Italian Government Slaps Apple with $1.2 Million Fine

Apple has been hit with quite a hefty fine from a somewhat surprising place today, Italy. That's right, on December 27, 2011 the country of Italy fined the tech giant 900,000 euros, or roughly $1.2 million, for allegedly encouraging its customers to sign up for AppleCare, the official tech support of the company, without informing them that they would receive two years of free support after purchasing the service.

Reuters reported that Italy requires every company that does business in the country to offer two full years of absolutely free technical support to any and all Italian customers. AppleCare is an important after-purchase revenue generator for the company. Apple offers this protection service on every single one of its products, from iPads and iPhones to MacBooks and Apple All-in-Ones, though prices vary depending on which device you get the service for. Naturally getting tech support on your iPhone should cost a little less than getting it on your MacBook Air.

Towards the beginning of this year, Apple updated its iPhone plan. The all new AppleCare+ gives customers extended warranties and technical support for as long as two years. In addition to this, the new AppleCare+ also includes repairs on two incidents of accidental damage as opposed to the previous single repair offered. The service itself will cost iPhone users $99.

In addition to AppleCare+ for the iPhone, another AppleCare package for the iMac will run customers $169 with the MacBook Pro option costing $349. The cheapest service is for the iPod Touch, costing only $59.

Apple has yet to release any official statement on the fine by the Italian Government and there is no way of knowing if it will ask employees in Italian Apple stores to make it clear to customers that their products are covered for two years. However, this fine will barely scrape the top of Apple's revenue pile as the company has tens of billions of dollars just lining the walls of their headquarter's bathrooms for decoration.

Source: CNET - Italy fines Apple $1.2 million over AppleCare practices

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Mozilla Launches Firefox 9.0.1 Right After Firefox 9 Due to Bugs

Just one day after it released Firefox 9, Mozilla quickly released an update after backing out of a bug fix that was causing users on Mac, Linux and Windows computers to experience browser crashes. Mozilla released Firefox 9.0.1 on Wednesday which made many people think that it was fake due to the fact that it released right behind version 9.

According to a post on the Mozilla support forum, "Seeing links for [Firefox 9.0.1], why is it being released? Or is it a hoax?" Other discussions on the support forum's threads included messages from users asking whether or not Mozilla actually updated the Firefox browser and if so, why?

Mozilla did not specify in the release notes of v9.0.1 why it needed to re-release the browser though developers did note that the update was prompted by crash reports, specifically for Mac users, though Windows and Linux users also experienced crashes. According to a statement from Alex Keybl, one of the engineering Project Managers on Mozilla's Release Team, "We built Firefox 9.0.1 with bug 708572 backed out. We've pushed Firefox 9.0.1 for all platforms. Although, we think Windows is mostly unaffected, we still decided to move forward with Windows-v9.0.1."

In order to rectify the problem, one that caused crashes whenever users ran certain add-on toolbars (like the one distributed by the Dallas Cowboys), the developers at Mozilla removed a patch that had been applied previously. The rush update that occurred on Wednesday was the second by Mozilla in the last 30 days. Mozilla shipped Firefox 8.0.1 back on November 21 to deal with a large number of crashes with Mac OS X. The crashes were eventually traced back to an Apple update of Java that occurred earlier in the month.

Anybody who upgraded to Firefox 9 in between the time of its release and the release of 9.0.1 can update to the new version by choosing "About Firefox" from the Firefox menu on the Mac or "About Firefox" from the Help menu under the Firefox button on Windows and then approving the new version's installation after it has completed downloading.

Source: Computer World - Mozilla re-releases Firefox 9, backs out fix causing crash

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New Features for Google Chrome v16

Google Chrome was just updated and the newest version brings an option to print any webpage using Cloud Print and multiple profile support for users who are on one computer to maintain separate settings. These new additions will become available with version 16 for Windows, Mac and Linux users when it is released.

Launching back in January, Google Cloud Print allows you to print to your home or office printer from almost any web-enabled device, though it was restricted to webpages with special Cloud Print buttons and specific Google apps like Docs or desktop apps like Cloud Print for Mac. With the new update any user can use Google Chrome to print to a Cloud Print-ready printer or computer acting as a Cloud Print server.

Using Cloud Print is also very easy. All you have to do is select Print from Chrome's menu options under the wrench icon. This will take you to a print preview page where you can select "Print with Google Cloud Print" from the "Destination" dropdown menu on the left. Then select "Print" at the top of the print dialogue when you're good to go.

Another addition to the update is multiple profiles. Multiple profiles started appearing in Chrome's beta channel back in November as a way for multiple users to keep their bookmarks, Web apps and other settings separate. This can be particularly useful if you have more than one user trying to use the household computer but you can't be bothered to switch user profiles using the operating system of your computer.

In order to get started with Chrome's multiple profiles, click on Chrome's wrench icon and select "Preferences" to open the browser's settings page in a new tab. After that, click "Personal Stuff" on the left side of the screen. If that is too much work, you can always just type in "chrome://settings/personal" in an empty browser tab.

Once you do this, select "Users" and then "Add New User." A new browser tab will appear with a blank profile on it that has some generic name and one of Chrome's avatars. The active user's avatar will appear in the upper right corner of the Chrome browser for Mac users and the upper left corner for Windows users. In addition to that, you can edit each profile's username and avatar at "chrome://settings/personal".

Each user also has the ability to sign in separately to their Google account to sync Chrome settings stored online. This is useful if you want access to your Chrome settings on a PC that isn't yours. Just make sure you erase your profile on any computer that isn't yours because Chrome profiles are not secure and they don't have any password protection options so anyone using the same PC as you will have access to your browser settings.

Source: PC World - Google Chrome Adds Cloud Print Option, Multiple Profile Support

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Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Updated

Microsoft has just updated its Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and posted a service pack with a plethora of new features and bug fixes according to a statement released by the company on Monday. The new features to Microsoft Exchange Service Pack 2 were designed based on feedback from customers, Microsoft said, and they reflect the expanding use of enterprise email, scheduling and associated functions across a wide range of devices and deployment scenarios.

One of the new features, known as Outlook Web Application (OWA) Mini, offers the user the ability to browse mailboxes and global address lists from low bandwidth and low resolution devices. This type of mini-internet browser can, in addition, be used as an alternative to synchronizing all Exchange data with the actual phone or mobile device, which can sometimes be prohibitive.

Another new feature allows administrators to segment enterprise global address lists (GAL) into smaller segments. By doing this, it allows administrators to create virtual groups. Previous versions of Microsoft Exchange also had this ability but this is the first time Exchange 2010 offers it in a way that doesn't require manual intervention from administrators.

In addition to these new features, the update includes the Hybrid Configuration Wizard designed for organizations wishing to deploy some mail accounts on Microsoft Office 365 and keep others on their internal systems. The wizard simplifies the process of archiving data and sharing things like calendar entries and secure mail across both the hosted and internal mail accounts.

The update also permits cross-site silent redirection for OWA, which could provide the basis for single sign-on across the entire enterprise platform. With a feature like this, an Outlook Web Application client request could be automatically transferred from one Active Directory implementation to another. In addition to that, the service pack includes multiple bug fixes and collects other features introduced in Service Pack 1 which was released back in August 2010.

Source: Computer World - Microsoft updates Exchange 2010

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Computer History Museum Opens New Online Exhibit Dedicated to Steve Jobs

In what is perhaps the biggest show of remembrance for him since his death, the Computer History Museum has just launched an online exhibit completely dedicated to former Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs. Jobs, as many of you know, passed away back in October, a great loss for Apple and the world.

The exhibit, known as "Steve Jobs: From Garage to World's Most Valuable Company", features a plethora of photos and descriptions of objects from the museum's permanent collection. In addition to that, visitors will find vintage footage of Jobs from his younger years and Apple's humble beginnings.

One thing of particular interest in the exhibit is a 22 minute video of Jobs from 1980. In the video Jobs talks about the early days of Apple and, at one point, after citing some examples of how Apple computers were being used in agriculture and schools, Jobs confesses that he and co-founder Steve Wozniak "had absolutely no idea what people were going to do with these things when we started out. As a matter of fact, the two people it was designed for was Woz and myself because we couldn't afford to buy a computer kit on the market."

In a statement from the Computer History Museum's Senior Curator Dag Spicer, "In Jobs' own words, we hear how luck as well as skill played big roles in Apple's founding. We also see how focused, articulate and convincing Jobs could be, even at this early stage."

The story also runs through Jobs' entire life via pictures and allows visitors to see historic documents like one of the newsletters of Jobs and Wozniak's famed Homebrew Computer Club. Visitors are also able to look through confidential memorandum outlining Apple's public offering plans, as well as its original business plan for the Macintosh.

There are quite of few gems in this little collection for you to look around at, especially if reading Steve Jobs' biography didn't fully satisfy you. I highly recommend checking it out if you are a fan of Apple, Jobs himself or simply the story of what two ambitious minds can accomplish.

Source: PC World - Computer History Museum Launches Online Steve Jobs Exhibit

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The Inevitable Sadness of AMD

It would seem that the arms race between AMD and Intel has ended, and the victor is Intel. The most recent news to come out of AMD’s headquarters is that they are going to stop researching and producing high-end CPU’s. AMD will instead change the focus of their company.

The first rumors out were speculating that AMD was out of the desktop processor game completely and moving towards mobile devices, but the day after these rumors appeared AMD made a statement saying that they will not be stopping their entire line of processors, but not moving forward with new high-end equipment. These statements are coming off the fresh “failure” of the bulldozer chipsets which had so much potential. AMD has also announced that they laid off nearly twelve percent of their workforce. In AMD’s statement they stated that they will be focusing on their x86 processor models and mobile technology moving forward.

Consumers are now left with major questions: Who will step in the ring and try to contend with Intel? How long until the first anti-trust lawsuit against Intel appears? Who will drive Intel to continue on its track record of excellence and force them to be competitive in their pricing? It does not seem like a feasible option for any processor company at this time to do so.

Sources:Softpedia.com - AMD Not Competing with Intel Anymore, Goes Mobile Softpedia.com - AMD Still Committed to x86, Whatever That Means Mercurynews.com - AMD struggling to reinvent itself

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Western Digital's Deal to Acquire Hitachi's HDD Business Approved

Western Digital has just secured conditional approval from the European Union's competition regulator to purchase Hitachi's hard disk drive business for a grand total of $4.3 billion. This was only made possible, however, after Western Digital agreed to sell several of its production operations.

Western Digital, which just so happens to be the world's second largest competitor in the hard disk drive (HDD) sector, and Hitachi, which just so happens to be the third largest, unveiled the deal back in March. The deal itself is aimed at giving the United States company a competitive edge in developing next-generation information storage technology.

This decision by the European Commission confirmed a story published last week by Reuters. According to European Union Commissioner Joaquin Almunia in a recent statement, "The proposed divestiture will ensure that competition in the industry is fully restored before the merger is implemented."

Western Digital did promise to sell essential production assets for the manufacturer of 3.5" disc drives, including a production plant, according to the Commission, which cited reduced competition in the sector after Seagate Technology bought Samsung Electronics' hard disk drive business recently. In addition to that the company agreed to transfer or license intellectual property rights to the business to be sold off. What's more is that Western Digital will also transfer staff and the supply of HDD components to the unit.

Western Digital is unable to complete the deal until it finds an appropriate buyer for the unit, which will then need to be approved by the regulator, according to the commission. If Western Digital is unable to find a suitable buyer, it stands to reason that this deal, although approved, will never actually come to fruition, which could be disappointing for both companies.

Source: Reuters - Western Digital cleared to buy Hitachi disk drive business

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