Wal-Mart says it wants to play nice with others. According to the New York Post, Wal-Mart warned Hollywood movie studios that it would fight against distribution of movies on iTunes, worried that Wal-Mart DVD sales would decline as a result. Earlier this year, an insider suggested that many of the "big box" stores, including Wal-Mart, had expressed deep concern when Disney started selling TV shows on iTunes.

Wal-Mart, however, says otherwise. They submitted a recent report saying that they were not trying to stop movie studios from using other forms of distribution, such as Apple iTunes. According to an insider who wished not to be identified, Wal-Mart has discovered that the demographics differ on consumers who download movies--typically single young males--versus buyers of DVDs, and as a result now see no threat to their in-store DVD sales.

Downloads of movies from iTunes has produced $1 million in revenue in their first week of sales, according to Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger. iTunes, according to Iger, has not lowered TV viewership or DVD retail sales.

Last year, after the iTunes Music Store started offering Podcasts, Steve Jobs went on record saying that much every topic was fair game except "pornography." The following month, some well-known sex writers began podcasting without their material being censored or removed. It turned out that Apple had labelled these as "Explicit," which was then construed as a policy.

Since then, however, a very popular sex education Podcast entitled  "Sex Is Fun" was removed. The hosts received a letter from Apple about the rejection on the same day it reached the Top 100 Podcasts List on iTunes. Host Kidder Kaper says that other "fringe"-topic Podcasts have also been removed, such as some with homosexual content.

The company that owns Sex Is Fun has contacted attorneys. "We may have a case for discrimination here and we need to hear from the other podcasters that have been removed," said a company spokesperson.

The Sex Is Fun Podcast is still quite popular, but they say that  listenership has decreased since they were removed from the iTMS. Would they have a real case for discrimination against Apple, since the company has never taken an official stance on sexually-themed Podcasts?

"This is the danger of having one giant resource for the media that was intended to be free of censorship and regulation,"  Kidder announced during an emergency podcast in which he was telling his listeners how to find the show in the future.

"If you say something that the giant disagrees with, you can be silenced in the middle of the night and nobody will even know where you went. If it can happen to us, it can happen to any of the other podcasters too. Nobody knows who is next. It could be Violet Blue, or Dawn and Drew or any of the podcasts that Apple decides isnÂ?t iTunes worthy."

Other sex-themed Podcasts are still available, although they are still labelled "Explicit." This points out the dangers of what happens when self-appointed censors presume to be custos morum publicae. How does one define "pornography?" What constitutes "obscene?"

It will be a happier society - and world - when everyone understands and accepts the wisdom of the statement, "An it harm none, do what ye will." In any event, how long these "explicit" podcasts  remain available depends on where this case goes...more details to come.

No, you won't be able to run Xbox 360 games on your Mac - yet. However, this little hack may be handy if your XBox and your cable modem are in separate rooms,  and you don't want to shell out $100 for a wireless adapter.

Step 1:  turn off your Xbox 360 and connect a standard ethernet crossover cable from the network port of the 360 to the ethernet port on your Mac. On the Mac, go to System Preferences>Sharing.  Click the "Internet" tab.  On the "Share your connection from..." drop-down, select AirPort. Check Built-in Ethernet on the box underneath, then press 'Start'. You will get a cautionary dialogue box; accept it. Your window should look like this:

Step 2:  Turn on your 360, go to the dahboard and navigate to the System pane. Select "Network Settings" and then "Edit Settings". Change IP settings to Manual. Back in OS X, enter Terminal and type, without quotes: "ifconfig en0". The first IP address, which is probably 192.168.2.1, is your Gateway address.  Enter this on your Xbox. For IP address, enter 192.168.2.2, and 255.255.255.0 for the Subnet Mask.

Step 3: Save your settings on your Xbox 360. It  may automatically test the new connection; ignore this, because it will fail. Go back into the settings menu and this time choose DNS Settings, making this manual as well. Next, you'll need to go back into Terminal and type in "dig" (again, without quotes) and press enter. At the bottom of the results you will find a line saying "SERVER:" (see below). The IP address following (underlined below) is your Primary DNS server, so enter that into your Xbox. Don't enter anything under Secondary DNS server.

In Network Settings on the Dashboard, select "Test Xbox Live Connection". You should now be able to connect to Xbox Live.

The last time Mac OS 6 was commonly in use, most of today's high-school students hadn't even been born.

The System 6 machines - the Mac Classic, Mac Plus and the Mac IIci - were ludicrously underpowered by today's blistering standards. For an age in which RAM, HD space and processor speed are measured in the "giga" range, using a Mac Classic with 4 MB of RAM running at 8 (that's eight) MHz would seem tantamount to driving a Ford Model T (last built in 1927).

Despite this difference, some hard-core Mac fans insist that System 6 is actually  better for some computing tasks - particularly word processing. Is it possible that a vintage 1990 Apple running OS 6 can open a Microsoft Word document faster than a new PC running Windows 2000? You may be surprised.

According to "Moore's Law," computer performance grows exponentially, doubling about every two years. It therefore makes sense that the latest computer would perform  tasks at least 500 times faster than something built sixteen years ago. All other factors being equal, this is true...

But.

Anyone who has used computers for any length of time has no doubt noticed that file size has expanded as much as horsepower has increased. When I started using the popular 3D figure modeler Poser back in '95, a file was typically between 200 and 500 KB. Today, a single Poser model (such as "David" or "Stephanie") can run over a 100 megabytes. Same with the applications - the correlation to Moore's Law is that software expands to consume all resources available to it. If you've used MS Word for any length of time, you know what's being talked about, here.

For kicks and giggles, some hard-core vintage Mac geeks ran some tests, putting various System 6 Macs up against an "average" modern PC. The Mac models - a Classic and a IIci - were tested both in their "stock" forms and with some processor upgrades (none running faster than 40 MHz). The Windows machine was an IBM Think Center with a 3 GHz Pentium 4HT processor, 512 MB RAM, running MS Word 2002 with Windows 2000 Pro.

The results are shown on the charts below (click thumbnails to see full-sized images). Who'd have thought?

   

I've often thought that "techies" are similar to the priests of the many religions humans have practiced over the centuries - keeper of the sacred knowledge, party to some information we mere laypersons are incapable of understanding.

This has been less true of the Apple, which historically has been the world's most user-friendly computer - and therefore, fixable by most users. Still, there are those technophobes who either don't have the aptitude or the desire to go poking into their Mac's innards. Less frequently, Macs develop problems that should be addressed by trained experts.

In those cases, as a "Mac Genius," your position is tantamount to that of a powerful Mage.

Despite its appeal, this position has its downside.

In a typical Apple Service Center, out of 30 employees, only four of them are actual "Mac Geniuses." They rarely interact with - or even see - the public. They are hidden in the back, seated at their benches, diagnosing, troubleshooting, repairing, replacing - definitely not the job for ADHD individuals, or those who crave social interaction. On the other hand, Mac Genius are occasionally called out of their sanctuaries to calm and reassure an agitated customer - so "people skills" are definitely necessary. And you will be loved. Respected. At least for a time. You also have power. If a customer has a legitimate gripe, and is getting little or no satisfaction - or say, a machine is just barely out of warranty - a Mac Genius can usually get the problem fixed.

Much of this power comes from the fact that true Mac Geniuses are a rare breed. But here's where the hard truth sets in - this is not a career, its a job with little possibility for advancement. The hours are long and often inflexible. At one time, if you were a Mac IT expert, you could expect competitive pay. This has changed, particularly in the past five years as corporations focus less and less on people and quality service and products, and fixate on high profits, bloated CEO salaries and  inflated ROI for shareholders. If the choice is between a seasoned professional who can command a high price and a young novice who can be gotten for a song, they'll go for the novice every time (and sack them just before they're eligible for raises and benefits).

My personal feeling - corporate America, as things stand now, neither appreciates nor deserves genius. If you're really wanting a career in Mac repair, your best bet is to hang out your own shingle - or better yet, offer house-call service in your own local community.

After all, the quest for a better, more just and sustainable world starts in your own neighborhood.

Worried about who has access to your Mac and its files? While there are several software solutions to this conundrum, here's a novel, potentially fool-proof hardware answer. WARNING: performing this on your MacBook will VOID THE WARRANTY. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS unless you have an exceptionally steady hand and a very high "geek quotient."

That said, click on any of the images to get a better look, if necessary.

STEP 1: Cut a hole in the casing on the right as shown below. A high-speed precision drill like a "Dremel," using a cutting attachment, is best for this task.

Check out the Full Article for the rest of the procedure!

Seems like Apple just lends itself to these "Top Ten" lists. Today's is called "The Ten Most Beautiful OS 10 Applications," courtesy of Phil Ryu. Although whether this is "beautiful" in the aesthetic sense or just "beautiful" in their ease of use and overall utility, we're not sure. It's all in the eye of the beholder.

Decide for yourself... here, then, without further ado, are today's "Top Ten."

#10: TRANSMISSION

A P2P application, the recommended BitTorrent client. An "exercise in simplicity," according to Phil.

That's just the tip of the iceberg!! Read the Full Article for nine more beautiful apps!

"Let's face the music and dance."  - Irving Berlin, 1936

Fred Astaire sang those words seventy years ago, and it seems appropriate for Apple as it heads into the "winter of its discontent" with its European customer base. Between chat-room scuttlebutt questioning the device's reliability and leaking news of questionable labor practices in its Chinese factories, the shiny new toy that Britons fell in love with two years ago is starting to lose its lustre.

According to Britain's YouGov Brand Awareness Index, the Apple i-Pod has been showing a steady and "very significant" decline in popularity. Some 50 million units have been sold in the U.K. since 2001, and Apple insists there are no problems with the product. Despite the decline, the iPod remains Britain's most popular portable music player.

This recent apparent fall from grace may be linked to bad publicity when last year, after coming out with the iPod Nano, Apple admitted that some of the models had screens that were scratched too easily. Other people have complained that the iPod Shuffle's lacks a screen.

 FirstGov's Sunpid Chahal says, "Apple used to stand for corporate reputation and quality, and people were prepared to pay more because they got it back in quality."

Apple's own Greg Joswiak disagrees, however: "A lot of products don't enjoy such a low failure rate - mobile phones can be up to 30%. The vast majority of customers are extremely happy and have never experienced a failure." He also points out that many people aren't exactly gentle when it comes to delicate electronic devices, adding, "Most problems are caused by mishandling. They are complex electronic components and they can be broken if dropped or mishandled."

In a recent lawsuit filed by Apple in an E.U. court, the French government had been accused of "state-sponsored piracy." At the heart of the matter is an European Copyright law governing digital music downloads.

Despite Apple's cry of "foul!," the intention of this law would require that any music downloaded from any online music merchant needs to be playable on any digital music device. This could potentially rob Apple of a monopoly. On the other hand, it would be helpful to those downloading music if and when they chose to switch to a different portable music player, or transfer their downloads to a PDA or cell phones. The law is an attempt to create a standard music format that is playable on any device or platform.

Otherwise, users would be required to re-purchase the same tunes each time they wished to change devices.

The issue is far from simple; like laws in any democratic society, it must balance the needs and desires of both sides. From Apple's perspective, it is being forced to make its proprietary music format compatible with devices manufactured by rival companies. The French law does contain some loopholes; French artists whose performances are sold exclusively though iTunes may require that their works be made available solely in the iPod format. Additionally, the law must take patent protections into consideration. However, if Apple fails in its lawsuit, it may pull out of the French market.

Every new piece of technology that is developed is a two-edged sword. At one time, the ability to play music live was considered a valuable and useful skill. David was retained by King Saul to play the harp for him. In ancient Celtic society, bards were at the right hand of the King and could pass judgement on him. More recently (18th and 19th centuries), musicians were retained by wealthy patrons as household servants and nearly every town had its community band or orchestra.

Thomas Edison changed all of that. Now, anyone could have music any time - without the expense of live musicians.

The format in which recorded music has been kept has changed dramatically in little over a hundred years. Since 1900, we've come from bulky, spring-driven, wind-up machines the size of packing crates to slim, pocket-sized devices - and the sound quality has improved immeasurable.

Still, up until the compact disk, the format was uniform. A wax disk playable on an Edison gramophone was playable on an RCA Victrola. Audio reel-to-reels worked with players manufactured by Teac or Sony. CD's could be played on your JVC home stereo or your Sony Discman.

None of these companies seemed to suffer much from an interchangeable format. Quite the contrary, most of them prospered, and consumers wound up getting better and less expensive machines.

Considering that the "Law of the Marketplace" seems to drive everything and is fervently embraced by everyone nowadays, perhaps Apple should simply stop fighting the issue and let the marketplace decide what's best.

Do some Apple users have too much time on their hands?

The editors of Tech E-Blog got photos of several Apple mods and recently published this selection of their favorites, showing what some folks do to "spruce up" their beloved Mac computers. The nostalgia buff inside me would like to see one designed like that early television model from the late 1940's that had a round screen (anyone ever seen one of those? They never worked very well, but were extremely cool-looking), or maybe a "Tri-V" from the original Star Trek.

#10: MAME

Not your "Auntie Mame" from the Jerry Herman musical, but a retro-80's arcade game-style cabinet, incorporating a flat-panel iMac and a top of the line sound system. Pac-Man or Asteroids, anyone?

#9: VINTAGE SE 30

This was the very first Mac I remember, running System 6 back in 1989. Unlike that particular model (top-of-the-line for its time, but useless for any applications today), this one - created by a user in Japan - has a new Mac Mini inside. The grayscale monitor is connected via the DVI port.

More of the Apple mods after the jump!