M$ $1.1B Antitrust Settlement with CA Tentatively Approved

-- TGIF, July 18 --

[Update 1:15p EDT] Apple Updated Macintosh Guide Hot Deals: Apple updated the offerings from several of their Hot Deals retailers which have big money-saving deals on a wide variety of products for your Mac:

MacZone has the Acomdata 120GB 7,200RPM external USB 2.0 and FireWire hard drive with a $30 mail-in rebate, Nikon CoolPix 5400 5.1 megapixel digital camera with FREE 128MB memory card, Symantec Norton SystemWorks 3.0 with a $50 mail-in rebate, Edge 6-in-1 USB reader with $10 mail-in rebate, Viking 512MB CompactFlash Card with $25 mail-in rebate, and much more.

MacMall has Apple PowerBook, iBook, iMac, and eMac bundles that include FREE RAM, FREE Epson color inkjet printer, FREE carrying case, and FREE software; Adobe Design Collection 6.0 with FREE Total Training for InDesign 2.0 CD, Apple Final Cut Pro 4 with FREE Contour Design ShuttlePro controller, Intuit QuickBooks Pro 5.0 for Mac with $120 mail-in rebate, Formac StudioDV analog to digital converter with $50 mail-in rebate, and much more.

J&R has the MacAlly RFKey USB wireless keyboard, Formac Devideon external SuperDrive for Mac, Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0, PNY 128MB secure digital memory card with $20 mail-in rebate, Brother MFC-5100C multi-function machine, InCase leather laptop carrying case, Harmon Kardon 3-piece SoundStick speaker system, Sony DCR-TRV950 MiniDV Handycam camcorder with FREE shipping, and much more.

CDW has Mitsubishi DiamondPoint 17" and 19" LCD flat panel monitors, Adobe Acrobat 6.0, Nikon CoolScan IV ED film scanner with $100 mail-in rebate, Nikon Super CoolScan 4000 ED film scanner with $200 mail-in rebate, Xerox Phaser 8200 color laser printer with $300 mail-in rebate and FREE supplies bundle pack, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 11 with $140 mail-in rebate, and much more.

Sweetwater has Bias Studio Bundle, M-Audio Ozone, Yamaha Keyboard Bundle, Roland DS-30A reference monitor speakers, MOTU Digital Performer 4, Native Instruments Traktor, Glyph NetDrives, and much more.

[Update 10:45a EDT] Mac Night Owl LIVE Internet Radio Show Tonight covers the state of the Mac from a Mac OS X Developer's perspective with Gene Steinberg and Andrew Stone. Gene will have a heart-to-heart with Andrew Stone, head of Stone Design, publishers of Create and other exclusive Mac OS X applications. Check it out at 9-11 a.m. EDT.

[Update 10:45a EDT] New iChat AV Web Site: Seeser.org has officially launched its beta site to support the new community of video chatters around the world. Announced as a beta release by Apple Computer several weeks ago, iChat AV allows Mac users to easily set up audio and video chats via their AOL Instant Messenger or .Mac accounts. But as the software has received much praise, users are still struggling to find other users ready to engage in iChat AV video chats. Seeser.org is a meeting place for those users to meet and experience all the benefits of iChat AV. Major components of the site include: Video Swap Meet, AV Blind Date, Video Blog Listings, and FIND A BUDDY section.

[Update 10:45a EDT] New Alaska Desktop Collection: Northern Softworks today announced the release of its Alaska Desktop Photo collection. The Alaska Desktop Photo collection is a collection of scenic Alaskan photos edited for use as Mac OS desktop pictures. This collection offers stunning Alaska wildlife shots set against Alaska's breathtaking natural beauty. These are unique photos that will enhance any Mac desktop.

Configuring Mozilla/Netscape 7.1 Privacy/Security Features: Here is a good tutorial on how to configure the privacy and security features in Mozilla and Netscape 7.1 web browsers--cookies, ads and banners, popup windows, passwords, scripts and plugins. [Dana Baggett]

IBM Chip Plant Losing Big Money according to this Reuters article. IBM's state of the art plant in Fishkill, NY, makes Apple's newest G5 CPU for the Power Mac G5. [Dana Baggett]

Speed Test--ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Edition on Bare Feats. The retail version of ATI's 9800 was released this week--It has DVI and VGA video connectors. A BTO version with ADC and DVI video connectors that also takes advantage of the G5's 8x Pro AGP slot (G4s have 2x or 4x) will be available as a BTO option on the new G5.