"Why Did Apple Inc. Buy This 'Star Wars'-Related Company? Apple usually lets other companies test the waters, then disrupts the market with a device that addresses the shortcomings of older products. That's what Apple is likely doing right now in augmented reality and virtual reality." The Motley Fool 7:57 AM
"Panic in iOS Land/Today, a doomsday scenario: Apple execs resort to rash, countercultural moves to take iOS out of its tailspin. Read at your own risk. A frustrated Apple engineer (who shall remain nameless) slips me a copy of an internal memo that a senior exec has sent to the iOS team ... And, of course, it's a joke..." Monday Note 2:03 PM
"Samsung agrees to pay smartphone rival Apple" New Zealand Herald 9:06 PM
"Apple waited too long to get into music streaming: Apple Music is in fourth place behind Pandora, Spotify, and YouTube" The Verge 12/5
"Here's What Avago Just Told Us About Apple iPhone 6s/6s Plus Demand: iPhone 6s/6s Plus demand isn't holding up as well as iPhone 6/6 Plus demand did." The Motley Fool 12/5
"Apple's Smaller iPhone 6c/7c Fills an Oddly Empty Niche: A new, smaller iPhone model will help illustrate whether anyone really wants tiny smartphones." PC Magazine 12/5
"Around 20 percent of US customers would prefer an 'iPhone 6c'" AppAdvice 12/5
"Only Single-Digit Growth for Smartphones in 2015: Apple's iPhone is expected to reach 17.3 percent growth, with Android hits 9.5 percent." PC Magazine 12/5
"How Apple and Samsung Got to $548 Million: A timeline." Fortune 12/5
"Samsung Will Pay Apple $548 Million To Satisfy Patent Dispute" HotHardware 12/5
"Apple Quietly Increases iTunes Match and iCloud Music Library Limits Above 25,000 Tracks" Kirkville 12/5
"Apple starts raising iTunes Match limit to 100,000 tracks" Cult of Mac 12/5
"Try Apple's Swift language in IBM's online sandbox" The Next Web 12/5
"Apple Quietly Increases iTunes Match and iCloud Music Library Limits Above 25,000 Tracks" Kirkville 12/4
"After Apple open sources it, IBM puts Swift programming in the cloud/IBM has already put the Linux port of Apple's Swift programming language to good use, releasing the IBM Swift Sandbox: A way to code in the cloud." ZDNet 12/4
"Apple open sources Swift programming language for iOS, Mac OS X, Linux" The Inquirer 12/4
"Apple tailors Swift for open source" ComputerWeekly 12/4
"Apple makes Swift programming language open source" O'Grady's PowerPage 12/4
AppleCare/Troubleshooting
"Click 'Allow' or 'Always Allow' to activate Office fails in El Capitan" OfficeforMacHelp 12/5
"Users complain VIP mailboxes still not working properly in OS X El Capitan" AppleInsider 12/4
"OS X Wi-Fi: Disentangling Yourself from the 'Xfinitywifi' Network" The Mac Observer 12/4
"El Capitan discussion continues on the Time Machine bug with battery backup connections (via USB); plus Keychain issues affecting remote access; Safari freezes and other crashes; font issues; classic Mac OS support (via Sheepshaver et al); Adobe compatibility; Office options (including LibreOffice) and more." MacInTouch 12/4
Reviews/How-To/Tips
"How to Listen to Podcasts: A Guide That Still Has to Be Written in 2015" Re/code 2:06 PM
"How To Batch Edit Photos On Any Computer" Digital Trends 9:00 AM
"How to Change DNS Server Settings in Mac OS X" OS X Daily 12/5
"Root Nexus 6P On Windows Or Mac OS X, Here's How [Tutorial] Redmond Pie 12/5
"How to uninstall MacKeeper from your Mac: Some people regret installing MacKeeper but can't figure out how to remove it. We're here for you." Macworld 12/4
"How to restore your Mac to an older version of OS X: Don't want to install El Capitan on a Mac you're restoring? Here's how you can install an older OS." Macworld 12/4
"Incorporating Swirly Design Elements in Photoshop" Layers Magazine 12/4
"Final Cut Pro X Speed Segments Tips and Tricks" FCPXtv 12/4
"Use Your Mac To Track Your Flights" TeraTalks 12/4
"Low-Hanging Fruit: I got email from my Dad where he describes a bug in Mail on El Capitan and how he solved it by going back to Yosemite." inessential 2:06 PM
"iPhone 6 Fire: Man Left Pantless After Smartphone Catches Fire" The Inquisitr 8:54 PM
"X Marks the Spot That Makes Online Ads So Maddening" New York Times [Free/Paid Registration Required] 6:37 PM
"Steve Wozniak Is Bringing Comic Con To Tokyo" Forbes 8:06 AM
"How an iPad is changing education at Susquenita High School" Penn Live 12/5
"iPhone 6S Price Slashed As Carriers Fight" Forbes 12/5
"TAG Heuer's Android smartwatch is (relatively) popular: The watchmaker is stepping up Connected production, although it's not about to make Apple or Samsung nervous." Engadget 12/5
"Verizon's Wi-Fi Calling Coming to Galaxy S6 on Monday, iPhone 'Early Next Year'" MacRumors 12/5
"TaskRabbit: How an app can relieve you of all your chores/If you need an errand run or some DIY sorted, TaskRabbit can find someone local to do it instantly. But what could its rise mean for the jobs market?" Telegraph 12/5
"Apple Makes A Beeline For Carrier Billing In Emerging Markets, Starting With Russia" TechCrunch 12/4
"Apple Watch In Focus: Holiday Sales, A User Survey, And Market Share" Forbes 12/4
"The wearables market has now come down to three players/Research firm IDC has unofficially crowned the Big Three in wearables: Fitbit, Apple, and Xiaomi." Quartz 12/4
"Apple Watch sales enjoying modest growth, says IDC, as Samsung gets knocked out of the top five" 9to5Mac 12/4
"Fitbit, Apple And Xiaomi Are The World's Top Wearables Vendors, Says IDC" TechCrunch 12/4
"Apple Watch Pushes Wearable Sales To New High" TechWeekEurope 12/4
"Apple's US Smartphone Subscriber Share Trimmed" 24/7 Wall St. 12/4
"Worldwide Smartphone Market Will See the First Single-Digit Growth Year on Record – IDC" MacPrices 12/4
"Apple Campus 2 Underground Auditorium Shown Off in New Aerial Video" MacRumors 12/4
"Beats Music subscribers have until Jan. 19 to make the switch to Apple Music" Macworld 12/4
"Wozilla? Tokyo Prepares for Apple Founder's Comic Con." Re/code 12/4
"Apple Watch comes through in an emergency" AppAdvice 12/4
"iPhone may have saved San Bernardino shooting victim's life" New York Post 12/4
"Hackers Target Hello Barbie's iPhone... But It's Good News" Forbes 12/4
Non-Apple News
"Fitbit's Game: Survival of the Fittest/Fitbit will need a strong holiday showing to keep its premium" WSJ.com [Paid Membership Required] 8:48 PM
"Court says violating your work's computer policy isn't a crime" Engadget 8:48 PM
"Mozilla kills off Suggested Tiles ads after three months" ZDNet 8:16 PM
"Cloud, social, and mobile drive double digital growth in APAC: Symantec" ZDNet 7:05 PM
"Social media companies step up battle against militant propaganda" VentureBeat 5:02 PM
"France mulls tighter noose around crypto" The Register 4:31 PM
"Google Patents Needle-Free Blood-Drawing Device" Digital Trends 11:29 AM
"Tag Heuer Is Ramping Up Smartwatch Production From 1,200 To 2,000 Pieces Per Week" TechCrunch 8:00 AM
"Social media companies step up battle against militant propaganda" Reuters 12/5
"Security News This Week: Facebooking at Work Can No Longer Be Charged as 'Hacking'" Wired 12/5
"Is Google Beginning to Lose Its Dominance in Search?" Investopedia 12/5
"Can't Put Down Your Device? That's by Design" New York Times [Free/Paid Registration Required] 12/5
"Android mastermind Andy Rubin may be starting his own smartphone company" BGR 12/5
"People are in denial about using devices while walking and being bad at it: Distracted pedestrian injuries rising, but walkers blame others, not themselves" Ars Technica 12/5
"Gmail Ending? Google Starts Migrating Users" Forbes 12/5
"Mozilla scraps in-Firefox ads: Not the 'right business for us at this time,' says top ad exec as Mozilla pulls plug on two-year project" Computerworld 12/5
"Marissa Mayer's Next Headache May Be a Nasty Proxy Fight" Bloomberg 12/4
"Samsung execs are being investigated for possible insider trading" BGR 12/4
"VTech's Android tablet for kids 'hopelessly insecure'" The Register 12/4
"US might roll back its anti-ISIS propaganda after questions from the tech industry" The Verge 12/4
"Judges Challenges Both Sides in Net Neutrality Case: Three-judge panel could uphold part of regulation and overturn part of it, experts say" WSJ.com [Paid Membership Required] 12/4
"Net neutrality on trial: judges hear lawsuits against FCC" BetaNews 12/4
"You can take a bath with Android's first soap-proof smartphone" BGR 12/4
"One country wants to spy on all its encrypted Internet traffic" BGR 12/4
"Mozilla Is Flailing When the Internet Needs It the Most" Wired 12/4
Publications/Podcasts
"Incomparable #275: Comprehensive Tapestry Policy" Six Colors 2:02 PM
"Will Apple Switch To OLED Screens?" Seeking Alpha 7:50 PM
"iPhone 7: Top 5 Rumors We're Following/Apple is reportedly testing five prototypes of the iPhone 7. Here are five rumors circulating about the model predicted to debut next year." InformationWeek 11:29 AM
"Apple's 12.9-inch iPad Pro Now Available in Taiwan, the Philippines, and South Korea" Modmyi 10:53 AM
"iPhone 6c Rumors Suggest A9 Processor, Apple Pay: With the rumored iPhone 6c, Apple may move away from the polycarbonate case but keep the color spectrum, as well as add a faster processor and Apple Pay." InformationWeek 12/5
"Apple will be announced iPhone 7c, but not iPhone 6c." M.I.C. Gadget 12/4
"New survey on screen size preference fuels smaller iPhone 6C rumors" Digital Trends 12/4
"iPad Pro: An Entrepreneur's Verdict" MinuteHack 12/4
"Tag Heuer's Carrera Connected is a damning critique of smartwatches: Are smartwatches just lesser watches?" The Verge 12/4
"Review: MOCACARE MOCAheart Heart Health Monitor" iLounge 12/4
"Lander Powell Travel Case and Neve Lightning Cable: Rugged and unique iPhone accessories" Apple World Today 12/4
"Lola headphones review: Futuristic design, custom fit, and great sound" TechHive 12/4
iPad/iPhone/iPod touch Apps
"Untappd... Social Media For Drinkers" Low End Mac 12/5
"Final Fantasy VII for iOS is a quirky classic of a role-playing game: One of the best-loved RPGs of all time is now on the App Store, and it's plenty weird—but still pretty wonderful." Macworld 12/5
"Putting Apple Pencil to work with Evernote, OneNote and Notability" CIO 12/4
"'Cthulhu Virtual Pet' Review – More Like Cute'thulhu" Touch Arcade 12/4
How-To/Tutorial
"How to Recover Lost or Deleted Notes from the Notes App on your iPad" iPad Insight 9:59 AM
"How to choose the right running app for you" Cult of Mac 12/5
"Cassandra: Making use of Find my iPhone" eXtensions 12/5
"How to Use Split View Multitasking on iPad" OS X Daily 12/4
"Hackers Are Reportedly Selling Stolen Netflix Accounts Online, Check If Yours Is Affected" Redmond Pie 12/4
Tips
"Siri Quick Tip: Get Siri to Remind you About What You're Viewing" MacTrast 5:02 PM
"Make Your iPhone Faster With This One Simple Trick" Time 8:11 AM
"5 Easy Ways to Clean Up Your Messy Gmail Inbox" Time 7:56 AM
"12 highly useful iPhone apps people need" Computerworld 12/4
"Hey Siri, Don't Trivialize My Timer" Bitsplitting 11:25 AM
"Sifting The Apple Rumors: A New 4-Inch iPhone" Seeking Alpha 11:01 AM
"How The iPad Pro Fits In With My Other Devices" iPad Insight 9:59 AM
"Will the iPhone 7 Ditch a Headphone Jack? Is Apple about to say goodbye to the headphone jack just as it bid farewell to the floppy drive in 1998?" The Motley Fool 12/5
"How would you change iPad multitasking?" iMore 12/5
"Apple waited too long to get into music streaming or something" MacDailyNews 12/5
"Survey spin: Apple Pay not so bad off" Macworld 12/5
"Apple Watch comes through in an emergency" AppAdvice 12/4
"It's a Good Thing Apple Didn't Acquire Twitter" The Mac Observer 12/4
"Is Google about to steal Apple's best new iPhone 6s feature?" BGR 12/4
"Why iOS and Android will soon become obsolete: The market is eventually going to move to one product that scales from a smartphone to a PC. Columnist Rob Enderle says it doesn't appear that either Apple or Google will dominate this coming shift." CIO 12/4
"Is Amazon Prime Video App Coming to Apple TV?" Market Realist 12/4
"Test Your Reflexes in this Awesome Endless Puzzler" prMac 12/5
"Happy Bombs transports the player to a bright and colorful puzzle world" prMac 12/5
"Mindfulness, meditation and relaxation for kids: announcing Zen Studio" prMac 12/5
"iDB holiday gift guide: Lory's picks" iDownload Blog 12/5
"Apple adds shuffle option for custom Apple Music playlists on Apple TV" AppleInsider 12/4
"Slash Keyboard for iOS for Quick Sharing" The Mac Observer 12/4
"Coming December 5: Gene Steinberg meets Josh Centers of TidBITS, and The Mac Observer's John Martellaro, this week on The Tech Night Owl LIVE!" The Tech Night Owl LIVE 12/4
"Apple TV gets an app for over-the-air channels (with the right hardware): The new Channels app works with HDHomeRun tuners for watching free antenna-based broadcasts." TechHive 12/4
"Apple camera supplier Sony picks up Toshiba's image sensor business for $155M" AppleInsider 12/4
"Take your iPhone photography to new levels with MaxCurve" AppAdvice 12/4
"Grab your snowboard and Shred It! with a fun holiday update" AppAdvice 12/4
"Apple promotion offers $60 iTunes gift card with Beats headphones purchase" AppleInsider 12/4
"Microsoft settles lawsuit against Ballmer, Gates, others over browser ballot blunder's $732M fine: Will spend another $50 million to create antitrust compliance office, pay lawyers after settling suit that stemmed from 2012 Windows fiasco" Computerworld 7:56 AM
"Positive Chakra, Microsoft Open Sources 'Edge' Browser Core" Forbes 8:05 AM
"Microsoft to open source Chakra JavaScript engine: ChakraCore will be available in January on GitHub" IDG News Service 8:17 PM
"Microsoft Courts OEMs With Windows 10 IoT Core: With the newly announced Pro version of Windows 10 IoT, Microsoft is looking to spread its Internet of things vision to device makers." eWeek 11:02 AM
"Microsoft, FBI Bust Wide-Scale Global Botnet Ring Called 'Dorkbot'" HotHardware 4:16 PM
"Microsoft Wants Your Ideas For Killer Open Source HoloLens Apps" HotHardware 4:17 PM
"Microsoft Slashes Prices On Xbox Games" 24/7 Wall St. 8:11 AM
"HP To Stop Releasing Low-Priced Tablets, Will Focus On High-End Ones Instead" Tech Times 10:55 AM
"Watson app helps you find trendy gifts" USA Today 10:54 AM
"Yahoo board in final talks on future of company" VentureBeat 8:05 AM
"Microsoft to open source Chakra, the JavaScript heart of its Edge browser: Source will be available from January, and open to community contributions." Ars Technica 12/5
"Microsoft to Open Source A Key Piece of Its Web Browser" Wired 12/5
"Microsoft to open source key pieces of its 'Chakra' JavaScript engine" ZDNet 12/5
"Microsoft's power move: open sourcing Edge's Javascript engine" The Next Web 12/5
"Microsoft starts to open source its JavaScript engine Chakra" VentureBeat 12/5
"Microsoft Scores a Mini-Victory Against Apple in the Tablet Wars" Fortune 12/5
"Microsoft Research 2016 predictions: More online video, new processor tech" PCWorld 12/5
"Microsoft Corporation and Intel Corporation Find a New Best Friend in China: Why are Microsoft and Intel cozying up to the top smartphone maker in China?" The Motley Fool 12/5
"Hybrids, Windows 10 May Finally Push Tablet Sales to Microsoft: The PC maker waited too long to enter the fight, but it's finally winning back some of its user base." The Motley Fool 12/5
"Microsoft releases new Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview Build 10586.29" BetaNews 12/5
"Region posts highest vendor server revenue as HP maintains market share: From a regional standpoint, Asia/Pacific posted the highest vendor revenue growth at 25.4 percent." New Zealand Reseller News 12/5
"Lenov-lol, a load of Tosh, and what the Dell? More bad holes found in PC makers' bloatware" The Register 12/5
"Cisco stays clear of HP and Juniper as ethernet switch market growth flattens" New Zealand Reseller News 12/5
"Why Yahoo Board Might Plan To Sell Its Internet Business?" Forbes 12/5
"Yahoo board in final talks on future of company" Reuters 12/5
"5 Moves Yahoo's Chairman Should Make This Weekend" Forbes 12/5
"Robots not likely to take your job (at least not yet), says Open Source chief" ZDNet 12/5
"Is Google now causing public cloud pain for AWS, Microsoft and IBM?" Computerworld New Zealand 12/5
"Data to become new profit centre for car makers: With all cars expected to be connected by 2025, car makers will begin to battle over ownership of in-car behavioural data" Telegraph 12/5
"Apple Underperforms Even Old Tech During Tim Cook's Reign" Forbes 1:44 PM
"Apple Up 2.6% This Morning, What Gives?" Forbes 12/4
"If Apple Leaves, Will We Get the Message? Since 2005, corporate earnings retained overseas have increased from $0.5 trillion to $2.1 trillion (about 300%!)." WSJ.com [Paid Membership Required] 12/4
"Dow ends up nearly 370 on strong jobs report" USA Today 12/4
"Wall Street Stages Jobs-Fueled Rebound Rally" FOXBusiness 12/4
"Dow Surges 370 Points, Capping Rocky Week: Solid jobs report helps cement case for interest rate increase later this month" WSJ.com [Paid Membership Required] 12/4
"Japanese stocks slide the most in two months after ECB disappointment: Japanese stocks suffered their biggest one-day drop in more than two months, adding momentum to a global selloff after the European Central Bank announced a smaller-than-expected burst of monetary stimulus." MarketWatch 12/4
"European stocks mark worst week in more than 3 months: European stocks fell Friday, with the market logging its worst week in more than three months, as a dive in oil prices dragged down energy shares." MarketWatch 12/4
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 , A. Spaulding 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: #%@*$$$$!