Apple/Macintosh News

The NPD Group, a market-research firm, reports that 30 percent of the U.S. consumers who purchased Apple's iPhone 3G from its release on July 11 through August switched mobile carriers in order to join AT&T, which holds exclusive U.S. sales rights for the red-hot device.

The battle over e-readers is heating up rapidly, thanks to new hardware entries from the world's two leading e-book manufacturers and the surprising popularity of e-book software on Apple's iPhone and iPod touch. Although the total number of e-books is still well short of a single Steven King press run, the next-generation devices point to a steadily maturing market for digital literature.

The launch of the iPhone 3G boosted Apple's smartphone marketshare within the United States from 11 to 17 percent, according to an NPD report released Monday.

The Dream Apps has released Dream Capture 2.2, an update to their video recording software for Mac OS X. A free update for registered users, Dream Capture costs $9.95.

New laptops from Apple, maker of such advanced products as the iPhone, the iPod and the Mac, could be made from bricks. An aluminum brick, that is.

San Francisco - Mono 2.0, an open-source runtime enabling .Net-based applications to run on Linux, Mac OS X, and Unix, is being released Monday, featuring capabilities for a number of .Net technologies.

Seth Weintraub of 9to5Mac, a blogger with good sources within the Macintosh community, is reporting that Apple has invented a new manufacturing process for MacBooks.

It looks like either somebody drinks a lot of coffee and talks really fast, or somebody diddled with the results of the phone recruitment feature in the Barack Obama campaign's iPhone application.

SEATTLE - A CNN-owned Web site called iReport.com, which publishes reports written by ordinary citizens, said Friday it will give the Securities and Exchange Commission information about the author of an item that claimed Apple CEO Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking for the person who falsely reported that Apple CEO Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack on Friday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, in its latest bid to use Internet Age technology to trounce Republican rival John McCain and connect with supporters, has released free software that turns Apple iPhones into political rallying tools.

NEW YORK - A delayed top-of-the-line BlackBerry phone from Research in Motion Ltd. is still undergoing testing by AT&T Inc., and RIM's co-CEO implied that the carrier wants to avoid the chorus of complaints about performance that greeted the new iPhone this summer.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A false Internet report that Apple Inc's Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack briefly slammed his company's stock on Friday and raised fresh questions about the delicate relationship between traditional and new media.

"It is not true. There is no truth to the rumor." That was the terse denial issued by Katie Cotton, vice president of worldwide communications for Apple, in response to a post on CNN's iReport that Apple CEO Steve Jobs suffered a heart attack Friday.

LONDON (Reuters) - Nokia's answer to Apple's iPhone will go on sale in seven countries in Asia, the Middle East and Europe this year but will miss the Christmas shopping season in most developed markets.

LONDON (Reuters) - Nokia, the world's top mobile phone maker, launched its free music package on Thursday, issuing a challenge to Apple Inc's dominance of the digital music market.

Human Software has released Edit 1.5 for Aperture, an update to its plug-in suite for Apple's pro photo software. It costs $299.95 for the full suite, or you can purchase the plug-ins individually.

InstantAction, the 3D gaming site that runs in a Web browser, now works on the Mac. You can sign up and play now.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Tired of running out of batteries and having to find a socket to charge your mobile phone or iPod? An Argentine fashion designer may have the answer: a timeless jacket with a built-in solar panel.

On Thursday, Nokia introduced its first touch-screen cell phone and launched its new music service, pushing into a market that Apple (NasdaqGS:AAPL - News) pioneered with its iPod, iPhone and iTunes.

Apple has missed a self-imposed deadline for bringing background-processing capabilities--of sorts--to the iPhone.

LONDON (AFP) - Nokia will start offering unlimited music through mobile phones in Britain on October 16, the Finnish company said Thursday, as it seeks to muscle in on a market dominated by Apple's iPod.

After putting up a wall protecting its iPhone technology, Apple instead started a war with developers -- but now the company is waiving the white flag.

SANTA CLARA, California (Reuters) - The chief executive of Nokia, the world mobile phone leader, gave credit to new competitors from the computer world on Wednesday, but said his company was set to respond to all challengers.

LONDON (Reuters) - Nokia unveiled on Thursday its first touch-screen phone, priced well below Apple's iPhone model, as the world's top mobile phone maker hopes to tap consumers for whom the iPhone has been too expensive.

The FreeAgent Go for Mac is an external hard drive built by storage giant Seagate that promises fast FireWire 800 transfer speeds, spacious storage, and a stylish (if bulky) white and aluminum design meant to compliment the Mac.

Sonnet Technologies has announced the availability of its Aria Extreme N PCI 802.11n wireless PCI card. It costs $99.95.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Nintendo Co Ltd will launch a DS machine that can take pictures and play music, hoping to cement its lead over Sony's PlayStation and encroach into the territory of Apple Inc's iPod and iPhone.

Macgamestore has released Clue Classic for the Macintosh, developed by Hasbro and GamesCafe. It costs $19.95, and a demo version is available.