An anonymous reader asks: "I paid $50 to convert my iTools account to a .Mac account, yet it seems that I can almost never use the service. The web pages are constantly down and the support for the service tells nothing about to handle the frequent outages. I am not the only person to get these errors. The forums are filled with complaints about the down time. I have e-mail Apple numerous times, but nothing has been done to fix these errors. What options to I have? Is there a way to get my money back for this lousy service? Can I get compensated for the down time? What can I do to show Apple that I am not happy with their service?"

k-hell writes "It seems like Apple's QuickTime 6 is becoming standard on some 44 million Japanese mobile phones. Apple and many other companies are pressuring hard to make MPEG-4 the industry standard for video-on-demand services in 3G cellular networks, and to keep Microsoft and its proprietary Windows Media out of the mobile phones market."

gl1ched writes "PocketMac 2.0 is finally here with support for Jaguar (the previous version only supported up to Mac OS X 10.1.5). For those who have not seen it yet, PocketMac gives users the ability to sync PocketPCs with their Mac OS X computers, finally giving Mac users an alternative to a Palm Pilot."

acaben writes "MacSlash has posted what Jordan Hubbard says will be his last interview for Apple. Apple's Engineering Manager for the BSD Technology Group talks about the new BSDPorts initiative, his thoughts on working for Apple and Apple's Open Source strategy, and how Mac users new to Open Source can get involved and contribute to the community. He also gets delightfully geeky in comparing the differences between Darwin's VM envirnoment and FreeBSD's and explains that Darwin was built with things like working with Final Cut Pro in mind."

An anonymous reader writes "Everybody seems to enjoy accessorizing their iPods, most of all coming up with ways for it to stand up on its on feet. Unstatisfied with commerical offerings, some intrepid souls are making their own iPod stands, using everything from foam core, to LEGO bricks, to a simple CD case, to a converted picture frame!"

limpymac writes "MacScan public beta was announced to the public short minutes ago. MacScan will detect, isolate and remove spyware on the Macintosh. Currently it will detect trojan horses and keystroke loggers without a hitch. The application is for Mac OS and Mac OS X and is created by the folks at SecureMac.com. I found a keystroke recorder on my Macintosh I installed a year ago and forgot to remove; hah, I have a year's worth of logs!"

OS24Ever writes "A future high school history teacher, Jason Eric Smith, sold an 867MHz PowerBook G4 on eBay right before finals. He found out the hard way that people are out there to rip you off, and he went to great lengths to catch this guy with the help of Mac heads everywhere. A great read and agreat way for us little guys to get back at these scammers."

An anonymous reader writes "Film Gimp, the most popular open source tool in feature motion picture work, has released its first Macintosh version. Film Gimp is now available for Mac OS X, Linux, and SGI Irix. Film Gimp is a frame-by-frame retouching tool used by motion picture studios as an alternative tool to Adobe Photoshop. Film Gimp was used on the movies Scooby-Doo, Harry Potter, Stuart Little, and other productions."

danamania writes "Apple's latest promotion is a gimmick with Madonna, Tony Hawk or Beck's signature, or a No Doubt logo, on an iPod. It seems Apple's really pushing the iPod as a too-cool fashion accessory as much as a too-cooler MP3 player... is Maddie's signature worth an extra USD49 over the standard iPod?" Instead of $50 for the engraved signature, you can spend $20 to print "Madonna's Signature" in beautiful Helvetica.

blamanj writes "Apple and DoCoMo are confirming that a new version of QuickTime is on the way supporting MPEG-4 images over 3G cellular service." Now if only these would make sense in the U.S. ...

MatthewRothenberg writes "Apple has announced that as of January, new Macs will boot with Mac OS X only, but now MacInTouch reports that there might be a reprieve in the works for booting with Mac OS. According to one reader, a Quark representative has been calling pro publishers to ease their worries about the lack of a Mac OS X-native version of its QuarkXPress DTP program; after talking it over with Quark, Apple has agreed to move back the Mac OS X-only deadline until June." I can imagine that conversation with Jobs: "Why don't you just finish porting your freaking product already?"

perfessor multigeek writes "Since back in '78, Shreve Systems has been the funkiest aftermarket source of Apple stuff. Well, not anymore. They're going out of business right now and any folks looking for hundred-dollar working laptops (with bag and Works), ABD keyboards for a fiver, or Mac Plus supplies, better get over there soonest." You could start your own online store with what you could buy over there.

benh57 writes "The binary release of Fink for Mac OS X 10.2 has finally been released! This release includes over 700 binary packages for Mac OS X 10.2 as well as over 1800 source packages of all kinds. Fink ports Unix software to Mac OS X and makes it available using debian tools like apt-get, as well as a build from source package manager." I'll be selfupdating tonight ...

kraksmoka writes ""The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article about how Saint Leo University in Florida is offering an iBook laptop to every incoming residential student and full-time faculty member. '... the draw of the iBooks has encouraged some of the more than 1,700 students at the university's main campus who would otherwise commute to live in dormitories, which makes the program a success in the university vice president's eyes.'" The students do not keep the computers, unless they finish two years in the honors program.

dfelznic writes "There is a new wardriving utlity for Mac OS X 10.2 that can put the AirPort card into monitor mode and collect and crack WEP-enabled 802.11b networks. The application is KisMAC and it relies on the Viha driver to put the AirPort card into monitor mode. Both the application and the driver are in beta."

ike6116 asks: "According to Apple the 15" Apple Studio Display is still available, but when one clicks on Store and tries to select it with a system it is nowhere to be found. I ask you: Where have they gone to? Why have they left? Will they be back?"

JustZisGuy writes "Apple has released Carbon Sound Manager Update for OS X 10.2.2, available via the Software Update utility. According to Apple, the update 'improves reliability and performance of some applications that access Carbon Sound Manager.' Hopefully this will fix the audio cracks and pops found while recording in Carbon apps."

jlechem writes "Wired is running a story about Apple pulling out of Macworld Tokyo. It seems they decided to pull out quietly several months ago. And once they left all the major Apple Developers followed, and IDG canceled the show due to 'lack of exhibitor interest.' Macworld Tokyo is the biggest gathering of Mac fans in the world. Although the three-day show draws about half the exhibitors of U.S. shows, it attracts double the number of visitors, about 190,000. Traditionally held in March, the Tokyo show has run for the last 12 years. After their threat to ditch Macworld Boston, you have to wonder why Apple is pulling out of these expos?"

dumbArtMajor writes "Macworld has an article breaking down most of the available browsers for Mac OS X and evaluates speed, rendering, etc. Did your app of choice kick the other guy's ass?" I don't want to know which one kicked which other one, or where they kicked them. I just want one browser that works.

A user writes, "Apple has finally released IP over FireWire drivers for Mac OS X. It is now possible to connect two or more Macs together with FireWire cables and if needed, FireWire hubs."