And yet another evil alliance is threatening to loom out of the darkness... Well, no, not really.

In any case, with MacWorld getting ever so close, many have been hanging on to the expectation that Steve Jobs will be announcing a team-up with Google. The possibility of this new alliance has been brought up by analyst Steve Arnold who points out that it isn't that impossible, considering that Google's CEO Eric Schmidt has a place on Apple's board.

However, whether this announcement will come or not is really anyone's guess at the moment, especially since Jobs is still expected to dodge several other issues and rumors. Among these issues would be the recent stock options backdating fiasco which he and several officials got caught up in, as well as questions regarding the appearance (or existence) of the iPhone.

Oh, and last but not least, there's that OTHER pressing question: If Google and Apple joined up, what would they be called?

Goopple?

When the new generation of video iPods was rolled out, older fifth-generation (5G) iPods got some lovin' when software updates brought some new functionality to the aging version of the handheld music device. Of course, the update didn't include the new Google search feature, but 5G iPod owners are still thankful for the new software features, which include higher-resolution video support as well as the ability to play iPod games.

But the best thing that came out of the software update is the much improved battery life. It turns out, longer battery life is achieved through optimizations in software.

Jason Snell of Playlist Mag puts the "updated" iPod to the test. His pre-update iPod gave up after four hours and fifteen minutes of "Desperate Housewives" and Who Wants to be a Superhero". After the update, his iPod was able to play for four hours and 53 minutes (at maximum brightness to boot). That's 39 minutes more of viewing time. Not bad at all. That's already one episode more than the pre-update iPod. But wonders never ceased. The iPod kept running until late at night. It ran out of gas after nine hours and 10 minutes of video playback.

That goes to show that the iPod software update not only brought nifty features to older 5G iPods, but it also gave battery life a big big boost.

Apple programmers may arguably make some of the best software in the world. And lets face it, Macs are so much cooler than PCs, but the men behind Macs aren't the halo-bearing geniuses you think they are. Sure, they are geniuses and you can take Mac OS X as evidence for that, but they still have their own outbreaks of anger which we all experience, and it appears that some negligent programmers have implemented some non-standard code into the comments of their programs.

With web tools like Google's code search allowing you to search the source code for thousands of programs, you can now easily gain access to a lot of code samples from big companies and small developers alike. The sample above was taken from some kind of Apple Corp. program and obviously shows the programmer's anger in coding. Another programmer even made a dig at Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser in the middle of a function.

Some internet users are calling for this to stop, saying it's an outrage that programmers should be able to add lines like this in source code. The more light hearted users will probably find this very funny, as I for one laughed as I read the source code. However, after this blunder was exposed to the criticisms of the worldwide web, programmers might be a little more careful in the future. See the full code extract by clicking the link below.

When Leopard hits Macs the world over, iPhoto won't be the only application getting some help courtesy of Google. It seems Apple's Safari web browser will be accessing Google's info on potentially dangerous sites to beef up its protection against malicious web sites.

Of course, that's not the only new thing that Safari has going for itself. Features like Web Clip, which lets users create dashboard widgets from a site, and Web Inspector, which allows users to browse the DOM hierarchy from a pop-up window while highlighting the items selected on the page, will also be included. Apple has also taken a page from the CSS book of tricks. Adding a new feature from the next version of CSS, Safari 3.0 will allow the user to resize the text area on a form.

Another feature that's been added to the next version of Safari is the ability to drag and drop a tab around in the browser window. That may not seem like that big of a deal but this is a feature that Safari has lacked for quite some time now. The next version of Safari will also take this whole thing to another level by allowing you to consolidate all open windows into one and placing them each in their own tab, drag-and-drop tabs between windows, and allowing you to reorder the tabs in each window.

All that and loads more. It seems Apple is really making a great deal of effort into making the Mac's browser of choice into a stronger application than it is now, and we're in no way complaining.

Okay, here's something nifty you can do: open the Localizable.strings file inside the iPhoto app bundle. You'll should see several interesting keys.

Notice that the GPSMapURL is set to "http://maps.google.com/maps?maps?q=%f+%f", funky weird huh? The 6.0.5 iPhoto update contains new calendar, greeting card, and postcard themes for use with Apple print services. It should also include a variety of holiday card designs. Anyway, based on the pic above, Google is up to something with Apple.

Now upen the iPhoto's InfoPanel.nib file. And you'll see a hidden show button.

If you go through the iPhoto executable itself with a Hex Editor, you'll see around 70 references to GPS. Now, GPS fields in iPhoto isn't exactly news. What is news is the presence of Google Maps and that hidden Show button.

More on Javester, Exif tools, and that last interesting bit on iPhoto after the jump!

fcodc of Mac Recon made an interesting point in his blog about why he is going to stop using Apple's .Mac service. He cites the fact that the features that Apple gives you through the .Mac account are now being offered by other people, sometime at no cost. Plus there seems to be no new features for the .Mac in the coming weeks and months. In his post, he also gives some examples of these features that have alternatives.

• Mail - Gmail, gives you more that 2GB of FREE space (with POP3 access)
• iDisk - using software like gDisk you can store apps and the like in you gmail account
• Backup - there are free alternatives such a Silverkeeper
• Homepage - Apple is trying to sell people iWeb, which can upload your site anywhere, and  now, you can get a free web page from Google (not to mention that web space is cheap, much cheaper than that of .Mac's)
• Groups - Both Yahoo and Google have them

He also cites that Apple still has not delivered the .Mac exclusive widgets they promised with the release of Tiger. That's his argument for leaving, frankly, I've thought the same thing ever since I saw the price which is not worth it, in my book. Feel free to speak out loud through your comments.

Looks like Google CEO, Dr.Eric Schmidt, has joined the bushel-wagon over at Apple's Board of Directors in a meeting held this August 29. According to Schmidt, "Apple is one of the companies in the world that I most admire...I'm really looking forward to working with Steve and AppleÂ?s board to help with all of the amazing things Apple is doing.Â?

However, Schmidt clarified that his decision to join Apple's Board of Directors is not an exclusive thing, as he also currently holds a chair in Princeton University's board of trustees and in Google's board of directors. Steve Jobs is pleased and looking forward to Schmidt's future contributions to the company with the latter's experience as an internet technologist, entrepreneur, and strategist.

Apparently, Schmidt is hot stuff in the internet entrepreneurship arena as he was also the head
technology officer at Sun Microsystems, Inc. where he defined the company's internet software strategy. He was also elected to the National Academy of Engineering where his work was recognized for developing strategies for "the world's most successful internet search engine company."

What does this mean for us? Hmmm..We'll have to wait and see, and we'll definitely keep you posted on this.

These days when furniture are being crafted to accommodated your iPod and when "Googling" has become a legitimate everyday word, here's a little something for the iPod/Google loyalists out there.

Google has recently started selling vinyl wraps that you can use to jazz up your iPod a little bit. It currently features Google's four-colored logo and has been designed to fit quite snugly on fourth and fifth-gen iPods as well as iPod Nanos. It's a pretty good attention-catcher and can get your beloved iPod to stand out in the crowd.

The Google iPod wrap is currently being sold at the Google Store for $1.75 a pop. So, you can either get one for yourself, or buy a whole bunch and send it to all of your iPod-toting friends and relatives and let the world know just how you can't live without your iPod and Google.

The Gmail Notifier for Mac has been updated to incorporate alerts, not only from Gmail, but also from Google Calendar. Now called Google Notifier, the new application places two additional icons to your menubar. With it, you can set your preferences as to which email client you would use, notification of unread messages, and pop-up alert. These configurations are also available in the Gcal pane for calendar events.

The alerts themselves are are simple and clean; they show you the sender, subject and an excerpt from the email.

Please be advised that there have been reports about a bug regarding looping authentication requests, but surely, a patch is on its way soon enough. As always, we'll keep you posted on important Google Notifier updates.

Business Week reported that Apple's brand value went up by 14% last year raising its position in the magazine's Best Global Brand Survey from No. 39th to 41.  According to Business Week, the company continues to be "the style master with its expanded family of iPods and Macs. Its latest hit: the MacBook line of laptops."  Apple's brand equity is currently valued at $9.13 billion.

The annual BusinessWeek/Interbrand rankings measure an elusive but crucial quality known as brand value. This year's list includes Coca-Cola (No.1), Microsoft (No.2) and IBM (No.3). Other brands that made the cut are Motorola, Hyundai, Google, and McDonald's.