Low End Mac Archive for August 7

August 7 in Apple and Low End Mac History

Work and play on the Mac, Sarah Beck, My First Mac. The object of my desire wooed me with his father's 128k by making MacTalker say things I cannot repeat here.
Palm power, Jonathan Ploudre, Back & Forth. The power of the Palm as a pervasive database that fits in your pocket.
Not franchising Apple stores, Dan Knight, Mac Musings. Why franchising Apple's retail store doesn't make sense.

Addressing 3 tiny annoyances, Evan Kleiman, Mac Daniel. Getting rid of instakisses, dealing with USB power requirements, and making hidden files visible.
Just say no to unfinished software, Beverly Woods, Acoustic Mac. Why should we pay to upgrade to new versions of software when the old ones have never been made to work right?

Mac Pro, 08.07. The Power Mac has been replaced, marking the end of Apple's Intel transition. Up to two 3.0 GHz dual-core Xeon CPUs, 16 GB of RAM, four 500 GB hard drives, four video cards, and two SuperDrives.
Xserve Xeon, 08.07. Apple's server makes the move to a pair of dual-core Intel Xeon ("Woodcrest") CPUs at 2.0, 2.66, and 3.0 GHz.
MacBook repair saga: Botched and botched again, but third time's the charm, Andrew J Fishkin, The Mobile Mac. After 2 weeks at Apple, the MacBook came back running hotter than before. The first replacement MacBook ran cooler but had its own issues. The third MacBook, however, fulfills all expectations.
InforMac: A free and better replacement for Apple's System Profiler, Charles W Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings. "InforMac works great, is very quick (except for loading the Applications pane, which takes a while), and is a lot more fun to use than System Profiler."
Is Apple's one-button mouse useful or hopelessly outdated?, Matthew Jay, Macs to the Max. It's all a question of how many buttons you need to do your work. For most Mac users, one button is still enough.

Aluminum iMac. The new iMac runs up to 2.4 GHz, has a glossy screen, includes a new keyboard, and is aluminum.
Mac mini (August 2007). The refreshed mini has faster Core 2 CPUs, twice as much RAM, and larger hard drives than last year's model.
What's at stake in the iPhone keyboard lawsuit?, Dan Knight, Mac Musings. A look at prior art, US Patent 6784873, and whether it might apply to the iPhone keyboard.
New Mac speculation, G3 iBooks as Road Apples, hard drive warranties, and touch screen iMacs, Dan Knight, Low End Mac Mailbag. Thoughts on what Apple may introduce today, the pros and cons of G3 iBooks, a touch screen iMac, and the realities of OEM hard drives.
A great, free OS X text editor? Look no further than TextWrangler, Dan Knight, Low End Mac Reviews. BBEdit may have everything anyone could imagine needing in a text editor, but TextWrangler may have all the tools you really need - and it's free.

Apple could sell 20 million iPhones in 2008, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz. Apple sold 2.4 million iPhones in the first half of the year. How can it even hope to sell the 10 million it predicted?
Is Wirecard a real alternative to PayPal?, Carl Nygren, Classic Macs in the Intel Age. PayPal has an established worldwide presence, but Wirecard is offered by a real bank and has lower fees. Any drawbacks?
Creating Classic Mac boot floppies in OS X, Paul Brierley, The 'Book Beat. Yes, it is possible to create a boot floppy for the Classic Mac OS using an OS X Mac that doesn't have Classic. Here's how.

Gaming on a Pismo PowerBook, Dan Bashur, Apple, Tech, and Gaming. Apple's Pismo PowerBook G3 has plenty of processing power, but its deficient when it comes to graphics power and video memory.
Technology vs. texting, fixing iPhone annoyances, quitting the iPhone, photo speed dialing, and more, iNews Review. Also iPhone 3.0.1 released and hacked, iPhone haters, apps for hotel reservations, comic books, and writing, and more.
No Final Cut 3 with Intel graphics, MacBook Pro hard drive lag, small USB 2.0 monitor, and more, The 'Book Review. Also 13" MacBook Pro 'a cut above the rest', Windows 7 to boost netbook prices, CPU Speed Menu, Logitech Unifying Receiver, bargain 'Books from $179 to $1,999, and more.
OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard for $29, run Windows on your Mac for Free, Update Breaks Office 2008, and more, Mac News Review. Also getting your Mac ready for Snow Leopard, Time Capsule doubles capacity, Picasa 3 for Mac, Bodega Mac app store, and more.

Macs in Space: Curiosity Rover Based on G3 Processor, Jeff Adkins, Mac Lab Report. When choosing a CPU for space missions, NASA looks for reliability above all else - and NASA chose a PowerPC G3 as the brains of the Curiosity rover.