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Retrophisch

ATPM 11.07

The July issue of About This Particular Macintosh is now available. The issue kicks off with some amusing, original artwork from former staffer Grant Osborne. I need to pester him for some high-resolution copies to use as desktop pictures. Crikey, but did we get a lot of reader e-mail last month. Keep those e-mails coming, folks. We love interacting with our readers! This issue marks a milestone, as we move from what has been our traditional publishing method for many years to a new system. Michael explains it all in a fascinating look back at our old publishing methods, and the transition to the new one. Having had a front seat to the development process, looking at alpha and beta publications over the course of a couple of weeks, I can tell you that Mr. Tsai poured a lot of effort in to our new publishing system, which should allow ATPM more flexibility for the future. On behalf of the entire staff, thank you, Michael! I agree with Ellyn's take on the Apple-to-use-Intel brouhaha, and wish her well on her upcoming Jeopardy appearance! Ellyn also notes a worthwhile project wherein you can "adopt" a serviceman: Books for Soldiers. My personal favorite program is Adopt a Sniper; snipers have different equipment needs than most other soldiers, beyond simply the difference in arms. Yet the inflexibility of the military's purchasing process precludes snipers from getting a lot of this more flexible and specialized equipment before they are deployed. Kudos to the individual citizens who have banded together to help provide what the most cost-effective warriors in our services require. (One shot, one kill.) And thanks to Ellyn for pointing out another program supporting our soldiers I was unaware of. I've got some books winging their way to the Middle East very soon. Sorry for that tangent; let's veer back on track. Angus Wong delivers an introspective look at the Mac's history and current market, in light of the recent move-to-Intel announcement. Paul Blakeman offers up his iBook love story. We welcome David Blumenstein as a full-time ATPM staffer, and he reciprocates the love with a look at podcasting. Charles Ross has a great FileMaker database How To, and Marcus J. Albers goes Dashboard widget hunting. We are pleased to offer desktop pictures from ATPM reader Mark Montgomery. Thanks for the guitars, Mark! My favorites are the Dobro and the Rickenbacker. Cortland's parents come for a visit, and Frisky's freeware pick this month is MacMAME. Chris Lawson has a pair of speaker reviews, and Matthew Glidden explore's graphic design aid Curio. Paul Fatula gets to know Wacom's Graphire Bluetooth edition, while David Zatz compares headphones from Pro Tech Communications and Sennheiser. Finally, Andrew Kator details vSpace Master 2.0, a 3D/VR presentation system.