[7/30] Add 3 Drives to a Power Mac G5 for 250MB/s Performance with MaxConnect Lite: MaxUpgrades announced the availability of MaxConnect Lite, a CPU Bay internal storage expansion assembly for G5 Power Macs. MaxConnect Lite is made of PolyAcetal, a ThermoPlastic known for its high strength and stiffness. MaxConnect Lite, aThe CPU bay internal storage expansion assembly enables three additional disk drives to be housed in the lower CPU bay. The MaxConnect Lite expansion assembly is $74, with power cables it is $79, with power and SATA cables it is $99 and the full kit with power cables, SATA cables and 4 internal port SATA PCI-X host card is $199--all without drives. [Bill Fox]

[7/30] Apple Revised the offerings from Two Hot Deals Retailers:

The newest entry to the Hot Deals family is the Apple Store Special Deals page. Here you'll find unbelievable deals on the hottest refurbished and new, unopened Apple products. Current offerings include eMac 1.25GHz with SuperDrive for only $799, iPod with Color Display starting at only $299, 23" Cinema HD Display for only $1,299, and much more. But hurry; supplies are limited and sure to go fast.

Publishing Perfection has great deals on a variety of design and print products for your Mac, including Eovia Carrara 3D Basics 2, StockLayouts Volume 1 for Adobe Illustrator, Allume Systems Internet Cleanup 4, ALPS MD-1000 Photo Realistic Finish Ink Cartridge, Microtek ScanMaker i900 Flatbed Scanner, AutoFX Mystical Lighting, and much more.

[Bill Fox]

[7/29] From the Dark Side--Microsoft Annual Wall Street Analysts Briefing Brings Up Apple/iPod/Halo Effect: We are dumbfounded. For the first time in 17 years of such briefings, M$ Founder Bill Gates did not offer a future vision of Microsoft. In addition, CEO Steve Ballmer noted that M$'s own executives are not buying M$ stock and that M$ will innovate by buying smaller companies. This was supposed to excite Wall Street analysts about M$?

Regarding the M$ relationship to Apple, NYT reporter John Markoff noted:

Many features shown today [in Widows Vista] are ones already introduced in Apple Computer's OS X Tiger operating system.

During today's briefing, Microsoft executives acknowledged that the popularity of Apple Computer's iPod music player had indirectly helped sales of Macintosh computers.

"The halo effect enabled them to go after PC users and sell them Apple products," said Will Poole, the Microsoft executive in charge of desktop operating system products.

Microsoft thinks the halo effect of the iPod is real. It's probably the lesser of two evils in explaining why Apple's Mac sales have soared. More... [Dana Baggett]

[7/29] Yahoo! Toolbar 1.0 for Firefox Web Browser is Out: Yahoo! joined Google, Amazon and Ask Jeeves in making a toolbar for Mozilla's Firefox Web browser. Yahoo!'s works with the Mac version of Firefox and has portable bookmarks, a resizable search box, open new tabs from Toolbar buttons. quickly add RSS feeds to My Yahoo!, instantly save and "re-find" pages with My Web and support for trunk builds, etc. It is available for download from this Yahoo! Web page. [Dana Baggett]

[7/29] Brief Hands-On Report--Opera 8.0.2 Released: A new version of the Opera Web browser, v8.0.2, was released and it is available for download from Opera Software's Web page. The Web browser is free with Google ads or $39 without ads. Here are some of the changes in v8.0.2:

Security

• Solved download dialog spoofing issue described in Secunia Advisory SA15870
  
• Fixed image dragging issue described in Secunia Advisory SA15756
  
• Prevented link hijacking issue described in Secunia Advisory SA15781
  

Mac specific changes

• Entries in Address Book are imported on first-run only.
  
• Improved window size handling for pop-ups.
  
• Fixed problems with window.print().
  
• Fixed a banner handling problem when using multiple windows.
  
• Cache files will now be saved on exit.

Opera is the fastest Web browser at loading javascripts and it doesn't botch them, e.g. Edmunds.com, like Safari does (click on the New or Used links to compare them). Our copy worked just fine on all Web pages that we tested. [Bill Fox]

[7/29] Syngress Published Stealing the Network: How to Own an Identity: Here's a wild one. Syngress Publishing, Inc., announced the publication of Stealing the Network: How to Own an Identity (ISBN:1597490067, 450p, $39.95), at the popular Black Hat Briefings. This is the third book in the bestselling Stealing the Network series from Syngress. The all-star cast of multiple authors--Timothy Mullen, Ryan Russell, Riley (Caezar) Eller, Jeff Moss, Jay Beale, Johnny Long, Chris Hurley, Tom Parker, Brian Hatch--tackles one of the fastest growing crimes in the world, identity theft. Johnny Long's chapter, Death by a Thousand Cuts,

"...follows, in part, a forensic cop's efforts to make a disc image of an iPod that was found at a crime scene. The trouble is, Apple's drivers spring into action whenever the iPod senses it has connected to a computer. If the driver activity changes anything in the iPod, all evidence on it will be inadmissible in court."

You'll have to read the book to see how this was solved. [Bill Fox]

[7/28] Charles Gaba's Mac/PC System Shootouts Updated--Review Henrico County's Decision: Charles Gaba's new comparisons include the Dell Inspirion 600m that Henrico County, VA, Public Schools chose over renewing its contract for Apple iBooks (see our previous note). The list of new system shootout comparions includes:

• $500 Desktops (Apple Mac mini vs. Dell Dimension 3000)
  
• $1,000 Laptops (Apple 12" iBook vs. Dell Inspirion 700m)
  
• $1,300 Laptops (Apple 14" iBook vs. Dell Inspirion 600m)

In addition, the following Special Shootouts have also been updated:

• Apple vs. Apple: 12" iBook vs. 12" PowerBook
  
• Apple Desktop Lineup
  
• Apple Laptop Lineup
  

[Bill Fox]

[7/28] Mozilla 1.7.11 Coming Out Soon: Final test builds of v1.7.11 of the Mozilla project's web suite, browser and email client, are available for download from this Mozilla server. Assuming there are no major problems found during current testing, v1.7.11 could be out any day now. We downloaded and tried the latest build and found no problems. [Dana Baggett].

[7/28] Paraglyph Published Degunking Your Mac/Tiger Edition: Apple's new operating system for Macs, Tiger, has been hailed by critics as a great OS, but this doesn't mean it's problem free. To help Mac users get the most out of Tiger, Paraglyph Press announced Degunking Your Mac, Tiger Edition (U.S.$24.99, 400 pp, ISBN 1-933097-05-1) by Joli Ballew. In her new edition focused on Tiger, Apple expert Joli Ballew provides scores of tips and tons of advice in every chapter. From fixing your Desktop to cleaning up your iPod, to straightening out the Dock, Finder and Menu Bar and getting the most out of Dashboard, Joli shows how anyone can clean up and degunk their Mac and take advantage of all the new features of Tiger.

[7/28] O'Reilly Released Home Networking: The Missing Manual: It all started when personal computers and peripherals became more affordable. Suddenly, the single Mac or PC household turned into a multiple computer household, with a myriad of peripherals. To connect everything and share resources has become a serious need. Throw in different operating systems and wireless technology like Apple's AirPort and the prospect can seem overwhelming. Fortunately, Scott Lowe has written a guide in Home Networking: The Missing Manual (O'Reilly, US $24.95) for anyone interested in setting up their own home network and reaping the rewards. The benefits of networking continue to drive this growing demand for the home from going wireless and sharing files and peripherals, to displaying digital photos on the TV and networking TiVo. [Bill Fox]

[7/28] Apple Revised the Offerings from Six Hot Deals Retailers:

The Apple Store and Apple Store for Education Hot Deals pages have just launched a brand new offer aimed and students and teachers. Until September 16, 2005, you can buy Microsoft Office for Mac Student & Teacher Edition for just $99.95 after rebate -- an incredible $50 savings.

ClubMac has great deals on essential Mac products, including SanDisk's 512MB Cruzer Mini Portable Flash Drive, D-Link 802.11G Wireless Cable/DSL Router with $25 mail-in rebate, D-Link 2.4GHz 802.11B Wireless Internet Camera, Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Standard Edition Upgrade, Sonnet Encore/ST G5 1.7GHz Upgrade Kit for Cube, and much more.

Mac Game Store has great deals on the hottest games for the Mac, including MacSoft Tropico 2: Pirate Cove, Sega Football Manager 2005, Legacy Interactive Zoo Vet, Shrapnel Games Salvo!, Sega NHL Eastside Hockey Manager, Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Digital Speaker System, Aspyr Star Wars: Battlefront, and more.

MacMall has fantastic prices on essential Mac products, including LaCie 160GB Porsche External FireWire Hard Drive, D-Link 802.11G Wireless Cable/DSL Router with $25 mail-in rebate, Alsoft DiskWarrior 3.0.3, Microsoft Virtual PC 7.0 for Mac with $30 mail-in rebate, Alien Skin Eye Candy 4000/Splat/Xenofex 2 Bundle, and much more.

Small Dog Electronics has great prices on top quality Mac products, including Mobile Edge Komen Microfiber 15" Laptop Tote, QuickerTek 5.5dbi High Gain Antenna for 15"/17" Aluminum PowerBooks, Canon iP3000 Color Photo Printer with $20 mail-in rebate, Small Dog iPod Tool Bundle, M-Audio Fast Track Studio, and much more.

[Bill Fox]

[7/28] FREE Envision Web Show of the Week--Voices of Civil Rights: This week's Envision Web Show of the Week is taken from a recently-concluded exhibit at the Library of Congress. Voices of Civil Rights documents events during the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The Envision Web Show of the Week can be downloaded from the Show of the Week Web site. Previous Shows of the Week are available in the Show of the Week archive. [Bill Fox]

[7/27] Our Take on Apple's Upgraded Mac mini and iBook G4 Lines: Apple now offers Mac minis in three standard configurations and iBook G4s in two.

The base $499 1.25GHz Mac mini now simply gets 512MB RAM in place of 256MB, essentially a $75 saving. We don't know if the additional 256K on an entry level consumer computer is actually needed but Apple suggests 512K minimum for running Mac OS X 10.4.x so it's consistent. We'll find out but, hey, it's free so no one is going to complain are they?

The next level $599 1.42GHz Mac mini does even better as a result of the upgrade. It gets a free additional 256MB RAM, free AirPort Extreme card and free Bluetooth module over the previous $599 model and looks like the real value model even though it loses the 56K modem. The $100 over base now not only buys a 14 per cent faster G4 CPU and 40GB of additional hard drive space but AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth as well while giving up the modem. If you need the modem, it's only $29 but then why would you pay for AirPort Extreme?

The top level $699 1.42GHz Mac mini gets everything the $599 model has plus a SuperDrive. $100 is a minimal premium for Apple's DVD burner. Now a fully loaded Mac mini with 20" Cinema Display is a more reasonable $1,498 or $1,556 with mouse and keyboard. It now takes $243 more for the comparably-equipped but much faster 20" 2GHz iMac G5 at $1,799.

Wow, that was easy to go from $499 to $1,799! We are certain that Apple is hoping many shoppers will do just that.

The new iBook G4s all get a scrolling trackpad and a Sudden Motion (drop) sensor to protect the hard drive along with CPU speed, RAM size and graphics speed bumps plus built-in Bluetooth 2.0.

The 12" iBook G4 continues to get only a combo optical drive--there's no DVD burning at 12" unless one moves up the 12" PowerBook G4. Still, for the same $999 the 12" iBook G4 gains a faster 1.33GHz CPU, 256MB more RAM (to 512MB), faster ATI 9550 graphics and Bluetooth 2.0, a real bargain.

The 14" 1.42GHz iBook G4 with all the new goodies also comes with a SuperDrive for only $1299 so it is $200 less than its slower non-Bluetooth immediate predecessor. That's a significant change--substantially more capability for substantially less money! A combo optical drive is a BTO option for $100 less.

The new Mac mini and iBook G4 models offer significantly more capabilty at the same or even less price point depending on model. The most dramatic change is that the faster and more capable iBook G4 line now tops out at $1,299 for a standard configuration instead of $1,499. [Bill Fox]

[7/27] Brief Hands-On Report--Apple Released iPhoto 5.0.4: It is available from the Mac OS X Software Update or as a standalone updater from this Apple Web page. According to the Read Me file,

Recommended for all customers using iPhoto 5.0, 5.0.1, 5.0.2 and 5.0.3.

iPhoto 5.0.4 addresses an issue with browsing photos that have been auto-rotated by a camera.

We did not encounter this problem with previous versions of iPhoto 5.x. But we downloaded and installed iPhoto 5.0.4 on a number of Macs, several with a large number of photos. No copy of iPhoto 5.0.4 had difficulty with any auto-rotated photos. [Bill Fox]

[7/27] The Apple Developer Connection Published plasq Shows What a Small Team Can Do: Comic Life Is Media-Rich and Fun to Use: plasq is a small company with some talented developers. Using key Mac OS X Tiger technologies, they quickly developed a versatile and fun application that is so easy to use it seems simple, but in fact harnesses some of the most powerful technology available--Core Image, QuickTime 7, iPhoto integration, iSight image capture, and more. Built with Xcode 2.1 and Cocoa, Comic Life is a great app to use and a showcase for Mac OS X Tiger technologies. This article recounts how one programmer with a handful of buddies created an application that won the 2005 Apple Design Award for Best Product New to Mac OS X. [Bill Fox]

[7/26] Apple Released GarageBand Update v2.0.2: It shows up in the Software Update window if you have iLife '05 installed and it is also available for download as a standalone installer from this Apple Web page.. According to the Read Me file,

GarageBand 2.0.2 addresses issues with time signature handling, Apple Loops authoring, locking tracks, and improves compatibility with Mac OS X Tiger.

We don't use GarageBand much yet so we can not confirm the stated fixes. [Bill Fox]

[7/26] Hell Has Really Frozen Over Very Hard--Dvorak Praised Mac OS X and Apple in his recent note on the future of desktop computing. Arch PC apologist John Dvorak actually wrote:

Apple. Vista will open the door to what I believe will be a radical change in the computing landscape. The trends are clear. Once the new Mac OS appears next year it will gravitate toward the existing x86 community much more rapidly than anticipated unless Apple does some incredibly dumb things to stop it. Personally I cannot see what they can do or why they'd want to stop it. [...]

Right now, and as much as x86 users do not want to admit it, the Mac OS is already better than Windows in its modern look and feel as well as its functionality. I see too many smart people with Mac laptops nowadays.

[Dana Baggett]

[7/26] AssistiveWare Announced Release of Proloquo 1.0: Proloquo is a new and groundbreaking, according to AssistivewWare, multi-purpose and multilingual speech solution for Mac OS X that provides: (1) a full-fledged communication system (AAC) for people who cannot speak; (2) improves accessibility of Mac OS X for people with visual impairments; (3) provides speech feedback in any application while typing for children and people with learning disabilities; (4) can serve as a talking word processor; (5) provides text to speech for people who prefer listening to reading; (6) can be used as a tool to learn the pronunciation of foreign languages; (7) provides an advanced, multilingual speech engine for our KeyStrokes(R) on-screen keyboard and our SwitchXS(R) switch access solution. Check it out on AssistiveWare's Web site. [Bill Fox]

[7/25] Hands-On Review--Micromat's DiskStudio 1.0.1: Micromat is finally shipping DiskStudio, an application that creates and removes partitions on a drive without erasing the data on it. We saw DiskStudio demonstrated at Macworld in January and gave it high praise for its simplicity and utility. It seemed to work great at Macworld and it was scheduled for release in February. We are not sure why it took so long to come out but we are glad Micromat took whatever time was needed to ensure a bug-free disk utility. We ordered a copy from J&R Computer last week for $50. The Macworld pre-order show special had been $35--we are sorry now that we did not take Micromat up on the deal.

DiskStudio creates partitions on drives without disturbing the existing data by using the blank portion of the drive for the new volume or volumes. It also deletes partitions that it made or were made by Apple's Disk Utility, a utility application bundled with Mac OS X. DiskStudio also performs the standard disk functions of erasing a volume and erasing an entire disk.

One limitation is that it deletes partitions in the reverse of the order they were created from the intial volume, accumulating the free space into the next lower numbered volume. For example, if a drive is partitioned into three volumes and you want to delete the partition that created volume three, the freed space accrues only to the partition for volume two. Volume one remains the same size unless the partition to volume two is also removed. The data on a deleted volume is lost but not the data on the volume that receives the freed up space.

Another limitation is that DiskStudio will not delete the partition with a boot volume. So if you have a drive with two boot volumes on it, DiskStudio will not delete the partition and create one volume directly. One has to first erase the unwanted boot volume and then delete the partition. Actually, this is a minor inconvenience that protects one from accidentally deleting a boot volume's partition.

How well does DiskStudio work? In our experience, quite well. First, we deleted a 2GB test partition, the third volume on our G4 Cube's original 20GB internal hard drive. The first two volumes hold installations of Mac OS X Server 10.4.2 and Mac OS X Client 10.4.2.

We booted from the DiskStudio CD, a process that Micromat warns could take up to 10 minutes. In our case, the 450MHz G4 Cube booted off the DiskStudio CD in around two minutes. DiskStudio showed that the first two volumes were not partitionable because they are boot volumes but the third was. We selected the third volume, our test volume with a variety of old files and applications, and clicked the "Delete" button. Within a few seconds the third volume was gone and its 2GB of space had accrued to the second volume containing Mac OS X Client 10.4.2 where we needed more space. Both remaining volumes booted and ran our Cube with no apparent problems.

Then we deleted a separate Mac OS 9 partition from an original 12" 867MHz Powerbook G4. First, we erased the Mac OS 9 volume (number two) and then deleted the partition that created it. Our Mac OS X partition became a volume of 37GB after receiving the 15GB of space freed up by deleting the Mac OS 9 volume. We then created two additional volumes from the free space and deleted them to test DiskStudio's other functions. Afterwards, the PowerBook G4 booted and ran fine off the now single and larger Mac OS X 10.4.2 volume.

Micromat's DiskStudio is a handy disk utility. It is well worth $50 to be able to partition a drive without erasing the existing data and to delete an unused partition to create a volume with more space without disturbing the data on the now larger volume. Being able to do so saves an enormous amount of time reinstalling Mac OS X, applications and files. DiskStudio works great for us but heed Micromat's warning to first backup critical data on a drive before using DiskStudio on it, sage advice for using any disk utility. You never know what might happen. [Bill Fox]

[7/25] Details on How Apple iBooks Lost to Dell Inspirions in Henrico County (VA) High Schools: Apple rocketed back onto the frontpage of K-12 educational computing with a deal to supply tens of thousands of iBooks to the Henrico County (VA) Public Schools for daily use by students, teachers and administrators. This pioneering effort revolutionized K-12 education as many school districts across the U.S. and in Canada followed suit and supplied their students, teachers and administrators with laptops. But, like in all walks of life, success brings serious competitors. In the case of one-to-one classroom portable computing, Apple's success attracted Dell, the company that has been eating Apple's education desktop lunch for some time.

This year the four-year contract for high school laptops in the Henrico County Public Schools was up for re-bidding. Dell was awarded the new four-year contract over Apple (and CDWG) through votes of 9-0 by an evaluation committee and 5-0 by the school board. Apple retains the contract for elementary and middle schools, at least for now. But how did Apple lose unanimously at every stage in the high school contracting process?

Three principal issues were brought up by students, parents and teachers for consideration in designing the new contract: downtime for maintenance, the fees the schools charged parents and teachers and the desire for Microsoft Office. On the surface, none of these issues appear to be decidely in favor of Dell over Apple. In fact, the maintenance issue would seem to subtantially favor Apple and Mac OS X over Dell and Windows XP.

The iBooks' maintenance rate was 4-5 per cent of the laptops at any given time and Apple was 96 per cent effective at fixing things within 24 hours according to a school system report. This is actually surprisingly good performance to us, especially for laptops in the hands of high school students. Downtime could be reduced to near zero by having a small percentage of the laptops available as loaners as some school districts have done. Indeed, this is the approach taken by Henrico County and both Apple's and Dell's bids contained a 2 per cent overage for loaners. But, according to a school report, Dell also bid that it would increase the number to 5 per cent if that proved necessary. Dell appears to have been the smarter bidder by promising to cover the repair rate experienced with iBooks and appearing to offer a no downtime solution. But what if the Dells experience a repair rate that greatly exceeds the iBooks 4-5 per cent and fails to meet Apple's 96 per cent rate of repairs in 24 hours? The school district loses, of course. What data did Henrico County look at to determine if the Dells would have an expected repair rate lower than 5 per cent? The schools system's report does not say. The next four years will tell if the school system got bamboozled. We think they did.

The fee issue is partly an issue of how the laptop program will be paid for. But if eliminated, the fees are simply transferred to the cost of the contract and the county's school revenue sources rather than individual parents of students and teachers using the laptops. Doing so will also likely have the effect of increasing the repair rate since the damage waiver fee for students is an incentive to maintain the laptops. Henrico County kept the $50 student use fee but eliminated the $50 teacher use fee and the $100 student damage waiver. Care to guess which way the repair rate is headed?

Penultimately, there's the Microsoft Office issue. Dell's bid included Microsoft Office, of course, and Apple's included AppleWorks. As far as I am concerned, AppleWorks is perfectly fine piece of software and meets any possible actual requirement for high school use. But since the users expressed a desire for Microsoft Office, this issue is a no-brainer. If you offer people what they say they want, all things being equal they are going to take it, no? Even if all things are not exactly equal, an expressed desire is really an unwritten requirement that very definitely will be weighed in the decision, like it or not, especially when it is a voting situation rather than a strictly technical decision. Apple could have offered Microsoft Office but doing so probably would have increased the cost of its bid more than that of Dell's.

Finally, there is price. Dell bid $256 lower for each of 15,800 laptops than did Apple, i.e. $1,130 per 14" Inspirion 600m versus $1,386 per 12" iBook. The Henrico County Public Schools report did not include an estimate of the total cost of ownership. The report does mention a transition cost that it will bear in switching to the Dells but it did not reduce it to dollars for comparing the bid prices.

So, it looks like meeting repair rate expectations, Microsoft Office and price beat Apple. We think the first is bogus and Henrico County will regret its decision on this issue alone but only time and good, honest monitoring will tell. Microsoft Office, like it or not, is a monopoly just like Windows and the only way for Apple to win in situations where Microsoft Office is a desired element is to offer it. The only way that Apple can do that and come close on price is to license Microsoft Office for many if not all of its computers just like the Windows computer makers. It is curious that a base Inspirion 600m with 256MB RAM and base Microsoft Office sells for $1,610 on Dell's Web store while a base 12" iBook sells for $999 on Apple's Web store. On the surface, it looks as if Apple could have done better on price. Apple will have to do better on price or come up with some new killer innovations to beat Dell. We are betting on the latter. [Bill Fox]

[7/23] Cool Mac Software--Widget Maker X v1.0 Beta is Out and available for download from LAJ Design's Web site. Use this application to make your own widget easily or to modify one in Mac OS X 10.4.x Tiger. You have to know what you're doing but this application makes it easy. The cost is $16.50. A 10-day free trial version is available. [Bill Fox]

[7/23] Apple Revised the Offerings from Five Hot Deals Retailers:

CDW|MacWarehouse has great deals on cool Mac products, including Nikon D50 Digital SLR Camera Outfit, Epson Stylus Pro 4800 Color Inkjet Printer, Allume StuffIt Deluxe, Pantone ColorVision, Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium, SanDisk Cruzer Micro 1GB USB Flash Drive, Altec Lansing inMotion iM7 Speaker System for iPod, Xerox Phaser 8500DP Color Laser Printer, and much more.

B&H Photo and Video has fantastic prices of superb products for your Mac, including Nikon D50 Digital SLR Camera with Nikor 18-55mm DX Zoom Lens, Speck Dock for iPod Shuffle, Canon CanoScan LiDE 60 Flatbed Scanner, Keyspan USB Wireless Presentation Remote with Mouse Control, Adobe InDesign CS2 for Mac, Kodak EasyShare Picture Viewer, DLO Jam Jacket for iPod Shuffle (3-pack), and much more.

AudioMIDI has fantastic deals on a wide range of audio products for your Mac, including Ableton Live 5, Sonalkiss SV315/SV517 Bundle, Miroslav Phillharmonik Orchestral Plug-In, Native Instruments Absynth 3 Tutorial DVD, Edirol R1 Recorder, and much more.

Ramjet has super low prices on RAM upgrades for your Mac, including 2GB DDR Kit for Power Mac G5, 512MB PC-2700 for Aluminum PowerBook G4, 1GB Module for Aluminum PowerBook G4, 1GB DDR DIMM for Mac mini, 512MB DIMM for iMac DV, 1GB DDR Kit for iMac G4, and much more.

Small Dog Electronics has great prices on top quality Mac products, including Microsoft Office 2004 Professional, Giga Designs G4 1.8GHz Dual Processor Upgrade for older Power Mac G4 Systems, Kensington TurboMouse 5.0, Smalll Dog iPod Car Charger with Dock Connector, EZQuest Pro Audio 120GB External Hard Drive, Adobe Photoshop CS2 Upgrade for Mac, and much more.

[Bill Fox]<^o))))><

[7/22] [Updated] Apple Released iMac G5 Sleep Light Update--Mystery Updater: If you have an iMac G5, the updater may appear in the System Preferences Software Update pane or it may not. No standalone updater is available at this time [11:30am EDT]. According to the Read Me file,

The iMac G5 Sleep Light Update adjusts the brightness of your iMac G5 sleep indicator light so it's not as bright during the evening. The daytime brightness remains the same.

This update is installed in Applications > Utilities and should automatically launch. Click Update and follow the onscreen instructions to apply the update.

Note: Once the update has started, do not cancel or interrupt it. The updater takes over one minute to complete. During the update, your computer fans will run at full speed, but will return to normal once the update completes.

It is not clear for which iMac G5 model the update is intended. The updater appeared in the Sofware Update preference pane of our early 1st generation 20" iMac G5 but not in our recent 2nd generation 20" iMac G5. Still, it would not launch and run on our 1st generation iMac G5. [Update: We checked Software Update again on our 1st generation iMac G5 and the update was offered again. This time a restart was required and it updated our firmware. Also, Charles Williams wrote that the updater worked on his 1st generation 17" iMac G5. Mystery solved.] [Dana Baggett & Bill Fox]

[7/22] The Sport of Tiger Hunting--WAPi July 23rd General Meeting: Washington Apple Pi (WAPi) is the Greater Washington DC AMUG and its next General Meeting is Saturday, July 23rd (aka day after tomorrow). WAPi members who have worked with Apple's Tiger operating system (Mac OS X 10.4.n where n is already up to 2) share their experiences and answer questions from the audience. The meeting will run from 9 to 11:30 am in the Forum of the Ernst Cultural Center at Northern Virginia Community College, 8333 Little River Turnpike, Annanadale, VA.

Some of the questions that might get addressed include:

A. CAN I upgrade to Tiger (will my machine accomodate it)
B. SHOULD I?
C. What precautions need to be observed when upgrading?
D. What special situations arise?
E. what are some of the important features?

This kind on interchange, with real people sharing real experiences, has proven to be exceptionally valuable in the past. [Bill Fox]

[7/22] Aspyr Released Battlefield 1942 Updated v1.6.1d: It updates Battlefield 1942, Road to Rome, and Secret Weapons (if installed). It's available for download from MacGameFiles.com. According to Aspyr,

This is an official update for Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII for Mac OS. The patch will update the English, French or German versions of the game.

The two major additions this version of the game has are support for more mods, including the popular Desert Combat Final and Extended mods, and built-in support for Game Ranger for finding Mac-specific multiplayer games.

1.6.1 (Rev D) BUG FIX DETAILS

- Fixed the number of open files Battlefield could have, this enables the following modifications to work properly:

• Desert Combat Final 0.8 
  
• Desert Combat Extended 0.9
  
• Forgotten Hope .65
  
• Galactic Conquest .53
  
• Galactic Conquest Extended
  
• Eve of Destruction

- Added GameRanger support to Battlefield 1942, Road to Rome, Secret Weapons, Desert Combat Final, as well as other future modifications.

- Fixed the SetTeam bug where we were reporting the incorrect team to GameRanger.

We downloaded and installed the patch but we still get too many unexpected quits with this game to be much fun. [Bill Fox]

[7/22] Mozilla 1.7.10 Released: The Mozilla Project released v1.7.10 of Mozilla, the Project's internet application suite. It is a security update and is available for download from this Web page. Here are the release notes. [Dana Baggett]

[7/22] Firefox 1.1 Delayed, Re-Versioned to 1.5: Firefox 1.1 was fallling behind schedule and included more features, like scalable vector graphics, than originally planned so the release was re-numbered to 1.5 with the target of getting it out in September. A beta should be out in August. Firefox is the standalone open source web browser from the Mozilla Project. More... [Dana Baggett]

[7/22] The Apple Developer Connection Published Using Automator to Expand the Market for Your Software: Automator provides a business opportunity for developers who are creating Actions and Workflows. It's a great way to expose key features and extend applications, but there is also a growing market for Actions and Workflows as stand-alone products or as plug-ins for existing applications. This new ADC article informs developers about how building Automator Actions and Workflows can create new sales opportunities. [Bill Fox]

[7/21] Hands-On Report: DOOM 3 with New Patch v1.3--How Fast Is It? When DOOM 3 came out as v1.1 for the Mac everyone remarked on its stiff hardware requirements. We reviewed DOOM 3 in March using our dual 2.5GHz Power Mac G5 with the upgraded top-of-the-line graphics card, the Nvidia GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL, and a 1.67GHz 17" PowerBook G4 and we also remarked on the need for heavy iron to play DOOM 3 at high quality and high resolutions. Our Power Mac G5 attained a mere 61 fps at 1024x768, high quality and shadows turned off.

In June, we posted a comparo between the best graphics cards for the Mac, the Nvidia GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL (now discontinued) and the ATI Radeon X800 XT. The ATI card was even less impressive than the Nvidia card at DOOM 3.

On Tuesday of this week we noted that Aspyr Media had released an update for DOOM 3, patch v1.3. The significant changes were to add Punkbuster anti-cheat support and Surround Sound 5.1 beta support. Were any speed tweaks added? We promised our Hands-On Report to find out. So how fast is it?

To test the new patch we ran Doom 3 v1.1 and v1.3 on our dual 2.5GHz Power Mac G5, with each graphics card, and on our new 20" 2GHz iMac G5. For the Power Mac G5 we used the settings listed in our SpeedFAQ (a resolution of 1024x768), the same used in our June card comparo. DOOM 3 ran too slowly with these settings on our iMac G5 (17 fps at 1024x768) so we ran the speed tests on it using the game-recommended resolution of 640x480, medium quality and shadows off. Here are the results:

Speed Comparison of DOOM 3 v1.1 vs 1.3 (frames per second)

Computer/Card	Doom 3 v1.1	Doom 3 v1.3	% Change
.
D2.5 GHz Power Mac G5-Nvidia	61	53	-13
D2.5 GHz Power Mac G5-ATI	53	46	-13
20" 2GHz iMac G5	35	31	-11

Unfortunately, DOOM 3 with the 1.3 patch runs more slowly, some 13 per cent or so. The same is true at the higher resolution of 1600x1200 where the Nvidia card lost 8 per cent and the ATI card lost 5 percent. The Nvidia card is still faster than the ATI card at 49 vs 37 fps. [Bill Fox]

[7/21] Imation 2GB USB Micro Hard Drive is Shipping: Imation is making tiny USB 2.0 drives using the same hard drives found in iPod minis. The will come in 2GB and 4GB models. Only the 2GB model is shipping now according to the New York Times. Imation's USB Micro Hard Drive offers Magnetic Data Encoding and Error Correction, 128-bit encryption (to prevent unauthorized access), and innovative File Synchronization, which automatically creates a backup copy of your data. To protect files during transport, it's engineered with shock resistance up to 1000 Gs, so it's extremely durable. It looks like a small padlock since its short USB 2.0 cable loops over with the connector attaching back in to the case when not in use. The Micro Hard Drive is compatible with Mac OS 9.x and higher. The software, however, is only compatible with Mac OS X 10.2 and higher. The 2GB model retails for $159. [Dana Baggett]

[7/21] Tonight on The Tech Night Owl LIVE--Adam Engst, Ted Landau and Parliant: This week co-hosts Gene and Grayson Steinberg will talk about the future of Macworld Boston and other hot topics with Adam Engst, publisher of TidBITS. Ace Mac troubleshooter Ted Landau, founder of MacFixIt, will discuss Tiger and other subjects. You'll also hear about the Parliant PhoneValet Podcast bundle, which received a Best of Show award for the second year in a row at Macworld Boston. Tune in the internet radio broadcast Thursday night from 6:00 to 8:00 PM Pacific, 9:00 to 11:00 PM Eastern. In addition to the live show, an audio streaming archive and a podcast will be available subsequently. [Bill Fox]

[7/20] Cool Mac Software--Easily Bring Images/Chapters to your Podcast with Vizacast: DVDxDV.com just release a graphical user interface application, Vizacast, for Apple's Chapter Tool. So rather than using XML and a command line interface in Terminal, you can drag and drop images, web links and indexes into your podcast audio file. Vizacast requires that you first install Apple's Chapter Tool (scroll down to bottom of page). Vizacast is $25 and there is a trial version. [Bill Fox]

[7/20] Register for Apple's Live Webcast 7/28--Medical Practice Management and EMR on the Mac: Learn about the benefits that the Mac brings to medical practices, as well as two specialized applications that provide practice management and electronic medical records. The live webcast seminar is 7/28 at 9-10am PDT. Register early to ensure a slot. [Bill Fox]

[7/20] Mozilla Firefox 1.0.6 Browser and Thunderbird 1.0.6 Emailer are Out and available for download from the Mozilla Project's Web sites for Firefox and Thunderbird. Here are the release notes for Firefox and Thunderbird. They are our backup applications to Safari and Apple Mail and our principal internet applications when we are forced to use Windows.

We downloaded and installed both with no problems. [Dana Baggett & Bill Fox]

[7/20] Details on Security Update in AirPort 4.2: Apple updated its AirPort software to v4.2 last week as we reported on 7/15. Included is a security update. Here are the details:

Available for: Mac OS X 10.3.3 to 10.3.9 & 10.4.2
CVE-ID: CAN-2005-2196
Impact: Mobile users with the original AirPort card enabled could automatically associate to an malicious network
Description: When not connected to a known or trusted network, the AirPort card "parks" on a randomly generated network with a default WEP key. This can allow parked AirPort cards to automatically connect to malicious networks without warning. This condition only applies to AirPort cards and does not affect AirPort Extreme. The System Profiler utility can be used to indicate the type of AirPort card installed. This update addresses the problem by using a randomly-generated 128-bit WEP key instead of the default WEP key. Credit to Dino Dai Zovi for reporting this issue.

[Bill Fox]

[7/20] Aspyr Media Ships Star Wars Battlefront: According to MacCentral, Aspyr has shipped its latest game ported to the Mac, Star Wars Battlefront. The story line is:

Fight as a soldier on the front lines where every weapon and vehicle you see is yours. Take the Empire head on or crush the Rebellion - by yourself or with an army behind you! Pick your side - Rebels, Imperials, clone troopers or battle droids. Battle on unique planets from the entire Star Wars saga. Pilot over 30 vehicles and choose your weapon wisely - each soldier has different weapons and capabilities.

Aspyr's Web site is still showing SWBF as a pre-order. [Bill Fox]

[7/19] DOOM 3 v1.3 Update Released by Aspyr Media: The v1.3 patch is available for download from this MacGameFiles.com Web page. Aside from bug fixes the patch enables Punkbuster anti-cheat technology and a beta of Surround Sound 5.1 which requires a compliant sound card.

Here are the release notes:

• Warning! Using this update will reset your progress in whatever map you are currently saved in. When loading a saved game, the player starts at the begining of that map with their inventory intact.
• Warning! Using this update may reset the Nightmare skill setting. If you are playing in Nightmare mode before applying this update, you may to re-enable it in the console (g_nightmare 1). After enabling it in the console, the game must be relaunched in order for nightmare mode to show up as a selectable option.
• This update implements a preview version of Open AL support that provides full 5.1 surround sound. Use this feature ONLY with an Open AL compliant 5.1 sound card. To activate the OpenAL preview support, hold down the Command (?) key as you launch the game, then check the box next to the "Use OpenAL" in the Doom 3 Preferences dialog. You should also select "surround" sound from the in-game options menu. NOTE: Users may experience sound glitches or sound drops while using the preview Open AL option.

1.3 Update Changes

• Punkbuster support
  
• server provides pk4 file download URLS (http/ftp), client has internal download
  
• new class of pk4 files: 'addon paks' are only referenced when the map is loaded in
  
• pk4 downloads and addon paks come with a number of fixes to the 'pure server mode' filesystem code
  
• fixed ragdoll bouncyness
  
• fix how D3 detects LAN client vs internet clients
  
• LZW compression of render demos
  
• fix command line parameter passing

1.3 Update Changes MAC Specific

• Preview OpenAL support (5.1 Sound + External sound cards)
  
• Keypad keys are correctly handled
  
• Fixed Creator Code
  
• French Keyboard Fix
  
• Fixed crash when restarting using custom mods
  
• Fixed crash with vid_restart
  
• Fixed crash on 10.4 when canceling the startup dialog

Unfortunately, we are on travel and unable to test it for you today. Look for our Hands-On Report later this week. [Bill Fox]

[7/19] Speculation on a Music Video iPod Hits Fever Pitch: Following Monday's report in the Wall Street Journal of Apple having negotiations over music videos, the press is full of speculative reports on a video iPod like in this AP article.

We are way ahead in that game. Here is what we speculated last October 18 in advance of the October 26 event that announced the special edition black U2 iPod and the iPod Photo:

The iTunes Music Store now has video clips, at least one for U2's Vertigo (as a commercial), so our speculation is that Apple will offer video clips for download along with songs that will play in color on a new iPod. If so, will the video clip be free with the song? We can imagine other terrific uses for a QT video and audio player! Hmmm...we may just have to give up our iPod Mini. Calm down, it's just speculation....

Hopefully, Apple will now catch up to our speculation. [Dana Baggett & Bill Fox]

[7/19] Apple Released DVD Studio Pro 4.0.2 Update: It is available for download from this Apple Web page. According to the release notes,

DVD Studio Pro 4.0.2 Update addresses isolated stability issues. Most significant areas addressed are:

• Font size in PAL templates
  
• Menu duplication when Text Objects are active
  
• Simulation of long PAL MPEG2 stream with MP3 audio
  
• Isolated issue with recognition of certain media

[Dana Baggett]

[7/19] Registration Opens for the First O'Reilly EuroOSCON: O'Reilly Media has launched its first O'Reilly European Open Source Convention (EuroOSCON). EuroOSCON 2005 targets the specific needs of European developers, programmers, and systems and network administrators, helping them to deliver the benefits of open source technology in all its variations to their companies and organizations. Registration has just opened for EuroOSCON, which will be held at the Hotel Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam, The Netherlands on October 17-20, 2005. Discounted registration pricing is in effect until August 29. More... [Bill Fox]

[7/19] FREE Envision Web Show of the Week--Deep Impact Mission: Two weeks ago, on July 4, 2005, as part of the Deep Impact mission, NASA slammed a probe into the comet Temple 1. The goal of this mission is to learn more about the comet's composition, and, by extension, the composition of the early solar system in which it, and earth, were formed. This week's Envision Web Show of the Week features photos from before, during and after that event. The Envision Web Show of the Week can be downloaded from the Show of the Week Web site. Previous Shows of the Week are available in the Show of the Week archive. [Bill Fox]

[7/18] [Updated] Apple's iTunes Music Store Already Hit a Half Billion Songs: On Sunday, the counter on Apple.com's front page hit 500,000,000 song downloads from the iTunes Music Store.

Someone won 10 iPods of their choice to share with family and friends, an iTunes gift card for 10,000 songs and an all-expenses paid trip for four to see Coldplay on their world tour. Apple's announcement is expected later today. [Update: The 500 millionth song, Faith Hill’s Mississippi Girl, was purchased by Amy Greer of Lafayette, Indiana. More...]

Apple kicked off the promotion on July 5th with about 484 million downloads under its belt. It took just 12 days to get to a half billion. That's over 1.3 million songs being downloaded per day. [Bill Fox]

[7/18] Coming Soon--Mozilla Firefox 1.0.6 and Thunderbird 1.0.6: Hot on the heels of last week's release of v1.0.5 for both applications from the Mozilla Project is a brand new version of both. Apparently, v1.0.5 broke some of the API's. Mozilla did not reveal if any broken API's apply to the Mac OS X version. Version 1.0.6 could be out some time this week. The test builds are available from this Web page. [Dana Baggett]