E agle eyed Observer Stephen Vaughn (iGrouch in the TMO forums) noticed a story in the Irish Times this weekend about Apple. According to a one picture mention, with no accompanying story, the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Ireland is using Macs for its incoming class of first-year students. The deal is worth €520,000…
Bryan Chaffin
Bryan Chaffin is the cofounder of The Mac Observer and currently serves as Afternoon Editor. He has contributed to MacAddict and MacFormat magazines, and co-authored the last two updates of iPad and iPad Pro for Dummies with Bob “Dr. Mac” LeVitus and Ed Baig. You can find out more about Bryan at his personal site, GeekTells, or find his Twitter link below.
Articles by Bryan Chaffin
AMD Comdex Keynote Devoid Of Apple Connection
W e reported this morning that Leo Laporte of TechTVis ScreenSavers said yesterday that Apple would be involved in todayis Comdex keynote presentation from AMD CEO Hector Ruiz. Apple was nowhere to be seen, however, though the keynote from Mr. Ruiz focused on such topics as turning the computer into the center of peopleis homes,…
Apple's Windows LAN Manager On Why He Switched, & Why His iMac Is On eBay
"Mac OS X gets out of your way, while Windows wants to be in your face." So said Aaron Adams, Windows LAN manager and the star of one of Apple’s Switch TV ads. When we heard that Mr. Adams was selling his iMac on eBay (link corrected), we wanted to find out why. That answer…
Iraq's Acceptance, Consumer Spending Help Boost Apple's Stock 4.55%
I raqis official acceptance of the U.N. resolution demanding access for weapons inspectors helped set the markets on fire. Worry exists that Iraq will continue the same delaying games and rites of obfuscation that it engaged in throughout the 1990s, but todayis markets chose to focus on the positive. Added to this was good news…
Apple Officially Commits To Macworld SF, Still Vague On Macworld NY 2003
In the much publicized spat between Apple and IDG World Expos over the move of the East Coast show from New York City to Boston in 2004, there have been several developments: IDG announced the move to Boston, Apple announced it would not attend the Boston show and may not attend the 2003 New York…
Esquire Magazine Names Apple's Head Designer Among "Best & Brightest Who Will Revolutionize The World"
Apple’s head industrial designer, Jonathan Ive, has been the recipient of numerous awards since the introduction of the Bondi-Blue iMac. Today, Esquire Magazine has given him a new one. The men’s magazine has included Mr. Ive in a list of what it says are the 43 "Best and Brightest People Who Will Revolutionize the World."…
Apple Updates Hot Deals For CompUSA & J&R Computing
A pple has updated the Hot Deals page for J&R Computing and CompUSA at the Macintosh Product Guide. The Mac Product Guide is a list of Mac compatible hardware and software products one the market. The Hot Deals section of the Product guide feature several Mac retailers and special offers that one can only get,…
Microsoft Compares MovieMaker To iMovie, "Innovates" By Adding FireWire Support
This just in from the "Whoda Thunk?" Department, Microsoft has added features to its iMovie rip-off MovieMaker that iMovie has had for two years. MovieMaker is the consumer digital video editing software that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates audaciously called innovative when it was announced several months after Apple released iMovie. The company has released a…
Microsoft Scores Sweeping Victory In Antitrust Ruling, Business-As-Usual For The Software Giant
I n what is already being heralded as a sweeping victory for Microsoft, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has ruled that most of the provisions in the settlement worked out between the Bush administrationis DoJ, 9 of the original suing states, and Microsoft is "in the public interest," and acceptable. Judge Kollar-Kotelly had been presiding over the…
Dell iPod News Helps Push Apple To 9-Week High
N ews that Dell will be selling Appleis iPod, and official confirmation from Apple that Target will be doing the same thing, helped propel AAPL to a new 8-week high. According to News.com, Apple will be selling Windows iPods through its online Web site soon, and is already selling the MP3 players through its phone…
Apple Death Knell Counter
The Apple Death Knell Counter (ADKC) is a collection of death pronouncements for Apple throughout the years. Issued by journalists, analysts, pundits, business executives, and the like, there have been innumerable "Apple is dead," "Apple will soon be dead," and "Apple is dead if they don’t do this or that" statements issued by all sorts…
Apple Stock Watch - Weak Consumer Confidence Drags Techs, AAPL, & (Maybe) Interest Rates Lower
A weak Consumer Confidence rating for October helped drag the tech markets south in a Sherman-like sweep through Georgia. A trail of red tech stocks rotting in the wake was all that remained, but the smoke drifting from the wreckage was hope that the Fed would soon cut interest rates yet again. The CCI fell…
Apple Updates Hot Deals From AudioMIDI.com
A pple has updated the Hot Deals page for AudioMIDI.com at the Macintosh Product Guide. The Mac Product Guide is a list of Mac compatible hardware and software products on the market. The Hot Deals section of the Product guide feature several Mac retailers, including some new audio-oriented retailers, and special offers that one can…
The Back Page - Microsoft Can't Even Be Original When It Illegally Advertises
In April and May of 2001, IBM launched a campaign that I personally found to be reprehensible. The company paid guerilla marketing companies to deface sidewalks and other public property with advertisements for its Linux campaign. "Peace, Love, and Linux," was the name of the campaign, and this was symbolized by chalk art and other…
Cool Waste Of Time - Steve Jobs Vs. Bill Gates On GoogleFight - Bill's In The Lead
We have TMO forum mod CrazyOne to blame for this, but there’s a dandy little Web site that offers a grand opportunity to waste some time. A sight called GoogleFight allows you to enter two search terms and see how many search results each of them returns on Google. For instance, if you enter the…
Guess Who Turns Up As #1 In Google Search For "Stoned Chicks"
Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. For instance, do a search on Google for "Stoned Chicks," and you wouldn’t think the number one result returned in that search would be an Apple Web page, yet there it is. TMO forum mod Jon Stanard noted that searching on Google for those two words pointed you to…
Make iChat's Text Input Field Bigger With iChat Enhancer 1.3
G eekSpiff has updated its iChat enhancement utility that is conveniently called iChat Enhancer. iChat Enhancer adds one simple, and much needed, feature to iChat, the ability to make the input text field larger than one-line high. From the productis Web page: Version 1.3 adds Japanese localization and is updated to use version 1.1 of…
New G4+ Processor Turns Up On Motorola's Road map, Speeds Up To 2 GHz [Corrected]
[ Corrected: We made two rather unfortunate mistakes in this article as originally published. The first was that we called the first of the new processors mentioned in the road map below the PowerPC 7455. The 7457 is the correct designation, and the article has been corrected. The second was that we said the road…
Apple To Give Free Copies Of Jaguar & iApps To Teachers
Apple is stepping up its efforts in the education market with a new promotion for schools called "X for Teachers." This program will literally give not-for-resale copies of Jaguar away to eligible teachers (see Apple’s rules for this offer for eligibility and other requirements). Those teachers will also get copies of iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, and…
Apple Updates Hot Deals From J&R Computing, CompUSA, DVDirect
A pple has updated the Hot Deals for J&R Computing, CompUSA, and DVDirect at the Macintosh Product Guide. The Mac Product Guide is a list of Mac compatible hardware and software products on the market. The Hot Deals section of the Product guide feature several Mac retailers, including some new audio-oriented retailers, and special offers…
Apple Posts Loss Of US$45 Million, US$7 Million Profit Before Non-Recurring Costs
A pple posted its Q4 earnings results today (see our live coverage from the press conference for more information). The company posted a US$45 million loss (13 cents per share), far below the break even results it had projected, but those losses stemmed from non-recurring charges. Before those non-recurring charges, Apple posted a profit of…
Apple Updates Hot Deals From Outpost & ClubMac
A pple has updated the Hot Deals for Outpost.com and ClubMac at the Macintosh Product Guide. The Mac Product Guide is a list of Mac compatible hardware and software products on the market. The Hot Deals section of the Product guide feature several Mac retailers, including some new audio-oriented retailers, and special offers that one…
Apple Thinks Differently, Salutes Jimmy Carter's Nobel Prize On Home Page (Screen Shot Included)
A pple has revived the Think Different campaign to salute former US President Jimmy Carter. President Carter was recently named the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, which is why Apple is featuring him on its home page. Underneath an image of President Carter is a link to the Nobel Web site concerning his…
Microsoft Offers, Then Pulls, Its Own Mac-To-Windows Switcher Story
[ Update: Within a few minutes of having posted this story, Microsoft pulled its Switcher story.] Microsoft, in its tried and true tradition of copying everything it can from its competitors, has posted its own Mac-to-Windows Switcher story. No, seriously. The company has posted a Switcher story from a freelance writer touting the wonders of…