There will be no news updates next week as I will be busy moving. See you back here on Dec. 10. --mam
Developed by the video experts at Sorenson Media, Squeeze is a video compression tool that alleviates much of the usual guesswork. It allows you to easily encode QuickTime media (AVI, MOV and DV formats) for various delivery methods without an in-depth knowledge of compression technology. -- Applelinks.
Apple's newest operating system sells for more than $100. The latest upgrade costs under $20. A couple of programmers discovered they could convert the upgrade into the full OS, and published the info. Apple: not happy. -- Wired.
George Harrison died on Thursday following a battle with cancer. The former Beatle was 58. -- The New York Times.
JaneBUILDER is a visual editor for PHP. JaneBUILDER allows you build complex PHP pages by dragging and dropping. The files created are native PHP (text) files (that can be opened by any html tool or text editor) and uploaded to your web server for deployment. -- JaneBUILDER.
Apple Thursday released Apple DVD Player 3.0.1 for Mac OS X. The update delivers improved performance and stability, as well as support for Blue and White Power Mac G3 and Power Mac G4 systems with PCI-based graphics. You should be able to download the update by using the Software Update Control Panel in Mac OS X 10.1. I have not been able to download it yet as I continue to get an error message when I try. The link at the end of this article worked. -- Apple.
Setting up a Postscript printer to use lpr via IP to print under Mac OS X is easy to do using the Print Center utility. Unfortunately, this won't (in my experience, anyway) allow you to print files via the lpr command in terminal. Being able to do so is convenient and blazingly fast. I've figured it out, in my setup, but I can't promise that by following these instructions exactly you'll be lpr'ing from your printer; it should get you on the way, however. -- MRP.
An LA Times story covers a Federal agency report which concluded the caching feature of search engines and web browsers almost guarantee that publicly posted web pages cannot be permanently deleted. -- Los Angles Times.
Macscript.com Library 2.0 is a $50 collection of more than 150 functions written natively in AppleScript. It allows scripters to write powerful, robust scripts with only a few lines of code. Version 2.0 includes 40 new functions, OS X support, a comprehensive reference in PDF format, an AppleScript dictionary of Library functions, dozens of example scripts, complete portability, and other enhancements. -- Macscript.com.
There's a new release of the Mac OS X PC Card ATA Driver available. The driver enables the use of a variety of ATA-based PC Card devices such as CompactFlash cards, SmartMedia cards, Sony Memory Sticks, and micro disk drives under Mac OS X 10.1.1. The current release is intended for developers and early adopters. Use it with caution. I've also heard rumors that some of this will be fixed in the next OS X update, but it's just a rumor.. -- MacSlash.
Virex Definitions for December have been released The definitions come as a DAT file for versions 5.9.x and 6.x. -- Virex.
December Virus definition files for Norton AntiVirus. -- VersionTracker.
Gate5, a 2-year-old company that develops location-based services, placed on its website an application that deciphered whether mobile phones were switched on or off without informing the subscribers who were being monitored. -- Wired.
Apple has an incredible opportunity to grow its marketshare, and for only $1.7 million a year. The biggest challenge it might face is in branding, and who can overcome that better than Steve Jobs? Or you. -- WorkingMac.
Mossberg praises Handspring Treo ... Webby Awards calls for entries ... Heid's "squeal-worthy" holiday list ... Geeks bearing gifts ... Secure wireless broadcasting via SSH on OS X ... Excite@Home: The new Watergate? ... AOLTV on Moto set-tops ... OO programming with Python ... Fixes for Office v. X. -- WorkingMac.
Opera Software said it has fixed a security problem in the latest version of its Web browser, which will be officially released Thursday. -- c|net.
For fast access to your classic apps, drag your Launcher Items folder (in your classic System folder) onto the toolbar in any OS X Finder window. It will add a "Launcher Items" alias next to your shortcuts for "Favorites," "Applications," etc. Now you can quickly launch any of the items in your 9.2 Launcher, from within the 10.1 Finder. -- Mac OS X Hints.
Security is good and passwords are boring. I use RSA/DSA key authentication when I connect to my web servers via SSH and made a habit of not setting a password for the keys. This way I could connect without logging in. Very easy but not very secure if someone got their hands on my RSA/DSA keys. Thanks to the article OpenSSH key management by Daniel Robbins at IBM, Part 1 and Part 2, I now have a secure and convenient setup.
The program that made the solution extra good is Keychain, by the author of the article. Install Keychain and then add the necessary lines to your login script. I use Bash for my shell and have put the following lines in the ~/.bashrc file.
# Keychain is an OpenSSH key manager
# This will add my SSH1 and SSH2 key
/usr/local/bin/keychain ~/.ssh/identity ~/.ssh/id_dsa
source ~/.ssh-agent-${HOSTNAME}
# Alias to servers via SSH
alias ssh1='ssh userid1@domain.tld'
alias ssh2='ssh userid2@domain.tld'
alias ssh3='ssh userid2@domain.tld'
Now it's only after a reboot (very seldom in Mac OS X) that I need to enter the password to unlock my SSH keys. Normally I only enter "% ssh1" etc. and I'm connected to the remote server. Keychain and ssh-agent handle my passwords in a secure manner behind the scenes. You can, of course, use scp in the same manner. -- Mac OS X Hints.
The PowerPC G5 has been passed for full-scale manufacture, a source close to Apple has claimed. -- The Register.
Apple's new OS was designed to run only on G3s and G4s, but a resourceful developer has circumvented such limitations. -- The Age.
This month's Breen's Bungalow extends the product information you can use by walking you through the steps necessary to create an emergency startup disk. -- Macworld.
iSee is a web-based application charting the locations of closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance cameras in urban environments. With iSee, users can find routes that avoid these cameras "paths of least surveillance" allowing them to walk around their cities without fear of being "caught on tape" by unregulated security monitors. -- Wired.
Yesterday, Apple posted a prerelease version of the next minor update to Mac OS X, 10.1.2, to developers. -- Think Secret.
We can help you. We have all the office apps that you could ever need, and they are FREE and available today. Be sure to read the package installation instructions.
Most of these packages are automatically installed with the One step installer or the GNU-Darwin installer CD. GNU-Darwin aims to be the most free Darwin-based Unix distribution. Its mission is two-fold: Focus on new projects that leverage the unique capabilities of Darwin/Mach and help Apple users to enjoy the benefits of free software.
Apple Computer Inc.'s Steve Jobs, whose blunt criticism of Microsoft has tempered in recent years after his archrival Microsoft Corp. invested millions in his company, on Tuesday said he was "baffled" by a proposed settlement to the software giant's consumer class-action lawsuits. -- Knoxville News-Sentinel.
I talked to the Manager of the UT Computer Store yesterday and was told that their memory prices are going to go up soon (I don't know how much.) So if you are planning to buy memory do it now and you will save some money.
DeKalb Tech's David McOwen harnessed idle school PCs to crunch data for a research project. Now, he faces prosecution -- and techies are up in arms. -- BusinessWeek.
The Internet has advanced rapidly in the last decade but Television and Video remain the main source of information, entertainment and shopping for the majority of the population. VideoClix combines the power of the Internet with the simplicity of television to produce a compelling and awesome technology, which literally puts the power at your fingertip. This premier "Video object System" empowers consumers watching video to click on any items in the video, and purchase the products, play along in a game shows or vote without even having to stop the stream. -- VideoClix.
Drive 10 can repair almost any drive problem with one simple click of your mouse. Sporting a sleek Aqua interface, this advanced disk repair and recovery product has been designed exclusively for MacæOSæX. In addition to repairing drives and recovering data, Driveæ10 offers the additional benefit of providing automatic, regular backups of important volume structure data. This feature can make data and drive recovery far easier and more reliable. -- VersionTracker.
A divide within the storage industry over how to connect storage systems to the rest of the network is growing--and leaving customers with a growing sense of unease. On one side of the schism is Fibre Channel, an expensive and complicated but functioning and improving networking standard promoted by market leader Brocade Communications Systems. On the other side of the divide is iSCSI, a young technology that promises simpler networks and lower costs because it's based on the much more common Internet Protocol (IP). -- c|net.
Matt Centurion (of the Macintosh Business Unit) writes to MacFixIt: "As more of our customers receive their copies of Microsoft Office v. X for Mac OS X we have started to hear reports of certain issues on launch that I would like to point out in order to help them get Office v.X up and running." -- MacFixIt.
PowerPoint X is "much snappier" than the 2001 version, writes John C. Welch, and its improved Help section makes using master slides and multiple masters more powerful. It also has great PDF integration, so you can create "run anywhere," open format presentations. -- WorkingMac.
Wolfram Research has announced that Mathematica for Mac OS X is now shipping. According to the company, the OS X version of the math program "offers users significant speed gains and vastly improved stability." -- Wolfram Research.
Mac OS X is designed to be a powerful, robust, and versatile operating system. For it to live up to its full potential, however, requires adherence to some specific programming practices. -- Apple TechNotes.
This document assumes you are familiar with the APIs and concepts for ATSUI (Apple Type Services for Unicode Imaging). ATSUI is Apple's API for drawing Unicode text. In addition to the high-level ATSUI APIs, ATSUI has added a set of APIs that enable you to access text information at a lower level. -- Apple TechNotes.
Easily install The Gimp in minutes on Mac OS versions 10.0.x through 10.1.1. The Gimp (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is the open-source alternative to Adobe Photoshop. -- Applelinks.
Perforce Software Inc. has announced the release of its Software Configuration Management (SCM) system for Mac OS X. The software enables developers to manage changes they make when developing software. -- MacCentral.
Over the weekend MacFixIt has posted some tips for launching Classic successfully. I have not had these problems but if you are then these tips may solve your problem. -- MacFixIt.
Evidently some languages will install under Mac OS X if a similar language is already present in Mac OS 9 via a language kit. KB article 106484, Mac OS X 10.1: Viewing and Typing Text in Different Languages, states: "Mac OS X 10.1 includes script bundles for Cyrillic and Central European languages. However, such a script bundle does not activate unless at least one font for that script is present. Installing a font that is compatible with the script bundle will activate it."
Apple's impressive revamp of its almost entire product range in 2001 was rewarded with six MacUser awards. -- MacUser.
Monday evening Apple seeded f4 of the 9.2.2 update, which has no known issues. -- Think Secret.
Macintosh Manager is Apple's workstation management technology, providing education network administrators with a centralized method of securing Mac OS workstations, controlling student software access, and providing a consistent, personalized experience for students and staff. Macintosh Manager 2.1 administration can be used to manage client computers with Mac OS 8.1 or later. -- Apple.
The Mac OS X Server 10.1.1 update delivers improved reliability and performance of Apple file services, Apache web and Mail services under heavy load. Enhancements have also been made to improve server administration, SMB printer sharing, WINS registration and system clock accuracy. -- Apple.
For those who wonder what is in the new 10.1.1 update, Apple has posted a new Knowledge Base document. -- Apple.
According to The Register, Apple's VP of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller has pegged March as the month when new Macs will ship with OS X as the default operating system. -- The Register.
Symantec Corp has announced the availability of Norton AntiVirus v. 8.0 for Mac OS X Public Beta. This beta software is available for download. -- Symantec.
The Mozilla Organization has released Mozilla 9.6 - the new builds for its open-source web browser, designed for standards compliance, performance and portability. -- Mozilla.
On Monday November 19, Microsoft released Office X. Here are related news items:
Discover the joys of hands-free text input with ViaVoice for Mac OS X, now shipping from IBM. The new version features the Aqua user interface and faster setup, among many improvements. You can also launch and surf Web sites with your own voice. -- Apple.
It will record keystrokes, read anything you've ever typed, and gain access to your hard drives. So far there isn't a thing you can do about it. What's more, future virus protection apps may be intentionally crippled by the manufacturers so the Feds can snoop at will. -- Applelinks.
Tennessee State University and Spelman College had the best Web sites among historically black colleges and universities, according to a ranking published by the Howard University Digital Learning Lab's Archimedes Project. -- Chronicle of Higher Education.
With Oracle's annual OpenWorld conference on the horizon, database vendors are preparing for battle once again. This time around, the big three -- IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft -- are brandishing XML as the not-so secret weapon for making their databases faster and using it to anchor Web services. -- InfoWorld.
The Guidebook is now 60+ pages long and covers a number of topics, including general advice, the Finder, the dock, Classic, System Prefs, a few key apps, and a detailed section of UNIX command-line tricks and hints. There are over 100 screenshots to help illustrate various hints, and the entire Guidebook runs over 32,000 words (spellchecking took forever!). -- Mac OS X Hints.
ThinkSecret has posted a look at Adobe's GoLive 6 for OS X (with screenshots). Perhaps the most robust site design package around, the inclusion of this application in the list of OS X native apps is a huge help in moving completely over to OS X. -- ThinkSecret.
Mac OS X 10.1(.1) Journal: Entry 4 (It is one continuous document, so entries 3-1 follow. -- mam): mach files; BootX file; Option key startup; more. MacFixIt posted our fourth entry to its Mac OS X 10.1/10.1.1 Journal. -- MacFixIt.
Converting OS X Update CD to a full install CD; 10.1.1 reinstall (note: this item has several minor updates since its initial posting). -- MacFixIt.
Displaying "graphic" fonts; "Opening" font files in Finder; Displaying PostScript fonts. -- MacFixIt.
Today's MRP has a tutorial on "how to configure a Mac OS X 10.1 (or later) box to take over domain name service for all hosts on your home LAN." -- MRP.
Intel announced today the TeraHertz transistor, so named "because the transistors will be able to switch on and off more than one trillion times per second." -- Intel.
U.S. recession now official ... Netware OS X client running late ... Intel's TeraHertz transistor ... Ethernet: The Definitive Guide ... Hyperlink patent suit ... PC emulator for Mac OS X ... WebObjects 4.5.1 update 2 ... Mac video on the bus ... The best-looking video picture ... Build an "All Purpose App" in Cocoa -- WorkingMac.
I will be on vacation next week so no news updates until November 26. Have a happy turkey day! -- mam.
Macworld has posted a feature article on troubleshooting Mac OS X by Ted Landau. Some advice is specific to Mac OS X 10.0 (as 10.1 was not out when the article was written) and may thus be a bit out-of-date. But most of the information should still be applicable. -- Macworld.
The IBM ViaVoice Support page has been updated with FAQ's for ViaVoice 3.0 for Mac OS X. -- IBM.
FWB Backup ToolKit 3.0 is the latest version of this "full-featured backup utility." The major addition in this version is support for Mac OS X. However, initial feedback on VersionTracker suggests that it may not back up all files (e.g., it will not back up files that you do not have permissions for, even if you are logged in as an administrator). It is also not clear if it restores all the links needed for the volume to be bootable. However, it looks good as a tool to exactly copy (mirror) folders. Apparently it is derived from Tri-Backup. -- MacFixIt.
Apple has posted iTunes 2.02 for both Mac OS 9 and OS X. The OS X version is now localized in French, German and Japanese. No word on any other changes. -- Apple.
Apple has posted an article (#106582) in its AppleCare Knowledge Base about the Mac OS X 10.1.1 update. Detailing not only how to install it but also all the enhancements delivered with Mac OS X Update 10.1.1. -- Apple.
I would like to share with your readers the considerable improvement in file sharing copy speed that I measured between OS 9 and OS X. -- MacSpeedZone.
Anyone thinking of buying a PowerBook need wait no longer. It's time to get out your credit card. -- MacUser.
Apple has a patent (U.S. Patent No. 5,379,129) on compositing a source and destination image using a mask image. This patent appears to read on alpha channel transparency, which the PNG and MNG file formats use. Since this patent appears to read on the PNG file format, Apple is hampering work on the PNG and MNG file formats. -- Slashdot.
TC Works ships two audio editing and processing applications for Mac OS X. Both are built on Spark's core engine and one's free. -- WorkingMac.
In order to use LDAP with Apple's OS X Mail client it is necessary to provide information on every node of the tree you want it to search. It will not search all the nodes unless you specify them. A normal configuration is to specify dc=tennessee,dc=edu. But Apple's Mail client has its scope set to 1 and it is believed that is what is causing the problem. [If someone knows how to do this please let me know. --mam] Mail under OS X will return nothing with the above configuration.
To have Mail use UTK's LDAP server you need to set the search base to
ou=people,ou=knoxville,dc=Tennessee,dc=edu
But that would ONLY search the Knoxville node, not the Martin, Chattanooga, Tullahoma, or Memphis nodes. Mail will only return an entry if it has an email entry in UTK's LDAP server. To have Mail look in all the nodes of the tree, setup your Mail configuration as shown below.
In addition you will need to add a entry for the Units at UTK
ou=units,ou=Knoxville,dc=Tennessee,dc=edu
To set up the Mail application to find names and email addresses from all the nodes in UTK's LDAP server. Follow these steps:
Reader Andrei Verovski wrote to let me know, that he has a much more complete MySQL and PHP Installation Tutorial than the one found in ResExcellence, which I referenced yesterday. Additionally, he has posted instruction on how to get Midnight Commander to work (very popular and powerful file manager) in console mode on Mac OS X. Andrei runs MacGuru HQ.
The University of Tennessee Digital Media Service, a joint venture of the University Libraries and the Office for Research and Information Technology, will celebrate its grand opening Friday, November 16 at 2 p.m. The Digital Media Service is located in room 209 of the John C. Hodges Library. Dean of Libraries, Barbara Dewey, and T. Dwayne McCay, Vice President for Research and Information Technology will host the event, which features a tour of the newly opened facility. The Digital Media Service offers digitization of audio, video, text, and images at no charge to faculty for use in their curriculum. "With the launching of this service the technology is accessible. Faculty can now present any classroom material in digital form," says Renee Smith, coordinator of the DMS. "Our goal is to make it easy for faculty to incorporate digital media into their courses, so convenience, reliability, and service are key." In addition to providing digitization services the DMS also acts as a referral agency for other media and technology related needs and assists faculty with copyright clearance issues for classroom materials.
The event is open to the public and begins with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 2:15 p.m. followed by a tour of the facility. According to Smith, "We especially want faculty members to stop by for a tour and more importantly to get an idea of the new resources available to them." More information about the Digital Media Service is available at http://digitalmedia.utk.edu or by phone at 974-8076.
It's all about me. The same day that Corel introduced "the first professional image-editor for Mac OS X", Deneba launched "the first professional graphics app for Mac OS X."
Apple KB article #106582 (Mac OS X Update 10.1.1: Enhancement and Installation Information) serves as release notes for the new update. -- Apple.
Quite a few readers responded to yesterday's request on MacInTouch for voice recording equipment recommendations, and they've collected the messages in a new Audio Recording report. -- MacInTouch.
I have been using OS X 10.1.1 in beta as well as the final release. I have had no problems and it seems to have fixed one problem I have been having for some time, that of my cursor freezing. If I unplugged and replugged my mouse it would start to work again but this was happening 6-10 times a day. (Boo! Hiss!) Since the update it has not happened a single time (knock wood.)
This is the second Best of the Mac Web survey. This twice-a-year survey gives you the opportunity to rate the sites you're familiar with. -- LowEndMac.
OpenOSX's package will install a suite of powerful and flexible tools (AbiWord, Gnumeric, Gimp, and others) for Mac OS X. -- Business Wire.
Apple Tuesday announced that AirPort, the first affordable and easy-to-use wireless networking solution for home, school and office, now provides another industry first--wireless local area network access to America Online (AOL), the world's leading interactive services company. -- Apple.
Apple has released a Mac OS X updater that upgrades Mac OS X 10.1 to OS X 10.1. Only available via your Software Update Control Panel at this point. The 10.1.1 update delivers improvements for many USB and FireWire devices, including support for additional digital cameras, and overall improvements to CD and DVD burning. Enhancements have been made to AFP, SMB, and WebDAV networking, as well as improved support for printing. This update also delivers better application compatibility, including updates to the Finder and Mail application. In addition, hardware accelerated video mirroring has been enabled for the new PowerBook G4.
The Office of Information Technology's Unix Workstation Support Group at Ohio State University has an easy to navigate, yet extensive UNIX reference. Enjoy! -- OSU.
Version 2.0 of Apple's AirPort Base Station adds a 10Mbps WAN port, so the AirPort can connect to the Internet through a cable/DSL modem, and bumps the lcaol Ethernet port to 10/100Base-T. It also brings 128-bit encryption (it's backward compatible with 40-bit 802.11b products), "firewall protection" (only NAT, as far as I can tell), and support for 50 users, and for Cisco's Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol and RADIUS, authentication. -- Apple.
Netscape has announced the release of Communicator 4.7.9. -- Netscape.
Some astronomers are predicting a shower of hundreds or thousands of meteors per hour during the annual Leonid meteor event this coming Sunday and Monday:
"The maximum rates should occur near 10:00 Universal Time (corresponding to 5:00 a.m. EST, 4:00 a.m. CST, 3:00 a.m. MST, and 2:00 a.m. PST). With no moonlight spoiling the view, the storm may briefly spawn anywhere from several hundred to 1,000 or 2,000 meteors per hour for observers with clear, very dark skies. A fourth prediction, issued recently by NASA researcher Peter Jenniskens, argues that the hourly rate could top 4,000." -- Sky and Telescope.
Peter Carcione, Apple's AirPort Product Marketing Manager, talks to MacCentral about the new AirPort. -- MacCentral.
The good news is that the OS X version of Office is a ringing endorsement of the Mac. Too bad it breaks no new ground and costs so much. -- BusinessWeek.
Like many of you, I jumped right into 10.0.x hoping to join the ranks of the elite Unix and Linux users, developers and overall 'extreme geeks'. One of the first things I wanted to do with 10.0.x was to install PHP and MySQL, as well as get Samba up and running (but that's another tutorial!). I quickly sparked up the internet and began perusing the many sites and posts related to the installation of these magical beasts, only to find that no one agreed completely on the installation. -- ResEcellence.
While it is extremely easy for any individual or business to publish material on today's Web, one thing is currently missing -- there is no easy way to make money from those Web sites. In the current edition of HowStuffWorks, they discuss the "penny per page" idea, a potential business model for the Web that would allow Web sites to receive direct payment for their content. -- HowStuffWorks.
OS X's Mail application uses IMAP to retrieve Mac.com e-mail, which means mail messages are left on the server even AFTER you press delete for up to one month. This means that, without any warning, exceeding the 5 meg allotment on mac.com's server will thwart any incoming e-mail. Fortunately, Apple has posted instructions for remedying the problem. -- Go2Mac.
Apple today announced the second generation AirPort wireless network. The 802.11b based solution features a new AirPort Base Station offering the first-ever support for America Online users (AOL 5.0 and AOL for Mac OS X only), a built-in firewall for greater protection, 128-bit encryption for added wireless security, and support for up to 50 users sharing one base station. -- MacCentral.
Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) will release the much-anticipated Office v. X for Mac OS X on November 19. Over the next few days we will look at the applications that make up the suite, as well as the extras that come on the CD. If you use Entourage 2001, the first thing to catch your eye when you launch Entourage X will be the changes to the interface. Instead of having Tasks, Notes, Mail, Calendar, Address Book and Custom Views in the folder pane of the program, Entourage X has them located on the top left hand side of the application. -- MacCentral.
Aladdin Systems has released StuffIt 6.5.1, an update to the access and compression utility for the Mac. The update adds Contextual Menu support in Mac OS X to version 6.5's Magic Menu implementation, smart expansion of Palm OS files, DropTar (a drop box compression utility for Unix), and StuffIt Express Personal Edition. -- MacCentral.
MacFixIt has had o
