longofest

Time has selected Apple's MacBook as its "Gadget of the Week." The MacBook is a powerful and affordable option, especially for people who are uncertain about their Windows future. The next version, Vista, might be a success, but with a MacBook you can hedge your bet. You get a computer that runs both Mac OS X and Windows XP today, and even appears to meet the minimum requirements for Vista once...

In what can only be described as a stunning development, undergrad students have rated Apple's iPod as the most "in" thing (according to a Student Monitor study reported by the AP), eclipsing beer for only the second time in the study's 18 year history. 73% of the students surveyed rated the iPod as "in", while beer and social networking website Facebook.com garnered second place with 71%....

Norwegian consumer advocacy group The Consumer Council has announced that the Consumer Ombudsman (CO) in Norway (an independent Norwegian administrative body tasked with enforcing the Marketing Control Act and supervising consumer issues) has given its support to many of the complaints that were brought in the Consumer Council's January 25th complaint against Apple's Norwegian iTunes Music Store. ...

An in-depth report by AppleInsider is shedding more light onto the recent appearance of Apple's full line of Macs at select southern California Best Buy stores. Contrary to the initial report by ZDNet which was based off of statements by analyst Samir Bhavnani, the current program is only a seven-store pilot. However, Best Buy has indicated that it is prepared to scale the Mac pilot program...

Historically unreliable DigiTimes is claiming that their industry sources indicate Apple is once again securing large orders of NAND Flash memory. The most likely use of this stockpile would be for the upcoming Nano revision which should top-out at 8 GB. Apple made similar stockpile arrangements before the original Nano launch, and with rumors floating about a higher-capacity and redesigned...

The BBC is reporting that an influential group of MPs in the UK Parliament is seeking to place a warning label on devices that contain DRM technology that would spell out how easy it is to move content from one gadget to another. Also being called for is an inquiry into online music store pricing. While this appears to a first for requiring warning labels for DRM-enabled media players,...

MacRumors has received word that Apple will be starting its Back-To-School promotion early this year. The promotion, which usually begins early-July, is rumored to offer a $179.00 rebate when students or teachers purchase a qualifying Mac and iPod. This would allow educational buyers to get a 2 GB Nano for free using educational pricing, or apply the discount on higher-priced iPods. This...

Several readers have pointed out that analyst Peter Misek has commented that Research In Motion (makers of the Blackberry) and Apple may partner to make an iTunes-compatible Blackberry. Misek has previously accurately predicted a partnership between RIM and Intel. The globeandmail.com reports the following: Such a deal would have huge merit because each company lacks what the other provides. RIM ...

According to the IndiaTimes, Apple is deciding against placing its previously reported foreign support center in India. At a meeting on May 29, Apple announced its decision to lay off all its [Indian support] employees. Apple officials told them that "the company is reevaluating its operations and has thought of pulling back its Indian operations". Apple is giving these employees a severance...

A new Gartner report (reported by AppleInsider) notes that despite increased sales, the Mac has yet to gain a market share increase. The report, however, partially conflicts with a previous ZDNet report based on preliminary Gartner data. U.S. Mac Market Share 1Q 2005: 3.8% 4Q 2005 (AI): 3.5% 1Q 2006 (ZDNet): 3.5% 1Q 2006 (AI): 3.6% Worldwide Mac Market Share 1Q 2005: 2.2% 1Q 2006...

ZDNet is reporting that Best Buy retail stores are beginning to stock and promote other Intel-based Macs in addition to already-stocked Mac Minis and iPods. Best Buy, North America's largest consumer electronics retailer, and Apple are flogging the new MacBook units, as well as the MacBook Pro, Mac Mini and iMac systems, according to Samir Bhavnani, an analyst with Current Analysis. The Mac maker...

Appleinsider is reporting that developers were seeded an updated version of Mac OS 10.4.7 late last week. All major issues with the previous build appear to have been resolved, which indicate a release may be imminent. Mac OS 10.4.7 will be the minor OS update by Apple and is expected to deliver bug fixes and enhancements to Mail, Safari, Aperture, Syncing and iChat. The current version,...

Parallels has released Release Cantidate 2 of its virtualization software, Parallels Desktop. Among the new features and improvements introduced in this version is a technology called Compressor, which shrinks a guest OS's hard disk image to up to 50% of its original size. The added features of Compressor brings added price, however. The final version will cost US $79, $30 more than the...

DailyTech has updated its roadmap for Intel processors, giving a clue as to what can be seen in future Macs. At launch in August, Intel's Merom mobile CPU will come in ranging from 1.66 to 2.33 Ghz, and ranging in price from $209 to $637 which is comparable to Intel's current lineup's initial price points. While initial Merom CPU's will use 667 Mhz Front Side Busses that exist today, a Q2...

According to Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Craig Berger (reported by EE Times), Apple's next-generation iPod Shuffle will use a SigmaTel media processor chip rather than the previously rumored (also by EE Times) Samsung-Apple "PortalPlayer-killer" chip. Samsung and PortalPlayer were among other competitors for the contract, and according to the analyst, Samsung may have originally won the...

While not immediately Mac-related, many readers may be interested in the status of recent legislation regarding "Network Neutrality." In brief, Network Neutrality is the concept that networks should be "dumb" and treat each type of data traveling over it equally. This is in contrast to an intelligent network where the network knows what kind of data is flowing over it (i.e. peer-to-peer,...

The mac web has taken note of an observant MacBook owner who found at least part of the reason why his MacBook was running so hot. Apparently, some MacBooks are shipping with the rear vent (between the base and the screen hinge) blocked by a piece of plastic. Removing the plastic allowed air to circulate correctly and lowered operating temperatures dramatically. While some users report...

According to this Intel workstation marketing pamphlet (pdf), Intel's new workstation platform will support Fully Buffered DIMM system memory technology (FBDIMM). FBDIMM technology allows for greater memory capacity and higher bandwidth due to the addition of an Advanced Memory Buffer (AMB) on each DIMM board. Throughput is theoretically increased 300% from previous-generation DDR2-400...

ArsTechnica provides a summary of some recent pre-release benchmarks of Intel's upcoming Woodcrest chip, and reports that gains of 15-40% are typical over Intel's latest Xeon-class chip (code-named Dempsey). Woodcrest represents the top of Intel's upcoming Core 2 lineup and is targeted at "server and workstation" markets. Most speculation has centered around Apple using Intel's Conroe Core 2...

A recent Piper Jaffray report reported by Forbes.com claims that Apple may ship 8 million iPods this quarter, down from Wallstreet expectations of 8.6 million units. The analyst arrived at his new 8-million figure by looking at the typical percentage of iPods shipped in past June quarters and measuring the sequential and year-over-year growth rates. He then averaged the two estimates from his...