Because of the Designing Universal Accessible Web Resources Workshop and my being off on Friday there will be no news updates to MacVolPlace Thursday or Friday. See you back here on Monday.
Apple today announced an upgrade to its line of Power Mac G5 desktop computers, raising the dual-processor top-end system's speed from 2.5 to 2.7GHz. Power Mac G5s now ship in 2.0GHz, 2.3GHz and 2.7GHz dual-processor configurations for US$1,999, $2,499 and $2,999 respectively. The new systems include 512MB RAM, 16x "SuperDrive" optical drives and Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger," ship this week.
You can use iSync to synchronize the Address Book contacts and iCal calendar and To Do information on your computer with the contacts, calendar, and to do list on your Palm OS device. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
We are all creatures of habit. But sometimes those habits aren't doing us any good. Macworld's panel of Mac superheroes will try to change that by sharing the tricks of their trade. In this second of five installments, their experts reveal their secrets for inbox efficiency.
Apple today announced that it has made its award-winning line of widescreen flat panel Cinema Displays more affordable than ever by reducing the price of the 20-inch model to just $799 and the 23-inch HD model to just $1,499. In addition, Apple's new 2.7 GHz Power Mac G5s and 1.67 GHz 17-inch PowerBooks now feature built-in support to directly drive Apple's groundbreaking 30-inch Cinema HD Display, saving customers hundreds of dollars.
Tomorrow the Office of Information Technology's Web Services Group and the Office of Disability Service are presenting a "Designing Universal Accessible Web Resources Workshop."
In its latest desperate attempt to control the media, and more specifically the presses, Apple has pulled all books published by John Wiley & Sons from its retail stores in protest of an unauthorized biography of Apple CEO Steve Jobs about to be released by the publisher. -- AppleInsider.
Manek Dubash of Techworld takes issue with Apple product marketing manager Brian Croll's statement: "There are no absolutes in security but we have done our utmost to ensure that there are no security issues outstanding." Dubash says "Croll's remarks, at the end of a demo that reveled in the coolness of the OS, were in direct contradiction to the facts, a sample of which shows Apple shipping products with known bugs left unfixed, and the Cupertino company taking three months to fix a major security hole."
ZDNN reports that a project called iPodder allows the syndication of content, including files, to iPods.
First, don't let anyone kid you that Apple is just into the music business with the iPod, or even into just the broader media and entertainment market. iPod puts Apple into the storage business too - and big time. Sure, Apple sells it as a music player, but my dentist knows better. iPod is portable storage disguised as a music player. -- Techworld
Cynthia Hughes at MacNETv2 writes, "Rarely do I ever become giddy over a piece of software, especially inexpensive shareware apps. Don't get me wrong; there is some incredible software out there for under $30 that makes your digital life more productive and/or fun. But, when you discover one that does so much, for so little, and is so much fun to use, you want to shout it from the rooftop. My shareware pick of the year is, without hesitation, Comic Life."
Yesterday we mentioned an article by Dan Knight, over at Low End Mac, which discusses the possibility of Apple making a laptop in the $500-$600 range for use in the education market. The article got the PBZone staff talking, as it has some very unorthodox suggestions, and a friend of the crew has worked in one school district with an iBook program for students. Continuing with our trend of considering future expansion of Apple's portable offerings, then, we thought we'd take a look at what Apple should, and what Apple shouldn't, do for the education market. -- The PowerBook Zone.
Apple's hyping up the new RSS reader in Safari; here are my thoughts after seeing a recent demo. -- O'Reilly Developer Weblogs.
Is your Mac ready for a smooth transition to Tiger? Maybe you're in need of a Spring housecleaning anyway. Check out these tidy tips from Derrick Story, then roll out the red carpet for Mac OS X 10.4. -- O'Reilly MacDevCenter.
The new version of Apple's operating system, Tiger, is due out Friday. Wired News' Daniel Terdiman got an -- unofficial sneak preview.
You'll find many features in the Mac OS X desktop similar to Mac OS 9, and many of your Apple applications are nearly the same. You'll also note significant differences that make working with Mac OS X easy and efficient. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
GarageBand 2.0.1 addresses issues with duplicating tracks, playhead snapping to grid, joining software instrument regions on adjacent tracks, making precise adjustments to volume and pan settings, and converting Software Instrument Apple Loops based on drum sounds into Real Instrument Apple Loops. It also addresses an issue where recorded Real Instrument regions may not properly adjust to changes in the project key.
Xsan Update 1.0.1 delivers overall improved reliability for Xsan and is recommended for all systems. It includes improvements for:
Credit Suisse First Boston this morning upgraded Apple from "neutral" to "outperform" on the belief that the company's next major boost will come from its success in the PC market, having just completed its second consecutive quarter of share gain. -- AppleInsider.
The Mac mini has gotten a new accessory: the miniMate. Designed to complement the new low-end Apple computer, the miniMate features three Firewire ports and four USB 2.0 ports, along with hard drive capacities of up to 400 GB.
The Hubble telescope has captured 700,000 images during its 15 years in orbit. Here are a few.
Fortune writer Peter Lewis notes that Tiger's Spotlight search feature isn't "bolted on" to the OS.
Some of the most knowledgeable Mac users let us in on a few of the secrets that help them make the most of their time. In this first of five installments, they talk about Web smarts. -- Macworld.
I have Dreamweaver MX 2002 v6.1.1842. Since installing Tiger some of the functions, i.e., insert image, cause Dreamweaver to crash.
Dave Nanian, who publishes the SuperDuper backup utility, writes in his Shirt Pocket weblog about wrestling a bizarre Mac OS X problem he calls "floating users."
Kelly Martin writes at Security Focus about the Mac's major security advantages over Windows. "Just as Windows users have become accustomed to 140,000 viruses, Apple users have become accustomed to none. It's a major cultural difference that admittedly, sometimes causes Apple users to do stupid things -- and get away with them. It's hard to describe the freedom of using a system with no malware known to have spread. It's liberating."
Now that wireless hotspots are fairly ubiquitous and users are connecting to wireless hubs in all sorts of public places, you also need to worry about securing your local machine from attacks when you're surfing at the coffee shop, the library, etc. -- Ars Technica.
JaySee at OziMac reviews the Elgato EyeHome digital media player. EyeHome allows you to access the digital content you have stored on your Mac - photos, music, video, movies - and enjoy it on your TV and home entertainment system.
This is the story of how TidBIT's Matt Neuburg's iMac G5 joined the legion of machines that recently have spontaneously failed, and how the problem was resolved.
"Though they only constitute one out of every 33 computer owners," writes Chris Taylor for TIME.com, "Mac users have long held a reputation for acting smugly superior to their Windows brethren. And with the release next week of Apple's latest operating system software, Tiger ($129), they'll have good reason."
Some people prefer to use a keyboard to execute commands rather than a mouse. Nancy Carroll Gravley offers the following list of keyboard commands that work with OS X for the benefit of everyone who prefers this option when using their Macs. -- The Mac Observer.
Spotlight hard drive indexing process happens after the first Mac OS X 10.4 startup. Spotlight indexing speed depends on the size of your storage volumes and the number of files contained therein. If you are experiencing some minor deficiencies after your first Mac OS X 10.4 boot, re-attempt the processes after the system has been active for an hour or so (or several hours in extreme cases) and check for persistence of the problems.
MacFixIt continues to note sluggish performance from Mail.app after installing Mac OS X 10.3.9. In fact, this has become one of the most widely reported problems with the update. The most common fixes recommend are emptying deleted mail, erase deleted messages' and 'erase junk mail' from the 'Mailbox' menu, Deleting Mail.app cache and .plist file and turning off SSL. The last of course I DO NOT recommend, no matter what.
Carnegie-Mellon University is the latest institution to fall victim to an infiltration at the hands of hackers in a string of incidents. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports: "The breach confirmed by officials in the Tepper School of Business is the latest in a recent string of campus computer break-ins nationally and the second since early March affecting Tepper. The intrusion occurred April 10 but was not disclosed until late yesterday so Tepper could notify potential victims, school spokesman Mike Laffin said. Officials offered few details but said it appeared someone from outside the university gained entry to Tepper's computers.
In this second article of a three-part series, Peter Seebach looks closer at AltiVec, the PowerPC SIMD unit. He explains further how you can effectively use AltiVec, discussing the choice between C and assembly, and shows some of the issues you'll face when trying to get the best performance out of an AltiVec processor. -- IBM.
Mac OS X Tiger's iChat AV has some hefty system requirements, requiring a dual-1GHz G4 or any G5 CPU to host a multi-party video conference-- leaving Apple laptop owners out in the cold (a 1GHz or dual-800MHz G4 or a G5 is required to participate).
It's Steve Jobs's plan to make this the Week of the Tiger. But Bill Gates and his minions at Microsoft are crying bull - specifically, a Longhorn steer. But Apple's is here now, and Jobs sees it as indicative of Apple's agility and drive. "Microsoft has followed our taillights for a long time," he says. "Maybe [in the '90s] we stopped innovating for a while, but now they've been copying OS X the same way they copied Mac." -- Newsweek.
AstroVision, which will launch an Earth Observation Satellite (EOS) in 2008, will be using Apple technology for processing data when received on Earth. -- SpaceDaily.
With all of the great gear announced at this year's NAB convention, held this week in Las Vegas , some of the more significant announcements haven't received nearly the attention they deserve. I number among these Apple's DVD Studio Pro 4, which even Apple itself seemed to want to downplay, focusing instead primarily on Final Cut Pro 5 and Soundtrack Pro. But DVD Studio Pro 4 is a dramatic, if not radical, advancement in authoring , one that will, no doubt, further propel the Mac platform to the forefront of DVD creation. -- Mac DVD Pro.
In Part One of a series on Some Lesser Known Features Of Tiger Dianna Stewart at MacNETv2 writes, "before you decide to buy Tiger or let it mature a bit before taking the plunge, we assembled some of the thoughts and conversations that have floated around the office over the past few weeks about various features we don't see being written about. There is more to Tiger than meets the eye, and the impact of this version of OS X will be greater than many people realize."
The liger is the world's largest big cat. An average male liger weighs over 900 pounds and standing almost 12 feet tall.
You could get hooked on Google Sightseeing, a Web site that takes you to the best tourist spots in the world via Google Maps' satellite imagery. Interesting locations include: Crater Lake (the deepest in the U.S.), the 32-story Memphis Pyramid Arena, Cape Canaveral and several Nuclear power plants. Kind of like looking at Sim City but real.
Digital Audio Essentials, O'Reilly's"comprehensive guide to creating, recording, editing, and sharing music and other audio," is out, and here's a 20-page sample chapter you can put to use today. -- O'Reilly Developer Weblogs.
Hard to believe, I am almost finished with teaching a full college course (one semester) -- my course at Tufts University entitled "Security, Privacy, and Politics in the Computer Age," offered by the Experimental College. It has certainly been an exhilarating few months, but it has been a very rewarding, memorable, and flattering experience. -- O'Reilly Developer Weblogs.
Should speech and video join writing and editing as the new freshman comp? Screencasting is a subgenre of film that can tell stories about the limited--but rapidly growing--slice of our lives that is mediated by software. Telling stories about software in this audiovisual way is something I believe technical people will increasingly want to do. To explain why, let's first discuss a more ancient storytelling mode: writing. -- O'Reilly Network.
John Gruber at Daring Fireball offers a translation from PR-speak to English of selected portions of Adobe's 'FAQ' regarding their acquisition of Macromedia.
Java Update for Mac OS X 10.3.9 will correct issues affecting some Java users following the installation of Mac OS X v10.3.9 Software Update.
At Apple Computer's annual shareholders meeting on Thursday CEO Steve Jobs took a swipe at Microsoft's upcoming "Longhorn" operating system and fired back at a group of environmentalists who recently attacked the company's policies on recycling. -- AppleInsider.
Take a trip back in time and see UT as it was in 1996, 2000, 2002 or 2003 or take a look at MacVolPlace in 2001, 2002 or 2003.
The full list of AppleCare Knowledge Base documents changed within the last seven (7) days.
In an editorial for the BBC published Thursday, Stephen Evans examined the culture of Mac owners and Apple fans. Dredging up the controversial "cult" word, the article compared the Manhattan Apple Store to a church, Macworld keynotes to church event, and even considered the idea that Mac users were comparable to Catholics, while Windows users are more reminiscent of Protestants. Mr. Evans resisted the urge to use these themes in a negative manner, however, and instead offered an interesting look at what most of those reading this take for granted, the Mac community.
The next time NASA launches a craft into space, it may receive many of its navigational instructions from programs run on the Mac. -- Macworld.
MacInTouch has a special report from Henry Norr covering Apple's annual stockholder meeting in Cupertino.
Secunia reports a "highly critical" RealPlayer security problem that afflicts the Mac, among other computing systems. You can Check for Updates in the RealPlayer application and download a patched version of the application.
If security concerns are your most important driver for desktop change, and Microsoft Office compatibility is your most significant barrier, then switching to Macs actually offers you the best of all possible worlds: Microsoft Office on Unix/Risc with a better GUI, longer product life, some cash savings and a performance bonus thrown in," writes columnist Paul Murphy.
I can not speak for every application but in my testing of Apple's next software release (Mac OS X 10.4) I have not had to upgrade any of my applications. I admit that if there is a free upgrade I always apply it but everything I was running on 10.3.8 is running under 10.4. I believe that part of the reason for this is that I did a clean install. Your mileage may vary.
Elwood "Woody" Norris pointed a metal frequency emitter at one of perhaps 30 people who had come to see his invention. The emitter -- an aluminum square -- was hooked up by a wire to a CD player. Norris switched on the CD player.
"There's no speaker, but when I point this pad at you, you will hear the waterfall," said the 63-year-old Californian.
And one by one, each person in the audience did, and smiled widely. -- Associated Press.
There are rumors swirling of imminent releases of speed bumped PowerMacs and iMacs. Some of the rumors go a bit farther than positing a mere increase in processor speed and intimate that the new PowerMacs will feature dual-core G5 chips. -- Apple Matters.
I updated my McAfee anti-virus software this morning and just for kicks and giggles I decided to run it to scan an clean my Mac running Tiger. The result, drum roll please, as always was, (as always) NADA. It took the software over thirty minutes to look at 314K files on my DP G5 and find nothing.
Since the Question Time from 3 weeks ago was so popular, Apple-X.net decided to showcase a plethora of tips for a specific application every once in a while. This week's showcased app is Safari. Here are a bunch of tips that could make your browsing experience more enjoyable. Note that while most of these tips will apply to all versions of Safari, it was specifically created with Safari 1.3 in mind, which comes with Mac OS X 10.3.9.
Consumer electronics companies continue to search for the killer multimedia app for consumers. It ain't gonna be the cell phone, argues TR editor Wade Roush. -- MIT Technology Review.
Corey Greenberg said he has received payments from Apple as well as Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Seiko Epson, Creative Technology and Energizer Holdings, after his private contracts were disclosed in a report by the Wall Street Journal. -- The Washington Post.
People are getting pretty freaky about the security of the files on their drives. Especially since they've learned that even though they "trashed" some of their most personal and sensitive files and thought they were gone forever, they're still recoverable. And not just recoverable by the FBI lab, but by your average junior-high student.
That's why Apple created a secure version of the Empty Trash command called (big surprise) Secure Empty Trash. Without going into too much techno-geek-speak, it deletes your file and writes over the drive space where it once lived so many times that agents from top-secret government agencies that we're not even supposed to know exist couldn't resurrect those files. In short, use Secure Empty Trash when you really want your files gone for good.
The full list of AppleCare Knowledge Base documents changed within the last seven (7) days.
On Wednesday, Apple won two Awards for Innovation in Media at the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas. Apple's Final Cut Pro 5 won an award in the Content Creation category and QuickTime took honors in Content Management. -- Macworld.
Harmonic Vision on Wednesday announced Music Ace Maestro, a software application for Mac and Windows that is aimed at music educators working with elementary-aged students.
Download latest nightly builds If you are having problems with Firefox, Mozilla, or Camino under Mac OS X 10.3.9, make sure to download the latest nightly build of the problematic browser.
IT Enquirer has a brief overview of the Blu-Ray disc format, which Apple recently announced it would back.
This is a reprint for an article on MacInTouch. I reprint it here because it reinforces the point that UT's OIT Information Security Office has been making about having STRONG passwords.
Jeff Harrell describes a successful cracking attack against Mac OS X in a story posted to his weblog:
[Jeff Harrell] I wanted to let you know about a short anecdote I wrote over the weekend about an experience with a remote hacker from Argentina who used the POP service on a computer running Mac OS X Server to gain access. It's not that there's a bug in Mac OS X Server that needs to be fixed as much as there is just a design flaw in the POP protocol that your readers should be aware of.
Yesterday, starting at about 11:30 in the morning, a malicious individual from Argentina -- who, for sake of argument, we will call Little Timmy Timmytums -- started trying to find user accounts on my friends e-mail server by interrogating it through the POP protocol. Here's a sample from my friend's log file.
Apr 16 11:28:57 pop3d[5609]: badlogin: 168-226-129-131.speedy.com.ar[168.226.129.131] plaintext user "asdf" mail account is not enabled for this user
And so it went. Little Timmy started by trying to log in as gibberish accounts -- "asdf," "qwerty," "zxcvb," "12345," "temp," "oracle," "press" -- then moved on to real names. He started with "ryan," "peggy," "joe," "daniel" and "tyler," and then he stumbled upon an account that actually existed: "david." In just a few minutes, Little Timmy managed to guess the names of a dozen e-mail users at my friend's company. It was at that point that he started trying to guess passwords.
Now, technically speaking it's quite a challenge to crack an encrypted password. It can take days, even on a very fast computer. But when your e-mail user name is "hernando" and your password is "hernando," breaking into your account is much easier.
Long story short: Little Timmy from Argentina was able to gain access to my friend's e-mail server and delete the contents of an entire partition.
[Eric Taylor] What can we learn from this? Mostly various lessons related to good server administration, starting with use of the Authentication tab in Server Admin application. In Server Admin, select the Open Directory->Settings->Authentication tab, and make sure to set at least a minimum password length of 6 and check the box for "Must differ from account name". Choosing longer "short" usernames when creating accounts and possibly not assigning mail accounts for Administrative users are also steps in the right direction.
So, is your Mac's password a strong one? If not, why not?
Mobility Electronics today announced Apple will begin selling the iGo EverywherePower 3500 Series power adapter with an interchangeable tip for use on the iPod portable music player. Beginning in the second quarter of 2005, the EverywherePower 3500 Series is expected to be available from the Apple Store Online and in its retail stores.
Simon Brown's weblog talks about his experience with Virtual PC for Mac. I think for light work, VPC is going to be a really useful addition to my Mac. Being able to restart Windows and keep working in OS X is kind of fun but by far the most reassuring aspect is knowing that all of the usual Appley goodness is just a single press of the Apple key away, even when running VPC in full screen mode.
Finally a good use for all those old iMacs that many organizations have laying around collecting dust. The University of North Dakota at Grand Forks has set up a 5 node (4+1 controller) iMac beowulf cluster, which is appropriately named Skittles, and is running PPC Yellowdog Linux, with MPICH 1.2.6 cluster message passing software.
There is an article on OSNews Rich Wareham wrote about how the guy behind Desktop Manager goes about reverse engineering APIs from Mac OS X with a brand new example not revealed anywhere else.
NewsForge interviews the Bastille project lead Jay Beale about Bastille's cool new assessment feature, which reports and scores Linux security and -- as always -- makes Linux lockdown super-easy. Available for many distros and Mac OS X, too. Best of all, it's free and open source.
All right, I admit it. The Mac is so much prettier and nicer than my PC that already I can tell that I'm going to use for just about everything from now on. -- John Scalzi.
Security Update 2005-004 delivers a number of security enhancements and is recommended for all Macintosh users
Garage Band Jam Pack 4 (1.0.1) will update your version of Jam Pack 4.
Mac maker reaches deal with second of three men accused of posting developer copies of OS X release on file-sharing sites. -- c|net.
After installing Mac OS X 10.3.1 Update or later, you won't be able to use the Mac OS X Panther Install disc--part of the Mac OS X Up-To-Date program--to completely reinstall the operating system.
If you have Mac OS X 10.3 Panther retail CDs, DVD, or Restore discs, you can simply reinstall Mac OS X. You don't need to follow the steps in this document.
This document explains build versions, such as "Build 4K78," which appear in the About This Mac window, Apple System Profiler, or the Startup Disk 9.2 control panel.
When changing Ownership & Permissions in the Info window, clicking "Apply to enclosed items" copies only permissions. It does not affect the owner or group setting. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
Does Mac Help Viewer quit unexpectedly when you try to use it from within an application? Learn what you can do if this happens to you.
Sometimes, Mac OS X 10.3 Panther Calculator results may include "rounding errors". Choose a lower Precision setting from the View menu to avoid this issue in the main Calculator window. [I do not see this in "Tiger." -mam] -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
Want to send a fax to several recipients? Mac OS X Panther makes it easy. Note: This document is about Mac OS X 10.3's built-in fax feature--the suggestions might not apply to third-party fax software. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
Learn how to make sure your faxes get sent. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
My son experienced the 10.3.9 and Java Glitch described here yesterday, on his G3 iMac. He applied the workaround recommended by Apple and it fixed the problem.
Regarding how Mac OS X saves files, this Macworld article explains the frustration caused by Panther's Save dialog box and why it does what it does.
Apple's reach extends well beyond digital music players and laptops. They are the stars of NAB's humming South Hall. Remember that "HD" thing Steve mentioned a while back? -- O'Reilly Developer Weblogs.
Todd had no intention of giving up his Linux and Windows boxes to become a "Mac switcher." But he had heard good things about OS X, so the Mac mini presented the opportunity for him to become a Mac-tryer. He details his experiences here. -- O'Reilly MacDevCenter.
After many months (years for some early adopters) of waiting, users are finally able to see the light of day for Markspace's, MissingSync for the HipTop. This is an iSync conduit which allows users to sync their calendar and address book over the Internet to their SideKick from T-Mobile. For many Mac users this is the one feature that now finally makes the SideKick a nearly perfect device.
The Christian Science Monitor has an interesting article called "When iPod goes collegiate," examining the iPods for students program at Duke University. It seems that while many students and professors find them valuable for class work, this is America, so questions about intellectual property rear their ugly head: "Do they have permission from the person who wrote the lectures to share it?"
Those of you running Panther can now update to 10.3.9. This update includes Safari 1.3 and new versions of WebKit, WebCore, and JavaScriptCore that contain thousands of improvements we've made to the engine since Safari 1.2. What you are getting is all of the new standards support, new WebKit capabilities, site compatibility fixes and performance optimizations that are also present in Safari 2.0 for Tiger. The layout engines for the two are virtually identical. Here are some of the highlights. -- Dave Hyatt's Surfin' Safari.
Phillip Torrone has way to much time on his hands.
A MacGuru whom I respect writes:
The 10.3.9 server update (which was just released) temporarily disables LDAP authentication until the database is reindexed. This happens automatically, but it's not instantaneous; it could take as long as several minutes. Customers should probably wait a few minutes before logging in from an outside machine (I would presume this also means automounts and managed client bindings as well) after the server restarts and SHOULD NOT attempt to reboot the server or manually change its search path with Directory Access if a login fails shortly after the update is done, but rather wait awhile and the database should finish reindexing.
Troubleshooting will involve looking at the slapd log; the line "Updating server mappings" will appear in the log when the database has finished rebuilding (it's time-stamped, so you can make sure it came after the update). If that phrase is not found after, say, an hour, the database may not have indexed at all and you may need to involve your normal problem escalation procedures, whatever they may be.
It's not something to panic over, but this is one case where an attempted fix could be much, much worse than the initial problem.
A minor update to Mac OS X is causing headaches for some computer owners, who find their systems no longer work properly when using Java-based applications or visiting certain Web sites. Apple Computer acknowledged the problem late on Monday and posted a workaround to its Web site.
And if you're totally fed up with the security crisis but want to continue using your computer for common tasks, consider dumping Windows altogether and switching to Apple's Macintosh, which uses its own operating system, called OS X. There has never been a successful virus reported on OS X, and there is little or no spyware for the Mac.
In my view, Macs have better hardware, a better operating system and better bundled software than Windows PCs. They are as good as, and often better than, Windows PCs at e-mail and Web surfing; at word processing and other productivity tasks; and at handling digital photos, videos and music. And most popular Windows file types open right up in Mac programs, without the need for any conversion or translation.
These words of wisdom were brought to us by Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal.
Today marks the first installment of MacFixIt's monthly Troubleshooting Tools column, penned by MacFixIt Contributing Editor Dan Frakes. Each month, Dan will talk about one or two products that can help you maintain -- and, if necessary, fix -- your Mac.
But before he gets to AppleJack itself, he talks about some of the most important troubleshooting skills an informed user of Mac OS X can learn.
Harmonic Inversion today announced its iSweet FireWire webcam designed for the Mac. Using a genuine Sony 1/4-inch Color CCD, the "plug and play" camera captures video at 640x480 at up 30 frames per second for full motion video.
Independent research firm International Data Corp. (IDC) recently finished work on a report commissioned by Apple that focused on the company's efforts in the scientific life sciences field. While the report was complimentary to many of Apple's accomplishments over the past few years it also pointed out some pitfalls the company would have to watch in the future. -- MacCentral.
After a series of beta releases, Opera 8 final has now been released. The new Opera sports a streamlined interface and several rendering improvements.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Department of Computational Science and Engineering, has just finished benchmarking its newest high-performance computing cluster (the Turing Xserve Cluster) comprising 640 Dual G5 Xserves. The Turing Xserve Cluster is a replacement for an old 208-node Linux cluster. Preliminary results have it at about 4.6 teraflops. There is a Slide Presentation (pdf) and a Photo Album.
Of the numerous technologies now in gestation at companies and universities, MIT Technology Review has chosen 10 that they think will make particularly big splashes. They range from bacterial factories to silicon photonics to quantum wires--and any one of them could change your world.
David M. Levy, a computer scientist who loves technology and gets more than 100 e-mail messages a day, makes a point of unplugging from the Internet one day each week to clear his head. Even so, with all the e-mail messages flooding in, with academic blogs bursting with continuous debate, and with the hectic pace set by an increasingly wired world, Mr. Levy says he cannot help but feel an occasional sense of information overload. And that, he says, is something to stop and think about. -- Chronicle of Higher Education.
I own the E3c from Shure, which cost $180. The company's headphones--the $99 E2c, $180 E3c, and to a lesser extent the $500 E5c--have become some of the most popular iPod accessories on the market. They're popular because they sound excellent, and fit inside the ear like earplugs. -- Forbes.
As with all updates; first run Disk Utilities and have it repair the disk and permissions. If you have been experiencing ANY abnormality run the COMBO installer.
Apple Sunday announced Shake 4, a major upgrade to its compositing software used by independent artists and visual effects facilities to create the world's most celebrated visual effects for film and television.
Apple continues to lead the industry in the adoption of high definition video by demonstrating a complete HD video production and playback platform at NAB (booth #1902) this week. Apple will showcase Mac OS X version 10.4 "Tiger" and QuickTime 7, which includes support for the H.264 codec, along with Final Cut Studio, the ultimate HD video production suite. -- Apple PR.
Apple Sunday introduced Soundtrack Pro, a revolutionary new application that gives audio and video professionals the easiest and most flexible way to create, control and fix audio. Soundtrack Pro features an innovative waveform editor with flexible Action Layers that allow users to instantly re-order, bypass or change any edit, effect or process. Intelligent Find-and-Fix features quickly identify and repair common audio problems such as background noise, pops, clicks and hum. With full multitrack editing and mixing, over 50 professional effect plug-ins from Apple's award-winning Logic Pro 7, and more than 1,000 professional quality sound effects, Soundtrack Pro provides the most intuitive, yet precise way to create stunning audio. -- Apple PR.
Apple Sunday unveiled Final Cut Studio, the ultimate HD video production suite that features Final Cut Pro 5, a major upgrade to the Emmy award-winning editing software for DV, SD, HD and film. Final Cut Studio also includes state-of-the-art tools that complement Final Cut Pro 5 such as Soundtrack Pro, a revolutionary new audio editing and sound design application that makes video projects sound as good as they look; Motion 2, the world's first real-time motion graphics application with GPU accelerated 32-bit float rendering; and DVD Studio Pro 4, the first commercially available DVD authoring software that burns high definition DVDs to the latest HD DVD specification. -- Apple PR.
Reader Joe Biedlingmaier asks for some help with iMovie:
I am in the midst of finishing a project where we had to use iMovie. The movie I made was a series of pictures and a few short video clips.
Once I had finished the project in iMovie, I created chapter headings and then exported the project to iDVD. Before exporting, I got a blurb about rendering some of the clips before exporting. Everything worked fine and the project looks great, however, I am unable to edit the project back in iMovie. It seems that after rendering and exporting, something happened with the pictures and I am unable to edit them. Is this common?
The purchase of the multimedia software firm fits with Adobe's aim to extend its lead in the digital document market. -- c|net.
This document describes the security content of the Mac OS X 10.3.9 Update.
Learn how to retrieve a lost QuickTime Pro key. This is only possible if you bought the key through the Web.
L. Scott Lissner is the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) Coordinator for The Ohio State University. He made a presentation on ADA and the WWW at UT a few weeks ago. He provided me with an additional PowerPoint presentation he made regarding "Disability Access to Information Technology." It is his position that universities will soon have to come into compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act just as government departments do now. Section 508 requires that Federal agencies' electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities.
There are some major restrictions in Apple's "Tiger" DVD->CD exchange program (pdf), including a limited life span for the extra-cost offer:
Terms and Conditions:
Jomy Muttathil has updated an interesting and attractive Keynote slideshow showing Apple financial data in chart form. Percentage of Revenue by Product Line and Apple's Changing Revenue Streams are particularly revealing.
This morning on his blog, Chuck Toporek (O'Reilly's Macintosh editor) announced the first wave of Tiger books to be released by O'Reilly in June. For more details, read his blog post.
Said books include Mac OS X Tiger Pocket Guide, Learning Unix for Mac OS X Tiger, and Mac OS X Tiger for Unix Geeks.
I recently updated my Web Services Models page. It includes links to institutions of higher learning with a defined web services presence. It includes links to higher education accessibility, mission statements, portals, style guides, Web oversight, Web policy, and Web services sites.
Firefox 1.0.3 is an update that fixes a critical JavaScript engine memory heap disclosure bug and some other critical security and stability bugs.
iDVD 5.0.1 updates iDVD 5.0. This update addresses issues related to general stability and compatibility with iPhoto slideshows and iMovie HD.
iMovie HD 5.0.2 Update addresses issues related to video and audio synchronization for DV projects and other minor issues.
iPhoto 5.0.2 addresses issues with application performance on older Macs and improves the stability of book layout, slideshows, and more.
iSight Updater features enhanced IIDC compliance, improved auto exposure and auto white balance, and more.
When Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs walked into the suites of top record label executives in 2002, iTunes software in hand, he was welcomed as a trailblazer to a digital music future. The dominance of iTunes and the iPod has some record industry moguls questioning their deal with Apple. -- c|net.
There are different Mac Office deployment options available for integration with an Exchange environment. These options depend on the version of Mac Office and the Mac OS used in an organization and the functionality requirements of users. This document covers the Exchange-integration capabilities of different versions of Mac Office and the Mac OS, and assists administrators in choosing which version to deploy according to the needs of their users.
If your network supports it, you can synchronize your Address Book with Exchange 2000 using Outlook Web Access (OWA), a web service that provides access to your email and contacts. OWA is required to synchronize Address Book with Exchange. Address Book provides an iSync conduit that communicates with Exchange using OWA. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
Groupcal allows you to use iCal to share or view calendars seamlessly with coworkers running Outlook and Microsoft Exchange. With Groupcal, iCal becomes an Exchange server client. Manage your calendars and schedules using your existing Exchange servers all from with iCal -- just like Outlook. Groupcal can cost-effectively enhance productivity, integration and reduce support costs for employees using Apple OS X.
The UT Computer Store will be giving away two copies of Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" on Monday May 2. Entry forms are available at the store. Prize award limited to students, faculty, and staff of UT. Limit one entry per person.
Apple lists and explains some of the 200+ new features in Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger."
Apple Computer has made sure that Tiger will run on most of the machines running prior versions of Mac OS X, but not all Mac owners will be able to use it out of the box. -- c|net.
Tom's Hardware Guide has an article on In-Car Infotainment, including a detailed video of my Mac Mini installation into a Dodge Caravan (a MacMiniVan!). It's a good video; you get to see how the in-dash Mac Mini install is wired up.
Following today's announcement of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, UBS Investment Research said it believes Apple's software business is destined to become the company's next big "multiplier" as revenues approach $1B in 2005. -- AppleInsider.
Apple Computer next week will hold a special event at the National Association of Broadcasters Conference to unveil a slew of new and updated software applications as well as a new HD camcorder from Panasonic, AppleInsider has learned. -- AppleInsider.
Apple Tuesday announced financial results for its fiscal 2005 second quarter ended March 26, 2005. For the quarter, the Company posted a net profit of $290 million, or $.34 per diluted share. These results compare to a net profit of $46 million, or $.06 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue for the quarter was $3.24 billion, up 70 percent from the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 29.8 percent, up from 27.8 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 40 percent of the quarter's revenue.
Profits soar with iPod sales and over a million Macs sold, so AAPL is down, of course. How does the iPod Shuffle and Mac Mini fit into this? -- Ars Technica.
Plasq.com has released Comic Life, a utility that enables users to add captions and speech balloons to digital images and arrange them into comic book or comic strip layouts.
MacFixIt has a report of a problem where the brightening mechanism (fluorescent tube) fails on various Macs, particularly iBooks.
For those customers who purchase Mac OS X Tiger and who do not have a DVD-ROM drive, Apple is providing a Media Exchange Program to provide customers with install CDs for Mac OS X "Tiger". Customers will be able to participate in the program via mail by providing a completed order form, original Tiger Install DVD, original Tiger Software POP Coupon and $9.95 (US) plus shipping and handling. Note that the install DVD will not be returned to the customer. The Media Exchange Exchange order form will be available at http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/.
Note: The Media Exchange Program is not part of the Mac OS X Up-To-Date program. Also note that Mac OS X Tiger CDs will ship with new systems that have only CD-ROM drives. Going forward, the default installation media will be DVD. If ordering Mac OS X Tiger as a separate item from Apple please specify if CD or DVD is desired.
Apple is announcing QuickTime 7 in conjunction with the announcement of Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger." QuickTime 7 key features include:
An Apple Developer Connection article discusses using Mac OS X's open-source subset for cross-platform applications:
One of the most powerful yet under-appreciated frameworks in Mac OS X is Core Foundation, also known as CF. CF provides the fundamental C data types (for example, String, Dictionary, Array, Data and Number) as well as the essential services (such as plug-ins, URL handling and networking) that underlie both Cocoa and Carbon. In particular, CF provides convenient facilities for importing and exporting these types as part of a rich, flexible data structure known as a property list, which is used extensively for system configuration, application parameters, and user defaults.
A very useful thing about CF is that most of it is available from Apple as an open source project known as CF-Lite, available on Apple's Darwin website. Because CF is open source, developers can compile and run it on Macintosh as well as other platforms--and this opens up a number of interesting possibilities. These cross-platform opportunities, and how to exploit them using open source, are the focus of this article.
Apple's quarterly financial report is a hot topic for financial analysts:
Amit Singh discovered a 10+ year old serious bug in OS X. The bug started in Nextstep and is still in Panther (and apparently Tiger, too). Then Amit wrote a program to demo the bug, but also made the program capable of hiding what it does using some complicated Mach kernel voodoo! He then threw a challenge open to OS X experts to figure out the bug. And some royal smart persons solved it.
The Genographic Project, a National Geographic Society-IBM alliance, is the first to map our ancestors' migration, using cells the public submits. -- BusinessWeek Online.
This document outlines security updates for Apple products. For the protection of our customers, Apple does not disclose, discuss or confirm security issues until a full investigation has occurred and any necessary patches or releases are available.
This document describes the security content included with the Mac OS X 10.3.8 Update, which can be downloaded and installed using Software Update, or from Apple Downloads.
OS X's Desktop & Screen Saver panel includes a "Solid Color" selection, where you can choose from one of 10 different solid colors. But what if you want an all-white background? It turns out there are actually 11 solid colors on that panel; the 11th is all white, and is positioned just after the last light-blue panel. -- Mac OS X Hints.
Apple has apparently included a surprise in their latest iTunes updates. Whenever a fresh iPod is inserted into the computer, you are asked to register it and name it. Even if you choose not to register, though, the iTMS opens up to a page that offers a free download of 16 songs! -- Mac OS X Hints.
Printing files in OS X is easy, and there are often a number of ways to do it. Personally, I would either print while the document is open or I would drag and drop a bunch of files from the Desktop or Finder to the Desktop printer. Well, there is yet another way to do it without dragging and dropping files on the desktop printer and without having documents open. -- Mac OS X Hints.
Almost a year ago, Macworld's Jason Snell created a "Tiger Wish List," full of features he wanted to see in the next version of Mac OS X. When Tiger was finally announced, many of those features weren't on the list -- but several other cool features he had never even considered were a part of Tiger. So with Tiger now slated to arrive on April 29, he wants to be the first to begin the speculation about what will be in Mac OS X 10.5... oh, let's call it Leopard... when it arrives in... oh, let's say January 2007.
Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday offered details about the compatibility of its Mac products with Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger." -- Macworld.
There was a time in the not-so-distant past when there was one program you could count on help run the financial aspects of your small- to mid-sized business correctly--Intuit's QuickBooks. Now, when it comes to robust business accounting packages, Mac users have choices. -- Macworld.
TinkerTool System 1.4: change advanced Mac OS X settings. The new release has a feature to clean the font cache of Mac OS X.
One way to keep the powerful "sudo" Unix command in check is to kill the "grace period" (the time that sudo will run without asking for a password after one as been provided, which is about fifteen minutes.)
The theory is that "IF" there was a virus or trojan on your Mac that used sudo for evil it can only happen with the password (which I hope it doesn't have) or during the "grace period."
You can reduce your exposure if at the end of any Terminal session that uses sudo commands, or in AppleScripts that use "do shell script sudo---" commands, you always follow with in the terminal or the script with
sudo -k
This kills the grace period for sudo's administrator privileges there and then. Quitting the Terminal does NOT kill the sudo grace period.
FileMaker has a link to some barcoding resources on their website. After you click through some of those links, you may find that those solutions are also compatible with other database programs.
PRNewswire reports that data from a Hornstein Associates study of e-mail customer support shows a continued decline:
The Hornstein Associates' annual e-mail responsiveness survey shows a decline in customer service response rates for the fourth year in a row.
The annual survey is conducted through marketing expert Scott Hornstein's consultancy, Hornstein Associates. 38 respected companies, including such notables as IBM, Dell, Apple, Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, American Airlines, L.L. Bean and the Direct Marketing Association, have been sent the following one sentence email for the past four years:
What is your corporate policy regarding the turnaround time for e-mails addressed to customer service?
Hornstein's survey found that in 2005 only 42% of companies responded within 24 hours, down a full third from a high of 63% in 2002.
MacPractice today announced three healthcare practice management software applications designed especially for Mac OS X, including MacPractice MD for physicians, MacPractice DDS for dentists, and MacPractice DC for chiropractors are now shipping. The software features integrated accounting, patient/insurance billing/tracking, patient follow-up (recalls for dentists), prescriptions, medical/dental imaging, and powerful to-do functions.
The newest Mac-related venture has just opened its doors. Dashboard Lineup is a site where developers can talk about the OS X widgets they are developing/developed and tips and tricks can be exchanged. It also has free hosting for widgets if needed by a developer.
Like Mac OS X 10.4 ("Tiger"), Mac OS X Server 10.4 ("Tiger") will also be available on Friday, April 29. The new version of the UNIX-based server operating system integrates over 100 leading open source projects and standards-based software applications with management tools for deployment on Windows and Linux clients.
For folks at UT Mac OS X 10.4 ("Tiger") will be available for $69 at the UC Computer Store on May 2. Apple will not release the software until 6 p.m. on Friday, April 29, so you will have to wait until Monday morning to get your copy. In the mean time get ready as described in yesterday's article.
Scientists at Harvard University have discovered how to freeze light, so that it can be used to build an optical computer, theoretically capable of processing information ten times faster than traditional electronics. -- The Register.
Apple Computer's chief executive Steven Jobs described the new capabilities of the fifth version of the Macintosh OS X operating system on Tuesday. -- The New York Times.
The University of California, Berkeley, will lead a $19 million government-funded project to research how to best protect the nation's computing infrastructure. -- c|net.
If you've installed iWork on your hard drive but haven't had a chance to really dig into it yet, maybe this article will inspire you to do so. Giles Turnbull takes you on a romp through this production suite showing you lots of fun and useful things to do with it. -- O'Reilly MacDevCenter.
For Gordon T. Anderson, CNN/Money staff writer, these are his five favorite little big ideas. -- CNN/Money.
Since first becoming a Web standard nearly four years ago, SVG has lagged in adoption as developers waited for broader support for next-generation Web graphics. But upcoming plans from two Web browser makers to natively support the XML-based graphics language could give Scalable Vector Graphics the boost it needs to begin remaking the look and feel of the Web. -- eWeek.
More than a half-dozen news organizations are supporting three online journalists who published articles about a top-secret technology product that Apple Computer Inc. says was protected by trade-secret laws. -- St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Desktop and server versions of Mac OS 10.4 will be ready on April 29, the Mac maker says.
The company on Tuesday said that the desktop and server versions of its new operating system, code-named Tiger, will be on available on April 29. [The date was picked because it is the birthday of a famous American.] Until now, Apple had said only that the operating system upgrade, officially called Mac OS X 10.4, would be ready in the first half of this year.
In a statement, Apple CEO Steve Jobs touted the security and search features of the desktop operating system.
"Tiger's groundbreaking new features, like Spotlight and Dashboard, will change the way people use their computers, and drive our competitors nuts trying to copy them," Jobs said in the statement.
Apple also detailed the planned features for the Unix-based server edition of Tiger, including support for 64-bit processors and the iChat Server for instant messaging.
In Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, Fonts installed by the Mac OS X installer are saved in these two folders:
/Library/Fonts and /System/Library/Fonts
To turn a font on or off, use Font Book. You don't normally need to worry about turning off or removing any font that came with Mac OS X 10.3.
The number of fonts installed by the Mac OS X installer depends on which packages are selected (each is detailed below). If you customized your installation, you may not have all of the fonts listed below. If you installed Mac OS X 10.3 over a previous version, additional fonts may already be installed. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
If you have iLife installed on your computer, do not rename or move any of its applications from the default Applications folder. This includes iDVD, iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, and GarageBand. -- AppleCare Knowledge Base.
Thomas Hardly's Hardening Your Macintosh web site. Covering OS X security, auditing, hardening, pen-testing, privacy & more...
I have been running Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" off and on for some months. I like it. There are some interface differences. Notably in Mail and Find (a.k.a., Spotlight.) Make sure you keep a copy of FireFox around as Safari at times has problems that FireFox does not.
That said, America is a free country, "CAVEAT EMPTOR," your mileage may vary and free advice it worth exactly what you pay for it. These are not UT's opinions, these are not Apple's opinions, they're mine. --mam.
The system requirements for Tiger are as follows:
I do not recommend that you install Tiger over ANY other version of OS X. You can, but I.M.O., I would not do it UNLESS I KNEW I had a complete, good as gold, safe and secure backup of my current system. Even then I do not recommend it because Tiger has some MAJOR differences from Panther and I.M.O. you are best starting with a clean slate. This will also get rid of any "gremlins" that have been hiding in your OS. [See disclaimer above.]
If you do install over your existing system then the essential things are to:
What I relate below is based on my personal experiences and disasters. I have done this several times so I am getting to know my way around. If you want to learn from my mistakes then... It assumes you are taking my advice and have at least two disk partitions or want two.
Take the time to choose a good password. If someone can guess you password they can gain access to your account, potentially causing you severe inconvenience and embarrassment.
Passwords that are too short, too simple, that are based on commonly used words, slogans, or phrases, or that use information about yourself, are too easily guessed.
When making up your password keep these rules in mind:
Here are some examples of phrase-based passwords:
| P!dhotuw | PLEASE! don't hang out the upper windows |
| dwyd-ICT | drop what you're doing - ICE CREAM TRUCK |
| SSPmbe2r | SLIGHTLY SILLY PHRASES may be easier 2 remember |
Choosing good passwords in Mac OS X
All of the above (not counting the partition and backup) took me about two hours. The more you move and have to move the longer it will take. To move everything, reconfigure, etc. I would allow at least half a day.
Once you are SURE Tiger is running fine and all your files and applications have made the trip and are working, you can erase the partition containing your old system.
I have been running 10.4 for sometime. I am providing the Xbench results off my DP G5. Just to give you and idea of the impact this version of the Mac OS may have on your Mac. Your mileage may vary.
System Info: Xbench Version 1.1.3 System Version 10.4 (8A425) Physical RAM 4096 MB Model PowerMac7,3 Processor PowerPC G5x2 @ 2.50 GHz L1 Cache 64K (instruction), 32K (data) L2 Cache 512K @ 2.50 GHz Bus Frequency 1 GHz Video Card ATY,R360 Drive Type Maxtor 7Y250M0
| 10.3.4 | 10.3.5 | 10.3.6 | 10.3.7 | 10.3.9 | 10.4 | |
| Over All | 230.06 | 226.25 | 221.15 | 231.43 | 234.04 | 230.56 |
| CPU Test | 207.85 | 206.71 | 208.16 | 208.34 | 205.52 | 221.68 |
| Thread Test | 225.15 | 222.74 | 233.41 | 218.98 | 217.93 | 241.68 |
| Memory Test | 339.89 | 350.43 | 345.93 | 349.79 | 346.12 | 361.05 |
| Quartz Graphics Test | 308.90 | 309.50 | 284.69 | 308.63 | 309.77 | 258.53 |
| OpenGL Graphics Test | 199.79 | 202.75 | 206.98 | 213.21 | 221.73 | 253.67 |
| User Interface Test | 356.15 | 349.45 | 339.31 | 355.76 | 366.01 | 374.24 |
| Disk Test | 139.24 | 129.31 | 119.30 | 137.35 | 140.93 | 118.21 |
I'm not a cell phone guy. I resisted getting one at all for years, and even now I rarely carry it. To a first approximation, I don't really like talking to most people, so I don't go out of my way to enable people to call me. However, a little while ago I misplaced the old phone I usually take to Armadillo, and my wife picked up a more modern one for me. It had a nice color screen and a bunch of bad java game demos on it. The bad java games did it. -- John Carmack.
The Educational Testing Service -- the maker of the SAT and the GMAT -- has a new test called the Information and Communication literacy assessment. The test is designed to measure your "ability to make sense of the multiple streams of information that our computers throw at us every day," according to a Wired News reporter who just took it and described the process. The questions focus on completing tasks with Internet technologies, like using search engines efficiently and weeding out irrelevant email messages. Are such tasks really tied to technology? Or is "Information and Communication literacy" just a way for ETS to make money by selling more tests?"
For those blessed by the Apple gods and actually own two 30-inch Apple Cinema Displays, this guide explains how to hook two of them up to a PC. The guide includes which graphics cards will support this configuration and a step-by-step of how to get it all going.
Poland's first and only 24-hour news channel, TVN 24, has recently invested in a massive storage and networking facility. With 55 Xsans, 30 Xserves, 22 Xserve RAIDs and 50 Power Mac G5s, TVN is home to Europe's largest Mac-based broadcast installation. -- Apple PR.
HighEdWebDev 2005 is an annual conference, November 6-9, 2005, and one of the few tailored specifically for higher education Web professionals.
This year's theme is Building Connections. Like education, technology has one overriding purpose: to connect. To connect people to each other. To connect pieces of information that form new ideas. And as professionals at the crossroads of technology and education, we build these connections every day.
So join us November 6th in Rochester, New York, and build some connections of your own with your fellow Web developers as we design, develop, manage, and map the futures of higher education Web sites.
The HighEdWebDev 2005 Program Committee invites you to submit proposals for presentations. We encourage presentations covering a broad variety of topics concerning Web technology.
New technologies, from on-demand programming to TiVo offshoots to flat screens to HDTV, are radically changing the benign concept of traditional television. Viewers are now gaining control over the mass medium, creating interactive communities and installing custom-made home media networks. As entire industries are redefined, how are networks, content providers and advertisers adjusting their strategies? -- c|net.
Whether you travel all the time or only occasionally, and whether you travel for business, pleasure, or both, chances are you bring a little tech with you. But if you ask 20 different Mac users what they take on the road, you'll get at least 21 different answers. Macworld's experts weigh in on the essentials for a mobile Mac.
I'm playing with my PowerBook for about two days now and even though not being too tolerant when it comes to operating systems, I have to admit that OS X itself is pretty appealing. -- consistencies.net.
I can use iChat to send SMS messages to my phone, and my phone can send an SMS message back to my iChat. -- O'Reilly Developer Weblogs.
College student David Zamos bought educational copies of Microsoft Windows and Office XP Pro for $60 each. After realizing he'd have to wipe his computer to install them, he tried to return them. The college wouldn't take them. Microsoft wouldn't take them. So, Zamos auctioned them on eBay, and that's when Microsoft sued him for thousands of dollars in damages. -- Applelinks.
Although Apple's name was brought up repeatedly during a congressional subcommittee hearing on digital music Wednesday, the company was nowhere to be found, much to the ire of the subcommittee's chairman, Republican congressman Lamar Smith of Texas, who also pointed the spotlight at Apple's current dominance of the commercial online music download marketplace. -- Playlist.
Apple's next moves in the consumer digital space are strikingly obvious--build out its iPod family and add high-end models that can display video and offer wireless connectivity of various types. Silicon Valley Watcher looks at Apple's strategy for controlling digital content:
Whichever way you do it, customizing the DHCP configuration inside your network can solve a multitude of problems--just be careful that doing so doesn't get you kicked off your ISP. -- Macworld.
A BusinessWeek article "The New Bluetooth: More on the Beam" goes into some of the benefits Bluetooth 2.0 and discusses some of the accessories.
A computer program developed at the University of Missouri may take some of the tedium out of teaching--it grades papers and offers students writing advice. -- c|net.
A reporter tries out a new exam that promises to measure one's ability to make sense of all the information that technology throws at us every day. Can he make the grade? -- Wired.
The entire Duke University class of 2008 received Apple iPod digital devices as part of a university initiative to encourage creative uses of technology in education and campus life. This mix of pop culture, information technology and pedagogy has generated enormous interest from other educators as well as news media. See examples of how some Duke courses are using the devices. -- Apple PR.
Medical imaging research is complex, time-consuming and often very expensive, with a wide range of standards, equipment and software available. Medical researchers can find themselves unable to share data easily with colleagues. Two enterprising medical doctors addressed this problem and came up with a Macintosh-only solution called OsiriX that is changing how many in the field examine and share scanned images, medical image data and visualizations. -- Apple PR.
Creating, managing and saving the data model of an application has been a tedious and difficult process for software developers, but with the advent of Tiger, that task is made much simpler. Read this article to learn how to use the power of Core Data to quickly define your application's data model in a graphical way, simplifying the task of building innovation into your application. -- Apple Developer Connection.
Walter Mossberg heartily recommends Apple systems in his Spring Buyer's Guide, the feature in this week's Personal Technology column for The Wall Street Journal. -- The Mac Observer.
Macworld UK reports that Apple's increased emphasis on the enterprise market may be paying off. "Apple's bid for enterprise sales continues to benefit from its high-performance products, Xserve, Xserve RAID, Xsan and OS X Server. To support such products, the company is building a dedicated sales force and signing up new resellers, and is pushing the new Mac mini as a viable upgrade alternative for client computers."
As we all know one thing to do to help you get your laptop back if it is stolen, is to have its serial number. The problem is the serial number on a laptop is usually in the form of a little sticker somewhere which could be removed. To help with identification in addition to the serial number ALSO make a note of the machine's Media Access Control (MAC) address, which Apple also calls the Ethernet ID. This number is unique to any given piece of hardware and can be found in the Ethernet tab in the Network pane in System Preferences. It looks something like this:
00:1a:b7:9c:59:a0 (a phony)
If you know the serial number AND the MAC address then proving a machine is yours should be fairly trivial. Zapping or even changing the hard drive won't affect it, either!
Cepstral has voices ($30/voice) for Mac OS X's text to speech feature that some feel are better than Apple's voices. They have a free demo. When they first released them a few weeks ago the installer had some bugs, but the company responded very quickly to user suggestions and the version that's out works.
UStec has announced support for Apple's Mac mini its home networking solutions. The company provides homeowners with the wiring infrastructure they need to distribute and connect video, data, and voice signals for home entertainment, home networking, and home security and automation.
InternetNews.com reports that Congress is toying with the idea of mandating one standard for all online music platforms. Apple was invited to testify today, but they chose not to appear.
Prepare for speculation a-go-go: Apple just licensed a chipset that is capable of not only music and video, but 3D graphics and image capturing with resolutions up to 8-megapixel. -- Gizmodo.
Near-Time, Inc., a leading innovator of content and knowledge management software, today announced the commercial availability of Near-Time Current for Mac OS X. Current transcends traditional text editors, bookmark managers, Web clipping software, outliners, newsreaders, and blogging software. It is the first program to combine these functions, leveraging the immediacy of the Internet while offering a rich desktop environment for authoring and publishing. Current gives users complete control over desktop and Internet content.
First online crooks went ''phishing,'' and now they're getting into ''pharming'' to reap their harvest of potential identity-theft victims.
Pharming is a new scam that automatically directs computer users from a legitimate Web site to a fraudulent copy of that site -- without any warning signs. The fraudulent site collects passwords, credit card numbers or other private information for potential misuse. -- San Jose Mercury News.
With a little bit of care, you can maximize the battery life (i.e. the time your battery will run before it must be recharged) and lifespan of your PowerBook or iBook battery. -- Apple.
Google Maps is an excellent new mapping site from the search engine giant. I started at the country level and wound up at a map of my subdivision. It allows you to re-center along the way as you zero in.
A new feature has been added to the new mapping service - satellite images. GMaps (just click on the satellite link) now allows you to view satellite images for almost any US address down to about 500 yards visibility. The only "problem" is that ALL of every area has not been photographed. The closer to a population center the more likely what you are looking for will be there. The detail is amazing.
My old Epson C80 InkJet printer died recently which caused me to cast around for a substitute. My only real criteria was that it be rear loading, a brand I knew and as cheap as possible. So since the UC Computer Store had the Epson C86 in stock at less than $100 with a $20 rebate kind of made my decision for me.
So I take it home, hook it up and I can't print. I down load and install new drivers and I still can't print. I run Disk Utilities and repair the disk and permissions. I still can't print. The Print Utility can not see the printer.
I was able to install and print from Classic so I know the cables are good.
I update OS X and I still can't print.
Finally, assuming that it might be corrupt preference files, I use the Find command to locate all files containing the word "print" and ending in plist both visible and invisible. This brought up a number of preference files dealing with printing. I trashed them all and tried printing again. And this time Print Utility did find the printer and I was able to print.
Everyone at my house has been impressed with the print quality and speed. The scary part is that Consumer Reports just released a study on inkjet printers and the C86 was not even near the top of the list or even recommended (that was a Cannon.) But they were all more expensive than mine. If they print better than mine then they are exceptional indeed.
In a research note released to clients on Tuesday, UBS Investment Research offered a preview of Apple's second quarter earnings while analyzing some potential innovations it expects from the company over the next two years. -- AppleInsider.
One thing in Panther that doesn't get enough press, but kicks butt in the productivity department is that you can now create your own custom keyboard shortcuts. -- Apple.
Like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Apple and Best Buy can't quite make up their minds about each other. They're giving it another shot, as Best Buy has begun selling Mac minis. -- Ars Technica.
Over the past year, I have had to fly back and forth between Michigan and California several times. I used my desktop Mac for booking my flights online; the idea here was to save time and money from booking the "old-fashioned way." On flight days, I took my PowerBook with me of course. My plan was that to use the laptop to help pass the time. I might get some work done on an article or just watch a movie on DVD. Unfortunately, my ideas and plans turned out to have very little in common with the realities of airline travel. -- mac.column.ted.
MacFixIt has established its latest Special Report on Troubleshooting the Mac mini.
If you are having problems with Adobe (Acrobat) Reader after installing a recent incremental or security update to Mac OS X, you may need to obtain the latest release (version 7.0.1) for compatibility.
There is a blurring of lines between computer platforms these days, and it might be good news for computer users of all stripes. The Washington Times reports on the ever-increasing prevalence of mixed Mac and PC computing environments.
As ComputerWire exclusively predicted way back in February 2004, Adobe Systems is doing for graphics professionals what Apple iTunes did for music fans, announcing Adobe Stock Photos. The company also yesterday announced Version 2 of its Creative Suite of graphics and desktop publishing applications. The Computer Business Review compares Adobe's new digital stock photography service to iTunes.
It's become a religious battle in many circles. Each side gnashing their teeth, ready to beat the daylight out of the opposition. While this could resemble a number of sports rivalries, it's actually Windows users against Macintosh users. Don't let either company take a huge 'byte' out of your wallet without reading our handy comparison. -- Arkansas University State Herald.
Yes, interns are still running around media production houses with FireWire drives in hand copying files to workstations. Storage Area Networks (SANs) can improve efficiency dramatically, and Apple's Xsan is at the top of that list. Here's a practical example. -- O'Reilly MacDevCenter.
I recall how I did a bunch of Mathematical Proofs when I was in high school. In fact, proofs were an important part of Math according to the CBSE curriculum in Indian Schools. We were taught how to analyze complex problems and then break them down into simple (atomic) steps. It is similar to the derivation of a Physics formula. Proofs form a significant part of what Mathematicians do. However, according to this article from the Economist, it seems that the use of computers to generate proofs is causing mathematicians to 're-examine the foundations of their discipline.' [I remember that this was all we did in high school geometry. Of course there weren't as many things to prove in those days. --mam.] -- Slashdot.
A Slashdot reader reports that while at FOSE today in the Washington, D.C. Convention center he lingered at the Apple pavilion/booth. To his surprise every machine had 10.4 running.
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) Accreditation Team will visit the UT Knoxville campus TODAY, Tues, April 5, through Thurs, April 7, to meet with administrators, faculty, staff and students. The team read documentation to verify that UT is in compliance with everything needed for reaccreditation, with special attention to the campus Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), which Chancellor Loren Crabtree announced fall semester: International and Intercultural Awareness Initiative. For more info email Dr. Jim Moran or call him at 974-4987. [This week brings to an end 15 months of work for me. My principle responsibility during this time has been as the site designer and webmaster for SACS (UT Netid and password required.) --mam]
Digit's Mac Security: Fact and Fiction offers an overview of the current Mac OS X security situation:
Most Mac users gaze on smugly as reports of each new Windows security crisis break. And they have good reason - research from Sophos PLC showed that 68 viruses have affected the Mac while 97,467 have affected Windows. Of those 68, most are a decade old or older and don't directly affect OS X.
However, although it may seem that there's no reason to worry about security on your Mac, you shouldn't think you're completely safe. Apple's regular Security Update releases prove that there is cause for concern, and common sense suggests that you're most vulnerable when you let your guard down.
So how can you tell the difference between scaremongering and true dangers? We examined nine common beliefs about Mac security - and show you what you really need to worry about.
ZDNet blogger David Berlind says "not only won't Microsoft feel the halo effect of Apple's iPod, it may only be a matter of time before Apple is feeling the halo effect of Windows Media."
A hobbyist's fake iPod ad celebrating the music device is a hit with users and experts. Apple isn't talking. -- Wired.
John Gruber talks about Paul Graham's article "Return of the Mac" which starts: "All the best hackers I know are gradually switching to Macs..." -- Daring Fireball.
Two new formats aim to bury the DVD, but web distribution will kill them all. -- Wired.
Nicholas Negroponte of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Negroponte and MIT colleagues Joe Jacobson and Seymour Papert have much bigger dreams: They're recruiting corporate partners to join MIT in designing and mass-producing basic, durable laptops costing $100 or less that hundreds of millions of children worldwide could use at school and home.
Computing in Science and Engineering, a joint publication of IEEE and the American Institute of Physics, just published a special Cluster issue (Mar/Apr05). One of its five cluster articles is about Mac clusters: "Plug-and-Play Cluster Computing: High-Performance Computing for the Mainstream" (PDF). "This article is a must-read for anyone who wants to apply clustering ... but faces limited resources for actually managing the cluster." -- Prof. George K. Thiruvathukal in the Guest Editor's Introduction.
HealthWare Corporation, from the team that developed DentalMac, MediMac and ChiroMac, has announced that iDental 1.0 for Mac OS X is now shipping. The iDental suite is a unique dental office management system for the Macintosh.
Universities are struggling to keep their databases and records private. If the computer age is continually testing how well institutions protect personal information, the nation's colleges and universities may be earning a failing grade. -- The New York Times.
It took just one week for part-time coder Sam DeVore to create a new, useful little tool for Mac users wanting to stay organized. -- O'Reilly Developers Weblogs.
Dozens of colleges and universities are rolling out legal download services for students. Some of those services are underwritten by the entertainment industry -- it's called shaping habits of future customers. -- Wired.
Adobe Systems Inc. today announced Creative Suite 2 (CS2), the next generation of the San Jose, Calif.-based company's design environment. The suite includes new versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, GoLive and Version Cue, as well as the recently released Acrobat 7.0 Professional. CS2 will also see the introduction of Adobe Bridge, an enhanced and rewritten file browser and Adobe Stock Photos. -- MacCentral.
The Camino Project has released Camino 0.83, a minor update to the Mozilla-based Web browser for Mac OS X.
A MacInTouch reader finally traced a problem with broken links to weird preferences interactions in "Tiger" (similar to the bizarre design in "Panther" where you have to open Safari to set your preferred browser to something different, instead of having it in System Preferences...).
Finally figured it out. Safari in Tiger will use [ad] filtering if you have junk mail filtering turned on in Mail. I had tried one of the developer preview Safari builds which turned this feature on, and the older Safari was using that setting. However, as it was not really programmed to do so, it was intermittent. It also meant I couldn't post to a couple forums I go to that use vBulletin, as it filtered out the name of the thread or forum, so vBulletin would not know where to put the post.
This does, however, mean that many people will have this issue when Tiger ships. Consider this a heads up.
eWeek (apparently too big for Apple lawyers to sue), reports on the upcoming "Tiger" release.
Apple's iMac G5 was one of thirteen winners in The First Annual Bottom Line Design Awards presented by Business 2.0. Among the thirteen was something made by Steve's "other" company.
As more and more signs point to a sooner than later release of OS X 10.4 - Tiger - I find myself planning for that future. Huh? It's ok, follow along and I'll explain a skosh more. -- theAppleBlog.
