[MyAppleMenu] May 19, 2004

Wed May 19 13:15:01 EDT 2004

MyAppleMenu Newsletter
Wednesday, May 19, 2004

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

[Top Stories]

*** Apple To Slow Pace Of Mac OS X Tweaks
<http://news.com.com/2100-1045_3-5215281.html>
by Ina Fried, CNET News.com
Apple plans to continue rapidly bringing out new verions of Mac OS X, but it won't continue at quite the pace it's maintained in recent years.

[News]

*** Apple Centres For Middle East
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/main_news.cfm?NewsID=8708>
by Macworld UK
The distributor of Apple products in the Middle East is seeking to set up the region's first chain of Apple Centres.

*** Mac EverQuest Canned
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/main_news.cfm?NewsID=8705>
by Macworld UK
Sony Online Entertainment has confirmed that it has discontinued development of EverQuest for Mac.

*** Mac SE Alive And Kicking On Web
<http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,63503,00.html?tw=wn_2culthead>
by Leander Kahney, Wired News
In act act of selfless cyber preservation, a pair of German Web designers has created a working simulation of Apple Computer's classic Mac SE on the Web.

*** Apple Investigating "Extremely Critical" Flaw
<http://www.macnn.com/news/24753>
by MacNN
Apple says it is taking the Mac OS X security vulnerability "very seriously" and is "acitvely investigating this potential security issue."

*** Mac Attack
<http://money.cnn.com/2004/05/18/technology/techinvestor/lamonica/index.htm>
by Paul R. La Monica, CNN/Money
The iPod has made Apple a tech darling, but other new products may be music to investors' ears.

*** iTunes: China's Latest Import
<http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/macdigital/33855.html>
by Robyn Weisman, MacNewsWorld
Obtaining distribution through a Chinese vendor is an important step for Apple, and gaining that traction is crucial.

*** "High Performance R Us," Says Apple Developers Web Page
<http://www.macobserver.com/article/2004/05/18.4.shtml>
by Vern Seward, Mac Observer

[Opinion]

*** Thanks For Nothing -- The Grouch's Apple Woes In China
<http://www.chinatechnews.com/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=1221>
by Steven Schwankert, ChinaTechNews.com
Apple's zealousness in its support of copyright protection has gone too far. Frankly, it doesn't owe the music industry anything.

[Review]

*** From VHS To DVD: Give New Life To Old Movies
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/05/features/fromvhstodvd/>
by Jim Held, Macworld
Transferring old film and video to DVD can be a time-consuming process -- but it's well worth the effort. This step-by-step guide will show you how to get set up and what to do with the movies once they're on your Mac.

*** Adobe PageMaker Plug-In Pack: Basic Add-Ons To InDesign CS Enhance Its Functionality For Diverse Users
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/05/reviews/adobepagemakerpluginpack/>
by Galen Gruman, Macworld
PageMaker Plug-in Pack will prove useful to many InDesign users. It adds long-established PageMaker automated-bullet and -numbering tools, as well as options that simplify access to InDesign's various functions.

*** LaCie Bigger Disk: Four Drives In One ENclosure Equals Massive Capacity
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/05/reviews/lacoebiggerdisk/>
by Kristina De Nike, Macworld
If you need one huge volume to organize your data, the LaCie Bigger Disk is a clean, simple solution.

*** Color Laser Printers: Six Models In The $1,000 Range Feature Enhanced Speed And Print Quality
<http://www.macworld.com/2004/05/reviews/colorlaserprinters/>
by James Galbraith, Macworld
Any of these printers would be an acceptable choice for printing heavy text and occasional color graphics. But we recommend the Lexmark C510n for its generous RAM configuration, expansion options, great print quality, and rapid speed.

*** Love Macs? Then Learn To Love Macsurfer
<http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/4913>
by Hadley Stern, O'Reilly Network
It does a bang up job of providing the Apple community with interesting reads day in day out.

*** Tutorial: Now You See 'Em, Now You Don't: Invisible Files In Mac OS X
<http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20040519001916749>
by Ted Landau, MacFixIt
Even though you can't see them, invisible files are ciritcla to the operation of your Mac.

*** Integrating Xgrid Into Cocoa Applications, Part 2
<http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2004/05/18/xgrid_pt2.html>
by Drew McCormack, O'Reilly Network

*** Apple iTunes 4.5
<http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1594631,00.asp>
by PC Magazine

*** GarageBand And Pasting
<http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/mac911/archives/2004/05/000188.php>
by Christopher Breen, Macworld
What happens when you select notes in one of GarageBand's Software Instrument tracks and paste them into an existing track?

*** Dark Horizons: Lore
<http://www.insidemacgames.com/reviews/view.php?ID=497>
by Eddie Park, Inside Mac Games
In its current state, Lore is quite competent. However, it seems to lack the extra hooks needed to really start reeling in players.

[Sidetrack]

*** We're Going Slower On OS Updates 
<http://www.myapplemenu.com/2004/05/19/#20040519bg000001>
by Heng-Cheong Leong
"We're slowing that (pace) down a little bit... becuase that's not a sustainable rate. But you'll still see us go really fast," said Avie Tevanian<http://news.com.com/2100-1045_3-5215281.html>.

My read: the first sentence sets the expectation that Tiger might not be released this year as many people (including me) have guessed. The second sentence is meant for damage control; after all, Steve Jobs have claimed that one of the strength of Mac OS X is that the operating system allows Apple to rapidly add new features.

Of course, Apple can prove me wrong by announcing Tiger's Fall availability during WWDC, and sell it at US$19.95 for those who bought a new Mac on or after WWDC just to laugh in my face for buying a new iBook one month before WWDC.

Oh, you didn't know? I just bought a new 12-inch iBook G4 this past weekend, to replace my aging Pismo. Going from a 400MHz G3 to a 1GHz G4 is an overwhelming experience. Plus, the smallness, the lightness, and -- more importantly -- the quietness are really great too.

In fact, the iBook G4, the cheapest Mac I've brought in my entire life, makes the 2.6GHz Dell laptop a downright wimp.

*** Useless Question Of The Day 
<http://www.myapplemenu.com/2004/05/19/#20040519bg000002>
by Heng-Cheong Leong
Why is the metal interface of iTunes on Windows so much better-looking than QuickTime Player on Windows?

*** Apple's Platform Agnosticism 
<http://www.myapplemenu.com/2004/05/19/#20040519bg000003>
by Heng-Cheong Leong
Julio Ojeda-Zapata<http://yourtech.typepad.com/main/2004/05/apples_platform.html>: [Apple] now lets .Mac members create HomePage web pages on PCs running WIndows XP and Internet Explorer 6... Looks like iTunes and the iPod for Windows were only the beginning...

*** Mac OS X, On Intel 
<http://www.myapplemenu.com/2004/05/19/#20040519bg000004>
by Heng-Cheong Leong
It's not exactly usable yet, but, yes, it can be installed<http://yourtech.typepad.com/main/2004/05/apples_platform.html>.

*** Wasn't Trained? Wasn't Trained? 
<http://www.myapplemenu.com/2004/05/19/#20040519bg000005>
by Heng-Cheong Leong
One of the comments on the Iraq prionser abuse that I hear often on BBC World Service is that the prison guards wasn't trained for their role, as if this will lessen the guards' alleged crimes.

I, on the other hand, find this justification somehow absurd. If, say, the guards aren't performing in their job capacity -- maybe some prisoners escaped, for example -- then, yeah, one can use the excuse that they aren't properly trained. But, to abuse prisoners (allegedly)? Does one need training in order to know that you are not supposed to stack naked prisoners as a human pyramid?

[Wintel]

*** A First Look At Longhorn
<http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2004/05/18/longhorn.html>
by Wei-Meng Lee, O'Reilly Network
In this article, I will walk you through some of the features in the most recent build of Longhorn.

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

[News]

*** Google Tests Waters With 1,000GB E-Mail Limit
<http://news.com.com/2100-1024_3-5215599.html>
by Stephen Shankland, CNET News.com
Google just escalated the e-mail storage arms race by a factor of 1,000.

*** Google Moves Toward A Direct Confrontation With Micreosoft
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/19/technology/19google.html?ex=1085630400&en=7be0b3c7a67df9ad&ei=5062>
by John Markoff, New York Times
Edging closer to a direct confrontation with Microsoft, Google, the Web search engine, is preparing to introduce a powerful file and text software search tool for locating information stored on personal computers.

*** The PC Is Creeping Into The Living Room
<http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/sickinger051804.html>
by Ted Sickinger, Newhouse News Service
As more television, movies and music are delivered in digital formats, the PC is creeping into the living room, and computing power is forcing its way into electronic appliances.

[Linux]

*** Red Hat Releases New Hobbyist Linux
<http://news.com.com/2100-7344_3-5215375.html>
by Stephen Shankland, CNET News.com
Red Hat released its newest Linux product on Tuesday, Fedora Core 2, a free version designed for enthusiasts and developers who want to try out newer features.

*** Free And Oh, So Sweet
<http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/17/1084646114631.html>
by Eric Wilson, Sydney Morning Herald
Although Linux has been available for several years, the increasing sophistication and ease of use, mimicking software from well-known brands, have prompted businesses keen to cut costs to look closer.

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

[World]

*** The Prisoner-Abuse Scandal At Home
<http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/05/19/maddy/>
by Michelle Goldberg, Salon
The stories sound familiar: Muslim prisoners beaten and sexually humiliated by American guards. But it happened in Brooklyn, not Baghdad.

[Life]

*** Meatless, Not Joyless
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/19/dining/19MINI.html>
by Mark Bittman, New York Times
Vegetarians coming to dinner? I complained about this prospect for nearly 30 years. Now I was champing at the bit of opportunity.

*** What The French Have That We Don't
<http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-matters19may19,0,7636817.column?coll=la-headlines-food>
by David Shaw, Los Angeles Times
Why does the United States have no equivalent to the Michelin Guide, the small but fat red book that's crammed with restaurant ratings in every Gallic nook and cranny?

*** Designs For Working
<http://www.gladwell.com/2000/2000_12_11_a_working.htm>
by Malcolm Gladwell
Why your bosses want to turn your new office into Greenwich Village.

[EOF]

*** Cooperative Project Reprots New Top Prime Number
<http://news.com.com/2100-7343_3-5215542.html>
by Stephen Shankland, CNET News.com
A group that has harnessed the collective power of thousands of computers says it has found the largest known prime number, breaking a record it set just half a year earlier.

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

[News]

*** Singapore Sees No Need To Separate MAS, Government
<http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/sub/latest/story/0,4574,117232,00.html?>
by Business Times
"Ideally, the chairman of MAS shouldn't hold multiple roles but there are practical constraints in Singapore."

*** Civil Servants May Get Bigger Bonus
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/topstories/story/0,4386,251652,00.html?>
by Eugene Low, Straits Times
Half-month payment in July and another half month in December if growth target is met; government sets tone for private sector.