apples

A number of tech companies have had big years but none may have had a bigger year than Apple. Apple has become of a part of the zeitgeist as much as pop stars and famous actors. It's all because of a little handheld music player called the iPod.

SiliconValley.com's weeklong roundtable on all things Apple includes a couple of odd choices for membership.

I don't know if I want this new Apple toy or not because as small as it is, I would inevitably leave in my jeans and it would get washed but it is cool, no doubt about it. This tiny little music player holds a ton of tunes and the price is pretty reasonable.

Microsoft seems particularly adept and pushing Apple into a grinder. Even though the "Gates House Gang" owns a chunk of Apple stock, it seems they enjoy demonstrating their "superiority" and if this current patent case works for Microsoft, they will add another notch to their belt.

For years the Mac was a highly specialized PC, ignored by most, but loved by certain industry aficionados. But no matter how dearly adored it was for its stability, security, and usefulness in the layout and design professions, it didn't have the appeal that came with heavy hitter Microsoft and Windows OS.

The days of "the only things Macs are good for are graphic design and newspapers" appear to be coming to a close. It seems like a smart move, as the years of product placement in movies like "You've Got Mail" haven't helped Apple regain the ground it lost to Microsoft in the 90's.

Apple was built on piracy. The first personal computer was social. Computer clubs sharing 5 1/4 floppies I, II, Lisa.

Last week, Steve Jobs, Macintosh CEO, unveiled the upcoming update for Mac's OS X. The update, version number 10.4, is called Tiger. The differences in this update are not so much visual; rather, it's more of a performance enhancing revision.