Type of Article: MacMinute Web Site

On December 12, 1991, physicist Paul Kunz installed the first Web server in America on an IBM mainframe computer at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). Designed to give physicists around the world access to the university’s vast catalog of physics research information, Kunz had no idea then that the technology would spawn a new way of communication, commerce and communities for people worldwide.

Judge Frederick J. Motz, who is charged with deciding whether the US$1 billion settlement proposed by Microsoft is a fair agreement, has urged both sides in the suit to meet with a mediator in hopes of reaching an agreement outside the court, according to the Associated Press. The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, December 18.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs will present the Macworld Expo San Francisco keynote on Monday, January 7—a day earlier than previously scheduled—according to MacCentral. No reason was provided for the change in date.

Ircle 3.1b12 is the newest pre-release version of the popular IRC client for Mac OS 7.5 and later and Mac OS X. The new beta corrects a few bugs from the previous version; version 3.1 has been in development for more than two years and is expected to be completed before the end of the year. Ircle is US$15 shareware.

MacMinute sources indicate that Apple has put the finishing touches on Mac OS X 10.1.2, with the update expected to arrive to the public possibly as early as today. MacGeneration (French) notes that the update is said to deliver improvements to USB, FireWire, and PC card support, IrDA modem support on FireWire PowerBooks, updates to AirPort, Apache, AppleScript, and more.