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Apple iPod mini International Availability Set for July 24
Enterprises Slow to Dump IE
New Email Service Aims To Wallop Gmail
Linux and Apple
Apple Hires Ex Ralph Lauren Exec
Tiger Looks Promising, But What About the Little Stuff?
'Together We Can Defeat Spam In Two Years'
Apple In Danger Of Missing Out On The Fruits Of Its Labour
Apple's Home for Homeschools
Mac Is Superior In The Workplace, But Often Falls Victim To Misconceptions
2004 Mac OS X Innovators Contest Announced
San Francisco Based Artist Selected For Apple's Featured Artist Program
36 Percent of Software in Use Worldwide is Pirated
Modem Hijackings Add To Canadians' Phone Bills
eWeek: Mac OS X's Spotlight Put Search Center Stage
PC Mag: Apple's 30-inch Cinema Display
Environmental Groups respond to Hewlett-Packard's Goal to Recycle 1 Billion Pounds of Electronic Waste by 2007
eWeek: Bang the DRM
Mac Night Owl: A Clever Slant on Font Menu Organization[/url]



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Apple iPod mini International Availability Set for July 24

Apple announced Wednesday that iPod mini, the smallest portable music player ever to hold up to 1,000 CD-quality songs, will be available internationally on July 24. iPod mini offers music lovers the ideal combination of ultra-portable design, style, song capacity, ease-of-use and audio performance.

“The iPod mini has been a smash hit in the US, and we’re thrilled to finally be able to offer it to music lovers the world over,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPod has changed the way people listen to music and is now the number one digital music player in the world.”

iPod mini is the world’s smallest portable music player to hold up to 1,000 CD-quality songs, weighs just 3.6 ounces and is encased in an ultra-portable, lightweight anodized aluminum body, available in five colors—silver, gold, pink, blue and green. iPod mini features Apple’s amazing Click Wheel for effortless one-handed operation, along with the same award-winning user interface as the rest of the iPod family, and works seamlessly with Apple’s iTunes, the number one online music store.

iPod mini for Mac and Windows is currently available in the US and is expected to be available worldwide through the Apple Store ( http://www.apple.com ), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers on July 24 for $249 (US). iPod mini comes in a choice of a silver, gold, pink, blue or green 4GB model and includes a belt clip. All iPod minis include earbud headphones, an Apple iPod mini power adapter, a 1.2m 30-pin to FireWire cable, a 1.2m 30-pin to USB 2.0 cable and a CD with iTunes 4.6 for Mac and Windows computers.

Optional accessories with the following suggested retail prices include the iPod mini Dock for $39 (US), in-ear headphones for $39 (US) and arm band for $29 (US).

iPod mini can be charged with either the FireWire or USB 2.0 cable and gets up to eight hours of battery life.* iPod mini requires a Mac with a FireWire port and Mac OS X version 10.1.5 or later (Mac OS X v10.2 or later recommended); or a Windows PC with a FireWire or USB 2.0 port, or a Windows-certified FireWire or USB 2.0 card and Windows 2000, XP Home or Professional.

(*) Battery life and number of charge cycles vary by use and settings. See http://www.apple.com/batteries for more information.







Enterprises Slow to Dump IE

eWeek's Matt Hicks reports:

"The calls to dump Internet Explorer may be getting louder, but they are falling largely on deaf ears among enterprise users.

"IT managers and users say that while the rash of security flaws associated with IE has drawn new attention to its vulnerabilities and has led some individuals to switch browsers, enterprises are reluctant to change browsers because of their reliance on IE-specific intranet applications and Web sites.

"Following a series of critical security flaws tied to IE, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team last week suggested the use of an alternative browser as one way to avoid potential problems. Its recommendation has drawn widespread attention to rival browsers from the open-source Mozilla Foundation, Opera Software ASA and Apple Computer Inc.....

"Daniel Miessler, an IT security engineer with a financial services company in Georgia, said he suggests that individual users consider ditching IE both because of its security gaps and because of its lack of support for Web standards. Before IE's most recent security issues, the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer wrote a story for the Lockergnome Web site outlining reasons to dump IE."

For the full report, visit here:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1620426,00.asp

Miessler's article is here.

Excerpt:

"I’m actually an MCSE and I happen to like quite a few of Microsoft’s products... the benefits of using IE are too few - and the faults too great — to put off the adoption of an alternative any longer.... Just about everyone reading this has seen computers that have been beaten down with spyware - the evil junk that hijacks IE and renders a system virtually useless. How many times have you been called to a family member’s house to clean up their system? Or had to call your techie friend to come clean yours? It’s often quite awkward - the system slows to a crawl and every other mouse click conjures up some species of perverse, obscene image. What most people don’t realize, however, is that there is a very simple and powerful way to defend your system (and/or the systems of your loved ones) in one fell swoop. Don’t use Internet Explorer."

Of course, there are plenty of reasons to dump Internet Explorer that have othing to do with security. I quit using it back in 2001 because I was fed up with the crummy user experience, and Mac users in particular have a vast range of superior browser choices.






New Email Service Aims To Wallop Gmail

IDG News Service's Scarlet Pruitt reports:

"The e-mail storage stampede continued its charge on Wednesday with yet another Internet company taking on Google Inc.'s Gmail offering with its own free 1GB e-mail service.

"Israeli Web portal provider Walla Communications Ltd. has launched WallaMail, a new service offering users tools such as in-box search, an e-mail filtering system, an antivirus application and, of course, a lot of space. It offers enough space, in fact, to archive 40,000 e-mails, 2,000 pictures and 50 one-minute video clips, the company said....

"Walla has been offering a free e-mail service for three years and the company has moved users of that service to the new WallaMail, said Erez Philosoph, deputy chief executive officer of Walla Communications....

"WallaMail is currently signing up users at http://www.walla.com ......."

For the full report, visit here.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/07/07/HNwallopgmail_1.html






Linux and Apple

Open Sourcery's Blane Warrene says:

"The introduction of Tiger by Apple at its Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco this past week offers some telling facts that the open source community is making an impact commercially.

"I was briefed by Apple on the client and server versions of the new release of OS X, slated for early 2005, and several features have been driven largely by their open source participation. As most know, the entire Apple kernel for OS X is available via open source as Darwin, and even has an Intel PC port.

"Most significant may be the release of Rendezvous for Java, Linux/Unix and Windows. This is a zero-configuration tool for networking that includes network protocols, identification and configuration of devices and services such as printers and local/remote servers, and was based off of open source technology.....

"However, on a separate but related note, something struck me even more when I spoke with Michael Chute, lab manager with the Naval Medical Research Center. Mr. Chute is leading a team that is responsible for developing agents capable of identifying bio weapons in the environment, and additionally cultivating vaccines.

"He commented to me that in a review of Linux and Apple cluster solutions for their research (partially web-based), they chose Apple only because of the ease of use and ability to manage in a limited IT environment."

For the full report, visit here.





Apple Hires Ex Ralph Lauren Exec

Macworld UK reports:

"Apple has hired former Ralph Lauren executive Bridget Ryan Berman as vice-president and chief operating officer for Apple's retail operation, reports ifoAppleStore.

"The report states that Berman is a 12-year veteran of Polo Ralph Lauren. She was most recently president of its retail group with responsibility for 40 domestic and 121 international stores."

For the full report, visit here.
http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=9091&Page=1&pagePos=1






Tiger Looks Promising, But What About the Little Stuff?

Low End Mac's Adam Robert Guha says:

"Apple recently previewed the new Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" software. It seems to include some great new features that users might find very useful having built into the operating system....

"While this is fantastic, there are some other enhancements I'd really like to see from Safari; namely the page number and Web address on printouts (every other Mac OS browser that I've used has this) and the ability to sort bookmarks by name (even Internet Explorer in OS 9 has this capability).

"I hope this isn't another one of those 'one mouse button' issues where Apple thinks that it's easier and more elegant, whether that's to have one mouse button or, in this case, not to display the page and address on printed websites.

"The other issue is that, according to several things I've read on the Web, the OS 10.4 Developer Preview is now shipping on a single DVD. I'm hoping that the final release will be available on CD as well; given many recent Macs don't have DVD drives. For instance, my mom's 500 MHz iMac from 2001 shipped with a CD-RW drive, not DVD....

"As I've come to realize, it's the small enhancements that really matter when it comes to a major OS upgrade such as this. In Panther, it was the "password required on wake up" that I liked, since I didn't want someone getting into my PowerBook if I left it sleeping on a desk for a moment."

You can check it out at:
http://lowendmac.com/archive/04/0707.html







'Together We Can Defeat Spam In Two Years'

The Register's John Leyden reports:

"Delegates at an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) spam conference this week have called for standardised, stronger worldwide anti-spam legislation. They aim control the 'modern day epidemic' of spam within two years.

"Regulators from 60 countries along with industry representatives called for standardised legislation around the world to make it easier to prosecute spammers. Particular emphasis was placed on measures to curtail the flood of unsolicited pornographic email."

For the full report, visit here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/07/itu_fights_spam/






Apple In Danger Of Missing Out On The Fruits Of Its Labour

news.ft's Scott Morrison says:

"Some lucky music fan will hit the jackpot very soon. The person who downloads the 100 millionth song from Apple Computer's iTunes online music store will win a sleek new laptop, an iPod digital music player and a gift certificate to download a further 10,000 songs.

"Generous? Certainly. But no amount of hype is too great for a company that has so much riding on the future of digital entertainment....

"Almost three years after the launch of the iPod, there is little indication yet of how Apple plans to stay ahead of its rivals...."

For the full report, visit here.





Apple's Home for Homeschools

Homeschooling has grown significantly over the past several years, with current estimates of up to 1.5 million students now attending homeschool. Apple, recognizing the growing demand of homeschoolers, is making the full range of Apple’s educational products and solutions available to homeschools.

You qualify as a homeschool if you:
• Provide a complete school curriculum for the children you homeschool
• Meet the homeschool (teaching) requirements set forth by your appropriate Department of Education

For more information, visit:
http://www.apple.com/education/k12/homeschool/






Mac Is Superior In The Workplace, But Often Falls Victim To Misconceptions

MacWrite's Anthony Lynn says:

"As a self-employed small business owner, my computers are an integral part of my day-to-day operations. Not only do I use them to create content for my clients, I use them for all my accounting, customer database, time management, communications and research needs. With every aspect of my business dependent upon them, it's critical that my computers operate smoothly with as little downtime as possible. If they stop working, I stop working - and that costs me money. That's why I only trust my business to Mac and OS X.

"Surprisingly, I find myself in the minority. There is a much too common misconception that only Windows-based PCs can serve as business machines. Nothing could be further from the truth. From my observations, three widely-mistaken beliefs seem to account for this.

• Pocketbook paranoia
• Software seclusion
• Platform harmony

You can check it out at:
http://www.macwrite.com/macsinbusiness/mac-superior-in-the-workplace.php






2004 Mac OS X Innovators Contest Announced

MacDevCenter's Derrick Story says:

"Now that WWDC and the Apple Design Awards have made big splashes, it's time to turn our sights to the 2004 Mac OS X Innovators Contest. If you have a cool application or plugin that runs natively on Panther, this event is your opportunity to show them to the world, and maybe win some great prizes along the way.

This year's event will be very similar to last year's, except that we're only having one round (instead of three). The contest is open now, so you can read the rules, then check out the prizes, and when you're ready, complete the entry form.

The contest is open for entries during the months of July and August 2004, and the winners will be announced at the O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference the last week of October.

Once again we have both International and U.S. categories. Winners from both categories receive acknowledgement and the ability to promote their works as contest finalists. All finalists are also invited to attend the Mac OS X Conference with admission fees waived. Only the U.S. winners are eligible for the ADC membership prizes.

The objective of this event is to highlight the great applications being developed for Panther outside of Apple. We at O'Reilly believe that Mac OS X is a great platform. We've dedicated a major web site (MacDevCenter.com) and a conference to support those who want to innovate with these tools -- whether it's creating a work around for your own needs or developing a major application to benefit the entire community. We encourage you to participate in this event so we can show the world how vibrant the Mac community is."

For full details:
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/developer/2004/07/06/innovators.html






San Francisco Based Artist Selected For Apple's Featured Artist Program

John Kraft has been selected for Apple's Featured Artist Program, which provides an in-depth look at a body of work by established artists. This exposure, which extends through the summer, has already led to increased recognition of Kraft's work both domestically and abroad.

One new fan sums up the initial response to Kraft's work, "I love John's style. He makes looking at art fun, and I can see why Apple chose him as a featured artist." In addition to http://www.apple.com and Kraft's official website, http://www.johnkraft.com, his work can be seen in Dwell Magazine and in an upcoming feature in Better Homes and Gardens.

Influenced by Keith Haring and Andy Warhol, Kraft's style is unique and playful, but with a mature edge. Vibrant colors and strong black lines help to define and communicate the themes represented in his art.

Kraft was born in Los Angeles in 1967. The son of a marine engineer and child psychologist, he was encouraged from an early age to explore and develop both his creative and analytical sides. This was evidenced with his parallel pursuits of painting and songwriting while also earning two degrees in engineering.

Kraft comments, "Many people I encounter are curious about the seemingly odd contrast of my education as an engineer and my life as an artist. I believe that my background and education inform my art in a very natural and effective way. An artist's use of color, form and composition is analogous to an engineer's balance of materials, form and function."

Primarily a self-taught artist, Kraft has had periods of independent study in both Europe and the Far East. In 2003 he became fascinated with the process and promise of Giclee print production. "I believe a key aspect of the creative process is the desire to share one's work with the widest possible audience," says Kraft. "Through the production of Giclee prints and the use of the internet, I hope to share my work with a larger audience over a wider geographic area."

John Kraft signed limited edition Giclee prints are available via his website: http://www.johnkraft.com





36 Percent of Software in Use Worldwide is Pirated

BusinessWire reports:

"Thirty-six percent of the software installed on computers worldwide was pirated in 2003, representing a loss of nearly $29 billion. These are the key findings of a global software piracy study released today by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the international association of the world's leading software manufacturers.

Among key findings:

-- The piracy rate in the Asia/Pacific region was 53 percent, with dollar losses totaling more than $7.5 billion.

-- In Eastern Europe, the piracy rate was 71 percent, with dollar losses at more than $2.1 billion.

-- In Western Europe, the rate was 36 percent, and dollar losses totaled $9.6 billion.

-- The average rate across Latin American countries was 63 percent, with losses totaling nearly $1.3 billion.

-- In the Middle Eastern and African countries, the rate was 56 percent on average, with losses totaling more than $1 billion.

-- In North America, the piracy rate was 23 percent. The losses totaled more than $7.2 billion.

For more information, visit:
http://www.bsa.org/globalstudy/





Modem Hijackings Add To Canadians' Phone Bills

The Canadian Press reports:

"Telephone fraud is costing Internet users thousands of dollars in long-distance charges, consumer-protection groups said Wednesday.

"The three groups, including the Ottawa-based Public Interest Advocacy Centre, said they began receiving complaints in December 2002.....

"Charles Tanguay, a spokesman for the Union des consommateurs, said about 2,000 Canadian web surfers who use dial-up modems have been hit with long-distance charges....

"In one case, the bill was $2,000.

"Frederic Mathieu, a technical expert, said the victims were generally people who surfed the web for pornography."

For the full report, visit here:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1089237585049_15?hub=SciTech

eWeek: Mac OS X's Spotlight Put Search Center Stage

"What's behind Apple's forthcoming Spotlight search, and how will its new interface benefit users?

When he unveiled it at last week's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco alongside Mac OS X 10.4, aka "Tiger," Apple CEO Steve Jobs touted Spotlight as a solution to the clutter of folders and files. It will take three separate technologies to perform that trick, Ken Bereskin, senior director of Mac OS X product marketing at Apple Computer Inc., told eWEEK.com. One is already built into the Mac OS X file system, and two are newly invented.

The new twists in the Spotlight interface drew praise from Dr. Jakob Nielsen, a principal and co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group, a user-experience consulting group."

Read more at:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1620026,00.asp

PC Mag: Apple's 30-inch Cinema Display

"Part of a new display lineup that also includes 20- and 23-inch models, Apple's new 30-inch LCD offers an unprecedented 2560-by-1600 pixel resolution for a total of over four million pixels. It requires a Power Mac G5 professional desktop equipped with an nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL graphics card. The thin-bezel aluminum case features two FireWire 400 ports and two USB 2.0 ports."

Read more at:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,,1620044,00.asp

Environmental Groups respond to Hewlett-Packard's Goal to Recycle 1 Billion Pounds of Electronic Waste by 2007

Hewlett-Packardís company goal to recycle 1 billion pounds of electronic products and printing supplies globally by 2007 is a step in the right direction, "but the company has a long way to go," according to Ted Smith, Executive Director of Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, a San Jose-based environmental group that conducts research and advocates on environmental issues related to the high tech industry.

According to Smith, 1 billion pounds of electronic products and printing supplies translates into roughly 20 million computers to be recycled over the next two and half year period. "We've found that most manufacturers couldn't provide recycling data for their U.S. programs or their recycling rates were below 2 percent. Whatís important is to compare the number of computers and printer supplies recycled by HP compared to the 76 billion in sales last year," added Smith.

"It's encouraging to see that HP has combined its recycling goals with concerns about raising social and environmental standards in the supply chain. One billion pounds of recycling can do more harm than good if it is done in an environmentally or socially irresponsible manner," said Smith.

SVTC and a group of environmental organizations that launched the Computer TakeBack Campaign, which advocates for brand owners to "take back and recycle computers in a responsible way. (http://www.computertakeback.com) The campaign was launched after the 2002 release of the report "Exporting Harm" ( http://www.svtc.org/cleancc/pubs/technotrash.htm ) revealed the devastation experienced by entire community environment and human health caused by pollution from recycling.

eWeek: Bang the DRM

"Digital Rights Management (DRM) marketplace was worth $36 million in 2003, according to a Jupiter Research survey of 800 people. Jupiter expects the DRM market to increase to $274 million by 2008.

"I think there's a stigma around DRM," said Peter Sargent, senior analyst at Jupiter Research. "It's associated with the digital audio/video entertainment space, and there is a lack of familiarity with it. People don't understand what they can get from a DRM solution."

Sargent said the real threats to a company's data are the everyday mishaps that go on in the workplace, not malicious intent on the part of individuals trying to steal data."

Read more at:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,,1619984,00.asp

Mac Night Owl: A Clever Slant on Font Menu Organization

This is a application sorely needed for Mac OS X.

Here's the URL for today's commentary:

http://www.macnightowl.com/index.htm#organization


***



Charles W. Moore


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