Those of you who have been reading The Mac Observer in general, and my columns and editorials in particular, will probably be surprised at the title of this piece. However, I think that it is true. Apple and Mac OS X would have been better off without Aqua. This is coming from one of the…
The New Economy's Promise Fades in 2000
The Nasdaq owes todayis continued downtrend to investors dumping beaten down stocks in order to shave some taxes off their big capital gains made last spring. By the end of 2001 tech stocks should be partly recovered from the current bear market. However, there is at least another quarter of pain left for technology businesses…
The Dow Chugs Ahead while the Nasdaq Whimpers and AAPL Stagnates
Not much can be drawn from this weekis market performance. Institutional and private investors alike are rushing to square their portfolios for the year, emphasizing trends that may not hold in the new year. Appleis stock traded flat at 14 13/16 on volume of 5.4 million shares. With no sign of a pre-MacWorld bounce and…
Fuzzy Logic - The Importance Of The Mac: What's In A Pretty Face?
The Importance Of The Mac: What’s In A Pretty Face? December 27th, 2000 Since the beginning, Apple Computer has been accused of making toys. The Apple II in the late seventies was one of the first personal computers, a concept that in itself was ridiculous to many (why on Earth would a private individual want…
Tech Stocks Compress Further On Tax Loss Selling
On the bright side, in years of strong tax loss selling —such as 1994 — a true "January effect" often kicks in, powered by institutions plowing recently withdrawn capital back into beaten down stocks. Williams Co. (WMB), an energy trading company involved in the emerging bandwidth market, announced earnings well above Wall Streetis expectations. In…
Monkey Byte Reminds Us Holidays Are All About The Games
Monkey Byte Development announces the Release of five new and updated games for immediate Online registration and delivery. No shipping Delays! No late holiday gifts! Today Monkey Byte brings you a new Astrorock 2000 v1.5, and Project Magellan for instant registration at MonkeyByte.com. Updates of Galactic Patrol, Boogaloopers, and Sentinels of Ceth also join the…
iBrotha - Mac Daddy Psychoanalyzes George Clinton, Apple Spiffs & other Cupertino Flaws
Mac Daddy Psychoanalyzes George Clinton, Apple Spiffs & other Cupertino Flaws December 19th, 2000 The company says they’re revolutionaries J. Michael Straczynski, Rising Stars [Editor’s note: He’s back! This week, Rodney (re)introduces us to "Mac Daddy," an imaginary friend and fellow Mac user who is always quick to set forth his culturally-biased opinion on…
Blizzard Entertainment Does More For Mac Gaming Than Apple
Thatis a stinging title, I know, but itis true. Blizzard Entertainment is doing more for Mac gaming than Apple, and I think that is sad. What is Blizzard doing, you may ask? They mention the word Macintosh in a TV ad about a computer game. That, my friends, is more than Apple seems to be…
Apple's Proprietary ADC Connector Bug You? Company Contemplating Offering Fix
When Apple announce their new ADC display connector technology at this past summer’s MACWORLD Expo, the crowd gave a collective, “Huh?” Apple had gone away from proprietary video connectors with the adoption of SVGA ports in their Blue & White G3 machines. The new ADC connectors are neat, to be sure. They allow for video,…
iBrotha - Should OS X Be Dumbed Down?
Should OS X Be Dumbed Down? December 15th, 2000 A while back, I mentioned that I lurk on a few mailing lists that discuss things related to OS X. Lately, one list has been abuzz with discussion concerning whether or not our favorite Aquafied OS should be, well, dumbed down so as not to confuse…
Blame Microsoft: Stocks Fall Across the Board
Triple witching option expirations and index changes in the Nasdaq 100 added volume and volatility noise to the market signal on Friday, but the message came through loud and clear: The stock markets are bracing for slower growth across the board in 2001 and tax loss selling as this year comes to an end. Next…
Business Week Author Plays Revisionist, Alters Anti-Apple Editorial
And itis not only the Cube thatis priced wrong. I visited Appleis online store and compared its top-of-the-line G4 to a similar model offered by Gateway on its Web site. The 500-megahertz dual-processor G4 with 256 megabytes of memory costs $7,598 from Apple. A 700-MHz Gateway with a single processor boasting the same memory goes…
The Mac Observer: On The Flip Side - Microsoft & Bloatware Revisited
Microsoft & Bloatware Revisited December 12th, 2000 One of people’s chief complaints about Microsoft software is usually about how big, gigantic and swelled up they think it is. Mac users in particular like to say how Microsoft delivers "bloatware," a commonly used expression to describe Microsoft products as too big – thus using too much…
Apple Leads Charge For Internet Streaming Standards
Apple has joined forces with a cast of high profile computer related companies to form the Internet Streaming Media Alliance. The new non-profit organization aims to establish a set of standards for developing and delivering streaming content over the Internet. Also joining Apple are Cisco Systems, Kasenna, Royal Phillips Electronics, and Sun Microsystems; the usual…
QuickTime 5 Public Preview 2 Available
The eagerly-anticipated Public Preview version of QuickTime 5 took the multimedia industry by storm. Now hereis QuickTime 5 Preview 2, incorporating a number of enhancements suggested by thousands of users and a version for Windows. Preview 2 also includes support for media skins (as announced at QuickTime Live!), plus extensive AppleScript support for Mac users.…
Oingo Makes Ads Smarter
Oingo Inc., the leader in meaning-based technology, has launched AdSense, a new application that delivers highly targeted advertisements online by analyzing the meanings of a useris search terms. AdSense accurately matches banner ads against the meanings of search words, effectively quadrupling current market click-through rates. “The effectiveness of online advertising has been a point of…
Queasy Markets Brace for an Economic Slowdown, AAPL Bounces
Every day more tech firms warn that theyill miss earnings due to unexpected slow downs in demand. The latest is Micron Electronics, (MUEI) which complained lousy holiday sales will push its forecast of $0.11 per share down to between $0.01 and $0.04 per share. How many ways are there to say new 52-week low? Micron…
Make Web Pages Dance With Updated Animation Tool
Recosoft Corporation announces that is has started shipping WebShocker v2.2; a major upgrade to the most popular integrated Web Animation Production Tool for the Macintosh WebShocker v2.2 contains the following new features and enhancements: Fully Compatible with Mac OS X Public Beta (when run under Classic mode) Fully Mac OS 9 Multiple Users compatible Incorporation…
Renaming Files Has Never Been Easier
PUBLICSPACE.NET is pleased to announce version 3.4 of its “A Better Finder Rename” Macintosh Finder enhancement. The new version extends the existing features by allowing manual renames to be performed in a more effective manner. A Better Finder Rename is a contextual menu plugin for the Macintosh Finder, which allows users to quickly rename multiple…
A Hard Landing For Earnings Growth? AAPL Hits New Low
Gatewayis stock price was slashed by 10.50 or -35% to 19 dollars in a scene eerily reminiscent of the "speed bump" warning delivered September 28 by Appleis Steve Jobs and Fred Anderson, which precipitated AAPLis fall from grace on Wall Street. Gateway warned it expects 4th quarter operating income of $0.37 per share, way below…
The Mac Observer: On The Flip Side - The Computer, Perfect Hiding Place?
The Computer, Perfect Hiding Place? November 28th, 2000 Ah, technology! What a wonderful world filled with silicon, plastics, semiconductors, chips, circuits and metal. It makes communications easy with e-mail traveling across the world faster than you can drop a letter at the post office. The same applies for information that you can find in less…
Tech Stocks Continue Free Fall and Gateway Goes Splat!
The GNP grew at a modest 2.4% annual rate in the third quarter, slightly lower than the 2.7% rate forecast by economists and much slower than the 5.6% annual rate reported for the second quarter. The Commerce Departmentis price index for personal consumption rose only slightly indicating that inflation remains in check. PC stocks continued…
MP3 Streaming Application Updated
A new version of iStream has just been released. Our new release fixes some major bugs and should get rid of some nasty problems we have been having with different MacOS Localizations. Version 1.4.2 fixes the registration bug and enhances the playlist function. A Brief Description of iStream Finally, you can stream your MP3s to…
The Mac Observer: The Apple Trader - Demand A Recount Of Those PC Crashes, Apple Is The People's Choice!
Demand A Recount Of Those PC Crashes, Apple Is The People’s Choice! November 22nd, 2000 Last week news broke that Apple is going to open a 6,500 sq. ft. retail outlet in Palo Alto California, probably as a prototype for a chain of Apple Stores across the country. Everyone views this as a good thing,…
