Week 9! Here's your Apple and Tech News Mash-up

Jason Snell gives the rundown on what Intel inside Macs mean.

Apple's been recognized as a leader in innovation and in a bold move, they switched to Intel last year. But the switch would be more difficult to Apple if two large companies didn't support it: Microsoft and Adobe. This is why the two companies are perceived to hold the cards when it comes to switching of some companies to the Intel Macs. No company would like to buy the Intel Mac is their business is dependent on Microsoft Office or Adobe's Creative Suite. It is therefore perceived that Apple's move to Intel might looked at as a move into the corporate world, with Microsoft and Adobe's blessings, of course. But still, Apple is more committed in the consumer space proven by the iPod's huge success, from which Apple's hopes to splash the iPod halo effect. "Innovation is Apple's DNA," Jobs said and in a world where mobility is key and the Internet is a growing, powerful force, people are more concerned on how and where they get their content rather than what box the content came in. This is where innovation comes in. Apple could be poised to grab people's imagination with products that can stimulate the senses and be functional at the same time.

I agree with John Martellaro, a columnist for MyMac.com, that Apple flamers and naysayers are doing it to make money off Apple fanatics. They just write something shitty and like flies, Mac zealots go to their site and flame him. Of course, he doesn't mind a bit since all those clicks generate money. So please, don't click on the writers that write shit.

Steve Wozniak claims that Peter Nowak was putting words into his mouth. Wozniak said the he felt Peter Nowak used him and that Nowak 'pushed' him to say negative things against Apple and Intel. (Update: Peter Nowak issues a rebuttal to Wozniak's denials and provides readers the audio file of the interview with Wozniak. Will this become a word war between the two and between Wozzies and un-Wozzies?).

Rob Enderle criticizes companies like Sophos and Symantec for telling hackers how to exploit computers by telling everyone about vulnerabilities. He said that these companies see money-making opportunities by making the Mac OS platform look bad and telling everyone about security exposures.

Paul Murphy of ZDNet says that George Ou's analysis that Mac OS X is less secure than Windows was wholly erroneous.

Meet the creator of the recent Mac OS X 'viruses'.

A Detriot News columnist advocates the use of hacked versions of Apple's latest operating system and it might just entice you to buy a Mac.

An actor from Fox's hit show, 24, is unhappy with Apple.

Apple trademarks "Macbook" and "FrontRow".

The Sun Online said that the iPod made it to the list of the 21st Century's Wonders of the World. The iPod is ranked second to the Glastonbury Festival. The festival is called as the "greatest music event in the history of mankind," while the iPod is recognized for "revolutionising the music industry and long-held preconceptions of how we listen to music." The list came from a poll conducted by a radio station which had 25,000 respondents.

People at the Music 2.0 conference are betting on mobile phone companies, on Yahoo! and on Sandisk to dethrone the iPod. They're a bit put off that Apple didn't bother to send anybody to their conference.

Samsung will release the YP-Z5 on March 5 and touted as the "iPod nano killer." While Sony struggles to keep up with Apple in Japan.

The iPod has just become a whole lot bigger in the movies.

What if Microsoft decided to re-design the original iPod box? A hilarious spoof shows what the Microsoft-inspired design would look like. It's nicely done and impressive.

Mad Dog in the Fog plots on a graph the number of songs the iTunes Music Store has sold, from the 1 millionth mark on May 15, 2003 up to the billionth song last February 24th.

The newly-independent UK metal band, Anathema, has asked fans to support it go through difficult times by buying their songs from iTunes.

By 2010, there will be 15 million active podcasts listeners, according to an estimate by e-Marketer.

More universities are jumping into podcasting, or as some of them would like to call it, 'Course-casting.' Some critics say that although providing courses as podcasts is a good idea, locking them into one software and one device isn't. Case in point is Stanford's podcasts of which the format can only be played only either in iTunes or in an iPod.

David Czespanski initially felt that iWeb felt "un-Apple-ish" when he encountered some problems at the start. He likes iWeb though except for the missing keyboard shortcuts. Read more of his review at Apple Matters.

John Patterson, the guy who can't read and sued Apple for it, is an idiot, and here's why.

Some think Apple's latest Intel ad is a mistake and that it further alienates people who are thinking of switching to a Mac.

Napster creator and Grokster's former president say Apple and Steve Jobs will be toast.

Apple offers crossgrades for their pro applications.

How to...
... Boot up your Intel Mac from your iPod or FireWire drives.
... do more with drag and drop.

Mac OS X browser showdown. Test the webpage you built on how it would look on Safari using SafariTest.

Make iChat more fun with Chax.

OnScreen DNA is a tool for teach about DNA.

Cool apps from Improv, Pastence.