Macworld

The Mac mini gets a $100 face lift

With Tuesday's refresh, Apple's "most affordable Mac" just got less so

When Apple (AAPL) updates an aging computer, it usually keeps the price the same and bumps up the specs -- increasing processor speed, disk capacity, built-in memory, etc.

Not this time. The new Mac mini, which quietly popped up on Apple.com early Tuesday alongside the higher-profile iPhone 4, starts at $699, $100 more than the previous model and $200 more than MORE

Apple's 10 biggest problems - update

One of Apple's most influential pundits zeroes in on what's wrong with the company

Daring Fireball's John Gruber -- a Drexel University computer major turned professional blogger -- is perhaps the most forceful and articulate defender on the Web of all things Apple (AAPL). He came to Macworld Expo 2010, however, not to praise the company but to probe its vulnerabilities

He took his task seriously and gave a serious presentation, made MORE

Bill Atkinson loves Apple's iPad

The man who wrote MacPaint plugs his former employer's latest product

"I think this guy is going to be a real winner," said Bill Atkinson, holding up what looked like an Apple (AAPL) iPad tablet computer before an adoring audience at Macworld Expo.

It was only a cardboard mock-up, created to show what his latest project -- Bill Atkinson PhotoCard -- would look like on the new device.

But he had clearly spent MORE

Macworld's 11 Best-of-Show winners

Macworld Expo proves it can attract a crowd -- and some cool technology -- without Apple

IDG World Expo's publicists declined to issue an attendee count beyond the 30,000 people it claimed had pre-registered for Macworld Expo 2010, the first in 25 years without Apple's (AAPL) support or participation.

But judging from the bustling crowds on the show floor, in the feature presentations and in the hallways of San Francisco's Moscone North MORE

David Pogue Auto-Tunes Macworld

Who needs Steve Jobs when you can have the song-and-dance man of high-tech?

David Pogue, Emmy-winning tech columnist, "Missing Manual" millionaire and Broadway composer manqué, pulled out all the stops as he kicked off the first day of Macworld Expo.

He sang (three of his favorite song parodies, see below). He cracked wise (mocking Steve Ballmer's exuberance, Steve Jobs' absence and the iPad's lack of Flash support). He plugged his latest book MORE

Meet the guys behind Pocket God

Their pygmy-killing iPhone game is the unlikely winner of this year's "Best App Ever" award

It started as a week-long "sprint project" -- a bit of bare-bones entertainment for Apple's (AAPL) iPhone, written as quickly as possible and published last January.

Within hours, users were complaining on the Internet that the game -- which involved bumping off tiny island dwellers by flicking them into the water or launching them toward the sun, MORE

Apple Store back up. No new Macs.

Apple watchers were hoping for a bigger pre-Macworld announcement

[UPDATE: The Apple Store is back up with a new version of Aperture but no new MacBooks. Apple's press release introducing Aperture 3, the latest version of its high end photo editing and management software, crossed the wires at 8:30 a.m. ET. ]

The yellow "We'll be back soon" sign -- the universal signal of an impending product release -- appeared Tuesday morning MORE

5 things to watch for at Macworld

Can Apple's premier trade show survive without Apple? We'll find out next week

There'll be no Steve Jobs keynote, no gigantic Apple booth, and only about half as many exhibitors -- roughly 220 vs. nearly 500 last year, according to Ars Technica.

But IDG World Expo has determined that the show must go on -- at least for one more year -- and so from Tuesday Feb. 9 to Saturday Feb. 13, MORE

Looking back at Apple's fiscal 2009

Apple's (AAPL) fiscal year, which ends Saturday, finished on a strong note.

The company won't release its earnings for a few weeks, but shareholders can already see the most visible rewards -- a stock that returned gains of nearly 45% over a 12 month period in which the S&P 500 lost 15%.

The last eight months were particularly impressive. The stock climbed from a 2-year low of $78.20 a share on Jan. MORE

Film: Inside the cult of Mac

"First of all," says San Francisco Chronicle sex columnist Violet Blue, in glasses, Mary Janes and peek-a-boo top, "I never knowingly slept with a Windows user. Ever."

That tells you pretty much all you need to know about MacHeads, the 2008 film now enjoying a second life at Amazon (where it's currently the No. 4 top-selling documentary) and the iTunes Store (No. 8). Both retailers recently added the film for sale MORE