When I visit my parents, my father and I always sit down at their Macintosh and look at what's ended up in its System Folder since my last visit. I have a decent idea what many files are, but over the years, the possibilities have begun to overwhelm me

Steve Jobs breathed fire into the Macintosh world last week by announcing new computers that have enthralled Mac users and press alike. The first announcement concerned the new PowerBooks G3 series (not to be confused with the short-lived PowerBook G3 that shared the 3400's frame), whose rumored features and form factor tantalized Mac aficionados for months

During his keynote at Apple's World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) today, Steve Jobs announced future directions for key Macintosh software technologies, including QuickTime, Java, and the Mac OS. QuickTime -- The first software demonstration featured long-time QuickTime architect Peter Hoddie showing QuickTime streaming technology using the RTP (Real Time Protocol) standard

Mikael Hansen has released version 2.3 of AutoShare, his freeware mailing list manager and autoresponder. The main new feature is support for the "-on" and "-off" addresses that we helped popularize with the TidBITS list for easy subscribing and unsubscribing

Slightly lost within the announcements of the new PowerBook G3s and the iMac last week were the openings of the Apple Store for Education and the Apple Store UK, which is the first step in making the Apple Store available to users in Sweden, Holland, France, Germany, Australia, and Japan

In a move sure to be welcomed by developers and users, Apple has announced plans to revise QuickTime 3 licensing policies (see "Furor Over Developer Programs & QuickTime Licensing" in TidBITS 425)

John Norstad announced Wednesday that his free Disinfectant anti-virus utility has been retired. Norstad considered updating the utility to combat the recently discovered Autostart-9805 worm (see "Autostart Worm Breaks Malware Silence" in TidBITS-428) but decided to direct his software's loyal users to the various commercial utilities that are available, such as Dr

Volkswagen is advertising its new Beetle as being reverse-engineered from UFOs, but it may have to give up that claim in the face of Apple's new PowerBook G3 line

Steve Jobs today announced what is in many ways the first interesting new Macintosh in quite some time, the consumer- and Internet-oriented iMac. What's fascinating about the iMac is its combination of serious specs, low price, and a unique translucent industrial design

Less than three weeks after Intuit publicly discontinued further development of Quicken for the Macintosh (see "Financial Competition?" in TidBITS 427), Apple and Intuit have announced a recommitment to future versions of the popular financial-management software

Owners of Iomega's ZipPlus drives run the risk of "compromising the integrity" of their data unless they follow Iomega's revised system compatibility guidelines

A Bare Bones Software press release today announced the release of Mailsmith 1.0, the company's long-awaited email client program. Although the market for email programs would appear crowded, what with Emailer, Eudora, Netscape Communicator, Outlook Express, QuickMail Pro, and others, Mailsmith promises some unusual features

A Big Minus for ZipPlus -- Iomega recently revised the compatibility guidelines for the ZipPlus drive, and these guidelines suggest that Iomega either dropped the ball when testing the drive or has a blatant disregard for reality

Baby, You Can Drive My Tape -- Dantz Development has released the free Retrospect 4.0 Driver Update 1.4, which adds support to Retrospect for a number of new CD-R drives, tape drives, and autoloaders (devices that swap among multiple tapes automatically)

Mailsmith Emerges from the Forge -- Bare Bones Software today announced the release of Mailsmith 1.0, the company's long-awaited email client program. Although the market for email programs would appear crowded, what with Emailer, Eudora, Netscape Communicator, Outlook Express, QuickMail Pro, and others, Mailsmith promises some unusual features