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The Low End Mac Link Archive, December 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.
Rights: DVLA fails in
reverse domain name hijack, John Leyden, The Register, 12.31.
UK's Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) rebuked for
attempting to hijack dvla.com from DVL Automation.
Software: Wednesday's
List, RAILhead design, 12.31. "In short, it's a comic book pull
list creator and manager on steroids." Shareware, OS X 10.1 or
higher.
History: Happy
birthday, dear Internet, Justin Jaffe, Wired, 12.31. The
Internet had been around for years, but on January 1, 1983, it
adopted TCP/IP and paved the way for today's Internet.
Dark Side: What makes IE so
fast?, Brian Tiemann, Grotto11, 12.13. One reason IE for
Windows is so fast when connecting to Microsoft IIS servers - MS
cheats.
Spam: The
spam problem: Moving beyond RBLs, Philip Jacob, 12.30. "One of
my servers is listed on an RBL in spite of the fact that no spam
has ever passed through it."
Spam: Fighting spam:
Legislation won't work, James Maguire, osOpinion, 12.30.
"...passing anti-spam legislation, while perhaps well intended, is
like passing a law against rain."
Dark Side: Another
reason not to use Internet Explorer, John H. Farr, Applelinks,
12.30. If you use IE to view a page's source code, IE rewrites the
code to Microsoft's own specifications.
Opinion: I
was a dual-booting fan before OS X, Charles W. Moore, OS X
Odyssey, Applelinks, 12.30. Author has been dual-booting since
setting up a Mac Plus to boot either System 6 or 7.
Opinion: New
iBook special edition, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 12.30.
Further deliberations on the 700 MHz vs. 800 MHz iBook.
News:
IBM mulls Linux for its PCs, Indranil Chakraborty, Financial
Express, 12.30. IBM may start shipping its PCs with Linux instead
of Windows.
Dark Side:
Glass panes and software: Windows name is challenged, Steve
Lohr, New York Times, 12.30. "No company, no matter how powerful,
no matter how much money it has spent, should be able to gain a
commercial monopoly on words in the English language."
Software: Mozilla for
Mac OS Classic petition, Mike Richardson, 12.30. Mozilla builds
for the classic Mac OS have been abandoned. Petition asks that
development be reinstated.
Deal: BookEndz for
PowerBook 3400, $39, Technowarehouse LLC, 12.30. The easy way
to connect all your cables to the PB 3400 at once.
Opinion: The best
and worst of 2002, Graeme Bennett, Mac Buyers Guide, 12.29. To
paraphrase Ellen Feiss, this is a really good roundup of Mac
happenings in 2002.
Opinion: Can
you learn to love Mac OS X?, Gene Steinberg, The Jaguar Report,
Mac Net Journal, 12.29. "...it's not the similarities that Mac
users who prefer Mac OS 9 focus on, but the differences."
Web: Who
owns the Internet? You and i do, John Schwartz, New York Times,
12.29. Joseph Turow's campaign to change 'Internet' to 'internet'
with a lower-case 'i'.
Advice:
New uses for old PCs, Mike Muskgrove, Washington Post, 12.27.
"The beauty of the Mac is it's easy to triage."
History: Email, forums,
and live chat, David K. Every, iGeek, 12.27. A brief history of
email and instant messaging software.
OS X: The
Quartz Extreme conundrum, Charles W. Moore, OS X Odyssey,
Applelinks, 12.27. Is 16 MB of VRAM on the 700 MHz iBook adequate
for Quartz Extreme, or does it really cry out for 32 MB?
OS X: Labels X
1.1.1, Unsanity, 12.27. Haxie lets OS X display labels, shares
label info with OS 9.
Web: Mac
Net Journal: Nifty!, John H. Farr, Applelinks, 12.27. "...you
might just want to make the blog a regular stop in your daily
surfing."
Rights:
Fair use and abuse, Gary Stix, Scientific American, 12.27. "The
DMCA has not only undercut fair use but also stifled scientific
investigations."
Tech:
DVD writers could hit 16x in 2004, Martyn Williams, PCWorld,
12.26. Expect 8x burners in 2003, 16x in 2004. Time Corps could be
all over this.
Review:
A smart keyboard for typing on the go, David Pogue, New York
Times, 12.26. Two pound portable costs $400, runs 25 hours on a set
of AA batteries, runs PalmOS, and includes a touch screen.
Advice: Taking
back control of your iPod, Derrick Story, O'Reilly Network,
12.26. The iPod wants to tie you to a single Mac - PodWorks 1.1
lets you use it with multiple Macs.
Opinion: When
simple is better, Paul Gilster, News Observer, 12.25. "Maybe we
should let computers do what they do best - sorting, filing,
finding data. And maybe we should emphasize what we do best, which
is the human side of communication...."
Review: Powerlogix's
Series 133 Dual 1 GHz G4 upgrade, Mike Breeden, Accelerate Your
Mac!, 12.24. Hands on review of the only dual processor upgade for
Power Mac G4s with AGP graphics.
Opinion: Should
you have to work to like an operating system?, Charles W.
Moore, OS X Odyssey, Applelinks, 12.24. "...I really have been
trying to like OS X for over a year now, with some success, but
those missing features are fact, not fancy."
Advice: Toast not seeing
CD-RW, AppleTechs, 12.24. "I just installed iTunes 2 with my
new iPod on OS 9, and now Toast won't see my firewire CD
burner."
Rights:
Broadband
supplier puts limits on peer-to-peer services, the Inquirer,
12.21. Users of Cablevision's "Optimum" broadband service warned to
stop using Aimster, KaZaA, Gnutella, LimeWire, and several other
peer-to-peer file sharing systems.
Forum:
OptimumOnline bans uploads to P2P networks, Slashdot, 12.21.
"...Cablevision's high speed broadband unit OptimumOnline has sent
letters to subscribers warning that uploading to P2P networks will
no longer be tolerated."
Web:
Next-gen pop-up ads, Slashdot, 12.21. New generation of popup
ads use "kick through" to steal you away without a mouse click. Can
it get any worse?
Review:
The ACard ARS-2000FW IDE to SCSI adapter, Rick Pepper,
Accelerate Your Mac, 2001.01.15. A less costly alternative to the
Addonics converters reviews on Linux Hardware.
Review:
Addonics IDE/ATAPI to SCSI converters, Linux Hardware, 12.19.
Compact, $99-109 adapters let users connect low-cost IDE or ATAPI
devices to the SCSI bus.
OS X: Jaguar
10.2.3 update musings and more on slowdowns, Charles W. Moore,
OS X Odyssey, Applelinks, 12.20. Thoughts on the 10.2.3 update,
Unsanity Haxies slowdowns, indispensibility of Windowshade X.
Opinion: Whither the
BeOS?, Mike Berman, osOpinion, 12.20. "...is BeOS truly dead,
or is it just lying dormant, waiting to rise again like a
phoenix?"
Web: Pop-ups add new
twist, Stefanie Olsen, c|net, 12.20. Pop-ups, pop-unders, and
pop-afters not bad enough? New ad format can take you to another
site without you ever clicking a thing.
Rights: EU tells HP et
al to scrap inkjet 'clever chips', electricnews.net, The
Register, 12.20. New EU law requires manufacturers - not end users
- to bear the cost of recycling electrical goods.
Opinion: Europe
says no to chips in ink cartridges, John H. Farr, Applelinks,
12.20. Legislation could force printer companies to raise prices on
hardware to maintain profitability.
Rights:
Bush
administration to propose system for monitoring Internet, J
Markoff, J Schwartz, New York Times, 12.20. White House "planning
to propose requiring Internet service providers to help build a
centralized system to enable broad monitoring of the Internet and,
potentially, surveillance of its users."
Opinion: Macs of
Christmas past, Charles W. Moore, Applelinks, 12.20. "My first
Mac arrived just before Christmas in 1992 - my first real
computer...."
Opinion: Yes, the 10.2.3
update is faster, Gene Steinberg, The Jaguar Report, Mac Night
Owl, 12.20. "Clearly Apple has been working overtime to make Mac OS
X work better."
News: Mac OS X
10.2.3 available, Apple, 12.19. Be sure to check sites around
the Web for compatibility issues before you install.
Advice: Whatever you do,
install the OS 9 disk drivers, Rob McNair-Huff, Mac Net
Journal, 12.19. "...you cannot boot from an OS 9.x installer CD in
order to run a disk utility like the $70-plus DiskWarrior
program...."
Rights:
Verdict
seen as blow to DMCA, Joanna Glasner, Wired, 12.18. "Critics of
a controversial U.S. copyright law applauded a jury's decision
Tuesday to acquit a Russian software firm...."
Rights:
Patent creates IM wrinkle, Jim Hu, c|net, 12.17. AOL subsidiary
ICQ awarded patent for inventing instant messaging over a network
in 1997. Prior art: Broadcast for the Mac, 1992.
Forum: AOL
patents IM, Slashdot, 12.17. "AOL has recieved a patent on . .
. any technology that provides 'a network that allows multiple
users to see when other users are present and then to communicate
with them' is covered."
Spam: AOL wins $7m in
porn spam case, Tim Richardson, The Register, 12.17. Porn
spammer kept sending email even after court injuction. Other ISPs,
are you listening?
Opinion: Quark Inc.
puts monkey wrench into Mac OS X migration plans, Gene
Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 12.16. "Can one software company largely
known for a single product cause Apple Computer to change its plans
about the end of dual booting?"
Opinion: Of all the
Mac users, Alissa's the moxiest, Jim Stingl, Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel, 12.15. Allisa Salmore "the world's most savvy,
accomplished, creative and flat-out moxiest woman who uses a
Macintosh computer and, of course, Microsoft software."
Forum:
Fast CD-R drives make for twice the piracy, Slashdot, 12.15.
"...the operation had the equivalent of 421 CD-burners, which
. . . means '156 CD-burners but some of them were fast.'
How they expect anyone to take their statistics seriously is beyond
me."
Huh?: RIAA in a spin over
CD copying bust, Andrew Orlowski, The Register, 12.15. New
math: RIAA considers 156 high speed CD burners "the equivalent of
421 burners." Is this how they calculate piracy losses as
well?
Opinion: A possible
Apple roadmap, Damien Barrett, mrbarrett.com, 12.14. "...Apple
is gearing up make a serious entry into the enterprise
market."
Review:
PC killer on the loose, Tom Yager, InfoWorld, 12.13. "The
PowerBook G4 . . . the only notebook on the market worth
spending $2,500 on, and at that price, it's a steal."
Education:
An Apple for teacher ain't enough, Charles Haddad, Byte of the
Apple, BusinessWeek, 12.13. "Apple has done more than any other
company to make computers truly useful educational tools."
News: Apple:
Certain Macs will boot OS 9 until June 2003, Jim Dalrymple,
MacCentral, 12.13. "Apple said that certain models of the current
product line would be made available to educators until June of
2003 to help the transition of educational institutions."
Humor: Pay off the US
national debt - Nigerians help out!, Dave Gammage, The
Register, 12.13. Huge caches of American currency stored in
Nigerian trunks, mattresses, and secret bank accounts could reduce
national debt.
Rights:
ElcomSoft
programmer takes stand, Elise Ackerman, BayArea.com, 12.11.
"Dmitry Sklyarov, the Russian programmer whose arrest for violating
a controversial copyright law sparked international protests,
finally got to tell his story to a jury Monday."
Rights:
Publish
here, get sued everywhere, Andrew Stroehlein, E-Media Tidbits,
12.10. High Court of Australia rules that defamatory remarks
published on the Internet can be prosecuted in any
jurisdiction.
Upgrade: CD-RW
drive in your iBook? Yes!, John H. Farr, Applelinks, 12.10.
"...wouldn't it be great to be able to burn CDs on that tangerine
or blueberry wonder?"
Humor:
Internet soapbox, smilepop.com, 12.10. "Bill Gates is not going
to send me money. I am not going to get gift certificates...."
Web: Trade stuff online at
Trodo.com, Trodo.com, 12.09. Neat new free system for swapping
books, records, CDs, videos, games.
Opinion: iPod: Don't copy that
MP3!, AppleCrap, 12.09. Why does Apple make it so easy to copy
MP3s to the iPod - and so hard to put them back on your hard
drive?
Rights:
Some call it fair play, Ed Foster, The Gripe Line, InfoWorld,
12.09. "...if we are to remain a society in which freedom of speech
and freedom of the press have any meaning, vendors must not
exercise any form of prior restraint."
Opinion: Are
independent Apple dealers a dying breed?, Gene Steinberg, Mac
Night Owl, 12.09. Between Apple retail stores, mail order, and
CompUSA, locals may have a hard future.
Opinion: Hey, I'm a
loyal Mac user, too, Leander Kahney, Wired, 12.07. "I have
always been a Mac user, and I probably always will be a Mac user.
That's why I'm interested in the Mac culture."
Benchmarks:
Mac vs. PC III: Mac slaughtered again, Charlie White, Digital
Video Editing, 12.06. 3 GHz Dell "trounces" dual 1.25 GH Power Mac
G4 for video work.
Huh?:
Feds
label Wi-Fi a terrorist tool, Paul Boutin, Wired, 12.06. "The
Department of Homeland Security sees wireless networking technology
as a terrorist threat." Yes, they mean AirPort.
Opinion: Does Macworld Expo
have a future?, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 12.06. "While I
don't expect the San Francisco edition of Macworld Expo to vanish
anytime soon, the future of this trade show in other cities seems
clearly in doubt...."
Advice:
Web page authoring software?, MacSlash, 12.05. "Can someone
recommend a fairly inexpensive but good Web page creator?
Preferably, it would be WYSIWYG...."
News: HP
plans to take Alpha to its omega, Ian Fried, c|net, 12.05.
Final revision of Alpha CPU scheduled, once among the most powerful
CPUs on the market.
Opinion: Apple's interactive TV
box, helicine, AppleCrap, 12.05. Apple's WebTV-like device just
never got off the ground.
Opinion: Worshipping at
the altar of Mac, Leander Kahney, Wired, 12.05. "The Mac and
its fans constitute the equivalent of a religion."
Education:
Will Apple be expelled from school?, David Zeiler, SunSpot.com,
12.05. "Although some districts buy both platforms, [at least] 79
percent of U.S. school officials plan to buy Windows PCs this
year."
Virus: Klez tops 2002
virus charts, The Register, 12.05. "During the year, Sophos
detected 7,189 new viruses, worms and Trojan horses, bringing the
total number of bugs on its books to more than 78,000." Mac users
feeling left out?
Education: Can Apple regain
the education market?, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 12.04.
Schools replace Mac with Windows because it dominates the
workplace.
Opinion: For Mac users,
it takes a village, Leander Kahney, Wired, 12.04. "Apple users
are not loyal to Apple per se. They are loyal to Apple and to each
other."
Opinion: Apple: It's
all about the brand, Leander Kahney, Wired, 12.04. "Ask
marketers and advertising experts why Mac users are so loyal, and
they all cite the same reason: Apple's brand."
Rights: Who will rid us of
fake error message ads?, Drew Cullen, The Register, 12.04. "A
class action suit has been filed in Spokane County Washington
against Bonzi Software, the maker of the fake error message banner
ads you have all seen thousands of times."
Rights: Internet
hate-speech ban called 'chilling', Michelle Madigan, PC World,
12.04. "As European leaders move to ban Internet hate speech and
seek support from the United States, civil liberties groups charge
that the proposal would violate free-speech rights."
Rights:
Class action filed against Bonzi Software, Slashdot, 12.04. "A
nationwide class action lawsuit was filed . . . against Bonzi
Software, Inc. Bonzi is among the world's most prolific issuers of
internet advertising banners."
Huh?:
Finnish taxi drivers must pay music royalties, Slashdot, 12.03.
"Finland's Supreme Court has ruled that taxi drivers must pay
royalty fees of about $20 annually if they play music in their car
while a customer is in the backseat."
Opinion: Performa 6400/Power Mac
6500 case, AppleCrap, 12.02. "Some cases are better than
others, but the 6400/6500 cases were some of the most convoluted
piles of crap I have ever come across."
Rights: Taking
liberties with our freedom, Lauren Weinstein, Wired, 12.02.
"Since . . . 9/11, a range of legislation detrimental to
fundamental freedoms and privacy rights has been rammed into law,
without any assurance that our safety will improve as a
result."
Opinion: Mac loyalists:
Don't tread on us, Leander Kahney, Wired, 12.02. "...unlike
ordinary personal computers, people don't simply use Macs, they
become fans."
News:
Ritalin passes safety test, Carla McClain, Arizona Daily Star,
12.01. First long-term study shows that it works and is safe in the
long run.
Dark Side:
Rights: