"We've never ever at Mozilla said that we care about Firefox market share at the expense of our more important goal: to keep the web open and a public resource. The web belongs to people, not companies." These were the words of Mozilla's COO John Lilly in a recent blog post of his. What prompted this statement though, is the real story.

For those who have been keeping up with the WWDC, Steve Jobs delivered his keynote speech and unveiled Safari for Windows. Now, this is a big thing because the Apple iPhone will be running web applications, and this is the manner that it will be interfacing with the PC. The simple fact that PC users will be getting another browser option for their systems is really great. So what's the problem?
 
Steve Jobs presented the way he wanted the market to look eventually and it showed a view that's, as Lilly put it, "out-of-date, corporate-controlled, duopoly-oriented, not-the-web thinking." A duopoly (a market controlled by two organizations) cuts out everyone else and leaves everyone at the mercy of the companies running it. Everyone saw the ruckus that was caused with the Microsoft anti-trust issue, adding in another big company to control the rest of the market may not be in the public's interest.

Lilly may have a point with this although there is no arguing Apple's success. It may precisely be that outlook that's driving them to the top. Still, we have to consider the consequences of a possible duopoly on the net and how it will affect the internet community as a whole. If you want to read the entire blog post, be sure to click on our read link. Keep checking back here for more updates on this issue.

 

Yesterday's WWDC saw Steve Jobs showing off the Leopard's desktop and we did like the fact that everything looked less grainy than ever before. Very pleasing to the eye indeed, but there's a little note that a MaxAsia pointed out.

And come to think of it, the user might be on to something. The Leopard's dock does seem a bit like Sun's Project Looking Glass. Above are images which you can view at full size when you click them. See if you think that there's a compelling resemblance.

Aesthetics aside, this shouldn't really be too much of an issue between the two IT giants. We'll keep you posted if anything major comes out of this.

Soon, Apple fans waiting for months on end to see big PC games get ported to their platform will be a thing of the past. Electronic Arts, the world's biggest game publisher is cooperating hand in hand with Apple to make porting that much faster.

EA COO Bing Gordon was with Apple CEO Steve Jobs as the two announced this exciting development at the Worldwide Developer's Conference hosted by Apple in San Francisco.  Big EA game franchises Command & Conquer 3, Battlefield 2142, Need For Speed Carbon and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will be the first to ship on the Mac OS X platform followed by Madden NFL 08 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08.

To make the porting process easier, an engine called Cider developed by TransGames will be put into use. This will cut the development time significantly and keep Apple units in stride with their Windows counterparts.

TransGaming CEO Vikas Gupta says "traditionally Mac users had to wait to play the latest blockbuster games. "We're thrilled that TransGaming's Cider engine will dramatically decrease the time it will take to bring EA's hit portfolio of games to a thirsty Mac market."

John Carmack, id Software co-founder and technical director, was unveiled as a surprise guest during Apple CEO Steve Jobs' keynote at this year's Worldwide Developers' Conference. While that may not be big news in and of itself to most readers, what Carmack brought to the keynote is.

   

According to Engadget, Carmack gave audiences at WWDC07 a first look at Tech 5, id Software's new game engine. Details about the engine are still scarce, but Carmack did give audiences a peek at some of the features that come packed with Tech 5.

What we've got here is the entire world with unique textures, 20GB of textures covering this track. They can go in and look at the world and, say, change the color of the mountaintop, or carve their name into the rock. They can change as much as they want on surfaces with no impact on the game.

More details about Tech 5 are expected to surface come E3. Carmack also noted that the engine was being geared towards the Mac, PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 gaming platforms. Yes, the Mac. Carmack also revealed that another announcement involving the Mac would be made at E3.

With the Apple iPhone's release date (July 29) creeping closer and closer upon us, more details have been coming to light. Now the hype is bound to only become stronger with the release of the iPhone's specs. Steve Jobs and the rest of the guys at Apple better deliver on this product since a lot of people are expecting a lot from it.

Theories floating around the intarwebs regarding this product have been laid to rest with the release of its specs. It will have a sim tray for those who are worried about it. In addition, the battery life, while not that great is quite acceptable for a multimedia device. It's also going to be quad band and will have a storage capacity of either 4 GB or 8 GB.

Given that, the only thing we need to wait for is the price. We can't wait for its release to see if it really becomes the phone that most Apple fanatics want it to be. Be sure to check back here for more updates on the iPhone.

The full details await after the jump!

Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference is just around the corner and Apple fans are pumped at what Steve Jobs has to show. The focus of the attention, of course, is the anticipated demonstration of the new OS X Leopard, but some insiders believe that the next-generation interface of the system just might steal the show.

The new look will be driven by a system called Core Animation which will make the visual experience more vibrant than ever. Imagine a 3D desktop where your windows flip in and out and on-screen objects are looking good with high detail.

"The revolution coming with Core Animation is akin to the one that came from the original Mac in 1984," says Delicious Library developer Will Shipley. He adds that a whole "new world" will open up once Core Animation hits.

And Shipley is serious. He says that the Disco CD-writing application will have an interface with smoke animations and it's quite possible for the user to actually play with the fumes. How about blowing air into the mic and seeing the on screen smoke get blown away? Sweet!

"We realized any app we released based on Tiger (the current version of OS X) was going to look really pathetic when Leopard came out," says Shipley. He then reminded users that they would have to buy the new product if they want to enjoy the new features.

We certainly hope Apple shows off this exciting new innovation that they've jacked up. Die-hard Mac addicts better get ready to bust out that wallet because the Leopard intends to pounce hard.

Although it may not be apparent, Apple isn't reeling in major profits on any of the Apple TV units they sell. Literally. According to Business Week, research firm iSuppli purchased a unit for US$ 299 and took it apart piece by piece. What they found was that the seemingly pricey Apple TV tag wasn't a Benjamin apart from the total of its parts.

An Apple TV's parts, when broken down and arranged quite neatly, has been found to cost no more than US$ 237 all in all. That's just US$ 62 from the retail price tag (a 20% gross profit margin), although it doesn't include administrative, marketing and production costs.

That's a big leap from most of Apple's 50% gross profit margins for products not related to its consumer computer solutions. Analyst Andrew Rassweiler of iSuppli remarked, "This is certainly a departure for Apple, or at least it's approaching a departure."

"We made some very aggressive assumptions with this device, and by that I mean we assumed low prices on the components," added Rassweiler. When Apple's Steve Jobs said that the Apple TV is a hobby, he probably wasn't joking at all. It may have been more convincing, though, if there were tears.

Fortune Magazine's Brent Schlender, editor-at-large, claims that "Steve Jobs might be promising more than he can deliver," referring to the Apple TV, Apple's pet project aside from the much-awaited iPhone.

Schlender, in particular, hits Apple TV's current design:

There are shortcomings that even Microsoft would not have overlooked: Apple TV doesn't have a DVD drive or a volume control on its minimalist remote or ... but enough. You get the feeling that Apple didn't create this thing because it was insanely great but in order to freeze competitors out of downloadable video.

The root of the problem? According to the Fortune editor, it is Apple's tendency to "pre-announcing products months in advance - the iPhone is just the latest - and even then has missed promised ship dates." He further explains that no matter how good a product is hyped up, it's bound to disappoint no matter how good it is.

With that aside, it should be noted that Apple TV is still testing the waters; we'll never know how it will turn out several months from now. Apple did promise to give out new software features and improvements for Apple TV free of charge, something worthwhile for Apple TV users to look forward to.

We get to see a candid Steve Job in this ten-minute video interview with the Apple head honcho taken at All Things Digital 2007. It's a rare glimpse of the man who invented the iPod and what he thinks is in store for the company that dared to go up against fellow giant Microsoft.

Steve began the interview by explaining how Apple is trying to become four different things at once, and being pretty good at it: a computer business, a music business, a phone business, and a hobby. He also reported of the recent growth spurt the company's having, quantified as five times the growth of the PC industry.

When asked about the iPhone, it was then that Steve clammed up, playfully avoiding questions about its features and functions. He did let slip a juicy tidbit of information -  the release of the highly-anticipated iPod-slash-cellphone is still slated for late June  which is definitely good news for us who can't wait to get their hands on one.

Still on the subject of what he touts as "the best iPod ever made", Steve promised that owners will receive the Internet as they know it with the iPhone and not the mobile Internet we're made to make do with on our handhelds. He meant the actual, honest-to-goodness Internet we receive every time we log into our computers.

Certainly a tall order, and Steve's confident he'll make good on it. A lot more info in the video itself, so enjoy!

While the ever-anticipated iPhone cannot run other OS X applications apart from Safari and OS X desktop email, Steve Jobs hinted in an interview that they are certainly considering the possibility of making third party applications for the iPhone. He says that it is a security issue, but he assures that Apple is currently working its way around it to allow third party developers to build applications for the iPhone.

Jobs is anxious about the problems that may arise from using third party applications, and doesn't want the iPhone to be Â?one of those phones that crashes a few times a day... We would like to solve this problem and if you could just be a little more patient with us, weÂ?ll do it.Â? Hear that, Nokia?

Having a mobile phone that doesn't hang every once in a while is a great change, and that in itself is a good enough innovation that will make flustered cellphone users give additional points to Apple over Microsoft.

It's good that Jobs has hinted on that likelihood in a positive note: Imagine a plethora of games available for the iPhone. Should that happen, though, how those games would turn out is still a bit of a mystery, what with the iPhone having no physical keyboard... but we'll see.