The Apple Group

So the new MacBooks lack a FireWire port. The MacBook Pros still have them, but for those of us in Ed Tech (including college students) who will probably be looking at the mainstream MacBooks, is this a big deal?

We've had one of the new MacBooks for 24 hours and have discovered some interesting secrets hiding within...

Apple made its latest big move into new territories last year with the launch of the now ubiquitous iPhone, expanding beyond the desktop and into the choppy waters of mobile. What ought to be Apple's next leap of faith? Here are a few ideas for where Apple should go next.

I've found a very interesting post that unveils how to create free ringtones on iPhone via iTunes 8. The writer even said that "iPhone ringtones were never easier (or free-er) to create".

Periscope is the next generation of web cam software that lets you use your iSight to capture activity in front of your Mac's camera and then save or share that image simply and automatically. Within seconds, you can configure Periscope to monitor a room for motion, sound or on a timer. Periscope will send real-time images to your e-mail, .Mac web page, or FTP site, and can upload to Flickr!

I'm sure that everyone are wondering, which one is better, the brand new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic or the famous Apple iPhone? Well, I have found an interesting post that compare both of the phones from various point of view such as from the camera, battery, display, price, etc.

News about the Blackberry Storm (also known as the Blackberry Thunder) have been around for quite some time now, and the latest news will make all of iPhone users bite their fingers. Yes, the Storm will support a cut, copy and paste functionality!

The solution to many of Apple's potential problems, the public relations disaster of indentured Chinese laborers, the threat of a disrupted delivery supply line*, and the ability of Apple to make inexpensive consumer electronics, reminiscent of Sony's heyday, well into the future is, you guessed, it, to build their own completely automated, computerized plant that can assemble these products without a human hand ever touching them. Such a plant, run by robots and Macs, would be expensive to build. In the long run, however, the economic and political advantages of such a plant would be enormous. Apple would stop sending money to China and suffering from continuing scrutiny over labor conditions in a foreign country. The plant would become a poster child for modern, 21st century manufacturing. Imagine Steve Jobs taking the next president of the United States on a tour of a plant that makes its own electricity, cleans its own water and cranks out millions of iPods and iPhones each month. And sends power back into the grid on occasion to power our plug-in hybrids.

Like an overinflated pilates ball, Apple's long-standing culture of secrecy has sprung a few leaks. The tight-lipped corporate giant recently made a move toward transparency when it lifted its iPhone non-disclosure agreement. The unpopular policy prohibited iPhone application developers from discussing their coding techniques. Lifting the NDA may hurt Apple by exposing the inner workings of the iPhone to competitors like Google and Nokia. But increasingly open competitors and disgruntled developers may have forced Apple's hand.

"A PC is not a stereotype. And neither are you. If you're a PC, you belong to a community of more than a billion individuals, working, playing, and connecting. Doing their own thing. If you're a PC, we want to celebrate you. So stand up." - Microsoft, "A PC is Not a Steroetype" The irony is enough to make your head explode. The latest evolution of Microsoft's new ad campaign-the one designed to seize back control of the Windows PC image that Apple has so mercilessly tarred and feathered-wasn't even made on a PC. It was made on a Mac. Metadata in the images of the stereotyped PC user featured on Microsoft's "I'm a PC" site reveal that they were produced using Macs running Adobe Creative Suite 3, not PCs running Microsoft Expression Studio software. My God. This is how Microsoft and its ad agency hope to turn Apple's disparagement to their advantage?

There are two common methods for running Microsoft Windows and Windows programs on an Apple Macintosh, and one of those methods just got better and easier.

Do you have an old portable hard drive or flash drive lying around? Why not turn it into the ultimate Macintosh diagnostic, repair, and maintenance tool? With TechTool Protogo it's easy. Protogo allows you to quickly create a bootable diagnostic device that contains Micromat's most powerful tools as well as any of your own utilities you may wish to install. You can then use this device to boot, check, maintain, and repair Macintosh computers as needed. Like our award-winning product, TechTool Protege, you will have a device that allows you to carry all the tools you'll need in your shirt pocket. But unlike Protege, you'll have plenty of space left over for a multitude of additional utilities as well as ample drive space when you need to recover data.

We don't often cover apps for jailbroken iPhones, but the topic of using a 3G phone as a WiFi hotspot to share the connection is one we've shared before. Apps like WMWiFiRouter and JoikuSpot cover this function on Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 devices, but what about that snazzy iPhone 3G? Well, an old name has a new solution. I'm talking about PdaNet, an application I used to tether my XV6700 to a Toshiba M205 Tablet PC back in 2004.

I have a joke for you: how are iPhone applications and rap artists Salt-n-Pepa different? Answer: Salt-n-Pepa may be able to "Push It," but iPhone applications can't, thanks to Apple's decision to leave push notifications out of the iPhone 2.1 release. Originally, senior vice president of iPhone software Scott Forstall said that the feature would be done by September, but now that it's October, publications like Macworld are reminding Apple that it has missed the target date.

Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X market share has passed the 8% mark for the first time, a research company reported today. In September, Apple's operating system ran on 8.2% of the computers that accessed the 40,000 sites monitored by Net Applications for clients, the company's data showed. The Mac's share of the operating system market was up over August's by nearly four-tenths of a percentage point, the biggest one-month gain since May. Apple tends to post significant increases in September, according to Net Applications. Last year, for example, Mac OS X climbed by 0.45 points that month

This software is completely free, and it allows you to transfer almost any video file into an MP4 format that the iPhone will be able to recognize and play.

iPhone users shouldn't get their hopes up if they want to view television on the iPhone - or any video that doesn't come directly from iTunes, for that matter. In its zeal to maintain control over the user experience, is Apple denying its users a better experience?

The latest Net Applications survey, which gathers browser data from "site visitors to our exclusive on-demand network of live stats customers," shows steady increases in those using Mac OS X to access websites in September versus a steady decline in users using Windows operating systems. Though the survey claims to reflect market share, which is normally measured in unit sales, it does use a consistent method to examine trends in user share.

It looks like AT&T was initially planning to launch the BlackBerry Bold before November, but, as evidenced by launch parties running all the way to the end of the month, they've obviously pushed things back a bit. An internal letter advising employees about rescheduling training said "at this time we don't have clarity on the status of all features".