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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

Saturday, March 20, 2004

Firefox fills the IE void

InfoWorld: "In January 2004, 94.8 percent of Web surfers used Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher, according to the Web analytics research company OneStat.com. Not me, though. For many months I’ve been using a Mozilla-based browser that can’t seem to settle on a name: Phoenix, Firebird, now Firefox. Identity crisis notwithstanding, it rocks."

Welcome to the club, Jon. I've been using--and recommending--Mozilla products over IE for years. Now, I only use IE with the sites I absolutely have to, and the number of those sites has dwindled down to just a handful.

[ Posted at 7:03 PM | Permalink ]

Why you should switch to Nvu

Now at a more stable location: "Nvu is the new Web editing environment based on the Mozilla platform and its Gecko layout engine. Primarily made for LindowsOS and other Linux flavors, its cross-platform architecture makes it available on a wide variety of other platforms. Nvu 0.1 binary test builds are now available for Linux and Windows. The source code of Nvu will be released when we reach a more complete product in terms of features. The code will be tri-licensed MPL/GPL/LGPL and we'll contribute it back to Mozilla.org at that time."

More: What is Nvu?

[ Posted at 11:16 AM | Permalink ]

Friday, March 19, 2004

Mozilla 1.7 Beta available

Today, the Mozilla Foundation posted its Mozilla 1.7 Beta. For info on what's new, check out the release notes. Download available here.

[ Posted at 5:52 PM | Permalink ]

Poor OS X sales hindering Adobe

But Steve Jobs told us the migration to OS X was nearly complete.

Dow Jones: "Customers are still evaluating the move to Apple Computer's OS X operating system, which the [Adobe Creative] Suite requires, Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen said."

MacWorld UK: "OS X laggards 'hindering Adobe CS.'"

The Mercury News: "Users of Apple Computer's Macintosh platform comprised 29 percent of Adobe software sales, up from 26 percent a year ago."

[ Posted at 11:02 AM | Permalink ]

Lawsuit alleges Apple retail impropriety; product invoices raise accounting questions

Apple's bogus financials continue unraveling.

Now, Think Secret reports that they've seen documentation proving that Apple is undercharing its stores and therefore illegally understating its losses. Interesting reading.

"Dealers behind the lawsuit believe they have the answer: that Apple is defrauding shareholders and misleading the public by misrepresenting the profitability of its stores. Substantiating their claim are thousands of product invoices -- documents that were examined first-hand by Think Secret and raise questions about Apple's accounting practices.

Apple publicly says that its retail stores pay the same dollar amount for its products as independent resellers do, through an accounting method that's intended to show the true financial status of the stores. The invoices, however, show the stores paying significantly lower prices for the same Apple products. If the charge is true, the dealers say, then Apple is providing the appearance that its retail stores are performing better than they actually are."

Furthermore, Apple even tried to cover up its accounting practices. In its May 2003 SEC filing, the company noted that its Apple Stores pay the same price for products as resellers. However, its most recent SEC filing, from February 2004, "contains slightly different language; instead of saying that the stores pay the same prices as 'the Company's resellers' for products and AppleCare contracts, the filing refers to 'major channel partners.'"

"I think the invoices say it all," Santos said. "Since 2001, Apple's retail management has been telling all the dealers that there is a 'level playing field.' They have also said that they pay exactly the same prices for products as the dealers do, but this is clearly not the case either." Santos said he believes that either Apple does not know how much the stores pay for products or "they know exactly what they're doing and it is the only way they can make it look as if the Apple retail initiative is profitable."

"I do not believe that Apple's retail stores have been any way near as profitable as Apple states and, in reality, are probably losing money," Armes said. "I have reviewed the Apple invoices along with Apple's statements about their retail stores and am convinced Apple is fraudulently misleading shareholders along with everyone on Wall Street."

[ Posted at 10:56 AM | Permalink ]

Thursday, March 18, 2004

SuSE Updates Desktop Linux

PC World: "Version 9.1 will offer universal instant messaging, video conferencing. Linux users seeking higher performance from their open-source operating system may be interested in two new products from Novell, which acquired German vendor SuSE Linux in November. The two products, SuSE Linux 9.1 Personal and SuSE Linux 9.1 Professional, are based on the 2.6 kernel and include the latest GNOME (GNU Object Model Environment) 2.4.2 and KDE (K Desktop Environment) 3.2.1 desktop interfaces, Novell announced this week at the Cebit trade show ... The product will be available in English on May 6 at SuSE's Web site and from bookstores and software suppliers."

[ Posted at 3:29 PM | Permalink ]

Extremetech, Welcome to my world: And yes, WMA is still better than AAC

Jason Cross of ExtremeTech discovered recently what it's like to be me. Just like me. Perhaps preturbingly like me. "Apple fans are well known – some would even say notorious – for their vigorous defense of all things Apple. When I wrote my previous opinion piece about the perils of iTunes and iPod, while at the same time praising WMA and its approach to digital music, I knew I would get letters. Lots and lots of letters. Many of them were angry gibberish, and some were actually coherent and well-made arguments in Apple's defense. The majority of them 'corrected' me on what they thought were factual errors in my article, using new 'facts' that were, in reality, commonly held misconceptions."

Ah yes. "Facts that are, in reality, commonly held misconceptions." Long-time Nexus readers will know that I've been discussing this little phenomena for years. I call it "common knowledge": Information that isn't true, but many people believe it to be true. The Mac community is particularly guilty of this.

The rest of this article is a classic re-hash of the WMA vs. AAC arguments I've been making for months, which is annoying but appreciated in a weird bit of Catch-22. He even whips out the WMA licensing terms, as I have, reiterated the BS about AAC being "free and open," the BS about iTunes using AAC, and so on. It's all so familiar, you know, if you know me.

Anyway, thanks Jason, for aping me. At the very least you're confirming what I already knew (and, ahem, have written about). But the more people who come around to the truth, the better. And maybe, together, we'll put a dent in the illogical (and untrue) beliefs people have about Apple and audio technologies.

[ Posted at 7:40 AM | Permalink ]

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Sony vs. Apple: Sony Takes It Up a Notch

eWeak: "The Apple Switcher campaign was actually well-done, but it failed miserably, and I don't see people moving from Apple machines that much anymore, either. This battle may be done. Much like cars vs. motorcycles, the two platforms may be different enough now that Apple users simply buy Apple machines and most everyone else has accepted Wintel as the decision starting-point."

[ Posted at 11:07 PM | Permalink ]

Why iPod can't save Apple

Money (subscription required): "The buzz on its wildly popular digital music box and swank storefronts masks an ebbing bottom line ... Behind the hype and buzz surrounding the iPod and Jobs, there are problems stewing at Apple. Its core computer business, which still accounts for 70 percent of the company's sales, is withering. Apple sold just over 3 million computers in its last fiscal year, which ended in September -- 900,000 less than it sold in fiscal 1996, the year before Jobs returned. Meanwhile, Apple's share of the worldwide personal-computer market has shrunk to 2 percent from 3.2 percent five years ago. What's more, despite their soaring sales, iPods are depressing profitability because of their lower profit margin.

The result: While Apple's sales of $6.2 billion last fiscal year were nearly unchanged from 1999, profits plummeted 90 percent to $69 million, from $601 million four years ago. It's unclear what Jobs can do or plans to do to turn around Apple's fortunes -- he refused to talk to MONEY about its future ... The question is whether the trade-off between buzz and the bottom line is worth it. In other words, should Apple's shareholders be any happier with Jobs' higher-profile, lower-profit Apple?

Part of the motivation to develop the iPod and digital media software is to drive computer sales. But so far that hasn't worked. In order to make the iPod a success, Apple had to make it compatible with Windows-based PCs. So there is no reason for an iPod lover to buy a Mac ... As for the iTunes music service, Apple makes little on downloads. Of the 99¢ it charges for each song, it has to pay the record labels 65¢. Another 25¢ covers the cost of distribution and credit-card processing. So even if you sell an impressive 30 million songs, as Apple claims, that adds up to only a paltry $2.7 million. Jobs' other strategy to boost market share is Apple retail outlets ... Apple calls the venture, which lost $5 million in 2003, a form of advertising. But so far the stores have done little to increase market share, and they could be bleeding a lot more red ink than Apple is letting on. Over the past year and a half, four of Apple's former authorized resellers have sued the company, asserting that its stores competed unfairly with them. Among their claims: Apple cuts sweetheart deals with its own stores to mask losses, such as charging them less for hardware and warranties than it does Apple's resellers. Tom Santos, one of the plaintiffs, estimates that Apple's stores would have lost as much as $80 million in 2003 had they been paying the same prices for inventory as the resellers paid. An Apple spokeswoman says the company won't comment on pending litigation.

This much is certain: Jobs' mass-appeal strategy has crimped the company's historically high profit margins. Apple's net profit margin is just 1 percent. That's down from 10 percent four years ago. And Apple's earnings would have been worse had it not been for $4.8 billion the company has in cash and short-term securities. In fact, the cash hoard made more money last year than Apple's operations -- which lost $1 million while the computer maker booked a $69 million gain on interest income. Even when you factor in Apple's $13 a share in cash and almost no debt, the company's stock, at a recent $23, trades at 20 times estimated 2004 earnings. Dell's shares, on the other hand, go for 26 times projected 2004 earnings -- but its business is three times as profitable as Apple's."

So the reality of Apple's financials is finally revealed. My, my, my: How will the Apple advocates warp this one into good news?

[ Posted at 10:57 PM | Permalink ]

PDASmart offers superior iPod battery replacement

PDASmart.com is offering an iPod battery replacement kit that's much better than the Apple original, offering 35 percent better battery life than the stock iPod, and a decent price. " The Do-It-Yourself kit comes complete with very detailed instructions and all the right tools to do the job without damaging your iPod (please don't pry open that case with a flat-tipped screwdriver!). We had this battery developed with the same lithium-ion polymer battery technology as the original and it is rated at 3.7 volts and 850mAh." Looks good.

[ Posted at 11:12 AM | Permalink ]

Apple previews spoken interface for OS X

Apple: "Introducing the spoken interface for Mac OS X. The Universal Access capabilities of Mac OS X will soon be enhanced with a spoken interface that provides a new way, through speech, audible cues, and keyboard navigation, to access the Macintosh. The Universal Access capabilities of Mac OS X that provide equal access for everyone to the power and simplicity of the Macintosh are now enhanced to include a spoken interface for those with visual and learning disabilities. The spoken interface is a fully integrated, built-in enhancement of the Mac OS X Aqua user interface making it an additional and equal way of accessing the Macintosh. It reads aloud the contents of documents like Web pages, Mail messages, and word processing files; provides a comprehensive audible description of your workspace and all the activities taking place on your computer; and includes a rich set of keyboard commands that allow you to navigate the Mac OS X interface and interact with application and system controls."

MacWorld: "Apple is developing new technologies to make Mac OS X more accessible for people with visual and learning disabilities, though these won't be made available until 'the next major release of OS X', Apple says. The company is previewing these technologies at the 19th annual Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference in LA."

On a side note, MacCentral's coverage of this story is extremely insensitive to the handicapped. This software isn't for "blind OS users" as Peter Cohen coldly writes. It's for any visually handicapped user.

[ Posted at 11:07 AM | Permalink ]

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

iPod mini LCD easily cracked?

iPodHead: "Early last week we received an email from Dana Barnhard who claimed her son had just broken the LCD on his brand new iPod mini. Naturally, Apple will not cover the damages as part of the warranty. (Photos and details inside. Not for the faint of heart though!)"

[ Posted at 3:22 PM | Permalink ]

Valuation, G5 sales lead Apple concerns

CBS Marketwatch: "The latest take on prospects for the Cupertino, Calif.-based company came Tuesday from Banc of America Securities analyst Keith Bachman, who said he thinks the run of good luck that Apple has enjoyed this month could be over because it was mostly due to sales of the iPod digital music player ... Bachman said Apple's shares might well have reached the upper limit of their valuation for the time being due to weak sales of G5 PowerMac computers. 'We believe [G5 sales are] the single-best gauge of the growth potential of Apple,' Bachman said in a research note. 'The G5 is more important that the iPod in terms of (earnings per share) impact' ... Bachman said the company's G5 sales could turn out disappointing for the second quarter in a row. For its fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 27, Apple shipped 206,000 G5 computers, short of many analysts' estimates. Bachman estimates that Apple will ship 195,000 G5 PowerMacs in its current quarter. Bachman isn't the only Wall Streeter to take a more cautious look at Apple. Prudential Equity Group's Steven Fortuna saidthat recent Apple investors have been 'lured by the success of the iPod and iTunes' and that their enthusiasm has driven the stock's recent performance. 'The music and retail initiatives have certainly been a positive in terms of driving increased traffic and some switchers to the brand,' Fortuna said. 'But we remain cautious about the current environment as we tread through the seasonally weaker first half (of the year.)'"

[ Posted at 3:18 PM | Permalink ]

Apple ships third major update to Panther (OS X 10.3)

Apple: "This software updates Mac OS X 10.3.2 to version 10.3.3."

MacNN: "Apple has released Mac OS X 10.3.3 via the Software Update (as a 59MB download). The documented changes include: (1) network volumes are now available in the Finder sidebar and Desktop for convenient access; (2) improved file sharing and directory services for Mac (AFP), UNIX (NFS) and PC (SMB/CIFS) networks; (3) improved PostScript and USB printing; (4) updated Disk Utility, DVD Player, Image Capture, Mail and Safari applications; (5) additional support for FireWire and USB devices; (6) improved compatibility for third party applications; and (6) previous standalone security updates and Bluetooth Update 1.5."

InfoWorld: "Apple Computer Inc. has at last released its Mac OS X 10.3.3 update for desktop and server Macs. his significant 58.8MB update has been in development since at least January, when a build circulated to Apple developers was withdrawn. The most recent beta-testing build was distributed late last week. Mac OS X 10.3.3 offers enhancements for: networking and .Mac; DVD Player; Apple's tranche of OS X applications; Finder enhancements and more. Apple has also added a feature to DVD Player. This now recognizes and plays DVD+R media."

MacWorld: "10.3.3 Brings Satisfying Permissions Compromise - Faithful readers know that a few months ago I went on at length about a potentially dangerous issue that occurred when you first booted into Mac OS X 10.3 -- specifically that for the first five minutes you were logged in, you could toss out any file on your Mac (even those your Mac needed in order to function) without the OS raising a single objection ... the latest update to Mac OS X (10.3.3) not only fixes the problem, but improves upon the way earlier versions of the Mac OS handle similar situations."

[ Posted at 3:15 PM | Permalink ]

More on iTunes missing its sales goals

CNET: "As for the goal, Schoeben said it was hard for Apple to know the pace at which the market would develop and that the company has had to learn through experience about how quickly (and how many) songs would be redeemed through a promotion like the one with Pepsi. He declined to say how many songs have been redeemed from the promotion."

BBC: "More than 50 million songs have been bought from Apple's iTunes music store, the company has said. But the number is far less than the target of 100 million tracks that Apple set itself last year."

Media Post: "Apple Monday said that its iTunes Music Store hit a milestone of 50 million songs sold, but the Cupertino, Calif.-based company will land far short of its projected goal of 100 million downloads by April ... Traffic to Apple's iTunes Music Store remains strong, according to data compiled for the MediaDailyNews by Hitwise, Inc. From January 3 through March 13, 2004, iTunes has seen a 129 percent jump in traffic [not sales] in the United States. Following the announcement of its promotional tie-in with Pepsi, site traffic [not sales] spiked nearly 250 percent ... Elsewhere, Roxio today revised its revenue guidance for the first quarter, citing better-than-expected "consumer demand" for its Napster service. Roxio now expects revenue for its Napster division to increase to approximately $5.5 million ... MusicMatch has the largest user base--at 50 million registered software users as of March 4--the company said."

[ Posted at 9:21 AM | Permalink ]

Steve Jobs: iTunes Won't Meet Song Sales Goals, Pepsi promotion falls flat

Wall Street Journal: "Apple Computer Inc. said its iTunes Music Store has sold 50 million songs since its debut, but the company expects to fall short of its 12-month forecast of selling 100 million songs by the end of April. The online music store, which began operation in April 2003 and offers digital song files at 99 cents each, sells about 2.5 million songs a week, up from 500,000 a week last September and from 1.5 million a week last December. But with just weeks left until the end of April, Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, said Apple won't be able to sell 100 million songs by then. 'We're not going to make that number,' he said in an interview. 'At the rate we're at right now, we'll probably have sold 70 million to 75 million songs' by the end of April.

The 50 million songs that consumers have purchased so far don't include those being redeemed from a promotion with PepsiCo Inc. In the promotion, launched last month, Apple is giving away 100 million songs free through a Pepsi bottle-cap game. Mr. Jobs said the redemptions from the promotion 'aren't what we thought they might be,' adding that many of the Pepsi bottles with the winning bottle caps were distributed late.

Still, Mr. Jobs said he is 'thrilled' with the iTunes Music Store's sales so far."

He should be thrilled, actually. 50 million songs is impressive. And that's a number Apple can legitimately brag about. Too bad about the prediction.

[ Posted at 9:08 AM | Permalink ]

Monday, March 15, 2004

University insurer sues Apple

DailyPrincetonian.com: "When Princeton firefighters determined that an Apple computer was the cause of a fire in Moffit Hall over two years ago, the University's insurance reimbursed the school for over $2 million. The insurance company filed suit in October against Apple Computers in the name of Princeton's trustees, hoping to regain some of what they paid out. Lawyers employed by Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance Company took advantage of a clause in their policy to file suit under the University's name after they were unable to resolve the case with Apple ... The fire department determined that an Apple PowerMac G4 plugged into an electrical receptacle box caused the fire in a Moffit Hall lab on Dec. 11, 2001. Faulty wiring ignited the wood supporting a nearby cable tray, Lisa Zimmaro, a manager in the University's risk management office, said."

[ Posted at 10:30 AM | Permalink ]

Original Mac design team reunites at Macworld Boston

MacNN: "The original Macintosh design team will be on hand at Macworld Expo Boston in July when the tradeshow kicks off, IDG World Expo announced today. [At] the event's opening feature presentation, "The Macintosh at 20 - A Celebration of 20 Years of Innovation," where attendees will hear from Jef Raskin, Andy Hertzfeld, Bill Atkinson and Jerry Mannock, who will share anecdotes and perspectives on the development of the Macintosh. Macworld Boston takes place July 12-15; the opening feature presentation will be held July 13 at 10:00 a.m. Apple will not be attending Macworld Boston and CEO Steve Jobs will not be delivering the keynote presentation."

[ Posted at 10:28 AM | Permalink ]

iTunes hits 50 million download market

Apple: "Apple today announced that music fans have purchased and downloaded over 50 million songs from Apple’s iTunes Music Store, not including songs redeemed from the currently-running Pepsi iTunes promotion."

Just a reminder. For Apple to hit the 100 million download market, as predicted by CEO Steve Jobs, the company will have to sell 50 million more songs between now and next month. And that doesn't include songs downloaded for free during the Pepsi ad promotion.

[ Posted at 10:26 AM | Permalink ]

Science fun: 10th planet found in solar system

CNN: "Scientists may have discovered the solar system's most distant object, more than 3 billion kilometers farther away from the sun than Pluto. NASA is set to make an official announcement later Monday U.S. time. The object -- about 10 billion kilometers from Earth -- has been given the provisional name of Sedna after the Inuit goddess of the sea ... those who argue Pluto is a planet are likely to push the claim for Sedna to become the 10th planet in the solar system. Dr. Brown will present the discovery during a NASA briefing on Monday at 1:00 p.m. EST (1800 GMT)."

[ Posted at 10:22 AM | Permalink ]

Building a (Silent) Home Theater PC for Around $1000

HTPC News: "This Guide will focus mainly on the hardware aspect of HTPC's while touching base on the software side of things. When looking to build an HTPC you have to keep in mind the various costs of extras that normally wouldn't be in a regular PC. These costs involve extras like silent case fans, CPU heat sinks, VGA coolers, rounded IDE cables, specialty cases, hardware capture devices, etc. If you get anything out of this guide, I hope that it is the fact that an HTPC is something you will want to be as quiet as possible. Almost every feature in this guide focuses on keeping the machine silent! For the most part, you could consider this guide as one for building a blazing fast silent machine. It just happens that it's an HTPC that we are building."

I've been on a crusade for silent PCs for years, and this guide is good stuff.

[ Posted at 10:20 AM | Permalink ]

Sunday, March 14, 2004

More on the new Thunderbird improvements

Redemption in a blog: "Scott MacGregor (lead engineer of Mozilla Thunderbird) has recently announced the availability of the 2004-03-12 weekly build with lots of new cool improvements. These improvements include an improved Junk Mail Algorithm, improved IDLE command for IMAP, new smilies (emoticons), and several UI improvements and sundry bugfixes. Improvements and patches to the Junk Mail algorithm allow it to produce the same message scores as SpamBayes (another Bayesian spam filter - so good it is often used as a benchmark). What does this mumbo-jumbo mean? It means Thunderbird is now better at classifying your email as spam (or not) correctly."

[ Posted at 10:52 PM | Permalink ]

Test Build of Mozilla Thunderbird with Windows Installer Available

MozillaZine: "A new test build of Mozilla Thunderbird with an installer for Windows is now available. As well as providing a smoother setup experience for users, the installer also offers to set up the Offline Extension, which no longer needs to be downloaded separately. In addition, the installer registers Thunderbird as a mail and newsgroups client in the Windows Registry and also configures the program to handle the mailto, news, snews and nntp protocols. Scott MacGregor has posted more information about the experimental Thunderbird Windows installer build to the MozillaZine Forums. The new Windows installer build is based on the same code as this week's standard test build, which includes junk mail detection improvements and support for the IMAP IDLE command. Read mscott's post to the Thunderbird Builds forum for more information about this week's release."

[ Posted at 10:43 PM | Permalink ]

2004 might not be the year for desktop Linux ... but it doesn't matter

In a classic bit of debate technique--changing the subject when you've backed a losing argument--Linux Today's Brian Proffit opines that, while Linux may never supplant Windows on the desktop, it doesn't matter anymore because the PC desktop is supposedly a dying market. That's hilarious. It's also not true. In fact, PC makers will sell more PCs this year than at any point in history. So don't let all those TiVo's, PDAs, PlayStations, and other devices get you down, Brian. They're complementary to the PC, not competitive. And many of them will be running Windows as well as Linux.

[ Posted at 7:04 PM | Permalink ]