Best & Worst Of The Web - August 9th, 2000

There are lots of great articles, and some really bad ones, on the Internet. Though we link to all of them at MacOS News Around The Web, some of them deserve special mention here. Most of what we will mention within these pages will be among the best, but on occasion we will talk about articles that are so bad or so wrong we just have to say something. Consider them mini-editorials on our part about things we think you might also be interested in.

Worst [4:40 PM] Sun Spot: Good Apple news comes from Gates
You look at this guyis picture and you would never think he was a Windows junkie... NOT! Seriously though folks, we do not advocate judging a book by its cover, or something. Mike Himowitz is his name and he thinks Apple doesnit get it with their whole "Cube" thing. Our take is that he doesnit get it. Seriously. That is the nature of our fine world, to be sure, but we will stand on the fact that the Windows world largely jeered the iMac and were shown to be wrong. Mr. Himowitz, while making some VERY valid points that should not be overlooked, is simply wrong about the Cube. In particular, he has some excellent observations about Microsoftis Mac software offerings. Our favorite quote in this piece:

Nor is the Cube as great a feat of engineering as Apple would lead us to believe. True, it does run without a fan, which is a neat trick for a processor thatis as hot as the G4 (literally and figuratively). But there are a couple of thousand high-end laptop computers sold every day that manage to run without fans, too.

In fact, by those standards, the G4 Cube is a lumbering giant. I did the math. The average high-end laptop computer manages to cram everything the Cube has into a package that occupies only 162 cubic inches. The Cube measures 581 cubic inches, more than three times the volume. And unlike a laptop, the Cube doesnit come with a screen (the monitor is extra).

To be fair, Apple hasnit put the G4 into a laptop yet-it runs too hot and consumes too much power. Unlike Intel, which has developed low-power versions of its high-end Pentium III chip for the carriage trade, Apple has stuck with the older (but still serviceable) G3 processor in its portables. But Apple could sell a G4 laptop if itis willing to put the money into product development instead of packaging.

The problem here is that he is comapring Apples to oranges (pun intended).The Pentium IIIs he is so stoked about are emasculated, and that is why they fit in a laptop. The G4 is a straight G4, and the fact that Apple has made it possible to run without a fan is indeed an engineering feat. The Wintel world would never be able to get a straight PII or PIII to run without a fan in a case that was 3 times as big.

He doesnit get it, but thatis ok. Reviewer - Bryan Chaffin


Best [4:40 PM] Salon: Gadgets galore- For nerds who love Nerf balls and Jolt Cola
Fun, fun, fun itil our daddy took our t-square away... Salon reports on ThinkGeek, a name for which many Mac users may have an appreciation. ThinkGeek supplies geeks with geek stuff, sort of a Geek Chíc, non? Itis a fun report, so check it out. Our favorite quote from this piece:

What youill find: a pair of $489 I-glasses, which let you watch TV through a hands-free headset; photon lights for annoying your coworkers; and (for real Napster-loving geeks) the Personal Jukebox, which stores over 100 hours of MP3s.

If that doesnit describe many of us... Reviewer - Bryan Chaffin


You can find these links, and lots of other links for Mac and Tech Industry stories, at MacOS News Around The Web.