[MyAppleMenu] Friday, Oct 31, 2003

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu Newsletter
Friday, Oct 31, 2003

MyAppleMenu : Top Stories
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Oxford Semi On FireWire Bug (Jonny Evans, Macworld UK)
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/top_news_item.cfm?NewsID=7197>
Oxford Semiconductor advises end users to contact the manufacturer of their particular FireWire drives to get an upgrade to bring their driver software up to the latest version. The company is also warning users of external hard drives that do not employ the Oxford 922 FireWire bridge to be vigilan.

A Special Message For Firewire 800 Disk Drive Users (Apple)
<http://www.apple.com/macosx/firewire800specialmessage.html>
Apple has identified an issue with external FireWire hard drives using the Oxford 922 bridge chip-set with firmware version 1.02 that can result in the loss of data stored on the disk drive. Apple is working with Oxford Semiconductor and affected drive manufacturers to resolve this issue which resides in the Oxford 922 chip-set. In the interim, Apple recommends that you do not use these drives. To stop using the drive, you should unmount or eject the disk drive before doing anything else. Please check this web page for further updates.

Apple To Address Panther, External FireWire Drive Issues (Jim Darlymple, MacCentral)
<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/10/30/firewireissue/>
"Apple has identified an issue with external FireWire hard drives using the Oxford 922 bridge chip-set with firmware version 1.02 that can result in the loss of data stored on the disk drive."

MyAppleMenu : News
------------------
PowerBook's White Spots Have Owners Seeing Red (Jon Frott, San Jose Mercury News)
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/7148746.htm>
More than 600 users have signed an online petition asking that Apple acknowledge the problem and either fix it permanently or refund their money, even when customers have not requested a refund within 10 days of purchase.

'Social Hardware' Nears With Bluetooth iPod (Andrew Orlowski, The Register)
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/68/33702.html>
The next 18 months could be very interesting.

PowerLogix Offers 1.4GHz Cube Upgrade (Peter Cohen, MacCentral)
<http://maccentral.macworld.com/nda/2003/10/31/powerlogix/index.php?redirect=1067579282000>
Based on the new 7457 processor, the new PowerForce 1.4GHz upgrade draws 40 percent less peak power than previous processors.

Double Vision: Multi-Monitor Setups A Plus (Ryan Geddes, Jacksonville Business Journal)
<http://jacksonville.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2003/10/27/story5.html>
When using multi-monitor displays, participants generated 10 percent more production, were 18 percent faster in errorless production and made 33 percent fewer errors than when using a single screen.

O'Reilly Announces OS X Innovators Contest Winners (MacMinute)
<http://www.macminute.com/2003/10/30/innovators>
iStopMotion took first honors in the International category. First place winner in the US category was OmniOutliner.

iRecordNow: iSight As A Camcorder (MacNN)
<http://www.macnn.com/news/21822>
"The goal of Boinx iRecordNow is to turn your iSight into a digital camcorder that is as easy to use as a real world camcorder."

Could Panther Attract Enterprise Converts? (Matt Hicks, eWeek)
<http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1368471,00.asp>
Judging from the opinions of users gathered at this week O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference here, the recent release of Mac OS X Panther could help Apple gain more Mac converts in the enterprise.

The (Online) Music Man (Stefanie Olsen, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2008-1025_3-5099194.html>
RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser on why is the subscription model better? "It's simple economics."

Apple Releases AirPort Software 3.2 (Jim Dalrymple, MacCentral)
<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/10/30/airportsoftware/>
Version 3.2 provides support for the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) specification for the AirPort Extreme base station and AirPort Extreme client.

MyAppleMenu : Opinions
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On The Meaning Of The Word Shareware (Brent Simmons)
<http://inessential.com/2003/10/30.php>
I'm not sure what it means these days.

MyAppleMenu : Reviews
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Panther "Where Is It" Questions (MacFixIt)
<http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20031030023606723>
In many cases, the functionality users are looking for has simply been moved or renamed. Below are a few of the most commonly "missed" utilities; this is not an exhaustive list, but it should solve some mysteries for a few users.

Panther Reports Good, But Watch For FireWire (Bob LeVitus, Houston Chronicle)
<http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/2192858>
After a week of everyday use, I couldn't be happier with Panther. It boots faster, and the Finder is easier to use and faster, too.

Apple's 'Panther' Stalks New Ground (Jason Brooks, eWeek)
<http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1368182,00.asp>
In Mac OS X Version 10.3, Apple combines its latest ideas with pieces drawn from the open-source world, from Mac OS versions past and from operating system rival Microsoft's Windows. In so doing, Apple delivers what's probably the most polished desktop operating system available today.

Panther At The Low End, And What To Do With Jaguar (Dan Knight, Low End Mac)
<http://www.lowendmac.com/musings/03/1030.html>
We all like it. Panther is definitely more responsive than Jaguar.

MyAppleMenu : Wintel News
-------------------------
Microsoft And Google: Partners Or Rivals? (John Markoff and Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/31/technology/31net.html?hp>
Google, the highflying Silicon Valley Web search company, recently began holding meetings with bankers in preparation for its highly anticipated initial public offering as it was still engaged in meetings of another kind: exploring a partnership or even a merger with Microsoft.

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

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow: Top Stories
---------------------------------
Music Service At MIT Hits A Snag (Jon Healey, Los Angeles Times)
<http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-mit31oct31,1,3735476.story?coll=la-headlines-technology>
A novel music service at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that was designed to let students play songs on demand without running afoul of the labels and music publishers has run afoul of the labels and publishers.

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow: News & Opinions
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Temporary Ban On Internet Tax Nears End (Maryl Dalrymple, Associated Press)
<http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1368930,00.asp>
A moratorium on taxing Internet services expires Saturday, and a push to extend it is bogged down by concerns that making the ban permanent would curb the ability of state and local governments to collect traditional telecommunication taxes.

College Students Care More About Beer Than Software (Ashlee Vance, The Register)
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/33689.html>
The ever-vigilant Business Software Alliance (BSA) has struck out against immoral college students, saying it's concerned about the lack of respect kiddies have for software.

RIAA Sues 80 More Swappers (Katie Dean, Wired News)
<http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,61028,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2>
It's the second wave of lawsuits filed by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Yahoo To Kill Paid Video Service (Jim Hu and Stefanie Olsen, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1026_3-5099576.html>
Yahoo is expected to stop selling its streaming-video service as a standalone product within the next few weeks, according to sources familiar with the plan, raising new questions about the viability of charging for televisionlike content over the Net.

The New IT Confusion (Philip Brittan, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2010-7784_3-5099858.html>
Big platform vendors such as IBM, Sun Microsystems, Oracle and Hewlett-Packard are promoting the panacea of "grid" and "utility" computing. But widespread adoption still depends on the computer industry getting its definitions straight and clearing up the lingering customer confusion about these two related -- but separate -- concepts. 

MyAppleMenu Reader: World
-------------------------
A Week Of Fire (Daniel Henninger, Wall Street Journal)
<http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/dhenninger/?id=110004243>
Pretending there isn't a problem gave us 9/11 and California fires.

Why History Has No End (Victor Davis Hanson, City Journal)
<http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_4_why_history.html>
Ultimately, America seeks neither a hostile nor a subservient Europe, but one of confident democratic allies like the U.K.: allies that provide us not only with military partnership but trustworthy guidance too.

MyAppleMenu Reader: Life
------------------------
No Fiddling Around (Barbara Hoffman, New York Post)
<http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/9450.htm>
Most world leaders don't get the protection Nicolo Paganini's violin does.

MyAppleMenu Reader: EOF
-----------------------
'Brain Itch' Keeps Songs In The Head (BBC News)
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3221499.stm>
Research in the US has found that songs get stuck in our heads because they create a "brain itch" that can only be scratched by repeating the tune over and over.

MyAppleMenu SingaporeSurf : Top Stories
---------------------------------------
NEL's THe Ticket To SMRT Monopoly (Karamjit Kaur, Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/topstories/story/0,4386,217415,00.html?>
If SMRT Corporation takes over the North-East Mass Rapid Transit line (NEL) from SBS Transit, it will probably also operate any future rail projects. In fact, if this happens, there might not even be a need to call for tenders for future rail projects -- everything will go direct to SMRT, said Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong yesterday.

MyAppleMenu SingaporeSurf : News & Opinions
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Singapore 3Q Unemployment Up To 5.9% (Business Times)
<http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/sub/latest/story/0,4574,98417,00.html?>
Singapore's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate surged to 5.9 per cent by the end of September with the Republic's fragile economic recovery not doing enough to absorb a rising pool of job seekers, the government said on Friday.

Singapore-Malaysia Relations -- Life After Mahathir (Radio Singapore International)
<http://rsi.com.sg/english/newsline/view/20031030212556/1/.html>
"I would think that the newer generation would have less baggage than the past generation."

$40m Boost For Changi's Air Hub Status (Karamjit Kaur, Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/topstories/story/0,4386,217456,00.html?>
Cash reward for every extra traveller that airlines bring in; two-year scheme has no cap.

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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.