The Palm T|X: Please Palm, just go away ...

From a review of the new Palm T|X:

PalmInfocenter.com - Palm T|X

...The USB cable alone will not charge the handheld from the computer, you must attach the AC cord...

A PDA that won't charge via USB 2? That's so 1990. Some Chinese startup ought to be buy the company (as they did PalmSource). Please, someone put Palm out its misery. Leave me with my memories of their glory days ...

Update 11/1: An Amazon reviewer writes: "Battery is quite good, long lasting and charges fast through the USB cable, even from my old ThinkPad A21 at home."

Macintouch readers: iBook G4 has hardware bug affecting system stability

The good news is the Apple community is good at spotting hardware bugs. The bad news is that there are a lot of hardware bugs. Does Apple have more than Dell? Is it less responsive than Dell? I suspect the answer is probably 'about the same'. In the meantime I'd hold off on buying a G4 iBook for now. Too bad, I really like the iBook line.

MacInTouch: timely news and tips about the Apple Macintosh

A big bug with the iBook G4, extra memory and AirPort prompted a number of notes from MacInTouch readers:

[Brian Behrend] There is a huge bug with the new iBooks. When using moderate to heavy network usage via Airport, the iBook will become unresponsive and the cursor becomes jumpy. The problem has been isolated to having additional RAM installed. Apparently it doesn't matter what brand or type, not even the size matters. There's a huge thread on the Apple discussion boards regarding this but no solution has been reached as of yet.
It's very frustrating since Photoshop is more or less unusable with 512MB, and copying files to the network is unreliable with 1GB or 1.5GB installed. The general workaround is to only use Ethernet to copy files to servers or download large files from the Internet.

[MacInTouch Reader] Apple claims that the latest revision of the iBook supports up to 1.5GB of ram, but when that much is installed, Airport ceases to function properly and the whole computer lags. Dozens of iBook owners have reported the issue for over a month without a response from Apple, leaving them with malfunctioning laptops.

[Marijn Raven] A lot of iBook owners (the new 1.33 12" and 1.42 14") complain about the loss of Airport signal, together with slow mouse movement. At this thread you can read more about this issue. Perhaps your readers might benefit from this feedback.

[MacInTouch Reader] I think you should bring up an emerging issue with the new 2005 iBooks.
I just bought a 2005 12" iBook G4/1.3 GHz. I moved over my 1 GB RAM module, which had been used by a 12" 1Ghz model without any problems (RAM is from OWC).
Shortly after using the new computer, I noticed it get very sluggish. Using TOP in the terminal didn't show anything, but using Activity Monitor showed that the kernel_task was using over 75% of my CPU.
At the same time, I would lose my Airport connection. Many people are noticing the Airport losses before noticing the kernel_task overload, and so a lot of the discussion is "my AirPort has died".
The only ways I've found to reliably trigger the overload is through the use of BitTorrent or SoftwareUpdate. Large file transfers to a server trigger it about 50% of the time. I have not have a problem with itunes when consolidating files on a sever, or using it to change ID tags on a server...

I wonder if the bug is related to the type of wireless encryption used. Tiger supports a pretty wide range of encryption options beyond the classic (and dysfunctional) WEP.

Marware iPod cases

The Nano versions aren't available until the end of October. The silicone wrapper is $9 -- much cheaper than others.
Marware Laptop and iPod Cases - Apple iPod Accessories and mini iPod Case Styles

Is this the solution to my home amplifier problem?

Updated 10/10/05.

Today I briefly thought this Class T Amplifier would yet me put assemble a two-room speaker solution with an iPod/AirPort Extreme input in a very confined space. Alas, some native suspicion and a very persuasive negative Amazon review led me to investigate an alternative that appeared on Amazon's 'what people bought instead' list.

I ended up ordering the AudioSource Amp 100 2-Channel Power Amplifier from Amazon. There was one review, and the reviewer was looking for the same thing as me. This amplifier is only 8"-9.25" deep (numbers vary) and it accepts two inputs and sends output to A/B speakers. It even has a volume control. Very simple. $140. Seems just right. My only worry is the depth. We'll see!

Now I have to buy the AirPort Extreme (after the 10/12 Apple product announcement) and two pairs of speaksers -- bookshelf and mounted.

Nano Hard Case

At $25, an affordabel Nano hard case. I'll watch for reports...

Iceframe for iPod Nano

Is OS X Preview the biggest feature in Tiger?

Spotlight is buggy, but it is pretty good. Nonetheles, OS X Preview may be a serious contender for the most valuable component of OS X. Annotating a PDF, or completing a PDF form, usually requires the $$ Adobe Acrobat application. As of Tiger, "Preview" (awful name) does this and more:

Annotations
View and create annotations to a PDF document from Preview.
DNG File Format Support
Open files in the new Adobe DNG (Digital Negative) format.
Forms
Fill out and print PDF forms.
Image Keywords
Add, remove and modify keywords for images.
JPEG2000 Support
Open files in the next generation JPEG2000 image format.
OpenEXR Image Format
Open images stored in OpenEXR file format.
RAW Camera Image Support
Open images in the RAW file format used by Canon, Nikon and other models.
Image Correction
Adjust colors, exposure and more, thanks to Core Image.
PDF 1.5 Document Compatibility
Take advantage of PDF 1.5.
Screen Capture
Capture screen shots and more using features previously available in the Grab application.
Slide Show
View an elegant full screen slideshow of images opened in Preview.

I tried the slideshow! Neat, but I couldn't figure out how to stop it ...

Darik's Boot and Nuke: sterilize an old computer prior to donation or sale

I've found a home for an old machine, but how do I wipe the drives? I'd read a while back about this utility, and Google found it for me. I'll report on how well it works.

Darik's Boot and Nuke

Darik's Boot and Nuke ('DBAN') is a self-contained boot floppy that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction.

I assume by "emergency" destruction they're referring to a scenario I'd rather not think about too much.

Update 10/10: Seemed to work perfectly. Downloaded the zip, ran the executable that creates the floppy, rebooted, hit enter, selected drives to wipe, accepted the default (medium security). Took about two hours to wipe two drives simultaneously. Of course I don't know how good the erasure is, but I'm betting it's pretty good. I trashed the diskette, I've no need to keep a 'loaded diskette' in the house. I give away a machine every few years.

kw: Linux, diskette, disk, wipe, clean, purge