Today's MU PROMO offers 48% savings on Todoist Premium 2.5. "Todoist Premium helps you track and organize all your tasks regardless of where you are. Add and manage tasks from the web, email, Mac, iPhone, Android and more! With the full list of Premium features you’ll never let an important task slip through the cracks again."
Major/Minor Threat to Apple's living room vision: Microsoft's new Xbox One game+media hub?
Vote for the results in the left column below or go straight to the results here.
Wednesday Highlights: Tim Cook goes to Washington, under fire from the US Senate over offshore tax shelters including Ireland, China, makes no apologies, defending his company and telling senators they need to fix the tax system; Cook even plays a little Genius Bar as Senator John McCain complains of having to constantly update apps on is iPhone; plenty more in our Apple/Macintosh, Op/Ed, and Finances sections; Apple claiming Samsung Galaxy S4 infringes on five patents including customizations Samsung has done on the Android Jelly Bean OS; a "sophisticated 'operation hangover' gang in India" said to be responsible for new OS X Oslo malware; Mactuts+ offers help for those having issues downloading apps from the Mac App Store; Macworld shows you where to get some nice, free or low-cost fonts; and the staff at Macworld have another tutorial for switchers from Windows to OS X; and here's how to sync calendars for those of you balancing between Mountain Lion and Snow Leopard systems; according to new stats, Samsung and Motorola have cut Apple's lead in customer satisfaction by half; Apple updates online store in preparation for Father's Day; TechHive shows you which major US carriers have the most LTE throughout the states; Tim Cook says the USA-made Macs are to be built in the great state of Texas, with Apple spending $100 billion in the endeavor; Flickr, Vimeo integration rumored for iOS 7, and a couple interesting iPhone 6 concepts hit the web; LAPTOP Mag gets a hands-on with LifeProof's Fre iPad mini case; is Apple held to different standards than other companies?; Rush Limbaugh has no love for the Senates "high-tech lynching" of Apple; Microsoft's Xbox One means "goodbye freedom".
THURSDAY BLOWOUT: Every NEW or RENEWING paid subscriber receives 2 YEARS FREE.
"Is There a Media Conspiracy Against Apple?" TheStreet 8:05 AM
"Apple's Critics Focus on Wrong Kind of 'Cool': The Company Long Ago Lost Its Underdog Cred. But as a Dominating Force in Mobile Space, Loyalty Is More Important Than Ever" Advertising Age 11:56 AM
"Apple: Most Undervalued Stock on Wall St?" TheStreet 11:52 AM
"Apple Tries (A Little) Harder to Get Its Message Out" WSJ Blogs 4:24 PM
"Is Apple's Threat Real In The Living Room?" Seeking Alpha 9:09 AM
"Apple's Jony Ive's cooking up new iLife, iWork user interfaces in Cupertino's dev kitchen" Computerworld 8:09 AM
"Jony Ive hasn't been given too much power at Apple... because he's always had it" Network World 8:34 AM
"Apple App Advantage Eroded as Google Narrows IPhone Lead" Bloomberg 8:10 AM
"Court rejects Apple request for fast-track appeal for Samsung ban: The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says Apple must take the normal, slower route for a review of its appeal." CNET News 11:59 AM
"Apple Loses Bid to Ban Samsung Products (Again)" PC Magazine 12:49 PM
"What Will the Last OS X Be Named?" Apple Gazette 4:23 PM
"Graebert aggressively attacks Big CAD Leaders with 'Convert to DraftSight' program" Architosh 1:38 PM
"More OS X software rot: Evidence of the quality rot in Mac OS X continues to grow. The latest is a hilarious-if-it-weren't-so-sad: typing 'file:///' with a capital F results in many Mac applications crashing. But that's not all." ZDNet 1:02 PM
"Perhaps Jony Ive's user interface improvements will show up sooner than expected in iWork, iLife overhauls" AppleDailyReport 8:18 AM
Press Releases
"LightWave 11.5 first release under new LightWave 3D Group" Architosh 1:39 PM
"Apple Launches Self-Published Book Section for iBooks" The Mac Observer 9:13 PM
"January Tablet Update: Usage Share for Android Tablets Rises in North America" Chitika 9:35 AM
"Chitika: iPad at 81% tablet web share in North America, Kindle Fire grabs 7.7%, and Galaxy line takes 3.9%" The Next Web 9:35 AM
"Tablet Market Share Trends: Android Tablets Overtake IPad, Maybe For Good" Tech-thoughts 8:06 AM
"By 2014, Apple Will Be As Accepted By Enterprise IT As Microsoft Is Today – Gartner 2013 Mobile and Wireless Predicts" MacPrices 8:07 AM
"California Supreme Court Finds Apple not Guilty in Credit Card Lawsuit" Patently Apple 11:51 AM
"Apple Loses iPhone Trademark Dispute In Brazil" Forbes 11:53 AM
"Apple Will Lose iPhone Trademark in Brazil" The Mac Observer 8:44 PM
"Apple employees find the company's secretive nature frustrating: Reviews on employee satisfaction website Glassdoor suggest that secrecy at Apple can make it difficult to work" Macworld UK 8:20 AM
"Infographic: the periodic table of smartphones" GigaOM 8:17 AM
"140,000 Units of Apple's iPhone 5 Sold in Korea in January, Below Expectations" BrightWire 9:07 AM
"Watch as Vine becomes the next great news-gathering tool" CNET News 8:18 AM
"Apple museum to appear at Atlanta computer festival" TUAW 12:46 PM
"Kindle ad praises the iPad's Retina display, but..." iDownload Blog 8:08 AM
"Bill Gates: 'Steve Jobs was always cooler than me'/Microsoft co-founder has admitted that his approach is 'a little geekier' than Jobs' was" Macworld UK 8:17 AM
"Photo Gallery: Cirque du Mac X & The Macworld Allstar Band" The Mac Observer 2:14 PM
Non-Apple News
"Google's Eyewear will allow users to visualize a Ring of Icons" Patent Bolt 4:22 PM
"Mobi-Lens System for Smartphones and Tablet Computers" eXtensions 8:07 AM
"PlugBug World Can Charge your MacBook Pro and Your Mobile Devices Too" Terry White's Tech Blog 8:22 AM
"Abyss: the Wraiths of Eden for OS X is swimmingly good fun" AppleDailyReport 8:18 AM
iPad/iPhone/iPod touch Apps
"Pythonista Review – Programming iOS with Python for iPad iPhone/Pythonista, finally programming workflow automation for iOS?" Jacken's Blog 9:20 PM
"'Thirty Six' app makes you a thoughtful photographer again" TUAW 8:43 PM
"The Cider Press: Librarian Pro 2 Review -PIM application makes keeping track of books, cds, and movies a quick and painless process" MacReviewZone 10:31 AM
"Appidemic: TiltWorld for iPhone, iPod touch" AppleTell 8:55 AM
"PadGadget Photobooth: Use Your iPad to Send Personalized Valentine's Day Photo Cards" PadGadget 8:36 AM
"Review: Shaq Down for iOS misses the mark for 90s nostalgia" Macworld 8:55 AM
"TA Plays: 'Zombie Road Trip' - A Video Game With Zombies In It" Touch Arcade 9:17 PM
"iOS com.apple.mobile.installation.plist rebuild: People have been complaining about Weather.app not working anymore after applying evasi0n jailbreak." pod2g's iOS blog 8:08 AM
"I Remember Dell, Back When It Was Dell" Techland 8:42 PM
"Accidental Empires, Part 2 — Preface to the 1996 edition" I, Cringely 7:23 PM
"Accidental Empires, Part 3 — Preface to the original 1991 edition" I, Cringely 7:29 PM
"Can Smart Glasses Replace the Smartphone?" The Mac Observer 2:13 PM
"Microsoft Office 365 Is Not A Good Deal For Singles" ReadWrite 8:55 AM
"Is Your Awesome New Media Room Poisoning Your Family?" Digital Trends 8:21 AM
Humor/Cartoons
"Dell Acquired By Gateway 2000 In Merger Of 2 Biggest Names In Computer Technology: Tech Juggernaut Poised To Take On Mega-Rival Compaq" The Onion 9:00 PM
"Dell seals $24.4B deal with founder, investment firm to go private" Associated Press 8:52 AM
"Dell in $24.4B founder-led deal to go private: Slumping personal computer maker Dell is bowing out of the stock market in a $24.4 billion buyout that represents the largest deal of its kind since the Great Recession dried up the financing for such risky maneuvers." Associated Press 8:54 AM
"Dell in $24 Billion Deal to Go Private" New York Times [Free/Paid Registration Required] 9:13 AM
"Dell to Sell Itself for $24.4 Billion" WSJ.com [Paid Membership Required] 9:16 AM
"Dell Taken Private as PC Slump Hastens $24.4 Billion LBO" Bloomberg 9:26 AM
"With buyout set, Dell needs to lay out PC strategy, analysts say" Computerworld New Zealand 4:55 PM
"Dell computers to be bought back by founder Michael Dell" BBC 9:16 AM
"5 consequences of Dell's $24.4 billion deal to go private" CNET News 1:02 PM
"HP Says It's Eager To Pick At Dell's Corpse" BGR 12:29 PM
"Dell announces that it's going private, assisted by $2 billion loan from Microsoft" Engadget 8:53 AM
"Microsoft's loan to Dell certain to trigger more OEM angst, say analysts" Computerworld New Zealand 7:04 PM
"Here's Microsoft's Terse Explanation Of Why It Loaned Dell $2 Billion" Business Insider 8:52 AM
"Will Microsoft's $2 billion stake in Dell play out like its Nokia partnership?" ZDNet 8:54 AM
"A Deal for Dell" New York Times [Free/Paid Registration Required] 8:34 AM
"Dell's Dubious Decision To Go Private" Forbes 8:24 AM
"Dell Nears $23 Billion Deal to Go Private" WSJ.com [Paid Membership Required] 7:17 AM
"Report: Dell May Take Company Private on Tuesday" Mashable 8:25 AM
"Dell Reportedly near $24B deal to go private" WRAL Techwire 8:23 AM
"Dell offer nearing; board Reportedly voting on deal" Electronista 7:10 AM
"Published: UK ruling holding Google's push email patent invalid as well as licensed to Microsoft" Foss Patents 7:14 AM
"Microsoft and Huawei of China to Unite to Sell Low-Cost Windows Smartphones in Africa" New York Times [Free/Paid Registration Required] 8:18 AM
"Windows Phone Overtook Blackberry To Become America's No.3 Mobile Os In Q4 2012" BGR 5:22 PM
"Microsoft's big data boss heads to Madrona Venture Group" GigaOM 3:32 PM
"IBM Brings Watson Technologies to New Power Servers for SMBs" CIO 8:49 AM
"IBM Slashes Prices on Power Servers, Widens Distribution" AllThingsD 8:50 AM
"IBM takes on rivals with lower priced server range" Reuters 7:18 AM
"IBM Fights Rivals With Agressive Power Server Prices" InformationWeek 8:55 AM
"I.B.M. Slims Down Its Big Data Offerings" New York Times [Free/Paid Registration Required] 7:16 AM
"IBM adds analytics-specific boxes to PureSystems line" GigaOM 7:12 AM
"HP board Reportedly mulling breakup of company (update)" The Verge 8:52 PM
"HP Gets Real Underminey In Response To Dell Going Private" Gizmodo 3:32 PM
"Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ)'s Chromebook is Going to Face Competition" The Point Daily 8:26 AM
"HP Leads By Inches With It's First Chromebook" GadgeTell 8:27 AM
"HP Chromebook arrives with disappointing price in tow" ITworld 8:28 AM
"HP cloud services tackle software development, app performance: New Agile Manager and Performance Anywhere services take aim at agile dev teams and production apps" InfoWorld 8:35 AM
"Please, Chromebooks, Don't Turn into PCs" Techland 8:12 AM
"Intel shrinks SSDs in bid for tablet market: New SSD 525 is one-eighth the size of previous 2.5-inch models, company says" Techworld 8:34 AM
"AMD To Launch Richland APUs on 19th March – Piledriver FX CPU Refresh Expected in June 2013" WCCF Tech 8:30 AM
"Cisco joins $8bn gang, shovels cash into ex-NASA OpenStack cloud upstart" The Register 8:31 AM
"Cisco Should Pick Off Alcatel-Lucent" TheStreet 8:32 AM
"Cisco: Our mobile data appetite doubled in size in 2012 (and it's getting bigger)" GigaOM 9:01 PM
"Oracle Announces General Availability of MySQL 5.6" Marketwire 8:53 AM
"Chip designer ARM's Q4 profit beats expectations" Reuters 7:19 AM
"ARM sees 16 percent profit increase in Q4 2012, 21 percent increase in royalty payments" Engadget 7:12 AM
"ARM Q4 revenues up 21 percent, pre-tax profits hit $126M" Electronista 7:36 AM
"NEC's spring all-in-one PC lineup melds TV with Twitter" Engadget 8:11 AM
"NAND flash sales indicate ultrabook disappointment: According to new data from iSuppli, flash memory revenue was down 7 percent in 2012." CNET News 12:46 PM
"Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) Option Traders Expect a Strong Week" Schaeffer's Research 8:25 AM
"Europe Markets: Europe stocks rebound; ARM Holdings rallies/European stock markets on Tuesday bounced back from the previous day's sharp selloff after better-than-expected euro-zone data, while investors also digested earnings reports from some of the region's heaviest hitters." MarketWatch 4:57 PM
"Asia Markets: Asia stocks fall as Europe tensions rise/Most of the major Asian markets fell Tuesday, with stocks in Hong Kong and Tokyo hit particularly hard as Europe's political troubles forced their way back into investor focus." MarketWatch 4:58 PM
"Final Glance: Computer companies/Computer companies shares mixed at the close of trading" Associated Press 7:10 PM
MacSurfer Headline News Staff
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief: P. Pearson
Managing & Weekday Editor: D. Mahaffy
Evening Editors: S. Siegling and
D. Mahaffy
Weekend Editors: S. Siegling , C. Rogers and
D. Mahaffy
CEO: T. Jefferson
CFO: K. Midas
Editor Emeritus: W. Shakespeare
Writers Emeritus: W. Lewis, R. Chandler, W. Morris, G. Simenon, C. Vallejo, F. Garcia Lorca,
P. White, R. Adams, P. Valery, C. Aiken, R. Bradbury, F. Pessoa, S. Bellow, F. O'Connor
Art Directors: V. Van Gogh, C. Monet
Advertising Managers: C. Chaplin, H. Marx
Public Relations Firm: Bits & Bytes
Bomb Squad: Type 11 Errors
Chief Scientists: I. Asimov, S. Hawking
Road Crew: R. Petty, J. Cooper
Mechanics: Tom and Ray
Fishing Crew: A. Lindner, D. Stange, K. VanDam
Head Chef: Mom
Head Travel Guru: D. Pearson
Mascots: Cyberdog, Clarus the Dogcow
General Counsel: #%@*$$$$!
