[04/18/2002]
Mac OS X 10.1.4 released
xlr8yourmac notes that Apple has released Mac OS X 10.1.4, fixing several bugs and security holes, among them arguably also the famous PPP crash.
Of course there's also a lot more to be found in the archives, because I'm a lazy asshole and haven't posted in 12 days...shame on me.

[04/18/2002]
Funny shit
Today I read in the newspaper that Microsoft is going to cut down prives for the Xbox here in Switzerland, in order to push demand a little, which aparently has been everything else than overwhelming. The initial price of 699.- is going to be reduced to 449.- by April 26. (Why they're not making this immediate is a mystery to me, as no one is going to buy one at the old price during the next week anyway. Stupid.) That's quite a hefty price drop, that translates into roughly 150$ US less...Why not like that from the very beginning, MS?
the register has some official words on that.

[04/18/2002]
Harddrive changes
CNN reports that IBM is leaving the Harddrive business and is selling its assets to Hitachi and joins a joint-venture with them for future data storage developments. This doesn't come completely by surprise, as the inventor of the first harddisk (IBM), recently had trouble with their offerings in terms of reliability. However, my 45GB 75GXP has never failed so far. I hope Hitachi is going to keep up the good work.
If you want to know more about the past and the future of harddisk development, refer to this excellent article over at American Scientist. A 120TB harddrive anyone?.

[04/18/2002]
Apple update
the register also has various business news around Apple's latest financial report: £40 million profits. However, sales number have plummeted to critically low levels, and it's obvious that major updates are needed in both portable and the PowerMacintosh lines. At least they're still doign well now, and if they don't screw it up in summer, will most certainly continue to do so.

[04/18/2002]
Top-secret Mac?
Wired dug up a totally EM shielded Mac somewhere in a garage. I'm not quite sure what this is all about, but someone found a SE/30 with Tempest shielding, thus resistant to almost any kind of EM attack or espionage. Beats me, really.

[04/18/2002]
Microsoft: AMD to the rescue
the register reports that Bill Gates asked Jerry Sanders, chairman of AMD, to help him against the US states who still want Microsoft to release a cut-down versio of Windows, based on a modular instead of inclusive design. The choice of Sanders proved to be quite awkward, as Sanders doesn't have a clue what it's all about, and ended up saying more against Microsoft than in favor of them. Another shot in the foot, one must assume.

[04/18/2002]
Coursey likes his iMac
ZDnet's David Coursey has extended his one month iMac testing period to 3 months, because he's already grown quite fond if his iMac, and doesn't want to let go:) I do not envy him however, he probably get's flooded with hatemail stating that he's a Mac lover and a corrupt asshole or whatever some people might think. I'm just having a discussion on a Russian message board about why to "mac or not to mac", and the prejudices on the PC side are still as strong as they were 5 years ago. The "war" may be over to everyone else, but some people still try to prove that the Mac is simply bad for everything. Coursey probably proves the opposite.

[04/18/2002]
Photoshop 7 out too
MacCentral reports, among others, that Adobe has released Photoshop 7 for Mac (OS X) as well, which is cetainly very good news to thousands of professionals.

[04/18/2002]
MOSR
MOSR ...has new rumors AGAIN, who'd have thought so? (now this was a lazy post:)

[04/18/2002]
Game news
IMG has a lot of interesing news on Mac gaming, especially a new product that is supposed to ease porting DirectX games to the Mac, RtCW having gone Golden master and having even steeper requirements now, but at least they're explained. There's also some indication that the huge delay was caused by id and/or Activision. I can literally see how the programmers at id nervously tested and complained about how the porting had been done. Next time, just do it yourselves!

Final word
Hits on the NHP 200NC article have risen above 4.7 million now, which is an amazing number.