This month marks the 19th anniversary of TidBITS, and Adam takes a look at how far the industry has come, and where it will likely go in the future. If that’s not enough opinion for you, Adam also argues that the optimal move for Apple would be to make Mac OS X Snow Leopard free (or as close to free as is reasonable), given its lack of marquee features for users. In other news, Apple reported a $1.21 billion profit for Q2 2009 and, after user protests, pulled the Baby Shaker app from the App Store. We also look at how Microsoft’s Windows 7 will take a page from Apple’s Classic mode, warn readers about the latest in GPS thievery, and announce a pair of Take Control ebooks about GarageBand ’09. Notable software releases this week include Mactracker 5.0.7, MercuryMover 2.0.5, Firefox 3.0.9, and PopChar X 4.2.
Apple reported its "best non-holiday quarter in history" for the second financial quarter of 2009, posting a $1.21 billion profit on revenue of $8.16 billion.
After a day of astonishment and disgust on blogs, Twitter streams, and technology news sites, Apple has removed the Baby Shaker iPhone app from the App Store. The app displayed drawings of a crying baby and urged users to "find a way to quiet the baby down."
Our first ebooks about the updated components of iLife '09 are out: Jeff Tolbert's "Take Control of Making Music with GarageBand '09" and "Take Control of Recording with GarageBand '09."
As Adam and Tonya discovered first-hand on a recent trip to New York City, the latest trend in car-related theft revolves around the increasingly popular GPS devices from the likes of Garmin, Magellan, and TomTom. Don't let it happen to you.
Microsoft finally sheds a bit of its past by offering an optional virtual machine with Windows XP installed as part of its upcoming Windows 7 operating system. Sound a bit like Mac OS X's Classic environment?
Apple's update to Mac OS X Snow Leopard is approaching, but will the company charge the usual $129 for it, even though it isn't slated to offer any new user-focused features? Adam argues that making Snow Leopard nearly free would benefit everyone, including Apple.
On the 19th anniversary of TidBITS, Adam takes a moment to look back at how the technology world has changed and to look forward at the trends we'll see continuing into the future. Bold prediction: we'll keep publishing TidBITS for the foreseeable future!
Notable software releases this week include Mactracker 5.0.7, MercuryMover 2.0.5, Firefox 3.0.9, and PopChar X 4.2.
Read on for a collection of links to the most interesting articles and resources that the TidBITS staff discovered on the Web this week.
Should Snow Leopard be free when it ships? Will AT&T unlock an iPhone once a customer's original contract is up? These are just two of the issues explored in this week's TidBITS Talk discussions. Also covered are the Spotlight interface, opening documents created by Microsoft Word under Windows, scanning slides, troubleshooting MacBook Pro problems, and comparing the latest Twitter applications on the Mac.