Tuesday, May 18, 2004

How Much for That Laptop in the Browser Window? A colleague recently asked me for help to spec out a high-end laptop she wanted to use for video editing. I fired up apple.com and dell.com in my browser and went to work. With comparable add-ons (extra RAM, a high-end graphics card, a three-year on-site warranty), the Apple 12" PowerBook added up to $2,450, almost $200 less than the Dell Inspiron 9100, and was smaller and lighter to boot. Add video-editing and photo-album software like the Apple's built-in iPhoto and iMovie, and the Dell would end up costing about $500 more. The Dell in its base configuration started out cheaper, but by the time I got done tricking it out with extras that came included with the PowerBook, it more than lost its lead in price. (Full disclosure: I've used both Macs and PCs, and currently have an iBook at home.) [Macro error: Can't call the script because the name "postCosmos" hasn't been defined.] 10:41:39 PM    comment []

We Got Woz Woz (that is, Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computers and one of this planet's geekiest geeks) will be keynoting our conference this year. If you haven't already registered, you might care to do it soon. [Macro error: Can't call the script because the name "postCosmos" hasn't been defined.] 3:47:04 PM    comment []

Camino 0.8b Released The Camino Project has released 0.8beta, the latest version of their alternative Mac browser. Camino 0.8b adds performance, stability, and rendering improvements to a long list of easy-to-use features. [Macro error: Can't call the script because the name "postCosmos" hasn't been defined.] 3:00:46 PM    comment []

Apple to slow pace of Mac OS X tweaks Apple Computer plans to continue rapidly bringing out new versions of the operating system, but it won't continue at quite the pace it's maintained in recent years. [Macro error: Can't call the script because the name "postCosmos" hasn't been defined.] 2:48:09 PM    comment []

Horrible Apple OS Security Hole There are widespread reports of a terrible security problem in Apple's Mac OS X. Be extremely careful in surfing until Apple fixes this. If you use Safari, you can help yourself (unclear whether this is a total fix) by opening Preferences and unchecking the "Open 'safe' files after downloading" option. [Macro error: Can't call the script because the name "postCosmos" hasn't been defined.] 9:07:53 AM    comment []

Apple Address Book plug-ins One of the coolest features of the MacOS X Address Book is extensiblity. The free Reverse Look-up plugin (U.S. only) and roll-your-own Schedule Call script are outstanding examples. Reverse Lookup allows you to click on the label of any phone number and select "Reverse 212-555-1212 to address". This will automatically fill in the appropriate address fields for that card. Very cool! "Schedule Call to (contact's name)" will also appear in this menu after installation. It populates a new iCal Info window when selected, and places it in the To Do list. A link to their Address Book entry is automatically entered into the Notes field. [Macro error: Can't call the script because the name "postCosmos" hasn't been defined.] 9:05:46 AM    comment []

Apple offers more .Mac member benefits Apple has added several new benefits to its .Mac online service... [Macro error: Can't call the script because the name "postCosmos" hasn't been defined.] 8:43:09 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2004 Paul W. Swansen.