Mac

It took quite awhile, but Apple has finally received a patent on one of the most recognizable features of Mac OS X.

The Dock--the panel that holds launchers for Mac OS X applications--has been deemed patent-worthy by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Apple first applied for the patent in late 1999, and AppleInsider notes the concept itself dates back to Apple CEO Steve Jobs' work at NeXT Computing.

Since there's really not much else to note about this announcement, let's do a quick survey: right Dock? Left Dock? Center Dock? I'm a center Dock … Read more

Claims that Apple's Mac Pros emit benzene are being denied by the company.

A French newspaper called Libération.fr published the results of a study by a researcher at France's INERIS claiming that odors stemming from certain Mac Pros are the result of benzene emissions. Complaints have surfaced in the past about some sort of weird odor coming from Mac Pros, but it was thought the odor was related to small strips of plastic or material around the heatsink on the processor, depending on where you looked.

The study claims that the benzene fumes won't … Read more

Apple's shares fell 17.5 percent in early trading Monday, as two noted brokerage firms scaled back their recommendations to a "hold" from a "buy."

Apple fell as low as $105.77 a share in intraday trading, down substantially from its close of $128.24 on Friday. Apple's shares sold off sharply after Morgan Stanley and RBC Capital Markets downgraded the stock.

Morgan Stanley not only revised its recommendation for the stock, but also lowered its fiscal 2009 earnings estimate to $5.47 a share from $5.91 a share.

In listing its reasons … Read more

The MacBook redesign is just around the corner, and further proof has surfaced that it's going to look a lot like its siblings.

AppleInsider reports that new MacBooks and new MacBook Pros have been spotted by people-in-the-know, and that as expected the new systems will get aluminum-based exteriors similar to the ones found on the MacBook Air and iMac. This will give Apple some consistency across the Mac notebook lineup entering the holiday shopping season; for years, the MacBook has had a distinct look separate from the MacBook Pro.

One interesting part of the report also suggests that Apple … Read more

Apple's picking up notebook market share faster than any of its competitors in its home continent, according to DisplaySearch.

Market research figures released Wednesday have Apple's share of the North American market for notebooks, up from 6.6 percent to 10.6 percent in the second quarter of this year, compared to last year. Every other major notebook maker's market share was either flat or down, compared to the previous year, with market leaders Hewlett-Packard and Dell picking up just 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively, and Acer's share plunging 4.2 percent, including … Read more

With new iPods out of the way, the next priority for Apple is the Mac.

John Gruber at Daring Fireball is reporting that Apple will roll out new MacBooks on October 14, which fits the usual Apple profile of launching new products on a Tuesday. We've expected that new Apple notebooks are coming for some time, with reports of a redesigned exterior for the MacBook to go along with Intel's latest mobile chips.

If that date comes to pass, Apple will have officially missed the back-to-school shopping season, which is generally one of the best-selling quarters for the … Read more

Apple may be thinking about adding new ways to improve the multitouch interface work that is central to the company's plan for the future.

Unwired View unearthed a patent application filed by Apple (thanks, Gizmodo) containing ideas for a user interface system that builds on the multitouch input used on the iPhone by adding technology for voice recognition and even facial recognition.

Wayne Westerman and John Elias, the brains behind a multitouch interface company called Fingerworks, acquired by Apple in 2005, are listed as inventors on the patent application, as they have been for several other multitouch patents coming … Read more

Mac clone maker Psystar officially responded to Apple's copyright infringement lawsuit on Thursday by filing a countersuit that alleges anticompetitive business practices.

As expected, the 54-page complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, charges Apple with restraint of trade, unfair competition, and other violations of antitrust law. Miami-based Psystar, owned by Rudy Pedraza, requests that the court find Apple's end-user license agreements (EULA) void and seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

"The present litigation is more complex than the misinformed and mischaracterized allegations of copyright infringement," attorney Colby Springer, of … Read more

Rumors of Apple working on a touch-screen Mac have been circulating for years, and will only grow with the revelation that the company is hoping to patent similar technology.

A number of Mac sites on Thursday are pointing to a U.S. patent application granted for what would appear to be the mythical Mac tablet. AppleInsider has a description of the device discussed in the application, which appears to bring a lot of the iPhone's multitouch functionality to a slate-like tablet computer.

Given Apple' focus on multitouch user interfaces over the past year, there has been a fair amount … Read more