Apple

The release of Strata's new iBikeMount has led to some online debate about safety issues related to wearing headphones while biking.

Strata System's mount for the iPod Nano costs $30, and is aimed at keeping the music player "safely in plain site and within reach," instead of having to dig it out of a pocket, armband or from a hanging lanyard, according to the company.

The iBikeMount site includes a section about listening responsibly, but some wonder if there is ever a time when it's safe to bike with headphones on.

One reader of The Unofficial Apple Weblog … Read more

With all the iPod cases on the market, it's getting harder and harder to create a case that's truly unique. Zofunk Products out of Seattle differentiated itself by creating a sleek little case called Winks.

Warning: This case is not for the paranoid! The Winks cases sport an oval design, making it look like the iPod click button is an eyeball staring back at you. Maybe it really is watching you...

The Winks cases are designed only for Nanos, but there is a another line of cases, called Zen, for the iPod video. The Winks come in three … Read more

Apple Computer has released an upgrade to the Tiger operating system that fixes some bugs and offers some modest performance enhancements.

Apple said in an e-mail message on Monday that the updates to Tiger (the new version is called 10.4.6) fix problems with printing to wireless printers, quotations in the Mail application, and exporting image data in Aperture.

The update is available for both Intel and PowerPC-based Macintoshes.

Anything as ubiquitous as the iPod is practically begging to be made fun of. "Saturday Night Live" alum David Spade took on the task with aplomb, doing a hilarious little riff on the music player during the latest episode of his Comedy Central show, "The Showbiz Show with David Spade."

"I'm getting a little tired of how everyone loves their iPod," he said, "how it's the future of entertainment, how they couldn't live without it. Do you really need to carry around the complete box set of Jethro Tull?" … Read more

GearLog reported on Wednesday that Apple has joined Bapco, an industry consortium that develops benchmarks for comparing PC performance. Bapco, short for Business Application Performance Corporation, counts Microsoft, Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and CNET Networks (publisher of News.com) among its members.

A representative of Bapco said all inquiries regarding the consortium and Apple had to be directed through an Apple representative, who did not return a phone call and an e-mail Wednesday morning seeking confirmation.

The report set off usual speculation about Apple's motives. Some fear that Apple might dump the Macintosh operating system in favor … Read more

Apple Computer's switch to Intel chips has obviously had a huge impact on the Mac community. But Apple's way of looking at the world is making Intel "think different" about its own business.

"That's really what's interesting about Apple, is they look at our technology in a very Apple way," said Deborah Conrad, vice president and director of Team Apple at Intel, speaking to a group of CNET editors and reporters Thursday at Intel's Santa Clara campus. Conrad's team is helping Apple make the transition to Intel's chips, and … Read more

Apple Computer might think it has all its security ducks in a row, but the truth is far from it, at least according to Stephen Toulouse, a program manager in Microsoft's Security Response Center.

In several postings on his personal blog, Toulouse critiques Apple's security coordination and communications. He compares it with Microsoft's efforts, of which he is a major part.

"Apple needs a public face of security to communicate guidance," Toulouse writes. He cites a Business Week article in which an Apple representative says everybody at the company cares about security, so there is … Read more

Reports persist that Apple is planning to launch a widescreen version of the video iPod.

In a research note Tuesday, American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu said that Apple has told distributors "that its high-end 60 GB vPod is 'at risk' until the end of April, meaning it could be discontinued and/or replaced."

It may still be a ways off, however. "Timing is not certain to us, but we believe a new widescreen vPod with Bluetooth headphones could be ready as early as the June quarter," Wu wrote.

France's National Assembly has passed a bill that could force Apple Computer and others to share the details on previousely secret music protection formats.

According to an Associated Press report, France's lower house gave the nod to a bill that would both impose new fines on music pirates and would require more openness among the companies that protect digital content with rights management technologies.

The proposed legislation would require companies to share their copy-protection technology with rivals that are developing competing music services and devices, AP said.

Currently, Apple's iPod works with songs purchased on iTunes, as … Read more