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The Low End Mac Link Archive, November 2000
Low End Mac Reader Specials
Memory To Go Special: MacPro 8 Core 8GB kit $232 / 4GB kit $116 / 2GB kit $72. New Macbook 2GB DDR3-$65. HARD DRIVES available -- Free shipping / LIfetime warranty.
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External news links are listed below by the date of publication
with the most recent articles listed at the top, older ones below
them. Other monthly archive indexes are linked on the right. Links
were correct when originally posted. However, we cannot guarantee
that these links are still active.
Analysis: Getting
a taste for cookies, David K. Every, iGeek, MacWeek, 11/30.
What "cookies" are and why they are "not a huge security
risk."
Technology: A bright future
for OLED?, Joe LiPetri, MacWeek, 11/30. Organic LEDs promise
thinner, less costly, lower power draw screens.
Opinion: A
radical solution, part II, Marc Zeedar, Mac Opinion, 11/30. How
Apple can go forward by leaving Motorola behind. An interesting
proposal.
Dark Side:
Gateway warns of Q4 meltdown, Yahoo/Interactive Investor,
11/29. Apple isn't the only computer maker expecting a weak holiday
quarter.
OS: BSD
to leapfrog Linux?, Henry Kingman, ZDNet, 11/29. Thanks to OS
X, there may soon be more BSD users than Linux users. (You can
discuss this article on
MacSlash.)
Low End: EMMpathy,
VST, download link from Bookcase.
Freeware application designed specifically to recondition batteris
on PowerBook 500 series. If you know of an online source for
EMMpathy 2.1, please email Dan Knight
.
Analysis: AirPort and
HomeRF in wireless war, Dennis Sellers, MacCentral, 11/28.
AirPort (a.k.a. Wi-Fi, 802.11B) is faster and already established,
but HomeRF could muddy the waters.
Virus:
MTX virus won't let you get help, ZDNet, 11/29 [Win98 Central]. "The bug has
one very sinister feature: once it infects a user, it's programmed
to stop the victim from visiting antivirus Web sites...."
Opinion: The
computer, perfect hiding place?, Michael Munger, On the Flip
Side, Mac Observer, 11/28. How much do you really know about others
on the Net?
Opinion: Get ready for the
rhetoric: PC partisans and computer voting, Scott McCollum,
osOpinion, 11/28. "...the computer-voting partisans will have four
years to put together a plan that will truly take American voters
into the new millennium."
Huh? HP
pays CD burner "fee" under German anti-pirating law, Charles W.
Moore, Applelinks, 11/27. New German law assumes burners will be
used to make illegal music CDs. Does that mean purchasers have a
license to copy?
Intel: Intel's
top 10 sneakiest moves & screwups, Glenn Lortscher, Tuplay,
11/21. Bonus: Intel recalls Pentium 4! The article covers recent
problems, completely ignoring the infamous Pentium Math
Bug of 1994 which resulted in Intel recalling every Pentium
ever made. In fact, a quick Sherlock search for "Pentium" and "bug"
shows every version of the Pentium has been subject to at least one
recall.
Review: Lacie
PocketDrive, AllUSB. Compact drive work with both USB and
FireWire.
Opinion:
Need more CPU speed?, Henry Norr, SF Gate, 11/20. "...for the
majority of users running the software available today or likely in
the next few years, I suspect our desktop computers are already
approaching the digital equivalent of 90 miles an hour."
P4: Intel
introduces Pentium 4 chip, Yahoo/Reuters, 11/20. Starting at
1.4 GHz, Intel projects P4 will reach 10 GHz within five years.
Motorola, are you listening?
P4: Intel's
new Pentium 4 processor, Tom's Hardware Guide, 11/20. "Whatever
Pentium 4 is right now, it is certainly not the greatest and best
performing processor in the world."
P4: Pentium 4
ships: A disappointment at 1.5 GHz, PC World, 11/20. "In
PCWorld.com tests, the new chip barely keeps pace with the 1-GHz
PIIIs used for comparison, and it even fell behind these older
systems on some measures."
P4: Pentium 4: New
chip, old problems, MacWeek, 11/20. "The PIII design is running
out of steam rapidly, but Intel's slavish devotion to
ever-increasing clock speeds has resulted in some trade-offs that
will disappoint the raw speed addicts."
AAPL: Mid-day
report: AAPL defies gravity, John H. Farr, Applelinks, 11/20.
Tech stocks sinking, but Apple is on the rise. Maybe due to retail
store rumors?
Opinion: OS
X Beta: to use or not to use?, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks,
11/20. Thoughtful reader feedback to last week's article.
Virus: BleBla
inects users upon arrival, ZDNet, 11/17 [Win98 Central]. Code executes
upon previewing or reading infected HTML email, can connect to
Internet to download payload. Only infects Microsoft Outlook on
Windows.
News: Some iMac DV users report SuperRes, a
free utility from Griffin Technology, allows them to run the
internal monitor at 1280 x 1024. (Try it at your own risk.)
CustoMacs: Sascha's Red
Mac, Sascha Grant. A very nicely repainted Mac Classic.
Includes instructions for doing your own.
MacInSchool: iBooks
win 'em over, Dennis Sellers, MacCentral, 11/17. "Since many
people use Wintel systems for no better reason than that's what
they think they ought to use, Ahlborn felt that end users would
appreciate the opportunity to use something as great as an
iBook."
Analysis: Gauging
the gigaflops gap, Don Granberry, ZDNet, 11/16. Pretty
accesible explanation of how the G4 outperforms Pentium III and
Athlon at floating point math. However, the math is wrong at one
point: It would take a 1.85 GHz PIII to match a 500 MHz G4, not 2.6
GHz as the article states. Of course, to match the gigaflops
performance of two G4/500s, you'd need four PIII/900s. :-)
Advice: MacHome Tips
& Tricks, Apple. Tips on crash recovery, IE5, a faster way
to open images, and Sherlock.
Virus: Is
tech-savvy virus dangerous or not?, ZDNet, 11/15 [Win98 Central]. "Called
Hybris, the Internet worm is 'perhaps the most complex and refined
malicious code in the history of virus writing.'"
Deal: $999
iBook at Sears?, DealMac, 11/15. It's the old 300 MHz Blueberry
model. Supply may vary by location.
Hands On: VNC:
Virtual Network Computing, Michael Coyle, ResExcellence, 11/15.
Remotely control your Mac or a PC over a network or the Internet
from almost any type of computer.
Opinion: Choices
vs. standards: Which do we want?, Michael Munger, Mac Observer,
11/14. "It is easy to ask yourself whether we need standards,
ever-changing standards, or no standards at all."
News: ATI brings
Radeon to laptops, MacWeek, 11/14. Any doubt this will appear
in the next generation PowerBook?
Opinion:
The science of Star Trek, Janet Wells, SF Gate, 11/13. Not
computer related, but an enjoyable read.
Analysis: Viruses:
The next generation, Kim Zetter, PC World [Win98 Central]. "In 1993,
there were 3200 known viruses in the world. Today, there are more
than 40,000...." Thanks Jobs for Macs!
Opinion: The top
seven Macs of all time, Gene Steinberg, Green, 11/10. Hard to
fault, but our "top 8" list would include the Mac Plus (not the memory light 128K),
the PowerBook 170 (first laptop with
a trackball), and the b&w G3
(for the clever drawbridge case).
Huh? LC Cube,
Reino Basile, Applefritter. A very low tech alternative to the G4
Cube, but it really is a Macintosh. :-)
Advocacy:
Election '04, Slashdot, 11/10. "It's time to take a good hard
look at our ancient voting system, and bring it up to date."
Web: PayPal
introduces international accounts, Charles W. Moore,
Applelinks, 11/10. It's become my favorite way to pay - and now it
works in Canada, Australia, U.K., Japan....
Opinion:
Computers as a fashion statement, Stanisalv Kelman, osOpinion,
11/10. "...the nearly pathological lack of taste among geeks is the
main reason why replicating the success of 'the little computer
that could' proved to be so difficult."
Opinion:
Marketing math doesn't compute, Rob Pegoraro, Washington Post,
11/10. Why a 20 GB drive might not format to 20 GB, and why
benchmarks can be misleading.
Opinion: The
spam wars are escalating, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 11/9.
"Have you noticed that the avalanche of spam has increased in
volume lately?"
Opinion: New
& Noteworthy, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 11/9. A quick
look at several good articles on the Mac Web.
iBook: Kensington
driver disables iBook trackpad, Apple TIL #31268, 11/2. As we
noted on 10/15, "There is an incompatibility between the Kensington
Startup ADB extension and the Trackpad control on the iBook.
Symptom: Trackpad responds during boot, but not later. Solution:
Disable Kensington Startup ADB extension. This may also apply to
other USB portables and versions of the Mac OS."
Opinion: Innovating
greed, Marc Zeedar, MacOpinion, 11/8. "...if Apple begins to
cater toward the business community the way Microsoft does, what
will happen to user-centric innovation?"
Advice: Keyboard
shortcuts & commands, Nancy Gravley, Mac Observer, 11/8. So
many Mac users have no idea how fast commands can be from the
keyboard instead of the mouse.
Opinion: The
big problem with Mac OS X, Michel Munger, On the Flip Side, Mac
Observer, 11/7. "Once we saw Mac OS X, strong with its Unix base,
protected memory, symmetric multiprocessing, preemptive
multitasking and all the changes, panic grabbed many of us."
AAPL:
Apple bruised but still has juice, Bob Beaty, Worldy Investor,
11/7. "For those who share the vision, the stock's current level
should tantalize."
Opinion: Wanna
appreciate your Mac? Try using a PC, Rodney O. Lain, iBrotha,
Mac Observer, 11/6. "He was unproductive for three days while he
reinstalled and reconfigured Windows."
Consumer: Dealers
asking, "Where are the iBooks?," Brad Gibson, MacCentral, 11/6.
"It doesn't matter what you want - Indigo, Graphite or Key Lime -
you simply can't get them...."
Dark Side: MS audit
cripples city, The Register, 11/6. "A demand by Microsoft to
run an audit on all its software has brought chaos to the city of
Virginia Beach, Virginia."
Dark side: Microsoft
hacked again, The Register, 11/6. "Just one week after
Microsoft admitted to a major breach of its security, another
hacker...."
Analysis: Buy now or wait
for PowerBook G4?, Stephen Hildreth, PowerBook Central, 11/2.
"...the most compelling feature is the rumored 15" screen capable
of displaying 1280 x 1024 pixels. That alone would be a good enough
reason for me...." (And me!)
Virus: Sonic.Worm
approaching, ZDNet, 11/1 [Win98 Central]. "Sonic.Worm
is an email virus that keeps itself up-to-date by downloading
enhancements from a web site." Windows only, of course.
Low End:
Dove enhanced Mac 512, b.b., MacArchaeologist. First upgraded
from 128K, the Dove Mac Snap SCSI upgrade added SCSI and brought
memory to a full megabyte.
Advice: Date
& Time and other helpful hints, Nancy Gravley, Mac
Observer, 11/1. "The end of daylight savings time means changing
the time on your Mac...."
Opinion: The road to
hell, Nobody Special, MacEdition, 11/1. "...Apple's intention
to launch its own chain of retail shops is one of the quicker roads
to hell they can set themselves upon."
News: 
Politics: 
News: