[MyAppleMenu] Tuesday, Oct 28, 2003

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu Newsletter
Tuesday, Oct 28, 2003

MyAppleMenu : Top Stories
-------------------------
Command-Tab (John Gruber)
<http://daringfireball.net/2003/10/commandtab>
Let us count the ways that Caughron's claims are ridiculous.

MyAppleMenu : News
------------------
OS X Conference: Pixar Talks OS X Migration (David Read, MacCentral)
<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/10/28/pixarosx/index.php?redirect=1067353303000>
Rather than support both the Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X environments, a conscious decision was made at Pixar to solely use Mac OS X once the majority of the software used at the company was OS X native.

Apple Releases Security Update For Panther (MacMinute)
<http://www.macminute.com/2003/10/28/security>
According to the company, the update addresses a potential vulnerability in the implementation of QuickTime Java in Mac OS X 10.3 Panther and Mac OS X Server 10.3 that could allow unauthorized access to a system.

Apple WebObjects 5.2.2 For Xcode, Panther (MacNN)
<http://www.macnn.com/news/21758>
It fixes incompatibilities with Xcode 1.0, Java 1.4.1 for Mac OS X, and Mac OS X 10.3 as well as problems with Enterprise Object Frameworks runtime and WOFileUpload.

A Look At Apple In China (Dennis Sellers, MacCentral)
<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/10/28/china/index.php?redirect=1067321390000>
Apple is doing better in China these days than in the past, though many problems, as well as opportunities, loom, according to Yan Feng, president of the Beijing Macintosh User Group and Apple User Groups Regional Liaison for Asia (except Japan).

GraphicConverter v4.9 Released (Peter Cohen, MacCentral)
<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/10/28/graphicconverter/index.php?redirect=1067321389000>
New features and enhancements in version 4.9 include optimization of some features for the Power Mac G5.

New Apple Stores Coming To NJ, Calif. This Weekend (Peter Cohen, MacCentral)
<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/10/28/retail/index.php?redirect=1067321386000>
Apple's two latest retail stores come to Marlton, New Jersey and Corte Madera, Calif. this weekend -- both stores are scheduled to open on November 1, 2003.

Eric Scott: Playing To Win (Sam McMillan, Apple)
<http://www.apple.com/pro/design/scott/>
"The idea has to be big, simple and true. Apple's a great example of that. You know what's behind Apple."

Abra Grupp: Replacing The Sky (Bija Gutoff, Apple)
<http://www.apple.com/pro/film/grupp/>
"The only thing that made this possible was Mac OS X. Because it's a Unix-based language, we could continue to use all the scripts we had developed for 'Open Range' and other projects."

Apple Releases Final Version Of iChat AV For Jaguar (MacMinute)
<http://www.macminute.com/2003/10/27/ichat>
The software, which has been in beta version since it was announced in June, is now available from Apple for US$29.95.

MyAppleMenu : Opinions
----------------------
Musical Snares (Andrew Leonard, Salon)
<http://www.salon.com/tech/col/leon/2003/10/28/itunes/>
I should have known better, because now I'm sitting exactly where Microsoft wants me, facing a significant "switching cost" if I want to adopt iTunes as my music-management software of choice. Sometime soon, I will start the laborious process of re-ripping all my CDs into MP3 files so they will play nice with iTunes. But the more I think about it, the more antsy I get about my decision to back the iTunes camp.

MyAppleMenu : Reviews
---------------------
Panther Ships With Ant, XDoclet And JBoss (Simon Brown)
<http://weblogs.java.net/pub/wlg/610>

The Panther Roars (In Pain) (Leander Kahney, Wired News)
<http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,60989,00.html>
Is it worth the money? Yes. On an older machine like the iBook, Panther is a significant improvement.

Interesting Bits Of Panther (Adam C. Engst, TidBITS)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07416>
Let's take a look at some of these subtle changes in Panther and how they work.

Mac OS X 10.3 Panther Unleashed (Jeff Carlson, TidBITS)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07415>
Adventurous early adopters should of course upgrade to Panther immediately; it's too much fun to explore and play with the new features. More cautious users might want to hold off a bit, not necessarily for a 10.3.1 release, but just until more of the glitches have been identified and can thus be avoided.

Europa Universalis II (Chris Ritchie, Inside Mac Games)
<http://www.insidemacgames.com/reviews/view.php?ID=431>
While the gameplay isn't too difficult to pick up, the intricacies of the game mechanics can be daunting.

MyAppleMenu : Wintel News
-------------------------
Allchin: From Longhorn To Lonestar (Ina Fried, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1016_3-5097693.html>
While Microsoft won't say when to expect Longhorn, Microsoft Platforms Group Vice President Jim Allchin did commit to some interim milestones and promised some other Windows releases along the way.

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

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow: Top Stories
---------------------------------
The Best Search Idea Since Google (Steven Johnson, Slate)
<http://slate.msn.com/id/2090298/>
How Amazona can make money from book syou already own.

Post Office Wants To ID The Mail (Ryan Singel, Wired News)
<http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,60966,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1>
A small change in labeling requirements for bulk mailings announced Oct. 21 requires bulk mailers to identify themselves on the outside of the envelope with a valid address. This marks the first step in the Postal Service's desire to create "intelligent mail."

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow: News & Opinions
-------------------------------------
AOL's Happy Secret (David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/28/technology/28place.html>
These days, America Online may be playing down a hidden recovery in its online advertising business that will help it pull off a promised turnaround right on schedule at the beginning of next year. Some investors are wondering whether AOL has in effect hidden an ace up its sleeve.

Big Companies Add To Spam Flow (Saul Hansell, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/28/technology/28SPAM.html?hp>
The torrent of spam that is flowing into people's electronic mailboxes comes not only from the sewers but also from the office towers of the biggest and most well-known corporations.

Salary Squeeze (Julia King, Computerworld)
<http://www.computerworld.com/careertopics/careers/story/0,10801,86413,00.html?SKC=home86413>
Economic pressures have put a pinch on IT compensation again this year. While workloads are heavier and hours longer, our survey of nearly 15,000 IT professionals shows that most are seeing only modest pay raises and flat or declining bonuses.

SCO: IBM Cannot Enforce GPL (Robert McMillan, IDG News Service)
<http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/10/27/HNscoenforce_1.html>
The legal war between The SCO Group Inc. and IBM Corp. took another step forward Friday, with the Utah-based software company asserting that IBM does not have the right to enforce the GPL (GNU General Public License) software license that governs the Linux operating system.

China To Consolidate Net Cafes (CNET Asia)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5097379.html>
Nearly all of China's 110,000 Internet cafes will be consolidated under the management of larger, mainly state-owned companies in the next three years, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

McDonald's Orders Shakeout For Hot-Spot Providers (Richard Shim, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-7351_3-5097950.html>
Fast-food chain McDonald's will decide in the first quarter which hot-spot service providers will receive passing grades in current test programs, according to the company.

Toward A Paperless Government (Charles Cooper, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2008-7343_3-5097678.html>
CNET News.com caught up with Ray Wells, IBM's top software executive in Washington, D.C., to gain some perspective on how close Uncle Sam is to realizing the ambition of a hard-copy-less system.

MyAppleMenu Reader: Science & Tech
----------------------------------
Zillions Of Universes? Or Did Ours Get Lucky? (Dennis Overbye, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/28/science/space/28COSM.html>
According to a controversial notion known as the anthropic principle, certain otherwise baffling features of the universe can only be understood by including ourselves in the equation. The universe must be suitable for life, otherwise we would not be here to wonder about it.

MyAppleMenu Reader: Life
------------------------
The Limited Circle Is Pure (Zadie Smith, The New Republic)
<http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?pt=tSF4JHYwozRDLhDAkawdvu==>
Franz Kafka versus the novel.

Straight Men (Bryan Curtis, Slate)
<http://slate.msn.com/id/2090376/>
The comedy of Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker.

MyAppleMenu Reader: Expressions
-------------------------------
Have You Seen The Stolen Girl? (Tony Earley, New Yorker)
<http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/content/?031103fi_fiction>
Jesse James, while hiding from the law in Nashville in 1875, lived for a time at the address where Mrs. Virgil Wilson's house now stood. For years, Mrs. Wilson delighted in telling trick-or-treaters about the outlaw, but then one Halloween she noticed that the trick-or-treaters did not seem to know -- or care -- who Jesse James was. They also wore costumes that she didn't recognize and that had to be explained to her -- mass murderers, dead stock-car racers, characters from movies she'd never heard of, teen-age singers seemingly remarkable only for their sluttiness -- and she realized that she had somehow become the crazy old lady whose tedious stories you had to endure in order to get the disappointing candy that such crazy old ladies invariably offered.

MyAppleMenu SingaporeSurf : News & Opinions
-------------------------------------------
KL Calls For Levy On Users Of Singapore, Malacca Straits (Donald Urquhart, Business Times)
<http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/sub/premiumstory/0,4574,97954,00.html?>
Malaysia has publicly added its voice to those calling for a user-pays system for the Malacca and Singapore straits to spread the burden of maintaining safe navigation in the busy international waterways.

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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.