Sometimes I wonder about them. The open source software scene has always been a strange beast by nature. Good of heart and even better of intention, the average computer user doesn’t regard it askance, provided they know what it is, but may not know what to make of it. Here is a community composed of…
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Podcast - Mac Geek Gab #59: Tips and Tricks Galore!
Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab For June 26th, 2006 Direct Links: MP3 Version or AAC Enhanced Version (courtesy of Michael, aka Computernap!). John and Dave take your questions and share *your* hints and tips with the rest of the listening audience this week. With topics ranging from backup tips to permission…
Apple Financials Leave Some in the Dark
Apple always provides information about operating profits based on regions and not products. For products, it only offers total sales data. Operating profit for its retail stores is also broken out as a separate item. Accounting standards indicate that any segment that generates more than ten percent of a companyis revenue, like the iPod, should…
Podcast - Weekly Roundup: Context Explosion
Direct Link: MP3 Version This week it’s Apple and IT, the Torque Game Engine, and violent video game ratings. And a Roundup favorite, Jeff Gamet, returns to the Context Machine to help sort out the smattering of stories. The Weekly Roundup will be included in TMO’s main RSS feed, and also in its own feed…
TMO Quick Tip - Erasing a CD-RW or DVD-RW
Every Mac made today can burn CD and CD-RW (rewritable CDs) discs, and if your Mac has a SuperDrive, you can burn DVD and DVD-RW discs, too. The problem with reusing a rewritable CD or DVD is that Apple didn’t exactly make it easy to figure out. If you want to erase a CD-RW or…
Hidden Dimensions -- Synergy and Serendipity at Apple
"The definition of a civilized computing platform: the time required to learn how to use it is less than the time required to complete a major simulation on it." – Bill Buzbee, Arctic Region Supercomputing Center The BeginningsIt was the summer of 2003, and university staff members in the computer science department at Virginia Polytechnic…
Did Rising Costs Doom Apple's Bangalore Support Center?
The article noted that while Indiais economy is strong, its Sensex benchmark index dropped by 20% over the past month as investors reacted to the news that paychecks jump 13% and 30% for entry-level and management jobs, respectively, between 2000 and 2004. Apple has retained a small sales and marketing staff in the country, however,…
Podcast - Weekly Roundup: Welcome to iPod City
Direct Link: MP3 Version “Knock Knock….Who’s earning 15 cents an hour?” Two emotionally charged stories made this a doozy of week. The ‘net neutrality bill got torpedoed in the House, and iPods are being built in sweatshops. Is it really all that bad? Or is it actually much worse? In this week’s show, TMO’s Dave…
Just a Thought - iPod Killer?
I was chatting with John G., a friend of mine in Louisiana, and he posed a question to me that got me thinking; he said, "Vern, now that we have Intel based Macs where does that leave the CPU upgrade market? Are upgrade makers out in the cold? Will mortgages be missed as the market…
Sofa Control 1.0 Available
Sofa Control is available for download at the CASE Apps Web site, and is priced at US$9.99.
iPod Sewer Durability Test
Spring semester at the Santa Clara University in California left students a little backed up while maintenance crews worked to free an iPod mini that was accidentally flushed down a toilet. Once stuck in the College of Arts and Sciences building plumbing, the diminutive iPod proved next to impossible to extract. According to NBC 11,…
Analyst: Apple Tracking to Sell ~8 Million iPods This Quarter
Mr. Munster noted that Appleis iPod market share in May was 76%, which was flat with April. However, he said: “The iPod number will likely be a nonevent for the June quarter. More importantly, we believe the Mac number has room for upside. We expect new versions of iPod and positive seasonality will be a…
Podcast - Mac Geek Gab #57: One Year Old and Going Strong
Show notes for TMO To Go: Mac Geek Gab For June 13th, 2006 Direct Links: MP3 Version or AAC Enhanced Version (courtesy of Michael, aka Computernap!). One year later, Dave and John are still at it. As has become typical, Dave and John answer your questions about all things Mac and beyond, including topics such…
Analyst: Apple to Enter Cell Market, But Not Today
Appleis entry into the cell phone market will require FCC approval, and Apple would have to file for approval at least three months in advance. To date, no filing has been made. Since the filing is public, the company would likely make a product announcement at the same time as the filing, offering consumers several…
Mac Author Michael Bartosh Dies
The Macintosh community suffered a tragic loss on Sunday with the untimely death of Mac OS X Server expert and author Michael Bartosh. AFP548.com is reporting that he fell from a balcony in Tokyo, Japan, in what police are ruling as an accident. Mr. Bartosh was a former Apple systems engineer, and traveled the world…
Hidden Dimensions -- It's No Game at Apple
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…
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…