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Apple’s refreshed iPod nano and iPod shuffle have been well-received, but Gartner analysts Joseph Unsworth and Jon Erensen said in a report issued Monday that they believe “the company is looking for better profit margins, not gaining market share,” according to an IDG News Service article. Looking at the cost of the materials going into…

The environmental activist group, Greenpeace, released a report on Monday titled Toxic Chemicals In Your Laptop that attempts to list the percentages of toxic chemicals found in several different laptop computer models, including Apple’s MacBook Pro. Greenpeace tested the computers for compliance with The European Union’s RoHS directive – a set of voluntary guidelines that…

Microsoft officially revealed the specifications for its first Zune media player on Thursday. It didn’t, however, reveal the unit’s price, or exactly when it will be on store shelves – only that it will be available “this holiday season.” The first Zune will include a 30GB hard drive, 3-inch color LCD screen, a built-in FM…

So Apple showed its cards on Tuesday, and it wasn’t a bad hand at all: A nice pair of aces with the new iPod nano and Shuffle, and a pair of kings with  the announcement of iTV and the newly refurbished iTunes Store — no longer the iTunes Music Store, I guess it isn’t just…

Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab For September 11th, 2006 Direct Links: MP3 Version or AAC Enhanced Version (courtesy of Michael, aka Computernap!). For this week’s episode, John and Dave answer your questions and share your tips that have been filling up the mailbag as of late. Covering topics such as Automator,…

If you are using a PowerPC-based Mac, like a PowerBook G4 or a Power Mac G5, you can take advantage of the Classic environment to use older applications that don’t run natively in Mac OS X. Most Mac users, however, aren’t relying on Classic-bound applications nearly as much as they used to. For those that…

Christopher Gee, a former executive at Apple Computer, has been hired as the president of Advanced Battery Technologies, Inc. The company designs and manufactures rechargeable Polymer-Lithium-Ion batteries used in electric vehicles, motorcycles, cell phones, portable computers, and other electronic devices. While working at Apple, Mr. Gee was responsible for several successful business development and enterprise…

With Apple projected to sell 40 million iPods this year, some of them are bound to break. That’s where people like Mike Fuerstenberg come in. He makes a living repairing iPods out of a small shop in Manhattan, according to a news report at American Public Media. Mr. Fuerstenberg relates: “A lot of iPods are…

Apple will pay the maker of the TightPod laptop case to stop using the word “Pod,” according to a Bloomberg article published at China Post. It was revealed last month that Apple has been vigorously enforcing its trademark on the word “Pod,” going after Terry Wilson, who sells the TightPod, as well as Mach5 Products,…

Foxconn has dropped the defamation lawsuit it brought against two journalists from the China Business News. According to Forbes, the companies issued a joint statement apologizing to each other “for the disturbances brought to both of them by the lawsuit.” Both Foxconn and the news paper stated that they will work together to help protect…

Hongfujin Precision Industry Co., the division of Foxconn that operates the Longhua factory that manufactures iPods for Apple Computer, has been ordered by the Chinese government to allow its employees to form a trade union. According to Forbes, the union will be affiliated with the government’s All-China Federation of Trade Unions. The Longhua factory has…

Apple has settled the Federal lawsuit brought against it by the man claiming the company stole his design for the iTunes music player. According to the Burlington Free Press, attorneys for both parties negotiated for 15 hours before reaching the undisclosed settlement. David Contois, the owner of Contois Music & Technology, alleged that Apple employees…

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., which owns iPod maker Foxconn Technology Group, saw its second quarter profits jump 43% compared to last year, according to a Bloomberg article. Hon Hai said that demand for iPods, as well as other MP3 players, and cell phones led the way. The company also supplies parts used in Sony’s…

Sometimes a good thing can live forever, despite corporate decisions that may seem to doom it otherwise. For instance, when Bungie broke the hearts of the Mac world with its purchase by Microsoft, Marathon seemed doomed. And for a while it was. One of the finest and most original first person shooter titles to grace…

iPod manufacturer Foxconn has sued a reporter and an editor at a Chinese newspaper, China Business News, after the publication ran an article about substandard working conditions. The issue of working conditions first came to light in June, prompting Apple to launch an investigation that concluded earlier this month with the determination that while there…

Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab For August 28th, 2006 Direct Links: MP3 Version or AAC Enhanced Version (courtesy of Michael, aka Computernap!). The info just keeps flowing here, folks. Of course, last week’s discussion on e-mail management generated a lot of feedback, and Dave and John talk through that. Additionally, continuing…

Direct Link: MP3 Version This week’s top story is the legal Judo coming out of Apple and Creative. Ricky Spero and Jeff Gamet send the companies’ recent settlement through the Context Machine, and find we’ve just seen one of the most clever business maneuvers in tech history. Also: AOL beats iTunes to market in digital…

There’s nothing I like better than great software that’s either free or inexpensive; here are a few of my current faves: Mouse Locator (Free; www.2point5fish.com) My office Mac has two huge displays; my desktop measures a whopping 2,880 x 1,024 pixels. Both of my screens are almost always covered with a plethora of windows, docks,…

Apple and Creative Technology on Wednesday announced a settlement in their ongoing cross-litigation with the news that Apple will pay US$100 million for a paid-up license to use Creative’s patent for an MP3 player interface. However, Apple can recoup a portion of that money if Creative successfully licenses its patent to other companies. Creative also…

Apple is in an interesting financial position right now, and they’re doing what most companies do when they reach a certain level of success — they roll the money upwards. Here’s how it works. Just about any company can manage to justify the diversion of roughly 0.5% of its revenues to some consensus cause, championed…