More of my sites

WinInfo Daily News
SuperSite for Windows
Windows IT Pro Magazine
Connected Home
Thurrott Dot Com
Windows Weekly at TWIT

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

Saturday, December 20, 2003

Former Apple Scientist: Apple experienced renaissance when Jobs left in 1985

Responding to a Wired article about Apple Computer ("Why Is Apple So Tempting?", Wired 11-09-2003), Steve Perlman, the former principle scientist of the company, and the current CEO of Rearden Studios, had this to say.

"Although Josh McHugh [the author of the original Apple article] brought up some good points, his comment that innovation ceased at Apple when Steve Jobs departed in 1985 is not accurate. Jobs' departure actually triggered an incredible renaissance at Apple. We developed HyperCard, the color Mac, 32-bit QuickDraw, QuickTime, slot architecture, studio-quality sound, FireWire, video I/O, PowerPC, balloon help, and dozens of other innovations. It is true that Apple went into decline from about 1990 onward, and there is no question that Jobs' return brought innovation back to the company. But the media-rich Mac (with Windows following in its footsteps) was developed while he was away."

[ Posted at 7:14 PM | Permalink ]

This is what I'm talking about

Many people seem to misunderstand my take on Apple Computer. I'm not out to get Apple, don't hate Apple, don't wish to see it fail. But what I don't like is the way Apple, specifically its executives such as Steve Jobs, lie about the capabilities of its products. Again and again, the company's eager fans eat up whatever misinformation flows out of Cupertino and then spread it to the uneducated masses. This is a more general issue--one I call "common knowledge"--where if enough people believe something to be true, it just becomes true. Anyway, in a Q & A transcript, Forbes technology reporter Arik Hesseldahl discusses Apple Computer and gives what I think is the most singularly accurate statement about the company I've ever read. "Apple has long recognized that it's never going to beat Microsoft and the Wintel combination, but there are still people who want a high-quality computing alternative," he says. "It does a lot of the things that a Wintel box can do, it just does them with a certain flair that a certain kind of person appreciates and is willing to pay for and use to the exclusion of more conventional computing products." So there you go: Accurate, to the point, and exactly what Apple should be pushing. This is exactly how I feel about Apple. There's no hate. Just a desire for honesty.

[ Posted at 4:02 PM | Permalink ]

Apple annual report: Down and out in Cupertino

Apple posted its annual report for fiscal year 2003 this week and it predictably makes for interesting reading. It's amazing how dry, sobering and believable this report is, compared to the often comic public statements its executives make.

Here are a few things that stand out.

Net sales were flat in America but up 8 percent overall to $6.2 billion. Macintosh system sales fell from 3.101 million units in 2002 to 3.012 million in 2003, a 3 percent decline; this is particularly bad as PC sales for 2003 are up significantly (11 percent, according to IDC, to 152 million units) over the previous year, meaning Apple has lost market share again, accounting for just 1.98 percent of the overall PC market in 2003. The company was at 2.02 percent in 2002.

Despite strong promotions for the expensive PowerMac G5, PowerMac sales fell 10 percent year-over-year, as did iMac (15 percent) and iBook (18 percent) sales; only PowerBook sales were up year over year (a whopping 56 percent). Apple sold 939,000 iPods, short of its goal of 1 million; iPod net sales were $345 million, a drop in the proverbial bucket. Apple notes that "total unit sales of desktop systems fell 15% during 2003 compared to 2002. iMac systems unit sales declined 16%." Also alarming: "The Company has continued to experience ongoing weakness in its U.S. education channel during 2003. Net sales and unit sales in U.S. education during 2003 were down 4% and 6%, respectively, as compared to 2002."

Regarding its retail operations, Apple reported that it opened 25 new stores in 2003, bringing its total to 65. However, Apple still lost money on its retail stores: $5 million in 2003, which is a bit better than the $22 million loss it reported during 2002, I guess.

In its one true attempt at chicanery in the report, Apple sugar-coats and tap-dances around the performance of its iTunes Music Store, which is not an individual line item. Instead, the iTunes Music Store is listed as part of "Service and other sales," which rose 30 percent in 2003 to $296 million. But note how Apple reveals that most of this figure comes from AppleCare Protection Plan extended warranty sales: "Service and other sales [improvements] result from significant year-over-year increases in net sales associated with AppleCare Protection Plan (APP) extended maintenance and support services, as well as the Company's Internet related services." The company's Internet-related services include iTunes Music Store and .Mac (which is also not called out as a separate item for obvious reasons). But let's reword Apple's statement to be more succinct: "Service and other sales include APP, which posted significant year-over-year increases in net sales; the iTunes Music Store; and .Mac". I think it's pretty clear from this report that Apple makes no money on iTunes Music Store or .Mac.

Apple's R&D expense increased 6 percent (or $25 million) to $471 million in 2003, as compared to 2002. The company's liquid cash assets are largely the same as they were last year, about $4.5 billion.

[ Posted at 3:12 PM | Permalink ]

A conversation on the Linux desktop

Brian Proffitt of Linux Today: "'The Linux Desktop' is a misnomer. The Linux desktop has been here and better than fine for a long time. What we are really talking about are systems. What system is best for what particiular user. In this context, I mean GUI, application set, and hardware capabilities when I talk about 'system.' If we talk about Linux systems for home users, then yes, there is gap that needs to be met ... There are people out there that just need a browser, an e-mail client, and a word processor and nothing else. Linux needs to be marketed to those folks ... Linux on the business 'desktop' is already here. The available applications are robust and numerous and cheap. Support from the big commercial vendors and third-party companies is out there, in place and ready to go." He's right. And he makes what should be a stunningly obvious declaration near the end of this little editorial: "The fact that Linux doesn't have all that extra software that Windows does is actually a benefit in the workplace. How many times have IT managers had to fix a Windows machine because some worker brought a program from home and installed it? Linux systems let you keep your systems lean and mean right from the get-go." It's a point well-taken.

[ Posted at 2:42 PM | Permalink ]

Friday, December 19, 2003

Guide to switching

Apple Computer: "Upgrading from a PC to a Mac is only a bit more difficult than upgrading from a PC to a new PC. The challenge is the same: moving your files from your old computer to your new computer. This step-by-step guide will help make switching as easy as possible. We’ll tell you where to find your data files and preferences on the PC and where to put them on your new Mac." If you absolutely have to do this, I actually recommend Detto Move2Mac. Here's an article I wrote about this last year.

[ Posted at 8:15 PM | Permalink ]

iBooks failing ... Apple deleting evidence

Apple Insider: "Rather than acknowledging a major hardware glitch that has been known to cause repeated logic-board failures with its dual USB line of iBook consumer portables, Apple seems to be taking an unethical standpoint on the matter. It appears that the company has once again resorted to deleting customer's comments on its online discussion boards. 'This morning I posted a message regarding the failure of the logic board in my 14'' iBook. The post is no longer online as of this afternoon and my profile now states that only one of the two posts I have made is online!,' claims one AppleInsider reader. According to the reader, the post contained no profanity of foul language, but simply presented an account of his current situation. Followup postings on subject were also removed 'within a matter of minutes.' This is not the first time that Apple has engaged in such a practice, which only fuels consumer dissatisfaction to new levels. In 2002 the company began removing posts from disgruntled iTools users and proceeded with the same behavior earlier this year on the subject of defective Apple power cords." Disgruntled iBook owners can sign a petition at BlackCider.

[ Posted at 8:06 PM | Permalink ]

Another .Mac freebie

And speaking of .Mac, Apple is offering .Mac subscribers a free copy of Arcsoft PhotoStudio X, a photo editing package that includes everything you need to fix, print, and get creative with your digital photos. (More info about PhotoStudio X here.) You can download the software (34.3 MB), which is normally $79, from the Software -> Members Only folder of your iDisk. Arcsoft software, incidentally, is hit or miss, but some of their products are quite good. I'll check this one out.

[ Posted at 8:01 PM | Permalink ]

Getting Started with .Mac

Apple has posted a nice PDF manual called Getting Started with .Mac, that covers everything you need to know about its .Mac service. It's a free download for .Mac users and anyone else interested in .Mac.

[ Posted at 7:58 PM | Permalink ]

And you thought only Microsoft employees stole

Business Journal: "Marci O'Kelly, 34, of Sunnyvale, was indicted this week by a federal grand jury on charges that she defrauded her former employer, Apple Computer, Inc., of Cupertino, and engaged in interstate shipment of stolen property, according to prosecutors ... When Ms. O'Kelly was a graphics design budget coordinator for Apple in 2002 and 2003 ... she ordered approximately $120,000 of digital photography equipment from vendors on Apple's account without authorization, then resold the equipment for her personal benefit on eBay, the Internet auction site."

[ Posted at 7:54 PM | Permalink ]

Red Hat Fedora Core 2 schedule

Red Hat has posted a page describing the schedule for Fedora Core 2, the next version of its fully-open-source desktop Linux distribution. "We have set a very aggressive schedule for Fedora Core 2. Red Hat considers two items absolutely 'stop-ship' — that is, we will slip the release if necessary to include them. These two items are the 2.6 Linux kernel and SELinux functionality integrated into the distribution. Other areas of technology that the Fedora Community (Red Hat and third parties together) will focus on will include GNOME 2.6 (tight schedule, particularly dependent on Gtk+ 2.4), KDE 3.2, more Java software using gcj (Ant, Tomcat, Jakarta, Eclipse, but not Mozilla plugins, AWT, or Swing), and integrating work on other architectures (at least AMD64, and possibly also SPARC)." Beta 1 and 2 are due in February, Beta 3 in March, and the final release in April 2004.

[ Posted at 4:41 PM | Permalink ]

2004 is the year of Linux, part four

Apparently, you can buy Sun's Java Desktop System (JDS, a confusing name as it's a Linux distribution) for just $50 online during a special promotion (it goes up to $100 in June 2004). That price includes the full StarOffice 7.0 productivity suite, which costs $50 or more by itself. I just paid $50 for LindowsOS 4.5, and am pretty impressed so far. I might have to check this out. Here's some more info about JDS.

[ Posted at 1:59 PM | Permalink ]

2004 is the year of Linux, part three

Wired: "Will [the] 2.6 [kernel] be the one that will finally bring the Linux operating system to the masses?"

[ Posted at 1:55 PM | Permalink ]

2004 is the year of Linux, part two

Yep, it will never end. Now ComputerWorld is also reporting that 2004 will be the year of Linux. I wonder if they just republish old articles for this and change the dates. "Over the next 12 to 18 months, Linux will strengthen its hold in the data center and make significant inroads on Microsoft Corp.'s desktop monopoly. This will be driven by the pending release of the 2.6 Linux kernel, whose Native Posix Thread Library (NPTL) will allow better support for database and application server workloads on x86 and 64-bit platforms."

[ Posted at 1:53 PM | Permalink ]

Mysterious new iTunes 4.2 "grouping" feature

iPodhead.com reports that iTunes 4.2 includes a mysterious new "grouping" feature that's undocumented. Any thoughts?

[ Posted at 1:50 PM | Permalink ]

Thursday, December 18, 2003

Hidden costs of Mac ownership

A Newsfactor article discusses the hidden costs of owning a Mac. "Apple users who want to stay current with the latest Mac operating system release have needed to pay $129 on a regular basis. When Apple released version 10.1, 10.2 and 10.3, each one of the releases cost $129." Whatever you feel about this, give Microsoft some credit: It has released a slew of free add-ons for Windows XP since that OS first shipped over two years ago. Apple's "free" upgrades (Safari, iLife, etc.), meanwhile, are apparently subsidized by its OS sales, as the company charges for each incremental upgrade, with one coming about every 12 months. Let's be honest here: It's fine--and fair--for Apple to do so. But because Apple's market is so small, and it's OS hasn't until recently compared well to XP, it's been forced to upgrade users on a faster schedule; it must be a nasty treadmill. Microsoft, with hundreds of millions of users on various Windows versions, can move along much more slowly, knowing that people will simply upgrade over time as they replace their PCs. It's an interesting comparison.

[ Posted at 10:28 PM | Permalink ]

Apple releases QuickTime 6.5

The newest release of Apple's QuickTime is available, the company announced today. "QuickTime 6.5, the industry's first mainstream media architecture for the creation and playback of rich multimedia content for both CDMA 2000 and GSM wireless networks. Expanding its support for mobile multimedia standards to include both 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2), QuickTime 6.5 enables users to share high-quality video, audio and text across the two predominant wireless networking technologies worldwide. QuickTime 6.5 will add to the existing popularity of QuickTime 6, which has already had over 175 million downloads in less than 18 months since its release."

[ Posted at 10:21 PM | Permalink ]

Camino roadmap

I haven't used Camino since Apple released the Safari beta, but Mozillazine is reporting that the OS X-based Web browser has a new roadmap outlining the plans for Camino 0.8. "The next release of the native Mac OS X browser will be based on Mozilla 1.7 (due out in March) and will focus on stability, polish and infrastructure improvements. People will be able to suggest bugs that they think should be fixed for 0.8 by using a nomination system similar to the one that exists for the Mozilla Application Suite. Camino 0.8 is expected to be the last release that will support Mac OS X 10.1, with all future versions requiring 10.2 (Jaguar) or higher."

[ Posted at 10:17 PM | Permalink ]

Blog changes

I'm going to work on the site design a bit over the next few days. First up: Real titles. Eventually, a decent logo.

[ Posted at 9:12 PM | Permalink ]

Wal-Mart launches online music store - 88 cents a song

Wal-Mart has launched its own online music store, the cunningly named Wal-Mart Music Downloads, and is undercutting Apple iTunes and the rest of the competition by offering tracks for just 88 cents apiece (albums are typically $9.44). Like all non-Apple stores, Wal-Mart Music Downloads requires Windows Media Player 9 Series and its superior WMA 9 audio format. Wal-Mart's songs are encoded at 128-bits, which is good (not as good as MusicMatch, though) and can be played on only one PC but can be burned on to up 10 CDs, and copied to any WMA-compliant portable player that supports DRM (that is, virtually every player but the iPod).

[ Posted at 5:22 PM | Permalink ]

Hypocrite

John Gruber's Daring Fireball is occassionally interesting, but more often than not he lapses into the all-so-typical defensive "if you criticize the Mac, you suck" sort of paranoia that dominates the Web. It's distressing. Anyway, today, John actually spelled out how he reacts when he reads something on the Web he doesn't like, and I can't help but think that he just doesn't see the hypocrisy in this. Here's what he does, in his words: "1. Some jackass writes something really dumb. 2. They get a lot of attention. 3. I politely retort." See, John doesn't get that calling the guy he's "politely retorting to" a "jackass" makes his argument completely bogus. But what's really sad is that John wrote this because he totally disagrees with Lance Ulanoff's dead-on PC World article about Mac OS X and security problems. See, Ulanoff just must be one of those bizarre PC guys that hates Macs (and you know how many of those guys there are), and he just needs to be put in his place. Sadly, I must spin this around on John, however. So, as politely as I can retort, John, sorry, but you're being a jackass.

[ Posted at 5:08 PM | Permalink ]

Mozilla as a platform

LinuxInsider's Nigel McFarlane looks at how Mozilla is so much more than an application. He gets it. "Mozilla's trick has been to mash together two concepts: GUIs and XML. The result is XUL, a dialect -- technically an application -- of XML. A document that is XUL describes the GUI of an application in plain text using XML tags like 'toolbar,' 'menu,' 'key' and 'window.' HTML doesn't have these tags. When you display this document, the result is a standard application GUI window, not an HTML page in a browser window. That is a breakthrough."

[ Posted at 5:00 PM | Permalink ]

John Lowry: Film restoration

It turns out some of my favorite recent DVD's--Sergio Leone's stunning "Once Upon a Time in the West" and the "Indiana Jones Trilogy" were digitally restored by a genius named John Lowry, who was just featured on Apple's Web site. Using 100 Dual Processor Power Mac G5s (each with 3.5 GB of RAM) and 300 Power Mac G4s, 100 terabytes of hard disk storage, and his own proprietary film cleaning technology, Lowry does an amazing job cleaning up deteriorating film, as my recent movie purchases prove. "We could have done a lot of the dirt removal, but we knew it wouldn’t be as good," he says. "We owe it to filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas to make sure that these films are pristine." Great reading.

[ Posted at 4:42 PM | Permalink ]

iTunes 4.2 released

Apple has released iTunes 4.2, which allows users to sign in and buy music using either an Apple or America Online (AOL) account, view the iTunes Music Store in a separate window, and includes a number of performance improvements. Versions are available for Windows and the Mac.

[ Posted at 4:11 PM | Permalink ]

Exodus from NYC continues

Boston Globe: LinuxWorld becomes 2d major tech trade show to quit NY for Boston. "Boston is hosting the Democratic National Convention next summer, while New York is hosting the Republicans. James Rooney, interim executive director of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, said the LinuxWorld move underscores the heightened competition between the two markets. 'We're getting into this game in a big way to win,' Rooney said.

[ Posted at 1:29 PM | Permalink ]

What a crappy present

LOL. Why CDs make bad gifts for kids.

[ Posted at 1:12 PM | Permalink ]

The Wonderful World of Linux 2.6

Joseph Pranevich takes a comprehensive look at the new features in Linux 2.6. Some of the more interesting ones include better support for embedded systems, better support for large servers, support for Pentium 4 HT Hyper-Threading technologies, and changes to make the system more responsive (good for desktop users). Also, the Linux 2.6 kernel is finally preemptible, the I/O subsystem has undergone major changes, and it supports a much wider range of hardware. For laptop users, Linux 2.6 finally supports software-suspend-to-disk and the ability to change processor speed (and power requirements) based on whether your system is plugged in or not. Very interesting reading.

[ Posted at 1:08 PM | Permalink ]

WSJ looks at Linux on the desktop

"[Linux] software is free, but setup of Windows alternative is not for the faint of heart," an article by a staff reporter at the Wall Street Journal begins. "Only 1.4% of computer users have Linux on their home desktops, according to market researcher Jupiter Research. Most estimates put Microsoft's share of the home market above 90%, with Apple's Mac OS at about 5%." (That's really old data. Actually, Apple's share of the market is 2 percent or less.) "Our goal was to put together a working Linux PC at home that could handle such basic tasks as Web browsing, e-mail, word processing and digital music playing -- and that would save us money. We weren't looking to whiz through graphic-intensive video games or edit giant digital photos. With Linux available at no cost, we only needed to buy hardware. One of Linux's strengths is that it runs satisfactorily on the older, less-expensive gear with which Windows can struggle." They threw together a $300 PC and went to town. Interesting results.

[ Posted at 8:58 AM | Permalink ]

Apple's calvalcade of bug fixes continues

I guess Panther isn't the only thing broken in Cupertino this week. Apple also released a QuickTime MPEG-2 component bug fix, the Battery Update v1.1 bug fix for specfic iBook and PowerBook models (it will appear in Software Update if you need it), and a new G5 firmware update that fixes problems with the system's so-crucial fan management. The holidays are such a busy time.

[ Posted at 8:53 AM | Permalink ]

Apple updates Panther to 10.3.2

The Panther bug fixes are coming fast and furious, with the second major set of updates arriving in less than two months since Panther's initial release. Mac OS X 10.3.2 includes enhancements to file sharing and directory services for cross-platform networks, Apple described in the release's documentation. The update also improves PostScript printing, font management, and the Mail and Address Book applications. It also includes new drivers for ATI and Nvidia graphics cards, and ties together all of the security patches that Apple had already released separately for Panther. It's available now on Software Update. BTW: This update is a whopping 38.2 MB! Yikes.

[ Posted at 8:38 AM | Permalink ]

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

LindowsOS 4.5 ships

It's unclear how popular Lindows is, but it certainly generates a lot of press. Today, Lindows.com announced the release of LindowsOS 4.5, the latest version of its desktop OS, which features integrated SIP software for free worldwide calling, remote desktops sharing, integrated search features, and new international translation tools that work with six different languages. There's a lot more: Check out the New Features page for details. LindowsOS 4.5 is $49.95 for the download or $59.95 for the packaged CD version.

[ Posted at 1:15 PM | Permalink ]

Pearl Jam sells CD single through Amazon.com

MSNBC: "Veteran alt-rock band Pearl Jam, now free from its Sony Music contract, has aligned with Amazon.com to release the CD single 'Man of the Hour' from the 'Big Fish' soundtrack. The move makes Pearl Jam the most mainstream act to take part in Amazon.com's Advantage for Music Program, which is generally used by unknown independent acts to sell music directly to fans ... Pearl Jam has tentative plans to record a new studio album next year and is weighing distribution options." The CD costs $5.

[ Posted at 12:45 PM | Permalink ]

100 years of flight

Here is a fascinating examination of the photographs of the Wright Brothers' first flight on December 17, 1903. "In the Daniels/Wright photograph, Wilbur has unconsciously slowed to a stop and now looks intently at his brother, airborne on their Flyer, gratified and no doubt a little amazed by what he sees."

[ Posted at 12:38 PM | Permalink ]

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

Irony or stupidity?
Follow the progression:

December 15, 2003, Forbes.com (not the print mag, of course): "It's not often that Macintosh users can brag about an application that simply doesn't exist on Windows ... But every once in a while comes along a truly interesting software application that appears only on Apple Computer's Macs ... as far as we know, there is nothing quite like it for Windows. It's called Konfabulator, and it's available at www.konfabulator.com."

December 16, 2003: News.com: "A Web site ... called Konfabulator ... that offers desktop applets for the Macintosh desktop is gearing up to provide similar gadgets for Windows ... That version goes to beta testers Tuesday night and is scheduled to be complete within four to six weeks."

And once again, the universe is in alignment.

[ Posted at 11:01 PM | Permalink ]

Mac users demand better MSN Messenger for OS X
As they should. Check out the rationale and sign the petition. Hey, it's cheaper than buying iChat.

[ Posted at 12:40 PM | Permalink ]

Jerry, welcome to my world
Spurred on by his annoying friend Peter G., BYTE columnist, technology pundit, and award-winning science fiction author Jerry Pournelle has decided to revisit the world of the Mac over a decade after giving up on the platform. Needless to say, he's run into all kinds of problems in the last few weeks, which he's documenting on his Web site. But Jerry is discovering, inevitably, and as I did, the dark side of the Mac, which is it's overly-enthusiastic followers, who troll the Web looking for anything even remotely anti-Mac, so they can lambast any poor fool who would attempt to chip away at the Mac's perfect exterior. "What I am being told by the Mac community is that if it don't go perfectly, first time, there's something wrong with me: this despite my having the advice of some of the best people in the business," he writes. "And note the language. I am never merely wrong, I am always wrong-headed and worthy of contempt ... the Mac gurus are now saying that the answers to all problems are found in a couple of minutes with google, and I am an idiot for not knowing it. That sort of smug superiority is common, and one reason why it's a big temptation to abandon the whole thing ... I wonder at people who need to belittle others to salvage their own intellectual self esteem, and why [they] congregate where they do." So do I, Jerry, and what's classic is that I can be criticized for calling such people to the carpet.

But Pournelle really hits the nail on the head in one comment, and I only have to look painfully at some of the feedback to my own articles about inductive UI to see the truth in this: "For the Mac enthusiasts who would like to see more Mac users: realistically you have two sources, people who have never used computers before, and Windows users. You might think about the implications of that." In other words, most Mac fanatics (and most "Mac users," really) are very technical people, and they have literally no understanding or memory of what it's like to be new to computing, or to the Mac. And they spend an awful lot of time heckling people who have honestly had problems making the Mac work well. Good strategy, guys.

[ Posted at 10:11 AM | Permalink ]

Apple: 25 million iTunes Music Store downloads
Apple announces that it's sold 25 million songs via the iTunes Music Store. Given my previous publication of a chart showing how sales at the store are declining, I think it's fair to see how this new figure changes things, as 25 million is higher than the previous 20 million figure, which had a debateable date assigned to it (The publication of a Rolling Stone interview with Steve Jobs). Instead of dropping from an average of 250,000 songs a day to 93,500 songs a day, the new figure suggests that average sales of songs per day has dropped from 250,000 a day to 200,000 a day between November and December, still a huge drop, but not nearly as bad as previously thought. The sales chart for the period now looks like this:

What's amazing about this data is that is shows that iTunes sales are tracking almost identically to the period in which it was a Mac-only service: There is a sharp increase in sales as the service is opened, followed by a steady, inevitable decline. I'm guessing Apple's Pepsi ad campaign will provide a similar artificial boost, followed by another steady (and probably more marked) decline in early 2004. But the overwhelming trend seems to indicate that, by adding the service to the other 97-98 percent of the computing market, Apple has basically doubled its sales. I'm not sure this is fantastic but certainly, it's better than the company's previously limited possibilities.

[ Posted at 9:47 AM | Permalink ]

Mac stability issues hobble Mac help site
To be clear, I really like Macintouch, which is focused on helping Mac users and not doing the "holier than thou, better than Windows" BS that most other Mac sites revel in. That said, LOL. "MacInTouch news will be delayed this morning, due to gross stability problems with Ric's primary computer and additional problems with both file-sharing and FireWire while attempting to recover the files. We hope to have our normal daily update by 12:00 EST."

[ Posted at 9:32 AM | Permalink ]

Introduction to Mozilla manual finished
A PDF-based guide to Mozilla 1.5, Introduction to Mozilla — A Manual for First Time Users, is finished and available for download.

[ Posted at 9:29 AM | Permalink ]

Science fun: Archimedes's puzzle deciphered
New York Times: "Twenty-two hundred years ago, the great Greek mathematician Archimedes wrote a treatise called the Stomachion. Unlike his other writings, it soon fell into obscurity. Little of it survived, and no one knew what to make of it. But now a historian of mathematics at Stanford, sifting through ancient parchment overwritten by monks and nearly ruined by mold, appears to have solved the mystery of what the treatise was about ..."

[ Posted at 9:23 AM | Permalink ]

Spider-Man 2 trailer
I was underwhelmed by the Spider-Man movie, but the trailer for Spider-Man 2 looks great.

[ Posted at 9:18 AM | Permalink ]

Awesome billboard
LOL. Good stuff.

[ Posted at 9:16 AM | Permalink ]