Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. – Abraham Lincoln Every once in awhile I read a story on the Internet that just doesn’t seem to sync with my experiences at Apple. Most of the time, the story is derived from what the author…
News
TMO Reports - Analyst: 'Huge Merit' to an Apple/RIM Collaboration
Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek last Friday issued a research report in which he saw “huge merit” to a potential collaboration between Apple and Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM), which could result in a mobile phone with iTunes capabilities. A partnership between the two companies could take advantage of Apple’s lack of “wireless capabilities and…
Adobe, Microsoft Offer Perspective On PDF Discussions [Updated]
Microsoft spokesperson Stacy Drake commented “Adobe has long claimed that PDF is an open standard and dozens of companies, including a number of our competitors, have implemented that standard, but Adobe insists we need to charge a price.” Microsoft offered to make the PDF export module available as a free download, instead of bundling it…
Microsoft Preparing for Adobe Lawsuit
Negotiations between Microsoft and Adobe over the use of PDF technology in the Office Suite have broken down, prompting Microsoft to prepare for a possible antitrust lawsuit from Adobe. According to The Wall Street Journal, the two companies have been involved in discussions for the past four months, but now that they are at an…
Just a Thought - iPod Killer?
You know, one thing that irks me to no end is when news people, when writing about a new technology that could compete with existing technology, call the new technology ‘a _____-Killer’. A while back every new word processor was labeled a Microsoft Word-Killer, every new OS (especially Linux) a Windows-Killer, every PDA a Palm-Killer,…
Safari, Firefox Market Share Slipped in May
Internet Explorer rose from 83.88 percent to 85.89 percent. Exploreris market share has been generally declining over the past year, but occasionally shows a small increase. The last increase was in January of this year when it inched up to 85.31 percent from December 2005is 85.05 percent. In comparison, Safari and Firefox have been on…
Podcast - Mac Geek Gab #55: SpeckTone Retro, AirPort Printer Sharing, and ProCare
Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab For May 30th, 2006 Direct Links: MP3 Version or AAC Enhanced Version (courtesy of Michael, aka Computernap!). Dave reviews the SpeckTone Retro speakers; John and he talk through IP-based printer sharing, Apple’s ProCare support, Automounting, and Michael joins in for iTunes Library Sharing. Then, in a…
Parallels Final Pre-release Adds Compressor
Parallels Desktop for Mac RC2 is available for download at the Parallels Web site. The official version will be priced at US$79.99, or $49.99 during the first 30 days after it is released. Customers that pre-ordered Parallels Desktop for $39.99 will get the enhanced version at no additional cost.
Just a Thought - Visualizing Apple Virtualization
You know, waaaaay back when computers ran MVS and UNIX, and computer makers had names like IBM, Honeywell, Univac, and Burroughs, virtual systems and thin clients were the normal way of doing business. Of course, we didn’t call them virtual systems and thin clients, mainframes had terminals (dumb terminals usually) and Unix systems ran X-Servers and…
Apple Sells PowerSchool to Pearson [Updated]
Pearson has agreed to acquire the PowerSchool division from Apple Computer according to a report from Reuters. The deal terms were not disclosed, but Pearson does plan to develop iPod compatible content for students and teachers. Pearson will develop a series of podcasts for educators that cover topics like professional development and working with students…
Ted Landau's User Friendly View - DVD-RAM reconsidered. Seriously.
Back in late 1999, when Power Mac G4 computers first arrived on the scene, most came with a DVD-RAM drive. It’s not a mystery why Apple initially put its faith in this format. They had the advantages of floppy disks but without their downsides. Specifically, DVD-RAM discs offered much greater capacity and reliability than floppies;…
iPod Class Action Team Deals with More Controversy
The law firm of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro was thrust back into the spotlight on Wednesday after an open letter from the man they named as a plaintiff in a class action law suit against Apple claimed that the firm used his name without consent. In October 2005, the firm filed a suit against Apple…
iPod Growth Still in Early Stage
Analyst Robert Semple commented “We believe Apple is still in the early stages of its product expansion and that the company can grow its iPod units at least 20% for the foreseeable future.” Europe is poised as a potential growth target with its limited 7.1 percent market penetration, compared to 15.5 percent in the United…
Podcast - Mac Geek Gab #54: Home Networking, Automounting, and Cool Shareware!
Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab For May 22nd, 2006 Direct Links: MP3 Version or AAC Enhanced Version (courtesy of Michael, aka Computernap!). Home networking and cool shareware are the new tidbits introduced in this episode, along with continuing conversations about MacBook Pro support and Automounting shares at boot. Enjoy! If you’re…
Analyst: Current Quarter iPod Sales Likely to Miss Street Estimate
However, Mr. Munster did issue a caveat: “As a result of iGrads and Dadsi buying, we believe May and June iPod sales will likely be better than what was seen in April … When the second month of data is released, our analysis will likely lead to a slightly different iPod unit figure than what…
Hidden Dimensions -- A Technical Analysis of Apple's New TV Ads
"Had him, and we lost him." — Apple "Restarting" TV commercial There is a lot going on in the new Apple TV ads that hasn’t been discussed. No one has really analyzed them from a no-nonsense marketing standpoint, so I think it’s time to do that. To get some perspective, let’s look first at what…
Podcast - Mac Geek Gab #53: Troubleshooting Prejudice Strikes!
Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab For May 15th, 2006 Direct Links: MP3 Version or AAC Enhanced Version (courtesy of Michael, aka Computernap!). Dave talks about a tech support issue he had with his Mac setup this weekend, and how it’s bad to assume anything without confirming it first! John and Dave…
Podcast - Weekly Roundup: Apple Gets its Way
Direct Link: MP3 Version This week turned up a decision in Apple v. Apple, and change in the French political wind. Jeff Gamet and Ricky Spero power up the Context Machine to sort out the news. The Weekly Roundup will be included in TMO’s main RSS feed, and also in its own feed if you’d…
French Amendment Drops Open DRM Requirement
The controversial copyright bill that would force companies like Apple, Sony, and Microsoft to open their proprietary Digital Rights Management (DRM) copy protection technologies to competitors has been approved by the French Senate with an amendment that offers an avenue to keep the copy protection schemes private. According to Macworld UK, the bill maintained the…
Unauthorized Mac Clones Hit the Streets
Mac clones may be cheap, but they arenit legal.
Web Community Shares News and Blog Feeds
Taking the concept a step further, you can glean additional information from the people that subscribe to specific RSS feeds. Share Your OPML attempts to do just that by giving you an easy way to add your list watched RSS feeds to a growing online database. For the uninitiated, RSS is a data format used…
Podcast - Mac Geek Gab #52: Security Solutions and Tech Support Tactics
Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab For May 8th, 2006 Direct Links: MP3 Version or AAC Enhanced Version (courtesy of Michael, aka Computernap!). John and Dave talk through security recommendations and tech support tactics which leads Dave into a great rant about how folks have been dealing with Apple’s MacBook Pro issues.…