From the “Law Suit? Does that come in pinstripes?” desk…

Let’s get ready to rumble! Music player manufacturer Creative has issued a lawsuit against Apple Computer regarding the iPod user interface. It started long ago (well, last August, anyway) when Creative won a patent related to their menu-based user interface, which is similar in nature to the iPod’s interface. At the time there was some posturing but nothing really came out of it.

The other shoe dropped today when Creative filed a lawsuit against Apple in Northern California accusing Apple with patent infringement, as well as an injunction asking the court to stop all iPod sales within the United States. On top of that, Creative took their case to the United States International Trade Commission, saying that Apple violated a tariff law of some sort.

Deep Thought’s Take: What fun. I would guess that this is not going to result in the halting of iPod sales and would probably end with an out-of-court settlement with Apple forking over a nice chunk of change (in licensing fees or otherwise). That is, unless Creative decides to go for the jugular and refuses an out-of-court settlement which would either make creative look incredibly brilliant or really stupid, depending on the outcome. That is, unless Apple decides they’ve had enough of Creative’s antics and buys Creative. That is, unless someone files an antitrust complaint. That is, unless this case doesn’t get thrown out in the first place. Oy.

One side could make the case that,…
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So what’s this Water Cooler thing? It’s a catch-all for stories of lesser importance told with a healthy dose of humor, sarcasm, or sometimes a little bit of both. Basically it’s a product of my boredom and frustrations and will be coming your way periodically (hopefully a couple times a week) as the world of tech does what it does best: perplex us onlookers.

But I digress. So, where should I start today? How about with everyone’s favorite topic these days…

They’re coming to get you!

Another day, another article on the hypothetical Mac malware threat. This time, Lawrence M. Walsh beats a long-dead, long-thouroughly-bloodied horse some more with his article which is just like the other three billion articles on the topic, ”Mac’s Exposed Core.” Here’s the Cliff’s Notes version for those of you too lazy to click the link: More Mac users means your a larger target for malware, blah blah blah blah blah. Oh yeah, an increase of .5% market share is really going to make the Mac a virus target. I’m shaking in my shoes. Ooo, don’t let the big bad trojan get me. *hides behind Arden*

Ahem. Anyway, that doesn’t mean to disregard common security practices (otherwise you’ll get teased mercilessly by those more 1337 than you); I’ve already hashed that out ad naseum, so I’ll shut up about that for now.

Extreme!!

Intel claims a 40% speed boost over previous chips with their Core 2 Extreme Awesome Extremeness d00d Duo...Core...processor thing, according to TG Daily.…
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From the “Bugs squashed like a, um, bug” desk..

Apple’s been busy! Now in Software Update:

Front Row 1.2.2: So sayeth Apple, “This Front Row update provides a variety of fixes for better reliability.” In other words, bug fixes.

Security Update 2006-003: Fixes a number of security bugs. Requires a restart. Available for MAc OS X 10.4 for PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs as well as 10.3.

QuickTime 7.1: More bug and security fixes, as well as “support for iLife ’06, and H.264 performance improvements,” as Apple puts it. Awesome.

All three are available through Software Update, or if that’s not your thing, as standalone installers downloadable from Apple’s site.

So what’s tonight’s chatter from around the water cooler?

Mmm...17” MacBook Pro goodness
The 17” MacBook Pros are starting to find their ways into users’ hands, which means one thing: the traditional packaging photos! Alas, no new Apple product release would be complete without photographs of everyday people unpacking their brand spanking new computer equipment--the rest of the computer-using public must think we’re all nuts. Anyway, if you’re into such things, here are some photo galleries (via MacRumors):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecbusalacchi/sets/72057594129114051/

http://homepage.mac.com/davehagan/macbookpro/

This isn’t 17” MacBook Pro related, but it made my day:
”When they’re not out there kicking ass, ninjas use the downtime to update their blogs.”

Next Tuesday...we promise
This whole MacBook thing is becoming a debacle for the rumor sites. In fact, now the insider sources are all confused. So last week Think Secret claimed that the MacBook--the iBook replacement--would be making its grand debut, uh, yesterday (May 9). But noooo, AppleInsider couldn’t take Think Secret’s report for an answer and countered that the MacBook will not make its debut until a later date. Tuesday came and went with no announcement, and now Think Secret is telling us that the MacBook was delayed and will show up next Tuesday. Promise.

Is it me or does anyone else think that Apple likes to toy with us?

The G6?
Capping off an all-Apple break at The Water Cooler tonight, it appears that the successor to the G5 isn’t the Intel Core Duo or Core 2 Duo after all. (Core 2 Duo...now there’s…
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So there I was, doing my regular rounds of the tech sites out there when I stumbled on this gem (via MacDailyNews). “Developers Struggle to Defend Macs From ‘Zero Day’ Attacks”. Hmm. Apparently “Mac users are facing an onslaught of security threats” and “experts affiliated with the SANS Institute indicated that there has in recent weeks been a “surge” in attacks on the Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) OS X platform.” Okay, I have no hard numbers to refute such claims so I won’t bother retorting this claim, dubious as it may be. What really got me going was this lovely tidbit:

Part of the problem lies in the Web browser that many Mac users rely upon—Internet Explorer.

Internet Explorer for Mac. The browser that Microsoft took out back and shot in 2003 and whose life support was pulled in January. The browser that hasn’t shipped on a new Mac in over a year. Yeah, that Internet Explorer that hasn’t been updated since 2002, and is known for being well behind the curve. The browser that well less than 1% of visitors to Deep Thought use (granted our readers are more technically savvy, but I haven’t seen a copy of IE for Mac in the wild for quite some time).

Wow. That’s....wow.

Rumors of OS X’s horrendous security have spiked as of late. and true to form, some less scrupulous members of the media got a whiff of a sensationalist story and ran with it. And then companies like MacAffee and Symantec start…
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