• Intro: A look at SSD, 30 Days of Snow 10.6, New Macs Expected
• Reader Specials: 2.0TB Drives under $200, MacBook Batteries $49.99, and more
• Quick Tip: Find Regular Tips on our OWC Blog
• Closing
• The Fine Print

Hello again from Woodstock!

It's been far too long, to say the least. I can hardly believe that summer is over, the leaves are changing, and the sun sets ever earlier each evening. In our neck of the woods, probably one of the nicest summers in recent memory. Usually, the months of August and July are scorchers - but this year we had less than two weeks, spread out, where it was even truly necessary to get the AC going. Warm mid 70s to low 80s and very comfortable. It's super humid in these parts, but as long as we're only low 80s - it's still very pleasant. Those days are now behind us till the seasons come round again. Nothing wrong with that at all, change is good - even that which predictably recurs - and there's something here to appreciate with every season, even the change itself is often freshly welcome.

Certainly in our industry, little stays the same for long. At the same time, like the seasons, much of the change that does happen isn't all that surprising anymore. New operating systems, new (and faster) processors, and every so often there is something truly brand new. And no, not expecting any major game changers from Apple's next Mac release, but the evolution is certainly something. It is incredible the amount of computing power available in a home computer today. The cost per processing factor is a fraction of yesterday's and only goes down tomorrow and with each new generation release. If there is one thing that stays the same, it's been the consideration in the area of computing that such gets faster and less expensive the more (pun there... Moore's law) time goes by. So it never does fail, what you buy today will obsolete tomorrow - what's more important is that it's not obsolete for those needs you put forth.

OWC now celebrates twenty-one years of keeping Apple computers running at their best. As an overall philosophy, we approach things with a long term view. Such is directly reflected in the support we offer, OWC is here before, during and after a purchase to provide great education, guidance and service. When it comes to those upgrades and enhancements we offer, our team is here to make help make sure these purchases fit the need being addressed. It may well be time to forego upgrading and a time to buy a new Mac. At the same time, you may have a Mac that can be upgraded very economically and with said upgrades will actually exceed the performance of buying new (short of upgrading it after purchase.) Macs do last an incredibly long time. The proof is in the pudding, as OWC continues to enjoy supporting Macs manufactured more than a decade ago! At the end of the day, we're glad to be here, seeing to the needs of all - new and old - and in doing so, making Macs of all kinds better. While a PC that just 5 years old is akin to seeing a paper weight for sale, Macs from the past decade plus are still great finds ready to be put to work. It's great that Apple has moved to be greener with their packaging and manufacturing. Our hope is that things don't change so much that, we lose sight of the greatest green effect Apple computers have long had no rival to - longevity of the actual Mac computers.

In the same long term thinking, OWC is now just days away from being a net supplier from a net consumer of energy off the power grid. A project that started three years ago is nearly complete - the OWC wind turbine is now fully erected and in final prep for its 'maiden spin'. I sincerely hope that those who follow in our footsteps will reach out and find the process easier by our experience. Certainly in our own backyard, being the first to pursue a project of this type and scope meant brand new territory in paperwork. And - WOW - was there a lot involved in the process to attain the local approvals needed (even with the widespread interest and local support) to make this become a reality. Actual time to build was a pretty small fraction of time spent vs. everything else leading to that. It is disappointing the level of politics in the higher levels today when it comes to going green. From my vantage point, I see some of the cards being stacked in another big business vs. change truly being made to promote these kinds of projects on a merit basis. I made the decision to pursue this project with consideration to both the conservational benefits as well as the ongoing and future cost of energy. In addition to this turbine providing for OWC's all power needs, OWC's turbine is projected to produce an additional 150% more than our our own consumption. This additional power will flow onto the ComEd (Excelon) (our local power company) grid, adding to the green power available for the region to use. Although our power company primarily supplies from a nuclear plant, it also employs 'peaker plants' that run on fossil fuels to support 'peaker' need with obvious benefits. From a pure business point of view, our green power source also helps OWC remain competitive with ongoing costs as well.

Just as OWC invested on the front end to construct a 'green headquarters', the wind turbine, too, is an investment that pays for itself financially, in addition to the environmental benefits. If there is one thing I hope to see, it is a shift in the policies of our elected officials to focus on enabling and supporting projects such as the ones OWC has embarked on vs. just talking about the need for them and how they'll do it for us.There is generally good support and enthusiasm at the local level for projects such as OWC has and will be completing. That said - a real barrier, I believe, is unless someone has already paved the way, these kinds of projects break into new territory that local laws and ordinances used for the permitting process don't yet cover. Even with the exceptionally support we received, a lot of time as well as expense was added to these projects due them being firsts for our locale and hopefully with that way paved, the first of many more to come. Once unknowns in the permitting and approval process are gone, that is a major hurdle that is removed. While there is still an up front investment, without the unknowns to contend with you can focus on the typical 8 to 20 year roi for taking the conservational route. Using available technology to maximize the use of all of our natural resources in a free market (which admittedly we less and less have) just makes good sense. It's kind of like buying a Mac - you spend a little more up front, but it's going to last and with less hassle so much longer and with less support/time expense than a typical Windows PC. The good news about buying a Mac - there aren't extra mounds of paperwork to work through for choosing that Mac over the PC route. Even without the 'political currents', as these paper barriers come down I do believe that the conservational aspects that make our building and power source somewhat unique today will become commonplace tomorrow.

Alright... on to those Macs and more.....

SSD (Solid State Drive) offers a new boost

A year ago, almost to the day, our newsletter featured a section on the benefits of the different upgrade options. Maximizing a system you already have with the right upgrades can often best the value offered in buying buying brand new. While at some point, maybe soon or maybe much later, the need arises where a new Mac best fits, but if you've maximized the Mac you already have - the window extended by doing so likely means it's a much faster and better Mac than you'd have gotten had upgrading not been a considered option.

A rising star when it comes to performance enhancements are Solid State Drives, or SSD. I've always said that memory makes the difference and after physical system memory for your computer to run your applications, what is effectively a memory based storage drive can pick up where your system memory leaves off. While the fastest 2.5" notebook drives peak sustain in the 80 Meg/Second range, the fastest 3.5" desktop drives are pushing into peak 140 Meg/Second range - the latest generation SSD provide sustained data rates of 200MB/Second and even faster. Note - SSD drives provide consistent data rates while a conventional drive may peak at 140MB/second, but dip to a fraction of that rate when it comes to more typical multi-file/smaller file-data size transfers as opposed to the larger file operations that show off those peak rates. While a conventional hard drive has to physically move its heads to specific locations for read/write operations, an SSD has mapped access to all data points with no physical seek latency/wait. Today's hard drives use less power than ever, but an SSD drive uses even less. Today's hard drives also have a substantially greater to shock - but an SSD, which has no moving parts, is able to operate without any impairment while being subjected to physical movements/shocks and even high vibration environments that would quickly spell the end for a conventional drive.

We're on the verge of a substantial expansion in the number of options and the cost effectiveness of SSD. I expected to have a much broader level of coverage by now and even well before now, but Intel's 2nd Gen X-25M product as well as other availability challenges will keep this article primarily based on the Crucial's new M225 line up. In early July Crucial's introduction of the M225 line of SSD Drives, in a flash, brought the cost of SSD ownership down and while at the same time became the first to provide an up to 256GB capacity in our SSD offerings. All things are relative though. While the Crucial M225 is about 50% the cost of what the Intel X25-M had then been per Gig, we're still at best around $2.75 per Gig to go SSD. This to 1TB desktop drives as low as 7.2 Cents per gig and notebook 500GB drives for about 17 cents per gig. However, when you compare the SSD 'memory drive' to the the cost of upgrading system memory - now around $20/gig - and consider that they are comparable to the roughly $2.5 to $4 cost per Gig of USB Flash and SD/SDHC (Secure Digital) cards (that are slower and not designed for the the same demanding use), well - you buy into SSD for different reasons and the comparison to buying memory is more applicable with performance in mind.

While you don't get an SSD instead of more memory, an SSD drive is definitely an option of exceptional benefit for use as a main startup/application drive when you've already added the physical memory your applications can best utilize (if not, the max memory your Mac can accept where 8GB, 4GB, or even 2GB is that ceiling). Even if you have all the memory your apps could ever use having the SSD drive is going to benefit your boot time, application launch time, and application performance where calls are still made to the drive related to OS utilization or application variables. Where you computer's maximum installed memory is less than what your applications and OS would 'like' to have, the SSD is able to support read/write 'virtual memory' paging calls at a significantly faster rate which absolutely makes everything feel and actually perform faster.

Our full test grid, being updated for 10.6.x + with SSD testing, is still a work in process, OWC's Michael Perry completed this blog entry as a kind of preview of what's to come. In this he provides results from testing a 2004 iMac G5 and a 2006 MacBook Core Duo that compared performance with original stock 5400RPM hard drives, modern 7200RPM hard drives, and with a M225 SSD. Across the board the SSD offered a real world benefit with the most substantial definitely noted on application launches. The MacBook went from about 3.2 seconds with stock to 2.9 with 7200RPM to 0.6 seconds per with the SSD and the iMac went from 4.7 to 3.3 to about 2 seconds on average on the same test of launching 16 different common Mac applications.

The SSD options mainly available today are in the 2.5" form factor. These are ready plug n' play with the Apple MacBook, Macbook Pro, and Mac mini models - but you'll need a 2.5" to 3.5" bracket to install correctly into most 3.5" drive bays.

Another consideration is how much capacity you need for the files you want access to. In a desktop application you'd typically select the SSD drive that makes sense capacity and budget wise able to store your primary boot OS, your main applications (if not all of them), and the files or multi-media library(ies) you most often use with either a second internal bay drive (in the case of a PowerMac or Mac Pro) or external hard drive (ideally FireWire or eSATA) for setting access to those additional files and libraries where SSD performance isn't as necessary or of primary benefit. The same is basically true with a laptop as well, although the use of external drive may be less than ideal if required at all times in addition to the SSD capacity.

We have a lot more data in generation and also will soon (I mean it) have 1.8" MacBook Air options in the line up and compared as too. This truly is just the beginning. SSD is going to see substantial growth in available capacities and lower cost per gig in the very near future. If you need the speed today, the options are here with all the various upgrade enhancements to keep pushing your current Mac further... but just like what happens with each new Mac refresh/speed bump, these are going to get bigger, better, and less expensive the more time that goes by. With a little more time, going to give you a lot more on this subject too.

--Some additional SSD Coverage:

New OWC Mercury On-The-Go bus-powered SSD based external storage solution blog coverage.

Review of Crucial 128GB SSD with testing in Mac Pro and MacBook Pro on MacPerformanceGuide

30 Days+ of Snow - Apple's Snow Leopard 10.6.x
If you have an Intel Mac, upgrading to Snow Leopard is one of the best upgrades ever. Just like adding more memory, a faster video card, faster drive, etc - Snow Leopard offers instant gratification when it comes the boost it brings. The better equipped your Mac, the more Snow Leopard cranks the benefit out of it. This blog entry with Photoshop CS3 and CS4 doesn't push memory use, but it shows where 10.6 is clearly more efficient with its memory use and up to 20% faster doing the same PhotoShop process with the same MacBook Pro. For those not looking to be 'real world testers' so to speak, 10.6.1 is already available and took care of some of bugs(but pretty minor) not squashed in pre-release. When was the last time a software upgrade, let alone one that costs as little as $28.79, offered so much performance benefit with great ease and relatively little given up?

Is your DVD drive having snow troubles? It's probably not the Snow Leopard upgrade disc and also probably not just that disc either... Our blog comments on reports of Mac DVD drive issues along with offering work arounds and solutions to them.

What about my AppleTalk printers??? When our July newsletter went into the glory of Snow Leopard, we had more than one reader reply to comment about the AppleTalk support that 10.6 leaves behind. Unfortunately, while there is no practical way to directly add this to 10.6 - we do have a blog article that does offer a solution and illustrated guide for keeping those AppleTalk printers in the queue.

Finally - there is some real 64 Bit confusion. With the exception of 2008 and 2009 Xserves, Snow Leopard default boots in 32 bit mode. This is more about compatibility as many drivers and other support files (especially 3rd party provided) are not yet 64 bit compatible and will not load with 64 bit mode enabled. This can actually harm performance and/or interfere with proper device operation where said support files are not able to execute during start up. At the same time - although 64 bit programs still run in 64 bit when you've started in 32 bit mode... and you can run 32 bit programs even when starting in 64 bit mode - it's going to be best for most of us to wait on the full 64 bit kernel mode until various Apple and 3rd party 'kext' driver/support files are all in that 64 bit realm. OWC's Chris Stevens has a great blog entry that does a far better explaining this than I am able to.

PDF Privacy.... For some time now Apple has included integrated support for both viewing and generation of PDF documents. I personally use the 'print to PDF' functionality every day. But what if you need to make restrict the view ability of certain PDFs? While Adobe Acrobat Pro greatly expands what you can do with PDF documents, it's kind of pricey if all you're looking for is password protection. If that's your only PDF requirement, no longer is Acrobat needed - Apple added password protection with the new security options now available when saving a PDF. Sure Acrobat Pro does a whole lot more, but that's a whole lot of savings with this nice 10.6 OS upgrade if the security option it offers is your primary need.

Did my hard drive just get bigger? The larger hard drives have gotten, the wider the perceived discrepancy between the total capacity reported by the OS vs. what the hard drive manufacturer has said. While all Apple OS versions through 10.5.8 have reported file sizes and hard drive capacity based on 1024 kilobytes to a megabyte, 1024 megabytes to a gigabyte, and so forth - 10.6 now uses the same base 10 metrics that the hard drive makers have always reported their capacities using whereby 1000 kilobytes = 1 Megabyte, 1000 Megabytes to a Gigabyte. However your counting, at the end of the day you've got the same number of bits and bytes, just now your OS is using the true metric to determine storage amounts vs. the default convenience of the a binary based division.

Last, but not least - while I understand why Apple made the choice, I am disappointed that 10.6 wasn't released for PPC as well. G4 and G5 equipped Macs could have enjoyed much of the same performance benefit that Intel Macs now have with the 10.6 OS. That said, not having 10.6 certainly doesn't obsolete these PPC Macs and 10.5.x remains a fantastic OS. I had rather expected that Apple would continue to sell the 10.5.x OS along side of the 10.6 options. There I am also disappointed. With the release of 10.6, Apple discontinued and pulled the 10.5.x retail options. We are scraping up what we can to support those still looking to reach Leopard, but the picking are slim and certainly very limited now. I believe the best option will soon be your local user group exchange or ebay. Just make sure, when buying from ebay sellers, you get the full retail disc sets and not system disc sets which do not have universal install support (in addition to not being legal licensed when split from original Mac). Full install DVDs are black with a large X and purple/pinkish star scape near the center vs. factory system discs that are basically solid gray. Why Apple couldn't keep that 10.5 option out there for PPC I don't see any good answer for.

The rest below is a 'reprint' of our july Snow Leopard overview:

10.6 requires an Intel Processor
Although there appeared to be some hope that PPC would have continued support, it appears that Apple decided not to complete the code needed for operation on PowerPC G4 and G5 systems. Short of Apple completing said code, it is highly unlikely 10.6 will ever run on PowerPC models. OS X ceased to have an open source version after 10.4.11 which makes it all but impossible for a third party to independently code this support as well.

10.6 is a true, clear and through 64 Bit OS and it is FAST!
While Apple OS 10.5 does support 64 bit applications, both 32 and 64 bit applications are running there on top of a 32 bit core. Maybe not the most accurate analogy, but imagine a having a powerful V8 engine (your computer's 64 bit processor) - but the computing controlling it, while it does use all 8 cylinders - isn't able to use them all at the same time and thus you don't get the full power output that the engine is capable of.

For those with a qualified 64 Bit based Core 2 Duo or Xeon based Mac model, you'll see a huge performance benefit with this new OS. Even on systems that will need to run in 32 bit kernal more, such as those with 32 bit Core Duo processors, 10.6 does provide a good performance boost none the less.

With the exception of Apple applications such as Safari and iLife, there really isn't much software out there written to 64 bit standards and hadn't been a reason either. Given reports of how much faster ALL applications are running on the 10.6 OS, not only are we in for a nice performance boost with 32 bit versions of 3rd party applications we use today, but a future gain as developers release these in full 64 bit versions.

10.6 requires 1GB minimum, with 2GB minimum recommended
More memory for nearly any Mac and any OS has almost always made a difference and certainly so where starting with 1GB or even 2GB and less. Under current Apple OS Versions, at the very most, application have been able to directly utilize a maximum of 4GBs of memory. But even so, the Apple OS itself uses additional additional free memory to cache and optimize processes which is why you see substantial, individual application performance benefits even now as memory is increased beyond 4GB. For applications that do substantial amounts of processing (Final Cut Pro, Adobe Creative Suite, etc), these benefits are measurable right on up 32GB of memory installed on such memory capable Macs.

Having more memory has pretty much always been a good thing, but with the new, full 64 bit kernel of OS 10.6, applications will be able to directly take advantage of as much additional memory that's available. Instead of depending on the OS to provide indirect performance gains, developers will be able to speed up their applications through this direct memory allocation and use with such optimized specifically for the application's behavior. Outside of Apple's own applications (Safari, iLife, etc).

The Hidden Power of your Graphics Processor(s)
Today's graphic chipsets are truly amazing in the processing power they offer. And unless you're playing the latest 3D games or doing substantial image rendering work, you're hardly tapping that power. The new 10.6 OS introduces Apple's Open CL technology that unleashes this additional GPU horsepower beyond just pure video/image processing. In addition to be 10.6 widely making use of available video card/graphic chipset processors, Open CL makes it easy for developers to integrate such utilization right into their applications. This is a seamless, automated technology too - this technology simply enables applications to call through the OS use of additional processor resources when they are present. Right now two Macs that are otherwise equal, except for their video card, have applications that run identically in terms of performance. After 10.6 is loaded and as applications are updated - the Mac with the higher end video card or video cards (Open CL takes advantage of multiple video processors when present) will now show a benefit.

QuickTime 'version X' - Not just for video playback anymore
Included with 10.6 is the uber powerful QuickTime X application. The player element has new, superficial bells and whistles that make it look even cooler - and function that enables heavy-duty playback capabilities via a codeset fully optimized to use all the latest that 10.6 and current hardware have to offer. Able to utilize video card processors for more of its functionality, it also leaves more primary processor power available for other applications you may have running at the same time.

The real news is that it's now a video capture and light editing tool as well. You can directly capture audio and video on Macs with a built in web cam and directly save into the file types optimal for YouTube or iPhone, iPod, etc. Video you capture can be trimmed/light edited via Quicktime as well. We have to wait until 10.6 comes out before we test and advise QuickTime X working with non-Apple built-in cams, although do not anticipate there being any significant issue there.

New Macs may be imminent!
If you are considering a new Mac, you may not have long to wait for the next Mac model speed bumps/refresh to appear. Last week we learned that inventories of various iMac and Mac mini models were becoming very low / depleted. This we we have heard of a 'trio of ads' that briefly surfaced in Europe via Dutch driven version of Google's adsense that would suggest new, faster Mac mini options with a lower starting price, new slimmer iMac models, and a "thinner, lighter, and stronger" MacBook model.

This is about the time Apple normally does some 'freshening' of its line, so as soon as tomorrow (Tuesday 10/6) such speculation could be resolved. Even if it's not tomorrow, I'd be surprised if there weren't at least new iMacs before this month concludes.

Just purchased a new or refurbished Mac from Apple? Should something new be released within 14 days from such a purchase, you can still return your Mac to Apple for a refund/exchange. Another option usually offered is a credit adjustment to the price you paid in exchange for keeping what you've got.

Don't have to wait for Apple to bring out Blu-Ray
While I do expect Apple to at some point release integrated Blu-Ray support for Mac, I've stopped holding my breath for it. While it's disappointing you can not do BD video playback without this Apple support, it's very easy now to burn those video Blu-Ray discs on a Mac. We've long had internal and external options for adding Blu-Ray to your Mac which now include options with up to 8X Blu-Ray burn capability from under $240. Thanks to the HD/BD plug-in available for Roxio Toast Titanium 9 and 10 (included with the Toast 10 Titanium Pro version offered alone or bundled with select OWC solutions), you can take video from iMovie, Final Cut Pro, HD Camcorder, and your TiVo, etc and burn up straight to to Blu-Ray. You're not limited to just HD video of course and it's amazing how much SD video you can put on a single Blu-Ray disc compared to a DVD.

Roxio makes burning to Blu-Ray easy as pie and OWC's Chris Stevens illustrates in six easy steps start to finish putting the proof in the pudding.

When the next crop of Macs do arrive, perhaps it's then that Blu-Ray will make its Apple supported debut. Even if it does (and I hope it does) come this month, Roxio has done the burning support well with the Toast product and we'll have see if Apple does it better. Either way, when Apple finally supports - be nice to be able to play back those creations as well as commercial on the same Mac that can burn them.

Reader Special Deals and Deal Highlights
We've pretty much completed the change over to a new method that helps make sure you're always getting the reader special pricing you're entitled to. All of the products with special pricing can now be viewed on your Reader Loyalty Specials page. In addition, as long as you have hit this page first (or followed other links from the newsletter where I've embedded 'loyalty promo code'), you will also see your special pricing called out anywhere you browse on our website. This is handled with a cookie and, as it has been for the last decade, our site does need cookies on for actual shopping/checkout. The bottom line is that you'll get the bottom line deals whether it jumps out on your specials page or if you're just browsing though the site. We appreciate your business and letting us send you our newsletter(s), so we're making sure you're taken care of. Thanks!

Some recent 'feature offers' include:

New 2.0TB 7200RPM Serial ATA Hard Drives for under $200.

Apple Genuine MagSafe Power Adapters for MacBook/MacBook Pro/MacBook Air from $42.75

Limited supply remaining of Apple Genuine MacBook/MacBook Pro 13" and 17" Batteries from $49.99

Car/Auto 12V DC to AC Power Inverters for up to 75 Watts Continuous as low as $8.75 per unit
Great for PowerBook, iBook, and MacBook/MacBook Pro 13" model AC Adapters and other devices/adapters which require up to 75 Watts via AC household outlet.

Just In - Targus Camera/Camcorder Tripods from $6.75 - take better photos/video with the right stand.

Save on top quality OWC Drive Enclosure Kits for 2.5"/3.5"/5.25" SATA and PATA drives from $15.00
From single drive to multi drive RAID kits, we've got a wide variety of options building your own external.

For more of our our latest feature offers, check out the web posted September 30th Blast. Subscribe here to receive these regular, weekly & special promo send outs.

OWC QuickTips: The latest are on our Blog
Although it will happen that some tips may still make their debut announcement via our newsletter, it's our real intent to share often and share without delay. As such, our relatively new OWC Blog is the place they are posted to. Some recent topics and tips of interest;

Take remote control and remote view EyeTV video/live TV using your iPod/iPhone thanks to Elgato's new app.

Discharging Static Electricity for Safe Computer Upgrading

RAID for the rest of us - understanding the basics and products that bring the benefits plug and play.

We are always expanding our library of self-help/DIY Installation Video Guides and as posted we announce via the blog

We have ongoing coverage of Snow Leopard and so much more generated week after week.

I encourage you book mark our blog or, better yet, subscribe to the RSS feed. Additional tips and more also found in our Quick Tips & Reviews archive. As a team of Mac users we enjoy sharing what we know and learn and hope it continues to help you get the most and more from your Mac experience.

Quick Links
Online Installation Videos, PDF Docs, FAQ & more in OWC Tech Center:
From installing memory to ipod batteries, installing processor upgrades to Optical and Hard Disk Drives - you'll find help in the OWC Tech center. Tips on setting up hard drives, creating raids, proper memory handling, network setup, basic trouble shooting, and just a whole lot more. We're always adding new information, videos, etc - a wealth of information we're happy to share!

There's lots of things you might pay someone to do for ya... with a little help from our Tech Center, you may learn and find out first hand how easy a lot things can be done right at home.

Get your domain names, host your website, and high-speed internet access & email from FasterMac.Net - Great Prices for Great Mac Knowledgeable Internet Access & Solutions, nationwide.
Now available - in addition to dial-up service packages we now have pure e-mail service options as well a broadband DSL!

For Fun and of Interest
Reported today that 85% of Mac owners also have Windows... An article posted on Fortune's website makes note of this and other Apple user bits from a recent survey of Mac users. While it comments on the ownership of a PC that has windows, it does not address how much dust has collected since the last time said Windows PC was turned on nor the version of Windows on said PC.

All your Apples are mine! Apple has activated its contingent of lawyers in response the new logo deployed by Woolworth's - Australia's largest supermarket chain. Honestly, I don't much see how someone would mistake the swooshy W with apple stem Woolworth logo with any association to Apple... but I can see where Apple may have some objection when their seeking trademark recognition to cover electronics as well as foods too. Even then, I don't see there being confusion. That all said, I'll remember their logo and Apple now that Apple's made a case about it.

Some rules/laws just apply where they shouldn't....Since the iPhone was first introduced Apple has had break out the impact of the revenue and profit over a 24 month period. Because category of product and the free OS updates regularly provided to customers of the Apple iPhone, accounting rules required that it be treated like a service subscription sale. It was not the intention for this 'SOX' rule to apply to hardware sales of products like the Apple iPhone and Apple lobbied successfully to get this rule changed. Apple's quarterly earnings have been on a long trend of strong growth and exceeded expectations, this win for Apple is win for shareholders where Apple can now more fully recognize it's true revenues as they occur on this major product category. This same law is also why Apple has charged iPod Touch owners for their OS updates.... By providing Touch updates with a fee Apple avoided and question that iPod Touch sales could have the same deferred reporting requirement. Just like the Illinois Toll ways (were supposed to have become freeways after the tolls paid for them... lol), as people are now used to paying for these iPod Touch updates, I doubt it.... but never know. :)

This one is kind of hot to the touch.... but Engadet calls this one right on - Microsoft sucks at Photoshop. In addition to wondering what was Microsoft thinking when that head swap (missed the hands), they missed photoshopping something that one would have understood.... The laptop in that photo is an Apple MacBook. :)

You may have noticed our recent site style update... which is part of an ongoing evolution to improve the function, feel, and navigation across our site. Over the months ahead we have many incremental (some more noticeably) front and back end updates that we hope will make the products and information on our site more intuitively accessible and searchable. Inspired by our site background design, the talented OWC graphics department designed a full on, out of this world desktop background that we're please to share.

Ever does time fly, time to close this one out

It was way longer than should have been and it's not going to be so long till the next edition. With various external projects wrapping up, am finally finding the time to get back to this writing which I do enjoy and hope you continue to enjoy reading as well. Since I am sure I'll be sending out that next edition really soon... certainly soon after the next Macs come forth... going to finish this edition off real quick now.

May the wind always be at your back with the best always to you and yours. Thanks for being an OWC Tips n' Deals reader!