Will Apple Disappoint on 30th Anniversary?

An anonymous reader writes "We've seen the media get over-excited about an Apple launch before, but one CNET columnist is 'threatening suicide' if Apple don't announce something for their 30th Anniversary this Saturday. CNET is concerned at the lack of any news from Apple: 'You'd guess that Steve Jobs will at least have to walk out onto the lawn in Cupertino, light a few fireworks and make some whooping noises. It's that or risk an international incident.' Is Apple going to keep a low profile for their 30th?"

Two buttons on laptops do not work

[SuperKendall]

I have used some of the best designed Windows laptops the planet has to offer. The second mouse button is NEVER is a good place or easy to use.

On a laptop, where your fingers controlling the trackpad are right by the keyboard, chording keys to get to the second button is much, much better because you get the second button exactly when you want it.

I've been using a Powerbook at home for years now and it's the only laptop I've ever used that I do not ever use an external mouse for. There simply is no need.

I do use a three button Logitech mouse on my desktop, which I could not be without. But in the laptop a single button that you chord to activate other features is the way to go.

Re:Two buttons on laptops do not work

[jdray]

Strangeness... I'm reading this on a ThinkPad R40, and took the time to examine the mouse button placement, which I've never given much attention to before. I've used both left and right mouse buttons for the TrackPoint, as well as for the TrackPad. I'd never paid much attention before, but the set of buttons for the TrackPoint also has a middle button. Staring at it for a moment, I wondered what it did. Moving the mouse to a neutral area on the page so as not to inadvertently click something, I pushed the button. My browser (Firefox on OpenSuse) immediately jumped to a page on the Perseid Meteor Shower [homestead.com]. I don't remember ever visiting that page, but I wouldn't say that I've never been there before, either. I just tried it in another tab, and it goes to the same place. Very strange. I may have to dig into my settings and see what the middle button does...

Re:Alternative to Fireworks

[gluteus]

Sounds like you haven't felt the touch of a woman in a very long time, if ever.

Re:Two buttons on laptops do not work

[Scooby Snacks]

X is designed such that there is a highlight-and-middle-click copy-and-paste [jwz.org] buffer. Going way back to the days of Netscape 4 (and possibly before), Netscape and derived browsers on X (and now on Windows, with Mozilla and Firefox) will open a link in a new window (or, configurably, a new tab, with Netscape's modern descendants) if you middle-click it. With the middle-paste X behavior, middle-clicking on a page when you have a URL in the copy buffer (from highlighting, not from selecting "Copy") will "paste" it into the current window -- that is, it will open that URL. With Firefox (and perhaps Mozilla, but I'm not sure), it is configured by default to do an I'm-Feeling-Lucky Google searchfor the terms you paste into the browser window.

Of course, practically all of this is configurable nowadays, and cross-platform, too.

Hope that helps.