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Apple Confidential Author Owen Linzmayer On TechTV's The Screensavers Today
How The Wireless Boom Could Soon Hit The Wall
Steve Jobs February's Top-Ranked CEO
What To Do When Your Mac Won't Start Up
Apple's Education Comeback
Steve Jobs And Gary Johnson Having A Very Good 2004
EPetitions: Power to the People?
Corel To Relaunch WordPerfect Office - Evermore Software To Launch Microsoft Office Competitor In US (OS X Support In The Works)
"Microsoft's Worst Nightmare, Re: Windows XP, Has Come To Pass"
• SCO takes Linux-Loving Auto Industry To Court
SCO Digs a Deeper Hole
Google Founder Dreams Of Google Implant In Your Brain
"iPod & iTunes: The Missing Manual, Second Edition" Released by O'Reilly
No Starch Press Releases "Getting Started with LEGO Trains"
Mac OS Finder's Co-designer Not Keen On Current User Interface
dealmac Revamps Email Alert And Customization Services
eWeek: Wireless Snafus at Wireless Show
eWeek: Updated -- Intel Launches Revved-Up Xeon MP
Central Command Alerts Computer Users Signs Of First Major Cyber War Emerging[/url]
Apple Confidential Author Owen Linzmayer On TechTV's The Screensavers Today
Check out Owen Linzmayer, author of Apple Confidential 2.0, on TechTV's The Screensavers, today March 4th at 4pm Pacific/7PM Eastern/delayed at 7 in other markets. Owen will be on the show live to talk about the history of Apple and his book.
The website for the Screensavers show on TechTV is:
http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/index.html/
Look for a review of Apple Confidential 2.0 in Moore's Views & Reviews soon.
How The Wireless Boom Could Soon Hit The Wall
AnchorDesk's David Coursey says:
"I'm thinking about this today because of an excellent article I read in the online edition of IEEE Spectrum magazine, written by Gregory Staple and my friend Kevin Werbach. Entitled 'The End of Spectrum Scarcity,' it convincingly presents a view that I'm still not sure I can accept, to wit: Soon, we will have all the radio frequencies we need for all the technology we want to implement."
However, Coursey has his doubts, and I'm delighted that he has addressed an issue that I've harped on for several years now, but that is rarely acknowledged in all the breathless hype about wireless technology:
"And you can't ignore the question of power. People often talk about how little power mesh networking products use. Of course, if you add all the devices together, the total power output is substantial. Remember that at high power levels, these frequencies cook things. There have been suggestions that even at low power (like what your cell phone uses), such products are capable of causing cancer.
"Now I'm not saying radio frequencies (RF) cause cancer. But I'm very concerned about living in a world with an unlimited amount of microwave signals passing through my body. My prediction is that, if we look closely at this, we'll end up with some fairly strict and perhaps low limits to RF exposure. That or we need a better cancer cure."
Anybody remember the precautionary principle?
For the full report, visit here.
Steve Jobs February's Top-Ranked CEO
Forbes' Davide Dukcevich reports:
"For more than a year, we have been asking our readers to rate the performance of America's most prominent chief executives on a monthly basis.
"Hundreds of thousands of votes have been cast, with individual approval ratings varying from an all-time high of 94% for Apple Computer's Steven Jobs last month to an all-time low of 1% for VeriSign CEO Stratton Sclavos, registered in October."
For the full report, visit here:
http://www.forbes.com/management/2004/03/02/cx_dd_0302topceos.html
What To Do When Your Mac Won't Start Up
Apple has posted a new Knowledge Base tutorial on what to do when your Mac refuses to boot in OS X.
"Nothing can be more frustrating than turning on your Mac only to find that it won't start up. Instead of seeing the Finder, you see a blue or gray screen, an icon of a broken folder, a kernel panic, a flashing question mark, or a computer that just sits there. What are you going to do now? Don't worry. It's usually just a simple issue you can fix yourself."
You can check it out at:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106464
Apple's Education Comeback
Businessweek's Alex Salkever saya:
"Despite some some setbacks lately in its education efforts, Apple has been able to keep building market share and excitement
"...in the last quarter of 2003, as Apple's overall education market share rose by 2.7%, according to numbers from tech tracker IDC cited by Apple executives at a Mar. 1 analyst briefing.
"Better still, Apple's share of the K-12 laptop market climbed by 2%, to 20.2%, in the last calendar quarter of 2003. That's important because laptop sales in the education market will surpass desktops in three years, according to IDC. Clearly, Apple is gaining share in a fast-growing market.
"On the college front, Apple looks even better. It posted record higher-education sales in the all-important fourth-quarter period of 2003, which covered the three months previous to Sept. 27."
For the full report, visit here.
Steve Jobs And Gary Johnson Having A Very Good 2004
Forbes.com's Peter Kafka says:
"Steve Jobs is having a very good 2004. Six days into the new year Apple Computer rolls out a pint-size version of its bestselling iPod. Two days later Hewlett-Packard announces plans for an HP-branded iPod.
"Gary Johnson is having a very good 2004, too. His Santa Clara, Calif.-based shop, PortalPlayer Inc., supplies the chips and internal software that power Apple's iconic music player. More than 2 million of the white beauties have sold so far, with PortalPlayer grossing about $15 a pop.
"Time for some boasting, no? No. Though PortalPlayer's connection to the iPod has been an open secret since 2002, Johnson doesn't dare acknowledge the relationship, for fear of offending his best--and a notoriously secretive--client....."
For the full report, visit here.
EPetitions: Power to the People?
econtentmag.com's Geoff Daily says:
"Twice, Apple has stared down the barrel of organized customer dissatisfaction and dissent given life through Internet-enabled technologies. The first involved the iPod's built-in battery and Apple's $255 mail-in replacement "service," not what you want to hear when your iPod, which you paid $300 for 18 months ago, goes dead and you call into customer service. But that's exactly what the Neistat brothers were told, and what eventually sparked their creating an online short film that records their conversation with Apple's customer service, recounts their subsequent graffiti campaign, and has since received over one million page hits ( http://www.ipodsdirtysecret.com ).
"The second potential PR slipup came during the weeks preceding Macworld, when disgruntled owners of dual USB iBooks gathered in protest. Their complaints all centered on a common problem, that of a faulty logic board; yet, some who called Apple about their disabled laptops were given the impression that their's was an isolated case. This led Brendan Carolan to start a petition at http://www petitiononline.com/ibook123/ calling for Apple to "provide recourse to this problem by either extending the warranty on the logic boards to cover all purchasers of said machines, or by offering reasonable replacement options other than the current replacement logic board, which has been proven faulty." Over 1,700 malcontents have since signed it, and there are now rumblings of a class action lawsuit ( http://www.blackcider.com ). Apple has yet to acknowledge that a problem even exists."
Well, that latter statement isn't quite accurate. Late in January, Apple announced an Extended Repair Program for G3 iBooks falling within a circumscribed serial number range, and acknowledges that there have been a variety of quality/reliability issues with these machines. Trouble is: folks with machines outside either end of the serial numbers specified are reporting similar problems with their iBooks, thus the class-action suit is being revived.
However, this is a magazine article, so it was probably written before the Apple program was announced. It's mainly a commentary on consumer democracy through epetitions.
You can check it out at:
http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=6184
Corel To Relaunch WordPerfect Office - Evermore Software To Launch Microsoft Office Competitor In US (OS X Support In The Works)
ITNews.com's Barbara Darrow reports:
"Corel is relaunching the once-mighty WordPerfect brand, promising a "revitalised" WordPerfect Office 12 for next month.
"The suite has been tailored for small and midsize companies and consumers as well as for WordPerfect's traditional bases of law firms and government agencies, the company said....
"In related news, last month Evermore Software, a Chinese software developer, said it would launch an English-language version of its Microsoft Office competitor in the States starting in May.... written in Java and will run on Windows and Linux right out of the chute. Macintosh OS X and Solaris support is in the works."
For the full report, visit here:
http://www.itnews.com.au/storycontent.asp?ID=10&Art_ID=18567
"Microsoft's Worst Nightmare, Re: Windows XP, Has Come To Pass"
"From a marketing standpoint, Microsoft's worst nightmare, re: Windows XP, has come to pass. Just when the Redmond software giant looked like it might be building some momentum for Windows XP, word leaked of a possible interim release between XP and Longhorn.
Think this through: If you are one of those holdouts (either a corporate customer or a SOHO/end user) still relying on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME or Windows 2000, why would you make the move to XP now? If Microsoft is poised to come out with something newer, better, fresher and "Reloaded" in the next few months, why would you even consider upgrading to XP, an operating system introduced in 2001?"
Read more at:
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,,1541738,00.asp
SCO takes Linux-Loving Auto Industry To Court
The Register's Ashlee Vance reports:
"The SCO Group looks set to stop the use of Linux in the car industry with plans to file lawsuits today against DaimlerChrysler and AutoZone.
"Earlier this week, SCO warned that it would add to lawsuits against IBM, Red Hat and Novell by going after Linux users. Later today SCO will make good on these promises by filing a suit against DaimlerChrysler in the Oakland County Circuit Court in Michigan. SCO alleges that the car maker violated a Unix software agreement."
Let's hope the courts put an end to this idiocy soon, or that SCO runs out of money for lawyers, or both. (See next item)
For the full report, visit here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/61/35998.html
SCO Digs a Deeper Hole
Motley Fool's Seth Jayson reports:
"Hey, if you're not making money the old-fashioned way, you might as well see what you can get through lawsuits. That seems to be the primary strategy these days at UNIX software provider SCO Group
"The trouble is, the company's litigious attempts at jump-starting revenue cost a lot more than they bring back. This morning's first-quarter earnings provide a revealing glimpse at this poorly executed strategy.
"For those who need a brief recap, SCO appears to own a version of UNIX that it claims has been duplicated, at least in part, in the open-source operating system Linux. For months now, the company has been threatening to sue anyone who uses Linux without paying SCO a license fee.....
"It's my opinion that SCO is doing everything wrong. In addition to the horrific, self-inflicted damage to its reputation, the licensing-lawsuit strategy is delivering a one-two punch to SCO's bottom line...."
For the full report, visit here.
Google Founder Dreams Of Google Implant In Your Brain
The Register's Andrew Orlowski says:
"And for a brief and wonderful moment, Larry [Page] escaped his minders and 'fessed up his wildest desires to CNET.
"'On the more exciting front, you can imagine your brain being augmented by Google. For example you think about something and your cell phone could whisper the answer into your ear,' he burbled.....
"Is he genuinely such a cartoon simpleton, or does he simply think that his product is so amazing - and that we're so correspondingly gullible - that we would willingly submit to such a complicated medical operation to make it work. (And, alas, it still requires messy medical science to implant a Google chip in your brain)."
You can check it out at:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/35968.html
"iPod & iTunes: The Missing Manual, Second Edition" Released by O'Reilly
There's something about an iPod that makes it hard not to want one -- its sleek design, cleverly designed scroll wheel, and the just-right weight in the palm of your hand. Even if you don't listen to "portable" music, the iPod gets you thinking that you might like to start. Part of the beauty of the iPod is that even the original Mac-only version, released by Apple in 2001, held 1,000 average-length songs, far more than the typical MP3 player. With the 2002 version, Windows users joined the family of iPod users. Add iTunes, free for both Windows and Mac platforms, and you can create mixes and musical collections to suit any mood or occasion.
But music playing isn't the only tune the iPod knows. To discover the full range of this device's capabilities, you'll need "iPod & iTunes: The Missing Manual" (Biersdorfer, O'Reilly, US $24.95), the book that should have been in the box. No iPod (yet), you say? Music lovers will still want this guide to iTunes--the ultimate jukebox program for Macs and Windows that plays and organizes your music, copies music from your CD collection onto your hard drive, and burns new CDs with music in whatever sequence you like. It's also an online music store where you can buy a favorite song--legally--for just a buck.
In this freshly updated edition, "New York Times" tech columnist J. D. Biersdorfer opens the secret doors of this gleaming beauty and its new colorful spin-off the iPod Mini. She lays bare an astonishing collection of useful tips, tricks, and shortcuts for using your iPod, like these:
-iPod as PDA. The iPod can suck in your calendar, address book, to-do list, and notes from a Mac or PC, and then display them at the touch of a button. It also doubles as an alarm clock and stopwatch.
-iPod as hard drive. Hook up your iPod to your Mac or Windows machine where it shows up as a disk. Use it to copy, back up, or transfer large files from place to place--at impressive rates of transfer speed.
-iPod as e-book. The iPod makes an excellent book reader, capable of displaying and scrolling through recipes, driving directions, book pages, and even web pages.
-iPod as GameBoy. Well, not a GameBoy exactly. But the built-in games are perfect time-killers for waiting rooms, bus rides, and the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Music lovers will also get an in-depth tour of the iTunes application-- everything from importing music and creating playlists to burning your CDs and DVDs and sharing music across a network. Biersdorfer provides a guided tour of the iTunes music store, as well, where you can browse an inventory of more than 500,000 songs or sample and buy any of 5,000 audio books.
No matter what kind of music moves you, "iPod & iTunes: The Missing Manual" will help you get much more out of your iPod--and much more into it.
For more information about the book, including table of contents, index, author bio, and samples, see:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/ipodtmm2/
iPod & iTunes: The Missing Manual, Second Edition
J. D. Biersdorfer
ISBN 0-596-00658-6,
349 pages,
$24.95 US, $36.95 CA
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
1-707-827-7000
http://www.oreilly.com
No Starch Press Releases "Getting Started with LEGO Trains"
Building and running model trains has been a popular hobby for decades. From small oval tracks running a simple locomotive to tracks that take over entire basements, model train enthusiasts come in all types. A subset of model train enthusiasts use an alternative medium for their creations; instead of building trains out of model wood and plastic, LEGO train builders create their locomotives and rail cars out of LEGO bricks, using official LEGO train sets or a collection of their own bricks.
Until now LEGO trains builders have exchanged ideas for models and connected with each other through an active online community and user group network. Now well-known LEGO trains community member and LEGO employee Jacob H. McKee has written the first book dedicated to LEGO trains: "Getting Started with LEGO Trains" (No Starch Press, $14.95 US, 4 color). Sure to be an essential reference for experienced LEGO train builders, "Getting Started with LEGO Trains" is also for LEGO train novices who want to get started with this creative hobby.
"Getting Started with LEGO Trains" begins with the fundamentals of LEGO trains: setting up the track and electrical components. It then proceeds to detail three projects - a GP-38 Locomotive, an old-style refrigerator car, and an intermodal container car - complete with full-color, professional-quality instructions. These projects can be built by following the color instructions, just as models are built from the kits that LEGO sells. Each project chapter also teaches the essential elements of locomotive and rail car construction as McKee explains how each project was conceived and brought to life.
More than just a how-to guide, McKee takes readers to the world of advanced LEGO building and the culture of model railroading. Sometimes the lingo takes a wacky turn: How could a model be built with SNOT? Connect the LEGO bricks in unorthodox ways to have Studs Not On Top, or SNOT, perfect for advanced constructions. And what about the chapter on refeer? That's the refrigerated rail car model, the type of train car called a refeer by model builders and train buffs in the know.
Interviews with expert builders and a section on advanced track layouts are sure to inspire the master builder and budding train enthusiast alike. With "Getting Started with LEGO Trains," newbies and old pros all have something in common - a great book to help them grow with their hobby. As McKee explains, "LEGO Trains are the 'hub of the spoke,' so to speak. LEGO Trains are what bond a LEGO universe together. Once you set up your first starter train set, you want more track. More track leads to more train cars. More cars leads to city. City leads to airports. Then space, then..."
Jacob H. McKee has been building LEGO creations since he was a young boy. He is now a well-known figure in the LEGO trains community and the LEGO Community Development Manager for North America. Jacob has worked on more than 400 websites and countless community projects, including the official LEGO Trains website ( http://www.lego.com/trains ).
GETTING STARTED WITH LEGO TRAINS
by Jacob H. McKee
1-59327-006-2,
February 2004,
$14.95 US ($21.95 Cdn),
120 pp., ages 12 and up
Available at fine bookstores everywhere
To order from the publisher: visit http://www.nostarch.com
email orders@nostarch.com
or call 800-420-7240
The author's site:
http://www.bricksonthebrain.com
LEGO Users Group Network:
http://www.lugnet.com/
Official LEGO Trains website:
http://www.lego.com/trains
International LEGO Train Club Organization:
http://www.iltco.org
Book table of contents:
http://nostarch.com/frameset.php?startat=legotrains_toc
High res sample from the book (3.5 MB):
http://www.nostarch.com/legotrains_ch5_highres.pdf
Low res sample (239 KB):
http://www.nostarch.com/legotrains_ch5_lowres.pdf
Mac OS Finder's Co-designer Not Keen On Current User Interface
MacMinute.com's Dennis Sellers reports:
"Steve Capps, co-designer of the Finder and much of the Mac's graphical user interface (as well as one of the folks behind the Newton OS), doesn't find much to excite him about either the Mac or Windows user interfaces these days....
"As for Apple's current hardware and software line, the industrial design, the integration between hardware and software, and the attention to details, are great 'as expected,' he says. On the other hand, he finds Mac OS X 'pretty boring.'
"'I feel both the Mac and Windows are asymptotically approaching the same level of mediocrity,' Capps says....."
You can check it out at:
http://www.macminute.com/2004/03/03/capps
dealmac Revamps Email Alert And Customization Services
dealmac, the definitive guide for finding deals on Mac hardware and software, announced a major redesign and upgrade to its email alert service and other "my dealmac" customization features. my dealmac has always enabled users to receive email alerts of the hottest deals on Mac hardware and software. Now, users can also receive alerts whenever dealmac finds deals from their favorite Vendors. dealmac.com and sister site dealnews.com, for non-Mac gear, are the only sites of their kind that offer this type of service. "We're happy to roll out a slew of improvements to our email alerts service, which was first introduced in 2000," said Daniel de Grandpre, co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of dealmac. "Almost four years later, we're still the only site of our kind that gives our users email alerts. And now, our new Vendor Alerts can email you whenever we find a deal or web coupon from your favorite online store, like Amazon.com." dealmac has also centralized the management of email alerts, newsletter editions of its content, and site preferences (like how far back to search). my dealmac puts its users in control of their shopping experience by offering the ultimate in customization.
For more information, visit:
http://dealnews.com
http://dealmac.com
http://dealram.com
http://dealcam.com
http://dealink.com
http://dealcoupon.com
eWeek: Wireless Snafus at Wireless Show
"Last year, the world's biggest mobile phone conference was, as usual, only marginally wireless-enabled.
Well, you can sort of understand it. Twenty-five thousand nerds, all with at least three phones each, in a tiny community that normally would expect to have a couple of hundred cell phones in the same area. Finding enough base stations is "a challenge."
It has been an industry-standard joke for as long as I've known the 3GSM Congress in Cannes that you can get every phone in the world there, but you can't make a call."
Read more at:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,,1541778,00.asp
eWeek: Updated -- Intel Launches Revved-Up Xeon MP
"End users should see a 15 percent to 25 percent performance increase when using systems powered by Intel Corp.'s upgraded Xeon MP processor, company officials said Tuesday.
At a press conference in New York, Richard Dracott, general manager of enterprise marketing and planning for Intel's Enterprise Platform Group, said the new "Gallatin" chips-which include a 3GHz version with 4MB of Level 3 cache, and 2.7GHz and 2.2GHz versions with 2MB of cache each-will help businesses looking to consolidate back-end applications onto fewer systems."
Read more at:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,,1541693,00.asp
Central Command Alerts Computer Users Signs Of First Major Cyber War Emerging
Central Command, a leading provider of PC anti-virus software and computer security services, announces that the first major global cyber war is emerging. Starting Friday, February 27th, with the release of the C variant of Bagle, a global assault for control of millions of computers is occurring. Three virus writing groups, authors of the Internet worms known as MyDoom, Bagle and Netsky, are battling through cyber space for control of vast dispersed armies of Internet connected computers.
"The short period of time between each new worm release, by the same set of virus writing groups, is real reason for alarm, especially since so many of them have successfully compromised systems worldwide. It's a direct attack on the response times of antivirus companies, a strain on IT professionals, a financial impact on businesses, and appears to be a war over power and seniority among these authors. Unfortunately, the global fight over superiority may result in a victory for the cyber combatants but not for the general Internet user population," said Steven Sundermeier, Vice President of Products and Services at Central Command, Inc.
Since February 27th, the author(s) of the Bagle have release nine separate variants (Worm/Bagle.C-K). Four of these creations have been seen successfully proliferating around the world. Likewise, over the same period of time, the author(s) of the Netsky Internet worm have released three versions of their own (Worm/Netsky.D-F). Netsky's apparent agenda is the disabling of the Bagle and MyDoom worms. The author(s) of MyDoom have responded with the release of MyDoom.G, an updated version that was not disabled by Netsky.
"Obviously, virus writers can't be trusted. So, what might appear as a malicious cat-and-mouse game between virus writing groups may actually be a well-organized cover-up to disguise their true intentions," concluded Sundermeier.
The following text has been extracted from inside the worm's code:
Worm/Bagle.J: Hey, NetSky, <explicit> off you bitch, don't ruine our bussiness, wanna start a war?
Worm/Bagle.K: Hey, NetSky, <explicit> off you bitch!
Worm/Netsky.F: Skynet AntiVirus - Bagle - you are a looser!!!!
Worm/Netsky.D: be aware!...
Worm/Netsky.C: we are the skynet - you can't hide yourself! - we kill malware · MyDoom.F is a thief of our idea! · SkyNet AV vs. Malware
Worm/Mydoom.G & H: to netsky's creator(s): imho, skynet is a decentralized peer-to-peer neural network. we have seen P2P in Slapper in Sinit only. they may be called skynets, but not your shitty app.
Vexira Antivirus starts at $34.95, and a free 30-day trial version may be downloaded from http://www.centralcommand.com or obtained by contacting Central Command at +1 330 723 2062.
For more information, visit:
http://www.centralcommand.com
Charles W. Moore
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