This post was updated at 10:45 a.m. PDT with information from court filings.

Psystar, maker of the the Open Computer, has filed for bankruptcy protection.

The papers were filed in a Florida federal court Thursday. Psystar is more than $250,000 in debt, according to the bankruptcy petition, owed mostly to shipping companies, the IRS, and the law firm Carr & Farrell.

In the filing, Psystar pins its financial mess on the poor economy.

"Debtor sales have been greatly affected by the decrease in consumer spending. The financial crisis has also caused creditors to tighten up their … Read more

Update at 8:25 a.m. PDT: Further attribution has been added.

North Carolina officials are pushing to change state tax law in hopes of attracting new companies, specifically Apple, according to an Associated Press report.

The state is pursuing a $1 billion investment from Apple over a nine-year period to build a server farm, the AP said, citing an anonymous state official. However, the law must be changed to give state officials the ability to attract Apple through tax breaks and other incentives.

The tax breaks offered to Apple would be worth an estimated $46 million over the life … Read more

Apple has had a change of heart and decided to allow an iPhone app that offered access to the Kama Sutra.

Apple on Thursday notified the developer that it had rejected the e-book reader app because it deemed the content available on Eucalyptus as "objectionable." As it does with all books available through the app, Eucalyptus downloads a text-only version of the ancient Indian book on sexuality from Project Gutenberg.

The Kama Sutra does not come installed on the app; as with any book title, users must search for the book and download it. The baffling thing in … Read more

It's been a busy 24 hours for Apple and Cartier lawyers.

Luxury watchmaker Cartier on Friday sued Apple for trademark infringement because of a pair of applications available on its App Store. By Saturday, however, Cartier decided to withdraw the suit, The Wall Street Journal reported.

At the heart of Cartier's infringement claim was a pair of apps called Fake Watch and Fake Watch Gold Edition. The apps are made by Digitopolis Game Studio, which interestingly enough, was not named in the lawsuit.

Filed in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the lawsuit claimed the applications give … Read more

Orange, Apple's wireless partner in France, on Friday said it had sold its first million iPhones in that country.

Apple and Orange began selling iPhones in France in late-November 2007. The 1 million iPhone milestone is an important goal for the carrier and Apple's international market, pointing to the success of the device in countries other than the U.S.

In its second fiscal quarter, Apple reported selling 3.79 million iPhones. The company doesn't break out sales by country, so there is no way to tell what percentage were sold in the U.S. or any … Read more

Apple's iPhone app rejection policy continues to mystify.

This time, Apple has rejected Eucalyptus, an e-book reader app that can--after purposely searching for it--access the Kama Sutra. Like it does with all books available through the app, Eucalyptus downloads a text-only version of the ancient Indian book on sexuality from Project Gutenberg.

In a letter to the developer on Thursday, Apple rejected the app because it deems the content available on Eucalyptus as "objectionable."

What's interesting about this case is that the Kama Sutra is available in the iPhone App Store through several other methods. For … Read more

The Consumer Electronics Association, which hosts CES in Las Vegas every year, said Thursday that the trade show will expand its Apple section from 4,000 square feet to 25,000 square feet.

It's called the iLounge Pavilion and will be an exhibition area for products related to the Mac, iPod, and iPhone. This year, for the first time, there will also be a section for applications for use on Apple products.

The original 4,000-square-foot space sold out within days of the announced availability to retailers, developers, and accessory makers looking to exhibit their wares and services, according … Read more

This was originally published at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

Apple is likely to launch a tablet that's similar to the iPod Touch, but larger, in the first half of 2010, marking the company's entry into the Netbook race, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster says.

In a research note Thursday, Munster handicaps the gaps in Apple's product lineup. The gaping hole: there's nothing between the iPod Touch and the MacBook. Enter this iPod Touch on steroids for $500 to $700.

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook called Netbooks junky, but he never dismissed the consumer demand … Read more

Forgive us for repeating rumors, but when you're writing about future Apple products like the next version of the iPhone, rumors are all you have until the thoroughly tight-lipped company officially spills the beans.

Today's rumor--well, actually it's yesterday's rumor--comes courtesy of AppleiPhoneApps.com. Through its very own Deep Throat--aka a source who is "closely connected to Apple's hardware development team"--the Web site posted some details on just what the third-generation iPhone will offer. What's more, it names Friday, July 17, as the release date.

We can't verify anything right now, but some of the predictions make more sense than others. A July 17 release date is very plausible. Both the iPhone Classic and the iPhone 3G went on sale on Fridays (June 29, 2007, and July 11, 2008, respectively). Apple likes to respect tradition.

Here's a list of what the new iPhone could offer, along with my comments. AppleiPhoneApps is also predicting that the $199 and $299 price tags will remain. … Read more