News

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…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

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;…

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…

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…

"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…

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…

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…

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…

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.…

"Customers set up a hierarchy of values, wants, and needs based on empirical data, opinions, word-of-mouth references, and previous experiences with products and services. They use that information to make purchasing decisions." — Regis McKenna When I was selling Apple products to the Federal Government, I reaffirmed that it’s often difficult to get beyond the…