 |
More of my sitesWinInfo Daily News
|
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 Friday, August 20, 2004Amazon Web Services 4.0Amazon: "The Amazon Web Services 4.0 (AWS 4.0) beta* test is now open to anyone who wishes to participate. AWS 4.0 offers many new features and improvements. In particular, AWS 4.0 provides unprecedented access to Amazon product information from all Amazon product categories, including images, customer reviews, and product features. The new version addresses many of the limitations of previous versions of AWS and offers a much more usable set of APIs. See our online documentation and downloadable code samples for more information. We encourage you to register for the beta and check out AWS 4.0 today!" [ Posted at 8:53 PM | Permalink ]
Apple trims complimentary iPod telephone supportThink Secret: "With the rollout of the fourth-generation iPod, Apple has changed its standard offer of 90 days of complimentary telephone support, now instead providing phone support for a single incident. According to Apple's iPod FAQ page, buyers of fourth-generation 'click wheel' iPods, as well as iPod minis sold on or after July 24, receive a single incident of complimentary telephone support. Customers [must] use their single incident within the first 90 days. Previously, Apple had offered 90 days of unlimited telephone support, with no cap on the number of incidents ... The change to the complimentary phone support comes as Apple has pushed its $59 AppleCare Protection Plan for the iPod, which extends the phone coverage, as well as hardware service, to a full two years."Apple half full response: The new iPods are so well made, they don't need support! Apple half empty response: Apple is so desperate to pinch pennies where it can that it will screw over new customers of its best-selling products! [ Posted at 1:02 PM | Permalink ]
RealNetworks Doesn't RockForbes: "When it comes to brand loyalty, users of Apple Computer's Macintosh computers, and more recently the iPod, are infamous for a level of combative partisanship that would do Rush Limbaugh (notably, a Mac user himself) and Al Franken (notably not) proud."Those two people, and the computers they choose, may say more about the Mac market than anything I could summon, but we digress... "Real's tactical mistake was forgetting that Apple's fervent acolytes constitute, for Apple's PR and marketing departments, a fifth column for which other companies would trade a CEO's eye teeth. In seeking to rally consumers under the 'freedom of choice' banner, Real has wandered into Apple's home marketing turf and gotten a black eye for it ... And though it looks a bit silly now, and its methods are at best questionable, Real's argument is essentially correct. Digital music should, like its analog equivalent, be interoperable with as many devices as possible. In time, market demand will require this, and those who fail to see that will find themselves marginalized. But that day isn't here yet. Real may be correct in principle, but that doesn't trump Apple's right to tell Glazer, Real and all Harmony users to go jump in the lake. Jobs is right to zealously defend the iTunes-plus-iPod business model until such time that it makes sense to change it. And if that means locking Harmony users out of the iPod, that's neither wrong, nor anti-competitive nor anti-consumer. It's just business." Sure. And it's just business for Real to try and open up its services to a bigger slice of the market, too, right? And it's just "normal" for users to want to have choice, right? Right. [ Posted at 1:00 PM | Permalink ]
Starbucks GlenI know this is old news, but if you haven't seen it yet, I just love this commercial, mostly because, yeah, that's the actual band singing a parody of their own song. Good stuff. Glen! Glen! Glen! Glen! Glen! Glen! Glen! Glen! Glen! Glen! Glen's the man, going to work, got his tie, got ambition Middle management is right in his grasp It's a dream he will never let die Glen's the man of the hour, he's the king of his cube Status call reports have finally met their rival Burnin' the candle at both ends on his way to the top He knows that one day he just could become ... supervisor ... Roy! Roy! Roy! Roy! ... [ Posted at 12:29 PM | Permalink ]
Apple gives money for old MacsMacWorld UK: "Apple UK is offering businesses a rebate on old Macs if they trade them in for new models. Under the business trade-in programme companies can get up to £540 when they trade in an old Mac for a new one. Equipment must be purchased through the Apple Store for Business. The trade-in value of second-hand Macs depends on the model. For example, a business will get £490 for a G4 Dual Processor 1.4GHz, £110 for a Snow iMac, or £540 for a 20-inch flat panel iMac. A full price list can be viewed here. The offer ends on December 31."Huh. I wonder if this makes them desperate. [ Posted at 9:20 AM | Permalink ]
Hackers revive iTunes music sharingZDNET: "A group of anonymous programmers has released new software that allows music to be swapped via Apple Computer's popular iTunes jukebox. Like an older piece of software called MyTunes, the newly released OurTunes allows a person to browse complete iTunes libraries on other computers and download songs, either in MP3 or the AAC format preferred by Apple. Songs purchased from the iTunes music store and wrapped in Apple's copy-protection technology cannot be traded. OurTunes works only among computers that share a network, however. That means that students or employees can swap songs on a local network, but cannot use it to browse computers on the Internet, as happens with file-trading programs such as Kazaa. Still, the software is likely to ring an alarm at Apple and among record company executives, who have waged war against file swapping since Napster's heyday." [ Posted at 9:15 AM | Permalink ]
Thursday, August 19, 2004.Mac subscribers get free game, discount on other gameApple .Mac: "Just in time for summer vacation: two great games from Freeverse. .Mac members get a free download of WingNuts (a US$19.95 value), a zany arcade-style game involving a time-traveling airforce that takes you through 30 levels of play from World War I to the modern age and beyond. Plus you'll get a 25 percent discount on Airburst Extreme: the sequel to Game Hall of Fame member AirBurst, AirBurst Extreme mixes the paddles-and-balls theme of Pong and Breakout with fresh and fun new elements for an action-packed gaming experience. AirBurst Extreme is just US$22.46 for .Mac members."So that's nice. But how about bumping up .Mac's now-silly email and storage allotments? [ Posted at 8:10 PM | Permalink ]
The Real DealThanks to RealNetworks' amazing 49 cent music sale, I've been stocking up on a wide range of music, much of it instrumental music by my favorite artists that I hadn't picked up yet on CD. Most of this music is still in the $15 range on CD, and since they were mostly $4.99 an album on the RealPlayer Music Store, I've saved a bundle of cash. This is just the instrumental stuff I've purchased; I also bought a bunch of fairly pedestrian pop/rock stuff I won't bore you with. And I'm not done yet... I keep prowling Real's virtual aisles, waiting for the sale to inevitably conclude.BTW... What I'm doing with this music is immediately burning it to CD and then ripping it back to the computer in 160 Kbps MP3 format. Since the source files are of such high quality, the resulting unprotected MP3s sound simply fantastic, something you can't say about songs purchased from Apple's iTunes Music Store. Good stuff. David Lanz  
 
 
Peter Buffet  
 
David Arkenstone  
 
 
 
[ Posted at 3:29 PM | Permalink ]
My Huge Mistake about the MiniIn a Business Week Online article, after a lot of blah-blah-blah, he finally cuts to the chase: "To be honest, I'm still hesitant to call the mini a mass-market phenomenon, however. Apple won't disclose the number of units shipped. A significant percentage of mini sales are going to Apple's retail and online stores, neither of which provides tracking data to tech analysts. But Hitachi is shipping only 200,000 drives per quarter, putting the upper limit on minis at around that number -- assuming Apple is buying up every disk drive that it can [which it isn't, not even close. --Paul]. So Apple won't even be selling 1 million minis this year. What's more, it will have trouble eclipsing the 1 million-per-year mark until Hitachi or other drive producers can significantly improve yields and up production counts. And until Apple records a boffo holiday season for the mini, it can't officially be called a runaway success."No, it can't. So why, exactly, were you "wrong" about the Mini? [ Posted at 11:01 AM | Permalink ]
Wednesday, August 18, 2004New sunbird available for Windows, Linux and OS XI really hate the kitchen sink: " New Sunbird builds for Windows, Linux and OS X (for the first time - thanks to David Perry) have been released. You can download them from the mozilla ftp-server. These builds are the first to feature our new default theme, our new logo and the customizable toolbar functionality. Please note that Sunbird is still an experimental technology preview and these builds contain bugs and are a little bit rough around the edges." [ Posted at 9:40 AM | Permalink ]
The Real Music ManCNET: "RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser has survived longer than most in the Internet business, largely by pulling rabbits out of his hat when the competition least expects it. Glaser's latest surprise came a few weeks ago when RealNetworks announced it had figured out a way to re-create Apple Computer's proprietary technology for digital rights management--without Apple's permission. This allowed RealNetworks to begin selling songs in its digital music store that could play on Apple's hugely popular iPod, which no other non-iTunes store can do ... News.com spoke with Glaser late Monday about the company's vision of a Rosetta stone for digital music and his relationship with his opposite number at Apple, Steve Jobs ..."Glaser on the problem Harmony solves: "We knew from a technology development standpoint how to do that kind of compatibility work. There is a tradition for it with Compaq, and actually even Microsoft has done some of it. So we thought there's a real emerging problem here and rather than just line up in a format war, let's try to rise above that. There were some significant technical challenges in terms of making sure that it would work and that it wouldn't feel like a science experiment to consumers. (But) our engineering team did a phenomenal job and implemented something that was smoother, faster, and more transparent than what we had hoped for." On Apple's reaction: "Apple reacted in what I consider to be kind of a hysterical fashion, that created even more attention and visibility and awareness. I've become friends with this guy Al Franken. He wrote a book and called it 'A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right,' and I kind of feel like Apple Computer is playing the same role on this that Bill O'Reilly played in Fair and Balanced." On trying to work with Apple first: "At the time I contacted Steve, we were well on the way--which is when he decided to do a Bill O'Reilly on us. At that point, we kind of kept our powder dry. We were asked, 'Can you explain, Mr. Glaser, why you sent that message to Mr. Jobs?' and we explained that we think compatibility and interoperability is good. And (we were asked), 'Now that he's told you that he won't do that, what will you do?' And I said, 'Well, we write software here, and we're just going to keep improving our software.'" On Jobs leaking Glaser's response to the press: "Steve is a one-of-a-kind guy. You know that about him when you do business with him or when you work with him. I don't take any of that personally. My view is that we're doing something that's important for consumers here. The personalities make for interesting press, but the reality is that we were going to do what we thought was the right thing for consumers, in a way that we thought was completely in the tradition of well-established things like Compaq's compatibility for computers ... This a is case where we think we're doing the right thing for consumers and the right thing for industry, and it might well be the right thing for Apple. But we think it's going to happen in the long haul regardless." On subscription services: " We still think that long-term, most consumers will have subscriptions. Long-term we think that we want to serve that kind of dial tone need for the largest base of subscription. What now have with Harmony are two things that are relevant. We have something that is differentiated and better. While we will license it to other people, we will license it on terms where if people use it and they pay us a little money for it and we multiply that by the volume of all the songs, that's great ... we will put relatively speaking more emphasis on (individual) tracks than on subscription than we had because we have a compelling differentiation in both those areas. But I think at the end of the day we will continue to focus very substantial amount on subscriptions. We have had great success with Rhapsody. Not only with the number of subscribers, but with how active they are and with the kind of feedback they give us." On licensing Harmony to other companies: "[We are in] preliminary talks. We just introduced Harmony three weeks ago, and we're just releasing the RealPlayer with Harmony as a consumer product Tuesday, so any of the conversations we're in are in very preliminary phases." On Sony ATRAC: "We support (the Sony music format) ATRAC. We have had interoperability for in-the-clear music with OpenMG-based devices, which is Sony's DRM, in the past, and we may well do that in the future. Today, Sony's hardware products for this market are not particularly significant in the marketplace. They still have some significant limitations, like they don't play MP3s natively. So the poor consumer has to transcode all their MP3s for these devices, which is kind of a backward way of looking at things. We think Sony's a terrific company and have a good relationship with them on a number of fronts, so I wouldn't rule anything out. But by covering Helix, and Windows Media and FairPlay or iTunes devices, we've covered 90 percent of the secure devices that are out there." Excellent interview. Few people know much about Glaser, who started at Microsoft, but formed his own company when Microsoft refused to see the value in streaming media early on. He's a combative, vindictive, competitive guy. Don't expect him to back down in this fight with Apple. [ Posted at 9:24 AM | Permalink ]
AOL Releases Netscape Browser UpdateeWeak: " America Online Inc. on Tuesday opened the curtain on its update to the Netscape Web browser. Netscape 7.2 became available for download from the Netscape site ... The update counters speculation that AOL was stopping releases of new Netscape browser versions, following its decision in July 2003 to spin out the Mozilla open-source browser development group that it had created five years earlier ... officials indicated that the new version was a maintenance release, bringing it in line with the security fixes, performance improvements and new features included in Mozilla. Among the new features are password manager improvements, improved junk-mail filters and support for vCards. Netscape 7.2 is available for the Windows, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems." [ Posted at 9:13 AM | Permalink ]
Tuesday, August 17, 2004Apple hints at colorful computer plansCNET: "A patent application, listing Apple as the assignee and Duncan Kerr and Steve Hotelling as the inventors, was published on the USPTO site late last week. The abstract described a computer with an illuminable housing and a light device--red, green, blue and white light emitting diodes 'disposed' inside the housing. The filing describes a 'chameleonic' electronic device which can 'alter its visual appearance.'"Interesting. I wonder if it will look like the Dell XPS system, shown here: 
Longer G5 Chip Delay May Hurt Apple EarningsForbes: "Prudential Equity Group said the availability of chips for Apple Computer could be 'worse than anticipated' due to manufacturing delays from IBM. 'Following a series of recent checks on Apple, we believe that availability of the company's 1.8 GHz and 2.0 GHz G5 processors may be worse than initially anticipated,' it said. 'Apple had previously stated that it expected to have shortages of its 1.8 GHz and 2.0 GHz processors through July, with supply catching up in August. We now believe that IBM may be having difficulty meeting its revised supply commitments.' The research firm, which maintained its 'neutral weight' rating and $27 target price, said supply constraints may lead to further delays for the G5 iMac, already two months behind schedule, as well as possible delays for its PowerMac G5." [ Posted at 9:55 AM | Permalink ]
Freedom of Music ChoiceFreedom of Music Choice: "Choice Rocks! Consumers are getting a raw deal with the status quo in digital music, which limits healthy, open competition that drives down prices and encourages innovation. Stand up for your Freedom of Music Choice!"This is a RealNetworks blog of sorts, which is celebrating the release of the final version of RealPlayer with Harmony Technology with 49 cent song downloads, and 50 percent off all album downloads. Good stuff. Related: Hey Apple, Don't Break My iPod! (petition) Thanks Jerry. [ Posted at 7:59 AM | Permalink ]
Monday, August 16, 2004Sun's Looking Glass Provides 3D ViewPC World: "The reason Nicholas refers to Project Looking Glass as a skin, and not an operating system, is because it is merely that--something that sits atop an operating system. 'At the moment Project Looking Glass is still in development, and so only runs on a computer using the Java Desktop System. We are currently shipping the developer's version with Java Desktop System and Solaris, and plan to have a working version available for Linux,' he says. The company has been showing its 3D desktop for some time. However, the developer release may indicate the project is coming to fruition ... At the moment, four applications supported by Project Looking Glass are Mozilla 1.4 and its mail client; Star Office; Evolution's mail client; and Real Player." [ Posted at 5:10 PM | Permalink ]
C:\NGRTLNS.W95The Mac Mothership just posted an old 1995 Apple ad that probably seemed like a good idea at the time. Kind of reminds me of Apple's "welcome" ad when IBM entered the PC business. Which, incidentally, can be found here. [ Posted at 10:15 AM | Permalink ]
Little-known startup was behind iPod's easy-to-use interfaceSFGate: "In the late spring of 2001, engineers at Pixo Inc. were chugging along minding their own business when a neighbor called. It was Apple Computer Inc. The tech giant was working on a secret project and needed some help on software from the Cupertino startup. Turns out the new device was a portable digital music player that has since become all the rage: the iPod. After weeks of hammering out the business side of the deal, Pixo was on board to help Apple create an operating system that would run the user interface of the iPod ... the fact that Apple went to Pixo [for the iPod software] suggests 'that they tried it inside and failed.'"So... If PortalPlayer made the iPod hardware platform, and Pixo made the OS software, and Apple simply fine-tuned the Nomad UI that Creative had previously used, where exactly did Apple innovate in the iPod? Was it the high price? Or was it the marketing? When Microsoft innovates like that--by fine-tuning the work of others and selling it to a larger crowd--the company gets accused of not being truly innovative. However, I fully expect hundreds of people to come to Apple's defense simply because I'm pointing out how black the kettle is. [ Posted at 10:09 AM | Permalink ]
Apple's strategy a familiar tuneSFGate: "When Steve Jobs unveiled the first Macintosh two decades ago, it was hailed as a device that would usher in an era of user-friendly personal computers. PCs had been around by that time, but the idea of using a mouse to click on small icons to navigate around the computer was revolutionary. By 1993, Apple was the No. 2 computer-maker in the world behind IBM, accounting for nearly 10 percent of the worldwide PC market share. Fast-forward to 2004 -- Jobs and the Cupertino company he co-founded have another big hit on their hands, the iPod portable music player. Apple wasn't the first to make such a device, but the iPod's ease of use, huge storage capacity and sleek design have made it a smash. In less than three years, Apple's share of the portable digital music player market has ballooned to 54 percent, according to research firm IDC. Apple also says it owns about 70 percent of the online music service market with its iTunes Music Store. But with more competitors jumping into the market, the question is whether Apple will be able to keep its dominance in the portable music player market or whether the iPod will eventually go the way of the firm's Macintosh business, which accounted for only 1.9 percent of the overall PC market last year, according to research firm Gartner."More reality-based than most stories of this ilk, and thus worthy of noting. Clearly, Apple is remaking the mistakes of the past. [ Posted at 10:05 AM | Permalink ]
PalmSource Chairman to ResignWSJ (registration required): "PalmSource Inc. said Eric Benhamou tendered his resignation as chairman, effective after the October annual meeting, cutting further corporate ties with PalmSource's former sister company, palmOne Inc. A Sunnyvale, Calif., maker of software for hand-held devices and 'smart' cellphones, PalmSource said Mr. Benhamou is expected to remain chairman of palmOne, which makes many of the products that run the software. Palm Inc. divided into software unit PalmSource and hardware unit palmOne, Milipitas, Calif., in 2003. 'PalmSource and palmOne have firmly established themselves as separate, publicly traded companies,' Mr. Benhamou said. A PalmSource spokeswoman said the company is searching for a successor for Mr. Benhamou, 48 years old."Maybe it's just me, but is this yet another sign of doom for PalmSource and, more globally, the Palm OS? [ Posted at 9:27 AM | Permalink ]
Ambitious Package to Raise Productivity (and Microsoft's Profit)New York Times: "To most of the computer-using world, Microsoft Office is the familiar workhorse of the desktop, a collection of software for creating documents, spreadsheets and presentations. But for Microsoft, which is starting to see its growth slow as it ages, reinventing that suite of old reliables - including Word, Excel and PowerPoint - has become nothing less than a key to its future. 'Office defines business productivity,' Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman, told financial analysts in July. He added that 'the productivity area is probably the most important franchise that we have.' With that focus, Microsoft is now pursuing a strategy to transform Office from a bundle of programs on personal computers into a family of software that can put Microsoft's technology deeper into the operations of corporate data centers."An interesting article about where Microsoft is going with Office, even if it's light on the details. One expected corroboration: Microsoft will now ship another Office version before Longhorn. [ Posted at 9:24 AM | Permalink ]
Sunday, August 15, 2004The Apple of forbidden knowledgeFT.com: "In the material world, when a razor manufacturer claims that a generic razor blade maker is 'stealing my customers' by making compatible blades, we simply laugh. The 'hacking' there consists of looking at the razor and manufacturing a blade that will fit. But when information about compatibility is inscribed in binary code and silicon circuits, rather than the moulded plastic of a razor cartridge, our moral intuitions are a little less confident. And all kinds of bad policy can flourish in that area of moral uncertainty. This leads us to the law. Surely Apple's legal claim is as baseless as their moral one? Probably, but it is a closer call than you would think." [ Posted at 10:07 PM | Permalink ]
Poll: Apple should share the musicMacWorld: " Nearly a third (32 per cent) of Macworld Online readers voting in this week's poll think that Apple should open up its music rights management format. However, a quarter (26 per cent) of the 933 voters think it should make such a move only if its competition does so first. A fifth (20 per cent) think Apple should not open up its digital rights management at all saying: Why should it dilute its high-quality service? Another 18 per cent don't care what Apple does – they won't be using anyone else's service. The remaining 4 per cent don't care because they won't use iPods or iTunes. Apple has been accused of being power crazy because it maintains control of its digital music ecosystem by not allowing anyone else to use its FairPlay digital rights management (DRM) system. This means that music bought from the iTunes Music Store will not officially play on devices other than the iPod. All other devices and download services use Microsoft's Windows Media Audio WMA system – which doesn't work with iPod or iTunes. The failure of Apple to licence its FairPlay technology to others has led industry watchers to speculate that it is going to make the same mistakes in the music market, as it did in the personal computer market when it decided not to allow other manufacturers to make Macs, allowing Windows based PCs to take over." [ Posted at 7:37 PM | Permalink ]
Perens readies old-school Linux, but who wants it?VNUNet: "The first beta of a Linux distribution that hopes to compete with enterprise server products from SuSE and Red Hat is set for release on 1 September - but few in the industry can see it gaining much support. Backed by open source advocate Bruce Perens, the free UserLinux distribution claims to offer the same functionalities as existing enterprise Linux distributions ... According to its mission statement, UserLinux wants to provide businesses 'with freely available, high quality Linux operating systems accompanied by certifications, service, and support options designed to encourage productivity and security while reducing overall costs'. Perens started working on the project out of frustration over the rise of commercial interests in the open source community." [ Posted at 7:35 PM | Permalink ]
OpenOffice.org Team Cautiously Optimistic On AOL OfficeLinux Today: "Members of the OpenOffice.org community are greeting yesterday's announcement of a new version of OpenOffice.org with cautious optimism. Yesterday's announcement from America Online detailed the soon to be released "Optimized PC" package, which will feature a Systemax computer, 17-inch monitor, and color printer for approximately $300, plus 12 months of service from the ISP at $23.90 per month. The machine will be pre-loaded with Windows XP Home Edition, but interestingly for the open source community it will also come with a productivity suite labeled AOL Office--a suite that is clearly a derivation of Sun Microsystems' StarOffice or OpenOffice.org. While the exact pedigree of AOL Office is not yet known, it is clear that in one way or another, this is the first time an OpenOffice.org derivation has been marketed as a pre-loaded option in a major retail PC sale. This means good news for open source acceptance on the desktop, regardless of platform, and several open source advocates have applauded the move. Those advocates include members of the OpenOffice.org development community--though their applause is a little restrained as they wait to see what exactly AOL Office will look like."Related: New $299 AOL PC Features Open Source Software [ Posted at 7:33 PM | Permalink ]
What exactly are Microsoft's plans for Linux on Windows?NewsForge: "A Linux developer -- he prefers to remain anonymous -- has told NewsForge he was recently contacted by Microsoft and invited to a job interview. He accepted, and during the interview he asked the obvious question: Why was Microsoft interested in hiring someone with strong Linux skills? The reply was that Microsoft is working on an emulator that will allow Windows users to run Unix ... Why is Microsoft interviewing Linux developers? Are they needed to work on the Virtual PC product, or on Longhorn? I called Microsoft public relations -- actually, it was Waggoner Edstrom's Rapid Response Team, which handles MS public relations -- and put the developer's question to them. The first response I received said 'After speaking with my colleagues, I can confirm that Microsoft has no plans to port to Linux at this time.' Since that was an answer to a question I hadn't asked, I asked again. The second response was unequivocal: 'Unfortunately, we do not have further comment on your question.' So we just don't know."My guess: Microsoft will integrate its Virtual PC technology into Windows Server so that customers can run Linux apps (and any other x86-based product) directly from Windows. [ Posted at 7:29 PM | Permalink ]
|
|
Nexus Home | Nexus Archives | Email Paul
|