Apple’s 1984 ‘Blue Busters’ Marketing Video in Full

15 minutes ago · Bryan Chaffin · Cool Stuff Found

When it comes to Apple lore, 1984 is best known for Apple's 1984 Super Bowl commercial, but the company also produced the gem below for its annual sales meeting held in Hawaii. Called Blue Busters, the video is a takeoff of the hit movie Ghostbusters with an Apple-oriented remake of the song by Ray Parker, the artist who recorded the titular Ghostbusters song. Apple's Blue Busters harkens to a time when IBM was the Big Bad and the Cupertino was trying to get Apple II, Lisa, and now Mac computers into businesses. Note the Macs on the Blue Busters' backs. Good times... [Via Wired]

AT&T Hits Customers with a New Administrative Fee

7 hours, 29 minutes ago · Jeff Gamet · News

AT&T Wireless added a new US$0.61 a month administrative fee in May its customers will pay as part of their regular bill. The fee may be new to AT&T, but it's already standard practice at Verizon and Sprint.

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Like it or not, cell service providers can add "administrative fees" and consumers will have to pay. At least AT&T didn't try Verizon's short-lived $2 fee for paying your bill by phone.

Google, Facebook May be Facing Waze Bidding War

8 hours, 25 minutes ago · Jeff Gamet · News

Facebook isn't the only company interested in buying up the community-fed mapping and navigation company Waze. Apparently Google is negotiating with the Waze, too, and that could drive the company's price up over US$1 billion.

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Assuming the Waze team really is interested in a buyout, a bidding war would be a great thing. While there is a lot of value in the company, the bigger value in the end for Facebook and Google may be keeping Waze out of competitor's hands.

Terminal: Using “lsof” When Files Won’t Delete

11 hours, 25 minutes ago · Melissa Holt · TMO Quick Tip

Got a file that's preventing you from emptying your Trash? Got a disk image that won't eject? Then we've got a Terminal trick you'll like. This command will show you what programs are accessing a file or volume, so you can quickly figure out what to quit to get on with your life. 

Judge Cote Likely to Side with U.S. Against Apple

9:31 PM EDT, May. 23rd, 2013· Bryan Chaffin · News

Apple in Court

Judge Denise Cote said on Thursday that she expects the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) will be able to prove that Apple conspired with publishers in the run-up to the release of the iPad. The judge issued a "tentative view" to attorneys representing the DOJ and Apple to that effect, adding that the opinion is based on reading through some of the evidence.

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This case drives us nuts. On the one hand, Apple mostly likely did act as ringleader in getting the publishers to shift to the agency model for pricing. At the same time, before Apple did so, Amazon had monopoly power in this market and was dumping books to gain that power and shut down competitors.

Microsoft Commercials Take Swipes at Apple’s iPad

7:02 PM EDT, May. 23rd, 2013· Bryan Chaffin · Editorial

iPad vs. Windows

Microsoft is taking pot shots at Apple's iPad in its efforts to promote moribund sales of Windows 8 tablets. In a new series of commercials, the Redmond, WA company harnesses Siri to disparage iPad's one-app-at-a-time nature, and compares specs to show an Asus device is thinner and weighs less than iPad.

Apple Updates Fuji-Xerox Printing & Scanning Drivers

5:59 PM EDT, May. 23rd, 2013· Bryan Chaffin · Product News

Fuji-Xerox

Apple released Fuji-Xerox Printer Drivers v2.4 for OS X on Thursday. The patch notes don't specify what's new, saying simply, "This download includes the latest Fuji-Xerox printing and scanning software for OS X Mountain Lion, OS X Lion and Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard."