Apple

Freeze on assets of Chinese journalists lifted by iPod maker

Foxconn, the company that manufactures the iPod for Apple Computer, has withdrawn a motion asking a Chinese court to freeze the assets of two journalists it is suing for libel.

The suit was filed after two journalists with China Business Daily wrote an article critical of working conditions at a Foxconn plant where iPods, as well as many other consumer electronics devices, are made. The article followed others that alleged employees are forced to work excessively long hours at the plant. Apple investigated the claims and said it found that while some employees were working too many hours, no one … Read more

Analyst sees Zune, hears static

American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu said he has looked at the Zune documents that Toshiba filed last week with the Federal Communications Commission and is not impressed.

"We are frankly underwhelmed by the much-hyped Zune device," Wu said in a research note on Wednesday. "It appears that the Zune is essentially a repackaged Toshiba Gigabeat that has seen limited success."

Among its drawbacks, Wu said, is that its controls do not appear to include something similar to the iPod's scroll wheel for navigating through large collections of music or photos.

Microsoft's strong brand … Read more

Apple asked to intercede on behalf of Chinese reporters

The Reporters Without Borders organization has sent a letter to Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs asking him to implore iPod supplier Foxconn to drop a lawsuit against two Chinese journalists who wrote an article critical of working conditions at a Foxconn Electronics factory.

Wang You and Weng Bao of China Business News have been hit with a libel suit filed by Foxconn after they wrote a story critical of working conditions at a Foxconn plant where iPods are manufactured. After Apple launched an investigation follwing an earlier report from England's Daily Mail, it agreed that the work hours were … Read more

Apple recall site had trouble with battery serial numbers

Those serial numbers on notebook batteries can be hard to read, but you'd think a server could handle it.

However, for several hours yesterday Apple Computer's battery recall Web page was unable to recognize the serial numbers of batteries that clearly fell within the designated range listed by the company and the Consumer Products Safety Commission. Posters on CNET News.com's Talkback pages noticed the site was recognizing notebook serial numbers but not battery serial numbers, even when it was clear from the released information that the batteries were subject to the recall. iBook G4 and PowerBook … Read more

Your feedback on Macs

The Mac Views panel is being brought together by CNET News.com to get feedback from people on the street on the latest happenings at Apple Computer, whether it's a battery recall or plans for the next iPod. We're looking for a range of perspectives--from Mac fans to business users to mobile music lovers.

Interested in joining the panel pool? Here's how it works:

Whenever key Apple news breaks, we'll send an e-mail to contributors for their response. Sometimes, we'll ask a yes/no question and use the results as a simple poll. Other times, … Read more

Could battery recall spread to Apple?

Apple Computer may be the next computer maker to initiate a battery recall, according to a report on industry site Laptop Logic.

Dell last week recalled 4.1 million batteries that had cells made by Sony. Other PC makers also use cells from Sony, including Apple and Lenovo, among others.

An Apple representative was not immediately available for comment.

Apple settles with Creative for $100M

Apple will pay Creative $100 million for a license to a Creative patent that had been the subject of a legal dispute between the two companies.

Creative was awarded a patent last August for a music player user interface, and it sued Apple in May claiming the iPod maker was infringing upon its patent. As a result of the settlement, all legal disputes between the two companies related to the patent will disappear. Apple has the right to be reimbursed on the $100 million payment if Creative is able to secure licensing deals with other MP3 player manufacturers, it said … Read more

Contest for Mac users' wildest (software) fantasies

Those fun little Mac shareware apps are all over the Web these days, and it seems like they can do just about anything that an OS X user could possibly want. But for the Apple user whose software desires go beyond iTunes-synced alarm clocks and automated invoicing software, software entrepreneur Phillip Ryu has launched a contest to allow Mac enthusiasts, regardless of programming experience, to pitch their dream application.

You can enter the contest, appropriately titled My Dream App, until Sept. 1. The contest's development team will whittle the selection of entries down to 24, and then site visitors … Read more

MacBook 'hack' still stirring controversy

There's still controversy brewing over the demonstration of a wireless-networking flaw using a MacBook at the Black Hat security conference.

At the Las Vegas event earlier this month, the researchers demonstrated how a flaw they found in a wireless driver could allow a hacker to gain control of a notebook, such as the MacBook they used during their presentation. But although they noted then that the flaw applied to a driver for a third-party wireless card, in an interview with the Washington Post's Brian Krebs, they said the flaw also applied to Apple's wireless drivers.

But the … Read more

Screen shots show computer's evolution

This month marked the 25th anniversary of the personal computer, as every schoolboy knows, so we totally understand if you've been feeling a tad nostalgic of late. And if you're in the mood to reminisce even more, take a gander at this page posted by Room 101, which features an impressive collection of screen shots documenting "The Evolution of Desktops," dating back to the Macintosh System 1 in January 1984.