Garmin Ltd., the world’s largest maker of personal navigation devices, unveiled an unsolicited $3.3 billion offer for Dutch digital mapmaker Tele Atlas NV on Wednesday, topping an offer by rival TomTom NV by 15 percent. Just when TomTom thought they were in the drivers seat with the maps blazing the trail, along comes Garmin and says “no you don’t” with a huge offer of its own that Tele Atlas is now taking a hard look at.

Nokia Corp. bid $8.1 billion for Navteq Corp., the only major digital mapping company other than Tele Atlas with global operations. Now this may lead to a bidding war for Tel Atlas.

Apple has changed its policy of allowing OS X Server run inside a Virtual Machine (such as VMWare’s Fusion or Parallels Desktop). Apple’s new software license agreement included with Leopard reads “This License allows you to install and use one copy of the Mac OS X Server software (the “Mac OS X Server Software”) on a single Apple-labeled computer.

You may also install and use other copies of Mac OS X Server Software on the same Apple-labeled computer, provided that you acquire an individual and valid license from Apple for each of these other copies of Mac OS X Server Software.”

This license change is big for data centers and may bring new offerings from Parallels and VMWare.

Finally, some choice for apartment and townhouse dwellers. The Federal Communications Commission voted today to ban cable operators from cutting exclusive deals with owners of apartment buildings, condominiums and other multiple dwelling units (MDUs).

This certainly has dealt a major blow to Comcast, Cablevision, Time Warner Cable and other cable TV operators. Leaving the door open for Verizon’s FiOS and AT&T’s U-verse a chance to offer their TV wares to the 30% of Americans who live in MDUs.

“Exclusive contracts between incumbent cable operators and owners of [MDUs] have been a significant barrier to competition,” FCC chairman Kevin Martin said Wednesday. “Today’s order removes this barrier.”

I have seen several Windows centric websites that are making all sorts of ridiculous claims of Apple’s new OS X 10.5 Leopard “copying” Windows Vista. I find this all amusing. Maybe these Windows zealots have little experience with a Mac and actually believe this.

As there is no doubt all developers take ideas from each other (and that also includes Linux). Stealing is a strong word. What I find really funny is that these Windows ONLY guys are pointing to some features Macs have had for years and years before Vista was even thought of.

Continue reading Leopard Copies Vista? Sure!…

Reuters and the WSJ are reporting that Google and Verizon Wireless are advanced talks to put Google applications on Verizon Wireless mobile phones. Google is expected to announce new mobile services and software in several weeks, and Verizon Wireless is obviously interested in gaining some competitive traction against AT&T and Apple’s iPhone.

There are also reports that Google has been also in talks with Sprint the number three wireless company.

NetZero the dial-up provider’s VoIP service will be discontinued as of December 15. NetZero has sent out emails to their estimated 12,000 that they’ve struck a deal with Packet8 that allows customers to migrate their number to Packet8 Freedom Unlimited Service for $19.95/month. Much better solution than what SunRocket imploded.

I am very excited about the new Mac! No not a new iMac or MacBook Pro, although I did purchase one of each this weekend. What I am referring to is the new Mac you get by simply paying for Leopard ($109 with free shipping through this website). I updated to Leopard, added VMware Fusion $64.99 to my Intel Macs and I can tell you this will change the way I work forever.

Continue reading What’s New in Leopard? A Lot! See Some Videos…

An update to Apple’s .Mac and Leopard explains the “Back to my Mac” feature will be soon updated:

Attention Back To My Mac users
In the coming weeks, we will be improving compatibility with home-based routers and various network environments. So if you find that you cannot access your remote Mac right away, please be patient as we work to improve the service. For instructions and troubleshooting information for Back to My Mac, click here. For more FAQs about Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and Support contact information, click here.

Apple says to avoid doing Time Machine backups or restores during Aperture sessions. Apparently, running Time Machine backup or restore operations while Aperture is running may lead to inconsistencies in the Aperture database. Apple’s support document says If you use Time Machine with Leopard, be sure to set your computer up so that Time Machine only does manual backups. Avoid performing either backups or restores while Aperture is running. My guess is a fix for this will come eventually.

Continue reading OS X Leopard Tip #3: Rid the 3D Leopard Dock to be more like Tiger’s Dock…

Some users have experienced some problems installing Leopard as an “Upgrade” install on existing machines. I recommended a “Clean Install” or at least an “Archive and Install” for Leopard in my Preparing Your Mac for the Big Leopard Install post a few days ago. No major upgrade should really ever be performed without first backing up your data.

Some users found that after completing an “Upgrade” Leoprad installation on their existing Macs, a “blue screen” appeared for an “extended period of time.” after restarting their computer. Apple has blamed “third-party ‘enhancement’ software installed that does not play nice with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.” Apple has posted a document providing some possible solutions.

Continue reading Apple Suggests to Archive and Install Leopard…

The NY Times reports that Apple has changed their iPhone sales policy no longer accepting cash (credit or debit cards only) and limiting you only two phones per visit, down from the previous limit of 5.

According to an Apple spokesperson before there was no cash restriction and the purchase limit was five per person. “Customer response to the iPhone has been off the charts, and limiting iPhone sales to two per customer helps us ensure that there are enough iPhones for people who are shopping for themselves or buying a gift,” Ms. Kerris said. “We’re requiring a credit or debit card for payment to discourage unauthorized resellers.”

I am sure they are also trying to discourage people from “unlocking” the iPhones.

Apple has released updates for Aperture 1.5.6 and Backup 3.1.2 providing compatibility with Leopard. Aperture has received several bug fixes related to accessing system- and application-specific resources. Both updates are available through the OS X Software Update application.

According to Adobe, most of its Creative Suite 3 Web are certified and fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, including Photoshop CS3, Illustrator CS3, GoLive CS3, Dreamweaver CS3, Fireworks CS3, Flash CS3, InCopy/InDesign CS3, and Contribute CS3.

Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional and its professional video applications, including Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, After Effects CS3 Professional, Encore CS3, and Soundbooth CS3 will need updates — all of which are expected to be freely available in December 2007, while updates for Acrobat 8 Professional and Adobe Reader 8 are expected in January 2008.

Continue reading Adobe: Leopard Compatibility…

FileMaker, an Apple subsidiary announced that November 19 is their target date for delivering Leopard-compatible versions of FileMaker Pro 9 and FileMaker Pro 9 Advanced. The company also provided details of the current issues that exist for FileMaker 9 on Leopard, revealed that FileMaker Server 9 and FileMaker Server 9 Advanced do not deploy properly on Leopard, and said that it has not tested earlier FileMaker versions on Leopard and does not intend to issue updates for them.

Continue reading FileMaker to be Updated for Leopard in November…