, 2003

MyAppleMenu : Top Stories
-------------------------
Apple Releases Mac OS X 10.2.6 (MacNN)
<http://www.macnn.com/news/19365>
The update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for the following applications, services and technologies: Address Book, Graphics, Printing, OpenGL, and PC Card and USB hub device compatibility.

New Apple Keyboard, Mouse Debut (MacMinute)
<http://www.macminute.com/2003/05/06/applekeyboardmouse>
The new Apple Keyboard has a larger base and sports two USB ports on the backside near the cord.

Apple Release New eMacs (Jim Dalrymple, MacCentral)
<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/05/06/emacs/>
The new eMacs offer up to a 1GHz PowerPC G4 processor, a faster 4x SuperDrive, high performance ATI Radeon 7500 graphics, up to 80GB hard drives and internal support for AirPort Extreme wireless networking.

Goodbye PDA, Hello iPod? (Terrie Miller, O'Reilly Network)
<http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2003/05/03/ipod_pda.html>
If you mainly use your PDA as a look-up device for contacts, events, and a small amount of other information, the iPod may be all you need.

MyAppleMenu : News
------------------
Doing The Right Thing: Apple UI History (Andrew Orlowski, The Register)
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/30574.html>
Bad human interface design -- the sort that really gets in your way -- is like a personal DoS attack.

Apple Launches 'Improve Your Image' Promo (MacMinute)
<http://www.macminute.com/2003/05/06/applestore>

Apple Adds Over 3,200 New Tracks To iTunes Music Store (MacDailyNews)
<http://www.macdailynews.com/comments.php?id=P1010_0_1_0>

Mozilla "Firebird" Browser Now Available For Mac (David Nelson, The Mac Observer)
<http://www.macobserver.com/article/2003/05/06.4.shtml>

OrangeWare Creates Third-Party OS X 802.11a/b/g Driver (Peter Cohen, MacCentral)
<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/05/06/orangeware/>
Custom driver developer OrangeWare Inc. has announced the development of a wireless networking driver for Mac OS X that it hopes will bring makers of wireless networking hardware to the Mac market.

Wiki Meet iPod (James Duncan Davidson, O'Reilly Network)
<http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/3164>

MyAppleMenu : Opinions
----------------------
Microsoft Nicking Apple Ideas Again: Freedom To Innovate. Yeah Right. (Arron Rouse, The Inquirer)
<http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=9334>
HP tried to wriggle out of the whole thing by saying that there was "no intent to try and mimic Apple" but the similarities are a little too obvious to be accidental.

Apple Pumps Up Volume In Online Music Service Fray (Hiawatha Bray, Boston Globe)
<http://www.boston.com/business/tech_innovation/news/2003/05/05/upgrade.htm>
The iTunes Music Store contains lots of music that people would actually want to buy and makes buying it virtually painless, at least until the bill arrives.

Apple Changes The Face Of Digital Music (Adam C. Engst, TidBITS)
<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-679.html#lnk2>
Once again, Apple has shown that focusing on innovation and user experience can change the world, despite having only a small percentage of the market.

MyAppleMenu : Reviews
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The New iPod (Stanley Chan, iPodlounge)
<http://www.ipodlounge.com/reviews_more.php?id=409_0_6_0_M>
For people new to iPods, skip the older one and go straight for the new one. Although you may not notice all the little improvements of the older one, what you will get is a cleverly designed unit that does an excellent job for what it is: An MP3 player like no other.

Apple 12in PowerBook G4 (Hector Siroy, The Times)
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7-670305,00.html>
Verdict: Many PC users will be making the switch.

MyAppleMenu : Wintel News
-------------------------
Gates Cites Microsoft Breakthroughs (Peter Galli, eWeek)
<http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1059849,00.asp?kc=EWRSS02129TX1K0000531>
The current Windows interface does not take advantage of today's advanced graphics capabilities, so the next version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, is being designed to do so.

Gates To Unify Windows Around Mouse Wheel (Mark Hackman, ExtremeTech)
<http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1055157,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532>
Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates is expected to show off on Tuesday a method to unify the Windows "look and feel" on several platforms, based upon the humble mouse wheel.

Tougher Microsoft Sanctions Sought (Associated Press)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/06/technology/06SOFT.html>
Two states that refused to settle the Microsoft antitrust case sought tougher penalties today, arguing that a deal negotiated with the Bush administration was inadequate to constrain the company.

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

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow : Top Stories
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Paris, The Wireless Wonder? (Lee Dembart, IHT)
<http://www.iht.com/articles/95233.html>
An experiment is under way in Paris that aims to turn the city into one huge Wi-Fi hot spot, making it what could be the first large wireless city in the world.

An Once And Present Innovator, Still Pushing Buttons (Steve Lohr, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/06/business/businessspecial/06LOHR.html>
If anyone is up to the task of cracking the market for small businesses online, it is Dan Bricklin, who has spent most of his career as an entrepreneurial small-businessman.

For Kids, Media Convergence Just Seems Natural (Dawn C. Chmielewski, San Jose Mercury News)
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/technology/personal_technology/5705645.htm>
Convergence has already happened -- inside the minds of kids who've grown up with both crayons and computer mice in their hands.

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow : News & Opinions
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PeopleSoft Is Making The Switch To Linux (Barbara Darrow, CRN)
<http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20030506S0001>
At its annual Leadership Conference here, the company will announce plans to move its entire product portfolio from its flagship human-resources management applications to CRM over to the open-source operating system. In this effort, it will get an assist from avid Linux proponent IBM.

For Many, Caller ID Frustrates (Peter J. Howe, Boston Globe)
<http://www.boston.com/business/tech_innovation/news/2003/05/05/caller_id.htm>
Industry watchers see many consumers growing frustrated by how many callers go unrevealed by the service -- especially telemarketing firms that exploit technological limitations to hide their identities.

On The Web, Without Wasting Time (Lisa Guernsey, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/06/business/businessspecial/06GURN.html>
Small businesses that want to build a Web site will find that doing so is easier than in the pioneering mid-90's. New software and services have sprung up that bypass many of the hassles in setting up a site or a Web store. The intent is to allow business owners to drain the swamp instead of fight the alligators.

"Nobody Ever Got Fired For Picking... Linux?" (Kevin Bedell, O'Reilly Network)
<http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/3162>
Linux is now moving from the back of the server room up to the front. And if IBM's deep pockets have anything to say about it -- that's where it will be staying for a long time.

Sneaky Software Hijacks More Browsers (Byron Acohido, USA Today)
<http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2003-05-05-spyware_x.htm>
A swelling throng of Internet users are being victimized by so-called spyware -— software that gets installed over the Web without the user's awareness of what it does.

Fingerprints To Lock Up Laptops (Robert Lemos, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1009_3-999803.html>
DigitalPersona plans to announce on Tuesday a fingerprint scanner for laptops and handhelds that doubles as a jog dial.

MyAppleMenu Reader : World
--------------------------
The Left's Weapons Of Mass Distraction (Adam Sparks, San Francisco Chronicle)
<http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/sparks/>
The war over words and how they're used by our society has become the new battleground of the Left. The primary tool in their arsenal is an effort to change the conventional meanings of words used in our daily communication. The morphing of our language is now the front line of the war on our culture and a powerful means for gaining political ground for the Left.

Road Map Vs. Reality (Gareth Evans and Robert Malley, Washington Post)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18188-2003May5.html>
Nothing is ever straightforward in the Middle East, and the "road map" finally presented last week is no exception. The plan has no hope of being implemented, and yet it is crucial that its implementation be pursued.

Tales From A Redbaiter's '50s Fishing Expedition (Ken Ringle, Washington Post)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17913-2003May5.html>
The ghost of Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy was exhumed for a new century yesterday as the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs released five volumes of long-secret testimony from 160 closed hearings held during McCarthy's red-baiting heyday half a century ago.

Selective Intelligence (Seymour M. Hersh, New Yorker)
<http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030512fa_fact>
Donald Rumsfeld has his own special sources. Are they reliable?

MyAppleMenu Reader : Science & Tech
-----------------------------------
Prehistoric Images Threatened By Fungi (Benjamin Ivry, Wall Street Journal)
<http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110003457>
Will the French let 17,000 year-old cave paintings be damaged?

An Orchid By Any Other Name: An Asparagus? (Carol Kaesuk Yoon, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/06/science/life/06ORCH.html>
Now, scientists say, studies of the DNA of orchids are revealing a host of surprises, chief among them, that orchids are actually part of the asparagus group, closer kin to these vegetables than to the other, flashier, flowering plants they had been placed with before.

Tiny Capsule Could Fight Fat (Kristen Philipkoski, Wired News)
<http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,58705,00.html>
As a noninvasive alternative, Burnett came up with a capsule made of a patent-pending polymer that expands in the stomach, causing patients to feel full sooner.

MyAppleMenu Reader : Life
-------------------------
Warned, She Wrote It Anyway (Renee Tawa, Los Angeles Times)
<http://www.calendarlive.com/books/cl-et-tawa6may06.story>
Friends tried to wave Suzan-Lori Parks away from fiction, but the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright knew better.

Favorite Color (Hans Ibelings, Metropolis)
<http://www.metropolismag.com/html/content_0503/mvr/index.html>
Seldom has such a small building occasioned as much fuss as the bright orange studio MVRDV built for the graphic-design firm Thonik in a secluded courtyard in Amsterdam.

We're Older So We Can Be Bolder (Lucia van der Post, The Times)
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7-670300,00.html>
Freed from the tyranny of youth and fashionable good taste, women of a certain age can revel in their stylish eccentricity.

Death Of A Chef (William Echikson, New Yorker)
<http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030512fa_fact2>
The changing landscape of French cooking.

MyAppleMenu Reader : Expressions
--------------------------------
Walter John Harmon (E. L. Doctorow, New Yorker)
<http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/content/?030512fi_fiction>
When Betty told me she would go that night to Walter John Harmon I didn’t think I reacted. But she looked into my eyes and must have seen something—some slight loss of vitality, a moment’s dullness of expression. And she understood that for all my study and hard work the Seventh Attainment was still not mine.

MyAppleMenu SingaporeSurf : Top Stories
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Sars: A Study In Contrast (Richard Hartung, Today)
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/todaynews/view/642/1/.html>
Singaporeans focus on precautions, while expats work out how to carry on.

More
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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.