Is Apple’s new Mighty Mouse really a super rodent? Glenn Fleishman grabs one and finds it a bit hairy. Also, Kevin van Haaren sheds light on an often perplexing topic: virtual private network (VPN) technology, and explains why you might want to start using one. We also note the release of Security Update 2005-007, Apple’s PowerBook G4 Graphics Update 1.0, the SaveScreenie utility, and announce Joe Kissell’s free "Take Control of Now Up-to-Date & Contact" manual.
Apple Releases Security Update 2005-007 -- Apple Computer today released Security Update 2005-007 for both client and server versions of Mac OS X 10.3.9 Panther and Mac OS X 10.4.2 Tiger
PowerBook Graphics Update Solves Narrow Issue -- Last week, Apple released PowerBook G4 Graphics Update 1.0, a 2.1 MB patch that improves graphic stability for some 15-inch and 17-inch PowerBook G4 models running the 1.67 GHz PowerPC processor; apparently the installer performs a hardware check to determine if the update is required
SaveScreenie Switches File Formats -- A few weeks back, I mentioned that you could enter a particular command into Terminal to change the format Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger uses for screen captures made with Command-Shift-3 and Command-Shift-4 (see "How to Change Screen Capture Formats" in TidBITS-785)
The Mighty Mouse is mighty fussy. Apple sent me a review unit last week, and in our testing the mouse falls short in several regards. Most obviously, I continue to find the overall shape of the mouse ergonomically unsatisfying, but I have hand and wrist problems that make a regular mouse uncomfortable
Recent articles in TidBITS and discussions in TidBITS Talk have mentioned virtual private network (VPN) technologies. VPNs are usually brought up as a tool for securing communications across insecure networks
Take Control of Now Up-to-Date & Contact Released -- Late last year, around the time I was finishing up "Take Control of iKey 2," our first manual in the form of a Take Control ebook, Randy Murray of Now Software contacted me to see if we were interested in writing the manual for the next version of Now Up-to-Date & Contact
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Japan's iTunes Music Store -- The opening and initial success of iTMS in Japan had some people in other countries excited about the possibility of purchasing electronic versions of music available only in Japan