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Correction 2:10 p.m. PDT: This blog initially misstated the savings for buyers of Office 2004 for Mac Student and Teacher edition if they choose to upgrade to the 2008 Special Media Edition. The savings would be $350.

Microsoft has improved on an earlier offer to those who buy Office 2004 for Mac before the new version of Office is released in January.

In September, the company said it would offer buyers of Office 2004 an upgrade to the comparable version of Office 2008 for the cost of shipping and handling.

Now, those who purchase Office 2004 for Mac … Read more

Without announcement, Apple has quietly updated its line of MacBook laptops with higher-end hardware.

MacBook Pro buyers now have the option of upgrading from a 2.4GHz to a 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, according to Apple's Web site. The upgrade costs $250.

All of the 13-inch MacBook laptops will now come with Intel's Santa Rosa platform, featuring an Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor. They also now feature a high-gloss screen and the option of expanding the stock 1GB RAM up to 4GB, according to the Apple Web site.

Both MacBook and MacBook Pro buyers will … Read more

This just in: zombies overrun just about everywhere. Videos and other documentation of the brain-eating reanimated corpses are flooding the Web.

Once upon a time, the invasion was contained within the confines of Hollywood and, uh, Haiti. Now they've spread to other places. They're drinking Bloody Marys in Manhattan, Toronto, and all over the civilized world.

Mobs of the recently undemised are involved in politics and technology in the Bay Area and practicing yoga in Brooklyn. Undead legions are staggering through Second Life, playing Halo 3, and getting recruited for innumerable other games.

You already know about another … Read more

The release of an easy-to-download method of opening up the iPhone to third-party applications prompted almost 150,000 downloads of the software in three days.

Our friends over at iPhone Atlas spoke with Nicholas "Drudge" Penree, one of the programmers of the AppSnapp "jailbreak" application, who provided the number. AppSnapp was released Sunday to allow iPhones and iPod Touches running the latest version of Apple's iPhone firmware to run third-party applications. Penree thinks the 144,000 downloads of the program reported since Sunday translates into around 100,000 devices that are now free to run … Read more

There's a new piece of malware out there targeting Mac users that takes advantage of the inclination to watch porn.

Intego, a Mac security software company, issued an alert Wednesday warning Mac users of the OSX.RSPlug.A malware, which it describes as a Trojan horse. Those of you familiar with mythology recognize the reference, and OSX.RSPlug.A disguises itself as a video codec that would ensure whatever porn video you just stumbled upon will play on your Mac.

But to get infected with the malware, you have to accept the invitation to download "new version of … Read more

An update to make Lightroom 1.2 fully compatible with Leopard Mac OS X 10.5 should be available mid-November, Adobe has announced.

The company says photographers can continue using the photo management software in Leopard without too much issue, but stressed that the current version of Lightroom 1.2 is not fully compatible with Apple's new operating system.

Adobe recommends that users refer to a list of known compatibility issues published on Adobe's Lightroom Journal Web site before deciding whether to use the current version of Lightroom with Leopard. It also issued this warning:

"The interaction … Read more

Now that The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google will announce a new software package that aims at revolutionizing the way we interact and use cell phones, it strikes a bit odd to me that all of this is coming to fruition right now.

Now, obviously I'm not privy to Google strategy sessions, and my proceeding predictions are purely speculation, but doesn't it seem a bit interesting that Google is poised to mount an all-out offensive on the cell phone business? And whether you believe Gphone will be a device or an OS, it doesn't really matter -- that attack has become just one part of the entire mobile assault.

If you ask me, this is looking more and more like a premeditated, 5-year, three-point plan that aims at one eventual conclusion: reinvent the cell phone business.… Read more