From the Mac Maineiac newswire: FLASH! In a recent survey conducted by Consumer Reports of 7,400 computer owners, Apple got top marks for technical support. Apple was the only company to score the highest possible marks in all four categories: Solved Problem, Support Staff, Waiting On Phone, and Web Support. Runners up were, in order, Dell, Gateway, Sony, HP, and Compaq. Last year, Consumer Reports conducted a survey of over 39,000 computer owners concerning repair occurrences, and Apple came out on top in that survey as well.

FLASH! Apple Retail Stores are now selling TiVo. What is TiVo? TiVo is a digital video recorder, basically a VCR without tape. TiVo stores the digital video on a large hard drive, which on some models can record up to 80 hours of video. Why would Apple sell them in their stores? Good question. TiVo recently released their Home Media Option, which among other features, enables you to connect your Mac (or PC) to the TiVo via an ethernet cable or wireless connection. You can then access the MP3 music files in your iTunes playlists and the digital photos in your iPhoto albums. This is especially nice if you have an integrated home theater sound system. They are now busy updating the system to accommodate the new AAC format delivered from the iTunes Music Store. You can learn more about TiVo at www.tivo.com.

FLASH! This time next month there’ll be a new cat on the block. At Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, June 23-27, developers will get their hands on Mac OS 10.3, code-named “Panther”. Although Apple itself is being typically mum about Panther details, word in the jungle is that the new beast will be a 64 bit operating system. Today’s Mac OS is a 32 bit system, as is Windoze. If Panther is indeed a 64 bit system, then Apple will need a new chip to run it on. Again, this is all speculation, but there’s a new chip from IBM, called the PowerPC 970, that’s REALLY fast, 64 bit capable, and backward compatible with 32 bit systems, that just might fit the bill. This new chip stuff is all rumor, but we’ll know for sure by the end of June. Expect Panther to ship later in the year.

Keep those emails coming to petez@macmaineiac.com, and, as always, Semper Mac! Take care.

© 2003 Peter F. Zimowski