Welcome
Welcome to the November issue of About This Particular Macintosh! The end of October was really spooky. No, not Halloween per se, but the announcement that the Windows version of Apple’s iPod will be sold through the Dell online store. How’s that for a chilling surprise?
The Dell announcement came just in time for Windows users who have longed to own an Apple iPod to celebrate All Saints Day. After all, there are many good things Windows users can now do with Apple’s multifunction iPod device.
Earlier in the month Apple released its results for the fourth fiscal quarter and the fiscal year that ended at the close of September. The good news is that Apple maintained its cash and equivalents balance at about $4.3 billion. The bad news is that one-time charges from write-downs on certain stock holdings and the costs of job reductions at the company’s Sacramento plant pushed Apple marginally into the red for the quarter. For the fiscal year, Apple earned about $65 million after taxes on revenue of $5.74 billion.
October marked the end of iTools; Apple’s formerly free service that was repackaged as a fee-based program with enhanced services called .Mac. The new fee-based service now sports an iSync feature that allows subscribers to sync their contact database with Apple’s iPod and certain Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones. At the beginning of October Apple claimed the .Mac service had more than 180,000 paid subscribers.
Just in time for the 2002 holiday season, Apple Computer is opening three more retail stores on the first Saturday in November. The new retail store locations include Las Vegas, Nevada, Indianapolis, Indiana and Edina, Minnesota. By the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Apple Computer will have open about 50 retail stores in high-traffic locations throughout the United States.
Thanksgiving is a time for fun and family and has traditionally represented the start of the Christmas holiday season. The ATPM staff wishes all of our readers and their families a safe and happy holiday season.
But just in case you get stuck in an airport while waiting for a delayed flight or at a station waiting for a snow-bound train, our latest issue makes for exceptional holiday reading and will help you pass the time on the long journey home for the holidays.
Our November issue includes:
Beyond the Barline: Ready or Not!
David Ozab considers the reality that come January new Macs won’t boot into Mac OS 9. This is a problem for him, since the high-end audio software he requires doesn’t yet run on OS X.
The Candy Apple: From a Distance…
Ellyn considers the pros and cons of distance learning.
The Legacy Corner: Where to Get Free and Inexpensive Software for Legacy Macs
Like the title says, Chris Lawson examines software solutions for legacy Macs, from system software to applications. He also throws in some Mac trivia and puts out a call for topics.
About This Particular Web Site
Back after a long hiatus, this month’s ATPW offers news for .Mac users and an alternative for .Mac refugees. Other sites will help you save Farscape, save the world from more AOL CDs, and save yourself or a loved one from self-injury.
Segments: Internet “Piracy” of Films and Broadcasts: Is It a Problem or an Excuse for Restricting Copyrights?
Gregory Tetrault looks at threats to your digital rights. He missed an episode of Buffy and went to a lot of trouble to download it from a news group so that he could watch the upcoming episodes in sequence. Of course, the RIAA-like entertainment industry wouldn’t like that.
The User Strikes Back: Put Your E-Mail on a Diet
We are all inundated by e-mail. Ken Gruberman is, too, but he does something about it! He shares his strategy of getting control of Outlook Express and Entourage, explains e-mail databases, and offers up some troubleshooting advice.
What’s Under the Hood
Now a regular ATPM feature, Robert C. Lewis’s What’s Under the Hood has a look at some software he uses to soup up his Mac experience.
Networks in Action: Switching Between Networks in Mac OS X
Reconfigure your OS X network without restarting your brain. This article changes a Cube from an AirPort network to a Mac-to-PC Ethernet connection and back again, as a taste of working with multiple networks under Mac OS X.
How To: Adding A Graphical Favorite To the Internet Explorer Toolbar
Lee Bennett shows us how to make an IE toolbar favorite that updates its image when the site changes.
How To: Putting Curb Cuts and Wider Doors on the Internet: Toward Web Site Accessibility
Apple asks us to “Think Different.” But some of us have to “Work Different” because of a disability. This month, ATPM looks at why making a Web site accessible for persons with disabilities is a good idea—and then shows how to go about it.
How To: Troubleshooting 101
We love our Macs in part because they “just work”…most of the time. But they can also act up every now and then. Paul Conaway outlines some ideas on how to minimize problems, how to troubleshoot them when things go sour, and what resources are out there to provide help.
Cartoon: Cortland
In a quadruple installment, Matt Johnson’s Cortland looks at Terry’s attempts to get a copy of Jaguar without paying for it.
Cartoon: Hambone
The subject of Mike Flanagan’s Hambone is overpriced computers.
Desktop Pictures: Bimini
This month’s desktop pictures, a submission from reader Al Camentz, were taken in the Bahamas.
Review: FireWire DriveDock
Eric Blair reviews WiebeTech’s handy adapter for connecting a bare IDE drive to your Mac’s FireWire port. If you have a bunch of old drives laying around looking for something to do, you should check it out.
Review: Lapvantage Deluxe Dome
Christopher Turner reviews an elegant iBook/TiBook stand that elevates your Mac laptop and lets it rotate like the iMac G4. He prefers it to an HP docking station shelf part he’d previously been using, both for aesthetic and functional reasons.
Review: Watch & Smile 2.0.7
If you’d been looking on as Gregory Tetrault worked on his review of binuscan’s Watch & Smile, you wouldn’t have gotten to watch much smiling. While the slide show creation program offers some useful features, its poor interface and lack of documentation make it frustrating to use.
Also in This Series
- Welcome (and Goodbye) · May 2012
- Welcome · April 2012
- Welcome · March 2012
- Welcome · February 2012
- Welcome · January 2012
- Welcome · December 2011
- Welcome · November 2011
- Welcome · October 2011
- Welcome · September 2011
- Complete Archive
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