BusinessWeek’s Alex Salkever has turned his attention this week to one of Apple’s suppliers, PortalPlayer. The company supplies the chip that powers both the iPod and the iPod mini. With Apple’s massive iPod success, one could be excused for thinking PortalPlayer, a fabless chip maker, might be doing well, making its impending IPO attractive. According…
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TMO Reports - Apple to Announce Special Edition U2 iPod?
Apple Computer will announce a new special edition U2 iPod promoting the band’s forthcoming album at an invite-only event next week, according to report’s by Think Secret and Forbes magazine. Forbes reporter Matthew Miller reported Monday that sources close to the band have confirmed the U2 edition of the popular digital music player will come…
Gefen Re-Engineers HDTV Switcher, Splitter
Gefen has announced that its HDTV Switcher, 4×1 HDTV Switcher, and HDTV Splitter products have been re-engineered. The company has done so "to address connection issues between new DVD players and set-top boxes with DVI or HDMI ports and HDTV displays with HDMI inputs." In their place, Gefen is announcing the HDMI Switcher, the 4×1…
Jobs House One Step Closer to Moving; Preservationists to Object
After months of wrangling over a 78-year-old, 17,000-square-foot mansion in southern California Apple CEO Steve Jobs doesn’t want, it appears someone is willing to take it off his hands, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Sunday. The paper reports 30 enquiries have been made into the property. Mr. Jobs, who has described the house as “one…
HD Production: 24 Days in the Valley, Part III
24 Days In The Valley: The Life And Times Of An HD Production In South Texas In Part I and II of this series, I introduced readers to the production of Harvest of Redemption, a High-Definition narrative feature I shot in the Texas Valley. In Part III I will cover the technical aspects of the…
Just a Thought - iPod Pretenders
Just in case you somehow missed it; Archos, Virgin, and Dell have announced iPod or iPod mini killers. These are just the latest in a series of iPod wannabe. There are some features in this batch that might catch the attention of a few, but ultimately, I believe these will wind up as the other…
TMO Reports - Earnings Conference Notes: Retail Good; Q1 Outlook Bright
Aside from the main headlines of Apple’s stronger-than-expected earnings, the announcement of six mini retail stores and Hewlett-Packard selling over 100,000 iPods, a number of other important pieces of news came out of the analyst conference call on Wednesday. Here is a short synopsis of other interesting developments: Apple’s total direct revenue through online and…
TMO Reports - G5 Supply Delays Still Affecting iMac, Power Mac Sales
Consumers wanting G5-based Macs may have to wait a while as supplies of G5 processors from IBM continue to fall behind demand. In a conference call with Wall Street analysts, Apple said Wednesday that inventories were getting better, but that it didn’t expect supply to meet demand until sometime this quarter. Apple sold 229,000 iMacs…
HP Sells 121,000 iPods (UPDATED)
HP introduced the Apple iPod by HP in late August, making for approximately one month of real sales, making the results impressive as HP ramped up its distribution during that time. While declining to comment on the details of HPis rollout, Tim Cook, Executive Vice President – Worldwide Sales and Operations, noted that another benefit…
QuickerTek Boosts PowerBook Whip Antenna Signal Strength
The company says the new design of the WhipPro more than doubles signal strength, offering a 5.5dbi gain signal strength for both the Titanium and Aluminum PowerBooks. Users can expect both a gain the wireless range and in the signal-to-noise ratio, the company said. In addition, the new design offers a new attach/removal method to…
MacWireless Releases New Antenna Boosters
Weive been very busy here in the MacWireless offices preparing new products for release, and we are pleased to have arrived at launch-time for a couple of products that we are excited about. If you are looking to expand the existing wireless coverage of your AirPort base station, wireless router or wireless card, the 11g…
Service Pack 1 for Office 2004 Fixes Security, Bug Issues
Microsoft said the update is the largely the result of customer feedback in identifying a variety of problems. “Our customers who use Office for Mac every day are a valuable resource because they put the product to the test in real-life scenarios that expand on our experiences in the lab,” said Scott Erickson, group product…
Computing with Bifocals - Mariner Write: Word Processing for the Rest of Us
I have often said, and will say again, that the Mac version of Microsoft Word is far superior to the PC version of the same application. It is also, in my opinion, superior to AppleWorks as a word processing application. However, that does not mean that I particularly like Microsoft Word. It only takes me…
M-Audio Releases Two New Virtual Instruments: Darbuka and Latigo
M-Audio has released two new virtual instruments for the Mac, Darbuka and Latigo. The two new instrument packages focus on the percussive, with Darbuka specifically aiming for a "Middle Eastern" sound, and Latigo catering to Latin American sounds. Both products were developed by Wizoo, and are being distributed by M-Audio: From M-Audio: Darbuka and Latigo…
Music Labels Pressuring for Common Download Standard, Report Says
Jay Berman, the chairman of global trade body the International Federation of Phonographic Industries, (IFPI) told the paper music labels have come together to put pressure on technology companies to establish a common standard for downloads. He admitted discussions with the IFPI and the Recording Industry Association of America have begun to work towards a…
First Albany Rates AAPL a 'Buy'; Raises Target to US$44 (UPDATED)
First Albany Capital has issued a ‘Buy’ rating for Apple’s stock, raising its target from US$35 to $44, saying the company is likely to report its fiscal fourth quarter earnings per share one cent ahead of the industry concensus of 18 cents. Analyst Joel Wagonfeld told clients in a report obtained by The Mac Observer,…
Australian IT: Windows Desktop Stranglehold Slipping
David Frith has penned an editorial for Australian IT that rounds up all the recent trends away from Windows and towards the Mac. From those trends, he concludes that Windows security issues and the strength of Apple’s iPod has put a chink in the armor of the Windows dominance of the computing world. From the…
Analyst 'Teen Tour' Shows iPod Dominating Music Player Market
Of those surveyed, 16% said they currently owned an iPod product. 25% said they planned on buying one by years end. Of the most wanted Christmas gift this year, an iPod ranked fourth behind clothes, money, and a car. 32% of the polled students were looking to buy a portable digital audio player within 12…
Apple Drops Law Firm as Beatles Lawsuit Drags On, Report Says
T he London Evening Standard reported Tuesday that Apple Computer has dropped the law firm Linklaters in its legal dispute with the Beatlesi record label Apple Corps after the firm reportedly recommended the Mac maker settle for US$36.65 million, far higher than raised Apple wanted. It now appears the dismissal of Linklaters will further delay…
HD Production: 24 Days in the Valley, Part II
24 Days In The Valley: The Life And Times Of An HD Production In South Texas In part I of this series, I introduced you to the set of a narrative feature I shot in the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas called Harvest Of Redemption. It’s rough country that presents plenty of challenges to…
AFS Announces Apple Production Suite Demo Today
Nowhere will you get more "bang for the buck" than with Motion and Appleis new Production Suite. Join Apple Product Manager Sam Loy and the Pro-Tape Systems staff in taking a FREE introductory look at the new Production Suite, which includes Final Cut Pro HD, DVD Studio Pro 3.0 and the all-new Motion software. See…
BusinessWeek Report: "Apple Is Looking Juicier"
Peter Burrows of BusinessWeek reports today that "Apple is looking juicier." According to the article, Apple is poised for growth, the iPod halo-affect is finally kicking in, and the iMac G5 could be a driver for increased market share. These factors could give Apple a significant boost in terms of revenue, profits, and the company’s…
BusinessWeek Digs Into Apple/Beatles Lawsuit
BusinessWeek’s Alex Salkever has dug into the Apple Corps. vs. Apple Computer lawsuit, and his research says that a huge victory and large settlement for The Beatles is unlikely. He bases some of his opinion on language from the two entities’ previous agreement from the early 1990s, and in part on analysis of that language…
TMO Reports - MacWorld Slips in Top Mags List; 2003 Copy Sales Off 17%
MacWorld magazine slipped six spots in Advertising Age magazine’s list of the top 300 U.S. periodicals for 2003 after a 17% dive in copy sales from 2002. MacWorld fell to 180th position from 174th. Rankings are based on the total advertising and circulation gross revenues in 2003. Results were reported in the September 20th edition…