A.P.P.L.E. Glimpses

Posted by: Bill Martens Date: August 4, 2002 0 Likes 487 Views

A.P.P.L.E. Glimpses

Apple Computer releases QuickTime 6 Preview

Apple Computer Inc. released the latest beta version of its popular video playing software, Quicktime 6 to the public this month. While the software is expected to build upon the changes that were in the last release, it still has some distance to cover before catching up with the other players in the market.

The latest version includes support for MPEG-4 file format as well as AAC Audio from which is an enhanced version of the Dolby Laboratories audio processing technology. Also included in this version is better protection from audio skips that are prevalent on slower machines and connections during streaming.

While Apple Tries to regain market share, this release if it is all that they are claiming it to be should provide them with the means to become the prime player in the media streaming world.

The player can be downloaded at: 
http://www.apple.com/quicktim e/preview/quicktime6/

Macworld Expo in New York Coming Soon

One of the upcoming bright spots in the Apple world is the IDG Macworld Expo,

which will be held in New York from the 15th though the 19th of July 2002. While Steve Jobs is known for surprising people, it is not really expected that he will introduce much at this expo. He has just released Xserve and Jaguar so while nothing really is expected from this side of things, it is expected that he will push the Quicktime 6 and the mythical G5 to the forefront in order to build upon the excitement created with Xserve,

With over 200 exhibitors already having signed up for this round of the Macworld circuit, it should out shine the Tokyo Macworld Expo by a long shot. However, with the amount of content being down with the economic downturn in the IT world, it remains to be seen whether or not any news comes out of New York.

You can find the Macworld Expo web site at: http://www.macworldexpo.com /macworldexpo/v31/index.cvn

Macworld Expo New York 2002 News

Apple has announced that it will broadcast Steve Jobs’ keynote speech at this

years Mac World Expo live over the internet. The announcement which appears on Apple Computer Inc.’s web site at http://www.apple.com/quicktim e/qtv/mwny02/ 
lists the start time for the keynote at 9am ET on 17 July 2002.

The announcement adds fuel to the already circulating rumor that Steve Jobs is expected to announce a major piece of news. Most people are expecting some news on the much talked about G5 chip which has been discussed to some extent in many of the online discussion boards.

Also expected is more details on the Jaguar project as well as further news on the Xserve rack mount server.

While Apple has been tight lipped about the keynote, they are obviously trying to draw more viewers and users by following other major manufacturers in simulcasting major announcements.

In order to view the speech, you will need to have the QuickTime media player which is available from the Apple web site at http://www.apple.com/quicktim e/download/.

Microsoft announces Internet Explorer 5.2 for Mac OS X

Microsoft has released the latest version of Internet Explorer for the Macintosh. Version 5.2 of IE which is built for Macintosh OS X, is available for free from the Microsoft website. This version of IE incorporates some of the text smoothing technologies used by QuartzTM which were included in the OS X 10.1.5 release of recent months.

The only drawback to this version is the fact that it is not compatible with OS 8 or 9. This is shown in the note on the Microsoft web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/download/ie/ie51.asp

Note Internet Explorer 5.2 for Mac OS X is not compatible with Mac OS 9.x or earlier. It requires features that are available only in Mac OS X. If you use Mac OS 8.1 to 9.x, you can download and install Internet Explorer 5.1.4 for Mac OS 8.1 to 9.x.

While this should not be a problem for those users who use strictly the OS 10.1.5, it definitely is not in the spirit that many of the software packages have had up to this point where backwards compatibility was a requirement and a must.

You can find more information on this product and other Microsoft produced Apple related products at:

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/

Oreilly Releases Unix for Mac OS X Book

O’Reilly, which has traditionally produced some of the most widely used and respected series of books in the computing world has once again released the long awaited Unix for Mac OS X book. This book which goes into the gutsoftheMacOSX environment is not only readable but is also one of the most usable in real world situations.

The best part of this book is the that it provides problem solving

information, which is clear, concise and appropriate for many of the situations we find ourselves in when dealing with day-to-day operations in OS X. This is definitely a must buy for the OS X user.

You can find more information about the book at: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog /lunixmacosx/

You can buy the book from Amazon.com for $13.97 at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/ obidos/ASIN/0596003420/qid% 3D/104-4745862-0983107

Author: Bill Martens
A.P.P.L.E. Chairman of the Board and Club president -- Bill worked for the founder, Val J. Golding and A.P.P.L.E. from 1981 to 1982. In 1999, he began archiving the materials which were distributed and sold by A.P.P.L.E.. That project led to the group that remained of A.P.P.L.E. Bill was involved in the financial industry in Tokyo and has over 20 major office infrastructure projects to his name. In March 2001, he retired to write books and to spend more time pursuing personal interests. As the president of the users group, Bill is in charge of distribution of Call-A.P.P.L.E. magazine as well as the organization of this web site. Bill currently resides in Tokyo, Japan and Shelton, Wa splitting time between the places.
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