Soleq

Well, not to add confusion to the discussion, but a close friend of mine works for Maxtor writing testing algorithms for their hard disk development. I asked him a similar question (knowing that he'd give me an impartial and honest answer), and his reply was simple: Maxtor makes the most advances hard disks, period. Sure, you may save a few bucks (or pounds, in your case) by buying a WD, Seagate, or Hitachi, but in the end, you want reliability and high performance, not cost savings. WD has a great lineup (I in fact own a couple), but they plopped down a ton in R&D about 5 years ago and haven't done much since. Maxtor on the other hand has continuously been developing more advanced HDs and as a result, they have better reliability and better performance than the other brands. So, like I said before, when the day is done, do you want a cheaper HD, or one you can trust more?

In all honesty, I doubt this will create any problem for anyone. Apple has seen huge success with it's iTunes/iPod combo, and as a result, people are looking for a way to knock it off it's high spot. What a better way than to scare the masses with a "serious security flaw" that "could let hackers take control of their computers." Oh no! Not some generic flaw that threatens to let others take control of my computer! Get real. First, while there may be a flaw, it's probably so obscure that only a handful of highly skilled people know A) about it, and how to exploit it. So that right there takes care of 80% of the potential danger. Second, Apple will eventually fix this flaw, which will solve the remaining 20%. Third, you have to look at the threat relative to other threats. Crying wolf for the iTunes flaw is like yelling "Look out! That man over there has a pocket knife hidden in his pocket that he may or may not take out and try to attack someone with!" Sure, it can cause harm, but the chances are remote. I'd be more worried about the thousands of other flaws built into Windows.

I've run into this before, and fortunately, it's just a formatting problem (not semantic). You need to do a check to see how many offenses there really are. The easist way to do this (given your structure), is to set both types of offenses as 'null' when a new row is created. Then, when you're displaying the data, you check to see if Type 2 is null. This is going to be in a standard if statement. If the type 2 is not null (i.e. something's there), then you display a comma and Type 2. If it's null (nothing there), you skip that part and end the line.display "Offenses:" [Type 1if Type 2 != nullDisplay ", Type 2"end ifdisplay ]The main problem will be if there's more than 2 offenses. You only have it set up for 2 right now, but you can just keep adding records for more offenses if needbe.

Universal binaries are designed so that 3rd party software companies can easily make one piece of software (and sell it) so that both x86 machines and PPC machines can run it. Apple doesn't have to worry about the whole selling and distributing part, so they can make a faster/smaller package that runs on just one platform without complicating things too much for users. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple never releases universal binaries for software it doesn't directly sell.

Unless you need something to run high end processing applications (i.e. photoshop, FCP, rendering apps, games), you can get away with a very modest Mac (much more so than a typical PC). I still have my old dual 500 mhz G4, and it's been running fine and meets most of my needs for the last 5 or so years. You can pick one of those up for about $300-$450 depending on the specs. Sure, you can buy a Mac Mini for a little more, so that might be a better option. However, my point is that you don't /need/ to go with a new machine, because Macs typically last far longer than their PC equivalents and a used Mac is usually better than a new PC.

I think it's a good thing, another knife in Hotmail's heart. Gmail is still faster, and I like the conversation format. However, most of my web accounts are Yahoo based, and my DSL email is tied to Yahoo, so this to me is a vast improvement over it's current GUI. Now, if only they could provide a fast speed to their service and stop sending out my email address to spammers.

Being a long time Mac user, I'll add my two cents.Bar none, the best 3rd party application for the Mac is GraphicConverter. Pure genius.That aside, I'll list some others that are worthy of making my list.Safari 2.0 is fast and pretty, and I do love that private browsing option. Even though I'm a Camino lover, I'm using Safari until Camino makes its next update. I'd use FireFox, but it doesn't have my oh-so-loved command-[ for back.iTunes is great for music. The music store makes life easy (and legal). But oh do I miss the days of SoundJam skins.Word is fine, but often glitchy. It does what I need it to do, most of the time. Still, it's the best WP application out there.Mail 2.0. Yay, a rather slimline mail client. Eventhough I've mainly switched over to web interfaces, it's nice to have a client.Frogblast. Possibly the best HL client out there. Use it everyday.Apple Remote Desktop. Sure, I'm just fooling around with this, but there's nothing cooler than controlling my G4 at home from my PB at work. Sweeeeeet. Sure, ARD has its problems, but its easy integration tops Timbuktu.Adium for chat. No questions here. If you use iChat, switch to the duck.Games: Escape Velocity, Bushfire, Skittles. Three excellent Mac-only* games. *EV I believe is out for windows now. Lame.So, that's a short list. And now for the opposite, the applications I'd rather see 1) much improved, or 2) off my computer: iPhoto. Come on Apple, actually make it useful to people who /know/ how to use image programs.

It's Soleq, with a Q.Anyhoo, so if you just want a basic setup so you learn the OS, it makes sense to get a machine that'll run OS X instead of 9 or below. No need to learn previous generation stuff that doesn't apply anymore.In that case, go with an iMac G3 that has built in Firewire. That'll allow you to install and boot 10.4 Tiger without having to bypass a specific installer restriction. Like I said above, I'm running Server 10.4.2 on my iMac G3 233mhz, but in order to do that I needed to pull the HD out (harder than one may think), plug it into my G4, install from that, then reinsert the HD back into the iMac. Took a good portion of the day to do it. I believe a 400mhz or above has built in Firewire, but be sure to look for that specifically. Otherwise you'll be limited to 10.3 Panther.In addition, get yourself some more ram. Most came standard with 64mb, and that's far below what you really need to run OS X. I plugged an extra 64 in my 233 to make it 96, and it runs, but just barely. You'll need at least 128mb total, but get as much as you can. I believe it takes PC100 SO-DIMM ram, aka Laptop ram, which you can easily purchase off eBay. I bought a 256mb chip for about $15 for my also free Wallstreet PowerBook. I love free stuff.Then it's just up to you learning the basics of OS X. It's fun to mess around and discover new things. iTunes will take care of music CDs, so don't worry about that. Macs have probably the best file translation of any OS, so you should be able to use just about any file format for PC and run it on the Mac. Word .docs work fine, as do any other Microsoft Office document. Some application file formats where there's no Mac equivalent application will probably not work. For free/included software, I believe that Apple has stopped shipping Applework standard, so you're probably looking at TextEdit as your only word processing option built in. It's a fine program, very quick, and I use it for basic stuff much more than Word. If you need a more professional WP/office suite, you're looking at purchasing Office v.X. Apple iWork isn't up to snuff, at least, not yet.So there you go....of course, you could *coughdownloadtheintelbuildandinstallthatonyourpccough*, uh, nevermind.

Microsoft made the switch over to PPC because PPC is still best suited for embedded environments. While the Xbox 360 might be comparable to a PC, I still view it as embedded.In any case, the fact is that Apple did this to save its own butt. If you can forsee a cliff up ahead, it's always in the best interest of the driver to change course. Motorola funked out at chipmaking, and IBM/Freescale seemed to have hit a barrier when it came to efficiency. It's no doubt that Steve's decision was largely based on his eating his own words about a 3ghz G5 PowerMac, and the lack of a G5 PowerBook. Remember back to the whole Yikes! dabacle, and the 500mhz ceiling a few years ago? This isn't the first time the PPC has cost Apple money and reputation.I say good riddence to a past-prime/neglected architecture. I still remember the PPC being introduced as the wave of the future. Revolutionizing. Kick Intel booty. Sure, we might have had the world's fastest consumer PC at one time (the 225mhz PowerTowerPro vs. the 200mhz Intel Pentium MMX), but those days are long over. We lost the Ghz race. We lost the performance mantra. PPC is dead when it comes to Macs, so just get over it.Not being a programmer myself, I can't quite share the thrill/pain of porting code over to the next x86 instruction set. Sure, the OS has been ported since day one (NeXT was x86 based remember), so only high-level coding needs to be altered, if any at all. I pity those who coded in CodeWarrior. Yet another example of Apple pushing out the competition. Off topic for a bit, anyway, as an end user, I know I won't be seeing very much change in my work routine. As long as I have access to my computer, and it runs my applications, I'll be fine. I'm skeptical about Rosetta, but from what I hear (fingers crossed), I'll expect a 70-80% native speed. That to me is more than adequate, especially knowning that a new x86 based Mac will be running at least 3.2ghz, and I'm currently running a 500 mhz G4. Even with the speed cut, I'll be running faster than I am now.Sure, I guess people could bash Apple for switching over to the dark side. But honestly, who hasn't? Remember the days when buying foreign was considered communistic? Now, just about everyone would prefer to own a Mercedes rather than a Chevy. In any case, Apple did what it needs to survive. There's no sense in staying with a dying platform. Many companies have tried in the past, only to see their products deteriorate and die out over a few years. Apple's too smart for that, and I praise their choice.Now, wouldn't it have been interesting to have been a fly on those Jobs-Intel Execs meetings....

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the "official" name of that airbase yet. "Area 51" exists only as a reference to an unknown airbase. Most people believe (or assume) that it's referring to the Groom Lake Air Base, which is what we see on the satellite image. Groom Lake is supposed to be an average base with no specific purpose. However, when there's signs warning/threatening of deadly force surrounding the place, and odd white jeeps following you around, and that damn solitary mailbox on the highway, one has to wonder.From what I gather, the Groom Lake base is supposed to house/test an advanced recon aircraft built for the air force. The name Aurora has floated about for years. Remember, when the SR-71 was being tested, people 1) had no previous knowledge of it, and 2) could easily mistake it for a UFO. I've read/heard claims that said Aurora could fly continuously at supersonic speeds but without making a sonic boom, thus making it perfectly silent. How it does this, I have no clue. Second, it's supposed to be able to make radical turns without problem. As in, turn very sharply without slowing down. It can literally take entire states for the SR-71 to turn around. Imagine if it only took a football field? It's supposed to test fly over Las Vegas down around Los Angeles, over the Pacific, and back. I've also heard it's an orangish color, which baffles me. Why would they make it orange if they wanted it secret? Hmm...Sure, all of what I've said thus far is "supposed to" and "I've read/heard..." Nothing substantial. However, last March I was in Los Angeles on a rather clear night and witnessed something I couldn't recognize or believe. While gazing up above the trees I noticed what looked like a diamond flying incredibly fast. Imagine a kite with four tips, and at each tip was a dull glowing light. The diamond itself glowed a faint orange color, and I sware it couldn't have been flying more than 5000ft above the ground. It passed directly over me at an incredible rate of speed, then basically flew off until I couldn't see it anymore. Besides the eerie visual, the one thing that creeped me out was the complete lack of sound. At 5000ft, I should have been able to hear it very clearly. I heard absolutely nothing. As the craft flew over me, I did notice two fainter lights somewhat following it, but behind and off to the side. Follower aircraft? I don't know, but it's something I won't soon forget. Unfortunately, I was only able to get one other person to verify this. He saw the exact same thing I did, and we discussed it in great length that night. If only I had a camera...It's hard to say that Area 51 is an alien warehouse, or that we're using alien technology in our future developments. What's rather easy to say though, is that technology advances by leaps and bounds, not steadily and slow. We've seen modern flight advance from single engine prop to jet. One can only imagine what's going to come next.

Well, welcome to the Mac. It's a pretty nice stay, though limiting at times, but overall I wouldn't choose to go back. It's sort of like Hawaii, I guess.The largest factor when choosing a Mac is how much you want to spend. If your wallet is endless, I can set you up with the fastest Mac around no problem. However, if you're more budget-minded, or you don't need a screaming demon, then there are a few other things to consider.If you need/want a built in monitor, you're limited to the iMac/eMac or laptop world. iMacs come in three varieties, all dependant on the type of processor. The original iMac has a G3 processor, or Pentium II equivalent. It's the classic design that looks like a snail shell. Next is the iMac G4, which given the name, includes a G4 processor. The added benefit is that it also comes with an LCD screen instead of a CRT (though you always want CRT if you're in graphic design). Finally, you have the iMac G5, which is the latest and greatest and includes a G5 processor.Another route to go is with the eMac, which is essentially a 17" classic iMac with a G4 processor. I'm using one right now (not my full-time Mac), and it's great for just about everything that doesn't require a ton of speed.You never mentioned laptops, so I won't go into them. Let's just say though that Apple makes some nice portable machines.Okay, so now that everything's laid out, here's what I'd expect to pay for them:1) Original G3 iMac: $100-350, depending on processor speed. I managed to get one for free, but I could pick up a nice 500mhz for at most $350. The original machine (233mhz) can support up to OS X 10.3 (though I have 10.4 Server on mine), so it's a nice learning tool. Slow, but functional. I wouldn't pay anything over $100 for the original.2) iMac G4: Depending on the speed, I would expect around $650-$1100. That's a tad high, so you might get it for less. People seem to like these machines quite a bit. Some more than the G5 version.3) iMac G5: $1000-1500. Go with this only if you want speed. Why? Read below.4) eMac: $500-800. Probably the perfect all-in-one price wise, as you get a solid machine that can do everything for a nominal price. Sure, I can't play Doom 3, but I have no need to.5*) Bonus machine: Mac Mini + CRT: $500 (new) + $50 for the CRT. A very comparable package to the eMac, but with an external monitor. The nice thing is that you get a smaller footprint, but with all the processing power. And you get to choose the monitor size.Okay okay okay, so I haven't answered your questions yet. Here we go:1) Processors: the G3 is far outdated now (think Pentium II), and so I'd recommend a G4. The G5 is still over-priced in my opinion, but the G4 still performs quite well.2) Get as much ram as you can afford. I'm running 512 in the eMac, and it's rather nice. OS X requires at least 256, so anywhere above that is acceptable.3) All Macs built in the last 8 or so years have come with a NIC (ethernet) card installed. However, you'll need an "airport-ready" computer to access wireless networks. Older machines use Airport cards, newer ones use Airport Extreme (802.11g). Look to see what the requirements are. The eMac uses Airport Extreme, as do the iMac G4 and above. Sadly, the iMac G3 is out of luck wirelessly (but has an ethernet port).4) Tower Macs (PowerMacs) always contain the latest and greatest. The latest towers sport dual G5s running at 2ghz to 2.7ghz. However, anything above 800mhz or so will work fine for learning.5) Try looking around at Macworld or MacAddict (just add .com to both). Buy a magazine from each and take a look. Most of the time they're geared towards new users. On the web, Apple's site has some good info on OS X and how to use it. Generally, I like to follow my college's motto of "learn by doing."That's basically about it. With Macs, you're only limited by your wallet. Just choose by your needs and price and you'll be fine.

I'm quite opinionated in this topic, but use a camera for taking pictures, and use a videocam for taking video. You'll only be disappointed if you try to mix and match.

Most X-Ray machines won't purely "destroy" film, but instead partially expose it giving it a washed out appearance. However, this is quite rare with today's X-rays. From what I've both read and heard, you should only really be concerned if you use very high ISO film, such as 1600 or 3200. If you're really paranoid, you might worry a tad about 800. Since most of the film sold is below 800, you'll have little worries. I've taken many rolls of film through airport X-Rays, and I've had no issue with them. You can buy a little pouch that will somewhat protect your film, but I wouldn't waste the money. If you're uber-paranoid, you'd fly to your destination, buy film there, get it processed, and have no worries. If you're uber-uber-paranoid you'd fly, buy, and then ship back your film via FedEX Ground or USPS.

I guess I'm replying very soon after you posted. The site that I looked at didn't really bother to use VMWare or PearPC, but instead used a modified installer that did not include the TPM modual. VMWare and PearPC emulates the code, so in that respect it wouldn't matter what chipset you're using. But if you're running natively, I'm still not quite sure. I guess the only way to find out is to try. As for the virus issue, I do imagine that there will be a slight rise in virus numbers once the full x86 is released. However, viruses attack the OS itself, and OS X has always been tighter than Windows. I doubt we'll see pandemonium.

If you read my post up above, people have cracked the hardware protection requirement that OS X uses. It's a relatively easy set of steps to complete, provided that you have a PC that meets the general requirements. I'm just wondering now if it'll boot on non-Intel machines, or if OS X specifically needs a Pentium chipset.

Probably old news to the Mac users on here (it is to me), to catch up on recent events, OS X has been successfully installed on an old Sony Vaio laptop running on a Pentium M 1.0ghz. Supposedly it only took the guy 12 hours to figure out how to do this, and after looking at his steps, it's quite a simple process. Looks like Apple will need to either figure out how to change their DRM, or simply acknowledge the fact that if they try to make something hack proof, there'll always be a better hacker. And yes, I use the term hacker loosely, as this is more of a kracking job than hacking.

Not to start a "nuh uh" match, but in the manual of my shiny new PowerBook, it specifically says that both a monitor and USB device (I believe it actually says mouse) must be attached in order for it to function closed. I have even tried it, and it will not work without the mini-DVI cable attached. Ipso facto, it needs a monitor. I will say that the PB does get quite warm if the lid is closed. I originally was looking forward to using my PB as a second desktop, but I believe I'll stick to the laptop function. Even though Apple says it's fine, I'd rather enjoy its longevity.

The RAM itself shouldn't be the issue. IE5 is a dog on OS9, but the DL manager just streams files down at raw speeds, so it shouldn't be affected. Are you talking about viewing pages being slow, or actual download speed issues?I'd just recommend going online (eBay or store) and purchasing some RAM regardless of your ethernet issue. I just came into posession of an old iMac 233mhz and a few PowerBooks, and the first thing I did was buy some RAM for one of the PBs, pull some RAM out of another, and plop the pulled RAM into the iMac. Speaking of which, you'll be wanting a SO-DIMM PC-66 chip (I believe that it should also be unregistered, but not quite sure). Actually installing the RAM seems like a scary task, but I managed to do it fine after looking online at Apple Support. The uber-neat thing is that they actually have videos showing the process, so if the manual seems foreign, view the video. All you need for the upgrade is a Std. philips (a #0 isn't necessary, but there's one small screw that can give you trouble if your philips is too large, so have both if you can). Then it's just a matter of pulling the main board out, taking the cage off, putting the new ram in, and putting everything back together. Very simple.Don't expect the RAM to do a miracle job and make it run like a G4/G5. Heck, I have OS X.2 running on the 233 right now with only 96 mb of RAM, and it's usable. Not fast, but usable.

I believe that the powerbook needs a USB keyboard/mouse and a monitor cable attached for it to function with the lid closed. Needless to say, if you only have a mouse attached, it'll still sleep like a baby. Now, for the overheating issue, I believe that the powerbooks can operate fine while the lid is closed. I'm assuming the reason is the metal exterior, which does a far superior job of dissipating heat compared to the traditional plastic cases. I used to have a white iBook that would practically melt my thighs, but my new Al powerbook supposedly gets "as hot" as the iBook, but feel somewhat cooler. That alone justifies my decision to upgrade. Plus, even in the Apple manual it says you can operate it fine with the lid closed, so I don't see any real potential overheating issues while doing it.

I had my broadband access shared by a hub for several years (prior to getting a wireless router free with a DSL upgrade). Technically, it is possible, but you have to configure a host computer to act as a router to the other computers. You connect them all together via the hub, with the uplink port being filled by your broadband modem, and the rest being filled by individual computers. Now, since I was running on a Mac, I used a program called IPNetRouter (now IPNetRouterX for Mac OS X), but I'm assuming there's an equivalent for Windows out there somewhere (search for soft router or software router). The concept is simple: Have one computer connect to the internet through the hub normally. Launch the software router software. On the other computers, manually configure them to connect to the router's IP, which should be listed somewhere on the router software's window or settings. From that point, it's just a manner of testing to see if it works. I had my router on a Mac Performa 638 for about 3 years. That's a 33mhz machine, and I didn't notice any speed issues at all. True, if you want your network up and running, you need that host computer running 24/7. However, an added benefit was that the host computer acted as a firewall to the rest, and I'm sure that if you have some more software you could make a pretty decent server out of it.So, it is possible. You just need to know how to do it.

Just go to the Apple store and check the prices there. I believe a 4gb Mini costs about $200 retail, so anything above that is a ripoff. If you're a student, they're offering a free iPod Mini with the purchase of any Mac computer. I just bought a new Powerbook, and along with it I got a blue iPod mini for free (essentially, even though I had to pay for it initially and will get a rebate cheque in the mail sometime in the future).All in all, I love my iPod, and wouldn't dream of owning another brand of MP3 player.

Being a Mac guy, I really could care less on what MS chooses to name their product. However, seeing as code names have become somewhat mainstreamed (consumers didn't really pick on to OS X's code names until Jaguar came out, and now people are requesting the OS by the code name rather than version number), I think that MS is trying to capitalize on a catchy moniker, much like Tiger is for OS X. Vista literally means viewpoint or outlook, so I'm assuming that MS is conveying a sense of looking into the future. Windows Vista just doensn't seem to cut it for me namewise. It just sounds like some sort of cheap car made by Kia that most people probably wouldn't care to own.

Definitely not bad...nice use of proportions in dealing with the horizon. Maybe a tad too saturated, but it's similar to Velvia.

GoDaddy occasionally offers sales on their domains that go pretty low. However, most of the time, .com names are still full price (but it's great if you don't care what the extension is to the domain). I've been a satisfied customer for over a year, and I'll probably never go with another company for registrations.

Eh, I think I found a workaround that doesn't require R. It'd still be interesting to hear about the possibility of running R on Xisto, but it's not necessary for what I need right now.