[Editor's Note: We weren't able to touch base with Editor-at-Large Geoff Duncan in time for last week's "Apple and EMI Offer DRM-Free Music via iTunes" (2007-04-02), but his extensive experience in the recording industry makes his commentary essential reading for anyone following the situation

Microsoft's Zune portable media player goes on sale in the United States tomorrow, marking the company's first entry in a market dominated for five years (and counting) by Apple's now-iconic iPods

Way back in 1994, Adam and Tonya graciously welcomed me to the TidBITS community by bringing me on board as TidBITS's managing editor. Now after more than 5,000 articles, almost 600 issues, and nearly twelve years, it's time to bid a fond farewell: this piece marks my final appearance in TidBITS as a regular staff member. I realize many readers have only a fuzzy idea of my roles at TidBITS over the years - or no idea at all

Removing a dark cloud from the future of its now-iconic iPod music players, Apple Computer has announced it will pay Creative Technologies $100 million to settle all legal disputes between the companies

In what may turn out to be one of the largest consumer electronics product recalls in history, computer maker Dell is voluntarily recalling some 4.1 million batteries sold with a wide range of its notebook systems over a more-than-two-year period ranging from 01-Apr-04 through 18-Jul-06

Much of the recent talk of running non-Macintosh operating systems on Apple's new breed of Intel-based Macs has focused on virtualization solutions like Parallels Desktop (see "Parallels Desktop: The Switch is Complete") and VMware's as-yet-unreleased product (see "More, Less, and No Information on Running Windows on a Mac"), but let's not forget the product announcement that started the ball rolling officially: Apple Computer's Boot Camp (see "Apple Opens Boot Camp for Windows Users"), which enables Intel-based Macs to restart running Windows XP and is scheduled to be included in some way with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Apple last week released version 1.1 of its public beta of Boot Camp, adding support for Apple's brand-new Xeon-based Mac Pro and Xserve systems, adding partition p

Creative Labs, the company that has been struggling in the digital music player market longer than Apple has been making iPods, announced it has filed a patent infringement suit against Apple Computer over the interface to its iPod and iPod nano music players. Creative claims Apple's products infringe on its "Zen" patent (U.S

Fox TV Shows Hit iTunes -- In the largest single network debut to date, Apple has added another passel of television programming to its iTunes Music Store, this time from Fox Entertainment

In recent weeks a great deal of ink and pixels have been spent on the topic network neutrality. As set out by pundits and some of the mass media, a major battle is brewing between the big-money telecommunications companies who build the networks which comprise the Internet, and the big-money technology companies whose businesses depend on the Internet

Justice Edward Mann of London's High Court today issued a ruling in favor of Apple Computer in its current trademark dispute with the Beatles' record label Apple Corps, finding Apple Computer had not breached a trademark-sharing agreement between the two companies by using its Apple logo on its iTunes digital music service. Getting Better -- According to the 1991 agreement, Apple Computer was to have use of the trademark in the computer business, while Apple Corps would have exclusive use in the music industry

Apple has announced it is expanding its technology recycling program: beginning in June 2006, Apple will offer free recycling and disposal of old computers to U.S

Apple has released a software update which, along with fixing a handful of bugs, enables users to set a maximum volume limit for their iPods. The 28 MB update supports both Mac OS X and Windows XP/2000, but applies only to Apple's fifth-generation video-capable iPods and the iPod nano. After installing the update, users can configure a maximum volume setting for their iPod: once set, the iPod displays a padlock icon when it reaches the configured top volume

When Apple announced in June 2005 it was planning to transition its Macintosh computer line to Intel-based processors, the entire Apple community was aghast: a move away from PowerPC would be a historic turning point for the company and its flagship computers

This week, Steve Jobs's Apple Computer and the Beatles' Apple Corps are scheduled to go to trial in England, marking a new phase in a trademark dispute which has clung to both companies for more than a quarter century

A potentially critical security flaw has been uncovered in Apple's Safari Web browser, which may enable attackers to execute arbitrary Unix shell scripts on a user's machine simply by following a link on a Web site

The Walt Disney Company announced last week that it will be acquiring animation house Pixar in a $7.4 billion all-stock transaction (a nice return on Steve Jobs's original $10 million investment when he purchased Pixar from filmmaker George Lucas in 1986)

Well, it's official: Apple is no longer a computer company. Apple posted its first quarter 2006 financial results last week, with revenue of $5.75 billion and a profit of $565 million for the quarter

Although Apple's introduction of Safari caused Microsoft to put the Mac version of its Internet Explorer Web browser into "maintenance mode" way back in June 2003 - ceasing development while pledging to make bug fixes or patch security loopholes in the even-then-aging browser - Internet Explorer on the Mac has now officially come to the end of its life cycle

RealNetworks today announced Rhapsody.com, a beta launch of a browser-based version of its Rhapsody streaming music subscription service for broadband users in the United States

iTunes Music Store Sells Over 1 Million Videos -- Less than 20 days after unveiling new video-capable iPods and announcing Apple would begin selling music videos, short films, and selected ad-free ABC television episodes for $1.99 apiece, Apple says it has already sold more than 1 million videos through its iTunes Music Store