Mac Daily News

Technology stocks heated up again this year as shares of Google and Apple Computer soared. But those stocks may mask a maturing of an industry once notorious for boom-and-bust cycles, analysts said. [ Full story from eWEEK Technology News ]

The chief designer of Apple's digital music player was named in the Queen's Honours List. [ Full story from CNET News.com ]

iPod Garage Q & A for December 15th, 2005
iPod Garage, FL - Dec 16, 2005 I honestly can't remember if I set my computer to manual or automatic, and my instructions say I won't be prompted. What do I do? Thanks a ton!

Smooth Sailing With Mac OS X
MacNewsWorld, CA - Dec 23, 2005 "The Missing Manual for Tiger" is good for Joli Ballew suggests that if we keep a computer in use for a long time, that too will impinge on performance. [ Full story from My Computer World ]

Jonathan Ive, the designer of Apple Computer Inc.'s wildly popular iPod music player and iMac computer, on Friday was named a commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. London-born Ive, 38, is senior vice... [ Full story from SFGate: Business & Technology ]

Intel's Yonah processor is expected to be seen in Apple's products in the first quarter of 2006, as both companies head directly toward the home entertainment category. [ Full story from All InformationWeek Stories ]

Jambo Networks offers a "social networking tool" that will let Macworld Expo attendees interact through WiFi. [ Full story from Macworld ]

Portsmouth Herald News, NH -... The $37 million contract with Apple ends in June. "It struck a cord globally," said Jeff Mao, education technology coordinator for the education department. ... [ Full story from technology News feed ]

Record-breaking profits, the announced switch to Intel processors and the fearsome popularity of its iPod line made 2005 a successful year for Apple. [ Full story from Computerworld Macintosh News ]

Small Tree Communications plans to announce high performance networking hardware for PCI Express-equipped Power Mac G5s. [ Full story from Macworld ]

Apple Insider says that Intel is designing motherboards for Apple, while other reports claim that the contracts to manufacture the first Intel-powered iBooks and PowerBooks have been awarded [ Full story from ZDNet UK News ]

There can be no doubt that 2005 was a stellar year for Apple. From record-breaking quarterly financial reports and the release of Mac OS X Tiger to the announced transition of the Macintosh to the Intel platform and new iPods, Apple fired on all cylinders throughout much of the year, creating unprecedented demand for many of its products. [ Full story from Macworld ]

Old keyboard and new SuperDrive? Making that drive stick out its tongue and say “Ahhh” is one letter and two digits away. [ Full story from Macworld ]

No final 2005 podcast would be complete without a look forward as to what to expect from Apple in 2006. [ Full story from Macworld ]

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Macquarie Bank has acquired an 81% interest in two British Columbia healthcare projects worth about C$450 million ($386.3 million), company officials said Wednesday. [ Full story from MarketWatch.com - Top Stories ]

ICeCoffEE provides even more tweaks for OS X’s services. [ Full story from Macworld ]

From the iPod shuffle to the rise of podcasting, Christopher Breen looks back at 2005's biggest developments on the music front for Apple. [ Full story from Macworld ]

Aperture combines powerful photo-management and cataloging features with basic image editing and excellent publishing and presentation capabilities. All this is wrapped in an efficient, elegant interface that glitters with typical Apple flair. But no debut is perfect. While the just-released 1.0.1 update fixes some flaws, several bugs and performance problems remain.[ Full story from Macworld ]

We're living in the golden age of the gadget. Don't believe it? Check your pockets. Odds are you're carrying a portable music player, an electronic organizer, a keychain-size storage device, a digital camera, or a cell phone that combines some or all of these functions. And you'd probably be hard-pressed to live without them.

At PC World, we'd be lost without these things. We don't merely test and write about digital gear, we live and breathe the stuff. In honor of this raging gizmo infatuation, we polled our editors and asked them to name the top 50 gadgets of the last 50 years. The rules? The devices had to be relatively small (no cars or big-screen TVs, for example), and we considered only those items whose digital descendants are covered in PC World (cameras, yes; blenders, no). We rated each gadget on its usefulness, design, degree of innovation, and influence on subsequent gadgets, as well as the ineffable quality we called the "cool factor." Then we tallied the results.

After a lot of Web surfing, spreadsheet wrangling, and some near fistfights, we emerged with the following list. Some items in our Top 50 are innovative devices that appeared briefly and then were quickly consigned to museums and future appearances on eBay, but whose influence spread widely. Others are products we use every day--or wish we could.

With the holidays in full swing, and as folks shop for the right gear to give their loved ones, join us as we visit with the ghosts of gadgets past and present.

1. Sony Walkman TPS-L2 (1979)
2. Apple iPod (2001)
3. (Tie) ReplayTV RTV2001 and TiVo HDR110 (1999)
4. PalmPilot 1000 (1996)
5. Sony CDP-101 (1982)
6. Motorola StarTAC (1996)
7. Atari Video Computer System (1977)
8. Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera (1972)
9. M-Systems DiskOnKey (2000)
10. Regency TR-1 (1954)

Continue to this article at Bink.nu [ Full story from Bink.nu ]

Opinion: Apple's latest iPod may hit a sweet spot precisely because it won't compete with traditional TV or movies. Who wants to watch Star Wars on a 2-inch screen? [ Full story from eWEEK Macintosh ]

Piper Jaffray maintained an "outperform" rating on Apple with an $80 price target. [ Full story from Forbes.com Enterprise Tech News ]

Goldman Sachs raised earnings estimates. [ Full story from Forbes.com Business Technology News ]

A Vermont company has sued Apple. It claims the interface for the iTunes violates a six year old design patent covering user interfaces for music playing devices. [ Full story from News, Reviews and Tips about iPod ]

A private security researcher publishes a proof-of-concept exploit for a potentially serious bug in Apple's popular iTunes and QuickTime media players. [ Full story from eWEEK Security ]

The company pointed to the popularity of its iPod line as having a spillover effect on sales of other Apple hardware in 2005. [ Full story from Computerworld Macintosh News ]

Thought Out's iPed iPod stand combines a design that echoes the curves on Apple's high priced Cinema Displays with steel construction so robust you could probably use it to hammer nails. Cool. [ Full story from News, Reviews and Tips about iPod ]

The $599.95 CPU upgrade from Sonnet Technologies goes for the same price as the slower 1.3-GHz dual processor system it replaces. [ Full story from Computerworld Macintosh News ]

There are numerous ways Mac sysadmins can secure workstations, says columnist Ryan Faas. From limiting access to certain applications and systems preferences to setting proper permissions for users, the goal is the same: Make sure your data is protected. [ Full story from Computerworld Macintosh News ]

You can already hear the buzz building for next month’s MacWorld show in San Francisco. Computerworld columnist Mike DeAgonia looks at the coming shift to Intel chips and what will happen with the G5 processors Apple is still using. [ Full story from Computerworld Macintosh News ]

A patent for preventing tampering with code may illuminate the way Apple will make sure that its OS X operating system for Intel only runs on Apple hardware. [ Full story from eWEEK Macintosh ]

Apple delivers its long-awaited dual-core Power Mac G5, along with updated PowerBooks that promise nicer resolution and improved battery life. [ Full story from eWEEK Macintosh ]

Despite Wall Street's sell-off of Apple stock, analysts and retailers are bullish on Apple's video-centric iMac and iPod. [ Full story from eWEEK Macintosh ]

Apple's latest Power Mac G5 desktops signal that, despite the company's plans to move to Intel chips next year, the PowerPC processor will be around for a while. [ Full story from eWEEK Macintosh ]

Let your Mac name that tune when you can't.

Have you ever been listening to the radio and wondered what song was playing? You wait until the song is over, hoping the DJ will grace you with the title before starting the next track—sometimes you’re lucky, other times you listen intently for several songs afterwards and still never get the answer. (Which raises another question: Why do DJs talk incessantly when you’d rather hear music, but when you want them to say something, they fall silent?) Some radio stations provide “now playing” info on their Web sites, but not all.

Given that this is such a common occurrence, it was intrigued when I came across a piece of software whose sole purpose is to tell you what song is currently playing on the radio. But when I read that the software claims to perform this feat by actually listening to your radio and recognizing the track, my first reaction was, “Yeah, right."

And yet Wildbits’ free Tunatic v1.0b does just that: After launching Tunatic, you hold your Mac’s microphone near your radio’s speaker, click the “search” button, and wait for Tunatic to identify the song.

[ Full story from Macworld ]

Apple signs long-term deals with iPod flash memory providers Hynix, Intel, Micron, Samsung and Toshiba to keep its pipeline loaded until 2010. As part of the announcement, Apple said it will hand out $1.25 billion in advance payments for memory components over the next three months. [ Full story from eWEEK Macintosh ]

Opinion: Apple is moving forward with its Mactel plans. But which machines will be the first in line for a processor refresh? Consumer or pro? The release of new multicore Power Macs may make some wonder. [ Full story from eWEEK Macintosh ]

Apple Computer's Web site is the fastest-growing site in the world, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, but social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Memegen.net showed impressive growth, too. [ Full story from Computerworld Macintosh News ]

A new industry group is looking to replace VGA display interfaces with a new standard for connecting PCs to HDTVs. [ Full story from Macworld ]

Retailers and analysts say that Apple's video iPod and diminutive nano are showing strong sales results, based on early customer interest and initial demand. [ Full story from eWEEK Macintosh ]

South Korea is investigating a flash memory supply deal between Samsung Electronics and Apple Computer over pricing, officials at the Fair Trade Commission said. [ Full story from eWEEK Macintosh ]

The navigation system manufacturer TomTom has threatened legal action against Mac software maker Equinux, causing Equinux to discontinue sales of its software program TamTam. [ Full story from Macworld ]

If you're beginning to count down the remaining free megabytes on your hard drive, or if you're finally getting serious about backing up your data, you need more storage. You may choose to install a new drive inside your Mac. But for most Mac users, increasing storage means buying a new external hard drive that includes fast and convenient FireWire connections. [ Full story from Macworld ]

Modify the Address Book widget to map addresses with Google Maps instead of MapQuest. [ Full story from Macworld ]