Universal Rule

Book Reviews

Tuesday, August 27, 2002

How many Jaguars are there? -- Comment()
Record breaking Jaguar sales [MacCentral]

Perhaps the Apple estimate of 5 million Mac OS X users by the end of this year is not so impossible. However, the first weekend is more a measure of the current hype than of future sales.

Mozilla 1.1 and MathML -- Comment()
Mozilla v1.1. - Mozilla is a scriptable, open-source web browser, designed for standards compliance, performance and portability. [release notes] [AppleScript Info]

The update also adds Quartz Extreme optimization for those running machines that support it, as well as MathML support, better Web standards support, and a host of other enhancements.[Mac Net Journal]

I have to check the MathML support in this new version. The previous versions have been rather unreliable in rendering even simple math with MathML.

Jaguar is a nice animal -- Comment()
Yesterday I finished my first piece on Jaguar (Mac OS X 10.2). The system works well, although there were a couple of typos in the Finnish version. All the software I have so far tried seems to work without problems, except the new Matlab, which won't start.

Is this me? -- Comment()
I browsed through some of my posts here. This weblog is sort of a public notebook about software, hardware, science, and writing. I noticed that the "opinion pieces" didn't feel quite like I had written them. That is partly due to my lack of English, and partly due to writing without polishing.

Watson vs. Sherlock, round two -- Comment()
iMicrosoft?. Apple's iApps don't replace anything. Third-party software has to be good enough to replace the iApps, not the other way around. (Slashdot via MyAppleMenu) [MyAppleMenu]

On the other hand, a small developer might think twice about developing a cool new tool, if the developer of the operating system has the habit copying the cool new tools, instead of making it easier for developers to develop those tools and integrate them with the system.

Problem with iBook: the delete key broke off -- Comment()
The delete key on my white iBook has come off. This is really annoying. The thin plastic fasteners on the key seem to be broken. I have to get the iBook repaired, although I hate to be without it. The iBook is only about 9 months old, and already starts to go apart. Do other users have similar problems?

Also, the silver-colored round covering of the plug in the power cord is a bit loose. Is this another indication of a quality-control problem with the white iBook?

Jaguar is in the Lexus class -- Comment()
Usability of Jaguar (Mac OS X 10.2). The system feels like a Lexus car: when you close the door, you know that this thing has been polished to near perfection.

Perhaps I'm overstating a bit?

Matlab 6.5 problems on Mac OS X 10.2 -- Comment()
It seems that Matlab 6.5 will not run on Jaguar (Mac OS X 10.2). I updated my review with additional details about this.

Pinseri -- Comment()
The page-reads statistics of this blog showed that I had been linked by Pinseri, a list of Finland-based weblogs. It seems that the statistics functionality of Radio can give interesting information about the development of the blog network.

New texts: Normal or Hypertext? + Forestry of the Future -- Comment()
I picked up two English texts from my "CV archive", which is a personal digital archive of about 2000 files and 650 MB of data. I'm posting them as they are. Perhaps I'll edit them later on.

The text Normal or Hypertext originally appeared in Finnish in the magazine Yliopisto ("University") published by the University of Helsinki. The article was reprinted in the study guide of Finland Futures Academy, Turku, and translated into the English version of the guide.

The text Forestry of the Future was written as an essay for an English course at Helsinki University of Technology. It is based on an essay which won an international writing competition sponsored by FAO (United Nations). I made a presentation in English at the United Nations building in Geneva. (Traveling to Geneva was the first price of the competition.)

-- Comment()
A new version of TeXShop is available. It seems syntax coloring on Jaguar has been fixed.

Age of Abundance -- Comment()
At infoanarchy there is an article titled Into the Age of Abundance. Nice discussion about the current fight for the control of information.