Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Money: iPod buzz is hiding problems at Apple [The Macintosh News Network] This excerpt is interesting: Apple sold just over 3 million computers in its last fiscal year, which ended in September -- 900,000 less than it sold in fiscal 1996, the year before Jobs returned...Meanwhile, Apple's share of the worldwide personal-computer market has shrunk to 2 percent from 3.2 percent five years ago. The total number of Macs sold in 1996 was even more than 900,000 higher, because there were several successful clone makers that were Steved shortly thereafter. While that's not important in the scope of the article being quoted, it shows that the Mac market was actually in even better shape in 1996 compared to the present. 7:36:34 PM    comment () Quote of the day: It is not caving in to the bees to stop poking a stick into their hive. Lew Rockwell 2:32:33 PM    comment () Yee Plea. The Washington Times reports that military prosecutors are close to a deal with Capt. James Yee, the former Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo Bay who was branded a traitor and threatened with the death penalty. Having already retracted its espionage allegation, the Army is now ready to drop a charge of mishandling classified documents. (During a hearing in December, it came out that the documents might not have been classified after all.) Under the deal, Yee, who was confined for 76 days based on the espionage charges, would receive administrative punishment for adultery and keeping pornography on his computer, offenses that were discovered by investigators trying to substantiate the espionage accusation. He also reportedly has agreed to "up to 30 days of counterintelligence interrogations and a polygraph test," after which he would receive an honorable discharge. How about an apology? [Hit & Run] 10:20:08 AM    comment () Pakistani forces get a bloody nose: Pakistani officials said the clashes erupted when a force of about 300 Pakistani paramilitaries tried to nab suspected Al Qaeda members and local tribesmen believed to be sheltering them in a mud-brick compound in the village of Kaloosha in South Waziristan. Before they could get inside, they found themselves surrounded by 400 to 500 militants, officials said. The officials said they had not expected the strength and breadth of the resistance, which they said came from both local and foreign militants. "Their level of training and resilience has surprised us all," said a senior government official in Wana, the administrative center of South Waziristan. The government forces were eventually rescued by 400 reinforcements, but not before they suffered heavy casualties, the senior official said. Militants also ambushed government forces in at least two other locations in South Waziristan, including the village of Dabkoot. [John Robb's Weblog] This doesn't bode well for the future stability of Pakistan, which (in case anyone has forgotten) is the only Muslim country which actually does have "weapons of mass destruction." 9:48:15 AM    comment ()

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