Archived Links for October 2006

10.27	Low End Mac	System 7 Today’s Dan Palka on OS X, Windows, and Linux, Tommy Thomas: Today we conclude our interview with Dan Palka of System 7 Today.
10.27	The Street.com	Apple Stays Listed, Katie Dean: Apple will continue to be listed on the Nasdaq even though it has failed to file its financial statements on time.
10.27	Low End Mac	Apple’s Growing Success, 2002-2006, Joshua Coventry: From 2002 to 2006, Apple has continued with its strategic plan of expanding its business, improving its software, and generally removing the old and bringing in the new. Since Steve Jobs returned to Apple as a consultant in 1997, every aspect of the company has changed, including policies, the logo, the product line, employees, revenue, profits, and so on.
10.27	MacWorld	Apple’s new .Mac webmail goes live, Jim Dalrymple: Apple has updated the webmail interface included with its .Mac service to resemble the Mail application included with Mac OS X.
10.26	MacNN	Briefly: Apple No. 11 in Web traffic, Staff: Apple ranked No. 11 among all global web properties during the month of September.
10.26	MacNN	Greenpeace hippies forced out of Mac Expo, Staff: Greenpeace’s ’Green my Apple’ stall today was shut down at the start of MacExpo in London by event organizers who claim they received complaints from unnamed sources.
10.26	AppleInsider	Ripe in Cupertino: an Apple with 8 cores, Kasper Jade: Apple Computer is prepping a lavish new version of the Mac Pro that will boast nearly twice the brawn of existing models and form the centerpiece of the company’s high-performance professional desktop line, AppleInsider has learned.
10.26	Electronista	Vista upgrade coupons "another Microsoft stumble", Staff: Microsoft’s recently announced plan to offer Vista upgrade coupons as a means of shoring up computer sales during the holiday is "another Microsoft stumble," according to ZDNet’s Adrian Kingsley.
10.25	AppleInsider	Apple’s iTV delay doesn’t help "dull holiday season", Staff: With delays, competing standards and inventory shortages plaguing the consumer electronics market, there may not be one killer application this holiday season that emerges to capture the attention of shoppers, says one research firm.
10.25	Mac Night Owl	Those Mac Myths Just Won’t Go Away, Gene Steinberg: The other day, I got a letter from a long-time reader that, in part, disputed my contention that Macs were now priced similar to comparably-equipped Windows PCs. Why? Not because of any factual information, but because Consumer Reports magazine said so.
10.24	AppleInsider	Apple introduces Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro notebooks, Staff: Apple on Tuesday announced that its entire MacBook Pro line of notebooks now includes the new Intel Core 2 Duo processor and delivers performance that is up to 39 percent faster than the previous generation.
10.24	MyMac.com	My Mac Wife, Roger Born: It’s true. I write about the Mac, but my wife lives it. It is in every part of her day. She is a teacher, and also a student getting her final degree, so her trusty iBook goes with her everywhere, and often when she is home, she is in front of her new iMac, working away.
10.23	Apple Matters	Why Consumers Won’t See "Mac Genuine Advantage" Anytime , James R. Stoup : Windows Genuine Advantage is a system developed by Microsoft in an attempt to thwart piracy. And with Vista, WGA gets even more pervasive. With its insane restrictions I have no doubt it will be received with open arms by a public desperately seeking for more copyright protection in their lives. Why, I constantly struggle with copyright-related guilt.
10.22	Times Online	Apple’s EU sales are thrice as nice, Paul Durman: The European business of Apple Computer had sales of $4.1 billion (2.2 billion Euros) in the 12 months to the end of September - more than the combined total for its 2002, 2003 and 2004 financial years.
10.22	RDM	Why Apple Failed, Daniel Eran: Apple’s recent quarterly earnings report blew past all expectations. More importantly, dramatic unit sales growth shows the company is executing a working strategy for building the Mac platform. That raises the obvious question: why has Apple’s market share historically been so low, and why did Apple fail to make any progress in the 1990’s?
10.20	CNN.com	Security analysts: Mac attacks rare but may rise, Steve Hargreaves: Apple computers have long been prized for being relatively virus-free. But as more people use Apple products, experts say the company is increasingly becoming a target for cyber pranksters and criminals writing viruses and other forms of malware.
10.20	ifoAppleStore	Chicago, Denver Regions To Add Stores, Staff: Apple will add an additional presence to the its Denver and Chicago regions with future stores in the suburbs of Littleton and Orland Park respectively.
10.20	Macworld	YouTube deletes 30,000 files on request by Japan, Martyn Williams, IDG News Service: The online video site YouTube has deleted close to 30,000 files after complaints from an organization representing Japanese copyright holders, the organization said Friday.
10.20	CNET	Week in review: Vista furor, Steven Musil: Microsoft’s Vista is still months away from formal release, but the next version of Windows is already raising the hackles of many consumers.
10.19	TUAW	Screenshots from the latest Leopard build, Scott McNulty: These little birdies just keep sending me stuff. First it was screenshots of the as yet unreleased SlingPlayer, and now I find some screenshots of the most recent Leopard build (the next version of OS X).
10.19	Apple Matters	The iPod Virus: Apple Arrogance, Devanshu Mehta: Historically, Apple has been an arrogant company and its user community has at times been snarky. We are an elitist minority and usually, we like it that way. We claim that Macs are better and safer and so much cooler, so we are not being arrogant. We’re just giving you the truth.
10.19	MacNN	Apple US marketshare surges 32%, Staff: Gartner today released data suggesting that sales of Macs over the last year have grown faster than any other major PC manufacturer in the country, following the company’s assertion in its quarterly conference call that its September quarter Mac shipments grew 30 percent over the prior year--more than three times IBC’s latest published market growth projections for the quarter.
10.19	MacNN	Merill Lynch on Apple’s fourth quarter, Staff: Research firm Merill Lynch today advised investors that Apple’s September quarter revealed a solid upside, signaling a bright future for the Mac and iPod maker moving forward. "Apple reported iPod units of 8.7 million, about 1 million above our 7.7 million estimate and Mac units of 1.6 million vs. our 1.5 million estimate," wrote Merill Lynch analyst Richard Farmer.
10.19	Electronista	Apple patent suggests satellite radio support, Staff: The filing (PDF), published October 19th and originally filed in August 2005, refers to two distinct methods of integrating the iPod with satellite services.
10.19	Mobile Magazine	Why I love Apple (and why I hate them too), T.O. Whenham: As much as I hate Apple some days, there are other days that I really do love them and what they are doing. They’re not purely a force for good, but some things that they do are really, really good. I hate Apple some days, but on the days I love them, here are five reasons why.
10.18	MacDailyNews	iTWire: Apple iPods infected with Windows virus should be massive wake-up call for Mac users, Staff: "While the small batch of Apple iPods infected with a Windows virus pose no threats to iMacs or the iPods themselves, the fact they were infected at all is a big worry. Now, the potential for virus and malware writers to start targeting Mac OS X in a bigger way cannot be ignored, and should be a massive wake-up call to Apple and its users: owning a Mac does not mean you’re invulnerable," Alex Zaharov-Reutt writes for iTWire.
10.18	MacNN	Analyst: Jobs clear of options scandal, Staff: Apple CEO Steve Jobs will maintain his position at Apple amidst shareholder worries, according to one analyst, following an investigation into recently discovered stock options backdating.
10.18	Apple Matters	The Cost of Apple Discipleship, Chris Howard: 2007 is going to be a good year for Apple. A very good year. Apple in 2007 will ask you to dip into your pocket a bit more than usual. Do you get your money’s worth from Apple products?
10.18	Apple Matters	October 18, 1992: Quadra 900 Introduced, Chris Seibold : The Quadra 900 was Apple’s king of performance for a short time. The machine featured Motorola’s peppy 040 processor and, sharing a first with the Quadra 700, shipped with built-in Ethernet.
10.18	MacDailyNews	DC: Apple Mac attained 5.8% of U.S. market share in Q3 06, Staff: Worldwide PC shipment growth slipped to 7.9% in the third quarter of the year, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. Overall growth was down from 9.8% in the second quarter and double-digit growth over the prior three years. International shipments continued to expand at roughly 11% year on year, but slow growth in the United States pulled down overall results.
10.18	MacNN	Apple posts $546 million profit, Staff: Apple today announced a 27 percent increase in profit compared to a year-ago, posting revenue of $4.84 billion and a quarterly profit of $546 million, or $.62 per diluted share
10.18	InfoWorld	Excuses on iPod virus not credible, Paul F. Roberts: Security and quality assurance experts reacted negatively to Apple Computer’s efforts Tuesday to blame manufacturing problems that resulted in iPod MP3 players shipping with a virus that affects Microsoft’s Windows operating system.
10.18	AppleInsider	Apple’s share of U.S. PC market jumps to 6.1 percent, Katie Marsal and Kasper Jade: Sales of Apple’s Macintosh computers over the past twelve month’s have grown faster than any other major PC manufacturer, boosting the company’s share of the U.S. PC market to 6.1 percent, according to data released by Gartner on Wednesday.
10.18	NoHeat.com	Apple iPhone feature leaks, wiseassoffice: The iPhone is a black device that is nearly featureless on the front except the dock and a couple of other buttons. On the bottom is what appears to be a standard dock. The most remarkable feature of the iPhone is the display, which I hear is breathtaking as it emerges from behind what appears to be black plastic.
10.18	Mac Night Owl	The End of the Bunker Mentality, Gene Steinberg: It’s taken 22 years, but being a Mac user no longer carries the baggage it used to carry. Back in the old days, when I went into an electronics store and asked about a Mac product, I was told that nobody uses those things, there’s no software for it, and wouldn’t I prefer a "real" computer?
10.18	AppleInsider	Apple sells 1.6 million Macs, nearly 1 million notebooks, Staff: Apple Computer said Wednesday it sold a total of 1,610,000 Macintosh computers during the three- month period ending September, including nearly 1 million notebook systems.
10.17	10layers.com	Apple filing for iPhone trademarks worldwide, Staff: One of the most persistent Apple rumours is that the company will release a mobile phone, often referred to as the iPhone. Indeed, AppleInsider today reported that Apple has filed for a trademark for the term iPhone with a "far easter trademark office". Well, we did a bit of research, and it appears that Apple has either received, or is filing for, trademarks for iPhone in a large number of countries worldwide.
10.17	Mac Night Owl	The FUD Report: More Mac OS X Virus Myths, Gene Steinberg: When I interviewed Symantec’s Mike Romo about its latest Mac security software, Norton Confidential, I had to wonder whether the product made any sense. The new application, which apparently shipped simultaneously on the Windows platform, offers four key features that are designed to protect you against phishing, loss or tampering of valuable files and information and invasions by network intruders.
10.17	Macworld	Intel profit falls 35 percent, Ben Ames, IDG News Service: Following layoffs and executive shuffles, Intel reported a third quarter profit Tuesday of US$1.3 billion, beating analysts’ estimates, but still falling far short of its results last year.
10.17	MacDailyNews	Ooh, Microsoft’ Vista lets PCs sleep - you know, like Apple Macs have done for years, Staff: "Companies have long known the benefits of making sure their workers get a good night’s sleep--and they would be wise to let their PCs do the same, Microsoft says," Ina Fried reports for CNET News.com
10.17	The Mercury News	Is Steve Jobs safe?, Mark Schwanhausser: The pending resignation of UnitedHealth Group’s Chairman and Chief Executive William McGuire provided an inescapable sign that no executive is too big to be toppled by the stock option scandal -- despite having many fans in the boardroom and on Wall Street.
10.17	InfoWorld	An ongoing saga of Apple’s customer neglect, Comments: My experience today at the Apple store in Palo Alto is likely the final nail in the coffin for me and Mac laptops. I won’t say that I’ll stop using Macs, but I will continue to be a self-loathing Mac user for as long as Apple continues to treat me, and a growing majority of its customers and supporters like the enemy.
10.16	InfoWorld	Apple’s Xserve Xeon: Built to fall apart, Tom Yager: A couple of weeks ago, Apple invited me to its campus to get a close-up look at Apple’s Xserve Xeon. It is a marvel of physical design, so much so that I find that it implausible that Xserve Xeon and Xserve G5 could have been designed by the same company. Xserve G5 was pretty tight, but Xserve Xeon makes its predecessor, not to mention ever PC 1U rack server I’ve seen, look slapped together.
10.16	InfoWorld	Will Leopard get buried by Vista buzz?, Tom Yager: If you were counting on Leopard gaining an advantage from shipping before Vista, it looks like you’re out of luck. Vista is in its last test release before shipment, and historically, the final release candidate becomes the supported RTM (ready to market) product.
10.14	MacTech	New Google Mac blog, Staff: Google launched a new Google Mac blog where you’ll find news, tips, and insider stories about Macs at Google.
10.13	MacNN	Mac sales to offset slow iPods in FYQ4, Staff: Research firm Merill Lynch today lowered its estimate for Apple’s iPod sales for the September quarter while increasing its estimation of Macs sold, joining two other industry analyst firms which modified their views on Apple yesterday.
10.13	MacNN	Apple unveils iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED, Staff: As anticipated yesterday, Apple today announced the iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition. (RED) was created by U2 lead singer, Bono and Bobby Shriver to engage business in the fight against AIDS in Africa by getting leading companies to make uniquely branded products.
10.13	Low End Mac	Apple’s Climb Back to Success, Joshua Coventry: During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Apple climbed back to profitability and fame. Apple’s colorful computers put them back into the spotlight, and the iPod diversified Apple’s business successfully, bringing the Apple name to music.
10.13	TUAW	Apple brings (a little) web 2.0 to iPod nano RED site, David Chartier: I have been getting somewhat annoyed with Apple’s aging website for a while now, as it still even contains the striped elements of Jaguar in its navigation at the top.
10.13	Ars technica	Consumer Reports picks the Mac with caveats, Charles Jade: Among desktops, the Mac Mini had the highest price and the lowest overall score among budget models. It should be noted it was the 1.5 GHz Core Solo being tested, but then it was the up against models with Celerons and Semprons, so go figure. Among "workhorse" models, the 17" iMac (Core Duo 1.83 GHZ) also had the lowest overall score, but not the highest price. The iMac was given a recommendation, "if reliability and tech support are of paramount importance."
10.13	MacNN	Apple offers refurb Mac Pro Quad Xeon, Staff: Apple has added a refurbished Mac Pro Quad-Core Intel Xeon workstation to its list of discounted goods.
10.12	TUAW	What’s shiny and RED and hanging over Fifth Ave tonight?, Laurie A. Duncan: The Apple Store, of course. In celebration of Product RED.
10.11	Bloomberg.com	Apple’s Jobs Should Give Back the $85 Million, Graef Crystal: Apple Computer Inc.’s Steve Jobs should give it up. What am I talking about? Some $85 million or so that the chief executive officer collected because of a sleight-of-hand the maker of the iPod music player and Macintosh computers engaged in when it awarded Jobs some mammoth stock option grants.
10.09	Apple Matters	Could You Disconnect Your Mac?, Chris Howard: Our fearless leader, Hadley, caused a bit of a stir in the last week by offering a theoretical situation of having to choose a life on a desert island with either a Windows PC with the internet, or a Mac without the internet.
10.08	TUAW	Switching from NetNewsWire to Google Reader, David Chartier: I’m not typically one for the web 2.0 movement. I’m a huge fan of the power and flexibility of Mac OS X, and I usually find most web services no match for their desktop counterparts with maybe a few syncing services thrown in to even the odds (.Mac, Google Browser Sync, etc.). This all changed, however, when Google dropped a quintessential upgrade bomb on Google Reader, their web-based RSS reader a la BlogLines and NewsGator.
10.08	TUAW	Considering the iPod’s mortality, Alex Wollenschlaeger: Will the iPod die? Apple’s player has dominated the market for a few years now, but it’s under ever- increasing attack by competitors new and old. According to this post at For Once And For All!, the iPod isn’t going anywhere, and it mostly comes down to the reasons you’d imagine - people don’t like change, the iPod is just too cool, and it works well to boot.
10.06	Electronista	Akimbo RCA upgrade adds MovieLink, challenges iTV, Staff: While the Slingbox line of media hubs are meant to stream TV signals to the Internet, the sometimes overlooked Akimbo service works in reverse, delivering Internet content to a TV.
10.06	MacNN	Intel accused of "open-source fraud", Staff: Key OpenBSD developers have accused Intel of being an "open-source fraud" due to firmware "blobs" in open-source projects which are not distributed freely and without restriction.
10.06	Apple Matters	How Accurate is Think Secret?, James R. Stoup : Everybody loves a good rumor, at least, thats what the editors over at Think Secret hope. As the web’s premiere Apple-related rumor monger they have become the place to go for all of the best Mac gossip. They may not be always correct, but they are always close, right? Well, as it turns out, not really.
10.06	Macworld	MacAddict to rebrand as Mac\|Life, Peter Cohen: A recent post to the Bay Area Craigslist service shows that Future US, publishers of MacAddict magazine, plan to relaunch the publication next spring with a new name and new focus. The new magazine will be called Mac\|Life. What’s more, they’re looking for a new editor-in-chief.
10.05	Low End Mac	Alternatives to eBay When Buying Low-end Macs, Hardy Menagh: Tuesday’s Empowered column, eBay No Longer Your Best Source for Low-end Macs, resulted in quite a bit of email - some of it agreeing with my conclusion, and some suggesting other sources for low-end Macs.
10.05	Low End Mac	Saving Old Macs from Retirement: The 68k Macintosh Liberation Army, Tommy Thomas: Our first interview was with Jag of Jag’s House, the first vintage Mac website on the scene. Today we move on to another site that has done a lot for the vintage Mac community - the 68k Macintosh Liberation Army (68kMLA for short).
10.05	MacNN	Apple scandal implicates former execs, Staff: Former Apple chief financial officer Fred Anderson -- who resigned from the company’s board of directors -- and former Apple legal chief Nancy Heinen -- who independently sought legal counsel in May of this year -- could be the two unnamed former executives mentioned in Apple’s recent statement, according to one industry analyst.
10.04	Apple Matters	Vista Ain’t that Bad, In Fact It’s Good, Hadley Stern : I’ve used a few versions of Vista beta’s sporadically. Say what you want about Microsoft, they give people a view into what they are working on, warts and all.
10.01	CRN	IBM Collab Chief: Stay Tuned For Better Mac Support, Barbara Darrow: IBM Software will soon offer a better Macintosh client for Notes and is working on delivering Mac fidelity for that collaboration client.
10.01	Apple Matters	Memo to Microsoft, Chris Seibold : Microsoft is getting ready to undergo a sea change, at least that is the prevailing spin. On the other hand, Microsoft has been spouting that there were going to be major changes, fundamental changes, since Bill Gates first underestimated the power of the internet in the nineties.
10.01	InformationWeek	Q&A: Intel Senior VP Pat Gelsinger , Paula Rooney: Gelsinger, senior VP and general manager of the Digital Enterprise Group at Intel, talks about Intel’s relationship and involvement with Apple, Microsoft, Bill Gates, Xen, Windows Vista, and system builders, among other topics.
10.01	Electronista	Apple in talks with Wal-Mart to offer iTunes coupons?, Staff: Earlier this month, allegations had been made that Wal-Mart was threatening Apple because it feared full-length movie downloads on iTunes might undercut its discount DVD sales. While Wal-Mart has flatly denied these claims, Variety is reporting today that the large retailer is actively negotiating with Apple to obtain a share of profits from movie downloads.
10.01	MacNN	Zune pricing may worry MS partners, Staff: Microsoft’s recent announcement that it would price its Zune portable media player at $250 to compete with Apple’s video iPod will likely place increased competitive pressure on Microsoft’s Windows Media partners, according to American Technology Research.
10.01	Low End Mac	Of Mice and, Well, Hockey Pucks, Tommy Thomas: Throughout history, there are successes and there are failures.
10.01	Low End Mac	Beleaguered: Apple Bottoms Out, 1996-98, Joshua Coventry: Apple was at an all-time low in 1996, in a severe financial crisis that worried Mac users around the world. Apple’s shareholders and customers were losing faith, and competitors were closing in fast. The worldwide press badmouthed Apple in 1995 and 1996.
10.01	Apple Matters	The Operating System Is Dead, Hadley Stern: Apple needs think about an OS and applications that leverage the internet at their core.
10.01	Playlist	Opinion: Why MS’s Zune scares Apple to the core, Mike Elgan, Computerworld: The secrets of iPod’s success appear obvious: beauty, simplicity and "extreme coolness" - three characteristics Microsoft has never achieved in any product. So why is Apple so scared?
10.01	MacMegasite	A first look at Windows Vista on a Mac, Fri: Since the recent Parallels Desktop Update has experimental Windows Vista support, I decided to download the Windows Vista Preview and install it on my Mac.
10.01	Mac Slash	The Woz On The Colbert Report, acaben: Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple computer and big fan of MacSlash, appeared on The Colbert Report on comedy central last night to promote his new book.
10.01	Macworld UK	Microsoft’s Zune will ship 14 Nov for $249, Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service: Microsoft’s Zune digital media player will ship in the US on 14 November and cost $249.99, the company said on Thursday, matching the price of Apple’s video iPods.
10.01	MacNN	Apple releases Mac OS X Server 10.4.8 [u], Staff: Apple’s release of Mac OS X Server 10.4.8 (PowerPC version) brings a slew of improvements over the previous iteration of its Tiger operating system.
10.01	Greenpeace	Greenpeace Apple Bash Page, Pot-Smoking Hippie: Liberal nutballs at Greenpeace attack Apple.