News

Apple and four British cell phone operators, including Vodafone France-based Orange, have agreed to royalty rates for digital music downloads. According to The Australian, Apple and the cell phone companies will pay 8% of gross revenue for all music, except ring tones. British law previously said that 12% of gross revenue had to be paid,…

Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab For September 25th, 2006 Direct Links: MP3 Version or AAC Enhanced Version (courtesy of Michael, aka Computernap!). Continuing the discussions started with their favorite apps and such in last week’s show, John and Dave share some of your favorite apps and tips, then answer some of…

In the beginning, I was starved for iPod accessories to review in my columns and books. Weeks could go by without my receiving a single iPod add-on. These days it seems barely a day goes by when a new (or new and improved) iPod peripheral doesn’t land on my doorstep. It’s gotten so I call…

Direct Link: MP3 Version This week, amid a mash of news, both Google Video and YouTube made the headlines. In this week’s Context Machine: Ricky Spero and Jeff Gamet take a close look at Viral Video’s dirty secrets, then take off on a discussion about where it’s headed. Here’s a hint: iTV is involved, and…

Apple’s iPod Hi-Fi speakers are fourth in their category with 7.8% market share, behind Bose, Logitech, and i-Fusion, according to John Fortt’s Business 2.0 blog. He received those numbers from NPD Group analyst Steve Baker, who also told him that the US$349 iPod Hi-Fi has 14.5% of the revenue share in its category, which is…

A teardown analysis of a 4GB second-generation iPod nano reveals a US$72.24 bill of materials (BOM) cost, less than the $89.97 cost for a first-generation 2Gb iPod nano, according to a report issued by iSuppli on Wednesday. In a press release, the research firm noted surprise that the new Samsung system-on-chip, which replaced the previous…

Video clips from The Simpsons, Family Guy and other Fox TV shows appearing on Google Video could cause problems for the network’s deal between its News Corp. and Google for the right to supply search features and advertising to MySpace, which is owned by News Corp. A Fox spokeswoman told MarketWatch: “What you see on…

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,…