UGN UGN Info Manager

with Lynn Wegley

 

InfoManager for December 6, 2004

 

Apple Launches iTunes Canada

Apple has launched its revolutionary iTunes Music Store in Canada, giving music fans in Canada the same innovative features and breakthrough price of $.99 CDN per song. ... ... see the full story...

Migo for the iPod

Migo for the iPod is software that blogger.com can keep all your data and files on your iPod so that no matter what computer you are at, you have your files and apps. The only problem is, it is strictly for the PC. But then, it is possible to install a Mac system on your iPod and run any Mac from it. however there has been some concern that if the iPod is used to boot a Mac, it could shorten the life of the iPod's hard drive. Meanwhile, Migo sounds like a good piece of software for a PC iPod user to have. More details at ... migoforipod.com

ACLU says RFID in passports leaves Americans vulnerable

Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union said it obtained State Department documents that show the Bush administration has ignored security and privacy warnings by experts and foreign governments and has begun promoting new passports using passive radio frequency identification technology.
Personally, I find this pretty scary. It could make identity theft easier and could make it easier for a terrorist to identify who in a room is from the U.S. Read more...

Sony, Partners Offer Glimpse Of 'Cell' Chip

IBM, Sony Corp., Sony Computer Entertainment and Toshiba Corp. said Monday that the companies had "powered on" the first workstation designed around the mutally designed "Cell" processor, which will begin pilot production next year.
      They are to give more details at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco beginning Feb. 6. It will be used in the PlayStation 3. ... see the full story...

Cingular to Offer Faster Wireless Service

Cingular Wireless will begin deploying a speedier wireless Internet service next year. They will be able to do that because of their acquisition of AT&T Wireless. This 3 G service will offer data speeds of 400 kilobits per second to 700 kilobits per second, similar to entry-level DSL and cable. ... see the full story...

Microsoft Accused of Destroying E-Mails

Burst.com has been in a legal battle with Mircosoft for a coule of years. It now accuses Microsoft of systematically destroying e-mail and other electronic files that would be useful in a court case. Even after the court ruled that they shouldn't, they did according to the AP article. Read more...

Shopping Comparison Web Sites

Shopping comparison sites have taken a big jump in traffic over the past couple of weeks. According to Nielsen/NetRatings says that 50% of the shopping comparison traffic comes from search engines. Among the most trafficed sites are:
shopping.yahoo.com
www.bizrate.com
www.shopping.com
www.pricegrabber.com
eshop.msn.com
www.calibex.com
www.froogle.com
www.dealtime.com
www.pricewatch.com
www.shopzilla.com
www.pricetool.com
www.mysimon.com

Pick a penny

See if you know what a penny looks like This is an interesting puzzle. We see pennies almost every day and yet. Can you tell me exactly what is printed on the face and where? Does Abe look right or left. I picke the second most often picked face. But I was wrong. See how you do at: See it at ... www.exploratorium.edu

Two More IE Holes Surface

Security researchers are warning of another pair of vulnerabilities in Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browser affecting users on fully patched Windows XP Service Pack 2 systems.
      According to an alert from Secunia that carries a 'moderately critical' rating, the holes can be exploited to bypass a security feature in XP SP2 and trick users into downloading malicious files. Full story at ... www.eweek.com

2005 Top Ten Tech Trends

The Red Herring editorial team has declared the top trends that will dominate the world of technology in 2005. These 10 trends cover a wide range of technological advancements in many different arenas, from the medical field to home entertainment. The publication has also named the 100 most innovative companies of 2004. It is really good to see the Red Herring back in business. Some of the Top Ten Technology Trends include:

intense battleground in 2005; this time it will be the traditional consumer electronic vendors versus the PC and software companies. Sony, Microsoft, Intel and Hewlett-Packard are vying for control of your set top box, in hopes they'll have a better chance to sell you more stuff. See the lists at ... www.redherring.com

Make Love Not Spam

The nets were buzzing last week with the release of a new screensaver, from Lycos UK, that pings spammers web sites while the computer is not in use. Many are concerned it consititutes a "DOS" (Denial of Service") but Fred is working on a full article to dispel those myths. If you've had enough spam and you're ready to do something about it, there are numerous articles and blogs about this new weapon against spam. Use Google's News Search for: "Make Love Not Spam" and you'll see. Or, start with: "Screensaver tackles spam websites"

Tip: Burning CDs from the Finder

If you've loaded a blank CD (or DVD) into your Mac, it appears in the Sidebar of any open Finder window. A little Burn button appears to the right of the blank CD's name (which is "untitled CD" by default). So now, when you're ready to burn that disc (maybe you're using this disc to back up some files), you can simply press the tiny Burn button that appears right within the Sidebar. Burning doesn't get much more convenient than that.
      From Peachpit Press and Scott Kelby's ... Mac OS X Killer Tips

15% Off PurpleMoo for Info Readers

PurpleMoo.com is giving 15% off discounts on all our Screen it! Screen Protector products (iPOD model available) -- the discount is valid from now until the end of 2004. To activate the discount coupon, visit their store and order the protector you need. Then, checkout and enter "HakUs78" without the quotes in the discount coupon text box when asked for your shipping information. You can then checkout with the 15% discount. Best Regards, PurpleMoo ... www.purplemoo.com

Macintosh OS X Gift Guide

Time to think about gifts for your favorite Mac users? Fred reviews gifts for Mac users including Ford Racing, LensavRz, OmniCleanz, GarageKey, MIDI Keyboard, PodSleevz, Missing Sync, iKey and others. ... Read more...

Apple's New Powerbooks

The business standard for portable computing from Apple doesn't disappoint with outstanding performance, looks, accessibility... MaMug's Dan East takes a look at the new 15" Powerbook 1.5Ghz ... see the full story...

Revolution in the Valley

Hertzfeld is back -- relating his personal views about Woz and Jobs and the start of the Macintosh revolution. Of course Hertzfeld was there from the beginning -- here he takes you into the backrooms of Apple where the revolution began. This is one book you must read!

Take Control of Mac OS X Backups

Here's a suggestion for your next user group meeting that I think your members will appreciate. Take an informal survey of your members, asking how many have backed up within the last year. Adam predicts your results and then suggests the only logical thing to do ... Take Control of Mac OS X Backups

MacMentor.org

MacMentor.org is a web site dedicated to helping PC users who are switching to Mac. Hopefully they provide a link to a MUG listing site so that they can get local help as well, but I couldn't find it on their site. But it does seem to be doing a decent job of following that guiding principle. Take a look at the latest version of the site at ... MacMentor.org

iPod Boombox

Just in time for the holiday shopping rush, Digital Lifestyle Outfitters (DLO) announced it is shipping the much-anticipated DLO iBoom - Boombox for the iPod. ... ... see the full story...

Audio Hijack records music to Mac

Audio Hijack is the perfect tool to record any audio on your computer -- you can quickly and easily save audio from almost any application to an AIFF file. ... ... see the full story...

This Old Mouse: Laptop vs. Desktop

Fred replies to concerns from readers and a few questions following his article about his new G4 Powerbook. In this issue of This Old Mouse

Quotes: Anderson, Johnson, Stoddard and Murrow

"The great thing to learn about life is, first, not to do what you don't want to do, and, second, to do what you do want to do."
      - Margaret C. Anderson

"Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth." - Samuel Johnson

"What we do today, right now, will have an accumulated effect on all our tomorrows."
      - Alexandra Stoddard

"We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home." - Edward R. Murrow

"A candle loses none of its light by lighting another candle."
      - Author: Unknown

 

Have a great week...

Lynn

 

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