Q uickTime is pretty slick, especially if you have the Pro version that offers more control and allows you to put together movie clips and photos. The problem with QuickTime Movie Player is that it lacks a nice interface that will allow you to organize your clips or give more than basic information about the…
News
Microsoft's MSN's Business In The Toilet
M icrosoftis business, at least in the UK division of MSN, is apparently in the toilet. Literally. Keep in mind that there are roughly 1,726 other jokes we could have made, but that one seemed the safest. In any event, WebUser UK is reporting that MSN is preparing to release the iLoo. Now, a "loo"…
Apple Awarded Patents On Handwriting Recognition & Adaptive Throughput Optimization
T wo Apple patents issued on April 29, 2003. Apple filed for a patent application for a "Methods and apparatus for handwriting recognition" on May 23, 1996 — relatively eons ago. The abstract states: Method and apparatus for handwriting recognition system for ideographies characters and other characters based on subcharacter hidden Markov models. The ideographies…
Word Processors For The Rest Of Us
M icrosoft. Weill wait until the hisses and boos die down. Itis funny how that one word can elicit such a rainbow of reactions; from unbridled admiration ("I love Microsoft so much that I want to name my first born Billy-Gee!"), to abject disillusionment ("Oh gawd! Is there naught but Word I can use to…
Apple Introduces New iPods With 10, 15, or 30GB Of Capacity, USB2, FireWire, And A Docking Station
Apple today introduced a completely revamped line of iPods at a special music-related media event. The new iPod sports a totally redesigned case, capacities of 10, 15 or 30GB, and a docking station with both FireWire and USB2 compatibility. From Apple: Apple today introduced its third generation iPods, which hold up to 7,500 songs in…
Apple Shareholders Vote Against Management On Expensing Options
A quiet revolution took place at yesterday’s Apple shareholder meeting. AAPL shareholders voted for a shareholder initiative that would have Apple counting employee stock options as an expense. Currently, companies are legally allowed to not expense options, something that helped contribute to the boom of the 1990s. Corporations large and small offered their employees compensation…
Interested In QuickTime? "Hang Loose" With Frank Casanova In New WWDC Movie
A pple has posted another QuickTime sales pitch for the upcoming World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC). The WWDC is Appleis annual gathering for Mac developers, and this yearis event effectively has what used to be QuickTime Live! rolled into it. That means that QuickTime gets a much bigger light to shine at the WWDC than…
Air Traffic Controller: Windows Crashes Turn Flight Plan Delivery Into Manual Affair
I n a column today, I took JetBlue to task for “standardizing” on Windows and Microsoft software. A good many Observers then took me to task, largely telling me to get over myself. Having been doing this as long as I have, such criticism is not in the least unexpected, but when I got a…
The USPTO Issues Three New Patents To Apple
A pple was granted three new patents yesterday by the US Patent and Trademark Office. These patents were all applied between 1999 and 2001, and all are programming patents. The first was for a "System, apparatus and method for spatially sorting image data in a three-dimensional graphics pipeline." Filed: August 20, 1999 Granted: April 22,…
Apple Very Quietly Revs iBooks To 900 MHz
A pple has ever so quietly revved the iBook line to 900 MHz, without so much as a press release making the announcement. Eagle-eyed Observer Stephen Joiner was on the ball, however, and let TMO know about the revision. The new iBooks sport 800 MHz and 900 MHz G3 processors, 32 MB ATI Mobility Radeon…
Default Folder Updated With File List Erasure
While continuing to push the envelope with products like the Eddy Award-winning Default Folder X for Mac OS X, St. Clair Software also realizes that there are still many users running Mac OS 9. With this in mind, St. Clair Software today released version 3.1.5 of Default Folder, their 5-mouse-rated enhancement for Open and Save…
The Browser Turns 10 Next Week: C|Net News Offer Historical View
A ppleis hot new Safari now sports tabbed browsing and other cool features, and many a Mac now sports Safari as the default browser. Safari is fast, lean, and is giving more established browsers and real challenge for the hearts and minds of Mac users; something that should bring a slight smile to S. J.is…
Sony To Rev PlayStation 2 Consoles In Japan With DVD+-R/RW
I n the outside-Apple department, we noted that Sony has decided to rev the PlayStation 2, at least in Japan. The consumer electronics giant is adding support for DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, and DVD+RW discs. Apple currently offers DVD-R support in its SuperDrive equipped Macs. The new support for these formats in the PlayStation 2 is…
Maxprog Updates iCash With Quicken Import And More
Maxprog is proud to present a new release of iCash, new version 1.2, available now in English, German, French, Italian, Dutch and Spanish on Maxprog website with several interesting improvements, new features and bug fixes. iCash is a tool intended to control your personal finances, keeping track of incomes, expenses, credits, debts and Banks transactions…
Buying Computers For Fun And Profit
I f you buy computers for a large organization, your job may not be an easy one. It may sound like the ideal occupation for the gadget-freak guy or the woman with the urge to purchase. There is a lot to consider, however, before plunking down the company credit card in the local computer store,…
Apple Plays Down Contract, iPod Issues With Dell & Other Resellers
Following news that retail giant Target Corp. and Dell Computer Corp. have stopped selling the popular iPod portable music player because of contractual disputes with Apple, the iPod maker has announced that those dealers who have refused or have yet to sign a new reseller contract make up a small percentage of Apple’s overall revenue.…
Alan Greenspan Weighs in On Intellectual Property
If our objective is to maximize economic growth, are we striking the right balance in our protection of intellectual property rights? Are the protections sufficiently broad to encourage innovation but not so broad as to shut down follow-on innovation? Are such protections so vague that they produce uncertainties that raise risk premiums and the cost…
Apple Updates Remote Desktop With Network Install, NetBooting, More
Apple has released an update for Remote Desktop, the company’s network administration tool for Mac OS X. The new version, 1.2, includes some major new features such as the ability to perform Remote Software Installations, Remote Network Startup Disk (just what it sounds like), some auto-update features for Remote Desktop itself, and some enhanced security…
Biofuel Cells May Makes Desktop Macs Jealous
Oh, I donit yammer at any old thing, so your toaster and your easy chair are both safe from me. Usually the objects (literally) I direct my one-sided conversations to belong to me, and they are normally items of convenience. Like my Cube, for instance, and the 12″ PowerBook I intend to buy soon. I…
The Mac Observer: The Apple Trader - AAPL Is A Growth Stock Wearing A Value PE
AAPL Is A Growth Stock Wearing A Value PE April 3rd, 2000 After last week’s beating, the tech stocks may limp off their recent lows in anticipation of a robust earnings season. Nevertheless, something seismic has shifted in the psychology of investors, both institutional and retail. It’s as if everyone woke up last Tuesday and…
The Devil's Advocate - Apple Display Dyslexia
Why is Apple losing the resolution race to Dell? When it comes to laptops, PowerBook users are always left whimpering like puppies for just a few more pixels of resolution when they look at their PC counterparts. Case in point, Dell and others have been offering laptops with 1600×1200 resolutions (1.9 Megapixel) for a long…
Microsoft Refuses To Patch NT4 Vulnerability
A nother security vulnerability has been reported with Microsoftis line of server operating systems. While such news is nothing new to long-time Microsoft watchers, the difference between the new issue and past ones lies in the response from Redmond. According to an article published in the Register, Windows XP and 2000 users need to install…
Two Views: The Believer & DysFunKtion Family
< I>Every week, Vern Seward takes a look at Appleis latest offerings at the QuickTime Trailer site, letting your know whatis new. Perspective. In movies, some directors use perspective to tell a story from a view not normal to us, be it physically through tricks of the camera as it was used quite creatively in…
MP3 Player Air Whisper Updated With New Menu Feature
Today Kanex Group Inc. has released new version of its compact MP3 Player for Macintosh. Air Whisper 1.3 enables a high-quality playback and easy browsing through MP3 files, while takes much less system resources than other MP3 players. Created for Mac OS X, and at the same time supporting classic Mac OS, Air Whisper is…