[MyAppleMenu] Jun 12, 2004

Sat Jun 12 13:15:00 EDT 2004

MyAppleMenu Newsletter
Saturday, June 12, 2004

MyAppleMenu
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<http://www.myapplemenu.com/index.html>
Mac News for Mac Users

[Top Stories]

*** Apple, Microsoft Poised For Streaming Media Battle
<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2004/06/11/streaming/index.php?redirect=1086972837000>
by Jim Darlymple, MacCentral
What may make the difference is the level to which each company supports industry standards, an area where Apple has taken the lead so far.

[News]

*** Mozilla Firefox Takes Last Step To Full Release
<http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1611112,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594>
by Matt Hicks, eWeek
The open-source project is set to make available Firefox 0.9, the browser's last technology preview release focusing on new features.

*** Apple Readies Next-Gen MPEG-4 Part 10
<http://www.internetnews.com/infra/article.php/3366831>
by Michael Singer, InternetNews.com
Apple is currently testing new video compression software that will eventually improve its QuickTime Player.

*** Apple Talks AirPort Express For Mac And Windows
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=8896>
by Jonny Evans, Macworld UK
"I think it's quite intuitive that you can plug it into the wall next to  your computer or your stereo; I think its quite intuitive that it is so somall, smaller than a computer's power brick, so now you can wirelessly roam your hotel room."

*** Apple Gets Kudos From NAB Participants
<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2004/06/11/nab/index.php?redirect=1086972828000>
by Jim Darlymple, MacCentral
Apple was given three honors in the Top Ten Products at NAB '04 category.

*** Laptop Expansion Hinges On Superintendents' Level Of Interest
<http://news.mainetoday.com/apwire/D8352F3G0-162.shtml>
by David Sharp, Associated Press
Apple is seeking to determine the minimum level of participation needed to make it possible to rent laptops to school districts seeking to expand the program into high schools.

[Opinion]

*** So Witty
<http://daringfireball.net/2004/06/so_witty>
by John Gruber
There are factors other than market share that have led to the remarkable paucity of security exploits on Mac OS X.

[Review]

*** Control iTunes From Anywhere
<http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/wlg/5042>
by Brian D Foy, O'Reilly Network

*** eMac
<http://reviews.cnet.com/Apple_eMac/4505-3118_7-21235745-2.html?tag=top>
by Molly Wood, CNET

*** Mostly Music Discs With iDVD
<http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/mac911/archives/2004/06/000217.php>
by Christopher Breen, Macworld

*** Call Of Duty
<http://www.insidemacgames.com/reviews/view.php?ID=500>
by Eric Ford, Inside Mac Games
Call of Duty is a must have for any first person shooter fan.

[Sidetrack]

*** The World Searches 
<http://www.myapplemenu.com/2004/06/12/#20040612bg000002>
by Heng-Cheong Leong
As presented by Dan Gillmor, here's a short animation<http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/archives/010477.shtml> showing "the relative numbers of queries to the Google site in various parts of the world".

Very cool.

*** Make Use Of The Dock 
<http://www.myapplemenu.com/2004/06/12/#20040612bg000003>
by Heng-Cheong Leong
The Apple's Dock is not Windows' taskbar.

We are coming up to version 4 of Mac OS X soon, and yet, very little applications take advantage of the dock.

Application icons should reflect useful information in the dock. For example, an FTP application should show the status of the connection. Speaking as someone who always forget to close FTP connections, I will appreciate having easily informed on whether the connection is still opened, and whether there are still uploading or downloading activities going on.

Document icons should help the users to differentiate between different documents -- don't just stick a generic icon in there, and expect the user to scrub through the list to find the document he want.

*** The Good Old Days Are Back 
<http://www.myapplemenu.com/2004/06/12/#20040612bg000001>
by Heng-Cheong Leong
My first computer game that I've downloaded, if I remember correctly, was Commander Keen. There I were, a young teenager, learning all about the world of BBS, downloads, and hours of waiting for the download, as the binary trickles down the modem.

Why the nostalgia all of the sudden? Well, here I am again, leaving my computer on for hours as the demo of "Call of Duty" (a whopping 256MB) trickles down my cable modem and AirPort. :-)

[Wintel]

*** Where, Oh Where Is Windows XP SP2?
<http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,1995,1611106,00.asp?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535>
by Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft Watch
There's still no Release Candidate 2 beta out. But there is a growing body of information on anticipated application-compatibility problems.

*** Internet Explorer Holes Causing Alarm
<http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/06/11/HNieholes_1.html>
by Paul Roberts, IDG News Service
Four new holes have been discovered in the Internet Explorer (IE) Web browser that could allow mallicious hackers to run attack code on Windows systems, even if thoese systems have installed the latest software patches.

*** Microsoft File Patent Faces Exam
<http://news.com.com/Government+to+review+contested+Microsoft+patent/2100-7344_3-5232203.html?part=rss&tag=5232203&subj=news.7344.20>
by Ina Fried, CNET News.com
A U.S. government agency agreed this week to re-examine a controversial Microsoft patent on the Windows FAT file format, following an objection from a public-interest group.

MyAppleMenu Reader
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<http://www.myapplemenu.com/reader/index.html>
The other things in life

[Life]

*** My Life Inside The Saudi Kingdom
<http://www.arts.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2004/06/04/ftsaudi04.xml>
by Fiona Moss, Telegraph
The expat life in a well-heeled compound has its compensations, despite the restrictions on entertainment, driving and clothes.

SingaporeSurf
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<http://www.myapplemenu.com/singapore/index.html>
Life in the city

[News]

*** 'Sex And The City' Heads To Singapore
<http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=5402170>
by Reuters
Six years after the debut of the hit TV show that chronicles the sex lives of four New York women through the eyes of a newspaper columnist, the series will air in the city on July 16, with cuts.

*** Is A Bus Station At Turf City Too Downmarket?
<http://www.todayonline.com/articles/20640.asp>
by Today
Puzzling why the site was leased for retail use if residents' peace was not to be disturbed.