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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, July 10, 2004

State of the WHAT

Hixie's Natural Log: "At the start of [June 2004], Opera and Mozilla announced the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group. There followed some 600 messages and lots of great ideas, resulting, last Sunday, in our first "call for comments" for the Web Forms 2.0 specification. When we announced WHATWG, several people noticed that the list of members also contained, in addition to Mozilla and Opera employees, a couple of Apple employees who work on Safari. A few weeks into the project we also added Dean Edwards of IE7 fame to the list. The members of the WHATWG are an oversight committee intended to make sure we don't get off-track; the specs are actually edited by me and based directly on the input we get on the mailing list ... that's why we started WHATWG: we want to make it easier to make nicer the kinds of applications that it makes sense to deploy over the Web. Mail and news clients. Cinema ticket sales. Book stores. Auction sites. Multiplayer stategy games."

[ Posted at 9:03 PM | Permalink ]

getTunes

versiontracker.com: "getTunes is a Mac version of myTunes, a small application that allows users to download music from local Rendezvous-shared music libraries (instead of streaming the songs). Don't steal music."

[ Posted at 8:49 AM | Permalink ]

Mozilla Gains on IE

PC World: "A series of highly publicized security vulnerabilities found in Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser may be having an effect on the browser's market share, according to data compiled by WebSideStory, a San Diego Web metrics company. Over the last month, Internet Explorer's share of the browser market dropped by 1 percent, the first noticeable decline since WebSideStory began tracking the browser market in late 1999 ... Internet Explorer has held more than 95 percent of the browser market since June 2002, and until June had remained steady with about 95.7 percent of the browser market, according to WebSideStory's measurements. Over the last month, however, its market share has slowly dropped from 95.73 percent on June 4 to 94.73 percent on July 6. A loss of 1 percent of the market may not mean much to Microsoft, but it translates into a large growth, proportionately, in the number of users running Mozilla and Netscape-based browsers. Mozilla and Netscape's combined market share has increased by 26 percent, rising from 3.21 percent of the market in June to 4.05 percent in July."

[ Posted at 8:46 AM | Permalink ]

Friday, July 09, 2004

Winwood: Roll With P2P, Baby

Tired: "Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Steve Winwood dipped a toe in largely untested waters this summer by giving away a track from his latest album on peer-to-peer networks. The experiment appears to be working out. In the past month, Winwood's label has seen a noticeable increase in record sales thanks to a promotion that included releasing a free song and video over file-trading services. The campaign was part of an experiment in whether peer-to-peer can be used to create buzz around an artist and drive up sales. Winwood's independent record label, Wincraft Music, said sales of About Time have sold up to eight times the number of records in some regions since June 15 when an audio file of one track, Dear Mr. Fantasy, made its way on to peer-to-peer networks. At the same time, a video of Winwood performing the song live and another video of a rehearsal were distributed on Limewire, eDonkey and RazorPop. The album has also been promoted through television commercials."

[ Posted at 10:55 AM | Permalink ]

Behind The Scenes of Project Looking Glass

Java.net: "I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Hideya Kawahara, lead developer for 3D Project Looking Glass, Sun's 3D desktop technology, open source project on java.net. Before meeting with Hideya, I must confess that I had been operating under the mistaken assumption that Project Looking Glass was intended as a replacement window manager for Linux, a 3D novelty of no more consequence than any of a long list of failed attempts at reinventing the traditional 2D desktop in a new 3D world. Instead, what I found was considerably more interesting. In effect, Project Looking Glass is a rational approach toward using the latest 3D hardware advances to provide a state-of-the-art desktop environment, familiar yet far more engaging, for a traditional 2D desktop user. The demonstration Hideya gave me of the system was quite dynamic. Windows spin and zoom, stack, become translucent, flip to reveal additional information on the back, and more. A sample 3D audio CD selector can be dragged around, and the elements move in a manner that conveys an appealing weight and physicality. The demonstration basically fell into two areas: a theoretical next-generation window manager and examples of user interface elements in a 3D environment. By providing integration with the X windowing system, the demonstration showed existing 2D applications spinning and flying about, with transparency and video running seamlessly as the windows move. By open sourcing the environment, Hideya hopes that as the platform matures that not only will existing 2D applications spin and fly, but that third-party developers will be able to use Project Looking Glass to build rich, interactive 3D applications with a whole new suite of interactions. One additional revelation: Project Looking Glass is actually built using Java 3D as a key foundation technology, and the primary programmatic interface for 3D-aware applications in this release is Java technology. So conceptually, a write-once-run-anywhere application could be built using Project Looking Glass, providing desktop applications with rich 3D interactivity."

Great interview.

[ Posted at 9:21 AM | Permalink ]

Massachusetts ranks 2d in broadband use

Boston Globe: "Massachusetts leads the continental United States in high-speed Internet use, with nearly a third of its households connected to broadband, according to a survey released yesterday. The 32.2 percent of Bay State households and small home-based office workers using broadband lags only Hawaii, at 35 percent, according to Leichtman Research Group Inc., a Durham, N.H., market-analysis firm. The group tracks the markets for broadband -- chiefly cable modems and telephone digital subscriber lines -- and the cable and satellite pay-TV markets. Four of the top five states for broadband usage are in New England. Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island each have more than 25 percent of their households on broadband, according to a Leichtman Group analysis of January data from the Federal Communications Commission. Next on the list are New Jersey, New York, and California."

I was among the first in the country to get cable modem access several years ago (I was literally the 8:00 am appointment on that first Monday, and several people were at my house most of the day setting it up), because I lived in Phoenix, which is geographically friendly for rolling out new telecommunications services. So I had broadband years before most people, including those here in Boston. But when I moved back to the Boston area in 1999, I was astonished at how many different broadband choices there were here: Two cable companies, one DSL, and one satellite-based. Amazing, considering I live in a small Boston suburb. Today, virtually everyone I know has broadband, and thanks to faster throughputs from the cable companies, the volume of usage here hasn't really slowed things down at all, as the DSL backers claimed would happen. We live in Good Times.

[ Posted at 9:13 AM | Permalink ]

Microsoft Optical Mouse by S+ARCK

Microsoft: "Microsoft Hardware long ago bid adieu to boring beige. A new mouse conceived by the cutting-edge European designer Philippe Starck is the centerpiece of the latest collection of input devices Microsoft design executives unveiled today."

Please explain to me why Apple's mouse doesn't look like this:

And is it just me, or does Microsoft just seem desperate to look as cool as Apple? Here's a hint for our favorite software giant: Stop trying so hard. It either comes naturally or it doesn't.

[ Posted at 9:06 AM | Permalink ]

Whose DVD? A Debate Over Copies

New York Times (free registration required): "While the film industry has forced 321 Studios, a Missouri company, to stop selling software that can copy Hollywood movies sold on DVD's, its success may be limited. Purveyors of software tools that can do the same thing, sometimes better, are flourishing on the Internet - and the wares are often free. The availability and apparently widespread use of such tools is fostering debate about the legality and the ethical implications of such copying by individual consumers - including people who copy DVD's onto a computer to avoid carrying a disc while they travel, or to keep children from damaging the originals - who do not distribute copies of the DVD as pirates do. The free copying tools are available through Internet sites that are not directly subject to American law, often because the nations that those sites call home permit individuals to copy material for their own use."

I'm a bit confused why there is any debate about this at all. To my mind, the Fair Use laws in the United States are pretty clear cut: If you purchased a DVD movie, you can make a backup for archival or personal use reasons, no questions asked. With hard drive sizes increasing, this is becoming more and more of a common thing, too. I routinely save recorded TV shows (in WMV format) to a server hard drive here at Casa de Thurrott, and generally copy a few onto a laptop every time I travel, so I can watch those shows on the road. It's called Fair Use. It's legal.

[ Posted at 8:57 AM | Permalink ]

Thursday, July 08, 2004

Amazon offers Portable Media Center pre-orders

Amazon: "Windows Mobile-based Portable Media Centers are handheld entertainment devices that make it easy to store and play recorded TV, movies, home videos, music, and photos transferred from a PC with Windows® XP--so you can enjoy to your favorite entertainment anytime and anywhere you want. Take your entire Windows Media Player music library with you, including all your favorite songs, artist and track information, playlists, ratings, and even album art. The Windows Media audio formats provide unmatched quality at smaller file sizes so you can take more of your favorite music with you--up to 5,000 songs. Support for Windows Media offers access to the widest selection of music and video download services on the Internet. Portable Media Centers let you do more than play music. Move TV shows recorded on a Windows XP Media Center PC or PC with Windows XP-based TV tuner card to watch up to 80 of hours of TV on the road. Store up to 80 hours of recorded TV.* That lets you take every single episode of The Simpsons, from its 1988 premiere through the 2003 season, with you wherever you go. You can even connect to a TV or entertainment center to watch videos with friends and family. Now you can take up to 80 hours of your favorite movies with you wherever you go, whether they are recorded on your Windows XP PC, downloaded from the Internet, or created yourself using a digital video camera.* Windows Media Player makes it easy to sync content with your Portable Media Center, either automatically or just what and when you choose. Did you ever notice that most of your digital pictures end up stored away on your computer and that you never get around to printing them? Now you can take the tens of thousands of pictures stored on your PC with you and share with friends and family wherever you are--you can even display them in a slideshow set to music. Portable Media Centers make accessing and viewing your favorite photos and slideshows easier than ever."

Preorder:
Samsung Yepp YH-999 20 GB Portable Media Center
Creative Labs 20 GB Zen Portable Media Center

Hey, it's just like the iPod Mini (also shipping in October), except that no one is pretending they're shipping now!

[ Posted at 8:01 PM | Permalink ]

Microsoft's Worst Enemy: Success

Business Week: "Microsoft is stuck in a full-blown midlife crisis. The 24-year-old company is now a sprawling organization with dozens of businesses, modest revenue growth, and a flat stock price. Instead of being driven to change the world -- the mission its best employees signed up for -- a key focus now for Ballmer is 'process excellence,' which seems unlikely to inspire Microsoftees to stay up all night creating the Next Big Thing ... Ballmer has a far more difficult task [than Bill Gates did in 1995, when he rallied the troops with his 'Internet Tidalwave' memo]. It's Microsoft's very success that has brought on its malaise. The company so thoroughly dominates that it's hard for it to grow much faster than the computer industry. So Microsoft's biggest challenge isn't some external opportunity or threat. It's Microsoft."

[ Posted at 3:01 PM | Permalink ]

Apple: Up the Market Without a CPU

Linux Insider: "For the last three weeks I've been talking about the impact the new Sony, Toshiba and IBM cell processor is likely to have on Linux desktop and datacenter computing. The bottom line there is that this thing is fast, inexpensive and deeply reflective of very fundamental IBM ideas about how computing should be managed and delivered. It's going to be a winner, probably the biggest thing to hit computing since IBM's decision to use the Intel 8088 led Bill Gates to drop Xenix in favor of an early CP/M release with kernel separation hacked out ... Wintel's dilemma is, however, a fairly long-term issue. Much closer at hand is Apple's immediate problem. Just recently Steve Jobs has had to apologize to the Apple community for not being able to deliver on last-year's promise of a 3-Ghz G5 by mid 2004. IBM promised to make that available, but has not done so. A lot of people have excused this on the grounds that the move to 90-nanometer manufacturing has proven more difficult than anticipated, but I don't believe that. PowerPC does not have the absurd complexities of the x86, and 90-nanometer production should be easily in reach for IBM. The cell processor, furthermore, is confidently planned for mass production at 65-nanometer sizes early next year ... my belief is that IBM chose not to deliver on its commitment to Apple because doing so would have exacerbated the already embarrassing performance gap between its own server products and the higher end Macs. Right now, for example, Apple's 2-Ghz Xserve is a full generation ahead of IBM's 1.2-GHz p615, but costs about half as much ... The bigger issue is that although the new cell processor is a PowerPC derivative and thus broadly compatible with previous Apple CPUs, the attached processors are not compatible with Altivec and neither is the microcode needed to run the thing. Most importantly, however, the graphics and multiprocessor models are totally different. As a result, it will be relatively easy to port Darwin to the new machine, but extremely difficult to port the Mac OS X shell and almost impossible to achieve backward compatibility without significant compromise along the lines of a 'fat binary' kind of solution. In other words, what seemed like a good idea for Apple at the time, the IBM G5, is about to morph into a classic choice between the rock of yet another CPU transition or the hard place of being left behind by major market CPU performance improvements ... if Apple tries to stay with the PowerPC-Altivec combination, it can either be performance starved out of the market or driven there by the costs of maintaining its own CPU design team and low-volume fabrication services. If, on the other hand, Apple bites the bullet and transitions to the cell processor, IBM will gain greater control while removing Apple's long-term ability to avoid having people run Mac OS on non-Apple products. Either way, Apple will go away as a competitive threat because the future Mac OS will either be out of the running or running on IBM Linux desktops."

[ Posted at 12:16 PM | Permalink ]

New Mac OS X security vulnerability found

According to NTBugTraq, there's a new OS X security vulnerability in the wild, and Apple is thus far ignoring it. "Obviously this is only of interest if an attacker has root (or physical) access to a machine, however it does make FileVault or Keychain encryption fairly useless. It appears that the swapfiles are removed on shutdown or startup, though not wiped - pulling the power from a sleeping machine, and/or booting from CD, would quite easily retrieve the password(s). Reported to Apple on 21 June, I haven't had any response. It'd be nice if they at least said 'we're taking a look if it's an issue'."

[ Posted at 12:12 PM | Permalink ]

Apple Blasts Sony on Claims for New Walkman

A fun war of the words courtesy of Dow Jones:

"In a prepared statement, Apple said Sony isn't accurately depicting the song capacity of its new 20-gigabyte Network Walkman. While Sony says the device can hold 13,000 tracks, Apple alleges that the Japanese electronics giant, in calculating the storage capacity of the Network Walkman, is using songs that are compressed into digital files of inferior fidelity to those that Apple uses to calculate how many songs the iPod can hold."

"We're disappointed that Sony, which is new to this market, has decided to make their first impression by attempting to mislead the press and customers," Apple said in a statement.

"Sony chose to play marketing games so we wanted to set things right so that people could compare the devices apples to apples," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of hardware product marketing.

Sony reacted angrily to Apple's statement. Todd Schrader, Sony Electronics' vice president of portable audio products, said the "Walkman has always been about choice." He said consumers can play songs on the Walkman in either a high-quality or low-quality format. He noted the new music player also has 30 hours of battery life, which is "three times more than the competition." Mr. Schrader also took issue with Apple's characterization that Sony is new to the digital music market. He said Sony has been in the market since 1999 and currently has several music player products priced from $59 to $399 that can play digital music downloaded from a personal computer. "Sony isn't a one-trick pony," he said.

[ Posted at 9:05 AM | Permalink ]

Wednesday, July 07, 2004

Installing Debian 3.0 onto an Apple iBook ... ...without using any physical media!

Debian.org: "These instructions should apply to any model of iBook, but they have only been tested by the author on a 2001 iBook Dual USB."

A number of readers have inquired about my iBook, which I was ready to put out to pasture. Sorry for the delays: I don't have a handle on how much it's worth per se, but I'm going to experiment with running Linux on it for a bit. I'm still in the middle of Debian's old-school, text-based, network-based installer, so it's currently unclear how this will work. However, if anyone has any advice about this, I'm all ears.

[ Posted at 12:51 PM | Permalink ]

Apple iPod mini International Availability Set for July 24

Apple: "Apple today announced that iPod mini, the smallest portable music player ever to hold up to 1,000 CD-quality songs, will be available internationally on July 24. iPod mini offers music lovers the ideal combination of ultra-portable design, style, song capacity, ease-of-use and audio performance. 'The iPod mini has been a smash hit in the US, and we’re thrilled to finally be able to offer it to music lovers the world over,' said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. 'iPod has changed the way people listen to music and is now the number one digital music player in the world.'"

No mention of pre-orders (surprise, surprise). And if it's going to "be available" on July 24 worldwide, why is Amazon's Mini supply not shipping until mid-October?

[ Posted at 10:24 AM | Permalink ]

Sega To Release Mac [and PC] Compatible Saturn Game Pad (In Japan)

Inside Mac Games: "Sega is planning on releasing its classic Saturn console game pad for the PC and Macintosh in Japan at the end of this month. The USB device was originally creatied as an exclusive bonus to the Macintosh edition of Puyo Pop Fever, which was released on June 24th. But due to heavy demand, Sega has decided to sell the controller separately for the PC and Mac. Unlike the game pad included with Puyo Pop Fever, which was colored like the original Saturn device, the new game pad will match the white found on Macintosh products such as the iBook. The Sega Saturn USB game pad will be available in Japanese stores on July 23rd. Sega Direct is currently taking pre-orders for the game pad. There's no word yet on a U.S. release."

I would buy this in a heartbeat if I could. Back in my Amiga days, I used to purchase Sega Master System (SMS) game pads, which were pin compatible with the Atari-style joystick ports on that system.

[ Posted at 8:35 AM | Permalink ]

iPod mini on Backorder Again for at Least Four Weeks

PowerPage: "As much as I love Apple, it seems they keep shooting themselves in the foot by having products that are in demand, yet not available for purchase. You'd think that after selling 100,000 iPod mini's [you know, if they did sell 100,000 iPod Minis --Paul], they would keep them in stock - but I called Apple and every electronics store in NY, NJ and CT and everyone is out of them. The online Apple store told me mid August they'd be in stock, Amazon says October 1st and the Apple store in the malls near me said late September ... What does it take to get Apple to fix its inventory problems? How much do they have to lose in the way of sales and revenue of multiple products before they take notice?"

Vaporware.

[ Posted at 8:31 AM | Permalink ]

The State of KOffice 1.3

Ben Lamb: "This article has been written because I think there is a lack of information about KOffice available. At a recent tradeshow it was apparent many people had adopted OpenOffice as a de-facto standard without realising there is a powerful alternative that is better integrated with KDE. Whilst I won't pretend that KOffice has reached the same level of maturity as OpenOffice but it is extremely usable. The 1.3 release makes substantial improvements but to make further progress the project needs both users and developers. Lack of users means relatively little testing and no feedback to the developers. KOffice has now reached the stage where it has a mature core and is usable for many everyday tasks. Please read this review and, if it has the features you need, consider trying out one or two applications. You never know, you might like it! I don't believe for one moment that any of the problems I mention are beyond being fixed. Why do we need KOffice when OpenOffice is available? I believe competition is good. KOffice has some components OpenOffice doesn't, such as drawing and database functionality. KOffice has a smaller codebase than OpenOffice, so it should be easier for new developers and people wanting to try new ideas to get to grips with."

[ Posted at 8:05 AM | Permalink ]

Fedora Core 2: Making it work

Linux.com: "Getting FC2 to a state of desktop readiness is a task that requires a medium amount of skill and will probably take close to a full day for the first workstation (assuming that you have a high-speed Internet connection). Subsequent installs should go more quickly; indeed, I intend for my students to get most of it done during their first three-hour class."

A much-needed article, despite the partisan silliness about Fedora 2 somehow being easier to setup and configure than Windows (please).

[ Posted at 8:00 AM | Permalink ]

Rendezvous with the Desktop

OFB: "Those who know me know I love the concept and the actual implementation of networking technology known as Zeroconf. Apple premiered the technology under the name "Rendezvous" in Mac OS X Jaguar 10.2 approximately two years ago, and released the basic libraries and tools needed to implement Rendezvous on POSIX compatible systems under the Apple Public Source License (APSL). Last year, things became even rosier after Apple worked with the Free Software Foundation to create the APSL 2.0 license which meets the requirements necessary to be considered a Free Software license ... Rendezvous networking, at its heart, provides three things: automatic IP assignment without a DHCP server, name resolution without a DNS server and advertising available services without a directory server. For those not familiar with it, let me give you an example. I recently added a new Hewlett-Packard Rendezvous enabled wireless 802.11b printer to my office. After running the web based setup to configure the printer with the network's WPA preshared key, the printer's name automatically appeared on every Mac on our network. Furthermore, if I open up Safari's bookmarks, and look under the Rendezvous section, the printer's administration page is automatically listed ... If you've seen iPhoto '04 or iTunes sharing functionality, you have also seen Rendezvous at work. While SMB networks are suppose to work somewhat like this, they often seem to work rather unreliably. Rendezvous not only goes a step further than past, similar ideas, it also does it far more reliably."

Zeroconf looks awesome, but my only fear is that Rendezvous won't see huge adoption on the Windows side, especially with network-attached hardware devices. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what this is, but it seems like UPnP done right.

[ Posted at 7:54 AM | Permalink ]

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

DOOM 3 Release Date Set?

IGN: "While we're still waiting for an official announcement from Activision or id Software, it looks like the PC version of DOOM 3 has, at last, received a release date. Leading online retailers like GameStop and EBGames are now listing the title as shipping August 3, 2004. Yes, that's right folks: if the date is to be believed (and we have no reason to doubt it so far), this means we're going to be diving into the beautiful horror of the long-awaited sequel in just little more than a month. And that can't be so bad, can it?"

Please please please ...

[ Posted at 1:57 PM | Permalink ]

What is the real reason behind Apple’s shortage of iPod minis?

MacNETv2: "Is Apple being badly managed? Can you blame Apple/Jobs for the fact that you cannot buy an iPod mini if your life depended on it? Or do you simply give Apple a pass, and instead blame Hitachi or not making enough 1" hard drives to satisfy demand? Is it time to take a long hard look at Steve Jobs' performance as CEO, or give him another Gulf Stream Jet? ... The economic outlook pointed to a strong recovery, and most companies were ready for it. An example of that is HP; several months ago HP announced over 150 new products in a single day. Since that time every product they announced have been in plentiful supply ... There are a couple of other products on the market that use the 4GB Hitachi drive, the Creative Nomad MuVo 4GB is one of them. If Hitachi committed to more hard drives than it can make shouldn't products like the Nomad be as hard to get? Creative offers the Nomad MuVo here and the product is in stock as of today. When we asked Creative about its supply they offered up the fact that sales are brisk and supply has never been a problem. The 4GB Nomad MuVo sells for $50 less than the iPod mini. Go figure ... When I visit Amazon.com I find that the Hitachi 4GB drive is in stock and available for overnight delivery ... At several online stores I found the Nomad MuVo available for delivery tomorrow, at prices ranging from $189 to $199. Clearly the 4GB Hitachi drive is not in short supply, so why is the iPod mini a hard to find product? ... Apple has claimed that the shortages of iPod minis are based on the unavailability of the 4GB Hitachi drive. But these drives are available, both as stand-alone units and inside other products."

This is an interesting analysis, but I think he's missing a key point: Apple has yet to reveal any sales figures for the iPod Mini or correct its original "100,000 pre-orders" announcement. My suspicion? Apple's Mini isn't selling very well at all, past the 100,000 preorders. And what sales it would have would cannibalize the pricier (and more profitable) iPod. Thus, the iPod Mini is unavailable for purchase, sorry, making it the ultimate vaporware product. But give credit where credit is due: Apple turned this little customer screw-over into the ultimate PR event. Now the company can claim that it can't meet demand. Cute.

[ Posted at 1:40 PM | Permalink ]

Inside Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger": Mail 2.0

Apple Insider: "Apple's recently announced Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger operating system update will include a major revision to the company's proprietary e-mail client, Mail. The new version, Mail 2.0, will reportedly feature a new 'Smart Mailbox' technology along with dozens of other enhancements, sources told AppleInsider as part of their ongoing coverage of the Tiger OS."

[ Posted at 1:37 PM | Permalink ]

Browser rival to ActiveX in the offing

TechWorld: "Web browser makers Apple, Opera and Mozilla are collaborating on an expanded plug-in specification that allows for more powerful Web-based scripting - just as security concerns have finally convinced Microsoft to step back from its own scripting system, ActiveX. The companies have signed up plug-in makers Adobe, Macromedia and Sun to back an expanded version of the Netscape Plugin Application Program Interface (NPAPI), a plug-in model used by most non-Microsoft browsers. The updated API will create a standardised way of increasing interactivity between browsers and plug-ins, which will be built into Apple's Safari, Mozilla's Firefox and the Opera browser. Mozilla said the new API would shortly begin appearing in developer versions of Firefox, with finished versions shipping in browsers this autumn. The new features won't be usable until plug-in makers begin supporting them; future versions of PDF Reader, Java, Shockwave, Flash and QuickTime are to work with the new API, but developers didn't set a timeline."

Hopefully, these companies can deliver something that's as functional as, but more secure than, ActiveX. It should be an interesting test.

[ Posted at 9:20 AM | Permalink ]

Break the Windows habit to gain computer security

NCTimes.com: "You can cut the risk from malicious software or hacker intrusions to nearly zero in just one step. That step is to stop using computers with Microsoft's increasingly vulnerable Windows operating system. By using computers running the Linux or Apple Macintosh operating systems, you eliminate the vast majority of risks from malicious software. Add a good firewall and anti-virus program to become the next best thing to invulnerable. That has been my experience for the last eight months: running a Linux-powered computer at home. I don't have to worry about my Web browser being hijacked by spyware. I don't have to turn off HTML in my e-mail reader to avoid getting infected. When the latest Windows viruses land in my e-mail box, I just laugh while hitting the delete key."

You know, it's funny, but I do the same thing, though I'm using Outlook on Windows XP. OK, I don't laugh most of the time. But I can if I want because I have an up-to-date antivirus solution and a two-way firewall running all the time, and I'm savvy enough to know not to open attachments that they mark as unsafe. But most people aren't that technical, so it's unclear that they'd be able to handle Linux, even though it's certainly improved a bunch recently. Mac OS X is a decent solution, but it's expensive, especially when you consider that the typical Windows switcher could try Linux by repartitioning (using tools included with most Linux distros) and dual-booting between Linux and Windows; if they were ready to make the switch entirely for some reason, they could simply wipe out their existing PC and reuse it, for a huge savings. The Mac is good, but it requires such a break and, if you're used to computers, a relearning of key skills. It's not as easy as it could be.

Yeah, I linked to this story the other day, but it's worth repeating: While this may seem like a good idea in a vacuum, most people simply aren't ready for this.

[ Posted at 9:11 AM | Permalink ]

The Stealth Desktop Part I: Finding a New Distro

OFB: "Most of these [Linux switch] stories refer to some desktop-oriented or mainstream distribution, such as Mandrake, Red Hat/Fedora, or SUSE. However, there is one distribution you would seldom hear about and yet, it is uniquely qualified for heavy-duty desktop usage. I would like to show you how you could use this GNU/Linux distribution for desktop fun and profit ... Interested? Well, it is a 2-CD GNU/Linux distribution whose name is Slackware. No, I'm not joking. I mean it. For over six months now, I've switched from Mandrake to Slackware and since then I used it every day as my desktop; not only as my home desktop but also as my primary workstation at office and as a desktop for my boss, my dad and my wife. During the next few weeks, I would like to share with you the story of my switch to Slackware, giving some suggestions for using Slackware as a desktop system along the way."

Slackware was the first Linux distribution I tried, and I recall downloading its bizarre floppy images (hey, this was 1994) from the computers in the SCC Computer Lab and writing them to disk. What shocks me today, an incredible ten years later, is that Slackware still uses the same damn text-based Setup application that it's always used! Is this is a joke? Am I stuck in a time warp?

[ Posted at 9:06 AM | Permalink ]

OpenOffice is a workable and flexible alternative to Microsoft Office

Newsday: " This is the third installment in Lou Dolinar's summer vacation from Microsoft ... Microsoft Office ($450) ... has the most features, works pretty much like previous versions and can read the same files. Most folks barely use a fraction of its power and probably are confused by the plethora of options ... Home users need nowhere near the same features as the Office computer jock, though when they have the program at work, some install the second copy of Office at home that's supposed to be allocated to a laptop. Otherwise, most get by with Microsoft Works ($45), which PC manufacturers give away with their PCs ... All this by way of introduction to my pitch for OpenOffice.org, an open-source software suite that at best is a lot more program than Works and at worst only a little less functional than Microsoft Office. OpenOffice.org, which was popularized as Star Office from Sun Microsystems, is more than adequate for perhaps 95 percent of users. Most interestingly, it is the only free Office-style program that runs on both Windows and Linux, as well as the Macintosh, and its files are mostly (more on that later) compatible with Microsoft Office. You can buy Sun's version, which includes product support, [and a database, and other unique features --Paul] for $79."

[ Posted at 9:03 AM | Permalink ]

Customers from hell face retail retribution

Seattle Times: "So much for the customer always being right. Some retailers have decided the customer can be very, very wrong — as in unprofitable. And some, including Best Buy, are discriminating between profitable customers and shoppers they lose money on. Like a customer who ties up an employee but never buys anything or who buys only during big sales. Or one who files for a rebate, then returns the item ... Anderson said Best Buy was tightening its rebate policies in the case of customers who abuse the privilege, but he declined to say what else the retailer was doing to discourage its most costly customers."

This is a long time coming. I recall from my days in banking that the customers was generally not right and could often be beligerant about it. Maybe it's a small thing, but I suspect people's horrible driving habits and sullen ability to snip others via email is related. Could this be a societal problem?

[ Posted at 8:44 AM | Permalink ]

Monday, July 05, 2004

PearPC co-author passes away

PearPC co-author Sebastian Biallas writes, " Yesterday evening at 23:00 one of my best friends, one of my best critics, one of the most valuable programmers of PearPC, the one who could help me in all situations, the one with whom I had the best time of my life, died after getting hit by a train. Stefan 'steveman' Weyergraf -- Rest In Peace. We'll never forget you."

[ Posted at 2:40 PM | Permalink ]

Sony VAIO R Series combines power, beauty, and quiet

Vaio.net: "The VAIO R Series sets a new standard in the integration of power and beauty, with extraordinary technological advances and functional, stunning design. VAIO brings Sony's extensive audio, video and broadcast software expertise right to your computer, so you can create, manage, edit and archive video, music and images just like a pro. Sony's VAIO R Series exemplifies cutting-edge design and superior performance. Sleek black chassis with chrome-colored detail. Revolutionary liquid heat-pipe cooling system. Along with breakneck performance and optimized acoustic dynamics. Topped off with loads of expansion headroom, to take your VAIO PC experience wherever your passion leads you. Computers should be seen and not heard, and the VAIO R Series leads the next phase in noise reduction technology. The new advanced industrial design minimizes the need for noisy CPU fans, allowing your system to run quietly at all times. Further reducing acoustics, the VAIO R Series also features an optical drive with speed-down functionality that decreases the rate of data buffer, a Firmware supported silent mode, and a graphics card and power supply that both use slow speed, large sized fans for silent operation. It doesn't get much quieter than that."

Yikes. Drool worthy? Oh yeah.

[ Posted at 9:46 AM | Permalink ]

Sunday, July 04, 2004

Alpine: iPod interface coming this fall

MacCentral: "Venerable car audio maker Alpine ... in January announced the development of its Interface Adapter for iPod. With Apple and BMW's recent announcement making the rounds, Alpine recently offered further information about its product, which it now says will ship in the fall. The Interface Adapter for iPod enables users of vehicles equipped with Alpine-made head units that sport an Ai-Net system bus to control their iPods directly from their stereo's front panel or remote control. Song information -- including artist, album and song name -- is displayed on the head unit, and a rotary knob enables users to quickly scroll through their music collection. The Interface Adapter for iPod consists of an interface box and cable that can be installed anywhere in the vehicle, according to Alpine -- under the seat, in the glove compartment, or behind the dash. A cable connects the Interface Adapter to the Alpine head unit, while another cable connects a Dock Connector-equipped iPod or iPod mini. The Interface Adapter also charges the iPod's battery when it's connected."

Joe and I have been wondering why this kind of thing isn't more widespread (and already available from a variety of places). So this is good news, but what's taking so long? And maybe these portable devices could settle on an external management standard so that the interface for doing this sort of thing from any device could be standardized.

[ Posted at 7:17 PM | Permalink ]

Alpine: iPod interface coming this fall

[ Posted at 7:17 PM | Permalink ]

Make your own Pirate Radio Station with an iPod

Engadget: "After playing around with the new iTrip mini, the FM broadcasting accessory for the iPod (our review here) our little minds got working on some ideas. We thought we might be able to make the range of Griffin’s iTrip mini a little better if took it apart and exposed the antenna, turns out we could. And then we thought, hey- we could use a couple iPods to broadcast something we wanted to get out there, perhaps not 'should' that is, but could ... We usually keep a couple tracks of silence ready to go, ever get stuck at a stop light for like 10 minutes and the dude in the next car is blasting the radio? With the super easy iPod interface you can quickly get to the station he’s on and send over whatever you want, a couple gentle ocean waves or birds usually works out great ... Let's say you’re at the park, enjoying a nice quiet day with your family- then comes along someone blasting the radio. We’ve found broadcasting a silent track tends to work nicely, sure you need to be within 30 to 40 feet, but no one will even suspect that their FM broadcast is getting usurped by you."

Oh this is just beautfiul.

[ Posted at 11:17 AM | Permalink ]

Apple's mistimed jabs at Microsoft

Mac Net Journal: "One other quick observation regarding Apple's attitude at the recently finished Worldwide Developer Conference - did anyone else find it ironic that Apple took jabs at Microsoft and Longhorn while at the same time announcing it would be at least six months before another major release of Mac OS X? Add the fact that Apple then announced a two-month delay in the release of new iMacs and it sounds a bit like the folks in Cupertino are specializing in vaporware these days."

And let's not forget the iPod Mini: Apple still hasn't delivered all of the 100,000 preorders, and this product is now enshrined in my Vaporware Hall of Fame. Maybe Europe will get the Mini in 2005. Maybe.

[ Posted at 11:14 AM | Permalink ]

Microsoft Security Flaws Renew Calls For Alternative Web Browsers

Associated Press: " It's been a bad week for many users of Microsoft's nearly ubiquitous Internet Explorer browser. A pair of virus attacks exploiting its vulnerabilities has led security experts to recommend that Web surfers consider such alternatives as Mozilla and Opera. Continuing to use Internet Explorer is "like playing the lottery," said Johannes B. Ullrich, chief technology officer of the nonprofit SANS Internet Security Center. The respected research center is among security groups recommending other browsers as long as a key vulnerability in IE remains unfixed, leaving it capable of running malicious code that's been hidden at a number of popular Web sites. Microsoft issued software Friday that, while not fixing the vulnerability entirely, disables a hacker's ability to deliver malicious code with it. SANS announced no immediate change to its recommendation."

[ Posted at 11:12 AM | Permalink ]

Apple's Human Interface Issues

applenova: "There used to be a time when the user interface came first at Apple. The Mac OS was the model of what a GUI should be. Many years and millions of dollars were spent designing the interface to be as simple, non-obtrusive, and consistent as possible. Unfortunately all that time and money went to waste when OSX came out. Apple threw out many of the rules that had made the Mac so simple to use ... design and consistency is no longer a concern."

This article raises valid points, mostly about default buttons and erasing data, but I've been arguing that Mac OS X is not consistent (or easy to use) for years.

[ Posted at 11:08 AM | Permalink ]

Break the Windows habit to gain computer security

NCTimes.com: "You can cut the risk from malicious software or hacker intrusions to nearly zero in just one step. That step is to stop using computers with Microsoft's increasingly vulnerable Windows operating system. By using computers running the Linux or Apple Macintosh operating systems, you eliminate the vast majority of risks from malicious software. Add a good firewall and anti-virus program to become the next best thing to invulnerable. That has been my experience for the last eight months: running a Linux-powered computer at home. I don't have to worry about my Web browser being hijacked by spyware. I don't have to turn off HTML in my e-mail reader to avoid getting infected. When the latest Windows viruses land in my e-mail box, I just laugh while hitting the delete key. The common tasks an average computer user performs on a Windows PC are just as easy, if not easier, on Linux. These include Web browsing, writing e-mails and documents, doing spreadsheet calculations, ripping music CDs to MP3 format, and working with digital photographs. One great exception must be mentioned: computer games. There are far fewer of them for Linux than for Windows, although the number for Linux is growing. Since I don't play many computer games, I find the natural security of Linux an easy trade-off."

So I agree with all this, though I must point out on flaw in the whole "don't use Windows" security scheme ("Security through ignoring the market leader"): The reason Linux (and Mac) machines don't get hijacked is that no one uses them. Windows is in use on over 95 percent of all Internet-connected computers, so it makes an obvious target. If everyone follows the "don't use Windows" approach, then these other platforms will simply become the new places to attack. On the other hand, that day is, perhaps, far off, and may never happen. It's funny to me that Windows has become the AOL of the OS world: It's like people using Windows are wearing a target that says "shoot me."

Also, it's worth comparing the educated opinion of the guy that wrote this article with the boobery I mentioned the other day. Apparently not everyone writing to the masses is a complete idiot.

[ Posted at 10:59 AM | Permalink ]

From a High-Tech System, Low-Fi Music

New York Times (free registration required): "Love the iPod, but don't jump too hastily to fill it with thousands of dollars of iTunes. The tracks are not carbon copies of the CD originals, but compressed versions. The smaller files are handy for speedy downloads, space-saving for storage and perfectly serviceable for listening through ear buds when riding on the subway. Not what you will want, however, when your desktop computer becomes the home jukebox and wirelessly sends these simulacra to the entertainment center in the living room ... Apple has elected to use a compression standard that, to put the best face on it, creates an awfully small file. This music lite is a response to the data transfer problems entailed in downloading the music that resides on anyone's collection of CD's ... Customers are led to believe that they are getting a CD in all respects except the trouble of going to the mall. The iTunes store does not warn about the permanence of its method of compression; once freeze-dried, there is no way to reconstitute the music into CD quality for playing through a good stereo."

Apple fans will tell you, correctly, that music purchased from the iTunes Music Store sounds great on both a Mac/PC and on the iPod. But this fact belies the problem the NYT is trying to convey: A 128 Kbps Protected AAC file doesn't make for a good source when you want to do more with your music. After I bulk converted my iTunes purchases to unprotected MP3 files a while back, the results were muddy and tinny sounding. Meanwhile, I'm not a big fan of the MusicMatch online store, but that site offers much higher quality 192 Kbps WMA files; these files convert quite nicely to unprotected 128 Kbps WMA files which, in turn, are useful in far more devices than Apple's format. For this reason, I'll always seek out music on the MusicMatch before turning to other services, like Napster.

[ Posted at 10:52 AM | Permalink ]

Fedora vs Mandrake vs Suse: Linux Distros Compared

Flexbeta: "Corporate greed, insane legal licensing and constant Windows vulnerabilities are starting to take its toll on the general computing population, and many are looking for an alternative. For some Linux is the answer ... This article covers the three most popular intermediate Linux distributions available today, Fedora Linux, Mandrake Linux and Suse Linux. Intermediate distributions give the user plenty of control and choice over their system, yet provide easy to use tools to administer and maintain their system. There is no one distribution that will perfectly fit into everyones needs. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses which will vary from person to person."

[ Posted at 10:38 AM | Permalink ]

Fedora vs Mandrake vs Suse: Linux Distros Compared

[ Posted at 10:38 AM | Permalink ]