Archive: May 1999

• Software: Remember? helps with the big picture, The Mac Observer, 5/31. Great shareware program reminds users of meetings, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
• Analysis: Industry moves toward PC alternatives, Dallas Morning News, 5/30. "Intel concedes its concept PC is at least in part inspired by the success of Apple Computer Inc.'s iMac...."
• Advice: Color your world, Sun-Sentinel, 5/28. "...no matter what your priorities -- cost, add-ons or need for speed -- there's probably an iMac for you."
• News: La Poste pushes iMacs, MacWEEK, 5/28. "Within the next few weeks, iMacs across France -- 1,000 in all -- will be at the very center of a project that aims to make the Internet accessible to everybody."
• Opinion: iMac: Easiest PC to use?, Don Crabb, ZDNN, 5/28. "But what happens when Apple begins shipping Mac OS X early next year?"
• Privacy: Massive internet tapping revealed, MacOS Rumors, 5/27. "...a large majority of Internet traffic, including personal/business communication such as email, is being passively tapped...."
• News: Australians demonstrate against net censorship, MacTimes, 5/28.
• News: CompUSA starts training all sales reps about Macs, The iMac, 5/28.
• Opinion: Here's to the crazy ones, Macville. "You see, we are not trying to change the world as much as we are trying to show the world, through our eyes, what it can become."
• USB: Three USB hubs that won't break the bank, Mac OS Planet. Each is US$50 or less.
• Rumor: Apple sticking with PowerPC, not going Intel, Think Secret, 5/28. Egg on their face -- and a good description of RISC vs. CISC chips.
• Opinion: The $600 Apple, osOpinion. "If Apple can drop the price of iMacs to $999 and introduce the consumer laptop for $1,200, Apple will probably be number one in retail sales."
• Opinion: Dirty little secret about Macs: They're hard to use, The iMac, 5/27. "What the Mac needs is a massive leap forward in user interface, akin to the leap that the original Mac made...."
• News: Netopia HouseCall allows users to remotely maintain Macs, cheaply, The Mac Observer, 5/27. "...you can use HouseCall to observe or control a remote Macintosh machine just as if you were sitting in front of it." 
• Web: TheiMac.com moves to new server, 5/27
  Move to Unix improves capacity, plans to move to Mac OS X Server announced.
  (lowendmac.net is also moving to Unix. Performance seems about twice as fast as WebStar on a Power Mac G3.)
• Privacy: Careful, they might hear you, The Age, 5/23 [Slashdot]
  Echelon system has US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand "illicitly pick up commercial satellite communications."
• Opinion: Suffer the (white, middle-class) children, The Village Voice, 6/25
  "Some French theorist . . . deduced quite some time back that school (just like work or the army) is a jail-shaped box: a containment system to keep people in a useful order, brutally if necessary."
  More on Slashdot.
• Web: Mac web server performance poll results, MacCentral, 5/27
• Rumor: Apple going Intel in 2000?, Think Secret, 5/27
  I don't want to take this rumor seriously, even if the Intel CPU is Merced instead of Pentium.
• News: MicroConversions out of business, Accelerate Your Mac!, 5/27
  Will someone else step in to sell GameWizard and 3dfx cards to the Mac market?
  More on MacGamer's Ledge
• News: Macs dominate wired Hong Kong school, CNNfn, 5/26
  "They are very user friendly. They are quite versatile -- children take to them quite instinctively, and they require far less maintenance time than PCs do."
• Opinion: Pricing iMacs to sell, MacWEEK, 5/26
  "The continuing popularity of the 233-MHz iMac shows that buying patterns may be changing, at least in the consumer arena."
• Advice: All I ever needed to know about memory, MacInstruct
  Speed up your applications by giving them more room to work.
• Software: NetCD, Toby W. Rush Software
  Automatically finds track names on the internet.
• Connectivity: The dirty secret about web filters, ZDNet, 5/26
  "A survey of parents of minors with Net access at home . . . showed only 31% use filtering devices."
• Opinion: iMac iMpact, Evan, the iMac channel, 5/25
  "... the iMac has made more of an impact on the world than any other computer ever."
• Opinion: OS X and the econoMac, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 5/25
  "Once OS X Client ships, a lot of Mac owners are going to be left out in the cold."
• Web: MacMania updates design, adds new features
• iMac: iMac Firmware Update 1.2, Apple, 5/25
  Apple recommends this be installed on all iMacs.
• Web: MacInstruct, learn more about your Mac
• Opinion: Is under $1,000 iMac needed now?, The iMac, 5/25
  "Is the under $1000 iMac needed now? Well, yeah!"
• Opinion: Mac OS advantages, About.com, 5/25
  "I continue to notice a trend: users who believe that Windows is 'close enough' to the Mac OS. Is there a difference? Of course!"
• Opinion: Mentality of the OS upgrade, osOpinion
  "If you greet crashes with resignation, then Windows is most suited to your temperament."
• Opinion: Censorship: Canada sets example for the world!, The Mac Observer, 5/25
  "...the government of Canada refused to censor content on the Internet."
• Opinion: Mac OS and Windows Evolution, MacKiDo, 5/25
  "People noticed Microsoft changes because they were inconsistent and dramatic -- but the goal of good interface is consistency and nice smooth (subtle) evolution."
• Hardware: Infowave ships PowerPrint for Networks, MacCentral, 5/25
  Allows using PC parallel printers on ethernet.
• Review: iMac 333, Macworld
• Review: VirtualPC crosses Mac divide, Newhouse News Service, 5/25
  "...there's no way to tell (without looking at the Apple logo on the computer) that you're not working with a real PC."
• Review: Imation USB 2x SuperDisk drive, The iMac,
  "...it might now be the Zip killer I thought this product always could be."
• Opinion: Blaming internet for school violence scapegoats real problem, MacTimes, 5/24
  "Bluntly stated, moral relativism and situational ethics have rendered many people incapable of judging right from wrong."
• Analysis: Where the truth lies, The iMac NewsPage, 5/23
  "Statistics can paint all sorts of different, contradictory scenarios if you only just look at one tiny corner of the whole canvas."
• Advice: Mac/cable modem problems, About.com, 5/23
• Advice: Inside the iMac, MacCentral, 5/23
  An excerpt from The Ultimate iMac Book.
• Review: Contour UniTrap, Low End Mac, 5/22/99
  "...UniTrap makes the puck mouse a very good mouse at a very reasonable price."
• News: Apple's comeback impressive, but not over yet, San Jose Mercury Center, 5/22
  "Over the past couple of years, the principal reason for buying a personal computer has changed."
• Opinion: Lies, damn lies, and statistics, AAPL Investors, 5/21
  "I received quite a few emails regarding the conflicting reports of Apple's April retail sales."
• Opinion: Have we grown deaf to the plight of alienated teens?, USA Today, 5/21
  "School districts that have enacted strict rules against bullying have taken a key step toward imposing the discipline of civility on their students. But more is required."
• Analysis: Combined, iMacs reach No. 1 in April, MacNN, 5/21
  Power Mac G3/300 ranked number 16.
• Hardware: Installing iMac hard drive in an external USB case, The iMac, 5/21
  "...plug in the drive cable and power cord, screw the drive into place, put the case back together and away you go!"
• News: Move over stuffed animals, here comes the stuffed iMac, About.com, 5/21
  Available in all six flavors.
• News: iMac sales slow in April, c|net, 5/20
  Contrast with Apple retail sales more than double in April, MacChat, 5/20
  and Retail PC unit sales rise 21% in April, Bloomberg, 5/19
  Spin: Despite a fire at the iMac factory in Mexico on March 31 reducing iMac supplies, overall Mac sales make Apple #3.
• Privacy: U.S. uses key escrow to steal secrets, TechWeb, 5/18. "European plans for controlling encryption software are nothing to do with law enforcement and everything to do with U.S. industrial espionage...."
• Software: Remember? 3.3 available
  Great shareware has reminded me of many important dates!
• News: UniTrap, ergonomic shell for iMac mouse, Contour Design
• News: Amazon drops controversial book, Wired News
  Unable to supress publication, Scientology fights distribution of critical books.
• Web: ehMac, Canada's Mac neighbourhood
• Web: iMac Linux -- think different; think Linux!
• Opinion: The Macintosh's secret weapon, The Menagerie of Macs
  "...the greatest strength of the Macintosh is its international capability."
• Opinion: Whither Mac OS elegance and simplicity?, osOpinion
  "...I fear that by adding complexity and slowly remaking the Mac OS interface ..., Apple will be alienating the new computer users...."
• Opinion: Censorship and Filtering, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 5/20
  "There is great potential for filtering, potential both for good and evil."
• Web: The Menagerie of Macs ezine now available online at lowendmac.net
• Opinion: A Student Bill of Rights, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 5/19
  "What happened in Littleton was inexcusable, but it was also a consequence of students being dumped on by their peers."
• OS: Linux on Mac, Chris Rogers, iTeen Online, 5/19
• Opinion: Is Filtering the Same as Censorship?, The Futurist, MacBC,
  "Censorship is always a heated topic ... but the problem lies in what people consider censorship."
• Opinion: Spirit of the iMac: More thoughts on user friendliness, interface, Daily iMac
  "These interfaces would look great in the portfolio of a designer; on paper they're incredible, in actuality they leave a lot to be desired."
• Review: Epson Stylus 750, 900, and 1200, MacInTouch
• News: Apple paying Mac users to help Sears become Mac-savvy, The Mac Junkie, 5/19
• Humor: chiaMac
• Opinion: The Myth of Incompatibility, Maville, 5/19
  Macs are more compatible with Wintel PCs than Wintel PCs are with each other!
• Opinion: Blowing the Whistle, Macville, 5/19
  "I have to say, I was quite steamed after my conversation with Hewlett Packard."
• Opinion: Shopping for PC? Consider Mac, Dallas Morning News, 5/18
  "None of the computers we use now will be what our children will have when they grow up. So learning a particular model doesn't matter."
• Review: Hands on with the iMac Game Wizard, MacCentral, 5/18
• Opinion: It is too censorship!, Applelinks, 5/18
  John H. Farr disagrees with It Isn't Censorship on Mac Musings.
• Opinion: Internet censorship column catalyzes debate, MacTimes, 5/18
  Charles W. Moore responds to It Isn't Censorship on Mac Musings.
• Review: Hands on SpeedStartup, MacCentral, 5/18
  "I personally don't find 9-14 seconds enough of a time savings to be concerned with."
• Promo: Win an Epson Stylus 740i, Epson [Macs Only!]
• Promo: Win one of five iMacs, Borders.com
• Connectivity: DSL speeds can smoke cable, c|net, 5/17
  "...even low-grade DSL is as much as 12 percent faster than cable -- at least during consumers' prime-time evening hours...."
• Hardware: Epson aims at photo market with Stylus Photo 1200, MacCentral, 5/17
  1440 dpi, 6 color printing, up to 13" x 44" paper, $499!
• Web: Mining Co. becomes about.com with Mac support, iMac support, 5/17
• Opinion: Thin Edge Of The Wedge: Why Internet Censorship Is A Bad Idea, MacTimes, 5/17
  "It is unacceptable for governments, or parents, to demand that ISPs act as surrogate nannies...."
• Hardware: External USB vs. internal IDE drives, The iMac, 5/17
  Very helpful, detailed comparison including benchmarks.
• Hardware: ePhoto 780 digital camera, Agfa
  Point-and-shoot 24-bit color camera for only US$199.
• News: Apple doing what we wanted them to, MacBC, 5/17
  Apple placing employees in some CompUSA stores to boost sales.
• News: iKids? Generation Y eyes iMac, ZDNet/Yahoo, 5/17
  "...Apple is hoping these children of the baby boomer generation will replace PCs with the Mac."
• Advice: Using Location Manager, Mac Online Tech Journal, 5/14
  The benefits and dangers of the Location Manager.
• Rumor: Apple planning back to school specials?, Think Secret, 5/14
  May release consumerportable, next generation iMac, and small modular Mac in August.
• News: Alsoft DiskWarrior wins two Apple design awards, MacMania, 5/14
  "DiskWarrior's ability to rebuild your directory and recover lost files and folders is unrivaled."
• Book: The Ultimate iMac Book, MacCentral Press
  available online only, US$21.95 plus shipping
• Review: MRJ 2.1.2 nearly doubles Java speed, Macworld Online
  Macworld tests show it's twice as fast -- not quite the 5x Jobs claims.
• Opinion: Microsoft Mactopia, thumbs up or down?, The Mac Junkie, 5/14
  "It's a good resource for finding Mac news, software, and general Mac sites, but I didn't happen to notice any 'Mac advocacy' links...."
• News: $30 utility boosts G3 Macs up to 20%?, Mac Speed Zone
• Opinion: All not well in Webzter Jr. land?, MacTimes, 5/14
  "...some have suggested that the day of the disposable computer has arrived. However, in order to dispose of it you first have to get it...."
• Review: Railroad Tycoon 2, iTeen Online, 5/13
  Updated classic -- I used to play the original on my Mac Plus and a IIci at work. dk
• News: Senate unanimously passes filtering bill, c|net, 5/13
  ISPs with over 50,000 users will be required to provide a content filtering option so parents can block access to objectionable sites by minors.
• Review: World's fastest CD-ROM, 52x Hi-Val True-X drive, Accelerate Your Mac!, 5/13
  "By reading 7 tracks in parallel extremely high RPMs are not needed and performance easily exceeds anything possible with a conventional design CD-ROMs."
• Web: MacOS Gamer, new Mac gaming site
• Opinion: The desktop metaphor, MacKiDo, 5/13
  "Didn't Xerox PARC create the desktop metaphor?"
• Opinion: Bloatware proliferating despite Web, PC Week/Yahoo, 5/13
  "Wirth's Law ... says that software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster."
• Opinion: Wherefore art thou, AppleWorks?, MacCentral, 5/12
  "AppleWorks should be updated along with every major update of the Mac OS. When possible it should incorporate and spotlight new features of the Mac OS."
• Opinion: Paradigms of personal computing, part 2, Dr. Barney Hadden, MacOS Planet, 5/12
  "But the internet is the great second paradigm. It takes the personal computer and makes it part of a network again."
• OS: Eight.Six Plus!, Mac Tips
  Mac OS updates more recent than Mac OS 8.6.
• OS: Accelerate Your Mac! reader recommends setting Speed Doubler to not always active with 8.6
• USB: USB Mass Storage Support 1.3, Apple Computer, 5/11 [Daily iMac]
  New driver speeds USB hard drives, Zip drives.
• Hardware: Next generation Nintendo to use PowerPC, Next Generation Online, 5/11
  Unnamed game machine will run 400 MHz PowerPC chip and incorporate DVD.
• iMac: 384MB of iMac RAM is almost dirt cheap, the iMac, 5/11
  Well, not quite, but memory prices are at the lowest level in a long time -- and dropping.
• Opinion: I Mac, therefore I am, Macville, 5/11
  "...I'm thrilled that my 71 year old parents, neither of whom have ever used a computer, are purchasing an iMac."
• Advice: Migrating from Windows to Mac, iMac2Day, 5/11
  Why is there no equivalent to "Windows Update..." on the Mac?
• OS: Sonata expected late 1999, OS 10.0 Client in early 2000, Macs Only!, 5/11
• First Look: Mac OS 8.6, The Mac Observer, 5/10
  "Mac OS 8.6 is a solid upgrade and in our view, a 'must-have' for Mac users with PowerMacs."
• OS: New PlainTalk works with iMac, Blue G3, MacCentral, 5/10
  "PlainTalk is a collection of software programs that let your Macintosh speak written text and respond to spoken commands."
• OS: Mac OS 8.6 available for download, Apple Computer, 5/10
  Also available from download.com -- which seems much faster.
• News: WWDC anouncements, MacFixIt, 5/10
  NewPowerBook, 8.6 available, OS X plans, and iMacs coming to Sears.
• OS: MacFixIt has a good, quick overview of Mac OS 8.6 changes
• OS: Troubleshooting Mac OS 8.6, MacFixIt Special Report
• Hardware: Canon multifunction peripheral first for Macs, Mactimes, 5/10
  Low End Mac has long advocated (11/13/98, 8/9/98) bringing MFPs (printer, scanner, fax, and copy peripherals) to the Mac. Canon is the first to do so, with a new USB device.
• First Look: Castlewood's ORB drive, The MacNN Review
  "Although we were unable to obtain benchmarks, performance of the ORB drive was phenomenal."
• Opinion: Then I got a Mac..., Macville
  "Work gave me a Mac IIcx. Really they just gave it to me to shut me up, I think. Anyway, I love it. It runs system 7.5.5 and does everything that I need it to do and more, plus it's cool!"
• Opinion: Transparent Macs, Macville
  "The transparent nature of the Macintosh platform is one of the primary reasons that it produces such dedicated users."
• Opinion: Pet peeves, Mac OS World, 5/10
  "I hate it when...."
• Web: MacBC replaces discontinued Macintosh 4ever
• Review: Speed Startup, The MacNN Review, 5/10
  "...the savings will vary considerably between different Mac models, processor speeds, and System Folder configurations."
• Review: Speed Startup 1.0, The MacOS Page
  "...I am very pleased with the Speed Startup's performance on both my G3 and 6400."
• Advice: Data recovery & backup with your iMac, Daily iMac, 5/9
  "There are a thousand reasons you don't need floppies, but you do need a data back-up system in place...."
• Review: Mac OS 8.6, Macs Only!, 5/9
  "I have only had a short time to use the final public version. It is extremely stable."
• Advice: How to Share Internet Access on Your Network, Accelerate Your Mac!, 5/8
• Advice: Ask Dr. Mac, Bob LeVitus, MacCentral, 5/8
  The iMac modem, Iomega drives, and more.
• Advice: More on iMac crashes, MacCentral, 5/8
• News: Brokerage fires 25 for email abuse, Post-dispatch, 5/7
  "Several employees who spoke anonymously said they understood that some of the infractions involved off-color jokes."
• News: WWDC: What's coming next?, MacWEEK, 5/7
  New OS, new PowerBook, and Jobs only knows what else.
• Opinion: Happy birthday, iMac! What a ride, the iMac, 5/7
• News: Memory chip prices plunge, c|net, 5/7
  It's been a long time coming: "Memory chip prices are once again in a downward spiral."
• Opinon: Colors blooming everywhere in the Mac market, the iMac, 5/7
  Mice, speakers, printers, scanners, and more.
• News: iMac sales extremely strong down under, Daily News, 5/7
• OS: File naming, MacKiDo, 5/7
  Long file names, spaces, special characters, accent, and smart searching set Mac OS apart.
• Opinion: iCab browser gets better with each release, MacTimes, 5/7
• Opinion: Paradigms of personal computing, Barney Hadden, Mac OS Planet, 5/7
  "In the begining was the Apple. It began something no one had ever anticipated: personal computing."
• Web: The iMacGeek
• Opinion: Compact Mac: Uno, Macville, 5/7
  "Apple's compact Macs are pretty much the 'apple-of-the-eye' of their product lines...."
• Reviews: Microtech Mii Zip, the iMac, 5/6
  Compact USB Zip drive for the iMac, G3 Pro.
• News: Bright, bulbous iMac quickly becoming a favorite, The Star, 5/6
• Software: SpeedStartup, Casady & Greene
  $20 startup accelerator is first competition for Startup Doubler, a $20 shareware program.
• Opinion: 365 days of Wall Street, iMac, The PowerBook Zone, 5/6
  "What a difference a year makes."
• News: iCab preview release 1.5 available, 5/6 [Macs Only!]
  Compact Mac-only browser keeps getting better.
• Advice: Hardware for your Mac web server, MacCentral, 5/6
• Opinion: Why people hate Macs, Macville, 5/6
  "...their computer is a cheap knock-off of the computer they hate so much."
• Humor: Sit Different (lots more images)
• Opinion: What's in a number?, Applelinks, 5/5
  "Why should I pay over a thousand dollars for a 266 speed [iMac] when I can get a PC at 350 for less?"
• Advice: Can the iMac be upgraded?, Mining Co., 5/5
  Don't expect processor upgrades for the iMac.
• Web: Fast Search, lightning fast new search engine.
• News: Maine courts Mac-based since mid-80s, Macs Only!, 5/5
  "The Maine court system continues today as essentially Mac-based, with most of its original Mac equipment still functioning."
• Call to arms: School computer purchases urged, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 5/4
  Plan includes replacing Macs in high schools with Windows machines.
  See MacInSchool for ammunition.
• Advice: Using Claris Emailer, Low End Mac
• Opinion: iMacs aren't the only tasty computers, Macinsite, 5/4
  "Every attempt to mimick the iMac is a vain attempt by the Wintel community to overcome their own unimaginative platform."
• News: Neiman Marcus sells iMac, The Mac Observer, 5/4
• Opinion: How much longer before the iPC?, The Mac Observer, 5/4
  "It is simply a matter of time before PC clone makers start shipping curvy cases with translucent plastics in different colors."
• Opinion: Bland PCs for a bland world, John C. Dvorak, ZDNet, 5/4
  "I would argue that the beige computer is a universal thing and the sign of a deeply rooted sociology -- the sociology of tedium."
• Rumor: New portables, desktops, and Mac OS 8.6 due at WWDC, AppleInsider, 5/4
  WWDC begins May 10 with keynote address by Steve Jobs.
• News: Mac OS 8.6 finished, provided to developers, Macs Only!, 5/4
• News: iCab 1.5 expected this week, MacCentral, 5/4
  Compact Mac-only browser already accounts for 0.5% of lowendmac.net traffic, ahead of WebTV.
• News: Apple stock reaches 52-week high, AAPL Investors, 5/3
• News: Apple stock hits 6 year high, The Mac Observer, 5/3
• Opinion: Back when I was a kid..., the Daily iMac
  "...what the world of computers used to be like, back in the late 70's and early 80's."
  (Also look into The rise and fall of Sinclair Computers.)
• Opinion: What life with a cable modem is really like, CNN interactive
  "...after six months of use, I can say cable was worth the wait. At least, that's what I tell myself on the good days. "
• Review: USB QuickCam, Peripherals.net, 5/3
  "...a solid product for the price."
• News: iMacs in education, No Beige, 5/3
  "All in all, the iMac is a great educational machine...."
• Opinion: Take my iMac, please!, Mac Opinion, 5/3
• News: Epson Stylus 740i comes in iMac colors, Mac OS Planet, 5/3
  "Aside from its great looks the 740i is one heck of a great printer."
• Web: Mac Geeks receives Mac Merit Badge, 5/1
• Advice: My iMac crashed big time!, iMac Tips & Techniques, 5/1
  "When crashes are a recurring problem, one of two situations exists: Either data on your iMac's hard drive is corrupt, or there is a conflict between two or more system extensions."
• more in the April archive

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