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A bill before Congress that would allows customers to affirm their Fair Use rights of digital media is being opposed by the RIAA according to InfoWorld on Wednesday. The goal of the Freedom and Innovation Revitalizing U.S. Entrepreneurship (FAIR USE) Act, introduced by Reps Rick Boucher (R-VA) and John Doolittle (R-CA), is to exempt the…

Apple has a large presence at Europeis largest imaging show being held in Birmingham from February 25th to 28th. Apple UK posted photos of the event on Monday. Apple said that they are using the event to showcase their professional hardware, the Mac Pro and MacBook Pro, as well as Aperture 1.5. In addition, Apple…

Iim always a bit leery of “portable mice” and “travel mice” because more often than not those terms really mean “too small to use, and uncomfortable, too.” Thatis why Radtechis BT500 Mobile Mouse was such a surprise: It is actually a usable travel-size mouse. The BT500 is an 800dpi optical Bluetooth mouse with rechargeable batteries.…

The company was dinged for the bruises it gets when problems arise right after a product warranty expires, but such bruises were far outweighed by other aspect of its customer service. “Despite frustration about iPod battery replacements,” BusinessWeek wrote, “Appleis customer service phone support ranks tops among electronics providers. In particular, customers rate its automated…

Apple is viewed in a very positive way by investment firms Bear Stearns and Prudential according to Notable Calls on Wednesday. Bear Stearns is maintaining their outperform rating at target share price of US$130. They predict a 2Q earnings per share of US$0.65 and revenues of US$5.2B with sales of 1.4M Macs and 11.2M iPods.…

The adequacy of the security and privacy features of IE7 in Vista remain open to question. according to a report at The Register on Tuesday. Windows has been responsible for “turning the Internet into the toxic sh*thole of malware that it is today,” Thomas Green wrote. But he noted, “IE7, at least on Vista, is…

Keeping spare empty drive cases around so you can access bare hard drives is kind of a pain: You have to install the drive before you can use it, and you need different cases for each drive connection type. If you are looking for a way to quickly access hard drives that doesnit require cases,…

Photoshop Lightroom 1.0 is priced at US$199 through April 30, 2007, then climbs to its regular $299 price. The public beta will expire on February 28, 2007. Camera Raw 3.7 adds Photoshop Lightroom 1.0 support to Photoshop CS2, Photoshop Elements 4 and 5, and Premier Elements 3.0. It supports over 150 cameras, and adds the…

The Mac is a perfectly good option as the hub of a home entertainment center, and Apple has already shown that with its Front Row application. If you want to take that to the next level, however, itis time to look at MediaCentral from equinux. MediaCentral recognizes iTunes audio and video content, displays your iPhoto…

A survey of 50 Best Buy stores revealed that about 80 percent of the locations are selling fewer copies of Microsoftis new operating system than expected. 72 percent of the stores are also stating that Vista is driving sales of new PCs to consumers. The increase in PC sales is due to a pent up…

Launch iChat. Itis in your Applications folder, and probably also in your Dock. Make sure your iChat status is set to Offline. Choose iChat > Preferences. Select Accounts. iChatis default server port is 5190.

Of particular interest was a link to a deeply technical and wide ranging analysis of the DRM in Vista by Peter Gutmann. Basically, Vista comprises a dream platform for Hollywood in which pervasive DRM provides Microsoft and its partners with a new monopoly on content distribution. Peter Gutmann went on to explain the effects: "These…

Advertising is the key. Through eye-catching graphics and memorable slogans, snake oil salesmen sell their wares to an unsuspecting public, duping them out of hard earn cash for paraphernalia that sometimes doesnit work and is often dangerous, even deadly. “Iid walk a mile for a Camel,” (Addictive, cancerous). “Coke, The Pause That Refreshes,” (originally made…

The trick is called browser spoofing, and itis not hard to do. Since your Web browser gladly identifies itself to any Web server that asks, all you have to do is make your browser lie and say that it is the browser that the server really wants it to be. All you need to do…

Microsoft announced on Thursday that the translator to convert between the Open Document Format (ODF) and their own Open XML file format is now available. The current phase, Release 1, supports only MS Word and is compatible with Word XP, Word 2003, and Word 2007. Phase 2 will support Excel and Powerpoint. Microsoftis announcement also…

The commercial depicted an Orwellian 1984-style future that crumbles when a woman throws a sledgehammer through a screen showing the face “big brother” to reveal the first Macintosh computer. Appleis 1984 commercial.

North American customers and those in the German speaking countries appear to have a different view of Apple without Steve Jobs at the helm after he retires. That was the surprising result of an iDelphi poll published on Thursday. Both North American and German speaking customers were asked two questions: 1. When will Steve Jobs…

Apple sued to get the names of sources that provided information about a product code named “Asteroid” to Apple Insider and PowerPage. Both sites refused to provide Apple with any information, and claimed that they were protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – specifically, freedom of the press. The lawyers representing Apple…

Although most of the information about the economics of the Apple/Cingular deal are secret, there are bits of information that help build a bigger picture. Cingular, for example, has revealed that there will be no revenue sharing between the companies over new iTunes Store users as a result of the iPhone. For now, Cingular has…