A new report from Morgan Stanley shows that as the PC market begins to stabilize and pull out of its precipitous fall, Apple's MacBooks are leading the way as the top sellers. Yet just a few months ago, when computer sales plummeted, Apple's sales were tanking the worst. Just shows Apple does everything in a big way, up or down.

In February, NPD Group noted unit sales of MacBooks dropped seven percent, while Windows laptops jumped 36 percent. Without netbooks, however, Windows laptops rose 16 percent, NPD said.

Quite a bit has changed in recent months. Morgan Stanley analyst Kathryn Huberty issued a report this week showing Apple with the "most upside" among PC notebook vendors following the horrendous first quarter of 2009.

"Even before the new MacBook Pros launched," she writes, "Apple began to outperform the broader commercial PC segment — with commercial Mac shipments up 25% [month over month] in May versus market growth of just 1%."

The first day the Apple iPhone 3GS went on sale was the biggest sales day ever for AT&T, according to an internal memo sent to company employees that has since been published in various blogs.

That's right, iPhone Day 2009 beat out the two previous iPhone launch days, as well as surpassed traditionally heavy retail sales days such as Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and December 26th, the day after Christmas.

The new iPhone may not have added a whole bunch of new bells and whistles, but it seems to have certainly been a crowd pleaser. It took Apple and AT&T about two and half months to sell one million phones. The iPhone 3GS hit that milestone in just the first weekend.
But it's hard to say for sure how many iPhones have been sold to date. Apple won't divulge sales figures until later this month when it reports its quarterly earnings. And AT&T has only said that it sold "hundreds of thousands" of iPhones during its pre-order process. But the company has indicated that iPhone 3GS sales were off the charts.

Apple Inc. is working to fix an iPhone vulnerability that could allow an attacker to remotely install and run unsigned software code with root access to the phone.

The attack in question exploits a weakness in the way iPhones handle text messages received via SMS (Short Message Service), said security researcher Charlie Miller, during a presentation at the SyScan conference in Singapore on Thursday. He didn't provide a detailed description of the SMS vulnerability, citing an agreement with Apple.

The SMS vulnerability allows an attacker to run software code on the phone that is sent by SMS over a mobile operator's network. The malicious code could include commands to monitor the location of the phone using GPS technology, turn on the phone's microphone to eavesdrop on conversations, or make the phone join a distributed denial-of-service attack or a botnet, Miller said

Apple expects to have a fix ready later this month, before Miller discusses the attack in greater detail during a planned presentation at the Black Hat USA conference in Las Vegas.

The iPhone 3G S tops our new smart-phone Ratings (available to subscribers), with strong performance in everything but voice quality, an area in which few phones score well. It's not a runaway winner, though. A number of other phones ranked close to the iPhone, including the Palm Pre, which turned in a fine performance, as we expected from our head-to-head review of these two highly publicized rivals.

The phones vary significantly in how they achieve their high scores. The iPhone 3G S edged out high-scoring competitors such as the Palm Pre and BlackBerry Storm thanks to a superior display, reinforced by top-notch multimedia, navigation, Web browsing, and battery life. However, the Pre, the Storm, and other BlackBerry models bested the iPhone in messaging, and the Pre, with its new deck-of-cards handling of multiple applications, is a superior multitasker.

Whether anecdotal reports of iPhones overheating are true or not, Apple has taken them seriously enough to reveal the presence of a temperature warning screen for the iPhone 3G and 3GS.

Here's the deal: an unknown but probably very small number of iPhones have been affected by overheating, to the point that some white iPhone 3GSes have allegedly turned pink.

Apple, however, has issued what some might call a "common sense" warning: a support document that warns users not to keep the iPhone in an environment where temperatures can exceed 113 degrees Fahrenheit, including parked cars.

But Apple also warns that CPU-intensive applications, such playing music or using the GPS while in direct sunlight may also overheat the iPhone.

Apple also says that the iPhone 3G and 3GS should not be stored where the temperature can fall under -4 degrees Fahrenheit, or used in less in temperatures under 0 degrees F.

Ambrosia has announced the release of Soundboard, a new audio playback tool for live performances, podcasts, broadcasts and more. It costs $29, and a demo is available for download.

Soundboard lets you map sound samples to your keyboard and run special effects.The concept of Soundboard is similar to the “cart machines” that once populated radio stations — devices that played back endless-loop tape cartridges used to play commercials, sound effects and other audio content. You can create libraries of audio clips using Soundboard, then trigger the effects by tapping hot keys on your Mac’s keyboard. You can drag in any audio file your Mac can play.

Soundboard includes editing tools, and lets you apply effects or filters. Imported sounds are converted to Apple Lossless format to retain high fidelity and ensure instant playback. Soundboard can also be controlled using MIDI devices, with effects like panning and gain possible as well.

HAPPY CANADA DAY from beautiful Vancouver, BC Canada to all of our fellow Canucks out there!

Highly appropriate that it's Canada Day today since this week's Website of the Week is Canadian-themed.

Well that, and it made me literally laugh out loud.

The winning submitter may get slightly confused when they see this since their exact submission isn't the site of the week, but it did lead me to chose this site. (I know it’s convoluted but that’s that way it worked out in my head.) ;-)

Without further adieu, Welcome to Canada!

:-)

Adobe Systems, the company behind Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver and a multitude of creative software applications, has shut its North American operations for a week as part of a cost-cutting effort.

Adobe said it would repeat the week long break at least once more this year. The company took a similar break in April when Adobe asked staff to use paid holiday time during the closures.

Adobe's sales have declined for the last two quarters, although it still reported $126.1 million in profit on $704.7 million in revenue for the quarter that ended 29 May

MaBaSoft’s World Clock Deluxe is one of the apps in the latest TheMacBundles. World Clock Deluxe is a Mac time tool that normally costs US$19.

The following nine apps will be available for 21 days: Caboodle (Dejal Systems), IPNetMonitorX (Sustainable Softworks), MailTags (Indev Software), PrintMagic (MacEase), ShutterBug (XtraLean Software), Trampoline (Old Jewel Software), Typinator (Ergonis), Voila (Global Delight) and World Clock Deluxe (MaBaSoft). The two bonus titles will be available for the first 14 days: Smart Trash (Hyperbolic Software) and Dock Gone (Old Jewel Software)

The bundle will sell for US$49.95, and a $5 discount is offered for orders of two or more units (the first unit also receives the discount). At $49.95, this represents a saving of over 80 percent.

It's really easy (and sadly all too common) to hop on to an available wireless signal in your office, at the hotel, or your favorite coffee spot and not even think twice about logging in to your e-mail or checking your bank balance.

What many users don't realize is even though the server you are connecting to (i.e. your bank's website) may employ several layers of security, the connection between your computer and the wireless access point is very likely to be unsecured. Anyone who is within range of your computer can trivially monitor the traffic being sent between your computer and the access point, allowing them to see what websites you may be visiting or capture details about other services that you may be connected to. This isn't because of some gaping vulnerability or software bug, it's just an inherent part of how wireless networks work.

So, what can you do to protect yourself? Read on for a list of simple steps you can take to ensure that your wireless connection is safe and secure.

The Maine Department of Education on Tuesday announced that it has expanded its student laptop program to include high school students. It’s a huge win for Apple, because the state will be acquiring another 64,000 MacBook laptops, with up to 7,000 additional MacBooks possibly ordered in the coming weeks.

The Maine Technology Learning Initiative (MTLI) has equipped middle schoolers in the state of Maine with MacBooks since 2002. The expansion of the program will provide MacBook laptops for students and faculty in grades 7 through 12. Negotiations to make the expansion were reported in March.

Apple is providing educational software, professional development, repair, replacement and technical support, according to the Maine Department of Education.

(If you're getting last week's show when you tune in live, you click on Quicktime Preferences in your Quicktime Menu, then click on browser and then click on Empty Download Cache (or uncheck the "Save Movies" in disk cache")

This week on Your Mac Life, sponsored by 1Password, Softpress, Ambrosia Software, RadTech, SmileOnMyMac and Circus Ponies - "Safari 4 & Jobs Fallout"

Live Video is on Your Mac Life thanks to MacOSG.com! You can watch the show live at this URL:
http://www.macosg.com/group/yml.html

Or you can listen in to the plain old audio feed at:
http://www.yourmaclifeshow.com/QT/stream.mov

You can also join the Chat Room that runs during the live show - on the Live Video Feed itself or on the dedicated IRC Server at irc.netmug.org in the #yourmaclife Channel.

Make sure you listen in this and every Wednesday evening from 5:30pm to 8pm PT or from 8:30pm to 11pm ET, for the most fun you'll have listening to your Mac.

When AT&T mishandled public relations around the iPhone for the Nth time recently - in having no formulated or ostensibly correct answer about upgrade fees for existing subscribers - I heard plenty of folks counting the days until AT&T was no longer the exclusive U.S. carrier for Apple's iPhone.

I don't want to say that it ain't gonna happen, because we all know that where there's a business will, there's a technology way. But there are a few big bars in the way.

Okay, so you’re one of the cool kids that got yourself the spiffy new iPhone 3G S, and you probably really want to take advantage of its best new feature — video. Sure the new phone gives you a quick post to YouTube option, but did you know there’s already a few great ways that you can post your videos directly to Twitter?

We’ll show you how to quickly get your video creations from your iPhone to Twitter. We’ll also help you understand some of the dos and don’ts for each particular option, to make sure that your newly tweeted videos show up just as you envisioned them. Happy video recording and tweeting!

One of the more specialized classes of printers is the consumer-level dedicated photo printer. These printers are typically limited to a maximum paper size of 2 by 3, 4 by 6, or 5 by 7 inches (or panoramic variations on these sizes), but the category isn't defined just by its limits. Dedicated photo printers are relatively small and portable. They're also much less computer printers than they are standalone consumer electronics products, with an emphasis on ease of use. If you're in the market for one, here are the questions that will help you home in on the right choice.

On Monday Apple released the MacBook Air SMC Firmware Update 1.2, available now for compatible models via Mac OS X’s Software Update mechanism.

According to Apple’s documentation, “This SMC firmware update adds compatibility for the latest service replacement batteries…. After this update has successfully completed, your SMC Version will be: 1.23f20 [for original MacBook Air models, or] 1.34f8 [for more recent models].”

In general, SMC Firmware Updates update the System Management Controller on Intel-based Macs.

Steve Jobs is back at work at Apple Inc., returning to his job as chief executive officer as planned after taking medical leave in January.

“Steve is back to work,” said Steve Dowling, a spokesman at the Cupertino, California-based company. Jobs is at Apple a few days a week and working from home the rest of the time, he said. “We are very glad to have him back.”

Jobs’s return may reassure investors concerned that he was too sick to continue as CEO, said Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co. in Minneapolis. Jobs, a cancer survivor, said in January he would resume his daily duties at the end of June. Jobs’s doctors disclosed last week that he had a liver transplant and said he is recovering well.

“It should give investors confidence in Apple’s three-to- five-year road map,” said Munster, who recommends buying the stock and doesn’t own it. “Having Steve Jobs back means they got the visionary back.”

Barnes & Noble has joined the iPhone app generation. The world's largest bookstore announced on Monday its B&N Bookstore app, which is available for both the iPhone and iPod Touch. Among other things, users can browse books and reviews, and find store event information.

The app also includes a store locator, recommendations on other books that might appeal, a store events calendar, online purchasing, and video clips of interviews with authors.

Other apps for bookworms include Amazon Mobile, which lets users search, shop and read reviews; SnapTell, which, like the B&N Bookstore app, lets users take a picture of a book cover and get information on the book; and BookBargin, which compares prices of books at different online stores. These apps and the B&N Bookstore app are free.

It all seems innocent enough: Someone received an iTunes gift card for their birthday, but they don't have an iPod, so they're selling it on eBay. And to encourage you to snap it up, they're offering the gift card at a price that's $10 or $20 less than its face value. Sounds like too good a deal to pass up, right?

Unfortunately, there's a strong possibility that the gift card was bought with a stolen credit card or was hacked. For a while, people appeared to be using such gift cards without repercussion. But more recently, Apple seems to be quietly mounting a campaign against fraudulent iTunes gift card offenders.

"Apple re serves the right to close customer accounts and request alternative forms of payment if a Gift Certificate, iTunes Card, Content Code or Allowance is fraudulently obtained or used on the iTunes Store."

Nikon’s D5000 strikes a great balance between price and features. It deviates from the nomenclature of its closest siblings, the Nikon D60 and Nikon D90, but no matter: It combines many of the best aspects of both while adding its own extras to the mix.

Pros - Tilt and swivel screen; compact size.

Cons - Video doesn’t autofocus; battery life unimpressive.

Everyone is entitled to medical privacy, whether it’s a patient discussing test results in a doctor’s office or a celebrity checking into a mental health center.

But I would argue that Mr. Jobs has 35,420 far better reasons to start talking about his health. That’s the number of people expected to die of pancreatic cancer this year. I can only imagine the impact a person of Mr. Jobs’s global stature would have on awareness and fund-raising if he braved public disclosure of his condition.

And it would be brave. It isn’t easy to talk about personal health issues under the best of circumstances, let alone with the whole world watching. But people with pancreatic cancer need the kind of Hail Mary pass only a big player like Mr. Jobs could provide.

Steve Jobs, Apple Inc.’s chief executive officer, got a liver transplant quickly because of a U.S. system that favors patients with the means to rush to geographic areas where there is less competition for organs.

Memphis, where Jobs got the transplant, is one of several U.S. meccas for liver patients who can afford to travel, doctors said. Flight records show Jobs’s personal jet flew at least six times this year from California, with one of the longest transplant lists in the U.S., to Memphis, where the wait is shorter.

Jobs, 54, got his transplant in part because regions can keep donated organs on a local list -- even when there may be sicker patients not far away. His experience spotlights organ allocation practices that have been under fire for decades and will be discussed at a national public meeting the United Network for Organ Sharing in Richmond, Virginia, plans for later this year, doctors said.

“You could call it gaming the system, that may be true,” John Fung, chairman of transplant surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, said in a telephone interview. “But until we tackle the problem of what makes the system unfair, we can’t criticize people who are trying to help themselves.”

Despite being packed with information, a dictionary usually gets scant attention: You look up a word to check its spelling or definition, maybe skim its etymology, and then return to what you were doing. But if you consult Wordnik, you could easily find yourself embarking on a languorous exploration of the English language.

Wordnik provides definitions from the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition; the Century Dictionary; WordNet 3.0; and the GNU version of The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. Synonyms and antonyms are pulled from Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition, and Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms. Definitions from Webster's Unabridged 1913 edition also occasionally make appearances.

There's more to a word than its definition, of course, and Wordnik supplements the basic information in several additional ways.

It seems like everyone who's purchased an iPhone 3GS at this point has had a different reason for buying one. For some people, it was all about getting a faster CPU; for others, it was their first 3G-and-beyond smartphone.

My personal reasons for spending my hard-earned bucks to buy a 3GS were to take advantage of the higher-resolution (3 megapixel) autofocus camera, since I love taking photos with my iPhone, and to shoot video with my phone. Phone video is nothing new; I had it three years ago on a Palm Treo 680. But the ability of the 3GS to not only record video, but also allow limited editing before sharing the video in a number of ways, really made me want to get a 3GS immediately.

In this TUAW First Look, I describe the recording and editing processes in detail, and then give you my impressions of how good or bad the 3GS video capabilities are. I also provide a comparison with video taken by a T-Mobile G1 Android smartphone.

In the last six months, YouTube says they've seen uploads from mobile phones jump 1700%; just since last Friday, when the iPhone 3GS came out, uploads increased by 400% a day.

YouTube says, "This growth represents three things coming together: new video-enabled phones on the market, improvements to the upload flow when you post a video to YouTube from your phone, and a new feature on YouTube that allows your videos to be quickly and effortlessly shared through your social networks. It takes just a minute to connect your YouTube account to your Facebook, Twitter and Google Reader accounts. Complete a simple, one-time connection on our upload page to allow all your friends and followers to get a real-time stream of your uploads to YouTube, which can be essential in this age of citizen reporting and ubiquitous sharing."

Apple on Friday upped its stake in U.K. chip company, Imagination Technologies.

The company purchased 2.2 million shares at 1.43 British pounds, for a total cost of 3.14 million pounds ($5.19 million). The purchase brings Apple's stake in the company to 9.5 percent, effectively tripling its ownership in Imagination, according to a report on MocoNews.

Apple uses Imagination's SGX GPU in the recently released iPhone 3G S, allowing it to have much better graphics using Apple's OpenGL ES 2.0, according to AppleInsider. Samsung is reportedly integrating Imagination's technology into system-on-a-chip devices.

Right on schedule, Apple has introduced the third iteration of the iPhone to the public. The new model, called the iPhone 3GS, is much like the iPhone 3G introduced in 2008 but, as Apple says, the "S" stands for speed. There are a number of other improvements made to the iPhone 3GS that differentiate it from its less-speedy sibling, but the one thing that will stick out in any phone owner's mind after playing with one will definitely be its zip.

We have already reviewed the large majority of iPhone OS 3.0 that comes with the iPhone 3GS (and is available for all past iPhone and iPod touch models), so this review will mostly focus on changes to the device that differentiate it from previous versions.

In keeping with our paper theme (oh okay, there isn't really a paper theme, I was trying to be clever - FAIL), this week's website of the week is FUN, whether you're young or just young at heart.

If you wanna make some cool things out of paper, check out Paper Toys! Pre-mixed and pre-measured for the non-artist amongst us (including myself).

I know the first one I'm going to make is the Chrysler Building cuz that's my fave building in NYC!

Enjoy!
Sly

While AT&T has addressed both the lack of MMS (it’s coming, the company says) and the early-adoption fee (AT&T later offered the fully-subsidized new-customer price to a larger number of current customers), these are just two of the company’s many missteps around the iPhone 3GS launch.

Still, it’s unlikely Apple is going to find a new dance partner in the U.S. Together, Apple and AT&T have sold more than 6 million iPhone 3G units to date, according to AT&T. With that much at stake, it’s unlikely the two will call it quits after coming so far. Our advice? It’s time for a little heart to heart. When stuff gets rocky, a common method is to look back and discuss the situation to avoid repeating mistakes. The following is our analysis of what went wrong with the iPhone launch and why (according to AT&T; Apple has not answered our requests for explanation), coupled with suggestions for how execution could have been better.