The Champaign-Urbana Computer Users Group

The Status Register - April, 2006


This newsletter will never appear on CUCUG.ORG before the monthly CUCUG meeting it is intended to announce. This is in deference to actual CUCUG members. They get each edition hot off the presses. If you'd like to join our group, you can get the pertinent facts by looking in the "Information About CUCUG" page. If you'd care to look at prior editions of the newsletter, they may be found via the Status Register Newsletter page.
News     Humor     Common     PC     Linux     Mac     CUCUG

April 2006


To move quickly to an article of your choice, use the search feature of your reader or the hypertext directory above. Enjoy.

April News:

The April Meeting

The next CUCUG meeting will be held on our regular third Thursday of the month: Thursday, April 20th, at 7:00 pm, at the First Baptist Church of Champaign in Savoy. The Linux SIG convenes, of course, 45 minutes earlier, at 6:15 pm. Directions to the FBC-CS are at the end of this newsletter.

The April 20 gathering will be one of our split SIG meetings. The Linux SIG and the PC SIG will be engaging in their free form discussions. In the Macintosh SIG, Emil Cobb will show how to use a PDA to control iTunes, iPhoto, iDVD, etc. Emil also has an address label printing program to give to members. And, lastly, Bryan Forbes will demo the new Printshop for the Mac. So, everybody come and put your two cents in.

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Welcome New and Returning Members

We'd like to welcome the newest members of our group, joining us in the last month: Edward Smith (Mac) and Russ Gillen (PC).

We'd also like to note the renewal of former President Jim Lewis. Welcome back, Jim.

We welcome any kind of input or feedback from members. Run across an interesting 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 user group. Welcome to the group.

ToC

AT&T Whistleblower: AT&T Cooperated With NSA Over Spying

Friday, April 7th, 2006
URL: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/07/143259

A retired AT&T telecommunications technician named Mark Klein has reportedly given a sworn statement that AT&T has been working with the National Security Agency to spy on Americans. Klein gave the statement as part of a lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against several major telecommunications companies. Klein reportedly also disclosed several internal AT&T documents that showed AT&T put a "dragnet surveillance" in place to help the NSA. Klein's statement and the documents have been put under seal. According to attorneys at EFF, the leaked AT&T documents supports the group's claim that AT&T is diverting Internet traffic into the hands of the NSA wholesale, in violation of federal wiretapping laws and the Fourth Amendment. EFF's staff attorney Kurt Opsahl said "Mark Klein is a true American hero. He has bravely come forward with information critical for proving AT&T's involvement with the government's invasive surveillance program."

Related Links

EFF Files Evidence in Motion to Stop AT&T's Dragnet Surveillance -
      http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_04.php#004538

EFF Motion in AT&T Surveillance Case Draws Government's Eye -
      http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_03.php#004514

EFF's Class-Action Lawsuit Against AT&T for Collaboration with Illegal Domestic Spying Program -
      http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/

[Editor's Note: For more on this story, check out "Documents Show Link Between AT&T and Agency in Eavesdropping Case" by John Markoff and Scott Shane, published on April 13, 2006 in the New York Times.

      <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/13/us/nationalspecial3/13nsa.html?_r=1&oref=slogin>

Thanks to CUCUG member David Noreen for this link. Dave wrote, "I found the article interesting, because it discusses how e-mail is being filtered by AT&T and forwarded on to N.S.A, and it also talks a little bit about the EFF civil lawsuit against AT&T on the eavesdropping issue."]

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AT&T Seeks Return of Leaked Documents Exposing NSA Spying

Thursday, April 13th, 2006
URL: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/13/145239

Telecom giant AT&T is asking a civil liberties group to return documents that allegedly show the company provided detailed records on millions of Americans to the National Security Agency. In February, the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a lawsuit alleging AT&T assisted the NSA in eavesdropping on the phone calls and Internet usage of U.S. citizens without court warrants. A former AT&T technician named Mark Klein leaked the internal company documents that describe how AT&T had a secret room in its San Francisco hub which the NSA used to monitor e-mail messages, Internet phone calls, and other Internet traffic. Klein concluded that the equipment permitted "vacuum-cleaner surveillance" of Internet traffic.

ToC

Police blotter: Judge orders Gmail disclosure

By Declan McCullagh
Story last modified Fri Mar 17 07:01:38 PST 2006
URL: http://news.com.com/Police+blotter+Judge+orders+Gmail+disclosure/2100-1047_3-6050295.html

"Police blotter" is a weekly News.com report on the intersection of technology and the law.

What: In a lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission, a subpoena is sent to Google for the complete contents of a Gmail account, including deleted e-mail messages. This is unrelated to the Department of Justice's own subpoena to Google for search terms and excerpts from its search database.

<http://news.com.com/Judge+to+help+feds+against+Google/2100-1028_3-6049493.html?tag=nl>

When: U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte in San Francisco ruled on Jan. 31 and March 13.

<http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.law.com%2Fregionals%2Fca%2Fjudges%2Fusdistrict%2Flaporte.htm&siteId=3&oId=/Judge+to+help+feds+against+Google/2100-1028_3-6049493.html&ontId=1040&lop=nl.ex>

Outcome: Judge grants subpoena and orders that all e-mail messages, including deleted ones, be divulged.

What happened, according to the court: In November 2003, the Federal Trade Commission sued AmeriDebt and founder Andris Pukke on charges that the company deceived customers about credit counseling and failed to use customers' money to actually pay their creditors.

AmeriDebt settled, but the courts are still trying to uncover the location of Pukke's apparently sizeable assets. (A Washington Post article in September said the IRS is seeking $300 million from Pukke. His attorney at the venerable firm of Jones Day charges a hefty $575 an hour.)

<http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ftc.gov%2Fopa%2F2005%2F03%2Fameridebt.htm&siteId=3&oId=/Judge+to+help+feds+against+Google/2100-1028_3-6049493.html&ontId=1040&lop=nl.ex>
<http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-dyn%2Fcontent%2Farticle%2F2005%2F09%2F26%2FAR2005092601764.html&siteId=3&oId=/Judge+to+help+feds+against+Google/2100-1028_3-6049493.html&ontId=1040&lop=nl.ex>

Pukke's missing money has been linked to a Belize developer called Dolphin Development, which counts a fellow named Peter Baker as a shareholder. The court-appointed receiver in the FTC case, Robb Evans & Associates (click below for PDF), sent a subpoena to Google on Nov. 1 asking for the complete contents of Baker's Gmail account.

<http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.robbevans.com%2Fpdf%2Fdebtworksreport02.pdf&siteId=3&oId=/Judge+to+help+feds+against+Google/2100-1028_3-6049493.html&ontId=1040&lop=nl.ex>

Baker objected to the subpoena, saying it could disclose confidential information, including attorney-client conversations.

The subpoena asks for not only current e-mail but also deleted e-mail: "All documents concerning all Gmail accounts of Baker...for the period from Jan. 1, 2003, to present, including but not limited to all e-mails and messages stored in all mailboxes, folders, in-boxes, sent items and deleted items, and all links to related Web pages contained in such e-mail messages."

Google's privacy policy says deleted e-mail messages "may remain in our offline backup systems" in perpetuity. It does not guarantee that backups are ever deleted. Baker estimated he may have tens of thousands of e-mail messages in his Gmail account.

<http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fgmail.google.com%2Fmail%2Fhelp%2Fprivacy.html&siteId=3&oId=/Judge+to+help+feds+against+Google/2100-1028_3-6049493.html&ontId=1040&lop=nl.ex>

In a Jan. 31 ruling, Laporte rejected Baker's request. She said his attorney could withhold "truly protected" information but must "err on the side" of disclosure.

Baker asked the judge to reconsider. On Monday, Laporte reiterated her decision, saying the argument about confidentiality "is baseless" because her earlier order creates an exception for such e-mail messages.

Excerpt from Laporte's Jan. 31 opinion: "Conspicuously absent from Baker's briefs is any denial that he is linked to the (Gmail) account, Pukke and/or Pukke-controlled entities. On the contrary, Baker relies entirely on formalistic objections and never once attacks the substance of the receiver's theories or facts. And, ironically, while he argues that the receiver has not submitted any admissible evidence to support its contentions, the only evidence Baker submitted are declarations by his attorneys that only support his claim that some documents may be protected by the attorney-client privilege but do not address his other claims about privacy interests."

Excerpt from Laporte's March 13 opinion: "(Baker) argues that being forced to pay his attorneys to screen these documents and to create a privilege log would 'necessarily involve an exorbitant amount of attorney time, resulting in the incurrence of thousands of dollars of attorneys' fees for which Mr. Baker will not be reimbursed...Within five court days of this order, Baker shall immediately turn over all documents to the receiver, withholding only those documents that are shielded from discovery by the attorney-client privilege, or those which are truly protected by a legitimate privacy interest."

ToC

U.S. Lags Behind in High-Speed Internet Access

Ranking Slips to 12th Spot Among Developed Nations; In Washington, a Debate

By LEILA ABBOUD
The Wall Street Journal
April 12, 2006
URL: http://freepress.net/news/14939

PARIS -- The U.S. continues to lag behind rich nations in Europe and Asia in adopting high-speed Internet connections, a critical form of technological infrastructure, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The U.S. ranked 12th among industrialized nations, with 16.8 broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants, as of December, the OECD said. Iceland overtook longtime leader South Korea for the top spot. Countries in Northern Europe filled seven of the top 10 spots, underscoring how the region is leading the way in taking up this pillar of modern infrastructure.

The OECD data are collected from the governments of the 30 member states, as well as from publicly available financial reports from telecommunications companies.

Access to high-speed Internet connections is about much more than being able to download movies or music quickly. The quality of communication networks is a major determinant of productivity growth, allowing products and services to be made more efficiently and opening up new markets.

As recently as December 2001, the U.S. came in fourth in the OECD rankings, but since then it has fallen in terms of per-capita broadband penetration. The tumble has become the focus of debate in Washington tech-policy circles, as Congress recently considered amendments to communications laws. When the U.S. released its own broadband data in early April, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin wrote an editorial in the London-based Financial Times saying that the OECD rankings do "not tell the full story."

Mr. Martin argued that the low population density of the U.S. made comparisons with high-density countries like South Korea unfair. He added that with 42.9 million lines, the U.S. still had more people connected to broadband than any other country.

But the experience of countries like Iceland, and Norway and Sweden, which have even lower population densities than the U.S., indicates that low density isn't an insurmountable obstacle to wider broadband access.

Broadband access is usually delivered through telephone lines, also known as digital subscriber lines, or through cable networks. The next generation of broadband, which is already widespread in countries like South Korea, Japan and Sweden but still rare in the U.S., will travel over fiber-optic cables to the home or neighborhood and permit speeds that can be 100 times faster than the typical DSL or cable broadband connection.

Staying Connected

In many of the countries at the top of the rankings, governments have taken an active role in spurring broadband use and in some cases in building communications infrastructure as they would a public utility like highways or airports. In Stockholm, the municipal government laid fiber-optic cables throughout the city and rents them out to commercial operators who sell Internet services to consumers. In South Korea, the government heavily subsidized telecom companies to encourage them to lay fiber to villages and towns.

Another approach used in countries such as the Netherlands has been to force telephone companies to allow rivals to use their lines to offer Internet services to consumers. Known as "local loop unbundling," this approach causes the number of Internet providers to proliferate, leading to lower prices and faster access as the companies jockey for customers.

The U.S. passed a law mandating such a policy in 1996, but lobbying from phone and cable companies and several court decisions have undermined parts of these efforts. In recent years, regulators have rolled back many "unbundling" requirements because they contend that competition is forming on its own among cable, Internet companies and phone-service providers, making regulation unnecessary.

[Editor's Note: For those who would like to learn more about this issue, I highly recommend the Opening Plenary address from the second Wireless Summit held in St. Charles, MO at the end of March/beginning of April <http://commonsvcg.oar.net/LewisClark/>, check out the entry marked Wireless Summit - Created on: 03/31/2006 - 19:08 EST Duration: 1 hour, 29 minutes, 56 seconds. The first speaker was Esme Vos of MuniWireless.com. She's based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where they have 8 megabits down and 3 megabits up right now. She spoke about how that effects business and innovation.

Another interesting perspective can be found from the local "Media Matters" radio show from right here in Champaign <http://www.will.uiuc.edu/am/mediamatters/default.htm>. This week the interviewee was Lawrence Lessig, renowned copyright expert. Lessig is a Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and founder of the school's Center for Internet and Society. He is the author of Free Culture (2004), The Future of Ideas (2001) and Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace (1999). He chairs the Creative Commons project, and serves on the board of the Free Software Foundation, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Public Library of Science, and Public Knowledge. This interview can be found at <http://www.will.uiuc.edu/willmp3/mediamatters060416.mp3>.]

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Community Wireless

Written and produced by John Anderson (mediaminutes@freepress.net)
Media Minutes: March 31, 2006
Audio: http://freepress.net/mediaminutes/archive/mm033106.mp3
Text: http://freepress.net/mediaminutes/transcripts/mm033106.pdf

Although phone and cable companies have lobbied hard to try and stop cities and towns across the country from building their own community Internet networks, the trend is growing fast, according to Sascha Meinrath with the Champaign-Urbana Illinois Community Wireless Network project.

Sascha Meinrath: "There's now over 300 different communities around the country that are either rolling this out or have built community Internet projects."

Last year, incumbent telecommunications companies went to several state legislatures looking for new laws that would stop public and non-profit groups from competing in the broadband marketplace. They were by and large rebuffed everywhere except Nebraska. Harold Feld, senior vice president with the Media Access Project, says that's because public sentiment is shifting to frame broadband less as a commodity and more as a utility.

Harold Feld: "Broadband has become as essential for business and maintaining a standard of living and education and medicine and all of public safety as electricity, as clean water, all of these things where we want local governments to have the flexibility to do anything from provide the service themselves to leave it to the private sector, if that's their choice. But the decision has to be with the local people."

As community Internet projects continue to proliferate, advocates are organizing to share knowledge and expand their reach. Meinrath notes hundreds recently converged on St. Charles, Missouri for a summit on community wireless networks.

Sascha Meinrath: "Bringing together the best minds from policy, from implementations and cities and towns around the country, from the hacker community, get them all into the same place to discuss what works, what doesn't work."

To learn more about public and non-profit Internet projects, including how to start one in your community, visit http://www.freepress.net/communityinternet.

Related Links

Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network -
      http://cuwireless.net/

Media Access Project -
      http://mediaaccess.org/

MuniWireless -
      http://muniwireless.com/

National Summit for Community and Wireless Networks -
      http://wirelesssummit.org/
      http://commonsvcg.oar.net/LewisClark/ (video and audio)

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BellSouth Leans On The Big Easy

Written and produced by John Anderson (mediaminutes@freepress.net)
Media Minutes: March 31, 2006
Audio: http://freepress.net/mediaminutes/archive/mm033106.mp3
Text: http://freepress.net/mediaminutes/transcripts/mm033106.pdf

Not all cities and towns that seek to provide broadband access are finding it easy. Following Hurricane Katrina, the city of New Orleans opened up a city-owned wireless network for public use, as a way to entice residents back and businesses to reopen. This network remains a vital information lifeline, as private telecom providers in the area, such as BellSouth, have yet to restore broadband connectivity to more than half the city. Although the state of Louisiana has a law on the books which forbids municipalities from offering their own broadband Internet access, New Orleans qualified for an exemption by declaring a state of emergency following the storm. That remains in effect - but now BellSouth is asking the state legislature to close the emergency loophole and find the city of New Orleans in violation of the law. City officials vow to keep the network open, even if it means being arrested to do so.

Related Link

Red Herring: Wi-Fi Fight Brews in Big Easy -
      http://www.redherring.com/article.aspx?a=16232

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Astroturfing

Written and produced by John Anderson (mediaminutes@freepress.net)
Media Minutes: March 31, 2006
Audio: http://freepress.net/mediaminutes/archive/mm033106.mp3
Text: http://freepress.net/mediaminutes/transcripts/mm033106.pdf

And now here's a Media Minutes Fast Fact: As Congress debates a slew of telecommunications and media-related bills this year, industry interests are expanding their lobbying repertoire. The fastest-growing form is called "astroturfing," whereby companies and lobbyists set up front groups that purport to represent grassroots concerns but are really nothing more than industry shills.

For example, the group Consumers for Cable Choice claims to represent citizens concerned about preventing the domination of video and broadband services by cable providers, but in reality it's a creation of AT&T and Verizon. The same with FreedomWorks, a group that claims to represent "hundreds of thousands of volunteer activists," but whose real aim is to stop the implementation of laws mandating network neutrality. The Internet Innovation Alliance, a creation of two PR executives funded by AT&T and Internet backbone provider Level 3 Communications, shares the same goal. And MyWireless.org, which claims to represent millions of cell phone customers, is actually a $16 million project of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, the main trade lobby for wireless phone companies.

Related Links

Common Cause - Wolves in Sheep's Clothing: Telecom Industry Front Groups and Astroturf -
      http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=1499059

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Whose "Hands Off the Internet"?

Written and produced by John Anderson (mediaminutes@freepress.net)
Media Minutes: April 14, 2006
Audio: http://freepress.net/mediaminutes/archive/mm041406.mp3
Text: http://freepress.net/mediaminutes/transcripts/mm041406.pdf

The House of Representatives looks ready to give cable and phone companies the power to kill off the Internet as we know it in exchange for a pay-as-you-go-style online experience. The House Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee voted just prior to the Easter recess on a bill that directs the FCC to issue fines of up to $500,000 against any Internet service provider who is caught practicing data discrimination - but the bill does not grant the FCC the authority to define just what that discrimination might be. Subcommittee member representative Rick Boucher of Virginia, says the provision does nothing to preserve the principle of network neutrality.

Rep. Rick Boucher: "The FCC under current law is kind of powerless to act unless it can persuade the bad actor to adopt a different course."

Debate on this issue in the House is certainly not over, but it appears that telecom lobbyists are making moves to squelch it. The House's Judiciary Committee was to hold a hearing over the break on antitrust concerns in the telecommunications industries and how network neutrality fits into that picture - but that's been postponed indefinitely, no reason given. Boucher says the prospect of preserving net neutrality as a point of law in the House looks pretty bleak.

Rep. Rick Boucher: "By the middle of May, in all likelihood, this measure will have been debated and passed in the House."

In hopes of maintaining their momentum, telecom interests, led by AT&T, have started up a new astroturf group named "Hands Off the Internet" that purports to represent, quote, "a nationwide coalition of Internet users" who oppose network neutrality. It's hired former Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry to be its public face. Boucher says this may be the only chance we've got to preserve an open and democratic Internet where anyone can speak freely to anyone else, and the House has already blown it.

Rep. Rick Boucher: "Once revenue is being derived by a business from a particular business model, it is virtually impossible to outlaw the business model. If telephone companies five years from now are deriving billions of dollars in revenues from this toll-gate apparatus they put in place, and we see that innovation is dampened, and we can measure that effect, it's going to be too late to act."

Two bills pending in the Senate explicitly address network neutrality as a matter of policy, but there's no guarantee that the principle would survive the conference committee experience.

Related Links

Center for American Progress: The End of the Internet As We Know It? -
      http://www.freepress.net/news/14958

Free Press: Net Freedom Now -
      http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom/

Media Policy Blog @ F2C: Rep. Rich Boucher on House Telecom Bill -
      http://mediapolicy.blogspot.com/2006/04/f2c-rep-rick-boucher-on-house-telecom_04.html

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Upgrade Your Flash Player

Originally posted: March 14, 2006
URL: http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/security/security_zone/apsb06-03.html

Critical vulnerabilities have been identified in Flash Player that could allow an attacker who successfully exploits these vulnerabilities to take control of the affected system. A malicious SWF must be loaded in Flash Player by the user for an attacker to exploit these vulnerabilities. Users are recommended to update to the most current version of Flash Player available for their platform.

Adobe categorizes this as a critical update and recommends affected users update to Flash Player 8.0.24.0.

ToC

The Humor Section:

Product Announcement from Microsoft

URL: http://www.JumboJoke.com/product_announcement_from_microsoft_624.html

Redmond, WA -- Microsoft Corporation chairman Bill Gates announced yesterday the introduction of a new exception handler routine for Windows Vista: Microsoft Panhandler.

"The idea came to me the other day when a homeless man asked me for some spare change," recalls Gates. "I suddenly realized that we were missing a golden opportunity. Here was a chance to make a profit without any initial monetary investment! Naturally, this man then became my competition, so I had my limo driver run over him several times."

Microsoft engineers have been working around the clock to complete Gates' vision of panhandling. "We feel that our program designers really understand how the poor and needy situation works," says Microsoft Homeless product leader Bernard Liu. "Except for the fact that they're all stinking rich. Well, except for the new hires."

Microsoft Panhandler will be automatically installed with the new Windows Vista operating system, which is only six months behind schedule at this point. At random intervals, a dialog box pops up, asking the user if they could spare any change so that Microsoft has enough money to get a hot meal. "This is a little lie," admits software engineer Adam Miller, "since our diet consists of Coke and Twinkies, but what panhandler doesn't embellish a little?" The user can click 'Yes', in which case a random amount of change (between $.05 and what Gates considers "small pocket change" -- $8,142.50 -- is transferred from the user's bank account to Microsoft's. The user can also click 'No', in which case the program politely tells the user "God bless you!" The 'No' button has not yet been implemented.

"We're experiencing a little trouble programming the 'No' button," Liu says, "but we should definitely have it up and running within the next couple of years. Or at least by the time the next version of Windows comes out, but we don't anticipate that version will be late."

Gates says this is just the start of an entire line of products. "Be on the lookout for products like Microsoft Mugging, which either takes $50 or erases your hard drive, and Microsoft Squeegee Guy, which will clean up your Windows for a dollar." When Microsoft Squeegee Guy ships, Windows Vista will no longer automatically refresh your windows.

But there are competitors on the horizon. Sun Microsystems and Oracle are introducing panhandler extensions of their own. "Gates is a few tacos short of a combination platter, if you get my drift," says Oracle's Larry Ellison. "I mean, in the future, we won't need laptop computers asking you for change."

ToC

Apple May Sacrifice France For Exclusivity

Maya Roney, 03.21.06, 3:06 PM ET
URL: http://www.forbes.com/2006/03/21/apple-frenchbill-0321markets15_print.html

Apple would sooner drop out of the French market altogether than meet the demands of a proposed bill that would allow iTunes to play on competitors' MP3 players, according to Piper Jaffray.

Earlier today, the French National Assembly voted 296-to-193 to approve an online copyright bill that would require online music services and MP3 player makers to open DRM technology up to competitor's devices and services and allow for usage of content from various online providers on the iPod and other devices. The bill now goes to the French Senate for a final vote before becoming law.

In the opinion of Piper analyst Gene Munster, Apple would rather remove itself from the French market than start "what could be a slippery slope of other countries passing similar legislation."

"While this sounds like a drastic move, we believe it would not materially impact business," Munster wrote in a report Tuesday.

The analyst estimates that approximately 20% of iPod and iTunes sales occur outside of the U.S., with the French market alone representing less than 2% of iPod and iTunes business.

Even if Apple does open up iTunes in France and elsewhere, Munster believes that iPod sales will not be measurably impacted.

"Apple would be at risk to losing some iTunes business if similar laws to the proposed French online copyright bill were passed in other geographies," said the analyst, "but it is important to keep in mind that the profitable component of the 'portable device + music service' equation is the portable device and a loss of some portion of music service would not have a dramatic impact on bottom line results."

Munster maintained an "outperform" rating and $103 price target on Apple.

[Editor's Note: Why is this funny? It's not. Black humor, perhaps. This one is actually for real. The extent to which corporate arrogance has run amok is the joke. Plus, We needed an item to counter-balance the M$ jest. In case you're interested, more on the French lawsuit, the Apple Computer v. Apple Corps (the Beatles) case, and the Creative Commons license being upheld in Dutch court, check out TidBIT 822 <http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-822.html>

Late breaking: Now, if you really want to see something funny on the Mac, check out <http://youtube.com/watch?v=Pw-BGBdB2Qk&search=macintosh> .]

ToC

Hell Freezes Over: News at 11

I was just thinking over some of the "hell freezes over" events of the last year.

I do not believe that Apple will drop Mac OS X, but a few of the above seemed as unlikely before they were announced.

--  
Chris Pepper: <http://www.reppep.com/~pepper/>
Rockefeller University: <http://www.rockefeller.edu/>

ToC

Common Ground:

AOL Censors Email Tax Opponents

Blocked Delivery Emails Mentioning www.DearAOL.com

from EFFector Vol. 19, No. 14 April 14, 2006
editor@eff.org
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
ISSN 1062-9424
URL: http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_04.php#004556

[UPDATE: After this press release was sent out Thursday afternoon, AOL stopped blocking email with links to www.DearAOL.com. Officials at the company stated that problems of this nature generally take three to five working days to fix. However, this was fixed after 24 hours of undeliverability - and approximately twenty minutes after this press release was widely distributed. This incident only increases our worry about organizations who don't have the ability to seek instant press attention. The next time AOL's anti-spam filters fail for a small organization - or one without political muscle - will they move so quickly to fix them? Or will they push organizations to just sign up with Goodmail and pay to avoid the problem?]

San Francisco - This week, AOL blocked delivery to AOL customers of all emails that include a link to www.DearAOL.com. Over 100 people who signed a petition to AOL tried sending messages to their AOL-using friends, and received a bounce-back message informing them that their email "failed permanently."

"The fact is, ISPs like AOL commonly make these kinds of arbitrary decisions every day - silently banning huge swathes of legitimate mail on the flimsiest of reasons - and no one hears about it," said Danny O'Brien, Activism Coordinator of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). "AOL's planned CertifiedEmail system would let it profit from this power by offering to charge legitimate mailers to bypass these malfunctioning filters."

After the original version of this press release was sent out Thursday afternoon, AOL stopped blocking email with links to www.DearAOL.com. This incident only increases our worry about organizations that don't have the ability to seek instant press attention. The next time AOL's anti-spam filters fail for a small organization - or one without political muscle - will they move so quickly to fix them? Or will they push organizations to just sign up with Goodmail and pay to avoid the problem?

When reports of undelivered email started rolling in to the DearAOL.com Coalition, MoveOn co-founder Wes Boyd decided to see for himself if it was true.

"I tried to email my brother-in-law about DearAOL.com, and AOL sent me a response as if he had disappeared," said Boyd. "But when I sent him an email without the DearAOL.com link, it went right through."

While AOL may imply that censoring www.DearAOL.com is part of some anti-spam effort, its own customers are witnessing how faulty AOL's spam measures would be if that were the case.

"I forwarded www.DearAOL.com to my own AOL account and it was censored. Apparently I can't even tell myself about it," said Kelly Tessitore from Framingham, Massachusetts.

"This proves the DearAOL.com Coalition's point entirely: left to their own devices, AOL will always put its own self- interest ahead of the public interest in a free and open Internet," said Timothy Karr, campaign director of Free Press, a national, nonpartisan organization working on media reform and Internet policy issues. "AOL wants us to believe they won't hurt free email when their pay-to-send system is up and running. But if AOL is willing to censor the flow of information now to silence their critics, how could anyone trust that they will preserve the free and open Internet down the road? Their days of saying 'trust us' are over - their credibility is zero, zip, nada."

The DearAOL.com Coalition represents over 15 million people combined - and has grown from 50 member organizations to 600 in a month. Since the beginning of the DearAOL.com campaign, more than 350,000 Internet users have signed letters to AOL opposing its pay to send proposal. Coalition members include craigslist founder Craig Newmark, the Association of Cancer Online Resources, EFF, Free Press, the AFL-CIO, MoveOn.org Civic Action, Gun Owners of America, and others.

For more on the issues surrounding pay-to-send email, join EFF for a debate on April 20 in San Francisco. EFF's O'Brien and tech expert Esther Dyson will face off over the question "Email -- Should the Sender Pay?" Entrepreneur and EFF cofounder Mitch Kapor will moderate.

More information about the DearAOL.com Coalition:
      <http://www.dearaol.com/>

More information on next week's debate:
      <http://www.eff.org/bayff/aolmail_debate.php>

Contacts:

Danny O'Brien
Activism Coordinator
Electronic Frontier Foundation
danny@eff.org

Rebecca Jeschke
Media Coordinator
Electronic Frontier Foundation
press@eff.org

ToC

Corporate Taxation?

Written and produced by John Anderson (mediaminutes@freepress.net)
Media Minutes: April 14, 2006
Audio: http://freepress.net/mediaminutes/archive/mm041406.mp3
Text: http://freepress.net/mediaminutes/transcripts/mm041406.pdf

The pressure against America Online's plans to roll out a pay-to-send e-mail service is on the rise. At a conference last month, supporters and opponents of AOL's so-called "certified e-mail" system squared off in a panel discussion. Richard Gingras, CEO of Goodmail - the company AOL has contracted with to provide the pay-to-send technology - says he's got a lot riding on this deal.

Richard Gingras: "There's a tremendous amount of effort and capital and technology that goes into creating what we're creating. We've been doing this for two and a half years; I've raised and spent at this point well in excess of $10 million developing this company."

According to AOL postmaster Charles Stiles, the pay-mail plan is designed as a weapon to reduce the amount of spam and fraudulent phishing messages sent to its 20 million users.

Charles Stiles: "We have to protect our customers from phishing. They've told us over and over. They need some protection."

The anti-spam angle is also a strong selling point for Goodmail, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Danny O'Brien, who's helping to lead a campaign against e-mail postage.

Danny O'Brien: "This is something from Goodmail's own FAQ: 'Goodmail gives to mailbox providers the possibility to profit from the opportunity to address the economic imbalance, now borne exclusively by mailbox providers, in the fight against spam and fraud.'"

Concerns about the certified e-mail project spurred California state senator Dean Florez to hold hearings on the issue earlier this month. Goodmail's Richard Gingras was there, and under questioning by Florez he inadvertently debunked AOL's primary stated reasons for implementing pay-mail.

Richard Gingras: Our objective, again, is to address how can we create a mechanism to assure that the messages that come via our system are indeed authentic.

Dean Florez: And you believe that's going to lead to a significant reduction of spam.

Richard Gingras: No. I, we've never said that. We do not have any impact on what the bad guys in Ecuador, or Belarus, or Des Moines, Iowa do in sending bad messages in the system."

A coalition opposing what it calls an AOL-imposed "e-mail tax," which launched in February with some 50 member-groups, is now more than 600 strong. An open letter to AOL explaining their concerns has attracted more than 41,000 signatures.

You can find out more about this controversy by visiting dearaol.com/.

Related Links

2006 Nonprofit Technology Conference: The Future of Email Delivery -
      http://nten.org/ntc

ClickZ: California Legislator Hopes to Take AOL/Goodmail Discussion National -
      http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3596691

Dear AOL -
     http://www.dearaol.com/

MediaCitizen: AOL Censors Opposition Group -
      http://mediacitizen.blogspot.com/2006/04/aol-censors-opposition-group.html

ToC

U.S. administration pushes restrictive broadcast and webcast rules worldwide

Written and produced by John Anderson (mediaminutes@freepress.net)
Media Minutes: March 17, 2006
Audio: http://freepress.net/mediaminutes/archive/mm031706.mp3
Text: http://freepress.net/mediaminutes/transcripts/mm031706.pdf

The United Nations-supported World Intellectual Property Organization, or WIPO, is discussing a proposed treaty that would create a global standard for intellectual property protection for broadcasters and webcasters. The United States delegation proposes anyone who hosts audio or video online should automatically be granted a 50-year protective right to the content they provide, regardless of who actually holds the copyright on it. This proposal makes no exemption for material in the public domain. Furthermore, it would require the encryption of all a/v content so as to prevent its duplication.

Mary-Beth Peters is the U.S. Register of Copyrights and part of the delegation to WIPO. She says they're basically trying to globalize a U.S. law already on the books that prevents people from pirating pay-per-view or subscription-based video services.

Mary-Beth Peters: "You can't basically steal a cable signal without consequences. So the concept that there have there is already in the law of the United States as it exists. The question is should you expand it out."

Officially, the U.S. delegation to WIPO says its draconian information lockdown- proposals are still on the table. But Peters admits they're facing an uphill battle.

Mary-Beth Peters: "That has been totally rejected by the rest of the world. There really has not been support for this broader scope of a treaty."

WIPO will convene two meetings this year to further discuss the broadcast and webcast treaty, with hopes of finalizing a draft for global ratification sometime in 2007. The first of these two "drafting" meetings will take place next month. Peters says the position of the U.S. delegation has not changed, even though public opposition to the webcasting provisions of the treaty has reached a slow boil.

Mary-Beth Peters: "If in fact that treaty ever sees the light of day it will be subject to hearings before the United States Senate where the people can have their say and influence Congress on whether to adhere to that treaty or not."

It should come as little surprise that the controversial provisions were written not by the government itself, but by the innocuous-sounding Digital Media Association. It represents online content providers, like Amazon, AOL, Apple, Live365, Microsoft, MTV, RealNetworks, and Sony, among many others.

Related Links

Boing Boing: U.S. copyright head: world "totally rejects" webcasting restrictions -
      http://www.boingboing.net/2006/02/21/us_copyright_head_wo.html

EFF: WIPO Broadcasting Treaty -
      http://www.eff.org/IP/WIPO/broadcasting_treaty/

ToC

Network Neutrality

March 10, 2006
http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/transcripts_031006_neutralpowers.html http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/transcripts_031006_telecom.html

BOB GARFIELD
This week we learned of the imminent merger of AT&T and Bell South. If the deal goes through, the newly-reconstituted AT&T would provide 22 states with local phone service and would be a giant in the areas of data transmission and especially wireless communication. This is, of course, not your father's AT&T. In 1984, that company was broken up into seven baby bells and a long distance and equipment company. But the Telecommunications Act of 1996 allowed the business to partly reconsolidate, and eventually AT&T was bought by one of its babies, Southwestern Bell, which took its parent's name. Now the Telecommunications Act is being overhauled yet again, and we'll get into that in a few minutes. But first, we'll take a closer look at one of the burning issues under review, one that concerns both AT&T and anyone who uses the Internet' namely, the issue of network neutrality.

BROOKE GLADSTONE
At the moment, all online information travels at roughly the same speed. In other words, a page from eBay travels at the same rate as a porn site photo. But Internet watchdogs are warning that some data could encounter some speed bumps because Internet service providers may soon be charging content providers for access to the fast lane. AT&T chairman Ed Whitacre put it bluntly in November when he complained that content providers like Google were getting a free ride, saying' "they use my lines for free. And that's bull."

BOB GARFIELD
For months, lawmakers in the Commerce Committee have been laboring over an update to the 1996 Telecommunications Act, but in recent weeks, the intended overhaul seems to have shriveled into a minor revision, as such issues as network neutrality and video franchising' which we'll get into in a minute' slide on and off the table. Now, committee members are weighing the power of the baby bells' not quite babies any more' against the power of public pressure. David Hatch, a reporter for Congress Daily, has been watching this play out on Capitol Hill.

DAVID HATCH
Well, there's a lot of interesting politicking and horse-trading going on. The House Commerce Committee, which is headed by Representative Joe Barton, a Republican of Texas, has been negotiating for several months on this legislation. Network neutrality is said to still be on the table and, in particular, in the wake of the announcement that AT&T plans to merge with Bell South, the ante has been upped here and there's a lot more attention on the issue. And there are other issues that are also at play, including the issue of video franchising. And that has to do with the Bell companies seeking regulatory relief so that they can enter the video programming marketplace.

BOB GARFIELD
Well, let's start with that one, because I can actually see both sides of the argument.

DAVID HATCH
Sure. Basically, the Bell companies are saying we have an opportunity to help lower prices but we need the help of the government. They want to be put under either a nationwide franchise that would be uniform throughout the country or perhaps statewide franchises. The phone companies would still pay the fees and the money would still go to localities, but the phone companies would not have to negotiate with potentially thousands of local governments in order to be able to bring their video programming to different communities. And the cable industry has been balking, basically saying' "Look, there should be a level playing field. We had to secure local franchises throughout the country. The Bells should have to get them too."

[Editor's Note: This article is a combination of two segments, "Neutral Powers" and "Tweaking Telecom".

For more on the topic of network neutrality check out the two part interview with Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy at

<http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/13/146201>
<http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/14/147241>

or his article in the Nation Magazine titled "The End of the Internet?"

<http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20060213&s=chester> .]

ToC

Companies that fought against Wi-Fi now rush to join in

By Amol Sharma, The Wall Street Journal
via The Pittsburg Post-Gazette
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
URL: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06080/673572.stm

Having tried to stop cities from offering cut-rate or free wireless Internet access to their citizens, some large phone and cable companies are now aiming to get into the market themselves.

Telecom and cable giants have traditionally been critical of city-sponsored broadband initiatives, questioning their financial viability and, in some cases, even pushing for state laws to bar or restrict them. Now, in an effort to compete with similar initiatives by Google Inc., EarthLink Inc. and others, some of the companies are changing their tune.

AT&T Inc., the nation's largest telecom provider, put in a bid March 7 to build a wireless Internet service for Michigan's Washtenaw County with roughly 325,000 residents. Among cable providers, Cox Communications recently teamed up with two companies to offer wireless Internet access in some Arizona cities, and Time Warner Inc.'s Time Warner Cable has signaled interest in Texas.

Experts say the companies were forced into the shift in strategy. "It's inevitable that municipal wireless is going to become prevalent in cities large and small," said Craig Settles, author of the book "Fighting the Good Fight for Municipal Wireless." "That can't be ignored. I don't care how much you dislike it as a telco incumbent. You just can't get away from this wave."

Cities and small localities across the country have started offering their residents cheap or even free access to the Internet either because their areas aren't reached by regional telecom providers or because the available offerings in their areas are too pricey.

More than 50 municipalities around the country have already built such systems, and a similar number are at some stage in the process, including Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco and Houston, according to Esme Vos, founder of the Web site www.muniwireless.com, which tracks such projects nationally. By 2010, ABI Research forecasts a $1.2 billion market for the wireless technology used in the city systems.

Most of the municipal networks use the same wireless technology, Wi-Fi, that provides Internet "hotspots" at coffee shops and airports. Small radio transponders are deployed on public buildings, street lamps, and streetlights, creating a network that consumers can connect to with their laptops almost anywhere in a city. That network itself is connected to the Internet. The cities often charge users around $15 a month for the service, though cities such as St. Cloud, Fla., are opting for free access. That compares with cable broadband bills that typically run around $40. DSL services from the large phone companies can run as low as $15 a month for slower speeds, but speeds closer to cable are roughly $30.

Those economics are a real threat to the large telecom and cable companies, which is why they initially fought hard to stop city-based networks. But the telecom companies' recent regulatory efforts have been unsuccessful. AT&T, for example, lost a battle in the Texas state legislature last year and another last week in Indiana. Last year, of the 14 pieces of legislation the telecom companies backed in states, they scored only one victory, in Nebraska, according to James Baller, a senior principal at the Washington-based Baller Herbst Law Group, which has represented local governments on telecom issues.

The telecom providers had scored some successes in the past. Verizon Communications Inc. won passage of a law in Pennsylvania in late 2004 that would prevent cities in the state from offering paid Internet access unless regional telecom providers refused to offer such service. Philadelphia was exempted from the law. Several other states, including Missouri, Nevada, and Tennessee, have laws restricting municipalities from offering telecom services in order to prevent the government from competing with the private sector.

As they wage those regulatory battles, the large telecom and cable companies are watching competitors jump in to offer municipal-based Wi-Fi services. EarthLink inked a deal with Philadelphia on March 1 to offer service there by putting radio transponders on 4,000 of the city's street lamps. The service will be about $10 a month for low-income people, $20 a month for the general public. The company is bidding in a partnership with Google in San Francisco to offer a service that would be free at slow speeds, and would go for a moderate fee at higher speeds. EarthLink said it has plans to enter many more cities, and many analysts speculate Google has the same strategy. A number of smaller Internet providers have also entered the fray.

The move to enter the municipal market represents a shift for the major players. Many argued that cities were throwing taxpayer money down the drain with these projects because they would never make enough money to recoup the initial investment. Now some of the major telecom and cable companies are ready to lay their own money on the line.

AT&T is working with Tropos Networks, a leading provider of the technology needed for municipal wireless networks, and IBM Corp., in Washtenaw County, Michigan. The company would have to offer at least five hours of free service per month at DSL-like speeds, and unlimited free access at slower speeds, city officials say.

AT&T, which is also bidding in Michigan's Genesee County, isn't anxious to offer a cut-rate or free service that could siphon off some of its DSL broadband customers, analysts say, but would rather cannibalize its own business than watch someone else snatch it away. If municipal governments are "looking to establish a Wi-Fi network like this, we're certainly willing to work with them, wherever it's a good fit to do so," said AT&T spokesman Jason Hillery. "This isn't something we're actively recommending to customers."

For cable providers, there is an upside, analysts say. Cable companies need a quick way to enter the wireless market. They have made some progress through a joint venture with Sprint Nextel Corp. that will allow them to market some wireless services later this year, but municipal networks would open up more opportunities. For example, they could allow their cable broadband customers, for an add-on fee, to keep their Internet connection active outside their home by accessing the city wireless network.

For the cable companies, "I think it really comes down to retaining the customer, and making sure if there's going to be a wireless broadband component as part of your portfolio, you can at least charge five or ten bucks incremental per month for it," says Rick Rotondo, director of marketing for the division of Motorola Inc. that provides Wi-Fi equipment used in city networks.

Time Warner Inc. made an unsuccessful bid to build out a municipal wireless project in Dublin, Ohio, and is now talking to the city of Corpus Christi, Texas, about becoming a re-seller of wireless Internet services there, a city official said. The city already provides wireless access to public safety personnel but is considering a broader rollout to the public. AT&T has also signaled interest to Corpus Christi, the official said.

Comcast Interactive Capital, the venture capital arm of cable provider Comcast Corp., has invested in BelAir Networks, a Canadian company that provides wireless Internet technology for cities. BelAir also developed a product that would allow cable companies to hang radios on their own cable lines, rather than having to pay for access to city light posts and other infrastructure. Comcast has not announced plans to deploy wireless networks in cities.

To be sure, both the phone and cable companies say what they have opposed is having to compete with publicly owned or operated services that have access to municipal subsidies or other advantages. They say they have been more open to having local governments facilitate projects by giving out contracts to companies, which is the tack municipalities are increasingly taking.

Tempe, Ariz., a city of roughly 160,000 residents, for example, contracted with the Maryland-based Internet provider MobilePro, which in turn partnered with Cox and technology provider Strix Systems, to build a public wireless network. "What you're seeing happen here is different than what the industry and Cox has been opposed to historically," said Ivan Johnson, vice president of community relations for Cox's Arizona operations.

Large cable and phone companies are still in the early stages of experimentation with municipal networks, and are looking for ways to make it work financially, analysts say. "The jury is still out as to how viable this business will be going forward," said Miles Lee of the telecom consultancy Adventis. "It hasn't been proven yet."

(Peter Grant contributed to this article.)

ToC

More Details on Ultrawideband (UWB) Speed

by Glenn Fleishman <glenn@tidbits.com>
TidBITS#820/13-Mar-06

In last week's issue, I explained the upcoming UWB wireless technology, but I may have overstated its range. (See "Ultrawideband to Add New Wireless Options" in TidBITS-819_.)

<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=08448>

In a coincidentally timed article at ZDNet, the head of the USB Implementers Forum states that UWB products will be available in the third quarter of 2006 that conform to Wireless USB standards for conveying USB 2.0 via UWB. But he also says that UWB can hit 480 Mbps, its current high speed in the Intel- backed version, within 10 feet (3 m), not 100 (30 m) feet as I reported. He said the speed drops to 110 Mbps between 10 and 30 feet (9.1 m). (Also, the industry head quoted in this article states a specific amount of power consumption for UWB: half of Wi-Fi.)

<http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6046560.html>

I've been following UWB for years, and historically speaking, companies had agreed to produce chips that could hit 480 Mbps at 10 feet and 110 Mbps at 30 feet. But more recently, some companies have been claiming they would be able to produce higher throughputs over longer distances; hence my report last week of 480 Mbps at up to 100 feet. Those longer distances may be overly optimistic.

I expect that, as usual, the truth lies in between. 10 feet is a reasonable distance for most peripherals. Most people wouldn't put a peripheral more than 10 feet from their computer today, but Wireless USB and UWB in general will eventually allow a computer to be across the room from your monitor, keyboard, and other peripherals.

Thirty feet means you won't have to get up and cross the room to spool video to your TV or synchronize a phone. It would also let you use a handheld device to watch video streamed from a central storage device.

I'll be curious to see what distances are promised when Wireless USB ships. I queried Alereon about UWB range: they're a member of the WiMedia Alliance and will be one of the first companies shipping UWB silicon for manufacturers. They confirmed that the 10 feet for 480 Mbps and 30 feet for 110 Mbps are part of the target for their flavor of UWB, as it was for the IEEE standard.

Alereon's modeling shows that their equipment could reach 67 feet (20.5 m) at 110 Mbps and 27 feet (8.2 m) at 480 Mbps - in a perfect world. The FCC and regulatory limits on signal strength restrict the maximum range in the real world.

Alereon said that Freescale has ideas for a longer-distance 110 Mbps signal that requires a "new interpretation" of the FCC testing guidelines that confirm a UWB device is within the regulated parameter. Of course, the entire WiMedia radio approach also required a new interpretation, one that the FCC didn't disagree with ultimately.

ToC

A Force More Powerful

URL: http://www.afmpgame.com/

Can a computer game teach how to fight real-world adversaries-dictators, military occupiers and corrupt rulers, using methods that have succeeded in actual conflicts-not with laser rays or AK47s, but with non-military strategies and nonviolent weapons? Such a game, A Force More Powerful (AFMP), is now available. A unique collaboration of experts on nonviolent conflict working with veteran game designers has developed a simulation game that teaches the strategy of nonviolent conflict. A dozen scenarios, inspired by recent history, include conflicts against dictators, occupiers, colonizers and corrupt regimes, as well as struggles to secure the political and human rights of ethnic and racial minorities and women.

A Force More Powerful is the first and only game to teach the waging of conflict using nonviolent methods. Destined for use by activists and leaders of nonviolent resistance and opposition movements, the game will also educate the media and general public on the potential of nonviolent action and serve as a simulation tool for academic studies of nonviolent resistance.

Related Links

<http://www.aforcemorepowerful.org/>

<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312240503/002-9223546-3476862?v=glance&n=283155>

<http://www.theworld.org/>

ToC

The PC Section:

WinInfo Short Takes

Paul Thurrott
URL: http://www.wininformant.com/

Microsoft: Pirates Can't Get Vista Aero UI

CNET reports this week that Microsoft will prevent pirated copies of Vista from displaying some of that OS's most impressive graphical effects, including the translucent Windows Aero UI, the Flip 3D application switcher, and live icons. "Those who are not running Genuine Windows will not be able to take advantage of the Windows Aero user experience," a Microsoft representative said. Microsoft has been using Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) to prevent users with pirated copies of Windows from downloading certain Windows XP updates for the past few years, and it seems like this change is designed to put WGA right in the heart of the OS. Hey, what the heck. Consumers absolutely love Windows Product Activation (WPA). WGA is just like the icing on the cake, right?

Microsoft Quietly Updates Windows Defender

Fans of the Microsoft Windows Defender antispyware solution will want to download the latest version, which the company posted this week. It's unclear what's changed, but you'll see an x64-specific version as well, which I believe is new.

<http://tinyurl.com/d9klo>

Microsoft Offers Free Visual Basic 2005 eBook

And finally, if you've been wondering how you could possibly receive more wedgies around the schoolyard, I have a suggestion: learn Visual Basic. Microsoft is now offering a free eBook called "Introducing Visual Basic 2005 for Developers," in eight chapters, all published lovingly in industry-standard Adobe Acrobat PDF format (and not, ahem, Microsoft's XPS format). You can download the eBook from the Microsoft Web site.

<http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbrun/staythepath/additionalresources/introto2005/>

Microsoft Is the Strongest Brand in the World

According to research firm Millward Brown, the company with the strongest brand in the world is--ta da!--Microsoft. Microsoft? Yep, that's what the data says. Microsoft is followed by General Electric (GE), Coca-Cola, and China Mobile. China Mobile? OK, this whole thing confuses me. GE has a strong brand? People actually like Microsoft? Who the heck is Millward Brown??

Dell Ups Notebook Warranties

Responding to complaints that its customer service is lousy--mostly because the Indian guy on the phone is claiming to be from Iowa and can barely speak English--this week Dell announced that it would increase the warranty on its Inspiron notebook line from 90 days to a full year. That gives you another nine months to call a sun-starved Indian gentleman and converse uncomfortably about the fact that your computer no longer works. Which reminds me of a restaurant giving you a coupon for a future free meal after you've had a lousy experience. I'm actually a big fan of Dell, and although I salute the longer warranty, the company isn't really getting to the heart of the
problem.

Microsoft Testing Desktop Version of Windows Live Mail

Microsoft this week alerted me that it had begun a very limited beta test of its
upcoming Windows client version of the Windows Live Mail service. Awkwardly dubbed Windows Live Mail Desktop Beta, or WLMDB, the upcoming application will provide a way for Windows Live Mail users to compose and read email offline, using an Outlook Express-based client that mimics the look and feel of the Web client. According to a Microsoft representative, WLMDB will provide "a free, ad-funded client mail to WLM customers and offer additive features to Windows Live Mail, made possible by bringing together client software with services including features like offline mail, Windows Live Mail account aggregation, additional account aggregation for POP and IMAP mail accounts, RSS feed aggregation, more advanced photo-sharing capabilities, more advanced search via integration with Desktop Search, additional safety (AV scanning, anti-phishing, anti- spam protection across aggregated accounts for customers who do not have an AV product), and additional integration with Windows Live services including Spaces." I'm looking forward to checking out WLMDB soon.

Microsoft Will License Hardware Tech

For the first time, Microsoft will begin licensing its innovative hardware technologies to third parties, opening up such things as its U2 Internet detection and switching technologies, tilt wheel, and magnifier tool to other mouse and keyboard makers. That's a pretty neat development, actually, and these nifty little technologies are one of many areas in which Microsoft doesn't receive due credit. The U2 Internet detection and switching technologies allow peripherals connected to a computer to automatically determine whether they're using a USB or PS/2 connection, while the tilt wheel is a doodad Microsoft added to its mice to allow for multiple direction scrolling. The magnifier tool allows mice to zoom into and out of images onscreen. Several manufacturers have already signed up to add the features to their own products.

ToC

Finally, Windows 98/Me Move Towards Retirement

Paul Thurrott
URL: http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/49964/49964.html

Microsoft has begun alerting its customers that it will retire three of its legacy Windows versions--Windows Me, Windows 98 Second Edition (Win98SE), and Windows 98--on July 11, 2006. In other words, these products will exit Microsoft's extended support phase and the company will stop providing any support.

"Microsoft is ending support for these products because they're outdated, and these older operating systems can expose customers to security risks," a note on Microsoft's Web site reads. "We recommend that customers who are still running Windows 98 or Windows Me upgrade to a newer, more secure Microsoft operating system, such as Windows XP, as soon as possible."

Windows Me, Win98SE, and Win98 represent the end of the line for Microsoft's MS-DOS-based Windows versions. Current versions of Windows, such as XP and the upcoming Windows Vista, are based on a different code base that began with Windows NT. NT and its successors aren't based on MS-DOS, an OS with roots dating back to CP/M in the late 1970s.

For Windows Me, Win98SE, and Win98 customers, the time has definitely come to upgrade. Microsoft will not only stop providing paid incident support but will also stop providing any downloadable critical security patches. A year after July 11, 2006, the company will stop providing self-help support online. For more information, please refer to Microsoft's support notification.

For more information, please refer to Microsoft's support notification.

ToC

Windows Desktop Search 2.6.5 (KB911993)

News Source: ActiveWin.com
Posted By: Jonathan Tigner
URL: http://www.activewin.com/awin/default.asp

Windows Desktop Search (WDS) helps you find virtually anything on your PC or your networked drives including e-mail messages, calendar appointments, documents, and more. Searching your computer is now as fast and easy as searching the Web. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

WDS 2.6.5 releases on April 13, 2006. WDS 2.6.5 extends the value of desktop search by providing improvements in stability and in performance. WDS 2.6.5 addresses delays in system shutdowns and provides three new Group Policy settings for the administrator to use.

ToC

Internet Explorer 7 is 'Layout Complete'

Posted by xper on 14 Apr 2006
URL: http://www.msfn.org/

Microsoft's next-generation browser, Internet Explorer 7 (IE7), is rounding the corner and getting the "spit and polish" it needs as it heads into the stretch run of its final release. According to one Microsoft developer, IE 7 is now actually considered to be "layout complete."

In an online chat hosted by Microsoft's IE development team today, users of the IE7 Beta lobbed a long list of questions on a variety of topics at Microsoft developers. Chat participants asked about minor bug issues and feature requests, and they even had a few usability gripes.

In general, though, the tone was very cordial and in contrast to the way users behaved in Microsoft's online chats in previous years before the IE7 Beta was available. IE 7 Beta 2 has been publicly available since January, while the first Beta was released last summer. One of the things that the online chat revealed was just how complete work on IE7 actually is. "IE 7 is now Layout complete," said Peter Gurevich, IE program manager. "We are continuing to work on any rendering issues that we come across."

ToC

Firefox update kills security bugs, adds Mac support

Posted by xper on 14 Apr 2006
URL: http://www.msfn.org/

Mozilla on Thursday in the United States released an update to its Firefox Web browser that fixes several security flaws and, as expected, adds support for Macs with Intel processors. The most serious bugs in Firefox could allow an outsider to commandeer a vulnerable computer, according to the Burning Edge, a Web site that tracks development of the open-source browser.

The vulnerabilities are fixed in version 1.5.0.2, which was released on Thursday. It will be pushed out to users of Firefox 1.5 over the next two days, Mozilla, the company that oversees Firefox development, said on its Web site.

"We're identifying this as a critical release, and we're strongly recommending that everyone update as soon as possible," Mike Schroepfer, vice president of engineering at Mozilla, said in a statement.

ToC

Loads of Firefox Tweaks, Extensions and Optimizations

Posted by: Digital Dave on April 13, 2006 8:52 AM
URL: http://www.winoscentral.com/

Pretty solid stuff for the Firefox fans.

The first hack that I have here is the popular Firefox Minimize Hack that has recently flashed through the internet. The purpose of this hack tries to keep Firefox from eating up your physical RAM and instead puts the burden on your hard drive, or at least that is the general reason behind it. To implement this hack, perform the following steps.

<http://gomeler.com/2006/04/10/firefox-tweaks-extensions-and-optimizations/>

ToC

Intel and the USB-IF comment on their vision of unwired USB

Posted by Daniel Fleshbourne on 14 April 2006
URL: http://www.neowin.net/

Backed by IT industry giants that include Intel, and surrounded by several competitor solutions, all of whom harbor ambitions to become an industry standard, Certified Wireless USB will make its market debut later this year. First products are expected to be launched in the third quarter, and analysts are very optimistic about the technology - or at least the basic concept of a wireless USB. Citigroup, for example, predicts that 17 million Wireless USB devices will be sold this year, to be followed by 62.6 million in 2007 and 142.8 million in 2008. Nevertheless, there is a distinction to be made between Wireless USB and Certified Wireless USB, even though both started out on the road to broad acceptance with the support of Intel.

Certified Wireless USB has, as one of its ambitious rivals, Freescale Semiconductor´s Cable-Free USB. Freescale´s solution is an extension to wired USB, and the company tends to dismiss Certified Wireless USB as a completely new protocol and not USB at all.

DigiTimes.com recently had an opportunity to talk to Jeff Ravencraft, a technology strategist for Intel who also happens to be chairman and president of the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF). Ravencraft discussed what Certified Wireless USB is, its relationship to wired USB and the outlook for the future of the technology.

ToC

Free municipal Wi-Fi

Commentary: Enjoy it while you can

By John C. Dvorak
URL: http://tinyurl.com/zhczr

BERKELEY, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Free universal access to wireless Internet networks in both large and small municipalities is in the news again, with the latest target being the home base of MarketWatch, San Francisco.

I personally think this idea is great, but I also know there is no way that any cash-strapped city -- a category that appears to comprise all of them -- will not succumb to the financial benefit of pulling the plug on this free service, if it's ever implemented in the first place.

So if you get free municipal Wi-Fi, use it and enjoy it while you can.

Municipal Wi-Fi will go the way of free parking. There is no free parking.

It's simple economics, and there is no such thing as a free lunch (cliché alert). Even restaurants, coffee shops and airports that have free Wi-Fi do it only as an inducement to keep people in their facilities. And often those initiatives are undone by a slick salesperson who can show the business how to "monetize" their Wi-Fi.

In situations such as the various JetBlue terminals around the country where fliers can log on for free, the airports themselves, under pressure from the pay-as-you-go services, are telling the carrier to stop it.

If I were to hazard a guess as to the future of free Wi-Fi anywhere in the U.S., it would end up pretty much where it started -- at small coffee houses scattered here and there.

Municipal Wi-Fi will go the way of free parking. There is no free parking.

Long ago the notion existed that parking meters were there to meter the parking to keep things flowing. You put a penny in and came back before the meter ran out. Some bean counter then figured that these meters could be a source of revenue, and parking meters suddenly required lots of quarters to operate. This nickel-and-dime-you-to-death mentality dominates all modern American cities.

So how is free Wi-Fi going to work when it will be seen as nothing more than a lost revenue stream? Vendor after vendor will lobby city governments to take over the system and do a revenue split: "Look, it's easier if we do it. You
have to do no work, and we'll give you half the profit."

Compare that to raising dog-license fees.

The pressure not only comes from the bean counters within the government and the commercial Wi-Fi vendors but from both the phone companies and the cable-TV folks. They both sell an Internet connection service. Oh, and then there are the small ISPs that are already suffering from all the competition.

These are powerful forces. It amounts to a five-pronged attack on the idea, with exactly who on the other side? Hippies?

And I can't imagine how much money will be thrown into a public-relations campaign against free Wi-Fi ("It causes cancer!") when someone figures out that it could easily result in universal free phone service using various voice-
over-IP subsystems. Mum's the word on that. Shhhhh!

Don't get me wrong: I have personally defended and continuously promoted free universal wireless access, whether it be a meshing network of Wi-Fi systems or even the newer and somewhat experimental long-range wireless technology dubbed WiMax.

I believe that universal access cannot help but benefit the economy and the country. I'd particularly like to see rural projects that accomplish this, too. But there are few municipal officials who understand any of this technology, and none can withstand any orchestrated attack on the idea. It's politically risky when their support would have to come from a public that is so easily manipulated by corporate public-relations propaganda.

You can watch all this unfold for yourself, but I can guarantee you that free and universal municipal Wi-Fi, if and where it appears, will be a short-term phenomenon.

Enjoy it while you can. End of Story

ToC

Democrats favor the "iTunes tax"

Posted by James Wimmer on 13 April 2006
URL: http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=32816

Democratic politicians in state capitols are more likely than Republicans to permit a tax on digital purchases of songs and movies.

Although most states have overlooked taxing digital downloads, such as iTunes purchases, politicians and tax collectors are eyeing the area as an untapped source of new revenue as online purchases boom.

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, proposed in his budget that "downloaded music and videos" should be taxed starting October 1. The state tax agency expects legislation to be introduced in June.

Pete Sepp, Vice President for Communications at the National Taxpayers Union, a nonpartisan group that advocates lower taxes, argues that digital downloads are already being taxed when users pay telecommunications taxes for using dial-up, DSL, or a cable modem to access the Internet. "Obviously we need to start considering limits on this sort of taxation," Sepp said.


--

[Editor's Note: Upon closer examination of this story, I found that it is a crude edit of a more detailed and less inflammatory article entitled "Democrats more likely to favor iTunes taxes" by Declan McCullagh, a staff writer for CNET's News.com, published: April 13, 2006, 4:00 AM PDT at <http://news.com.com/Democrats+more+likely+to+ favor+iTunes+taxes/2100-1028_3-6060749.html>. The "more likely" is based on the findings that "a CNET News.com analysis of the states that tax digital downloads, such as those from the iTunes Music Store, shows that nine protax states have legislatures controlled by Democrats. By contrast, five of the protax states have Republican-controlled legislatures." Damning indeed. Huh?

Now, I have a pretty lenient hand when it comes to the Editor's job I do for the club, so I don't hesitate to include this submission from one of our most stalwart members. However, I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't include a few caveats about the content of this story as it stands and, by inference, to its source story. First, the underlying insinuation of "tax and spend Democrats" is typical of the "borrow and spend" right-wing that suffuses the attributions in this piece. Readers should be aware that the National Taxpayers Union is far from "a non-partisan" organization. Right-wing foundations that help fund NTUF include the Scaife, John M. Olin and JM Foundations. The first two are two of the well known "Four Sisters." Grover Norquist, the now famous Tom DeLay ally in the K Street Project, was NTU's Executive Director before moving to Americans for Tax Reform. So, be advised.

The Four Sisters -
      The Republican Noise Machine by David Brock
      http://www.hnn.us/articles/1244.html
      http://www.vpc.org/fact_sht/lottlink.htm

National Taxpayers Union -
      http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=10235

K Street Project -
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Street_Project

As the topics we are interested in - computers and the Internet - get sucked into the political maelstrom, as they have over the past few years, one has to be very careful to walk the line of objectivity. I hope I do that. If not, it is not from a wont of trying.]

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[Editor's Note: My thanks to Kevin Hisel (contact) for the contributions to this section of the newsletter.]

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The Linux Section:

OpenBSD (And OpenSSH) In Financial Trouble

The OpenBSD group (which manages many projects, including the ubiquitous OpenSSH application) is experiencing a fairly severe financial shortfall ($40,000 over the last two years). For more information, please see the following links:

ToC

I Am The City Manager Of Tuttle, Oklahoma!

When a web server for the town of Tuttle, Oklahoma was reloaded with a new OS, the city manager was sure that it had been infiltrated by hacker/terrorists. His "troubleshooting" path after discovering this error includes the CentOS foundation and threats of FBI intervention.

When it comes to computers, I've worked with some pretty dense users both personally and professionally. However, none of them can hold a candle to this guy. This is easily one of the funniest things that I've read in quite a while, especially if you have a job in IT.

ToC

EiffelStudio Released Under The GPL

EiffelStudio, an IDE for the Eiffel programming language and the flagship product of the Eiffel Software organization, has been released under the GPL. Eiffel's best-known strength is it's use of design-by-contract (DBC), where the programmer strictly defines what a function can accept and return using metadata. The re-licensing of EiffelStudio is a boon for DBC and for open-source developers.

Here are some links:

ToC

[Editor's Note: My thanks to Tom Purl (tom@tompurl.com) for the contributions to this section of the newsletter.]

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The Macintosh Section:

Apple Turns Thirty

Listen in as Apple Turns 30

by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>
<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-824.html>

On April 1st, 1976 - 30 years ago this last Saturday - Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer, and the intervening years have seen its fortunes rise, fall, and rise again. But no matter what its stock price or market share, Apple has never been boring. More important, despite the fact that the company never attained the size or raw power of Microsoft, Apple's influence on the computer industry and on popular culture has been immense. To commemorate this anniversary, we encourage you to sit back, tune in, and listen both to some of Apple's earliest employees and to a number of writers who have been covering Apple since the earliest days. In SFGate.com's Chronicle Podcasts, reporters Matthew Yi and Ben Pimentel interview Steve Wozniak, Andy Hertzfeld, John Sculley, Steve Capps, Guy Kawasaki, and Mike Boich. And then in a pair of MacNotables podcasts focused on the past, present, and future of Apple, host Chuck Joiner talks with Chris Breen, Bryan Chaffin, Jim Dalrymple, Dan Frakes, Andy Ihnatko, Ted Landau, Bob LeVitus, Dennis Sellers, and Jason Snell, along with Tonya and me. As difficult as it is to look far into the future, here's hoping we see another 30 years of innovation from Apple Computer! [ACE]

<http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/category?blogid=5&cat=508s>
<http://www.macnotables.com/archives/2006/632.html>
<http://www.macnotables.com/archives/2006/633.html>

Macworld on Apple's 30th Anniversary

by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>
URL: TidBITS#825/03-Apr-06

Our friends at Macworld have been busy with features celebrating Apple's 30th anniversary, and two of our favorites were their look at Apple's 30 most significant products and a hilarious timeline of important events in Apple's history by John Moltz of Crazy Apple Rumors. If you've started paying attention to Apple only recently, these two articles will give you a grounding in some of Apple's more distant past, and for those of who have been around for many of these years, reading the articles is a nice trip down memory lane. [ACE]

<http://www.macworld.com/2006/04/features/30applelist/>
<http://www.macworld.com/2006/04/features/carstimeline/>

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Apple Releases Mac OS X 10.4.6 Update

TidBITS#824/03-Apr-06

Just as we were finalizing this issue, Apple released Mac OS X 10.4.6 Update, which appears to be a massive, miscellaneous bug-fix update. Numerous bugs and inconveniences that we've experienced are said to be eliminated, including a Mail crash, the mysterious "we are using special permissions" reports when repairing permissions with Disk Utility, the misbehavior of the Calculator percentage button, the Help Viewer blank window, problems saving Microsoft Word 2004 documents across a network, and many others. The update also includes iSync 2.2, which provides synchronization support for additional mobile phone handsets; however, iSync users should perform a full synchronization of all devices before installing Mac OS X 10.4.6.

<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303411>
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303419>

As usual, you can use Software Update or download the update installer and run it manually; and in the latter case, you can download a delta updater (updates 10.4.5 to 10.4.6) or a combo updater (updates any Tiger installation). The updates are massive, with versions available via Software Update clocking in at near 46 MB, and standalone and Combo installers ranging from 65 to 191 MB. Apple also warns that (for reasons not revealed, but likely revolving around the login-related fixes) PowerPC-based Macs will automatically restart twice after the installation. The 10.4.6 update is available for both client and server versions of Mac OS X. [ACE]

<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/>

ToC

Security Update 2006-002 and 002 v1.1

Security Update 2006-002 Fixes the Fixes

TidBITS#820/13-Mar-06

Apple today released Security Update 2006-002 that, along with closing a few new holes, addresses issues created by Security Update 2006-001 (which is included as well, just to ensure that everyone has it). New improvements include a fix for a buffer overflow exploit that could affect a user who double-clicked an attachment within Mail and an update to CoreTypes that closes a JavaScript-related hole. Also included in the security update are additional checks to prevent Safari from automatically opening a file that appears to be safe but isn't, the elimination of bogus warnings about Word documents and files with custom icons as being unsafe, a correction in apache_mod_php that prevented SquirrelMail from functioning, and a fix to rsync that re-enables the "--delete" command line option. Security Update 2006-002 is available via Software Update and as standalone downloads for Mac OS X 10.4.5 Client and Server (PowerPC), Mac OS X 10.4.5 Client (Intel), Mac OS X 10.3.9 (Client and Server) in sizes ranging from 13 MB to 39 MB. [ACE]

<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303453>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/securityupdate2006002macosx1045ppc.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/securityupdate2006002macosx1045clientintel.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/securityupdate20060021039client.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/securityupdate20060021039server.html>

Security Update 2006-002 v1.1 Fixes Safari Glitch

TidBITS#821/20-Mar-06

Apparently, some people who moved Safari out of their Applications folders ran into a problem after updating to the recent Security Update 2006-002 where Safari would have a blank icon and not launch. If you were bitten by this glitch, Apple has released Security Update 2006-002 v1.1, available for PowerPC Macs (13.9 MB) and Intel Macs (15.4 MB). So far, the update appears only as a downloadable file, not via Software Update. [JLC]

<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=08451>
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303472>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/securityupdate2006002v11macosx1045ppc.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/securityupdate2006002v11macosx1045clientintel.html>

ToC

Universal Final Cut Studio Now Shipping

TidBITS#824/03-Apr-06

When Apple introduced the Intel-based Macs in January, I was frankly surprised to hear that the Final Cut Studio suite would be available in universal binary form as early as March. After all, Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, Soundtrack Pro, and Motion are all heavy-duty professional applications that rely on processor performance (multiple Oscar winner Walter Murch edited Cold Mountain and Jarhead using Final Cut Pro, for example), and late last year Apple was pushing the idea that consumer hardware would be the first to include the Intel processors. True to their word, Apple is now shipping a universal binary version of Final Cut Studio, which is available as a $50 crossgrade. This is good news for owners of MacBook Pros who use Final Cut, since the existing studio applications wouldn't run on Intel machines at all.

<http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/>
<http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004555/>
<http://www.apple.com/universal/crossgrade/>

Final Cut Studio 5.1 also contains some important bug fixes and changes (for example, some Final Cut Pro problems with the Media Manager are resolved, and you cannot open version 5.1 projects in earlier versions of the program), but the universal version appears to be the only upgrade; owners of PowerPC-based Macs don't have a downloadable upgrade option. Perhaps Apple will explain more at this month's big National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference, but for now the fixes are available only to those who pay the $50 crossgrade price. [JLC]

<http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/Final_Cut_Pro_5.0_lbn_z.pdf>
<http://www.nabshow.com/>

ToC

Windows on Mac: What you need to know

Jason Snell and Rob Griffiths
Fri Apr 14, 8:25 AM ET
URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/macworld/20060414/tc_macworld/winmacfaq20060414_0

Most of us feel pretty comfortable when it comes to our Macs. Over the past few years we've learned the ins and outs of Mac OS X. But the release of Boot Camp has knocked many Mac users out of their comfort zone. What does it all mean? Can you really run Windows on a Mac? What's required to do so, and what are the potential pitfalls if you try?

Relax a little bit. Macworld has put together a comprehensive list of questions and answers about Boot Camp, installing and running Windows on Mac hardware, and more. And if you've got any lingering questions, feel free to stop by the discussion thread linked at the bottom of every page of this story.


How does Boot Camp work?

Boot Camp is software that helps users of Intel-based Macs install and use Windows XP on those systems. The Boot Camp Assistant helps you change the set-up of your hard drive so that it has two partitions - your existing Mac volume and a new Windows-compatible volume. The Assistant also burns a CD-ROM that contains drivers - files that Windows needs so that it can operate your Mac's hardware efficiently.

Once the Boot Camp Assistant does its job, your Mac reboots and - thanks to a recent firmware update - you can insert your Windows XP installation CD and it will be recognized as a bootable volume. When the lengthy Windows installation process concludes, you insert the CD-ROM that the Boot Camp Assistant burned, which installs the appropriate Windows drivers, as well as a Windows utility (much like the Startup Disk preference pane) that lets you choose your startup volume.

Wait - I thought all I had to do was install Boot Camp and then I'd be running Windows.

No, you need to have your own full version of Windows XP Service Pack 2. (And yes, we specifically mean SP2 - when we tried installing SP1 during one of our tests, it didn't work at all.) You can't just copy the version of Windows that came with any old PC, because it can't be installed on any system other than the one it came with. You can't buy an "upgrade" copy, because you're not upgrading from a previous version of Windows. A full version of Windows XP SP2. It'll cost you $150 to $200.

OK, I understand that Boot Camp requires a version of XP that includes Service Pack 2, but I only have an original XP disc. Is there a way to create a SP2 disc with what I have?

Yes. You can use a process called slipstreaming. This tutorial explains exactly what you need to do. Note that you'll need to have access to a PC for this process.

<http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp>

Does Boot Camp provide all the drivers I need?

Boot Camp provides the basic drivers for audio, video, Bluetooth, AirPort, Ethernet, and keyboard and mouse. If you have peripherals that require their own drivers in XP, you'll have to download and install those yourself.

How is Boot Camp different from the software hack that lets me install Windows XP?

You're referring to the two enterprising hackers who got Windows to install on Intel-based Macs a few weeks before Boot Camp's released. However, installing that hack took quite a bit more effort than Boot Camp. You had to choose which operating system you wanted to use every time you rebooted. The hack didn't include any Windows drivers for Mac hardware, so Macs that used the hack to install Windows XP generally didn't work very well. And you need to have a Windows PC in order to create a modified Windows installation disc. Boot Camp is better than that hack on all counts.

So I don't have to choose which operating system to use each time I boot. But how do I set which OS I'm booting into?

There are several different ways. From Mac OS X, you can use the Startup Disk preference pane, which now displays Windows disks alongside Mac OS X volumes. From Windows, you can use the Startup Disk Control Panel that Boot Camp installs. Or if you prefer, at boot time, you can just hold down the Option key to get a drive-picking utility that will let you select which volume you want to start up from.

On dual-boot OS 9/OS X systems, I could hold down the X key on restart to boot into OS X. Will that work with the Windows-OS X dual-boot systems?

No. At least not on any of the test systems we tried it on.

Can you use an external hard drive for Boot Camp and Windows?

Apple says it's not supported with Boot Camp. Boot Camp is designed to partition your internal boot disk. However, we've heard reports that if you format an external drive in a PC-compatible format and reboot into the Windows installation CD, that you can install Windows on an external drive and boot from it. But we haven't confirmed it ourselves.

How much hard drive space does it really take up to partition off, install Windows, and install one app?

You could install Windows XP and an app or two in a 5GB partition, with some room to spare. But 10GB would be a more realistic figure, assuming you have some other drive where you'll store all your XP applications.

Once Boot Camp has been installed, can I adjust the partition "divider" to allow more/less HD space on either OS?

No. Once you've set the partition size, you're stuck with it until you remove it entirely.

How difficult is it to "undo" and "un-partition" if I don't like how Boot Camp works and want to go back to what I had before?

It's very simple; just boot into OS X, re-run Boot Camp, and click the "Restore the startup disk to a single volume" button. The XP partition will be destroyed, and your hard drive will be returned to its original one-partition configuration.

What happens if something goes wrong when I install Windows (getting stuck at partitioning, for example)?

You may very well have to reformat your hard drive and start over with a fresh OS X install. As Apple notes, Boot Camp is a beta, and its use on a production machine is not recommended. If you're going to try this, make sure you have a current backup before you do anything!

Will Boot Camp allow me to install Linux on my Intel Mac and have the option to chose between three operating systems?

To some degree, yes - though the process isn't simple. It's described here if you're feeling adventurous.

<http://wiki.onmac.net/index.php/Triple_Boot_via_BootCamp>

Will the Media Center Edition of Windows run on a Boot Camped-Mac?

Yes, though you'll have to use Nero on a PC to combine the two CDs into one bootable DVD for the Boot Camp installer to work with.

One last time: what are the system requirements to run Boot Camp?

You've got to have an Intel-based Mac with Mac OS X 10.4.6 and the latest Firmware Update for your particular machine installed. And, like we stressed earlier, you need to have a full installation copy of Windows XP with Service Pack 2.


Using Windows


Will any Windows program run on a Mac if it's using Windows XP?

In our testing to date, pretty much everything has run. Remember that a Mac running XP is actually just like any PC running XP. So assuming your hardware matches the requirements, that program should run. We've tested Office 2003, Photoshop, and Dragon Naturally Speaking, and all three appear to work just fine.

What limitations are there to a Mac running Windows XP?

Windows XP can't use the built-in iSight camera on the MacBook Pro and iMac, nor can it use the MacBook Pro's keyboard backlighting. There's no support for the Apple USB Modem. And there's no support for the Apple Remote. And not all keys are supported on Apple Bluetooth keyboards.

How does Windows perform on a Mac?

According to PC World's WorldBench 5 testing tool, about as well as on comparable PCs. Keep in mind that the processing technology used in the first round of Intel-based Macs is essentially a laptop technology; Apple used it not only for its MacBook Pro laptop, but for its two ultra-compact desktop systems, the iMac and Mac mini. As a result, all of those systems perform in comparable fashion to PC laptops with similar specs.

What we haven't seen yet from Apple is a high-performance desktop Mac with an Intel chip inside. And until we do, we won't really know how a desktop Mac running Windows would compare to a PC counterpart.

Well, I'm sold. What kind of software am I going to need for my Windows-on-Mac experience - utilities and the like?

You'll definitely want an anti-virus solution of some sort; there are many out there to pick from, and given that we're Mac users here, we're not sure which one might be best. But here are some free ones to start with:

We've also worked with our sister publication PC World to come up with this list of the best PC antivirus programs.

<http://www.macworld.com/2006/04/firstlooks/pcantivirus/index.php?lsrc=ynews>

You may need some other utilities as well, depending on your particular situation. If you're using a MacBook Pro, or future Intel laptop, for instance, you'll find you can't right click, which is a key action in Windows. You'll need the free Apple Mouse Utility to fix that problem.

<http://www.geocities.com/pronto4u/applemouse.html>

If you're using an Apple Bluetooth keyboard, you may find the Eject and Volume keys don't work. We're not yet aware of an easy fix for either of these. For the Eject key, however, you can install the freeware program CD Tray Pal. This app puts a CD icon in your task bar, so you can eject discs without opening a Computer window and right-clicking on the disc's icon.

<http://www.e-systems.ro/cdtraypal.htm>

Back up a second - viruses? Am I at risk to those if I run Windows XP on the Mac?

Absolutely. When you're running Windows, your Mac is no different from any other PC running Windows. You should probably protect yourself by installing Windows antivirus software; you can find a summary of Windows-compatible virus fighters here.

<http://www.macworld.com/2006/04/firstlooks/pcantivirus/index.php?lsrc=ynews>

That doesn't mean my Mac OS is vulnerable to viruses, does it?

That's a complicated question. By default, Windows XP can't see Mac hard-drive volumes. So if your Windows installation was infected by a virus that tried to delete files on your hard drives, it wouldn't even see your Mac files and they'd be safe. But if you install a program like Mediafour's MacDrive, which gives Windows XP the ability to see Mac volumes, your files could be vulnerable to a virus that deletes files.

When you're running Mac OS X, even on an Intel-based Mac, you're not susceptible to Windows-based viruses.

How do I move files back and forth between the Windows and Mac OS X environments?

You've got a few different options. If you format your Windows volume as FAT32 (limitation: files can't be any bigger than 4GB, and the partition must be less than 32GB), Mac OS X will be able to see the drive and even write files to it. If you format the volume with the NTFS format, your Mac will be able to see the drive, but won't be able to write files to it.

Windows, by default, can't see Mac volumes at all. You'll need to install a utility such as Mediafour's MacDrive to give it that power.

<http://mediafour.com/products/macdrive6/>

Will my iTunes Music Store songs play under Windows XP just like they do when I'm running OS X?

Yes they will. However, you'll need to authorize your Windows XP installation to play back store files - meaning your Mac will now count as two authorized iTunes computers. (You can only authorize five computers at a time per iTunes account.)

I've already used my Windows and Office registration numbers on my PC. Can I use those same numbers on my Mac?

If the license agreement for the software restricts it to one machine only, then no. Some programs allow for multiple installs, but you'll have to check the license agreement. Windows and Office are one-machine licenses, so you'll have to purchase additional copies.

Since we're going to have to wait some time for Adobe's products to run natively on Intel-based Macs, could I get better performance if I buy the Windows versions now and run them on a Mac using XP?

Those programs will run at the full speed of the native Windows versions. So you may well see better performance running them natively under Windows than using OS X's Rosetta emulation technology. However, if you hope to run those applications natively in the Mac OS, you may want to hold off as it's highly unlikely Adobe is going to provide a free-crossgrade from the Windows versions of its tool to the Universal Binary version that runs under Mac OS X.

How do I invoke the Windows key combinations such as right-click and Control-Alt-Delete?

For right-clicking, we've already mentioned the Apple Mouse Utility. The keyboard combination Command-Shift-F10 will also bring up the same menu as the traditional right click on a mouse. And there's also this keyboard remapper optimized for the MacBook Pro.

<http://www.olofsson.info/>

Control-Alt-Delete is really only an issue for the MacBook Pro, as it lacks a true Delete Key. OnMac recommends this fix: Go to Start -> Run and enter remapkey for a utility to let you remap keys on your keyboard. OnMac suggests using the Right Command key on MacBook Pro keyboards - save and reboot, and you'll be able to use Control-Alt-Right Command to act as your Control-Alt-Delete.

<http://wiki.onmac.net/index.php/Users/Drivers>


Emulation and Virtualization


Now that Boot Camp's here, does this mean I won't need to run Virtual PC anymore?

Well, it's not as if Intel-based Mac owners can run Virtual PC now - the emulation software isn't compatible with the Intel-powered Mac mini, iMac, and MacBook Pro. But more to the point, Boot Camp is different from Virtual PC. Whereas the latter program allows you to run Windows at the same time your Mac is using OS X, Boot Camp offers a "one or the other"-type scenario: once you've rebooted into Windows, all traces of Mac OS X disappear. You can't switch back and forth between Windows applications and Mac programs without rebooting.

While Virtual PC may not run on an Intel-based Mac, there are plenty of similar programs that do. They include Parallels Workstation, Q, and WinTel. However, they're all under various stages of development and have some serious quirks about them. The good news is, these programs tend to run Windows much faster than Virtual PC did, because they don't need to emulate the Intel processor used by Windows!

<http://www.parallels.com/>
<http://www.kberg.ch/q/>
<http://openosx.com/wintel/index.html>

Which is easier to use - Boot Camp or Parallels Workstation?

Boot Camp is somewhat easier to configure, though it requires more changes to your machine - partitioning the hard drive and updating the firmware. Parallels is simply an application, so you can run it whenever you like. You do have to do a bit of work to set up the app before you install Windows, however.

Parallels is slower than Boot Camp, as you're running Windows within OS X. However, it's not nearly as slow as Virtual PC used to be, and it's quite usable. The product is still a beta, however, so there are some issues - USB devices don't presently work, nor can you play DVDs. Boot Camp has no such issues - if something works in Windows XP, it will work on your Mac running XP.

It's hard to say which is easier, as they're really different products. If you have a need for Windows software alongside your OS X software, Parallels is the best solution. But if you want full driver support, and full Windows speed, Boot Camp is the way to go.


The Future


Now that Windows XP can run on a Mac, how long before we see Dell and HP PCs booting up into Mac OS X?

Our rough estimate would be "never." Apple has said repeatedly that Mac OS X will only run on Apple hardware, and we don't expect that to change. Apple makes a lot of money from Mac hardware, and with the Boot Camp announcement, Apple's hardware is now unique in that it runs both Mac OS X and Windows. One of the reasons Apple's products are so good is because the company controls both the hardware and the software; allowing Mac OS X to run on a generic Dell PC wouldn't only gut Apple's hardware business, but it would potentially reduce the quality of the Mac OS X user experience.

Will developers stop making Mac software?

It's unlikely. Fundamentally, Mac users are Mac users because they want to use the Mac OS. And developers realize that if Mac users wanted to run Windows apps, they wouldn't be Mac users. It's possible that some developers who simply don't get the Mac might try to steer their users toward Windows, but chances are good that most of those developers abandoned the Mac long ago, in the dark days of the late '90s or during the OS X transition.

If there's any single area where we might see a serious change in the amount of Mac software being released, it's for games that appeal to hard-core gamers. Since many games operate with their own interface taking up the entire screen, there's very little difference between running those games when booted into Mac OS X or booted into Windows XP. Hard-core Mac gamers will likely invest in a copy of Windows just so they can run the latest and greatest PC games, and therefore those games might not ever make it to Mac OS X proper. However, games played by more casual Mac gamers - those who might not buy a $200 copy of Windows just to play a puzzle or arcade-style game - will likely continue to be developed for the Mac market.

Will Boot Camp be part of OS X in the future?

Yes, Apple has confirmed that Boot Camp will be part of Leopard, the next major upgrade to Mac OS X. Also known as Mac OS X 10.5, this future OS X version will be previewed at Apple's annual Worldwide Developer Conference in August.

Does that mean Microsoft will stop making Virtual PC?

Microsoft says that they are "continuing to work with Apple on a possible next version of Virtual PC." What this means is anyone's guess, so here's ours: We figure that either Microsoft will release a new version of Virtual PC to run on Intel-based Macs, or Apple will integrate its features into Leopard. One of those two outcomes will almost certainly happen. In the meantime, companies like Parallels and VMware will try to stake out some ground in the Windows-on-Intel-Macs world.

What about Windows Vista? Will it be able to run on a Mac when it comes out?

Enterprising users have gotten Vista running on Mac hardware already. And we would assume that when Vista is officially released, Boot Camp will be updated to allow the latest version of Windows to run it on Mac hardware.

JASON SNELL is Macworld's Editorial Director. ROB GRIFFITHS is a Macworld senior editor and the founder of Mac OS X Hints. Jim Dalrymple, Christopher Breen, and Philip Michaels contributed to this report.

<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/partner/macc/SIG=11acd432d/**http%3A%2F%2Fwww.macworld.com%2Fnews%2F>

[Editor's Note: This topic is also covered extensively in the April 6th is of TidBITS (a source I use quite extensively here on Mac matters). I recommend you check it out at <http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-825.html>.]

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Review: Apple MacBook Pro

by David Pogue
New York Times News Service
POSTED AT 12:25 PM EDT ON 31/03/06
URL: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060309.gtmacbookmar9/BNStory/TechReviews/home

Remember the famous five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance? If you're a fan of the Macintosh computer, meet the five stages of switching to Apple's new laptop: lust, anticipation, delight, dismay and waiting.

Ordinarily, it's not really news when a computer company introduces a new laptop model. You don't see newspaper headlines blaring, "Gateway's New P32-XC5 Adds Faster Processor, Third USB Port."

But the new Apple MacBook Pro ($2,000 U.S. and up) is a different story. Although it looks nearly identical to the company's existing 15-inch PowerBook, something radical is going on under the hood.

Apple high-end laptops are beautiful, thin and light, clad in scuff-hiding aluminum and crammed with features: Wi-Fi wireless networking, Bluetooth wireless, DVD burning, light-up keys for typing in the dark, stereo speakers, batteries with illuminated "fuel gauges" and much more. But the speed of Apple's laptops has only inched forward in recent years, no thanks to the suppliers of its processor chips (IBM and Freescale).

Apple made the eyebrow-raising decision, therefore, to replace that chip family with chips from another company you may have heard of: Intel.

Now, changing chip families in a computer isn't as simple as changing a CD in your stereo. The entire operating system and every single software program must be rewritten ? recompiled, the geeks would say ? to speak the new chip's language. That process can take weeks or months.

But Apple deemed the big transition to be worth the effort. In return, it gets the state of the art in laptop horsepower: Intel's new Core Duo chip, which bears two electronic brains instead of one. By the end of this year, every Macintosh model will receive an Intel brain transplant. (The same Core Duo chip, running at the same speeds, is also showing up in new Windows laptops. And no, the Intel chip does not make a Mac vulnerable to Windows viruses. It does, however, mean that in theory, with the help of a conversion kit that someone will surely write, a Mac could run Windows.)

Last month, Apple put an Intel chip into the iMac; on Tuesday, it put one into the Mac Mini. And this week, the first Mac laptop containing the Intel processor is reaching customers ? a 15-inch PowerBook that's been inexplicably renamed the MacBook Pro. (Why do Mac fans despise the new name so much? Partly because all those harsh consonants ? K, K, P ? make the name uglier and harder to say.)

Apple calls the MacBook "the finest laptop in the world." In truth, a more accurate description would be "the finest laptop in the world, with a small serving of disappointment on the side."

You can see why Apple might be fond of its latest machine. The one-inch-thick MacBook is only 0.1 inch thinner than the PowerBook, but somehow feels worlds sleeker and more futuristic. Fit, finish and quality are spectacular.

The wireless antenna has been moved, so Wi-Fi reception is much improved. The guts, from the bus (circuitry) to the graphics card, have been substantially accelerated. Battery life is pretty much the same as on the PowerBooks: 3 to 3.5 hours.

The MacBook trumps its predecessor in five substantial areas. First, the gorgeous, 1,440-by-900-pixel screen is much whiter and brighter. It's very, very bright. At half brightness, it matches the brightest setting of other laptops; at full brightness, it could illuminate a runway. It's really bright.

Second, a tiny video camera is tucked inconspicuously above the screen. It's ideal for taking Web pictures (640 by 480 pixels), capturing video or creating video blogs to post on-line. (The laptop's bounteous software collection includes programs for making blogs, websites, videos and podcasts.)

Better yet, the camera makes the MacBook a perfect companion to the iChat program, which lets you conduct smooth, full-screen video conferences with up to three other people over the Internet ? free. Other Mac laptops can join such virtual meetings (using an external camera), but the MacBook is the first laptop with the horsepower to start one. (One high-speed Mac must be the "host" of an iChat conference; slower machines must connect afterward.)

The third enhancement is a slim finger-length remote control. You can use it to operate the MacBook from across the room, summoning slide shows of your photos, concerts of your music collection, playbacks of your movies or playback of a DVD you've inserted.

In addition, there's a new power cord. Now, most people probably wouldn't consider a laptop's power cord worth writing home about, let alone taking up precious newspaper space. But this one's a breakthrough.

It attaches to the laptop magnetically. If someone trips on the cord ? which, in the real world of laptops, is practically inevitable ? your $2,000 computer doesn't crash to the floor. Instead, the cord politely detaches and drops, leaving the laptop sitting exactly where it was, grinning away on battery power.

This new connector still lights up helpfully to indicate that it's plugged into a working outlet. On the other hand, the white plastic power brick ? in the middle of the cord ? is much bigger and bulkier than before. And, of course, the new connector means that you can no longer interchange the cord with that of any other Mac laptop, as Apple fans have been able to do for years.

The biggest change of all, though, is in the MacBook's speed. It's nothing like the 4X or 5X speedup measured by Apple's benchmarks. Even so, this machine flies. It starts up fast, programs open fast, iTunes imports CDs fast, iMovie processes high-definition video fast and Web pages blink onto the screen, fully formed. This laptop makes you aware of how many little pauses you've been tolerating on your old computer.

Note, though, that all of that speed is available only when you're using programs that have been revised to work with the Intel chip ? so-called Universal programs. In that category, you'll find Mac OS X itself; all of the programs that come with the MacBook (iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto, Web browser, e-mail program, calendar and address book, and so on); over 900 programs from other companies (they're listed at www.apple.com/universal/applications); and, later this month, Apple's professional programs (Final Cut, Aperture and so on).

Unfortunately, most of the big-name programs, like Microsoft Office and Adobe everything, won't be released in Universal format for quite some time. These older programs still run acceptably on the MacBook, thanks to the magic of Apple's smooth, invisible translation software. But they run slowly, with pauses here and there. Even Photoshop runs all right, although photo editors won't want MacBooks as their primary Photoshop machines.

Now, Apple always giveth and taketh away. This time around, though, Apple hath taken away quite a few PowerBook features. The S-video connector, for high-quality TV playback of movies, is gone ? a weird omission, considering the multimedia emphasis implied by the new remote control. (You can restore the S-video jack with a $20 accessory cable.) The FireWire 800 connector, for high-speed hard drives, is also missing. The DVD burner is only half as fast as the previous model (4X instead of 8X) and can no longer burn dual-layer DVD discs. Current PC expansion cards (including high-speed cellular Internet cards) don't work or fit in the new, narrow-format ExpressCard slot.

Most mystifying of all, Apple has removed the laptop's dial-up modem, so you can no longer send or receive faxes. You can't go on-line in hotels that don't offer high-speed connections (or that charge way too much for it), either. Apple points out that you can buy its tiny external modem for $50, but that's another piece to pack, track and lose.

It's also worth noting that a few programs, here and there, will require updates to iron out problems on the Intel Macs. They include the Now Up-to-Date calendar (the menu-bar list of today's appointments doesn't appear), Microsoft Virtual PC (doesn't run at all) and, at least on my test system, Microsoft Word (jitters like mad when you use the MacBook's "drag on the trackpad with two fingers to scroll" trick). And programs designed for pre-Mac OS X machines, now called Classic programs, don't run on any Intel Macs and never will.

Overall, the MacBook Pro is a beautifully engineered machine. If it's not the world's finest, it's darned close. (Apple hints that its 12-inch and 17-inch siblings are on the way.)

But in so many ways, it's a forward-thinking laptop. It won't achieve true greatness until the important programs have been rewritten for the Core Duo chip's blazing speed, expansion cards for the new slot are available, and wireless Internet is offered by every hotel, bed-and-breakfast and friend's house. Until then, call it the MacBook Po? for Potential.

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The CUCUG Section:

March General Meeting

reported by Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu)

March 16, 2006 -- The general meeting started a little late so that Richard Rollins could help Jerry Feltner with some network problems he was having.

As the Question and Answer Session began, George Krumins said he was unable to FTP because of a problem with Windows Firewall. He was instructed to go to Windows Firewall Exceptions in the Windows Security Center. Some other application may have turned it off.

Joe DeWalt asked how to get Direct DVR video off his box. Richard suggested Razzle. It's an analog feed. Quite an extended discussion followed. A Hauppauge (pronounced Hop Hog) video system was suggested at one point.

<http://www.hauppauge.com>

Norris Hansell talked about problem he was having with Help Viewer. The problem was that it would just quit working. Eventually he deduced that it failed whenever he went on to the Net. He said when he called up Apple he got a complete snow job - they knew of no problem. However, they inadvertently directed him to a place where he did get help, the Apple discussion lists. On one of the lists he was informed that it caused by a bug in Help Viewer. To fix it you need to go to User/Library/Caches/com.apple.helpui and delete everything in the folder, then "label" it red and set permissions to Read Only - make stuff inside of it Read Only as well. This was called Paralyzing the Cache Folder. If anything comes up that isn't colored, then you know it has to be dealt with. Norris said this was discovered by a Frenchman that goes by the nom de plume of Moonraker. Norris speculates that the problem is caused by having a slow connection. ET phones home and when the error occurs you get the message "End of archive encountered prematurely at 400." And when you get this it has done something to your cache folder so that Help will no longer open. Norris said there is nothing wrong with the Help Viewer application. It is this munged Cache folder that's causing the difficulty. Norris reiterated that the Apple Help Desk people didn't know what they're talking about. Apple gave him incorrect information on more than one occasion and it took four months to come across someone who knew how to fix it and he was another user on the discussion list..

Joe DeWalt asked for laptop recommendations. A lively discussion followed.

Richard told us about the new Video Toaster 4 from NewTek, now for the PC, that the church may soon be getting.

<http://www.newtek.com/>

Keith Peregrine asked about a the new Flash upgrade. A vulnerability has been found and the newest update is highly recommended.

Bryan Forbes asked how to clone his MAC address from his laptop to his router to get his connection to Mediacom working again. Richard said that usually an ISP has your computer registered and logged on to their system using your equipment's unique MAC address. If you change hardware of a power outages or some other anomaly changes the number the network is reading from your location, you will be locked out. He highly recommends clone your computer's MAC address to any router you may be using, so that if it goes down you can pull it out and still use your connection. A discussion of security issues followed. Mention was made, once again, of the Security Now podcasts from grc.com.

<http://www.grc.com/SecurityNow.htm>

During the discussion it was stated that QIC from Insight is spyware. To Insight's credit, however, Richard Rollins told a story about how they sent out a battery of service trucks and tech support up to management levels to fix a flipping out video problem he and his neighborhood was having. But, once again, the Help line folks didn't know a thing about what was going on.

Wayne Hamilton asked about how to get Insight to let his large mail digests pass through their virus filtering. He was shown how to go to Member Services page. Kevin Hisel amazed himself that he remembered his password.

Bringing the main portion of the meeting to a close,President Rollins asked Emil Cobb what the Mac SIG would be doing this evening. Emil said Bryan Forbes would be showing several screen shot programs and desktop drawing program. Richard announced that the PC SIG will be continuing with more Q&A.

The Macintosh SIG: Bryan Forbes shows Screen Drawing and Capturing Software

reported by Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu)

This evening's battery of program demonstrations by Bryan Forbes began with a quick showing of PixelStick. PixelStick is a freeware program, which is a tool for measuring distances and angles on your screen

<http://mac.sofotex.com/download-128244.html>

Bryan then showed a demo version of Scriboard. This program allows you to draw on the desktop for illustration purposes. It costs $20. The Escape key clears the screens you've drawn on.

<http://mac.sofotex.com/download-127063.html>

He then showed Desktastic. This program has similar features to Scriboard and only costs $12.50.

<http://www.panic.com/desktastic/>

The last drawing program was Ultimate Pen, a $19.95 program. Ultimate Pen lets you change your font of any text you use to illustrate on your Desktop.

<http://www.snowmintcs.com/products/ultimatepenmac/>

Bryan then moved on to screen capturing programs. He was a big fan of a program called Demo God from OS 9 days.

First, he showed Grab, which comes with the OS.

Next, was SnapNDrag, which is "really slick," Bryan said. He showed some of it's features.

<http://www.yellowmug.com>

One of the other programs Bryan showed in passing was Tex-Edit Plus, a scriptable text editor.

<http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/9013>

Bryan then showed Snapz Pro X, which does the same thing we saw in SnapNDrag. But Snapz Pro X does a whole lot more. You can actually create movies of what you are doing on your Desktop. It is similar to Camtastic on the PC. It's great for presenting software demonstrations. Snapz Pro X costs $79 or $80.

<http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/>

Next was Paparazzi, a very versatile program for taking screen shots of a web page. You make it any size you want. Paparazzi is free.

<http://www.pure-mac.com/screen.html#paparazzi>

In passing, Bryan said he doesn't recommend Screenshot Plus. He couldn't get it to quit.

Concluding with a little icing on the cake, Bryan showed Quinn, a Tetris clone for the Mac. Quinn is Freeware.

<http://www.pure-mac.com/puzzle.html#quinn>

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March Board Meeting

reported by Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu)

The March meeting of the CUCUG executive board took place on Tuesday, March 21, 2006, at 7PM, at Kevin Hisel's house. (For anyone wishing to attend - which is encouraged, by the way - the address and phone number are both in the book). Present at the meeting were: Rich Hall, Emil Cobb, Kevin Hopkins, Kevin Hisel, and Joe DeWalt.

Rich Hall: Rich reported that we had two new members join at the last meeting. He also made note in passing that he had filed the club's taxes two months ago. We owed nothing.

Kevin Hopkins: Kevin reported that he had already sent the new member information to Kevin Hisel and Emil Cobb. Kevin said that Bryan Forbes' demo in the Mac SIG was very good.

Emil Cobb: Emil reported on the attendance at the March meeting. He listed off that the Linux SIG had 9 attending. There were 20 at the main meeting. The Mac SIG entertained 5 members. The PC SIG had 10. When asked, Emil stated that the Linux SIG conducted an open Forum. Speaking of the Mac SIG, Emil want to emphasize his thanks to Bryan Forbes for doing the demonstrations the last two months. Bryan presented several Screen Capture programs and did a great job showing what the standard OS was capable of and what was available to improve on that significantly.

As a news item Emil reported that there has just been an update for the Palm Life Drive which fixes some issues with its wireless connectivity.

Emil then talked about Sailing Clicker, a Bluetooth applications controller for all your Mac applications which can be run from your Palm. Kevin Hisel asked if it was kind of like VNC. Emil said, "In a way, except it is script driven." Emil proceeded to show it at the Board meeting, remotely controlling his PowerBook. H said he may show it at the next Mac SIG.

Kevin Hisel: Kevin reported that he was having some paperwork problems with the state of Illinois. The reports he sent in were returned and he needs signature of the President or some other officer.

Joe DeWalt: Joe said he really din't have anything he thought was specifically club related, but he is looking for an application that will remotely shut down machines on a Novell network. He wants to be able to force machines to Log Off his server.

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The Back Page:

The CUCUG is a not-for-profit corporation, originally organized in 1983 to support and advance the knowledge of area Commodore computer users. We've grown since then, now supporting PC, Macintosh and Linux platforms.

Meetings are held the third Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Champaign in Savoy. The FBC-CS is located at 1602 N. Prospect Avenue in Savoy, on the NE corner of Burwash and Prospect. To get to the the First Baptist Church from Champaign or Urbana, take Prospect Avenue south. Setting the trip meter in your car to zero at the corner of Kirby/Florida and Prospect in Champaign (Marathon station on the SW corner), you only go 1.6 miles south. Windsor will be at the one mile mark. The Savoy village sign (on the right) will be at the 1.4 mile mark. Burwash is at the 1.6 mile mark. The Windsor of Savoy retirement community is just to the south; Burwash Park is to the east. Turn east (left) on Burwash. The FBC-CS parking lot entrance is on the north (left) side of Burwash. Enter by the double doors at the eastern end of the building's south side. A map can be found on the CUCUG website at http://www.cucug.org/meeting.html. The First Baptist Church of Champaign is also on the web at http://www.fbc-cs.org .

Membership dues for individuals are $20 annually; prorated to $10 at mid year.

Our monthly newsletter, the Status Register, is delivered by email. All recent editions are available on our WWW site. To initiate a user group exchange, just send us your newsletter or contact our editor via email. As a matter of CUCUG policy, an exchange partner will be dropped after three months of no contact.

For further information, please attend the next meeting as our guest, or contact one of our officers (all at area code 217):

   President/WinSIG:   Richard Rollins      469-2616
   Vice-Pres/MacSIG:   Emil Cobb            398-0149               e-cobb@uiuc.edu
   Secretary/Editor:   Kevin Hopkins        356-5026                  kh2@uiuc.edu
   Treasurer:          Richard Hall         344-8687              rjhall1@uiuc.edu
   Corp.Agent/Web:     Kevin Hisel          406-948-1999           contact/index.html
   Linux SIG:          Allen Byrne          344-5311              adbyrne@ieee.org

Email us at http://www.cucug.org/ contact/index.html, visit our web site at http://www.cucug.org/, or join in our online forums at http://www.cucug.org/starship/ .

CUCUG
912 Stratford Dr.
Champaign, IL
61821

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