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Morning Links

In pre-emptive play for Republican support, Obama increases tax cut component of stimulus package.Al Franken, Senator.Even grumpy old Knute Berger likes some things about the new Seattle.Nickels makes good on his promise to use salt on snowy roads.One arrest in the Chop Suey shooting.Crime de jour: ... More >>

Ballmer in Your Pocket

Speculation continues to mount about Microsoft elbowing itself further into the smartphone market. The company accidentally launched a beta-site version of MyPhone, as Cnet reports here. The service, expected to be announced later this month at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, will allow user ... More >>

WSJ Reports on MSFT's Phone Strategy

Let's shoot down some rumors and relay some facts about Microsoft and smartphones. The Wall Street Journal reports here that the Redmond software titan will start playing catch-up to Apple's iPhone app store by offering similar phone-friendly gizmos for the new Windows Mobile 6.5. One such service, ... More >>

Microsoft's New Weapon Against Apple

Why even bother hiring an advertising firm, when reality is so much better? As Microsoft ramps up its efforts in the smartphone wars against Apple's iPhone, this news just came in from the English-language site of Al Jazeera. Reporter Hamish Macdonald, undoubtedly a very brave man, is wandering arou ... More >>

Apple's Recession-Era Gift to Amazon?

Apple's iTunes store enjoys something of a captive, cultish market, especially for those proud first-adapters who flaunt their iPhones and iPods. Paying a premium makes you a member of the Steve Jobs club, which was fine for those who could afford it before the economy went sour. So it's a little st ... More >>

Apple's New Tiny TV

Video programming is limited at the iTunes store, but with know-how and Quicktime Pro, you can load anything onto the V-iPod.

Internet Appleiance

What the iMac really is—and what it means for Apple.

Pour on the Pride: Gayest City Council Candidate 'Forum' Ever

Apple cake, quiches, and raspberry tarts. Oh my! The Municipal Idol candidates baked. Local ingredients, local races, completely gay. See the slide show of what they made.

The Dow of Shrooms

Within four days of shopping at the market, I saw the price of morels and porcinis fluctuate more than Apple stock on a Jobs death watch. The four day high for morels came to $40 per pound on Thursday, though that may have been pay back to me from the vendor who I made cut my porcinis in half on T ... More >>

Kindle Vs. iPhone, Round II

In a long business story in this month's Fast Company magazine, there are some interesting observations on the mounting battle between the Amazon Kindle electronic reader device and Apple's iPhone. Writer Adam L. Penenberg cites Jobs' past pronouncement that, "It doesn't matter how good or bad [the ... More >>

Ad Wars, Price Wars, and Pyrrhic Victories: Apple Gets Microsoft to Edit Commercial

 For a long time, Apple mercilessly flogged Microsoft with its John Hodgman-starring Mac/PC ads, in which poor Mr. PC (Hodgman) is constantly outwitted, outclassed, and generally outdone by his good-natured, better-looking counterpart. Microsoft finally fired back with its "Laptop Hunter" price ... More >>

This Day in History: Microsoft Bails Out Apple

Uncle Bill got a chilly welcome from Apple's shareholders​It was August 6, 1997, Microsoft was being sued by the federal government, and Apple was struggling. No one had even heard of an iPod. Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced to the company's shareholders that Microsoft was buying $150 million i ... More >>

Must Be a PC, Jetpack Famililarity Preferred: Microsoft Looking for "Retail Technical Advisors"

​As we've noted previously, Microsoft and Apple seem set to relive sitcom Arrested Development's banana wars, wherein brothers G.O.B. and Michael Bluth--running competing banana stands set up right next to each other, as many such Apple and M'soft stores will be--resorted to increasingly despe ... More >>

Our Retail Customer Service Associate Can Beat Up Your Genius: Microsoft Looking for Muscle

​In its neverending quixotic quest to out-compete its competitors at its competitors' games, Microsoft is opening retail stores in close proximity to those of Apple. (As noted previously, this echoes a plotline from Arrested Development. See also here.) But even if the 'Softies have trouble co ... More >>

In Ad War With Microsoft, Apple Calls on Puddy, Scooby-Doo

It's an ad war--everyone's thinking outside the box!​So Apple beat up Microsoft via a bumbling John Hodgman, then Microsoft beat up Apple via peppy, thrifty shoppers who liked the lower price of a PC, then Apple threatened to sue Microsoft if it didn't get Apple's prices right in those peppy, ... More >>

How You Like Them Apples, Jobs? Microsoft Is Number 3 in the World

Bezos and Gates celebrate. Not pictured is Steve Ballmer, who was thrown out for threatening a line judge.​Microsoft may still be rolling out a Zune against an iPod for the personal entertainment device market market and a Photoshopped white guy for the Polish market, but at least it beats App ... More >>

Ballmer Laughs at Puny Apple Market Share!

​According to a new survey by NPD Research, cited on Gizmodo.com and Macrumors.com, Apple's penetration of the U.S. personal computer market is up from 9 to 12 percent. So do you think Steve Ballmer and company are sweating it in Redmond? Not really. PCs running Microsoft Windows still account ... More >>

Flickr Pool Photo of the Day: Maybe They Shouldn't Have the Zune Logo up There

​ Note to Photo of the Day hopefuls: From now until Thanksgiving, we'll grant unwarranted favor towards any picture that features one of the following: foliage, foliage or foliage. For now though, here's the sign blocking view of Microsoft's first retail store in Scottsdale, AZ. A sign that wi ... More >>

Seattle Blogs: Apple iPad Revealed!

EngadgetApple's new savior device shares its name with a tampon. Of course.​Today's blogs are all hype, little delivery. - TechFlash provided the best local coverage of Apple's unveiling of the newest thing you can't live without. And hey, waddya know: It's just a bigger iPhone that costs $50 ... More >>

iPad Reviews Say Amazon's Kindle Soon to Be E-Relevant

Steve's is prettier.​The greatest product in the history of anything comes out this Sunday. Before you buy an iPad, you can read what a bunch of lucky tech writers have to say after spending weeks toying around with it. Among their many conclusions: Apple's new e-everything is serious troubl ... More >>

iPad? Amazon Knows Not of This iPad You Speak Of

The Kindle is already starting to look a little homely, no?​Apple sold somewhere in the neighborhood of half a million iPads yesterday. So how did Amazon respond to the introduction of a product that may kill its beloved, first-generation e-reader? This screencap from last night says in the mo ... More >>

What's the Real Difference Between a Mac and a PC? One is Very Rich

Where's the Zune bump?​Contrary to what your TV will tell you, the difference between a Mac and a PC isn't measured in cool. It's measured in cash. Sure, that dude who dated Drew Barrymore looks hipper than the stodgy Daily Show guy. But did you know, assuming stock options are a part of his ... More >>

Deerhoof

Where's the Zune bump?​Contrary to what your TV will tell you, the difference between a Mac and a PC isn't measured in cool. It's measured in cash. Sure, that dude who dated Drew Barrymore looks hipper than the stodgy Daily Show guy. But did you know, assuming stock options are a part of his ... More >>

Tonight: Deerhoof at Vera, The Rob and Zach Show at Neumos, I Am Ghost at El Corazon

​Deerhoof, with The Donkeys, Southeast Engine. Vera Project, 305 Harrison St., 956-8372. 7:30 p.m. $13. All ages. Deerhoof hasn't had an album out since 2008's Offend Maggie, but their near-legendary status among the indie kids is still going to make this one of Vera's biggest shows of the yea ... More >>

Microsoft Seeks iPad Users for Careful, Not-at-All Creepy Study Session

​Microsoft's strategy of making fun of Apple's crowd-pleasing products hasn't been going so well. So CEO Steve Ballmer has introduced a new strategy: copy everything Apple is doing! To help navigate this brave new path, the folks in Redmond have decided that the best way to emulate their bigge ... More >>

Microsoft, Apple and Google: Who Makes the Most Cash?

​There are many ways to compare tech kings Microsoft, Apple and Google. You could hang a computer engineer upside down by his Keds from the rooftop of a tall building and demand he pick a favorite. But that might result in a felony. You could judge them them strictly by how high their stock pr ... More >>

Today in Sex: "I Wanna Duck You"

​Today, Techcrunch reported that the US Patent and Trademark Office approved an Apple patent which "prevents users from sending or receiving 'objectionable' text messages." Meaning, parents will be able to snap some app on their kid's iPhone that'll keep them from sexting their randy little fr ... More >>

Why Apple Makes the Products You Love and Microsoft Doesn't

​If you've ever wondered why one made the iPod while the other made the Zune. Why one made the iPhone while the other made the Kin. Why one made the iPad while the other didn't make anything at all. This interview won't make you wonder anymore.

Melinda Gates: My Kids Aren't Allowed to Have iPods

​Bill and Melissa Gates kids have it made. Their parents are rich, beloved the world over for their philanthropic largesse and, even if most of the family money will be spent curing malaria and other third-world diseases, there will still be enough cash left over to buy a small Mediterranean i ... More >>

Microsoft Joins the Multi-Touch Mouse Party More Than a Year After Apple

​Microsoft's appearance at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week has been widely panned as a flop--devoid of any big, exciting, non-Kinect related news. But on Friday, the tech giants unfurled perhaps their best hope of changing the stale narrative with this fancy ... More >>

Bill Gates Tops Steve Jobs in Political Donations; Microsoft Outspends Apple Inside the Beltway

​There was a time when Bill Gates wouldn't deign to politick. He was a successful software salesman who didn't need to grease palms or seek government largesse. His company and employees donated a mere $251,474 during the 1996 federal election cycle, for example. Then came 1998, the beginning ... More >>

The Muppets Take Brighton for LCD Soundsystem's "Dance Yourself Clean"

Not trying to brag, but, yeah, I got a ticket for one of LCD Soundsystem's final string of shows in NYC next month. I'm sad, but I'm stoked. Good things end (like the Field song says). And what better way to celebrate the impending break-up than with a video that riffs on the Beatles' famous, impr ... More >>

Microsoft Asks Court to Toss Apple's "App Store" Trademark Case Because Font Is Too Small

​Microsoft is leaving nothing to chance with its attempts to keep Apple from trademarking the term "App Store." In fact, the Redmond company's lawyers just filed a motion with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to have Apple's trademark filing stricken because . . . wait for it . . . the fon ... More >>

Amazon "Appstore" Debuts Today Amid Fanfare and a Big Fat Lawsuit from Apple

​Two things usually happen when a familiar technology innovation is modified and launched as something new these days. First, there's a big roll-out party/press event. Second, there's an even bigger lawsuit filed by a competitor that claims it's been copied. So on day one of Amazon's big debut ... More >>

How to Help Microsoft's Stock Compete with Apple's: Change the Math

​The stock market math hasn't been adding up for Microsoft for some time now. Apple's NASDAQ shares are trading faster than keister-stashed cigarettes in prison, while Microsoft's are treated more like the chow hall's fruit cocktail. So what can be done to help our local tech giant's stock equ ... More >>

Core Values

Mike Daisey explains why he’s challenging the cult of Apple. And its customers.

Amazon Quotes Steve Jobs Himself in Defense of "Appstore" Trademark Suit

​Ever since Apple sued Amazon to keep the company from using the term "Appstore" to describe its "Store" that sells "Apps," the online retailer has been struggling to come up with an airtight defense to use in court. Thankfully for Amazon, Steve Jobs himself is helping them out on that front.

Opening Nights: The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs

​Ever since Apple sued Amazon to keep the company from using the term "Appstore" to describe its "Store" that sells "Apps," the online retailer has been struggling to come up with an airtight defense to use in court. Thankfully for Amazon, Steve Jobs himself is helping them out on that front.

Is Microsoft Paying Young German Teens to Deface Apple Stores with Windows Logos?

​Because one would think that kids would come up with better street art themes than the logo of a massive tech company's signature product.

Amazon Wins the "Appstore" Fight With Apple (For Now)

​As we've reported before, Apple thinks the term "Appstore", "App Store" or any combination thereof is solely owned by Apple. Amazon thinks otherwise and is in the midst of getting sued by Steve Jobs' legal wolves for calling its Android online market an "Appstore." So what do the courts have ... More >>

Microsoft Slammed for Amy Winehouse Death Sales Pitch, While Amazon and Apple Skate

​If there's one thing Amy Winehouse fans will not stand for, it's any corporation Microsoft shamelessly trying to capitalize on her death.

Steve Jobs Is Dead

​Reuters confirms (as does my Apple iPhone). Good thing he lived long enough to see the latest Apple release crucified by the press. Now, let Jeff Bezos assume his rule as the new emperor of tech.

Is America Even in the Game Anymore? Amazon Moves Into India In a Big Way

​The Sunday New York Times had a provocative story on just how far America has fallen from economic grace, and that the largest technological-making purveyors in this country (Apple, in particular) have all but given up on this country's ability to supply the needed tech-savvy workforce and f ... More >>

'Happy Potter,' in the 'First Lady's Box,' and Other Typographical Errors to Remember

​Charles Apple's blog on the American Copy Editors Society website keeps track of, among other things, newspaper typos and assorted screwups, such as the one to the right from the Seattle Times - "I'm sure somebody in Seattle is unharry about this one!" he says. But the Times is in good compan ... More >>