Top Links: July 2003

Mac News Today

The Low End Mac Link Archive, July 2003

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.

Advice: Replacing your logic board can cause problems with iTunes-purchased music, MacFixIt, 07.31. "If you are getting your logic board replaced - common practice for a wide range of hardware irregularities - make sure to de-authorize all of your iTunes-purchased AAC tracks."
Analysis: G5 benchmarking controversy still simmers, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 07.31. "Maybe Apple was a little selective in past benchmarks, but it seems to have bent over backwards making its G5 versus Intel iron comparison as fair and as detailed as possible."
Rights: New details emerge about iTrip's UK ban, Dennis Sellers, MacCentral, 07.31. UK law prohibits use of short-range radio transmitter that lets iPod users around the world listen to tunes on FM radio.
Opinion: Free long distance and free TV, Marc Zeedar, Less Tangible, Mac Opinion, 07.31. "Audio Instant Messaging is just like the telephone, only free. Even better, there is no phone number...."
.mac: .Mac members get Marble Blast, Peter Cohen, MacCentral, 07.31. One more benefit of your .mac subscription - a free game you can play on your Mac.
Upgrade: OWC's optical media upgrades for TiBooks & Cubes, Applelinks, 07.31. OWC releases slot-loading internal $380 SuperDrive and $200 Combo drives for PowerBook G4 (titanium) and Power Macintosh G4 Cube.
Benchmarks: Mac OS X 10.2.6 vs. Panther (10.3) beta, HardMac, 07.30. On a 600 MHz iMac, the Panther beta outperforms 10.2.6 on almost every test.
Software: iPhoto has a new Buddy, MacUser UK, 07.30. "...the utility allows you to create more than one iPhoto library and in any location either on your hard drive, a server or an iDisk." Free.
Opinion: The Apple technical support report: My Wednesday morning rant, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 07.30. "So what went wrong at Apple? Why or why did they have to insist that my client must wipe his drive clean?"
Opinion: Why iTunes has bands on the run, Charles Haddad, Byte of the Apple, BusinessWeek, 07.30. "Online services such as Apple's put consumers in control of what they buy, not artists."
Opinion: Poll: 10.3's metal gets brush-off, Macworld UK, 07.30. Users divided on Aqua vs. brushed metal. Best suggestion: "Apple should make interface choices a system-level option, so people can choose Aqua or brushed-metal."
Software: iChatUSBCam 1.0 for iChat AV released, MacMinute, 07.30. "Ecamm Network has released iChatUSBCam 1.0, a utility that allows the use any QuickTime compatible video source for video conferencing in iChat AV, including USB webcams...."
Macinschool: Why I'm not sure I want Macs in my classroom, Noah Kravitz, PowerBook Central, 07.29. "Are iBooks and G4s worth the extra cost to schools that are already starved for funding?"
Dark Side: Redefining Microsoft, Frank Catalano, Seattle Weekly, 07.29. "...Microsoft has trouble whenever it tries to grow outside of this core competency. The failures are 'disappeared' from Microsoft's official history...."
Oops: BuyMusic customers can't transfer songs to MP3 players, Bryan Chaffin, Mac Observer, 07.29. "The newest problem to beset the would-be iTMS competitor is that customers who have downloaded songs from the service can't transfer them to the MP3 players that BM says it supports."
Opinion: Why my iBook reminds me of a Renault 4, and two cool (literally) new laptop stands, Charles Moore, Road Warrior, Mac Opinion, 07.29. "With both machines, you tend to be using them flat out a lot of the time. No wasted potential."
Opinion: Down and out on the Web, Del Miller, Abacus, Mac Opinion, 07.29. "How do we finance the content that we value so much if the audience isn't willing, for whatever reason, to pay for it?"
Opinion: So what kind of Mac do you own?, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 07.29. "If you told me, for example, that you had an iMac, I'd have to ask you a few more questions to learn which one."
Rights: Telemarketers sue over do-not-call list, CNN, 07.29. "Telemarketers expanded their legal challenge to the government's do-not-call list, suing a second federal agency over the call-blocking service for consumers...."
Opinion: Macworld Expo New York's ill-advised age policy, Adam C. Engst, TidBITS, 07.28. Children 12 and under no longer welcome at Macworld Creative Pro - not even 7-week-old infants in front carriers.
Rights: Copying is theft - and other legal myths, Mark Rasch, The Register, 07.28. "...technically, file sharing is not theft."
Low End: Apple Cube: Alive and selling, Leander Kahney, Wired, 07.28. "...there's a thriving trade in aftermarket upgrades, and dedicated owners are going to extreme lengths to keep their much-loved machines current."
Dark Side: Napster 2.0 by Christmas, Jan Libbenga, The Register, 07.28. "Napster 2.0 is being built from the ground up to reflect the essence of independence and innovation that the brand is known for," but it will only work with Windows.
Software: iCame, iSaw, iConquer[ed], Ron Carlson, Insanely Great Mac, 07.28. Latest version of iConquer, an OS X only "Risk" clone, add support for Internet play.
Tech: Networking in the fast lane is just too easy to overlook, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 07.27. Gigabit ethernet lets you achieve hard drive speeds over a network - and it's standard on high-end Macs.
Advice: Storing home folders on a separate partition, M. Christopher Stevens, Other World Computing, 07.27. Stuck booting OS X from an 8 GB partition on a larger drive? Moving user folders to another partition is one way to free up some space.
Education: Apples for teachers: Yuma school district equipped with new computers, Randy Reese, Yuma Sun, 07.26. Creative lease agreement to put 700 iMacs running OS X 10.3 into Yuma schools without touching tax dollars.
Dark Side: Bill Gates: 5% of Windows machines crash more than twice a day, Bryan Chaffin, Mac Observer, 07.25. "Unfortunately, there is no information in the article about how many Windows-based machines crash one or two times per day."
Web: The most successful online launch in history, Vin Crosbie, E-Media Tidbits, 07.25. "...89% of millions of Americans who signed up on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's national 'Do Not Call' anti-telemarketing registry chose to register online, rather than by phone...."
Opinion: Mac or PC: There is simply no comparison!, Del Miller, Difference Engine, Mac Opinion, 07.25. "When I look around at what the bulk of the computing public actually uses their computer for, I see absolutely no reason why a significant portion of them couldn't switch to the Macintosh..."
Web: BuyMusic.com blocks Mac access, MacMinute, 07.25. "Thank you for visiting BuyMusic.com. In order to take full advantage of BuyMusic.com's offerings you must be on a Windows Operating System using Internet Explorer version 5.0 or higher."
Spam: People want antispam registry, senator says, Grant Gross, ComputerWorld, 07.25. "74% surveyed support national do-not-spam list."
Analysis: TV tuning a 'must have' for computers, Peter Cohen, MacCentral, 07.24. "Computer-based TV tuners have gone from novelty to '"must have" capability,' according to Jon Peddie Research."
Spam: Aussies to nix spam, John H. Farr, Applelinks, 07.24. "New Australian legistlation . . . will require that commercial emails arise out of an 'existing customer-business relationship.'"
Rights: Music-sharing subpoenas target parents, Fox News, 07.24. "Parents, roommates - even grandparents - are being targeted in the music industry's new campaign to track computer users who share songs over the Internet...."
History: AOL, eWorld and an LC 580, John Ward, Vectronic's Apple World, 07.23. "Apple history consists of a long string of events in which the company failed to move on emerging markets that it correctly identified years before its competitors."
Advice: Eliminate wireless interference, MacMegasite, 07.23. "If you find that you frequently lose the connection to your airport base station, it's possible that a cordless phone or other device is interfering with it."
Analysis: BM Vs. iTMS: Is anyone home at BuyMusic.com?, Darla Sasaki, Mac Observer, 07.23. BuyMusic.com - no search tool, few 79¢ tracks, inconsistent pricing, and albums that cost more than collected tracks.
Opinion: Mac OS X: Migration is complete, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 07.23. "...I suspect that most of the owners of older Macs who are interested in moving to Mac OS X, and have the hardware to support the move, have already done so."
Low End: Penny-pinching PowerBook, Michael J. Norton, O'Reilly Network, 07.22. Portability on a budget - debating the PowerBook Duo 280c vs. the much faster and very affordable PowerBook 1400.
Low End: G4 Cube dusted off, given new life, Mark Kellner, Washington Times, 07.22. "Instead of consigning this 'relic' to the scrap heap or a page on eBay, I thought it might be interesting to see what upgrades work best."
Benchmarks: G5/2 GHz MP performance data compared to G4/1.42 GHz MP, Bare Feats, 07.22. Remember, these results are on prerelease hardware with a prerelease OS....
Opinion: Buymusic.com to take on iTunes Music Store, others, Ken "Caesar" Fisher, ars technica, 07.22. For a start, you don't buy the music, can't move it to another computer, and may not be able to burn CDs from the music you license.
News: Nikon D2H preview, Phil Askey, Digital Photography Review, 07.22. New US$3,500 Nikon digital SLR creates 4 MP images at up to 8 shots per second, especially designed for sports photographers.
Opinion: Still no new 'Books, and battery management issues, Charles W. Moore, Road Warrior, Mac Opinion, 07.21. "...battery reliability has been a problem, particularly, it seems, under OS X, in which the battery management routines apparently leave much to be desired."
Opinion: PowerBook is rugged on the road, Mike Wendland, Mac-Mike.com, 07.21. "I'm back from a 281-mile bicycle ride called the Michigander and about the only thing that worked perfectly was my Apple PowerBook G4 12-inch laptop."
Tech: PowerPC 970 redux: Dialogue and addendum, Jon "Hannibal" Stokes, ars technica, 07.21. More details on the PowerPC 970 from two engineers involved with the project.
Advice: Scheduling your Mac, Jon Gales, Power User Monday, MacMerc, 07.21. "The Unix utility Cron is built into OS X, and can automate most anything."
Advocacy: Why I want a Pentium Mac, David Coursey, ZDNet, 07.21. "Many people who would otherwise buy a Mac don't do so because the machine won't also run Windows. Sure, there's the Virtual PC...."
Hardware: DVD-R is the most compatible DVD format, CDR-Info, 07.20. DVD-R (used by Apple) rated nearly 97% compatible. DVD+R (promoted by MS) rated only 87% compatible.
Analysis: The power of QuarkXPress: How can one application mean so much?, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 07.20. "Without a Mac OS X version of their chosen desktop publishing application, there's little incentive to buy new Power Macs, since the ones they have work just fine, thank you."
Opinion: Jeffrey Zeldman talks Apple, Apple Matters, 07.19. "People who choose Macs consider the experience of using a computer to be as important as the fact that a computer lets them get work done."
Rights: RIAA nails 1,000 music-lovers in 'new Prohibition' jihad, Andrew Orlowski, The Register, 07.19. RIAA "serving subpoenas at the rate of 75 a day on US citizens for the crime of sharing the music they love."
Forum: Single vs dual CPU?, MacFixIt, 07.18. Good discussion of where dual processors will be beneficial - and where they won't.
Benchmarks: Acard's 4 channel Ultra ATA-133 hardware RAID, Bare Feats, 07.18. "What's the fastest 4 drive combination, ATA-133? FireWire 800? or Ultra320 SCSI? And if cost is a factor, what's the best buy?"
Dark Side: Judge OKs $1.1 billion Microsoft deal, Declan McCullagh, Cnet, 07.18. Friday's ruling "the largest recovery of a monopoly overcharge ever achieved in the United States and the largest recovery ever achieved under the antitrust laws of California."
Hardware: IBM servers to pair Linux, new PowerPC chips, Daniel Drew Turner, eWeek, 07.18. Quad processor PowerPC 970 server expected to sell for $3,500. (Same CPU used in Power Mac G5.)
Hardware: D-Link offers USB 2.0/FireWire combo hub, Peter Cohen, MacCentral, 07.18. "The device combines four USB 2.0 and three FireWire ports to enable users to simultaneously connect a large number of different peripherals through a single hub."
Deal: MCE offers iBooks with DVD-R/RW drives, for same price, Peter Cohen, MacCentral, 07.18. Buy a 900 MHz from MCE, get a DVD-R/RW drive for the same price as a Combo drive iBook from Apple.
Rights: DirecTV dragnet snares innocent techies, Kevin Poulsen, The Register, 07.17. If you've ever bought a smart card programmer, DirecTV wants to sue you for piracy - even if you don't use their services.
Opinion: It's time to move to a Power Mac, John Ward, Vectronic's Apple World, 07.17. All-in-one Macintosh fan finds himself more and more attracted to Power Mac G5.
Hardware: Matias recreates "the best keyboard Apple ever made", Applelinks, 07.17. "Matias has announced today the release of its Tactile Pro Keyboard, built from the same premium mechanical keyswitch technology Apple used in its original Apple Extended Keyboard...."
Analysis: Apple's financials: More from less, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 07.17. A look at the big shifts in Apple's product line.
Spam: Spam report #37, John H. Farr, Applelinks, 07.17. "By rough count I'm now getting about 120 spams per day. I say 'rough,' because I now delete them every hour...."
Benchmarks: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro: Killer graphics for the rest of us?, Bare Feats, 07.17. Retail version of Radeon 9800 works in AGP 2x and 4x slots, but is it any faster than the 9700?
Rights: Upload a file, go to prison, Katie Dean, Wired, 07.17. "A new bill proposed in Congress on Wednesday would land a person in prison for five years and impose a fine of $250,000 for uploading a single file to a peer-to-peer network."
Rights: DirecTV dragnet snares innocent techies, Kevin Poulsen, The Register, 07.17. If you've ever bought a smart card programmer, DirecTV wants to sue you for piracy - even if you don't use their services.
Opinion: Why Macs are a bargain, Garry Barker, Sydney Morning Herald, 07.17. "Quoting a report produced by Sophos, a virus consultancy and software firm, Macworld UK states that just 0.16 per cent of the viruses reported to the company were Mac-specific."
Rights: Congress mulls prison terms for KaZaA users, Thomas C Greene, The Register, 07.17. "...House Hollywood sock puppet Howard Berman (Democrat, California) is now sponsoring legislation that would jail people who trade as little as one MP3 on the Internet."
AAPL: Apple revenue highest in 11 quarters, Dennis Sellers, MacCentral, 07.17. "Overall, laptop and iPod sales soared, iMac sales dropped, and Power Macs flatlined."
Hardware: WiebeTech SATADock converts IDE drives to Serial ATA, MacMinute, 07.16. Compact $119 adapter lets you use ATA-5/6 drives (Ultra100/133) with Serial ATA.
AAPL: Apple reports $19 million profit, Jim Dalrymple, MacCentral, 07.16. Not big, but it is a profit - and better than analysts expected at that.
Dark Side: Microsoft lands Homeland Security contract, John H. Farr, Applelinks, 07.16. "Sensate observers will no doubt note the irony of hacker-friendly Microsoft technology bearing responsibility for the citizenry's physical security...."
Hardware: Voodoo offers laptop with upgradeable graphics, Tony Smith, The Register, 07.16. Idea for Apple: "US-based notebook maker Voodoo has released what it claims is the first mobile PC with a modular, upgradeable graphics sub-system."
Web: AOL kills Netscape, Andrew Orlowski, The Register, 07.16. "When AOL bought Netscape, the browser that created the revolution had market share parity with Microsoft's Internet Explorer."
Hardware: Telly: The home entertainment server, Interact TV, 07.16. Idea for Apple: A networkable entertainment computer that's a digital video recorder, MP3 and other file server, and can burn CDs and DVDs.
Review: Cooler Master ATC-620-SX1 and BX1 cases, Dan's Data, 05.03. Apple could take a hint from this enclosure when designing a desktop PC or a digital hub computer for home entertainment. Clever design.
Opinion: Mac OS X apps ranked by category, Rob McNair-Huff, Mac Net Journal, 07.15. One man's take on the best (and worst) OS X applications available today. Very informative.
Opinion: With due respect to David Coursey, the 'Book is still the logical Mac, Charles Moore, Road Warrior, Mac Opinion, 07.15. "I think desktop computers are absurdly large for what most people do with them most of the time...."
Apple: Apple airs new Power Mac G5 commercial, MacMinute, 07.15. "A new Apple television ad for the Power Mac G5 began airing today, which features a Mac user literally being 'blown away' by the new system."
History: Introducing NeXT - The Wonders of NeXTstep and OpenStep, Eugenia Loli-Queru, OSNews, 07.15. Mac OS X owes a great deal to NeXT and their two operating systems - the good and the bad.
Advocacy: Bringing the Apple to the masses - An alternative theory, Eugenia Loli-Queru, OSNews, 07.15. "So, how do we bring Macs closer to these PC price-concious consumers you ask? Well, Apple will have to spin off a new brand."
Spam: The destruction of our e-mail system, Gene Steinberg, The Spam Report, Mac Night Owl, 07.15. "I get 700 pieces of junk mail every single day, and the explosion only gets worse."
Analysis: The good, the bad, and the Avie, John Gruber, Daring Fireball, 07.14. "The general perception is that Mac OS X isn't just good, but that it's good and getting better."
Web: PDF: Unfit for human consumption, Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, 07.14. "PDF is good for printing, but that's it. Don't use it for online presentation."
OS X: Potential data loss bug in Mail.app; workaround, MacFixIt, 07.14. Bug impacts only those who store sent messages on an IMAP server. Some messages are not stored.
Advice: Reader report: Laptop batteries, MacInTouch, 07.14. How to reset the battery in iBooks and modern PowerBooks for renewed battery life.
Upgrade: OWC shipping 800 MHz G4 processor upgrade, Kirk Hiner, Applelinks, 07.14. Speed up any AGP Power Mac running slower than 800 MHz. 1 MB level 3 cache. US$270.
Hardware: FirmTek SeriTek/1S2: Serial ATA for older Macs, FirmTek, 07.14. Bootable PCI card allows adding fast Serial ATA drives to older Macs, supports Mac OS 8.x through X.
Advice: More details on AirPort 3.1 compatibility, TidBITS, 07.14. Which 802.11g PC Cards are compatible with OS X - and which are not.
Advice: Write yourself a discount, Steve Wood, Busman's Holiday, Math Dittos 2, 07.14. How affiliate programs can make you money and save you money.
Opinion: Crisis of quality?, David K. Every, iGeek, 06.10. "I'm thinking the whole purpose of AppleCare was to get that money out of me, and then think of excuses why it wasn't covered."
Rights: How to infuriate the RIAA and stay enragingly legal, Charlie Demerjian, The Inquirer, 07.12. How to create an "on demand" Internet radio network that adheres to the law and will drive the RIAA bonkers.
Analysis: Software development and being a sharcropper, Tim Bray, The Web's the Place, 07.12. If you're developing for the Mac or Windows, you're a sharecropper - and the owner can evict you at any time.
Analysis: A Switch campaign of a different kind, MacFixIt, 07.11. Why people are sticking with Mac OS 9, and what will make the Mac OS X shift happen.
Rights: Hackers hijack PC's for sex sites, John Schwartz, New York Times, 07.11. Online porn industry infecting Windows PCs, has hijacked over 1,000 systems with broadband, used the to send spam, host online porn pages. Macs and Unix machines unaffected.
Hardware: televio - TV on your Mac, Televio, 07.11. TV tuner with remote plus composite video input to Macs with free PCI slot, OS X. US$149.
OS X: iChatUSBCam public beta, ecamm, 07.11. Got iChat and a USB webcam? iChatUSBCam may let you use them together.
Advocacy: How many buttons?, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 07.11. One mouse button or two? What about scroll wheels? Why not let the market decide, Apple.
Tech: The G5 and Apple's future: It's all in the details, Del Miller, Mac Opinion, 07.10. How the G5's memory bus, permute engine, and even cooling system put Apple ahead of the rest of the computing world.
AAPL: Pixar hits all-time high, AAPL consolidates below US$20, Robert Paul Leitau, Apple Stock Watch, Mac Observer, 07.10. "Apple reached new 52-week highs on Monday and Tuesday before consolidating just below the US$20.00 per share marker in Wednesday trading."
Dark Side: Intel replies to G5: 3.4 GHz for desktops, 1.8 GHz for portables, Remy Davison, InfoWorld, 07.09. 3.4 GHz Pentium 4 with 1 MB cache expected to ship by year-end. Pentium M with 1 MB cache scheduled to reach 1.8 GHz by year-end.
Opinion: Why laptops shouldn't replace desktops, David Coursey, ZDNet, 07.09. Laptops are great, but what if yours is stolen - or you forget to bring it to work one day?
Dark Side: Critical flaw affects all Windows versions, John H. Farr, Applelinks, 07.09. "At first believing it to be just more of the same, we weren't even going to mention it until we noticed that every version of Windows ever produced is vulnerable."
Dark Side: Microsoft patches holes in Windows, Ian Fried, Cnet, 07.09. "Because the security hole can be exploited without any action on the part of the user, Microsoft described it as critical, the highest rating in the software maker's four-level system."
Tech: Analysis: x86 vs. PPC, Nicholas Blachford, OSNews, 07.09. Enlightening discussion of Pentium vs. PowerPC families - and why PPC offers more computing power per MHz while using less electricity.
Opinion: In defence of online album sales: Apple should bend to meet artists' desires, Ricky Spero, Mac Observer, 07.09. "...if an artist wishes to produce a larger work and demand it be consumed in a single draught, I'm all for it."
Opinion: Some Mac OS 9 users will never be satisfied, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 07.09. "Change comes hard for some people. Apple could make Mac OS X run twice as fast as Mac OS 9 on a Bondi Blue iMac, and it probably wouldn't matter. It's just too different...."
Benchmarks: Power Mac G4 DP 1.42 GHz - How fast is it?, Macs Only!, 07.09. Macs Only puts the fastest Power Mac to date through its paces. It really rocks.
News: The RAM is ready, even if the PowerBook isn't, Remy Davison, Insanely Great Mac, 07.08. "Samsung has announced its 1GB DDR400 SO-DIMM modules, which are destined for high-performance portable computers."
News: Apple cuts keyboard, mouse prices to $49, Think Secret, 07.08. New prices already reflected at Apple store. Speculation is that wireless mouse, keyboard may be coming soon.
News: Apple cuts keyboard, mouse prices to $49, Think Secret, 07.08. New prices already reflected at Apple store. Speculation is that wireless mouse, keyboard may be coming soon.
Review: Mozilla 1.4 mini-review, Charles Moore, Applelinks, 07.08. "Mozilla 1.4 is very fast. I continue to maintain that it's faster than Safari, at least on a dialup connection...."
News: G5 to make first public appearance at Macworld CreativePro, Jim Dalrymple, MacCentral, 07.08. Is it too late to get transportation, lodging, and a press pass?
.mac: Renew .Mac, get The Sims or EverQuest free, Peter Cohen, MacCentral, 07.08. "If you're looking for a way to get a free copy of hit games like The Sims or EverQuest for Mac, consider renewing your .Mac membership."
Analysis: The Mac software report: First Microsoft, now Adobe, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 07.08. "...it's a matter of dollars and cents. Clearly Adobe wasn't selling enough [copies of Premiere] to justify a Mac version."
Spam: Michigan's proposed spam law called toughest in U.S., Slashdot, 07.07. "Traditionally, when a business specifically solicits business in a state . . . it is held to have submitted to personal jurisdiction in that state."
Spam: Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail Protection Act, Michigan Legislature, 07.07. Michigan residents will be able to sue at $500 per illegal spam starting Sept. 1, 2003.
Spam: It's way past time to stop e-mail spam, Desiree Cooper, Detroit Free Press, 07.07. "On Monday, the [Michigan] Legislature presented Gov. Jennifer Granholm with a bill that would be the most stringent anti-spam law in the nation."
Advice: Improving your Mac's colour, Keith Cooper, TidBITS, 07.07. The importance of calibrating the ColorSync profiles for your display and printer.
Tech: AirPort 3.1 supports third party 802.11g PC Cards, TidBITS, 07.07. "Owners of pre-AirPort Extreme PowerBooks with PC Card slots can now connect to higher-speed AirPort Extreme networks using third-party 802.11g cards."
OS X: Reflections on a month of iBooking in OS X, Charles Moore, Applelinks, 07.07. "Since I shifted to the iBook for production a month ago, I think I've only booted into OS 9 once, and that was just for a few minutes...."
OS X: Mac OS X 10.3 Panther will not be a 64-bit OS, Tony Smith, The Register, 07.07. Panther will be mostly a 32-bit operating system - but able to tap into some PowerPC 970 64-bit abilities.
Low End: Macs wear well in Maine's judicial courts, Macs Only!, 07.07. Courts in Maine have been using Macs since 1985. One SE/30 and several 7200s remain in daily use.
Analysis: Fake benchmarks and other nasty subjects, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 07.05. "It's time for the requisite reality check: Apple has been very upfront about how it tested its G5 against the competition."
History: The Macintosh and desktop publishing, John Ward, Vectronic's Apple World, 07.05. Until PageMaker unified the Mac, Postscript, and the LaserWriter into a desktop publishing system, the Mac was going nowhere.
Humor: iHAL, the eyes and ears of iChat AV, MacEdition, 07.04. Glowing red lens brings back memories of 2001: A Space Oddessy.
Benchmarks: Hitachi 7200RPM notebook drive versus the rest, Bare Feats, 07.04. "If you're looking for a 2.5 inch wide, 9.5mm thick notebook drive for your PowerBook or portable FireWire case, this is as good as it gets."
History: The more things change..., Larry Magid, PC Answer, CBS News, 07.04. From 20 years of writing about the PC industry: "I rarely get excited over a new computer, but Apple's Macintosh has started a fever in Silicon Valley that's hard not to catch."
Benchmarks: NASA benchmarks the new G5 Power Mac, Slashdot, 07.04. G5/2.0 with OS X tested against P4/2.66 running Linux, holds its own in overall performance, offers more MFLOPS/MHz. What does it all mean?
Opinion: iTMS: Are those sour notes I hear?, Vern Seward, Just A Thought, Mac Observer, 07.04. "Before iTMS came along, buying albums was a crap-shoot; you buy it for the hits but you hope there is other music on the album that you'll like."
Advocacy: What about an Apple wireless keyboard and mouse?, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 07.04. "...the first thing that came to my mind when Apple unveiled the flat-panel iMac last year was the lack of wireless input devices."
Opinion: Fighting iTMS singles: "Protecting the album" is a loser's argument, Bryan Chaffin, The Back Page, Mac Observer, 07.03. "...if their fans aren't forced to buy entire albums, they won't, and that scares some of these bands to death."
Analysis: Is Apple lying?, Marc Zeedar, Less Tangible, Mac Opinion, 07.03. "The bottom line is that every system is going to have peaks and valleys. It will be faster at some tasks than others."
Analysis: Why IBM needs Apple, Philip Machanick, Macintelligence, Mac Opinion, 07.03. Apple's success with the G5 is the best way for IBM to recoup their $3 billion investement.
Opinion: The graying of Mac OS X, Gene Steinberg, The Panther Report, Mac Night Owl, 07.03. "...I'm talking of the way that Apple has apparently toned down Panther's interface to make it less jarring, particularly to folks who found the original Aqua a little too much eye candy."
Benchmarks: An evaluation of PowerMac G5 systems for computational fluid dynamics applications, Craig A. Hunter, NASA Langley Research Center, 07.03. Using existing software and compilers, G4 offers 25% more power per MHz than G4, 30% more than P4 on scalar operations.
Review: Old Fart's Guide to the Macintosh, Gary Coyne, Applelinks, 07.03. "The intended focus of this book is on people who grew up before computers became a way of life."
Opinion: From PC to Mac, back to PC, & back to Mac (again), Stuart MacKenzie, OSNews, 07.02. Once frustrated by the Mac, would it be "once burned, twice shy" or "second time's the charm?"
OS X: Send SMS messages to mobile phones from iChat, figz, Mac OS X Hints, 07.02. iChat and AIM users can send test messages to mobile phones - but recipients can't reply.
Opinion: How Apple spells future: i-P-o-d, Charles Haddad, Byte of the Apple, BusinessWeek, 07.02. Mac market share is minuscule, but the iPod owns half the MP3 market.
Benchmarks: Hitachi Travelstar 7K60 7200RPM 60GB notebook drive tests, Accelerate Your Mac, 07.01. Fastest notebook drive ever includes 8 MB cache, doesn't get much hotter than other drives.
Web: The future of MacInTouch, Ric Ford, MacInTouch, 07.01. "...it has become clear that the current business model for MacInTouch is not viable over the long term without some adjustment."
Opinion: What are the prospects for G5 PowerBooks?, Charles W. Moore, Road Warrior, Mac Opinion, 07.01. "...I will be surprised to see any G5 laptops from Apple before at least mid-2004."
Tech: IBM confirms PowerPC 750GX 'Gobi' spec, Tony Smith, The Register, 07.01. Next generation G3 has twice the cache (1 MB!), will allow iBooks to go beyond 1 GHz.
Opinion: Has the fallout begun?, Gene Steinberg, The Panther Report, Mac Night Owl, 07.01. "The demise of C&G doesn't auger well for small software companies."

About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact

Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Opinions expressed are those of their authors and may not reflect the opinion of Cobweb Publishing. Advice is presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all.
Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2016 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Low End Mac, LowEndMac, and lowendmac.com are trademarks of Cobweb Publishing Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iPad, iPhone, iMac, iPod, MacBook, Mac Pro, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.
Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Email may be published at our discretion unless marked "not for publication"; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it, and we don't share the information we have with others. For more details, see our Terms of Use.

Follow Low End Mac on Twitter
Join Low End Mac on Facebook

Affiliates

Amazon.com
The iTunes Store
PC Connection Express
Macgo Blu-ray Player
Parallels Desktop for Mac
eBay

Mac News Today

The Low End Mac Link Archive, July 2003

About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact

Favorite Sites

Affiliates

Advertise