Apple Reporter

Who has the industry clout to bring Steve Jobs and Bill Gates together for an appearance on stage in what is an industry first? The Wall Street Journal, apparently. Their columnist, Walt Mossberg, has achieved the impossible: bringing Jobs and Gates together on stage at the Wall Street Journal’s D5: All Things Digital conference. What I would give to be in attendance there!

This is an historic moment in the technoverse. Two industry titans, normally at odds, playing nice for a day? Unheard of.

The tech titans from Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. didn’t even appear together when they announced a partnership that helped Jobs save Apple at Macworld in Boston 10 years ago. (Gates teleconferenced in remotely, appearing on a screen looming over Jobs.) It could be the first time they’ve been together in such a setting since Jobs famously interviewed Gates as a possible suitor for Apple’s new computer in an onstage version of the “Macintosh Dating Game” back in 1984.

So when is the big day? Wednesday at D5 is when computer junkies everywhere will get this rare treat. And what will be the big topic for the day? That is a hotly contested secret. Chic geeks everywhere are hoping for a true dialog on operating systems, the future of computing, the possibilty of bridging the Microsoft / Apple gap, future plans for each company, and so much more. Whether or not they delve that deeply into their 20+ year rivalry and look that closely at their respective futures remains to be seen.

I’ll update this post with links to transcripts and video of the historic meeting when they start appearing online after Wednesday’s momentous occasion.

Source Slashdot | Gates and Jobs to Share A Stage

DON’T FORGET TO ENTER THE MOD YOUR MAC CONTEST! CLICK HERE!

Weekend Nugget:

Some linky goodness for your weekend can be found here, in PC World’s 100 Best Products: Mac Related Choices. You can also read the MacWorld summary here.

Enjoy!

If you don’t know what Slingbox is, you’ve been missing out. Think television that works with your computer, DVR, internet connection and more and travels with you wherever you go that has a computer connection. It’s a pretty slick set up, especially for the determined office slacker with high speed internet.

Get your Slingbox connection here.

This means that, after buying and installing the Slingbox, Mac users can ’sling’ their home cable and satellite signals to themselves at the airport, or in a café hotspot, or over their office computers.

Another snack treat found online this past weekend. This one tells you how to use Safari to download any file, from any web site, right from the browser. It’s a pretty cool feature for the Mac users out there. The source article states it is a tool for Safari, but I tested it, and you can you this tip with any web browser on your Mac, including FireFox. this is because the tool is actually a program already on your Mac called the “Activity Monitor”.

Just open your Activity Monitor. This will show you all of the files being used by both your computer and the web sties you are on. (Activity Monitor is also a great way to see which programs are sucking your RAM dry, by the way) Once Activity Monitor is open, double click on the web browser you are using, then on the “files and folders” tab. All you have to do is scroll down the list for the file you want and double click it. Seriously. It’s that easy. Thanks to the original article, found here, for calling this to our attention.

Amazon announced today that it was finally opening its long-rumored DRM free music store. You an look for it to open later this year. With a full catalog of DRM free music and 12000 choices so far, is this a threat to iTunes? Not really. Apple continues to be at the forefront of the DRM free fight with the remaining three record labels (EMI being the only major label who has already signed on with both Amazon and Apple). Steve Jobs continues to use his heavy hitting industry clout to bend the last hold outs to his will, er, make them sign a DRM free agreement for his customers. (more…)

According to a report by Forrester (read the full report here with extensive source data, interviews and stats for $775 USD), iTunes video downloads sales will take a huge hit from the up and coming ad based “free” video downloads. I beg to differ. Just as I pay my monthly DVR subscription to avoid any and all television ads, I will continue to pay iTunes their reasonable fee for ad free video content. I think the masses will agree with me when I say that I am tired of being sold to, and it is worth it to me to have a service (or services) that let me escape the constant marketing machine. (more…)

At the shareholder meeting this week, Steve Jobs took the time to address shareholders’ questions on recent Apple news like the Greenpeace ranking, iPhone release, Mac OS X Leopard and more. Read more about it here from someone who was there. (more…)

BoyGenius reports that AT&T has released the following internal memo, limiting vacation time for its employees during part of June and July in anticipation of a heavy sales period fueled by the release of the iPhone. Hat tip to BoyGenius for the heads up!

To: All Company Owned Retail Employees

From: [Name removed]

Subject: iPhone Launch Period

Date: May 4, 2007

As previously announced, Apple and AT&T will soon debut the iPhone,
which combines a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and
breakthrough internet communications into one small and lightweight
handheld device. The new AT&T has a multiyear, exclusive agreement to
provide U.S. service for the iPhone.

To ensure proper staffing during the product launch period, Sales personnel
planning to take approved time off are encouraged to schedule their
vacations before June 15 or after July 15 to participate in the iPhone
launch.

Previously approved vacation will be allowed where voluntary rescheduling
is not feasible

No additional vacation requests will be approved during the launch period
(6/15 – 7/15).

I want to thank you in advance for your understanding as this is likely to
be the biggest selling period we have seen in a few years.

Happy Selling,

[Name removed]

Open Office is one of the fantastic programs that has come out of the whole Open Source software movement. I love it - it’s a fantastic program set to use in place of Microsuck Office, and it’s developed for free. Up until now the version of Open Office for Mac has lagged behind the windows version in features and updates. According to today’s news, that will happen no more. Sun, creators of the Open Office suite, have decided to put more effort and energy into developing Open Office for Macs.

The Open Office for Mac OS X will have a full Aqua interface to better match with the look and feel of OS X that we’ve all come to love. The last incarnation of Open Office for Mac ran on Apple’s X11 - a version of the windows server interface that had to be installed from the Mac OS disks as an extra. After that they tried Java as an interface, but neither the X11 or JAva version of Open Office worked smoothly on Macs. The development of a native Open Office application for Mac is huge news, and will be well received by the Apple community who have been waiting for a viable alternative to Microsuck Office.

Apple has become known for its shopping experience in its Apple Stores. They offer a sleek look, plenty of knowledgeable staff, enhanced product demonstrations, classes on using your new Mac products, Genius Bars and an all around complete shopping experience. The next Apple innovation is personal shopping for its customers.

How it works: You can book a reservation up to two weeks in advance at your nearest Apple Store for the new free service. This will get you one on one shopping time, face to face with a knowledgeable Apple employee of your very own. The employee will come armed with information based on your initial appointment set up question answers. They will walk you through test drives on any product, geared to your needs. It’s a chance for Apple to really shine by increasing their already high level of service at the buying level.

You can find out more about the personal shopping experience available at your nearest Apple Store here.

This is not really an Apple exclusive, but I thought it was just too cool not to share with my readers. Skype, creators of internet phone calls combined with instant messages and conference calls, have teamed up with Intel to give your mom a present this year. On Mother’s Day, all call via Skype to any regular land line or computer will be free.

That’s right, I said free. Of course, there are a few catches - the outgoing call has to be US or Canada based, and the promotion is geared toward international moms. Even so, it’s a great way to make sure mom gets a call on her special day.

to read more about the promotion, go here.