apple

More divergence or better convergence?

There are many pundits who herald Apple for its "convergence strategy:" iTunes is on more than 300 million computers, Apple TV has been launched, and the iPhone has emerged as the most talked about new consumer electronic device in history and is expected to fuel the launch of more all-in-one gadgets from competing consumer electronic makers. Convergence is -- once again -- all the rage.

But what does convergence exactly mean? Let's try a very simplified overview. First of all, there is the media convergence between the worlds of telecoms, TV, Internet, and computing, including fixed-mobile convergence, … Read more

The future of open source at Apple

Apple has always been an open source-friendly company. In fact, as the company's website declares, it is "the first major computer company to make Open Source development a key part of its ongoing software strategy. From its Safari browser to its exceptional OS X operating system, Apple is open source to its core (pun unintended).

So, yes, Apple incorporates open-source projects into its products (which you can follow here). But its adoption of open source goes far beyond development. Apple is also an aggressive purchaser of open-source software. I'm familiar with several open-source companies that do business with Apple.

So, Apple contributes code and cash to the open-source community. While not transparent in many things (It's a tremendously secretive company), the company (to my biased eye) is clearly one of the "good guys" in open source.

The question I have, however, is what should come next for Apple and open source?… Read more

Fox strikes deal for free shows on iTunes

With NBC and ABC both making free downloads of their shows available this week, Fox jumped on the trend with free downloads of new shows available on iTunes.

The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that Fox and Apple have reached an agreement to offer free downloads of the shows Fox is trying to promote this sweeps season: that is, the ones people aren't watching as much as they'd like. No Simpsons or Family Guy clips are among the five shows currently available for free on the iTunes Store. But episodes of shows sure to be forgotten in the … Read more

Best weekend ever: tons of free TV shows

College football is back, and so is fall television. If you're looking to pick up some free TV shows (legally), the Internet is your friend and is a great place to go for digital versions of TV shows, sans a TV or the need for a VCR or DVR to watch shows when you want to. Note that several of these sites are walking a fine line of what's legal and what's not, which was outlined in yesterday's post about legal suicide for start-ups. We don't condone piracy or encourage it; this guide is for entertainment purposes only.

Free (and paid-for) downloads:

iTunes. iTunes is worth mentioning here because you can often get the first and last episode of any show for free. You can then put it on your iPod, iPhone, or watch it full-screen on your computer. While the iTunes Store is now lacking shows like The Office, because of NBC pulling out of its renewal deal, you can still find shows from ABC, CBS, and Fox--which incidentally is offering free pilots of all of their series, which you can find here (link opens up in iTunes).

Editor's Pick: Kitchen Nightmares--it's like Dinner Impossible, but with more volatility and endive.

Amazon Unbox. While we may not have had the best experience using this service in the past, if you're looking for legal digital copies of NBC's newest shows, you're stuck with Unbox until Hulu launches next month. Like the iTunes Store, you'll find all the big players here, although keep in mind that you can't watch these shows on any portable media players, which makes the $1.99 price tag a little harder to swallow.

Mossberg likes the iPod Touch, at least while it lasts

Apple pulled off a nifty reinvention of the iPod with the iPod Touch, but it better work on improving its battery life in future models, according to gadget guru Walt Mossberg.

The iPod Touch carries over many of the design attributes that Mossberg and others loved about the iPhone, but the personal technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal found a few flaws he felt compelled to point out. Overall, the newest iPod is "elegant and capable," but Mossberg was puzzled by poor battery life.

"For all its beauty and functionality, the Touch has some quirks and … Read more

Samsung's sexy printers offered exclusively through Apple

Remember those sleek, luxe Samsung printers our U.K. counterparts reported on earlier this month? Well, we found out today (via Engadget) that they are being offered exclusively through Apple stores (both retail and online) until January 2008.

The single-function ML-1630 mono laser function is going for $200, while the multifunction SCX-4500 (also mono) costs $300. While the looks of both models are revolutionary (a pretty printer--imagine that!), the specs are pretty standard: 17 pages per minute for both prints and copies; 600x600 dpi prints; USB connection only. We're working on getting review units in, so check back with … Read more

Rumor of the day: New slim MacBooks coming soon

Since we can't seem to go more than 10 minutes without some kind of Apple news, it's not surprising that another round of Mac rumors are making their way across the Interwebs this morning.

According to the Web site 9to5mac.com, which correctly called the new iPod Nano design last month, Apple is planning a new line of super slim laptops, with a sleek aluminum design. They offer the following predictions:

Black aluminum and silver aluminum (like MacBook Pros) Considerably slimmer than current MacBook and even the MacBook Pro The screen reaches much closer to the edges than … Read more

Is Apple losing its polish?

That's the feeling you get while surfing the Web this week. The iPhone price-drop brouhaha was largely stopped in its tracks by Steve Jobs' $100 mea culpa, but a string of successive snafus have cropped up in Apple-land in the weeks thereafter. Digg users are asking, Is Apple giving up on its customers? According to The Consumerist, the answer may well be yes. Meanwhile, iPod enthusiast site iLounge highlights four of the recent sticks in the collective eye of iPod fans--the need to rebuy iPod games for new models, the breaking of backwards compatibility with iPod video accessories, bad … Read more

European regulators on the rampage? Maybe not

Without a doubt, the reverberations of a European court's decision to uphold stiff remedies for Microsoft's anticompetitive behavior were felt in more than one legal office in Silicon Valley. But which ones?

The top three candidates? Intel, Google and Apple. Intel is facing antitrust scrutiny all over the world, and Google is so ubiquitous that it has become a verb. Apple has raised the ire of European regulators for some time with its iTunes/iPod juggernaut.

The Google era is relatively young, and since I don't cover that area, I'm not going to opine on the … Read more

Report: Apple's Steve Jobs subpoenaed in options case

Apple CEO Steve Jobs will have to appear before federal investigators as part of the Securities and Exchange Commission's lawsuit against Nancy Heinen, Apple's former head lawyer, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

In April, the SEC filed suit against Heinen and Fred Anderson, Apple's former CFO, charging them with orchestrating the backdating of stock options at the company. Anderson agreed to settle his suit with the SEC at the time it was filed, but the proceedings are under way against Heinen. Bloomberg's report said that the SEC is not opening an investigation of Jobs with this move, but … Read more