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12/24/98 - Thursday's News:	Click for Current News Page
Merry Christmas! Kay and I want to wish all of you a safe and happy holiday. Be careful out there - it's very icy here and more is falling now. Tomorrow's not only Christmas but our first wedding anniversary as well. It's snowing pretty heavily outside now...looks like a white Christmas after all. Carmine's (MiM) [Happy Holidays] News Feed (Links may not be valid in the future) AppleTIL Updates (THURSDAY.12.24.98)  Apple Support Information: Hot Service & Support News  iMac: Proper Driver For Umax Scanner  iMac: Firmware Update Message Keeps Showing At Startup  QuickTime: User Tips  Apple HD SC Setup: Checks for Bad Blocks And More  About Mac OS 8.5.1 Update  Holiday 1998 Telephone Support Hours (USA)  Macintosh: Connecting SCSI Devices  PowerBook: Testing Backup Battery London port fears 1999 computer bug may hit ships (Yahoo) Data-scrambling seen thwarting Net (Yahoo) Top internet stories of the year (ZDNet) AMD's secret chip revealed (ZDNet) Apple readies new iMac (ZDNet) = 5:00 PM Update = More Details on IDE to SCSI Adapters: Black Fire saw the posts here in yesterday's news on their adapters and wrote a long mail with more details on the product in a Mac environment. I've posted their comments in a page on IDE to SCSI adapters. I've requested a loaner for testing/review as well. Basil "Baz" Gravanis sent a URL to the EE Times article that talks of the possibility that IBM's G4 CPU will have Altivec extensions (previously to appear only in Motorola's G4). He wrote in response to a comment I had made in my 10 Favorite Products of 1998 section on looking ahead to next year's hottest products. Orb Drive to show at MW SF: After a long wait it appears the Orb drive has finally arrived: " Hello Mike, Once again, thanks for your great site, it's one of my daily stops. I guess you still remember the ORB drive (2.2 Gigs for $30 and the drive itself for $199). According to Castlewood's web site, they'll have a booth at Macworld expo! It seems their product isn't vaporware after all. I'm sure they'll be giving Iomega a run for their money! (I want one badly!) The site is at http://www.castlewood.com/castlewood/web/index.htm Jonas " The big question in my mind (and lots of others) is can the Orb survive? Considering Syquest couldn't (despite their $169 Sparq 1GB drive with $33 1GB carts). Many people I know (including myself) are leery of the possibility of a new standard surviving. It sounds like a great product however and is priced right, but can it survive in the shadow of Iomega's marketing blitz? There was a space in the filename of the MacBench 5 graphic shown in the Performance Comparison page of the G3 IDE upgrade article. Although my ISP's server properly displayed the image, some servers may not have. The space was inadvertent and was removed last night. Don't forget to enter our Mac Magic Contest. Write one paragraph on how the Mac has improved or changed your life and you could win a MacMagic 3Dfx card. Send your entry to: Frank Bernier. The winner will be announced on New Year's Eve. Check out today's Unreal news page update for news on new Unreal weapons patches, Unreal v2.20, and a popular Mac Unreal server. If you missed last night's late post in yesterday's news Other World Computing notes they have received the $479 G3/300/150/1MB ZIF upgrades mentioned here a few days ago. Apparently pre-orders have sold all but about 100 they say. [NOTE: CPU upgrade prices/availability change over time - see their specials page for the latest listing and the CPU upgrades page for the latest reviews.] " Our stock of the G3/300mhz Zif product has arrived. These are brand new IBM parts, 3yr Warranty, 30 Day Money Back. Compatible with All G3 Desktops, Minitowers, Servers, and All In One Models; Its a great way to upgrade your existing 233/512 or 266/512 to a higher level of performance. After existing pre-orders were filled, we have about 100 pieces left available. First come, first served. Price includes Fed Ex Standard Overnight delivery. OWC Inventory part number is Z300IBM. Best Regards, Larry Other World Computing 800-275-4576 www.macsales.com " Other Net News: (links may not be valid in hte future) Check out Macs Only!'s Hands-On Review: webSavant a four CD, 18-chapter tutorial on designing, developing and managing web sites. iMac sales have Apple smiling (News.com) Iomega Adds 250MB, USB models to Zip Lineup (PCWorld) AMD's Secret Chip Revealed (ZD/Net) What to do with that old PC (PCWorld) Yesterday's News Summary OWC stock arrives on $479 G3/300/150/1MB ZIF upgrades Bottom Line still waiting on Voodoo2 cards to arrive Sam's Club sale on 13GB Maxtor IDE drives IDE to SCSI adapters (2 sources) BLOL sale on Maxtor 10GB drive Unreal news and Maps page updated Carmine's TIL and net news updates Maxtor 10GB vs Stock 6GB IDE disk performance results posted MacMagic Giveaway Contest Details Nec Monitor/3Dfx card adapter tip Quake II for Mac OS X server released MacsOnly reader review of Fusion USB gamepad Other Net News Please verify your Email address when sending support mail: I'm still getting a few bounces on mail I send to help readers with tech support problems. Please ensure you verify your correct email address (repeat it in the mail as a safety measure). Also, please check the FAQ, and Troubleshooting page for possible solutions first before writing - and please try the Men in Mac Help page as an alternative on requests for tech support to help me be able to spend more time on reviews. Thanks. For other recent site news/features links, see the Recent Site Features page. Note: Before sending tech support related questions please check the Freq. Asked Questions, Site Contents, CPU Card reviews/articles, SCSI reviews articles, Graphics card reviews, Tips/Misc, Message Boards and Help pages - in many cases the answers to your questions are there and they have far more detail than I can list in an email. For Apple G3 system info - see the G3-ZONE. News and guest reviews that don't require a reply are always welcome. I hope to catch up in the next few weeks. Thanks. Looking for past articles? Check the menu frame topics links (CPU Cards, SCSI, Graphics Cards, Systems) under the logo above or in the menu frame below or check the Recent Features page. Make a Difference: Be the Difference Randy Mita, Brad Lau and I came up with a new slogan and theme for Mac advocacy - "Make a Difference: Be the Difference". We're asking that all Mac owners take advantage of every opportunity to let others know the Mac advantage. It's a grass-roots approach that will surely help.