No one ever wants to hear that their brand new Mac is going to be dead on arrival right after purchase. Despite this obvious reality, it appears that this is exactly what is taking place with the Core i7 based iMacs.

I am not saying that this is reflective of Apple dropping the ball so much as there does appears to be a trend developing here. I have been hearing of similar issues elsewhere on the Web. Sadly, I am not hearing much from Apple on the matter.

So what are people recommending? Honestly, take it out of the box and test it. This is the advice coming from Engadget in the best approach to avoiding a very um-merry holiday season should you giving away one of these Macs as a gift.

It’s an interesting idea, but I remain skeptical as to how popular it is going to be seeing live events taking off via iTunes. Don’t get me wrong, I fully believe that live events over the Web tend to do very well. My concern is trapping people into enjoying them with iTunes.

Outside of the content provided, iTunes is not anything all that impressive. And I am willing to bet that I am not alone. While the presentation does appear to be a pleasant one for iTunes users, I would much rather watch the same event in the browser of my choice using something like Ustream or another service.

In the end, right idea with the wrong software. There is no doubt that movies and music can be a great experience from iTunes, but watching live events in my mind is just not a part of the package. Then again, I am not all that fond of iTunes, so your mileage may vary.

I know, it’s difficult to believe that we are still talking about Psystar after all of this time and the various court battles. Yet despite this, here we are. Not only is Psystar not a real threat to Apple in any way, they are not even a PC seller that anyone in their right mind would bother with at this stage.

The fact of the matter is the most harm that was done happened to those who run the company in my estimation. And Apple’s biggest problem is the time and money they had to waste on this entire thing. So Apple seeking an injunction, is really not going to mean anything.

No, it is all but likely that Psystar is going to continue to what they have been all along. They will likely continue to sell PCs running OS X. And Apple’s world outside of a thorn in their legal dept.’s side, will remained largely un-phased.

Oddly enough, this makes a bit of sense. Rather than working hard, work smart. Stop fighting with Apple’s insane approval process and instead, develop a web app that can be promoted regardless of what Apple happens to think of it.

Yes, it is really this simple as pointed out in this piece here. Even better is regardless of whether you agree with this or not, the fact remains one can get an app out faster using the web approach.

The downside to all of this is that there is still a belief that applications for the iPhone must be installed. Merely offering up a shortcut is not enough. Wrong. As Google has shown us, we do not need to rely too heavily on the app store. As a matter of fact, you can use one link as a portal for a multitude of apps. It’s really not that big of an issue it would seem.

Tell me this does not sound suspicious to you at all. Quote: “The worm affects only a very specific set of iPhone users who have jail broken their iPhones and hacked it with unauthorized software”. Yeah, you read that right. Apple clearly is not worried about this at all.

Honestly I might go so far as to say that Apple is quite happy about all of this. Think of it this way - who wants to jail break their phone and risk this worm going around! Now I will not go on record as saying that Apple is behind it, but man this does seem awful convenient for them.

Other people however, have gone on to point out that this worm only affects people with jail broken phones that are using the default password. So allegedly, a non-default password will make you safe. Personally, I will opt to not assume this is accurate and I have not jail broken my iPhone nor do I plan to.

Today I learned that there are to be some pretty sweet deals for Apple fans, assuming they are able to handle the fact that the big savings are hardly worth getting out of bed for. A whopping 8% savings to be exact. Sorry, but I would not even get me to drive across town much less deal with the Black Friday mess!

On the flip side however, it does mean that people who were on the fence for making their latest Mac purchase. And even though these are considered entry level deals, for many people this might be just what the doctor ordered this holiday season.

With so much seemingly out of reach and things getting to be so expensive, at least we are able to see various aspects of retail cutting prices all over the place. And this time, it looks like computer companies are pulling out the stops as well.

Like many others, I am skeptical as to how the news of automatic approvals will affect both the end users and the developers of individual iPhone apps alike. For many, it is suspected that this new procedure is going to lead to a number of false pstivies that could lead to app rejection.

Does this mean that app submissions could potentially become a round of Russian Roulette? I think it is possible, if not likely. Bad apps being allowed in while the good ones are not. Clearly the answer might not have been to automate this at all.

Personally, I would be very wary of this new system. Because no algorithm is going to be anywhere near as good as a real person, I believe this entire thing is going to turn into a big headache. Call it a hunch.

So how did Apple manage this sweet deal? How did they do it? Being able to hit a cap on how much royalty Apple owes to Qualcomm is something for the history books when you consider how much revenue is being generated through the iPhone these days.

Further investigation shows that more than anything, Apple has found themselves a really great loophole that is working well for them. The downside of course, is for Qualcomm in which Apple apparently has no direct relationship with their royalties.

Now the big question will be whether Qualcomm decided to press Apple for future royalties or worse, go retroactive on them. Some might point out that this is unlikely, but other still will remind all of us that the mobile industry is no stranger to lawsuits. And Apple is certainly an attractive target.

Sorry to be the one to point this out, but as a reformed smoker from YEARS ago, if you smoke around any electronic appliance, you are an idiot if you expect the warranty to hold up.

Back in my PC repair days, I found countless computers caked in yellow nastiness from smokers, often creating issues with the PSU and the motherboard. So if Apple refuses to honor the warranty due to smoking around a computer in which visible evidence is there, then I see no issue here.

That said, calling it a bio-hazard without being able to quote a medical source is just dumb. Not saying that it isn’t mind you, rather I would take the statement a bit more seriously if they can provide their refused customers with a source.

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Okay, I am lost here. Why is RadioShack going to be selling the iPhone? How in the heck is this any good to the consumer? Ah, it actually leaves them largely unaffected as we are still stuck with the same old AT&T network until Verizon gets things finalized.

So once again, why would anyone care about the iPhone coming to RadioShack? Greater availability? Hardly. No, the only people likely to give a rip sadly will likely be the shareholders.

And as expected, RadioShack shares are doing quite well due to the announcement. Clearly this is a good thing financially for RadioShack, despite my skepticism about whether or not the casual consumer will see any real benefit.

Finally, some relief from that nasty guest account bug is here. For many OS X users, this did not come a day too early. Other fixes include Spotlight not showing exchange contacts, four finger swipe gesture, VPN headaches among other items of interest that were fixed.

In my mind, I see this OS X update acting as a reminder that not all updates are created equal. Some of the bugs presented here are almost show stopping for some people, just annoying for others.

Yet in the end there is good news. Apple managed to get these things dealt with and that is just good news for everyone. It also means that Apple can once again focus their attention on coming up with features of the future vs cleaning up unfortunate bugs.

If you own a TV, you have seen the countless commercials by AT&T’s biggest competitor hitting them with everything they have. And who can blame the,. just a few years ago they were in hot water as they lacked the iPhone while AT&T could provide it.

Today the playing field is fast becoming less about the iPhone and more about network reliability. Verizon has charged on a number of occasions, that they have the better setup. And if you ever go driving through rural areas like Montana, you will find that Verizon is right - AT&T is spotty at best in these regions.

Here in the near future, I suspect that we will once again see AT&T get their network up to snuff and potentially, give Verizon a serious run for their money in the PR field. Mind you they are a ways off for this, but it could happen.

The idea that Mac users would utilize Parallels to move themselves off of Windows is unlikely at best. Don’t get me wrong, the Mac user is clearly going to prefer their desktop to that of a Windows one.

Despite this, in order to use products like Parallels translates into needing a copy of Windows. All virtualization really does is help two blend two operating systems a bit. Does nothing for saving money on Windows licenses.

And considering the popularity of products from VMWare, also for the Mac, I am wondering how all of this is to play out. One thing is for sure - if Parallels can now run Windows faster than VMWare, then clearly someone involved there had better be worried.

So many apps, so difficult to find just the app you really want. Unlike my wife and others, I find that locating apps that I actually want to use is not as easy as I might like. Installing and using them on the other hand, no problem.

Despite this, it seems that roughly 80% of the available apps out there ever see the light of day. Based on my experience with discovery, I am hardly surprised. With such a great product and cool apps available, things might be a whole lot better if the average person could discover new application besides relying on random blog posts to help out.

So what is being done about this? Well, nothing, as it is the responsibility of the developer to get the word out. And I can totally understand this. Still, it would be a lot sweeter of a deal if there was a bigger push to make new and cool apps better known. But hey, whatever!

Apple lost me on this one? Are they talking about music videos, MTV style? Or am I becoming so old that I am no longer in tune with the pulse of today’s music? The latter, does seem likely.

No, Apple is apparently going to be promoting documentaries that are featuring musical artists and making them available for distribution before the DVDs are released. Seriously, who the hell cares? Look, I like Apple’s iTunes content. I even enjoy music and documentaries. But this is clearly a case of mixing peanut butter with my chocolate.

Maybe I am all wet here, but I am not entirely sure there are THAT MANY music enthusiasts that are going to jump all over this. Some, sure. But I am highly skeptical that this even makes any sense.

The grand idea of the Apple Tablet becoming the next big eBook reader might not happen the way many of us thought according to this piece. Apparently this is simply not a market in which Apple wishes to spend much time with.

At the same time, with the video and music market already having Apple’s boot print firmly established, why would the company break what is already working so well for it? Are eBooks really that profitable? I would say yes, but it depends on the distribution.

In the end, the only one that comes out a loser are those hoping to see Apple embrace the written word anytime soon. But who really cares? The iPhone already has the Kindle application. So would it not stand to reason that we would already see the same thing thing for the Apple Tablet? There, problem solved.

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Honestly feeling bad for the Chinese consumers who are excited at the prospect of finally having access to the iPhone. Why? Because it is going to be lacking a big feature. No Wifi.

I cannot even wrap my head around not having access to wifi with my iPhone. I say this as the 3G access on it is a total joke, despite AT&T whining about how much usage they already give their users.

It’s highly likely that here in the near future, we will see this change. In the meantime however, the Chinese had better get used to using whatever level of service that is provided by Unicom. Hopefully it will be enough to meet their needs.

The person who is largely behind the successful Apple ads over the years is not going anywhere. No really, the rumors beating about the web stating that he is somehow moving on from Apple advertising efforts is simply not true.

Apparently there was some confusion when word got out that his company was doing some personal shifting. But according to this piece, it seems that everything is set to be just fine. So all of the concern that somehow Apple ads were going to suddenly go south was a lot of worry for nothing.

No, the real question is what type of advertising does the marketing genius have for us next. Despite finding a number of holes in the claims made in the advertising sometimes, I find the ads themselves to be nothing short of brilliant.

Android is not nor will it likely ever be a threat to the iPhone. This being said, I do see it as a significant threat to Windows Mobile. See, enterprise users that want a true Enterprise level phone are likely either going to use the BlackBerry or setup an iPhone with as many enterprise ready apps as possible.

So this really leaves the consumer market looking at the only “real” iPhone alternative being something running Android. After all, who in their right mind is going to exclaim that Windows Mobile is a consumer mobile OS. It’s clearly best set for business users. And even then, it is not able to have the “wow” factor it once did.

In the end, despite all of its shortcomings, the iPhone will remain largely untouched. Marketing and innovation clearly goes beyond stable and expected. So even though the phone is a giant memory leak most days, the iPhone has won the minds of users everywhere much to the dismay of other mobile providers.