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About this siteFor six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul Saturday, June 05, 2004Do web standards have a future?Sydney Morning Herald: "Usually I am the kind of person who looks to the future. In the last few months Microsoft has made a couple of very significant announcements with possibly quite negative implications for the future of a standards-based web - which has me thinking about that future, and wondering whether there even is such a future ... We can only hope to see Safari for Windows, and maybe other platforms. And with it thriving browser innovation based on the open standards of the World Wide web. And if that happened, you can be sure Microsoft would get in on the act as well, as they did when IE was not the colossus it has become."I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Safari is my favorite browser on any platform, and I'd use it as my main browser in Windows if it were available. Come on, Apple: Drive a stake into the weakest freaking part of Microsoft's platform, and do it sooner rather than later. You've got a two year period of dead time before Longhorn ships. Make the best of it. [ Posted at 10:29 PM | Permalink ]
Beware of Brand BiasMotley Fool: "I received many responses to my article on music downloading and heard from some very passionate users of Apple's iTunes, RealNetworks' Rhapsody, and MusicMatch ... Readers wrote that my analysis was lacking, and some suggested trying their favorite brand. However, my naive experience was quite typical of what many Middle Americans have had or are going to have in the near future. A large portion of Internet users still connect via dial-up and shop at a Wal-Mart Supercenter. For many of those people, their first music-downloading experience isn't going to be with iTunes. I didn't have an enjoyable first experience -- I think many others won't either -- and for the time being, that is going to hold back the entire industry from reaching its full potential ... Don't be blinded by a favorite brand. A respected brand name and great product can be an important factor in stock price appreciation, but it's not the only one. There are many examples of great and well-loved products that don't make good investments. Apple is trading at 1987 prices, Ford is trading near a two-decade low, and General Motors -- hard to believe -- is at a 40-year low."Grudgingly, I have to admit that the man has a point. My initial reaction to his original article (link above) was that he was an idiot, but I might have to reassess that. On the other hand, he compared himself to Jeremy Piven in PCU. Yeah, he's still an idiot. [ Posted at 10:09 PM | Permalink ]
Whose data is it anyway?The New York Times (free registration required): "When Tomm Purnell's uncle, Keith Cochran, died last year, Mr. Purnell's mother received two of Mr. Cochran's computers. One of them, a laptop, is password-protected, and even though Mr. Purnell considers himself somewhat of a computer geek, "the really obvious passwords," he said, like the names of Mr. Cochran's cats and combinations of his Social Security number, have failed ... With home computers largely replacing filing cabinets as the secure storage place for financial records, tax returns and even sentimental pictures, the problem confronting Mr. Purnell may become more common. Since most people do not leave a list of passwords before they die, their relatives and lawyers must often figure out how to break into the computer themselves or hire someone to do it."It's as unpleasant as preparing a will, but clearly this is something people need to start thinking about. [ Posted at 9:14 PM | Permalink ]
Friday, June 04, 2004Dell debuts wireless PDAsvnunet.com: "Dell has released the first PDA to use Intel's new PXA270 chip, which runs at 624MHz, and the first to use Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition operating system. The company is also shipping new additions to the Axim range featuring Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connection options ... This summer Dell will introduce several peripherals, such as a Bluetooth keyboard and a Global Positioning System kit, to use with the range."The new Dell Axim X3's look excellent, though I would have preferred seeing a VGA screen on the high-end unit. Still, I'll know for sure soon, as I've got the 624 MHz model on order. To put the speed of this PDA in perspective, my first PC was a 33 MHz 386. Heck, my current Mac is a 500 MHz G3. Unbelievable. [ Posted at 2:59 PM | Permalink ]
Lycoris Desktop/LX 1.4 shipping in JulyLycoris: "Get ready to experience the latest update to the award-winning Desktop/LX operating system from Lycoris: Desktop/LX 1.4 (formerly known as Update 4). Featuring an updated desktop powered by KDE 3.2.2, Desktop/LX 1.4 combines all the simplicity you have come to expect from Lycoris with the power of the latest Open Source technology. Great features in Desktop/LX 1.4 [include] free shipping worldwide, new desktop powered by KDE 3.2.2, enhanced kernel supports even more hardware, more high-quality Bitstream® fonts, new splash screens, better support for today's applications, 52 new wallpapers provided by WallpaperAday.com, faster boot sequence, increased number of programs available in Iris." [ Posted at 11:47 AM | Permalink ]
The new 15-in. PowerBook: A laptop for all?Computerworld: "With this version of its sleek aluminum laptops, Apple has really hit its stride.The 1.5-GHz processor shows its stuff in day-to-day tasks. Versatile? Very much so. With AirPort Extreme now incorporated across the PowerBook line, wireless connections are made easy. The SuperDrive allows for easy CD and DVD burning. The backlit keyboard is useful in dimly lit places. Portable? You bet. You get a bright and clear 1,280-by-854-pixel widescreen LCD, full-size (and solid-feeling) keyboard, all in a package that weighs 5.7 lb. Add to that the fact that Apple dropped the price of the faster of its two 15-in. models by $100, to $2,499, and what's not to love?"Well, $2500 is a lot of money, for starters. You can get a Dell 15" widescreen--albeit in a heavier package--for just about half that, and it outperforms the Mac pretty handily. Anyway. The author goes on some nonsensical rambling about screen resolution and then, ... "So what we have here is an evolutionary, not revolutionary, update to the midrange PowerBook line. The 1.5-GHz chip manages to make this the fastest 15-in. model yet from Apple, a laptop reasonably good on battery power and, most important given the other goodies included (wireless networking, 64MB of video RAM, Universal Serial Bus 2.0 and FireWire 800 ports), one that's reasonably priced." Except that it's not. And honestly, that's the biggest problem I have with these machines. Yes, Apple has lowered the prices. Yes, they're beautifully designed, though I still prefer the elegance of the TiBooks to the bland stateliness of the aluminum PowerBooks. The battery life isn't great (the aforementioned Dell lets you put two batteries in the unit simultaneously and makes the roundtrip plane flight from Boston to Seattle with over two and a half hours of battery life left. Think about that for a second. If you're watching a DVD movie on the 15" PowerBook, 2.5 hours is literally all the battery life you can expect under optimum conditions). But, that said, I'm still drawn to the widescreen, and unlike the author of this article, I think the 1280 x 854 screen is fantastic. (The Dell is 1280 x 800, and most HDTV displays are 1280 x 768; why are these things all so close and yet different?) But (And there's always a "but") ... the smaller 12-inch PowerBook is cheaper, allowing me to immediately buy a second battery (and it gets slightly better battery life to start with). It's much smaller and would be much easier to pop in my bag with whatever laptop-of-the-month PC laptop I'm carting around at the time. And it performs identically to the 1.33 GHz version of the 15-inch PowerBook. It burns DVDs. Hmm. [ Posted at 9:52 AM | Permalink ]
Walkman inventor mulls iPod lawsuitThe Washington Times: "The inventor of the Walkman that the Sony Corp. marketed to huge success may sue Apple Computer for its iPod digital knock-off. German-born Andreas Pavel, who now works in Milan has been offered an undisclosed, multi-million dollar settlement from Sony over outstanding license disputes nearly 30 years after he invented it, The Independent said Thursday. Should he sue Apple, it is unclear whether his patent is still valid since they normally lst for 20 years from the date of application. Apple did not introduce the iPod, which stores music on a tiny hard disk, until October 2001 whereas the first version of Pavel's patent was published in Italy in 1978. The newspaper said Pavel is considering a case in Canada, where his patent was filed later and may still be valid." [ Posted at 9:50 AM | Permalink ]
Thursday, June 03, 2004Why small is beautifulSydney Morning Herald: "For the past week I have had as constant companion one of the new 12-inch PowerBooks and, although I am not about to change my view that the 15-inch machine is the best notebook I have ever used, this newcomer has powerful attractions. It is the neatness of it that is so attractive. Among Wintel notebooks several, such as Sony's Vaio, are slim and pretty, but their compactness often means lack of optical drives, and few can match the little PowerBook's features and power. Initially I thought that the smaller screen would cause problems, and there were occasions with Photoshop when I felt a little cramped, but were I not so accustomed to the 15-inch, I doubt I would have noticed it much. Having a full-sized keyboard in such a concise package helps too ... The nVidia GeForce FX Go5200 graphics card is also a bit slower than the model fitted in the bigger PowerBooks, and RAM tops out at 1.25GB, against 2GB in my 15-inch Book, but these are not serious disadvantages for most users. Battery life seems good. I got more than three hours out of a single charge doing a fair amount of internet surfing using my Airport base station to connect to Optus cable and a couple of iPhoto sessions. From a full charge, I also watched Saving Private Ryan on DVD and still had quite a bit of puff left ... If you travel a lot or use your notebook often on one of those tummy-pinching flaps on lecture theatre chairs, the smaller footprint and lighter weight (a bit more than 2kg) of the 12-inch PowerBook will be advantageous." [ Posted at 5:01 PM | Permalink ]
Making An Operating System Faster: 10 Things Apple Did To Make Mac OS X Fasterkernelthread.com: "This document discusses ten things that Apple did (beyond initial/fundamental OS design and implementation) to improve Mac OS X's performance. Some of these are simply good ideas and obvious candidates for implementation; some are guidelines or tools for developers to help them create high-performance applications, while some are proactive attempts at extracting performance from strategically chosen quarters. Consider the following a sampling of such optimizations, in no particular order" [ Posted at 4:52 PM | Permalink ]
Microsoft's Sacred Cash CowAccording to the Seattle Times, this article is about "A former Microsoftie says addiction to Windows revenue, mediocre products, and missed opportunities could doom Seattle’s most successful company." It sounds interesting, but the author gets so much so wrong."I worked for Microsoft from 1991 to 1999 as a technology manager. For many years, I was a Microsoft loyalist. While aware of Microsoft’s shortcomings, I always believed that the Soft did its best to improve products over time, as it did with Windows XP. But recently, I’ve had a crisis of faith. Perhaps I’ve rebooted Windows one too many times." Perhaps. But it's more likely that you're so far removed from Microsoft that your opinion is no longer valid. In 1999, Microsoft had yet to lose two antitrust cases and still had Bill Gates installed as CEO, calling the shots. "Finally, last month I went out and bought an Apple Macintosh G5 and began using the new Mac operating system, OS X. It had been years since I’d used a Macintosh. Until recently, I dismissed those who did as impractical, elitist hipsters, and I mocked the Mac 'switch' ads on TV. But in the first five minutes on my new Mac, I was surfing the Internet, sending e-mail, and ripping a CD. OS X has been a breath of badly needed fresh air after Windows." Sure. But you're an experienced, technical user. You know how old-school desktop GUIs work, so Mac OS X is no problem for you. Stick a poor inexperienced user in front of it, however, and ... bam! Where do you start? Where do you get help? What do you do when it doesn't work? And so on. This is the concept most technical users don't get: They already know how it works, and where to go for help. So many other users, however, do not. Anyway, two huge problems make this article way less compelling than it could be. First, his experience at Microsoft: He worked on getting "Windows into fax machines" for four years, MSN for less than a year, spent two years at non-profit coffee houses (?), one year on what he (ironically?) calls "unfocused" Windows prototypes, and then left the company to found a gift certificates Web site. Seriously. Second, he makes some glaring factual errors. For example. "Recently, though, Microsoft announced that its next major Windows release, code-named Longhorn, might be delayed beyond 2006 unless it is significantly pared down." Too bad they never said that. They said, recently, that they expected to ship Longhorn in 2006. They are not "significantly paring down features." "Microsoft is so concerned about Windows XP security that it will likely give away its next upgrade to fix vulnerabilities and make it easier to deliver future fixes automatically." Microsoft always gives away service packs. Always. This isn't a special deal they're doing now out of concern for security. A more correct assertion would be, "Microsoft is so concerned about Windows XP security that it restructured its second service pack to focus pervasively on security features." Apple, meanwhile, charges $129 for point upgrades to the "friendly" OS X he just adopted. And so on. These types of errors show me that this guy is either out to lunch or willing to bend facts to make his point. Which is too bad, frankly, because his comments about .Mac--and Microsoft's inability to do something similar with MSN--completely mirror an article I wrote TWO YEARS AGO. In short, the intended audience for this article--Mac lovers--will suck it up, just as they do everything pro-Apple and anti-Microsoft. But it's frustrating that other people may read it and think the guy has a point. Because, ultimately, he gets a lot wrong on the one hand and parrots opinions that have been floating around the Web a long time on the other. [ Posted at 10:25 AM | Permalink ]
iPod hasn't paid the piper yetAustralian IT: "By the standards of many other wildly popular consumer technologies, the iPod and iTunes revenue and earnings contributions to Apple have so far been extremely modest, falling far short of the hype. To some sceptical investors, in fact, the Apple of today does not look so different from the Apple of a year or two ago. Sure, the firm booked $US264 million from selling 807,000 iPods in the March quarter, but its real business is still flogging computers. The markets for digital music devices and deliveries remain embryonic and chaotic owing to a lack of standards and ongoing piracy. But if the hopes of Apple investors and enthusiasts are to be realised and the company is to ride digital music and content back to the top of the heap, it is precisely this embryonic, fickle, ever shifting marketplace that Steve Jobs will have to master. So far, the signs are not universally favourable." [ Posted at 9:18 AM | Permalink ]
Sun to open source SolarisInfoWorld: "After months of hinting about its intentions, Sun Microsystems Inc. on Wednesday confirmed that it intends to release source code from its Solaris operating system under an open source licence. Sun spokesman Russ Castronovo confirmed that an open source Solaris is in the works, but he declined to reveal any significant details about the project including what software license Sun would be using, whether all of the components of the operating system would be open-sourced and when, exactly, Sun intended to release an open source Solaris."Too little too late? [ Posted at 9:14 AM | Permalink ]
Tuesday, June 01, 2004Sun Unveils Breakthrough Dynamic File System in Solaris 10 OSSun Microsystems: "Sun Microsystems [today] previewed its new file system technology in the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS). The fourth breakthrough Solaris technology introduced this year through the Software Express program, Solaris Dynamic File System represents a dramatic advance in the file system/volume manager model of computer data management by automating many common tasks that system administrators do today. Solaris is the world's most popular enterprise UNIX operating system and runs virtually all of the major enterprise applications available today. Dynamic File System is the industry's only self-healing, self-managing OS file system technology that provides 16 billion billion times more capacity than current file systems for virtually unlimited scalability. Dynamic File System is constantly reading and checking data to help ensure it is correct, and in the case it detects an error in a mirrored pool, the technology can automatically repair the corrupt data."And in the other corner, Sun's "other" OS offering, the proprietary UNIX variant called Solaris. Frankly, I'm surprised Solaris is still around. It seems like Linux would do the trick, and it would be simpler to support a single, more accepted alternative. More: Solaris 10 preview Download Solaris 10 beta [ Posted at 2:19 PM | Permalink ]
New Java Desktop System Release 2 Boosts Security and Cuts Costs with Centralized Management and Auto-Update FunctionalitySun Microsystems: "The second release of the Sun Java Desktop System [includes] new integrated desktop management and auto-update features as well as a free one-year developer tools subscription valued at $645 USD. Sun also announced nine new independent software vendors (ISVs) planning to offer their applications on the Java Desktop System. In response to increased customer demand, Sun is extending its promotional price of 50 percent off the Java Desktop System through December 2, 2004. The Java Desktop System, normally priced at $100 USD per desktop, will continue to be available for $50 USD – over 85 percent cheaper than Microsoft's comparable offering, and delivering file interoperability and a familiar look and feel."More: Introducing Sun Java Desktop System, Release 2 Sun Java Desktop System news I don't recall if I've mentioned this yet, but I finally did check to see what the upgrade price was for JDS Release 2 and was surprised to see that it was free (I purchased JDS 2003 last December for $50) and that, unlike the first release, I could download ISO images. So last week, I did just that, and installed JDS Release 2 on an old laptop (I'll try various virtual machines soon as well). Sure enough, it's a sweet-looking release. Sure, at $50, it's more expensive than the "free" Linux releases, but it does include Star Office 7 and a bunch of other interesting features. Definitely worth checking out. [ Posted at 2:13 PM | Permalink ]
.Mac subscribers top half a millionMacWorld: " Apple's subscriber-only UK .Mac page reveals Apple now boasts over half a million subscribers. The figure remains dwarfed by adoption of the previously-free iTools service. Writing in October 2002, The Seattle Times claimed Apple to have 2.2 million iTools subscribers. Apple elected to transform iTools into the fee-based .Mac service in 2002. The company reported 100,000 users to have signed up to the new service at that time."Bravo. I've found the .Mac service to be valuable, and have even written an article commending Apple for doing consumer-oriented, .NET-like services right, long before Microsoft did it in MSN 9 Premium. However, I've also complained that Apple was never able to get a sizable number of subscribers. If they're really hitting the 500,000 mark, then that's good stuff, and a good percentage of the 10 million people running Mac OS X. [ Posted at 11:10 AM | Permalink ]
Rock On, iPodBusiness Week: " It has been 2 1/2 years since Apple Computer introduced its iPod digital music player, and consumers' love affair with the sleek little gizmo just keeps gaining steam. Despite the iPod's hefty price tag -- $249 to $499 -- Apple has sold 3 million of them, making it far and away the most popular music player on the market ... Its iTunes online music store accounts for 70% of all legal downloads ... In tech circles, soaring success often masks future troubles. Look no further than Apple's own history: In 1980, it dominated PCs with a 16% share -- but it badly misplayed its hand and now has less than 2%. Just as when Apple ruled the PC market, these are early days for digital music. 'We haven't even seen the big players make their mark in this market yet -- like Microsoft and Wal-Mart Stores,' says David Munns, CEO of music company EMI Recorded Music North America. What should Apple do to stay on top? Plenty. For starters, it needs to embrace the new ways consumers want to buy music. While the iTunes store offers 99 cents downloads, Apple has yet to provide a subscription service for folks who want to listen to whatever they want for a monthly fee."I had to do a double take to make sure I hadn't written this article. Nope, it's just a copy of what I've been saying (and writing about) for months. Interesting. [ Posted at 11:06 AM | Permalink ]
Sony Exits the PDA Market – For NowMore on the Sony CLIE tragedy, this time from BargainPDA.com: "We had a conference call with Sony last week to discuss what we thought was going to be about the new Clie releases, hopefully something with OS 6. Much to our chagrin, Sony started by reading a very brief statement that clearly indicated their intent to vacate the PDA space in the US for at least the remainder of this year. Sony wanted to be very clear on a few points though:
palmOne is now stuck in a very precarious position. They’re now much like the Apple of the computing world - the only major licensee of the Palm OS. Sure there are dozens of other licensees, but combined, they don’t have the visibility or sales of Sony. The exit by Sony will certainly mean a shift in the balance of power to Microsoft. The race between Palm OS and Windows Mobile was so close already, there’s no other reasonable outcome. Surely palmOne will scoop up plenty of prospective Sony buyers, but it’s impossible to capture all of them. With Dell releasing the new X30’s at such an amazing price and HP coming out with 7 new PDAs in the next several weeks, Microsoft has to be feeling very good about their place in this market." [ Posted at 11:03 AM | Permalink ]
Sony Exits U.S. Handheld MarketBrighthand: "Today Sony announced that it will no longer develop and sell Clie handheld models to the United States market ... While Sony claims that it is simply reassessing the conventional PDA market and will continue to manufacture Clie models for the Japanese market, several industry insiders had recently predicted attrition among the ranks of the handheld manufacturers, primarily due to flat overall sales in handhelds for the past two years ... Sony released nearly twenty different Clie models [between 2000 and 2004], breaking new ground in the area of design with its innovate NR and UX series. In early 2004 it released its final U.S. model, the Clie TH55."Wow. As the owner of a Sony CLIE and a fan, I'm shocked: Sony's devices had style few others could emulate, though I'm not a big fan of the weird scrollwheel-based UI they introduced in recent models. This is a shame, but no doubt related to the parent company's financial troubles and a desire to consolidate unprofitable businesses. Note: Sony doesn't yet have a press release announcing this event available to the public. [ Posted at 10:56 AM | Permalink ]
The Little Engine That CouldI, Cringely: "One of the cheapest Linux computers you can buy brand new (not at a garage sale) is the Linksys WRT54G, an 802.11g wireless access point and router that includes a four-port 10/100 Ethernet switch and can be bought for as little as $69.99 according to Froogle. That's a heck of a deal for a little box that performs all those functions, but a look inside is even more amazing. There you'll find a 200 MHz MIPS processor and either 16 or 32 megs of DRAM and four or eight megs of flash RAM -- more computing power than I needed 10 years ago to run a local Internet Service Provider with several hundred customers. But since the operating system is Linux and since Linksys has respected the Linux GPL by publishing all the source code for anyone to download for free, the WRT54G is a lot more than just a wireless router. It is a disruptive technology."Awesome stuff. Say what you will about Cringely, but the man has a gift. A must-read. [ Posted at 10:03 AM | Permalink ]
One (Strange) Man's Hunt for the Linux DesktopLinux Today: "I upgraded to Fedora Core 2 ... After I upgraded to FC2, I wanted to try out some new eye candy for my system. After reading Marcel Gagné's recent article on SuperKaramba, I was intrigued enough to give it a whirl ... PCLinuxOnline ran a tutorial about this GNOME eye candy recently, and I thought it would be worth a look. And it was, actually. It took a little while to get everything sorted out, because the documentation was a bit lean, but ultimately I got the GoodWeather, Popmail, and RRS-Feed desklets up and running. I think they look really sharp... when I can see them ... So, Linux on the desktop? Well, in the most literal sense of the termd, I'll believe it when I see it."It's too bad Proffitt had to pull the tired old "Look, let's write about Linux on the desktop" trick in order to get people to read about what is essentially desktop widgets that run on GNOME. The real (but obsfuscated) point of the article--gDesklets--is actually really interesting. [ Posted at 9:56 AM | Permalink ]
Hard-Core FedoraPC World: "After years of using the Mandrake Linux distribution, I've moved my main desktop machine to the newly released final edition of Fedora Core 2, the free, community-supported testbed distribution sponsored by Red Hat ... Fedora's marriage of kernel 2.6 and Gnome 2.6 (the identical version numbers are just a coincidence) makes for a very responsive system that's a pleasure to use."This is an extremely useful overview for anyone considering Fedora Core 2, because the author explains how to get the bits Red Hat leaves out, like those responsible for MP3 and DVD playback. Good stuff. [ Posted at 9:51 AM | Permalink ]
Sun to Show Updated Java Enterprise, Desktop SystemseWeak: " Sun Microsystems Inc. will make a number of product announcements at its quarterly Network Computing Webcast in California and its SunNetwork Conference 2004 in Shanghai this week—not the least of these being the second version of its Java Enterprise System and Java Desktop System ... The second version of the Java Desktop System, which is currently powered by SuSE Linux but will be available on Solaris by midyear, will include better usability, USB support, and a new management capability that will allow desktops to be remotely managed for synchronization, security and network control, including turning off macros, Loiacono said." [ Posted at 9:19 AM | Permalink ]
Sun to Unveil Plan Aimed at LinuxWall Street Journal (subscription required): "Sun Microsystems ... today will outline plans to woo customers to its Solaris operating system and subscription-based software and services. Sun is highlighting the lower price for Solaris compared with Red Hat Inc., whose popular version of Linux is resold by International Business Machines Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and others. Jonathan Schwartz, a former software chief at Sun who was named the company's president and chief operating officer earlier this year, argues that Sun has a distinct advantage over companies that don't make their own operating systems for low-end servers. While pricing Solaris aggressively -- either as a separate product, or bundled with servers -- Sun can still derive additional revenue from the software to counteract the effect of falling hardware prices, he said."Of course, one might wonder why anyone would purchase Sun's Linux-based (and mis-named) Java Desktop System, Release 2 if the company is pushing its proprietary UNIX alternative so strongly. I guess it comes down to two factors: 1, you have to believe Sun's strategy is wrong, and that Linux will ultimately doom Solaris to the dustbin of history as a result. And, 2, that in the end, it doesn't matter: Sun JDS is a surprisingly excellent distribution, given its source, and if Solaris does bite it, Sun has a nice fallback. Besides, JDS will be a great way to test Sun's also-surprising UI work in Project Looking Glass, which should start appearing in public form this summer. [ Posted at 9:14 AM | Permalink ]
To Quiet a Whirring Computer, Fight Noise With NoiseNew York Times (free registration required): "The constant drone of a computer cooling fan can be annoying. But a professor at Brigham Young University has taken an unusual step to mute this noise: more noise, produced in just the right quantities from tiny loudspeakers that surround the fan. 'We make anti-noise,' said Scott D. Sommerfeldt, a physicist who created a noise suppression system with his students. It is the latest example of a technology called active noise reduction, or noise cancellation, well known from its use in headphones designed to block out the low rumble of jet engines."I've been on an anti-PC-noise jihad for a few years now, and it's nice to see work being done to remove the annoying PC fan sound at the source. It's only a matter of time before I switch my PCs over to water-based cooling solutions, though I'll try a nearer term solution for my office--moving the servers into a closet in the basement--first. PC noise, of course, is only a small part of the overall "noisiness" of our society, and it's something I'm very sensitive to, as my neighbor, the owner of a previously loud, constantly-barking dog, can attest. From the roll out of quieter rubber-enhanced highways in Arizona to using noise-cancellation headphones on airplanes, there's a lot we can do to reduce the noise in our lives. This is important stuff, people, and it's amazing how often we don't understand that. [ Posted at 9:08 AM | Permalink ]
Sunday, May 30, 2004Again, thanks ... And a limiting of choices In case you missed it, I would again like to say "thanks" to everyone that wrote in with advice about my next Mac purchase. I appreciate all the great feedback and am humbled by the sheer amount of email. Thanks.
While I haven't exactly figured out what I'm doing yet, I have limited the choice to two PowerBook models. The iBook is out for a number of reasons, though it was the sentimental favorite (and frankly, I think the new Powerbooks are kind of bland looking, compared to the beautiful Ti models): My first Mac was a 2001 iBook (500 MHz), which I still own and occasionally use (I bought it specifically to run Mac OS X). But ultimately, the iBook's trade-offs, and the nagging feeling that, G4 or not, the performance would just be lousy, caused me to cross it off my list. So here are the two PowerBook models I'm considering: 1. 15" PowerBook G4 1.33 GHz, stock model upgraded to SuperDrive ($2268). I would add 512 MB of RAM via Crucial (about $120) and, at a later date, upgrade to the AppleCare 3-year plan ($350) and add a second battery ($150). Pros: widescreen. Cons: Battery life, size. 2. 12" PowerBook G4 1.33 GHz, stock model, with extra battery ($1928). I would add 512 MB of RAM via Crucial (about $120) and, at a later date, upgrade to the AppleCare 3-year plan ($350). Pros: Size. Cons: Screen. Here's the deal. While I'll likely use the machine around the house a lot, I'd really like something I can take on the road with me. I travel a lot for work, and enjoyed bringing the iBook around while it was still viable, and its small size, light weight, and initially excellent battery life made it a valuable companion on the road. But over time, the iBook's batteries lost their staying power, and the speed of the machine became a hinderance. So the 12" PowerBook seems like it would be a simple step-in replacement for the iBook: It's about the same shape and size. But then again, I did spend a year with a 17" iMac, and I've grown to love widescreen displays, so the 15" is of interest, even though it's more expensive. Choices, choices. A number of people who wrote in noted that Apple was unlikely to update the PowerBooks at the WWDC, which I think is likely true. On the other hand, Apple could theoretically update the PowerBooks again at any time, so I'm not sure there's any obvious time to buy. It will be some time in June, certainly. Also, a number of people mentioned refurbished systems as a way to save money. I have absolutely no problem buying a refurbished system, and will be checking Apple's Special Deals page regularly to see what happens. However, I'm very keen on getting an up-date-date system, performance-wise, and don't want to settle on a previous-generation PowerBook. That is, 1.33 GHz is the minimum CPU speed I'll accept at this point. [ Posted at 5:34 PM | Permalink ]
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