Woops.  It looks like Apple might have made those new iMacs a little too fast! 

Accroding to Macworld's tests, The Core i7 iMac beat the Octo-core Mac Pro 2.2GHz in a number of Speedmark tests and overall it was 1.5% faster than the fastest base model computer Apple sells.  Sure, you can update that Mac pro Beast to 2.93GHz Octo, but that is $2600 more, $500 more than the entire Core i7 iMac!

Short Version: Apple's lawyers contacted the little App factory to change the name of its iPodRip product that pulls music and video off of CDs and DVDS.  Because it has 'iPod' in its name, it is a violation of an Apple trademark.  iPodRip's developer wrote a diatribe to Steve Jobs on why this was unfair. 

Jobs used his iPhone to respond:

Change your apps name. Not that big of a deal.

Steve

Sent from my iPhone

The little App factory changed the name to 'iRip'.  Apple could save some time and lawyer bills using this tactic in the future.

According to Peter Kafka, Condé Nast Publications is readying its Wired publication for the Apple tablet....if one ever exists.  According to his report, Wired is somehow working with Apple, though Apple won't acknowledge that the hardware exists for the project they are working on. 

So who’s going to make those gadgets? Condé Nast CEO Chuck Townsend says his company is working closely with Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and that it has also been communicating its plans to Apple. But Townsend made a point of saying that Apple executives themselves refuse to acknowledge that they’re actually planning a tablet: “They’re not talking to anybody openly,” he says.

Although we'd love to see Wired on an Apple tablet, there is one other problem with Condé Nast's plans. The tablet solution they are working on is being built on Adobe's Air platform. Apple is far, far, far from guaranteed to allow Air applications to run on its tablet platform...if one even exists.  Adobe's has been trying unsuccessfully to get Flash on the iPhone for over two years.

Apple spends time and money policing its manufacturing partners to ensure they maintain a strict code of conduct, but the reality for many involved in manufacturing consumer electronic products is very different from anything most of us would tolerate.

For many factory workers, the reality is one in which hourly wages don’t reach one dollar, workers are sacked without warning or reason, sweatshop-like conditions prevail, and they have few - if any - rights.

Apple and other big high-tech brands have established “codes of conduct” for suppliers and regularly conduct factory audits to catch abuse.

“Our audits are done across all our suppliers,” Apple spokesperson Jill Tan told Wired. “It’s a pretty rigorous process, and we take corrective actions as and when required. We audit aggressively, and post all results on our website.”

Apple's recent "supplier responsibility" update, published in February 2009, revealed the company's own findings that nearly 60 percent of audited suppliers violated its code of conduct guidelines on work hours and days off.

We know some of the fanboys aren't going to like Apple's laptops anywhere but at the top of a reliabilty test.  Therefore, take this with a grain of salt.  A recent study (PDF) by SquareTrade research has shown that Apple's laptops just rate "Above Average". 

Asus and Toshiba's laptops ranked higher prompting SquareTrade to remark, "ASUS and Toshiba laptops failed just over half as frequently as HP, which makes them a solid bet in terms of reliability."  Apple ranked at 4th place in the study of nine manufacturers between Sony and Dell.

MacBook/Pro/Air users can take solace in the fact that their laptops perennially rank the highest in Consumer Reports tests.

Things are changing in Seattle, where Mayor-elect Mike McGinn wants to chuck the Windows-based PCs out the window - to make room for the Mac.

That’s because, unlike outgoing Mayor Greg Nickels or runner-up, Joe Mallahan, iPhone-using McGinn wants the best tools for the job, running the city, 13 miles from Microsoft's Redmond campus.

Did we mention yet that Microsoft is based in Redmond, a suburb of Seattle? We have now. That’s all we’re saying about it, OK?

Here’s what the Mayor-elects “people” said:

"We've asked the city IT folks about it [switcing to Macs] and they're looking into it for us," said transition spokesman Aaron Pickus. "They were talking about new computers for the mayor's office anyway, so right now we are looking to see if Mike and the mayor's staff can work on Macs."

via the fake. (In celebration of Dolly's gifts to the world, have some free music.)

We told you about Apple patenting an ad supported version of Mac OSX last month.  Today, the New York Times is examining the possibility in a piece called Apple Wouldn’t Risk Its Cool Over a Gimmick, Would It?

Admittedly, it does seem like a far stretch to think Steve Jobs (who is incidentally named first on the patent) likes this idea and its potential weakening of the Apple brand.  But, the guy is a smart man and Google is about to release a free OS that will be subsidized on advertising.  Microsoft is also experimenting with advertising in its office products (mostly for upsell). Perhaps the model could catch on with students, one of Apple's biggest customers, who would take the ads for free computers?  Again, very unlikely.

Perhaps Apple thinks it needs a contingency plan.

Digitimes, this weekend, released a timetable for Intel's high-end mobile processor lineup over the next few quarters.  Possible MacBook Pro and MacBook Air processor successors include 35W 32nm dual-core Arrandale CPUs running at up to 2.26GHz (2.53GHz in single-core Turbo Boost).  Remember that even though the cycles/second are fewer in these chips, the speed improves dramatically, as seen in Apple's new iMac lineup.

On Thursday, Intel plans to launch four 32nm dual-core Arrandale CPUs (Calpella platform), the Core i5-520M, Core i5-430M, Core i3-350M and Core i3-330M, in the first half of January 2010 for the mainstream notebook segment, according to sources from notebook players. The Intel Core i5-430M runs at a clock speed of 2.26GHz, but with Intel's Turbo Boost technology, it can run up to 2.53GHz for a single core. The Intel Core i3-350M also runs at 2.26GHz, but does not support Turbo Boost technology; Intel Core i3-330M runs at 2.13GHz and also does not support Turbo Boost technology. Core i5 CPUs will feature a graphics clock that runs at a base speed of 500MHz but can also run at speeds up to 766MHz. The Core i3 also runs at 500MHz but can also run at speeds up to 667MHz. Both series support DDR3 memory up to 1066MHz and feature 3MB L3 Cache with a TDP of 35W. 

Digitimes also released an ultra-low power processor scorecard this week, with even lower power processors slated for 1H10.  These Core i7 640UM processors use only 18W of power, yet can clock up to 2.26GHz.  That is some serious performance/watt - which we know sjobs luvs.

Mac users still on Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) systems should be aware that there are no further security or system patches planned for these systems.

Apple introduced security and system updates for Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6 last week, reflecting the company’s historical record of supporting both the current and previous operating system but no previous iterations.

The problem here is that Snow Leopard only operates on Intel-based Macs, PowerPC-based Macs must move to Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) in order to continue to receive OS support. This effectively leaves Mac users running Tiger on a PowerPC-based Mac with two options: Get a new Mac or upgrade to Leopard.

Unfortunately, Apple no longer sells Leopard installation discs, leaving PowerPC users who perhaps of necessity must try to keep their computers going for a while longer before they are in position to upgrade them again with no upgrade path to a supported Apple OS that functions on their Mac.