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The legal counterclaims filed against Apple by Mac clone maker Psystar have been dismissed today, following a decision by US District Judge William Alsup that the brand loyalty that Apple enjoys is not the same as lack of competition in the market.

Apparently, the definition of a “market” was central to Psystar’s argument, but the judge felt that Psystar failed to provide sufficient legal support for its assertion that the Mac OS makes up an entire market of its own and that Apple was engaging in antitrust practices by limiting it to its computers.

If you haven't been following the story, Psystar has been selling computers running OS X since April, it got sued by Apple in July, and then retaliated a month later with an antitrust claim of its own. The latest ruling it’s going to be difficult for Psystar to overcome, though. The company now has around 20 days to amend its complaint, or else get ready to defend itself against Apple’s claims that it is infringing on its copyright material and trademarks.

Apple didn’t just announce the new unibody MacBook and MacBook Pro families at its notebook-centric event last month, the company also added a 24-inch LED monitor to its Cinema Display offerings and has just started taking orders for it via the online Apple Store.

The 24-inch glossy, widescreen display features a 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution and uses LED-backlit technology to provide instant full-screen brightness and improved power efficiency. Many will despise the replacement of matte for glossy, surely, but others will welcome the new built-in iSight camera, microphone and stereo speakers.

Touted specifically for its redesigned MacBook offerings, the new LED Cinema Display also features an integrated MagSafe charger that allows users to plug in and power their Apple notebooks, plus a three-port USB 2.0 hub and an aluminum and glass enclosure. The new monitor from Apple will set you back $899 and shipments should begin sometime later this month.

As much as Apple would like the world to believe that the iPhone is a perfect device, the truth is that just like any other sophisticated piece of technology it can have numerous issues go wrong with it. One more “mundane” problem that has bothered many people with the iPhone 3G is the development of cracks on the exterior of the device, without putting any real stress on it. The problem is apparently bad enough for the company to be taken to court, targeted by a suit that seeks class-action status.

The suit, filed in New York, alleges that Apple is doing nothing to solve the problem of hairline cracks appearing in the device. In extreme cases, people are reporting that the cracks are present when the phone is new out of the box, which would be beyond annoyance and entering the realm of a manufacturing defect.

The suit further alleges that Apple is well aware of the problem, and aware that there is a defect, and despite users being plagued by it has continued to allow the units to be sold with no fix mentioned.

Apple has issued a firmware update for users of the new MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks who have been experiencing problems registering clicks on the new, buttonless trackpad. The issues started cropping up shortly after the new notebooks were introduced in October, but it is not clear how widespread the problem really is.

In any case, the company said it was looking into the issue two weeks ago and even Steve Jobs himself said in an email that the company was prepping a fix, which should now appear in Software Update for owners of the new systems. Apple’s release notes for the update can be found here.

The iPhone has striven to be on top of the market and since its release it has achieved, if only temporarily, the number one spot in numerous categories. It's sold amazingly well, has a huge profit margin and is quickly becoming one of the most popular smartphones in the world. Further proof of that is the sales figures for Q3, which put Apple in the lead over Motorola, LG and RIM.

According to recent data from NPD, the Apple iPhone 3G has topped the Motorola RAZR to become the leading handset, breaking a 36-month streak in which Motorola held on to the number one spot. That change, NPD says, is indicative of a change in demand, where people are now more apt to buy a phone based on both aesthetics and functionality, as opposed to simply aesthetics. The latter is an important note – the iPhone clearly has a lot of technical advantage over the RAZR. That is part of the reason it has a significant price premium over a RAZR V3. That difference in price is apparently becoming less important as people begin to enjoy the more feature-rich aspects of smartphones.

This bodes well for the smartphone market – the RAZR was sort of an in-between device, something that helped bridge the gap between vanilla mobiles and more complex portable PCs. Now we wait to see if Apple can retain this lead over Motorola the next quarter.

Is Sony is about to go DRM-free on the iTunes Store? Apple blog 9to5mac.com certainly believes so, but provides very little information other than saying they have a “hunch.” EMI is currently the only major label in iTunes Plus, so the addition of Sony BMG would be a major achievement for the company and leave Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group as the remaining Apple holdouts.

Despite Apple's willingness to sell DRM-free music, record labels besides EMI have withheld this ability from the company hoping to reduce Apple’s market share in digital music downloads. Of course, that hasn’t stopped the company in becoming the largest music retailer in the U.S. 9to5 Mac says the deal should happen within the next several weeks or months — leaving a nice wide open window – but if true, the company could announce the new agreement at Macworld San Francisco in January.

Apple introduced a substantial number of improvements and changes on its MacBook laptop line last month, both inside and out. Besides the better looks and thinner frame, the new MacBook's exterior design boasted of a stronger aluminum chassis and a large glass trackpad that could register multi-touch gestures, but most importantly it would act (the whole trackpad area) as a button instead of using a standard standalone button.

Now users that jumped in early and acquired the new laptops are complaining about the trackpad registering clicks erratically. A thread in Apple's official forum shows that a number users are having similar issues but it remains to be seen how widespread the problem really is, and whether it relies on the hardware itself or if it's a software problem. Apple is said to be investigating the issue but an official resolution has yet come out from the Cupertino-based company.

We've heard a few nasty stories about Apple's iPhone App Store, including app suppression and fights between developers and Apple over what is and what isn't kosher to have on the site. This most recent iteration of those battles is very interesting, as it seems that Apple refuses to allow the Opera Mini browser onto the App Store.

The reasoning, the article assumes, is because Opera Mini would be a direct competitor to Safari on the iPhone, and we already know that Apple has squelched other applications that competed directly with their own products. But clearly, not all browsers are built the same. People have preferences and people like to make choices about what software they use.

Could this turn into another fight between what Apple wants and what their users want? The success of the iPhone has much to do with the functionality of the phone, which has been helped dramatically by 3rd party applications. Apple might be shooting themselves in the foot with all these roadblocks in front of the App Store.

Apple's initial reluctance to provide an SDK for iPhone development was surely a mistake. Most people knew that from the beginning, but at least for Apple's sake hindsight is proving that releasing the SDK has had a positive impact on the platform. According to some sources, the SDK has increased demand for iPhone developers significantly, upwards of 500% in the past few months alone.

The largest increase in demand for iPhone developers came shortly after the Apple App Store opened, which no doubt drew both 3rd party companies and independent developers in. What's even more interesting is what some people see this leading up to, which includes accreditation for development. Could we see in the near future a "Certified iPhone Developer" program come out?

With a massive increase in developers, they also expect to see an increase in conflicts over intellectual property. This could easily happen between different developers, or between the developers and Apple. Apple has already proven they are willing to squelch any application they don't approve of on the App Store, which has included programs they feel "mimic" existing ones that they develop. Regardless, iPhone development has seen a huge surge, which is nothing but good news for the iPhone.

Originally making their name by building cheap Mac clones, Psystar has decided to venture into somewhat uncharted territory by one-upping Apple. The next iteration of Psystar clones will include a beefy graphics upgrade, a GeForce 9800 GT, and Blu-ray drives. The significance of this is that a Mac clone will have newer hardware before Apple has released it. Given how slow Apple has been on the uptake for Blu-ray, this is clearly Psystar trying to reach out to Mac users who feel Apple is making a mistake.

The arbitration between Apple and Psystar clearly hasn't stopped Psystar from running business as usual. This could be taken as a sign that Psystar doesn't expect to close their doors due to legal threats from Apple, or it could mean that they just want to sell absolutely as many clone machines as possible before they do get shut down. We won't know for sure until we hear about whatever is going on behind closed doors between the two companies.

Fans of either the iPhone or Google Earth (or perhaps both) will be interested in the latest development from Google. The search giant announced today the launch of Google Earth for the iPhone, with the port being made available through the iTunes App Store immediately. Having Google Earth on your phone sounds pretty cool on the surface, and on the iPhone it promises to be more than just a port of the PC version.

This mobile version capitalizes on the environment it is placed in, using the iPhone's built-in features to offer control. For instance, to adjust the angle of your view you actually tilt the phone itself. Navigation can be done using hand gestures as well, common for iPhone applications. Other features include geo-located Wikipedia articles and an instant “location” feature that will zoom in to where you happen to be standing at that moment.

From the included video in the blog post, the picture quality looks decent, about on par with the PC, though I doubt the actual speed of loading would be anywhere near what is demonstrated. The iPhone has been criticized in the past for slow download speeds, and Google Earth is definitely not a bandwidth-light app.

When my old Thinkpad T needed to retire, I looked into the Vaio TX series, at the time the best 11" ultra-portable money could buy with its mere 2.9 pounds. That was months before the MacBook Air and other similar ultra-portables arrived to the market. Unfortunately the small size didn't cut it for me and had to look elsewhere to replace the Thinkpad until I finally decided to get a MacBook Pro. In spite of the fact that I'm a Windows user, I did it with the purpose of checking out the then new Leopard OS X release.

Today the MB Pro remains as my primary laptop. Although I have my gripes about OS X, I have remained more or less content about the hardware which has proved to be of top quality construction, all while running Windows Vista. You have probably heard the stories of how the MB Pro makes for a great Windows laptop anyway, and in my case that has hold true - in fact, I haven't touched Leopard in months.

And now with the well publicized release of the new MacBooks, I started looking into the possibility of getting a new laptop, but instead of the Pro I was checking the upgraded MacBook which is cheaper, has got many of the Pro's biggest selling points like the aluminum body, powerful specs, but sports a smaller 13.3-inch screen that is also LED illuminated. Sounds good so far? Until I saw this...

Read the complete post on the TechSpot Blog.

Apple announced results for its 2008 fiscal fourth quarter, posting higher than expected profits, yet as usual it delivered a first quarter outlook that fell below analysts’ forecasts in the shadow of a downturn in consumer spending. In a nutshell, quarterly revenue reached $7.9 billion, up from $6.22 billion a year earlier, and net profit jumped from $904 million a year earlier to $1.14 billion.

The company saw a bump in sales across its entire product line. It shipped 2.61 million Macs during the quarter, increasing unit sales by 21 percent compared to a year ago, and improved iPod sales by 8 percent to 11.1 million units. Meanwhile, iPhone sales soared to a massive 6.89 million units. Given that Apple shipped about 6.1 million first-generation iPhones, the company has officially exceeded its year-end 10 million goal by 3 million units – though it did not reveal how many were sold in the U.S.

Jobs called the iPhone sales “spectacular” and took the time to quell concerns that the slowing economy would hurt Apple’s business, by claiming the company is “armed with the strongest product line” in their history and has “$25 billion of cash safely in the bank with zero debt.”

Apple is perhaps the world's biggest backer of IEEE 1394, also known as FireWire, and has traditionally always made it a stock option on their machines. Many Apple peripherals come with FireWire connectors, and the standard was personally backed by Steve Jobs himself. Thus, it's a great surprise to see that Apple has decided to drop FireWire on their newest Macbooks.

With no real announcement, two newly introduced MacBooks, in the $1300 to $1600 price range, were released without FireWire. This has caused considerable outrage from Apple loyalists. Initially Apple remained silent on why, exactly, they decided to dump FireWire on these new machines. Very recently, however, Steve Jobs decided to comment – at least to a few people.

He essentially said that the decision to remove FireWire was because most devices today come stock with USB 2.0 ports. Considering how long Apple has pushed FireWire as a superior alternative to USB, this sudden change is very interesting.

Apple is giving itself a pat on the back today, with the announcement that it has officially sold more than 200 million episodes of TV shows via iTunes, one million of which are HD episodes that sold in the short one month period they’ve been available. The number pales compared to the most recent 5 billion songs milestone, but is a clear indication that Apple is becoming a major player in the video download market.

The company also announced that iTunes now features HD shows from all four major networks – ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC – on top of their standard-definition offerings, completing a catalog of over 30,000 TV episodes and over 2,500 films. If you haven’t shopped at iTunes for TV episodes yet, they’ll run you $1.99 for a SD episode, and $2.99 for HD shows.

Apple has come under a legal attack once again, with a lawsuit now aimed at their entire digital music portfolio. Luxpro Corp is suing Apple for “attempted monopolization” of the mp3 market, in addition to unfair competition, illegal tactics and several other nasty things.

Luxpro is claiming that Apple's moves in the mp3 music player market have been with the intent to drive other companies out. They cite an injunction that Apple sought against them in 2006 when they introduced an mp3 player of their own that was intended to compete with the iPod Shuffle. They also cited threatening letters Apple has sent to them, demanding the company pull its mp3 players from the market.

While the injunction was reversed, Luxpro claims further damage was done from other injunctions and pressure from Apple, which resulted in companies like Best Buy and Radio Shack refusing to carry their hardware. This isn't the first time Apple has been accused of being “abusive” in the mp3 player market, and with such a large share suits like this are inevitable.

It looks like the rumors turned out to be true, at least for the most part. Apple today announced new MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks that are thinner and lighter yet more robust than before thanks to a new manufacturing process for the casing, carved from a solid brick of aluminum.

There’s two new MacBooks are available – a 15.4-inch model for $1,599 and a 13.3-inch model for $1,299 – that's on top of the white plastic model which now starts at $999 and a couple of 15.4-inch MacBook Pro models with the base spec starting at $1,999. On the hardware front, Jobs has heavily pushed the Macs' graphics performance with a new integrated part, dubbed the GeForce 9400M, that can be paired with a higher-end 9600M GT in the premium MacBook Pro models.

Other notable features include LED backlit displays, a new multi-touch glass touchpad that will also act as button and is 39% larger than the one on outgoing models, backlit keyboards, a magnetic latch, and improved battery life. Likewise, Apple has updated its MacBook Air notebook, keeping it as skinny as ever but with improved graphics, a faster processor and more storage space.

After a full month of rumor and speculation, Apple has finally confirmed it’ll be updating its notebook line next week. Unfortunately there is little to be known about the upcoming event, which is scheduled for October 14, beyond a deliberately teasing tagline which states “the spotlight turns to notebooks.”

So what can we expect from this event? No one knows for sure, but if the rumor mill is right, the announcement should hold a complete revision to the MacBook line with aluminum casings and LED screens, and perhaps the introduction of relatively low cost model at around $800. We will know for sure next Tuesday.

Since the release of Mac OS X 10.0 in 2001, the Dock has been one of the most prominent features of operating system's user interface, serving as a centralized launch pad for applications and document files. Now, nearly a decade after filing for a patent on the OS X Dock, it has finally been awarded to Apple under the title “user interface for providing consolidation and access.”

Apple now has the exclusive right to prevent others from making, using, selling, or otherwise employing replicas of the technology in their own products for 20 years from now – which could spell trouble for imitators such as ObjectDock, RocketDock, and others. The patent puts a particular focus on the Dock's ability to magnify icons to a predetermined size when the cursor is near, the user's ability to rearrange icons, and how it indicates which applications are running.

One setback that Apple’s laptops have always faced has been their relatively high price, especially when compared to the entry-level machines that most vendors offer. Apple hasn't been actively trying to change that, though they do understand some people just don't want to put away a minimum of $1,100 for a machine.

That may change in the near future, with rumors that Apple is getting ready to push out a low-cost MacBook. The machine may start as low as $800, a price range never before seen for an Apple mobile. Little real information on this “budget” MacBook is known – no specifications, release dates or model information is currently known. It would be interesting to see Apple among the lower cost laptop, though, as it would help them a lot in competing with Microsoft for OS dominance. It would also be interesting to see exactly what Apple has “cut” from their mainstream laptops to make a cheaper version of the MacBook.

Hopefully Apple will give us some real information soon. At the moment this is still in the rumor phase, but there is some evidence that Apple has been preparing a low-cost mobile, such as the manufacturing of solid-piece laptop chassis, with the intent to lower cost.