Column: Apple could learn from past mistakes

After transforming the digital music industry with the iPod, Apple is on a high. But the company has enjoyed success before - only to see it vanish, warns Kieren McCarthy. "This is not the first time Apple has found itself with the best product in a market it has almost single-handedly created. And yet the Mac - launched with the famous TV advertisment 1984, which was aired once during that year's Superbowl - is now no more than a bit player. The Newton is long dead, and the Apple II is a museum piece." McCarthy says Apple's innovation "comes with a price: arrogance and a deep-seated control instinct." Having created a market, Apple's conviction has "frequently mutated into stubbornness and it has seen the market run off in a different direction once competitors have caught up."

New Sony PSP software takes aim at video iPod

Sony today released PSP Media Manager, new software that transfers digital audio and video to the Playstation Portable (PSP), a move that will increase competition for Apple's fifth-generation iPod. The software runs on Windows systems only, and searches for playable content. The application allows discovered files to be transferred directly to the PSP and converts unsupported formats automatically, accordign to a report from vnunet.com. PSP Media Manager provides for automatic RSS feed updates, and features a backup function to prevent data loss. Supported file types include JPEG, WAV, AVI, MP3, MP4, and MPEG. Files can be transferred at USB 2.0 speeds, and music downloaded from Sony's Connect online music store is easily copied to the PSP.

Briefly: Apple in Burlington, MoviesForMyPod

In Brief: Apple will hold the grand opening of Apple Store Burlington (Burlington, MA) on November 5 in.... American Sign Language (ASL) fingerspelling (free) and Baby-Talk in ASL ($1) are now available at the iTunes Music Store.... The Omni Group's outlining and organizational tool, OmniOutliner 3.0.4, brings support for Accessibility technologies in Mac OS X, improved integration with Spotlight search technology, and improvements to Automator support.... Digigami's MoviesForMyPod 0.992, formerly MovieToGo, has been updated to produce QuickTime movie files suitable for Podcasting (i.e., movie files that can be podcast and sync'd to the iPod without conversion) and also adds watched folders and drag & drop for batch conversion as well as a French localization.... In anticipation of its 10-yr anniversary, IK Multimedia is offering upgrade prices on all IK software for any registered IK User of any IK Multimedia software.