News Common PC Mac CUCUG
The November 20 gathering will be one of our split SIG meetings. The LinuxSIG will have Rodger Bigler showing Win4Lin, a Windows emulator for Linux.The Macintosh and PC SIGs are open for anything anyone wants to bring in.
We'd also like to thank renewing members Craig Kummerow and Steve Gast.
We welcome any kind of input or feedback from members. Run across aninteresting item or tidbit on the net? Just send the link to the editor.Have an article or review you'd like to submit? Send it in. Have a comment?Email any officer you like. Involvement is the driving force of any usergroup. Come to the meeting and ask questions or give answers. Welcome tothe group.
Apple Computer reported a $44 million profit on $1.715 billion inrevenue for its fourth fiscal quarter of 2003. Gross margins for thequarter were at 26.6 percent, and international customers accounted foronly 38 percent of the revenue. Although approximately $15 million ofthe quarter's revenues were due to one-time events like stockrepurchases and investment gains, Apple shipped 787,000 Macs during thequarter (only part of which included sales of Apple's new 15-inchPowerBooks and Power Mac G5 systems) as well as 336,000 iPods. Companyrepresentatives estimate revenues for the next quarter - which includesthe much-anticipated holiday buying season - will increase toapproximately $1.9 billion. [GD]
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2003/oct/15results.html
Late today, Apple released an update to Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, sayingversion 10.3.1 offers "enhanced functionality and improved reliability"with Panther's FileVault document encryption feature, printingtechnology, WebDAV networking, and FireWire 800 drives. Some people havereported that FileVault's Reclaim Disk Space feature wipes out personaldata and preferences; hopefully this update addresses that problem, butit's not clear exactly what has been fixed. Our advice is still to avoidFileVault until it has seen more real- world use without problems.
The FireWire 800 fixes supposedly address widely reported user problemswith external FireWire 800 drives becoming corrupted when computers arerestarted after a Panther installation. Apple says they've "identifiedan issue with external FireWire hard drives using the Oxford 922 bridgechip-set with firmware version 1.02 that can result in the loss of datastored on the disk drive," and they still recommend upgrading thefirmware of such hard drives, even though this software updateapparently addresses some of the problem. In an omission we findconcerning, Apple says nothing about FireWire 400 drives, though reportsof problems running Panther with those drives continue to appear. Again,we caution restraint with all external FireWire drives until userreports appear, and if you must use one under Panther, make frequentbackups and avoid restarting with the drive plugged into the Mac. TheMac OS X 10.3.1 Update is available via Software Update, and is a 1.3 MBdownload. [MHA]
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07415
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=2100
Apple Computer announced major revisions to the iBook line last week,upgrading all models to G4 processors and adding USB 2.0, ComboCD-R/DVD-ROM drives, and a minimum of 256 MB of RAM. The new iBook G4salso offer optional support for AirPort Extreme 802.11g wirelessnetworking and ship with Mac OS X 10.3 Panther pre-installed. ThreeiBook G4 configurations are available: at the low end, the $1,100 modeloffers a 12.1-inch screen (1,024 by 768 resolution), an 800 MHz G4processor, a 30 GB hard drive, and a scant weight of 4.9 pounds (2.2kg). The $1,400 model sports a 14.1-inch screen (still 1,024 by 768pixels), a 933 MHz G4 processor, a 40 GB drive, and a weight of 5.9pounds (2.7 kg). Finally, the high-end $1,600 configuration offers thesame 14.1-inch screen, a 1 GHz G4 processor, and 60 GB drive at the same5.9 pound weight. All models offer two USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire 400port, VGA video output, support for S-video and composite video out, a56 Kbps V.92 modem, 10/100Base-T Ethernet, and up to six hours ofbattery life. Optional capabilities include AirPort Extreme 802.11gwireless networking support; an internal Bluetooth module forperipherals such as some cell phones, PDAs, and Apple's new wirelesskeyboard and mouse; and support for up to 640 MB of RAM. All threemodels should be available now. [GD]
http://www.apple.com/ibook/
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=2091
Apple also reduced the price of the all-in-one eMac last week. Theentry-level configuration, which includes 128 MB of RAM, a 40 GB harddrive, and a Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW), now costs $200 less, at $800.The higher- end model, which includes a SuperDrive, 256 MB of RAM, andan 80 GB drive, has also been reduced $200, to $1,100. Both models comewith a 1 GHz PowerPC processor, an ATI Radeon 7500 graphics card with 32MB of video memory, and a 17-inch CRT monitor, and are capable ofincluding a separate AirPort Extreme Card. The eMacs also come with MacOS X 10.3 preinstalled, and will not boot into Mac OS 9. [JLC]
Hot on the heels of iSync 1.2.1's debut earlier this month, Apple hasreleased iSync 1.3 for Mac OS X 10.2.5 and higher, adding the capabilityto synchronize data with new phones such as the Bluetooth-enabled SonyEricsson P900 and T630, as well as the Nokia 3650 and N-Gage smartphones. The 5.5 MB update is available via Software Update or Apple'siSync Web page. Palm OS handheld device users must install the iSync 1.2Palm Conduit separately (which hasn't changed since the release of iSync1.21). It's an 892K download available via a link on the iSync downloadpage. [GD]
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07390
http://www.apple.com/isync/download/
Although Mac OS X 10.3 Panther fixes a number of security-related flawsthat existed in previous versions of Mac OS X, Apple has wasted no timein releasing Security Update 2003-10-28 via Software Update last week.Security Update 2003-10-28 fixes a problem that could allow unauthorizedaccess to a system through a vulnerability in QuickTime for Java. Theupdate is only for computers running Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, and is a782K download.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61798
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120266
In another security development, Apple acknowledged last week thatPanther fixes three recently discovered security issues. The company isalso working on providing an update for computers running Mac OS X10.2.8 and earlier. [JLC]
http://www.atstake.com/research/advisories/2003/#102803-1
Qualcomm has updated Eudora to version 6.0.1, fixing a number of minor bugsand updating the company's email client for Mac OS X 10.3 Panthercompatibility. Eudora 6.0.1 is available as a free update under Mac OS X (a5.5 MB download) or Mac OS 9 (a 5.7 MB download). [JLC]
http://www.eudora.com/download/eudora/mac/6.0.1/Release_Notes.txt
http://www.eudora.com/download/
LONDON, England --The Beatles' record company has released astripped-down version of the band's album, "Let It Be."
The new version of the album -- recorded amid acrimony mainly in 1969and released the following year -- takes the music nearer their desireto return to basics, as expressed in the optimistic claim on theoriginal sleeve, "This is a New Phase Beatles Album."
"Let It Be ... Naked" -- released in Britain on Monday -- strips awaythe orchestration and lavish production work of "Wall of Sound" producerPhil Spector, which had been criticized, not least by Sir PaulMcCartney.
The original album was recorded before the acclaimed final album, "AbbeyRoad," but was released later due to disagreements that ultimately ledto the band splitting in 1970.
A statement from McCartney said: "If we'd have had today's technologyback then, it would sound like this because this is the noise we made inthe studio. It's all exactly as it was in the room. You're right therenow."
The only other surviving Beatle Ringo Starr added: "When I first heardit, it was really uplifting. It took you back again to the times when wewere this band, the Beatle band."
The track listing of "Let It Be ... Naked" differs from the 1970release. Background dialogue, "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae" have beenremoved and "Don't Let Me Down" has been added.
A bonus 20-minute CD is released with the album featuring extracts fromthe original sessions together with a booklet of historic photographs ofthe sessions.
The release of the album coincides with a surge in interest in the FabFour following the success of the greatest hits album "1" which wasreleased three years ago.
A spokesman for the band said: "As the release of 'Let It Be ... Naked'is coinciding with an increase in demand for guitar-based rock andquality pop, it is hoped that this new appeal to the young will beenduring."
New Musical Express magazine said of the revamped album: "We get a35-minute, 11-track juggernat which ceases to sound like apieced-together postscript and more like a pared-down rock classic."
But Q magazine reviewed it less favorably, saying: "Mercifully theoriginal Let It Be remains on sale. For all its faults, that's theproper version."
Last week, Apple launched what the company calls the "second generation"of the iTunes Music Store with a slew of related announcements,including iTunes for Windows, a new version of iTunes for the Mac,several new marketing alliances for the iTunes Music Store, and a usefulupdate to the iPod.
iTunes for Windows
Most important of the announcements is undoubtedly the release of iTunesfor Windows, which opens up the iTunes Music Store to oodles of Windowsusers and takes over as the primary interface to PC-connected iPods.Without a close examination (installing and testing PC software isn'thigh on our list of priorities in busy weeks), it sounds as thoughiTunes for Windows is extremely similar to iTunes for the Mac. iTunes4.1 for Windows requires Windows 2000 or XP running on a PC with atleast a 500 MHz Pentium-class processor and 128 MB of RAM. It also needsQuickTime 6.4, which is included in the iTunes for Windows download,accounting for part of its 19.1 MB.
http://www.apple.com/itunes/
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2003/oct/16itms.html
When we covered the announcement of iTunes for Windows last week, wesaid, "Look for perky press releases from Apple in the coming weeks thatgloat about the number of downloads from Windows users." We called it -Apple today announced that more than one million copies of iTunes forWindows were downloaded in the first three and a half days after it wasreleased. Also in that time, iTunes users purchased more than onemillion songs. There's some pent up demand on the part of Windows users- when Apple first released the iTunes Music Store, it took a full sevendays to reach the one million song mark.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2003/oct/20itunes.html
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07337
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbser=1240
iTunes for the Mac
Also released simultaneously last week via Software Update wereQuickTime 6.4 and iTunes 4.1 for Mac OS X. iTunes 4.1 enables you tosynchronize On-The-Go playlists or voice notes that you create on youriPod with iTunes, can burn large playlists to multiple CDs or DVDs ifnecessary, lets you drag links from iTunes to Web browsers or emailprograms (you can also Control-click links and choose Copy iTunes MusicStore URL), and lets you buy Audible spoken word content from the iTunesMusic Store. iTunes 4.1 is a 6.2 MB download and QuickTime 6.4 is a 19.8download.
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/
iTunes Music Store Changes
The new link copying capabilities of iTunes reveal some interestingimplications of the iTunes Music Store. First off, every song in theiTunes Music Store now has a unique identifier, much like an ISBN numberfor books. We're guessing it's an ISRC (International Standard RecordingCode) code, which are specific to individual recordings (even of thesame song). ISRC codes are free, although they aren't necessarilytrivial to acquire. In the U.S., they're available via the RIAA (yes,_that_ RIAA, the Recording Industry Association of America, bringers oflitigation against twelve year-olds). Internationally, the a good placeto start is the IFPI (International Federation of the PhonographicIndustry).
http://www.riaa.org/issues/audio/isrc_faq.asp
http://www.ifpi.org/isrc/
Second, Apple has created a Web-based tool for searching Apple's musicofferings, and which generates HTML that you can use to link directly toany song in the iTunes Music Store. Unfortunately, Apple has said thefinancial margins are too thin for the company to offer any sort of anaffiliate program, which would be an ideal use for this type of linking;but people will still no doubt be interested in adding song and albumlists to their Web pages or weblogs that go directly to the iTunes MusicStore.
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/itmsLinkMaker
Along with these changes to support deep linking, notice that the iTunesMusic Store now supports gift certificates and monthly allowances forsong purchases, and that iTunes displays album notes, sometimesincluding reviews, for many albums. We echoed the comments of manyiTunes Music Store users with respect to all three issues back when theiTunes Music Store first launched, so it's nice to see these changes.
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07175
Apple is now claiming that by the end of October, the iTunes Music Storewill have 400,000 songs provided by the five major labels and more than200 independent music labels. That's twice as many songs as wereavailable initially in the iTunes Music Store. It's also the firstpublic word from Apple about offering music from independent labels,though it has been known that Apple has been working with independentlabels for several months. We're a bit surprised that Apple isn't sayingmore about the addition of the independents, unless Apple is eitherplanning another announcement soon or downplaying the addition to avoidharming the relationship with the major labels.
Audible
Apple also announced the addition to the iTunes Music Store of more than5,000 titles of Audible's spoken word content: audio books, radio shows,audio editions of magazines, speeches, lectures, and more. Audio booksseem to be either the same price or $1 cheaper than the same titles onAudible's Web site (for non-subscribers of Audible's $15 and $20 monthlyplans, which are likely still a better deal for those who listen to twoor more audio books each month).
http://www.audible.com/
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2003/oct/16audible.html
The ease of use of the iTunes Music Store may significantly increase theattraction of Audible's spoken word content. It's easy to see, forinstance, quickly purchasing an audio book to play in your iPod on along car trip - just the effort of doing that through Audible's genericWeb interface before might have been a significant barrier.
AOL, Sugared Water to Promote iTMS
On the marketing side of the equation, Apple announced two substantialinitiatives designed to keep the iTunes Music Store leading the pack oflegal online music distribution services. Apple's agreement with AOLwill give an estimated 25 million AOL users in the United States single-click registration to the iTunes Music Store by integrating the entireiTunes catalog into AOL's existing music site, AOL Music. Under theagreement, by the end of 2003 AOL users will be able to preview andpurchase music from the iTunes Music Store just as any other registerediTunes user. Apple wins by radically expanding the potential customerbase for the iTunes Music Store, and AOL wins by hitching its onlinemusic offerings to the most successful commercial digital musicdistribution system around, rather than having to compete against it.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2003/oct/16aol.html
In addition, Apple is teaming with Pepsi - once famously characterizedby Steve Jobs (when trying to convince John Sculley to become Apple'sCEO) as a provider of "sugared water" - to give away up to 100 millionsongs via the iTunes Music Store. Beginning 01-Feb-04 with a Super Bowladvertisement, winning codes will be randomly seeded in the bottle capsof 100 million one-liter and twenty-ounce bottles of the company'sPepsi, Diet Pepsi, and Sierra Mist soft drinks. Consumers will be ableto enter a winning code into the iTunes Music Store and choose any 99cent song from the iTunes Music Store catalog. (Complete details aren'tavailable yet, but don't be surprised if this promotion is limited toU.S. residents.)
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2003/oct/16pepsi.html
Of course, to redeem a winning bottle cap, the consumer must haveappropriate iTunes and QuickTime software installed on a Mac or Windowssystem, thus putting the iTunes software in front of millions ofsugar-crazed eyeballs which might never have considered iTunesotherwise. Although it may seem odd to give away as many as 100 millionsongs when to date the iTunes Music store has sold only 14 milliontracks, you can bet Apple and Pepsi realize not all 100 million codeswill be successfully redeemed, and that Apple will only have to paydistributors and music publishers for successfully redeemed codes.There's no limit on the number of codes someone can redeem, so we'llprobably see a market springing up to find and redeem caps that wouldotherwise have gone unused.
In all, the initiative could be a tremendous boost for the iTunesservice, and Apple CEO Steve Jobs is correct when he states, "Pepsi hasmarketed their products through music for generations, and this is goingto be another one that is remembered for decades" - we just hope itisn't remembered the same way we remember Michael Jackson's haircatching on fire.
iPod 2.1 Update and Belkin Accessories
Alongside these iTunes and iTunes Music Store announcements, Apple hasupdated the software for recent iPods (those equipped with a dockconnector). iPod Software 2.1, available from Software Update, nowtransfers the On-The-Go playlist to iTunes, no longer turns thebacklight off after a few seconds while you're using the iPod'scontrols, changes the battery meter to a solid bar from a set of fiveindicator levels, and improves scrolling through large playlists. ForWindows users, the update enables playback of AAC-encoded music files,such as those purchased from the iTunes Music Store. The update alsoadds a Music Quiz game: the iPod plays a selection of music from yourlibrary, and you need to choose the correct song from a list of fivetitles.
More interestingly, the iPod Software 2.1 also supports two new Belkinaccessories, also announced last week. The $50 Belkin iPod VoiceRecorder plugs into the top of the iPod and enables you to record hoursof voice memos, interviews, and lectures using an omnidirectionalmicrophone. The device includes a 16 mm speaker for playback, requiresno extra software, and synchronizes voice notes to iTunes when the iPodis connected to a Mac or Windows computer.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=T7419LL/A
Of more utility to travelers is the $100 Belkin Media Reader for iPod, adevice that plugs into the iPod's dock connector port and accepts avariety of storage cards used in digital cameras: Compact Flash (Type 1and 2), Smart Media, Secure Digital (SD), Sony Memory Stick, andMultiMedia Card (MMC). You can use the Belkin Media Reader to storedigital photos on the iPod for later transfer to a computer. iPhotorecognizes the iPod as a photo storage device and can import thepictures into your photo library. With the Belkin Media Reader for iPod,you'll be able to take just your digital camera and iPod on vacation,without having to worry about lugging your laptop along just to downloadphotos. Of course, you can't view the photos on the iPod itself; perhapsa future iPod with a color screen will make that possible.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=T7418LL/A
The New Standard
With these changes, Apple has cemented the position of the iTunes MusicStore as the leading online music service. It's cross-platform, simpleto use, doesn't rely on egregious copy protection, and has Apple'smarketing muscle behind it. If any serious competition is going toappear, it will have to kick in soon.
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A supercomputer built by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and StateUniversity from 1,100 dual-processor Macintosh G5 PCs looks likely torank with the five fastest machines in the world, despite costing arelative pittance.
In preliminary performance tests carried out on 2,112 of the system's2,200 processors, the so-called "Big Mac" cluster achieved 8.1teraflops, or trillions of operations per second, according to figurespublished on Wednesday. The system is still being tuned, and finalresults won't be announced until next month, but the performance figurewould place the Big Mac at No. 4 on the list of the world's fastest 500supercomputers.
The figures are remarkable partly because Macintosh hardware has longbeen absent from the top 500 list, but also because of the Big Mac'scost. In a world where the top machines traditionally cost $100 millionto $250 million, and take several years to build, the Mac-based systemcost just over $5 million, and was put together in about a month.
Virginia Tech said the final performance figure could be much higher.The 8.1-teraflop figure is only 48 percent of the system's theoreticalpeak of 16.8 teraflops, and it may be possible to squeeze moreefficiency out of the cluster.
Among the three machines ranked above the Virginia Tech system, Japan'stop-ranked Earth Simulator runs at 87 percent of its theoretical peak,and the other two run at 67 percent and 74 percent. The figures wereposted in a report by Jack Dongarra, a University of Tennessee computerscientist who maintains the top 500 list. Earlier tests using just a fewof the Big Mac's processors reached roughly 80 percent of thetheoretical peak.
Virginia Tech plans to use the cluster to perform research on nanoscaleelectronics, chemistry, aerodynamics, molecular statics, computationalacoustics and molecular modeling, among other tasks.
The servers in the cluster are connected through 24 high-speedInfiniband switches from Mellanox Technologies. Infiniband, which wasdeveloped by a consortium of server and storage companies, providesgreater bandwidth than other technologies on the market, such asMiranet, and can often cost less. The cluster also uses a cooling systemfrom Liebert, a division of Emerson Network Power, as well as GigabitEthernet switches from Cisco Systems.
Clustering, which involves linking hundreds or thousands of computers totackle massive projects, has opened the supercomputing market up tocompanies other than those such as IBM and Cray that have long madesupercomputers. Dell has emerged as one of the leaders in sellingclusters to research institutions such as Cornell University. Utah'sLinux Networx, meanwhile, has won contracts to install systems at LosAlamos National Laboratory and other national research laboratories.
Japan's Earth Simulator, with 5,120 custom processors, was measured at35.8 teraflops last year, and is estimated to have cost up to $250million. ASCI Q, a Hewlett-Packard machine running on 8,192 Alpha chips,is ranked No. 2 at 13.8 teraflops.
The third-ranked system on the official list is, like the Big Mac, acluster: it was built by Linux Networx for Lawrence Livermore NationalLaboratory from 2,304 2.4GHz Xeon chips, and runs at 7.6 teraflops.Another HP-built machine powered by Intel's Itanium 2 processors has notyet officially entered the list, but it would rank above the Big Mac, at8.6 teraflops, according to Dongarra's figures.
Matthew Broersma of ZDNet UK reported from London. CNET News.com's InaFried and Michael Kanellos contributed to this report.
HERZLIYA, Israel (Reuters) --An Israeli start-up has developed a processorthat uses optics instead of silicon, enabling it to compute at the speed oflight, the company said.
Lenslet said its processor will enable new capabilities in homelandsecurity and military, multimedia and communications applications.
"Optical processing is a strategic competitive advantage for nations andcompanies," said Avner Halperin, vice president for business development atLenslet.
"Processing at the speed of light, you can have safer airports, autonomousmilitary systems, high-definition multimedia broadcast systems and advancednext-generation communications systems."
An optical processor is a digital signal processor (DSP) with an opticalaccelerator attached to it that enables it to perform functions at veryhigh speeds.
"It is an acceleration of 20 years in the development of digital hardware,"Lenslet founder and Chief Executive Officer Aviram Sariel said.
The processor performs 8 trillion operations per second, equivalent to asuper-computer and 1,000 times faster than standard processors, with 256lasers performing computations at light speed.
It is geared towards such applications as high resolution radar, electronicwarfare, luggage screening at airports, video compression, weatherforecasting and cellular base stations.
Lenslet said its Enlight processor, unveiled at the MILCOM exhibition inBoston this month, is the first commercially available optical DSP.
Jim Tully, vice president and chief of research for semiconductors andemerging technologies at Gartner Inc, said most companies working withoptics focus on switching optical signals for telecommunications ratherthan processing information optically.
"I'm not aware of any company that has taken it to the extent of processingoptically," he said.
Lenslet has raised $27.5 million so far from such investors as GoldmanSachs, Walden VC, Germany's Star Ventures and Chicago-based JK&B Capital.
Shrinking it down
The company's prototype is fairly large and bulky but when Lenslet beginsto supply the processor in a few months it will be shrunk to 15 x 15 cmwith a height of 1.7 cm, roughly the size of a Palm Pilot.
"In five years we plan to shrink it to a single chip," project manager AsafSchlezinger said.
Tully said one issue is whether this technology can be produced in volumethe way silicon chips are made.
"Because semiconductor manufacturing technology is well developed, you canproduce millions at quite low cost," said Tully, who is not familiar withEnlight.
Lenslet said its processor will be competitive in price with a multi DSPboard.
Negotiating deals
Sariel is negotiating joint projects with companies and/or governmentagencies in the United States, Europe and Japan to produce the processorfor specific applications. It already has projects signed with Israel'sDefense Ministry.
"We don't rule out licensing our technology to others," Sariel said. "Weare looking at a virtual production line where production is done by othersand we provide testing equipment."
Tully said semiconductor companies are working on technology that would useoptical channels inside a chip to allow very high speed communication fromone part of a chip to another.
"It's conceivable this technology could become mainstream inside chips in10 years time," Tully said.
A team of university researchers has constructed an electronic memorycircuit from disordered arrays of electronic clumps of gold atoms,according to a report to be published today in the Journal of the AmericanChemical Society.
The advance, made by researchers at Rice University, North Carolina StateUniversity and Pennsylvania State University, is based on one of severalapproaches that are being pursued to create a microelectronic technology ona much smaller scale than today's silicon chips.
In the new field, known as molecular electronics, the researchers havesucceeded in creating tiny switches from molecules and atoms. They are nowsearching for ways to assemble the vast arrays of the switches to serveboth as memory and computing devices.
In one approach, being pursued by researchers at Hewlett-Packard and theUniversity of California at Los Angeles, a mesh of extremely fine wires iscreated with a switch at the points where wires cross.
In contrast, the team led by James Tour, a chemist at Rice University, hasopted to build circuits from molecules that are randomly laid out betweenlarger contact points.
By repeating tiny electrical pulses between adjacent contact points, theresearchers were able to create regions they referred to as nanocells,which would function both as memory and as computer logic circuits.
So far, the researchers have created circuits that are about 10 times asdense as silicon chips, though they switch on and off far more slowly, Toursaid.
Even if it is not possible to increase the switching speed of the newcircuits, they could potentially be used in applications where the storedinformation is permanent or changes infrequently.
The researchers said their self-assembling circuits performed in some wayslike the neural circuits in the human brain, where pathways tend to persisteven if they are not used frequently.
They said they thought there were several types of physical phenomenacreating the switching effects, storing ones and zeros in their laboratoryfor more than a week at a time.
Appeals court upholds rule requiring digital tuners by July 2007
WASHINGTON (AP) --A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a governmentrule requiring all but the smallest new televisions to have tuners thatcan receive digital TV signals by July 2007.
The makers of TVs, VCRs and DVD players tried to block the FederalCommunications Commission rule, saying it would make sets more expensiveand is unnecessary because cable and satellite viewers don't need thetuners.
But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sidedwith the FCC, which said the requirement was needed because the industrywas not moving quickly enough to make tuners available.
Plug and play requirements
The tuners, either inside a TV or in a separate box used with the TV,will be needed to receive broadcasts over the airwaves after the nationswitches from analog to digital signals. Congress has set a goal ofDecember 2006 for the switchover.
The FCC wants to ensure that anyone who buys a TV can take it home, plugit in and receive local stations without subscribing to a cable serviceor buying an extra tuner box for digital signals.
The first phase of the tuner requirement begins next year, when half ofall TV sets 36 inches or larger are required to have the tuners. By July1, 2007, all TVs 13 inches or larger, and all VCRs and DVD players, mustmeet the new standard.
How they work
Unlike traditional analog television, digital TV signals use thelanguage of computers, allowing for sharper pictures and potentialfeatures such as Internet access, video games and multiple programs onone channel. Digital signals can be sent with satellites, by cable or asover-the-air broadcasts.
High-definition television, or HDTV, is another possible feature ofdigital television. Sets designed for HDTV signals offer more lifelikepictures and sound. The sets cost from about $800 to many thousands ofdollars, but prices are dropping.
The Internet was designed to prevent the government or a corporation oranyone from controlling it. But this original vision may soon be lost andreplaced by closed networks. Not enough people outside Washington havepaid attention to the momentous decisions already made, and to those thatare about to be made.
One page synopsis of Commissioner Copps' remarks:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-239795A1.doc
text of entire speech:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-239800A1.doc
* QUICK NOTE This article has recently been linked to by Slashdot. Pleasealso see later letters about this, here. Ed.
Mike,
Microsoft really, really wants Google. It wants Google for one reason,namely, to strip it naked and to castrate it. Microsoft wants to put an endto people being able to use the power of Google, especially as to the waythat we all can use Google as a tool which makes the Internet particularlyuseful in helping us all to get through our days without depending onMicrosoft.
Here's an exercise for all to try. Search Google for Linux Windows Thatgets you about 14 million pages, even with the English preference or filterturned on. Now, got to msn.com and search the Microsoft way for the sametwo words. You get exactly 18 pages. The word censorship doesn't seem to dojustice to what Microsoft has done to a msn user who wants to compare Linuxwith Windows, does it?
Here's another exercise. Search msn for Linux. Note that the third itemreturned is tech.msn.com and that the page no longer exists. The fourthitem deals with this topic "Alternatives to Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP Learnabout the Microsoft alternatives and how to move to them from open sourceproducts."
The mind boggles at the amount of fear that Microsoft has that people whosearch the Internet for knowledge, answers and understanding. Microsoft'sfear is so great that it is willing to subvert what is truly one of thegreat inventions of history, searching the Internet, to a mere tool withone purpose, namely, to trick us all into buying Microsoft's software.
I am compelled to describe that this particular Microsoft stunt ispatently, totally, absolutely, completely perverse. I can well imagine thatthe founders of Google could not have been able to sleep at night for therest of their lives if they had allowed Microsoft to buy and cynicallysubvert their creation. After all, they already have more money than theycan possibly spend in their lifetimes, they have a fantastic life ofcreative fulfillment ahead of them and they do have, well, their pride.
A hearty thanks to the founders of Google, then, for not selling Google toMicrosoft, whatever their specific reasons were for not doing so. And, forthe rest of us, a lesson in what the Internet and its resultanttechnologies would end up being used for if Microsoft had its way. To allthe users of msn and its so-called "search" feature, I have to say, wake up& smell the coffee, kids.
Harry Fletcher
------From: Bruce Moi (bruce-moi@shaw.ca)
Subject: Re: [TAML] Why Microsoft wants to buy - then trash - Google
Well I fired up IE for the first time in months and got this result listedon the second page :
Results 16-30 of about 8739982 containing "Linux Windows"
Thus, it was a bit more than 16 pages the artical suggested, Google returnsaid "of about 8,720,000.
On a straight search for "Linux" IE returned "Results 1-15 of about 443containing "Linux"" while Google found 96,900,000. The artical was correctwhen it stated :
"Here's another exercise. Search msn for Linux. Note that the third itemreturned is tech.msn.com and that the page no longer exists. The fourthitem deals with this topic "Alternatives to Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP Learnabout the Microsoft alternatives and how to move to them from open sourceproducts."
So not as drastic as the writer declared but still a very significantdifference in the "Linux" search.
Check it out, :>)
Bruce
Last week CNET announced its purchase of "certain assets" of theonce-ballyhooed independent music distribution company MP3.com for anundisclosed sum. Those assets appear to be mainly the domains and any cloutthe MP3.com brand may still carry: as of 02-Dec-03, the existing MP3.comwill shut down and the company will delete and destroy the hosted music andmaterials of an estimated 250,000 artists from all over the world. Thecompany also says it won't be giving CNET any information about itscustomers or users. CNET hasn't announced its plans for MP3.com, but Iexpect it will create a new site focusing on the technologies and news ofthe digital music world, much as it has done with the video-game- orientedGameSpot.com site.
http://news.com.com/2100-1027-5107696.html
http://www.mp3.com/
http://www.gamespot.com/
Although MP3.com's heyday passed long ago - following substantial legalsetbacks, the massive popularity of the original Napster, and MP3.com'sill-fated acquisition by Vivendi/Universal - the final demise of MP3.commarks a milestone in these early days of online music distribution: the onemajor, centralized outlet for independent, unsigned artists is no more.
For the sake of disclosure, one of my non-TidBITS alter egos is aprofessional musician, and I once maintained a page of freely downloadablemusic on MP3.com (as did several of my colleagues and clients). I mainlyused MP3.com as a means to provide downloadable demos without consuming mylimited bandwidth: I never attempted to sell CDs or earn money via MP3.com.This last was probably true for the vast majority of MP3.com artists: witha few notable exceptions, most never earned much or tried to sell anything.
Nonetheless, for several years MP3.com was the most recognizable andmost-used online music distributor, search engine, directory, andclearinghouse for independent online music - and even for some signedartists who had online rights to their material or reasonable contractswith their distributors. It was still wise for artists to maintain separateWeb sites (particularly once MP3.com's user experience began to decline asthe site was "monetized"), but having a presence and even just a singlerecording on MP3.com was a great way for listeners and other artists tofind you. Part of the joy of using MP3.com was searching for previouslyunknown artists and tracks, whether local acts or artists from the otherside of the world.
I remember finding some neat electronica from a British duo (wish I stillhad it!), wonderful modern bossanova from a Brazilian teenager and hisgrand-uncle, and some truly horrendous rock from a local high school band -to be sure, much of what was on MP3.com wasn't all that great. But also Ireceived numerous notes and inquiries from listeners around the world whowould never have encountered my music otherwise, and the MP3.com pagedirectly and indirectly helped me land a number of paid jobs. In fact, justthis weekend I sat in with a band I first encountered via the site'sregional charts - go figure.
There are still other independent online music distributors - prominentamong them are 1Sound, SoundClick, and Ampcast - but none of them havecaptured the mindshare or experienced the massive artist adoption ofMP3.com - and certainly none of them have approached MP3.com's levels ofbudget, resources, or staffing. There are also hybrid distributors like theseemingly very savvy CDBaby, which may emerge as a preferred way forindependent artists to get into online services like the iTunes Music Store- over 5,000 albums are lined up right now at CDBaby if Apple ever opensits doors!
http://www.1sound.com/
http://www.soundclick.com/
http://www.ampcast.com/
http://www.cdbaby.com/
There's no question MP3.com was an unwieldy behemoth, but without it thecommunity of independent online artists becomes a much more unnavigable,fractious morass. Enclaves of outstanding artists, music, and even onlinemusic distributors will survive and even thrive without MP3.com, but themeans of discovering these things will be known to only a precious,clued-in few.
Make no mistake, I come to bury MP3.com, not to praise it: MP3.com mademany tragic errors, broke many promises, alienated countless users andartists, behaved poorly, and ultimately suffocated under its own weight.But MP3.com nonetheless played an important role in the world ofindependent online music, and for that, it will be missed.
WASHINGTON - Applying Wild West bounties to modern Internet crimes, Microsoft Corp. set aside $5 million Wednesday to pay large cash rewards to people who help authorities capture and prosecute the creators of damaging computer viruses.
Flanked by federal and international law enforcers, Microsoft executives promised to pay the first rewards of $250,000 each to anyone who helps authorities find and convict the authors of the original "Blaster" and "Sobig" Internet infections unleashed this year.
The world's largest and wealthiest software company also pledged to continue making its popular Windows operating system software, the most common target of hackers, more resistant to such threats.
"We do believe this will make a difference," said Microsoft's general counsel, Brad Smith said. "We can't afford to have these criminals hide behind their computer screens."
The Blaster and Sobig programs spread rapidly among hundreds of thousands of computers running Windows, exposing weaknesses in the Microsoft software the company had billed as its most secure ever. This fall, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer described such virus attacks as "very serious crimes that could affect defense and hospital systems as well as the businesses that drive all of the world's economy."
The FBI, Interpol and the U.S. Secret Service said the $5 million pledge was an unprecedented figure for a corporation to set aside for payments in future criminal investigations.
Microsoft urged anyone with information about the two computer infections to contact local offices of the FBI, Secret Service or Interpol, or send tips using the Web sites for Interpol, www.interpol.int, or the FBI's Internet Fraud (news - web sites) and Complaint Center, www.ifccfbi.gov.
Microsoft said it would not pay rewards to anyone involved in creating the viruses.
Government officials and others said the $250,000 rewards were the highest in recent memory funded entirely by the private sector ÷ akin to cash bounties paid in the late 1800s by Western banks to vigilantes who hunted robbers.
"It's like going back to the Wild West," said Mikko Hypponen of F-Secure Corp., an antivirus company in Finland. He predicted some computer users who chat socially with virus-writers "could easily use their contacts and skills to collect bounties like that."
Microsoft certainly can afford to pay. Its stock is worth $283 billion ÷ more than the gross domestic product of most countries ÷ and it has amassed cash reserves of more than $51.6 billion.
"It's hard to tell what motivates people," said Ron Dick, former head of the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center. "I've seen people provide information for substantially less amounts of money."
The lure of huge payouts was aimed partly at disrupting the underground community's loosely coordinated network of Web sites and chat rooms that virus-writers often use to cooperatively build and polish their destructive software.
"It introduces a massive amount of uncertainty among the hacking subculture," said Marcus Sachs, a former cybersecurity director at the White House. "That community shares exploits among themselves, working almost in a pack. But if you don't know who in the pack is going to turn on you, you start distrusting."
Police around the world have been frustrated in their efforts to trace some of the most damaging attacks across the Internet. Hackers easily can erase their digital footprints, crisscross electronic borders and falsify trails to point at innocent computers.
Keith Lourdeau, acting deputy director for the FBI's cyberdivision, said disclosure of the cash rewards does not indicate the agency's efforts to trace the original Blaster and Sobig infections has stalled. He declined otherwise to discuss the investigation, but some experts said it was unlikely officials were close to making arrests.
"They're definitely frustrated," said Richard M. Smith, a technology consultant who helped the FBI in April 1999 track down the author of the Melissa virus, which caused worldwide e-mail disruptions. Smith said the $250,000 rewards were surprisingly large. "Some people would turn in their mother for that," he said.
The Secret Service (news - web sites)'s deputy assistant director of investigations, Bruce Townsend, said authorities understand such high rewards might produce false tips. Already, some virus-writers were speculating on Internet message boards about planting evidence against rivals and turning them in to investigators.
"That's something we face in the investigative arena every day, and we'll address that the way we always do ÷ through evidence and proof," Townsend said.
Kevin Mandia, who helps train FBI computer investigators, said he believes those responsible for the viruses will be careful enough to delete, hide or encrypt any incriminating computer files.
"By now, there's going to be no concrete evidence," Mandia said. "This doesn't hurt, but I can't see this being highly successful."
Red Hat's chief executive has said that Linux needs to mature further before home users will get a positive experience from the operating system, saying they should choose Windows instead.
Linux is seen by Microsoft as its most dangerous competitor for desktop operating systems, and after a number of high-profile cases where government departments have switched from Windows to Linux-based systems, the OS has been making some progress. However, Red Hat said that the hype around desktop Linux is still mostly unfounded at the moment.
Matthew Szulik, chief executive of Linux vendor Red Hat, said on Monday that although Linux is capable of exceeding expectations for corporate users, home users should stick with Windows: "I would say that for the consumer market place, Windows probably continues to be the right product line," he said. "I would argue that from the device-driver standpoint and perhaps some of the other traditional functionality, for that classic consumer purchaser, it is my view that [Linux] technology needs to mature a little bit more."
Szulik gave an example of his 90-year-old father going to a local retailer in order to purchase a computer with Linux: "We know painfully well what happens. He will try to get it installed and either doesn't have a positive experience or puts a lot of pressure on your support systems," he said.
However, Szulik expects Linux to be ready in a couple of years after it has had time to mature. In the mean time, he is adamant that corporate users would be surprised by how much the operating system has to offer. "Consumers want USB drivers and digital camera support; but for the enterprise desktop, that is a little bit different - that area is ripe," he said. "We think that the enterprise desktop market place is much more strategic and has buyers whose needs we can exceed."
Download all the goodies you need to create memorable holiday gifts, plus a few special items just for you, including screen savers, Windows Media Player skins, and more.
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I experienced serious problems after installing Napster 2.0 on a WinXP Pro box:
- Hidden partitions are now visible and taking up drive letters reserved for other devices.
- All of my system restore points have been erased.
- My DVD and CD drives will no longer recognize new media inserted into them.
Additionally people in other forums are reporting:
- Linux partitions destroyed
- Multiple-partitioned drives get letters rearranged or duplicate assignments
- Deactivates Norton Anti Virus - cannot be reactivated
- Deinstalls Roxio DirectCD and Nero InCD (it installs its own burning software)
- Marks XP installation as changed, requiring product reactivation
The bottom line: do not install Napster 2.0 onto your main machine.
Mac OS X 10.3 Panther bounded out of its lair over the weekend, giving usthe opportunity to start using the shipping version and see how it comparesto what was promised by Apple at the Worldwide Developer Conference in June(see "Mac OS X 10.3 Panther Springs at WWDC" in TidBITS-685_). Apple haspacked numerous improvements into this release, both on the surface andunder the hood, and has also finally implemented some old favorites. Is itworth the $130 upgrade price? Read on for some of the highlights, anddecide for yourself.
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07242
New Finder
The first obvious changes appear in the Finder, which gains the samebrushed metal sheen as iTunes and adds the Sidebar, a pane on the left sideof every window that provides quick access to volumes and your homedirectory. If you don't want the Sidebar to occupy as much space, you candrag the separator bar to view as little of the contents as you want, downto just icons. If you drag the bar all the way to the left, or double-click it, the Sidebar disappears. Open and Save dialogs also include theSidebar, simplifying navigation.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/finder/
The Sidebar replaces, in theory, the Favorites window: drag a folder to theSidebar to add it to the list, or drag items out of the Sidebar to removethem with the same "poof" animation used when removing items from the Dock.However, Favorites isn't completely gone, even if there's no keyboardshortcut or menu item for it. Open the Library folder in your Homedirectory and drag the Favorites folder to the Sidebar to reclaim yourfavorites.
Other improvements in the Finder include on-the-fly searching, whichdisplays matching items as you type, the reappearance of Finder labels, anda Windows-inspired interface for switching between open applications: pressCommand-Tab to select the applications' icons in a row onscreen (Proteron'sLiteSwitch X performs the same functionality, and the company posted an"open memo" to Apple this week, drawing attention to Apple's controversialappropriation of third-party technologies in the Mac OS).
http://www.proteron.com/liteswitchx/openmemo.php
Expose
One surprise at WWDC was the introduction of Expose (accented at the endand pronounced "ex-po-zay"), an innovative method of unraveling theinevitable tangle of application and Finder windows. When activated by auser-configurable shortcut key, mouse button, or dragging the pointer to ascreen corner, Expose temporarily shrinks and rearranges the windows tomake them more visible. Pressing F9 resizes every window so there is nooverlap; you can then click the one you want to bring to the front. F10exposes the front-most application's windows in a similar way and dims therest of the screen for better contrast. F11 works in the opposite fashion,zipping every window offscreen to reveal the Desktop.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/expose/
We were slightly skeptical of Expose at first, but the simple and elegantimplementation is starting to win us over. You can either press and releaseone of the shortcut keys to keep the Expose display on screen, while youchoose a window, but if you keep the shortcut key pressed, you need onlymouse over your desired window and release the key to activate that window.One annoyance: Expose doesn't display Classic windows in its thumbnailview.
Fast User Switching
Previous versions of Mac OS X required you to completely log out if youwanted to activate another user on the same machine, which meant quittingopen applications and essentially restarting your Mac, but without thestartup chime. In Panther, you can have multiple users logged insimultaneously, preserving the state at which you switched to a differentuser. You switch among different users by choosing the desired user namefrom a new menu on the right side of the menu bar. For homes that share aMac among multiple family members, Fast User Switching is a godsend, and ithas already made the cost of the Panther upgrade worthwhile for me: Ineeded to help someone configure an application from scratch, so I was ableto quickly go through the steps using a brand new user, switching fromtesting to the email I was writing.
For pure eye-candy tastiness, Fast User Switching is likely to be a featurethat many people will try out, even if they don't end up using itfrequently. Instead of just displaying another user's Desktop, theenvironment graphically rotates as if each user belongs to one side of acube, at least on my 15-inch PowerBook G4; it just switches on my TitaniumPowerBook G4 and Adam's iBook. I haven't had a chance to see how the 3Dmetaphor works with more than six users; it would be swell to have a newcube fly in from a point in space, but I doubt Apple has extended thevisual metaphor that far.
I have noticed that some applications behave differently when you switchbetween users. iChat automatically goes offline, but logs back into the AIMnetwork when you return. Similarly, iTunes stops playing music, butunfortunately it doesn't start playing again when you're back. Also, becareful restarting when other users are active; if they have unsaved workand you can't access their accounts, they'll lose their changes (you needan administrator password to do this).
FileVault
Responding to the security needs of corporations and privacy-mindedindividuals, Panther introduces FileVault, a feature that encrypts thecontents of your Home folder using AES-128 (Advanced Encryption Standard)encryption. After FileVault is enabled, you can still use items in yourHome folder as you normally would, but they're encrypted and decrypted onthe fly as you open and close them. This makes it extremely difficult forsomeone to access your data, such as if your laptop is lost or stolen.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/filevault/
http://csrc.nist.gov/CryptoToolkit/aes/
However, even ignoring the fact that several of the Take Control authorsexperienced data loss with FileVault while testing beta releases ofPanther, FileVault has a serious architectural limitation in that itcreates one large file to house your Home items. For many of us, that filewill be humongous (as in many gigabytes), since the Home folder by defaultcontains files such as digital photos, iMovie media files, and the iTuneslibrary. This is a problem for two main reasons.
http://www.dantz.com/index.php3?SCREEN=kbase&ACTION=KBASE&id=28093
FileVault isn't a bad idea, but it scares me (and everyone else at TidBITS)silly; I can't imagine entrusting all my data to that single file, muchless screwing up my backup strategy to accommodate it. Apple should modifyFileVault so you can encrypt only specific folders, thus letting usersprotect only sensitive data, rather than wasting time and effort on othermostly innocuous files.
Font Book
The Mac has always been on top of typography, but managing fonts has beenpersistently cumbersome. Font Book is a good step in the right direction,giving most users more control over fonts without having to wonder ifthey're copying font files to the correct Fonts folder. You can enable ordisable fonts, group typefaces into categories, and search for fonts in thesame manner as in the Finder or iTunes. Graphics professionals will likelychoose to stick with a font management utility such as Suitcase X or FontReserve, but for most people Font Book provides enough control.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/fontbook/
The tricky part of using Font Book is figuring out its rules for enablingand disabling fonts, since you'll see different results depending onwhether you disable a font when it's selected in All Fonts or in aparticular collection. Matt Neuburg devotes several pages to this topic in"Take Control of Customizing Panther."
http://www.tidbits.com/takecontrol/panther/customizing.html
Virtual Private Network (VPN) Connections
Apple has been toiling behind the scenes on technologies that don'tnecessarily include splashy graphics or an improved user interface. Case inpoint: built-in VPN support, which many companies use to communicate safelywith employees who travel or telecommute. VPN connections essentiallycapture all of the ports on a machine and bundle them up into an encryptedtunnel to another computer somewhere on a local network or elsewhere on theInternet. Because all data entering and leaving the machine is encrypted,and there's only a single point of entry or departure - the VPN connection- you've simultaneously reduced the potential of machines being attacked orcompromised while eliminating networking snooping whether on a wired orwireless connection. Using the Internet Connect application, you canconfigure either L2TP-over-IPSec or PPTP connections.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/newfeatures/systemadministrators.html
On the other side of the data pipe, Mac OS X 10.3 Server has both kinds ofVPN services built in, making it relatively simple and inexpensive for asmall office to hook up a Panther server machine and use the Panther VPNclients to secure their wireless connection.
Should You Upgrade?
A major release of any operating system brings with it a number ofimpressive new features as well as the certainty of glitches that need tobe worked out, and Panther is no different.
For example, TidBITS Contributing Editor Glenn Fleishman and I, both recentpurchasers of new 15-inch PowerBook G4s, discovered that Panther seems tobe persnickety about RAM. The third-party generic RAM we installed seems tobe the cause of problems (in my case, Panther would not even run on acompletely new installation on a separate partition, and I got repeatedsystem freezes on my main partition installed with the Archive and Installoption). Swapping in the original 512 MB of RAM that came with my PowerBookseemed to solve the problem. (Upgrade tip: don't immediately sell youroriginal RAM on eBay.)
Also, a number of users are reporting that external FireWire drives thatare connected when Panther is restarted can become irrevocably corrupted,so make sure you have offline backups of data on external drives before(and while) using them with Panther. And, as with every Mac OS update, somethird-party applications and utilities will require updating before theywork properly under Panther - be sure to check the Web sites of thoseproducts to see if any essential program is Panther-ready.
That said, Panther has a lot to offer. I've been impressed not only by thenumber of new features, but by the sense that Mac OS X is becoming morerefined as it matures (perhaps because I remember when it was an awkwardtoddler). Even as extra bullet points are added to the feature list, I getthe sense that just as much effort is being applied to making thisUnix-driven system user-friendly.
Plus, Panther just feels faster and more responsive than Jaguar. Granted,I'm now using one of Apple's fastest laptops, so I'll be curious to see howmy previous 400 MHz Titanium PowerBook G4 runs after upgrading. But I'mstarting to see reports that indicate Apple's engineers continue tooptimize Mac OS X's code to squeeze out better performance.
In the end, the upgrade question comes down to what sort of a user you are.Adventurous early adopters should of course upgrade to Panther immediately;it's too much fun to explore and play with the new features. More cautioususers might want to hold off a bit, not necessarily for a 10.3.1 release,but just until more of the glitches have been identified and can thus beavoided. And unlike the upgrade from 10.1 to 10.2, which we consideredessential, we can see some non-demanding users sticking with Jaguar frominertia alone.
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Jeff Carlson has walked you through the marquee features of Apple's new MacOS X 10.3 Panther, but my experience with the previous version, Jaguar, wasthat the changes that made the difference for me were more subtle. So let'stake a look at some of these subtle changes in Panther and how they work.
Timed Startup/Sleep/Shutdown Returns
Yet one more feature of Mac OS 9 has reappeared in Mac OS X. The EnergySaver preference pane now contains a Schedule tab in which you can setschedules for the Mac to start up, sleep, or shut down. Now you can haveyour Mac ready and waiting for you in the morning without having to waitfor it to start up manually. Initial testing and reports show slightlysporadic success (my iBook refused to sleep at the specified time, but didwake up appropriately, and a reader on TidBITS Talk reported that his Macdidn't shut down when it should have).
As an aside, if you find the new organization of the icons in SystemPreferences confusing, consider using the View menu to choose a specificpreference pane or choose Organize Alphabetically to hide Apple'scategories. These viewing options aren't new to Panther, but I hadn'twanted them until I found myself confused by some of the new organization.Annoyingly for those of us on slower Macs, Panther's System Preferencesapplication now quits when you close its window, making it slower to startup if you need it again later.
Network Browser Done Right
Despite excellent support for file sharing and networking, Apple has longhad terrible interfaces for finding and connecting to network volumes.First the Chooser, then the Network Browser in Mac OS 9 (did anyone reallybother with that?), and then the lousy Connect to Server dialog in Mac OSX. Panther finally moves in the right direction, using the previouslysuperfluous Network icon at the top level of Finder windows as the startingpoint for network browsing for both Mac and Windows shared volumes (quite anumber of which seem to be available in the hotel for the O'Reilly Mac OS XConference, where I currently am). Select one and click the Connect buttonthat appears to bring up a login dialog and from then on, that volume showsthe full file hierarchy underneath.
Keyboard Shortcut Quirks
In the Keyboard & Mouse preference pane, Panther now enables you to changethe keyboard shortcuts for many global actions, such as taking ascreenshot. That's great, but what's even better is that you can also addkeyboard shortcuts to menu items in at least some applications. I couldn'tget them to work in Eudora or iTunes in my initial testing, although theydid work in Safari and System Preferences. Interestingly, when I made anAll Applications shortcut that I intended to choose Eudora from the RecentItems submenu of the Apple menu, it didn't work, but it did attach properlya bookmark I had in Safari for the Eudora Web site; having keyboardshortcuts for Safari bookmarks will be helpful. Also, as I learned in MattNeuburg's "Take Control of Customizing Panther," if the menu item inquestion has an ellipsis, you must use trial-and-error to determine if it'sa true ellipsis (Option-;) or three periods. The moral of the story? Usefuland welcome as this new feature is, don't give up on macro utilities likeQuicKeys X and Keyboard Maestro (since they can string sequences together,run AppleScript scripts, type text, click buttons, and so much more.
http://www.cesoft.com/products/qkx.html
http://www.keyboardmaestro.com/
Disk Utility Engulfs Others
Who knew that Disk Utility had imperialistic leanings? Previously, DiskUtility was essential for repairing damaged disks, fixing permissions, andinitializing and partitioning disks. In Panther, however, Disk Utility hastaken over the disk image functions of Disk Copy, so you can use it to makeand burn disk images. Not stopping there, Disk Copy has also overrun theterritory of the free Carbon Copy Cloner, since you can now use thecontrols in the Restore tab to make an exact duplicate of a disk, orrestore a disk from an existing disk image. For the many peopledisappointed that it was impossible to duplicate a Mac OS X volume bymerely dragging it, as was possible in Mac OS 9, this feature should bequite welcome. While you're in Disk Utility, note that you can click theEnable Journaling button for disks that don't currently have journalingturned on. Without going into details, with journaling on, your Mac canstart up more quickly after a crash.
Force Quit This!
Much as I like being able to force quit a recalcitrant application, I hategoing through the Force Quit dialog because of the extra steps of openingand closing it. I often Option-click the misbehaving application's Dockicon and choose Force Quit from there, but in Panther, you can now forcequit just the frontmost application - without even seeing the Force Quitdialog - by pressing Command-Shift-Option-Escape. That shortcut may alsohelp in situations where the Force Quit dialog doesn't draw in front of thedead application.
Classic Interface Tweaks
Apple isn't likely to change Classic, even though it might be nice to havea saved state option, much like Virtual PC offers. But Panther does offersome improvements in how you interact with Classic. In the Classicpreference pane's Start/Stop tab, there's now a checkbox for Show ClassicStatus in Menu Bar. The Classic menu that appears in your menu bar providesa quick way to start and stop Classic, but more important, it also offersan Apple Menu Items submenu that contains the contents of your Classicenvironment's Apple menu. Since that also includes control panels bydefault, it means you no longer must launch a Classic application just toaccess a control panel. Also in the Classic preference pane is a newMemory/Versions tab that shows the names, versions, and memory usage ofClassic applications that could be handy if you're stuck using a RAM-hungryClassic application.
iPhoto Integration Tips
It sometimes seems as though Apple isn't paying much attention to iPhoto,though I hope we'll see an iPhoto 3.0 at Macworld Expo in January that willaddress the significant performance and scalability problems of the currentversion. My hopes for improvement have been raised by the new integrationof iPhoto and the operating system in Panther. In the Desktop & ScreenSaver preference pane, you can select any iPhoto album to use photos in itfor your Desktop and your screen saver, which may be easier than setting upthe same thing through iPhoto. However, if you make a new album in iPhoto,the Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane won't see it until you quitSystem Preferences and relaunch. Also, one tip: when selecting a new photofor your Desktop, use the Expose Desktop-revealing shortcut for a quickpreview.
Submit Bug Report
Kudos to Apple on this one. When an application crashes in Panther, adialog appears with a Submit Bug Report button. You can add moreinformation to the report and then send it to Apple over the Internet.Though I haven't tried to watch the network traffic, Apple states clearlyin Mac Help that no personal information is included in the report.User-submitted bug reports (such as those that come from Safari's bugbutton) have a lower priority than developer-submitted bug reports that godirectly into Apple's bug database, but multiple Apple employees haveassured me that the user reports are processed and evaluated. In thefuture, I hope to see a way that independent developers can also receivethese automatically generated bug reports when their applications crash.
Network Status Display
Those of us who have somewhat complicated networks with multipleconnections (built-in Ethernet, AirPort, modem) and even potentiallymultiple Internet connections (okay, I admit that's weird), will appreciatethe new Network Status display in the Network preference pane. It shows allyour connections and provides a plain English description of the status ofeach connection. You can also double-click one to edit its settings.
More Bits and Pieces
I'm sure we'll all be discovering more useful details about Panther in thecoming weeks, so post any interesting things you learn to TidBITS Talk.I'll try to keep up with posts, but I'm at the O'Reilly Mac OS X Conferenceall week, so I may not be able to keep posts flowing as regularly as I'dlike.
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When a new version of an operating system is released, we expect to runinto bugs or incompatibilities that didn't get shaken out during thetesting phase. Unfortunately, a particularly nasty problem has surfaced:Mac OS X 10.3 Panther can, in certain circumstances, completely destroy thedata on an external FireWire drive. Disk recovery utilities such asDiskWarrior and Norton Disk Doctor have reportedly been incapable ofresurrecting the disks.
Last week, Apple identified a problem with FireWire 800 drives using theOxford 922 bridge chipset with firmware version 1.02. Based on anecdotalreports on the Web, restarting the Mac with the drive attached triggers theproblem; Apple recommends that you immediately eject and disconnect anyFireWire 800 drive connected to a Mac running Panther.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/firewire800specialmessage.html
The situation has provoked a flurry of firmware updates andfinger-pointing. Drive manufacturers such as WiebeTech, LaCie, Other WorldComputing, and FireWire Direct have released firmware updates for theirproducts (unfortunately, firmware updates are vendor-specific, so contactyour drive's vendor). You must install the firmware update using a Macrunning an older version of Mac OS X.
http://www.wiebetech.com/techsupport.html
http://www.lacie.com/support/drivers/
http://eshop.macsales.com/Reviews/Framework.cfm?page=/hardwareandnews/oxford/oxfordandpanther.html
http://www.firewiredirect.com/site/panther.shtml
In response to Apple's announcement, Oxford Semiconductor issued its ownstatement, pointing out that the problem lies in Apple's implementation ofFireWire in Panther and not the 922 chipset, since Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguarsystems aren't affected.
In addition, users are reporting that the problem is not limited toFireWire 800 drives; a fellow Mac author was bitten by the problem using aFireWire 400 drive with the Oxford 911 chipset. For the time being, werecommend keeping Panther away from any FireWire drives until this issue isresolved. If you must use an external FireWire drive in Panther, be sure tomount the drive manually after the Mac has started up, and dismount itmanually before restarting. And for goodness sake, make sure you're backingup carefully, preferably to CD or DVD, or over a network.
If you were unfortunate and did lose data to this problem, there's at leastsome hope of recovering your critical data. We've heard from severalsources that Prosoft Engineering's Data Rescue X has had some success inrecovering files, sometimes after erasing the disk with Disk Utility (whichjust clears the directory, scary as that seems). Jay Nelson at Design ToolsMonthly also tells us that Prosoft is offering $10 off to people sufferingdata loss due to Panther; use code PAN911 when ordering.
http://www.prosoftengineering.com/products/data_rescue.php
http://www.design-tools.com/
Alternatively, our friends at DriveSavers tell us they've been successfulin recovering data from drives that experienced this problem. Better still,DriveSavers is offering a discount to customers who have lost data as aresult of the specific Panther and FireWire 800 issue. If you plan to sendyour drive in to DriveSavers or a similar company, _do_not_ attempt torestore data using disk utilities; that could exacerbate the problem andmake it less likely that your critical data will be recovered. (I canpersonally recommend DriveSavers, which once helped me recover a failedhard disk; see "DriveSavers to the Rescue" in TidBITS-495_).
http://www.drivesavers.com/
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05530
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So you've installed Panther, started to get used to the new Finder, andworn the ink off the F9 key showing off Expose to your friends. Isn't theremore to Mac OS X 10.3? In TidBITS-703_, I looked at some of Panther'smarquee features, while Adam poked around the corners of Apple's newestoperating system (see "Mac OS X 10.3 Panther Unleashed" and "InterestingBits of Panther"). In this article, I want to look at some of theapplication and utility changes that give Panther some of its sheen. Ifyou're still deciding whether or not to upgrade, hopefully this informationwill help you decide if Panther is right for you.
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07415
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07416
Apple's Mail application continues to improve under Panther. Version 1.3adds a convenient view for tracking threaded messages, improves spamfiltering, and offers better HTML rendering thanks to Safari's renderingengine. To help prevent improperly addressed outgoing messages, the SafeAddressing feature flags addresses that don't belong to a domain youspecify. This feature could be worthwhile in an organization that wants toavoid sending proprietary information outside the local network. Note thatyou can specify multiple domains in Mail's preferences, even though onlyone field is available to enter them.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/mail/
For some people, however, the big news in Mail is support for working withMicrosoft Exchange servers, including non-email- related content using anOutlook Web Access Server (also known as an Internet Information Services,or IIS, server).
Also new is better integration with Address Book and iChat AV: any messagefrom an iChat buddy that you've defined in Address Book includes a greenindicator when the buddy is online and her status is set to Available(nothing appears if the status is set to Away). Double-clicking theindicator initiates a chat in iChat.
Address Book
As one of the main components for Mail and iChat, Address Book has beenexpanded, too. Its iChat integration is similar to Mail, with an indicatorappearing when a buddy is online and available.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/addressbook/
Address Book adds several custom fields, including Prefix, Suffix, andDates (the default is Anniversary, but you can customize it). A series ofrelationship fields has been added, so you can list relations such asSpouse, Sister, Brother, Friend, Assistant, etc. One thing that confused meinitially is that the Job Title field is no longer included as a blankfield when you edit a record; you must now select it from the Add Fieldsubmenu of the Card menu.
Unfortunately, a nasty and obvious bug still exists in this new version: ifyou're editing a contact and need to undo what you typed into a field, theentire contact reverts back to the state before you started edit it, wipingout any other fields that you changed or entered. That flub eliminatedAddress Book's usefulness for me in Jaguar, but I assumed that something soobvious would have been fixed in Panther. Perhaps no one is actually usingAddress Book?
iChat AV 2.0
Not much has changed between the iChat AV beta and iChat AV 2.0 (see"iSight Eyes iChat AV" in TidBITS-685_). You can now specify a locationwhere received files will be stored, and you can block users on aRendezvous network from seeing your email and AIM addresses.
http://www.apple.com/ichat/
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07243
Perhaps the most significant news is that the iChat AV beta is set toexpire at the end of the year, so Jaguar users will need to either upgradeto Panther or pay $30 to take advantage of audio and video chatting.Unfortunately, that counts for iSight owners using Jaguar; even thoughApple bills the $150 iSight as the "eyes and ears" of iChat AV, thesoftware is not included with the iSight.
Help Viewer
I've set up a hotkey so that pressing Control-E brings up Eudora - acombination I use several dozen times each day. On another Mac runningJaguar where I don't have QuicKeys X installed, this combination launchesHelp Viewer, but only after an interminable wait.
Panther doesn't use Control-E to launch Help Viewer, but even if it did,I'd be elated: it launches quickly! It runs smoothly! I find myselfactually turning to Apple's help system when I have a question aboutsomething, rather than making a knee-jerk Google search. Give it a try.
Faxing
Tired of fighting with bad fax software? (See "FaxSTF Pro Echoes Sad Stateof Fax Software" in TidBITS-476_). Although I try to avoid faxing wheneverpossible, there are times when I need to send a fax, which involvesstanding over the fax machine in our office, hand-feeding it one page at atime so it doesn't jam and make me start over from page one.
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05350
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/faxing/
I'm guessing someone at Apple became fed up with FaxSTF, which has shippedwith new Macs for years, because Mac OS X now includes a basic option tosend and receive faxes in Panther. Click a Fax button in any print dialog,specify a recipient from your Address Book, enter cover page information,and click Fax (this assumes that your Mac's modem is connected to aavailable phone line).
Panther can also receive faxes, using a few settings in the Print & Faxpreference pane. It can print incoming faxes or email them to an addressyou specify, presumably as a PDF file, though I haven't tested this featureyet.
Here's a quick faxing tip: When you're sending a fax, an icon for yourconnection (such as Internal Modem) appears in the Dock. If the job doesn'tgo through and you accidentally close the window belonging to theconnection, the interface disappears. To get it back, don't bothersearching for a fax application as I did; instead, launch Printer SetupUtility from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder, and chooseShow Fax List from the View menu.
I'm sure people with more serious faxing needs might opt for a moresophisticated program such as Smile Software's Page Sender (with which I'vehad limited experience on an old iMac set up at the office for receivingfaxes). But for those of us forced to send only the occasional big,bitmapped, semi-legible picture to people who can't deal with emailattachments, Mac OS X's fax implementation looks promising.
http://www.smilesoftware.com/pagesender.html
Preview
Apple's Swiss Army Knife of PDF and image viewing and conversion, Preview,gains a much needed performance boost in Panther. In addition to launchingand displaying pages faster, Preview beefs up its PDF features by adding anindexed text search capability and PDF bookmark and linking support foreasier internal document navigation.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/preview/
Preview can also now open raw PostScript or EPS files and print them to anycheap inkjet printer, something that previously required an expensivePostScript-based laser printer.
Zip Compression in the Finder
A quiet addition to Panther is the capability to create .zip archives inthe Finder. The Windows world has pretty much standardized on the .zipformat, so this becomes an easy way to transfer files across platforms(although Aladdin makes StuffIt Expander for Windows, it's not nearly ascommonly available on Windows machines). Select one or more files in theFinder and choose "Create Archive of [filename]" from the File menu or fromthe contextual menu (Control-click to bring this up).
http://www.stuffit.com/win/expander/
Internet Preferences
Finally, I want to point to a bit of reorganization that has promptedseveral people I know to scratch their heads. Under Jaguar, you couldchange the default Web browser and email client by going to the Internetpreference pane. In Panther, however, the Internet preference pane isreplaced by the .Mac preference pane.
Instead, in a move that I'm sure only makes sense in the marketing hallwaysat Apple, you must configure your default email and Web applications fromwithin Safari and Mail. Launch Mail, go to its preferences, click theGeneral icon, and choose an application from the Default Email Readerpop-up menu. Similarly, a Default Web Browser pop-up menu appears inSafari's General preferences.
What if you want to configure helper applications for other protocols? Turnto Monkeyfood's freeware More Internet preference pane, which uses InternetConfig to provide a single interface to all your protocol helpers,something that was previously accessible most easily through InternetExplorer's preference in the Protocol Helpers pane.
http://www.monkeyfood.com/software/moreinternet/
Panting for Panther?
Have you made the switch to Mac OS X 10.3, or are you still pondering thepath to Panther? Go to the TidBITS Web site and scroll down to answer ourpoll question: "When do you plan to upgrade your main Mac to Mac OS X 10.3Panther?"
PayBITS: Did Jeff's additional info about Panther applications
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Oct. 16, 2003 - The 20th Anniversary Meeting was called to order byPresident Rollins. The format of this meeting was unlike any we've ever hadbefore. Pictures of everybody attending were taken by Emil Cobb, RichardRollins, and Kevin Hisel. You can check the web site at Steve Gast: Steve quipped that it was all a blur. He suggested people readhis article on the topic in the October newsletter. Jeff Stevenson: Speaking of that very first meeting, Jeff said he wonderedif anybody was going to show up. He remembered it as being a magical time. Jeff said he had started with the Commodore PET. Richard pointed out that it was Jeff, Steve and Kevin Hisel who had devisedthe raffling off an A500 at CSL to help us through one of our leanestfinancial times. Kevin Hisel: Kevin said that he had seen an ad in the News-Gazetteclassifieds and showed up for the first meeting at the Holiday Inn. He wasone of the 32 memberships taken that night.He said he'd gone seekinginformation about his Commodore 64. He said he was fascinated by thequantity of free software. As time went by, he began bugging Mike Willis,the club's first librarian, and offering him disks worth of programs forthe library. Mike soon made him the Librarian. It was a good deal becausethe club helped pay his CompuServe bill to acquire programs. Later hebecame sysop of the Starship BBS and that morphed into the position aswebmaster for the club's web site. The web site's Amiga Web Directorybecame so popular that we ended up with nearly 800 members which made usfinancially self-sufficient. Kevin says he has stayed with the club since the beginning because of thesocial interaction with a great bunch of people. It's fun. Emil Cobb: Emil said that after he had gotten his first computer, his wifewas on him to make it do something. He came seeking doftware.He also notedthat Target and Zayre's were the only places to get software, besides thegroup. He would spent time there. He still hangs out at Staples, drawing innew members. [Actually, he works there.] Emil's best memory was of our buss trips. "Kevin could sell anything. Iremember him selling bibles to the bikers at the House O' Plenty." Richard Rollins: Richard said he used to look at computers in the stores.His wife finally bought him a VIC-20. He learned to program. He said he gotthe number for the club from Compute magazine. When he went to his firstmeeting, he ran into Emil there. Richard said he'd known Emil since theywere both 13. He said he bought a disk drive just so he could get the clubdisks. Richard talked about the Hardware/Machine Language SIG that used to be heldat Scott Burns' house. He related the story of the creation of SuperAide.He said Lincoln College was a good memory, "except for Steve sabotaging myrobot.," a charge Steve denies, although not very convincingly. Richardtalked about our bus trips, how cool the Disk Doctor program was, and theQ-Link days. Q-Link was started as a Commodore support board by Steve Case.It later became AOL. Richard talked about his interest in BBSing. TheMicroPace BBS came into being in 1984. The club took it over in June of1985. He also talked about the fun he had with the Amiga and Mac SIGs. Kevin Hopkins: "I was one of those that took the computer companies'admonition that "You won't get a good job if you don't learn computers."somewhat seriously. So in 1984 prior to my birthday I thought I'd check outthe personal computers at Target. The "killer app" I was really interestedin was a word processor with spell check. While I was standing in the aislecontemplating a choice between the Coleco Adam and the Commodore 64, whichwere the two hot contenders for best "cheap" computer at that time, I wascomparing features when an African-American gentleman sidled up next to meand said, "You thinking about buying a computer?" In a weary voice I said,"Yeah." He said, "Which one are you looking at?" Still suspicious, I said,"The Coleco Adam or the Commodore 64." He said matter-of-factly, "I thinkyou should get the Commodore 64." Still leery, I said, "Why's that?" As ifon cue, he began listing off the ton of features that the Commodore 64 hadwhich made it a better buy: sound, color, sprites, full screen editor,memory BASIC, and he ended by saying "...and there's a user group intown."Perplexed, I said, "Yeah? What's a user group?" He said, "Oh it's agroup of people that have this machine that get together to help each otherout and answer questions if you have any." Now I knew I was going to needhelp and that sounded pretty good. He said I'd just missed the lastmeeting, but he told me where the next one would be and, as a result ofthat encounter, I walked out of Target with my first computer, a Commodore64. Who was that masked man? Emil Cobb. So the next month I went to the Vet-Med building on the U of I campus,Thursday, June 21, 1984, at the appointed time. I went up to the secondfloor and entered a cavernous lecture hall. I looked down the tiers ofseats to the few people milling around down front and I wondered what I wasgetting myself in to. But then, as I looked around to the back of the room,off to my right I caught sight of a table where the club's librarian hadset up shop. And there, sitting behind the table was Kevin Hisel. Now, Iknew Kevin when he used to be the lead singer for a very popular local Rockband called The Rave. I worked in the music business and a band I'd workedfor had opened for Kevin's band the night they'd had a showcase for recordexecs when they were trying to get signed. I took one look at him and said,"These must be my kind of people." And darned if they haven't been. I'velearned from these guys. I've programmed with them, gone on bus trips tocomputer shows, gone to hacker college, gone to restaurants and birthdayparties, pulled machines apart to put in reset switches and EPROMS. I evenhelped write a book with a couple of these guys. Over the years, you'vebecome my friends. I became the club's newsletter editor in 1987. That's been a lot of work,but a lot of fun. However, one of my best memories was when Jim Huls and Iwent to the local Macintosh users group meeting and we competed againstthem. They ran their SE30 against our Amiga 3000 running the A-MaxMacintosh emulator and we beat them in a speed test. That was sweet!" Craig Kummerow: Craig said one of his principle memories of early CUCUGmeetings was of three chalk boards and Steve Gast filling them. Craig said at one time he was one of the equipment carriers [and our C64SIG Chairman, which he humbly failed to mention]. "It was a good dealbecause I got the free use of the club's Amiga for that. Craig also noted how much he liked the bus trips and, finally, the peoplehe's met through CUCUG. [Editor's Note: A little over a week after the meeting, Craig sent me anemail detailing some thoughts that had occurred to him after the fact. Hisnote also, sparked my email to all those who attended for anything they'dlike to add to their stories. Here's what Craig wrote: I very much enjoyed the 20th CUCUG Anniversary meeting! And it was notonly because of the great food! And thanks for the great slide show! I'msure no one who stumbles on the site will confuse us with some Jolietinmates.... I just wanted to share some more thoughts that I would have said had Ithought of them quickly enough. For what it is worth--- -I remember all of the times we met at Taffies. I wonder if they hated tosee us go or not? -I remember the 10th anniversary, where we had every computer thatCommodore had made on display. (or was there one missing? Maybe....) -I remember someone walking off with a whole lot of donuts without paying. (Now who in the world could that have been?) -I remember the Board meetings, especially the one when Jim Saxon talkedabout putting his boss on a table, tying him down, and releasing themosquitoes to record what they did. My sides still hurt from laughing sohard. -I remember the GEOS suite I had (and taught), and how cool it was back inthose days to have a GUI on the C-64 which did all it did. Of course, theprint jobs I did for Cub Scout newsletters (4-5 pages) took several hoursfor one print, given the fact it made 9 passes per line on a dot matrixprinter. (I would start the print job before I went to bed.) Still, itwas an exciting time. -I remember all of the meeting places we have gone to since I joined. Can't remember all of them, but there were a ton! -I remember the totally awesome raffles we used to have. One night I endedup embarrassed by all of the times I won. It was a rarity, however. Itwas amazing to me that Kevin (Hisel) could come up with that much "stuff"donated to the club! It was an incredible experience! -The bus trips were mentioned at the meeting, but no one mentioned thatthey were so much fun that we once proposed taking a bus trip to nowhere,just for fun! Never happened, but what a concept! Well, that's about all I have for the moment. It was great reminiscingwith everyone. Every time someone said something, it triggered somethingelse in my memory. It has been an incredibly great time for me to havebeen part of CUCUG for so long! Hope to see everyone next month. Mark Zinzow: Mark said he was a mischief maker from way back. He was hiredon campus in 1986. He worked at the Micro Computer Information Center whichprovided staff and students with information. This later became the MicroComputer Resource Center. Mark ran the MRC NeXT machine which offered aUNIX shell account for anyone in the community. This box was an InfoMac andFish disk mirror, which later turned into UI Archive. He said he has hadlots of experience with User groups, having run the PC user group on campusfor years. Mark said, "I'm a bargain hunter." As an example of that, this evening hebrought in some Ethernet cards (8139C chip set) for sale for $4. Mike Latinovich: Mike said he came into the club just before the Amiga. Asalways, Mike said "I really like the doughnuts." Other things Mike enjoyedwere the trips, the people, and the speakers we've like Dave Haynie. One ofMike's major interests has been BBSing. He was intrigued by the BBS atMicro Pace (which later became Keepin' Pace). The club's BBS was in thestore and just the sight of it was impressive. Mike also liked the reaction of other people to the group when we arrivedat a show on one of our trips. Ed Serbe: I like toys. The more different things a toy will do, the longerit can keep my interest. When the TI-99 personal computer appeared atGoldblatt's department store in the late 70's, it seemed the ideal toybecause (being programmable) it could do an infinite number of differentthings. I could write my own versions of Pong style video games andanything else I could imagine. Soon I owned my first computer. It was an Apple II with an amazing 48K RAM(upgradeable with several slots for memory upgrades, external drivecontrollers, music synthesizers, modems, etc). I learned Basic programmingby reading the accompanying manual for the built-in Applesoft language. Ilearned rudimentary Assembler Code for speeding up certain simple taskscalled from my Basic programs. I had written a floppy disk directorydatabase that self updated directly from disk. Some simple games, a programthat drove a Technics robotic construct to move steel washers (by magnet)over a tic-tac-toe board (which could learn and recreate the maneuvers),voice command painting programs, (not very useful, but fun to play with)and many other little ditties. When the Apple II GS computer was demoed and displayed a full color bitmap,(a really pretty painting of a rose, not the usual blocky characters) Istarted to get more excited. Before I bought it, I saw a TV ad showing theAmiga 500 playing the classic Juggler animation. I was amazed that a homecomputer could do ray traced and rendered animations. I went down to the local dealer which was Keep'n Pace, operated by BernieAcs and his brother Ace. I saw that, and many other demos. I bought theAmiga, Sculpt 3D, Microsoft Jet Simulator and took home disks full ofgraphics demos. I would go down nearly weekly to see what (mostly games) was new. Berniesuggested that I attend the Amiga SIG, then being held at the NaturalHistory building on campus. When I attended my first meeting, I wasintroduced (for the first time) to the incredible concept of computerviruses. I was also turned on to tools to identify and eradicate them. Iwent home to find out that in addition to many great demos, Bernie hadturned me on to many great disk infections. Thanks to CUCUG I didn't lose anything critical. After attending a few meetings I was told about the CUCUG general meeting.The first I attended featured Dave Haynie. I started attending regularly.The club members were appreciative of the animations I was rendering. Thatencouragement meant a lot. I sent a simple animation to a nationalcompetition (Killer Demos). It got enough notice to be included in the FishLibrary (thus immortalizing it to a CD-ROM, now obscure). I have gotten a great deal out of the club and hope my occasional graphicand game demos have been entertaining as well. I especially enjoyed the field trips to a couple Amiga Shows in the area. Ihope we attend the next Gateway Amiga Expo, (say what, ..... you'rekidding, .... oh well, never mind). Thanks everyone. Quentin Barnes: "I originally joined the Amiga User's group shortly beforethey merged with CUCUG. I wasn't sure I wanted to participate in CUCUG,but Mark Bellon got me involved. My most vivid memory was when we went toFox Valley and I bought $3800 worth of hardware." Wayne Hamilton: Wayne was the leader of the original Amiga Group. He cameto CUCUG when the two groups merged. Kevin Hisel said he coveted Wayne'sFish Library. Wayne also ran the Programmers' BBS. Jerry Feltner: Jerry said he bought an Amiga 1000 mail order and later gotan Amiga 3000 at a Peoria Hamfest. He came to CUCUG for Amiga information. Norris Hansell: Norris said he came to CUCUG in 1993. His first computerwas a Macintosh LCII then, a PowerMac 8600, which he still has, plus a PClaptop. In contrast to many of the other members who he feels areintrinsically interested in computers as "gadgets", Norris said he lovestractors and military vehicles but doesn't look usefully inside acomputer. He uses his computer for writing. He said he has written abiography of Frederick Kolster, a radio pioneer, and Josiah White, a 19thcentury entrepreneur, and is working now on a mystery. Norris concluded bysaying the club has taught him much and given him a measure of judgement. Ed Hadley: For a year or more, I had been sitting at the feet of the mycomputer guru, Ed Serbe, practicing the arcane 'river rock' form ofknowledge acquisition. (That's where you sit there, in the 'river of info,'and listen. Eventually, it starts to soak in.) I first came to CUCUG as amethod of learning more about Amiga computers. Where I worked we had justrecently adapted Mac SE-30s, but they were B&W, mono, and expensive. EdSerbe's Amiga was color, stereo, cheaper! And he was doing these neat 3-Danimations! And the silk-screen printing company I was trying to start withsome friends would need a computer like that... So I went where the people that owned Amigas were... CUCUG. Both my companyand Commodore failed and I never got the Amiga. (But I have bunch of Macs!!Alright, maybe they are considered "obsolete!" They still work!!) I havesince become more and more engulfed by the computer world and find CUCUGinformative and fun. But there is a dark side to all of this... Computers are the gateway to theseamy world of cyber-masochistic behavior. I mean really, ... late nights,carpel tunnel, blurred vision, bad diets and bad posture all HAVE to besigns of cyber-masochistic behavior!! Don't they??? OK! I didn't say that exactly, but if I had really been prepared, I wouldhave! The donuts, cake and ice cream, we had later, were great, even ifthey are banned from most respectable diets... 8-? But, they are a featureof the new "Cyber-masochist Diet!" Sign up now! Thanks for the opportunity to wax idiotically! Rich Hall: RIch said his principle hobby interest has been modelrailroading. He had purchased a book by Chubb on how to build your owncomputer interface to control your trains. The software in the book came intwo versions, one for the PC and the other for the C64. Kevin Hopkinsloaned him his first C64 and told him about the club and the guys who hadworked with robot interfacing. George Krumins: Even though I only joined the club when the WinSIG wasfirst formed, my first contact with PCs was in about 1985, when a friendbought a 386 computer. Among the first programs I used was Fractint, afractal generating program, and ColoRIX, a paint program. I was fascinatedwith the idea of having a personal computer, one that fit on a desktop. Shortly afterward, a friend loaned me an 8086 computer. This was a luggablecomputer with a small green LCD screen which folded up, and a full-sizedkeyboard. In order to read the LCD, an external light had to be shined onit at just the right angle. It had no hard drive, but twin 720KB floppydrives. It also had a built-in modem which ran at 2400 baud, if I recallcorrectly. After a couple of years, probably in about 1990, I got my own computer, a486 SX machine with 2 MB of RAM. After a few months the motherboard failed,which was replaced under warranty, but the replacement failed after a fewmore months. Since the warranty had expired, I started to shop around. Iended up buying parts to assemble a Pentium 233Mhz machine. Since then I have upgraded twice more and now own a very good towermachine. Both these were also assembled from parts. My friend who first introduced me to PCs was a programmer, and I am onenow, too. I work in GIS, Geographic Information Systems, and am a Webmasterof more than one site. I program in a number of languages, including HTMLand Coldfusion. So when it came to joining the WinSIG, it seemed only natural. It is true Ihave known both Edwins for years. Edwin Hadley I have known probably formore than 35 years. He introduced my to Edwin Serbe probably more than 25years ago. We share many interests, including gaming, both for the PC, anda number of different consoles. Serbe and I both own XBoxes and PCs, but ofcourse, Hadley is one of those Mac addicts, though we are having somesuccess corrupting him to the dark side (he'll deny that!). I actually soldmy old N64 to Hadley with a bunch of games. As for CUCUG, I do enjoy Q & A sessions, and do like the fact that I cancount on people in the club to help solve difficult or obscure problems Imay have. I also like the fact that a club exists where a group of peoplecome together to share their passion for computers and related technology.It feels good to "be at home" with like-minded people. John Ross: "I came to CUCUG because I was interested in the Cube and wantedto find out about it. I brought Kris along to find out about CUCUG. Thegreat thing is getting exposed to ideas which lead to further ideageneration." With a wry grin, John said "The people are OK, too." John went on to say, "My first computer was a VIC 20, then a C64. I wrote aBBS program and then ran it. I later had an Amiga 500 and then a 286." Kris Klindworth: I've run the Linux group for 3 years. Mike Latinovich andJim Lewis talked to us about joining forces. It's fun to get exposed to newideas. Jeff Strong: The first computer I 'owned' I guess had to be my Apple //cthat was the only computer on the entire dorm floor when I started at UIUCin 1987. Bank Street Writer was my word processor of choice back then. AnEpson RX-80 dot matrix printer was what I printed my papers and assignmenton! Brrrrrh Brrrrrh Brrrrrh I suffered a rather severe head-injury/coma in a car accident that Iaccidentally caused the day before I was scheduled to return for my springfreshman semester in January 1988! My accident kept me away for a while. Igot a Macintosh Classic Computer when I returned to UIUC in 1991 (onstudent discount, at $1800). I've been at JRSTRONG@aol.com since thisclassic back in 1993! I got an Apple Stylewriter II B&W inkjet printer in 1992, which has lastedthrough the 630/640/601/Win95, an 8500/VPC 3, and a beige G4/VPC 4. Theprinter finally died in 2001, and I've had a working Lexmark since then,but I don't think I will get 9 years out of it! I did end up finishing my UIUC business degree, and I found good employmentin St. Louis, Missouri . I 'managed' my finances on the Classic some, but Igot Quicken 4 in 1994, then Quicken 5 in 95, and I have used the electronicpayment system (Checkfree) since 95, so its old news to me today. Anthony Philipp: Anthony said, "Mark Zinzow recommended this group becauseof my interest in computers, and because of the home networking problems Iwas having at the time." After the testimonials, we had our usual Q&A Session: Kevin Hisel said his Windows Update had stopped working. He said somethingabout the custom hosts file blocking Okimi. The Google toolbar works. Someone mentioned that the QHostI virus hijacks your browser. It's a"parasite". Adaware, Spybot Search and Destroy - use them. There was talk about Mozilla 1.5 and Firebird. There was a discussion about spam filtering. Spam Pal has a blacklist thatworks very well. Someone brought up the hacker attack on the HalfLife II source code. Kevin Hopkins reported that iTunes for Windows was released today. Someone stated that AMD64 which has just been released beats the G5. Mark Zinzow noted the release of "Damned Small Linux", a Knoppixversion, 64MB in size that you can put it in RAM disk. The October meeting of the CUCUG executive board took place on Tuesday,October 21, 2003, at 7PM, at Kevin Hisel's house. (For anyone wishing toattend - which is encouraged, by the way - the address and phone number areboth in the book). Present at the meeting were: Richard Rollins, Rich Hall,Kris Klindworth, Kevin Hopkins, and Kevin Hisel. Rich Hall: Rich reported that Craig Kummerow and Steve Gast reupped atthe last meeting. Rich then reviewed our finances. It was recommended thatwe equal out the value of our CDs as appropriate. Kevin Hisel made themotion that we prepay the church for next year's room rental. Kevin notedthat the dividing wall helped reduce the cavernous feel of the "big" room. Kris Klindworth: Kris commended Richard Rollins for doing a "great job ofconducting the meeting." For next month, Kris said Rodger Bigler will bedoing Win4Lin, a Windows emulator for Linux. Win4Lin runs most of theWindows 98 stuff. Kris said he liked the layout of the room at this last meeting. "TheStarship BBS in the mid 80s was my first contOctober Board Meeting
reported by Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu)