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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, August 07, 2004Apple needs a reality check, and a kick in the pantsSomeone at MacNETv2 needs a hug.Steve Jobs's cancer scare: "Since Steve Jobs has had the ultimate ‘death scare’ I suspect he will not only become a much more generous person, he’ll accelerate all the things in his control. I expect that wherever Jobs has wanted to take Apple, he’ll speed up the process once he comes back to work. I could be wrong, but I think his next keynote speech will be unlike anything we’ve seen before." Airport Express: "Airport Extreme and the 802.11g standard simply sucks. Probably always will..." iPod Mini: "The fact that you still cannot walk into an Apple store and buy an iPod mini continues to piss me off." Apple vs. Real: "Why would Apple have a problem with Real offering a way for their music tracks to play on an iPod? Seems to me Steve Jobs is repeating himself with holding this technology too close the vest, like he did with the Mac OS, and it will wind up biting him on the a**. I thought the point of the iTunes Music Store was to sell iPods." New G5's still not shipping: "Again, vaporware. It’s one thing not to hit the 3GHz promise made last year (that I understand), but it’s quite another not to be able to ship the ones that were announced." Games: "How many times has Apple said that games will soon be released on both the PC and the Mac at the same time? When are we, as Mac users, going to realize that this is just not going to happen?" Linux: "Linux with a larger market share than the Mac? Impossible. Well, not only it is possible, it’s already happened." Back-to-school: "The problem with the iMac was not that it didn’t have a G5 processor. It was price. The iMac, for all its coolness, was too expensive when compared to consumer PC’s. But instead of cutting the prices Apple kills it in order to get ready for a G5 iMac." Bad management at Apple: "Apple has managed to make so many mistakes over the last year that it makes Apple look like one of the worse managed companies around. And it is ... How can anyone remain positive about Apple when it is making so many stupid moves, and being so disingenuous about them?" OK, so I don't agree with all of this. But he's right about a lot of it, and in many ways is parroting comments I've made here on the Nexus. And if you think I was a little harsh about Bill Ballmer earlier today, check out his clasic response to this MacNETv2 story (search for "Bill Palmer"). He's a real class act, that one. [ Posted at 9:38 PM | Permalink ]
DOOM 3 multiplayerHaving completed the DOOM 3 single player experience, I figured I'd try multiplayer as well. It's not that impressive, sadly. Mostly the problem is performance: The multiplayer game moves too leisurely, and offers nothing like the frantic action of DOOM II, Heretic, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake III Arena, or Unreal Tournament 2004. In fact, the experience is very similar to that of Quake II, both in look and in feel. Curious.That said, some of the elements of multiplayer are nicely done, and though the server list feature is horribly broken (password-protected servers show up even when you tell it not to show them, and when you sort by ping, it doesn't actually sort by ping), you can see that id put a lot of work into it. Maybe there will be a QuakeWorld-style update in the future that will improve things, but so far it looks like the DOOM 3 world is just too ponderous for good multiplayer. In fact, when you think about the mostly-slow pacing of the single player game, you have to wonder which happened: The idea to make it more suspenseful, or the requirement that it would be suspenseful because the engine was so performance-challenged because of its high quality visuals. Anyway, it's id. They'll sort it out. But for now, DOOM 3 is just too pokey to play online, from what I can tell. 
Windows to Linux switch - Munich's mayor speaksSilicon.com: "While the Bavarian capital has effectively suspended the second phase of its open source migration project, there's a big difference between suspended and cancelled. Chrisitian Ude, the mayor of Munich, is now hoping to get Berlin to change its mind on the thorny issue of software patents. The Social Democrat mayor has put out the official word on the LiMux project, proclaiming loudly that no one has given up on it. A small IT firm from the region, SWM Software Marketing, had previously sowed seeds of doubt by publishing an alarmist statement; the document confirmed that the project had been frozen since the first call for bids had been suspended. The LiMux project, which was to migrate the City's laptop and desktops from Windows to Linux, has become a very sensitive subject in the Bavarian capital. 'The town stands by the LiMux initiative and its strategic decision in favour of open-source solutions,' the mayor said in a statement on the city council's website. Munich's techies have already presented 'the strategic advantages of Linux solutions' to fellow Bavarian councils in Nuremburg and Augsburg. 'We are happy to see the interest that our project is attracting in those towns, as well as in Vienna,' said Ude. If the Austrian capital's local authority, also controlled by social democrats, has effectively recognised the advantages of open source, it has followed a somewhat different - and more timid - path from Munich's." [ Posted at 8:49 AM | Permalink ]
Fedora Core 1 Status UpdatePR: "The Fedora Steering Committee proposes to transfer Fedora Core 1 to the Fedora Legacy Project at the point Fedora Core 3 Test 2 is released. This is currently scheduled for September 13, 2004. This represents a one month extension from the original timetable but an extension we hope will enable the Fedora Legacy Project to receive considerably better quality access to the codebase. For more information on the Fedora Legacy Project, or if you wish to join the team please see http://fedoralegacy.org/." [ Posted at 8:48 AM | Permalink ]
Apple and the legacy of NapsterCNET: "At just less than $100 million, the digital music market still constitutes a relative drop in the bucket when compared with the nearly $12 billion CD business. But downloaders are now projected to make up 20 percent of the music-buying universe within the next five years, according to JupiterResearch. That shows how far the needle has moved. During the height of the Napster controversy, the sides remained too far apart to figure out how to make it work: You either believed that bits and bytes should be free or dismissed Napster as the epitome of corrosive cyberanarchism. What a stale conversation--and one that missed the bigger point: Napster had the technology, Hollywood had the music, and something big was on the horizon. If only the opposing sides could ever see the forest for the trees. That was not to be. The music industry was too afraid of losing control, and Napster couldn't run away from the fact that it was a clearinghouse for stolen intellectual property. The future was put on hold until Apple Computer helped break the stalemate with the introduction of the iTunes Music Store. Just as only Nixon could go to China, Steve Jobs had the credibility with both the Silicon Valley and Hollywood communities to change the debate terms. Apple deserves the kudos it's gotten--but will squander a lot of that good will if it goes ahead with an ill-considered jihad against RealNetworks."It's nice to see when people get it for a change. [ Posted at 8:43 AM | Permalink ]
The ugly side of Apple advocacyiPod Garage "founder" Bill Palmer proves himself to be both clueless and tactless in a bizarrely reasoned response to a question about whether Dell's $100 iPod exchange program is a good idea. As always, he makes it too easy.The DJ has a just a horrible, horrible user interface that is nothing like the iPod's intuitive scroll wheel. Wrong. Actually, I've used three different iPods, dating back to the first unit's initial release, and the Dell's mechanical wheel (and buttons) were purposefully designed to prevent the problems with Apple's design. I like the new Click Wheel iPod a lot, but be fair: The DJ was designed and released during the embarassing life cycle of the over-sensitive 3G iPod, which was a dog. And Bill doesn't mention this (naturally, because he doesn't own both devices, casting further doubt on his opinion), but the DJ's software UI is actually quite superior to that of the iPod, even the new version. any music purchased through the iTunes Music Store is useless on a DJ, unless you burn it to a CD in AIFF format... Wrong. Arguably, any music purchased through the iTunes Music Store is useless, period, because of its low quality. Instead, you could use MusicMatch, which offers superior 160 Kbps WMA songs, or RealPlayer Music Store, which offers 192 Kbps AAC songs, with the DJ. And here's another shocker, I've tried both, Bill. They are both superior, from an audio quality standpoint, to the songs on iTunes. And they both work great with the DJ. speaking of WMA format, it's terrible. Sounds like somebody pissing in a can. It's not just inferior to the iPod's AAC format at the same bit-rate, it's even inferior to good old MP3 Wrong. And, yes, he actually wrote, "pissing in a can." In most tests, WMA is superior or virtually identical to AAC at the same bitrates, and I've never heard anyone claim that it was inferior to the aging MP3 format. But hey, you can trust a guy from "iPod Garage," right? In any event, the beauty of non-iTunes stores, which is really the point here, is that you have choice. And with choice comes a variety of formats, and higher quality that what Apple offers. I know that's a tough concept for the Apple fanatic crowd. the market for cases, car kits, and other peripherals, which is huge and growing for the iPod, is nearly non-existent for the DJ. This is absolutely true. And isn't it ironic that he would cite choice in this particular aspect of the iPod, while downplaying choice where it actually matters in a music player: The actual audio? LOL. Anyway. He's right. There are a lot more peripherals for the iPod. Besides, the Mac user base is growing by leaps and bounds Wrong. I mean, seriously. That's unbelievable. I assume he means "iPod," not Mac. See what happens when you're a fanatic? The fact that Dell is already trying this desperate trade-in program means that DJ sales are falling, not rising. Just so I have noted your opinion correctly, you believe that when a company offers a trade-in program, they're desperate, right? Right? OK, just checking. You saw this story and this story, right? Right? I must have missed the link on "iPod Garage." I wrote about it here previously. Just checking. Speaking of flops, Dell is a company that is not used to failing. I agree. Dell tends to dominate markets it enters. a Dell DJ user can't buy his or her music from the iTunes Music Store, and instead has to pick from among a variety of losers when it comes to choosing an online music store I think you raised this issue earlier, Bill. To reiterate, I find it ironic that you decry choice when it's convenient and tout it when it's convenient. Sorry, that's not ironic. It's hypocritical. It's the type of argument a child would make. To put it in car terms, your argument is basically this: A Ford, Toyota, or VW owner can't get his car serviced at the Mercedes dealership but instead has to pick from among a variety of loser car company service stations (with one exception: In your world, the Mercedes you love can also only buy gas at the Mercedes dealership; I hope it's close to your house). Curious. But choice is what makes capitalism work, Bill. If it didn't exist, the iPod never would have happened. Today, we can choose which car to buy, which software to run, which stores to shop in. And all non-iPod users (all of them, Bill) can choose which online music store to use. Everyone except iPod users has a choice. That's my biggest problem with the device, which is otherwise quite nice. I would go so far as to say that almost anyone who trades in their iPod for a Dell DJ, will then be replacing their DJ with a brand new iPod within about three months, making the whole deal a huge personal financial setback. Curious. You're saying that buying a 20 GB Dell DJ at an effective price of $123 at today's prices, is a "huge personal financial setback"? What exactly can one buy at the Apple Store for that price? A white Monster Cable (tm) for your precious iPod? For the record, I gave a friend my 5 GB first generation iPod (which had an almost completely dead battery) to trade in for a DJ. He's not a computer geek, or a snob, and loves the DJ, and it works great with the many music stores he's been trying (he ended up sticking with RealPlayer Music Store). Shocking, eh? And though I own both a DJ and a Click Wheel iPod, I still think the DJ is a better buy for most people, sorry. Anyone can make a mistake writing an article. I do it more than I'd like to permit. But for the "founder" of a site to make so many back-to-back, glaring errors in order to prove a fundamentally bogus point, promote his favorite product, and slam a competitor just proves how insane these people can be. It's sad, and it's embarassing. If you want to promote Apple's products for them, go nuts. But please back up your opinions with a few facts. [ Posted at 8:06 AM | Permalink ]
Friday, August 06, 2004DOOM 3: DoneWell. I wasn't expecting to do another one of these so quickly, but what the heck. I finished DOOM 3 today, though to be fair I had to cheat on the final boss (which was, incidentally, obviously an homage to the DOOM 1 Episode 2 boss I mentioned in the previous post). Anyway... spoilers ahead, and though id Software has pledged that their next game will be an original, they've clearly left DOOM 3 open for a sequel. Hopefully one of their better licensees will pick it up.
DOOM 3: I've been to hell and backIt's a slow news days (over here, anyway: Microsoft shipped Windows XP SP2 today), so I've gotten several hours of DOOM 3 under my belt. I was interested to see that you actually take a side-trip into Hell during the game, and battle what is basically an End Boss (sort of like the excellent huge demon from the end of Episode 2 in the original DOOM).Here are some shots from my trip, including a humorous magazine cover featuring the marine from the original DOOM. Good stuff. 
Thursday, August 05, 2004iPhoto 4.0.3Apple: "This update addresses several issues with using multiple text rules in Smart Albums and it also eliminates some problems with creating iPhoto books in the German and Dutch languages. Additionally, 4.0.3 keeps users informed about new version of iPhoto that have become available." [ Posted at 10:06 PM | Permalink ]
Virgin: Apple's not playing fair with iPodCNET: "French online music store Virgin Mega has filed a complaint against Apple Computer, claiming that the company's refusal to license the copy protection technology used in its iPod is harming competition. The action was filed with the French Competition Council in June and disclosed along with several other legal matters on Thursday as part of Apple's quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the filing, the online store, part of the Virgin family, is seeking various unspecified 'interim measures,' pending a decision on the merits of the case. A hearing on that request is expected in either October or November, Apple said in the filing." [ Posted at 9:59 PM | Permalink ]
In the Background, a Man in the Gaming ForefrontNew York Times (free registration required): "It has taken four years, but the creators of the Doom video game series have finally reached the next level. Doom 3, a sequel from Id Software - the company that arguably invented three-dimensional action video gaming - is reaching stores in North America this week, and is to arrive soon afterward in much of the rest of the world. Todd Hollenshead, Id's chief executive, and Tim Willits, the company's lead designer, are traveling in Europe and Asia, attending conferences to promote the game. But Id's enigmatic co-founder and technical director, John Carmack, decided to stay behind at Id's headquarters in Mesquite, Tex., near Dallas. Press tours are not for him. 'Some programmers work well feedbacking,' Mr. Carmack, who will turn 34 later this month, said in a telephone interview from his Texas office. 'I just like sitting here and programming.' It is chiefly Mr. Carmack's programming that has led, over more than a decade, to a series of breakthroughs in the way computers graphically render believable environments and characters. He has been largely responsible for making those characters appear to move convincingly through three-dimensional space while interacting with much of what they encounter."I've said it before, and I'll say it again: John Carmack is a freaking genius. [ Posted at 8:16 PM | Permalink ]
Halen producer chimes in on BOBW "mistakes"Melodic Rock: "It seems talk of 'errors' within the [Van Halen] Best Of Both Worlds compilation have reached back to 5150. Producer Glen Ballard, who oversaw the mastering of the compilation as well as production of the three new tracks issued this note on Monday: 'Notes on "Finish What You Started' - There's a great irony associated with our choice to present Finish What Ya Started in a way that belies the title. We retrieved the analog master from the WB vault only to learn that it needed to be treated or 'cooked' to restore its ability to be reproduced on the analog machine. The original two-track mix ends exactly as presented on the new Best of Both Worlds. In the first mastering of the record nearly twenty years ago it was faded manually and that is the way it appears on the original OU812. We literally decided to let it 'Finish' in its truly original form, almost like a 'director's cut.' To the legions of Van Halen fans who remember it the other way, we can only hope that the added one second of music and its slightly truncated ending represents a unique version of a song that we all know and love and becomes in its own right a collectors item. We have spent hundreds of hours in conjunction with Ed and Alex pondering the tone, texture and tenor of these amazing recordings, and we appreciate the responses from the many listeners who cherish this music. It has represented a sacred mission for all of us and we present it to you with love, respect and passion, and if you hear something you might have missed before, please realize it is included to present what we deem to be the more complete archive of this amazing band. --Sincerely, Glen Ballard." [ Posted at 3:20 PM | Permalink ]
Apple stays on top: iPod superior to Sony's new digital WalkmanAssociated Press: "A quarter century after Sony Corp. first shipped the legendary Walkman personal stereo, the electronics giant is launching a high-tech model that aims to topple Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod as today's leading digital music player and status symbol. For now, Apple has nothing to fear. The Sony, which works only on a Windows PC and will be available later this month, costs $399 - $100 more than an iPod which can run on either a Windows or Macintosh machine while providing the same 20-gigabyte music capacity. Both produce excellent sound, and neither skipped a beat as I carried them with me while driving, jogging and puttering around the house. The Network Walkman played continuously for 31 hours before its battery required a recharge - more than twice as long as the iPod, which lasted 13 hours. The Sony also is physically smaller than the iPod, though not by much ... The Network Walkman only plays Sony's own ATRAC3 and ATRAC3plus formats. Before each song transferred, it had to be converted. The process took nearly seven hours ... In all, [iTunes] took 12 minutes to transfer all my files [to the iPod]."Sigh. A couple of obvious comments here. First, the iPod is indeed the more desirable device, mostly because of Sony's braindead decision to only support the bogus ATRAC3 format. However. Second, if your entire music collection is in WMA format, and you decide to buy an iPod and use iTunes, this combination will indeed also take several hours to transcode and transfer your music collection to the device. Just like the Sony. The difference, of course, is that Sony is hobbling its device unnecessarily. Stupid. [ Posted at 11:28 AM | Permalink ]
Linux overtakes Mac OS?MacWorld: "Hewlett-Packard has begun shipping its first ever notebook computer to come pre-installed with Linux. The Compaq nx5000 was unveiled at the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo during a keynote by HP Vice President of Linux, Martin Fink. 'This is the year that Linux overtakes the Mac on the desktop, and maybe my laptop will help accelerate that,' Fink said. One analyst at IDC believes that this has already happened. 'Linux captured the number two spot as desktop operating system in 2003,' said IDC analyst Dan Kusnetzky in a recent interview. By 2007 IDC estimates that Linux will have 6 per cent of the desktop market in terms of units, Kusnetzky said."Arguably, Linux usage has already surpassed Mac usage; it's certainly surpassed Mac OS X usage. However, these things are hard to track: Most Linux desktop/notebook users purchase Windows-based computers and then download and install Linux themselves. [ Posted at 11:24 AM | Permalink ]
Editorial: Apple, if you remove a software update, explainMacFixIt: "Yesterday (Wednesday) we covered Apple's removal of the recent iPhoto 4.0.2 Update, which had just been released two days earlier (Monday). As of Wednesday afternoon, all mentions of the update had been removed from the Apple website, and links to the update resulted in a 'Page Not Found' error. Apple has thus far provided no explanation as to why the update was removed. This isn't the first time Apple has released a software update only to recall it days or weeks later with no explanation. Such actions leave Mac users who have already installed the update wondering what was so wrong with the software that it needed to be pulled from distribution -- and whether or not their newly-installed software is safe to use ... users who have already installed the update have a right to know why the software is no longer available, whether or not it's safe to use, and when to expect a fixed version."Amen, brother. Communication is the key to any solid relationship. [ Posted at 11:19 AM | Permalink ]
Apple Aces AcademiaBusiness Week Online: "During the first half of its current fiscal year, Apple posted an 18% bump in year-over-year education sales. And most of that has come from higher education, since the K-12 market has remained almost flat for Apple. Clearly the Mac is climbing the Ivory Tower. What's behind the college revival? Credit Apple's one-two laptop punch -- the lower-end iBook and the more powerful PowerBook, which are packing a wallop. True, in higher education Apple has less ground to make up than in the broad PC market, where Jobs and his troops hold 3% or less of the total PC pie. That contrasts with Apple's 11.9% share in colleges in the first quarter of 2004. Moreover, that share could go up even more this year if Apple keeps up its torrid pace. Jobs & Co. sold 193,000 Macs into higher education in 2003, up 17.7% over the previous year. During that period, the entire higher-education market grew by only 11%."This is the latest in a bizarre set of overly-positive articles about Apple from Business Week Online (not be confused with the print magazine), which I find confusing and suspicious. However, I trust Alex Salkever, so what the heck. It's worth noting that Dell is kicking the crap out of all comers in the education market, despite this curious puff piece. That said, I think a PowerBook is a great tool for any college student, and arguably better (and safer) than a Wintel laptop. Yeah, I'm confused. [ Posted at 11:13 AM | Permalink ]
Mozilla.org ships Firefox 0.9.3, Thunderbird 0.7.3Mozilla.org: The Mozilla Foundation today released new versions of the Mozilla 1.7 suite, Firefox 0.9 and Thunderbird 0.7, addressing three security vulnerabilities. Details about the vulnerabilities can be found [here].Please note that, as usual, we have been able to fix these security vulnerabilities before malicious hackers took advantage of them, meaning that our users have NOT been exposed to malicious code. Security is our highest priority, and we will continue to be open and proactive in seeking to identify and fix security vulnerabilities before they are exploited, as evidenced earlier this week by the announcement of our new Security Bug Bounty Program." Downloads: Firebird 0.9.3 - Thunderbird 0.7.3 [ Posted at 11:10 AM | Permalink ]
Wednesday, August 04, 2004Apple settles with patent holder on iTunesCNET: "Apple Computer has become the latest in a line of companies licensing patents from the relatively obscure E-Data, a company that claims to hold property rights on the process of selling music online. E-Data said Wednesday that it had reached a European agreement with Apple that gave the company worldwide rights for its iTunes Music Store. It has now launched a new round of patent infringement suits against 14 companies including Amazon.com and The New York Times. Previously, E-Data sued and settled with Microsoft, as well as a handful of other companies, largely under European patent rules." [ Posted at 8:38 PM | Permalink ]
RealPlayer 10 for Linux and Helix Player 1.0 Final releasedHelix: "We are pleased to announce that the RealPlayer 10 for Linux and the underlying 100% open source Helix Player 1.0 have gone 'gold' and are available for download via the Helix Player Project site. The RealPlayer is also available from http://www.real.com/linux, Real's consumer website." [ Posted at 8:36 PM | Permalink ]
Finding Harmony in the World of Online MusicConnected Home Media: "It's a classic case of lock-in. If you want an iPod, you're stuck with Apple's online music store. If you want to buy music from Apple's online music store, you have to buy an iPod. This lock-in is a key part of Apple's strategy. It's also decidedly antichoice, which is what rankles me. Looking at Apple's financials, you can see pretty clearly that the company makes little or no money on its online music store, but the company is raking it in with the iPod. Why not open up the iPod so that users can purchase songs from other stores? That would benefit consumers, and it would arguably rejuvenate the music industry, since various online stores would be able to attract iPod owners. And it certainly wouldn't hurt Apple. Apple, so far, has said that it wants no part of that plan, and it's a curious decision for a company that has touted its pro-consumer roots. Fortunately for consumers, however, another company has called Apple's bluff."With the understanding that this is going to cause a lot of negative feedback, I've taken Real's side in the Apple/Real "Harmony" debate. My take on this is that Apple's closed system will ultimately harm users and that, in an open world, the best solution should have to compete in order to win. Heck, iTunes might very well be that winner, and that'd be just fine. But in the end, I have to side with consumers, and not with any one company. We should at least have a choice. [ Posted at 3:52 PM | Permalink ]
PC EZ-Bake Oven OK, this is just excellent.
Think Geek: "Now the computer savvy among us can relive the fun of having your very own personal mini-oven with the PC Ez-Bake oven! It fits in a 5 1/4" drive bay and plugs right into your power supply with the included Molex connector. Also included is "PC Ez-Cook", the open-source oven controller software with hundreds of easy and creative recipes for your PC Ez-Bake oven, and even a fuzzy-logic cooking control system to precisely measure the doneness of your cake, cookie, or cheese souffle. The PC Ez-Bake oven can even be used to cook your Pop Tarts, Bagel Bites, or any tiny or flat food. YUM!" Thanks Grant. [ Posted at 3:49 PM | Permalink ]
Tivo Gets Nod for Users to Share Digital ShowsReuters: "TiVo Inc. TIVO.O , maker of popular digital television recording devices, on Wednesday received approval for technology that would permit users to send copies of digital broadcast shows over the Internet to a few friends. The Federal Communications Commission voted to certify digital protections on TiVoToGo, which is not yet available but would enable a user to record and send a digital broadcast television show to up to nine other registered people who have a key allowing them to see it. The approval came despite concerns by the Motion Picture Association of America and the National Football League about the risks of unfettered distribution of copyrighted shows and illegally airing sports games outside of authorized markets."Thanks Keith. [ Posted at 2:09 PM | Permalink ]
DOOM 3: I'm proud of it"I am extremely proud of Doom 3. I think it is the best game we have ever made, and it exceeded all of my expectations. That is a rather trite phrase, but it is literally true -- I had a good set of expectations for how the game would turn out based on the technologies that it was built on, and it wound up being just plain better than that. We think a lot of people will like it. I don't follow gaming message boards, because, at its best, entertainment is going to be a subjective thing that can't win for everyone, while at worst, a particular game just becomes a random symbol for petty tribal behavior. This [posting] is about as close as I want to go... Amidst all the various Doom ports and expansions, we are starting up on our next game. It will have a new rendering engine, which will be keeping me busy for a while, but the only other thing we are saying for now is that it won't be a sequel to any of our previous work. We have a really solid team that did a lot of maturing through Doom's development, so I have high hopes that it won't be another four year odyssey."--John Carmack [ Posted at 1:40 PM | Permalink ]
Solaris 10 will run Linux programsCNET: "Sun Microsystems will build software into its forthcoming Solaris 10 version of Unix to run Linux applications unchanged. The software, called Project Janus, will work on servers using x86 chips such as Intel's Xeon and Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron, said Ann Wettersten, Sun's vice president of systems software product marketing. She spoke at a panel discussion held at its offices in conjunction with the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo. The software intercepts a program's communications with Linux and translates them into communications with Solaris ... To start with, Janus will provide 100 percent compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, even complicated programs such as Oracle's database or BEA Systems' Web server, said Jack O'Brien, a group manager of x86 operating system marketing. Later, Sun also plans to make compatibility with Novell's SuSE Linux later in an early update."Interesting, I guess. But why not just use Linux and bag Solaris altogether? If Sun could improve their Linux distribution into a leading-edge Solaris-like server product, Solaris would be completely redundant. [ Posted at 1:36 PM | Permalink ]
Munich suspends transfer to LinuxExpatica: "In a boost to the fortunes of Microsoft Windows, the city of Munich has suspended its migration to the computer operating system Linux, citing the financial and legal risks posed by a planned new system of software patents. The decision by the city to let its Windows licences run out and switch 14,000 bureaucrats' personal computers to the open-source operating system had attracted worldwide attention ... Wilhelm Hoegner, the municipality's senior computing official, confirmed Wednesday this could 'not begin for the time being.'" [ Posted at 12:30 PM | Permalink ]
Apple's control-freak tendencies could crush iPodUSA Today: "A feud between Apple and RealNetworks over music downloads is exposing Jobs' tragic flaw. Amazingly, he seems to be making the same devastating mistakes with the iPod that he made with the Mac 20 years ago ... boy, does it look like he's blowing it again. It's like some Shakespearean drama where the lead character both triumphs and is undone by the same powerful characteristic — in Jobs' case, his evangelical fervor about his technology ... Apple wants to own it all. When Microsoft behaves that way, everybody screams antitrust. Last week, Real publicly exposed Apple's obduracy. Real announced that it has a way for people to legally download and play songs that work on both Apple's products and Windows-based products. It's the kind of flexibility consumers want. But Apple doesn't seem to care." [ Posted at 11:22 AM | Permalink ]
RCN cable hits 7 MbpsWoo! RCN, my cable provider, recently announced that it's moving its cable Internet service to a whopping 7 Mbps downstream (upstream is still an amazing 800 Kbps). Since they're testing the new service now in the Boston area, I was able to recycle the modem this morning and get the speed boost. RCN's slower 3 Mbps service is also getting a free upgrade soon, to 5 Mbps."RCN will reward its customers by automatically upgrading their modem speeds at no additional cost. Customers with MegaModem Mach 5 , RCN's cable modem service with 5 Mbps download speeds, will be automatically upgraded to MegaModem Mach 7. Customers with MegaModem Mach 3, RCN's cable modem service with 3 Mbps download speeds, will be automatically upgraded to MegaModem Mach 5 ... This is the second time in the last 12 months that RCN has increased the speed of its cable modem service at no additional cost to its customers." [ Posted at 10:41 AM | Permalink ]
DOOM 3: First impressionsI finally sat down with DOOM 3 last night for an hour or so ... Big mistake. This game needs to be played in broad daylight with a lot of people around. It's dark, scary, moody, and unbelievably realistic. It's also gruesome, so keep the kids away. Though we've come to expect a certain level of quality from id Software regarding the 3D technology and gameplay--which DOOM 3 delivers and then some--the most impressive thing about this game is its immersive plot and interactive storyline. Folks, this is the real deal. And while the high violence quotient will surely keep a lot of people away, DOOM 3 needs to be hailed for the advance that it is. The bar has just been raised.Oh, and it's already scared the living crap out of me several times. Good stuff. 
AAC Encoding problems (#2): Bad mastering to blame?MacFixIt: "Yesterday we reported a problem with AAC audio quality where specific songs exhibit muffled sound for a few seconds, then carry on with normal sound. The problem does not occur when using Apple Lossless Encoding, AIFF or WAV. MacFixIt reader Rick Zeman suggests that bad mastering, rather than a flaw in the AAC codec is causing the issue: 'The problem isn't so much AAC, as it is horrible mastering. [Van Halen's greatest hits package] The Best of Both Worlds (Ed.- mentioned in the previous report) suffers from being mastered to CD overly loud. (An easy way to tell this visually instead of aurally is to get info on a song in iTunes and look at the volume in the Summary tab.) If it's -7.x to -9.x DB, the song is a victim of poor mastering. A lossy codec like AAC (or MP3) at low bitrates just can't handle the overload. BOBW is the 2nd worst CD I have with that malady with Joe Bonamassa's So It's Like That being the worst--that one, unlike Best of Both Worlds, is virtually unlistenable. There is a very technical -- but quite enlightening -- explanation of this phenomenon. Unfortunately, this is becoming more and more common, especially as the old-timers are retiring from the studios.'"This is a fascinating discussion. Be sure to follow the link for an excellent explanation of the problem. [ Posted at 9:20 AM | Permalink ]
Tuesday, August 03, 2004Report: iMovie strips FairPlay DRM from iTunes songsMacNN: "Apple's iMovie can be used to strip the FairPlay digital rights management protection (DRM) on iTunes songs, according to a report by German news site Macnews.de. The site reports that Apple's own video tool can be used to create unprotected song files that be played on any computer without recompression, circumventing iTunes' DRM protection. iMovie users can use the "Share" feature of iMovie to export any imported (protected) song from the iTunes Music Store. The exported songs can either be stored in the un-protected AAC file format (used by Apple at the iTMS) or in the raw WAV file format; both of these formats are supported by iTunes."And an eager Mac Nation moves to unprotect their purchased music before Apple releases a new iMovie update... [ Posted at 11:49 AM | Permalink ]
Monday, August 02, 2004What's next for Apple?CNN/Money: "Apple has been one of the few large tech stocks to flourish in what has been a rough year for the sector. Apple shares are up nearly 50 percent this year, following a 50 percent jump in 2003. That's led some to question the stock's valuation, however. Apple now trades at 36 times earnings estimates for fiscal 2005, which ends in September of that year. So the slightest bit of uncertainty about Jobs' status could have a big effect on the stock. 'When you take a stock that's riding on vapors, a lot of promise and hope that the next big thing will be around the corner, something like this does make you think,' said Rod Bare, an equity analyst with Morningstar ... Apple is clearly one of the handful of companies where the fortunes are seen to be intricately tied to the person in charge. So even if [Jobs left suddenly and] business proceeded as usual with Apple, Wall Street probably wouldn't see it that way, at least in the short term. 'Apple does rely on a cult of personality and the stock trades on some of that,' said Bare."I haven't really posted anything about Steve Jobs' health scare this past weekend, because I felt it was irrelevant to my examination of Apple's products, but the more I think about it, the more I realize how wrong I was. Today, Apple is very much "Steve Jobs Computer" and the company flies high on Jobs' personality, chutzpah, and celebrity as much as it does on its products. Strike that: Steve Jobs, in many ways, is more important to Apple than its products, specifically because none of Apple's products today would exist if Jobs hadn't come back to the company. So what would happen if he left suddenly, for whatever reason? As this story notes, Jobs is the type of guy who would leave suddenly with very little notice. Would an Apple Computer run by Tim Cook, the company's current executive vice president of worldwide sales and operations (yawn) really be able to generate any excitement at all? [ Posted at 9:46 PM | Permalink ]
iPhoto 4.0.2Apple: "iPhoto has always been the best way to easily import photos from your digital camera, organize them for fast retrieval, and then share them with family and friends. Now you get even more with iPhoto 4.0.2! iPhoto 4.0.2 addresses minor issues with Smart Albums and European books, and provides notification when new versions of iPhoto are available." [ Posted at 9:42 PM | Permalink ]
Start-up to make iTunes sing on LinuxCNET: "CodeWeavers, which specializes in software that lets Windows programs run on Linux, said on Monday that it has a new version of its software that adds support for Apple Computer's iTunes. The company said CrossOver Office 3.1 adds support for the jukebox and music download software. The version is currently in preview form and is being made available only to existing CrossOver Office customers. 'iTunes has been our No. 1 most requested application,' CodeWeavers CEO Jeremy White said in a statement. 'We remain confident that by the end of 2005, the majority of Windows applications will be supported by CrossOver Office. Until then, we're pleased to be bringing the appeal of iTunes to Linux users through the development of version 3.1.' A final version is expected later this year."So, this is interesting for a number of reasons, but what strikes me most is the quote: iTunes is the number one requested application? Unreal. [ Posted at 9:40 PM | Permalink ]
Apple's music operation hits a sour noteBoston Globe: "Apple designed the iPod to work with its own FairPlay antipiracy technology, but nobody else's. And Apple hasn't shared FairPlay with its competitors. So rival music sellers were frozen out.Until last week ... RealNetworks ... has found a way to make its antipiracy software compatible with Apple's. That means a RealPlayer customer can play his music on an Apple iPod. The technology is also compatible with Windows Media antipiracy software from Microsoft Corp. Microsoft hasn't complained; neither have the many makers of Windows-compatible music players. Apparently they understand that RealNetworks has done them a favor. RealAudio customers now have an incentive to purchase these newly compatible music players. You might expect Apple to take the same attitude. You'd be wrong. Apple has responded by threatening to sue RealNetworks under the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act, an ill-conceived law intended to stop illegal hacking of computer systems ... Apple's legal threat is probably hollow; the copyright law allows companies to hack a rival's software to make a compatible product, so RealNetworks is probably in the clear ... Since his amazing comeback as Apple chief executive in 1997, Jobs hasn't made a single major mistake -- until now." [ Posted at 1:00 PM | Permalink ]
2.5 GHz G5s still not shippingContrary to a previous report nothing that Apple had begun shipping its high-end dual processor 2.5 GHz Power Mac G5, MacInTouch today cites a number of notes from customers who purchased the machine the day it was announced, only to discover now that they won't be shipping until September in some cases."My 2.5-GHz G5, originally set to ship on July 30th, is now scheduled for August 6. I put in my order June 9, the day Apple announced the new machines." "It doesn't seem like it's an overwhelming demand that's causing shipping delays. I've not heard of anyone getting the machines so it sounds more like a manufacturing issue--that there are none available. I would think that if it were a demand issue that there would be some folks/stores that would have them by now." "Apple's Web site is now telling me 'On or before 9/20/2004'!" "Apple did it again (at least, to me) I put in an order for a dual 2.5ghz system a day after the announcement ... this Saturday, barely before that deadline, that estimate was pushed out a month [to] 09/03/04." "We ordered our 2.5-GHz G5 the night it was announced ... a stock machine except for an Airport Express card. Ours is currently listed as 'on or before 8/20' ... Sigh." [ Posted at 12:53 PM | Permalink ]
EasyWMA 2.1.xEasyWMA: "EasyWMA allows you to convert wma audio files to mp3 so that you can play your favorite songs in iTunes or any other player on your Mac. EasyWMA has a very simple user interface, full drag and drop support, and can even do batch processing to convert your whole library of wma songs in one click. It's also super easy to install : no need to install any external package or codec. Just a simple application to drag and drop on your harddisk. This program is donateware. Version 2.1 adds ID3 tags support." [ Posted at 12:49 PM | Permalink ]
Rio Carbon 5GB Player Rio: "The Rio Carbon 5GB is the next generation compact player with power and performance. Rio Carbon 5GB is perfect for the music lover with a few hundred CDs or someone starting out their digital audio collection who wants room to grow. The ultra slim design goes anywhere, and its superb battery life of up to 20 hours continues long after mini-powered players have died. With it’s built-in voice memo recorder you can quickly capture your thoughts and organize your ideas. And like all Rio players, the Rio Carbon uses simple menus and intuitive controls for easy one-handed operation. In the box with your Carbon is a USB cable for downloading music as well as battery charging from your computer. Also included is an AC power adapter and carrying case."
At $250, the Carbon is as overpriced as the iPod Mini, but it looks cute. [ Posted at 12:44 PM | Permalink ]
Research Says Linux Servers Mostly Hack-FreeInternetnews.com: "According to new research published by Evans Data this week, a significant majority of Linux servers have never been infected with a virus and have never been compromised by a malicious attack. A word of caution though: The results come from a July survey of only 500 Linux developers. In that survey, 78 percent of respondents reported that they have never had a Linux server compromised by a malicious hacking activity, while 92 percent claimed that they have never had a Linux machine infected with a virus. The survey results stand in stark contrast with Evans Data's own spring survey of non-Linux developers, in which 60 percent admitted that they had a security breach, and a full 32 percent actually had three or more breaches. Only 7 percent of Linux users reported having three or more breaches." [ Posted at 10:37 AM | Permalink ]
Doom 3 Hands-OnIGN: "The developer has ... successfully engineered a moody, eerie, futuristic world where advanced technology and demons meet, where the dead come back to life, and where the shadows are every bit as terrifying as the monsters illuminated in the beam of your flashlight ... Doom 3 features top-end presentation through and through, be it the detailed in-game graphics complete with unparalleled light and shadow or the well-delivered, dramatic voice acting that brings the characters to life. You will believe ... In many ways we have been Doom 3 skeptics. There's no doubt that technically speaking it is leaps and bounds above any competitor. It is perhaps the most gorgeous game coming to market, period. That being true, we weren't always convinced that it was going to bring anything new play-wise to the table. And you know what? We're still not. But having played through a level, there's no denying that Doom 3 is one of the most atmospheric, captivating first-person shooters we've played anyway. It's scary, it's extremely intense and it's fun. And we've only scratched the surface." [ Posted at 10:35 AM | Permalink ]
Doom 3GameSpot: "We spent a good 90 minutes with the final retail version of id's long-awaited shooter to get a sense of how it's turned out, four years after its development began and just days away from its release. Bear in mind that all the impressions following are taken from one brief run through just a few levels of the game and thus aren't intended as a final analysis of its quality. With that said, here's the short version: id hasn't reinvented the wheel with Doom 3, but damn, this is one good-looking wheel ... There's one other thing that happened to us while we played Doom 3, something that's never occurred as we played any of id's previous games: We became interested to find out what was going to happen next in the storyline ... the state of the final game's visuals is just stunning. From a technical standpoint, few recent games have come close to this level of complexity, and it's our opinion that none have yet matched it. Every square inch of the indoor backgrounds we saw seemed to be alive with computer displays and functioning machinery, with different-colored lighting, smoke, and sparks emanating from all over that enhanced the mood of the grim surroundings. The game's characters, both friendly and hostile, at first glance look as detailed as the pre-rendered CG films of just a few years ago. And of course, the game's real-time lighting and shadowing are extremely impressive, not to mention essential for establishing the game's creepy atmosphere ... our initial impressions of Doom 3 are pretty positive. We'll admit that we didn't see anything wildly innovative in our time with the game, but the levels we went through were eminently playable and extremely polished." [ Posted at 10:24 AM | Permalink ]
The Age of DoomTime: " It was the janitor who showed John Carmack that the world had changed. In 1993 Carmack was working on a new kind of video game for a tiny company called id Software. He had written games before, but nobody except computer geeks had cared much about them. 'I remember showing some people games that I liked on the Apple II,' Carmack remembers, 'and just having them sit there, completely not comprehending what could be enjoyable about moving these little guys around. People just did not get it.' But this game was different. 'We noticed that the janitor coming in to empty the trash had just been sitting there staring at the game — for a long time,' he says. 'The game had this power: it could affect normal people.' The game was called Doom, and the janitor was among the first of us normal people to get a look at the electronic frontier of the coming century. With Doom, Carmack and his colleagues had created a three-dimensional virtual world so powerful, compelling and disturbing that it would change the real world around it. This week id will launch Doom 3, four years in the making. It is, if anything, a little too real. [ Posted at 9:49 AM | Permalink ]
Sun Microsystems Weighs TakeoversWall Street Journal (registration required): "The long-ailing computer maker has looked at "a number of acquisitions," including software maker Novell Inc., said Sun President Jonathan Schwartz, as part of efforts to bolster its business in server systems and to angle for advantage against International Business Machines Corp. and Red Hat Inc., which sells the most popular version of the Linux operating system. 'We're one of the best-financed companies to pursue an aggressive acquisition strategy,' Mr. Schwartz said. Acquisitions are 'a topic of daily debate' at the company, he added. Mr. Schwartz said Sun hasn't engaged in negotiations with Novell, of Waltham, Mass. A Novell spokesman declined to comment." [ Posted at 9:39 AM | Permalink ]
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