the finger-keyboard synapse - February 2006 Archives

February 2006

The new nova & galaxy (16:19) - I'm sure some of you have been wondering what the clues were a few weeks ago about "a new nova in the galaxy." Some of you have figured it out--my hats off to you. Perhaps if you knew that we have servers named nova and galaxy for OxONet, it would have made sense. As some of you also know, BitWise and OxONet are intertwined, including sharing servers. So, what exactly is going on, then? We have some brand new state-of-the-art...

Linux on Mactel, who cares? (14:33) - Here's something I've been meaning to write about for a week now. It was big news that Edgar 'Gimli' Hucek was the first person to get Linux running on one of the new Intel Macs. That's all very hunky-dory, but I have a big question: Why? There are two big reasons why I don't understand this: 1) Mac OS X makes great workstations and great servers, just like Linux. Because Mac OS X is based on BSD, it already has... | 1 Comments

First Mac OS X virus targets... you guessed it... iChat (16:15) - Last week brought news of the world's first Mac OS X virus. And wouldn't you know that it's Apple's own instant messaging program, iChat, that's used for distribution. The threat from this virus is rated low, appropriately, because it does require users to click on a malicious link. Nonetheless, it does highlight that Apple's OS is not immune to viruses, and that instant messaging is one of today's hotbeds for viruses and malware. Read the complete story at ComputerWorld online.... | 4 Comments

This is why we beta test, example 2,934 (21:08) - First, I apologize for the unusual gap between posts. Lots has been going on, which you'll find out about very soon. The old hint about the new nova still applies. :) Next up, we're still looking for someone with an Intel Mac to do some testing, especially using the voice chat. The offer for a free Plus membership for Intel Mac testing is still valid. Lastly, the past couple of days have involved some head-scratching wondering why metal-enabled windows on...

The compiler won the battle, but lost the war (14:50) - We are very excited about the release of BitWise 1.7.1 Beta 1 yesterday, mostly because the Mac OS X 10.4 version is now a Universal Binary that runs natively on both PPC and Intel Macs. I must say, Apple has done a really nice job with their build tools to make this fairly straightforward. On the other hand, a really nasty surprise with Quicktime 7 for Mac OS X 10.3 caused the release to be delayed a day while I... | 1 Comments

Feet to the Fire radio chooses BitWise as its "official and sole" IM (14:41) - A couple of weeks ago, I appeared live on Feet to the Fire radio. This week, BitWise has been seleted as the official and sole IM for Feet to the Fire (read the announcement). Showcasing some of BitWise's features, James (the show's host) is also offering an archive of past shows in his Shared Files. As for the rest, I'll just let's James's quote speak for BitWise (I couldn't have said it better myself!): "In these days of AdWare/SpyWare and... | 1 Comments

Mac universal binary for 1.7.1 release (09:34) - I am delighted to report that initial testing of the universal binary for Intel Macs was a success! We were unable to test the voice chat (no microphones), but otherwise everything looked operational. If you have access to an Intel Mac and can help us test voice chat, we are still offering a free BitWise Plus membership in exchange for your testing. This means that the next release of BitWise for Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) will be a universal...

Another Mac demise: BitWise for Mac OS X 10.2 (16:51) - The current BitWise 1.7 will be the last version of BitWise released for Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar). We will leave BitWise 1.7 for OS X 10.2 available for download as long as it is functional, though it will no longer be supported. There are several reasons why we are dropping support for OS X 10.2: Only about one-fourth of one percent of our active users use Mac OS X 10.2. wxWidgets has never functioned well on Mac OS X...

All praise the demise of IE for the Mac (15:20) - You may recall my griping about IE for the Mac when I was redesigning the web site during the first part of last year. It therefore made me very happy to read the headline: Internet Explorer For Mac Dead And Gone You can read the full story on CRN. Basically, IE is no longer available at all, and all IE for Mac downloads have been removed from Microsoft's site. Obviously there will still be people out there using IE for... | 2 Comments

Friday Special: Professional Entertainment (13:00) - Checking the PO Box is usually a fairly boring experience. Insert key, open door, pull out mail, close door, remove key, flip through envelopes. "Bill, payment, payment, bill, magazine offer, payment, payment, bill, hmm, not sure what this is." What this is turned out to be the highlight of my day it was so amusing. Inside the plain envelope was this sheet of paper: Click for full size With that ad, this company has fully earned my trust. Just look... | 4 Comments