Today's News On One Page
December 6th, 1999
[5:00 PM] Mac MP3 Fans Now Have A Source And Mailing List For MacMP3 Information by Staff A Mac MP3 web site called The Source has been officially unveiled. Along with the web site comes a mailing list featuring Mac MP3 information. According to The SOurce:
So head to The Source for all your Mac MP3 information! |
[5:00 PM] Looking For A Mac Business Plan Aid? by Staff MacTreasures has added a new app to their arsenal of hard to find Mac products. They have added Business Plan Toolkit, which is an aid for developing business plans on your Mac. According to MacTreasures:
If you are interested in this product, you can find more information at the MacTreasures web site. The Mac Observer Spin: For the record, this site is not related to The Mac Treasures Tracing Club based in Japan. The Business Plan Toolkit is an important title for the Mac as there is a dearth of business development software for our market. It would be nice if the developers could add support for Office 98 in the next update. |
[5:00 PM] December Edition Of About This Particular Macintosh Hits Virtual Stands by Staff Another month is upon us and the folks at About This Particular Macintosh (ATPM) have released the December edition. ATPM is a monthly web magazine available for download. This month they offer reviews, product news, editorials, Mac art, Tips, and some gift ideas. According to ATPM:
You can find this month's issue at the magazine's web site. |
The Dow can't seem to advance as the technology laden Nasdaq powers ahead, encouraged by a strong productivity report that suggests the benefits of the new networked economy are kicking in. Apple traded lower till the last hour then made a rapid come back to end the day up 1 13/16 or 1.56% at 117 13/16 on slightly below average volume. International Data Corp., an econometric research company, announced today that they have lowered their forecasts for worldwide PC sales growth next year to 17% from 20%. "But a strong, year-on-year global Q4 consumer PC growth rate of 25.7 percent will keep global PC demand high," said IDC's research director, John Brown. The Dow sagged 118 points (1.05%) to close at 11106, on a volume of 986 million shares traded. The unstoppable Nasdaq gained 40 points (1.15%) to close at 3586 on 1.5 billion shares traded. Today was another new closing high for the Nasdaq. Yawn. This is the 49th record high this year, giving the Nasdaq a 63% year-to-date gain. The S&P 500 lost 14.43 points (1.01%) to close at 1408.90. Yahoo was added to the S&P 500 today, forcing S&P 500 stock index funds to add Yahoo (YHOO) to their portfolios. This drove Yahoo's price up by 67 3/16 or 23% and creating softness in the other 499 stocks in the index. Yahoo ended the session at 348 on a volume of 57 millions shares traded or 8 times average volume. The bellwether 30-year Treasury bond rose 14/32 to close at 98 25/32, the yield dropped to 6.20% from 6.24% on Monday. The US Labor Department revised its 3rd quarter productivity numbers up to an annual rate of 4.9% from an earlier estimate of 4.2%. Morgan Stanley Chief Economist Richard Berner said, "This data continues to underscore that, so far, the US economy is performing in a way where strong growth and low inflation can coexist." In Apple related businesses, Akamai rose 9 1/4 to close at 226, as J .P. Morgan initiated coverage on Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) this morning. Adobe lost 2 1/2 to end at 60 5/8. Macromedia gave back 3 7/16 after soaring to a new high yesterday. Symantec was up 2 5/16 to close at 54 3/8. Apple's Power PC partners, IBM and Motorola, were both up slightly. Apple's competitors were mostly down, Gateway, Intel, and Microsoft all got hammered hard today. Hewlett Packard beat the second day of the Wintel down draft to close up 4 3/4 at 109 1/2. Dell moved slightly higher on an upgraded by CIBC Oppenheimer to buy from hold. Dell also announced that it will start shipping Linux installed on some of their high-end servers, and that Red Hat Inc. (RHAT) will provide customer support. Redhat climbed 52 dollars to close at 284 1/8 for a one day gain of 22%. For full quotes on all the companies mentioned in this article, we have assembled this set of quotes at Yahoo! for your reference. We also have many of these same quotes reported live (20 minute delay) on our home page. For other stories regarding Apple's stock activity, visit our Apple Stock Watch Special Report.
[4:40 PM] Apple Stock Watch: Strange Days on Wall Street, Another New High for Apple.
by Wes George
[3:45 PM] Apple Attracts The Ire Of Japan's Fair Trade Commission by Staff The courts and legal system have seemed to swing Apple's way during the last many months, but this may have changed in Japan. Though everyone and their brother has latched onto the story, it appears as if Reuters were the first to break the fact that Apple Japan was raided by their Fair Trade Commission. At issue is whether Apple conspired to maintain pricing on the iMac and iBook in the Japanese market. According to the Reuters Report:
This follows a string of court decisions favoring Apple in its pursuit of stopping iMac rip-offs, many of which have been in Japan. Apple was not available for comment. The Mac Observer Spin: Apple has been kicking butt, and taking names in Japan for most of the last 15 months. At times, they have had time to alphabetize those names in the process. Recently Apple's market share has taken on mythical proportions, and there is no wonder that Apple has tried to maintain pricing support in the face of so much demand as the Japanese market can be very competitive. The only problem with that is that it smacks of anti-competitive practices and even has a faint Microsoft ring to it. Apple has had similar problems with US distributors and dealers but has used marketing money to try and maintain their official pricing policies. Those retailers who oriced below Apple's desired pricing levels were not eligible for marketing incentives. Of course, Apple Japan was simply searched. Apple has not yet been convicted of any wrong doing, or even necessarily charged as if yet. Japan's Fair Trade Commision simply went looking for evidence. |
[3:30 PM] DLJ Anaylst Sings Apple's Praised On CNBC by Staff Thomas Galvin, an analyst with Donaldson, Lufkin, & Jenrette, appeared on CNBC commenting on his favorite stocks. Who was his favorite? Apple Computer. Apple was listed as one of three stock picks that Mr. Galvin felt were good buys. The iMac was one of the primary reasons for that choice. According to Mr. Galvin:
Apple closed higher today. We will have a full report in today's Apple Stock Watch. The Mac Observer Spin: It's good to see Apple continue to receive support from the financial community, even when they are trading at historic highs. It was only a few short months ago when Apple was trading in the 60 range that a couple of analysts backed off their ratings and called Apple overbought. Here we are today with Apple trading almost twice as high, and analysts can not sing Apple's praises loud enough. All those die-hard Mac fans who bought Apple in the teens and twenties must be enjoying themselves now! :-) |
[8:30 AM] Jamming Your MP3s Is Now Faster by Staff Casady & Greene, Inc., have updated the popular MP3 player/encoder to version 1.5. The new version includes a number of bug fixes and added performance features. According to Casady & Greene:
SoundJam MP is available for US$39.95 in the download version, US$49.95 in the CD version. You can find more information at the SoundJam MP web site. |
[8:30 AM] Urchin Analyzes Your Yellow Dog by Staff Quantified Systems Inc., have released have released the powerful web server log analyzer, Urchin, for Yellow Dog Linux. Urchin allows hit logs to be organized, summarized, and saved. According to Quantified Systems:
Urchin is available for Yellow Dog Linux for free for the adware form, or for US$995 in the ad-free form. You can find more information at the Quantified Systems web site. |
[8:30 AM] Tilery Update Includes Many New Features by Staff Semicolon Software has updated the desktop organizer/launcher utility, Tilery, to version 4.1. The new version include a host of new features and bug fixes. The Tilery functions like Apples own Launcher, but is far more customizable with a series of expanded features. According to Semicolon:
The Tilery is available as shareware for US$15. You can find more information at the Semicolon Software web site. |
[8:30 AM] Need The 411 On The Mac? Try Mac101 by Staff MacInstruct and MacHome have teamed up to bring readers a new feature. MacHome's Mac101 will appear in their monthly newsletter, and will provide basic overviews of everything Mac, geared toward the new user. According to MacInstruct:
For more information on this new feature, you can visit either the MacInstruct web site or the MacHome web site. |
[8:30 AM] How Do You Say Os X Server In French? by Staff There is a new Macintosh oriented web site in town, but this one dedicated to a French audience. The AUG Strasbourg (Apple User Group) site has burst on the scene in grand style, with pictures of the latest release of Apple's next operating system, OS X DP2. For a new (and French) twist on Mac oriented news, and for those bilingual readers in our audience, visit the AUG Strasbourg site for more information. The Mac Observer Spin: Welcome to the neighborhood! |