As part of his 1,680-page book Mac OS X Internals: A Systems Approach, author Amit Singh produced an in-depth history of Apple’s operating systems. Since he had to discard much of the material while whittling down the first chapter to a manageable length, Mr. Singh has decided to make “A Technical History of Apple’s Operating…
News
Apple to Launch Premium VAR Program
Garett Doyle, the managing director of Rapid Solutions, an Apple reseller, said that he thinks the premium VAR program will replace the Apple Center program. He commented “I think September will be about the right time for the appointment of the first Premium partners. Resellers that are willing to open stores in high-profile locations, or…
Analyst: Zune 'Akin to a Civil War'
Mr. Wu continued: “While the focus is on AAPL, we believe this move will likely have a much larger competitive impact on CREAF, SNDK, Sony, Samsung, iRiver, Archos, and others. We believe MSFTis action could also make partners think twice before deciding to work with MSFT on future projects. We view MSFTis entrance into portable…
Herb Greenberg Offers His Apple Reality Check
He says “So, whatis not to like [about the earnings report]? Plenty, especially when you consider that iPod unit sales, from a quarter ago, tumbled 5% — the second straight quarter of declines.” iPod sales are down for the second quarter in a row, and iPod revenue was down 13 percent. Compared to last year,…
30% of Canadian Employers Ban iPods at Work
Thirty percent of mid-to-large-sized businesses in Canada have banned MP3 players, including the iPod, at work because of data theft fears. That number comes from an Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of Sun Microsystems of Canada. In addition, 49% of those surveyed also prevent personal laptops and USB key drives from entering the workplace.…
Apple Sells Parallels in Stores [Updated]
Parallels Desktop is proving to be a popular item at the New York SOHO Apple Store. It sold out the same day the software hit the shelves. Parallels Desktop lets you run additional operating systems, like Windows XP, on Intel-based Macs while Mac OS X is running. Appleis free Boot Camp software lets you boot…
iPod's Success Breeds Refurbishing, Repair Businesses
As the iPod’s popularity has soared, so have the fortunes of businesses dedicated to refurbishing and repairing the MP3 players. Some of them, such as PodSwap.com, allow customers to trade in used iPods — working or not — toward the price of new or refurbished iPod. In 18 months, PodSwap.com has taken in 5,000 iPods,…
80% of Survey Respondents Would Give Up iPod Over Wi-Fi
According to a survey released this week by Kelton Research, 80% of American adults between the ages of 18 and 64 would give up their iPod rather than forfeit wireless Internet access. Similarly, when faced with a choice between their home telephone and their home Wi-Fi network, 79% opted for the latter. Looking at demographics,…
Flat Panel Market Likely to Hit $6 Billion in 2006
The flat panel display (FPD) market for computers is expected to hit US$6 billion this year and $12 billion by 2009, according to the research firm DisplaySearch. As MacNewsWorld pointed out, that bodes well for Apple, which last week moved to an all-LCD computer lineup, a first in the industry. Robert Andreas, a senior director…
Keep Your Mailboxes Healthy
Appleis Mail does its best to keep track of your messages, but sometimes it takes a little maintenance to keep things running smoothly. Rebuilding your mailboxes goes a long way in preventing crashes and lost messages. Hereis what you do: Launch Mail. Itis probably in your Dock, but you can also find it in Applications/Mail.…
Law and Economics Professor Asks EU Regulators to 'Listen to Reason'
Thomas W. Hazlett, a professor of law and economics at George Mason University, has written an editorial for the Financial Times in which he implored Europe’s anti-trust regulators to “listen to reason” when dealing with iTunes. “While the [new French] law allows Apple to retain iTunes exclusivity if it gains copyright permission, this escape hatch…
Apple VP in Japan Resigns
Appleis successful iPod marketing push in Japan was credited to Mr. Sakito. Phil Schiller, Appleis senior vice president overseeing worldwide marketing, will take over his duties in Japan until a replacement is hired.
TMO Quick Tip - Building a Computer to Computer Network
There are several ways to copy a file from one Mac to another, like email, portable hard drives, USB Flash drives, and networks. But what do you do when you want to swap a file with someone, and none of those options are available? If both Macs have AirPort built in, make a computer to…
European Trademarks Office Reveals New iPod Designs
This past January, Apple filed ten new iPod designs that were published by the European Trademarks and Designs office on March 14. However, as Macsimum News pointed out in its coverage of the filing, that office is different from the EU’s Patent Office, which means no report was included describing the functionality of the designs.…
Lawsuits Filed Against Microsoft Over Windows Genuine Advantage
Two lawsuits were filed last week against Microsoft, claiming that its anti-piracy initiative Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) is in violation of consumer protection laws in California and Washington, according to MacCentral. Released last July, WGA connects with Microsoft’s servers and delivers data about the hardware and software on specific computers, with the goal of alerting…
Apple Sued Over Stock Option Irregularities
One suit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, a federal court, and the second was filed in the California Superior Court for Santa Clara County. Apple announced on June 29th, 2006 that it had found irregularities in the stock option grants, and that it had hired independent…
Tiger "Phone Home" Features Raise Privacy Concerns
Mr. Jakult uses a utility called Little Snitch to monitor his network and Internet activity, and it detected the new communication between his Mac and Appleis servers. His research, along with others, determined that a new process called dashboardadvisoryd is initiating the communication to verify that certain Dashboard widgets are the same versions as the…
Behind the Scenes: Screen Shots
Capturing My Screen Every screenshot starts with an image capture of all or part of my display. Mac OS X includes a screen capture feature (Command-Shift-3), but it doesnit offer as many features as Snapz Pro X. This utility lets me capture only what I need, select which format the images are saved in, and…
Steve Jobs Declines $65K Disney Board Salary
As the AP story noted, Mr. Jobs typically declines full salaries. He officially earns $1 per year as Appleis CEO, and during his tenure running Pixar, the animation studio paid him $52 annually. However, he does have stock to rely on at Apple too, and in 2001 the company gave him a Gulfstream V jet…
Podcast - Mac Geek Gab #60: Swap RAID with HDTV Printer Sharing... and more!
Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab For July 3rd, 2006 Direct Links: MP3 Version or AAC Enhanced Version (courtesy of Michael, aka Computernap!). With topics covered including RAID, HDTV, swap files, printer sharing, Acrobat, Safari and more, how could you go wrong? Listen to John and Dave not only answer your questions,…
Just a Thought - A Moment 20 Years P.G. (Post Gates)
"Stephen, I have a message for you from your son, Bill. Would you like me to play it for you?" Stephen Doors inserts his uPad into the receptacle in his apartment’s entry way; the receptacle connects the device to the apartment’s cMac (Centralized Mac) where security is checked and data is synced. The process had…
Duplicate Your iDVD Projects
iDVD makes it amazingly easy to burn your movies to DVD. If you burn one disk, and then later on decide you want to make a couple more, however, you donit have to spend time waiting for iDVD to re-encode your movie. You can save a bunch of time by using Disk Utility instead. Launch…
Apple iPod Factory Would Set Good Example
Apple’s ongoing investigation into “sweatshop” allegations at the Foxconn plants that manufacture iPods is commendable, but building its own factory would remove the potential for poor working conditions. Writing for BusinessWeek Online, Arik Hesseldahl thinks that the best way for Apple to ensure good working conditions is to build its own manufacturing plant in China.…