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The Low End Mac Link Archive, June 2001
Low End Mac Reader Specials
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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.
Opinion: Needed for
July 4th: Freedom from Microsoft, Dan Gillmor, MercuryCenter,
06.30. "I'm increasingly pessimistic that the cops on the antitrust
beat can keep up with this particular monopolist...."
Opinion: Cube
to Apple: Please don't cancel me, Samuel Sharp, MacSoldiers,
06.29. "One of my advantages is that I can be positioned as a
Corvette 'for the price of a typical Chevrolet.'"
Opinion: So you
wanna work for Apple?, Rodney O. Lain, Mac Observer, 06.29. "If
I criticize Apple, I am speaking to you, not to Apple, for I know
that Apple doesn't care."
Opinion: Don't
count Web ads out!, John H. Farr, Applelinks, 06.29. "The main
effect of Web advertising seems to lie in the 'branding'
arena...."
Opinion:
Things to come, Joe C. Carson, Applelust, 06.29. Macworld
predictions.
Hands on: Cube diary,
first week, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 06.29. "The Cube is
the first computer I've owned that is a pleasure just to sit and
look at."
Review: Willow Design
Cube Carry Case, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 06.29. "...being
able to pack an entire desktop computer setup complete with monitor
into a single carry case is quite remarkable...."
Opinion: Beware:
MacIdiot at work, Steve Wood, Busman's Holiday, 06.29. "Ric
[Ford] still seems to be the only one posting iBook reports that
give both the good and the bad about the new iBook 2001."
Opinion: Apple OS X: Enemy
of my enemy, John Holmes, osOpinion, 06.28. "The Windows world
does not understand the dedication that has allowed the Mac and
Linux platforms to survive...."
Opinion:
A tip from Apple's branches, Charles Haddad, BusinessWeek,
06.27. "The new Mac stores get it right, from savvy salespeople to
machines you can take for a test drive. Smart PC retailers should
follow suit."
Hands on: Marc
buys a Linux box, Marc Zeedar, Less Tangible, Mac Opinion,
06.27. No, not that kind of Linux box - a Tivo
PowerPC-based, Linux-running, intelligent video recorder.
Analysis:
Why Apple is going direct, David Rosen, Canada Computes, 06.26
[Applesurf].
"The second reason why a manufacturer such as Apple would want to
sell direct is that it keeps control of the customer
experience."
Review:
Found: the iMac's missing link, Roger Ridey, The Independent,
06.26. iMovie is great, but how do you output your movie to analog
video? Formac Studio.
News: NY Assembly
votes to hang up cell phones, Fox News, 06.26. New law makes
"New York the first state to ban of the use of hand-held cell
phones while driving."
Opinion:
iCheap, John Scheeser, Mac Mind, 06.26. "...owning a Macintosh
can be just as inexpensive as owning any bargain basement PC."
Dark Side:
MSDN subscriber forced to use Passport, Slashdot, 06.25.
Microsoft developers will have no choice but to use
draconian, insecure Passport system.
Analysis:
Change your life, not your keyboard, BBC News, 06.25. "But as
ergonomists admit, there is no hard evidence that these keyboards
help at all...."
Opinion: Warm
fuzzy = Joy of being a Mac salesman, Rodney O. Lain, Mac
Observer, 06.25. "I am often amazed how customers are when they
find out that, not only do I understand and know a good bit about
Macs, but I also like and use them."
Dark Side: Intel takes
Alpha from Compaq's hands, The Register, 06.25. Compaq
transfers Alpha division to Intel, will standardize on Itanium.
(Alpha is a powerful RISC chip that never really caught on.)
Opinion: Great
classroom computer buys, Steev Wood, View From the Classroom,
06.25. The place of low-end Macs in the classroom.
Opinion: Information
$uper highway, R. P. Phillips, Family-Mac.com."The need to
survive (get advertisers) has led to the major need for
consolidation, affiliation and/or recommendations from industry
leaders to inch in on the ever diminishing advertising
dollar."
Dark Side: MS preparing
license audit blitzkrieg?, The Register, 06.24. MS "has
targeted 5,000 businesses for the royal treatment" and demanded a
software audit within 30 days - all in hopes of signing them up for
an Enterprise License Agreement. More
on ZDNet.
Rights: Tool
feeds ads to your emails, Andrew Colley, ZDnet Australia,
06.22. Admail intercepts email - any email - and adds
advertisements.
Bad news: Global treaty
could transform Web, Lisa M. Bowman, CNET, 06.22 [
Slashdot]. Hague Treaty would require participants to enforce
laws of other nations, "even if they prohibit actions that are
legal under local laws."
Analysis: Now
that Napster is lobotomized...., Charles W. Moore, Applelinks,
06.22. CD sales down. "Once Napster was ordered to police its music
files, the record industry lost a powerful marketing device."
Opinion: The
greatest computer ever, Chris Seibold, MacWrite.com, 06.22.
"They didn't love it, they didn't hate it, they just wanted it to
work like a lawn mower. A lawn mower either cuts grass or it
doesn't."
Opinion: The
perils of subscription-based Web sites, David Schultz,
Applelust, 06.22. "These editors see themselves as providing a
valuable service (and most do), and they have the strong desire to
offer the service for free."
Tech: The
ultimate limits of computers, Geon, Ars Technica. Quantum
computing has the potential to go so far beyond terabytes and
teraFLOPs it isn't funny.
Opinion:
You've got a virus, Steve Sobek, Macrimination, Applelust,
06.20. "The MacSimpsons virus is another barrier of Mac
discrimination broken down."
Analysis:
Why is OS X slow?, Andrew, Ambrosia Software, 06.20. "The truth
of the matter is that there is no single thing that is causing OS X
to be slow.."
Connectivity: Nothing
but air, Marc Zeedar, Less Tangible, Mac Opinion, 06.20.
Excellent piece on networking, sharing an Internet connection, and
wireless connections.
Opinion:
The conversion of an OS X skeptic and Wintel heretic, Joel
Davies, Applelust, 06.20. "I want to trade in my PCs. Permanently.
I'm done with them: If my cute little Pismo can dust a dual Xeon
machine . . . with a still under construction OS, I want
no part of that Wintel box."
Virus: Macintosh
malware database, Security Portal [TMO].
Including renamed viruses, but excluding macro viruses, the Mac has
passed the 100 mark.
Opinion: A surplus
auction, Steve Wood, View From the Classroom, 06.20. Six Macs
for $60.
Macinschool: Educators News, Steve
Wood, MathDittos2.com. Issues of importance to educators - not just
Macs in the classroom.
Opinion:
iBook vs. TiBook: Which is the better value?, Charles W. Moore,
Road Warrior, Mac Opinion, 06.19. Except for the wider display, the
"half-the-price" iBook is an easy choice.
Low End:
Old Mac project, chapter 3, Jason Nieckar, Mac Mind, 06.19.
Yes, you can put a pre-OS 8 Mac on the Internet.
Opinion: Defector returns
to the Mac, Dave Ficks, osOpinion, 06.19. "If you were going to
abandon the Mac, 1996 was the year to do it. And I did - for a
while."
Opinion:
Dellraiser, Joel Davies, Applelust.com, 06.19. "Dell no longer
supplies Wintel machines to my school simply because their hardware
failed often, and their support was abysmal."
Oops: WSJ takes rap
for MSNBC snafu, The Register, 06.19. MSNBC quoted early
version of article. Wall Street Journal made revisions in "four
star" edition.
Consumer: Tiscali/LineOne
shafts its customers, The Register, 06.19. Customers can
"online as much as you like in the evenings, and all weekend" -
unless they like it too much.
Web:
Tux: Built for speed, ZDNet, 06.18 [
Slashdot]. Web server software built especially for Linux
trounces Apache, Microsoft IIS. (More on Tux.)
Opinion: The OS X
Files, Larry Loeb, Internet Week, 06.18. "OS X just might be
the OS to get Wintel users on a Mac."
News:
Calif. warns of blackout threats, Yahoo/Reuters, 06.18. State
warned Sunday that rolling blackouts were possible Monday and
Tuesday.
Dark Side: BSOD,
Daimyo. A whole page dedicated to public Blue Screen of Death
displays.
Dark Side: MSNBC doctors
anti-MS WSJ story, The Register, 06.18 [
Slashdot]. "MSNBC has been caught doctoring copy originating
from the Wall Street Journal to make it more favourable to the news
channel's co-owner Microsoft."
Macinschool: Lake
City (MI) educators using Macs, MacCentral, 06.16. "For years
the Lake City Area School District in Lake City, Michigan had
nothing but PCs in its classrooms."
Opinion: Coins
of the realm, Scott McCloud, The Comic Reader. The case for
micropayments.
Opinion: Market
share mysteries, Marc Zeedar, Less Tangible, Mac Opinion,
06.15. "The question we're really asking is: is Apple a consumer
computer company or a niche product?"
Advice: Mac OS
X secrets, Damien Gallop, MacWrite.com, 06.15. "...a few tips
that might get you moving along a little better in OS X."
News: Power Mac G4/533
End-of-lifed, Go2Mac.com, 06.15. "Apple is going to take all
the backorders on the books on Friday and do the final build of
this SKU."
Web: NeoFX,
your guide to everything NeoPets, Stephen Knight. My son tells
me NeoPets is all the rage - and he's getting lots of
traffic to his new NeoPets site.
Opinion:
The death of a thousand stings, Robert A. Jung, Electric
Escape, 1998.01.17. "Users of Windows computers are often confused
at the loyalty Mac users show their computers, and now I see
why."
Opinion:
Internet proxies & publishing freedom, David Schultz,
Applelust, 06.15. "Technology, since its inception, has been viewed
as a means to freedom of some sort." "Opinion pieces on the Mac Web
do not only speak to people, they speak for people as well."
Opinion: Moore buys a
Cube, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 06.15. "So how come I, big
PowerBook advocate and fan that I am, settled on a Cube as my next
computer."
Rights:
Censorship High, Daniel Silverman, Salon, 06.14. "Restriction
of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all
subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily
defeat us."
Opinion:
My old flame: The Macintosh, Stewart Alsop, Fortune, 06.25
issue. "Unlike Windows, the Macintosh seems to work."
Opinion:
The metaphysics of Web advertising, part 2, David Schultz,
Applelust.com, 06.12. "...the kind of support a webmaster decides
upon sets up certain states of affairs between him (or her) and his
readers."
Review: Star Trek
IV: The Voyage Home, Dan Knight, Digital-Views.com, 06.12. The
Star Trek movie with a Mac Plus - and SETI@home?!?!
Opinion: The
Mac Web site funding debate, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks,
06.12. "My own ideal vision is for the free professional Mac Web to
be able to support itself profitably with ad revenues...."
Analysis:
Apple padlocks UI decor, Ed Foster, The Gripe Line, InfoWorld,
06.11. The other "big brother" stomps all over OS X themes
developers.
News:
U.S. judge to hear Yahoo! case of French Nazi ban, CNN.com,
06.11. "...a U.S. federal judge has agreed to consider whether
foreign courts may determine what Yahoo! Inc. sells on its auction
site."
Hands on:
An iBook is the apple of my eye, Charles Arthur, The
Independent, 06.11. "...put a TiBook next to an iBook, and you find
yourself drawn to the smaller one...."
Opinion: iBook review and
philosophy, Eolake Stobblehouse, MacCreator. "It takes time and
effort to make such a beautiful integrated object."
Opinion: Macs still
cost too much, Brian D. Lipscomb, Professional Mac, 06.11.
"...a "headless" iMac (that has been spoken of several times in the
past) would be a great introductory Mac for consumers."
Opinion:
The metaphysics of Web advertising, David Schultz,
Applelust.com, 06.11. "My concern is with the messages that are
presented to us by three methods of supporting a Mac site: banners,
donations, and subscriptions."
Virus: AppleScript based
worm making the rounds, MacInTouch. Simpsons Episodes" worm
appears similar to Visual Basic worms common on Windows, requires
MS Outlook or Entourage.
Tech:
Caches, Philip Machanick, Macintelligence, Mac Opinion, 06.07.
"A cache is a relatively small high-speed memory, which helps to
bridge the gape between the processor and slower levels."
Dark Side: New Windows
XP feature can re-edit others' sites, Walter S. Mossberg, Wall
Street Journal, 06.07 [
Slashdot]. New feature "allows Microsoft's Internet Explorer
Web browser . . . to turn any word on any Web site into a
link to Microsoft's own Web sites and services, or to any other
sites Microsoft favors."
Opinion: Replace,
resale or refurbish?, Remy Davison, PowerBook Ownership 101,
Insanely Great Mac, 06.07. "Macs, by contrast, have always held
their value. Until recently."
Dark Side: See
the horror! Windows error on Las Vegas Strip (QuickTime
movie).
Opinion: Laptops
for everyone, Marc Zeedar, Mac Opinion, 06.06. "I can only
imagine what students today, with the Internet at their fingertips,
could learn."
Review: Star Trek
II: The Wrath of Khan, Digital-Views.com, 06.05. Kirk vs. Khan
in one of the most intense Star Trek movies.
Opinion: Mac
Web economics, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 06.05. "The sticky
issue is of course how to continue offering a free service while
still being able to make a living from your work."
Web: MacGameGirls.com,
because girls play games on Macs, too. (Requires Flash.)
Opinion:
The perils of early adoption, Charles W. Moore, Road Warrior,
Mac Opinion, 06.05. "...my policy on early adoption of a new model
is that it's wise to wait for the initial production bugs and
glitches to be ironed out...."
Web: Applelust is back
after a brief hiatus - and has a new look.
Advice: Lessons
learned from redesigning our site, David Schultz, Applelust,
06.05. "I think we could rid the world of most of its ills if we
rid the world of Netscape."
Web: Go2Mac.com has
completed their move to a new server and a site redesign.
Review: Star Trek:
The Motion Picture, Dan Knight, Digital-Views.com, 06.04. This
is one of Low End Mac's sister sites.
Duh:
Building quieter computers, Slashdot, 06.04. If the question is
silent computing, the answer is Macintosh.
Opinion: Fixed layouts
doomed to fail, Code Bitch, MacEdition, 06.04. "The Web is not
the right media for such attempts at control. People will view our
content in many ways using many devices. It's time we let them do
that."
Deals: MediaGuide liquidation
sale. How about a $10,000 IIfx for $15? Or a IIci for just $5?
Lots of Quadras for under $40, Power Macs as low as $50.
Opinion: Two weeks
with an iBook, Steve Wood, View From the Classroom, 06.04. "The
new rule was that students had to first wash their hands with soap
and pass a hand inspection before touching the hallowed new white
keyboard!"
Opinion: Learning
Linux on the Mac, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 06.01. "...it
is a fair question to ask why one should consider running Linux on
a Mac at all."
Consumer: 
Connectivity: