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Steve Ballmer, Clippers Owner Mr. Ballmer's letter largely serves as an endorsement for change at Microsoft, and there are times when one could read it as saying that Mr. Nadella needs a board fully committed to that change. The implication could be that Mr. Ballmer isn't the best instrument for achieving monumental changes—if so, it's…

It's a bunch of crap, of course, and this weekend Xiaomi demonstrated its commitment to proving it. Xiaomi gets compared to Apple for a number of reasons. Lei Jun, the company's founder and CEO dresses like Steve Jobs, for instance. He has a certain flare and a penchant for imitating Apple's media events and Steve…

______________________ The modern customer who surfs on top of the blue waters of the Internet generally has no idea of what's going on under the water. The enormous layers of complexity and software abstraction mean that we can no longer understand what's going on under the hood ouf our devices with the time we have…

It's a sad day for the Mac world, as Dr. Bott LLC announced on Thursday that the company is shutting its doors and liquidating its inventory. Dr. Bott is a reseller that specialized in distributing Mac and iPhone accessories companies in addition to selling some of its own products. Dr. Bott LLC is the U.S.…

______________________ My wife, who is now a professor at a local college, was looking for a Thunderbolt (or mini DisplayPort) to VGA adapter for her MacBook Air. This is for in-class presentations with a projector. She assumed Apple would always have such an item in stock, but it turns out to be an adapter that's…

Perhaps no other brand understands the power of push notifications as well as Apple, thanks to privileged place of push within the iOS ecosystem. Push notifications are the most critical engagement tool for mobile apps. They serve as a necessary conduit in the flourishing app economy, where iOS remains the prettiest girl in the room.…

___________________ In September of that year, I wrote: … I’ve started a pilot project to eliminate most of my paper magazine subscriptions and convert to digital format on the iPad. Of course, this has been possible previously on the Mac in some cases, but the size and portability of the iPad creates a critical psychological…

_________________________ I started thinking about this when TMO's Bryan Chaffin pointed me to this add for a “Starfleet TR-590 Mark IX Tricorder.” You can pre-order this replica from the Roddenberry Shop for US$499.95. I am a big fan of Star Trek: The Original Series (although my favorite series is Star Trek: the Next Generation), and…

Skype promises happy faces for OS X Leopard users with compatibility update In a note on the Skype forums, the development team said, Those of you that have been using older versions of Skype for Mac until now have recently seen a prompt to upgrade Skype when trying to sign in… There was some confusion…

The Spectrum Wired Optical Mouse from Satechi is certainly different. For one thing, it offers seven different colors of LED illumination as backlighting: red, green, blue, yellow, white, violet, and turquoise. Users can have the colors rotate, select one color to be on all the time, or turn off the illumination option. Spectrum mouse offers…

Synology NAS systems hit with SynoLock ransomeware attack A company spokesman told The Mac Observer, So far, it looks like the matter is localized to non-updated versions of [DiskStation Manager] 4.3, but we are actively working on, and researching the issue to see if it also effects DSM 5.0 as well. Synology's advice to customers…

The Department of Transportation wants to officially ban in-flight cellphone calls The DOT is currently putting together a “notice of proposed rule making,” according to the Wall Street Journal, that will be presented in December. The proposal will outline the the DOT's reasoning behind why inflight calls should be banned and will be open for…

Inateck has released it’s BP 2001 Bluetooth speaker, a speaker specifically designed to work with iPads and iPhones. A groove across the width of the speaker holds an iPad, iPad mini, or iPhone and any one of them will instantly pair with the speaker. The design of the groove means that it should work equally…

According to the White House, “The bill not only restores the rights of consumers to unlock their phones, but ensures that they can receive help doing so if they lack the technological savvy to unlock on their own.” The idea of unlocking your mobile phone means that it can move to another network, though this…

Apple buys Vivendi's stake in Beats Music Vivendi confirmed the purchase this week, according to Bloomberg, and the deal puts Apple another step closer to wrapping up its buyout deal with Beats. Vivendi's 13 percent stake in the company had been held by Universal Music Group, one of the other properties it owns and also…

Vivendi confirmed the purchase this week, according to Bloomberg, and the deal puts Apple another step closer to wrapping up its buyout deal with Beats. Vivendi's 13 percent stake in the company had been held by Universal Music Group, one of the other properties it owns and also the world's largest record label. Apple announced…

Microsoft's Deputy General Counsel has written about the original issue on Microsoft's site, discussing the challenge filed and outlined the reasons why it felt compelled to challenge the law in this case: It’s generally accepted that a U.S. search warrant in the physical world can only be used to obtain materials that are within the…

TMO Artist's Rendering of the Event The incident took place in Elver Park in Madison, when a 20-year-old man was walking along the path and texting on his iPhone. According to an incident report published by the Madison Police Department, the iPhone owner was approached by a teenager from the other direction. The report described…

Bose wants an injunction prohibiting import of the infringing devices, financial compensation for past infringement. The Verge reported that the suit also seeks a complete accounting of, “all infringing sales and other infringing acts by Beats.” The patents in question involve noise cancelling properties in Beats Studio and Beats Studio Wireless headphones. Bose claimed in…

Judge Cote says Apple's Ebook price fixing settlement isn't fair to consumers Apple and the top book publishers were all accused of conspiring to artificially raise book prices by the Department of Justice, leading to a Federal trial before Judge Cote. The publishers all settled out of court to avoid potentially crippling fines, although Apple…

Taotronics has released the CODE Donut Bluetooth Speaker, a rather unique portable Bluetooth speaker that is shaped like a donut.  CODE Donut Bluetooth Speaker This speaker should appeal to teens and tweens because it is colorful and unique. The sound is satisfactory. A full charge on the 1000 mAh bettery provides up to eight hours…

____________________ The initial remarks came during the call's preamble in which Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri summarized Apple's the hardware unit sales. For the second quarter in a row now, Tim Cook has had to explain a slight drop in iPad sales, both year over year and in successive quarters, and that has to…

When Adonit teamed up with Adobe to bring the design software company's stylus to market, Ink and Slide (TMO review) weren't the only pieces of gear to take advantage of the technology because Adonit also released its own Jot Touch with with Pixelpoint pressure sensitive stylus for the iPad. It costs less than Adobe's Ink…

The Voyager Q dock from NewerTech allows you to access a 2.5- or 3.5-inch SATA drive with a Mac (or PC) using a conventional connection, USB, FireWire or eSATA. It's a boon for those moving on from the old Mac Pros but want to keep a SATA drive or two active. NewerTech's implementation is very…