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Intel also makes other chips. One year ago The Steve admitted to not shipping the Apple PDA. http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=484 More incentive for Intel to make price concessions with that potential chip volume as well.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=951

-- From the Link --

A Two-Button Apple Mouse

In other news, Hell has not frozen over yet, but it very well may.

According to sources who have so far filed accurate reports on Apple's future hardware plans, the company is feverishly working on a two-button wireless optical mouse that it intends to release.

Apple enthusiasts have longed for an Apple-branded two-button mouse for over a decade, but their requests have gone unanswered. So what has changed? According to sources, 'it's the company."

With Apple now profiting from low-priced consumer electronics as it makes a push to reclaim market share from Windows, a two-button mouse is 'almost an essential,' sources said.

It's unclear when the computer maker plans to introduce the mouse. Insiders warned that anticipation may continue to build for months as the company perfects the product.

Apple has just recently reduced the price of its wired mouse to $29 and its wireless optical mouse to $59. The two-button wireless optical mouse would likely debut at the $69 price point once reserved for the company's current wireless mouse.

"Jaws will drop," said one insider.

He will be. He will be.

I purchased a Dell Inspiron 8100 in October of 2001, and its still working for me. Its been nearly 4 years now, and I just had to replace the hard drive because it had started to fail intermittently on me. However, it was reasonably easy to upgrade; probably took me all of 5 minutes - slide the drive bay out, remove four screws and one adapter, add one adapter and five screws, and slide back in.

That's the only bit of hardware that's given me any problems. I don't know if this is unusual or if Desktops are really that much more reliable (well... except I also usually go 4-5 years between desktop upgrades without any issues, so..), but at least in my case things have gone very well.

On the other hand, I have gone through two batteries now, which is more a problem (as I see it) with battery technology (and a somewhat common problem thereof, it seems) more than laptops per se.
Also, my brother got a Dell laptop about a year ago, and first had a power supply issue and now has had part of his keyboard break somehow, such that he can't use about a dozen keys on the left side. Plus, his computer physically seems flimsier than mine. I think Dell has cheapened up in terms of casing; mine feels sturdy to me; his is a bit weak. Thus, I'd suggest, if you do look at a laptop, that you go somewhere where you can play with the computer and feel it. Some are built better than others, certainly.

Don't we all enjoy video on our iPod now*?

Well. Ok. Maybe not. But just wait until tomorrow when the new shiny Intel Inside® videoPods present themselves in the hand of His Steveness.

*Don't buy or sell the so called "videoPod Shuffle" to sight-impaired people on eBay these are not endoresed by Apple.

Or it could be to counter all the upcomming OSX adds.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=478

In 2003, he was california's highest paid CEO, making $75 million because of stock options.

The long lines at the Genius Bar are exactly why Apple recommends a reservation.

Apple is also greatly expanding Genius bars in future store to combat this exact problem.

As for Lies and the Lying Liars that Tell Them, I can only say that either (1) you missunderstood, (2) the sales rep was missinformed, or (3) it is par for the course, just like at other PC retailers.

Apple certainly doesn't intend to pissoff customers. It was Apple's displeasure with the way their products were being sold in retail channels that led them to spend HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS to create a better experience.

If that experience is not to your liking, give them some grace because they have only been doing it for less than two years! Why don't you write a letter to the store manager and let them know instead of lashing out on /.?

Okay, so Apple opening a retail store, even in a country that didn't have one before, it not news to get too excited about.

But it does give us an opportunity to discuss Apple's retail stores and how that are more than just "stores". AppleInsider has a nice piece on the Apple retail stores and it gives insight into how Apple is once again following their "Think Different" mantra. (It also tells us how Apple has over 100 retail stores, plans to open 20 more this year and is opening stores at a rate of one every 10 days.)

For instance, Apple stores feature "Genius Bars" that allow anyone to walk up (or make an appointment) and get technical help with their Mac concern. They can even send a computer out for repair on the spot.

Genius Bars don't float your boat (sure, even Best Buy has a computer service window, though "Genius" may be too strong a title for the staff), then try the instore theaters that host free and for-a-fee software demos and tutorials to help users get the most out of appe like iLife, or delve into Pro products. They also host third party software demos.

This really is the first time that someone can go to a store, buy a computer, and then sit down and learn how the heck to use it. HomeDepot has been doing this sort of thing with weekend project classes with good success and it is nice to see the practice making its way to the IT sector where so many people (who don't know what /. is) feel so very intimidated by technology.

Has anyone brought up the possibilty of this guy being a recently let go Apple employee?

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=924

and

http://news.com.com/Former+exec+sues+Apple+over+di smissal/2100-7341_3-5594797.html?tag=nefd.top

In several recent keynotes Steve Jobs have quoted Nielsen SoundScan as reporting a 70% market share. I can't find continual reports on this anywhere after a few Google searches - however it's repeated in Apple's second fiscal quarter conference call:

"Apple last week passed the 350M threshold for iTunes music downloads. According to a recent Nielsen SoundScan rating, Apple holds 70% of the digital music download market." --AppleInsider article (http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=997, posted April 13th.)

I haven't been able to find any information on whether subscription services are included and how they're doing individually.

If you want to read an Apple rumors site then I suggest you read AppleInsider itself, it happens to be a pretty good one. If that has too much detail for your taste and you want someone to summarize the high points for you then read Mac Rumors. Having this post on apple.slashdot sort of makes it into a poor imitation of Mac Rumors.

Noone should be surprised that after releasing a major new version of the OS Apple would be developing an update that "address[es] 'over three dozen componets, with an emphasis on improving general stability and reliability'. The only useful information summarized for us is that "[t]he patch is listed for a mid to late May release." And that is just a rumor of a projection that could easily change.

Slashdot should be a place where you come and catch links to interesting articles that you would not have found on your own and that reach a certain level of newsworthiness. Like an informative review of a new Apple OS release or an educational story of reverse engineering Mac OS X.

--
I must be old around here...

Expect Tiger 10.4.1 mid- to late-May

No, he didn't hold back the release. Tiger actually went to manufacturing even with a few known bugs in it but they decided to fix them in 10.4.1 rather than hold back the release. I don't think this is a particularly good way to treat your customers either, by the way. (http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=984 - AppleInsider had other articles with more info but they're "removed at the request of Apple Legal".) Steve might have a big ego, but he didn't postpone it.

For fucks sake, is this really so important to be on the front page of Slashdot? I will probably be modded down for this, but anyway...

While Slashdot thinks it is important to post news about Microsoft backing away from a gay bill with a source of from a random blog, there has been GCC 4 released, Apple has been paying tech editors to praise iPod, they managed to put 200 Gbits on a holographic disk and ton more of real news that matters.

Well, Googleing shows nobody seems to be able to make sense of "burn:///", but here's a descriprtion of burnable folders.

new ibooks are also expected to be shipping around the same time, if not a few days later.

The iBook is legendarily unreliable. My friend's iBook (nicknamed "iBork") has had to be sent back to apple for repairs no less than 3 times...

apple faced class action lawsuits over the iBook fiascos.

I'd seriously reconsider recommending an iBook to anyone. Just because it didn't happen to you doesn't mean it won't to the person you recommend it to. And statistically speaking, the ibook is very prone to failure compared to other laptops.

A powerbook is probably ok though.

The iBook is legendarily unreliable. My friend's iBook (nicknamed "iBork") has had to be sent back to apple for repairs no less than 3 times...

apple faced class action lawsuits over the iBook fiascos.

I'd seriously reconsider recommending an iBook to anyone. Just because it didn't happen to you doesn't mean it won't to the person you recommend it to. And statistically speaking, the ibook is very prone to failure compared to other laptops.

A powerbook is probably ok though.

"If it got gold a week ago, why I Apple sitll asking me about bug reports I submitted..."

As a developer, you of course realize they're already working on 10.4.1. Indeed, some claim they're already at build 8A432. (8A428 is gold master.)

If you bothered to go to the AppleInsider link you would have noticed the article was posted:

"Thursday, March 31, 2005"

Never mind April... you're just the vanilla fool.

Apparently yes.

See http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=523

Yes, Apple's Tiger 10.4 will contain Sun's Tiger 1.5.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=523

Sue fan sites

Tried to use the DMCA to remove content from source forge

Promise upgrades but never follow through(ibook,performa)

Use DRM to lock product(itunes) to device(ipod) and threaten to use the DMCA to protect the lock in

Reciever of numerous customer lawsuits from selling used products as new, and to lie about about the battery life on ipods

For a company with only less than 3% market share, they sure seem to get sued a lot for shoddy products or unethical business behavior.

And this post will probably last 5 minutes before apple fanboys troll, or flamebait it even though i just posted facts.

I generally like the Finder -- it seems to require less scrolling than on my windows box. But, if you've got a directory with just a dozen 55 MB slide scans, prepare for it to chew cpu time generating preview icons even after you leave the directory. Annoying on a laptop.

But, the two big things I wish my powerbook had were pageup/down keys (it's the 17" - there's plenty of room!) and a higher resolution screen. Hopefully they'll release a denser screen -- I'll be first in line.

The survey, which polled 400 consumers, found that 19% of PC iPod owners have purchased a Mac in the past year, compared to Wall Street's expectations of 10%. (...) Of the iPod owners polled, 43% said they are considering purchasing a Mac, with 16% saying a Mac would be their first choice.

You're thinking of the Lotus 123 case.

The difference was that Lotus didn't have a patent, they only had copyright, which as you rightly point out doesn't cover look and feel.

This time, though, Apple have a patent for the graphical design which means they may well be able to successfully sue those who copy the look and feel of their interface.

Which IMHO just goes to show how dumb patent law is these days, but hey, everyone's doing it so it might be right. Right? :-(

Be careful about that. Just earlier today I was reading an AppleInsider story about how people are having a lot of problems with the new trackpads on the new Powerbooks.

Incidentally, they're reporting the Tiger launch too, so either they are copying their news from each other, or it's likely true.

Even better. They're including an all new graphing calculator. It's called Graphulator

YESSSS!!!

Jabber offers so much, including:

• Potential for full control of message path using an open and extensible protocol.
• Ability to carry messages over a secure connection (i.e. SSL); this is well supported.
• Flexibility to use different clients and servers, all which interoperate without the worry of a protocol change specifically designed to break 3rd party clients. There is no concept of a 3rd party client.
• Support for cross-communication to those other chat services with those awful EULAs, just as a stop-gap until the world becomes fully enlightened. This does NOT require a multi-protocol client... it is called a "transport", and it lives on a server. One login, full communication... that's easy!

There are a number of freely usable Jabber servers, so you can begin enjoying it right away, without setting up a server yourself. Just because you're using one server doesn't mean you can't talk to users on another. Your Jabber ID is in the form username@server, just like an e-mail address, so this ability is intrinsic to the design of Jabber. This is the beauty of a decentralized model.

An excellent Windows client is Exodus. A popular cross-platform client is Psi (based on Qt). Even the ubiquitous GAIM has support for Jabber. And very soon, iChat in Mac OS X will support Jabber! I've even considered making my own cross-platform Jabber client; isn't it great that we have that option? For more information on Jabber in general, visit jabber.org

The most widely used Jabber server software is jabberd 1.4. It is usable in Linux and Windows. For a concise comparison of open-source servers, click here. For a comprehensive list of Jabber servers (both open and commerial), click here.

NOW HEAR THIS -- Start using Jabber!

Some clarification:

This ruling wasn't on the Think Secret lawsuit, which is a separate but related case. In this case, Apple wants to subpoena two Mac news sites, and the ISP of one of the sites for information to help them track down who leaked the information.

In the Think Secret matter, Apple is suing the actual publisher because the believe that he contributed to the theft of trade secrets because he actively solicits such leaks on his website. Whether Power Page or Apple Insider have similar solicitations, I don't know, but they're not getting sued, they're getting subpoenaed.

[rant]It's becoming typical of slashdot editors to skip over important details and post articles that contain sloppy writing and sloppy thinking.[/rant]

Whether this is leak was harmful to Apple is not as cut-and-dried as you make it out to be. Remember, it's not just the consumer that now has access to this information, but Apple's competitors. I think Apple can fairly make the claim that this is very harmful to their business, though it would be up to a court to decide that matter.

As to Apple going after the publisher or reporter of the story, the freedom of the press issues, and the California shield law, keep in mind that such laws are based on balancing the public interest and the public right to know against private interests, privacy, and trade secrets. Shield laws were to designed to protect whistleblowers. If Apple had been committing accounting fraud, or some such scandalous behavior, and an employee leaked the information to one of these sites, then the California shield law could appropriately be applied.

One last detail. It is possible that the leaker(s) is not an Apple employee, but a consultant or contractor, or an employee of a contractor. I don't know if this matters much to the case at hand, since outsiders granted such information almost always have to sign an NDA as well.

BTW, I'm not picking on you, you just seemed a little unclear on the subject, like many other slashdotters posting here. I chose to reply to your post because you seem reasonable and coherent and I'm a long time (since 1975 at least) Led Zep fan.

I wonder what Steve Jobs is thinking right now, with iChat tying in with AIM. I wonder if iChat users will end up getting a whole slew of weird AIM-based spams and such with it becoming much more open to the world.

What I think is interesting is that apparently the next version of iChat, which will ship with Tiger, will have Jabber capability. What does this mean for the direction of iChat in the future?

Supposedly, Tiger (due out in several months) will take the first steps towards resolution independence. With luck, by the time Tiger's successor comes out, we'll have displays capable of printer-level DPI... or is that too much to hope for?

It's a box that plugs into firewire (aka 1394) and gives you XLR RCA and maybe SPDIF.

http://asteroid.co.uk/ is available too ;-)

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=756

How many iPods do you figure Apple gives to it's administrative assistants?

Actually, Apple supposedly is going to give an iPod Shuffle to every single employee. Apple Store employees get them first -- good advertising.

There have been reports that Apple is moving toward resolution-independent display.

for those that want lots of details through play-by-plays:

http://appleinsider.com/
http://schwarztech.us/keynote.shtml
http://www.macmerc.com/
http://mwsf.macnn.com/

AI's got a nifty pic with jobs holding up the (very small) box...

I'm not sure, I googled this Dmitry guy and he actually has released some solid music software and is apparently fairly well known. He was rumored to be picked up to port WinAmp to the Mac platform in 2001 http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/0101/winamp.s html.

*Shrug* I don't know..

I actually don't buy the idea that Apple is ditching the G4. The new 1.7GHz G4s look very nice and don't confuse anyone by having a higher clock rate than the pro G5 models. G5 laptops are still not viable, especially at lower price points. Even the G5 iMac has to do cooling tricks, while you can stick a 1.7GHz G4 in a Cube enclosure (albeit you need to add a fan).

Arguing that buying a headless Mac secondhand is cheaper and gets you more bang for the buck than buying a $500 pizzabox new is beside the point. A second hand Mac with an old ugly case hardly has the MUST GET value of a new gleaming white $599 box (I'm guessing that this is the pricepoint, not "under $500" -- see AppleInsider)

I doubt Apple's margins on $599 pizza boxes can possibly be lower than their margins on $999 iBooks, and I'm guessing that their margins on a pizza box would be better than those on eMacs. You're assuming the new machine is an eMac without a CRT -- it may be a headless iBook or a new, dramatically simpler and cheaper design (something Apple is very good at). I expect Apple can get a better margin on a $599 computer with no display, no PCI slots, etc. than Dell can on a $499 computer with a display and PCI slots.

Also consider Apple's usual release and pricing strategy -- the $599 item is their "bottom line" to get people to the website or into the store. There'll be a $799 version with more RAM, faster processor, and a deluxe $999 version with a built-in PVR, superdrive, etc. etc. (the best one won't be announced for a month or so, or won't be available immediately, or both, so a whole lot of early adopters will buy BOTH the $799 version and the $999 version).

Apple does this EVERY time it releases a product.

And this wasn't a vague rumor about flash-based iPods that could be the result of anyone's wild conjecture. It was specific information about inputs, outputs, the form factor, the manufacturers, release date, etc. That's the kind of information that can only be known by some one who's worked with Apple and has presumably signed (and violated) an NDA.

Apple really cares about who this vendor is, so at the very least they can stop working with them. The only way to find that information out is to file a law suit and subpoena the rumor sites who published the information.

It's not currently, but according to this rumor site, Tiger (the next version of OS X, due out this summer) will indeed include a graphing calculator app. However, to judge from the screenshots (one, two, three), it looks like utter shit compared to ye olde Graphing Calculator for Mac OS Classic.

It's not currently, but according to this rumor site, Tiger (the next version of OS X, due out this summer) will indeed include a graphing calculator app. However, to judge from the screenshots (one, two, three), it looks like utter shit compared to ye olde Graphing Calculator for Mac OS Classic.

It's not currently, but according to this rumor site, Tiger (the next version of OS X, due out this summer) will indeed include a graphing calculator app. However, to judge from the screenshots (one, two, three), it looks like utter shit compared to ye olde Graphing Calculator for Mac OS Classic.

It's not currently, but according to this rumor site, Tiger (the next version of OS X, due out this summer) will indeed include a graphing calculator app. However, to judge from the screenshots (one, two, three), it looks like utter shit compared to ye olde Graphing Calculator for Mac OS Classic.

it seems that this phone + mp3 player might be the convergence of the "flash based" ipod and the apple/motorola venture. Mac heads gotta have their lifeblood flowing...rumors...mmmm

Apple Insider sees a possible storage increase to 5GB. This will help them fit nicely into the price point niches.

Example

Nice.

Creative is going on an all-out blitz/preemptive strike against Apple, which will immediately become a contender in January for the flash-based player market.

This article provides a little bit more to the discussion:
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=733/

I think this is what will be most interesting, is that you can save your query for use anytime. All of a sudden it becomes easier to mange projects that are constantly being updated.