| March, 1999 Archive
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Headlines For Wednesday, March 31st
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[Updated 4:36 PM]
Around The Web, Wednesday March 31st, 1999
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[Updated 4:36 PM] - We have added several new Mac headlines
[Updated 2:47 PM] - We have added a news summary for IMG and some Mac headlines
[Updated 1:58 PM] - We have added several Mac headlines
[Updated 11:42 AM] - We have a news summary for MGL, a column from The Daily iMac, stories from Applelinks, and Mac headlines from several places.
MacOS News Around The Web
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[3:39 PM]
Another Cool Contest! Find The Most Eggs And Win Great Stuff!
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MAC-O-RAMA and The Mac Addict Network have brought us a great new contest. Find the most Easter Eggs hidden on MacAddict Network sites and you will win an Easter Basket full of games and other cool Mac stuff. This one is kind of long, so read the Full Story for directions.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[3:01 PM]
Tension Updates FlowChart Maker
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Tension has also released a new version of Flowchart Maker, bringing the, errr..flowchart maker to version 1.3. The new version brings several new features. Read about it in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[2:05 PM]
Tenon Releases New Version of WebTen
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Tenon Systems has released a new version of WebTen, their Apache based web server for the Mac. The new version includes better performance and several new features. WebTen 2.1.1 also includes better support for WebSTAR plug-ins. Read about it in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[1:12 PM]
Netopia Offers New Version Of Net Octopus
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Netopia has offered a new version of netOctous, bringing the network administration management tool to version 3.0. netOctopus provides easy administration services and the new version includes several new features. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[12:37 PM]
Bell Atlantic Come Full Circle: Pushing Mac ADSL Service
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Many Observers will know that Bell Atlantic was at one time refusing to allow Mac ADSL service. Read about it in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Admittedly this is not the same as Bell Atlantic taking out a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal apologizing for not offering service for the Mac when there was no real reason. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[11:16 AM]
AuctionMac.com Offers Free Days
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AuctionMac.com has offered what it calls Free Days. Free Days is a one week period where items placed for auction incur no charges. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Column
My First Mac Was A Typewriter
"Get A Fax Without A Fax/Modem"
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I think I am beginning to relate to this "I have the most new toys" syndrome that I frequently observe in that great computer user group I call the teckies, i.e., those who understand and care how a computer works. The more I learn about computers and use my Macintosh, the more I find myself getting a kick out of new innovations. I discovered a new one this week. It has to do with faxing from your computer without needing special software or your own fax machine.
Read My First Mac Was A Typewriter
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Headlines For Tuesday, March 30th
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[Updated 6:13 PM]
Around The Web, Tuesday March 30th, 1999
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[Updated 6:13 PM] - We have added several more headlines.
[Updated 5:19 PM] - We have added more headlines and more columns from Applelinks.
[Updated 4:53 PM] - We have added a news summary for IMG.
[Updated 2:27 PM] - More Mac headlines added.
[Updated 12:24 PM] - We have added a great column from MacKiDo.
[Updated 10:53 AM] - We have a news summary for Mac Gamer's Ledge and we tell you about columns from Applelinks, and Low-end Mac.
MacOS News Around The Web
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[3:49 PM]
Mac Sci-Fi Pinball Title Shipping
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Fox Interactive has announced that it is shipping Fox Arcade: Sci-Fi Pinball, their new pinball title. The game uses imagery from several of Sci-Fi TV and movie assets including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Aliens, Predator, and The Fly.
You can read more about the game in our original coverage announcing the game.
Fox Arcade: Sci-Fi Pinball is a simultaneous Mac/PC release.
Fox Interactive
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[3:17 PM]
Apple's Stock Climbs 7.9% In Two Days
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Apple's Stock has climbed almost 8% in the last two days reversing most of the losses sustained during the last two weeks. Friday saw the stock close at 33 1.4 and today it closed at 35 7/8, a rise of 7.9%. On Monday the stock closed at 35 3/8. While two days does not a trend make, it is possible that Wall Street may finally be noticing how undervalued Apple is. We will continue to keep an eye on the stock.
Apple
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[2:02 PM]
April Fool's Free Downloads: Make Your Friends Hate You
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The good people at Inspired Logic are being a little bad. They have departed a little from their normal jobs of making educational software for kids and have released several prank programs. These programs will let you be a part of the problem and not part of the solution just in time for April Fool's Day. Best yet, they are free. Read about them in the FulL Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[12:54 PM]
New Product Adds Serial Ports To Your Blue & White G3
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GeeThree.com has released a new product called the Stealth Serial Port that adds serial connectivity to your Blue & White G3. Best of all, it does not take up a PCI slot, though users with a modem will not be able to use it. Read about it in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Column
The Name of the Game
Nightfall: An Idiot's Guide
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Gary: Well, we certainly patted ourselves on the back in last week's column.
Randy: Hell, yeah! We came up the idea of the Fusion game engine, and then Altor Systems announces their new game Nightfall, which is a step toward our vision. We are freakin' geniuses!
Gary: Okay. Last week, we talked about the implications of the Fusion engine and how it promises to revitalize the adventure gaming market. Many people believe that the adventure game is fading away to make room for the higher-tech first-person shooter. The Idiots believe that technologies like our Fusion engine and Nightfall's 3D engine will keep the adventure game genre around for a long time.
Randy: So let's get down to a little Nightfall!
Read The Name of the Game
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[9:47 AM]
Win A Free 333 MHz G3 Upgrade Card In New Contest
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The Mac Addict Network is having a contest and the prize is a PowerForce G3 ZIF 333MHz upgrade card! We'll let them explain it to you.
PowerLogix and the MacAddict Network are hosting an Easter Eggstravaganza in which 10 lucky winners will walk away with a PowerForce G3 ZIF 333, valued at $689. Other prizes will also be awarded for second and third place. We've cleverly hidden the PowerLogix logo somewhere on this Web site- it'll lead you to the Question of the Day. If you collect all 10 questions scattered about the MacAddict Network this week, you'll be prompted to submit the answers between Friday, April 2 and Sunday, April 4. Go get it!
Let us translate for you. We have the PowerLogix logo hidden somewhere on this site. When you find it, click on it. You will be taken to a page on the PowerLogix site where you will see the question of the day. All you have to do is collect all 10 questions (and the answers of course).
We have a hint for you: The logo is hidden in the newest feature at the Mac Observer. Those of you who have been Observers for a long time will know what that is, the rest of you can look. The logo is not buried, so it shouldn't take you to long to find it! Good luck!
PowerLogix - Mac Addict Network
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Headlines For Monday, March 29th
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[Updated 5:22 PM]
Around The Web, Monday March 29th, 1999
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We launch into some new services today with Around The Web. Currently we have updates on The Daily iMac, MacOPINION, MacSoldiers, Applelinks, and Low-end Mac. We have updated our headline links. We have now added a news summary for IMG.
MacOS News Around The Web
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[3:53 PM]
Greek Observer Fills Us In On Store Bombing
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Andreas Belivanakis wrote in from Greece to fill us in a little on the retail store that was bombed by a terrorist on Friday. Read what he told us in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[3:42 PM]
Observer Feedback Loud On Rainbow (Jesse Jackson) Editorial
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It is always interesting to read the myriad of responses that any editorial will bring, but we were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of mail we received on Apple's Rainbow Not Colorful Enough For Jesse Jackson by our Editor-In-Chief Bryan Chaffin. The vast majority of letters were from people who agreed with the sentiments in the letter, but there were some dissenting letters as well. The following is a broad cross-section that follows the general lines of all the mail we received.0 They are in no particular order. Thanks to everyone on all sides of this issue who wrote in!
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[1:59 PM]
Aladdin Systems Releases New Version Of DragStrip
[12:14 PM]
Play Incorporates Ships 3D Modeling Tool
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Play Incorporated, the mega Windows peripheral producer of Snappy (video screen capture card), has released Amorphium. Amorphium is a cross platform (simultaneous release) 3D modeling tool aimed at the consumer market that wants a professional tool. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: We have said it before, but it bears repeating: It is a very good thing for the Mac market to have Play Incorporated making Mac products. This company is a powerhouse in the PC world based on the strength of Snappy. After its acquisition of Electric Image in April of 1998, Play had an entire Mac portfolio which it embraced with open arms. Since then, the company has won several Mac awards for Amorphium which has gotten rave reviews and previews.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[12:09 PM]
MetaCreations Now Shipping Bryce 4
[11:29 AM]
GoLiveHeaven Launched
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GoLiveHeaven, a new web site catering to users of Adobe GoLive, has been officially launched. The site seeks to provide a central source for resources for users of Adobe GoLive. GoLiveHeaven is also offering Internet related news and information.
GoLiveHeaven
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[11:11 AM]
StarNine Announces Update And New Name For WebSTAR
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The good people at StarNine have announced a new version of WebSTAR, their extremely popular web server suite for the Mac. They have also given the product a new name of WebSTAR Server Suite 4.0. the new version offers new features, much higher performance, and new support for additional protocols. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Column
The Apple Trader
"Top Ten Foolish Ideas for Apple"
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Ah, yes, April Fool's Day, my favorite day of the year. After all, as a financial writer I see April Fool's Day as a memorial to the whole profession. In celebration I thought I'd make a top ten list of the most foolish things I've heard or cribbed from the Internet, or invented myself about Apple Computer, Inc. Be forewarned; they're not all funny and some are more serious than you might like to believe.
Read The Apple Trader
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Column
Monday's Mac Gadget
"Disk Charmer: Multi-Threaded Floppy Formatting"
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Although the Death of the Floppy has taken place on the Power Macintosh G3 and the iMac, there are still millions who need to use this limited but common storage medium. Under Mac OS 8.x, many Finder operations are multithreaded, meaning you can do other things while you copy, trash or move files. Unfortunately, the format command still requires you to sit there and wait, when you could be getting other things done.
Read Monday's Mac Gadget
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Headlines For Friday, March 26th
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[4:55 PM]
Medical Billing Software Upgraded
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The d.i.d. Circle Organization has announced an upgrade to their medical billing software called Medical Billing Circle. The new update brings the application to version 6.4 and there are a ton of new features. Read about them in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Medical billing is an area that many Mac users have inquired about. Medical Billing Circle is one of the few products that addresses this need.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[4:40 PM]
Apple Store In Greece Bombed, Fallout From Kosovo
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Reuters is reporting that a retail computer shop in Athens, Greece was bombed today. The computer store was an Apple retail outlet. According to Reuters, authorities think that the bombing may have been a response to the US bombing in Kosovo. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin:I do not understand the propensity among terrorists to hurt those uninvolved with their particular struggle.
Whether or not the US is justified or not justified in its offensive against Yuposlavia, Apple Computer and very likely the store that was bombed, have NOTHING to do with the invasion. For that matter, there are likely VERY few people, companies, or other entities in Greece that are involved with this invasion. Thank goodness no one was physically hurt.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[4:23 PM]
Around The Web, Friday March 26th, 1999
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Today we tell you about columns from Applelinks, IMG, MGL, Low-end Mac, Mactimes Network, MacOPINION, and the Daily iMac.
Around The Web Archives
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Editorial
By Bryan Chaffin
Apple's Rainbow Not Colorful Enough For Jesse Jackson
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Seldom have I been so frustrated as I am today. The source of my irritation? Was it Apple canceling another cool technology like OpenDoc, or some PC-oriented spin-doctor decrying the imminent and obvious death of Apple? No, it was the misguided and politically motivated utterances of Reverend Jesse Jackson....
Read This Editorial
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[11:59 AM]
Russian Mac Translator Software Updated
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Richard Wellman has updated his Russian module for Verbs and Noun to version 2.0. Verbs and Nouns Russian 2.0 has new features and a big increase in vocabulary words. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[11:44 AM]
PricePulse Adds New RAM Price Tracking Service
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PricePulse dropped us a note to let us know about a new RAM price tracking service they are offering. Read about it in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[11:32 AM]
Don't Panic! Transmit 1.5 Released
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The good people at Panic Software have released the latest version of their popular FTP tool, Transmit. Transmit started life out as Transit, but Panic changed the name in the face of a lawsuit from a PC oriented company with a trademark on the name. The new version of Transmit earns a 1.5 moniker and includes new features and bug fixes alike. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[10:49 AM]
Manage Your Accounts And Passwords With New Shareware
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Squeem Software has released a new product called GeoMaxim that is designed to manage all of your online accounts and passwords. Read more in the Full Software.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Headlines For Thursday, March 25th
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[3:06 PM]
Mackido Posts Rebuttal To The PowerPC Problem
[2:48 PM]
Around The Web, Thursday March 25th, 1999
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Around The Web brings you coverage from The Mac Gamer's Ledge, the MacTimes Network, Inside Mac Games, The Daily iMac, and Low-end Mac. Good stuff as always!
Around The Web Archives
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[2:02 PM]
Trans Intl. Lowers Price On 256 MB Yosemite Module
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Trans Intl. dropped us a note saying that they lowered the price on their memory modules for Blue & White G3s. The 256 MB module is now priced at US$665. More information can be found at the company's web site.
Trans Intl.
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[1: 37 PM]
Address Book Updated To Version 2.0
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OneApp Software has announced the released of Address Book 2.0, their shareware address book. The new version includes many new features. Read about them in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[1: 29 PM]
Apple's Shareholder Meeting
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We were unable to have staff attend the annual Apple Shareholder's Meeting that occurred yesterday. Rather than rehash what other's have reported we would like to direct you to what we consider the best report from the event and that is MacWeek's coverage.
MacWeek: Jobs talks portables
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[12: 08 PM]
Heartsoft Expands Thinkology Educational Series
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Heartsoft Software has announced two new titles in the Thinkology series, their educational series for children. Read about it in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[11:43 AM]
Starship Titanic For The Mac Ships
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Simon & Schuster Interactive has announced that Starship Titanic for the Mac is indeed shipping and Mike Dixon of Mac Gamer's Ledge has published a comprehensive review of the game just in time. The game should be showing up at retailers any time now and you can head over to MGL and grab the review. Simon & Schuster Interactive also has a special web site for Starship Titanic.
Simon & Schuster Interactive
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[11:17 AM]
Solitaire Till Dawn Gets A Bug Fix
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Semicolon Software has released an update to their popular shareware game Solitaire Till Dawn bringing it to version 3.4.1. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Column
Ask Dave
"The Truth About Virtual Memory, Purging RAM, and the Desktop"
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Ah, has it been another week already? Well, ready or not, here I come with another brand new batch of questions and answers. These were tough this week, folks... you're making me work here! But enough of my yackin' -- on to the questions:
Read Ask Dave
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[4:31 PM-March 24th]
Media Metrix Confirms Big Increase In Traffic For Apple
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Media Metrix announced a new service today called Weekly Flash. Media Metrix is a company that rates traffic to Internet sites. Their new service called Weekly Flash offers weekly numbers to subscribers and is faster dose of stats from the company's former monthly numbers.
The press release from Media Metrix mentioned that Apple had seen a big increase in traffic to the site with the release of the QuickTime version of the Star Wars: The Phantom Menace trailer. We wanted to find out more so we dug a little deeper with some of our sources. Read about it in The Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Headlines For Wednesday, March 24th
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Top Story
[2:49 PM]
iMac Shortages Confirmed By Retailers/Rumors Of Cancellation Balderdash
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Reports of iMac shortages have begun to circulate around the web and thought it best if we checked to see what local retailers in Austin had to say. Read our report in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Motorola certainly has lowered the prices of the PowerPC CPUs during the last 60 days and it would be very smart of Apple to up the CPU speed, but it would also be uncharacteristic of Apple to do so this soon. The 266MHz models were only introduced this January and didn't begin to ship in any volume until a week or two after that. Apple also has fairly bad history of bringing any kind of processor upgrade to the market with any speed. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[4:31 PM]
Media Metrix Confirms Big Increase In Traffic For Apple
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Media Metrix announced a new service today called Weekly Flash. Media Metrix is a company that rates traffic to Internet sites. Their new service called Weekly Flash offers weekly numbers to subscribers and is faster dose of stats from the company's former monthly numbers.
The press release from Media Metrix mentioned that Apple had seen a big increase in traffic to the site with the release of the QuickTime version of the Star Wars: The Phantom Menace trailer. We wanted to find out more so we dug a little deeper with some of our sources. Read about it in The Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[3:45 PM]
Around The Web, Wednesday March 24th, 1999
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Today we tell you about columns from MacOPINION, The Daily iMac, MacSoldiers, and Low-end Mac. We have also added a news summary for Inside Mac Games and the Mac Gamer's Ledge. Check it out in Around The Web.
Around The Web Archives
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[1:36 PM]
Nickelodean Teams Up For Mac Educational Title
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Nickelodeon has teamed up with Humongous Entertainment to bring a new Blue's 123 educational title to the Mac based on the hit TV kid's show Blues Clues. The new title is called Blue's 123 Time Activities and is designed to help kids improve their math and reasoning skills. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Humongous Entertainment is owned by GT Interactive who seem to have been increasing their support for the Mac in recent months. Of course this is an educational title which is practically a sure thing, but another Mac title of any sort is always a great thing, especially one with a successful TV name brand attached to it.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[1:04 PM]
MIDI For USB iMacs And PowerMacs Here
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Roland Desktop Media Productions has begun shipping the Roland SMPU-64, a USB-MIDI interface. Read about it in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: MIDI is very important to many parts of the Mac community, especially the groups cited by Edirol. This is a key item for Mac users who use MIDI, but want to use the new USB Blue and White G3s and iMacs.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[11:59 AM]
2 Mac Mags Nominated For Best Computer and Telecommunications Magazines
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Two Mac mags have been nominated for Best Computer and Telecommunications magazine by Western Publications Association, a trade association for the publishing industry. The two magazines are (our friends) MacAddict and MacWorld. Three PC magazines including Maximum PC, PC World, and PC Computing rounded out the nominees.
The Mac Observer Spin: MacAddict started up in the face of adversity as Mac sales were declining and the entire Mac industry was on a downward slide. With this in mind, it is great to see two Mac mags nominated amongst the 3 PC mags.
MacAddict - MacWorld
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[11:41 AM]
Mac Java Development Tool Updated
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GenieWorks has announced an update to SpotCheck, bringing the java code editor/browser to version 1.2. Read about it in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Column
My First Mac Was A Typewriter
"A Guide To Making A Will Online"
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Where There is a Will There is a Way
Ok, ok, so it is a cliché, but it is so appropriate to this week's subject. Maybe you think you will live forever or maybe you think that if you don't deal with it will go away. Maybe this is on my mind because I moved this week and every muscle in my body is screaming at me to remind me that I have not been 25 for a very long time. Whatever, we are going to talk about personal wills and how you can use your Macintosh and the internet to get a basic will at a very small cost. Do you know that only 1/3 of Americans have a will. Do you know that if you don't have a will the particular laws of your state provide a formula that sets out who is entitled to what. Do you know that if you marry after you have made a will it will automatically be revoked in many states when you marry...
Read My First Mac Was A Typewriter
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Headlines For Tuesday, March 23rd
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[3:27 PM]
Around The Web, Tuesday March 23rd, 1999
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Today we tell you about columns from MacOPINION, The Daily iMac, and Low-end Mac. Around The Web is your guide to the Mac Internet.
Around The Web Archives
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[2:40 PM]
New Mac Port Of Web Calendar App Coming Soon
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James Cameron of Matador Design dropped us a note to ask that we announce an upcoming Mac port of WebEvent 3.1 Beta. WebEvent provides web based scheduling and calendar functions. Read about it in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[2:25 PM]
FontAgent Updated To Version 2.7.5
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Insider Software has released an update to FontAgent that brings the font management software to version 2.7.5. Read about it in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[1:56 PM]
Mac Webmasters Get A Powerful New Tool
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PagePlanet Software has announced an update to Modular Gateway Interface (MGI), a WebStar plugin that lets Mac webmasters add in forms, counters, banner ads, and database services through the implementation of simple HTML tags. While the product has a version number of 1.1, this is actually the first public commercial release of MGI. According to Steve Crisp of PagePlanet, the 1.0 version has been in development at PagePlanet for 2 years. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Webmasters everywhere are often faced with the issue of how to implement some features into their sites. Large firms tend to have their own programming staff while smaller firms often get what they can from the myriad of sources on the Internet. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[1:09 PM]
Need Storage? 100 GB SCSI RAID Solution Announced
[12:17 PM]
Interested In OS X Server? 4 New Discussion Lists Launched
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Anomaly has announced the launch of four new e-mail discussion lists for those interested in MacOS X Server. For those unfamiliar with e-mail discussion lists, they provide a forum for discussions about a particular topic handled through e-mail. Technical discussion lists can be quite enjoyable to those interested in the particular technology. Anomaly offers the lists with little, but some moderation. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[11:37 AM]
TextSpresso 1.0 Final Version Released
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TextSpresso 1.0 has been released by Taylor Design. Developed through an extended public beta stage, TextSpresso has been long awaited by Mac users as a text-filtering application. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Column
The Name of the Game
"Nightfall: When First-Person Shooters Meet Adventure Games"
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Randy: This week we check out the killer new engine the kids over at Altor Systems have cooked up. And next week we take a peek at the game itself and also we'll play around with the included level editor Altor packs into every crunchy sweet box of Nightfall goodness.
Gary: You know Randy, I don't want to brag, (once again), about our unusual ability to predict the future but, not one day after we wrote our game fusion article we got a message from the good folks at Altor Systems. They told us in very excited tones and with lots of very flamboyant gestures, or at least as much as one can discern from an e-mail, that their company felt exactly like we did. They also thought gaming needed to be expanded, or rather evolved. Why had first person shooters gotten all the press while adventure games were passing into the Myst of yesteryears lost oldies but goodies.
Read The Name of the Game
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Headlines For Monday, March 22nd
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Top Story
[12:53 PM]
Barron's Lists Apple As #5 Best Investment
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Barron's has released a new annual report that lists the nation's best largest publicly traded firms for investors. In a surprise move coming from a Wall Street investment publication, Barron's named Apple as the number 5 best publicly traded company.Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Apple has been ignored and trampled by Wall Street for most of the last 10-12 years. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[3:39 PM]
Around The Web, Monday March 22nd, 1999
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We are pleased to bring a new format to our Around The Web links section. We will bringing these links from our favorite web sites in a daily news story. Today we bring you columns from The Daily iMac, MacSoldiers, and Low-end Mac.
Around The Web Archives
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[2:18 PM]
Extensis Launches Suitcase 8
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Extensis has launched Suitcase 8, the latest update to the venerable font management utility. Suitcase 8 brings full Mac OS 8.5 compatibility along with feature enhancements. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[1:51 PM]
New Mac Site With A Touch Of Attitude Launched
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A new web site called The Daily iMac has been launched, and the publishers seek to make their mark by bringing a little attitude to the web. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: The Mac Observer would like to welcome The Daily iMac to the Mac web community! We have been talking with Ms. Hoy for the last several months and we think that she and her team have put together a great new site that many Mac users will find indispensable. As the editorial linked above shows, the editorial staff at The Daily iMac takes a fresh approach towards covering Apple issues. Good luck Amy!
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[1:11 PM]
Blue World Announces Lasso For Mac OS X Server
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Blue World Communications has announced they will be bringing Lasso to Mac OS X Server and appropriately call it Lasso for Apache for Mac OS X Server. Read about it in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[11:41 AM]
Sony Weighs In With Mac USB & FireWire CD-R/CD-RW
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Sony has announced a new CD-R/CD-RW/CD-ROM drive called the Spressa USB and the Spressa i.Link. The Spressa USB is 4X CD-R, 2X CD-RW, and 6X CD-ROM drive. The Spressa i.Link kicks in with 4X CD-R and CD-RW with a 24X CD-ROM. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: These are two of the most compelling CD-R/CD-RW products to hit the market yet. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[11:30 AM]
Text Cleaner Lite Updated
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Studio 405 has released an update for Text Cleaner Lite, the freeware version of Text Cleaner. The new version brings the utility to version 1.5.1 and includes documentation that was missing in 1.5 and an updated Panorama application.
Studio 405
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Column
The Apple Trader
"Apple's Future: Profits Vs. Market Share"
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There are two basic global tendencies in the world of manufacturing. The first is to try and run your widget factories and outlets in such a way as to maximize your profits. This is the classic American model that seeks profit margins from a low of 15% to whatever the market will bear.
The second model, pioneered by the Japanese in the 1960s, is more market share conscious. Profits and dividends are secondary. The goal is to capture market share by undercutting your competitor's prices. Japanese corporations often tolerate profit margins as low as 5%, far lower than any American board of directors could allow to continue without fear of being replaced by the shareholders...
Read The Apple Trader
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Column
Monday's Mac Gadget
"WeatherTracker: Local Weather On Your Mac"
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Excessive surfing, marathon game playing and other involved computer tasks may preclude certain activities, like getting up to see what the weather is like. Or, you may actually have a life and would like to know what Mother Nature has in store for you over the next few days. Either way, WeatherTracker can give you the information you need...
Read Monday's Mac Gadget
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Headlines For Friday, March 19th
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[3:23 PM]
CompUSA: Austin Unit Reports Fantastic Mac Sales/ PC Converts
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We spoke to Robert Arons, Floor Manager of the CompUSA on Research Blvd. in Austin, Tx. Mr. Arons, a non-Mac using manager for CompUSA who started with this location just before the introduction of the iMac in August of 1998, has been very supportive of the Mac the entire time. Read what we found in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: All in all things have usually looked great in this CompUSA since the introduction of the iMac. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[2:43 PM]
Open Source Licensing, Observer Report
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Earlier this week we put out an Observer Call for input on Apple's new effort on making parts of OS X Server Open Source. We also spoke to Stu Green, a pioneer in the Unix world and founder of the Austin Linux Group, about what he thought this may mean to Apple. Read what we found in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: The prognosis is great so far. Apple will get support from new developers and will have greater leverage to penetrate new markets. Combined with Apple's aggressive pricing policies on MacOS X Server and liberal user-licensing, Open Source licensing looks like it will give Apple yet another big boost.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Editorial
By Tuan Truong
The PowerPC Problem: A Technical Analysis Of The Mac Processor Techology, Part II
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Tuan Trong completes his thoughts on what he sees as the PowerPC problem: Last week Tuan covered basic concepts behind manufacturing, R & D, and the problems with being in the market minority with Part I of this editorial. This week Tuan makes suggestions for alternatives to the PowerPC for the Mac.
Read This Editorial
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[1:15 PM]
Mac Software Claims A Bigger Share Of Adobe's Sales
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Adobe announced 1st quarter results for the quarter ending on March 5th, 1999. For the first time in many quarters, Mac software gained marketshare from PC software sales. Last quarter saw Adobe's Mac sales rise, but still lose marketshare against higher rising Windows sales. This quarter sees a reverse of this trend. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Wooooooohoooooooo!!! We have been waiting for this particular sign for a long time. Adobe's sales rose and Mac software sales rose at a higher pace than its Windows's counterparts! Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[12:28 PM]
Aladdin Announces Bug Fixes For Spring Cleaning 3.0
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Aladdin has announced a new version of Spring Cleaning to address some bugs in the new 3.0 version that shipped earlier this year. Read about it in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[12:01 PM]
Universal USB Driver: Use And Program Any PC USB Device
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Alessandro Levi Montalcini has released a product called USB Overdrive 1.0 which he claims will allow Mac users to use, and program, any PC USB device. This means that a Mac user now has access to any USB mouse, gamepad, or joystick on the market and actually tap into the devices abilities. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: We have not tested this software yet, but if it does what Mr. Montalcini says it does, the Mac community just got a big boost.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[11:31 AM]
CPU Load, Uptime, Free Memory, And Efficiency Device Announced
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The good people at Public Access Software have released a new hardware-software device that does what many Mac users have needed for some time. The product is called MacStat and includes an LCD display and software that gives a constant real-time reading of CPU load and more. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: It would be very nice to see this product available as a software product only in addition to the display version. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[10:48 AM]
Mac Cron Task Scheduler Updated
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MacSOS has released an update for MacAT, their cron task scheduler for the Mac, bringing it to version 3.2. We haven't covered this product before, but it is an extremely important one for Mac users of all sorts, especially Mac webmasters. Read about it in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Headlines For Thursday, March 18th
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[3:20 PM]
Mac Game Development Engine Gets A New Beta
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Beenox Studios has released the latest Beta of its role playing game development tool, ColdStone. ColdStone is an inexpensive game development engine aimed at developers anxious to develop games without reinventing the wheel. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: ColdStone is a very cool tool for the Mac gaming market. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[3:03 PM]
New Book: Critical Of Apple, Culture Will Lead To Repeat Failure
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Infinite Loop: How Apple, the World's Most Insanely Great Computer Company, Went Insane is a new book from Doubleday by Michael S. Malone. The book takes a look at Apple, and three of the main personalities of the company's history, and comes out with a pronouncement of doom for the company's future according to the book's publisher. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: It is of course not uncommon for authors and journalist to pronounce doom and gloom for our favorite computer manufacturer. In fact, this has been the norm since the introduction of the Mac itself in 1984. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[2:23 PM]
Find Other Mac Using Companies, Schools, And Organizations
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Macnologist, the Mac Y2K resource web site has added a new service for the Mac Community called MacStores. The new service is a searchable database for Mac using companies, schools, and organizations. Read about it in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[2:05 PM]
Mac Network Tool Upgraded, New Network Watcher Released
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Dartmouth College, the makers of Mac FTP stalwart Fetch, has updated InterMapper to version 2.1 and introduced a new tool called SNMP Watcher. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
|
[1:58 PM]
Specialized iMac Version Of Grolier Encyclopedia Released
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Grolier Interactive has announced a specialized iMac version of the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. The new version has features not available in previous Mac versions of the product. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[1:43 PM]
Type And Creator Utility Updated
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Frank Reif Software has released an update to A Better Finder Creators & Types, bringing the shareware contextual menu plugin to version 1.5. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
|
[12:57 PM]
Apple's Education Business Scores With Major Purchases
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Apple has announced that it is still tops in the primary education market and is backing that claim up with major purchases from some of the largest school districts in the country. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Well this is great news! While US$11 million is not going to make or break Apple, purchases like this are GREAT PR! The idea is for other school systems to see these purchases and realize that if these big distrcits are doing it, maybe they should to. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Column
Ask Dave
"The Meaning Of SCSI, PC-Mac Networks, and Virus Protection"
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Greetings once again, my friends. Every week you send me some fantastic questions, and this week was no exception. The questions I've answered here are some of the most common questions I've come across in all my years working with computers. If, however, there's a question that I HAVEN'T answered, please send it to [email protected] and I'll get to it right quick!
Read Ask Dave
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Follow-Up
[12:26 PM]
KeyServer Follow-Up: Doesn't Need A Server
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We received a note from John Tomeny, Director of Marketing for Sassafras Software, in regards to our story on Sassafras. KeyServer is a license metering application. The application, while compatible with many file servers, does not actually require a server to run. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Headlines For Wednesday, March 17th
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[3:15 PM]
MAC-O-RAMA Touched By The Irish With Cool Contest
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Mac game lovers everywhere pay attention. MAC-O-RAMA is having a contest that has been touched by a leprechaun, just in time for St. Patrick's Day. Read about it in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
|
[2:49 PM]
Logitech Announces Future Support For Macs, Emphasizes Gaming Support
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Logitech issued an official statement of ongoing support for the Mac and iMac starting with yesterday's announcement of Mac drivers for the WingMan Gaming Mouse. The announcement includes statements of support from Apple. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Welcome to the Mac World Logitech! May you profit handsomely from your efforts! That said, we can now say "It sure took you long enough!" But seriously folks, this is a major development for Mac users. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[2:20 PM]
Peripheral Announces 256 MB RAM For PowerBook G3s
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Peripheral Enhancements has announced a 256 MB memory module for PowerBook G3s. The units are priced separately for the PowerBook G3s with 66 MHz system busses and the newer models with 83 MHz system busses. The 66 MHz system bus units are priced at US$964 while the 83 MHz system busses are priced at US$1004.
Peripheral Enhancements
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[1:58 PM]
Trans Intl Ships 128 MB RAM For Apple WorkgroupServers
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Trans Intl has announced it is shipping a 128 MB memory module for the 9650, 8550,7350,7250 line of Apple Workgroup Servers. The unit is priced at US$215.
Trans Intl
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[12:50 PM]
Two Mac Gaming Sites Join Forces
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Our good friend at the Mac Gamer's Ledge, Mike Dixon, let us know about some very cool things going on with The Ledge. Read about it in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: This is a great development for the Mac gaming community.Read why in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[12:24 PM]
New 466 MHz Upgrade For 1st Generation G3s Introduced
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Phase 5 Digital Products, a European based company has entered the fast lane market of 466 MHz Copper G3 upgrade cards. The new card is designed to work with the 1st generation of Power Mac G3s. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[11:20 AM]
Apple/Lucasfilm Tops Starr Report With Record Download
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Apple has announced that the Star Wars Trailer that was made available last Thursday in QuickTime format only has had a record 3.5 million downloads in the last 5 days. This does not count the myriad of mirror sites set up by fans the world over. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: This translates as a fantastic marketing score for both Apple and Lucasfilm. Apple has showed at least 3.5 million people just cool QuickTime 3 is. This translates as a major victory in the war for multimedia standards with Microsoft. Nice work Apple!
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Column
My First Mac Was A Typewriter
"A Beginner's Guide To Internet Mac Shopping, Part II"
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Welcome back to the second half of our discussion and review of on-line shopping for Mac related items. We are searching for an iMac 233Mhz and a Hewlett Packard printer of reasonable cost. We have a couple of sites that didn't get covered last week, plus some great suggestions from readers. First, as a recap, last week we reviewed Outpost.com, Mac-O-Rama, and Macmall.com. Of the three I noted that Mac-O-Rama was strictly a game site. Outpost.com was the most business-like in their presentation and set up, emphasizing the security of their on-line ordering. This site had a good supply of iMacs, but their printers were limited and all pretty high end (meaning costly). My favorite of the three from last week was Macmall.com . The site was easy to move around in, the iMac's were plentiful, and their assortment of printers was diverse. Overall prices at the two sites were fairly comparable depending on what they had on sale which means that it would probably pay to shop around between all the sites when you want something in particular.
Read My First Mac Was A Typewriter
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Headlines For Tuesday, March 16th
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[3:40 PM]
New License Metering For MacOS X Server (2.5X NT Performance)
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Sassafras Software is now shipping a version of KeyServer for MacOS X Server. KeyServer is a license metering application that runs on an application server. Key Server offers fantastic performance on MacOS X Server that is 2 1/2 times faster than Windows NT performance for the same app. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[3:10 PM]
Logitech Releases Mac Gaming Mouse (USB)
[2:42 PM]
Apple Harnesses The Power Of Open Source Development With OS X Server
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Apple has gone Open Source with at least part of its server OS strategy by announcing Darwin. As its name implies, this is the next evolutionary step for Apple as it harnesses the power of the Open Source community. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: This is a very powerful development for Apple. For those who may not know, Open Source development is basically the practice of making one's code available for anyone to look at and develop with. Read more in the Full Story.
Observer Call: We would like for our Open Source oriented Observers to help us dissect the Darwin license so we can share it with the Mac community. Write us and tell us what you think. Due to the enormous volume we get when we put our Observer Calls, we may not be able to answer every e-mail, but if we use your input, you will be credited.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[2:15 PM]
Apple Now Shipping OS X Server (At A Great Price)
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Apple announced that they are now shipping OS X Server. Long awaited since its demonstration at MacWorld Expo San Francisco and MacWorld Expo Tokyo earlier this year, MacOS X Server is the first major product from the marriage of NeXT and Apple that combines the power of the NeXT OS and the Mac OS. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Wooooohooooooo!!!! OK, the gloves are off now. Apple has an operating system that keep up with Windows NT and surpass it in some areas. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[11:45 AM]
Power RAM For Your PowerBook G3
Column
The Name of the Game
"New Mac Games: The '99 Drool List"
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Randy: Well, Gary, here we are heading to the last Spring of the twentieth century and as gamers, we have had a blast this year.
Gary: So far… (Grating sounds from the workbench in Gary's corner of the cave)
Randy: Yes, we have had the great privilege of playing some of the hottest titles out for the Macintosh this year and last. We have talked at length about how cool Unreal is, how totally bad ass Dark Vengeance is, how fun Carmageddon is…(More grating sounds from Gary's corner.) We played on G3 processors for the first time. Experienced VooDoo for the first time.
Gary: Tried the Aborigine feather-mating dance for the first time.
(More grating.)
Randy: The wha…?
Gary: Did I just say that last part out loud?
Read The Name of the Game
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[10:37 AM]
Trans Intl. Raises (Or Lowers) Bar On Yosemite RAM
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Trans Intl. has lowered the price on their 256 MB memory module for the Blue & White (Yosemite) G3s to US$699.
[Editor's Note: Trans Intl. is a sponsor of The Mac Observer]
Trans Intl.
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Reposting
[11:15 AM--March 15th]
Best Buy Expecting Candy Colored iMacs Within 10 Days
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[Eduitor's Note: We apologize, but we had this story pointed to the wrong URL originally. We are reposting this story today for those Observers who missed it.]
Visiting a Best Buy in Austin, Tx. this weekend we found no iMacs on display. A sales person informed us that they were awaiting shipment of the new 266 MHz candy colored iMacs. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Of major interest was the fact that the Best Buy employee was extremely friendly to us and very informative. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Headlines For Monday, March 15th
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[2:52 PM]
Apple Teams With Lara Croft For OS 8.5 Promotion
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Apple Computer has announced a promotional offer for MacOS 8.5 that offers buyers a free copy of Tomb Raider II or Tomb Raider Gold. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Cool idea! The popularity of Tomb Raider should certainly help sell more copies of MacOS 8.5, but the bundling agreement will be great for Eidos and Aspyr Media and Mac gaming in general. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[11:15 AM]
Best Buy Expecting Candy Colored iMacs Within 10 Days
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[Eduitor's Note: We apologize, but we had this story pointed to the wrong URL originally. We are reposting this story today for those Observers who missed it.]
Visiting a Best Buy in Austin, Tx. this weekend we found no iMacs on display. A sales person informed us that they were awaiting shipment of the new 266 MHz candy colored iMacs. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Of major interest was the fact that the Best Buy employee was extremely friendly to us and very informative. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
|
[10:23 AM]
Sherlock Menu Updated To 1.5
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Public Access Software has updated Sherlock Menu to version 1.5. Sherlock Menu is a freeware app that adds a Sherlock pulldown menu to the Menu Bar. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
|
[9:44 AM]
Connectix Update To PlayStation Emulator/Announces Windows Version
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Connectix has announced version 1.2 of Virtual Game Station, their popular and controversial PlayStation emulator for the Mac. Unfortunately for the Mac, but fortunately for Connectix, they also officially acknowledged that a Windows version of the game was in development. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Column
The Apple Trader
"FUD: The Danger In Apple's Silence"
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The iMac is a double-edged sword for Apple's stock price: good because the iMac has saved Apple from atrophy and ultimately extinction and bad because the iMac has saved Apple from atrophy and ultimately extinction. Who wants a piece of a one-product company especially in the PC market with product cycles measured in days?
Sure, Apple isn't really a one-product company, but we're talking about general perceptions here. Apple needs to come out with more than one insanely great product, like the iMac, per year. Investors are still uncertain that Cupertino can pull another iMac-like success out it its hat.
Read The Apple Trader
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Column
Monday's Mac Gadget
"OTSessionWatcher: What Your Mac Says To The Internet"
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Ever wonder what is really going on when your send and receive lights are blinking? Even if you are one of the unlucky ones :) that has a direct network connection (and hence no cool lights to watch) you may still want to know what data your Mac is sending to and receiving from the network and/or Internet.
Read Monday's Mac Gadget
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Headlines For Friday, March 12th
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Editorial
The PowerPC Problem: A Technical Analysis Of The Mac Processor Techology, Part I
by Tuan Truong
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Tuan Truong joins the Contributing Editorial staff at The Mac Observer with a technical analysis of the PowerPC processor and its competitor, the Intel line of processors. Welcome to the Mac Observer Tuan!
To convert customers from a dominant platform to a smaller niche platform, a common adage is that the niche platform must be 2 to 5 times more powerful, cheaper, or more productive. "Twice the performance for half the [production] cost" of a comparable Intel Pentium was the rallying cry and the expectation of the PowerPC microprocessor partners: Apple, IBM and Motorola, during the heady days of it birth. Apple moved it's primary business to it based on that expectation.
Read more in the Full Editorial
Read The PowerPC Problem
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[12:31 PM]
The Mac Gets A Periodic Atomic Upgrade
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Black Cat Systems has announced an update for The Atomic Mac bringing the Periodic Table information application to version 2.1. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[11:54 AM]
MacTicker Gets A New Engine And An Update
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The good people at Galleon Software have announced a new version of MacTicker bringing the desktop stock reporting app to version 1.1.1. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[11:07 AM]
Iomega Lowers The Price For Zip 100 Drives
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Iomega has announced a price drop on Zip100 drives. The SCSI and parallel versions are now priced at US$99.95 while the 100MB Zip USB drives are now priced at US$129.95. Prices should be reflected in retail an online retail outlets starting immediately.
The Mac Observer Spin: Hmmmm.... This price drop could be related to the announced shipping of the ORB by Castlewood. But then again, it could be just the natural price reduction of a product that is mature.
Iomega
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Headlines For Thursday, March 11th
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[2:10 PM]
Input Sprocket Helps Observer Gloat Over Windows User
[1:44 PM]
Control Strip Module For MacAmp Released
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PK Industries has released a Control Strip Module for use with MacAmp, the Mac MP3 player. The utility is called StripAmp 1.1. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
|
[1:17 PM]
Adaptec Releases Final 2940UW Drivers, New 3940UW Beta
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Adaptec sent us word that they have released the final version of the "open Firmware Aware" drivers for the PowerDomain 2940UW. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
|
[12:28 PM]
Lucasfilms Collaborates With Apple For New QuickTime StarWars Trailer
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WoooooooHoooooooo!!!! The new Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace trailer long awaited by Star Wars fans has been released on the Internet one day before it hits the theaters, and it is in QuickTime format only. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: A great marketing coup for Apple as it battles Microsoft, and to a much lesser extent, Real Networks, for control of Media standards on the Internet and desktop computing. The message to Star Wars fans is "if you want this trailer, you have to have QuickTime." Apple, which probably has a marketing swap with Lucasfilms for this deal judging by the Star Wars branded web page on Apple's web site, have made a smart deal!
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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First Look
First Look: Adobe GoLive 4.0 Comes Out Swingning
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Adobe GoLive 4.0 is today's outstanding web development tool. In fact, it is the only HTML editor that really works. That is surprising, considering how crowded this field is, with "would-be wannabes" in Aileen Mehle's immortal words. GoLive is thus the premiere representative of a software category that in the next decade may be as important as the word processor was in the 90s. [It is also significant, and a little sad, that this release of GoLive marks the end of its Mac-only status. A Windows release is scheduled to follow in the second half of this year. GoLive could be the last truly significant Mac-first program -- although we doubt that.] Read more in the Full Story.
Read Our First Look
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First Look
First Look: Olympus P-330, Print From Your Mac Or Your Camera
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The $449 Olympus P-330 digital color printer is a revolutionary product that marks a major turning point for the digital photography industry. It looks like in the 21st century we'll only have photo labs for a few special purpose needs. Mostly, we'll do at home what we used to need photo labs for. Inexpensive dye-sublimation printers are the key. Read more in the Full Story.
Read Our First Look
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Column
Ask Dave
"Disk Doctor, Scanners, and PRAM, Oh My!"
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Welcome back, folks. In my first two columns, I dealt with questions that had real cut-and-dry answers. I've been getting many questions from you that don't necessarily have one solution, and I'm using the most popular and relevant ones this week as the basis for the column. Troubleshooting computers often requires trying many different approaches, and with this, Mac's are no exception!
Read Ask Dave
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Headlines For Wednesday, March 10th
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[3:21 PM]
The MacDirectory Adds New Search Features
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The good people at MacDirectory have added a couple of new search features to make looking for Mac consultants and services all that much easier. Users can now search Mac consultants and Mac services through a new search engine. According to MacDirectory:
"MacDirectory today announced it has added a new services and consultants search engine, with which you will be able to search among thousands of consultants, trainers, resellers and more.
For the first time we are allowing Macintosh users to find service providers who specialize in a particular field. MacDirectory has added a market focus category including over 22 new categories, ranging (alphabetically) from accounting and advertising to small business and utility companies.
MacDirectory's Services & Consultants search engine is the only specialized Macintosh database that currently includes thousands of businesses providing solutions to Macintosh users worldwide."
The new services engine can be found off the MacDirectory home page.
MacDirectory
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[2:39 PM]
Steve Jobs Vs. Bill Gates
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The Motley Fool is running a Dueling Fools article called Dueling Fools "More Jobs or Higher Gates?" The Motley Fool is presenting champions for each of the computer titans and offers readers a chance to vote on their favorite. The Mac Observer rarely links to online polls, but The Motley Fool is one of the most popular Internet columns in existence and the two champions make great arguments.
This is a quote from the Steve Jobs champion:
"Apple has always had a corner on the educational market and, remarkably, to this day it is Apple that has the majority of the country's schools using its hardware and software. Come to think of it, that's not remarkable at all, as Jobs' motivation has been to change the world, while Gates's has been to control it. "
Head over to The Motley Fool and cast your vote for the iCEO.
Vote For The iCEO
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[12:45 PM]
Castlewood Shipping The ORB
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Castlewood sent us word that they are (finally) shipping the ORB. The ORB is their long awaited 2.2 GB removable media storage device. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: The removable storage market has been a strange bird for all participants. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[12:30 PM]
ASD Updates FileGuard For iMac And Yosemite G3s
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ASD has announced an upgrade for FileGuard that brings the security software to version 3.2. The new version brings compatibility with iMacs and the new Blue and White G3s. Version 3.2 also brings a few bug and conflicts fixes.
The upgrade is free to registered owners of version 3.1 (who purchased after August 15th, 1998) and US$19.95 for registered owners of version 3.0 who purchased before August 15th of 1998. Version 2.7 owners can upgrade for US$49.95, and the full version is priced at US$179.
ASD Software
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Column
My First Mac Was A Typewriter
"A Beginner's Guide To Internet Mac Shopping, Part I"
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Should I shop on-line? Is it safe to do so? Are prices better or worse? Who pays shipping? Is the selection any better? How do I find places to shop? All of these questions have occurred to me recently and I decided to try and get some answers to them since the idea of sitting at my computer at any time of the day or night and making purchases without sales pressure sounds delightful. I decided to 'shop' for a new computer and a new printer to check out and compare the various on-line shopping sites with which I am familiar. I choose the iMac (since I really do want one) and a Hewlett-Packard color printer.
Read My First Mac Was A Typewriter
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Headlines For Tuesday, March 9th
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Top Story
[3:48 PM]
Apple Jumps To 6th Place With 176% Sales Increase In January
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In more good news for Apple and Mac users everywhere, Apple saw a massive 176% sales increase for the month of January in the retail sales channel, traditionally one of Apple's weakest sectors. In a story by TechWeb, Apple grew to be the number 6 computer manufacturer in the US retail market. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: A good news day all around for Apple. Apple is helping the Japanese computer industry see growth, Apple may see big consumer growth in the US, and Apple catapults to the number 6 spot for manufacturers in the retail channel.Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[3:24 PM]
Another Mac Company Sees Q4 Sales Increase And Profit
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Boca Research announced Q4 1998 results that include an 11.4% sales increase and the first profit recorded in several quarters. Boca Research is the maker of Mac modems under the Global Village brand. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: A very subtle transformation has been taking place in the Mac market during the last 6 months. Good news is almost becoming commonplace. Doom and gloom is going away and in its place is announcements of new Mac products and Mac companies making a profit. While this may be bad news (in the short term) for Mac news sites such as The Mac Observer, it is great news for all of us who love our Macs. Profit draws entrepreneurs and established businesses alike and their products draw new Mac users.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[2:30 PM]
iMac Cited In Japan Computer Growth/Apple To Benefit In US Growth
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International Data Corporation has released its projections for growth in the computer industry in 1999 and Apple shows up twice in the report. In Japan, growth is projected to be below the worldwide average at 6%, but IDC cited the popularity of the iMac as part of the growth Japan will see. IDC also said that Apple may benefit from the world-leading growth in consumer purchases in the US. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: It's good news for Apple when analysts acknowledge potential growth for the company. As pointed out in yesterday's Apple Trader "Apple Stock: All Good Things Come To Those Who Wait," much of the market likes to pretend that Apple does not exist. Fortunately IDC is looking at the facts (at least from our perspective). Of course, the report does not guarantee that Apple will actually see growth. In fact, Apple is cited as only "possibly" seeing growth in the consumer market, but we think that IDC is right on the money except that Apple may be able to break into the Top 5 club. Time will tell.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Column
Monday's Mac Gadget
"PowerMenu Makes Contextual Menus All They Can Be"
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[Editor's Note: We are working on this whole "Monday" thing and we think one more week will see it fixed. :-)]
Sure, the introduction of contextual menus in Mac OS 8.x was long overdue, with our friends in the Windows world having this feature for some time. Yes, they're a pain to use if you have a single-button pointing device and have to hold down the control key, but if you're the lucky owner of a multi-button device like the Turbo Mouse, contextual menus can actually become usable.
Read Monday's Mac Gadget
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[1:20 PM]
New Role Playing Game For The Mac Released
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Spiderweb Software has announced a new role playing game for the Mac called Nethergate. Nethergate takes place on the isle of Britannia during the Roman Empire under the reign of Nero. The game allows one to play as a pro-Celt player bent on destroying the Roman Empire or as a pro-Empire character determined to preserve it. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[12:49 PM]
New Mac Tech Certification Program Offered Via The Web
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No Wonder! has introduced a new online program technical certification program for Mac techs. No Wonder! is marketing their program as a "real world" approach that doesn't reward cramming, but recognizes real world knowledge. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: We do not know anything about the program yet, but we have Mac tech consultants who are going to go through the program and report back to us on its value. If No Wonder! has put together a legitimate program, then Mac repair people will be armed with something that the business world seems to need. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Column
The Name of the Game
"Do You VooDoo? We Do: The In's and Out's Of 3Dfx"
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Gary: So, Randy, what are we going to talk about this week?
Randy: How about why you are wearing a tutu and covered with feathers.
Gary: Heh, heh, maybe we should keep that quiet. Just a little fun between consenting adults.
Randy: Good idea. I'll leave that alone. It's probably better that I never know.
Gary: Well, you did just get a MacMagic card from VillageTronic. We could talk about our experiences installing and playing on this inexpensive VooDoo card based on the 3Dfx chipset..
Randy: You're darn right it's inexpensive! It's the main reason I chose this card. At 99 bucks, the MacMagic is cheaper than a lot of VooDoo cards for the Wintel crowd. You gotta give VillageTronic kudos for giving Mac gamers a great game accessory like this.
Read The Name of the Game
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Headlines For Monday, March 8th
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Top Story
[12:41 PM]
Observer Feedback Firestorm: "Apple *Entirely* To Blame For Lack Of G3 BeOS"
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Last week we ran two stories about the lack of a G3 version of BeOS. The first story entitled "Former Apple Execs Join Be Board" we opined in the Mac Observer Spin that Apple had caused the lack of a G3 version of the BeOS by not sharing needed G3 code with Be. That was followed on Friday by "Apple Not Entirely To Blame For No Be For G3" where an Observer countered that Be could have done it if they wanted to and Intel was likely to be more behind the situation than anything else.
What resulted was a firestorm of protest from Observers around the world who said that Apple is entirely to blame for the G3 BeOS situation. The following is a sample of that feedback including a letter from a former Be employee. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer: While it may never be known exactly what went on with this issue, one thing is very clear. The Be articles mentioned above were the two most read articles of the week and generated a ton of e-mail. It would seem that Be and the BeOS is still very popular among many Mac users.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[3:20 PM]
URL Management Pro Gets An Update
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Alco Blom has released a minor update to URL Manager Pro bringing the shareware utility to version 2.5.1. The new release fixes a small bug with the History preferences and now correctly locates Netscape User Profiles.
The update is free to all registered owners who registered before December 1st, 1997.
URL Manager Pro
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[2:31 PM]
Aladdin Releases Bug Fix For SpaceSaver
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Aladdin has released an update for SpaceSaver 5.0 bringing the compression utility to version 5.01. According to Aladdin:
"Aladdin has become aware of a SpaceSaver 5.0 bug that prevented some applications from being able to "Save" files correctly when SpaceSaver 5.0 was installed. A new SpaceSaver 5.0.1 update is available on Aladdin's website to fix this problem, and is valid for all SpaceSaver 5.0 users only SpaceSaver is a bonus application that is included as a separate installer in the popular StuffIt Deluxe package). The update only pertains to StuffIt SpaceSaver 5.0 and will be of no use to StuffIt Deluxe users, or StuffIt SpaceSaver 4.5.X or previous versions."
The updater can be downloaded from the Aladdin web site.
Aladdin Systems
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[2:10 PM]
SoftWindows, RealPC Get An Update
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Our good friends that run the Japanese Mac web site The Mac Treasure Racing Club sent us a "heads up" about two new updates from Insignia. Both SoftWindows and Real PC have received updates. SoftWindows has been updated to version 5.05 and RealPC has been updated to version 1.05. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[11:32 AM]
New PCI Video Editing Solution Introduced
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Aurora Design has introduced a new PCI based video editing solution called IGNITER. IGNITER offers upgrade options, support for 16 bit stereo, scalable compression ratios, and more. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Column
The Apple Trader
"Apple Stock: All Good Things Come To Those Who Wait"
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Look, I know by now if you’re an Apple investor you’re getting increasingly impatient with AAPL’s price performance. It’s pretty much a mysterious case of market psychology why Apple, in spite of 15 months perfect execution, can’t post a valuation higher than 13 times earnings.
Last week just about everyone but Apple pre-announced bad earnings to soften the blow when the real numbers come in. Apple has no reason to pre-announce poor numbers because it looks like Apple will again show year over year growth in revenue, market share and even gross margins. None of this seems to matter to the herds of sheep on Wall Street as they trampled Apple down indiscriminately with the whole PC industry...
Read The Apple Trader
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Headlines For Friday, March 5th
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[3:58 PM]
Apple Not Entirely To Blame For No Be For G3
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In our story entitled "Former Apple Exec Joins Be Board," we said in our Mac Observer Spin that Apple had not shared code related to the G3 that Be needed to make BeOS work on the G3. Observer Scott Prive tells us that there is more to it than that and it is not all Apple's fault. Read Scott's letter in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[3:30 PM]
Consumer Level Digital Image Enhancer Released
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Q-Reasearch has released a new product called PhotoGenetics aimed at the comsumer market. PhotoGenetics is designed to help the user enhance digiatl images (from a scanner or digital camera). Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[2:55 PM]
REAL Gets French Distributor/French Version Of REALbasic
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Real Software has announced a distribution deal with Tri-Edre to distribute REALBasic in France. In addition, the company will convert the product's next release, version 2, to French. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Congratulations to REAL and Tri-Edre. Getting international distribution for any software product is a major step for a software product. All that much more so for a Mac software title making REAL's accomplishment even more important. Just another sign of the return of the Mac.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[2:30 PM]
BoxTop Releases PhotoGIF 3.02
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BoxTop Software had released the latest update for PhotoGIF, version 3.02. The new version fixes a bug that caused trouble when saving a 3 pixel tall GIF as an Interlaced GIF. The new version can be downloaded from the BoxTop web site and is a free upgrade to registered owners. PhotoGIF is priced at US$69.95 for the full version. More information, including PhotoGIF Lite can be dowloaded from the BoxTop web site.
BoxTop Software
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[1:40 PM]
Form Server For The Mac Released
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Limit Point Software has released a new product called iForm. iForm is a form server that can be run from any Mac on a TCP/IP network, independent from a web server. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[1:20 PM]
Paragon Releases Oak CORBA Orb For MacOS X and WebObjects4
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Paragon Software has released new versions of Oak CORBA Orb for both WebObjects 4 and MacOS X Server. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Column
Ask Dave
"Basic Networking, Type 2 Errors, And The Scrapbook"
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[Editor's Note: We ran the wrong link to this week's Ask Dave column for much of the day yesterday. For this reason we are rerunning the column for today. Thanks to everyone that let us know!]
Well, here I am once again, folks, digging myself out of the pile of questions I received after last weeks column. Hopefully those of you who received answers from me during the week were able to get things going, and for those of you that haven't, here's the answers to the most relevant questions that came in:
Read Ask Dave
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Headlines For Thursday, March 4th
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[2:53 PM]
Screensaver Creator Updated To Version 1.5
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MacSourcery has announced an update for CineMac for Director bringing the product to version 1.5. CineMac for Director allows users to create screensavers for the Mac or PC using Director and the new version brings support for Director 7 and the ability to add in live Internet based content to screensavers. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[2:45 PM]
German To Russian Module Released For Verbs & Nouns
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Richard Wellman has released a module for Verb and Nouns, a shareware dictionary engine for the Mac. Mr. Wellman's module translates German to Russian and vice versa. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[2:11 PM]
Crunch Your GIFs With GIFCruncher
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Spinwave.com has announced GIFCruncher Desktop, a web graphics utility aimed at web designers who want to make their GIFs smaller. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[1:48 PM]
Oh! My Lucky Charms! New "Blarney" Sound From Clixsounds
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Our friends at Clixsounds have released another sound for your Mac. This one is for the Irish loving Mac users among us and is called "Blarney." Head over to Clixsounds, click on the "Sounds" link and download away.
Clixsounds
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[12:54 PM]
Blue Byte Reverses Itself, Settlers III Coming To Mac
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We are pleased to report that Blue Byte Software has had a change of heart and has decided to bring Settlers III to the Mac. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Many Mac gamers were upset when Blue Byte announced last year that Settlers III would be Windows only, though Blue Byte did keep the door open for a change in the market. Since that time of course, the Mac market has had a massive rebound with Apple's domestic market share doubling in the last six months of 1998. The ongoing success of the iMac has had an effect on many developers with tons of new software titles and hardware (mainly USB and FireWire) having been announced.
It's good to see Blue Byte return to the fold.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[12:10 PM]
Pinacor Tips A Hat: Apple Named Supplier Of The Year
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Apple Computer was named Pinacor's Supplier of the Year today in an announcement from Pinacor. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Apple's relationship with retailers and the channel had been notoriously poor for years. When Steve Jobs took over the post of iCEO in 1997 and promptly terminated retail agreements with retailers such as Best Buy and others that were not giving customers a good Mac experience, all distributors except Ingram Micro also got the ax. Apple then named Pinacor as a second national distributor. Pinacor has since striven to be a good Mac citizen by increasing their Apple related sales force and adding more Mac manufacturers as suppliers.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Column
Ask Dave
"Basic Networking, Type 2 Errors, And The Scrapbook"
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Well, here I am once again, folks, digging myself out of the pile of questions I received after last weeks column. Hopefully those of you who received answers from me during the week were able to get things going, and for those of you that haven't, here's the answers to the most relevant questions that came in:
Read Ask Dave
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Headlines For Wednesday, March 3rd
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[4:18 PM]
Former Apple Exec Join Be Board
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Be, Inc. has announced the appointment of three executives to their Board of Directors including Lamar Potts who served 11 years at Apple. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Many Observers will remember that Be was the other candidate when Apple was looking for an OS to buy to replace the MacOS. The victor in that contest was of course NeXT which included Steve Jobs in the deal. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[3:49 PM]
WebShocker Gets Update To 1.02
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Recosoft Corporation has released an update for WebShocker in order to address minor bug fixes. According to Recosoft:
"WebShocker is a powerful, low-cost Web animation creation software. WebShocker provides an integrated work environment to create GIF Animations, Java animations, and Quicktime movies. WebShocker's environment includes a paint tools layer to create animation images from scratch, an animation preview window, and over 20 transition effects to create dynamic animation transitions. WebShocker can also import GIF, PICT, QuickTime movies and PhotoShop files.
The minor upgrade includes certain bugs fixes which specifically addresses QuickTime export in WebShocker v1.0."
The update can be downloaded from the company's web site.
Recosoft Corporation
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[3:30 PM]
New G3 Utility For Cache Size/Type/Speed For Upgrade Cards And PowerMacs
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MacTell has released a new version of their PowerJOLT G3 control utility for controlling the G3 cache size, cache speed, and cache type. The utility runs on PowerBook G3s, Yosemite PowerMacs, Gossamer PowerMacs, and the PowerJOLT line of processor upgrade cards from MacTell. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[1:58 PM]
Cannon Releases Mac USB Printer
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Cannon has announced a new USB printer called the BJC-6000. The BJC-6000 comes with Mac drivers out of the box and sports 1440 x 720 dpi output. The printer is compatible with the iMac, Blue & White G3s, and any USB equipped Mac. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[1:32 PM]
Sonnet Lowers Prices On PCI/NuBus G3 Upgrade Cards
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Sonnet Technologies has announced price reductions on their Crescendo G3 upgrade cards for both PCI and NuBus PowerMacs. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[12:15 PM]
Titanic For The Mac: This 'Ain't' No Sinking Ship
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Simon & Schuster Interactive have made the long awaited shipping date of Starship Titanic for the Mac. The company says that the entertainment title will be in stores starting the week of March 15th. Starship Titanic was developed by Douglas Adams, the popular author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Although the game was developed largely with Macs, development resource constraints required Mr. Adams, a noted Mac nut, and Simon & Schuster to release the Windows version first. Read more in the Full Story for more.
The Mac Observer Spin: A glorious day indeed! Starship Titanic was a big hit in the PC world and has been hotly anticipated. Mr. Adams was chastised by the fringe elements of the Mac community for not releasing the Mac version simultaneously with the Windows version, but it just wasn't possible for his company to do so. It is good to see it come out now.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[11:32 AM]
AutoMactic For The People: QuicKeys 4 Announced
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CE SOftware has announced a long anticipated update for QuicKeys that will bring the shortcut and macro program to version 4.0. The new version brings MacOS 8.5 compatibility and several new features and other enhancements. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Column
My First Mac Was A Typewriter
"Give This To Your Parents: Search Engine Searching Explained"
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Those of us who grew up in the time when doing research meant taking a bus to the closest city library and using the card catalog to find articles or books sometimes forget or don't realize just how much information can be obtained off the internet. Part of the secret of success is knowing how to ask for what you want and it can be frustrating when you can't figure out just how to do it.
Read My First Mac Was A Typewriter
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Column
Monday's Mac Gadget
"Snitch Rats On Your Files"
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[Editor's Note: Our more astute Observers will note that today is not actually Monday. Alas, technical problems prevented us from bringing Monday's Mac Gadget to The Mac Observer until today.]
One of the features that make Mac OS a pleasure to use is that a type and creator code are stored with each file, allowing you to simply double-click on a file to launch the associated application. No need to mess with archaic three-letter suffixes, which some otherwise modern operating systems use to associate files with applications.
Read My First Mac Was A Typewriter
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Headlines For Tuesday, March 2nd
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[4:10 PM]
MacHack Early Registration Extended To Tax Deadline
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MacHack has extended the period for early registration out to April 15th. People who choose preregistration receive US$50 discount and are charged US$475. MacHack is a conference for Mac developers and programmers around the world. Head over to the MacHack site for more information.
MacHack
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[3:40 PM]
HTML Turbo Updated To Version 2.1
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Voget Selbach Entertainment has announced a new version of VSE HTML Turbo bringing the shareware HTML editor to version 2.1. According to VSE:
"The new version fixes several bugs, uses Navigation Services if installed, recognizes PNG images and offers several small improvements."
The new version is a free upgrade to registered users while the full version is priced at US$49.95. The product can be downloaded from the company's web site.
Voget Selbach Entertainment
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[3:21 PM]
Bungie Announces Myth II Tournament With Cool Prizes
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Update: The registration page is linked off of the main Bungie.net home page. You can find it here.
The good people at Bungie dropped us a note to announce a very cool Myth II tournament called Seven Phoenix Rising. As usual, Bungie is offering very cool and unique prizes with a great story line for the tourney. Read about it in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[2:57 PM]
MetaCreations Announces Bryce 4
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MetaCreations has announced the imminent release of Bryce 4. Bryce 4 is MetaCreations very popular 3D landscape creation software. The new version includes a variety of feature enhancements. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[2:14 PM]
New Version Of Pagemaker Includes 2 Windows-Only Enhancements
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Adobe has announced a new version of Pagemaker called Pagemaker 6.5 Plus. The new version, available for both Mac and Windows is a little short on enhancements for the Mac. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Uhhhh...... 2 new features that are Window's only? We have had conversations with Adobe people in recent weeks who assured us that any impression that Adobe was down on the Mac was simply not the way it was, but from our perspective, this is a decidedly not a Mac friendly release. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[1:58 PM]
Norton Utilities Bundled With Spring Cleaning/Antivirus/Retrospect Express
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Symantec is offering a great bundling package for Norton Utilities. The company is offering a bundling package that includes Norton Utilities 4.0, Norton Antivirus 5.0, Dantz Retrospect Express 4.1, and Spring Cleaning 2.0. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[1:10 PM]
Apple Touts Big Names/Companies As WebObjects 4 Adopters
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Apple is touting some of the biggest names on the Internet, entertainment, and financial industries as early adopters of WebObjects 4. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Apple is certainly name dropping here, and that is a good thing. WebObjects, a property acquired with the purchase of NeXT is one of Apple's best and most successful tools for the Enterprise market. With the remarkably impressive list of big names using WebObjects, Apple will earn even more credibility with this very important market. Throw in a touch of MacOS X Server and some net-bootable iMacs and Apple's Enterprise stance is looking better than it has in the last decade.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[12:45 PM]
Apple Releases ColorSync 2.6 And SDK For Windows
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Apple has announced the release of ColorSync 2.6, the professional color-management system that has led the publishing industry for years. The new release includes support for JPEG GIF formats as well as other improvements. Read more, including download links, in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Column
The Name of the Game
"Dark Vengeance: A Dish Best Served Accelerated "
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Randy: Hey, Gary, what are the tap shoes for?
Gary: I'm busking over on 84th street and Lexington to get some extra cash.
Randy: Uh…is your insurance company still covering you after that last dancing accident?
Gary: It wasn't an accident, it was a pirouette.
Randy: Whatever. It took out the token booth at the far end of the cave and put you in the hospital for three days.
Gary: I suffer for my art.
Randy: Trust me. We all suffer for your art. But what do you need the cash for?
Gary: After playing Dark Vengeance on your new VillageTronic MacMagic VooDoo card, I realize I have to have one for myself.
Randy: Which one? The game or the card?
Gary: Both.
Read The Name of the Game
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[12:10 PM]
Boca Research Announces New USB External Modem
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Boca Research has announced a new USB external modem for Apple's new Blue and White G3s called the TelePort USB 56K Fax/Modem. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Headlines For Monday, March 1st
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[3:59 PM]
466 MHz PowerMac Upgrades From PowerLogix And Newer
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Thanks to the power of G3 upgrade cards from Newer Technology and PowerLogix, it is possible to have a PowerMac G3 run as fast as 466 MHz. Read more in the Full Story about both of these cards.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[3:30 PM]
Adaptec Releases Toast With USB Support For iMac and New G3s
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Adaptec has released an update for Toast bringing the CD Mastering software to version 3.8. The new version includes support for USB CD-R and CD-RW devices and is aimed at iMac and owners of the new Blue and White G3s. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[3:10 PM]
Newer Releases G3 Upgrade Cards Up To 300 MHz For 6100/7100/8100
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Newer Technology has released faster versions of their G3 upgrade cards for 1st generation NuBus based PowerMac 6100, 7100, and 8100 models. These cards run as fast as 300 MHz on 7100 and 8100 models. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: Wow, that's fast, and a very inexpensive upgrade for owners of the first generation PowerMacs. Newer is sure to have a hit product on their hands.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[2:47 PM]
HP Makes Releases Mac Drivers For More USB Printers
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Hewlett Packard has announced new Mac drivers for more of their USB printers. These printers were previously available only for the PC. Read more in the Full Story.
The Mac Observer Spin: This is cool. HP showing more interest and devoting more resources to the Mac platform is a very good thing. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[2:29 PM]
3COM/Palm Computing Release MacPac 2
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3COM and its Palm Computing division are now shipping the final version of MacPac 2.0, the connectivity kit for Palm Pilots and Macs. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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Column
The Apple Trader
"AAPL@34 13/16, An Opportunity To Buy"
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Meanwhile, back at the NASDAQ, Apple bombed with the rest of the PC manufacturers last week because some analyst said he didn't like the way the market looked for PCs in 1999. Gateway lost 9.28 % on Friday. Apple is now below $35. That is my re-entry target level for all those out there who were wise enough to liquidate at $46 in early January.
The Apple Trader
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[8:30 AM]
New CD A Must Have For Mac Users
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The Washington Apple Pi Computer User Group, or WAP, has released the latest version of Pi Fillings. Pi Fillings contains a full set of MacOS updates, several utilities, and other things Mac users everywhere will appreciate having. The list of software and other installers is a remarkably impressive list to be sure. Read more, including the full list of titles, in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[8:30 AM]
Blue World Announces GoLive Talk
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Blue World has announced a new list-serve for users of Adobe Cyberstudio. The list-serve is aimed at web designers who are interested in trading tips, tricks, and other kinds of advice, help and discussion. All entries will be entered into an online searchable database to make an "exhaustive resource of information to those interested in maximizing their understanding of the Adobe GoLive product." To subscribe, send an e-mail to [email protected] with "subscribe golive" in the message body. You can read more at Blue World's web site.
Blue World
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[8:30 AM]
Crackerjack Updated to Version 3.0
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Lantana Research Software Corporation has announced an update of Crackerjack to version 3.0. Crackerjack is designed to provide "a direct connection from Acrobat PDF documents to desktop and production output devices while providing professional control." Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[8:30 AM]
Navigator/Communicator Memory Cache Controller Updated
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Day Job Softwerks has announced an update to NavCom Cache Control, their memory cache controller for Netscape Navigator and Communicator 4.x. Day Job Softwerks claims the product can significantly enhance the speed of the browsers. The new version contains several bug fixes. More information is available at the company's web site.
NavCom Cache Control is "buckware" meaning it costs US$1 (registering through Kagi raises the price to US$3).
Day Job Softwerks
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[8:30 AM]
Blue and White G3 RAM Speed Explained
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Ken Zaidi of Trans Intl. sent us a note about RAM speeds for Apple's new Blue and White G3s. Mr. Kaidi said that RAM speed issues have been the number one question his company has been getting about RAM for the Blue and White's so we thought Observers would like to hear his explanation. Read more information in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[8:30 AM]
DevHQ Releases 20 Sherlock Plug-Ins For Developers
[8:30 AM]
Aladdin Systems Releases StuffIt Engine SDK 5.0
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Aladdin Systems has announced they are shipping StuffIt Engine SDK 5.0. StuffIt Engine SDK 5.0 allows developers to include support for various StuffIt file formats. Read more in the Full Story.
Read The Mac Observer Full Story
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[8:30 AM]
Utility For Moving Addresses To AddressBook Released
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Holger Mate has released a freeware utility called "Outlook to Address Book" for moving address information from Outlook Express to the shareware program AddressBook 1.4. The app extracts the information in a tabs delimited text file that can then be imported by AddressBook 1.4.
Outlook to Address Book
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