Apple

Apple has finally rewritten one of the most important applications in Mac OS X in its preferred programming environment, according to a report.

AppleInsider reports that Finder, the ubiquitous file management application in Mac OS X, has been rewritten using Apple's Cocoa development environment in advance of the release of Mac OS X 10.6, otherwise known as Snow Leopard. Finder remained a stubborn holdout tied to the Carbon programming environment as Apple encouraged internal and external developers to switch to Cocoa over the last several years.

Apple hasn't released a ton of formal information about Snow Leopard, … Read more

Apple and Psystar have agreed to pursue a mediated settlement to their legal dispute over Psystar's Open Computers.

The Mac Observer turned up a court filing from earlier this month in the Apple-Psystar case noting that the two parties have agreed to participate in the Alternative Dispute Resolution process. As you may recall, Apple sued Psystar earlier this year for copyright infringement after Psystar began selling low-cost Open Computers with Mac OS X preinstalled. Psystar then countersued Apple on antitrust grounds.

ADR, as it is known, is a way to bypass the costly legal process as well as keep … Read more

Apple said Thursday that it has sold 200 million TV episodes on iTunes. This might sound like a lot, but the money that TV networks see from the deal may still be relatively small.

The company also announced that the download store would offer high-definition TV shows from all four of the major broadcast networks--CBS, Fox, ABC, and NBC--and that it had sold 1 million HDTV episodes since last month.

To put the 200 million number into context, Peter Kafka at Silicon Alley Insider figured it this way: Apple sold the 200 million episodes over three years. If each show … Read more

Could Apple be getting closer to a leadership transition?

That's what Sam Diaz at our sister site ZDNet thinks. In this video, he argues that Apple's decision to have CEO Steve Jobs share the spotlight at Tuesday's notebook event with other executives such as COO Tim Cook and Jony Ive, senior vice president of design, means that the company is trying to showcase those executives ahead of an eventual departure by Jobs, whose health has been the subject of much bottom-feeding speculation this year.

I wasn't at the event, having flown back East to attend the … Read more

Nothing is much of a secret about Apple events these days.

Turns out, a high percentage of the rumors and leaked images of the notebooks announced Tuesday were right on target: The price drop, the aluminum casing across the entire product line, the new unibody construction process, the black bezeled displays were all mentioned on Apple rumor sites and gadget blogs before CEO Steve Jobs took the stage Tuesday.

But, as would be expected, several of the most widely circulated pieces of speculation proved false. In brief comments after his keynote speech, Jobs did something he doesn't usually do, … Read more

Apple touted its new MacBooks unveiled on Tuesday as the "industry's greenest notebooks," and on reduction of toxic chemicals they may be. But environmental groups point to greenhouse gas emissions and recycling as areas where more needs to be done.

The notebooks do seem to lead the industry in the elimination of toxic chemicals by having a Mercury-free LCD display, arsenic-free display glass, Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)-free internal cables and components, and being free of brominated flame retardant (BFR), according to the Apple news release.

"This is greener than what Apple has been putting out," … Read more

If Tuesday's news of new, more-powerful, Mac laptops wasn't enough to stoke the fires of the Apple faithful, I've got even more to offer.

Tuesday afternoon, the producers of the forthcoming film, MacHeads, released a new trailer. The film is scheduled for a fall release. No word yet on how it will be distributed.

The film, as noted here in January, will take a close look at what Wired writer Leander Kahney has termed the "cult of Mac."

The new trailer doesn't shed much more light on the contents of the film, but for … Read more

Apple made a few jabs at Microsoft during Tuesday's notebook event, but if I were a Windows executive today, I'd probably be breathing a sigh of relief.

Although Apple did revamp its entire Mac product line on Tuesday, it didn't hit the $800 price point that the rumor mills had projected.

The new laptops seem nice enough, and they might be enough to keep Apple on a roll, but Apple didn't take the Mac into any new segments of the market.

Clearly fearing that Apple was on the brink of such a price move, Microsoft launched … Read more

CUPERTINO, Calif.--At Apple's headquarters here at 10 a.m. PDT on Tuesday, the company held an event focused on its laptops. A redesigned MacBook and MacBook Pro were announced, as well as upgraded graphics. And as expected, Apple is releasing its first sub-$1,000 notebook. Here is how it all unfolded.

9:57 a.m.: We're here, and the event should start momentarily.

10 a.m.: Steve Jobs enters, wearing the standard outfit. He says he's going to cover the "State of the Mac." Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook takes the stage to … Read more