Analyst John Dvorak recently expressed his huge skepticism regarding Apple's upcoming iPhone mobile handset, saying Apple cannot hope to compete in a crowded marketplace like the cell phone industry.

In his column on the site Market Watch, he said that the hype on the iPhone is essentially unfounded due to the fact that nobody outside the development team really knows how the machine works and what features it has.

He cited that there's really nothing new with the strategy employed by Apple in this scenario, pointing to heavy advertising and customer loyalty as the tools in use. He said that Apple did just that with the iPod and it enjoyed tremendous success. However, the playing field is very different with the iPhone as power players tread the industry. The mp3 player was little more than a vacuum when the iPod was launched.

He cited Apple's PC sector as the more logical point of comparison than that of the iPod's case. The PC industry where Apple pioneered with the Macintosh, Microsoft has dominated the Cupertino-based company leaving only five percent of the market to Steve Jobs and his boys. Dvorak said the same thing may happen in the mobile phone venture.

Dvorak also suggested that if Apple wants to stay in the game longer, they should come up with a dozen or so variants of the iPhone because after three months, the analyst says, interest will be on the downward spiral.

To read the full commentary issued by Dvorak, follow the Read link.

Barron's Online has released their third list for "The World's Best CEOs", and look who made his debut in the list for 2007. It's none other than Nintendo's Satoru Iwata.

Iwata got in the exclusive top 30 list, thanks to the innovative Wii. He is but one of the ten overseas CEOs in the list, sharing the spotlight with three new other foreign newbies. It is actually not surprising to find Iwata recognized for his stint as Nintendo's CEO. The company did see, after all, a vast increase in its stocks, and the success of its next-gen console undoubtedly contributed a lot to that spike in revenues.

Steven Jobs also is in the list, apparently as a "Returnee". Barron's describes Jobs as "the ultimate CEO who matters", and deemed that his company, Apple, runs ahead Microsoft by miles in terms of innovations.

Orb Networks is priming itself to be a main contender against Apple's Apple TV. The company has just announced that their free MyCasting software now works with the Microsoft Xbox 360, the Nintendo Wii, and the Sony PS3, giving gamers the ability to bring all digital media to their TV screen without any additional costs or hardware requirements.

The free MyCasting software allows users to enjoy all digital media from their home PC, as well as online videos, on any networked device with an internet browser - be it other PCs, laptops, PDAs, mobile phones with support for streaming players, and now, next gen videogame consoles.

"There is a lot of anticipation on who will finally crack the code on opening the PC-to-TV connection - especially on what Apple TV can deliver," said Joe Costello, Chairman and CEO of Orb Networks. "That day is here and 17 million households - right this minute - can download Orb onto their home PC, then go turn on their TV, and using their game console, start enjoying any of the personal media on their PC or anything on the Web instantly - without having to purchase another gadget to make it work."

Organizer giant Palm has felt the pressure of Apple's impending release of its new iPhone and hired the maestro of interface design Paul Mercer to spearhead its counter-thrust.

Industry insiders believe that the battle in the cellphone business has shifted from hardware to software, and Palm believes that hiring Mercer will breathe new life on its upcoming products to replace its aging palm OS used in most of its products.

The move was determined when Apple decided to come up with its own organizer/ cellphone hybrid called iPhone, which clearly poses a danger to Palm's own line of hybrids. The cause for concern may have been Apple's reputation for creating innovative products.

And though the iPhone is still months away from shipping, Palm has wasted no time in acquiring the services of the 39-year old Mercer who is an industry veteran and has worked with Apple, along with other independent firms that he himself founded. Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley forecaster said, "heÂ?s the best of the best in this space."

Palm has been the pioneer in the handheld industry, but has been on its toes in recent years as challenges came left and right in the form of industry hard-hitters Sony Ericsson, Nokia and Microsoft.

In case you're not aware, there's an iTunes rankings for game podcasts. Now, Europe-based FM-broadcast gaming radio show One Life Left has been reported to top the iTunes rankings, even besting established podcasts such as that of gaming site 1UP and Microsoft's Major Nelson.

One Life Left is broadcasted on Resonance FM which, by the way, is funded by London's Arts Council. The program is presented by "gaming miscreants" Ste Curran and Robert Howells with newsreader Ann Scantlebury. Over a dozen British industry veterans contribute to One Life Left regularly.

In its 33 weeks of existence, this is actually the first time that One Life Left has topped the iTunes charts. The latest issue will be titled "The Danger of Words" and will feature bits about the Kotaku-Sony hoopla over PlayStation Home (recently revealed at the Game Developers Conference 2007), GTA IV, Crackdown, GRAW 2, and even travel and telephones.

Apple expressed its confidence that its Mac OS X Leopard will stack up very well against Microsoft's fledgling Windows Vista system, saying that the latter is not a threat at all.

"We believe we have the superior operating system on the market today, and this release will only extend that. With the features and functionally and stability and security of Mac OS X, I don't really see Vista as a threat," says Peter Oppenheimer, chief financial officer of Apple.

He pointed out that the high hardware demands of the Vista will either scare off or require users to buy a new computer, which opens an opportunity for their wares to be considered.

He also said that historically, Apple's revenues always see a spike whenever a new OS comes out, even though their product has kept relatively silent this year, with Apple choosing to show it off sparingly in shows and choosing to highlight its other products instead.

A definite release date is also yet to be announced, with Oppenheimer reiterating Apple's "this Spring" answer to the question. Details as to the new features were available and they are as follows:

1. Time Machine- a backup utility which can also be used for data versioning
2. Spaces- a virtual desktop
3. An updated version of the Spotlight search application
4. Boot Camp= a system that allows Windows to run on Macs.

Since the software update of Quicktime and the accompanying Apple media suite, iTunes received AppleTV support for Internet streamed television. It came with fixes to security issues, too, plus new upgrades to features that makes navigating through music, shows and movies a piece of cake.

But what struck many iTunes users odd was that particular AppleTV ratings preference that included Australia and New Zealand. So does that mean that Kiwi and Ozzy TV shows could be legally downloaded off the Net? Given Steve Jobs' reputation and antics, it's difficult to predict what Apple has planned for iTunes this time.

But a big question looms over which channel they're going to get the shows from. Word around the Net is that ABC's Channel 9 is a big bet. We think it's highly unlikely, as some forums claimed that a particular TV service from nineMSN (Channel 9), Catch-up TV, is closing down and will be replaced by something else. While this should be supportive of the rumor, let's get real for a moment: Microsoft is willing to have their service replaced by one from Apple? Riiiighhht.

Apple is known for revolutionizing our lives. The iPod alone has deeply rooted itself into cultures internationally. The more recent iPhone has also generated a lot of attention as well. Now, here comes Apple's latest product: a product-unveiling product, the iLaunch.

Now how is this revolutionary? As The Onion (*hint-hint*) reports, Steve Jobs introduced the iLaunch at a media event in San Francisco, and as the device was revealed to the audience, Jobs said:

Get ready for the future of product introduction. The iLaunch will be able to make announcements from this, or any other stage, making human participation in generating consumer awareness almost entirely unnecessary... CEOs have devoted their valuable time to strutting around on stage and breathlessly describing the features of their new products... Apple's goal within the next 12 months is to make me totally obsolete.

Powerful statements, yeah? The device, powered by Intel dual-core processors, runs Keynote-formatted presentations in high-definition through a projector, and, at the same time, displaying a rotating 3D image of the product. The iLaunch can also recite speeches via voice-recognition software built into the device. An AI is even incorporated into the system so much so that, when a glitch occurs during the presentation, it will generate humorous remarks to egg on the audience.

What's surprising: the whole presentation of Steve Jobs was produced by the iLaunch.

What isn't surprising: Microsoft just announced a similar product, the Launch-O, scheduled for 2009.

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Update: Apparently this bit of "news" has caused quite a stir at Digg (from 10 to 1000 Diggs in just a few hours). Do know that this story came from The Onion, and from that alone, most of you internet-savvy folks would know how... how shall we say it... satirical they are. So, just to make things clear, consider this as a pre-April Fool's piece. It's been fun while it lasted. To the guys up at The Onion, a warm round of applause for spread yet another great meme.

Quite the big "ouch" to the Redmond giant: the Department of Transportation (DoT) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has banned Windows Vista, Office 2007, and Internet Explorer 7 from its offices. They are considering switching its operation to Macs and PCs running Novell's SuSe Linux.

The rather harsh policy was sanctioned back in January, but through the enactment of a moratorium, the blocking of Vista upgrades is still in effect. 15,000 users at the DoT and 45,000 employees at the FAA have been barred from upgrading to any new software from Microsoft.

The memorandum, dated January 19, was distributed to address concerns about licensing issues, upgrade costs, and backward compatibility with their existing key software and systems. They aren't scrapping Vista altogether if issues could be resolved, although they are considering alternatives to just going Vista all the way.

Aside from educational institutions and research associations, it seems that even the U.S. government is affected by the cost and compatibility problems regarding Bill Gates' new "Wow" product that shuns many XP compatible programs on its questionable platform.

Back in 1994, Marc Andreessen, founder of Netscape, and chairman and co-founder of Opsware, was a Mac user. And although it was quite a surprise that he jumped fence towards Microsoft, he's setting things right once again by going back to Mac.

It's a phenomenon observed many times before, but this time, it's all about the head of a company that was once against the Redmond giant.

Andreessen is best known for being part of the Internet revolution back in the early 90s, pushing out his masterpiece: the Mosaic browser. Netscape Communications soon became his greatest achievement when he co-founded it and lead it up the industry ladder. When AOL got their hands on Netscape, he remained as Chief Technical Officer.

Today he stands at the top of data center automation provider, Opsware, and was pretty disappointed when his Lenovo ThinkPad T60 just couldn't keep up. He swapped the machine for an Intel 15-inch MacBook Pro and was pretty chirpy about it. As he said, "I used to be a Mac user till 1994 and now I am a Mac user again.Â?

Because his Mosaic browser was turned against Netscape's Navigator in the form of Internet Explorer, it's a surprise that he even considered grabbing a Windows laptop in the first place.