Saturday, August 27, 2005
News
Retail Excellence: The Apple Store
The Apple Store is a mecca for design-conscious consumers looking for a little lifestyle with their CE and has a standard for vendor-owned retail locations, perhaps igniting a trend.
When The Music Stops, iPod Owners Sing A Different Tune
The Australian Consumers Association is getting an increasing number of complaints from owners of the portable music players, with problems ranging from cracked screens to poor sound reproduction.
Fasten Your Seatbelt, Connect Your iPod
Apple, Digital Music's Angel, Earns Record Industry's Scorn
Steve Jobs is now griding for a showdown with at least two of the four major record companies over the price of songs on the iTunes service. If he loses, the one-price model that iTunes has adopted — 99 cents to download any song — could be replaced with a more complex structure that prices songs by popularity.
Upping The iPod Accessory Ante
For accessory-happy iPod owners who thought they had everything, there's a new batch of over-the-top add-ons to burn some more money on.
Gates Check Out Jobs In The Library
At least one library has chosen not to abandon the potentially huge Apple audience.
Ants Invade New Zealand By iPod
Mike Shelby: Meet Me On The Ocean Floor
"The Mac provided a much simpler, more integrated way of doing things."
Soho VFX: Far Reaching Effects
Mac OS X running under Shake cinches the integrated workflow. "With Mac OS X, everything integrates and plays very nicely in the same sandbox."
Apple Ensures G4 Supply Won't Dry Up
Apple, which is in the process of switching its Mac line to Intel-based chips, has struck a deal to ensure that it gets what it needs of its existing chips to make it through the transition.
iPod Battery Class-Action Settlement Passes Muster
A San Manteo, Calif. County judge approved the settlement of a previously announced class-action lawsuit that provides owners of older iPods in the United States with some measure of relief if they're having problems related to battery charge capacity.
Opinion
Apple Or PC?
Not only am I realizing that I can live without Windows, I'm realizing that now's the time to do it.
Has Google Peaked?
What if Apple starts loading for free the current operating system version — OS 10.4 — on every new iPod in a version that runs on generic Intel boxes? What if they also make 10.4 a free download through the iTunes Music Store?
Steve Jobs Is The New "The Man" For Indie Music (Apple, iTunes And Music Podcasting)
Why are Apple hiding away the majority of the 'free' music shows, promoting only those that are either part of the Curry stable, or those that are already established radio stations playing the same old music time and time again?
One Man's Trash...
If you needed even more fodder on the differences between Macs and PCs, look no further than two very different public reactions to a pair of hardware giveaways.
Review
It's An Improvement But Apple's New Mouse Still Needs Polishing
There are a couple of blunders that seem to stem from a desire just to be different from other mice.
Apple iSight
The Apple iSight is hands down one of the best webcams we've seen. Its sleek style, great image quality, sensitive microphone, and flawless integration with iChat and iMovie make it the perfect complement for any Mac computer.
Adding A USB-To-Ethernet Adapter To A Mac
Internet Cleanup 3: Security Utility Works Well But Has Interface And Performance Problems
Now, the program suffers from feature-bloat.
Star Wars Battlefront
The wonky cross-platform multiplayer support is the Achilles' Heel in this otherwise terrific Mac conversion.
Sidetrack
Speculation Today: PodShow On Your Google-Powered Mobile Phone?
Dave Winer, Scripting News: Enter Podshow, which gets a sweet deal with Google to provide the first apps and content for their iTunes me-too, all the while in bed with Uncle Steve on iTunes. Instant mini-bubble.
"To create a new standard, it takes something that's not just a little different. It takes something that's really new, and really captures people's imgination. And the Macintosh, of all the machines I've ever seen, is the only one that meets that standard."
Why, Bill Gates, of course. Why else would he ordered his troops to 'Make [Windows] just like a Mac."
And, of course, they are still trying. :-)
