Top Links: October 2002

Mac News Today

The Low End Mac Link Archive, October 2002

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.

Tech: IBM's 970: Power4-lite, and the future of the PowerPC, David K. Every, iGeek, 10.31. Why the "slower" G4 holds its own against the Pentium 4, and how IBM's 970 will trump both.
Web: Does search engine's power threaten Web's independence?, Stefanie Olsen, Cnet, 10.31. A look at Google's domination of the search side of the Internet.
Analysis: Mac OS among least prone to attack, Paul Roberts, InfoWorld, 10.31. "Two different versions of Unix shared top honors with Macintosh with fewer than 25 vulnerabilities."
Virus: BugBear tops virus charts as Klez refuses to die, John Leyden, The Register, 10.31. FYI: "The nasty BugBear worm finally displaced the irksome Klez-H as the most common virus circulating on the Internet this month."
AAPL: Dell iPod news helps push Apple to 9-week high, Bryan Chaffin, Mac Observer, 10.30. No, $15.98 isn't very high, but Apple stock has been beleaguered for months.
Education: Apple extends "X for Teachers" program to Canada, MacMinute, 10.30. "The program gives a free copy of Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) to every K-12 teacher in Canada."
Advice: Apple doesn't install OS 9.x drivers on the HD's on some latest Macs, Damien Barrett, AppleTechs, 10.30. Only solution: Reformat the drive with OS 9 drivers.
Advice: Sharing a peer-to-peer Filemaker database across platforms, Damien Barrett, AppleTechs, 10.30. You can't share FileMaker Pro databases with PCs over an AppleTalk network.
Advice: TiBook 400 won't boot from anything higher than 9.1 or OS X 10.1, Damien Barrett, AppleTechs, 10.30. Problem solved - read how.
Dark Side: MS gets top security rating for Win2k, makes big noise, John Lettice, The Register, 10.30. It took 3 years, several service packs, and some hot fixes, but Win2k is now certified as secure.
Opinion: Apple death knell counter: apple has been declared dead 10 times since February 1997, Mac Observer, 10.29. Apple Computer seems to have more lives than a cat....
Forum: Microsoft: You need permission to sell our software, Slashdot, 10.29. "This action by Microsoft should serve as a warning to any corporation that has a significant investment in Microsoft licenses."
Dark Side: Microsoft, others oppose Kmart bluelight.com sale, Yahoo/Reuters, 10.29. "The licenses that debtors (Kmart) have of Microsoft's products are licenses of copyrighted materials and, therefore, may not be assumed or assigned with Microsoft's consent."
Opinion: PowerBooks forever (iBooks too!), Charles W. Moore, Road Warrior, Mac Opinion, 10.29. Will Apple release new 'Books before the end of the year? Here's why one user hopes so.
Education: Macintosh teachers challenge: Give Apple education a road map, Mark Marcantonio, MyMac, 10.29. "Does this mean that Apple is ready to fight for the education market or is it just (pardon the phrase) window dressing?"
Dark Side: Microsoft's media monopoly, Farhad Manjoo, Salon, 10.29. Burst.com claims Microsoft stole its streaming video system and colluded to keep Burst out of the market.
OS X: Comparing Apples and penguins, Moshe Bar, Serving with Linux, Byte, 10.29. "Many potential buyers are, however, asking themselves if OS X - given its recent introduction - is ready today to handle their critical apps."
News: Motherboard flaw the cause of "wind-tunnel G4" noise, Graeme Bennett, Mac Buyers Guide, 10.28. "We now have official confirmationthat loud G4 fan noise is due to a motherboard problem so that fans run at high fast speed."
Advice: Update firmware before installing Jaguar!, Geoff Duncan, TidBITS, 10.28. "Last week, I began to see credible reports that installing Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar on some iMacs was 'frying' the motherboards."
News: Apple triples server market share, Ron Carson, Insanely Great Mac, 10.28. Xserve moves Apple to #5 in the server market behind #4 Sun.
Opinion: Report: Apple will go Intel next year, Dennis Sellers, MacCentral, 10.28. Giga Information Group claims Apple "continued technical disadvantage" can only be addressed by putting Intel inside. Sure.
Tech: Inside the PowerPC 970, Hannibal, ars technica, 10.28. A wider, deeper instruction queue than the G4 and better branch prediction among PPC 970 advantages.
Opinion: OS 9.2.2 on a Power Mac 8600, John H. Farr, Applelinks, 10.28. "Right now I'm booting up every day in 9.2.2 on a five-year-old machine...."
OS X: Keyboard shortcuts under Mac OS X, Westwind, 10.28. Toggle dock hiding, empty the Trash, minimize window, and more without touching the mouse.
Education: More straight talk about the education market, Steve Wood, View From the Classroom, 10.28. "...I was astounded by the depth of disillusionment with Apple Computer and Apple Education by teachers and other columnists who wrote."
Advice: Use an extended dektop with your iBook, Macparts.de, 10.27. Open firmware patch lets latest iBooks (and not older ones) support two displays. Use at your own risk.
Opinion: Why does anyone use Linux?, MacSlash, 10.27. In a world with Mac OS X, why would anyone continue to use Linux?
Web: Free software org burned by PayPal, Thomas C Greene, The Register, 10.27. "PayPal seems to have numerous legal loopholes through which to escape responsibility for accounts under its control."
Benchmarks: How fast is the IBM 180GXP on an ATA-133 controller, Bare Feats, 10.25. Drive tested using both Sonnet and Acard controllers, since Apple doesn't yet support ATA-133.
Dark Side: Guerilla marketing tactics spawn viral fears, John Leyden, The Register, 10.25. Not exactly a virus, EULA actually asks permission before using user's Outlook address book.
OS X: Mac OS X: Not ready for prime time? (part 3), Marc Zeedar, Less Tangible, Mac Opinion, 10.24. "...even if I had tried to delete something I shouldn't, Mac OS X should be friendly about the situation."
News: Dana bridges the gap between PDA and laptop computer, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 10.24. AlphaSmart's new Dana runs Palm OS, has full size keyboard, runs 30 hours on a charge.
News: Two men held in sniper case as evidence mounts, Fox News, 10.24. Probable sniper a former military marksman, convert to Islam, sympathetic to 9-11 terrorists.
Opinion: Comments: "Two-button mouse! Two-button mouse!", John H. Farr, Applelinks, 10.24. "...Apple needs to retire the single-button mouse." Amen.
Rights: Google excluding controversial sites, Declan McCullagh, Cnet, 10.24. "This is not pre-emptive--we only react to requests that come to us...to avoid legal liability, we remove sites from Google search results pages that may conflict with local laws."
Web: Let's put users first, Carla Passino, E-Media Tidbits, 10.24. "I quickly found out just how many sites force their font size to an exact (and usually very small) number of points, preventing users from modifying text size to suit their needs."
Rights: Band can't sell own music on eBay, Brad King, Wired, 10.24. "On two occasions, the company mistakenly identified Ziemann's album - which was advertised as a CD-R - as infringing on somebody's copyright...."
News: Apple reportedly to sell iPods in Target retail outlets, could have major impact, Bryan Chaffin, Mac Observer, 10.24. "News.com is reporting that Apple will be selling iPods through Target's retail outlets, giving Apple a much broader exposure to mainstream consumers."
Spam: No easy money suing spammers, Joanna Glasner, Wired, 10.24. Not easy, but sometimes you do win against the spammers.
Rights: Google complies with law, excludes 'controversial' sites, Slashdot, 10.24. "To conform with some French and German laws, Google has removed listings for over 100 sites which it believes to be anti-abortion, pro-Nazi, white supremacist or anti-semitic."
Opinion: 1 button, 2 or 3?, David Zeiler, SunSpot.net, 10.24. A second button and a scroll wheel - it's all about efficiency. (Low End Mac agrees.)
Huh?: BBC wins police Tardis case, BBC.com, 10.24. Metropolitan Police attempted to wrest control of Dr. Who's Tardis from the BBC.
Tech: End of the road for CD burners, Mark Hachman, Extreme Tech, 10.23. Drives and media may never get much past 48x, but new Mt. Ranier disc format holds promise.
Opinion: Apple's Rendezvous: Too open for the enterprise?, Don MacVittie, Network Computing, 10.23. Good question: Do you want a guest on your business network to see everything?
Web: CNET's download.com fees, Andrew Orlowski, The Register, 10.23. Shades of .mac - download.com to start charging authors $99 for posting their software (mostly free- and shareware).
Rights: Washington State Congressman attempts to outlaw GPL, NewsForge, 10.23. Could Microsoft (also in Washington state) be behind move to undermine GPL for federal projects?
Software: Make Mac OS X more efficient with AutoHide, MacDailyNews, 10.23. "AutoHide is a simple background application that will automatically hide applications after you switch out of them."
Dark Side: PC market finally catches up to Apple's titanium PowerBook, Mac Observer, 10.23. New Best Buy(!) laptop matches DVI TiBook in many respects, but thicker, heavier, and Intel inside.
Advice: How to be happy, Brent Simmons, inessential.com, 10.23. Use OS X Mail to fight spam and Chimera to stop popup ads. Then disable Flash.
Benchmarks: USB 2.0 against FireWire, Xbit Labs, 10.23. No matter how you slice it, FireWire outperforms supposedly faster USB 2.0 in real world testing.
Web: Danish watchdog calls for ban on intrusive online ads, Drew Cullen, The Register, 10.23. "...calls in Denmark to ban in-yer-face online ads such as 'shutter' banner rolldowns and interstitials."
Opinion: If your Mac crashes all the time, why aren't you upgrading?, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 10.23. Learn a new OS or put up with crashes in the old familiar one?
Spam: Direct marketers endorse anti-spam laws, Declan McCullagh, ZDNet, 10.22. Direct marketers turn about face, say level of junk spam makes legitimate spam ineffective. Or something like that.
Dark Side: Is Microsoft licensing forcing banks to break the law?, Dan Orzech, Boston Internet.como, 10.22. "...we're either out of compliance with Microsoft's licensing, which is not acceptable, or we're out of compliance with the law, which is not acceptable either."
Analysis: Apple's sweet-and-sour season, Charles Haddad, BusinessWeek, 10.22. "Against great odds, Apple is succeeding in establishing its own chain of stores."
.mac: Apple, why don't you use OS X for your Web servers? It is time to switch!, Cube Zone, 10.22. Apple China run on Windows 2000? At least Apple USA is running on OS X Server!
Dark Side: IE holes open up Web booby traps, Robert Lemos, Cnet, 10.22. Nine security flaws in IE 5.5 and 6 uncovered - Windows version, of course.
Advice: Hotrodding the clamshell iBook?, Charles W. Moore, Road Warrior, Mac Opinion, 10.22. Add up to 512 MB RAM, drop in a big fast hard drive, but still limited to 800 x 600 screen.
Advice: TidBITS Troubleshooting Primer, Part 1, Adam C. Engst, TidBITS, 10.22. "The most important piece of advice I can give up front is: Be methodical."
News: Probe as Mac retail relaunches, Simon Hayes, The Australian, 10.22. Apple Australia preparing for renewed retail push, still trying to clear up Buzzle mess.
Opinion: Apple's stickiest marketing ploy, Leander Kahney, Wired, 10.22. "...an Apple sticker is often the first thing people stick on a new car."
Analysis: Inside Apple's new smaller store: Crowds still come for 43rd retail store, Vern Seward, Mac Observer, 10.21. 43 stores in just over a year - but this one is different.
Software: Introducing nSync, Everchanging, 10.21. New utility lets you sync your Jaguar Address Book with . . . a Newton.
Review: PDF Browser Plugin, Charles W. Moore, OS X Odyssey, Applelinks, 10.21. "PDF Browser Plugin allows you to preview PDF documents before downloading them to disk, and enables your browser to display embedded PDF."
Software: Introducing nSync, Everchanging, 10.21. New utility lets you sync your Jaguar Address Book with . . . a Newton.
Huh?: PageRank by judicial decree? SearchKing sues Google, James Grimmelmann, LawMeme, 10.20. "SearchKing, Oklahoma's premiere parasitic link-farm, is suing Google for tweaking its PageRank algorithm to lower SearchKing's scores."
Review: Apple leads pack with DVD software, Julio Ojeda-Zapata, BayArea.com, 10.20. "...for the best consumer-grade DVD authoring around, get a Macintosh with iDVD."
News: Shell casings found in rental truck resembling white van sought in sniper attack, ABC News, 10.18. Authorities have not yet determined if shell casings match bullets sniper used.
Macinschool: Straight talk about the education market, Steve Wood, View From the Classroom, 10.18. "The sad fact of the matter is that Apple lost the critical mass necessary to stay viable in the education market a number of years ago."
Benchmarks: How does Radeon 7000 PCI graphics card compare to others?, Bare Feats, 10.18. Radeon 7000 only currently shipping PCI card for Macs. How does it compare to past cards?
Opinion: Expo Wars: Apple, IDG playing hardball - but what gives?, Peter Kirn, O'Grady's PowerPage, 10.18. What does Apple hope to gain from playing hardball with IDG over holding Macworld in Boston?
OS X: A Linux user defects, Simon Cozens, Apple, 10.18. "...the dream of Unix on the desktop had been realised. It is indeed possible to have the best of both worlds."
Hardware: Faster write-speed DVD drives unveiled, Kuriko Miyake, Digit, 10.18. Pioneer, Sony, and Teac unveil 4x DVD burners. Sony drive to support DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW.
Huh?: Campaign: Send AOL CDs back, CNN.com, 10.18. "We're going to AOL and say, 'You've got mail. Please stop this.'"
OS X: OS X makes 9 a distant memory in Mac realm, Bob LeVitus, Dr. Mac, Houston Chronicle, 10.17. "Today I do more with my Mac than I ever did using OS 9, and I do it in less time, and with less stress. "
Dark Side: Ad campaign leaves pie on Microsoft's face, David Pogue, New York Times, 10.17. "...more likely, Microsoft's latest blunder demonstrates is neither jealousy nor wounded pride; it's pure arrogance."
Web: ConsumerReports.org hits 1 million, but at what price?, Steve Outing, E-Media Tidbits, 10.17. "This policy of demanding a long-term relationship in order to support access to what is valuable content is, simply, maddening."
OS X: Mac OS X: Not ready for prime time? (part 2), Marc Zeedar, Less Tangible, Mac Opinion, 10.17. "Please Apple. I don't mind UNIX, but make it more Mac-like. Please."
News: Pioneer announces 4X DVD-R/2X DVD-RW drive, Dennis Sellers, MacCentral, 10.17. New DVR-A05 burns DVDs, CDs twice as fast as current SuperDrive.
News: Macworld Expo moves to Boston; Apple will not go, Jim Dalrymple, MacCentral, 10.17. "Today IDG announced plans to move Macworld New York to Boston in July of 2004. Apple disagrees with this decision, and will not be participating in Macworld Boston."
News: Serious problem with Mac OS X Server 10.2, Damien Barrett, mrbarrett.com, 10.17. Barrett tracking a problem with the way OS X Server sets group priveleges on files and folders - data copied to a shared folder is not inheriting proper priveleges.
Macinschool: Apple gives Jaguar free to K-12 teachers, Jim Dalrymple, MacCentral, 2002.10.17. "Apple on Thursday announced a program that will give all K-12 teachers in the United States a free copy of Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar."
OS X: Succumbing to a Mac attack, Renay San Miguel, CNN.com, 10.16. "After 10 years as a Windows person, the new Mac operating system does take some adjustment, but not much."
Tech: What is journaling and logs, David K. Every, iGeek, 10.16. What's a journaling file system and why should you care?
Opinion: Rebate hell: One user stands up, Rob Carlson, Insanely Great Mac, 10.16. Rebates sound like a deal, but actually getting them can be difficult - or impossible.
Upgrade: iBook RAM? Now they tell me, John H. Farr, Applelinks, 10.16. Clamshell iBooks can be upgraded with 512 MB module - news to us, too.
OS X: Mac OS X: Not ready for prime time? (part 1), Marc Zeedar, Less Tangible, Mac Opinion, 10.16. Undeletable items in the Trash - and they can't be removed, either.
Advice: Things nobody remembered to tell you, Nancy Carroll Gravley, Computing With Bifocals, Mac Observer, 10.16. Tips on printer drivers, resizing the dock, the usefulness of the lowly paper clip, and more.
Dark Side: Internet Explorer flaw abets attackers, Dennis Fisher, eWeek, 10.16. "Security researchers have identified a new vulnerability in Internet Explorer that enables an attacker to steal cookies, forge Web content and run code on [Windows] machines."
Opinion: Apple's efforts to keep us, willing or not, on the cutting edge, Bill Power, Halifax Herald, 10.16. "Apple wants to get everybody who loves their products off OS 9 as soon as possible, and on to OS X...."
OS X: Jaguar sets a ferocious pace, Garry Barker, The Age, 10.16. "...the move to OS X and its tools had vastly improved the speed of development for Apple and thirdparty developers."
Tech: Mac toters push wireless bounds, Paul Boutin, Wired, 10.16. The TiBook's poor AirPort connectivity isn't a problem - it's a project.
AAPL: Apple reports $45 million loss, Jim Dalrymple, MacCentral, 10.16. "Excluding [one-time] charges the company would have posted a $7million profit...."
Humor: A disturbance in the force?, Joy of Tech, 10.16. Millions of voices silenced - or was that just .mac accounts being closed?
Benchmarks: Does a 52x CD burner burn 6.5 times faster than an 8x burner?, Bare Feats, 10.16. New 52x drive outperforms 48x, but doesn't meet 6.5x faster expectations vs. 8x.
Tech: A brief look at the PowerPC 970, Jon "Hannibal" Stokes, ars technica, 10.16. "The 970 fetches eight instructions per cycle from its 64KB instruction cache...."
Review: 800 MHz PowerForce G4 Series 100 in a Cube, Bill Fox, Macs Only!, 10.16. "The Cube with the 800 MHz PowerForce G4 Series 100 upgrade averaged 80 percent faster than with the original stock 450 MHz CPU."
.mac: Maybe .mac Is a good idea after all, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 10.16. 100 MB of offsite storage and 15 MB for huge email attachments can be very useful.
Advice: Email quotes and inclusion conventions, The Jargon Dictionary, 10.16. "The practice of including text from the parent article when posting a followup helped solve what had been a major nuisance...."
OS X: Look out enterprise: Mac OS X to get journaling, M. Rothenberg, N. dePlum, eWeek, 10.15. "In case of a crash or other system failure, the file system can retrieve lost data by consulting the 'journal' log...."
OS X: Finally saying hello to Jaguar, Charles W. Moore, OS X Odyssey, Applelinks, 10.15. "...I was surprised at how little different it seems from OS 10.1.4."
Opinion: Is the Lombard a lemon?, Charles W. Moore, Road Warrior, Mac Opinion, 10.15. "...one might deduce that either a design flaw or hardware defect is beginning to manifest widely in these machines as they age."
Opinion: Mac rocks! But Apple ads oversimplify switch, Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Times, 10.15. "It's absurd to try to convince someone to abandon an OS they're perfectly happy with."
Advice: The importance of being backed up, Gene Steinberg, AZ Central, 10.15. "Your only means of protection is to back up your precious files, on a regular basis."
Advice: 5 ways to head off OS 9 crashes, macHome, 10.15. How to keep your Mac up and running under the classic Mac OS.
Dark Side: Microsoft ad unravels - lessons, Dan Gillmor, SiliconValley.com, 10.15. "It was a mistake that it was posted, and Microsoft took it down as soon as it came to the attention of the Windows XP marketing team."
Dark Side: Microsoft pulls ad after Net faux pas, MSNBC, 10.15. "Microsoft acknowledged that the writer's anonymity and use of the stock photograph contributed to suspicions...."
Dark Side: MS pulls fake Mac-to-Windows testimonial, Thomas C Greene, The Register, 10.15. We can't get enough of Microsoft's fraudulent ripoff of Apple's "Switch" campaign.
Tech: IBM confirms Altiveck'd POWER4-lite, Andrew Orlowski, The Register, 10.15. "PowerPC 970 . . . supports the AltiVec instruction set . . . tailor made for high end Apple machines."
Dark Side: Microsoft offers, then pulls, its own Mac-to-Windows switcher story, Bryan Chaffin, Mac Observer, 10.14. "Microsoft must be really proud that they were able to convert their very own employee...."
Dark Side: Microsoft PR rep is the switcher, Slashdot, 10.14. Purported "reverse switcher" actually a Microsoft employee, image taken from stock photo CD.
OS X: The top-10 things I missed in 10 days without OS X, Rob McNair-Huff, Mac Net Journal, 10.14. From OS X on a fast G3 to 9.x on a PB 3400 - speed tops the list.
Opinion: From power user to dummy, Mark Starlin, MacReview, 10.14. "After a year or two, I began to consider myself a power user. Then I switched to OS X. I immediately went from Power User to Complete Idiot."
News: Gateway to sell stuff in stores, John H. Farr, Applelinks, 10.14. Following Apple's lead, Gateway decides it might be a good idea to actually sell computers in their stores.
Opinion: Mac users hit with pay-to-use fees, Julio Ojeda-Zapata, Chicago Tribune, 10.14. Lengthy rant based on mistaken assumption that iCal can only publish to .mac accounts.
Web: Online gambling laws a good bet, Lauren Weinstein, Wired, 10.14. "When it comes to Internet gambling, all bets are off."
OS X: Progress and regression on the dual-mouse input front, Charles W. Moore, OS X Odyssey, Applelinks, 10.14. "...this past weekend I made what was for me a momentous discovery: using a Wacom Graphire2 graphics tablet mouse partly restores dual mouse support."
Humor: IBM 64-bit chip to re-ignite annoying arguments, Crazy Apple Rumors, 10.14. "At least, as far as I can tell it'll be faster. I don't really understand these specifications."
Tech: 64 bits: How much should you care?, David K. Every, iGeek, 10.14. "Will 64 bits matter? For most users, it will matter very little."
News: IBM announces 64-bit PowerPC processor, John Leyden, The Register, 10.14. Forthcoming 1.8 GHz PowerPC 970 will run 32- and 64-bit software, may turn up in future Macs.
Forum: Australian anti-spammer wins court case, Slashdot, 10.14. More insights into the Australian anti-spam court ruling.
Rights: Anti-spammer wins court case, Caitlin Fitzsimmons, News Interactive, 10.14. "The Australian court system upheld the right of internet activists to campaign against junk email...."
Rights: Web sites blackout over Spanish monitoring law, John Leyden, The Register, 10.14. "Spanish Web site operators have taken their sites offline in protest at government proposals to regulate online content."
Analysis: The PC's new tricks, David Kirkpatrick, Fortune, 10.14. PC sales down, PC makers bleeding red ink - yet Dell and Apple are profitable.
Deal: 433 MHz G4 iMac upgrade $299 after rebate, Technowarehouse, 10.14. Drop a 433 MHz G4 into a Rev. A-D tray loading iMac. $299 after rebate.
Deal: 500MHz G3 iMac upgrade $199 after rebate, Technowarehouse, 10.14. Turns a 233, 266, or 333 MHz tray loading iMac into a 500 MHz powerhouse. $199 after rebate.
Opinion: Apple-Linux merger powers 'Mac' switch, Paul Andrews, Seattle Times, 10.14. Tim O'Reilly: "A lot of my friends and customers are switching to OS X because of its Unix underpinnings."
Rights: In my own dream, Steve Gillmor, Infoworld, 10.14. "...it's instructive to watch how Apple has walked the thin line, preserving the innovation of technology while respecting the rights of both creators and consumers."
Tech: IBM promises muscle for the Mac, Robert McMillan, Wired, 10.14. IBM's new 64-bit PowerPC chip expected to power Macs in late 2003.
Tech: IBM server chip seen slimmed down for Apple Macs, Forbes/Reuters, 10.13. "IBM said its new PowerPC chip would go into production late next year and process 64 bits of data at a time at 1.8 Gigahertz...."
Review: iSync: T68i Sony/Ericsson cell phone and bluetooth, Michael Flaminio, Insanely Great Mac, 10.11. "Bluetooth makes synchronizing with a computer a piece of cake because it doesn't require any cables that get lost or tangled."
Benchmarks: Does a 48x CD burner really burn 6 times faster than 8x?, Bare Feats, 10.11. It's faster, but not six times faster.
Hardware: Tempo Trio, Sonnet Technology, 10.11. New $180 PCI card provides 2 ATA/133 buses, 2 FireWire ports, and 2 USB 2.0 ports.
Review: Mac-PC networks: Leaping past Jaguar, Stephen H. Wildstrom, BusinessWeek, 10.11. PC Maclan "is a utility that enables a PC to speak Appletalk, which is much easier to use within a local-area network (LAN) than Windows networking."
Advocacy: Remember this? "I wonder which brand of camera that was!", John H. Farr, Applelinks, 10.10. Janie Porche saved Christmas - and her father shares the details.
OS X: Apple pitches Mac OS X to Linux fans, Matthew Broersma, ZDNet, 10.10. "This year Apple attended Linux Expo for the first time to explain why Linux fans should take a look at its operating system."
Deal: Double your memory, Apple, 10.10. Buy any Mac from Apple Store through end of the year and Apple will double base memory for 440.
Advocacy: The EET on IBM's upcoming desktop Power4 derivative, ars technica, 10.10. "Apple would have to be crazy not to use this part."
Advice: 3 more startup speed up tricks for OS 9, macHome, 10.10. Turn off memory testing, reduce number of startup items, avoid automounting network drives.
Benchmarks: Is a 5400rpm ATA-133 drive a lot slower than a 7200rpm ATA-100 drive?, Bare Feats, 10.10. It may support Ultra133, but new 5400 rpm drive can't keep up - does well, though, and costs less.
Advice: Beware the IDEs of disk, Bryan Betts, The Register, 10.10. As we wrote last week, backing up to IDE drives can be faster and cheaper than using tape.
Opinion: The search for the missing floppy drive, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 10.10. "I have seen a handful of floppy drives installed. But when I ask if they are actually being used, the response is usually no."
Opinion: Thinking beyond the box at Apple, Charles Haddad, Byte of the Apple, BusinessWeek, 10.10. "The second part of Apple's plan is to branch into new electronic devices."
Advice: Faster startup, macHome, 10.09. How to trim precious seconds from your startup sequence.
Tech: IBM processor hints at Apple's 64-bit future, Rick Merritt, Silicon Strategies, 10.09. "...the 64-bit Power4 could be IBM's first PowerPC-compatible chip to support the Altivec multimedia instruction extensions...."
OS X: Too hostile for novice users?, Gene Steinberg, Jaguar Report, Mac Night Owl, 10.09. "Since Mac OS X is a multiple user system, it stubbornly insists that you confirm your right to administer your computer when you run a software installer."
Web: Trojanized Sendmail distro circulated, Thomas C Greene, The Register, 10.09. "An enterprising computer enthusiast has managed to insert a Trojan in the source code for a recent Sendmail distro...."
Opinion: The collegiate PowerBook revisited, Charles W. Moore, Road Warrior, Mac Opinion, 10.08. Some teething problems, but the PowerBook 1400 remains a good student workhorse.
News: IBM's PPC 750FX G3 now available at 1 GHz, Remy Davison, Insanely Great Mac, 10.08. IBM now offers G3 at up to 1 GHz - and up to 200 MHz bus speed.
Virus: Mac users cannot be infected by Bugbear worm, Sophos, 10.08. Just a reminder that Mac users cannot be infected by Windows viruses.
.mac: Explanation posted for .Mac outage, MacMinute, 10.07. Recent .mac outaged due to equipment failures. Apple busy installing new hardware.
Virus: Worms turn on Win/Linux users, John Leyden, The Register, 10.07. BearBug, Slapper, and Opaserv busy infecting Windows, Linux PCs.
Web: This Cab needs training wheels, CodeBitch, MacEdition, 10.07. "...iCab is an important alternative browser that fills niches none of the other are yet trying for."
.mac: Backup: Requires Internet connection and .Mac membership when first opened, Apple, 10.07. Backup program for .mac users will backup to local media without Internet connection after first use.
.mac: Update: .Mac was 'down for hours', Dominique Fidele, Macworld UK, 10.07. "I'm already considering switching to a real service."
Opinion: Apple's iBook: Why it's not just for home, anymore, Stephan Somogyi, ZDNet, 10.07. "I have colleagues who've bought PowerBook G4s, only to quickly resell them due to the poor AirPort performance."
Opinion: Make or break: Picking Apple's future, Joellen Perry, US News, 10.07. "Apple has never been better positioned to be more relevant in the PC business than right now."
Opinion: Apple never promised you a rose garden, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 10.07. Remember when Apple used to give away OS updates for free or at a reduced price?
Web: W3C patent board recommends royalty-free policy, Bruce Perens, Slashdot, 10.07. "After a year of argument and see-sawing, W3C's patent policy board has voted to recommend a royalty-free patent policy."
Review: A tale of 12 mice, Julio Ojeda-Zapata, TwinCities.com, 10.06. "Call me a curmudgeon, but I wish mouse vendors wouldn't get rid of models that work just fine...."
Opinion: Hello computer, Jason Walsh, Metamute, 10.05. "...isn't it about time we stopped pointing and clicking?"
Forum: Leaving classic behind, MacSlash, 10.05. Is there any part of "classic" that you shouldn't delete when you go 100% OS X?
OS X: Mac OS X: An Apple a day keeps the penguins away?, Timothy R. Butler, Open For Business, 10.05. "Editor-in-Chief Timothy R. Butler considers one of the most prominent arguments against adopting a Free Software desktop: Apple's Mac OS X."
Benchmarks: How do Pentium 4, Athlon XP running Windows XP compare to G4 Power Macs running OS X?, Bare Feats, 10.05. Dual 1.25 GHz G4 and 1.6 GHz Athlon both outperform 2 GHz Pentium 4 in Photoshop.
Web: Google degraded? Geeks aghast, Paul Boutin, Wired, 10.05. "...for the first time since its launch in 1998, Google results have been degraded rather than improved by the latest tweak to its proprietary scoring algorithm for Web pages...."
Survey: One-third of Slashdot readers find the Mac "very tempting", OSNews, 10.04. Completey unscientific poll indicates half of Slashdotters are favorably disposed toward the Mac.
Opinion: Why I (still) just love my iMac, David Coursey, ZDNet, 10.04. "Today I'd like to revisit one of those columns, in which I explained my own switcher experience firsthand."
Rights: Copyright wars legislation goes to bat for the consumer's interest, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 10.04. "Consumers have rights and expectations that cannot be ignored by industry goliaths."
Web: How and why the Internet broke, Michelle Delio, Wired, 10.04. "Those massive e-mail delays, slow Internet connections and downed e-businesses were all caused by a software upgrade that went horribly wrong...."
Opinion: Macs didn't always just work, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 10.04. Today's Mac and OS are vastly superior to what we had in the old days.
Rights: Parents fight to ban perfume, aerosols in schools, CNN, 10.03. Kristian Childers hasn't been to school since she reported that a campus bully sprayed her in the face with perfume a year ago, causing a severe asthma attack that landed her in the hospital.
Virus: Two new epidemics wreak havok on PCs, Seng Li Peng, atNewYork.com, 10.03. Not one new Windows virus this week, but two. Opasoft and Tanatos threaten Windows users.
Rights: Stop, in the name of 'bots, Glenn Harlan Reynolds, Fox News, 10.03. RIAA guilty of "near criminal sloppiness" in relying on bots to find copyright violators.
Dark Side: New alerts have analysts doubting Microsoft security, Paul Roberts, InfoWorld, 10.03. "A string of new security alerts from [Microsoft] has prominent industry analysts and security experts predicting that the company's goal of making its software secure may remain elusive."
Web: E-mail hits snail-mail pace, Michelle Delio, Wired, 10.03. "Slow e-mail delivery and sluggish Internet connections on Thursday are due to a technical problem at WorldCom's UUNet division."
Opinion: Apple 'Book feature sets: Still searching for the sweet spot, Charles W. Moore, Road Warrior, Mac Opinion, 10.03. "...I think that dropping the removable drive expansion bays was a major downgrade in Apple's laptop versatility."
Web: Web idiocy, Philip Machanick, Macintelligence, Mac Opinion, 10.03. "I often find myself running 4 web browsers just to view web sites I need to use...."
News: Small Dog Electronics named small business of the year, MacDirectory, 10.03. Small Dog Electronics "named the 2002 Small Business of the Year by the Central Vermont Economic Development Corporation."
Deal: IBM 25 GB 5400 rpm laptop hard drives: $99.99, Deals on the Web, 10.03. "...compatible with PowerBook 5300, 3400 and all G3 Powerbooks."
Virus: Bugbear virus spreading rapidly, Paul Roberts, Yahoo/IDG, 10.03. "Once activated, the virus shuts down vital processes used by antivirus and firewall software, records user keystrokes to capture passwords, sends copies of itself...."
Virus: It's a bug, a bear and a worm, Michelle Delio, Wired, 10.03. "...the Bugbear worm, also known as Tanatos, is coded to allow a malicious hacker complete control over infected computers." [Windows computers, of course.]
Analysis: Go figure, Garry Barke, smh.com.au, 10.02. Installed base of Mac users much higher than current market share. (Hint: They last longer.)
Opinion: Old Unix and Mac computers never die..., Glenn Fleishman, GlennLogs, 10.02. "...Mac and Unix users wind up using machines til they die or get really really old."
Rights: New bills aim to protect consumers' use of digital media, Heather Fleming Phillips, SiliconValley.com, 10.01. "Lofgren's bill would ensure consumers can copy CDs, DVDs and other digital works for personal use, just as they now do with TV shows and audio tapes."
Humor: What really happens when you iSync, Joy of Tech, 10.02. Yes, your digital devices really do talk to each other.
Analysis: Sometimes you need Windows, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 10.02. "In each case, these clients went to Windows because of the needs of customers or to use software that isn't available in a Mac version."
Rights: Apple stands firm against entertainment cartel, Dan Gillmor, SiliconValley.com, 10.01. "Unlike Intel and AMD . . . Apple hasn't announced plans to put technology into hardware that could end up restricting what customers do with the products they buy."
Tech: Hard disk roundup: Heat, noise, and performance, Sander Sassen, Hardware Analysis, 10.01. Looking at cost, capacity, performance, heat, and noise, some drives are better choices than others.
Education: Apple rolls out .mac for education, Jim Dalrymple, MacCentral, 10.01. "The education version of the standard .Mac account includes 10MB of email storage and 50MB of iDisk space."
Web: Satellite Internet service for Macs?, Slashdot, 10.01. "Satellite broadband has been available to PC users for half a decade, and still is not trivially available to Mac users."
News: MacRaffle site closed due to investigation by Ohio Attorney General, Bryan Chaffin, Mac Observer, 10.01. "It is the Ohio Attorney General's position that I was operating an illegal gambling operation from my home and on the Internet."
News: .mac subscribers top 180,000, MacMinute, 10.01. That's 80,000 during the final two weeks of September.
Web: Yahoo! Messenger 2.5 gets SuperWebcam, MacNN, 10.01. New version of software supports 20 fps 320x240 video in Mac OS X.
OS X: The Mac OS that can't be tweaked, Leander Kahney, Wired, 10.01. "Whereas Apple pioneered the completely customizable system, they are now headed in the other direction."
Analysis: Steal your interface: A history, Leander Kahney, Wired, 10.01. "Standard features in most computer interfaces . . . were dreamed up by people working in bedrooms or back offices."
Opinion: New Mac Office promotion: Too little, too late?, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 10.01. Has Microsoft has finally realized its regular price is too high?
Upgrade: Sonnet offers new G3, G4 upgrades for PCI Macs, clones, Peter Cohen, MacCentral, 10.01. G4/700 and G3/500 daughter cards sell for $350 and $150 respectively.
Deal: Buy a Mac, get Office v. X for $199, Jim Dalrymple, MacCentral, 10.01. Offer "allows North American customers that purchase any Mac system to also purchase Office for US$199 if purchased on the same day."
Web: What the Net is doing to you, Mark Ward, BBC News, 10.01. "...academics are starting to find out how important an agent of social change the internet is...."
Web: Slashdot turns 5, Slashdot, 10.01. Five years of news for nerds, first posts, and assorted geekiness.
Rights: States settle CD price-fixing case, David Lieberman, USA Today, 10.01. States get the money. CD buyers get to keep their overpriced CDs. TANJ.
Rights: Ex-cons say they want to vote, Fox News, 10.01. State restrictions prevent 3.9 million from casting ballots.

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