Please help GPSCity.com reach the target of 5000 names on their online petition to increase support for the Mac platform among manufacturers of GPS equipment. Before Friday, August 8 they had only received 500 signatures in six months, then they got a whopping 2300 in one day after news of their campaign hit a couple of Mac news sites. Read more…

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Digital Pro Sound reports that composer Don Davis will return to score the upcoming movie Matrix Revolutions, due for release November 5. The press release describes the upcoming score as ?a synthesis of classical opera and a postmodern concerto.? Davis is even writing an opera, ?Rio de Sangre,? premiering 2005 at Disney Music Hall in LA. (That?s a real hall, by the way, if you didn?t know, not part of Disneyland! Davis has an extensive history of concert music as well as being a film composer.) And, of course, what computer does Mr. Davis use? Macs?three of them in his studio alone.

If you thought all you could do with iTunes Music Store songs you?ve purchased was play them in iTunes, you?re in for a pleasant surprise. As we?ve previously reported, in Native Instruments Traktor 2.1 DJ, you can DJ with your iTunes library. But you can even open up files directly and edit them. All you need is audio editor BIAS Peak. Finally, you can edit your iTunes music to remove unwanted portions of the audio files, and convert your music for programs like Live that don?t yet support MPEG4 audio files.
Read more on musiconmac.com . . .

A few months ago I wrote in to the PowerPage asking readers for suggestions on desert-hardened gear to take with me as I deployed to Iraq. The article spun up some controversy, more about the war than what gadgets are tough enough to endure military life in the desert. Now that things have settled down a bit, I thought that I’d send a little feedback. Internet access out here is spotty, but living on an Airfield has its advantages – the Air Force needs the internet to get weather data. Read more…

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I would have to say that I am one of the dirtiest, most disgusting keyboard users out there. Since my PowerBook and PowerMac have become my life, I am constant hammering away, typing up project, reports, e-mails and those zillion instant messages. I sadly admit, that I even will sit at my computer eating a sandwich as small crumbs fall in between my precious keys. Read more…

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About a year and a half ago I discovered a hole “burned” through the bottom of my PowerBook G3 Firewire. It is located 2 1/2-inch forward of the left monitor output screw. The actual open hole is 1/4-inch diameter and a melted area a total of about 1/2-inch diameter. I have showed it to many people including some Mac repair folks and no one has a clue as to what may have caused it. Several have said that can’t imagine that the computer still works with that hole. It runs mostly fine, but I do have an intermintant Firewire problem. (FireWire devices work for about 20 minutes then stop communicating.). I had installed a 32GB HD but that is not near the hole. Any ideas?

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T-Mobile will give you the SIM unlock code for you phone if you ask for it. All you have to do is send an email to simunlock@t-mobile.com. In the email you need to provide you name, phone number model # and IMEI# (which can be found on the box, or each phone has different shortcuts to this info). They will send you back the unlock code which will allow you to place a competitors code into the phone. I Don’t know for sure if AT&T and Cingular offer this, but I cannot imagine they would not.

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A Businessweek article “As Number Portability Nears” discusses the recent FCC ruling that mobile phone operators must allow customers to keep their phone number when changing providers. The new rule takes effect 23 November 2003. Read more…

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The recently announced VeriChip has the potential to be implanted in humans (in addition to devices) allow them to be scanned and tracked without the hosts knowledge. Pretty cool for airline luggage, a little scary when implanted in humans.

VeriChip is a miniaturized, implantable radio frequency identification device (RFID) that has the potential to be used in a variety of personal identification, security, financial, and

The new Samsung i500 released by SprintPCS (palm/phone combo) will sync with a Macintosh (OS X) running Palm’s desktop. I have yet to try it on OS 9, but it does indeed work on OS X. Neither Sprint nor Samsung advertise support for the Macintosh.

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