So What’s With IBM, Anyway?

Apple’s one-time nemesis turned technology partner will be unveiling details about its new Power4, 64-bit chip this month. The new chip is rumored to have been designed with Apple products in mind, and the Apple rumor mill that constantly runs on overdrive is already discussing the benefits of the new chip in Apple products. Although it would take time to integrate the new chip design into Apple products and Motorola has, according to reports, the G5 almost ready to go, the prospects of a new IBM chip in future Apple products has captured our attention.

I Sync, U Sync, We All Sync With iSync

Well, maybe not yet. But if Apple has its way, users of Mac OS X 10.2.1 will be downloading Apple’s latest digital lifestyle technology by the millions. iSync is designed to allow users of Mac OS X to seamlessly synchronize their digital appliances with one another.

In late September Apple released a public beta of its iSync product for testing by Mac users. A public beta means that Apple officially offers no technical support and users install the product without reasonable assurance that the product will be trouble free and compatible with a long list of products and software. The status as a public beta will deter few Mac fanatics from installing the first release of a cool technology.

Rendezvous for You Too

It’s official! Rendezvous is now Open Source. In a way, Apple’s Rendezvous technology does for computer peripherals and servers on a network what iSync does for digital appliances. It allows things to communicate with one another. Open Source means that no one is officially obliged to provide technical support. The status as Open Source means no one pays a royalty to Apple for use of the technology so it will deter few manufacturers of peripherals from evaluating the first Open Source release of a cool technology.

iSync for Congress

It’s election time, and according to candidates for public office all things are open for debate. At press time the stock market is coming off multi-year lows and talk of war fills the digital news pages. Everything open for debate means no one is providing reasonable assurance that the government policy changes by candidates will ever take effect. This will deter few politicians from making speeches. We only wish most candidates for public office would find a way to communicate with one another. Perhaps Apple should design a special version of iSync for candidates for seats in the US House and Senate. That would be a really cool technology.

Our Reasonable Assurance Policy

Each issue of ATPM is designed to provide our readers with timely information, colorful commentary, and helpful product reviews. Each issue comprises material created by our knowledgeable and dedicated staff of Macintosh veterans. For years ATPM has had its own version of the Rendezvous and iSync technologies. It’s called “Editorial Staff.” It provides a reasonable assurance that you will find something of interest within our digital pages, even if our contributors and editors have spent the month in a raging, open debate.

The Candy Apple: It Never Rains In California

As winter approaches, many of us are “California Dreaming.” However, Ellyn Ritterskamp is dreaming of a 22" Cinema Display, among the host of great Apple products she saw on a recent ramble in LA.

The Personal Computing Paradigm: Grab Bag

Michael Tsai mentions the extended deadline for upgrading to .Mac, follows up his previous Jaguar article with updates on hardware incompatibilities and 10.2 tips, and introduces an ATPM RSS feed that can be viewed in NetNewsWire.

Hollywood: There’s No “There,” There

Mike Shields sheds further light on an issue that should enrage and engage us all: the Dumb Muddle-headed Crap Act (DMCA). He also exhorts us to do something about it!

How To: The Cloning of a Mac

Remember when you could keep your Mac’s system on a floppy? Later, you could create a bootable copy on a Zip disk or CD-R. With Jaguar, it ain’t like that anymore, that’s for sure. But Sylvester Roque shows us that it isn’t impossible to “clone your Mac.”

Report: Apple Expo Paris 2002

After being cancelled last year, the annual European Apple Expo was recently held in Paris. Chris Ward describes some of the more interesting products on show in the City of Light.

Desktop Pictures: Bora Bora and Moorea

This month, we feature desktop pictures from Bora Bora and Moorea, two islands in French Polynesia. They look like a bit more fun than Tropico to us!

Review: Avalanche 1.0.1

Brooke Smith reviews Dracosoft’s Avalanche, an addictive game that resembles Space Invaders turned on its side.

Review: Building Cocoa Applications (book)

Ready for a book that’s a little more in-depth than Apple/O’Reilly’s “Learning Cocoa”? Eric Blair checks out Garfinkel and Mahoney’s 600-pager as he tries to make the jump into programming for OS X.

Review: Hogwasher 3.1

Gregory Tetrault reviews Hogwasher, a high-powered Usenet reader with support for article filtering, scheduled connections, tree diagrams of threads, batch binary posting, automatic binary decoding, full e-mail support, and the ability to set up multiple accounts.

Review: iTunes 3.0.1

Daniel Chvatik reviews the latest version of Apple’s MP3 player and encoder. It doesn’t yet support Rendezvous, but with smart playlists and improved library management, there’s plenty to like.

Review: Jinni Zeala Pinball 1.1.6

Gregory Tetrault reviews the Arabian-themed pinball game from the makers of Crystal Caliburn.