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>> Postings for January 2009

Putting a premium on Apple iPhone games

Sat, 31 Jan 2009

Games for your iPhone and iPod touch remain one of the more popular sections on the App Store, with page upon page of offerings to browse. Since there’s so much heat and light focused on iPhone gaming of late,

it’s little wonder that rumors have spread about a reworked “premium”-priced game site from within the store.

Peter Cohen | Read more...


Will Apple's App Store change the desktop app market?

Fri, 30 Jan 2009

There's no doubt that Apple's iPhone has changed the landscape of the smart phone industry, and indeed the mobile phone business as a whole. But one of the most revolutionary advances that Apple offered up isn't in the iPhone itself: It's the mechanism the company developed to distribute non-Apple applications to iPhone and iPod touch users.

Third-party development for mobile devices and smart phones was already happening well over a decade before the iPhone's mid-2007 launch.

Ryan Faas | Read more...


Copy and paste on (some) Apple iPhones

Thu, 29 Jan 2009

Invariably, when Apple releases a new version of the iPhone’s software, users ask this question: “Is copy and paste finally implemented?” And, just as invariably, the answer is “No.”

As far as Apple is concerned, the answer remains no. But those who’ve jailbroken their iPhones can now reply, “Yes, sort of.”

Christopher Breen | Read more...


Jobs and Gates in the Macintosh Dating Game

Thu, 29 Jan 2009

Sometimes I miss the early days of the personal computer software industry. Don’t get me wrong: I’m pretty happy with the state of computing these days; I’ve got computers that are more powerful than ever running great software that beats the pants off what you could do 25 years ago.

But sometimes it seems to me that the industry has gotten to be a little too…well, industrial. It’s lost a little bit of its charm—its character. I mean, you don’t see shticks like this nowadays.

Dan Moren | Read more...


Does Apple own touch technology?

Thu, 29 Jan 2009

As you've no doubt heard, Apple has won a patent for its coveted multitouch technology on the iPhone and is also in the process of trademarking the term "Multi-Touch."

This has prompted many tech pundits to consider the implications of such a patent for touch products in general.

Ian Paul | Read more...


Offline Gmail is almost like the real thing

Thu, 29 Jan 2009

When Google on Tuesday launched a system for accessing Gmail without a Net connection, the company promised it would act almost exactly like regular Gmail.

From my early testing, it seems like that claim isn't entirely true—in some ways, offline Gmail actually works better than the online version.

Edward N. Albro | Read more...


Apple GarageBand '09 a boon for guitar players

Thu, 29 Jan 2009

I use GarageBand quite a bit, and like most people, I’m drawn to its ease of use. However, until now GarageBand’s guitar rigs were nothing to write home about.

Typically, when I use GarageBand, it’s a recording and organizing tool, not necessarily a guitar tool. I would use AmpliTube, Guitar Rig, or Pod Farm for my guitar modeling and use GarageBand as my sketchpad.

Jim Dalrymple | Read more...


MacHEADS documentary now available for download or rent

Wed, 28 Jan 2009

Did you miss out on the premiere of MacHEADs in San Francisco earlier this month?

Maybe you just love it so much that you have to have it for yourself.

Cyrus Farivar | Read more...


It's Official: Blackberry Storm is no Apple iPhone killer

Wed, 28 Jan 2009

The gales of the Blackberry Storm gales just weren't strong enough to wash away Apple's iPhone success.

Between its average reviews and customer complaints over bugs and OS stability, the Storm seems to have severely underperformed in customer satisfaction.

Daniel Ionescu | Read more...


Apple secures multitouch technology patent

Wed, 28 Jan 2009

We just discussed the saber-rattling from Palm and Apple, but here's another data point to throw into the mix. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office - which we're going to go out on a limb and call a trustworthy source - Apple has been awarded a patent on multitouch technology.

Well, we call it multitouch - they call it "A computer-implemented method for use in conjunction with a computing device with a touch screen display comprises: detecting one or more finger contacts with the touch screen display, applying one or more heuristics to the one or more finger contacts to determine a command for the device, and processing the command."

Dan Moren | Read more...


Apple yanks iMovie 6 download, ends era of appeasement

Wed, 28 Jan 2009

Back in 2007, Apple announced iMovie ’08 would be totally new from the ground up, due to the amazing work of one of the company’s engineers (who we now know was Apple's Chief Architect of Video Applications, Randy Ubillos).

Not everybody was thrilled, though: many users found themselves annoyed at all the features iMovie ’08 lacked compared to its predecessor, iMovie HD 6 (there’s a naming scheme I’m glad Apple deep sixed).

Dan Moren | Read more...


iTunes Plus upgrades go a la carte

Wed, 28 Jan 2009

If you’ve been skipping the daily double-wet-cappuccino in order to save enough money to upgrade your iTunes library to the DRM-free iTunes Plus format, you can put coffee back on the menu.

Apple has dispensed with the iTunes Store all-or-nothing upgrade policy.

Christopher Breen | Read more...


A Mac user's take on the Windows 7 UI

Tue, 27 Jan 2009

After I installed Windows Vista in November 2006, I was perplexed. Why was it suddenly so much harder for me to use my computer? I knew XP cold, and I could use it without thinking. But with Vista, I felt a little lost and began to notice the extra work required to perform tasks that had become second nature.

By hiding various features in an attempt to simplify Vista's interface, Microsoft was in fact adding overhead to my Vista transition, forcing me to learn a new UI.

Galen Gruman | Read more...


How the mighty Microsoft has fallen

Tue, 27 Jan 2009

News that for probably the first time Microsoft would be making significant numbers of its workforce redundant has inevitably been picked up and chewed over widely.

In truth, the net numbers of job losses are low – a couple of thousand, allowing for new intakes. What's really noteworthy is the underlying reason for those losses: that the cracks in the Microsoft empire are finally becoming evident to even the most myopic of observers.

Glyn Moody | Read more...


Palm wants Apple to talk to the hand

Tue, 27 Jan 2009

And it’s time for another round of she-said, he-almost-said-but-actually-nobody’s-quite-sure-what-was-actually-said. The continuing soap opera of the intersection between the worlds of technology and law is seemingly never ending.

In last week’s financial results conference call, Apple COO Tim Cook answered a question from RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky about competitors in the smartphone market such as the T-Mobile G1 and Palm’s new Pre smartphone (introduced by former Apple executive Jon Rubinstein at CES earlier this month).

Dan Moren | Read more...


Changes to low-end MacBook promise more value than ever

Tue, 27 Jan 2009

Last week Apple Apple quietly began selling a refreshed version of its entry-level MacBook with improved graphics. We’re still working on getting a version of this updated MacBook into Macworld Lab for testing and review. But based on the revised specs of the laptop, this model appears to be a solid value for both gamers and Mac users on a budget.

The $999 (£719 at the Apple UK store), MacBook is clad in a white polycarbonate chassis, a throwback to the previous-generation MacBook. It lacks the aluminum-clad “unibody” design of newer MacBooks, but it also is a lot easier on the wallet, priced at $300 less than the 2GHz version of its shinier cousin.

Peter Cohen | Read more...


The Apple MacBook Wheel: The spoof video that just won't die

Mon, 26 Jan 2009

Its been doing the rounds for the last few weeks but for anyone who missed it The Onion’s spot on Apple spoof is worth watching, and for those who have already seen it worth watching again.

For those not familiar with The Onion, the site is devoted to producing fake news, which occasionally, as these things get passed around the Internet, gets mistaken for the real thing.

Macworld Team | Read more...


25 Years of the Mac: Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt

Mon, 26 Jan 2009

We’ve been celebrating the Mac’s anniversary all week long, at Macworld but words alone may not be enough to mark such a momentous occasion. Something like a silver anniversary calls out for a t-shirt.

If that’s your state of mind, anyway, FastMac has you covered.

Philip Michaels | Read more...


Apple's Ive gets Objectified in design documentary

Mon, 26 Jan 2009

Apple’s design facilities are one of those rareified places that the average person has little hope of ever seeing—kind of like Area 51, former Vice President Cheney’s famous “undisclosed location,” or the rolling ice planes of Jupiter’s moon Europa. All rolled into one.

But a new documentary about industrial design, Objectified, gets a peek into the heart of Apple’s success and an interview with the main man himself, Apple SVP for industrial design and pin-up Jonathan Ive.

Peter Cohen | Read more...


Settlement reached over scratched 1G Apple iPod nanos

Sat, 24 Jan 2009

Cast your mind back to the golden yesteryear of 2005. George W. Bush had started his second term; Million Dollar Baby had come away with the Academy Award for Best Picture; and the English cricket team won the Ashes.

Oh, right, and Apple introduced a brand new kind of iPod, the iPod nano, to replace its previous best-selling model, the iPod mini.

Dan Moren | Read more...


BBC's brainless Mac vs PC test

Fri, 23 Jan 2009

What was the point of the BBC asking a Microsoft employee to test a Mac Plus against a modern-day Windows PC?

This rather silly experiment was undertaken by MSN technology editor Jane Douglas as part of the BBC's celebration of the Macintosh computer's 25th anniversary.

Simon Jary | Read more...


Spore: Galactic Adventures expansion announced

Fri, 23 Jan 2009

Spore, Maxis’s ambitious evolution simulator, is getting its first major expansion pack. Like its predecessor, Spore: Galactic Adventures is coming to the Mac and PC, and it'll be released on the same disc.

While the recently released Creepy and Cute booster pack was an aesthetic upgrade focused on the early stages of the game, the Galactic Adventures expansion fundamentally expands the Spore gameplay by opening the epic space stage of the game.

Chris Holt | Read more...


EverSave brings auto-save to all your apps

Thu, 22 Jan 2009

Technology, at its best, helps save us from ourselves. Chances are, if you’re anything like the rest of us, auto-save has saved your bacon (and your files) on more than a few occasions.

The problem, of course, then becomes all those applications that don’t have support for this handy feature—Apple’s own Pages comes to mind, as one of my colleagues recently lost a lengthy article to its nefarious clutches.

Dan Moren | Read more...


Microsoft's SkyBox is company's answer to MobileMe

Thu, 22 Jan 2009

Next month at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Redmond is set to unveil its latest, er, homage to an Apple product: SkyBox.

According to Microsoft watcher NeoWin, Microsoft will soon be announcing the cloud-based data system, which allows for syncing of contacts, calendars, and email between handheld device, computer, and the Internet.

Cyrus Farivar | Read more...


Apple’s quarterly earnings: Apple may stay upbeat and buck the current downward trend

Wed, 21 Jan 2009

Now that we’ve all gotten over being glued to the television/radio/Internet to watch the inauguration, it’s time to move on to the next major event of our times: namely, Apple’s fiscal first quarter financial results.

The numbers for the October-to-December quarter, which encompass the 2008 holiday season, are due to be announced Wednesday afternoon, followed by a 2 p.m. PT conference call in which Apple executives break down the results.

Dan Moren | Read more...


Twitter for the creative Mac user

Tue, 20 Jan 2009

Twitter had a banner year in 2008. Seventy per cent of Twitter’s membership joined last year, at an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 accounts per day.

You may be wondering what all they hype is about. Is it just another chat client? Well, sort of. Twitter refers to itself as a micro-blogging service, where users can type 140 characters or less and have it instantly appear in the Twittosphere for the world—or, more important, for the people who “follow” you on Twitter—to read.

James Dempsey | Read more...


Going Steve-less

Mon, 19 Jan 2009

The news that Steve Jobs is stepping down as Apple CEO, however temporarily, gives an opportunity to think about what life would be like without Jobs.

No Steve in that Los Altos garage in 1976, no Apple computer. Wozniak alone couldn't have pulled it off.

Robert X. Cringely | Read more...


Classic Apple II Games That Inspired Today's Greats

Mon, 19 Jan 2009

It was my birthday, 1984. I'd spent the better part of a month convincing Dad that a new computer would help me. I'd use it for homework. I'd learn how to program. Oh, who was I kidding? I wanted to play games like my neighbour, like I'd been reading about in gaming magazines.

But when I woke up with an Apple IIc sitting next to my bed that fateful morning, I don't think I really knew what was in store.

Darren Gladstone | Read more...


Steve Jobs and Apple: A Reality Check

Sat, 17 Jan 2009

Since Apple announced that Steve Jobs would be taking medical leave until June, I've seen rampant speculation on Steve Jobs' health, and I've seen some wonder if Apple would be able to survive without Jobs.

It's all quite understandable; after all, Steve Jobs is by far the biggest figure in the company.

Nick Mediati | Read more...


Gartner numbers indicate solid Mac sales for Apple

Fri, 16 Jan 2009

It was buried at the bottom of the Computerworld report on fourth-quarter PC sales at Macworld earlier on Friday, but preliminary signs point to Apple having a pretty good end to 2008.

The report, which focuses on a preliminary estimate of fourth-quarter sales by market-research firm Gartner, paints a grim overall picture of the PC market, with year-over-year revenue tumbling from 2007’s numbers and netbooks cannibalizing sales of other machines.

Philip Michaels | Read more...


Toshiba wants Fujitsu's hard drive business

Fri, 16 Jan 2009

According to reports in the Financial Times and elsewhere, Toshiba has made an offer of around $340 million to $450 million to acquire Fujitsu's hard-drive manufacturing division.

Competitor Western Digital was previously said to be interested in acquiring the business.

Cyrus Farivar | Read more...


Strong Apple team can fill in for Jobs

Fri, 16 Jan 2009

The downside of being a company that gets as much press attention as Apple is that it cuts both ways: while even the most minor product release can grab headlines, less positive news gets amplified as well.

So Steve Jobs's announcement on Wednesday that he'd be taking a six month leave of absence for medical reasons has apparently caused more panic and consternation than Godzilla setting foot in Tokyo Bay.

Dan Moren | Read more...


Apple allows third-party web browsers for the iPhone

Thu, 15 Jan 2009

For the most part, I've been pretty satisified with my iPhone's built-in browser. It seems to work generally well, although it lacks the customisation features and options that I've become accustomed to on my MacBook's version of Firefox.

However, MacRumors notes that, starting earlier this week, Apple did an about-face, finally allowing new third-party browsers for the iPhone.

Cyrus Farivar | Read more...


No Jobs, No Apple?

Thu, 15 Jan 2009

It's official: Steve Jobs is stepping down - temporarily - from his post at Apple Computer, taking a medical leave of absence to deal with a health problem that has turned out to be "more complex" than the celebrity CEO had originally disclosed prior to the Macworld Expo event earlier this month.

On a personal level, I can't help but have a great deal of sympathy for Jobs and his family at this undoubtedly difficult time.

Robert Strohmeyer | Read more...


Variable Apple iTunes pricing and the future

Wed, 14 Jan 2009

In September 2005, Steve Jobs said this about the music companies: "If they want to raise the prices, it means that they are getting greedy.... If the price goes up, they (consumers) will go back to piracy and everybody loses...."

This bit of hyperbole came care of negotiations between Apple and the major music labels.

Christopher Breen | Read more...


Dan Lyons' love/hate relationship with Steve Jobs

Wed, 14 Jan 2009

In November 2007, soon after then-Forbes editor Dan Lyons was outed as Fake Steve Jobs, Lyons had some very complimentary things to say about the Apple CEO: "I actually really admire him. I wouldn't want to work for him, I wouldn't want to live next to him, I wouldn't want to be in his family. What he does requires a hardness that I don't think I could have. I feel affectionate toward him."

A lot has changed for Dan Lyons since then. He left Forbes for Newsweek.

Jordan Golson | Read more...


49 US state senators swap Fujitsu Lifebook's for Apple MacBook Air's

Wed, 14 Jan 2009

In another weekend item about politicians getting a Mac, the Omaha World-Herald is reporting that the Nebraska Legislature will soon be acquiring 70 new MacBook Airs.

That'll be one for each of the 49 state senators (Nebraska's state legislature is unicameral) and the rest for staffers and backup machines.

Cyrus Farivar | Read more...


CES 2010 will have an Apple-related area, but what about Apple?

Tue, 13 Jan 2009

One of the more persistent rumours on the Expo show floor this past week - besides the one saying that Jobs would parachute onto the stage during the keynote in order to prove that he’s fit as a fiddle - was that Apple would be ditching Macworld next year for the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which also took place last week.

Adding fuel to that fire comes news from the Consumer Electronics Association, the organization behind CES, that they’re planning an area of the 2010 show focused around “Apple-related CE [consumer electronics] manufacturers.”

Dan Moren | Read more...


Chrome puts a shine on Macs in early 2009

Tue, 13 Jan 2009

I’m sure you’ve all been waiting, hearts in your throats, to find out when Google will bring its fancy new Chrome browser to the Mac. Well that wait - the wait for finding out when the program is coming, not the wait for the browser itself - is over. So, er, I guess you could say the wait for the wait is over?

Last Friday, Google’s Brian Rakowski, who’s the product manager for Chrome, said that the browser, which internally just hit a new major milestone, is due out for Mac and Linux in the first half of this year.

Dan Moren | Read more...


Apple files patent for an iSight behind a display

Tue, 13 Jan 2009

I really don’t think there’s much point in keeping an eye out for Apple’s patent filings, because I’ve never really seen any of them being utilised in actual shipping products (except when you find out about them after they’ve been introduced in a product), but it’s our duty to bring them to your notice when we come across Apple patent filings that pique our interest.

The latest one to do so is a patent filed by Apple in July 2007 that describes a way to integrate an iSight camera actually behind a display, instead of above it, so that you’re looking right into the camera when you're looking at the display.

Aayush Arya | Read more...


Does searching Google damage the environment?

Tue, 13 Jan 2009

Two Google searches produce the same amount of CO2 as bringing water to a boil on your stovetop, according to research from Harvard University.

Google claims that the Harvard study is flawed.

Daniel Ionescu | Read more...


Palm Pre: Press loves it, but what about possible customers?

Tue, 13 Jan 2009

Palm's new handset has been introduced to the world. Though it isn't getting quite as much coverage as the iPhone did when it was introduced two years ago at Macworld, the Pre is getting plenty of attention.

The general consensus among the critics and journalists is positive. Adrian Covert at Gizmodo said the phone is "simply amazing" and "maybe the most important handset to be announced in two years."

Jordan Golson | Read more...


Expo: Have a Ball With I Love Katamari on Your iPhone

Mon, 12 Jan 2009

If you've played any of the Katamari games on consoles or mobile phones, then you'll know what to expect here. The £4.99 I Love Katamari is a bizarre, almost indefinable game where you, as the Prince, appease the King of All Cosmos by rolling a ball around an environment.

This ball sticks to items. It picks up the smallest items in the room until it gets bigger, then picks up medium objects, then large objects, and so on.

Steve Horton | Read more...


Nine Inch Nails and Final Cut Pro: The First Open-Source Band?

Mon, 12 Jan 2009

Throughout his 20+ year career as the man behind industrial-rock act Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor has been no stranger to the ways of Creative Commons and digital distribution. In fact, he's let fans tinker with his musical creations as far back as the 1999 release of his two-disc album, "The Fragile," two years before the sharing and remixing licensing arrangements of the non-profit organisation Creative Commons even existed.

In an era when record labels fight the underground, unpaid spread of music tooth-and-nail, and companies like Apple take six years to strip the Digital Rights Management out of their massive online song stores, Reznor seems to have found a fire in non-traditional distribution arrangements.

David Murphy | Read more...


Expo: iPhone applications not around every corner

Sun, 11 Jan 2009

You may not be able to surf tech blogs without coming across the iPhone applications, but that doesn't mean that it translates into the real world.

In previous years, the show floor of Macworld has been more like iPodworld, with accessories, cases, and speaker systems for the media player around every corner.

Dan Moren | Read more...


Expo: Storage is for the little people

Sat, 10 Jan 2009

One of the more popular booths I visited this week at Macworld Expo belonged to Bone@Fruitshop, a Taiwanese accessories maker. At first, the Bone booth appeared to be selling adorable figurines.

Only an inch or two tall, each figurine is shaped like a cute creature that has been meticulously crafted out of some kind of squishy, durable substance - Pandas, dragons, and penguins smile cherubically at you.

Chris Holt | Read more...


Microsoft says that 77 per cent of Mac users use Office

Fri, 09 Jan 2009

Despite Apple's best efforts to make some inroads in the office software field, a new study by Microsoft says that 77 per cent of Mac users in the US run Microsoft Office (I guess I can at least account for one of those).

Even though Apple does have its own version of word processing suite software - a little thing you may have heard of called iWork - I mainly stick with Word simply because I'm exchanging a lot of files with editors and others and, for better or worse, Word is the industry standard.

Cyrus Farivar | Read more...


Expo: LiveScribe booth is just packed

Fri, 09 Jan 2009

I wouldn't go so far as to call the North Hall at Macworld Expo the Isle of Misfit Toys but it's close. Traditionally Macworld Expo's second show floor (when the show has a second show floor) tends to have some interesting booths intermingled with booths that are...well, not as interesting (I'm being nice here, folks).

As you might expect, the North Hall is a little less crowded and there doesn't tend to be the same large clumps of people trying to squeeze into booths - the Apple booth, by comparison, often looks like some sort of very geeky mass wrestling match.

Scott McNulty | Read more...


Expo: DRM-free announcement is music to consumers' ears

Thu, 08 Jan 2009

Maybe Phil Schiller didn’t introduce a new Mac mini, or the mythical iPhone nano, but for my money the most important announcement of the keynote came shoved in the last ten minutes or so of Tuesday's presentation: the news that Apple had struck a deal with the other three major labels to finally offer—eventually—iTunes’s entire song catalog without Digital Rights Management.

It’s the culmination of something Steve Jobs said that he was setting out to accomplish way back in February of 2007 when he published his open letter, Thoughts on Music.

Dan Moren | Read more...


The history of the Mac, told by those who were there

Thu, 08 Jan 2009

This year’s Macworld Expo is unique in a number of ways—it’s Apple’s last Expo, Steve Jobs didn’t give the keynote, and there are not one but two separate premieres of Macintosh-related feature-length movies.

Monday saw the press screening for Rob Baca and Josh Rizzo’s Welcome to Macintosh, which will be followed by a public screening on Thursday night. (The second premiere is MacHEADS the Movie, which was shown on Wednesday night at Moscone.)

Rob Griffiths | Read more...


Expo: Google wants to charge your iPhone

Thu, 08 Jan 2009

One of the hardest things about having a booth at Macworld Expo is getting people to actually check out your booth. You need to get people in there, and have them stand around for a few minutes so you can leap on them and make sure they will never forget your products. Ever.

Google's solution to that problem is to have an ‘iPhone Charging Station.’

Scott McNulty | Read more...


Expo: Surf across Google Earth

Thu, 08 Jan 2009

If you're at the show, be sure to stop by the Google booth. They have an interesting hack that let's you surf across the world. As you stand and lean on a Wii Fit, you watch as a little truck on the screen slides across the landscape, controlled entirely by your movements.

I know what you're thinking: It's just like being the Silver Surfer.

Derik DeLong | Read more...


Exploded iPhone on a T-shirt

Wed, 07 Jan 2009

While it may be too late to order up this fine set of threads for the Philnote, you probably can still sport it while poking around the rest of Macworld Expo this week.

As the diagram shows, the iPhone is illustrated in fine detail, in a layer-by-layer, exploded view.

Cyrus Farivar | Read more...


The amazing vanishing Mac desktop machine

Wed, 07 Jan 2009

A couple years back, after the introduction of the iPhone at the January 2007 Macworld Expo, I penned a little reaction peace entitled iDisappointed, expressing my dismay at the lack of Mac hardware updates - it is, in fact, called Macworld Expo. (I should also point out that I was also amazingly prescient with that piece, when I wrote “My gut reaction is that Apple has hit a huge home run with the iPhone.” I love it when I luck into being right!)

I learned my lesson that year - don’t expect anything from the keynote, and you won’t be disappointed by whatever you hear.

Rob Griffiths | Read more...


Skype 2.8 beta for Mac released

Wed, 07 Jan 2009

Just in time for Macworld, those ridiculously talented Estonian engineers have come out with the latest version of everyone's favorite Internet phone and video calling software the Skype 2.8 beta.

Among other extras, this new version includes two all-new features: The first lets you use your Skype credit to pay for Boingo Wi-Fi hotspots on a minute-by-minute basis.

Cyrus Farivar | Read more...


iLife '09 Guided Tours

Wed, 07 Jan 2009

Words can only take you so far, dear readers, and Apple knows this. That's why they have posted two video Guided Tours that show off all the new bells and whistles in iPhoto '09 and iMovie '09 (the page is called 'iLife '09 Guided Tours' and only those two apps are showcased, but perhaps more will be added with time.)

The great thing about these guided tours is that they really give you a feel for the new features; after all, if you're planning on plunking down your hard-earned cash you want to make sure it's worth it.

Scott McNulty | Read more...


Macworld Expo Keynote: The recap, in advance

Tue, 06 Jan 2009

(Editor’s Note: Due to the tight deadlines required for publication, Mr. Moltz’s column on the Macworld Expo Keynote was due several days before the event actually took place. Not one to turn down a paycheck, Mr. Moltz agreed to take the assignment anyway, insisting he was “up to the task”.)

Macworld Expo 2009 began under a pall of uncertainty.

John Moltz | Read more...


Software company press release hints at new Apple Mac mini

Tue, 06 Jan 2009

Sure, Apple tries to keep everything hush-hush when it comes to its product launches, but sometimes the best laid plans of mice and Jobs can be interrupted by the smallest of thing: a web-publishing glitch, pictures of new iPhone cases, or the odd, errant press release. Speaking of which:

New Mac Mini Hardware to Be Supported by Revolutionary SeeFile Web Sharing DAM Software

Dan Moren | Read more...


What should Macworld Expo do next?

Tue, 06 Jan 2009

As we reported last week, Macworld Conference & Expo is holding a "town hall meeting" this Wednesday in San Francisco to discuss the future of Macworld Expo in a world where Apple isn't an Expo exhibitor.

Our own Jim Dalrymple will attend the event and report on what happens, and we'll also be in touch with Macworld Expo general manager Paul Kent this week to get more from him on the future of the biggest Apple-related trade show in existence.

Jason Snell | Read more...


Music piracy: Is the RIAA admitting defeat?

Tue, 06 Jan 2009

The RIAA has called off some of its pit bulls, but don't expect a kindler gentler trade org to emerge in 2009.

The Wall Street Journal has confirmed a report that first surfaced on Jon Newton's P2Pnet blog saying the trade group has given walking papers to Media Sentry, one of the firms it hired to infiltrate file-sharing networks and track down music felons.

Robert X. Cringely | Read more...


The finer points of finding free images

Mon, 05 Jan 2009

Free - it's my favourite word. It's probably the most popular word found in advertising to get you to buy something. But has free ever really meant free?

The catch is usually that you have to buy something in order to get something else free. Or maybe you have to agree to give up your personal information, forever dooming you to junk mail, to get that free hotel stay in Vegas.

James Dempsey | Read more...


What Apple Can Teach Nintendo and Sony

Sun, 04 Jan 2009

Nintendo, Sony: Let's talk for a sec - just you and me. Look, guys, over the past couple of years, you've had a great run. Nintendo, your DS has tons of games, a wide variety of unique stuff that's a blast to play.

Sony, your PSP is a gadget-lover's gaming tool, with everything from Skype to Internet-radio support (oh, yeah, and you have some cool games, as well). But unless you both do something in 2009, the iPhone and iPod Touch will soon become the top dogs in handheld gaming.

Darren Gladstone | Read more...


Next from Apple: A large-screen iPod Touch?

Thu, 01 Jan 2009

The latest iPod Touch is a nifty little gizmo that does a lot more than play tunes, but I've always found its 3.5-inch screen too tiny for watching movies or serious Web browsing.

After a few minutes of screen-tapping or finger-dragging to view Web pages designed for larger displays, well, things get tedious in a hurry. And movies? Better bring a magnifying glass.

Jeff Bertolucci | Read more...