Mac Net Journal

Apple: Security Update - Security Update 2006-001 fixes some serious problems - but make a backup before applying it, just to be safe.... [MacInTouch]

Apple stock stumbles after "fun" announcements
Tuesday, February 28, 2006, 3:55 PM

Today may have been "fun" for Steve Jobs, but it wasn't a fun day for Apple stock. Apple shares fell 3.5 percent following the announcement of the new Intel-based Mac mini and the f-ugly iPod Hi-Fi speaker dock for the stylish music and video player. After looking at the specs and the design of the iPod Hi-Fi as well as the leather iPod sleeve introduced by Apple today, it looks like Apple has a couple of flops on its hands. The jury is still out on the new mini, though the Web is full of folks pointing out that the new mini specs include a deeply hidden mention of the fact that the video capabilities are compromised by being integrated onto the main processor in the machine - something that Apple ripped Intel about when it came out with the first versions of the mini.

Glenn Fleishman's excellent question: Hi-Fi, no Wi-Fi?
Tuesday, February 28, 2006, 3:18 PM

Since Apple is including Wi-Fi in just about all of its products these days, it is a little baffling that there is no Wi-Fi in the new iPod Hi-Fi, as Glenn notes in TidBITS. Anyone want to bet it has to do with DRM? Or is it simply an Apple oversight?

The reality behind Apple's "fun" announcements
Tuesday, February 28, 2006, 10:20 AM

I gleaned what I could from coverage of Apple's new product announcements today in California. Thanks to the live coverage on Macworld:

Intel-based Mac mini with Front Row software and easier ways to hook the machine to a TV, as well as four USB 2.0 ports on the back of the mini.

- Base model: 1.5 GHz system with 667 MHz bus, 512MB RAM, 60GB hard drive and combo DVD/CD-RW drive now $599

- High-end model: 1.67GHz Core Duo-based (same as new MacBook Pro) with 80GB hard drive and 8x SuperDrive for burning DVDs and CDs for $799.
New feature in Front Row that supports shared music libraries through iTunes
iPod Hi-Fi - a $349 portable stereo setup that has an iPod dock at the top of the boombox. Welcome back to the 80s, kiddies. Jobs says he has been using the iPod Hi-Fi with his home stereo for a month and it will replace some of his high-end audio equipment. At least that part sounds interesting...
Apparently, that's it folks.

What are your thoughts so far? |

What does "fun" mean? How about innovative, Apple?
Monday, February 27, 2006, 8:36 PM

One reason I haven't posted anything about Apple's pending announcement of something "fun" tomorrow is that the terminology bothers me. For a geek like me, there would be nothing more fun than an innovative new computing tool - something that would make it easier to accomplish both work and play. But in Apple's current wildly successful mode as a company focused on simple entertainment devices that work as reliably as an appliance, I realize that Apple's fun is more likely to be in the entertainment vein than in the mind-blowingly useful vein. Maybe Apple will prove me wrong tomorrow.

Meanwhile I see all of the buzz over the last two days about something called Origami from Microsoft. That product, or rather a design concept that Microsoft is trying to use to distract everyone from whatever Apple is doing to kick Bill Gates' ass, could hold potential except for the fact that it looks like it will be made by Microsoft. Until the folks in Redmond can prove that they can create something innovative and intuitive, and something that has absolutely no connection to the buggy Windows operating system, they will not see more money from me. As long as Microsoft continues to cut corners while at the same time trying to create products that are everything to everyone, I am confident that their next big ideas will flop.

And yes, I realize that the two paragraphs above conflict with each other. I want something more complex and useful than an iPod or entertainment device, but I don't want it to be a Swiss Army Knife with a LCD screen. Is that so tough to understand? OK, ok...back to finishing my never-ending book project...

You can check Mac Net Journal tomorrow for my take on whatever Apple announces.

New Photoshop Elements unveiled, but not Universal Binary
Sunday, February 26, 2006, 9:29 PM

News: Adobe unveils Photoshop Elements 4.0 - Photoshop Elements includes many new features, but is not Universal Binary for Intel Macs. [MacCentral]

I wonder how much Adobe's refusal to create Universal binary applications will slow some people from switching to Intel-based Macs?

Intel-native Aperture 1.1
Sunday, February 26, 2006, 1:34 PM

Apple shows Intel native Aperture 1.1 - Aperture 1.1 includes impressive speed improvements, as well as many new features. [MacCentral]

MacBook Pro take apart instructions
Thursday, February 23, 2006, 12:21 PM

MacBook Pro Self-Surgery - iFixit, maker of the Fixit Guide series, has posted the first MacBook Pro disassembly instructions and photos. The MacBook Pro disassembly is online at www.iFixit.com. The MacBook Pro disassembly guide contains high resolution photos of the MacBook's internals, including the... [PowerPage.org]

A nice review of the Nikon D200
Thursday, February 23, 2006, 9:38 AM

DPReview posts a thorough review of the Nikon D200 digital SLR today. It makes the camera sound like its a real joy to use - not that I will be switching from Canon anytime soon though...

More first impressions of the MacBook Pro
Wednesday, February 22, 2006, 7:23 PM

MacBook Pro: First day, first Lab tests - The first MacBook Pros have arrived, and Jason Snell has spent 24 hours taking this Intel-powered laptop out for a test spin. Find out his first impressions -- and how the MacBook Pro performed in our Lab tests -- in this first look. [MacCentral]

Early MacBook Pro battery benchmarks
Tuesday, February 21, 2006, 4:11 PM

There are a lot of caveats in this report, but a story on O'Grady's PowerPage touts MacBook Pro runtime of roughly 2.5 hours with a machine in passive use. Among the caveats, the tester had not run the battery through its paces to fully charge, discharge and then charge it again, as suggested in the user manual. I am sure there will be more complete tests to come soon...

TidBITS on the new security issue
Tuesday, February 21, 2006, 4:05 PM

Significant Safari Exploit Discovered - A potentially critical security flaw has been uncovered in Apple's Safari Web browser, which may enable attackers to execute arbitrary Unix shell scripts on a user's machine simply by following a link on a web site. By Geoff Duncan, TidBITS [myapplemenu]

New battery offers serious boost for G4 PowerBook
Tuesday, February 21, 2006, 4:00 PM

New PowerBook battery upgrade offers 48% increase - Other World Computing (OWC) and Newer Technology today announced they have added to their line of NuPower PowerBook replacement batteries by introducing what they say is the highest capacity battery every made available for Apple's PowerBook G4 15-inch Titanium models... [MacMinute.com]

More Mac security concerns
Tuesday, February 21, 2006, 3:17 PM

Macintouch has a good roundup of news related to a significant Mac security vulnerability that surfaced yesterday. Most of the news connects the vulnerability with Safari, but other have found that Mail will also execute shell scripts that may masquerade as other files, such as jpeg images. Unlike the previous security warnings, which are still cropping up in the mainstream media, this one looks like it could be a real issue...

Canon announces EOS 30D
Tuesday, February 21, 2006, 9:22 AM

Canon EOS 30D - Pre-PMA 2006: Canon has today announced the EOS 30D, a mild evolution of the EOS 20D. Headline changes are a subtly redesigned body, spot metering, selectable continuous shooting speed, 100,000 shutter cycle life, a larger LCD monitor and the expected switch from simple image parameters to Canon's preferred PictureStyles. [Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)]

Rob Galbraith's site also has a story about the new Canon 30D, as well some of the new lenses unveiled by Canon today...

Using Gmail for file storage using Mac OS X
Monday, February 20, 2006, 11:26 PM

The Winapple blog offers a pointer to gDisk, an open source tool that makes it easier to use Gmail for backing up and storing files with Mac OS X.

Of course, when I tried the program, which looks like it has been around for a while, I couldn't get it to run reliably on my aging PowerBook G4. Your mileage may vary...

Malware and the Mac
Thursday, February 16, 2006, 9:40 PM

Leap-A Malware: What You Need To Know - This incident doesn't expose a security hole in the Mac operating system. Rather, it's a piece of malware that can be easily rebuffed by vigilant Mac users. By Rob Griffiths, Macworld [myapplemenu]

And more on the pesky malware issue that will likely never affect you: Cult Of Mac

I don't mean to make light of this first real, living threat to Mac OS X users, but when compared to the problems you can face on Windows by simply visiting a Web site and getting infected with adware and spyware, you really have to work to get this bug. Here is a description of the hoops you have to jump through the face problems, as written by Ambrosia Software:

You cannot be infected by this unless you do all of the following:

1) Are somehow sent (via email, iChat, etc.) or download the "latestpics.tgz" file

2) Double-click on the file to decompress it

3) Double-click on the resulting file to "open" it

and then for most users, you must also enter your Admin password.

You cannot simply "catch" the virus.

Apple releases Mac OS X 10.4.5 update
Tuesday, February 14, 2006, 3:05 PM

Check your Software Update panel for the latest update to Mac OS X. Here are the release notes for the PowerPC version of Mac OS X 10.4.5:

The 10.4.5 Update is recommended for all users and includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes for the following applications and technologies:

iChat video conferencing

Safari rendering of web pages

usability of Dashboard and widgets

viewing of QuickTime streaming media behind a firewall

printing to some Epson printer models

iDisk and Portable Home Directory syncing

time zone and daylight savings for 2006 and 2007

VPN connections to Cisco servers when using NAT

compatibility with third party applications and devices

previous standalone security updates

For detailed information on this Update, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n303179.

For detailed information on Security Updates, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798.

I will update my aging PowerBook with this software later tonight. How is it working for you? |

Good news about Apple shipping MacBook Pro
Tuesday, February 14, 2006, 11:50 AM

It is good news on this Valentine's Day that Apple says it has begun shipping the MacBook Pro, the first Intel-based laptop from Apple. Personally, I look forward to the first user reports and reviews of how the machine works in the real world, and I am even more eager to see what Apple unveils for a second-generation MacBook Pro.

Oh, the irony of posting about procrastination
Sunday, February 12, 2006, 3:18 PM

Lifehacker points to a Psychology Today article about procrastination, and I simply cannot pass up the irony of taking time out of writing my book to post about procrastination...

On backup and syncing strategies
Sunday, February 12, 2006, 2:55 PM

A useful post about one Mac user's strategy for keeping a PowerBook and a desktop Mac in sync was posted yesterday on The Hivelogic Narrative: Synchronicity.

In my case, I don't really deal with the synchronicity issue. I live and die on my current PowerBook, a three-year-old 12-inch model. Everything lives on the PowerBook, but I make frequent backups - a few times each week I do an incremental backup using the smart backup option offered in Super Duper. I also burn at least monthly backups of my digital images. It isn't a perfect system, but it works...

There's nothing like writing under the influence...
Sunday, February 12, 2006, 2:31 PM

There is nothing like writing under the influence of a nagging migraine headache, which seems to be my fate this weekend. I tried to shake the headache with a quick jaunt to the Tahoma Audubon office, and brief visits outdoors to look at birds at Titlow Beach Park on the Tacoma Narrows and at DeLong Park inland, but even the caffeine from a grande vanilla latte hasn't enabled me to shake the headache.

There's no more time to put off the inevitable though. I have to finish my chapter about the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens today, and to at least get started writing the introduction for the book. We are so far behind schedule on finishing this book that our editor is breathing fire at this point...

On the growing evidence that Google is evil
Saturday, February 11, 2006, 6:16 PM

So Long, Dalai Lama: Google Adapts to China - Several of the biggest technology companies have come under attack for helping the Chinese government police the Web. But few have cooperated as openly as Google. [New York Times: Technology]

A Pileated alarm clock
Saturday, February 11, 2006, 12:21 PM

I was sleeping in this morning when a familiar bird song woke me up. A Pileated Woodpecker - the largest woodpecker species with a widespread, though shrinking, population - made a visit to a telephone pole behind our house and it was calling and drumming on the pole, probably trying to find a mate. This is the fourth time that I have seen a Pileated Woodpecker as a yard bird in the 12 years we have owned this house, so this is far from a common occurrence.

I think the appearance of the woodpecker is a consolation price for me, since right now Natalie is in southern Florida, walking the trails and taking photos of birds and the flora and fauna in the Everglades. We made a trip to the Everglades last year around this time of the year, but this time I didn't tag along. I'm sure I will hear that she saw some good birds and took tons of alligator photos as she walked the Anhinga Trail and visited Eco Pond at the end of the road at the little enclave of Flamingo.

Back to writing our book...

Bradbury urges monorails to the rescue for LA
Saturday, February 11, 2006, 11:51 AM

The Seattle P-I notes that last week famed science fiction writer Ray Bradbury wrote an op-ed piece urging officials in Los Angeles to consider building monorail systems to save the land of sprawl in California from its self-destructive automotive ways. Of course, there is some irony in the fact that Seattle voted late last year to kill its new monorail plan...

Watching The IT Crowd from Channel 4 in Great Britain
Saturday, February 11, 2006, 11:15 AM

If you are looking for a laugh and you can see the humor involved in being a geek, The IT Crowd TV show from Great Britain is a must-see. I have downloaded the first four episodes as torrents - in fact, this is the first time I have been compelled to try using Bittorrent to watch TV shows on my own time. If you don't want to mess with seeing the downloaded versions, Boing Boing points out that the third and fourth episodes are available now on YouTube as well. Fun viewing!

Tips for creating high quality compressed video with Quicktime Pro
Saturday, February 11, 2006, 10:58 AM

Lifehacker points out a good tutorial for how to create high quality compressed video using Quicktime Pro.

MacBook Pro delivery date appears to be slipping...
Thursday, February 9, 2006, 1:12 PM

Apple MacBook Pro delivery date slips 'to 3-4 weeks' on new orders - Customers visiting the Apple Store online to order a new MacBook Pro will have to wait a while before they get their mitts on the company's... [MacDailyNews]

Very cool free program for exercising geeks: TrailRunner
Wednesday, February 8, 2006, 8:13 PM

Lifehacker notes a cool free program for Macs called TrailRunner that can be used in tandem with a GPS unit to map trails for runners, hikers, mountain bikers, etc. Wow, this could be useful!

Backup 3.1 for .Mac users
Wednesday, February 8, 2006, 7:26 PM

Apple releases Backup 3.1 - Apple today released Backup 3.1 via its Software Update utility, the latest version of its backup software for .Mac users... [MacMinute.com]

iView MediaPro 3.0.2 released
Tuesday, February 7, 2006, 8:05 PM

New Release: iView MediaPro 3.0.2 (Windows, Mac) - iView Multimedia today released iView MediaPro 3.0.2, a free update that includes new Raw file format support for Panasonic/Leica Digilux and Sinar/Mamiya digital cameras. [iView MediaPro Weblog]

Apple unveils 1GB iPod nano, lowers shuffle prices
Tuesday, February 7, 2006, 9:10 AM

Apple: 1GB Nano, Cheaper Shuffles - Apple introduced a 1GB Nano at $149 and cut Shuffle prices to $69 and $99. Apple will also sell TV shows from Showtime via iTunes. [MacInTouch]

Superbowl Sunday - Seahawks style
Sunday, February 5, 2006, 7:41 PM

I am not the football fan that I was in my teens, or even in my 20s when I worked as a sports editor at a nearby newspaper for more than four years, but today I will be glued to the TV to watch the Superbowl. I'm still pinching myself in disbelief that the Seattle Seahawks are in the big game.

One advantage of watching the Superbowl with my local team in the game as a nearly 39-year-old, as opposed to when I was in my teens or 20s, is that I know the relative insignificance of a win or loss. Sure, people in Seattle will live and die over the result, but in five years few people outside of Seattle and Pittsburgh will even remember who won. So I take the game as it should be taken - as an entertainment for the day. Hopefully it isn't a blowout either way, and hopefully there will be some standout performances to remember.

I'll enjoy taking a few hours off from finishing the Washington Disasters book, and I'll be hoping for a Seahawks win. Go Hawks!

Update: Well, the Steelers made the big plays and benefited from some odd calls from the officials in their 21-10 win. Good for them. This time the Seahawks will have to settle for making it to the Superbowl...

MacCentral reviews iWeb, finds it lacking for savvy users
Thursday, February 2, 2006, 11:36 AM

Review: iWeb 1.0 - Thanks to its integration with the rest of the iLife suite, Apple's first stab at a consumer-based Web publishing app makes it easy to add audio, video, and still photographs to a Web site. But while iWeb is ideal for novices, people with more experience will probably find it limiting. [MacCentral]

Tim Bray on protecting your data
Thursday, February 2, 2006, 11:31 AM

Tim Bray offers some common sense tips for making sure you don't lose critical files when your computer's hard drive crashes: Protecting your data.

I really like his four-part mantra for creating backups:

Don't use proprietary file formats
Don't erase anything
Store everything twice
Do occassional ad-hoc and regular full backups

NeoOffice 1.2 update available
Thursday, February 2, 2006, 11:17 AM

Update: NeoOffice 1.2 - The open source Mac OS X-native version of the OpenOffice.org office suite adds the ability to import OpenOffice.org 2.0 documents, use of Apple's Java 1.4.1 and Cocoa APIs, support for printing EPS images, and other changes. [MacInTouch]