Last week brought some of the weirdest news in a long time from companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Palm. Read on to get Adam’s take on these and other stories, along his look at the utility of keeping old Mac hardware around. Product releases are coming fast and furious as well, with speed-bumped Power Macs, the wireless Palm i705, Opera 5.0, Now Up-to-Date & Contact 4.1.1, iView MediaPro 1.4, QuarkXPress 5.0, and drivers for Griffin’s PowerMate controller.
Power Mac G4 Gets Gigahertz Speed Bump -- Apple today introduced faster versions of the Power Mac G4, putting some distance between the company's professional line of machines and the surprisingly powerful iMac (Flat Panel)
Opera 5.0 Offers Classic Mac OS Browser Alternative -- Opera Software earlier this month released the final version of Opera 5.0, their Web browser for System 7.5.3 through Mac OS 9.2 (the Mac OS X version remains in beta testing)
Wireless Palm i705 Released -- Palm has released the Palm i705, the next generation of the company's wireless-ready handheld organizers. The i705 is much smaller and sleeker than its predecessor, the Palm VIIx, weighing 5.9 ounces and measuring a little more than half an inch thick
Now Up-to-Date & Contact 4.1.1 Squashes Bugs -- Mac OS X users running Power On Software's Now Up-to-Date & Contact 4.1 should definitely upgrade to the just-released version 4.1.1
iView MediaPro 1.4 Adds Framed Galleries -- iView Multimedia has released iView MediaPro 1.4, the latest version of their surprisingly deep media cataloging program
QuarkXPress 5.0 Now Shipping -- Quark has begun shipping QuarkXPress 5.0, a long-simmering upgrade to the company's industry-leading page layout software
Griffin PowerMate Receives Software Update -- If you were one of the many people who went home from Macworld Expo with one of Griffin Technology's cool PowerMate USB controllers (the brushed aluminum "knob and button"), head over to Griffin's Web site for updated drivers for both Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X
In any given week, I'll read fifty to a hundred news stories, and my general reaction usually elicits either a yawn or a few moments of cogitation about how the event in question is likely to reverberate through the industry
Although Macintosh hardware holds its utility far better than PC hardware, it's still difficult to justify keeping older Macs and accessories around through major architecture changes