January 10, 2006, 4:22 PM PST
Will small businesses make the switch?
Posted by: Michelle Thatcher

At the Macworld keynote this morning, Roz Ho, general manager of Microsoft's Mac Business Unit, took the stage to promise that Microsoft will continue to create new versions of Office for Mac for at least the next five years. Which made me wonder: will the new Macs be compelling enough for your average small business--and not just the creative professionals that have long used Apple's machines--to make the platform switch? If Apple's claims are true, the new Intel processors should deliver ample performance for typical business use; Mac OS X is still considered less of a target for virus writers than Windows; and the Mac's built-in iSight camera and well-rounded software package can be quite useful in a business setting (iWeb alone has the potential to save a small-business owner both time and money). On the other hand, many users feel comfortable with Windows, and the Mac's hefty price tag is tough for businesses to ignore, no matter how many features the money buys.

Will your small biz consider switching to Mac? Leave a comment and let me know why or why not.

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January 10, 2006, 4:08 PM PST
iPod Stargate: JBL On Time speaker dock
Posted by: Jasmine France

Possibly the coolest thing I've seen at both CES and Macworld that actually debuted at the shows is the JBL On Time speaker dock for the iPod. (Yes, the Creative Zen Vision:M rocks, but it was released pre-CES.) This futuristic-looking speaker-alarm clock is tight. It's like JBL took the On Stage and streched the speakers up and over the iPod dock. JBL dubs it the "time-machine dock for the iPod," but what it brings to mind for me is the Stargate in the movie, uh, Stargate. At the base of the dock is an illuminated, digital alarm clock flanked by volume, power, and alarm function keys on the left, as well as track forward/reverse, Back, and Home buttons on the right. In the arc above the iPod is a dome light, which automatically dims or brightens, based on the lighting in the room. The On Time is powered by AC/DC, but in the event of a power outage, a backup battery retains its time and alarm functions, as well as any user-programmed settings. The alarm can be set to wake you up to any song on the iPod. The On Time retails for $299.95 and goes on sale in March 2006. Black, white, and silver color schemes were all on display at the show.

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January 10, 2006, 4:01 PM PST
iPod-ready jeans from Levi Strauss
Posted by: Jasmine France

Jeans with an iPod dock, playback controls, and retractable headphones built in? Don't get me wrong, I'm a Levi's fan--after all, the company was founded here in San Francisco--but this is just getting ridiculous. What happened to stowing your player in the pocket of your regular jeans and using an in-line or wireless remote and some high-end headphones? The RedWire DLX jeans, which will be available in men's and women's styles, are due out this fall. (Thanks, MSNBC.)

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January 10, 2006, 3:50 PM PST
New patches for Windows, Office flaws
Posted by: Robert Vamosi

Continuing its established second-Tuesday-of-the-month release policy regarding security patches, Microsoft today announced two critical patches. One, security bulletin MS06-002, addresses the way Windows renders Web fonts. All versions of Windows are affected by this flaw. Users viewing e-mail or Web sites containing malicious fonts could find their systems compromised. The second patch, security bulletin MS06-003, addresses flaws in the way that Outlook and Exchange Server decode e-mail messages. Affected software includes Office 2000, Office 2002, and Office 2003, plus Exchange Server 5, 5.5, and 2000. Exchange Server 2003 is not affected.

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January 10, 2006, 3:31 PM PST
MacBooks: it's the little things
Posted by: Rafe Needleman

One of the new features that MacBook users will appreciate is the new magnetic MagSafe connector for the power cord. Now when somebody trips over the cord running to your laptop, it will just pop off its little connector dock on the laptop, instead of taking your shiny new $2,000 pride and joy with it on a tragic journey down to the floor.

ThinkPads (and recently, other notebooks as well) have a different solution: they automatically park their hard disks when they sense that the machine has been bumped or is falling. This prevents damage to the hard disk--but not the screen or the case. Apple's solution is elegant and smart. And clearly it's more effective to prevent computers from flying off desks than to try to rescue them once they are already airborne.

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January 10, 2006, 2:41 PM PST
DLO's new HomeDock Deluxe: we want it!
Posted by: James Kim

Late last year, we reviewed the DLO HomeDock, a decent way to dock, remotely control, recharge, and output an iPod to a stereo or a TV. Really, the only thing missing from the equation was the ability to remotely switch playlists, which would have been a difficult thing to do across a room, given the iPod's tiny screen size.

Enter the Deluxe version of the HomeDock ($149). Now armed with a bigger 18-button remote, the HomeDock Deluxe allows you to navigate playlists and gives you control of any iPod with a dock connector from afar, thanks mostly to the fact that the device pipes a song and menu interface out to an attached TV. Imagine navigating and picking out a specific song or a playlist on a plasma display from across the room. We checked out the HomeDock at CES and Macworld and were impressed, despite a TV interface that could use some fine-tuning; DLO is refining the interface for its March shipping date.

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January 10, 2006, 1:36 PM PST
Is Intel the new PowerPC?
Posted by: Molly Wood

Maybe it's a good time for Intel to be cutting a deal with Apple. The latter company's market share is on the rise, and revenues are up--to $5.7 billion last quarter, according to Steve Jobs at today's Macworld keynote address. And AMD is breathing down Intel's neck in a serious way. The company announced a new dual-core chip yesterday, just in advance of Apple's announcement that Intel's Core Duo technology would grace both the new iMac and the all-new MacBook Pro. Meanwhile, in our AMD vs. Intel dual-core shoot-out, AMD stomped Intel, and Intel has since admitted it rushed its dual-core product to market. Now, Michael Dell is starting to make noises about switching to AMD, and analysts are saying it's looking more and more likely. Intel's got to be looking for any out it can find--but is it destined to become the next PowerPC, the chip of choice for a small-market-share, big-mind-share computer maker? It'll depend on how Apple's Mactel launch goes and how Intel fares in the PR battle with AMD. But one thing's for certain: Intel Inside just took on a whole new hue.

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January 10, 2006, 1:24 PM PST
Apple keynote: thoughts on Intel inside
Posted by: Molly Wood

Yep, that MacBook Pro looks pretty sweet--and so does the new Intel iMac. It's an exciting time and an exciting jump for Apple, and I hope the machines are as fast as they say--and more importantly, that they're stable. Am I going to buy one? Not yet. Hardware 1.0 scares me, especially when it's the first piece of hardware with a brand-new chip architecture, running software that's just been ported over, and taking a big risk on a technology partnership that, by Steve's own admission, was developed in a time frame somewhere between one and two years (if you take into account the work that happened before the Intel-Apple agreement was announced). Plus, Apple? If I spent $1,299 on the Final Cut Studio and another $2,500 on a new MacBook Pro, I really, really, really don't think I should have to pay $50 to "crossgrade" my software for a version that will run on the Mactel machines. That's just rude. How about I prove to you that I bought the software by bringing you the CD and the license, which is what you wanted in the first place, and you give me the universal version when I buy a whole new Mac, OK?

I admit it, though. The MacBook Pro looks pretty sweet. Especially with the built-in iSight. But I think I'll wait to see what other dual-core notebooks appear as a result of the new Core Duo technology, and what (if any) problems people start reporting when they get their new iMacs and MacBooks home.

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January 10, 2006, 1:24 PM PST
Apple iPod update from Macworld
Posted by: James Kim

OK, it's so predictable that it's not cool anymore except to Mac zealots, but Steve Jobs's "one more thing..." statement did not reveal a new iPod. In its place was the "man, my G4 PowerBook is a piece of crap" MacBook Pro announcement--cool stuff! But Steve did brag a bit about the current state of the world's most popular MP3 player, and here are the bits:

• 14 million iPods were sold in the last quarter of 2005, compared to the 4.5 million iPods sold in the last quarter of 2004
• 42 million plus: the total number of iPods sold so far
• 32 million iPods sold in 2005 (!)
• 850 million songs sold through the iTunes Music Store since its launch--that's 3 million songs a day
• iTunes Music Store has an 83 percent market share for downloads, even with the presence of Napster, Rhapsody, Yahoo Music, and so on
• 12 TV shows are available for download in iTunes
• 8 million videos have been sold since the video iPod's October 2005 launch
• Sports content such as Rose Bowl clips was added last week
• Saturday Night Live skits were added today
• iPod Radio Remote ($49) announced today
• Chrysler is the first American auto manufacturer to integrate iPod support in cars
• 40 percent of cars sold in 2006 will be iPod ready
• New iPod A/V Connection Kit ($99) includes the Universal Dock, the iPod A/V cable, dock adapters, the Apple Remote, a USB power adapter, and a dock connector to a USB cable--basically all the things that the iPod should have shipped with. Still, if your iPod's going to reside in your living room, this is not a bad deal, since the power adapter, the dock, and the remote alone cost about $99.

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January 10, 2006, 1:11 PM PST
Tetris coming to the DS with online play
Posted by: Will Greenwald

Nintendo has just announced that Tetris is coming to the DS. Tetris DS will have six different gaming modes; touch-screen use; classic Nintendo game themes from Mario, Zelda, and Metroid; and full multiplayer support. Tetris addicts will be able to challenge each other online through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and locally through ad-hoc Wi-Fi, with one Tetris DS cartridge shared between as many as 10 players. Tetris itself is more than 20 years old, and the Game Boy version of the game was one of the first and most popular titles for the system. Tetris hasn't had a compelling sequel since its release on the Game Boy and Nintendo Entertainment System, but an online version for the DS might breathe new life into the classic puzzle game. Nintendo plans to release Tetris DS on March 20.

Source: DS Fanboy via Joystiq

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