apple

Not long ago, America Online (AOL) announced that it will offer a slew of movies for download. At the time, the system wasn't much to look at, the movies were very hit and miss, and AOL had no system in place to offer users the ability to make ... copies of the flicks they acquired. Well, now Apple is trying to up the ante by offering movies on its popular iTunes website, and the potential of the company's crusade is raising eyebrows at Wal-Mart HQ (amongst others). According to sources, Apple intends to start offering movies for download from iTunes within days. Although Apple CEO Steve Jobs had ... (view more)

In recent months, it seems corporate entities have held the upper hand in the great war between big business and underground hackers. The best example of this shift in power has been in the music industry, where conglomerates of major names (i.e. ... Sony) and protectorate groups (International Federation of Phonographic Industries) have been routinely "cleaning up" the once lawless peer-to-peer landscape. However, the hackers have finally struck back, releasing two separate programs to whittle away at the digital rights management (DRM) systems put in place by Microsoft and Apple. Microsoft and ... (view more)

Recently, CNET News produced a story examining the stalled popularity of the iPod. According to the article's author, a lack of hardware updates to the iPod has led to a current state of tech purgatory, a place where Apple might see its digital ... music fanbase slowly decline. Has the iPod bottomed out? We'll look at a few angles in determining the answer to that here. The iPod has seen a few different versions, from the original massive-capacity player, to the half-gig shuffle, to the most recent "Nano." The Nano did revitalize the iPod name, despite CNET News' brushing off of the product. ... (view more)

Apple announced this past Tuesday that Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been appointed to the company's board of directors. Schmidt will still remain CEO of Google. Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO praised both Schmidt and Google saying that "Eric is obviously ... doing a terrific job as CEO of Google, and we look forward to his contributions as a member of Apple's board of directors … Like Apple, Google is very focused on innovation and we think Eric's insights and experience will be very valuable in helping to guide Apple in the years ahead." (Source: eetimes.com ) Schmidt brings to Apple 20 years of ...<a href="/news/1535/googles-ceo-joins-apples-board-directors" class="more-link">view more

Next to Apple, Creative is one of the most recognizable names in the Mp3 player industry. As a result of a patent dispute between Apple and Creative over a music player interface, the two companies have settled with a number of conditions. Today, ... thanks to their competitor, Creative is $100 million richer. During August of 2005, Creative was awarded a patent for a unique digital music setup. According to a press release at the time, Creative described the patent as a tool that "enables selection of at least one track in a portable media player as a user sequentially navigates through a ... (view more)

Yesterday we reported on America Online's recent termination of three employees, including its Chief Technology Officer, for leaked customer web-search information. Today, the trend appears to be continuing, with a group of Apple employees being ... fired over their illegal downloading of the company's unreleased Macintosh operating system (OS) "Leopord" -- the upgrade to the curren version, "Tiger" (10.4.x). Although certainly not as popularly anticipated as Microsoft's Vista, Apple's Leopard OS uses true 64-bit technology, while still maintaining 32-bit compatibility. One of Leopard's most ... (view more)

It looks like Nike isn't the only major American corporation facing charges of sweatshop labor. Apple, creator of the massively popular iPod, recently responded to allegations that many of its workers are slaving through excessive hours for just ... dollars a week. The accusations have led to Apple's own investigation into the reportedly affected factories. Most of Apple's iPods are made in China -- perhaps the world's new hot spot for cheap tech manufacturing. The country of some 1.3 billion people is also the major supplier of wares for department store giant Wal-Mart, and is steadily growing ... (view more)

It seems the iPod is everywhere these days. Recently, Infopackets discussed the announcement by Ford, GM, and Mazda that Apple and its iPod would be fully integrated in many future models. However, the most reasonable and yet elusive place for the ... iPod is the cellular phone market. There are rumblings an announcement will be made by Apple in the coming months on such a product, but many insiders are skeptical about how it will work. Without a question, there is a place for an iPod phone. A significantly powerful one -- and we're talking more than 50-100 songs -- could effectively combine the ... (view more)

With the North American automotive industry in a tailspin at the moment, automakers are turning to the latest and most popular technology to regain appeal. And, for anyone not stuck in a cave or buried by a landslide for the last five years, the ... clearest way to catch a techie's eye is to flash an Apple iPod -- the industry's current undisputed "Golden Toy". That's exactly what Ford, General Motors, and even Mazda are doing, as they work with engineers to integrate Apple's wares into future audio systems. Isn't this technology already out there? At this time, most iPod owners are forced to ... (view more)

As previously noted , Microsoft officially confirmed the existence of its own competitor to Apple's successful iPod portable music machine, Zune, after months of rumors and speculation. One of Microsoft's big features for Zune is reportedly the ... ability to download music and videos wirelessly. (Source: cnn.com ) That means you wouldn't first need to download the music to your PC, and then transfer it to your player. This gives Zune a true "on the go" feel. If the speculation proves accurate, the Zune player could detect what music is on other people's players nearby and automatically download ... (view more)