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The Low End Mac Link Archive, July 2002
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.
Dark Side: How will
Microsoft's licensing plan affect Office?, Mark Hachman,
Extreme Tech, 07.30. About 70 percent of the user base still uses
Office 97, but they complain about the adoption rate for Office
v.X?
Dark Side:
Death to the 3.5" floppy?, Slashdot, 07.30. Doesn't this sound
a bit like the 1998 iMac introduction?
Analysis:
More PowerBook/iBook hard drive musings, Charles W. Moore, Mac
Opinion, 07.30. "...the biggest performance increase for dollars
spent may actually be found in upgrading to a faster hard
drive...."
Rights:
RIAA.org DOSed: Whining commences, ars technica, 07.30.
RIAA.com subject to same type of denial of service attack they wish
to inflict on others.
Opinion: Sweating it
out, John H. Farr, Applelinks, 07.29. Farr's wife is in the UK,
depending on Web mail and cybercafes - and Windows. Ugh.
Advocacy:
Why buy a PC when you can have a Mac?, David Saraceno, The
Spokesman-Review, 07.28. "This column was not intended to insult a
perfectly good operating system, but to differentiate it from a
better one."
Analysis: Office
X. or Mac OS X the problem?, Robert Accettura, MacVillage.net,
07.27. "My theory is that Microsoft isn't selling enough copies of
Office X. because of the hefty price tag."
Review: Crescendo G4
upgrade, Mac Singapore, 07.27. G4/450 turns Power Mac 8600av
into a speed demon.
Deal:
Save $50 on Jaguar, Amazon.com, 07.26. Purchase OS X 10.2 from
Amazon.com by 10/3/02, get $50 back.
Web: On the future
of LWN, Linux Weekly News, 07.26. In less than one week, LWN
readers have donated over $12,000 to keep the site afloat.
Rights: Ethical hacker
faces war driving charges, John Leyden, The Register, 07.26. If
you tell them their wireless network isn't secure, they can charge
you with hacking?
News: Sun to
push StarOffice for Apple's OS X, Joe Wilcox, c|net, 07.26.
"Apple Computer and Sun Microsystems are cooperating on a version
of Sun's StarOffice productivity software for Mac
OS X...."
News: Apple expands Jaguar
upgrade policy, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 07.26. OS X 10.2
Up-To-Date expanded to cover purchases of OS X from July 17,
2002.
Dark Side: Hotmail clean-out
catches members out, Lisa M. Bowman, c|net, 07.25. "As part of
a series of . . . policies aimed at driving more people toward its
paid services, Microsoft has instituted a plan to delete sent
Hotmail messages that are more than 30 days old."
News: .mac
webmail security hole, MacSlash, 07.24. Security hole exists
when accessing mac.com email via Apple's Web interface.
Web:
LWN.net closing down, Slashdot, 07.24. "The best Linux news
site is calling it a day. Citing money problems, they are saying
next weeks issue will be the last."
Opinion: Six years with a Mac
OS clone, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 07.24. "No doubt it'll
still be doing its thing six years from now."
Rights: Could Hollywood hack
your PC?, Declan McCullagh, c|net, 07.23. Draft legislation
would authorize RIAA, MPAA, and others to hack into any computer
with P2P capabilities.
Opinion:
A renaissance of PowerBook processor upgrades, Charles W.
Moore, Road Warrior, Mac Opinion, 07.23. "...there are now three
players offering G4 upgrades for the G3 Series 'Books...."
Analysis: MS
Mac developer responds, Tim O'Reilly, O'Reilly Network, 07.22.
"...Microsoft needs some lessons in how to win friends and
influence people."
Review: EyeTV
owner comments, Accelerate Your Mac, 07.23. Reader reports run
quite a range. Read these comments before buying EyeTV.
Opinion: Apple
takes a bite out of users, Scott McCarty, GraphicPower, 07.22.
Jaguar for $129. Okay. Dot-mac for $99. No way.
Humor: Zap the
PRAM, MacBoy.com, 07.22. A cartoonist's take on last week's
keynote address.
Analysis: More on MS Mac
FUD, William Grosso, O'Reilly Network, 07.21. Microsoft is
upset because Office is irrelvant to the home market and digital
hub.
Opinion: Switch - or bait
& switch?, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 07.19. "...Apple
has made a serious miscalculation with this change of policy,
particularly as it pertains to the mac.com email service."
Expo: Hands on with
Inkwell, Macs Only!, 07.19. Works well even with poor
handwriting, and works in any OS X app.
Analysis: AOL "cooked books"
as dot.com bubble burst, Andrew Orlowski, The Register, 07.18.
"AOL misrepresented its accounts in three quarterly periods as the
'New Economy' bubble was bursting..."
Analysis:
Gigahertz gap?, Christopher Allbritton, Popular Mechanics,
07.18. Chip speed doesn't matter much anymore.
Opinion: How
much is dot-mac worth?, John H. Farr, Applelinks, 07.18.
"...I'm going to let my old email address that gave Apple a free
plug every time I used it die on the vine."
Opinion: .Mac?
Maybe .Screwed!, Vern Seward, Just a Thought, Mac Observer,
07.18. "...it was a ploy worthy of shady used car salesmen who
practice the ol' bait-n-switch routine, or worse, worthy of
Microsoft."
News: Apple
announces $32 million profit, Jim Dalrymple, MacCentral, 07.16.
"Even in this extended worldwide downturn, Apple is continuing to
be profitable and continuing to innovate."
Analysis: Content filtering
exposed, Adam C. Engst, TidBITS, 07.15. "...the way overzealous
server-side content filtering makes email unreliable stands only to
worsen the very problem it's attempting to fix."
Analysis: Apple refutes
Microsoft's Mac OS X claims, Darryl K. Taft, eWeek, 07.15.
Apple estimates 2.5 million OS X users, giving Office
v. X about 12% of the market.
News: Apple
releases QuickTime 6, Joe Wilcox, c|net, 07.15. Just in time to
watch the Expo keynote on Weds. MPEG-4 licensing resolved - no fee
for free content.
Upgrades: Newer ships G4 upgrades
for older systems, MacNN, 07.15. 500-533 MHz G4 upgrades for
WallStreet and Lombard PowerBooks, beige and blue & white Power
Mac G3.
Advice:
Using relative font sizes, Mark Pilgrim, Dive Into Mark, 07.15.
More involved than what we do at LEM, but the key concept is
letting readers resize text to meet their needs.
Opinion:
Weighed down, Jeff Adkins, SFGate.com, 07.15. LEM's Lite Side
columnist looks at Southwest Airlines. "...if I buy a ticket using
Friends Fly Free, can I be my own best friend?"
Opinion: If it's broke,
don't sell it, Teri Robinson, osOpinion, 07.15. "...it seems
that many software developers live by the following sentiment: 'If
it's broke, but it's really hot, then release it and fix it
later.'"
Opinion: The
dark, scary clouds over broadband, Grayson Steinberg, Mac Night
Owl, 07.13. "Broadband is still too unreliable for mainstream
acceptance in America." But we love it anyhow.
News: The
digital hub gets a new spoke: television, Jim Heid, Macintosh
Digital Hub Site, 07.14. EyeTV, to be unveiled at this week's Expo,
turns any OS X Mac into a personal digital video recorder for
$199.
Opinion: OS X day 1:
Enter the iBook, Nathan Torkington, O'Reilly Network, 07.13.
"I'd been with Microsoft for so long . . . that I'd
forgotten what it's like to use an operating system built by people
who want it to cooperate with the rest of the world."
Survey: Mac users rule,
says study, Michael Singer, atnewyork.com, 07.12. Study finds
Mac users more educated, earn more, and more Web savvy than PC
users.
Analysis:
Canning spam without eating up real mail, Stefanie Olsen,
Yahoo/c|net, 07.12. While trying to filter out spam, legitimate
email is sometimes discarded as well.
Rights:
Minnesota court rules on Internet libel, Brian Bakst, Yahoo/AP,
07.12. Court rules that libel suit must be filed "in the place
where the statement is produced."
Humor: Are you a nerd?,
Archie McPhee, 07.12. Take the survey and find out where you
rate.
Rights:
Girl has no problem with pledge, David Kravets, Yahoo/AP,
07.11. "The 8-year-old girl whose father successfully sued to have
the Pledge of Allegiance declared unconstitutional has no problem
with reciting the pledge at schoo/...."
Dark Side:
Can we trust Microsoft's Palladium?, Farhad Manjoo, Salon,
07.11. Palladium will give Microsoft total control of your
computer, your software, and your files.
Dark Side: IE scripting flaw
uncovered, John Leyden, The Register, 07.11. "Cross domain
scripting flaw" in Internet Explorer is most recently found of 19
unpatched security holes.
Web: New website
design, Railhead Design, 07.10. This is website design done
right. Kudos to Maury McCown for a job well done.
Opinion: Naughty press! No
pass!, As the Apple Turns, 07.10. "...those logistical wizards
at IDG have denied media passes to a whole slew of Mac-related
sites...."
Advice: The ultimate dilemma:
Transferring files to your new Mac, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night
Owl, 07.10. "If you look at the printed documentation on your new
Mac, you would believe Apple is trying to keep file sharing a
secret."
Opinion: Scott
McCarty, meet Andy Warhol, John C. Welch, RandomMaccess, 07.09.
One of two writers left at workingmac.com endears himself to the
banned Mac Web - or not.
Benchmarks: Newer
Tech Pismo G4 upgrade, Bare Feats, 07.09. $299 upgrade rocks,
but Bare Feats also has PowerLogix upgrade on order. Full shootout
due when it arrives.
Opinion: Why I
don't use Microsoft software: No need & no trust, Darla
Sasaki, Mac Observer, 07.09. "More pressing than a question of need
is the basic idea behind every good relationship - trust. I don't
trust them."
Opinion:
The more wondrous machine, Charles W. Moore, Road Warrior, Mac
Opinion, 07.09. How the personal computer has gone from curiosity
to indispensable device.
Expo: Celebrity Apple
cronies silent on community expulsions, Andrew Orlowski, The
Register, 07.09. "I wonder if we'll see the Pogue's, Inhankto's and
'Dr. Mac' Levitus actually bat for the grassroots that gave them
their jobs?"
Analysis: Email filtering:
Killing the killer app, Geoff Duncan, TidBITS, 07.09.
"...email, often hailed as the Internet's 'killer app,' is in
danger of becoming an unreliable, arbitrarily censored
medium...."
Humor: Pentium 5 trumps
PowerPC G5, Anne Onymus, The Rumor Mill, 07.09. Hoping to steal
the G5's thunder, Intel unveils 3.0 GHz Pentium 5 processor.
Opinion: What's with Apple's
fetish for secrecy?,David Coursey, ZDNet, 07.09. "...if sites
that publish Apple rumors aren't eligible to attend Macworld, why
does Apple want me there so badly?"
Opinion: Macworld Expo:
Where's the excitement?, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 07.09.
"...Mac advocate sites ought to be given a chance to attend an Expo
as legitimate members of the news media."
Advice:
Top 10 iPhoto tips, Derrick Story, O'Reilly, 07.08. Advice on
taking better pictures and managing them better on your Mac.
Opinion: Control?, Amy Wohl,
07.08. "Apple is a member of the Vendors Who Like Control
Club."
Rights: Rep. Boucher
outlines "fair use" fight, Erin Joyce, Internetnews.com, 07.08.
Proposed bill would make it illegal for recording industry to sell
copy-protected CDs.
Oops: FireWire deafness
plagues PowerBook G4, Bob Snow, PowerPage.org, 07.08. "There
are hundreds of postings on Apple's support message boards about
this problem."
Expo:
The Macworld NY press ordeal, Utterer.com, 07.08. IDG can't
seem to decide why the site is blacklisted from receiving a press
pass, but it is definitely blacklisted.
Dark Side: Sites bow to
Microsoft's browser king, Paula Festa, c|net, 07.08. Sites
designed and tested only for IE make it hard going for users of
alternative browsers.
News: eBay buys
PayPal, Drew Cullen, The Register, 07.08. eBay is buying
PayPal, which handles 60% of eBay auction payments, for $1.5
billion.
Advocacy: Being
independent of Microsoft not easy, Dan Gillmor, BayArea.com,
07.07. "I've long felt that the difference between PCs and Macs was
that PCs tend to get in your way, and Macs tend to get out of the
way."
Analysis: Mac collecting
like a religion, Leander Kahney, Wired, 07.06. "For many Mac
people, I think it has a religious feeling to it."
Analysis: Grassroots Apple
sites cower, close, Andrew Orlowski, The Register, 07.04. "This
week Apple declared war on its grassroots enthusiasts...."
News: Apple
market share rises slightly, Jim Dalrymple, MacCentral, 07.03.
Apple market share measured at 3.48% by IDC - and that is an
improvement.
Analysis: Press passes
pulled at Macworld, Leander Kahney, Wired, 07.03. Dean Browell
of Applelust was looking forward to the Expo, but they pulled his
press pass on Tuesday.
News: Bay
State firm accused of eBay fraud, Boston Globe, 07.03. Teresa
Smith accused of taking $750,000 from customers and failing to
deliver promised Macintosh computers.
Opinion: GraphicPower
has been blacklisted by Apple, Scott McCarty, GraphicPower,
07.03. "Apple has tremendous pull over who we can allow into the
show as members of the media."
Opinion: Can Apple stop
the presses?, Matthew Rotheberg, eWeek, 07.02. Apple has
apparently pressured IDG to prevent "rumor and speculation" sites
from getting press passes to Macworld Expo.
Analysis: Dismissive
publicity, Stan Beer, smh.com.au, 07.02. After sacking van Pelt
over a news release, Apple Australia now claims she "has resigned
to pursue other interests."
Rights: Indymedia.nl loses
anarchist hyperlinks, Drew Cullen, The Register, 07.02. EC
Ecommerce Directive makes ISPs responsible for pulling illegal
content.
Opinion: It's your own damn
default, CodeBitch, MacEdition, 07.01. A wonderful rant against
nonstandard HTML, nonstandard browsers, and poor standards within
HTML.
Rights: Media
pass crackdown at MWNY?, John H. Farr, Applelinks, 07.01.
"...outlets featuring coverage on rumors and speculation are not
eligible for a media pass."
Opinion: For
plug-and-play, I pick the Apple, Peter Coffee, eWeek, 07.01.
"...the Macs of the new century are going the extra mile to make
life easy for next-generation devices."
Humor: Real
Dudes, Macboy.com, 07.01. Third in a series. "My name is Steve,
and, dude, I'm getting a Mac."
Virus: Klez tops virus
charts again, John Leyden, The Register, 07.01. "Klez became
the worst virus ever in May, and it shows no sign of abating...."
Windows only, of course.
News: Apple drops Emagic
bombshell, Andrew Orlowski, The Register, 07.01. Apple acquires
Emagic, will axe Windows version in September, Windows users are
not happy.
Rights: 
News: 
Analysis: 