The Mac Experience in Business & Home: Help, Tips, Discussion & Radio Show Notes

Thanksgiving for the mobile set: why pay for mobile email, contacts and calendaring when you can now get it for free from Google ?

While the current, major limitations on the number of supported devices and carriers , as well as the functionality (it’s POP only, for one example, making synchronization challenging), make it the choice for few this holiday season, it’s certainly promising at least for spurring competition and development in mobile data communications. Note one doesn’t need the new app to view Gmail: browse it from most mobile devices using Google’s improved mobile browser .

If there was an emptiness inside you because you couldn’t find your favorite Dave Matthews Band song on iTunes, get ready to leave Gray Street and get your ants marching.

Apple reports that the entire DMB catalog is now available on iTunes. You can download each song for the usual pittence of just 99 cents per song.

The Chicago Sun Times had an intereseting story about the “Spam King.” Since my wife is from Austin, Minnesota, home of the George A. Hormel Company, any headline that includes the word Spam always catches my attention.

Anyway, the Sun Time story notes that Sanford Wallace and his company, Smartbot.net, have been fined $4 million by the Federal Trade Commission for installing spyware, altering browser settings and inundating users with those nasty pop-up ads.

Talk about your poetic justice. The feds notified Wallace of the ruling by sending him a thousand emails with subject lines such as, “Are we still on for tonight?”, “Here’s that link I was telling you about,” and “News about a mutual friend of ours.”

Thought your Mac was immune to a computer virus? Think again. A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald reported that two Mac users were the victims of the what security experts call the first-ever virus for Mac OS X.

The Mac’s vulnerability could also increase as Apple transitions to a product line that uses microprocessors made by Intel, security experts said.

Read the entire article at Macs Becoming Virus Targets .

Apple’s always had the good sense to not just hire good product designers, but good advertising firms as well. With this newest round of ads, they tout the joys of belonging to the Cult of Jobs by personifying PCs and Macs as people. Apple is represented by Justin Long, possibly known for his acting in the Brittney Spears film Crossroads. Windows is brought to life by the recent addition to the Daily Show, John Hodgeman. All six are worth a watch, as they’re snarky enough to make any Apple fanatic’s day.

See all six here .

The often-correct rumor mongers at AppleInsider are speculating about what Apple has to offer at the upcoming National Association of Broadcasters conference this Sunday. Keeping with Apple’s flair for stepping ahead of deadlines, it looks like the 17-inch MacBook Pro might be early as well. Originally talked about with a June debut, it looks like Apple may be showing off the 17-inch powerhouse at this weekend’s Las Vegas conference. Also in the rumor mill, attendees may get a peek at the Intel native version of Final Cut Pro, which should support Blu-ray and HD-DVD burning.

Full article from AppleInsider can be found here .

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2006 second quarter ending April 1, 2006. International sales accounted for 43% of the quarter’s revenue. During the quarter, Apple shipped 1,112,000 Macintosh computers and 8,526,000 iPods, representing 4% growth in Macs and 61% growth in iPods over the year-ago quarter.

Full article can be found at Yahoo Finance .

Jason Snell is the editorial director of Mac Publishing, including Macworld magazine, Macworld.com, Playlistmag.com, MacOSXHints.com, and MacUser.com. He’s been covering the Mac for more than a decade. Jason began his career at MacUser in 1994 and has written and edited extensively on Mac issues ever since, both in print and online. He has been writing and publishing on the Internet since 1991.

Area of expertise:

Senior spokesperson, Commentary on Mac/iPod industry and Apple news.

No Robots Providing Mac Help Today

Ok, ok, let me start by assuring you there will be no April-fools jokes in this newsletter. I don’t promise something entirely humorless, either!

This is the second warm day in Chicago in what seems like, well, forever, and the sun is creeping in when it makes it past the clouds rolling by, warming my back, making my eyes squint and the text on the screen appear to dim. Ah, Spring! Which in Chicago at least comes on like Summer. Boom. It’s hot.

There’s a well-considered response to the latest hype about flaws in Mac OS X’s security located here:

http://www.internet-nexus.com/