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Apple News from around the web - Weekend Edition 5 - 7 Jan 2008

   Executive Summary

  • InfoWorld’s Yager: Microsoft will headline Macworld Expo 2008 (and Apple will debut 3G iPhone)
  • Apple gets fans juices flowing with iMac-like laptop dock
  • Sony BMG to Offer DRM-Free Music
  • Apple sued for illegal monopoly on digital music market
  • Orange sells over 70,000 Apple iPhones in France in first month

Apple Inc

  • Needham opens coverage of Apple with "buy" rating - Needham & Co has reinitiated its investment coverage of Apple, noting that the Mac maker has moved past the "old" iPod to prosper with the iPhone and the Mac. AppleInsider
  • Apple Stores Going Cash-Register-Less Soon - Leave your Benjamin Franklins at home. Insanely Great Mac
  • Tech stocks join broad market decline on U.S. unemployment rate rise - Technology joined in a broad-market decline in early trading Friday that was spurred on by the U.S. unemployment rate... MacDailyNews
  • ABC News hack: Apple probably can’t keep on going, pulling still more rabbits out of Steve Jobs’ hat - Apple has enjoyed one of the most spectacular and innovative runs in U.S. business history... MacDailyNews

  • InfoWorld’s Yager: Microsoft will headline Macworld Expo 2008 (and Apple will debut 3G iPhone) - I go to trade shows with a mission based on my view of what matters, which oft times yet entirely by chance fails... MacDailyNews

  • CES Predictions and Expectations - Hot Forum Topic - Today TMO readers are discussing what may come out at the CES electronics Expo in Las Vegas next week, and whether or not those new products will be innovative or a rehash of what's already on the market. Mac Observer
  • Investment firm: Apple prospering with the iPhone, Mac - Needham & Co has reinitiated its investment coverage of Apple, noting that the Mac maker has moved past the “old” iPod to prosper with the iPhone and the Mac (as noted by AppleInsider.) MacimumNews
  • Predictions for Jobs' Macworld Keynote - NewsFactor - What will the upcoming "Stevenote" bring? For the uninitiated, the Stevenote is the keynote speech Apple CEO Steve Jobs will deliver at the MacWorld Expo later this month. The Web is rife with rumors. Yahoo! NEWS
GOT SOMETHING TO SAY? - Post your comments in the Apple Forum

 

Mac Hardware

  • Building a PowerMac Media Center Part 4: What Applications You Need - As we get towards the end of building our PowerMac Media Center, it’s time to gather the applications we need that will drive our downloading, converting, and tagging. Be advised (read more) Applematters
  • THIS DAY IN APPLE HISTORY January 5, 1999: Corporate Towers Go Translucent - After Apple revealed the original iMac with its gumdrop and clear consumer aspirations, Mac fans were wondering what Apple would do with pro level computers. It was widely feared that (read more) Applematters
  • A Dock for Slim MacBook? - Apple's ultra-portable strategy taking shape? Insanely Great Mac
  • Apple seeks patent for slide-in dock - Apple has come up with a new twist on the notebook docking station: an iMac-style unit with a side slot into which a notebook can be inserted. itwire
  • PC box assemblers try to mimic Apple hardware designs, but have no answers for Mac OS X, iLife, etc. - PC makers have begun a radical overhaul of their machines' appearance... MacDailyNews

  • Intel’s newest chips offer intriguing hints about what Apple’s Steve Jobs will announce on Jan. 15th - The rumors about what Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs might unveil in his keynote speech... MacDailyNews

  • WSJ: Stylish PCs Will Tackle Apple - PC buyers are often immersed in technical specifications. Lately, however, Dell Inc.'s design group has started to come up with designs that try to put a sense of style into their computers to better compete with Apple, according to the Wall Street Journal on Friday. Mac Observer
  • DXG launches high-def consumer camcorder - DXG USA will debut its first DXG-branded, low-cost (IS$149.99) high-definition camcorder at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) next week. The DXG-566V HD is a 5-megapixel digital camcorder with three-inch TFT LCD screen. MacimumNews
  • Intel exits One Laptop Per Child program - Citing disagreements with the organization, Intel has abandoned the One Laptop Per Child program, “dealing a big blow to the ambitious project seeking to bring millions of low-cost laptops to children in developing countries,” reports Wired. MacimumNews
  • Upgrade your wireless card - In this Macworld video, Dan Frakes demonstrates the process of upgrading an older MacBook Pro’s 802.11g wireless card to a new, faster 802.11n version. Macworld
  • Apple patent reveals docking station for ultramobile PC - A US patent granted to Apple adds weight to rumours that Apple is set to launch an ultramobile PC at Macworld San Francisco on Tuesday 15 January, 2008. Macworld UK
  • Rumour: Blu-ray support on new Macs - American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu cited sources in a research note issued to clients and claimed Apple is ready to start shipping computers with support for the next-generation DVD format. Macworld UK
  • Hitachi announces 500GB laptop drive - Hitachi has announced what it says is the world's highest-capacity 2.5in mobile hard drive: Its Travelstar 5K500, with 500GB of storage capacity. The new drive is expected to be available beginning in February, 2008. Pricing was not announced. Macworld UK
  • Consumers, businesses snapping up more hard drives - The hard disk drive (HDD) market became profitable again in the third quarter of last year while consumer and enterprise purchases drove up both shipments and revenue, according to market research company iSuppli. Macworld UK
  • OLPC won't miss Intel's 'half-hearted' laptop effort - Intel's resignation from the One Laptop Per Child Project's board of directors will have "no impact" on the group's operations, since the chip maker contributed little to the project since joining last year, OLPC President Walter Bender said in an interview. Macworld UK
  • Intel quits OLPC over pressure to kill Classmate PC - Intel resigned from the One Laptop Per Child Project's board of directors after refusing a request to abandon its Classmate PC program, claims source. Macworld UK
  • A Wi-Fi virus outbreak? Researchers say it's possible - If criminals were to target unsecured wireless routers, they could create an attack that could piggyback across thousands of Wi-Fi networks in urban areas like Chicago or New York City, according to researchers at Indiana University. Macworld UK
  • Apple gets fans juices flowing with iMac-like laptop dock - Designed for the rumoured Mac sub-notebook? The Register
GOT SOMETHING TO SAY? - Post your comments in the Mac Hardware Forum

 

OS X & Software

  • SETI@home seeking volunteers - New array, sensitive receivers have increased data 500 times Insanely Great Mac
  • MacUser reviews FileMaker’s Bento: Exemplary Mac OS X Leopard data organizer - Despite the gap left by AppleWorks, neither iWork nor Office provides a database component... MacDailyNews
  • SecureMac releases free Mac OS X trojan removal utility - SecureMac has released a free utility called DNSChanger Removal Tool... MacDailyNews
  • Block Frenzy - Cool Waste of Time -Simple to play doesn't always mean simple to master. Vern Seward reminds us of that along with how easy it is for a simple game like Block Frenzy to quietly eat away at our time. Mac Observer
  • Telestream Launches Flip4Mac Image Server for Final Cut Pro - Telestream announced the immediate availability of its Flip4Mac Image Server Component for Final Cut Pro on Friday. The Final Cut Pro plug-in adds IMX file compatibility and MAXX server file transfer support to Final Cut Pro. Mac Observer
  • Meander 1.2 Adds Custom Measurements - Fastforward Software announced the immediate availability of Meander 1.2 on Friday. The updated version of the route planning application added the ability to define custom measurements, improved the preferences window, and fixed several bugs. Mac Observer
  • Leopard: Disable File Extension Rename Dialog - TMO Quick Tip - If you regularly change file type extensions in Leopard's Finder and you know what you are doing, the warning dialog that asks if you really do want to make the change can get old. Mac OS X 10.5 includes a way to disable that warning, and it's easy to do. Mac Observer
  • Public preview of Things task management app available - Cultured Code has released a public preview of Things, a task management application for Mac OS X. It requires Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5, and is available as a free download until the finished version ships this spring for $49. MacimumNews
  • Image Server Component for Final Cut Pro announced - Telestream has announced the US$495 Image Server Component for Final Cut Pro, which provides IMX (MPEG-2) file compatibility, and direct file transfer between 360 Systems’ MAXX servers, and Apple’s Final Cut Pro editing systems. MacimumNews
  • JAMF Software’s Recon Suite now available for individual purchase - JAMF Software has made the Recon Suite independent from their full-featured client management system. The Recon Suite provides a cross platform inventory solution for an entire network. MacimumNews
  • Inside Microsoft Office 2008 - After four years in the making, Microsoft Office 2008 arrives in Mac users’ hands on Jan. 15. But we’ve got it right now—and here’s an overview of what’s new. Macworld
  • Facebook hack fuels Web 2.0 concerns - Researchers at security gateway vendor Fortinet have uncovered an adware-distribution scheme being carried out on the Facebook social networking site considered to be the first attack propagated on the wildly popular online portal. Macworld UK
  • Facebook and Plaxo in data portability tussle - Facebook has reacted swiftly and sternly to an attempt to let members of the social networking site transfer their friends' contact information to Plaxo's address-book-management service. Macworld UK
  • Macworld invites kiddies to 'Make Bouncy Bouncy' - The 'game you can control with one hand' The Register
GOT SOMETHING TO SAY? - Post your comments in the OS X & Software Forum

 

iPods, iTunes & Apple TV

  • Last of the "big four" labels to offer DRM-free music tracks - Record labels are remaining on the offensive when it comes to battling iPod maker Apple Inc. for revenue share in the digital music business, with word spreading that Sony BMG will soon join the ranks of other major labels in offering its catalog through some online retailers stripped of copy protection measures. AppleInsider
  • Apple accused of bullying Microsoft - A class-action lawsuit has been filed claiming the iPod maker is blocking Microsoft from the digital music market. CNN Money
  • Digital album sales way up - CDs, however, continued their inexorable decline Insanely Great Mac
  • Apple sued over 'music monopoly' - Complaint refers to iPod OS as 'crippleware' Insanely Great Mac
  • Apple settles patent lawsuit with Intertainer - Apple Inc. settled a patent suit with online movie distributor Intertainer Inc. of Santa Monica... MacDailyNews
  • Thank Jobs: Lone major holdout Sony BMG to finally sell DRM-free music - In a move that would mark the end of a digital music era, Sony BMG Music Entertainment... MacDailyNews
  • iPods in the Workplace: Diligence or Distraction? - On a typical day at Page Design Group in Sacramento, Calif., Mark Aplet is cozy in his office chair, ear buds firmly in place, tapping his feet to his favorite tunes as he works on Web sites. Aplet, 32 and a former rock musician, rarely separates himself from his iPod, and that includes while he's at work. When he's not enjoying his downloaded music, from Bob Marley to the White Stripes, he listens to podcasts about Web design. Recently he plugged his iPod into the office's audio system and blared holiday music, much to the delight of his fellow staffers. MacNewsWorld
  • Peggle - iPO Review - PopCap makes great games. I played their Bejeweled 2 for the iPhone (read my 4-star review here) so much I was afraid I was going to wear out my touch screen. And now they've come out with another addictive time-waster. It's called Peggle and it's PopCap's newest game for the iPod classic, 3d generation iPod nano, and 5th generation iPod with video. Mac Observer
  • Sony to Offer DRM-free Music - iPodObserver - Sony BMG, the last major label hold out in the DRM battle, is finally giving in and will begin offering copy protection-free music downloads in the first quarter of 2008. The record label hasn't revealed yet how much of its library will be available without copy protection, or whether or not it will offer those tracks through Apple's iTunes Store. Mac Observer
  • Apple Hit with Music Monopoly Lawsuit - iPodObserver - Apple is facing a lawsuit that claims the company is violating the Sherman Antitrust Act for failing to support Microsoft's DRM-protected WMA music files on the iPod. The case was filed on December 31, 2007, and the plaintiffs are hoping to get their suit certified as a class action. Mac Observer
  • Sony BMG to Offer DRM-Free Music - Businessweek reports that Sony BMG is the last of the four major record labels to agree to offer their music for sale without Digital Rights Manangement (DRM) restrictions. The news comes a week after Warner announced it had added its catalog to Amazon's DRM-Free MP3 store. MacRumors.com
  • Apple sued for illegal monopoly on digital music market - Another day, another lawsuit. An antitrust lawsuit filed against Apple on Dec. 31 charges the company with maintaining an illegal monopoly on the digital music market (as noted by Information Week). MacimumNews
  • Wadia Digital debuts the iTransport for the iPod - Wadia Digital, a high-end audio company, will debut the US$349 iTransport for iPod at next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The company says it’s the market’s first digital player dock to retrieve a direct digital signal from an iPod. MacimumNews
  • Sony to offer DRM-free music - Sony BMG Music Entertainment is finalizing plans to sell songs without the copyright protection software that has long restricted the use of music downloaded from the Internet, reports BusinessWeek. Sony BMG, a joint venture of Sony (SNE) and Bertelsmann, will make at least part of its collection available without so-called digital rights management, or DRM, software some time in the first quarter, the article adds. MacimumNews
  • It's the content, stupid - Late last year, Yahoo’s Gadget Hound, Ben Patterson, declared the Apple TV one of the 10 Worst Tech Products of 2007, right up there with Palm Foleo and Microsoft’s beleaguered operating system,Vista. Just wait until the other shoe drops. Macworld
  • Rumour: Apple to become a record label - Jay-Z was previously president of label Def Jam, but left that company in December. According to The Boy Genius Report he will enter into a partnership with Apple. Macworld UK
  • Apple is a Microsoft-like monopoly claims lawsuit - Apple is accused of maintaining an illegal monopoly on the digital music market in an antitrust lawsuit filed on 31 December. Macworld UK
  • Hitachi sees iPod hard drive market dwindling - Hitachi says that flash memory storage-based devices are filling that niche, and said that it will focus its efforts on desktop, laptop and enterprise drives instead. Macworld UK
  • Device bypasses PC to record video onto iPods, USB devices - Pinnacle Systems has unveiled Pinnacle Transfer Video, a mobile device capable of recording analogue video onto iPods and other USB 2.0 storage devices without using PCs to copy files. Macworld UK
  • Your Rights Online: Antitrust Suit Filed To Halt Apple 'Music Monopoly' - Dotnaught writes with word of an anti-trust lawsuit filed against Apple late last month. Information Week has the story, a suit charging the company with maintaining an illegal monopoly on the digital music market. "The complaint goes beyond software licensing politics and charges Apple with deliberately designing its iPod hardware to be incompatible with WMA. One of the third-party components in iPods, the Portal Player System-On-A-Chip, supports WMA, according to the complaint. 'Apple, however, deliberately designed the iPod's software so that it would only play a single protected digital format, Apple's FairPlay-modified AAC format,' the complaint states. 'Deliberately disabling a desirable feature of a computer product is known as crippling a product, and software that does this is known as crippleware.'" Slashdot
  • Apple targeted in DRM monopoly suit (again) - 'I want WMA on my iPod', squeals Hogmanay bellyacher The Register
  • NetFlix sics troops on Apple TV - Trumpets set-top box. Plans 100 more The Register
  • RIP DRM: Last Major Label Plans to Ditch Restrictions - In a move certain to rock the distribution of digital music, Sony BMG is in the midst of finalizing plans to begin offering at least part of its downloadable music catalog DRM-free, according to BusinessWeek.com. This makes Sony BMG the... Wired
  • Update: Class-action suit charges Apple with music monopoly - InfoWorld - San Francisco - A class-action suit filed against Apple alleges the company unfairly uses technological restrictions with its iPod line and iTunes Music Store to beat out competitors. Yahoo! NEWS
GOT SOMETHING TO SAY? - Post your comments in the iPods & iTunes Forum

 

iPhone

  • First month French iPhone sales fall shy of target - Orange, the mobile arm of France Telecom, said it sold over 70,000 Apple iPhones since the touch-screen handset made its debut in France during the final week of November. AppleInsider
  • Orange sold 70K iPhones - First month number below French carrier's stated goal Insanely Great Mac
  • iPhone gets killer app - iSteamy 'bridges the gap between your computer and pocket' Insanely Great Mac
  • Amazon now iPhone ready - Doesn't look like much until you view with iPhoney Insanely Great Mac
  • Orange sells over 70,000 Apple iPhones in France in first month - France Telecom SA's Orange wireless unit sold more than 70,000 Apple iPhones... MacDailyNews

  • Orange Sells 70,000 iPhones in First Month - Orange announced today that it had sold 70,000 iPhones in the first month of sales in France. MacRumors.com
  • Makayama releases iSIM for iPhone - Makayama, an Amsterdam-based company, has released iSIM for iPhone 1.0 (US$12.95). It offers one-click backup of your contacts to your iPhone’s SIM card. MacimumNews
  • Orange France sells over 70,000 iPhones in first month - Orange France has sold over 70,000 iPhones in the first month of sale, reports Mobile Entertainment. MacimumNews
GOT SOMETHING TO SAY? - Post your comments in the iPhone Forum