The Champaign-Urbana Computer Users Group

The Status Register - September, 2004


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     Common     PC     Linux     Mac     CUCUG

September 2004


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

September News:

The September Meeting

The next CUCUG meeting will be held on our regular third Thursday of the month: Thursday, September 16th, 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 September 16 gathering will be one of our split SIG meetings. The Linux SIG will have Tom Purl giving a basic overview of the Gentoo Linux distribution. The Macintosh will have Emil Cibb doing a demonstration of the iPod and the iBook used as a DJ set-up. The PC SIGs at this point is a mystery.

ToC

New World Record For Internet Performance Set

Caltech and CERN top new performance threshold by sending 859GB at more than 6.6 Gbps across nearly 16,000 km

Ann Arbor, Mich. - September 1, 2004 - An international team has broken their own record and set a new Internet2(R) Land Speed Record by transferring 859 gigabytes of data in less than 17 minutes across nearly 16,000 kilometers of networks at a rate of 6.63 gigabits per second, about 10,000 times faster than a typical home broadband connection. The record was set by a team consisting of members from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and CERN using the same IPv4 protocols deployed throughout the global Internet.

The Internet2 Land Speed Record (I2-LSR) is an open and ongoing competition for the highest-bandwidth, end-to-end networks, with judging based on the speed of transfer multiplied by the distance traveled. Because of delays due to the speed of light and other factors, data transfer over the Internet becomes more challenging as speed, or distance, or both increase. With a mark of more than 104.5 petabit-meters per second, this record is the first time the 100 "petabump" performance threshold has been broken.

The record was set with the support of Microsoft Research (research.microsoft.com), S2io (www.s2io.com), Intel (www.intel.com), Cisco Systems (www.cisco.com), AMD (www.amd.com), Newisys (www.newisys.com), the U.S. National Science Foundation (www.nsf.gov), the U.S. Department of Energy (www.doe.gov), the European Union through the DataTAG project (www.datatag.org), and the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (www.cenic.org).

More information can be found at:
http://ultralight.caltech.edu/lsr_06252004/

Details of past winning entries, complete rules, submission guidelines, and additional details are available at: http://lsr.internet2.edu/

About Internet2(R)

Led by more than 200 U.S. universities working with industry and government, Internet2 develops and deploys advanced network applications and technologies for research and higher education, accelerating the creation of tomorrow’s Internet. Internet2 recreates the partnerships among academia, industry, and government that helped foster today’s Internet in its infancy. For more information, visit: www.internet2.edu.

ToC

U.S. wraps up Net crime sweep

from CNN Justice Producer Terry Frieden
August 26, 2004: 3:46 PM EDT
URL: http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/26/technology/cybercrime/index.htm?cnn=yes

53 people convicted of identity theft, piracy, hacking, counterfeiting in Operation Web Snare.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Top federal law enforcement officials Thursday announced the conclusion of an operation that brought 53 convictions involving a series of cyber crimes that targeted 150,000 victims.

Operation Web Snare, which began June 1, wrapped up Thursday with several arrests at locations across the country. Justice Department officials said victims lost more than $215 million.

They said there were 160 investigations against the various schemes aimed at 350 subjects resulting in 117 criminal complaints or indictments and 140 search warrants.

Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the results of the initiative, which he said was targeted at a variety of online economic crimes, including identity theft, fraud, counterfeit software, computer intrusions and intellectual property theft.

"Operation Web Snare is the largest and most successful collaborative law-enforcement operation ever conducted to prosecute online fraud, stop identity theft, and prevent other computer-related crimes," Ashcroft said.

One of the major schemes officials said was targeted as part of the operation is phishing, the sending of e-mails designed to look like they are from legitimate financial institutions or other senders requesting financial or other confidential personal information.

Another major problem and the fastest growing type of computer-related crime is identity theft. The Federal Trade Commission says 10 million Americans had their identities stolen last year. The Justice Department says identity theft costs the nation's businesses nearly $50 billion a year in fraudulent transactions.

Ashcroft gave one example of a worker in Kansas City charged with conspiring with five of her co-workers to steal several pages listing their co-workers' Social Security numbers. They allegedly took the information to Chicago and used it to fraudulently apply for credit cards.

Authorities also said they are seeing more use of the Internet to commit crime against rival businesses, bringing a substantial loss of revenue last year and the disruption of many Web sites.

ToC

Common Ground:

For CEOs, offshoring pays

By Ed Frauenheim
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
URL: http://news.com.com/2100-1022-5331845.html
Story last modified August 31, 2004, 12:48 PM PDT

Chief executive officers at the companies shipping the most U.S. jobs overseas seem to be pocketing some of the savings, according to a new report.

The study, published by two groups concerned with economic inequality, found that average CEO compensation at the 50 firms outsourcing the most service jobs abroad increased by 46 percent in 2003. CEOs at the 365 large companies surveyed by Business Week only saw an average raise of 9 percent, according to the report from the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy.

CEOs at top offshore outsourcers earned an average of $10.4 million in 2003, while average CEO compensation hit $8.1 million, according to the report. From 2001 to 2003, the top 50 outsourcing CEOs earned $2.2 billion while sending an estimated 200,000 jobs overseas, the report said.

"These 50 CEOs seem to be personally benefiting from a trend that has already cost hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs and is projected to cost millions more over the next decade," the report said.


...it reveals that these corporations are not struggling--they just want more money available to line their already obese pockets.... This is far away from the the cries of corporate boards that business in the USA is too expensive--if that were the truth, that money would be going back into the company, not fattening salaries. --Bruce Baxter


Offshore outsourcing, farming out tasks to lower-wage nations, has become a hot-button issue over the past year or so. Defenders of the practice--including President Bush's top economic advisor--say it ultimately assists the U.S. economy. But critics say it costs U.S. workers jobs and threatens the country's long-term tech leadership. The exact scale of the trend remains unclear.

The new report names a number of technology companies in its list of leading offshore outsourcers. IBM is among them. Big Blue has plans to shift about 2,000 U.S. jobs abroad this year, but it also is hiring thousands of employees in the United States. According to Tuesday's report, IBM CEO Sam Palmisano's pay reached $7.7 million in 2003, up 13 percent from 2002.

The report lists a more dramatic increase in pay for Stephen Bennett, CEO of Intuit, which makes personal-finance software. Bennett got a 425 percent pay increase in 2003 to $22.3 million while sending call center jobs to India, the study says.

Neither IBM nor Intuit immediately returned requests for comment.

The study also said the so-called CEO-to-worker wage gap is rising again, after two years of narrowing. The ratio of CEO pay to worker pay reached 301:1 in 2003, up from 282:1 in 2002. If the minimum wage had increased as quickly as CEO pay since 1990, it would be $15.76 per hour, rather than the current $5.15 per hour, according to the study.

ToC

The PC Section:

WinInfo Short Takes

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

XP SP2 Reviews Are In: Great Update, Few Problems, Not a Panacea

I originally published my XP SP2 review in April, and since then I've updated it as necessary. Now the wider world is starting to come to grips with the update's changes and improvements. Not surprisingly, most of the reviews are highly positive, if grudgingly so, as if Microsoft is totally incapable of creating something that works well and reviewers are confused when the company exceeds their expectations. Many reviewers cart out a handful of tired old observations, as if they had suddenly pulled out a golden nugget of truth from some previously unknown insight. Or they couch the review with some forewarning of doom, such as, "Sure, there aren't any huge problems yet, but there will be-- mark my words." Sigh. Regardless, I want to repeat some simple advice: XP SP2 isn't a panacea, and it won't solve all your problems. It doesn't include antivirus software (although it should), and it doesn't include any spyware- removal utilities or the ability to fix malware-related problems. For this reason, you'll need to bolster XP SP2 with other security-oriented applications. So don't be a statistic. XP SP2 can't save you from your own inaction.

XP SP2-Compatible Version of MBSA Now Available

And speaking of XP SP2 and security, one utility you simply must download and run is Microsoft's newly updated Microsoft Baseline Security Advisor (MBSA), which now supports XP SP2. According to Microsoft, "MBSA is the free, best- practices vulnerability assessment tool for the Microsoft platform. It is a tool designed for the IT Professional that helps with the assessment phase of an overall security management strategy. MBSA Version 1.2.1 includes a graphical and command-line interface that can perform local or remote scans of Windows systems." In other words, you run MBSA, and it tells you what's wrong with your PC (or PCs) from a security standpoint. Nice! You can download the tool from the Microsoft Web site.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/tools/mbsahome.mspx

Linux Security Ills Make Windows Perfect Fit for London Borough

Before you read this news item, I want to remind you that I'm reporting this event, not creating it. In other words, don't shoot the messenger. That said, the ludicrous reached its apex this week when officials at the London Borough of Newham revealed that they had selected Windows and other Microsoft solutions over Linux-based open-source solutions because of Linux's "security issues." As a representative of the consultancy firm that Newham hired said, "We established that Microsoft had invested considerable time and energy into the security of [its] systems." But that goes without saying. Windows is hacked virtually every second of every day. What else would the company be working on? In any event, Newham is going to roll out a flotilla of Microsoft products, including Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft SQL Server, and Tablet PCs. The borough even bragged about the amount of money it saved--more than 3.2 million pounds--no doubt thanks to the fact that it considered a Linux alternative, thus prompting Microsoft to offer a sweet deal. But I'm sure that had nothing to do with Newham's decision.

New IntelliMouse, IntelliType Software Available

Microsoft hardware fans might want to pick up Microsoft IntelliMouse 5.2 and Microsoft IntelliType 5.3, which provide drivers and utilities for Microsoft's mouse devices and keyboards, respectively. You can download the new versions of IntelliPoint 5.2 (see the first URL below) and IntelliType Pro 5.2 (see the second URL below) from the Microsoft Web site.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/c/0/7c07fb08-ca20-4405-b090-f4d1980dbb77/ip5_2eng.exe http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/9/e/f9ed1ba8-4233-43c4-a915-8107cf84869a/itp5_2eng.exe

Microsoft: Longhorn, Not Windows XP SE, Is Next ... But How?

Now that Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) is finally out the door, Microsoft is turning its attention to its next OS releases, which include a minor Windows 2000 service pack, Windows Server 2003 SP1, and Windows 2003 Release 2 (R2), the next interim Windows server release. Longhorn is the next big client release, and this week Microsoft dispelled (or at least quelled) rumors that the company might issue an XP Second Edition (SE) release by stating publicly that it's going to "revisit the priorities" in Longhorn and see what it can do to get that often-delayed release out the door. I can tell you this much: The process is going to take a while. After running aground in its attempt to convert the existing Longhorn builds into components, Microsoft's core OS team has scrapped the current code base and is now rebuilding Longhorn from scratch based on the XP SP2 code base (existing Longhorn alpha versions are based on the Windows 2003 code base). That fact, in my mind, suggests that the final Longhorn release will be delayed yet again, but two factors could change that situation. First, the teams working on various Longhorn technologies aren't sitting still and waiting for the new component-based version of the base OS to arrive. Instead, they're moving ahead with their work, which will be added back into the new base OS when work on it is completed. Second, Microsoft could sanely decide that the company has bitten off more than it can chew with Longhorn and thus scale back its plans. Instead, the company could include in two or three OS releases the various technologies that would have shipped together in Longhorn. I'm guessing that's exactly what the company will do. The recent revelation that Microsoft will now ship the Indigo Web services platform separately from and well ahead of the rest of Longhorn--as an add-on to XP SP2 and Windows 2003 SP1--suggests we're going to see further shake-ups in Longhorn. You heard it here first.

Microsoft Issues XP SP2 Compatibility Guide

This week, Microsoft issued the Application Compatibility Testing and Mitigation Guide for Windows XP Service Pack 2, which discusses XP SP2's security technologies and gives IT administrators an application-testing process to help them "test and mitigate application compatibility issues" between their applications and XP SP2. You can download the guide from the Microsoft Web site.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9300becf-2dee-4772-add9-ad0eaf89c4a7&displaylang=en

Intel Preps Dual-Core Future

And speaking of Intel, next week the microprocessor giant will unveil a new line of dual-core chips that essentially provide the power of two microprocessors in one chip. The processors will ship in Pentium 4 and Xeon variants in 2005, Intel says, although the company has yet to reveal the code names for those products. AMD demonstrated a next-generation dual-core microprocessor early this week; that product will also ship in 2005.

Microsoft Ships Streets & Trips 2005 with Optional GPS

Microsoft recently shipped Streets & Trips 2005, but the big news is a version of the software that comes with a hardware-based Global Positioning System (GPS) solution that plugs into a laptop. Streets & Trips 2005 with GPS Locator helps travelers know where they're at all the time--that is, assuming they're traveling with a laptop. Still, it's a cool-looking product that I plan to check out. If you do a lot of car travel, this product is definitely something to investigate.

Microsoft Unveils New Hardware Products

Microsoft announced a bunch of new mouse devices and keyboards this week, which isn't exactly big news per se, but I'm continually amazed at how the company pushes its wireless products over more typical (and desirable) wired versions. There was one bit of interesting news in the announcement, however, although I think that past users of the company's excellent USB speakers, telephone products, and wireless gear can be excused for being a little jaded about the upcoming fate of these new devices. The company has announced a set of fingerprint-reader products that make it easier for users to log on to their PCs. Fingerprint readers are cool--I've tested them on an HP iPAQ and on a Tablet PC--but come on guys. Does anyone expect Microsoft to still be making these things 2 years from now? Anyone?

ToC

Microsoft to Release Next Windows in '06

By ALLISON LINN
AP Business Writer

SEATTLE -- Microsoft Corp. will drop a much-touted new technology for organizing and storing data when it releases the next version of its Windows operating system as expected in 2006.

Tom Button, corporate vice president for Windows product management, said the company hopes to release the new Windows version, code-named Longhorn, in the second half of 2006, about five years after the release of the current version, Windows XP.

With Longhorn, Button said Microsoft plans to improve the way people find things like e-mails, photos and documents. But in formally announcing the release date, the company said it would not be ready to include an even more advanced system for sorting, storing and finding data. Instead, it will begin testing that system about the same time it releases Longhorn and make it available at an unspecified time later.

The ability to find and organize data on a personal computer is becoming increasingly important as people are able to amass more digital information. Right now, finding pictures, e-mails and a Microsoft Word document, all related to the same topic -- say, a vacation in Hawaii -- is time-consuming and cumbersome. These new technologies aim to make it quicker and easier.

Michael Cherry, an analyst with independent researchers Directions on Microsoft, said the company probably had little choice but to reduce Longhorn's capabilities if it wanted to deliver the system on time. But he expects Microsoft to be able to offer the more advanced capabilities relatively quickly, perhaps as early as 2007.

Microsoft would not give a time frame.

Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group, said the decision "isn't a good surprise."

But he believes it will be crucial for Microsoft to have the new technology ready for the next version of Windows Server software, due out in 2007. That's because servers tend to hold much more data, making advanced searching and sorting capabilities more necessary.

Longhorn also will include new technology for enabling better visual presentation, such as three-dimensional rendering. And it will include ways to communicate more easily with other systems, such as Web-based applications or mobile devices.

But Button said users will not have to upgrade to Longhorn to use those capabilities, because applications that use them also will be able to run on Windows XP.

Cherry said the company probably decided to make the new technology compatible with XP so it could entice developers to make new applications and still find a wide enough audience.

The analyst said the move could reduce the need to upgrade, although he suspects that Microsoft will add other features to Longhorn that make it more compelling.

ToC

The Linux Section:

The Meetings

from Tom Purl (tompurl2000@yahoo.com)


Last month's presentation for the Linux/BSD SIG was a general overview of the Perl programming language. It was given by Phil Wall, who did a presentation of various programs on his computer. His demonstrations included a home-made banking application and multiple GUI applications.

This month's presentation for the Linux/BSD SIG will be a basic overview of the Gentoo Linux distribution. The presentation will be given by Tom Purl, and it will cover the following topics:

Gentoo is a popular and unique Linux distribution. I will be brining in a computer on which Gentoo is installed as part of the presentation. This presentation should be very useful for anyone who's ever been curious about Gentoo.

An electronic version of the presentation is available at the following URL:

http://tompurl.com/documentation/gentoo_overview.sxi

ToC

Linux/BSD Sig News

Linux Is The #1 Choice For Embedded Systems

According to Venture Development Corp, Linux is now the OS of choice for embedded systems and smart gadgets. For more information, please see the following link:

http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2744182736.html

Open-Xchange Groupware Suite Releaed Under the GPL

Open-Xchange, which was formally know as SUSE Open-Xchange Server, has been released under a GPL license. Open-Xchange is similar to Microsoft Exchange, and it has support for WebDav, iCal, and HTTP interfaces. For more information, please see the following link:

http://mirror.open-xchange.org/ox/EN/community/

KDE Announces Google-Like Search Capabilities

The KDE project announced that they will include "Google-like" search capabilities in the next version of the KDE window manager. For more information, please visit the following link:

http://asia.cnet.com/news/software/0,39037051,39191548,00.htm

Reiser4 Filesystem Released

Version 4 of the Reiser filesystem is available. ReiserFS is a filesystem for Linux that is reknowned for being very fast and robust. For more information, please see the following link:

http://namesys.com/download.html

Knoppix 3.6 Released

The latest and greatest version of everyone's favorite Linux "live CD" has been released. I downloaded this version the other day, and it worked very well for me. To see the press release, please visit this following link:

http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12818

ToC

The Macintosh Section:

iMac G5: Goodbye Arm, Hello Slab!

by TidBITS Staff <editors@tidbits.com>
TidBITS#745/06-Sep-04

At Apple Expo in Paris last week, Apple announced the iMac G5, the latest generation of the company's all-in-one consumer level computer. Gone is the hemispherical base and articulated arm of the previous iMac. Instead, the iMac G5 looks like a slightly thicker version of the recent Apple Cinema Displays, a white slab suspended on a slim aluminum base. It also resembles one of the company's other products, a music player called the iPod. You may have heard of it.

<http://www.apple.com/imac/>

The iMac G5 comes in two sizes and three configurations: a 17-inch screen model sporting a 1.6 GHz PowerPC G5 processor ($1,300); a 17-inch screen model with a 1.8 GHz G5 ($1,500); and a 20-inch screen model with a 1.8 GHz G5 ($1,900). The 17-inch versions are just 1.9 inches (48 mm) deep; the 20-inch version is 2.2 inches (56 mm) deep. The low-end model has a Combo Drive (CD-RW/DVD-ROM), while the others include SuperDrives (CD-RW/DVD-R); the slot- loading drives sit vertically on the right side of the computer. All configurations are AirPort Extreme-ready, with internal Bluetooth adapters available as build-to-order options.

<http://www.apple.com/imac/specs.html>

They all come with 256 MB of PC3200 (400 MHz) DDR SDRAM memory (you'll want more RAM; the iMac supports a maximum of 2 GB); an Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 Ultra graphics card with 64 MB DDR SDRAM with AGP 8x support; two FireWire 400 ports; three USB 2.0 ports; two USB 1.1 ports on the keyboard (which looks to be wired, even though the pictures show off Apple's wireless Bluetooth keyboard and mouse). The iMac G5 also sports VGA output (supporting an external monitor in mirror mode only), S-video and composite video output, 10/100 Base-T Ethernet, and a 56K modem. The video-out options require adapters that fit into the same mini-VGA port found on previous iMacs and some iBook, PowerBook, and eMac models.

<http://www.apple.com/keyboard/>
<http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=M8639G/A>
<http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=M9109G/A>


Estimated shipping for each model is three to four weeks. Given Apple's difficulty in getting PowerPC G5 chips from IBM, and the now-standard delay in ramping up manufacturing for a major Mac model, it may be realistic to double those numbers as a time-frame for delivery. Although the company has missed the back-to-school buying period, you can bet it will be working hard to churn out new iMacs in volume by the time the holiday buying season begins in November.

<http://www.forbes.com/markets/2004/08/16/0816automarketscan11.html>

The New Design

The iMac G5's specifications are impressive (even though we think 256 MB of RAM is skimpy), but it's the new design that is sure to get the most attention. Despite the machine's 2-inch depth, the power supply is integrated into the unit, making it a true all-in-one computer (compare that to the tiny Power Mac G4 Cube, which was small in part because it had a large external power supply).

<http://www.apple.com/imac/design.html>

One of the best features of the iMac G4 was its adjustable display. With the iMac G5, the entire body tilts vertically between -5 and 25 degrees on its aluminum base (the negative tilt can be handy for children and users looking up at the computer), but the iMac G5 cannot be raised or lowered, and only pivots side to side by moving the entire base.

Then again, who wants to adjust it at all? You can add a VESA mount to the iMac and hang it from your wall like a picture. Combine a wall-mounted iMac G5 with Open Door's Envision and Apple's Bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse and you've got one heck of a cool Mac that doubles as art when you're not using it. Apple will be selling an iMac G5 VESA Mount Adapter Kit starting in October; no price is yet available.

<http://www.vesa.org/>
<http://www.opendoor.com/envision/>
<http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=M9755G/A>

As you might expect, the PowerPC G5 processor requires clever heat dissipation within such a small area. Three variable-speed fans cool the processor, hard drive, and logic board, and are capable of running quietly: the machine runs as soft as 25 dB when idle (whispered speech is about 30 dB), but there's no telling yet how loud the fans are during normal use, and TidBITS readers who saw the new iMac at Apple Expo in Paris weren't able to judge the noise level on the loud show floor. Heat also rises upward through a slit on the back of the iMac; it will be interesting to see if all that heat coming out of the top is detrimental to a mounted iSight.

<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=2304>

Other small touches abound, in typical Apple industrial design fashion. The front of the iMac G5 isn't cluttered with exposed speaker grilles; rather, the built-in speakers are directed down from the bottom of the case, so that the sound bounces off a desk or tabletop.

The iMac G5 is also extremely user-accessible - not just in terms of how you interact with it, but also how you get into its innards. The entire back shell comes off (using screws that won't fall out of their holes and get lost), exposing the components that Apple says can be user-replaceable: the AirPort Extreme card, memory, hard drive, optical drive, power supply, LCD display, modem card, and the logic board, power supply, and fans (which Apple calls the "mid-plane assembly"). Removing the back also reveals four diagnostic LEDs that can help you troubleshoot a problem, or relate to an Apple technician over the phone.

<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86812>
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86815>

A Big iPod?

As Adam wrote in "Macworld Expo SF 2004: Enter the Musical Trojan Horse," the iPod and the iTunes Music Store are Apple's secret weapon for convincing Windows users to switch to the Mac. After all, both the iPod and iTunes work in Windows, so it's not as though people are being forced to buy a Mac; they're buying Macs because they've seen what attention to design and detail means on an everyday basis. And if you don't believe that Apple is playing that connection for all it's worth, note the headline on the Apple Web site: "From the creators of the iPod. The new iMac G5." Buy one, buy the other. Make Steve happy.

<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07499>

ToC

Apple Recalls Batteries for 15-inch PowerBook G4s

by Geoff Duncan <geoff@tidbits.com>
TidBITS#743/23-Aug-04

Apple Computer is recalling certain lithium ion rechargeable batteries which shipped with its aluminum 15-inch PowerBook G4 laptop computers from January 2004 to August 2004, following four incidents where the batteries overheated and could present a fire hazard.

<http://www.apple.com/support/powerbook/batteryexchange/>

Affected batteries were manufactured during the last week of 2003 by LG Chem Ltd., of South Korea. They all bear the model number A1045 and serial numbers beginning with HQ404, HQ405, HQ406, HQ407, and HQ408.

These batteries shipped in aluminum PowerBook G4 systems with 15-inch displays; no other PowerBooks or iBooks are affected. The batteries were also sold separately. Users can find the serial number of a battery by removing it from the computer (plug it in or shut it down first!), and checking the label on the battery's bottom.

Affected U.S. customers can get a free replacement battery by entering contact information plus computer and battery serial numbers on Apple's battery exchange Web site; Apple will ship a new battery to you free of charge along with a pre-paid shipping envelope to return the recalled battery to Apple. Customers outside the U.S. must contact Apple via a local support phone number. Users who need to exchange more than three batteries must contact Apple directly at 800/275-2273, or at a local contact number outside the U.S.

<http://www.apple.com/contact/phone_contacts.html>

ToC

AirPort 4.0.1 Updates AirPort Express

TidBITS#744/30-Aug-04

Apple's AirPort Express base station received an update this week, to version 4.0.1. The update improves the use of profiles in AirPort Admin Utility, and improves the way WEP keys are handled with third- party access points. Although AirPort Admin is enhanced to version 4.0.1, this update applies only to owners of the AirPort Express; owners of original AirPort and AirPort Extreme Base Stations are still at version 3.x (the revisions are specific to base station and version of Mac OS X). The AirPort 4.0.1 update is a 1 MB installer via Software Update or as an individual download; a Windows version is also available as a 7.5 MB download. [JLC]

<http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/airport401formac.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/airport401forwindows.html>

ToC

AirPort Driver Update 2004-08-31 Released

TidBITS#745/06-Sep-04

Apple released AirPort Driver Update 2004-08-31 last week, which improves reliability on networks with mixed 802.11b (AirPort) and 802.11g (AirPort Extreme) signals, according to the update's description. The update is a 758K download, and is also available via Software Update.

<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/airportdriverupdate20040831.html>

Although the description is vague, I was able to see one direct result after applying the update: it appeared to solve audio dropouts I was hearing when streaming music to an AirPort Express. However, while the update did improve playback, it has not yet solved the dropout problems entirely. One suggestion that seems to work for some people is to change the network configuration so that it's just using 802.11b, but of course that negates the reason for having a network using the higher-bandwidth 802.11g (as do AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express). [JLC]

<http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/>

ToC

OmniWeb 5.0: The Powerful Web Browser

by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>
TidBITS#742/16-Aug-04

When Apple released Safari a few years ago, the program was widely hailed for its speed, clean design, and elegant interface. It lacked a few of Internet Explorer's more powerful features, but on the whole Safari was, and is, an excellent Web browser. But although Apple has made some under-the-hood improvements to Safari since its release, relatively little in the interface has changed, leaving plenty of room for the Omni Group to turn their Web browser, OmniWeb, into a Web browsing powerhouse. I've been testing OmniWeb 5.0 for months now, and although I still use Safari for certain tasks, I've become utterly addicted to OmniWeb's power user features. Since OmniWeb 5.0 now uses WebCore, the same Apple low-level framework for rendering Web pages that Safari uses, its speed and rendering capabilities are on par with Safari. So let me tell you where OmniWeb sets itself apart from Safari, and likely from other Web browsers, though short of occasional use of Camino, I haven't spent much time in current versions of Mozilla, Firefox, Opera, iCab, or others.

<http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniweb/>

Windows and Tabs and Workspaces, Oh My!

The tabbed interface for browsing has become popular in recent years since it allows the user to open and switch among multiple Web pages without creating a muddle of new windows. However, whereas the standard approach is to use notebook-like tabs at the top of the screen, OmniWeb instead creates thumbnails in a drawer occupying the entire right or left side of the window. You can switch to a more-compact name-only view, but the thumbnails are brilliant, since they act like icons, visually representing the page without forcing you to read and parse the name. OmniWeb's thumbnails are also easily manipulable, so you can double-click one to open it in a window on its own, click a little X next to its name to close it without viewing it, or Control-click it to display a pop-up menu with other commands, such as Reload Tab and Reload All Tabs. You can drag thumbnails around in the list to rearrange them, Option-drag them to make copies, and even drag or Option-drag them into new windows. The size of the drawer determines the size of the thumbnails, and if you have more than fit in the drawer, a scroll bar appears to provide access to the hidden ones. You can, of course, create and switch among tabs using keyboard shortcuts as well.

Omni also added the concept of workspaces, which initially threw me, but which I've since come to adore. A workspace is a collection of one or more OmniWeb windows to Web pages, potentially with multiple tabs, that remembers its state at a user-specified point in time or on an ongoing basis as pages change, tabs are added and removed, and windows open and close. Loading a workspace thus displays the saved state, complete with all the tabs and page content, along with window size and location. For instance, I have a Moderate TidBITS Talk workspace that uses a full-screen window (much larger than I'd normally use) and knows to load the Web Crossing moderation page and the TidBITS home page (from which I copy article URLs). I've also used workspaces when researching Macworld articles, creating a tab for each site I need to visit, and making sure OmniWeb saves the state every time I close the window. That way I can easily go back and check a fact without having to find and load the appropriate page again. Even better, I can save the workspace as a standalone file and send it to my editor so she can easily verify URLs, prices, and other things that would otherwise require copying and pasting URLs.

But you know what the truly wondrous aspect of workspaces is? If you crash (a somewhat common occurrence early in the beta cycle) or quit the browser for any reason (like installing one of Apple's security updates), when you next launch OmniWeb, it will, if you've set your default workspace right, automatically load all of the tabs and windows that were showing before. There have been times I've lost 20 tabs in Safari when quitting, and picking them out of the history is nearly impossible. This feature, glorious though it is, is not without a slight downside. In a few Web applications that save state (but not data) within their URLs, reloading a page after a crash can cause null data to be resubmitted. It's not OmniWeb's fault, since it has no way of knowing what loading a URL can do. (Speaking of crashes, whenever OmniWeb crashes, it can create a crash log to send to the Omni Group via email; I always like applications that report home in obvious ways when they're failing.)

Bookmarks and URLs

The bookmark features of most Web browsers drive me absolutely nuts. I don't want to spend time pondering whether I should make a bookmark or not, and if so, where I should store it. What I like about OmniWeb 5.0's bookmark capabilities is that although they have all the basic features, I can more or less ignore them. That's because OmniWeb keeps a complete history for as long as I like, indexing the full content of every page I visit and allowing me to search for text in the Web page's content, title, URL, or user-created note. No more do I have to try to remember how to find some site, or comb through Google search results looking for a site I visited recently. To obtain this feature in other Web browsers, you need St. Clair Software's just-updated HistoryHound. In fact, my only irritation with OmniWeb's history feature is that I can't prevent it from seeing uninteresting and constantly refreshed pages, such as Web Crossing's email log (HistoryHound does OmniWeb one better here, letting you exclude such pages from scanning and indexing).

<http://www.stclairsoft.com/HistoryHound/>

But as much as I like OmniWeb's history, I don't bring it up and search it all that often, simply because I don't have to. That's because OmniWeb, like Internet Explorer, has fabulous URL auto- completion. Type a few characters into the Address field and OmniWeb displays a list of all visited pages that contain those characters in their URLs or titles. For instance, if I want to visit the Web Crossing page where I'd manage the Dutch translation mailing list, I can just type "Dutch" into the Address field and pick the right item in the list. My only complaint is that the list is only as wide as the Address field itself, which sometimes makes differentiating between similar pages difficult. If that's bothersome, you can have the Address field appear as a separate Location bar, which makes it the width of the page.

Other bookmark features that make OmniWeb stand out include the capability to synchronize bookmarks with another Mac via .Mac or a WebDAV server, shared bookmarks with other OmniWeb users on your network (you control which of your bookmarks are shared, of course), and a nice shortcut that opens all the bookmarks in a folder on your Favorites bar when you Command-click the folder, just like in Safari. OmniWeb bookmarks aren't entirely static either: it can check bookmarks to see if they've changed, alerting you via a Dock icon badge to updated sites and showing a bookmark collection of sites that were unreachable. If a bookmark changes to redirect to a new page, OmniWeb updates the bookmark address for you. You can also create News Feed bookmarks to RSS feeds; they also automatically update, and although you can even view RSS entries in the Bookmarks window, it's easier to load the Web pages. Lastly, you can use an optional View Links button on the toolbar to list all the links on a page in a collection in the bookmarks window; it's a fast way to deal with pages that contain many links.

Miscellaneous Merriment

Oodles of other welcome features abound in OmniWeb. If you have a URL in your clipboard (copied from some other source), you can simply paste it "into" the body of an OmniWeb window to load that page into a new tab. This seems minor, but it saves pressing Command-L or clicking in the Address field first; I use it constantly.

You can create settings for individual sites, and at least some of these settings are automatically remembered for you. For instance, on sites that use too-small text, I increase the size, and from then on, OmniWeb displays those sites, and only those sites, with larger text. Other site-specific preferences include image loading, ad blocking, text encoding, and more.

One of the criticisms of Web forums is that typing into those nasty little text fields is annoying. OmniWeb addresses those complaints by letting you expand any TEXTAREA field into a full- fledged Macintosh text entry window, complete with system-wide spell checking. Along the same lines, you can view the source of any Web page, just like any other Web browser, but if you have the appropriate upload permissions, you can even edit the page. Whether or not you can upload the page, you can still make changes and ask OmniWeb to redisplay the page to see how your changes affect the layout.

The now-canonical Google search field is in the toolbar, of course, but a drop-down menu lets you search other sites like VersionTracker and the Internet Movie Database. You can even add your own search sites to it, so I can now search TidBITS by typing "tb searchterm" into OmniWeb's Address field. OmniWeb also lets you find text or regular expressions on the current page, and if you're in one of OmniWeb's text entry windows, you can also replace the text you've found. One neat little trick: when you're on any page, you can type a few characters from the name of a link to jump directly to that link text; press Return to follow the link.

OmniWeb 5.0 has finally pegged the Downloads window that has bugged me in every other browser for all time. It lists all the downloads within an amount of time you specify, but more important, you can have the window automatically appear when you start a download and disappear if no downloads are active. That's the best combination of feedback and respect for the user's work environment I've seen yet; I'm always closing download windows in other browsers to get them out of my way.

Like some other browsers, OmniWeb has AutoFill, which helps you fill in forms with data that doesn't change, such as your name and address, and AutoComplete, which offers suggestions based on previous entries while you're entering data in any field. Though these features are perfectly functional, I still prefer Safari's approach, which automatically fills form fields whenever it can and which automatically completes field entries without forcing you to pick from a list each time. Safari's behavior is slightly more likely to cause mistakes, whereas OmniWeb's behavior is safer but enough less helpful that I often find myself avoiding it.

You can save data from the Web in a number of interesting ways. A Save Linked menu lets you save images linked from the current page or HTML documents linked from the current page. You can, of course, print a page to PDF using Save As, but if you want a PDF that doesn't have artificially added page breaks, hold down Option and choose Save As PDF from the File menu to get a one-page PDF. And lastly, you can add a Summarize button to the toolbar that uses Apple's Summary service to summarize the current page. Although I've only recently found this option, there are occasions when I skip reading a Web page because I lack the time at that moment; a summary might make it easier for me to decide if it's worth the effort.

For those who want to know what's going on behind the scenes, OmniWeb includes a Network Activity window that tells you what's happening at any given moment, an Error Log window that shows you everything that's gone wrong, and a JavaScript Console window that I don't particularly understand.

Features I haven't tried yet include navigation via speech, ad blocking, AppleScript support (it provides a Script menu for storing scripts), and probably more. One of the things I like about OmniWeb 5.0 is that I'm still learning how to take advantage of its features, rather than constantly wishing it had more. Even after months of testing and hanging out on the OmniWeb beta list, I still learned new things while writing this review. That's in part to finally looking into the online help and PDF manual, which pointed me in the right direction for a lot of features I hadn't previously investigated seriously.

Buying OmniWeb

One last thing that OmniWeb 5.0 has that isn't common among Web browsers is a price tag. The program costs $30 new ($20 academic) or $10 to upgrade from 4.5 ($7 academic). You can use it for 30 days with the only restriction being that you can't change the initial page that loads on startup to avoid OmniWeb's rather humorous nagging. If you use the Web seriously, OmniWeb is well worth $30. And perhaps even more to the point, the Omni Group deserves support for raising the standard of how a Web browser can go beyond - far beyond - the basics of rendering pretty pages.

<http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniweb/download/>

ToC

OmniWeb 5.0.1 Fixes Glitches

TidBITS#744/30-Aug-04

The Omni Group has released OmniWeb 5.0.1, a maintenance update to the alternative Web browser (see "OmniWeb 5.0: the Powerful Web Browser" in TidBITS-472_). This version fixes a bug in the History feature, updates the Help files, and corrects a security vulnerability in handling PNG image files. The update is free for registered owners of OmniWeb 5.0, and is a 5.7 MB download. [JLC]

<http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniweb/>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07775>

ToC

Internet Music Battles Heat Up

by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>
TidBITS#745/06-Sep-04

Apple's announcement last week of the iTunes Affiliate Program, iTunes on Campus, and the iTunes Volume Discount program represents the next escalation in what is turning into a heated battle for control of the Internet music services (which is somewhat surprising, given that no one is yet making money on music sales, something that may never happen). With these programs, Apple is raising the bar yet again for knock-off services from companies like Roxio and RealNetworks, not to mention Microsoft's just-announced MSN Music.

<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2004/sep/01itunesaffiliate.html>

The Competition

If you haven't been paying close attention, you might not have realized that Roxio, maker of the highly regarded Toast 6 Titanium and Jam 6, is selling its consumer software division to Sonic Solutions, a company that specializes in DVD mastering software for Windows. This sale provides Roxio with $80 million to spend promoting Napster, though I'm placing my bets on Napster being crushed by Apple's iTunes Music Store (which currently has 69 percent of the market and the market-leading iPod player) and Microsoft's MSN Music (from Microsoft, so it will be seen by millions of Windows users, whether or not it's any good).

<http://www.roxio.com/en/company/news/archive/prelease080904.jhtml>

RealNetworks, of course, has just finished about a month of selling songs from its Internet music store for $0.49 each. Analysts suggested the sale might cost Real over $2 million, leading to the question of whether the company would attract enough new customers to make it worthwhile. The sale, plus Real's Harmony technology for playing songs from its own online music services on the iPod, and Real's hypocritical "Freedom of Choice" PR campaign all feel like last-ditch efforts to make the company relevant in the Internet music marketplace. Some have suggested that Real is trying to be acquired; since the company is losing money and its stock is near an all-time low, it's possible that Real is fighting for overall survival.

<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07756>

Meanwhile, Microsoft has unveiled a test version of MSN Music, its entry into the increasingly crowded Internet music sales market. Songs will sell for $0.99 each, and Microsoft claims a catalog of 500,000 tracks, with another 500,000 to be added in the first few weeks of operation. Like Apple, Microsoft isn't expected to make money from selling music. However, Microsoft may benefit from increased use and licensing of the Windows Media music format, licensing of the reference designs for music players made by other manufacturers, and more advertising sales on MSN. Overall, MSN Music feels like a me-too service that gets Microsoft into the game and on which the company can afford to lose massive amounts of money for years (like MSN itself, and the Xbox). MSN Music shouldn't be discounted, though, given Microsoft's financial resources, marketing muscle, and tendency to get things right on the third release. Like Real, Microsoft is playing the freedom of choice card against the iPod, which is equally laughable, since MSN Music, not surprisingly, works only in Windows.

<http://beta.music.msn.com/>
<http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,64810,00.html>

If you're confused, "freedom of choice" to RealNetworks means the freedom for Windows users to choose to buy music from Real and play it on a variety of digital music devices, including (for now) on an iPod. To Microsoft, "freedom of choice" means the freedom for Windows users to buy music and play it on devices other than the iPod. Notice that neither company even allows Macintosh users to use their service; they're both simply trying to lock users into different proprietary systems, with different restrictions.

iTunes Affiliate Program

The most interesting aspect of Apple's iTunes Music Store announcements is the iTunes Affiliate Program, run via LinkShare (an eight-year-old company that manages affiliate programs for others), which lets anyone who links to songs in the iTunes Music Store collect 5 percent of the purchase price. Of course, at $0.99 per song, 5 percent ends up being a nickel per sale, so you'd have to drive a lot of sales for the numbers to add up to much. I think, though the legalese is a bit thick in Apple's Terms and Conditions, that you also earn the affiliate cut on songs purchased in the same shopping session, where a session can last up to 24 hours.

<http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/>
<http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/terms.html>

Unfortunately, the iTunes Affiliate Program applies only to the U.S. version of the iTunes Music Store, so there isn't much point in applying unless most of your audience is from the U.S. Hopefully Apple will make it, along with the iTunes Music Store in general, available in more countries (Canada, anyone?) soon.

<http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/faq.html>

One intriguing teaser: apparently iTunes affiliates can also apply to the Apple Store Affiliate Program, about which I can find no additional information on Apple's Web site. However, Apple Europe two months ago started an affiliate program paying 2.5 percent (3 percent if you hit a certain sales volume), so perhaps that will be used as the model for this otherwise unexplained Apple Store Affiliate Program.

<http://promo.euro.apple.com/promo/affiliation_welcome/uk/>

iTunes Volume Discount Program

Apple's new iTunes Volume Discount Program allows companies and educational institutions to purchase large numbers of songs at discounted prices - up to 20 percent off, depending on the number purchased - in the form of codes that can be then given to users to redeem. By large numbers, we're talking about a minimum of 10,000 songs for educational institutions and 25,000 for companies. And by extrapolation, even at the full 20 percent discount (which probably doesn't apply at these minimum levels), that would mean at least $8,000 for a college or university, and at least $20,000 for a company. Although companies can bundle the codes with products, they can't be resold on their own. Amusingly, Apple has a FAQ entry which notes purchasers cannot limit the songs that their codes may be used to purchase.

<http://www.apple.com/itunes/volumediscounts/>
<http://www.apple.com/itunes/volumediscounts/faq.html>

iTunes on Campus

On the face of things, the iTunes on Campus Program isn't particularly impressive, since its only unique feature is a site license that allows an educational institution to provide the iTunes application (and QuickTime) to students for free. Since iTunes and QuickTime are already free to everyone, this mostly translates into some small bandwidth savings from being able to host iTunes downloads locally and to distribute the program on CD.

<http://www.apple.com/education/itunesoncampus/>

In fact, the iTunes on Campus Program really just brings together the iTunes Volume Discount Program and iTunes Affiliate Program in a way that colleges and universities can use to provide a limited amount of legally downloadable music to students on both Mac and Windows, something that's not possible with any of the other (Windows-only) Internet music services. Realistically, since educational institutions aren't generally in the business of giving music to students, the main utility of the iTunes on Campus Program is thus to help protect students (and potentially the school itself) against the slavering lawyers of the RIAA.

A college could, for instance, distribute 10,000 songs via the iTunes Volume Discount Program for students, and then collect 5 percent on all subsequent purchases via the iTunes Affiliate Program to help offset the cost of purchasing that initial block of 10,000 songs. And since a college likely controls all outbound traffic, it would be possible to rewrite all links to the iTunes Music Store to make sure they were affiliate links; I can't see any language in the Terms and Conditions that explicitly forbids this.

In essence, the iTunes Music Store is CDs done right, whereas services like Napster (which is being used on a number of college campuses) are radio done right. Neither approach is necessarily better; some people prefer to own their music, at least within the limits Apple sets, whereas others will prefer to play (but not burn or copy) unlimited numbers of songs for no extra charge, as is possible with Napster. Since you "own" your iTunes Music Store purchases, you can burn them to CD, copy them to an iPod, and keep listening to them after graduation. In contrast, students using a Napster subscription at a participating university must pay extra to burn tracks to CD, use them on a portable music player, or listen to them after graduation.

Summer break is also potentially an issue. The ability to download new music ends with the semester, of course, but songs you've already downloaded can remain available as "tethered downloads" that expire some time later (three months for Cornell University, which uses the Napster service). That means Cornell students who prepare ahead of time will be able to play their tethered downloads until they return to campus; those who rely solely on the streaming will be out of luck over the summer.

Apple's approach may put it at a disadvantage in one way. Since students who download a lot of music during school will be loath to download it again from another service, the path of least resistance is to pay the Napster subscription fee after graduation. Of course, that raises the question of whether educational institutions should be paid to get their students hooked on Napster.

Where Apple Needs to Look

These recent announcements show that Apple is by no means sitting still, although it remains to be seen how popular these various programs will be, given that they aren't of much interest to the individual users who are Apple's most loyal adherents. That said, I think there are several additional areas Apple would do well to investigate.

I will admit that when Apple first released the iPod and started selling downloadable music via the iTunes Music Store, I didn't anticipate that it would become such a key portion of the company's business. (In the last two quarters, Apple sold roughly as many iPods as Macs.) I don't see Apple losing focus on the Macintosh and Mac OS X, but I think it's now clear that while Apple must continue to execute in the Macintosh world, the battles that are being fought over Internet music services and portable music players will play a significant role in the company's future.

ToC

Missing Sync 4.0 Fills Palm Gaps

by Jeff Carlson <jeffc@tidbits.com>
TidBITS#743/23-Aug-04

PalmSource, the company that develops and licenses the Palm OS, let slip in February that it would not support Mac synchronization with devices running its next-generation operating system, Palm OS Cobalt (see "PalmSource to Drop Mac Support in Mac OS Cobalt" in TidBITS-717_). At the same time, Mac developer Mark/Space announced that it was working on software that would be able to replace PalmSource's HotSync technology for the new handhelds. Although Cobalt devices have not yet appeared, Mark/Space recently released The Missing Sync for Palm OS 4.0, an improvement over the current HotSync software that throws in a number of welcome features that go beyond data synchronization.

<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07543>
<http://www.markspace.com/>

Adding Cool to the HotSync

The Missing Sync for Palm OS 4.0 (which I'll call Missing Sync for brevity) is designed to handle Cobalt's new synchronization architecture, but it also uses the existing HotSync conduits (instructions for how to compare and transfer data, such as calendar or contact information) to perform the same synchronization that is currently handled by HotSync Manager and Palm Desktop for Macintosh. All existing conduits - including the built-in Palm ones, Apple's iSync Palm Conduit, Microsoft's Entourage conduit, and others - work just as they do when using HotSync Manager. Double-clicking a conduit brings up the same controls (such as "Synchronize the Files" or "Macintosh Overwrites Handheld") that are found in HotSync Manager.

<http://www.apple.com/isync/download/>
<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/mac/DOWNLOAD/OFFICEX/palmsync.xml>

However, Missing Sync adds a great, simple improvement. Under HotSync Manager, if you wanted to prevent one or more conduits from operating during a HotSync operation, you'd have to set each excluded conduit's actions to "Do Nothing" in a separate dialog. In Missing Sync, you can disable a conduit by unchecking a checkbox. For example, let's say I want to synchronize only the contact data from the Address Book application. In Missing Sync's Conduits window, I'd uncheck every conduit but Address Book, and then initiate a HotSync operation from the Palm. (A small feature request: I'd like to Command-click the checkboxes to turn all of them on or off, much as you can do when activating or deactivating lists of songs in iTunes.)

Better yet, you can create conduit profiles so you don't have to do all the clicking. Similar to sets in Mac OS 9's Extensions Manager, conduit profiles are saved sets of active conduits. Missing Sync includes two useful profiles already set up: Install, which only installs software during a HotSync operation, and Backup, which skips the other conduits and only backs up the handheld's data. I've also set up a custom profile that synchronizes only the built-in applications, without running the Backup conduit.

For testing purposes, I was hoping I could create conduit profiles for synchronizing with Palm Desktop and Apple's iSync applications (iCal and Address Book). However, the iSync conduit is particular about who gets to stand on the playground when it's playing: Missing Sync's capability to enable and disable conduits doesn't go far enough, as iSync refuses to work if the Palm Desktop conduits are present in the same conduits folder (which is located at ~/Library/Application Support/Palm HotSync). To switch between the two systems, I still need to go in and manually move the conduit files around.

Another side effect of using iSync instead of Palm Desktop is the lack of a corresponding Mac program for the Palm's built-in Memo Pad application. As remedy, Mark/Space includes a simple MemoPad application with Missing Sync where you can read and edit your memos on the Mac. As an extra bonus, they also include a small Palm OS application, TimeCopy.prc, that automatically synchronizes the Palm's clock with the Mac's clock when you synchronize.

Internet Sharing

When you HotSync, you open a data connection between the Mac and the handheld. If that's the case, why not just leave the connection open? In Missing Sync's Internet Sharing mode, you can do just that, enabling you to surf the Web and check email from the Palm (Web and email clients come with many of the latest PalmOne handhelds; they're not included with Missing Sync).

But... if the handheld is connected to your Mac, and your Mac is connected to the Internet, and you're presumably close enough to the Mac to HotSync, why would you want to access the Internet from the small-screened Palm device in the first place? Some people use their handhelds as laptop replacements in the field, reading and composing email that will be sent later. If you catch up on email during a train commute, let's say, you can quickly send the messages you've composed directly from the Palm, instead of transferring them to your Mac somehow.

A better case can be made for the return of an old Palm friend: AvantGo, the proxy Web browser that lets you download online content to the handheld to be viewed later (see "AutoSyncing TidBITS Handheld Edition via AvantGo" in TidBITS-554_). A Mac OS X version of the AvantGo client was never developed, leaving Mac users without an easy way to refresh their AvantGo channels. Using the Internet Sharing feature, however, you can synchronize your AvantGo channels directly from the handheld via the Mac's Internet connection.

<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06193>

Setting up Internet Sharing involves a few steps, which are clearly explained by an Internet Sharing Assistant (found under Missing Sync's Help menu). Once that's configured, switch to Missing Sync's Internet Sharing mode and, on the handheld, choose Sync from AvantGo's Channels menu.

I'd like to see some visual feedback to indicate that the mode is being used by the handheld. Since I connect my Tungsten T to my PowerBook via Bluetooth, the Bluetooth status in the Mac's menu bar alerts me to activity, but I'd like to see something - perhaps a change in the Missing Sync Dock icon, or even a red "on air" light in the application itself - to let me know when a connection is active (or more importantly, if it's been dropped).

Expanding Expansion Cards

So far, I've covered how Missing Sync improves upon the current HotSync Manager software. However, one of the program's signature features is the capability to mount the contents of an expansion card inserted into a compatible handheld as if it were a drive attached to the Mac. This feature lets you copy files directly to the card, rather than shuttling them through the HotSync installation process (which you can still do, but which is inconvenient for large files or groups of files).

What type of files? I try to keep at least one ebook on my handheld (such as those sold by PalmOne), which can be read using PalmOne's free PalmReader software.

<http://ebooks.palmone.com/>

But some devices can handle multimedia files, too, and Missing Sync takes advantage of that. Wish you had an iPod, but have a Palm instead? On Treo, Tungsten, and Zire (31, 71, and 72 models) handhelds, you can listen to MP3-formatted song files from the handheld. In iTunes, mounted expansion cards appear in the list of devices in the left-hand column. Drag song files to the card icon to copy them to the expansion card, then use software such as RealPlayer for Palm, Pocket Tunes, or AeroPlayer to play them back.

<http://www.realnetworks.com/industries/mobile/operators/products/player/palm/>
<http://www.pocket-tunes.com/>
<http://www.aerodrome.us/>

Missing Sync also provides a method of transferring pictures from iPhoto to the handheld. The software comes with a demo version of SplashPhoto, a Palm OS image viewer. With an expansion card mounted, open iPhoto, select a few pictures, and then export them (by choosing Export from the File menu) using a Missing Sync plug-in that was added when you installed the software.

<http://www.splashdata.com/splashphoto/>

Looking ahead to Cobalt

No Cobalt-based handhelds have appeared yet, so we won't see what's changed in the new synchronization architecture until they arrive. Neither Mark/Space nor PalmOne have said anything about whether Missing Sync will be bundled with the devices or discounted in some way for Mac users. Unlike HotSync Manager and Palm Desktop, The Missing Sync for Palm OS costs money to license: $40 new, or $20 for people upgrading from previous versions of Missing Sync (which included specific editions for Sony CLIE, Garmin, Tapwave, and Internet Sharing). If Missing Sync was merely a replacement for HotSync Manager, I'd be hesitant to put up money. But the extra features rolled into version 4.0 justify the cost.

In the bigger picture, I see the price tag as a form of support: with PalmSource's dropping interest in the Mac, it's encouraging to see a longtime Mac developer step in and provide not only a replacement for the current HotSync architecture, but something that promises to be built upon as the Palm OS platform moves forward.

ToC

The CUCUG Section:

August General Meeting

reported by Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu)

August 19, 2004 - President Richard Rollins started the meeting with the traditional introduction of officers but curtained them after looking around the room and seeing nothing but familiar faces.

Richard then announced that our founding president, Steve Gast, had a stroke three weeks ago and is now in recovery at Covenant Medical Center, room 4436. The stroke was serious (aren't they always), but Steve survived, yet will remain in the hospital until Thanksgiving, perhaps as late as Christmas. Steve has lost all feeling on the left side of his body, but as the swelling goes down, they are hoping for a full recovery. Steve is only 54 years old.

Turning to the less life-threatening activities of a normal night at a CUCUG meeting, the floor was opened up to comments and questions from those assembled.

Kevin Hisel related a story about a flaky new hard drive he was having trouble with. It's a Maxtor external USB 2 drive that seems to have trouble communicating with his computer. In talking with tech support, it was found to be a rare, but known problem. The suggested fix was to buy a USB card and hook the drive into that, bypassing the problems communicating with the internal circuitry in the machine. Kevin had another solution: he bought a 250 GB Western Digital hard drive from Fry's / Outpost for $110. Kevin noted that the average cost of hard drives is now 50 cents per Gig or less. He's sending the Maxtor back.

Emil noted that Apple is doing a battery recall on the batteries in their Apple G4 Powerbook 15" models. It has the same battery as a Verizon phone that is also suffering a recall.

There was news that Insight Broadband now has web mail, so you can check your mail from anywhere in the world with a web browser. Go news for Insight customers.

Wayne Hamilton had a question about how to set the web key in Susie Linux. Anthony Philip said you use "ifconfig" to set the password and the DH client to get the IP address.

Tom Purl talked about his trip to Computer Deli in Bloomington just off of Empire Street - http://www.computerdeli.com - saying it was well worth the trip. Tom also noted that he had some Mepis Linux and some OpenCD for Windows CDs available this evening for anyone that wanted them.

Richard Rollins reported that we in Champaign are about to get the 3rd fastest supercomputing cluster in the world at the Digital Computer Lab. They are installing 750 dual processor 2.5 GHz G5 Mac servers similar to what was done a while back in Virginia. Mark Zinzow personally testified to the fact, saying they were unloading the Macs for two days. Richard said we may get another 500 machines to make it the fastest in the world.

Richard said that this month marked the first month that broadband usage exceeded dial up usage.

It was stated that Windows Service Pack 2 is kind of out. It really clamps down on the ports. George Krumins said that at least 50 games are effected. Kevin Hisel said Nero breaks, but they have a new update that fixes the problem.

Richard Rollins told a story about Steve Gast's machine that got fried and, after replacing the motherboard, processor, and memory, how XP came back up without missing a beat. He was very impressed.

Richard talked about the "move hard drive" utility that he says all the hard drive manufacturers have now. George Krumins mentioned how Norton's Ghost does the same thing.

Kevin Hisel noted that most of the people that worked at Google became millionaires today, as Google made its IPO.

The Macintosh SIG

reported by Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu)

As usual, the Macintosh SIG was somewhat of an informal affair. Emil Cobb showed us some iPhoto features he uses.

He talked about Delocalizer 1.1, a program he used to remove all the foreign language support from his machine, saving a whopping 850 MB of storage space.

He mentioned the program iPod2Mac 1.2 which changes a PC formatted iPod to Mac format. He also spoke about BurnOut, XPod and IPodDecloak, programs for backing up your iPod files and other nifty tricks.

Emil showed AeroPlayer 5.0B3, an MP3 music player for the Palm which replaces RealPlayer.

Emil then showed how he modified the Startup and Shutdown screens on his Olympus digital camera, so, should it be lost or otherwise removed from his possession, there would be no doubt who the camera belonged to.

The SIG ended with us playing with iTunes.

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August Board Meeting

reported by Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu)

The August meeting of the CUCUG executive board took place on Tuesday, August 24, 2004, 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: Richard Rollins, Emil Cobb, Rich Hall, Kevin Hopkins, and Kevin Hisel.

Before the official meeting began there was a discussion of the pirated copy of Nero Kevin Hisel thought he had legitimately bought and didn't find out it was bogus until he went to register it.

There was a discussion of Steve Gast's and Jeff Stevenson's health problems.

There was a discussion od internet service locally.

1.5 MB down is a T-1, 128 K up - that's DSL's speeds. 4 MB down and 256K up - that's Insight's speed as of Sept. 1. It's 2.7 MB down and 128K up right now.

There was a discussion of cable TV services.

Richard mentioned a USA Today article on iBook and iPod sales being way up.

Beginning formally:

Richard Rollins: Richard said Phil Wall did an excellent demonstration of Perl at the last meeting in the Linux SIG. It was a very good introduction to the subject.

Richard said the PC group had a nice meeting with George Krumins and his games demo.

During a following discussion it was mentioned that BensBargains.net is a good place to shop online and you should check out BroadbandReports.com

Kevin Hisel mentioned that 50 cents a gigabyte is the average cost on hard drives now.

Emil Cobb: Emil had a head count of 22 at the last meeting. He said next month he will be doing a demonstration of the iPod and the iBook used as a DJ set-up.

Richard Hall: Rich gave his usual exemplary financial report.

Kevin Hopkins: Kevin had no new business this month.

Kevin Hisel: Kevin had no new business this month.

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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
   Linux SIG:          Tom Purl             390-6078         tompurl2000@yahoo.com

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

CUCUG
912 Stratford Dr.
Champaign, IL
61821

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