TidBITS#888/16-Jul-07
=====================
Issue link: <http://db.tidbits.com/issue/888>
Where do you get your Mac-related news and information? Adam digs
further into the results of the TidBITS 2007 Reader Survey and comes
up with some surprising answers. Also in this issue, Brian Tanaka
shares the secret of how he tracks his billable hours: OfficeTime.
Rounding out the news, we note the releases of QuickTime 7.2, iTunes
7.3.1, MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.3, Firmware Restoration CD
1.3, Microsoft Office 2004 11.3.6, and a major update to "Take
Control of Running Windows on a Mac." Lastly, if you're a new iPhone
owner with a weak stomach, you may not want to watch the video of
the device's losing battle with a high-powered blender.
Articles
Apple Releases QuickTime 7.2, iTunes 7.3.1
MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.3 Released
Microsoft Office 2004 11.3.6 Addresses Security Issues
An iPhone in a Blender?
Track Project Time with OfficeTime
TidBITS 2007 Reader Survey Results: News & Info Sources
Take Control News/16-Jul-07
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/16-Jul-07
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Apple Releases QuickTime 7.2, iTunes 7.3.1
------------------------------------------
by Jeff Carlson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9073>
Apple has updated QuickTime and iTunes, resolving issues with the
H.264 video codec and fixing bugs. The primary changes in QuickTime
7.2 are fixes for several potential security vulnerabilities related
to playback of malformed movie files or visiting maliciously crafted
Web sites. However, more interesting is one other long-overdue
change: movies can now be viewed full screen in QuickTime Player, a
feature previously available only after purchasing a QuickTime Pro
license. This update also adds two export formats: Movie to iPhone
creates an .m4v video, while Movie to iPhone (Cellular) creates a
smaller .3gp video. QuickTime 7.2 also rolls in unspecified updates
to the H.264 codec and other bug fixes. It's available via Software
Update or as stand-alone downloads for Mac (a 51.4 MB download) or
Windows (a 19.3 MB download).
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305947>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime72formac.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime72forwindows.html>
iTunes 7.3.1, according to Apple, "addresses a minor problem with
iTunes 7.3 accessing the iTunes Library." As such, the new version
rebuilds your library, so it's a good idea to make sure you have a
recent backup before you update. iTunes 7.3.1 is available for Mac
(a 33.8 MB download) or Windows (a 47.6 MB download).
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/itunes731formac.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/itunes731forwindows.html>
There has been discussion in TidBITS Talk of these updates causing
problems with Microsoft Office 2004 and some other applications that
rely on Mac OS X's Rosetta translation environment for PowerPC-based
applications running on Intel-based Macs. From what we can tell
based on a discussion at Apple's site and from MacFixIt reports, the
problem relates to update_prebinding failing to run properly during
the update process. Once update_prebinding has been run successfully
by typing "sudo update_prebinding" in Terminal or by reapplying the
Mac OS X 10.4.10 combo updater, all should be well unless Java SE
6.0 Release 1 Developer Preview 6 has also been installed; it must
be uninstalled according to the directions at MacFixIt before
running update_prebinding.
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1377/>
<http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1039074&start=0&tstart=0>
<http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20070713094450677>
<http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/macosx_updates/macosx10410comboupdatev11intel.html>
MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.3 Released
--------------------------------------------
by Jeff Carlson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9077>
Apple has released MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.3, which "fixes
a display issue on 2.2/2.4 GHz 15-inch MacBook Pro models,"
according to the minimal text on Apple's download page. MacFixIt
speculates that this update fixes a color distortion problem
introduced in the earlier MacBook Pro Software Update 1.0, which is
required prior to applying the latest firmware update.
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macbookproefifirmwareupdate13.html>
<http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20070713091025918>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macbookprosoftwareupdate10.html>
Apple also released Firmware Restoration CD 1.3. This utility (a
22.5 MB download) burns a CD that can be used to start up and repair
an Intel-based Mac that won't work due to an interrupted or failed
firmware update. The CD won't restore a machine's firmware if a
firmware update was successfully applied. Needless to say, download
the utility and burn a CD before applying the MacBook Pro EFI
Firmware Update.
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/firmwarerestorationcd13.html>
Microsoft Office 2004 11.3.6 Addresses Security Issues
------------------------------------------------------
by Jeff Carlson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9078>
Microsoft has released Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.6 Update,
which addresses vulnerabilities in Excel and fixes a bug in
Entourage. In Excel, an attacker could "overwrite the contents of
your computer's memory with malicious code," according to Microsoft.
The Entourage issue concerns data loss when using Microsoft Exchange
public folders. Additionally, the Japanese postal code dictionary
has been updated. The update, which can be applied most easily via
the Microsoft AutoUpdate utility, is a 15.4 MB download and requires
the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.5 Update to have been applied
previously.
<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/mac/download/Office2004/Office2004_1136.xml>
<http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=93157>
An iPhone in a Blender?
-----------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9074>
This is just painful to watch. There's a company called Blendtec
that makes a high-powered blender. To showcase its capabilities,
they've done a number of hilarious "Will It Blend?" videos that
feature a wide variety of objects being subjected to blending.
They've destroyed a can of fake cheese, old toilet components, and
even a garden hose. But for their latest spin de force, Blendtec put
an iPhone into their demon blender, and... well, you'll just have to
see what happens for yourself. Don't try this at home, not that any
sane person would.
<http://www.willitblend.com/videos.aspx?type=unsafe&video=iphone>
Track Project Time with OfficeTime
----------------------------------
by Brian Tanaka <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9019>
I'm forever juggling multiple projects. Naturally, I must track the
hours I spend on each project so I can bill my clients, and over the
years I've tried a variety of time tracking applications. A few
months ago, I switched to OfficeTime, and I think it's the best of
the bunch I've tried.
<http://www.officetime.net/>
OfficeTime will benefit anyone who tracks time spent on multiple
activities. It's simple enough to be quick to learn, yet it has
substantial features that make it truly useful. In day-to-day use,
it always seems to do just what I want it to do - no more and no
less.
Sessions - periods of time you track - are organized by user-defined
project names. For example, if you have three clients, you could
have a project for each of them. In reports, sessions are neatly
grouped within their respective projects. Each session can also
optionally belong to a category. Categories are types of tasks you
perform, such as Writing or Programming, and can have a default
dollar-per-hour rate.
Timing is simple. The QuickStart menu lists all your projects, and
the first 10 are bound to keyboard shortcuts Command-0 through
Command-9. To begin timing, pick a project off the list, use the
keyboard shortcut, or select a project from the pop-up menu in the
main OfficeTime window. All fields in the timer window, such as
elapsed time, are editable on the fly. Each session also contains a
Notes field. Pausing, stopping, starting, and re-starting the timer
can all be done from either the keyboard or a menu.
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2007-07/timer-window.jpg>
Speaking of rates, though the rate is set by the default category
(if one is defined) for each project, for each timed session you may
choose a different category (and possibly a different rate), or you
can even simply change the rate for the current session regardless
of category. You can also change categories, define a new category,
or not use a category at all. In other words, when you start a timed
session, if you like the defaults, you're all set. If you don't, you
can change whatever aspects you don't like, right where you are,
while the timer ticks away. This is an example of one of
OfficeTime's strengths: it employs logical conventions to make basic
use fast and simple, and yet it allows a refreshing degree of
flexibility as you work.
Another especially useful feature is the capability to switch
between projects rapidly. If, for example, I'm in the middle of a
project, and something comes up that forces me to work on another
project for 15 minutes, I simply change project timers quickly and
easily.
The necessary reporting and graphing features are done well. For
example, if I want to see how I've spent my time during the current
day and how much money I've earned, I simply press Command-T. A
quick report appears that shows all the projects I've worked on, how
long I worked on them, and how much money I've earned - both by
project and total for the day. Plus, the report includes a nice
color-coded pie chart that shows at a glance that, for instance, I
spent too much time today reviewing my Getting Things Done lists and
not enough time writing code!
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2007-07/pie-chart.jpg>
Generating a new report with a different time period or with data
from one particular project or category requires simply choosing a
few options from the pop-up menus. There are also keyboard shortcuts
for common time periods: today, last week, this month, and so on.
You can quickly see how much time you've spent on the currently
timed project over the entire life of the project by simply pressing
Command-R.
When you reach the end of your billing cycle, you can generate
invoices in OfficeTime, or simply copy and paste data from the
OfficeTime reports into an email message or your own billing
template in another application.
OfficeTime synchronizes with iCal and Address Book, is a universal
binary, and costs $40. It requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later. A fully
functional demo version is available as a 9.5 MB download and
expires after 21 days.
<http://www.officetime.net/download.html>
[Brian Tanaka is a freelance writer, IT consultant, Web developer,
and the author of "Take Control of Permissions in Mac OS X."]
<http://briantanaka.com/>
<http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/permissions-macosx.html?14@@!pt=TB888>
TidBITS 2007 Reader Survey Results: News & Info Sources
-------------------------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9075>
We've been busy with other things, but we haven't forgotten the
results of our recent reader survey, which garnered responses from
over 3,500 people. In the first installment (see "TidBITS 2007
Reader Survey Results: Who Are You?," 2007-03-12), I looked at what
the results said about who reads TidBITS. This time I'm instead
focusing on how our readers acquire technical news and information.
I have a few charts that illustrate the numbers, which you can view
either by visiting the linked graphic or just reading this article
on our Web site, where graphics now appear inline within the
article.
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/webx?displaySurvey@@.3c8dc29b>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/8904>
In the survey, we asked about the ways in which you acquire Mac- and
tech-related news and information. The table below summarizes the
answers.
News Source (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Rank
------------------------------------------------------
Email newsletters 48 119 363 687 2177 15008
Web sites 52 215 706 949 1422 13506
Personal email 255 732 825 638 820 10846
Print magazines 541 738 746 598 638 9837
Discussion forums 589 918 707 498 501 9043
In-person 753 974 766 419 291 8130
RSS feeds 1261 641 350 226 705 8022
Aggregator sites 1357 665 486 268 345 6942
Podcasts 1383 799 415 285 267 6701
Personal blogs 1294 871 527 289 151 6528
First, some notes. Remember, 1 is "Never," 2 is "Infrequently," 3 is
"Sometimes," 4 is "Often," and 5 is "Regularly." What that means is
that email newsletters are ignored entirely by 48 people, read
infrequently by 119, read sometimes by 363, read often by 687, and
read regularly by 2,177.
The last column, "Rank," is a calculation of the column number (1
through 5) multiplied by the number of votes in each column, all
added together to provide a single method of comparison. The goal
with Rank is to work around the problem that it's difficult to scan
the middle rows and make sense of the fact that nearly as many
people said they never read discussion forums as those who read them
often or regularly.
I've sorted this table and the corresponding chart by Rank, making
it easy to see, in a bit of a tautology, that TidBITS readers, most
of whom read TidBITS in email, get news via email newsletters
frequently. Even without TidBITS itself skewing those results, email
newsletters would likely be popular with our readers, many of whom
have been using the Internet for a long time and would thus have
stuck with habits formed before blogs, podcasts, and RSS were even
conceived of. TidBITS readers also rely heavily on going to Web
sites directly for information - sites like Macworld and MacFixIt
are examples of sites you visit directly for news and information.
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2007-07/rank-comparison.jpg>
<http://www.macworld.com/>
<http://www.macfixit.com/>
To my mind, what's most telling about these results are the
extremes; the people who never use a particular news source versus
those who use one regularly. On the other end of the spectrum from
email and direct visits to Web sites, we can see that TidBITS
readers for the most part seldom rely on blogs, podcasts, or
aggregator sites for their information.
There's one significant anomaly that becomes obvious when the data
is visualized as a stacked bar chart. In terms of pure rank, RSS
ends up fairly low, but as you can see in the chart, that's because
RSS seems to be an all-or-nothing proposition. Lots of people never
use RSS or do so only infrequently, and only a handful use it
sometimes or often, but a rather large number of people rely on it
regularly.
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2007-07/rank-components.jpg>
With that data in mind, I want to look at each of these methods of
acquiring news, in terms of the user audience for whom each method
makes sense, and the goals in using each method.
**Email Newsletters** -- For many of us who have been on the Internet
for years, email newsletters remain the best way to receive news and
information. They're mixed in with other messages, making it easy to
read through as you deal with other mail. Plus, there's a comfort in
knowing that anything received and stored in your email archive can
be found later. Email clients generally make it easy to read
everything that appears.
But all these advantages work against email newsletters too. Many
people are unsubscribing from mailing lists of all types in an
effort to reduce email overload created by too many messages and the
ever-increasing influx of spam. And while email clients make it easy
to read mail, they seldom aid in skimming the contents of messages
that you may not want to read in their entirety. My understanding is
that while younger people always have email addresses, they're much
less likely to use them in favor of comment and discussion features
in walled garden Web sites like MySpace or Facebook.
<http://www.myspace.com/>
<http://www.facebook.com/>
From a publisher's point of view, I think email newsletters are
incredibly valuable, because if someone invites you to contact them
regularly via email, that's a far more powerful communication
channel than anything else. But managing a large mailing list,
handling bounces, and dealing with subscription problems takes a
non-trivial amount of time and effort, and once you've sent
something out in email, you can't update it or fix mistakes, as is
possible with Web-based publications.
**Web Sites** -- TidBITS readers go directly to Web sites for
information nearly as much as they rely on email newsletters, which
makes sense, since I suspect TidBITS readers are likely to have
established a collection of must-visit sites to be read regularly.
(I do this via a workspace in OmniWeb and by Command-clicking a
folder of bookmarks in Safari to open numerous sites in tabs.) With
many sites, the desired information appears on the initially loaded
page, eliminating any need for further navigation. When you're
looking for headlines, a Web site provides them in their original
context and intended presentation.
In short, a Web site remains the core of any publishing project,
although to read Web sites effectively requires that you focus in on
a relatively small set that you can digest in your available time.
**Personal Email** -- I included personal email as a method of
gathering news and information largely because it's how I pick up on
a large amount of what's going on. It's essentially electronic
word-of-mouth, and works well because there's nothing better than
another person for evaluating what might interest you. In other
words, using your actual friends and colleagues (not just other
Internet users, as is done by social bookmarking sites like Digg and
del.ico.us) as editors is perhaps the most effective way to discover
interesting news.
<http://www.digg.com/>
<http://del.icio.us/>
The problem, of course, is that you must have a large personal
network of people who know what interests you and have sufficient
incentive to alert you to important articles. Many people don't have
such a network, and thus must rely on other methods of discovering
what's hot.
**Print Publications** -- Of course, print magazines and newspapers
have long selected the news that most people read, and they remain
unparalleled at that role, if only because they can hire
professional editors who spend their lives determining what is and
is not interesting. The downside is that print publications are
generally not free - as with Internet-based content - and usually
have advertising in addition to the subscription fees that offset
the cost of printing and distribution.
The fact that TidBITS readers rely heavily on print publications
fits with the demographics of the audience - older people are more
likely to have established trusted sources of information, to have
disposable income to spend on subscriptions, and to prefer reading
on paper.
That said, print is a tough world, and we're seeing publications
that competed largely on timeliness moving entirely online in favor
of a mixed print/online model. In my mind, the only way a print
publication is likely to succeed in today's world is if it's
publishing sufficiently in-depth content that readers want to devote
all their attention to it in an offline environment. I could read
The New Yorker online, but I far prefer to focus on its lengthy
articles (nicely interspersed with cartoons) on paper while sitting
on the couch.
<http://www.newyorker.com/>
**Discussion Forums** -- I was initially a little confused that people
rated discussion forums as highly as they did, until I considered
that a discussion forum provides a large network of like-minded
people. Sending a link to a bunch of friends individually requires
effort and knowing lots of people. But on a discussion forum, it's
easy both to inform lots of people about interesting events quickly,
and, on the consumption side, to read what others in the group think
is interesting.
Relying on discussions in a mailing list or Web forum for news
probably isn't an effective way to learn what's going on overall,
but if you want to keep up on the discussions for other
information-gathering reasons, the news that seeps in is likely
highly topical and timely.
**In-person** -- Very few of our respondents regularly get their news
and information in person, which shouldn't be surprising, if only
because we're likely to spend most of our time with people who have
roughly the same sources of information that we do. However, this
method of news acquisition ranked as highly as it did due to large
numbers of people saying that they get information in-person
infrequently or sometimes - perhaps at Macintosh user group
meetings. In other words, talking with friends, relatives, and
colleagues can provides the occasional bit of information, but few
people rely heavily on word-of-mouth these days.
**RSS Feeds** -- As I said before, TidBITS readers either use RSS
(Really Simple Syndication) heavily or hardly at all - there's no
in-between. (And to answer the people who said they didn't even know
what RSS is, it's a technology that any Web-enabled site can use to
publish frequently updated information in a manner that many RSS
programs, including Safari and the popular NetNewsWire, can present
in a coherent, easily scanned display.)
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS>
<http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/NetNewsWire/>
I've been thinking about the bifurcation of the RSS numbers, and I
think what's going on is that signing up to receive an email
newsletter is in essence an informal agreement that you'll read
whatever is sent. RSS embodies the other extreme, where your goal is
to _avoid_ reading as much as possible. I've heard from a number of
people who subscribe to an insane number of feeds - often several
hundred - and when I ask how they find the time to read all that
content, they usually admit that they seldom read more than a tiny
proportion of what comes through. But what's important is that
scanning all the headlines gives them a sense of what's happening
with a minimal time commitment.
As a result, I think RSS lends itself to use by specific professions
and personality types. For instance, our editor Glenn Fleishman also
runs a number of blogs related to Wi-Fi networking and other
wireless technologies. To keep up with everything that's happening,
it's important that he be able to scan a very large number of sites
and publications with the understanding that most of what he sees
won't interest him at all. Anyone who finds themselves needing to
extract needles from haystacks will find RSS useful. Similarly,
there are people who aren't so much looking for needles, but who
need to know a very small amount about many different topics; if
they discover that they need to know more, they'll dive in further.
Politicians may fall into this category - even a local politician
may find the quick RSS overview of local publications and blogs to
be helpful in identifying areas that might become important.
For many people, though, RSS isn't about either finding needles or
getting the big picture for professional reasons. Instead, I think
it meets a psychological need to feel informed, to feel as though
you know what's happening in the world, or at least in some specific
subset of the world. People who feel this need are the sort who used
to read (or at least skim) the New York Times from front to back
every day. Personally, I think this is a dangerous need in today's
world, since the Internet can provide far more information - even
just in headline form - than anyone can hope to absorb. But it's
something that news junkies are dealing with now, and will have to
continue to deal with in the future, because the amount of news
available will continue to increase.
**Aggregator Sites** -- The fact that TidBITS readers don't use RSS
much appears to carry over to aggregator sites such as MacSurfer and
the new Apple Investor News, which is focused on business news
related to Apple. These sites do a good job of collecting and
presenting news headlines from elsewhere on the Web - often using
RSS, in fact. I suspect the problem is the raw number of headlines,
and just as with RSS, people can feel overwhelmed.
<http://www.macsurfer.com/>
<http://www.appleinvestornews.com/>
These sites become useful primarily when the headlines they choose
to collect and the way they present them happen to resonate with the
type of information you want and how you consume it.
**Podcasts** -- Despite the hype of the last few years, podcasts have
not made significant inroads with TidBITS readers as a way of
acquiring news. Perhaps they're not sufficiently oriented toward
news (though some certainly are, such as Your Mac Life and the
MacNotables podcast Tonya and I participate in), or not sufficiently
timely (few are updated as frequently as Web publications), or not
sufficiently professional - personal blogs seem to fall into roughly
the same boat.
<http://www.yourmaclifeshow.com/>
<http://www.macnotables.com/>
I love podcasts, but frankly, not very many of them. It's not that
most of them aren't good, but that listening to audio is far more
time-consuming than reading, and I simply don't have time to keep up
with many. Those who must suffer through long commutes or frequent
travel, or who like to listen to iPods while exercising may have
more time that can be spent listening to podcasts.
**Personal Blogs** -- Bringing up the bottom of the list are personal
blogs; it appears that the TidBITS readership doesn't participate in
a big way in the blogosphere, at least when it comes to news. I
can't say that I'm particularly taken aback by this result, since
while individual blog posts may provide interesting insight into an
event, more often than not, they merely point to an original article
on another site. So unless you find a blogger whose interests
parallel yours, and who is particularly effective at noticing those
events that you want to read about, relying on a personal blog would
seem a relatively haphazard approach to learning about what's
happening.
**Other** -- In the event that we missed entire ways that people
obtain Mac-related news and information, our survey solicited reader
suggestions as well. Most suggestions were specific examples of a
method of obtaining news, but a few bona fide trends emerged.
* Books. Because we were thinking about frequently updated news and
information, we didn't include books among the answers, but readers
said that books remain a significant way in which they learn more
about the Mac. Can't argue with that!
* Conferences. Similarly, we didn't think about conferences, which
generally occur too infrequently to be useful from a news
perspective. But of course, conferences are a great source of less
timely information, and Macworld Expo in particular was cited as a
key source.
* Search engines. Although search engines are really just a way of
finding particular Web sites, enough people mentioned using Google
to search for Mac-related information that I decided to include it
here. With a search engine, you're waiting to look for information
until you need it, rather than letting it come to you, but that's a
totally legitimate (and perhaps more sane) method of learning.
* Apple Stores. Lastly, quite a few people mentioned that they learn
at Apple Stores, either in the classes or from staffers at the
Genius Bars. Although that would seem to fall into the "In-person"
category, it feels sufficiently different to be called out. The fact
that Apple Stores have turned into a useful informational resource
is impressive, and Apple deserves credit for making them work beyond
the realm of commerce.
**Future Analysis** -- That's it for this time; as I continue to pore
through the results of the reader survey I'll write more about the
specific places you acquire your information, the kinds of articles
you like in TidBITS, and what you'd like to see more of.
Take Control News/16-Jul-07
---------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9076>
**Run Windows on a Mac with Up-to-Date Advice** -- We've just released
version 2.5 of "Take Control of Running Windows on a Mac," bringing
this essential 148-page book completely up-to-date. It's loaded with
all the details you need to run Windows on a Mac successfully with
Apple's Boot Camp 1.3 beta, Parallels Desktop 3.0, the release
candidate of VMware Fusion, or the free public beta of VirtualBox.
<http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/windows-on-mac.html?14@@!pt=TRK-0034-TB888-TCNEWS>
Written by best-selling author and TidBITS Senior Editor Joe
Kissell, the book, which now covers both Windows XP and Vista, also
includes real-world advice about installing Windows, dealing with
tricky peripherals, sharing files between Windows and Mac OS X,
backing up a Windows installation, avoiding Windows malware, and
more. And, of course, for anyone just getting into virtualization,
the $10-off coupon for Parallels Desktop 3.0 makes buying the $10
book a no-brainer.
If you already own "Take Control of Running Windows on a Mac,"
please note that we're offering a free update to anyone who bought
it after 01-Sep-06, and a 25% discount to those who purchased before
that. We've sent email with the necessary links to those people;
drop us a note if you missed yours.
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/16-Jul-07
------------------------------------
by TidBITS Staff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9079>
**State of Mac Support for GPS** -- Following Adam's review of GPS
devices last year, what's the current state of the art? And more
importantly, how is the Mac support? (9 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1366/>
**Best FM transmitter** -- There are lots of devices designed to play
music from an iPod over your car's stereo system, but how do they
stack up? And is a wired cassette adapter a better alternative? (12
messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1367/>
**PDF "resolution"** -- A PDF file is resolution-independent, but the
quality of the imagery can vary if it includes bitmapped pictures
(such as JPEG photos, for example). (8 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1368/>
**FTC abandons net neutrality** -- The Federal Trade Commission in the
United States has decided to abandon the notion of net neutrality,
which could open the door to variable pricing for delivering
Internet content. (1 message)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1369/>
**Open Message AppleScript for Mail** -- If you want Apple's Mail
application to open messages in separate windows based on a rule,
download this collection of AppleScript scripts. (1 message)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1372/>
**Trading In-Home Wi-Fi for Powerline Networking** -- A reader shares
his unhappy experiences with Powerline networking following Kevin
van Haaren's article last week. (1 message)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1373/>
**Apple "Proof of Purchase Coupons"** -- Just what is the use of the
Proof of Purchase Coupons that come with Apple products? A few
readers have used them in the past to get replacement system discs.
(7 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1375/>
**Jogging with your iPod in a Thunderstorm** -- Could jogging with an
iPod have caused a man to be struck by lightning? Despite the
contents of a medical report, some readers want more information
before drawing a direct link. (6 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1376/>
**Updaters cause problems for Office and other Rosetta apps** -- Some
people experienced problems with applications that run under Rosetta
on Intel-based Macs after updating to QuickTime 7.2 and iTunes
7.3.1. Could Java be a cause? (4 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1377/>
**ProCare** -- Recent changes to Apple's ProCare support program are
leaving some users unhappy. (2 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/1378/>
$$
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