The Psystar saga continues. Back in April, Psystar went public with the first commercial Hackintosh clones. For US$554, they'd send you a Core 2 Duo minitower with Mac OS X preinstalled. In June, they released rack-mount servers with Leopard Server preinstalled in both 1U (starting $1599) and 2U (starting $1999) configurations.

Last July, the inevitable happened and Apple filed a lawsuit against Psystar citing copyright infringement, and demanded that they recall all machines. Psystar responded by acquiring legal representation from Carr & Ferrell, who previously settled with Apple in another case.

Still with us? Good. This week, Psystar seems to be preparing to countersue Apple, citing anticompetitive business practices. Specifically, the suit alleges that Apple's practice of restricting OS X to Apple hardware is "...an anticompetitive restraint of trade."

We think that's a stretch, but this story sure is fun to follow. We'll keep you updated as soon as anything changes. If you want a claim-by-claim breakdown of Apple's suit against Psystar, check out Nilay Patel's full accounting over at Engadget.

[Via Electronista]

Just as quickly as Open Tech opened up, the Mac clone creator has decided to put itself up for sale. Of course, we're not sure who would buy a company that could be sued at anytime by the Mothership.

Open Tech has information about the sale on their website. For just $50,000 (payable via PayPal, oddly enough), you will receive the following:

• Open Tech name
• Open Tech website
• Trade secrets (as in secrets to ripping off Apple)
• Press contacts (are they selling the actual people?)
• 2 Open Tech machines with the OS of your choice

This information comes on the heels of Mac clone maker Psystar being sued by Apple for copyright infringement among other things. So, if you are looking to buy a company with built-in legal trouble, Open Tech looks like it could be a good scam deal.


[via MacNN]

Wired has published the results of the iPhone reception survey they were running, and clearly Antarctica needs way more coverage. But they also pulled a lot of useful data out of places where people actually live, and it probably doesn't surprise you.

3G performance is slow almost all over, especially in cities where the 3G service is getting overloaded. If you want to have fast speeds, hang out in Germany and the Netherlands -- those folks had the fastest speeds (and it's no coincidence that the 3G network there has three extra development years on its American counterpart). The worst reception is apparently in Australia, as Optus and Virgin users had their iPhones chugging along at just 759 Kbps.

What can we draw from this? Just like those Swedish scientists told us, it's the service, not the phone. But you know what Mark Twain said about statistics, so just in case you want to draw your own conclusions, Wired has kindly made a Google Spreadsheet of all the data available to anyone who wants it. Anyone want to try putting together that heatmap?

Last night, Apple issued an update for the MacBook Air. With the oh-so creative title of "MacBook Air Update," this update is recommended for all users and fixes "issues with video playback and processor core idling."

According to Apple, this update should not be installed until applications that modify processor operating characteristics (i.e. frequency and voltage), like CoolBook, are removed from the system. Apple says that these applications are not supported.

You can download this update by visiting the Apple support download website or by opening Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update). Apple has published a support note with extra information about this update.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

TUAW's going Back to School! We'll be bringing you tips and reviews for students, parents and teachers right up until the bell rings in September.

It's time once again to head back to school. Some are entering high school, while others are going to college for the first time. If you're taking your Mac with you, you need to learn some security basics. In this post, I will show you how to secure your operating system and hardware.

Operating System (Software)
Mac OS X makes a great operating system for students and businesses because of its inherent security. However, any computer without a strong password or other means of security is an accident waiting to happen.

The first thing you need to do is set a login password. To do this, go into Accounts in the System Preferences pane. Once there you will be able to set your password for logging in. While in Accounts, you might want to disable automatic login. This forces your computer to ask for a password upon startup and makes it harder for someone to walk up to your computer and use it (or steal it and use it).

Turning off Sharing services is another way to protect someone from remotely connecting to your Mac. Go to System Preferences > Sharing. Once there, un-check all sharing services that you don't use. Disabling File Sharing, Remote Login, Screen Sharing, and other services such as these can save your Mac from being "hijacked." If you must have these services turned on, then make sure you have a secure password set.

Hardware
Securing Mac OS X isn't the only thing you need to do. If you live in a dorm, or in a shared apartment, then you may want to consider securing your hardware. No matter what security measures you put into place, they can always be circumvented by someone just stealing the machine.

Most Macs have a standard security port to connect a lock. This is a great way to protect notebooks as well as desktops and even printers and other peripherals. The locks are fairly inexpensive (around $40 US) and can save your expensive hardware from being stolen. You can find them at most big-box computer retailers and even online from companies like Kensington.

More on security...
If you want more information on Security and your Mac/iPhone, then visit TUAW's Security category. You can also get more TUAW Back to School goodness by visiting our Back to School page.

AppleInsider says that Apple has yanked the Push notification framework from the latest version of the iPhone 2.1 firmware beta. Push got a lot of play during WWDC -- it's a service that will send information to the apps on your iPhone as needed (tweets, for example, will just come rather than having to refresh Twitterific all the time), but apparently Apple doesn't think it's ready for the stage yet. They've wiped it from the beta, claiming it needs "further development," and haven't given any indication of when it might return.

Here's hoping it gets back in there before the expected release sometime in September, but then again, it's not like Apple should be taking any new chances with features right now. From Mobile Meh to iPhone activation problems, Apple's got to make sure that any more widescale releases go as swimmingly as they possibly can.

[Via Engadget]

PhoneNews claims they can "confirm" that Apple will speed-bump the MacBook Air with a Penryn-class Intel Core 2 Duo processor, increasing the clock speed to 2 GHz and up. The story also notes that, since the processor requires more power, the Air will ship with a higher-capacity battery and 60-watt power adapter.

Engadget goes further, noting that clock speeds could (theoretically) reach 3.06GHz. Also, they speculate that the Air could feature improved integrated graphics if it adopts the Intel Centrino 2 chipset.

Alternatively, Engadget notes that Intel plans to release several flavors of low-voltage Penryn chips in September, which might indeed be slated for the MacBook Air. Using these chips, however, would decrease the power requirements noted by PhoneNews, not increase them.

PhoneNews says national retailers have been alerted "to be prepared for the upgrade." This may be part of several laptop announcements rumored to be happening in September.

[Via IGM.]

Sure, Apple claims the 3G is fast, but with all the problems with 3Gs connecting all over the world, just how fast is it really? The folks at Wired.com have decided to find out, and they need your help. They'd like you to test your iPhone at the TestmyiPhone.com network speed testing site, and then hit up their global ZeeMap to register your speed.

Instructions are over on their website, and they're testing both Edge and 3G upload and download speeds, so you'll have to run three tests total. You'll also have to sign up for a ZeeMap account.

The eventual payoff will be a relatively clear look at iPhone speeds around the world. Wired says that they'll eventually average global data, but there's a lot of things that could be done with data like this -- heatmaps? Speed per carrier? Once they get a good set of figures together, there's probably all kinds of things that can be done.

We know -- you've wanted an iPod for years, but you've always wanted one branded with your favorite TV show, and that 90210 version didn't cut it. Boy, is it your lucky day. Fox has released some "Limited Edition" X-Files iPod Classics and Nanos, ready for your purchase right now for only $329.00. You read that right -- you're paying almost $100 for pictures of Mulder and Scully. But surely if anyone's worth it, they are, right?

Unfortunately, as TUAW's resident X-Files nerd (well, one of them) Robert Palmer pointed out to me, they're branded with the latest movie's title, not the original TV show, so those who don't actually Want to Believe (y'know, after all these years, why doesn't Mulder just believe already?) will likely be disappointed. But since you can customize them with your name (or whatever else you want on there -- we recommend "Clyde Bruckman"), hopefully the movie's title won't concern true fans too much.

[via Chip Chick]

Are you a Terminal geek (or wannabe, but not the pop star type)? If so, did you know that you can burn discs right from the Terminal window with a simple command and a drag/drop? Just enter the following command followed by the path to a folder or disk image:


Don't type the "filehere" -- that's where you put the path to the file/folder that you wish to burn. You can either type the location manually or drag and drop the file onto the Terminal window. But that's not all you can do with drutil; you can also eject media from the optical drive by typing "drutil eject." To see all of the available drutil options, just type in drutil for a quick list or man drutil for a full description.

Silicon Alley Insider is offering "pure speculation" based on a tip that Apple's Fall future product transition is a video upgrade to Apple products that includes a QuickTime encoder/decoder on a chip.

As cool as this would be, I don't personally think it's a significant-enough development to warn investors about. Unless, of course, it's part and parcel of more substantial changes to Apple's product lines.

Having video playback functions handled by a separate microprocessor capable of dealing with the variety of media formats that QuickTime handles could yield performance increases for lower-end Macs (with less-powerful video cards) and battery life savings for handheld devices.

Also, depending on what codecs are included on-board, it could mean an end to countless hours converting video specifically for your iPhone, iPod touch, or Apple TV. Additionally, MacRumors' Arnold Kim notes that it could be of some use for encoding Blu-Ray video.

All I want is DivX AVI playback on my iPod touch. Pretty please?

I love Tom's Hardware -- they're traditionally a PC site (and being a gamer, I've built and run my share of PCs), but like most PC guys, they aren't afraid to lay out the specs and draw direct conclusions from there. And that's exactly what they've done with a very Mac misconception: that Apple computers traditionally cost more than the average PC.

To the average user, that seems true -- if you go to, say, a Best Buy or a Circuit City, and look at the Macs they're selling versus the seemingly equivalent PCs they're selling, then yes, you're seeing higher pricetags on the Apple stuff. But when Tom's lays out what you get out of each computer, the prices are generally the same. In fact, they even build an equivalent Mac Pro, and there's only a $5.67 difference.

Of course, that doesn't stop people from trying to prove otherwise (Apple, you'll note, is not a client of NPD, and they don't actually share which computers they're talking about in the study). And of course, as Tom's Hardware commenters will tell you, there's really no argument for gamers yet, as amazing hardware is nothing when it doesn't run your software the way it should. But it's good to see TH taking a serious, relatively unbiased look at the price differences, and Apple getting a little more love from the traditionally PC crowd.

MacRumors speculates on the possibility of Apple releasing updated Cinema displays at next year's Macworld Expo. According to the post, the new displays could incorporate the LED backlight technology that Apple has started building into their 15" MacBook Pros.

MacRumors notes that LED backlit displays going into the 30" range tend to be more expensive than Apple's current 30" Cinema display. However, if this is true, it would be a nice change from Apple's 2004 design of the current Cinema displays. There is no word yet on if the new displays would include the iSight camera.

Who says crime doesn't pay?

Aliph, makers of the ultra-cool noise-reducing Jawbone Bluetooth headset, have come up with a great marketing scheme. If you live in California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, New York, or Washington -- all states with laws requiring hands-free use of mobile phones -- and receive a ticket for yapping with your iPhone plastered to your ear, Jawbone will deduct $20 off the purchase price of one of their headsets.

You can't get a discount on the Silver Tongue model, but the prices for the Goldy Lips and Blah Blah Black versions end up at $129.99 and $109.99 respectively. All you need to do is go to the Jawbone website, look for the Hands Free Ticket Processor, and enter your state and ticket number. $20 is taken off the original purchase price, and you're ready to go.

This is one case where I wish I did live in a nanny state that was forcing me to use a hands-free kit!