apple

Comparing Apple to Microsoft in PR

Dan Lyons utters an uncomfortable truth today: We'd never let Microsoft get away with the PR smoke and mirrors that Apple regularly offers. I'm a near-religious Apple fan, but it's absolutely true that we give Apple a free pass on just about everything.

He's referring, of course, to the way Steve Jobs treated a New York Times reporter (called him, insulted him, and then said he'd give him information but only off the record). If Ballmer did that same thing, and if Microsoft sheltered Ballmer the way Apple shelters Jobs, the media would freak, as … Read more

Five ways to make digital music sing

Neil Young says the tech industry doesn't care as much about music quality as it should.

Perhaps that's because the average iPod-toting iTunes customer doesn't give a second thought to whether the digital file of the latest single they just bought is uncompressed or lossless.

Young told a bunch of tech luminaries gathered for an industry conference as much on Wednesday: "People's understanding has been skewed by MP3s and convenience. It's important to get music out there...but not at the expense of quality."

He's not the only one who feels that … Read more

FSF launches a denial-of-service attack on Apple's Genius Bars

At OSCON this year, MySQL's Brian Aker made this bold statement:

Microsoft is irrelevant....We're more worried about Apple.

Perhaps he was taking a cue from MySQL's Zack Urlocker, who has been buying Macs for family members, but I understand the sentiment. Microsoft still dominates the desktop, but the momentum is Apple's.

Perhaps this is why the Free Software Foundation, which wants to protect everyone's freedom (except, oddly, on the web), has gone on another Quixotic campaign to save the world from Apple's DRM (Digital Rights Management) by clogging its Genius Bars with freedom-loving developers asking questions about freedom and then logging Apple's non-free responses.

Here's how it works:… Read more

iPhone 3G battery results: Music and video

Our CNET Labs team has unveiled their battery performance results for music and video playback on the iPhone 3G. We've completed talk time testing and we'll be doing another round of audio and video tests with 3G disabled--but at least we have another piece of the puzzle to add to our review.

To give the test results some context, we also retested the first-generation iPhone, and simultaneously tested a comparable 3G multimedia phone, the Samsung Instinct. Apple's public tech specs claim the iPhone 3G is capable of up to 7 hours of video playback and 24 hours … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 774: The feel-good episode of the year

That's sarcasm, I'm afraid. Lots of bad news today, including the tragic end to the Spam King escape story, the cell-phones-and-cancer debate makes a resurgence with some serious recommendations for careful use, and AOL starts up a fire sale. In good news, though, a new iPhone firmware upgrade is on deck, and it may bring turn-by-turn GPS AND copy and paste. But you know, don't get your hopes up. Have a great weekend! Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 774

Escaped ’spam king’ allegedly kills self, family http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-9999451-83.html

Cancer doc urges … Read more

How news gets made (Or, Dan Lyons on Valleywag on Steve Jobs)

I like Dan Lyons' blog much more now than when he was writing as Fake Steve Jobs. Same bite and same insight without the noise.

Take, for example, a post today on Valleywag's complaint about how Apple PR is managing information relative to Steve Jobs' health. I made an unfortunate decision to post on the subject earlier, got swatted by Tom Krazit, and now am following it from the sidelines.

Those sidelines, incidentally, are fascinating, as Dan's post suggests. Dan is a veteran news reporter and talks through how the Jobs story is playing out, by whom, and … Read more

iPhone OS 2.1 might be coming soon

A new firmware update for Apple's iPhone 3G is said to include improvements for its GPS functions, but it's not clear whether that software will do anything to correct the iPhone's reception issues.

GearLive reported Thursday that Apple has provided a beta version of the firmware, which is being called iPhone OS 2.1 beta 1, to developers in its program. The new software is said to provide additional features for developers who want to use the iPhone's built-in GPS chip.

If that's the case, it would alleviate some of the concerns raised by David Pogue … Read more

Why Apple needs an heir apparent

Earlier this week, Apple started a firestorm by telling its shareholders that Steve Jobs' health is a private matter. I argued both here on The Digital Home and on CNBC's Closing Bell, that Steve Jobs' health does matter and with no heir apparent in sight, how can shareholders feel secure in their investment?

I won't rehash the argument here, but it does beg one question: where is that heir apparent and who is he or she?

Apple, unlike almost every other company in technology space is so tied to its CEO that whenever he appears on TV or says anything of substance, it becomes a major media event and has an impact on the company's stock price. Beyond that, I would argue that there hasn't been one CEO currently sitting atop a company that has had the kind of impact Steve Jobs has had.

Think of it this way: before he was ousted, Jobs was the most important element in Apple's strategy. Sure, he made mistakes and the company suffered, but his tenacity was what kept that company going.

After this ouster, Jobs watched on the sidelines as his company fell into a malaise. The company's executives presided over an extreme degradation in the Apple product and practically everyone was wondering how long it would last.

And then, Steve Jobs came back and, well, saved the day. He presided over the greatest gain in shareholder value the company had ever seen and restored his company to the position of one of the most feared, yet popular brands in the business. Along the way, he made countless investors multimillionaires.… Read more

Interesting insights from MobileBeat 2008

On Thursday, I attended MobileBeat 2008, a new conference here in Silicon Valley focused primarily on cell phones broad enough to encompass closely related gizmos like Apple's iPod Touch and--at least in theory--mobile Internet devices.

The event was hosted by VentureBeat, where a great many blog posts can be found that go through all the sessions and significant announcements from the conference. (My thanks to VentureBeat writer Dean Takahashi, who invited me to the conference.)

If wishes were horses.

It's shoot for the moon daze, people! Following up on Al Gore's challenge to convert all electricity production to wind, solar and recumbent bike power in the next 10 years, two other probably even less likely to be accomplished challenges were raised.

First, TechCrunch wants users to build them a dead-simple web tablet for $200. There's that can-get-other-people-to-do-it spirit that made this country great! Make sure you get a tetanus shot before taking those test models for a spin! Some of those edges might be sharp.

Now one of the founders of Ubuntu maker Canonical, Mark Shuttleworth, … Read more