"Why Apple's Tim Cook is talking now: CEO comes off as poised, prepared and confident" ["OK, so Tim Cook is not quite Jobs — but nobody is. By talking with journalists, who essentially act as the proxies for the interests of the public, Cook demonstrated that he wanted people to think that he cared about his constituents and was on the investors' side."] MarketWatch 8:30 AM
"Tim Cook and the Apple TV challenge: Navigating the pitfalls of Google TV won't be easy" MarketWatch 8:32 AM
"Apple Tests Designs for TV: Apple Inc. is working with component suppliers in Asia to test several TV-set designs, people familiar with the situation said, suggesting the U.S. company is moving closer to expanding its offerings for the living room." WSJ.com [Paid Membership Required] 7:50 AM
"Apple 'testing designs for a television': Apple has been testing designs for a large screen, high definition television, according to a new report." Telegraph 7:54 AM
"WSJ: Apple television testing begins, though challenges remain" Computerworld 8:40 AM
"Early-Stage Apple TV?" [Video Report] CNBC 8:32 AM
"Report: Apple Testing Out Television Designs" PC Magazine 9:19 AM
"Apple TV set designs in 'early stage' of testing, says WSJ" The Verge 7:55 AM
"Apple May Enter Market It Did Not Pioneer — TV" 24/7 Wall St. 8:20 AM
"Apple TV is in 'early stage of testing,' report says" CNET News 8:36 AM
"The Market's Watching TV for Apple's Next Big Thing" AllThingsD 8:29 AM
"Analyst: Apple could sell more than 13 million 'iTV' television sets, consumers willing to pay more" Macworld UK 8:17 AM
"Apple Campus Helps Hometown Shine: Commercial Rents and Building Activity Have Popped in Cupertino Since Tech Giant Unveiled Plans for Futuristic Building" WSJ.com [Paid Membership Required] 3:47 PM
"N.Y. silicon corridor fuels more Apple made-in-U.S.A. rumors" CNET News 9:16 PM
"Apple Cozies Up to Google for Kodak Patent Deal" MacNewsWorld 8:58 AM
"Apple, Samsung, RIM push Congress for more airwaves" The Hill 8:25 AM
"First fake-installer Trojan for Mac OS: Russian anti-virus company Doctor Web informs users about a new Trojan for Mac OS X dubbed Trojan.SMSSend.3666. The malicious scheme used to spread this Trojan is notorious among many Windows users but until now it hasn't been employed to deceive owners of Macs. Trojan.SMSSend is a fake installer which can be downloaded from various sites under the guise of useful software." Dr. Web 8:23 AM
"New Trojan attempts SMS fraud on OS X users: The threat is minimal, but perhaps costly for those who fall for it." CNET Reviews 4:35 PM
"New Trojan attempts SMS fraud on OS X users" CNET Reviews 8:57 PM
"Report: new Mac malware hides as fake software installer" MacNN 8:23 AM
"New Mac Malware Scams Users Into Signing Up For Cellphone Charges" Forbes 1:56 PM
"Apple wins U.S. trademark for Mac boot chime" CNET News 8:58 PM
AppleCare/Troubleshooting
"Apple's iCloud lock for Macs is not very secure: While iCloud PINs are best used as a temporary means for securing Macs, there are other options in OS X for implementing robust long-term data and system security." MacFixIt 3:08 PM
Reviews/How-To/Tips
"Switching from Windows to OS X? Make this your first OS X purchase" ZDNet 8:14 AM
"How to create podcast chapters" Macworld 11:05 AM
"Apple Improves iTunes Gift Card Redemptions for the Holidays" TidBITS 10:47 AM
"Cloudee video storage and sharing Software Review: Store iPhone video online; view, share and download at will" Macworld UK 8:44 AM
"Make iCloud Work More Like iDisk Used To With iClouDrive [OS X Tips] Cult of Mac 8:45 AM
"Quick Tip: How to Create Mailing Labels for Your Holiday Cards" Mactuts+ 8:44 AM
"Displaying just one calendar quickly" Mac OS X Hints 9:52 AM
"How To Use Your Mac To Build A Massive Website And Not Worry About Servers" Mac 360 7:48 AM
"Try The Clever New Way To Lock The Screen, Secure Your Mac And Get Informed" NoodleMac 7:48 AM
"I Don't Need This Mac Calculator But You Know Someone Who Does" TeraTalks 7:48 AM
"How To Use Your Mac To Write And Take Notes Like It's 1982 (pre Mac apps)" BohemianBoomer 7:48 AM
Op/Ed
"The unlikely persistence of AppleScript" Macworld 11:05 AM
"'Is there any setting or plugin that will cause read email to immediately and automatically disappear from the Unread Email folder after closing the email without me having to click away and then back again?' I think that this is a symptom of a larger mail issue that I fear Apple will never deal with. For example, through auto forwarding from all of my email accounts, all of my messages arrive in one of three IMAP or Exchange accounts. I have a rule setup in Mail that color codes the summary of each mail message based on which account the message arrives in. I use Red, Blue and Green. That works perfectly for new mail messages received." MacInTouch 8:51 AM
"Every six months I produce a 20 page magazine for my local church. The press quality pdf is printed by a local printers who do a good job and have no problems with it. After distributing the printed magazine I reduce the pdf size from 30-40 MB to 2-5 MB before adding it to the church website. I have no problem under Snow Leopard reducing the file size of a press quality pdf produced in Adobe CS1. ... I just tried using Preview in Mountain Lion to reduce the size of the pdf produced in Snow Leopard CS1. The quartz filters appear to be available but do not seem to be invoked when selected as the file saving is very fast and the pdf file size stays unchanged. Has anyone managed to get these pdf size reduction quartz filters to work in Mountain Lion, and how?" MacInTouch 8:50 AM
Press Releases
"FxFactory Pro – Plugins for FCP, Motion and After Effects" noise industries 1:48 PM
"New Accordance Releases: N.T. Wright Commentary Set" Accordance 11:00 AM
"Fiercely Competitive Tablet Segment Alters 2013 Supply Chain Strategies, According to NPD DisplaySearch" ["Foxconn led in mobile PC OEM production volume in Q2'12, with more than 85% of its production volume coming from Apple's new 9.7" iPad and iPad 2. In Q2'12, Quanta started producing the Google 7" Nexus tablet PC."] DisplaySearch 1:48 PM
"Apple Grabs 84% Of Mobile PC Shipments For Q2 2012, Tablet Market Predicted To Remain Strong In 2013" TechCrunch 1:49 PM
"Another Apple maps desert death trap down under" The Register 12:14 PM
"Analyst: Apple May Make Bid for TomTom" The Mac Observer 9:38 AM
"Guy Kawasaki, former Apple Evangelist says 'Android is better': Apple evangelist responsible for marketing the Mac switches to Android" Macworld UK 8:17 AM
"Former top Apple fanboy now rocks all Android devices: Former Mac evangelist Guy Kawasaki says he's purged all iOS devices from his life." CNET News 4:36 PM
"Google Zeitgeist tells the search story of 2012: Whitney, One Direction and iPads" Engadget 8:13 AM
"Google Zeitgeist 2012: Whitney, Gangnam, iPad 3 and more" CNET News 8:36 AM
"Google's Zeitgeist Reveals Whitney Houston As Tops Search Of 2012; iPad 3, SOPA, Hurricane Sandy & More Among Top Trends" TechCrunch 9:53 AM
"Top 50 Best Places To Work For 2013, Employees' Choice Award Winners" [Apple #34] glassdoor 10:45 AM
"Movie Purchasing And Renting Come To 42 New Regional iTunes Stores As Apple Presses Its Media Advantage" TechCrunch 8:19 AM
"Apple has quietly started selling movies in 42 new iTunes Stores" The Next Web 10:02 AM
"Apple Data Center Fuel Cell to Double" FairerPlatform 7:55 AM
"Russian Mobile Operator MTS Won't Offer Apple's IPhone 5" Bloomberg 8:13 AM
"Apple to bring the iPad mini to Russia on December 14" The Next Web 8:15 AM
"Local Apple Reseller Expects iPad Mini To Reach Russia On December 14" Cult of Mac 8:44 AM
"iPad Mini to travel to Russia this Friday" CNET News 11:06 AM
"An eye-opening video: How blind people can use Instagram on an iPhone" The Next Web 8:15 AM
"Must See: The Pope Sent His First Tweet, On an iPad" [Video Report] Bloomberg 8:52 AM
"Pope uses iPad to tweet first blessing from @pontifex account" The Verge 8:13 AM
"Pope Sends Tweets With His iPad" TheStreet 9:51 AM
"Working Apple-1 sells at auction for record-breaking $640,000" Digital Trends 8:23 AM
"Woman Tasered after trying to buy too many iPhones" CNET News 8:55 PM
Non-Apple News
"Sony Working on WALL-E-Like Robots for Care Giving Market" Patent Bolt 3:05 PM
"Linux kernel dumps 386 chip support: 'Good riddance!' says chief penguin Torvalds" The Register 11:55 AM
"Adobe releases security updates for Flash Player and ColdFusion: The addressed vulnerabilities could allow attackers to execute malicious code on affected systems" IDG News Service 11:23 AM
"Samba 4 threatens Microsoft's enterprise lock-in" InfoWorld 11:05 AM
"FreedomPop Preps Open Wi-Fi, Launches Free Home Internet Challenging ISPs" Forbes 11:00 AM
"FDSOI roadmap renames next node as 14-nm" EE Times 10:56 AM
"Four More Juniper Vice Presidents Exit" CRN 10:45 AM
"Redbox Instant video will be $8 per month, just like Netflix" CNNMoney 12:27 PM
"The Android Ecosystem Is Two-Faced: YotaPhone Has LCD On One Side, Electronic Paper Display On The Other" TechCrunch 11:48 AM
"Hacktivists Ghost Shell dump 1.6m log-in details on web" BBC 10:26 AM
"BlackBerry 10 'L-Series' Hardware Hints Promising" InformationWeek 11:03 AM
"Sharper BlackBerry 10 L phone images surface" CNET 10:11 AM
"Facebook changes privacy controls again and takes a key one away" Los Angeles Times [Paid Membership Required] 11:15 AM
"Google shuts shopping search service in China" ZDNet 12:16 PM
"Google optimizes Google News design for tablets" PCWorld 11:20 AM
"EMC follows VMware, rest of world into OpenStack" GigaOM 9:34 AM
Publications/Podcasts
"YML Archives for December 12th, 2012'" Your Mac Life 11:40 PM
"TUAW TV Live: Steve's Top Picks of 2012" TUAW 4:28 PM
"Maps, 12/12/12 and Mac vs iPad!" Your Mac Life 3:03 PM
"Apple TV demand may drive Samsung-sapping sales" The Register 8:34 AM
"Rumor Has It: Microsoft Office finally coming to iOS in 2013" CNET TV 4:36 PM
"iPad Mini sales likely hurt by supply problems: analyst: Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu says iPhone sales will likely be better than anticipated, but that iPad results may be light due to supply shortages affecting the iPad Mini and its possible cannibalization of larger iPad sales." CNET News 1:59 PM
"Apple suppliers say iPhone 5 demand still strong, iPad mini cannibalizing 9.7" iPad" AppleInsider 8:45 AM
"How to get started with Passbook on your iPhone" iMore 9:14 PM
"How to reply to selected text in iOS Mail" iDownload Blog 8:13 AM
"The 5-Minute PBX: PIAF Virtual Machine for VirtualBox (Windows, Mac, or Linux)" Nerd Vittles 7:45 AM
Tips
"iPad or iPad mini: which should you buy? Many would-be iPad buyers seem to be changing their minds and opting for the iPad mini instead. If you're considering a new iPad, which should you get?" Telegraph 10:14 AM
"Buying Guide: Find the best speakers" Macworld 11:05 AM
"Is Apple Going to Spend $10 Billion on a Chip Factory?" Forbes 9:24 AM
"Intel will go from being Microsoft's bitch to being Apple's?" BetaNews 9:20 AM
"What Microsoft Office means to iOS users" ZDNet 1:50 PM
"Apple is Microsoft's best friend in delaying Office on iPad: Apple may be doing Microsoft a favor by holding up App Store placement. If users can get Office 2013 on the iPad, why buy a Windows RT tablet?" InfoWorld 11:07 AM
"Opinion: Apple Should Not Give Into Microsoft's Demands Over Office For iOS" App Advice 8:55 AM
"What about spinning off the Mac division as a separate company?" AppleDailyReport 8:40 AM
"To Hell With Steve Jobs, Torture and Photoshop, Says Upside-Down Photographer" Wired 8:33 AM
"Apple HDTV rumor roundup: Talk of an Apple TV set dates back to 2009, but recent months have provided an avalanche of rumors. CNET has gathered them all in one convenient location for you." CNET News 10:14 AM
"Apple TV Is Coming In 2014, And Everyone Is Going To Copy It, Says Marc Andreessen" Business Insider 10:06 AM
"Apple's TV is the (high) definition of a Silicon Valley mystery" MarketWatch 9:51 AM
"Pundit: Apple TV-set may face 'barrier it cannot overcome" MacDailyNews 9:37 AM
"Apple Reportedly Testing TV Set Designs, Which Should Surprise Exactly No One" TechCrunch 8:53 AM
"Designs reportedly in the works for Apple-created TV, but in 'early stages'" Ars Technica 8:44 AM
"Anything new in the Wall St. Journal's Apple TV story?" Fortune 8:36 AM
"Apple Is Quietly Testing Designs For A High-Res, Big-Screen TV" Business Insider 8:30 AM
"Apple Reportedly Testing Early TV Set Designs" Mashable 8:25 AM
"Apple Starting To Test Television Designs" AppleBitch 7:55 AM
"WSJ: Apple Is Testing Designs for a TV" Gizmodo 7:55 AM
"Is A 'Made-in-America iMac' The Prelude For An 'I, Robot' Generation Of People?" Mac 360 7:47 AM
"More Good, Bad, And Ugly On Apple's Maps App" PixoBebo 7:46 AM
Non-Apple
"Fly Or Die: Kindle Fire HD 8.9 Vs. Nook HD+" TechCrunch 2:03 PM
"Is it Worth it to Build an NFC App Right Now?" Mashable 1:58 PM
"Everything About eBooks & eReaders, Pt 4: B&N Nook" The Mac Observer 1:51 PM
"Don't mount a TV above a fireplace" CNET Reviews 12:37 PM
"Mr. Zuckerberg, Tear Down This Wall" Wired 12:04 PM
"Google's Silicon Valley morality tale" Washington Post [Free Registration Required] 12:02 PM
"Why a 'Steam Box' Game Console Would Be a Big Deal" Techland 11:58 AM
"Is this the sleek new BlackBerry mobe that will save RIM jobs?" The Register 11:55 AM
"Netflix publishes ISP speed rankings - Google Fiber wins" TG Daily 11:51 AM
"Lumi: a Useful Web Recommendation Engine/The service, from two founders of Last.fm, uses your browser history to suggest new pages to visit." Technology Review 11:49 AM
"Utah companies expected to lead nation in IT hiring" Salt Lake Tribune 11:37 AM
"Device manufacturers' 'Holy Trinity'" EE Times 11:35 AM
"Fave-reads: 5 must-read books for IT career growth" Network World 11:23 AM
"Google Maps is returning to iPhone, iPad tonight, report says" Los Angeles Times [Paid Membership Required] 9:18 PM
"Exclusive: Google Set to Release iOS Maps App Tonight" AllThingsD 9:17 PM
"Amelia - iPad story of how to bring back to life a dead turtle" prMac 8:12 PM
"Bungie co-founder announces 'Morning Star,' a new first-person shooter for iOS" iDownload Blog 4:27 PM
"Five iPhone apps to create sweet treats this holiday season" Appolicious 2:02 PM
"iPad art gets real with Foldify app" GigaOM 1:59 PM
"The Timeless Story Of Black Beauty Now For iPad®" ["I was trying to let you know that my ebook Black Beauty for iPad is being offered from for a short period of time to promote the 100 year anniversary of the Cecil Aldin illustrated version (Black Beauty originally came out in 1887). The ebook is being offered free in the 15 iBookstore markets it is currently for sale on in North America, Europe, Australia, and beyond."] Friends of Black Beauty 1:54 PM
"GoSmart Launches New GoSmart Freedom Stylus with Cleaner Pure Design - World's Most Accurate Stylus for iPad & Other Touchscreen Devices" Thomas PR 1:47 PM
"The new Flickr app for iOS is fab...it's much friendlier than the old app for viewing and commenting on photos. And it's good to be able to shoot and post directly from the app. Too bad it has a dumb bug." flickr: Andy Ihnatko 10:48 AM
"Has This Computing Giant Bottomed Out? Hewlett-Packard has been discussed in the investment world a lot recently due to its low trading price and recent plunge in the market due to the Autonomy debacle." The Motley Fool 9:58 AM
"Marc Andreessen: Meg Whitman Is The Best CEO For HP" Business Insider 12:32 PM
"HP smuggles networking gear into enterprises via service provider financing deal" ZDNet 12:15 PM
"Thinking ahead to 2013: Microsoft's show and launch line-up" ZDNet 12:14 PM
"How Microsoft can break the logjam of carrier anti-innovation" VentureBeat [Free Registration Required] 9:51 AM
"Touch system shortages, sales played parts in Surface RT retail expansion: Microsoft's in-house sales strategy wasn't working, analyst argues" Computerworld 10:46 AM
"Microsoft Surface to hit third-party stores on Wednesday: US, Australia first, other countries to follow" The Register 11:55 AM
"Microsoft ramping up Surface production with retail push" V3 12:01 PM
"It's Official: Best Buy Is Selling The Microsoft Surface Tablet Too" Business Insider 12:33 PM
"IE exploit can track mouse cursor - even when you're not in IE: Security researcher says flaw has major implications for virtual keyboards" Network World 11:23 AM
"Dell wants to be more than your box provider" The Register 11:56 AM
"IBM details 3-D server chip stacks" EE Times 10:56 AM
"Oracle rolls out database security package: Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall, combined for easier deployment, provide network traffic sniffing for security threats and audit data analysis" IDG News Service 11:07 AM
"GlobalFoundries CEO: EU should support chip-making efforts" ZDNet 12:16 PM
"GlobalFoundries CEO urges Europe to get aggressive in semiconductor race" The Business Review 12:33 PM
"Mobile Device Makers to Congress: We Want the Airwaves, Baby" AllThingsD 10:01 AM
"G.O.P. Balks at Plan to Add Airwaves for Mobile Internet and Wi-Fi" New York Times [Free/Paid Registration Required] 9:03 PM
"U.N. summit rejects U.S., Europe hands-off-the-Internet plea: Nigeria, Cuba, Algeria, and Saudi Arabia persuade a majority of summit delegates to support giving a United Nations agency a more 'active' role in Internet governance." CNET News 8:55 PM
"Opposing camps dig in on Internet treaty talks" Reuters 9:04 PM
"China, Russia Resubmit Proposal to Get Web Control" Bloomberg 10:05 AM
"UN's 'bid to wrestle control of internet' stalled by asterisk" The Register 11:55 AM
"Compromise emerges on UN internet rules" Reuters 11:38 AM
"The next chip battleground: Data centers" Fortune 10:02 AM
"IT Departments Battle for Data Analytics Talent" CIO 11:23 AM
"Even without Microsoft, this year's CES is going to be a big one, CEA head says" VentureBeat [Free Registration Required] 9:50 AM
"Broadcom predicts superfast Wi-Fi, in-car systems and NFC to dominate CES 2013" V3 12:01 PM
"PC players move budgets from CES to MWC 2013" DigiTimes 10:55 AM
"Random Thoughts on Apple and RIM, Plus 10 Trading Commandments" Minyanville 9:53 AM
Industry News
"Asia Markets: Asia stocks mostly higher after Fed/Asia stocks mostly gained on Thursday, with Japanese shares building on their highest levels since April, after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced an expansion to its asset-buying program and new policy targets." MarketWatch 8:21 PM
"Facebook, Seagate slip, but Netflix rises: H-P and AMD also post gains; Nasdaq struggles to stay positive" MarketWatch 12:29 PM
"U.S. stocks erase gains on Bernanke talk: Fed chairman says central bank can't offset fiscal cliff's full impact" MarketWatch 3:10 PM
"Stocks Flat as Traders Mull Fed Move" FOXBusiness 3:10 PM
MacSurfer Headline News Staff
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief: P. Pearson
Managing & Weekday Editor: D. Mahaffy
Evening Editors: S. Siegling and
D. Mahaffy
Weekend Editors: S. Siegling , A. Spaulding and
D. Mahaffy
CEO: T. Jefferson
CFO: K. Midas
Editor Emeritus: W. Shakespeare
Writers Emeritus: W. Lewis, R. Chandler, W. Morris, G. Simenon, C. Vallejo, F. Garcia Lorca,
P. White, R. Adams, P. Valery, C. Aiken, R. Bradbury, F. Pessoa, S. Bellow, F. O'Connor
Art Directors: V. Van Gogh, C. Monet
Advertising Managers: C. Chaplin, H. Marx
Public Relations Firm: Bits & Bytes
Bomb Squad: Type 11 Errors
Chief Scientists: I. Asimov, S. Hawking
Road Crew: R. Petty, J. Cooper
Mechanics: Tom and Ray
Fishing Crew: A. Lindner, D. Stange, K. VanDam
Head Chef: Mom
Head Travel Guru: D. Pearson
Mascots: Cyberdog, Clarus the Dogcow
General Counsel: #%@*$$$$!