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The WWDC Apple Design competition officially began today. According to Apple’s site, “The Apple Design Awards, held at Moscone West during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, recognizes technical excellence, innovation, and outstanding achievement in software development.”

Here is a list of categories that you can submit software for:
-iPhone Developer Showcase
-Best iPhone Web Application
-Best Mac OS X Leopard Application
-Best New Mac OS X Leopard Game
-Best Mac OS X Leopard User Experience
-Best Mac OS X Leopard Graphics and Media Application
-Best Mac OS X Leopard Student Product

Entries for the competition will run from April 15th - 5 PM(PDT) May 12th. Here is a list of prizes, that each Mac OS X Leopard category winner and iPhone category winner will receive:

-Two 15-Inch MacBook Pro laptops
-Two 30-Inch Apple Cinema Displays
-16GB iPod touch
-8GB iPhone
-ADC Premier Membership
-ADC Macworld Expo Exclusive Marketing Package

For more details on the contest, as well as contest submission, visit Apple’s official site.

This is the question that Forbes brought up in a recent article. Its’ resounding answer was, software. According to the Forbe’s article almost all of Apple’s success can be racked up to its’ intuitive, and user friendly software.

In the article, by Brian Caulfield he explains the simplicity of Apple’s software success, “Apple’s best products mix the curb appeal of a Lamborghini with easy-to-drive friendliness of a Honda Accord.”

Another indicator from the article about how Apple’s success stemmed from software, was a look at their hardware. Caulfield explains that the hardware that’s present in Macs isn’t all that different from PCs. He then goes on to talk about how Mac’s OS X is very user friendly, and actually pretty to look at.

I definitely agree that Apple’s software has had a lot to with the recent success. Heck, the two programs I use most on my PC are Apple programs (iTunes and the new version of Safari). But I believe that Apple’s most recent success originated from their success of the iPod. It was this little device that really brought Apple’s offerings to the limelight. Before the iPod, Apple products were deemed the quirky devices used by your eccentric neighbor. While I’ll more than likely be bashed for this view, it’s how I perceived it to happen. So what do you think is the reasons behind Apple’s recent success, feel free to leave your comments below.

One of the big gripes that most people have with Mac machines is their price tag. Anyone that can afford one usually loves the interface, and the security that Mac’s generally provide. An upstart company, Psystar , is releasing its’ own version of the Mac experience. Their machine is called the, “”OpenMac”, and has a much more affordable price tag than most Macs, at $399.99.

The system comes with Leopard pre-installed onto the system. The machine runs using PC-parts that are compatible with the Mac’s OS. It’s able to run the OS, using an EFI emulator (scroll to the bottom of the Wiki page). It should be noted that the use of Mac’s OS on a non-Apple system is prohibited.

It will be interesting to see how Apple deals with this. They could easily take the lawsuit road, and try to keep Psystar from releasing their Leopard powered machines. Or they could try and turn this into a business opportunity, and try to make Psystar pay some kind of royalty fee. They will more than likely, go with the first option, but it will still be interesting to see how this turns out.

The Big Apple, which to most is known to most as New York City, has a pending lawsuit from the other big “Apple”. The lawsuit was filed back in September but has just now come to light. The lawsuit against NYC, is for their use of an apple, for the GreenNYC campaign. The campaign that NYC is launching to improve environmental awareness in the city.

So what’s Apple’s problem with GreenNYC using an apple for a logo? Well Apple believes that GreenNYC’s logo is too similar to the logo that Apple uses to trademark its’ products. They believe that once GreenNYC starts releasing logo blazoned merchandise, it will confuse consumers with the well known Apple logo.

(Photo Credit: Crainsnewyork.com)

From looking at both of the logos, I really don’t seen Apple’s case here. While the logos both resemble apples, NYCGreen’s apple is green and is mostly just the outline of an apple. Apple’s logo is fully colored in, and has a glossy futuristic style to it. If anything Apple should be helping to endorse this NYC event, as it’s about environmental awareness. If there’s anything that’s catching on in popularity, it’s environmental news. From a business standpoint, I think Apple should embrace GreenNYC, not distance itself from it.

What’s your opinion on the logo dispute? Feel free to leave a comment below.

Most Mac users enjoy the warmth of security that PC users only dream of having. I generally run anti-virus and anti-spyware at least once a week for my PC, and not once have I scanned anything for my Mac. There has been a glitch however in the MacBook Air’s security, which surprisingly didn’t last more than a couple of minutes against some “leet haxzorz” (couldn’t resist).

The threat itself is very minimal, as it took a group of security researchers to find the vulnerability. The weakness was found during a contest called, “Pwn to Own”, where security experts tested various machine’s security setups and try to exploit them. The glitch was actually found in the Safari program, and due to a non-disclosure agreement, has not been made available to the public.

Robert McMillan of the IDG News Service, reports on what happened during the competition, “Nobody was able to hack into the systems on the first day of the contest when contestants were only allowed to attack the computers over the network, but on Thursday the rules were relaxed so that attackers could direct contest organizers using the computers to do things like visit Web sites or open e-mail messages”

The group of researchers, had tricked the judges into visiting a website that had malicious code written into it. Once the judges visited the website, the team was able to hack into the Macbook Air and take control of it in about two minutes. The team won $10,000 for their finding, and Tipping Point, the sponsors of the contest have notified Apple of the successful hack.

I think it’s safe to say that although the hackers were successful, there’s very little risk on the public front. Macs are still by and large the most safe of any of the computer hardware that’s out there right now. Let’s wait and see what the exploit is, and what Apple is going to do to remedy it before final judgements are made.

What do you all think of this finding, should it cause some concern, or is it going to be blown out of proportion?

“Tsk…tsk…tsk”, should have been the header of John Lilly’s blog last friday when he criticized Apple for its’ latest iTunes update. Software updates can be a real hassle in this fast paced, “I want to get things done at this very second” world we live in. I’d venture to say that most of you don’t even read what’s in your software updates (me included).

For those of you who didn’t know, Mozilla is the company that is behind the popular, and beloved by all Firefox browser. The CEO of Mozilla, John Lilly has updated his blog about certain practices that Apple has implemented in their newest iTunes update for Windows XP users.

So what could be inside an iTunes software update that could have Lilly all flustered? Well it’s really nothing to do with iTunes, but it’s the fact that Apple decided to bundle its’ Safari web browser in with the update. So should Apple be putting software installs inside updates for other software that you might have on your computer?

According to Lilly the answer is, no. Here is an excerpt from Lilly’s blog, “What Apple is doing now with their Apple Software Update on Windows is wrong. It undermines the trust relationship great companies have with their customers, and that’s bad — not just for Apple, but for the security of the whole Web. What they did yesterday was to use their updater for iTunes to also install their Safari Web browser –what follows is some background and analysis.”

So is this Safari bundled iTunes update a much ado about nothing or is Lilly right in saying it violates the trust between company and consumer? I believe it’s alittle bit of both. What I think we should learn from this, is how much more we need to be aware of what we’re putting on our computers. We need to stop just hitting the “enter” button so we can get to the applications we want to use faster. Was it kind of shifty of Apple to bundle Safari with the iTunes update? Yes, it was definitely pretty shift. I really don’t want unneeded software to be put on my computer when all I want is my iTunes to work better. But I don’t blame Apple for the decision, it will more than likely lead to more Safari usage on Windows.

What do you all think of the Safari bundled iTunes update? Feel free to leave your comments below