New & Noteworthy: MacAddict magazine gone? Nope; PowerBook G4 drive repair; G4 with SuperDrive shipping; more

MacAddict magazine "closed"? Christopher Strauss sent us the text of an article from the New York Post of February 17. It stated in part: "Imagine's London-based parent company, Future Network, said it was laying off 350 employees worldwide - roughly 17 percent of its work force - and closing 20 magazines in England, France and the United States. In the U.S., Imagine will close Revolution; Maximum PC; MacAddict; PC Gamer; Next Generation and Official Xbox." We could not find any mention of this on the Post web site or the MacAddict web site.

Update: This press release confirms that something is up with Imagine Media and its Future Network parent company. However, MacAddict's Niko Coucouvanis asserts: "We're here and fine; Imagine did just bail on some other magazines, but MacAddict is one of the profitable core publications they're keeping around."

PowerBook G4 disc drive repair A MacCentral article states that the problem ejecting discs from the PowerBook G4's DVD drive (see previous coverage) is a misalignment issue. Apple is aware of this issue. "The problem will require the PowerBook be returned to an AppleCare Repair Center."

Power Mac G4 with SuperDrive now shipping Apple announced it has begun shipping its new 733 MHz Power Mac G4 with the SuperDrive, a combination CD-RW/DVD-R drive that can read and write CDs as well as DVDs that can be played in consumer DVD players.

DVI-to-ADC connector For $299, you can pre-order Gefen's DVI-to-ADC Conversion Box. It will allow you to connect Apple's latest ADC monitors to older DVI-equipped Macs.

TurboTax for Mac 1040 DeluxeandTurboTax for Mac Home and Business vers 00.00b are out. (Thanks, John Baltutis.)

ComputerTown closes stores As noted in this MacCentral article, Mac retailer ComputerTown is in financial trouble and has closed two of its stores.

Inside a PowerBook G4 Want a detailed look (via photos) of the inside of a PowerBook G4. Check out this Macworld article.

Getting ready for Mac OS X In his latest MacWEEK column, John Welch echoes some of the concerns we have previously expressed regarding getting ready to troubleshoot Mac OS X: "Administrators will have to get at least comfortable, if not adept, at using the BSD plumbing in OS X. While users should never have to see a command line, or the Unix layer directly, administrators are missing out on many features and time-savers if they don't start learning how to use these things." Meanwhile Charles Haddad, writing for BusinessWeek, considers whether Mac OS X will finally get Corporate America to embrace the Mac (he requests that you not hold your breath waiting for this to happen).

Windows XP Last week, Microsoft revealed a beta version of Windows XP. Touted as the "most important" release since Windows 95, it features a new user interface called Luna. See these two articles for more details: ZDNet, TechWeb. Also see our previous reference.

Olympus and Kodak agree on cross-licensing digital camera technologies Eastman Kodak and Olympus Optical Company announced a cross licensing agreement designed to expand the market for digital photography. The agreement includes the mutual cross licensing of patented digital camera technologies.