Info Manager

Info Manager for October 27, 2003

[*]   Intel, Sony to Bring Music, Video to Cell Phones

[*]   Dell shows of new handheld line

[*]   Pushing Wi-Fi through the speed barrier

[*]   Microsoft automates Wi-Fi network setup

[*]   SunnComm Threatened to Sue Princeton Student for $10M

[*]   Trash Your Desktop

[*]   Apple Financials Beat Expectations

[*]   Massachusetts looks beyond Microsoft

[*]   Is the Yucca Nuke Dump All Wet?

[*]   Connect your Pocket PC to your Mac

[*]   The Illustrated Guide to Breaking Computers

[*]   Microsoft up to old tricks?

[*]   New iBooks

[*]   An airbag for your laptop?

[*]   Grid computering

[*]   "Dell cluster costs 30x more than Apple's"

[*]   How NOT to Get Sued by the RIAA

[*]   Cheap gas prices

[*]   Quotes: Lord Chandos and Mark Twain

 

Intel, Sony to Bring Music, Video to Cell Phones

According to Reuters, Intel and Sony are planning on optimizing Sony's content to run on Intel chips used in cell phones and PDAs. I believe that only Windows based hand helds are the only ones to use Intel chips. But it is interesting to see Sony get into this part of the development effort. Sony used to work regularly with Apple, but we haven't see that kind of cooperation in a while. Full story at: Reuters.com

Dell shows of new handheld line

Dell has announced its new Axim X3 line of handheld computers, which includes a model with Wi-Fi. The new products are touted as slimmer, lighter handhelds and are priced to compete with Palm and HP. Full story at: news.yahoo.com

Pushing Wi-Fi through the speed barrier

In a newsletter I get called BluePrint Wi-Fi, it talks about getting faster Wi-Fi service. According to the article, the 100Mbps barrier has already been be broken, at least in theory. It appears to be on the way. Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) technology is being showcased by Toshiba at ITU, and Intel wants it not only in 802.11n, but in WiMAX, UWB and even cellular. (WiMAX has a 30 mile range and is backward compatible to Wi-Fi. UWB stands for Ultra Wide Band. Don't know much about it, yet.) Blueprint is aimed mostly at the professional in the wireless industry, you can subscribe at: arcchart.com

Microsoft automates Wi-Fi network setup

T-Mobile plans to use Microsoft technology on their network to help their customers with Windows XP to easily connect with good security. It is good that Microsoft is getting on the band wagon. I have seen articles that forecast that all cell phones being sold 4 or 5 years from now will include Wi-Fi access. Read this story at: computerworld.com

SunnComm Threatened to Sue Princeton Student for $10M

Merely because he revealed that the shift key will defeat their copy protection on MediaMax CDs. According to an article in The Register, SunComm has threatened to sue Alex Halderman, a PHD candidate at Princeton, for revealing that the Windows autorun facility doesn't run if you hold down the shift key when inserting a CD.
      A later story says that the company backed down. But can you imagine the discussion in the legal department? How much money did SunComm spend to "protect" their CDs. Really strange. The Register has coverage here, and here.

Trash Your Desktop

The founder of Lotus Development, Mitch Kapor has a new project. His Open Source Applications Foundation is trying to replace the desktop metaphor with a new graphical interface. Read this story at MIT Technology Review

Apple Financials Beat Expectations

Thanks to new products, Apple's finances were better than expected. They had a net income of $44 million compared to a net loss of $45 million last year for the quarter. During this quarter, Apple introduced the G5, new PowerBooks and new iPods. For the current quarter, Apple's CFO Fred Anderson predicted an increase in revenue to about $1.9 billion along with a slight sequential increase in earnings. That would put sales at its best level in years. Full story at: zdnet.com

Massachusetts looks beyond Microsoft

The Associated Press reported that the Massachusetts Administration and Finance Secretary Eric Kriss has instructed the state's CTO to adopt a policy favoring open source technology. So that means they will be seriously considering Linux and Unix machines.
      The article mentions that Federal agencies in France, China and Germany, as well as the city government of Munich, have opted for Linux. And that Britain, Brazil and Russia are also considering it. (Sorry, no link for this one)

Is the Yucca Nuke Dump All Wet?

The MIT Enterprise Technology Review also has an scary article with the above title that has nothing to do with computers, but has something to do with the quality of life in the U.S. for future generations. It is on the stability of the Yucca site that has been designated for nuclear waste. Read this story at: technologyreview.com

Connect your Pocket PC to your Mac

Now we have software available to make it easy to sync a Pocket PC with a Mac it is called PocketMac. Full details at: pocketmac.net

The Illustrated Guide to Breaking Computers

Here you learn how to defrag a hard drive with a hack saw or take a hammer to your monitor. OUCH!! Guess that is one way to make sure your computer doesn't freeze. Just destroy it

Microsoft up to old tricks?

The San Jose Mercury News last week, ran an editorial called "The Old Smell of Microsoft" It says that the DOJ is concerned that MS is not living up to the terms of its agreement. The DOJ says that, in some cases, Microsoft is still unfairly favoring its Internet browser, even when users have indicated a preference for a rival browser. That would violate the settlement. (The InfoManager isn't surprised.) Editorial is at the San Jose Mercury

New iBooks

Apple introduced new iBooks last week with G4 processors. The fact that Apple no longer sells any G3 computers means that my beige G3 is only a short time away from obsolescence. I am hoping that I can bear with it for another year though. I once had a customer at Computer City tell me that he was "on the cutting edge of obsolescence" I now know how he fells. However, it is much cheaper than being on the other cutting edge and for the most part has less problems. At least as long as the computer is capable of doing what you want to do. Does your group have a SIG dedicated to vintage Macs? If so, they need to include G3s. For info about the new iBooks, see Apple.com

An airbag for your laptop?

The National Post of Canada on the 9th ran an article about how IBM unveiled new technology which works like an airbag to automatically protect data on hard drives inside a computer when the machine is dropped. The technology has been included in the latest line of Thinkpad notebooks. The technology is called the Active Protection System. It uses a microchip on the system board to detect system acceleration, such as in a fall. When acceleration occurs, the drive's read-write head is parked until the system is stabilized. Sounds cool. Even the iPod could use this technology. Hope IBM is licensing it to other folks. Story has been moved to archives. This article is available there for a $4.60 charge but I am sure that IBM has more info at their web site.

Grid computering

There has been a lot of rumors floating around the net about Apple supporting Grid computing. That got my attention on other stories. For example, the America's Network Weekly ran a story with the headline: "EXCLUSIVE: Grid computing evangelist says broadband demand is stronger than many believe"
      It starts out with "Companies that have incorporated grid and cluster computing and Web services into their business are seeing positive benefits that will stimulate significant demand for broadband services, says Robert Cohen, president of Cohen Communications Group and fellow with the Economic Strategy Institute." Full ANW article at: http://www.americasnetwork.com/americasnetwork/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=72349
Computer World also has an article titled: "Grids Extend Reach". It says "Grid technology is increasingly prevalent in scientific and engineering niches, but it's still years away from being used for broader business applications."
      So hopefully Apple really is supporting this and thus helping to get more attention from the enterprise folks. It is this attention that helped their financials for the past quarter. (See below) computerworld.com

"Dell cluster costs 30x more than Apple's"

That was the title than MacNN gave to an email from one of their readers who said that the University of Texas cluster produced with Dell Computers running Linux, actually cost $38 million and produces 3.7 Tflops of processing speed. That compared to the $5.2M that Virginia Tech spent to produce a Mac OS X cluster using G5s that achieved 17.6 Tflops. Somehow, I figure that there are some costs included in the UT figures that VT are not including. Especially since the story says that UT purchased 300 computers while Virginia Tech purchased 1100 computers. Background stories are at: Apple, and Dell or read The MacNN story

How NOT to Get Sued by the RIAA

This is a document with the full title of "How Not To Get Sued By The RIAA For File-Sharing (And Other Ideas to Avoid Being Treated Like a Criminal.)" from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The EFF has led the fight for freedom on the Internet. It basically has links to sites that tells how to clean files off your PC to keep from unwittingly sharing files with others. This is particularly true if you, or a member of your family has a broadband connection and has EVER downloaded songs off of the Internet using Grokster, Morpheus, Kazaa, Aimster/Madster, Mactella, Gnucleus, Gnotella, LimeWire, BearShare, iMesh, or WinMX. Us Mac users are safer, but should search our Macs for Aimster, Madster, Morpheus, or LimeWire. From the Internet Tourbus* See it at: eff.org

Cheap gas prices

Did you know you can go to gasbuddy.com and find out what gas stations have the cheapest gasoline prices in your area? It will also tell you which stations have the highest gas prices in town and each station includes the city and address. (Note, that it doesn't cover membership clubs or grocery story frequent buyer programs that give additional discounts.) gasbuddy.com

Quotes: Lord Chandos and Mark Twain

"Flattery is the infantry of negotiation."
      - Lord Chandos
"Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can read."
      - Mark Twain
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover."
      - Mark Twain

 
      pau

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Also see: MUG NEWS bursts from the AACUG Mac User Guide (MUG)

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The InfoManager invites user groups to use his column in full or in pieces in their newsletter. Or add a link to their web site. He would appreciate word that you are doing so however and if you can, please send a pdf version of the newsletter for his perusal. Or provide him with a link. The address is InfoManager@user-groups.net. You can also use that address for feed back.

The Info Manager is a veteran of the UGN (AOL User Groups Forum) and User Group Network. He's been a supporter and volunteer on many, many UGNet and User Group Academy projects. As a long time user group member, he's served as volunteer from Honolulu to Boston and many points in between. Currently working with the Apple Corp of Dallas, the Dallas Mac Pack, Cowtown MUG of Ft. Worth and TUMS (the Tulsa Users of Macintosh Society) doing newsletter articles and the monthly CD-ROM Update. Post a lead Info Manager should follow up on.

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