5 Years of Wikipedia Already

The free online encyclopedia that anyone (wait, almost anyone) can edit turns 5 years old today. As of when this was posted, there were roughly 920,000 articles being worked on. That's about 500 articles a day! Not long now till 1,000,000 articles.
And a few false claims.....

Firefox for Intel Macs planned for March

The Mozilla Corporation has set a March launch date for a version of its Firefox Web browser that will run on Apple's Intel version of Mac OS X. Just what we needed...

iPods will gain in battery life with new Wolfson audio chip

The new chip will give up to 70 percent more listening time according to Wolfson. This means if your current iPod can play music for 14 hours (a statistic for a typical 5G iPod), with the new Wolfson chip and a similar battery the same iPod would be able to play for 23.8 hours. Just when you taught you had no more reason to live...!

iTunes boosts prime time ratings for NBC, ABC

Both NBC and ABC have seen a rise in viewer ratings since adding select TV shows to the iTunes Music Store. NBC credits the availability of its shows on iTunes for the recent increase in viewers during prime time for one of its popular comedies. Who would have guess.....

Stores paint rooftop logos for Google Maps

A way to take advantage of the Google Maps is, of course, painting your logo on the rooftop and hoping the mapping satellite passes above your head. If you are looking for me i shall be on the roof top...!

Pragmatic Bookshelf releases "Learn to Program"

Computers are everywhere, on every desk, in your iPod,
cell phone, and PDA. To live well in the 21st century, you need to know
how to make computers do things. And to really make computers do what you
want, you have to learn to program.

Fortunately, that's easier now than ever before. With his new book, "Learn
To Program" (Pragmatic Bookshelf, US$19.95, 0-9766940-4-2), author Chris
Pine can teach anyone how to program: you, your spouse, your children, or
non-programmers who work closely with the programming team.

What makes this book different from all the other introductory "learn how
to program" books? It teaches basic programming skills using Ruby,
a remarkably easy-to-learn and use, modern, full-featured programming
language.

Languages such as Java come with a lot of extra baggage that gets in the
way of learning. For instance, a simple program to print the words "Hello
World" looks like this in Java:

public static void main(String[] args)
{ System.out.println ("Hello World"); }

There's a lot of gunk there that needs explaining. But in Ruby, that same
program looks like this:

puts "Hello World"

Coupled with Ruby's full-strength, professional, object-oriented approach
and libraries, and you've got a real winner on your hands.

Chris tells us, "I discovered the Ruby programming language in early 2001
and immediately began using it to build tools for my day job: programming
computer games. After hours, I volunteered with gifted children, teaching
them advanced mathematics. With Ruby in hand, I began to teach programming
as well." Once he saw how easily his students learned advanced programming
concepts in this environment, he decided to expand his teaching materials
into a book.

Starting with small, simple, one-line programs to calculate your age in
seconds, you'll see how to advance to fully structured, real programs.
You'll learn the same technology used to drive modern dynamic websites and
large, professional applications.

In other words, it's the pragmatic way to learn to program.

Learn To Program
Chris Pine
ISBN 0-9766940-4-2, 175 pages

Sonnet upgrades processors on older PowerBook G4s

Sonnet is offering a $500 CPU upgrade service for older PowerBook G4 users.

Quick Bytes for Jan. 16

Microsoft bails on Windows Media Player for Mac
-The company halts development on Windows Media Player just days after publicly pledging to continue support Microsoft Office for Mac.

Freeverse to publish Legion Arena strategy game
-Legion Arena, a role-playing strategy game, will arrive on the Mac this spring.

Eyewear-based media viewer for iPod debuts
-MicroOptical's myvu Personal Media Viewer routes audio and video from the fifth-generation iPod to sunglass-style eyewear, allowing viewers to watch the content without looking at the iPod screen.

XtremeMac intros battery pack for docking iPods
-XtremeMac introduced the MicroPack battery pack for all iPods with a dock connection. The company claims it is capable of providing up to five times as much audio playback time as a fully charged iPod nano.

BlackBerry handhelds to offer free Mac support
-Information Appliance Associates and Research in Motion plan to offer PocketMac for Blackberry syncing software as a free download in February.

Google Earth for the Mac released
-Google has officially released Google Earth for the Mac. Google Earth puts a planet's worth of imagery and other geographic information right on your desktop. View exotic locales like Maui and Paris as well as points of interest such as local restaurants, hospitals, schools, and more.

Play Windows Media in QuickTime
- Telestream, the media encoding specialists, today announced an agreement by which Microsoft will now distribute Windows Media Components for QuickTime. Powered by Telestream's Flip4MacTM technology, the Windows Media components enable Mac OS X users to play Windows Media video and audio directly within the familiar QuickTime Player. The components are now available as a free-of-charge download from Microsoft's website at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/flip4mac.mspx

Speed Download 3.0.15; first universal turbo-charged download manager for Mac OS X optimized and ready!
- Yazsoft announces the immediate availability of Speed Download 3.0.15; the first universal optimized download manager for the HOT new Intel based Macs running Mac OS X 10.4.4.
Completely re-written with Apple xCode, Speed Download 3 is the leading download manager for Mac OS X providing many new features including turbo-charged downloading, uploading, peer 2 peer file sharing, scheduling, bandwidth management, and more while providing auto-resuming functionality and security at all times. Speed Download 3 is optimized for ALL internet connection (dial-up or broadband).

Microsoft set to release mouse, keyboard for the Mac
-According to a report on TechWeb, Microsoft today said it plans to release a mouse and keyboard combo specifically designed for the Mac -- for the first time this summer.

XtremeMac announces HomeShow, RoadShow for iPod
-XtremeMac today announced the debut of HomeShow and RoadShow, two new cable kits that turn the new iPod with video and other iPod players into home or auto entertainment centers.

Onlife reaches Public Beta 3 release
-Edison Thomaz today announced that Onlife Public Beta 3, a new information manager for Mac OS X that allows users to search, visualize and organize all the content that they create and consume from one single place, has been released.

XtremeMac announces NBA Iconz iPod cases
-XtremeMac today announced a new licensing partnership with the National Basketball Association and the debut of NBA Iconz cases for iPod and iPod nano.

Signs Point To Apple Cellular Company
-I can't say I know how it fits in Apple's little strategic pie, but the demand will probably be there: Ars Technica thinks Apple is getting into the mobile phone biz. Pointing at the latest trademark applications for "Mobile Me" and the abandonment by Motorola, the article concludes, "Getting into the cellular services business is easier these days, thanks to the likes of Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, Cingular, and their support for Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO). An MVNO is a company that leases bandwidth, infrastructure, and time from a carrier and then rebrands and resells it. The best-known MVNO in the US is arguably Virgin Mobile, which also operates on Sprint's network."

Garmin Announces GPS Product Support For Mac OS X
- "Amongst all the exciting news today I saw this little gem. Garmin International Inc. today announced that it will immediately begin to make its line of GPS and mobile electronics devices compatible with Mac OS X version 10.4 "Tiger." This makes Garmin the first major GPS designer and manufacturer to announce direct support for Mac OS X.
"We are very excited to be supporting the many tech-savvy Garmin users who are also Mac devotees," said Min Kao, Garmin Ltd.'s chairman and CEO. "Mac users have been encouraging us to make our GPS units Mac compatible, and we've listened. We hope this brings the many benefits of GPS to current Mac users and invites future Apple customers to the Garmin fold.
At last!

Apple Offers Free iMac In Exchange For DTK
-If you are a developer who got their hands dirty early with Apple's Developer Transition Kit, you can bring it in and exchange it for a brand-spanking-new Intel iMac. Clearly, Apple is hoping to get those DTK's off the streets! This is a marvelous -- and somewhat pricey -- incentive for the company to move forward with the transition. Not to mention a very kind way of thanking those who busted their humps to make the transition happen.

Google files mobile patent
-A Google researcher has filed a patent application for technology that would allow mobile phone users to single-click on an advertisement on a website to make a voice call to the advertiser.