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A News.com report on OS X, iPod and the Mac.

March 12, 2006 2:45 PM PST

SXSW has Macs, is cool

AUSTIN, Texas--Everyone who goes to South by Southwest knows that it's the coolest conference there is.

That's what they tell each other, that is, given its unmatched collection of hip bloggers, rocking parties that go late into the night, and general sense that what's going on here and the people at SXSW are at the true cutting edge of interactive technology.

And that's before you even talk about the film part of the conference, which draws its own celebrities--Kris Krisofferson, John Sayles and others.

But the topper, the very proof that SXSW is the pinnacle of effortless cool, is in the press room, of all places.

Now, I've been to a lot of conferences. In cities like San Francisco, New York, Phoenix, Los Angeles, even others here in Austin. And in every previous case, if the press room even bothered to provide computers, they were PCs. The sole exception was at E3--the annual video game industry blowout in L.A., where there were a number of iMacs.

But walking into the SXSW press room Sunday, I saw something I never expected: a row of gleaming, brand-new Apple Computer MacBook Pros, sitting and waiting for the scribes to get their paws on them.

Now I can die a happy reporter. Or at least one who has climbed a mountaintop of cool.

Posted by Daniel Terdiman
March 10, 2006 4:22 PM PST

Star Wars rocks your iPod

We've mentioned Iconz iPod cases before, but thought this limited edition video iPod case warranted another mention, especially given our readers Star Wars inclinations.

starwarsipod
Credit: StarWarsShop.com

The "Star Wars Rocks" case sells for $29.95 and features artwork by Hugh Fleming that was originally made for a fan club poster in the 1990s.

Posted by Michelle Meyers
March 10, 2006 2:45 PM PST

Analyst: Lower-priced models boost iPod demand

American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu is raising his March quarter estimates for Apple Computer due to better than expected demand for iPods, which he says is driven by Shuffle price cuts and the introduction of the lower-priced 1GB Nano.

In a March 10 report, he also notes that the new iPod Hi-Fi speaker system is "seeing strong initial sales and video iPod demand continues to be strong, well above seasonal trends and down modestly from very high December quarter levels."

For the March quarter, his new estimates are $4.43 billion, 43 cents and 8.8 million iPods. Wu notes that those figures are well above Apple's guidance of $4.3 billion and 38 cents, but below consensus estimates of $4.6 billion, 44 cents and 9.5 million iPods.

Posted by Michelle Meyers
March 4, 2006 1:58 PM PST

Unconscious jogger identified through iPod

Various San Francisco-based news outlets reported this week that police identified an unconscious jogger, who was an apparent hit-run-victim, by contacting Apple Computer and getting information from the iPod she was carrying.

The 27-year-old woman was jogging early Thursday morning near the Presidio when she was apparently struck and thrown off the side of the road, according to news reports.

Apple declined to comment on or even confirm the story Friday, but NBC11 and others reported that the woman was carrying no identification, so investigators took her iPod to the Apple store, which contacted headquarters. Apple helped identify the woman, we can only presume, through her iPod registration.

If not for her iPod, she might still be a Jane Doe. As of Friday she was still hospitalized in critical condition.

But we couldn't help but wonder under what circumstances Apple releases such information. Did the police have to get a warrant? What if my iPod was left behind at a crime scene? Would I be considered a suspect or linked to the case in any way?

Posted by Michelle Meyers
March 3, 2006 4:22 PM PST

Tom DeLay ally finds home at Apple

Apple doesn't seem to be the first company you'd think of if you were looking for Republican lawyers well versed in redrawing congressional districts, but the job market makes for novel combinations.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based computer maker now employs Joby Fortson, a former aide to Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, according to the New Yorker Magazine. In 2003, DeLay helped push through a state bill that redrew the congressional districts in the state. The plan helped add Republicans to the House of Representatives.

Fortson wrote a memo at the time, according to the magazine, that outlined the partisan nature of the bill. In the memo, Fortson noted that Martin Frost, the state's senior Democratic congressman, would have to run in a different district.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha....His district disappeared," wrote Fortson.

"This is the most aggressive map I have ever seen," he wrote. "This has a real national impact that should assure that Republicans keep the House no matter the national mood."

Apple declined to comment.

Whatever your politics, it will be interesting to see if this kind of aggressiveness can help Apple finally burst through that five percent market share barrier. (Apple currently has under three percent of the worldwide PC market.)

Posted by Michael Kanellos
March 3, 2006 3:44 PM PST

WinTel machines less dull in the UK?

When Apple announced the first Intel Macs in January, it promised in ads that the Intel chips were finally freed from residing in "dull little boxes, dutifully performing dull little tasks."

But when the ad got around to the UK, Apple apparently dropped the word "dull," according to a report on British tech site The Register.

In the British version, Intel chips were "dutifully doing all the things PCs were built to do," but there was no overt mention of dullness in describing the duties. Apple did not give a reason for the switch, but the Register reckons it might have something to do with Britain's more stringent restrictions on advertisements.

In 2003, British regulators banned an Apple TV spot that touted the Power Mac G5 as the "world's fastest" PC, saying that claim was not fully supported.

Posted by Ina Fried
March 3, 2006 3:12 PM PST

The pope gets an iPod

Pope Benedict XVI got an iPod on Friday, thanks to a group of workers at Vatican Radio.

According to a Catholic News Service story, the pontiff got a 2GB white Nano, loaded with, among other things, the radio station's programming in English, Italian and German, as well as classical tunes from Mozart, Chopin and Stravinsky.

The Nano was given to the Pope following a visit to Vatican Radio, CNS reported.

Posted by Ina Fried
March 2, 2006 5:14 PM PST

How to dress like Steve Jobs

You can't be Steve Jobs, but this gallery will at least help you at dress like him. (Assuming you didn't get your fill of mockery with the "Steve Jobs Dress-up Game")

In true Apple fashion, at the bottom of the site there's a "Click here to sue, please" link.

Posted by Michelle Meyers
March 2, 2006 2:30 PM PST

Apple bitten by own words

With the old G4 version of the Mac Mini, Apple made a lot out of the fact the diminuitive desktop had a standalone graphics card.

Rather than just tout its own graphics power, Apple took a swipe at many low-end Windows PCs, which use integrated graphics chips that share memory and processor power with the rest of the PC.

"Go ahead, just try to play Halo on a budget PC," Apple said. "Most say they're good for 2D games only. That's because an 'integrated Intel graphics' chip steals power from the CPU and siphons off memory from system-level RAM."

That's all well and good. But now comes the new Intel-based Mac Mini. And guess what, it has integrated graphics too. The folks at Macworld spotted Apple's problem and noted that the company took down that old page from its Web site.

Now Apple has a new page, one that touts the new Mac Mini, its Intel Core processor and, yes, integrated graphics.

"Mac mini features a graphics processor integrated into the system, and one that's no slouch, to boot," Apple says on the new site. "The Intel GMA950 graphics supports Tiger Core Graphics and the latest 3D games. It shares fast 667MHz memory4 with the Intel Core processor, for an incredible value proposition."

Yeah, I guess calling it a power-stealing siphon hose wouldn't have sounded too good.

Posted by Ina Fried
March 1, 2006 4:48 PM PST

Apple releases iTunes update

Apple today posted a new version of its digital music software, iTunes 6.0.4, which "addresses stability and performance issues related to Front Row," the company said.

Apple has made several tweaks to iTunes 6 since it was first released in October. Its most recent version, iTunes 6.0.3, was launched in mid-February to fix bugs and make performance improvements.

Posted by Michelle Meyers
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