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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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Apple's iPhone no iPod, but Still a Winner

The Apple iPhone enters a mature mobile phone market. It has great potential, will grow and change, but it won’t have the same impact as the iPod did in a relatively new market. That may not even matter, according to Rediff’s India Abroad. Everyone is talking about the Apple iPhone now. It’s a credit to…

Steve Jobs Scolds Greenpeace at Shareholder Meeting

Steve Jobs made some blunt remarks to Greenpeace representatives at Appleis shareholder meeting Thursday, according to Computerworld UK. Despite the fact that representatives from Greenpeace congratulated Apple on their commitment to the environment, Mr. Jobs had strong words for the group. “I think your organization particularly depends too much on principle and not enough on…

Parallels & Windows XP Preinstalled on Macs by Tech Data

Parallels, maker of the Desktop Virtualization software for Mac OS X, announced on Wednesday that their exclusive U.S. distributor, Tech Data, has just started selling Parallels Desktop plus Windows XP in 13 pre-configured packages, preinstalled on Macs, to resellers. The Macs include: Apple Mac mini, iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro and Mac Pro. No reseller or…

Smultron Editor Updated to Version 3.0.5

Peter Borg has updated his open source text editor for Mac OS X to version 3.0.5. The new version adds Italian, French, and German localization. In addition, the eZ Publish syntax definitions have been added. Smultron 3 Text Editor

Abracode updates OnMyCommand to Version 1.8

Also included in the new version is a progress dialog, a DataBrowser control (list view) support for nib dialogs, and dynamic contextual menu names. The full list of enhancements has been posted at Abracodeis Website. OnMyCommand

Mossberg: Special Considerations Buying a Laptop

Buying a laptop computer requires a little more attention to details and features. New technologies on the way for laptops should be watched closely, and many may want to defer purchasing for awhile, according to Walt Mossberg at All Things Digital. Some new technologies to be aware of are the new hard disks that include…

SmileOnMyMac Releases DiscLabel 4.2

“DiscLabel 4.2 offers more flexible image manipulation with the new Effects and Filters dialog. Effects and Filters allows users to preview and combine over 40 visual effects, including blurs, sharpening, color effects and masks. Also new in this upgrade is the ability to add a drop shadow to any object and to apply a stroke…

Citigroup/Gardner Advice: Hold That Apple Stock

Apple has been on a roll. Itis last earnings report sent the stock price over $100. Even so, Citigroup analyst Richard Gardner says the boom is over, and itis time to hold Apple stock. Shaw Wu has been leading the analysts with a US$145 target price for Apple stock. On the other hand, Richard Gardner,…

Microsoft Showcases Silverlight on Macs at Mix07

In the keynote presentation at Mix07, Microsoft showcased its new cross-platform AV software, Silverlight, on Macs as well as PCs. The embracing of Apple was intended to punctuate Microsoftis cross-platform commitment, according to CRN. Historically, Microsoft has shown some half-hearted commitment for its software on competing platforms. However, Microsoft is promising that this time will…

Safer Web Browsing: Two Different Browsers

The creator of PHP thinks that one way to safer Internet browsing is to use two different Browsers. One for everyday surfing and one dedicated to personal banking and finance, according to Computerworld on Tuesday. Rasmus Lerdorf described what he called “hygienic surfing” at a keynote address last week at the MySQL Conference in Santa…

Dell's Direct Sales Approach Wilting

The Dell direct sales model has been a big success at Dell. Lately, however, the systems is showing signs of weakness brought on by new customer buying patterns, according to the New York Times. Dell, under pressure from HP and Apple, has found that its traditional direct sales model isnit working as well as it…

Parallels Technology Network Launched

Parallels, maker of the Desktop virtualization software for Mac OS X, launched the Parallels Technology Network (PTN) on Thursday. The network is designed to foster communication between users and developers, and helps users get the best software from all OSes on their machines via free, pre-packaged, community-developed virtual appliances. The PTN contains a directory of…

IntelliScanner: Asset Tagging For The Rest of Us

mini for Macs (and PCs) is now shipping. The small, handheld device allows the user to scan barcoded property items, generate product information, and transmit the data to a database for personal or business asset tagging. “IntelliScanner miniis five included programs help automatically organize collections and home assets. By scanning the barcode with IntelliScanner mini…

Panic Releases Coda 1.0

announced on Monday the release of Coda 1.0, a one-window Web development tool. Coda 1.0 is designed for hand-coders and brings together all the major features needed to develop Websites in a single interface. “Coda includes a complete built-in file browser based on the Transmit engine that allows users to work locally or remotely; a…

Intel Cuts Prices on Core 2 Duos

on its mainstream Core 2 Duo chips up to 40 percent over the weekend, according to ExtremeTech. The Quad-core processor price was also reduced. The 2.66 GHz (E6700) Core 2 Duo is now priced at US$316, a 40 percent cut. The 2.4 GHz (E6600) and 2.13 GHz (E6400) were also reduced to $224 and and…

Crapware Often Key to PC Profitability

PCs exist in a highly competitive, commodity market. Making a profit on a cheap PC depends on the revenue generated from crapware, according to C|Net on Wednesday. While adding all the demo software to PCs, known as crapware, makes money for the PC vendors, the practice is starting to alienate customers. It all started when…

Adobe Questions Microsoft's Silverlight Commitments

Adobeis CEO Bruce Chizen questioned Microsoftis commitment to keep its Flash competitor Silverlight cross-platform, according to Computerworld on Tuesday. In a recent interview in Tokyo, Mr. Chizen cited Internet Explorer and the Windows Media Player as examples of software that Microsoft built for Mac OS X, then later abandoned. Mr. Chizen was happy to suggest…

Intel Previews Penryn Performance

Intel has provided some projected performance numbers for their new Penryn processor. The projections were provided at the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing. Pat Gelsinger, senior vice present and general manager of the Digital Enterprise Group, provided the performance estimates. “For desktop PCs,” he said “expect increases of about 15 percent for imaging-related applications; 25…

Wiring Macs Into The Enterprise

One of the mysteries for many is getting Macintoshes properly integrated into corporate directory services, especially Microsoftis Active Directory. Computerworld provided the recipe on Monday. Directory Services can be daunting for even very technical administrators. Once an organization settles on Microsoftis Active Directory for its PCs, shoehorning Macs into the system can seem like an…

Comparing an 8-core to 4-core Mac Pro

Bare Feats conducted some performance tests, comparing the processor performance of an 8-core Mac Pro to a 4-core Mac Pro. A factor of two was not always obtained, and technical issues may be the cause. As one would expect, the results varied depending on the OS and softwareis ability to properly exploit eight cores. In…

The Financial Cost of Security Breaches

A security breach can cost a company anywhere from $90 to $305 per lost record, according to Forrester Research. Forrester based its numbers on a survey of 28 companies that had a data breach. The Register reported the results on Thursday but expressed some skepticism. “Senior analyst Khalid Kark describes its figures from costs as…

Apple Says Leopard Delayed Until October

Apple released a statment on Thursday saying that Mac OS X 10.5, Leopard, will be delayed until October 2007. The company cited resources that had been diverted away from Mac OS X to complete iPhone as the cause of the delay. “iPhone has already passed several of its required certification tests and is on schedule…

Iconix Introduces I/O, Remote Package for its HD Camera

has introduced a digital I/O package and remote control system for its HD-RH1, a POV High Definition video camera. “We are very pleased to be able to introduce the digital I/O package and remote control system upgrades so soon after shipping our first cameras,” said Wayne Upton, CTO, Iconix Video. “The HD-RH1 is a high-performance…