Apple announced today that they had sold three billion songs through the iTunes Store! That’s allot of songs, so what does Apple get out of selling other peoples music? Just about 30% or more accurately 29 cents per song which is over 1 billion in profit for Apple. Not bad for a mainly online music store.

Here is one of the ultimate Mac vs PC showdowns, Apple vs Dell the PC giant. So who is really the bigger and more valuable company? As of  July 30th 2007, based on NASDAQ trading, Apple is bigger or should I say worth double compared to Dell. Apple has a market value of 127.81 billion dollars vs Dell with a market value of 63.65 billion. If we go back to January of 2006 it was a much closer picture with Apple having a market value of just over 72 billion and Dell with just over 71 billion in market share. So Apple has almost doubled their market value and Dell has dropped in value. So Dell, who’s your Daddy now…

You can checkout the NASDAQ AAPL and DELL quotes here.

I just received the macally BTMOUSE and in no time had it paired with my MacBook Pro, so far I am very impressed with the responsiveness of the macally BTMOUSE. It actually feels more like a non-wireless mouse and puts my older Bluetooth MacMice to shame. I will be doing a full review shortly after I have had some time to play with it.

Engadget has posted some photos of what they claim may be the next iMac Keyboard, it’s super slim and has a brushed aluminum finish. It has similar characteristics to the MacBooks keyboard.

Checkout all the Photos

If you missed Part 1-9 of the Van Gogh Diaries make sure to read them first to keep everything in context:

“How to F-up Your Mac”

STEP 1: Put your system files in the trash.
(There are no other steps.)

I have some serious moments of idiocy. Although the flashing Apple logo, Question Mark & No Smoking Symbol (without the cigarette) was kind of psychedelic to look at, it was not nearly as much fun as a tab of ‘keep on truckin’ blotter.

Recovery was not a one step process though. I got caught with my dunce cap on and my pants down - oh, and my shoelaces were tied together too. One call to Apple Care before US hours yielded me a very nice, but very difficult to understand Indian (I assume) gentleman who’s advice after twenty minutes or so was to do an ‘Archive & Install’. Me, being the ‘hang on in quiet desperation’ [Pink Floyd] kinda guy, refused to believe that I would have to take such a windows like action to save my ass.
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One of the biggest potential stumbling blocks for a possible Switcher is the concern about Mac vs PC compatible software on the Mac. Will all your existing PC files work on a Mac? For the most part a Mac has just about everything most people will need to get going with existing PC documents as well as creating new even richer ones.

To make things just a bit easier when trying to figure out what programs you will be using on a Mac, I have put together a list of the most common everyday Mac vs PC Programs with a brief description for each one.

Office Programs Microsoft Office (Word - Excel - PowerPoint)

• Microsoft Office for Mac (Paid) As the name says (Microsoft), it’s made by MS so it is the most PC Office compatible. It does come with a price but if you qualify for the Student Teacher version you can get it for under $200. The Mac Office version comes with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and (Entourage - the Mac equivalent of Outlook)
• NeoOffice (Free) An absolutely wonderful Free Microsoft Office alternative. It is based on the popular Open Office and supports Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Although it is not perfect it does read and write MS Office documents very well with formatting true to the original MS Office version.
• Apple iWork (Paid) By far the most creative of the Office type programs, iWork includes Pages and Keynote which have Word and PowerPoint Import and Export options. iWork documents are stunning to the point that exporting them to MS Office format only results in a loss of quality due to the fact that MS Office just isn’t on par with iWork in that area. At under $99 iWork is a must have for anyone who wants to easily create their own professional looking Presentations and Documents.
• AbiWord (Free) A very nice and clutter free word processing program. AbiWord has excellent file type compatibility with many other Word Processing programs including MS Office Word.

Checkout this reference on Word Processing for the Mac

Accounting Programs (Quicken - QuickBooks - MYOB)

• Quicken Mac 2007 (Paid) Just like the PC Version, but with mac exclusive features!
• QuickBooks Pro 2007 for Mac (Paid) Again, just like the PC Version!
• MYOB for Mac (Paid) Premium Small Business Accounting Software for Mac.

Internet Browsers Internet Explorer (FireFox - Netscape - Safari)

• Apple Safari (Included) Apple’s own Web Browser now even available for the PC.
• FireFox for Mac (Free) If you already use and like FireFox on your PC, then you might as well just use it on your Mac.
• Netscape for Mac (Free) It’s all about options, the once popular Netscape Navigator is also available for the Mac.

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“For most of the last two decades, I have been a Microsoft apologist. I mean, not merely a contented user of the company’s operating systems and software, not just a fan, but a champion.”"So you might think I would be predisposed to love Vista, Microsoft’s newest version of Windows, which was scheduled to be released to consumers at the end of January.”

“Ironically, playing around with Vista for more than a month has done what years of experience and exhortations from Mac-loving friends could not: it has converted me into a Mac fan.”

Read the Full Article Here

Here is a Mac vs PC category where the Windows PC is the definitive winner. Windows has more Viruses hands down, is this a good thing… Sure it is for the anti-Virus and anti-Spy-ware companies, not so good for you and me!

Truth be told there are curetnly 579 total Mac viruses (Source - Network Associates NA, sellers of the McAfee and Virexantivirus products). Now of these Mac viruses, 553 of them are Word/Excel Macro Viruses so if you plan on not using the MS Office package (yes there are many great alternative for the Mac) then we are now down to 26.

So where where we? Mac vs PC: 26 to 71000 Viruses. Oh ya one more thing… Of the 579 total known Mac viruses, all of them are for the older non-OS X based system, this mean 0 known viruses for any Mac that has been made in the last 6 years!

So where are we? Mac vs PC: 0 to 71000 Viruses.

Read the whole Article at the Mac Observer

Seems like just about every new Mac user asks this exact same question: “How do I Maximize a Window on my Mac like I do on the PC?” I think I’ve answered this question a 100 times or more and maybe I’ve even lost some of the sparkle in my answers. The short answer is this… We don’t use 640 x 480 screens anymore so why on earth do you need every program taking up the entire screen!!! Optimize and Multitask I say!! OK here is a much better and less frustrated answer from the good people over at My First Mac

A very Interesting and well done Article from Read/WriteWeb.

“At a glance Apple has got it all - a better product, die hard fans, top-notch marketing, funny commercials and an amazing set of companion products. Since Steve Jobs returned in 1997, the company has been on an impeccable comeback run”

“Apple’s endless passion for speed, elegance and simplicity runs through their entire product line.”

“Perhaps more impressive than Apple’s hardware is the company’s software. From the operating system to individual applications, Mac’s software wins fans with its stunning graphical experience and nature-like beauty.”

“And finally, we can not possibly omit mentioning iPod. This groundbreaking device has put Apple back on the map.”

“Despite the fact that Macs are on the rise and iPods rule already, one can’t help but wonder: why are people still using PCs if Macs are so great?”

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