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Problem with Mathematica 5.2 on G5 Macintosh Systems
by Will Christie 17 Aug '05

17 Aug '05

If you're using Mathematica 5.2 on a G5 with Tiger then refrain from applying Apple's security update until further notice. -- Will_Christie(a)UManitoba.CA "I have spent too much of my life opening Instructional Software Coordinator doors for cats--I once calculated that, Academic Computing & Networking since the dawn of civilisation, nine University of Manitoba hundred and seventy-eight man-centuries 622 Engineering have been used up that way. I could show Ph: 204-474-9475 Fx: 204-474-7920 you figures." --The Door Into Summer ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 17:10:08 -0500 From: Wolfram Research <support(a)wolfram.com> To: will_christie(a)umanitoba.ca Subject: Problem with Mathematica 5.2 on G5 Macintosh Systems ** Important notification for users of G5 Macintosh systems running OS X 10.4 ** At approximately 8 p.m. PDT on Monday, August 15, Apple began automatic distribution of Apple Security Update 2005-007 for Mac OS X 10.4.2 (Tiger). Due to an error on the part of Apple, this update prevents any 64-bit-native application from running. In particular, this means that Mathematica 5.2 will not run on any G5 system if it has installed this Security Update. This problem was discovered by our testing procedures a few hours ago, and Apple has now assured us that they have stopped automatic distribution of Security Update 2005-007 at this time. If you did not install Security Update 2005-007, then you will not be affected. If your Mathematica 5.2 successfully launches and performs any computation (such as 2+2), then this also means that you have not been affected. If you have been affected, then Mathematica 5.2 will generate a MathLink error when you try to do any computation with it. (If you run MathKernel directly from the command line, it will crash at startup.) Apple has informed us that there is no workaround for this problem. Apple is investigating the problem at high priority, and intends to distribute a new Security Update in the very near future. This update will correct the problem and allow Mathematica to run successfully. To run Mathematica 5.2 today, you must temporarily disable its 64-bit capabilities. You can do this by running the following commands in the Terminal: cd /Applications/Mathematica\ 5.2.app/Contents/MacOS cp MathKernel MathKernel.bak lipo MathKernel.bak -remove ppc64 -output MathKernel If you are unable to run the script above, an alternative is to use an earlier version of Mathematica. The problem with Apple Security Update 2005-007 affects only 64-bit applications; Mathematica 5.2 is the first 64-bit-native version of Mathematica. Note that when Apple has made the corrected Security Update available, and you have installed it, you must reverse the procedure above by running the following commands: cd /Applications/Mathematica\ 5.2.app/Contents/MacOS mv MathKernel.bak MathKernel If you do not do run these commands, Mathematica will not operate in optimized native 64-bit mode. We regret the inconvenience caused by this problem, and hope that as soon as Apple has corrected the problem you will continue to enjoy the outstanding performance of Mathematica on 64-bit Macintosh systems. Sincerely, The Technical Support Team Wolfram Research, Inc. P.S. Should you require further technical support for this problem, Apple has informed us that you should contact them through http://www.apple.com/contact/phone_contacts.html

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INTEREST: Intel CEO to speak on upcoming Merom, Conroe, and Woodcrest chips
by billing 16 Aug '05

16 Aug '05

...from: http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/08/12/intel/index.php/? lsrc=mwweek-0815 Intel to unveil 'next-generation architecture' By Tom Krazit, IDG News Service Intel Corp. plans to introduce a major change in the architecture used to build its chips during its upcoming Fall Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco. The highlight of Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini’s keynote speech on Aug. 23 will be the announcement of Intel’s “next- generation architecture,” which will arrive in the second half of 2006, said Rob Chapman, general manager for IDF, in a briefing earlier this week. The target date for its introduction coincides with the launch of previously announced processors that sources have said will use a common architecture based on power-friendly design principles. Earlier this year, Otellini announced that Merom, Conroe and Woodcrest were the code names for Intel’s next generation of multicore processors slated for late 2006, but he declined to discuss them in detail. However, for some time Intel has been expected to base this generation of processors on an architecture inspired by its Pentium M notebook processor, which de-emphasizes clock speed and concentrates on managing power consumption. The move appears to signal the end of the Netburst architecture, which has been the foundation of the Pentium 4 and Xeon chips for five years. That architecture was designed to let Intel steadily increase the clock speeds of its chips; however, the advent of the 90- nanometer process generation and the current leakage problems associated with that technology put an end to that strategy. As clock speeds go up, more power is needed to reach those speeds, and that power is more prone to leak out of transistors made with the current generation of chip-making equipment. The Pentium M was designed to deliver top-notch performance while controlling the amount of power used to run the chip. Those design principles, combined with multiple processing cores on a single chip, will allow Merom, Conroe and Woodcrest to reach new performance heights without producing excessive heat. Merom is a notebook chip, while Conroe is slated for desktops and Woodcrest for servers. Chapman declined to comment when asked if the Merom generation of chips would be the first to use the new architecture, but several sources familiar with Intel’s plans have identified these chips as the first. He also declined to discuss whether the chips will feature two processor cores or four. More details about the next-generation architecture will be provided in a briefing for press and analysts following Otellini’s keynote on the 23rd, Chapman said. Intel hosts the three-day IDF every six months to provide detailed information about upcoming products to the hardware engineers that design systems using Intel’s chips. The Santa Clara, California-based company also uses the show to announce major initiatives before an audience of press and analysts from around the world. Otellini’s keynote, his first as Intel’s CEO, will be followed by presentations from the executive in charge of the Intel Mobility Group, Sean Maloney, on the notebook and wireless chip markets, and Digital Health Group leader Louis Burns. Burns will discuss some of the products and strategies under development by his newly formed group for one of the first times in public, Chapman said. On the following day, Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s Digital Enterprise Group, will give an update on his division, which makes chips for desktops and servers used by corporations. Vice President and General Manager Don McDonald will appear after Gelsinger to talk about his digital home division, another key area for Intel’s product development teams. As usual, Justin Rattner, head of Intel Labs, will close the conference with a peek behind the curtain of Intel’s research and development efforts. He is expected to discuss Intel’s 2015 Platform Initiative, an effort to develop what Intel calls self-managing and self-healing systems, Chapman said.

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INTEREST: CEO Eric Schmidt doesn't reveal much about himself but [his] Google search engine...
by billing 15 Aug '05

15 Aug '05

Google balances privacy, reach Published: July 14, 2005, 4:00 AM PDT By Elinor Mills Staff Writer, CNET News.com Google CEO Eric Schmidt doesn't reveal much about himself on his home page. But spending 30 minutes on the Google search engine lets one discover that Schmidt, 50, was worth an estimated $1.5 billion last year. Earlier this year, he pulled in almost $90 million from sales of Google stock and made at least another $50 million selling shares in the past two months as the stock leaped to more than $300 a share. He and his wife Wendy live in the affluent town of Atherton, Calif., where, at a $10,000-a-plate political fund-raiser five years ago, presidential candidate Al Gore and his wife Tipper danced as Elton John belted out "Bennie and the Jets." Schmidt has also roamed the desert at the Burning Man art festival in Nevada, and is an avid amateur pilot. That such detailed personal information is so readily available on public Web sites makes most people uncomfortable. But it's nothing compared with the information Google collects and doesn't make public. Assuming Schmidt uses his company's services, someone with access to Google's databases could find out what he writes in his e-mails and to whom he sends them, where he shops online or even what restaurants he's located via online maps. Like so many other Google users, his virtual life has been meticulously recorded. The fear, of course, is that hackers, zealous government investigators, or even a Google insider who falls short of the company's ethics standards could abuse that information. Google, some worry, is amassing a tempting record of personal information, and the onus is on the Mountain View, Calif., company to keep that information under wraps. Privacy advocates say information collected at Yahoo, Microsoft's MSN, Amazon.com's A-9 and other search and e-commerce companies poses similar risks. Indeed, many of those companies' business plans tend to mimic what Google is trying to do, and some are less careful with the data they collect. But Google, which has more than a 50 percent share of the U.S. search engine market, according to the latest data from WebSideStory, has become a lightning rod for privacy concerns because of its high profile and its unmatched impact on the Internet community. "Google is poised to trump Microsoft in its potential to invade privacy, and it's very hard for many consumers to get it because the Google brand name has so much trust," said Chris Hoofnagle of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "But if you step back and look at the suite of products and how they are used, you realize Google can have a lot of personal information about individuals' Internet habits--e-mail, saving search history, images, personal information from (social network site) Orkut--it represents a significant threat to privacy." Kevin Bankston, staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said Google is amassing data that could create some of the most detailed individual profiles ever devised. "Your search history shows your associations, beliefs, perhaps your medical problems. The things you Google for define you," Bankston said. The Google record As is typical for search engines, Google retains log files that record search terms used, Web sites visited and the Internet Protocol address and browser type of the computer for every single search conducted through its Web site. In addition, search engines are collecting personally identifiable information in order to offer certain services. For instance, Gmail asks for name and e-mail address. By comparison, Yahoo's registration also asks for address, phone number, birth date, gender and occupation and may ask for home address and Social Security number for financial services. "It's data that's practically a printout of what's going on in your brain: What you are thinking of buying, who you talk to, what you talk about." --Kevin Bankston, staff attorney, Electronic Frontier Foundation If search history, e-mail and registration information were combined, a company could see intimate details about a person's health, sex life, religion, financial status and buying preferences. It's "data that's practically a printout of what's going on in your brain: What you are thinking of buying, who you talk to, what you talk about," Bankston said. "It is an unprecedented amount of personal information, and these third parties (such as Google) have carte blanche control over that information." Google uses the log information to analyze traffic in order to prevent people from rigging search results, for blocking denial-of- service attacks and to improve search services, said Nicole Wong, associate general counsel at Google. Personally identifiable information that is required for consumers to register for and log in to Google services is not shared with any outside companies or used for marketing, according to Google's privacy policy, except with the consent of the user, or if outside "trusted" parties need it to process the data on Google's behalf. What Google knows about you • Gmail -- The e-mail service offers two gigabytes of free storage and scans the content of messages to serve up context-related ads. • Cookies -- Google uses cookies, which are commonly used to link individual users with activities. • Desktop Search -- Google's Desktop Search lets users easily search files stored on their computer. • Web Accelerator -- The application speeds Web surfing by storing cached copies of Web pages you've visited; those page requests can include personal information. ...complete article at: http://news.com.com/Google+balances+privacy,+reach/ 2100-1032_3-5787483.html

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INTERST: Ya gotta love convergence.... Google Street Maps, meet Google Satellite maps
by billing 02 Aug '05

02 Aug '05

> last Friday, Google introduced Google Maps Hybrid which is > "Google Maps Transparancies" on steroids. Just point your web browser > to > > http://maps.google.com/ > > search for something, and then in the upper right corner of the map > click on the "Hybrid" button. Google Maps will show you a satellite > image with street names and points of interests laid on top of that > image. For example, if you go to > > http://tinyurl.com/8tqs7 > > you'll see Tower Bridge--and the surrounding street names--in London. > And, yes, like all Google maps this map is draggable. > > Google Maps is still in beta, so some of the hybrid maps are still a > little off [like Tower Bridge Road or streets north of Ground Zero at > http://tinyurl.com/7banf .] Still, the Hybrid maps > feature is an amazing addition to a tool that is already amazing. >

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INTEREST: Microsoft drops LongHorn (name) for new VISTA...
by billing 02 Aug '05

02 Aug '05

I guess so the hype'ing can begin again, Microsoft has changed the code name for it's next version Operating System; it was "LongHorn", it is now "Vista". Microsoft is saying to expect Windows Vista by the holiday season of 2005.... ...from: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5672671.html?tag=nl.e539 http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/default.mspx Getting a handle on Windows Vista By Ina Fried, CNET News.com Published on ZDNet News: July 22, 2005, 7:30 AM PT Longhorn--now Windows Vista--may be arriving more slowly than expected and it might not have everything that was once planned, but Windows chief Jim Allchin maintains "It's a big deal." Among the features in the OS are security improvements, some snazzy new graphics, and a new means of searching and organizing information. Rather than having to remember the single folder where something is stored, users will be able to put documents in any number of virtual folders. They can also establish folders that will automatically update, such as "files edited in the last week" or "documents from Jane." In addition, Microsoft is trying to simplify an array of other tasks, such as adding a PC to a home network or connecting a laptop to a projector. When will Windows Vista arrive? Microsoft has promised that Vista will be widely available on computers for the 2006 holiday buying season. A beta, or test, version is planned for release on August 3. The server version is slated for 2007. So what's in this Vista thing? Vista--what used to be called Longhorn--has evolved quite a bit since Microsoft first demonstrated an early version in 2003. The company has dropped plans to include its all-new WinFS file system and has also changed the way it's implementing a new Web services architecture, known as Indigo, and a new graphics engine, dubbed Avalon. Among the key features of Vista as it currently stands are: security enhancements, a new searching mechanism, lots of new laptop features, parental controls and better home networking. There will also be visual changes, thanks to Avalon, ranging from shiny translucent windows to icons that are tiny representations of a document itself. On the business side, Microsoft said Vista will be easier for businesses to deploy on multiple PCs and will also save costs by reducing the number of times computers will have to be rebooted. [...]

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Well looks like heck has frozen solid ... again
by Doug Hamilton 02 Aug '05

02 Aug '05

Hey Everyone: First the switch to Intel processors, what could be next. Well, how about a two button mouse from Apple. Here it is: http://www.apple.com/ca/mightymouse/ Regards, Doug

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INTEREST: Canada’s Supreme Court Thursday rejected attempts to levy a special tax on iPods
by billing 01 Aug '05

01 Aug '05

...from: http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=12212&Page=1&pagePos=3 http://playlistmag.com/news/2005/07/29/ipodtax/index.php Canadian Supreme Court rejects iPod tax By Macworld.co.uk Staff, Macworld.co.uk Canada’s Supreme Court Thursday rejected attempts to levy a special tax on iPods and other digital music devices. The court refused any further arguments on the matter. There will be no such levy applied in Canada. A local royalty collection body, the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC), had fought to reinstate the tax, which was quashed by Canadian Federal Courts last year following action by retailers and manufacturers including Apple. A nonprofit agency CPCC had been collecting the tax on behalf of musicians. When implemented, the tax was designed to compensate artists for illegal downloads of their music. The rates were: CDN$2 (US$1.62) for non-removable memory capacity up to 1GB, $15 for 1-10GGB, $25 for over 10GB. CPCC had collected $4 million for artists.

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INTEREST: Microsoft's VISTA OS Beta released on time...
by billing 28 Jul '05

28 Jul '05

...from: http://www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/sample/DOMIS/update/ 2002/11nov/1102afitrt_illo.htm - in a 2002 article entitled "The Windows Development Timeline (Illustration)", we see the release of VISTA (nee LongHorn) happening around the beginning of 2003. ...from: http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/24857/24857.html - also in 2002, "If you were expecting the next major Windows release (code-named Longhorn) sometime next year, you're going to be sorely disappointed. Several Microsoft representatives revealed yesterday that Longhorn won't ship until the second half of 2004--at the earliest. " ...from: http://www.osisoft.com/articles/5_822.aspx - a 2004 article entitled "Microsoft Cuts Key Longhorn [NOTE: soon to be VISTA] Feature", we see the following quote from Will Poole, the Microsoft senior vice president in charge of the company's PC Windows business, "The industry would like us to deliver Windows innovation on a regular basis. From our perspective, 2006 is a good time to do that. Longhorn should be on the market in the second half of 2006." ...from: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9590_22-5807061.html Published on ZDNet News: July 27, 2005, 11:16 AM PT Windows chief talks up Vista By Ina Fried, CNET News.com Last week Microsoft said that the operating system known for years as Longhorn would be called Windows Vista and that a beta version would be available by Aug. 3. Then on Wednesday morning--a week ahead of schedule--the software giant said that the beta is ready to go. In the four-year history of Longhorn--Vista's previous code name-- it's arguably the first time Microsoft can claim to be ahead of schedule. Since first discussing Longhorn in 2001, Microsoft has changed the features of the release and pushed out its launch date several times. But there is little room for error now, as Microsoft is trying to have a final version ready by next year's holiday buying season. Microsoft's Jim Allchin, the group vice president managing all Windows development work, spoke to CNET News.com this week about the beta release of Vista, its features and limitations, and hurdles remaining before the software's eventual launch. Q: Microsoft today released the first public test version of Vista. What's the audience for this test release? Allchin: This beta isn't really for even tech enthusiasts. This beta is to test out some of the capabilities that we've got, if you will, in the plumbing. We've got the beginnings for the virtual folders, but really this is plumbing. [...]

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Data thief lives on...
by Doug Hamilton 28 Jul '05

28 Jul '05

Hi All: Some of you may remember an old Mac OS 7/8 utility called Data Thief. It was a handy little utility that enabled you to approximate the original data used to generate a chart. You would scan in the chart and then click once on each corner of the graph to define the area of the chart, then input the range of both axis's and lastly you would then click on each point in the chart (obvious not useful for Pie- chart ... but then it would be need for this chart type). Well this handy little utility is back for Mac OS X in the form of a freeware program (however, certain features you need to pay for, but its only $8-USD) with the less sensational name of GraphClick. You can find it here: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/math_science/graphclick.html Why would you want this type of application? Well, one example would be if you found a chart in a periodical that you wanted to use in a PowerPoint or Keynote, but a scan of the chart looked bad. GraphClick would let you extract the data (obviously with some minor level of error) and re-plot the chart in your favourite charting application. This clean chart could then be placed into your presentation. Of course this is still someone-else's data so make sure that you include the appropriate reference. GraphClick won an Apple Design award at this years World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC). Cheers, Doug

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SPSS for OS 10.4 Patch Not Available Yet
by Will Christie 27 Jul '05

27 Jul '05

I've checked SPSS' support site and at present they're still saying that SPSS for OS X is NOT compatible with version 10.4. I'll try contacting one of SPSS' reps to see if they can give me a better idea on when their promised patch will be available. -- Will_Christie(a)UManitoba.CA "You know what you are?" Instructional Software Coordinator "Ruggedly handsome?" Academic Computing & Networking "No! A control freak!" University of Manitoba "Can't I be both?" 622 Engineering --Lochley and Gideon, "Crusade" Ph: 204-474-9475 Fx: 204-474-7920

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