apple

In a crazy world, Apple would announce a "we-are-so-sorry" iPhone swap today: All first generation iPhone owners and all new iPhone 3G owners would be given a new free iPhone Plutonium, which, of course, has endless battery life. Perhaps this massive reset could be founded by the liquidation of Halliburton or perhaps as part of a massive government effort to promote consumer-spending, oh wait, that was Fannie May and Freddie Mac....

Stranger things have happened. What's the line? We can only hope for change?

But seriously folks, the biggest complaint I've seen (and experienced) is dismal … Read more

As Tuesday's Apple event gets under way and journalists from all over the world are waiting with bated breath to see what Steve Jobs has to say, it's abundantly clear that the vast majority of people going and those who read the news, will be disappointed.

No, it's not because Apple will waste time or that all those people are Windows fanboys and want nothing to do with Apple. Instead, it's because Apple, unlike every other company in the technology industry, has created such a hype machine that unless it offers something major like a touch-screen Mac or a new iPhone, it'll disappoint even the most giddy fanboy.

See, the problem with Apple's success is that it's expected to keep up with it. How many times has the company announced a press event, carted Jobs onstage, who then announced a few minor upgrades, only to see less than shining press opinions later on because it wasn't "newsworthy" enough? Probably more times than we can count.… Read more

Smartphone sales slowed a bit in the second quarter amid a weak global economy, but Gartner thinks that's about to change.

The worldwide market for smartphones grew 15.7 percent in the second quarter, as vendors shipped a total of 32.2 million devices. That's pretty solid, but earlier this year the market was growing at a 60 percent clip. Blame a slowing economy around the world and the development of more sophisticated "enhanced phones" running Java or Qualcomm's BREW rather than true smartphone operating systems like Symbian, Windows Mobile, or Apple's OS X, … Read more

Google's share price took a beating Monday, pushing it down nearly 5.5 percent despite a sudden lift in the broader markets as the government stepped in to bail out mortgage lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Google, which enjoyed a long run as an Internet darling with a soaring share price following its IPO, has lost 17.6 percent of its value since mid-August, with nearly a third of that loss occurring Monday.

Google closed the regular trading session down 5.47 percent to $419.95 a share. Earlier in the day, the Internet giant's share price … Read more

Microsoft had a couple of announcements Monday morning--one planned, the other not so much (or so we've been led to believe.)...While the trustbusters at the U.S. Department of Justice pore over the proposed Google-Yahoo ad partnership, a coalition of companies says that the combination would be bad news for everyone else...It's not exactly Facebook or MySpace but an upcoming social network has been designed for U.S. intelligence agents.

Today's stories:

Google upgrades Gmail for IE 6 users

Ad trade group opposes Yahoo-Google search deal

Creating a 'Facebook for spies' … Read more

I talked about the Microsoft fanboy last week, so it's only fair I discuss the Apple fanboy today.

And as always, drop me a line or follow me on Twitter!

Start those finger-stretching exercises now to stay on top of Apple's iPod event Tuesday with our live blog.

Apple is planning one of its trademark special events for Tuesday, starting at 10 a.m. PDT. I'll be inside the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco--home to Apple's 2006 iPod event--live-blogging the action with a host of other CNET folks.

Make sure to follow the action here on our One More Thing live blog, and come back to CNET News later in the day for video and detailed photos of what we expect will be … Read more

The evil power of Dr. M is even greater than we thought...strong enough, in fact, to tarnish the shining reputation of the long-awaited Spore. Also in the news today, DVD ripping goes legit, a little too late, thanks to RealDVD, but we determine it's probably not worth getting sued over. And we put gurus against geniuses in a battle to the tech support death. Listen now: Download today's podcast

Happy Birthday Google - 10 http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=9930 http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008-09-06-google-ten-years_N.htm

DVD ripping goes legit with RealDVD … Read more

The first smattering of user reactions to RealNetworks' RealDVD software--which allows users to legally rip DVD movies to their PC hard drives--is less than enthusiastic, to say the least. The most telling comment: "Lack of mobile device support is the killer for me." Indeed, Real's product lets you move ripped movies between a total of five licensed PCs, but that assumes they're on a USB hard drive or some sort of flash media--thus far, there's no provision for network streaming, and no support for transferring the movies to portable devices."

Of course, when people say "portable media players," it's pretty much a synonym for "iPod." And while we could imagine Real eventually cutting deals to have devices that are compatible with its proprietary RealDVD format, it's a safe bet that Apple won't be among the partners. But the whole existence of RealDVD raises another question: if Real can release software that makes it quick, easy, and legal for users to rip their DVDs to their PC hard drive, why can't Apple? … Read more