[MyAppleMenu] Jun 23, 2004

Wed Jun 23 13:15:00 EDT 2004

MyAppleMenu Newsletter
Wednesday, June 23, 2004

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

[Top Stories]

*** iTunes Europe Sells 800,000 Songs In First Week
<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2004/06/23/ituneseurope/index.php?redirect=1087973422000>
by Peter Cohen, MacCentral
On Wednesday, Apple announced that during its full week of operation, the iTunes Music Store sold 800,000 songs to users in UK, Germany and France. More than 450,000 songs were sold in the UK alone.

[News]

*** Jogger Blasts 'Skipping' iPod
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=8984>
by Macworld UK
Apple maintains that skipping iPods are rare.

*** Apple: H.264 Codec Coming To QuickTime
<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2004/06/23/h264/index.php?redirect=1087973420000>
by Peter Cohen, MacCentral
Apple on Wednesday announced that the H.264/Advanced Video Codec will be incorporated in its QuickTime software in an upcoming release next year. The video technology has been ratified by the DVD Forum for use in the High Definition DVD format.

*** Quaker Valley Schools Computer Lease Approved
<http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04175/336381.stm>
by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The school board last night voted 8-0 to approve a $3.1 million contract with Apple to lease about 1,200 laptop and desktop computers. Quaker Valley had been providing laptops to students in grades three to 12 for use on a school wireless network and at home.

*** Microsoft, Apple Snub Consumer Freedom Coalition
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/23/ms_apple_snub_boucher/>
by Andrew Orlowski, The Register
A new coalition of citizens groups and representatives from the computer and telecommunications industry was launched today, with two notable absentees.

*** Apple, BMW Execs Talk About iPod Integration
<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2004/06/22/bmw/>
by Jim Darlymple, MacCentral
"We are beginning a really big push into a world we all spend a lot of time in -- our cars."

*** Apple To Open First Iowa Retail Store
<http://www.macminute.com/2004/06/22/applestore>
by MacMinute
Apple is planning to open a new retail store in West Des Monies, Iowa, at the upscale Jordan Creek Town Center.

*** Maine Schools Embracing Laptops As Tool
<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040622/ap_on_hi_te/maine_laptops>
by David Sharp, Associated Press
Maine's education commissioner has obtained assurances from at least 47 superintendents that they're ready to press forward with laptops in high schools this fall, giving her confidence that a deal can be struck with Apple.

[Opinion]

*** Dell Wants A Bigger Piece Of The School Pie; How Badly Does Apple?
<http://www.macsimumperspective.com/more.php?id=225_0_1_0_M>
by Dennis Sellers, Macsimum
It's past time for Apple to renew -- really renew -- its focus on the education market.

*** Apple's Interface Strategy: Building On The Familiar
<http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/34651.html>
by Joe Wilcox, MacNewsWorld

*** Apple Needs The Independent Record Labels More Than They Need It, Because They'll Do Just Fine, Thanks, Through The Normal Sales Channels
<http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=534119>
by Charles Arthur, Independent
If Apple doesn't widen its offerings, both musical and technical, then last week's launch may turn out to be one of the biggest missed opportunities in years.

*** Your Tiger Wish List
<http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/archives/000232.php>
by Jason Snell, Macworld
Let's take a look at your favorite features.

[Review]

*** Dressing Up Your iPod
<http://ptech.wsj.com/solution.html>
by Walter S. Mossberg, Wall Street Journal
This roundup includes only a small sampling of the various gadgets that are available for use with the iPod. As long as your wallet holds out, you can do all sorts of things with an iPod.

*** Of Macs And MIDI
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/06/secrets/julydigitalhub/>
by Christopher Breen, Macworld
We'll provide some background and show you how to use MIDI files to expand GarageBand's repertoire.

*** .Mac Travel Tips
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/06/secrets/julymobilemac/>
by Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
Many people don't realize just how much they can do with that $99 subscription.

*** Tokens 1.1: Program Introduces Flexible, E-Mail-Based File-Sharing Scheme
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/06/reviews/tokens1x1/>
by Christopher Breen, Macworld
In an intuitive way, Tokens 1.1 solves the problem of moving large files over the Internet. If creating a local FTP server is beyond your abilities, Tokens is an elegant alternative.

*** IDL 6.0: Convenience And Distrubtion Power Enhance Visualization Program
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/06/reviews/idl6x0/>
by Charles Seiter, Macworld
IDL offers data-visualization tricks not available in any other math application, and version 6.0 is significantly easier for newcomers to use.

*** Finale 2004 And Sibelius 3.1: Rival Music-Notation Packages Go Head-To-Head
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/06/reviews/finale2004sibelius3x1/>
by Peter Kirn, Macworld

*** Freeware Provides Music Data At A Glance
<http://www.syracuse.com/news/poststandard/index.ssf?/base/news-0/108790782534031.xml>
by Al Fasoldt, Syracuse Post-Standard
iTunes Track places a single line of text on your screen that lists the name and other information about the currently playing music on iTunes. That probably doesn't sound like a great idea. But iTunes Track has a treat in store.

*** You Synchronize 2.0: Popular Utility Gets A New Name, New Features, And A Speed Boost
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/06/reviews/yousynchronize2/>
by Dan Frakes, Macworld
It's still not as fast as some of its competitors, but its comparison methods and data safeguards offset its slower speed.

*** Voice Recording Magic With The iPod
<http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2004/06/22/ipod_recorder.html>
by Derrick Story, O'Reilly Network
This pocket jukebox is also a capble voice recorder. I'll walk you through the set-up, then show you some creative ideas (beyond recording biology lectures) for leveraging this capability.

*** Automounting Servers In Mac OS X
<http://www.pcpro.co.uk/?http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/features_story.php?id=59170>
by Richard Dyce, PC Pro

*** Worms 3D
<http://www.applelinks.com/pm/more.php?id=1676_0_1_0_M>
by Pat Miller, Applelinks
Worms 3D brings a classic game to the third dimension fairly successfully. If you can forgive a few inconveniences here and there, Worms 3D is a honed, elegant game wrapped up in graphics, sound, movies, and details that just make it ooze personality.

*** The Benefits Of HIToolbox: The Evolving Widget Set
<http://developer.apple.com/carbon/HIToolbox_feature.html>
by Apple

[Sidetrack]

*** Life Imitate Art, Or Is Art Too Real? 
<http://www.myapplemenu.com/2004/06/23/#20040623bg000002>
by Heng-Cheong Leong
Here's a story about a Microsoft employee sending an e-mail to Bill Gates<http://weblogs.asp.net/saraford/archive/2004/06/22/163238.aspx>, and getting a real reply back, where Bill says he is indeed happy. And everyone celebrates after receiving the e-mail from Bill, and the e-mail got framed on the wall, and the Microsoft employee ended up on cloud nine.

What is interesting is one of the comments below: "Have I mistakenly stumbled across the fabled 'lost chapter from Microserfs'?"

*** Rumor Today: Signs Point to Major Overhaul of the Apple iMac 
<http://www.myapplemenu.com/2004/06/23/#20040623bg000001>
by Heng-Cheong Leong
AppleInsider<http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=517>: The new iMac will reportedly sport single Power PC G5 processors at speeds below 2GHz and feature a completely redesigned enclosure.

[Wintel]

*** Microsoft Appoints A New IE Evangelist
<http://news.com.com/Microsoft+appoints+a+new+IE+evangelist/2100-1032_3-5243583.html?part=rss&tag=5243583&subj=news.1032.20>
by Munir Kotadia, CNET News.com
Microsoft has boosted the prospects for some enhancements to Internet Explorer by appointing a new member to its product management team.

The Tomorrow Weblog
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<http://www.myapplemenu.com/tomorrow/index.html>
Emerging Technology. Innovative Applications. New Economy.

[Top Stories]

*** The Location Field Is The New Command Line
<http://daringfireball.net/2004/06/location_field>
by John Gruber
"Installation" consists of typing a URL into the browser's location field. The location field is the new command line.

[News]

*** E-mail Companies Seek Spam Solution
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61085-2004Jun22.html?nav=rss_technology>
by David McGuire, Washington Post
Some of the world's largest e-mail providers proposed new ways to authenticate e-mail so that Internet users cna be sure fo the origins of the messages that they receive.

[Linux]

*** Microsoft Says It's Faster Than Linux On File Serving
<http://www.arnnet.com.au/index.php/id;863475317;fp;16;fpid;0>
by Phil Hochmuth, Network World
Microsoft continued turning up the heat on Linux with its Get The Fact campaign last week. This time, Microsoft claimed that Windows 2003 was faster at file and print serving tasks than a Red Hat Linux server, based on a test performed by Veritest.

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

[Tech & Science]

*** Grasping For Light Of Distant Worlds
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/22/science/space/22plan.html>
by Dennis Overbye, New York Times
For astronomers, improved technology is bringing more planets into view.

[Expressions]

*** My Father Going Away
<http://slate.msn.com/id/2101547/fr/rss/>
by Wesley McNair, Slate

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

[Opinion]

*** Tapping On Senai The Way To Fly High
<http://www.todayonline.com/articles/21197.asp>
by Prithpal Singh, Today
Singapore needs to be less defensive about Senair airport and look, instead, to working on opportunities for mutual benefit -- of which there may be many.

[Entertainment]

*** Human Pacman On Orchard Road
<http://www.todayonline.com/articles/21186.asp>
by Liew Mei Yan, Today
The game uses Head Mounted Display to allow physical interaction and free body movement.