[MyAppleMenu] Friday, Sep 19, 2003

Fri Sep 19 21:05:01 EDT 2003

MyAppleMenu Newsletter
Friday, Sep 19, 2003

MyAppleMenu : News
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$2.15 Million Wires Classrooms With Computers (Jessica Wanks, Arizona Republic)
<http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/ahwatukee/articles/0919tapples18Z14.html>
Apples aren't just for teachers anymore. With two new Apple eMac computers installed in each classroom of the Tempe Elementary District's 24 schools, students will be learning how to use technology and the Internet as learning tools.

iPod Is 'Serious Temptation' (Macworld UK)
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/main_news.cfm?NewsID=6921>
UK consumer magazine Computing Which? has declared Apple's iPod its Best Buy MP3 player in its September issue.

Logitech Announces Bluetooth Devices (Eddie Park, Inside Mac Games)
<http://www.insidemacgames.com/news/story.php?ID=8423>
Hot on the heels of Apple's recent announcement of Bluetooth-powered devices, peripheral maker Logitech has announced its own lineup of Bluetooth devices.

The Apple Of Jonathan Ive's Eye (Ken Spencer Brown, Investor's Business Daily)
<http://www.investors.com/editorial/lands.asp?v=9/19>
Jonathan Ive, Apple's in-house product designer, reinvented the firm's computer line with a revamp of its Macintosh line.

Jobs Is 78th Richest Person In America (MacMinute)
<http://www.macminute.com/2003/09/18/jobs>

Columbia High School Parents Now Have Access To Records (Columbia Ledger)
<http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=2246&dept_id=481702&newsid=10184764&PAG=461&rfi=9>
Columbia Junior-Senior High School parents will be able to check on their students with a simple click of the mouse.

'Messiah' Accidently Tagged As 'Explicit' At iTunes Store (Associated Press)
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/6806240.htm>
George Frideric Handel has at least one thing in common with Eminem and other modern artists: his music was slapped with an "explicit" warning at Apple Computer Inc.'s online iTunes Music Store.

MyAppleMenu : Opinions
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Does Going Windows Save Schools Money? (Dan Knight, Low End Mac)
<http://lowendmac.com/macinschool/03/1019.html>
Put the pressure on. Try to unearth any evidence that any school anywhere has saved any money by adopting Windows PCs after the initial savings based on a lower purchase price.

G5 PowerBook? It Could Happen (Eric Bangeman, Ars Technica)
<http://arstechnica.com/archive/news/1063932042.html>
Reading between the lines (which is always helpful when speculating about new products), it looks like we can definitively expect G5 PowerBooks at some point.

Why The Beatles Are Hitting On Apple's ITunes (Naseem Javed, Axcess Business News)
<http://www.theaxcess.net/money_09_0903.html>
Can Apple computers go into music business without upsetting The Beatles? This will be decided by the courts and most probably in favor of Beatles.

MyAppleMenu : Reviews
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Warrior Kings (Kirk Hiner, Applelinks.com)
<http://www.applelinks.com/reviews/warriorkings.shtml>
The safest thing to do when sitting down to play Warrior Kings is to take what you know about and expect from real-time strategy games, fold it all up nicely, and stick it in your computer desk drawer with the pencils, paper clips, and photos of ex-girlfriends you pretend you don't think about anymore.

The Game Room: Eye Of The Tiger (Peter Cohen, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2003/10/reviews/thegameroom/>

Mac GEMS: Simple Shortcut (Dan Frakes, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2003/10/reviews/macgems/>

iListen 1.6: Dictation And Editing Anywhere That You Can TYpe (T. Patrick Henebry, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2003/10/reviews/ilisten16/>
iListen 1.6.1 is moving in the right direction; its support for digital recorders and improved select-by-saying capability demonstrate this. But if you run OS 9 or need truly hands-free computing, you should look elsewhere.

DeltaGraph 5.0: Visually Rich Charting Application Makes Belated Jump To OS X (Franklin Tessler, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2003/10/reviews/deltagraph5/>
The charting functions in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint may be sufficient for simple jobs, but DeltaGraph 5.0.2 offers many more specialized chart formats than either program.

Bravo Disc Publisher: Disc Production Speeds Along With Personal DVD/CD Duplicator ANd Printer (Robert Capps, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2003/10/reviews/bravodiscpublisher/>
Although we'd like to see the included software refined and expanded, the Bravo Disc Publisher is a useful machine and a new option for people who burn CDs and DVDs. The Bravo is most cost-effective for people who need to duplicate a modest number of discs fairly regularly.

Apogee Mini-Me: Analog-To-Digital COnverter Performs Well -- For A Price (David Leishman, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2003/10/reviews/apogeeminime/>
If you're an audio pro, or if you need to record sound or music on location for video work, the Mini-Me deserves your serious consideration. And if you're an enthusiast who wants to significantly improve the sound of song demos, it's definitely worth a look -- just be prepared to trim your living expenses.

G4 Processor Upgrades: Four 1.4GHz Cards Offer A Timely Stopgap Measure (Kristina De Nike, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2003/10/reviews/g4processorupgrades/>
Any of these four cards will rejuvenate your older computer, but the Sonnet card is a good choice only if you're sure you won't move it after installation. On the other hand, the OWC card works in the widest variety of systems and is relatively easy to move between systems. It's the best choice for an office with a variety of computers.

QuicKey X2: Powerful Utility Rewards Effort With Timesaving Macros (Franklin Tessler, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2003/10/reviews/quixkeysx2/>
Although programming complicated shortcuts demands patience and experimentation, QuicKeys is excellent for replicating many of the repetitive tasks that you perform every day.

DiskWarrior 3.0: Repair Utility Does No Harm (Stephan Somogyi, Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2003/10/reviews/diskwarrior3/>
DiskWarrior 3.0 is a tool that any serious Mac user -- and certainly every IT administrator -- should have.

iTools 7: Front End Simplifies Access To Open-Source Internet Services (Macworld)
<http://www.macworld.com/2003/10/reviews/itools7/>
iTools 7 takes industry-standard Internet- service software and makes it as easy to use as an OS X preference pane. iTools 7 may not appeal to advanced administrators with experience using text files to configure Unix software. But if you need a professional Internet presence without dedicated administrators, iTools 7 will save you time and effort.

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Lucian Fong, Inside Mac Games)
<http://www.insidemacgames.com/reviews/view.php?ID=403>
ATI has paired a powerful piece of hardware with an equally powerful software package that has many innovative features. Gamers will find the OpenGL Overrides useful for maximizing image quality and graphics and multimedia professionals will value VERSAVISION and the various output options.

MyAppleMenu : Wintel News
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Windows To Power ATMs In 2005 (Elisa Batista, Wired News)
<http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,60497,00.html>
Most U.S. banks plan to convert their ATMs to the Windows operating system by 2005. Will this move make bank customers vulnerable to malicious Internet attacks and the infamous blue screen of death?

New Internet Worm Targets E-Mail, P-To-P Software (Paul Roberts, IDG News Service)
<http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/09/18/HNinternetworm_1.html>
Antivirus companies are warning Internet users about W32.Swen, a new worm that spreads using e-mail messages, vulnerable network connections, IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and peer-to-peer (P-to-P) networks.

More Wintel news at <http://www.myapplemenu.com/wintel/>

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow: Top Stories
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British Law Mashes Spam (Graeme Wearden, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-7349_3-5079099.html>
The British government introduced legislation on Thursday that aims to protect Internet and mobile phone users from unsolicited commercial e-mail.

VeriSign Sued Over Controversial Web Service (Reuters)
<http://www.forbes.com/newswire/2003/09/18/rtr1086035.html>
An Internet search company Thursday filed a $100 million antitrust lawsuit against VeriSign Inc., accusing the Web address provider of hijacking misspelled and unassigned Web addresses with a service it launched this week.

We All Pay Hollywood's Price For DVD (Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing)
<http://boingboing.net/2003_09_01_archive.html#106392851663897715>
DVD players are frozen in amber. The features that the public demands have not been forthcoming -- rather, they've stayed pretty much at the level that they started out at in the mid-nineties.

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow: News & Opinions
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JetBlue 'Fesses Up, Quietly (Ryan Singel, Wired News)
<http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,60502,00.html>
JetBlue Airways began sending out apologetic e-mails Thursday to customers who are infuriated that the airline gave 5 million passenger records to a defense contractor investigating national security issues.

Music File Sharers Keep Sharing (Amy Harmon with John Schwartz, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/19/technology/19TUNE.html>
Despite the lawsuits filed last week against 261 people accused of illicitly distributing music over the Internet, millions of others continue to copy and share songs without paying for them.

The Nervous Parent's Guide To Online Music (Sam Diaz, San Jose Mercury News)
<http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/6800616.htm>
We talked to the RIAA, legal experts and industry analysts who've watched this phenomenon of online music sharing rise from the underground days of Napster, and have compiled answers to some of the most frequently asked questions.

New Screens For Notebooks Are A Treat For The Eyes (Mike Langberg, San Jose Mercury News)
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/6800615.htm>
I have glimpsed the future of notebook computers, and it literally looks much brighter.

Adobe E-doc Format Under Siege (David Becker, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1012_3-5078712.html>
Adobe Systems' portable document format, long a de facto Internet standard, is under fire from competitors looking to muscle in on the electronic document market.

AOL Time Warner Drops AOL From Name (Jim Hu, CNET News.com)
<http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-5078688.html>
AOL Time Warner's board of directors has approved a proposal to remove the "AOL" from its name and become simply Time Warner.

MyAppleMenu Reader: Life
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Why Can't We Be "Friends"? (Heather Havrilesky, Salon)
<http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/review/2003/09/19/sitcoms/index.html>
Among the new fall TV sitcoms are predictably miserable rip-offs ("Coupling"), dubious star vehicles (Kelly Ripa, anyone?) and cartoon families -- and a few that seem to get the tricky comedy formula just right.

Rebuilding The Golden Arches (Amy Tsao, BusinessWeek)
<http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/sep2003/nf20030919_1757_db014.htm>
McDonald's has a new boss, new products, and a new growth strategy -- and they're all starting to pay off.

Will Frankenfood Save The Planet? (Jonathan Rauch, The Atlantic)
<http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2003/10/rauch.htm>
Over the next half century genetic engineering could feed humanity and solve a raft of environmental ills -- if only environmentalists would let it.

MyAppleMenu SingaporeSurf : News & Opinions
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Most Singaporeans Want SM Lee To Retire: Internet Poll (Business Times)
<http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/sub/latest/story/0,4574,94421,00.html?>

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MyAppleMenu is edited by Heng-Cheong Leong. This site is not affiliated with Apple Computer, Inc., or any other companies in any manner. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, Power Macintosh, PowerBook, iMac, iBook, iPod, and eMac are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. All other brands or product names are trademarks of their registered holders. Copyright (C) 1996-2003 Heng-Cheong Leong. All rights reserved.