Mac

Two decades and four U.S. presidents ago, Apple vs. Microsoft was worth watching. Since then it's been a snooze.

That's about to change.

This fall consumers will be able to choose from the widest-yet assortment of smartphone and tablet devices because Microsoft, a company that has been an also-ran in mobile computing for too long, has picked itself off the mat.

In a Lazarus-like revival, Microsoft is winning acclaim for its latest mobile operating systems for tablets and smartphones. No. 1 Apple is not sweating any of this now as it preps for the presumed iPhone 5 … Read more

When it comes to long, strange trips, trust the signature line from the pen of the late, great Jerry Garcia to explain the volatility in Apple's stock price these last few months.

Shares of Apple touched $674.88 earlier this morning (the company became the most valuable ever yesterday, when it reached more than $622 billion in market capitalization). But they reversed course and by early afternoon the stock was way down. How to explain the about-face? Take your pick: Profit taking most likely, though with the jury about to deliberate the Apple-Samsung patent litigation lawsuit some investors might … Read more

Less than one month ago, shares of Apple plunged after the company's third-quarter earnings "disappointed" the bean counters on Wall Street. Less than a month later, shares of Apple are up more than 12 percent and are again trading at an all-time high. In fact, earlier today, Jefferies & Co. raised its price target from $800 to $900, as Apple's valuation now tops $600 billion.

If you want to understand why, cue up the 1960s' hit by The Happenings, "See You in September."

That's when the iPhone 5, the biggest, worst-kept secret in … Read more

Some owners of Apple's new Retina MacBook Pro are finding that instead of a smooth interaction with the OS X interface, the systems display relatively choppy behavior and may be slow to respond with moving windows, scrolling, and using Expose among other similar tasks. This problem seems to happen primarily when using Safari, Mail, and Mission Control features, but it also occurs in other programs.

Since the debut of the Retina MacBook Pro there has been some discussion over whether the system's hardware is capable of handling the computational throughput required by the Retina Display. In a recent … Read more

Mac-centric peripheral and upgrade supplier Other World Computing has released new solid-state drive upgrade options for Apple's latest MacBook models. These upgrades allow you more flexibility in the configuration options for your MacBook system over the CTO options that Apple has supplied through its online store, especially for early adopters of the systems.

Apple's latest MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with Retina Display systems have all been crammed with more features in smaller chassis designs, which has resulted in Apple shying away from industry-standard form factors for components to more proprietary designs that it can morph around the … Read more

The Apple-Samsung courtroom tussle is just the latest in a long line of legal battles for Apple. The company has an established history of taking competitors to court to protect the look and feel of its products. It's part of Apple's DNA. Steve Jobs always thought of Apple products as unique works of functional art with aesthetic virtues, wrapped in patents, copyrights, and licenses. He wasn't about to let anyone copy the crown jewels -- the user interface and hardware design concepts -- embodied in his creations. 

The Macintosh, introduced in January 1984, was his first … Read more

Signs that Apple is testing new versions of two of its desktop machines may have been spotted in the latest version of the company's recently-released desktop and notebook operating system.

Deep inside the configuration files of Apple's dual-booting, Boot Camp assistant software, AppleInsider today points to a pair of conspicuously unconventional model numbers. That includes two model names that haven't shown up before, the "MP60," which the outlet surmises is the next Mac Pro tower, and the "IM130," a new iMac model. … Read more

For the last week, attorneys for Apple and Samsung have been arguing over rounded corners, icons, bezels, ornamental designs and horizontal lozenge-shaped slots.

After hearing testimony -- first from Apple's witnesses and then from Samsung -- a jury at the U.S District Court in the heart of Silicon Valley will decide whether Samsung's broad array of mobile products infringed on patents and designs associated with the iPad and iPhone. 

Samsung is contending that its devices are not illegally derivative of Apple's products, and that Apple looked to Sony in developing designs for the iPhone. … Read more

Notification Center is a new feature in OS X Mountain Lion that helps you keep all of your important alerts and notifications in one place. The claim of convenience can only be true if it's truly convenient to access and use. Luckily, there are a few different ways to access the tray of notifications hidden under your desktop. Let's take a look at four of them.

Menu bar

The most obvious way is by clicking on the Notification Center icon in the menu bar. You can click the icon to reveal and hide Notification Center. There's nothing … Read more