ZDNet Must Read:
Apple to music industry - It's our way, or iTunes gets the bullet!
The National Music Publishers' Association wants to see an increase in the royalty rates paid to its members for songs purchased through online music stores (the association wants the rates... Continued »
October 6th, 2008
Linux laptops see 4x returns compared to Windows
Do people who pay $299 to $399 for a Linux notebook suffer greater levels of buyer’s remorse compared to those buying Windows machines?
According to MSI’s U.S. sales director Andy Tung this seems to be the case:
“We have done a lot of studies on the return rates and haven’t really talked about it much until now. Our internal research has shown that the return of netbooks is higher than regular notebooks, but the main cause of that is Linux. People would love to pay $299 or $399 but they don’t know what they get until they open the box. They start playing around with Linux and start realizing that it’s not what they are used to. They don’t want to spend time to learn it so they bring it back to the store. The return rate is at least four times higher for Linux netbooks than Windows XP netbooks.”
[Emphasis added]
So, people are attracted by the price, get the machine home, unpack it and Read the rest of this entry »
October 4th, 2008
SEC investigating fake Steve Jobs heart attack story
A fake story that appeared on CNN’s iReport site which claimed that Apple CEO Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack is being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The agency’s enforcement unit is trying to determine whether the iReport.com posting was intended to push down the company’s stock price. CNN is cooperating with the SEC’s probe, network spokeswoman Jennifer Martin said. The report is “not true,” Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said in an interview.
I can’t say that this investigation is unexpected. I came across the story very early on in the day on Friday (via Digg) and after about 10 minutes worth of digging around was certain that it was false (although at least one site took it on face value), but the effect on Apple’s stock price was almost immediate.
Apple stock recovered but later fell again and ended the day at under $100 a share:
But these sudden falls in stock price based on speculation and rumor show that Apple is at present very vulnerable, especially when it comes to Steve Jobs and his health. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean at Yale University’s School of Management had this to say to Bloomberg:
“Leaving it to rumor and speculation is reckless,” said Sonnenfeld, who has personally owned Apple shares since 1997, the year Jobs returned as CEO. “If he is healthy, they should say so. If he’s not, we should know that too.”
While it’s true that no stock is a safe bet under the current economic conditions, Apple stock seems to be particularly vulnerable to any bad news, and especially so if that relates to Jobs.
Thoughts?
October 3rd, 2008
Apple shares fall below $100 … again
Following the fake story that Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack shares in Apple temporarily dipped below the $100 mark (this happened at between 9.00am and 10.00am EDT) but quickly recovered. However, Apple shares have dipped below $100 for the second time today.
So, what’s up with Apple stock? Well, it seems that the second fall of the day is down to Barclays Capital cutting the price target for the stock by $45 to $135.
UPDATE: Apple stock closed at 97.07.
Anyone still think AAPL is a safe haven during troubled economic times?
October 3rd, 2008
Fake Steve Jobs heart attack story pushes stock price below $100
News that Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack (which later turned out to be false) pushed the company’s stock price to under $100.
Here’s a graph of the damage:
Judging by that, I think that a fair few investors developed chest pains as a result. The lowest point there seemed to be $97.45. Stock price has since recovered.
The news story was posted onto CNN’s iReport by someone under the nickname of johntw. The story has since been removed.
This was the text posted:
Steve Jobs was rushed to the ER just a few hours ago after suffering a major heart attack. I have an insider who tells me that paramedics were called after Steve claimed to be suffering from severe chest pains and shortness of breath. My source has opted to remain anonymous, but he is quite reliable. I haven’t seen anything about this anywhere else yet, and as of right now, I have no further information, so I thought this would be a good place to start. If anyone else has more information, please share it.
Horse play or a genuine mistake? We may never know.
October 3rd, 2008
Put your PC on an energy diet!
With soaring energy prices people are concerned about how much electricity their gadgets are consuming. Go green by saving dollars and the environment by putting your PC on an energy diet!
Note: You can look at this post in one of two ways. You can either think of it as making you and your tech a little bit more eco-friendly or you can look at it as a way to help you save a few dollars. Either way, I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s a good idea to save power while at the same time saving money.
Simple steps!
Simple energy saving tips that you can put into practice today!
Loading …- First things first!
Find out just how much juice your PC is currently using. There are several devices on the market that will allow you to measure the how much power your PC (and other devices) is consuming.
Two of my favorites power monitoring devices are:
- Kill-A-Watt - Simple set of features
- Watts Up Pro - Advanced set of features, including logging
Either of these will tell you exactly how much power your PC is consuming, and how much it is costing you to run your PC.
Tip: While some power monitors will do the math for you, with some of the cheaper ones you will have to calculate for yourself how much the power is costing you. Fortunately the math is pretty straightforward:
((Watts x Hours in Use)/1000) x Cost per kilowatt-hour = Total cost - Put Vista to sleep
If you’re running Windows Vista then make sure that you get S3 sleep working right if you are going to be making use of it. A properly powered-down PC in sleep mode should be drawing less than 10 watts or so.
Tip: XP users can find power-saving tips here. - Off is better than sleep!
I’ll be honest with you and come clean about the fact that I’m no fan of sleep mode. Why? Because even if you can power down a PC to the point where it consumes less than 10 watts, that’s 10 watts too much when you look at today’s energy prices. Scale up 10 watts over the millions of Vista PCs out there and you quickly realize that sleep mode is a concept from a past era (it’s Vampire Power that Microsoft is making you waste to make Vista seem faster during boot up).
Tip #1: If you have more than one PC then you’re making even bigger energy savings by shutting them off as opposed to putting them in sleep mode.
Tip #2: Contrary to popular belief, you’re not wearing out your PC by switching of off regularly. - Get a “smart” power strip
Chances are that you have a fair bit of kit attached to your PC that you can safely power down as soon as your PC is off. An easy way to do this is to get a “smart” power strip that powers down specific outlets when you switch off your PC.
Tip #1: You might be surprised to find that something as simple as your speakers are drawing 15-20 watts all day, every day. A “smart” power strip can help you put a stop to this waste.
Tip #2: A cheaper solution is to invest in a power strip where each outlet has a switch. - Off the grid!
Are you running a volunteer grid computing applications where you’re searching for aliens, calculating Pi to a crazy number of digits, or folding proteins then these applications are pushing your PC hard when it’s supposed to be idle.
Tip: A PC running applications such as Folding @home can be really expensive to run - if you don’t believe me, hook up a Kill-A-Watt and see for yourself! - Go Notebooks!
Notebooks use far less power than desktops.
Loading … Loading … Loading …Next –>
October 2nd, 2008
Nintendo takes a shot at Apple and Sony with the DSi
Nintendo has confirmed that it will begin selling an updated version it its handheld DS games console in Japan on November 1st - the bad news is that everyone else will have to wait until 2009.
New new dual-screen console - called the DSi - looks an awful lot like the current DSlite. It has two screens (the lower screen being a touchscreen), a similar complement of buttons, comes in black and white. As for the changes, well, it has two built-in cameras (one on the inside and one, which is VGA capable, of the outside), the screens are slightly larger at 3.25 inches, there’s an SD card slot, internal memory, it’s beefed up for multimedia apps, and there’s a built-in browser. The device is also some 12% thinner thanks to the omission of the GBA cartridge slot.
October 1st, 2008
NetApplications Sept 08 data
September 08 data from NetApplications is out. Time to go trend-digging!
Note: I know that a lot of you have issues trusting data from a single source such as NetApplications for browser and market share but the way I look at it is that it’s a good source of data to observe changing trends.
- IE6/7 usage has dropped nearly 1% from August (from 71.96% to 71.02%)
- Firefox 2/3 usage down slightly (from 19.25% in August to 19.04% in September
- Google Chrome ended the month at 0.78% (compare this to Opera 9.x which ended the month at 0.67%)
- Intel Mac share up to 5.8% (from 5.44% for August).
- Linux is at 0.91% (down from 0.03% the previous month)
- iPhone market share stands at 0.32% (up a fraction from 0.3% in August)
October 1st, 2008
Apple strikes back against Psystar, asks for counterclaim to be dismissed
Apple has hit back against claims made by Mac-clone maker Psystar that the company is operating in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act and will be asking the U.S. District Court judge to dismiss to dismiss the counterclaim.
The 23-page filing is heavy reading but there are two sections that pretty much sum up Apple’s argument (emphasis added):
Defendant Psystar Corporation is knowingly infringing Apple’s copyrights and trademarks, and inducing others to do the same. Psystar makes and sells personal computers that use, without permission, Apple’s proprietary operating system software. In an obvious attempt to divert attention from its unlawful actions, Psystar asserts deeply flawed antitrust counterclaims designed to have this Court force Apple to license its software to Psystar, a direct competitor. The Court should reject Psystar’s efforts to excuse its copyright infringement, and dismiss these Counterclaims with prejudice.
October 1st, 2008
Day 1 with my new Nokia E71
My love affair with Windows Mobile was, once again, a short-lived one (will I ever learn). Yesterday I took delivery of what has, so far at any rate, turned out to be the best cellphone I’ve ever owned. Gone is the Glofiish M800, and in its place I’m carrying a Nokia E71.
So why have I binned (OK, passed on) the M800? Well, partly it was because of the Windows Mobile platform. Let me list some words that describe the Windows Mobile experience (for me at any rate):
- Slow
- Clunky
- Unreliable
- Crashy
I liked the touchscreen on the M800, but I have to admit that I never got to grips with handling calls from the software interface. I also wasn’t happy with the battery life on the Glofiish either, so when the opportunity to pick up an E71 came up, I jumped at it.
After being in my hands for a little over 24 hours, I have to say that I’m thrilled by the E71. Why? Because everything just works. The interface is fast and very easy to navigate and the OS very responsive (that Symbian S60 is a sweet platform). The applications load fast and there’s a broad base of installed apps covering pretty much everything I need to get going. I’ve augmented the built-in web browser with Opera Mini and added IM+ as the messenger client, but beyond that I’m happy with the installed apps (I might update Quickoffice to the latest version at some point, but to be honest I don’t use the new Microsoft Office formats that much - or at least people I work with don’t).
Note: I am looking for a good password manager - if you know of one, let me know!
The build of the E71 is also first rate. The screen is beautiful and the keyboard a real pleasure to use. Nokia has also made good use of mixing metal and plastic when putting the shell of the E71 together and the device feels solid and well constructed.
The battery is also first rate. After a single charge (actually, just a 30 min top-up) the battery is still at over 50% after a day of web, email, messaging, GPS, oh, and talking to folks on the phone. The 1,500 mAh Li-Ion battery (the same pack that Nokia use for the E90 Communicator) packs a real punch.
So far, I’m very pleased with my new E71!
October 1st, 2008
Apple to music industry - It’s our way, or iTunes gets the bullet!
The National Music Publishers’ Association wants to see an increase in the royalty rates paid to its members for songs purchased through online music stores (the association wants the rates raised from 9 cents to 15 cents a track). Apple doesn’t like the sound of this and is willing to shut down iTunes rather than raise the 99 cents a song price or absorb the higher royalty costs. Is this all just hot air, or could Apple really shut down iTunes?
Here’s what Apple said to the Copyright Royalty Board (PDF, page 4):
If iTS were forced simply to absorb any increase in mechanical royalty rate, the result would be to significantly increase the likelihood of the store operating at a financial loss — which is no alternative at all. Apple has repeatedly made clear that it is in this business to make money, and most likely would not continue to operate iTS if it were no longer possible to do so profitably.
Apple doesn’t seem willing to make a compromise there - it’s Apple’s way or iTunes gets the Read the rest of this entry »
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Adrian is a technology journalist and author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology. He also runs a popular blog called The PC Doctor. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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