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About this site

For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Friday, September 12, 2003

Ex-Apple employee: Apple a "massive failure"
In an Apple Computer History Weblog posting, ex-Apple executive Michael Mace says that Apple, as a whole, was a "massive failure" because the company's goal was "to transform the world by setting people free from bad computer design and stifling corporate dictates," he writes. "'The Computer for the Rest of Us,' we promised. Today 'the rest of us' are a tiny personal computing clique. The company is the eccentric elderly uncle of the computer industry -- still interesting, still beloved, but no longer truly powerful. No longer dangerous." Mace argues, correctly, that while Apple pioneered the GUI on PCs, it stopped innovating after that and has been plying the same old GUI ever since. I've said this time and again about Mac OS X: It's pretty, but it's the same old desktop metaphor (Windows XP, meanwhile, offers true GUI innovation with its task-based GUI, but Mace curiously doesn't acknowledge that). The dispicable Wired Magazine has a write-up about the posting, and they talked to Mace about it. "It's not like [the people at Apple] were losers," he said. "But all together, as a group, they really had trouble getting stuff done. It's interesting that so many bright people got together and failed to succeed."

[ Posted at 12:07 PM | Permalink ]

Thursday, September 11, 2003

Bringing back a classic: Tenebrae Quake
My, my, my. I came across an incredible mod for the original Quake called Tenebrae, which adds stencil shadows and per pixel lighting, ala DOOM 3. That means Quake 1 is basically as good looking now as any modern first-person shooter, and it features full object shadowing (the player, enemies, and the environment, independently) and other advanced features. Highly recommended, and be sure to download the water vis update too, which fixes some small glitches. Good stuff.

[ Posted at 12:13 PM | Permalink ]

Is .Mac too expensive to re-subscribe?
I think Apple is going to see a bunch of defectors from its overly-pricey .Mac service as we enter the one-year renewal time. And apparently some geeky little dude at the Baltimore Sun agrees. But I won't be one of them. I like having a .Mac email address and have actually taken advantage of some of the service's more useful features, including iDisk-based backup and machine-to-machine iSync. Apple has added value to the service over the past year, with a slew of useful free downloads and new features, too. I've even paid extra for more email and iDisk space, and my account is now set for automatic renewal. In my book, .Mac is .NET for consumers done right. Yeah, it's a bit expensive, but so is everything else Apple makes. You get what you pay for.

[ Posted at 11:15 AM | Permalink ]

Great quote: File sharing companies offer to pay girl's RIAA fine
Regarding the RIAA suit against individuals: "We don't condone copyright infringement, but it's time for the RIAA's winged monkeys to fly back to the castle and leave the Munchkins alone," said P2P United's executive director, Adam Eisgrau, a copyright lawyer and lobbyist.

[ Posted at 11:09 AM | Permalink ]

iTunes for Windows: October?
According to Looprumors, Apple is set to launch iTunes for Windows by late October. The site says this timing fits into Apple's plans to spur the recently refreshed iPod sales for the Christmas season; their source tells them that iTunes for Windows is targeted for Windows 2000 and XP, there are no plans to support 98 or ME.

[ Posted at 11:05 AM | Permalink ]

Wednesday, September 10, 2003

2 GHz G5 often runs at 1.3 GHz
So when is the world's fastest computer not the world's fastest computer? When it's a Power Mac G5, apparently: According to a WWDC conference video that came with the student Apple Developer Connection ("Power Macintosh G5 Architechural Overview"), the 2 GHz G5 processor scales down to just 1.3 GHz when it's running too hot or when it's being underutilized. On the PC side, we only see this kind of technical chicanery with notebooks, where it actually make sense to scale back performance in order to get better battery life. But why would you need to do it on a desktop machine that's always plugged in? It's because the G5 runs way hot, too hot for normal cooling techniques (thus the "innovative" cooling design Apple was forced to come up with). This makes the "world's fastest computer" claims even more spurious. It even makes claims that it's a PC at all spurious. This thing is a big, fat, honking workstation. And a hot one at that.

[ Posted at 1:13 PM | Permalink ]

RealNetworks: Apple didn't do digital music downloads first
RealNetworks is finally fighting back against the perception that Apple Computer innovated in the digital music download space. In an AdWeek interview, executives from the company lay out the real history of legal digital music downloads, and contrary to the revisionist version you'll hear from Apple backers, the word "Apple" doesn't come up once. It's an interesting read.

[ Posted at 1:08 PM | Permalink ]

Jobs: G4 a "Tonka Truck"
Ah yes, how quickly what was once the best in the world becomes a toy. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is apparently still feuding with Motorola over slow delivery of the company's underpowered chips., and he has reportedly referred to the G4, until recently Apple's fastest CPU, as a "Tonka truck." LOL. Apparently, Motorola's inability to supply decent amounts of newer G4 chips has resulted in the delay of new PowerBooks, iMacs, and other products.

[ Posted at 12:47 PM | Permalink ]

Portable audio problem solved, sort of
After my failed experiment with the Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen NX 30 GB, I wasn't sure where I was going to turn, and Apple's new iPods (now 10, 20 and 40 GB) were just too expensive. But then a little blurb on the Apple Web site caught my eye and I ended up on the Apple Store's Special Deals page, where you can buy refurbished products. In the case of the iPod, this means 15, 20, and 30 GB models, and the 30 GB version was only $379--with free shipping, no less--or a mere $80 more than the Zen NX I'm returning. So is the elegance and simplicity of the iPod worth the extra $80? Duh. It's not worth $200 more (the new price of the 30 GB iPod when I purchased the Zen NX, or the 40 GB version today), but yeah, it's worth $80. Problem solved, sort of: The iPod doesn't support Windows Media Audio (WMA), which blows, but since I keep an MP3 version of my music library on the iMac, I'll survive.

[ Posted at 12:17 AM | Permalink ]

Tuesday, September 09, 2003

Linux gets a Mozilla Epiphany
Epiphany 1.0, the first full version of the standalone Mozilla Web browser for Linux, is out today. Epiphany features a simple UI and a small footprint, making it rather Firebird-like, one might say.

[ Posted at 4:17 PM | Permalink ]

Monday, September 08, 2003

Apple just average when it comes to customer respect
I'd say it's quite a bit lower, but the Customer Respect Group gives Apple just an average grade when it comes to customer respect. The report looks at 25 different attributes that combine to create the entire online customer experience, including Privacy (respects customer privacy), Principles (values and respects customer data), Attitude (customer-focus of site), Transparency (open and honest policies), Simplicity (ease of navigation), and Responsiveness (quick and thorough responses to inquiries). Tech companies that came out well ahead of Apple include HP, IBM, Dell, Microsoft and Sun.

[ Posted at 12:26 PM | Permalink ]

iTunes Music Store: 10 million songs and counting
Apple announced today that it has sold over 10 million songs from the iTunes Music Store, which is pretty impressive. Apple's online music store is still the best of the bunch, though it's hampered by it's Mac-only limits. "Legally selling ten million songs online in just four months is a historic milestone for the music industry, musicians and music lovers everywhere," said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. "Apple offers the only complete solution for digital music with iTunes and the amazing iPod, which now holds 10,000 songs in your pocket." That's like saying Apple offers the only complete PC solution because it makes both the hardware and software, however: The strength of the PC industry is that we have thousands of companies to turn to for competitive products, leading to higher quality and lower prices. And imagine how many sales they would have had if this was available on Windows.

[ Posted at 12:23 PM | Permalink ]

Apple updates iMac, iPod
Today, Apple updated the 17" iMac to 1.25 GHz, but left most of the rest of the machine's woefully inadequate stats untouched (an 80 GB drive in 2003? Come on, guys), rendering the machine both overpriced and underpowered. That's a shame, and it's the reason I'll be getting rid of my own 17" iMac (a maxed out 1 GB model) the second the company releases the new 15" PowerBook I've been yearning for for months: For me, the iMac has been a constant disappoint, and I'm sorry I bought it. You will be too. The iPod news, sadly, isn't much better: Now available in sizes of 10 GB ($300), 20 GB ($400) and 40 GB ($500), the iPod is, again, way too much money: You can get a Creative Nomad Zen NX 30 GB for $300, the price of the cheapest iPod. Unlike the iMac, however, the iPod is still desirable: I may grab a 40 GB model soon if I can find a discount somewhere.

[ Posted at 12:19 PM | Permalink ]