Exclusive: Spy shot from behind closed doors at Canada’s newest Apple store.

Apple is normally very secretive about keeping the veil on Apple Stores until they are completed. Which makes this sneak peek a tasty tidbit. You may have already seen the floorplan, and you may have already seen the cloaked storefront but now… VistaSucks.WordPress.Com bring you the first spy shot of the interior of the new Apple Store Vancouver…

Vista Drove Me Away - a Testimonial

I used to be a Microsoft Fan - a really, really big and obnoxious one too. Whenever someone even brought up the topic of a Mac I would go on about how PC’s were “clearly superior” and “control the market for obvious reasons.” In fact, my friends who use Macs as well remind me that I used to lecture them for ten minutes straight about the supposed advantages of the Windows Platform. Using cliché arguments like “Windows’ Wealth of Software” to defend my views, I convinced myself not to get a Mac last December and so I bought a brand-new Acer PC. Read the full article on SwitchingToMac.Com

TIME Magazine: How Apple Does It

This is partly a story about a company called Apple Computer. It’s also partly a story about a fancy new iPod that plays videos as well as music and that could dramatically change the way people entertain themselves. But it’s mostly a story about new things and where they come from, about which there are a few popular misconceptions.

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How Apple Can Win The PC Battle

Let’s step back and analyze why Apple’s market share is increasing. Apple’s endless passion for speed, elegance and simplicity runs through their entire product line. In the last few years, Apple has created a line of iMacs with gorgeous displays. They also basically made the hard drive fit into the display, released the Mac mini, ported to Intel - just to mention some of the Mac changes. Read more.

‘DVD Jon’ Cracks iPhone Activation

Hacker Jon Lech Johansen, known widely as “DVD Jon,” has cracked Apple’s iPhone activation, or so he claims, meaning that iPhone buyers will be able to activate and use the new handset without having to commit to an AT&T wireless contract.

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Got Vista 64-bit Ed.? No iPhone for you!

Struggling with your new iPhone on a 64-bit Windows Vista or XP system? Take solace, you’re not alone. The error message, “The software required for iPhone is not installed. Run the iTunes installer to remove iTunes, then install iTunes again.” is Apple’s magical way of telling you that iTunes is not supported on 64-bit flavors of Microsoft’s operating systems. Read more.

The iPhone will be compatible with Microsoft Exchange, after all

Here’s what I’m hearing: Apple will announce this week — possibly as soon as June 27 — that it has licensed the Exchange ActiveSync licensing protocol. Via the licensing arrangement, Apple iPhone users will be able to connect to Exchange Server and make use of its wireless messaging and synchronization capabilities. I’ve asked both Microsoft and Apple for comments on this supposedly imminent announcement. No word from Apple so far. Microsoft’s statement, via a corporate spokeswoman: Read more.

iLoad copies DVDs straight to iPods, iPhone

MacNN reports: Silicon Valley’s Wingspan today announced that users can now directly copy a DVD to an iPhone or iPod — without using a computer. The company’s iLoad device can transfer either an entire DVD or CD or the tracks of the user’s choice as well as the album and track information directly to the iPod without using a computer, iTunes or Internet connection. Read more.

A thought from the author: PC vs Mac

I came to a realization the other day while surfing around the net looking for things of interest. I happened to read a comment on a site from a PC user to a Mac guy. It was a very biased and ignorant comment that left me envisioning this PC user as a 5 year old kid with his index fingers in his ears yelling “Lalalalala. Macs suck. Lalalaa I can’t hear you!”

But then it hit me. I used to be one of those guys!

Apple finally offers complete iPod, Mac lineups to India.

Apple’s resurgence in recent years has seen a similar return to health for its Indian business. In March of last year, the company announced that it would begin selling some key iPod and Mac models through local resellers in the country, but until now had refrained from opening up its entire catalog to the country’s booming economy. Read more.

In other news Microsoft busts Indian retailers installing Windows on systems. (That SHOULD be a crime.)

Get ready for the summer of Apple

On June 29, the company is expected to release the iPhone, perhaps one of the most hyped gadgets in history and a clear sign of where CEO Steve Jobs is placing his bets. At Apple–in case anyone still needed reminding after Jobs & Co. dropped “computer” from the company name–people are thinking about a lot more than laptops and desktops. Read more.

Wired: Kiss Boring Interfaces Goodbye With Apple’s New Animated OS

When Steve Jobs takes the stage Monday at Apple’s programmers conference, he’s likely to give the world a glimpse of an upgraded Mac operating system that could herald the biggest changes to the machine’s interface in 30 years.

read more | digg story

Criticisms of Windows Vista

Considering buying Windows Vista? Read this encyclopedia entry from Wikipedia.Com before you do. Windows Vista, the latest version of Microsoft’s desktop operating system, has been the target of a number of negative assessments by various groups. Criticisms of Windows Vista have included… Read more.

Apple now valued at over $100 billion

Apple Inc.’s market capitalization broke the $100 billion barrier for the first time on Wednesday, as shares of the company surged above $116 following a bullish research report from investment bank Morgan Stanley.

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A Day in the Life of an Apple Genius

Apple jealously guards its Apple Store “geniuses” — the tech-support people behind Apple’s Genius Bars. The editors of Mac|Life, however, got two of those geniuses to talk. Here are their unapproved-by-Apple comments on what it’s like to work for Apple.

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Costco turned Zune boxes into tables to sell iPods

Costco found a use for Microsoft’s Zune.

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No CDMA iPhone for 5 years. Canadians weep.

AT&T has exclusive U.S. distribution rights for five years — an eternity in the go-go cellphone world. And Apple is barred for that time from developing a version of the iPhone for CDMA wireless networks.

That ban is no small thing. AT&T rivals Verizon Wireless and Sprint are both CDMA shops. AT&T uses GSM, a global standard incompatible with CDMA. Read More.

[Update: Hope exists in the form of unlocked GSM phones for Rogers]

[Update: iPhone unlocked]

How to convert a DVD to iPod (MP4) for free

There are a number of certain pay programs that claim to do it for free, but many are riddled with bugs and fail to take into account DVD encryption. However, by using just two free programs, you can easily convert a full DVD movie into an iPod-ready mp4 file. Read on for the full guide and links.

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Connect360 adds H.264 video support

Nullriver Software has released version 3.0 of its popular Connect360 program, which previously allowed streaming of music from iTunes, photos from iPhoto and limited WMV only movies to Xbox 360. This new version (coupled with the Spring Update for your console) allows movies to be streamed directly from iTunes. Forget blowing cash on AppleTV!

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iTunes 7.1.2 DRM cracked

This utility will scrub DRM from YOUR music files and make a backup copy of the originals for safe keeping. Great for iPod owners who now have another brand of music player - iTunes will convert your AAC files to MP3 when you’re ready to run away from Apple. I’m sure this story will be buried by DMCA lovers.

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SystM Episode 7 - Hacking AppleTV [Video]

Patrick Norton and Dave Randolph take you through some of the more popular hacks and mods out there for the AppleTV. They have sorted out all the articles out there and have come up with a complete step by step procedure to help you get your AppleTV up and running with a larger drive, SSH, Xvid and a RSS reader.

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Apple hints at video rentals through iTunes

Apple Inc. did not make any material announcements during its shareholders meeting on Thursday, but did hint that it will offer video rentals through iTunes at some point in the future. “Timing of this is difficult to determine, but we would expect [iTunes video rentals] sometime in 2008,” said analyst Gene Munster, who attended the meeting.

read more | digg story