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Fri, 30 Aug 2002

A week with 10.2

Here are some of my experiences & observations, both good and bad, after a week with Jaguar as my primary OS.

One week ago, I installed 10.2 as the main OS on the machine I use daily, a G4/500/AGP minitower. I did an "Archive & Install" without preserving settings and manually restored the contents of my home folder & my applications. I also reinstalled Kensington MouseWorks & Default Folder 1.6, two of the utilities I consider essential.



I immediately noticed much better overall performance.



The first problem I noticed is that DragThing 4.3.1 quits when launched at startup, although I can launch it manually without a crash. I reported this to the author, who told me he found & fixed the problem and will release an update soon.



The real trouble started after installing FaxSTF 10.0.8. Print Center now crashes when I click Add Printer. Even after removing all parts of FaxSTF, the problem still occurs.



On the plus side, I really like the new address book, Mail, and iChat. Mail.app is the first really good IMAP implementation I've seen - Eudora's IMAP implementation is pretty awful and Entourage is slightly better. With Mail I can easily access my mail from either my G4 or my iBook.



Printer sharing is wonderful - I can now print wirelessly from my iBook to the Canon S600 connected to my G4.



I found that I had to re-create all of my projects when I switched to the new version of ProjectBuilder. My old projects gave link errors for standard C++ library functions such as dynamic_cast even though all of the proper libraries were included. Creating a new project and adding all of the same source files, libraries, & frameworks, and entering all of the same settings fixed the problem.



Overall, I find it a very nice upgrade with some really useful features, however it's much less stable than 10.1.5.

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Thu, 29 Aug 2002

Rendezvous going Open Source

Apple Computer Inc. has announced that it will release the source code for Rendezvous to the open source community in early September. Rendezvous is Apple's implementation of the ZeroConf standard documented by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the group responsible for defining Internet standards.





The technology, which is built Mac OS X 10.2, can be used to simplify network printing, file sharing and other communications tasks. Apple uses Rendezvous iChat to allow people to see a list of other people on their local computer network who they might want to chat with. Apple has also pledged to add the technology by early next year to iTunes, which will allow Mac owners to stream music files stored on other Macs on the same network (which will fit in very nicely with the idea of an all-Mac networked home).



By releasing the code to the open-source community, Apple is hoping that the technology will find its way into other peripherals and devices, thereby making Rendezvous-equipped Macs more useful



First documented in the late 1990s by the IETF and sponsored by Apple, Rendezvous is a zero configuration technology that brings together Internet IP standards and LAN networks. Using Rendezvous, devices such as printers can be seen on a network with no setup from the end user.



Rendezvous, Darwin 6.0, and OpenDirectory (including LDAPv3 support) will be available from Apple's open source Web site in early September.



More information about Rendezvous is available here.

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The Mac Home

From Herbie Hancock's Interview:



"Something else needs to happen for the computer to become the center of the living room," he adds. “I think things like the Xserve will give you the possibility of having your server in the stereo component rack. All of the sudden, you could have your server streaming audio and video, making it possible to pipe audio and video through the whole house. That’s how I see people configuring a computer into the entertainment system in the future.



I think Apple is closer to the wired home than anyone else, and a home server would be a logical next step.



A home version of the XServe would act as an Airport base station & router for your cable modem or DSL service, a stereo & video component, a file server, and will manage user accounts on all of your other Macs using Netinfo, and provide file synchronization services for all of your Macs, PDAs, iPods, and other devices.



All of this can be done now with existing software & components. Apple just needs to put it all together in a nice package. This is what the "hub of your digital lifestyle" should be.

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Apple interview with Herbie Hancock

Since he pioneered Jazz/Fusion with his 1973 album Headhunters, Herbie has always used the latest technology while remaining true to his jazz roots. He was also an early Apple user from the days of the Apple II and Lisa.



His new album, "The Future 2 Future" is Hancock’s first visit to the genres of house music, acid jazz and trip hop ambient music and reinterpreting that music with the assistance of producer Bill Laswell.

“Music happens to be an art form that transcends language,” says the award-winning pianist, composer, producer, performer and constant pioneer of new music technology. “In many ways, musicians have been using the arts to improve cultural and political relationships throughout the world and to help dissolve the boundaries that divide the various peoples of the planet.



“When synthesizers came along, it was the first time I thought that the two things I loved, which were science and music, could be put together,” says Hancock. “So, with digital technology, I was the first one out of the gate, trying to put things together that weren’t made to be put together.”



More than 40 years after first being discovered, Hancock still strives to catch his listeners off guard and expand the vision of what music is all about. His most recent adventure was to give his audiences a surround-sound concert experience, running a Mac network of virtual instruments.



His studio equipment includes 12 Macs, ranging from Power Macs, iBooks, PowerBooks and iMacs.



You can read the full interview here.

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Wed, 28 Aug 2002

Oracle Developers Release for 10.2

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., Aug. 26, 2002 -

Oracle today announced the

immediate availability of the Oracle9i Database Release 2 Developers

Release on Mac OS X version 10.2 "Jaguar," Apple's UNIX-based operating

system, as part of an early access program for the Oracle and Apple

developer community.

The software download is immediately available

free-of-charge to all registered Oracle Technology Network members. With

this release, Apple developers can build applications that leverage

Oracle's leading database technology running on Xserve, Apple's powerful

new rack-mount server.



Oracle's latest installment, Oracle9i Database Release 2, offers new high

availability, business intelligence and XML features, as well as numerous

performance and manageability improvements.



MacMegasite Spin: This is the first real industrial strength database for Mac OS X, and will benefit Apple's reputation as a serious Unix platform vendor.



Oracle's Mac support was spotty in the past, but it looks like they're taking it seriously this time.

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Tue, 27 Aug 2002

Easily transfer files in 10.2

Jaguar provides a quick & easy way to transfer files between two computers on a local network without using file sharing.

In iChat, go to preferences and make sure "enable local network messaging" is checked. All machines set up that way on your local network will appear in iChat's Rendezvous window.



You can simply drag a file to any user in the Rendezvous window to send the file to that machine. It isn't necessary for that user to have file sharing turned on and you don't have to connect to the other machine.

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PocketBackup 1.12 Released!

PocketBackup 1.12 has been released and is available for download. PocketBackup 1.12 updates the backup management system, improves reliability, and fixes a number of bugs.





PocketBackup is an easy to use, reliable, and affordable personal backup system.

PocketBackup has the following features:





• Simple three step backup process. One, select files to backup. Two, select a backup destination drive. Three, click on the "Backup" button.


• Backups are saved to Mac standard disk images (dmg) or burned to standard CDs.


• Auto mounting of AppleTalk and Network Drives.


• Timed backups.


• Records and tracks previously made backups.


• Available in English, French, and German.


• Affordable. PocketBackup only costs $20.00 (US).





This update is free to all registered users. A free 30-day trial version of PocketBackup can be downloaded at: http://www.pocketsw.com/PocketBackup.html.







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Systeris 0.9b5 for Macintosh Released

PALM BEACH, FL - Aug. 27, 2002 -- Rampell Software, LLC has released the

first public beta of Systeris Remote for Macintosh. Systeris Remote allows

users to remotely access and control Microsoft Entourage, Microsoft

Outlook, iTunes, and even AppleScript, all via a standard web browser.



With Systeris Remote installed on a user's home computer, the same user can

remotely access all of the Entourage/Outlook Express data on that computer

from anywhere in the world. Using any web browser on any platform, a user

can check appointments, read and send e-mails, look up phone numbers,

review tasks---anything that can be done with Entourage or Outlook Express.

For instance, a message sent from a web browser connected to Systeris

Remote will actually be sent via Entourage/Outlook Express, and the message

will be saved to the Sent Items folder. Systeris Remote also provides

access to iTunes, and supports the execution of custom AppleScripts through

its web interface. Systeris Remote is different from most "webmail" systems

in that it allows users to access data on their own personal computers, and

is a full remote control for Entourage and Outlook Express.



Once Systeris Remote is installed on a user's computer, a user may access

his data through Systeris Remote by entering his computer's IP address,

along with username and password, into a web browser, or by using a service

called Systeris.com. Instead of remembering an IP address, a user can login

to http://www.systeris.com with his username and password, and will

automatically be forwarded to his computer's current IP address. This is

especially useful for computers with "dynamic" IP addresses.



Systeris Remote requires Mac OS 10.1 or higher; a broadband internet

connection is recommended for optimal speed but is not necessary. A 10-day

trial version of Systeris Remote (including Systeris.com) is available at

Rampell Software's website. The full version of

Systeris Remote can be purchased for $22 US, and includes 6 months of free

access to Systeris.com.



Rampell Software, LLC is located in Palm Beach, FL, and develops

productivity software---software that automates repetitive tasks and fixes

annoying problems present in computer use. Featured in numerous

publications, including Forbes, BusinessWeek, and the New York Times,

Rampell Software has hundreds of thousands of loyal users in over 40

countries. For additional information on Rampell Software or its products,

please visit http://www.rampellsoft.com or call 561-628-5102.

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Mon, 26 Aug 2002

Jaguar breaks sales record with over 100k sold

CUPERTINO, California—August 27, 2002—Apple∆ today announced that more than 100,000 copies of Mac∆ OS X version 10.2 “Jaguar” were sold worldwide during its first weekend, setting a new record for Mac OS sales for a single weekend. More than 50,000 people visited Apple’s 35 retail stores during Friday night’s “100 Minutes of Jaguar” launch event.



“Jaguar is our fastest out-of-the-gate OS release ever, and it’s looking like a home run,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “The reviews are off the charts, and customers are raving about Jaguar’s stability, speed, new features and Windows compatibility.”



With more than 150 amazing new features and applications, “Jaguar” includes a new Mail application designed to eliminate junk mail, iChat AIM-compatible instant messenger, a system-wide Address Book, Inkwell handwriting recognition, QuickTime∆ 6 with MPEG-4, improved Universal Access, an enhanced Finder™, Sherlock∆ 3 with Internet Services, Quartz™ Extreme graphics acceleration technology and Rendezvous™ Apple’s revolutionary networking technology.

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BasePlant 2.0 set to resurrect PowerPlant

ROSEMERE, Canada - August 26, 2002. Cafederic is proud to announce the

release of BasePlant 2.0, a collection of more than 300 classes to enhance

PowerPlant™,

the flagship framework from

Metrowerks.



Among the new features for this release, you will see:





  • Assistants


  • Full sheet support


  • Custom toolbars (like in Mac OS X Finder) and custom floating toolbars


  • Color Picker support with live updates


  • Preferences dialog with one line of code (at least in most cases)


  • Web resource checker (e.g. for software updates)


  • New helpers for easy drag and drop support


  • Generic shortcut keys editor dialog (something like the one of

    CodeWarrior)


  • New panes and controls


  • Live dragging of windows (both Mac OS 9 and X) with snapping for tool

    window (like the ones from Adobe and Macromedia software)


  • Display Manager and Mac OS X Dock aware


  • Layout management of window positions and size relative to each others

    and the screen resolution


  • Carbon event loop timer






"If you are like me, you probably feel that Metrowerks has stopped to innovate with

their framework a few years ago", says śric Forget, owner of Cafederic.

"BasePlant doesn't just try to keep PowerPlant alive, it gives new energy to it!"





The list of BasePlant's attributes is too long for a press release, but

some of its other key features include:





  • Data Browser


  • Folder Parser


  • AppleScript


  • AppleEvents Wrapper


  • Preferences Manager (global and/or per document)


  • Starting Point to manage multiple types of document applications


  • Window Enhancements






plus a whole lot more.



Price



$149 For commercial, in-house development





$35 For personal* freeware and shareware





* Not affiliated with a company in any way.



Availability



BasePlant is available right now from the

Cafederic web site.



About Cafederic



Cafederic began about eight years ago to enhance PowerPlant while developing

true applications. Its talented developers are dedicated to boosting Mac∆

OS development through the creation of innovative and powerful tools.

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Mozilla 1.1 Released

The final version of Mozilla 1.1 has been released, with many perfomance enhancements & bug releases.

The improvements in the Mac version include support for MathML (which was already supported in Windows & Linux), Quartz rendering, and Java fixes for Mac OS X 10.2.



You can download it here.

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CodeWarrior 8.2 Update

MetroWerks has released a patch for CodeWarrior 8, which is required for use with Mac OS X 10.2.

The CodeWarrior Development Tools for Mac OS, v8.2 update is a maintenance release of MSL, Debugger, Java RAD, Support folders, Stationery, Targeting Mac OS documentation, and Compilers and Command Line Tools. The 8.2 update is necessary for working on Mac OS X 10.2. This update should only be applied to a CodeWarrior Development Tools For Mac OS, v8.0 or v8.1 installation.



The patch can be downloaded here.

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Update on server problems

BounceWeb is still suffering DOS attacks. However, I'm now running the database on a separate server, which will avoid the problems with BounceWeb's MySQL server.

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Sun, 25 Aug 2002

Usability of Mail.app in 10.2

Jaguar's Mail is one of the cleanest mail clients I've ever seen and has some great new features. I'm now attempting to use it as my standard mail client. Here are some of my tips & observations, plus a way to use it with Eudora for mail archiving.

Using Eudora Mailbox Cleaner, it's very easy to import mailboxes & filters from Eudora. Mail.app also has built-in importers for many other email clients.







The first thing I noticed is that Mail.app is extremely slow when dealing with mailboxes containing many messages. My archive of the carbon development & open transport lists from this year is over 6000 messages, and it took mail.app about 15 seconds to display the message list on my G4/500. It took several minutes to index all of the messages in that folder.







Almost every popular email client, including Eudora, Entourage, and PowerMail, provides a very easy way to create a filter or rule based on the currently selected message. In Mail.app, you have to open the preferences window, and it doesn't automatically fill in any fields from the selected message. If you have your mail filtered to different mailboxes, the new message indicator in the dock will only show messages left in the inbox, if any. Furthermore, if you're using IMAP, any messages filtered into a different folder will be removed from the server immediately.







Mail.app is very nicely integrated with iChat & Jaguar's address book. If a contact is in your addressbook and has an AIM address, you'll see that person's online status.







There doesn't seem to be any easy way to export from Mail.app to another email client. Although Mail.app supposedly uses the same standard MBOX format that Eudora uses, Eudora won't recognize Mail's mailboxes.







I eventually came up with a good strategy for using Mail.app as my standard mail client. I've set up my accounts as IMAP when possible, so I can access my mail from either my G4 or my iBook. I have my filters only change color, flag messages, and play different alert sounds rather than moving mail to different folders to avoid having them deleted from the server (If I filter them to folders on the server, other email applications using POP3 won't download those messages). When my mailboxes get too big, I run Eudora to download all of my mail and delete it from the server, and I continue to use Eudora to archive my email.



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Sat, 24 Aug 2002

Jaguar Release Party

I just got back from the Jaguar release party at MacCenter in Ft. Lauderdale. I've posted some pictures here.





Apple's .Mac product manager, Don Ice, was there to give demos and raffle off free .Mac memberships. The store gave continuous demos of various Jaguar features and announced their new training services. Refreshments were offered by Gold Coast Mac users group.







I also got to try out Inkwell with a Graphire 2 tablet. Although I'm a former Newton user and had very good results with the handwriting recognition, I couldn't get Inkwell's recognition to work during my very brief trial.

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Fri, 23 Aug 2002

Security Update for Jaguar

Security Update 2002-08-23 is now available. This applies the fixes



already available in Security Update 2002-08-02 to the Mac OS X 10.2



(Jaguar) release. Security Update 2002-08-02 was designed for the Mac



OS X 10.1.5 release.

It contains fixes for recent vulnerabilities in:







Affected systems: Mac OS X client and Mac OS X Server







Note: Mac OS X client is configured by default to have these services



turned off, and is only vulnerable if the user has enabled network



services which rely on the affected components. It is still recommended



for Mac OS X client users to apply this security update to their system.







System requirements: Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar)







Security Update 2002-08-23 may be obtained from:







To help verify the integrity of Security Update 2002-08-23 from the



Software Downloads web site:







The download file is titled: SecurityUpd2002-08-23.dmg




Its SHA-1 digest is: fccb3adb478f90650f4484534a79a80bba5f94f3







Information will also be posted to the Apple Product Security web site:



http://www.apple.com/support/security/security_updates.html



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Turn off graphics in Eudora

Eudora provides a way to turn off automatic loading of graphics for greater speed and privacy.

Most email clients will automatically load all graphics in a message, and many spammers will note that the graphics have been accessed as confirmation that the mail was received and read.







To turn off loading of graphics, go to the preferences window, select the "fonts & display" panel, and turn off "Automatically download HTML graphics".















When you receive a message with graphics, you can manually load the images by double-clicking the message to open it in a new window and clicking the "load graphics" button to the right of the title.















Alternately, you can select the command "Open in Browser" from the file menu to display the email in your web browser.



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Thu, 22 Aug 2002

Archiving Email with Eudora

Eudora may not be the prettiest or most user-friendly email client, but it has a few very significant advantages: it can handle a large amount of email, since it uses plain text to store email it can't suffer database corruption, and it can search much faster than anything else.







Here's how you can take advantage of it for archiving your email.

I used Eudora Pro for many years, but after switching to MacOS X I started looking at other email clients & I eventually switched to MS Entourage X. I also looked at a lot of email archiving applications, mostly based on FileMaker Pro, and couldn't find one I liked.







After a database corruption scare and noticing that Entourage slowed down a lot when the database contains a huge amount of email, I switched back to Eudora a few months ago.







Using Eudora's fast search feature, you can archive email by date to a separate folder. To do this, bring up the search window (command-option-F), select "date is before" the earliest date you want to keep in your active mailboxes, hilight the folders you want to archive, and press the Search button.















In a few seconds you'll see the result list with all email in that date range. Type Command-A to select the entire result list, and using the transfer menu, transfer it to either a newly created mailbox or an existing mailbox.







You can then move that mailbox out of your Eudora folder, and when you want to use it select "Other..." from the mailbox folder to open it. Using the search window, you can easily find any message in the archive.







If you're using Entourage, you can export mailboxes to Eudora to take advantage of this capability by simply dragging them to the desktop.

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Wed, 21 Aug 2002

Server Problems

I apologize for the recent down time. BounceWeb has been suffering DOS attacks which affect all sites hosted there, including MacMegasite & WorldBeatPlanet.

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Tue, 20 Aug 2002

Apple Security Update 2002-08-20

Security Update 2002-08-20 includes updated components which provide increased security to prevent unauthorized access to applications, servers, and the operating system.





Updated components:







  • An enhanced version of the SecureTransport module to improve



    verification of certificates



  • OpenSSL 0.9.6e







Systems Affected: All versions of Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server







SecureTransport Description: In order to enhance certificate



verification, Mac OS X is now in full compliance with the Internet X.509



Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and CRL Profile (RFC2459). This



is a minor enhancement and there have been no reports of issues in the



current version.







OpenSSL Description: This update contains the full OpenSSL 0.9.6e



version. The previous release of OpenSSL in Security Update 2002-08-02



provided a rapid response patch to the existing version (0.9.6b).







Security Update 2002-08-20 may be obtained from:







To help verify the integrity of Security Update 2002-08-20 from the



Software Downloads web site:







The download file is titled: SecurityUpd2002-08-20.dmg




Its SHA-1 digest is: 07df0a8bf8def379b84b44894c559838b0065a5f








Information will also be posted to the Apple Product Security web site:



http://www.apple.com/support/security/security_updates.html



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Unsanity LLC Releases Application Enhancer 1.0

Unsanity LLC announces the release of Application Enhancer 1.0. The Application Enhancer system allows you to enhance or redefine certain behaviors for applications running on your system. It does this by providing a way for third-party Enhancer modules to modify how your applications work.

Application Enhancer is a system which allows for 3rd party modules to modify and enhance the way applications behave and operate. Application Enhancers work on an application level, therefore they do not affect the stability of the underlying system. The technology behind Application Enhancer system has been in research and development for more than 1.5 years now, and many Unsanity haxies (including WindowShade X, FruitMenu, Silk and others) are now using it.







Application Enhancer 1.0 is available for download at:http://download.unsanity.com/ape-10.dmg.sit







The Application Enhancer system is free of charge, but each module is subject to the terms set by the developer. For more information on Application Enhancer, please visit:http://www.unsanity.com/haxies/ape/







Unsanity also announces the Application Enhancer SDK 1.0.







Product Description:




The APE SDK provides all the facilities for 3rd party developers to start creating Application Enhancer modules.







Application Enhancer SDK includes:







  • ApplicationEnhancer.framework containing everything you need to start developing APE modules.



  • Interapplication and intermodule communication facilities.



  • Application Enhancer client auto-installing facilities.



  • Objective-C method and C/C++ function trapping facilities.



  • Free technical support. (limited)



  • Example modules with source code.



  • Free spot in the APE modules directory on Application Enhancer page.



  • Marketing opportunities for APE modules.







Licensing terms:







Please e-mail Unsanity about the details of APE SDK licensing.







More information about the Application Enhancer SDK can be found at:http://www.unsanity.com/haxies/ape/sdk/







Unsanity LLC is the creator of other popular haxies such as WindowShade X, Xounds, Dock Detox, Silk, Cee Pee You, and ShadowKiller. Unsanity is dedicated to providing quality software for the Macintosh community.

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Apple wins 2002 Primetime Emmy for Final Cut Pro 3

Apple will be awarded the PrimeTime Emmy Engineering Award for 2002 for Final Cut Pro 3 and the wide spread use of FireWire technology.

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Mon, 19 Aug 2002

New Power Mac G4 Servers coming soon

The Apple Store online lists new Power Mac G4 servers (Mirrored Drive Doors) as coming soon. They were marked as end of life last week before the new Power Mac G4s arrived.

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Apple & Moby on the Area2 Tour

Here is a site with a QuickTime slide show of some pictures taken at the Area2 Moby tour with Apple:http://homepage.mac.com/vendorqueen/iMovieTheater2.html

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PGP 8 announced for Mac OS X

After being dumped by Network Associates and languishing for almost a year, PGP is back and a Mac OS X version will be available later this year.

PGP Corporation is a new company formed to support and develop PGP products, including PGP Desktop for Macintosh & Windows.







PGP 8.0 for Macintosh OS X: PGP Mail and PGP Disk brings full Mac OS X support to the PGP product line. An all-new version of PGP Disk allows compatibility with PGP disks created on Windows, AES algorithm support, and compatibility with older Mac OS 9 PGP disks. PGP Mail for Mac OS X directly integrates with Apple√s mail application as well as providing support for Microsoft√s Entourage.







CTO Jon Callas states "We will publish source code. This is very important to us. It's very important to our investors, too. They understand that one of the main reasons people trust PGP is that its source is available. Our forthcoming source release will be for PGP 8."







"We also believe in the OpenPGP protocols and standards. We actively support the IETF as well as other organizations that help spread the use of the technology."







"There will also be a freeware release of PGP 8. As always, you'll be able to use PGP free for non-commercial use. However, if you use PGP for commercial purposes -- which means that you're using it for something that makes you money -- then please buy it."



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Fri, 16 Aug 2002

REAL Software announces Cubie winners

REAL Software's Cubie awards recognize the contributions their users have made to the industry



by promoting the excellence of what they have produced with REALbasic.

They accepted nominations from anyone, but no REAL Software employee ormember of their family is eligible. The only other requirement is that theproducts be Premier partners in the Made with REALbasic program. Winnerswill receive TWO free upgrades to REALbasic, support in publishing theproduct (if desired), free publicity, the admiration and envy of theirpeers, and other prizes to be announced.

The entries will be judged on quality, fitness to the task (fun game?useful utility?), polish, verve, and brio.

Each winner in the categories (past categories have included: Advocate ofthe Year, Cross-Platform, Developer Tool, Game, Internet, Mac OS X,Utility, Overall, and Business) will receive prizes. The categories changebased on the entries received.

The Swag:
TWO free upgrades to REALbasic, Professional edition!

2002 Winners:

Advocate of the Year:
Erick Tejkowski There's a special category for the REALbasic advocate of the year, thatperson who has done the most for the community, and helped make REALbasicknown everywhere as the truly great tool that it is.

Business:
Barcode Producer by Intelli Innovations, Inc.The best tool for conducting some sort of commercial activity, whether it isa traditional business application or a tool for creating stuff that makesmoney for the user.

Cross-platform:
Quick Pallet Maker 2 by SCA MecanicaThe best example of an application that embraces Macintosh, Mac OS X, andWindows.

REALbasic development aid:
UniHelp by Electric ButterflyThis includes plug-ins, classes, modules, frameworks, pre- andpost-processors, anything that helps some REALbasic developer get the jobdone.

Education:
A-OK! The Wings of Mercury by You Are Go!Software for learning (something useful, ideally).

Enterprise:
Visual 3270 by Trizen SystemsEnterprise software. Big iron, mainframes, legacy systems -- crucial toolsfor getting big business done.

Internet:
AthenaIRC by ChiperSoft SystemsBest tool for the Internet. This could be anything useful in that ratherlarge arena, from a server tool, to a decoder, player, testing tool. If ituses IP (or its cousins) or some known protocol or format, it's in!

Mac OS X:
MediaEdit by Mien SoftwareThe best application for Mac OS X. It need not fall into any particularcategory, and can also support the classic Mac OS (and heck, Windows too).

Multimedia:
Baytex Party! by BaytexThat best application for the audio, visual, wave of the future.

Utility:
PrefsOverload 4.1.2 by Zik's Software andPassenger by MacinMind SoftwareThe best application that does something useful. This too is intentionallybroad! All it has to do is crank out the utiles, and we will be all over it.



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Wed, 14 Aug 2002

HRC Gives Apple a perfect score

The Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group dedicated to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues, has announced the results of its first Corporate Equality Index, which rates large corporations on the basis of policies that affect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees. Apple is one of 13 companies that earned a perfect score.

"The HRC Corporate Equality Index is a tool that can help fair-minded Americans decide what products to buy, where to work and how to invest," said Elizabeth Birch, HRC's executive director. "At the same time, we hope the index inspires those companies that fell short to take the next step and change their policies, not merely to improve their scores but because fairness is good for business."







The 13 companies that scored 100 percent are: Aetna Inc.; AMR Corp./American Airlines; Apple Computer Inc.; Avaya Inc.; Eastman Kodak Co.; Intel Corp.; J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.; Lucent Technologies Inc.; NCR Corp.; Nike Inc.; Replacements Ltd.; Worldspan L.P.; and Xerox Corp.







"While many of these companies have had a long commitment to gay and lesbian employees, most achieved a perfect score after adding gender identity to their non-discrimination policies," said HRC Education Director Kim I. Mills, who oversees HRC WorkNet, the organization's workplace advocacy project. "Eighty of the companies rated, or 25 percent, met every criterion of the index except for having a gender identity non-discrimination policy. Those companies received scores of 86 percent."







At the other end of the scale, three companies scored zero: CBRL Group Inc./Cracker Barrel; Emerson Electric Co.; and Lockheed Martin Corp. None of the three have any policies aimed at treating their GLBT employees fairly and all three have resisted shareholder resolutions urging them to include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies.







The 2002 HRC Corporate Equality Index rated 319 companies on a scale of 0 percent to 100 percent on seven factors, including whether they have a written non-discrimination policy covering sexual orientation; have a written non-discrimination policy covering gender identity and/or expression; offer health insurance coverage to their employees' same-sex domestic partners; and decline to engage in any activities that would undermine the goal of equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.







Almost all of the companies rated - 293, or 92 percent, - include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination polices. "This criterion was met more than any other measured by the index and is an indication that such policies are the foundation of a fair workplace and set the stage for other initiatives," said Daryl Herrschaft, associate director of HRC WorkNet.







Only 17 employers, or 5 percent include gender identity and/or expression in their non-discrimination statements.







The second most-common criterion met was health insurance benefits for employees' same-sex domestic partners. A total of 221 employers, or 69 percent of those rated, offer them. And 171 companies, or 54 percent, include sexual orientation in their diversity training.







The median score for all companies was 57 percent. Companies in several industry sectors consistently scored on the higher end of the scale. Banking and financial services received a median score of 71 percent; high-tech equipment manufacturers had a median score of 79 percent and consulting firms had a median score of 86 percent. In contrast, market sectors that scored consistently low were: engineering and construction (median score: 29 percent); food, beverage and grocery enterprises (median score: 43 percent) and retail and consumer products (median score: 43 percent).







The 319 rated companies were drawn from the 2002 Fortune 500; the 200 largest privately held companies from the 2001 Forbes Private 500; and, information collected by HRC WorkNet (the organization's workplace advocacy project) on other companies with at least 500 employees. The index was not applied to colleges and universities, government employers, non-profits or companies with fewer than 500 employees.







The entire report is available here.







Apple has always had a reputation for being one of the best companies to work for, and this confirms it.

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CodeTek Studios releases 1.4.1 update for CodeTek VirtualDesktop

CodeTek Studios, Inc. has released 1.4.1 of its virtual desktop software for Mac OS X. Considered to be the most powerful implementation of virtual desktops on any platform, version 1.4.1 brings numerous bug fixes and usability enhancements to the product.You can find the software at the company website and download it directly from here.Registration of the product costs $20.

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Tue, 13 Aug 2002

New dual processor G4s

Apple has announced a new series of dual processor G4 minitowers. The new systems feature much higher performance, with many features of the XServe architecture.





The new models feature dual G4 processors at 867MHz, 1GHz or 1.25GHz using the advanced system controller, DDR SDRAM, and L3 cache of XServe with two hard drive interfaces - one ATA/100 and one ATA/66. The dual 867MHz model features a 133MHz system bus, while the dual 1 and 1.25GHz models offer a 167MHz system bus.







The new case design features 4 hard drive bays, including space for two optical drives. The low-end model features a DVD/CD-RW combo drive, while the other models feature a DVD-R/CDRW SuperDrive. The dual 867MHz model features the NVIDIA GeForce4 MX graphics controller, while the other models feature ATI's new Radeon 9000 Pro. All models include four 33 MHz 64-bit PCI slots, an Airport slot, two FireWire & two USB ports, Gigabit Ethernet, audio in, headphone, and Apple Pro Speaker ports.







Here are the standard configurations:







Fast







  • $1699.00




  • Dual 867MHz PowerPC G4




  • 256K L2 cache




  • & 1MB L3 cache/processor




  • 133MHz System Bus




  • 256MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM




  • 60GB Ultra ATA drive




  • Combo drive (DVD/CD-RW)




  • NVIDIA GeForce4 MX




  • 56K internal modem












Faster







  • $2499.00




  • Dual 1GHz PowerPC G4




  • 256K L2 cache




  • & 1MB L3 cache/processor




  • 167MHz System Bus




  • 256MB PC2700 DDR SDRAM




  • 80GB Ultra ATA drive




  • SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)




  • ATI Radeon 9000 Pro




  • 56K internal modem












Fastest







  • $3299.00




  • Dual 1.25GHz PowerPC G4




  • 256K L2 cache




  • & 2MB L3 cache/processor




  • 167MHz System Bus




  • 512MB PC2700 DDR SDRAM




  • 120GB Ultra ATA drive




  • SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)




  • ATI Radeon 9000 Pro




  • 56K internal modem












Ultimate







  • $4999.00




  • Dual 1.25GHz PowerPC G4




  • 256K L2 cache




  • & 2MB L3 cache/processor




  • 167MHz System Bus




  • 2.0GB PC2700 DDR SDRAM




  • 120GB Ultra ATA drive




  • SuperDrive & Combo drive




  • NVIDIA GeForce4 Titanium




  • 56K internal modem








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Mon, 12 Aug 2002

Default Folder X 1.6 supports Jaguar, adds new features

Another significant update to Default Folder X is available. Default



Folder X 1.6 includes support for Mac OS X 10.2 ("Jaguar") and also adds



the much-requested "click on a Finder window" feature to OS X. You can now



display a folder in an Open or Save dialog by simply clicking on that



folder's window.





Version 1.6 also integrates with XRay and FileXaminer as well as Super Get



Info for expanded Get Info capabilities, improves compatibility with



AppleScript, QuickTime, OmniPage, and Ircle, and delivers numerous minor



improvements. A more complete list of changes is available at



http://www.stclairsoft.com/DefaultFolderX/release.html.







This update is free to users who have registered earlier versions of



Default Folder X, and we recommend that all users download the new version.



Existing users of Default Folder 3.x receive a $15 discount off the



regular $34.95 price.







For details about Default Folder X 1.6 and download links, go to: http://www.stclairsoft.com/DefaultFolderX/release.html.







Or you can download it directly using the following URL, which takes



advantage of St. Clair Software's servers as well as mirror servers set up



elsewhere.







http://www.stclairsoft.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi?DX







You may also retrieve Default Folder directly from one of the following



servers. Note that they may be busy during the wave of downloads following



this announcement, so you might have to try more than once.




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Wireless connection for older Macs

Do you have an older desktop Mac you want to add to an Airport network? Here's how I did it.

Although there are several Airport compatible PCI cards that will work in non-Airport compatible PowerBooks, there aren't too many options for older desktop Macs.







There's a SourceForge project to support PC cards, but no PCI drivers are available.







Luckily, Farallon & Cisco both support Macs with their wireless PCI Cards. After looking at both cards, I decided to get a Cisco Aironet 350 since it supports OS X and the Farallon SkyLAN card has problems with some older blue & white G3s such as the one I have.







It took less than 5 minutes to install the Aironet 350 card in my blue & white G3 and attach the antenna. The OS X software installed easily and their setup utility led me through the steps to configure the card quickly.







Once it's set up, the Aironet card appears as another Ethernet port in your Network system preference panel. You can even use the airport admin utility with it to configure your base station. The only thing I don't like is that it asks for my WEP password every time I start up instead of saving it in the keychain.







The Aironet 350 manual is available here, and you can download the drivers here.

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Sat, 10 Aug 2002

Dell no longer selling systems without Windows

Microsoft, which is NOT a monopoly, will no longer allow Dell to sell PCs without an operating system.







Note that this is the market Apple will have to compete in if they decide to build Intel-based boxes. I'm sure Microsoft will find a way to get Windows to run on any x86-based Macs & force a copy to be sold with each box.

Here is the email from Dell, reposted from SlashDot:







1. Effective 8/26 - New Microsoft contract rules stipulate that we can no longer offer the "NO OS" option to our customers beyond September 1st. As such all customers currently purchasing a "NO OS" option on either OptiPlex, Precison or Latitude for the express purpose of loading a non-MS OS will have the following options:







1. Purchase a Microsoft OS with each OptiPlex, Precision or Latitude system.







2. For OptiPlex and Precision - purchase one of the new "nSeries" products (offered for GX260, WS340 & WS530 - details in the attached FAQ) that are being created to address a different OS support requirement other than a current standard Microsoft OS.







We must have all "No OS" orders shipped out of the factory by September 1st. The "No OS" legend code and SKUs will be I-coded on 8/19 and D-coded on August 26th to ensure shipment of orders prior to September 1st. FYI - this effects all of our competitors as well.



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Thu, 08 Aug 2002

Jaguar Notes (Updated 9:50PM)

Here are a few more things I've noticed in Jaguar 6C115, which I'm now using as the primary OS on my iBook.





  • When you try to replace a file in the finder, the warning will now say "an older file named so-and-so already exists", rather than simply "a file named so-and-so already exists".







  • When you press command-option-escape to force quit an application, the names of any applications that aren't responding will be shown in red in the application list.







  • Hebrew & Arabic fonts are now available, although I'm not sure if right to left text is supported. In the international preference panel, character palette is available under the input menu. You can then show character palette from the keyboard menu to access all Unicode characters.







  • The Calculator has been enhanced, with paper tape, a new advanced mode, currency and unit conversions, and speech.







  • Windows servers now appear in the 'connect to server' window.




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Wed, 07 Aug 2002

Edsger Wybe Dijkstra: 1930-2002

Professor Edsger Wybe Dijkstra, one of the pioneers of computer science, died after a long struggle with cancer on August 6, 2002 at his home in Nuenen, the Netherlands.





Dijkstra was the 1972 recipient of the ACM Turing Award, often viewed as the Nobel Prize for computing. He is responsible for the idea of building operating systems as explicitly synchronized sequential processes, for the formal development of computer programs, and for the intellectual foundations for the disciplined control of nondeterminacy. He is well known for his amazingly efficient shortest path algorithm and for having designed and coded the first Algol 60 compiler. He is probably best known for a paper titled "Goto considered harmful".







You can read more about him here and read his entire collection of over 1300 written works at http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD.

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New paper describes Windows design flaw

According to a new paper published by a "white hat" hacker, Windows has a basic design flaw which makes it susceptible to a certain class of attacks.

This research was sparked by comments made by Microsoft VP Jim Allchin who stated, under oath, that there were flaws in Windows so great that they would threaten national security if the Windows source code were to be disclosed. He mentioned Message Queueing, and immediately regretted it.







Applications within Windows are entirely controlled through the use of messages. When a key is pressed, a message is sent to the current active window which states that a key was pressed. When Windows decides that an application needs to redraw its client area, it send a message to the application. In fact, when any event takes place that an application needs to know about, it is sent a message. These messages are placed into a queue, and are processed in order by the application.







This is a very reliable mechanism for controlling applications. However, on Win32 the mechanism for controlling these messages is flawed. Any application on a given desktop can send a message to any window on the same desktop, regardless of whether or not that window is owned by the sending application, and regardless of whether the target application wants to receive those messages. There is no mechanism for authenticating the source of a message; a message sent from a malicious application is indistinguishable from a message sent by the Windows kernel. It is this lack of authentication that can be used to manipulate windows and the processes that own them.







The full paper is available here.

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Mon, 05 Aug 2002

Apple moving to Intel?

Recently many analysts have predicted that Apple will switch to x86 in 2-4 years. I seriously doubt it, and here's my two cents worth on this story.

All of the predictions are based on one off-the-cuff remark by Steve Jobs: "we like to have options".







Although Apple has already made a successful transition from 680x0 to PowerPC, they were able to do it because it didn't break existing software. The PowerPC chips are fast enough to emulate a 68040 at a reasonable speed, so Mac users were able to continue to run their old software, even if the original developer is no longer providing updates.







However, even the fastest x86 CPUs aren't capable of emulating a more complex chip such as a PowerPC at a usable speed, which means Apple wouldn't be able to emulate PPC systems and all older software will break. Developers will have to recompile all of their products to run on x86 CPUs, which will split the Mac software market into two incompatible camps. Users of new x86-based Macs will no longer be able to run any of their old software, and users of older Macs won't be able to run any new x86-based Mac software.







This would also make Apple just another manufacturer of Intel boxes, and unless Macs use a lot of proprietary hardware, people would be able to run Mac OS X on any Intel box, which would destroy Apple's hardware sales. Conversely, people would also be able to run Windows on their x86-based Macs, which would also hurt Mac OS software sales if most Mac users elected to go with a more mainstream OS. Both of these issues would lead to the eventual death of Apple.







Alternately, if Apple ever did port Mac OS X to Intel CPUs, they might as well get out of the hardware business, since other manufacturers are able to build boxes faster, cheaper, and in larger quantities than Apple does.







I think it's more likely that Apple will switch to IBM manufactured PowerPC G5 chips and perhaps drop Motorola as a development partner, since IBM has consistently achieved higher clock speeds.







If Apple does port Mac OS X to Intel CPUs, it will most likely be a server platform for their next generation XServe product rather than for desktop systems, since application compatibility is less critical.

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Fri, 02 Aug 2002

Apple Security Update 2002-08-02

Security Update 2002-08-02 is now available. It contains fixes for recently discovered vulnerabilities.





Affected systems: Mac OS X client and Mac OS X Server







Note: Mac OS X client is configured by default to have these services turned



off, and is only vulnerable if the user has enabled network services which rely



on the affected components. It is still recommended for Mac OS X client users



to apply this security update to their system.







System requirements: Mac OS X 10.1.5







Security Update 2002-08-02 may be obtained from:







To help verify the integrity of Security Update 2002-08-02 from the



Software Downloads web site:







The download file is titled: SecurityUpd2002-08-02.dmg




Its SHA-1 digest is: 54f6eebe0398181db8f1129403bc5e184e3b7367







Information will also be posted to the Apple Product Security web site:



http://www.apple.com/support/security/security_updates.html



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Jaguar 6C115 Screenshots

Here are a few of the less obvious features of Jaguar 6C115.





There are several new items in the Utilities folder, including Audio MIDI Setup, Bluetooth File Exchange, Directory Access, and ODBC Administrator. If you install the Asian font extras, there's also a TrueType font editor.







The DVD Player application has been updated to 3.2. I haven't tried playing a DVD with it yet, but the most noticeable change is that the preferences window has been rearranged.







The Finder's "Get Info" window has been redesigned. It now uses disclosure triangles instead of separate panels. You can now have more than one get info window open at the same time.




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Jaguar 6C115 & a closer look at Mail.app

Jaguar 6C115 has been seeded to developers. This is a final release candidate, not the golden master (GM). I was able to install it as an upgrade over 6C106 on my iBook without any problems.

There are many bug fixes but few visible changes in this version. One notable fix is that it now automatically connects to an airport network when it wakes up. With 6C106 I had to select my network from the Airport menu icon whenever I woke my iBook.







I've been taking a closer look at mail and I've noticed a few more things I've missed. There's now an address history window, which shows recent email addresses that mail was sent to. You can easily add any of those addresses to the address book.







There's also a nice address window which lists all of the entries in the system address book.







One feature I really miss in Mail.app is an easy way to create filters. With Entourage, you can control-click on a message to create a mailing list rule. In Eudora, the Special menu has a "Make Filter" command which lets you easily create a filter for the selected message. However, in Mail.app, unless I'm missing something, the only way to create a rule is by opening the preferences window, and there's no easy way to copy attributes from the currently selected message.







Overall, 6C115 looks very stable, and I'm confident Apple will ship a stable, reliable operating system on schedule. A few developers have supposedly received 6C116, so this may not be the last release we see before ship date.

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Thu, 01 Aug 2002

DragThing 4.3.1 is Jaguar compatible

DragThing 4.3.1, with several fixes including Jaguar compatibility, has been released as a free update for registered DragThing owners.





  • Various fixes for Mac OS X 10.2 "Jaguar".



  • Fixed problem with DragThing not opening when renamed.



  • Fixed problem with docks in fullscreen applications.



  • Fixed problem loading Unicode names for colour and texture sets.



  • Fixed problem opening the Finder on Mac OS 9.



  • Fixed some scripting problems with the "Disk Dock" visible.



  • Removed warning when Finder not running on Mac OS X.



  • Various optimisations and speed improvements.



The major issue I found in Jaguar is that if I used the setting "Use Appearance Tabs", no titles appeared in the tabs.







DragThing is the best application launcher available for the Mac, and one of the utilities I consider essential. For more information or to download a copy visit dragthing.com.

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New forum topic: Cable vs. DSL

I switched from DSL to cable modem a few days ago, after a few months of steadily deteriorating service. If you're using broadband or are considering switching, share your experiences or post questions here.

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