Status-Q

On Slashdot:

Nine years after Michael Dell said he'd shut down Apple and give the money to the shareholders, Apple has passed Dell in market value, at $72,132,428,843 compared to Dell's $71,970,702,760...

If you have a Mac and you don't need to get any work done for a bit... Tickr for Flickr is remarkably addictive. You type a word into its search box and it displays, along one side of your screen, a scrolling band of photos which have that tag on Flickr. It's very nicely done. If you want some good words to get started, try 'coniston', 'scuba' or 'night'...

Here's how you can install Apple's Front Row software on any Mac running Tiger 10.4.4.

Works for me...

Apologies to those of you not interested in Mac-related posts. I expect the current flurry to die down soon!

I noticed a subtle but interesting change in the graphics specs for the new Intel-based iMac:

For the first time ever, iMac lets you use a second display in extended desktop mode, in addition to simply mirroring the first.

In the past, the iMac and the iBook have supported external displays but only as a clone of the main one, unlike the PowerMac and PowerBook. This was never a hardware limitation, only a marketing decision and there's a good reliable hack to get over that foolishness. But it's nice to see it won't be necessary.

Everyone talks about how the Eskimos have 100 different words for snow. Well, apparently, here they are.

Thanks to Dale for the link.

Well, I've been very patient. Patient, first, while my insurance company took two months to pay up after my old Powerbook came to a tragic end, and then patient while I waited for Steve Jobs' keynote address. But it was worth it, because he announced the Powerbook replacement, the MacBook Pro, and I have one on the way... Hee hee.

But my patience is not yet exhausted, and it's just as well, because though they're taking orders now, delivery is sometime in February. And the Apple retail stores will no doubt get them sooner than the local dealer with whom I placed my order. I'm hoping that good things come to those who wait...

One thing my new MacBook won't have is a PCMCIA (PC Card) slot. I've been rather fond of this on my old Powerbook - a CF card adaptor lives there permanently, and it means that I can always get photos off my camera without the need for cables.

The new machines have an ExpressCard slot. This is the replacement for the old PC Card standard; it has been around for a while and has lots of advantages, but I haven't seen any cards for it yet, and the slot is too small for a Compact Flash adaptor, so it'll be back to cables, I guess, for transferring my photos.

Quoted on Paul Bissex's blog:

Last month, USPTO representatives met with members of the open source software community...The meeting focused on getting the best prior art references to the examiner during the initial examination process.

I've always felt that published applications on the patent offices' websites needed a button labelled 'Click here to report possibly relevant prior art'. Maybe this is a step closer to that goal.

Nice.

Not only did Apple come out with some great new stuff yesterday, but Google Earth is now available for the Mac. Wonderful!