Supreme Court Won't Hear Lexmark Appeal

Lexmark had sought to overturn a ruling that allowed Static Control Components to continue selling chips that allow re-filled or remanufactured toner cartridges.

Seagate announces ‘breakthroughs’

Seagate today announced several breakthroughs in new applications for storage, including hard drives for the automotive market, the first 2.5-inch drive for DVRs and game consoles, and the first 8GB drive for portable media players. Seagate also introduced innovations for the computing market including the first 2.5-inch drives utilizing perpendicular recording, the highest capacity external and portable hard drives, and the first drives with Full Disc Encryption for robust protection of users' personal data. In all, the storage giant announced ten new products that build on its impressive array of disc drives for consumer electronics, enterprise, desktop and mobile computing mark.

Apple To Deliver 2 Millionth Copy of...

Apple To Deliver 2 Millionth Copy of Mac OS X Tiger This Week

Hopelore releases iEarTest 1.1 testing software

Hopelore has released iEarTest 1.1, a utility for Mac OS X 10.2.8 and later that allows users to test their own hearing.

Kensington announces Stereo Dock for iPod

As first noted by iPodlounge, Kensington recently announced the availability of the Stereo Dock for iPod, an accessory that allows users to play iPod tunes through any stereo system with line-in capability, and charges the iPod at the same time.

Apple posts games feature on The Sims 2

Apple has posted a new games feature on its Web site for The Sims 2...

Roxio launches The Boom Box iPod software suite

Roxio today announced the launch of The Boom Box, a Mac software suite comprised of five applications designed to "reveal the iPod's full power and potential."

O'Reilly Releases Mac OS X Tiger for Unix Geeks

With Apple's release of Tiger, Mac OS X 10.4, Mac OS X Tiger for Unix Geeks (Jepson and Rothman, O'Reilly ), the latest edition of the popular book, has been revised and expanded....... a true must!

Mac Tablet in the Works?!

In response to the "Apple, give us a Tablet Mac, please" petition, it has been confirmed, that there is a Tablet Mac under development and apparently close to production.....

REAL Software Announces Plans to Support Mac OS X on Intel Processors

REAL Software announced today that REALbasic will add support for Mac OS X on Intel processors. Apple Computer recently announced plans to transition the Macintosh product line to Intel.

SPEED DOWNLOAD 3.0.10 OPTIMIZED FOR MAC OS X 10.4.1

Yazsoft announces the immediate availability
of Speed Download 3.0.10; a new version of the popular download manager completely
tweaked and optimized for Mac OS X 10.4.1.

Apple posts Security Update 2005-006

Apple has updated security for Mac OS X v10.3.9 and v10.4.1.

PhotoStamps now available for Mac OS X

Stamps.com has announced Mac support for PhotoStamps, its product that lets you print postage from your Mac.

Classic Not Supported on Intel-Based Macs

Judging from Apple developer documentation on the Rosetta PowerPC emulator, Classic will not be supported on Intel-based Macs.

ELECTRIC RAIN RELEASES SWIFT 3D 4.5 FOR 3 D EXPORT TO FLASH AND VIDEO

Leading 3D animation software for Macromedia ® Flash™ adds FLV, QuickTime and AVI video formats, expanding its entry-level appeal to video design and production markets

Today Electric Rain, Inc. ® announced the release of Swift 3 D ® version 4.5, a standalone application allowing designers to build and export vector and raster-based 3 D animations for Macromedia Flash, as well as FLV (Flash Video), QuickTime, AVI and other popular formats.

Long known for its approachable interface, high-quality vector output and tight workflow integration with Macromedia Flash, Swift 3D can now be utilized in conjunction with popular video editing tools such as Adobe ® After Effects ® or Apple ® Final Cut Pro ® to add 3D elements, titling, and motion graphic effects to video projects.

“Swift 3D 4.5 marks an exciting release for us,” said Mike Soucie, President of Electric Rain. “With the introduction of video export, Swift 3 D is positioned to deliver its incredible ease-of-use and affordability to new markets beyond Flash by fulfilling the needs of the broader graphic design industry, from small-scale design shops to full-service advertising agencies.”

In addition to providing vector and raster style video export, Swift 3D 4.5 introduces a host of vector rendering enhancements including pen-style outlines for improved cartoon rendering, adjustable shadow density and color, realistic transparency, render speeds up to 50 times faster, control over outlines at intersections, support for Level 3 EPS and enhanced SVG output.

“Every release of Swift 3D continues to amaze us with new technological advances” said Eric Bort, Creative Director of Living Children design firm. “Electric Rain's ability to listen to their users’ suggestions has helped make version 4.5 the best upgrade yet in terms of output and flexibility. Swift 3D allows us to rapidly create custom 3D graphics for web and now video, with faster rendering and tons of control over styling. The people at Electric Rain know their audience well and understand exactly what it takes to produce exceptional web-ready 3D.”

Swift 3 D V4.5 is available immediately on the Windows and Macintosh OS X platforms. The SRP for Swift 3 D V4.5 is $229.00 US D for the download and boxed C D version. Upgrades from Swift 3 D version 4.0 are $79.00, and upgrades from Swift 3D versions 2.0, 3.0, and Swift 3D Xpress are $129.00. Swift 3 D V4.5 is currently available from the Electric Rain website at http://www.erain.com .

About Electric Rain, Inc. Electric Rain is a software company with a vision of bringing easy-to-use 3D and multimedia tools to designers and developers. Through the release of their Swift 3D product line and the company’s proprietary RAViX rendering technology, Electric Rain has quickly become the industry-leading developer of 3D-to-vector solutions. More information about Electric Rain, its products and technologies is available at http://www.erain.com

FrameVault: Beta Testers Needed

Hi All,

I just finished development for FrameVault, a new piece of Macintosh software for organizing, managing, delivering, and distributing digital video .  At this point, we need some beta testing on the product to see if it does what we designed it to do.  

If you have some time during the next week to play with FrameVault and give us some feedback on the quality of the product, drop me a reply.  I’ll provide you with the software and a short “how-to” for testing.

later,

douglas

Contact: douglas_welton@earthlink.net

Ipod It Now Tiger Compatible

ZappTek is pleased to announce the release of iPod It version 2.4.3
a free update for current users), available for immediate download at
. This release provides Tiger
compatibility, including support for the new versions of iCal and Mail, and
improves Stickies and News processing. Check out
for all the details.

About iPod It:
Who needs a PDA when you have an iPod?
Transfer your PIM data to your iPod so it's available whenever you need it;
iPod It supports transferring information from Entourage, Stickies, Mail,
Address Book and iCal. You can even download weather forecasts and news
directly to your iPod.

Stone Design ships PreferentialTreatment

Simple Preference Management - View, edit, update, restore, & save sets of preferences for any application!

Stone Design, the original Mac OS X software house with over 19 years of experience, today announced immediate availability of PreferentialTreatment, a powerful yet simple to use Preference Manager: View, edit, update, restore, & save sets of preferences for any Mac OS X application.

Preferences are user-specific settings that give Mac OS X applications so much flexibility. According to Stone Design CEO and chief software architect Andrew Stone, “PreferentialTreatment is a very useful utility which can add functionality to every Mac OS X application. Just click a button to restore an application to it’s original preferences - or save and install custom sets of preferences for the task at hand.”

Inexpensive and Shipping Now!

Stone continues, “You don't need to be a UNIX Geek to manipulate your preferences anymore. Download and try PreferentialTreatment at full strength for 14 days free, and you’ll see how useful this app can be. At only $19, with Free Upgrades For Life, it’s a must-have piece of software!” For more information, visit stone.com/PreferentialTreatment/

Macromedia launch a new license version of Breeze 5

Macromedia launched a new licensed version of Macromedia Breeze 5 today that complements the hosted version launched earlier this month. The licensed version makes it easier for organizations to incorporate the meeting, collaboration, and training features of Breeze 5 from behind their firewalls.

Keyspan ships new USB PS/2 Adapter for PC and MacintoshKeyspan ships new USB PS/2 Adapter for PC and MacintoshKeyspan shipping new USB PS/2 Adapter

Keyspan, America¹s leading brand of USB connectivity solutions, announced it
is now shipping its new USB PS/2 Adapter. Supporting both PC and Macintosh
computers, the USB PS/2 Adapter makes it easy to connect a PS/2 keyboard and
PS/2 mouse to a single USB port.

Keyspan's USB PS/2 Adapter solves a connectivity problem
resulting from the lack of PS/2 ports on most new PC laptops and desktops,
and Apple¹s new Mac mini ships without a keyboard or mouse.

On Windows there is no software to install. Users simply plug in the adapter
to a USB port on the PC then plug the keyboard and mouse into the
color-coded connectors on the adapter. For Macintosh users, a software
utility is provided that re-maps the PS/2 keyboard and mouse for optimal use
on a Mac.

Stone Design Announces iMaginator™ Contest Winners!

Stone Design today announced the iMaginator Contest 2005 Winners. iMaginator, a powerful new image processing application, provides an intuitive and easy to use interface for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger’s Core Image technology, giving both home users and graphics professionals instant access to over 108 effects, transitions, and filters. You can view the winners and top submissions, as well as download these effects, at: http://www.stone.com/iMaginator/contest/


First Place: Anapat Dettloff for “Nite Club”

Second Place: Diane Vetere for “Sphere of Life”

Third Place: Ron Bishop for “Dat Cat”

Fourth Place: Tomas Arfert for “Mandala”

According to CEO and chief software architect Andrew Stone, “Stone Design makes software that unleashes your creativity and ingenuity. We wanted to see what you could unleash with our latest creation, iMaginator, available now for Mac OS X Tiger! We were stunned with the diversity and creativity - and these winning effects are now available for you to download and use”.

(Open Source Blog) Huh? Mactel, for real?

Come on Steve, pull the other one. I know you previously referred to Intel as Plan B but really. I’m an Apple loyalist - bought my wife one in 1988 and she’s never had anything else since. But this? Know what happens when a garbage truck collides with a Porsche? Remember your hardware sales at NeXt? know what happened at SGI? Great products that went Intel -and promptly became irrelevant in the market.

You had me believing you and trying to figure out what on earth might be behind the decision -until you mentioned that Intel’s chips run cooler and offer a better roadmap.
They don’t: unless you’re comparing a Pentium M to an overclocked G4, but that’s where the roadmap comment comes from too, isn’t it? It’s not that Intel has a better roadmap - it’s that IBM’s doesn’t include you except as a subsidiary.
Unfortunately Intel doesn’t have one either. In fact if they don’t have a rabbit hiding in the hat, they’re not going to last five more years as an independent - and you may think that’s a BS prediction, but I’m not just the only pundit to call Cell right, something I wrote for Linuxinsider last year should seem a little more compelling today:


This will get more interesting if, as reported on various sites including Tom’s hardware, IBM has been burning the candle at both ends and will also produce a three way, 3.5Ghz version of the PowerPC for use on Microsoft’s X-Box. Whether that’s true or not, however, my belief is that IBM chose not to deliver on its commitment to Apple because doing so would have exacerbated the already embarrassing performance gap between its own server products and the higher end Macs. Right now, for example, Apple’s 2Ghz X-serve is a full generation ahead of IBM’s 1.2Ghz p615, but costs about half as much.

Unfortunately this particular consequence of Apple’s decision to have IBM partner on the G5 is the least of the company’s CPU problems. The bigger issue is that although the new cell processor is a PowerPC derivative and thus broadly compatible with previous Apple CPUs, the attached processors are not compatible with Altivec and neither is the microcode needed to run the thing. Most importantly, however, the graphics and multi-processor models are totally different. As a result it will be relatively easy to port Darwin to the new machine, but extremely difficult to port the MacOS X shell and almost impossible to achieve backward compatibility without significant compromise along the lines of a "fat binary" kind of solution.


In other words, what seemed like a good idea for Apple at the time, the IBM G5, is about to morph into a classic choice between the rock of yet another CPU transition or the hard place of being left behind by major market CPU performance improvements


Good thing you had a Plan B, Steve; too bad it was the wrong one.


You know what the right one is? Ya, I know, it’s disgusting but I’m going to quote myself again, and from the same article too:

So what can Apple do? What they should have done two years ago: hop into bed with Sun. Despite its current misadventure with Linux, Sun isn’t in the generic desktop computer business. The Java desktop is cool, but it’s a solution driven by necessity, not excellence. In comparison, putting MacOS X on the Sun Ray desktop would be an insanely great solution for Sun while having Sun’s sales people push SPARC based Macs onto corporate desktops would greatly strengthen Apple.

Most importantly, SPARC is an open specification with a number of fully qualified fabs. In the long term Apple wouldn’t be trapped again and in the short term the extra volume would improve prospects for both companies. Strategically, it just doesn’t get any better than that.

Niagara rocks. You want low power use for a laptop? How about an eight way 1.4Ghz SMP core with TCP/IP and cryptography done in hardware - at 65 watts flat out. There are some serious software issues, but get past them and you’ve got eight to ten Xeons in the box - at 65 watts.

Sun’s president, Jonathan Schwartz, put a nice invitation for you in his blog last Sunday. Maybe you should think about it, go for a drink with him, talk about the threat IBM poses to both of you. Get him to tell you about interval math on a software embedded array processor -you might like what you hear. And remember one thing: what you just did? Nobody at IBM is going to call a board meeting over it - but a Sun alliance? That would be different.

Apple pressures accessory maker to change naming

Apple is requesting that Thought Out, a maker of iPod accessories, cease and desist the use of the word "iPed" in its product names. A letter from Apple Legal was sent to the company yesterday regarding the use of the word in the names of three iPod accessories made by Thought Out. According to Apple, the term "iPed" likely confuses the consumer and it also weakens Apple's brand strength, so that consumers will no longer be able to rely on the "marks" to identify authorized Apple products and services. Thought Out's position on this matter is currently neutral with "no wishes to construe Apple or any consumer of either product brand."

"We simple created a well received product for the iPod consumer (and other tech devices). The name iPed was derived from the word i-Ped-estal (with a definition posted on our website)(and now the home page)."

Thought Out's actions have "not been decided for Apple's request but feels that many uses of the word iPod, Pod, iPod Mini and iPod shuffle in other product brands and companies should know to others of such circumstances."

Dvorak: Linux could lose after Apple's Intel shift

Industry pundit John Dvorak says that Linux could be the big loser, following Apple's announcement of its 2-year transition plan to the Intel architecture. "It's quite possible that this new Apple strategy while obviously harmful to the computer makers in general and to Microsoft somewhat could actually be most dangerous to the emerging Linux OS environment. In fact it could kill Linux and in some ways actually benefit Microsoft in the long term.... Linux has other problems too. It's likely that developer interest will wane when Apple is fully engaged on the X86 platform. While Apple ran on the PowerPC chip the amount of developer effort in the Open Source camps was nil. But now that Apple is using the same processor as everyone else, targeting the Macs will now be an easy decision to make. This will be at the expense of Linux."

Apple posts Jobs' WWDC keynote in QuickTime

As usual, Apple has posted its QuickTime footage of Steve Jobs' keynote address at WWDC in San Francisco this morning. "Watch Apple CEO Steve Jobs kick-off the Worldwide Developers Conference with a keynote address from San Francisco's Moscone West. See the video-on-demand event right here exclusively in QuickTime and MPEG-4," notes Apple.

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/wwdc05/

MacTracker 4 Beta needs your help

Dear Mactracker Users,

Ian Page is pleased to announce that the public beta of Mactracker 4.0 for Mac OS X
is available for download.

In addition to all the latest Apple hardware, the major new features include
a rewritten search engine, Smart Categories (similar to Smart Playlists in
iTunes), color labels, independent database updating, spell check and
Unicode support for notes, a new category called "This Mac" which shows the
current Mac, and the addition of Apple Hardware Test versions.

To download simply visit http://www.mactracker.ca. Please note that this is
a beta release and may contain bugs and/or incomplete features. I would
recommend reading the included Read Me to become familiar with the known
issues of this version. (The Read Me is available from the help menu within
Mactracker.)

I also wanted to thank those that have written in over the years with
suggestions, comments, bug reports, and corrections. If I didn't get back to
you it is not because I didn't appreciate the email, I just ran short of
time!

WWDC: Apple's 'Leopard' OS to battle laggard Longhorn

Mac users - reeling from Apple's revelation of a shift to Intel processors - have also been told the name of the next version of OS X, "Leopard".
Leopard may well be a significant code-name for an OS - and a company - that is certainly changing its spots.

The new OS is scheduled to appear "at the end of 2006 or early 2007", Jobs said, adding, "when Microsoft expects to release Longhorn". With the OS and its attendant applications capable by then of running on both PowerPC and Intel chips, Apple is clearly offering PC users a chance at a choice.

Mac market set to climb
Jobs also shared several facts: with two million copies of Tiger shipped already, the migration to OS X continues apace.

Those two million users represent 16 per cent of Apple's OS X user base meaning Apple now claims 12.5 million OS X users worldwide. 49 per cent of users run Panther (OS X 10.3); 25 per cent on Jaguar (OS X 10.2). The rest (10 per cent) run earlier versions of OS X, Jobs admitted

Twelve and a half million users may be dwarfed by Microsoft's Windows user base, but numbers are climbing - fast.

Over one million visitors go to an Apple Store each week, Jobs said. He also showed attendees a chart, a chart that claimed Apple's Mac unit sales to be climbing 40 per cent year-on-year - against an average PC market share climb of 12 per cent, Apple claimed.

RESFEST PROGRAMMING BEGINS

The submissions are in -- more than 1800 of them, a record-setting total for RESFEST! Now our crack programming team is camped out night and day in a darkened screening room, tirelessly debating the merits of each and every entry. Meanwhile, Stefan Nadelman, creator of this year's festival identity and a three-time RESFEST filmmaker, is hard at work on the 2005 festival opener, which promises to be a classic. The festival launches in New York September 15-18, then heads to San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago the next three weekends. RESFEST also makes a repeat engagement in Toronto this year, and visits Montreal for the first time. RESFEST London will also be back and bigger than ever at the National Film Theatre September 28 through October 2 this year.

Apple throws the switch, aligns with Intel

After years of trying to get people to switch to Macs from Intel-based computers, Apple Computer itself has switched.

CEO Steve Jobs announced Monday that Apple will gradually shift its Mac line to Intel-based chips over the next two years. The move confirms a timetable first reported by CNET News.com.

Jobs' announcement formed the centerpiece of a keynote speech to Mac programmers attending the company's annual Worldwide Developer Conference here. The conference, expected to draw some 3,800 attendees this year, is a traditional venue for Apple product launches.

In his speech, Jobs revealed that Apple has been developing all versions of OS X since its inception to run on Intel and PowerPC chips.

"Mac OS X has been leading a secret double life the past five years," he said.

The move to Intel marks a tectonic shift for Apple, which has used processors from IBM and Motorola (now Freescale Semiconductor) throughout the life of the Mac. However, the company has changed architectures before, shifting in the 1990s from Motorola's 68000 family of chips to the PowerPC architecture jointly developed by IBM and Motorola.

Jobs also noted the significant effort required earlier this decade when Apple moved from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X. Although the operating systems are only a digit apart, he noted that the move to a Unix-based system was a major shift. "This was a brain transplant," Jobs said.

The CEO showed a demo of the Tiger operating system on an Intel-based machine, saying, "We've been running on an Intel system all morning."
As for why Apple was making the shift, Jobs pointed both to past problems and to the PowerPC road map, which he said won't deliver enough performance at the low-power usages needed for powerful notebooks.

Macromedia takes aim at mobile marketplace

Macromedia made a series of announcements today that I thought you might be interested in. The big news here is that Macromedia is focusing on using Flash to take the mobile world by storm. During the past year alone, shipments of mobile devices running Flash nearly tripled from 12 to 35 million units, and three of the six leading mobile device manufacturers now license Flash to deliver great mobile experiences to their global customers. In fact, over 100 device manufacturers license Macromedia Flash to deliver great consumer experiences on their branded consumer electronics devices, such as mobile phones, portable media players, PDAs, and other devices.

To continue the exponential growth of Flash on the mobility front, Macromedia is launching a new offering called Macromedia Flash Platform - a complete system that encompasses the tight integration of:


Macromedia Flash Player – already deployed on more than 600 million Internet-connected computers

Macromedia Flex™ - for rich Internet application development

Macromedia Flash MX 2004 - for creating engaging, interactive content

Macromedia Flash Communication Server - for streaming two-way media

Macromedia Breeze™ - for delivering online communications, meetings and training initiatives

Macromedia Flash Lite™ client runtime - for use on small-footprint, mobile devices.

The Flash Platform initiative is designed to help broadband telecommunications providers deliver better digital experiences. The idea is to enable next-generation communications experiences that unify voice, video, and data within an integrated user interface that anyone can access instantly. The new solutions initiative will target telecommunications providers that aim to deliver rich web conferencing and collaboration offerings, unified communications portals, and broadband entertainment services that leverage the Flash Platform. One of the first deliverables of this initiative will be a new edition of the Macromedia Breeze™ web conferencing solution designed to be hosted by telecommunications operators and integrated by network equipment providers and OEMs into their offerings.

Mac OS X 10.4.2 nears release

Among the areas that have received fixes with the update are: file sharing using AFP and SMB/CIFS network file services; autologin for managed user accounts, Airport and wireless access; Core Graphics, Core Audio, and Core Image with updated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers; synchronization with .Mac; creating and burning disk images using Disk Utility; and compatibility with third party applications and devices.

The Installer also points to an AppleCare document for more information on the update. The page is not yet live, but the inclusion of the URL in the installer suggests that Mac OS X 10.4.2 is likely ready for public consumption and will be released this week.

Apple Switching To Intel Chips In 2006

Apple has officially decided to drop IBM, and will use Intel processors starting in their '06 line of systems. This change was rumored last month. The announcement is expected Monday at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco, at which Chief Executive Steve Jobs is giving the keynote speech." From the article: "Apple successfully navigated a switch in the 1990s from Motorola's 680x0 line of processors to the Power line jointly made by Motorola and IBM. That switch also required software to be revamped to take advantage of the new processors' performance, but emulation software permitted older programs to run on the new machines."

Apple launches iPod recycling program

Apple Computer introduced a nationwide iPod recycling program on Friday that rewards participants with a discount.
Customers who return a music player to one of the company's 100 retail stores across the United States will get 10 percent off the purchase of a new one. Apple pledged to dispose of all the iPods brought in for free. To be eligible for the offer, people must bring in a standard iPod, an iPod Mini or the photo version, and use the discount the same day.

The move should appease critics of Apple's environmental record, who protested outside its headquarters during an annual shareholder meeting in April. Inside the meeting, a representative of an environmentally oriented mutual fund questioned Apple CEO Steve Jobs specifically about the Mac maker's recycling program.
The company promised to process returned iPods in the United States and not to ship the hazardous materials they contain, which include lead, overseas.


On Friday, Apple's share price fell on a report from Web Appleinsider.com that the company is overstocked with tens of thousands of iPod models. Some analysts have put the stockpile down in part to slowing demand for the devices.
In the past, however, the company has seen its profits and stock price soar on the popularity of the iPod portable music player, which it introduced in 2001. The company sells more digital music players than anyone, with consumers buying more than 5 million of them over the course of January, February and March alone.

Critics have blasted Apple for the fact that the iPod's battery is difficult and expensive to replace, giving consumers an incentive to throw them out and buy new ones. Apple recently agreed to extend service warranties and replace batteries for free in certain cases. The agreement is part of Apple's settlement of several class action suits related to iPod battery complaints.

Apple reaches settlement in iPod class action

Apple and attorneys representing iPod owners in a class-action lawsuit have reached a tentative settlement over allegations that the batteries did not last as long as advertised, and had short and unhappy lifespans. The lawsuit was filed in 2003 by eight consumers, but the settlement class grew quickly as word of the suit spread.

Although it confirmed the existence of a settlement, Apple refused to comment on either the suit itself or the particulars of the settlement. However, if you own a third-generation iPod (the model that occasioned the lawsuit) that hasn't lived up to its billing when it comes to battery life, you have a couple of options. You can get a US$50 coupon for any Apple product purchase aside from tracks from the iTMS. Otherwise, you may be able to get your 3G iPod replaced:

Consumers who had battery troubles can also get their battery or iPod replaced. Apple currently replaces or repairs defective products that are returned within one year but the class-action settlement extends the warranty to two years, plaintiffs' lawyers said.

Note that the replacement is only a possibility if you suffer a battery failure (i.e., 3G models will hold less than a four-hour charge and earlier models only a five-hour charge) during the warranty extension period. Of course, if you didn't keep your receipt, you're likely out of luck, which should put the kibosh on the possibility of a market in defective, 3G iPods suddenly springing up.

The iPod battery issue has long been a sore spot for some iPod owners, and the iPod's Dirty Secret has done its part in getting the word out about the problem. With the settlement agreed to, Apple can now focus on... the other litigation it currently faces, including another class action filed by Apple resellers and consumers alleging unlawful business practices.

More details on the settlement are available from Girard Gibbs & De Bartholomeo, the law firm representing the plaintiff class.

Apple plugs QuickTime security hole

Apple Computer on Tuesday released QuickTime 7.0.1, an update to its media player software that promises several enhancements, but also fixes a security flaw, the Mac maker said in an advisory. A QuickTime movie containing a maliciously crafted Quartz Composer object could give an attacker access to local data and send it to an arbitrary Web location, the Apple posting said. The QuickTime update modifies the Quartz Composer plug-in to fix the issue, the company said.

Apple Updates GarageBand to 1.1

In the most significant update yet for Apple's GarageBand Software, the company announced that it has released a version 1.1 update. According to the release note, the upgrade "addresses isolated performance and stability issues, allows per-track Echo settings similar to other effects, supports loop libraries in other disk locations, supports importing unprotected AAC audio files in addition to AIF and MP3 files, and addresses issues with ReWire support, moving GarageBand songs between different computers, Help support, fixing the timing of individual notes (as well as entire regions), and dragging entire tracks in the timeline."