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John Martellaro

John Martellaro was born at an early age and began writing about computers soon after that. With degrees in astrophysics (B.S.) and physics (M.S.), he has worked for NASA, White Sands Missile Range, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Apple. At Apple he worked as a Senior Marketing Manager, a Federal Account Executive and a High Performance Computing manager. His interests include chess, science fiction and astronomy. John is the host of the TMO podcast Background Mode.

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SquirrelFish Extreme Will Offer Amazing Surfing, App Speeds

On Thursday, the Surfini Safari blog announced the next generation Javascript accelerator, SquirrelFish Extreme. Benchmarks show that it is over three times faster than Webkit 3.1. “Just three months ago, we announced SquirrelFish, a major revamp of our JavaScript engine featuring a high-performance bytecode interpreter. Today weid like to announce the next generation of our…

Microsoft Launches Ad #3: Are You a PC?

Microsoft launched its third in a series of special ads to spruce up the image of Windows on Thursday night. The ad features a selection of cameos, some famous and some not, showing that Windows is used by all kinds of people. The ad opens with a comment by a John Hodgman lookalike, Microsoft employee…

Steve Jobs Makes Appearance at EU Meeting in Brussels

Steve Jobs was in Brussels on Wednesday to participate in a European Union meeting on the state of music and technology firms in Europe. The meeting was held to discuss how the promise of a “union” in Europe hasnit been completely successful on the Internet. That was the tone presented by EU competition commissioner Neelie…

QuickTime 7.5.5 Bug Could be Vector for Attack

A bug in QuickTime 7.5.5 has been discovered which could be exploited for a malicious attack, but right now the risk is characterized as low. The QuickTime tag fails to handle long strings correctly. The bug was announced by Intego on Thursday, but was first discovered by Symantec researcher Aaron Adams. Intego described the exploit…

Apple Power Corrupts, Absolute Apple Power Corrupts Absolutely

about Appleis policies regarding the App Store and what applications are permissible. While some argue that Apple can do as it pleases to insure its revenue stream, thatis exactly the argument that got Microsoft into trouble. Apple is no longer the underdog in many areas. Itis not fighting the worthy fight to survive and flourish.…

Apple Posts Mac OS X 10.5.5 Update

On Monday afternoon, Apple posted Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.5 Update for PowerPC and Intel Macs. It is recommended for all users and is 136 MB in size. The update is described in Apple support document HT2405. The update can be conducted from System Preferences -> Software Update or by using a standalone installer, referenced…

Steve Jobs' Mercedes Sports License-Plate-Free Look

Sharp-eyed photographers have spotted what appears to be a Mercedes that belongs to Steve Jobs outside the Yerba Buena Gardens during last weekis “Letis Rock” event and have noted that it has a bar code instead of a California license plate, according to the iPhone Savior. Immediately after the pictue was posted, a controvery started…

CNBC's Jim Goldman Takes on Newsweek's Dan Lyons

Dan Lyons who formerly wrote as the “Fake Steve Jobs” published a story at Newsweek about how Appleis is becoming just another Microsoft and a “monopolist in training.” The essay struck CNBCis Jim Goldman as odd, so he took a closer look at the issues involved and came to a different conclusion. Mr. Goldman noted…

Apple Fixes 9 Security flaws with QuickTime 7.5.5

On Tuesday, Apple posted the complete list of security issues addressed with QuickTime 7.5.5 to its list server. The fixes were for both Mac OS X and Windows systems and were described as follows: QuickTime CVE-ID: CVE-2008-3615 Available for: Windows Vista, XP SP2 and SP3 Impact: Viewing a maliciously crafted movie file may lead to…

Eric Schmidt Explains Google's Chrome Strategy

Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, explained that Chrome was designed to stop Microsoft from Balkanizing the Internet in ways that favor its own services, according to the Financial Times. In an interview with the FT, Eric Schmidt said that for a long time, Google believed that it didn’t need to build a Web browser. However, the…

Yager: Skip Chrome, Go Right to WebKit

Googleis Chrome is based on advanced technologies like V8 enhanced Javascript. Even so, developers should just skip the browser framework and write Internet apps that use Webkit directly, according to Tom Yager at Infoworld. “The trouble is that browsers are designed for surfing, not as application platforms. Think about it,” Mr. Yager wrote. “If you…

Microsoft Announces, then Withdraws its Own App Store: SkyMarket

Perhaps Microsoft wanted to make a splash with its annoucement for a manager to run Microsoftis own version of Appleis App Store, according to Internetnews on Wednesday. However, the job posting has been withdrawn, and Microsoft wonit comment. The advertisement was found at ComputerJobs.com and described a services for Windows Mobile called SkyMarket. The lead…

ChangeWave: Apple Leads Competition in Consumer Buying Plans

A ChangeWave Research Report says that amongst those planning to purchase a PC in the next 90 days, Apple leads all competitors. Of the Alliance members surveyed, 34 percent plan to buy an Apple notebook and 30 percent an Apple desktop, numbers that continue to rise. The study, conducted August 4-12, asked pver 4,400 Alliance…

CW: SSDs in Laptops Won't Make Real Sense until 2010

Despite their appeal, Solid State Drives (SSD) wonit make real sense for laptops for several more years, according to Computerworld. The curent technology is still too expensive, slower on I/O and has a more limited lifespan. Right now, consumer grade SLC SSDs use a different structure that has good capacity and price, but suffer compared…

Apple Stores Generally Mirror U.S. Population Density

The locations of Appleis U.S. retail stores closely track the U.S. Census Bureau for the highest density population centers, according to ifoAppleStoreon Thursday. However, there are a few notable exceptions. “Apple claims that over 90 percent of the countryis population is within 15 minutes of an Apple retail store, and a population analysis seems to…

BW: Students Will Save Apple's Fourth Quarter

A prominent economist wrote that Apple is about to finally take a hit from the slowing economy. However, thatis not going to happen this quarter thanks to back to school purchases, according to BusinessWeekis Arik Hesseldahl on Thursday. A remarkable number of college students are planning to buy Apple notebooks. Mr. Hesseldahl is so certain…

Psystar Responds to Apple's Lawsuit

Psystar, sued by Apple for trademark and copyright infringement, has prepared its response to Appleis complaint. Psystar will claim that Apple is engaging in anticompetitive practices and will counter sue. According to owner Rudy Pedraza, Psystar will counter sue under the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act and claim that when Apple ties…

PC Makers, Stymied by Vista, Enhance Their PCs

PC makers, confronted by the complexity and slow boot time of Vista, are offering their own unique add-ons to make PC buyers happier, according to the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. Falling average selling prices have also driven the makers to those extra value options. The PC experience has been tarnished by Vista, according to…

MathMagic 5.8 Adds Support for QuarkXPress, LaTex

InfoLogic announced version 5.8 of MathMagic on Monday. The new version adds support for QuarkXPress 8 and can read and export to LaTex files, and more. Version 5.8 also allows multiple math tags to be opened simultaneously when importing MathML files, and the user can now specify the resolution of PICT images. MathMagic

What a Touchscreen Would do for the Mac

Itis time for Apple to introduce a full-fledged touchscreen Mac to the market, according to Don Reisinger at CNET on Monday. So far, Apple has stopped short of a full touchscreen Mac and restricted that technology to the iPhone. Mr. Reisinger wondered if itis time for Apple to take the risk of introducing a touchscreen…

Woz's Advice to Engineers: Follow Your Heart

In at interview at the Intel Developer forum, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak urged future engineers to follow their heart. It isnit always about the money. CNET posted tibits of wisdom from the man who was the mind behind the Apple I and Apple II. Steve Wozniak (CNET)

PCW: Intel, Dell Innovate for Mobile Users, Windows Sleeps

Dell, Intel and their partners have sidestepped Windows and developed some key technologies for mobile users, according to PCWorld. For example, users can check e-mail without booting Windows on a Dell notebook. This is a disaster for Microsoft. The technology is called “Latitude ON,” and according to Mike Elgan with PCWorld, it could also be…

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