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About this siteFor 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, February 14, 2004Linux overtaking Mac OS on the desktopTechnically, this happened over a year ago, or longer ago if you consider only Mac OS X users, but Business Week is reporting that Linux will soon overtake the Mac on the desktop. "Market researcher IDC expects to announce within weeks that Linux' PC market share in 2003 hit 3.2%, overtaking Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh [which hit a new low of 1.88 percent for 2003] And the researcher expects Linux to capture 6% of this market by 2007. That's still tiny compared with Microsoft's 94% share. But it's clear now that Linux is becoming a viable alternative to Windows on desktop and laptop PCs for companies willing to put up with the trouble of switching." [ Posted at 2:29 PM | Permalink ]
Friday, February 13, 2004PalmSource Drops Mac Desktop SupportAssociated Press: "PalmSource Inc. says future versions of its Palm operating system for handheld devices will not have built-in synchronization software for Apple's Macintosh computers. The decision to abandon Mac desktop support in its new Palm Cobalt OS stemmed from the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company's limited development resources, PalmSource officials said Thursday. 'We are not a huge company and our energy and resources (have) to go into guaranteeing that Palm OS Cobalt is a competitive product against rivals like Microsoft or Symbian,' PalmSource chief products officer Larry Slotnick said." [ Posted at 9:19 AM | Permalink ]
13 Reasons To Use Firefox Over IEFlexBeta: "For me, the biggest factor that inspired me to start using a browser other than Internet Explorer was the constant bugs and security fixes that were plaguing the latter, not to mention the tons of plug-ins that took over your browser. Changing your homepage to some paid advertiser, or adding a toolbar that does the worst job possible when searching. The majority of these spyware and vulnerabilities are commonly programmed for Internet Explorer being that IE holds over 70% of the internet browser market. There are other browsers out there that can compete with IE, but Mozilla Firefox (formally known as Firebird) is a complete browser filled with tons of features that’s only light in size. From a built in pop-up blocker that works better than many commercial pop-up blockers, to tabbed browsing, these are just two of the factors that contribute to making Firefox an internet browser’s dream." [ Posted at 9:17 AM | Permalink ]
Thursday, February 12, 2004Fedora Core 2 Test Release 1 AvailableLinux Today: "Yes, it's time for the first test release of Fedora Core 2. This release is the first Fedora Core release to include the 2.6 kernel, GNOME 2.5, KDE 3.2, and XFCE. Testing of all of these areas would be appreciated, above and beyond any other testing. As always, test releases are not intended for use on production environments. Use of test releases in production environments could lead to FLAMING DEATH! ... As always, you can get Fedora Core test releases at redhat.com" [ Posted at 2:24 PM | Permalink ]
iTunes Bad, WMA Good Extreme Tech, in a bit of Paul copying: "Well, guys, here's your comeuppance. Here's where I praise a Microsoft solution, slam the open stuff, and dis Apple, all at the same time. Oh, the mail I'm going to get ... I fully expect Microsoft to whip its media playback software into shape with a better interface and a full built-in online music store. IPod sales and iTunes usage will continue to grow but the market will grow even faster, causing their actual market share to shrink. When that happens, and Apple's products become entirely marginalized, I don't want to be stuck with a whole bunch of 99-cent songs encoded with AAC and locked with FairPlay DRM."
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More iPod battery falloutBBC: "Apple is investigating allegations that it misled people over the battery life of its iPod digital music player. Five separate class actions were filed against the company in December 2003."[ Posted at 1:52 PM | Permalink ]
Wednesday, February 11, 2004Unreal Tournament 2004 demo now availableUnreal Tournament.com: "The demo contains 5 maps (AS-Convoy, ONS-Torlan, DM-Rankin, CTF-BridgeOfFate, BR-Colossus), 6 game modes (Assault, Onslaught, Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Team Deathmatch, Bombing Run)." (209 MB) [ Posted at 9:44 PM | Permalink ]
The iMac Needs to Lose Its HeadBusiness Week Online (not the print magazine): "When Steve Jobs introduced an iMac with a floating flat-panel display in January, 2002, the faithful roared. The press wrote about it incessantly. Time even gave Jobs a gushing cover story based on the iMac, hailing the elegant desktop PC as a 'sleek machine' that could be the future digital hub of the home ... Digital anchor is more like it. In the first fiscal quarter of 2004 ending December 27, 2003, iMac unit sales and revenue plummeted by 24% and 29%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. The iMac was the only Apple (AAPL ) product line to show shrinking revenues and unit sales over that interval. Indeed, the iMac has posted disappointing numbers for several quarters now, leading some to wonder whether the product that Time dubbed Apple's 'new core' has gone rotten. Alas, it has."I've owned a 17-inch iMac for almost a year now, and I can make two observations about it based on near-daily use: 1. It's a beautiful (albeit underpowered) machine. People do comment on it. Even my wife noted that it was attractive the day after we got it, and she's almost a Luddite. 2. The easily-moved, easily-tilted screen is useless. Here's how screens work in the real world (head's up, Mr. Jobs): You position them once and then you forget about them. I haven't moved my PC screen once, and it's always perfectly positioned. Oh, but not with the iMac. With the iMac, you get to reposition it constantly, as every little errant hit or nudge on the screen, as you reach around it (often to find one of its inexplicably hidden ports or the power button) sends the screen reeling to the side. People talk about the G4 Cube as a mistake of design over function, but I think the Cube was a better design than the sunflower-like iMac. [ Posted at 2:47 PM | Permalink ]
Apple Computer Named In Texas Patent Infringement SuitWall Street Journal (paid subscription required): "Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) said Tuesday it's a defendant in five separate purported class-action lawsuits filed in California on Dec. 23, 2003, alleging misrepresentations by the company of its iPod digital musical player's battery life. According to its quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple Computer said the lawsuits allege violation of a California law for unfair competition and violation of California's Consumer Legal Remedies Act. Also, the lawsuits allege false advertising, fraudulent concealment and breach of warranty by Apple Computer, the filing said ... Separately, Apple Computer said it's one of eight defendants named in a patent infringement lawsuit filed by East Texas Technology Partners Jan. 23 in Texas. The company said the lawsuit alleges infringement on patent 6,574,239 relating to "virtual connection of a remote unit to a server." It said the East Technology Partners is seeking unspecified damages and relief." [ Posted at 9:22 AM | Permalink ]
Litigants Take Bite Out of AppleWired: "Apple Computer faces five class-action suits filed in December claiming it misrepresented the battery life of its iPod digital music player, the company said on Tuesday in a regulatory filing. Apple has been buoyed in recent quarters by robust sales of the iPod. But users have complained the iPod battery wears out too quickly. The lawsuit's complaints include unfair competition and claims of false advertising, fraudulent concealment and breach of warranty, Apple said." [ Posted at 9:20 AM | Permalink ]
Tuesday, February 10, 2004The Star Wars Trilogy on DVD Star Wars.com: "The most requested films for the DVD format will finally become a reality this September as Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox present the eagerly-awaited Star Wars Trilogy for the ultimate home entertainment format. The four-disc collection will be released on September 21 in the U.S. and Canada, with international release dates following closely ... Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi will be available in a four-disc set that includes a bonus disc filled with all-new special features -- including the most comprehensive feature-length documentary ever produced about the Star Wars saga and never-before-seen footage from the making of all three films. Each of the three films in the Star Wars Trilogy has been digitally restored and re-mastered by THX for superior sound and picture quality."
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The Rise of Palm: For Apple, the Road Not TakenTechnology News: "In the end, what makes PalmSource's Cobalt operating system fascinating for me is that it is one of those rare occasions when a bunch of ex-employees -- in this case, ex-Apple employees -- actually demonstrate to their old company that there was a better path ... The fact that Apple missed a big opportunity resonates well with the conclusion that was inescapable once we saw how well the iPod did. Apple could have competed very well with the PC vendors if the company had stepped up to the challenge and not chickened out." [ Posted at 12:29 PM | Permalink ]
Apple Faces Class Action Suits on IPod BatteryReuters: "Apple Computer Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL - news) faces five class action suits filed in December claiming it misrepresented the battery life of its iPod digital music player, the company said on Tuesday in a regulatory filing. The lawsuit's complaints include unfair competition and claims of false advertising, fraudulent concealment and breach of warranty, Apple said." Someday, probably after Jobs is gone, Apple will figure out that customers expect the company to live up to its claims, especially when it charges such a premium for its products. Apple makes $175 profit on each iPod it sells, which is sort of an astonishing mark-up. [ Posted at 12:26 PM | Permalink ]
Strong Authentication: Smart NetworkingAlwaysOn: "Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's executive vice president for software, calls for uniformity in security, diversity in solutions." Kind of a fascinating interview with a guy that pulls no punches. I don't agree with much of what he says, but it's definitely worth reading. A few interesting moments:"Now when you do things of which you are not proud, you do them on a PC. Why on a PC? Because you're not authenticated. And I think this notion that Ballmer is going to take seriously the issues of cyber-terrorism is a bit of a joke when the solution is right in front of our noses: it's called strongly authenticating network identity." "I'm very partial to Macs. I have a hard time suggesting that consumers buy anything other than a Mac. I run a Mac at home. They're beautiful machines. Apple understands artistry and consumer appeal. But that's not our target demographic. Our target demographic is large-scale enterprise." "You can roam on a cell phone. Why? Because the industry wanted to let you roam. You can't take your Starbucks card and use it at Pottery Barn. Why? Because Starbucks and Pottery Barn don't get along. They're competitors, and they haven't figured out that an open network is better than a closed network. Same thing is true inside the home. I was just with a Microsoft employee who was grousing to me about the fact that he couldn't get any of his home audio equipment to talk to one another. I said, well if you buy all Sony you'll be fine. And his response was, I don't want to buy from just one vendor. And I said that's kind of ironic coming from Microsoft." Except, of course, that it isn't ironic at all. Only Apple locks you into a one-vendor strategy on the PC desktop. [ Posted at 8:40 AM | Permalink ]
Monday, February 09, 2004About the new Mozilla Firefox branding Some time ago, I wrote about the childish reaction the Mozilla Foundation (then simply called Mozilla.org) had when a pre-existing open source project cried foul over its use of the Firebird name. After much public blathering, the people developing Mozilla finally quieted down, and while they never actually apologized for their appalling behavior, it's now clear what really happened: The Mozilla Foundation had to rename their browser, and that renaming was actually the reason the 0.8 release was delayed again and again.
"The process began in late November," Mozilla developer Ben Goodger writes in his blog. "Mozilla's Chief Architect Brendan Eich had made a commitment to resolve the dispute over Firebird's code name by the 0.8 milestone ... After the Christmas/New Year break, the situation played out over the following six weeks, with our lawyers in the United States and Europe as well as Bart Decrem at The Mozilla Foundation working to resolve the issues. At times it seemed like there was no light at the end of the tunnel. We contemplated releasing under an interim name. I was optimistic however and held the release, and eventually we turned the corner and the issues were resolved." In related news, Steven Garrity has an interesting write-up about the development of the new Firefox logo. "Our [task] is to improve the quality and consistency of the visual elements of the Mozilla products. Icons/logos, default themes, and other visual aspects of the software are all on our radar." Designer Jon Hicks has also written up a description of the Firefox branding saga. "I then rendered [the final concept] using Fireworks MX. I’ve been using Fireworks over Illustrator or Photoshop for icon design as I love the way I can work in vectors and see the result in pixels, rather than smooth vectors. The updated gradient tools in MX make this possible too." Finally, you can show your support of Firefox by using one of the buttons shown on the Mozilla.org Firefox buttons page. [ Posted at 5:48 PM | Permalink ]
Table - IBM Counterclaims and Both SCO AnswersGroklaw: "In true Groklaw tradition, Ken Herron got creative and emailed me this wonderful chart. I love being able to see at a glance, first, what IBM said in it Counterclaims, second, what SCO initially answered, and third, what SCO now is saying in its Amended Answer. As always, many eyeballs make it easy to spot any errors, so here we go. New material is red text; deleted or moved is blue. For example, the original Fifteenth Affirmative Defense is now the Eighteenth, where it is greatly expanded." [ Posted at 1:08 PM | Permalink ]
Alpine Launches World’s First Car Audio Head Units to Allow True Integration with iPodAlpine: "Mobile multimedia specialist Alpine has developed a system that enables consumers to connect and control their Apple iPod portable music player from their in-vehicle sound system. Alpine's iPod Ready strategy is part of the company's overarching mission to create innovative in-vehicle electronics that are easier to use and provide great sound in the mobile environment."I was literally just wondering aloud why car stereo companies weren't providing line-in for portable audio players. This is even better. [ Posted at 1:07 PM | Permalink ]
iBook G4 also exhibits screen defectsIn 18 months, we'll be reading about Apple preventing yet another class action lawsuit over this issue, and some advocate suck-up will praise the company for doing the right thing. Ahem. Anyway, Macintouch presents the following report today: "I have just noticed a white blotch at the left corner of my iBook G4 14" screen. It is only visable with a white back ground and is about 3/8 of an inch in diameter. The Apple forum for iBook G4 displays has other reports of multiple white spots in various locations of the screen. It looks like this is the same screen problem as the 15" Powerbooks had but not as severe." [ Posted at 1:05 PM | Permalink ]
What Does Steve Jobs Want?Fortune (paid subscription required) engages in a bit of conjecture, not news reporting, and then concludes that none of the potential outcomes it invents will ever happen anyway. Seriously.After noting that Apple CEO Steve Jobs has no interest in running Disney (Jobs snorts, "Why would I ever want to run Disney? Wouldn't it make more sense just to sell them Pixar and retire?"), author Brent Schlender writes, "An even more intriguing possibility, given Apple's recent foray into consumer electronics with iPod and iTunes, is the potential synergy between Jobs' companies and Sony, the king of consumer electronics, which also happens to own a studio and a record company ... it doesn't take too much imagination to speculate that [Sony CEO Nobuyuki Idei] might find it attractive to partner with, or perhaps even acquire, Apple and Pixar, and let them continue to operate as independent entities, meanwhile luring Jobs onto his board of directors. Sony officials don't deny the idea has been discussed. All Idei will say is 'We would like to work more closely with Steve' ... Apple and Pixar are the brands he cares about, not Disney or Sony. So it's far more likely that Jobs will continue to operate the way he always has, with a stubborn independence and unique creativity that give him a special kind of clout he would lose if he were a captain of the establishment. Like George Lucas, the independent filmmaker from whom he purchased Pixar, Steve wants to write his own script." Yawn. [ Posted at 12:28 PM | Permalink ]
Gary Ray Brent Gary Ray Brent, 44, of Phoenix, Arizona, son of Catherine Brady and the late Dr. Larry Brent, passed away on January 28, 2004. Gary was born on October 29th, 1959 in Great Lakes Naval Base, Illinois. He graduated from Rutgers University and received his MA from the American Graduate School of International Management where he majored in Asian languages. He had been a teacher at Scottsdale Community College. He taught computer science and authored ten computer technical books as well as several other books. A daughter Alice Brent and a son Alexander (Alex) N. Brent Survive him. Memorial services will be held at Church of the Beatitudes, 555 W. Glendale Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85021 this Thursday, Feb. 5 at 10:00 am. Donations may be made to Church of the Beatitudes or the Arizona Animal Welfare League, 30 N. 40th Place, Phoenix AZ 85034. Gary will be sorely missed by his friends and family.
Published in the Arizona Republic on 2/4/2004. [ Posted at 11:43 AM | Permalink ]
Dean tries Switch adsHey, it worked great for Apple! Struggling Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean is testing Switch-style ads for his last stand in Wisconsin. [ Posted at 10:38 AM | Permalink ]
Mozilla Firebird evolves into Firefox 0.8; Thunderbird 0.5 releasedBig news today from Mozilla.org: "The Mozilla Foundation today announced the immediate availability of a new preview release of its next generation web browser, Mozilla Firefox. Mozilla Firefox 0.8 represents the bleeding edge of Internet technology and raises the bar for ease of use, performance, robustness and standards compliance ... The Mozilla Foundation also announced the latest preview release of its new email application, Mozilla Thunderbird. Responding to strong interest in Thunderbird among enterprises and educational institutions, Thunderbird 0.5 includes numerous improvements aimed at enterprise users."New features in Firefox 0.8 include: * A powerful new download manager that makes tracking multiple downloads easier; * Numerous improvements to bookmarks handling, making it easier than ever to keep track of your favorite sites; * Improved handling of extensions - small, easy to download applications that can be installed with a few simple mouse clicks and extend the browser’s functionality. Community members have created more than 200 such extensions, including add-ons that remove ad banners, add spell-checker functionality, and add the ability to search Amazon.com, eBay or other popular sites from the Firefox toolbar; * An easy to use installer for Microsoft Windows users; * A new default theme for Mac OS X users that integrates seamlessly with the OS X desktop environment. New features in Thunderbird 0.5 include: * The ability to synchronize address books with Palm devices; * IMAP performance and interoperability improvements; * Secure password authentication using SSPI NTLM for SMTP and POP3; * Improved LDAP support; * Improved migration from Netscape 4.x; * Improved spell checker and English dictionary; * Numerous other bug fixes and improvements. [ Posted at 9:10 AM | Permalink ]
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