TidBITS#583/11-Jun-01
=====================
Just when you think Apple has cornered the market on cool (with
the PowerBook G4 Titanium), they up the ante by releasing the tiny
iBook (Dual USB). Which would you choose? In local news, the
Washington State Supreme Court upholds the state's anti-spam law,
which reminds us: what ever happened to TidBITS's spam suit? Also,
we pass on news of an AppleScript worm, a Microsoft Word macro
security fix, and a Handspring rebate, plus we welcome Sustainable
Softworks as a new TidBITS sponsor.
Topics:
MailBITS/11-Jun-01
Spam Damned in Washington State
iBook or TiBook?
<
http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-583.html>
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ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/issues/2001/TidBITS#583_11-Jun-01.etx>
Copyright 2001 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
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This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* READERS LIKE YOU! You can help support TidBITS via our voluntary <- NEW!
contribution program. Special thanks this week to John Hayden,
Arthur Zerbey, and Darrel Carnell for their generous support!
<
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* APS Tech -- 800/395-5871 -- <
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Burn a full CD in less than five minutes with the APS CD-RW
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* WinStar Northwest Nexus. Visit us at <
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* Small Dog Electronics: Canon Digital Video On Sale! <-------------- NEW!
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ZR20 MiniDV: $619; ZR25MC MiniDV: $749; ZR30MC MiniDV: $799
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* Bare Bones Software BBEdit 6.1 -- Built for Mac OS X
The award-winning HTML and text editor is now native for
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---------------------------------------------------------------
MailBITS/11-Jun-01
------------------
**Sustainable Softworks Sponsoring TidBITS** -- We're pleased to
announce our latest TidBITS sponsor, the network utility company
Sustainable Softworks. Best known for their IPNetRouter program,
which turns almost any Mac into a feature-rich network router,
Sustainable Softworks also makes other useful utilities like
IPNetMonitor, which helps you test and troubleshoot network
connections and IPNetTuner, which enables you to tweak Open
Transport's internal settings. Most recently, Sustainable
Softworks released IPNetSentry, an unobtrusive personal firewall
which not only watches and deters Internet crackers from your Mac,
but which also can improve overall reliability by throwing out
crash-causing malformed packets. But IPNetRouter remains
Sustainable Softworks' flagship program, and it's one we've come
to rely on. Any time you read an article or a TidBITS Talk message
in our database, or even receive an issue of TidBITS via email,
that data has passed through IPNetRouter at some point. It's
stable, flexible, reliable, and backed by outstanding online
support from its author, Peter Sichel. Also important is the fact
that Peter and others at Sustainable Softworks have long been
active members of the Macintosh Internet community. We couldn't be
happier to welcome Sustainable Softworks to our select group of
sponsoring companies. [ACE]
<
http://www.sustworks.com/>
**Word Macro Security Fix Available** -- Microsoft has posted the
Microsoft Word for Macintosh Security Update: Macro Vulnerability,
a long title for a simple and important fix. In Word 98 and Word
2001, malicious code can be embedded as a macro in Rich Text
Format (RTF) files, which would not be recognized by Word's
internal macro-checking mechanism. The update prevents macros from
opening without a security warning. The problem only affects Word
98 and Word 2001, not the other components of Microsoft Office.
The update is a 361K download. [JLC]
<
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/download/office2001/wordmacro.asp>
**Mac.Simpsons Email Worm Targets Microsoft Software** -- Last
week, reports surfaced of a new Mac OS worm that arrives by email
and takes advantage of Microsoft email clients Outlook Express and
Entourage to send itself to everyone in the infected user's
address book. According to Symantec, the AppleScript worm, dubbed
"Mac.Simpsons@mm" for its promise to show hundreds of never-
before-seen episodes of the popular Simpsons television series,
may also remove all the user's messages from the Sent Items
folder, however, they can be retrieved from the Deleted Items
folder. The attachment appears as an AppleScript script named
Simpsons Episodes.
<
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/mac.simpsons@mm.html>
Microsoft's Entourage application, the combination email client
and personal information manager included with Office 2001, warns
the user of suspicious activity before sending copies of the worm
to everyone in the address book, but Outlook Express provides no
such warning. The worm also places a copy of itself in the user's
Startup Items folder, and reports suggest that it attempts to
access a specific Web site using Internet Explorer. If you believe
your Mac might have been compromised, check your Startup Items
folder for the worm or other suspicious files (if your Mac isn't
currently running, be sure to start it with the Shift key held
down to disable startup items). [MHA]
<
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06139>
**Handspring Offers $100 Rebate For Old PDAs** -- On 07-Jun-01,
Palm OS-compatible handheld vendor Handspring announced a trade-up
program that offers users a $100 rebate on the thin Visor Edge
handheld in exchange for nearly any old PDA, whether or not it
works. The company will send Visor Edge purchasers a $100 rebate
check upon receipt of the rebate form, original product code from
the Visor Edge's box, and a qualifying old handheld. Acceptable
trade-ins include Palm OS handhelds; Pocket PC and Windows CE
handhelds; Symbian, Casio, Psion, or Sharp handhelds, and even old
Apple Newtons, if you still have one of those around that you
don't use. (Current Handspring Visor owners can send in their
serial numbers to get a $100 discount on a Visor Edge and keep
their current Visor.) Handspring says it has made arrangements to
recycle the old devices. The offer is open only through 01-Jul-01
to residents of the U.S. and Canada, and all mail requesting the
rebate or packages containing the old handhelds must be postmarked
by 31-Jul-01. [MHA]
<
http://www.handspring.com/promos/tradeup.jhtml>
Spam Damned in Washington State
-------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <
[email protected]>
Last week, the Washington State Supreme Court unanimously struck
down last year's ruling from King County Superior Court Judge
Palmer Robinson that Washington State's anti-spam law was
unconstitutional. Judge Robinson held the law violated the
interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution because
compliance would require spammers to identify specific email
addresses as being connected with Washington State residents.
Robinson is correct - that requirement is burdensome. But what she
failed to consider was the fact that identification is at issue
only when the email in question uses misleading information in the
subject line, has an invalid reply address, or attempts to
disguise routing information. In short, legitimate commercial
email, even when unsolicited, doesn't run afoul of the Washington
State anti-spam law at all, and thus the concern over
identification is moot.
<
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05871>
The Washington State Supreme Court also disagreed with Robinson's
opinion that inconsistent state laws regulating spam also create a
burden on interstate commerce. The Supreme Court found that anti-
spam laws in the 17 other states that have enacted such
legislation have much overlap and complement each other in some
respects, but there's no actual conflict.
Justice Susan Owens expressed it best when she wrote, "the only
burden the Act places on spammers is the requirement of
truthfulness, a requirement that does not burden commerce at all
but actually facilitates it by eliminating fraud and deception."
<
http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/opindisp.cfm?docid=694168MAJ>
Will the revitalization of the Washington State anti-spam law
eliminate spam? No, though it's still an important decision that
ultimately will reduce the amount of spam . The problem is that a
large amount of spam is sent by small-time grifters, people who
live in the cracks of society by not violating any criminal laws,
changing names and addresses regularly, and staying out of the way
of large companies with deep pockets. Those sort of people have
always existed, but in the past their small predations have been
limited. Thanks to the way the Internet magnifies the effort of an
individual, these people can now aim their scams at a huge and
ever-increasing audience. The economics of spamming aren't good,
but they don't have to be, since that sort of life tends to be a
hand-to-mouth existence, so an infinitesimally small success rate
is sufficient.
But having anti-spam legislation available as a tool for people
and companies to use against spammers adds a level of risk to the
act of spamming. It's not a big one, but since the margin of
success with spam is so low anyway, the added risk doesn't have to
be enormous to be effective. More importantly, by adding some risk
to spamming, the legislation can help keep honest companies
honest. If it were easier to send unsolicited commercial email
with misleading subjects or deceptive routing information, some
companies would no doubt take that approach, and hopefully this
legislation will help dissuade them.
We did see a drop in the amount of spam in 1999 that might have
correlated with the passage of anti-spam legislation, but
particularly when the Washington State statute was declared
unconstitutional, the volume started to rise again, such that
despite increasingly effective filters on our mail servers, both
Geoff Duncan and I received more spam per day in 2000 than in 1998
(Geoff had an average of 7.8 spam messages per day get through
server-side filters in 2000; my average was 8.2 per day). You can
see how we compared to other TidBITS readers in the results of a
poll from a year ago.
<
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05929>
**Speaking from Experience** -- As many of you know, back in July
of 1998 TidBITS filed the first lawsuit against a spammer under
the Washington State anti-spam law (see "TidBITS Sues Spammer" in
TidBITS-439_). The spammer in question was flogging Bull's Eye
Gold spamming software, and between all the TidBITS staff members,
we had received close to 100 nearly identical copies of the spam.
The gory legal details of how that case proceeded aren't
particularly interesting, but here are the highlights.
<
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05000>
Our first hurdle was to find the spammer, Christopher Lee Knight,
so we could serve him with papers about the suit. We had initially
thought this would be relatively easy, since the Bull's Eye Gold
spam in question gave a physical address in Los Angeles and phone
number for Worldtouch Networks. Our first mistake was publicizing
it before serving papers, since, as many people happily noted, the
Bull's Eye Gold spam stopped immediately after we announced the
suit. Unfortunately, that meant he knew we were on to him, and he
went to ground.
We sent a process serving company to the Worldtouch address, but
they were never able to find Knight. We considered dropping the
suit, but things quickly became more interesting, with other
people chiming in that they'd tried to serve Knight with papers as
well, and an anonymous informant claiming s/he knew lots of dirt
on Knight and his girlfriend (a Nikole Ducatte) but was scared to
talk. So we decided to spend some money to hire investigators, who
produced some real details.
It turned out that Christopher Lee Knight probably isn't our
spammer's legal name: he was also known as Christopher Duke, and
Christopher Joyce is most likely his real name. Between the time
we filed the suit and the investigator found him, he had moved six
times; by the end of the suit, the investigators recorded twelve
different addresses in five states, with a final mailing address
at a post office box in a sixth state. The investigators also did
a quick asset check (detailed ones cost a lot more) and found a
few thousand dollars in a bank account with recent activity. That
seemed good enough to go ahead with, so we did.
Eventually, the investigators managed to serve the person they had
reason to believe was Christopher Lee Knight, although he denied
the identification and refused to show ID to confirm his denial.
Still, the judge in Washington State agreed that it was
sufficiently likely that we had served the right person and let
the case go forward. That gave Knight 60 days to respond to the
charges or claim we'd gotten the wrong guy. None of that happened,
and in fact nothing happened at all.
After the 60 days passed, we applied for, and received, default
judgement. That means we won the case, since Knight never showed
up to defend himself. That left nothing to do but attempt to
collect our winnings. Unfortunately, collection required hiring an
attorney in California (more expense and delays) and then rehiring
the investigation firm to look for Knight's assets yet one more
time. This time they struck out on the bank accounts, determining
in the process that Knight had left California and was staying in
various motels in Connecticut. Since collecting in another state
would involve hiring another attorney and investigators there, and
it was clear that Knight could easily just hop over state lines
any time, we decided not to throw more money at the project.
The final information from the investigators included a juicy
tidbit that suggested Knight (using the Christopher Joyce name and
again accompanied by Nikole Ducatte) is now the president of a
Pennsylvania company called O'So Lo Foods. They apparently sell
low-carbohydrate foods, and you can check them out yourself on the
Web, complete with staff pictures, in case you're wondering what
these people look like.
<
http://www.osolo.com/meetthecompany.html>
**Evaluating the Suit** -- The question is, was this lawsuit
worthwhile? With one exception - the financial aspect, which cost
us about $3,000 - I'd have to say yes. It shut down one of the
most egregious spammers of the time (to judge from the many email
messages we received commiserating about Worldtouch Network), it
drew a great deal of public attention to the spam problem, and it
seemed as though it helped reduce the volume of spam for a while.
In the end, we're happy with the outcome, though if anyone would
like to help defray our legal costs, we would happily accept
contributions to TidBITS via Kagi or through PayPal to our
<
[email protected]> address (in the event that more money comes
in than we spent, we'll donate it to an appropriate non-profit).
<
http://www.tidbits.com/about/support/contributors.html>
<
https://www.paypal.com/refer/pal=editors%40tidbits.com>
One way or another, it's clear to me
that we as a society have a
long way to go in learning how to live with this Internet genie
we've released. But we'll have to take the bad with the good, and
I remain hopeful that one day we'll be have effective social and
technical mechanisms that will eliminate spam from our lives
without the need for legislation.
iBook or TiBook?
----------------
by Mike Whybark <
[email protected]>
What would you do if you could exchange some work for either a
shiny new PowerBook G4 Titanium or Apple's latest portable wonder,
the iBook (Dual USB)? It's not an easy question, since both Macs
induce excessive levels of drool, but it's one I'm going to try to
answer in this article. Obviously, my situation is unique: a
freelance job for a multimedia software company requires a
Macintosh laptop computer, and another client would be happy to
pay me for an assignment with the very laptop I need for the first
gig. If you're trying to decide between these two machines, please
follow along, and I hope my train of thought will help lead you to
a decision as well.
The machine I imagined for myself was a current, speedy Mac OS
portable, both tough and lightweight. I knew it needed to be
fairly high-powered, since I was hoping for a three-year life
cycle. Since I work on projects that require a great deal of image
editing and compositing as well as audio, I knew I'd want a CD-R
drive and a large internal hard disk, a complement of fast ports,
lots of RAM, and a large, bright, high-resolution display.
Additionally, I needed an AirPort card so I could work on my home
AirPort network. At first blush, a PowerBook G4 Titanium, with its
modern PowerPC G4 processor, high-end specs, and huge LCD display
sounded like it might fit the bill well.
**Titanium Problems** -- I began my research at the Apple Web
site. I was surprised to learn that the PowerBook G4 Titanium is
available in only three varieties, two 400 MHz models
distinguished by differing hard disk sizes, 20 GB and 30 GB, and a
500 MHz model with a 30 GB hard disk.
Somewhat disappointing was the single optical drive choice: a
DVD-ROM drive, with no alternatives available for the Titanium's
thin form factor. I've had a DVD-ROM drive in an older machine for
years, but have never used it to read a DVD-ROM. Since I often
need to burn data to a CD, the lack of ready access to a CD-R
drive can seriously impede my work. I already own an external
FireWire CD-R, so a built-in CD-R in the portable wasn't an
absolute requirement - although a FireWire port would then be
necessary. The Titanium supports FireWire, but my initial
disappointment about the lack of a CD-R option led me to consider
other possibilities. One option immediately presented itself.
<
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?family=PowerBook>
<
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06269>
**Checking Out the iBook** -- On 01-May-01, Apple announced the
new iBook (Dual USB). It is so different from the old candy-
colored iBook in appearance and features that it was almost
instantly nicknamed the "iceBook" for its gleaming white plastic
body. Substantially smaller and lighter than the old curvy iBook,
the new iBook actually beats the svelte Titanium in the
miniaturization department. It's neither as broad nor as a deep as
the Titanium, at 4.9 pounds weighs 0.4 pounds less, and it's a
mere 0.35 inches thicker when closed.
<
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06422>
The similarity of size and weight caught my eye - I hadn't
considered the old iBook as an option due to its 6.6 pound weight
and expansive dimensions. Looking more closely, I was pleased to
note that the iBook also sports a FireWire port. Of course, it's
AirPort-ready, but more interesting, it has four available optical
drives - CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, and a CD-RW/DVD-ROM combination
(you choose one when purchasing; unlike the PowerBook G3 series,
the drive isn't in a swappable bay). And despite these features,
its price _starts_ at well over a thousand dollars less than the
Titanium.
<
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?family=iBook>
Some more legwork on the iBook revealed its three main
restrictions when compared to the Titanium: the choice of
processor, the system bus speed, and the video and display
systems. In each case, as one might expect, the Titanium is more
powerful.
The most notable limitation, of course, is the iBook's use of the
PowerPC G3 processor instead of the faster PowerPC G4, which also
includes the Velocity Engine processing unit for dramatic speed
increases in certain types of applications that have been
explicitly compiled to support it. Mac OS X itself takes advantage
of the Velocity Engine, and going forward, it's clear that the
iBook will feel slower than the PowerBook G4 Titanium as both
machines age. This means that the iBook may not meet my three-year
life cycle requirement.
Secondly, the iBook uses a 66 MHz system bus as compared to the
Titanium's 100 MHz system bus, which can impact the overall
performance of the machine in situations where a lot of data needs
to be moved across the system bus. However, the iBook's 256K L2
cache is on the PowerPC G3 chip itself, providing a 500 MHz data
path, whereas the Titanium's 1 MB of L2 cache is on the processor
module and runs at half the speed of the CPU (either 200 or 250
MHz).
<
http://www.apple.com/powerbook/specs.html>
<
http://www.apple.com/ibook/specs.html>
Finally, and most glaringly (pun intended), the issue of video and
displays comes into consideration. The iBook's built-in display
system is a 12-inch diagonal XVGA TFT active matrix LCD, running
at a maximum resolution of 1,024 by 768 pixels. That's not shabby
by any means, though it can't compare with the Titanium's 15.2-
inch wide-screen LCD running at 1,152 by 768 pixels.
The iBook also features nearly the same video subsystem as the
older PowerBook G3 (FireWire), the ATI RAGE Mobility 128M with AGP
2x. However, the iBook's standard VGA-out port is limited to
providing video-mirroring of the built-in display. That's fine for
projection or use of a single large monitor at the iBook's highest
resolution, but in contrast, the PowerBook G4 Titanium supports
monitor spanning, so, when available, that giant expanse of screen
can be complemented by another.
Finally, the iBook lacks a PC Card slot found in the Titanium, but
given the functionality and ports built into the iBook, I can't
see any particular need for PC Card expansion.
**Outside Opinions** -- Having realized that the iBook was a
viable option for my needs if I adjusted certain expectations, I
now faced the task of separating my needs from my desires, and for
that, I've long had good luck seeking the advice of others.
I began with my wife. She listened to me lay the issues out, but
in the end for her it was a clear-cut decision based on price; she
thought that the significantly cheaper iBook was the preferred
option. An enquiry to a list of computer professionals, most of
whom are not Mac people, yielded the same choice but with a new
perspective. The discussion there determined, based upon my use
patterns and peripherals, that the machine under consideration was
unlikely to be a replacement for my existing Power Mac G4 desktop
system, and thus it would be more sensible to obtain a smaller,
lighter, and cheaper "orbital" system.
A query to the savvy Mac users on TidBITS Talk turned up somewhat
different opinions that favored the Titanium over the iBook,
citing display and screen size most frequently, followed by
longevity, speed, and processor concerns. Folks on TidBITS Talk
also zeroed in on my desire for a CD-R in the portable as
dispensable.
Ever the iconoclast, TidBITS Contributing Editor Matt Neuburg
suggested a PowerBook G3 (FireWire) because of its robust suite of
professional features and lowering price in the face of the new
portables. His observations are cogent, but since size and weight
predominated in my mind as the narrowing factors, I didn't look
closely at that machine as an option. However, its dual-battery
capacity and resale pricing (I saw one on eBay with Final Cut Pro
for about $1,800) make it an attractive cost/value comparison to
the iBook for the professional user.
<
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=1390>
The final sources of information I pursued with regard to the
iBook were Macintosh price-and-bundle tracking sites, plus
discussion groups and bulletin boards. I learned some interesting
things from these forums, most notably that a number of people
were considering stepping down from the Titanium to the new iBook,
and that despite its space age construction, the Titanium's thin
but large form factor contributed to it feeling fragile. Other
negatives that cropped up around the Titanium related to problems
with the DVD-ROM drives, slight keyboard impressions on the screen
when closed (caused by dirt and skin oils deposited on the
keyboard), and poor AirPort range due to the antenna placement and
titanium shielding. Although Apple will hopefully work out these
design kinks, it won't happen in time for this purchase. On the
timing issue, although Apple has had trouble shipping machines in
quantity when promised, the new iBooks (and particularly the
CD-ROM model) do seem to be shipping steadily and for some online
orders, before promised.
I also read of some problems that new iBook owners were
experiencing. The first problem that surfaced involved
difficulties with the audio output of the iBooks, solvable only
with a restart; Apple responded immediately with a software update
that Apple recommends all iBook owners download and install. The
second problem involved varying problems with the trackpad, such
as wandering or jumping cursors. The trackpad problem reports are
still coming in and no resolution or clear indication of the scope
of the problem is currently available. [Having just received my
new iBook from Small Dog Electronics, I can say that the cursor
wandering and jumping is, at least on my machine, related to
touching the large trackpad surface accidentally with multiple
fingers. -Adam]
<
http://asu.info.apple.com/swupdates.nsf/artnum/n12255>
Reading that brick-and-mortar merchants frequently had the iBook
in stock inspired me to pay a visit to my local Computer Store in
Seattle. I expected I would be more impressed by the form factor
and screen size of the Titanium. However, once I was able to use
both machines side-by-side, I found that the keyboard, trackpad,
and button layout on the iBook was noticeably more comfortable. In
particular, the Titanium has an extra half-inch or so of lip
between the front edge of the machine and the trackpad button;
every time I went to hit the button with my thumb, I smacked this
lip instead. On the iBook, although the trackpad and button are
the same size and shape as on the Titanium, I didn't have the
problem with the lip. By itself, this isn't a huge issue - I'm
sure I'd get used to avoiding the Titanium's lip right away. But
overall, I just found the iBook more comfortable.
The iBook display was extremely crisp and bright. Even at the
highest resolution of 1,024 by 768, I had no difficulty looking at
it or hitting even small controls. The Titanium's larger display
was just fine, but for some reason, I saw the iBook's display more
clearly. Finally, the Titanium's slot-loading DVD-ROM ejects to
the front of the machine, which would be a minor hassle when I use
the machine in bed. The side-mounted, tray-loading configuration
of the iBook wouldn't suffer this problem. Another bonus on the
iBook side for lap use is my initial impression that it runs
cooler than the Titanium. A lap warmer can be nice in the cold,
rainy months, but I don't need to bake my thighs otherwise.
Finally, I was impressed at how _small_ the iBook looks, while the
Titanium's width gives the impression of size. The difference
between them is only 2.2 inches, measured edge-to-edge the long
way, but in packages this small, a few inches matters a lot.
**Choosing a Book** -- To sum up, I found the pricing of the iBook
far more attractive than the Titanium's pricing. The low price
also helped me soften my desire for a three-year life cycle. The
main technical differences, such as CPU speed, display size, and
monitor spanning capabilities turned out not to be crucial because
I'm planning to use the portable in conjunction with my primary
desktop Mac. Finally, the opportunity to handle the two machines
side-by-side enabled me to determine that for whatever intangible
reason, I preferred the feel of the iBook.
In the end, the iBook most closely suits my needs. Its up-to-date
ports provide access to my supporting cast of peripherals here at
home, so much so that I decided to get the least expensive CD-ROM
model (though with more RAM and an extra battery). The iBook's
Lilliputian stature means I can travel with it easily, and the
price difference between it and the Titanium allows me to save
some of the money I earned recently for the proverbial rainy day
(which may come in the form of my late-summer electric bill here
on the power-challenged West Coast). I'm looking forward to
opening the box on my new iBook.
[Mike Whybark plays a bright-blue electric mandolin in the
Seattle-based Bare Knuckle Boxers and has designed user
interfaces, logos, and Web sites for the DVD anime classic
Bubblegum Crisis and two Better Homes and Gardens CD-ROMs, among
others. Most recently he led the initial development of an online
sweepstakes and contest management system for iPromotions, now a
division of 24/7 Media, Inc.]
<
http://mike.whybark.com/>
<
http://www.bareknuckleboxers.com/>
$$
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