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Lack Of Mac Sceeen Reader Could Hurt Apple in the Classroom
CDW Announces New macwarehouse.com
CNN Admits It Went 'Too Far' In Framing Student's "Mac vs. PC" Question
G5, iTunes Included In Popular Science 'Best of What's New'
Apple UK PC Sales Up 36%
eWeek: Panther Sparks Hardware, Software Updates
New Mac Products, Special Show Pricing and Live Outdoor Concerts at the Southern California MacFair 2003 This Weekend
Aspyr Media to Demo the Latest in Mac Games, Glenda Adams to be Presented Award at CapMac November Meeting
You Software Launched by Founder of Extensis And Now Software
IBM Plans New Line Of Blade Servers Based On PowerPC 970 (aka G5)
Mac Night Owl: The Mac Night Owl's Fall 2003 Pet Peeve List
Gateway Unveils iPod clone
Q&A: Microsoft Corp. v. Lindows.com Inc.
Terra Soft Solutions Launches Fibre Optic Co-Location Services [/url]
Lack Of Mac Sceeen Reader Could Hurt Apple in the Classroom
Businessweek's Alex Salkever says:
"Visually impaired students now lack a Mac screen reader. That could hurt school sales -- and put Jobs & Co. on the wrong side of the ADA
"On June 10, small software developer ALVA Access Group announced that it would no longer support or build new versions of two products for blind and visually impaired Apple users. One, inLarge, allows users to zoom in on a section of the screen, making the letters, numbers, and outlines appear much larger. It became redundant when Apple included that capability in OS X.
"The other program, outSPOKEN, was a screen reader that could speak text and describe graphics and pictures. Such devices are essential to people with severe visual impairment who can't use computers otherwise. And outSPOKEN was the only such screen reader for Macs on the market. So the announcement elicited a good deal of concern from the blind community....
"Without screen-reader software, however, blind pupils can't use Apple products and would be forced to turn to Windows products instead (two viable screen readers for Windows are on the market today). The reason: School systems buying Apple products today are knowingly purchasing systems that can't be used by all their pupils, which runs counter to the Americans with Disabilities Act."
Salkever suggests that Apple needs to build a screen reader and release it into the open-source domain as it did with the Safari Web browser, which would silence critics ready to pounce on any pretext for dumping Macs, eliminate school-district fears of lawsuits and bad publicity, and do a huge service to the visually impaired community... "An open-source screen reader would allow millions of blind users to save money by buying Macs instead of PCs."
But the had better move quickly to put this fire out.
For more, visit here.
CDW Announces New macwarehouse.com
CDW Corporation has announced the new macwarehouse.com, a Macintosh-centric Web site that makes it easy to learn about and purchase Macintosh-compatible products and services. The Web site is designed for business and home users.
New features include:
-- Capabilities to search for Mac and PC-compatible products
-- Improved navigation and Mac Help Center
-- Advanced tools for customers to manage their account
Site visitors can subscribe to a free Macintosh eNewsletter and learn about CDW's promotions on Apple products including the newly-released Mac OS X version 10.3 also known as "Panther."
"This Web site exemplifies our commitment to the Macintosh community," said Kurt Baldassari, CDW director of e-commerce. "We solicited input from a wide range of Macintosh users, including customers and other macwarehouse.com visitors, to create a new Web site that offers customers an unparalleled online experience."
The NorthWest of Us, a large Macintosh user group based in the Chicago area, contributed feedback during development. "CDW gets it," said Sanford White, president emeritus and director. "I feel that the Mac community will embrace this site as a useful source of information."
Last September, CDW acquired selected assets from Micro Warehouse, Inc., including "Mac Warehouse," the macwarehouse.com Web site and a number of Macintosh product experts and engineers who help customers acquire the right technologies for their needs.
On macrowarehouse.com, corporate customers can take advantage of features that automate many purchasing functions including quote retrieval and a software license-tracking tool.
Home and business users can shop online, as well as take advantage of personalized features such as monitoring the status of their orders and managing billing and shipping preferences.
The new Web site can be found at:
http://www.macwarehouse.com
CNN Admits It Went 'Too Far' In Framing Student's "Mac vs. PC" Question
AP reports that;
"A college student who asked the Democratic presidential candidates at a debate whether they preferred the PC or Mac format for their computers says the question was planted by CNN.
"The news network acknowledged Tuesday that a producer went 'too far' in telling Brown University student Alexandra Trustman what to ask....
"CNN spokeswoman Christa Robinson said the cable network regrets the producer's actions. She would not identify the employee."
For the full report, visit here.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/11/11/cnn.question.ap/index.html
G5, iTunes Included In Popular Science 'Best of What's New'
Popular Science's 2003 Best of What's New feature includes the Power Mac G5 and the iTunes Music Store.
Comments include:
"... speed never goes out of style. And that makes Apple's new Power Mac G5 very stylish indeed,"
"Seriously, is there anything Steve Jobs can't fix?"
You can check it out at:
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/bown
Apple UK PC Sales Up 36%
Macworld UK reports:
"Apple continues to see growth in the UK PC market, confirmed analyst firm IDC last night.
"Speaking exclusively to Macworld, IDC revealed: 'Apple has experienced about 36 per cent year-on-year overall market growth this quarter, and holds about 2.5 per cent of market share.'"
For the full report, visit:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/031106/101/ed8v2.html
eWeek: Panther Sparks Hardware, Software Updates
" Apple Computer Inc.'s delivery of "Panther" (a k a Mac OS X 10.3) has prompted a wave of third-party updates. New releases range from interface enhancers to major enterprise-level databases
Even Apple got into the update action. Earlier this week, the company released a maintenance update, Version 10.3.1, which fixed a number of issues with security.
Another update for Panther includes fixes that mitigate a potentially damaging issue involving the new OS and external FireWire 800 drives."
Read more at:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1380702,00.asp
New Mac Products, Special Show Pricing and Live Outdoor Concerts at the Southern California MacFair 2003 This Weekend
It‚s fun in the sun this weekend November 14-16 at the Southern California MacFair 2003 (http://www.macfair.org) at Cerritos College in Norwalk California. Over 35 Mac vendors, 43 presentation seminars and 14 workshops are scheduled.
In addition, two live outdoor concerts are planned on the MacSupportExperts.com Music Stage. On Saturday, November 15th, attendees will enjoy the classic rock and roll sounds of CrossFire. On Sunday, November 16th, Sebastian Sidi will perform live his electric mix of Classical, Jazz and Latin genre. The outdoor concerts are all included in the Southern California MacFair 2003 weekend activities.
Also at the Southern California MacFair 2003, there will be many new product announcements, introductions and special show pricing.
--EazyDraw Version 1.4.0, fully Panther compatible version, will be released at the Southern California MacFair on Nov. 15. EazyDraw is an affordable vector based drawing application for creating technical drawings, illustrations, or web graphics on OS X.
--Photoshop Most Wanted 2 book by Colin Smith will make its debut at the SoCal MacFair. Jam-packed with great effects and design tips this book uncovers some of the most sophisticated effects possible in Photoshop including realistic 3D objects.
--Lizeric will demo a beta of Webhome at SoCal MacFair 2003. Webhome is an exciting new product that lets you quickly build a news style website. More than a Blog, WebHome includes support for headlines, feature stories, reader feedback, surveys, RSS feeds, custom HTML pages or panels and more.
--Aladdin Systems will be offering special show pricing on many of their products at up to 40% off the retail price.
--lynda.com will be previewing sample training videos from their upcoming "Learning Panther" and "Photorealism with Bert Monroy" titles. In addition, SoCal MacFair attendees who place an order for any lynda.com movie-based training CD-ROM title will receive a 20% Show Special.
--LA Computer Company will be offering a FREE! Belkin TuneCast FM Transmitter with 30GB iPod purchase. Rocstor External Firewire Hard Drive 120GB,7200RPM, with 8MB Cache at very low special show prices. .
Southern California‚s MacXtravaganza is this weekend at Cerritos College, a short drive from all major California freeways. Advanced on-line registration ends on Thursday evening November 13 at 11pm PST. For more information or to advance register:
http://www.macfair.org
Aspyr Media to Demo the Latest in Mac Games, Glenda Adams to be Presented Award at CapMac November Meeting
Come see Amy Torres, Nestor Hernandez, and Amity Lesko of Austin-based Aspyr Media demonstrate the latest and greatest computer games for the Mac.
The free demonstration will be at the Capitol Macintosh user group general meeting, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., Thursday November 13th, in the University of Texas Pharmacy Building, Room 3.106, on University St., between 24th & Dean Keeton. Meeting details are available at: http://www.capmac.org
Aspyr continues to tirelessly pursue the best games, working with partners like Universal, Paramount, Warner Bros., LucasArts, Electronic Arts, Activision, and Eidos, to bring brands like Harry Potter, The Sims, Madden NFL Football, Star Wars, Tony Hawk and Tomb Raider to the Macintosh platform.
It will also be a very special meeting as Capitol Macintosh presents an award to Austinite Glenda Adams, Director of Mac and PC Development at Aspyr, for her significant contributions to the worldwide Macintosh community over the years.
Capitol Macintosh is the Austin-area Macintosh user group, serving the community since 1993. If you use an Apple computer, we're the group for you! Everyone is welcome (even if you use a PC). The meeting is free and open to the public.
Contact Information:
Glenn Chase, spanky@capmac.org
President, Capitol Macintosh - Austin's Macintosh User Group
http://www.capmac.org
You Software Launched by Founder of Extensis And Now Software
Craig Barnes, the founder of Extensis and Now Software, is launching a new company, You Software, to develop and market a complete line of productivity software that will fundamentally make the software you already own (such as operating systems and applications) easier to use and customize, so your computer works the way you want it to work.
The You Software strategy is based on a proven business model pioneered by Craig Barnes. As the founder and former CEO of Extensis, Inc., Barnes grew a venture-backed start-up into a leading productivity software company serving millions of creative professionals worldwide. In 2000, Barnes negotiated the sale of Extensis for more than $100 million in cash and securities to ImageX, Inc., which was subsequently acquired by Kinkos, Inc.
Prior to Extensis, Barnes founded Now Software. Within three years Now Software grew to be the largest vendor of software devoted exclusively to the Macintosh. The award-winning Now Software product line included Now Utilities as well as networked calendar and contact management software, Now Up-to-Date and Now Contact.
“With his acumen, track record and talented technical team, Craig has put together another winning combination,” said Colin Crawford, Executive Vice President of Business Development and Operations for International Data Group and former CEO of Mac Publishing LLC. “Craig has a gift for successfully bringing enhancement and utility software to market that helps users get the most out of the time, money and emotion they invest in the software they use everyday.”
In addition to Barnes’ personal investment to start the company, You Software has secured a first round of financing from SmartForest Ventures of Portland, Oregon. The investment will fuel product development and fund marketing and sales efforts for the You Software product line. “Our investment in You Software reflects our excitement about Craig and his team coming back to the Macintosh market,” said Debi Coleman, SmartForest Ventures Partner and former CIO, CFO, and VP, Worldwide Operations for Apple Computer. “We believe You Software is going to be a huge success because they understand what people really need to be more productive.”
In the next 90 days, You Software will ship several titles designed for Mac OS X. These initial System Enhancement Utilities are focused on the real world needs of users and make using Mac OS X faster, easier and more efficient. You System Enhancements add features, enable customization and give users more control over the power of their operating system.
You System Enhancements will be delivered both as stand-alone products and in collections of utilities. In addition, over the next 12 months the company will also introduce client/server offerings that will bring You Software productivity gains to networked workgroups. Like Extensis and Now Software before it, the You Software product development strategy combines internally developed products with both publishing arrangements and acquisitions of independently developed products and technologies.
Earlier this year You Software acquired the intellectual property assets of PTH Software, a developer of system utilities that have been consistently recognized as best of class for the Macintosh operating system.
You Software development is driven by a talented technical team experienced in building world-class software products. Vice President of Research and Development, Eric Hayes, and Chief Technology Officer, Tim Brown, are long time collaborators with Craig Barnes. During their tenure with Extensis and Now Software they led teams that earned dozens of industry awards – including five Macworld Editor’s Choice “Eddy” awards and an Apple Design award.
Both Hayes and Brown are inventors of several patent-pending technologies. Eric Hayes has 18 years experience in the systems architecture and development of successful desktop and networked applications. As the Director of Engineering at Extensis, Hayes led the development of award-winning products including Preflight Pro and Suitcase Server. Prior to Extensis, Hayes was the principal architect and lead developer of Now Software’s Now Contact and co-author of Now Up-to-Date, the world’s best selling Macintosh personal information management software.
Tim Brown, was the architect and lead engineer for several Extensis products including the cross-platform client/server asset management application Extensis Portfolio. At Now Software, Brown was the lead engineer for several versions of Now Utilities, an award-winning system enhancement utility collection.
Paul Haddad, the founder of PTH Software, joins the You Software technical team as a Senior Software Engineer. Haddad has extensive experience designing software for the NEXTSTEP, OPENSTEP and Mac OS X environments. At Apple, Haddad was instrumental during the transition of NeXT Step technology to the Mac OS X server environment.
You Software is a venture-backed developer and publisher of personal and network productivity software designed to make the software you use everyday work better. For more information and to keep informed about new product introductions visit the company’s Website at:
http://www.yousoftware.com
IBM Plans New Line Of Blade Servers Based On PowerPC 970 (aka G5)
The Register's Ashlee Vance says:
"Fresh off the success of the now famous Big Mac cluster, IBM has planned a new line of blade servers based on its PowerPC 970 processor.
'...IBM plans to roll out the BladeCenter JS20, which will be comprised of dual processor PowerPC systems. The processors will run at 1.6GHz with an 800MHz front side bus. They will fit into the existing BladeCenter chassis used to house Xeon-based blades.
"Consumers will be familiar with the PowerPC 970 in its role as the heart of Apple's new G5 computers...."
More at:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/61/33953.html
Mac Night Owl: The Mac Night Owl's Fall 2003 Pet Peeve List
Flame on.
Here's the URL for today's commentary:
http://www.macnightowl.com/index.htm#list
Gateway Unveils iPod clone
The Register's Tony Smith reports:
"Gateway has announced its first hard disk-based MP3 player, the 20GB Digital Jukebox DMP-X20.
"It's not a pretty as the Apple machine, nor as compact....
"Gateway has Apple licked on price, however. The DMP-X20 costs $300 - $100 less than the 20GB iPod. ... It requires a Windows XP, XP Pro or 2000-based PC... on sale on 26 November."
For the full report, visit here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/33944.html
Q&A: Microsoft Corp. v. Lindows.com Inc.
Those wondering about the pending legal dispute between Michael Robertson's Lindows.com and Microsoft over the trademark dispute regarding whether or not "Windows" is in fact a generic name, finally have some answers. Mr. Robertson, issued a statement today about the lawsuit in a lengthy question and answer session.
Terra Soft Solutions Launches Fibre Optic Co-Location Services
Terra Soft Solutions, Inc., a developer of integrated PowerPC Linux solutions, has launched co-location services built upon its high-speed fiber-optic backbone, VAR relationships, and systems integration expertise.
Terra Soft now offers server co-location and remote backup in its Colorado facility which houses a high-speed fiber optic backbone. Each customer is granted an isolated, dedicated port for a fast, secure, solid connection with nearly unlimited data throughput and complete control of the bandwidth parameters--from 1Mb to 1Gb.
"We have enjoyed the flexibility and incredible stability of our fiber-optic connection for nearly three years. While we have to date offered co-location services to local companies, YDL developers, and industry associates, we recognize a unique opportunity to offer server co-location and remote backup to individuals and companies independent of their proximity to our facilities. In addition, as a VAR for both Apple Computer and Total Impact we are in a unique position to acquire, configure, and launch Xserves, Xserve RAID boxes, and briQs without our customer having to touch the hardware," states Kai Staats, co-founder & CEO.
Terra Soft offers:
• Custom built PowerPC-Yellow Dog Linux servers.
• An expertise in server design and setup.
• Server co-location or remote data storage and backup.
• Custom back-up scripts or BRU backup utility.
• Unlimited data throughput with flexible or fixed bandwidth ceilings.
• Dedicated (non-shared) ports; 100% saturation without disruption.
• 1Mb to 1Gb bandwidth.
• IP allocation upon proof of need.
Terra Soft offers two base packages: 'Co-Lo NET' with a customer established base and automatic scaling to a set ceiling; and 'Co-Lo Max' with a customer established datapipe for unlimited throughput and maximum saturation at a fixed monthly fee. Terra Soft will be pleased to host Linux, BSD, or UNIX servers of any architecture. For systems not purchased from Terra Soft, setup charges may apply. Administration is billed hourly.
Terra Soft is receiving orders for custom built servers now.
For more information, visit
http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com
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