honestpuck writes "'Mac OS X Hacks' is a good grab bag of tips and techniques for getting the most from your Mac. While the tips are not as universally appealing (even among Mac owners) as those in 'Google Hacks' most people will find some value in the selection; experienced users may find it a little thin." Read on for the rest of honestpuck's review.

rlthomps-1 writes "Despite Apple's recent sucesses with the iTunes music store and the latest round of PowerBooks, TheDeal.com has an analysis of the options that Apple investors might force the company to take, including a breakup into separate hardware and software companies, a merger with both Universal and Pixar, or a leveraged buyout by private investors. Their analysis points to Palm as a case study for a successful breakup of a company that made both operating systems and hardware in a competitive market. Could separate Apple hardware and software companies revitalize the brand and challenge Microsoft's monopoly?" He forgot to call Apple "beleaguered;" however, he did say their decades-old position is "untenable."

foniksonik writes "Apple released an update to its IP over FireWire software. 'Now the IP over FireWire Preview Release adds support for using the Internet Protocol - commonly known as TCP/IP - over FireWire. ... Using the existing Network Preferences Pane, users can add FireWire as their IP network node to connect and communicate between two machines. ... In all cases, Rendezvous can be used if desired for configuration, name resolution, and discovery.'" Now it is time for YA debate on FireWire vs. Ethernet. Let the festivities commence!

inditek writes "At Stake has issued a security warning today about a vulnerability in Apple's AirPort Base Station: 'Apple's AirPort device is a wireless access point, providing 802.11 services to network clients. Authentication credentials are obfuscated, and then sent over the network. If an AirPort is administered over the Ethernet interface or via an insecure (non WEP) wireless connection, an attacker that can sniff the network can obtain administrative access to the AirPort.'"

hype7 writes "The NYT (free reg reqd etc) is running an interesting article on where MS seems to be getting all the ideas for its next big OS release, Longhorn. It's only a quickie, but they look at MS's big news from WinHEC, and their possible sources for inspiration. They also pull out that fantastic Bill Gates quote: 'The one thing Apple's providing now is leadership in colors'; and that Apple execs are now having a laugh of their own over how Longhorn, 'Microsoft's 2005 version of its Windows operating system, apes features that have been in Apple's OS X operating system since 2001.'"

st. jude writes "In a story over at Business 2.0, John Battelle says yes. As the man who made music downloading legit, maybe His Steveness can conquer Hollywood's loathing of the PVR next. As a lover of both my TiVo and my Mac, the thought makes this dreamer drool ... TiVo + Mac = iTV ... two great tastes that taste great together? Or just another version of a long-rumored geek fantasy that's as silly as the iWalk?" Although, if it means per-show payments, I'll pass.

kraksmoka writes "Spymac.com has already found a way to take the new features of iTunes 4 to new heights. Today they opened up a new section on their site entitled Spymac Music, which is a database of shared iTunes libraries. Anyone who wants can submit their music library to be shared. Currently it sports a search engine capable of searching title, album and artist. " I wonder how long this will last.

joesao writes "How have people been typing accents under OS X? I'm not talking funky key combinations, but simple, 'dead-key' stuff like: a + ` = à. In Windows this is accomplished easily by setting the input locale for keyboards as 'United States-International' but the similar function under System Preferences doesn't have any acceptable keyboards. Unicode isn't an option, either; only a few applications support that. Documentation on Apple's site is scant, and a Google search doesn't yield anything that really works. Anybody out there have a decent keyboard file for Mac OS X?"

An anonymous reader writes "Over at Apple has posted a technote on porting Unix programs to Mac OS X. Nothing earth-shattering, but nice to see it all collected."

a2fan writes "A bunch of retro-computing Apple II enthusiasts are decending on Kansas City, MO July 22-27 for the 15th annual KFest. Apple co-founder and Apple I, II designer Steve Wozniak will be there. The Apple II keeps on kicking with Ethernet, TCP/IP, and PCMCIA RAM cards used as hard disks. What is it that keeps such an old platform going?"

peel asks: "In the endless effort to get organized I'm looking for an alternative to signing up for a .Mac account that allows me to sync iCal and the Address Book between multiple computers (mainly work and home). I found iSyncCal to let me sync calendars, I can also publish them using my personal server setup with WebDav. I haven't found any such utilities for addresses. What I really want is something that works more like .Mac but that I can run at home on my server without paying the monthly .Mac fees. What are some solutions people are using for syncing contact info for people stored in multiple places (Palm, cell, work computer, home computer, laptop)?" There was a similar discussion over on MacInTouch, although the alternatives offered cover more basic needs, the information may still prove useful for those looking for "a cheaper .Mac".

Farley Mullet writes "As seen on MacSlash, here is a link to page documenting one man's dissection of an Airport Extreme Base Station. It's pretty neat to see what Apple crammed in there, including (gasp!) a chip from AMD!"

Mark Dobie writes "I just put up a quick review of the CoreCrib kit I purchased. It is an inexpensive solution to building your own Mac." See our previous Core coverage.

Numeric writes "Apple has released 10.2.6 update, which you can read in detail. Here's a partial list: Addresses an issue for Mac OS X 10.2.5 in which a kernel panic message may appear if certain USB hubs or devices are connected. Addresses an issue for Mac OS X 10.2.5 in which English is the default language and Asian language scripts are not be available in the International preference pane, if a script's font is not available. Address Book now supports the Sony Ericsson T610 phone."

joesao writes "The new iPods released last week seem to have a problem that causes an audible 'electrostatic pop' between all tracks played on it. The effect is not imaginary, as it has been witnessed by many users over at the Apple discussion forums. Now, one user has actually published a sound sample recorded the iPod's playback and the verdict is in: it's real. I hope this is a firmware issue and that it's quickly fixed ..." I just ordered a new iPod. I wonder if I should cancel my order.

TellarHK writes "Today, Apple's eMac line got a nice upgrade with all models getting a 32M Radeon 7500 video chipset, display capable of 1280x960 resolution on a 17" flat CRT, and price cuts across the board. $799 will get you a base model with 40GB of drive, 128M of RAM (continuing the rather odd stinginess on RAM configurations), and an 800Mhz G4. $999 will get you an extra 20GB of drive and a 1Ghz processor, while $1299 lands you a whopping (ahem) 256M of memory, 80G, and a SuperDrive at 4x."

prockcore writes "A vulnerability has been found in Apple's iTunes Music Store. The flaw enabled hackers to hijack other people's accounts by knowing only their email address, and download music with it. Apple has patched the hole."

Scrameustache writes "According to an Apple press release, the iTunes Music Store sold over one million songs during its first week. Over half of the songs were purchased as albums, and over half of the 200,000 songs offered on the iTunes Music Store were purchased at least once. Those new iPods are selling like hotcakes too..."

Dixie_Flatline writes "Macbidouille.com is reporting that they have preliminary benchmarks involving PPC970 hardware. The results are seriously impressive. We're looking at a single processor PPC 970 1.4GHz machine quite strikingly outperforming a dual G4 1.42GHz machine. Don't worry, there's an English translation embedded in the page so you don't have to try to muddle through the French." Update: 05/05 19:58 GMT by T : Thanks to Eric from macbidouille.com, above link updated to a static page; hopefully you'll get better response this way.

Vertig0gitreV writes "Over at iPodding they are reporting that in the Diagnostic Mode of the new new iPods (released on the 28th of May) there are two options for audio recording: mono through the headphone jack, and a stereo line-in through the docking port via the yet-to-be-announced line-in adaptor."