Well, Microsoft has announced Zune, it's answer to Apple's venerable iPod franchise. Let's see what it has to offer. The "killer feature" of Zune is the Zune Marketplace that supports Zune-to- Zune sharing of "full-length sample tracks" of songs, pictures, or playlists. According to the press release, you'll be able …

Yesterday, the Paulsen household had one of those annoying, all-day, computer problems. On Wednesday, I'd upgraded the RAM in Carol's PowerBook from 768MB to 1.25GB in order to increase performance. The change was supposed to have no negative effects... unfortunately, a disk drive fault left Carol without a functional …

For those of you with Intel Macs, a need to run Windows-requiring software, and a disgust for having Windows actually running on your Mac, this might be your lucky day. CodeWeavers has announced the beta of their Crossover software for the Mac. What is it? This goes one step further …

Despite an email from Apple yesterday indicating that my Mac Pro would be shipping next week, it launched last night and is expected in house later today. More details as they come... now to find some tasty RAM.

Many of you know that I was at Apple's World Wide Developer's Conference last week in San Francisco. According to the rules, I can't say much in detail about what happened at the conference, but it was a good time. For those who missed the Stevenote address (you can view …

One of the continuing discussions about Wikipedia is whether it is useful as a real source of information or not (as you would expect, say, the Encyclopedia Britanica or the World Book Encyclopedia to be). Another recent piece has emerged from the blog of Keith Stattenfield that describes the back-and-forth …

Well, not that anyone's all that surprised, but Apple finally recalled the MacBook Pro batteries. Batteries sold between February and May are likely to qualify (those whose serial number ends in U7SA, U7SB, or U7SC). The web site indicates that it is performance issues and not safety that is the …

So, given that we've now heard about 2 "defections" from the Macintosh to Ubuntu, I wanted to see what the fuss is all about, so that I could comment on things. So, I downloaded (via bittorrent) the latest (6.0.6) version of Ubuntu and gave it a whirl. My …

I realize that now even CNet has gotten into the act with publicizing the defection of one long-time Macintosh user (Mark Pilgrim) and another who is making noise about possibly switching (Tim Bray of Sun). So, it's time to make some more noise about what's really happening. Unfortunately, I didn't …

BusinessWeek has an article about the cost of things throughout the world. Check out the slide show that contains a list of items (including the iPod, a can of Coke, an iBook, a Big Mac, and other iconic purchases) and their current prices in various cities throughout the world (London …

At least that's one man's opinion (actually, his wife's opinion) from the UK. In an article about switching to the Macintosh by Rob Manuel, he notes that among the many reasons he loves his Mac. Responses on his blog are typical mac vs. pc fodder, so probably not worth reading …

Because you just can't get enough articles about the Mac and security, here's a piece from Network World about how OS X isn't perfect, but seems to be in a better position than people discussing Apple's "arrogance" are willing to give it credit for.

An article from the Washington Post's Security Fix blog (by Brian Krebs) today indicates that Apple's mean time to fix a security flaw considered severe is about 90 days from the time of the report to the delivery of patches to customers via Software Update. [Note: a similar article about …

John Gruber, of Daring Fireball fame, has written a rebuttal of sorts to the AP article written by Dan Goodin earlier this week. The article is one of many to claim that the Mac virus threat is on the rise using anecdotal evidence and citations to what amount to the …

Apple's posted their new ads to their web site. The new series of six ads has the familiar simple music and plain background that we've come to associate with Mac advertising. Most of them are pretty funny, although we think that the "Better" ad seems to sell the Mac short …

The online Apple Store is indicating 24 hour shipment for the 2.16GHz Core Duo 17" MacBook Pro. Feature-wise, it adds Firewire 800 and a DL DVD burner. Other than that, the specs are basically as you would expect: 17" display instead of 15" and a bunch of the optional …

I understand if everybody takes this with a grain of salt given my particular predilection for Macintosh computers and OS X in particular, but there's been a lot of talk lately about the "increasing number" of found "security holes" on the OS X operating system. Unfortunately, the folks who find …

Andre Cantor, writing for USA Today, posits this article, where he honestly suggests that Boot Camp will encourage Mac users to switch to Windows. Where to begin? First, this guy is the technology writer and self-avowed "know-it-all" who covers technology for the Roanoke Times, a former editor for PC Magazine …

Just because there haven't been enough stories about running XP on your Macintosh, here's a new one: Parallels of Herndon, VA (that's right down the street) has announced availability of a beta version of Parallels Workstation for the Macintosh, available today. Unlike the solutions to date, this is a commercially …

It was only a matter of time, and the time has now come. Expect to see benchmarks within the hour or so of running games under XP using this technology, but for the time being, Apple has announced Boot Camp, technology that will be in 10.5 (Leopard) that allows …