Wednesday, June 29, 2005

The end is near! That is, the end of Win2K support. It's all over tomorrow, although apparently there will be support for "critical" updates for some time to come. Nonetheless, this just cements my commitment to let my Windows box remain in the background as a network/print/fax server while relying on this nifty iMac G5 for the Real Work. As support fades, Microsoft offers Win2000 update. Microsoft has released a "high-priority" update for Windows 2000 that includes more than 50 security fixes and comes as mainstream support for the operating system is set to expire tomorrow. [Computerworld News] BTW, the old box that the kids play games on is still running Windows 98 SE. They're playing games that my now college-age son played long ago. No need to spend big bucks on hi-res games and the requisite hardware. Nope nope nope. 6:11:47 PM    Questions? Comments? Flames? []

Ready for a few years anyway Homage to the Long Now: HOWTO make your Mac Y10K compliant. Xeni Jardin: Snipped from Kevin Kelly's COOL TOOLS: Reader Michael Hohl figured out this wonderful way to make your computer Y10K compliant. That is, how to set your computer so that it displays the 5-digit date it will need when we reach the years after 9999: that is 10000 and beyond. In anticipation of that time, you can set this year's date to 02005 if you have Mac OSX Tiger. Here are step-by-step directions. Be first in your neighborhood to have all your documents and files future-proofed. Link [Boing Boing] I made the change as a gesture, although it doesn't actually show up in the tool bar unless you right-click on the datetime. But I think the Long Now thing is so cool I want to show my support, even in little ways. 5:59:51 PM    Questions? Comments? Flames? []

Podcasting hits mainstream Less than nine months after I first heard of (and started consuming) podcasts, they're hitting mainstream: Apple has included podcast support in the latest iTunes 4.9, with a huge directory of available podcasts on the Music Store site. Discover, Subscribe, Manage & Listen to Podcasts in iTunes 4.9. Apple takes Podcasting mainstream by building everything users need to discover, subscribe, manage and listen to podcasts right into iTunes 4.9, the latest version of its award winning digital music software and online music store. iTunes users can now easily subscribe to over 3,000 free podcasts and have each new episode automatically delivered over the Internet to their computer and iPod. [Jun 28, 2005] [Apple Hot News] I'm not sure how soon, or even if, I'll start using the iTunes capability; I'm still figuring out how to use the latest upgrade of iPodderX, now at version 3.0+. But it's interesting that, within days of Microsoft finally acknowledging the importance of RSS, Apple's already way ahead with support for RSS with enclosures (the supporting technology for podcasts). Rock on. 12:46:43 PM    Questions? Comments? Flames? []

© Copyright 2002-2005 Fred Sampson. Last update: 7/3/05; 9:16:30 PM.