Enough with the Cover Flow Already.

The beta of Safari 4 is out and here are our quick impressions.

-It's fast. We mean really fast. Remember when Mac users were stuck with the ungodly slow MS Internet Explorer? Thankfully those days are long gone.

-We are not sure about the placement of the new tabs. Very Google Chrome like. Maybe we're just too lazy to move our mouse up that far.

-Cover Flow? On a browser? Does any one truly use Cover Flow, other than impressing your Windows using friends with some eye candy? We don't need it in iTunes or the Finder and we certainly don't need it in Safari. Enough with the Cover Flow already :)

What are your thoughts?

TDL Live This week: (12/1-12/8)

It's the Cyber Monday edition of TDL Live! After dealing with some site load issues (thanks Cyber Monday...) TDL Live was a hoot. No aluminum foil was harmed in making this episode:

Show Notes:
A coming of age for YouTube
http://news.cnet.com/a-coming-of-age-for-youtube/
YouTube has announced it will auction off search terms as part of an ad program, called Sponsored Videos, designed to enable anyone to expand the viewership of their videos. YouTube also said last week it obtained rights to post full-length movies produced by a large film studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. What this means is that YouTube has given up on the idea that user-generated content can be a successful standalone business.

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Psystar case reveals Apple's shaky e-mail retention policy
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/11/19/filing-apple-employees-responsible-own-lawsuit-record-keeping

According to a recent legal filing (see page 7) in the Psystar vs Apple antitrust case, Apple employees are responsible for maintaining their own documents such as emails, memos, and voicemails. In other words, there is no company-wide policy for archiving, saving, or deleting these documents.

This could pose a problem in the event of a lawsuit. In recent years, companies have been fined millions after failing to retrieve old emails and other files required as evidence.

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Microsoft modifies Zune subscription model

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE4AJ21420081120

the software company's modified subscription plan would allow owners of Zune to keep 10 tracks per month, which has an estimated value of $10. The users can also add those tracks to their permanent collection.

The company said agreements have been signed with the big four music labels -- EMI Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group -- and also with a few independent distributors.

A Zune Pass would allow the user to download music and the downloaded content can be shared among up to three PCs and three Zune devices, the company said.($14.99/mo)

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MacBooks slow down with battery removed

http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/11/21/macbook.slow.wo.battery/

Apple's newer MacBook range continues to exhibit an unusual design behavior that slows the system down when the battery isn't attached, testing by Gearlog confirms. Although only publicized in a support article from August that predates the late 2008 refresh, the unibody systems deliberately throttle back the processorwhen relying only on AC power.

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THE Black Friday Deals at Apple That Weren't

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Simpsons Rag On Apple

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Linux successfully ported to the iPhone, iPod touch

http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/12/01/linux.on.iphone/

Devteam member planetbeing has successfully reverse-engineered the iPhone and iPod touch platforms torun the open-source Linux 2.6 kernel. The port is still in the beginning stages of development, with limited functionality that lacks support for the touchscreen, sound, accelerometer, baseband and wireless networking. When the device is powered-on, OpeniBoot gives the choice of booting the iPhone operating system or a separate mode for the Linux kernel.

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Mac web share hits 8.9% while Firefox tops 20%

http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/12/01/net.apps.share.nov.2008/

Net Applications has revealed both Apple and Mozilla bringing Microsoft's share of the web to historic lows for November. The Mac's usage share of the more than 40,000 websites tracked by the Internet firm has now reached 8.87 percent for the past month; the increase is a major jump from the previous record of 8.23 percent in September and is enough to have pushed Microsoft's Windows below 90 percent usage online for the first time in years.

Microsoft has also taken hits from rival web browsers. Usage of Mozilla's Firefox has topped 20 percent for the first time (up from 19.97 percent to 20.78 percent) and has been the largest single contributor to a decline in Internet Explorer share, which has again reached a years-long record low at just 69.77 percent of Net Applications' view of the web. The researchers attribute the spike partly due to the timing of special events like the US presidential election and to an extra number of days off helped by Thanksgiving, all of whom contributed to heavier web use.

Apple's Safari and Google's new Chrome browser have also supported the downfall of the Microsoft browser. Safari jumped from 6.57 percent in October to 7.13 percent in November while Chrome moved up slightly from 0.74 percent to 0.83 percent.

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BlackBerry Storm Doesn't Blow Away Reviewers

http://www.internetnews.com/mobility/article.php/3788061

New York Times technology columnist David Pogue tags the Storm as the "BlackBerry Dud", and is a bit miffed over the missing traditional QWERTY keyboard.
"It's like an iPod without a scroll wheel. A Prius with terrible mileage. Cracker Jack without a prize inside," Pogue seethed in his review last week.

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Blockbuster (BBI) Looking For Streaming Partners To Go After Netflix, Apple
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/12/blockbuster-looking-for-streaming-partners
Like rival Netflix, Blockbuster (BBI) is hoping to build itsnew streaming service into as many living room gadgets as possible. Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes,

Smart (if obvious) strategy, but Blockbuster is about a year behind Netflix (NFLX), which already has deals to build its streaming service into Samsung and LG Blu-ray players, Microsoft (MSFT) Xbox 360s, Roku Web video set-top boxes, and TiVo (TIVO) DVRs.
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More iPhones sold to females in Australia
http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,24732123-5014239,00.html
APPLE'S iPhone has surprised the tech set by finding more homes in handbags than suit pockets.
Australian mobile phone companies confirmed more women than men were buying Apple's fancy iPhone, with one source saying up to 70 per cent of iPhone sales were to females.

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Apple offers free licensing for Mini DisplayPort spec

http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/12/01/apple-offers-free-licensing-for-mini-displayport-spec

It turns out that the company is offering no-fee licenses to anyone interested in developing products that use the Mini DisplayPort specification.

Mini DisplayPort is an Apple-designed miniature version of the VESA-approved DisplayPort, which fully supports the protocol while offering a more compact connector.

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Macworld Expo early bird registration extended

http://www.macworld.com/article/137228/2008/12/expo.html?lsrc=rss_main

Registration for the upcoming Macworld Conference & Expo has been extended by one week, now ending on December 8, 2008.

The early bird registration gives attendees the opportunity to purchase their tickets early and save some money in the process. Prices vary from $25 for an Expo Only badge that gets you onto the show floor, to $1,695 for a Platinum Pass that grants you access to two Power Tools sessions, one Market Symposium, sessions in the Users Conference and MacIT Conference, access to feature presentations, keynote viewing, lunch, a party ticket and exhibit hall access, for $1,695.
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Apple and Google On A Collision Course

It wasn't that long ago that Google and Apple looked like a dream team. We even considered a fantasy merger of the two back in July. How quickly times have changed.

Now it's iPhone vs. Android, Chrome vs. Safari, and perhaps, Apple mobile search vs. Google search. There are some interesting parallels between this situation and the early days of the Microsoft/Apple rivalry. Microsoft was a key software provider for Apple, while also ramping up its own competing OS for IBM PCs and compatibles.

So where will this end? Can Google and Apple work together against Microsoft as a common enemy, or are we seeing the rivalry of the next decade? Will the next generation of Apple users look back on Google vs. Apple in the same way many of us remember Microsoft vs. Apple? It's not entirely unbelievable to see a path in which Microsoft's influence (continues to) declines to a point of an also-ran. Look at the market gains of Firefox, and to a lesser extent, Safari. Look at the move to online applications, and the increasing marginalization of the desktop OS. Yes, these trends could affect Apple as well, but Apple has a booming hardware business Microsoft can't rely on.

With the recent delay/rejection of Apple's voice search app for the iPhone, we might be seeing this new clash of titans coming far sooner than we thought.

What do you think? Is the ultimate showdown of "Do No Evil," and "Think Different" right around the corner?

Nice Guys Finish Last: Safari Use Triples On The PC

In a further confirmation that nice guys finish last, do you remember the concerns some raised about the PC iTunes updater that presented Safari as a software update? Some people cried foul, others said it was only right to fight fire with fire. Well, it turns out the software update escapade got results. As reported by AppleInsider, Safari's PC marketshare tripled. Now granted we're talking about moving from .07% to .21% of the market, but still, it's a significant increase.

However, if Apple's serious about making Safari a competitive browser, there's something they could do that would change the browser landscape overnight. Are you sitting down? Advertise for Safari. Yes, that's right, a full media push for Safari. Not since the heyday of Netscape has someone turned on the TV and saw and ad for a browser, or even free software, for that matter. With roughly $20 Billion in cash, devoting just 1/500th of that money to a Safari campaign could yield incredible results. It doesn't matter if the browser is the greatest in the world (Firefox is dang good) if people aren't first in the mindset to change browsers. When do you think the average PC user last thought about trying a different browser? Anyone who's even considered it has moved to Firefox. iPod and iPhone, and iTunes marketing has reached a saturation point. If a PC user doesn't know about an iPod by now, they never will. Safari, on the other hand, is something new. And the price is right. So rather than spend precious engineer hours pushing Safari through an iTunes update, why not spend the effort and resources on results that will make .21% pale in comparison.

True, unlike iPod marketing, there's not an immediate financial gain from a Safari ad campaign, but imagine a world in which Firefox and Safari comprise more than 50% of the browser market. Imagine what Apple could do in promoting QuickTime (which is somewhat dead in the water outside of iTunes lately) as the default media player on the web (again.) All those frustrating sites that use Windows Media 10 DRM, and therefore don't play nice with the Mac could re-consider if Apple could give them a more dominant solution.

If marketshare continues to rise .14% per month, it will take a LONG time to reach Internet Explorer numbers. Go for it, Apple. Spend the money, or don't even bother with Safari for Windows.