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Well, here's hoping you waited on that $99 refurbished iPhone 3G, because as of Monday you can get a new one for the same price. Apple just announced at WWDC 2009 that the 8GB iPhone 3G will stay on the market for $99. Forget refurbs--now you can get a new iPhone 3G for just $99.(Credit: James Martin/CNET) So what do you think? Now that you can finally get a shiny new iPhone with a full warranty (one year) for less than a hundred bucks, will you pull the trigger? Based on the comments in last week's aforementioned refurb post, I'm...

Apple filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Miami on Friday requesting a modification of the stay that is preventing it from moving forward with its case against Psystar in the Northern District Court in California. Apple's case against Psystar for selling PCs with Mac OS X preinstalled has been on hold ever since the PC maker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the end of May. Psystar's bankruptcy filing put Apple's case in northern California temporarily on hold because all legal actions involving the PC maker are automatically stalled while the bankruptcy court begins its proceedings....

JUNE 5, 2009 Jobs Ready to Return to Apple Helm As Company Prepares New iPhone, CEO Comeback on Track After Six-Month Sick Leave After months of uncertainty about Steve Jobs's health, the Apple Inc. chief executive appears on track to return from medical leave this month, said people familiar with Apple. The big question now among Apple's business partners, investors and fans: Will Mr. Jobs make his reappearance at Apple's annual software developers' conference next week in San Francisco, possibly to unveil a new iPhone? Mr. Jobs, a survivor of pancreatic cancer, went on medical leave in January. He had...

Apple today released Life Support 9.0.3 (55.1MB) which provides system software resources that are shared by iLife and other applications, iMovie 8.0.3 (35.56MB) which addresses general compatibility issues, improved overall stability and fixes a number of other minor issues, iDVD 7.0.4 (27.5MB) which addresses general compatibility issues and fixes an issue where iDVD is unable to add title/comment to an image in the image details list, and iPhoto 8.0.3 Update (96MB) which addresses general compatibility, improves overall stability and fixes a number of issues. All of the above app updates are available via Software Update and also as standalone installers....

Has Microsoft, after more than 20 years of work, finally come up with an operating system that rivals the Mac OS? Are the two just different flavors of the same GUI?Hadley Stern, writing for Apple Matters, thinks this might be the case. It may have taken Microsoft 20 odd years to figure this one out but there is some pretty big news on the horizon. Of course the market-share battle is lost for Apple, although it continues to chip away here and there. But the innovation-share battle continues. And the big big big news:Windows 7 Doesn’t Really Suck …Unless Apple...

"With roughly five days to go before Apple kicks off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, signage spotted around the Moscone Center can already be seen paying homage to all things App Store," AppleInsider reports. "AppleInsider reader Alan Jackson burnt the midnight oil on Wednesday to deliver this Flickr album of 22 photos he snapped outside the Moscone West Tuesday evening, the conference hall where Apple will deliver its inaugural keynote early next week and proceed into individual training sessions," AppleInsider reports. "Nothing related to Mac OS X or Snow Leopard can be seen from the photos, suggesting...

OK - so - I do 90% of my work using my Macs - a 12" iBook (last generation) and a PowerMac Dual G5 desktop. The other 10% I spend with an HP Pavilion Laptop (Vista). So - Working with Powerpoint on both platforms - I have found that there is a huge difference in functionality - with the Mac version generally being for more tolerant of media files (both audio and video) With Powerpoint 2008 (Mac), I can throw pretty much any popular format audio file or video file and it just works. Take that same presentation (saved on...

Apple, along with more than a dozen other firms conducting e-commerce, have been hit with a lawsuit from a patent trolling claiming first rights to technology that simplifies the re-billing process for repeat customers making purchases through online stores. The 28-page formal complaint was filed late last month by little-known Actus, LCC in its home town of Marshall, Texas, the undisputed patent lawsuit capital of the United States. It alleges that 15 companies, including Apple, Best Buy, and Amazon, are infringing on one or more of several similarly structured patents -- No. 7,328,189, No. 7,249,099, No. 7,376,621 and No. 7,177,838...

June 02, 2009 Apple's Nehalem Xserve serves the need for speed Sleek, new Mac OS X rack server sets a far higher bar for performance and power efficiency Apple's Nehalem Xserve packs more into one rack unit than any other server. For one price, you get a best-in-class server and a commercial Unix OS with unlimited client licenses, plus a foolproof management GUI. The 2.26GHz eight-core model outguns and out-greens the original 3GHz, eight-core Harpertown Xserve if you fill it with RAM.From the start, Apple's Xserve has ranked best-in-class in build quality, engineering, durability, and serviceability among 1U x86 rack...

Apple today released GarageBand 5.0.2 which addresses general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and fixes a number of other minor issues. The issues addressed include: • Improved purchasing experience for Artist Lessons in the GarageBand Lesson Store • Accessing installed Jam Packs in the loop browser The update is recommended for all users of GarageBand '09 and required to use the Lesson Store. GarageBand 5.0.2 is available via Software Update and also as a standalone installer. More info and download link (108MB) here.

Apple today released QuickTime 7.6.2 for Mac and QuickTime 7.6.2 for Windows, both of which include changes that increase reliability, improve compatibility and enhance security.This release is recommended for all QuickTime 7 users. QuickTime 7.6.2 is available via Software Update and also via standalone installers. More info and download links: • QuickTime 7.6.2 for Mac • QuickTime 7.6.2 for Windows

Apple today released iTunes 8.2 for Mac and iTunes 8.2 for Windows, both of which now support iPhone or iPod touch with the iPhone 3.0 Software Update. iTunes 8.2 also includes many accessibility improvements and bug fixes. iTunes 8.2 is available via Software Update and also via standalone installers. More info and download links: • iTunes 8.2 for Mac • iTunes 8.2 for Windows (64 bit)

Dell has seen its latest quarterly profits decline by almost two-thirds as the worldwide recession continues to hit sales of computers. The world's second-largest maker of personal computers made a net profit of $290m (£182m) in the three months to 1 May, down 63% from $784m a year ago. Revenues at the firm fell 23% to $12.3bn. However the results were better than analysts had feared. Dell said the global trading environment remained "challenging". 'Cutting costs' Dell has already moved to cut costs in the face of falling sales, reducing its global workforce by more than 9,000 positions over the...

The University of Virgina collects and compiles information about students' computer use. The information has been collected over the past decade by student employees of ITC, known as Student Consultants (SCs) and formerly, Computing Advisors (CAs), a group of first-year students hired to advise and assist their peers with computing. The data is based on SC and CA surveys of first-year residence halls each fall.

"WASHINGTON (AP) - Law enforcement computers were struck by a Mystery computer virus Thursday, forcing the FBI and the U.S. Marshals to shut down part of their networks as a precaution. The U.S. Marshals confirmed it disconnected from the Justice Department's computers as a protective measure after being hit by the virus; an FBI official said only that that agency was experiencing similar issues and was working on the problem."

RussianMac is the latest company to release a Mac clone and test Apple's resolve to stop companies from selling its operating system. RussianMac Pro, Entertainment Center, Russian MiniMac RussianMac Standard, RussianMac Book, RussianMac MiniBook On its Web site, RussianMac says that a full version of Mac OS X Leopard comes pre-installed on its computers. The company also confirms that the operating system is able to receive automatic system updates from Apple once installed. This is where Apple seems to have the clone-makers over a barrel. Apple's Mac OS X End User License Agreement (EULA) clearly forbids anyone from installing the...

Several Mac security companies, Intego and SecureMac, have issued warnings related to an unpatched Java vulnerability that affects OS X. The flaw could be exploited to allow local code to be executed remotely, leaving the computer open to "drive-by-attacks" which can install malicious software just by loading a website containing a specially crafted Java applet. Hackers could also access or delete files on a system. Intego and security researcher Landon Fuller both claim Apple has been aware of the issue for over five months. The vulnerability poses particularly high risk because of the potential for hackers to use privilege escalation...

<p>ASBURY (AP) — Mary LaMour can't understand why her computer works at other people's homes, and outside, but not inside her house.</p> <p>Neither can a computer technician.</p> <p>"It's uncanny," said Chuck Freisinger, of Phoenix Computer Services in Dubuque. "My other technician and I looked at that situation. When it's in their house, it doesn't work. When it's outside, it works fine. She took it to a friend's house and it worked fine."</p>

Are Macs more Safe than Secure? No May 16th, 2009 Daniel Eran Dilger Everyone seems to get lost in their own words when talking about security and Apple. The Daring Fireball recently cited security blogger Dennis Fisher, who insisted it was “demonstrably false” to say there were not “any virus attacks on Macs.” However, rather than pointing out what a horrible pile of trash Fisher’s article was, John Gruber praised it (apparently to be nice) and then got lost in his own semantics on the subject. Sometimes you need to say “he’s wrong, here’s why.”Instead, Gruber wrote, “That [blogger's...

For those seeking the smallest, sexiest notebooks on the market, there are no closer two choices than Apple’s trend-setting MacBook Air and its late-coming competitor, the Dell Adamo. Though strikingly similar in many ways, they differ enough that true fashionistas will want to take a good hard look before plunking down $2,000 for either one. We’ve poked, prodded and broken out the calipers on both units to figure out which belongs in your chic Italian leather notebook bag. Read on to see which emerges victorious. DimensionsWe never thought we would see the day when laptops would duke it out over...