Free Republic

Psystar Hit with $5K Fine for Discovery Abuse August 25th, 2009 at 11:03 AM by Jeff Gamet Unauthorized Mac clone maker Psystar was slapped with a US$5,000 fine for discovery abuse, indicating the company's "guns blazin'" legal strategy may have misfired. The ruling came as part of Apple's case against the company for selling PCs with Mac OS X pre-installed. "The $5,000.00 penalty means that judge Alsup has found that Psystar has violated the rules of discovery," an attorney familiar with this type of case told The Mac Observer. "That indicates that Psystar is in trouble with the court. However,...

Intego Spots Malware Blocker in Snow Leopard August 25th, 2009 at 5:40 PM by Bryan Chaffin Snow Leopard contains a malware blocker, according to Mac antivirus software developer Intego. The company posted a screenshot of a warning dialog box on its blog that it said was from Snow Leopard, the Mac OS X 10.6 upgrade Apple is shipping on Friday. "We're not sure yet exactly how this works," the firm wrote, "but the above screen shot shows this feature working with a download made via Safari, detecting a version of the RSPlug Trojan horse in a downloaded disk image." If...

The iPhone & Steve Ballmer: It’s Time For Him To Eat Some Serious CrowWednesday, August 26, 2009 There are very few people in the tech world who annoy me quite like Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. It’s not just that he’s loud, dismissive and arrogant. It’s that he manages to be all these things while usually being spectacularly wrong, especially when it comes to Apple. Take for example his thoughts on the iPhone from a USAToday article in 2007: “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance,” said Ballmer. “It’s a $500...

Steve Jobs first announced Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) was in development at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in 2008. It was a chance for Apple to take stock of where it was with OS X. There would be no major innovations, but plenty of refinements: it would install quicker, take up less disk space, and the user experience would be improved through Apple's attention to detail. Fast forward to WWDC 2009, and the version of Snow Leopard being prepared has everything Apple promised, and more. Refinement rather than revolution, then, is the watchword for Snow Leopard. We've picked...

Mac OS X Snow Leopard: The Pros Better read. Long list. Buy ItTry It Apple's Snow Leopard update to Mac OS X is due in September. This is a list of possible reasons to finally make the move and get it. It's a much longer list than the other one. Details of the coming 10.6 version of Apple's operating system are still under NDA and so cannot be discussed directly. But enough can already be said about existing editions and what Apple have previously promised with 'Snow Leopard'. Here at any rate are possible reasons you'd want to get with...

COMMENT: It's all in the mind - and the desktop PCs and Macs are very different machines. There are probably more obvious statements than that in the world but not many. From the design of the computers, to their strengths and weaknesses, the sweeping contrasts between the two are enormous but sometimes it's the smallest variations that are the most telling of the them all. For example, have you ever taken a good look at something as simple their desktops? There's the recent addition of the Dock and obvious graphic subtleties but one thing, although noticeable, that barely seems to...

5 Reasons Macs Can't Claim They're Better than Windows 7 By Mitchell Ashley Apple's heyday of picking on Windows is over August 19, 2009 I regularly use both Windows and Mac PCs, so any comments that I've never used a Mac are bunk. I've been using Windows 7 since before its public beta release at the first of this year. I use my Mac for video editing, iPhone development, etc. I love all of my computers equally -- my Windows PC, my Mac and my Linux servers. They all do what I ask them to do very well, and I...

Apple's 99-Cent Apps Are Too Cheap, Microsoft Says By Barry Levine August 20, 2009 9:39AM Microsoft is wooing developers to Windows Mobile by promoting the idea that Apple, Inc. prices App Store apps too low at 99 cents. Loke Uei told developers "your app is worth more than that" in sessions preparing for Microsoft's launch of Windows Marketplace for Mobile. The BlackBerry, Palm and Android stores also plan to charge more than 99 cents. With Apple's App Store offering many free and 99-cent apps whose prices please buyers but frustrate many developers, Microsoft is wooing developers to its Windows Mobile...

In a post on their "Psystar Community" website titled "A taste of their own medicine," Psystar writes, verbatim: We are pleased to announce that an agreement with Apple’s counsel was reached earlier this month and we now have the final list of their deponents for our proposed topics with respect to this litigation. For the past week and for the following ten days we will be doing depositions of some of Apple’s highest level people. After numerous depositions of Psystar employees and associates the shoe is finally on the other foot, oh the joy! Now given that there is a...

Turns out the official recipe for fun and the way to create an Internet sensation are the same: Start with a megacorporation, add in a group of Germans on a hillside, liberally take advantage of slick editing software and let the power of the Web do its thing. If you spend any time online, have a TV or know anyone who does, you've probably heard about the latest craze blasting its way through cyberspace. In case you haven't, a recap: A guy in a neoprene suit goes barreling down a waterslide, flies off the end and through the air, traveling...

The cafeteria at Booker Elementary School Tuesday looked like an Apple Macintosh computer supermarket – except the machines were not for sale. They were gathered for scrap. More than 140 G3 and G4 laptops and more than 50 iMac and eMac machines were headed for salvage; not resale, not reuse, but salvage. While the computers are not state-of-the-art, they remain usable. In fact, there is a lively market for used Macintosh computers. The oldest eMac still sells for $100 on the Internet, with other versions selling for $300 or more. Used iBooks sell for between $350 to $500. The total...

The Federal Communication Commission's latest overreach may be a sign of things to come How awesome is the iPhone? As a proud owner—I camped out overnight to get 2008's 3G model—I'll vouch for its addictive niftyness, and admit that I often find myself wondering how I ever got through a day without one. Between the intuitive touchscreen interface and the endlessly delightful App Store, in which one can buy everything from games to GPS solutions to dictionaries to softcore porn, the iPhone's made my life richer, more entertaining, and more hassle free. Others might dissent, but it would be difficult...

DALLAS, Texas – An unexpected outage of the popular social networking site, Twitter, disconnected millions of the state’s Geekorati from their communications lifelines today, sending them scurrying to high tech hangouts like Fry’s Electronics and the Apple Store. Masses of Justin Long wannabes mobbed Apple Stores across the state seeking human connectivity when Twitter connectivity unexpectedly failed. According to store managers the crowds even eclipsed the launch of Apple’s iPhone. “This is horrible,” wailed Mona Sharon, pressing her face to the window of the Southlake, Texas Apple Store waiting for her number to be called so she could enter. “We...

* Mac expert shows how hackers can steal encrypted data * Demonstrates method at conference for security experts LAS VEGAS, July 29 (Reuters) - A Mac security expert has uncovered a technique that hackers could use to take control of Apple Inc (AAPL.O) computers and steal data that is scrambled to protect it from identity thieves. Prominent Mac researcher Dino Dai Zovi disclosed the software flaw at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, one of the world's top forums for exchanging information on Internet threats. About 4,000 security professionals are in attendance, including some who are really hackers....

New Version Reflects Lowered Price on Mac Notebook NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Following a complaint from Apple, Microsoft has quietly tweaked at least one of the ads in its "Laptop Hunters" campaign to reflect its rival's lower pricing on its Mac notebooks. In the new version of the ad, Lauren doesn't talk about how much the Mac costs, but she does say: 'It seems like you're paying a lot for the brand.' 'Greatest single phone call' Just last week Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner was ecstatic about a phone call from Apple lawyers, who demanded that Microsoft stop showing...

Move over Microsoft. Apple can claim big, big market share numbers, too. According to NPD, in June, nine out of 10 dollars spent on computers costing $1,000 or more went to Apple. Mac revenue market share in the "premium" price segment was 91 percent, up from 88 percent in May.By the way, Apple's command of the premium market is way up from first quarter 2008, when, according to NPD, Mac revenue share was 66 percent. Gee, and it seemed so high when I broke that story.Microsoft executives had better study Apple's success -- and well -- as they prepare...

GUANGZHOU, China An employee at a factory that makes iPhones in China killed himself after a prototype went missing. The dead worker, Sun Danyong, 25, worked in product communications at Foxconn Technology Group, a Taiwanese firm that makes many Apple products at a massive factory in the southern city of Shenzhen, near Hong Kong. There's tremendous pressure on employees dealing with Apple's new products to maintain a high-level secrecy over the gadgets, traditionally launched amid great suspense and a big marketing buzz. Apple is also a constant target of prying journalists, rabidly faithful customers and competitors who make great efforts...

In the last few weeks numerous technology and mass media web-sites published hundreds of stories about Apple, its products, their availability or their issues. But does that enthusiasm towards the company have any correlation with Apple’s actual market share? It seems that not really. Apple is a company that has been extensively covered by media, especially in the USA, for many years now without an obvious reason: apart from the iPod, all the products from Apple are hardly used by a lot of people around the globe. But the latest load of rush coverage about Apple on the Internet more...

Apple today released Safari which is recommended for all Safari users and improves the stability of the Nitro JavaScript engine and includes the latest compatibility and security fixes, including: • WebKit CVE-ID: CVE-2009-1724 Available for: Mac OS X v10.4.11, Mac OS X Server v10.4.11, Mac OS X v10.5.7, Mac OS X Server v10.5.7, Windows XP or Vista Impact: Visiting a maliciously crafted website may lead to a cross-site scripting attack Description: An issue in WebKit's handling of the parent and top objects may result in a cross-site scripting attack when visiting a maliciously crafted website. This update addresses the issue...

15 Must-Have Web Apps for Students June 28, 2009 in Tips and Tools Welcome! If this is your first time here, you may want to subscribe to get updates in your RSS feed reader. Thanks for visiting! This is a guest post from Karen Schweitzer. For more from Karen, check out her blog about Online College Courses, or follow her on Twitter. College students are increasingly reliant on computers – and, for many of us, that means spending tons of money software that we’d rather not use anyway. The reality, though, is that there are a ton of great, free...

Jobs Is Back, Apple's Still Standing, Life Goes On By Richard Adhikari at MacNewsWorld 07/01/09 4:00 AM PT Apple stock did not explode on news that Steve Jobs has indeed returned to the company following his medical leave. Indeed, shares grew at a fairly steady clip during the CEO's absence, and now they're nearly 100 percent above what they were when Jobs announced his leave. Meanwhile, the iPhone 3GS enjoyed a solid debut, but reports of excessive heat generation may spell trouble. After all the excitement about Steve Jobs' health, the market reaction to news that the Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL)...

According to Morgan Stanley’s Kathryn Huberty, Apple (AAPL) is the computer maker with the “most upside” as the PC market begins to stabilize after the dismal first quarter of 2009. . . . Apple, however, is a different story. “Even before the new Macbook Pros launched,” she writes, “Apple began to outperform the broader commercial PC segment — with commercial Mac shipments up 25% [month over month] in May versus market growth of just 1%.” The fact that the new laptops arrived in early June means that they will provide what Huberty calls “a catalyst for growth” in both the...

The new MacBook Pro family has a breakthrough battery that runs for up to 7 hours on a single charge (8 hours on the 17-inch MacBook Pro).1 And thanks to advanced chemistry and an innovative new charging method, it can be recharged up to 1000 times — nearly three times the lifespan of typical notebook batteries.2 All in a notebook that’s as thin and light as ever....

You gotta watch this video clip... probably inspired by a recent movie release... If my Mac did this..." video clip

Some benchmarks have numbers and tables. Some have bar graphs. They're all very nice, but I just revisited a demo that I used to do at Apple, and the results on a Mac Pro will take your breath away. Buckle up, because you may not have seen this amazing visual demo ever before. Back in the 2000-2005 time, I was involved with lots of professional conferences with Apple. In some cases, Apple ran the both, like SuperComputing and FOSE. In the case of smaller shows, like the American Astronomical Society (AAS), I would manage the booth along with another sales...

A Memphis hospital said Saturday Jobs had never been a patient. Then they changed the story. BURLINGAME, CALIF. -- Looks like Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs' reality distortion field is portable, because it now appears to have made a trip with Jobs to Memphis, Tenn. After the Wall Street Journal broke the news Friday that Jobs had received a liver transplant in Tennessee, Forbes contacted the spokeswoman for the Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute, Ruth Ann Hale. Forbes had been tracking a nearby property locals believed may have been purchased by Jobs for months. The nearby Methodist University Hospital Transplant...

Apple Sells Over One Million iPhone 3GS Models Press Release Source: Apple On Monday June 22, 2009, 8:30 am EDT iPhone 3.0 Software Downloads Reach Six Million CUPERTINO, Calif., June 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple® today announced that it has sold over one million iPhone(TM) 3GS models through Sunday, June 21, the third day after its launch. In addition, six million customers have downloaded the new iPhone 3.0 software in the first five days since its release. "Customers are voting and the iPhone is winning," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "With over 50,000 applications available from Apple's revolutionary App Store, iPhone...

As of 10:00 AM on June 17th, Apple has made the newest version of the IPhone OS, Version 3.0, available on iTunes for download and install. It is a free upgrade for all iPhone owners but costs $9.95 for iPod Touch owners. Simply plug in your iPhone, click the Update button, and wait. Your iPhones will be updated automatically. Swordmaker

Apple Inc is taking steps to make its computers run on corporate networks, but these moves fall far short of ensuring Mac users win equal standing in business. Full corporate access for Apple computers inside businesses remains years away. If and when it comes, acceptance is more than likely to be the result of broad trends reshaping the office computer market, rather than Apple's own product genius. Last week, the reigning consumer king of computers, music players and smartphones showed off a new operating system, dubbed Snow Leopard, with a handful of tantalising features built for business. The new software,...

JUNE 5, 2009 Jobs Ready to Return to Apple Helm As Company Prepares New iPhone, CEO Comeback on Track After Six-Month Sick Leave After months of uncertainty about Steve Jobs's health, the Apple Inc. chief executive appears on track to return from medical leave this month, said people familiar with Apple. The big question now among Apple's business partners, investors and fans: Will Mr. Jobs make his reappearance at Apple's annual software developers' conference next week in San Francisco, possibly to unveil a new iPhone? Mr. Jobs, a survivor of pancreatic cancer, went on medical leave in January. He had...

OK - so - I do 90% of my work using my Macs - a 12" iBook (last generation) and a PowerMac Dual G5 desktop. The other 10% I spend with an HP Pavilion Laptop (Vista). So - Working with Powerpoint on both platforms - I have found that there is a huge difference in functionality - with the Mac version generally being for more tolerant of media files (both audio and video) With Powerpoint 2008 (Mac), I can throw pretty much any popular format audio file or video file and it just works. Take that same presentation (saved on...

The idea of creating a Mac clone complete with Mac OS X is not a new concept. However, one company is taking its entry into the clone market a step further by opening a retail store in the Los Angeles area. The new Quo Computer, set to go on sale next week. (Credit: Quo Computer) Quo Computer plans to open its first retail location, selling Mac clones, on June 1. This is the first time that I'm aware of that a clone maker will have a storefront to sell its wares. Mac clone companies, to this point, have chosen to...

The University of Virgina collects and compiles information about students' computer use. The information has been collected over the past decade by student employees of ITC, known as Student Consultants (SCs) and formerly, Computing Advisors (CAs), a group of first-year students hired to advise and assist their peers with computing. The data is based on SC and CA surveys of first-year residence halls each fall.

RussianMac is the latest company to release a Mac clone and test Apple's resolve to stop companies from selling its operating system. RussianMac Pro, Entertainment Center, Russian MiniMac RussianMac Standard, RussianMac Book, RussianMac MiniBook On its Web site, RussianMac says that a full version of Mac OS X Leopard comes pre-installed on its computers. The company also confirms that the operating system is able to receive automatic system updates from Apple once installed. This is where Apple seems to have the clone-makers over a barrel. Apple's Mac OS X End User License Agreement (EULA) clearly forbids anyone from installing the...

Are Macs more Safe than Secure? No May 16th, 2009 Daniel Eran Dilger Everyone seems to get lost in their own words when talking about security and Apple. The Daring Fireball recently cited security blogger Dennis Fisher, who insisted it was “demonstrably false” to say there were not “any virus attacks on Macs.” However, rather than pointing out what a horrible pile of trash Fisher’s article was, John Gruber praised it (apparently to be nice) and then got lost in his own semantics on the subject. Sometimes you need to say “he’s wrong, here’s why.”Instead, Gruber wrote, “That [blogger's...

When I blog about applications that I've found I generally wrap up my posts with an open invitation to readers: Got any you like? Many folks have been generous and shared links and applications that I've used to expand my virtual toolbox and make my Mac experience more fun and productive. This time I turned that process around a bit and used Twitter up front. I put out this question: Looking for cool little Mac utilities that nobody knows about... I promptly received replies from a number of people with some cool applications that I had never heard of or...

It happened when the Mac brought a mouse to every desktop. Now, with the iPhone, it's happening againWhen a black-jumpered Steve Jobs bounded on to a San Francisco stage just over two years ago to give the keynote speech at the annual gathering of the Apple faithful known as Macworld, he made his intentions very plain. "Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything," he said, to whoops and cheers. "Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone." Jobs is given to hyperbole, but when, later this month, the first wave of British users are...

  Windows 7 might be getting all the attention lately, but Windows XP is having a quiet little renaissance of its own -- not only have sales of the venerable OS been extended until 2010, Microsoft is selling an ultra-secure version to the Air Force. The custom build ships with over 600 settings bolted down, and a security patch turnaround of just 72 hours compared to the standard edition's 57 days -- all because Steve Ballmer personally stepped in and approved the project at the Air Force's request. The effort's to standardize and preconfigure the OS has paid off:...

The idée fixe that Macintosh is impervious to attack could be shattered if cyber-criminals act on their arsenal of 0-day exploits, security experts say. Hackers need only a few critical vulnerabilities, common to all operating systems including the security-focused OpenBSD, to craft a successful attack. Pure Hacking senior security consultant Chris Gatford said hackers may retain 0-day Macintosh vulnerabilities unknown to the industry and exploit them at an opportune time. “It's only a matter of a time before Macs get more market share and become a more viable target,” Gatford said. “Mac users now are exposed to less risk because...

"Apple has filed a letter brief, redacted, asking the court for an order compelling Psystar to turn over financial documents in discovery and to designate a knowledgeable person to testify as to Psystar's finances. They've been asking for a while, and they did a deposition with the CEO of Psystar, but they tell the judge it didn't work out well, since over 90 times he said he didn't know or couldn't recall even basic things," Groklaw reports. "The unredacted portions of the letter brief show Apple telling the judge that Psystar's CEO and founder Rudy Pedraza 'would not answer basic...

Apple Inc. is building a significant capability to design its own computer chips, a strategy shift that the company hopes will create exclusive features for its gadgets and shield Apple's work from rivals. The Silicon Valley trend-setter has been hiring people from many different segments of the semiconductor industry, including engineers to create multifunction chips that are used in cellphones to run software and carry out other chores.

Is the world finally ready for the mobile minitablet? It's become quite clear over the last several months that Apple is ready to bridge the mobile computing gap, with plans to develop a device that fits somewhere in between the iPhone and the MacBook. A recent Wall Street Journal article proclaimed that during his medical leave, CEO Steve Jobs has been working on that midsized mobile device, bigger than an iPhone but smaller than a MacBook. And just this week, BusinessWeek reported that Apple is developing a "media pad" that would let users watch videos on a larger screen than...

iPhone vs netbook rally challenge | CNET UK When Crave UK gets bored, odd things happen. We'll fly RC planes through the streets, we'll dress up in costumes and expose our cleavages, hell, we'll even drag a big-ass 20-inch laptop through the London Underground--just for kicks. We think you'll agree our latest stunt continues this tradition of recklessness. In the video above, we decided to pit an iPhone against a Netbook to see which is the true king of mobile productivity. Rather than attempt this stunt on a train or in a coffee shop, we thought we'd do it in...

The full text of Steve Jobs' deposition to the Securities and Exchange Commission. On March 18, 2008, attorneys for the Securities and Exchange Commission grilled Apple Co-Founder Steve Jobs over issues of backdating of stock options. Forbes obtained the 119-page sworn deposition from the Securities & Exchange Commission using the Freedom of Information Act. Jobs was not a party to the litigation, which the SEC brought against two of his executives. The SEC deleted a small amount of material, primarily names of third parties, including its own staffers, on grounds of personal privacy. When doing so, an SEC staff member...

In a rare public legal defeat, Apple this week was found to have infringed on a patent for computing technology and has been asked to pay $19 million dollars in damages. An Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division court handed down the amount on Thursday after ruling that Apple had "willfully" violated three claims in a patent for predictive snooping of cache memory that helps shuttle information between a processor, its memory and other elements of a computer. Begun in January 2007, the lawsuit is a classic example of a firm suing based on very broadly worded patents designed to...

New York, NY (AHN) - Apple Inc. (NASDAQ GS:AAPL)'s retail stores fired as many as 1,600 full-time equivalent workers in the second quarter, bringing down the total to approximately 14,000 full-time equivalent employees. The retail segment reported operating income of $308 million during the second quarter of 2009, down from $334 million reported a year ago, primarily due to lower average revenue per store, the company said in its SEC filing. An average of 251 stores were open in the quarter across the country, from 205 stores open during the second quarter of 2008, the company said in the filing....

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 - 05:33 PM EDT Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2009 second quarter ended March 28, 2009. The Company posted revenue of $8.16 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.21 billion, or $1.33 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $7.51 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.05 billion, or $1.16 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 36.4 percent, up from 32.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 46 percent of the quarter’s revenue. In accordance with the subscription accounting treatment required by GAAP,...

Apple has apparently rethought its decision to allow an iPhone application that allows you to shake a baby to death to quiet its crying. "Baby Shaker", a simple app from Sikalosoft, was first released Monday for 99 cents. It shows pictures of babies with the sound of them crying and a stop watch. To stop the crying, you shake the iPhone hard and then little Xs appear on the eyes of the baby, who will presumably never cry again. Apple apparently pulled the app sometime this afternoon after blogs and sites like Tech Crunch and CNET caught onto the story....

Windows apologists hate being reminded that their platform of choice has long been rife with security problems, and that relatively speaking, the Mac suffers less from these problems. I was reminded of this in spades by the furious comments on last week’s column and e-mails from Windows fans. Here’s a sample from a reader known as Robert: “NO NEED FOR ANTI-VIRUS ON A MAC??!!! Are you serious? I can’t believe I just read that…” Yes Robert. You did read it. And I meant it, because I’m living proof that a Mac user can exist happily without using anti-virus software...

Apple has debuted four new ads in its "Get a Mac" campaign on broadcast and cable television networks across the U.S. The new ads take direct aim at Microsoft Windows and the various woes it inflicts upon its sufferers. The "Biohazard Suit" spot targets Windows' inherent insecurity, rampant viruses, worms, and other assorted malware. "Legal Copy" highlights the fact that every Windows boast requires extensive legal disclaimers and qualifiers. "Stacks" explains iPhoto's facial recognition capabilities; sounds expensive, but it's free with every Mac. In "Time Traveler," PC takes a trip into the future to the year 2150 to see how...