Today's News On One Page

September 15th, 1999

[Column] Computing With Bifocals - Building An Easy Web Page III, Adding Extras


[4:30 PM] No New Products Announced At Apple Expo Keynote

In a very interesting twist, no new products were announced at The Apple Expo in Paris this morning. Many analysts, including The Mac Observer, had felt that a new iMac would be released at The Expo. Instead, Steve Jobs simply went through another iteration of his Keynote address from MACWORLD Expo and the Seybold Conference. MacWeek has offered the best on-site coverage of the Keynote, and their report is highly recommended.

The Mac Observer Spin: This really is surprising. We had planned to go on record as saying that a new iMac would definitely be announced at Paris, and only timing and circumstances saved our prognosticating derrières. We had thought so due to the amount of money and resources that Apple was putting into the event, as well as Mr. Jobs's attendance. However, the most important indicator was that we are well overdue for an overhaul to the iMac. It has been 9 months since the last upgrade to America's favorite computer, and before that, new iterations were being released every 3 or 4 months. Since the 333 MHz models were introduced, a number of advances have become standard in the Wintel world, and the iMac is becoming a bit long in the tooth. Of course, Apple has already proved that it can sell iMacs that lag behind the Wintel world in perceived advantages such as CPU MHz ratings, so our thoughts may be out of place.

Apple


[4:15 PM] With iBooks Ready To Ship, 500 Member iBook Mailing List Ready For Action

Eric Prentice sent us a note announcing that his 500 member iBook mailing list was ready for action. According to M. Prentice:

With Steve Jobs' announcement that the iBook is shipping today. I'm pleased to announce that iBook fans and users have a place to go for support and advice.

The iBook list began ten months ago and now has almost 500 members ready for all kinds of question and discussion about the iBook.

Sending a message to <[email protected]> will begin subscription to the list.

Sounds like a great resource for iBook owners!


[4:00 PM] Apple Stock Watch: Market Burps As Apple Hiccoughs

The stock market took a funny turn today as an inflation friendly Consumer Price Index report was turned in. Normally this would result in a good trading day for stocks, but instead we saw a downturn across the board. This included Apple, her competitors, and other Mac related companies alike. Motorola in particular was punished for announcing it was purchasing General Instruments, a maker of broadband related equipment, at a premium. Motorola fell more than 5% on the news.

Apple closed at 75 3/8, a loss of 2 7/16 or 3.13%. Volume remained moderately low with 3,205,700 shares trading hands. This is usually indicative of downturn rather than a selloff.

Mac related companies also fared poorly with Macromedia, Adobe, and Symantec all closing lower. The PC side tagged along as Intel, IBM, Microsoft, Dell, Gateway 2000, Hewlett-Packard, and Compaq also closed in Negative Territory.

Rounding out the day, The Dow closed at 10801.42, down 108.91 and the Nasdaq closed at 2814.17, a loss of 54.12.

The Mac Observer Spin: The markets did not seem to notice that no new products were announced by Apple at the Apple Expo in Paris this morning. This is hopefully indicative that traders were not particularly looking for new Apple branded products to be announced. With Apple announcing that the iBook was shipping, this will hopefully allay any ongoing concerns in the product area for the time being. Apple delivering the iBook on time is good news in any event.

Apple


[2:30 PM] Casady & Greene Team With MacDaily For New Software Giveaway

It's time for another great contest from The MacDaily Network! This time we are working with the good people of Casady & Greene, makers of the indispensable Conflict Catcher, and the sexy new SoundJam MP. The contest is another easy one, according to MacDaily:

Casady & Greene and The MacDaily Network are hosting The Fabulously Free Software Giveaway! Five lucky winners will receive a bundle of award-winning software from Casady & Greene, which includes Conflict Catcher 8, SoundJam MP, Spell Catcher 8 and Speed Startup! For complete details and contest rules, just head over to MacDaily!

Come to MacDaily every day this week and find a clue that will lead you to the designated "Site of the Day." [Hint: Select from the list of sixteen sites under "Voices" in the left-hand column] The "Site of the Day" will post the Casady & Greene logo and the "Question Of The Day" somewhere on its homepage. Your job is to find the correct answers to these questions. Collect all 5 answers and submit 'em right here on Friday. All correct entries will qualify for a random drawing to win one of five software bundles! GOOD LUCK!

So let's summarize: Visit MacDaily, look for the hint, visit that Network member's home page, and find the question! Easy.

The Mac Observer Spin: Our guess is that The Mac Observer itself may indeed host a question at some point this week... :-)

Casady & Greene - MacDaily


[12:50 PM] Guy Kawasaki Interviewed On CNBC

Guy Kawasaki, former Chief Evangelist for Apple Computer, and current Chairman and CEO of Garage.com, was interviewed on CNBC's Power Lunch program today. Mr. Kawasaki, whose company just announced it had secured US$12 million in financing, was being interviewed about the state of Garage.com and Internet startups in general.

Garage.com helps put financing together for startups, serving as a bridge between the companies and financiers. Mr. Kawasaki was very upbeat about the state of the Internet and the future of related startups. This is not surprising coming from the man that many cite for successfully hyping the Mac during its infancy. For those keeping score, the interview was very short, though positive in nature.

The Mac Observer Spin: This is obviously not a Mac specific story, but so many Mac users have such fond memories and thoughts for Mr. Kawasaki, that we felt it would interest many Observers. Also, it is a symbol of just how much credibility Mr. Kawasaki built up during his long tenure at Apple that he should find himself in the limelight as Chairman and CEO of a relatively small startup himself. This is not to short his accomplishments at Garage.com, which include having found US$60 million dollars in funding for 20 different startups in the last year, in the least.

CNBC


[11:00 AM] Time Magazine Awards iMacs To Essay Contest Winners

Time Magazine has awarded some 12 iMacs in the TIME Most Important Person of the Century Essay Contest. The contest was open to kids age 10 to 18 in the following categories: 10-12, 13-15, and 16-18. The contest sought essays from kids on their thoughts on the most influential person of the century. Winners ranged from essays about a child's grandmother to an essay naming Hitler for teaching the world about the value of fighting racism and being unified. Truly an interesting perspective.

According to Time:

Top-prize winners for each age category (10-12, 13-15,16-18) won an Apple iMac computer for themselves and also one for their school. Second- and third-prize winners in each age category will receive an Apple iMac for themselves.

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to more than 7,000 students from across Asia who participated!

CNN and Time have posted the winners, 2nd place, and 3rd place entries. All the entries make excellent reading.

Time has also posted an article called Asians of the Century, also a very good read.

The Mac Observer Spin: This was a great contest for Apple in which to be involved. 12 iMacs is a small price to pay for the exposure and good will that has no doubt been raised through this event. The idea of rewarding writing excellence is also one that sits well with Apple's overall message in our opinion.

Time/CNN Article


[9:00 AM] 25GB USB External Hard Drive Announced

Fantom Drives has announced what they claim to be the world's largest USB hard drive, a 25GB monstrosity sure to fill the needs of the most space hungry iMac, Blue & White G3, or G4 owner. The new drive tops off Fantom's line of USB external hard drives . According to Fantom Drives:

Fantom Drives today announced the addition of a 25GB Drive to its expansive line of USB Hard Disk Drive products. Identical in physical dimensions to Fantom Drives' earlier 10GB and 16GB, the 25GB USB Hard Disk Drive uses the same attractive "translucent blue" enclosure as previous Fantom Drives USB products and is bundled with Macintosh and Windows 98 installation software. Fantom Drives has insured that the world's largest USB drive is also the most affordable, with the lowest cost-per-megabyte of any USB hard disk drive product currently shipping.

The Fantom Drives USB Hard Disk Drive product line answers the growing need of computer users to share data between multiple computer platforms. When used in conjunction with the MacOS's built-in cross-platform file translation software, data can also be transferred between Macintosh and Windows PCs as easily as if working with a simple floppy diskette. Because of the performance and driver specifications of USB, these drives are not ideally suited for high-bandwidth operations (such as video editing or PhotoShop "scratch-disks") and can not be used as boot-drives. However, thanks in part to the high "seek" ability of the drive mechanism, these drives excel in delivering small to medium sized files or applications. The full line of USB Hard Disk Drives are also supported by the leading drive optimization and data recovery software (such as Apple's Disk First Aid) and can be reformatted using the Macintosh Finder or Windows Explorer.

The Fantom Drives 25GB USB Hard Disk Drive is available now. Fantom has set the price of the drive at US$499. You can find more information on the product line at the company's web site.

The Mac Observer Spin: Here is a storage option for iMac owning MP3 fans. The quest for MP3s can eat up hard drives faster than an Auto-start worm, and 25GB is sure to help even the most hungry appetites.

Fantom Drives


[8:30 AM] Powerlogix Grows Into New Facility

Powerlogix has announced that one city was not big enough to contain their operations and opened a new office in Wichita, Kansas. According to Powerlogix:

PowerLogix today announced the opening of an office in Wichita, Kansas to better meet the needs of their customers.

"Our headquarters, engineering, tech support, and some sales will continue to operate out of our office here in Austin. However it made good sense to go to Wichita for our second office because of the number of quality people experienced in the Mac industry," said Robert Jagitsch, President of PowerLogix R&D, Inc.

The second branch will focus on new business development and sales.

The Mac Observer Spin: Wichita does seem to be a Midwest Mac Mecca, if you'll pardon our alliteration. Newer Technology and XLR8 both maintain their operations in Wichita, and with the new Powerlogix offices, Wichita now has more upgrade companies than Austin, Tx. MacTell and Powerlogix both maintain their headquarters in Austin. Congratulations to Powerlogix on the expansion in any event!

StarNine