While I mull some thoughts brought upon by my recent meanderings round the countryside and notice with dismay that I'm precisely half-way through my vacation, here are some things of note:
- Microsoft has just released their first Universal application for Mac OS X: MSN Messenger 6.0, which you can get at the usual place. Like the 5.1 version before it, it allows for corporate IM, but it now sports the Windows Live logo and is able to talk to Yahoo. Thankfully, unlike Windows Live Messenger, it is not crammed full of banner advertisements. There's also a little more info regarding the features that made it into this release.
- Given my thorough shake-down of what I perceived to be .Mac's missed opportunities and the wealth of criticism surrounding it, I gladly welcome the preview of what I assume to be a cross-browser-compatible, upgraded, webmail. A lot of people have commented on this by now, but so far, I haven't seen anyone mention the Junk folder - does this mean we're finally going to get server-side Spam filtering? My .Mac subscription expires in 18 days, and although I couldn't care less about Ajaxy webmail, more storage, server-side rules and Spam filtering might tip the scales in Apple's favor (so far the only things that are keeping me on the fence, besides the mail account, are the likelihood of an iDisk upgrade and access to "the complete Apple experience"...).
- I'm starting to lend a very small modicum of credibility to iPhone rumors. Why? Well, if you check my iPhone node, you'll see that it's been two years, time enough for Apple to jump through most of the necessary hoops for them to learn (or acquire) the necessary tech, how to integrate it and how to make it usable. And yet, Apple's US-centricity might be the biggest hurdle to overcome.
- Tom's Hardware turned ten years old yesterday. Wow. I remember when it was, well, really Tom's site. Now that it's gone megacorp, heavily sponsored (and, of course, nothing to do with the Mac for the most part) I've visited less and less, but it's still newsworthy.
- Ah, yes, the Wii, and the odd toing and froing regarding whether or not the Opera web browser is free, downloadable until June 2007, or just plain available (if you ask me, Nintendo ought to stop the act and make it completely free - which I suppose they will after Xmas). Apparently there's a Google/Maps demo of the browser online, in which we're presented with the biggest browser toolbar known to mankind... Is the remote that imprecise, or are they just lending Fitt's Law a hand?
- Finally, Pathway just hit my radar screens, and I'm still poking at it in disbelief. This is what I'd love to graft on to this site as a navigational/editing aid.